#she's so fascinating to me and has a lot of tragic elements that tend to resonate with me

[buffysummers]

The whole Angel turn into Angelus seems like a coming of age metaphor. Buffy gets intimate with her boyfriend Angel and he turns into an asshole, demonic creature.

Do you think this was intentional in the show’s part where a lot of their storylines is rooted in metaphor? How do you think the whole Angelus situation reflects onto Buffy and Angel’s relationship?

I always felt like Angelus still loved Buffy or at least the closest thing Angelus could approach to ever loving someone, being obsessed with them.

Even Willow commented commented about it, about how Angelus shares a thing with angel, how Buffy was all he ever though about.

The Angelus situation adds a very interesting dynamic and a new perspective to the Angel/Buffy dynamic and I wish people talked more about it.

It seems like many Bangel fans separate Angelus from Angel and Buffy relationship, and they are right to a degree Angel isn’t Angelus but it adds a incredible complex and interesting element to their relationship. I wish people talked more about it.

With Bangel it was so obvious how much Buffy and Angel loved each other, you can feel the pain and vulnerabilities of Buffy through the whole situation, you can see and feel how much Buffy cared and loved Angel and vice-Verza.

Buffy was in pain, but it was because of how much he loved Angel.

Maybe this is just me but I never felt the same wirh Spuffy, I always preferred them as belligerent friends than as a couple.

When they got to they whet Buffy was also in pain, but everything happened because she had no one to turn to, because of desperation and you can see how one-sided Spike and Buffy relationship truly was. Buffy looks disgusted and desolated every time she is with Spike. Is so incredible one-sided even the last “I love you” was out of pity.

I’ve seen how many fans tend to justify Spike’s actions and lay the blame in Buffy.

With Bangel I don’t see that happening too often even though it could be extremely easy to do so (Angel lost his soul after experiencing a true moment of happiness) but I wish people didn’t leave out Angelus out of the equation, because is part of the Angel and Buffy lobe story.

What do you think of it? What do you think Angel turning into Angelus represents as a metaphor? Do you think that when people talk about Bangel they should consider Angelus as part of the dynamic? Why or why not?

Hi! It was definitely intentional. Joss Whedon, the show creator, has spoken about this many times over the years. The first three seasons is "high school is hell" but literally. The Angelus storyline is the best representation of that, while also being the peak of the entire show, in my opinion.

Buffy having sex with her boyfriend and him losing his soul is meant to represent girls sleeping with their boyfriends or "finally giving it up" and then the guy just ghosts them or starts treating them like shit. Like, oh, they finally got what they wanted from them so now they can say and do as they please.

Joyce even says to Buffy in 2.17, "Don't tell me. He's changed. He's not the same guy you fell for." And she responds, "In a nutshell." Not that it needed to be spelled out because the metaphor is very obvious, but that's them spelling it out to the audience.

I think the Angelus storyline is incredibly powerful. It's a reflection of the depth of Angel's feelings for Buffy, and it adds so much to their love story. I think Angelus did love Buffy in his own sick, twisted way. Him being soulless just transformed the purity of Angel's love for Buffy into an obsession. Angelus hates the human parts of himself, and Buffy represents Angel's humanity, so him trying to destroy Buffy was also, like, self-flagellation in some ways? Which is just extremely tragic and heartbreaking but endlessly fascinating. Angelus literally wants to destroy the world to escape his feelings for Buffy. Even without his soul, he feels the depth and power of his love for her, and you really see this in 2.19, which is a sorely underrated episode.

I do understand why Bangel shippers separate Angelus from the Bangel relationship, because they weren't together at that time and obviously we shouldn't be romanticizing stalking, obsession, murder and psychological torment. It's a bit more nuanced than that, though. The storyline reveals so much about Angel and his love for Buffy while also putting a pause on their romance because he is changed. It's masterfully done, the way the story continues to develop the tragedy and profundity of their love while simultaneously mourning the loss of it.

The Spuffy dynamic is completely different, I don't really see the comparisons. The writing is thin, less compelling, and kind of makes me miserable? But not in a good way? Like, there's good television that breaks your heart but it's just so good that you love to hurt. With Spuffy, I just felt depressed and uncomfortable. Anyone who victimizes Spike and vilifies Buffy doesn't really seem to understand what the storyline is trying to tell us. So, it's honestly not worth having a discussion with them about it.

But to answer your final question, Angelus should always be involved in any discussion concerning Angel as a character as well as his relationship with Buffy.

You sent this ask like three months ago, I'm sorry it took me so long to answer. It's just very long and I agree with a lot of what you already said.

#anonymous #answered #bangel #anti spuffy #bangelus

[firelxdykatara]

So I just got into Unicorn: Warriors Eternal (obviously), I was gonna pace myself on episodes but then I just kept watching but at least there should be another one soon lmao ANYWAY THOUGH I have some preliminary thoughts.

I am absolutely fascinated by the dynamics presented here. There's a lot of messy potential in the way none of their reincarnations worked quite right, but the only one of them who has a true FIGHT for their new identity is Melinda/Emma/Emmelinda and I think that's both telling and tragic. Edred seems to be the one who is the most "himself" in terms of his identity being the most recognizable (though I suspect his current personality was affected by the merge considerably more than usual, as he seems far less stoic than he was in his previous lives--which makes me wonder if Dimitri will make another appearance), while Seng feels the most actualized--he has the mind of a child but the cosmic awareness and connection of his reincarnation, but there still don't seem to be any traces of "Alfie" there (especially given what we saw of him before he got seng-ified).

But Emma is fighting. She is the only one of the three original hosts still struggling to maintain her own sense of self and identity. It is interfering with Melinda's ability to control her powers, but given how we saw her powers corrupt her mother in the past, I wonder if that might not be for the better. I wonder if the show is going to turn all of this on its head--the writing has been surprisingly clever (and far more emotional than i expected, eps 4 and 5 had me bawling), and it's an adult cartoon not a kid's show, so I wonder if we're not meant to suspect that there's more to the current set up than might be assumed at first glance.

In the flashback to Melinda's childhood, Morgan (and her parents being Merlin and Morgan le Fay tickled me pink) is immediately incensed that Merlin lied to her about their daughter having magic--he says "I knew your intentions", and it's framed like we're supposed to think that he believed Morgan would use her magic for evil. But perhaps she was telling the truth when she said she only wanted to protect their daughter--and given that it seemed to have almost a self-awareness not wholly connected to Melinda herself, I wonder if the more malicious or devious parent was actually Merlin, which would explain him immediately turning on his own child and blaming her for what had just happened even though it was not her fault.

(And so tragic and heartwarming in equal measure that Emma spent the next episode trying to convince Melinda that it wasn't her fault, despite the echo of what have you done ringing in her subconscious over every life she lived the past thousand years. Despite Emma's understandable resentment of the situation she's been forced into, she is a deeply compassionate soul and I think that perspective is what Melinda has been lacking for so long. She has been fighting evil [on her father's say-so] for over a thousand years and yet lost sight of what she was truly fighting to protect. It is telling that she had such trouble making herself access her powers the episode after chasing down the fox lady and terrifying that woman and her baby.)

Emma herself is interesting to me, because while reluctant chosen ones tend to start grating on me very quickly, the fact is that she can't resist the call for long--Melinda quite literally will not let her--but she provides a humanizing element to this fight that otherwise had not been present in who knows how many centuries. At the same time, lives are on the line and every time she tries too hard to balk at using her powers and taking up the mantle, she manages to make the situation worse. (See: bringing up the kraken instead of busting through that barrier herself, resulting in Copernicus' destruction)

And then, of course, there's the romantic entanglements. (I'm very much on Edred's side here if that weren't already obvious. Winston may get points when he goes all wolfed out but at the end of the day, it's white-haired pretty elfboy and his goth wife for me all day every day.)

I don't agree with a lot of the sentiments i saw while scrolling through the tag--Edred has very good reason to be pressuring Melinda (Emmelinda) to accept her powers and fucking use them already, because, again, lives are on the line constantly with this Evil around fucking things up and terrorizing the city and killing people. Plus, of the three of them, he's the one with the clearest memories of his own past. He has a thousand years of fighting this fight with his wife by his side, and I think quite apart from how fucked up things got with the reincarnations this go-round, he doesn't know how to FUNCTION without her. A thousand years is tough to let go, especially when they've done this whole song and dance so many times before and it was always relatively smooth sailing--a quick merge and then fighting on as if no time had passed at all. Of course he believes Emma is holding his wife back, not allowing her to reach her full potential with her powers OR their shared past--she's the only uncommon factor!

("She's not yours anymore" may have been a bit petty, but he wasn't trying to gloat there--I don't think he was even really expressing jealousy or possessiveness. He was delivering a hard truth. I wonder how many times in the past they were awoken inside bodies and souls that did have entire other lives planned out. Families. Children. We know they had descendants after awakening, given the quasi-doppelgangers that tried to tell the police chief the truth about them early on, but I wonder how many times they awoke, went to each other, and had to tell someone who loved them--who perhaps they had loved in return--that their husband or wife or mother or father was gone and never coming back. I think Edred was trying to tell Winston to accept the inevitable before he got hurt even worse.)

All that said, this time is obviously very different. It may be the key to breaking the cycle once and for all. There may be key truths they could never have learned while operating the way they had been, executing Merlin's 'flawless' strategy. I think, in the end, Emma and Melinda may have to find some common ground--as it sits of course there is prime fodder for fics exploring the consent or lack thereof involved in a dynamic like this, and I'm fully on board for Emma starting to catch some of Melinda's feelings in spite of herself and allowing Edred in, allowing herself to feel for him.

That half-second where Edred saw Melinda's spirit and she said his name before being shoved back into the custody battle for Emma's body--that hit me where it hurts. I have to believe they'll find some way to come back together. Especially given that brief but delicious shot of Emmelinda going absolutely berserk after seeing Edred get hurt.

(Meanwhile, my kingdom for fics exploring Melinda getting sick of waiting and just taking over completely. Emma stuck along for the ride and not at all sure she hates it as much as she should. I'm just saying, it'd be delicious.)

#and don't start age gap or non/dubcon discourse with me i will bite you #let the hot thousand year old elf prince have his thousand year old goth wife in his controversially young gfs body #it's fine #unicorn warriors eternal #uwe #melinda #edred #emma fairfax #uwe spoilers #also the realization that this show is by the same guy who made sym-bionic titan made so much sense

[seasaltmemories]

6, 8, 13, 17 for FE :D

which ship fans are the most annoying?

ooh there are a lot of different ones I could put on blast, but most of my complaints boil down to the same point, ones that are just obsessed with stats like how many fic for the ship are on Ao3, it is a really cold and calculating way to look at fandom and often tends to not actually help or support the writers are artists who actually make the fanworks they want

Also like as someone who got used to fandoms where there might not been any fic period, seeing someone from a large fandom complain about only having 100 works or not evening breaking 500 just makes me want to complain about kids these days so badly

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Slow burn and similarly mutual pining is far from the end all be all of romance tropes and more often than not they are artificially lengthened for drama

Like there are plenty of problems that can emerge even after a couple gets together and to me that is the like interesting stuff, actually seeing characters have to grapple with the question of how to love someone not just if they do.

I have grown to appreciate it a bit more since one of my fic has started to slow down a lot more, but like it is best utilized if the characters have a long history where seeing that level of detail is necessary or if there are a bunch of hurdles that would necessitate it taking a long time to actually hook up

worst blorboficiation

Listen I still do not forgive the Three Houses fans who started making AUs where all the popular pretty boys instead got the two crest experimentation done on them when Edelgard and Lysithea were both right there, like you had options, you could hate one and still have someone you could do all the medical horror experimentation whump with

Like I try not to get into stolen valor debates about fandom bc it can be pretty vague and ineffective but like these were characters with plenty of tragic backstories you could lean on, why do they need to have all the tragic backstories available, it just seemed like the worst example of favoring your special little guy over characters that actually have the traits you desire

there should be more of this type of fic/art

I consistently in exchanges ask for Lima/Liprica stuff bc like to have that skeleton in the back of your standard FE heroine's closet made my jaw drop. In general Zofia is a lot more interesting than ppl give it credit for, bc for the "good peace loving nation" it is like probably far more corrupt than Rigel. For Lima to get away with just kidnapping a priestess of Mila says a lot about the social environment and I think fic that really dived into the messy elements of such a ecosystem could be fascinating

Also I think ideal Micaiah fanart either has her looking like a Catholic saint, all otherworldly and holy, or looking like she hasn't slept in a week and is about to snap. Like I do think she is supposed to catch you by surprise with her cute anime girl exterior but I'd like to see more of that in-game charisma and mess show up

#seasalt talks #thanks for the ask!! #realized some of these weren't very specific to FE but tried to keep it relatable

[akane0waris]

you don't get to keep talking abt how your kirumi characterization is the best and then not TELL us abt it, thats rude!! i wanna knowww

dsfgdkjsf idk if it’s The Objective Best (personal feelings have slipped into how i engage with her of course), but i will gladly take the opportunity to talk about her. 

(tl;dr because this got long: kaede was right when she said kirumi’s selflessness was both her best and worst feature as it’s simultaneously a virtue and her tragic flaw.)

the thing with kirumi is that the game itself doesn’t really care about her all that much. v3 doesn’t seem to care about chapters 2 (outside of bringing motive videos in general back up later) & 3 much in relation to the others, and only barely cares about chapter 4 as set up to chapter 5. which is pretty disappointing especially since both ryoma and kirumi’s whole deals in chapter 2 actually get more tragic in retrospect as the game goes on, but the game doesn’t care to bring that up.

with kirumi specifically she kills ryoma and tries to guilt the others into dying for her because she believes that she’s responsible for the well being of a whole country. later on the game tells you that these 16 characters are the only humans left alive, meaning that she would have ended up being the last person alive and would have killed/let other people die for nothing if she’d succeeded - and if this were true. but then it turns out to be a reality show where the people she was so desperate to get out and save are enjoying her suffering. even before the various plot twists, she’s also experiencing the personal tragedy of failing to keep promises she either thinks she made (to serve the citizens of her country) or actually made (she was one of the first people to promise kaede that they wouldn’t let the killing game continue).

speaking of kaede, she’s a key part of kirumi’s character imo. they both care a lot about other people and resort to planning a murder for the sake of the greater good - with kaede’s being the immediate group and kirumi’s being people outside of the school. their key point of divergence though lies in how kaede gave up her chase for the mastermind when it became clear that the others were in danger of dying if she let the trial continue the path it was heading down, while kirumi makes what might be the first selfish decision of her life in trying to convince the others that the work she has to do matter more than the rest of them - a thread that becomes all the more interesting if you do her free times with kaede beforehand where kaede encourages her to do more things for herself rather than only for other people.

but the thing is is that kirumi doesn’t view it as “my existence as an individual matters more than the rest of you”, but rather “the purpose i’ve been asked to fulfill is more important”. she thinks of herself as a tool of sorts (not the same way peko does, but there’s a little bit of overlap), as someone who only exists to support others. she genuinely wants to and likes helping people, but in her desire to do so she’s put her own needs on the back burner. while i really don’t like her love hotel event, it shows that she does desire to be treated as an equal by the people she serves, but that she’s relegated that desire to simply being a fantasy. she still has some boundaries, some lines she won’t cross, but the request we see her make repeatedly to people - to not refer to her as a mom/motherly - is also repeatedly ignored. 

she’s got more anger about that then she lets on, repressing it along with most of her emotions. she has thoughts and feelings that she will share if that’s asked of her, but she’s operating on the belief that they don’t matter as much as those of others. she’ll go with whatever the group decides because she’s here to help them, regardless of whether she’d make a different choice on her own. the opinions she’s most dead set on actually sharing unprompted are when she thinks it’s something the person needs to hear - i know these two examples are outside of v3, but her advice to byakuya and how she helped settle an argument between mondo and taka in utdp are good examples of this.

kirumi cares about people and genuinely finds joy in helping others, but she’s put the needs of others so far above her own needs that it leads to her literal tragic downfall. she puts herself through hell, actively causing harm to herself, because her own health and safety isn’t important to her unless it’s in relation to helping someone else. her most selfish decision - killing ryoma and trying to get everyone else to trade their lives away - is one she doesn’t even consider as a decision she’s making for the sake of herself. in her final moments she’s angry, she’s petty (as seen by voting for shuichi), she’s stubborn. she’s experiencing so much of what she’s been repressing in order to fulfill the duty she’d been repressing them for. she’s fine with people thinking of her as a villain for what she’s done, but she doesn’t see herself as either a villain or a hero. she just believes that the end she’s working towards justifies the means.

but everything she’s ever justified to herself doesn’t matter in the end. rage and indignation propel her closer to her goal when those were things she felt she wasn’t entitled to before. it doesn’t matter that ryoma had no one waiting for him; no one did, including her, and at the end of the day she still took a life. she’s going through actual torture trying to help people who are watching her at home, awestruck by the brutality they’re witnessing and possibly even cheering when she fails. 

basically kirumi is a tragic character that hits on some of my favourite character tropes - a character who doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that they’re a human being with emotions like everyone else, and a character who ends up making selfish decisions despite not having much respect for themselves.

i won’t go into detail on these, but i do project onto her a bit and that does effect how i engage with/characterise her, but i tried to keep all that out of here as best as i could. as someone who’s trying to get better at not compromising myself, my health, and my safety for people, and actually maintaining personal boundaries, and not repressing my emotions because i’ve decided i’m not allowed to have them, i’ve latched onto her pretty hard.

