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inheartofwinter · 2 days

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Drarry Fic Rec List: Us Vs The World

The list I want to show you to day is one I especially adore: fics with strong vibe of "us against the world". They could be good, they could be bad, they could save the world, they could destroy it, they could simply go on with their lives. No matter what, they will always have each other.

- Hell & Other Places (M; 2,5k) by @tepre

OR: 9 times Draco said ‘I love you’ and 1 time he didn’t.

Draco & Harry are sent to investigate a haunted Bed & Breakfast.

- Vis-à-Vis-à-Vis (E; 49999) by @vukovich

Harry's assignment was simple. Close out Draco Malfoy's missing persons case so he can be declared dead.

But who's making withdrawals from Malfoy's vaults? How is a death omen-turned-Unspeakable involved? Is an organization known as the Moirai to blame?

Harry brushes it off until he can't. Until The Prophet is flooded with sightings of dead people. Until Robards throws himself on his sword. Until Ron turns on his own family. Until Harry scarcely trusts his own reflection in the mirror and trusts the stranger in his bed even less.

Until all that stands between war and peace is Harry, a name plate, a stadium of murderers, and Draco Malfoy.

God save the Ministry.

- Basement Level 9 (M; 2k) by @fw00shy

Draco was behind the bomb that blew up Level 10, though they didn't talk about it.

- Stay with Me 'Til Morning (R; 8,4k) by Lucilla Darkate

In a once upon a time world, white magic would triumph over black, good would carry the day, evil would be vanquished, the valiant would stand and be true, and always, always, true love would end with a happily ever after.

- Purple Words (E; 67k) by FangirlWolfie

“High five me.”

James immediately put Harry down and gave him a high five.

Huh?

Oh.

- In Grey Worsted (M; 2,8k) by literaryspell

Harry's only chance at happiness is slipping away, one piece at a time. He isn’t about to give up, though.

- Ever Fixed Mark (T; 1,1k) by @shealwaysreads

In which Harry decides to burn the world, and Draco watches on with adoration.

Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

- Dead Ends (E; 18,8k) by @toxik-angel & @melcarrianna

Head Auror Harry Potter is the best at his job. Head Auror Harry Potter always saves the day.

But someone has been picking off ex-Death Eaters one by one. Someone has been abducting Harry's friends right out of their homes. Someone is fucking the Minister for Magic.

The Minister for Magic and Head Auror are both very concerned about it.

- Because Potter Is Allergic to Poppies (M; 41,1k) by Lomonaaeren

Auror Harry Potter is in hospital being treated for a curse when someone tries to kill him. Obviously it is up to bored, trapped Apprentice Healer Draco, who was only admitted to the Healer Program in the first place to do the menial work, to find out who did it. Because then they will promote him. No, it’s for no other reason, thanks.

- Toujours pur (T; 21k) by Veralynn

"Malfoy would never confess truth to an enemy, and we’re enemies to him. That’s way I made a plan.”

“A rat,” Harry said.

“Exactly. Someone I can trust one hundred per cent about You-Know-Who. Someone who knows well Malfoy and his past. That makes you the perfect candidate.”

- REVOLVEVLOVER (E; 46,3k) by @firethesound & zeitgeistic

The work Harry does is justifiable. It’s justice. He works for his country, and his country is a republic—the magical side, anyway. It’s not laudable work, it’s not work he’s proud of, but it’s necessary work. Harry has always taken the necessary jobs that no one else has the stomach for.

It’s just that he’s never deciphered a kill sheet and seen Draco Malfoy’s name on it.

Career Choices: Harry: Hit Wizard; Draco: Anti-Government Extremist

- Who we are in the shadows (E; 99,7k) by @quicksilvermaid

What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise?

Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life. When he comes across Draco Malfoy in the criminal underbelly of Wizarding London and in need of protection, Harry figures bringing him in to face the Ministry's justice is his ticket back to everything he's lost.

But nothing is exactly as it seems. Not even Harry himself. And as he gets drawn further and further into Malfoy's world of honour and deception he finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew—about his childhood nemesis, the Ministry job he misses so much, and most of all, about himself.

What happens when you’re forced to see that you were wrong?

- Draco Malfoy and the Heart of Slytherin (T; 34,9k) by sabershadowkat

At the heart of every Slytherin.

- The Boy and the Sleeping Prince (E; 26,7k) by @phoenix-acid & @writcraft

Harry is miserable and tired of being an Auror, coasting through life until he’s forced to make some changes. Spurred on by his passion for drawing and working with best-selling author Draco Malfoy, Harry develops a charm which gives children a magical, interactive reading experience. But when it’s time to test the spell, the two men find themselves trapped in a nightmarish fairy tale world. Can they escape unscathed, or is Draco right in his assertions that there is no such thing as a happily ever after?

Career Choices: Harry: Illustrator; Draco: Writer

- When Death Comes Calling (T; 2,6k) by @mystickitten42

It’s All Hallows’ Eve and as Harry investigates a string of seemingly related deaths, there’s one he hopes to prevent.

