#And yeah it does seem to be unfortunately related to how people see “representation”

[hypermascbishounen]

The thing about a lot of the purity culture stuff is how it's also propped up by the anti-intelectualism. Which is how you get people earnestly Charlie-day-cork-board style arguing why anything they don't like has incest subtext, while insulting anyone who actually cares about analyzing real incest subtext.

It's also hard to do any serious analysis of the state of queer works, when the well has been so thoroughly poisoned between prople policing who gets to write/enjoy it, vs writers who see regular engagement with the premise of their writing as a threat.

[froschli96]

As an asexual Good Omens fan

There's something I've noticed in this fandom that makes me really uncomfortable, and that is the way that Crowley and Aziraphale's possible asexuality is constantly being connected to and justified by them being not human.

I just honestly really hate that, because implying that asexuality is something that somehow "logically" follows from characters being nonhuman is ... not great. Like, I hate having to be the one to point this out, but asexuality is, in fact, very much a human attribute.

And unfortunately, most of the time when I come across this take, it doesn't feel like someone seeing themselves in the characters and relating to their experience, but rather an othering, this kind of otherwordly pure non-sexualness, where people put these characters above such trivial things like sexuality.

I am not asexual because I am somehow confounded by this oh so complicated human concept of sexuality, or because I don't ever think or care about sexuality at all (a lot of thinking was unfortunately involved actually before I finally came to a conclusion about my identity) it is just a fact of who I am, as a human being, it’s a part of my human experience.

And let's be honest, attributing asexuality to nonhuman characters is not the hot new take a lot of people seem to think it is — this trope has been around for ages. And it hasn't done a great deal to normalize asexuality. In fact I'd argue it's perpetuated an othering of ace people, but you take what you can get, really. (This is not to say that it is in any way wrong to identify with these kinds of characters, I definitely do, too! It's just sad that the topic of discussion is always about how "human" someone can be considered when they don't feel sexual or romantic attraction)

To be honest, I don't actually see A&C being asexual as canon — as a lot of people seemingly do — just because the author kind of suggested it in a tweet where he basically conflates "asexual" and "sexless" (for the record, this is not a dig at Neil, I just think the implications were kind of unfortunate, even if it might not have been intentional, which makes it all the more frustrating that a lot of fans just ran with it). And yeah, going around calling people aphobic for seeing the Ineffable Husbands as gay rep or any other identity, when they’re oh so obviously canonically ace, is honestly kind of insane.

I get that it might feel nice and tempting to be able to "claim" these characters and this relationship and being able to tell other fans off whose headcanons on their sexuality differ from your own because it is hard to come by any kind of representation when you're ace and there's finally a creator who's not only not contemptuous towards but even supportive of fans reading his characters as queer. And if you feel represented by A&C as it is then all the more power to you. But the thing is, it doesn't matter what kind of justifications there are or what canon might or might not say (bc when has that ever mattered in fandom spaces) or what the creator says, you cannot convert people to your opinion about a character, and you're going to have a bad time if you spend your time in fandom trying to do that.

And really, I am just wondering why we necessarily even need an explanation or justification for them possibly being asexual. Why does it have to be that all angels and demons are asexual by virtue of being nonhuman, and so A&C have to be too? why can't that just be an aspect of them that is completely unrelated to them not being human? Could these characters maybe not simply identify as asexual, not because they're nonhuman, but in spite of it? (btw, in the same vein it is equally stupid to argue that A&C can't be ace because they have "gone native", which is also an argument I've come across)

Honestly, I'm not even asking anyone to fundamentally change how they see these characters here — if you think they must be asexual solely because they're angels and have no concept of human sexuality, then whatever, I can't stop you and I don’t want to police anyone's headcanons bc as I said that's stupid and a waste of time. What I am asking you is that you maybe reflect a little bit on why exactly it is that humanity and sexuality are somehow so intrinsically linked in your mind to the point where you automatically use it as a way to distinguish between human and nonhuman characters.

Anyways.

Tldr: please stop equating asexuality with non-humanness thank you and good day.

[succession-thoughts]

really sorry to see that you’re struggling. I completely understand the impact a show, especially a show like Succession, can have on someone that relates to it at a human level. Unfortunately it’s a show built on Jesse’s belief that people don’t change, it’s an extreme of an extreme and not something that has to be true for you just because it was true for the story. There is hope in the world, people do learn to grow and change their circumstances. I’m really sorry you’re hurting.

I take shows that seriously as well and just to add that I’ve been watching the show Ted Lasso alongside Succession and it’s allowed me to have some kind of reprieve from the darkness and sadness. Ted lasso is also about family and covers issues of abuse, not always perfectly, but in a way that those that go through trauma do grow, become happy, and surrounded by found family. So yeah anyway sorry again for what you’re going through, don’t take it lightly just cuz it’s a show.

Art is made for representation and can allow us to heal, but the pain it causes is just as valid.

Thank you so, so much for this. I've really been through it these last few years and it's been almost impossibly hard to break out of the abuse and rewire my thinking to get out of that control mindset, so I certainly understand that it can be really really hard to change and some people never do change and I know that I will never be trauma-free, I just have to learn to live with it somehow. But I was in a really dark place when All the Bells Say premiered, and despite how heartbreaking it was, there was still this sense of hope for the siblings, and I just felt so understood by the way Kendall was written and performed. I felt so much less alone and I probably went a little manic (see again, Ken similarities) and got too obsessed with the show. I'm much much better emotionally now than I was in December 2021, but I'm still struggling quite a bit. So when all that hope was taken away in the finale, it felt horrible. Not because they lost the company or he didn't become CEO, but just that it ended with the sibs at each other's throats and Kendall taking back the vulnerability that bonded them, it just felt unnecessarily cruel. Honestly, if they had ended it basically the same way just without Kendall taking back the confession and not making it seem like Ken was potentially suicidal (though that's realistic because I've been there), it ended great: Logan's dead and they're free of Waystar, and maybe they don't realize that that's a good thing yet, but eventually they will. It's the insistence that it's a total tragedy that gets to me. It's just gonna take a while to make sense of the writing and the different perspectives going into the show and my own trauma and how I probably used the show as a crutch to an unhealthy degree. There's just a lot there, but for now I'm sad. Also, I LOVED Ted Lasso Season 1 and have watched it a few times, I liked Season 2 well enough but not as much as the first by a lot but I've been meaning to revisit it and you just convinced me to do that today, so thank you for that. It really does mean a lot to me that you reached out, it's nice to know I'm not alone in this.

[dusk-outlaw-gaming]

The Owl House... what a great show it is.

It quickly solidified its place as my favorite show, a show I find comfort in.

I know it might sound weird but The Owl House has taught me that it's not only okay to be different but it's also something I'm allowed to embrace.

I've also experienced and still experience the sting of being called a nerd or a weirdo, being on the receiving end of jibes and teasing; simply because I'm passionate about video games, getting hyped about something others may deem as odd or because I live out my creativity by writing fanfictions, making music or compiling funny video game moments into a video edit, layered with music and sound effects. Heck, even for watching The Owl House I get made fun of because it's a cartoon and cartoons are "made for kids" and I'm an adult with a job; am I not allowed to enjoy things?

Being called a nerd/weirdo made me feel insecure about my hobbies, making them seem like something that I shouldn't even be vocal about. As a result I usually either tone down my enthusiasm or don't talk about my hobbies at all if I meet new people unless I know the other person has a similiar or the same interest; even then I'm still cautious.

When I began watching The Owl House - unfortunately way too late - I was immediately drawn in by its undeniable charm.

We have Luz, whose journey through the Boiling Isles showed me that embracing my true self is a strength, not a weakness. I can relate to her because I also am afraid to be made fun of for the the way I am, to not fit in because I like the things that I like, having to pretend to be someone I'm not.

We have Amity - as a lesbian myself, I see a reflection of my own experiences as we catch on to her crush on Luz. I've been there too.

Her fear of being rejected - yeah, I understand.

Amity blushing around her crush, doing stupid things around her - yes, can relate to that too

The way Amity talks about how things have gotten confusing since Luz came to the Boiling Isles, making her think things she's never thought before, making her feel things she never used to feel - absolutely, 100% relatable.

Also the instances of Amity gay panicking over Luz... absolutely accurate! (At least that's how I'd panick around my crush if I had one)

Even the way Luz's and Amity's blossoming feelings for each other are portrayed is so on point; it doesn't feel rushed or "just placed into the show to be inclusive" like many other TV shows these days unfortunately fall prey to and make it seem forced... or being used as a running gag in the show (which also applies to many other stereotypes); instead their relationship develops in such a natural way until we get to Knock, knock, knockin' on Hooty's door (I love that bird tube) which gives Luz and Amity the final push to ask each other out; the way this entire scene plays out... ugh, my heart.

But it's not only Luz and Amity who resonated with me; there are so many characters that just add to the show with their own backstories, personal struggles and fears... Eda, King, Raine, Willow, Gus, Hunter, Lilith, Camila... each character enriches the overall story.

The Owl House is just so good at what it does: The story-telling, having characters with unique personalities and their development throughout 3 seasons (still mad at Disney for robbing us of a full 3rd season) alongside the representation of different sexualities and identities; I also love the fact that homophobia (or any other kind of phobia) just doesn't exist on the Boiling Isles. Everything is depicted as normal (as it should be); heck even Odalia wasn't like "what? My daughter is dating a girl?! UNACCEPTABLE!" Odalia is still effed up but... you get my point.

I'd also like to add that I appreciate the way The Owl House tackles serious matters like trauma and struggling with mental health issues. These themes are never trivialized or oversimplified; instead, they are woven into the plot, into the characters' journeys in a way that feels honest and true. This thoughtful representation provides solace and validation to viewers who may be grappling with their own challenges... like myself. It's a reminder that such struggles are real and complex.

So, in conclusion... The Owl House does an amazing job making me happy and I'll definitely rewatch... multiple times.

It's a show that welcomes all forms of uniqueness with open arms, and for that, I am profoundly grateful to Dana Terrace and the entire crew. Thank you for creating a space where I, and hopefully so many others, can feel understood and seen, despite the challenges you had to face to make this show happen and play out the way you wanted it to.

"The only thing I've ever really wanted... was to be understood" Luz Noceda, S3 E2, For The Future

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

Hi! So this is not a suggestion of wlw media (unfortunately) but a related question. I went on a rather extensive search for more wlw media about a year ago, specifically because I wanted good wlw books in my life, and very quickly got very frustrated by how many books were getting recommended (in lists, posts, videos) by people who hadn't even read them, just recommended bc they'd heard they were wlw, and I learned the long and hard way that just because a story is queer does not mean it's good. Part of this may be my particular taste, but I generally feel like in queer spaces, queer books get a lot of slack simply for "having representation", regardless of whether they actually have an interesting story, good characters or good worldbuilding (or good writing, but that's quite subjective anyway, as are, to an extent, the other aspects as well). So I spent a long time plowing through thoroughly mediocre reading experiences and getting progressively more frustrated.

All this to say, I'm wondering what your stance is on this, and whether you have specific recommendations of wlw books (aside from GtN obviously) that you personally enjoyed more than others?

(i hope this isn't too convoluted a question, your post asking for recs just sort of triggered this whole thought process and I apparently have a lot of residual frustration about this hahah it's like... yeah I want to buy every book that people tell me is "sci-fi and wlw" or "fantasy and wlw" but like... that doesn't automatically result in good media y'know?)

((second side note, I could probably recommend a LOT of wlw books that didn't work for me personally but might work for other people, but I would always want to add qualifiers to this, to explain why I didn't enjoy a given book or who I think might be a better target audience - I find it really difficult to give a recommendation that solely consists of a title and an author, if that makes sense??))

Oh, I totally get what you mean. Queer is not a genre, but there are few enough books with good representation (especially wlw) that they all seem to get lumped together sometimes without any consideration for what they're actually about.

That being said, I really like seeing myself represented in media, and I really like reading, so I've been wading through every recommendation list I can find. There are plenty on those lists I don't end up actually reading, after looking over summaries and reviews and deciding that it does really sound like what I'd enjoy. What would honestly be ideal for me would be if we could just put, like, a sticker or something on books that say "bi woman main character" or whatever, so that I could just start with my preferred genre and keep an eye out for queer books in that genre, rather than starting with "queer" and then having to filter for something with subject matter I actually like.

And I'm happy to provide some more detailed recommendations of my favorite wlw books! But I want to offer a few caveats about my personal tastes, because they are far from universal. I don't generally like books where the crux of the plot is homophobia or one of its byproducts, like a coming out narrative. I want the story to be about something else. It's a big reason I steer away from modern settings - that kind of narrative seems more common there. However, I also don't enjoy queer books that are completely free of societal pressures like homophobia either. For better or worse, prejudice has played a big part in how I've come into my own identity and how I navigate it in the real world. When that's completely absent from queer fiction, it means that I'm not going to see that aspect of my identity reflected in the characters, and that makes it less satisfying for me. I'm also partial to extremely flawed women doing the best they can and hurting a lot of people and themselves in the process. Finally, I love logistics and political maneuvering. I like stories with a lot of detailed systems and plots that depend on maneuvering through those systems elegantly.

All that being said, my favorite book series, possibly even a little ahead of TLT right now, is The Masquerade, the first book of which is The Traitor Baru Cormorant. It is heavy on politics intrigue with a focus on cultural and economic manipulations, and it follows an incredibly bright and ruthless young lesbian as she navigates the hierarchies of the nation that colonized her homeland and attempts to bring it down. It as an incredibly dark series, with a lot of tragedy, imperialism, prejudice, and extremely dark grey characters (seriously - the most sympathetic characters include several mass murderers, an anti-rebellion counter agent, a military torturer, and a professional lobotomist), but with some absolutely beautiful world building and cultures and enormous ideas about all sorts of systemic issues. It's incredibly well-written, the characters are extremely compelling, and it is astonishingly funny in some places in ways that I really enjoyed. And it's not finished yet, but the most recent book does end on a real high note.

