ieidolon

[ieidolon]

Those "modern fairy tales where the princess saves herself" types of books not only misrepresent the gender roles in fairy tales (there are tons of stories where girls get to save the day), but they fundamentally misunderstand the entire genre.

Fairy tales aren't about saving yourself.

These aren't epic myths or heroic legends about the great warriors who slay every monster in their path because they're so awesome. Fairy tales are almost always about ordinary, even incompetent, people who get thrown into strange situations where they only succeed because of the help of others.

It's not a gendered thing. The boy who goes off to seek his fortune is usually the dim-witted third son whose older brothers are the strong, smart ones. The third son succeeds because he is kind to the magical helpers who then complete the tasks for him--and the exact same thing happens when a girl is the main character.

The characters in a fairy tale rarely succeed because they embrace their own strength and take their own path. Much more often, they are told step-by-step what to do, and they succeed because they obey--respecting the wisdom of others.

The core virtue of a fairy tale is not pride, but humility. It's not a story about the strong, but those who are weak, small, helpless. The people who can't do it all on their own, but can recognize the worth and wisdom of others.

Turning this story into a "girl power" (or even a "boy power") story warps it into something that is fundamentally the opposite of a fairy tale, and it has nothing to do with the gender of the main character.

[ieidolon]

seward.. what if we got YOU a cat ? >_> rather than renfield ?

- 🦇♠️

I don’t need a cat. I need institutional funding, seven hours of sleep, and a man who will look me in the eye, pat me on the back and say “you did well, friend John.”

[ieidolon]

Elementary wasn't perfect, but already in season 1 there's an episode where Sherlock implicitly expresses a distrust of ICE and explicitly his support of an undocumented immigrant. That was a pleasant surprise in the midst of an otherwise positive depiction of the police force

[ieidolon]

This was an interesting read. Surprisingly nonpreachy given the subject; and well worth the time.

[ieidolon]

Asking I'm genuine interest: does anyone who follows me have anything to praise banksy over? Because I'd like to at least have checked my opinion of "hack"

[ieidolon]

the way ivan aivazovsky looks at the sea…i think…i think that’s what love looks like.

[ieidolon]

Just had a co-worker go "wait you're trans? I would have never guessed!" at me. Girl you literally hadn't even seen me in a binder until yesterday it's been tits out this whole time

[ieidolon]

fragrantica's owner is so ass 😭 she just panic launched a giveaway for trump perfume (in the middle of the night?).. she was fuminggggg the announcement barely makes any sense

she doesn't even have anything positive to say about the actual perfume, she called it generic? (or at least i think she was trying to call it generic?)

[ieidolon]

[ieidolon]

Spin this wheel first and then this wheel second to generate the title of a YA fantasy novel!

(If the second wheel lands on an option ending with a plus sign, spin it again)

Share what you got!

[ieidolon]

Here's a nice story I learned in the Norwegian ski museum:

In 1895, polar explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen were having a bad time. Their expedition had faced some hardships and they were forced to stay on Franz Josef Land in a little hut they built out of mud and stones. In their hut, they slept for circa 20 hours a day, and spent the remaining four hours watching the northern lights or reminiscing about the comforts of home and the books they had read.

After several months of this, and nine months of sleeping in the same sleeping bag to stay warm, on New Year's Eve, Nansen finally gathered his courage and asked Johansen if they should start adressing each other with the informal you.

This is where the story ended in the museum, so unfortunately, I can't tell you whether Johansen answered yes or no.

[ieidolon]

broooo did you seriously disturb my eternal rest & bring me back to this mortal coil just because my ancient enemy the eternal night has returned? after i sealed it away and everything? which one of you tampered with my binding runes 🙄

[ieidolon]

What with how the past several decades of Dracula adaptations have been going, I feel like there's a golden opportunity for a meta version that appears to be going the "reincarnated One True Love" route at first, only for Mina to quickly figure out that this is just a pickup line/recurring scam Dracula dusts off every century or two. I'm picturing one of the Brides taking a weary drag on a cigarette all like "he said he'd crossed Oceans of Time to find you too, huh?"

[ieidolon]

can't stop thinking about how Remmick had a black eye after fleeing the Choctaw vampire hunters. Forget stakes and holy water and garlic; they were just straight up beating his ass

[ieidolon]

Went on a highly enjoyable date. Ended up hanging out for way longer than what I had expected. He has the cutest smile

[ieidolon]

I love weird friendships. I haven't spoken to you in a month but I thought you'd enjoy this picture of a mouse cuddling a strawberry. And I was right. My friend sent me a cute gif of a mouse being petted back. We will proceed not to speak for another week at minimum