arianeemorythethird

[arianeemorythethird]

one of the most regressive things in grrm’s work is making magical bloodlines real, and the fandom exacerbates that by arguing endlessly about characters’ magical blood quantum, often in a way that is more intense than the fantasy feudal aristocrats. so i like how the show’s approach is not to determine whether someone objectively has whatever “blood” in them - an impossible proposition - but instead focuses on the social construction of bloodline. everyone here THINKS you need a certain heritage to ride a dragon, and that’s what matters, the way people socially construct this ideal and what it materially allows access to - ie, focusing on bastardry and lack of legitimate birth and class in this episode as the center of the social transgression of the dragonseeds claiming the dragons of house targaryen.

they might have valyrian blood or they might not, but in the end this matters less than the fact they aren’t a part of the patriarchal sanctioned line of descent connected to property rights and this act threatens class boundaries and royal prerogative. it’s about socially constructed boundaries related to bloodline, and bloodline for the people making sense of this is fundamentally a justification for relations of power regardless considering the doubt that can’t be erased. although it’s fantasy and i think to engage honestly with it you do just have to accept magical bloodline as real to a degree, even if it’s troubling, i also think it’s best to minimize the idea of it as an objective real truth as much as possible because it makes you sound like a nazi. so jace’s intense anxiety for what a lowborn bastard claiming a dragon means for his legitimacy as a future king - when his family’s power in general and the exculpation for his own bastardy in specific is built around an ideal of exclusivity - being centered is a lot more compelling than either “only valyrians can ride dragons and this has been certifiably proved” OR its counterpart in “this dragonrider proves that the connection to blood is fake: see, we’ve certified the PURITY of this character’s non-valyrian bloodline, not a single drop, but PROGRESSIVELY this time.”

[arianeemorythethird]

If I look back I am lost.

[arianeemorythethird]

Viserys' legacy

[arianeemorythethird]

i’ve been thinking a lot about fandom and how to interact with patchwork canon, since there are so many stories that have been created by multiple people (shows with changing showrunners, comics written by different people, etc) that it becomes impossible to view the story as a cohesive whole because the hands of the different creators are too evident and the differences in character interpretations are just too big to be viewed as the same cohesive character. 

personally, my solution is to have a more flexible, cherry-picking approach to canon where i select what a) is most interesting to me and b) what is the most realistic when it comes to established character motivations and background. 

this is my favorite approach to a patchwork canon, even though i tend to be more of a canon stickler when it comes to more cohesive works with just one author, because i think at some point it becomes impossible to employ the death of the author mode of analysis of a work and the differences (and possible biases) brought into the story by the various creators are just too obvious. i think recognizing that having multiple authors who have significantly diverging characterizations (especially when it’s to a character’s detriment and results in OOC actions and plotlines) is really important when it comes to character analysis, and at least personally, having the freedom to analyze each characterization and pick out what makes the most sense to me is where i have the most fun with transformative works, because i still have a canon to fall back on for inspiration, but i’m not bound to the OOC decisions or bad writing and don’t have to write around those major issues unless they make sense for that character given their established background and personality. 

[arianeemorythethird]

Anonymous asked | Favourite shots/scenes from Star Wars Rebels?

[arianeemorythethird]

A very cute thing my toddler does is that if he ever catches me using tumblr in front of him, he plants himself on my lap and says "oh, oh, star??"

The first time he did this I was so confused, but eventually I figured out he wanted me to scroll to the top of my dash and let him watch these gifs, ad nauseam:

He likes to name the shapes from "Changes on tumblr" as they appear.

I love him so much, but it's also a very good incentive to put my phone away in his presence, because from the bottom of my heart, I have never had less fun on the internet.

