#analysis time with othello

[apalonecreations]

Analysis time with Othello: Markings

So I've just come to the realization that out of all of the turtle's markings in Rise, Donnie is the only one to have unnatural markings. Mikey is an ornate box turtle, which has reddish orange spots naturally, Leo is a red eared slider, which naturally has yellowish markings on their body and the red markings on their face. Raph, being an alligator snapping turtle, doesn't have any, because his species doesn't have any distinguishing markings for the species. But Donnie is a spiny softshell. . So why does he have the pixel markings? Softshells don't have those, and especially not in purple. Was there something that happened during mutation that caused it? Maybe he was originally not supposed to have markings or his markings were meant to be more blotchy and tan or black instead of purple because the spiny softshell naturally has. What if it was a purposeful thing that Draxum had done? Could the man even have been able to? What was the reasoning behind the markings? We obviously could tell the difference between him and Leo already because of their unique characteristics, so why that? I could definitely be reading too deep into it and it was just a random design choice by the creators (likely was) but it's interesting to think about.

[apalonecreations]

I would have to say I quite like the villain's we've had both throughout the show and the Rise mini comics. All of the villains had great character (some even having full character arcs that didn't just sideline them forever like most shows), they all had actually interesting designs instead of making the minor villains look like side characters for the main villains.

Not to mention that but they also made most of the villains actual villains and didn't go the generic route either. Some of the villains (i.e. Big Mama, Meat Sweats, Kraang, Purple Dragons) were genuinely messed up and not for any reason other than being that way. Then there were the reformed ones (I. E. Draxum, DIGG, Shredder) and some who just did so because they could (I.e. Big Mama, Meatsweats, Kraang), Purple Dragons. Hell, they even upgraded some of the past iterations' villains (i.e. Kraang, Purple dragons, Shredder) from the more joking, playful characters that were in the other versions.

And when the villains weren't being used during the episodes, they were often still referenced by either the turtles or other villains themselves to show that they were actually important to the plotline and not just some throwaway character (except for stockboy, he is the only exception). People don't realize that Rise has some of the best villains purely because they defy most of the stereotypes in terms of kids shows and movies. Each villain had not only a badass design, but a cool backstory that sometimes even played into other character's backstories as well. And they all weren't some copy-paste of other characters like some shows and even franchises tend to do.

Alrighty genuine question for all of the rottmnt fans here

also please reblog this forward if you have answered, i wanna see what kinda results i’ll get

[super-subraminion]

i had an essay in my lit class over othello where the prompt was an important object/token that a character receives and what it symbolizes + how it contributes to the overall work

and tell me why i thought of ever after high- like destiny as an object and how that contributes to the overall themes of privilege, social hierarchies, and free will, how it functions to literally make characters doomed by the narrative

how the poisoned apple is a symbol of apple's destiny being so good because even though she has to poison herself, she is guaranteed a happily ever after, no uncertainty, no fear. it’s a symbol of privilege, she’s willing to go that far because she can afford to go that far- and that’s why she fundamentally doesn’t understand the rebel cause.

meanwhile the poisoned apple is a symbol of everything raven is afraid of- losing her free will, following in her mother’s footsteps, becoming the most feared in the land, and hurting her friends. it’s the very object she uses to harm apple, and the consequences of that is losing her freedom forever. raven can’t imagine a world where she uses the poisoned apple because it terrifies her so much

anyway hyperfixation is so strong and i love this show

[theplasticman]

The Drama of Skyler White

Breaking Bad (2008-2013), prod. Gilligan | Othello (4.3.23-25), Shakespeare | Ophelia, John Everett Millais (1852) | The Last Duel (2021) dir. Ridley Scott | Othello (2.3.60-61), Shakespeare | The Tale of the Two Brothers (8,5) trans. University of Houston | "Sexual Violence in Serial Form: Breaking Bad habits on TV". Feminist Media studies 2019:1, p. 125. Stuart Joy | The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, Paul Delaroche 1833 | “Old Man,” Stella Donnelly |

[gnomebud]

readings from high school/college that changed me in some way:

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson

ficciones by jorge luis borges

othello (and subsequently american moor by keith hamilton cobb)

cyrano de bergerac by edmond rostand

the girl-thing who went out for sushi by pat cadigan

the woman warrior by maxine hong kingston

fun home by alison bechdel

readings from high school that did absolutely jack shit even after having to do them AGAIN in college:

dubliners by james joyce

[butchhamlet]

do you have any good shakespeare retelling book recs?

what a beautiful time to ask this, says guy who has left this ask collecting cobwebs in his inbox for months! because guess who has two thumbs and just finished queen goneril by erin shields! WHAT a fucking play, holy SHIT, this is some of the best characterization of the lear sisters that i've ever read and the exploration of womanhood as filtered through class + race + shitty families + political maneuvering is so so so good. also the things shields does with the og playtext... chef's fucking KISS

anyway, recency bias aside, i've been meaning to make a post about my favorite shakespeare retellings for a while, and i think i never actually did it because i wanted to make a lear retelling ranking list and then i never read some of the ones on my TBR. so whatever. the learlist will happen someday. here are my favorites in general. (here is my goodreads shelf for the retellings i've read, good and bad, and here is the shelf for the ones i have yet to read.)

in no particular order:

a thousand acres by jane smiley: outsold. epitome of what makes an effective retelling--a book that clearly has something to say about and to the original text, but that also isn't afraid to diverge, to exclude here and zoom in there. ungraciously, this is "lear on a farm" and it starts a little slow, but holy fucking shit, i can't do justice in a paragraph to the way this book unraveled me. one of the best books of all time mayhaps. also, introduced the edmund character by describing his ass. 10/10

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake: i don't read that much YA anymore but jesus fucking christ. books tailored for me specifically. twelfth night retelling about siblings + mental illness + being bisexual + love triangles that actually make sense (emotions are confusing!) instead of being contrived + beautiful description + excellent dialogue + THE MENTAL ILLNESS. books that made me start crying in zoom class in 2020

