rosaniruby

[rosaniruby]

i think makoto from IWGP is so aroace coded but the show keeps forcing him into relationships he clearly lacks interest in…this man is aroace 🩷

[rosaniruby]

does anyone knows any cool cheap digital art programs? because im looking for a new one

[rosaniruby]

They have something in common I fear... Becoming a god-like symbol to give others hope

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they look like they are in a renaissance painting

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jakieshauna

someone say a yuri ship . first one u think of

[rosaniruby]

Love how 'mikey is always protecting everyone' isn't even necessarily about violence, yes he can defeat anyone but he can’t be at everyone's side all the time. You know what's much more important? Mikey protects everyone from something he himself suffers from - loneliness. And that's much more important. Even those who died - did it with a smile on their face, because they had family.

Emma and takemitchy claim he saved them by making them not feel alone. The same is literally why toman exists... to make these abandoned kids feel at home, the reason why he protected kazutora, why he wanted to make his mom happy and protect her...etc. etc., all of it leads us back to Mikey feeling understandably lonely in a broken household, which eventually grew into a huge void but at all times he has been hoping if he can’t cure himself of it then he can cure others, and he would do that no matter the price. His own suffering was the reason for his empathy. He knows what it's like. So even unconsciouly he could recognize this pain and help.

Mikey was able to make them keep going and live, and when they tragically eventually died it was with no regrets.

[I could talk about how it's similar yet different with what takemitchy is doing,, because mikey at some point had been too unreachable and idealized, to some he became an unreachable god instead of a guardian angel. A entity you pray to that has power over you, can judge and punish you but also protects you from afar and gives meaning to your life, instead of the go-between who's much more human and stays at your side to protect you.]

[rosaniruby]

About Mikey and the curse as a yōkai.

ughh mikey's mental illness being turned into just a 'curse' was offending and harmful enough but i'm confused why nobody mentions the context of the existence of yōkai and especially kitsune-tsuki.

If someone doesn't know what's up with that then: generally japanese people have a bigger connections with believing in supernatural stuff, because of shintoism. So like in lots of places, those things that couldn't be explained by the science at the time, were explained by the existence of 'ghosts' (yōkai). And there's one specific yōkai i'm thinking about - kitsune-tsuki, that has been throughout japanese history a way to explain mental illness in people. And especially mental illnesses that make you act 'hysterical' and 'violent' or see things that weren't there. This ghost was thought to posses the person, which in turn lead to forceful 'banishing' the ghost out of body, and the victim and their family being ostracized.

The problem is, it is still kind of ingrained in japanese culture, creating the stigma around such illnesses. And it's just so weird of wakui to possibly make that connection at the last minute, and feed into these stereotypes after writing such interesting depiction of mental illness. I mean, the person possesed is literally described as becoming unstable and agressive.

I didn't know that much about kitsune-tsuki before so i made a research to see if i'm reaching but:

1. it is said this yōkai posseses an individual or haunts the family if there's a curse involved. (🫠)

2. the appearance of the possesed human changes to a more 'animalistic' one.

Yeah... I'm really not feeling so good about this. But if I'm wrong I'd be happy to have a discussion.

[rosaniruby]

finished reading dazai osamu’s no longer human like 2 days ago lol but it makes me so sad and realizing u relate to yozo oba is such a harrowing experience. there is nothing truly worse than feeling as if you’re slowly losing your sense of humanity, when you can hardly make out what it even *means* to be human in the first place. this feeling is so hard to explain for multiple reasons, because the concept of humanity does seem abstract and abstruse for most people. it’s either this abstraction that people feel is so lose and hard to define that they’d find it troubling the prospect of feeling alienated from humanity, or it’s this absolute reality that you’re stupid or ill for not being able to feel a part of it. i relate to yozo so much in his experiences and his narration that it’s insane. he goes throughout his entire life believing himself to be inferior to others, alienating himself from humanity and generally viewing humanity itself as a threatening force that should be appealed to lest the demon that is other people unleash on him. he resorts to “clowning,” a technique he uses to gain the acclaim of other people in the hopes that it’ll prevent them from getting close to him. he is horrified of making others angry and sees the anger of human beings as that of a wild animal’s… an anger that cannot be quelled unless you give in directly to its demands. he doesn’t know what it’s like to feel hungry and questions the need for food in the first place. he feels no sense of ownership or possessiveness, which explains his reaction to seeing what happened to yoshiko, his wife, and horiki’s reaction (or lack thereof) to the incident. for christs sake, the dude is scared of even entering other people’s houses and considers them the gates of hell.