[arianeemorythethird]

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN as ANAKIN SKYWALKER/DARTH VADER

[arianeemorythethird]

Watching Star Wars was a mistake. For years I’ve derived so much pleasure from seeing discourse on my timeline that’s like “it’s actually a pretty good writing choice that Glimbo Knutts manipulated the imbledimbians in the force to make Darth Freeble his personal jedi froogler. It gives the original trilogy more depth” and not knowing what the fuck anybody is talking about. But now I do and it’s ruined. I understand what you freak ass dorks are saying and it isn’t fun anymore. Glimbo Knutts making Darth Freeble his jedi froogler DOES give the original trilogy more depth. This sucks man

[arianeemorythethird]

"You love her," Tonra said. Sabé froze. "Of course I do," she said. She met his gaze. "It's a complicated relationship. She can order me to my death, and I will go. And she knows it. We've worked so hard to maintain a balance we will never truly have. As far as I can see, she will always pick Naboo, and I will always pick her." – E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

[arianeemorythethird]

[arianeemorythethird]

do you ever have that one canon character you liked just fine in the canon, but the more you see of their fans, the more you come to just kind of … loathe them by association? like, a pavlov’s reflex of cringing every time you see their name or face

[arianeemorythethird]

i can not tell you enough how much i fucking hate that me and everyone else who lives in a country that isn’t america have to actually be concerned with their stupid fucking clown show of a government nonstop because everything they do effects literally everyone else it’s so fucking exhausting to have to be concerned about my own government AND theirs like some fucking kid who just shows up at my house unannounced especially when americans literally never have to give a shit about any other government in the world unless they’re actively at war with that country why does america get to be the fucking protagonist country!!! why do they get to fucking damage everyone else in their crossfire to themself!!!!!

[arianeemorythethird]

darth maul and padme amidala: discarded pawns

iain mccraig on doing concept art for the phantom menace / wookieepedia / james dillon / star wars tales volume 6 / paul mcdonald

[arianeemorythethird]

gimme 5 seasons of murder mysteries in coruscant rn Disney. or else.

[arianeemorythethird]

Hans Woody

[arianeemorythethird]

“I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do.”

anakin skywalker moodboard

[arianeemorythethird]

one thing that gets me about PT is that its a wonderful setting to explore people & their interpersonal relationships precisely because they live in a system thats deeply flawed and theres not a single person in the cast that objectively knows shit. like. remove palpatine, if youre a jedi then thats half of your wordly concerns resolved. except the senate is still corrupt so if youre padme youre still going to be upset about that and the outer rim still practices slavery so if youre anakin youre probably going to feel some type of way about other people still suffering the fate you only avoided by being declared the world's most specialest little boy due to your scientifically impressive level of fatherlessness. but they dont have much of a preestablished theory or a strong movement to fall back on, they have an awareness of the problems (but never all of them) and their ways of trying to solve them are inherently instinctual. like. padmes instincts say increasing military power is bad because it diverts resources and increases the risks to democracy. anakins insticts say that the only way to clean the crime empires in the outer rim and prevent human trafficking is if you have the physical force to enforce it, the physical force being the military. neither of them are wrong to think that way but theyre both able to focus only on specific aspects that are familiar to them and theyre going to clash about it. obi-wan and the jedi have a vague anti-corruption stance but they have a firmer "thats not our jurisdiction" stance until they stumble upon the sith, which ARE their jurisdiction, and then they pin all their fears and frustrations and concerns on handling that. which also isnt 100% wrong because the whole plotline of the prequels was the sith kicking off a descent into fascism but you know. theyre gonna fight about it. theyre facing handling a galaxy worth of problems and its impossible to have a correct, flawless strategy for everything when the scale is so much bigger than we can conceptualise. theres nothing more fascinating than having a cast of characters each concerned with doing good and each having beef that boils down to "they arent listening to me" simply because good is such a broad term and its never going to be uniform. its not about fixing the politics of the star wars universe, its about having character conflict that can simultaneously pack all of them being very loved and deeply lonely at the same time because all of them have answers of sort but none of them have theee answer. obviously the key is cooperation but getting there when the setting comes with pre-established personal frustration? oh boy. juicy af and my ass is seated