#but...this is from catch 22

[ghcstao3]

ghost treats confusing others like an olympic sport when he’s using it to get out of things. he’ll be asked a question, repeat the question back as if clarifying, get a reply of something along the lines of yes, so have you? and then start the cycle again by asking have i what? with a straight face and even tone.

or, other times it’s a bit simpler, answering questions like so you said…? with a frown and an affronted i never said that, even if he had, verbatim, just moments before.

he’ll relay things no one has said just for the sake of sending someone he doesn’t like on a wild, pointless goose chase. alternatively he’ll give complete nonsense responses to throw someone off long enough for him to get away.

it’s all a part of some long con even he doesn’t really have the full picture of. he just knows he’s pretty damn good at misdirection, so he’ll just keep on using it so long as it’s needed.

[witchofanguish]

“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,” Yossarian continued, hurtling on over her objection. “There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about–a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?” “Pain?” Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife pounced upon the word victoriously. “Pain is a useful symptom. Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers.” “And who created the dangers?” Yossarian demanded. He laughed caustically. “Oh, He was really being charitable to us when He gave us pain! Why couldn’t He have used a doorbell instead to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person’s forehead. Any jukebox manufacturer worth his salt could have done that. Why couldn’t He?” “People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes in the middle of their foreheads.” “They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony or stupefied with morphine, don’t they? What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It’s obvious He never met a payroll. Why, no self-respecting businessman would hire a bungler like Him as even a shipping clerk!”

[lenodrysalad]

"Eddie said he's straight! Buck said Eddie was straight! Buck said he's not in love with his best friend! They shut down Buddie in the show it isn't happening ya'll are delusional! Queerbait! Queerbait! Blah blah blah"

I feel like I'm going insane. I'm sure we're all tired of people shouting "media literacy" every five seconds, but like... Yeah, develop some media literacy, please.

I'm saying this as someone who doesn't usually like romance, despite being subjected to it in basically every piece of media. As someone who doesn't generally look for love stories. As someone who loved Buddie but didn't consider any serious possibility of it becoming canon before season 7/8, who refused to believe Buddie was truly happening until I couldn't deny it anymore: this episode is loud.

Please understand how narrative arcs work. How character arcs work. How character development works. How serial broadcast television works. Understand how writing works. Consider context; take the whole episode, the whole season, and the whole series into account instead of treating things like they exist in isolation.

I'm too tired to go through the step-by-step details of the episode to prove why these, "they said it on screen, therefore..." takes are shortsighted and ignorant; plenty of people have done that already.

But that episode, even if we do take it in isolation, is textbook. Do people really take everything characters say at face value? Do people not watch other character's reactions? Listen to what else is being said? Watch what is being shown? Consider the implications? Themes? Narrative devices?

Consider that maybe, just maybe, characters can be unreliable narrators, or believe something to be true only for that belief to change later. These things don't happen in one episode. There's such a thing as set-up, foreshadowing, the starting point of a plot. 911 is a serial drama, therefore it is going to have A) long-form story and character arcs, and B) drama.

Characters are not going to move in straight lines, or talk in therapy speak, or solve every problem in an hour. They are not always going to be right, or self-aware, or truthful, or rational. Direct dialogue does not equate to honest dialogue.

Also, saying, "well in real life, people do this, I do that, their feelings would be this, yadda yadda yadda" means nothing. Your experiences are not universal, and more importantly, this is a work of fiction. Realism is whatever the story says it is; it's going to do whatever creates the most dramatic, interesting, developmentally beneficial, or emotionally satisfying story. Whether you like that story or not is irrelevant to the fact that stories are not going to cater to all your expectations or real-world experiences.

To people pointing to Tim or the actor's interviews as "proof" they're shutting down Buddie: again, please understand how broadcast television works. They are not going to tell us everything that's going to happen before it happens. They are going to play the neutral zone, the "wait and see," the "will they/won't they." They are going to lie. That is television production 101. You can compare what they've said in the past with canon and list all the contradictions, misdirection, and twists you didn't see coming because they didn't spoil it for you. Watch the show. That is the canon.

