#where said trauma is SHE IS ONE OF THE ONLY SURVIVORS OF THE GENOCIDE OF HER PEOPLE

[the-badger-mole]

Aang was a kid who was the sole survivor of a genocide. Why doesn't that factor in your opinion of him?

I've talked about this before, but his age and tragic backstory are irrelevant. ALL of the main characters are children with tragic backstories, and they are more empathetic, have more growth, and their tragic backstories...actually matter.

Listen, for all people whine about how often Katara talks about her mom (which isn't really that often), it's clear how her mother's death shaped her as a character. It's clear how witnessing her mother's death formed her worldview, and Kya sacrificing herself for Katara made a mark (she never turns her back on people who need her? COME ON! That is obviously her trying to save people the way she couldn't save her mother). Even her wanting to learn how to fight and not heal (which is an insane battle advantage, btw) speaks to her trauma around not being able to defend her mom.

Even Sokka's trauma around the loss of his father and not being deemed old enough (big enough/ strong enough/ smart enough) to go with Hakoda and the other warriors come through in his recurring need to prove himself (coming up with the big battle plan for DoBS, breaking his father out of prison, learning swordplay, etc.). It's woven so neatly into the narrative. His trauma matters to his story.

Toph is the least developed of the Gaang, and her issues with her parents have more impact on character than the destruction of the Air Nomads have on Aang. Heck, Zuko's entire arc hinges on compound traumas.

Meanwhile, Aang's trauma....? What trauma? Yes, the loss of the Air Nomads is a tragedy, but we, the audience, only know it's a tragedy because we have real world knowledge telling us so. Personally, I was in 3rd or 4th grade when I began learning about the Trail of Tears, and in kindergarten when I began learning about slavery (I was born in Harlem. The kindergarten I went to taught us accordingly). When I saw ATLA, I had a frame of reference for the genocide of the Air Nomads. But it didn't really seem to bother Aang all that much. Oh, sure, it did come up when it was convenient to the plot, but it mostly seemed to be a way for Aang to expound on the superiority of Air Nomad philosophy and society to whoever he's talking to. Aside from that, and his first rush of feeling when he found out what happened to them, the loss of the Air Nomads doesn't seem to effect Aang all that much. If he doesn't care about his tragic loss, why should I?

Aang is a fictional character. I don't have to extend the same pathos to him that I would to a real life person. It is the writers' duty to make me feel for him, and they did not. The way he's framed is the issue. And here is where I really start retreading things I've said before, but I think it needs to be repeated (again and again and again). Aang is not framed as someone who has a lot of growing up and learning to do. I could give him a pass on his worst traits because he's a child and still growing, but the show doesn't frame him that way. The show wants me to see him as a precocious imp who's wise-beyond-his-years but still has a cheeky lil' mischievous streak. It's not trying to frame his lying to the quarreling tribes in The Great Divide as a bump in his journey to becoming an effective leader bridging different people together. It wants the audience to laugh at him getting one over on the foolish tribes who absolutely went back to fighting as soon as Appa was out of sight. The show isn't framing his desperation to get the village in Avatar Day to like him as a foolish pursuit he needs to get over if he wants to be strong in the face of adversity. It wants us, the audience, to feel bad for him because his charm isn't immediately bringing the people over to his side. It wants us to be indignant that the villagers don't see how important Aang is and wont' support him. The show isn't framing Aang's non-con kisses with Katara as bad because it hurt her. It isn't making a point to that Aang needs to care about her feelings. It wants the audience to feel bad for Aang and hope for Katara to come around because he's A Nice Guy™️©️®️. Aang is never shown to be a particularly good friend to any of the Gaang, let alone him being kind to strangers just because that's his heart. All of that I would allow to be just him being a dumb kid with growing to do if the show hadn't made it clear that Aang was perfect and didn't have to change, and in fact the world should change for him.

Aang's age and tragic backstory are irrelevant because the show made them irrelevant. All they left us with was a Gary Stu character who hides his selfishness under a thin veneer of cheerfulness. It's not good enough.

#atla #anti aang #anti kataang #when people stop thinking of aang as a literal child and start thinking of him as a character with a role in a narrative #things in this fandom will get SO much better

[dmasterxd]

What really makes the Blue Lions such interesting and well-written characters is how they’re bound by trauma. Of course, other houses also have characters who have sad or traumatic backstories, but the Blue Lions is the only one that it applies to the entire house. And it’s always so deeply rooted into the way that these characters act and why they do the things that they do.

Dimitri-Sole survivor of the Tragedy of Duscur. Lost his parents and dear friend. And then developed a severe case of PTSD to the point where he was haunted by illusionary ghosts of his loved ones to get revenge. And constantly fighting against himself to keep his darker tendencies reigned in.

Felix-Lost his older brother in the tragedy. And then growing to hate chivalry and lashing out against it in every way possible, and having to look at chivalrous concepts in the most cynical way to cope with Glenn’s death. Since Glenn himself highly valued chivalry.

Ingrid-Lost her fiancée (and close friend, feel like people forget about this aspect too much tbh) in the tragedy. And since she didn’t see his death and idolized Glenn so much had to force herself to believe that he died in an ideal way and wishing to replicate it herself.

Sylvain-Was already being tormented by his brother on multiple occasions and then lost a close friend and had to watch his other best friends struggle with their grief and trauma to the point of developing self-destructive tendencies. A behavior which he was most likely already exhibiting himself at that point.

Dedue-Lost his parents and sister. Had his race genocided. Has an extreme lack of self-worth due to the prejudice of his people. And accepts all of the hatred thrown at him in spite of him and most of Duscur being innocent because some Duscur people were involved.

Annette-Was abandoned by her father (due to the tragedy) and worked herself to the bone tirelessly for years in pursuit of finding him. To the point where it reaches extremely unhealthy levels. And she has to actively try to take it easy. Because she’s just become so accustomed to it.

Ashe-Lost his birth parents and had to turn to thievery to keep his younger siblings fed. His adoptive older brother was executed for conspiring in the tragedy. And due to Lonato adopting and saving him, Ashe develops an extremely idealistic perspective where he wants to help everyone and believe in the best in everyone, despite how things might seem.

Mercedes-Her father was a terrible person (don’t really want to get into that cause trigger warning stuff). And she and her mother had to escape leaving her little brother behind. Said little brother became a deranged serial killer who was beyond saving. And she has an extremely caring and motherly personality to all of her fellow Lions, probably due to the fact that she wasn’t able to save her brother, which she definitely regrets a lot.

They’re all such extremely broken, traumatized, and flawed individuals. But that’s exactly what makes them so interesting. These characters who’ve already been put through the ringer before the start of the story. And then are challenged even more during the story itself. It’s all the more satisfying when you see them push through together, overcome their flaws, and then end up victorious. The more adversity a character has, the more sweeter it is when they’re finally able to achieve their goals at the end. And that’s why, the Blue Lions are such an interesting and well-rounded house of fantastic characters.

Heck, same thing goes for Rodrigue, Gilbert, and Catherine. But I feel like this post is already too long as it is XD.

TL;DR: The Blue Lions and even Faerghus characters in general are extremely well-written.

#blue lions #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #felix hugo fraldarius #ingrid brandl galatea #sylvain jose gautier #dedue molinaro #annette fantine dominic #ashe ubert #mercedes von martritz #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #three houses #holy kingdom of faerghus

[theangelwithawand]

Princess and the Scoundrel Thoughts

Spoilers ahead:

First of all, the title and cover of this book are ridiculous. The art is pretty, but the pose looks like a cheesy romance. I think they’re paying homage to Courtship of Princess Leia, which while that story is hilarious, is one of the worst Star Wars books ever. But we get the Dathomir witches so it’s fine I guess.

On the other hand, Princess and the Scoundrel, is one of the best Star Wars books. Despite everything, despite all of the obstacles this book had from the beginning, it succeeds as having some of the best and most subtle character work in the entire franchise. Which is hilarious, because this book literally only exists to market a hotel. But Beth Revis said, “yeah, but what if it was good and I actually tried?”

Now, Beth Revis has clearly read COPL. You can tell and it’s kind of hilarious. For example, in COPL, there is a really long scene where Han plays sabacc (space poker) during a bout of insecurity and wins a planet to give to Leia and he uses THE MILLENNIUM FALCON for collateral. Han Solo would never do this. Now in PatS, Han plays sabacc while Leia is working to help her out by gathering intelligence. One of the players mentions that he wants to kidnap Leia (not knowing who Han is), and Han almost murders the guy. It’s awesome.

Here’s the thing, you can tell when Leia is being written by a woman instead of a man. In COPL, there is one moment where it’s brought up that if Leia marries Isolder there will be a planet for the survivors of the Alderaani genocide, but it’s only mentioned a few times and not by Leia. So any opportunity for a duty vs love internal conflict is not used. Her conflict is “Han and I are distant and space Fabio is hot so…”. Then HAN KIDNAPS LEIA USING A MIND CONTROL GUN. And she doesn’t murder him. So…I don’t care about this relationship anymore because both of them suck and it isn’t even clear why Leia falls in love with Han all over again.

Beth Revis gives Leia a very multi faceted internal conflict. Part of it is her dealing with her feelings about Vader, about being part of a team, and her guilt over Alderaan. It doesn’t take up too much time, but they inform a lot of her character.

Now, in a different canon book, that came out previously, it was mentioned in passing that Han and Leia got married on Endor. Now, at that point in both the EU and Canon, Han and Leia have been forcibly separated for a year and only actually got together a little bit before that. So, that’s really weird. But Revis is stuck with this. So she says to herself, “Why would they do this? Why would they move this quickly?”

And she remembers that this is Star Wars. They are living through war, they all almost died, and just spent a year forcibly separated. And they’ve decided that they’re done wasting time. Han just kind of…proposes and Leia (in typical fashion) debates for a second before deciding to take a leap of faith for love. It’s genuinely very, very sweet. Despite the title and cover this is not a romance book. There is no “will they won’t they” bullshit. Thank. God. They just get married and it’s really happy and Lando pranks Han into dressing nice, and it’s great. Then it’s a Star Wars adventure featuring Han and Leia.

That’s not to say Han and Leia don’t have any tension between them. The difference is it’s interesting. Han and Leia, especially her, do not know how to fully let each other into their lives. It isn’t that Han forgets for a bit that he married a very driven woman. He absolutely knows. His frustration stems from the fact that they are literally on their honeymoon, and Leia keeps leaving to work, because that is all she knows how to do. It is how she has coped with her trauma for three years. On the other hand, Leia feels like she is solely responsible for saving the galaxy, and that Han doesn’t understand that. Both sides of this argument are understandable. The book switches between Han and Leia’s perspectives. There are no stupid cutaways to Luke or space Fabio, there are no space witches. It is a focused relationship/ character study of Han and Leia while they’re on a decently interesting mission.

And the build up to the fight they end up having, is great. It’s a slow build up, you can feel their mutual frustration, and once they have the fight it is very cathartic. They don’t fight for the entire book either. They flirt and tease and have real conversations too.

So, after this huge fight, Leia is trying to divert the cruiser they’re on to this other planet, and Han finds out and helps her. Together, they succeed, but Leia is confused. They haven’t made up from their fight yet, and she asks why he helped her fight to go on a mission that’s going to take up more of their time. And Han says, “You’re my wife. If you’re running a con, I’m going to help you.”

Now, this might just be one of my favorite lines. Beth Revis understands that Han Solo is very loyal to the few people he cares about. He loves Leia, it’s why he goes back for her on Hoth at his own risk, why he saves Luke at Yavin and on Hoth. (She also understands the little bit of dorkiness Han Solo has beneath the posturing, up to the point that she gives him a sweet tooth.) Neither of them are overly mushy, they just love and respect each other.

