#think piece

[55sturn]

y’all…

i get having icks and things about the triplets that bother you, i’m absolutely no stranger to that, but what gets me is the way you voice these opinions and say things, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. “no hate” but it’s worded in the meanest and most vile way possible ?? there’s a difference between criticism and hate, and it all boils down to the tone of what you say and how you say/word it. because at the end of the day, if you really feel those things in the exact way, no one is forcing you to consume their content or follow them. and at this point, so many people have issues with their personalities because, referring back to my post from last night, they don’t match the ones you’ve concocted in your minds. like it really comes across as if you’re only watching them for their looks and nothing else. because like jesus christ, y’all are haters.

#k yaps again #sturniolo triplets #think piece

[cybernaght]

The fandom echo chamber: fanon, microanalysis and conspiracy brain 

As someone who has been in fandom spaces, on and off, for 20 years, I find some fascinating trends popping up in the last decade that I thought to be fandom-specific but clearly aren’t. So, I would like to do a little examination of where those things come from, how they are engaged with, and what it says about the way we consume media. This is a think piece, of sorts, with my brain being the main source. As such, we will spend some time down the memory lane of a fandom-focused millennial.

This is largely brought about by Good Omens. But it’s also not really about Good Omens at all.

Part one. Fanon.

The way we see characters in any story is always skewed by our very selves. This is a neutral statement, and it does not have a value judgement. It’s simply unavoidable. We recognise aspects of them, love aspects of them, and choose aspects of them to highlight based entirely on our own vision of the universe. 

Recognition comes into this. There is a reason so many protagonists of romance novels have a “blank slate” problem. Even when they do not, we love characters who are like us or versions of us that we would like to be. And when we say “we”, I also mean, “me”. 

(I remember very clearly this realisation hit me after a whole season of Doctor Who with writing which I hated utterly when I questioned why I still clung so incredibly hard to Clara Oswald as my favourite companion. Then I looked at myself in the mirror. Oh. Well. That would do it, wouldn’t it?)

Then, there is projection, and, again, this is a neutral statement. Projection exists, and it is completely normal and, dare I say it, valid way of engaging with — well, anything. Is the character queer? Trans? Neurodivergent? Are they in love? Do they like chocolate? Are they a cat person? Well, yes, if this is what the text says, but if the text does not say anything… You tell me. Please, do tell me. Because, in that moment of projection, they are yours. 

And then, there is fandom osmosis, and that is the most fascinating one of them all, the one that is not very easy to note while you are inside the echo chamber. It’s the way we collectively, consciously or not, make decisions on who or what the characters are, what their relationships are, and what happens to them.  

(Back when I was writing egregiously long Guardian recaps on this blog I actually asked if Shen Wei’s power being learning actually was stated anywhere in the canon of the show. Because I had no idea. I have read and reread dozen of fanfics where that is the case, and at some point through enough repetition, it became reality.)

We are all kind of making our own reality here, aren’t we? 

Back when things were happening in a much less centralised manner - in closed livejournal groups, and forums of all shapes and sizes - I don’t remember there being quite as much universally agreed upon fanon. Frankly, I don’t remember much of universally agreed upon anything. But now, everything is in one place: we have this, and we have AO3, and it’s wonderful, it really is so much easier to navigate, but it’s also one gigantic reality-shifting echo chamber, with blogs, reblogs, trends, and rituals. 

Accessibility plays its part, too. If you were, say, in Life on Mars (UK) fandom between seasons, and you wanted to post your speculation fic, you had to have had an account, and then find and gain access to one of the bigger groups (lifein1973 was my poison, but ymmv), and then, if you feel brave you may post it, but also, you may want to do so from your alt account if you wanted to keep yours separate, and then you would have to go through the whole process again. And I’m not saying that fan creations then were somehow inherently better for it than fan creations now (although Life on Mars Hiatus Era is perhaps a bad example - because some of the Speculation Fic there was breathtaking), but there is something to say about the ease of access that made the fandoms go through a big bang of sorts.

(I mean, come on, I can just come here and post this - and I am certain people will read it, and this blog is a pandemic cope baby about Chinese television for goodness sake.)

The canon transformations that happen in the fandom echo chamber truly are fascinating to witness as someone who is more or less a fandom butterfly. I get into something, float around for a bit, then get into something else and move on. I might come back eventually when the need arises, but I don’t sustain a hiatus mind-state. This means that when I float away and return, I find some very intriguing stuff.

Let’s actually look at Good Omens here. Season two aired, and I found it spectacular in its cosy and anguished way; deliberately and intelligently fanfic-y in its plot building; simple but subversive, and so very tender. (I will have to circle back to this eventually, because, truly, I love how deliberately it takes the tropes and shatters them - it’s glorious). And, to me - a person who read the book, watched the first season, hung around AO3 for a few weeks and moved on - absolutely on-point in terms of characterisation. 

So imagine my surprise when the fandom disagreed so vehemently that there are actual multi-tiered theories on how characters were not in possession of their senses. Nothing there, in my mind, ever contradicted any of the stated text, as it stood. This remained a strange little mystery until I did what I always do when I flutter close to an ongoing fandom.

I loaded AO3 and sorted the existing fic by popularity. And there it was, all there: the actual earth-shattering mutual devotion of the angel and the demon; willingness to Fall; openness and long heart-aching confession speeches. There was all of the fanon surrounding Aziraphale and Crowley, which, to me, read as out of character, and to one for whom they became the reality over the last four years, read as truth. 

Again, only neutral statements here. This is not a bad thing, and neither this is a good thing, this is just something that happens, after a while, especially when there are years for the fandom-born ideas to bounce around and stew. I can’t help but think that so much of what we see as real in spaces such as this one is a chimaera of the actual source and all the collective fan additions which had time and space to grow, change, develop, and inspire, reverberating over and over again, until the echoes fill the entirety of the space. 

Eventually, this chimaera becomes a reality. 

Part two. Microanalysis 

Here are my two suppositions on the matter:

1. Some writers really love breadcrumb storytelling. 

Russel T Davies, for instance, on his run of Doctor Who (and, if you are reading it much later - I do mean the original one), loved that technique for his seasonal arcs. What is a Bad Wolf? Who is Harold Saxon? Well, you can watch very very carefully, make a theory, and see it proven right or wrong by the end of the season. 

Naturally, mystery box writers are all about breadcrumb storytelling: your Losts and your Westworlds are all about giving you snippets to get your brain firing, almost challenging you to figure things out just ahead of the reveal. 

2. We, as humans, love breadcrumbs.

And why wouldn’t we? Breadcrumbs are delicious. They are, however, a seasoning, or a coating. They are not the meal. 

Too much metaphor?

Let’s unpack it and start from the beginning.

