distortedsincerity

[distortedsincerity]

Women in Shakespeare

[distortedsincerity]

u can’t tell me this isn’t giving windward circle 😭😭

[distortedsincerity]

my only big issue about rory gilmore in the revival is that it seemed like they forgot she was actually quite cool ...

[distortedsincerity]

“the monster is supposed to be good-looking” “why didn’t gatsby just move on” “romeo and juliet is about two teenagers being stupid” “of mice and men is ableist” “wuthering heights romanticizes incest” “lord of the flies is about the innate evil in human nature” “holden caulfield is a whiny brat” “if i was orpheus i wouldn’t have turned around”

[distortedsincerity]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57816028 !!! ofc ofc here u go

hamlet essay is still verryyy much in the works. im thinking its going down the parenting styles route (in dialogue with a midsummer nights dream)

should be working on my degree at the best uni in the country but instead i’ve written 18k words of jess and rory and luke and lorelai to procrastinate a hamlet essay

[distortedsincerity]

should be working on my degree at the best uni in the country but instead i’ve written 18k words of jess and rory and luke and lorelai to procrastinate a hamlet essay

[distortedsincerity]

just realised in nag hammadi the thing jess forgot from luke’s apartment was a notebook … tiny little conformation that he was writing even then

[distortedsincerity]

Heyyyy, I'm back with more messy, nuanced meta that nobody asked for and will probably just piss people off again, but whatever, I can't help myself, apparently.

I want to start out by saying that, concerning Luke and Jess's fight in S4 over whether Luke kicked Jess out or Jess "got himself kicked out," I am more on Jess's "side" here. But I have this irritating need to see things from other people's perspectives and figure out why they do the things they do. Luke is acting like Jess wronged him by leaving without a goodbye and never contacting him, and insists that Jess got himself kicked out. I see Luke as a generally good and straightforward man who is not usually INTENTIONALLY manipulative, but he is, despite the façade of taciturn practicality, a VERY emotional man who feels things VERY strongly, so I think he must FEEL like this is true. So, why does Luke FEEL like Jess abandoned and discarded him when Luke was objectively the one who told Jess to leave in the first place? One of the things Luke keeps bringing up is the "agreement" they made way back at the end of S2, when Jess said he "wanted to come back" and live with Luke again, and during the fight when Luke does kick Jess out it seems clear that Luke does not understand the way Jess's situation spun out of control. The situation from his point of view was that Jess COULD HAVE honored the agreement (if he CARED), but CHOSE not to because he DID NOT CARE. And no longer cared about Luke PERSONALLY. That's how he sees it. It's not TRUE, but that's how it looks TO HIM.

Luke does SOOOO many things that he does not want to do out of a sense of duty towards the people he cares about. His parents both got sick and died when he was fairly young, and he was the one holding things together, trying to hold his little sister together, and he didn't WANT to do ANY of that. But he DID because he CARED. Luke does not seem to understand that he and Jess are, despite their similarities, very different. Their situations have been very different and their personalities are not the same. This is emphasized AGAIN during these same episodes when Liz arrives. Luke expects Jess to do exactly what HE has always done and to play the same role (man up and manage Liz as best "we" can, because that's "our" job) and he cannot see that Jess's relationship with his mom is (and indeed HAS to be) very different from his. Jess didn't WANT to go to school. Fine. Who does? (Only freaks like Rory, that's who) But Luke had ASKED him to, and Jess AGREED (way way back), so Jess neglecting to do his duty means, in Luke's mind, that he DIDN'T CARE about HIM.

And the most obvious difference Luke DOES see between Jess and himself is that Jess is SMART, like Book Smart, in a way that he himself never was. Jess is ALWAYS reading and always "studying" SOMETHING- he burns with insatiable curiosity- and so the obvious conclusion to why a kid like that flunked out of school (as so many ADHD kids have heard so many times...) is that he "just wasn't trying hard enough," and the obvious reason WHY he wasn't trying hard enough is that he just DIDN'T CARE, and Jess's defiance about the situation didn't help. Jess's defiance was just him clinging desperately to the edge of "this is fine" while his life was going up in flames around him, but Luke didn't know that!

I really do think that, when Luke told Jess he "had to go" when he refused to go back to school, Luke assumed/hoped that his ultimatum would "scare him straight." The idea would be that Jess presumably (hopefully) liked living with Luke (loved Luke) more than he hated going to school, or at least liked living with Luke (loved Luke) more than he hated the idea of being homeless, but that's not how it worked out. Luke did not understand how desperate and hopeless Jess was feeling, and so do you know what LUKE thought had happened? Luke FELT like Jess would RATHER be homeless than live with him. THIS is why Luke jeers about Jess's living conditions in his squalid New York apartment. Because he TRULY FEELS like Jess would RATHER live in squalor than live with him. "You hate me that much?" Luke really does think that Jess hates him that much, and it HURTS him to think that. (He is SO WRONG about ALL of this, but this is GENUINELY how he FEELS, and this is why it's such a tragedy.)

