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rametarin · 3 months

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Sokka and misogyny

Can we be honest? The writing for Sokka's misogyny was tacked on in the original, because that was the style at the time. It was a remnant of the same hamfisted "lets signal how progressive and forwards we are by having Female Character put Sexist Boy in his place." It was a "conversation starter"

But it was a story we as an audience at the time had grown used to rolling our eyes over. It wasn't like being doused with acid, it was like being a pile of ashes and having burning embers put on us. There was just nothing left to burn. So we rolled our eyes and just carried on.

The first time I watched Avatar, 19 years ago, the phenomenon of the "Haha, Ur pretty good.. for a GURL!" and "Oh YEAH!? VAGINA-MAGIC POWER!" resolving it was just so overplayed and sophmoric I didn't even react. I just kept watching because if you got mad every time that bit of cultural toxin wound up in the media you consumed, you'd die quietly of your own venom in the corner. It's the sort of vitriol you numb yourself to just to survive with, "It is what it is."

Where Avatar got it right was they realized partway through writing it that Sokka's misogyny was the contrivance it was and resolved it quickly. Though I could practically hear somebody's inner fujoshi wheezing with manic obsession to putting a masculine teenaged boy in women's clothes and having them be shown up by a Pretty Warrior Girl(tm). "And he learned a valuable lesson! Girls can KICK BUTT!"

This was the norm for what would be labeled progressive writing that "challenged social norms." The caricature they felt they were fighting against were cigar smoking Bob Cleaver and George Burns type patriarchal 1950s dads casually remarking how girls weren't wearing long enough skirts or cleaning the house well enough. It wasn't even progressive in the 60s, it was beating a dead horse that had long since died in the 1900s and was kept alive purely by traditionalist core fringes, and that's who the progressives were aiming it at, acting as if there's a small population of fuckheads in a society, society should be defined by those fuckheads as the status quo.

Seeing it get retired in Avatar subtly was satisfying. It was hamfisted and lame, even then.

Now, on the subject of the live action remake

While the way Sokka acted was whimperingly trite and stilted and how Katara reacted was predictable, I still wouldn't remove it. The subject of gendered and binary roles in traditional cultures, especially agrarian or hunter gatherer ones, seldom saw morality plays. It was always the white kids, generally males unless they wanted to single out white girls, that were the loudmouthed bigots getting put in their place.

When you do that among the progressive circles, you stay within those invisible lines. And the unspoken rule was, you can't depict non-whites being bigots, or indicate their culture may have any kind of -ism or problem. because, "that's insensitive." That opens the conversation to all that they should also have these progressive values applied. That allows the traditionalists and gender-binarists and ethnocentrists to get up in arms and see these values as un-group-like, and people that might otherwise embrace them and adopt their hardline progressivism, reject them utterly, seeing how they treat the whites and the men who are guilty of those -isms.

They did not want that. They wanted the media to just use whites as the examples of those social crimes as a safe bar, keep even discussing the fact sexism or other -isms exist in non-white and indigenous cultures out of the mainstream conversation, and have the progressives inside said cultures ask those questions internally and hold them to those standards. A way to introduce discord and strife inside of a community and own the youth's values. Keep the lines drawn between Indigenous Minority and Western Modern. So, it was very paramount not to allow any depiction whatsoever of sexism in western media happening because of, "Men of color." Unless it was in a For Us By Us fashion; black comedys that depicted black male sexists getting put in their place or rebuked by assertive female protagonists or support characters having their moment.

A work like Avatar that wasn't made by For Us By Us types and maintained some progressive sentiments but no official sponsoring by Progressive Groups, technically violated some unwritten rules. Mike and Bryan, "didn't have the right" to comment on even the "coded" sexism of tribes, real or imagined, and that gave the progressive advocates carte blanche to treat Avatar like it was some sort of western imperialist critique of glorious noble close-to-earth tribalists through, "western lenses."

It's for that reason, and not because, "Sokka is a sexist and that is so cringe so we changed it," that Sokka's sexism storyline is dropped.

Also because "redemption" isn't really a thing among progressives, these days. If you've ever been guilty of saying slurs on social media, the number of your apologies or the amount of different instances of people capturing you kissing Jesse Jackson's ass means nothing, because in your past, they have evidence at your worst, you're capable of doing Bad Things(tm). And why would they bother with you, if you have a history of Bad Things(tm) at your worst? It's just precedent to do them again. So naturally the protagonist you like isn't allowed to have terrible instances or even problems before they're resolved, because they're proof you're capable of relapsing and breaking that way again.

So given the standards, both unspoken and culturally reinforced by those that tout themselves as having "progressive" values, Sokka isn't really allowed to start with some problematic views given he was the oldest and strongest boy left in his dying, war destroyed susstenance living tribal community, all dependent on him hunting and fishing and dealing with a whole tribe of women's very female brand of shit and expectations of him as the only hammer around for all these nails sticking out.

Rather than try and make his sexism less 1970s or 1980s saccharine sweet hamfisted saturday morning cartoon moral, and more well written and better resolved, given more depth, given more nuance and spotlight,

they just dropped it completely.

There were a million different ways they could've chosen to depict it, and simply erasing it because there are too many chefs with very strong and very absolutist views in the kitchen, is one of them.

It's a pity it had to be this way, but honestly, this is probably the best option.

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hellfiremunsonn · 2 years

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Seven Days. Eddie Munson x Reader.

Seven days.

I do not allow my writing to be republished anywhere other than my own blog without my consent

AN: with the current news of the Roe vs Wade I wanted to write something involving abortions and what as people with uterus’s should have the right to do. With support from everyone around them. My blog is PRO CHOICE and if you don’t agree with that, then kindly unfollow me. I wanted to write this, so if anyone who has been through this, can have a comfort character to comfort and support them. I know I may not write the best Eddie as someone else, but if you can find some sort of comfort from my writing then I’ve done my job.

The procedure of the abortion is updated to how it would be now, if you take the pill. Because in the 80′s it wasn’t around until much later and I wanted it to be more relevant for the people who have experienced it during more modern times.

18 + IF YOU ARE NOT 18 OR OLDER DO NOT READ OR INTERACT WITH MY WRITING. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR MINORS. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MEDIA YOU CONSUME.

Word count: 2431

Warnings: Talk of abortions, process of abortion (ie: medicine, symptoms, what to expect) emotional from said experience, fem reader, super supportive Eddie.

The warm sun coated my back as I sat on top of a picnic bench furthest from Eddies trailer anxiously waiting for him to get home from school.

I avoided him and everyone else for a week. I didn't contact them at all, I simply disappeared. Seven days since I knew. Pulling out a crumpled looking box of cigarettes from my pocket I took one out and placed it between my lips as I searched for the lighter next. Bringing the small metal lighter Eddie had once loaned me to my face I cupped my hand around the flame, protecting it from the wind. Inhaling deeply I closed my eyes. Letting the burn from the nicotine inflate my lungs before blowing it back out.

Quiet footsteps crunching the dying grass beneath them distracted me briefly as I turned to see the small ginger girl I had become so familiar with. Max. She was like my little sister, and I saw her often seeing as I was always with Eddie, considering he lived only a few meters away.

Stepping up onto the bench and sitting down on the table next to me she rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her, giving her shoulder a small squeeze. "Where have you been?" She whispered.

"Home" I said quietly, flicking the end of the cigarette slightly, allowing the ash at the end to fall off and blow away in the small breeze. "I fucked up Max" I said feeling tears well up in my eyes. I know it wasn't the best idea to confide in such a young teenager, but Max's brain was too big for her own good, her hard life making her learn to grow up a little sooner than she needed to.

"What happened?"

Leaning away from her slightly, I reached into my other pocket. Pulling out that stupid plastic stick and handed it to her. She held it in her hands for a moment before muttering. "Shit"

"Yeah" I nodded. "Shit"

Placing it between us she leaned over, taking the half smoked cigarette out of my hands and pulling it to her lips, inhaling softly and exhaling without a single cough. "Aren't you like, not supposed to smoke and shit?" She asked while handing it back to me. A small smile played on her lips, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

"Aren't you a little young to be smoking?" I teased back.

"It's been a rough year" she sighed.

"I'll drink to that" taking one last drag I snubbed the burning end into a dent in the wooden table, making sure to not leave behind even the tiniest of embers that could result in a fire. Max returned her head to my shoulder, interlocking her fingers with mine while we sat for a moment in comfortable silence. The breeze shifting through the trees making them sound like waves crashing in the distance.

"You know what ever you decide to do, you have all the support, from all of us"

My breath hitched. How could such a small gentle human know so much more about the world than I ever could.

"You're my sister" She said quietly. "I just want you safe and happy" A small sniff escaped and she aggressively wiped at her eyes. "I am not crying" she stated as if trying convince herself more than me.

We shared a laugh before turning our attention to the gravel crunching beneath the wheels of eddies van. Slipping the stick back into my pocket I stood up from the table with Max following after me.

"C'mere" I said opening my arms which she gladly engulfed herself in. "I'll catch up with you later yeah?"