He looks over Harry’s shoulder and Harry turns too. They both see it, the dark translucent figure making its way to shore.

~ Or ~

Getting together in the face of Death. Literally.

- Servile (E; 68,5k) by calrissian18

“I would love anything you gifted me, My Lord, but this,” silver eyes, the same shade as the dragon that marked Harry's arm, glinted in his direction under the Death Eater’s hood, “is exquisite.”

- The Corruption Sequence series (E; 94,2k) by beren

Harry Potter is captured by Voldemort and the Dark Lord has plans for him that involve the essence of many different dark creatures. What Voldemort cannot know is that the presence of Draco Malfoy will affect the outcome of his plots and change everything.

- More Powerful Then Experience (M; 89,7k) by flightinflame

Harry's life changes when he is three, when his parents are murdered and the Dark Lord takes him to raise as his own.

Draco's life changes when he is six, when he finds himself given to a strange green-eyed boy who speaks Parseltongue and casts impossible magic.

Remus's life changes three years later, when a chance meeting proves to him that somehow James and Lily's son is still alive.

- The Gryffindor Prince (G; 6,3k) by @mfingenius

“Do not come near us again, evil Slytherins!” he exclaims, pointing his wand towards them again. Pansy and Blaise look more amused than anything, really, but they hold up their hands in surrender.

“Alright,” Pansy says, agreeably enough, a smirk on her face. “But Potter, Draco’s a Slytherin, like us. He’ll have to come back eventually.”

Harry’s eyes narrow, and, a moment later, he is throwing Draco over his shoulder, arm tight across the back of his thighs so he won’t fall, and Draco yelps.

Have fun reading!

#drarry #drarry fics #drarry fic rec #drarry rec list #my rec list #us vs the world vibe #hpdm #hpdm fanfic #harry potter x draco malfoy

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vampire-wizard-solidarity · 9 months

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i think the way totk references skyward sword only highlights the problems with totk and gets a little insulting at times.

this is mostly about ganondorf’s demon king form being highly reminiscent of demise. i get that it makes sense, since ganon’s power most likely comes from demise’s curse, so when it’s amplified it visually references that. that’s neat, and not an inherently bad idea, even a good one in some aspects.

however, all it does for me is highlight just how much of a non character ganondorf is. demise is, to an extent, also a non character: he isn’t deep nor extensively fleshed out, but the thing is, not all characters have to be. and him, he works. most of the game is spent with ghirahim, his much more expressive and motivated sidekick. he’s fun, intimidating when he has to be, and balances being silly and being an actual threat well. demise is the kicker, the final punch, when ghirahim spent the entire game building him up, we finally get to see him, he’s intimidating, he’s serious in contrast to ghirahim, he immediately shuts the villain we spent most of the game fighting up, and reduces him to an object to be used to fulfil his own goals. his boss fight is cool, and so is he.

demise is a god of destruction, he doesn’t have a motivation beyond the fact that he is a representation and wields power over evil. and that’s the point. skyward sword’s themes largely center humanity vs inhumanity, link spends a large portion of the game running around fulfilling a plan he doesn’t fully understand, being roped into this ordeal before he even finds out about it, not really comprehending what’s happening or why for a long time. so, it’s only natural the final force he has to face is an equally incomprehensible threat, and he defeats it not because he comprehends it more now, or understands the ancient conflict between gods or any of that. he does it because he wants to protect someone he loves, he does it because he forms a genuine bond with the robotic, originally emotionless guide who was made only for the purpose of aiding him in this godly plan. humanity triumphs over godhood. humanity triumphs over inhumanity.

in totk, however? there really isn’t much difference between ganondorf before and after he becomes the demon king. he has no particular motivation before or after, he is a king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil, and then he becomes a more powerful king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil. he looks more like the god of destruction now, but that signifies nothing other than he is more powerful now. ganon has always been associated with power, and the way power corrupts has always been a fitting theme for him. he could’ve had development throughout the game, and him becoming more like the literal godly representation of evil could’ve signified that development. maybe he was a king with an actual motivation, an actual in story reason to oppose hyrule, we could’ve been shown his human side, what he actually cares for and why he does the things he does, and then we could’ve seen that side of him dissolve as he taps more into his power, becomes more like a being of destruction that destroys simply because that’s what it has power over. him taking visual cues from demise could’ve actually meant something, could’ve been a visual representation of the way his power corrupts him. instead, we get nothing. there was no reason to bring ganondorf back, because he still acts like a motivationless monster, who is evil simply because he is. all talk of this being “his game” was a lie, considering he could easily be replaced by a generically evil monster and nothing would’ve changed.

ultimately, i still wouldn’t have been happy with this story because it would still lean heavily on the orientalist narratives still alive and present in zelda, but this would’ve been at least something. the way it is, the fact that he takes visual cues from demise pisses me off because it highlights just how one dimensional his character is, it makes me feel only cynicism because it makes it clear that ganondorf was only brought back because he’s a popular and iconic character and not because he had any purpose in the story or because the writers had anything interesting to do with him.

