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randomnameless · 1 year ago

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I second the point about Earl Grey - how can Fodlan be an Earl Grey Masterpiece (tm) compared to, say, that silly Engage game, if we have an evil cult of evil racist supremacists who are behind everything wrong (tm) in the world?

Due to Supreme Leader bias or pandering, the devs still wrote the benevolent dragons and their influence to be BaD and needing ReFoRmAtIoN because, uh, reasons - even in VW which is, imo, one of the reasons why this route is so flawed and needed Rhea to die off-screen for the route to ultimately end - which makes the story look really off : if Agarthans are the reason why everything goes wrong in Fodlan (because random people can't even be asses to each other, as Nopes demonstrated, everything was engineered by Agarthans!), why are the Nabateans, depicted as benevolent and helping humans - if not reacting strongly when people try to kill them even if the plot takes great measures not to give them to much light - universally decried - as in, their legacy (the CoS) cannot continue to exist in the way it was at the beginning of the game (you know, when Agarthans and their allies wrre wrecking shit up) and must be "reformed" under Billy's guidance?

Fodlan points at the CoS being "BaD" because characters who diss them are never challenged, because the CoS itself never gets a chance to explain why they do X or Y or the game weirdly frames it as wrong (remember Caspar being upset because people who, uh, tried to rob a site and killed unarmed students are executed???), and ultimately, is always "ReFoRmEd" or "changes" for the "better" at the end of the war.

So, despite showing us all the relative benevolent things they do, given how the narrative pisses on them at every second, the treatment of the CoS is seen as peak "morally earl grey" - when, imo, it's just nonsensical writing made to pretend two lords have a point.

On the opposite end of the spectrum - bar Supreme Leader's skewed priorities in FE16 - we have nothing remotely positive to say/read/discover about Agarthans, they're racial supremacists, they commended a genocide - even if Epi frowns a bit at Thales' methods, he still wants to save and calls Nemesis'n'his Elites "allies" while calling the Nabateans "spawn of the abomination" or "wretches"... -

So we end with one faction the game depicts as "Trust me they BaD even if I always show the inverse" and another as "shown and told to be BaD" - that's where the logical fallacy from the Earl Grey falls apart : if one faction is told to be BaD despite showing things they do that are GoOd, the opposite faction should... also be kind of the same, or at least, not be told and shown to be BaD, right?

I get trying to make Fodlan more interesting and escaping the binary writing of the games and setting by having HC or fanfics giving more meat to Agarthans...

But in the canon material, even if Nopes wasted its WoH paralogue on depicting the Agarthan PoV out of everything they could have came up with, the Agarthans we see (Cleo, Myson, Thales, Kronya Epi, Solon, etc) are relatively one-note and way more nefarious to Fodlan and its people than whatever the Nabateans are presumably doing.

But hey, the Earl Grey veneer regarding the CoS (and Nabateans, because as a race they must be wrong Supreme Leader said so) really took its hold on the fandom (special mention to Rhage!) - It used to annoy me but now I laugh at it, when some people, let it be on YT comments or whatnot complain about the game not showing the dark side of the CoS or the Nabateans doing things that'd make the conflict less one-sided : while they understand the framing of the CoS and Nabs is artificial and hammered without any substance, instead of wondering why this is so artificial, they have the inverse reasoning : the game was afraid of making Rhea/the CoS look bad by not showing the so-called atrocities the totally not biased characters say about them -> believing the totally not biased totes reliable characters over, well, what they can play and see and read in various flavour texts as a player.

"Why don't we see the CoS being more racist and/or forbidding contact with outside, leashing out Gilbert's brother for trading with Albinea?"

Maybe because the person who says the Church promotes isolationism is full of crap and doesn't even know what he is talking about? Even in his end support blurb ?

I'd also say this also is a result of Nopes - which felt, on that regard, a bit more "well-written" than Houses since they dropped (but not totally, it's a Fodlan game after all!) all pretenses of "telling us the CoS is BaD" - Claude and Supreme Leader piss on the CoS ? Fine, let them do their stuff, but AG will have NPCs, characters and supports (Dedue'n'Cat) contradicting everything the other two routes are parroting/saying.

Of course the characters will never be challenged on that front, and Dimitro exists because this is still a Fodlan game - and yet the less "hypocritical" side of the writing is shown in this game : in Golden Shower, we're left wondering for reasons why the CoS needs to be eliminated, Claude's faulty reasonings can be poked with a spoon (even if no one uses any in his army, save for Barney's ominous lines) and it just comes as a one-sided hatred and tantrum an asshat is throwing because, uh, why not, coupled with racist stereotypes and a big dose of "I'm going to remove the outdated customs of that land I'm invading with my army" stench.

Supreme Leader? Does Supreme Leader things, backstabs the CoS - who lent their help when she asked them to lol - and while we witness an assassination attempt from the CoS in this route, well, it's against her, the main instigator of this war, something even Larva spells out! This route ends with the CoS making the big sacrifices to get rid of the big bad (Thales) this path first identified, ignoring Supreme Leader in the process.

So in those two routes littered with various "but Church BaD trust us" we end up with people questionning the Lord who is depicted as a petulant shit head, and... the CoS having a big sacrifice/heroic moment at the end to defeat the bigger foes, the Agarthans.

-> Nopes ends (maybe against its initial will as a game centered on Agarthan narrative?) on a better appreciation/note/feeling for Nabateans and the CoS, despite having two routes siding against them.

Compare with Houses, who always removes Nabateans/Rhea of the picture (except in SS's S support) and brings "reforms" to the CoS - because it needed some, even if we will never know what they are or why those reforms were needed.

If by playing FE16 some people got the feeling Nabateans and Agarthans were, uh, as bad as the other because Supreme Leader said so, those same people might have been frustrated playing Nopes because, hey, in Nopes, the game is more or less telling you that, no, Nabateans try to help protect and save Fodlan, when the Agarthans are hell bent on destroying it and everyone who isn't them!

Mind you, Claude's route made some people feel bad for Nabateans/Rhea/the CoS, because of his insistence that they must be destroyed because "reasons" when all of his assurance that they have to be destroyed comes from thin air and we're shown AND told they aren't... doing the things Claude accuses them for.

Nopes ruins the Earl Grey veneer FE16 built to demonise the CoS, so by extension, if Supreme Leader's priorities have to make some sense in FE16 (funny how Claude can be called an idiot or moron, but Supreme Leader might just be called 'misguided'), the Nabateans have to be a least a bit bad, or really really bad so siding with the Agarthans isn't completely bonkers.

Ergo : For the Agarthans to be a "viable" option to ally with, their common enemies, the Nabateans, must be demonised, even moreso than what FE16 and its subsequent fandom/fanworks tried to because Nopes hammered again that Nabateans are protectors/siding with humans who don't want to fight/war for "reasons".

Tl;Dr : some people cannot accept that their "Earl Grey" masterpiece is pretty straightforward, and all of this "earl grey" exists in their own fanon because they do not like what the canon is telling, and refuse to make the difference between fanon and canon.

I keep thinking about how people want the Agarthans to be victims. Not so much that people are saying they did nothing wrong, but a lesser evil compared to Rhea and the Nabateans. I'd ask myself why people would want such a thing, as even in the route where you side with them they're made out to be evil that will be exterminated, but I wouldn't have to think about why that as. The answer is simple, they validate Edelgard's killing of Rhea.

And, really, it fits with stuff I've seen since the game came out. The people claiming that despite Silver Snow and Verdant Wind being routes where big reveals to the lore are given to the player they, alongside Azure Moon, lie to the player and that Edelgard is the only one to tell them “the truth.” Or that said lore pops out of canon once the player decides to side with Edelgard. They want to ignore that the same route not only paints Edelgard as a liar often enough that a chapter titled “Lady of Deceit” begins and ends with her lying to her army, but also reveals that Edelgard herself knows that her source was an Agarthan puppet yet she is still clinging to that narrative. They'll claim it's all a matter of what the player believes to be true and tell people to disregard the game's creators saying that they built Fodlan to support the story of Silver Snow, and that while Flower is about believing something else, how that leads to not only mowing down everyone who stands in your way because of those beliefs but also ends up with tyranny and oppression under the path of supremacy.

Or we'll get people who ignore that Claude's route talks about how we need to let go of misconceptions we may have about others by getting to know them, and how Claude's misconceptions about the Church may have been caused by the Agarthans feeding him info to turn him against Rhea. No, instead Claude is a manipulative schemer who should have killed Rhea as his final boss after learning about her past and how his ancestors profited off the slaughter of her people, and that Golden Wildfire is who Claude really is and his good route.

