#the stuff between them is also really significant in the film

[sparrowstarsandsorrow]

Sergeant Barnes(Tom Berenger) and Sergeant Elias (willem dafoe) in Platoon 1986.

'There's more than what meets the eye'

#im soo interested in the relationship between these two characters #as in their personally rivalry which i think as times is a bit one-sided #id get into in but this is already a long post soo #the stuff between them is also really significant in the film #but i dont think it gets discussed as much #not sure #but the way they look at eachother #they dont always angrily glare at eachother #anyhow #long post #platoon #1986 #oliver stone #sgt. barnes #elias grodin #Sergeant elias #photoset #i guess #willem dafoe #tom berenger #the quote fits how they look at eachother because i think theres more personal behind it #not just rivalry or indifference

[ramjam]

Hi... long time no NnT-Analysis.

I want to talk about Lancelot and Tristan's dynamic. I'll be putting it under a read-more so I don't spam your dashboard.

First, let's take a look at their designs.

Tristan's Signature Color: Blue-ish Teal

Lancelot's Signature Color: Pink-ish Red

According to color theory, these two colors complement one another. Nakaba utilizes complementary colors quite often in his designs. You'll notice this in many of the most important pairs. It's a visual way to emphasize the connection between two people.

The use of complementary colors goes as far as Lancelot's Sin disguise. When he takes that form, he wears a teal collar... Just like how Tristan wears a collar with Lancelot's red.

Both of them also got their hair colors from their mother, while the style is more similar to their fathers. They have what has been described as a "feminine" appearance. Lancelot is incredibly bothered by this, to the extent he tries really hard to present as masculine. Tristan on the other hand doesn't seem to be bothered by it himself.

Their first volume covers also mirror one another.

Their namesakes are pulled from Arthurian mythos. In some of the original stories, Lancelot and Tristan do act similarly as friends who are "two sides of the same coin" in a way. Fated companions who counter one another.

Going into actual plot stuff now. The way their stories are intertwined, the particular tropes their relationship embodies, and why it's important.

The growth of both of their characters is often explored through their connection. For example, Lancelot first learned to read hearts while dueling Tristan.

Ban references the moment Lancelot received his scar here. Tristan was so excited while dueling his friend, that he lost control of himself. The heightened emotions awakened the dark magic in him that he inherited from his father. Tristan blacked out, striking Lancelot.

This was a significant moment for both of them. Tristan and Lancelot both experienced an "awakening" here, which set them down their respective paths and cemented their bond.

Lancelot is quite literally marked by him. With this scar, there will always be apart of him that is irreversible tied to his relationship with Tristan.

Additionally, the fact Tristan had hurt and permanently scarred Lancelot is what triggered Tristan's anxiety about fighting. It affected him so deeply that he began to fear combat, instead wanting to pursue a path of healing. So that it would never happen again.

The bulk of this film takes place when they're both 14. Which is a few years after Lancelot initially went missing. He felt the need to hide his identity, but even in his disguise, he wanted to somehow push Tristan to his peak performance.

This illustrates how Lancelot never once viewed him as a threat. Tristan isn't a monster to him... He wants to see him exercise the strength that Tristan is so terrified of.

(I wish this site had CC, but Lancelot wolf-whistles at him before this line...)

Lancelot knows Tristan well enough to be aware that these fears would hold him back in combat. He takes action when they fight together, pushing and prodding him until he is forced to conquer that fear and act.

Tristan's hesitancy comes from his care for Lancelot. He's terrified at the thought of ever hurting him-- or anyone-- again. Lancelot sees this differently. He views Tristan's attitude as if he's viewing Lancelot as someone weak who needs protection. He has faith in Tristan's strength and never doubts him. But that faith only makes things more complicated when Tristan avoids facing him. Lancelot knows he's capable and he wants to be his equal in that regard.

Earlier, I referenced Ban's comment in the one-shot where he wonders if Lancelot's behavior at that time had to do with this duel. There's an implication that part of why Lancelot felt so restless and inadequate had to do with Tristan's rejection. This was worsened by the fact that Lancelot had learned to read hearts, so he could see what Tristan must've been thinking in that moment. Tristan's concern doesn't come from viewing Lancelot as weak, but that's how Lancelot interpreted his heart and his words.

Between that and being babied by his parents, he lashed out and ran away to "prove himself." Which is how he went missing to begin with.

He didn't want to stop like Tristan did. He wanted to keep going. Tristan's strength motivated him, but Tristan didn't return those feelings because of his own self-loathing.

In the end, Lancelot is the one who convinces Tristan to embrace his power. He vowed to be there to stop Tristan in case things ever go too far.

Lancelot reads Tristan's heart in this moment and smiles to himself.

Lancelot's love for his friend manifests through his desire to propel Tristan to his peak potential. Through Lancelot's affection, Tristan changes forever. His pure faith in Lancelot and his intentions was all he needed to conquer his fears. To him, he doesn't need to be worried about losing himself, because he has Lancelot.

Many years pass since this moment, but Tristan still views Lancelot as that anchor he needs by his side. Tristan's control over his power has grown significantly, but he still fears using it without Lancelot by his side.

Something interesting about their dynamic in the present day is the way the dynamic has flipped. While Tristan respects Lancelot's power, now he is the one feeling weak in comparison. This is also a testament to the strength of their bond. While Tristan feels they're no longer "equal", it doesn't drive a wedge in their relationship. He isn't resentful or jealous, it doesn't push him away from Lancelot. Their bond is too strong for that.

Not to mention, what seems to bother him more than anything else is the fact that Lancelot won't discuss how he gained this new power. He's bothered by the way his friend vanished without a word for so long, and now refuses to talk about what happened.

Regardless, this just means that Tristan trusts Lancelot's abilities without question. The moment he arrives, Tristan believes so strongly in his ability to win above anyone else. If anyone can defeat the King of Camelot, it will be his closest companion.

Circling back to Lancelot being his anchor: This is pretty common in fantasy Shounen. Leading characters who possess dark magic often have a partner who they rely on to bring them back down, or stop them from going too far and losing themself. However, you usually see it between the leading male main character and the female secondary protagonist... In fact, this is the exact dynamic Meliodas and Elizabeth had with each other in the original manga.

This dynamic came up frequently whenever Meliodas went full-demon mode. But this page from the Holy War arc in particular really reminds me of Lancelot's line where he says he'll "beat Tristan into the dirt if he has to."

Considering these two are Tristan's parents, you'd think the parallel with Tristan would be between him and Isolde, or something. But it's not. It's with Lancelot.

Their chemistry is so natural. They spend some time apart, but nothing really changes. The play off of each other so easily and understand each other so deeply.

Lancelot teases him for a lot of things. Being air-headed, being childish around his parents, etc. But it isn't mean-spirited, and Tristan knows that. It's just an aspect of their relationship and one of the ways Lancelot shows affection to people. That's Tristan's best friend who is mean to him, but he still calls him by a cute little nickname ("Lance.")

The implications that Tristan has called Lancelot out for being like his father before is really funny. Quick lines like this convey a lot about a relationship, it demonstrates that familiarity.

I have a lot more I could say about them, but Tumblr apparently has a 30 image limit per-post. I'm just really excited to see what comes next for them in the timeskip. I suspect all of these building themes are going to come together in some pretty important ways the closer that we get to the main conflict of the sequel.

This analysis isn't necessarily meant to be shippy... But I do ship them, lol... ❤️

#nanatsu no taizai #mokushiroku no yonkishi #nnt #4kota #trislance #tristan liones #lancelot #nnt analysis

[vidavalor]

Do you think Aziraphale has a raging praise kink in addition to his 'food' and 'Crowley watching him do stuff' kinks? *hands you a box of spiced apple muffins, along with the recipe: https://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/view/spiced-apple-muffins*

Hi @jotun-philosopher! A recipe!!! I'm so excited. The website you shared is quite interesting. I'll have to make these on the other side of my holiday food as they look delicious. Do I think Aziraphale has a raging praise kink? Oh, yeah. Raging might be an understatement lol.

Praise kink and trauma thoughts under the cut.

In S2, we go from Lord Beezlebub paralleling Aziraphale, missing their Crowley (Gabriel) while in Hell, and musing that it'd be nice if someone ever told them they were doing a good job over to Aziraphale doing some difficult trauma work in Edinburgh and calling Crowley to talk to him about it. What goes a little undersung here, imo, is the way this is filmed and how Aziraphale can't stop talking about 1827 to a point that Crowley actually has to prompt him into telling him what he learned at the pub about Gabriel. This is because while Aziraphale-- who really didn't need to go to this cemetery at all for any reason related to figuring out what happened to Gabriel-- has been back to Edinburgh since 1827 (Crowley mentions him going to Edinburgh "for the festival" in 1.01), he's never been back to this spot since the night Crowley was yanked to Hell in front of him.

When we come in on Aziraphale at the cemetery, it's right off of that scene in the 1827 flashback and then we watch Aziraphale turn around again, now in the present, right? It's that he does have to turn around that's pretty significant. It says that he's not here because he thought maybe seeing Gabriel's statue again might give him some random insight as to what's happening to Gabriel in the present. He wasn't looking at the statue at first-- we come in on him looking at the spot where Crowley was taken.

Crowley and Aziraphale are in a place between S1 and S2 where Armageddon: Round Two could theoretically happen at any time. They have no idea if it's happening in five years or next Thursday or in an hour, really, and that's made the fact that Aziraphale has really never gotten over 1827 worse for him, to a point that it now bothers him to be away from Crowley for any significant length of time, especially if they've been arguing, because he's always worried that something will happen while they're apart and he'll never see him again. He spent almost a month (estimated by the dates in his diary) in 1827 thinking that had happened. He does some work on that in Edinburgh by deciding to go to the spot again and, when he does, he has to magically get the nearest cell phone so he can talk to Crowley from the spot because he knows that hearing his voice will help.

By telling Crowley that he's looking at the statue of Gabriel, we get in his knowledge that Crowley will understand the significance of this (and in Crowley's response indicating that he does) that they've talked about this at some point. There are other suggestions of that in the season (like the "I'm coming back. I won't leave you on your own" moment) but this phone conversation says that Aziraphale has verbalized to Crowley at some point how much 1827 still bothers him and Crowley understands that Aziraphale is telling him that he's taking a step towards trying to deal with it more.

(This is also an example of Aziraphale having done something clever and needing to call Crowley to tell him about it before he pops lol, which he's apparently been doing a lot lately since he no longer can get a pat on the back from Heaven, not that he ever did much, which is part of the whole damn problem. One could then perhaps presume that Crowley's been doling out a lot of praise over the phone of late, in addition to in person.)

So Crowley responds to Aziraphale telling him that he's in the cemetery in Edinburgh and looking at the Gabriel statue/trying to deal with 1827 by doing what they do sometimes-- cheer each other up from some depressing stuff about the past with a little of some of each other's favorite sexy chat.

This is basically a mirror in reverse of the scene in S1 in the car on the way to Tadfield where Crowley tells Aziraphale more about the antichrist baby swap and how it went wrong. Crowley was feeling depressed about the whole mess and how Armageddon was imminent now as a result of it and Aziraphale's response was to pivot to what was, effectively, dirty talking him in blasphemous Bible speak euphemisms in a dry-as-all-fuck, combination Pompous Angel/mildly soft dom tone because Crowley's sooooo weak for that lol. (I'm talking about the "seeds of destruction" scene, the dirtiness of which is probably a whole other meta, since we're mostly talking about Aziraphale here.)

Aziraphale's version of that is a massive praise kink. He looooves being told he's good at something or he did a good job or really just anything related to him and goodness, since Heaven's done a number on him and he struggles sometimes to fundamentally believe that he is good, which is lunacy but so are negative thought cycles in the first place. The praise thing with Crowley isn't unhealthy-- I'm not suggesting that. Aziraphale's negative thought cycle is unhealthy, obviously, but the praise kink thing with Crowley is actually not a terrible counter to it. It's obviously not the entire solution to dealing with Heaven's abuse of him but it is also doesn't hurt that Aziraphale believes Crowley and values what he thinks, which can help break up negative thoughts.

It exists both in and out of bed and Crowley was intentionally blending that over the phone in the Edinburgh scene by responding to Aziraphale being like I did the really hard trauma work thing we were talking about today and I'm still here go me with the kind of praise you'd give someone for doing something that was tough ("good job") but delivered low and with the little "mmrmm" before it, which was to associate it with, uh, other kinds of praise Aziraphale has elicited from Crowley before, by way of also invoking Aziraphale's Assorted Rumbly Crowley Sounds Kink as well.

Aziraphale undoubtedly heard it and replied around it, like he was doing with most of Crowley's flirting with him in S2, because driving Crowley slowly insane is also Aziraphale's favorite past time. It was made funnier by the fact that he left Crowley in London to get The Shop Lesbians together, explain The Vavoom to a memory-wiped Jimbriel, answer any questions about love for the Inspector Constable angel Heaven sent to spy on them, and fix Shax's "hot water boiler" so The Love Doctor was in and getting no love himself lol. Crowley's comment wasn't meant to go anywhere anyway, really-- Gabriel was literally five feet away at the time, which was probably also amusing Crowley-- but yeah, I think the conscious, intentional way Crowley phrased that is meant to suggest that Aziraphale not only likes positive reinforcement in life in general but has a bit of a raging praise kink in bed, with which Crowley is very familiar.