#loz #legend of zelda #totk #tears of the kingdom #totk critical #totk criticism #skyward sword #sksw #ganondorf #demise #analysis #my hot takes #meta

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linkspooky · 8 months

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what are your thoughts on yuji and where do you think he ends up as a character in/after the current arc? i really wish we get more focus on him and his rs with kenjaku after this fight is over cause yuji has felt very underwhelming ever since mahito left him

I think your frustration at the lack of focus on Yuji is understandable anon, but I think Yuji being out of focus is sort of the point. I've always seen Yuji as a "Decoy Protagonist", because he's what the audience would expect the protagonist to be due to all of his typical shonen protagonist traits. Whereas, the real protagonist of the story is Megumi. In the story itself Kenjaku says something along the same lines, that Yuji eating Sukuna's finger was the initiating event of the story, but he's no longer the center of Kenjakiu's schemes. He's more of a trigger than a driver of the plot.

To me this is part of the appeal of Yuji himself. He's a well-intentioned kid who may be a heart of the friend group he's a part of, but he's never given any special treatment by the story. He doesn't have protagonist privilegeTM so-to-speak.

Usually the main character of the story because they're the central focus are given a lot of leeway to make mistakes. It's their story, the story is focused around their growth and development so it makes sense the world and character sin the story are going to center around them to an extent. They have plot armor because of course they do, there's no story without the main character. If they're losing a fight they'll get a convenient power up in time. If they're cornered one of their allies will show up to save them.

By doing away with a lot of the convenience that happens to a lot of main characters in Shonen manga, Yuji becomes a very atypical main character.

The story does not treat Yuji any different from the rest of its characters. Especially during and after Shibuya where Jujutsu Kaisen shifts to more of an ensemble piece than just following Yuji's story and development into a sorcerer.

Mahito lampshades this very fact in Shibuya. That Yuji up until this point viewed himself as the protagonist of a typical shonen jump exorcism manga. He assumes that things will work out because he's the good guy, here fighting evil curses and good always triumphs over evil or whatever the line is. However, Mahito points out that they're just members of opposite factions fighting in the streets of Shibuya. Mahito wants to usher in an age of curses and Yuji wants to kill curses for the sake of humans. Considering curses don't really follow human morality and rules it's not a good vs. evil conflict, it's ust both of them fighting for which side is going to dominate.

"You came to Shibuya with half-assed determination, didn't ya!? How naive, you stupid brat! This is war! Not a battle to fix what's wrong! But a clash of truths you and your fragile justice! You are me, Yuji Itdaori! I kill without a second thought... just like how you save people without a second thought! The instincts of a curse... against the so called dignity obtained by human reason! It's a battle to determine who will be left standing in 100 years!"

One of the biggest mistakes Yuji makes in Shibuya, letting Sukuna take control of his body leading to the massacre of thousands of people is I think a great example of the way the story treats Yuji differently. There are a lot of protaognists who have demon sides that occasionally go berserk. Often giving them a mid-fight power up when their own skill isn't enough to beat the enemy.

Naruto has the nine-tailed fox. Ichigo has Zangetsu his inner hollow / zanpakuto who occasionally tries to usurp control of his body and fight for him. In both cases however, there usually isn't any real consequences for the protagonist losing control. The worst time Naruto rampaged with the nine tails against Pain the village was already destroyed. When Ichigo loses control in the fight against Ulquiorra, he stabs Uryu but the wound heals and no one holds it against him.

Compare this to Itadori who has the deaths of thousands of people on his conscience because of his inability to control Sukuna and is then made an enemy of Jujutsu Society.

Yuji never benefits from plot conveience, in fact assuming things are going to go his way because the world will follow storybook logic is exactly what leads Yuji to making some major mistakes. There's always hard hitting conesequences to Yuji's actions because he's not special, he's just one character among many who are all fighting to survive in this world.

The one thing that gave him a claim to be the main character, being Sukuna's vessel even gets taken away from him. The whole premise of the story is that Yuji is supposed to consume all twenty of sukuna's fingers and then be executed in order to permanently seal him away.

Only for us to learn that the one thing we thought made Yuji special wasn't unique to Yuji. Megumi also had the potential to be a vessel to Sukuna. Sukuna never planned on staying in Yuji's body from almost the start of the manga he was hatching a long scheme to leave Yuji's body and take Megumi's instead.

The quest given to him by Gojo and Megumi. The thing that only he was capable of doing is gone and Yuji is left with nothing.

So what is Yuji's role in the story then, if he's not a main character? A friend of mine pointed this out recently and it helped me understand a lot about Yuji's character: he's sort of a mirror. The story describes Mahito who's set up as Yuji's foil this way as well.

Yuji is for the most part a normal kid (except for the part where he's a science fair project made by Kenjaku) who doesn't have any strong idea motivating him. Which is why it's very easy for him to adopt the motivations of the people surrounding him instead. He starts out repeating his grandfather's words of helping people. The more he interacts with people, the more his motivations become like theirs as well.