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: kind of a cop-out answer because we all know this one. but that does not detract from how good it is. this is one of those plays, at least for me, that makes me think, "ohhhhhh, THIS is what theater can do. this is using its medium to the absolute utmost." it is so clever and it makes me want to cry. i think about "i don't know. it's the same sky" more often than i can say

american moor by keith hamilton cobb: not exactly a retelling, but a one-man play about a Black man auditioning for the lead role in Othello, tangling as he does with his relationship with shakespeare's work and cultural dominance. suuuuuch a good fucking play even beyond the analysis of othello (which is excellent); the language is so fucking incredible. everyone who likes shakespeare should read this.

teenage dick by mike lew: modern teenage richard iii; this one's more reimagining than retelling, because it diverges pretty sharply from the plot of richard iii, but god, it's so fucking fun. and upsetting! really upsetting also.

foul is fair by hannah capin: i will be so real. i read this in high school and some of the YA books i've revisited since did not hold up for me. so idk if i can tell you this is "good" with my full chest. but the pitch is "lady macbeth gets sexually assaulted at a party and decides to fucking kill the boys who did it" and i stayed up until like 1am to finish it because it was such a vicious gleaming wild ride

the stars undying by emery robin: does this count? hard to say, because it's just as much a retelling of roman history than shakespeare's antony and cleopatra (honestly, more, since it focuses on the era where caesar and cleopatra were lovers, which is before shakespeare's play). but i'm counting it anyway because it's bisexual space opera cleopatra and it's the best book i've read so far in 2024 and it's making me crazy and i'm writing a thesis on it < genuinely

peerless by jihae park: macbeth, but college applications, featuring asian macbeths (they're twin sisters >:3) who think their classmate has taken their place in their dream school because of affirmative action/DEI. this play is absolutely VICIOUS. it's macbeth x heathers. think it mirrors macbeth in faltering a little in its final stretch, but it still fucks hard

the wednesday wars by gary d. schmidt: okay, not a retelling; this is about a preteen boy in the 60s. but it's one of the best most genuine and heartwarming books i've ever read and it manages to be hilarious while also foregoing cheap slapstick punching-low humor for a hell of a lot of warmth and passion. and the main character interacts with shakespeare a lot as a running theme so i can justify putting it on this list. #evangelizing

of course, i would be remiss not to mention that @suits-of-woe / @mjulianwrites has written the best take on Two Gentlemen of Verona to ever exist, and i mean that quite seriously. unfortunately it hasn't been published yet so we'll all just have to prayer-circle about it. i would also be remiss not to take the opportunity to. uh. coughs. do a bit of casual self-promo. if you 1. have ocd 2. have gender or 3. think about malvolio a lot. boy do i have the novella for you

will definitely add to this when i read more retellings; feel free to drop recs in the tags/replies/reblogs/my askbox!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Analysis: Narrative Elements

The purpose of this resource is to assist in the critical reading of narratives, and to help you explore how the effect is created and the meaning is made.

Fiction is best understood by breaking down and discussing terms common to most stories, be they novels, short fiction, movies, TV shows, etc.

Includes: plot, characters, point of view, setting, theme, conflict, and style.

Understanding how these elements work helps us better analyze narratives and to determine meanings. Seven main elements of fiction are defined below followed by a sample of questions to help readers uncover meaning of a given narrative.

Theme

Perhaps the most important literary concept because it is the overarching idea that the writer of the story wants to reader to understand.

All other literary concepts are used to create theme.

The theme is the author’s commentary on a subject.

Example: In Shakespeare’s Othello, one of the major themes is how easily human perception can be manipulated when powerful emotions are at play.

To determine the theme, examine other literary elements of the story.

Questions to Consider: First identify the subject(s) of the story and then ask: what is the writer trying to say about this subject? What literary tools does the writer use to create this theme?

Plot

The structure of the narrative as it moves through time.

Most narratives (but not all) follow a traditional plot structure.

It consists of:

the exposition (introduction of setting and characters),

rising action (events that build conflict for the protagonist),

climax (tension of conflict reaches highest, most intense point),

falling action (the events following the climax), and

denouement (the resolution of conflict).

Questions to Consider: What is the relationship between the events of the story? How do the actions inform the theme of the story?

Characters

The people involved in the narrative.

Characterization - process by which a writer creates a character.

Protagonist - main or central character, often considered the hero.

Antagonist - main character who opposes the protagonist, sometimes considered the villain.

Literary analysis of characters often focuses on whether or not, and to what extent, a character changes throughout the story.

Questions to Consider: What is the motivation of each character? How do characters grow or transform throughout the story? Or do they fail to grow or change at all? What does their growth or lack of growth say about the theme of the story?

Conflict

The issue or problem characters in a story are confronted by.

The narrative is structured around how the characters face the conflict.

The 4 general types of conflicts (with examples) are:

person vs. person (a couple going through a divorce)

person vs. self (protagonist wrestling with depression)

person vs. nature (protagonist trying to survive a natural disaster)

person vs. society (protagonist fighting for civil rights)

The interaction of character and conflict creates the central effect of the story and is the main indicator of meaning.

Questions to Consider: How does the conflict affect the main characters in the story? How is the conflict resolve d and what does the resolution say about theme? How does the conflict change the main characters?

Setting

A time and place the story is set in.

The location can either work symbolically or it can simply be a backdrop for the story to take place in.

Questions to Consider: How does the location, time, and/or date of the story affect the theme? How does the setting affect how the characters respond to conflict?

Point of View

The perspective the story is told from.

This element includes:

First-person narrator: Tells the story from the perspective of one or several characters with the word “I” or “we.” The readers, as if from their own eyes, can envision the characters actions.

