#Biases in the Visual Lens of a Story

[echoed-salvation]

My gripes about the characterisation of yoo joonghyuk and the changing of particular lines aside I quite like the manhwa personally - the art is great, the fight scenes are amazing and the comedy works well - but I honestly think there are some things about the story that will never be properly communicated in comic form. Of course there's always content that will be lost when converting between mediums because that's how adaptations work after all. However, where the orv novel works so well is that it utilises its medium in order to delve into the nature and intricacies of stories and storytelling as a whole. The most obvious example of this is the main concept of orv - being a novel about a reader reading a novel - but it's also important to note how the form and structure of the narrative contribute to this as well. The orv novel primarily uses first person to not only to allow us to feel more connected with kim dokja's character, but to also have us see the world around him through his own eyes, experiences and biases, particularly earlier on. As a result of this, there is a subjective element to the narrative that allows for dokja to be more of an unreliable narrator and us as the readers to have the freedom to interpret or imagine the novel as we wish. Where the manhwa struggles to adapt its source material, in my opinion, is that it inherently portrays the events of the story a lot more objectively due to it being a visual medium. Rather than seeing orv through the first person lens of kim dokja, it is presented to us as third-person observers. A lot of the detail and nuance that comes from the contrast between his perspective and the small glimpses we get into the other characters' minds is unable to be fully conveyed. Kim dokja feels more reliable as a character because it is comparatively difficult for the manhwa to convey his own views and biases that apply to both himself and the people around him. We have less freedom as the readers to make our own interpretation and this is why we often find ourselves disappointed with the way specific scenes and characters are visualised. I love sleepy-c's work but as a whole I end up finding myself wondering how the manhwa is going to tackle the more subjective aspects and themes of the novel later on.

[asha-mage]

Since it's my birthday my friends got me the amazing gift of 'watching the Wheel of Time show while occasionally stopping to discuss/let me loose my mind' for which I am incredibly grateful. A few random observations from this time through, as I attempted to view it through the lens of the entirely WoT uninitiated (as my friends are)-

The group shots, where the camera passes from one of the Emond's Field 5 to another, do this clever trick where Rand is never actually standing on his own. He's always standing beside or behind someone in one of these shots, so the camera doesn't actually have to cut or pan away from someone else to get to him. This serves the purpose of highlighting him in contrast to his friends, but also to subtlety downplay his presence to the audience, and build up to the Dragon reveal in episode 7 very effectively.

The cinematography in general is so exceedingly rich and delicious- the stark white of the Whitecloak camp contrasted with the bloody reality of their actions. The bright primary colors used to make the Aes Sedai visually pop and feel magical and strange, even as they are dressed (for the most part) practically for their traveling (a complaint I had about the Witcher, aside from everything being brown and grey all the time, is that the mages show up to battles dressed in ballroom dresses instead of you know, clothing that would make sense). The subtle use of lighting and camera angle to create a sense of vast isolation of Shadar Logoth, fear and danger in the Ways, and cramp sweltering heat in the Blight.

Moiraine's opening narration in episode 1 is essentially a summary of the information we get from one of the epigraphs at the ending of the Eye of the World prologue, to whit:

"And the Shadow fell upon the land, and the world was riven, stone from stone. The oceans fled and the mountains where swallowed up. and the nations where scattered to the eight corners of the world. The moon was blood and the sun was as ashes. The seas boiled, and the living envied the dead. All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the shadow, and the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon." - Aleth nin Tearin alta Camora, The Breaking of the World, author unknown, the Fourth Age "The world is broken. Many many years ago men who where born with great power attempted to cage darkness itself. The arrogance. When they failed, the seas boiled, mountains where swallowed up, cities burned, and the women of the Aes Sedai where left to pick up the pieces. These women remembered one thing above all else, the man who brought the Breaking of the World. And him, they. named Dragon." - Moiraine

This makes me suspect their was an earlier version of the script that actually used the epigraph (maybe even both of them). I have mixed on feeling on this, as the epigraphs are one of my favorite artistic choices of Jordan's and really help emphasize the history and depth of his world, but I think filtering it through Moiriane and making it slightly less opaque was a smart choice to convey the information to the audience. I also think this works on a character level as well- here is Moiraine's understanding of this information, shaped by her biases.

Every re-watch also makes me more and more comfortable in my 'the show is a future/past turning of the wheel from the books, the broad events and truths being the same, but seen in one of those endless variations we hear about' interpretation of the series. The heart of the story and characters is the same, and the broad strokes and framework are the same, but it's in the details where things emerge as different. This interpretation has the benefit of fitting really really well with the meta-narrative stuff Jordan always liked to pull, and in freeing I think the show expectations of being a one-to-one recreation.

That said I defiantly felt the cracks in the final two episodes as a result of the Covid shutter and loosing Barney Harris more strongly this time- some of that being that this is my first re watching of season 1 since I've seen season 2. You can practically see the things they wanted/planned to do that had to re-worked because of circumstances beyond their control. Mat's absence in the group argument scene (and the 'I am so tired of you two fighting over her' line that was clearly meant to be Mat's), as well as the lack of bigger/more cohesive battle scene in Tarwin's Gap. You can also tell they hadn't quite figured out how they where going to re-work season 2 yet given that the ending for season 1 had to be changed last minute (for example, their is no reason for Moiraine to just outright admit that she released Lan's bond unless they hadn't yet decided that was where their arc was going yet).

I think the show does an exceedingly good job of structuring it's exposition to the un-intiatited, trying to stagger it so that audience is largely learning new things in pace with the characters. I know people where frustrated that things like the War of Power have yet to come up in earnest even in the Latra and Lews scene, but I think the slow and steady reveal of things matches both the core idea of 'their is always more you don't know', and trying not to overwhelm the audience. My friends had no trouble following what was going and picking up the bigger implications/subtext that underpins a lot of information. 'But why did the Dragon try to cage the Dark One? It doesn't seem like it was that simple.' came up a few times especially.

The detail that what jump-starts Perrin's wolf brother connection is having his wound healed/cleaned by the wolves in that scene from episode 2 is so incredibly clever, and a good twist on the traditional 'werewolf bite' mythology.

I love the deliberate choice to incorporate so many random ruins and remnants of things in the background of shots. Not just the 'dilapidated stone buildings' that the characters camp in, but things like the trio of carved faces that Egwene and Perrin run past while fleeing the Whitecloaks, or the boundary stones Mat and Rand pass on the road, or even just the small carvings and pillars scattered about the cave where they are holding Logain. It all helps to make you feel that ancientness, that brokenness of this world more effectively.

The reoccurring use of the Dragon's Fang to symbolize violence and destruction: the Trollocs using it as a scare tactics, it appearing in the blood in the pool after Nynaeve kills the Trolloc, being burned into Siuan's ruined childhood home....and the way that contrasts with it's use in the finale episode, when we see it whole and unbroken in the seal/yin yang symbol for the first time was really really clever. One of my friends actually gasped out loud and went 'oh' at the first shot of the whole seal when it clicked.

The show does an exceedingly good job of maintaining that core idea of the series that it's about our relationship to violence- violence never being casual or simple or easy, but always raw, hard and bloody and a little bit ugly. EVen subtle things like the way the show depicts Moraine hurling stones at the Trollocs with uncomfortable frankness, trying to literalize what in most fantasy media would be an abstract. Take it from I cast stone 2, to I inflict horrible blunt force trauma on another creature. And of course everything re: Perrin and his ax.

I have more thoughts, but I think I'll save some of them for after we watch season 1, because they relate strongly to stuff from there.