"Sounds good to me" she said into my chest. I gave her a quick kiss on the head and watched as she reluctantly walked up to her door step, watching me make my way towards Eddie. Clutching his leather jacket around me a little tighter as if it was going to protect me from whatever happened next.

He didn't notice me at first, minding his business like he usually would, humming to a song and tapping his fingers against his thigh. But the sound of my footsteps on his make shift dirt drive way made him turn his head.

"(Y/N)" he breathed. He looked tired. The discolouration under his eyes, his skin looking unusually pale. I knew it was because of me. Because I vanished without saying anything. Something I told him I would never do.

"Hi" I said quietly. Unable to look him in the eye so I opted to stare at the tips of my very dirty converse. "Can I come in?"

"Of course"

He unlocked the creaky metal door and I followed him up the few steps into his trailer. the familiar smell making my head spin and my heart squeeze. Being away from him for so long had hurt me more than I thought. I sat down on the couch while he leaned against the counter searching my face for any sort of answer.

Finally breaking my gaze away from my feet I looked up at him through wet lashes, tears falling effortlessly and I choked back a sob, crying into my hands. Eddie quickly came to his knees in front of me cradling my face in his hands. "What's going on?" He said softly. Comforting strokes of his thumbs against my cheeks. Taking a shaky breath I reached into the pocket of his leather jacket, pulling out the pregnancy test I took seven days ago, and placed it into his hand.

He leaned back, now sitting down completely on the floor, the test held loosely in his hand. His brows furrowed. "How long have you known?"

"Seven days"

"Seven days?" He repeated. "You vanished for seven days because of this, and didn't tell me?" I could see as he tried to control his breathing. I knew he was angry with me, I was angry with me.

"I was so scared Eds... I'm still so scared" I said staring into my empty hands as if they would somehow give me an answer. "I didn't-" I choked. "I didn't know what to do baby" Fresh heavy sobs coming out from my chest. Getting up from his position on the floor he sat next to me, pulling me into his chest. I clung to him tightly. "It's okay" he whispered, stroking my hair out of my face. "It'll be okay, we will be okay, but most importantly, you will be okay" He held me for a moment. Rocking gently back and forth, attempting to sooth me with small shushes.

"What do you want to do?" He asked after a while.

"I... I can't" I took a deep breath. "Not now Eddie... I can't be a mom right now"

He nodded sympathetically holding my face in his hands. "Okay, and that's fine" He kissed me on the forehead.

"Are you okay with that?"

"It doesn't matter what I'm okay with, it's your body, your mind, your soul, that has to endure anything and everything about this, and truth be told, I don't think I'm really ready to be a dad right now either"

I don't know what I expected. I knew Eddie would be supportive, but I never expected him to be just so understanding, of everything. Being an eighteen year old parent wasn't on my bucket list, and I don't think Eddie would want a kid before graduating.

"Will you go with me?"

"For you I'd go anywhere"

The follow up appointment was two days later. I still hadn't returned to school, and stayed curled up in Eddies bed everyday until the school day was done and he would finally come home. He was upset that he couldn't come into the appointment with me, but the nurse had to ask me many questions including if I was being forced to do this, which I wasn't and Eddie would have never forced me to do it. I swallowed the pill in front of her and after a few minutes of extra explanation I was allowed to leave.

The drive home was quiet and Eddie held my hand the whole way and didn't ask any questions until we made it about half way home. "So can you tell me what's going to happen?" he said rubbing his hand up and down my leg.

I cleared my throat and looked out the window. "So I took the um, what's it called, it had a weird name" I reached forward into my small bag unfolding the paperwork I had been given. Scanning the pages until I found what I needed. "Mifeprestione. She said I might feel a bit nauseous but most women feel fine, and then a day or two later, I take these" I said shaking the box, hearing the pills rattle inside. "Misoprostol, but I stick them between my cheeks and like my gums for half an hour and they'll dissolve, and then whenever they're tiny, I can swallow them" I folded the paper back up and tucked it away into my bag again.

"And then what" He asked rubbing his thumb against my hand.

"Um, then I start will start cramping and bleeding, one to like four hours after taking the Misoprostol, and that can last a couple of hours or couple of days... Kind of like a heavy period. But I can bleed lighter on and off for a week or two after" I sighed, followed by a deep breath. I kept feeling like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs.

Eddie nodded along, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I have to go back a week or two later, just to make sure it, you know, worked"

Pulling back up to eddies trailer he cut the ignition but neither of us moved, just sitting in the silence. "What can I do to help" He said quietly. His eyes were glossy. I had never seen him cry or get even remotely close to tears. Eddie would get emotional about almost everything, he was passionate about every word that came out of his mouth. But looking at him now nearly broke my heart. Tears brimmed my own eyes. Unclipping my seatbelt I got up onto my knees and wrapped my arms around him. Hugging him tightly. I felt his hands fist my sweater against my back. Like if he let go of me I would disappear into thin air before him. "You're doing more than enough" I reassured.

Pulling back from me, he held me at arms length, still gripping the fabric against me. A single tear rolls down his cheek and I leaned forward and licked it away, gaining a small laugh from him.

The next few hours weren't too bad. My uterus ached as it contracted harshly, and I spent most of the time in the small bathroom of Eddies trailer while he sat outside the bathroom door. I refused to let him in with me, I couldn't let him see me like this. I felt embarrassed... As if he wasn't there when I tripped UP the stairs and scraped my knee, or when I got drunk for the first time and puked all over his shoes, or when I went the whole day with my shirt on inside out and didn't notice until he told me, or that time I cried into him after watching a stupid romance movie, or when I was pmsing, and cried because my shoelace came undone.

After feeling like the worst of it was over I decided to take a shower. "Eddie?" I said quietly.

"Yeah baby? You okay?" He asked quickly from the other side of the door.

"I'm okay" I admitted. "Can you grab me some clean clothes? I'm going to take a quick shower"

"I'll leave em on the counter"

My shower wasn't long and just like Eddie said, a fresh change of clothes were folding on the tiny counter. Thankful for him giving me one of his shirts to wear I slipped it over my head, untucking my damp hair from the collar and pushed it out of my face. Hesitantly I opened the bathroom door, finding Eddie exactly where he was when I entered the bathroom hours before now.

"Hi" He said softly. "Lets go lay down" He said said getting up from the floor, grabbing my hand and taking me to his bed. I crawled across his bed curling up into myself tightly under his blanket. I watched him while he shifted around his room, ridding himself of his tight jeans and into a pair of pyjama pants. He took his rings off and dropped them onto his dresser, each of them clunking loudly on the wood.

Scooting himself next to me, he opened his arms for me inviting me into his chest, but I couldn't bring myself to move to him. Tucking my head into my hands I let out a soft sob. Leaning on his side propped up by his elbow while he rubbed my back with his other hand. Slowly removing the blanket it I had pulled up over my face, he smoothed my hair out of my face and tapped my cheek with his finger, encouraging me to look at him. With a sniffle I raised my eyes to his. "I feel guilty"

He nodded. "Yeah... Look I know you know this" He said rubbing his thumb against my cheek. "But you have nothing to feel guilty about, you did what was right for you"

"Yeah... Maybe not guilty so much, but kind of like... Like" I struggled to find the words. "Like a fuck up? Like, we fucked up, and now I'm here with you and I'm so glad I did what I did, but I feel so guilty that I'm okay with it?"

"Okay first of all getting pregnant doesn't make you a fuck up, and getting an abortion doesn't make you a fuck up, none of this does. Did we mean for it to happen? No, but it did, and we're working through it, and you made one of the toughest choices someone can make, and you've been so fucking brave about it, and I envy that courage. It's something not everyone can you, but you did, and I'm proud of you, and I support you, and I love you, okay?"

I nodded holding back more tears, but finally moved over into him. "Thank you" I whispered.

"I'd get the moon for you if I could"

"I do really like the moon"

"Yeah you really do" He kissed me on the head and played with my hair until I eventually fell asleep.

