jasperapologist

[jasperapologist]

for the meme! jasper in “set me free”!

hey anon! thank you for the request! i hope you like it ❤️

(send me more requests if you guys want) :)

[jasperapologist]

texting my coworker “hey! how are you feeling” and reading it 40 times to make sure i didn’t accidentally type how are you sex cum penis ass cum porn 1080p hot cock

[jasperapologist]

HEAR ME OUT alice and emmett has adhd and jasper is autistic. you, as a twilight fan who does these characters justice in your fics, please tell me it makes sense

so this was such a good question I decided to Phone a Friend, by which I mean multiple friends who actually have some combination of these conditions (I myself...don't know, there's been some speculation among family and friends that I could have adhd but I would never claim something like that without a professional diagnosis), so thank you to @goldeneyedgirl, @jasper-is-a-snack and another tumblr-less friend for weighing in here! keep in mind that neither I nor they are licensed professionals, though, so huge grain of salt for pretty much everything I'm about to say.

the initial comments were "accurate" and "yeah" and then we got into discussing specifics about allegory vs representation and ableism in fiction and it took a while, so. as usual we're going UNDER THE CUT

broader context:

again, take all of this with a grain of salt since smeyer's authorial intent was clearly not to write disabled characters—she even included the ableist idea that vampirism ""cures"" disabilities in twilight, so. yeah we're talking pretty much exclusively fan interpretation and fic author characterization here

alice and adhd:

alice definitely ticks the boxes for excitability and hyperactivity, and she frequently zones out (though this is due to her visions, so ymmv on whether that counts.) she was also institutionalized as a human, so that would make extra sense if she’s neurodivergent and psychic instead of merely psychic.

this is reason #1 you can also choose to see her visions as an allegory for mental illness—they're usually treated as a "gift" rather than a disability, but they 100% do get in the way of her ability to Pass for neurotypical—think the other cullens having to escort her to her seat in MS because she's so zoned out, or edward and bella distracting their human friends in eclipse to keep them from noticing that alice is having a vision.

culturally, there's a long history of psychic characters being written with disabilities—think the "blind seer" trope, the “mad seer” trope, or the fainting/epileptic seer trope. it makes sense to me—the idea that you trade one sense for another, that there's some sort of Cost involved in accessing this Forbidden Knowledge of the future (it’s also rooted in the fact that the ancient greeks thought epilepsy was sacred and the delphic oracle used to do hella drugs probably, but that’s a separate thing that I miiiiight have already written part of an au fic about oops.) I have yet to read any articles or opinions on whether or not this trope is ableist, tbh (if you find one, send it my way!) it seems to me like something that could be executed respectfully or poorly depending on the story/creator.

personally, when I sit down to write alice I'm not thinking "I will now write a character with adhd," but I wouldn't be surprised if my writing sometimes reads that way. one thing I do keep in mind about alice—at least, gifted!alice—is that her brain is constantly going in so many directions. she's perpetually overloaded with information, and acts on it in a way that can seem impulsive from the outside. that, combined with her excitable energy, can totally read as adhd. I think writing, say, a modern au!alice who has adhd in place of her gift could be a strong and interesting choice (I'm just gonna assume "*if done respectfully" goes without saying.)

does it make sense? verdict: yeah

emmett and adhd:

we didn’t discuss emmett as much, so this is mostly my own opinions. the one comment I did get from a friend was “[emmett’s impulsiveness reads more as] part of being a vampire, and not necessarily part of emmett.”

which...as I’m typing that out I realize I kiiiind of disagree? I think impulsiveness is part of his characterization. my main experience of adhd is with my younger brother, and he’s a very emmett-like person, so emmett definitely reads that way to me. his lack of a verbal filter, the way he’s a very physical person who often breaks things because he was just having fun and didn’t think his actions through—that’s all very familiar.

plus, the fanon characterization of emmett is that he’s not at all academically inclined (which I like; he definitely seems like the kind of person who prioritizes KINDNESS AND FUN over educational achievement for himself) which lines up with the experiences of a lot of (*american, anyway) people with adhd struggling to get by in an educational system that is Maximum Unhelpful to them and falls wayyyy short of their needs.

