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panel redraw for funsies

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Bronze Statue of Eros Sleeping (Greek, 3rd–2nd century BCE)

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It's absolutely hilarious that Amok Time is also the first episode featuring Chekov. Imagine being 22 years old working a new job on a starship and when you clock in, the first officer is in heat

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on modern fandom spaces & classics.

i have noticed that within classic literature spaces — frankenstein, in this case, as i am most active in that community and therefore will use it as example — an extreme fandomisation of works and characters by mostly (but not just) younger persons. this, in my opinion, has had major negative consequences for people who were meant to be getting taught critical analysis.

it mightn't be a massive problem and may indeed simply be younger teenagers having fun (which i am definitely not discouraging!!) but there is a specific oddness when certain things common in modern fandom is applied to classic works: modern ship tropes & the modern ideas of the platonic VS the romantic are two such examples. the former reduces character, which is annoying for modern media but insane to do for classic literature; these characters are important, relevant, for a multitude of reasons with so much to analyse that are now being watered down to fit your golden retriever/black cat trope. however, the latter is more harmful; it enforces amatronormativity (which is moreso a real world issue!) but also leads to people flinging historical context outside of a window. no, modern amatronormativity & heteronormativity was not regarded the same way in the past. most things were viewed differently in the past, lol.

in general i think shipping gets to a point. how come the common way women characters are sidelined in modern fandoms even happen here? you lot will use the excuse that "women in classic works are incredibly badly written!" while reading the works of mary shelley and fyodor dostoevsky of all authors. there is also the concept of multishipping, which is obviously neutral in itself, but i bring this up because of specific things i have seen before: i knew two artists that often drew clerval/frankenstein, but later on i found posts by them claiming we need "victor/elizabeth rep", accompained by drawings of the incestuous pair. i don't want to make the post even longer explaining how the two were not meant to be viewed romantically, and that their relationship was a deliberate criticism of incest and arranged marriage, so i will simply link a friend's post here.

now, this is a bit more difficult for me to articulate, but i feel that this is an indicator that people do not care to analyse relationships in classics and come to a conclusion by ones self. and, you know, this is fine for like! animes! or whatever! but this is classic lit!! i know why it is easy for one look at clerval/frankenstein and call them gayboy faggots; i have done that on my first reading. but there is a large refusal to interrogate one's reasoning for calling them gays further, instead they apply the modern lense of romance onto something that could have been deep platonic devotion at the time and even now (i don't think it's too much to say that you're a bad friend if you wouldn't care about your chronically ill friend, lol). and i like clerval/frankenstein! i really do! and i think there's a lot of subtextual homoromantic evidence for the two in the text, for example the allusions to the sympoosium, paolo & francesca from dantes divine comedy, and clerval who can be analysed as the idealised version of percy bysshe shelley during mary shelley's pregnancy! but what i have seen for the majority of people, they look at only the nursing scenes and run with it. they do not think about it, so shipping just about anyone is fine, right? but i'm afraid it erases the original characters' dynamics, personaliy & intent if you pair them mindlessly.

sometimes! approaching historical media with a modern lense can be strange in general; very much enlightenment era mindset. i am slightly paraphrasing my friend, @can-of-w0rmz, who i have briefly spoken to about this in our dms, but it is a weird sense of entitlement for everyone's worldview in the past and the art they made then to revolve around you, now. because you are in the glorious present where all your modern ideas are totally perfect in every single way. the way you treat historical media cannot be treated the same way one would treat a show that just came out. i like shitposting too, but there needs to be an understanding to the text or else it is unfunny/dumb at best or bigoted at worst. in my opinion, every piece of art if someone is fond of it should have attempts made to understand it, but i feel that there needs to be so much more of that for classics.

more on character reduction, demeaning characters as emo or "shopping at hot topic" — especially ones that are in tragedies — it is nonsensical and a massive simplification in efforts to be funny. no one wants to take anything seriously anymore! everything is ironic and should be laughed at! you are reacting to your trauma? right, nerd.

to combine character reduction with what i spoke of in the "applying the modern lense" paragraph, i am not sure where else this happens but for people who have the Being from frankenstein as their favourite, there is an issue of major projection from one's own experiences in life around any form of societal rejection onto him. that distracts so much from the plot and meaning of frankenstein because one's overdesire to be seen causes them to change the text to fit their vision. i do believe that the Being is indeed a metaphor for the Other — though a very unspecificed and generalised one, as i think that was the authorial intent — but it gets to a point...

for the gothic genre in specific (though this may still apply to many general classics) — i genuinely do not think a good chunk of you are truly fans of the gothic horror genre, even if you claim to be. i think many gothic literature fans do not actually like the gothic. you like it when it is watered down and comfortable, but the gothic is INHERENTLY uncomfortable. i have seen the way some of you reacted to the new nosferatu film, and oh my god!!!! whining over "weird sexual stuff", seriously? for these fans, there is such a rejection of depictions of uncomfortable subject matter in the gothic including incest, "illegal" sexual activity, accepted abuse, etc. i am obviously not saying those things are not immoral, but the gothic is Known for tackling these darker subject matters. these "fans", however, ignore all these depictions with headcannons and alternate universes, to make the novels comfortable, instead of sitting with it and interrogating it as they are meant to. because, see, the nature of modern fandoms is that everything needs to be santisied and comfy so no one "feels" bad or is triggered by whatever.

ultimately, the fandomisation of classics is helping turning people dumb and understate the impact of a classic, sometimes even radically ruining the image of certain books in something that is not even true but for whatever reason is a popular joke (eg: "the Being is a child of neglect!"). okay im done complaining bye and sounding like a Big Bad Evil English Teacher. shot for everytime time i said "modern" xx

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The "Type 5318008 and turn it upside down" exploit found on all calculators has been patched, no longer works

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yayyy FINALLY choir practice again tonight after summer break!! i'm pleased to see just how much i've been missing it and looking forward to it these months, because it means i've actually pursued an interest that brings me joy

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learning spanish: hello, nice to meet you. where is the library?

learning french: hello, excuse me. in the cafe I eat a croissant

ancient greek: the gods in heaven judge the soul of man

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Plotting is a word I put into my galvanized pressure cooker.

PETER O'TOOLE as J.C. aka JACK ARNOLD ALEXANDER TANCRED GURNEY, 14TH EARL OF GURNEY in THE RULING CLASS (1972)

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THE ANCIENT GREEKS HAD POTTY CHAIRS TOO???

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West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens)

Photo by Michel Gunther

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the hand of melancholy

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sir gawain would do numbers on tumblr

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All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

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redraw 🔋

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1984 project progress (for class)