#anon #kirumi tojo #she's so fascinating to me and has a lot of tragic elements that tend to resonate with me #i've also spent a lot of time thinking about her because translating her into aus while keeping the key parts intact #tends to take some work and i just want to play with this character in so many spaces

[livlepretre]

This is prob a weird question, but do you wonder what a ‘typical vampire’s’ relationship to religion would be like in the tvd universe if it had been explored (&I get why it wasn’t), at least upon being turned, considering that most vampires would have been brought up in eras where religion (generally) played a comparatively more serious role in everybody’s lives? I mean, how would one BEGIN to grapple or fit in this critical aspect of one’s (prior??) worldview, with rising from the dead as what’s essentially a demon, w supernatural powers & preying on humans — what would be t implications of your existence? Were the Salvatores never believers? Plus, do u have any hc on the Originals’ faiths as humans?? Were they Pagans? Christians? Or… I guess not the latter/they would have believed in the spirits as their mother was a witch..? Thoughts? (Srry if I’m bothering you with this question btw, I appreciate that you’re probably busy)

No, not bothering me, I'm very interested in the intersection between religion and vampirism.

We have to assume that religion played a huge role in the lives of MOST vampires-- secularism is relatively recent, and even then all that's happened is that older gods have been replaced with newer gods. And I can't think of any religion where rising as a vampire would be anything other than, as you say, rising as essentially a demon, a night hag, an abomination. And also, to make a blanket statement here, many religions focus a lot on the progression from life into death-- on making sense and peace of the natural order of birth, life, death (and rebirth). Vampirism breaks a person from this cycle, forever divorcing them from the natural world, the natural order. The combination of becoming that demon, of fearing themselves, and of becoming trapped in the netherspace between life and death is a horror unto itself-- one of the main reasons I find tvd vampires in particular so fascinating is because it is not just that they are truly monstrous and frightening, but that the show delves into the way the vampires horrify themselves with their own monstrosity (at least, it used to). They can only be horrified by that monstrosity if they retain some sense of what it is to be human-- and therein is the key. TVD vampires don't lose their human souls, as the vampires in BTVS do-- they simply... transmute. They're cursed with that never ending bloodlust that turns them inevitably into monsters, and they go further and further down that road until they just give in. It's a very dark curse. I'm sure there are plenty of vampires who lose faith... but there are probably even more who don't lose their faith, but instead come to accept their role as the dark mirror in opposition to life. There are a lot of really profound psychological implications to all of this.

As for the specifics of the religions of the vampires-- Damon and Stefan would have almost certainly been raised Catholics-- and I've never thought they weren't still Catholic, although, being Catholic doesn't necessarily make one devout, as with any other sect of any religion. Damon obviously crossed a lot of lines as a human. Also, the show would never have gotten into the thick of us, but how much of Stefan's guilt and shame is tied up in an understanding of the world and morality based on his religious upbringing? We can talk about Humanist ideals all we want, but I think it would be stretching credulity that someone turned as a 17 year old in the 1800s would be feeling so much shame from pure philosophical ethics and not from a sense of morality built into the religion he was brought up in. (And how do we know that Damon isn't so furious with Stefan for forcing him to turn because Stefan has essentially damned him?)

The other vampires are interesting because they're medieval people, so their worldviews would have been even more strongly intwined with religion than the Salvatores.

Katerina I've always assumed would have been Bulgarian Orthodox (you could make an argument for other religious takes based on the Travelers-- but that came later and I tend to just blot that all out of my memory because frankly I think making Katherine exceptional at all other than as the doppelganger is stupid and actually robs her story of tragedy-- it's tragic for her to just be living her normal life and losing her baby the way she did and then to discover that no, she has this dark fate she had no idea about-- it's somehow less tragic if she also is from a family with superpowers and her daughter just gets vamped to track her down) -- nothing much to this other than that is a likely choice. Although I have ALWAYS wondered about Katerina's life in Bulgaria, since it was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time and of course, the show has no interest in history so there's nothing that even touches on this potentially fascinating detail.

Okay the Originals. I have a special place of loathing in my heart for the Viking!backstory and have basically decided to whole heartedly reject it. I think Elijah's "my father was a landowner in Eastern Europe" story was much more convincing and likely. I prefer the idea of Russian!Originals, for various reasons I've documented here on this blog, so I think they would also be Orthodox Christians. (But: potentially before the schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches? so perhaps they wouldn't really think of themselves as "orthodox," or perhaps they later started to think of themselves this way.) The Orthodox Christian thing also ties into Tatia Petrova, whose descendants I headcanon as Orthodox. (I'm also fond of the idea that the Originals were Jewish, or the idea that Esther was Jewish.) There are a lot of mystic arts buried in religious arcana, so I don't see there being a conflict between Esther's witchcraft and simultaneously practicing a religion. I think in a medieval context, framing the world in terms of religion would have been just so inevitable, so tied in to every other element of life. It's actually fascinating to consider what hold overs of this thinking medieval vampires would have. (And I think of the Originals as deeply medieval in outlook, in ways in which they are largely unaware)

At any rate, the Originals are by far the most monstrous of the vampires, and the ones that have slipped the furthest from their humanity. I wonder in what ways they developed such horrific tastes as a means of spitting in the eye of their faith? If some of their differences could pertain to who held on to faith (Finn) vs. who felt most abandoned by it (Klaus)? Food for thought!

#anonymous

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

you’ve talked a little bit about this wrt dan, but i’m curious: what are your favorite seasons/arcs for the main gg characters? (serena, blair, dan, nate, jenny, vanessa) cause everyone’s personalities tended to uh, shift a bit from season to season and storyline to storyline, and i’m wondering which eras of those characters were your favorite?

oh, so i sat on this question for a very long time, and spent a ton of time thinking over it. here we go! 

i loved the way serena was written in s1 and s2. she was so full of joy despite all the difficult things she’d endured, so bubbly and warm and... lively is ALWAYS the adjective that comes to mind for serena, despite how it’s a terrible pun. but yeah! she had an energy to her that was very childlike & genuine, and i loved that about her - despite the things she’d endured, she was so full of light (?? how do i describe this.) i know that serena’s arc gets notably more tragic s3 onwards, but i feel like the way she was written lost a bit of depth s3 onwards as well. she had a sharp wit, and a good sense of humour, she was playful and... most notably, she had this little giggle? that she literally NEVER does in the later seasons, which makes me sad?? she stopped laughing like a child at the age of, what, 19?? idk. in s1 & s2 serena had so many layers, and i feel like as the seasons went on they tried to, uh. keep only the surface layers? they didn’t really do justice to the character they started out with.

my answer for vanessa is actually the exact same, with slight modifications. vanessa’s energy in s1 and s2 was unparalleled. literally the best. i loved her and the way she was critical of everything and YET so ready to learn. compared to all these rich, privileged, white people... her presence was just SO good and so important to me, because the way she was so critical of the uber rich was something nobody else really was, and i think that perspective WAS valuable and should’ve remained, haha. idk what it was about s3, but i feel like they didn’t keep the crux of who vanessa was? it wasn’t a BAD vanessa season as much as an incomplete one. i felt they could’ve done so much more with a character like vanessa.... she’s so vibrant and full of life! and the way s3 was for her was very surface. and then in s4 they just demolished her character entirely. i’ve said it before, i’ll say it again: what jenny, juliet and vanessa did in 4x09 was TOTALLY out of character for vanessa. she would never, ever do that. and by the time s4 came around... someone else said this, i don’t remember who. but they said that vanessa was basically being used as a plot device more than as a character. notice how she’s always in the right place at the right time to overhear the right thing? it’s a travesty, because vanessa was just..... so significant to me. like her being there added so much value & even changed the tone of the show imo.

my blair feelings are very complicated. i think she’s fascinating, and i love leighton & her performance. i love book blair so much more than show blair, and idk why or how to explain it. i mentioned this in that post where i ranked the characters, but while watching blair in high school specifically i can’t EVER forget that she would probably hatecrime me, and even when she’s out of school she is still supremely racist at times. i actually liked blair best in s5 - and i know she was going thru ~tragic~ stuff (i think they dialled the tragedy too high actually, like, blair had TOO MUCH on her plate and from a storytelling point of view it was... ambitious, to say the least, to hope to bring all out of that out on tv) but like, keeping her tragedy aside. her capacity for kindness and care really shone thru while she was with dan, and i liked how the d/b relationship took her out of her comfort zone and her “but im a Waldorf!” bubble and let her, idk, be a person. i liked her in s4, too. i feel like blair is a really good, nuanced, fleshed out character as blair, and the way she clung to being a waldorf combined with her rich-white-girl privilege got kind of boring after a while because like. she’s not like louis? her character has so much depth. her character doesn’t need to be reduced to a title, because she’s SO much more than that.

i feel like i need to do a lot more rewatching when it comes to dan because i CANNOT be objective about him. he reminds me far too much of myself!!! down to his flaws and his mistakes and his issues –  i was a precocious little shit in high school at times in very similar ways to dan, i like to think i’ve grown out of that (& am perpetually making an effort TO grow out of falling into those patterns) & that’s what i want for dan, too. dan’s arc feels real to me, because a lot of it is my arc, too. feeling lonely, out of place & unaccepted in high school --> being a popular kid in college… that hits really close to home. s1 & s2 are important seasons to me because i’m extremely protective of awkward, trying-his-best high school dan (he can be awful at times, but he can be earnest and sincere, too!) i feel like s4 is actually the best dan season – took me a while to get here, but halfway thru my s2 rewatch that’s how i’m leaning. but dan’s arc was very interesting to me, and i wish they’d kept his heart. trying to retcon him as evil fell absolutely flat to me, like. who are you convincing! one of my friends and i were joking about how georgie blackmailed dan into pretending to be gossip girl (she obviously has dirt on him that nobody else does.) anyway. dan’s arc felt pretty true until the end of s4. i wasn’t a big fan of how he was written in s5, i felt like something had been taken away from his character, but i don’t know how to say it better. you’re right though, i have gone over this a lot! so i’m not going to break my head over it, ‘cause we’re already a thousand words in and i still have nate and jenny to go.

speaking of jenny, though: i think dan’s storylines REALLY needed more of a big brother arc. the way he was characterised, especially in s1, was very “i would kill a man for my baby sister” and i have NO idea where that went or why they got rid of it. (actually, i do have some idea. fucking chip wiskers apologism & elevation of chair over literally anything else. sigh)

okay, now speaking of jenny in terms of jenny. i liked her s1 arc, like, her trying to make friends with these people & trying to keep her morals and realising she can’t do both was interesting. i think that should’ve been that with her clashes with girls in constance, though. and afterwards, either nothing happens, or she transfers out of constance, etc. jenny’s s2 arc makes me sad – she was exploited and treated like dirt in so many ways :( the jenny/agnes was interesting in s2, though, and there’s no way to interpret it that ISN’T lesbian. i’ve always felt like jenny’s feelings for nate in s2 are very comphet. jenny’s s3 arc made me even sadder than her s2 arc- she was alienating all her friends one by one, making everyone hate her, and just…… spiralling. she really needed a better support system. her s4 arc made no sense. like. why did she come back in the city to fuck with serena like that? it didn’t feel right.

yeah, all that said… i feel like there are many super intriguing elements of jenny’s storylines and arcs, like, even within canon events if things had been executed differently, it could’ve been actually good/empowering. but the writers hated jenny. and this show was never a feminist show.

ah, so… nate. he started out as a flake in s1 & s2. that’s his whole thing. he doesn’t know who he wants to be / how to get what he wants / how to get where he wants. he takes people for granted. he isn’t dependable or reliable, he lets people down (most notably, blair & vanessa.) and he means well, sure! but his life is like amber and he’s trapped in it. he doesn’t follow his heart, he’s too busy trying to please the wrong people, etc etc. in s3 he’s suddenly so ready for commitment, which always breaks my heart because vanessa!!! but anyway. s3 has a shift in his character, possibly him getting dumped at prom and realising that high school is over and one thing that tethered him to his family (being a kid, being a high schooler, being a minor, whatever) –  one big thing that held him there is gone. so it makes sense that he starts trying to be his own person. i like s3 nate, and s4 nate. we see nate sort of gradually try and be a moral compass, and it’s interesting to me. when i write d/n fic something i really focus on is dan finding nate dependable, and i think that’s a value that builds in nate over time. nate of season 1 is not dependable, nope, no way. but nate of s4 seems like a decent friend to have. in s5 and s6 they more or less threw his entire arc to the wind and gave him so many shitty storylines (sage spence, wtf? nate would not do this. he’s been on the opposite end of this before, he would not carry the pattern forward, ffs.)

idk. this almost hit 1.7k, LMAO. i hope it made some amount of sense!

#anon #this is long enough to be a fanfic LMAOO #meta

[lordgoopy]

“The Saturday Interview: I Am In Eskew Podcast” —Recovered

The podcast is called I Am In Eskew; it’s a horror / weird fiction show delivered as a series of dispatches from a vaguely Central European city.

Eskew is a place that is, both spatially and psychologically, off-kilter. The streets wind too far in on themselves, the stairs climb too high, and both buildings and inhabitants can act in peculiar, obsessive, or frightening ways. And every episode we follow the narrator, David Ward, a kind of semi-unwilling immigrant to the city, as he finds himself stumbling into new aspects of Eskew. As for me, I’m a writer in London, working in digital media for the charity sector; I’m writing and narrating Eskew sort-of-anonymously. Not for any kind of grand scandalous reason, but because I think it adds to the fun and helps to keep the conceit alive a little bit.

Ah...that explains why I couldn’t find your name when I was researching for this interview. I thought my skills were slipping! I think it’s very interesting that Eskew focuses on horror based around spaces and buildings. Is this something of particular interest to you?

Yes, definitely! I think there’s a rich ream of horror, from The Haunting of Hill House to Ghostwatch, that delves into the idea that certain places can simply go wrong - and once these bad environments have been established and ostracised by society, they can’t be exorcised. They simply keep accruing power through the individual stories that play tragically out in their shadow.

I mention a real-life example of that kind of bad architecture in one episode; the Pope Lick Bridge in Kentucky, a place that looks and feels so sinister that it developed its own local folklore about a goat-man who attacks people who stray too close to the edge - and which has ended up resulting in deaths as visitors peer over the side trying to get a peek at the monster.

I find this kind of stuff fascinating, because it plays into my own paranoia about environments, and my dislike of ghost stories with explicably human antagonists. Like David says in the first episode, people aren’t frightening. Places are frightening.

If I’m sitting alone at home on a dark and stormy night, and I glance nervously up towards the bedroom doorway, my fear is not that my house is being haunted by a spirit called Mabel who died in the 19th century at the age of fourteen and is constantly seeking her favourite teddy bear...because all of these details both humanise her and make her ridiculous.