The next one I'd recommend is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is a standalone novel. It follows the life and career of a fictitious Hollywood actress in the form of a series of interviews she gives to her biographer. Again, we have a morally grey woman who hurt a lot of people in her pursuit of fame and regrets very little of it. But she's absolutely compelling, and the ways she navigates around the prejudices and power structures of her industry - sexism and homophobia and racism, abuses and betrayals, all in pursuit of glory and, eventually, happiness - is absolutely thrilling to read.

The final book I'll recommend is Ship of Smoke and Steel. This book and its sequels are true fantasy, magic system and all, but it's an unconventional take. This first book's protagonist starts as one of the morally darkest characters I've ever come to consider unambiguously good. The series as a whole follows to sisters born into incredible poverty, with the older using a life of crime to finance a more stable life for the younger. Their journeys parallel each other - one learns how to be cruel and callous in pursuit of a higher purpose, the other learns she doesn't always have to be. The magic system enables an excellent examination of the limits of individual vs systemic power, and the series as a whole is very interested in examining class as an axis of oppression, over and beyond anything else. I have glibly described the first book as, "The Maze Runner if the Maze Runner was queer and made any fucking sense."

I hope that helps, and thanks for the ask!

[kingwuko]

Wuko in the comics

Welcome to my first post discussing Wuko in the LoK comic books!

This first post will be discussing Turf Wars- which unfortunately does not feature Wu. But there are lots of excellent Mako moments, and there are some major plot points that carry over into the next comic trilogy.

Turf Wars is the first LoK comic trilogy released after the finale. Though it was released two and half years after the finale aired, it picks up right where we left off. While the creators confirmed after the finale aired that Korrasami was canon, the last moments of the animated series were a little ambiguous (on purpose, since this was a time when queer representation was just not considered "acceptable" in children's media-it was truly the only way they could get away with it). The comics definitively remove all ambiguity. Turf Wars features multiple frames of Korra and Asami kissing, holding hands, and coming out to their friends and family. 

The overarching plot of Turf Wars is a conflict over the land upon which the new spirit portal sets. There is also conflict between rival Triad gangs, the Triple Threats and the Creeping Crystals, over turf in Republic City following the chaos of Kuvira's invasion. These two sets of turf wars overlap when a business tycoon hires the Triple Threats to secure the spirit portal for him by driving others off. The new Leader of the Triple Threats, Tokuga, is attacked by a spirit defending the portal, causing him to gain a dragon-like appearance and a new agenda-seizing control of all Republic City. In the midst of all this there is a refugee crisis, a presidential election, and Korra and Asami trying to navigate their new relationship once they return to the real world with all their responsibilities.

Notable plot points and character developments:

Korra and Asami canon is confirmed (repeatedly)-They come out to family and their friends

Business owner Wonyong Keum, who owns the land upon which the new portal sits, demands everyone vacate so he can turn it into a tourist attraction for profit-prompting Korra to enter the Avatar state to temporarily drive him away.

An unhappy spirit requests Korra closes the portal to prevent exploitation of the spirit world.

Bolin joins Mako as his rookie detective partner.

Zhu Li is running efforts to care for refugees who lost their homes during Kuvira’s attack and teams up with Asami to begin rebuilding homes for everyone displaced.

Tokuga is introduced as the leader of the Triple Threats, fighting for control of the streets with Jargala, the leader of the Creeping Crystals.

Kya reveals she is queer and gives us a history lesson on the context of LGBTQ+ history in the world.

Tokuga is attacked by the afore-mentioned spirit and his right arm and half his face become dragon-esque.

Raiko is a colossal idiot. He is way too focused on getting reelected and making his decisions based on what his campaign advisor suggests, rather than just, you know, governing his city. He calls the military to occupy the portal, prompting the Airbenders to peacefully protest.

Zhu Li runs against Raiko for the presidency. She rallies more protesters to protect the spirit portal while her husband films her for his newest project- a “docu-mover” which he presumably uses to influence the election. 

Asami and Keum are kidnapped by Tokuga and forced to make a poison gas device bring the city under Tokuga’s control.

The Krew manages to save the day of course, thanks to Asami’s wit, Korra’s unstoppable stubbornness, and back-up from Bolin and Mako. Except Mako, bless him, says he’ll “take care of Tokuga”, and then promptly loses him.

Tokuga mysteriously disappears into the spirit world.

Zhu Li wins the presidency.

Korra and Asami share a lovely, romantic moment where they exchange their first “I love you”s at the conclusion of the comic.

Mako scenes

There is no Wu in the Turf Wars comics (Unless you count one line of dialogue where it is mentioned that the Earth Kingdom is sending supplies to help the refugee situation) - however, there is plenty of Mako! Mako’s primary role in this series is as a detective trying to find and stop the Triads from waging their turf war in the city.

Our first scenes with Mako shows him back to being a detective- and his brother is his partner. He doesn’t seem super thrilled to be working with Bolin, but I think it’s just because he knows how his brother is- not that he doesn’t want to spend time with him. They are trying to track down the new leader of the triple threats and control gang activity. Mako’s arm is still in a sling, he’s got his usual brooding grumpy facial expression, and his hair is spiky again! He and Bolin arrest two-toed Ping and try to interrogate him. Two-toed Ping is weirdly proud of Mako and Bolin for rising up from being “nobodies” to a couple of “bigtime cops”.

They catch up with Korra and Asami, and the four of them are alerted by Jinora that the Triple threats are attacking the Airbenders that were meditating at the portal. Asami gets hurt in the battle and she and Korra share a kiss in front of everyone:

Look at Opal’s sweet face. She looks like she’s barely containing her excitement and is maybe squealing a bit, and she’s looking directly at Bolin which I think is a sweet moment to show their relationship. Bolin calls dibs on the first double date.

Mako probably needs time to process the information....

Mako and Bolin do some detective work to try and find Tokuga. There is an interesting scene where they are questioning Scoochy (We saw him in the first season, he’s the kid that told Korra and Mako the Bolin went to do some work for the triple threats before getting captured by equalists) Bolin tells Mako they should do “good cop, bad cop”, with Bolin being the good cop. Mako gets annoyed, and Bolin asks if he’s grumpy because his exes are dating. Mako insists he’s cool with it- though he’s got a distressed look on his face. They catch up to Scoochy and Bolin actually loses his temper and is rather menacing. Mako pulls Bolin back and genuinely connects with Scoochy- relating to his past, pushing him to do the right thing and help others. I really liked this moment because it shows how much character growth he’s had when you compare the way he treated Kai in season 3. (They are ultimately unsuccessful and Scoochy’s tip leads them to a room rigged with explosives- but I don’t think Scoochy knew that, I think he was fed false info).

There’s another touching scene, after Asami is kidnapped, where Mako notices how upset Korra seems as everyone is trying to form a plan to stop Tokuga. He steps aside to check in and see how she’s feeling. He comforts her’ empathizes with her, and reassures her that they are going to find Asami. At this point he seems to have fully processed that they are together and seems to fully accept it and is very supportive. Not easy considering the awkward position he’s in as both their exes. In this scene, Mako also informs Korra that he can’t firebend with his injured arm.

Mako and Bolin helps Korra to find Asami by requesting help from Jargala- in spite of the fact that Chief Beifong told them not to… They show up for Korra and Asami even if it means risking their jobs. They team up and fight the bad guys together, just like the old days.

We see many examples of how bad the damage is from Mako’s injury in the Colossus. He can’t bend with his left arm, it’s in a sling almost the whole comic, and he really doesn’t seem to be at the top of his game. He told Bolin he would take care of catching Tokuga, but apparently couldn’t and lost him. Mako’s injury is pretty bad and it’s probably really frustrating.

At the end, Bolin decides to quit the force (surprise. The guy loves to hop from calling to calling!). He makes a big dramatic speech to Mako, talking about how it’s time they go their separate ways. Mako is like “Um I’m going to see you at home in like two hours”, so it sounds like they are living together.

What all this might mean for Wuko

So now I’m going to try to tie things back into how all this affects the potential of Wuko- whether that’s for headcanons or fics or whatever- and just try to give you an idea of what this comic means for Wuko shippers.

Wu is governing in the Earth Kingdom right now. It is mentioned by Zhu Li that the Earth Kingdom sent supplies, so one can assume Wu has taken his place on the throne and the Earth Kingdom is in a stable enough position to be sending supplies to aid another nation. Nothing is mentioned about efforts to transform the Earth Kingdom into a democratic nation (we’ll get to that in the Ruins of the Empire comics).

Mako’s primary relationships that are explored are with his brother and with Korra. His relationship with Bolin is just as it always is. He loves his brother even if he is a little exhausted by his upbeat, enthusiastic attitude. We build up on his final interaction with Korra from the animated series and continue to firmly establish them as friends and amicable exes. Interestingly, we don’t get any meaningful Mako and Asami interactions. When he is comforting Korra, he relates to her by remembering how worried he was when Korra was kidnapped by Amon. He doesn't try to say “Yeah I’m really worried about Asami too”, which, to me is bizarre because he and Asami are friends too, right? I don’t know if we should read too much into it though- most likely it was just a writing choice that we aren’t meant to psycho-analyze- but it could also mean he is being careful with his words so that Korra doesn’t wonder if he still has feelings for Asami. The love triangle is completely resolved and Mako is out of the picture romantically with either of them and has no lingering romantic feelings. In other words, he is 100% ready available for a relationship with someone else.

The scene where Kya gives us a history lesson establishes how LGBTQ+ people are viewed in the world of LoK. In short, Korra and Asami are fully supported by their friends and family, and even their enemies acknowledge their relationship without any homophobic tones. The closest we get to homophobia is Korra's father, who, after expressing his happiness at their relationship, warns Korra to be cautious going forward because not everyone will be as understanding. Kya gives us a quick lesson on how same-gender relationships are viewed across the nations: The water tribe, being a patriarchal culture, expects discretion. The Earth Kingdom is not particularly accepting-Kya says that Avatar Kyoshi was bisexual but couldn't affect "real change" and that the earth kingdom is the slowest to accept change and is also militarily repressive (full disclosure I have not read the Kyoshi comics, maybe there is additional insight in those?). And in the fire nation, Sozin made same-gender relationships illegal when he took power (I hope Zuko undid all that when he became Firelord). The air nation is the only one that seems truly accepting-Kya paints a picture of total acceptance and says that Aang was supportive when she herself came out. Korra is worried that maybe her father was right, but Asami points out that a lot has changed over the years and everyone seems accepting, especially in Republic City. 

I think what we can take away from this as far as Wuko goes- is that in Republic City, same-gender relationships are not much of an issue, while in the Earth Kingdom it could be viewed negatively. One could make a case that Wu might have cause to be closeted, while Mako might not. (Feel free to reject this history canon and substitute your own. I’d just as soon say that no one in the avatar-verse cares if you aren’t cis or het).

In conclusion. Mako is just a guy trying very hard to be a good, supportive friend to his exes who are now dating each other. He loves them (platonically) he loves his brother, he’s kind and has matured a lot, but he still always has a grumpy look on his face so it’s time for him to move on and get together with Wu.

Well, that’s Turf Wars. I did cram the plot of three comic books into one post, so I certainly did not hit all the details. If you feel I missed something crucial, feel free to reblog with your own takes. Next I’ll discuss Ruins of the Empire, in which we get lots of Wu and potential Wuko moments, a sizable helping of angst and even some Wu & Korra friendship! RotE is a really fun comic trilogy and I’ll be breaking it down into multiple posts. Thanks for reading everyone!

Wuko In RotE part 1

Wuko in RotE part 2

[sailorsophiee]

the relationship dynamics this episode! not you and zack miss jenn! but the ones in our main theater group! and how they all focus on different parts or tropes of a relationship

nina and richard

i personally think nina being on her own and then that talk with miss. jenn during the snow storm is why she’s become more independent. i can’t remember if they’re sophomores???? but now, at least where i’m from is where they start drilling it into your head that you have a future to think of, it’s time to start being independent and finding what you want to do! and that’s exactly what nina has done for herself, and she loves it! she’s starting to realize not every minute of every day needs to be spent with ricky, or the fact that she needs to do certain things to make him happy (pineapple pizza fiasco) that is great and the love the slow decline of their relationship, cause i could never stand them as a couple. ricky…now i’m not gonna give him a lot of flack (even though i can’t stand him as a character) cause he is struggling right now with so many different variables, but the one thing that is the same (or was) is his relationship with nina! everything has already changed so much between the two of them, and he’s begging for that one thing to stay normal. though i can completely understand that want in life, that doesn’t give him an excuse to be a complete dick half the time as thats (as we can see) tearing them apart faster. (he’s also not that big on communication, unless it’s not with nina) so i saw this tweet and i think it’s really important to hear, as i relate too it a lil too much ricky will always love nini, and nini will always love ricky but it’s okay if they fall out of love and end up with someone else. if i had to give rini a trope, i wouldn’t because i don’t think they really fit into any of them (not even the sad ones) the relationship stage, the last part of falling out of love. if we get anything from this breakup that dear god i hope happens, both should be single!

ashlynn and big red

i love these two with my whole heart, because them and seblos have just been great! especially with communication! them fighting in the latest episode well, it broke my heart. i know i previously said antoine had done nothing wrong! but he has, with hitting on ashlynn (even after she said she was with big red) and then making fun of big red! #notcool! for them, i think this is more on big red’s side, i don’t know if he heard the conversation between the two, but it seems like he did after being compared to every “conventually attractive male” in the show. that would hurt! that would hurt anyone who’s ever has had to deal with self esteem! ashlynn sees this, and even feels sorry for her poor choice of words at the end and does want to talk to him! big red is now trapped in that hole think ashlynn wants something more, which is clear she doesn’t! so looking at the promo it does seem big red wants to just forget it ever happened while ashlynn bringing it up hurts! no trope once more, but i had to be a stage of a relationship, probably, this is one of our first conflicts (they had the one at valentines, but you get it) and i do want to talk but i’m scared. they’ll be okay :)

gina and ej are

after some critical thinking i think i still ship these two in theory, like a au type of thing like they bump into each other in the future when they’re both in college! so yeah! besties for now, lovers in the future! on their relationship, this episode (they’re here cause let’s be real probs is gonna happen, with the current set up) i like that if they were to ever really get in a relationship they’d seem like one with good communication and the one where it just feels like a friendship but with cuddling and kissing. we don’t get much of them but from what we do see, these do clearly trust and find comfort in each other. honest to god last season when we got wonderstudies i really just said “i love a good theater friendship” i didn’t expect a full blown possible relationship. i think in contrast to everyone, because they have this friendship right now with a great bond and #communicationskills something that so many people in this show lack! y’all i can’t stress how important it is!! trope! for them! two! best friends to eventual lovers in ze future and right person, wrong time (in the sense they’d get together in the future

sebbie and carlos

disney said “that’s enough representation for today” after the quinceañero episode. our power couple has once again been put in the background (for the most part, i just don’t expect any major plot lines for them) because we never get much with them (unfortunately) i have no choice but to say perfect

if there are any takeaways from this is definitely just communication (though i know it can be difficult for teenagers, but still very important to at least try) :D this took me like three hours for the sole reason after coming back from work i passed out.

