#source: I Asked My Viewers to Clip Me Out of Context

[youtubeminuscontext]

Don't worry guys! I'm not gonna kill the bisexual! I'm just gonna beat 'em within an inch of their life!

RTGame

[cornley-amateur-drama-society]

Sandra is both a beauty & style vlogger and an acting vlogger.

She enjoys doing the beauty and style videos and often will have friends of hers as guests.

Her style videos' titles tend to be alliterative, things like “Sandra's Seventies Styling” or “Sheath Dress: Slight Disaster?”

For the most part, she will be wearing different styles for a week and discussing the historical context and such of the outfits.

If she's not doing a week-long style challenge, then she's talking about the latest trends in both high fashion and on social media. She will break down how an outfit or article of clothing is made, or how she believes it to be made based on the designer and what she knows of the fabric and sewing techniques.

Her style videos are very regimented, having very clear segments that she will have broken up in the actual video's timeline. (I think they're called chapters of a video??? I'm not supes pos, but ikyk what I mean.)

Her beauty videos are much more relaxed and reminiscent of the early- to mid-2010s British YouTuber beauty videos. She has the bright lighting and the aesthetically blurred background and the cheerful music and everything.

If she's not got a guest on, she will just ramble about whatever is on her mind while she's doing her makeup. These topics can range from the look she's trying out to which Batman was the best live-action Bat.

If she has guests with her, there are three kind of like sub-topics that the video will focus on. Sometimes it's makeup challenges with one or two of her friends, things like a monochrome look or done with their non-dominant hand. Other times, it's her partner Max who is either doing her makeup or getting dolled up himself.

(Self-proclaimed Sandrax fans have loved watching the evolution of their relationship, going from titles like “Giving My Best Guy Friend a Cut Crease For the First Time” to “My Boyfriend Tries to Copy My Look” to “My Fiancé Does My Hair with No Help From Me” to finally “My Husband Picks Out My Wedding Look”. These videos are often clipped into compilations titled “every time max looks at sandra like she hung the moon” or “sandrax moments that make me chew glass”.)

The last kind of beauty video found on her channel is recreating historical looks or cosplay type things with fellow YouTuber (and one-time roommate) Vanessa.

These videos are usually paired together, with Sandra's videos focusing more on hair and makeup and Vanessa's videos focusing more on the outfits and accessories being made.

Fans of Sandra, dubbed “Grains” because Sand-Grains ah, puns, enjoy these videos for the lore drops that the two women will drop. Some wild story from when they first started going to cons or when they lived together or what they did last weekend.

These also get clipped into compilations titled things like “How Are Sandra and Vanessa Still Alive???” or “Life Lessons with Vandra”.

Sandra's acting videos, on the other hand, are focused on ways to become a better actor.

These videos range from things like vocal exercises to warm up before a show to how to deal with stage fright but still wanting to be on stage.

Grains often call this version of Sandra “Professor Sandra” because of the way she will present and explain things. And the fact that she does source everything.

(Several capstones have used her videos as cited works or part of the bibliography. She is unaware of this fact.)

She also is friends with two other acting vloggers: Robert Grove and Chris Bean.

Every month at the beginning of the month, the three of them will perform three different Shakespearian monologues and then rate them.

The criteria they are rated on, with each one getting its own score which then gets averaged at the end, are things like the length of the monologue, the play they've chosen from, the cadence of their speech and how it falls with the iambics, and the emotion with which they deliver it.

They will then ask the viewers to comment and tell them what their opinion is, who should've won instead, and perhaps what their favourite performance was.

At the end of the month, the trio goes live and, with a little nip of sherry here and there, goes over the comments. Cheering themself on or arguing when they don't approve of a viewer's decision.

Someone whose identity has yet to be unveiled does give them the percentages of who was the best in the video near the end of the live based off of the comments.

They just call that person “Their Mathe-magician”.

Sandra's social media is more focused on things happening in her life, little slices into who she is off-camera, like her walks in the park with Max or getting brunch with her Mum and sisters. Things like that that help Grains remember she is an actual person.

She also posts about the local community theatre troupe and whatever upcoming shows they have.

She does try to catch at least once show if she's not already in it. She auditions for everything she can get her eyes on, though so far it's mainly been local commercials and the Cornley theatre group.

It's rumoured that Sandra has an upcoming bit part in an ITV3 drama as the sister of the victim, but neither she nor ITV3 have yet said anything.

(The rumour was started by someone who found out that Vanessa used to work at the BBC, though they didn't know how she was involved in the corporate structure.)

(Vanessa still has some connections to various people, and she's the one who started the rumour, trying to get more publicity for Sandra. Lucky for her, ITV3 has started looking into Sandra's portfolio and is unaware of quite how, exactly, she had come to their attention.)

Sandra's video uploading schedule is a bit complicated due to outside obligations and the like.

The two videos that Grains know exactly when they come out for sure are the Acting Trio videos at the beginning and end of each month.

At least one Thursday a month, Sandra will post a fashion history video.

At least one Monday a month, she'll post a makeup challenge video, whether it be a solo one or with Max or another friend.

And then when there's a con coming up, the week before the event will be the set of two videos she does with Vanessa.

Regardless of what type or when it's posted, the video will be, at minimum, nearly thirty minutes long. But well worth it!

Chris, Sandra, Robert, and Vanessa as YouTubers

(because the idea was living in my neurons and firing them constantly)

Chris is so one of those guys who acts out his favourite scenes from plays and movies and TV shows.

But, more importantly,

He is watching stage performances and ripping into them with a zest that scares new viewers.

(There is a drinking game floating around with older viewers based on what Chris says or does, such as pinching the bridge of his nose at least three times in the span of two minutes or if he starts a sentence off like, “Hm, right, well then.”)

He's talking about Shakespeare, he's talking about Wilde, he's looking at off-Broadway and off-West End up-and-coming shows

He's looking at what's promising (u&c shows), what's timeless (older, well-known shows), and what he appreciates about them or what he thinks is outdated or sucked in execution (all).

Once a month, he'll perform a scene from a play he wrote himself.

There are several plays he's penned from which he chooses each month, performing scenes that are disjointed, so his ideas cannot be potentially stolen.

He does have a Patreon, the patrons dubbed “The Screen Beans.”

One of the things he does every other week is a live Q&A while he does mundane things like cleaning his office or making a meal or holds yarn for someone off-screen.

There are fancams in the #ScreenBeans tags across social media of his lives due to Chris' much more laid-back personality.

(Laid-back is a relative term here. He is still very conscious of what he says and does, however he wears his glasses or forgets to shave a few days before the lives or is wearing cosy-looking handmade jumpers.)

His Instagram account is active, and he posts at least thrice a week. Each post is something specific for the day, like #HoratioMondays, #WednesdayViewings, and #SaturdayShots.

Horatio is a beloved feature of his channel. A nearly completely black cat with white spots on the end of his tail, over one eye, and on one paw, the little guy is missing half of one of his ears. He has brilliant green eyes, though, that look like emeralds when the light hits him right.

Chris had, in his late-teens one night walking to his flat, stumbled across Horatio as a small, weak, and thin kitten. He instantly picked him up and took him back to his flat. Though there were two other roommates there, Chris was positive that they would be fine with it.

(This was in part due to having seen Kevin's family cat in the family pictures around the flat, and also knowing the Patels since he and Kev were in Primary. Their other roommate was a friend of a friend named Max Bennett, and he was surprisingly easy-going and adored animals.)

Horatio Mondays are of the now almost twelve-year-old cat going about his life.

Sometimes they're videos of him staring at a bug on the window or of him dropping one of his toys into his mini water fountain and then releasing the most pitiful and cooked yowl for Chris to rescue it.

Other times they're pictures of him curled up on the little bed Chris has for him in his office, slightly messy selfies of the two of them together, or pictures of Horatio dressed up for whatever holiday or event is approaching.

Wednesday Viewings are sneak peaks into what his video on Friday will be about. Sometimes it's a shot of the title card of the movie or TV show. Others it's an artfully done picture of a book of a play open with several pens and sticky notes scattered in and around it.

Saturday Shots are just pictures of anything particularly interesting Chris did during the week, or pictures and videos taken during a stroll in the park near his flat, or pictures with his friends at cafés or theatres.

Many people are surprised by who Chris is friends with, not expecting to see the Sandra Wilkinson, the Robert Grove, and the Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway with him.

Well, okay, Sandra and Robert make sense given that both of them are well-known acting vloggers, too. But it always throws new viewers off to find out that Chris and Vanessa are engaged.

The two of them are very good at keeping their accounts separate and compartmentalized.

Once they announce their engagement on both of their channels, however, the divide they had slowly erodes away and Vanessa can be seen occasionally in his lives, sometimes even joining in for a few minutes. She also starts to feature more heavily on his Instagram page, along with her cat Othello.

(Screen Beans are shook to find out that Chris had been hiding an entire whole ass cat from them for years. Especially one as fluffy as Othello. When asked about it in a live Q&A that he did on Instagram after his engagement announcement video went up, he chalked the lack of Othello up to the fact that he can close his office door while he films. And that Othello likes to sleep most of the time on his and Vanessa's bed or hang out with her while she works on a new pattern or design or challenge.)

Chris posts his videos every Friday, and they range between three minutes long to over an hour and a half if he's dissecting a film/TV show/play.

[rainbowsky]

Is it true during tencent awards on the stage dd was checking out another actors ass and told the actress next to him that the actor is so beautiful? I’m asking this because I watched a short clip, I don’t know how true it is and the lip reading also I don’t know if it’s accurate or fanmade.

Any tips for a new fellow on how to differentiate between real stuff and fake fanmade stuff in the bjyx fandom?

Yes, GG and DD were both clearly checking out Yang Yang, and DD even turns to Yang Mi and seems to be saying something along the lines of, "Wow, shuai!!" (Wow! Handsome!) I don't understand Chinese and even I can tell that's what he seems to be saying.

(Starts just after 34:30)

Of course, lip reading is not an exact science, especially when it comes to Chinese (which is a very homophonic language), so we can't know with absolute certainty that's what he's saying, but in context it seems possible he was saying something along those lines. Even without the lip reading, the faces say it all.

As for your second question...

The best way to know if something is real or fake is to go to the original source rather than fan edited clips, or at the very least, look at the unedited footage. Many things are deliberately edited to remove context or mislead viewers.

The sequence with Yang Yang above is exactly as it aired that night, so that bit at least hasn't been edited.

If you can't find a source, then ask a few trusted turtles. Although we're all prone to falling for fan edits from time to time. I have myself fallen for it at times, when I let my guard down and got caught up in the story I was being told. But if we want to know the truth we have to be conscious at all times, that video can be edited and manipulated. Going to the original source usually helps a lot.

Also, just use skeptical judgment. Don't get caught up in a cute or sad or romantic story. Use an analytical mind. There are tons of clips where people claim DD is crying, for example, and a lot of people believe it unquestioningly, but if you look at it with a clear head you have to admit, he really doesn't seem to be crying at all.

Anyway, hope this helps. If you ever come across a video you're unsure of feel free to send me a link. I love digging into that kind of thing. I have a whole series of posts about stuff like that. Here are just a few of those:

Did GG really say his ideal partner is female?

Was DD crying in the 9 minutes of bickering on a boat BTS?

Did DLS out DD during a DDU recording and make him cry?

[kob131]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4l1pL3ATN0

Let’s break down Vexed’s Weiss video, shall we?

“You know how i feel about Weiss, she’s my favorite character.”

Vexed, what does that even mean? Considering how invested you are at this point in the show’s failure, I don’t know if “favorite character” means “character I like” or “My go to shield to deflect accusations that I hate the show.”

“Weiss worked because they had a plan for her-”

They also had a plan for Blake and you proclaim her as the worst so clearly that doesn’t mean anything.

“Weiss could have been selfless and traveled with Qrow and Maria to hand over the relic-”

*slams down a huge stack of papers*

1. Cordovon SPECIFICALLY said WEISS could come home. She never said anyone else could come as well. And considering her attitude, there is a good reason to assume she WOULDN’T let anyone else with her. 

2. Weiss coming home would likely result in the Relic landing in Jacques’ hands. Even if we didn’t know already that Watts was going to meet with Jacques (which would end with him getting the Relic), Jacques is shown to be self serving and pretty damn weak. Meaning if someone threatened his life for the relic (say, a psychotic scorpion Fanaus?), he’d probably hand it over. And Weiss would logically have no way of stopping this. After all, she escaped in part thanks to her weapon (which Jacques would take from her) and Klein (fired). If either DID happen, you’d screech ‘Stupid for the sake of the plot!’

3. There is no way for anyone to sneak with her. You can’t hide anyone away in the ships for that long, they can’t take Qrow because why would Cordovon let Weiss take back a suspicious bird and she’d be powerless on her own.

4. You screeched for two years that spiliting up the main cast was a terrible idea and now you demand that they should have done just that? Way to flip flop.

5. You’d bitch about the others letting her go as ‘letting their friend be kidnapped and shipped back to her abusive household.’ You already twist so much to benefit your agenda so I know this for certain.

This shit was pointed out a year ago. Get with the program.

“Why didn’t Weiss go back?”

*jabs above* In your own words: it’d be ‘stupid for the sake of the plot.’

“Let’s play a quick game-”

Yes lets.

“5 seconds to answer: Why did Weiss escape to Mistral?”

Because she was being coped up in a room by her father, thought her sister was in Mistral and escaped to go find her..and she didn’t know where Team RWBY was and the source of her escaping was Jacques’ abuse.

That took me a nanosecond. It took you several months to ask it. Speed up.

“If you answered: ‘to escape her father’ You are wrong. If you said “To meet up with team RWBY, you are wrong. She did it to find Winter-”

Yeah huh, smug asshole?

Mind sating WHY she went to find Winter?

... No? Strange. One would think explaining a character’s actions would be your priority here to show it doesn’t make sense.

Oh right. You didn’t explain because the explanation was exactly what I said: She didn’t know were Team RWBY was and she was escaping her father. Both of which DO NOT APPLY in this situation. Gee, it’s almost like context and truth is your fucking Kryptonite.

“Why didn’t she offer to take the relic to Ironwood?”

Because it’s stupid, forces her back into the same situation she was in before and goes against the thing you screeched for years about.

“Weiss thinks she’ll be taken back to her-”

She KNOWS she’ll be taken back to her father. Cordovon specifically said “I’ll take you HOME”. You played the fucking clip were she said that Vexed, is your short term memory shot?

No wait, he had to write out the script, record the audio, find the clip and download it, edit this all together and post it. AT least because I would assume he would do the bare minimum of research to make sure he wasn't spouting shit. So either he is so assured that he’s right he didn’t even pay attention to this VERY OBVIOUS detail or he’s relying on the audience’s negative perception of RWBY to cover his tracks. This is why I do not accept the idea of Vexed Viewer making mistakes like this: he spends weeks making these videos. I can catch myself making stupid claims with posts that take an hour to type up. Clearly he should know better.

“Oh wait, they didn’t take her back to Ironwood-”

Which is noted by the characters to be something unusual and unexpected. So to present this as a rebuttal to Weiss not wanting to go back to Atlas is to expect the characters to know the plot and script instead acting on known information (like, you know, human beings?).

“Oh look at all these times Jacques should have been able to be taken back to her father because you claim she’s a minor!”

No one has ever argued that Vexed. As I have shown, she KNEW she would be handed over back to her father because that was the offer CORDOVON GAVE HER.

This is blatant strawmanning to avoid the fact that the actual argument against you can’t be denied. And since you refuse to not bitch like a self entitled brat, you won’t admit you were wrong. 

“There is no downside to Weiss return-”

“Cordovin: (sighs) If Miss Schnee has truly come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then, of course, the Atlas military will escort her home. But the kingdom will not be responsible for her "friends" of... questionable character. (glances at Blake specifically upon saying her last statement) “

Reminder we have just passed the five minute mark. Of a twenty two minute video. And Vexed has made, being abnormally generous to an unwarrented degree, two demonstrably false to the point of lying arguments. 

Starting to realize the sheer volume of his failures?

“I had to believe that a protector of the world would rather be with her friends than save the world”

*glares up at everything said previously*

No, you WANTED to believe that. You CHOOSE to believe that. You ACCEPTED it over far more rational, simple and according to you, convenient explanations.