I know plenty of writers in the fandom have written adhd!emmett and dyslexic!emmett, and I think that 100% works without changing up his character much. we don’t see him struggle socially in canon, but we also only really see him interact with other supernatural beings, so that could be a factor.

does it make sense? verdict: yep

jasper and autism:

this one is a little less clear-cut, and sparked most of the debate. there are a lot of “it depends” things going on here.

here are the Jasper Qualities™ my friend listed that she’s found to be common in herself and other autistic people:

likes rigid guidelines and routines

taken advantage of, suggesting some level of social blindness

easily swayed/not strong in his convictions

BUT. the huge roadblock here is that human!jasper is described in canon as “charismatic” and able to manipulate others. this sparked a conversation about whether his social aptitude could be a masking behavior or not, etc etc. but to me it kind of boils down to how you choose to interpret that one sentence.

because, to me, in my personal reading, we never once see jasper exhibit anything like charisma. he’s terse and aloof, polite but makes no effort to reach out and interact with strangers, much less influence them. I’ve always chosen to interpret the “charisma” line to mean he was a completely different person in his human life. (and also that smeyer is a lazy writer who didn’t give a fuck about consistently fleshing out characters who weren’t edward and bella, but I mean. water is wet, we’re talking about a more good-faith interpretation here.)

I’ve always rejected the idea that “vampires never [mentally] grow or change” because that’s so boring and absolutely doesn’t line up with anything in the story. like, one whole POINT is that edward changes and grows dramatically by the end of the series (not necessarily for the better, but that’s a different conversation.)

and in jasper’s case, going from being a human teen with a successful racist military career where he never saw actual violence to eighty years of murder and violent conditioning and war crimes is bound to have, uh. had an effect on him. 

could that effect mimic some characteristics of autism? maybe. I think you could make equal arguments for/against.

but as my friend pointed out, a lot of the characteristics jasper has in common with autistic people are just Vampire Magic Things. like, due to a combination of his gift and his poor control he’s easily overstimulated and avoids large crowds. those are sensory issues! but they stem from being a vampire.

so where I land is that, like alice and adhd, depending on your reading, jasper can be more of an allegory for autism than an actual autistic character. if you’re autistic and see yourself in him, great—that makes sense. if you, like my friend, don’t like hc-ing characters as autistic just because they’re “a character who is ‘quiet’ and ‘thinks a lot’ and is ‘mysterious,’” that’s also valid.

I personally think he’s a gray area. you could write him as autistic without changing his character too much, but that’s mostly because his character is hard to pin down and leaves a lot of room for interpretation in the first place.

in my own writing, I tend to give him some sensory and social issues. this is part my reading of canon and part my attempt to sort of keep/allude to his canon Vampiric Struggles™ even in human au situations. again, I’m not sitting down like “I will now write an autistic character” (that would require me to do a lot more research!), just kind of going “ok, this guy hates crowds and is susceptible to sensory overload. it’s no longer because he’s a magical vampire, it’s just how he is—but this is both an interesting character trait and recognizable to my audience, so let’s keep it and use it to further the story.”

does it make sense? verdict: up for interpretation

in conclusion

I really hope I didn’t say anything ableist or insensitive here, but if I did, let me know and I’ll be cool about it if you’re cool about it! seriously, I’m always happy to be corrected in good faith.

I’d also be interested to hear more people weigh in on this if y’all have Thoughts. slide into my askbox or tag me in a post and I’ll rb it!

PS - THANK YOU FOR SAYING I DO THE CHARACTERS JUSTICE IN MY FICS; I TRY VERY HARD :’)

[jasperapologist]

Wouldn't half human half vampire hybrids be like so much stronger than normal vampires? I mean the canon reasoning behind the newborns being so strong is that they still have some of their human blood still lingering and it takes a year for the venom to change every single part of their biology into a full vampire... But the hybrid would ALWAYS have their human blood and tissue strengthing and fueling the venom in their bodies as well...