They're also not catering to fandom--people they already know are devoted to the show, familiar with Buddie, and consistently tuning in. They're introducing the idea of Buddie to the general audience, people who likely haven't considered the possibility before. The GA has to see that Buddie is an option, so the show needs to manifest it as if it's a brand new concept. This episode pulled the pin on that grenade in a very obvious way; the idea that Buck could be in love with Eddie and that Eddie could not be straight has been planted. The next seed will be Eddie's feelings. Now the show needs to water it and let it grow.

One last thing. Been seeing a fair amount of hand-wringing and condescension over people interpreting this episode differently. As if this is some sort of "gotcha" for bad writing, baiting, or people being stupid. Listen, genuine complaints about this show's writing aside, different interpretations or inferences are completely normal. This isn't unique. That is how people interact with stories, through personal biases, experiences, emotions, and expectations. That isn't inherently a bad thing. It's totally fine to have your own views; media is all about interpretation.

However, it is also true that just because you have an interpretation, that doesn't make it true. Not all interpretations are equal in their validity, evidence, or warrants. The show has an intention, it has a story in mind. If you don't see it, sure, that could be a failure of the writing, but it could also very well be a failure of your analysis, especially when the show hasn't finished telling the story. Looking at one thing in isolation and forming your whole conclusion based around that makes for poor critique.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right.

[aerplain]

catch 22 if it was a shitty direct-to-dvd movie

[whatthefuckisasweep]

yoyo lives even now

[reunitedinterlude]

lofi phantasy: the album

track 12: birds at the window

[grimm-the-tiger]

My favorite works of fiction described as badly as possible, part 5:

Kids explore a Ghibli apocalypse. Sometimes evil seafood tries to eat them. Also, hell. (Sky: Children of the Light)

The Happening but with wizards and coherency. (Uprooted)

The worst fucking weather you can think of. (Stormlight Archive)

Living defibrillator runs from the cops and capitalism. (Michael Vey)

Average DND party fights dragons and causes problems. (Legend of Vox Machina)

Lady beats up white guys in feudal Japan. (Blue Eye Samurai)

Russian witch fights her shitty boyfriend to save her even shittier boyfriend. (Shadow & Bone)

Franz Kafka presents: The United States Air Force. (Catch-22)

The British starve to death in the Arctic again. (Frostpunk)

Prometheus starts matchmaking as a ploy to kill Zeus. (Kaos)

Depressed guy going through a terrible breakup becomes a nihilist after the worst acid trip imaginable. (Vide Noir)

Four hobos, a child, and this freaky dog they found break into a dungeon to fight pervert monsters and starve to death (alt: Finnish guy tests how much bullshit he can get away with putting in a game before Steam puts its foot down). (Fear & Hunger)

Scientific laboratory violates every law of workplace safety, reality, and basic common sense for shits and giggles. (Tales From the Loop)

Previous:

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Part 3 

Part 4

[spocks-evil-godmother]

Why don't we talk about Yossarian more? He is like the most Tumblr user literary character of all time. He finds fun little ways (faking an illness) to get out of doing his job. He makes blackout posts using the outgoing letters of other soldiers. He hates war but finds everyone he knows oddly compelling. He has a weird homosocial thing going on with a chaplain. He likes hornyposting on main but still finds sex complicated. He's haunted by the horrors, even.

[shitpostingkats]

Every new thing I learn about the Sahdmahdi family has me wanting to chew drywall

[cctinsleybaxter]

faceblindness continues to be my funniest trait i was watching one of my bad wwii submarine movies like 'that ugly guy's kinda cute in like a guitar-at-a-party way he'd be a good mcwatt' and it was bon jovi

[mayor-david-prentiss]

wow a sigistvan fic exists on ao3...

[dhufflebee]

GO FUCK YOURSELVES

[wheelchairtetris]

much less stressed about money now that i have a paying job but also. the toll it is taking on me is significant.

[doctorweebmd]

having a tumblr blog of uhhh 13 years really gives you perspective. Girl look at the shit you posted at 22. Your mind was a fucking prison lmaooo

[welcometotheravenclawcommonroom]

Mom says it's my turn with the "can freestyle create a thing without needing to take measurements because you know instinctually what and how it will fit" autism. She says someone else needs to take the "covered in bruises due to lack of spacial awareness even in familiar spaces" autism. It's only fair.

[cctinsleybaxter]

i want this off my desktop