#ineffable husbands #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens meta #good omens 2 #aziracrow

[sleekervae]

Past Lives [0.6]

Masterlist

A/N: Mmhm. I went indulgent with this one. Oooh boy, like full detail, full emotion

Also, this is the playlist I listened to while writing this, highly recommend

Warnings: smut ahead

Dinner was delicious, little alcohol was consumed because they both agreed dealing with a hangover in the morning wasn't favourable for either of them. They said goodbye to their friends at the end, none of them the wiser of what was transpiring between Austin and Jade. Florence herself was too drunk to even notice Austin waiting in the shadows.

They started walking, where to they weren't sure really but it was in the general vicinity of Jade's hotel. The city was still abuzz with traffic, both foot and on the road, though there was a glow lacking from the shops. It was peaceful, however. Jade and Austin fell into step with one another, the silence thick but comfortable.

Her mind was half lust now, half sadness and she kept glancing at the scenery around them to distract her. Every now and then she'd meet Austin's eyes or -- better yet -- catch him observing something on the block with some inquisitive excitement and it pushed her further towards the idea of letting go. Their kiss, however brief it felt, had made her heart race again, everything else but his deep scent and the burn on her waist fading away.

"Are you a cat or a dog person?" Austin asked, effectively snapping her attention back to him.

"I'm sorry?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"I don't think we ever talked about it. You strike me as a dog person," he laughed.

"I don't know, we had a dog when I was younger. I always wanted a bunny, though," she grinned back.

"A bunny?" he chuckled.

"Yeah! They travel well, they love to play. And they're pretty eco-friendly, too," she replied.

"I see," he nodded, looking her up and down, "Yeah, yeah you strike me as a bunny person,"

"A bunny person? What's so bunny-like about me?" she asked, becoming more and more intrigued.

"I don't know," he simpered, blushing as he continued to babble on, "You travel well, you like to play, and I assume you recycle too,"

Jade smirked, "Play in what way?" she giggled.

Austin chuckled sheepishly, "Never mind," he replied, "You think you might want to adopt one now?"

"Maybe," she shrugged back, "I also always wanted a horse when I was younger -- said every little girl ever,"

"A horse might be a little bit harder to squeeze into an apartment," he said, "You ever ride?" he winked.

"A horse? No," she sighed, the desire to tease him building. She raised her eyebrow and watched him, "Can't say the same for some significant others,"

Austin swallowed hard, laughing under his breath. Her lips were pouty as she smiled at him confidently, lashes fluttering softly.

"Tell me something you haven't told me yet," he drawled.

Jade simpered, "Aside from all the other embarrassing stuff I've told you?" she asked, her head rolling back to look up at the sky.

"Give me one,"

"... I think Marvel is stupidly overrated," she declared.

"Very valid," he laughed.

"I've trained myself to get good at sleeping on planes. I'm on them enough. And..." she started to laugh nervously, "I um -- I was taking pole classes for a while,"

Austin raised an eyebrow, "Pole classes? As in...?"

"Pole dancing," she giggled shyly, "It's really good cardio!"

"Interesting," he noted in a way that only made her speak quicker to ignore his smirk.

"And I really dug your performance in The Iceman Cometh..." she admitted.

Austin nearly tripped over himself at her declaration, his chest warming again, "You came to see the show?" he asked, almost incredulous to the notion.

"Well... I was on tour. But a friend went to see it and she filmed some parts. I know, it's a taboo in a theatre, whatever," she simpered, "He sent me some of the clips and you were just phenomenal,"

"Thank you," he smiled, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why didn't you come and say 'hi' at Coachella?" she queried in response, feigning insult.

Austin nodded sheepishly, "Ah, very fair," he mumbled, now worried he had offended her.

"You know I don't hold that against you, right?" she asked, "I'm just playing,"

Her assurance put him at ease, he rolled his eyes, slinging his arm around her shoulders, "I think a bunny would suit you very well," She gasped happily at the notion.

"Okay, it's your turn," she decided, "Something you haven't told me yet,"

"Hmm," he looked up at the sky as he racked his brain, "I taught myself how to play drums,"

"Really?"

"I mean -- I'm not great at it. But I can carry a tempo," he said.

"So, if I ever needed a swap in for my band?" she smirked.

"Just give me the time and place," he simpered back, "Lemme' see... I once lost a bet and I had to sit through a Saw marathon,"

She gasped, "Nooo!"

"Yep," he nodded regretfully.

"All in one sitting?"

"I've never fully recovered," he admitted.

"What an asshole friend!" she exclaimed, "Even I'm not that mean!"

"You still like horror movies?" he asked.

"Not the super gory ones. The one I did with Flo was fun, but I've been kinda' growing out of it," she shrugged, "I think that means I'm fearless now?"

He laughed jovially, "Well, great! That means you can protect me!" he decided.

"Nay, fair squire! Doth shall never know thy terror of a poor budget slasher film when in my presence," she teased back.

He pulled her closer to him, partially to keep out the chilly nip in the air, but also just because he could, "My knight in shining armour,"

Jade allowed herself the luxury of staying in his embrace, no matter how fleeting it may be. She was endeared by his consistent humility, and how easily it was to make him go red. He couldn't help but smile back at her elation, fighting the urge to corner her against the wall again.

They slowed down as they approached Jade's hotel, the doormen had retired for the night and the hedge lights dimmed low. Jade had done many a foolish thing in her life, too many for her to count on one hand. Bringing Austin back to her hotel may count as another bullet on her list.

She still wasn't sure how they'd gotten to his point, all rational thought fleeting when they'd agreed to have one last night cap. The hotel bar was closed and the night clerk didn't give them a second glance as the pair slipped into the elevator, acting as orderly as they could muster.

They stood on opposite sides of the elevator, and Jade tried to focus on anything other than Austin: the buttons on the door, the ceiling tiles shining down, the mirror reflecting themselves back at them. Austin leaned against the wall, watching her intently, he could sense pick off how rigid and tense she'd become, her gaze pinned to the floor as he tried to meet it.

He let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair, his teeth biting the inside of his lip and he shut out thoughts of Jade he perhaps shouldn't have been. The silence between them was thick and unbearable, they both recalled how unorderly they'd been again. Unorderly, inappropriate, deliciously fun...

Austin couldn't stand the silence now, the complete contrast of the street, the vast opportunity for so much to be said and done was being confoundedly wasted by their won reluctance to cave. His self control and his attraction for her were battling it out hard. He stared at the panelled ceiling above their heads, his shoes, and then he found her face again, drawn to her features like a magnet.

"Jade..." he sighed. She graced him with a stare, her fingernails digging into her palm in a clenched fist as she processed her self control slipping away. They ascended floors slowly, time dragging out for the inevitable.

And then, what little of his self control had left vanished, and Austin strode forward to close the gap between them, her back pushed against the wall. His hands found her face without apology, the curve of her jaw slotting perfectly into his palm and though she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze for fear she may combust, she leant into it so naturally, so comfortable. Jade's gaze shifted between her hands pressed into his chest to his eyes, the cool, shadowing blues she found melting her entirely and she had just about managed to catch her breath before Austin's lips were on hers, stealing away every thought with the way he moved them.

Her body thrummed with electricity, caught off guard, fluttering on the edge, her brain telling her how wrong it was but her heart pulsating at the speed of a bullet train. His hands slipped down to the sides of her neck to keep her close, instantly needing more form her, and he was willing to give it all in return if she let him. Her lips tasted like wine, ginger and decadence and he allowed himself as much as he could possibly get, so lost in her and yet so aware of the moment slipping away beneath his finger tips.

He then suddenly remembered who he was, who she was, and what he was doing -- and he flinched away abruptly, regretfully leaving her lips empty. His fingers trembled at her neck, his brows creasing with a look of genuine concern, terrified he'd crossed her boundary again.

"Fuck, I'm sorry," he huffed, puffing for breath, his forehead coming to rest against hers, "I'm so sorry," he repeated, not having found the strength to let go of her.

His lust contradicted his rationality over and over, he needed more of her but he knew the risks should he spend another moment with his mouth on hers. Jade let out a small laugh, making his heart thrum in a way it shouldn't.

"It's okay," she assured, though her voice was shakier then she intended. She tried to process the fact that his lips had been on hers again for the third time in twenty-four hours, how good it had felt, how familiar it was and how she didn't want him to stop.

"We're really not good at this responsibility stuff, are we?" she giggled, trying to lighten his mood.

He managed a comforting smile, "No. No we are not," he nodded, "But I don't want to spook you again, Jade,"

"I don't want to spook you!" she laughed incredulously, "And I don't want you to think I have any expectations of you,"

"I understand," his hands dropped to his sides, "You know that saying, right? Right person, wrong time?" His gaze was intense, cool sky blue, wide, searching for some sort of answer in her sweet face.

"It rings true," she said, "But... the time could be right, just for tonight?" her lips curled with an illicit joy, her heart pounding in her ears.

Austin stared back at her blankly, eyebrows twisted in confusion, as though he hadn't heard her or he'd blacked out entirely.

"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively.

Her whole body trembled with fear of the unprecedented, though she didn't waste a second longer revelling in her insecurities. Instead, she nodded confidently as she propelled herself forward with her desire and brought his lips down hers.

It took a moment for Austin to react, though when he did he moved against her with fervid determination. He'd tried his best to resist this, but right now he was too tired to try. He was so fed up of wallowing in second thoughts and guilt and his own depression, he had spent an entire year locking himself away and Jade was releasing him again. He could give in to his desire fully without fear of consequence. He shuddered against her as one of her hands found its way to the back of his neck, her long nails scratching along the shorter hairs and the sensitive skin. That shudder made her all the more ravenous for him.

His hands found her hips again, digging tightly into her to pull her against him, needing her beyond closer. Their kiss was hungrier now, open mouthed and desperate. His tongue danced effortlessly with hers, his breath hot at the back of her throat as he clutched at her dress, already torturing himself with the idea of what she looked like beneath it. Austin was unable to collect a single thought, form a simple sentence, find some string of words that could summarize the complexity of what he was feeling for her.

They only stopped to catch their breath when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, beholding the hall to Jade's floor. Jade was completely enthralled with the dazed look in his eyes, becoming addicted to the bashful giggle shuttering against her mouth as he pecked her lips again. His thumb brushed under her lips, swollen from the intensity of their kiss.

"Are you sure?" he mumbled again, no fussing made as her hands pushed to slide his jacket off.

She nodded confidently, caught on the darkness of his faze before she managed to reply with a breathless, "Yes,"

Austin nodded in relief and disbelief, his shoulders slouching with the need for her, the idea of having her a way he never could've imagined suddenly so tantalizing and so delicious, the notion was threatening to tear him apart. He kissed her once more, smiling like a fool before stepping back so he could follow her trembling figure into the hall.

Jade was only thankful her room wasn't too far from the elevator, each step feeling like she would slip at every movement with how jittery she was. Rummaging through her bag for her key was a struggle to say the least, with Austin cornering her against the door and splaying gentle kisses across her neck. She gasped triumphantly when she finally found her keycard and opened the door, pulling Austin inside and flicking the lights on without missing a beat.

He squared his hips against hers, following her every step and maintaining his touch on her somewhere at all times. They tossed their jackets aside, Jade fumbling backwards towards the bed as Austin suddenly tripped over the corner of her suitcase. She caught him before he could take a fall, laughing amusedly against his lips as her fingers curled around his neck to hold him near. Their heartbeats thudded against each other.

Austin felt as though he had the wind knocked out of him, suddenly falling back and landing bottom-first onto her bed. Only then did he take a moment to breathe, to take her in as a whole. Austin's eyes had completely clouded over with lust, his senses overwhelmed by her and it must've shown in his expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked, a swarm of nerves still biting at her, her eyes were wide and curious.

"Yeah Jade -- I'm fine," he sighed, though he had to question the reliability of his own answer as he pulled her down into his lap and took her in another kiss; her nimble fingers beginning to unbutton his shirt. Her own lips moved to his jaw and descended down his neck, her warm hands now free to roam his toned chest for the first time. He helped in pulling his shirt off his shoulders and down his arms, tossing it aside in some miscellaneous corner of the room.

He was annoyed with her dress being in his way, pulling the long material over her thighs and up her waist. She gathered the material, pulling her dress and her grey long sleeve over her head so she was sitting in just her underwear; a simple black t-shirt bra and sleek red panties complimented by the plethora of floral and dainty tattoos.

She carefully studied Austin's face for the reaction she craved, some his nod of approval more important to her than she'd realized. Her fingers grazed across his jaw, she watched his eyes flutter softly as he ran his hands over her olive skin; long fingers traveled up her sides, stroking down her stomach, squeezing her thighs, slowly processing her before him. He wanted to kiss every inch of her, cherish her, assure her how incredible she was to him.