[jasperapologist]

thanks to this post, the idea of Carlisle wearing fake glasses to try and look older at work lives in my mind rent fucking free

bonus under the cut: Clark Kent-ing it 👀

Keep reading

[jasperapologist]

Was Isle Esme a lie?

Okay okay but hear me out. I’ve been completely grooving on @panlight’s meta about the Cullens as NPCs. Which is so true and is basically why I finally started writing fanfic to begin with–I read these books and just had this sense of “This writer left so much on the table” that I had never had when reading a series before. Everything about this story was built to support E/B, and when you think about it, many of the parts don’t hold up on their own.

But the last section of this meta is honestly something I had absolutely taken as canon and now am suddenly realizing that another explanation makes a ton more sense. Basically, I’ve never seen a fic/fanficcer/fandom member–including me!–not take as gospel truth that Carlisle bought Isle Esme for Esme on whatever anniversary yadda yadda yadda. And yet, as pan points out, this really is contrived for the sake of E/B and it’s not even ever about C/Es. It’s like “oh it would be convenient for the Cullens to own an island!” and so boom, they do.

And I buy into this wholly because, y'all islands are actually quite cheap in the grand scheme of things. A private island can be had for the low six figures, depending on where it is. Add a modest house at the cost of construction and you’re in the mid six-figures. I realize that when you’re twelve, as many big Twifans were when they read the series for the first time, $400,000 seems like a lot of money, but I assure you, it is not. (stepping on my personal finance soapbox for a second: if you intend to retire well, younger twifans, $400,000 needs to be a number that is real to you and is in your investment accounts at around age 45. Trust me on this…) So if you are a decabillionaire, which I think we all can agree Carlisle is, and you also have an intense need for privacy, the odds that you drop $1-2M every now and then on a nice vacation spot are pretty high. It makes every sense in the world for Carlisle to have bought Esme an island. I always assume they own several.

However. When you consider that Isle Esme comes completely out of the blue, and isn’t at all about Carlisle and Esme, and that in fact, Esme supposedly chooses to decorate the cottage as though it is like her supposedly private island that Carlisle bought her as some grand romantic gesture, which is kind of a weird thing for a mom to do, you know?…

…and you add that to the degree to which we know for a fact that Edward tries very unsuccessfully to honor Bella’s desire for non-lavish gifts, and the degree to which we know, from the “crystal” heart he already gave her, that he is absolutely willing to lie to make Bella okay with an extravagant gift…

I am now suddenly thinking he lied about Isle Esme. He bought it, for Bella, for the purpose of this honeymoon. Esme decorated the house on the island, and then also decorated the cabin just like it, because she expected they would have wonderful memories of this place that is just theirs. Edward presents the idea that Carlisle bought it for Esme because he is still somewhat careful to help Bella to not lose her mind that he bought a freaking island (because it seems really extravagant, even if for ultra rich people, it is not, see above) and at some point in time, this is all going to come to a head in some giant Cullen foofaraw that involves Carlisle frowning disappointedly about Edward lying yet again and Bella forgiving him inside the space of three seconds as she is wont to do.

So, reversing ten years of headcanon…I think Isle Esme is really Isle Bella and Edward, as usual, lied through his skinny seventeen-year-old teeth about it. He bought it. Not Carlisle. It’s for Bella. Not Esme. And oh, to be a fly on the wall when Bella found out.

[jasperapologist]

do you have any thoughts on bree tanner?

On Bree Tanner herself, not so much. I did read her book, and from my recollection (I lent it to a friend who never gave it back. And I’m pretty sure she didn’t even read it(!)) Bree is pretty much what she’s presented as. 

She’s not stupid, but she’s not particularly intelligent either, she’s nice, but not a saint. She has been a vampire for only a few months, but she has already lost her empathy for humans. She’s an introvert who cares deeply for her friend Fred and crush Diego. She was never inclined to fight anybody, and spent the newborn battle just sort of mingling in quiet terror.