Unless of course, you’re looking for anything and everything to bitch about in RWBY and this is your confirmation bias.

“The writers decided for Weiss to be annoying in Volume 6′s Brunswick part.”

Oh? So these parts should be so bad that they override your supposed ‘favorite character’ right? You aren’t just bitching and completely contradicting that criticism shield your dredged up right?

“Weiss screams loudly and starts hyper ventilating-”

Funny thing is he uses Keiven from Home Alone putting on after shave to say Weiss Screamed louder...even though they sound about the same (Weiss just has a higher pitch from being a woman) and Keiven screamed longer. 

Not to mention that in the original scene, it was being played like a horror scene. Same music, same angles, same pacing: it’s to sell how disturbing and unsettling the sight of these bodies are. Of course, if you were just going off memory and Vexed’s footage, you wouldn’t know that. 

“Weiss is a trained warrior and fought at the Fall of Beacon were people were dying left and right-”

A. Weiss isn’t fully trained yet. She was a first year at Beacon and had two more years at least.

B. Huntsmen are not warriors. Their training is not built to break them like a soldier or warrior. Not to mention Weiss grew up in a relatively peaceful time so it’s not like death was a close up constant like this (unless you count the WF which is different.)

C. Number of times Weiss has seen a dead body on screen before now? ... Zero? Hm, guess Vexed ‘convienently’ forgot that.

D. Any off-screen deaths Weiss would have seen at the Fall of Beacon you would have bitched about as not being shown. You bitch about stuff on a lower level (he’s bitched about the phrase ‘Oh God’ before) so there’s a perecedent for this/

And E. These bodies are in a different situation than any in the Fall of Beacon. Those are freshly killed bodies on a battlefield. Weiss would be expecting those. These are mummified bodies in a civilian setting, with the killer nowhere in site and out of nowhere. No shit she’d be shocked: Yang (someone who lost an arm) is also acting the same and Qrow (a seasoned warrior who actually DOES fit your description) is shocked too.

Once again though, this stuff wouldn’t come up in your mind because Vexed doesn’t acknowledge it or consider it. Thus you’re being guided away from these issues. 

Starting to see how sneaky Vexed is?

“Weiss is being dumb and could break through the cellar door!”

Once again, he’s being sneaky, splicing this next to the body discovery point, trying to make them seem like similar situation...even though the moment he is talking about is them running from the Apathy. Grimm that have been shown to be immune to regular weaponry. AND is making them sluggish AND is advancing on them. She’s panicked and all the shit Vexed is pointing to takes time and concentration: stuff their situation is ROBBED of. And yet again, you wouldn’t know that because Vexed NEVER GIVES CONTEXT HERE. Only after this is stated.

“I know you guys are saying in the comments-”

Just another strawman.  Vexed is pretending to addressing points by making up weaker ones. Even then, his bullshit counterargument “The Apathy drain your will, not make you a damsel in distress” kills his OWN argument as a lack of will would cause Weiss to lose concentration and fail.

For Vexed’s argument to work, Weiss would have to either not be panicking (stupid and unrealistic) or ignore her own powers’ limitations (bad writing).

“Thank God Yang was down there-”

Ruby had just disintergrated the Grimm. They were given a reprieve. Once again, Vexed doesn’t show this.

“You can’t have her be fearless now-”

She’s neither trapped nor panicking nor being affected by the Apathy. The fear bullshit is on you.

“*Vexed cringes*”

Oh look, that thing I was doing about ten minutes ago. Catch up Vexed- Oh wait, you’re too busy gutting your own eyeballs.

“We don't see Weiss in Atlas-”

Gee, not like we have to set up the Ace Ops, set up Ironwood, Winter and Penny again, set up Watts and Tyrian’s threat, set up Robyn, work through all of this and much more and end it all. It’s almost like that’s fucking SECONDARY to telling the story and as you showed, Weiss already has moments in Volume 7.

So I guess Vexed is basically saying “Volumes 4 and 5 weren’t THAT bad” since he’s been begging the CRWBY to go back and overstuff the Volumes AGAIN.

Next part has him actually praising the moment between Weiss and her mom. Sounds good right? It would...if it actually matched Vexed’s standards. 

How many times has he ignored things like distance, positioning and the such in things like the Adam Vs. Yang and Blake fight just to push his bullshit through to the audience? Just how many moments that would qualify for, in his own words ‘well written, well directed moments’ just so he can prove a point?

At the very least before, I could give a bare minimum level of respect for Vexed for sticking by his principles, as stupid as they are. But no, he just praises a scene because he likes what happened in it even though stuff of similar quality he overlooked or bashed. 

“Weiss just gets handed her proof about her dad and doesn’t have to do anything!”

Except endure being shot at by her mother and there’s nothing that's been shown before that could be used as proof besides this. What do you want, proof to magically appear in Jacques’ office? To have Weiss gain fingerprint scanning tech despite never showing that before? To have Jacques be excepetionally dumb? At least we get something respectable out of Weiss’ mother here and it isn’t a huge leap in logic like the others.

“I’d have more of a problem if this scene wasn’t so good and I’d have less of a problem if this made sense for Willow. It doesn’t but this isn’t her video-”

No no no no no.

No.

After all the tangents and bullshit you’ve pulled in other videos AND THIS VIDEO, you denying proof for something you call ‘a point of contention’ is pretty fucking rich of you. Just because you like a scene doesn’t mean you can just ignore the problems with it, same with the inverse too. How is this any better than a Yang fanboy ignoring issues with scenes involving Yang because they like it?

Literally all you had left was your own daman principles, Vexed. Now you’re burning them.

“One thing the writers have made very clear is Weiss really enjoys dunking on her father-”

Using her ignoring her father’s call in Volume 3, her breakdown at the Atlas Elite and her talk back to Jacques in Volume 4? One of which is not ‘dunking’ (or extreme humiliation) and the other is only partially about her father and mostly about how detached the elite of Atlas are.

“-SO I shouldn’t be surpised she came in like a-”

Not even gonna let you finish that shitty reference. That was just unnecessary and not even funny. It feels more like a combination of a Family Guy cutaway for it’s abruptness and a fanboy cheering for it’s framing.

“The Jacques being taken down scene was bad because it was matter of fact and silly instead of emotionally driven-”

Vexed, the issues Weiss has with Jacques is rooted in his abuse of her and her family, his entitlement to the family business and his business practices harming her family name. This takedown has nothing to do with any of these. She is not confronting him about the damage he has done to her and her family nor the damage he has done in his pursuit of growing the business. She is confronting him about the election fraud, a story point.

No shit this isn’t emotional- Weiss’ emotional ties here are SHALLOW. It would ring hollow to the audience for her to make this emotional because she has no emotional attachment to the actions he performed. All she would have is it being her dad, which isn’t enough. 

Then again, from the perspective of a Weiss fanboy, this would look bad because that moment you’ve been writing in your head didn’t happen. I should know.

“*Vexed bitches about a joke about Weiss not knowing if she can arrest Weiss because ‘hur dur book smart!’*”

She’s not an officer, she’s a Huntress. I don’t think they can actually arrest people.

“This should have been between father and daughter in an epic moment-”

*rolls eyes*

Vexed, look at this scene. Look at all the other shit happening here. Then remember the people dying to the cold in Mantle.

What makes you THINK it was meant to be that way? Hell, what makes you think that would be a GOOD IDEA?

.. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

“I wanted to see the sister dynamic that has been missing from RUby and Yang-”

You had your chance in Volume 6. You ignored for Bumbleby bashing. You don’t get a say.

“Hur dur, characters ssay things we know already!”

Gee, it’s almost like Weiss and Winter talking about this was to restablish were they were because a certain group of people made it certain that they needed everything spoonfed to them or else they throw a tantrum.

“Ironwood done nothin’ wrong!”

There’s Vexed’s pandering again.

The man made no attempt to talk anything through until he was forced to with Mantle. He lied to Team RWBY about Amity and made them operate under false information. And I have made the fuck ups in Ironwood’s plan in Episode 11 VERY clear.

Stop pandering to the RWBY hate crowd and have some fucking principles.

“Oh, Weiss lied to Ironwood! How hypocritical”

*holds up a piece of paper saying ‘That’s the point’*

“Why would it bother Winter that she’s chosen as the Winter Maiden? ANd why does she say that she wasn’t given a choice when she said she was ‘proposed’?”

gee, wasn’t it you guys who claimed Ozpin proposing to Pyrrha wasn’t giving her an actual choice? Hm, I guess things change...when they benefit you.

“Wow, Weiss is so bad for not telling Winter about the Relic!-”

COnversation wasn’t about that and it wouldn’t come up, nor is it a particularly serious thing. But nice try Vexed.

“Weiss runs away because she pains to carve out her-”

Wait a minute, didn’t you say that Weiss was going to Msitral to find Winter? Hmmm, awfully inconsistent of you vexed. Almost you lie constantly for your own benefit.

“HOW MANY TIMES WILL YOU TALK ABOUT FINDING YOUR OWN WAY?!”

Gee, didn’t know that, by your own admission, three times in four Volumes was SOOO awful.

“This is how they treated their relationship?”

As a narrative tool to emphasize a theme of the Volume? Good on them.

“You know, everyone still thinks Weiss is this pampered heiress-”

One guy said that. In the entire Volume. About self reliance and finding your own path.

“Weiss never said a word to Robyn and didn’t support her-”

You know Vexed, what’s the difference between you and a whiny Bumbleby shipper bitching about them not kissing yet? You sound so entitled and so whiny about you not getting your way. Your arguments are breaking down into disjointed bitching, just like an entitled brat.

It’s fucking pathetic.

“Maybe she’ll try her luck doging the coronavirus at RTX! Maybe she was too busy watching Gen:LOCK.”

Aw, what’s wrong? baby didn’t get his undeserved baba?

I can’t believe how much has changed Vexed. You’ve pretty much outed yourself as an entitled fan perpetually whining about the show not being the way you want it. You have no respect earned. You have no principles. You have no standards. You don’t even have an end goal: all you have is your whims.

Pathetic.

[wormtrain80]

60+ Tarot Card Analysis Ideas

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Typically, the first called pulled represents the past, the second stands for the present, as well as the third represents the future. Just how those timelines are interpreted depends on the analysis and the concern being asked-- "future" may indicate tomorrow or it might indicate one decade from now. The most popular and well-known deck is the Rider-Waite, drawn by illustrator Pamela Colman Smith and also published in 1910. These cards are recognized for their simple images, their straightforward color pattern, and also their importance. Furthermore, the Minor Arcana likewise includes 40 phoned number cards which are organized into 4 Matches of 10 cards each. These stand for the different scenarios that we come across in our daily lives. Oranum is your best choice if you like on the internet tarot card reading solutions using video conversation as opposed to messages or call. 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This is since tarot cards can help you clear up the topic, not tell you what to do. Lots of people suggest the Rider-Waite deck for newbies, as the cards' significances are so typically instinctive-- as well as when they're not, plenty of interpretation guides exist in books and online. Several decks, including the Rider-Waite, included a little sheet of paper specifying each of the card's most typical analyses. Though tarot card cards have actually handled a mystical meaning in the cultural imagination, they were originally intended as even more of a party game. The cards have actually been used because at the very least the mid-15th century; the earliest taped decks came from numerous parts of Italy. I think I can assist you comprehend the covert significance of things. Our totally free tarot card readings should enable you to recognize your future better as well as comprehend what awaits you. Tarot card readings are a powerful form of prophecy that utilize an old deck of cards to aid you discover response to your crucial questions about love, connections, your career, financial resources and also more. Psychics as well as foreteller have actually made use of Tarot cards for centuries, and also Trusted Tarot card will certainly provide you an accurate analysis that's personalized based the cards you choose and also the order you select them. Every card has a various meaning relying on its placement, so you will get a one-of-a-kind as well as in-depth viewpoint on your current situation. To prepare for your reading, I suggest that you listen to this grounding excercise - then scroll down as well as select your cards. The tarot card deck includes 78 cards, each of which is associated with its very own particular imagery, meaning, as well as tale. 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Lily Collins Is An Utterly Captivating Fantine

Actor Lily Collins tried her best to not lose herself in the devastating role of Les Misérables‘ Fantine. Collins explains how she stayed grounded on set, where she found inspiration for her iconic tragic heroine and why her onscreen injury was all-too painfully real.

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Transcript:

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

After losing her lover, her daughter, and her job, the young Fantine has finally died — after learning that her savior, Monsieur le Maire, is in fact the fugitive convict, Jean Valjean. It’s a gruesome death for a character whose life was full of extremes. From a beautiful lakeside romance to the violence of the urban sex trade, Fantine has seen the bright promise of her young life extinguished by the harsh realities of mid-19th century France.

CLIP

Fantine: You see this man here? You see this monster here that you call Monsieur le Maire? It’s all his fault! He’s supposed to be so good, what did he do? He threw me out on the street and you know why? Because I tried to care for my little girl. Monster of a Mayor!

Jace: Actor Lily Collins turned to the original novel’s text as a source for character development. And she was thrilled to find that Andrew Davies’ script for Les Misérables gave the usually narrowly-defined Fantine room to grow, and even thrive, in this recent adaptation.

Lily Collins: It was a welcome to me having known where she ends up to be able to have as much fun at the beginning….you know where things are headed and it makes you want for her the best more than you ever have because you know that things are just gonna get awful quite soon.

Jace: Collins takes us inside her stunning transformation and says goodbye to Fantine, while looking ahead to her busy calendar.

And we are joined this week by Les Misérables star Lily Collins. Welcome.

Lily: Thank you for having me.

Jace: Fantine is introduced in Andrew Davies’ script with the following description: ‘Fantine is the youngest treated as a pet by the others. She’s fair and ravishingly pretty.’ I love that the Fantine we see in the first episode is happy and entirely innocent. What did you make of this description of her?

Lily: I thought it was really fascinating being able to show a side of Fantine that we don’t really normally get to see in the previous film adaptation as well as the musical because normally we hear about those days when Fantine was happy and had just moved to Paris and you know had friends and she got to fall in love. We only hear that really in a song lyric or a couple song lyrics. And this time we actually get a whole episode to see her come and be alive and fall in love and have her child. So for me it was really fun to get to explore the young naive more innocent just full of life and love Fantine that I know I would have loved to have seen more of before. So the fact that Andrew got to detail her in such a way was really fun to get to explore.

Jace: I mean, does having that backstory make what’s coming for Fantine even more wrenching for viewers? Does it engender further sympathy for her by showing how she started out?

Lily: Yeah I think it’s pivotal so that you have the exact opposite of what she ends up to really start her out as happy and youthful and fun and full of life. Because at the end of the story as you know she is on her deathbed and looks completely different. And for me what was so strange about filming is that we started at the end and worked our way backwards because we started filming in winter so my second day of filming was on my deathbed and then I got to come back to life and and reintroduce myself to the young Fantine which was really great because once I reached the death scene and you know worked my way through all of her prostitution scenes and her really kind of grappling at life, I knew where she ended up so I got to really amp up the beginning of the story to the best of my ability to make it even more loving, even more youthful and fun and innocent and naive because that way I had a really great bookend to kind of be opposite to the end. And I think that an audience is is more able to empathize with her at the end when they’ve actually seen where she came from.

Jace: What sort of preparation did you do in terms of research? Did you turn to the Victor Hugo novel?

Lily: I did. Tom was quite adamant that for obvious reasons this is based on the Victor Hugo novel it’s not a musical version it’s not based on what the movie did. It really was its own entity. And Andrew obviously references so much of the novel in just the backstory when you’re reading the script not even on the lines but really just the setting and the way his descriptions as you read before about Fantine, he really goes back to the novel, so that was pivotal to go back and reference that. It was very much about analyzing the context and the text from the original novel and just inserting bits of yourself within the character especially for Fantine seeing as though we haven’t seen that much of her youthful side before. And so Tom just wanted to know what that was like for me. And so we did a lot of speaking about women at that time. And you know a young grisette versus a you know a young prostitute and how that could kind of evolve and a young mother, you know that during this time in Paris and what that would look like. So just using using the surroundings to kind of influence how Fantine would act.

Jace: Did Anne Hathaway offer you advice?