My fear is that there will be something standing in the doorway, because the doorway is where things come to stand.

Because unoccupied spaces, in our imaginations, must find something to fill them.

Could you describe some of your creative influences?

Thomas Ligotti is probably the writer I’m trying to crib from the most. Not so much in terms of his pessimism (or his love of puppets as a horror motif, which I can’t really get behind), but I see him very much as someone who bridges the gap between American horror and European absurdism. Some of my favourite stories of his - The Town Manager, Our Temporary Supervisor, The Red Factory - are hilarious as comedies! They’re very much scathing satires on our inadequate human response to the inexplicable and awful.

Junji Ito is also a big influence, in particular, his masterpiece Uzumaki: a collection of short stories about a town that’s driven mad by the symbol of a spiral. The brilliance is in the inventiveness with which he builds an anthology of horrors, with variety and with mounting awfulness, while playing on that simple motif.

I see Ito’s work as very much in the spirit of some of the most classic horror of all; Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where the threat comes not from an external monster, but from our own bodies and minds, transforming at the whim of cruel, fickle and obsessive gods...which feeds into a lot of what I’m trying to do with Eskew!

I usually try and avoid thinking about Lovecraft as an influence, even though David is clearly an obsessive, neurotic first-person narrator in the Lovecraft/Poe mould. I think there’s a lot of baggage around what constitutes ‘Lovecraftian’ fiction, and I didn’t want to set up false expectations by referencing him (like the idea that there might be some monstrous cosmic intelligence behind it all).

I really enjoy Lovecraft too, especially something like “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” I think the idea of monsters living in the sea near the town and the strange, inexorable link the townspeople have with them makes it a lot creepier than something like “The Call of Cthulhu.”

Yeah! I think the elements in Lovecraft that have made him so franchise-friendly (these brilliant alien races and gods) have eaten away at the edges of Lovecraftian horror, bringing it closer to something that can be quite kitsch, even a kind of steampunk pastiche at times. With Eskew, I’m trying to keep to something I see in Ito, or in Ligotti, where any antagonists, whether human or otherwise, are only symptoms of something worse, something that’s simply a force of nature.

I see the city of Eskew as being a bit like a literal cancer in that sense - a highly complex structure where some of the cells (or in this case streets, art galleries, citizens...) have started to lose their original sense of self and are obsessively spiralling off in other, destructive directions...

What made you decide to do I Am In Eskew as a podcast, rather than as a graphic novel or book?

Honestly, it’s a lack of talent in the first instance, and a lack of discipline in the second!

Writing it as a podcast was my partner’s idea (she’s also the occasional voice of Riyo, an investigator looking into David’s disappearance, and she copy-edits every episode with me) - I knew I wanted to write a series of horror short stories based around the theme of urban isolation and weird architecture, but I was really struggling to get started.

She suggested that recording it as a podcast would force me to keep to a schedule, and hopefullyit might even give me some audience feedback to keep me excited about the project.

So it was a pragmatic choice, but it’s one I’ve really come to be thankful for! I think the medium is perfect for bare-bones, atmospheric horror storytelling (Knifepoint Horror is probably the best example of that ‘lonely voice whispering in your ear’ kind of fiction), and there’s an incredibly welcoming, friendly, mutually-supporting community of listeners and creators online.

Once the podcast is complete, I think I’d definitely like to look at compiling all of the episodes, editing and improving them, and turning it into a full-length written anthology. I’ve definitely made a few continuity slip-ups along the way that I’d like to correct, apart from anything else.

I’ve enjoyed Riyo’s episodes too, especially now that she’s directly looking into ‘hostile environments’. I feel like the contrast in tone and narrative style help to strengthen the series overall. Do you intend for the story of I Am In Eskew to have a specific ending in the future? If so, have you decided on the arc of the story?

I think David’s story (and Riyo’s) needs to be a finite one, definitely. In my experience, most successful protagonists in serial horror tend to be investigators, or monster-hunters. That choice of profession makes them witnesses to the story, rather than victims - effectively, they’re exempt from the psychological cost of whatever happens.

With David, I very much wanted to avoid that sense of safety; I want the horror to keep taking its toll on the character, episode after episode - which means that eventually he does need to find some kind of resolution!

Otherwise that psychological cost starts to seem fraudulent, and the whole thing turns into a predictable game of ‘David sees something horrible, then miraculously escapes at the last second’ week after week.

So I do know how the finale is going to play out; it’s really just a question of how many more stories I can reasonably invent for the show, without things starting to feel stretched, before we get there.

Mind you, it’s been established that there are recordings from Eskew that have gone missing, so it doesn’t need to end, even if it ends…

Do you have a favourite episode of I Am In Eskew so far?

I really like Episode 3: Excavation. A mysterious digging sickness takes hold in Eskew, with citizens tearing their own hands to pieces just to get into the ground - and in retaliation, a religious cult starts to form, extolling the virtues of the sky and constructing a grand tower.

It’s not necessarily the best-written episode structurally, and definitely one of the crudest in terms of recording quality, but it was the first episode where I felt I was pushing the boat out towards the kind of outrageous, absurdist horror that I really wanted to be writing, where normal human behaviour was just being given a couple of extra screw-turns towards something awful and monstrous.

It was also the first episode where I really saw a few people begin to respond on message boards, so that was really reassuring to me - when it first went out, I was petrified that I’d gone too weird to sustain anyone’s interest.

I tried to pick a favourite episode in preparation for this interview, but I honestly couldn’t narrow it down past five or six. If I really had to pick, I’d probably choose Illumination - the episode about the sinister and compulsive call of an old railway bridge. Are ideas like this based on real examples?

That example definitely is - it’s based on a railway bridge about a minute’s walk from my house! I love that kind of very modern ruin; old brick stacks stood out in the open, arches filled with ivy, graffiti in a place that seems impossible to reach...

There are a few other specific London inspirations (I based the Fish Market on Spitalfields Meat Market, for example), but with Eskew as a whole, I was thinking specifically of hillier cities in Western and Central Europe: Budapest, primarily, but also Lisbon (the trams and cobblestones), maybe a bit of Rome...

I’m used to flat English cities without any kind of panorama, so I find it a ceaselessly astonishing thing to be lost in a city’s streets and suddenly find myself up high, staring down over a sea of winding streets and rooftops...

How do you feel having wrecked people’s appreciation of AA Milne’s poem Disobedience by highlighting how deeply sinister it is?

I’ve actually been driving myself wild trying to decide if that poem is just a nonsense rhyme celebrating bossy children, or if there’s a class-snobbery thing going on (James James Morrison’s mother puts on a golden gown, and goes to the end of the town...does she get robbed there? Is the end of the town so unsafe because that’s where the low-income people live?)

You may have a point there about class. After whatever happens to her happens, the King himself gets involved with a reward. Clearly, she’s a lady with connections! Could you describe your writing process?

My writing process is very much informed by necessity - I commute in and out of London every day and don’t have a lot of free time, so I have to do most of my drafting while standing upright in a crammed train carriage!

Which may not be ideal, but on the other hand, if you’re writing a podcast about the horror of urban life, there’s no better place to find inspiration than a crowded, sweaty, angry Underground train filled with blank faces...

How long does it take you to put an episode together, from first word to the finished product?

I’m very quick; I usually sketch out the episode concept well in advance, then take about a fortnight to draft it and edit. Recording and audio-editing happens very speedily, again out of necessity, on the weekends! I try and devote a day apiece to each.

Turning to the technical side, what do you wish you’d known about creating a podcast at the very beginning?

There’s still an enormous amount that I don’t know! When it comes to even simple audio editing, I’m learning all the time. I very much am still just a schmuck in his living room, talking into a handmade sound booth on his days off - which is the beauty of podcasting, I suppose.

But I’d probably give my earlier self some very common-sense advice like...

...be brave. Stick to a schedule. Know the signs of burn-out. Listen to other people’s work in the medium before you dive in. Stay hydrated so your mouth doesn’t make those disgusting wet sounds when you’re trying to talk. Never forget that this should be fun, above anything else.

What motivates you to keep producing episodes?

Honestly? Seeing that it’s connecting with people. Spooking people. Entertaining people. That means everything.

If people would like to engage with you or support you online, what’s the best way to do that?

If you’d like to support the show...please do just shout about it! Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes. It really makes a huge difference.

If you’d like to chat, we’re also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eskew_podcast

#i am in eskew #eskew #long post

[thecourtneychronicles]

“Ever since, Act has enjoyed enormous success. From participating in the Emmy-winning TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race to becoming the first drag performer ever to sing live with the San Francisco Symphony to being in campaigns for big fashion brands to winning Celebrity Big Brother to touring the world with her live shows – there is nothing she doesn’t do! Without a doubt, she is a multi-talent and enjoys her career with full passion.

In a time where gender equality, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ movements have become more visible and important than ever, Courtney Act has played a massive role in the conversations concerning it by engaging and educating people about it.

We’ve had a chat with the versatile drag queen and talked about all things drag race, the conversations around drag, and her future plans.

Hi, nice to meet you!

You too, where in the world are you at the moment?

I’m in rainy London unfortunately, and you? Are you back from Hong Kong?

I’m here too! Hong Kong was good, but a lot of civil unrest which wasn’t so good. But then I went to Thailand for the weekend and had some fun! I have only been once before; I had a marvellous time.

Sounds amazing. So, what’s a typical day in the life of Courtney Act then?

Every day is different! Yesterday, I was flying from Bangkok to London, today [18th November] I’m talking to you and debating politics at the BBC, then tomorrow I’m going to the opening of & Juliet which is a new musical. Thursday, I’m recording music for my new live show – it will be sort of a cabaret live show tour through the USA and Australia, and this time all my music will be original! It’s just super exciting and super daunting. Each Thursday, I’m going to the studio and recording. My mission was to write one song a week and so far, it’s been going really well. This time, it’s a different process to what I usually do. Usually, I will sit in a studio with different songwriters and producers and we are trying to come up with pop songs together. But this show is about my views and experiences in life, so I sit at home, sit or stand on the Tube, and just writing down notes. I’ve written songs that are so personal, there is nobody else writing them with me. So, quite often someone says, ‘we need to change this or add that and so on’ and you feel pressure to make creative decisions. But now, it’s just all me, staying up until 4am if I want, in order to perfect and craft songs.

Wow, that sounds busy! How do you ever unwind and let go of the stress that could come up?

Well, all I do is what I love doing anyway. The songwriting thing is so relaxing; you can sit there and watch TV, it’s a good process just sitting there and be creative all night long. It’s been digging up some old emotions! The show is called Fluid; it’s all about the fluidity of life, gender fluidity, fluid sexuality and all sorts of forms. The kind of work that I do is usually exciting and stimulating but when I have a day off, I usually lie in bed all night long, watch some TV or read a book or something like that. I love doing absolutely nothing, I’m extremely good at that when I get the chance!

Well, we’ve got that in common! So, which TV shows are you recommending then?

Oh, Pose Season 2. It’s on BBC iPlayer! It’s just, ‘Oh My God!’ In the first episode, I was already bawling like a baby; it’s just so beautiful and so tragic and yeah, it was amazing. I’ve been watching Strictly [Come Dancing], RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and just reading lots of books on feminism and fluidity. I just read that great book, called ‘Mother Camp’. It’s about female impersonators in America, it was written a long time ago. It was super fascinating to read about drag and all that in such a pre-revolutionary era, and so many things were actually quite similar. It was really fascinating!

Sounds amazing! Good recommendations. Going back to work, how was the whole experience of Celebrity Big Brother? Congrats on winning!

Haha, I think when you win, all of it has been wonderful. If I hadn’t won, I’d probably be like ‘Oh, this happened, and oh god, that happened’. But I have really fond memories of it all. It was so wonderful because the reasons for me were mainly that I was sitting with people, talking to people respectfully – whether it was sexuality, or gender, very sensitive subjects which people tend to polarise. People, I think, just appreciated me and the conversations. That part of myself is one of my favourite things – talking to people and hopefully sharing my story, and hoping to bring understanding in times like these.

The interesting thing was when it came down to me and Ann Widdecombe who has literally voted against every single right against LGBTQ+ in all of her years in the Parliament, so basically everything that I stand for and that I am. She not only had a different opinion but literally legislated against queer people, women’s rights, the environment and more, all across the UK. And even though she had those views, we still remained civilised but, of course, distanced. It was kind of like a Brexit, Courtney vs Ann! Although I’m sure the actual Brexit is more important than me winning [laughs]. Let’s see if we even get the Brexit though!

Oh dear, let’s hope we won’t! You said you’re currently in London – considering you’re from Australia and have found major success in the States as well, what made you want to settle down in London for now?

I was living in the US for eight years, and although things might have been a little tumultuous over here in terms of politics and Brexit, it’s practically smooth sailing compared to Donald Trump and his administration. I lived there for eight years and loved the understanding that came to live in a country. We see the world through media and press, but I realised how much I really don’t know about the US at all. So living there, during an Obama era which was much nicer, I came to appreciate the US.

But then after Celebrity Big Brother, it was a calling to come here and I grew to love the country even more. The UK has a long-standing history of camp and queer and punk, and whereas there are posh institutions, there is also this other side that respectfully co-exists, which is all about diversity, and drag and queer identities in the media. You’ve got people like La Rue, Boy George, Graham Norton and so many more on UK television. Whereas in America, you are starting from the bottom and trying to educate people. Like I mentioned early, I’m going to the BBC to discuss politics. The US doesn’t have a broadcaster that is as dignified as the BBC and also, I would have never been invited at a broadcaster in America. Here, there is a respect and it’s not just about how sensational you are!

Gender equality, pride, drag and everything around it is starting to finally become recognized worldwide by everyone. People are getting woke. Why do you believe people who are not in this scene are only properly respecting it now, and not earlier?

I think there has been so much more visibility now. And visibility always leads to understanding. There are TV shows about drag and queer identity, which has made it really accessible to a wide audience. Drag Race is predominantly watched by females aged 16-35. That filters through. Sexual and gender revolution have been going on with the likes of Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner for example. Caitlyn is a visible person and brought a lot to the conversation. I think this is really the first time that we’ve had some transmissibility around gender. The examples of people, like Laverne Cox, are just really interesting people and so public. Of course, there is still misinformation but there is a lot of conversation going on.

Even with RuPaul’s Drag Race – I keep reading about it all the time and people really seem to love it!

It’s such a fun show that celebrates identity, creativity and has drama that people love about reality TV in general. But there is a real hots for the show. The fashion and creativity elements make it belong to the fashion industry which makes it so cool. It’s just a brilliant celebration about drag and a middle finger to what society thinks of us.

How did your appearance on the show change the way people respond to you, in particular?

Drag Race Season 6, when I started out, aired in 2014 and I had been living in the US since 2011. I just started touring around the world and through the States. I was constantly performing and earning money. I’ve done shitty jobs in gay bars, don’t get me wrong, but then we decided to tour and perform in bigger venues. And when it came to the UK it became hugely popular. And during that time, I was performing in Edinburgh for the first time, and everyone came to see me because they watched Drag Race. And then I started working on so many things, and I feel like it really changed the global way people view drag, and I got to be a part of that.

Do people come up to you a lot and ask for photographs?

Yes, for sure! When I was in Bangkok with my ex-boyfriend last weekend, he was asking me the exact same question when we had lunch, literally! And then someone came up and asked, ‘Excuse me, are you Courtney Act?’, so I was like ‘Oh, perfectly timed, haha!’ Sometimes people just hug me, and I just hug back. And they are like ‘How are youuu, oh my god’ and I just go along. They’re usually respectful, but I have learned that I’m kind of public property in a gay bar – so I pick and choose where and when I go out! But I do get a lot of discounts and more, so it’s not all that bad [laughs]!

[Laughs] I bet!  

Live performances and being on TV must be two different things; you do both. Which one do you personally enjoy more and why?

They’re different. I love performing live, it’s so exciting and also easier. I did a Christmas special for Channel 4, and it was a big live show, but on TV. I love performing with a live band. I love honing and crafting, and finding out what the audience loves; it’s so gratifying.

