gimme-mor - Tumblr blog

[gimme-mor]

👏 👏 👏

I would love your thoughts on Bryce 👀 seems like you have a lot

Yes I do 😭

Someone asked me this a couple of weeks ago and I have avoided the question because none of my thoughts about her are good. I was trying to get some distance and today is the day! No offense to anyone who likes her character, I completely respect that.

But to be frank, I don't like Bryce. Pretty much at all.

Bryce feels like she's trying really hard to be Aelin but lacks the courage of her convictions. Hell, Bryce lacks the convictions, too.

It really bums me out that I don't like Bryce because I have always loved sjm's main characters. Aelin? LOML. Feyre? I wish I could be that brave. Nesta? Would love to express myself. Lysandra? I too would like to cut a man someday.

But Bryce???? Ugh, Bryce.

I know what we are supposed to think about her. I know that Bryce is supposed to pretend to be a party girl so that people don't look at her too hard. But why can't they look? It's not like she's doing anything worthwhile that needs to be concealed. I appreciate that Bryce having a good time with her friends is valuable in its own right. I love that she has friends, and I love that she embraces her femininity. I love that we are supposed to take her seriously too, despite the things about her that are supposedly shallow.

But.... I don't take her seriously. She is shallow. I can't take her seriously when she is half human, and still doesn't understand why people would rebel. Not when her mother is treated like shit, and she still doesn't understand why people would rebel. Not when she watches what Hunt experiences being enslaved, when she is objectified and degraded for being human, when Sophie and Emile are hunted, and she is still like "*shrug* idk what those rebels are on about, they should really think about being Nice rebels."

REALLY????

I realize that this isn't just a Bryce problem, this is partly a narrative problem because humans are framed as being radical extremists who, while being constantly shit on, should definitely consider how to be nicer when they rebel. But Bryce should know better and she just... doesn't.

When she saved Emile, it felt so hollow. The sentiment behind it was admirable, the fact that he had value despite not having magic powers. I got verklempt. The fact that he had value because of the way that other people loved him was so poignant. But that whole thing felt like, again, Aelin Lite™️ because she was secretly doing things (which had no precedent but okay, we're just supposed to accept that Bryce is stealthy or whatever) and also shallow because she didn't think about the fact that Cormac also cared about Emile and was desperate to find him. She just... hid that from him, despite the fact that Emile has value in being loved for himself, Cormac loves Emile, and Bryce just doesn't make that connection???

I couldn't even remember, six weeks after reading hosab, what was driving Bryce in hosab. She doesn't seem to be doing anything out of any obligation or sense of morality or a personal goal or literally anything. She just keeps happening across stuff that Danika hid from her. I have zero idea what is driving Bryce, besides loving Hunt.

She just has no sense of the bigger picture, and I think that's what bothers me the most. She seems very very limited in her worldview, even when reasons for her to care are shoved all up in her face.

also I freaking hate her taste in clothes.

[gimme-mor]

Hi everyone and get ready for another year of SJM fun! Below, you'll find a list of events for 2024.

NOTE: These events are meant to foster positivity within their respective fandoms. Negativity towards any specific event is not welcome.

NOTE: If you would like your event to be included on the maased-out calendar, please click here.

January

February

SJM Romance Week (February 8th–February 14th)

March

Gwynriel Appreciation Weeks (March 10th–March 23rd)

Feyre Appreciation Week (March 18th–March 24th)

Starfall Week (March 19th–March 25th)

April

Feylin Week (April 1- April 5th)

Poly+ ACOTAR Week (April 7th–April 13th)

Tamlin Appreciation Week (April 14th–April 20th)

Nesta Week (April 21st–April 27th)

May

Elriel Month (May 1- May 31)

Ruhn Danaan Week (May 19th–May 25th)

June

July

Elucien Week (July 14th-July 20th)

Cassian Appreciation Week (July 22nd–July 28th)

August

September

Eris Vanserra Week (September 8th–September 14th)

Nessian Appreciation Week (September 15th–September 21st)

October

November

December

[gimme-mor]

The transition of Brimsley and Reynolds dancing together to Brimsley dancing alone broke something in me

[gimme-mor]

QUEEN CHARLOTTE & KING GEORGE

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mommy’s little war criminal 💚

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ALICENT HIGHTOWER & AEMOND TARGARYEN

#i-got-it-from-my-mama

[gimme-mor]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON costume design appreciation: 1/? ⏤ costume design by Jany Temime

[gimme-mor]

Hi anon!