The final ingredient in all this is Time. "Time heals all wounds," they say, but that's only true if the wound isn't infected, and this one IS. Luke has been festering in this hurt for MONTHS by this point. He may have started with "I failed him," but after the initial shock and dismay wore off, he's been dwelling over and over on all the things he interprets as Jess NOT CARING and rejecting all of the love and care Luke thought he was clearly offering. It's like he's been picking at it, so by the time Jess comes back, the wound is WORSE than fresh: it's angry and swollen and red, and sensitive to the very slightest touch (and Jess is the same).

Anyway, this is why I think the "I'm here, Jess. I'm always here," was SO important. Because he needed to SAY IT! They BOTH needed to outright say it! Because they both THOUGHT the way they felt was "so obvious" to the other one, but it wasn't, and that was a big part of the reason why it got so bad between them in the first place. They both needed to hear the other one say that they were WANTED, and that's why it's a satisfying conclusion to me, despite the way Luke had previously messed up. He always meant it, even when he made Jess feel like he didn't (just like Jess always appreciated Luke, even when he made Luke feel like he didn't).

"This is an explanation, not an excuse." Please do not take this as me saying "Luke did nothing wrong!" He did SO much wrong, not only at this point, but in everything that led up to it, haha. But I also think that his actions made sense TO HIM. SO MANY fights between family members (and humans in general) are like this. Families are messy, people are messy, LIFE is messy. Both Luke and Jess are very messy, but I love them a lot and, more importantly, they love each other a lot too.

[distortedsincerity]

Hello, my name is Saja. I’m a mother to a beautiful 8-month-old baby girl, writing this from a place I never imagined I’d be — surrounded by destruction, holding on to my daughter while the world around us falls apart. 💔

We used to have a home. 🏚 A simple place, but it was filled with love. Now it’s gone. What remains are memories, silence, and an overwhelming fear of what tomorrow may bring.

Each day, I wake up not knowing if we will make it through the next. My daughter should be learning to walk, to smile at strangers, to feel safe in her world — but instead, she’s learning to live in the middle of a war zone. 🕊️

I’m not writing this to ask for pity. I’m sharing our truth because silence won’t protect us. Maybe, through this message, someone will hear us — and care. 🤍

If you feel moved to share our story or offer support, it would mean more than words can say. Every kind act ripples outward. ✨

🔗 Donation Link 📌 Post Link

Thank you for taking a moment to listen. 🙏

!

[distortedsincerity]

i barely even go here (the only time i really watched gilmore girls was with my mom, through about season 2, i think), but your post reminded me: i see so much bad faith interpretation of the characters in the show, and rory especially, that it makes me wonder if the people offering critique even... like... the show

this is so real - everyday there's a new take about someone being the 'real villain' of the show for being momentarily cruel or complex and it gets to a point where ur just like ... why are you watching then?

[distortedsincerity]

my type is 5’7 bad boys (who aren’t really bad boys) living in a completely different city with a father figure who gets them, in this jacket. woof.

[distortedsincerity]

not developing on this until a later date (if ever) but jess mariano is luke and lorelai’s child

[distortedsincerity]

[distortedsincerity]

Here's a remade masterpost of free and full shakespeare adaptations! Thanks @william-shakespeare-official for this excellent post. Unfortunately, a lot of the links in it are broken, so I thought I'd make an updated version (also I just wanted to organize things a bit more)

Anthony and Cleopatra: ~ Josette Simon, Antony Byrne & Ben Allen - 2017

As You Like It: ~ At Wolfe Park - 2013 ~ Kenneth Brannagh's - 2006

Coriolanus: ~ NYET Alumni - 2016 ~ Tom Hiddleston - 2014 ~ Ralph Fiennes - 2011

Cymbelline: ~ Michael Almereyda's - 2014

Hamlet: ~ David Tennant - 2009 ~ Ethan Hawke & Diane Venora - 2000 ~ Kenneth Branagh's - 1989 ~ BCC's Part One & Two - 1990 ~ Broadway - 1964 ~ Christopher Plummer - 1964 ~ Laurence Olivier's - 1948

Henry IV: ~ BBC's Part One & Two - 1989 ~ The Brussel's Shakespeare Society's - 2017

Henry V: ~ The BBC's - 1990 ~ Laurence Olivier's - 1944

Julius Caesar: ~ Phyllida Lloyd's - 2019 ~ The BBC's - 1979 ~ John Gielgud - 1970

King Lear: ~ The RSC's - 2008 ~ Laurence Olivier - 1983 ~ The BBC's - 1975 ~ James Earl Jones - 1974 ~ Orson Wells - 1953