Lily It wasn’t like Anne Hathaway came up to me and offered me advice. I saw her at an event and I just I thought it was funny that I saw her and I had just played her and I said, ‘I’m playing Fantine, and hi how are you?’ She offered me really great advice, actually, coming from you know me bringing it up to her. And it was just, ‘Make sure that you don’t lose yourself in this character, because it is one that requires all of yourself.’ Like I said before, and it would be easy for it to become all consuming and just to be aware of that. And that was something that I knew going into it. But it was nice to have someone who’s been in the trenches reiterate that and remind me that I’m not crazy for thinking it is overwhelming. But it was great it was a lovely moment. And I was very thankful for that.

Jace: Fantine meets Felix, played by Johnny Flynn, over a drink and the scene becomes a swirl of activity as Fantine and her friends dance with these very well-heeled gentlemen.

CLIP

Felix: No, no, no I’m afraid we cannot permit you to dance without partners.

Favorite: Thought you’d never ask, monsieur.

Felix: May I ask your name, mademoiselle?

Fantine: Fantine, monsieur.

Felix: Fantine.

Jace: What was it like getting to play the scene, which is so at odds with how we think of Fantine traditionally?

Lily: That scene was so beautiful. I remember all of us being there and looking at I mean first of all the production design on this is just insanely beautiful and it was a welcome to me because I had shot all of my you know my death and my struggle maybe two months prior, went back to Los Angeles for a month, and came back for the summer portion. And this was one of the first things I shot and it was the first time for me also that I got to be around other people you know that were Fantine’s friends so that our whole gang spent so much time together in Brussels we had such a great time when we were so close knit that this was just it felt like another like a Friday night you know hanging out with friends, which it really was for Fantine. But it felt really nice to just let go and let loose and have a fun time because it was one of the moments the only moments that you see Fantine able to do that and Fantine was very much the baby of the group in terms of her girlfriends that were grisettes with her. She’s the younger one she’s more naive. And they see her as her little their little pet in the most endearing sense. So this was one of the most grownup nights she’s had. She gets to go out and have drinks and lo and behold meet some guys and obviously you know the rest is history and goes downhill from there really. But it was a welcome to me having known where she ends up to be able to have as much fun at the beginning. You know where things are headed and it makes you want for her the best more than you ever have because you know that things are just going to get awful quite soon.

Jace: Fantine falls head over heels in love with Felix. Their seduction scene in the woods under the green canopy of the trees is exquisite to watch.

CLIP

Felix: I wonder if you know how I’m suffering? Are you going to be merciful, Fantine? Will you take pity on me?

Fantine: I don’t want you to be sad.

Felix Then…?

Fantine: You promise you’ll be good to me, Felix?

Fantine: On my life.

Jace: What was it like shooting the sequence?

Lily: It was…I mean it was beautiful. Again, where we got to shoot was just a joy. Brussels and outside of Belgium and France there were so many amazing locations. Props to Johnny Flynn for knowing how to row that canoe really well. It felt very natural. Johnny is such a giving actor. He’s perfect in this role. I feel he plays that fine line between you know, a wooing, very dapper young man and also someone that you know is just sleazy and saying what he wants to get her. And you know, a poet in every sense, and I felt like that was the first moment for Fantine that she ever really falls for someone. And it’s the first time she gives herself to anyone and you can tell her you can tell she’s super hesitant but the second he starts playing into his emotions and saying you know I don’t want to suffer. Do you want me to suffer? He really knows how to get her. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful. And at the same time you really you go oh can you fault her though? Because she can’t see that he’s tricking her. And he’s really good at what he does. He’s very alluring and we don’t even know if that’s what he’s doing yet. So it’s easy to see why she falls for him. But yeah, I mean it was, it was summer on the bank of a beautiful lake, you know, with a blanket, and it just all of it felt very very realistic and quite fairytale-like.

Jace: And sort of innocent, like her naivité is completely showing it that scene.

Lily: She has a guy canoeing her to this little nook with a blanket and reciting poetry and saying how beautiful she is. I mean, that’s something that every girl would want! Especially Fantine, who has never had any attention like this. So like, it really is easy to see why she fell for him, and even sadder when he leaves her.

Jace: I mean, do you think that Fantine truly loves Felix?

Lily: I do. I think Fantine believes in love, and loves the feeling of love. And she’s always, she’s ever hopeful. And I think she sees the best in people, you know, even when she’s speaking to the grisettes in the factory afterwards when one of her friends is telling her, ‘You know, things like this don’t happen for us and they’re just going to use us,’ and Fantine’s just so optimistic saying, ‘Maybe it’s not always like that, and it might not be like that for me.’ And I think it’s that hopeful, optimistic nature of her that is what continues on throughout the story even after she dies. She’s kind of this beacon of light and of hope and makes it even sadder that that’s her disposition. But it’s I think it was really genuine for her.

Jace: I mean, getting a letter at a banquet might be the 19th century equivalent of getting ghosted.

Lily: Yeah, it’s completely getting ghosted. Yeah.

Jace: I mean how much of Felix’s cavalier action sort of destroys Fantine? Is this sort of the moment where there’s no turning back?

Lily: I think you know she has a daughter now and Felix had gotten her her apartment. Felix had done his, what he thought duty in keeping her healthy, happy and protected and fed and warm. But she can’t take care of herself in the way that he had, and he doesn’t leave her anything to do so. So once she realizes that he’s gone, in that moment her whole world, I think, comes crashing down and she has this realization of, ‘OK, I can’t I can’t just sit and wallow because I can’t keep my house, I can’t keep my daughter fed. I have to do something.’ And in that moment, at the end of episode one, really, is this kind of light bulb moment where she has to figure out what next. And there is nothing for her there anymore. And I also think she probably can’t exist within that space and not think of him. You know, she has to move on in some way, so she is forced to have to leave and when she meets the Thenardiers, and sees a way out for the moment of, ‘OK, well at least my daughter can be protected and well fed and cared for and I can go and figure out my next step.’ But I do think that that letter seals the deal of, ‘My world’s coming crashing down, and what can I do?’

Jace: Fantine lies to Valjean about not having a daughter.

CLIP

Valjean: So what are your family circumstances?

Fantine: I am alone in the world, sir.

Madame Victurnien: No husband?

Fantine: No.

Madame Victurnien: No lover? No children?

Fantine: As I said sir, I’m…I’m alone in the world.

Valjean: It’s very important to me and to you, Fantine, that you’re completely honest with me.

Jace: Why doesn’t she admit to Valjean that she’s a mother. What holds her back?

Lily: Well I think she assumed he would judge her and not want to hire her and she couldn’t risk that. So she felt that it was necessary to just present who she was there. I mean she had left her daughter so she was technically alone there. But I don’t think she wanted the judgment and unfortunately if she had just told him he may have actually shown pity and still hired her but she didn’t want to risk anything and at this point this was really her only option. So she was willing to kind of forgo telling the truth for that.

Jace: What was it like working with Dominic West?

Lily: Dominic’s awesome! He’s amazing he’s so intense when he needs to be and so fun when the cameras aren’t rolling. But he’s a wonderful scene partner. He’s so brilliant in this role and just really a joy to kind of be in the moment with especially in scenes you know also with David and that pinnacle scene where she’s begging for her life on the street in the snow to have two powerful acting you know houses right across from you. So 110 percent in that moment with you is so necessary. You know and then they yell cut and we’re laughing. It’s so great it’s so great to have people that can do both and that are really in the moment with you.

Jace: Fantine finishes her work and uses some leftover beads to make a little bird which reminded me of a caged bird that she has in her flat. What does the bird represent to you?

Lily: To me I think it’s freedom. The idea that we can all feel caged in our own lives in one way or another. But the second that you allow yourself to to be free even if it’s just for a little while before you come back home or it is just to set yourself free from an idea or a place that you are in your life, how that can be so liberating for one’s spirit and also physically if you free yourself from something and I think this you know was to be given to cause that just is a little emblem of freedom and to always spread your wings and always kind of rise above what it is that you’re thrown in life. So it was very sad when she doesn’t actually get to give it to her. I know.

Jace The little bird ends up being Fantine’s undoing as Madame Victurnien catches her with it and ends up following her to the letter writer. Is there a sense that had Pere Madeleine been at his desk that Fantine may have escaped this fate? She keeps looking to the empty desk.

Lily I think he would have granted more of a lenience towards Fantine as opposed to Madame Victurnien who really always had it out for her. I think she would have used anything to get her out because she really sensed that she was lying which of course she was. But again all for good reason and you know her morals were there. But I think Pere Madeleine felt really betrayed when he finds out Fantine had lied and I think he in his heart would still wanted to keep her there but he had to set a precedent for the other women. And so I think she was looking out for him as a guardian of sorts and when he wasn’t there it gave her even more of a reason to hold that grudge and resentment towards him which you see in that scene on the street when when he approaches her and she just completely you know kind of just is disgusted by him and calls him out in front of everyone but he redeems himself by by providing you know a bed for her and promised to go see Cossette. But I think that those moments when she’s looking for him and he’s not there are very poignant because it’s as if he abandoned her and that’s what he she sees him as a someone who abandoned her who at the end does redeem himself.

Jace: Before this next question, a brief word from our sponsors…

Jace: Is so much of what happens to poor Fantine down to bad luck or being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Lily: I think that she was easily manipulated and duped by this man. And I don’t know if it’s a sense of necessarily bad luck, or a wrong place at wrong time. I think it’s her disposition was taken advantage of by multiple people, whether that’s Felix or the Thenardiers, and it set her off on a really negative trajectory. And she was so fearful to not be able to take care of Cosette, that I think she projected how she felt other people would react if she had told the truth. Like, if she had told Pere Madeleine that she had a daughter, things probably would have been different. He may not have hired her or he may have. But if he didn’t hire her, she probably would have had to go find somewhere else. But if he had, then there would have been no reason to fire her for the little bird, because they would have known that she had a daughter. And I think it was, it’s a series of unfortunate events that were done to a very fortunate, loving person, which sometimes in life bad things happen to good people, and you can’t really figure out why. The good news is that she remained ever hopeful and ever kind of persistent in her love of Cosette, and trying to provide for her that her overall essence and that sense of loyalty and light and love is what Jean Valjean continues on to the end of the story. So if it weren’t for her love and positivity and light, I don’t think he would have made it through to the end. And if that’s all that if that’s what she leaves this Earth, when she leaves the Earth then that I guess is something positive from something negative. You know?

Jace: We come now to the most horrific scene in the entire show, where Fantine has her head shaved and her teeth ripped out by the hair and teeth dealer played by Ron Cook.

CLIP

Hair and Teeth Dealer: Are you selling, dear?

Fantine: How much?

Hair and Teeth Dealer Ten francs.

Fantine: Is that all?

Hair and Teeth Dealer That’s the top rate, you won’t get more anywhere. But if you was thinking of parting with those lovely white teeth, now…just the two front ones. I could give you two Napoleons for that. Forty francs. Fifty altogether. Just five minutes work. What do you say?

Lily: How brilliant is Ron Cook?

Jace: Amazing.

Lily When he came out and did that, I really was quite mesmerized. I was like, ‘I get why she approached him and was willing to do it.’ Yeah.

Jace: It’s amazing. I mean the scene itself. His mother holds you down. It plays out like something out of a horror film. What was it like shooting this very traumatic sequence?

Lily: Well it was interesting talking to Tom about this sequence, because it’s been portrayed many different ways in other productions and he was very adamant that if she cries at all in this scene it will be from the pain of it happening, not of her necessarily doing it, because we both agreed she’s not vain. So it’s not that she’s crying that she has to have her hair cut or that she has to have her teeth pulled out because that was a choice and her priority is Cosette. So when she makes a decision she might be fearful but she’s not upset that she’s losing her looks. The the pain comes from the sheer agony of these you know of him chopping her hair so so harshly that it catches her scalp or obviously you know the teeth pulling is theirs. She didn’t have any of that anesthetic like there’s there’s no drugs involved to make her not feel anything. So this is just pure pain. And that was where the horror came from of how brutal and how raw he was going to then approach that moment. Ron Cook was going to do that or the teeth and hair puller. And at this point it’s the last thing she feels before prostitution that she can do. And we were in a very small environment. And I remember the crew all feeling extremely grossed out by it as well. Sound was everything because you’re really relying on my eyes and the noises and obviously the brilliant acting by Ron and his mother. But it was just one of those moments when you thought oh people are probably not going to like to watch this because I know a lot of people that hate the dentist that they’re really not fans of getting their teeth cleaned let alone seeing that. But it was it was necessary. And I think it’s also necessary that she doesn’t see herself until she gets back home for the first time. But yeah, it was dark.

Jace: When we come in to the scene where she retaliates against an awful would be punter and assaults him which leads to her being dragged viciously through the streets by Javert and thrown in front of Valjean.

Lily: That was real!

Jace: I mean it it looks painful and it looks incredibly cold.

Lily: Oh yes. So it was in the minuses I think it was about minus 13 or minus 15 that night it had just been I didn’t know it could rain and snow at the same time but apparently it can. It had rained and it had really snowed and it was freezing and I’m wearing limited clothing. And so we shot all exteriors in this amazing amazing ancient little city little town called Limbourg. And the cobblestone streets all of that was real which is so beautiful when you’re walking down you know on a sunny day. But when you’re being dragged through the streets by someone who is your jailer or you’re flailing and jumping on someone I mean I practiced the jumping with a stunt person. But then it really was me jumping and knocking him down and just pawing at his face. I mean he the actor wanted me he said, Go for it. Well you don’t want to tell me to go for because I really will go for it because they wanted to animalistic and just screaming and guttural because this is the last chance she has to really fight back and it shows that she’s still she still has a sense of herself. I mean she’s a shell of what she was. But she’s also not willing for someone to treat her that way and it’s her last almost her last exertion because she’s already really sick at that point. And so we did that jumping on him and then I’m literally picked up and dragged by my stomach away. And then David and I spoke about the fact that it was a harsh scene and he was going to be gripping me hard and I was going to be pulling away. But there’s the there’s a moment when I’m being held back by the guards and I jump at his feet and I’m begging and I’m begging and he pulls me and he kind of shoves me off and we did it a couple of times in the rehearsal. But when you get into the moment and you know it’s it’s do or die and you’re you’ve got lots of endorphins and you know he’s playing who he’s playing and I’m playing who I’m playing. Sometimes things get amped up and I hear he shoved me but we’re on cobblestones and so my foot got caught on one of the cobblestones and it was so slippery from the snow and the rain that I literally flew across the cobblestone and landed straight on my hip bone. And they used the shot because it was a mid shot so you can see it’s me. Doesn’t look like a stunt person but it’s me flailing getting flung and you just heard this crack and nobody knew that nobody knew that it hurt but I screamed out loud as she would have and I just thought don’t stop. Like this is the must keep going. If Fantine was in pain you’re in pain. What good is going to be to stop. So we just kept rolling and I was crying and I was like coughing and everything about it hurt and hurt and hurt. At least in my opinion it’s like if when I had that I went OK I went all and I did justice to Fantine’s scene because that was one of my most anticipated anxiety ridden scenes, for sure.

Jace: Fantine’s death scene is one of the most iconic in history and you completely transform yourself into this poor woman sweaty toothless feverish. Your face is just this mess of misery and anguish the choking sounds that you made stuck with me so long after I watched this.

CLIP

Fantine: You promised…to bring my little girl from Montfermeil with you Monsieur Le Maire…

Javert: There’s not Monsieur Le Maire here. He hasn’t been to Montfermeil to fetch your little girl. He’s been confessing to his crimes in court. And now he’s going back to the prison hulks where he belongs.

Valjean: You killed that woman.

Jace: How grueling was it to shoot this death?