Third-person limited narrator: Tells the story from an outside perspective from the perspective of one of the characters (usually the protagonist). The third-person limited narrator can relate events, thoughts, actions, but is limited to that single character. For example, if the narration is from the point of view of the protagonist, the narrator cannot relate events that are happening across town from where the protagonist is, nor can they relate the interior thoughts of any other character. Third person limited narration uses the pronouns “he,” “she,” or “they.”

Third-person omniscient narrator: Also tells the story from an outside perspective but this narrator is not limited to actions and thoughts of one character. This narrator knows all of the in formation of the story and can relate the events of the story, the actions and speech of each as well as the interior thoughts of any character. There are no limits for this narrator.

Questions to Consider: Does the narrator reflect an inner or an outer perspective on the story? Why did the author select this point of view? What would change if the story were told from a different point of view?

Style

The way the writer uses language including diction, voice, tone, sentence style, etc.

Paying attention to these details allows the reader to identify how and why word choice and sentence style, etc. can help create the effect and meaning of the story.

Questions to Consider: Is the diction hard or simple to understand? Are the sentences short or complex? Why did the writer make these stylistic choices? How do these choices add or detract from the effect of the story?

NOTE: Of course, these aren’t the only literary devices narrative writers use to create their stories. Imagery, symbolism, metaphor, foreshadowing, and ambiguity, for example, are other important devices that should also be considered in the analysis of narratives. Source ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

More: Notes & References ⚜ Critical Reading ⚜ Active Reading How to Read for Historical Research ⚜ How to Identify Character Descriptions

[the-most-humble-blog]

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🤡 TERWILLIGER FILES — ADDENDUM: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BATMAN TURNS ROBIN INTO THE JOKER A Blacksite Literature™ Transmission

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Let me be clear while I can still spell my own name and not get hypnotized by Bob's operatic baritone echoing through my skull:

You don't understand what Robert Terwilliger is.

You think he's just some Frasier-voiced criminal mastermind with clown trauma. But he's not.

Bob Terwilliger is what happens when you take a man with the voice of Shakespeare, the IQ of Lex Luthor, and the rage of a neglected theater kid—and force him to eat pies for a living under a nicotine-stained clown with a gambling addiction.

This man was reading Voltaire while getting shot out of a cannon. That’s not character building. That’s how you get an origin story.

⚠️ Krusty Didn’t Hire a Sidekick. He Created a Nemesis.

Imagine Batman making Robin dress like a chicken, publicly humiliating him for ratings, and then acting surprised when Robin joins the League of Shadows and starts quoting Nietzsche mid-murder spree.

That’s Bob.

He didn’t start evil. He was forged in a fire of seltzer bottles and unpaid therapy. He wasn’t born with a vendetta. He was given one… with a laugh track.

🎭 You’re Laughing, but He’s Monologuing.

Bob doesn’t just try to kill people. He plans it like a composer writing a symphony in blood. He leaves clues. He drops literary references. He recites entire Gilbert and Sullivan operas mid-murder attempt.

That’s not a killer. That’s a thesis paper with a vendetta and good diction.

🚨 Bart Isn’t Just a Victim. He’s the Catalyst.

Bart didn’t just ruin Bob’s schemes. He validated them.

Every time Bob got close to peace, the universe served him another slice of Simpson-brand chaos.

You think Bob hates Bart? No. Bob became Bob because of Bart.

He is what happens when Batman forgets to save Robin from the dark.

📚 Terwilliger Lore Is Basically Shakespeare with Blood and Rakes

You ever watch a man step on one rake? Funny.

You ever watch him step on sixteen rakes in a row while monologuing about revenge and democracy? That’s not a gag. That’s a Greek tragedy in clown shoes.

Bob is Othello in clown makeup. He’s Hamlet with a vendetta and a blowtorch. He’s the only villain in history who could quote Whitman, attempt murder, win an Emmy, and still get mispronounced by Ralph Wiggum.

🧠 You Want Redemption? Bob Gave You Redemption… and You Threw It Back

The man literally tried to settle down in Italy.

Crushed grapes. Ran for mayor. Found love. Raised a child.

Then the Simpsons showed up.

And like clockwork, Bob was reminded: > "Oh right, I’m not allowed to heal. I’m a punchline."

So he relapsed.

Because healing is hard. But falling into villainy with flair? That’s opera, baby.

🎤 Final Analysis:

Robert Terwilliger isn’t a villain. He’s the result of what happens when you break a gifted mind for laughs. When you hand a prodigy a banana cream pie and tell him, “Be funny, or be forgotten.”

He��s what happens when Batman turns Robin into the Joker… …then gets mad when the Joker starts writing sonnets about vengeance.

And Bart? Bart’s just the spotlight.

He didn’t make the monster. He just made sure we all saw it.

🍷 FIELD-TOAST STATUS: RAISED

To Robert Terwilliger: The thespian, the warlock, the academic with a vendetta. A man whose crimes were crimes of passion—and pronunciation.

And to Bart: The chaos engine who turned a pie-splattered intellectual into a blood-soaked aria.

God bless Springfield. And God help anyone who underestimates a villain with a library card.