Because people want to believe that Houses is this morally grey game, where everyone is a hero from their POV. But let's look at that. As mentioned, Claude's POV blaming the Church is ultimately framed as him having misconceptions, and once he got to know them he realized that Rhea didn't have to be his enemy in achieving his goals. Not only that, he realizes the Agarthans tried to manipulate him like he says they did to Edelgard, and ends up taking them out before finishing off Nemesis. Dimitri's POV is based on his survivor guilt and belief that he needs to live for the sake of avenging those who died. He grows out of this thanks to Byleth teaching him he needs to live for the sake of the living and for himself, all while taking the Agarthans out by complete accident while Edelgard's ideals are presented as demonic while Dimitri's beliefs make him a savior. Meanwhile, Edelgard's POV is based on what her father told her despite her knowing he was an Agarthan puppet. She can't be swayed her path as she tries to lie and manipulate those around her, and the world supports the route where Byleth leads the Black Eagles away from her influence (making it so that the Black Eagles are the only class who can get their story-related character development joining any other class). It's either that, or you ignore the world building to walk a path that is based around hadou, which has negative connotations especially when contrasted with oudou, which is what Dimitri's route is supposed to lead to.

You can ignore this growth if you play Hopes, but Hopes is supposed to show how much of an influence Byleth has on their class and is not supposed to replace that experience. Shez can't give Dimitri or Claude the character growth they would have gotten to see the problems with their POV, nor can they stop the Eagles from supporting Edelgard. Shez just seems to go with whatever the lord says, adapting to the route being played, and as such enables each lord's behavior. Not to mention that Shez is hinted to be from Agartha himself, and even then the Agarthan POV doesn't paint them in a positive light.

So, really, what are people saying when they want the Agarthans to be the sympathetic villains rather than the game wanting us to feel sorry for the Nabateans? That they feel the game not doing so is a flaw despite the Agarthans being so racist that they view everyone else as non-human animals and therefore it's okay to experiment on them? That we should support their genocide of the Nabateans because Edelgard said things used to be better despite the reveal that they're the ones who gave mankind Crests while making themselves out to be gods? We should still think that the Church are the bad guys when the Agarthans are the ones behind the experiments, Duscur, the death of Claude's uncle, and so much more? Or that Nemesis was a good king who was demonized by history rather than the power-hungry asshole he's depicted as, the only real misconceptiont here was that he ever was a hero in the first place rather than the tyrannical bandit he actually was.

In the end, it's just people not wanting to let go of their own misconceptions about Fodlan. They don't want to see Fodlan for how it really is. If anything, Houses can serve as a deconstruction of the idea of Death of the Author. It's a game with some very direct messages, but the routes where the player diverges away from those messages (Flower and the entirety of Three Hopes) it leads to bad endings because, at the end of the day, Fodlan was built around those messages. It was built about the need to see people for who they really are rather than who we think they are, as Edelgard being revealed not to be the heroine but rather the villain is the twist of the game who needs to be removed from power. Also that people supporting each other is a far better outcome than everyone being left to fend for themselves, especially when the people at the top use their power to benefit others. But it's up to people to do that themselves, to figure things out for themselves rather than fall into the trap.

Otherwise, we're left with people defending the likes of the Agarthans.

#fantasyinvader #3 nopes #to think i'd call the writing of this game better than trashtier lol #at least it's more honest #sure some characters are cheerleaders and all #but the main plotbeats remain #Barney is the one who wonders if Claude's plan is going to work and Claude gives some idk man #his s support in FE16 always miffed me but I guess we will have to disagree on FE16!Claude #Nopes has Yuri who lampshades without voicing it bcs Fodlan how the CoS' role of providing a roof and food to people is important #and we even have Mark the NPC who refutes all claims of corruption in the central church #and Bobby the Alliance loldier who realises all those things they were told about the CoS being evil were nonsense #2 NPCs and an offhand dialogue? Is better than FE16's entire script #regarding the CoS and what it does for people #maybe maybe we can say there's the CS line where Dimitri finds it nice of the Abyss is a place to welcome people who have nowhere else to g #even if this exchanges lampshades how Claude is completely out of touch with the topic #and gives a Supreme Witty Comment instead #granted at this point of the game he might not know poor people and orphaned children exist in Almyra so...#which is also wtf #FE16 #TFW Nopes that is supposed to be written from an Agarthan standpoint ends up being more sympathetical to the Nabateans than FE16

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noheteroexplanation · 5 months ago

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Compilation post of the Rhaenicent Quotes in the House of the Dragon Season 2 Companion Book

The Companion Book discusses various aspects of the making of season 2, such as production, set design, costuming, writing and acting. In this post I will compile all the quotes that make reference to Rhaenicent. The quotes are below the cut.

Quotes on Rhaenicent in season 1

Expertly crafted, the first season breathed visceral life into an essential chapter in the history of Westeros by foregrounding the experiences of childhood friends turned reluctant adversaries Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower.

Hess was keen to explore the ways in which the patriarchy impacted the world of Westeros, and how circumstances conspired to drive an ever-greater wedge between the show's central protagonists, Rhaenyra and Alicent.

As the scripts came together, the two characters became the principal lens through which the episodes unfolded. Alicent and Viserys's marriage leaves Rhaenyra feeling betrayed, while Rhaenyra's brazen indifference to societal dictates infuriates Alicent.

Quote on Rhaenicent at the start of season 2

Both sides, too, appear largely determined to ignore the wisdom of the women in their midst. Despite having been crowned queen in an impromptu ceremony at Dragonstone, Rhaenyra struggles to fully assert her authority over the men who serve on her Black Council, many of whom simply wish for her to step aside so they might enact their own plans. At the Red Keep, Alicent, too, is ignored and dismissed by her sons and her father, who disregard her considerable political savvy and her years of experience serving on Viserys's Small Council.

Quotes on Rhaenyra and Alicent's arcs in season 2

For the writers, the characters' arcs were a means to continue their exploration of House of the Dragon's powerful central theme—that the patriarchy would rather destroy itself than see woman on the throne. "Rhaenyra is beginning to understand that even though she's the queen, it doesn't really matter," Hess says. "Because she's a woman, she's seen as a figurehead, not somebody who's actually in control. Alicent is realizing, Oh, I'm entirely disposable once the men are in charge. The season is about them coming to active reckoning with the patriarchy."

Adds Condal: "Alicent and Rhaenyra were doing much better in a time of peace and prosperity, when you could have more nuanced arguments about what power is and who should be in power. But once it becomes a real war, the men who trained their entire life for this expect to step up to the front of the table and say, 'Thank you very much, but this is what we're going to do now.'"

Quote on set design

In the second season, the young queen (Helaena) moves into Alicent's former chambers, while Alicent, now Queen Dowager, takes over Rhaenyra's former living quarters.

Quote on Rhaenyra and Mysaria that makes reference to Alicent

"Rhaenyra hasn't had a friend that she can be real with in a long time," Hess says.

Introduction to the Sept scene

"The Burning Mill" also afforded D'Arcy and Cooke a rare opportunity to work together, as the hour concludes with a confrontation between Rhaenyra and Alicent, one of only two scenes between the characters in the second season. The scene unfolds inside King's Landing's Grand Sept, where the Queen Dowager has gone to pray. Rhaenyra disguised as a septa, kneels next to her, and their tense exchange begins.

On writing the Sept scene

As he was writing the episode, Hancock, knowing the import of the sequence, worked in concert with Hess on the conversation in which the women finally express to one another their feelings of anger, suspicion, and resentment. "'It's not that either has betrayed the other,"' Hess says. "It's that all this stuff has happened that the men around them have facilitated, and now they don't know what to think about each other. There's this displaced fury, and they end up trying to fight it out with each other. That's often how women in high-powered positions are made to feel about each other—to be suspicious of each other and to struggle with one another over things that they should be [in agreement on]."

Input from Emma and Olivia on the Sept scene

During the period of rehearsals prior to the beginning of the shoot, D'Arcy and Cooke weighed in on the emotions their characters would likely be experiencing, and Hess made a point to reshape the sequence based on their feedback. "They both felt they could get more visceral and angrier," she says, "like, if they weren't who they were and in a sept, they would be punching each other."

The importance of the Sept for Rhaenicent

Setting the meeting inside the Grand Sept gave the scenes additional weight, as the characters had been present in the space together only once before: In the first season, a teenage Alicent brings her best friend there to help her process her grief over her mother's death.

Rhaenyra's point of view on the Sept scene

The fact that Rhaenyra makes the trip to the capital at all is a dangerous gamble, "It's quite a chaotic choice," says D'Arcy. "There's some slight irrational thinking going on and maybe a little bit of self-destructive tendency as well. I have this sense that part of her wants forgiveness. I think she also wants to look the person who's caused her such pain in the face and to declare it. I really loved that scene because while trying to negotiate as an adult on behalf of the kingdom, you also watch two children try to reconcile so much painful feeling."