[ezdotjpg]

*korok voice* YAHAHA SO i have dr/dp pretty bad and 1) HELL YEAH(but rip mage) and 2) not to Assume anything but i think that's a really interesting thing for him to have!!!!, especially given like, everything else about him, lmao, so i'm gonna yammer abt y if that's cool

when ur in the stratosphere a lot or however it goes, at least for me, a lot of the time when ur mind and body and experiences are all One in the baby steps of recovery things. not only feel but actually demonstrably go worse for a while (which can very much just prompt return to the stratosphere). it feels like ur living w a hysterical roommate who is also u when emotions reenter the chat, being Present In Ur Body feels like ur a baby horse (when i was performing i had to relearn whole routines w me in the pilot seat skavsjaf), and altogether life is like. wait a second how the FUCK did i used to do/deal with any of this/talk to any of these people. and u don't remember! bc "u" didn't! so 1) some relatability w slate there? 2) all super unfortunate things for a hero 2 deal w, especially re: everyone knowing and loving him and uh, Fighting 3) maladaptive daydreaming is also a partner in crime here (the mind has to be doing. something) but in a lot of ways presents itself as Thinking/Absently Tinkering so the whole bookworm/researching deal is like. YEAH. YEAH ITS LIKE THAT. SOLIDARITY BRO. especially bc i ALSO have eo arthritis so sometimes i just. stare at my swelly hands that hurt to use, peace sign fade out i do not see it, enter the stratosphere, and then use them anyway. HILARIOUS combo for a hero. just like. hm. shutting the door on that one.

anyway sorry if this was weird i'm just vibrating. this is so funny i'm so happy. can u imagine a Big Fight happening and he actually is gonna use his sword but then it's like. file not found, and he just. forgets how. OR he was ignoring the arthritis too hard and simply can't force his body to do it. so good. thank you for the food i love representation

not weird at all, thank you this is actually all super interesting and helpful!! I'm glad that you feel represented!! This is a topic I have a tiny bit of personal experience with but pls do not hesitate to hop back in my inbox if I ever get something wrong or don't represent something correctly.

for sure the thing with just forgetting how to use his sword has happened before. there are also definitely quite a few people in his hyrule who seem to know and love him but he does not remember at all bc he was not in the driver's seat whenever he solved their problem.

[maariarogers]

How They Steal Seojun’s Scenes and Ruin A Tiny Essence of Seojun and Suho’s Character(s) in the K-Drama: A Study

Hi everybody!

First and foremost, I’m not online a lot, and whenever I do lately, I mostly try to spend it by fixating on a certain fandom — which, this time, happened to be the latest K-Drama “True Beauty”. I’ve written about two other study / analysis / meta which you could find here:

Thoughts On True Beauty and Why I’m On Team Suho

Why Webtoon!Suho is Superior and K-Drama!Suho Needs To Catch Up 👏

I’ve recently noticed during my scrolling that there has been a lot of tension between Team Seojun and Team Suho, which... broke my heart a little bit, because for the last eight episodes, I wasn’t really aware of it. I just thought everybody was having as much fun as I was just watching the K-Drama, but you know, we still have our favourites and we still have times when we disagree with the direction of the show, but by the end of the day, it was still something fun to watch, to distress with, and to share with like-minded fans.

Regardless, this is a warning that I don’t write with any intention to specifically target any characters or storyline, whether it be webtoon or the K-Drama. I do equally adore all of the cast, the production; the characters in the webtoon — and I will forever be thankful that I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the story as I did.

To add some context: I am a film student graduate, and I’ve always been interested in objectively dissecting characters, especially from a franchise, or things that came from a raw materials like True Beauty is. For your reference, I am currently at Chapter 128 of the webtoon series, although I am aware of spoilers beyond the chapters. As for the drama, I am at Episode 10 while I’m writing this. (Started at episode 9, continuing after episode 10.)

This is purely an in-depth analysis, if you’re into those sort of things, mainly discussing the major differences between webtoon representation of characters Lee Suho and Han Seojun in particular, and their mirrored selves in the K-Drama. Under the category, I will be touching on:

What the K-Drama changed the characters specifically

How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

Why Some of It Worked, Some of It Will Never

How They Highkey Ruined Seojun and Suho’s Dynamics

Why They Didn’t Need to Change the Characters At All, really

Another warning, just so any readers are aware, I am primarily a Suho x Jugeyong fan, but I’ve never really minded Seojun’s relationship with Jugyeong, either in Webtoon and K-Drama. Again, this mostly has a lot to do with how excellent the execution for Seojun was in the webtoon particularly — but I believe we’ll be getting into that.

Also, this is mostly to address the differences of webtoon vs. k-drama (and why some scene worked, why some scene didn’t work), and while I’ll be touching on the issues underlying the characters a bit, for a more thorough analysis or thoughts on the mental health represented by the characters, I would recommend reading:

By Tumblr User imjukyung (speaking about post-episode 10, specifically for Suho)

True Beauty: True Trauma and Unsettling Regression by tumblr user life-rewritten

Last Warning: This is about 5,000+ words. I... yeah. I have nothing to say except it’s written.

1. What Changed Specifically

I think the massive change an audience could probably observe — or if you can’t observe, you would find yourself being annoyed by it at certain point — would be in Suho. Yes, we’re starting with him.

I’ve been noticing a lot that people do heatedly comment that Suho’s “boring” — which, to an extent, I agree. (I mentioned this too in the first meta.) He is a massive play on the “cold and distant” trope, which, in my head, I’d like to call, a massive Edward Cullen case. That trope is often repetitive, most of the time it’s horribly executed, and it’s just, yeah, I’m not a big fan of them.

But again, I’ve mentioned this before, it works for Suho. I think this was what he was meant to be. As reference, in the webtoon even, Sua was never impressed with Suho, and she did repetitively say that the only “good thing that was going for him” was his good looks, and that he’s “boring” (in fact, I believe this is a fact since high school towards their adulthood). So yes, I think he was written like that on purpose.

On top of that, in the webtoon, compare to the K-Drama, Suho really does — nothing.

I’ll circle back to this specific characteristic because it relates to Seojun again, but I do wanted to point out that it is actually a prominent thing that’s to do with Suho. All he does in the webtoon, really, is study. Some of the things we learn later while we read would be that: he reads horror comic books as a sense of escapism, and he’s a good cook.

That’s it.

We would learn later, of course, that it is more than that. This personality is intentional and, most importantly, purposeful. What we’ve perceived as “boring” was used right against Suho — especially in the Prince of Princes arc, where the influencer called Suho out for “never trying his best” when the other contestants, Seojun and Aiden if we’re being specific, truly had something to lose while they were doing the show.

So, it wasn’t just, something the webtoon author decided Suho to be and held him no responsibility over, no — she crafted Suho like that from the beginning, she made us get used to it, and then, slowly, we see cracks of Suho’s “perfect” image and how that backfired. And Suho? He paid for it.

More than the simple cold and distant trope, his continuously monotone exterior actually did raise important questions in the long-run: For someone so smart with such a solid background, why does he seemed the most lost out of the Seojun-Jugeyong-Suho trio?

In my second meta, I wrote this:

It felt like the writers were desperate to fill the gaps for Suho possibly being “dull” [while playing] this typical cool and distant character — when, in reality, Suho’s existence as is was quite enough. He didn’t need to steal Seojun’s fighting ability, and he especially didn’t need to rob Seyeon’s musical passion too, to be interesting and have depths of his own [...]

Which I feel unfortunate about when it comes to K-Drama!Suho, and I still stand by it now. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the K-Drama, because it could really hold up as its own separate storyline and timeline, but if we start to critically compare, we do see that, in reality, Suho could carry his “boring” character well and the K-Drama probably just didn’t know how to do this well, or thought the reception would be bad, so they added all of these unnecessarily profile traits to have him stand out.

To add, even when all he really does is study and read comic books, Jugyeong still likes him. To Jugyeong, Suho doesn’t really need to be more than what he is - their shared interest and their strong loyalty in ensuring they’re each other’s safe haven when it comes to emotional struggles were already enough for her; and for Suho, Jugyeong’s company as is had been sufficient to make him happy, or have a better outlook in life.

2. How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

This is quite a sensitive topic for Seojun’s fans, so I will try addressing this very, very carefully. If you have anymore to add and discuss, feel free — I’d love to know what else I’ve missed or might have overlooked.

In this specific section, I think I’d like to focus on three (3) major Seojun scene that was stolen. The band-aid, the wallet, and the spicy food. Of course, I’ll be touching on things they’ve stolen beyond those scenes because they did incorporate a lot of what Seojun should be experiencing to Suho, or other characters, and why this wasn’t okay — or it couldn’t be held up. But let’s start with the scene first and we’ll slowly walk to what other aspects of Seojun the writers think we wouldn’t notice being stolen.

The Band Aid Scene

In the webtoon (spoilers to those who haven’t read) in Chapter 34, Suho got into an accident in an attempt to save Jugyeong. This led her to be injured on the knees, which, after Seojun was called in, he helped treated. 

In the K-Drama, Suho was the one who treated Jugyeong’s knees – but this happened very early in the series and it was specifically triggered because Jugyeong tripped on her way to run Suho’s errands.

Personally, for me, I didn’t really mind this scene was “stolen”. Now, okay, before anybody comes at me, allow me to explain why: I didn’t think it mattered? Which probably didn’t help my case in fending a lot of you off lol but — I just didn’t think it mattered because in either scenes, it was still an in-character thing for them to do. Each boy would still assist Jugyeong and treated her knees even if they’ve switched places.

What I really meant was though, the scene didn’t really take any of Seojun’s important and/or core personality away from him — which you’ll find what I mean more as we delve on soon — it was just an act which anybody would’ve done for Jugyeong in that moment.

Especially in the webtoon, the bigger focus was more towards Suho who just got into an accident. There wasn’t really any fundamental value or any obvious motivation towards the scene unless you counted Seojun finding out that Heegyeong was Jugyeong’s sister - which, even then, it was brushed over quickly because, of course, we focus heavily on Suho’s state towards the end, and we’re stirring into what really happened between the three S (Seojun-Suho-Seyeon).

In the K-Drama, it was set up in such a way with a clear motivation: Suho apologising for pushing Jugyeong to such a limit and therefore elevating their statuses in comradeship, and for Seojun to notice and took an important interest in Jugyeong after seeing Suho and her together, triggering his consecutive contacts with her afterwards.

Each of them could really hold up as their own separate acts, and both boys are still heavily in-character.

The Wallet

In Chapter 32, Jugyeong (bare-faced) met with her bullies and they had a quick confrontation in WcDonalds. We realise the bullies didn’t really think they were responsible for how they acted, and didn’t apologise. This left Jugyeong devastated, so she left the restaurant premises and went home without realising she dropped her wallet. At the restaurant, Seojun’s friends picked it up — but Seojun was the one who identified the wallet’s owner, and came back just as Jugyeong, now fully in make-up, came to get it. Despite probably having eaten, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat, noticing she’s in a bad mood.

In the K-Drama, Episode 6 if I’m not mistaken, Jugyeong stumbled upon her former bullies bare-faced. She managed to run out of the restaurant premises before shortly realising that she dropped her wallet. When she turned, she saw Suho was with her bullies, grasping the wallet from them. She ran away, he chased after, and they had their mini confrontation and Suho shielded Jugyeong from being recognised by their schoolmates.

Again, like the first, I didn’t really hold up any grudge over the scenes? Mostly because the difference in context between them?

Allow me to explain: in the webtoon, it was clearly placed that way to show the slow elevation of friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun; that scene also progressed to Jugyeong meeting Seojun’s group of friends later, which triggers to more scenes of them in the future i.e. Jugyeong trying out clothes at the request of Seojun’s friend’s girlfriend and Seojun obviously falling hard during the whole process.

(I also think like these are the first few instances where we’re established a place Seojun and Jugyeong bonded over most besides school, i.e. the shopping street background, because them shopping together in that group, or just the two of them, are relatively mentioned or brought up again and again.)

But that can’t realistically work for K-Drama.

In the webtoon, we’re allowed for a slow-paced friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun to form, which was important, because it was meant to bring us to the tipping point wherein Seojun transformed from being that best male friend (and why he stayed being the male best friend), to her boyfriend. The why, of course, is important — but we’ll get to that soon.

In the K-Drama, we’re not allowed the amount of pace. And, more than that, all of Seojun’s friends in the webtoon, who are high school dropouts or older (and therefore were not attending school) I believe, are replaced by the massive group Seojun has in their shared high school. So, the opportunity as is wasn’t really there, and it was later restricted by the time frame of a sixteen-episodes.

