minetteskvareninova - Tumblr blog

[minetteskvareninova]

#in the words of jenny nicholson#this is fiction!!! the writers could have come up with anything!!#and the best they could do is Hatice losing it over fuckass Ibrahim

Re: the Hatice as a character is defined solely by Ibrahim and badly written...

I think the first part is... Kinda true? Like, she has character motivations and relationships beyond him (like with Şah, Hürrem or Süleyman; heck, her relationship with Hürrem is at first independent of, even directly clashing with her relationship to Ibrahim), that's true. But I won't deny the overwhelming importance Ibrahim has in shaping the overall trajectory of her life; like, in season 1 her story is mainly about their forbidden love, and after that she's essentially pushed on the periphery of the show. In season 2, she's still a side character to other archs (like Nigar's relationship to Ibrahim, her mother's growing enmity with Hürrem etc.) untill the whole Ibrahim cheating thing pushes her back in the spotlight. Her whole revenge on Hürrem dealio in season 3 is motivated mostly by her placing the blame for first Ibrahim's affair and then his death on Hürrem. When you get down to it, she is indeed motivated mostly by Ibrahim.

That does not make her a badly written character and I will fight you on this.

The thing with Hatice is - yes, her life mostly centers on Ibrahim. However, it also includes other components and it interact both with those and Ibrahim himself in such varied, interesting and above all consistent ways that in no way you can call her badly written. Like, consider just how complex her relationship to Hürrem or Süleyman is. There's a lot to be said about Hatice and class, morality etc. Not to mention, the extent to which Ibrahim's memory consumes her entire life is not only very intentional, but directly called out by the show. Hatice being devoted to Ibrahim to that extent is not only a character flaw, but her actual honest-to-God hamartia. And as @faintingheroine helpfully pointed out, the picture of Ibrahim she holds on to does not always correspond to real Ibrahim (who after all was a complete asshole, and you'd have to be stupid or just as horrible - hi Süleyman - to mourn him). All of this gives her obsession interesting complexities, so overall I don't think it's at all fair to call her character badly written.

That said, this is definitely a problem - not with Hatice's character specifically, but with the show as a whole. Y'see, *a* female character being solely defined by the male ones is not a problem. Female characters being defined by male ones tho... It's one of those things that only becomes an issue in aggregate. It's not just Hatice; most other female characters are defined by their relationships to men. Compare Hatice to Hürrem, Mahidevran or Nurbanu in this regard and you'll definitely see what I am talking about. To some extent, it's an unavoidable feature of the patriarchal setting, and you would have to work really hard to disentangle the roles these female characters play in this society (which are inevitably tied to men) from the rest of their internal lives. The show... Does not do that hard work. To its credit, the female characters in it aren't completely one-dimensional either. This isn't an either-or issue, it's more about the degree to which the writing falls into the sexist pitfalls. And the writing in this show... Well, it could use some work in this regard.

[minetteskvareninova]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Magnificent Century, a show that has all the subtlety of brick through a window

[minetteskvareninova]

@awkward-sultana already did this one! Here: https://awkward-sultana.tumblr.com/tagged/Catarina-de-Lurton

Hello, would you do Catarina's costumes in Deus Salve O Rei?

I always wanted to watch the series but only a few episodes were ever translated into English and I also don't have high quality files for it. So for now I have to decline.

[minetteskvareninova]

Minette watches Medici, part 18 (The Ten)

-*sigh* Do I have to? You know the drill. The writing is poor, there's too much exposition, Lorenzo is Gary Stu, the show worships the ground Medici family walks on, Riario is a villain with little nuance or charisma... Man. I am so tired of this show, you can't even imagine.

-First I'd like to note that there are a lot of things where I have to just nod along and be like "sounds legit", particularly when it comes to war tactics. I am not a military history person, what can I say. I absolutely do not understand that shit.

-Riario isn't exactly endearing himself to me. Oh, he thinks he's cute with his requests to turn over one's own dagger. Oh, he folds after one well articulated argument from his wife and possibly the sight of her not even that well showcased tits. Oh, he still acts aggressively towards her while admitting her arguments are valid because he's an insecure manbaby. Oh, instead of shanking Lorenzo en route to the country villa, he sends the assassins to said villa to massacre the whole family, because that's totally necessary. I remain unamused.

-On the other hand, I cherish every appearance from Caterina Sforza, not because she's that great of a character, but because the historical person was pretty dope and Rose Williams is insanely hot. I still hope she'll do at least something cool in the remaining episodes.

-The attack on the villa was laaame! Five minutes of cheap tension and action that makes an average Michael Bay flick look coherent. I am still baffled where the dudes that helped out Lorenzo came from and how many there actually were.