Lily: Day two! Imagine that. ‘Welcome to set!’ Day two was really interesting actually because it was freezing. Everyone was just bundled up they have me on this deathbed which they very nicely the prop department had put in a electric blanket on the the bottom because I was going to be lying in it all day. And at first I thought well I don’t know if I really – yes I want it but I don’t know if I really really want to because I’m I want to be suffering and cold. The longer I stayed on that bed it became so hot that I just started sweating and then I was cold and then I thought well now I’m going to get sick. And I thought well that’s perfect. So as I was shivering I was profusely sweating the sweat was me like sweating. Then they added spray and then I was so delirious from the whole day of breathing and lack of breathing and what that does to you as a person. I mean when you mess up your breathing you become light headed and all of this stuff and I had just thought before I went into this like how can I make the noise disturbing what can I do. And I started just kind of choking. And Tom was like Right. Well it makes sense because you’re choking on your blood and you can’t really speak and so it’s these noises. And I remember at one point Dominic looked to me he’s like Oh I like that I think I might use after my death. Where did that come from. I was like I don’t know. I just thought it might be it might be helpful. So that just all kind of came together on the day. But it was interesting that a hot blanket could end up actually making me freezing and sweaty which then turned into this you know great amalgamation of getting sick. I mean I did kind of get sick afterwards but I thought well at least I’ve died already.

Jace: But this production was really ultimately a test of endurance for you. Physical transformation, a psychologically grueling portrayal, freezing temperatures, flying across cobblestones. When did you come out the other side with a better sense of what you yourself can endure?

Lily: Yes definitely. It felt daunting to look at the script even though I’m in only three episodes. It still was daunting to look at all the things Fantine goes through in such a relatively short period on screen. And there were moments you know like I said that were one eighth of a page that had no dialogue but were so powerful and then there were scenes that were monologues that were so powerful and so many nuanced moments that Tom you know I remember when I was on the phone to Tom I was in sunny, sunny L.A. and Tom said. So that scene where you’re being dragged through the streets. You know I know it’s written that it’s in the jailhouse but I thought how much more humiliating and amazing would it be if you were dragged through the snow on the street outside. And I remember thinking amazing for who? The viewer or me? And I thought you know what. Yes yes yes it’s going to be amazing Tom and I just thought don’t think about the actual doing of it because the end result will be so amazing. And again it just aided in the performance so much. But I really I really went through a lot of external influences in order to make this happen that I didn’t necessarily know I could withstand. It was interesting to me to kind of see what I was capable of and that’s a huge testament though to Tom and our director and the other actors because as long as you’re surrounded by people that you trust and that you know are taking you in the right direction you’re kind of willing to put up with whatever it is to get the job done. And when I finish I was so happy to to have a break. And luckily I finished in the summer period when she was happy. That was a really nice sendoff. You know I was glad to get the bad stuff done in the winter and then happy to come back in the summer and then take a well needed little kind of beach vacation and come back free and then watch it months later and go, Wow we did that. Oh that looks sad. It was nice to have a little bit of a break from it.

Jace: You’re starring as Edith Tolkien the wife of Lord of the Rings novelist J.R.R. Tolkien played by Nicholas Hoult in the biopic Tolkien. What can you tell us about that project?

Lily: Well I’m so excited actually comes out in a couple of months now. That was also an amazing experience to be a part of because I grew up loving Lord of the Rings didn’t know much about Tolkien himself though so to be able to play the woman that inspired the Elven Queen and a lot of the story points of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit was really for lack of better words magical. I got to shoot in Liverpool I’ve been a huge fan of Nick’s for a long time. I’ve known him socially and I think he’s wonderful and working with Domé as our director. He’s such a visual genius. The way that he wanted to show the war sequences and the colours of war as well as inserting little bits of the imagery that you associate with The Hobbit into this real life story was really fascinating to me but it was so interesting to get to know the story behind the story of a great one of the most renowned novelists of the world really.

Jace: And then what’s next for you now?

Lily: I also did a film called Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile about Ted Bundy. It’s a film that sparks a lot of conversation which I think is important and to have been able to play a woman who is still alive today and to have met her was fascinating and just such an amazing experience just as a human being from one woman to another woman and Les Mis I feel like last year was an interesting year. Back to back work which I’m very grateful for and then they all seemed to be coming out the exact reverse of when they were shot Les Mis was last and Les Mis came out first so I’m grateful to be able to be talking about all the stuff that I did last year.

Jace: Lily Collins, thank you so much

Lily: Thank you for having me.

Jace: Andrew Davies is one the UK’s most prolific screenwriters, adapting dozens of classic titles since the very beginning of MASTERPIECE. When he decided to pen a new adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables, it was only right that it find a home here on MASTERPIECE.

Andrew Davies:  I’m that age where I you know I never had to fight in a war. I lived through a period of peace and prosperity, really. And it’s interesting that now in my country young people can’t afford to buy a house. It’s very upsetting.

Jace: Davies joins us to explore the story still to come on Les Misérables, and to tease his thrilling new adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon, set to premiere on MASTERPIECE in 2020. That’s next week on the podcast, on Sunday, May 5.

MASTERPIECE Studio is hosted by me, Jace Lacob and produced by Nick Andersen. Elisheba Ittoop is our editor. Susanne Simpson is our executive producer. The executive producer of MASTERPIECE is Rebecca Eaton.

[rosiefmp]

Harold Offeh

I absolutely loved the talk that Harold Offeh gave to Foundation. It was wonderfully in-depth and really went into the significance of different source materials that his works draw on, their histories and the ways in which they have influenced his practice. 

His definitions of performance art:

- A series of gestures or actions that are presented to an audience

- This is what all art is whether you choose to use your body as a material or not. For instance, painting is still a set of gestures that you present to others!

- Performance as research - not just for the viewer’s sake but also a tool to process ideas and reach personal understandings - ‘I use my body as a tool to explore and investigate’. ‘A way of asking questions’.

- ‘Performance is not a medium that’s defined by medium’

^I have personally found this expansiveness of performance quite freeing in my own work. Rather than the work just being about the medium or materiality, performance is defined by “pose” and the movements of “the body”, as Offeh talked about, taking on a new meaning when it is enacted. 

I particularly loved these snippets of his new project that he showed us, ‘Hail The New Prophets’ for Bold Tendencies. 

It draws on Sun Ra, an American Jazz musician who is the ‘Godfather of Afrofuturism’

working in the 50s 

^took on a new persona - embodied it, completely assumed and lived this identity

myth narrative - said he was from Saturn

forming a fictional identity - became real - was a provocation

was at a time of deeply ingrained segregation - is thus political when someone names themselves and makes a new identity

^history of slavery - the erasure of identity

I love how he is turning the imagery of a spaceship from one of Sun Ra’s videos into a real life slide that people can interact with - an “intergenerational, intergalactic slide”. I really want to see this in person, particularly as he said that “sounds are going to be played from the ship”. I feel that this world-building and sense of a journey through movement - people going down the slides - and sound, cannot really be replicated in a digital sphere. 

This engagement with sci-fi is very relevant to my FMP. He is “inviting people to share with me their prophecies for the future” and I was particularly struck by how he said, “by speculating about the future you are thinking about the present”. This is what my FMP has allowed me to do, enabling me to “articulate [my] desires for now” namely a less speciesist world where humans are viewed as part of a larger whole and non-human life is given similar weight and value. Like Offeh’s ‘Hail The New Prophets’, I want my work to encourage viewers to consider their own hopes and “prophecies for the future” and through which consider their “desires” for the present. 

----------------------------------------------------------

TUTORIAL WITH HAROLD:

I showed him the WIP of my current film.

Feedback:

- a lot going on

- amazing, very well put together

USE OF VOICE AND TEXT:

- loved your use of VOICE whether that’s through the voice over or the singing at the end

- love how you used the voice in different ways - the effects, the singing. Also, you are very much using it not only informationally but through tone and mood. 

- quite definite sections 

- beginning section with text - like how it addressed the viewer. It’s quite arresting when people use the second person as you are speaking directly to the viewer as an acknowledgement. 

-  ^effective strategy - ‘you are formless’ is in a way a kind of provocation - reading that it makes you think, am I formless? In what way?

- direct question or provocation engages the viewer well

Work seems to be dealing with:

- ECOLOGY

- BODY MATTER

- TIME

- HISTORY

- THE HUMAN, ANIMALS, BACTERIA, PLANT LIFE

- OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD

- ANIMATION OF EVOLUTION = effective

- Last sequence (performative section) - initially thought that it wasn’t a body, thought it was plasticine or a doll. Then the figure emerged with the humming voice.

- ^Was hypnotic

PACE OF THE FILM:

- film = quite concentrated - wanted more

- Could be more stretched out:

- BUT doesn’t necessarily need to be longer. You’ll find out in showing it and watching it yourself. Depends on what context you’re showing it in. 

Options:

1) online - short is probably better

2) in person - can make a conscious choice for it to be a looped film

^Over 3 mins = short enough for it to be watched more than once. Looped can be an effective strategy - get more and more when you rewatch it. 

- wanted more - let the elements breathe, let people think about the connections between different sections, sequences and transitions

INSTALLATION:

He asked me where I would ideally show the film. I said:

- in person 

- quite typical gallery room - big screen therefore big text. Make ‘you are formless’ etc a bolder, bigger statement

- black out room 

- surround sound - somehow seperate the voice from the other audios.

^He said this sounds great. He talked of ‘the architecture of sound’: sense of space, for instance, voices from behind you, another sound next to you, is an effective way of drawing people into the work. 

----------------------------------------------------------

This was a brilliant tutorial. Even though it was around 10 minutes long it was amazingly helpful. I’m SO happy that he picked up on all of the key themes of my work: ECOLOGY, BODY MATTER, TIME and HISTORY. I’m particularly pleased that he talked of ‘the human’ vs. animals, bacteria and plant life and  how this relates to OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD. Also, that the animation conveyed evolution effectively. 

Even though we have been doing blind crits with students and teachers, by now I have talked to most people about what my project is about and so the crits are not truly ‘blind’! The fact that my film made him think about humanity’s place in the world really has given my confidence in my project, this film and that it is achieving and conveying my key aims for people who have no prior knowledge of my work. 

After Harold’s feedback, I think that the film may be too dense. By lengthening the clips I have taken from different films or using more blank spaces without imagery I think I could “let the elements breathe”. For people who have no prior understanding of my project, I think this would make it more impactful by allowing them to “think about and make connections”. 

However, although after this tutorial I have decided that this film would be in-person ideally, given COVID I want to ensure that it functions well on a digital space. Therefore, the current shorter pace and the way this encourage re-watching could be better for a digital space as Harold said. I may want to make it a looped film.

I will definitely keep the first bit of text where I address the viewer directly. I had not fully considered the significance of this but I agree that “provocations” like this engage the viewer well. Also, I’m happy that he liked my use of voice and singing - I’m not a singer so I’m relieved that he thought it was good! I will continue using voice effects as before I was not sure if this made it sound too artificial. 

[atopfourthwall]

State of the Wall: 12-2-17

New State of the Wall post! Lotsa stuff happening, so click under the cut to see what's happening!

Schedule of Upcoming Episodes 12/4 – Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Dark Holiday Special 12/11 – Sensation Comics #14: The Story of Fir Balsam 12/18 – Steam Wars Christmas Special 12/25 – Christmas with the Superheroes #2 1/1 – My Top 15 Favorite Episodes of AT4W 1/8 – PATREON: Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga 1/15 – Patreon Viewers’ Choice (NFL SuperPro #2, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos #3, or James Bond, Jr. #1) 1/22 – PATREON: JLA/Avengers 1/29 – PATREON: Homestuck, Act 2

As always, the schedule is subject to change for any number of reasons, I’m pretty locked down with these choices… aside from MAYBE my Top 15 Favorite Episodes. I keep waffling on it, but for now it’s what we’re going with.

The Road to 500… and the 10th Anniversary 2018 will mark the 10th Anniversary of Atop the Fourth Wall! Needless to say, it’s going to be a big year for the show. If everything goes according to plan, there will be two storylines within it – the Contest of Champions arc that began in October as well as a shorter 10th Anniversary storyline whose name I shall reveal once we get to it, likely ending October 29th (if not the 22nd to coincide with the 10th Anniversary episode).

To celebrate this momentous time, every review that is not a Patreon-sponsored episode will be a follow-up to something from the past ten years! This would include sequel episodes to previous material, like another issue of something covered previously, a thematic follow-up like, say, from the same creators as a popular episode or could be thought of as following the same ideas as that episode. However, thankfully some of the Patreon-sponsored episodes themselves will be follow-ups, as indicated by the January 29th episode being the second act of Homestuck (which should hopefully make the many Homestuck fans asking for me to cover the next act happy).

Along those same lines, we’ll be doing the second Patreon Viewers’ Choice episode! The official announcement for the poll on that one will likely come at the end of the Top 15 Favorite Episodes of AT4W, but I’m letting you see the choices now to start thinking about it. The choice will be between three goofy tie-in comics I’ve covered previously – another issue of NFL SuperPro, another issue of Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos, or going all the way back to James Bond, Jr.’s first issue. I did return to James Bond, Jr. for a live show that hasn’t been put up yet, but we haven’t seen it on the show proper since the end of 2009. A comment on that issue is the source of the infamous “You’ll never be as popular as the BeeGees!” comment that is now immortalized on the back of the second DVD.

But of course there’s even another big even happening in 2018 as part of the 10th Anniversary – we’re going to hit the 500th episode! I definitely want to do some special stuff this year for the 500th, most especially being another livestream like we had for the 300th. It’ll take some time to plan, but here’s a list of ideas I have currently for it: -More testimonials, trivia, and anecdotes like in the 300th -Showing some otherwise-DVD exclusive content from all my DVDs, including the Movie -Showing the previous “100th episodes” – Sonic Live #1, Spider-Man: One More day, Holy Terror, and Marvel Super Special #7: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band -A live showing of the conclusion to Pokémon Omicron, where we’ll take on the Elite 4 -Various Longbox of the Damned episodes -Special guests -Live-riffing some shorts

These are all just ideas for the time being, so if you have any of your own, feel free to let me know! We’ve got 5-6 months until the 500th and I’d love to know what people think!

Platform Change 4: The Revengeance of the Whils VidMe has announced that they are shutting down their services as of December 15th. As such, there are going to be some changes in how things are handled around here. This is the FOURTH time that a platform has failed and I have had enough. We hadn’t even really finished replacing the vidme embeds on the LAST embed player change, so screw it: we’re going all in on youtube. There might be an option for Vimeo down the road, but for now, here’s in the broad sense what’s going to happen: -All Atop the Fourth Wall videos, from here on, will be thumbnail images of the title card that you click through to go straight to youtube. -All Longbox of the Damned embeds will be made into youtube embeds. Next year’s Longbox videos are currently up in the air, but hey – we’ve got ten months to figure that out and maybe have a tried and tested system in place. For now, it makes more sense to make them youtube embeds because of people’s nature in marathon-viewing videos and Longbox videos are short enough as-is. -New videos like vlogs, side content, and Let’s Plays will follow the title card thumbnail process being used for Atop the Fourth Wall. Old videos are up in the air, but they will likely be embedded videos just to make life easier on us as we once again replace everything. -History of Power Rangers… well, that’s a bit of a beast all on its own. Refer to the History of Power Rangers section below for more details.

As always, I ask for patience during yet another period of transition. Plenty of videos will be unavailable during this time (including crossovers in particular), but we’ll try our damndest to get things back to working order as soon as possible.

History of Power Rangers I’m happy to report that FINALLY, all of History of Power Rangers is back up after so many months of being down due to ContentID striking many of them from VidMe. Minor edits have been made due to the lengths of certain clips used…

…And you can only enjoy them for another 13 days because VidMe is shutting down. Or rather you can DOWNLOAD them for another 13 days using a third-party downloader.

Simply put: I’ve had it. These videos were made for a different time, when Blip was the main video host and longer usage of video clips wasn’t an issue. The platforms have dwindled and it’s down to youtube and I’ve already tried to upload these videos to youtube once before and it didn’t end well. The audio quality of these videos isn’t that great compared to my current standards and many of them utilized low-quality pirated versions of episodes recorded off of TV. I own all of Power Rangers on DVD now and new Power Rangers content that I put out has to come from legitimate sources like DVDs anyway. I simply cannot make these older versions work anymore. Don’t bother trying to suggest another video host like Vimeo or DailyMotion. Aside from both having their own ContentID systems, I am tired of trying to accommodate an inferior product.

Work will begin anew on the revised History of Power Rangers videos. While I had wanted to work on them in order, it took forever just to get the SLIGHTLY-edited versions back on VidMe due to my busy schedule. As such, I’m going to release them on youtube out of order, starting with Overdrive through RPM (Samurai, Megaforce, and Dino Charge already exist on youtube) because of their already-decent audio quality. If you want the old versions (and sadly that will now include the SLIGHTLY-edited versions that I have put up more recently), feel free to download them however way you can, because I am no longer going to try to support it. Let it not be said that I didn’t TRY to keep them up after so many years of fighting with various platforms over them.

