#( heavy work in process! )

[nataliescatorccioapologist]

Let’s talk about Nat’s makeup and how it represents her mental state and character development✨

Juliette Lewis said in an interview that Natalie’s signature thick black eyeliner is her “war paint.” I absolutely love this quote because it is a perfect way to describe the way Natalie uses her physical appearance to guard herself. Natalie’s eyeliner and fashion sense serve as a physical representation of the abrasive walls she puts up to hide the softness and vulnerability underneath.

The Pilot episode script introduces Natalie’s character with this descriptor:

This line makes it clear right off the bat that Nat’s makeup is a front she puts on; a mask. While most of her classmates may put on makeup to attract others, it’s clear that Nat’s makeup is meant to push people away. That dark, smudged eyeliner paired with the safety pin and bullet necklaces and the thick leather jackets are all screaming “I’m intimidating, stay away from me.”

But, unlike her appearance suggests, Nat is actually one of the softest and most compassionate characters on the show. Her trauma both with her father and out in the wilderness have shown her that she is a dangerous person, and that she needs to remain guarded and walled off from others in order to avoid hurting them. Her makeup hides her softness both for her own protection and the protection of those around her.

We see that Nat puts makeup on like armor. Before Doomcoming, she’s seen putting on black eyeshadow in the mirror right as Travis walks by, preparing to deal with all of the insecure feelings she still has around their breakup. In the Wilderness, Nat is pretty much never seen without makeup smudged around her eyes, despite the difficult circumstances. Even when she’s carrying Jackie’s body back to the plane you can see she’s got some eyeliner on. In the adult timeline after Travis’s death, Nat is seen putting on probably the heaviest makeup we’ve ever seen her in. Immediately after she puts this makeup on she texts her drug dealer with the intention to relapse. All of this shows that Nat’s makeup is her defense, which is why she goes to such great lengths to put it on even when she’s stranded out in the middle of nowhere.

It seems that the heavier Nat’s makeup is in a given scene, the more guarded, vulnerable, and/or threatened she feels.

Which is why it is so significant when Nat stops wearing heavy makeup after spending time at Lottie’s compound. When Nat first arrives, we see her clinging to her old forms of protection. She’s given some (purple) clothes to change into, but she rejects them in favor of staying in her black leather pants.

She keeps the thick eyeliner, too. That is, until she goes on her little adventure with Lisa to Lisa’s childhood home. After Nat processes her trauma around feeling like she is poison to the people she loves and has that great talk with Lisa in the bar, Nat notably changes her clothes and lightens up her makeup the next day. She is seen in a purple and navy sweater, but she still keeps her black leather pants on and her eyeliner is still there, albeit a little bit lighter, showing that she is starting to change almost in spite of herself.

Then, directly after the hypnosis scene with Lottie in which Nat finally begins to come to terms with and process her guilt, we see her in a purple dress and cozy Birkenstocks with socks. The thick eyeliner is gone and so is her tendency to push people away, as she readily embraces all of the other survivors as they arrive at the compound (even Misty). This is heartbreakingly the last outfit we ever see Nat in, but it shows the audience how much she has changed and forgiven herself in her final days.

I’ll leave you guys with this beautiful quote about Nat’s transformation:

“I wanted to show that Natalie became her soft self. I don't know how long that would have remained comfortable for her, but she liked it. She liked being clean. She liked being comfortable. She relinquished her eyeliner, which was her war paint.”

-Juliette Lewis for TheWrap Magazine

[oobbbear]

My art: ✨🖼️✨

My brain during the making of said art: “Hello everybody my name is Markiplier and welcome back to-“

[fras-redacted-shapes]

late night shift (date)

[ranuunculus]

GRAVE

[positivelyghastly]

31 Days of Ghost - Day 16

Take a good hard look boys cause I don’t think I can produce anything this good ever again

[knickynoo]

If anyone has any minutes to spare, please donate them to Marty McFly because he needs. Just. So many of them.

[prettyboykatsuki]

i like the bluelock men cause most of them look like they give head and leave

[maroonmused]

me: i am going to write a very simple and centered angst-filled parksborn one shot set around the holidays and it will barely deter me from my other wips because this will be a fun and succinct exercise to shake a specific scene or two out of my brain

also me: spends 2000+ words on a norman and harry scene

[nostromo130]

based off issue #1

[zevrans-remade]

me omw to work today like

[selfshippinglover]

Vent ignore

[alarici]

mostly interested in the character/relationship study potential of the ‘everyone lives’ but I also want to try to write a mostly uncomplicated, if not bittersweet meronia thing to the tune of In Our Bedroom After the War or such

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

it’s not fair that so much of my memory and cognitive function is tied up in something I cannot control or reasonably prevent

[nabaath-areng]

Been raining horribly but finally had good weather for tending to bees today

[latejulys]

who would ever think i'd actually be able to enjoy Employment 😭

[mejomonster]

(One of the sucky things) about healing dissassociation/not being able to feel shit. Is first u feel the stuff u did not notice u were feeling, which u disconnected from, which is mostly big Yikes heavy stuff. And only after u feel miserable a while do u regain the ability to feel like... happy. Excited. The pleasant stuff that has more feeling to it than the neutral content zone that's been your "nicest" felt emotion for the last year.