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[transmascutena]

Hey hey, I forget if you've ever posted about this, but one thing that fascinates me about Utena is the food side of everything. How Akio bakes, how Anthy basically only successfully makes shaved ice, and how Utena talks about the food going bad from lack of refrigeration. How it's not the job of the Rose Bride to cook. How Wakaba being able to prepare food makes her a good wife. I have thoughts about this, but I'll avoid saying too much because I wanna hear what you have to say too

i have gotten an ask about anthy's cooking before, where i talked about the ability to make food as a symbol for agency/freedom/independence, and how anthy can cook certain things like festival food, shaved ice, rosehip jam, the cantarella cookies, but not really anything that counts as a substantial meal (the curry is a bit of an outlier here. i guess it shows that her agency is mainly expressed through messing with nanami?) anthy says she wants to get better at cooking, and i'm inclined to believe her. i think she has the potential to be good at it too, but that akio has.... discouraged her from trying, as a way to make her more reliant on him. although, i actually can't recall if akio ever does anything in the kitchen other than (allegedly) bake that cake to impress utena, so maybe i'm way off. or maybe that's another piece of symbolism i haven't quite figured out.

you bring up a good point about gender roles here in regards to wakaba too. cooking is traditionally a woman's role in a lot of cultures, which makes it interesting that anthy, who as the rose bride is supposedly meant to be the ideal bride/wife not only cannot cook very well, but, according to touga, should not cook at all? i guess that ties back to the agency thing, though. but does wakaba have a lot of agency? she has a certain degree of freedom, at least, that comes with not being tied up in the main narrative most of the time. i'm not sure. i think food and cooking is one of the (many) things within this show that does not have one specific meaning that can be used to interpret everything related to it. i suppose my conclusion is that cooking can be both a limiting role if it's forced on you (in the sense of "you need to cook well to make for a good wife which is of course something you should want to be"), and something liberating if you do it for yourself. it's also just kind of a necessary survival skill, which is why it's so telling that anthy doesn't have it.

surprisingly enough i've never really posted about utena's food talk in episode 33 or how it may or may not play into this symbolism, so i guess i'll take this as an opportunity to do that. first, during the othello game, she talks about messing up measurements when cooking, and about the flavor coming out wrong. "you can't undo it once it's done." this shows her worries about what is happening/what will happen, and is already hinting at her regret afterward. it's a metaphor, but it also kind of ties into the agency symbolism. it tells us that utena is not very good at cooking either, and hints at the similarities between her and anthy. later she talks about what to make for lunch the next day. she's rambling, trying to distract herself, dissociating, and i don't tend to read a lot into what specifically she's saying. that's not really what's important. however, i do think it's signicant that she's bringing up anthy, for one, but mostly that she's talking about something urgent she needs to do that isn't here. she's making excuses to go home, to stop. if you buy the cooking as agency thing, utena's worry about the food going bad could once again reflect her worries and doubts about the whole thing. is there symbolism to the fact that she specifically brings up salmon and eggs and asparagus and sandwiches? maybe. but i think it's too easy to get caught up in all the little details and miss or ignore the bigger picture of what actually matters (very vaguely referring to an analysis of this scene that i hate. if you know you know.)

[nature-girly]

A shakespearean analysis of "The Conscience of the King"

"The Conscience of the King" contains a lot of themes and motifs that are common in Shakespeare plays. I decided to analyze the episode using my knowledge of Shakespeare. I've read Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and As You Like It.

A play within a play: In A Midsummer Night's Dream and, more famously Hamlet a troupe of actors performs a play that mirrors what happens in the play. In the first scene, Karidian portrays Macbeth and is stabbing King Duncan. He literally has blood on his hands. Lenore is portraying Lady Macbeth. The Macbeths spend a lot of the play acting paranoid and killing people (including children) to ensure that no one discovers their original crime. This is similar to Lenore killing the witnesses from Tarsus IV. At the end of the episode, they’re acting in a production of Hamlet. Karidian is portraying Hamlet Senior and tells his son to seek revenge. This is what Lenore does even though Karidian hadn’t told her to. 

Mental illness: Some examples are Hamlet’s feigned madness, and Ophelia and Lady Macbeth’s real madness. (Side note: I don’t like using the word madness but that’s what Shakespeare used). At the end of the episode, Lenore doesn’t remember what happened and thinks her father is still alive. 

In most Shakespeare plays the main character puts on a performance for personal gain or even assumes a new identity. For example, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth act like gracious hosts to King Duncan so they can be close to him. Kirk, Lenore, and Karidian each play a different part in deceiving each other and those around them. Kirk seduces Lenore and invites her onto the Enterprise so he can get closer to Karidian. Lenore manipulates Kirk and gains his trust so it will be easier for her to kill him. She also refers to her plan to kill Kirk and Riley as her performance. Karidian refers to his time as Kodos as “another part I once played long ago”. 

[foxes-that-run]

Willow

Willow is about an affair with someone she desires like a prize, she cheats to win him. The Willow Song is in Shakespeare's Othello. Harry Styles Sweet Creature also references Othello about Taylor. To People on 5 December 2023 Aaron said Taylor wrote

Due to their huge spread willows are susceptible to wind and flexible, so they have deep and strong roots. It's symbolism for a strong bond that's tenacious and grows in poor conditions. A Willow appears in Begin Again, where it was also shot a similar way.

The film clip picks up straight from Cardigan which is also about Harry. The children in the tent is a reference to Everything has Changed and Seven. In a Livestream Taylor said the film clip referenced Exile, which I think is "I've seen this film before and didn't like the ending." In Cardigan she was 'changed' but she stayed where she started, in Willow she leaves with her muse.

There are green curtains when Taylor is behind the glass, Taylor said this references Mirrorball. Harry is also behind glass in the As it was and referred to 'being behind the glass' as something others couldn't understand, separating them from other people. This is similar to the gilded cage theme. She also uses similar imagery to refer to her stolen masters for her Eras being behind glass in the Eras tour and I Can See You music video.

The dancer is from Red tour (IKYWT). The posters behind him say The Python and The Man of Fire (a Sweet Nothing and William Bowery reference, in Rolling Stone Paul McCartney told Taylor his pseudonym was Fireman). The Man of Fire is is doing the Whale. (!!)

The cloak is like the one in Ready for it and Green. They step into the Daylight at the end. The Invisible string ends in the cabin.

