dearinglovebot

[dearinglovebot]

floating this idea again!

looking for:

people with zine experience to join the mod team

if the general public is interested!

[dearinglovebot]

Do you think there are any characters who haunt the narrative in the Jurassic franchise (even the books)? I have a feeling that one character from evolution of claire—if I’m not mistaken her name was isobel james—haunts the narrative further in the book.

Let me know what you’ve got in mind :D !

this is a hard question because "haunting the narrative" is one of those extremely pop culture-ified terms that has SO many slightly different interpretations it becomes hard to define. and unlike "male gaze" theory coined by laura mulvey or "death of the author" theory by roland barthes, there's not an easy way to trace where the true theory starts and pop culture begins. those are both well-defined theories with very citeable academic literature discussing them (even if pop culture fundamentally misunderstands both) while "haunting the narrative" is mostly about literal ghosts or social media discussion.

i'd argue most mysteries inherently have haunted narratives as the literal "haunting" genre itself is rooted in mysteries of haunted houses or cursed buildings. the ghost story cliche is best defined in there being some kind of life changing action and a person who is no longer there to speak for themself being interpreted by an outside source. which does include the mystery of izzie's journal and the 'ghost' interns kept secret at jurassic world. she fits the very archetypal 'ghost' in this situation, influencing how claire thinks about jurassic world and how simon responds to a new disaster.

you could also argue hammond himself haunts everything. he is the inciting incident of it all, and because of his park, we get the rest of the franchise. his name is still mentioned decades after his in-universe death by people like simon or yasmina. his portrait is in fallen kingdom and in that movie his actions create both the need to rescue dinosaurs (bringing them back at all) and the means to do it (benjamin's guilt giving the money needed to supply a rescue team).

and if you want to get very theoretical with it, claire, wu, and owen are all living ghosts in the world. together, claire and wu unleashed genetic modification into the world. claire was the money and permission slip while wu was the brains. claire's park proved there was money in dinosaurs, and she was there as it all fell apart. she was even there as genetic power was released into the public. she's the mother of the first human clone. wu was the first to prove it could be done and all and he was the one who pushed every boundary he could. every dinosaur (or locust. or prehistoric animal. or clone. or whatever) is because of him. and owen proved they could be be even MORE than attractions. his legacy continues on in the atrociraptor pack or the indoraptor or whatever new thing people decide to train an animal to do. like hammond, everything going forward is influenced by how they completely reshaped the world despite them likely not showing up again for a long time.

[dearinglovebot]

Another collab time! For this one I teamed up with ✨ @ssprouttz ✨for the #Yasammy prompt: Sketchbook

[dearinglovebot]

this episode is very compelling to me because it's the best evidence towards the true pack dynamic

ghost is very clearly the "beta" throughout her appearances. she is often the one first deployed (like in brooklynn's attack) as well as the one in the center position (examples include 1x10, 3x4, 3x6, etc). in 3x4, we even see her giving commands to tiger and panthera in both how she wants them to form the attack and when to attack.

in 3x10, ghost takes the role as the one "talking" to red. she's giving the "stand down NOW" talk. her word is final.

and with these appearances, we see tiger and panthera seemingly on equal footing below her. they guard her flanks. and in the case of their show-down with red, they're the ones doing dominance poses (making themselves look bigger as to seem stronger and show higher status in the pack hierarchy) to affirm ghost's word. they are NOT the negotiators, they are her brawn.

but red is where it gets complicated. because red, although likely raised in the same group, was separated. red is packless and quite possibly might see herself as her own "beta" now. but take note in how she reacts to tiger and panthera. red immediately submits. she lowers her body into a submission pose and lets herself be reprimanded one last time by ghost.

but that doesn't necessarily mean red is the "omega" here. when the pack is not at odds, red is actually similar to ghost's level. she stands on the handler's other side, parallel to ghost. and once ghost is gone, red takes the center attack position. and after the handler is gone, tiger looks to red for "permission" to leave. panthera doesn't even look at them when she vocalizes. but when red decides they're leaving, she's the one to give panthera the command to follow.

which all leads to an understanding that the chain of command is handler -> ghost -> red -> tiger and panthera. all are loyal to the handler, yes, but ghost has final say in how their unit functions. red is more independent than tiger or panthera, likely due to her isolation, but she's still able to be reprimanded by ghost. and with both the handler and ghost gone, red is shown as the one taking their place.

[dearinglovebot]

gray and claire would gravitate towards each other post-JW because they are the autistic dearings and nobody else really gets what it's like to be simultaneously obsessed with something and afraid of it. or what it's like to be so overwhelmed by emotion you have to DO something about it or else you'll lose your mind. or the fact that no one seems to get it the way you do because for some reason you understand the same information in a completely different way. SEND POST

[dearinglovebot]

"the raptors never changed 'alphas'. they just thought owen betrayed their trust" is by far the better substantiated claim than "the raptors turned on owen" in retrospect.

there is only two things that support the raptors truly turning allegiance: their communication with the indominus and later cornering owen, and the line "raptors got a new alpha". it's not much. and even then, they're things that can easily be understood differently by other text within the movie itself:

at two different points, owen gives ACU the explicit command to never fire on the raptors. once when the intern falls in the pen and once when they're about to hunt the indominus. he explains this as a breech of the trust they've built with humans, and they may never be able to win it back if they face any kind of physical punishment. the raptors will interpret humans as a threat if they do this. very notably, the raptors attack UNTIL someone fires at them.

their attention is solely focused on owen. which, in a dark jungle standing down a massive dinosaur might seem scary, but is quite literally just what they've been trained to do when awaiting a further command.

