#christian fantasy nerd

[annamariehamilton-unofficial]

Literary Hot Takes #1: The Bible Is Epic Fantasy

OK, so, like, if you think about it just a little too hard, the Bible is kind of epic fantasy. I mean, not in the sense of "made up" or "not true," (I do happen to believe in it), but I mean in the sense that it actually follows a lot of the tropes of the genre.

Kings and warriors with unpronounceable lineages, epic battles of Good and Evil, supernatural creatures, calamitous Egyptian wizard slams and miracle healings that look an awful lot like magic, a Chosen One hero who comes back from the dead, and the literal end of the world.

Like, it's got the epic sweep of Lord of the Rings. The winsome simplicity of The Chronicles of Narnia. The bonkers sex, violence, and political backstabbing of Game of Thrones. And the head-bending horror of "Call of Cthulhu" (I mean, Biblical cherubim are the good guy version of eldrich horrors and you can't convince me otherwise).

There are 2.5 billion fans of this book who dedicate an entire day of the week to LARP-ing.

And (depending on your belief system) it might just be a true story.

Wild.

[minnepaulitan]

I accidentally bought three more books than I intended today. What? A colleague said she was pissed off and needed to buy a book to calm down? Who was I to stop her from that? I was just along for the ride and found myself handing my card over at the register.

[purplemoonabove]

By tomorrow, it would be two weeks since I’ve saw s2. The fact that it’s been in my mind so long as me watching both The Little Mermaid and Across The Spider Verse shows just how good, emotionally wrecking, and memorable it is — for me as both a fantasy fan and a writer, who wants to create stories that would have people this attached to

[thaltro]

Consensus on DID is annoying because there really isn’t one

The more medical research I do, the more I realize DID even up in the medical community feels like twitter discourse.

That is it say- polarized and heated. I mean I understand it, as of now there’s two main models the Trauma Model and the Socio Cognitive/Fantasy

To summarize for those who aren’t annoying nerds:

Trauma model: Dissociation is from traumatic experiences and cases amnesia barriers around personalities and memories

Socio Cog/ Fantasy model: People are suggestible and fantasy prone, DID is just fantasy and doesn’t actually exist

Now my psychiatrist who diagnosed me followed the Socio Cog model (which wasn’t fun) and explained my parts were just me believing I had alters, therefore the cure was “ignore it”. In all fairness the socio cog model is more complex but the conclusion is it’s false. The trauma model has flaws too in its studies, the definition of what severe trauma isn’t determined well. But despite that i do believe it has more merit then Socio Cog. I mean Socio Cog is heavily reliant on False memory syndrome which comes from a foundational belief that “you can’t recover csa memories” which is just provably wrong.

Outside of the medical community you have movements like the inclusive plurality movement which I find much more enjoyable to research than Socio cog. I do think they have interesting points! How I’ve concluded on the endogenic movement is that it tends to be very spiritual and religious. I wouldn’t tell a Christian that they are stupid to think they are talking to angels because I’m an atheist, just as I wouldn’t go out of my way to call an endo stupid for believing they have many souls possessing them. I think they have merit with brining research interest to personality disorders having similar structures to a DID system. (That is somewhat true because bpd is on the same dissociative level as osdd-1b) but a lot of it just sounds like self talk, imaginary friends, and spirituality.. not really comparable to DID.

What’s my current belief?

I think DID is Mostly formed due to repeated trauma at a young age, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were genetic dispositions. But my belief can change! I just wish more people gave a shit about the disorder to look into it. The false memory foundation and socio cognitive approach actively discourages research on the disorder. When I asked “why isn’t there clinics?” I was told “typically if you invalidate the belief in personalities the patient will stop reporting the issue” which made me feel shitty.

[perasperaadpasta]

I have no empathy for Good Omens or Sandman or whatever other Gaiman work fans who 1. just cannot help making the allegations about themselves and 2. are genuinely heartbroken to the point of being unwilling to reasses their attachment to these works (these usually overlap).

When I found out an author I was obsessed with, whose works I read nearly in their entirety and voraciously, whose stories inspired me and filled my imagination for years, turned out to be a paedophile who abused her children, facilitated the abuse of multiple others by her also paedophile husband, and raped her daughter, none of that... mattered anymore. How could it possibly?

I'm talking about Marion Zimmer Bradley, if her rap sheet isn't familiar. Having grown up a nerd who could read at highschool level at 7, and who was, at 12, already sick of how male-centered fiction (and particularly fantasy, my favorite genre) was, discovering The Mists of Avalon was a revelation. The pointedly anti-Christian, unapologetically female-centered narrative was a near-spiritual balm for a closeted lesbian kid in a Catholic small town.

I read all of her Arthuriana books and all of her Darkover series I could find. I'm interested in Arthuriana to this day because of the point of view she offered. The possibility of shifting the male gaze pervasive in art to a female view from within was so instrumental to how I approach art at all. And this is, of course, not pioneered nor exclusive to Bradley, but it was my introduction to it, to this critical and yet respectful framework of experiencing art.

And yet. When I learned what she'd done, it fundamentally and irrevocably changed what she'd said.

Is it really still a work of feminist expression if composed by a rapist? I cannot reconcile the thought that the most execrable creature in feminist thinking can be capable of anything but farcical, hypocritical emulation of sincerity, convincing as it may be. It cannot possibly be earnest and its pretense is pervasive. Even if the story was otherwise so good, so entertaining that its message could be sidelined, there's hardly a lack of that that makes this particular one indispensable.