To Zane Lowe Taylor said:

'It felt like somebody's standing over a potion making a love potion dreaming up the person that they want and the person they desire and trying to figure out how to get that person in their life and all the kind of misdirection and bait and switch.' The complexity of seeing someone, feeling a connection wanting them and trying to make them a part of your life. It's tactical at times, it's confusing at times. I wanted to set the vibe of magical and mysterious." and "One of the main themes [of Folklore] was conflict resolution, get through something with someone, making confessions or communicating. Evermore deals a lot in endings of all sorts shapes and sizes all the kinds of ways"

To people magazine 5 December 2023 Aaron Dessner said it was the first song after folklore:

“There are so many stories I could share. When I sent Taylor the music for our song "Willow" — I think she wrote the entire song from start to finish in less than 10 minutes and sent it back to me. It was like an earthquake. Then Taylor said, "I guess we are making another album."

Othello and Sweet Creature

The Willow Song is a real folk song referred to in Shakespeare's Othello. Othello is married to Desdemona. Lago seeds doubt in Othello's mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful with Cassio. Desdemona sings part of 'The Willow Song' in which a lady mourns her true love lost, the singer dies from their false love's cruelty. As the folk song foreshadowed, Othello loses his mind and kills Desdemona in a jealous rage.

Considering Taylors comments above that Folklore is about communication (with songs like Cardigan, The 1 and Exile where she cleared some air with Harry). And her comment that Evermore is about endings, and Willow figuring out who one wants and Masterminding them into one's life. Like it's namesake, Taylor's Willow is expressing a wistful desire for a lost true love. The context implies neglect and distrusted by her partner at that time.

The Othello reference implies the object of her desire, the title of Harry Styles Sweet Creature is an Othello quote. Sweet Creature mocked CH's unwarranted belief that he had had an affair with Taylor, it also expresses Harry's love for Taylor.

I have seen analysis suggesting that Willow is retelling of Othello from Desdemona POV, but it isn't. Desdemona is an innocent victim, She's faithful and says she would not cheat for anything short of the whole world then is murdered. Taylor's character in Willow has more agency and would 'cheat to win' a trophy of man that she describes in Gold Rush. Unlike Desdemona, she has desire, which Taylor described to Zane Lowe. She is the character in the Willow Song - stuck in a false love, longing for her lost true love. It is a metaphor for Taylors own life, Sweet Creature parallel intended. Which explains the video with links to Taylor's past since Red.

Lyrics

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife And if it was an open-shut case I never would've known from that look on your face Lost in your current like a priceless wine

To WFPK Taylor described the couple in Coney Island and Exile as 'Ships in the Night' in having trouble communicating. A similar water theme is here. Although she is not open to a relationship, she is rough on the surface, he gets through and she wants him.

She is defenceless and lost wanting to be with him. (Wonderland: "We found wonderland, you and I got lost in it").

Wine is a theme, (spilt on many dresses (Clean), shirts (Maroon), bathtubs (Dress) and a sea here).

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind (oh) Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in As if you were a mythical thing Like you were a trophy or a champion ring And there was one prize I'd cheat to win

Life is a willow that bent to your wind is brings the symbolism of a strong, deep force that grows around and with life's interferance. She has grown around this love, bending with it over time.

She feels her muse sneaking in to her pillow, sneaking implies an affair, this is not her boyfriend but someone she desires more that has had a deep impact on her life. This is confirmed with being willing to cheat to be with this muse.

She desires him like a prize, she describes Harry with similar desirability in Gold Rush, where she is intimidated by how desired he is, here she is proud he is her man. Similar to Gold Rush which starts with 'I almost jump in' Willow started with her having a rough surface he cuts through, both body of water metaphors.

The more that you say The less I know Wherever you stray I follow

'The more you say, the less I know' refers to her confusion over being in a committed relationship. In Folklore she and Harry communicated about their past in The 1, Cardigan and Exile. She's now confused about the path she is on and questioning if she should leave her partner. In The 1 she sang "And if you wanted me, you really should've showed", he now has and she is confused.

Wherever you stray a follow is similar to Lover "can I go where you go?" Also in Treacherous "And I'll do anything you say / If you say it with your hands". Also Harry's Medicine. "If you go out tonight, I'm going out 'cause I know you're persuasive"

I'm begging for you to take my hand Wreck my plans That's my man You know that my train could take you home Anywhere else is hollow

"Begging for you take my hand" refers to:

Blank Space: "Grab your passport and my hand"

I Know Places: "Just grab my hand and don’t ever drop it"

New Romantics: "Please take my hand and please take me dancing", and

As it Was "I want you to hold out the palm of your hand / Why don't we leave it at that?"

"You know that my train could take you home" Home is an important concept between Harry and Taylor who sing about each other as home. Trains are also mentioned in Cardigan and Sad Beautiful Tragic, which Cardigan's BTS links to Cardigan.

'Anywhere else is hollow' is similar to Ready for it? "Every lover known in comparison is a failure" and Question...? "Does it feel like everything's just like second-best after that Meteor strike?" and Harry's MMIH "Once you go without it nothing else will do"

I'm begging for you to take my hand Wreck my plans That's my man

"Wreck my plans", Taylors plans were to stay with the partner that, in Willow Song, is jealous and neglectful. This muse has shown up and that's out the window.

"That's my man" refers to the cyclical nature of their relationship:

Style: And when we go crashing down we come back every time

Blank Space: "But you’ll come back each time you leave"

Out Of The Woods: "We were built to fall apart, then fall back together"

How You Get The Girl: "Broke your heart, I’ll put it back together"

This Love: "When you’re young you just run, but you come back to what you need"

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind (oh) They count me out time and time again Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind (oh) But I come back stronger than a 90's trend

I love this, to me the 90's trend/come back (to me) is a reference to 1989 and Style/the cycle nature of their relationship. In this part of the film clip she also references Reputation and where she was counted out and came back stronger.

Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark Show me the places where the others gave you scars Now this is an open-shut case Guess I should've known from the look on your face Every bait and switch was a work of art

Taylor further discusses how she meets her lover after dark, this is describing an affair as in Illicit Affairs.