I’ll be touching on the fact that they do make up for this with various scenes, various new opportunities, but you can still see how Seojun falls a little short still to compare with his webtoon counterpart.

Speaking of the context further, technically I don’t think Suho “stole” the scene. The act, yes, I’ll admit to that, but not the scene, nor the core of what bonded Jugyeong and Seojun together — Suho didn’t have an external group of friends which he brought Jugyeong to meet, and he certainly didn’t share the street-shopping backgrounds and have a comforting meeting place with Jugyeong there.

I would’ve been more upset if Seojun confronted the bullies himself and returned the wallet to Jugyeong in the webtoon, only for Suho to obviously rob this scene from him in the K-Drama, when it was obviously Seojun’s highlighted moment. But as is, it happened differently.

Suho’s acts could held up as his own, especially since, different than the webtoon, he already saw bare-faced Jugyeong and knew the owner of the wallet [as he’s watched the scene unfold], while Seojun happened to find the wallet and Jugyeong thankfully had her ID, the one with make-up on her face, which led to Seojun keeping it and giving it back to her when they bump into each other later.

They weren’t really any confrontations about insecurities, past mistakes or the truth to be had; for Seojun and Jugyeong, that scene was only a “beginning” (the first of many events to come, the trigger point on how the rest starts), while for Suho, it was a “conclusion” (scenes triggered by other events first, ending with a specific decision).

The Spicy Food

Now, this is where I get a bit iffy? I wasn’t happy with it, simply put. I understand they amended it in episode 9, but — it still happened. And hoo-boy, they weren’t sneaky about it at all.

In the webtoon, Episode 33, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat tteokbokki with him. Jugyeong wasn’t really feeling up to eat, but she accepted because she likes spicy food. Later, while having the meal together, Seojun is obviously having a hard time eating the spicy food, which Jugyeong internally questioned about.

In the K-Drama, Heegyeong and Mr. Han went on a date, and then we later find out that Mr. Han couldn’t withstand spicy food. He didn’t want to return the meal though, thinking that he would’ve burdened the staff.

Again, one can obviously just argue that, it happened in different context too, just like it did in the Wallet Scene. Or, better yet, that it’s fine, since they did include this in episode 9 in the end. But — the reason I had a problem with this choice of writing was because, unlike the other two examples, not beiong able to handle spicy food is a major, if not a constant, Seojun’s characteristics and behaviour.

That’s a Seojun thing, rather than a simple action, and taking that from him, or basing it off of him, feels a little... lazy.

Mr Han in the webtoon, while he didn’t play a major part and Heegyeong eventually lost interest in him, was a messy eater. They could’ve gone with that route easily. That he’s a messy eater, and Heegyeong finds herself liking it anyway — that is, if, like how I’ve been viewing the direction of the show, they really do want them to be together.

That’s already been apart of Mr. Han’s already-established behaviour, why take it from Seojun?

Which led us to the few bits of how Seojun is stolen beyond simple scenes.

Seojun’s Character

Now, “stolen” is such a big word. It’s right, to an extent, but it’s still such a big word. More than that, I’d say it’s “chipped”? As in, the true essence of what made Seojun so remarkable and strong as a second male lead in the webtoon is taken apart to have it lend to other characters or, equally worse, downplayed in the drama.

I’ve always had such a problem and it’s a MAJOR problem when Seojun, in the K-Drama, told Suho, “You don’t deserve to be happy.”

Straight-up, honest to god? That isn’t Seojun at all.

Yes, he’s upset. And yes, he’s irritated by what he perceived as Suho not coming to his expectation when it came to their shared loss regarding Seyeon and/or what he thought Suho failed to do. These are all true. Seojun is angry, and he’s consistently angry at Suho until they reach their resolution together — but he would never wish that on Suho.

What drove his anger was disappointment, was a sense of hopelessness, was the loss, but it never came from hatred. Seojun felt a lot towards Suho, but hate to the point of wishing someone’s unhappiness was never one of them.

Just having that spoken by Seojun contradicted a lot to how he behaves in the webtoon — which was honestly this upstanding, responsible and caring guy. And he is!

And while I adore Suho and he has a special place in my heart, I do see a stark difference to how Seojun operates if we compare to Suho: Seojun’s always been straightforward with his actions, countlessly working hard once he sets his mind to something (either that by choice, or otherwise i.e. helping his mom pay the bills, and then pursuing a career in being an idol) — he’s a go-getter.

Suho isn’t, not so directly at least. He’s quiet, and he keeps things to himself, and he doesn’t like a show. Which was why a lot of him “helping out” Jugyeong — mostly driving off weird men or confronting them — happened behind the scenes and without anybody’s knowledge. He doesn’t even really wanna acknowledge it after.

Seojun’s direction in life is clear, too. He wants to work right after school, and he does. He wants to treat Jugyeong properly as her romantic partner, and he does. He wants to be an idol and succeed, and he works hard on it.

Suho, on the other hand, not so much. A lot of the major things that did happen to Suho, it happened externally. Something else was pushing him to do an action. Him flying out to Japan due to his father, him returning to Korea etc. Again, this is a lot to do with his mental health as well, which is a separate post altogether, but I just wanted to point this out as comparison.

Rambling over — yes, if you’re not an avid webtoon reader, just know that, that specific line from Seojun? He would never. That was already so out-of-character of him because, as I’ve said and I will say it again, whatever anger Seojun harboured for Suho, it never came from such ugly or raw hatred. He didn’t understand Suho’s motivation after and/or during Seyeon’s death, and I do believe he could lash out from that - but he never held any extreme grudges.

To add, in the webtoon, that line was actually spoken by Suho when he admitted to his therapist that he think he doesn’t deserves to be happy.

This is also a big thing in my opinion, because it shows how differently Seojun and Suho coped — either with Seyeon, or whatever that comes after. Seojun has always been more prone to anger while Suho, either that added by his fluctuating mental health or otherwise, is prone to sadness.

Now, these are two extremely big negative emotions to be associated with our ever-favourite boys, but it’s true. It’s consistent throughout their characters all-through the story (in the webtoon, at least). And it does play a role, because, again, it showcases the difference of characters between Seojun and Suho, and how they react to situations differently. Seojun with his quick-temper, and Suho, easily feeling hopeless.

So, why is it important to know this?

Because a lot of Seojun’s anger, a lot of that deep-rooted aggression — that was transferred to Suho in the K-Drama. And no cap? It shouldn’t have.

3. Why It Worked, Why It Will Never

Let’s go back to the broader subject briefly.

At this point of the K-Drama, which is ten episodes in, I felt a little moot comparing scenes specifically to what had happened in the webtoon. It’s always nice, of course, to critically analyse any form of entertainment so we could always better our watching experiences or give the proper feedbacks to the creative industry, and while I like delving in deep too, I also have to remind myself a lot to not .... take it too seriously, essentially.

Because at this point, obviously the K-Drama has adapted many of the plot points from the webtoon, and re-arranged it to fit into what they deemed to be necessary to work in that timeline. And that’s okay!

For example, while Seojun’s scene was borrowed to other characters, we do get the opportunity to see Seojun being presented slightly differently. We have that new arc regarding his mother, and we see a whole loveable cast of group Seojun has acquired during his time schooling, and Seojun gets a ton more interactive chances with Jugyeong to make up for what they couldn’t do — that is, the slow progress of them becoming truly close friends till they’re in their young adult years — and every scene of them could still hold up as a magnifying and incredible moment as its own.

For example, that scene when Seojun took care of a sick Jugyeong in the bus, and he said (although I’m recalling only from memory), “I don’t like it when people get sick.” Which I think was super sweet and super impactful at the same time. This didn’t happen in the webtoon, but in the K-Drama, among the first scenes they’ve introduced Seojun in was when he was in the hospital visiting his mother; we also learn later that he actually time off from school to do help his parent.

So obviously Seojun’s cautious on anything that’s to do with somebody contracting an illness etc — and not only it showed in that one dialogue, it’s made more brilliant when Seojun, who can’t really afford any expensive jewellery, made Jugyeong a flower-braid bracelet. I think that was such a nice contrast, a nice touch and ugh!!!!!

That really punched me straight into my Seojun x Jugyeong heart.

We also see a different way of them interpreting and putting Sujin brilliantly into the story. I really want to go deeper into this, but I don’t believe I have sufficient enough thoughts beyond the fact that I much prefer the way the K-Drama built up Sujin to compare with how the webtoon placed Sujin. She has more motivation, she has more leverage, and last but not least, she has much more flexibility to become a serious second female lead and rival.

I do have a problem with how they decided to go with Suho, because again, I think all of the extra personality traits are not necessary. Suho doesn’t need to be a good fighter like Seojun had been established to be, and he doesn’t need to be musically passionate, like Seyeon was, because his own personality and character should’ve been enough. He could carry that personality well; he doesn’t need to be “more”.

Which brought us to this: Seojun’s aggressiveness taken by Suho.

To make this short - it just doesn’t work. It didn’t... really feel out of character, per se, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. I felt like, personally, the writers sort of missed the point of what truly made Suho Suho — which was this guy who was more prone to melancholy-based emotion than anything else — and, in return, (again, I’ll be using the word) they “chipped” away at Seojun because of it.

So, what should’ve been Seojun’s distinctive reaction carried specifically by his character, it was shared by Suho.

Suho isn’t unpredictable, he isn’t quick-tempered, and he isn’t fast on his feet. These are all Seojun’s major personality traits. He’s opinionated, yes, and he isn’t afraid to set his boundaries — but mostly, only his own. One of the more primary example I could give from the K-Drama that I think sorta worked at first glance, but didn’t really when you think twice about it, in regards to this, was Suho chasing after Seojun and Jugyeong after a gang of people were running towards them. (This is after the karaoke scene.)

Honestly, rather than just wasting his energy, it’d be more appropriate if Suho calls the cop.

Suho’s incredibly logical, and furiously straightforward. He doesn’t precisely need to be running around for — what? What was he achieving anyways in the K-Drama by running after the gang? See how it sorta doesn’t make sense? So, yes, if it doesn’t make sense - Suho wouldn’t. 

Again, this circles back to how the different way the boys coped or react, as I mentioned earlier, and it’s important to be distinctive with these because both boys are two separate individuals with two different ways of seeing the world and taking them in, and, cheesy as I may, representation matters.

And when it isn’t represented properly, and I’ll be repeating this over and over: Seojun’s character seems like it’s “chipped away”. Not stolen, no, because it’s still there but — what should’ve been an emotion his specific character should harbour, it feels ... lacklustre, almost. Like a joke: what makes Seojun’s anger so “special” compared to the obvious internalised rage Suho seems to have [in the K-Drama]?

4. How Is Seojun and Suho Dynamic Ruined?

Simply put: observe the way the writers put Seojun and Suho when it comes to Jugyeong.

In the K-Drama, it’s constant rivalry between the boys — driven, of course, by Suho’s possibly deteriorating mental health and the insecurity that came with. But it was also easily flamed by Seojun making jabs and/or crossing the boundaries by being there when he shouldn’t have been.

Now, I’m not into the whole Team Seojun vs. Team Suho thing because the real tea is, that just isn’t Seojun and Suho.

And when the K-Drama writers failed to incorporate how exactly Seojun and Suho had been when both boys clearly shared an affection towards the same person, Jugyeong, I feel like — out of everything, that’s when they lost the biggest essence of what made these two men who they are. 

Because Seojun and Suho? They were mad respectful towards each other.

I think one of the most memorable and important scene, and I carry this in my heart, was when Jugyeong was supposed to go out on that date with Suho, and they promised each other — but then Suho’s father got into an accident, and Jugyeong wasn’t reachable because she broke her phone.

You know who showed up to that date to inform Jugyeong? It was Seojun.

And it was Seojun again who came to pick Jugyeong up and got into the taxi to the airport to see Suho off. Seojun was the one who gave Jugyeong and Suho some time to say goodbye between themselves, tapping Jugyeong on the back when he walks away. That’s how far Seojun really cared for the girl he loves: he was willing to let her love the person she likes.

He was supportive, without being discriminating.

And it was the same again when it’s reversed. During the whole time Seojun and Jugyeong were dating, Suho never once showcased that he was dissatisfied or he wasn’t happy with the development. In fact, again and again, he was supportive. He put in good words for Seojun, he encouraged Jugyeong to always work it out between her and Seojun.

Of course, there are hiccups here and there — but that was the true essence, I believe, of the Seojun-and-Suho dynamic.

Even despite the misunderstanding, even through the romantic interest coming in between them, there will always have this big respect to not go behind one another and put the other down, I think. They would confront, and have their clashing moments face-to-face (but never too aggressively because Suho’s weak and often pulls back lol), but very rarely does it go further than that.

Even when they’re driven with anger, jealousy, or disappointment — you could tell that the bond they’ve shared from their middle school and with Seyeon were always somehow stronger.

And yes, you could argue that maybe, in this point of the K-Drama, they aren’t reconciled yet, which is why they acted the way they did. But I feel like? That didn’t matter? Because, in episode 10, we could clearly see Seojun having the capability of being supportive and putting his good faith in Suho, despite not being on good terms with the guy (e.g. when he advised, “Suho would never do that to you.”) even though that’s quickly tarnished when Seojun, in the same breath, quickly suggest for a break-up.

I don’t really have any defence for Suho because I already felt like him expressing constant aggression towards Seojun is already wrong, misplaced, or poorly written — so whatever action that came after always came a bit off for me. For example, rather than putting the blame for his own jealousy towards Seojun or Jugyeong (i.e. episode eight in its entirety), Suho is the kind of person to blame himself. He would feel that he lacked something, that it was him that wasn’t enough, that it must be him that’s done something to push Jugyeong, or anybody, away.

(Again, echoing his admittance: “I don’t think I deserve to be happy.” or, if we’re going with the K-Drama route, from Seojun’s accusation.)