There’s this great symbolism with their wedding rings. They’re made of hardened amber by the ewoks, and their fragility is a constant reminder of Han and Leia’s issues. They crack under pressure, and have to be maintained carefully. They eventually end up breaking under immense water pressure, but Han gives Leia a new ring (the one she wears in the sequels) reminiscent of the amber ones, symbolizing that they’re coming out stronger. It’s so sweet, and while it’s a little bit on the nose, it’s a great literary technique.

He’s acknowledging that he recognizes this part of Leia’s character, Leia realizes she needs to also put him first. In the aftermath, they both feel bad, apologize, and resolve to work on their issues together. And when they make-up, it feels real. This runs through the entire book, and the way it ends is really satisfying. Now, we know what happens to them in the sequels, so we can see how this conflict may come back into play later and lead to their eventual separation in canon. But, it’s also easy to see a different path where they work through these issues and live happily ever after. It’s just ambiguous enough to be read as either a prelude to eventual tragedy or the beginning of a long, happy life between two complex people. (I prefer the first one, but whatever).

Other things I liked:

- Han proposing. It’s literally that “I want you” “For what?” “A really long time.” quote on the internet.

Han: I want you.

Leia: Me? For what?

Han: Forever. Marry me.

- Leia tells Han about her true parentage and he just does not care. Like, he’s sympathetic towards her feelings, but is like, “why would this impact my love for you?”

- Leia finally lets herself do something spontaneous.

- Luke and Mon Mothma ship it.

- This quote:

Leia: About time.

Han: For what?

Leia: You once promised me a good kiss. I’ve been waiting.

- The conflict on Madurs is also pretty interesting. Leia is unwilling to let another planet die, giving an insight into Leia’s feelings about Alderaan, especially since Madurs values art like Alderaan.

Honestly, I want Beth Revis to write the canon “trip to Bespin” book.

Also…

This book kind of implies that Leia is bi? There’s a scene where Leia is remembering a conversation with her mother. So, when Alderaanian royals get married, their parent straps the ceremonial Rhindon sword (also used during their coronation) around their waist before the wedding.

In the flashback, Breha specifically says “whoever you marry” and “your husband or wife”…

Some people may say that it’s just ‘forced inclusion’ but that’s boring. Now, in the EU, fanon, and canon, Leia always puts emphasis on how close she and her parents were. This is something that I don’t think is ever particularly well illustrated, especially in canon. In parts the Kenobi series (she gets better later) and Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Breha in particular comes off as really unlikable.

But, if Leia isn’t over romanticizing (and there’s no indication that she is), she was really close to her parents. So, it stands to reason that her mother would know her sexuality. They at least seem really accepting in this passage, so it doesn’t seem like something Leia would keep from them.

I have no other evidence, and as far as I know, Leia is always seen in romances with men in both canon and legends, but in this context, it is a very interesting hint of something new about her character.

#the princess and the scoundrel #star wars #han solo #leia organa #han and leia #leia and han #han solo loves leia organa #leia organa solo #leia loves han #star wars meta #original trilogy #hanleia #han x leia #leia x han #princess and the scoundrel

[imperatorisaureinova]

FTF thoughts

hookay FTF thoughts here we go! It's long so it's under a read more hah! There are parts about FTF I liked but a lot...also not really. I will say as a disclaimer I do understand that due Disney cutting the show things changed and things that were planned or set up had to be altered or dropped entirely. But there are so many choices in terms of writting and some personal biases from the crew that really just make me wonder "BUT WHY" Philip! Augh again an episode where he spends doing....nothing. Though this is more a general complaint of mine in the series over all esp now I've watched trough toh a couple times is that as a villain Philip doesn't really do all that much. Anything intresting he does do is either cut short, or we only learn about it via flashbacks/background info. I know Dana said she hates writing him and it shows! Which is honestly a shame because even if you dislike him, he's not just a cut and dry villain there's a lot of substance to him. And it's really sad to watch that go to waste.

I DID like the scene with Ghost Caleb, I had theorized for a long time that he was being haunted by the ghost of his brother/previous GGs and it's nice to see I was correct about that. And him saying "Oh, shut up." to them was funny, AND I WAS RIGHT ABOUT HIM HAVING ONE FINAL GRIMWALKER, but sadly much like anything intresting it wasn't meant to be. And now he's possesing Raine.

Which I apolgize for anyone who likes Raine, I really don't. And I'm sad that I don't but Raine just has such little substance, take away the fact they're Eda's ex and...there's not a lot there. Now of course Raine isn't the only character who suffers from this issue but Raine is more in your face because being Eda's ex means they're supposed to be more revelant but there's just not a whole lot there. Raine roleplayers I beg of you, PLEASE help me like Raine! I know they have potential but the show will not provide!

And to close my thoughts off on Philip so far, I'm sad they're just having him do the same thing, all signs point to him going to restart the draining spell, which kinda makes the whole DOU thing feel pretty moot. Sadly the way things are just makes so that there is just not a lot they can do with him in general. I've been expecting him to die by the end of the show since Hollow Mind and I figured he was going to kick the bucket by the end of King's tide so they could give all the attention to the collector (we'll get to him next). But guess he'll still be there for the finale. Regardless RIP Philip Wittebane, you were a great villain but you wound up being wasted.

Now onto The Collector....

Oh boy. Now given he was included because of the cut I was already a little iffy on him since Philip WAS already a great villain for the show, but ok fine, lets see what they'll do with him.

OOF. They pretty much declawed him instantly, compare to how TC acts in season 2 vs how he is in FTF. We got some intresting tidbits such as the collectors having been an entire species, who as their name suggests collect. But if something prevents them from collecting they'd go nuclear and kill everything, except we are shown TC doesn't like this. Which honestly is stupid as hell given HE LITTERALLY HELPED PHILIP TO PLOT GENOCIDE, but no, he gets excused of that because he's "uwu baby" ugh. I am willing to bet that the collector who caught the owl beast will be a different collector and not the one we know (it was a nice nod to see the Owl beast act up when seeing the collector, poor creature was tortured basically)

I also wasn't impressed by the Weirdmageddon but watered down. (The bit with Terra was funny) And Odalia...well she's there...yay? They said they were going to go ham,but fail at going ham F

So The collector so far is just a watered down Bill Chiper and not even a good one at that.

Huntlow, fucking hate it, sorry not sorry. As a trauma survivor I'm honestly so tired of the trope that we need romance to be "fixed" I don't give a shit if "Plus sized girls should see they can get the hot guy too" as a plus sized person, there are different ways they could've done that. Body positivity is important yes but this isn't the way to do it. Did we really need half the episode spend on Boscha and Kikimora? I don’t think so Stringbean? Her design is hella adorable but her being a “shifter” just feels like fan service to me, since many people have been speculating what her palisman was going to be Dana just said “Oh, she’ll be ALL the things so nobody is wrong” they should’ve just been her base snake form. woof, I really don’t want to be so negative but it’s hard to ignore bad writing when I see it, to quote what someone said in my discord server “So far, TTT and FTF really just feel like nothing more than afterthoughts” and honestly, I agree. I will be excited to watch the Finale in April (provided Itunes doesn’t fucking leak it again) but my hopes are all but gone, I don’t have much if any expectations 

#toh #the owl house #ftf spoilers #Emperor Belos #Philip Wittebane #Luz Noceda #Hunter the golden guard #Willow Parks #Eda Clawthorne #Amity Blight #Gus Porter #Kikimora #Lilith Clawthorne #Hooty #for the future spoilers

[mariacallous]

The world must learn from the mistakes made after the war in Bosnia to avoid putting Ukrainian victims of rape and conflict-related sexual violence through decades of trauma, a new expert report has warned.

Ukrainian prosecutors and independent investigators from the United Nations and other international organizations have said there is mounting evidence that Russian troops are using rape and sexual violence as part of their campaign of terror in Ukraine – similar to the systematic use of rape by the Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. Russia has denied the allegations.

The report by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a US-based think tank, is set to be released and discussed in a debate in the UK Parliament on Thursday.

It says that if the world wants to avoid the repeat of the trauma faced by the victims in Bosnia, it needs to focus on the victims first in Ukraine. Many in Bosnia have waited for decades before coming forward and the vast majority of sexual crimes committed there have gone unpunished.

“Rape was one of the main aspects of the war in Bosnia and yet when we look at the Dayton Peace Accords, there were no women around the table, there were no survivors of conflict-related sexual violence,” said Emily Prey, one of the report’s lead authors, referring to the 1995 agreement that ended the Bosnian war.

“They didn’t have a say in the peace (negotiations), and so instead of a real, sustainable, lasting peace, the Dayton Accords actually only froze the conflict,” she told CNN.

Prey said that when considering survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, it is crucial to put aside biases and stigma and make sure everyone who is impacted is included.

“We often think sexual violence is a crime that only happens to women, but it’s a crime that happens to everyone. Women and girls, men, boys, people with diverse gender identities,” Prey said.

“Men who were victims of conflict-related sexual violence in the Bosnian war are only just coming forward to say that they survived this crime, and so they have gone decades without receiving the support that they need. And we’re seeing this in Ukraine as well.”

Prey added that children born of wartime rape are often forgotten as well. Between 2,000 and 4,000 children were born just from the documented cases of wartime rapes in Bosnia, although the real number is likely much higher.

“If we don’t really think about conflict-related sexual violence enough, then we especially don’t think about children born of wartime rape. In Bosnia, they were called the ‘Invisible Children’… and they have been fighting for years to get recognition because they’ve faced barriers and difficulties throughout their lives,” she added.

The report also says it will be crucial for Ukraine’s allies to be ready to prosecute perpetrators on behalf of Ukraine. This can happen either under the UN’s Genocide Convention or in national courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national or international courts to prosecute individuals for crimes against international law committed in other territories.

Prey said a recent case of a Bosnian Serb soldier charged with murder and rape that was transferred from Bosnia to Montenegro, where the accused was living, was a good example of this mechanism working well.

The International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and launched an investigation into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Several countries including Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, and Spain have all opened their own investigations into alleged Russian atrocities.

However, Prey said these cases could be costly and lengthy, which means there needs to be an extra focus on providing immediate help to the victims, including psychological and social support, free health care and free legal aid.

“They might not see any conclusion to a court case for 10 or 20 years,” she said. “And survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, they deserve more than that. They deserve justice for themselves, accountability, but they also need to live, they need to take care of their families, they need to pay their bills and they need the support for this.”

[cyberbenb]

David Kirichenko: Russia’s historical atrocities echo in its ongoing war

Russia’s full-scale war exposes the terrifying horrors that come as no surprise, given the long history of Russian atrocities committed against Ukraine. The deliberate infliction of severe physical and psychological pain and suffering by the Russian army upon Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war reveals the expansion of Russia’s historical agenda to eradicate the Ukrainian people and their identity.

With Russia shamelessly displaying its genocidal efforts, negotiating peace with such an aggressor will only allow Russia’s evil to persist into the future.

Volodymyr Vynnychenko, who served as Ukraine’s first prime minister from 1918 to 1919, profoundly captured the essence of Ukrainian history as an agonizing chronicle of unimaginable suffering, stating that it was impossible to read Ukrainian history without taking bromide (once used as a sedative) because it was so “painful, horrible, bitter and sad.”

Oksana Lutsyshyna: Every wave is for you

Now it seems to me like I always knew Vika Amelina. This past week has been hellish – a mix of anticipation, knowing, and the impossibility of reconciling with this knowledge. How can I imagine life without her now? Where do I even begin? We met in 2014 in New York

The Kyiv IndependentOksana Lutsyshyna

Much of Ukraine’s historical suffering is due to Russia and its never-ending slaughter of the Ukrainian people.