Alicent's point of view on the Sept scene

Cooke played the scene as though Alicent still feels a deep and abiding love for her childhood best friend, despite all the pain and tragedy they've both experienced. "They grew up pretty much as sisters, and that is hard to break," Cooke says. "I think they both can tell when the other is lying or postulating. This feels like a complete breakdown of any pretense. They are showing each other their most honest and vulnerable side. They have this back-and-forth about what Viserys's intentions were and this discovery of what he wanted."

Aftermath of the Sept scene for Rhaenyra and Alicent

Each woman leaves the encounter in the Grand Sept fundamentally changed. Rhaenyra arrives harboring doubts that Viserys had indeed wished for his son, Aegon, to follow him onto the Iron Throne. But hearing Alicent allude to the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised she feels newfound surety about the path forward. "For the first time, she has to choose it for herself," D'Arcy says of Rhaenyra's destiny. "Suddenly, there's this decision to kill the possibility that anyone else truly has the heirdom, and that causes her to reckon finally with going to war. She chooses her title. She doesn't just inherit it."

Alicent, meanwhile, is confused and confounded to discover that Viserys might have been referring to Aegon the Conqueror as he drew his last breath. "This throws Alicent's world into complete chaos," Cooke says. "She's been so solid in what she heard. That story, and what she's told herself, has given her such strength, even in the eyes of people that think she's completely out for her own gain."

Quote from Olivia on shooting scenes with Emma

During the shoot, Cooke found herself wishing she and D'Arcy could perform together more often, "It was great working with Emma," Cooke says. "lt's too few and far between [our scenes]. I get stolen snippets with them, but it's always so wonderful and juicy."

Rhaenicent parallel storylines in episode 2x05

As Alicent is undermined in the Red Keep, Rhaenyra is faring little better on Dragonstone.

Alicent's decision at the Lake to go to Dragonstone

"Alicent has lost pretty much everything—any power, any legitimacy that she held—and war is afoot," Cooke says. "I genuinely don't think she believes that [the Greens] can win, and I think she believes that they shouldn't win. She wholeheartedly believes that she got it wrong. Her need to escape King's Landing is to get some clarity on the situation and try to figure out what she needs to do."

Quote on the Dragonstone meeting

In the episode's final moments, Rhaenyra has a second fateful encounter: She returns to Dragonstone and, to her surprise, finds Alicent proposing an arrangement by which the Blacks could take the throne with minimal bloodshed. Set inside the Valyrian scroll library in Dragonstone, the sequence finds Alicent advising Rhaenyra that Aemond will leave the Red Keep to join Cole in the Riverlands on the march to Harrenhal. At that point, Helaena as Queen Regent could command the guards to lay down their arms, allowing Rhaenyra to take the castle. In return, Alicent asks that Rhaenyra allow her to live out her days with Helaena in the countryside. Aegon will need to be executed, Alicent acknowledges, but she believes his sacrifice is necessary to avoid war.

Alicent's decision to petition Rhaenyra

"It's massive that Alicent travels to Rhaenyra," Cooke says. "It's treason. If Aemond found out that she'd gone, [her] head [would be] on a spike. But it's to petition the friendship that she and Rhaenyra once had. It's to look Rhaenyra in the eye and be like, 'I'm not lying. This is me as my rawest self. This is me shedding whatever power or queenly status I had. It's yours. I was wrong. I don't want anything to do with it. I'm done. I'm tired, I'm so exhausted. Let me and Helaena go off and live in the countryside with a couple of chickens and a cow."

Ryan Condal on the decision to end the season on the Dragonstone meeting

For Condal, bringing Rhaenyra and Alicent together one last time was an ideal way to conclude the season, to remind viewers of the women's role in the narrative and their inextricable links to each other.

On Rhaenyra and Alicent's contrasting character arcs in season 2

"You have two characters who have these wildly divergent arcs [and they] come back around at the end to again find themselves on one another's doorstep," Condal says. "Rhaenyra has seen this meteoric ascent over the course of the season. She's gone from somewhat of a beggar queen, who is crowned on a hill, to a leader of an army of dragons and of men. Alicent began the season having put her blood on the throne, the thing that she sacrificed her youth and body to do. But she comes to a place where she is now looking at the cost of the choices that she's made and wondering what it was all for. She's realizing that neither of her sons is suited to rule the realm, and she wants to stop the spinning wheel that is the game of thrones."

On the filming of the Dragonstone meeting

Two days near the end of the production schedule were set aside to film the weighty scene, so that D'Arcy and Cooke would have enough time to thoroughly explore how their characters might react to such an unexpected turn of events. "The way we prepared for it was, they both came to the scene without a rehearsal so that they would be able to start fresh and feel things in the moment," Patel says.

On Alicent's choice to sacrifice Aegon

The trio agreed that for the scene to work, the audience would need to truly understand Alicent's motivations for risking so much in reaching out to Rhaenyra. "Alicent found herself in Episode 7, and who she found is someone who is honorable," Patel says. "Her honor lies in being responsible for her actions, and she knew that she had misunderstood Viserys on his deathbed, and because of that Aegon was now king. She needed to set the record straight and do the right thing."

On Alicent's love for her son Aegon

They also set about finding ways to convey that despite how deeply disappointed Alicent is in Aegon, how turbulent their relationship has been, deep down, she still loves him. Thus, the idea of offering his life to Rhaenyra was unimaginably fraught. "The entire season was going to end on this hinge, so for that to be effective, we needed to believe that she loved her son and that it was truly high stakes," Patel says, "It was important to feel that unconditional love of a mother that is hard to describe."

The aftermath of Alicent's choice in season 3

"The entire season finale hangs on the cliff of Alicent telling Rhaenyra, 'I'm going to give you son for a son,'" Patel adds. "But what she doesn't realize is that the son she has promised has escaped."

Hints for Rhaenicent in season 3

Amid the beautifully realized fantasy trappings, the family drama—grounded in themes of love, loyalty, and betrayal—remained the central focus, with Rhaenyra and Alicent continuing to serve as the fulcrum of the narrative. "They still have quite a bit to learn about who they are as people, and how far they're willing to go for their goals, whether those are personal goals or familial goals in either pursuing the throne and ambition, or protecting their blood," says showrunner Ryan J. Condal. "They both realize, certainly, that they are living through a historical period in this world."

Miscellaneous:

Picture descriptions

Olivia Cooke (left) and Emma D'Arcy filming Alicent and Rhaenyra's confrontation. (2x03)

A suspicious Rhaenyra (D'Arcy) greets her estranged best friend (Cooke). (2x08)

A quote from Sara Hess comparing Rhaenyra and Alicent to Sharako Lohar

"She's operating outside the system. Rhaenyra and Alicent are so much struggling with the patriarchy, it was super refreshing to have a woman who's like, Fuck everything."

#rhaenicent #alicent hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd spoilers #hotd companion book #pinned #super interesting to make this hope y'all like it <3 #i am looking forward to reading companion book 1 as well and seeing how quotes about rhaenicent differ #this took me super long to make rip hope it looks good the picture load slowly but yeah <3 #olivia cooke #emma d'arcy

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laurelwen · 19 days ago

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Daddy Issues in Like Minds: Sally and Martin Edition

As a fandom, we have extensively discussed Alex and Nigel and their daddy issues from a number of different angles. The other day I was considering this central theme and the post I made about it here: The Sins of the Father.

It occurred to me that both Sally and Martin are also caught in the same trap, unable to escape the legacy of their own fathers.

Martin McKenzie:

By inheriting his profession from his father, he is in some ways simply a copy of his own dad, following the same path and attempting to follow his dad's moral and professional code. At the same time, he also inherits membership in the Order and the expectations that come with it. When Dr. Forbes presses him to release Alex, those expectations come into play. Dr. Forbes chides him for not following along with the script, as his father would have done. Martin asserts that his father would have done his job properly, abiding by the rule of law. In the end, it's not clear which of them has the correct assessment of Daddy McKenzie, and given what we know of the Order, I think either thing could be true--or both are.

While Martin chooses to adhere to his faith in his father's sense of duty to the law, either way he chooses, he's still caught up in Daddy McKenzie's legacy--and perhaps, his sins. Ian's confidence that Martin would help a fellow Brother indicates that this IS a standard practice among members of the Order. The way he phrases it even suggests that he personally knew Daddy McKenzie and perhaps had examples of Dad's past behavior as his basis for the assumption and the belief that Martin would behave similarly. Martin might have an idealized version of his father up on a pedestal when it is entirely plausible and even probable that the man was guilty of bending and breaking the law to aid the brotherhood.

