an uneasy review of "perfect blue", directed by satoshi kon
[may contain spoilers]
"How do you know that the person you were one second ago, is the same person that you are right now?"
To be quite honest, I don't even know how to begin this. I wish I had some profound wisdom to open a very smart and eloquent review, but I just don't think anything would do this film justice. There's just so much happening in Perfect Blue, such a kaleidoscope of insanity and moments of startingly sober despair, that I had to stare at the ground for five whole minutes after watching it, just to start processing everything.
How do we separate our personal lives from the personas we show to the world? At which point does one end and the other start? Which one is the real you? The struggle of the artist is the price to pay for visibility, and how it can lead to very real problems.
Perfect Blue is all about the paranoia being seen and the dangers of the entertainment industry, which creates countless victims by preying violently on fragile individuals, and profiting from it. I had chills watching Mima slowly become unhinged from her personal disappointments and the peer pressure of her work environment, and even more so to see the lack of interest everyone around her had for her safety and well-being. It's a brutal reminder of how we're constantly being watched, how we as artists are stripped of our identities and autonomy in exchange for mass success, and it's nothing short of amazing how this movie is still so relevant to our modern times, even though a lot has changed over these 20 years in the industry.
With its unconventional realistic style for a 90s movie, along with a brilliant cinematography, it's even harder to distance ourselves from the screen, and it's what makes its violence even more jarring. We feel the pure terror along with Mima in her rape scenes, feel dirty and unsafe through the lenses of multiple cameras, experience her loosing grip with reality with sadness and distress. And just as she becomes unhinged, we also see reality blend more and more, and loose any idea of what's truly happening. And that's completely on purpose.
No matter how much you try to argue that something or other was what truly happened to Kirigoe Mima, nobody can actually know the answer. Was it all a figment of Mima's imagination? Was it an effort from the ones around her to ruin the girl's life to further their personal beliefs? Who knows, and honestly, who cares?
Perfect Blue is a terrifying experience to be felt, a cold-blooded work of art elaborated to make you disturbed, but a welcome reminder to the cruelty of the world and the real problems we deal with beyond the screen.
★★★★★ ♥
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I genuinely love not having a crush like I’m not over here feeling physically sick over some mid guy being dry to me I’m literally chilling
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Honestly I don't have much of an explanation outside of I like the irony of a Blind Watcher. And. Well. Grian is right there for things to go awry like that. So,
This was created for the 2024 Reverse Big Bang hosted by @mcytblraufest !! Us artists had to create artwork for the writers to claim this time around! >:)
and speaking of writers.. my art garnered the attention of not one, but two writers, who both created fanfics based off of my art!! It's been such a cool experience seeing how differently they've both taken things and they're both VERY WELL DONE!!!!!!!!
" Glass " by @honeylashofficial
Parts make up a whole, but Mumbo hasn't been a part of anything for a very long time. He was okay with that though. The world was more than welcome to continue outside his window, as long as he had his oven and his cable tv all to himself. But every once in a while, the outside world comes inside, and he has to chase it back out with a broomstick. This time, his technique backfires in a way he never could have imagined.
Or...
Mumbo could count the number of his friends without even raising a hand. Who knew that a 30,000 year-old creature stealing his bed comforter could change that?
" Lost To The End " by Sary_Sary
Six months ago, Mumbo’s closest friend vanished without a trace, leaving nothing but unanswered questions.
6 months later, a strange creature appears in his bedroom, with no inkling of how or why. With no clue how this creature got there or what it wants, Mumbo is thrown into a whirlwind of confusion as he tries to figure out what is going on.
Now, Mumbo has to continue trying to figure out where Grian went, all while learning what this creature even is, and how to help him without harming him in the process. To make matters worse, the only person who can help him unravel this mystery is the one person Mumbo swore he would never work with: Scar.
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people talk a lot about utena and anthy's weird gay beds but i think there's something to the room itself too. because it isn't really much of a room at all. the giant window and the doorway to the main room of the tower that's barely covered by a see-through curtain leaves no room for privacy or even the simple feeling of safety and security that comes from being able to close a door to your own space. it specifically stood out to me when i was watching episode 32 yesterday with that scene at the beginning of the episode where utena gets up and stretches and anthy's voice immediately cuts in from the kitchen, where (more importantly) akio also is. because there is no seperation at all really between the rooms in that house. which i think is possibly symbolic of nobody being allowed to set any boundaries there either. that bed is where some of utena and anthy's most vulnerable and intimate moments happen, but they don't have a space that's truly theirs. it's all akio's. the panopticon....