#Stranger Things #Stranger Things fic #Eddie Munson #Eddie Munson AU #Eddie Munson x reader #x reader #Eddie Munson Fluff #Stranger things fluff #Eddie Munson imagine #Stranger things au #hellfiremunsonn

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uncloseted · 10 months

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i feel like it must be exhausting to hate the leads of the shows one watches, especially when the characters are just as complex if not more (because of the screen time they get) as the other female characters.

i think especially in the case of rory gilmore, the show sets her up from the beginning to make the mistakes and the flaws she has throughout the show. rory cheated and was the other woman (but also so young... until the revival which is another topic), and became a burnt out gifted kid after being literally worshiped by a whole town, with a mother who did the same and who was always avoidant and chaotic in her own relationships (while also having teenaged rory as her confidant), /and/ had a dad who was barely ever there except when he wanted to court her mother before ghosting again.

then with paris (i love paris) her whole character also makes sense based on being neglected and bullied by her mother as a child, having her only family be her nanny and her children, and needing to focus on academic perfection partially due to feeling inadequate/being treated less than the "prettier" and more palatable girls. though i want to give her way more credit as she truly is a naturally driven, hyper-intelligent woman and with such iconic dialogue (and so refreshing to see during the 00s)... and in the end, all her hard work paid off and her character development was amazing. still, there were times where her character could be extremely cruel, like bullying rory in chilton on and off and kicking rory out of their apartment in a very dangerous area because of a perceived slight.

sorry for coming into your inbox to ramble, i just wanted to share my thoughts on why it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth when watchers (especially female watchers) want to despise one of the leads for being flawed, when it makes so much sense why rory's often in denial of being so. because of lorelai. i just love how many layers there are in how emily raised lorelai in a conditional smothering love with expectations, and how that caused lorelai to overcompensate with rory by putting her on a pedestal so young as she wanted to give rory the happy childhood she never got. arguably, lorelai also smothered rory by putting expectations on her about going to harvard and being "the good kid who should never have sex ever" so rory wouldn't turn out like her mom. we see how rory ends up rebelling as she gains her agency, like how lorelai rebelled against emily. rory never had the space to fail until she got older and joined the real world, and i think a lot of viewers are too harsh on her character for being messy and imperfect and not always a good person. but in my opinion, rory still has a good heart, just like lorelai. that's one of the reasons i love rory and paris's friendship too. rory was so kind to paris throughout the series, even with paris's intense quirks (especially during chilton when teen paris would bully rory whenever she felt threatened) and at times violent mood swings. and paris did the same, tolerating but still poking at rory being this perfect golden child with the perfect life. of course, everyone is allowed to feel how they want about the media they consume, but alas.

if you read all of this... thank you, and im sorry lol.

also, so sorry to continue barraging you but im sleep deprived and love your blog and have a little bit more to add because i don't want it to seem like i was trying to over-defend rory. i just think all of the characters are written to be flawed but still worthwhile.

i agree that gossip girl paints serena solely as this golden girl that can never go wrong, but i think we do see that gilmore girls intentionally shows that rory does bad things and makes harmful choices. why else would amy sherman palladino write rory to sleep with a married man while having a self-righteous attitude? even though rory tries to defend it at first, i don't think the show itself does. lorelai reprimands her, she flies off to europe but then gets scolded in the middle of town by lindsay's mom, and then has a depressing relationship with dean where he's not even truly invested in her at that point. yes, she doesn't learn from that experience and still cheats and becomes the other woman again, but arguably she doesn't get a happy ending from it. she repeats the same mistakes well into adulthood (which is honestly realistic for a lot of people), but reaches a waking point at the end of the revival and it's a shame we didn't get to see how she could have redeemed herself.

she steals a yacht and has to do lengthy community service even though her grandparents try to buy her out of it, but rory has to learn a lesson like anyone else. the show makes a point to illustrate how truly privileged she is during that court scene, and how the judge doesn't reward her for it. then the show actually spends time on rory doing that community service while also losing herself in emily and richard's world due to her own poor choices.

i'm only listing some of the more severe examples, of course. she coasts through a looot of problems as well, but i don't think the show is bending to fit that and more-so that that was the foundation to begin with. from episode one, on paper rory is a spoiled only child that is at the very beginning of coming into her rich background. which is much to her mothers reluctance because of what that life of privilege brings. lorelai escaped it because of her parents' cruelty, but richard and emily were nothing but doting grandparents toward rory and 100% financially manipulated both girls while also helping rory's education along in ways most kids will never get. it's complicated but it was right there to begin with.

i think it's very realistic that characters and people alike can make bad choices and mistakes, yet not always get the proper consequences, whatever that would mean.

i'm really sorry if i'm being obnoxious but if you do decide to publish this, i hope you or others can connect with my take at all whether it's for or against. :)

You're good! I consistently write essays that only like, five people ever read, so I am not one to judge for long posts. Plus, I love it when people get excited about a discussion topic and share their thoughts with me, so this is great. I think I mostly agree with you. But I think what people find frustrating about Rory in particular is that even when she faces consequences for her mistakes, she never seems to learn from them or really grow. In A Year in the Life, she's still a spoiled kid who's sleeping with a married man and who still has an entire town of adoring people to fall back on when she's not just handed the things she believes she's entitled to. And like, is that realistic for someone like Rory? Sure. It makes a lot of sense why Rory would be like that. But it's not fun for the audience to watch. It feels grating and annoying to watch her constantly make the same mistakes. Paris is allowed to grow and learn and mature, but Rory kind of doesn't, and I think that's why people prefer Paris to Rory.

And I think it's especially frustrating for viewers because the show does have a lot of opportunities to give Rory character development and to show that she has learned something from her mistakes. As you say, she steals a yacht (because Mitchum Huntzberger tells her he doesn't think she'll be a good journalist and nobody has ever told her she's not good at something before), and all she has to do is community service. That's a show of privilege in itself- she could have easily been sent to jail for that if she was not wealthy or if she was a person of color. But even then, when the show wants us to think that she's hit rock bottom and to feel kind of sorry for her, she doesn't really learn anything. She just parlays her privilege into living in her grandparents' very nice house, gets her grandmother to give her a job, and then eventually she just goes back to Yale University as if nothing happened. And then she's shocked when the New York Times rejects her, as if Mitchum hadn't already told her that she needs to improve as a journalist if she's going to work in that field. The show could have had Rory lose all of her privilege due to the mistakes that she made. It could have shown her realizing how much worse things would have been for her if she was someone else, and have her fully accepting that she is someone who comes from privilege. It could have shown her really working to be taken seriously as a journalist, even in jobs that she considered to be "beneath her".

But instead, the same few storylines kind of just repeat for her: Rory is convinced she's entitled to something and doesn't get it, but doesn't learn anything from that about entitlement (and then often, the show assures us that Rory is actually really, really great, and the person who didn't give her the thing she felt entitled to was wrong); she sleeps with someone who's already in a relationship, but doesn't learn anything from that about respecting other people's relationships or her own dysfunctions with regard to relationships; she refuses to acknowledge the privilege she has, even though she has a lot of it. It may be realistic, but I just don't think it's good television from an audience standpoint.

#gilmore girls #rory gilmore #paris geller

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tahnisreu · 1 year

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Addi has the wonderful and horrible experience of being the only teenage human girl on Pandora. Meaning to an extent she is unrelatable to others and people are unrelatable to her. And that's a lot to have on your mind when you're not even a legal human adult yet.

Others would wonder why she's always inside, why is her nose always in books and especially movies and shows (especially during the year in High Camp). But it's when one notices the content of that media that it starts to make sense; she's consuming content about a life she's never going to have. Movies and shows geared for teens about teens? Movies centered around just human life? She sees girls getting up and putting on make up and going to school. Having cliques of school friends, dealing with teenage drama, boy problems, getting asked to prom, getting part time jobs, learning to drive, and hanging out at malls.

She gets to see all that but never will be able to experience it. And for that she feels alienated.

She's alienated from Earth and Pandora. Doesn't fit in with the Earth kids, definitely doesn't fit in with the Pandora kids. And yet she has people harping on about how she should go outside more and appreciate the world she was born into. She's doing that already but she's also allowed to be upset about a life she's only ever going to experience on a screen.

No one really gets her and no one is ever going to really get her.

#;; addi ; character study #just someone walking in on her watching something on a screen but it's been paused on a girl wearing a prom dress?#and y'know if she was in the movie this would be the trait the fanbase would hate on her about constantly #'but Pandora is such a beautiful place to be'#she doesn't want beauty she wants to be normal #she gets over it but sometimes it's a lot to process #it's sad hours lads

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worldofroma · 11 months

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March 24 2023, Friday - 9:48am

The goddess, the queen, the absolute living legend dropped a new album today. I stayed up all night to listen to the entire album at 12:00am. Honestly, I’m not too big of a fan of this album. It had it’s good songs tho, I enjoyed the first 3 she released as well as a couple from the album, but I’m a die hard Ultraviolence fan. I love the song Sad Girl and Shades of Cool and Pretty When You Cry and Ultraviolence and…the entire album pretty much. But I do love her unreleased songs, as much as she hates them being “unreleased”. Playing Dangerous and For K (part 2). I’m really hoping Lana does another tour because if I were to be blessed enough to attend one of her concerts, I’d come out of that venue a whole new person.

Also, I think I’m slowly becoming the worst version of myself. I normally don’t talk about this kind of stuff because I find it cringe but I lowkey think I’m turning into some kind of virgin whore. I’ve never done shit with a guy other than makeout with one while blackout drunk at a party, but I know that a lot of guys would love to be with me. Not trying to be cocky or anything, but even if I have self image issues, I can recognize that I can make myself conventionally attractive most of the time.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on this new genre of attitude becoming more and more common throughout social media called femcel or female rage. However, I find it extremely stupid as it’s not some kind of aesthetic or style but instead a mindset or female version of the male sigma. American Pyscho, Donnie Darko, Fight Club, all those kinds of movies would be considered ‘male sigma’, mentally ill men who have some kind of complex that make them feel also they aren’t real, or superior to others. For women, it’s Midsommer, Black Swan, Virgin Suicides, and most importantly, Pearl. Earlier I stated how I find myself to relate greatly to Pearl, but not in the sense that I find myself to be a femcel, whatever the hell that even is. These feelings that women on the internet are grouping into the feminine rage category are all such common feelings, something that comes along with being human. As these women grow older, or should I say teenage girls, they’ll look back at this phase they’ve created and realize that what they were feeling was not some unknown emotion that groups them into the superior race of sigma or mentally ill, but feelings that you come to aquire as you grow older than a child. However, I do find this new genre so interesting that if I ever write a book or direct a movie, I’ll be taking each of the characters related to this genre and creating one character.