He shares his vulnerability, where the scars are. Harry has sung of showing Taylor scars in If I could fly "I've got scars, even though they can't always be seen. And pain gets hard, but now you're here and I don't feel a thing. Pay attention, I hope that you listen cause I let my guard down. Right now I'm completely defenseless" I think she is also referring to Seven.

Taylor used 'Bait and switch in promotion for "Look at what you made me do" the bait and switch was that Reputation seemed like one thing but was about finding love through the noise. While Taylor dated Joe for the last 4 months before it's release, the album was primarily written by September 2016 before they started dating.

Taylor also referred to Zane Lowe about "The complexity of seeing someone, feeling a connection wanting them and trying to make them a part of your life. It's tactical at times, it's confusing at times." in the music video and Era's tour she has a witches gathering to use all her power and bring this muse into her life.

[apalonecreations]

Analysis time with 0thello: (Disaster twins edition)

So I was reading a fic (shocker) and I'm realizing just how alike Donnie is to Draxum and Leo is to Splinter. As if it were intentional parallels between the brothers and them. For example: Leo fucked up a bunch of times to the point of almost dooming humanity (Kraang) just like Splinter had (Shredder), and Donnie made life threatening experiments and even created new sentient life (Shelldon) and mutated things purposefully (I.e. The worm from witch town) like Draxum had. I could go on about this because it's actually wild to me how eerily similar this is. These are near perfect parallels which makes me think they would have done something with that later on in the series if it hadn't been cancelled. Similar to what they had done for Raph & Leo, Donnie & Mikey, Leo & Mikey (ish) and Mikey & Raph but to a much larger extent. Perhaps it could have shown up later on, had the show gotten it's full 7 seasons like it should have. It upsets me that (if they were going to) they didn't get to have that character arc between them like they had with the others. It would have been really interesting to see. Like would Donnie have had a villain arc? Would they have had something like Leo had with Raph where it was constant arguing except it got progressively worse? Perhaps it could have ended up with some form of kidnapping and/or manipulation with one of the two and the other was forced to help them despite their fighting beforehand. Who knows.

[ladymacbethisagirlboss]

what are your queer readings of othello

thank you that you asked, and I'm so sorry

Also I wrote this on a train w/o checking my sources so if my quotes are off I'm sorry

So, a lot of critics read Iago as either a closeted gay, or somewhere in that spectrum, for multiple reasons. For one, there's something inherently a bit gay about being obsessed with another man in your life to the point of needing to destroy him? And there's many fascinating heterosexual readings of this, but if we read into some of Iago's anguage, and especially the aspect of sexual jealousy, we come back with some very interesting ideas. Take for example, his suspicion that "the lusty moor/ hath leaped into [his] seat". While many read this as suspicion of Emilia, there's also some uhh... interesting connotations of fantasising about sitting on another man's lap? I read a critical analysis which charmingly said it had connotations of anal insertion, which is a lovely way to put it lmaooo.

Equally, there's his near romantic fascination with Cassio. There's a classic idea in the queer community of do I love him, or do I want to become him, and this is very clear in Iago's fanatical need to usurp Cassio, either for Othello's love or his own desire for the lieutenant. Particularly I'd point to a scene I've seen called "strikingly homoerotic" where Iago tells Othello that Cassio one night (as they are "bedfellows") began to "kiss" him "roughly" and "lay his leg" over Iago's. I mean. Yeah. Usurpation is a very gay theme in Othello - in this imagined moment, Iago sees himself as a substitute for Desdemona in Cassio' desire, and this is repeated many times, with Iago repeatedly taking on either Desdemona's role or fantasising about usurping he bodily functions. See Othello and Iago's marriage at the end of act 3(? Can't remember lmaoo) where they kneel together and vow fealty to eachother, or Iago's plan being a "birth", literally usurping her societal role as a woman bodily.

These are literally just two examples out of many - I'm a bit rushed for time, but if those sound interesting I'm heavily referencing Iago: Race as Projection in Othello and Slander, Renaissance Discourse on Sodomy and Othello, both of which are free on Google scholar! Hope you found this informing lmao

[abcdefghijk13245]

OTHELLO TECHNIQUES

To me, one of the most intriguing techniques seen in Othello is Shakespeare’s skillful, though confusing manipulation of time. Throughout the play, there appear repetitive mentions of the timescale, which often, upon closer analysis, seem unreasonable and inconsistent, suggesting as if a large amount of the play takes place off stage or even in a different timeline. The ‘short time’ theory depicts the discordance and unreliability of the timescale in Othello while focusing on aspects having to do with the change of the pace following Act I, after which parts such as the climax and denouement seem to happen rapidly and without suspension. On the other hand, some of the play’s characters introduce coexistent timelines, suggesting the overbearingly slow passage of time (ex. Bianca claiming she hadn’t seen Cassio for a long time, though they have been on the island for no more than 2 days), while Iago seems to somehow always be and always have been two steps ahead. Furthermore, the catalyst manipulates time himself as a way to infuriate Othello, which he does in Act V Scene II by telling the protagonist of the many times Cassio and Desdemona committed adultery. Moreover, the disorderly timescale of “Othello” acts on the audience’s pathos, building on the evident tension emerging since the beginning of the play, and continuing to intensify as the play goes on.

[xmochaccinox]

Rise Character Analysis: Kendra!

Ch 1: Meet Kendra

Ch 2: Kendra's Major Traits

Ch 3: Kendra's Relationship With Others

Ch 4: Theories

Alright, I'm bored and I wanna do a character analysis on a Rise Character, but seeing as the turtles, April, Splinter, and Cassandra have been done many times, let's target Kendra!

Just so you know, I am not a certified psychologist, but psychology has been my life long interest. I may get things incorrect and this is all my perspective on what's going on. If you have any disagreement, please engage! I would love to hear everyone's thoughts as long as it's done in a respectable manner (as in don't go calling me or others a dumb*ss and stuff)!