My admiration for her is all revulsion now. I have no interest in what this sort of thing has to say about anything, safe for possibly in the context of criminal psychology.

I will never reread it. I will never recommend it as entertainment and least of all feminist entertainment.

And here's the thing, this wasn't life-ruining for me. This did not hurt me personally. My world didn't shatter, it didn't even crack. Important as it may have been, the loss of a THING, a book, ONE story in a world so saturated with them several hundred lifetimes wouldn't suffice to know them, is not a loss I would ever have the self-indulgent embarrasment of mourning. It was what it was once, and it is what it is now.

The only people who were hurt were her victims.

Absolutely no exceptions. It's vulgar to a degree I can't wrap my head around to consider otherwise.

[the-ellia-west]

Hello and Welcome!

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About me:

I am a Christian, and a Devoted one!

I am a Minor (High School) So DON'T BE WEIRD

I am a Woman

I am Straight and a Hopeless Romantic, but I'm not looking for a Relationship currently

I am an Author/Writer

Amateur artist, (Started drawing August 2024)

I am a Plotter, and I just recently figured that out!

I love to ramble and listen to rambles!

My MBTI is INFP-T

I live in the USA Midwest but I spell grey with an e

✦ I promise I don't bite! Please interact with me! ✦ Feel free to ask me anything about Writing or my WIPs, I love to help!

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Favorites: Book: John Carter, A Princess of Mars (By Edgar Rice Burroughs) Movie: Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader Artist: Tobymac Song: Sleep in the Storm (Unspoken) Colors: Blood Red, Gold, Lilac Purple, Forest Green Hobbies: Writing, Doodling, Rambling Food: Eggs, Grapes, Noodles, Specifically Spaghetti, and Pork lo-mein Drink: Taro Milk tea & Cherry Italian Soda Characters: Haymitch, Zuko, Knuckles, Eustace, Darth Maul, Gummigoo, Hunter, Doey, Yarnaby Tropes: Magnificent Bastards, True Kings, Romantic Subplots, Grumpy Mentors, Darkest Hours, Redemption arcs, & Happy Endings Current Interests: Sonic, The Owl House, TADC, ATLA, Fool's Gold, PPT ch4

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I Post about:

Any of my Interests

Talking with and Supporting Friends

My Life and Feelings

My WIPS! (Usually Characters but sometimes Plot & Actual Writing) -[See Below]

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My Wips!

Just Click on the Titles for more info! (Masterposts Coming soon) QNA OPEN - PLEASE ASK ABOUT MY OCS

Jest of Royalty -JoR- Genre - High Fantasy Action Drama Type - Webcomic Theme - Anyone can be redeemed if They have the Remorse and are willing to put in the work Description - A Young Farm boy named Ronan Breaks the Magical Staff of a god, and embarks on a Vengeful quest to get them back, Finding a new family along the way and learning the true meaning of mercy and love

Fallen Genre - Romance Fantasy Type - Written Theme - Nothing said, done, or changed, Can Make a Person unworthy of love Description - In a World where name means everything, a Noblewoman named Adémiah runs away from home and meets a Criminal called Dyn who saves her life several times, and through a dangerous journey they learn to love one another, with the help of a Traveller called Bard

Chomik Genre - High-Fantasy Comedy Type - Comic Theme - None Description - Young Hero, Kaezal, is yoinked into a quest for knowledge by a researcher, Akea, and they come across a variety of different Foes and Reoccurring Villains

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Tags:

#Ellia scribbles - My Drawings, doodles, & art practice

#Ellia's rambling - My incoherent Ramblings about the stuff I love

#Ghost-stories - My Actual Writing

#Tea and trinkets - Yapping with my Friends

#Quill-and-ink - My Poetry

#Haunting box - Any asks

#Ellia's dollhouse - My Real Life

#Ellia's dolls - My Hyperfixations/interests

#Fallen wip - Anything important Fallen-related

#Chomik work - Anything Chomik-related

#Ellia's jor - Anything JoR-related

#JoR memes - Memes and random funny stuff

#JoR family - Character info, Team Dynamics, conversations, ect.

#JoR psychology - We dive into the minds of the Characters

#JoR characters - Stuff about individual characters

#JoR vital - Things I may need for later/important stuff

#JoR building - Worldbuilding

#JoR story - The Plot

#JoR snippets - Scenes, Writing, ect.

#JoR thoughts - My ramblings about the WIP

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My Moots:

@thewritingautisticat @yolbert @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @lunaeuphternal @an-indecisive-nerd

@homelessnerd @thebookishkiwi @write-with-will @pastellbg @i-do-anything-but-write

@darkandstormydolls @supercimi @blargh-500 @sunflowerrosy @corinneglass

@carb0n-m0n0xid3 @tiredpapergirl @vesanal @fourwingedsnake @ellowynthenotking

@busybussinbee @the-letterbox-archives @harleyacoincidence @cosmolumine @urnumber1star

@thecrazyalchemist @i-hate-happy-endings @stars-forever @fantastictrashpolice @blue-kyber

@artsandstoriesandstuff @rivenantiqnerd @cybercelestian @aalinaaaaaa @agirlandherquill

@smudged-red-ink @clever-naming-convention @carb0n-m0n0xide @theweirdbox123 @seastarblue

Farewell, and have a good day Loves!