Sounds like you are living your best life!

I kind of am! We had this offer for a big TV show in the States and I was so hoping it would happen, but then I was like ‘Meh, even if it won’t happen, I will still do my cabaret show and tour all around the world’. So, I’m doing what I love either way!

Besides your cabaret show, what else does your future hold?

Well, the music alongside the cabaret show is exciting because sometimes music in pop is sometimes pointless in a way. You put it out, a few people listen, and it costs a lot to make and create videos. But we are sort of packaging the music into my live show, so I’m excited to put my original music out.

Also, I have a different TV project that I’m working on. Also, I’m working on YouTube videos in which I want to discuss political topics and current affairs, sort of like a web series. It seems like a lot of people don’t know what is going on in the world, so I want to give them an understanding!”

Courtney’s interview for 1883 Magazine - November 26, 2019

#ca interview #26.11.19 #courtney act #rupaul's drag race #rpdr

[golden-redhead]

I'm curious. Do you have any thoughts on Kaede and Kokichi's ingame relationship? I dunno, maybe it's an odd qurstion but... I think that maybe reading about them from the perspective of a good writer can help me write about them better. Thanks in advance!

So, first of all: sorry that it took me so long, but it’s such a complicated question that I had to take my time to think about it, talk with a friend, re-watch some fragments of the game, including their FTEs and just… think carefully about what I actually think and how to put it in a way that would actually make sense.

Okay, so the first thing that I think should be acknowledged is that both Kokichi and Kaede are very flawed characters and that they actually parallel each other in a very interesting way. And this is something that I mostly focus on in this post because I think this is the key to understanding the kind of relationship they had. Also, this post is awfully long (over 1700 words), so… Yeah, more under the cut. 

The problem with Kaede is that she is very pushy. Kokichi points it out during their little Death Road of Despair experience and he’s not wrong. She likes to have things go her way and most of the time she doesn’t even realize that she’s coming off as forceful and even kind of self-rightous. A lot of her character is just a facade, just like Kokichi’s, but her is probably much less obvious than his (it also applies to Kaito and I would honestly LOVE to discuss the similarities between all three of them one day, because they are fascinating and they are the three people that have the most impact on both the final outcome of the game and our protagonist). I don’t think that Kaede is nearly as optimistic as she pretends to be. I actually believe that a lot of what we see in her audition video is visible in our in-game Kaede, just covered by her positive, always cheerful mask. But the thing is that she doesn’t truly trust in her classmates - despite the fact that she states the opposite - and that’s why she takes things into her own hands. She wants to be perceived as positive and supportive but when you look at her actions during the Death Road of Despair or at how she wants to get the mastermind on her own her true personality really shines through this mask she made. And I think that Kokichi is aware of it, he’s not fooled by her cheerful persona the same way that others are. He’s immune to her motivational speeches (and Kaito’s, but it comes later), but at this point in the story he also seems to recognize that something good can come out of them? And it’s not something that he could do himself so he lets Kaede become their self-proclaimed leader as long as it motivates others to keep fighting. He’s a person who values life above anything else and I think that this is something that you need to keep in mind when analyzing his character because it’s such an important element of his character.

In general, it’s kind of hard to predict what would have happened, because Kaede never got to overcome her flaws and grow as a person, we never see her actually develop. Very early in the game one of her biggest flaws is introduced - and this flaw leads to her doom. I assume that if she lived longer she would get at least a chance to change, to overcome it, but it’s just me guessing and hoping and assuming. And even if she got  a chance the develop it still doesn’t mean that she actually would develop, at least in a positive sense of this word. And the worst thing about the game is that she ends up being treated like a perfect waifu, like she was a victim of this situation, so I’m not sure if they would actually go this way. I’m kind of worried that she would be just Maki 2.0? Because Maki’s flaws are also never fully acknowledged, which is honestly a shame because it would be a chance for her to and also make the game much more self-aware.

Because yeah, in Maki’s case the way she is treated has at least something to do with just catering to the audience, especially the male audience, and in her position as the game’s waifu. But when you think about it - her admitting that what she did was wrong, admitting that she went against her own promise to herself and against what Kaito tried to teach her… wouldn’t strip her of her waifu status, wouldn’t impact players’ perception of her negatively. If anything, it would only serve to make her more relatable. And something similar happens with Kaede, the game kind of admits that what she did was wrong and she actually gets punished for it. But the game also immediately after her death changes its narrative and turns her into this perfect martyr who did nothing wrong, which is just… so painfully contradictory. Looking at it that way I think that both Kaede and Maki got the short end of the stick. Sure, they are both popular and generally loved by the fandom characters, but the game had a chance to go deeper with them and explore them better, but never did, instead simply skimming over the surface. As much as I hate the argument that they both are kind of reduced to being love interests… well, let’s just say that I don’t agree with it 100% but I also see where people who say that are coming from.

The most interesting thing about Kokichi and Kaede is probably how different their brands of leadership are. As I mentioned earlier, Kokichi pretty much lets Kaede do her thing, simply observing what is going to happen. but the moment he notices that her own blind ambition is getting in the way of her good intentions - he calls her out on her bullshit. The main difference between them is that Kaede immediately made her leader status known, whereas Kokichi always works from the shadows, collecting evidence on his own, trying to find out who the mastermind is.

Honestly, the most interesting thing that would come out of Kaede living longer in relation to her relationship with Kokichi is probably the way they would challenge each other, the same way we see it happen at the beginning with the Death Road of Despair thing. Shuichi can be seen as very passive compared to her and it’s honestly both a good and a bad thing, depending how you look at it or who you ask. It’s good, because it lets the player just observe things, observe how those characters react and behave on their own, without your protagonist’s interruption. But at the same time you as a player end up being an observer rather than someone who has actual impact on the story, unless maybe during the trials when it’s your job to solve the case. On the other hand, while Shuichi is rather passive, Kaede is his total opposite. She lacks his patience and she can be actually very… um, unpleasant? Just look at her FTEs with some of the others or her first interaction with Tsumugi (well, to be fair, Tsumugi was kind of rude herself, but still). She quickly gets physical with others and not necessarily in a good way. As much as I would like to believe that she would be more willing to understand Kokichi, I also think that she might be too pushy to actually get to him? Kaede forces her way through things, while Kokichi surrounds himself with lies and hints, I’m not sure if Kaede actually has the patience to deal with this kind of thing, she is very clearly tired of his antics during their FTEs. I like to think that she wouldn’t be as antagonistic towards him as others are and that she would defend him when Maki abuses him, but considering how narrative is very clearly against Kokichi, to the point that at times many characters come off as out of character… I’m honestly not so sure if that would be the case? But then again, she’s much more firm with him than any other character and it’s something that should be acknowledged. Kirumi is kiiiind of similar? But because of her devotion to her talent Kirumi also lacks Kaede’s individuality and doesn’t stand her ground the same way Kaede does.

Another thing that I would like to point out is that Kokichi changes a lot later in the game. He gets much more serious and more desperate as more people die. In Kaede’s first FTEs with him Kaede thinks that he acts like a kid who wants attention and… she’s not wrong? He really does act that way, especially at the beginning. He’s testing her limits, messing around and in general acting like a brat. Buuuut at the same time during their second FTE he warns her about what might happen if she continues to act the way she does and it’s actually very insightful? And, well, turns out to be true. It’s also kind of ironic considering that ultimately he also couldn’t catch the mastermind and had to sacrifice his own values in the process.

I think that Kokichi also has a lot of respect towards Kaede, which is seen in how he says goodbye to her and states that she wasn’t boring. I think a lot of this respect comes from the fact that in contrast to other students she actually tried to do something to stop the killing game. She went about it the wrong way but considering how extreme the situation they were in was… it makes a lot of sense and I think Kokichi understands that. He’s later shown to be very frustrated with the passiveness of others and how they kind of just accept the situation and hope that the power of friendship will solve everything. Both he and Kaede refuse to just stand and watch as people die and even though they both ultimately fail, they are also the ones who actually do something and pay the highest price for it. Same can be said about Amami, which is why chapter one is so tragic.

Anyways, that’s just my own personal interpretation, you don’t have to agree with it! Also, I hope that this word vomit makes sense, I tend to jump from one topic to another.

In conclusion, I think their in-game relationship is super interesting and I would honestly love to see more of it. And it gets even better if you add Kaito to the mix because all three of them are one of the most important characters in the entire game and the impact they all had on the story is very interesting. Not to mention that they shape Shuichi into the person he is at the end of the game and it’s fascinating to watch as he evolves throughout the game.  

#ndrv3 #kaede akamatsu #ouma kokichi #ndrv3 killing harmony #ndrv3 spoilers #analysis #does it count as meta? #I have no idea #it took ages to write #and I probably have much more to say about the topic but #it's insanely long anyway

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

A Look Back on the Twilight Saga

I have never felt older than I have this year, in which the film adaptation of the first book in the Twilight Saga turns ten. Ten years ago, that movie came out, three years after the book. And what a book and movie they were! They inspired so much rabid devotion and equally rabid pushback, with people gushing over the beautiful romance in equal amounts as people saying how the books were offensively awful and filled with misogyny and romanticization of abusive relationships. Golly, I sure am glad discussion of fiction has improved since then and we don’t have dumb arguments like that anymore!

All joking aside, it is pretty interesting to look back on the series. With the passage of time, and the release of so much young adult fiction in cinemas between then and now, I have to say that looking back… Twilight is a pretty good film and, for the most part, a pretty good series.

Now, such a bold statement could never have been made in that period during the heyday of the series, where the popularity of the series was slowly souring and people began openly rejecting the series as trash. But I feel that rejection was just part of an obnoxious cycle I’ve seen a lot in recent years, where anything remotely popular with audiences (such as Frozen) becomes hated at the peak of its popularity, seemingly because of the sole fact that it is popular and not really due to anything having to do with the actual overall quality.

See, here’s the thing: despite the series having a reputation for being poorly written tripe, it really is a lot better than anyone gives it credit for. Now, I’m not going to say the writing is on par with other young adult fantasy series of the time, like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, because that is just patently untrue. What the Twilight Saga was, and what it always seemed to aim for, was the level of quality of a tacky airport romance novel you pick up while waiting for your flight to kill time. It’s nothing but wish-fulfillment fantasy in which an unhappy young woman becomes the reason for living for several unfathomably hot supernatural men, a sentiment that quite frankly resonates with the modern atmosphere towards supernatural romance and the prominence of self-proclaimed “Monsterfuckers.” Bella’s situation is pretty much a dream come true, is it not? Among tacky supernatural romance novels, Twilight and its sequels are easily the queens of the genre.

Here’s the thing that really sets the Twilight Saga apart, though: there is actually a serious amount of thought and care put into nearly all aspects of the romance’s universe save for the actual romance. Every single member of the Cullen family has a fascinating backstory: Carlisle was a vampire hunter turned vampire who proceeded to venture across the world in the ensuing hundreds of years building up a family and practicing a different way of living; Alice was committed to an asylum and has a past shrouded in mystery; Jasper was a soldier in the Confederate army who was turned into a vampire and tasked with raising a vampire army; Rosalie’s backstory is Kill Bill, BUT WITH VAMPIRES!; and Emmet, while easily the least impressive of them all, still died apparently fighting a bear, and considering how he is one can only imagine what on earth he was doing. Esme is the only Cullen without a deeply fascinating backstory, but even what little we do get is a bit tragic: she lost her child and so committed suicide, or attempted it anyway. There’s absolutely no need for all of these rich, complex backstories for characters in a throwaway romance novel, and yet here they are. And that’s not all.

The rest of the world and overall vampire society is presented in a very interesting way. The Volturi in particular are a fascinating idea, a secret cabal of vampires who rule over all other vampires with an iron fist, but one that is, while a bit tyrannical and unforgiving, seemingly necessary to preserve the existence of vampire society. Hell, their rules don’t really seem TOO harsh, and they only really spring to action when there are vampires fragrantly and blatantly exposing themselves to human society. They wish to keep the vampire world hidden in the shadows, where they can feed in peace away from prying eyes. Their position is understandable in a lot of ways. They also have a very interesting history to them, having apparently wrestled power over vampirekind away from a sect of Romanian vampires. Now, I did say they are a fascinating IDEA; in execution, they always tended to be a bit… useless. Their appearances in New Moon and Breaking Dawn are ultimately wastes of time, as they are never really opposed in any sort of meaningful way and get away in the end with the status quo wholly unchanged. No impact is ever made on vampirekind when they’re involved, which almost makes me wish that they were kept in the shadows and used far more sparingly. Their influence over events in Eclipse, where they only send out their powerful agents, showcases that Stephanie Meyers could use them very effectively when she wanted to.

The werewolves are a bit less effective. While they do have an intriguing backstory, there is something a bit… problematic about shoehorning a bunch of fictional elements onto the real Quileute tribe. On the other hand though, a positive and heroic portrayal of Native Americans in fiction is never a bad thing, and Jacob Black is easily one of the more sympathetic characters until halfway through Breaking Dawn. It’s a very tricky, mixed bag. I kind of wish that the issue with the handling of Native American folklore was the biggest controversy with the series, but there’s actually one far worse and even stupider.

The Twilight Saga has come under fire for being a negative influence on young women, for romanticizing abusive relationships and stalking, and for being some sort of massive insult to feminism. Now, these arguments aren’t wholly without merit, but the issue is that they are being filtered through human understanding and imposed on fictional creatures in a fictional universe. If a real-life human acted as clingy, impulsive, over-protective, and obsessed as Edward is towards Bella, yes, it would be absolutely terrifying. Here’s where I let you in on a little secret, though: Edward Cullen is, in fact, not a human. He is part of a race of ageless semi-undead beings who live off of blood and glitter in the sunlight. He immediately sees his soulmate in Bella and goes out of his way to ensure they end up together, acting on the instincts granted to members of his kind. Trying to fit all of his actions into a human narrative is as fruitless as if an ant tried to explain humanity to his colleagues filtered through his ant experiences. The fact is, Edward operates on a far different moral code than humans. This is not uncommon for vampires in any fiction; Marceline of Adventure Time fame is a vampire who is certainly not above doing some rather sketchy stuff, for example. While Edward’s actions can come off as bizarre and creepy to humans, for a vampire, Edward is actually downright romantic and even benevolent. One also needs to take into account that Edward is a kissless virgin who has spent a hundred years doing nothing but reading romance novels and listening to classical music, which would go a long way to explain his awkward and sometimes offputting ways of trying to replicate human courtship rituals with Bella.

The criticisms leveled at Bella are rather unfair as well; while she often finds herself a damsel in distress, it rarely is something she doesn’t want. When Bella is in danger, it’s because she wanted to be there and put herself there. Yes, she does get into trouble, but that’s mostly due to her being a stupid horny teenage girl with zero impulse control. Recall New Moon, where she constantly did dangerous stunts so she could have hallucinations of Edward chastise her. Bella is, quite frankly, an adrenaline junkie, and I feel she’d rather resent being called a damsel. Even the times when she is in danger, it is no real fault of her own, but rather the fact she is a normal human out of her depth in a supernatural world. Bella is not Blade, she is not Van Helsing, she is not Alucard; she is Bella Swan, normal teenage girl, and she tends to be as effective as your average teenage girl in situations where superpowered monsters are hunting her. Imagine if we applied these sorts of criticisms to other characters in fiction… “John Conner in Terminator 2 is such a worthless damsel in distress character, why does he not just fight off the T-1000?” or how about “Why do the kids in The Goonies not take the Fratellis head-on? Why do they constantly flee from them when they cross paths? And Chunk, getting captured by them, what a pathetic damsel moment.” People not being successful in areas where they are out of their element is not some horribly evil thing. I also resent the idea the series is some horrible, anti-feminist work, particularly because the entire series revolves around Bella’s choice, and when she is not given agency she goes out of her way to take that agency. For all the flaws of Breaking Dawn, and there are many, I will give it this: presenting Bella as being in the right for wanting her choices respected is a good thing. With that in mind, I think the entire series is a lot more feminist than many are willing to admit.