Is Martin upholding or subverting his father's real legacy? Can Ian presume to know the son by the actions of the father? In the end, Martin renounces membership in the Order, but does he actually escape his father's sins? Isn't he just as willing to bend the law to suit his own purposes? He takes an immediate disliking to Alex, decides that Alex is guilty, and charges him with no solid evidence to avoid having to let him go. He calls Sally in and pressures her to "find him culpable". This is a gross undermining of the due process of law. He won't break the rules for the sake of the brotherhood, but he has already broken them extensively for his own purposes. He has deluded himself into a self-righteous belief in his own ethical rectitude, but he merely repeats his own father's sins in the service of a different cause. Perhaps that IS his father's true legacy...and sin.

Sally Rowe:

We're given much less material to work with pertaining to Sally and her father, but the key piece of info we do get feels very illuminating. When Sally is trying to go home and her car won't start, she opens the hood herself and tinkers with what seems to be the distributor cap*. From her lack of hesitation and confidence in pulling the cap off, we can guess she's had this problem before and fixed it herself. Dr. Forbes offers assistance and they have a brief exchange in which she explains that she inherited a passion for difficult cars from her dad.

Sally's dad imparted both a knowledge and a love of cars, including a particular fondness for types that are prone to frequent mechanical problems. She doesn't just have an interest in these cars, it's a "passion" for them. One can surmise this was a pastime they shared as a bonding activity, Sally shadowing her dad as he fixed the latest problem in his favorite car. One might be tempted to say that Daddy Rowe's legacy then was one of empowerment for his daughter, encouraging her to occupy traditional male spaces and giving her the skills to solve issues that most people need to pay a skilled professional to handle.

I think this trait gives us a window into Sally's psyche far beyond just an automobile hobby. Her passion for "difficult" cars--cars that break down frequently, cars that are tricky, unreliable, and temperamental, cars that can turn on you and leave you stranded a hundred miles from home--feels like a character trait that applies to more than just cars. It gives us a window into the inner forces that led her to choose a career in forensic psychology. Her job duties entail a careful examination of "difficult" people in order to diagnose problems and offer an assessment to law enforcement to determine legal next steps. Sally is effectively opening the hood and tinkering around with the complex human mind to determine the functional status of each patient.

A piece of advice from a practicing forensic psychologist to those who are considering the career:

You have to be able to convey your thinking into well-written, well integrated, and professional reports that will be read by judges, attorneys, clients, and other professionals involved in the case. You need to have a complex understanding of personality adjustment, psychological assessment, the law and the legal process, the relevant literature, and be attuned to one’s limitations in forming opinions.

I find the last portion particularly relevant here. While her instincts led her to choose this profession, they also present a type of limitation to her ability to objectively assess patients. She doesn't just want to fix a car when it breaks, she has a "passion" for the ones that break down often. Most people would want to get rid of a car that had frequent issues, deeming them more trouble than they are worth. But Sally is drawn to problematic cars--and people. There is a subjectivity inherent to her interest in the cars/people with frequent problems which drives her to remain attached when others would give them up as a lost cause.

This trait underlies her entire interaction with Alex, and I think it plays a major role in her downfall. In this post, I examine all the ways that Martin and Alex are very much alike. I would also suggest that their similarity is why Sally was/is drawn to both of them. We know Sally and Martin were previously in a relationship, though that has ended prior to the film's events. Regardless, Martin demonstrates that he at least still knows Sally well enough to push her buttons and enlist her help with his cause. Upon meeting her, Alex immediately starts to probe this woman in an attempt to find her weak spots so he can manipulate her for his own ends. Sally has a similar reaction to both of them, essentially conveying that she sees through their patently obvious attempts to influence her. Her ability to recognize their problematic behavior doesn't actually stop her from caving to their wishes--she cannot resist the "difficult" cars.

It seems likely that most others in her position would have given up on Alex after hearing even a part of his frankly preposterous claims, deeming him beyond the point of any repair. Sally is blind to her own limitations - the tenacious to a fault need to figure out the problem and fix it - and this impedes her ability to remain objective. Her satisfaction at solving the problem is on display as she presents her analysis to her peers--she basks in the pleasure of diagnosing this complex psychological dynamic and preens at the recognition she receives for it. And with poetically perfect timing, while she stands at the highest point in her professional career, Alex reveals that she has been deeply deceived. All her satisfaction at having solved the problem and "fixing the car" comes crashing down in the realization that she was so very wrong. The instincts instilled by her father, rippling outwards from this simple hobby into her personal and professional life, are what cause her downfall.

In Like Minds, there is no escaping your father's legacy.

[*Distributor cap source: I was raised in a family of mechanics including my own father, and I have pulled off a distributor cap to check the cap and the spark plugs when my car was having trouble starting. Feel free to look up pics of the distributor caps to verify my assertion (you won't).]

[Like Minds Masterpost - Main]

#trying desperately to get sources on more images in nigel's book but a few of them are proving problematic so here's a very random post #no one:#me: let's deep dive into sally and martin's character flaws #like minds #alex forbes #like minds analysis #murderous intent #like minds 2006 #sally rowe #martin mckenzie #ian forbes #toni collette #richard roxburgh #patrick malahide #i'm sure there's a huuuuge roxburgh and malahide fandom on tumblr

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queer-ragnelle · 3 months ago

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hello! hope you're having a good day :)

I'm slowly introducing my girlfriend to arthurian legend and I was wondering what films you would recommend for a complete beginner (her). I will be next to her explaining things but I also wanted to start off with something more digestible. We've already watched the green knight (2021) (I know) and excalibur (1981) together. thank you for all you do!

Hello, I am and I hope you are too!

Oh yayyy this is so awesome. I'm going to suggest things that I personally feel really give a newbie a grasp of the characters in such a way that if they were to watch something else afterward, it would actually aid them in understanding. There are some films that are so experimental they're unrecognizable (like Knightriders (1981) or Shadow of the Raven (1988)). Those are amazing, visionary films. But they're entrenched in their respective cultures (American and Icelandic respectively) so they don't really help someone new grasp the foundational lore like the things I'll be suggesting will. This list offers self-contained stories with solid writing, great acting, and entertainment enough to keep one engaged, without any requirement for prior knowledge to appreciate.

Here are the beginner friendly options listed in order of release:

Knights of the Round Table (1953)

Details the rise & fall of Camelot from Arthur pulling the sword from the stone to his & Mordred's deaths. It has everything, the A/G/L of all time, adorable Percival & Elaine as siblings, Orkney bros Gawain, Agravaine, Gareth, & Mordred (who is not a product of incest), sassy clever Morgan beefing with fatherly sweet Merlin, gorgeous costuming, moving script.

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

This is technically a show but hear me out. It's only 8 episodes, half hour each, & covers the full Arthurian story from Uther's battle with Gorlois to take Igraine all the way to Arthur's passing. Morgan is a central character & fascinating. Arthur raised by Ector alongside Kay. Goes to battle against Lot & Accolon & the other rebellious lords. Great Lancelot & Bors. Guinevere is strong & interesting & sympathetic. Orkney bros Gawain, Agravain, Gareth, & Mordred (who is not a product of incest). Elaine of Corbenic & Elaine of Astolat both present as separate women. Grail quest led by Galahad (no Percival unfortunately). Mador’s brother Guido poisoned “by Guinevere” like in Le Morte d’Arthur & a trial by combat ensues. It’s a really compelling version of events that can give a beginner a great overview of the legends.

Sword of Lancelot (1963)

Opens with an older Arthur looking to marry. Lancelot is his bestie & champion. Other knights include Gawain, Mordred (who is not a product of incest), Bedivere, Dagonet the jester, Lamorak, Kay the seneschal, & eventually Tor. Lancelot/Guinevere have great chemistry they were married irl.

Gawain and the Green Knight (1991)

Faithful adaptation of SGATGK complete with three days of kissing! Unique by having Gawain recount the reason for his journey as he’s already on it. Flashbacks show Gawain at the high table with Arthur & Guinevere, sitting next to his brother Agravaine, when the Green Knight comes in, & is beheaded. The events at Bertilak’s castle play out just like the poem with the lady coming to tempt Gawain & then he forwards those kisses to Bertilak in exchange for the animal of the hunt. Colorful & fun!

Tristan & Isolde (2006)

One of my favorites. I think the leads have great chemistry & gives a decent overview of the Medieval story without too much access. Mark here is morally way better than in Medlit but it does make the live triangle more juicy. Brangain is really funny here too. There is no magic in this version, so no love potion. Just pure unaided adultery.

Sir Lanval (2011)

Short & sweet indie movie adapting Marie of France’s lay of the same name. Great casting, beautiful costuming, pretty sets. Lanval’s rags to riches story thanks to his fairy lady Tryamour. Sport but well-meaning Arthur not doing his marital duties gives Guinevere sufficient motivation to try & seduce Lanval. Kay is here as Arthur’s foster brother & seneschal but sort of acts like an attorney? Lol? Great movie.