Reports by a UN Commission have documented distressing patterns of rape and sexual violence inflicted on Ukrainians throughout the war. Russian forces have repeatedly employed widespread sexual violence to instill fear and intimidate the most vulnerable members of society, including children and the elderly, who have become primary targets.

The report documented that a Russian soldier forced a four-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him before her parents. An 83-year-old woman also described how she was raped by a Russian serviceman in front of her physically disabled husband.

There have been reports of Russian soldiers using window sealant to irreparably harm raped women, denying them the ability to bear children. During the summer of the previous year, a disturbing video circulated depicting a Russian soldier wearing blue surgical gloves while castrating a Ukrainian prisoner.

At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s then ombudsman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, said, “About 25 girls and women aged 14 to 24 were systematically raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in Bucha. Nine of them are pregnant. Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn’t want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children."

The barbarism displayed by Russian forces extends beyond sexual violence.

Recent revelations from the United Nations and various sources expose state-endorsed torture as a deliberate and systematic weapon of war by Russian soldiers. Electric shocks, beatings, hooding, mock executions, and even castration are among the sadistic practices employed. Such levels of sadism have led Mikhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, to accurately describe Russia as “a country of cannibals who enjoy torture and murder."

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has unequivocally stated that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine extends far beyond that of a conventional military conflict. It depicts Russia’s actions as a calculated strategy to annihilate the Ukrainian populace.

Russia’s weaponization of sexual violence is identified as a key tool in propagating a state of dread, leading to profound distress and the spread of fear among the population. This tactic is designed to cause severe physical, emotional, and psychological harm, imparting enduring trauma on survivors, and ensuring a lifetime of suffering. The ultimate goal is the destruction of their collective morale and the quelling of their resistance.

Women attend a protest called ‘Rape Is a War Crime’ in front of the Consulate General of Russia in Krakow, Poland, on May 8, 2022. A day before “Victory Day” celebrated by Russians to commemorate the victory of World War II, protesters representing rape victims stood in silence to demonstrate against violence and brutal rapes of Ukrainan women and children by Russians soldiers during the ongoing invasion on Ukraine. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It is crucial to grasp the significance of these atrocious acts, as they go beyond isolated incidents and form part of Russia’s enduring pattern of aggression toward Ukraine.

Throughout its expansive history, the Russian state has consistently displayed a disconcerting willingness to employ extreme violence against Ukrainians and suppress their aspirations for freedom. A poignant illustration of this historical aggression can be traced back to the Great Northern War in the 18th century.

In response to an uprising in Ukraine in 1708, Russia unleashed a brutal onslaught on the Hetmanate’s capital, Baturyn. The city was leveled, and the population was subject to a horrific massacre that claimed the lives of an estimated 15,000 people, including innocent women and children. Russian troops committed heinous acts such as looting, razing buildings to the ground, and even using the bodies of leading Cossacks in a chilling display of power, floating them down the river for all to see.

After the October Revolution in 1917, the Ukrainian People’s Republic courageously declared its independence from Russia in 1918. Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik regime wasted no time in suppressing Ukrainian nationalism and consolidating their power. In their relentless pursuit to dominate the nation, Lenin’s forces waged a brutal war against the Ukrainian people, resulting in the merciless massacre of hundreds, if not thousands, of citizens. Even prominent figures such as Metropolitan Vladimir of the Orthodox Church fell victim to Russia’s ruthless campaign to seize control of the country.

The Holodomor, a 1930s man-made famine deliberately orchestrated by Stalin, is a glaring example of Russia’s effort to destroy Ukraine. Its devastating consequences claimed the lives of between 3 to 7 million Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933. By the end of 1933, an estimated 15% to 25.8% of the Ukrainian population had perished. The deliberate starvation of Ukrainians was a calculated strategy to crush their spirit, eradicate their national identity, and force them into submission.

Holodomor: Soviet Union’s man-made famine in Ukraine

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic photos and descriptions. The Holodomor, which means “murder by starvation” in Ukrainian, is widely considered to be one of Ukraine’s most devastating national tragedies. A man-made famine brought on by the agricultural collectivization policies and acti…

The Kyiv IndependentAlexandra Keeler

The use of rape as a weapon of war has persistently served as a means to inflict humiliation, degradation, and break the resilience of defenders. Regrettably, this abhorrent tactic continues to be employed in Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The immediate harm caused by such acts of violence represents only a fraction of the enduring aftermath, as survivors are condemned to a lifetime of unimaginable trauma. Rape is one tool among many utilized to achieve the reprehensible objective of subjugating the Ukrainian people.

Russia’s historical record bears the weight of grievous atrocities, including the obliteration of cities, large-scale massacres, and the systematic imposition of Russian culture upon the Ukrainian people. The current barbaric acts perpetrated by Russian soldiers in Ukraine should serve as a resounding wake-up call for the West.

This situation starkly underscores the impossibility of Ukraine engaging in diplomatic negotiations with a country that continuously brutalizes and ravages its land. We must apprehend the unyielding nature of the turbulence currently besieging Ukraine, recognizing it not as an isolated event but as an enduring testament to Russia’s extensive history of violence and devastation spanning centuries.

Only recently has the world begun to comprehend the profound violent nature that truly defines modern imperial Russia.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

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[college-girl199328]

Canada needs to ‘lean in’: Message on truth and reconciliation from Kamloops, B.C.

Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir issued a powerful call to action on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation observed in Canada. Speaking from the First Nation’s grand powwow arbor, she urged the Roman Catholic Church and the Canadian government to cast their "repeat" apologies aside and commit to real action and funds to help Indigenous communities heal.

“It is time that we embrace our real collective history, recognizing the painful past shared by so many, and that we all continue on that path for real change for future generations,” she said Thursday.

In May, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc sent shockwaves of grief and anger across the country when it announced the remains of 215 children had been found in an unmarked burial site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Other First Nations searched their own former residential school sites with ground-penetrating radar, which revealed more than 1,000 other children had been buried. The Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan was the only one to find 751 children.

The federal government later declared Sept. 30 "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation," finally answering a six-year-old call from the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

That 2015 commission and its 94 Calls to Action laid out a “blueprint” for reconciliation for both Canada and the Catholic Church, said Kúkpi7 Casimir. Yet to this day, she added, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and other Indigenous nations that suffered under the residential school system do not have “unfettered access” to the documents, records, and funding that would allow them to memorialize those who attended and their families.

She decried the “cynical” residential school apology Canadian Catholic bishops issued last week and called on the Roman Catholic Church to immediately begin work on implementing the TRC’s Calls to Action.

“Reconciliation requires the truth." "It requires the truth and is but one milestone along with restitution and, potentially, retribution on the path towards reconciliation,” she said.

Canada’s residential school system was in place from the late 1800s to the mid-1990s and sought to “eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development” of Indigenous children, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The state and church-run institutions forcibly removed more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children from their families and placed them in schools where many were physically, sexually, and spiritually abused by those charged with their care. Many were also starved as part of scientific experiments on the effects of malnutrition. Thousands died in the harrowing system of assimilation, leading to intergenerational trauma that has had a deep and lasting impact on survivors, their children, relations, and communities.

In 2015, the TRC found Canada guilty of “cultural genocide,” and to this day, governments have failed in many ways to meaningfully repair or compensate for the lasting harm.

On Thursday, Kúkpi7 Casimir also announced that ground-penetrating radar had detected additional artifacts buried on its grounds and that it was waiting for more information on what they were. Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation must traverse 160 acres of land. Only two acres were scanned for the initial finding of the 215 unmarked graves.

[holdharmonysacred]

I want to read the Something Awful LP of FE3H but the fact that OP is doing Crimson Flower last combined with this one person in the thread having to constantly speak up in Azure Moon’s defense combined with several other weird comments about Edelgard and Rhea gives me super bad vibes. I’ve heard too many horror stories about hardcore edelgard stans, I won’t want to binge read the thread and get punched with extreme turbo ableism towards Dimitri or people being horrible about Rhea the literal genocide survivor.

#i know i bring up the rhea thing in every single post but i have to hammer it in every time #the writers made their fantasy pope lady - who is the final boss of edelgard's route - a LITERAL GENOCIDE SURVIVOR #it's pretty ugly on a game level that the lady WHO WANTS TO MAKE SURE HER PEOPLE DO NOT GET GENOCIDED AGAIN #gets consistently framed as suspicious or bad or an untrustworthy awful oppressive authority #even though the bulk of the non-byleth decisions she made were either her getting fored to work in preexisting systems #or were her TRYING TO MAKE SURE HER PEOPLE DO NOT GET GENOCIDED AGAIN #but the way i see fans talk about her is INFINITELY worse #i do not like to see people call THE LITERAL GENOCIDE SURVIVOR 'evil'. #i do not like to see fans hard buy into edelgard's imperialism and racism. #i do not like how people are just awful about rhea overall because a lot of her behavior is due to her trauma #where said trauma is SHE IS ONE OF THE ONLY SURVIVORS OF THE GENOCIDE OF HER PEOPLE #listen. you don't have to like rhea. i get why people wouldn't like the fantasy pope character. #especially when she can get a little WEIRD about byleth the self insert (though in all but one route she repents big time) #but like. you can not like her. and also not be god awful about her or act like edelgard was right #when again. rhea is a LITERAL GENOCIDE SURVIVOR who wants to NOT GET GENOCIDED AGAIN.

[critical-thinking-is-mandatory]

Kagami's existence really highlights the narrative flaws of Adrien, when they're supposedly reflections. / Adrien had twenty friends in 2 episodes, while Kagami had one friend in 26 episodes. / Adrien shows no regret for placing his romantic desires over his friends, Kagami at least acknowledges Marinette's pain. / Adrien is actually aware of his bad behavior, Kagami interprets information incorrectly from apps & manga. / (TLDR: The writings somehow made Adrien's reflection more compelling.)

Yeah like, I've seen narrative foils and mirrors done really well (from AtLA there's Aang & Zuko, Sokka & Jet, Katara & Zuko, Katara & Azula, Katara & Aang and Sokka & Zuko) and foils can add so much to a narrative, add or highlight the depth and complexity of the characters and their dynamics.

And it's like, Kagami and Adrien are supposed to be reflections of each other, the same but different, just one fundamental difference. Except, lol, they're really not that similar.

There's the superficial similarities ofc, the wealthy single parent families, the lonely upbringing, the fencing...thing and the whole repression of their true desires but that's honestly where the similarities end. Kagami, as you said anon, is genuinely lonely. She doesn't even have a kwami to talk to and her only friend for the majority of her time is Adrien (and we all know how well Adrien treats his friends smh 🙄😒). And when Kagami finally makes a genuine friend, it's because Kagami did her damndest to do so! She's there trying out icebreaker questions and putting herself out of her comfort zone trying to make friends with Marinette (who at the time, Kagami believes is Adrien's preferred partner, ouch). Kagami is out here, working her ass off to get one (1) friend.

And Adrien? In Origins, his whole "goal" was to have friends his own age and that goal? Accomplished in one 2-parter episode. He shows up in Origins and the whole school is falling over themselves to get in his good-books and Adrien is perfectly happy to consider these people his friends smh.

and don't even get me started on how Adrien treats his "friends" 😒. Nino gets akumatised? Whatever lol, party time! Marinette's house is crushed by an akuma? Who cares! Ladybug didn't kiss him 🥺. Adrien's dating Kagami? Lol Ladybug has to love him now!

Like for crying out loud, Kagami actually feels bad over her decision to pursue Adrien even though she's friends with Marinette and Marinette wants him too. Adrien doesn't feel anything for his friends! At most he gets his knickers in a bunch about Marinette being happy in Malediktator, at Chloe's defense. The only time he cared about Nino was in Animan *counts on fingers* THREE three seasons ago. Like???