He fumbled to undo her bra, the soft fabric revealing more skin. It took longer than he'd have liked out of sheer nervousness, any cocky confidence he'd had quickly dissipated into smoke now that he'd found themselves here. Jade held her breath as he brought the straps down her arms, biting his lips at the sight of her perfect breasts. He cupped them gently, thumbs smoothing over the sheeny kin. Jade let go of Austin's chin to steady herself on his firm shoulders, her eyes slipping shut as he skimmed her nipples. He flicked them back and forth, rolled them, taking his time to ensure he could enjoy everything about her.

She let out a raspy sigh, her head lolling to the side and her fingertips squeezed his shoulders, "Shit..."

No stranger to teasing back, she slipped her hand into his pants and under his boxers, stroking over his head. She moved her fist slowly up and down his shaft, hiding her face in the crook of his neck as his breathing became erratic.

He was becoming obsessed with the way she responded to his touch, how she her touch was addicting, her hums and his sighs of pleasure more dizzying than any alcohol he could consume.

"How bad do you want this?" he drawled.

Her smile turned coy, answering his question as he took one of his hands and placed it on the inside of her thigh, "You tell me,"

Austin took her on it like a challenge, slipping his fingers higher up her smooth skin and tentatively stroking over the soft silk of her panties. She couldn't hold back her shudder as he stroked her over and over, the heat from her body was intoxicating and she smelled so heavenly that Austin never wanted to let her go. She lifted herself up so he could slide her underwear off, fully vulnerable before him, but the nerves dissipated as he swiped his middle finger up her slit. A small moan slipped from her throat, inhaling quickly.

"Fuck," he breathed out, "You're absolutely beautiful," and he continued to tease her, pushing into her little by little while he thumbed at her clit. Her hips undulated over him, matching his pace and wishing he move a little faster.

"And you're overdressed," she whispered, her chest unable to keep a steady pattern of breath.

He was taken off guard for just a moment, glancing down at his slacks with a dark chuckle. His fingers withdrew from her clit, much to her chagrin as she mewled in protest.

"How rude of me," he shifted so she would sit on the bed. She watched him stand and push down his pants, eyes traveling over the clear outline of his bulge inches boxers, her head beginning to spin. Jade was desperate, wanted to level the playing field a little. She reached out to touch him, smoothing over the warmth radiating off his skin and teasing the hem of his boxers with her finger, slipping underneath the fabric and snapping the elastic back. He simpered, amused with her toying, determined to wipe that smirk off of her face if it killed him.

His boxers were the next to go, though he waited for a moment as he took her in. Austin couldn't wrap his head around how beautiful and sweet she was, even when her expression and intentions were less than such. There was a split second of insecurity, he thought. A short moment of hesitation when he could see in Jade's eyes, she was thinking of covering herself. But she kept her shoulders square.

"What?" she laughed softly, bringing a knee up to cross over the other.

"Are you sure about this?" he cleared his throat, "Because we can stop if you want,"

Her chest tightened a little, her subconscious wondering if maybe he was having second thoughts, "I don't. But if you --"

"I don't," he assured, "I just -- I just don't want you to think I just want sex from you --"

"Austin," she chuckled, "I'm not asking you to marry me, I just want you to fuck me. It's okay,"

She was so brazen and yet so promising. He nodded slowly, taking a mental snapshot of the way she was shaking her head at him, her teeth biting down on her lip to keep back her bashful giggles, "Maybe you should take a picture?" she joked.

"Maybe I will?" he crawled over her, pressing searing kisses across her chest and down her stomach.

"Do it, and I'll kill you right here," her voice was airy, and he took it an ask ask to please hurry up and do... something. To push her legs wide open with his hands gripping under her thighs. She was wet and slick under his fingers, smooth and soft, he couldn't help but reach out and give her a taste. Her butt fit perfectly in his palm, his fingers tickling across her hips and up her side to fondle her breast. He wanted to absorb her into him and lick her dry, that was for his own satisfaction more than hers.

Her back arched as he pressed his tongue into her clit, her squirming stilled as he held her down by her hips. Her nails carded through his hair, scratching pleasantly in time to her hips rocking into him, she whimpered impatiently when he slipped a finger inside her.

It had been so long since Jade had felt this way, taken care of and treasured, and she tried to savour the moment, trying to calm herself so she wouldn't come too quickly. Had he always been so good at oral? Did he figure it out on his first go or did he work his way up? Jade's thoughts rattled off like ping pong as she watched him, the arm holding her open tense and she could pick out every freckle, every muscle rippling.

"Jade," he leaned back a little to kiss the inside of her shaking thigh. He took a deep breath, "Don't come yet," he lips brushed across her folds and his tongue dipped into her again. She squeezed her eyes shut, fingers clawing at the sheets to grasp for some stability. This wasn't fair.

"Austin," she tried to move but he held her down.

"Wait -- just a minute," and he sucked -- oh, God yes.

"Austin --"

"One minute,"

"I can't --"

"Yes you can,"

"I hate you,"

"No you don't," she really wished she did.

His voice ruined her, raw and husky, and edging on possessive. And he pumped his finger faster within in and she wanted to scream so badly. He devoured her wholly, flickering hard and fast against her clit and stroking just right in her channel. She lost her own battle as a sharp, tingling pleasure shot up her spine and down to her toes, the air knocked out of her chest as she was coming in airy moans and slow, strong contractions. Austin's chest tightened; he wanted to fuck her so badly, but he also could come from just watching her. He wanted to make her do that again; and he would have too if she didn't push him gently back so she could regain her self composure.

His sullen glance of compliance was replaced with rabid desire as she pulled him up. She was probably thinking the same as he had, never the less settling his weight on his forearms as he kissed her hard.

It was then she realized she was still wearing her stupid ankle socks. How lame, she thought to herself, praying that Austin hadn't noticed. But he was kissing her so good and she couldn't make herself care enough as she was still so sensitive, and it felt so nice to kiss him like this.

"Can I have you?" he chuckled, teetering on impatient. The smile playing on his lips made her heart skip a beat. Her head fell back against the sheets.

"Can you?" she pushed his hair out from his eyes, admiring his accentuated hairline, the smooth curve of his ears, the patched of stubble he'd missed when shaving, the crinkles around his eyes and all of the little details that made Austin so unequivocally handsome.

"Yeah," he muttered, hands squeezing her butt, "I want you,"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." she giggled, feigning nonchalance with a shrug.

His fingers tickled up her sides and linked with hers, his body weight over her was heavy and he was so warm. He could feel his heart pounding at rapid speed as he aligned himself to her, rocking his hips to tease, nudging his head against her opening, and slipped inside of her.

They both exhaled. Austin brushed the tip of his nose across hers, smiling gently.

"Hi,"

"Hi," she smiled back.

Jade felt pliant, it didn't hurt but he wasn't too much for her. He felt just right; rocking into her at a steady rhythm and eliciting the most incredible sensations within her. He groaned into her neck, his entire body trembling with tension, so overwhelmed with how good she felt around him.

She bit down on his shoulder, sweltering under his abdomen, the echo of his breathing in her ear blaring like an alarm. He kissed her collarbone, lips brushing across the flower tattoo there, moving up to bite gently at her ear. She shivered beneath him, her walls contracting, squeezing him to keep him hard within her. In the span of just a few seconds his thrusts went from shy, exploratory, to quick and all-eclipsing. His hand slid into the small of her back, lifting her into him as he filled her again, and again, and again, rubbing deliciously inside of her. Pleasure reverberated up her spine.

"Is this okay?" he mumbled against her ear, making no measure to slow himself. She felt too good for him to initiate any self control.

She couldn't answer at first, nothing past a sharp gasp as pressure built within her.

"Jade --" he rasped.

"Yes," she cried out, her hips inclining up and she clenched around him, "Austin -- fuck yes!"

And with that, the last of his control fizzled out. A crude noise left his lips and he shuddered, pumping hard and breathing fast against her skin. Jade felt his orgasm searing within in, a scalding pleasure filling her as he trembled on top of her.

His hand came down on her hop to hold her into the mattress as he silently gathered all the energy he had left, kissing her with a ferocity she hadn't experienced before. Her walls fluttered as he delivered a series of hard, drawn out and sloppy thrusts, so sensitive and sore against her but he wanted to feel her come around him.

And then she couldn't hold out any longer, breaking their kiss as she fell into the elation of her own orgasm, the sensation she'd chased worth the wait. Austin slowed his thrusts to a halt, holding her close as she shivered beneath him.

His head fell against her shoulder, a heavy groan leaving him and he gently kissed the clammy skin. Her own whimpers were soft and fragile, strands of hair plastered against her forehead and he was gentle as he pushed them back. He pressed another kiss to her forehead, shifting onto his back to settle down.

She slowly turned her head to meet his gaze, one hand still interlocked with his but her free one she massaged through his hair, laughing to herself, "You don't know how much I needed that,"

He chuckled back and shifted closer, his muscles tired and sore, but he felt deliciously satisfied as he muttered back, "Me too,"

#austin butler #austin x reader #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler x reader #austin butler elvis #elvis presley #elvis movie 2022 #jade theodore #original story #original character #film blog #imagine blog

[taraljc]

One of the things I've been thinking about recently is how most of the things that upset me about The Dark World relate to pacing, and cutting a significant portion of Jane's storyline so that she ends up a damsel in distress for a huge chunk of the movie. It's a massive disservice to the character and the actor, and I remember really empathizing with how frustrated Natalie Portman was when Patty Jenkins was no longer available because she had mostly signed up to do the movies specifically to work with Jenkins.

But I remembered that apart from scrapping the entire original Jane and Thor ending where they break up and also Odin voluntarily leaving Asgard and decides to wander Earth for a while, that they had gone back and added scenes with Loki. I kept thinking that they were more of the banter while attempting to fly Malekith's ship, but it turns out it was two scenes that I can't actually imagine the movie without.

I had some notes saved in a file but I had to figure out where they came from so I actually dug up the original article from 2013.

Here are the excerpts that are relevant to my and probably other Loki fans interests:

[Director Alan] Taylor was very clear to say they were not "reshoots," but "additional photography," he gave some insight into the Marvel process:

"It's my experience with the Marvel process they save a portion of the budget for this and what we were basically doing. A lot of it was getting more Loki stuff, because we realized how successful he was in the movie, so we sort of "Loki-ed it up" a little bit.

"There's a scene that we probably shouldn't identify too much, that's one of the funniest scenes in the movie where Loki's a shapeshifter. That was a very, very late addition. And there's a connective thing at the beginning that bridges from The Avengers story to sort of explain how Loki is in prison or why he is in prison. That was a very, very late addition. That was probably "more Loki is a good thing," but also we decided it was an expositional link that was needed for the audience. So those are two examples of Loki stuff."

Tom Hiddleston further clarified:

"[The bridge scene and morphing] were the only scenes [added], yeah. What does it do, adding scenes? It's interesting, because I had actually always wanted there to be that scene with Odin. I remember saying when I first got the draft of the script, "Shouldn't he have a scene with Odin where you see them lock horns one more time?" So I was very glad to do that and I think it makes more sense of the references to Odin all the way through the film.

"And the morphing scene was just so fun. It was just adding more mischief, more playfulness to the character. His charm is so much of the character and is a facet I love to play. I suppose the challenge of adding stuff later is just trying to capture the same psychological and emotional continuity, because there were many months between... Of course when you're shooting, that's when you're focused solely on that particular job and then once you wrap you go off and get distracted by other things, other projects in your life. So it's having the discipline to shift back into the right gear, but it was worth it."

You definitely want to read the entire article because from a production standpoint, the fact that they were still rewriting well into post-production. like they didn't have a complete script until picture lock which I just can't even imagine. No wonder Idris Elba was so disgusted with the process that he asked specifically to be killed off in the next film. and I know that Christopher Eccleston was very disappointed in the final film because a lot of the material that he shot was cut. and the thing is if you look at all of the excise material, and all of the additional photography, it would be very easy to recut the movie into a significantly better movie in every way.

The deleted scenes with Jane and Odin by the way are not available on any of the home entertainment releases that I've seen. The only place I found them was on YouTube. If I can dig up the links, I will post them next.

#thor the dark world #loki #tom hiddleston #alan taylor #additional loki scenes

[cipheramnesia]

Can you talk about Thelma (2017)?

Thelma is too much for one ask, but I can try. I'm fairly confident there are some specific religious and cultural touchstones I'm not familiar enough to unpack for starters, and the movie itself is so dense with possible readings that I could approach it from at least three separate angles. It's like... where exactly do I start at this?

Just on the most surface level, we're looking at an X-Men situation with the sudden introduction a superhuman ability in someone's life is used to parallel a wide array of different experiences of systemic oppression - I think mainly patriarchal, sexual, and religious but these are all wrapped together in much the same was as they tend to be in individual lives.

What personally gets my heart aflutter over Thelma are its queer elements. Not that these can be neatly separated from the others, but the way it plays with a level of ambiguity in the attraction between the protagonist and her love interest feels especially true to the queer experience of wondering if we're experiencing kind of real mutual attraction, or if we're only seeing things in our imagination - the way queerness is treated as something taboo, even when it's socially permissible, makes finding personal connections a delicate process of hope and guessing. It transforms the relationship elements of the movie seen through that specific lens, including moments where our protagonist is struggling so hard against herself that she tries to make her own sexuality vanish.