Pattern recognition colours every aspect of our lives, and it colours the way we view art to a great extent. I think we truly underestimate how much it’s influenced by our lived experiences.

If you are, broadly speaking, living somewhere in Western/North-Western Europe in the 14th century, and you see a painting in which there is a very very large figure surrounded by some smaller figures and holding really tiny figures, you may know absolutely nothing about who those figures are, but you know that the big figure is the Important One, and the small ones are Less Important Ones, and the tiny ones are In Their Care. You know where your reverence would lie, looking at this picture. And, I imagine, as someone living in the 14th century, you may be inspired to a sense of awe looking at this composition, because in the world you live in, this is how art works. 

If you, on the other hand, watch a piece of recorded media and see the eyes of two characters meet as the violins swell, you know what you are being told at that moment. You don’t have to have a film degree to feel a sort of way when you see a green-tinged pallet used, when cross-cuts use juxtaposing images, or notice where your focus is pulled in any given shot. This stuff - this recognition of patterns - has been trained into us by the simple fact that we live in this time, on this planet, and we have been doing so long enough to have engaged recorded media for a period of time. 

As humans, we notice things. Our brains flare up when they see something they recognise, and then we seek to find other similar details and form a bigger picture. This often happens unconsciously, but sometimes it does not. Sometimes we do it on purpose: finding breadcrumbs in stories is a little bit like solving a mystery. It allows us to stretch that brain muscle that puts two and two together. It makes us feel clever. 

So yes, we love breadcrumbs, and, frankly, quite a lot of storytelling takes advantage of this. It’s very useful for foreshadowing, creating thematic coherence, or introducing narrative parallels and complexity. It’s useful for nudging the viewer into one or the other emotional direction, or to cue them into what will happen in the next moment, or what exactly is the one important detail they should pay attention to.

Because this is something media does intentionally, and something we pick up both consciously and not, it is very hard to know when to stop. We don't really ever know when all of the breadcrumbs have been collected. It becomes very easy to get carried away. There is a very specific kind of pleasure in digging into content frame by frame, soundbite by soundbite, chasing that pleasure of finding. 

But it is almost never breadcrumbs all the way down. They are techniques to help us focus on the main event: the story. I truly believe those who make media want it to reach the widest possible audience, and that includes all of us who like to watch every single thing ever created with our Media Analysis Goggles on and those who are just here to enjoy the twists and turns of the story at the pace offered to them. And I think, sometimes in our chase to collect and understand every little clue we forget that media is not made to just cater for us.

One can call it missing a forest for the trees. But I would hate to mix my metaphors, so let’s call it missing a schnitzel for the breadcrumbs. 

Part three. The Conspiracy Brain. 

If you are there with me, in the midst of the excited frenzy, chasing after all those delicious breadcrumbs, then patterns can grow, merge together, and become all-encompassing theories. Let’s call them conspiracy theories, even though this is not what they truly are.

So, why do we believe in conspiracy theories?

One, Because We Have Been Lied To. 

All conspiracies start with distrust.

If you are in fandom spaces - especially if you are in fandom spaces which revolve around a queer fictional couple - especially-especially if you have been in such spaces for a period of time, you have most certainly been lied to at one point or another. 

We don’t even have to talk about Sherlock - and let’s not do that - but do you remember Merlin? Because I remember Merlin. Specifically, I remember the publicity surrounding the first season, with its weaponised usage of “bromance” and assertions that this whole thing is a love story of sorts, and then the daunting realisation that this was all a stunt, deliberately orchestrated to gather viewership. 

And, because we were lied to in such a deliberate manner for such an extensive period of time, I genuinely believe that it forever altered our pattern recognition habits, because what was this if not encouragement to read into things? Now we are trained to read between the lines or see little cries for help where they might not be. Because we were told, over and over again, that we should.

(Yes, I think we are all existing in these spaces coloured by the trauma of queer-bating. I am, however, looking forward to a world where I can unlearn all of that.)

Two, Cognitive Dissonance.

The chain reaction works a bit like this: the world is wrong - it can’t possibly be wrong by coincidence - this must be on purpose - someone is responsible for it.

Being Lied To is a preamble, but cognitive dissonance is where it all originates. In so many cross-fandom theories I have noticed a four-step process:

A) this is not good

B) this author could not have made a mistake 

C) this must be done on purpose

D) here is why 

(Funny thing is, I have been on the receiving end of the small conspiracy spiral, and it is a very interesting experience. Not relevant to this conversation is the fact that a lot of my job revolves around storytelling. What is relevant is that my hobbies also revolve around storytelling. And one of them is DnD. Now, imagine my genuine shock when one of the players I am currently writing a campaign for noticed a small detail that did not make a logical sense within the complexity of the world, and latched on to it as something clearly indicating some kind of a secret subplot. Their thinking process also went a bit like this: this detail is not a good piece of writing — this DM knows how to tell stories well — this is obviously there on purpose. It was not there on purpose. I created a clumsy shorthand. I erred, in that pesky manner humans tend to. And, seeing this entire thought process recited to me directly in the moment, I felt somewhere between flattered and mortified.)

This whole line of thinking, I think, exists on a knife’s edge between veneration and brutal criticism, relentlessly dissecting everything “wrong”, with a reverent “but this is deliberate” attached to it like a vice, because it is preferable to a simple conclusion that the author let you down, in one way or another. 

Three, Intentionality 

I believe that there is no right or wrong way of engaging with stories, regardless of their medium, and assuming no one gets hurt in the process. While in a strictly academic way, there is a “correct” way of reading (and reading into) media, we here are largely not academics but consumers; consumption is subjective.

However, this all changes when intentionality is ascribed. 

The one I find particularly fascinating is the intentionality of “making it bad on purpose” because, as open-minded as I intend to always be, this just does not happen.

It certainly does not happen in long-form media. Even in the bread-crumb mystery box-type long-form media. 

When television programs underdeliver, they also underperform, and then they get cancelled.

If all the elements of Westworld Season 4 that did not sit together in a completely satisfactory way were written deliberately as some sort of deconstruction for the final season to explore, then it failed because that final season will now never come.

(There will likely never be a Secret Fourth Episode.)

And look, I am not here to refute your theories. Creativity is fun, and theorising is fantastic. 

But, perhaps, when the line of thought ventures into the “bad on purpose” territory, it could be recognised for what it is: disappointment and optimism, attempting to coexist in a single space. And I relate to that, I do, and I am sorry that there is even a need for this line of thinking. It’s always so incredibly disappointing that a creator you believed to be devoid of flaws makes something that does not hit in the way you hoped it would. It’s pretty heartbreaking. 

Unfortunately, people make mistakes. We are all fallible that way. 

