one of my favourite aspect of foil dynamics is when you have a pair of (although not always) foils who switch narrative positions. for examples i’ll use frankenstein and the creature and burr and hamilton from hamiltion bc hamilton is good from a literary standpoint good god.
frankenstein starts off in creating/playing god in order to gain recognition and glory, but also as he increasingly isolates himself for his cause. the creature awakes in a world where he’s rejected by his creator & by all other humans and endures then painstaking isolation. after killing/threatening to kill some of frankenstein’s loved ones, the creature demands victor make him a wife - an eve to his adam - despite knowing it’d condemn her to a similarly lonely life, save one person, and frankenstein refuses. the two then become mutually hellbent on killing one another, even as they’re cognizant that whoever completes the murder will truly then be alone in the world and without purpose
for hamilton and burr this is even more clear. both orphans, though in increasingly different upbringings, and both ever cognizant of mortality and the notion of history. burr never takes a stand, hamilton arguably takes too many. but over the course of the play, burr becomes more like hamilton and hamilton becomes more like burr. this means that while they switch perspectives, they still fundamentally never understand each other, and it’s this misunderstanding that makes hamilton assume burr would never act like him and shoot him, and burr assume that hamilton would never act like him and throw away his shot, yet this is precisely what happens.
we even see this in star wars. luke chooses to save leia & han, just as anakin tries to protect padme and obi-wan. anakin cuts off luke’s hand, luke cuts off anakin’s hand. farmboys on tattooine, ace shot pilots, etc etc. and luke is nearly successfully turned to the dark side, yet reaffirms his father’s place by refusing to bend... in the last movie. that point couldn’t have come any earlier because 1) it’s the triumphant victory and 2) the narrative tension of the foil dynamic means it has to go on as long as possible.
arc 1 is kind of a perfect example, where viren starts out powerful and close to the king and magically strong, and ends the season falling to his death thanks to his elven guide, and callum starts out powerful and close to the new king and magically strong, and ends the season literally soaring to new heights thanks to his elven guide. but like - that’s arc 1. that’s the arc where the heroes win. of course it ends that way.
but now we’re in arc 2.
we’re in the arc - s4 to s6 - where the heroes Lose.
and we know that TDP is aware of these principles when it comes to callum and viren precisely because they are in many ways already in the process of being switched. in arc 1, callum is the one going through a season without magic and being pursued before a powerful creature can be reunited with its place in xadia’s hierarchy; in arc 2, that’s viren, even if he’s far more passive about it and callum is more active. they’re brother-mage-advisors to the king, placed in proximity to power but never allowed to fully wield it, they both chase magical agency in s2 beat for beat (2x04 -> 2x07 -> 2x09) only really diverging in the finale of the season. viren is now going to be having dark magic dreams while callum is presented with the coined elves viren imprisoned.
like yes it’s true that they’re not the same person and won’t make all the same choices, but in a show that’s all about the younger generation struggling to not repeat the same choices as their predecessors, and still getting caught in the cycles of their own journeys... it’s like “i have always been ready to do anything to protect my family however dangerous however vile” and “i value those close to me more than anyone and anything” when callum means it even more than viren does (because viren is and has been willing to sacrifice his family - hi soren - pretty blatantly) is like... yeah they’ll Diverge. just not till s7 lmao
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Another interesting thing about the chase scene with Miles and all the other spiders is he never puts his mask back on until he’s about to go home.
The entire time he is running away as Miles cause he was rejected by the society on the basis of being Miles, the anomaly, not the Spider-man. Not cause he didn’t wear the mask correctly but on the arbitrary basis that he wasn’t supposed to be the one wearing it. The exact opposite of what being Spider-man is supposed to represent.
All the Spidermen that are eventually on his side have their masks off the entire time denoting a sense of personalness to the chase and their relation to Miles; coming to him as friends rather than Spiderpeople doing their duty. How they see him for he is, face to face and who he can be with that mask even if they aren’t quite at that point during the chase. It’s a notable contrast to all the Spidermen with covered faces who are just following orders and acting as Spidermen, even Miguel. It’s only at the end when Miguel makes it clear that this is more personal with Miles, when they are face to face, when his mask truly starts coming off and he is acting in the interest of Miguel rather than that of a Spider-man.
I think it’s a really clever way to show how it’s not important whose under the mask but at the same time noting how whose under the mask makes the Spider-Man and how they choose to uphold that mantle. Miles made up how he was going to do that at the end. Rejecting the society as Miles and returning as his own Spider-Man.
