#HOW I FEEL COMPLETELY FINE

[hiro-doodlez]

I HAVE COVID????

[kerink]

one thing that's always really stuck with me about this is... yes some galaxies have star clusters in their center but... some have a black hole in their center. ford you're fucking cooked either way.

pre-betrayal your life revolved around your love for him, post-betrayal your life revolved around your hate for him. who are you without a life dedicated to him? what does a galaxy do when it has nothing to orbit?

the "I'M STILL ON YOUR MIND" part from thisisnotawebsite has always been haunting to me for this reason, it makes this stuck point palpable. ford leaned over the side of the boat, staring at the water, stan chattering in the background but we can barely make out what he's saying, presumably because ford isn't really listening, too in his own head with thoughts of bill. and since the hidden code gives us more insight into bill's childhood, he's presumably thinking about him in a positive or melancholy way, rather than a hateful one.

even when ford is free, even when ford has everything he's ever wanted, even when ford has won, he's still lost.

[benevolenterrancy]

May your hardened heart be woken By the soft and distant song Of all you left here unspoken All the shards we keep stepping on - Take this body home Take this body home Call the wind, and let her know Take this life outgrown Take this broken soul Call the stars, call them all And take it high, take it far, take it home

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[doydoune]

paper history

[eternalera]

me: apple white is actually a really complex character and her moment with the evil queen was one of vulnerability because she can't be frustrated with how things turned out anywhere else and some part of her was still bitter that she had to give up something good for everyone else. the evil queen knew this and was playing on it. she was also playing on the pressure that snow put on her as well to 'get her happily ever after'. all of this resulted into her throwing the apple in the direction of the mirror in frustration (most likely to get her to shut up), which accidentally caused her to free the evil queen which she did not mean to do. once again afraid of making a mistake and this time having people KNOW about it she then covers for the evil queen as she's afraid of what people will think of her and not anything else because she's a flawed character. the evil queen the promises her happily ever after of course but apple doesnt really have a say in it as she's forced to do whatever the queen says in order to keep the facade that shes 'perfect' because (once again) her upbringing made her scared of making any sort of mistake so she tries to cover for herself instead.

people for some reason: YOURE JUSTIFYING HER FREEING THE EVIL QUEEN!?!?!?

[bixels]

The more I think about it, the more I question Arcane S2's politics and themes, which were so foundational to S1. Like, a tiny example [SPOILERS AHEAD]:

Singed wins. He gets exactly what he wants in the end. All his "efforts" are rewarded. What does that say about people who share his ideology of eugenics? He is the source of nearly every horrible thing and conflict that happened (Shimmer, the factory deaths, Jinx, Vander as Warwick, the corruption of Viktor), and he gets a happier ending than any other character. Not even a 'he got what he wanted but he has become completely unrecognizable/monstrous to his daughter' tag at the end. You can say they're setting him up and need to open his daughter to future shows, but the way you end a character's story says something about what you think about that character. What does it say when the eugenicist war criminal gets the happy ending he doesn't deserve?

[hiddenonigiri]

I'll prove to you that we can have fun without drinking.

[i-may-be-an-emu]

good news: turns out I don’t have permanent nerve damage (or any) in my arms (even though I was told by multiple healthcare professionals that it was most likely that I did)

bad news: they now do not know what is wrong with me 👍

[theythemmer]

may i present to you: sister karkat and father david. phavekat real

[icewindandboringhorror]

I know this is just a silly bad quality random screencap of a screencap that I found on facebook lol, BUT it's a succinct enough image to easily describe the concept in a quick/accessible way hopefully :

-

(and of course, feel free to elaborate in tags, etc.! (especially elaborating about other senses as well.. can you "hear" in your mind just as well as you can "see"? taste? etc.) It's an interesting topic to me, as someone who's like a 4.5 at MOST lol. I'm curious what option will be the most common :0c )

[helluvabinge]

OK, I'm seeing posts about this pop up on my dash again, which means it is once again time for The Talk.

Imagine, if you will, that you are just getting established in your career. You don't have a lot of money, but you meet a guy who offers to help you out. He has connections that could help you move up in your career, but he's really only willing to provide those connections if you start up a sexual relationship with him. He continues to hold these connections over your head in exchange for sexual favors and manipulates you into believing that this is the only way you'll ever succeed in your career. You feel dependent on him. You feel trapped. It takes years to finally break free of this toxic relationship, but even after leaving, you carry around the trauma of that experience.

Some time after this experience, you see a silly little cartoon about a guy who's just getting started out in his business. A wealthy man with lots of connections reaches out to this character and offers to help him with his career... in exchange for sexual favors.

You might feel uncomfortable, which is valid. You might feel triggered, which is valid. You might hate that relationship from day one, which is valid. You might never want to watch that show again, which is valid. You may continue to watch the show in hopes that the character you identify with gets a chance to say "fuck you" to the other one, and that's valid. You may be very disappointed when that moment never comes and the show takes the relationship in a completely different direction than you were wanting or expecting, and that's valid.

It's NOT valid to project your relationship onto the show's characters and pretend like that interpretation is the only valid interpretation of the show and the characters. It is ESPECIALLY invalid when canonical depictions of these characters and relationships directly contradict the interpretation and are substantially different than the relationship you are comparing them to.

So when someone yells at Viv because they have projected their own trauma onto a similar, but substantially very different situation in one of her shows, it's not Viv's job to coddle them or to simper and apologize. When she says that it's totally fine for them to feel like that, but they should recognize that they have a wildly different interpretation than many other fans and that the way they are interpreting her show appears to be lacking in basic media literacy, she's not wrong and she's not out of line.

[asvidema]

decided to draw front and profile for my takes on henry and hans

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

hey holst so what WAS that almyran child doing in your house !

[lang-shih-na]

the very first words out of shih-na's mouth to lang after admitting to being a spy and a murderer are flirting with him. you really have to respect a girlie who shoots her shot even in her darkest hour

[gasstationclown]

i need other people to see my vision so here it is: so in the legally blonde musical LET ME FINISH!! in the legally blonde musical theres a scene where elle and emmett get told that they arent dressed for court (with elle being hyper fem and emmett being in second hand clothes) and then they go shopping and their bond develops and listen its a very pivotal part in the musical that they nearly took out(!!) but its really good BUT the point is. harry is a disco hangover and kim wears pilot clothes and they stick out from other officers and so they get new clothes. thats it send post see the vision thank you much