[spiribia]

Spiribia I love you always. Would you personally suggest someone to watch dungeon meshi or read dungeon meshi

i'm very biased toward the manga currently which is something i should put out on the table first, my experience with the anime is filtered through the lens of "do i like how they did this part from this manga", so my expectations for the anime at this point are "can it do justice to the source material" rather than Will it be better, which i think is probably the philosophy for fans behind a lot of adaptations. i don't think the anime adapts the manga poorly or unfaithfully, but because of its task of fitting an existing story into a limited amount of fully animated episodes of uniform length coming out at a specific schedule the pacing can feel a little bit jankier to me at times. i enjoy dungeon meshis worldbuilding and it has a lot of little interesting factoids and diagrams that you can take time as a reader to dwell on as tangents in the manga that they may gloss over very quickly if at all in the anime in the interest of time. this also might just be my overall impression because the anime hasn't adapted far enough that i've seen the transition where the plot really kicks in or some of the parts where dungeon meshi gets super compelling to me - i dont know yet how the anime will handle my most 'youve GOT to see dungeon meshi' parts of the manga. the rest is just more preferential stuff on my behalf. the anime can hit pretty 1:1 notes scriptwise to what is written, and while i dont personally feel the majority of the visual animation itself lends something life-altering to this story most of the time, i do think some of the full animation sequences are a real treat to look at, and i enjoy what they did with chilchuck in particular for some reason. i dont think youd 'err' too badly as a viewer by going the anime route if that's what clicks best with you. also in the anime english dub if you happen to watch that senshi seems to say stuff like 'work that sucker' multiple times and i just want to tell you thats not ttrue.

[skinnerhousebooks]

Images in the news, social media, advertisements, memes, websites, and selfies shape how we understand ourselves, our society, and our world. Even the images we don’t see have an impact on our daily lives. But images are not innocent. And we don’t have to be passive consumers. Our racial identities, assumptions, histories, and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?

Situated at the intersection of critical whiteness theory and visual culture, Through the Lens of Whiteness: Challenging Racialized Imagery in Pop Culture teaches readers visual literacy tools that expose racist messages, conventions, and symbols in images. Authors Diane S. Grimes and Liz Cooney help readers understand these patterns more deeply with detailed analysis of vivid image examples and personal stories to dismantle existing biases and develop an antiracist perspective. Grimes and Cooney are guided by the principle that white people bear the responsibility for dismantling racist structures and so primarily address white readers, but also offer this book in the hope that it will be a powerful tool of resistance for all readers.

Through the Lens of Whiteness is available wherever books are sold and through inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop at shopinspirit.org.

[asm5129]

RWBY V9 E6 thoughts and analysis

Jaune, my poor boy

here he is having had to just kill a friend

Then he has the WORST luck and stumbles onto this weird-ass tree

(Love the clock tree’s design btw)

And then he picks the “time lime” (as a friend called it) and it sends him back decades, we don’t even know how much

And since he fell last, no one knows he fell at all

Meaning he has to wait even longer

In better news, love that Jaune sees Crescent Rose and immediately goes to save it when he’s falling

He knows how important it is to Ruby

(Or was. We’ll get there.)

We now have explicit time shenaniganery in the Ever After, and I doubt it’s our last

Poor Jaune though my god

What must he have gone through

GROUP HUG AWWWW

Weiss “if I knew he’d be this hot I’d have stuck it out” Schnee

“What good is saving anybody if Salem just destroys the world anyway”

I love how RWBY does this. This is a line that, on the surface, makes perfect sense. But it’s not the logic that’s flawed—it’s the mindset behind it.

Every moment of life is valuable. Every single one. (Link at the end to an amazing video essay on this using the lens of Life Is Strange).

Think about it. Otherwise, the fact that we’re not immortal would make our lives instantly meaningless, and that’s just not true.

On top of that, you could save the world, but if everyone (or nearly everyone) in the world is dead, that’s not really rational either

Like Yang says, the idea that saving individual lives doesn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things is the path that led Ironwood to become a villain.

VILLAGE? Jaune has a village?! Who might we meet there? I’m intrigued

Jaune….why are you giving me Ironwood vibes? 😳

CC genuinely seems to be glad to see Jaune

The tree is what causes ascension!? What a twist

CC, you say that can’t happen to them, but you were also awfully worried that team RWBY wouldn’t be who themselves anymore after visiting Herb

Clearly you thought SOMETHING could happen

But…you were also worried something could happen….and actively tried to prevent it….So what’s going on here?

Ah, so THATS who the boy in the back of Alyx’s photo in the intro is

“You never asked, silly”

Thing is, I think CC is being sincere. I don’t think they were hiding it, they genuinely just don’t answer questions that aren’t asked. It’s just not part of the social contract from their perspective

A Punderstorm?

Also just realized

Jaune must have been actively fighting against the Ever Afters attempts to resolve his issues the entire time

Probably because of his trust issues which have only gotten worse over time it seems

Also first impressions of the Ever After being what they were for him probably didn’t help

But wow yeah

He must have been actively resisting healing from his pain for a ridiculously long time

Poor Jaune

Ah poor Weiss, she and the Ever After do NOT get along

“Something bigger to work out” eh?

“How do we take the next step” BEES

What do the symbols on these signs mean? Boy and paw?

SUMMER IN RUBYS REFLECTION

Oh my, it’s literally visualized in front of them but Ruby does not even notice her own trauma (Summer) yet ruminates on the trauma of others and her inability to fix things for them (Weiss and Atlas)

I do not trust Jaune’s story here, at least not completely. I don’t think he’s lying, but it’s very much filtered through a biased lens of trauma and trust issues

“She wasn’t just a little petulant. She was selfish, and cruel.” She also looks about thirteen

“Like the whole world was make-believe and the rules didn’t apply to her” MAYBE SHE THOUGHT IT WAS MAKE BELIEVE 🤯

We don’t know how she got to the Ever After, but it’s quite possible she genuinely didn’t think of it as “real”, which meant she didn’t have to feel bad about any of her actions

Just like how Alice in Disney’s adaptation (the animated one) didn’t really have to contend with her collateral damage since it was all a dream

What changed at the Herbalist, Alyx? What did Herb say to you?

“The more I tried to get the story back on track the more she distrusted me”

Honestly? That one I think is a little valid. You were trying to force a child’s life to fit a narrative you believed it was supposed to fit. If, say, she found out something along those lines, yeah of course she wouldn’t trust you Jaune.

Honestly, the more interesting thing for me is that she apparently lost all trust in Lewis as well.

“I couldn’t even be the make-believe hero”

Poor Jaune. For all the growth he had, there was still that part of him that saw himself as ultimately just “the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends risk their lives” and he hates himself for that

For not being the hero he thought he should be.

Wait…Holy shit

In the Ever After, he was kinda stuck in a tree

Though not in it’s branches this time, he was stuck in its grasp nonetheless

“The Rusted Knight drank the poison in her stead” this is such a strange line

That’s gotta be intentional. Why does he refer to himself in third person as “the rusted knight”? What does he mean “in her stead”?!

It does obviously seem that the poison wasn’t lethal. So that’s another intriguing thing about Alyx. Jaune states that she said she “wasn’t going to let anyone stop her from leaving. She’d do whatever it takes”

And yet, she seemingly made sure not to kill him

“The cats role in the ever after…I figured it out later, when the cat came back for me once Alyx left” Okay so, I’ll admit there’s at least a chance it was lethal and the Cat saved Jaune somehow

But I think it’s more likely it wasn’t lethal, because the flashback had Jaune basically just falling unconscious to the best of what we can see. Of course, that doesn’t mean the Cat didn’t help him recover a bit….who can say, all I’m saying is it’s interesting the cat came back for Jaune.

Then again, maybe CC just genuinely didn’t understand there might be conflict between them now

Yeah so, lots of people have pointed this out, but this is where it becomes clear how biased Jaune is. The Cat took Alyx and Lewis to the tree, one of them got home—the assumption is it was Alyx since she supposedly wrote the book (many have pointed out it’s quite possible Lewis is the one who made it back, which is why Alyx is presented much more sympathetically in the story) and this is where all of Jaune’s issues finished the story for him.

He began to believe that the Cat was never helping anyone, that they were only ever manipulating them in order to feed the tree and keep the cycle going, and this is a clear indication of how his trust issues are affecting his ability to see things clearly

BZZZZZZZZZZZ ITS BEEEEEEEEES TIIIIIME BABYYYYYY

“I’ll feel a lot better when we’re together on that platform”

Just LOVE that Blake has been taking the lead this whole volume

She is ready to love and be loved

She knows who she is, she knows what she wants

And she’s done letting the memory of Adam or the threat of Salem or anything else stand in her way

“You’ve got a really good brain”

“You have cat ears!”