5. Why They Didn’t Need To Change At All

The worst part of knowing or realising these small details is that, the story could still work. It could still move the characters forward, and have the relatively same outcome i.e. Suho lashing out by the end, threatened by his own insecurity that Jugyeong might prefer Seojun after all etc — but instead, we have these amazing characters that came off at 90% in the drama adaptation, but the 10% that really mattered to their characters weren’t mixed in well enough.

So, the question comes: how exactly should they be acting?

First, Suho’s often more calm — the calmest, in fact, between the Suho-Jugyeong-Seojun trio. This still doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any pent-up guilt, or sadness, or even aggression, but it rarely ever comes out violently. Even if it does, in any shape or form, mostly the emotions are fired back towards himself i.e. experiencing massive self-loathing, self-doubt, which, of course, may in return affect his interpersonal relationships.

Episode 10 played this out nicely, in fact: because we do have a scene where Suho’s being incredibly understanding and respectful in the beginning, but then little things and mistimed events built up (without proper explanations from the other party, to add) and he essentially imploded on himself i.e. lashing out, spiralling, having a mental breakdown, and by the end of it, (trigger warning ahead) committing suicide and/or self-harming himself by walking freely and stopping in the middle of traffic.

Secondly, Seojun could’ve still held so much anger at Suho for what happened with Seyeon and had fallen for Jugyeong all the while, but he could still stay in-character by never explicitly trying to constantly put Suho down. It just goes against a character so substantial for putting his all towards the people he loves, or have loved. And Seojun have loved Suho as a best friend - so for him to act the way he did, to say that line ( “You don’t deserve to be happy” ) especially, that makes me sad.

6. Conclusion

True Beauty, on the surface, will always be a light-hearted romance comedy that honestly has very interesting and well thought-of characters that... don’t necessarily stand out, I don’t think, among other high school K-Drama, but it does represent young adults or teens who seemed to “look like they’re doing well” but a lot of us really aren’t. We’re just figuring things out as we go along, and that’s what Suho, Seojun and Jugyeong seemed to be doing with us: they’re figuring things out as they go along, too.

In the end, there really isn’t much of a point expressing these thoughts except that it gives me simple pleasures, and if it can attract a few people who loves True Beauty too, I would simply die of appreciation. I hope a lot of the K-Drama audience can have a slight knowledge that, yes, Seojun is absolutely super kind, way kinder than he’s been portrayed on screen, and yes, Suho isn’t normally that possessive - protective, yes - he never stalks or particularly demands anything out of Jugyeong though.

Okay, before this got too long again, I thank you for reading!

Feel Free To Ask Me Anything

[earthstellar]

INTERVIEW: Transformers lore and characters as discussed with my 74 year old mother

Backstory: I talk about fandom stuff a lot with my mom (she’s one of the original Star Trek fangirls so she knows her fandom shit lmao) and recently I’ve been discussing Transformers with her. 

Me and my mom are very open with each other, and we have some interesting fandom conversations. 

Here are some lines from a recent call with her that I thought might be interesting, regarding Transformers stuff and especially some interesting elderly person perspective on Ratchet. There’s also some talk of the theology in Transformers lore, including Drift and Spectralism, and a bunch of other stuff too.

All conversations transcribed from a recent Skype call, with my mom’s permission.

M is my mom, Me is just me-- So that you can tell who’s talking, lol. When other real people are mentioned, their names are redacted and replaced with an X for privacy. 

Getting Started:

Me: Okay, there are a lot of younger fans for Transformers who might be interested in this kind of discussion, but I don’t see a lot of these conversations saved and shared anywhere, so if you don't mind I want to share some of your reactions to learning about Transformers stuff. 

M: That’s okay, very professional of you to ask! The internet is a job now, I guess. I’m being interviewed, fancy. 

On Ratchet’s Age/Health and older people in media:

Me: Ratchet’s the medic, he’s an old guy. Older than a lot of the other bots. In the comics (MTMTE/LL) he has a chronic illness and he eventually passes away from either that or complications related to it, although we don’t see it happen on the page. It made everyone sad; He’s a fan favourite. 

M: I know how that feels, getting old and dying! I had years of thyroid symptoms before they had to take it out, I had endometriosis and they told me I couldn't have you, it’s an unsure thing. Now I’ve had skin cancers removed, I have too much potassium in my blood, I have fibromyalgia. I never expected to live this long. 

Everyone is really just guessing at health stuff. It’s ironic that the doctor couldn’t diagnose himself, but I think he probably knew what was wrong and couldn't bring himself to accept it. Old people might accept that we can’t do some things any more but we tend to be depressed about it. Nobody really copes with it very well, you know X had a stroke and now she’s aphasic, can’t speak anymore, can’t read anymore, and she used to be a nurse. She’s older than I am, but it’s sad. She’s so smart and clever, and we’re just old. It’s what happens. 

I bet Ratchet was scared. As a doctor, he’d know what can happen when you get old and decrepit. I think he was in denial, a lot of old guys seem to be like that. 

Me: He was the medical lead on their ship, the Lost Light. I think you’re right and he wanted to be functional for as long as possible; He wants to be helpful and his job is his life. It would be hard for him; He struggles with retirement in the comics. 

M: Sounds about right. I’m old as hell and I still work! Although that’s mostly because we all need money to live, and not so much because anybody wants to have a job at this age, but still. If he liked his job, he wouldn’t want to be pushed out. I loved working at the park; When I had to quit, it was devastating, but I didn’t really have a choice. 

By the way, the audiobooks you sent me for X have really made her happy, she can read again, sort of! So thanks for that.

Me: I’m glad the audiobooks I sent you helped!

M: They have, you’re a life saver! 

Me: I’m just glad they’re useful for her! 

I think it’s interesting that his age is a part of his character in terms of personality and story arc; Do you enjoy seeing older characters in media that reflect the realities of age and being old, even when it’s difficult or possibly depressing? 

M: Yes! There aren’t a lot of old characters, and the ones that are out there are mostly just joke characters or you never see them too often. I think the creators must think that old people don’t watch TV or anything, but the reason we don’t tune in is because everything is all about young people, and that can be hard. Watching people run around when you can’t anymore can be painful for those of us who have lost that ability now that we’re elderly, or watching kid-focused stuff can make us miss our families. 

It would be nice to see old characters that are included and are competent. 

Me: Representation is important. 

M: Yes. 

On Religion in Transformers: 

Me: So, you work in a church. Just pointing it out so readers know where we’re coming from on this. 

M: Yep, Episcopalian on the beach here, a small church. Services are mostly online due to COVID so I’ve lost hours on Friday, unfortunately... But I’m not complaining. 

Me: And we both like the more spiritual lore type of content, it’s some good shit. 

M: Always love seeing ancient Gods in space! 

Me: So, there’s another old guy character, Alpha Trion, who’s a kind of sage-like mentor to Optimus Prime. 

M: Optimus! He’s the truck! Everyone knows him, he’s the main guy. 

Me: Yep! So Alpha Trion is an archivist, and when Optimus Prime was younger, depending on what version of the story we look at, he also used to be an archivist. 

M: Librarian truck! 

Me: Yes! 

M: I love it. You worked at a library for a little bit. 

Me: That work placement was the best, loved it. But Alpha Trion, depending on which version of the lore we look at, is hinted to be one of the formative deity-entities on their home planet, Cybertron. 

M: Cybertroooooon. Haha! Good robot planet name. I’m into this so far, very cool.

Me: It is! And Alpha Trion is sort of the living memory of the early days of their planet and civilisation, but nobody knows. Everyone just thinks he’s a kind of cryptic weird old guy. 

M: Relatable. I like this concept.

Me: It’s pretty good. So generally, things vary a lot from version to version of the story, but there are usually a handful of beings, early Transformers, who make up the character of their ancient lore. These are called the Primes, named after Primus, who pretty much always is depicted as their main God. Like Zeus, or Odin. 

M: Very cool. Optimus is a Prime! 

Me: Right! In a few versions of the story, he is the final Prime essentially reincarnated. The Thirteenth Prime. 

M: That’s very cool. 

Me: And in some other stories, Prime is mostly purely a title that has political connotations as well; It gets into a sort of weird Divine Right kind of area to help underscore some of the problems in their planetary political structure that led to the conflict that eventually became their civil war. 

M: That sucks, but unfortunately, also relatable. It’s very real world, especially right now. It’s interesting how Transformers is so incredibly in depth; I never would have guessed from the cartoon ads that were on TV when you were little. 

Me: Yeah, they seem to hide a lot of the lore, which is a shame. The comics are more adult than most of the TV shows, I think you’d like them. 

M: Sounds like it. I love the spiritual robot stuff. 

Me: In the comics, there is a religious practice called Spectralism that you might really like. They see auras by filtering different light wave bandwidths through their optics in order to detect mood, and all the colours have meanings assigned to them. They change their paint colours in accordance with those colour meanings as well, on some occasions. Meditation is part of the practice. One of the transformers, Drift, had at least one vision; It’s hinted there might be more to Spectralism, but we don’t see all that much of it in any further detail, unfortunately. They also believe in Primus as a deity. 

M: It’s a shame they don’t elaborate more on it. It sounds very cool, like the stuff we were doing in the sixties and seventies. I bet Drift has some black light posters in his room, we had tons of them. Loved the velvet ones. 

Me: He does have an altar, I think. Or a least a prayer area, it’s mentioned he meditates fairly frequently, from what I remember. 

M: (Starts singing Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple) That was the best, put some tunes on... Good driving music, too! 

On Femme Transformers and Sexism in Sci-Fi: 

Me: So there are some lady Transformers, too! 

M: Ooh! 

Me: There’s Arcee, who is the pink one you probably remember from the ads or the cartoons, and in the comics she’s officially transgender. 

M: Excellent! Trans-formers. Good. 

Me: Yes! And there’s not just her, there’s Nautica and Velocity in the comics as well, plus Elita-One... (I showed her pictures of each.) 

M: I like Velocity. I love the teal, the Thunderbird on the back is excellent. 

Me: I like Velocity, too. 

M: Elita has the head cones, not sure how I feel about that. She’s also pink, it’s hard to keep track of them all. I like Arcee, she has the Princess Leia hair helmet! 

Me: I figured you’d like that. It’s pretty good. 

M: I like Arcee and Velocity the best so far. 

Me: There’s quite a few female or femme transformers now. There didn't used to be, and there were some mistakes made here and there, but nowadays there’s a much wider cast. 

M: That’s good, I’m surprised, but in a good way. There were never women main characters in sci-fi stuff when I was a kid, it’s why Star Trek was such a big deal, and even then, it wasn’t all that great. There was Uhura, Nurse Chapel, but there were a lot of weird episodes...

Me: I love the Romulan Commander, though. 

M: She was the best! Wished we got to see her more. 

Me: Me too. But in Transformers, they’re doing a good job with the female coded characters, as least as far as I’ve seen.

M: That’s good to know. I’m glad that exists for girls who want to play Transformers, too. It always seemed like such a macho thing, the way they advertised it. 

Me: Yeah, that’s still a problem to some degree, but I remember it being way more aggressively worse in the 80s/90s. 

M: It was worse in the 50s when I was a kid! Cooking sets were the girl toy. They made Star Trek for boys, but when all the girls ended up being the main demographic that watched it, they cancelled it. It was Lucy from I Love Lucy who brought it back, I remember you told me that! 

Me: Yep!

M: I’m glad little girls have Arcee. And little boys. They’re robots, they don’t have gender! 

Me: Exactly! 

--

If this kind of interview/conversation excerpt type thing is interesting to anyone, we’re happy to keep doing it! 

Give me questions or things to ask my mom, she’s happy to give you some “old lady perspective”, lmao. ❤️ 

[gayregis]

boppinrobin replied to your post: “Question. Part 1. Hi. I like your blog and your analytical analysis of books,”

aauuuughhh tysm for ur analysis as always

thank you for reading and liking it!!

arinasassymessi replied to your post: “Question. Part 1. Hi. I like your blog and your analytical analysis of books,”

Thank you again for your response! I wrote anonymously because I was a little embarrassed by my English, but to be honest, I've been reading your blog for a very long time, and I've always wanted to discuss some topics with you. Thank you, I feel more confident now. First of all, I apologize for the fact that I considered this scene pro-life.

The thing is, I've reread the witcher books countless times (mostly because of Regis, lol). And if in the first times I was so fascinated by the plot and characters that I did not notice any obvious sexist/homophobic moments, then after rereading the books more consciously, I caught very unpleasantly, conservative motives, which Sapkowski is not shy about.

I remember that the first time this scene, even though it caused a bit of misunderstanding, still touched me with its warmth and how Geralt emotionally supported Milva, helping her make a rather difficult decision. And the way Regis was pleased with his actions, smiling at him, awww.

But after studying the books in more detail and the messages that Sapkowski puts in them, it seems to me that I began to see a catch everywhere. At first, I was also delighted to learn about Ciri's relationship with Mistle, wow, progressive author, LGBTQ+ representation! But after seeing this relationship "live," I felt cheated, and since then, I have returned to this scene with Milva.

I thought, oh no, isn't everything here the same as I believed? Most of all, I was afraid of Regis because he is my comfort character, the voice of reason, and a progressive medic. Does Sapkowski put pro-life ideas in his mouth?.. After a couple of discussions with friends, this fear only took root.

However, after reading your in-depth analytical analysis, I agreed with it, looking at the facts in a new way, and was glad that my first guesses and feelings from this scene were close to the truth. Now I can rest in peace, lol.

About "medicament/medicine" and "agent." I have read books in Russian, and now I am rereading "Baptism of Fire" in English to practice. I think the difference between the words "medicament" and "agent" in English is somewhat unclear, and it is impossible to say precisely which of them has a negative connotation.

Both of them sound entirely neutral and normal to me, but again, I'm not a native speaker, correct me if I'm wrong. In Russian, instead of the word "agent," we have the word "snadobye" (the closest translation is 'potion,’ and in Polish, it is 'ziola’). And while "medicament" means only medicine, a remedy, the word "snadobye" can also mean medicine, but has more folk properties (?).