[toseesoclearly]

What a “Return of the King-ish ending” for ST5 could mean for Will (and Mike): Part One

[this post contains spoilers all of The Lord of the Rings and more importantly for all ST5 leaks, make your own choices in deciding to read <3]

The Lord of the Rings, in book and film form, is obviously a big reference point for the Duffers, along with the books looming large for our group of nerds in-universe.

I have just always loved these covers even if they're not quite period appropriate for ST. I am going to imagine Will's copies of the books are used, well-loved trippy '60s editions

ST5 having a “Return of the King-ish ending” has been cited by the Duffers and the cast a few times now. They could just be referring to the tone (bittersweet, but happy overall) and/or the length of the epilogue. RotK’s infamous multiple fade to blacks should be the assumed probable end for “The Right Side Up” at this point (imo people who complain about that in RotK are weak-willed and losers /j).

But, the idea that RotK is being used as a broader touchpoint for ST5 is exciting for me because Will being a total Frodo type isn’t just added flavor for my ST experience, it's been a huge part of the show's appeal for me. Frodo was a formative early favorite character of mine, so I was extremely onboard for another soulful-eyed sensitive* boy gradually losing his sense of self to the horrors.

Texts between myself and a friend in November 2017, I think our text thread contains the only written record of my thoughts on this show pre-2022 because I used to be able to tune in for the newest season, coo at Will, and promptly stop thinking about ST. I miss that version of my life

Obviously I responded to this in s2 right away, but looking back on it again, it is striking how Frodo and Will’s supernatural torment and corruption share a visual language:

certainly some of this is big big eyes on smol ~delicate face, but I think there is some classic Duffer borrowing going on here

*I can't seem to fold this into this post in a natural way but I feel like I need to note up top that queer audiences reading Confirmed Bachelor Frodo as gay has been happening, with passion and enthusiasm, since the LotR's publication. Sam too of course, but Frodo doesn't even get a compulsory female love interest to marry upon return from the journey like Sam and Aragorn do.

But there are some important distinctions. What’s going on with Frodo isn’t really possession, and there are a couple major elements of his arc that have not been present in Will’s story (yet).

Temptation

The Ring's poisonous influence has a specific bent, coming from the temptation to wield its power. It’s all very biblical, we know LotR is extremely rooted in Tolkien’s Christianity, etc. Frodo’s ability to resist that temptation for as long as he does comes from his nature as a hobbit, the most humble of the races of Middle-Earth. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future, as you may have heard.

This layer of the Frodo-esque supernatural psycho-drama that Will is enmeshed in hasn't shown up for him so far. I think it's definitely on the table for s5 - especially if it turns out he has powers, or something else Vecna wants. But I expect, if it happens, Will’s temptation wouldn’t be about something so grand or theological, but more personal - overlapping, aptly for a season that is being billed as Will’s coming-of-age, with that stage in his hero’s journey like @/therainscene discusses here.

Choice

Again and again, Frodo chooses to keep going, despite the hardships inherent in his quest, his own doubts, and his accelerating mental deterioration and loss of all hope. This is to me probably the most important narrative divergence between Frodo and Will due to the different roles they have in their respective stories (and where ST’s horror/‘80s Spielberg ethos overrides any mythic/fantasy epic tendencies). As much as LotR has an expansive ensemble cast and storylines driven by other prominent characters, Frodo is the saga’s “main character.”

Will’s functions in the ST’s modern genre framework as a mash-up of a bunch of different (typically supporting) character types (my favorite write-up on this, c/o @/pinkeoni), and unlike your classic central fantasy hero, those types are often defined by a lack of agency. 

Frodo’s victory results from his endurance and, ultimately and unexpectedly, a specific act of mercy. Will’s story is also characterized by his endurance, but, unlike Frodo, he largely hasn’t been given a chance to opt into or out of the circumstances that require that of him.

But that set up should mean the pay off for Will’s arc will involve him finally being empowered. The valence of that empowerment will look different than Frodo's for the reasons discussed above, and I'm obviously extremely (the most??) excited to discover what that looks like.

Thinking about that difference in Will and Frodo’s positions in the larger structure of their stories brings us to another interesting point: Mike and his role as the show's "main character"/audience surrogate. Which will be discussed in the next post because this got too long. 😇

read part two here

[nopecho]

LI Book Headcanons

I've had this thought in my mind all day and NEED to get it out there.

(content warning: mentions of JK Rowling. Not to worry, it's bad mouthing her.)

Eden: his favourite damn series is Lord of the Rings. My man started with The Hobbit, then dived into Lotr. He's read EVERY. SINGLE. Elf song that the book has to offer. He's a fantasy nerd. However I would also see him read Pride and Prejudice. Perhaps some Terry Pratchett, too.

Avery: she grew up reading her parent's notes and bank account details. HOWEVER she's also read 50 Shades of Gray, and gave her the idea in mind that if she has enough money, she can acquire any lover she wants. REFUSES to acknowledge that it's Twilight fanfiction.