I had planned to announce that it was likely the In Space History of Power Rangers would be delayed as it is simply due to the busy schedules of others needed to work on the “Under Pressure” section, but, well, here we are. Hopefully we can see HOPR restored to something better than it was once the dust completely settles.

Let’s Play Pokémon Omicron As stated in the last State of the Wall, the Pokémon Omicron streams are on hiatus due to finally reaching the Elite 4. Due to the various things I’ve had do to these last few months (not the least of which being concluding a storyline, Longbox, AND getting married) I’ve had little to no time to work on Omicron videos. As I’ve said before, I’d like to do a major stream for the Elite 4. If you look above, I’ve suggested fighting the Elite 4 as part of the 500th AT4W Episode Celebration Live Show and would like to hear some feedback on that.

Storyline Compilations In case you haven’t been following the youtube channel (which you probably should be at this point given what’s going on with VidMe – link HERE), the Game Show Reviewer (who does a lot of the special effects for the show) has put together compilation videos of the AT4W storyline! They feature JUST the storyline segments and occasionally a clip or two from a review for context (or because he felt a joke was funny enough to include). At this time, everything through the “His Blue Soul” arc has been released. The other compilation videos are done and uploaded, but I’m currently waiting for some ContentID claims on the Royalty-Free music to pass before I release the rest. Otherwise, you can enjoy the compilations currently available thanks to this hand-dandy playlist.

DVDs and T-Shirts Sale In honor of the holiday season, IT’S SALE TIME! All INDIVIDUAL volumes of Atop the Fourth Wall DVDs have been reduced to ten dollars (until December 26th), including the most recent – Volume 3: Character Reboot. In addition, Shark Robot is still running their Black Friday sale through December 6th – just use the promo code “BLACKFRIDAY17” on the two Atop the Fourth Wall t-shirts – “I am a Man” and “Because Poor Literacy is KEWL!” You can find those shirts HERE!

I’m working on getting some other sales ready for both the Screenwave store and the T-shirts, so feel free to keep checking back here for any updates on additional sales!

Event Comics Month II The first Event Comics Month was such a big success we’re doing it again next year! As before, it’s a vote by patrons at any level picking two DC and two Marvel event comics! You can check it out HERE, become a Patron, and make your vote known about what you’d like to see reviewed next year!

Patreon As a reminder, the Patreon-sponsored review tier for Patreon is still closed for the moment, with details you can read HERE. While I still don’t have a date yet as to when I plan to reopen them, I’ve been taking your feedback about it into consideration. A common train of thought is that any non-comic review should at least be in some way linked to comics, be it about superheroes or, at the very least, linked to something I actually regularly do/am in some way interested in (for instance, the occasional sentai reviews are fine given History of Power Rangers, or video games could be Star Trek or Pokémon or the like). I don’t think that’s too unfair a compromise given what people are thinking, but I wouldn’t mind getting more feedback about it during this time, so feel free to make your feelings about it known if you haven’t already!

That’s all I’ve got for now! Feel free to let me know your thoughts/concerns/questions for everything going on!

[heathertalks]

Audience Analysis Blog #8: Media Fandom and Audience Subcultures

When we consume our media, whether it is watching our favourite TV series or movies, playing our video games, cheering for our sports teams, listening to our music, etc, we become fans of that particular media, whether we know about it. As fans, we invest in our favourite media and sometimes recommend or talk about it among our friends. Some of us would like to keep it simple in just consuming the media while others would go all out, such as buy T-shirts and other merchandise, create fansites, go to comic-conventions, etc. Just like creating our own media reception context, we create our own way of being fans.

Let us start this blog by asking what is a fan? How do you consider yourself to be one? Can you still be a fan if you did not have a certain trait? A fan is considered to be an audience member that shares a love of a certain type of media, whether it is a celebrity, TV / movie / video game franchise, sports team, etc. Fans are invested in their favourite media as they would examine the plots, characters and the texts’ messages. (Sullivan, pp 239) Fans would interact with one another in discussing the media text as they become part of an interpretive community. Texts created by fans in the form of fan fiction is used to suit their desires. Short for fanatic, the term was initially used to refer to someone belonging to a religious membership. The British would refer to media fan cultures as ‘cult media.’ It is interesting to note how the word ‘fan’ had an original religious meaning as people’s love for something could result in negative views of fandom as individuals would be looked upon as delusional.

Now, before we get into further detail about fandoms, let me tell you my experiences as a fan. I am a fan of many things, from sports to blockbuster films and TV series to gaming. I would often wear shirts / sweaters from my favourite teams, I have a couple of gaming T-shirts, I would attend sporting events. I would not really consider myself as hardcore as some people would describe themselves. Later on, in this blog, I will give out some examples of fandoms that tend to be a little too much.

There has been a debate on what fandom means among researchers with competitive agendas. Early studies concerning fans had an objective in disproving the negative stereotypes of fandoms. (Sullivan, pp 241) John Fiske explained that fans broke away from the negativity by creating ownership over the media texts by going into interpretive play with them. Early scholars were attracted to the notion that fan participation became a political resistance as it resulted in the idea of commodity audience being challenged. Through their own consumption of media, fans develop their own sense of identity. There was more to fandoms than sharing a love for a specific TV show or film series as it formed a pop culture interpretation that developed a sense of community. With a growing number of platforms and media products, the concepts of fan and fandom has broadened. There are different levels of engagement when it comes to passion in fandoms. In order, these levels are consumer, enthusiast, fan and producer.

Sometimes, fandoms can result in groups in the form of a subculture. It is usual for fan groups of a specific interest such as Star Trek and Star Wars to form. The selection of mainstream cultural aesthetics had the fans incorporating it into their personal lives as it would create a subculture. (Sullivan, pp 244) Fans who show their love of a certain franchise had a tendency to be looked down on by the status quo in their engagement. In some cases, fans tend to go a little overboard with their love of their franchise. What I am going to show is a WatchMojo clip of toxic fandoms and the extremes that they went when something goes wrong with their favourite franchises. The reason for me showing this is to demonstrate the lengths some fandoms would go to show their displeasure.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMouE-raVGY

One franchise that I would like to talk about is Star Wars. I am an avid Star Wars fan, I have seen the original films multiple times, played some of the games when I was younger. So, you might say, I am a Star Wars nut. The fan base has a reputation for being toxic. When the first of the prequels came out, two of the actors, one who played Anakin Skywalker, Jake Lloyd and one who played Jar Jar Binks were not well-received. They got a ton of hate from the fans and it messed them up both bad. What I am going to show is a clip on how the fanbase resulted in Lloyd’s misfortunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jO-H_1M0CQ 

In addition, fans stated their dissatisfaction for one of the recent sequels, they started creating petitions to have The Last Jedi changed. I actually went on Facebook to say that they are being ridiculous, and Disney is just laughing their butt off over this. I got 1,300 reactions from that comment and managed to ruffle a few feathers over it. The reason for me writing it is how we have no control over the final product, and we should accept the movie for what it is and move on.

Star Wars is an example of fandoms who devote their love to their franchise. After the first film was released in 1977, it resulted in an explosion of fan enthusiasm. (Sullivan, pp 250) Will Brooker states that the original films are considered the official texts. The films would be considered the center of the Star Wars universe as several it branched out into several texts, such as a series of books, an NPR-broadcasted radio show in the 1980s, even a TV special featuring the fan favourite Ewoks that made their debut in Return of the Jedi. What adds fuel to the franchise is the fanbase. They wanted continuity from the original trilogy’s narrative in multiple texts. The community among Star Wars fans communicate with one another and share their interest among the texts. What distinguishes fans from simple viewers of the franchise is the ability to share their own unique interpretations.

One other example that would be worth discussing is fandom of the Netflix television series, Stranger Things. For those who are not familiar with the show, it is set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. The series revolves around supernatural events happening in the town, including the appearance of a mysterious girl with telekinetic abilities. Fan involvement with the show included social media usage which included Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and Fanfare. Post patterns consisted of plot, re-watching, para-social and fan art. Plot posts seem to appear in all four platforms as they feature questions concerning the new season, fan reactions to the show and observations. (Pouls, pp 5) Data showed that close to the second season, people watched the first season to get prepared. First-time posts occurred among people who completed the first season. In all social media platforms, fans posted about re-watching the first season. Re-watch posts is common before the second season is released. Twitter and Instagram featured countdown posts as they indicate the amount of time before the second season is released.

There are many things to describe ourselves as an audience, such as a simple viewer to an avid fan. As fans, we do more than consume our favourite content, we live in our fandom through a variety of things. They include wearing simple T-shirts, purchasing merchandise or novelties, take part in online discussions or just simply enjoying it. It is possible to be a fan of a variety of different media, such as TV shows, sports teams, bands, etc. While it is nice to be a fan of certain things, it is possible to get carried away with the fandoms, as I showed in the examples with the WatchMojo and Star Wars videos. It is worth looking at the creative ways that some fans show their love for their favourite franchise. The love is fueled through social media as we have discussed in Stranger Things. Furthermore, growing trends in new media help broaden fandoms in helping them demonstrate their identity.

Sources

1) Sullivan, J.L. (2020). Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power. 237-263.

2) Pouls, S. & Gilpin, D. (2019). Socially Mediated Stranger Things: Audience Cultures and Full-Season Releases. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal. 34(2). 1-11.

[megacircuit9universe]

Relative Charisma & the Incel

WED SEP 30 2020

So the first of three debates between Trump and Biden happened yesterday, and it was... as CNN’s Jake Tapper so aptly put it, “A hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck.”

I didn’t see it, because I was at work, but I’ve heard enough sound bytes, and seen enough post debate coverage to know that... history will remember this one and play back those clips for centuries to come... of Trump, behaving like an angry, wounded animal.

For some context, despite my last entry, in which the indy left media (TYT mostly) was crying that Biden was losing the election, based on two stand alone polls that had Trump up a tick in two states... Biden’s lead in those and all other states is actually holding, or slightly growing.

I should disclose that my information is coming from an independent YouTube polls analyst whom I’ve come to trust over the past few years.  There are many such channels on YouTube, but this guy eventually won me over, because he’s thorough, transparent, always has receipts, and pretty good at calling trends, while keeping expectations grounded in reality.

In my experience, news outlets... be they mainstream media, or indy news sources, only present polling data that they can sensationalize.  

Right wing media just deny reality and convince their viewers all news of Trump being behind is fake.  But Mainstream media always wants you to think it’s a dead heat... because that gets ratings.  Meanwhile, the indy left news wants you to think Biden is losing, to fuel more activism and more participation.

And none of this is the subject of the entry at hand, but... it’s important to get this out of the way as we move into October, when the polling data is really going to be indicative of what happens on Election Day. 

I vetted a lot of different YouTube analyst channels and settled on the one I have, because... I trust this guy.

So... when I sit here an say that Biden has a significant lead in all critical states, has several paths to 270, is ahead in national polls, etc... I’m getting that from a trusted source.  It’s not just me being blindly optomistic based on some things I happened to pick up here and there.

Okay...

Back to context for Trump behaving like a wounded animal in yesterday’s debate...

On the one hand, yes, Biden is still way ahead, and looking like he’ll be the clear winner... which I’m sure Trump doesn’t like.  But on the other hand, Trump was also deeply humiliated this past Sunday when The New York Times published a bunch of his tax returns... going up to 2017 and 2018, when he was, of course, President.

And the story reveals that he’s drowning in debt, and has been for quite a long time... with most of it being owed to mysterious unknown parties... which is a security concern.  It also exposed how little taxes he’s paid... which may or may not be tax evasion, technically, but is not a great look for a populist President.

Quick sidebar here... Presidential tax returns are never normally news, because all Presidential candidates since Nixon have willingly published theirs upon declaring their candidacy... until Trump.  

So it’s not like he’s being singled out by the New York Times for exposure of his private business. 

On the other hand, the tax returns weren’t exactly a bomb shell.  More like a fizzling sparkler.  No personal check from Putin, with, destroy democracy, written on the memo line.

Yeah, he pays almost no taxes, but... we already knew that’s par for the course for all billionaires.  It’s kinda the reason the progressive left exists.

But in terms of context for Trump being a wounded animal... it’s the drowning in debt thing he never wanted to go public.  For Trump... it’s an unspeakable humiliation, like getting pantsed in public, only to reveal that you like to wear Wonder Woman Underoos or something.

It’s a massive blow to the image he’s created for himself, and defended so dearly... of being a legitimate billionaire, who used his shrewd instincts, and financial brilliance to amass deep pockets of untouchable wealth... self proliferating, tax free, multi-generational wealth.

Instead, he’s just an idiot, billions of dollars in debt, forcing the US government to pay millions to his Mara Lago resort, for hundreds of golf outings (around 200 to date) and he’s still in the red... at Mara Lago!  Forget his other debts and failing ventures!

A quote from Iron Man 2 is very apt, here...  

Ivan Vanko : [laughs] If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him. There will be blood in the water, the sharks will come. All I have to do is sit back and watch as the world consumes you.

That was Ivan’s rationale for attacking Tony Stark at the racetrack.  It’s also been interpreted as a foreshadowing of the scene in Infinity War, several years later, where Tony Manages to punch Thanos hard enough to scratch his cheek and get a single drop of blood out of the mad titan.

Here in 2020 reality, the New York Times did get that single drop of blood... on Sunday.

And going into his first debate with Biden... who has been stubbornly leading in the polls all summer long... Trump was so furious, he could not keep his composure.

And this, at long last, brings us to the matter of relative charisma.

I’ve talked about it several times in the past, saying that, if you want one simple rule of thumb for predicting the next president... it’s that, whoever has the most relative charisma will win the election.

Relative, in this model, meaning... relative to the opponent. 

A great example of this would be George HW Bush (Bush1) who had way more charisma, relative to stodgy, stuffy, Michael Dukakis, in 1988.  But four years later, the same George HW Bush, looked himself, quite lacking in charisma compared to his new opponent, Bill Clinton.

It’s happened in every election of modern times.  Carter had more relative Charisma than Ford, but far far less relative charisma than Reagan... and on and on back to FDR.

It was also, obviously true that in the match up between Trump and Hillary Clinton... Trump had all the relative charisma. PT Barnum levels of charisma!.. as the happy, quippy, rude, outsider... to her... boring gramma persona saying, “Pokemon Go to the polls!”

And early this year, during the primaries, when Bernie Sanders was still in the running, I said several times that Trump would, “mop the floor,” with Biden in a debate.

But... that was before Covid19... and 200,000 dead.  Before record unemployment and record evictions.  Before the Black Lives Matter movement caught fire in the streets, facing off with fascist police with tear gas and batons all summer.  Before Biden sailed through all the insanity, staying ahead of Trump in the polls, to get the nomination.

And it was before Trump, in recent months, sent thugs to kidnap protesters in Portland, threatening all other democratic cities with the same, began knee-capping the post office, was exposed for calling our soldiers suckers and losers, refused to accept the election results if he wasn’t the winner, refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power unless we, get rid of the ballots, and... was exosed as swimming in debt.

So in Tuesday night’s debate... while he did try his level best to mop the floor with Biden... Trump came off as... well, an incel*.

We all, sadly know how incel’s debate, having suffered them like a bed bug infestation in every comment section on the internet for the past ten years, and in last night’s debate... Trump was, incel personified!

Moderator Chris Wallace, of Fox News, even gave Trump the chance to back away from the event horizon of the black hole that is at the heart of incel culture, by asking him to simply denounce white supremacy.

And not only could Trump not denounce white supremacy... after dancing around the quesion, he wound up saying that a group of white supremecist incels known as the Proud Boys, should, “stand back, but stand by!”

In other words... he’s not only banking everything on the incel vote... he’s calling on the incels to join Beta Force, and be ready... to intimidate voters in person on election night... and to create mayhem when he loses.  

Please stand by, incels... but you understand, this is not a paid gig, right?  I’m kinda tight on money right now, so you’ll need to be fighting for me out of the prematurely ejaculating spite in your sexually inadequate hearts!

The point here, is that the question of relative charisma between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has finally been answered.