But it doesn't operate exclusively as a queer movie, and that's part of why there's just... just so much stuff to try and work through here. I feel like a huge amount of the underlying text of the movie rests on how her capabilities horrify her parents and prompt them to find ways to suppress them, to keep her under control. Additionally, the way she works her way through the medical system as they find themselves at a loss to discern any easy answers to her symptoms. And for that matter, the notion that her supernatural abilities are themselves something wrong with her is also rife with meaning to any disenfranchised group, not just queers or women or non-xians.

I suppose it's a little weird to discuss what I think the movie is about without bringing up... what the movie is about, but there's not a large amount that happens precisely. Or more directly the plot, unadorned, is not particularly complicated. Although I expect if you're hanging around this blog, you might be really interested to learn about a movie which is all about a young woman developing supernatural powers to control reality, and eventually breaking free from her oppressive (albeit loving) xian parents.

Not to sound pretentious, if this was made in the USA, it would be quite a bit more spectacle and flash. Thelma the movie and protagonist both are quiet revolutions, tense with knowing something extraordinary is happening, but not knowing how much will survive it. Some of it put me in mind of Dario Argento, even if it's not quite as flamboyant, there's an emotional intensity and an obsessive focus to the camera work that feels familiar. The colors are not quite as bright and primary as Argento's work, but they feel dense and saturated in the same way. If a movie like X-Men captures the explosive emotions and anger of learning you're different in some way society does not accept, Thelma captures its alternate quite despair and seething rage.

But this all really just gets maybe a little under the surface. I would happily translate the family losing a son to their daughters power as metaphoric to how some families treat their trans children. The ambiguity of the ending, the significance of the birds and snakes as metaphors, the use of symbolic reflections all need greater exploration to the point where this film has a fair thesis worth of material contained within. It's a rare, special, and complicated movie which I would hope everyone takes the time to see (with the exception of people with serious medical concerns over flashing lights, it has A LOT of those). Thelma is about making the decision to burn bright while everyone around you sits with quietly folded hands.

#thelma 2017 #thelma 2018 #horror movies #queer horror #Joachim Trier

[cacodemonmania]

Review - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Big spoilers ahead!

Unlike my Normal People review, which I wrote a few weeks after I'd actually finished reading it, this review is nice and fresh as I finished the book about four minutes ago. I'm choosing to do my review by book, rather than the whole series, for four reasons.

I like doing reviews fresh. It helps to convey the actual thoughts I had when finishing/reading the book. Also, I have a lot to say (whoops!).

Unfortunately, I watched the movies before I read the book(s) and I have a sneaking feeling that I will not like the later books as much.

I have a hard time distinguishing between books in a series after I've read them. All the events kind of blur together. Not super helpful as reviews go.

I'm trying to keep my activity streak going. Consistency is my weakness and I have a tendency to disappear from Tumblr for months at a time. Here's to holding ourselves to stuff! (Hopefully) This is also a good way to force myself to read more.

My first concrete thought is that my heart is breaking at the end scene. The way that Peeta was so oblivious to Katniss playing it up for camera and all. Poor guy had no idea. Also, how can anyone ship Katniss and Gale? I don't mean that in a rude way, it's just kind of baffling after the amount of times Katniss said her feelings for him weren't romantic.

I thought the movies were relatively loyal to the books. Several scenes and plot lines were near exact and that's hard to do! I appreciate it, especially the details (i.e. Katniss holding the red rose as they ride in on the chariots). I do feel like they took a lot of emotion out of it, particularly Katniss. She seems a little lifeless and numb to everything in the movies, which I'd assumed was kind of just her default for going through a traumatic event like that, but after reading the books she is much livelier. Her narration, emotions, and feelings as everything is going on really sold me for how much I enjoyed the book. However, I respect the choices of the people involved in the filmmaking (because they are, in fact, good films) and perhaps that is a stylistic choice.

Katniss' narration, emotions, and reactions were all (for me) spot on. I felt like she was a real person who was aware of herself and developed over the course of the book due to the things that she was going through. Her narration was personal without sounding monologue-y, and I really enjoyed reading it. I always feel the need to acknowledge when the general feel of the writing or narration is well done because that can kill a book and make it unbearable or a chore to read.

I love the characters. They're well thought out, three dimensional, and the way that Katniss views and interacts with them is very realistic. In my mind this particularly applies to the stylist assistants, Haymitch, and Peeta. Katniss tries so hard not to judge the stylists, even though they are the very embodiment of what she dislikes about the games (i.e. their frilliness and comments, especially right after she's won). Because it's not really their fault, and she knows that they're people. She is very humane and empathetic which I think I see in myself. It's nice to see it reflected, especially in a main character. Especially in a main character who is seen as ruthless or lethal or dangerous. Her violence has motivation and she does all of the things, including killings, for real reasons. That's such an important, unique, significant thing about this book for me. Fantasy and dystopia often try to make strong (cough female cough) main characters who are badass and assassins and whatever (which is cool!! I love badass women!! I'm making a different point here), but their motivations are often lacking or cold or vague. They kill a hundred men for revenge over their slain little sister, but there is no connection to their little sister. They don't think about their little sister apart from "REVENGE!". We don't see a bond between them. I don't know, Katniss is just real and how she experiences and feels things is too. Woah! Bit of a detour we took there. Let's get back on track. Haymitch is probably someone who has been discussed a thousand times (pure vibe speculation). It's interesting to see him go from a drunk, no care, jerk to someone Katniss relies on and cares for. (cough three dimensional cough) It's also cool to see Katniss realize that and realize that the reason he's an alcoholic is due to what the Capital has put him through. Peeta. Oh, Peeta. The way Katniss views Peeta is kind of funny. She talks about how hard he is to predict, how mysterious, how strategic, when he's just a teenage boy in love. She's always trying to figure out his secret, ulterior motives and it's just that he likes her.

I have a lot of thoughts but I think many of them are ranging into hard to put into words and mostly just general feelings territory which is never nice to try and explain. Plus, I've talked a lot already. I realize, editing this, that these aren't really "reviews" so much as a dumping of my major thoughts and feelings. Maybe I should rename the series. Thoughts?

I would recommend reading this book! (You probably have already)

See you for Catching Fire :,)

#the hunger games #hunger games #suzanne collins #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #booklr #book review #I gave this book five stars because I couldn't really think of anything I'd change honestly #Also as I'm tagging this some tags are popping up that are concerning #I realize I should expect that in large fandoms but it still managed to surprise me

[thestrengthofevil]

What are your honest thoughts on Lonnie+Family?

Sorry for the wait, but I wanted to finish Lonnie's warrior sword so I will probably be focused on that

Anyways onto my answer...

I was liken 14-15 ish when I watched the first two films and I really liked her and I still do too but now I kinda grew up and had a chance to look into her character more and realised she wasn't really well written.

What is most upsetting for me is she could be a key point at any time in the movies but also in the books. But no piece of media in this franchise took that opportunity. Like she is there, yeah and she has some lines and stuff but nothing more. Shes in the back like literally any ak. Except for Ben and audrey. And we see audrey as a big character only in the last film.

I've seen people say that the movies especially are really mal centric and I agree, majority of the characters are just there.

Now I dont remember much about Lonnie in the books. It's been a while and I'm planning to reread them but I doubt she had any significant scenes for herself.

In Lonnie's warrior sword, which I literally just finished so it might be a bit too detailed,

First we had a memory with mulan, and I was so happy but that was the end of it. Now I think living up to the name of Mulan AND SHANG is a great plot point for her and her character but they couldn't do it well. Lost opportunity... but we have Mulan's name being mentioned at couple more places which all serve the 'living up to the name' and if the book was a bit longer they could explore it a bit better.

There is the matter of Li Shang. The matter is he is not there. Everyone ignored the man like they ignored Lonnie in the third movie. I would love to see some father-daughter bonding and we WERE ROBBED. so if anyone has any fic recommendations about Lonnie and Shang I would love that. Anyways, Shang in Lonnie's Warrior Sword was mentioned one (1) time.

"...sword fighting with her mother in the gardens, running laps around the palace with her father..."

That's it. And although I love the image of little Lonnie trying to keep up with her father while Shang purposely slows down for her is incredibly adorable, how would anyone think this would be enough to feed the fandom

Shang Jr is a whole other thing. Again I would love to see a relationship between Lonnie and Shang jr. And I also would like to see how filling up the name of Mulan AND SHANG would affect him. Because it would affect him as much as Lonnie.

Then there is the name situation. Firstly, I am not familiar with Chinese culture and I dont have anyone I can ask beside the internet so let me know if I need to include/exclude and/or change anything.

From what I've understood from the fandom, naming your child after yourself is very disrespectful so that is an issue. Honestly even if they were not gonna look into his name, all they needed to do was to search for some Chinese names and meanings. Like I could do that (and I am planning to cause there is no way I'm using Lil' Shang as a name in my version of descendants. Same goes with Lonnie. I did started to research about that but like Lonnie? Why? Naming with the same initials as your parent is a thing in the universe but by that logic they were supposed to do a name with m for mulan or s for shang, why did they go for L (I am assuming L is for Li but still) So they are nicknames given to them by Auradon and Sherwood Academy(was that where he was, I don't really remember)

For once I want Lonnie and Shang Jr (I am intentionally not calling him Lil' Shang cuz honestly between the two Shang Jr is not as disturbing to me as Lil' Shang) to be sassy. And that 100% came from grandma Fa. You know Mulan's grandmother. I want that woman to teach her great grand children things she wasn't supposed to. Like and she words and how to trick mushu or something.

Another point is (I've seen someone talk about it, I'll credit them if I can find it) the situation with Yi-Min. They grew up together with Lonnie and her cousins. Like Mulan saved China with these man of course their children are best friends. Also I love that she also competes in the Auradon warrior thing.

One more thing, I know it's already too long and I didnt have my fixation on Mulan and Mulan 2 yet so Lonnie and family are not people I've given much thought about but still....

We knew King beast had like all magical and non magical stuff collected in the museum but why? Like why would you disarm MULTIPLE KINGDOMS. I hate that man.

Also, in Lonnie's Warrior sword it says "... There it(Shan Yu's sword) could be watched over by the Imperial Council, who oversaw all official matters in the Imperial City, until Lonnie was old enough to inherit it." Why? Why does Lonnie inherit a council. Okay I know her parents saved China but why does Lonnie inherit a council. (Do I need to rewatch the mulan movies? probably)

Anyway... with the addition of the All-Knowing-One and her potential is also being lost... I will finish my rant here.

I hope I answered your question and I am sorry if it's too long

#li lonnie #lil shang #fa mulan #hua mulan #li shang #descendants #lonnie's warrior sword #school of secrets

[girl4music]

So given that Dawn was created and manifested rather than conceived and born, it did occur to me - does she have a birth date? If she does, they never show it. I would assume that would also be a fake memory. I mean technically she never had a childhood before the age of 13 (I think that’s how old she’s supposed to be in Season 5) and was just… there.

That’s such an interesting idea to think about though. Like if all we have is memories of our lives, can we be sure that we actually lived that experience? It would be like the Mandela Effect playing havoc in our head. We can remember stuff that never happened. We remember who we were, what we looked like, what friends and social circles we had or didn’t have. But it’s because we remember them that they feel real to us. As if we actually experienced those moments. I mean technically the only moment we have is now. The past and future are theoretical. They don’t exist. But we sense them as if they did and as if they will. So a character like Dawn Summers represents that persistent feeling we get that we lived out these experiences which led to what and who we are today. But now they’re only just memories that are in our head. And to think that this is what “identity” is. The remembering of “self” in all its different incarnations. And the more we remember of it the more real it feels. The more recollection we have of it, the more we perform it and behave as if we are a specific “self” or “I” or “ego”. Whatever you want to call it. The THAT in the “I Am that I Am” awareness of everything there is.

Not to go into full existential philosophy mode, as I so often do, but I think Dawn is an overlooked character. I mean she represents one of the most compelling themes and storylines in the whole damn show. The idea that we are what and who we are because we have memory of it and that’s really it as of right now. And it’s something very interesting and odd to think about but ultimately is the truth to the way it really is. I mean I don’t believe humanity began as green balls of energy of anything like that. It is an evolutionary cycle how we came to be what and who we are today. But it’s just the idea that consciousness - which includes memory recall - is what gives us our most personal and visceral recollection of what passes by just as quick as it started. Which is faster than our brains can actually process it so has to slow it down. And that’s how we get a perceptive experience of it. Similar to the way they used to make animated films. By drawing stilled snapshots frame-by-frame and then playing them in a forward progression to give the illusion that there is movement happening on screen. Our brains do that but backwards when we recall events that happened. At least that’s what mine does.

And I think what’s really interesting about Dawn’s character to emphasise on that is when Season 5 ends and Buffy takes the place of Dawn to stop all the dimensional gates to every dimension opening, that it doesn’t even matter anymore that Dawn is the Key to opening them all even though she still technically is. It also doesn’t even matter that she was created rather than born. It doesn’t even matter that her memories of her life and childhood are fake. It doesn’t even matter that she’s fundamentally not a human being.