Yang flirting with Blake in volume 1 when they first met CONFIRMED

Also confirmed is that Yang’s inability to flirt with Blake is tied directly to her struggle with vulnerability

She’s scared to say what she means when it matters

THE MUSIC

YANG’S ADORABLE LITTLE “Shall we dance” ANIMATION

THE TEARS IN HER EYES

“I think you’re an extraordinary person. You’re always the first to lighten a situation. You act bravely when you’re afraid. You do what you say.

Try to keep up!”

“I like that you’ve never been intimidated by me….even when you didn’t like me very much.”

“I was a little weary of people in general…”

“But you never gave up on them, even when they hurt you. You never give up. You know what matters to you.”

This whole exchange is so beautiful

And I love that despite Yang’s comedy often acting as a defense mechanism and Blake’s unwillingness to give up on people causing her to stay with Adam, both are presented as something worth loving because that’s not all they are

Yang makes Blake smile. Sometimes it’s a defense mechanism, sometimes it’s not, but Blake loves that Yang makes her smile

And Blake’s refusal to give up on people was taken advantage of by Adam, but it in and of itself is hardly a bad instinct—and Yang saw that firsthand when Blake dedicated herself to making sure her team (and Yang especially) knew she was never going to run away from them again

And of course, that’s only the tiniest piece of why they love each other.

“You do what you say”

After all Adam’s manipulation, gaslighting and abuse, to have someone who says what she means and actually acts like it must be incredible

“You know what you want”

Yang’s always been a bit adrift, defining herself by her relationship to others. In v1 she mainly saw herself as Ruby’s older sister and parental figure; and she also defined herself by being abandoned by Raven and wanting to find her. It’s not that she never had wants of her own, but she her wants often depended on how she viewed herself in relation to others.

Blake took no shit, she was passionate, she took a stand when it was something she believed in—and maybe even inspired Yang to do the same in volume 8?

“Let’s make this quicker. Any big truths we haven’t dropped on each other yet?”

As soon as Yang says that, she knows the truth she has to say and the storm reacts and

THE COLORS

THE PURPLE AND YELLOW

ITS SO PRETTY

Everything in this scene is SO PRETTY

“It’s like…a cliff. And if I do it I’m just going to….fall.”

“I think we’re already falling…”

RWBY has played around a LOT with the idea of “falling”

Cinder Fall/the fall maiden and falling into the abyss after her fight with Raven

The fall of beacon

The intro to volume 3

Ironwood’s fall into villainy

Falling into the ever after

So much more

Hell, initiation literally launched them into the air and they had to learn how to develop a landing strategy as they fell!!! Fuck this show is so well-written

But here, Blake takes the idea of “falling”—presented as something dangerous by Yang—and reframes it into something explicitly positive for the first time

The big deep breath Yang takes…Blake is literally telling her she already knows, but poor Yang is still afraid she might not be loved back

But Blake doesn’t even let her finish before making sure she knows it’s real

I learned that apparently Lillies are the official lesbian flower so that’s just a wonderful detail

I love that this kiss isn’t rough and passionate like they’ve been waiting to get their hands on each other

It’s gentle and calm

Tender, and compassionate

And while it’s not verbalized, you can actually see them checking for the others consent!!!!

So CC definitely has been explicitly hiding SOME stuff

Like that they didn’t know Alyx wrote a book about her adventure

When CC implies Jaune isn’t particularly stable, his reflection becomes his younger self. Intriguing.

CC wanted to go to remnant? But Alyx didn’t take them. Intriguing. Also “through the door to remnant”?

And yeah, ultimately, team RWBY did not care about CC. They were using them. Despite everything they did for our heroes, they only saw CC as a guide and an annoyance to endure so they could get home

Blake’s leg is doing the thing and it’s adorable

“Feels like I’ve been waiting forever for that” WE ALL HAVE JAUNE THOUGH NOT AS LONG AS YOU BUT SEMANTICS IT WAS SO WORTH IT

Crescent Rose. Jaune found it.

And Ruby is straight-up disassociating poor girl

When she crafted Crescent Rose, she crafted Ruby Rose as well. And she doesn’t want to be Ruby Rose, so she rejects Ruby Rose’s weapon.

And tomorrow, my guess is we’ll get a return to the Blacksmith, and maybe some Summer/Salem info too.

That video essay I mentioned on why every moment of life matters (the thumbnail is a bit clickbaity, promise the video is exceptional)

And a fantastic breakdown of the Bumbleby Confession scene:

[2024ardn632isobelchilberto]

Week 1 - Video Task: How Photographs Can Tell Lies

Notes:

Reading and interpreting photos are a vital part of understanding the world

Our brains get persuaded by visual evidence

Context frames the meaning of the information - who, what, when, etc. (removing or adding can change its meaning)

Reveal how true or false via context

Framing a part of the world removes the context, crop of a world

Person who created it can lie and create a bias, viewers also have biases that change the meaning (Person vs machine)

Manipulate situations for a reaction or removing objects

Ideas affect how we see and frame the world

Ruben Salvadori, photojournalism behind the scenes, 2011 - breaks the unsaid covenant of the invisible photographer

Observer Effect - being observed changes the way we act

Photographs can tell a subjective truth, like someone telling a story, an interpretation of a person experience, large responsibility on photographers and publishers.

The power and ethics of photographs

Using photographs to create a visual argument

Used for misinformation - personal bias or forgetting information, etc.

Disinformation - intentional gain of power or chaos

How photos are used to support a visual argument

Staging images, oldest and common ways, creates symbolic meaning or tell a story, can be created for a hoax, disinformation or misinformation.

Confirmation bias - seek out, and interpret information in. a way that confirms or supports what we want to believe or value

We don't look for the information we don't believe, but we seek out what we believe

How easy it is to manipulate a scene, can affect the amount of content lying - canon balls

It is false to say that modern photographs can be manipulated by photoshops so historical images are more truthful because they cant be manipulated.

Many used physical manipulation, e.g. moving the head onto another body,

Spirit photography - using two exposures on a single plate

Deep fake - new ease and accessibility, synthetic media

Shallow fake, selective editing. crude edits and tweaks, change the whole meaning with a small change

Selective editing - changing colours with filters

How to spot a lie: consider the source, read beyond, check the author, supporting sources, check the date, is it a joke, check your biases, ask the experts

Reflection:

Reflecting on the video How Photographs Can Tell Lies made me think about my perception of photographs when I go out and about. I find I often immediately interpret what I see in photographs as fact and only then challenge them if they feel overly outlandish. Therefore, this video has made me think about how I consistently see and interpret photographs to understand what is happening around me. But how do I know if what I am seeing is the truth?

In the video, they talk about the context of the photo. How can it change our understanding of the photo and provide insight into what is going on? In a negative aspect, it can also change the meaning to something that isn't there or create a false narrative. Even just something as simple as framing can change a picture as it only captures a part of a whole. It is scary to think that people can lie and project their biases when taking the shot, and I could be subconsciously doing that as well. Our ideas can change how we see and frame the world, especially through the lens of photography. Seeing the example of Ruben Salvadori's Photojournalism Behind the Scenes puts into perspective how much framing has an impact.

The video also talks about the observer effect: how being observed changes the way we act. This is true for everyone I know; we immediately react in a certain way when the camera is pointed at us. I liked the opinion of the narrator in how photographs tell a subjective truth, like a person telling a story of their interpretation of the events. If we frame it this way, we are less likely to fully trust the image without knowing the credibility of the person behind it.

Photography has so much power and can be used in an unethical way to spread misinformation or disinformation. Disinformation can be used with ill intent and used to spread dangerous sentiments. In this way, photographers are responsible for telling as much of the truth as they can and trying to forgo any personal biases. Using a photograph to support a person's untruth argument is dangerous, but using a photograph to support a person's true argument can do a great deal of good. For example, the example that was given about photos of child labour. It is also good to note that we mainly seek out information that supports what we believe, and therefore, we are less likely to believe information that doesn't support our beliefs.

It is an interesting point that the video makes on how it is false to say that modern photographs can manipulate in Photoshop, so historical photos are more truthful because they can't be manipulated. Within the video, the narrator provides multiple examples of how this idea is false, as photos can be manipulated by simply changing what objects are inside of them. This has been going on since the beginning of photography, such as the war photo, which changed the amount of bombs in the photos. I don't think this is, per se, the most harmful as it is still true, just slightly exaggerated. That being said, it isn't right to portray this photo as the truth, just simply an expression of art.