Four, Wildfire.

Then, when the crumbs are found, a theory is crafted, and intentionality is ascribed, all that needs to happen is for it to catch on. And hey, what better place for it than this massive hollow funnel that we exist in, where thoughts, ideas and interpretations reverberate so much they become inextricable from the source material in collective consciousness. 

Conspiracy theories create alternate realities, very much like we all do here. 

So where are we now?

I am not here to tell you what is right and what is wrong; what is true, and what is not. We are all entitled to engage with anything we wish, in whichever way we wish to do it. This is not it, at all. 

All I am saying is… listen.

Do you hear that echo? 

I do. 

#fandom thoughts #fanon #good omens #good omens 2 #bbc sherlock #merlin bbc #think piece #it's been years and I still have no idea how to tag #conspiracy theories #fandom content #all fandoms

[ultimatedirk]

I don't talk about one piece often but I think about Ace's relationship with Roger and how ironic it is that the man he hates most is so eerily similar to the person he loves most (Luffy) and he literally has no clue.

the fact that he has two drastically different opinions on the two is kind of tragically funny to me.

#riz talks #riz talks one piece #portgas d ace #one piece #think piece

[ditzycowgirl]

I’d like to put my 2 cents in about tarot readings. It’s like a weather forecast. What may be true now will likely be subject to change later. For an example: a reading about your love life today will be drastically different than, let’s say, two years ago. Even if you’re in the same situation more or less. The future is in your hands. You are in charge of your destiny.

#think piece #thinky thoughts #much to think about #thinking #tarot #divination #free tarot readings #tarot cards #tarot online #tarot readings #tarotblr #free readings #pick a card

[blvvdk3ep]

I don't know if this is just a Twitter phenomenon, but I am sick of some IWTV fans acting like those who identify Lestat as being abusive are being dramatic or misreading the show. Lestat's villainy intersects racial and supernatural lines; every power he has over Louis, physically or societally, he subtly uses to lure him in and to control him. He's a fantastic character precisely because he's charismatic, beautifully polished, thoughtful, and passionate, but also cruel, hiding a profound ugliness, so deranged about love it turns around into something monstrous, capable of unthinkable violence towards those he loves. And the first set of traits (are used by him to) disguise the second set. He's obviously purposefully written like that and dismissing that is doing the writers a disservice. They wrote an amazing fucking character, and he's selfish, manipulative, and yes, abusive to Louis and Claudia, and he's so cleverly written that even at his most cruel when he gets what he deserves, you can't help but feel just a little bit sorry for him. Ignoring that brilliance just to unironically uwu softboy he never did anything wrong babygirlify him is soooo lame sorry

#iwtv s2 #iwtv #lestat de lioncourt #i need him dead im obsessed with him actually #and honestly i feel like this has a crossover with the moral panic around liking problematic characters but i dont have the brain capacity #louis de pointe du lac #claudia de pointe du lac #think piece #fandom #fanfiction #interview with the vampire #ironic “uwu softboy he never did anything wrong babygirlify” ers you may pass

[hainethehero]

So I made the mistake of stumbling onto the NOT STEVE ROGERS FRIENDLY tag today and..

You have to be a special type of delusional to be this obsessed with a character you don't like!??

Over 2k fics have the tag and are almost entirely Tony Stark-centered fics. I'm assuming these are the "fans" who totally buy into the MCU canon and don't know any other Captain America lore outside of what Feige and Whedon have done. Or, they're the "fans" who refuse to understand the politics behind Steve's character and how he was inherently undermined throughout the entire ten years of the MCU by the directors and writers for most of the films.

Because the arguments in most of these fics for being "not Steve rogers friendly" are really surface level shit like:

1) "Steve refused to sign the Accords and broke up the Avengers" (he was right & he didn't break them up, an overemotional Tony did when he refused to listen to Bucky's side of the story).

2) Steve fought Tony and almost killed him (yeah, like Tony didn't blast Bucky's arm off and shoot his repulsor rays directly at Steve).

3)Steve is homophobic (y'all are just making up reasons to hate this man atp)

4)Steve is racist (Steve hated racists & you'd know that if you read the comics, or you guys are just that deluded that you're making Steve racist & trying to project it as canon and therefore a "reasonable" explanation as to why you hate him)

5)Blaming Steve for Rhodey's accident (WHICH WAS TEAM TONY'S FAULT!)

6)YALL, THEY MADE STEVE THE BAD GUY IN A BROCK RUMLOW/BUCKY FIC! I stg I cannot make this shit up💀 Steve's bad for wanting Bucky to be Bucky again, but somehow Brock's the good guy for wanting Bucky to be the Soldier...

Steve left Bucky for Peggy (we'll get to this soon)

There's a hundred more irrational reasons for the Steve Rogers hate, but let me get to the WORST part.

THERE ARE BUCKY STANS WHO ARE ANTI-STEVE ROGERS.

And I'm sorry, no. I don't accept that you love Bucky Barnes but hate the one person he loves the most in the world.

They argued in a couple fics that "Bucky also went rogue after Siberia but he didn't want to associate with Steve, Nat & the rest of the team- WHO HELPED RESCUE BUCKY & EVENTUALLY EXONERATE HIM- but rather, he went off on his own & eventually Tony finds him, they hash it out and become friends to lovers."

Helppp???? Wdym Bucky isn't gonna stick with the one man he's been keeping diaries about to try and get back his memories? But he'll go to the one guy that re-traumatized him by blowing out his arm again?

Not only that, but Bucky absolutely hates Steve in some of these fics and the reason will be, "he left Bucky to go back to Peggy." Like, you cannot be a serious fan if you're still going with the Endgame canon. For a majority of us, we recognize Endgame as being nothing but terrible writing and mischaracterizations. Why are yall not analyzing and interpreting media critically? The MCU has never been on Steve's side and have always diminished his character in an attempt to make Tony the ultimate hero of the OG 6. Don't yall know the discourse? It's embarrassing atp.

And this is my stance on the entire thing: there's nothing wrong with writing fics about characters you don't necessarily like or aren't interested in. It's OKAY if you don't like Steve Rogers- but you've gotta be rational about him, instead of hateful. Most, if not all of these "anti-steve" fics are written in bad faith. Bad understanding of the character and pure, shameless mischaracterizations which just makes these types of fics fickle and weak- hilarious to read though cos that Brock one had me deadddd😭💀.