She’s a sweet person I’m sure would have made a pleasant addition to the Cullen coven, but ultimately she’s not remarkable.

When it comes to Diego, her supposed mate... hm. For those who didn’t read the book, Riley told the newborns they had to stay in the shadows or they’d burn in the sun. Bree gets a huge crush on one of the other newborns, and they find out vampires actually sparkle. This changes everything! Diego goes to tell Riley about the sparkling. Diego goes to live on a farm after that. No, really, that’s pretty much what Riley tells everybody. Diego is fine, he’s on a very special assignment, next question. Bree eventually figures out that Diego is dead, and her grief combined with a lot of other factors lead to her concluding life is miserable. She dies thinking “Oh well, guess I had a good run.”

Not unsurprisingly, I not only don’t believe in mates, but I also don’t think Diego was anything close to it for Bree either. They were close friends, Bree found out he was dead, and had no time to process it. More, vampires feel very strongly, and this was the only truly emotional event to befall Bree. It knocked her out completely. So, that she then decides she doesn’t mind dying because there’s no point living in a world without Diego seems to me to be a reaction born of her being young (both for a vampire and a human), emotionally inexperienced, and having been hit by this news less than an hour earlier. Had she lived, she would have been just fine.

So, those are my thoughts on Bree Tanner as a person.

Bree Tanner's impact is a different matter.

I think her death was one of the catalysts for the plot of Breaking Dawn.

The vampires in Seattle all died, Victoria included. There were no one left who knew Bree, and her life would have been a moment lost in time, like tears in the rain (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

But there were the Cullens. More specifically, Carlisle.

Carlisle had spent his formative years in Volterra, and parted with Aro in friendly terms. He remained fond of Aro, and continued to think highly of him. He and Aro would have spoken of the Volturi, of the Volturi mission, of how such a law is enforced, and it is prudent to also assume that Carlisle would have witnessed at least a few trials. He came away from all that thinking of the Volturi as strict, but fair rulers. 

Jasper, by comparison (I’m bringing him in because I think he’s more representative of how your average vampire who hasn’t been Aro’s boytoy for decades would view the Volturi), shivers in fright at the mere thought of the Volturi. To him they were executioners. But, again, fair. You break the law, and the Volturi descend upon you like God of the Old Testament.

Then cut to Eclipse, Victoria’s got a newborn army wreaking havoc in Seattle, attracting a lot of attention in a developed country in a time of globalized news. They’re on CNN daily. They might as well write “Fuck the Volturi” in the sky.

And the Volturi do nothing.

Now why, Carlisle and his family wonders, would they do such a thing?

Edward has all the answers, of course - that Aro is choosing not to intervene because he doesn’t like how large and powerful Carlisle’s coven has gotten, and Victoria’s newborn army will take care of that for him. Edward also goes on about how Aro desperately wants him and Alice by his side, which does prompt an “... you sure about that?” from Carlisle, but ultimately Aro’s inaction on the subject speaks for itself and Carlisle can’t make any excuses for it.

Regardless of Aro’s motives, that the Volturi would not be coming to enforce their own law became very clear. As a result of their inaction, Carlisle was forced to betray several of his own principles. He had to ask Jasper to teach the family how to kill others, he had to accept the aid of teenagers who could very well get themselves killed, he had to put his beloved family at risk, and he had to kill other vampires.

Aro’s inaction put him through hell and could have gotten his family killed. Would have, if it weren’t for the wolves.

Jane then decides to make her entrance right after the battle ended, while the fire is still going. The timing could not be more clear: the Volturi were waiting it out, letting the Cullens be culled.

We then get to Bree, who was an innocent in all the ways that counted, and not at risk of repeat offenses. Jane executes her anyway. Not just that, she makes sure to torture Bree, twice, entirely gratuitously:

“She’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Edward said through his teeth. “You don’t have to do that.” 