Finally, the video talks about how things are now with deep fakes and how easy and excessive it is to make synthetic media. As well as dangerous in unethical hands. How even with small tweaks like selective editing, the narrative can change. I believe it is the responsibility of a photographer to take and edit photos in a way that is not harmful to others and to consider how it could be used.

[multiculturalamericaart150]

"The White Tiger" is a film based on the novel of the same name by Aravind Adiga. The story follows Balram, a young man from a poor village in India who becomes a successful entrepreneur. The show themes of class struggle, social inequality, and the impact of globalization on developing countries. In the show, Balram narrates his journey from being a poor driver to a wealthy businessman. He learns to navigate the corrupt and oppressive system in India to achieve success but faces moral dilemmas along the way. The show also delves into the complexities of Indian society and the challenges faced by those at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The themes in "The White Tiger" relate to our course topics on globalization, social inequality, and the effects of capitalism. The show serves as a reflection of the harsh realities of life for many individuals in developing countries and raises important questions about power dynamics and privilege. 

In "The White Tiger," Balram represents a lower caste who is marginalized and oppressed by the wealthy upper class in India. This representation of Balram as a member of the lower caste can be seen as symbolic of the systemic racism and discrimination faced by marginalized communities in society. Additionally, Balram's struggle to break free from his oppressive circumstances and gain power and agency can be interpreted as a metaphor for the fight for racial and ethnic equality.In relation to intersectionality, Balram's identity as a lower caste individual intersects with other aspects of his identity, such as his socio-economic status and his gender, to further compound his experiences of discrimination and oppression. This intersectional perspective highlights the ways in which multiple forms of marginalization can intersect and interact to shape an individual's experiences and opportunities in society. Journal entries on "The White Tiger" could generate conversations regarding race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity by prompting readers to reflect on their own biases and privilege, as well as encouraging discussions on the systemic inequalities that exist in society. By engaging with the text and related readings and screenings from the course, readers can deepen their understanding of how race, ethnicity, and intersecting identities shape power dynamics and social hierarchies. One relevant citation to consider for further exploration of these themes is Kimberlé Crenshaw's seminal work on intersectionality, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color." This text provides a foundational framework for understanding how various forms of oppression intersect and shape individuals' experiences and opportunities in society.

The film explores themes of social inequality, class struggle, and the impact of globalization on individuals from marginalized communities. In relation to readings, screenings, and discussions, the film can be seen as a reflection of the representation and circulation of racial and ethnic identities in popular visual culture. The protagonist of the film, Balram, comes from a lower socioeconomic class in India and faces systemic obstacles due to his background. This aligns with discussions of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class in the course material, highlighting how these intersecting identities can shape individuals' experiences and opportunities. Furthermore, the film also delves into power dynamics, particularly in relation to gender and sexuality. Balram's interactions with other characters demonstrate how these factors can further complicate an individual's social standing and influence their choices. Overall, by analyzing the representation of racial and ethnic identities in "The White Tiger" through an intersectional lens, we can gain a deeper understanding of how these complex factors interact to shape individuals' lives in popular visual culture.

Sources:

Summarization 

Trailer/Images

[joshhuclaaf112blogpost]

Candy Man Blog

Blog #3 Candy Man 1992-2020

In this blog post, I will be speaking about the original movie Candy Man made in 1992 and directed by Benard Rose, and its sequel made in 2020 directed by Nia DaCosta and co-produced by Jordan Peele. The original had a lot of criticism with its release with the original adaptation being from the written work of Clive Barker “The Forbiden”. The 2020 film was a reawaking of the original from it being depicted from a black lens compared to the original that was deprived of the veiw of a white lens. The original was extremely problematic and the criticism of its original release speaks on how it sort of had the same storyboard as the original King Kong storyline and movie, where blacks were taken at will but the beast fell for the white woman, in comparison with the film of “Candy Man” from 1992. In the 1992 version of the film black women were not pivotal or important characters such as the white protagonist Helen. 

The original film was set in Cabrini Green housing projects, which consisted of urban legend, race, and full of societal issues. The 2020 film was filmed in Chicago as well but the storyline referred to issues of gentrification and art and the actual impact of Candy Man the legend within the community compared to the original 1992 film. I was just two years old when the original film came out, being I was born in 1991 I do remember seeing the film with my grandmother, and without the educational background I have today, I did not find the criticism I can see now as an educated black man/ adult, but I gotta be honest seeing it when I was 8 years old was quite scary and the film did live up to my expectations as a youth of being a horror film. 

Both of the films surround the idea of Candy Man’s name being said 5 times in a mirror before he appears, and his makeup as a man with a hook in one of his hands.  His back story stems from pain and vengeance from a troubled past full of trauma that I am now able to understand as I am taking a class with a cool professor who breaks down the horror of the film from not only a viewer but of the black horror aspect. The 1992 film breaks down Candy Man as a slave with a tragic past, trying to find vengeance for his tragic death. The 2020 film adaption of Candy Man draws a deeper relation to his story, as his identity is a source of horror and a source of resistance to the many social injustices blacks face in society regarding racial injustices. 

The cinematic setting of the original Candy Man had a very Gothic approach, almost an atmospheric tone and elements of suspense with a scary score musically to add to the storyline. The 2020 film blended horror with more of a contemporary storyline cinematically, allowing the visuals to more so tell the story. The original film included actors from the Cabrini - Green housing projects while the 2020 adaption had a more diverse cast. To me personally, even though the first was heavily criticized I have to say I found the original more interesting than the 2020 adaption. Maybe I’m biased due to remembering watching it with my grandmother who is no longer here and remembering us watching it together, I personally didn't enjoy the 2020 version of the film.  

Both films break down the Candy Man mythology, but do it in many different ways regarding comparing both. The 2020 version of the film breaks down the original storyline just in modern terms, from cultural and historical points of view the first one didn't.  Still, anything Jordan Peele touches is good in my eyes and I hope my personal opinion does not diminish how good this film was, I just like the original better because it is a reminder of my childhood, and brings me back to the time and place from when I first watched it in the 90s. 

[genmakesmedia]

photo series: the male gaze and its influences

I took these photos in response to Laura Mulvey’s essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975). Reading this essay at the age of 17 helped me to understand a lot of feelings that, as a young queer person, I felt I should have been immune to, and I’ve carried it with me since. In the essay, Mulvey writes as follows: “The determining male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure… in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” She goes on to discuss cinema’s relationship with voyeurism, and the way that female characters are often used as tools for the male protagonist’s character development.

Because Mulvey’s theory discusses the lens through which women are often depicted onscreen, I wanted to play with the idea of someone being influenced by this and feeling as though they have to look good while they watch something. As a young feminine person, there is a lot of influence in the media about how you’re supposed to look, even when you’re alone or doing something mundane, and there is a feeling of failure that comes with feeling ugly or unattractive.

To take the pictures, I first set up my laptop on a bed with a movie and the brightness on full, so that the light would reflect off of my model’s face, and then dimmed the lights so that the rest of the room was lit only by a warm lamp. For makeup and costume, we went simple but not necessarily casual - the point is that we wanted them to look way too dressed up for doing something at home alone. Then to take the pictures I used my iPhone, playing with angles and perspective to create visual interest. I edited them in Photoshop Mobile, playing around with features like exposure and contrast but mostly using the “Split Tone” tool to give the images all a soft pink hue, to allude to the femininity that the person in the pictures is trying to achieve.

I might be biased as the model I used was my lovely partner, but I really like the way the pictures came out! I think that they are interesting to look at and sort of tell a story. However, if I were to re-do this shoot I would love to try it in a set fully of my own design, as some of the background details in the images do bug me slightly, and I’d like to play around with with creating a character through the objects in a room.