It is brewed from herbs and a synonym to a potion/drug — a poisonous, magical, and forbidden drink, usually attributed to witches and wizards. For me, Geralt's refusal to use the word "medicament" — neutral and scientific-medical — in favor of a word that has a more magical/negative connotation seemed rather strange. But again, this is just my guess.

I consider the Russian translation closer to the Polish one because it belongs to the same language group, but I don't have access to the original to check what words were used there. In any case, I think that since Geralt decided to use one instead of the other, they should differ in some way, but it is not known in favor of which word this works. I also like your version.

I also had a lot of questions about Milva and her actions. She's probably my second favorite character after Regis, and I didn't understand her actions until a certain point. She was not satisfied with a woman's position in her society, so instead of the usual role, she decided to participate in Geralt's journey?

I was also not very clear about their conversation and Geralt's conclusion: "someone else's child for your own, life for life." Why? After all, she could stay in Brokilon and give birth, but if she didn't want a child, she could have an abortion (for example, she rather cruelly compared her child to young wasps that eat caterpillar alive).

Recently, the Russian Witcher community posted a short theory that Milva was in love with Geralt and therefore went after him. Milva's thoughts in Brokilon speak in favor of this — she finds Geralt attractive (although she felt something similar for Cahir when they were waiting for Geralt and Buttercup to be released from prison at night).

*not Buttercup (have no idea what is it), JASKIER

Also, their conversation outside Regis' hut at night, when Milva bitterly remarked that Geralt needed another woman — a scholar, a wise one, a beloved one (Yennefer), desire to get emotional support exactly from Geralt and and insisting on his presence during the miscarriage, her further refusal to marry the baron, and perhaps Sapkowski's sometimes ANNOYING idea that any woman should go crazy in Geralt's company. But again, these are just guesses, and I would be interested to hear your opinion.

I also didn't know that tumblr has a word limit in comments, so my replays look pretty stupid now, lol.

yes!! i also read the books first just for the plot and then went back and later, when my mind was clearer, noticed a lot more of political views in the writing. it’s the fact that a lot of sapkowski’s other takes are shitty (re: feminity, lgbt individuals and relationships), or at least come off as shitty because they are not explicit enough to actually be a progressive opinion, compounded with the fact that the scene with milva is not very clear on exactly what regis is asking geralt, why he is polling them, why geralt is upset, or what they even intend to do. i think also, because the subject is so important and people have very intense opinions about it, it makes you nervous to see it come up in a fictional story, even if the author is promoting a good message - it’s the feeling you described of, “oh no, isn't everything here the same as i believed?” 

and yeah, you’re right, in english i’d say medicament and agent both have neutral connotations, “agent” to me sounds more scientific, somehow? like it would be used in an experiment? i think i have usually heard it more in descriptions of products, like “cleansing agent” in relation to something dealing with chemistry... but then again, i am not a scientist, doctor, beautician, etc...

and about milva - agree, i love her too :D!! these are my personal opinions and takes on her character motivations but:

i think her ‘not being satisfied with a [traditional] woman’s role in society’ extends beyond not being satisfied, it’s being disgusted with it - in tower of the swallow, she describes how she as a teenager experienced sexual assault at the hands of her stepfather, and her mother didn’t do anything (assumedly because of the societal roles involved, and you can (unfortunately) see this occur in real life as well, mothers don’t protect their daughters from the men they stay with). milva beats him to death and runs away, and never goes back to that life. additionally, in baptism of fire, she talks about her name - milva, and why she changed it, and she says that her original name, maria, along with a lot of other “feminine-sounding” names beginning with M (this is at least what i got out of it, they sound like sweet names given to peasant girls), get your ass pinched in taverns (this is my best recollection of the quote). 

it’s clear that she has not only experienced discomfort, but really just blatant violence at the hands of “traditional feminity/women’s societal roles,” and so she goes to rely on only herself at first, hunting in lower sodden, and then finally being ‘adopted’ (kind of) by brokilon and eithne, becoming affiliated with them and working for them and the scoia’tael. this makes sense to me, because of course brokilon is a matriarchy, and the elves are mentioned to raise (and thus, treat) male and female elves the same way.

i won’t rule out that sapkowski intended for milva to have romantic interest in geralt, but i think that even if he did, it wasn’t interesting and i disagree with that direction for her character. my takes continued are that:

re:  "someone else's child for your own, a life for life." in this conversation, she talks to geralt about the differences between “milva” and “maria,” her two identities that seem to be at ends with each other. she didn’t want to stay in brokilon to have the child, because by societal means, she is no longer a “woman” in the traditional sense - she’s milva, not maria - she kills, she laughs as she pulls out the arrowheads from corpses, etc., like her chosen name, ‘milva,’ she is a red kite, a bird of prey. 

she doesn’t fit the societal expectations of a woman, and was never trained in being a mother (she ran away from home as a teenager, she hasn’t done ‘traditional woman things’ like keep house and cook, raise and deal with children, weave (?) and work in a house since she was 16, and she is older than that now (i’d say she’s at least past her early 20s, because she is described as a “young woman” compared to angouleme’s “very young woman” in lady of the lake, and angouleme is approx. 18-19). but since she doesn’t fit these expectations, how can she expect herself to raise this child? thus, she likely wanted to drop the baby, but since she was raised in a conservative rural society in which women are expected to bear children and not have abortions, she may have felt guilt and shame for wanting to do so. thus, she wanted to follow geralt - although she would have intentionally lost her child, she would have intentionally saved another, absolving her of her guilt. it’s like as regis described to geralt in the middle of the book, about penance and running up debts, this is a large theme of the book - a baptism of fire, fire which not only purifies, but burns (a challenge which absolves one of guilt, but it is painful). 

these are just my takes, i think sapkowski’s intentions were more along the theory that milva had a crush on geralt, but as i said i think that’s just boring and the “easy way out.” he also did that with cahir and ciri, making heterosexual love the motivation for a noble deed, and it’s just like... these characters have so much other depth and serious individual issues, and you want to reduce their motivations to just simply “they were in love”? okay... so yeah i don’t think sapkowski really may have intended any of the above, or if he did, it was to a lesser degree, but this is my interpretation of it.

[artemis20]

Artemis Fowl’s hideous movie: A firey review

Today I’ve decided to see the nefandous movie known as “Artemis Fowl”, just because my aim is to completely destroy that movie as that movie destroyed the book series. Caution for there will be spoiler from both books and movie. You can read my first impressions from the trailer here, and I can say that they did not change.

First thing: Disney decided to “unite” the first two books from the Artemis Fowl’s series in one movie, which is not a good idea at the core, but they failed completely, not only because of the alteration of the plot that such a cut requires, but also because the movie fails as a stand-alone, since it ends without the defeat of the villain, thus opening for a sequel, BUT IF YOU NEED A SEQUEL YOU COULD HAVE DONE ONE MOVIE FOR THE FIRST BOOK AND ONE FOR THE SECOND AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

So now I’ll list the pro and the cons of the movie.

Pro (very few):

The Ireland is as always wonderful, I longed to see the green shores, visually it didn’t disappoint at that point. Fowl’s Manor was also ok, I liked the setting, less the colours of the building.

The graphic was actually great, I loved the representation of the LEP technology and the City of Haven. In general, all the movie was a pleasure for the eyes and a knife in the heart and brain for the story.

I actually didn’t mind the cast, since the beginning. I had no problem with a black Butler, or Juliet, and to me Holly didn’t seem too young, actually she was as I imagined her. Female Root didn’t bother me, because the change of sex didn’t affect the character, so kudos to that. The actors also I think they did a good job; the problem is the writing for some of them as I’ll show later.

I was so happy to see Foaly, I was really scared that they would have cut him. We’ve seen him very little, but he didn’t seem OOC.

The Haven part was okayish? I mean the plot of the LEP instability was from the second book and it was mixed with the Mulch-Holly encounter which was from the first book. The whole scene in the end kinda works, and it is one of the two watchable scenes of the movie.

The launch from E7 with the lava vamp was very impressive, I really liked it.

The kidnapping scene until the beginning of the Fowl Manor scene when Holly wakes up was actually good, can we pretend it’s the only scene from the movie?

The battle with the troll at the Manor was also okay, a little bit different from the book but not too much except for one thing: Artemis that shoots and jumps, and he doesn’t fail doing that. That character is not Artemis Fowl II, not in a million years. In the later books Artemis is forced to move a little to save his life, but he remains unable to perform notable physical task, he’s at best as able as us couch potatoes.

End of pros of the movie, total watchable time: ten minutes at most.

Cons (very long list)

The movie has problems since the beginning, the first scene is the abduction of Artemis Fowl I, so it seems okay, but then we see THE HUMANS ARRESTING MULCH DIGGUMS. That is NOT possible, the existence of the People is concealed and it remains concealed, if Mulch is arrested, half of the premise of the series, the reason why the LEP acts in the first, the third and the fifth book (which is stopping mud people from learning that fairies exist) is cancelled. I understand that they wanted to preserve the narration technique from the books, which is that the author is Artemis’s biographer, but it doesn’t work this way. Mulch can work as a narrator, but you can’t have him narrating it to humans. In later books, there’s a character who would’ve worked very good as the role of the listener, and is Dr. Argon, who works in a clinic in Haven, and he actually has this role in the last book.

Since the beginning the entire movie revolves around the search of this “Aculos”, which is the source of People’s magic. This thing doesn’t exist in the books, but the real problem is how it is used in the movie. It works as a deus-ex-machina at the end to resolve the father’s abduction, because they finished the time screen, but they still had to save him. So no mission on the Artic, no learning to become a team, just magical teletransport (which doesn’t exist but ok).

Artemis in the first scene is surfing. Book description of Artemis Fowl II: “Riding was the only form of exercise that Artemis had taken to. This was mainly because the horse did most of the work.” He’s also described as having “two left feet”, he is not the perfect specimen of humanity, he is the greatest genius that isn’t able to jump a rope.

The scene with the psychiatric seemed great (ignoring the reference listed in the following point), but it was completely ruined at the end: Artemis would’ve never stormed off that way, he is not a normal teenager, he is practically an adult in a teen body. He’s controlled, he doesn’t externalize emotion to people, he controls them perfectly and is capable of acting and disguise his true character if necessary, and he’s able to play the emotions of the people he has in front.

Angeline Fowl is dead in the movie. That completely cancels the reason that triggers Artemis’s redemption. At the end of the first book he gives back half of the gold obtained by the people for his mother’s health, and in this book his family is pretty much the only thing he cares about besides his goal. Until the fourth book almost all his good actions are triggered by guilty conscience, caused by thinking of what his mother would’ve wished he would be. Angeline is the first positive force in Artemis’s life, and her worsened health is one of the reasons that we see such an evil Artemis in the first book.

The worst part of the movie is the fact that Artemis Fowl Senior knows about the People and works to protect them. Oh boy, I cannot even begin to list how much every word of that sentence is wrong. First: the Fowls were never protector, only criminals (yeah in the movie we are told they are, but they are justified by their motives, in the books they are criminals who care only for themselves). Second: Artemis Fowl discovers the Fairy People all by himself, it is the first time that the readers understands how clever he is, Artemis begins from zero (or only with the tales and legends) and he discovers the existence of the People, he manages to have a Book and have it copied, he decodes it and learns the language and the rules and exploits them for his plans. The Artemis in the movie doesn’t do that, he has everything already prepared by his father (to the point that I actually was led to believe that Book! Artemis was the father, but not such luck unfortunately). He is not a genius, he’s a normal teenager. I repeat: THAT. CHARACTER. IS. NOT. ARTEMIS. I will call him Orion from now on, since calling him Artemis is an insult.

Mulch mentions Butler’s name. OH. MY. GOD. His name is SECRET! Only his family and his dojo master know it, and he reveals it to Artemis in the third book because he’s in a death-or-live situation. There is no way that Mulch knows his name.

Artemis Fowl Senior was not abducted by Fairies, it was the Russian Mafia. People don’t usually mess with humans, it’s Artemis II that goes and start the interaction by kidnapping Holly.

Opal Koboi (who doesn’t even appear in the first book) is revealed to be the villain almost at the end of the second book, in a twist similar to the Bellweather’s one in Zootopia. Revealing it at the beginning takes away the twist.

After the call, Orion doesn’t deduce anything about the kidnapper and makes no plan, which Book! Artemis would’ve never done, but we are in front of his dumber twin soo…

Why put the plot that Mulch is a giant dwarf? He is not so much taller than other dwarfs in the books, I don’t see the point of this plotline.

Another invented plotline: Holly’s father. Holly has a parent who died heroically but it’s her mother, and she died because of mud people. This, in the books, is another reason why Holly doesn’t trust Artemis the early books, but in the movie is the reason why Holly trusts him, because their fathers worked together, exactly the opposite. At the end of the book, Holly relates to Artemis’s pain of having an ill parent, but it is pity, not trust.

Again, Orion does nothing but follow instructions, ok, let’s move on.

Juliet is too young; also, why did they make her Butler’s niece instead of his sister I don’t know.

This point deserves a standalone post, however I will start mentioning it here: I’m Italian, I’m fed up with the stereotypical representation of my country. It’s racist Disney, stop it.

Because of the Book’s rules Fairies cannot enter in a human building without permission. If they do, they feel ill, vomit and on the long run they might lose their magic. In the movie Orion invites Holly in the Manor but she was not affected by the rule at all. Also, this is the reason why the LEP recruited Mulch, he entered in so many human houses to steal things that he lost his magic, so that rule doesn’t apply to him anymore.

I only noticed when it happened that Orion changed in a suit after half of the movie. Artemis had to be forced to wear jeans from his mother.

The scene where Butler defends the Manor is also in the books but here Orion fights, I mean he’s not Artemis, who would have observed from a window

Why Opal claim to act for the People? Opal doesn’t care at all about the others, she just wants the powers for herself.

Why are Orion and Holly bonding? It’s too soon, they literally have no reason to trust each other at this point. Also of course Orion is so stupid that Holly manages to make him take off his sunglasses, he’s lucky that she was not book! Holly, because she would’ve knocked him down.