#steve rogers #anti steve rogers #not steve rogers friendly #ao3 #stucky #stony #tony stark #fanfic writers #yall gon learn today #bad writing #captain america #mcu #marvel #avengers endgame #infinity war #iron man #cacw #bucky barnes #the winter soldier #think piece #ted talks #mischaracterization #steve rogers hate is unsubstantiated #kevin feige #joss whedon

[expectiations]

I read this fic (i LOVE library fix-its) that theorizes how the Doctor would not be the one to get River out of the Library. And while it does not bide well with my romantic cynical heart, it does make sense tho. River's entire life has been shaped around him even til her death so when River says "left me like a book on a shelf" to the Doctor, it's more like a gift. He's leaving the door wide open for her to start life, her life, on her own terms. He knows his wife and he knows what his wife is capable of. But River being River sees it as him abandoning her and moving on. So what if all this time the Doctor has just been waiting for River to get herself out of the Library

#look at what i found in my drafts!! #river song #dw thoughts #doctor who #doctor x river #the doctor #the professor #think piece #dw #anyways #bring back river song

[girl4music]

Sometimes I cry at the sheer audacity of this moment. Then I sit in thoughtful silence and smile at how fitting it is. How right it is that she would be the only other owner of it. The only other worthy of being its owner.

I do wonder though that if the dark chakram had never been neutralised, would Gabrielle have been able to wield it at all? Because as far as we know the only characters that can both catch and throw it are Xena, Callisto and Eve. But you never see proof that Eve could have thrown and caught the dark chakram on account of she wasn’t born when it was neutralised with the light chakram. You just take it on faith that Eve would have been able to due to her being Callisto reincarnated and, obviously, Xena’s biological daughter. So therefore it makes me wonder…

Was Gabrielle the true owner of the light chakram? Could she also have been able to pick it up without burning to cinders? Because let’s be frank about this…

Xena had lost her sense of self when she picked it up off the altar in the Tao temple. She didn’t know who she was. She was a blank slate. It was the altar’s creator that recognized her as the owner of the dark chakram, which allowed her to be able to pick the light chakram up. But odds are that she wouldn’t have been able to wield it without it being neutralised anyway. But given the fact that Gabrielle could wield the yin-yang chakram, I think it’s very fucking possible she was the owner of the light chakram instead of Xena.

I mean regardless of how intertwined Xena and Gabrielle were in past, present and future… I don’t think Gabrielle could have ever instinctively been able to wield the yin-yang chakram if she wasn’t already the owner of at least half of it. The light half of it. And I would go as far as to say that that's how she was able to. Because she always could. She just never knew it.

And had Tapert gotten his spin off show of ‘Gabrielle: Warrior Princess’ he would have explored this subject.

It could simply be that the reason Gabrielle could wield the yin-yang chakram instinctively was because Xena could, and Xena - the body - was no longer around but the soul’s essence lived on in Gabrielle. That’s cute and all but that doesn’t really explain it.

What could is that she was always the owner of it. But it took meeting and being with Xena in that lifetime for her to come to the reality where she would wield it. We always talk about how essential it was for Xena to meet Gabrielle for her to change the way that she did. But I say it was just as essential for Gabrielle to meet Xena because Gabrielle wasn’t who she was meant to be either without her, and certainly wouldn’t have become the exceptional warrior she ended up as.

Soulmates or ‘one soul in two bodies’, as I refer to it…

It means so much more than just the relationship factor. It’s all about how it affects the individual as well. All about how one changes because of the other. Which is why I always say that there’s got to be more than one soulmate for everyone. However Plato would disagree with me on that. And in a Greek background, it’s only appropriate that Xena and Gabrielle are the one and only half for each other - as the story goes…

But it’s just something to think about that it isn’t just because of THAT why Gabrielle could wield the yin-yang chakram. Perhaps it was that she was always meant to but would have never gotten to the point of doing so without meeting, travelling with and falling in love with the true owner of the dark chakram. Xena.

Maybe - just maybe - the yin-yang chakram is symbolic for the journey that these two individuals go on together because both of them are the owners of it BOTH when it was neutralised AND when it wasn’t.

Think about it. It makes more sense than you realize.

#xena warrior princess #a friend in need #AFIN #chakram #xena and gabrielle #xena #lucy lawless #gabrielle #renee o'connor #yin-yang chakram #dark chakram #light chakram #the human representation of yin-yang #think piece #theory

[arkus-rhapsode]

Are We Returning To 2000s Era Shonen Anime/Manga (A Discussion)

So this is going to be way more of a thinkpiece than I usually do for this blog, but recent trends in the space and niche that I devote a lot of time to, Anime/Manga, have been showing themselves that got me thinking. This is not meant to be a serious sociology case study taken as fact, it's going to be more a theory based on observations of the community that I, like many others, devote a lot of time into than a full on claim, but I do want to ask, is the anime and manga community is experiencing a resurgence in 2000s era shonen manga?

Background

Now let me get this out of the way, there is bias in these observations as I am a western anime fan, but also a North American anime fan. Meaning my gateway and gauges of pop culture are mostly determined by the history of my area of the world’s relationship with anime. From the OVAs of 80s hyper violent and hyper sexual sci fi that you had to purchase from the backs of video rental stores, to the Toonami era of 90s and early 00s programming block the centred around action anime and cartoons, the 4kids era of mass market japanese animated kids shows that were really just giant commercials with some of the earliest memetics in western sphere, and the explosion of shonen battle series in the western sphere in the mid to late 2000s marked by the rise of the colloquially named “Big 3” of shonen jump. I understand that continents like South America or Europe may have undergone a different exposure to the Japanese medium, but as I am going in with some bias in this observation, I would like to make it clear on where the formula is coming from. I also would like to lay down a certain clarification before making this, when discussing the topic of nostalgia I think a lot of people have forgotten what it actually means. If we go by the Cambridge dictionary definition, Nostalgia is “a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past.” This is often invoked when talking about pop culture because people from say 20 years ago don’t seem to enjoy or relate to the interests of today. The belief is that nostalgia is generational ergo if you grew up in the 80s you’re likely wishing to recapture the feelings of childhood that you associate with those trends from 20 years ago. In fact, most revaluation in media has often been catalyzed by a difference of those who grew up in an era rebuffing the opinions of those who didn’t. 

There is the well known “20 Year Rule” regarding pop culture nostalgia. That every decade it longs for what was popular 20 years ago. Probably no better example than “That 70s show” being popular in the late 90s, the return of many beloved 80s franchises like “Ghostbusters” returning in the 2010s as well as series like “Stranger Things” that wrapped itself up in 80s aesthetics. 