Kylar: speaking of Twilight, he is a FANATIC. adores the idea of being the misterious vampire, that attracts Bella in his unusual charm. He's read every book. And I mean every book, he's read the genderbent version, the Edward POV, anything written by Meyer he's read. He was neither team Jacob or Edward, he was team Kylar. Drew his self insert vampire oc with Bella NUMEROUS times.

Robin: he used to be a Potterhead. He was SO into it. Identified as a Hufflepuff, did the patronus and wand quizzes, his favourite book is the first one. He was in SHACKLES when JK Rowling came out as a gross terf. The level of betrayal he felt is indescribable. He woved to never touch the books again.

Sydney: do you know those books Christian oarents give to kids to let them know about Jesus early? Yeah, Sidney's read them. However, when she got freedom to grab her own books, she discovered that she DIGS Greek Mythology. She has a whole collection of Rick Riordan's books on the shelf, has attempted to draw her favourite characters. The movies don't exist to her and whenever anyone brings them up, she death stares them.

Alex: you know the Grimm fairy tales? Those are his favourites. Just the dark forest themes, the magic, the horror aspect of it... It just works for him. He's lived his whole life in the countryside, so he can fantasize about getting lost in the woods and finding a gingerbread house.

Whitney. I saved the best for last. So in hus childhood, in my headcanon he could never really afford to buy books, let alone his parents giving them to him. He read a bit of Dr Seuss but that was it. NOW that he can actually afford some stuff, he discovered the duality of man. Comics.

On one hand, he absolutely LOVES thise cute, kid friendly comics. Peanuts, Garfield, the Disney Mickey Mouse comics. On the other, he absolutely digs the over-the-top action manga shit. I'm talking Chainsaw Man, DevilMan by Go Nagai, Hells Angels by Shinichi Hiromoto. He doesn't have enough attention span to read a whole book, but he absolutely LOVES comics.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!

[cavegirlpoems]

The fluff for D&D classes, described more accurately and succinctly:

Barbarian: Absolutely no resemblance to actual Conan. Angry shirtless man.

Bard: Sex pest.

Cleric: Wild misunderstandings of polytheism by cultural christians.

Druid: Furry (affectionate). Also, see cleric.

Fighter: Boring. If specifically male and human, my player probably wants to retvrn.

Monk: Goku.

Paladin: best case, fun police with a stick up his arse. worst case, open fascist who says 'orcs' because he can't say 'foreigners'.

Ranger: Steve Irwin but racist and bad at his job.

Rogue: Chaotic neutral dickhead, "it's what my character would do".

Sorcerer: Deviant-art OC.

Warlock: What you get when you order a cleric on Wish. Edgy backstory totally unsupported by mechanics.

Wizard: Nerd power fantasy.

Warlord: You guys have I told you how good 4e is?

Elf race-as-class: I like when PCs can do everything with no drawbacks, and are hot too.

Dwarf race-as-class: I have weird ideas about masculinity.

Halfling race-as-class: I would like to stop dying every session and am willing to play as fucking bilbo if that's what it takes.

[talkingishard22]

name: ella

age: 16

religion: christian

sexuality: bisexual

fav artists: noahfinnce, laufey, the pains of being pure at heart, the smiths, olivia rodrigo, chappel roan, and josiah queen

info: this blog is basically just for me to post and repost what ever i want, it wont have any specific theme or anything like that (sounds like a lot of work) i like to read (romance and fantasy especially), play in concert/jazz/marching band (im a trumpet), im a huge theater nerd and love to do musicals at my high school, im graduating in 2027 so in two years, i plan to study history and become an archivist one day, i love love love thrifting and tumblr, i also hope to get a job soon and a fiat 500 (my dream car) i also rlly want more moots and ppl to talk to so anyone is open to message me (as long as it it appropriate) i also want to get more in shape so any tips would be great.... im also a very chronically ill person, some include chronic orthostatic intolerance (basically POTS) generalized anxiety disorder, autism, sensory disorder, speech apraxia, general chronic pain and a zinc deficiency (which causes a lot of issues)

pic of me:

thats it basically!!!

[nerdragenewvegas]

So Joshua may only read the bibble, from what we see, but would he also read more stuff if he had access? He strikes me as a total bookworm, just one that doesn't many books beyond his religious book. Faye actually has an entire collection of books of her own, photo albums of people she's met during her long ass life(229 years by her count), and her favorite book is The Last Unicorn. Wonder if Joshua would show interest in such a novel, provided Mormons don't typically hate fantasy stories lol.

Oh boy, do Mormons love fantasy stories!

There's a bit of a running joke within the LDS community that there's seven scriptures in the LDS church: The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Mormons are super nerds. Like, huge nerds. There's two sort of widely accepted theories on why this is.

The first is the culture. Mormons don't drink, which, as someone who's still a non-drinker, can restrict the kinds of social groups or spaces you fit into a lot more than you'd think. They don't do drugs, have sex before marriage, and they spend one night a week at home together for Family Home Evening. Social activities run by the church are a pretty big part of your life from childhood until you're like, in your 20s and marries, but they go really hard once you hit your teens, and those activities are meant to be wholesome because they're usually organised by the Church itself -- so you get a lot of boardgames! Like, a lot.