Mulch enters the Manor and tries to open a safe, and Orion declares that’s “exactly what he wanted”. Since I still hoped that that character was Artemis, I thought that either the safe was a test to prove Mulch’s ability before recruiting him or a trap. No, instead it was the fact that Orion isn’t able to open a safe inside his own house. How am I supposed to believe that this person is a criminal mastermind? He’s just a normal heroish-movie teenager.

Holly isn’t able to heal Butler just to create drama, also the almost death scene is supposed to be in the third book.

Artemis’s mastermind plan to overcome the People technology: not present

At the end they are all friends, even if they actually needed four books for that.

As I said before the magical resolution that they use to save the father does not work. There is no tension, no scene, no action for something that it was constructed at the beginning of the movie. The reason of everything is resolved in a magical PUFF.

Now that I see him more Artemis Fowl Senior is too kind and invested in his son since the beginning. He is supposed to be rigid in his education until he’s saved (one of the reasons why Artemis is also so stern).

They changed everything but they cut some of the best scenes: the beginning in Ho Chi Minh, Mulch that knocks out Butler, Holly’s escapade…

Artic mission (and therefore the evolution of characters that happens there which is a lot): not present

Goblin’s riot (and the plan to put out Opal Koboi): not present

This movie has the characters named after the ones in the books, it has the setting and the technology, but it has nothing to do with Artemis Fowl II’s history. They did the absolute worst they could have done plot wise, firstly because Orion says that he’s a criminal mastermind but he’s not even clever and the only criminal act that he does is the kidnapping (but we know from the beginning that it’s for the good of his father and the world, where in the books we discover later that he wants to save his father). As I already said the beauty of this series is that it shows Artemis redemption, from villain to hero, it’s a long road and it’s done gradually.

Second: if you want to make a stand-alone movie of Artemis Fowl, you could just adapt the first book. Opal is of course the most important and interesting villain of the series, but each book works also as a standalone itself. Even without a sequel, ending the movie with the victory of Artemis against the People works well.

If you did want to adapt the first two book in one movie, there was only one way to do it well, and it’s Zootopia. Really that movie is a more faithful adaption of the first two books.

In the end they only managed to make a movie without not only a good plot, but also an ending. As I said at the beginning, the movie ends with Opal still on the loose, so congratulations: you achieved nothing at all.

[jad110]

LGBTQ and BIPOC in Media Blog #3

In this unit, we watched five films that involve LGBTQ and BIOPIC themes. I believe that these films can be considered “Queer” style films. In my opinion, a film can be considered “queer” when it shows the challenges and hardships of the LGBTQ community. The representation of characters in the community through a stylistic or aesthetic approach. Each of these films shows different LGBTQ stories that present differently. Queer films involve unique editing and other visual details to show the characters. These different elements help show the audience the message and represent the LGBTQ community. I believe that in “queer” style films there is a lot of emphasis on nature and natural beauty. In “Brokeback Mountain” the setting for the majority of the film is in the beautiful mountains surrounded by wildlife and greens. “Call Me By Your Name” takes place in the beautiful countryside of Italy with natural lakes and lots of trees with colorful flowers and fruits. The environment in “Moonlight” shows how rough life can be but also how beauty can be revealed. “Mysterious Skin” and “Boy’s Don’t Cry” show the beauty in a small town with secrets. Truthfully, I have never seen any of these films and probably would never pick out these films to watch, but I enjoyed all of them in different ways. 

Queer-style stories show challenges and breakthroughs of who you really are. The film “Moonlight” is an excellent movie and I think that it represents the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) very well. This movie had a full cast of POC. This movie shows the struggle that Chiron, a quiet black kid who had a very troubling life. Throughout Chiron’s life, he had been bullied and neglected by his parents. Chiron ran away from his bullies right into Juan’s life. ( 3:50-5:40). Juan is a local honest man who also happens to be a drug dealer. This film showed the emotional trauma that many black men go through. Black men are expected to be tough and not very sensitive. Because Chiron was smaller than the other kids and quiet he made for a target for other kids in his town. I believe that Chiron’s race had a big impact on his coming out and how he found his identity. “Moonlight” included many images that are cinematography beautiful and have a queer style to them. Including when Kevin and Chiron find each other together at the beach at night (49:15-56:20). In this scene under the moonlight on the beach, Chiron and Kevin share an intimate experience and were able to show each other their identities. The editing during this scene gives the watcher a mix of nature and touch.  Many people who are LGBTQ have trouble finding their identity growing up. I feel that his story is like many others especially for people of color. I feel that these people are less accepted by the public and family. 

“Boy’s Don’t Cry” and “Moonlight” share the struggles of finding your masculinity and self-expression. Although Brandon did not have to worry about race expression he did have to worry about gender expression like Chiron. Brandon Teena identified as a male but did not want to tell his new group of friends who treated him as one of their own. Brandon tries to conform to the social norms of how men are supposed to act and look. Specifically, Brandon changed how his body looked in order for it to look more masculine. He taped up his breasts and adds socks to his underwear (31:45-32:21).  Unfortunately, things are not allowed as we plan them. Brandon and Lana fall of each other and begin a romantic relationship. When Tom and John find out that Brandon is not biologically male they turn to extreme violence and torture. They exposed his female part to Lana and everyone as a form of torture then they brought him to an abandoned parking lot where they beat and raped him. This action was to disintegrate Brandon’s gender as a male and his identity (1:22:10-1:30:18). The way the visual elements were displayed the watcher really feels for Brandon and allows the watcher to think twice about how we treat people in the LGBTQ community.

“Brokeback Mountain” shared a powerful movie about lovers who did not take their chance for one another. This film showed the way nature will show someone’s true nature. Ennis and Jack worked together for the summer and formed an unexpected relationship. Neither man identified as LGBTQ when they both say that they are not “queer” but formed a love for the other man. They had a bond that they could not explain and that they have never felt before. Even four-plus years later they shared the same feel like the beginning of their relationship. In the end, Jack had died and when Ennis finds out he is completely heartbroken. They had talked about living together and starting a farm but never did because of the time and how the LGBTQ people were treated. Ennis recalls a story to Jack about his dad showing him what happened to a gay man who was beaten and mutilated (1:11:22-1:12:25). Ennis was shown by his father the consequences of being gay and what would happen if he were to be gay. Later when Jack had died his wife says that there was an accident when Jack was changing a tire. Although we see that Jack was a victim of a hate crime just like the man Ennis’s father showed him. Beaten and mutilated to death (1:53:02-1:55:13). I believe that the treatment that Jack went through is similar to Brandon in “Boy’s Don’t Cry.” Both men were killed by people who discriminated against people of the LGBTQ community and the people in it. They were killed as a hate crime to show a message. This way of presenting films shows the gruesome truth of how some LGBTQ are treated.

“Call Me By Your Name” shows a beautiful relationship between two men that blossoms over the summer in Italy.  Elio and Oliver both have trouble speaking up about their feelings. Elio is a young teenager and has not experienced love like how he feels for Oliver. Oliver is not sure that Elio likes him at all. Once they both knew about their feelings for one another they only had a number of days left (2:06:33-2:07:00). They had a very special relationship where they were they were closer than regular friends, more intimate than loves, and have a bond that will change their lives forever. These men were also not characterized as gay in the film. This movie is what I would think about when talking about a “queer” style. The way the characters are represented and the scenery made them seem “perfect”. This movie shows the perfect scenario even though they do not end up together. Their lives were pretty perfect and unattainable. I enjoyed the movie because of the story but in terms of realism, it does not feel like it. In the film, they shared a lot of passion. On their first night together the camera shows the bed they share and then moves outside onto the trees swaying in the summer night. All their passion is surrounded by nature.

 “Mysterious Skin” shows how sexual abuse at a young age can change a person drastically. The coach of a little league took advantage of at least two of his young players, Brian and Neil. Because the boys were so young and not able to really understand the extent of what had happened to them. Neil was abused for a whole summer and believed that his coach actually loved him and thought he was special. He says ”No one ever made me feel that way before or since. I was special.”... “Yeah, but he really loved me. I mean, there were other kids sometimes, but I was his prize.”(1:11:24-1:11:49) He believed that Coach loved him and what he felt during the abuse was the peak of love. I think his willingness to subject himself to abuse in his adult years shows how the abuse followed him. His coach was a father figure in his life and because of this, he grew the compulsion of pleasing older men. He had been “groomed” by his abuser. While Brian was abused by his coach twice but he “blacked out” both times and configures the story of being abducted by aliens. I believe that he came up with this story in order to protect his own mind. Unfortunately, his mind caught up with him and started showing him a different story. He needed answers but only could get them from Neil. I think that this story does not relate to the other films because of the molestation and different consequences.

I feel that many people learn about sexuality and gender from media and films. Films give people different perspectives and learn more about what people are feeling. Although it is good for the representation of the LGBTQ community in films, it is also important for the representation to be correct and accurate. Watching films in Hollywood can influence the minds of young people. More and more shows and movies include someone of the LGBTQ community. The inclusion of them allows more people to be educated.

[khaleesiofalicante]

(Anon with AnnaxAriadne wallpaper) I barely talk to my dad. Or at least, spent time together. Growing up, he was always in the computer, always working or doing something and we only saw him when he was eating or the rare times he accepted to watch a movie with us. When i was maybe 13 or 14, he tried to amend it, to be more present and make jokes, but it was just plain awkward because we didn't know how to being around to him like that instead of hearing him talk about work. I'm 17 and (part 1)

(Part 2) and while it is better, there are times when he makes jokes that it's still jarring because it's not the sour face he almost always had. And now with quarantine, both him and my mom are almost all week working on their computers, even on the weekends. I changed the wallpaper two weeks ago, absolutely no noticed, and the only he now knows was because my phone was malfunctioning and he was the only one who could help. I nearly had a heart attack when i gave him the phone and he...

(Part 3) made a noise of surprise and i realized why exactly he could had seen. I wanted to hide on the spot. And the asked loudly why i have to women kissing which fantastic because now my mom knows, and she is like him. She scoffed when i tried to explain genderfluid people, since there's a character like that in the book she's reading, that i recommended, and i won't ever forget when she suggested going to therapy when i tried to tell her about never feeling sexual attraction...

(Part 4) when i was testing the waters to see if i could tell her about being ace. That shut me up real quick. My point is, if i now tried to explain my dad about Anna and the rest of the TSC characters, it would had to be with my mom there and even if she wasn't there, i don't know what, exactly, i should say. They are the kind of people to tell me "i haven't meet the right guy yet" or say i can't be ace since i right now i am liking a boy i meet from school. Asexuality doesn't work like that!...

(Part 5) So yeah, i am doomed. I don't know what to do. I should had changed my background before giving my dad the phone, i should had done a lot of things different. They say they are not homophobic because they believe gay people shouldn't be oppress but i nearly exploded when my mom asked why they call bisexual people like that instead of gay since it is the same thing, less of a headache. She also said that the lgbt+ just keeps making up labels to feel special, please kill me now.

Hello, again.

I just want to quickly say thank you for telling me all this. It’s not easy to talk about things that trouble you and make you feel bad - even online and even on anonymous. So, thank you. I have always admired people who are able to talk about their pain as it is something I have never been able to do. 

And I am sorry. I am really sorry that you have to live in a space where you have to explain your existence. The ignorance on asexuality is staggering - but it is not surprising that we don’t see people talking about it. Honestly, other than people here on tumblr, I don’t see people discussing asexuality at all. I work with lgbt communities and even they don’t talk about it. So, it is really difficult to start conversations about sexuality - especially with parents as the idea seems completely alien to them.

But I really really appreciate you trying to make an effort. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that you are trying to talk to your parents. The fact that you accepted your sexuality, despite growing in such a restrictive environment - that in itself is an incredible milestone. I am so proud of you. I hope you know that. 

My 17 year old self can relate to everything you shared. My family doesn’t talk about sexuality at all since we are just not that kind of people. At least we weren’t a few years ago. I think about where we are now and it seems like we are completely different people. Of course, my mom still has the whole ‘you can support lgbt people and be friends with them but gosh I hope you are not one of them’ attitude. But comparing to who she was five years ago, this is a massive improvement. And I am hoping it will get even better in the future.

What I am trying to say is that as long as you don’t give up on your family and yourself - you can always make it better. It is not easy at all and sometimes you just get so frustrated that you want to give up - because fuck why do we need to tell an adult how to be kind and respectful and accepting? But unfortunately it is our battle and we must fight if we want to win. 

From what you said - I kind of gathered that your parents want to make an effort. Despite their mistakes in the past, they want to make it better. They are trying too - in their own way. So, I really do believe there is something that can be done here.

It’s okay if you can’t sit down and have conversations - I didn’t get here in a day either. It took me years. So, think of what will work with your family. I think you should make use of all this time you spend together in isolation. 

For example, something that might work is having a movie night once a week. Talk to your parents and ask if you could all watch a movie together - just once a week. Figure out a time that works for every one of you and you must all commit. It’s not a demanding thing to ask and it might be fun. I hope your parents agree to this. 

Every week, each person in the family can get to pick a movie they want to share the rest of them. So, week one your mom gets to choose, then your dad, then you. This way, you are making it equal so that the family time is not dictated by one person. 

When it is your turn to pick the movie, I would suggest you to pick one with queer representation. But you have to go easy on them. Baby steps, okay? Do not pick movies with sex scenes or too much angst. Something very breezy. Actually, start with movies where queer people are side characters - try to avoid cliche movies and stereotypes and had bad writing. You have to ease them into it. Then you can slowly move towards movies that have queer couples are the mains. 

For example, my mom and I watched BoRap last year and she fucking loved it - she wouldn’t have if we watched five years ago, but she does now. Also, try to find movies that represent your own culture since a lot of parents think that being gay is a western thing. 

I know this sounds like an assignment - and I am sorry about that. But it worked for me and I hope it will work for you. I am reminding you again that this is a lot of work and patience and effort and compromise. But I love my family and I want them to be a part of my life. So, I made an effort and it made all the difference in my life.