Now it goes without saying that the 20 year rule isn’t a “real” rule, rather an observation that certain trends make a return to popularity because the ones who grew up with a certain media will be the ones who add to the discourse when they come of age and will be the ones having a chance to create consumable art for the masses and that may just be revivals of once popular IP. This isn’t necessarily wrong in regards to nostalgia, but I do believe that one doesn’t need to have been born in a certain era to be nostalgic for something when we discuss pop culture. Pop culture is really just trends and preferences that become en vogue and people can acquire a taste at any given time. Sometimes it can be due to those who grew up with something now having the chance to create and drawing upon their own childhoods, sometimes it's just due to not being exposed, other times it can be a certain feeling of disillusionment of the now, and seeking something that peaks your interest, and even sometimes it can be major corporations or networks looking for things with existing audiences to draw upon that actually expand the audience. In fact one of the most prominent Netflix adaptations of the 2020s has been live Action Avatar the Last Airbender and One Piece, both shows that got their start on American televisions in 2004 and 2005.

So I want to stress this is not necessarily about how if you grew up with the original Mobile Suit Gundam show you are being replaced by the kids who were watching GetBackers. And or if you are a fan of shows that came out in the 2000s you yourself were born in the 2000s.

But what was the landscape of the English speaking anime community like back in the 2000s? Well let me paint a portrait for you.

What was the 2000s like for anime fans?

The term I used, “shonen boom period”, is somewhat mythologized in the western anime sphere. There was a glut of high profile shonen anime running around the same time that most people identified with this time period and was arguably when we saw the most influx of people getting into the hobby. One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach served as big series known for their massively large casts, MCs with a level of attitude, some of the most hype centric power supernatural/extraordinary power systems, and certain brand of “Japanese-y” humor. We can’t deny that it wasn’t just these series however, as series like Fullmetal Alchemist became many people’s introduction to more narratively intricate series interspersed with a somewhat gothic action style. The gothic and somewhat edgy Death Note became many fans' first ever “battle series that’s not a battle series” that also incorporated many biblical and gothic horror elements into its presentation. And things like Code Geass also incorporated this combination of hyper stylized cat and mouse with ornate and gothic aesthetics and fighting robots. 

Series like Ouran Highschool Host Club and and Haruhi Suzumiya were basically gateways to the more hyper extraordinary slice of life series that didn’t shy away from fanservice and loud comedy. With ecchi like Rosario + Vampire taking it to an even greater extreme. For people willing to go even deeper, series like Fairy Tail began to pop up and share a distinct similar flavor to series like One Piece and Naruto which arguably started the popular conception of it coming from the same magazine as the latter. That’s not also discounting the amount of holdovers from the 90s like Dragon Ball z, Trigun, and Yu Yu Hakusho, which also had an edge towards fantastical combat and comedic oriented series.

All of this is to generally illustrate the media diet of what an average anime fan was expected to have some level of access to. As this was far before the eras of Funimation or Hulu having online services. Not a homogenized spread by any means, and im certain plenty of readers could name more underground or smaller series like Mushishi or Elphen Lied, but generally the popular mainstream you could tell that there was a consistent theme of long form media with a very loud, very flashy, and very action oriented type of series. Which I think is fair to say had skewed some people’s perception. And while I cannot claim with utter certainty that Japan was the same in this regard, you can look at magazines like Shonen Jump and notice a somewhat synchronistic trend. With series like Hitman Reborn, Gintama, D. Gray Man, Eyeshield 21, Bobobobo, etc.making a clear marcation of what was commercially successful at the time. Even series not inside the magazine but had smaller nicher, Tokyo-pop-esque series like Rave Master, Flame of Recca, Air Gear, History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi, Soul Eater, etc all had a similarity to the shonen jump magazine. To the point it was not uncommon to see so many jump characters in a collage and one from shonen sunday or shonen magazine in there as if this was all coming from the same place.

Changing Landscape

Now with the advantages of the modern internet, we have the ability to actually keep up with the jump magazine in real time as opposed to the common practice of relying on scanlation site and fansubs that were often devoted to the most popular works. But with simultaneous publication and services like Crunchyroll, being able to access a wider variety of shows and series that we may or may not have access to. I believe that the 2010s in the english speaking fanbase was the decade we saw a somewhat expansionism of what people perceived as anime. Anime could be One Piece and Naruto, but it could also be Erased, it could be the Promised Neverland, Attack on Titan, K-On, Haikuu, and Durarara. With the representatives of the 90s no longer being holdovers in syndication like dragon ball but rather full on revivals of the likes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Hunter x Hunter. 

All of these could be "shonen" but also other genres like Seinin, Josei, and Shojo all had their own varying layers of what they could be in their demographic

The mood of what was popular was also changing, not just in the fact that more flavors of anime and manga were becoming mainstream, but new works from shonen jump showed a rise in almost subversive series like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer that seemed to consciously deviate or place new spins from traditional tropes of the 2000s characters, and we saw works that were derivative of previous serious like Black Clover drawing upon Naruto the same way it was known that Naruto had drawn upon Dragon Ball before them. Series like The Promised Neverland and Doctor Stone offered up more dramatic series that still infused a certain energy of the shonen genre. 

And of course the series like Attack Titan whose much more darker and gorey storytelling seemed to have become one of if not the biggest hit of the generation with a well regarded adaptation, but something that had felt so removed from what were once contemporaries like the then ending Bleach or Naruto. We can also note that the late 2010s saw the rise of series like Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen that began a trend of popular urban fantasy stories. Where fantastical concepts were now in contemporary Japan and the stories that focused on concepts like self identity and the harshness of maturing were juxtaposed to the real world inhabited by monsters. 

It seemed many tropes of the previous decade were still alive in the rise of Isekai anime. Which was particularly the only popular outlet for fantasy stories with an action orientation. But these almost felt disconnected from the wider world of manga as things like heavy harem action series had actually decreased in mags like shonen jump. There was also new tropes being established in this subgenre that became unique popularizations of tropes all on their own, such as the overpowered protagonist whose power everyone believes is weak. But many of these were based on light novels, a form of media that only in the last few years western readers are having official access to and not simply scans found on the internet.

We in North America truly have gone from anime being a niche that was primarily accessible through dedicated TV blocks like Toonami, to a full blown cultural relevance shift.

We also need to talk about this era in its perception of the past also shifted. The 90s and the early 00s often blend together as classics of the anime community. Somewhat encased in amber. However, there is no denying that “feels like a 2000s series” had become a bit of a shorthand for very goofy, Very horny, very action heavy series. Series like Fire Force and and Undead Unluck had their show what more problematic elements be equated to the problematic trends of the past that people just accepted as “a part of the medium.” But lets keep in mind, this is not really describing a time, more a trend. Superficial elements that invoke similar feelings of the past. 

Speaking of anime fans…

Fan Culture

So while I wanted to paint a picture of creatively the landscape has changed, there’s no denying that in the age of internet accessibility, the anime fan community has also changed. It is much much easier now to get in contact with people who are anime fans now than it was to rely on word of mouth like it was back in the day. I can still distinctly remember my anime club which wasn’t even really a club devoted to anime but rather other geek stuff like D&D and TCGs. Our hobbies just happened to have similar overlap.