Incel vibe, is not charisma.  It’s the opposite of charisma.  It’s a combination of wounded spite, bitter frothing at the mouth, and indefensible stupidity... all the things that make normal people want to puke.

So, while Biden may not have much in the charisma department... he does have a few charming attributes above the base line for a decent human being capable of empathy and logic.  

And in a match up with the Trump of October 2020... that means, Biden has all the relative charisma... and he now has it on lock down.

We can talk soon about Trump’s incel chances of stealing the election by incel force, and the true threat that his army of incels present to our democracy, but for tonight... Trump is an incel... and incels have zero charisma.

I’m going to bed.

*Incel is a portmanteau for, Involuntarily Celibate.

It refers to straight, cis boys or men, most often white, from 15 to 35 who, despite deeply craving to engage in sexual activity with counterparts of the opposite sex, fail to attain it.  Such males believe they are entitled to sex with the partner of their choice, and are thus baffled and aggrivated by their inability to obtain it consentually.

Incels are characterized by their extremely toxic interactions, which go beyond the mysogyny one might expect, to encompass all of society.  For, in their mindset, it is not simply women who are to blame for their lack of sex, it is the entire framework of society... and that framework is also to blame for every other wish they perceive as being unfairly denied to them.

Incels resort to harassment, often thinly veiled as debate or argument, in order to torment those (most) who will not recognize their entitlement, and dream of reforming the societal order, such that their bullying rules the day... often waxing nostalgic for imagined times in the past when men such as themselves ruled without question.

They are thus, quite attracted to all forms of fascism, including, but not limited to white supremacy.

In the modern day, incels are widely regarded as a scourge, and considered by nobody outside their circle to have anything resembling charisma.

[tweetadvise]

Contextual Advertising: What Is It and Why?

Contextual Advertising and marketing, as a phrase, seems so advanced, does not it? Toss that a person around in a number of conferences and also it seems like you, as the advertising and marketing supervisor, know what you are speaking regarding as well as expert in all points advertising and marketing. First, let's jump right into some sources that you can make use of, to obtain started with contextual advertising:

Infolinks

Infolinks is the epitome of contextual advertising.

Infolinks is a creative peek at contextual marketing, enabling classy solutions that are less advertising-like and also much more natural. An instance is a pop-up that would certainly give more info on a specific word (revealed above). This enables the viewers to click on the infolink as well as find out more about that subject, expanding their knowledge (while making you cash, as the website owner).

The appeal of Infolinks and also BuySellAds (described below) is that you might use them with each other, really optimizing the capacity for making additional money on the site.

Google Adsense

Google adsense, the one that a lot of us reduced our teeth on, provides the ability to pick the sort of ads that you want shown. It is a wonderful tool to obtain started as well as to understand the procedure. It is not the only online game in town.

BuySellAds.com

BuySellAds. com supplies the capability to supply up particular advertisement areas on the site and the advertiser can 'acquire' those ad spots, comparable to the paper idea where various ad areas have different price. In the very same method, traffic, like paper blood circulation, is a factor. For BuySellAds.com, the publisher/site owner notes the advertising inventory. The contextual advertising component is where you determine whether you will certainly accept a marketer, based on the relevance to your site. It is manual in the very same method that Google Adsense and Infolinks are, yet it belongs. You can think of BuySellAds as a kind of advertising and marketing brokerage firm firm.

Wikipedia has an entire checklist of contextual advertising and marketing networks, consisting of the now-defunct Yahoo Network.

Still Wondering What Contextual Advertising and marketing Is?

According to the ever-popular Wikipedia, contextual marketing is 'a form of targeted marketing for advertisements appearing on sites or various other media, such as material shown in mobile browsers. The advertisements themselves are selected as well as served by automated systems based on the material presented to the customer.'

Let me offer you a live instance ... Just today, I was fulfilled with my very own instance of contextual advertising and marketing. I was checking out various sites and also kept seeing my very own grinning face smiling back at me. You see, since I take pleasure in Jazz songs, the contextual marketing formulas on the advertising and marketing networks maintained showing advertisements for me, Deborah E. Currently, if I lured you into clicking that link, you will likely see the same thing when you check out websites that use contextual marketing, because your internet browser task shows that you have an interest.

This is why, if you are using a specific online software program, state, Zoho, Mavenlink, Teamwork, you will certainly see their advertisements stand out up while you read your favorite blog. It identifies the passion since you have gone to and also it dishes out those advertisements via the network, which impacts a number of various sites.

Have you ever saw a site, specifically on those one-off gos to for a competition or something then, for the following hour or so you see their ads anywhere where you browse? There you have it. Contextual advertising and marketing at work.

Why Do I Want Contextual Advertising?

The key is relevancy.

As an individual, you desire to see advertisements that attract you and also to your interests.

As a business, you wish to serve up advertisements that appeal to your site visitors. You may not wish to serve up an advertisement that is from your competitor, however something that pertains to your visitor and related to your item or service.

If your services or product is social network sites advertising, you would not wish to have a photo of an elephant on your site, for no reason. Unless. you desire individuals to be asking themselves why you have that elephant on your site (and click to a touchdown web page for something), or the elephant is the mascot for your firm. Otherwise, arbitrary photos of objects and also animals may not have anything to do with the item of social networks marketing.

Ok, I take that back, charming cat pictures succeed on social media sites, so possibly ...

Keep that Base Line in Mind In any way Times

Unless you are distributing things for goodwill, you are most likely curious about earning money. Maintain that lower line in mind. After you have actually made sure that your website is monetized and also that you have your sales channel, then ensure that the advertising and marketing that appears on your site is pertinent. Several contextual advertising sites supply opportunities to undergo and select exactly what you desire displayed on your site, even, in some cases, the actual advertiser.

Remember, select free advertisers, but not contending. For my video advertising services, I present video clip devices ads, yet not various other video marketing services or production services.

Oldies, however Goodies, Referencing Contextual Advertising

Want some oldies yet goodies? It may give you 'context' for the 'contextual advertising and marketing.' Right here online Advertising and marketing Ninjas blog site, we have gone over contextual advertising in these articles:

Making Millions with Contextual Marketing (composed in 2006 by Jim Boykin)

Effective Affiliate Methods (created in 2008 by Lisa Barone)

and another fascinating post: (QualityGal) Graywolf, Individual Kawasaki, and also Paid Links Guidelines that Can not Be Implemented (composed in 2008, however just how much do YOU think matters today?)

Now What?

While it may have held true that you can make numerous bucks with contextual advertising, 'back then,' it is still a sensible alternative, even today. Why rule out adding it as one of the income streams for your business? It may just pay sufficient for the early morning coffee at Starbucks.

[ramajmedia]

10 Jokes From Family Guy That Have Already Aged Poorly

As other shows airing right now are changing with the times, Family Guy struggles to shake off the shackles it's worn since 1999. After all, the series was founded on shock value satire and intentionally offensive jokes, and a whole generation was raised on this humor.

Just earlier this year, the showrunners claimed they would "phase out" homophobic jokes. It remains to be seen whether or not that's true. While the show's tried to rectify past errors, it's only after accumulating twenty years worth of objectionable jokes. We can't discuss every single one, but here are ten that have aged poorly.

RELATED: Family Guy: 10 Storylines That Have Aged Poorly

10 Anything Herbert Says

Quahog is full of eccentric, recurring characters, and one of the most notable is someone who has overstayed his welcome. Not living too far from the Griffins' house is John Herbert, an elderly man Chris interacts with regularly.

What's so strange about him? Well, he's a pedophile, to put it bluntly. The show makes no qualms about addressing that either. One joke even in context—"You know, Chris, all my life, I've wanted to see you locked in a basement. But now that it's happened, all I want to do is get you out!"—will make anyone cringe.

9 Bill Cosby

Family Guy has never been too kind to Bill Cosby, even before the world learned of the comedian's history of drugging and taking women against their will was made public. And, after it became common knowledge a few years ago, Family Guy continued to go in on Cosby with no remorse.

Though, at some point, it became unclear if jokes targeting Bill Cosby were actually helping the conversation that needed to be had—sexual assault was not funny. One shocking moment was when the series reimagined the Bill Cosby Show opening. In it, Cosby drugs his costars and then some.

8 Tricia Takanawa

Race has always been a free-for-all opportunity for the show. The number of times the series was offensive about race can't even be counted on one hand much less twenty.

For example, Reporter Tricia Takanawa is a racist caricature. Not only is she voiced by Alex Borstein—an actress with a history of playing Miss Swan on MADtv—Tricia is an embodier of stereotypes about East Asian people's sexuality and culture. When Tricia interviews David Bowie, she succumbs to her carnal urges and proclaims, "I'll take you home; I'll make you fish ball soup." It gets only worse from there.

RELATED: Family Guy: 10 Funniest Running Gags, Ranked

7 The Death of Daniel Karven-Veres

The writers revel in their edgy sense of humor that often earns more gasps than genuine laughs. But at what point is the line crossed? In "Stewie Loves Lois," Stewie unleashes a brutal throwaway joke whose origin people might not be aware of.

First, some background information on why it's messy. In 2000, Ursula Karven's four-year-old son Daniel was attending musician Tommy Lee's son's pool party. Daniel then drowned, and Tommy was accused of negligence. Lee was eventually cleared of wrongdoing. When Lois is ignoring Stewie's suicide attempt, he says, "What is this, a Tommy Lee pool party?" Yikes.

6 Why Peter Only Has Two White Shirts

When Family Guy's writers land its sight on a target, they shoot to kill. Meaning they will obsess over the subject matter or person ad nauseam.

In later seasons, the show was invested in reminding viewers actor Michael J. Fox has Parkinson's disease. One joke that is more awkward now than before is from the episode "Tiegs for Two." In the cutaway, Peter explains why he only has two white shirts. It's a protracted monologue where it seems like the show is trying to feign humanity towards Fox. Then they go ahead and show the offensive clip anyway. Quelle surprise.

5 Quagmire's Abused Sister

The show was slowly shifting in the right direction with "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q." Previously, Quagmire's sister's abusive relationship was introduced as a gag to shame Brian. The sister, Brenda, later returned in season 10 for a very special episode. She was still being abused by her boyfriend Jeff, and, after she accepted his proposal, Quagmire planned on killing Jeff.

The episode almost works, but there are jokes about the victim. Even ones more or less criticizing Brenda for not leaving Jeff. The story's heart was in the right place, but the execution is still amiss.

RELATED: Family Guy: 10 Funniest Star Wars Gags, Ranked

4 Child Harm

As we learned in season 7's "The Juice Is Loose," the Griffins apparently had another son named Peter, Jr. At the aforesaid infant's grave, Peter says, "I'm sorry, Lois. I thought if I shook him enough he'd stop crying. I was kinda right."

This attempt at gallows humor is similar to Stewie's demand of "Shake me like a British nanny" in "Mind Over Murder." The latter is a direct reference to British au pair Louise Woodward, who was convicted for shaking an 8-month old to death. The only thing shocking about these jokes is anyone would laugh at them nowadays.

3 Quagmire's Predatory Habits

Something definitely isn't right with your show if there once a petition asking you to stop writing jokes about sexual assault. And, in light of the important #MeToo movement, the show said they would address Quagmire.

Well, historically, Quagmire was prone to taking women without their consent. He drugged them, and he even held a number of them captive against their will. In "Quagmire's Mom," he almost experienced the consequences of his actions after unknowingly hooking up with an underage female character. Instead, he got off without serving any time. Nevertheless, jokes revolving around Quagmire's heinous behavior simply aren't funny.

RELATED: All The Times The Simpsons Called Family Guy Out For Plagiarism/Copying

2 Antisemitism

The original seasons of Family Guy had the pleasure of skirting by without too much flack—mainly because the audience was comparatively small. That didn't stop them from getting into trouble for the season 3 episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein." Or rather, they could have gotten into trouble had Fox actually aired it.

The network opted to not show the episode out of fear of it being antisemitic. With lines like "I'm sorry, Lois. I just wanted our son to be Jewish so he'd be smarter," Fox's concerns were valid. Nonetheless, it was instead aired on Adult Swim.

1 Transphobia

We first met Glenn Quagmire's father Dan in the aptly titled season 8 episode "Quagmire's Dad." The audience was led to believe Dan was gay. The truth was Dan, now Ida, had come to Quahog to have sex reassignment surgery. The operation is a success, but Quagmire is having difficulty accepting Ida.

Meanwhile, Ida has a one-night stand with Brian. When Stewie informs the unaware Brian that Ida was transgender and was Quagmire's parent, Brian vomits non-stop for half a minute. By today's standards, the episode is hard to watch. The more recent "Trans-Fat" episode handled the topic better, though.

NEXT: The 10 Worst Family Guy Episodes Ever According To IMDb

source https://screenrant.com/family-guy-jokes-aged-poorly/

[himb0i]

!!!HEY!!! Someone asked for a hair tutorial, so I took some screencaps of the process while I worked on one of my commissions and wrote up my thoughts to go with it! If that’s something that interests you, click through the readmore!

Step 1: Lose the screencaps you took of your actual sketch, starting the tutorial off on a great note!

Whoops. I ended up drawing over my partially-rendered piece to reproduce it. (My actual sketch was much messier. You’ll be able to see a little bit of it later!) The actual Step 1 is: Draw head. Sketch hair. I rough in the shape of the skull, the facial features, and whatever part of the body is in-frame first. Then, I sketch in the hairline, highlighted in red. Hairlines come in all shapes, from rounded to square to widow’s peaks! Next, I draw in a part coming back from the hairline, following the curvature of the skull. From there I start drawing in “chunks” of hair, working front to back and from the part, out, in sweeping curves. All hair has at least little bit of lift- It grows up and out from the skull, then “droops” downwards. Depending on the texture, it may have more or less lift. This hair is fairly fine, so it falls down not far from the root, but even that little bit of volume makes it look more three dimensional. :v Pay attention to anywhere it parts around 3d objects and be mindful of which pieces go in front of your character’s shoulders (if any) and which pieces go behind (if any). Hair overlaps itself, too- Consider having pieces cross in front of and behind each other, or spiral together. This step can be messy and fairly imprecise, you just want a general shape to guide you later.

Next come the flat base colors. I choose and fill in my background color in a new layer beneath my sketch. On a layer above that (but still beneath the sketch!), I fill in behind my sketch with flat colors and a hard brush. I like to work from dark to light, so I pick a dark midtone or shadow color for this step- Since the character is going to be blonde, I went with a milk chocolate sort of color for the hair. You can see pieces of my original sketch here (everywhere but the face)- There are some bits showing through where they shouldn’t, like the jaw through the hair, but that’s fine. I lock my sketch opacity and change the color, usually to a brown, and set it to multiply, so I can blend it into the figure later. Then I merge it down onto my flat colors.

Like magic, the face appears!!! I neglect the hair for a while and do a rough render of the face. This isn’t quite what the final product will look like, but it’s a start. I’ve also pushed the hair around a little to reshape the face and removed the jaw lines in the hair. Around her shoulders I painted over some hair bits, but that’s going to be all covered later anyway. You can see how my rendering gets lighter than my base colors here, too.

For my darkest darks, mostly around the face, I colorpicked the bits of the sketch that were in the hair and filled in a little bit, mostly on the far side of the face where i felt like the edge was getting lost.

Keeping in mind what color the hair is going to be in the end, I pick a lighter midtone and start layering it over top of the base color. I’m using Clip Studio’s default oil brush here, since it picks up underlying colors and blends but preserves a fairly hard edge. You could get a similar effect with other low-opacity brushes. Keeping my hand light and my wrist loose, I start making quick strokes out from the roots, following the direction of the hair every time! My brush is just a little bit smaller than whatever “chunk” I’‘m working on to start..

...but as I start to build up more color, I progress to smaller and smaller brushes. Keeping your strokes really quick and messy creates a natural, organic streakiness that forms the beginning of your hair texture, and since the oil brush picks up a little bit of the underlying color on each stroke, the area you’re coloring gets closer and closer to your selected color every time you go over it. In this case, it’s getting brighter. So, keeping my brights concentrated towards my light source, I build up layers, and where I see those streaks starting to form I emphasize them and start dividing the chunks in my sketch into smaller segments. Since the sketch is on the same layer and a darker shade of brown, it almost immediately starts to blend away.