D&D is massive in LDS culture. Like, huge. Like, so big that Utah was home to Evermore Park until recently, which is a literal D&D LARP themepark. This thing was in Provo -- which is a college town -- and was extremely successful until mismanagement and COVID ran it into the ground. It's a boardgame activity that can be adjusted and moderated to be as wholesome as the players want, meaning it's perfect for Mormons. I've even seen wards that hold their own D&D nights in the Chapel with campaigns that are tailored to have a religious undertone or message at the end (I went to one and by 'undertone,' it was more that the bad guy was the devil from the bible and that was literally it lol.) Because of the alcohol free culture, LDS men in particular need to find spaces to occupy that don't encourage or 'tempt' them to imbibe. As a result, videogames are huge! Mormonism is fine with violent video games for adults, so you bet the dads all played Halo together when the kids went to bed after family home evening. Wii Bowling was the backbone of family home evening for an entire generation.

So once you've done your 'gateway' activity, it's pretty natural to end up becoming a huge nerd as a result.

The second reason is because of the scriptures themselves. Have you ever read the Book of Mormon? No? Well, don't read the whole thing, a lot of it is a slog (especially Alma. Christ, it just goes on and on.) But if you can find like, a 'best of,' the highlights are nerdy as hell. They're real Lord of the Rings hero moments. Samuel the Lamanite is a pretty good example. Even the regular Old and New Testaments have some real nerdy shit -- and Dinah and Shechem [CN for rape] (which is my favorite bible story, actually, it's a fucking BANGER) is very Game of Thrones-y.

Because of this, Mormons who have grown up with these stories find familiarity and comfort in similar fantasy stories, to the point where I have lost count of how many talks during Sunday chapel or at a YSA fireside I've been to where a matter of faith was compared to something from Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings especially holds the crown here with Mormons. I know most people would expect it to be Narnia, but there's something about those little hobbits on their adventure that really just gets Mormons going? There's been actual books written that use the Lord of the Rings story to explore LDS and Christian themes. When I was baptised, one of the missionaries who taught me gifted me my set of scriptures, and on the inside of the cover he had written not a bible quote, but a Lord of the Rings quote. I'm not joking. I'll have to see if I can dig my scripture set out of storage, actually.

Also, it's worth noting that Mormons are really, really into achieving and preserving stuff, like family records, books, etc -- and this is exactly why Mormons end up becoming such a big player in the Fallout universe after the war and why their faith remains so un-changed by the time New Vegas takes place. I'd put money down that the Mormons who went into the Vaults also made great efforts to preserve a lot of fantasy novels, especially Tolkien!

So, yeah, Joshua 100% isn't just likely to be a bit of a bookworm (not only is that a very Mormon trait to have because of the lifelong encouragement to read and study scripture,) but probably really would enjoy fantasy novels. I don't doubt for a second that Joshua has a near encyclopedia level knowledge of Tolkien's works and would probably damned near have a heart attack if he ran into someone who managed to give him an excuse to talk about it. He'd probably enjoy The Last Unicorn as well.

[chrysanthemumgames]

Hi Jess!!

I just wanted to let you know that I've been following FOA (and now Blood of the Living, I suppose) since practically the start, and it's one of my favorite IFs. As a huge Greek mythology nerd, it's refreshing to see Hades and the Underworld portrayed in such a warm, non-villainous manner. I am a firm believer that even in the original mythology, Hades has always been one of the most responsible and chill gods, and the Christian influence conflating Hades with Satan has led to very negative (and not true to the original) imagery.

This game has such warm and comforting vibes that I haven't really found anywhere else, and that's made it one of my comfort games that I keep returning to. I love your characters, I love your writing and story, and I hope you have a fantastic day <3

I think there's plenty to say about what the original myths really convey or don't, and it's never really been my intention to wade into that, because this is very much an adaptation. Nevertheless, I'm always happy to hear that someone finds something in my portrayals that resonates, and the comforting vibes at least were certainly intentional.

As someone who is more accustomed to writing action-adventure type stories, it was quite a stretch to begin with the intention of what is essentially an IF contribution to the 'cozy fantasy' genre, and it certainly didn't land with everyone, but I know some people enjoy it, and it's been a great way to try something different.

[olderthannetfic]

The pigheaded approach to religious abuse that the trauma comes only from the religious aspect of the abuse is also stupid.

Yes the religion was used as a tool of abuse. Yes it was the tool that also shaped your abusers. But religion isn't like a unique tool of abuse and power.

Doesn't mean religious trauma isn't valid, but that personal trauma can't be universally applied when the religion is so huge and with so many niches.

There's a reason why with Christianity in this case, there are so many cult like sects of the larger denominations. People who want power take a something like Christianity, then shape it into a tool that fits their need to they can use and abuse their followers, and said abuse then trickles down. Mega churches are one example. Those scamming pastors who demand you pay them to fulfil miracles or other bullshit. The religion is the cleaver, but it's still the butcher that holds the cleaver who did the killing.

Yes even some of the older roads of Christianity has that problem. But again, the cleaver and the butcher. Parts of the religion are misrepresented, changed and even erased to keep said power, and make sure the cleaver is ever sharp. The question is just if the people in power are going to use the cleaver to hurt.

Yes you can have your issues with religion as a whole, but I honestly feel like too many people are so insanely focused on the religion, they almost forget that the abusers chose to be abusers. Even if someone was a victim of abuse, you have choices to make.