Now though, anime fan culture is much more relevant and thriving. Going from just posting weekly reviews, to long retrospectives, comedy videos, abridged series, clickbait articles, fan theories, and podcasts. However, I think a defining feature of fans of the 2000s era of anime that were at their most prominent was hype culture. 

Due to many of the biggest anime series at the time being released weekly and focusing on action, many many many discussion boards and videos were often about staying in this cycle of wanting to see what happens next and the action made people very excited to see just how characters were going to win fights or even if they’d have fights at all. 

I want to make it clear that this type of activity doesn’t belong to a certain era, but you can see it shaped by the 2000s era. Especially when discussing “what is the next big 3.” As if it were a true position and title, rather than a moment in time where there were just three very distinct shonen series in the fanbase.This doesn’t necessarily have a “negative” effect on the discussion of anime/manga but you can see that certain genres lend themselves to hyping fans up more and more. 

Someone isn’t reading the most recent chapter of a romance like Blue Box with the same level of anticipation of who will face who like it was One Piece. But there have certainly been series that try.

The Present

Now we reach the 2020s and this decade is still young, so it is hard to say what the future will hold for certainty, but we can look at the last four years and notice some significant waves being made recently in Shonen Jump alone. I already spoke of Undead Unluck, a series that almost wears it would now be considered retro inspirations on its sleeve. With an opening chapter that establishes an MC that seems motivated by a sexual joke, A power system follows a verbal naming gimmick, and a loose enough world that allows for characters of varying aesthetics and to be incorporated into groups. With groups of these powerful characters splitting up to face each other and use their ridiculous power to the extreme. Even in the series' own meta arc about creating manga, the in-universe analogy for Undead Unluck’s manga is commented on as feeling retro. There is no doubt the biggest viral hit of the decade so far has gone to Kagurabachi, a manga about sword fighting and magical crime lords that seems almost indulgent in its stylistic slicing and or dicing of baddies. Its memetic success was primarily due to a somewhat sincere and somewhat ironic belief that it would be the “next big thing” as it promised to be a stylized action series. Another surprise viral success has been the manga Nue’s Exorcist which sees another supernatural swordfighter boy harness the powers of his sexy spirit lady while getting into harem shenanigans that echo a particular form of ecchi of anime’s past that had actually been somewhat absent in the past decade in jump. Both of these series have a somewhat noticeable similarities to Bleach, a long running shonen action series that has seen its own revival in the last few years of writing this with the long awaited adaptation of the final arc of the bleach anime. 

While the other members of the “big 3” never truly went away and became almost inter-generational, Bleach truly did feel like a “come back” as it was absent for so long. And unlike Hunter x Hunter and Jojo which were never really popular in the west and even their older anime are more regarded as anime deep lore. Bleach was one of the most popular series in the west at the time to never receive a conclusion animated. 

Speaking of anime of the 2000s Trigun Stampede was a reimagining of the original late 90s show. This errs a bit similar to Hunter x Hunter’s style of revival, but also seems uniquely its own in actually trying to find a balance between the original series but adding in things cut from its original late 90s early 2000s counterpart. 

And now we must examine other shonen magazines. Series like Gachiakuta created by a former assistant of Okubo, the creator of Soul Eater, carries with it much of the similar energies of that series. Its also noticeable as being a truly dark fantasy series. Not an urban fantasy, but rather a completely new world that had a very grunge and dirty world building. And then there is Daemons of the Shadow Realm, a series by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa. This series is also set in modern day japan with supernatural elements, however Arakawa’s style of writing is practically unchanged from her time on FMA. With an emphasis on action, intricate mysteries, and character building comedy with her trademark over exaggerated blocky style. 

This to me shows that we are  seeing a bit of a combination of people who are now entering the workforce inspired by creators of the past, but also that creators of the past still exist 20 years later and are still making content that hasn’t really undergone significant change. 

Of course, we can’t also forget the implementation of the Manga Plus/J plus service which has opened up a very interesting ground for creators to have some of the most creatively out there series than what you may have expected from the shonen jump brand. I genuinely don’t think series like Make the Exorcist Fall in Love or Fire Punch would’ve ever been acceptable in the pages of a weekly shonen series. However one series in particular does feel like it could've and boy its been quite the success. Kaiju no 8.

Kaiju no 8 almost feels as though it is the AoT of a new generation with the amount of anticipation this one series has as well as the similarities between the series superficial elements. However, I'd say the key distinction between the two has been the tone. AoT took a dark and practically dour tone on its titan infested world. With an MC declaring war on all of his enemies. The pain was realistic, with human bodies being brittle and vulnerable. And the belief that just because you were a good person you weren't going to make it out alive. Kaiju no 8 instead opts for a more action oriented tone. Down playing the bleak realism for more "Hell yeah!" moments. With super science weapons that feel more akin to a tokusatsu show and fights and battles between humans an kanji the feel like the Dragon Ball style wrestling matches of old.

And of course, that’s not to say Jump hasn’t continued with series that feel more modern like the realistic and mellow romance of Blue Box or the dramatic coming of age story of Akane-Banashi. 

But the presence of these series has caused somewhat of a friction with the popular conception of the magazine. Its safe to say that while “shonen” tends to think of action male oriented series, it can really just mean works aimed more at adolescents. But I think many tend to associate this familiar feeling of “what is shonen” with their popular introduction of the magazine. With a saturation of action and brash comedy series. This is further complicated by the fact many action series in jump are actually ending over the last decade. With new ones not popping up to replace them as frequently and series like One Piece and MHA and Black Clover basically stretching out across an entire decade or longer. In fact, I don’t think it's unreasonable to believe that the hype for something like Kagurabachi was in part a belief that it signaled a return of a type of familiar series and genre that had been missing. Or at the very least, looked to fill an inevitable gap the magazine was obviously going to be facing. Followed by the other commercial success of Nue’s Exorcist, we are likely to see these series last for a long time. At the time of this writing, Tokyo Revenger’s author Ken Wakui has released Astro Royale, a series that feels very similar to his previous work yet infused with this almost GetBackers flavor.

So that leaves us with the question at the start, are we seeing a rise in 2000s nostalgia in anime and manga?

Conclusion

So I'm sorry if I disappoint, but the best I can say is, I’m not certain. I do believe that from my observation I think it is reasonable to say that we are seeing a rise in creators in the shonen space being ones inspired by series from 20 years ago. However, I think we are also seeing creators who are from that time period also returning to write how they have always written. 