Sire Gauvain et le Chevalier Vert (2014)

Another SGATGK poem adaptation, this time in French (with English subtitles) & condensed to a mere 28 minutes run time. Visually stunning & beautifully acted. A little more mature than the 1991 version, bc of course the French have to get freaky with it sexual style (this is a good thing). Another awesome adaptation worth checking out.

Okay I think those are all my suggestions! Hope that gives you and your girlfriend a solid watch list and you both enjoy them. Take care!

#arthuriana #arthurian legend #arthurian mythology #king arthur #queen guinevere #sir lancelot #sir gawain #morgan le fay #sir mordred #sir lanval #ask #mordred-galahad

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femsolid · 1 year ago

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Had a little exchange with a client that started fine, she was sorry to see me go because I'm quitting my job. I thanked her and said I enjoyed working for her too, but the work was causing me health issues and was not doable with my disabilities. I said I was starting a new job right away, a desk job which will be a nice rest for me. And then she said "oh I understand, I too realized that health is really important and need to be protected when I had children. It's such hard work, you need to be physically prepared. Do you have children?" And I said no. The usual awkward silence happened. My concerns for my own health and comfort suddenly appearing selfish and unjustified. She said "oh well, you still have time, how old are you?" They always say that because they think I'm 25 or something. I said "I'm 34." Another awkward silence. "Well uh, you never know, you'll probably want to have children someday and you'll need all the preparation you can get right?" Why? Why can't a woman prioritise her health for the sake of it? Why does it have to be in anticipation of mandatory motherhood, the great martyrdom? Feels like being prepared for a ritual sacrifice. Rest, eat, be beautiful and adorned before they chop your head off. In some culture they literally force-feed the bride to fatten her up before the wedding. They'll make foie gras out of you. Made me think of that post saying the most feminist thing a woman can do is refuse to suffer. I'm quitting because I refuse to suffer any longer. The end goal is not to be better at suffering later on. It's not to suffer at all. And somehow they'll make you feel selfish for it.

And one last thing, it's the awkward pause everytime I say I don't have kids. A lot of women try to bond with other women not by talking about common interests, opinions, hobbies, it's just "do you have kids?" and the expectant "yes" which prompts the following script "how many? What age? Boy or girl? Which school?" And on and on. And you can understand why, their kids are central to their lives and it's a sacrifice they expect, even wish to share with other women. So when the answer is no they don't know what to say next. They say nothing. I used to justify myself "no, I never wanted it for some reason, I'm fine with them I've worked with children, I just never wanted to have any." Now I just say "no :)" and it's a conversation killer.

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talenlee · 3 months ago

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Game Pile: For The Queers

For the Queers is a Descended from the Queen game, which is focused on developing queer relationship dynamics, at least, according to its copy text. It was produced by Scholastic Dragon Games and it’s available on itch.io and it’s in that particular category of $3 print-and-play games. Its presentation is a little ropy, it’s not exactly a looker of a game, and I don’t feel like it’s reasonable to pick on it for looking like it was made in Google Docs.

It is a challenging comparison to strike, though, because For The Queers is modelled on the storytelling pseudo-TTRPG, ‘For The Queen,’ a storytelling card game lauded for being, well, pretty solid, and for what amounts to a game of sitting around in a circle telling stories, it has a truly beautiful presentation and excellent approach. In addition to its sumptuous visuals, For the Queen is extremely well constructed in terms of its approach.

It’s built around a single deck of cards that’s set up so the first time you start the game, it’s already in order to teach you how to play the game and get you playing the game in the same fluid exchange. You just flip the cards off the top and go around reading them, in turn, for each player, until suddenly a card asks a player a question and they need to answer it. Using these questions, the players then construct a narrative, integrating the answers to one another’s questions, all building up to a dramatic conclusion to the whole narrative with a final card that, in For The Queen, is simply ‘The Queen Is Under Attack: Do you defend her?’

Everyone answers.

Game ends.

For The Queen, which is already such a simple game engine that it’s functionally impossible to control access to, has a SRD, a system reference document. You can make your own games that invoke it and use the same engine, which, like, you can do that anyway, because game rules are not copyrightable, but if you do it this way, with the SRD and invoking its branding, then you can connect your game to For The Queen, which is, you know, that’s cool. I like that, because it means that you can openly and directly show connections between games. Good stuff.

The central relationship in the story of For The Queers is that the characters are all given a central truth to their prompts: You are in the retinue of a royal, the Queen, who is ‘free of gender,’ and they are travelling with you to again, to journey to a distant land to broker an alliance, but also, this queen, they hold your heart. You are in their retinue, and they love you.

There’s a deeply different materiality to this game being a print-and-play of a paper sheet and an ordinary deck of playing cards. The game For the Queers is modelled on makes sure the deck of cards gets to be this enchanted device, a physically perfect device that controls the focus entirely. You flip a card, and that card presents the question. The art of the Queen in that game gets to be centralised and all the players are engaging with the question in front of them and only the question in front of them.

By comparison, For the Queers requires you look at the card flipped, then a lookup table, which is multiple pages long, and which has all the questions on it present ahead of time, meaning that it’s not hard for a player to mistakenly look at a question that they’re not ‘meant’ to (and isn’t even necessarily going to show up in the game), colouring their experience of the question.

It’s a testament to how a game system is not just the system but also how that system is presented. By putting the rules material in the most convenient to make form (a big a4/letter-printable sheet), the game is diminished in how it presents things that aren’t relevant to the players in the play experience. It’s hardly a real problem either — after all, there are a host of different ways you can approach this. Heck, the whole thing could be a very convenient web applet, just a website you press a ‘next card’ button on, using a simple script to randomise the prompt.

The form the game takes informs the way the game plays.

For The Queers is a For The Queen variant that promises a focus on ‘queer relationships,’ which is a really loaded place to start with things in a way that makes me pre-emptively grimace emoji. Queer relationships are massively varied; my marriage to my partner of twenty years is a queer relationship which has never been particularly in any way interesting, but so to is the relationship of one of my friends who has a literal spreadsheet to manage the intersecting commitments of their different alters’ different polycules. Capturing the breadth of those things in a game simulation of this engine runs a risk of failing to catch either end.

After all, I am one of The Queers, and reading this game’s prompts, I found myself struck by how much none of these questions invited interesting answers, or, particularly, were informed by The Queerness. Now, of course I’m not going to be a great eye level character here; after all, in a podcast about Disney movies, I routinely called out how often the narrative of every movie was a terrible relationship and everyone deserved to be guillotined, but I like to think I can suspend my sense of disbelief and personal politics easily enough to engage with the game that exists in terms of its narrative framing. This is about people who are doing something very important generally (helping the Queen on their way to trying to save the kingdom through an alliance) and very important specifically (you are travelling with someone you are in love with and the many other people that they love, and dealing with the boundaries of that).

Which means that the most prominent form of queerness this game forwards is polyamry and being loved by a queen who is ‘free of gender,’ and what that means is an exercise for the reader. The polyamry element as a form of queerness is, you know, fine, I’m not one of the people who thinks polyamry doesn’t count as a queerness, it’s something that heteronormativity wants to attack and disempower, they can come in under the umbrella as long as they want to be. But that’s kind of the extent of queerness in this space, and since we are also talking about a gender-unclarified queen, with literally no other world building information imposed, that’s kind of the limits of what kind of queerness the game and its story mechanics actually include.

In some ways, it feels breathtakingly sweet, that this game feels its vision of queer relationships are the natural outcome of what happens when you play this game, with these rules. It speaks to the idea of a player community where there is no need for anything but the natural outcome of these prompts to be a queer relationship, because queer relationships are that obvious and easy, but also, the queerness is not defined by any kind of norm. It is Queer, because it says it is Queer.

Like, you know, Dungeons & Dragons.

Let me be extremely clear on this game, though: For all that this game has this verbiage out of me about its challenge, about the things I think it mis-steps on mechanically to achieve its ends, and the implications of what it chooses to be about, none of this is to dismiss the game as a game for its own sake. You can get this game for $3 and play it and if you play it with a bunch of people who want to tell stories about messy queers entangled around their royal love, grappling with their feelings and despairs, you will absolutely be able to have a good time!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Game Pile #Games

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thetirisfaltheatretroupe · 7 months ago

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Coming October 18th: The TTT's DOUBLE FEATURE at the Dance of the Dead!