Being religious or non-religious has nothing to do with being a good person. If that was the case, then there wouldn't be abuse from places with different values, people who have no religious beliefs, etc. Even if we isolate Christianity and Islam and try to point at them as the bad players, then different religions shouldn't have abusers because the Christianity and Islam are the problem. But that's not the case.

The truth is probably closer to something like, if religion didn't exist, abusers and power hungry assholes would just find a different way to cause the same kind of trauma, just without the label "religion", and it'd just continue because it changed faces.

By the end I lost steam, because I noticed what a huge fucking topic this is and I'm woefully unequipped to even unravel not just hundreds, but thousand of years of religious and other cultural impact on humans.

--

Nerds are perfectly capable of starting cults based on turning into LOTR characters or channeling Final Fantasy ones or whatthefuckever.

I think a lot of the people I grew up with would do well to look at what state Buddhism is like vs. California hippie meditation seminars and at how many self help weekend away places are also mega scary cults before they wail about how Christianity/Islam qua Christianity/Islam are the issue.

[gaykarstaagforever]

Heathers (1989)

"If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?"

"...Probably."

[TRIGGER WARNING: The movie is about murder, suicide, depression, anxiety and bullying, and it's a Rated-R movie from 1989, so SA is going to keep coming up. I'm going to be referencing all of that in this review. Also I'm a gay man and will be teasing people who have made this movie their personality, so tap out now if you and your cool vinyl collection can't deal with that.]

The movie starts as a fun black comedic take-down of saccharine 80s John Hughes teen romance movies. New-kid-in-school badboy edgelord JD, and repentant former wannabe cool girl Veronica, hook up and decide to live out the ultimate bullied nerd fantasy by getting revenge on Heather, Veronica's frenemy and leader of the Heathers, the most popular clique in school.

But when things go darker than Veronica planned, the comedic satire becomes a Shakespearean melodrama, as Veronica is suddenly confronted by the surreal consequences of what she's done, including realizing that the simplest solution to a problem may in fact make everything a hell of a lot worse.

I'm not going to spoil it for the 5 of you who haven't seen this yet. Everyone else (including me now) has seen it, as it is probably one of the most universally-popular Internet-culture movies there is. You've seen at least one meme from it.

Probably this one.

While a flop in 1989, it quickly became a cult movie on home media, even by the late 90s being one of those movies your older brother and his friends introduced you to to let you know they didn't think you were a lame stupid baby anymore. And it seems now with streaming it is still kind of in that spot, the older brothers with tapes being replaced by Gen X / Millennials posting about how cool it is in front of teenaged lurkers.

So how did I miss it? I WAS the older brother growing up, and I was 7 when it came out. And when I did go back and get into all the 80s movies I missed out on by being a toddler when they were new, I stumbled into the Hughes stuff, notably Pretty in Pink, which is fundamentally the movie Heathers is mocking. As cynical and jaded as I am, I'm also a fruitcake, so I love me some sappy sunny crap (if it's to a greater artistic point, which the Hughes movies are). What I knew of Heathers had me thinking it was merely a demonstration of pretentious anti "popular media" whining from the sort of people who wear outdated hats and are insufferable about punk music.

...And it totally is. But also, it's more than that. It's actually really good and smart and occasionally insightful, when it restrains itself from all the emo "I can be your devil or your angle" posturing. Which, to be fair, it also makes fun of. Before that was even a thing.

Christian Slater and Wynonna Rider have fantastic chemistry, and there's never enough of the two of them just enjoying each other's company. Even when they're arguing, it feels like a real couple going through something they'll almost certainly get over in a few hours (until they very much can't, and then they'll literally try to kill each other). Passion, is the word for it. Sardonic and low-key most of the time, but still passion. And that's always delightful.

It's well-shot and well-directed, with good uses of lighting and dynamic camera angles. There is a lot of scenes that are just two people talking, and it's never boring. Impressive for filmmakers who were, at the time, fresh-faced and working with a small budget. The style ends up being like if John Waters (no relation to Dan Waters, who wrote it) had directed Corman's Rock and Roll High School: goofy and surreal and sarcastic, but also willing to get dark and push boundaries to make a point.

All the characters - even joke side ones - are thoughtfully drawn, given emotional depth and realistic motivations, even when they're doing something stagey and broad in this highly stylized, Tim Burton-esque dark fairytale world. Wynonna Rider fought for the role against all advice, and it is perfectly in-line with the characters she played and the movies she played them in of this era, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Maybe even Bram Stoker's Dracula, if we're talking surreal melodramatic action-horror with disco lighting.

It is a movie with lots of big ideas (probably too many), but it manages to get those across effectively. What starts as a simple teenager revenge fantasy morphs into an armchair analysis of what America does to its children - instead of nurturing them and preparing them for the adult world, it points at them and gawks, and cashes in on their fear and self-loathing and predictable self-destruction. Everyone in the cruel high school world of Heathers is both a perpetrator and a victim, desperately fighting for survival by both submitting to abuse, and then immediately turning around and heaping it on someone "beneath" them. Death here isn't genuinely mourned or reflected upon; everyone simply starts plotting how they're going to exploit this new gap in the line. And whether the victims kill themselves or are murdered only matters as far as someone can spin that into self-promotion. Even the priest at the funeral (the late great Glenn Shadix, Beetlejuice again!) uses the supposed suicide of a child as an opportunity to make a ham-fisted youth-oriented alter call.