References:

Mulvey, L. (1999) 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', in L. Braudy and M. Cohen (eds.) Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: OUP USA, pp. 833-843

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

I really don’t get why people keep saying Allura was SO awful or horrible to Keith after learning about his heritage. She just gave him the cold shoulder for an episode or two, and it’s not like they brought this up later in the show as a way for her to hold some other grudge against him. People are just blowing it up as something bigger than it actually was. And like many people have said, her liking or “suddenly” being nice to Lotor wasn’t bc oH he’s Altean (1/2)

Continued anon message: “There were several moments between their first close encounter and him revealing his heritage which prove that trust was developing before then, but I guess people just overlook those (2/2)”

Hi, anon! Thanks for the note! Yeah, haha, this topic of “is Allura racist?” is an interesting one because for me, it boils down to looking at the show’s design decisions and details. And those design decisions came from real human beings who aren’t any more objective than the rest of us. So as a content creator myself (who feels incredibly human and and whose stories and portrayals are also imperfect by virtue of their imperfect creator), I have to recognize that it’s impossible to create a totally woke, unproblematic creative product—and it’s also impossible to ensure that everyone around the world interprets everything in exactly the same way, no matter how well-intentioned the project.

That said, I do think a lot of fans are victims of how this show may have manipulated/gaslit them to feel, not just about Allura but also about other characters and events as well—and that there are benefits to analyzing what went wrong with VLD.

My hope is that, as content creators and fans, maybe we can learn from VLD’s narrative mistakes or even better understand how two fans can have totally opposing interpretations over the same creative work. In the case of VLD, as I’ve mentioned before, the show uses a screwy and imbalanced narrative lens when portraying victims. To add to that, the show design also consistently undermines details foundational to the show universe (such as using an unreliable narrator to express what the show actually accepts as objective fact or history). This is important, because the way in which something is told/shown ultimately manipulates audience emotion for or against something. This gets into how propaganda and subliminal messaging work at a technical level. And when the narrative lens is handled in a biased way that undermines other story elements, audience reaction/interpretation gets messy, no matter what the stated events/facts are in the story. We are attuned to pick up on cognitive dissonances (inconsistent patterns) as part of our human survival instinct.

I’m not convinced that VLD dev team wielded the Power of the Narrative Lens very well—if it had, season 2′s portrayal of the conflict with Keith and Allura would have looked different.

In an s2 with a more balanced narrative lens, we likely would have seen at least flashes of Allura’s memory, showing some s3 backstory of Allura’s fear upon realizing that previously faithful Galran allies were killing multiple civilizations upon an order from their own kind...and coming for Altea next. Or maybe there would have been something/someone else involving Allura’s traumatic experiences so that the audience could have an empathetic, emotionally connective moment with her. We would have, in equal parts, still seen Keith’s plight as the suffering saint trying to figure out what being half-Galra means. And we would have seen the other paladins trying to resolve the conflict and understand how to recalibrate together as a team and a family.

Instead, in provided canon, we see Hunk (of all people, why Hunk?) make racist microaggressions at Keith, further alienating Keith without any recourse. And for Allura, the visual lens shows her making a cold glare at Keith without further explanation. It’s a very alienating moment. In season 2, you feel that coldness from Allura because the show’s visual lens aligns you to Keith’s gaze for several agonizing seconds, and the narrative bias of the animation is to show Keith as the singular victim in this situation. It is a very targeted, lonely, and disquieting moment for Keith. The other paladins and their reactions to Allura and Keith even feed into this. It’s not until s3 that we get an emotional glimpse into the omnicide of an entire solar system—and even then, that history focuses more on the motives of the instigators rather than showing the brutality experienced by victims. By that point, we’ve blown way past the s2 issue, which creates another layer of cognitive dissonance: that the situation doesn’t feel totally...resolved, somehow, even though plot-wise it actually is.

So I think there are indicators that the dev team’s own biases and agendas informed, at times for the worse, the very lens through which we consume the VLD story. I don’t think the dev team was aware what tackling genocide while visually portraying Allura’s trauma as antagonistic and alienating would result in? And I think this oversight gets into why some fans feel a certain way about literally anything in this show, haha. So I feel like we’re all victims of a show with amazing potential and incredibly fascinating elements but just…poor execution. 

One other thing I have to give faith on when I have a disagreement with another show fan—it’s a 78-episode show. How often are people holistically watching and critically reviewing this show in order to catch every little detail? I’m pretty sure I can’t remember all the details either, even though I re-watched the show not that long ago. So there’s a whole other layer here, where fans have a separation from the source content itself. So take those emotional negative “impressions” people developed while watching s2 or any other moment where Allura has been less than the ideal woman (oof, fandom is so forgiving with men but so unforgiving with women), and then suddenly muddy those memories with 2 years of not re-watching the show holistically. Typically, the brain is better at storing negative reactions than positive ones. So if someone had a negative reaction to Allura’s actions with Keith in s2 or elsewhere, without an empathetic moment to balance it out, then that negativity is going to stick, and every detail to the contrary is going to fade out.

I know for me, I’ve really had to fight the memory problem because after over a year, for example, I was building up impressions about VLD history that actually were missing some important details from s3. And that was kind of a shock to me. So I do think selective memory plays a part in adding to a biased dissonance one might feel from the actual story.

Ultimately, this whole unnecessary fandom split on “is Allura racist?” is one reason why I feel that VLD—for all of its good things that I genuinely love so much—had a lot of troubling issues. Despite all the canonical good that Allura ends up doing and how she overcomes trauma to champion genuine peace for all, there’s subliminal messaging against her because of how the visual and narrative spins  or hides things. And that issue has nothing to do with the characters but everything to do with the development team and how the show was written/directed. And that, I think, informs ongoing fandom perceptions of Allura and creates just some really painful and unnecessary messes, to the point of creating an overall inaccurate take like “Allura is racist” when in fact, she’s just traumatized from very real and significant abuses and overcomes that, even.

It really makes me, as a writer, try to look at my own stories and attempt to understand “why” I portray certain things as I do while writing—and if that lens portrayal is really the best one for the effect/message I want. Because the way in which a story is conveyed can really play mind games with the audience, and that might not be the right effect for a story that isn’t another Inception or Crying of Lot 49, lol.

[legionofpotatoes]

my thonks on the new game I played this weekend, under the cut for length and spoilers

I softly clicked the Sable icon when first booting it up yesterday, expecting a visually pleasing indie game about nothing with Mechanics LiteTM loosely screwed on; and I am sitting here now on a platinum trophy, with messed up hair and wide open eyes, wondering what the fuck has just happened.

It completely blindsided me with the Entire Rest Of The Experience after I was done oohing and aahing at the cel shaded packaging. I was expecting a Journey-esque barebones rumination on esoteric concepts at the very best, but here I was seeing a charming story that was one hundred percent steeped in metaphors but decidedly about something. or maybe two things in my mind, identity and purpose, and it goes about articulating them through character writing which is. So good?? Sable is an actual character. with interiority and desires, and her world is peppered with NPCs that are eager to chat back and reveal that they very much possess their own, too. The story is fury-road-simple, yet her growth is palpable and almost entirely gameplay-driven through player lens and agency. You get to literally decide what your purpose is and what purpose even means by the end. And the more you engage with and give to the world, the more it gives back to inform and enrich the context around that decision. It is such a deliciously simple parable that it is impossible not to click with it on some level.

And yeah, the game design is fucking rock-solid, another surprise. Not that I short-change indies because of their scope necessarily, but they do generally tend to be on the single-idea-test-drive side of the industry equation, rarely excelling at all internal pillars at once. Not the case here. There are smart choices made in borrowing mechanics from other titles and throwing them in an elegant mix that works in the internal math of this specific world; and it is all from-the-top efficiency. Sable looks for purpose through exploration and wears her currently preferred identity on her sleeve, so the entire macro loop is dialed in on those two elements. exploration and expression, with all extra fat trimmed off. your stamina meter feeds the first, various cosmetics feed the second. deft RPG-like quest structure and varied mission chains award you with boosts to both.

It is difficult to articulate, but the symbiosis between story and gameplay is really-really tight here, the very opposite of ludonarrative dissonance, to an almost indistinguishable degree. And it is never best exemplified than during the ending of the game, wherein the ending is a choice you make, you choose to end the game when you decide that Sable has found her purpose (it is all a neat dance of mask metaphors and communal occupations); and if you decide that she hasn't, or that her purpose is the search, the text automatically supports and encourages it. You can end it with 75% of the content untouched, or glide endlessly on, wearing any mask you start liking at any point. It is the ultimate celebration of autonomy in destiny and identity, and its fluidity, and its ownership. The game makes that distinction with a gentle firmness; the gliding rituals are solitary, personal. You make that final choice for yourself, you acknowledge the consequences but it is yours to make or not make.