(Original background from Quince Media via Pixabay, free-for-use license terms apply) An all too familiar chill is in the air, and the dead rise again to march in solidarity with their brethren. The Dance of the Dead, an event hosted for many, many years by the Undercity Nexus crew over in Caer Darrow, has returned once more this year! Last year, the Tirisfal Theatre was proud to perform on stage for them, and we return once more this year with gusto! Join us on October 18th over on the blood-soaked isle of Caer Darrow, and come to the burned down house across from the fountain at the town's center as we take you on a haunted house tour you won't soon forget with two tales of horrific homes gone wrong! That's right, it'll be like HGTV - but with affordable property! Our first offering of the evening is our delightful horror comedy show based on a chilling song by Jonathan Coulton, where an aspiring real-estate investor attempts to flip his first property. As he is fixing the place up to be sold for a pretty copper, he soon realizes it came with a resident already inside - and it's happy to see him! A little too happy... Will our everyman find a way to make his fortune on this old home? Or will he decide to throw it all away and destroy everything he worked for?

My guess is the latter... Find out, as we explore the horror of the creepy doll in...

THE HOUSE ON RAVEN HILL!

Then, stick around for a story that will chill you to the bone, as we go back in time to an era long ago. A wealthy Lord, known for his benevolence and generosity, gives everything he has to the people of town and is adored in return. But when he takes in a stranger cloaked in mystery and lies, he may find that he has given far too much in exchange for nothing. As the days go by, he may find that his world will change considerably, and not for the better.

Join us as we delve into the mind of a man who has much to give, and everything to lose, and discover this cautionary tale in one of our few non-comedic scripts, the tragic and suspenseful tale of...

THE ALTRUIST!

As we progress through the night, the troupe may stop for brief Q&A segments, put on a few surprise short skits for everyone, and have much ado at the theatre! For those taking part in the Dance of the Dead's D20 competition, pop in and enjoy our show while you wait for your matches! Or if you got your proverbial rear-end handed to you, heal your wounds with laughter and sorrow! The Tirisfal Theatre is pulling out all the stops to make this evening one to remember for all at the Dance of the Dead! So seek out a Moon Guard anchor, come on over to this frightful locale, and join us for a night like no other - only at the Dance of the Dead!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Dance of the Dead is a large Forsaken-themed event hosted every year on Moon Guard server! Despite it being a Moon Guard event, anchors are available to pull you in from other servers to enjoy!

Our performances utilize player characters from both factions. As such, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED you have Elixir of Tongues and TRP to follow and enjoy the show! Typically people will sell these or give them away before and during the show, but try to have some on hand!

As with any of these night-time events, Inky Black Potions are also recommended for maximum immersion!

There will be a brief intermission of 10-15 minutes between shows to allow our crew to take breaks! The total runtime of both plays should be about an hour and a half at maximum, but it may run over depending on technical difficulties.

We cannot host parties or anchor once the show begins! Remember that this will be taking place on the Moon Guard shard of the game. As we find out more information about how anchors are being handled, we'll be certain to edit this information!

Remember, the show starts at 7 Central / 5 Wyrmrest Accord time on October 18th

Below is a map of the performing area! The blue marked area is where the audience should sit as to not interfere with the cast and crew, as well as to be able to see and hear the entire show! If you sit in the white area, or the 'nosebleed section' as we call it, you may be unable to hear a lot of what happens on stage!

We hope to see you all in the audience, and please be sure to check out all the information on the Dance of the Dead, happening October 18th and 19th on Moon Guard server! TL:DR SUMMARY WHO: The Tirsfal Theatre Troupe (Along with the Undercity Nexus and Dance of the Dead staff and crew!) WHAT: Double Feature at the Dance of the Dead! Two spooky plays written and performed by the Tirisfal Theatre Troupe WHERE: Caer Darrow, Western Plaguelands (Moon Guard shard, non-War Mode) WHEN: October 18th WHY: BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU!

A HUGE and grateful thank-you to Banshih and the crew of the Dance of the Dead! We're honored to return this year and perform for you all! This post will be updated as more information becomes available to us! Keep an eye out for any potential changes or new info!

#tirisfal theatre troupe #wyrmrest accord #horde rp #roleplay #wow roleplay #moon guard #world of warcraft #dance of the dead #undercity nexus

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whileiamdying · 7 months ago

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‘I’m Still Here’ Review: Walter Salles Returns Home With the Powerful Story of a Broken Family’s Resistance

Premiering at Venice, the film stars Fernanda Torres as a mother of five children who reinvents herself as a lawyer and activist after suffering a devastating loss at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

BY DAVID ROONEY SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 @ 11:48AM

Fernanda Torres in 'I'm Still Here.' COURTESY OF VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Walter Salles’ 1998 international breakthrough, Central Station, earned an Oscar nomination for the magnificent Fernanda Montenegro. Now in her 90s, the actress turns up toward the end of the director’s first feature in his native Brazil in 16 years, the shattering I’m Still Here(Ainda Estou Aqui), in a role that requires her to speak only through her expressive eyes. What makes the connection even more poignant is that she appears as the elderly, infirm version of the protagonist — a woman of quiet strength and resistance played by Montenegro’s daughter, Fernanda Torres, with extraordinary grace and dignity in the face of emotional suffering.

Many powerful films have been made about the 21 years of military dictatorship in Brazil, from 1964 through 1985, just as they have about similar oppressive regimes in neighboring South American countries like Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. The human rights abuses of systematic torture, murder and forced disappearances represent an open wound on the psyches of those nations, for which cinema has often served as a vessel for collective memory.

It’s not often, however, that the spirit of protest against the horrors of junta rule is viewed through such an intimate lens as I’m Still Here. That aspect is deepened by evidence throughout the film of Salles’ personal investment in the true story of the Paiva family after patriarch Rubens (Selton Mello), a former congressman, was taken from his Rio de Janeiro house in 1971, ostensibly to give a deposition, and never seen or heard from again.

Salles met the family in the late 1960s and spent a significant part of his youth in their home, which he credits as foundational to his cultural and political development. That accounts for the coursing vitality of the early scenes, as the five Paiva siblings dash back and forth between the house and the beach, and an extended family of friends of all ages seems to be constantly dropping by for drinks and meals and music and lively conversation.

There are sweet throwaway moments like two of the sisters dancing and singing along to the Serge Gainsbourg-Jane Birkin wispy make-out classic “Je t’aime … moi non plus,” without understanding the words. Just watching how one of the youngest kids, Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira), sweet-talks his way into keeping a stray dog they found on the beach conveys the warmth, spontaneity and affectionate scrappiness of the Paiva household dynamic. The young actors playing the kids are all disarmingly natural and appealing.

The first blunt intrusion into the family’s bubble of closeness and comfort comes when eldest daughter Vera (Valentina Herszage) is out with a group of friends and their car is pulled over at a tunnel roadblock. It’s a disturbing scene in which we see teenagers — just minutes earlier cruising along, sharing a joint and laughing — ordered at gunpoint to stand against a wall while military officers question them, searching their faces for any resemblance to the “terrorist killers” they’re looking to apprehend.

An occasional hushed phone conversation or private exchange with a friend suggests Rubens’ involvement in something that needs to be kept quiet. But the script by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, based on the book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, saves those details until long after Rubens is taken into custody. That puts us in the same position as his wife and children, wondering what their father could possibly have done to place him in the regime’s crosshairs.

The chill of uncertainty is hardest on Rubens’ wife Eunice (Torres), who does what she can to hide what’s going on from the youngest kids. But having armed strangers in their house and a car parked across the street to keep a constant eye on them is tough to explain, and the older siblings are aware something is very wrong.

The situation escalates when Eunice is hauled off for interrogation. With Vera away in London with family friends, the next oldest, 15-year-old Eliana (Luiza Kozovski), is forced to accompany her mother, with bags put over their heads to keep them from knowing where they are being taken.

The interrogation scenes, set in a grim building with confinement cells, are harrowing. Eunice is sequestered for 12 days. Denied contact with the family lawyer, she’s kept completely in the dark about what’s happening to her daughter and is unable to learn where her husband is being held. She’s coerced over and over to identify people in photo files as possible insurgents, but aside from her husband, she recognizes only one woman who teaches at her daughter’s school. Her isolation and fear are made worse by the constant screams of people being tortured coming through the walls.

There are many moments of raw tenderness after Eunice is released — notably when one of her daughters watches from the bathroom doorway, her face a mix of sorrow and terror, as her mother showers away 12 days of grime.

With the government refusing to acknowledge even that her husband was arrested, Eunice continues fishing for information, talking to Rubens’ friends who tell her the military is “shooting blind,” going after random people based on almost nothing concrete. Unable to make bank withdrawals without her husband’s signature, she struggles to keep up with expenses. At the same time, she begins studying the family lawyer’s case file, foreshadowing her eventual decision to relocate with the five children to São Paulo and return to college.

The chief focus of Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book is essentially his mother’s quiet heroism — first as she single-handedly shoulders the responsibility of keeping the family together and protected, concealing her grief when the inevitable is confirmed, and subsequently when she earns a law degree at 48 and becomes active in a number of causes. That includes pushing for full acknowledgment from authorities of disappeared people like Rubens after democracy is returned to the country.