One half of this "mirror" is an awkward, honest, caring, loving person who's reconciling their feelings with the way they were raised, trying to fit love and friendship into their competition mentality. And the other half is a fake, charming, liar, who cares about nothing more than himself and his own superiority over anyone he deems morally lesser.

Like hm. I mean, let's go over a good reflection, Aang and Katara.

They have a hell of a lot in common. They're both kind, deeply compassionate and caring kids. They're sweet and optimistic and they care so, so much. They have phenomenal power within their grasp and they use it for good. And, they are the survivors of genocide. Both regarded as the last of their kind. Aang, the last airbender, and Katara, the last waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe.

The key difference between the two, is that while Aang lost his people in the blink of an eye, and has known the full life and beauty and glory of his people, Katara has known nothing but loss her whole life and carries the weight of the past and the hopes of the future on her shoulders. It's the way sudden, very personal grief and generational trauma differs.

Wow that got deep. Anyway. The point is, Adrien and Kagami are not true reflections of each other. They're so, so different. And like, it could work, that's the worst part. They could both be kind, honest, awkward people, but the way people react to them could be different. Kagami is (maybe? idk) a famous child athlete and people find that intimidating. Adrien, is a famous child model, and people find that more, alluring, or perhaps, he's more of a celebrity so that people don't have that idea of boundaries toward him.

I mean, not necessarily a great example but there are definitely ways to make the pair reflections and for it to add to their characters.

#asks #anonymous #ml salt #adrien salt #atla #genocide tw #i mean i have a lot of feelings about the aang & katara reflections as a colonised indigenous person #ml writers salt #kagami #narrative foils #reflections of characters #and boy i could go for hours about the foils and reflections in atla #but ml gets those and only takes those as far as like. shallow comparisons and symbolism #like the god damn fucking yin yang symbolism #FUCK that shit #it's so heavy handed #long post

[thevalleyisjolly]

Star Trek Beyond ramblings under the cut, because I love this movie so much:

I was just watching Star Trek Beyond again, and it’s really just such a good ensemble movie.  It wasn’t a Kirk-is-the-hero movie or a Kirk-and-Spock movie, it was an Enterprise movie.  Everyone in the crew had roles, not just isolated moments of badassery or humour, but actual places in the narrative that showed off their character and development.  I mean, we see:

Bones being a doctor, what that actually looks like apart from waving a scanner around and jabbing people with needles.  How he interacts with his patient, the brusque bedside manner that nevertheless goes hand-in-hand with his genuine concern, improvising treatments when he doesn’t have the advanced tools he normally does.  Damn it, the man is a doctor, and he’s a good one, and we get to see that!

Sulu and Uhura taking initiative, being leaders!  Uhura putting herself at risk again and again to do what’s best for the crew, Sulu taking a leadership role with the surviving crew members and trying to keep them safe.  TOS Sulu eventually becomes a captain, and you can really see the echoes of those leadership skills emerging here.  And Uhura, separating the saucer to give the escape pods a chance, breaking out of the cell to send a distress signal, asserting what’s right and standing up to Krall.  In many ways, she gets the hero(ine) role that in the past, has been given to Kirk or Spock.

Spock’s more introspective side.  He spends a lot of the movie considering his place in the universe, his responsibilities, the legacy of Ambassador Spock, mortality.  He doesn’t Vulcan-logic up a genius plan in the nick of time to save the day, it’s a softer, more measured Spock we see here, and it’s fantastic.

Scotty being a mentor and a father-figure, reaching out to Jaylah and being a figure of kindness and encouragement and concern.  He saves the day in a different kind of way than whipping up an engineering miracle or three - he saves the day by reaching out to someone who was lonely and being a person who cares.

Chekov alone had less to do in the movie, but we still see him taking on leadership during the attack, making sure everyone on the bridge got in an escape pod safely, being the second last to abandon ship, only after everyone else had already gone.  It’s a far cry from the childish, almost comedic role he’s had so far.

Jim being a captain, not a hero.  When Commodore Paris congratulated him on saving Yorktown and he said that it wasn’t him, that really rang true.  Kirk spends pretty much the entire movie affirming and reaffirming that his crew is capable, that they achieve things together, and it’s something the movie’s structure reinforces as well.  More on that later.

And yes, the ensemble structure means that individual characters don’t get a ton of time focused on their own arcs, but you don’t necessarily need a lot of time in an ensemble movie, you just need to make effective use of what time you do have.  Which I won’t claim every character had amazing character moments, but there was pretty solid and consistent characterization throughout, and the characters who did have time to shine shone brilliantly.

The whole theme of this movie is, as Uhura asserted to Krall/Eddison, “strength in unity.”  It’s very much not an action/super hero type movie, where a single extraordinary individual saves the day.  It’s the crew of the Enterprise, working together to their respective strengths, that succeeds. 

Conversely, Krall/Eddison is strong so long as he still has his crew with them, but once he loses them, he loses his power.  While he still has Kalara and Manas, his plans proceed well - Kalara ensnares the Enterprise, Manas helps him get away to Yorktown.  Without them, he has no support.  The contrast of that final confrontation with Kirk, Kirk with the entire crew of the Enterprise talking to him, giving him instructions, providing back up, and Eddison, standing alone, dying alone and in silence amidst the emptiness of space.

I mean, that scene when the U.S.S. Franklin is facing the swarm, if you watch, it’s literally the entire crew coming up with the solution together.  One person has a realization, another follows that up with a suggestion, another builds on that, so on and so forth.  It’s all of them, talking together, that solve the problem.  No one person has all the pieces to the puzzle or some sudden mastermind plan, it’s everyone contributing what they have.

And I think that leads me into another thing that’s so great about this movie, is that it recognizes the competence and the ability of these characters.  When faced with danger, everyone knows their duties, everyone performs their duties with competence and skill, they’re not just cogs in a machine, but well-oiled cogs.  The movie respects these characters, respects their capabilities and their foibles and their development.

Which goes into this movie and legacy, and honouring what came before while growing into something new.  We see the impacts of previous events on these characters, we see that they mattered.  Someone else has already pointed out how the escape pods are called Kelvin pods - the destruction of the Kelvin in the first movie mattered, not just to Kirk, it mattered to Starfleet and they made damn sure that their crews should always have a chance to live.  The destruction of Vulcan and Spock wondering about his potential duties to his people - of course that’s going to be something that lingers!  The horrors of genocide aren’t just the immediate loss of loved ones, of a planet, it’s something that continues to have an effect on survivors’ lives and futures.

(There are the good legacies too, the bittersweet legacies.  Ambassador Spock’s belongings, that picture of TOS cast, ugh)

((Also, the core of Eddison being that he can’t move forwards from the past, from the legacy he was a part of, that he helped build.  Wanting things to stay the same - and the irony is that in trying to keep the universe at war, he changes himself so drastically from what he was.  And to have his legacy, his crew’s legacy, be changed by his actions.  As Commodore Paris said, “For generations, we taught that they were heroes.”  Now they’re a tragedy))

It’s interesting because both Spock and Kirk have storylines around questioning their place in the universe, of living with legacies and living their lives now.  And we have Kirk and Bones having that conversation at the start, Bones very keenly pointing out that Kirk has been living for his father for so long but not for himself, and then the movie switches gears and works out these feelings with Spock.

(Love how both of them end up having these conversations with Bones, give the man a gold star friend award)

And we don’t really see Kirk working through this, except we do.  Kirk doesn’t talk about it outside of his captain’s log or with Bones, but we have Spock’s conversation.  We see the static-y legacy of the Franklin, we see Eddison’s despair and rage in his captain’s log, we see the crew of the Enterprise rising up to the task, confronting the past and saving the present.  We see Jaylah face the trauma of her memories and find trust and belonging in others, we see old meeting new, loneliness and despair but also love and hope.

We see everything except Kirk’s own internal struggle (save for Chris Pine’s frankly stellar facial acting), but maybe we don’t need to.  Because everything Kirk wrestles with is everything we come to realize through the movie, and as much as we are watching what’s going on, so is he.

(See?  It is a Kirk movie in a way, in that his internal conflict inspires the overall themes in the movie.  But Kirk is also the audience, watching the tragedy of Eddison and the Franklin, seeing the crew, his crew, work together.)

Also, loved the unconventional character groupings.  We have Sulu and Uhura as a team, Kirk and Chekov, Scotty and Jaylah, and the absolute genius of Bones and Spock.  I wish all Star Trek Beyond scriptwriters a very pleasant evening for giving us the absolute gift of Bones and Spock together.  We have been so blessed.

#the valley is posting #star trek beyond #these ramblings are by no means coherent but this movie just makes my media analysis heart leap for joy #it's also just a really enjoyable star trek movie because it feels like it was made with love #it's not meant to be a franchise or box office superstar; it's a love letter and an homage to the series that people love #and it's not to say that it was perfect! there's definitely stuff they slipped up on or could have done better #but thematically and character-wise - oh; it was so good #this post inspired by a wonderfully kind comment from its-all-ineffable #i started a post like this months ago but i couldn't remember the details until i rewatched it tonight

[fireinmywoods]

Can you explain trauma Kirk has in the cheating scene? Im new to star trek

Welcome!!! I hope you stick around for a while and become fully assimilated into the strange, delightful glory that is Trek fandom.

I can only speak for myself, but when I talk about Jim’s trauma, I’m referring to two main components (under the read-more for discussion of childhood abuse and Tarsus):

1. Jim’s abusive childhood

There’s a deleted scene from Jim’s childhood in the first movie in which his older brother Sam is shown running away from home. It‘s made clear that the “man of the house” Frank is at the very least verbally and emotionally abusive to both kids, and based on baby Jimmy’s reaction to Frank getting in his face, I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that it had or would later escalate to physical violence.

[Note: Because AOS and especially the extended universe are a hot mess, some pseudo-canon sources describe Frank as their uncle (Winona’s brother) while others have him as their stepfather. I’ve gone with stepfather, because I think it better explains why they stayed in that situation as long as they did.]

Sam says their mom doesn’t understand how Frank treats them when she’s not around (i.e., off-planet with Starfleet), which makes the case for a certain amount of neglect as well. Then there’s the AOS tie-in comic Operation: Annihilate, which shows the aftermath of the car incident, and in which Winona is pretty grossly depicted as an enabler of Frank’s abuse, telling Jimmy that Frank just gets mad sometimes and that he basically needs to suck it up and live with it. For the record, this comic is not part of my personal canon, as I think the exchange I’m describing is lazily characterized and does Winona unnecessarily dirty. (“He’s given us a home” - motherfucker, it’s a post-scarcity economy and you work for Starfleet! Get a goddamn apartment!) That said, I do think Winona bears significant responsibility for leaving her kids in that situation, since the most charitable read is that she wasn’t paying enough attention to realize how Frank was treating them. (I know at least one of my fandom friends disagrees on this point, and I’ll acknowledge that I have a dirty lens when it comes to childhood abuse and the enabling thereof. Your mileage may vary.)

Anyway. In this version of events, Jimmy doesn’t steal the car because he’s some innately shitheaded out-of-control rebel like the final cut suggests. In fact, Sam’s exposition tells us that up until this point Jimmy has been an exceptionally obedient, rule-following, “good” child. Here, he steals the car because Sam leaving and his own realization that he’s never going to be good enough to make Frank happy makes something in him snap. It’s a powerful moment which greatly enhances Jim’s characterization, and if you ask me it’s frankly criminal that they deleted this scene.

2. Tarsus IV

TOS Kirk is a canonical survivor of a famine and genocidal massacre on the colony Tarsus IV. Here again canon is a bit of a mess when it comes to Tarsus IV, and fanon has taken that canon and gone absolutely hog wild with it, but it is firmly established that Jim was just 13 at the time, which...woof. That’s dark as hell.