 Jane looked up, sudden humor in her usually dead eyes. “Oh, I know,” she said to Edward, grinning at him before she turned back to the young vampire, Bree. (Eclipse, page 333)

Even if the execution can be justified, the torture cannot. Jane abuses her power because she can, and there’s nothing the Cullens can do about it.

Then you have the fact that Bree had overheard a conversation between Jane and Victoria in which Jane gave Victoria explicit permission to take out the Cullens on the Volturi’s behalf. Bree replays this for Edward to hear before she dies, validating every paranoia he ever had about the Volturi. Just because he didn’t tell Bella, doesn’t mean he didn’t tell his family. He certainly would have told Carlisle and Alice.

Over the course of Eclipse, Carlisle sees the Volturi neglect to enforce their own law because culling his coven is a higher priority to them, torture and execute a mostly innocent vampire, and then he finds out that they made a deal with Victoria.

Not only would he be massively disillusioned by the Volturi, but by Aro himself. The man he met in Volterra was a lover of the arts and the academics and spoke of justice among vampires, and then Carlisle gets to experience first hand just what kind of justice this is. Aro was not the person he thought he was, and their old friendship doesn’t count for much either.

Look then to Breaking Dawn, where Carlisle has a vampiric child, but not an immortal one. Like Bree, he is innocent in all the ways that counted. This did not help Bree, and given the events of Eclipse (and remember only six months have passed), it won’t help him either. The Volturi have made it clear that they want to take out his coven, and whether or not the Cullens are actually innocent won’t matter.

The only way he can hope to slow them down, to force some kind accountability upon the Volturi (an accountability that might have preserved Bree’s life: she died because Jane had none), is to have there be witnesses to their trial.

And we get the clusterfuck called Breaking Dawn (or as I like to call it, Aro and Carlisle Break Up).

Relevant meta.

[jasperapologist]

makes me SO mad that bella always has to make edward more comfortable. “let me know what ur thinking” “distract me so i dont kill those guys” “im a monster” “u shouldnt be like me” “im sorry i left u :(” “oh no i hurt u” “im too dangerous for u” like. ?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

and the fact that he KNOWS shes already had to take care of renee and charlie. and the fact that hes over a hundred years old. like work out ur fucken problems and give her a break!!!

[jasperapologist]

hi! as a jasper stan (yeah, yeah save the tomatoes or whatever) and overall Regular Tumblr User, is there any way you can stop tagging your jasper hate in the jasper hale tag? it’s lowkey exhausting trying to sort through for actual content that isn’t either A) repetitive or B) demonizing people for daring to want legitimate content for a fictional character. again; I am trying to word this as kindly as possible, but it’s all people are seeing every other post in his tag right now. thank you!!!! have a happy friday!!!!

this is the most first-world problems ask I’ve ever received in my life lmfao I actually cannot believe this is real

[jasperapologist]

fkjsdlska guys are we really arguing over whether or not to tag your hate like that isn’t a sitewide norm/standard of basic etiquette we’ve had in place since like 2009? come on

[jasperapologist]

Headcanon: In the 1980s, it was more difficult than usual for Emmett to blend into the high school student body. It took Edward a few days to figure out that all of the students were convinced Emmett was a “narc” like the ones on 21 Jump Street.

[jasperapologist]

“she was like PERSEPHONE because she was ALIVE and I was like HADES because I was DEAD”

—

[jasperapologist]

I head cannon that Emmet and Rosalie sometimes pull a scam where Emmet poses and makes sure not to move and Rosalie sells him to an art gallery saying that he's a sculpture and then Emmet just leaves the art gallery in the middle of the night

i’m not exaggerating when i say that to me this is the best cullen headcanon any person in the renaissance has ever come up with and we might as well pack it up now bc we aren’t getting any better than this. i am also really honoured to be the blog whose asks you’ve graced this with. thank you.

[jasperapologist]

Hot Blonde with 18 STEM Degrees Knows More Than Every Man in 100 Mile Radius Combined

more twilight portraits

[jasperapologist]