what really gets me about this book, though, is its sheer relatability and timelessness. say what you want about the real dazai, and i’ll be right there with you on those criticisms of his actions, his ideas, his works, etc. but the quality of his work transcends just the 20th century. it transcends the borders of the tiny island known as japan and the language he originally wrote no longer human in. it transcends every possible barrier that we socially constructed to divide ourselves and our fellow man and to measure the aspects of our surroundings down to the last detail. it goes beyond every single boundary because it’s so timeless. it’s truly shocking to me to think that this book is nearly 80 years old and was written during such a period by such a man with such issues. it feels as if youl could publish this now and it would still ring so true, it would still be the same novel and despise the distinctions and divides between the 20th and 21st century, it would still seem so recent and fresh. there’s a reason why it resonates with so many youths today, especially in japan, as it’s the second bestselling book over there. dazai earnestly told the tale of a young man who felt disconnected and unable to be a part of his own species and as a result spiraled into the depths of depression and alcoholism. it is a cautionary tale as much as it is an semi-autobiography. it helped me feel so much less alone, that i wasn’t some monster who’s experiences were few and far between. in a culture that prioritizes so much efficiency, that tells you that you must be productive, that talks about wellness and mindfulness and sings the praises of all these various self-care trends, of being perfect and being “that girl,” of being the best or ideal version of yourself, it’s so easy to get lost in it and think less of yourself. it’s remarkably easy to try and suppress all your problems and issues in the hopes that they can be cured with just a simple face mask or with exercise, that you should stop dwelling on these problems and that sleeping early will fix it. dazai’s work, and by extension, darker works of art that discuss mental health issues and the more grim, bleak side of life tells us, even in the midst of our calamity, that it’s okay to not be okay. that you are seen, that you are not the only one to feel this way. it reaches out to those of us who are not okay and aren’t sure if it ever will be, who wonder the worth of making it to another tomorrow, who sometimes beg to be taken while asleep and who feel so alienated and othered from the typical and expected experiences of those of our age and of human beings in general. that kind of media feels like a massive hug, and it’s as if it’s telling me “it may not be okay, but you’re not alone and you’re seen.”

but that’s just my take on this book.

[rosaniruby]

Anna and Friedrich in Nosferatu (2024)

In a previous post I mentioned how important I think Friedrich is in the story as a representation of the patriarchal ideal, and how it/he crumbles when confronted by everything that has been suppressed in Ellen (manifested in the unavoidable, terrifying form of Orlok). I also think he is a mirror to Orlok in some ways: he says twice how he just cannot resist Anna, he subtly frames his desire for her as an unwilling "affliction." He also defiles Anna's body and his sacred marriage vows by engaging in necrophilia, because his appetite for her is so consuming - he can't resist her even when she's not even there anymore. Ellen's necrophilic act with Orlok represents her unification with the parts of herself that are suppressed/rejected by the men in her life, good and bad. It's dark and fucked up but metaphorically transformative, and consent is absolutely central. Friedrich's necrophilic act involves no consent, no Anna, and it lacks any metaphorical power. He didn't accomplish anything, he just succumbed to his own horror and amplified it.

Friedrich's unhealthy approach to his relationship with Anna consumes them both, and I think this theme is especially evident in the way Anna's pregnancy is discussed. Friedrich tells Thomas that they are expecting but doesn't want it mentioned in front of Anna or Ellen, probably because it wasn't supposed to be public yet. In victorian times people would rarely confirm a pregnancy before the woman was "showing" both because it was considered a private matter and because miscarriage was way more common. But Friedrich tells Thomas early anyways, because he is excited and proud, which is understandable but also selfish in this context. Furthermore, Anna says that "little Friedrich" is "very hungry, just like his father" and later on after Orlok has fed on her, she passes it off as feeling drained by the baby. Even though she seems happy and loves her family, she associates pregnancy with being drained.

This alienated way of understanding parenthood is also evident in the way Friedrich and Anna treat their girls (Louise and Clara I think?) They obviously both adore the girls, but they ignore their terror and assume the monster they see in their room is totally unrelated to all the other scary shit going on, because they're just silly little kids imagining things, right? One girl literally says "I can hear him breathing under my neck!" and they beg Anna not to leave them alone at night, but they are just hushed and told that they're totally safe. It's exactly the kind of dismissal Ellen has been getting her whole life, and so it's not surprising that the girls are haunted by Orlok before anyone else. It's not enough to adore little girls, they will never be safe until they are heard and believed.