Ok so in cc1, I thought Bryce was meant to be a representation of mixed people who don't acknowledge their mixedness and try to stay in a middle lane. That's why I disagreed with some of the criticisms of hoeab!bryce because her actions made sense to me based on the lens I was looking through. Like of course she wouldn't think about the humans. Her faeness gave her access to this certain level of superiority in the world but at the same time, she was still oppressed because of her human heritage, which is similar to mixed people who have a white/light skinned parent. Then when you add in how Ember and Randall weren't actively oppressed on page, it made me run off with my theory even more. And the way the narrative/people in general oversexualized Bryce seemed like they were exoticizing her, which is also similar to how mixed people/certain racial groups are exoticized in our society for having "the right features". Like I saw the parallels beat for beat, which is why I was SO excited for this series because I thought Sarah was gonna do something with what she set up for Bryce. But then it flopped so there's that lol

I honestly can't blame Sarah for how I interpreted Bryce as a character because obviously Sarah wasn't intending to tell that type of story, but I can (and will) blame her for the absolute shitshow that was HOFAS

hi, it’s the hofas/gun control anon here! thank you for such a well thought out answer :) and i’m sorry my response is so long!

first, i do agree with how nesta and az’s different opinions do match up with their experiences, so that does put their conversation into more context. i definitely agree with what you said about how the conversation kind of just blinked and moved on immediately - but i feel like this is a problem in a lot of sjm’s books, where she’ll bring up a complicated political issue that has interesting implications in her fantasy world, but then just move on immediately without actually wanting to delve into the hard, uncomfortable parts of it.

while i agree that it probably wasn’t meant to show sjm’s gun views herself, and i firmly subscribe to the belief that depiction doesn’t equal endorsement and authors should be able to examine the nuance of lots of different social issues and perspectives without readers conflating it with the author’s own opinions, i do think this scene does exemplify a major fault in her writing in that all of the complicated topics surrounding oppression and sexism and all the isms in her stories are tackled in a moderate, “safe” way. so i completely agree with everything you said about respectability politics! as a side note, i’m currently reading babel: or the necessity of violence by rf kuang which has this quote that i really liked: “This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it.”

so like, while yes, i don’t think it would be fair to try to determine sjm’s exact views on gun control laws from her fictional characters’ discussion of it, i do feel that it’s representative of the very white feminist-esque views that she perpetuates through her writing, rather than delving more into the dynamics of structural inequality and taking an intersectional perspective. i do think how an author chooses to write about social issues can be indicative of their own personal views, rather than what words are actually on the page. and what gets me is that the potential is there!! like she creates such complex, rich worlds with such unique characters, but i feel like sometimes she just glosses over the harder stuff. i am very curious how she will decide to resolve the illyrian plot - i am truly hoping she doesn’t take a white savior approach with feyre or nesta, or just having devlon killed off, as it wouldn’t actually fix the sexism ingrained in their cultural norms. 

i wonder if sjm writing in this way (like respectability politics) has taken a turn for the worse since throne of glass? i def agree with everything you said about bryce and cc, but i feel like it was the opposite with aelin. like aelin was never opposed to using violence in order to fight back against oppression, esp coming from her own background as a slave. i haven’t read tog in a while so maybe nostalgia is blinding me and it had the same issues, but idk. 

i’d love to know your thoughts! I

Hello! Here is the original post for anyone confused.

i do think this scene does exemplify a major fault in her writing in that all of the complicated topics surrounding oppression and sexism and all the isms in her stories are tackled in a moderate, “safe” way.