More texture! Also, roots. With a small brush I sharpened her hairline, and you can see the texture I’m emphasizing as I go, using a small brush to pick out pieces of hair. I’ve also swapped back to a darker brown for a few seconds to add furrows between pieces of hair that were solid beige from the last step.

This is what the whole head looks like at this point. That streaky swatch in the upper right corner is what I’m using next- it’s the “Painterly Sparse Bristle” brush from Frenden. It comes in a third party brush pack you can find with a quick Google, and I do love it- But you could get the same effect with a small brush and a few more strokes.I picked a lighter color for the next layer- I tried the color of the x on the left at first, and it was a little too grey, so I went with the one on the right.

Light hand, loose wrist, following the direction of the hair and avoiding the shadows with the sparse bristle brush to lighten the hair overall and add texture. The shape of the brush gives me more strands per stroke and cuts down on time. It’s a little patchy where my strokes begin and end, which is fine- It’s also still too grey, as it turns out.

I picked a soft yellow, a soft brush, and set a new layer to “soft light”, then shaded over the hair to brighten it up. Not a super standard step but it does explain the shift in hue. Then I merged it down. It’s a little bit blotchy, but that will blend away as I work.

Up close, the edges of that sparse bristle brush look kind of square and chunky. Yuck.

It’s fixable, though! I’m done adding new colors for a while. Instead, I zoom in closer and move around the piece, colorpicking off different parts of the hair and going in with the default oil brush at a tiny tiny size. I’m doing two things: Blending out the less appealing parts of those “sparse bristle” brush strokes, and emphasizing shadows and highlights to suit my taste. The orange section is untouched- The white section has been worked on a bit. Loose wrist, fast strokes, always in the direction of the hair! This is where I start making a lot of conscious decisions about my shading, refining a lot of the haphazard streaks into coherent shadows and highlights. Remember that the chunks of hair are objects in a three dimensional space that cast shadows on each other.

While I’m zoomed in close, smoothing things out, I tend to start picking out areas where loose or flyaway strands would work well. The idea here is to break outside of the boundaries of your sections with finer pieces and individual hairs. Disrupting the edges of the smooth shapes in a few places makes the hair look less like a sculpted helmet and more like..hair. You don’t have to do this everywhere- Just a few flyaway pieces can be enough to establish the illusion of a head of individual strands. I tend to go a little bit overboard for stylistic reasons, adding a few more than I strictly need to, and separating them a little bit further from the body of the hair than they might realistically be, almost like the flyaway pieces are being buoyed upwards by water or a breeze. This is just a matter of taste, though. :v

Something to remember: Whenever you’re working on details / zoomed in to a piece, you should zoom out and look at the piece as a whole, often. Otherwise you might find that something that looked good while you were really close to it looks out of place in the context of your painting as a whole!

Moving around the hair at a high zoom means you’re going to run into the ends of the hair, and if you’ve been working with blendy brushes they probably look like this.

This is another great place to put some loose strands. I use the default “darker pencil” tool at a small size and sharpen the edges up, then blend a little bit on top with the oil brush if I need to. A little bit of a sharper curve at the ends of the hair, where there’s less weight pulling it down, can add some life- I tend to go exaggerate here, too, making the ends a little bit floaty, or a lot floaty, or swirling the ends of straight hair into spirals. It adds a little bit of magic to an otherwise static portrait.

Do the whole head! This is the most time-consuming part, but it can be really soothing, too. Take your time and work steadily, section by section. :> Speaking of exaggerated swirls, that piece starting to twist up on the (viewer’s) far right is a good example- That hair probably wouldn’t twirl up that way, but it DOES add a little bit of visual interest! I don’t have any loose hairs on the outside of the outermost edges of the hair here, though.

And now I do. I like to add the loose hair on the outside edges on a layer beneath the figure- That way, I don’t have to worry about blending the ends into the rest of the hair. When I’m done, I merge the two layers together.

Anddd highlights! I picked the lighest coor I’d put down, made a new layer above the figure, set it to “Add-Glow”, and used light, short strokes with the sparse bristle brush. Avoiding the shadows, I arranged the highlights in horizontal bands, keeping them dense towards the light source and fading them out as they moved back.

At this point, I still have some work to do, especially on the face, and I’m guaranteed to do more with the hair along the way. But anything I do from here on out is going to be a repeat of one of the above steps- More blending, more flyaway hair, etc. :> I change things around a LOT as I work, so no part of a piece, hair included, is for sure done until the whole piece is polished up and saved! If you want to see how the finalized painting came out, hair and all, you can click here!

I hope this is helpful to someone! If there’s anything else you’d like me to break down, let me know, and I’ll see about documenting my process the next time it comes up.

[thinblackthem]

Negrophilia in Film

Hey Guys, it’s Thinblackgirl again! This is my first blog post in a series about films for my GSW class and I really wanted to share this here with you guys. For this first post, I'll be talking about the 2017 film Get Out by Jordan Peele. I'll be doing this by writing a review about a video essay I found on Youtube about the movie called “The Philosophy of Get Out - Wisecrack Edition.” So if y’all have not seen the film SPOILERS AHEAD!!! You have been warned. To start off, the video by Wisecrack is 15 minutes long and fits the format of a video essay. Clocking in at 15 minutes allows for the channel to properly build ideas and explain them, while not rushing the viewer through each thought. It also fits the usual mode of a video essay, because there’s a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Additionally, they have used both audio and visual elements to help make their ideas seen. These are many of the traits found in educational youtube videos of this kind and falls into similar formatting of channels like Film Theory and Cracked. Babies other channels Wisecrack enbeds quotes, ideas, and other snippets of videos from outside sources to help present their ideas to their audience. Wisecrack has a team of many writers, editors, and people dedicated to make the videos, which can be seen and heard when they mention it in other videos on the channel. To produce videos of this type and to have a team of workers like this, there is an amount of cost involved. To offset some of the cost, Wisecrack often monetises the videos and adds paid sponsorships into the beginnings or ends of the videos. Wisecrack’s 2017 Youtube video essay “The Philosophy of Get Out - Wisecrack Edition” comments on the deeper context of modes of real world racism that are brought to light in the 2017 film Get Out. When talking about the negrophilia seen in the film they explain its use by saying “Negrophilia isn't truly about understanding black people and their culture. It's about using them to satisfy your own desires, this is not understanding humans, its collecting them.” They are talking about the racism seen by the white “liberals” in the film and how they use black bodies to achieve their own goals. They go on the mention how the goals can be the desire for black bodies both sexually and athletically. We can see this idea taking places at multiple points throughout the film, though its most easily expressed by the literal implantation of white brains into black bodies without their consent. This idea did not originate in film, and that is whats makes the film sure a excellent study of the sometimes more studle modes and forms of racism we can see in the real world. As a black woman living in America today, I can see this is happening in most of the media that I consume and subconsciously and in the conversations I have on a day to day basis. Many of the themes that Wisecrack explores in the video essay, including the idea of negrophilia, are things that many people in the black community are forced to deal with everyday. The video begins with the Narrator for the channel Jared describing the movie and giving a general overview of what the film is about. He also give some background about how the director and writer of the film Jordan Peele came about the idea of creating this movie and how he was able to put his ideas into action on the screen. To give a brief overview of the film for anyone who’s reading this but hasn’t seen this but decided to keep reading anyway. The film follows our protagonist Chris Washington as he goes to meet his white girlfriend's’ family for the first time. As the film progresses, we can see the first half as a study of older white “liberals” interacting with a black man. On the other hand during the second half of the film, we discover that the party they are having is very similar to an auction for Chris and one of the buyers attempts to get his brain put into Chris‘s body without his permission.

After laying down the background information for the viewer the video begins its analysis of the first section of the film. In the first section of the video they tackle parts of the first section of the film by talking about the underlying racism seen mostly in the actions of the Armitage family and how this affects Chris. The Armitage family tries very hard to relate to Chris‘s blackness and as Wisecrack points out there is it further alienate Chris and “.... this tendency to over perform the acceptance of black only further cements the difference between them.” When watching this part of the video, Wisecrack adds clips from the film that they used to illustrate this point when in particular being in the scene where the father says that he would’ve voted for Obama for a third term if he could have and another where the father asked how long this “...thang” has been going on between his daughter and Chris. This is one of the things that the film does really well that Wisecrack is really smart to point out. I have experienced this time and time again, where peoples over acceptance of all things black has become a sort of performance for them to try to prove to me that they are in fact a liberal and don’t mean any harm. These efforts more often than not come off as insincere and alienating to be honest. I think a lot of other black people who watch this movie can really relate to seeing that on screen because I don’t know a single black person who hasn’t had to pretend that something like that was okay in front of other people. Whether it be your boss has done that to you, a teacher, a colleague, a friend, or just somebody who you don’t feel comfortable confronting. A lot of black people go through this and I think it goes under the radar a lot of white folks because they just don’t they don’t understand the experience. Pointing this out in such an upfront and honest way is a great way to help people understand what this experience is like for others, even if it only happens on a smaller scale. Around the three minute mark of the video they start talking about the term negrophilia which I touched on earlier in this post. they described this as the fascination with the black body and go on to give a brief history of the term. They go on to explain that well throughout the film we can see classic versions of negrophilia, we can also see a modern or literal take on the term when they try to implement the brains of these “white liberals” into the bodies of black men in the third act of the film. When bring up the idea of a white person wanting to become a black person they relate it to the national news case of Rachel Dolezal as a one off joke. For them, this is a good way to help the viewer base this idea into their own reality and allow for the ideas and concepts to truly connect with the real world. While this is a really great video essay on the film Get Out it doesn’t escape my view or irony that this is all being narrated to us by a white man. Jared, while doing a great at explaining these ideas, is someone who can’t give the emotional understanding or background that someone who is black could’ve if they have been narrating this video. Wisecrack. "The Philosophy of GET OUT – Wisecrack Edition." YouTube. 13 May 2017. YouTube. 18 Feb. 2019 <https://youtu.be/9gQP4ffowCY>.

[bambamramfan]

“protagonist, audience, and critics”

Last Dead Freddie post for a while (ie, recovering pieces of deBoer’s writing that were killed by his website hack). Mostly this was a really good piece about antiheroes in prestige television, and I wanted to endorse its good points, and engage with the fundamental errors of artistic criticism it has towards the end.

I’ll post my response later, since this is enough to read on its own.

Edit: the title of the post included the word “audience” not “author”, but either could work.

That the early parts of the Golden Age of Television were dominated by antiheroes is an idea that’s by now as cliché and tired as, well, the phrase “Golden Age of Television.” From Tony Soprano to Walter White to Don Draper to the various self-destructive cops and criminals in The Wire, the rise of high-production-values, critically-lauded narrative television was attended by stories told from the perspective of people who weren’t very nice. The essayist Brett Martin’s book on this period, in fact, was titled Difficult Men. In recent years, we’ve seen a growing diversity of perspectives on HBO and AMC and the like, with more racial and gender diversity, a greater range of themes and issues, and less reliance on the tropes of antihero fiction. Thankfully, for those of us who think that art should reflect the full diversity of human experience, the obsession with those difficult men seems to have subsided.

And yet I think that, as much as the antihero has been discussed to death in recent years, the concept could stand to be connected in a deeper way to a broader context: the tangled relationship between protagonists, the audience’s empathy for them, and the moral intent of the artists who create them.

Prestige TV – a term I find viscerally distasteful, but never mind – has famously engendered a cottage industry of analysis, recaps and reviews and explainers by the thousands. The structural incentives for such coverage is obvious; high-profile shows drive clicks for publications, and the regular episodic nature of television provides writers with steady work, a reliable income source of a kind that’s essential for the career of a freelancer. And though I’ve occasionally teased producers of this stuff – how many fresh takes, really, can there be on the same episodes of television, with dozens or hundreds of people doing it? – it’s good for art and for audiences for a robust critical conversation to occur alongside these shows. Not all of the takes will be novel, interesting, or convincing. (Indeed, given the nature of things, a majority won’t be.) But communally digging around and exploring in the text will often provide us with some useful insight.

And yet it’s important to remember that the vast majority of viewers of these shows won’t engage in the text in this way. I don’t just mean that most people who watch shows don’t write or read about them. I mean that, for the average viewer, the concept of treating a show as a kind of intellectual challenge, a puzzle to be disassembled and reassembled again, probably defies the point of watching in the first place. Distraction is a very valid reason for watching television, after all, and after coming home from a long day of work, many of us naturally want to turn off the analytical part of the brain and just enjoy the straight narrative of a given series. But what happens when the series is asking you to analyze? What happens when the basic moral work of the art you’re enjoying requires a deeper consideration of the tension between what’s depicted and what morals are intended?

I want to argue that the tension between fiction as entertainment and fiction as object of analysis – the difference between consuming a story straightforwardly and reading that story against the grain for more complex moral lessons – takes on added weight when so much of what’s depicted in our popular culture is not meant to be emulated or celebrated. I’m not trying to establish some sort of hierarchy of tastes here – the first purpose of art is to entertain, and no one should ever apologize for engaging with commercial art on the level of surface enjoyment. But the prevalence of antiheroes and immoral protagonists in contemporary narrative art leaves me profoundly nervous about the actual ethical impact of such work. There’s reason to believe that too many people are taking entirely the wrong lessons from the shows, video games, and movies they love.

YouTube clips from popular shows offer obvious, depressing examples of what I’m talking about. The Sopranos is exemplary in this regard. Hundreds of clips of Tony Soprano and various other bad actors on the show are presented as role models for life, their grim pursuit of (what they believe to be) their own self-interest and their capacity for violence valorized in video titles, descriptions, and comments. A particularly egregious example states that Tony tells it like it is when it comes to what really matters: family. The clip (since removed from YouTube, likely due to copyright issues) was of a self-aggrandizing Tony Soprano waxing on about the importance of family and how family members are the only ones you can really trust. This should be, to anyone with even a minimal knowledge of the show’s plot, a moment dripping with irony and indictment: Tony is comprehensively terrible to his family. He is a lousy father, a cheating husband, and a bullying and obnoxious sibling. He tries to kill his own mother and succeeds in killing his cousin and nephew. It’s hard to imagine a point more consistently established in the show than that Tony Soprano is an awful family man.

Yet such is the power of the protagonist (and the charisma of James Gandolfini) that the person who uploaded the video and dozens of commenters were convinced that Tony’s speech amounted to the show imparting a life lesson. And this general attitude, that Tony is someone to emulate rather than to despise, is replicated again and again online, with thousands of people taking his oafish violence, sexual aggression, and total indifference to the well-being of others as some sort of exemplar of masculine real-keeping. It’s here where the power of the protagonist is truly revealed, the way that simple depiction of a character’s point of view seems to overwhelm everything else we know about them. It’s as if the human power of identification is too strong, at least in art; we forgive in our protagonists things we know should never be forgiven in real life.

David Chase, the creator of the Sopranos, has talked about this frustrating tendency himself many times, betraying his irritation with audience members who seem intent on seeing the show as little more than a wish fulfillment fantasy for those who would like to be able to whack their annoying coworkers.

In another clip that’s favored by people looking to draw life lessons on masculinity, Mad Men’s Don Draper dispenses with a young rival at his advertising firm with a cutting putdown. “I feel sorry for you,” says gifted young copywriter Michael Ginsberg. “I don’t think about you at all,” replies Draper, asserting his masculine dominance via the Principle of Least Interest. In an age when “giving no fucks” is taken as a Zen-like state of effortless superiority, this is the ultimate alpha male moment. The clip is summarized by the person who uploaded it: “Don Draper puts Michael Ginsberg in his place. He’s still the boss.”

Except that the show has gone out of its way, that entire episode, to demonstrate that Draper is thinking about Ginsberg. Incessantly. Over and over, the episode establishes that Don can’t stop thinking about Ginsberg and the threat he represents. It’s a classic tale of the wounded pride of an aging worker who feels threatened by the younger, sharper, hungrier counterpart. Sure, Don looks cool when he dismisses Ginsberg. But the limits of looking cool is one of the most relentlessly depicted themes in Mad Men, all of the sharply tailored suits and gorgeous midcentury modern design hiding alcoholism, bigotry, and failed relationships. The essential dramatic tension of the show lies in contrasting Don Draper the myth with Don Draper the reality. During the sixth season, when the character devolved deeper into addiction and failure, his façade of control and professional mastery slipping away, many devoted viewers complained that they wanted “the old Don” back – the cool, sexy, invulnerable Don. But in doing so, they were denying the central message of the show, the essential point both in plot terms and thematically: Don Draper does not exist. The ideal is not possible. Both the man himself and the icons he represents are myths. To see the show as simply a depiction of a gorgeous and powerful figure of old guard masculinity means denying its most obvious thematic message.