even later, delta and echo look at the indominus and hiss. but neither of them actually attack until given permission. which also debunks the idea that they're loyal to blue and blue is loyal to owen. because at this point, blue isn't there. blue has been knocked aside, and she's not there to keep them in check. if this were the case, they would've charged the indominus BEFORE the whistle. but they don't, because of an inherent loyalty to who they see as their "father".

but what also stands out to me is how charlie and blue behave in the jungle. they have both killed multiple people at this point. yet, both of them pause when confronted with owen and barry. this behavior is not consistent to animals who've "turned" on their "alphas". this is the behavior of animals who are really mad at the strangers who attacked them first and aren't sure which side their "parents" are on.

i highlight the betrayal so much because notice how much lowering the gun MATTERS to them. charlie makes no attempt to attack once owen lowers the gun. blue, delta, and echo are all won back over as soon as owen lowers the gun. as soon as owen establishes that he has no intention of breaking their trust by harming them, like, ACU did, their loyalty is fully returned.

they have no reason to do this if they TRULY turned to the "stronger" alpha. because owen has no chance against the indominus. this is a choice that really only makes sense in the context of intelligent, loyal animals.

so why did the raptors communicate with the indominus? because raptors are social. there is fundamentally no way of knowing what they "said" to each other. but based on context, we can gather that the indominus likely wanted them to rally against the humans. the raptors don't really care about that because, well, they don't really care about anyone except owen or barry. they might've even been curious about letting her join the pack instead of fighting her. remember, the raptors don't know this is an attack mission. all the information they have is "i need to track down this scent with our dads". this could very well be a "we need to find our new baby sister" trip to them.

they turn back to owen to ask him "what now?" but because they take so long to attack, hoskins demands they attack first which causes them to interpret this as an attack on them. once they realize owen wasn't part of the attack, they seem to try and communicate a "don't worry. he's a good one" sentiment to the indominus. she doesn't like this and uses violence to try and get submission. this is in direct contrast to owen who uses kindness for "mutual respect". and since she's against two of their own (both owen and blue), now she has to die.

contrast that to an interpretation where they completely "change alphas": in that, the conversation becomes interpreted as the indominus using her giant strength to make them instantly obey. they do so and attack. but through the power of friendship or something, owen makes them see the error of their ways and turn on the indominus rex for no good reason. it requires a core contradiction: the raptors only respect massive strength and aggression as an "alpha" quality, yet owen, who is weaker than any of them, is some how able to turn all 3 remaining animals. you could argue all he needs to win over is blue, but again, this is just not very supported. charlie, without blue, never turns. echo and delta, without blue, wait for his permission.

so then all we're left with is the line "raptors got a new alpha". which is only an off-hand line from a character who does one-liners. in a movie where the core thesis is that main characters can be WRONG about things. claire says "no one in impressed by a dinosaur" and the entire movie's thesis is that real dinosaurs are better and will always beat a fake hybrid. in the context it's said, we can understand the meaning is "the raptors are working within their own rules now". (which, as a sidenote, is exactly what owen said would happen in the first act. there is mutual respect where they might not eat him, but he never promised they could be controlled by a human and actively discouraged the idea) it does not necessarily LITERALLY mean they have a new alpha.

[dearinglovebot]

Something something Biosyn valley lab and they were supposed to keep watch.

[dearinglovebot]

Mahou Shoujo Claire Dearing concept design for my jw x pmmm au…hehe I’ve been throwing around “Witch Hunter” instead of mahou shoujo or magical girl because I can use it as a genderless term

I am cringe and I am free…

[dearinglovebot]

a somewhat niche critique i do have of jwct and soyona is that it really does not do dubai justice. making soyona from dubai is kind of like making your sympathetic villain from nazi germany in a story that never mentions the nazis. which is a problem that can really only happen when your writing staff is made up of people not from a region writing about it.

so you're left with glaring thoughts in the back of your mind like "there's no way soyona isn't participating in slavery" or "gold in dubai is directly obtained via genocide which implies she participated in that to obtain her laser's aesthetic". which itself is an issue that can only arise from a certain baseline of ignorance of non-american politics.

[dearinglovebot]

I love exercising my free will (drawing handler buff)

[dearinglovebot]

Hello I hope it’s okay to ask, do you think claire might’ve gone/been disabled after the indoraptor pierced her thigh?

(Apologies for my grammar)

never apologize <3 i promise i will never judge someones grammar

absolutely! i think it's just unrealistic for her not to suffer with some kind of disability whether that's chronic pain or more physical mobility issues. i personally hc her as someone who quite regularly uses mobility aids like a cane or forearm crutches

[dearinglovebot]

just had a passing thought about yasammy having twin girls as an homage to their short time raising angel and rebel. sigh. they’d be each others best friends 90% of the time while that last 10% is them having their sibling jumping-on-each-other fights. they’d buy some sheep and use the wool to knit matching sets of hats and sweaters and socks. sammy has them both out doing farm work with her every weekend and they compete over who can carry more for mama.

[dearinglovebot]

"raptor wrangler" and "the handler"

[dearinglovebot]

They are fighting the terrifying swarm of locusts by becoming their leader

[dearinglovebot]

jwct panel being announced only AFTER nearly two months of tickets being completely sold out for the day. AGAIN. oh fuck you and your terrible marketing dreamworks.

[dearinglovebot]

The N6 girls chibi style ✨

[dearinglovebot]

i always get so distracted by the femdom kneeling shot in this scene. you can say a lot of things about jurassic world but you can never say it didn't do its damnedest to emulate 90s era horniness