And look, I’m not saying this book is a flawless masterpiece or anything like that. I have mentioned this is definitely a book more impressive for the world it creates than for the actual romance it centers around. But I do feel that, generally speaking, the books never descended to the point many who criticized the books say they did. I say “for the most part” because I cannot even muster up enough good will to say a single good thing about Breaking Dawn. But generally, the writing quality is decent. Even some of the twists on vampire lore are interesting and refreshing.

For instance… the sparkling. This is one of the most infamous additions to the lore of vampires in Meyers stories. When in the sunlight, rather than bursting into flames as vampires tend to do in fiction, their skin sparkles and glitters as if it was encrusted with diamonds. It does sound silly, and it really is, especially when they show it off in the movies… and yet, it is actually far more accurate than just about every depiction of vampires in nearly 100 years. You see, the idea vampires are killed by sunlight is actually a relatively new addition to vampire lore, being created for the famous silent masterpiece Nosferatu because they couldn’t come up with any other way to kill the vampire. In the original novel of Dracula, for instance, the titular count strut about during the day with no ill effect. So, by accident or perhaps by some better understanding of the creatures than most writers, Meyers was more accurate than nearly all contemporary portrayals of the characters. Also interesting – but not nearly so to the point I feel the need to dedicate a whole new paragraph to it – the idea of vampires having a sort of “love at first sight” thing that allows them to discern their soulmate was copied by Hotel Transylvania, so I feel like that addition to vampire lore has its merit as well.

The film adaptations tend to not truly fix the flaws with the storytelling, but instead to paint over them with some truly inspired silliness. The utter apathy Robert Pattinson exudes for his role as Edward Cullen is palpable in how he acts, and it tends to make Edward’s creepier actions actually less threatening than the were in the books – and I’d argue there he wasn’t particularly threathening, despite his angsting. Taylor Lautner’s oft-shirtless portrayal of Jacob Black seems a lot more genuinely, but equally cheesy; his and Pattinson’s onscreen chemistry really gives them the feel of two romantic rivals, which makes it easy to see exactly why there was such a devoted following rooting for one or the other back in the day. Then we get to Bella.

As usual, Bella is a horribly misunderstood character here. It’s easy to blame the books for how one-note Bella appears in the movies – as a romance protagonist, Bella has enough personality for you to care while still being enough of a blank slate that you can put yourself in her position so that you can fantasize about the outcomes – but I almost feel like her portrayal was a deliberate choice. Kristen Stewart is actually a very good actor when in the right role, and I feel like even in the past I’ve been too hard on her portrayal of Bella. I think I might go so far as to say her version of Bella is better than the book, because Stewart actually does inject some vapid, awkward teenage girlishness to the role. That’s something wonderful, especially about the films – the teenagers, more than a lot of other series, tend to feel like real people. They say the dumbest stuff imaginable, but really, is that not what being a teenager is? Everyone was a stupid, vapid idiot as a teenager, it’s just how teens are. So all t hat combined with everything else that has been said, does any part of Bella’s characterization truly feel THAT abnormal for an otherwise normal, brooding teen thrust headfirst into the world of the supernatural? I personally don’t think so; Bella is actually one of the most real characters of the series, an anchor to humanity in a sea of supernatural strangeness, a character that is absolutely perfect in her dull, flawed, overly-romantic personality. She may not be the strongest, or most interesting, or even the most pleasant character in all of fiction… but she has an air of realness to her few other characters can hope to achieve. Perhaps this is why a lot of people rejected and mocked her; it’s so much easier to dismiss and belittle something than accept that it is something real, warts and all. No one wanted to accept the less pleasant parts of Bella, and so she was rejected by all except the fans of the book; meanwhile, seemingly disinterested goth girls would be fought over by two equally strange men for her affection, all while she talks in a sort of half-awake near-monotone.

I was in that situation myself. It’s all real teenage bullshit.

I feel like this more than anything explains why the Twilight Saga ended up being violently rejected by so many people: too many people saw through the supernatural elements and into the real life teenage angst and did not like what they saw, as it reflected their own experiences. It’s so bizarre to say, but Stephanie Meyers may have been too real for her own good, and her portrayal of angst-ridden teen love triangles may have been just too close to home for a lot of people. I’m sure a lot of older people had negative experiences in high school as I did, so anything that reminds them of those stupid, painful years is not going to seem pleasant. With other stories that feature realistic elements with supernatural settings, such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and so on, they never really faced this kind of scrutiny and rejection as while they also are grounded with realistic portrayals of their teenagers, they also take place in overtly supernatural settings; there is no place where an experience could be like that of Hogwarts or Camp Half-Blood. But there’s probably of plenty of places like the dismal, dreary town of Forks, Washington, a perpetually cloudy town out in the sticks where nothing ever seems to happen. Reading about teen angst in such an agonizingly depressing setting will not go over well with anyone who has had negative experiences in regards to the elements portrayed, supernatural dressing or no.

Looking back at the Twilight Saga, after years of imitators of varying quality and numerous attempts by mediocre young adult franchises to capture this saga’s lightning in a bottle, the stories sans Breaking Dawn seem to have aged quite well, and hold up a lot better. Removed from the rabid fandom, overwhelming hype, ad constant mockery, the series stands as a solid and kind of cheesy young adult romance series, one with superb worldbuilding that I have yet to see any young adult series after it match and an absolutely fantastic ensemble cast that is just rife with fanfiction potential. I find that even the lead trio, be it in the films and in the movie, have a lot more layer and depth to them than initially thought, with Bella in particular a character I feel deserves some serious reevaluation. And while I’d never call the series a masterpiece to rival Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or Lord of the Rings, I do think that the series is good enough to unironically be enjoyed. While there is of course plenty to snark at here – it’s a story featuring a rather honest depiction of teenagers, after all, and teenagers are idiots – I think there is a lot more to like than the insane hatedom of the book ever gave it credit for.

And even if you can’t bring yourself to admit the series is genuinely good (albeit cheesy), there’s no denying that it had a pretty good impact on popular culture. Aside from being the basis for Vampire Sucks, which has the honor of being the only genuinely good Seltzer and Friedberg film, it put supernatural romance stories back into the mainstream again. The biggest example of a supernatural romance film that I can see got a lot of mainstream recognition was 1990’s Ghost, which is held up as a romantic classic; while there were plenty of supernatural romance films between then and Twilight, none of them seem to be recalled fondly or even at all, and none of them can even come close to saying they had the sort of cultural impact Ghost did. Twilight, though… it had a huge impact. Without Twilight, we probably wouldn’t have gotten Warm Bodies, we probably wouldn’t have gotten Horns, and honestly? We probably wouldn’t have gotten The Shape of Water, or more realistically, the movie would not nearly be as accepted. Twilight for better or worse conditioned us to see the humanity in supernatural entities and find attraction in them (not exactly a new idea as far as vampires go, I know, but it definitely put it in the minds of young adults). I can easily see the genesis of the modern crowd of people lusting after the Asset, Pennywise, Godzilla, and Venom being the Twilight Saga; it was a gateway drug that put in the minds of youths “Hey, monsters can be really sexy. Like, REALLY sexy.”

The Twilight Saga is truly a fascinating work, for better and for worse. There is a lot in it that I really admire, and there’s plenty in it that I resent, but even at its worst I can never say that the series was boring. For all the flack I give Breaking Dawn, it is still far more readable than any of the garbage Cormac McCarthy has ever shat out, and nothing in the series was as overtly misogynistic as some of the dialogue in Ready Player One. As cheesy as the film series got, the first was a surprisingly effective indie supernatural romance and the third was a gloriously Gothic cheesy delight, with the second being the awkward but still enjoyable middle film and Breaking Dawn: Part 1 being the only genuinely awful film in the series; nothing positive could be said for the slew of imitators that crawled in this film’s wake, such as Beastly, Red Riding Hood, and even some of the would-be successors to this franchise such as the cinematic adaptations of Percy Jackson, Divergent, and The Hunger Games among others, which despite them being based off of books of far greater critical acclaim had absolutely no respect for their source material the way the Twilight Saga films did. As silly as some of the acting in the movies was – and it got very silly, considering the lead three all seemed to actively despise their roles – none of their acting was as painfully bad to sit through as Jennifer Lawrence’s attempts at acting in the first Hunger Games film, or the entire cast of the Percy Jackson movies. I would never say that Twilight is the absolute pinnacle of young adult literature, but I think a lot of us had our judgment clouded back in the day, and with the benefit of hindsight I think it’s safe to say the franchise was a lot of fun; I’d even go as far to say that it is an underrated work of genius in many aspects.

Removed from the climate that created it and put into a world it helped shape, I think the tale of Bella Swan and her romance of the angsty immortal Edward Cullen resonates quite a bit better. So thank you to Stephanie Meyers and everyone involved with the film series, because without your work, the world we live in would probably be a much less interesting place, with far fewer people horny for monsters. I really don’t think I would want to live in that world.

#CineMike #essay #my writing #Twilight #The Twilight Saga #Eclipse #New Moon #Breaking Dawn #Edward Cullen #Bella Swan #Jacob Black #Robert Pattinson #Kristen Stewart #Taylor Lautner

[thewaywedo33]

Wynonna Earp 2X09 Thoughts and Faves

This week on Wynonna Earp, everything was super fine, there were no creepy dolls or paintings from right out of my nightmares, and all the girlfriends in Purgatory recognized what an amazing, special thing they have together, laying to rest their current conflict before anyone could do anything impulsive and ill-advised...J/K, this week was feelings hell.

Remember last week, when I went on and on about how sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reasons?  Well, this week we see that sometimes people also do the wrong thing for human reasons.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not interested in delving into what constitutes cheating, or what constitutes such an egregious line cross that a couple can’t come back from it. Ask a hundred people what their definition of cheating and their hard line is, and you’ll get a hundred different answers.  What I am interested in is how things come about, why people act the way they do, occasionally to their own detriment.  It was downright awful to watch Waverly kiss Rosita.  It was supposed to feel that way. Sometimes television reaches down into the depths of our hearts and gives it a tight squeeze. Sometimes that squeeze is joyful, sometimes it’s downright cruel, but it makes us feel.  Oh god, does it make us feel. When my heart breaks a bit for both sides of a pairing in a single moment, I know the writers have given me something human and so, so real.  

Part of the problem is, Waverly doesn’t know how to communicate her feelings well.  She tends to repress them, hide them beneath a wave and a smile, forcing herself to focus on how she should feel about something, rather than admitting how she truly does feel. Sometimes she reaches a boiling point and lashes out or does impulsive things. Note how in the opening scene she acts pretty casual about her fight with Nicole to Wynonna, when in reality she feels anything but casual about it.

(Random Important Gif is Important)

Instead of taking the time to cool off and then communicate with Nicole about how her actions made her feel and what they could do to recover from it, she let it fester and mix with her confusion and rage at the way her world is constantly shifting as aspects of her identity are ripped away.  

Don’t get me wrong, Nicole made an awful mistake last week, but during the first half of the episode Waverly was doing the thing that happens when someone you love hurts you, and everything starts to snowball in your head. In your frenzied anger, everything that person does is wrong and hurtful.  Nicole’s attentiveness and caring, things that Waverly actually craves, suddenly become controlling and overbearing.  So she runs from it.

And in the midst of her running and her swirling emotions, she makes an awful impulsive mistake born of confusion and despair.  But you know what my biggest takeaway from the moment was?  They didn’t wait for Waverly to find out Nicole’s life is in peril for the regret to come.  No, the regret was instant  She wasn’t off canoodling with Rosita, or grappling with some newly developed romantic feelings for her, only to find out tragic news, thus having some sort of panic-induced epiphany that she really does love Nicole. She knew it was wrong the second she pulled back, probably the second their lips touched.

Often times, in the midst of an awful spiral, it takes a flash point event to stop you in your tracks and make you ask yourself what the hell you’re doing, and realize this is not who you are and what you’re doing is definitely not what you want. The kiss was that moment for Waverly.  

I love that Rosita called bullshit on Waverly’s avoidance attempt at the end of the episode.  Because Waverly attempting to give Nicole space?  Yeah, classic avoidance. She tends to do it a lot.  Her name might as well be Welcome To Avoidance Earp.  Unless her anger forces something to the surface, or someone else takes the initiative to bring things up, she typically buries it.  It’s a big reason why Wynonna didn’t know what to ask forgiveness for in The Blade, and had such a poor understanding until recently just how terrible Waverly’s relationship with Willa was.  Sure, Wynonna can get wrapped up in her own stuff, and occasionally she’s a tad oblivious, but mostly, Waverly is just not good about communicating her feelings.  It’s a fascinating character flaw, and I hope we get to see growth from her in that department.

I think it’s also important to note that Champ was Waverly’s previous main romantic relationship. The dude has the emotional range of a potato.  We know they were on again, off again.  I don’t think it’s a big leap to assume whenever there was discord Waverly stayed away until she could bury whatever negative feelings she had.  Then they’d reunite, and she’d smile sweetly, as if everything was fine. Problem is, that’s not going to cut it with Nicole.  And it shouldn’t.  Nicole sees Waverly in a way Champ, and most other people for that matter, never could.  What they have deserves more.

It would be nice if we could make all our mistakes at opportune moments, when there’s all the time in the world to talk and work things out, but life doesn’t work that way. Sometimes our slip-ups come in the dawning moments of tragedy.  Sometimes they come just before life smacks us in the face and reminds us that everything could be gone in an instant, so you better figure your shit out.  Which is why it’s fitting that instead of Nicole opening the door to Waverly, she’s greeted by Hagatha Christie.  

My hope, once this current round of danger ends, is for Waverly and Nicole to have the open, honest, and messy heart to heart they need. The kind you have when you’re head over heels in love with someone.  I want Waverly to tell Nicole the truth about the kiss, she deserves that honesty.  Maybe Nicole needs some time apart to deal with it, maybe not.  And the truth is, Nicole needs to figure out how to communicate better with Waverly too.  Up until now she’s ceded all control in the relationship to Waverly, letting her set the pace and tone.  It was fair at the start, given the situation, but now they’re moving into the mature part of a relationship where both parties need to communicate clearly what their needs and desires are.

I might sound like a broken record, but Nicole and Waverly are going to come out of this stronger.  Look, Nicole has a brush with death to narrowly avoid, or maybe she actually dies for a little bit (it’s a Sci-Fi show, there’s a cure for that, my friends).  Either way, I truly love their relationship arc this season.  It’s been nuanced and three-dimensional; sweet and heartbreaking.  Take out the supernatural elements of the show, and it’s a story of two people who fell hard fast, and are now dealing with the difficulties of turning their fledgling relationship into a story of forever.  It’s hard, and they’re both going to mess up again, that’s life.  If there’s one thing I know for sure about love, it’s that keeping score of who’s right and wrong is a losing game.  All I care about is that they grow as individuals and as a couple.  The payoff potential is enormous, and you better believe I’ll throw my fists in the air and cheer when we get their first reciprocal I love you.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop beating that drum.  You know what else has been beating like a drum?  The repetition of angel references for Waverly. We get it show, it’s not random, ENOUGH. It could be the truth.  We’ve had several references to her dark edges and depths, but maybe it’s the flood light effect: everything outside the bright light area seems even darker in comparison.  It would make for an interesting development if Waverly’s human side is the one that harbors her darkness. But it’s also entirely possible the angel references are meant to show the stark contrast between how people sometimes perceive us versus reality.  Everyone sees Waverly as an angel, when in reality she believes she’s part demon.  And maybe she is.  Stay tuned.

Hey, you know who else keeps getting repetitious character traits mentioned?  This gal:

(Kat Barrell’s face is the only weapon of mass destruction I want to hear about these days)

Ms. pleat in her pants, boring cop, so naïve.  The comments have piled up all season long, there’s no way it’s random. Either there’s something in Nicole’s past that doesn’t jive with how people perceive her, or there’s something very not boring about her lineage.