Reflecting on the divide between authorial signaling and audience interpretation through the example of Walter White of Breaking Bad – a truly reprehensible figure – Isaac Butler writes,

With Breaking Bad, the major, unresolved issue was the character of Walter White. What sort of man was he? And how were we supposed to feel about him? And how did the creators feel about him?…

For many watching Breaking Bad, Walter White was in a morality play, and thus would be sufficiently punished by the time the finale concluded. For an odious group known as Team Walt, Breaking Bad was wish fulfillment, and Walter would in some way be rewarded for his awesomeness. For another group—one I belonged to—Walter was the anti-hero protagonist of a classical tragedy.

A classical tragedy, that is, in the sense that the point is not the Manichean moralism of an episode of Law and Order SVU but the challenge of seeing our own potential flaws in a work of art, to better understand ourselves. What troubles Butler is the show’s moral relationship to its own characters and its audience, and in particular those who are bent on seeing genuinely evil characters as badass instead of bankrupt. And the question I constantly ask myself is whether, in a culture that has so habitually depicts violence as cool and cathartic, that group will always outnumber those who respond to violence with horror.

The point is not that we should take some sort of blanket critical approach to protagonists, but that we should recognize the complexity and nuance in their depiction. The critical reaction to Fight Club shows how both an unthinking acceptance of protagonist behavior, and an overactive judgment of same, can both sand away the subtleties that are essential a movie. Yes, indeed, there are far too many “How to Be As Cool as Tyler Durden” articles and videos online. (Step one: look as good as Brad Pitt circa 1999.) The phenomenon of fans of that movie or book over-identifying with Tyler Durden and the narrator has come in for some deserved mockery, with many pointing out that starting your own fight club – or, even worse, your own Project Mayhem – is a ridiculous exercise, one that clearly misses the satirical and critical aspects of the story. (You should make your own soap, though, it’s fun.) The entire second half of the film depicts the narrator’s gradual realization that he has become involved in something far more destructive than he imagined.

Yet it would be easy to fall too far on the other side of the equation, and to see the narrator’s distaste for the triviality and consumerism of contemporary American life as itself pathological instead of natural. Yes, the violent nihilism he and his alter ego develop in response to that culture is childish and ineffective, but we shouldn’t take that to mean that the world of corporate speak, consumerist conformity, and IKEA aren’t worth rejecting. It means that part of the point of the narrative is precisely the difficulty in channeling legitimate distaste for the way things are into productive avenues.

The last shot of the movie, pregnant with emotional power, demonstrates the closest thing to a message for how to actually live in the film: finding a partner who is equally willing to look past your own flaws to navigate a world that seems bent on destroying the things that make us feel authentically human. Endorsing the romantic ideal as a potential cure for modern disaffection isn’t particularly novel, but the execution of getting there strikes me as the basic point, the recognition of the seduction of nihilism and its impediments to real human connection. You don’t have to think the movie pulls that off, mind you – many people don’t – but failing to really parse out the nuances of the film’s relationship to its protagonist means missing its artistic foundations. The presumption that depiction means endorsement kills drama.

The film and TV writer Matt Zoller Seitz, a great critic who sometimes strikes me as too concerned with whether the films he reviews conform to contemporary liberal social norms, demonstrated the perils of a certain politicized literalism in how we treat the prerogatives of the protagonist when reviewing last year’s Ghostbusters reboot. In contrast to the workaholic women of the newer film, he chastises the original film’s leading character, Bill Murray’s Peter Venkmann, as “a deadpan hipster who fakes most of the knowledge he claims to have,” complaining that he is part of “a long tradition of anti-authority posturing by straight white male characters who act as if the world’s indifference to their happiness is a personal affront.” But what, exactly, is the alternative that Seitz would prefer? That Venkmann conform to the stuffy dictates of elite academia, which he (accurately) sees as full of bullshit? Become a Company Man, another Reaganite yuppie content to play within the system without irony? Yes, it’s definitely true that women and other marginalized groups have traditionally had less ability to subvert the social and economic structures around them. But the response to that should not be to insist that everyone play by the rules, but that we spread the privilege Venkmann enjoys to everyone. It’s a strange form of progressivism that would compel a movie character to drop his sardonic critique of the way things are and get to work on those TPS reports already.

More to the point, if Venkmann was more of a tryhard game-player, going along with the conventional plan, Ghostbusters wouldn’t be much of a movie. Of course there’s a lot of male fantasy in the original Ghostbusters; the question is whether showing such a fantasy for enjoyment necessarily entails seeing the fantasy as a goal worth pursuing. Again, there’s an implicit assumption that artistic depiction presumes that the audience should want to emulate the protagonist. Comedy is full of smirking subversives not because everyone should act like those characters – no one is that clever or funny, and not everyone can be an iconoclast – but because everyone recognizes the need for subversion, the steady drumbeat of absurdities and indignities piled on us by the systems around us.

(Seitz also, incidentally, claims that Murray’s character has an attitude of “The only part of this that excites me is the prospect of getting laid by a demon-possessed Sigourney Weaver,” despite the explicit plot point of a possessed Weaver propositioning Murray and him turning her down, which seems remarkably uncharitable for a thoughtful critic like Seitz.)

The power of identification in art leads to bad political readings of music as well. In recent years, the Beatles tune “Run For Your Life” has been singled out as #PROBLEMATIC for its threatening message to the unnamed romantic partner in the song. (This is made somewhat more disturbing by the fact that John Lennon, the song’s author and singer, admitted to abusing his wife, which is of course inexcusable.) The lyrics are indeed disturbing. What’s strange is the belief that the song, or people who enjoy it, are somehow endorsing threats or violence against women. Depiction is not endorsement, not even in music, perhaps the art form we are most likely to feel intimately inside of ourselves. Lennon felt things that would be rightfully impermissible to express directly. That’s precisely why he embedded them in his music. To argue for the legitimacy of the song as art is no more an endorsement of violence against women than singing the praises of Lolita is an endorsement of pedophilia.

The prevalence of obsession and possessiveness in songs about love reveals one of the cherished functions of art: to depict that which is human that cannot be defended by the rational mind. We are, after all, animals. We remain defiantly irrational creatures. We lust, we feel jealousy, we fantasize, we yearn for revenge, we imagine ourselves as beings of impossible power, and we do it all out of proportion with what is reasonable. My conscious mind, which is what guides my behavior, wants to be a loving and respectful partner to someone, a partner that recognizes the autonomy and independence of that someone and reacts to their adult desires for space and time apart appropriately. My emotional self is filled with an unjustifiable need to possess. That is not an attempt to rationalize or defend jealous romantic behaviors in a relationship. It is a statement of the permanent irrationality of human emotions.

When Nicki Minaj releases a music video depicting herself as a fascist dictator, to considerable controversy, her critics are misunderstanding the basic nature of fantasy. Who hasn’t imagined themselves, at times, in a position of autocratic power? We can pretend that such fantasies don’t exist, thanks to their obvious political problems, or we can express them in art where they do less harm. When Selena Gomez depicts herself as a stalker breaking into a celebrity’s home in a music video, she’s not romanticizing actual stalking but exploring the animal intensity of human emotion and its uncomfortable outcomes in truly obsessive behaviors. Romantic obsession is a commonplace in music because it is in music where those powerful, ubiquitous human emotions can be explored safely.

The contemporary attitude that we must run all of our thoughts and feelings through a political litmus test before we express them in art simply means that many shared thoughts and feelings will go undiscussed. The heart is not woke, and it never will be, and to remove that which is unconsciously felt but consciously impermissible from art simply leaves us less aware of the human condition. Worse, such a condition leaves us bereft of the kind of understanding we need to navigate our tangled feelings for the Tony Sopranos – the ability to recognize that the power fantasies we might enjoy while watching such characters are natural, but that actually valorizing those behaviors is contrary to the public good.

I’m not too worried that the average viewer will take up a life of crime in emulation of Tony Soprano and Walter White, though I cringe to think of how such unthinking appreciation of them deepens the association between masculinity and the capacity for violence. I’m far more worried about our continued inability to recognize the ethical failings of the wealthy and the system that empowers them. Our culture is rife with depictions of wealth that straightforwardly valorize money and those who have it, the shameless promotion of luxury on HGTV and celebrity gossip magazines. Lots of movies and television shows attempt to correct for that by showing the moral rot and personal destruction underneath all that ostentation. But sometimes, the depiction of wealth and glamour is so emotionally compelling that the critical and satirical elements are undone. This is the Wolf of Wall Street conundrum.

I have no doubt that Martin Scorsese and the others involved in the production of the film intended to indict Jordan Belfort and his actions. But I don’t think they achieved such an indictment artistically. When the film’s defenders argue that it was intended as a critical depiction, they’re defending intent rather than execution, which is no more useful than defending a film’s intent at realism, emotional catharsis, humor, or drama. Scorsese’s work has always drawn from the productive tension between how arresting his characters are and how destructive their behavior is. At its best, this leads to a kind of fascinated revulsion, the way that Travis Bickle is both a contemptible figure and an impossibly magnetic one, the light in which the glamor and cool of Howard Hughes in The Aviator were cast by the intensity of his mental illness. For me, The Wolf of Wall Street simply didn’t provoke that same queasiness; the cars were too fast, the suits too well-tailored, the women too hot, the glee on the part of Jordan Belfort too palpable. The intent may have been satirical, but a cursory examination of the internet’s collective opinion on the film shows that for many of its ardent fans, its effect was salutary. And we really don’t need more affection for Wall Street sharks.

You can, of course, argue that Fight Club fails in the same sense, or that Wolf of Wall Street actually achieves its critical intent. At some level we are simply talking about differing subjective takes on the quality of different works of fiction. And you might well ding me for arguing both ways at once – saying that audiences need to do the work of excavating implied critiques of protagonist behavior and also that creators have a responsibility to make those critiques apparent. If nothing else, I am saying that the role of the protagonist seems to inspire deep sympathy regardless of the actions depicted, particularly over the very long haul afforded by a television series, to a degree that many artists seem unprepared for. I imagine this power is even more compelling in video games, where the player literally directs the main character through the story, occupying their point of view. And in a critical world where more and more people are explicitly subordinating aesthetics to politics – where more and more critics are erasing any distinction at all between a work’s aesthetic value and its perceived effectiveness in delivering progressive political morals – the relationship between what is depicted and what lessons are imparted become even more fraught, more pregnant with meaning. We should take care with such things.

The sophisticate’s take on this question has typically been to insist that no artist should be held to account for the misreading of their audience, and of course I agree, in a limited sense. Still, I am at this point profoundly ambivalent towards the concept of the antihero or unsympathetic protagonist in art. These tropes have been mined to great effect for centuries in various artistic genres and media, and I value much of that work. But the consistency with which devoted fans of antihero fiction completely miss the thematic purpose of that fiction makes it hard for me to enjoy it, these days. Authorial intent is, obviously, contested and uneasy ground, and getting invested in parsing it rarely a productive activity. But I cannot help but observe the frequency with which implied moral positions in contemporary artwork seem to completely bypass large parts of their audiences, often to the point of leaving them with the exact opposite lesson that was seemingly intended.

Perhaps, then, the exhaustion with antiheroes and flawed protagonists came at just the right time. Perhaps the fad fizzled out when it most needed to. There will always be antiheroes, and I will no doubt find myself following with interest the stories of protagonists who are not good people. But simple depictions of flawed characters attempting to do their best for others and acting in ways we associate with morality seems like fertile ground. Hell, at this point, the story of good people doing good might seem downright subversive.

[elrickaudiencestudies]

Audience Studies (3P18) Blog #1 - Week 4

Considering public opinion and audience citizenship is interesting, as that could encompass a lot of things. This week’s topic considers public opinion and the importance of it, as well as how it has developed over time and how public opinion is expressed in today’s society, as well as the impact of it. This post will be considering this, as per usual, in the context of social media, as it is the form of media I interact with the most and am the most familiar with in my day-to-day life.

 Public opinion can be expressed in multiple ways: one of the most common ways is through surveys. Think back on the last time you took a survey – it may be before watching a video on YouTube, or it may be some form of customer satisfaction survey for a brand you may have bought from. These surveys give an idea of public opinion on ideas, algorithms or advertising. A recent YouTube survey I received before a video asked which upcoming games I had heard of, and after I responded, I noticed that my adverts began being tailored towards the games I said I had heard about, and that is also a way that targeted marketing, which will be spoken about in the week 5 entry, works.

 Public opinion has shifted across time to become the form we see it in now; Plato spoke of doxa (opinion) and episteme (knowledge) and the way that the two interacted, particularly with regards to politics, where Plato believed that opinions shouldn’t impact politics and political decisions, as episteme represented truths that were unchanging, informed by science (Sullivan, 2013, pp. 57-58). This shifted to a feudal system in the Middle Ages, where the ruler held all the power and made decisions, with little public opinion as we know it existing in society (Sullivan, 2013, pp. 58-59). However, once the feudal order collapsed and the Enlightenment began, power shifted and was slowly pushed into the hands of people, aided by printing presses and the advent of places to discuss public opinion, such as coffeehouses (Sullivan, 2013, pp. 59-60). In the 19th century, public opinion started to be gathered through polling, and we can see this continuing even to now; surveys have become a rather large part of life, and audience research into public opinion has grown (Sullivan, 2013, pp. 61-65). I participate in public opinion gathering as part of YouGov, a survey organisation that gathers opinion and sells it on to organisations, including governments, in order to understand public opinion on specific issues.

 On the other hand, when considering the proliferation of surveys and need to understand public opinion in modern life, I am drawn to an episode of a television show that a comedian named Dave Gorman did, named ‘Modern Life Is Good(ish)’, in which he considered audience research and public opinion, and how that exists in the world we live in today. I have left a clip in the ‘sources and readings of interest’ section at the bottom, and would highly recommend finding the full episode and watching it, but I include this as one of the things he asked in this clip stood out to me – “why does everything have to be turned into data these days?” – and this stood out to me as it describes the way that public opinion through surveys exists – it is opinions turned into data and sold to interested parties.

 Neubaum and Krämer’s (2018) article brings up the idea of how we may restrict ourselves online and not express certain opinions due to fear of backlash, and I can understand that to an extent. In the world we live in, where ‘cancel culture’ exists, there can be a legitimate fear of expressing opinions that could be problematic or simply against public opinion, as it can result in intense negative backlash. An example of ‘cancel culture’ can be Jack Maynard getting taken out of I’m A Celebrity in the UK in 2017 due to the emergence of old tweets that expressed opinions that, while he assured viewers he did not hold any more and decried his previous tweets, still prevented him from pursuing a move that could have boosted his career. This is a very British example, I know, but I would argue that there are countless examples that are more recent, such as with James Charles. However, this fear of backlash in this sense tends to extend to celebrities, as they are public figures and so are more likely to be publicly scrutinised, but it is interesting to consider this with Neubaum and Krämer (2018), whose study showed that people were more likely to agree with public opinion online than in person, as there is a greater fear of sanction or punishment from online sources than in person. This example may be a gross misunderstanding of the concept and may confuse some as to the concept of Neubaum and Krämer’s findings, but it makes the most sense to me.

 It is interesting to consider public opinion, as it is so closely tied with the audience as an identity, and so I’d like to invite any readers of this to think about how they consider public opinion online, and if you ever choose to censor yourself to fit with public opinion online or in person.

Sources and Readings of Interest

Neubaum, G., & Krämer, N., (2018) ‘What do we fear? Expected sanctions for expressing minority opinions in offline and online’, Communication Research, 45(2), pp. 139-164

Sullivan, J. L., (2013) ‘Chapter 3: Public Opinion and Audience Citizenship’, Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power, SAGE Publications, pp. 53-76

Dave Gorman – Modern Life Is Good(ish) Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXN-9hvRgyk