By the end of the movie, Veronica has triumphantly decided to rise up - not merely against the popular kids and exploitative / apathetic adults - but against the entire system of unending cruelty she didn't even know she was still playing a part in when she was actively attacking it. This finally sets her at odds with JD, who is too consumed by hatred to realize that the violence he thinks is a solution is fundamentally part of the problem.

And yet, as they come to blows, Veronica is also replaying the very same game that led her to become one of the Heathers in the first place, and then turn on them: use people to secure power, they use and hurt you, so you attack them. She knows the whole system is bad and broken and wants out, and seems to acknowledge the only way out is through earnest friendships and "growing out" of being shallow and petty. But by the end of the movie, despite her rebuke of JD...has she managed it? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the system is inescapable, and all you can hope to do is find a way to force it to work for you. And choose then to make it less cruel. Maybe.

It's not a good or happy ending, it's just an ending. But a thought-provoking one, and the movie does it well.

...Mostly. The dialogue is trying very hard to be distinctively witty, but mostly comes across like a worse version of Clueless-ese, with more gratuitous vulgarities and no kitschy charm. A writer being very proud of how smart they are, without noticing that real people don't talk like this because it's awkward and obnoxious. Everyone's dialogue is basically interchangeable, including between the kids and adults (JD and his lunatic father have a fun distinctive thing they do, but that's about it). Now, lines being awkward and obnoxious doesn't mean they aren't eminently meme-able. In fact, that usually means they are. And they certainly are here. Nearly every scene has a memorable bon mot that can be endlessly parroted by people doing that so you won't notice their off-putting personality. ...I wouldn't call that a win for anyone, but it is certainly a thing.

Remember: just because someone said it in a movie, doesn't mean it's inherently funny or profound or relevant to the conversation you've currently having. And you're not suddenly smart because you found a movie quote that you think expresses your exceptional hot take. In fact, that might be a sign that your are NOT in fact smart or insightful. Just putting that out there.

Also the "mineral water is for fags" thing is only funny because it's stupid. It was stupid then. That's the point of that being in the movie, to show how stupid these podunk morons in Ohio are. Stop repeating that 'joke.' It isn't funny out of context.

Gen X. Looking at you on this one. It's just you trying to give yourselves permission to still call people "fags." Doesn't work that way.

Christian Slater claims he was "channeling Jack Nicholson for this film." Yeah, okay, dude. And for the rest of your life, all the time. He's still a good actor and very charming here, but if that "Christian Slater" thing he does annoys you, it's at 11 here.

The pacing and tone get pretty muddled after the initial black revenge comedy stuff stops, as the movie uneasily transitions to its second major focus. It stops being funny entirely for awhile, until near the end when it suddenly remembers that was supposed to be a part of this, then sitcomy stuff elbows its way in. And JD's plans post-breakup with Veronica are left vague until they suddenly aren't, and I feel like I missed something. I didn't, and there's a point to them doing it this way, but it is handled kind of confusingly.

The movie is a scaled-down version of whatever epic Greek tragicomedy the writer originally dreamed up, and the studio demanded the pitch-black orginal ending be changed. And you can kind of feel that throughout. As an R-rated movie it is a lot tamer than it feels like it should be, and I for one wish the kills were gorier and more over-the-top. That more fits the tone. Maybe that was never the original intention, but you don't do Titus Andronicus without getting gross with it, you know?

Any SA stuff is handled tactfully, and there isn't much of it, and it serves a narrative purpose. But that still feels like something that is only in here because it's 1989 and R-rated movies have to go there. And I don't feel like they really give those incidents the kind of emotional impact they should have on the victims. But again, this is a surreal world of unending cruelty, so maybe people shrug that off here. It's more my personal preference, if you're going to be gross to women in a movie (probably stop that, unless that's what the movie is about. Rape and molestation are not screenplay spices.)

The good far outweighs the bad, though. And Heathers is good, and is deservedly a timeless cult-classic for growing boys and girls, given what it deals with and how well it deals with it. It's entertaining and it makes you think, which is what good movies do. And it's endlessly meme-able, and that's okay, even if the people who meme it the most are silently warning you that they're pretentious and annoying about music. And that's only sort-of the movie's fault.

Also all the women in this movie have 9 lbs of dry fly-away hair that is just...painful. I realize this "unkempt Barbie hair" style was the best we could do at the time, but... I feel like I can hear it crunching every time they move.

Oh, and shoulder pads for days, shoulder pads FOREVER. I will never understand why the hell the 80s thought women weren't boxy enough. It was a thing.