Anna as a character apart from her role as wife and mother is a bit harder to parse out, but I think she is also a mirror for Ellen. Ellen's spiritual power is the catalyst for everything that happens, and von Franz says that "in heathen times you might have been a Priestess of Isis." Anna's spiritual inclination is less obvious, but it's there: she seriously listens to Ellen and believes that she is perceiving something real, she just assumes it must be God. Later when she lets Ellen stay with her for the night, she says "God is with us Lenny, I know it." On some level Anna is also in touch with that supernatural, suppressed feminine truth, and she seems to see through the patriarchal facade that Friedrich represents to some degree. But ultimately Anna wants to convince herself and Ellen that the night terrors were just caused by Thomas' absence, and that Ellen just needed her husband back and all would be well. When Thomas does return and Ellen has her faculties again, Anna is very eager to put it all behind them; 'no more talk of demons please, let's just focus on Christmas and being a happy family'. Anna's downfall is that she puts all her faith in the Christian patriarchal narrative even when she can clearly see that there's more going on. Her faith in the Christian God contrasts Ellen's "heathen" spirituality - both women have an innate spiritual sense, but one is more willing to make it fit into the values of their society. Ultimately Anna was consumed by the horror of their alienated position in society just like Ellen was, she just died with less agency.

[rosaniruby]

Spoilers: Eggers' Nosferatu

There's a lot of debate right now on if Count Orlok represents Ellen's shame/trauma/abuse, or if he represents her repressed erotic desires, and in turn there's debate on whether or not viewers who find the Ellen/Orlok dynamic alluring are "missing the point." Eggers and Lily-Rose Depp have both said in interviews that there's a mutual pull between Ellen and Orlok, and even that there's a love triangle element, but obviously the experience is terrifying for Ellen. How can we reconcile the sexual tension and the horror?

I think the broader theme is that Orlok represents everything in a woman's inner world that men refuse to acknowledge and accept - fear and shame and trauma, yes, but also our appetites . After the prologue, the story starts with Ellen begging Thomas to stay in bed with her; she says "the honeymoon was yet too short" and tries to pull him in and kiss him (obviously trying to start some nuptial bliss). But Thomas is anxious to meet with his boss and get his promotion, because he has a narrative he's going to fulfill: he's going to pay Friedrich back, buy a house, and then start having kids (he and Friedrich touch on this a bit later. Notably, Friedrich discloses Anna's pregnancy to Thomas before Anna has made it public.)

It's the start of Ellen and Thomas' married life and she just wants him to prioritize her sexual desire, but he chooses to focus on his ideal of success, which sets him on this path to confronting Orlok. We know Ellen doesn't care about having a house or fine things and she begs him not to go, but Thomas listens to Herr Knock and Friedrich, who tell him that as a husband he has to provide materially. He ignores Ellen's stated desires, and so fails to provide sexually and emotionally. When Thomas gaslights her about her nightmares and calls them childish fancies, he shuts down her vulnerability, which kills the intimacy she was enjoying in the literal honeymoon phase.

On a related note, there's a defence in here for Aaron Taylor Johnson's performance, which I've seen a few male critics call "over acting." In this story Friedrich represents the masculine ideal of the time, he's a rich business owner with a beautiful wife and kids. Thomas clearly looks up to him and wants to emulate him - he wants to give Ellen the life "she deserves." But Friedrich's elevated masculine status is why he refuses to listen to Ellen's "hysterical, sentimental" worries, he's too rational for all that of course. And his stubborn "rationality" leads to the death of his entire family. Friedrich IS the patriarchal ideal that crumbles when confronted with nuance and uncertainty. Some people see Friedrich and assume that a character like him is meant to come across as dignified, and that Aaron Taylor Johnson is messing up by making him look annoying, but really he is giving a great portrayal of a really common, annoying kind of guy. The kind of guy who melts down and has childish tantrums whenever they lose control of a situation, or their manly skills and values are shown to be irrelevant.

The men in the movie (excluding Professor von Franz) frame Ellen as childish for speaking about her dreams candidly, but their own childishness is revealed when her dreams manifest in the form of Orlok and become unavoidable. Ellen (partially? possessed in the moment by Orlok) tells Thomas how "foolish and like a child" he was in Orlok's castle. In the literal context that's cruel, and obviously that shit was scary as hell, but it hits on Thomas' failure in the metaphorical reading. He was a child playing house: 'I'll be the husband and make money, you be the wife and make babies.' When it came time to confront his wife's inner world and all the scary, traumatized, lustful complexity of it, he was completely inept. The message isn't that Orlok is what Ellen really needs, or that Thomas is a wimp, but he's not a perfect husband either. I think "the point" is that a real healthy marriage with sexual, emotional, and spiritual mutuality is impossible in that society with Thomas/Friedrich's ideals. In that kind of society, a spiritually and sexually potent woman like Ellen ("in heathen times you might have been a Priestess of Isis") will always be caught in a "love triangle" with her husband and her own inner world.