How interesting that the location spell led Widow Mercedes to Nicole’s door.  I can’t decide what I think the most likely reason is.  Is Constance Clootie finally getting revenge on Waverly from beyond the grave for that time she smashed her son’s skull?  Sending death to her lovers door would certainly do the trick. I know the spell invoked Demon Clootie’s name and power, but it was Constance’s charred head on the map. Or maybe Nicole is not who we, or she, thinks she is.  Maybe there’s something about the house she lives in that’s connected to the curse, like how one of the seals was moved to Shorty’s.  So many possibilities, so few emotions left to process them.

Moving on to other parts of the episode.  I was pleasantly surprised by the maturity and character growth Wynonna displayed this episode.  She actually disclosed her plan to Doc and asked him for the ring, rather than divulging a half truth and just taking what she wants and/or needs.  Season One Wynonna probably doesn’t do that.

There were some damn harsh truths dropped between Wynonna and Doc in the Earp homestead, but I think the purge is ultimately a good thing.  It’s hard to fully have each other’s back when going into the fight of your life if you’re holding back resentments. They went for each other’s jugulars a bit, much like Waverly and Nicole, but unlike them, they were finally able to hear each other and come to an agreement that served to strengthen their bond.

It’s unfortunate that Wynonna’s plan won’t remotely work out the way she hopes it will, because it never does on a show like this. I’m glad she’s making an attempt to take control of the curse and dictate the terms, though. She’s been on a really nice progression all season long from merely acknowledging she’s good at being the heir, to taking ownership of the role. Never forget she’s the heir of this god damn curse, indeed.

The Revenant Rosita reveal was genius. In the season premiere I assumed she knew about Wynonna through Doc, but now we know she’s been well aware of every Earp heir through the years. While I do think she harbors some jealousy towards Wynonna concerning Doc, it’s so much more interesting that most of her trepidation stems from being a Revenant.  I’m glad Waverly is keeping her secret for now, and I hope Rosita has the opportunity to tell Wynonna the truth herself, and that Wynonna surprises her with acceptance.

Tucker Gardner, see you never.  I’m glad Widow Beth ate his MRA poster ass.  Everything about him was terrifying and all too real.

I love that Jeremy is playing the foil to Doc’s straight man. He has just the right mixture of naïveté, optimism, and intelligence to pull it off.  And for the love of god, could Dolls please show him how to properly load a magazine? Watching him fumble around with the bullets in the car was painful. I can see how he failed his firearms test three times.

Why oh WHY did this episode have to combine two things that freak me the f*ck out?  Creepy dolls (thank you to my older sister for torturing me with a picture of Chucky when I was a kid) and creepy paintings (thank you Ghostbusters II).  Maybe y’all can just stick with the red-eyed Revenants?  No?  Okay, cool.

Mattie! I loved the short amount of time we got with the blacksmith in Season One, so I was psyched to see her in the preview.  Nicole is going to be in a pretty bad physical way, and a white healing witch who’s supposed to be dead just happens to be at the hospital?  Huh.  Maybe it’s all connected to Nicole.  Crazy Conspiracy Alert(!): Constance had the spell send Widow Mercedes to Nicole knowing Mattie would have to come out of hiding to save her, because Constance herself needs Mattie’s magic to make her decapitated, pickled, ass whole again.  I can’t wait to be horribly wrong! Making terrible guesses is fun!

Petition for someone in Purgatory to have a spell that gives Mercedes her face back.  Dani Kind is far too great an asset to lose once her Widow form is defeated.  Also, I want to see Widow Mercedes and Bobo interact in the present time, because how freaking delicious would that be?

1X09/2X09 Parallels Galore. In 1X09 Waverly reels from having Shorty’s ripped away from her, tries to walk her way out of town to deal with/avoid her feelings on it, until Nicole threatens her with a good time (her taser), her temper then boils over at Nicole, but she later goes to the police department to make things right/physically launch herself at Nicole’s face.  It was also a heavy Doc and Wynonna interaction episode that ended with them burying Constance Clootie up to her neck.  In 2X09 Waverly is reeling from having her lineage ripped away from her, actually leaves town with Rosita, boils over at Nicole a lot, and ends the episode with the intention of going over to Nicole’s to make things right/physically launch herself at her face.  Doc and Wynonna have another heavy interaction episode and ultimately SHOOT A LIFE-SIZED DOLL IN THE FACE.

That’s all for now folks.  Let’s be good to our cast and show runner, ourselves, and each other okay?  Put your faith in love, and let’s see how everything shakes out come season end.  

I can’t wait for the final three episodes.

#Wynonna Earp #Episode 2X09 #Wayhaught #Nicole Haught #Waverly Earp #I'm not mad about the kiss y'all #I hated watching it #Yelled at the tv screen 'Girl don't do it' the entirety of the scene #but then she did it #and then the episode played out the rest of the way it did #and I was okay with it

[xenosgirlvents]

Farsight, Crisis of Faith-Review

SPOILERS

Let’s get the first thing out of the way; ‘Crisis of Faith’ implies this story is more about Farsight’s dwindling faith in the Ethereals then it actually is. Although that is certainly a part of this novel, it doesn’t really delve too deep into it and, rather, deals more with Farsight’s initial encounters with the Daemons of Chaos.

Synopsis: In sum the story tells of Farsight’s ‘reconquest’ of Vior’los in the aftermath of the Damocles Crusade (the first one). The story is divided into three main pieces; the decision to launch the Second Sphere Expansion and preparation for it, an ambush by Space Marines of Farsight’s expedition within the Damocles Gulf and then, finally, the reconquest of Vior’los itself. Attached to this are some other pieces, presented not in strict chronological order, most important of which is a snapshot of the battle on Arthas Moloch. In addition to this then there is a substory about a Tau Water Caste Member who is possessed by a Daemon of Tzeentch, periodic reports by an Inquisitor infiltrating the Tau back to her significant other and the perspective of the primary antagonists of the story; the Scar Lords Space Marine Chapter.

I make it a bit of a habit of mine to purchase Xenos novels and audio dramas when they come out, even if I’m unsure of their quality, simply since it is the most effective method to encourage more Xenos content in future. Fortunately Crisis of Faith was rather good, not excellent like the Jain Zar novel, but still enjoyable. In many ways it is less the strict story, which is mostly an unremarkable telling of how Farsight beats some Imperium forces to conquer a planet, than it is the amount of information on Tau, Tau characters and society which we get too see which makes the book appealing. So I’ve divided this review, since its nothing formal, just me airing my thoughts for myself, into things and topics which interested me;

Combat: For the most part the combat is fine (though I should note I am not a reader who finds endless description of shooting and chopping fascinating, which is why numerous Black Library novels don’t appeal to me) and there are even some interesting parts. The story doesn’t, usually, spend to much time on the combat, not lingering on it more than necessary for the narrative. There is still a definite feel of ‘Herohammer’ where the overall performance of military units organized into clever movements is less important, seemingly, than the actions of a few exceptional individuals. I honestly wish we’d start seeing less of this in 40k.

Some specifics of the combat I did like is the Tau’s highly practical approach to it; very early on both Farsight and Brightsword point out that the tendency for more than a few Space Marines to not wear helmets is a very exploitable weakness, since a Marine’s head can’t withstand a Plasma Rifle or Fusion Blaster to the face. This reaches its most important point when, confronted by Terminators with Storm Shields who are proving impervious to fire, the Tau deploy optical munitions to blind the receptors of the Helmets, prompting the Marines to discard them so that they can still find their enemy. The Marines are still, thanks to the Storm Shields, immune to fire coming at them, but with their helmets now off a team of Crisis Suits can engage from above them, targeting their exposed heads before they can raise their shields up. Stuff like this, or taking advantage of the Tau arsenal’s capacity for operating from the air (hover tanks, battlesuits) are nice when they’re brought up since they are actually very important advantages, mobility. Similarly the Tau are shown, again, as always being quick to change strategy and tactics to capitalize on weaknesses. After discovering of the importance of the Geller Fields to an Imperial Ship Farsight targets it so that any translation to the Warp will mean almost certain death for the crew.

It is not a Book of Epic Duels really, which suits me fine, since Farsight tends to act towards achieving victory over his enemy without resorting to the ‘I’ll kill their leader myself and then they’ll break’ which has been seen in 40k so many times now. The closest to an epic duel we get is the Epistolary of the Scar Lords final fight against Farsight and his whole band, which is actually won by a Daemon of Tzeentch for the most part. But, for example, the Chapter Master of the Scar Lords and Farsight never actually meet or clash with each other, which was something I enjoyed actually.

Beyond that I just don’t pay attention to scale when it comes to 40k. Books can vary so much, and sometimes seem so impractical with regards to scale in a setting like 40k’s that I tend to, these days, ignore stated numbers and rather read results. Besides the central conceit of 40k has always been that a force of a few hundred can wipe out forces of billions so yeah.

One thing which was very original was that, in the novel, the Space Marines are not the primary military force the Tau struggle with. Once the Tau reach Vior’los, and battle commences, we see Space Marine and Astra Militarum forces being dealt with handily, but it is the Skitarii Legions who pose the greatest problem. The Skitarii have an enormous amount of numbers, with dozens more macroclads being shipped to the planet once the Tau attack begins, and their relentlessness in the face of the Tau assaults are the Tau’s biggest problem to overcome in the consequence. Painting any Imperial military force as doing better against a foe than Space Marines is very rare, so the Skitarii earn definite kudos for it.

Ulimately the end of the battle is a bit repetitive, its another ‘Tau use the enviroment against them’ this time triggering the volcanoes of Vior’los to melt the Skitarii in lava after evacuating the civilians from the slave camps so they won’t be harmed.

Characters: Farsight continues to be fun to read, and very conflicted. He is very notably flawed too, with a lot of his companions spending their time berating him for his temper and his unwilligness to make harsh decisions. Despite this his attitude of detatched analysis is fun to read, often feeling as if he is, like the reader, trying to puzzle out and understand the story he is caught in.

The Farsight/Kais/Shadowsun trio is explored a little bit more but...still not much. That being said what is shown makes me incredibly hungry for more. The three have an incredibly stuffed up relationship now, despite having been as close as Tau can be in their youth. It is made clear that post Dal’yth the three aren’t really ‘friends’ anymore, with Kais basically never even talking to them and Shadowsun and Farsight’s relationship being incredibly strained. In this dynamic Farsight seems the one most eager to repair their friendship, always thinking of his two companions in fond terms still, and desperately wishing for their involvement in his life (particularly Shadowsun’s). However, standing in his way is his own fame. Its made rather clear that, at least Shadowsun’s, resentment of Farsight has a large part to do with him being seemingly treated as the saviour of the Tau whilst her efforts are ignored. Farsight himself, when appointed to lead the Second Sphere Expedition, points out that Shadowsun has a better win record than him, even on Dal’yth, and is better when operating in support of fleets. Despite this acrimony Shadowsun does still clearly care for Farsight, and we get to see the rather touching scene of Farsight bidding Shadowsun goodbye as she goes into stasis (with the two assuming they’ll never see each other again). Shadowsun feels guilty about something in Farsight’s past, the same way he feels guilty for Shadowsun being ignored in the present.

What we get on Kais is less but sounds awesome. Kais is effectively a broken soul, as Farsight thinks of him, a Tau who is totally lost and alienated, desiring to be alone which is abhorrent to the Tau spirit of community (something Farsight and Shadowsun both feel is important, cooperating as a group). But Kais’ issues are clearly deep, with Kais seemingly fearing becoming close to others. When Farsight rushes over to talk to Kais and Shadowsun before they are put into stasis he comes to late for Kais, with the Earth Caste explaining that Kais asked to be put under instantly, which Farsight notes is very like Kais since it effectively amounts to him running away from contact with others. Kais is clearly described in very ominous and dangerous terms throughout the book, whenever Farsight thinks of him.

Other than these three we have a nice supporting Caste; O’blotai continues to join Bravestorm and Brightsword as Farsight’s main supporting cast (I do wish there had been a female member of the 8 before Torchstar). O’blotai is the strongest of the three in character, serving still as something of a mentor to Farsight, whilst Bravestorm has perhaps the least to do (except be the best in a physical fight cause of his Onager Gauntlet). Brightsword is still Brightsword; the overzealous rookie who can’t get enough of fighting. He provides a lot of humour with his quips, but his overzealousness is also something which causes Farsight trouble.

O’vesa is still here and I love him cause he is so adorably heartless, approaching everything in such a rational method that, without meaning to, he’s constantly infuriating Farsight.

There is a tragic lack of important female characters. This is very frustrating, considering these are the Tau, and I hope we get a Shadowsun novel series too which can then hopefully counterbalance this to an extent. Of the new female Tau we’re introdcued to only three matter; a Water Caste Ambassador who just exists to again show Aun’va is evil, an Earth Caste Terraformer who’s there to talk to O’vesa sometimes and also to help shore up gender balance in the Elemental Council by making it that there’s almost always a male and female Tau representing every Caste and an Ethereal who is basically just Aun’va but less evil but already going to die on Arthas Moloch and does basically nothing.

Non-Tau important characters breakdown mostly to an Inquisitor female, Vrykola, pretending to be a Gue’vesa and the Scar Lords Space Marine Chapter (though the Hammers of Dorn do make an appearance). Vrykola herself does little in the story till the end, but her regular ‘missives’ sent back to her significant other are fun to read, often showing a nuanced take on both the Tau Empire and the Imperium, disillusioned with both in many ways. She doesn’t attempt to deny that much cruelty in the Imperium is not necessary, but she still feels committed to saving the project as a whole. In her own words there are aspects of the Imperium she thinks it would be better without. By the end of the book she has begun to fear she is becoming the mask, so to speak, with a clear sympathy for the Tau which leads to her using her powers against a Space Marine Librarian to save Farsight. She still feels loyal to the Imperium, she confides in her final missive, but she at the same time clearly isn’t dedicated to the destruction of the Tau anymore and even thinks they may be potential allies.

The Scar Lords were already written as participating in the first Damocles Crusade, as part of this is the already existing fluff that their Chapter Master was trapped on Dal’yth in a Stasis Bomb. This paints the background for their burning vendetta against the Tau and their rather young and inexperienced Chapter Master who has only very recently taken command. The Scar Lords are largely painted as competent, their very first ambush wiping out a 1/3rd of Farsight’s initial expedition, if somewhat overzealous, their own recklessness usually being their undoing.

Then there are two other characters to briefly mention; Aun’va. Honestly. Ugh.

Aun’va being evil isn’t a problem. In fact having an ‘evil’ Tau is nice and a lot that can be done with it. But...Aun’va has become a bad cartoon parody. He is so obviously evil compared to all other Tau that its mind boggling. We get it. He’s bad. He basically does nothing in the book except have a scene of ordering a Water Caste Member to kill herself so we can all go ‘so evil’. It’d be okay if he was effective, but he’s basically never got anything right, so rather than getting a cool ‘Tau Palpatine’ feel from him, he just comes across as some obviously evil idiot who lucks into power without performing a single impressive feat.

Then we have Waterspider, a derogatory nickname implying that he can only skim the surface of water, unlike a proper Water Caste member who can submerge within it. Early on he attempts to help translate the markings on a captured Imperial Warp Drive but, activating it, he ends up possessed by a Daemon which makeshim incapable of lying, practically ending his career as a Water Caste member. Honestly its really sad to read him cutting his own tongue and then staring into a mirror, willing himself with all his might just to tell a simple lie...but still can’t. The line between the Daemon and Waterspider himself can seem blurred, and isn’t explicitly delineated (which I loved), and through the course of the book he plays Tau serial killer in the background, whilst also merrily supporting Farsight, wanting to help him spread bloodshed throughout the galaxy. He is a treat to read, particularly due to his inability to lie. He is something of the ‘true’ antagonist, being the final confrontation Farsight has, and also the meta-point of Farsight realizing there are ‘forces’ he doesn’t understand.

Chaos: The Daemons and raw energy of the Warp is often unimpressive to me in fluff, just appearing and then dying, as if they’re just another type of enemy. This book very much plays on Chaos’ subtle role again, something I enjoyed greatly, with Waterspider reflecting the danger of Daemonic Possession. We also get to see funny scenes like, when noticing Horrors wear jewelled bands and such, Farsight tries to offer them gold to negotiate!