Now, it is not official AOS canon that this version of Jim was on Tarsus IV at the time of the massacre, but it’s also not official that he wasn’t. My take, which I think is shared by many in fandom, is that AOS Jim was sent there to live with family after the car incident as a sort of “get your head straight” move, and also (in my opinion) because Winona finally started cluing in that it probably wasn’t a great idea to leave him alone with Frank.

The TOS extended universe further establishes that Jim was understandably pretty messed up after the events of Tarsus, and that his father’s intervention was crucial to helping him recover and setting him on the path toward Starfleet and the Enterprise. In AOS, of course, George isn’t around to provide that support, and Jim’s already learned that he can’t rely on his mom, and he’s maybe stuck living with fucking Frank again. All of this builds on his earlier trauma in really terrible ways, and he never has the opportunity to actually heal from any of it.

Aftermath: PTSD and the cheating scene

Again, the abuse and Tarsus IV are both semi-canonical at best. However, I’d argue that they should be considered canon, because Jim’s character arc makes a lot more sense when they’re included. This double whammy of unresolved trauma and the almost total absence of emotional support go a long way toward explaining how the boy who grows up to be TOS Kirk in one timeline instead grows into the Jim Kirk we meet at the bar in 2255 of the Kelvin timeline - a “repeat offender,” reckless, directionless, emotionally detached, quick to meet violence with violence, and so very, very angry.

That’s why the scene where Spock lays into Jim for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru is so painful to me. Jim is up on display at the front of this hall, being stared at by basically everyone he knows, and Spock is criticizing him for missing the point of the exercise - specifically, lecturing him about needing to experience fear and control his reaction to it. Imagine how that would land for someone with as much trauma as Jim is carrying, who endured all he did as a powerless child, and who (in my telling of things) suffers to this day from panic attacks as a result. It’s, uh...it’s not great.

#maybe someday i'll actually finish jim's prequel and this will become clearer #in the meantime have a bunch of words in some semblance of order #fic related #kirk #star trek #aos #ask #anon

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

ohh i saw your answer about the sequels of star wars. id love to read you tear through the whole trilogy

Well, I’ve avoided this ask long enough. Part of the reason is this is really a huge topic, far too much for one ask, so I’m going to have to do this at a very high level.

In short, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy is what one gets when you slap together the goal of selling merchandise and making tons of money, being as risk averse as humanly possible, adding a handful of warring directors with incredibly different visions, and having virtually no imagination when it comes to the imagining and writing of characters.

And we get this beautiful, awful, franchise that for reasons beyond me people seem to actually like (though interestingly, no one seems to like all of it, they may actually like one or two of the films, but no one says all three are actually in any realm of good).

With that, let’s begin.

The Force Awakens

For me this is easily the most tolerable of the sequel trilogy: it’s not great, it’s not terrible. It’s thoroughly watchable, you can be taken along for the movie’s journey and not raise your eyebrows too much at the action and leave the theater feeling this maybe wasn’t a complete waste of your time.

There’s a good reason for that. That reason is called the most blatant form of plagiarism I have ever seen in cinema in my life.

“The Force Awakens” is just “A New Hope” wearing a mustache. Only, it’s one of those cheap mustaches you get from a party store that, if you stare at it too long, just looks like the most false and awful thing you’ve ever seen. The mustache actively makes it worse. “The Force Awakens” is “A New Hope”, but worse.

Seriously, every major character, every major plot point, every major scene I can go directly back to “A New Hope”.

Our story begins when the Resistance, at great cost to our valiant heroes including torture at the hands of the Emperor’s second in command, sends a file out into the wilderness to be received by his people. This file contains plans for the Death Star.

The film then focuses on Luke, er Rey, getting involved in the Resistance, boarding the Death Star, and successfully destroying at the same time even at the lost of a beloved mentor that she just met (trading in Obi-Wan for Han Solo). 

Our evil empire is run by an evil emperor who is so evil he sits in a chair, is served by very Moth Tarkin-esque human storm troopers, and has a second in command who revels in the Darth Vader get up (for no other reason that it makes him feel cool but we’ll get into this).

It’s “A New Hope”. Rey is Luke, Han Solo is Obi-Wan, Poe is a kind of Han Solo, Kylo Ren is Vader, Snoke is Palpatine, Hux is Tarkin, BB-8 is R2-D2, etc.

“But that’s not terrible,” you say, “I liked A New Hope?”

First, it is terrible, it gives a very bad sign of where the sequel trilogy is headed and is just lazy writing. It means that those who produced this franchise were so terrified of taking risks, of possibly ending up mocked as the prequels were, that they will deliver exactly what the original trilogy was. And what’s that? Uh, evil empires, scrappy desert kids, AND MORE DEATH STARS!

That brings us to point number two, the world of Star Wars after the events of the original trilogy shouldn’t support such things. And, if it does, my god what a bleak existence this place has turned into.

The First Order being able to rise easily from the Empire’s remains means that Luke accomplished nothing. Anakin sacrificed himself and had his moment of redemption for nothing. There was no happy ending to the Original Trilogy, our heroes failed miserably, and there is no indication that our new band of heroes can possibly succeed in their place. (More on this as the movies progress).

We now are in a galaxy where this new Republic is so pathetic that Leia doesn’t even give it the time of day and builds her own private army to battle the Empire. The First Order is able to not only rebuild a massive army by raiding villages on many different worlds and stealing children and do so successfully for at least ten years but is able to build a Death Star bigger than any we’ve ever seen before. 

And the movie tries to convince us these are completely new problems, that Luke Skywalker is a hero (remember this is TFA, not TLJ yet), and that somehow these things just sprung up out of nowhere. BUT YEAH, RESISTANCE, WOO!

As for Rey, she’s like... a worse version of Luke. Her only motivation through the entire series is her trauma at being abandoned by her parents. That’s it, there’s nothing else to her, nothing else she ever wants or feels conflicted by. She struggles with the dark side because... the dark side? Genetics? Unclear? She’s absurdly, ridiculously, powerful in a way that’s acknowledged but never that acknowledged (we’ll get into this) and the movies just fail to sell me on her in any way.

Honestly, an easy fix for me would have just been making Rey a much younger character. I could believe a fourteen-year-old having stayed in the desert, scrounging for scraps, believing her parents are coming back every day now. As a twenty-something year old... It starts getting hard to believe she never left. (Also, this gets the benefit of getting rid of Reylo, which is always a plus for me).

As for Kylo Ren, I legitimately walked out of TFA thinking he was supposed to be comic relief. He’s what happens when someone desperately wants a likable, redeemable, villain and we get... Well, as a reminder his opening scene is one of genocide: he pillages and destroys a town with no regret and brutally tortures a man for information. We’re told he’s like this “because evil evil Snoke” and that may well be but throughout the film (and the series) it becomes clear that Kylo Ren’s main motivation is he deseprately wants to be cool. He wants to be a badass like Vader, he dresses in Vader cosplay (either ignoring or not knowing that Vader only dressed like that because his body was completely destroyed), he has these huge temper tantrums and nobody respects him because he’s a toddler in a Vader suit. 

He murders his own father, his parents who (at least in the films themselves) show every willingness to take him back and forgive him what he’s done, so that he can fully embrace his own “evilness”. In other words, he commits patricide to feel cool about himself, then it doesn’t work. 

And the movie series really banks on me feeling conflicted about Kylo Ren or at least wanting him to be redeemed. Granted, the wider internet seems to love him, I just can’t.

Oh, before I forget, the other thing I love about Kylo Ren is that the movies insist he’s a) strong in the Force b) is equal to Rey. Rey consistently beats the shit out of him with 0 training. Kylo Ren has been training in the Force for years. Guys, they are not a Dyad, Rey is far far far stronger than he is and for whatever reason the films never want to admit it. Because I guess we like things coming in pairs now.

But yes, “The Force Awakens”, at a distance not great nor terrible, but a rip off of a movie we’ve already seen that left me going “Welp, the next one’s probably The Empire Strikes Back then I guess we’re getting Ewoks”. I was sort of right on that and sort of wrong.

The Last Jedi

So, JJ Abrams clearly had a vision of where he wanted this sequel trilogy to go. He set up these big questions such as what’s up with Finn, who are Rey’s parents and why was she left on this nowhere planet, will Kylo Ren be redeemed and how, who is Snoke, etc.

Now, I’m not saying these aren’t stupid questions. To be frank, they kind of are. Finn being Force Sensitive was the most inconsequential thing I’ve ever heard of, Rey’s parents should not have been used to drive the plot the way it was, as spoken above I’m clearly team gut Kylo Ren, and that Snoke was actually just Palpatine being the world’s largest cockroach is a beautiful but hilarious answer.

That said, what Johnson did was he decided, “You know what, I’m going to take every trope of Star Wars and completely flip it on its head and absolutely doom the sequel to this movie.”

And by god, he did.

We get a weirdly pointless movie in which Poe, SINGLEHANDEDLY, completely obliterates the Resistance. He first obliterates their bombers by failing to follow command, then goes and bitches about how he’s not put in command when he clearly shows no ability to understand how a military works, actively subverts orders which in turn obliterates the entire Resistance fleet until the only survivors can fit on the Millenium Falcon. They have no ships, no weapons, barely any people, and are ultimately doomed doomed doomed.

We have Finn’s weird subplot with a suddenly introduced character Rose in which the pair aid in Poe’s blowing up the resistance (they send sensitive information using the communication equipment of a guy they do not know, who fully admits to being shady and out for his own skin, and are flabergasted when he betrays them). 

Rose herself is this weirdly sweet person who seems forced into the plot to a) provide a love triangle for Finn and Rey b) provide this forced sunny outlook that I didn’t really need in the film.

We get Rey never really being trained, going into the Cave of Wonders for a few seconds, falling in love with Kylo Ren over weird Force Skype calls (where I did not need to see him shirtless, thank you film) and being horrifically betrayed when Kylo Ren turns out not to be a great guy. Never saw that coming, Rey. 

As for Kylo Ren, well... God, we get Emperor Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren, the Emperor. I’m not even that upset about the anticlimactic murder of Snoke (that was kind of funny, especially in the context of Palpatine going, “Bitch, please, you’re in my chair” immediately in the next film) but just Kylo Ren being emperor. And also that the Resistance only escapes at all because he’s so dumb he made their dumb plans seem smart (i.e. concentrates all his firepower on an illusion for ten minutes while Hux goes, “Emperor, sir, we could actually destroy the Resistance right now.”

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t complain about Luke. A lot of people are upset he became a grumpy, miserable, old hermit who sits around waiting for death. Frankly though, in this universe, that’s exactly where he is. He left “Return of the Jedi” thinking he’d saved the world, he’s resurrected the Jedi Order, and all is well. Only a decade later, his students are all murdered by his nephew, the Empire’s back, and he accomplished nothing. He’s an utter failure as a Jedi (though Luke never realizes he knew jack shit about the Jedi Order and was in way over his head but I guess that’s beyond him). Why shouldn’t he go sit on a rock and wait to die? 

Now, did he have to drink that blue dinosaur milk? Well, I guess it was funny, gross but funny so... Sure, I guess he did. But I do like that he gave Rey 0 training, they had one meditation session and then he whined about how Obi-Wan was such a stupid asshole. And then Rey ran off to be with her boyfriend, who then told her that her parents were gutter trash (which again, was funny, but I don’t think that was supposed to be funny).

Of the characters introduced in the movie, the only one I really liked was the hacker, and it was for the actor/the beautiful way in which he gracefully exited stage left with zero shame going, “You all knew I was going to betray you!” You beautiful man, you.

Rise of the Skywalker

First, when something is called “Rise of the Skywalker” you know you’re in for a rough time.