So, don’t give up on them and don’t give up on yourself. I am not saying ‘oh you are so young it will get better with time’ - it fucking doesn’t, not unless both parties are willing to work on making it better.

So do your part - and I hope your parents do their role too. Good luck, brave annie. I hope it works out. If it doesn’t, we can always figure out something else :)

[liskantope]

[Warning: good old gratuitous rant describing really bad SJ/wokeness ahead.]

Over the past 4-5 years or so, I’ve had exactly one person on my Facebook newsfeed who is both a PoC and talks on a personal level about racial issues. Plenty of my white Facebook friends (predominantly from academia) constantly demonstrate wokeness on racial issues there, but this is the one PoC Facebook friend (an African-American, who grew up with white parents and mostly away from African-American culture to the best of my knowledge, isn’t academic, and isn’t liberal or even particularly woke on other issues) who does it.

(Well, for the sake of honesty, that’s not entirely true. For a few of those years I had another PoC friend (not black) who effusively espoused woke views on race, and who disturbed me from a psychological standpoint on an even deeper level than the person I’m focusing this post on. But a while back I had to cut her off completely for entirely personal reasons some of which involved third parties. I’m pretty sure she’s somewhere on Tumblr, considered her a friend once, and don’t care to talk about her here.)

I was Facebook friends with the subject of this post for longer than the 4-5 years I’ve mentioned; we were originally friendly acquaintances (she seemed like a super nice and fairly functional person at the time) and I haven’t seen her since well before the time around 2015 or 2016 (can’t remember exactly when) she very abruptly went down a certain ideological rabbit hole.

Anyway, since she’s really my only PoC Facebook friend talking about these things and writes really well, and I’m at least woke enough to acknowledge that it’s the job of white people like myself to listen to the experiences and points of view of PoC on race, I do try to get what I can out of her posts.

Therefore, it’s unfortunate that she

went from 0 to 100 in the direction of modern wokeness on racial issues so fast that her brains flew out of her head and her hyper-awareness of race-related dangers clearly mixes in a really unhealthy way with her anxiety (clinically diagnosed and very apparent outside of racial issues); for an example see the story I described at the end of this post

considers all of her extreme opinions on race objective knowledge that she (alone of my African-American friends) feels forced to disseminate (or maybe it’s out of her purely generous nature?) and writes about how generously she’s “educating” white people with the most subtle yet exquisite condescension I can possibly imagine or would have the writing skills to convey myself if I wanted to, while complaining how exhausting it all is, eventually reaching a point that she’s charging money for her “emotional labor”* in meeting white friends for coffee to give them her “education” and occasionally advertises this minor side-business in Facebook statuses

seems to analyze every single everyday activity in terms of what race everyone is classed in to an extent that to my thinking would logically lead to complete cultural segregation rather than increased diversity; to take a minor example she wrote a rueful diatribe against a black woman on the bus who didn’t meet her attempt to make eye contact because “we black women are supposed to stick together”

occasionally espouses the (to my ears very-pseudoscientific-sounding, and anti-black racist!) theory that African-Americans’ genes were permanently damaged by slavery however many generations ago and talks about the collective trauma she has directly suffered because of slavery -- when she briefly wrote about it in a status she got comments that thanked her for (exact words) “giving us this education”

frequently shares posts of Ally Henny, a prominent writer who comes out with mini-essays on a daily basis some of which (at least the ones I see shared) sound exactly like conservative everyone’s-an-irredeemable-sinner Catholicism with certain words replaced, as if she’s not even making the slightest effort not to sound that way -- one (from the end of last year that I’m not up for hunting down right now) even described what in essence sounds like a second coming!

is surrounded by (mostly white) worshippers and sycophants who immediately dogpile anyone who posts a disagreeing comment (to be fair, the quality of dissenting comments is not high and often comes from an ignorant or obtuse place, making the discussions on her wall even less beneficial to me) in a vicious, vindictive manner

loves to make posts deriding “mediocre white men” (e.g. paraphrased from memory “Maybe the reason so many white men refuse to acknowledge their privilege is that they just don’t want to acknowledge their own mediocrity”, and just the other day, “To have the boldness of a mediocre yt man. That is my goal in life!”) which promptly get applauded by her big group of snickering (mostly white) sycophants; I don’t even want to try to get into the layers of abusive this tactic is (and again she came across, both in-person and online, as a super sweet person prior to 2015-ish)

(and oh yeah, for some reason my white privilege blinds me from seeing, she can no longer actually spell out the phrase “white person”; following Ally Henny she has to write the modifier as “wight” or “yt” or “wh*te” or use “person of whiteness” [EDIT: just found out this, at least on Henny’s part, apparently has something to do with too much use of the phrase “white people” setting off red flags for Facebook’s “community standards” algorithms])

the other day described a conversation on black friend’s wall (which I can’t see) about a representation issue where a white guy politely disagreed; she proudly reports that she told him that “disagreeing with a black woman is not a Good Look, even if done respectfully” at which point the guy angrily left the conversation; she holds this up as an example of white fragility

and finally, tonight’s post which was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me: she complains that in her “largely unproblematic” cooking group online forum a black woman asked if any other PoC could share a recipe for banana pudding with her and several white people replied, “I’m not a PoC but...” and provided a recipe; she decries this as white people taking space away from PoC... in a NON-RACIALLY-SEGREGATED ONLINE FORUM. FOR COOKING. Because apparently the need to acknowledge race in each and every daily activity extends keeping the taint of whiteness out of BANANA PUDDING RECIPES**, and anyone who fails to respect this by giving her unsolicited white-person recipe suggestions is oppressing her.

Of course, when I say “straw that broke the camel’s back” I don’t mean that it will necessarily cause me to un-follow this person -- no, that would be much too responsible and sensible of me! -- I just mean that it caused me to stay up past my bedtime ranting on Tumblr. (And yes, at this point I probably should un-follow her. And go back to staying away from Facebook altogether.)

I guess if this post actually had a point, it would be that my social media sphere has not exactly served me well in providing PoC voices that I can actually learn from (and yes, I’m aware of the laziness and disingenuousness this comment implies, but I’ll leave it here as a tongue-in-cheek conclusion).

*Her implication that this falls under the umbrella of “emotional labor”, even taken in a broader pop activism social context, is on shaky ground in my opinion.

**This would be significantly different if we were talking about a dish coming from a nonwhite culture, e.g. jambalaya, but as far as I know you can’t get much more culturally white than banana pudding.

[shut-up-im-jay]

PEEPS THERE IS MORE

WHAT ARE. THE. FUCKING. REPRESENTATION. OF. PAIN. IN. ART.

Sorry I’m overly excited rn

I love this. And I’m sorry but I’ll tag peeps here too bc it’s really interesting, tell me if you want more in the future or if you want me to stop tagging me lmao

@whumpthisway @whumpster-dumpster @untilthepainstarts @ashintheairlikesnow 

Let’s dive into it.

SOO how does art represent pain and how does it allow us, spectators, to feel it and why do we represent it in art?

Art and stuff, when I use the word it’ll be about every representation of it, paint, fanfic, writing, films, series.... everything.

first of all, maybe when we experience art we aren’t just communicating with the author and the characters but also with the other readers somehow. Like there is a community behind any form of art

heroïc pain, comical pain and the experiment of pain in stories about real people --> restitution of sensation of pain, (recent phenomenon apparently)  are the three main thing we’re gonna talk about here

What is a hero and what is its link to pain?

stoïc heroes are the ‘best’, those who take pride in toughening up, very often a mannly trait, there is historically a superior power in play. They’re heroic bc they fight till the end knowing that they can’t do anything (see La chanson de Roland, the agony of Charlemagne’s nephew, it’s apparently a really good agony/whump thing)

Action is superior to affection when you’re a hero (martyrs hello, we’re talking about st Sebastian, our true gay icon, I love him)

------ Tbh this is basically the base for whump, but not the cool part. We want our whumpee to go further. The strength is cool but I don’t just want this, I mainly wanna feel the pain and no one is that hero. It’s often more the tipping point that gives me whumperflies --------

Philoctet here. Who is the guy? Heroic af, but he is an ass. So anyway he is wounded and he has an ulcer and yeah that’s why he screams and smells and his friends just let him to die on an island (lmao) bc he has invincible weapons so they just go away with it (savage)

So he is the metaphor of a patient isolated in their pain, that’s cool. Also there is a caretaker in the story. True antic whump peeps.

-----------Now comical pain(?)  (not whump related here)

Can we really laugh about pain? we’re talking about the ripping a bandage kind of comical pain in caricature. How can some kind of pain affect us while other makes us ‘laugh’ or at least be amused...

We then laugh more about the idea of humiliation, for example in comical theater, laughing at the pain as punishment for the ‘bad’ characters. Also laughing makes people superior, so when we laugh together it binds us together, and then pain can be bounding but anyway that’s not the point.

The real question is: how the fuck do we have an insensibility to pain when there is a comical situation?

let’s talk about someone who falls and it’s funny cause they slipped on a banana peel or smtg. bc there is a social convention in the funny situation. Also pain isn’t really obvious, it’s often ambiguous and we can’t really have empathy so yeah, we maybe don’t relate that much? and also small kids don’t seem to find it funny apparently bc they’re not really aware of the comical situation. 

I think that this kind of things would be more interesting to do it as a psychological/social study on why we find things funny related to culture and our background, more than our relation to pain

------------ Now, the historically modern kind of pain tale, the one more related to whump, when the goal really is to describe the pain, often trying to get the spectator to relate.

The body has a new place in art. Historically the soul was really the center of art while nowadays we are more in a somatic art, the body is the focus.

Cenesthesia is the internal perception, the general sensibility we have toward our internal feelings. And it’s a general tendency now, Hunger, K.Hamsun, Nausea, Sartres, they focus on those internal feelings. Another great book: ‘La doulou’, Alphonse Daudet (he suffered from syphilis) and he described in a diary all the pain he was feeling, and he tried to be really accurate. Again, great writing material ig. 

Léon Werth: The white house is an auto-fiction, basically the story of a guy that has an ear infection and his surgery then the fever. The whole story is about post-op sensations. Interestingly enough, the character doesn’t even have a name, the whole story is only to describe the pain, and the main character is really interested in his own pain. He uses GREAT analogies tbh, like there is an industry in his ear and everything, that’s.... that’s good shit. But like, he isn’t bad about it, he is just weirdly okay with it? he only describes things as he feels them, he has some kind of dissociation from his pain. 

This is basically one of the example of pain descriptions in modern art, when the person in pain becomes the spectator of its pain

Dolor y gloria, Pedro Almodovar --> good PTSD shit, how emotional pain becomes physical pain. Two narratives at the same time: the main character with chronic pains as an adult, but then there is the other story: how, as a child, MC was influenced by his past

on an unrelated note, the teacher just said that main character and his mum are hot lmao that’s bi energy af

Well now she’s dissecting a cinematic scene and it’s not really interesting so I’ll try to express what I took out of this. 

Seriously, it wasn’t as cool as I expected it to be, I thought she was going to focus more on how we relate to pain. That’s unfortunate, bc I’d love to have an external pov on whump. The actual psychological effect of seeing pain, and why it’s truly appealing to us. Why the fuck do we enjoy it.

It was more of a dive in the representation of pain in different arts. Some good whump references in it I guess. But nothing really psychological and it’s kinda a shame tbh.

Oh but some cool things maybe(?), some interviews of neurologists:

WHAT IS PAIN AND HOW DOES IT INTERACT WITH THE MEDICAL WORLD?

(also there are people specializing on pain out there which is fucking rad and metal lmao)

Scientific pov: Pain is an experience. Sensorial, emotional and physical. the pain isn’t really localized in a part of your brain. Sure, things are processed in the thalamus but it’s a very large zone already, there are so many ways to feel pain, and so many structures in our brain, it’s almost as complex as memory(!)

-The facial expression of pain and why it’s ambiguous? How to see the pain? There are literal descriptions of non-verbal cues, and how to detect pain (there are even photo stocks of facial pain expressions lmao to try and educate our brains). And often, the more you’re affected, the more you’re ambiguous in the way of expressing it. 

Frowning is one of the first ways of expressing pain, muscles have a kind of order in the way they react.

Our anatomy teacher now: words of pain. As doctors, it’s often unclear how to understand the levels of pain based on patient expressions. So we have precise forms to help, but we need patients to be really educated to have enough vocabulary. Unfortunately sometimes as we already stated, pain can be anesthetic in a way, and hard to describe, and trying to fix the pain in time is near impossible. We would even need to do a linguistic study on pain and stuff to make sure we can be precise (and write more whumpy things lmao)

Here, a take on pain as an alarm system. Dramatic consequences ensue when there are lesions of nerves, so it is obviously a very useful and protecting tool. But then what about neuropathic and chronical pains? They’re basically when in a house, the alarm goes off all the time for no reason. And then the definition of a protecting system is really wrong

What are the bias medical professionals have? The more a patient says he’s in pain, and the less they’re believed (it’s almost an auto protecting factor: we shut down our empathy and it conducts us to underestimates the pain, and this is terrible bc the more you’re in pain, the less you’re going to be actually taking care of!) 

The logic and chaos of pain: either persistence of a physical issue or malfunctioning of nervous systems In a western, there is a tendency to have pain representation when an arrow gets in the flesh, then when it’s extracted, but we mostly won’t even blink when the character just isn’t in pain anymore bc we have that representation of pain being linked to trauma. (whumpers, I think there is where we have something to say: we actually understand the role of pain after the trauma)

And knowing that pain is linked to something is a very relieving factor for most patients. Thus the known placebo effect: if we actually say to patients that there is a cause to their pain, they almost always have better results with pain management! 

Placebo also works the other way around peeps, if you think that smtg is going to be painful, oh boi. It’s gonna hurt like hell. Like more than it should... you get the hint

The human mind is fascinating