Setting: There’s quite a bit on the setting here which was fun to read. Tau political decisions on a macro level first go through the Ethereal Council, the highest political body, before being deliberated on by an Elemental Council which constitutes a body with two representativesof each Caste (including Ethereal) and two seats for the Kindred Souls (non-Tau member races). There doesn’t seem to be fixed membership of the council, rather at each Council the Caste or Kindred Souls can designate who to attend and deliberate. The Kindred Souls on Dal’yth, making the decision to launch the Second Sphere of Expansion, included a Nicassar and a Human. Any major cross-caste decisions are taken by Elemental Quorums, a collection of the two highest ranked members of every Caste partaking in the matter.

There is sadly not as much of the other races as I’d enjoy, the Nicassar gets to make some pointed comments, sensing immediately when the Imperial vessel’s Geller Fields are down and warning the Tau to stay away from it, and some Kroot cheering when Aun’Wei talks about the Tau’s alliance with other races.

One thing that is very nice is we do get an extended examination of how Tau expansion operates, with Merchant contacts leading the way, offering cheap and effective technologies which usually reduce labour and risk of life and damage to the locals of planets. Furthermore the Tau offer free medical care, eliminating, we’re told, many diseases which plague the Imperium on worlds who allow them to land. The obvious conclusions of this is that, as Waterspider says to Farsight, most people who join the Empire don’t do it because they believe in the Tau’va like the Tau do, they just would prefer to live longer, healthier and more safely, and the Tau offer this at a very low price so long as accession into the Empire is accepted. Meaning only groups who value their independence more than their welfare tend to resist them.

We also get to see Vior’los as run by the Mechanicum and...it isn’t pretty. Tau civilians are hunted down, rounded up, marched across the desert to Volcanos, and then thrown into them to be melted alive. Humans are forced to serve as slaves, beaten if they so much as look up from their work stations, and brutalized so badly that even when their captors are killed they just keep working, having no independent will left in them (until some help with Chaos riles them up against their slavers). It is honestly a very sad bit to read what was being done to the population of Vior’los, both human and Tau, and Farsight is very incensed at the atrocities being committed.

Final Thoughts: Its a fine book, I enjoyed it. Its not amazing, I prefer Fire Warrior as a Tau novel, but it is still good and I hope we’ll see similar books about Aun’Shi, Shadowsun and Kais soon. Honestly I’d love for a followup on Aun’shi’s fate right now, and I’d love for a female Ethereal Special Character.

[cryptoriawebb]

Dead Men Tell No Tales: review

What the hell, gotta start somewhere.

When I first heard about this movie, I initially wrote it off. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been around for so long and unlike, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even the X-men films (of which I am personally partial to) they haven’t made any particular, long-standing mark, beyond Jack Sparrow as a character himself. That, and I wasn’t particularly impressed with On Stranger Tides. The story, I felt at the time, had wrapped up enough there needn’t be any further sequels, and standalone films (because that is what it felt like) seemed like nothing more than an excuse to keep pumping merchandise and Depp working in Hollywood.

However. I admit I have not seen On Stranger Tides since its release in 2011. I’m thinking I may go back and rewatch the entire saga, see if my overall opinion changes. I quite liked the first film, particularly the horrific angles and that it drew primary inspiration from a theme park attraction. When I heard this fifth installment was supposed to echo the first one in tone and supernatural involvement, I began to change my mind about writing it off. Then I saw the most recent trailer, a trailer that not only included Orlando Bloom, whom I assumed, along with Keira Knightly, left the franchise to pursue other opportunities, but Will and Elizabeth’s son. I admit, I’m a sucker for family relationship and tragic stories, and while yes, I would have been fine with leaving things At World’s End, a small part of me has always wondered what happened to the Turners after. Truthfully, I think I might have preferred a film focusing more on Bloom and less on Jack Sparrow; Jack’s…a unique eccentric, but as I said, I’m a sucker for tragedy.

Before I go any further I’d like to point out I tend to be anal about continuity. However many years apart these films are (any franchise, actually) they’re all telling one long story and things ought to flow as smoothly as possible. So I was a little confused, watching young Henry’s interaction with his father. If I remember correctly, Will could only return to land once every ten years, and the third film ended with the Dutchman sailing towards them. I may be wrong about that last part but I know for sure there was a ten year waiting period before reunion. So was this the first meeting between father and son? It didn’t seem that way, but the dialogue between them felt so melodramatic I couldn’t tell for sure. I’d like to think maybe it wasn’t, maybe Henry spent some months after meeting his father for the first time studying the Dutchman and mythology so he could find him at sea. Maybe along the lines of ‘finally meeting your father, seeing how much he cared for his family and how painful it was to say goodbye’ or something.

I blame the script more on Bloom’s delivery than the words themselves. I mean, they weren’t…the most original, reminded me of a soap opera, really, but there just didn’t seem to be any spark from Bloom, little or no energy. I don’t know if that was intentional or not but it kind of dampened what could have been a really dramatic moment. Ten years spent cursed among the dead…separated from your family against your will, that’s a lot to work with. I will say the boy who played Henry did a decent job capturing that urgent determination. I only wish it were reciprocated…

I’m not going to lie, part of me hoped, purely from a story perspective, Elizabeth had died. I think it might have added a little more to Henry’s character in adulthood; at the same time, I really did want to see the family reunited and I wasn’t expecting Knightly to appear, which might be why I informed my initial opinion. Off-screen mentions without appearance weakens a character’s intensity.

Honestly, I don’t have as much to say, scene-by-scene. Much of the film ran as most of in this franchise do: ludicrous schemes by Jack and his crew, chases and impromptu/chaotic character introductions, Barbossa’s sudden appearance, even the eerie sorcerous-types.  Don’t get me wrong, the story itself contained elements I didn’t see coming; I’m referring to the overall method of delivery—the journey itself as opposed to the stops along the way.

I do want to mention Salazar before I forget. His opening scene was fantastic and probably my favorite moment in the film. It was, and such a tease. I’d hoped by the way he looked and carried himself I was in for a really dark, horrific ride. Instead, that promise fell a bit flat in favor of quirky inflection and sexual innuendo. I will give the movie points for blending both the dark and humor well together: I’ve seen a few movies over the last couple of years fail spectacularly in this regard. And I also admit my inclinations for the spooky really are more personal preference than anything implied by promotion. It has been a few years since I’ve seen the first movie; it may not be quite as dark or scary as I remember, older as I am now.

Back to Salazar…he was by far my favorite part of the film. Yes, I have seen a lot of villains driven half-mad by revenge, but he held a kind of captivating power about him when on-screen. I couldn’t look away. Normally I’m not the biggest fan of computer-generated effects over the practical but it worked really well for Salazar and his crew. His face, his hair…when he first introduced himself as death I genuinely thought he might be. I would certainly by Death having a vendetta against Jack. He escaped…twice now? Technically? Although not without help, if I’m remembering correctly. Going back to effects, I was absolutely fascinated by he and his crew: you could tell even before the backstory they walked exactly as they died—his hair mimicking the water he drowned in I didn’t catch until the flashback but damn…such a cool effect. I do also want to point out what practical effects there were though. Salazar’s mouth—really all their mouths. I watched a bonus feature included in the first film some years ago that went in detail about applying ‘pirate teeth’ to the actors. I’m sure methods have changed over the years, but it’s no less interesting. Oh, and the black blood, or whatever it was…that was truly horrifying. I loved it. Salazar was by far my favorite character in this film and in my opinion, its one notable highlight.

Praise aside, I’m not sure introducing a new villain in the ‘final’ film was the best decision. It hurts me to say it because again, I loved Salazar, but I really think bringing someone back, someone the audience saw perish on one of Jack’s adventures, someone who blamed him or perhaps actively pursued and failed to capture/stop/kill him, might have added emotional weight. I had read there was speculation regarding Norrington’s return; I personally would have preferred this. He really came into his own as a character and serves as a prime example of what getting involved with Jack Sparrow can do. To see him undead and commanding a power he never possessed in life would have been so…I don’t want to say horrifying again but it would have. Especially a reunion with Barbossa!

Don’t get me wrong, I do think there is importance and significance in delving into Jack’s past. We see a lot of who Jack is and hear of what he’s done but we never see who he was and what made him the way he is. Though Jack isn’t my favorite character I know he’s the heart of this franchise and he deserves development, too. He’s constantly called ‘the worst pirate [I’ve] ever heard of.’ And that’s true, he really isn’t a good pirate…but he carries with him the essence of someone who once was. He still sees himself as this great, untouchable captain and I bet that’s why he’s stepped in so many times and prevented a lot of awful things from happening. That, and I’m sure some part of him cares about the people he’s with (which in hindsight may be why some people see him as a poor excuse for a pirate.) I don’t know…this isn’t meant to be a character study. Just some things to think about.

While not entirely necessary I did find it cool, seeing how Jack achieved much of his iconic attire. And where the compass came from…although I can’t for the life of me remember why it’s tied to the Devil’s Triangle. I really should have rewatched the other movies beforehand.

As far as the other new characters, I was pleasantly impressed. I worried I’d see copies of Will and Elizabeth in Henry and Carina; while there were small nods here and there both stood out as individuals, Carina especially. I was afraid she’d follow the same trend several female protagonists seem to suffer from lately; namely, a staple for female empowerment and nothing more. Thankfully, she wasn’t. Yes, she was strong-willed and stubborn but so is most everyone in this franchise and those traits are not at all signs of surefire propaganda. Adding astronomy/horology to her character also helped her stand out; I haven’t seen a character in the PotC world yet really touch on it, and it’s such a fascinating concept, at least to me, in historical fiction. Before the world of google and apple maps, there were stars. And people who could read them as easily as Siri can our phones fascinate me.

Loved her banter with Henry, too. It was cute, playful but not without that stubbornness on both ends. I’m usually adverse to the whole ‘love interest’ subplot; there’s hardly enough time in movies and during ones that move ahead, rarely any chemistry. I didn’t mind these two, even though I expected it. I think that lively, friendly spirit between them helped: they felt a lot more like equals than a lot of other romances I’ve seen on-screen lately. Speaking of the on-screen experience, I did not at all expect her to be Barbossa’s daughter. I’ve seen enough movies now I can usually predict most twist and turns; I didn’t at all see this coming. That was a pleasant surprise, especially when so much else about this film carried an almost fatigued familiarity. I did enjoy it, and I would probably go see it again, if only to see if there’s more to pick up, but it never once heightened the stakes beyond what this series has come to be known for. That, in my opinion, was probably the greatest tragedy.

Going back to the characters, because I’ve still more to say, I’m repeatedly amazed how Barbossa’s character continues to develop. In my personal opinion, he stands out the most because of it. Looking back on where he came from in the first film to now…there’s a real, honest heart and realness to him—you really feel what he feels and I was genuinely saddened by his death. I know someone had to die—someone usually does in ‘final’ chapters but I really wish it hadn’t been Barbossa.  I think some of this is definitely attributed to Geoffrey Rush, but some of it, too, to the script and direction. When he learned the truth about Carina, you could really see and feel what he felt; this continued in every scene following her but didn’t disrupt the pirate he was. Rather, I think it allowed another side only previously glimpsed to come out. Not just in previous films, but this one, too. I find it really interesting, and maybe clever, now, that he’s introduced as this lavish, temperamental ruler of the high seas. One might get the implication he’s become shallow, callous and full of himself, but this begins to change as his men begin to die and you discover more has changed than first assumed.

I really do wish Jack had been given an arc like Barbossa. Maybe not a surprise child, but something that drew more from him than his eccentricities. Although…one might argue the drunk, down on his luck pirate is development in of himself. We’ve seen Jack at his high points, but he isn’t where he was anymore and I wonder if the alcohol and insistence on tribute and whatnot are an attempt to cling to that greatness he once held…I digress. I would have liked to see more. Especially if this is the final installment. Jack is back on top again, but I’m not…entirely sure he earned it? If that makes any sense. He felt a lot more like a passenger in this film, an observer as opposed to an active participant. Strange, given the villain’s primary motives. In that regard, it is interesting when comparing him to Barbossa. At the start of the first film, they were in opposite positions. I mean Jack didn’t rule the high seas but he carried himself with an air that implied he believed it.

That sums up most of what I had to say. There are a few loose ends, however:

1)      Why did no one age? Hollywood has this bizarre notion we can just pretend however many years have passed despite no one except the young characters aging. I don’t buy it, and I don’t like it. Barbossa was the only one I felt who looked older, but only just. I would have liked to see Jack with a bit of gray in his hair, or Elizabeth with a few more lines. I’m fine with Will not aging, it makes sense for his character and it’s kind of interesting to think about: he’s spent so long aboard that ship, so long trapped in his cursed state while his son’s grown up…and for Will, physically, it’s like almost no time has passed at all.

2)      I’m glad Gibbs is back. He’s always been my favorite member of Jack’s crew. I did, however, miss those two goofy pirates. I forget their names, but one of them had a glass/wooden eye. They were always such fun characters and I can’t for the life of me remember what happened to them at the end of the last film (third film?)

3)      Paul McCartney! Didn’t recognize him until afterwards. I enjoyed the exchange, but I admit, that little scene confused me; I wondered if Uncle Jack had been mentioned or seen before. Now I understand.

4)      Did Barbossa know about the triton the whole time? Did he really believe it and study the location? I can’t remember.

5)      That possession scene was not nearly as freaky as it could have been. Salazar seemed so assured the Triton would fix everything it kind of killed its encompassing awe. There should have been more emotional weight and it should have lasted longer. I think that would have helped heighten the stakes. Everything in this movie was ‘a little of this, a little of that.’ Sampling but never having a full dish to yourself.

6)      I would have loved to see Poseidon. He’s one of my favorite Greek gods...although I doubt he’d actually look remotely Greek, but that’s another personal thing. I’m wondering if we’ll see him in a later film, now that his triton’s been destroyed. Or maybe he and the other gods have long since vanished—it kind of seems that way, with Calypso being a remaining oddity. Maybe the triton is a lone remaining artifact. Although I’m still surprised there wasn’t more protecting it. I can appreciate a different angle, although I think it hurt any direness the climax might have held.

7)      Speaking of the gods, do their curses remain in place, with the triton broken? That was never made clear…I hope so. I love the mythos of the sea and if this isn’t the last movie I’d like to see it brought back in some way. It’s always (well, once I got over my crush on Jack) been my biggest draw.

8)      What happened to Bootstrap Bill? Did he not board land with Will at the end of the film? Are we to assume he did even though we didn’t see it? Given the parallels between generations of fathers and sons, I’d hoped we’d see something more of him.

9)      Speaking of Will’s return, I did tear up a little but I felt Bloom’s acting fell flat, again. I really hope that’s just me though. I loved Will’s character arc and if there is another film I hope it follows the buzz I’ve heard so far: focusing on him and his son. Provided Orlando’s up for it, of course. I don’t want to sit through two and a half something hours of him half-assing it.

10)   Didn’t expect Keira’s cameo either. That was really touching.

11)   Davy Jones????? Is he back? Wikipedia (yes, Wikipedia) said the Triton freed him from Calypso. I’m wondering if that means curses set upon by gods remain unaffected by the triton. It would explain that slimy, tentacle-silhouette. But if he has returned, then why? How? Is he the last cursed creature of the sea? What does he have against Will, now? And will there be another movie?

12)   Less a critique and more personal wishlist:  I wanted more skeleton pirates. I don’t know how or why, but I wanted them. Really bring everything full circle although I have no idea how you’d bring it back. Maybe Salazar succeeds in ‘killing’ Jack or something but the Triton’s power gets in the way? I have no idea. That final battle in the first film was so memorable I really wanted to see something similar. I also wanted to see the Dutchman in action. The sea was literally parted, how cool would it be to see that ship swimming alongside one wall?

I really need to rewatch these movies. So many unanswered questions! I can’t believe I’m getting excited about PotC again…never thought that would happen in a million years.

#pirates of the caribbean #dead men tell no tales review #jack sparrow #will turner #henry turner #hector barbossa #carina barbossa #armando salazar #returnedtothecrypt

[nellie-elizabeth]

Supernatural: Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets (12x10)

A gift of an episode. Honestly. Such a gift. I don't have anything else to say in this intro... let's just get started.