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persona misogyny is so fucking wild. ignoring literally everything else about the entire rest of the games, every single s.link with a female character is like “entirely for having been born a woman i have had to work twice as hard for a fraction of the benefit. even now, i am stripped of my agency in a position i never wanted in the first place” and/or “i’m put on a pedestal by the people in my life because of my looks. men see me as an object to be conquered, women hate me for ‘stealing’ ‘their’ men. if i’m withdrawn i’m a bitch, if i’m friendly i’m easy. because of this, i’m alone” and/or “because of my personality or hobby or lack of cooking skills, i feel like i’m failing at femininity. if being a woman is something i can fail at, then where does that leave me? i’m scared at the loss of my identity and place in society”
like very consistently they present female characters with complex thoughts towards their place in society as women, femininity as a whole, and facing issues stemming from misogyny, and then the payoff is always “my problems were entirely my own fault. i wasn’t strong enough, i was a coward. but now, i’m gonna work hard to be exactly what society expects me to be (which is what i want to be)! i’m gonna do better at femininity (which is still something tangible i can fail at)! i’m going to try hard at making friends (which was my fault for not doing)! all my problems are solved through personal responsibility (that im totally culpable for), effort (which i previously was not putting in), or you, a man! i am Happy and Satisfied with this outcome, can i be Your woman?”
and like hello? why are we here. what the fuck are we doing. why do we keep doing this every single time. can we not do the constant lukewarm attempts at criticizing misogyny so you can jerk off to your own thoughtfulness, while ultimately reinforcing patriarchal systems and brushing off any deeper misogyny-bred issues as a lack of deference to one’s rightful place in society? like maybe don’t do that? for fucking once? just an idea
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'We need to get weirder about gender!!!'You guys can't even handle femme transmascs who don't wanna be called f*mboys,binary feminine trans women or fucking afab she/theys
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yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.
to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!
i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.
also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.
they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.
they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.
i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.
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@openphrase123 your fanfic(s but i mainly made art of the mira and siffrin one because i cant remember words for the life of me for i do not speak french) IS???? ? SO GOOD. SO GOOD IM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH finally something to look forward to in the week fr
Mild spoilers for it ig!! But nothing too explicitly groundbreaking i dont think it'll kill your mom to look at these without having read the ff first
Don't mind the shit quality i??? I drew all these so fast theyre kinda shit and i have yet to fully acclamate isat to my artstyle so it's mid
Teehee me when i make shitty rushed fanart to show my appreciation that i cannot put into words for my faovorite games and also authors
peep the rant in the tags
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It is amazing to me that the show has a character who:
Explicitly says “my father forced me to kill and I was good at it, but I hated it”;
Makes multiple efforts to walk away from a fight where his opponent is doing the absolute most to provoke him and, upon finally snapping, handily beats him;
Stabs a dude with a pair of scissors in self-defense and immediately looks horrified at himself; and
Can stomach all kinds of gross and scary shit unless it involves harm coming to his little brother, whom he obviously has a lot of baggage about protecting.
And a not-insignificant number of people are like “his neurosis is that he feels bad about not being a fighter or a badass.”
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I’m sorry!! I need to know… will you continue your relapse comic???
Yes 100 percent yes. If u have only seen it on tumblr check out my twitter (@emilyriordan5) where ive been updating more pages past what ive posted here. I had been doing a page a week or a page every 2 or 3 days depending on how impatient i got lol, but in the past few weeks i took a break from updating cus 1. Im visiting a friend in another country r now 2. My part time job upped my hours and i wanna prioritize that cus i need the scratch 3. The next few months im gonna be working very hard on some animation production projects to fix my portfolio up to apply for a fellowship (ill be posting the work i do on that btw) 4. The next few months I'll also probs be very preoccupied with figuring out some stuff for a medical thing. 5. Family stüff
Ill be posting more pages soon tho, i have some partially finished ones i intend to polish as im traveling back home. The comic itself is gonna be 60 pages or so (it may balloon out to like 70, i keep on finding stuff to add lol) script is complete, thumbnail are partially complete etc.
There's no way in hell im not finishing this, i love the script too much and i wanna share it in the optimal way as a lot of it is contingent on visual communication. If i ever do give up the ghost on this project id probably at least post the script so ppl would know where i was going with the comic, but my intention as of right now is to complete it at my own pace. I thank you for your patience and interest!
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anyone interested in talking about the iconic 2000's middle-grade-bordering-on-ya book series gallagher girls??
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For some reason, the dnd:hat movie has been living rent-free in my head for over a week. Xenk is just rattling around in there right now, having a long talk with Kira about morality, mortality, personal sacrifice, and being a child who saw the Beckoning Death unleashed on their home.
I feel like Xenk would have a lot to say that Kira needs to hear, and be a good listener for the things Kira needs to talk about that she can't tell her dad or Holga. He'd probably benefit from talking to her, too. Kira almost experienced the same tragedy he did when he was her age. It would be cathartic for him to help her through that, knowing he helped save her from ever experiencing what he went through
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do you ever think about how all you used to draw when you were 10 was ponies and that you should still know how to do that, then get an idea and proceed to draw something like these in nearly one sitting and it turns out better than any drawing you've done in the entire past month
sooo anyway does anyone have cutie mark or pony name ideas for them?? lol
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my reality hc for why totty's eyes look bigger than everyone's else is that he tapes his eyelids which makes his eyes look bigger
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Inspired both by the recent solar eclipse and this post by @otiksimr, an art piece I’ve never been prouder of, my WoF oc Sunkiller!
Born under a total solar eclipse (ask me about my temperature-based nightwing hatching headcanons. and also my headcanons about how sunlight affects nightwings.) and blessed with the ability of perfect knowledge of the past, or at least the past where dragons exist. This of course makes her an invaluable resource to historians everywhere, which she is absolutely sick of, and so has gotten very adept at the hermit lifestyle. For pity’s sake, you solve ONE cold case murder as a hatchling, and suddenly EVERYBODY wants your attention…
(if tui has declared anything canon about nightwings and solar eclipses, like she has for blood moons, which are lunar eclipses, i haven’t seen it)
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