All that matters is that she and everyone around her that love and care for her FEEL like she’s one of them. And there’s my point. It’s real because it FEELS real. And nothing else matters but that feeling/sensing that anything that has happened happened. There’s no difference between whether it actually did or whether we remember that it did. Whether it was an external occurrence or whether it only occurred in our head.

Not to quote J.K. Rowling but I really must given the significance of the post and the point I’m trying to get across with it in even mentioning Dawn Summers:

HARRY: “Tell me one last thing. Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

DUMBLEDORE: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Experience of any kind - no matter what it is or where it occurs - is real for the individual that experiences it. For the consciousness that has direct access to it. Even if it never happened externally or practically. Experientially, it is a real lived moment in our lives because… We feel it. We sense it. We remember it. And thus, Dawn Summers is really quite a profound character in the story of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. It’s not her fault that they didn’t carry on with her arc and continued to show exactly why she still matters passed Season 5. Or why she, as Xander put it in the closing out scene of ‘Potential’, is extraordinary. It’s not her fault that her character representation and development was just left by the wayside because, while she was still the Key, there was no Lock to fit her into anymore. And that there was no reason to treat her as anything more or less than how we treat the rest of the characters. Just an average normal girl who every once in awhile could be little frightening because her true nature was this all-powerful energy that was neither “good” or “evil” but just… there. It doesn’t matter that she, as “Dawn”, wasn’t always there because “always” isn’t a relative term. You can’t ever know an “always” to anything. Experience doesn’t work like that. At least not for human beings. All that matters is that she FEELS like she is “Dawn” and everyone around her also FEELS that she is too. Joyce FELT like Dawn was and is her daughter. Dawn FEELS like Joyce was and is her mother and that Buffy was and is her sister. All that matters is the FEELING that their fake memories are real to them.

If we really think about it - that’s all that matters for us, as human beings in the “real world”, too. And it’s really profound to have a character in any form of art/entertainment whatsoever representing that for us. And I don’t know about you guys but this is the real reason why Season 5 hits so hard for me emotionally. They presented this random ass sister from nowhere and by the end of the season made us FEEL like she had always been apart of all that we love about ‘BtVS’. So the joke “Remember when Dawn” always works on viewers that have yet to learn how she really came in and why none of that even matters in the first place. And the entire season is written so well that what was once so fucking frustrating for us is all but forgotten. Maybe not for everyone. But for the majority of fans it matters not that they never really go into the details of how and why and just continue to develop on what is. And what is … is Dawn. Buffy’s little sister and source.

It’s something I often say. A personal mantra of sorts:

“It’s not what it is that matters. It’s how it feels.”

#buffy the vampire slayer #dawn summers #michelle trachtenberg #season 5 #existentialism #memory #identity #nature #reality #energy #analysis #character study #faith victoria #Youtube

[corneliushickey]

dear @shinelikethunder tagged me to post eight tv shows to get to know me ~

under a cut because a) i did this with director’s commentary and b) i got too into this and it’s embarrassing

this exercise also made me wish that the tag was about eight movies because i really struggled to think of eight tv shows... i have definitely WATCHED more than eight tv shows in my lifetime, but it’s hard to name eight that have had a significant enough impact on me that i would show them to someone as a get to know me exercise, whereas i can think of like a dozen movies off hand that like, showing them to someone else feels like cutting my chest open and letting them root around in between my organs

okay, on to the tag! it’s organized by year the tv show came out because i am incapable of ranking things by how much i like them/they mean to me

good omens (2019); amazon

do you know how embarrassing this is to admit? 

i fully didn’t like the majority of this show because newt and anathema mean nothing to me and i hate being made to look at children

but crowley and aziraphale did something to me, man. on a molecular level. i got got. extremely got. i’m moving this week and tonight had the pleasure of taking everything down off my walls and a solid 30% of my wall space (which is a full coverage collage of stuff) is aziraphale and crowley prints... they inprinted on me in a way that i simply cannot justify nor explain. i have watched the intro to episode 3 more times than i can even attempt to count. it’s heinous. i’m serious.

the terror, season 1 (2018); amc

says tumblr user cornelius hickey...

the terror is a show i feel very comfortable telling people about because while i love it dearly and it means a lot to me, it’s a great example of craft and technical accomplishment, but it doesn’t hit any raw emotional wounds the way a lot of my most cherished media does. it’s just so technically well executed, an absolute masterclass of horror. it says and does so much in such a tight run. it is emotionally devastating and brilliantly written. it is hopeless and painful and dense.

i have a 3ft x 5ft print of an oil painting of cornelius hickey custom framed in my room. its haunting eyes will likely be moving to my office in the new place. he is a character that like very singularly stands out to me as one of the most incredible combinations of writing and performance i have ever seen on film.

i want this url buried with me when i die like digitally encoded onto my corpse

mindhunter (2017); netflix

this is another example where the show is just really really technically well crafted. beautifully written, acted, and filmed. i loooove a period piece and this one really captures a very specific time and place. plus it scratches my thomas harris itch because hannibalverse made me fond of quanitco stories at a young age

bill/holden is a whole ‘nother level

i want to study holden like a bug, and in fact i have!! the fic i’m most proud of is an intense play by play pov of his psychosexual hangups and while i only got halfway through writing it before the hyperfixation left me forever... i am still very proud of its concept and execution

true detective, season 1 (2014); hbo

another absolutely incredible example of television as a craft

this one though does get a little personal so while i recommend it to people often i am needlessly touchy about how people receive it because it hurts my feelings if they’re stupid about it

rust cohle you will always be famous!!

seven of its eight episodes really really really satisfy my need for hopeless, nihilistic media that wallows in its own despair and then episode eight always comes and bites through both my kneecaps with the blinding light of hope, the beatific face of god, the soul barring power of faith

hannibal (2013 - 2016); nbc

what is there to say, really?

if i loved it less i could talk about it more

the borgias (2011 - 2013); showtime

i literally almost didn’t submit my college applications because i was in a horrific depression hole watching and rewatching this show alone in my room in the dark for weeks on end. 

another show i watched at a very delicate time in my life but i have rewatched it since then and it 20000000% holds up, once again, as an exercise in the craft of television

a lot of the themes in this show really helped shape my own interests in media going forward

micheletto corella is really really really precious to me and the one thing i will never forgive this show for is how they handled his and cesare’s divorce because it is thematically inconsistent that cesare’s reaction to finding out micheletto was keeping a long line of secret curly haired brunette boyfriends half his age was anything other than scathing jealousy and extremely loud protest. like it’s just unrealistic that his reaction would have been anything but “why have you been fucking me by proxy when i have been desperate to fuck you for years” and the fight would’ve been really ugly and cesare would have lost because he’s not very good at fighting and then, well :) then 

house m.d (2004 - 2012); fox

absolutely humiliating

i was nine when this show premiered and watched it at a very delicate time in my development

the fucking unreal levels of 2000s homophobia did a psychological number on me as a very very gay child living in a violently homophobic environment

literally one of the worst shows ever put to television, and also, of course, one of the best

hugh laurie can still hit me up whenever

the twilight zone (1959 - 1964)

obviously didn’t watch this one while it aired lmao but back when it was on netflix in its entirety i watched it a few times start to finish

one of the all-time greats of american tv and a lovely comforting thing to have on in the background

rod serling is also welcome to hit my line

this show is still very much a cornerstone of how a lot of sci-fi and horror that came after it are done, and for good reason! being as those are two of my favorite genres, this is of course a staple of my tv loves

i tag @vincentpriceofficial @thegleamoftheknife @daemons @coweyed @awildwickedslip @voxceleste @intomyth @coffeeandorange

#roach.txt

[the-rewatch-rewind]

New episode! Script below the break

Hello and welcome back to the Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane, and this is the podcast where I talk about my most frequently rewatched movies after 20 years of keeping track. Today I will be discussing my 37th most watched movie: Act III Communications’ 1987 fantasy adventure comedy The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner, written by William Goldman based on his novel, and starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, and Mandy Patinkin.

This is another film like Mary Poppins that I’m not even sure I have to summarize, I feel like it’s so deeply ingrained in popular culture that anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the concept of movies knows Princess Bride. Even if you somehow haven’t seen it, you’ve almost certainly heard it quoted: I mean, it’s got “Inconceivable!” and “As you wish” and “Mawaige” and of course “Hello, my name is Iñigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” among many many other extremely quotable lines.

But, just in case you’ve forgotten what it’s about, let me explain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up. The Princess Bride is a story being read to a boy (Fred Savage) by his grandfather (Peter Falk) and tells of the beautiful young woman Buttercup (Robin Wright) and her handsome farm boy Westley (Cary Elwes), whose love overcomes a plethora of obstacles, including pirates, kidnappers, eels, cliffs, swords, poison, fire, quicksand, large rodents, a sadistic 6-fingered count, a torture machine, and a prince who wants to marry but also murder Buttercup.

This movie used to be on TV all the time when I was young, so I remember catching bits and pieces of it a lot, but I can’t recall exactly when I first watched it all the way through. The main first impressions I remember are being terrified of the ROUSes (rodents of unusual size) and not really understanding what was going on. But I know I had figured it out and grown to appreciate it well before I started tracking the movies I watched. Once I started keeping track, I saw it once in 2003, once in 2004, twice in 2005, once in 2006, twice in 2007, once in 2008, twice in 2009, and once each in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2021: 15 times total.

If you’ve listened to my previous episodes, you may be wondering how on earth I’m going to argue that The Princess Bride is not a romantic film, and the answer is…I’m not. Though there is a lot of non-romantic stuff going on throughout the movie, I think we can all agree that the extremely romantic love between Westley and Buttercup is the main driving force of the story. And that’s okay, I’m not anti-romance simply because I’m aromantic; I’m anti-amatonormativity, the idea that every human wants and needs a long-term romantic partner. And while The Princess Bride is a love story, it is not amatonormative. None of the other characters besides Westley and Buttercup seem to be looking for romance, even though they are extremely well developed and do have clear objectives. Iñigo (Mandy Patinkin) wants to avenge the death of his father; Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) wants power; Fezzik (Andre the Giant) wants to be useful; Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) wants to torture people; and even Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) only wants to get married so he can start a war over the death of his bride. Granted, not all of these are presented as good objectives, but at no point is it suggested that any of these characters should abandon their quests and instead search for romance. A significant amount of screen time is devoted to loving but platonic friendship, especially the one between Iñigo and Fezzik, which is fun and beautiful. The camaraderie between them and Westley when the three join forces is a major highlight of the film. Of course, it’s all in pursuit of romance (and vengeance), but that doesn’t diminish the strength of their friendship. Obviously no one can deny that a major recurring theme of the film is that true love (which is generally implied to be inherently romantic) is the greatest thing in the world, besides a nice MLT – a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich – which I assume is that world’s version of cake or garlic bread and Miracle Max is an ace icon, but anyway. My point is that the movie emphasizes that the kind of love between Westley and Buttercup is rare. If you find it, you should hold onto it, but not everybody is going to find it, so don’t sit and wallow in self-pity or despair if you don’t. And this is kind of how I always thought of romance for myself, before I knew that being aromantic was a thing. It would be great if I happened to find it, but if not, there are other things to focus on. So amatonormativity and its consequences – people desperately trying to find a partner, any partner, just to have one; expressions of pity toward single people; etc – really confused me. As did the knowledge, once I figured it out, that most people enjoy romantic movies because of the romance, and not despite it, as I eventually realized I was almost subconsciously doing. Like the kid hearing this story, I tolerate the kissing parts if the rest of the story draws me in enough, which Princess Bride absolutely does. The grandpa telling him “someday you might not mind so much” about kissing rather than something like “someday you will like kissing” was almost certainly not intended to fight amatonormativity, but we can choose to see it that way. The fact that the kid wants to hear about the kissing at the end could be interpreted as “he’s finally growing up and accepting that romance is part of life”; but, it can also be interpreted as, “he’s so into the story that he’ll put up with the kissing at the end so it doesn’t go unfinished,” and that I relate to. I also appreciate that the movie ends with the grandpa saying “As you wish” to his grandson. By echoing the way Westley said “I love you” to Buttercup, the grandfather is implying that those two different kinds of love are equal, refusing to play along with the amatonormative idea that romantic love is far superior to any other form of love.