The game is the search, and it ends if you decide that Sable has found herself.

The word "gentle" is so evergreen when thinking about this game, too. It is incredibly chill and introspective, yet manages to achieve triple-A level forward momentum without using a lick of combat gameplay, competitive beatdowns, fail states even, just entirely disregarding violence as a form of interaction between the player and the world, both lanes. And I know I'm biased to home in on and love this sort of thing because empathy-building gameplay is something I preach about like an annoying doomsday prophet but really, it really works here, despite me and despite itself. There is genuine good game design underneath the naivete of the idea, driving engagement and keeping your attention glued to the process without using combat mechanics. In an open-world RPG-like arena. It can be done.

And it looks and sounds fucking great and there's pretty decent customization of Sable and even of your weird kinda-alive bike that has terrible pathfinding when summoned. The selective absence of depth tones can be disorienting at first, but the aesthetic sorta makes its case with time, and the charming animations (is Sable animated on twos when she runs?) lock in the spell. The game is definitely finicky in some technical areas; I encountered one fairly major bug that randomly sorted itself out after minutes of me doing nothing (the button activating the watch sundial wouldn't trigger), and fairly common pains of open-world streaming would sometimes fire off like random audio cues and NPCs spawning on top of one another and real bad frame drops in geometry-heavy areas. But I definitely heard much worse than I experienced with my run. I managed to 100% the whole thing without a hitch and even wore my princess chum dress to the final gliding ceremony.

Anyway. I want to talk about a thousand different things Sable does well but this post was mainly about how good it is with telling a story about purpose that you get to both literally and metaphorically search for before deciding to end or not end it. It is just very very good at being story-first. Please buy it! Instead of fighting giant beetles you kinda try and make them poop for science, it's amazing.

[rplayford02]

Week 2 - Initial Thoughts

Can't speak for the rest of my group but I'm not a big fan of O.Henry's writing style so settling on an idea has been tricky. I don't generally enjoy stories this didactic or heavy handed in their message, overuse of exposition is a pet peeve, twists are kind of overrated - it's just not to my taste.

Having said that, after reading a couple of synopsises I managed to find a story that kind of intrigued me: 'The Cactus'.

---

Synopsis - A man comes back from his ex’s wedding remorseful of how their relationship ended. The brother of the bride sheds some light on the situation.

Initial thoughts:

Flashbacks to the relationship - perhaps from the main characters point of view, a biased, misremembered account of events, like an unreliable narrator

Idea of the cactus as a peculiar object which the narrative revolves around e.g like an episode of Inside No.9

Dysfunctional relationship, the protagonist has an ego problem, he’s too proud and this is his downfall

All the main characters are men, the women need to be less passive / have more agency in our adaptation

The misunderstanding revolves around language (the main character brags that he knows Spanish, he doesn’t, she responds to his proposal by sending a note in Spanish, he never receives the message) - how do we make this more cinematic? Maybe on-screen text?

Need to bring up to modern day and alter the locations to suit the time period/location e.g the characters meet to talk in a pub?

Could use a lot of close ups, make the cinematography experimental, led by sensory imagery, with lens distortion, unusual aspect ratio to enhance the whimsy in the story

Only 4 characters, could be narrowed down to 3 - Captain Carruthes and the Brother-of-the-Bride could be condensed into one character?

The name of Trysdale would be changed to something more current

Inspired by Wes Anderson - whimsical, ironic, a dry comedy (as opposed to a tragic drama, although it might still have notes of tragedy?)

Themes:

time / memory / reminiscing

plants e.g the cactus - reminds me of victorian flower language

miscommunication / language

narcissism / self-obsession / pride / vanity / ego

regret

The concept of responding to a proposal after a few days is outdated now so this plot point would need to be altered slightly

Could frame it as a story within a story? It feels like a story with a moral, it wraps up too nicely to be a straight forward drama, this world is different to the reality we recognise as our own therefore framing it with a story gives us more scope to have fun with it. Only question is who would be telling this story and why?

could use different aspect ratios, edit footage to look archival, or use actual archive

close ups of details e.g handwritten notes

could project 'memories' onto the characters face or explore similar experimental methods

how I'm currently imagining it (visually/stylistically/tonally)...

Deep focus, tableau style framing for the dialogue with cutaways to focus in on details - taking inspiration from the cinematography of Robert Yeoman (know for his work on Wes Anderson films) and Erik Wilson (specifically Submarine, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and the HBO series Landscapers).

Ironic, dryly humorous with attention to detail. Use of slow tracking shots and quick edits inspired by Edgar Wright's earlier filmography.

[skinnerhousebooks]

Images in the news, social media, advertisements, memes, websites, and selfies shape how we understand ourselves, our society, and our world. Even the images we don’t see have an impact on our daily lives. But images are not innocent. And we don’t have to be passive consumers. Our racial identities, assumptions, histories, and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?

Situated at the intersection of critical whiteness theory and visual culture, Through the Lens of Whiteness: Challenging Racialized Imagery in Pop Culture teaches readers visual literacy tools that expose racist messages, conventions, and symbols in images. Authors Diane S. Grimes and Liz Cooney help readers understand these patterns more deeply with detailed analysis of vivid image examples and personal stories to dismantle existing biases and develop an antiracist perspective. Grimes and Cooney are guided by the principle that white people bear the responsibility for dismantling racist structures and so primarily address white readers, but also offer this book in the hope that it will be a powerful tool of resistance for all readers.

Through the Lens of Whiteness is available at shopinspirit.org and wherever books are sold.

[podcastlimbo]

My honest honest opinion on second citadel season 3

Uhhhh... short answer? I didn’t like it much.

Okay wait before I go on to my long answer I need to say that this is all just my opinion and it’s all subjective. If you liked sc season 3 that’s awesome! I get why you do and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

But I really wasn’t a fan of where they went with it (even from episode 1), and I’m gonna go on a long rambly and repetitive rant about it.

I’m not gonna talk about the way the season ended and the setup for s4 because I haven’t fully formed my opinion about that - to form my opinion means to relisten to the season and i don’t really feel like doing that.

Anyways, these are my unfiltered 2am thoughts about the Rest Of It - maybe I’ll neaten it up later to make it more palatable but for now it’s wordy n messy and you can just. Not read it bc it’ll probably make you mad, or feel free to pick it apart and tell me I’m wrong, or unfollow me (and at least one person has already done so lmao) but like that won’t change the fact that I just wasn’t feeling s3 so uh. That said.

Long answer? I love the second citadel... at least the first two seasons

I love the world building, how the setting is such a unique, deliberate step away from eurocentric fantasy, how refreshing all that is! The Second Citadel (the place) is rich with culture and history from the brief glimpses we get of it (mostly in knight of the crown). Not to mention the monster society, with its own rules (or lack thereof) and environments and personalities.

I love the storytelling, how different mediums are woven into the way each episode is formatted. Rilla has her tape recorder, Damien his prayers, Caroline her letters, and each medium is so well suited to each character, and it truly lets us get a glimpse of what’s going on in their minds, and I find it utterly fascinating how a protagonist of one story could just as easily become an antagonist (or at least, an annoyance) in another

And the characters! Each one so compelling, with their own goals and motivations, their own intriguing backstories and potential.

Most importantly, the way these characters play off of each other is what makes second citadel amazing. Getting to see people with similar experiences but different world views clash (Caroline and Mira), people with fundamentally different beliefs reconcile and meet in the middle (rilla and arum), just, Kabert created so many interesting characters, and watching them bounce off one another is a joy.

And that’s what made season 2 so great for me. The exploration of each character, getting to see their good sides and bad, through either a medium tailored for them, or through interactions with others, as they explored a fascinating world.

The end of season 2 left me so satisfied, but still with so many questions and excitement about what was to come. I wanted to see Talfryn come into his own and step out of his brothers shadow. I wanted to see Damien, Arum and Rilla navigating their new relationship. I wanted to know more of the fate of Rilla’s parents, Damien’s past, the consequences Arum would surely face after defying the monster court. I wanted Marc to finally be recognized by his fellow knights, to watch as Caroline lead the journeymen knights, while learning to trust in others as she was beginning to do. I wanted Angelo continuing to unlearn the implicit biases that had been instilled in him as a result of his upbringing, or more details on Caroline and Quanyii’s relationship. I was also curious!! How would human and monster relations change after the events of the finale? And would we learn more of the past, when humans and monsters lived together in peace?