[lesbianjackies]

the yellowjackets’ favorite books hcs bc i saw one of these and disagreed with all of them 👍

jackie: okay i’m so sorry but this girl only reads trashy romance novels she found on booktok. it drives shauna BONKERS because she’s incapable of getting jackie to read anything she likes.

natalie: i don’t think she’s a reader but if she was she would be a comic girlie. dc > marvel and she gets into fights with van over it regularly.

laura lee: she genuinely really likes theology books and she FOR SURE grew up on american girl and still loves them. she will pick up anything if she hears it’s gay or christian but she has really high standards and she’ll dnf any book that doesn’t meet them.

lottie: she’s an astrology girlie for SURE so i think she reads a lot of books on that to compile as much knowledge as she can (so she can psychoanalyze her friends). i also feel like she was a greek mythology kid so i think she’s read a lot of the original myths and likes a few select retellings (but they’re not the popular ones. she, like laura lee, has really high standards).

van: okay SHE is like definitely a comic girlie for sure. marvel > dc. she’s also just into those classic middle grade books every queer person read as a kid like harry potter and percy jackson and still has a lot of nostalgia for them. oh she was also a warrior cats kid for SURE. lmao.

misty: WARRIOR CATS KID AND IT SCREWED HER UP FOR LIFE. big into harry potter & lord of the rings and also just random niche fantasy series. reads a LOT and she’s active in a lot of fandom circles and she tries to get everyone she talks to into the books she reads.

taissa: def a nonfiction girlie. books on law, books on feminism, books on queer history… van thinks everything she reads is boring as fuck and she thinks everything van reads is stupid. true love 🫶

travis: ough okay i think travis is ALSO a comic girlie. but i think she’s more niche with it. i think she likes like….. umbrella academy type shit idk. and i think as a kid she was into stuff that was “for girls” until her dad bullied it out of her and now she gets really upset when she sees those series / hears someone talk about how they read them.

shauna: CLASSICS. brontë sisters, jane austen, edgar allan poe, emily dickinson…… yeah. she’s SO pretentious about it too she has two copies of each book so she can have a pretty one on her shelf and then a torn up copy that she can write notes in and she’s always carrying books around and reading them in public to show people she’s smart……. yeahhhh.

mari: mari doesn’t read that’s for fucking nerds. (she was a warrior cats kid and she’s obsessed with harry potter, percy jackson, and the lord of the rings. tell anyone and she’ll hurt you badly.)

akilah: rainbow fairies kid!!!!!! doesn’t read as much as she used to; if she does pick up a book it’s gotta be something that really speaks to and connects with her.

[thydungeongal]

Hi, same anon obsessed with morality.

Okay, I admit that my ask was a bit too emotional because non-evil original roleplaying games exist even in sword and sorcery style (World of Dungeons and Oracle are some I would recommend), and existence of Gondal setting testifies that it's not a male thing in any way.

However, my probably naive concern goes a little further - I don't play D&D, but I use it for monsters and settings. It's hard to invent absolutely everything from a scratch, you know? But this leads to an ethical concern I have - doing this is still feeding into D&D hegemony and embracing Gygax's and Arneson's rotten legacy (though I am starting to think that Gygax was a lesser evil, holy fuck). And let's not fool ourselves here - derivative games like Pathfinder or Knave are still their legacy (though maybe Cairn isn't, I am not sure).

So like, what are options of games that are generic fantasy that have a lot of monsters and settings to steal and that are also both not "D&D but different" and aren't objectively evil?

I know literally a handful of candidates, so I am asking your followers to share. And no, Warhammer isn't such game.

What I remember is:

Fantasy Age is not without a sin, but it's presented as "you can depict these demi-humans as equal people or you can be a hitler, it's up to you", so progress I guess?

Jackals is built on OpenQuest and is pretty generic if you exclude it being about bronze age, but I remember some potentially creepy details of how it treats demi-humans

Blue Rose looks the most morally fine, but it's not exactly generic

Lightmaster is ugh, because it doesn't have inherently evil demi-humans, but it has inherently different demi-humans who are always savages, so it's a thin ice (though otherwise it's a blast)

D6 Fantasy doesn't really have monsters in core book, but there are probably third-party bestiaries that may even not be vile

GURPS does have bestiaries of fantasy creatures, but I don't know anything about their morality

IDK about rolemaster, but you said that it's not good.

So like, which extremely ethical non-OSR heartbreaker that was published ever am I missing? Should I look into Das Schwarze Auge, or does it suck the same way?

Ultimately I think you're thinking about this too much to your own detriment. It's good to be aware of the fact that lots of (especially older) fantasy stuff does carry some fucked up expectations and approach it with a critical eye so you don't end up replicating it, but if you become single-minded in your pursuit of the perfect, unproblematic fantasy RPG you're not only setting yourself up for disappointment but also denying yourself a lot of stuff that's good but flawed.

Anyway, not a game but a supplement for OSR games, but Skerples' Monster Overhaul is pretty good in this regard and does this via simply accepting the revolutionary paradigm of "orcs are just some guys."

Another game out of the left field, Chivalry & Sorcery is really surprising in this regard, because it's the sort of game that gives off vibes of being written by "the presence of women in a medieval setting is extremely inaccurate" types, but the authors actually make a point of saying that player enjoyment and comfort should always take precedence over adherence to historicity when it comes to issues like players wanting to play women or queer characters. But it's in its treatment of orcs and trolls (and as far as I've understood, dwarves and elves too, but I haven't read that supplement yet) where it gets really cooking. Chivalry & Sorcery is a game written by medieval history nerds and they wanted their game's worldbuilding to adhere to a medieval European paradigm. So when it came to adding orcs into the game the authors asked "how would orcs fit into the worldview of a medieval Christian?"

The answer is that just as medieval Christian philosophers mused that if cynocephali or those guys who only had one big foot were to exist then surely they must be just some guys, orcs would also have to be just some guys. This means that they would be human in terms of having been created by God and tracing descent to Adam and Eve and also could receive the eucharist and be saved.

Anyway, all of which is to say that the middle ages were woke,