While I’m sure that a lot of people do watch The Princess Bride at least partly for the romance, I think that unlike many romantic films, the reasons I enjoy it are also the main reasons most other people enjoy it. The script is clever, quotable, and fun; the characters are eclectic and fascinating and perfectly brought to life by fabulous actors; and the tone is unique. Apart from the scenes in the kid’s bedroom, what we’re seeing is not the actual story; we’re seeing what the kid pictures as he’s hearing the story, which is such a cool way to tell it. Everything feels larger-than-life, but in an honest, pure way that makes it feel realistic even in its absurdity. The Princess Bride is a delightful blend of a child’s imagination and an experienced storyteller’s writing skills, and I think that is a major contributor to its enduring popularity, even if most of its fans wouldn’t necessarily articulate it that way. It lives in that elusive space between childhood and adulthood where both children and adults feel at home, and therefore love to revisit. I read the book the movie is adapted from once as a teenager, and I remember being struck by how, even though many of the plot points had changed, the humor and tone were perfectly consistent between the novel and the film, which made it, in my opinion, an extremely faithful adaptation. Of course this makes sense because William Goldman wrote both, and Rob Reiner, the film’s director, was a big fan of the book. But often novel-to-feature-film adaptations get so focused on figuring out how to shorten the story without omitting important plot points that they lose sight of the heart of the original story. That absolutely did not happen here, and that’s a big part of why so many people love this movie. Sure, the plot points are interesting, but we’re really here for the unique comedic tone that was taken directly from the book. Changing the sharks to eels and eliminating the Zoo of Death were no big deal, but trying to tell the story without witty jokes simply would not have worked.

I think of all the movies I’ll be talking about on this podcast, The Princess Bride is the one I’ve watched the most in large groups. Most of my movie watching has been done at home, maybe with a few family members or friends, and I’ve certainly watched this one that way as well, but I remember seeing it several times at big movie night events. While I’ve definitely encountered people who don’t love it and think it’s overrated, most people I know are always up for a Princess Bride rewatch. And because of its wide appeal and quotable script, it’s very fun to see with a big crowd. While I’m too young to have seen it in a theater when it was first released, I did go to a 30th anniversary screening in 2017, which was awesome. My favorite part of that experience was after Buttercup hears that Westley’s ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who famously takes no prisoners, and says, “I will never love again,” a kid sitting behind me muttered, “Well THAT seems a little extreme” and I’ve been laughing about it ever since.

In addition to crowded viewings themselves, just being familiar with this movie in general has been a very social experience. As a teenager who loved old Hollywood and frequently referenced movies most kids my age had never heard of (I know the movies I’ve talked about here so far are fairly well-known, but just wait), it was fun to be able to bring up this one and have most people know what I was talking about for once. A few years ago I got to participate in a Princess Bride script reading with some friends, and I read for Vizzini and a few other minor characters, and it was so fun! I kept losing my place because I was so caught up watching everybody else. The joy of reading this excellent script with other people who also love the movie cannot be expressed in words. Also, a former coworker of mine LOVES this movie, and we used to quote it to each other all the time when we worked together. At one point everyone in our office got these “mood indicators,” which were desk calendar looking booklets where every page had a different emotion and a colorful emoji-style face on it – I guess to give people who approached our desks a heads up on how we were doing that day? I’m not sure how other people used theirs, but this coworker liked to cut out post-it notes in the shape of hair and various props and speech bubbles to add to them, so the ones in our department would quote bits of Princess Bride, mostly parts of the scene when Fezzik keeps rhyming with Iñigo and winding up Vizzini. I’ll post pictures I took of them on Tumblr – have I mentioned that this podcast has a Tumblr? It’s the-rewatch-rewind. The link will be in the show notes. I know most people stopped using Tumblr a while ago but it’s still my favorite social media platform, so that’s where I’ve been putting the transcripts of this podcast.

Anyway, while 15 is a lot of times to watch a movie, it feels like I’ve watched Princess Bride way more than that in the last 20 years, partly because of how frequently it comes up in life. Some films are more memorable than others, and this one leaves a deep impression every time I revisit it, so each viewing feels like multiple. I’m also still noticing new things about it – it took me until writing this episode to appreciate the humor of the man with the extra finger being a count. Obviously, the movie isn’t perfect; it could certainly use more female characters and racial diversity, for a start. But overall I think it deserves its popularity and devoted followers. It’s a well-told story with an excellent sense of humor featuring an ensemble of fascinating characters; what’s not to love?

Thank you for listening to me discuss another of my most-rewatched movies! Remember to rate and review, and subscribe or follow on your podcast platform of choice if you’re enjoying this and want to hear more. Next episode will be the first one to feature a movie that was made after I started keeping track, so stay tuned to hear about something a little more recent. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “I don’t have a skull. Or bones.”

#rewatch rewind #princess bride

[snacksizedgates]

Analysis Of This Byler Scene — Queer-coding, Mileven Parallels + Love Triangle

At this rate I'm gonna end up going through every Byler scene in S4 and analyzing it for queer coding lol. This one should be shorter than my other posts. Yeah scratch that nvm lol... Here we go...

So let's start chronologically:

This may be a reach but honestly, if Byler is going to be endgame, I can see the Duffer's doing tons of little things to indicate it because they love stuff like that.

Anyway, Mike walks into Will's room and closes the door. This first indicates they need privacy for whatever the subsequent scene is gonna be, meaning the scene is intimate in some way. In (good) film and tv, mostly everything in a scene is important. Down to little objects, lighting, character position, all of it.

Mike closing the door, especially to Will's room, could symbolize being in the closet. They didn't have to use that camera angle. They didn't even have to show the door or the entire room. They didn't even need to have him close the door. Yet they did. I think it's interesting.

Another thing in this scene that makes it harder to ignore is the fact that Will is right in front of an open closet. Even further, Mike sits across from Will who's in front of this open closet, in opposition to the both of them. All signs that Mike is queer, in the closet and repressing his feelings.

Mike has essentially shut/locked himself in the room (closet) with just Will, and he does this right at the beginning of an vulnerable scene between them. The open closet behind Will obviously symbolizes he is more open with his gay feelings than Mike. But, his closet is only open in the context of being locked in a room with Mike.

And this could be even more delusional but look at the dialogue. Isn't it funny that those are the lines juxtaposed with what I just described? (Visuals alluding to being in the closet)

Will is surprised that Mike packed so quickly = Mike has his gay feelings packed away, but Will does not. Will also says this while packing his bags to leave, signaling that he can pack and unpack his feelings, maybe not quickly ("you're already packed?) but he's capable of doing so.

Mike says he never really unpacked = obviously, he has not unpacked any of his gay feelings.

They didn't have to even show them packing or acknowledge Mike hasn't unpacked as it has no narrative value. They could've chose any setting for this apology, but they chose Will's room. They didn't even have to put this intimate, vulnerable scene in the show yet they did, and they chose to mention Mike never unpacking and Will being capable of unpacking and packing. I think that's why a lot of seemingly insignificant things are actually way more significant than you think; there's no point in wasting even 15 seconds of your run time on an insignificant line that gets the story (or subtext) nowhere. Basically if it doesn't develop characters or plot line, it shouldn't be there.

But yet these lines were, contrasting with the visuals I explained. Looks and sounds like subtext to me.

First I want to note that Mike has both of his hands directly on both of the respective laps. It doesn't have to automatically mean anything but this is typically something people do when they're nervous. It's called leg cleansing, it's when you rest your hands on your laps and periodically can be found rubbing your thighs. It soothes nerves so a lot of people with anxiety will be found doing this or some form of it somewhere else on their body. It's a popular piece of body language. Obviously it doesn't have to apply to everyone but they're acting so I think it's important.

Next I want to note the lighting. Notice both of them have about half of their face in the dark and half in the light. Furthermore, Will is sat with mostly his back towards Mike, which is lit up in light. His face, which he has to turn in order to talk to Mike, is dark. This may indicate that Will wants to be open with Mike but is having difficulty with that. We know Will is gay so it's easier to analyze that for him. But Mike? It's not confirmed. So let's look it at how it compares to Will's visuals. The side of his face that's dark is further away from Will. To me this suggests Mike has the opposite problem; he only feels safe with Will. As most people who believe Mike is gay know, Will is seemingly more accepting of his gayness than Mike is. Will's bigger struggle is the fact that he pines over his best friend and is scared to tell him because what if HE rejects Will. Personally I think if Will told Mike, he would be able to tell anyone else. But it's not the same with Mike. Mike fears the rest of the world judging him, not Will.

I'll admit this is definitely a stretch and obviously it's because they're using the lighting from the window. However, they could have made it so there weren't many shadows at all, for a better lit shot. But they chose not to.

Anyway, now we can start with the dialogue. In the first screencap Mike says his line "For knocking some sense into me. I was being a total self-pitying idiot."

Obviously he is referencing their previous scene where he was moping over El. The fact that he even brought this up tells me he feels embarrassed or silly in some way. That indicates he doesn't like sharing his feelings and while he was away from Will he was actively thinking about what he said. (an anxious gay he just like me fr) He cares about what Will thinks of him so much that it causes him anxiety. Would it be the same with Dustin and Lucas? Sure, if he has an anxiety disorder or something. But there's no indication of this dynamic between Mike and Dustin/Lucas, so it's safe to assume this exists solely with Will.

There's not really any reason he should feel embarrassed about telling Will how he's feeling. He didn't say anything damning and he was just sad. So I think that fact that he's kind of apologizing in a way shows he likes Will and cares about what Will thinks of him.

However, if you watch throughout the show he has a clear pattern with not being able to open up. Even since s1 in the scene with El where he's trying to ask her to the dance. So already we know he has an issue with bottling things up and overthinking. Most of the other characters share their feelings here and there and even if they don't or have a hard time with it, they often don't "apologize" for it once they have shared. Furthermore, throughout the show Will is the only one Mike has felt comfortable enough to open up or be vulnerable with, to a degree. So the fact that he still feels the need to bring it up shows he's even embarrassed with Will. This boy is so repressed. All of this is meant to parallel with the fact that he bottles up his gay feelings too.

Next we see the dialogue referencing how they can communicate silently or in code. Like "Crazy Together" -- they know what each other is implying without having to say it. In the van scene a few episodes later, they both reply "yeah" to each other, knowing they mean to say I love you. They don't have to say it. They know it. But they do want to say it, they just can't. This is why Will and Mike repeat words back to each other, it symbolizes they love each other. Mike and El, a canon romantic pairing, also repeat words back to each other. So we know that repeating words back to each other (while looking all flirty too lol) = romantic pairing.

Mike smiles very big with his lips closed at Will and then chuckles. Will lingers on him for a moment but quickly turns his head. He doesn't think Mike likes him back, obviously, and he feels embarrassed because Mike's smile is making him crush.

But the most interesting part to me is that Will turns around and we go back to Mike who is cheesing hard, teeth an all. This isn't (only?) flirtatious, he's happy. Either he started cheesing when Will was looking at him and then Will turned away (likely) or he started cheesing once Will was already turned around.

I think it's the former for two reasons. One being that Will gets nervous and turns around, very typical behavior for someone who has a crush. And two being...

Mikes smile dropped very quickly and he goes right back into being serious/nervous. This could suggest he takes Will's reaction negatively. He's thinking the something similar to Will - he thinks Will's reaction is negative, perhaps he thinks Will could tell he was crushing. Which is pretty much what Will is worried about too. But he's also nervous about apologizing to him too. Why? In the past he's never been nervous about speaking intimately with Will, even in s3 he was ready to apologize within hours. Why now? Because he's aware of his feelings for him, he knows he messed up this time, and he has to be vulnerable. He has to choose his words wisely, or he could out himself.

The Mileven apology (attempt) happened the episode before. And if you watch all the details, they're significantly different. Although the situations are mirroring each other - (I know I sound like a broken record but just gonna point out again how this is yet another instance that goes along with the Superman theory, furthering the love triangle between the three of them.) Both Will and El need an apology from Mike. El is expecting one (rightfully so) but Will isn't. :( We know this because El is angry at him while Will is at the breakfast table with him (Stand Up! STAND UP!!!! lol meme reference sorry I had to). However the situations end up with very, very different outcomes, as we all know. Here's why.

If you watch the Mileven apology scene, Mike starts the apologies off completely differently. To El he immediately puts the blame on her :( He says "are we not gonna talk about it?" And he isn't exactly rude but he's not sweet or gentle. With Will, he immediately starts off by saying "About the past few days...." intending to apologize. And he's gentle about it, smiling. Completely different tones.

Also note that the Byler apology scene happens the episode after Mileven's apology scene, meaning there isn't much time in between them. Essentially, he apologizes to Will how he should have apologized to his girlfriend. Sweet and gentle. This parallels last season with the Mileven/Byler fights. Constant parallels between them, and when one is taken away, the other is closer to Mike in all seasons. They literally went S1:Mileven S2:Byler S3:Mileven S4: Byler. 👁👄👁 BE MORE OBVIOUS??? It's like they spent these four seasons splitting the love triangle in two and now it's a toss up for S5 after all the development.

Okay back to the shots. As soon as Will says he deserved it, Mike shoots back "No." Like a milisecond after Will finishes his sentences. This suggests Mike feels strongly about what he's saying and thinks what Will is saying is ridiculous and very untrue. Especially considering his emphasis on No. He feels really bad about treating Will poorly.

And then we land on his face which looks disgusted. Now obviously in context, he's not disgusted at Will. So why does he have a disgusted face on? Because he's disgusted with himself. He knows he made Will feel like he "deserved" some sort of bad treatment, and he's upset with himself for it. And the worst part about it is that Will believed it was his fault.