-Equally eyeroll-inducing is Bernardi, whose sole purpose seems to be acting as the bad angel on Lorenzo's shoulder. I mean, at least he has an interesting personality and the decency to be subtle in his relative villainy, but still. He steals some of the moral ambiguity from Lorenzo, and I for one think that's an unforgivable crime. I still don't know what to make of his crush on Lucrezia T, let's just wait and see where they are going with this...

-Speaking of Lucrezias - Lucrezia D came back... Only to ineffectually appeal to her husband (who apparently STILL has no idea she's been banging Lorenzo in the past?) and also inadvertently make Clarice jealous by, like, talking to Lorenzo. I am living off of scraps here, people. Doesn't help that Clarice isn't doing anything that interesting either, like yeah, her charitable activities are cool and all, but that's basically it as far as her character goes so far.

-Giulio leaves me kinda cold. I still don't get what this boy's deal is, other than him being sad and feeling like he doesn't belong. What I mean is that he's a character that has the potential to be interesting, but the show so far doesn't bother developing him. I do hope that we get more of him bonding with Carlo, though. That could be fun.

-Obligatory Leonardo da Vinci cameo! Yay! *deep sigh* Well, at least they portray him in a semi-interesting way and try to showcase his unconventional opinions. Still, this kind of cameo makes me greatly appreciate the complex characterization of Sandro Boticelli. Honestly, Sandro in general is slowly growing on me as a character, the whole "raised by the Medici" nonsense notwithstanding.

-Lorenzo's Ivan the Terrible gambit was admittedly pretty clever, even if it did reek of a man who just absolutely cannot stand that he's not getting his way, which again would be a nice character flaw if it was intentional, but it isn't, so again, fuck this godforsaken Gary Stu. I can't even properly enjoy how much he suffers in this episode, because so does the rest of his family, including my baby Clarice. For shame. And oh God not again the shit with "maintaining the republic"... *sigh* Okay, I ranted about that all the damn time in the previous Minette watches Medici instalments, let's move on.

-Bianca cameo! Yay! ...I would say if I gave a shit about Bianca, or if she did something interesting, but I don't and she doesn't, so. Her lame husband isn't anywhere to be seen, presumably because he's running around Middle Earth trying to fuck Morfydd Clarke.

-People, I really want to say something positive about this episode, but every one of my opinions that isn't outright hateful comes off kinda half-hearted. I am so, so sorry.

-The one thing I like so far was Savonarola's story, which is surprisingly nuanced and relatively well-written (even if the whole "keeping an infected man in my own apartments" thing is a bit dumb). Even if I am still a bit butthurt over the absence of Pico della Mirandolla. Again, where the fuck is humanism in this renaissance and humanism show?

[minetteskvareninova]

I swear to God if next year you fuckers start waving around little paper suns and do synchronized dances to Poupata I am not only leaving this site, but bombing the fucking servers.

[minetteskvareninova]

Aby som nezabudla, zelam nam vsetkym stastne 20. vyrocie vstupu do EU.

[minetteskvareninova]

Re: the Hatice as a character is defined solely by Ibrahim and badly written...

I think the first part is... Kinda true? Like, she has character motivations and relationships beyond him (like with Şah, Hürrem or Süleyman; heck, her relationship with Hürrem is at first independent of, even directly clashing with her relationship to Ibrahim), that's true. But I won't deny the overwhelming importance Ibrahim has in shaping the overall trajectory of her life; like, in season 1 her story is mainly about their forbidden love, and after that she's essentially pushed on the periphery of the show. In season 2, she's still a side character to other archs (like Nigar's relationship to Ibrahim, her mother's growing enmity with Hürrem etc.) untill the whole Ibrahim cheating thing pushes her back in the spotlight. Her whole revenge on Hürrem dealio in season 3 is motivated mostly by her placing the blame for first Ibrahim's affair and then his death on Hürrem. When you get down to it, she is indeed motivated mostly by Ibrahim.

That does not make her a badly written character and I will fight you on this.

The thing with Hatice is - yes, her life mostly centers on Ibrahim. However, it also includes other components and it interact both with those and Ibrahim himself in such varied, interesting and above all consistent ways that in no way you can call her badly written. Like, consider just how complex her relationship to Hürrem or Süleyman is. There's a lot to be said about Hatice and class, morality etc. Not to mention, the extent to which Ibrahim's memory consumes her entire life is not only very intentional, but directly called out by the show. Hatice being devoted to Ibrahim to that extent is not only a character flaw, but her actual honest-to-God hamartia. And as @faintingheroine helpfully pointed out, the picture of Ibrahim she holds on to does not always correspond to real Ibrahim (who after all was a complete asshole, and you'd have to be stupid or just as horrible - hi Süleyman - to mourn him). All of this gives her obsession interesting complexities, so overall I don't think it's at all fair to call her character badly written.