On that topic, I’ve been creating a story in my head for a long time now. A very long time. So long that if it doesn’t become published or viewable for the public at some point in my life, I may or may not go mentally insane. Yet, I haven’t written any of it down. I don’t need to. I can picture it all so vividly, so absolutely perfect, that I don’t need to write it down because I can view exactly how I want it to go down in my head. I know each character, I know their appearance and personality, I know the entire soundtrack of what would take part in a movie series of this idea, I know the setting, the plot points, conflicts, everything. Although, it is inspired greatly by other things I’ve consumed from media. Not great enough for it to be a complete copy, but great enough that you could see the similarities if you know what media I’ve taken it from. The story would be a slasher, horror, psychological movie where the main character is the antagonist. The killer. A teenage girl who has this entire genre surrounding her life. She’s seen as fragile, innocent, beautiful, and delicate. This persona she puts on allows her to get away with the string of killings she’s commiting in her small town. Killings of students at the only highschool in town. The title of this is still unknown, but only because I need to great such an amazing, perfectly fitting title for this so it really is the perfect story. The girl is struggling with a bad homelife, living only with her drunken father who sees her for who she really is. She knows she’s not the perfect girl she shows her self as, but instead of doing anything about it to stop her, he punishes her on his own. He has for quite some time, which was one of the main reasons she began to kill. She’d kill anyone who did something wrong, not only to her, but to others in general. She’d kill people who recieved something they don’t deserve or people who brag on and on about something they shouldn’t have. Each time she would kill, her image would breakdown a little bit more. She was losing her sanity. Her fathers punishments would get worse with each kill, he knew it was her. Her only friend, Elijah, began to notice her downfall and began to question her with his girlfriend, Roxie. Halfway through the story, a copycat killer comes into the ring. Their motive to kill is different, they’re people who’ve wronged her directly, but it’s not her. She knows whoever this copycat is must be someone she knows, but whatever they’re doing is only bringing the cops right to her. She’s losing time, but she’s beginning to suspect her father to be the copycat killer, knowing he wouldn’t turn her in on his own, but he’d do what he could to lead her right to her prison cell. She wanted to kill him, but that too would send her straight into the hands of the judge. It took her sometime to develop a plan, but she knew her best option was to kill her father and flee the state, maybe even country, before it was too late. But just as she gathers the courage to finish the job herself, she goes to the living room to find her father already murdered by the one and only Roxie. Roxie admits that shes been obsessed with her since they met, regardless if she was dating Elijah or not, and knew no other way to become closer with her than to kill the people who treated her wrong. Roxie thought that maybe then she’d get her attention, and she couldn’t be more right. She agrees to bring Roxie with her to flee the town of hell and they run off together, that ending being the end of the first story.

Second one would show Roxie as the main character and a bit of her backstory, still unknown, and how she ran off with the girl to continue on with their lives across the country. Roxie and the girl are polar differences, and Roxie finds herself blind to this. She thinks that her and the girl are meant to be, star crossed lovers, partners in crime. But little does she know that as the story goes on, the girl begins to despise Roxie. Roxie is relentless and careless, continuing on to murder people in their new area without even trying to be secretive or clean. The girl hates this, as she is the opposite of Roxie and always double or even triple checks that theres no way to trace her back to the crime. However, the girl keeps up her image that she’s obident to Roxie and tries not to show that she was planning to kill her. Then one night, they’re both sitting down at opposite ends of the table for a nice dinner that Roxie insisted they attend. Theres clearly built up tension between them, specificallyat the girls end, but Roxie is known to be a dunce and doesn’t realize how much the girl was holding back. Roxie rambles on and on during the dinner, overtaking the music the girl had put on in hopes to drown out both Roxie and her own thoughts, but that wasn’t working out. Finally, Roxie begins to explain her plan for her next killing, someone important to the community, and that strikes the girl very quickly. The girl questions her thought process on how she expects to get away with it, but Roxie tells her to relax and allow her to do what she needs to do. The girl smiles back, an unhinged look in her eye, before getting up to take a second in the kitchen to herself. She does everything she can to compose herself, but that breadknife on the counter is practically screaming to be used. She takes the knife and sneaks up on Roxie at the table, killing her right then and there, and allowing the story to be bought back to her perspective. She fines herself to finally be free, having a moment of breakthrough and dancing around in the pool of blood left by Roxie. And once again, she flees to another country and starts over. Story two over.

Edit from June 13th, 2023 - Tuesday: this story has been and continues to change every time I go to think about this so now that i’m rereading it, I’m laughing at how pathetic it was. But it’s growing into something beautiful, I swear.

Third story, starts off with a news report of Roxie and the entire story of what they called “the student slaughterer”. The girl was able to successfully frame Roxie for every killing commited in both communities they left in as well as faking her own death by leaving behind a few toes and teeth, compsoing some elaborate story of how Roxie was an obsessive stalker of her and eventually became overwhelmed with jealousy and killed her before killing herself. In the new place, the girl finds herself to be liked greatly by her peers now that she’s completely altered her identity. She’s making new friends, doing great in school, and best of all, not killing anyone. It doesn’t take long for a boy to begin to develop feelings for her and ask her out, to which she contains her normal outlook and accepts it. Only after did she find out that the boy is infatuated with crime and mystery, specifcally over the crimes that she had commited. He can somehow see right through the story she built up for Roxie and knew that the other girl involved, herself, had to be the mastermind behind it all. But, his stupidity restricts him from seeing right through the girl and doesn’t even notice the resemblance, only to find himself falling in love with the girl. They continue to date for the story and eventually, she agrees to help him with his home investigation to help him find the true murderer behind the many killings commited. Finally, they’ve found themselves sitting outside and going over the entire case before the girl points something out. She tells him he’s wrong about something, he asks how she knows, and with a fit of insanity, she admits to him that she’s the one who was behind it all. He, of course, is completely dumbfounded and betrayed as she explains every step she took throughout the entire case, rambling to him how clever she is that not even those who dedicate their whole lives to finding her can see that she’s right in front of him. She goes on to tell him she’s never loved him, but instead found it amusing to be there next to him while he pushed him down a path of completely wrong evidence of the case, throwing him right of her trail. Then, just as she was about to push him from the cliff, he turns around and pushed her instead, finally ending the series.

The thing about this series, though, is that it’s not meant to be scary or understandable or even unpredictable, it’s meant to be how easily the girl is able to find beauty in such terrible acts she commits. With almost every murder, she leaves their body in a way of what she considers art for the police to find them as, at some points even convering herself in their blood. She’s an artist.

1:32 pm

God, I am so bored. I just got back from an hour and a half lunch break, smelling like fire after almost setting my house to flames toasting english muffins. Who knew putting frozen muffins in a toaster would start a fire?? Not me, jesus. I’m still trying to wrap my head around my earlier notes, continuing to research of course, and I found that the book My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a big part of that whole genre. I’m in the midst of reading it, but it simply doesn’t interest me. It’s boring and I don’t understand how her therapist can’t see through her act, constantly being prescribed with sleeping pills just so she can add an extra hour to her 17 hours of sleep. I mean, I also love to sleep, but 17 hours jesus christ. Get a lobotomy.

No fucking way. I’m trying so hard not to laugh in the office right now after hearing someone over the radio talking about the lawsuit against archive of our own. Thats fucking amazing. See, I’ve read fanfiction, obviously, but shutting down the webstie?? I do agree some people who linger on there seriously need to drink a glass of water while sitting outside to get some fresh air and a tan on their transparent skin, but come on, at least they’re reading. I’ve read fanfiction, but not constantly. I like to read ones that are basically just online books with names of characters I know. Half the time, these characters' personalities aren’t even accurate to their true persona, but the plots are just so damn interesting sometimes.

Heres something super random. I watch a lot of different shows just like how I listen to music. If it’s good, I’ll watch it, I dont care when it was made, who made it, the people in it, nothing. If it’s good, I’ll watch, I’ll listen. I watch anime, not a lot, but the interesting ones. And I think someone seriously needs to do a study on the fact that Attack On Titan is literally the Breaking Bad of anime. Nothing to do with the plot lines or characteristics of either shows, but the fanbase. If you’ve ever seen Family Guy, theres an episode (s11e9) where Peter watches Breaking Bad and all it is is someone repeating over and over again, “You’ll tell your friends to watch the show, the show is amazing, the show is the best show out there” etc, etc. I find that so funny because no matter how many times I attempt to watch Breaking Bad, I just can’t get into it no matter how many times I try. It’s just not important or interesting to me. Same with Attack On Titan, I made it to somewhere in season 3 before giving up and realizing the show just isn’t as good as what everyone says it is. But yet, both fanbases demand that these shows are masterpieces, awardwinners, the all time greatest shows anyone can ever see or make. In my opinion, Attack On Titan is nothing compared to Death Note, but I guess everyone has their own thoughts.