Now if you go back to the Mileven apology... he doesn't admit what he did wrong. Instead he insists she's wrong about him thinking she is a monster. With Will, he instantly admits Will didn't deserve the treatment he gave him. But with Mileven it's the complete opposite (El you deserve better than this closeted homo sorry to you Mike Wheeler). He says "no" multiple times, just like with Byler, but he's stuttering and stumbling. Go watch the Byler apology... He says each and every single "No" very clearly. He is lying in the Mileven scene. I don't think he necessarily thinks she's a monster - I do think he cares for her as a very close friend - but I think he sees her as superior to him, and while that fascinates him it may also frighten him a little. That's why it's hard for him to say this without sounding sincere, he doesn't see her as a monster but he sees her as different then him. Somebody on twitter pointed out that in the apology attempt scene, El stands over Mike, creating an inferior vs superior dynamic, indicating Mike's feelings about the situation. El doesn't feel that way and we know this because at the very end of the scene she says "Not anymore" about being a superhero. The whole scene is her talking about how she's so different, still, even without the powers. So she doesn't view herself as superior to him, she views herself as different from him. Mike views her as superior to him.

Now in the Byler scene, they're almost at the same level, except Wills kneeling on the floor so he's slightly lower than Mike, and because of this he does have to look slightly up to Mike. But you'll also notice that Mike's shots look like they're at eye level. Will's shot's are pointed just ever so slightly downward. This means Will views Mike as above him - probably not in a bad way, but he looks up to him. He's smiling in these shots, not arguing like Mike was with Eleven. They are the same visuals to indicate the context is the same. (An attempted apology to a lover/crush) But we see the outcome is different. Conflictingly, Mike's shots in the Byler scene are at eye/level, meaning he sees Will as his equal. Not superior. Like c'mon. It's so blatant that the writers want us to see the juxtaposition between these two character pairings and if one's a romantic couple the other should be too, no? Just look at this definition of a love triangle. (not all love triangles happen this way, but this is called the eternal love triangle)

Now El isn't jealous because she's not aware of Mike's love for Will, and Mike isn't a cheater because nothing has happened (although those lip glances and flirty smiles are bordering you better watch yourself Mike Wheeler) But the dynamic is still there. El feels unloved by Mike, not uncared for, unloved. Mike has always deep down had feelings for Will and Will is definitely part of (the catalyst) the reason why Mike has issues with Mileven. Okay next shots.

Mike starts off by mentioning the rest of the party in Hawkins, his friends. He says "they're GREAT, it's just..." It's just what Mike? Will's not great? Well if you don't think he's great then what do you think? His next line creates a contrast between all of his other friends and Will. Hawkins isn't the same without Will, for Mike, not anybody else. He doesn't say this to El (because he doesn't love her romantically and she deserves better.) He says this to Will. He then goes on to say he feels like he lost Will and literally says he's focusing too much on his girlfriend. Mike's telling Will that his life is literally not the same without Will around, physically and emotionally.To me, this explains his behavior in the beginning of the season. He knows (or thinks) there's no possibility of Will coming home with him so why even get attached again? He's not attached to El like he is to Will, so writing and calling is good enough for him until he can see her after 8 months. Then he asks will if any of that makes sense, showing he is insecure/unsure of what he just said. He's second guessing it. Probably racking his mind to make sure he didn't say anything too much. He needs Will's approval of his feelings.

Note he still has his hands on his lap. And there's no better time than now to point out the imagery behind Mike. While Will has an open closet behind him, Mike has a poster of Jaws, a horror movie, and then a poster of a musical named Little Shop of Horrors. So while Will is with an open closet meaning he's accepting his feeling, Mike is framed by horror, meaning this is all scary for him, even being vulnerable with Will. Because now he recognizes his feelings for him, whereas he didn't know he had them in the other seasons.

In the first shot Mike says he has no idea what's gona happen next. That means he has no idea what's gonna happen with El, his girlfriend. He thinks theres no coming back from the fight they just had. Note that they never officially got back together and never kissed in their reunion. Then directly after he suggests that there is no more Mileven, he says him and Will should be a team. A partnership. Together.

But before he suggests that, he darts his eyes over to the side nervously, and then takes a big gulp. He's very obviously nervous.

Also, since Will has turned to face him at this point (conveying he's feeling more open with Mike) the lighting on their faces mirror each other. The dark is on the same side and the light is on the same side. Signifying unity between them. They're a pair.

And the light (gay) side is also the direction Mike darts his eyes in before suggesting they be a team. This could definitely be coincidental but I thought it was worth pointing out.

Then he takes a slight pause and suggest they be friends (again). Then in the bottom left picture, he takes an even longer pause while staring right into Will's eyes, and finally suggests best friends. Best friends is what Will suggested in the rink scene, so this means definitively that Mike is reciprocating Will's feelings.

Note once again this happens once El leaves. As soon as El leaves the picture, in whatever circumstance throughout the show, Will immediately takes her place. This is no exception, in fact it's the biggest example since S2.

Will cannot have Mike the way that he wants when El is there because Mike basically forces himself to be straight.

And then THIS part lol. Please give me a heterosexual explanation for this, quickly.

Crickets.

So this is pretty self explanatory but I'm going to go into it just a bit. Don't worry we are nearing the end lol.

Will says cool. He says it excitedly. Mike says cool, he says it in a calm, chill manner. You've probably heard this before and I think I mentioned it in one of my other posts. But they're repeating the term "Cool" back to each other, just like they do in S2 with Crazy Together. This is another term for I love you, because they're repeating it back and they are looking at each other flirtatious.

Visually all I'm gonna point out is Mike literally checks Will out, flicks his eyebrow up while bringing his eyes back to Will's face (?????????) and then smiles LIKE THAT.

He also can see Will tearing up, just noting that.

If this is not the gayest scene between them.

Okay to the very last point I'm going to make here, but I think it's the most important one.

This scene parallels the van scene in two ways. Mike has a speech and Will let's him get through it uninterrupted, without saying anything. The second parallel is that they repeat the code I love you words back to each other. Once Mike starts his speech with "No No..." Will doesn't say anything til the very end with "Cool." Even when Mike asks him a question, he only nods. The same thing happens in the van scene. Once Will starts his speech, Mike doesn't say anything til the very end with "Yeah" the reciprocated code word for I love you.

And not to mention, to the right of Mike is the boys don't cry poster, on his side of the room in the light, not the dark. This could suggest Mike has repressed feelings (boys dont cry) about being gay (the light where him and Will are together). Maybe nothing maybe something. I think it's interesting.

Now do I think the Duffer's alone are smart enough for everything I listed in here? Probably not. But they have a whole crew of people working on this set so maybe not everything here is true or intentional, but I definitely think this scene is queer-coded none the less.

Wow. This is my longest post yet. I thought I wouldn't find much in this scene when I started out hence the "this post should be a short one" lol. Maybe we are getting Byler after all.

Hope you enjoy!

#byler is real #byler is endgame #Mike Wheeler is gay #byler theories #byler analysis #stranger things analysis #will byers #will byers is gay #stranger things 4 #byler endgame #byler #byler proof #mike wheeler is queercoded #Queercoded #byler theory

[redhead1180]

Okay this may be weird and also idk if you know but anyway …. Okay so I’ve been watching some TikTok edits of interviews of the obx cast and especially Rudy and Madison Bailey and they seemed on and off camera great friend with potential for more . Yes I know they have significant others ( I don’t name Rudy’s partner in denial lol) but it got me thinking that maybe they were close to being more but then they both got with other people . It just seems so odd to me that they were so close in season one and maybe even2 and 3 (haven’t really seen bts stuff from that) but and I saw another anon say that they thought Elaine might have pushed him to distance himself cause now when you see bts video or pics their ( Rudy and Maddy) seem to be off . I know it’s speculation and it’s their own personal business but it just is interesting that such a great friendship ended . Anyway curious about your thoughts .

Hehehe. Well this is of course all speculation because we only see a snippet of there lives.

Watching BTS videos and interviews of s1, honestly, it really felt there was an attraction and vibe going on between Rudy and Madison. There are so many videos where one or both are just making heart or bedroom eyes. Now I, honestly don't know if they acted on it before they got with their SO. I am leaning in the they did not category, but we will never know for sure.

I see between S2 and s3 their friendship took a hit, there was words said by each's SO and it effected their relationship. There were multiple times they unfollowed each's SO on IG, then followed again, Rudy removed comments or posts pertaining to Madison and vice versa. It got kinda childish at one point. You can really see in interviews for s3 the difference in their friendship. Rudy is really stiff and standoffish to Madison.

Then last year Madison unfollowed Elaine, sometime around the start of filming s4, and since then will post weird sayings about lost friendships or wishing things were like in s1. Most assume it is about Rudy, but honestly could be about anyone. In recent BTS videos, unless filming, Rudy is off with just Elaine. He doesn't seem to hang out with the rest of the cast anymore. Not to say he doesn't, cause like I said we only see a snippet of their lives.

I don't want to start anymore rumors than there already are about them, that is just what we see from the outside. I try to be neutral and not read too much into things, but some of it is really hard not to. I do think there was some heated words and maybe more, but to say it was all Elaine, I am not so sure. I think it was all of them.

Just my thoughts.

[belleandkurtbastian]

Further thoughts on Love Simon and its adaptational changes from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda:

Simon’s family

The one change that jumped out to me while listening to the audiobook that I felt was absolutely necessary if adapting it to screen was cutting the character of Alice. It’s the lowest-hanging fruit, and you could absolutely do something interesting with Nora to keep some of Alice’s aspects in the character.

Which… they sort of did? I mean, ultimately, Nora in the film is a VERY different character than in the book. But this makes sense because:

They also drastically changed Simon’s parents. Or… they’re not actually that DIFFERENT, it’s just that the film cut the entire plot thread about them being overbearing and embarrassing. They’re still pretty much as overbearing and easygoing as they are in the book, but them learning from this isn’t really part of the film.

Oh, also, they did give some of Alice’s character traits to the mom, specifically the outspoken feminism stuff. It did feel a little shoe-horned in though.

That said, I actually do like the efficiency with which they addressed the ‘Jack makes jokes about gay people’ stuff. They brought forward the tension between Simon and Jack to ‘earlier’ in the story, and they did actually show him doing it a couple of times, without having it be a major throughline that would require more time from him.

So Simon’s family is different, but I think that makes sense. The throughline of the story is really about Simon, Blue, and their friends. Simon’s family is a secondary emotional and plot centre.

Leah and Abby

This is a small thing, but Abby lives on the way to school rather than far away in another direction. This is purely a cinematographic affordance, but it does make sense because they cut time from the later parts of the book’s story and so cut the need for Abby to be so far away…

But the main thing I want to talk about is [Leah/Abby]’s parents’ divorce.

In the book, it’s Leah’s parents who are divorced because her dad cheated on her mom.

In the film, they instead combined this character trait from Leah into Abby’s backstory of moving from DC. (In the book, Abby’s dad and brother are still in DC but her dad is looking for a job in Georgia still).

And… I have mixed feelings about this. I’m not thrilled about the way that this makes Leah, who was already the most opaque character to me in the book, into an even less-fleshed-out character…

But I do admit that moving that moment onto Abby (and effectively moving Simon’s ‘I don’t really know people’ revelation from the book WAY earlier in the film) gives a little more weight to Simon choosing to come out to Abby before anyone else. There’s a moment of very obvious connection there, and I think that works in a medium where we don’t have moment-to-moment narration of Simon’s headspace.

While talking about Leah… I think her having a crush on Simon makes sense, but I’m also not sure I like the adaptational change because it DOES make the falling out feel like it’s based on Leah being upset Simon rebuffed her… Which isn’t REALLY supposed to be the text there, but that is how it came across to me. Though it does at least give Leah more concrete motives and characterisation. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Leah is the book character who needed a second book to flesh out.

Teachers

This is quick, but the vice-principal is, bar none, my LEAST favourite adaptational change. He feels like he exists to serve the sole purpose of separating Simon from his phone once, but they kept him around to just be a bit creepy and weird… I think the film would ONLY be enhanced by removing this character, even if that left Ms Albright as the ONLY staff member with any significant screentime.

Speaking of Ms. Albright… “She doesn’t like men.” … Okay, first of all, I think the book did a much better job with this, because I KNEW Ms. Albright was a lesbian from the book, despite the book never outright stating it. And I even think the dressing-down she gives the homophobes later in the film does a good job of that too. It doesn’t HAVE to be explicitly stated, it can be implied and that can be fine.

Ethan and Cal

I’m lumping these together (though I will mention Cal again later) because I think there’s an interesting juxtaposition.

First of all: I’m not 100% sure how I feel about Ethan… I think the lack of out gay (male) students at the school was an important facet of the book… But I don’t think adding a single gay student actually breaks the larger point being made with that. And I will admit that it does allow some more pointed conversations later in the film between them. I actually quite like the Simon-and-Ethan scenes after the homophobe stuff.

But on the flipside from Ethan, a character who wasn’t in the book… We have Cal, a character who was BARELY in the film. And this one is more confusing to me.