But anyways, TLJ was filled with a controversy Disney didn’t want (half their audience hated it, half loved it, but at least they sold those penguin dolls) so they desperately get Abrams back. Only, what he clearly wanted from his series has been shot to hell, and now he’s left with Emperor Kylo Ren, a completely obliterated Resistance, a dead Luke, a love interest he never planned to introduce for Finn, Rey’s parental crisis being solved with trash people, Snoke just suddenly dead, Hux planning revenge, and then some.

And so, Abrams goes the brave and hilarious route of shouting “PRETEND THAT LAST MOVIE NEVER HAPPENED”

We open to a fully functioning Resistance (their bomber fleet is back, their fleet period is back, they have all their fully trained personnel). We have Rey getting the Jedi training she needed this time from Leia, who is now a Jedi, because yay feminism rammed down my throat to make the audience feel better. Rose says “It’s cool guys, I don’t want to join the adventure this film, I’m going to stay here and work on robots” so that she can gracefully exit the entire plot. Kylo Ren is demoted from Emperor in two seconds when we discover that a) Snoke was apparently Palpatine b) for unexplained reasons Palpatine’s alive (and I am now convinced that man will never die). Kylo Ren tells Rey at the first opportunity that he lied about her trash parents AND REALLY SHE’S A PALPATINE! THIS WHOLE TIME, REY! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I’M SUPER SERIAL THIS TIME, REY.

Basically, in the course of an overly long movie, Abrams desperately shoves in everything he was trying to get out of the series, while sobbing, and sobbing even harder when things like Finn being Force Sensitive or Lando having a secret daughter get caught. I actually agree with the Producers on this, by the way, the Finn trying to tell Rey something scenes were weird and indicative of a love triangle but him being Force Sensitive instead... It says a lot that the movies did not change when it was removed, at all. And Lando was just this strange cameo who was in the film to make us feel nostalgic.

And this isn’t even getting to the ridiculous 24 hour time limit (which made me think there should have been some video game style clock in the corner letting us know when Dawn of the Third Day is coming), Palpatine’s other secret army on a secret Sith planet that can be easily taken down by taking out one navigation tower, Rey’s hilarious struggle with the dark side in which she has a vision of herself in a cape hissing, Kylo Ren’s hilarious redemption in which the movie in the form of Leia and Han Solo says, “Alright, Ben, it’s time to stop being evil” and he says “okay”, the fight with Palpatine in which I’m supposed to believe he dies for reals because... I have no idea why I’m supposed to believe he’s dead. The Reylo, god the Reylo, and Kylo Ren’s tragic, hilarious, death.

And then, of course, the ending where Rey decides she’s a Skywalker now.

I actually did laugh all the way through “Rise of the Skywalker”, you can’t not, I mean it’s a hilariously awful movie. The only thing that might have made it more hilarious was if we actually did get those Ewoks.

TL;DR

They’re all bad movies, if you want more specifics than this, you’re just going to have to ask me questions.

#ask #anon #anti star wars sequels #anti rey #anti kylo ren #anti reylo #ah what beautiful awful movies #i look foward to the characters being shocked and appalled when yet another evil empire arises in five years #i look forward to them being even more shocked when palpatine's still not dead #that man will never die

[princesssarcastia]

Thoughts on Star Trek AOS? (And do you think Kirk was on Tarsus?)

i have SO MANY THOUGHTS about star trek aos, so buckle up.  brace yourself.

star trek aos is a terrible disaster and i love it SO MUCH.  for me, star trek 2009 is still in that class of unreasonably pleasing movies like the mummy or stardust or jumanji: welcome to the jungle.  what they are isn’t exactly top notch but you love them for being exactly what they are.

star trek aos is a star-studded fucking phenomenal cast of some of the best actors working today, which makes up for the very inconsistent writing and unfortunate low-level current of sexism.

literally where would i be today if chris pine could not make faces Like That. i honestly couldn’t tell you.

overall, I have quite a few bones to pick with JJ Abrams for setting up a star trek universe that is less Wacky Space Utopia adventures with liberal political commentary ranging from unsubtle to im-hitting-you-over-the-head-with-my-opinions-like-they’re-a-brick—

to this kind of overtly militarized action-hero adventure porn where one white man saves the universe from Scary People Who Don’t Look Like Us And Are Crazy.  I also don’t appreciate what they did to Jim Kirk, turning him into this womanizing self-centered bastard who has to be in charge.  I REALLY don’t appreciate the casual misogyny, what with the last of rank stripes for women and the gratuitous sex-ed up scenes and the way that Amanda Grayson gets fridged for man-pain and and and— you get the picture.

Or at least, that’s what they tried to do to jim kirk.  and god fucking bless chris pine for being able to make facial expressions, because i firmly believe if pretty much almost anyone else had played Jim Kirk as written by JJ Abrams, that’s exactly what he would have been.

But because of chris pine’s acting, instead, most of the AOS fandom and I realized/decided that this “womanizing” version of jim kirk actually really really hates himself so much, most likely for trauma reasons. 

we took that shit and ran with it and never really stopped.

zachary quinto is also like god tier casting.  unfortunately the writers for the first two movies mostly gave him Anger as a primary motivator, which like, is not exactly how I would interpret Spock at all, but quinto played this Angry Spock so so well.

ZOE SALDANA PLAYS THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE, NYOTA UHURA, PERFECTLY AND THAT’S ALL I’LL HEAR ON THE MATTER.

john cho should be cast in everything ever he’s amazing and I love seeing him.  this man has the range. hikaru sulu is the backbone of this fucking ship.  this man wins the big damn hero award every single movie. 

i still miss living in the same world as anton yelchin. i really, really do.

I also have found family feelings all over these movies, where these baby versions of iconic characters from the sixties are brought together too early to witness too much fucking trauma.  harry potter references aren’t exactly in vogue right now, but there’s this one piece from a—well, actually, its a harry potter reference in an mcu fic i read years ago, now that i think about it, but anyway:

it was something like, there are some things you can’t go through with a person—like that mountain troll in harry potter—without becoming friends for life.  there are some crucibles that will bind you together forever.  and awful as it is, I think Nero and the Vulcan genocide were the AOS crew’s mountain troll.  there’s no going back or separating, after that.

also I feel like there’s a ton of competence porn in this trilogy that i deeply, deeply enjoy.

star trek: 2009 and into darkness are both grimdark male power fantasy bullshit that only accidentally hits all the right buttons for me.  I love them dearly but i know EXACTLY what they are, thank you.

star trek: beyond is a delightful movie with no real plot where our favorite crew are finally Adults With A Modicum Of Common Sense And Stability, instead of Disaster Children Angsting All Over The Place, and they get to save the universe with the power of excellent rock music and friendship. how cool is that?!?  i wanna give simon pegg a high five for making this movie.

on a more meta note, what I find kind of satisfying about these movies is that—for all his many faults that i’m always happy to expound upon—JJ Abrams actually went for it.  He Did That.  He just made his own brand new timeline, killed jim kirk’s dad, then gave him an abusive uncle/step-dad, then literally destroyed one of the founding planets of the Federation, then he, in an iconic fashion, switched Jim and Spock’s places in the infamous “wrath of khan” death scene, so instead Spock gets to watch Jim die. 

and you know what? I can forgive a lot of bullshit for that kind of poetic angsty fanfic plot detail. 

every time uhura says, “an alternate reality,” in star trek 2009 just gives me chills.  every time she says it, you feel the weight of sixty years of history and legacy sitting on these people’s shoulders, the weight of arguably one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

imagine, living in a new world you’re aware isn’t the one that was supposed to be.  imagine that!

oh! and on the question of tarsus:

what I think is probably true irl: JJ Abrams has never thought that far ahead in his life.  correct me if i’m wrong, but hadn’t he.....not even watched star trek.........when he made these movies............like lol i’d bet you this man didn’t even really know Tarsus was a thing.  And even if he did, I don’t think he thought it was part of the new canon he was creating.  AOS is much more self-contained than the serialized universe the original star trek was, so I don’t think that AOS was intended to encompass all those things, like tarsus, that we as a fandom like to obsess over.

what I personally enjoy: i love me some AOS fic that explores the ridiculous amounts of trauma that comes from living through a genocide.  I think that, given we all decided AOS Jim Kirk hates himself, and engages in a shit ton of self-sabotaging and destructive behavior to cope, it’s a reasonable jump to think that at least some of that comes from some survivor’s guilt bullshit from Tarsus.  And honestly, hit me up if you want recs for this, because boy do I have them.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: no one does angst quite like AOS!Jim Kirk.

what I believe wholeheartedly: this is like Schrödinger's Plot Point, okay, it both exists and doesn’t exist simultaneously.  it’s easy to read tarsus into some of jim’s behavior, and it’s easy to read none of it in, and both of those choices are valid.  go with your gut, go with what makes you happy, go with what you think makes sense.  This is where fandom lives, in these little details that fall through the cracks.

anyway WOW did I talk a lot.  those are at least some of my star trek thoughts.  i do have others, but i’ve expounded on them before on this blog, and y’all don’t need me to repeat myself

ask me my thoughts on ______

#star trek #aos star trek #jj abrams #ask meme #actually i also had the tarsus convo with a mutual recently #and like 99.99% of my fandom opinions it boils down to: You Do You Babe We're Doing This For Fun #long post #(oops) #lupanymeria

[firelxdykatara]

How do you like to respond to people who say “shared trauma is not the same as compatibility” in regards to Zutara? I try to explain that their mothers sacrifices is a parallel narrative and not the basis of their compatibility, but I can’t put it into words well enough to sway people. And your metas are so eloquent and well written.

i think, first of all, that anyone who believes ‘shared trauma’ is the only reason we have to think zuko and katara would be compatible just... hasn’t been paying attention. to the show, or to literally anything we’ve said in the many hundreds of thousands of words of meta that has been produced by our fandom on this exact subject.

secondly, it’s really funny that ‘shared trauma is not the same as compatibility’ comes up about zutara, but not kataang--a ship where people routinely imply that they were both genocide survivors and that means they should get together because they understand each other’s pain. (not that all kataang shippers believe this, but i’ve seen it frequently enough in those circles. and those same shippers often brush off the connection zuko and katara have over their mothers, which is strange, to say the least.)

no, shared trauma is not the same as compatibility, but it is a point of connection--and that’s what we see with zutara. they connect in the crystal caverns (a cave of glowing green crystal, just to plug my ‘the cave of two lovers is about zutara’ agenda real quick), because katara tells zuko about the trauma the fire nation put her through, and his response is i’m sorry. that’s something we have in common.

katara was so angry--and rightfully so!!!!--but that one sentence was enough to change her demeanor drastically. she stops crying, she turns to look at him, and it’s as if she’s truly seeing him for the first time. they talk a little more, and she actually apologizes when she realizes that he thinks she’s talking about his scar, and he opens up about the way he feels about the thing that has marked him for the last three years, and she offers to heal it for him.

compatibility? maybe not quite. maybe not yet. but it did speak to katara’s ability to empathize with someone she hated and blamed only moments ago for her current predicament. which is partly why she took his ‘betrayal’ so hard! and why he had to fight so hard to get back into her good graces--why he had to prove himself to her, above and beyond what he did for the others, because they had that connection--that moment of compatibility, that moment where they truly saw each other for the first time, and understood each other--and then, as far as katara was concerned, zuko threw it back in her face and aang paid the price.

but after tsr? after their reconciliation, and katara finally getting closure for her mother’s murder and choosing to forgive zuko? their entire friendship is rooted in compatibility--not just their shared trauma, but the way they are able to relate to and understand one another on a fundamental level that even the other members of the gaang--even katara’s own brother--simply couldn’t manage. it shows in not only the way they almost immediately engage in friendly banter and clearly connect during EIP, but in the way katara is the one who finally talks zuko into being able to face his uncle, because she understands his pain, and why he made the choices he did, and that he was truly regretful of them. and it shows in the way zuko doesn’t hesitate for a single second when asking katara to accompany him to face down his own sister--and the way katara doesn’t hesitate before accepting.

i’d really like to know what about any of that tells anti zutara ppl that zuko and katara aren’t compatible, tbh. because if that isn’t compatibility, then what the hell is???

