amymarch-defender

[amymarch-defender]

cannot stop thinking about how babel starts and ends with moments of translation, except the first one is lovell using the translation magic of empire to take robin away from canton, and the last one is victoire teaching anthony something in creole that is contextualised around her hope for the revolution and for liberation. and how that perfectly exemplifies the themes of the book

like i find it rly interesting that the “an act of translation is an act of betrayal” has become the most well-known/popular quote from the book because i think the book itself disagrees and questions that concept many times. i mean i GET it it’s a raw ass quote and marketing campaign's gotta market but to me it's so deliberate that that quote comes from playfair's perspective. when used in the service of empire, of course you can only conceptualise translation as violence. but robin and ramy and victoire use translation for love and connection and understanding, which is what it always was. robin spends his final moments rejecting playfair's premise; translation has always been about love and connection and understanding. babel falls to the hope for a better future; to translation itself. this act of betrayal is ALSO an act of love. of course the book's final moments are with victoire, translating something for anthony entirely out of love. god

[amymarch-defender]

[amymarch-defender]

CONCLAVE 2024 | dir. Edward Berger

[amymarch-defender]

people on twitter arguing over whether cardinal tedesco is brat or whatever when it's really very simple. he's a reactionary fascist who i would beat to death with hammers if i met him on the street AND sergio castelillto's performance managed to out-cunt stanley tucci who was already operating at terminal levels of mother. what's not to understand?

[amymarch-defender]

House in 2024

House: faggot

Foreman: I.. don't think you should be saying that

Chase: arh naur I theenk he carn archally. Ave you seenim with Wilson?

Cameron: I think it's a little rude to speculate about someone's sexuality while they're in the room

House: oh no no, let Chase continue. I wanna know when he'll start describing how I take in in the ass-

*house realizes something*

House: WE HAVE TO CHECK THE PATIENTS ASS

[amymarch-defender]

Little things in TSH that I had missed or forgotten the first time I read it:

It took Richard a whole year of pestering the college to let him in. It really proves how obsessive he is

Richard bumping into Francis in the hall before he joins the study group and being like: “Wowee I can’t believe that guy touched me. That was so cool; he was SO cool :D”

Francis talking to a cat he found on campus 🥹

CHARLES AND CAMILLA HAVE SLIGHT SOUTHERN ACCENTS

Julian loves flowers and keeps a bunch in his classroom

Richard’s Totally Real Car, Christine

Judy costuming, in her own words, “fucking As You Like It” implying that she also has to study obnoxious literature for her classes

Bunny genuinely believing Francis is as smart as Henry

Bunny is the only person who can make Henry laugh 🥺

Francis had a relative who died on the Titanic

Bunny would hide out at Richard’s whenever he pissed Marion off

Francis used to read Richard’s French homework out loud for him

Bunny’s hero is Caesar

Henry’s middle name is Marchbanks

Francis is a fan of the Boston Red Sox

The twins shrug with one shoulder

Henry finds Gucci “rather grand”

Charles’ wild cat that he forces Francis and Richard to bring to the farmhouse

Richard reads Proust *cough, cough, kinda gay, cough, cough*

When Francis is in the hospital in the epilogue, Richard reads “Our Mutual Friend” to him which, according to Goodreads, is about “the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it.”

[amymarch-defender]

We have all spoken at length about how toxic and awful the Greek class is. So here are some sweet moments where they’re actually quite cute:

- Francis putting a blanket over Richard when he falls asleep on the couch

- Charles not ignoring animals in need: rescuing a dog about to be put down and then taking in a stray cat

- Camilla proceeding to be very good to said dog. Then both twins being devastated when it died.

- Bunny writing an “I’m sorry” note to Richard then putting it with a book and mints in his mail box

- Henry taking care of Richard after he almost freezes to death, literally being so gentle and good the whole time. (I get you could argue this was part of the psychotic master plan, but this sequence is still so soft)

- “Forgive me, for all the things I did, but mostly for the ones I did not.“

- The boys being genuinely worried about Camilla when she cut her foot and all freaking out and then helping her and talking so kindly to her

- Bunny getting described as generally very patient and nice to his chihuahua-like girlfriend and calling her “sweetie” and “honey” and wanting eight kids with her, four boys and four girls. (uh, this is before he went crazy)

- Charles and Richard musing about the Greek class all living at the farmhouse together

- Henry winking at Camilla when she did a good job reading

- Bunny genuinely being able to make Henry laugh, like by triple spacing his essay

- Distressed Richard asking Camilla to tell him a story, and her talking about the only memory of her father and how she and Charles, as babies, used to squabble over a tape measurer

- The twins hosting dinner at their apartment every Sunday even though they didn’t have much.

[amymarch-defender]

The Secret History is insane. Richard just wants to know what's going on with Camilla and Charles, and Francis is just like "Oh, yeah, Camilla and Charles sleep together all the time. I thought you knew. And I've slept with Charles, and Camilla and Henry are a thing, which Charles hates, and I want to sleep with you but you won't ever get drunk enough. Anyway, want a glass of wine?"

[amymarch-defender]

My favourite part in The Secret History is when Richard gets high at a party and learns basic empathy

[amymarch-defender]

i love every character in the secret history. they're all freaks. they're all alcoholics. they're snobs. they deserve nothing but the worst. i adore them. i want to study them as if i were a mad ornithologist and they were rare, cantankerous, bastard birds.

[amymarch-defender]

nerosporus

[amymarch-defender]

let's live together 🧡🖤🤍

[amymarch-defender]

Is this anything TPN fandom if you're still out there

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reblog if your name isn't Amanda.

2,121,566 people are not Amanda and counting!

We’ll find you Amanda.

[amymarch-defender]

oh you think you're soooo fucking smart. with your fucking convoluted pretentious sentences

[amymarch-defender]

you know I couldn’t be a cowboy because I’d be stuck with my partner in the dead cold prairie night and our horses would be tied up and we’d be huddlin around a crudely made fire because it was too far to go back to the ranch and he’d play the sweetest song on his harmonica, the kind that you felt in your bones and your heart and that the hymns had nothin on, and then he’d finish and we’d both lean in a little too close and my hand would be on his bandanna and his whiskey-breath would be hot on my lips and I’d realize that maybe it wasn’t the touch of a woman i’d been hankerin for

[amymarch-defender]

nobody’s gonna know