werewolfannie

[werewolfannie]

Saw your post about the radical Aang thing and it got me thinking about how many character arcs in media (American media) centre around, not necessarily revenge but avenging something and usually by violent means ish — avenging = justice, fairness. And I do wonder why that is (esp w the strong female character tm), because I grew up w the opposite. Justice is served / achieved by avenging (so killing Ozai, passing a verdict) rather than, yk, doing what Aang did which is end the cycle of bloodshed and sarting a new era w/o blood ("untarnished) via dethronening Ozai (without making him into a martyr / icon, which would've happen if he died) and that is by all means fairness or well, justice in the "moral" face of things, but would it be "legally" considered justice? (I bring legal because moral notions of justice in said American media seems to stem from the law kinda ???) But yeah,, shsgs that was a Rant™️

aang is such a great character for so many reasons, many of which stem from just how wonderfully he subverts western/american notions of heroism, especially irt masculinity. america is predicated on this mythos of individualism, and that the true hero is someone who rejects all systems, who “plays by his own rules.” the loose cannon cop/agent, the gun-toting cowboy, batman, etc. even heroes such as superman, who was literally designed to represent jewish values such as tzedakah and tikkun olam, got the gritty zack snyder makeover in the newest iteration of the dceu. and while aang does forge his own path, and ignores all the people who tell him that there is only one way to end the war, it is also obvious that to frame this as celebrating individualism would be folly, because it ignores why aang does this: which is, of course, to uphold, maintain, and preserve the values of his people. aang rejects the system that sees solutions only in terms of war, because he sees value in tradition, in the way of life he knew outside the war, before it, and the people who imparted those values. aang knows it is his duty as the avatar to put an end to the war, but it is also his duty as an air nomad to end the war not through conquest, but through peace. the message he sends in this decision speaks so much louder than the alternative some people were disappointed did not come to fruition: one in which he kills ozai and loses himself in the process. it is the ending many people were expecting to see, and they felt betrayed by the lack of bloodshed. but aang is not an individualist hero. he may be the only air nomad (for the time being), but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t belong to a community. and it is his ties to this community, their rich culture and history and values and people, that is what makes aang such a refreshing and necessary hero, not only to his world, but to ours. 

#!!! #atla

[werewolfannie]

omg katara and finn mertens... would love to hear your thoughts :-)

okay well i’m sure you are aware I have A Lot of Thoughts on this... but i shall try to make it brief. while atla is my favorite fantasy show, crafting a perfect straightforward fantasy narrative with thorough worldbuilding and amazing character writing, adventure time is my favorite show of all time, because instead of crafting a straightforward narrative, it accomplishes the much more difficult task of subverting fantasy worldbuilding as a concept (and in a way that extends beyond mere parody or satire). 

what makes finn such a brilliant protagonist – and hero – is that he is necessarily a cishet white boy—in other words, the default. a (small, but significant) part of what makes adventure time so brilliant is that it goes out of its way to explain the protagonist’s whiteness; very rarely does that kind of character’s whiteness go questioned in other stories. a large part of finn’s arc is actually confronting the heroic archetypes he’s modeling himself & his masculinity off of, and extending beyond that white supremacist framework that informed the storytelling of a pre-mushroom war earth (which is to say, our current society). 

katara, on the other hand, subverts the notion of what it means to be a hero and who gets to be a hero by simply existing. by standing up for herself and against imperialist occupation, through loudly asserting her right to exist and her drive to save the world, katara represents an adventurous, swashbuckling, idealistic hero who for once, is not promoting colonialism, but is in fact a victim of it. katara is the narrator of the story, and crucially, out of all the characters in the show, she most overtly aligns with the classical western notion of the heroic archetype (whereas aang, so very radically, does not). but through being an indigenous brown girl who actively fights against the status quo at every turn, she disrupts the extremely white legacy of western heroism. 

both finn and katara long to be adventurers – embarking on epic quests, slaying monsters, and vanquishing evil. but in both shows, their roles are more complicated than that. they are both far from being two-dimensional, and what’s more, so is the definition of “evil.” adventure time deconstructs what it means to be a hero; avatar redefines it. both shows are incredible for their own reasons, and both characters are extremely important. 

#yes omg... the way i think about this all the time... #revolutionary!!! #atla #adventure time

[werewolfannie]

wow... zuko's really like... realmen.mp3

#he's really like... thebookofhours.epub #he's really like... edgar kinglear #he's really like... notesoncamp.pdf #he's real-

[werewolfannie]

thoughts on frankie

her mind is huge, her binder is massive, and her performance of mediocrity leaves nothing to be desired!

#icon if i've ever seen one #genuinely i love how much fun she has embracing her exceptional boringness #she read a russian novel once and decided that that strict decorum is campy actually <3 #i love her so much #ask games #cavehags #oh and also. her conversation with abed about tv. her relationship with abed in general. legendaryyy #and that's not even touching all the times she called jeff out <3 and her mentoring of annie...