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #zutara meta #asked #Anonymous

[brownjet-archive]

why the fandom doesn’t let katara express her trauma

there are two very simple things here: misogony, and racism.

as i just said in this post, all other characters in the show are allowed to express their trauma! Let’s break that down shall we!

Let’s start with Aang! 

There is absolutely nobody who can dispute this, Aang has so much trauma. He is the sole survivor of a targeted genocide against the Air Nomads. Important things to remember in terms of Aang’s trauma, he is a twelve-year-old boy, and became the youngest master airbender (lok spoilers, he is surpassed by his grandaughter), and because of that the elders of the Air Nomads thought that they should inform Aang, again a TWELVE-YEAR-OLD (normally he would’ve been told when he was 16) that he was the avatar (the most powerful being) and that a war was potentially brewing, and that he would need to begin his avatar training. Aang, obviously scared, betrayed, and understanding the responsibilities of being the avatar, did a thing that is understandable for a twelve year old: he ran away. 

And his actions will always haunt him; he will always live with the trauma of being the sole survivor of the genocide against his people, and in order to honor the memories of his people, Aang does his very best to always preserve the culture of the Air Nomads. And while, he is criticized for preserving his culture (shut up about how you wanted him to kill Ozai! shut up about saying aang might’ve killed people before! shut up! it’s not funny, and it says you don’t respect aang’s values, and if you can’t respect a cartoon’s values, how are you going to respect the value’s of people of color!!), but he is never criticized for talking about his trauma. Mostly because everyone watching can realize what horrible things he has experienced.

That’s about as much as people can process, and in their minds Aang remains a goofy child, forgetting the pain, anger, and trauma he experiences, and the fact that he chooses to forgive. He chooses to let go of his anger. He chooses to be kind. And within Aang, he cannot be both kind and angry because it would tear him apart. Aang chooses to be silly, goofy, and kind, because those are the values he was taught by his people, and that is the person he wants to be. 

Let’s move onto Toph!

Everybody loves Toph because she invented a new bending discipline, she’s a badass, she’s rude, she’s disabled, and she’s hilarious. The thing about Toph is, she’s a hardass. She is stubborn, like a rock. She is grounded, and knows her power, and is never in any way humbled by a loss of power. She is a force to be reckoned with, and she knows this, and she loves fighting, loves bending, and has no shame about being apologetically herself. Wow, it’s almost like, she and Katara have the exact same values and are both the most powerful benders of their respect elements!

So, the thing is, up until she met the gaang, Toph wasn’t allowed to be herself in any way shape or form. So the first time she has freedom, the thing she craves, she gives in and lets herself be who she is. And she never fails to be herself.

Her stubbornness and Katara’s stubbornness are the catalysts of their rather tempestuous relationship. Both of them are bossy, but before meeting Toph, Katara had been the leader, had been the loudest and most outspoken, but upon meeting Toph there was someone with a similar volatile temper to her own, but rather than being another parental figure, Toph filled the role of the “wild child.” Suddenly the dynamic of the gaang was shifted away from Katara, and now there are two big stubborn forces at odds with each other: one about doing the fun thing and the other about doing the correct thing. 

And the thing is, when they are not at odds with each other, they are the ones who have the most fun, they are the ones who work the best as a team, and they are the ones you want to have on your side. But when they are at odds with each other, they are volatile, and snappy, and rude. 

But the thing is, Toph is allowed to do that. She’s allowed to do that because it fits in with her character as the “tomboy.” It fits in with her doing whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Toph is the most accomplished earthbender by the time we meet her, and the only time we have ever seen her struggle with her earthbending was when she invented metalbending. 

Toph is allowed to be loud, rude, and express the trauma of not being herself, because that is a very common trauma, especially among children of color, and lgbtq children. By rejecting her old life, by being apologetically herself, she takes on the trauma of rejecting all aspects of her femininity, something that again, is very relatable. Whereas Katara doesn’t have that trauma. 

Toph’s trauma is accepted, and talked about and it is because she is a character in who people can see themselves in, and that makes people like her more. 

Where is Suki?

So, the thing about Suki, is especially since the revival, people are making sure that Suki is included, and talk about her a lot. It’s just cause she’s so amazing, and we are all probably just a little bit in love with her. 

While Suki is an important character, her arc within the narrative isn’t one that we, the audience, get to experience a lot. She is allowed to be kind, and emotional, and she wears makeup and embraces femininity, but she is also established as one of the most, if not the most, powerful and important characters. 

But because people are talking about Suki, her trauma at being a prisoner of war is being talked about. It’s not being talked about on a large scale, but it is being acknowledged and validated as real and actual trauma. But the other thing is, Suki herself doesn’t really talk about it. Not because she’s closed off, but because she doesn’t have the amount of screen time that any of the other characters have. 

So this is kinda my disappointing end to the piece about Suki’s trauma because unfortunately there wasn’t a lot that happened within the show, and the show doesn’t have her resolving it in any way. 

Now the Fire Nation people! Zuko!

I actually really don’t want to talk about Zuko because Zuko’s trauma is always talked about, and it’s always the first thing white people bring up when talking about the show. “Zuko’s redemption arc was the best thing ever!” Yeah, it was the best redemption arc to ever exist, but he and Katara are literally the exact same person! They have similar traumas, they are mean, rude, and explosive, and y’all eat that shit up for Zuko, but give Katara a hard time about her own trauma!!! It’s the misogyny and the racism. 

Okay, I may write another post about Zuko’s trauma from my lens, because it is done well, and that’s part of why it is talked about, but the other part is it physically hurts white people to care about a brown girl in the way they care about an emo boy. For clarification, I love Zuko, but uh......this is just not it. 

Azula! 

Finally some good fucking food. 

Azula is probably somehow the character who’s trauma is talked about second most and second least. Some people refuse to believe that she has trauma, but the fact of the matter is she grew up in the same environment that Zuko did, however it presented as better. Azula had “friends” and from what we’ve seen, Zuko did not. Azula had the attention of her father, and Zuko did not. Azula was a prodigy, and Zuko was not. 

The thing is, Azula is shown to be one of the smartest characters in the show. She was not blind to the abuse that Zuko received, and she grew up listening to and parroting her father who’s only use for her was as a weapon in his favor. She knew that Zuko was being abused, and saw how horrible it was, and started doing everything in her power to be the most spectacular, and Ozai’s favorite, so that what happened to Zuko didn’t happen to her. Did she contribute to the abuse that Zuko received? Yes. Did she care that Zuko was being abused? No.

The thing is, Azula grew up hearing Ozai tell her that she was better than Zuko. Azula grew up knowing that her mother probably didn’t love her. Azula grew up with their uncle favoring Zuko, and not bothering to know her at all. Azula grew up with being told that she was better than Zuko but with clear examples that she was much harder to love than him, so she took the “love” from the person who bothered to show her attention. 

To her, Zuko was everything she shouldn’t ever be. Which was why, her mental deterioration sped up when she felt she was being treated like Zuko. If she felt she was being treated like Zuko, she felt that she was being treated without love, and really without Ozai she wouldn’t have had anyone else. She had lost all the important people in her life; or rather they had all turned on her, and it was the last straw. It reinforced her narrative that she was difficult to love, reinforced that Ozai’s love was conditional, and affirmed to the audience that Zuko wasn’t who she wanted to be like. 

People kind of readily accept that Azula has a mental illness, and while it is generally accepted that all of the characters aren’t always mentally stable, it isn’t generally accepted that their lack of mental stability, could in fact be a mental illness. 

The thing is, like I’ve said before, Azula’s trauma is either talked about a lot or a little, depending on really if people are individually fans of her character. It’s honestly just more of a wlw thing, (i am a wlw!), cause we’re all about those unhinged ladies, so like Azula’s trauma is a weird topic in the way it gets addressed by the fandom. 

Ty Lee

People stan The Beach, and people love Ty Lee cause she is cute and feminine. Her character arc is similar in Suki’s in the sense of how it is written and portrayed, but not necessarily in terms of Ty Lee’s actual character development. Ty Lee, like Suki, and like Mai, while being important and influential characters, don’t have a lot of screentime in which we see character development. However, what Ty Lee and Mai have that Suki does not, is The Beach. 

The Beach is kind of the first and only time where we see Ty Lee talking about her trauma. In previous episodes she mentions running away, she is seen having insecurity about the Kyoshi Warriors being prettier than them, but in The Beach it is explained. She, like Toph, was scared of not being able to be herself. But in the way of wanting attention. She had six identical sisters, and felt that the only way she could stand out was to run away and join the circus. And she was happy doing that. And then she was forced out of it, but she, like Azula, knew that she would have to remain on the good side of the person in power, which for her, just happened to be Azula. 

But the thing is, Ty Lee doesn’t have the intensity that Azula does. She portrays herself as loyal to Azula, yet wishy-washy in terms of her own personal choices, and that works in her favor when she chooses Mai, a choice that stuns all of them. And then, we don’t see her till the end, and by then she feels comfortable enough with who she is that she joins the Kyoshi Warriors who have a uniform that makes them identical. 

Ty Lee’s trauma is talked about, though not as much because again, most of it happens on screen, but i haven’t seen people invalidate her trauma, the way it happens with Katara. 

Mai

Mai is the only other character who’s trauma is invalidated. The thing is, she does not have the stubbornness of Toph, the femininity of Ty Lee, or the intensity of Azula, so she, like Katara is placed into an other category. She is kind of a wild card, because she is so emotionally closed off, and retains the emo and depressed teenager trope. And again, her arc isn’t given the same weight of the other characters’ so the only time we even learn that her trauma has to do with the fact that her mother was overbearing to protect her father’s political career was in The Beach. 

Listen, I do have more to say but if I even attempt to this will become far too long (like it isn’t already), anyways I love my girl Mai and I am sorry to give her the short end of the stick, but if I write about her longer, I will forget my points that I was going to make. 

Sokka and Katara.

So, the situation of Katara and Sokka is vastly different than each and every other members of the main cast. Why? Their geography. 

Like all the other main members, they were pretty socially isolated, but unlike the others they were completely and totally isolated by geography. Yes, Suki was on Kyoshi Island, but that was more of a strategic isolation to avoid involvement in the war, but the point is, Sokka and Katara are totally isolated, and they probably think they won’t ever leave the south pole. 

It’s played off for comedy when Katara introduces Aang to the village and you see how small the village is. From what we know, all the men of the tribe have left, and Hakoda, their father, is the chieftan, so therefore each Katara and Sokka felt they had a role to fill within the social dynamic of all the men leaving, in terms of how to maintain the village dynamic. 

Sokka and Katara are by stark difference much older than the children of the village, and in fact in the flashback in the Southern Raiders, they are the only children that are visible. This means that, they have no peers. And the thing is, if you have siblings you do not consider them your peers. 

So the roles that they feel they need to fill are much different than that of each others. Sokka feels he needs to fill the role of the men in the village; they are vulnerable without the men, and their only and biggest defense is that they live in the heart of the South Pole, and it is incredibly difficult for Fire Navy ships to navigate within the South Pole. So while there isn’t a likely chance of them being invaded, especially since the genocide of the Southern Waterbenders, there still resides a huge fear within Sokka that he is the last line of defense for his village. 

By the way the village reacts when Zuko invades, it is clear that their worst fears have been realized, and all the adults know that Sokka isn’t enough for their defense, and he and Katara know that too. But for Sokka, it is important to be able to protect his village, even if he knows there is no chance of him winning. It’s about proving that he is strong enough to lay down his life for the people he loves, and that is the role he stepped into.