I think partially they just didn’t have the bandwidth to flesh Cal out as much as he was in the book (which, admittedly, wasn’t a HUGE amount even then…) They made him the pianist for the play, which got him out of the spotlight of being stage manager, and then only really had him interact with Simon once, after the outing.

But the reason I’m putting him alongside Ethan is because… the film outright cuts Cal being bi. Which is… weird to me. There are no canonically bi or lesbian characters in the film, which feels like a let down because the book does discuss the different social ‘acceptance’ of gay men, gay women, and bisexual people within the emails (both actual acceptance as well as the ‘lesbians are hot’ trope).

Martin and the blackmail

Martin feels a lot slimier of a character in the film… I think some of that is probably just SEEING him doing the things he does, because he actually really isn’t written THAT differently at all.

But the more interesting thing to me is that in the film, Simon is MUCH more willing in helping Martin than in the book.

Not to say he doesn’t help Martin in the book at all, but the book goes to great lengths to show Simon trying to avoid committing to helping him get Abby, and also has Martin feeling like he’s not helping ENOUGH…

In the film, Simon EXPLICITLY agrees early on to help Martin, and is generally a LOT more interventionist in his friend group. He’s more forceful about pushing Nick away from Abby.

Oh, also, Martin tagging along WITH Simon and his friends to the party, instead of just showing up at the address… Does actually plug a plothole from the book that didn’t need plugging. How did Martin know where Garrett’s house was in the book? It’s explicitly stated that SIMON doesn’t know it.

The Blues

I think that having Simon imagine each of the Blue candidates in the situations they described makes a lot of sense as an adaptational change. Because the film doesn’t take place in Simon’s first-person perspective, and the long descriptions of Bram’s fingers and legs, or Cal’s hair and eyes… just would not adapt well. So I do get it.

I also don’t entirely disagree with the decision to cut Simon lusting after his classmates physically from the film. It ends up a point of contention with Blue in the book (actually one that feels like it fizzles out rather than resolving) that Simon is attracted to Cal, and the way the plot was chopped and changed in the film wouldn’t have really left bandwidth for that plot point…

Also, given the cutting back of Cal’s character, I was surprised to see that he was still a Blue candidate.

And upgrading Lyle from a character who is LITERALLY mentioned twice in the book in passing to being a Blue candidate, someone who clearly knows who Simon is, and a romantic false-lead for Abby… I think that worked. I’m actually surprised how I like that adaptation…

Also Simon and Lyle are the most awkward people in the world.

OH! And I’m glad that the film cut the part where Simon spirals over whether Blue really is Martin or not. That was excruciating in the book, and I think that adapting that into the film wouldn’t have worked.

Bram, in particular.

Bram’s characterisation is different…

He’s less reserved in person in the film, and some of the things that were part of entire email exchanges in the book (Oreos, for instance)… are just part of his character in the film.

This is an adaptational change that makes sense, because as we said above, the film is working with a more limited time to characterise Blue and we need to actually have seen Bram and Simon interact earlier in the film because we lose the post-reveal interactions between them.

(Simon and Bram get together about 80% of the way through the book. In audiobook terms, they are together as a couple for about 90 minutes, almost the entire runtime of the film. So it makes sense that Bram would need characterising earlier in the film.)

That said, I think Bram being a bit more outgoing and talkative loses something… Because with the adapting out of Cal’s personality too… this kind of removes the underlying ‘type’ that Simon has. In every Blue candidate in the book, Simon likes their reservedness that’s hiding hidden depths. Even with Martin, Simon finds his awkwardness endearing more than his outspoken aspects…

Changes to The Reveal and Fallout.

So, this is the main thing that had to be changed. There is just too much plot in the back half of the book that just couldn’t ALL stay intact or in the order it happened in.

First of all: Martin outright publishing the screenshots instead of just a bizarre homophobic text post… makes sense, but it also drastically changes the PLOT of the second half in a way that I think is ultimately worse.

Secondly: Simon’s friends falling out with him AT the same time as the reveal is… not my favourite choice. I completely agree that in adapting the book they needed to condense the ebb and flow of people falling out… But I don’t overall like the fact that Simon is outed AND loses his friends in the span of a week.

That one comes back to Nick… I think that if Abby found out about Martin’s blackmail FROM Martin as in the book, Simon could have been spared Nick a little.

But the main adaptational changes I don’t really like in this regard… are about Blue.

By having Blue delete his email address after the outing, we lose a really interesting power dynamic between Simon and Blue that is the throughline for the second half of the book.

In the book, Simon gets outed without Blue being directly involved… And over the course of the middle of the book, it becomes clearer and clearer to Blue who Jacques is. So for much of the middle of the second half, Blue KNOWS who Simon is, but still can’t tell Simon who he is, and that leads to a lot of tension both ways.

We lose that in the film.

And moreso than that, we lose the privacy of Simon and Blue’s relationship.

Book!Blue would NOT have taken well to Simon declaring his love for Blue publicly on CreekSecrets and arranging very publicly a meetup that EVERYONE would attend.

And yes, obviously, their relationship is public pretty soon after they get together in the book too, but I feel like the hope and intimacy of the moment works so much better when the ‘I know you’ email is a private thing between them, and not a public declaration. Again: Book!Blue is much more reserved.

We also lose the final 20% of the book almost entirely. We don’t get to see Bram and Simon on dates, or just existing together as a couple or fooling around in the auditorium… And this is a sacrifice that is made in the film for runtime reasons and because the way film narratives climax doesn’t lend itself to a long dénouement… But it feels like a real loss, because ultimately SEEING Simon and Bram being together is the payoff for the several hours of seeing them making their way there.

Was this the right medium?

I don’t think that a film was the right way to adapt this story, ultimately.

The book is semi-epistolary. 13 of the first 26 chapters are JUST email exchanges between Jacques and Blue, and there are more emails later in the book too. The narrative of the book has multiple conflicts and resolutions throughout, underneath the overarching plot…

I think the best adaptation of this book was not as a 2-hour film. It would have been as a 3- or 4-hour series. The emails work as a framing device, a series would have allowed more room for narration and imagination spots, we could have seen more of EACH of the Blue candidates.

Obviously, a series would still have required significant rewrites and adaptation… You couldn’t have had the final episode be JUST Simon and Bram happy together, for instance, and I think you’d still have cut out Alice from the plot…

But I think that there are ways to rearrange the book into a series format that keeps the soul of the story a lot more coherently than the film did.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence on that front that the next story in this universe on screen was a series instead of a film.

#love simon #simon vs the homo sapiens agenda #simon vs the homosapiens agenda #svthsa #long post

[uncl3badtouch]

📢 Spoilers if you haven't read it 📢

I read 📚 (full disclosure, I listened to this one and it took 44 hours) "It" recently and I'm still reeling. I finished it sometime last week, and there are still scenes that truly haunt me. My mind was also blown with the big finale, but that'll come.

It started off with a bang, the man getting bit 👌🏻 very scurry. But then there were a handful of things that don't get repeated today, and people know about that, so not to beat a dead horse, that's all I'll say. That there were so many slurs I actually learned one I've never heard before. 😅

Anywho, he's apologized and it's the last I will say of it. Soooo, getting back into it, the first chapter really sets you up for what's coming. Now, the next few chapters, I'm not sure if everything I'm gonna say is in exact order but I'm gonna try my best!

Everyone gets their call from Mike to come back to Derry, and suddenly, they remember. Bill had even remembered his brother who he hadn't thought about in years. Derry is a special place where you forget everything as soon as you leave it. ✨️ it is explained better in the book 📖 We catch a glimpse into everyone's lives and how different they all are after they grow up and leave.

Stanley kills himself because he couldn't deal with everything again. It's sad but also the worst because it weakens the gang 😕 everyone meets at the restaurant and they have the famous scene on the food becoming gross stuff and they have to pretend they don't see it. But that happens after they tell a majority of their childhood story, flipping between everyone's memories that are returning to them slowly.

We see some of the traumas the kids endure without It involved. These kids were soo tough. Some of the things they got through... 😔 but here we learn about all the other times that It had popped up too, some of the stories were crazy! And we don't see them in the movies.

The werewolf that the boys encounter is 👌🏻. 🐺 It's so scary and so... almost unexpected. It was probably one of my favorite memories discussed. They laughed and had a decent time then decided to head their separate ways for the evening, and regroup the next day to take It on.

They each run into their own monsters on the way to their shared destination, and each of those monsters is really cool in the way they appeared and who they appeared to. Personal favorite, Beverly and the witch in the candy house 🍬 🍫 🏠 (gotta read it to find out 😉). Soooooo fucking sick. I wish it was in the movies.

They all end up back at the townhouse they're staying at and Beverly and Bill go heels to Jesus in the most awkward way. Like, I was super uncomfortable with how Mr. King described the whole scenario, and it made me roll my eyes so hard people could hear it. He's not a romance writer, that's for sure. I also want to say that the scene after the kids all beat It for the first time, where they all have sex sith Beverly, super unnecessary and super inappropriate in my opinion and we didn't need it to push any part of the story forward. The worst part of the book in my opinion.

When Henry comes back is super eerie. It really made me tense and I really love the crazy of it all, but things didn't go how I had known them from the films and it was really dynamic in that evening leading up to the final fight.

Mike is barely hanging on at this point and the gang decides to get going. I believe it was early morning, I'm not sure the exact time so sorry about that. But the gang goes with Eddys arm broke again and they're down two members. But they make it to the lair of It.

It was difficult and gruesome and Bill's wife is missing, but they make it through all the obstacles. They perform the ritual of Chud and we meet the turtle. I get it and don't at the same time. I'm still thinking about it's significance days later.

Oh, also, I find out that It is female, and pregnant, and it blew my mind. So much so that I had to stop it and call my brother just to talk to him about it because it just blind sided me. Like, I don't know, it just shook me 🤷🏼‍♀️

There was a lot of the story that doesn't get very touched on in the movies. There's steampunk birds, talking moons, gay bars, and a lot of violence and hatred (It was involved in gang murders! Yikes!) And there's so many extra story parts that are sooo good to read about and I would live to see in the movies, but I'm not sure 6 hour movies are everyone (I mean, I could do it, cue lord of the rings) but some of the scenes would be super difficult.

King truly is a a beautiful story teller. He's famous for good reason and deserves all the credit he gets in creating these terrifying and amazing stories. I would never think about half the things he had, he's truly a creator of terror. All in all, I think I'd give It 7/10.

There was so much good 👍🏻 honestly and truly and I wish that more of the book was recognized, but there was a lot I thought could have been taken out. Not including the aforementioned things, there's a ton that I personally don't think moves the story forward in any good way.

Would I re read this? Probably not in its entirety, but I will go back and read read certain scenes

Would I recommend it? Yes, I really do. Take the time to read it or listen to it once in your life. It really is worth it.

What did you think?

#horror #horror review #horror reads #books #scary stories #stephen king #book review #book recommendations

[emmi-kat]

I hope it's okay to make a new post but I had a lot to say that I thought would get lost in the comments of this post and weren't really relevant to it, overall.

@arsenicalbronze said: "I had originally headcanoned that Ben was basically bounced back and forth between his parents in some kind of joint custody agreement because of Emily’s line in the second movie about “someone had to grow up and stay home and take care of Ben”, but your research brings up all kinds of new questions about Ben’s interactions with his parents in the second film!"

The novelization has a great line about how as a kid Ben thought his parents both gave him a lot of freedom but came to realize that they were both just neglecting him to do their own things.

Which I think makes perfect sense cause Ben and Patrick are a lot alike and Ben himself doesn't seem to care much about the personal goings on of those close to him (not going to Riley's book signing, or even bothering to open his book or believe in Riley enough to read the book without being pushed to, the whole fight with Abigail and the fact that he wasn't upset about losing her or ever tried to fix things, he just expected her to agree with him, skipping Sadusky's wake in favor of his dog (you're telling me that Ben Gates can't afford to hire a pet sitter for a day so he can pay his respects to a man who played such a significant role in the biggest moments of his life???  Charlotte wasn't implied to be in grave danger, just a little sick)).

And then Emily was a young mother taking care of Ben and building a career for herself in an academic field and time where she likely did not recieve much respect, so she had to work very hard to get that respect and probably had little time for Ben. If we're using Helen Mirren's age, she was 18/19 when Ben was born (whereas Jon V0ight was 26 but obvs their ages may not correspond to their characters) so she was only in her late 20s/early 30s when she and Patrick divorced.  Even if we bump her age up, it's definitely implied that Patrick was her senior and also somewhat of an authority figure in her education "that wasn't love, that was excitement, adrenaline, and tequila.  And I was just trying to get course credit!"....😬

Icky, imo.  But this could add to the tension between Ben and his father if Ben saw his mother as a victim under those circumstances.

Which I think explains why Ben is such a momma's boy and had to patch stuff up with his dad despite them both neglecting him. 🤷‍♀️

#National treasure #Nacho traysure #Disney national treasure #Benjamin franklin gates #Patrick gates #Dr Emily Appleton #Don't get me started on how Ben's parents were meant to reflect Ben and Abigail's relationship but while Patrick learned to listen to Emily #Ben learned nothing and didn't grow at all and still thinks he's always right #Dr Chase deserves better