I also need someone to do a study on the amount of fucking fan service in most animes. Like oh my god. Some of them have such amazing plots, absolutely scrum dumpish plot points, but the you’ll be watching it peaceful and all the sudden 2 SIBLINGS are scary close or someone suddenly has no clothes on. Like what the fuck is that? How do people enjoy watching shit like that? It’s not interesting. As soon as I see anything like that, I immediately turn the show off, so how do they still have viewers? That’s the only reason I was actually able to put up with AOT for so long before stopping due to boredom, they had absolutely no fan service. Even the kids shows in anime are terrible for fan service like come on, this is really what you want your kids to see? But like I said, I watch more regular tv than I do anime and if I had to choose one or the other, definitely real shows.

I love Stranger Things, The Office, YOU, Family Guy, Black Mirror, and Midnight Gospel. Majority of the shows I choose either have the mystery/horror concept, or they’re just simple comedy shows. I don’t like romance much unless they extremely interesting and have more than just a relationship. I don’t like action movies unless it’s tragic or the actors are hot. Only action movie I’ve ever seen is Batman Begins, solely because my two favourite dilfs are the hero and the villain, what better combination than that? I know I said earlier I don’t watch things for those reasons, but I have my exceptions. I do, however, love Disney movies. The Lion King is one of my favourite movies of all time, soundtrack is amazing, plotline is amazing, characters are amazing, absolute 10/10 best Disney movie ever created, fight me if you disagree. Just kidding, don’t, my wrists are too weak for that shit. I don’t fight, I kill people by lowering their self esteem to nothing. I’m good with words, but not physical fighting.

I think someones all time favourite song really describes them as a person. And don’t even try saying “Oh, I love all songs! I couldn’t choose just one” bitch shut the fuck up we all have a favourite song stop trying to be different. My favourite song is probably one of the worst and most vile songs in all of history, A Little Piece of Heaven by Avenged Sevenfold. It’s an 8 minute long song all about a man who kill his wife after saying no to his proposal, fucked her dead body, and kept her body perserved so he could keep her forever, but she comes back alive to retake her body and kill him the same way he killed her. They find themselves in the afterlife, get married, and go on a killing spree to live happily ever after. Best fucking song ever. I don’t care if the lyrics are awful, the song is a god damn masterpiece and sounds as if it had been taken straight out of a demonic musical. Love it. Second favourite song? Liquid Smooth by Mitski. Two very different songs, I know, but two songs that I can easily create a story to go with in my head. Mitski, if you ever see this, please let me make a music video for Liquid Smooth, it would be so amazing and fit the song so god damn well, you’d love it. Third favourite song? I was all over her by salvia palth. That song has never failed making me cry.

Other than co-op, I’m part of a class called GENESIS where we learn all about biking, canoeing, hiking, and surviving in the wilderness. Not my thing at all but lowkey enjoying it. It takes up all 4 credits for the semester meaning I’m stuck with the same group of people the entire time. Theres 17 in total in my class, 9 girls and 8 boys, and we’re all extremely different. We have 5 exchange students in the class and they like to situate themselves with each other only, even if they’re not from the same countries. I have a feeling that they secretly think they’re above the rest of us simply because they’re from European countries, but oh well. It’s also very funny to see how different we all are from each other. All of us have much different personalities, sense of style, interests, and I can’t say a single one of us even look similar in the slightest. Obviously, these things are just what makes us human, but I still find it fascinating. We all went to completely different places for co-op, but they’re all fairly normal places. The second week of the class, we took a trip for 4 days to stay in the middle of the woods, learning the basics of the class while also learning more about each other since our teachers like to consider this class “one big family”... yeah no. See, I’ll put up with these people for now, but likely never again. No offense to any of them, they’re all great people, but after being around some people for this long, I’ll be more than happy to go our seperate ways. No hard feelings either, I put most people I meet into this category and like to keep my friend group relatively small. After the trip, I guess you could say we’re all acquaintances, maybe they consider it friendships but not me. It’s just that most of the kids in the class are extroverts who try to make me one too but if I don’t wanna talk, I don’t wanna talk. Either that, or they don’t talk at all. Theres literally no inbetween other than me. I’m also overall not a very friendly or approachable person so I don’t mind that they don’t always want to talk to me or I’m not really anyones first choice, I don’t have a first choice either so theres no problem there. Besides, the only people I’d attempt to befriend would be the exchange students since we all know the friendships with them would be temporary after they go back, but sometimes it’s hard to make conversation with them and I think one of the girls may be holding something against me, but I can’t tell. All I know is that she doesn’t necessarily like me and as their “groups leader”, they all kind of follow suit. It’s funny though because out of most people in the class, I’d say her and I would likely get along the best from the little amount of conversations we’ve had, but I could be wrong.

I just found a pimple in my eyebrow and it hurts really bad. Also, back to the topic of music, I fucking hate the music being created today. Especially what place on radio stations. Currently playing is ABCED fuck you, I can’t fathom enough how much that song makes me want to pour cement in my ears so I never have to hear anything like it again. Another one is Anti-hero by T Swift. I love her and her songs and yeah the new album is okay but I mean damn, after playing it 5 times in an hour it gets a little boring. All the music today is just trying way too hard to remake old songs or even sampling other songs. It’s just not good. In my opinion, the best era for music was the early 2000s going into the 2010s, EARLY 2010s. Every genre of music was absolutely thriving and so many great artists were becoming huge during this time, artists so great that they’re still extremely relevant today.

#journaling #literature #aspiring writer

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mybookplacenet · 1 year

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Featured Post: Accidentally All Of Me Book 1

About Accidentally All Of Me Book 1: Steam Level: I’m raising someone else’s kid. My sister’s daughter, and where I thought I’d never make it as a single father bachelor, I was wrong. This little girl has my heart. And only her. Until a stray dog happens upon my place and we’re forced to call a vet. And a beautiful woman showed up. I didn’t believe in fate. But it seems to believe in me. The beautiful woman who helped us out with the dog shows up again later on a blind date across the table from me. And I’m sold out for her before I realize what’s happening. Pulling back is my only hope for survival. After losing my sister, I’m far more protective of me and her little one. But it’s a losing battle. No way I’m going anywhere, until I’m forced to. It would seem I have a kid of my own in the world. Maybe this is the breaking point where I can walk away from the all-consuming passion of my new romance. Because I’m good with giving my time, my body, and all of my money. But to her? I’ve accidentally given all of me. Buy the ebook: Buy the Book On Amazon Buy the Book On iBooks/iTunes Buy the Book On Kobo Link to Series Author Bio: Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie, and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. The man is hot. Hello. She’s a creative at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Tennessee with her hubs, teenage son, two grown daughters, and two love-of-her-life grandbabies! Telling a good story that revives hope, reminds us of love, and gives a vacation from life is all she’s up to. Follow the author on social media: Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author's Website Facebook Fan Page Twitter Read the full article

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katetraumt · 1 year

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My Femininity in the Physical Form

Identifying as female feels like the greatest gift and most insurmountable challenge. I am learning to love my womanhood. But there have and continue to be extremely painful features that come with my femininity.

The mentality of being female is a whole different can of worms that I would not be able to unpack in this blog post alone. Today I want to focus on the physical aspect of my identity as a female, and how I have come to learn and understand my body as a girl, and as a young woman.

As a child I did not consider femininity, I felt no extreme pull to it because my body was premature, and there was nobody around me that was any other way. We as children did not have gendered bodies. We had the same, prepubescent, unsexual, CHILD bodies. My memories of childhood do not attach themselves to me and my body as a girl. I did not really think anything of my female organs, because I did not really think of or perceive myself or others consciously- yet.

Middle school is when the body appeared for me. The lack of change I saw in myself was devastating to me, as friends' chests grew and periods began. I felt like something was terribly wrong with me. All my life I’ve been a girl, and I’ve been just like every other girl around me. But now, the girls I know are continuing to be girls in new ways and I am stuck here, with the body shape of a little boy.

Victoria's Secret showed me thin women with selectively impossible curves. There was something wrong with me. I felt like less of a girl, like I was faking it. People shopped for bras and girls in TV shows like Victorious or Icarly were my age and looked like women. The young girls I admired on screen as an early teenager completely skewed my view of myself. My understanding of what a woman should physically be has been forever tainted by the media I consumed in these formative years.

My natural body type is thin and athletic. This was only emphasized by my early onset passion and diligence for track and field. This combination led to a major delay in puberty for me. My first period was when I was a sophomore in high school. I had, at this point, been so concerned and insecure about this lateness that I had alerted my parents and been to several doctors. There was talk of cysts on my ovaries. There were ultrasounds and gynecologist visits done far before I was ready for that sort of thing.

Essentially constant comparison, in the media and with the people around me, has deeply tainted the way I know my female body. I was a little different then the people I was close with. This difference was greeted with fear and insecurity and shame. I have felt this way now for so long that it feels normal. And I know most women can relate to feeling inadequate or different from the way they “should” be.