I was buzzing with excitement for season 3, and then.. it came, it aired, and then it went.

And I felt... meh?

Don’t get me wrong. There were moments that I liked. Some of what I hoped to see did happen (see the above paragraph lmao), getting a glimpse of the western wastes with its own culture a joy. The dynamics between Olala and some of the characters were really fun! And the direction the story took at the end was one I didn’t expect, but left me open to more.

That said,,, everything else about the season just. Didnt gel with me.

Everything I loved about second citadel pretty much wasn’t there??? Aside from Caroline, Angelo and Quanyii, all the characters they spent so much time introducing to us and fleshing out over 2 seasons were just relegated to the side??

I think my main problem with season 3 was that it felt like a completely different show. Characters introduced as part of an ensemble became side characters in (what was supposed to be) their own stories. Character arcs that got set up were dropped, and mysteries/backstories teased were forgotten. Heck, the monster court and senate wasn’t even brought up! The aftermath of the fear bugs attack ont the citadel went unexplored! It’s like nothing in the past season even happened!

And I’m sorry I gotta say this, but the problem is Olala.

I mean. Okay I don’t wanna be super mean- she’s perfectly fine as a character. We root for her, we cry when she cries, and we cheer when she wins the day.

But since all the episodes were centered around her, we didn’t get to see anyone else’s inner worlds. And like okay, yes, they did it for this season of Juno Steel too, where Juno, the previous POV a character for 2 seasons, became a part of an ensemble, and was a side character for many episodes. But this choice worked for Juno and not Second Citadel, because it was a natural progression for his story! We spent 2 seasons exploring Juno’s character, his backstory, his motivations, we saw him come to terms with his family history, grow and change as a person, and by the time he joined the Carte Blanche, we’d gotten to a point with Junos story where we’re okay to step away for a while, and see events through the lens of others.

But that just?? Doesn’t work in second citadel? Because unlike Juno, the characters introduced in s1-2 are virtually unexplored! There’s still so much about their stories we don’t know, and so many ways for them to progress.

But we didn’t get any of that! Stuff established in s1-2 barely got payoff in this season. Characters stagnated, and when previously it was amazing to watch them interact with each other? Having each episode throw different combinations of characters together and seeing how they clashed and came together? Yeah we didn’t get that, it was all the same characters bouncing off of Olala, which is fine at first, but honestly? After the first couple episodes, it got stale.

And remember how before, we would get to see the characters tell their story through a medium suited for them? Well I noticed that the format of this season was a lot moreee audio drama-y (basically a TV show but with no visuals) and while there’s nothing wrong with that, one of SC’s strengths was in using the medium in unique ways, presenting the episodes in unique formats depending on the POV character. And with the exception of a few moments, the season really lacked that!

I know there were episodes in s1-2, like caves of discord and the Janus beast which didnt follow that format, but I think it’s a fan consensus that the episodes that do (moonlit hermit, KOTC lots, lady of the lake) are favourites, because they fully embraced the advantages and limitations those framing devices offered, and were truly perfect for character exploration.

It’s like. Idk. Imagine wolf 359 s3 where the si5 were introduced, and there was like 1-2 episodes of them interacting with the rest of our cast, but then after that the rest of the season just completely focuses on Eiffel and the new characters, and everyone else just disappears n twiddles their thumbs and doesn’t even do anything during the finale. That’s what happened this season, and that’s the kinda weird vibe I’m talking about.

Since I’m already rambling, I might as well just say some more stuff. I was disappointed with the music this season. I can tell Ryan Vibert was trying to figure a way to make SC sound different from Juno, and he was getting there in s1-2! The pieces that stand out now are the soft, acoustic guitar pieces, like Rillas song, or the lone melody line of the guitar in the SC theme. I thought he was getting it with s3e1, when Marc fought the dinosaur while traditional Japanese instruments were playing!! But then for the rest of the season, it was just samey echoey ambient electric guitar, like how it is for Juno. There could’ve been so much potential to give this world its own musical identity, but in the end, that attempt was dropped (at least that’s how it come off to me), just like so many other elements introduced in s1-2!

I’ve gotten this far in my rant, and I haven’t even talked about the story. And the story is. Hmmmmm

Like. It’s completely serviceable? Kabert are good at what they do so the story is a okay I guess? But to be completely honest, the characters and story were so tied together in previous seasons, so much so that in this season, even though the plot was just fine, it stayed just that. Fine. it always felt like there was something missing because the characters were the story, and to have just. So many holes in that department meant that the story itself was fundamentally empty.

Anyways uh. All of this is to say that this all boils down to character. I had my nits to pick with other elements but the fact that Rilla, Arum, Damien, Marc and Talfryn got completely sidelined (Tal most of all) when so much of the previous seasons were spent setting them up- in favour of a completely new storyline featuring new characters and settings when there was still so! Much! Left! Unfinished! From unfulfilled arcs to dynamics left untapped, and creative potential lost, the essence of the show was watered down and it left me with the intense feeling of

:/

Idk. Season 3 felt like a completely different show. I liked s1, I loved a2, but s3 just. isnt second citadel for me. I’ll probably still listen to the next season out of loyalty, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel as passionately about the shows future as I do it’s precious seasons, especially if they continue this way.

Sorry.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

There are times when we get caught up in black and white, either/or, and all or nothing. We forget sometimes to breathe, step back, and find the gray in between. Sometimes we recognize that those hard lines in the sand are drawn more out of habit than any concrete reasoning we can immediately muster, and that there isn't really a justifiable reason to place such great emphasis on separating the thing in question in the first place. Opinions on evaluations of fictional characters are held in extremes as marks of character and points of contention within fandom far and above what they usually should be.

For many, fandom is a form of escape above mere entertainment. Comfort characters garner a following of people who often share enough commonality to bolster each other and bind them together in support as they cheer on and vicariously live through each and every one of that character's victories. Occasionally, though, these characters can end up having the exact opposite effect.

Even putting my personal feelings about Takami Keigo aside, I've always been fascinated by what he objectively is as an anime character. Though I fully recognize that removing myself from the equation is difficult, if I had to put my impression of what he is in the industry into words I'd say he feels like lightning in a bottle. It's not often in anime I find a character with such an appealing and striking visual design within his own series and next to characters of any other series, alongside such an endearing and clearly defined characterization in the way he's written and the way he acts - the whole combination of which is more powerful than the sum of its parts is something I can only describe as plain and simply "appealing" - and the mundaness of the word betrays the profound extent to which that definition applies. Almost anyone in the world could look at that character with no prior knowledge and say and say, "I like him." Almost anyone who might venture to look a little deeper would probably say at the very least, "Yup, I can appreciate that character exists" even if it stopped there.

There's likely far more of these kinds of characters in anime than I give them credit for, but Hawks has struck a chord with me in particular that resonates far more than most other examples I could think of. He's done the same with many more, I know. I am not the only Hawks-centered meta/analysis blog on this site alone by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't be surprised if my own more-often-than-not, self-indulgent interpretation of events has however many more rolling their eyes at my work. I experience the same thing myself on occasion in regards to content I disagree with (all in good faith, please understand - we all have different tastes and viewpoints and that's a good thing), but in this particular context I find something exceptionally bittersweet in it.

For some, it's simply bitter because they place an emotional stake in the ultimate fate of Takami Keigo far above what I do - something that's much more personal and valuable than I often realize; or maybe I do, but those reasons why simply strike far more deep and personal for others than I can personally relate to.

From the very beginning Hawks has been framed in the moral gray of the greater context of the My Hero Academia lore. He is not all good but not all bad. The way he interacts with others comes across as cold and calculating, but his inner thoughts betray a warmth and depth that's deeply endearing. The contrast of the massive good he seeks to do despite the profound wickedness of his upbringing has captured the hearts of many and has them thinking more or less the same thing, "This character has such an undeniable amount of good in his heart that he deserves to end up happy after all the pain he's been through."

"He deserves to be free. He shouldn't have to be alone anymore. He should do what makes him happy, not anyone else." Every single Hawks fan I've heard from has echoed these same core sentiments, though it's taken many forms.