He starts out with the vague goal of helping people. When he is given the role of eating Sukuna's fingers he jumps at the chance because it gives him something that he can only do. Even if he dies at the end of his quest he'll die satisfied and on his own terms because he went out helping people. He realizes how poorly thought out his motivation is when confronting Megumi and starts admiring Megumi instead.

When he fails to stop Junpei's death, which is really failing at his goal to save people from "unnatural deaths" as Junpei is twisted into a horrid form by Mahito, Yuji becomes obsessed with killing Mahito instead. In a way he's reflecting Mahito here because violent mahito with no regards for life at all brings out the killer in Yuji. He almost shifts again away from just helping save people from unnatural deaths to becoming someone strong enough to exterminate Mahito.

Towards the end of shibuya, Yuji finally seems to reflect on the emptiness of his own goal. As someone devoid of a purpose he instead just takes whatever purpose someone else around him offers him. Once again playing his role as a mirror, Yuji himself as a character offers nothing but he is someone who reflects and contrasts the people around him.

Yuji doesn't need a purpose for himself, but by being a cog he's still a part of the grander scheme of things. Yuji himself says that he's insignificant but honestly I think it's the same symptom of before Yuji wanting to have a place in the world and a task given to him, but not wanting to contemplate what his own motivations are or what he wants. He wants these things to be given to him instead because he's a mirror, he reflects other people he doesn't not reflect upon himself.

Even thinking of himself as a cog fails because the one role he was given to play, to eat the rest of the fingers and die as Sukuna is now given to someone else because he no longer contains Sukuna in his body. I think Yuji's arc will continue however when he chooses to act selfishly for the first time.

By that I mean he can adopt Megumi's philosophy of "choosing to save people selfishly." Yuji is right now the only person interested in actually saving Megumi from Sukuna's possession and finding some way to do so, while everyone else sees him as a target to be defeated. Which is understandable because by utilitarian logic "the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few, or the needs of the one."

The choice to deliberately try to save Megumi and prioritize his life over the lives of thousands of people that might be killed if they don't put down Sukuna permanently and pioritize that is a selfish one.

However, there's already foreshadowing for Yuji making that choice. There's also a circular storytelling sort of logic to it. The story begins by Megumi making the selfish choice to spare Yuji's life even though he's dangerous to others because of Sukuna inside of him. Therefore Yuji making the same choice to save Megumi even though the less risky thing to do is just kill both Megumi and Sukuna together is Megumi's choice from the beginning of the series coming full circle.

It's also an answer to the question Megumi posed to him in their first contronation. "What if the person you save goes on to kill someone else?" Yuji acknowledging that possibility and going on to save Megumi anyway has a lot of weight to it.

The covers of the key animation books released so far also seem to foreshadow the ending fights of the series. We're already in the middle of a Gojo and Megumi confrontation which is the cover of Key Animation Vol. 2.

Considering both Yuji's own nature as a mirror and the way the story itself started with Yuji eating Sukuna's finger I think it makes far more sense for Yuji's last battle to be against Sukuna. Especially since Sukuna now considers Yuji as someone far beneath him even abandoning him as a vessel. The best battle for a character to function as a mirror is to fight their mirror image, and he already did the same with Mahito which was Yuji's most significant fight so far.

As for Kenjaku, we may get some revelations about Yuji's creation but honestly I don't think there's going to be any confrontation between the two of them. There's far more setup for a final confrontation between Kenjaku and Yuta. Number one, Kenjaku is in Yuta's body and that's always been Yuta's rival.

When Kenaku appears and seals Gojo he states he's not worried about Yuta because he doesn't have the potential to surpass Gojo.

Yuta also states his direct goal is to kill Kenjaku by himself so Gojo won't have to kill his best friend a second time.

That's pretty direct foreshadowing in favor of Yuta, and also I think fits with the theme of Yuji not really being the main character of the piece. Kenjaku is pretty much the main villain and the orchestrator behind the plot so him being taken out by another character pushes Yuji away from the center of things. Kenjaku himself even says that he's washed his hands of Yuji, Yuji's no longer the center of his schemes he's moved onto other things.

#jjk meta #yuji itadori #kenjaku #yuta okkotsu #ryomen sukuna

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 9 months

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HEY as a good omens fan blog I'm curious about your thoughts/ideas on this.

I am planning a simple good omens tattoo, smth along the lines of this, maybe with the snake, maybe without.

the problems is, I don't really want the words to be "ineffable" or "to the world" bc those lines aren't what resonate with me. what DOES resonate with me is the theme of right vs wrong not being the same as black/white, heaven/hell, good/bad, that life is so much more complex than that.

the best line that I've found comes close to this is probably "blur the edges", the line that crowley says right after the magic show, but that doesn't feel quite right. I'm absolutely open to lines from the book as well, just wanted to see another's opinion :)

Hiya! :) Well, S2 also speaks of Shades of Grey :) (tho it might make others think about a different book :D).

I love the line from the book "It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people." but it is a bit long (tho perhaps it could be shortened to something like 'people being people' :D)

Also :) Hell wasn't a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley's opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.