The amount of space in my brain occupied by being “flat chested” was colossal. I look back with such sadness now for that girl. I am grateful to be able to educate myself on studies of gender, female biology, and feminist history. It is these studies that allow me to heal that younger version of me. I know now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my body. There is nothing wrong with any female body, any way shape or form of it. This is something I know, but something I still struggle to accept.

My logic and insecurity are constantly battling each other. And this is in large part thanks to mainstream media. Any and every form of media- entertainment, advertising, news, movies, shows, books, social media, etc. are excellent at inventing stories and images of people that do not and can not exist in real life. I would argue that these fairy tales are most often at the expense of women. We are shown things online and in the media that will never be real, but it is a curse we all as women have in common. Nobody feels adequate because of what they see in the media. Nobody feels like they look the right way because everything around us is showing us ways to fix ourselves, or compare ourselves to picture-painted celebrities with millions to spend on cosmetic changes.

Having a neutral attachment to my body as a woman is what I aim to accomplish eventually. I do not need body positivity. I need body acceptance. Because although I love and cherish my body for all of the miraculous things it does, I know that my mind is my greatest asset. I hope to eventually know and believe that my body is not what gives me value as a woman or a person. My actions, character, hard work, and interpersonal relationships are the things that I would hope to feel complete positivity towards.

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zenruption · 1 year

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Best Tips to Grow Your Small-Scale Cosmetics Business

Keep costs down by sourcing affordable and quality raw materials, as well as opting for a dropshipping model.

Focus on niche products tailored to your target demographic that are priced correctly and have eye-catching packaging.

Invest in marketing and promotion techniques like social media, public relations, etc., as well as discounts and free samples.

Invest in better customer service strategies to build customer loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.

The beauty industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to find success in a small-scale cosmetics business. In fact, with the right approach, you can not only survive but thrive in today's market. Here are some tips to help you grow your small-scale cosmetics business.

1. Keep your costs down.

One of the keys to success for any small business is to keep costs down. This is especially true in cosmetics, where margins are often razor-thin. Look for ways to cut costs without compromising on quality. For example, coconut oil is a great natural ingredient that is affordable and good for the skin. You might source your raw materials from a coconut oil exporter who offers bulk discounts. They can often help you save money while ensuring reliable quality.

You may also want to consider a dropshipping model for your business. This allows you to sell products without having to purchase the inventory upfront. Many suppliers will dropship your products for a small fee, allowing you to scale up without investing in inventory. Just make sure to do your research and select a reliable supplier.

2. Focus on niche products.

Another way to grow your small-scale cosmetics business is to focus on niche products. There's a lot of competition in the beauty industry, but if you can find a niche market for your products, you'll be able to carve out a loyal customer base. Don't be afraid to experiment with different product lines. Consider the following factors when thinking about niche products:

a. Price point

Is the product affordable or premium? Depending on your target market, you'll need to decide what price point makes sense for your business. If you're selling luxury items, you'll need to ensure that your profit margins are high enough to cover material and production costs.

b. Packaging

Choosing an eye-catching design can help your product stand out in a crowded marketplace. Many of today's consumers are attracted to unique and aesthetically pleasing packaging. Look for ways to add a personal touch to your packaging design.

c. Target demographic

Who is your ideal customer? Think about who would likely buy your product and design it to appeal to them. Are they teenage girls or middle-aged women? Luxury seekers or bargain hunters? You should tailor your products to meet the needs and wants of your target demographic.

d. Quality

It pays to invest in quality. Consumers are increasingly aware of the ingredients used in cosmetics and taking a stance on sustainability. Make sure your products are of the highest quality, and you'll be sure to win over customers.

3. Invest in marketing and promotion.

Investing in marketing and promotion is another essential way to grow your small-scale cosmetics business. Create a marketing plan that includes both online and offline tactics. Make sure you're active on social media and have a well-designed website showcasing your products. And don't forget about traditional marketing techniques like print ads, public relations, and direct mail campaigns.

Many beauty businesses also offer discounts or free samples to boost sales. Doing so can help you attract potential customers and build customer loyalty. Promote these discounts and free samples through your website, social media channels, and other marketing efforts.

4. Invest in customer service.

Finally, investing in customer service is another essential way to grow your small-scale cosmetics business. Make sure you're responsive to consumer inquiries and feedback. Offer personalized customer service, such as the ability to create custom products or customized beauty regimens. You can also use customer feedback to inform product development and adjust your marketing campaigns.

If you can offer good customer service, your customers will be more likely to spread the word about your business and return for future purchases. This, in turn, can help you boost sales and grow your business. Just make sure to regularly evaluate customer feedback and adjust your strategies accordingly.

The beauty industry is highly competitive, but that doesn't mean small businesses can't succeed. You can survive and thrive in today's market with the right approach. Keep your costs down, focus on niche products, and invest in marketing and promotion to help grow your small-scale cosmetics business. If you focus on good customer service and offer quality products, you'll be well on your way to success.

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thewuzzy · 1 year

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Just checked the internet just for you and yes. The whole movies do have fascistic themes but they’re very unnoticable by a teenage girl who’s first language isn’t English and is just here for the fandom (original poster).

And for grindewald movies having fascism themes you should blame the writers and not Grindewald himself or the OP 😭

There was never told in movies they Grindewald himself is fascist. Yes, he did kill people. Just like any other fictional serial killer…

Hello! If you are op or one of ops mutuals thank you for reaching out ❤️

Fandom is light hearted and silly and fun and you don't have to constantly engage with the political angle of what you're consuming. people in movies are hot and god knows I love to mindlessly thirst!

It's great that you've started to look deeper than the surface in the media youre consuming. Grindelwald is an allegory for 20th century european fascism and thats very clearly what Rowling intended when first writing Potter (god knows what she intends now given her increasing fascistic tendencies herself). By contrast Magneto is a 70 year old character who was first created as a metaphor for the civil rights struggle, and has become a beloved as a symbol of antifascism and resistance, particularly for Jewish people, gay people, and other minorities.

Fantasy fiction is always created with an underlying politics, whether intentionally by the author, or subconsciously because they take a particular set of ideas for granted. Fantasy and scifi allows us to explore ideas and how they reflect back upon the real world. Just things to think about and consider while you're consuming media which will make your enjoyment and understanding of fandom so much richer 😊

If the last anon was also you, I apologise for the snarky tone of it. I recommend checking out the articles I attached to it for both you and OP. Enjoy your fandom journey and be curious to look beneath the surface!

#ask mads #magneto was right

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tyrannosaurus-trainwreck · 3 years

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I propose a new rule for action film franchises. Let’s call it the Settle Down There, Edgelord Rule.

Say you have a franchise--let’s use the Bond films as an example--where every single film, the fate of the entire fucking world hangs in the balance. No matter what got accomplished in the last film, they’re right back at it in this film, having to save the entire world again. But somehow, the stakes have to be higher than the last time, or it starts getting harder to get audiences back for more of the same, because it starts feeling really repetitive.

“Why’ve you dragged me back in from my life of sordid semi-retirement, M?” asks James fucking Bond. “Is it yet another doomsday device in the hands of a madman?”

“We should be so lucky, 007,” says Q, handing James Bond a fountain pen that is also a doomsday device. “This time it’s a doomsday device in the hands of two madmen, both of whom have extremely personal scores to settle with you.”

“Well in that case, I suppose I can hardly say no,” James Bond sighs wearily, already longing for the days when it was only a single madman with perhaps a nuclear warhead or two who harbored a vague and academic disapproval of spies in general.

The problem with the ever-rising stakes is that eventually it does become a bit ridiculous. Remember when Fast and the Furious was about stealing consumer electronics for money? And now barely eight movies later they’re stealing nukes and driving to space and somehow John Cena is involved? Another two movies and they’ll be doing donuts on the moon to save earth from being blown up by previously-unmentioned alien conquerors.

So every so often, let’s say every third movie, writers should have to hit a reset button. Not on the action or the mayhem or the actors’ intensity or whatever it is that gets eyes on screens and butts in seats. Just, you know. The stakes.

“Why’ve you dragged me back in from my life of sordid semi-retirement, M?” asks James fucking Bond. “Is it yet another doomsday device in the hands of a madman?”

“We should be so lucky, 007,” says Q, handing James Bond a fountain pen that is also a doomsday device. “This time the madman’s made off with one of the Queen’s corgis.”

“What?” James Bond demands, aghast. “How could you let this happen?”

“Their dog grooming credentials were impeccable. They passed every security check. They’d have been allowed to groom Her Majesty herself,” M tells him grimly. “There’s something you should know, Bond. It was... it was Trixie.”

“Not Trixie,” Bond gasps. The look on his face is that of a man having a flashback to ‘Nam. “What do they want for her safe return?”

“That’s the sticky wicket, Bond,” Q volunteers, waving vaguely at a wall that begins playing a video.

On the wall, Willem Dafoe cuddles a corgi and stares dead-eyed at the camera. When he speaks, it’s in an accent that’s vaguely Germanic but not like, enough to make any trade partners really mad about it.