Cons:

I will say, though, this episode did nothing to assuage my fears about the disjointed nature of this season. The going concerns at the beginning of the season were: Mary Winchester is back from the dead, and the British Men of Letters are simultaneously crazy and pretty boring from the viewer's perspective. Now, what with Billie being killed, the new thing we have to worry about is the "cosmic consequences" that will come from cheating their way out of a deal with Death. Not only does this sound like the typical big-scale-end-of-the-world stuff that Supernatural should be steering clear of right now, it also splits our focus. I'm not saying I loved the British MOL plot thread, but the longer they go without making some real progress on that, the more pointless it seems.

This episode featured flashbacks to the early twentieth century. These scenes did their job in terms of giving us exposition, but if you're going to flash back, show Cas in a female vessel, and get everybody dressed up in period clothing, it would be nice if the flashbacks added something really special. There was really no point to showing all of this stuff instead of just having our guest characters give an expository monologue. I wanted to explore all the possibilities. These angels have never been to earth before, so what does that mean for them? Do any of these characters have moral misgivings about killing the Nephilim? I guess what I'm saying is, the flashbacks were not utilized very well. There seemed to be no point to going through all that effort.

Pros:

But I'm nitpicking. I'll give a very concise plot summary: a woman named Lily is out for revenge against the angels who killed her daughter, a Nephilim. Cas teams up with angels he used to work with. We then learn that Lily's daughter was actually human, and that Ishim, one of Cas' old colleagues, knew this and killed her anyway. Lily teams up with the guys to kill Ishim, and leaves uncertain if her need for revenge is full quashed.

First off, I really loved the woman playing Lily Sunder. She was a total bad-ass, and managed to make that eye patch look properly threatening. Her dilemma was really rich, too. See, she's been keeping herself alive and healthy for over 100 years using Enochian magic, the magic of angels. However, every time she does this, it means she gives up part of her soul. Eventually, she'll feel nothing. Everything she's doing, she does to get revenge for losing her daughter. But in order to keep doing it, she's losing the very identity that makes her grieve her daughter in the first place. This is a fascinating dynamic. I really hope we see Lily again. She was far too cool of a character to waste on a one-off.

Learning more about angels is always interesting to me. The angel through-plot on this show has had a lot of missteps, but whenever the focus is put on them and it does work, it really works. This was such an example. There's a clear divide between our angel characters, here: Cas, who "fell in love with humanity," is perceived as weak by Ishim, who rejects humans as being no better than apes. Of course, Ishim is the one who became obsessed with Lily, and killed her child because of it.

The mythology of Nephilim, while discussed before, is still quite interesting to me. Obviously this helps remind us what a Nephilim is, for the very practical reason that there's a woman out there right now carrying around Lucifer's child. But it also cuts to the core of a very real moral dilemma. Cas believed - and in fact still seems to believe - that killing Nephilim is not wrong, because they are too powerful to be contained. He's not ashamed of playing his part in killing Lily's daughter, even if he knows it's tragic. When Cas finds out that this little girl, May, was human, he is deeply apologetic, but he still says that he "didn't know he was killing an innocent." Despite Lily's grief and drive for revenge, Cas still stands by the fact that killing Nephilim is right. It's an interesting direction to go. Sam and Dean can't quite get on board with that line of thinking. Somewhere out there is a mother and her unborn child. How can that be pure evil?

The best thing about this episode was the interplay between Sam, Dean, and Cas. There's so much to talk about here, I'm worried I'm going to miss some of this deliciousness in writing it all down.

It's an all too common problem in this show to introduce a big plot element (i.e. Billie being killed and the threat of "cosmic consequences") and then just let it lie fallow for too long. Reminders of the A-plot are shoved awkwardly in at the beginning of C-plot episodes in shoddy exposition. Instead, this episode does something really brilliant. Cas killing Billie is a bit plot point in this episode. Dean is furious at Cas for making such a risky decision, and Cas is angry at Dean for being mad at him for saving his life. Sam is trying to play peacekeeper.

What's so brilliant is that this resentment carries over into the actual plot of the episode, as we have a conflict of philosophies going on between Cas and Ishim. When Ishim taunts Cas for being friends with the Winchesters, he can point to the specific fact that Sam and Dean question his decisions, and belittle him by not believing he knows what's best. This is a simplistic way of looking at it, but Ishim is not entirely wrong. For all that Cas is an ancient and powerful being, the Winchester still tend to treat him as an incompetent but well-meaning ally some of the time. It all comes to a head when Dean and Sam sit down with Cas at the end of the episode and reassure him that they think he's strong. Dean isn't angry about Billie - he's worried. And Cas stays firm, too. He's not sorry for what he did.

In fact, just a general shout-out to Cas for this episode. He was definitely the MVP. The biggest laugh in the whole hour is when Dean, Sam, and Cas are all in the impala, heading to find out what happened to Cas' angel friend who called for help. Sam tries to break the awkward silence, while Dean and Cas just sit in stony silence. Dean makes a comment about Benjamin, Cas' friend, seeming like a level-headed guy who wouldn't make off-the-cuff risky decisions, and Cas responds that what he likes about Benjamin is that while he's sarcastic, he's also appreciative. Dean says "what's that supposed to mean?!" and Sam has to jump in to prevent escalation.

It was oddly refreshing to see these two angry with each other, because it felt like the way a family would really behave. Cas is staying in the bunker, by the way... we definitely got confirmation about that, and it's oh so glorious. Nobody is shunning anybody, nobody is betraying anybody... we've just got two family members in the middle of a nasty argument. The best thing is, as the story of the week unfolds, we don't lose this tension between Dean and Cas, but we also see that they're a good team. They check in on each other, they defend each other, even in the midst of their own arguments. That felt like something a family would do.

I liked seeing Cas interact with other angels, because it immediately made Sam and Dean the outsiders, which is all too rare. Cas basically orders Sam and Dean to play by his rules, and while they don't exactly adhere to that order, they seem to understand they're operating on Cas' turf, here.

I'm sure everybody's talking about the Destiel angle with this one, and while I didn't see it here as much as I have in other spots... yeah. It's still totally a thing. Especially when Ishim talks about cutting out Cas' weakness, and immediately goes to hurt Dean. And then Dean, who could have banished Ishim using an angel sigil, doesn't go through with it when Ishim threatens that a severely weakened Cas might be killed if he's banished right now. Quite a bit of casual touching in this episode as well, which I always appreciate.

I think my favorite subtle little moment was between Sam and Lily. Dean, albeit a bit unwillingly, has left Sam alone with Lily, to find Cas and Ishim and get to the bottom of Lily's story. Lily tells Sam that Ishim will kill Dean once he knows Dean suspects him of killing a human child. She tells Sam that she's willing to wait for that to happen, because she knows Sam will help her get her revenge once his brother is dead. Just the look in Sam's eyes is enough to impart so much: deep fear about losing his brother, and a bone-deep certainty that Lily is telling the truth. If anybody touches Dean, Sam will rip them apart. It pays off when Sam and Lily show up to help Dean and Cas take down Ishim. Dean says "I thought you were supposed to keep her out of this," and Sam just responds "Changed my mind."

I guess I'll stop there. I was thoroughly impressed. This episode managed to stand on its own, and also teach us a lot about these characters. The A-plot of this season of Supernatural has been something of an incoherent mess, but on an individual episode level? I'm pretty happy!

9.5/10

#review #supernatural #supernatural review #spn

[tinnefoil]

Some thoughts on the fixxer upper concept

A while ago somebody posted an article that complained about Karamel following a fixxer-upper storyline structure and those are creepy and pretty sexist. 

Now, I actually do agree with many of these concepts. 

But what struck me about the argument was that I personally differentiate between: 

1.) Fixxer Upper

2.) Lovable oaf

3.) Badboy redeemed

(and lovable/angsty badboy)

For example, I don’t see Homer Simpson and most of the “Sitcom where the wife is attractive and the husband is not” as fixxer uppers. Because I don’t think that the Homer is ever going to change. The implication to me is more that Homer has a (in his case huuuuuuge) set of unappealing and awful traits, but he has some traits that Marge likes and that in her hand make up for it. [or: Homer “changes” mostly in such that the writers sometimes throw in a nicer episode because they worry the watchers will get sick of it, note, I haven’t watched the Simpsons regularly anymore for ages, maybe my info is outdated]

The “friendly” version lovable idiot is probably something like “accept people who they are” or “we are all flawed” etc. 

As for the difference between fixxer upper and badboy redeemed. I guess I would say the gravity of the crimes? And that badboy redeemed maybe has a bigger focus on paying for your sins versus changing? Or a bigger focus on “only she understands his real pain”. 

I actually find most of these elements are at least so far relatively absent in Karamel and if they exist, they are not a huge focus. (like Kara doesn’t spend a ton of time trying to understand Mon-El’s manpain and cuddling him over it, or at least not on screen)

Anyway, I think one aspect is the different treatment of crimes versus habits. In society if you commit a murder you are expected to go to jail. We can talk very long and detail about the philosophy of jail, but let’s agree that in the public consciousness this is often thought of as “paying” for you crime. (in fandom paying usually comes in a bunch of different forms, having bad things happen to you and suffering (karma justice/paying in pain, sometimes bleeding over bad childhood as both payment and excuse), trying to do good things to “make up for it”, direct compensation to the people who you have hurt, forgiveness from the people you have hurt) 

But you don’t “pay” for chewing with your mouth open (well at least I hope you don’t). You just either learn to stop it or you don’t.   

The other thing about fixxer upper, or rather what I picture under fixxer upper is that: 

1.) Fixxer uppers are imo relatively frequent in real life

2.) Fixxer uppers are by comparison imo relatively rare in fiction

3.) I personally believe the main reason for 2 is because men really hate fixxer upper as a concept 

Again, I do think that fixxer upper as a concept are is based on sexist ideas about roles. I think it is best personified by the saying “Women marry a guy hoping they can change him, men marry a woman hoping that she will never change” (ie never gain weight, never get a better job, never want less sex than before, never have less time for him) 

It’s this whole idea that women have to do all the impressing work upfront or that relationships are more front loaded for men (ie the good parts are the beginning and it goes downhill from there). Excluding the idea that there for example might be non-domestic women or men who really do get something out of domesticity. 

I think the male perspective on the fixxer upper is the vision of the nagging shrew who always tries to push you into things you don’t want and can’t just let you live in peace and accept you who you are. I think we see a slightly sanitized version of this in the various “men who never want to grow up” comedies, where the women are portrayed as spoilsports but maybe with some underlying “okay, maybe she is kinda sorta right in principle, I have to grow up eventually”. 

In real life the fixxer upper relationships I’ve seen usually centered around: 

1.) Losing weight

2.) Eating more healthy

3.) Dressing better

4.) Getting rid of sucky friends

5.) Getting a job

6.) Asking for a promotion 

(so this is what I’m picturing when somebody says fixxer upper, more like the slobby guy, the “well he is not as fit or well dressed or rich as I would like him to be, but those things I can fix”, and not the wifebeater/drug addict/5th stint in jail guy and his handwringing long suffering wife)

I can’t say how happy or unhappy these real life fixxer uppers are, though a decent amount of them seem to last a decent amount of time, and at least some women come off almost if they are bragging about it, almost like it is some kind of hobby. 

In real life I always kind of fascinating because in real life the joke on this is often that men have to be molded/have no will of their own (like jokes that one has to unlearn him any bad habits that his mother or last girlfriend taught him or jokes that the previous girlfriend did a good job in breaking him in). Which again I think is the reason why men don’t really care for seeing this portrayed in fiction. 

So the female negative perspective on Fixxer Upper is that it means that good women have to marry slobs and improve them because men are not taught to fix themselves up for relationships to the same extent as women are and the male perspective is something like that women are shrews who care about the wrong things, don’t accept you for who you are, and always try to push you into a direction you don’t want. 

In real life I suspect men go into this because well, most of these things are usually can be argued to have some sort of benefit or are not too end of the world awful. 

I’m guessing the romanticized version of fixxer upper from the women’s side is that she isn’t really forcing him into it, that he has this inner need anyway. 

And I guess the romanticized version from the man’s POV is supposed to be that somebody saw their true potential and supported them all the way through. (kind of like a slightly more down to earth “chosen one” narrative, based on this idea that most normal people probably at least sometimes feel that they are wasting their potential, but procrastination or maybe even self confidence is a hard thing to shake). 

Which brings me to another aspect, namely that fixxer upper as a construct is like really taboo in real life when it goes into the other direction. A woman wanting her boyfriend to lose weight is her caring about his health. A man wanting his girlfriend to lose weight makes him an horrible shallow person. Because we trust women to not just be superficial and visually oriented and to be nurturing, but we don’t trust men to be the same. Because for a woman to be beautiful has a very different meaning and value in a social context than it has for a man. And because for a long time the tools men had to try to affect their spouse’s life were very different than the other way around (like the man having the right to decide whether the woman can have a job or a bank account). 

The original article also talked about, what about the other side. What about female fixxer uppers? 

I think there are male fantasy versions that are kind of related to this concept. I think the male version of fixxer upper/badboy redeemed tends to bleed over more into a hero fantasy. It’s basically “the girl with ‘issues’”. Falling for the drug addict girl and trying to get her to come clean. Falling for the girl whose boyfriend beats her and always goes back to him (bleeding into nice guy (tm) and “if she only came to her senses and saw that I’m so much better for her”).

So back to fixxer upper versus lovable oaf versus angsty badboy. Now I do think that there’s a reason why they tend to bleed over into each other. Because I’m sure a lot of characters are a mix between them. 

Like, most redeeming badboys probably also suffers from habits that need fixing that were responsible for him doing the crimes in the first place (I guess maybe there are some exceptions where it’s more like “basically good guy in character who did bad things in the past that he feels guilty over”, but I would put that more under “goodguy with a dark and tragic past” rather than “badboy redeemed”). So he needs to do both, unlearn the old habits and pay for the crimes. Or it might be decided that it’s wrong for the woman to try to fix a guy or at least to try and fix all habits, so in regards to those habits he turns into the lovable oaf. He still retains some bad habits, but he’s still lovable due to other traits.  

Btw, it gets further complicated that what fandom considers crimes doesn’t necessarily overlap 100% with actual crimes, like fandom tends to see cheating as a crime-crime and is much more likely to make excuses for “I was violent/murdered somebody to protect my loves ones”. It creates some interesting situations when for example cheating gets treated more like a crime that you pay for (like by being beaten up and crying a lot) rather than habit you have to fight/get rid of, with like psychological help. 

One last thing, I think both fixxer upper and badboy redeemed are often a type of power fantasy. Now this doesn’t mean that it’s good or healthy (like one can argue that this power fantasy is attractive because it comes from a person of powerless or otherwise one wouldn’t have to fantasize about it), it just means that that is what it feels like to the people who like it. Because to shape a person or to deeply affect their lives, are examples of having power over a person. 

The other example of course is people who like badboy redeemed from the perspective of the angsty badboy. I think this blends into the fantasy of the chosen one, of we know we suck/are less than our perfect selves, but then somebody comes and sees our potential and helps us develop it. It makes me wonder if this is related the other version, the one with the fixxer upper girl, being so taboo in society. That outside of some teacher/mentor relationships, the true equivalent of badboy redeemed, where the person is really shit, has give into her feelings, be rebuilt, see that they are shit and strive to become better is considered much more creepy with the genders reversed. Because we assume men are more controlling, because the mental image of a girl running to gain a guy’s approval is much more scary to us, because the push for women to take care of the changing without prompting is bigger/the criticism on fictional relationships like that would be harsher. Or maybe seeing it with a girl as the one to redeemed hits too close to home, so it is “safer” to project those feelings on a guy. 

To get back to the original topic: I think Kara/Mon-El so far shares the most traits with Fixxer Upper and fewer traits with traditional badboy redeemed. We might end up with some elements of lovable oaf, but it’s too soon to tell. 

#supergirl meta #mon-el