Everything is below under the cut due to length

Ch 1: Meet Kendra

Kendra, who is she? Well, she's the leader of the Purple Dragons and is a well known rival (as well as a very popular head canon love potential) of our one and only purple tech turtle, Donnie. What's her end goal? We... actually don't really know. All we know is that she wants to steal a device that can just give her instant access to hack into any computer and we don't know what else

We first see Kendra in The Purple Jacket with her group taken over a part of the highschool's computer room, which gives us a hint towards their specialty. Right away before we even meet her, we see two students behind her, Jeremy, and Jason dealing with nasty wedgies, a classic way of showing that these are the bullies of the school. April even refers to them as "Stuck up jerks who think they're smarter than everyone else"

Some major skills that Kendra (as well as Jeremy and Jason) uses is programming, coding, hacking, and modification. We see this multiple times, but the biggest example has to be The Purple Game when they used a video game and somehow attached a giant robot to it that also has an AI that studied Donnie's gaming style should things go wrong. Oh, and they hacked into Donnie's computer just to gloat

Kendra and the rest of the Purple Dragons appear to mostly use hardware hacking, which is basically hacking into the physical computer, although they do have some knowledge of software hacking as well

I will mention that they appear to have some idea of making drones and such, but not very advanced as seen in Breaking Purple when Kendra complains that their (Jason's) drone isn't good enough for the drone race. So their skills lean more towards hacking and modifying rather than building things (which kinda makes me wonder where they got the giant robot for The Purple Game as well as the security bots from Mind Meld. Maybe it's just the show being a little inconsistent, who knows)

Outside of school, Kendra, Jeremy, and Jason are still trouble makers, but mostly pulls annoying pranks like throwing food into people's mouths who fell asleep in a theater, which is wildly tame compared to the scene right before it where apparently they used actual tasers during laser tag (no seriously, compare that scene with what we see in Operation: Normal)

Ch 2: Kendra's Personality

Kendra is confident

Often we see Kendra present herself in a highly manner. The best example is when she reveals herself in The Purple Game, saying, "We meet again Bootyshaker9000. Or should I call you Othello Von Ryan? Or should I call you Donnie?" and ignores Donnie's comment about being in house arrest to continue to gloat

We also know that Kendra and the other dragons consider themselves smarter than everyone else through April and the fact that even Kendra herself said that she and her group is the "Greatest hacking duo"

Kendra is uncaring

Kendra is confident in her own plans so much so that when things go wrong, she becomes extremely angry and also blames others for it but then quickly bounces back, announcing that she will be back (which kinda makes me think of an old cartoon villain)

Kendra is intelligent

The one thing that can not be denied is her intelligence. She's clearly smart enough to help her teammates with hacking into a system to get a code and knows how to work with software and coding

I will say I think her intelligence seems to lean a little more into Leo smart, where she knows how to manipulate the people around her to get what she wants, but she is able to work on her own if she has to

While actually meeting her, Kendra pretends to not know who April is, even though the latter pointed out that they've known each other since Kindergarten. Another hint shown is later on in the same episode when she willingly leaves Jason and Jeremy behind for the sake of stealing a code from the Nakamura company

Also the race she persuaded Shelldon into participating is apparently potentially deadly. We get this from the scene with Malinowski and Repo Mantis when they talk about drones participating in the race and many ending up as scrap metal and in the actual race when things like saw blades are being used as obstacles

Kendra is charismatic

Once again, this is shown in The Purple Jacket when she tricks Donnie into revealing their technology, only to use their own tech for her own goals

This was shown again in Breaking Purple when Kendra takes advantage of Shelldon while he was at a low point and tricked him into thinking he was part of the team in order to have him participate in a race that would give the winner the Shadow Transmitter

Kendra is sadistic

Kendra tried to destroy Donnie's siblings both through wanting to see them do it to quickly switching it to wanting the joy of seeing Donnie's reaction to her destroying their siblings

Kendra is impatient

The one thing that everything Kendra keeps trying to steal have in common is that they would supposedly get her into any computer instantly. Even though she herself does coding. And she also steals tech (specifically Donnie's tech as well as robbing electronic stores) to get to her goal quicker

Kendra also values her own time a lot. She wants to get things done as quickly as possible. She can be seen interrupting conversations and telling those involved to wrap it up if she feels like her time is being wasted. One example is when she tells Jeremy and Donnie to "Can the bromance" and in a later episode interrupts Jeremy when he tries to explain the AI in the game they made for Donnie

Kendra is irritable

This can go hand in hand with her being impatient as Kendra becomes angry when her patience is running out. Kendra is often seen snapping at someone, using that fear she puts on them to keep them in line. We mostly see this with her and Jason, but I go into that more later in the post

Though most of all, she gets upset when things don't go her way, like when she got angry at Shelldon for failing to get the Shadow Transmitter, calling him a "Useless drone"

Now with all that, how does Kendra see herself? Well, we know she sees herself as the greatest hacker and also refers to herself and her group "misunderstood teens that don't play by the rules" but considering she's constantly talking with a sinister tone, I genuinely can't tell if she's aware of how bad she can be and doesn't care or she doesn't see what's wrong with what she does. I'm inclined to assume the latter considering all we know about her so far

Another thing to note, despite her love to gloat, Kendra is pretty quiet when it comes to talking about how her tech works. At least compared to Jeremy who jumps at the chance to explain how things works. Maybe she doesn't want anyone to steal what she does?