But the fact of the matter was it seemed pointless to step into that role, and for Katara, who tried to fulfill the role of their mother, it seemed like Sokka was avoiding doing chores. 

The thing about Katara’s trauma is that it’s a culmination of being a survivor of genocide, loosing her mother, and loosing her father.

Despite the fact that Katara and Sokka are siblings, their traumas are incredibly different and they react in completely different ways.

Sokka is the most emotionally closed off character in the show. How? He is the only character that doesn’t readily give into their emotions. I’m not saying other characters don’t show restraint, but Sokka is the only character who doesn’t readily cry, isn’t ready to get angry, isn’t ready to take up space; at least not in the way it matters. Sokka is grumpy, and silly, and easily annoyed, but those are much more surface level emotions, and that goes back to not having any peers while trying to be the protector of the village. 

Whereas, Katara is the most emotional character on the show. She is angry, rude, mean, happy, shallow, sensitive, kind, determined, stubborn, and snooty. And in the sense of, every emotion Katara ever feels she feels with every fiber of her being. Katara often moves when she talks, and in times of heightened emotions, before she becomes a master waterbender, all the water in her vicinity would react to her, heightening how much she feels. 

It makes people uncomfortable to see a brown girl on screen who is angry. And the thing is, Katara and Sokka, and the Water Tribe members are the only characters in atla that unambiguously look like people of color (except for guru pathik but we’re not gonna touch that.) Despite the fact that every single character in atla is a person of color, only members of the Water Tribes are the characters that are unambiguously people of color. Every other character, in comparison are incredibly lighter. 

But the thing is people forget the difference between Sokka and Katara. Katara has trauma surrounded her heritage of being a Southern Waterbender, a trauma that nobody else in her village shares. Not only is she the only waterbender in the South Pole, her status as waterbender is a symbol of hope among her people, and among herself. So not only is Katara trying to fill the role of her mother, dealing with being a survivor of genocide, but her ability is also seen as a symbol of hope for her people, and is also something that she knows will likely result in her being captured by the Fire Nation. So not only is it something that inspires hope, but it is also something that need to be kept a secret, and that is a lot to pin on a fourteen year old girl. 

I should just say that I am not saying any one of these characters has more trauma than the other, and in no way am I comparing their trauma to each others. That is not productive, and is not the point. I am saying that Katara’s trauma about her mother is not as flat as white people make it out to be, but even if it was, there would be no excuse to criminalize her for expressing the fact that her mother was killed violently in a war that lasted for 100 years. Just shut up! If you think Katara expressing herself is annoying, shut up! She’s a 14 year old brown girl with trauma, and the way she is the one who is annoying is so transparent! 

#katara #sokka #toph beifong #zuko #azula #mai #ty lee #aang #suki #atla #atla meta #i know this is long but im tired im mad and like i need to yell about it

[salarta]

What don't you like about Lorna's characterization in X-Factor?

Thanks for asking!

I believe in transparency, so before I get into that, I want to provide a little background on the point of view I’m coming from that influences my opinions.

I was opposed to Lorna being on X-Factor when it was announced. There was already a lot of bad blood and history for me with Marvel as a result of these past few years especially. I won’t exhaustively detail all of it, but the bottom line is, I was already in a place of having a low opinion of current X-Men comics in general.

Then when it was announced she would be on X-Factor, not even as the leader but just as a team member, that immediately grated on me. She’s been buried and sidelined for so long, and now she’s not only right back on the same title yet again after 30 years - that’s a second wave fringe title - she’s not even leading it, or doing other, more meaningful things outside it simultaneously.

Then I saw the interviews by X-Factor’s writer at announcement, which immediately gave me a couple red flags. One, the writer couldn’t seem to say a single thing about Lorna besides essentially “Magneto is her dad and Havok is her ex.” Not even about trauma, of which Lorna has tons of it. Yet she had no problem acknowledging trauma as an important story point for other characters. Two, in trying to form her opinion of Lorna, she said she talked to a couple friends, one of which she said put the Lorna x Havok relationship in a “new light” for her. Meaning she was limiting her fan input just to a couple people she knows and whatever biases those two have, at the exclusion of all others.

That’s my background. Before a single issue dropped. Now let’s get to the things I have problems with since it’s started getting published.

And I do welcome people correcting me if I’m incorrect about details of the book. Being wrong happens. The only true path toward a better future for Lorna is honest assessment.

My biggest problem with X-Factor’s characterization, as a whole, is that it completely disregards important parts of her history in the way she should think and act, and instead treats her like a blank slate.

This is clearest in X-Factor #4, the issue during X of Swords where Rockslide dies. Lorna is a survivor of the Genoshan genocide. We saw how deeply that wounded her. We outright saw her experience of being hailed as a sovereign princess by the people of Genosha, followed by those same people begging Lorna, specifically, to save them. Only for Lorna to be unable to do so, and unable to handle all the death and carnage and pain around her (note these pages are in order of her experiences, not publication order).

After the Genoshan genocide, we saw how not only did she survive this, she had those moments replaying constantly in her head and all around her until the other X-Men dug her out of Genosha’s ruins.

She suffered immensely from what happened to her. So much. But by the end, after dealing with the strain and trauma for so much time, she started to settle into a role from that experience somewhere in between Xavier and Magneto - which is extremely appropriate, considering her very first appearance in comics was all about her struggling between the “good of the X-Men” and the “evil of her father’s blood flowing through her veins” (as it was incredibly simplistic at the time).

This is the Lorna that came out of her hardships with Genosha. The one who felt the weight of those deaths and took them on to a point of being ready to fight for mutant rights.

In spite of this, Marvel has been ignoring the Genoshan genocide concerning Lorna’s history for 15 years now. Refusing to acknowledge it at all, as they let Jean fight Cassandra Nova on its ruins, and let Storm act outraged about its dead, and let Axis exploit it for Red Skull while Lorna’s written as off doing something completely unrelated.

The problem noted in the paragraph above is not X-Factor’s problem alone. It’s a running problem across all of Marvel.

But where X-Factor differs and is far, far worse is that X-Factor #4 not only completely ignored this event in her history. It had her behave as if she had no concept whatsoever of death and loss, had never received the development she did from the Genoshan genocide.

For over 15 years, Lorna’s been wiped from the Genosha story even though she went through the genocide and had served at Magneto’s side (before learning she was his daughter after all) during his rule. Not once in any of that time did Marvel allow the deaths of millions crying for her specifically to save them to impact their treatment of her. It’s been as if she suddenly no longer gives a damn about them.

But one mutant she doesn’t know at all dies nearby and she has a complete breakdown, running around unable to figure out what to do with herself, getting yelled at by her father to make the prophecies come out and later on wishing she could just disappear and stop being a part of anything at all?

That is not Lorna. Or rather, maybe it could count as Lorna from the 90s before Genosha ever happened. But it is absolutely not post-Genosha Lorna, the woman who endured the pain of millions dying all around her and came out of it a woman ready to fight through that pain.

Perhaps if this story acknowledged and incorporated the Genoshan genocide, did an incredibly good job justifying her behavior through that and making it all make sense, I would feel differently. But as it stands? This is an insult to everything she’s endured.

Which gets me to my other big complaints about this book. It doesn’t ACTUALLY acknowledge anything about her history at all.

This is where fans of the book will say “Oh X-Factor acknowledged Giant-Size X-Men when she built the base” and things like that. No. The book has only vaguely hinted at that history, which is very different from truly acknowledging and using it. The few times the book does this, such “acknowledgments” last for exactly one panel, and you have to be a real hardcore Lorna fan or long-time reader to have any chance whatsoever of seeing those statements as callbacks to her past. If you’re a casual reader, Lorna’s comment to Krakoa before creating the base could just as easily be read as that Lorna and Krakoa used to date and had a really bad breakup.

I’ve been asked before what would count as acknowledging her past. So here’s an example. Instead of the vague hinting with Krakoa, Lorna could’ve explicitly said something along the lines of “Hey, remember when Storm and the others helped me launch you out into space?” That would have been enough for a casual reader to know the amazing feat she did, its importance relative to current Marvel events, AND that she has a history with major known names in the franchise. 

But as written? It’s just a silly little joke of a character who’s apparently never done anything notable or interesting “before now.”

Aside from these problems, I’m not keen on what has over time appeared to be a running theme of “Lorna is stupid” on this book. It started with this simple “joke.”

An important note: this panel is out of context. It looks worse by itself, but I have since been corrected by a reader that what happened before this was Northstar trying to charge in, Lorna trying to stop him, both getting caught in this trap, followed by Rachel’s quip. And they do have a history from before X-Factor. They were on the same team, Starjammers, in the late 00s to early 10s.

If this was the only case I had, I wouldn’t be bringing it up. It’s fine taken in isolation. There’s a question of why Lorna’s the sole target of the quip when it was Northstar’s fault, and a problem that people could easily misremember this in the future as Lorna taking the blame. But a single moment is no big deal.

But then we have the scene from X-Factor #4 above where Magneto’s written as yelling at her, putting her down for not being able to get the prophecies out. Lorna even explicitly calls it a “fitting humiliation” during that story.

And then we have the most recent issue. Where Siryn outright calls Lorna dumb as the story has her act in a way that makes her being called that appropriate.

In other words, three times now, Lorna’s been presented as the object of ridicule. As a failure who isn’t able to make plans, think ahead, or handle these stresses that come her way. In essence, it’s wiping out the development she received not just from her experiences on Genosha, but also from her time as leader of All-New X-Factor. Would YOU expect this character, as presented, to be at all capable of leading her own team some day? Or of leading people in a movement, harkening back to when she was called the Queen of Mutants both post-Genosha and when she was initially revealed and Magneto was believed to be dead?

My expectations of X-Factor before it started releasing issues were low, as stated above. But as it’s been releasing issues, it’s just been confirming my worst thoughts about Marvel and how little they think of this amazing character who’s been through so much and never receives her due.

All it’s doing is exploiting her to sell the book and promote everyone else on it. That is my straightforward assessment and opinion of the book. None of the stories or moments truly address anything Lorna’s experienced. The initial story was about Aurora, setting up Northstar as the leader, and forming the team. The Mojoworld story was about Shatterstar. X-Factor #4 was about Rockslide and his death. The latest story is about Siryn.

And it’s great for all these other characters that they’re getting all this care and attention that they often don’t get. But it doesn’t have to come at Lorna’s expense. If she’s going to be on the book, it has to actually give a damn about what she’s been through and how it’s shaped her, and openly acknowledge her too often forgotten past spanning 52 years.  

I am not saying X-Factor taken as its own thing is bad. I’m not saying it treats any of the other characters bad. I’m saying it’s bad for Lorna, and she’s better off not on it even if she doesn’t get to join the new X-Men team. 

I will end off on a bit more of a positive note for people who happen to like this book. There are a couple things I do like about it.

I like the creative usage of Lorna’s powers in building the team’s base, and in having the prophecies encoded in electromagnetic signatures. Those are an excellent way to show she can be and do other things besides “bend spoons,” and she’s not just “Magneto with boobs” as far as power usage.

I also like that the book does not have a sexism problem in its treatment Lorna. Past treatment of Lorna had this problem in a big way, as demonstrated by this awful as fuck cover from X-Men Blue.

And I partly like the very last few panels of X-Factor #4, in that Lorna gets to do some public speaking among mutant colleagues. I loathe the treatment leading up to it, and I think it could’ve been much better if it followed the vein of one of the variant covers of Lorna holding up a sword in front of an army as if urging them onward to battle as a warrior queen would. But it was still better than okay.

But those few good bits do not in any way make up for the bad as I’ve seen it in this book.

#polaris #lorna dane #x-men #marvel