[werewolfannie]

can y'all send some asks that are like “thoughts on ______”

#😌 #ask games

[werewolfannie]

atla s1 is so funny cause katara's clearly using her control over the narrative to depict sokka in the worst possible light. she sees no use for her annoying older brother other than that of a comic relief. the problem is, sokka's brilliance can't be contained and shines through every minor, but very much uncalled for, inconvenience that comes his way. yes, a fish flies right into his face, but he also starts reading feminist theory by the end of episode 4! yes, the rock he kicked ends up hitting his head, but he's also clearly the one who shows the most foresight! katara's desperately trying to paint him as both careless and overly cautious, both an incompetent fool and an overthinking killjoy. but he's just so smart and great she has to cease in her attempts to drag him through the mud. the universe's littlesiblingphobia at its finest 😔

#this is a joke i know she loves him very much and despite everything deeply respects him #but i think it's funny how he's getting fewer and fewer moral slaps as the show progresses #like obviously its also due to the fact that he uses humour as a deflection and later in the show he allows himself to be more genuine #+ he has time and resources to master his skills and become even more impressive than before #but like. he's clearly a genius and an angel #everyone is ready to admit it but katara. siblingery ❤

[werewolfannie]

My favorite Final Girl tm is Troy Barnes

see, if anything, troy’s plot in epidemiology points to the limits of the final girl trope (and of the theory of the monstrous feminine, but that’s another conversation). he is a gay black man who engages in comphet at the beginning of the episode, but ultimately, what saves him is that he fully embraces his identity and accepts the love from and for another man!

#there's a lot to it actually and i don't feel qualified to touch on everything #but him dressing up as ripley is not an endorsement of the usual portrayal of the final girl i think #nor is epidemiology a staunchly cloverian narrative i think #it shows that the dominant gaze affects and hurts people other than white cis women #i know this question is fun and jokes but i genuinely do recommend reading what poc have to say about horror films #and what trans people have to say #cause like. the final girl theory and the monstrous feminine can be really reductive

[werewolfannie]

I am overcome with the desire to make a prezi (dont know why) about how everytime the narrative focuses on Annies attraction to a man, aspects of her style and personality change. Almost as if her attraction to men is other to her natural style and personality. But I have no energy and can't bring myself to do it.

yeah. yeah. it’s about the comphet and the performance of heterosexuality...

#closeted lesbian icon! #askies #anonymous

[werewolfannie]

Theres a review of Virtual Systems Analysis that says the appeal of Commjnity is realistic plotlines about college???

it very much is! now, i don’t know anything about american college, but from my european perspective, the commitment to the “low stakes high drama” approach is absolutely what you’re getting out of university

#jdnjsjajjsjsdh #askies #anonymous

[werewolfannie]

anyone who meets katara and isn't immediately willing to die for her needs to realise that there's something wrong with them

#yes i am in fact rewatching atla. and what's worse. i have opinions! #i love katara so much she's a perfect person who shows no ill judgement. except when she does <3 but no she doesn't

[werewolfannie]

Just some guy (self diagnosed)

#sokka #he's right obv but he's also wrong cause he's a v special boy actually

[werewolfannie]

look at me and tell me these earrings aren’t clip-ons

#i mean. they have to be #the man's the original note on camp we expect nothing else from him #hmc

[werewolfannie]

I ATE A BIG BAG OF FACTORY REJECT SEEDS UNTIL A HEALTHY FLOWER UNFURLED IN MY CHEST ...

I MISTOOK THE SENSATION FOR LOVE AND DIED.

#fave

[werewolfannie]

Did Jeff ever quit being newspaper editor? Did he just keep doing that? Was that who he was texting? The newspaper staff? Pretending it was women to keep his cool guy image but he was actually invested in something this whole time? I cant remember if Annie quit in that episode but I always figured she would eventually because she took on too much like she always does.

it's entirely possible, but, sadly, i think jeff's incapable of a long-term devotion to something that doesn't come with an appropriate number of perks (his friends are a glorious exception). he'd most likely abuse his position to get free face cream samples, sorry to report

#until annie catches him in the act and makes him apologise and make amends #he's forced to offer his legal services pro bono to the paper (they're suing lisa mcgee for the 'shoes of the world' gag. #greendale 2005 september issue got there first!) #askies #anonymous

[werewolfannie]

going back to op’s blog to see the directors commentary in the tags

#fave

[werewolfannie]

i'm very tempted to rewatch atla but i just know i'd get so invested i'd start actively seeking content of it on tumblr.gov and well... that just couldn't end well from what i know

#i've seen glimpses of some excellent posts but also flashes of some especially heinous ones... #there's no light without the dark ex chetera

[werewolfannie]

#ok that's THE one! #atla