On the consumer side, I think we can see that fans of anime and manga have changed in the sense their tastes can now be shaped by a much larger catalog of series at their disposal. But in the case of shonen, I think we are simply seeing those who likely got their start in anime at around the 2000s resonating with newer series drawing upon those series, but also with younger fans now likely to grow up with the tail end of what was popular in the 2010s now being influenced by the 2020s. I also believe that one of the defining features of the anime community in the last decade is hype culture. And currently we are seeing a rise in series that actually feel more catered to hype, be it a revival of a series they liked or predicting what will be the next success. 

All and all, this piece was trying to tunnel on the shonen demographic in general, which is more likely than not going to have similar traits relative to itself. I do see us as a community endorsing trends of the past and there’s an excitement for these things to “come back” even if they may or may not have left. If you liked this please drop a like or reblog because I may do more of these think pieces in the future.

#anime #manga #think piece #discussion #shonen #shonen jump #kagurabachi #gachiakuta #nue's exorcist #undead unluck #kaiju no. 8 #bleach #one piece #naruto #yomi no tsugai #attack on titan

[j0kers-light]

I have this strange scene in my head where y/n is just laying down on the floor looking at the ceiling and J walks in on her just laying down and he ask “why are you on the floor” and she says “ cuz I can?”…

Idk if it’s weird but just a random thought 💗

Hey hi anon! 🖤✨

I love me a good random thought! Oh and ain't nothing weird in my corner of the internet😊 stay weird my beloved anon!

Without further ado, let's get into it!

Sometimes you just need a moment to think.

Your headphones played some instrumental music as you lay on the floor like a starfish. No lights were on, making the apartment appear deserted especially so late.

Joker came home early (at least by his standards) and he thought you would be asleep by now. You were a heavy sleeper so he wasn't too concerned with waking you up. He didn't stifle his footfalls as he locked the front door and walked into the living room.

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary; he thought you were asleep.

Mac invited everyone to play a round of games tonight and for once Joker was gonna participate.

J was gonna grab something to drink from the kitchen and hop on for a few hours or at least until you woke up so he could annoy you. He stepped further into the room and proceeded to trip.

Thankfully Joker caught his balance but he was beyond confused and a little embarrassed from almost falling. So he took it out on you. "What the... Y/n?! Why are you on the floor?"

You averted your gaze from the vaulted ceilings to stare at Joker.

You found J half on the chair, half on the floor staring at you as if you were in the wrong. He didn't say anything so you returned your focus back to the ceiling, all without saying a word.

He blinked in shock. Did you just ignore him?!

Joker snapped his finger to get your attention again. All you did was tap the side of your headphones twice to stop your music.

"Can I help you?" You sighed out.

He normally didn't repeat himself but tonight was turning out to be rather unusual. "Whyyyyy are you on the floor?"

You shrugged, "Cuz I can..?"

"But why in the dark, at--" Joker glanced at the clock across the room, "-- one in the morning? Ain't it past your bedtime Bunny?"

He slipped onto the floor and crawled over until he made it to your side. You were laying on the floor in the dark and people thought he was insane. Was something bothering you? Were you not feeling well?

Joker was going over a thousand scenarios which would have you willingly on the cold hard floor. He came up empty.

So he just flat out asked you. Again.

"Sometimes I just need a moment to think. The ceiling," You pointed up and Joker's gaze followed, "Helps me unravel my thoughts. "

".....but you okay Bun?" J asked.

He laid down next to you and copied your behavior. For a time he let the silence rest as he too stared at the ceiling. There was an.. appeal to it however he wondered just how long you've been here staring into the void. Wow your ceilings were high..

Joker side eyed before he hesitantly slipped his hand into yours. He grinned feeling your hand squeeze his.

Maybe it didn't exactly matter why you were down here. Any moment Joker could spend with you was fine in his book.

#thanks anon! #thanks for the ask! #ledger joker x reader #ledger joker #black!fem!reader #reader insert #joker x y/n #dark knight joker #joker x reader #heath joker #his lighthouse #think piece

[sinraisedtoanartform]

I find it so hot & erotic that the first time Sebastian meets the Professor in The Hound of the D’urbersvilles he straight up gives himself to him. his experience meeting this man is so profound and impactful a switch in his brain flips & goes ‘yup, he owns me’ no questions asked. He just decided Moriarty is his everything & I love that for him. This tougher than nails, killer who has seen death in all forms, who has explored unknown lands, who gambles with life possibly on the daily. Spends a couple of minutes in the presence of this ‘cobra, eyed mother fucker that stirs insane deep uncomfortable feelings in him’ & he is completely cool for Moriarty to do as he will with him. In Moran’s own words:

“I knew, my destiny & his Wound together, it was a sensation I had never gotten before, upon meeting a man, when I had it from women, the upshot ranged from disappointment to attempted murder, understand me, Professor James Moriarty was a hateful man, the most hateful, hatable creature I have ever known, not excluding Sir Augustus & Kali’s kitten & the abdominal snow bastard & the reverent Henry James Prince. He was something man snapped that had crawled out from under a rock & moved into the madder house. But at that moment I was his, & I remained his forever. If I am remembered it will be because I knew him. From that day on. He was my father, my commanding officer, my heathen idol, my fortune & rapture. god I could do with a stiff drink.”

-Col. Sebastián Basher Moran. The Houd of the D’urbersvilles. By Kim Newman

#The Hound of the D’urbersvilles #Kim Newman #Professor James Moriarty #Sebastian Moran #rambles #devotion #think piece #Mormor #Sherlock Fandom but evil #Sherlock Fandom #Mormor fandom #My guy is gay wether he realizes or not

[raethereptile]

Not romantic soulmates, not platonic soulmates, but a secret third thing (in another life, but we're in this one soulmates. In this one we balance on a precipice between the two, somehow both and neither)(In another life I'd love you unendingly, I'd kiss you until I ran out of breath and then I'd keep kissing you because if I'm going to die I want it to be with your lips on mine. I'd make love to you every night and fuck you ever morning and think about it every second in between. We'd have breakfast in bed and dinners in restaurants, date night every week, and holidays for two. We'd have a home of our own, exactly the way we want it, just for us or with kids by the dozen. And a dog. And every time I'd look at you I'd smile, and the flowers would bloom, and every second could be a lifetime and it would never be enough)(In another life I love you stupidly, and we'd spend our days laughing. We'd call, and text, and meet three times a week for coffee or food or just because. You'd have a key to my home and I'd have a key to yours. The spare room would have your name on it, there'd be a spare toothbrush under the sink, and your brand of beer in the fridge. Dinner would always stretch enough to fill another plate last minute. And you wouldn't have to knock. You stand at my wedding and I'd be Godfather to the mini-yous and love them as my own. And our lives would overlap and intertwine and be perfect)(but not in this life. Maybe we met too late or too early or life got in the way. In this life we couldn't. In this life we wouldn't)(Maybe we don't want it at all)(but we could. We know it. And every time we look at each other all we can see is in-another-life and we don't want it but it's all we can see. we don't have either, don't want either. we're happy as we are)(in another life, but not this one)