Great luck with the tattoo! :) <3

#ask #good omens quotes

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asha-mage · 5 months

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I'm always here for one of your 🌶️ Wheel of Time takes.

Heh. Then I shall not disappoint!

I think that while some of the criticisms folks have of the gender stuff in WoT is valid, a lot of the things people cite as objective facts/proof of Robert Jordan being a secret misogynist, is actually a case of people conflating the views and biases of Jordan's characters with his own beliefs.

One day I want to sit down and do a longer meta on the One Power, it's mythological roots, it's place in the WoT cosmology, and it's societal impact- and what the way it's written actually says about the vision of gender and sex the series presents vs what people think it says (hint: the series is not nearly as gender essentialist as folks like to claim). But for the moment I'll confine myself to this: Jordan presents the idea that, inherently, people are people first and foremost, and no singular flaw or virtue is confined to one gender, one nation, one people group, even one side of the good vs evil conflict.

Many of the same flaws that dogged male-dominated historical institutione that emphasized a higher mission, privileged tradition and entrenched power in certain closed off ways (such as the Catholic church), also dog the White Tower. Many of the foundless prejudices the patriarchy foists onto women ('they gossip to much', 'they can't be trusted with power', 'they need someone to keep them in check and on the Right Path', 'their soft hearts can't handle rough treatment') Jordan's world foists onto men just as easily- with different justifications and reason, but still as ultimately baseless. Any time someone makes a sweeping gender based judgement- the narrative almost immediately undercuts it, when it doesn't outright draw attention to the speaker being wrong (even the qoute-on-qoute 'world wise' characters like Thom deal with this).

People in Jordan's world believe that gender matters and matters a whole lot- but that belief is a self fulfilling prophecy. Virtues and flaws, sins and triumphs, victories and defeats- their all agender in Jordan's world. It's the character's belief that these things are gendered, born of their prejudices and biases, that make it seem like Jordan is making the opposite statement, when really what he's doing is asking you to think critically of yourself, and try to suss out where a character is coloring their own narrative to suit themselves, and where they aren't.

#I could keep going but I'll leave it here #before I just start listing off various tragic or awesome moements int he series by turns and how their pretty evenly spread by gender #wot #wot meta #the spicy take zone #wheel of time

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physalian · 26 days

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On Writing Theme (Or, Make it a Question)

An element of story so superficially understood and yet is the backbone of what your work is trying to say. Theme is my favorite element to design and implement and the easiest way to do that? Make it a question.

A solid theme takes an okay action movie and propels it into blockbuster infamy, like Curse of the Black Pearl. It turns yet another Batman adaptation into an endlessly rewatchable masterpiece, seeing the same characters reinvented yet again and still seeing something new, in The Dark Knight. It’s the spiraling drain at the bottom of classic tragedies, pulling its characters inevitably down to their dooms, like in The Great Gatsby.

Theme is more than just “dark and light” or “good and evil”. Those are elements that your story explores, but your theme is what your story *says* with those elements.

For example: Star Wars takes “dark vs light” incredibly literally (ignoring the Sequels). Dark vs Light is what the movies pit against each other. How the selfish, corrupted, short-sighted nature of the Dark Side inevitably leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom—that’s what the story is about.

A story can have more than one theme, more than one statement it wants to make and more than one question to answer. Star Wars is also about the inevitable triumph of unity and ‘goodness’ over division and ‘evil’.

Part of why I love fantasy is how allegorical it can be. Yes I’m writing a story with vampires, but my questions to my characters are, “What makes a monster? Why is it a monster?” My characters’ arcs are the answer to my theme question.

Black Pearl is a movie that dabbles in the dichotomy between law-abiding soldiers and citizens, and the lawless pirates who elude them. Black Pearl’s theme is that one can be a pirate and also a good man, and that neither side is perfect or mutually exclusive, and that strictly adhering to either extreme will lead you to tragedy.

Implementing your theme means, in my opinion, staging your theme like a question and answering it with as many characters and plot beats as possible. In practice?

Q: Can a pirate be a good man? A: Jack is. Will is. Elizabeth is. Barbossa is selfish and short-sighted, and he loses. Norrington is too focused on propriety and selfless duty, and he loses.

Or, in Gatsby.

Q: Is life fulfilled by living in the past? A: Mr. Buchanan clings to his old-money ways and is a sour lout with no respect for anyone or himself. Daisy clings to a marriage that failed long ago, to retain an image and security she thinks she needs. Myrtle chases a man she can’t ever have. Her husband lusts after a wife who’s no longer his. Gatsby… well we all know what happens to him.

The more characters and plot beats you have to answer your theme’s question, the more cohesive a message you’ll send. It can be a statment the story backs up as well, as seen below, questions just naturally invite answers.

—

Do you need a theme?

Not technically, no. Plenty of stories get by on their other solid elements and leave the audience to draw their own conclusions and take their own meaning and messages. Your average romance novel probably isn’t written with a moral. Neither are your 80s/90s action thrillers. Neither are many horror movies. Theme is usually reserved for dramas, and usually in dramatic fantasy and sci-fi, where the setting tends to be an allegory for whatever message the author is trying to send. That, and kids movies.