That said, this is definitely a problem - not with Hatice's character specifically, but with the show as a whole. Y'see, *a* female character being solely defined by the male ones is not a problem. Female characters being defined by male ones tho... It's one of those things that only becomes an issue in aggregate. It's not just Hatice; most other female characters are defined by their relationships to men. Compare Hatice to Hürrem, Mahidevran or Nurbanu in this regard and you'll definitely see what I am talking about. To some extent, it's an unavoidable feature of the patriarchal setting, and you would have to work really hard to disentangle the roles these female characters play in this society (which are inevitably tied to men) from the rest of their internal lives. The show... Does not do that hard work. To its credit, the female characters in it aren't completely one-dimensional either. This isn't an either-or issue, it's more about the degree to which the writing falls into the sexist pitfalls. And the writing in this show... Well, it could use some work in this regard.

[minetteskvareninova]

It kinda rubs me the wrong way considering the only other servant we see after retirement is Daye, and she also rejects all wealth that she ever got from Ayşe Hafsa in favor of living in poverty. Sümbül obviously isn't exactly struggling, but it still gives me vibes that this is what the show expects from "good servants".

It just rubs me the wrong way, you know? Especially since historically, people getting rich in the highest ranks of palace service wasn't an uncommon situation - sure, it was undoubtedly a risky position to take, even moreso than the position your lady was in (as we can see in the show from the fates of Gülşah, Nigar, Nazli etc.), but it could pay dividends.

The fact that Hürrem gave Sümbül nicer properties and more money but he didn'r use them is interesting.

[minetteskvareninova]

Minette watches Medici, part 17 (Survival)

-YES WE ARE DOING THIS I DON'T KNOW WHY I SHOULD BE STUDYING RIGHT NOW-

-Especially since season 3 is going to be much the same as season 2, which is real bad news since season 2 kinda sucked.

-Look, I have a higher than average tolerance for exposition and the amount of dialogue in this show that just that was way too much even for me, which should tell you about the efficiency and elegance of writing on display here.

-This show: Let's add some nuance into this conflict by having the pope be a genuinely good person. Also this show: The pope's nephew just irrationally hates the entire Medici family to the point that he's just itching to shank a random bastard just because his most likely father is a Medici. Never change, Il Medici, never change.

-I mean I don't think his character is completely unsalvagable; his character motivations (as stated in a monologue to his wife, because the show wins the lack of subtlety tournament against fucking Magnificent Century) are sound and even desperately wanting to destroy the Medici because of his (totally justified) fear of reprecussions for Giuliano's murder. But like. This guy not only murders a child, but also a guy for failing to murder a child after asking him to hand his own dagger. Be for real, old Albizzi this guy ain't. He's barely Cheekbones Pazzi.

-Also, even though the pope is supposed to be one of the good ones, he is still implied to hold Carlo in markedly worse conditions than Lorenzo holds his nephew. Which I call immense, steaming pile of bullshit on.

-I do like what they are doing with Savonarola tho! See, this is how you do nuance, people! Even if his backstory doesn't seem to be historically accurate and his real backstory involved him becoming a famous preacher before fucking Pico della Mirandolla recommending him to Lorenzo, which I regret wasn't in the show, because. Well. You could've added Pico della Mirandolla in your show and you didn't. For shame. This show in general seems to try its hardest to ignore the humanism part of renaissance and humanism, which I am not wild about.

-The central dilemma of this episode and the negotiations around it are actually good, but the show as always shoots itself in the foot by its inability to give any and all moral greyness to Lorenzo's character. And like. I would absolutely be down to the golden boy Lorenzo who is good at everything, but also just a bit of a bastard who is inconsiderate towards his loved ones and willing to play dirty in politics. Why did I get this borderline Gary Stu instead, I don't know.

-The Giulio subplot is as made up as it is full of cliches, but it's not THAT bad so far. I am mostly annoyed at the tedious, manufactured drama of having his mother murdered for no reason that I can tell except angst when the real Giulio's mum just died when he was a baby (most likely). Even if I do like the little detail of how the murder was done - when we saw her face fall to the floor from Giulio's POV... Man. I literally SCREAMED.

-Overall, second verse much the same as the first, instant regret, do not recommend. I am going to finish this show, if only because making fun of it is rather relaxing after work, but I don't think anyone else should follow my example. People, watch season 1 of Medici, then nothing else. It's not even bad enough for real masochists, like The Empress will give you way more bang for your buck if that's what you're looking for (seriously, I turned that show off after watching ten minutes from the first episode, I haven't been in that much pain while watching something since that Austrian Maria Theresa show).