[rosaniruby]

yes yes orlok as the grotesque manifestation of ellen’s hideous lust, monsterfucking blah blah blah. Hot.

But thomas… the lover that witnesses.. accepts… soothes… He saw her at her most depraved and still held her… you guys. He was the only other person who had *seen* what she saw in her dreams. He was there in that castle… was inflicted by orlok’s perversions. In the flesh. Still he made it home. Then he watched her, frothing at the mouth and shaking in demonic fury, to then crawling and begging at his waist for mercy, then a moment laters she’s looking up at him with the very devil in her eyes and tongue… and still, he held her! As she truly sobbed. He told her it was okay, that he had seen it too. Continued to love her as his woman, descend to hell and destroy the demon for her. And Ellen loved him too! She says she felt he was sent to her, made her feel normal and okay. Her salvation. A love that feels like depollution… to be so inspired by your love for somebody that for them you go, willing, to the altar as a sacrificial lamb. Her love for him gave her purpose! I love them… not orlok nor any contract could ever dissolve the bond between them.

[rosaniruby]

nosferatu (2024) is so fucking funny. they did this joke twice

[rosaniruby]

You are my affliction.

[rosaniruby]

People not comprehending Nosferatu correctly might kill me. Yes it's erotic and about pleasure but yes it's devastating and about child sexual abuse. It's a movie about victimhood, about being already dead, about longing for the great beyond, about never feeling safe from your abuser, about always expecting one more rape must be endured. It is about being an ugly victim, a neurotic victim. About your supposed allies tying you down for fear you will rip their world to ribbons. It is about facing the abuser, facing the pleasure the abuser brought. It is about men seeking to silence a plague in the quiet of the night when grooming and abuse can only be destroyed by pulling it into the light of morning.

[rosaniruby]

are any 20thcb fans still out there..

[rosaniruby]

so i found korean scans instead and apparently he says "I'm not the kind of person you think i am" after which kanna said he was a stranger and she probably didnt knew him like a daughter would? Or kenji didnt think of her as a daughter. I guess she was just spiralling into self-hatred and jumping to conclusions.

@good-wine-and-cheese yeah like, at the end of the concert Kanna cries, they hug, and Kenji puts his hat on her head. that’s a pretty good conclusion, but maybe a little short for a relationship that was built up so much.

then in 21st Century Boys, this happens:

and it’s never even resolved! they just hug again after the robot gets taken down. 

the only reason I can think of why Kenji says this is because of Kanna’s despair and destructive tendencies. but she’s already been chewed out twice! and both those moments were from adults who clearly cared about her in the moment–Otcho was desperately trying to pull her out of her suicidal thoughts and Yukiji was harsh but quickly broke down and showed how scared she’d been to lose Kanna (I cried during both scenes). 

and you know, both of those characters were there for Kanna! Yukiji became her surrogate mother and Otcho was supporting her. Kenji wasn’t even there but the first thing he says to her is critical, even though she’d just thought of a plan to save thousands of lives! 

I think both characters make mistakes for understandable reasons, but Kenji starts jumping on her after having abandoned to fight alone for 17 years, and no one ever calls him out for that. I really can’t figure out why Urasawa is so uniquely hard on Kanna and why he wrote this moment if he wasn’t going to resolve it. 

[rosaniruby]

new plan for today: i am going to buy jp 21st century boys volume just to find out what he said

@good-wine-and-cheese yeah like, at the end of the concert Kanna cries, they hug, and Kenji puts his hat on her head. that’s a pretty good conclusion, but maybe a little short for a relationship that was built up so much.

then in 21st Century Boys, this happens:

and it’s never even resolved! they just hug again after the robot gets taken down. 

the only reason I can think of why Kenji says this is because of Kanna’s despair and destructive tendencies. but she’s already been chewed out twice! and both those moments were from adults who clearly cared about her in the moment–Otcho was desperately trying to pull her out of her suicidal thoughts and Yukiji was harsh but quickly broke down and showed how scared she’d been to lose Kanna (I cried during both scenes). 

and you know, both of those characters were there for Kanna! Yukiji became her surrogate mother and Otcho was supporting her. Kenji wasn’t even there but the first thing he says to her is critical, even though she’d just thought of a plan to save thousands of lives! 

I think both characters make mistakes for understandable reasons, but Kenji starts jumping on her after having abandoned to fight alone for 17 years, and no one ever calls him out for that. I really can’t figure out why Urasawa is so uniquely hard on Kanna and why he wrote this moment if he wasn’t going to resolve it.