Sometimes you just want to tell a funny story and you don’t set out with any goals of espousing morals and lessons you want your readers to learn and that is perfectly okay. I still think saying *something* will make the funny funnier or the drama more dramatic or the romance more romantic, but that’s just me and what I like to read.

When it is there, it’s right in front of your face way more often than you might think. Here’s some direct quotes succinctly capturing the main theses of a couple famous works:

“He’s a good man.” / “No, he’s a pirate.” - Curse of the Black Pearl

“What are we holding onto, Sam?” / “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” - LotR, Two Towers

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” - LotR, Fellowship of the Ring

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Horton Hears a Who

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” - The Dark Knight

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” - The Great Gatsby

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” & “Life finds a way.” - Jurassic Park

"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind." - Lilo & Stitch

“But… I’m supposed to be beautiful.” / “You are beautiful.” - Shrek

“I didn’t kill him because he looked as scared as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself.” - How to Train Your Dragon

“There are no accidents.” & “There is no secret ingredient.” & “You might wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.” - Kung Fu Panda

*If any of those are wrong, I did them entirely from memory, sue me.

Some of the best scenes in these stories are where the theme synthesizes in direct dialogue. There’s this moment of catharsis where you, the audience, knew what the story has been saying, but now you get to hear it put into words.

Or, these are the lines that stick in your head as you watch the tragedy unfold around the characters and all they didn’t learn when they had the chance.

When it comes to stories that have a very strong moral and never feel like they’re preaching to you, look no further than classic Pixar movies.

“Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” - Ratatouille

“I’m not strong enough.” / “If we work together, you don’t have to be.” - The Incredibles

“Just keep swimming!” - Finding Nemo

Ellie’s adventure book, to live your own adventure, even if it’s not the one you thought it would be - Up

The Wheel Well montage, to slow down every once in a while, because in a flash, it’ll be gone - Cars

The entire first dialogue-less section of Wall-E, to stop our endless consumption or else

The real monsters are corporate consumption - Monsters Inc

One cannot fully appreciate happiness without a little sadness - Inside Out

With enough loud voices, the common man can overthrow The Man - A Bug’s Life

A person’s worth is not determined by their value to other people - Toy Story

These are the themes that I, personally, took from these movies as a kid and later in life. If I remembered the scripts any better I could probably pull some direct dialogue to support them, but, sadly, I do not have the entire Pixar catalog memorized.

—

After you’ve suffered through rigorous literary analysis classes for years on end, the “lit analyst” hat kind of never comes off. Sometimes you try to find a theme where none exists, coming up with your own. Sometimes you can very easily see the skeleton attempt at having a theme and a message that came out half-baked, and all the missed opportunities to polish it.

Whatever the case, while theme isn’t *necessary*, having that through line, an axis around which your entire story revolves, can be a fantastic way to examine which elements of your WIP aren’t meshing with the rest, why a character is or isn’t clicking, how you want to end it, or, even, how you want to approach a sequel.

Unfortunately, very, very often, a movie, book, or season of TV has a fantastic execution of a theme in its first run, and the ensuing sequels forget all about it.

No one here is going to defend Michael Bay’s Transformers movies as cinematic masterpieces, however, the first movie did actually have a thematic through line: “No sacrifice, no victory.” They didn’t stick the landing but, you know, the attempt was made. Where is that theme at all in the sequels? Nonexistent. They could have even explored a different theme and they abandoned it altogether.

Black Pearl’s thematic efforts fell away to lore and worldbuilding in its two sequels. Not that they’re bad! I love Dead Man’s Chest, but to those who don’t like the sequels, that missing element may be part of why.

Shrek and Shrek 2 both centered on their theme of beauty being how you define it and no one else. Fiona finds true love in her “true” form, then strengthens that message in the sequel when she has the chance to be “normal” and conventionally attractive, and still chooses to be an ogre, to be with Shrek. Shrek 3’s theme is…?

When it was never there, that theme is missing isn’t so obvious. When it used to be there and got left behind, it leaves a crater in its wake everyone notices, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

—

TLDR: Theme is more than just vague nouns and dichotomies. Good, evil, dark, light, selfishness, altruism, beauty, ugliness, riches, poverty, etc are what your story uses. Your theme is what your story has to say with those elements, using as many characters and plot points as possible to reinforce its message. Is it necessary? No. Is it helpful and does it lead to a richer experience? Yes.

#writing advice #writing resources #writing tips #writing tools #writing a book #writeblr #writing #fantasy #scifi #theme #writing themes

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 2 months

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I sometimes think superhero comics would be better staying as a children's medium, if only because most of its major themes and genre conventions are primarily built around that.

The way they have heroes who embody good and evil in larger than life ways, the sharp divide between those who use powers for good vs evil, the refusal to kill, kid heroes and sidekicks. If these were in something being written for children, it is much easier to not question these genre conventions and to let them play out.

And if you are going to aim at adults, don't feel ashamed of these genre conventions anymore than if telling a myth. Superheroes need no more apology for their idealism than Lord of the Rings.