Ch 3: Kendra's Relationship With Others

Donnie:

At first Kendra did not care about who Donnie is. If Donnie hadn't stopped her from robbing the Nakamura company, she probably would've continued to not care about them, but they forced themself outside of being viewed as a pawn, and is now viewed as the enemy. And what does Kendra do in retaliation? She tries to trick them into destroying their siblings

In turn, Donnie did have a genuine interest in joining her group (and also getting that purple jacket), but that was quickly diminished when she stole their tech. Because of it, Donnie usually seen trying to stop Kendra from stealing any other codes or devices, and even warned Shelldon about her and the other Purple Dragons before he even met the group

April:

Now technically we have no idea what relationship Kendra had with April. However, what interests me is April's reaction to Kendra. She just seems so done, almost as though she witnessed Kendra being Kendra for way too long or she was also screwed over by Kendra at some point in her life

Even when Donnie's stuff got stolen, she just wasn't surprised, at all

And it contrasts how she is towards Taylor, another cool girl character who's a bit of a jerk, but April was more wanting to impress her

But this is all purely speculation, so I can't really confirm anything

Jeremy:

The closest Kendra considers an equal. He goes along with Kendra's antics without much of a fuss and is the one Kendra is the nicest towards. He doesn't even seem to mind whenever she expresses frustration over something

Even still, she tends to quickly shut him down when he tried to engage in conversation with Donnie and explain how the Purple Game worked

There's not much I can say due to there not being too much screen time for him

Jason:

So Jason is the weaker link of the group. He's the one that Kendra treats more harshly and is barely considered a part of the group. We get this by Kendra snatching Jason's jacket to give to Donnie in The Purple Jacket and when she referred to the Purple Dragons as a duo rather than a trio (stating that Jason is on thin ice when he tries to correct her), and finally when she calls Jason the low man of the totem pole

Hell, Jason can barely have much of a happy moment without Kendra immediately knocking him back down. We get this from when he succeeds at bypassing the security in the Nakamura Simulator and she immediately says that he needs to be knocked down a peg and then when she reminds him that he's the low man after she agrees to let Donnie join

And surprisingly, we get some insight as to why. It turns out Jason is Kendra's stepbrother, and it's heavily implied that the only reason why he's even a part of the team is because of their parents. We get this when after Jason failed to get the Shadow Transmitter, Kendra says, "I wish my dad never married your mom"

Chapter 4: Theories

Okay, so a very common theory I've seen for why Kendra acts the way she does is because of her potentially dealing with a divorce

It does explain why she has a need for constant control. It explains why she's into hacking and modifications. It explains why she's always trying to get her hands on a code or a device that could hack into any computer. It's also possible Kendra learned how to be manipulative starting with her parents

What it doesn't explain is, why the ability to hack into any computer specifically?

Now, I just want to also say that this obviously doesn't excuse anything. It doesn't excuse for how she treats Jason (who, may I remind you, is also dealing with the divorce as well). It's not an excuse for how she treats Jeremy. It's not an excuse for how she treated Shelldon. It's not an excuse for anything

Although that's all I can really say. Other than that, we have no idea what's actually going on in Kendra nor Jason's life. What I can safely say is that the parents are definitely not perfect because trying to force a relationship between anyone will most of the time completely fall apart

One thing I will note is how the only time Kendra has ever brought up the potential divorce thing was when Jason failed to get the Shadow Transmitter, and she doesn't say anything about a divorce, she instead specifically says, "I wish my dad never married your mom"

Overall Thoughts:

All 'n all, depending on your own experience, Kendra is basically the typical a-hole high school bully (or semi-typical)

Despite me having barely anything nice to say about her, I like Kendra, especially as a character. I think she's a pretty interesting character, and honestly I would love to see how she would develop as a villain. And I say villain because I highly doubt that she's going to willingly change for the better anytime soon and honestly? That's perfectly fine with me

If the show does somehow continue and Kendra does get some kind of redemption arc, she'd be an anti-hero at best, and hopefully it's out of her choice and not because the writers decided to put in the "she was in love with Donnie this whole time" trope

So, thanks for reading!

Also, if you want an analysis and/or an opinion on any overall stories, ships, theories, characters, etc to the fandoms I'm in or familiar with, I might do it depending on what it is

[butchhamlet]

you probably get asked this Really Often so i am very sorry but. when did you start reading shakespeare/how long did completing the canon take you? it’s something you i really really want to do but i’m at a grand total of 3/38

also i am currently on the bus and have decided i can’t scroll through your blog anymore because it’s making me feel too hyped and i can’t keep my expression neutral. i Love your hamlet analysis So Much

first of all, THANK YOU <3 <3

second of all, i definitely took my time with it! the great thing about shakespeare is that he's always gonna be there, and you're not going to miss out on any new upcoming releases if you don't catch up on the whole histories saga right this instant. i read my first shakespeare play in high school, in my freshman year english class (romeo and juliet), but for the next, like, three years, i only read a handful more (i think it was hamlet, macbeth, then much ado, then the tempest, then lear?). basically, i picked one up whenever i felt like the time was right--like, my high school was putting it on (macbeth), or i suddenly remembered part of the plot and wanted to know what it was actually like and i had a ton of time because it was suddenly covid quarantine (lear).

in, uhhh, i want to say 2021? one of my friends and i talked about doing a shakespeare-canon book club. we only ever read othello together, but it inspired me to actually try to read all of them, so then i made that my fixed project for that year/the first half of 2022. by which time i was a freshman in college, so. four years? five years? but even that might be kind of fast, depending on how you like to read! taking my first shakespeares slow was really enjoyable, because after each play, i really immersed myself in meta and memes and art, which i think kind of helped me ease my way into familiarity with shakespeare's language, common themes, history, etc.

i guess my main (rather unsolicited) advice here is that there are no rules! it does feel kind of impressive to get to say you've read the whole canon, but i don't think anyone should feel obligated to do so just because shakespeare is The Great Bard. you gotta do what works for you! (and "no rules" also means it's not somehow shakespeare-illegal to audiobook it, or watch a production before/rather than watching the play, etc etc. i read all of the plays but that's because i have a terrible fucking attention span lol)