“Trixie is such a good dog. Such a good girl!” He looks at the dog, face becoming animated and warm. “Who’s a good girl? Is it you? It is you! You’re a good girl!”

He looks back at the camera, eyes once again blank as a shark’s.

“I think, my friends, that Trixie is too good a dog for the rotting corpse of an empire that she was whelped into. I shall take her with me, and together we shall venture into a brave new world of grassy farms with plenty of room to run and many, many children with which to play. If you redeem yourselves, perhaps you shall live to see this world that I shall make. Perhaps you shall live to go... to the dogs!”

The video cuts as he rubs the corgi’s ears and gives her a treat.

“That absolute bastard!” Bond snarls, hurling the fountain pen doomsday device across the room. “Tell me you have something to go on!”

And then we’re off to the races, with typical Bond-level shenanigans, fights, and body counts.

It’s only that instead of having to come up with a scenario which is somehow more important or more dangerous than the last movie, which was already threatening to kill a billion people or knock the planet off its axis or whatever, it’s just a scenario in which everyone is really, really emotionally invested.

And before anyone starts up with the “these sorts of action-movie shenanigans are only reasonable with incredibly high stakes” argument, let me remind you that by the time they need this proposed intervention, we have already hit patently unreasonable situations and behavior. Like, these are not reasonable people who are just in it for a boatload of money and somehow fell ass-backwards into a Bond villain scheme for making it. They didn’t join the rotary club and oops their way into a series of flamboyantly homicidal consultation gigs.

If we can buy somebody going completely balls-to-the-wall, conspiracy-of-thousands, weirdo-cult-aesthetics, murdered-my-own-parents all-in on *checks notes* basically being the CEO of a slightly more criminal than usual international conglomerate that required precisely none of that? If we can buy the iron-jawed goons fist-fighting a guy who’s essentially at this point the goddamned terminator for a generous hourly wage?

Then I think we can buy a weirdo-cult-aesthetics conspiracy-of-thousands megalomaniac who just really, really likes that goddamn dog, or hates the protagonist, or wants to share the daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln’s penis with the world as the Great Emancipator would have wanted, and the shadowy government-bankrolled action-hero forces driven by fate to stand in their way.

It’s not any less reasonable, anyway, and then when the next movie comes out you can go back to saving New York City from a nuke or Paris from a weather-control device or whatever and no one will be like "well this is a step down from the pageantry of the previous installment.”

I should add that there’s no reason the Settle Down There, Edgelord Rule can’t be applied to any sort of serial media.

Your doom-and-gloom tv show just keeps fighting worse and worse villains every single season? Why not take a break next season and fight a homeowner’s association instead of an artistic serial killer? Go on a hard-fought, poorly-lit, grim-and-gritty slog through the byzantine process of figuring out which impound lot the Impala got towed to after a bullshit parking ticket.

Instead of having your teenage characters grapple with Even Worse Demons, they can just, like, egg their principal’s house when it turns out he’s a normal human-level petty tyrant and not a master vampire. Your nemesis figured out your secret identity, and instead of trying to kill your family or whatever, they hacked your facebook account and friended all your obnoxious relatives/coworkers/friends-of-friends and are embarrassing you in public, and now you have to go on a ridiculously convoluted and dystopian spirit quest to get The Zuck Himself to reset your password.

The possibilities are endless! Unless you keep ratcheting things up, anyway, in which case you’re eventually and inevitably going to wind up fighting Satan, then God, then Worse God, then Satan’s Dad, Which Is Somehow Not God? Don’t @ Us, Our Mythological Research Prior to Writing This Was Confined to Metal Albums and American Horror Films.

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edie-baby · 3 years

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Les Fleurs du Mal Chapter 3 | Pierre Gasly

Summary: Sava Dvorakova had big dreams for Formula One. An opportunity of a lifetime comes around, so she takes it and runs. She proved just about everyone wrong, and is awarded a very controversial seat on the F1 grid. There’s smiles and grins, hugs and kisses, love and laughter. There’s tears and sobs, fights and break ups. There’s evil where you least expect it, hidden in the garden of eden. The Flowers of Evil.

Warnings: a lot of swearing, shitty parents (they’re a recurring theme), sexism, i ignored a lot of actual f1 rules because i couldn’t be bothered writing it into the story tbh, yuki is fcking adorable, a lot of smut eventually, like a lot.

Pierre Gasly wasn’t quite sure what to do. After coming into the F2 paddock to talk to his future teammate in the Carlin garage, he passed a small girl with pink hair, a pleated skirt and big, chunky boots. She was being guided through the paddock by a woman he had seen around the Carlin garage a few times before. He had heard whispers of a teenage girl taking the ‘spare’ seat for the remaining three races of the season, but seeing her in person completely consumed his mind. Distracted by the bubbly teenager, Pierre almost passed the Carlin garage completely, quickly correcting himself and keeping his head down so he didn’t make more of a fool out of himself.

“Pierre!” Yuki’s high voice called, waving to his friend with a large smile on his face that creased his eyes. Pierre walked over quickly, dapping his friend up and beginning the regular small talk about the car, and the weekend ahead.

“So, did you hear about my new teammate?” Yuki almost giggled. He had seen the reactions throughout the paddock and in the hotel that morning, and knew the Frenchman would have his own thoughts about the pocket rocket.

“The girl?” Pierre questioned, attempting to bide his time and think of appropriate questions to ask. Yuki nodded with a smile, his own thoughts disrupted by the bubbly, high energy, almost crackhead personality of the teenager.

“She’s very pink. I heard she qualified P2. I’m not really sure what to think about her, because I haven’t watched her race, but I guess I’ll see her soon. I saw her talking to Esteban this morning.” Pierre finished with a grimace. The mutual dislike between Pierre and Esteban was common knowledge, however Yuki still found it puzzling when he would speak so openly about how much the other Frenchman gave him a sour taste in his mouth.

“She’s very good. Considering she has only ever raced in go-karts before this, she’s going to give Juri a run for his money this weekend.” Yuki laughed again, already picturing the battles the two Eastern-European drivers would get into over the next 3 race weekends.

“I’ll keep an eye out. I should go back, our quali is starting soon. Good luck Yuki!” Pierre called, waving to his friend before he made his way out of the F2 paddock, and back toward his own.

The sprint race, and ensuing feature race had been entertaining, to say the least. After the shenanigans of the sprint race on Saturday, there was a large spike in viewers for the Sunday feature race before F1’s grand prix. And, as Amelia so proudly reported to Sava later that afternoon, it was the highest ratings an F2 race had ever gotten.

Headlines that Sunday afternoon were emblazoned with Juri Vips and Sava Dvorakova’s names and cars. The two had battled it out all weekend, a few close calls and both drivers finishing a maximum of two-tenths apart. Juri had won the sprint race on Saturday, where Sava came in P2, while she took P1 in the feature on Sunday, with Juri riding her gearbox for the entire race.

To say Dr Marko was pleased was a gross understatement. He hadn’t smiled, nor been so friendly as he was that weekend, since Max Verstappen won his race in Spain in 2016. It seemed to be an absolute miracle, and Alex Albon who had fared quite poorly through the weekend, was thankful to the new driver for cheering up the man who would have ridden his ass to hell and back.

After Sava’s first P1 finish, and the ensuing podium celebration, she was greeted by a few of the F1 drivers who had made their way over to congratulate the enigma. Esteban and Daniel were the first to stride toward her, enveloping her into a three-way hug where she was basically swallowed whole by the tall men. Daniel pinched her cheeks and pushed her around while they discussed her successful divebombs throughout both races, while Esteban leaned his elbow against her shoulder and listened in to the conversation. Both the men bid their goodbyes and left, allowing the next two drivers to approach her. To her surprise, it was George Russell and Lando Norris. She hadn’t interacted with either of them prior, so there was a small moment of internal fangirling before she greeted the men with a smile so large it completely obscured her eyes.

“Hey, we just wanted to say that you drove amazingly. Lando was yelling at the telly whenever you got cut off or nudged away. Alex was going to come over and say congrats as well, but he got held up with Horner.” George explained, his accent processing very slowly in Sava’s head. So, to her chagrin, she ended up staring at the ground, eyebrows furrowed, eyes bulging while she tried to process the words. Even worse, Lando leaned down to look up at her face, laughing that high-pitched squeal of a laugh that finally broke Sava’s concentration.

“Ah, fuck. I am sorry. Your accent, I have not heard one similar before, so it took a few extra moments to process. Sava.exe stopped working for a moment, but I am back, no need to worry. I must say, I am surprised the two of you are here. I thought you would have been concentrating on your own races for this afternoon, especially you, George. You might not be able to lose positions starting at the back of the grid, but you can definitely gain many.” Sava giggled, attempting to convey to George that she really was kidding and hoped it wasn’t a sore subject to be brooching. Lando squealed again, even going so far as to run away before circling back to the small group. George stood there, stunned.

“You just got owned by the new kid!” Lando yelled, pushing on George’s shoulder before the two waved and walked away, seeing the two men standing behind Sava, waiting their turn to speak.