Salles’ heartfelt film jumps forward 25 years and then by almost 20 more, allowing us to absorb Eunice’s self-reinvention not in big crusading speeches but simply in her dedication to the work of keeping memories alive and not letting the abuses of the past be swept away.

Perhaps the most beautifully observed arc of the film is the gradual rebuilding of the family. As the children grow up and marry and grandchildren come along, they transition back into a noisy, joyful clan much like the one depicted in carefree scenes at the start. Even the simple process of sorting through boxes of family photos is viewed as a loving act of reclamation in a final stretch that will have many audiences in tears.

Torres (one of the stars of Salles’ terrific early film, Foreign Land, co-directed with Daniela Thomas) is a model of eloquent restraint, showing Eunice’s private pain and her necessary fortitude by the subtlest of means. Only once during the film does she raise her voice in anger after a sad occurrence, beating on the windows of the parked car watching the house in Rio and screaming at the two stone-faced men inside.

The final scenes in which Montenegro steps into the role are bittersweet, as Eunice has become nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, in steep decline with Alzheimer’s. The poignancy is almost overwhelming as we watch her gently lean in, her eyes lighting up and a hint of a smile forming, when Rubens’ photograph appears in a television program on the heroes of the resistance.

The movie looks gorgeous. Adrian Teijido’s agile cinematography uses 35mm to great grainy effect to evoke the ‘70s and Super 8mm home movies shot during that decade provide lovely punctuation. The other key asset to the film is Warren Ellis’ score, which starts out pensive and quietly troubling before shifting almost imperceptibly into a much more emotional vein with the surge of feeling that accompanies the forward time jumps.

While it could use a less generic international title that’s not also a well-known Stephen Sondheim song, I’m Still Here is a gripping, profoundly touching film with a deep well of pathos. It’s one of Salles’ best.

#Brazil #TIFF 2024 #Venice 2024 #Venice Film Festival #Venice Film Festival 2024 #Venice Film Festival Reviews #Venice Reviews #Walter Salles #Warren Ellis #Fernanda Torres #Selton Mello #Ainda Estou Aqui #I'm Still Here

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n4rval · 9 months ago

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FUN VALUE 62: The Eccentric Genius

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Isn't it odd how firsts are seconds? As in, should we consider the order of exposure by FUN value or follower number? Though I suppose goners are not meant to be linear at all. This is why all of the Followers reiterate that central piece of the story, yet, each of them offer an unique perspective that helps us piece together not only Dr. W.D. Gaster's current condition, but who he is as a character.

No, there is no typical way to look at a character who defies the very notion of a written script. To be atypical among the already strange, to fit right in yet feel so obviously alien, the sole lump of hard coal among shiny gems.

It makes sense why ASGORE took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist.

After all, the old one... Dr. Gaster. What an act to follow!

They say he created the CORE.

Coal that burns the most effectively and brings light to all around him, in more ways than one. Impossible only until someone steps forward and makes it possible, to pursue the most absurd of ideas and be stared at with either unease or awe, to make it an act to follow.

From the occasional inconvenient property damage, the unecessarily bulky gadget that looks like it came straight out of a cartoon ...

... to the grand opening speech nobody got a single word of but applauded for the flashy lights anyway.

However, his life... Was cut short.

One day, he fell into his creation, and...

Will Alphys end up the same way?

This bit can be particularly misleading at first glance, alluding to the idea of an accident or, possibly, a suicide of sorts. We already know how this bit played out, however, the mention of either instance is purposeful in a way the ideas complement each other.

To be special is to be strange, and loneliness is often the price of brilliance. It can be difficult to escape feelings of alienation when people seem to get along so naturally without having to make a conscious effort to understand and be understood. This parallel with Alphys isn't only due to their shared position, but the taxing demand for excellence that comes with it in exchange for belonging.

It wouldn't be a absurd to speculate that, possibly, Alphys would one day have a manic episode that would both be her greatest stunt and her last breath in this earth. Ah, but this is where they deviate, isn't it?

Beloved Dr. Wacky Dingus, too in love with life to leave it, yet never satisfied not to risk it - who continues to offer mystery and wonder, once through light, now through dark.

#FUN VALUE X #headcanons #wd gaster #gaster #undertale #deltarune #not sure i have articulated this like i wanted but hey #cinematic thinkers when they have to do descriptive writing:#left a bunch of things out because i meant to make this about this piece of dialogue alone ahh #only part 1 of a lengthy dissection of clues that lead up to ideas #anyway haha enjoy my thought process on characterization for this man #because this is about characterization i do not mean to get too deep into shattering what-is-going-on theories #i did it i named this collection it will be called fun value x #x values #like x files #i am so good at titles (not)#i love you mad scientist grandpa dnw you belong in my Heart #sigh can i jump to value 91 already i want to talk about goner kid so bad #this is my yeah he has a personality actually sorry #an entire charater archetype even (filing my nails cuntily)#pet peeve: “hah as if gaster has a personality that we know of” (vaporizing you with my comically large cartoon laser)#/lighthearted #but also /srs #its ok im here to spread the vision anyway

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leportraitducadavre · 2 years ago

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Sharingan no Kakashi

Volumes Covered: 1-27 (first part)

Hatake Kakashi, the copycat ninja, has been a fan favorite amongst readers of the Naruto Manga since the very beginning. For as long as I have been on Tumblr, his image has been plastered everywhere to the point where his design is known even outside the manga’s universe: many people who are not usual consumers have seen at least one panel/screenshot/fanart of him.

When I first read the manga, I too became really invested in his story (he was the mysterious, possibly good-looking kind of character that as a teenager was appealing to me) but as years passed (more so now that I’m currently re-reading the manga), that appreciation shattered, or rather, dwelled.

This is not to say I hate him, nor that I’m encouraging enthusiastic readers of the manga to dislike him, my particular mention of this relies on the need to give those that choose to read this post a warning, for I will be analyzing particular aspects of his character that can (and should) be considered negative and/or controversial.

Now, I’m not going to perform a detailed list of everything his character does during the first part of the manga because not only would it be excruciatingly long (and I don’t see the point in doing so for it beats the purpose of this meta), but also, because not everything about him is to be noted. In that sense, I chose some topics that interested me the most and that I consider important (if not central) to his characterization.

Long post:

Types of relationships

How does Kakashi Hatake interact with those around him? What kind of relationships does he prefer or does he have and how does the social aspect of shinobi’s culture shape the bonds he manages to create?

Mentor-student / commander-soldiers

During the first interaction of Team 7 (meaning, the one they have on the rooftop, not the one where Naruto pranks him) Kakashi asks the newly formed group to share personal information outside the data he already was given about them, however, when is his turn to share, his responses are extremely vague and general (here), preventing the team under his command to have any sort of knowledge about him outside of his military role. Furthermore, the way he decides to reply (that is the wording of his answer to, let’s remember, his own question), is not only empty of any meaning but also seems to be on the verge of mockery. Considering the way he acts and how other sensei ask the same thing (we can see that during Guy’s flashback), we can infer that the question wasn’t of his choosing, and he’s most likely following a script.

To give some context to this introduction, Kakashi up to this point has performed the same questions for at least a few years to different groups of Gënin which failed to pass his test (we don’t know exactly how many, only that he’s being failing teams for years) - so it’s not weird for him to lack any sort of interest in this team since it might be no different from the ones he already failed.

In addition, during this exchange, there are two dynamics that he introduces:

1. The dynamic between a leader and subordinates (in the general aspect). As a commander, Kakashi is not required to share personal information with his underlings, they -however- are bound to share/do whatever he asks of them due to his superior position in the chain of power.

2. The (non-existent, yet highlighted by this particular absence) relationship between teacher and students. Kakashi seems to start their link by severing it from the very beginning: he distances himself from the team, choosing to favor the dynamic leader-subordinate over the mentor-student (this will be cemented during CH 35, where he calls them “soldiers under his command”, and reiterated on CH 43 -where he refers to them as “subordinates”). Iruka becomes, by juxtaposition, one of the only real “teachers” inside the narutoverse.

The type of relationship we see between Kakashi and Team 7 (particularly Naruto and Sakura) seems to be replicated by every other Konoha team we are introduced to, except for some dynamics that can be put, in some way, inside the latter category: Kakashi/Sasuke (this dynamic in particular is presented in quite a toxic manner, I’ll expand on this later on), Asuma/Shikamaru, Gai/Lee and (to a lesser extent, since Team 8 was never focused on), Kurenai/Hinata.

About Kakashi and Sasuke’s dynamic (the one I mentioned could be more or less put inside the mentor/student category, although that specific label isn’t as strong as I might have implied), the headcanons about their relationship overtook many aspects of their canon interactions.