I just think people need to get over this smooth brain idea that in order for something to be Deep and Meaningful it must be Realistic and Reality is Grim and Dark and Depressing and happy endings Do Not Exist.

Some of the best stories based on real events are beautiful and uplifting. Hundreds of millions of people have good relationships with their families and happy marriages. You can have a story that's about these people or these events without sacrificing drama or tension. You can choose the best of humanity to base your Realistic Fictional Character on, instead of the worst.

When people tell me that realism must be bleak, I always remember Robert Pattinson's quote about method acting.

“I always say about people doing Method acting, you only ever see people doing Method when they’re playing an a–hole. You never see someone just being lovely to everyone going, ‘I’m really deep in character."

And a lot of people treat realism the same way. They only take the dark parts of life while ignoring the rest.

Happy endings and stable relationships and good triumphing over evil aren't just for children. In fact, I'd argue that the adults who think those things are only for children need them more than the kids do.

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nitewrighter · 9 months

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That's a good point, especially if Vale dealt with the Falcone family, which would put her at risk. It can't be all about fame if she's willing to put herself in the Crosshairs of organize crime.

I think that's a shame, especially since I think the central crux of this version of Vicki is that she is everything Lois thought she wanted to be before she found out Clark is Superman--they both get their hands dirty, they're both fearless, but Vicki is also definitely coming at it from a more cynical angle (which makes sense! She's from Gotham!). I don't think they'll discredit Vicki--I think it's going to be more about Superman being able to prove himself in the general worldview, but you'll still have characters like Vicki who are like "Okay so yes, he rescues cats from trees, but the second he steps out of line I'm calling his ass out"-- for flavoring, you know?

I think with this kind of storytelling, there's also the additional element of like, sensationalism as a means of keeping journalism alive and like, the issue of the balance of truth and narrative in journalism, which is a subject that actually comes up a lot in Superman and the Daily Planet! In the comics, Perry White and by extension the Daily Planet take a significant hit sales-wise when Perry basically makes this decision of, "We're not going to fearmonger, we're just going to talk about what's happening." You know... like... actual journalism.

(Like I'll always be pissed at Brian Michael Bendis for aging up Jon but this was a W for me).

Like I do think the whole cynicism vs optimism angle, and the knowledge that there are evil alternate universe supermans out there is a vital part of the whole underlying conflict of MAWS because MAWS recognizes that the true triumph of optimism is the fact that it prevails against the attrition of a cynical world. It's one thing to be optimistic when everything is sunshine and rescuing cats from trees, it's another thing to keep trying to do the right thing and believing in the good of humanity when everyone is pissed off and scared, and especially when you know what you're capable of is in fact, terrifying.

#I am once again telling everyone into MAWS to read Gene Luen Yang's Superman Smashes the Klan #superman #my adventures with superman #dc

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enchantingepics · 2 months

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Story Prompt 60

There existed a figure shrouded in darkness. Some called them a villain, while others whispered tales of their ruthlessness and cunning. Yet, amidst the chaos they wrought, there beat a heart heavy with remorse.

Caught in the web they spun was the hero, a beacon of light in the murky depths of the villain's domain. Unexpectedly, a tender emotion blossomed within the villain's hardened soul - guilt. Guilt for the tendrils of affection that wound around the hero's unsuspecting heart, guilt for the innocence they tainted with their allure.

"I'm here if you want me," the villain murmured, their voice a haunting echo in the caverns of the hero's conscience.

The hero's gaze wavered, torn between duty and desire. "This… this can't be right," they faltered, their resolve shaken by the raw vulnerability in the villain's confession.

"It's not about right or wrong," the villain countered, a hint of desperation seeping into their words. "It's about what we feel."

But the hero shook their head, a flicker of anguish clouding their features. "I can't… I can't betray everything I stand for."

Silence lingered like a heavy fog between them, pregnant with unspoken words and shattered dreams. With a heavy heart, the hero turned away, their footsteps echoing hollowly against the stone floor.

As the hero vanished into the depths of the night, the villain remained rooted to the spot, haunted by the specter of what could have been. And though they stood on opposite sides of the battlefield, their hearts remained intertwined, bound by the fragile threads of forbidden love.

"I'll wait for you," the villain whispered into the darkness, a solitary figure standing sentinel at the edge of oblivion. "I'll always wait."

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newspatron · 6 months

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Dussehra and Vijayadashami: The Triumph of Good over Evil

Do you want to know how to celebrate Dussehra and Vijayadashami, the Hindu festival of victory? Read this article to find out.