Herein lies the near paradox of his fanbase, ironically befitting his ambiguous nature: the very traits that endear him to individual fans are often the context and lens by which they define the key to the ultimate happiness they want for him, and that spectrum is a wide one to the point of having one of the most diverse dedicated fanbases to a single character I've ever seen.

Just as an easy example, for someone who latched onto the fact he was used like a literal tool for others' gain, they may see the key to Hawks' happiness in rebellion - kicking the system, fighting the man, going apeshit for once next to people who also are tired of being trampled over.

For someone who recognizes his unwavering desire to do good and help others despite his developmental environment may see him being handed the reins of his own life back to him as his ticket - to have the choice of saying yes or no, to be able to keep going or just fly away merely because he wants to.

I have to pause and emphasize that they key to understanding both perspectives is catharsis for the audience in question, and while I have my own opinions as to which is more befitting to the character as written, I am placing equal emphasis on both interpretations as valid reasons to root for the ultimate outcome in each scenario.

This is all in response to comments I've received thanking me for being so steadfast and vocal in my insistence that while Hawks' formal allegiance may change, his heart and the way he feels towards heroes in general will not. I may have my personal preference and own interpretation of what that will look like in the end, but the key takeaway is that I don't see him bucking the entire heart of the hero movement in hopes to get back at the Hero Commission.

However, that isn't to say I don't understand or look down upon those who either genuinely have come to a different conclusion or would just rather see it happen because it would be more satisfying or interesting for them in particular. I also wouldn't be sore if it ended up coming to pass assuming the buildup to that point felt appropriate and genuine as I don't see it as an impossibility for his character. For me, it doesn't have to be a point of contention driving a wedge between different Hawks fans.

So if you ever feel frustrated or upset at the amount of support in your preference or lack thereof in your desired direction, don't let it get to you. While others have their own reasons for wanting the ending they want, the overall result they want from him is more than likely the same as you.

I asked a completely informal poll giving people an either/or ultimatum for where fans personally wanted him to end up, purposely leaving out a potential third option; but the replies I got overwhelmingly echoed the same one regardless of the false either/or I intentionally planted, "I have my preferences for where I want him to end up, but really all I want is for him to be free and do what he wants in the end because it's what HE wants to do."

That's amazing!

Simply by virtue of my own audience or the way it rippled through the community it could be biased in any direction, but when at least HALF of the total responses say, "Neither" in some capacity regardless of a forced preference I think it's safe to say that we all have a lot more in common regarding this character than we often realize, and he isn't even real!

Hawks was always gray on purpose, and I really hope at the end of his arc we get something that pulls together and unites the other characters in the series as well as the fans because I think that's the point of his character to begin with. I doubt everyone will be completely happy with the outcome off the bat, but as long as it's genuinely satisfying from a character development standpoint I hope we can pull together in support knowing we can't always get what we want, but it was a good run - plus there's always fan fiction for when the author got it wrong!

For real, though, let's get excited together. Find your corner, but follow the character not the crowd. You don't have to think of them as perfect, and sometimes the characters that even end up disappointing us the most stick with us longer. We can always dig a little deeper to find out why they did what they did, or why we want something so badly for them, and even just acknowledge when we just want what we want because we want it. That doesn't make us bad people or bad fans. Fiction is usually written to be enjoyed - HeroAca definitely not an exception to that general rule - and tastes in entertainment vary far and wide. Any one series with that variety of expectations aimed at it just can't satisfy everyone so I'd personally rather it stick to the story it was trying to tell from the beginning instead of succumbing to a popularity vote, even if I didn't get the ending I wanted.

I just hope this was a comfort to some of you and an olive branch to others in case you were feeling down about how others viewed your comfort character or just caught up in another ultimately pointless fandom war because it happens. Maybe we can even use it as an exercise to see things from another viewpoint to understand their perspective and realizing it's okay to agree to disagree. I don't want to put this in the character tags because I think there are plenty that don't need or want this content but still those that do who will find and share it in confidence. This isn't about sides or even being right. Let's enjoy our favorite character together and watch him be happy in the end, however that ends up being.

[eili7dlmcq]

It was obvious to me what I had to add to my portfolio when looking at my first 6 images. I had no architectural images, and little portraits. I also decided to shoot a studio still life that was to my personal taste as the still life I had shot prior were given to me as a brief. 

Architectural 

I took inspiration from the photographer and artist Pierre Chantel-Innocenti. My intention with this shot was to use my focal length to come in very close to the building so that there was no background, I took two shots using my 70mm lens and combined them to create the illusion that they were side by side when it is intact two shots of the same building. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this image and really kicked myself for not shooting architecture more. I took advantage of my ability to shoot strong images using different focal lengths, I wasn't confident in doing this before starting college.

Location portrait 

When coming up with a plan for my first portrait I knew I liked the look of natural light, soft and crisp. I used a male model, applied highlighter to reflect the light and had him topless in a bright white room with him holding some white card just below his face also to reflect the light. I shot on 50mm lens f2.8 to blow out the back and have the subjects face as the main focus. i cleared up the models skin using the spot healing brush. I really love this shot, i think its very interesting to look at and I think it would be intriguing to people and people would stop to look at it if they were scrolling through Instagram or flicking through a magazine (maybe thats just me being excited and a little biased about my own work). I worked on my ability to work with available light, and using skin retouching in folio 3.

Climate justice

I done my story telling on Reduce Reuse Recycle, three ways to reduce your carbon footprint. The shot is of a pile of plastic rubbish. On top of that is a shot of a plastic tub that was in the pile of rubbish, being reused as a food container - trying to show it as being reused but I'm not sure if that message even got across :) I used my 70mm and shot at different focal lengths, I used available light although looking back now the first image definitely could've been shot under better lighting conditions.  I really like the composition of this shot. I learnt how to combine images in folio 3 and I've really enjoyed using this skill as you can see in my portfolio as i have used this technique a lot. 

Still life

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this image as I had previously shot a garden plant using zooming techniques and really loved the way it looked. I wanted to shoot a flower while zooming in order for it to look visually like a painting. I used a tripod, a single light and my 70mm with my 7D. After a while I realised I wasn't getting what i wanted from zooming so I decided to try and create a double exposure instead, this is what I ended up doing. I placed the two images together one larger than the other on photoshop. I used my zooming and double exposure photoshop skills that I learned at the beginning of NQ, these are probably my two favourite techniques that I now use a lot & had no knowledge of how to execute prior to starting NQ.

Studio portrait

My love for film photography is what brought me to college, although at the time I had no idea how complex photography really was and I has absolutely no interest in digital photography. I had no technical skill whatsoever i just had a olympus mju 2. Over time I gradually lost interest for my film camera as I realised it wasn't really real photography and I felt like it was kind of pointless me using it which I now realise it dumbbbb and i should've just continued as it did bring me a lot of happiness. Due to all of this i decided i wanted to emulate a film Photo Booth photo strip, I had organised a model to come into college but she never turned up. I used my 70mm, tripod and a single frontal light. I had my class mate stand and took headshots to resemble a photo booth image. When editing i used filters and screens available on moodle, to create a old vintage looking film strip with burnt out end. i edited each image (there was 3 in total) separately then combined them vertically. Once I had the image completed i combined three of the same together, which gave me a rectangle of 6 images. I was so happy with this, even though my vision never came true with my model i still captured some great shots which gave me an amazing final product and i couldn't have been happier with it. This task i set myself has really made me push myself outside of my comfort zone develop my skills in the studio as i previously never enjoyed it but after this task my thoughts on it have changed. I used my studio lighting, communication and editing skills.

Overall, I have gained a large variety of different skills from September until now, social and photographic. My technical skills have increased drastically, I had no idea how to use my SLR before I started and now there is never an issue. And like i said above I love creating multiple exposures and experimenting with zooming, I learned all of this at college.

 I sometimes felt too scared or embarrassed to ask for help because I thought I should've had the answers, but my lecturers always were there to reassure myself and my classmates that that was not the case at all, and were always on hand and very pleasant and helpful. I have learned to be more confident in myself with others, and with my work. There have been numerous occasions where I have thought my work hasn't been good enough and my lecturers have told me its great, so I have definitely became more confident with my work and open to sharing it with others. 

I have also learned to take constructive criticism on board better, in the past it would make me upset but now it makes me strive to better myself and my work.