Love's Labour's Lost: ~ Calvin University - 2016

Macbeth: ~ Antoni Cimolino & Shelagh O'Brien's - 2017 ~ Ian McKellen & Judi Dench - 1969 ~ Sean Connery - 1961

Measure for Measure: ~ Hugo Weaving - 2019 ~ The BBC's - 1990

The Merchant of Venice: ~ Al Pacino - 2004 ~ Trevor Nunn & Chris Hunt - 2001 ~ The BBC's - 1980 ~ Lawrence Olivier - 1973

The Merry Wives of Windsor: ~ The Royal Shakespeare Company's - 1982

A Midsummer Night's Dream: ~ Oliver Chris & Gwendoline Christie - 2019 ~ City of Columbus's - 2018 ~ Julie Taymor's - 2014 ~ The Globe's - 2013 ~ The BBC's - 1988 ~ Lindsay Duncan & Alex Jennings - 1986

Much Ado About Nothing: ~ Shakespeare in the Park - 2019 ~ Kenneth Branagh - 1993 ~ The BBC's - 1984

Othello: ~ The BBC's Part One & Two - 1990

Richard II: ~ David Tennant - 2013 ~ Deborah Warner's - 1997 ~ The BBC's - 1978

Richard III: ~ Ian McKellen - 1995 ~ Laurence Olivier - 1955

Romeo and Juliet: ~ Simon Godwin's - 2021 ~ The BBC's - 1988 ~ Laurence Harvey & Susan Shentall - 1954

The Taming of the Shrew: ~ Ontario production? ~ American Conservatory Theater - 1976 ~ Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor - 1967 ~ Mary Pickford & Samuel Taylor - 1929

The Tempest: ~ Gregory Doran's - 2017 ~ The BBC's - 1988

Timon of Athens: ~ Barry Avrich's - 2024

Troilus and Cressida: ~ Audio Production ~ This one I found on youtube? - 2016

Titus Andronicus: ~ Anthony Hopkins - 1999

Twelfth night: ~ Texas Shakespeare Festival's - 2015 ~ Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright & Ralph Richardson - 1970

Two Gentlemen of Verona: ~ Katherine Steweart's - 2018 ~ The BBC's

The Winter's Tale: ~ Antony Sher - 1999 (Warning: they don't have a bear...)

Bonuses:

Time Loop Hamlet! (A personal fav of mine)

Rock Opera Hamlet???

Shakespeare animated tales

The Complete Works Of Shakespeare Abridged comedy

From the original post:

A Midwinter's Tale, about a man trying to make Hamlet.

Russian Hamlet here

Here's Scotland, PA, the 2001 modern Hamlet retelling.

Rave Macbeth for anyone interested is here.

This one is the Taming of the Shrew modern retelling.

The french Romeo & Juliet musical with English subtitles is here!

Here's the 1948 one,

the Orson Wells Othello movie with Portuguese subtitles there

A Lego adaptation of Othello here.

Here's commentary on David Tennant's Richard II

[distortedsincerity]

wait wait wait but have we all heard rory's monologue in "Lorelai's Graduation Day?" I just rewatched it and it has me in tears, because all I remembered was so much love when she was in NY and then just dread for the rest of the episode, to the point that I almost skipped watching the end. I'm so glad I didn't because THIS is THE scene that really illustrates what Rory struggles with and explains so many of her future actions.... this and the way Lorelai reacts. I love Lorelai but her silence just confirms to Rory all of these HORRIBLE things she believes about herself and that she HAS to be the perfect, punctual, girl that she "is" and she HAS to be with Dean and she HAS to do what is SAFE and RIGHT and GOOD good good, it ALWAYS comes back to the fact that Rory Gilmore has to be *good* or else she is nothing. She believes this to the point that she is in tears crying and calling herself a horrible person because she went to see Jess and... the bus broke down? It's flighty but it's not the pinnacle of evil, but because of her upbringing, because of who she is, she does consider this the antithesis of who she is meant to be, and Lorelai ultimately plays into this. It's just such a heartbreaking scene because Rory is already at a point where *she needs help.* This is not an act of beating oneself up for attention or validation, and definitely NOT to distract from Lorelai being hurt, but rather it is a real glimpse into the absolutely unbearable pressure Rory is under. There's more to say and direct links to be had with later episodes and seasons, but regardless, I just think this scene is one of the most important ones in understanding Rory, her mindset, and her later "downfall."

[distortedsincerity]

Did I pay £10 to buy the play so I could make this? Yes. Yes I did.

[distortedsincerity]

tags !!

If Roy was a man, and Dean was a woman, would you still still condemn Rory so harshly for the whole sleeping with a married person thing? I don't think you would... if that were the case you would probably think that whole "but he's my dean" line is actually very fucking romantic and it would probably give you butterflies. I’m not saying Rory didn’t make a mistake… I’m just saying some of y’all are pretty hypocritical and biased when it comes to adultery on TV.