#rae writes #platonic soulmates #romantic soulmates #soulmates #think piece #secret third thing

[slothpoth]

Spiderverse Spoilers

The theme of Spider-Man’s Loneliness in ATSV is so interesting to me

Like we have Miles who knew from the moment he became Spider-Man that he wasn’t truly alone. He met a bunch of spidermen from different universes and even the one from his. From the get go he’s known that and had that to comfort him. He’s emotionally mature and you can see how much all of that helps him. Yeah he still feels the Spider-Man Loneliness but he also knows that he has friends who feel it too, and he uses that sense of community to push forward and not wallow. Not even in a “oh they have it worse way” but in a “the way I’m feeling right now has been felt before, and if they survived so can I”

On the other end is Miguel. He who figured out multiverse jumping and destroyed a universe because of said loneliness. The Spider Society is built off that Spider-Man Loneliness because the thing they all have in common is being Spider-Man and their loss. Miguel’s definition of Spider-Man hinges on going through that loss and that’s seen throughout the society. Even when he’s trying to persuade Miles to his side he starts to show him everyone’s losses like “hey you remember this feeling? We all do. You’re almost like us.”

Both of them view the inherent tragedy of being Spider-Man as a way to bond with others— but between the two of them Miles is using the tragedy of being Spider-Man as a way to motivate him to move forward while Miguel is stuck in this endless loop of escapism.

It can also go into how they see fate ex: Miles seeing fate as something that can be changed that he’s in control of and Miguel seeing fate as something inevitable that cannot be disrupted. Even though it’s incredibly more likely that when something goes against the fate in the universe something else moves to get semi back on track. Like when you get rid of a row in Tetris so when something changes it doesn’t mean the end of the world for example Gwen’s case with her dad not being dead or chief but who cares what I think not Miguel

#I write my thinkpieces on tumblr because tiktok doesn’t care for them #neither does Twitter #but Yknow #across the spider verse spoilers #across the spiderverse #across the spider verse #spiderman #spiderverse spoilers #spider man: across the spider verse #spider man 2099 #miles morales #think piece #miguel o'hara #atsv miguel #atsv miles #atsv #film analysis

[writeronartblock]

God does Oshi no Ko makes me feel AUGH

Despite Aqua's feelings towards Kana being incredibly vague and nebulous, it is so glaringly obvious that he (at the very least) cherises Kana A LOT. Just from the way other's remark at him about Kana and things that he says to other people about Kana, it's obvious. And it's in a way that's different than how he cares for other characters, because as far as I remember, the only other thing that's comparable to Aqua's care for Kana is Aqua's care for Ai

Which makes sense given when Akane makes him realize that Kana is now an idol, his first thought and course of action is to distance himself so she wouldn't get caught in a scandal because of him, so she wouldn't end up like Ai

And the lengths he went through to help Kana out, to the point of outing Ai's secret and betraying Ruby's trust...

Ffs man...

Honestly, at this point, I don't really care whether or not they end up together. I just want them both to be happy.... though i dont think that'll be likely, given the current circumstances *sigh*

#oshi no ko #aquamarine hoshino #kana arima #think piece #i swear aqua is going to give me heart attack one of these days #why cant you be normal #aqukana

[alifelivedtwiceover]

Myul Mang lived, after death. He lived. That is all that matters.

I love doom at your service so much😭 I'm rewatching it and I think I'll post think pieces on it after each episode.

I've seen so many reviews about people not enjoying the second half of this show and how a stellar cast was wasted on bad writing but for me, this show works even though I agree that the writing really was lacking in places.

It's funny how sometimes the things we like best are not the things that are perfect, but the ones that are flawed and imperfect and slightly inadequate.

It's so hard to define what brings us joy and comfort and what we find irresistible sometimes.

It's like, why do I adore this show even though there are so many shows out there that are so much better? Why do I think so often of these characters in particular? Why do I keep coming back here?

One of my favorite aspects about DAYS is Seo In Guk as Myul Mang. His character is the bedrock of this show from which everything else springs. I love his cynicism, his pessimism, his pain, his intolerance, his indifference, his quiet, simmering anger, his inability to outgrow his annoyance at the world. I love his audacity, his attitude and his insistent desire to destroy everything. I love that he doesn't hold back and that he doesn't try to be other than what he is. I love how the world slowly enraptures him, how it quietly grasps him into its folds, and doesn't let go. I love how he slowly discovers the world.

Myul Mang's entire existence is in nothingness, and then he is slowly brought into life. It is the opposite of what humans experience, for him it is actually life after death.

Myul Mang is hands down my favourite thing about DAYS.

The only thing I wish for was I wish we could have gotten more of his backstory. I wish he had been given a tangible past, a story that would have made the audience aware of where he was coming from, and thus would have made his motivations clearer, so that we know where he is heading.

Myul Mang lived, after death. He lived. That is all that matters.

#kdramas #kdrama #writing #i love this show so much #seo in guk #doom at your service #park bo young #myul mang #tak dong kyung #i love these characters #much to think about #think piece #blog #tvn doom at your service #lee soo hyuk #kang tae oh #shin do hyun #review #kdrama recommendations #kdrama review #kdrama couple #kdrama community #kdrama commentary

[lesbiansovereverything]

Female homosexuality as it pertains to religion is a complicated and thorny topic nowadays. And yet, being homosexual and religious was not always as contradictory as it appears to be today. In the middle ages, being a nun was a common path taken by lesbians for obvious reasons, to the point that it has become a lesbian stereotype. Lesbians could avoid marriage and live surrounded by other women and they could access greater levels of education. There are plenty of documents confirming relationships between nuns, like the book Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence, or the texts left by Hildegard of Bingen, or the letters from 12th century nuns found in Twice Marginal and Twice Invisible: Lesbians in the Middle Ages.

In current times, a lot of us don't have to find refuge in convents; many of us can live freely as out and proud lesbians. In fact, the homophobia that is present in most religions has driven many of us to dislike them. This is especially true if said religions are powerful enough to be organized and impact how homosexuals get treated -- be it by considering us sinful or actively working to deny us the rights to get married or adopt children.

Can lesbians be religious in spite of that? Aren't questions about the afterlife, souls (and whether or not they exist) just as relevant to us as they are to anyone else? How can we ask those questions and reconcile the possible answers with the homophobia that many religious institutions create and support?

Continue reading

#religion #lesbians #lesbian nuns #new post #think piece