[minetteskvareninova]

Myslela som si, že to je nejaká fotomontáž. To proste musí byť fake, nie?

Tak som sa pozrela na dracik.cz a... No, čo povedať, Poeov zákon znova zasahuje.

Ch-chtěla jsem si jen koupit lego orchidej

[minetteskvareninova]

Profesor právní psychologie: Thomas Hobbes byl celkem skeptický co se týče lidské povahy, věřil, že člověk je člověku vlkem, tedy homo homini lupus

Moje myšlenky:

[minetteskvareninova]

In this universe, Remembering Gülbahar is basically this show's All The Young Dudes. Or rather a much shorter inspiration for the ACTUAL All The Young Dudes equivalent lol

I am watching this video about the “Marauders Fandom” and I am imagining an incredibly cursed timeline where Magnificent Century has a side-fandom called “Manisa Fandom” obsessing over Süleyman’s princedom in Manisa. The fanon of this fandom is basically made entirely out of uwu headcanons and the main idea of all the fanfics is how Hürrem ruined this happy found family.

Thank God that this fandom is tiny and mostly Hürremcentric so nothing like this exists.

[minetteskvareninova]

The way that post doesn't even mention Palestine and still u got so triggered, are you okay?

It was in the tags, anon.

Also, for fuck's sake, "triggered" - girl behave yourself, what is this, 4chan?!

[minetteskvareninova]

I am sorry but WHAT is this about exactly.

Like. "People would be so shocked if London was bombed right now" BECAUSE UK ISN'T IN A WAR THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

Also I know it sounds harsh, but a single bomb falling on UK soil is a way bigger issue than persistent bombing of Palestine. I am sorry, but it just is. You know why? BECAUSE UK IS A FUCKING NUCLEAR POWER, AND A MEMBER OF NATO, WHICH BINDS OTHER NUCLEAR POWERS TO COME TO ITS DEFENCE. Is it fair? No, it's not. It's not fair that some people are dying in an ongoing war, while for others war is barely a remote hypothetical. The world isn't a fair place, like at all.

And I just *love* how Palestine is the only one that is mentioned. Because fuck my lads in Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, amirite.

No hate to Palestine, of course! I absolutely don't want to make it seem like what is happening there isn't horrific and that I don't want the violence and oppression to stop. But it feels like some people have just discovered bad things are happening in the world because of the recent conflict in Palestine and think this is completely unprecedented both in the region and in the world right now, when that's sadly far from the case. Like, fuck, I myself have been vaguely aware that there's *something* bad happening in Israel and Palestine since I was a literal preschooler! Now, of course I didn't know exactly what and why it was happening, but still.

The other side of this is that, sadly, you can't care about every injustice that happens everywhere around the world all the time, because there's unfortunately just too much of it. I don't even blame folks for hyperfocusing on one case of horrific injustice at a time, especially if it's something you feel you can do something about (such as put pressure on American elected representatives in order to make them reconsider their policy towards Israel). But please don't pretend your chosen is issue is The Only Issue Ever and people you're defending are the only people in the world that suffer right now, because they most certainly aren't.

[minetteskvareninova]

#why cant they just make these women like their daughters in law

Yuuup.

The closest they ever got was with K��sem and Safiye - which, I am not surprised that didn't last considering Safiye is, well, evil... But then they ALMOST had something with Handan and Kösem, which they also had to ruin!

I wanted to complain about Hot D and the lack of positive representation of daughter and mother-in-law relationships in media... But then I remembered the Medici show exists. Like my girls Lucrezia and Contessina were so great together. *sniffles*

nurbanu's eye twitch at knowing Safiye is too much like her lol

[minetteskvareninova]

#he didnt even let you divorce rustem

YES THANK YOU

I mean, a lot of blame is placed on Hürrem's shoulders, which is fine, she is kinda responsible for the whole situation, but noone ever comments on the fact that Süleyman never really cares for or understand her feelings. And it drives me crazy. It's as if the father didn't have the same emotional responsibilities towards his children as mother... Which, in the mind of the show (and characters in-universe), he probably doesn't, because strict division of parental roles under patriarchy and shit.

oh mirhimah still not hating your dad

[minetteskvareninova]

Same. I mean, Süleyman's crown is pretty fugly, but I can't even blame them for that, because it was taken directly from historical images.

i will never not say that magnficent century has better costumes than house of the dragon. and also better lighting. like Suleyman went to his death looking like a real monarch and the hotd costume department couldn't even get tom glyn carney a crown that fit his head