When she turned around, she wasn’t expecting to see the man of her dreams and her teammate waiting patiently. Sava’s breath caught in her throat for a moment, and was left standing in front of Yuki and Pierre shaking like a leaf.

“Pierre, this is Bunny! He wanted to meet you after watching your races.” Yuki smiled down at his teammate who was still unmoving save for the tremble in her hands.

“It’s nice to meet you, Bunny. It was a really amazing drive today. A lot of those moves require more balls than most of the guys in F1 have.” Pierre smirked, and Sava swore she would have fainted on the spot.

“Holy shit wow, thank you so fucking much. You honestly have zero idea how incredible I think you are. Had I known that my social media would be released to the world, I would have definitely taken down all of my posts singing your praises before I actually met you because now that you’re here it feels fucking creepy. But, I meant everything I said, including the threat about Christian Horner, so if you ask, I will obey.” Sava spoke quickly. She glanced quickly into Pierre’s gorgeous blue eyes, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she had registered them. After she had basically told Pierre, to his face, that she would obey any command he told her, she was whisked away by Amelia toward the media pen, sending Yuki and Pierre a quick wink in the process.

With Pierre caught off guard and staring in the direction Sava had walked off in, Yuki coined the new nickname 'Pierre the Pedo'.

He might have gotten a quick kick to the ass because of that one.

#pierre gasly #Pierre Gasly fanfic #Pierre Gasly imagine #Pierre Gasly x reader #pg10 #formula one #formula 1 #f1 #f1 fanfic

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letterstotheflre · 2 years

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unpopular opinion is that sometimes young girls need to be humbled into acting like kids and not 21 year old adult women... they be 13 dressing like 24 ?!?! and their parents allow it?!?!?

period!! but also, this is a product of social media and hollywood: young girls don’t see themselves in the media they consume, they see 20+ adults playing teenagers. so their perspective of what they should look like at their age is skewed, and they try to replicate what they see on tv. they are bombarded with ads for different products and clothing that are meant for older women on social media; and with celebrities that seem to be forever stuck in their late teens to early twenties physically.

plus, i think it also has a lot to do with male attention. i think as women we are conditioned to find older guys attractive, so young girls try to dress up and put on makeup to fit into what they think men will like.

#i don’t think i’m explaining this correctly lol #the parents are also to blame on this ofc #i didn’t want to make it too long lol #ask

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cult-of-artemis-and-athena · 3 years

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The Grooming We Sustained

I watched this video by Illuminaughty, about the history of Victoria's Secret (link below if you want to watch it). I realized and I couldn't stop realizing...

https://youtu.be/u7rTN2dIhso

Despite its flaws, the #meToo movement legitimately outed a number of extremely sketchy men, such as Harvey Weinstein, who used their cocks to gatekeep the entertainment industry or used their employees as a sort of personal source of sexual amusement. I think #meToo, by exposing the disproportionate number of perverts in the elite of society, inadvertently increased society's receptivity to Pizzagate and theories about The Lolita Express, because why wouldn't these perverts stop at legal adults, consenting or not?

To sum up the video, VS started in the 60s as a faux-upscale lingerie store which catered to men who wanted to buy lingerie for their lovers. At a point around the 80s, it was purchased by L Brands, which also owns Abercrombie & Fitch, The Limited, The Limited Too, Bath & Body Works, Express/Structure, La Senza, and other mall stores.

The problem with the brand was the founder/CEO, Les Wexner, who hung out with Jeffrey Epstein and defended him from allegations. He sexually harassed women at his office, sexually assaulted models, made inappropriate comments, and fired or demoted models who refused his advances. He was with L Brands in one form or another from 1963 until just this year, 2021.

My impression of VS within the past 10 years is that it's been what the upper middle-class white-bread American woman thinks is sexy. It's been the Olive Garden of lingerie.

In the 00s, however, I remember VS being a sort of prestige brand with teens as early as 5th grade. It was the brand for the girls who wore the pants that had "JUICY" written across the butt, and I remember being on the bus listening to boys (I must emphasize this is on a middle school bus) saying girls who wore those pants were trying to advertise that they were "wet". Claire's, a store with teen and pre-teen consumer base, was selling chokers that looked bondage collars. Abercrombie & Fitch was in trouble with parents who realized the store their minor children wanted to buy clothes from sold A&F Quarterly, which contained soft-core porn, sexual commentary, and articles about sex. They were in trouble again later for selling thongs in the Abercrombie Kids store. The music marketed to minors contained questionable lyrics about being rubbed the right way, sweating til their clothes come off, and comparing themselves to a sex slave.

I'll be clear: Thongs and push-up bras, bondage collars, sexual photo magazines, and songs with sexual lyrics are not verboten on their own. The problematic part is that they were implicitly (or explicitly, in the cast of the A&F Kids thongs) marketed to minors, or at least did fuck all to temper their popularity with minors. A&F defended their A&F Quarterly magazine, saying that its intended audience was college students who were of legal age for the material. That is true. Likewise, the argument could be made that parents should parent their kids and set limits for what entertainment they consume and what they wear. That's also true.

However, minors were begging their parents for these things or simply accessing them on their own. If a teenager is just walking around the mall unsupervised (which I'd say they should be able to), the A&F or VS store, or wherever they'd go to buy Juicy-butt pants, wasn't going to card them. Claire's doesn't keep the pseudo-bondage chokers behind the counter. There's also an element of something approximating sensory overload for the parents. It's near impossible to screen everything, especially when the mainstream culture is designed by a cabal of rapists, whether intentionally, or simply because it's the cultural norm in the circles they run with. The 12 year old asked for some fucking bullshit pop album, the parent looks at the album and it appears to have a teenage girl/boy on it and there's no "parental advisory" label, so it can't be that bad, right?

For Millennials, VS was part of this weird push for sexual precocity. A lot of us were "not a girl, not yet a woman" and trying to assert our maturity and feel grown, which involved a lot of tight, short, low-cut, hiked-up, and thrust into a sexually appealing shape. There wasn't really a middle ground between children's clothing and that beauty standard. I suppose there was alternative style, but it was still cooler and more rebellious to wear your Jncos with your thong exposed, a slice of midriff showing, and "handlebar" pigtails. The Disturbed girlie tee that said "Mistress" was cool and someone in my 7th grade class had one. And you weren't alt unless you had a choker styled like a bondage collar or a blowjob gag. I was alt in middle- and high-school and remember there being pressure to be (or pretend to be) sexually open, kinky, and not have limits. This was middle school...

The culture at the time had such a racy tone that saturated everything because the people who architected it were perverts of the highest order. I would guess that parents probably overlooked what they were buying for their minor children due to mere exposure effect. It likely spread through "So-and-so's kids have that and they're decent people, too, so I guess I'll allow it." It's also possible that many parents were naive. I remember a girl in my 4th grade class wore a South Park shirt to school and got in trouble. Her mother said something like "I got it on vacation because it had cute cartoon kids on it and didn't think it was anything bad". I forget what setting this was, but a minor had a weed leaf shirt his mom thought was a palm tree. I think that's how a lot of this shit flew past the radar.

Boys were also equally victimized by this, similarly through media, music, and video games that would have been fine for an adult audience. They were pressured to act lewd, be ashamed of their virginity - retrospectively, it's ridiculous for a 13 year old boy to be making fun of another 13 year old boy for not knowing or doing some sexual thing, but that was normal and funny at the time - and listen to the most explicit music they could get ahold of for clout.

So...should teenage minors who are practically being beat over the head 24/7/365 by their hormones from age 11-13 onward be expected to remain innocent, sexless babies until age 18?

Of course not, but an entertainment industry and corporations run by perverts and literal rapists shouldn't have been the party that provided the sexual and behavioral guidance and norms to an entire generation. I don't think it's moralistic screeching to object to massive impact that rapists have had on popular culture.

The oblivious parents are partially to blame, but their ignorance wouldn't have been as harmful if there weren't a billion-dollar cultural machine in the picture mass-marketing sex divorced from love or responsibility to people who don't know better and saying, "Don't let your mom see this. It's a secret for cool people."

Boomer parents weren't exactly good, in general, about talking to their kids about sex. Susan spent the 70s getting her back blown out in the back of various vans with fur interior and water beds, and now she's too bashful to say "penis" and "vagina", and has to whisper when she refers to sex as "intercourse". Even a boomer who found the middle ground between 70s hedonism and 50s pearl-clutching repression is going to naturally have a hard time keeping ahead of cutting-edge, professional groomers.

The larger impact of all this takes the form of people who haven't woken up to realize how fucked up this all was, and how we may have been covertly groomed, in mass, by corporate pedophiles and rapists. Those people, perhaps, might be the ones so desensitized that it seems appropriate, if not preferable, to teach masturbation techniques to kindergarteners, promise teens they should start their sex work career on their 18th birthday, claim pedophiles are "just another sexual minority", and attempt to argue that queer acceptance means involving children in kink events and drag shows.

#victoriassecretangel #victorias secret #y2kcore #y2k icons #y2k aesthetic #2000s nostalgia #jeffery epstein #les wexner #l brands inc

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