Dussehra and Vijayadashami are two names for the same Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. It is one of the most important and popular festivals in India, as well as in other countries where Hinduism is practiced. In this article, you will learn about the history, mythology, significance, celebrations, and astrology of this festival. You will also discover some tips and…

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number1villainstan · 1 month

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hnnnngrh an RGU Meta Idea has me in a chokehold so bear with me while i brainvomit about saionji and his masculinity vs the ideal of 'prince' and how it plays into the power hierarchies ohtori sets up

he's the very first antagonist we encounter, right? literally our first impression of him is "he hit that poor defenseless girl! that he was supposed to be dating!!! what's wrong with him!!!!" and then he rejects wakaba's love letter and utena duels him and the show kicks off. our very first impressions of him in the very first episode are that he's mean, he's cruel, he's inconsiderate, even that he's a brute. that--and this part is important--he is Masculine In A Bad Way. in ohtori everything is tied up in gender, and saionji is assigned the labels of 'man' and 'masculine', and so when he does bad things he is doing bad things as a man, right? he is, of course, hurting people, but more importantly to my point he is not performing manhood in an acceptable way. his masculinity is somehow corrupt or lacking or Wrong. in this way utena's victory over saionji in the first duel isn't just a triumph of "good" over "evil", it's a triumph of specifically utena's Good Masculinity (protective, sympathetic, princely) over saionji's Bad Masculinity (cruel, inconsiderate, not princely). rgu doesn't give a specific name to Bad Masculinity like it does to Good Masculinity (prince), Good Femininity (princess or bride), or Bad Femininity (witch) (possibly because akio is metaphorically the one behind the camera and doesn't want to draw attention to the idea of Bad Masculinity in a way that might allow women a legitimate advantage over men, possibly because outside of rgu there's no corresponding specific fairytale role for Bad Masculinity) but it's still there and, more importantly, it's still being used to uphold the hierarchies and illusions of ohtori

because if we go back to the idea of Good vs Bad Masculinity, and then we take the rest of the show into account, we see that Good Masculinity isn't 'good' because it helps people or reduces harm, but because it upholds the systemic hierarchies and dichotomies of Ohtori. the role of 'prince,' the term for and model of Good Masculinity, is inherently a limiting one for both the 'prince' himself and the 'princesses' he saves. which makes that first duel no longer straightforwardly a positive thing, but among other things a reinforcement of those same harmful hierarchies and dichotomies.

and of course saionji isn't actually the archetype of Bad Masculinity (which i want to call the 'brute', but i'm not sure i want to dive into the racial/imperialistic connotations of 'brute' vs 'prince' in this post) that he's presented as in the first episode. he's a character in his own right, and throughout the series we see that this first impression we got is, while not entirely wrong, at best a surface-level reading of saionji and the roles he plays in the narrative. and what illustrates this tension between impression and reality best is how he acts when wakaba's keeping him in her apartment: as the essay Fight/Flight, Rest/Relaxation by Giovanna points out, possibly the only time that saionji is every truly happy or relaxed is when he's staying with wakaba--in other words, when we see him outside the systems of ohtori. of course, that happiness isn't totally pure either, because wakaba is using saionji as her Shining Thing so that she can go from the non-special side of one of Ohtori's dichotomy to the special side, because unlike saionji at that point wakaba is still participating in those same systems. and yet. when working inside the systems of ohtori saionji is cruel, uncaring, rude, mean. outside the systems of ohtori saionji is happy, relaxed, straightforward and honest and genuine and kind, even.

and in the end that's the key, isn't it? now we understand his behavior in the first episode not as caused by his being a Bad Person. there are no Bad People in RGU, save perhaps akio. no, now we understand his behavior here as a kid, lashing out and hurting people because he's hurting, because he lives in a system in which violence is presented as the solution, because no one taught him how to manage his own emotions and he has no access to or knowledge of that information. because he's a kid growing up in a system that turns his emotions and his straightforwardness against him because they're a threat to that same system. saionji is assigned the archetype of Bad Masculinity not because he hurts people but because his native personality threatens the system. and when that same system begins to repress those innate parts of himself, when he's angry and in pain, the system teaches him to lash out and make other people hurt like he hurts, reinforcing the emotional isolation, reinforcing his pain, reinforcing the roles the system imposes on him and the shallow image those roles project to other people. he's angry and miserable because he's isolated by the system, the system teaches him to lash out and push people away, people respond to that by not getting close which reinforces his isolation. the cycle continues, one gear among many, revolution after revolution after revolution and nothing changes.

but there's hope. there's a glimmer of another path here, and it lies again in that contradiction. the cycle is one of violence; it takes work to maintain ignorance. outside of those cycles, the systems of ohtori, saionji is no longer bound to that path, no longer cast as the Bad Masculine. when he's living with wakaba, all that anger and pain disappears, almost, and he flourishes. if he can leave the system he can break the cycle. a gear fixed in place in a machine turns and turns and turns and gets nowhere; a gear fallen out of the machine can roll forward for a great distance.

all girls are like the rose bride. all boys are like the duelist. and all of us are trapped in this hell of human making...unless we choose, like anthy did, like saionji could have, to walk away.

#saionji kyouichi #kyouichi saionji #rgu #revolutionary girl utena #sku #shoujo kakumei utena #rgu meta #sku meta #also touga definitely plays a role in how saionji's masculinity is shaped and repressed but i didn't get into it here #there's also something to be said about how rgu problematizes morality/moral character but i also didn't get into that here #anyways this show is incredible

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