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― Toni Erdmann (2016) Winfried: You do this, you do that. And in the meantime, life just passes by. But you only realize that afterwards. In the moment itself it’s not possible.

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Female Animal Character Design in America/The West (and How Profoundly Sexist and Boring it is)

Okay, so, I love animation, as you know. I’ve seen a lot of animated movies and shows in my time, especially featuring animal characters. Yet, they don’t give me the same spark that I used to have for them. If anything, by middle school, my “tomboyish” (read: baby-butch, gender non-conforming) self was tired to death of experiencing them in a lot of ways. I couldn’t put my finger on it, until much later. I realized that they were often trite, male-dominated (excluding the inevitable love interest), and, ultimately, much less untethered in human social mores than I initially thought. And as someone who was (is) probably more into animals due to them being cool and tough and uncontained regardless of sex, it was very disappointing to see that, even in movies made to be an escapist fantasy, the girl animals were often frightened, frail, conceited, delicate and coquettish just like in other media.

What’s more, they also all had the same “look” and didn’t offer much for cool character design at all.

They still don’t.

This is a comprehensive list of all the attributes that female characters physically display. Oftentimes, lady animal characters are just hodgepodges of 3 or 4 (sometimes more!) of like 20 different traits.

Please note that girl animals that are love interests tend to follow MORE of these tropes than side characters do, 5 or higher. Think about Sarabi from The Lion King compared to Nala. Since Nala was supposed to be the love interest, she had to be the “prettiest” in the cast (for some ungodly reason), while Sarabi, a mother, looked less striking.

[Abbreviations commonly used: TMC (than male counterparts), MMV (mileage may vary; maybe up to interpetation based on the situation at hand)]

Breast Bump, even on creatures that don’t have breasts at all

(Comparatively) long hair on head or the implication thereof

Imbalanced anthropomorphism (more human-like/has more human features for females tmc)

Building off the previous point, female characters have more clothes/are fully clothed tmc (including accessories such as necklaces or bows)

Softened facial exaggeration (in animation and/or design) to emphasize prettiness

“Defanged”/”Declawed” to seem less scary; that is to say, they have less or fewer sharp claws and teeth (or natural weaponry in general) tmc

Whiter scleras and teeth tmc

Smaller hands/feet/paws/talons/etc tmc

Implication of being “smoother” tmc

Rounder features/bodies tmc

Main coloration is something blonde-ish/light colored, sometimes a ruddy color (almost NEVER dark, esp darker tmc)

Has blue, sometimes green or, rarely, grey eyes (almost NEVER brown or black, ESPECIALLY if males have brown or black eyes. If they are brown, they are a brown lighter tmc)

Pink and blue dichotomy between female and male characters, resp

DRAMATICALLY smaller and/or skinnier tmc

Smaller mouth, smaller nose, smaller snout/probiscis/beak/etc tmc

COMPLETELY different skull/skeleton shape tmc

Makeup or impossibly impeccable grooming implied in natural fur/feather/scale/skin pattern (this INCLUDES mascara/long lashes and tweezed or drawn-on eyebrows)

Bigger eyes tmc

BONUS SPECIAL: ACTUAL animal dimorphism being done accurately, but played for laughs (usually at the expense of a smaller, male animal)

*passes #20 back to you*

One example here, with the tropes pointed out:

The Lion King, Simba and Nala

[#6 (whiskers), #9, #11, #12, #15, #17]

More examples of this under the cut, if you don’t believe me!

Keep reading

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I try so hard to help other people because I have no idea how to help myself.

(via bringmesomepie56)

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You’re gonna survive. And good things are gonna start to happen again. And one day you may even look back and even this will not be such a bad thing.

Connie Britton as Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights, Season 4, Episode 7, In The Bag (via thingstotelldaniel)

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Tips for getting through your early/mid twenties

 Your physical size is literally utter bullshit to waste your time worrying about. The right people will love you no matter what. Promise. 

 Facebook is THE WORST thing to scroll through if you feel like shit about your life and that you’re not doing enough. Everyone romanticizes the shit out of their lives on Facebook.

Your first couple jobs you probably aren’t going to love. You’re working your way towards the career you want and most people don’t start right away in what they want to do, or even KNOW exactly what they want to do. 

Anyone who is in their early - mid twenties and says their lives are great and act like they have their shit all sorted out are fucking L Y I N G and putting up a front. it’s bullshit. 

Occasionally, rewatch your favorite movies and reread your favorite books from childhood. Sometimes it’s good to be nostalgic and feel that safe place for a bit. 

You don’t have to smile just because someone wants you to or expects you to. Smile because you want to. Period. 

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The Virgin Suicides (1999) - dir. Sofia Coppola

What we have here is a dreamer. Someone completely out of touch with reality.

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Having BPD is like being on a rollercoaster that you never wanted to ride in the first place but everyone around you still accuses you of being too dramatic every time it drops

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Are you fucking kidding me? Like, no, Shakespeare wouldn’t tweet a sonnet cause 140 characters is a bit short for that. Wrong medium. But you know what he would have? A very active twitter FULL OF DICK PUNS AND YOUR MOM JOKES okay. (And probably also a blog for the sonnets and longer works, that cross-posts links to twitter anyway.)

Get out of here with that pretentious anti-technology bullshit.

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Food $200 Data $30 Rent $250 Things I buy because I’m depressed $3,600 Utility $100

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

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PART TWO

Scottish Twitter is fucking wild

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why tf do I get so emotional at night. who is this night bitch?? she needs to go to sleep.

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