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I’m tickled pink that there are people worried Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor won’t be kissing each other in Challengers. Like, lol I’m sorry, is this your first Luca Guadagnino film? Every film he directs has at least SOMETHING queer about it. Even if the characters themselves aren’t explicitly so, there are always elements of fluid sexuality, homoeroticism, or gender expression in his films (Bones and All, Suspiria 2018 spring to mind). Feels, uh, very obvious that Challengers is going to explore whatever is going on between those guys and confirm that it’s def not anything straight!
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HOTTEST MONSTER POLL ROUND 3
And round 3 is underway!! Polls should go up tomorrow but the actual time depends cause my schedule is weird lmao
A quick reminder/clarification on rules before the contender list!!
Propaganda is allowed and appreciated!! But keep it civil and reasonably non-explicit!!
The main point of hotness we're examining here is the monster design itself, but a holistic hotness view is an honorable habit!! So the person under the suit can be a good factor in the hotness ranking, as can the VA, but its also not that serious so make the choice thats in your heart lmao
this isnt so much a rule but remember the redemption round? thats gonna take place after round 4 and will have 10 total contenders, 5 of whom barely lost and 5 of which were swept so bad i was worried it was the seeding's fault. the winners of each of the groups will then go head to head and the winner of that goes to the semi-finals
Now that thats out of the way!! This round of Match-ups
Dead Justice v Crystal
Amy the Siren V Arachne
Vanna Pira v Ben Ravencroft
Phantom Virus v Captain Cutler
Goblin King v Charlie the Haunted Robot
Dracula's Wife v Phantom (MI)
Fiend v Skeleton Band
Screama Donna v Cliff Bride
Diabolical Disc Demon v Queen Morbidia
Morgan Le Fay v Fish Creature
Links are added and all the matches are tagged #"Round 3"
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when i was 14 i had a crush on the same guy as my best friend, whom we were both very good friends with, and i never made my crush known (despite the fact that it was obvious) because she was more charismatic and better at getting him to agree to things than i was. anyways, one day after school we went on like a three-way date (we said it was a friend thing but we both obviously wanted to date him) to a mini golf course and then back to my house where she did makeup on him and i recorded the whole thing and put it on youtube (the videos are private) and everytime i watch them i just feel this aching nostalgia where i wish i had just spoken up and said i liked him too.
i guess it doesn't really matter bc in the end, we had a weird falling out and he ended up with neither of us and we don't talk to him anymore but i still always wonder how he's doing!! he was a weird fucking kid but he was a good friend and i liked him a lot 🤷♀️
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If You Know, You Know
The mercy of moods adheres itself to architecture years in the making for depths undelved. Though statutory to heartbreak, you've made a wise retraction, this cusp of a grave its own mausoleum—did she really fade or strike herself ephemeral to be not like love? We tremble where the bombs are bones, curdled into self and heard in carnage culled to retrospects, I'd die to have unspoke or just forgiven when for half the time, survival screams of home...
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Now I'm not saying I'm thinking of writing a Steddie Midnight Mass AU
But
Imagine Hawkins, a little idyllic town in the middle of nowhere, so out of ways from any other community for miles, only surrounded by trees. It's small and cozy and it brims with simplicity.
It's been years since Steve came home. He was never supposed to come back.
His family obviously did not greet him; instead they go to the church more often than not, just to avoid him. He saw the kids, happy and healthy and definitely older, the weight of life starting to bear down on them. And then to his own surprise, he saw Eddie. He wasn't supposed to come back either.
Eddie claimed it was because of Uncle Wayne, but even Wayne was confused. Soon enough, Steve became suspicious. Because Eddie was spending a lot of time at church, with his parents - always away at night.
That's the thing, too. Night time was different. Everything was so still and it sent shivers down Steve's back because he could feel something watching him.
He started reconnecting with Eddie, trying to figure out what's going on - why he's back when they promised each other that this town was far from anything they ever needed. But maybe it was the thing they needed to come back to each other.
Meanwhile, Hopper found dead animals around the perimeter of the town, El's been acting weirder than usual, Will felt the shift in the air, and maybe Nancy could figure it all out like she usually does - before it was too late.
Is there a second chance amidst all the darkness surrounding this town of Hawkins? Or will it be consumed by its demons, preying at night?
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