I totally agree with this. I think that she does sometimes lean into more complicated topics, but that would mess with the HEAs she wants to write, at the end of the day. And she seems to be working through some difficult topics in her writing, but then... idk, gets bored with it? Which really highlights her privilege, to me, because she can think about these things, but never too deeply, not if she doesn't feel like it. I don't wanna get too much into her personal life or politics but CC as a whole has really made me wonder about her!!! I have some big questions, but it's not my place and I don't think it's very respectful, so I'll just leave that there. Like if she came out publicly posting a "Blue Lives Matter" graphic then I'd get into it, but she's private and I respect that.

That quote from Babel is *chef's kiss*, perfect. That's exactly what I was alluding to and a big problem that I had with hoeab. That I was waiting to get addressed in hosab. And then was waiting to see if it ever got resolved in hofas. Surprise! No. Nope. We're just going to go with this cognitive dissonance around people's actions and beliefs and just... hail Bryce as a hero, I guess. Even though she truly doesn't give a fuck unless she gets pulled kicking and screaming into giving a fuck. (I'm sorry my anti Bryce just spilled out, my cup is too full of it.)

I was talking to @gimme-mor about the series the other day and she had some great thoughts about why Bryce may have been so dismissive of other people's struggles (ones that she, I thought, should have empathized with) but I'll see if she wants to add on or make a post about it. :) I'll just say that her original idea that would have explained Bryce's attitude, in her opinion, did not pan out.

Sometimes, I think we are in love with the potential of sjm books, more than the actual payoff. They hit the right beats just enough and with just enough oomph that there is something there. Or maybe that's not totally fair because I do give some of her books 5 stars still, after multiple rereads. But she doesn't always follow through to the same extent that she did in HoF or acomaf! But I do wonder if we think about all of these issues far, far more than she is.

i wonder if sjm writing in this way (like respectability politics) has taken a turn for the worse since throne of glass?

I was actually saying something similar to this to someone the other day. Because yes, these are different stories, and different characters, but you have to wonder, with a different political climate than existed in 2012 or whatever, or whenever she was a teenager in the early 2000s, how much that influenced her views and the way that she wanted to write these kinds of stories. Again, it could be that she is just writing a different kind of story! That she wanted to explore different kinds of characters. But Bryce being a discount, knock-off version of Aelin doesn't make that seem likely. IDK!

[gimme-mor]

Young Rhaenyra Targaryen

[gimme-mor]

Marcos Beccari

[gimme-mor]

Merry Christmas guys ❤️🎄

Cassian and Nesta Archeron from a court of silver flames, characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

art by me

[gimme-mor]

Hi everyone and get ready for another year of SJM fun! Below, you'll find a list of events for 2024.

NOTE: These events are meant to foster positivity within their respective fandoms. Negativity towards any specific event is not welcome.

NOTE: If you would like your event to be included on the maased-out calendar, please click here.

January

February

SJM Romance Week (February 8th–February 14th)

March

Gwynriel Appreciation Weeks (March 10th–March 23rd)

Starfall Week (March 19th–March 25th)

April

Poly+ ACOTAR Week (April 7th–April 13th)

Tamlin Appreciation Week (April 14th–April 20th)

Nesta Week (April 21st–April 27th)

May

Ruhn Danaan Week (May 19th–May 25th)

June

July

Cassian Appreciation Week (July 22nd–July 28th)

August

September

Eris Vanserra Week (September 8th–September 14th)

Nessian Appreciation Week (September 15th–September 21st)

October

November

December

[gimme-mor]

[gimme-mor]

Click here if you would like your event to be included on the maased-out calendar!

[gimme-mor]

Leo Ashton & Ewan Mitchell as AEMOND TARGARYEN | parallels

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👀

I don’t think I’ve ever shared my favorite Lucien fancast yet but there’s this real handsome Brasillian model named João Jesus… lemme just show y’all the vision.

[gimme-mor]

Happy @emerieweekofficial ❤

Emerie Week 2023 Day 7: Free Day

E.M.E.R.I.E

-Brave-Powerful-Strength-