It’s true that Kakashi favored Sasuke and it’s true that one of the canon reasons for him to do so was that they shared the same chakra nature (lightning), so Kakashi was more able to help Sasuke to develop some techniques. However, there’s a fandom misconception that Kakashi was planning and/or actually helping Sasuke with his Sharingan -but that’s simply not true. At no point in their training are we shown how Kakashi tries to help Sasuke once he “awakes” (rather, gets conscious access over) his doujutsu, furthermore, I don’t see an actual reason for him to do so:

First, Sasuke probably knows a lot about the Sharingan (he grew up in a clan where many members possessed it; canonically, his father and brother were users. We don’t have confirmation about Mikoto, but because of how the Sharingan might be inherited she might possess at least the genes). They had conversations about the Sharingan and Mangekyo (x, x), and Sasuke saw it while being used multiple times in its basic form (x) and even in its Mangekyou form (x), meaning, theoretically, Sasuke was more prepared and educated than Kakashi, even with no experience. Second, the Sharingan is quite literally Sasuke's nature; I don’t think he needed much help (if any at all) on how to use it.

Beyond their chakra nature training, there’s not much Kakashi does or even proposes to do. Additionally, for Kakashi, training Sasuke also meant to do the least amount of effort while also implicated to gain the most prestige: Naruto was unstable -the Seal of Minato was tampered with by Orochimaru during the chünin exams which made him fail on basic skills (even those he had already mastered); Sakura didn’t reach the final stage -and for some reason, that meant no training for her, as if she didn’t need it the most*, while Sasuke was already internationally famous for being the last Uchiha: he was the main “spectacle” during the Final Stage.

*[Sakura’s need to be trained after her tie with Ino is to be discussed in a deeper manner. The chünin exams are not real exams but displays of the military forces of each village, hence why Sakura wasn’t trained after her failure and why the focus was on both Sasuke and Naruto. The third stage of the exam is a spectacle for other Kages and Daimyos to see, hence why she -almost literally, mattered not].

To add to this discussion about Sasuke and Kakashi’s relationship, it’s important for me to touch -at least briefly (for going in-depth with this will extend this post to an unmanageable degree), Kakashi’s projection of himself onto his student. Let’s look at their similarities first in order to dispute them after:

a- They are both geniuses, which puts them in the “highest” position inside their respective teams: This particular aspect of them, in addition to receiving the constant praises of their peers during such formative moments of their life, made them particularly arrogant (this doesn't diminish the training Sasuke subjected himself to as to reach such level of skill, here).

Yet, while Kakashi refused to cooperate with his own team (Minato’s) and relied upon his newly achieved rank (Jönin) in order to tell them what to do (x, x, x) Sasuke creates a bond with his teammates to the point where Naruto -who, by all means, would refuse to obey Sasuke during their first interactions, often follows his lead or trusts his judgment. In this specific aspect: Sasuke constructed a bond with his team, while Kakashi didn’t.

[Their context while growing up is vastly different: Kakashi had to deal with something Sasuke didn’t: the dishonor that suicide brings particularly in Japanese society, x (and vice-versa, as Sasuke witnessed his brother murdering his entire family), however, both of them shared the pressure of knowing that they were the only ones capable of "bringing their families’ honor back", so it isn't weird for them to act in such manner.]

b- They share similar personalities: This is, of course, partially a consequence of the prior point (you’ll notice that Neji, also a genius, comes off as arrogant -yet I will not focus on this aspect particularly), but the main reason for this similarity is that traumatic experiences shaped their personalities and the way they approach other people.

They both are rather passive-aggressive to others (now that I think about it, Neji is also like that -and a traumatic experience was indeed the reason behind such a mindset), yet Sasuke modifies his behavior the more time he spends with his teammates (he cheers up Sakura when she’s depressed, acknowledges Naruto’s strength during the chünin exams and saves their lives multiple times even when doing so puts his own life in danger and thus, jeopardizes his ultimate goal: kill Itachi).

Kakashi, for his part, was far crueler and linear with his teammates during his youth (and I’m specifically making a comparison between kid Kakashi and kid Sasuke for that’s the parallelism Kakashi draws -which is the basis he uses to judge Sasuke’s actions later on), his response to the trauma of finding his father’s dead body was to live for and live by the rules established for Konoha’s militia to follow -to the point where emotions were aspects of himself or his teammates that he refused to acknowledge; in the same manner, he prioritized the mission’s success over his team’s safety (unlike Sakumo). Later on, with both Rin and Obito’s deaths, Kakashi modified parts of his personality in order to model himself after Obito (not the real Obito but the perception he got of specific parts he chose -or thought worthy of mimicking -more of this will be discussed in the Nationalistic Mindset part of this post).

c- They both possess guilt complexes from which derived a strong feeling of inadequacy: This particular aspect is intrinsical, I believe, to Kakashi’s approach to Obito’s dogma (I won’t be expanding much for this is tackled, again, on the Nationalistic Mindset title). And again, both of them share a similar complex, yet their reason to have them is completely different (yes, they both might have survivor’s guilt, but it’s not the one I will speak of): Kakashi’s remorse lies in the fact that he wasn’t able to protect his teammates (once he formed a bond with them), he failed Obito -who died to save him despite Kakashi’s earlier attitude (I’m not diminishing Kakashi’s life, I’m pointing out Kakashi’s possible perspective about Obito’s death), and later on he failed him again when Rin died (he also failed Rin herself for not be able to prevent her kidnap). The manga doesn’t show us much of Kakashi’s trauma, but it’s somewhat safe to assume that he models his personality after “Obito” in response to this guilt, making himself someone “worthy” of both their teammates' sacrifices: he vows not to fail at protecting his teammates again, (“I will never let my comrades die”, here) for that’s what Obito taught him (here).

Sasuke’s guilt also has to do with his own incapacities, yet his main issue is that he wasn’t able to do anything against his family’s murderer (he arrived at the compound after they were killed), and it’s this specific event that germinated and blossomed into Sasuke’s core objective: Avenge and restore his clan [honour]. He could do nothing then, but he will do so one day. None of his family members “sacrificed” themselves for him to live (Itachi might have killed them to “save” Sasuke, but they would have been murdered regardless; sacrifice implies that those who perished took a conscious decision to die in another person’s place), so their background is nothing but different.

In addition, these specific events (including Sasuke’s incapacity to fight against Gaara during the invasion or against Itachi in Shibuya), shattered both their conception as geniuses (which, in lieu of the arrogance they constructed around it, makes the fall from grace much more difficult to bear), which pushes them to extreme changes: Sasuke, to flee Konoha in order to polish his abilities and achieve his goal; Kakashi, to make his life a memoir of “Obito’s dogma.”

Personal bonds

The types of relationships Kakashi values are first shown in CH 8 when we are introduced to the Memorial Stone. He refers to those who are carved in such space as his “best friends”, a statement that is (at least) questionable once we learn Kakashi’s background and how his relationship with Obito and Rin actually was prior to their death. The only possible explanation about why they are his best friends is that he developed a deep connection with them after their death (in lieu of their sacrifices and the feeling of guilt such occurrences brought upon him), it’s possible (headcanon alert!) that he also twisted specific memories of them in order to elevate them and -later on, force himself to become someone “worthy” of their sacrifices, as he did modify the original quote from Obito.

In that sense, Kakashi’s relationship with Guy (at least during their first interactions) is particularly blown out of proportion, out of the three jönin-sensei, Guy is the only one who stands alongside Iruka (hence, against Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai) and asks them -but mostly Kakashi, to reconsider their decision to register their rookie teams in the exam. Kakashi replies by laughing at him, justifying his choice by stating that “what they lack in experience they make up in surprises” (I guess “surprises” encompasses the fact that one of them heals almost instantly thanks to Kurama and the other one already has the Sharingan, which replies absolutely nothing to the actual matter at hand), and finally proclaiming that team seven will make Guy’s team “eat dust”.

After that, their next interaction is during the preliminary rounds, where Kakashi ignores Guy yet when Lee is fighting Gaara, Kakashi claims to be (literally) disappointed in him for teaching his student a forbidden technique, even if later on tries to cheer him up when Lee loses. And yes, the interactions are hilarious, yet the relationship is carried solely by Guy’s character for Kakashi is particularly closed on his one-sided relationship with his deceased team. That’s my point.

Emotional Manipulation

I have established before Hiruzen’s approach to the Will of Fire (exploiting people’s bonds and emotions in order to tie them to Konoha rather than a person/clan; basically constructing Konoha as a symbol that encompasses those who are dear to the shinobi, creating a nationalistic mindset where family=village. x), now, how does that dogma interact with Kakashi, influencing his actions and interactions with other people -particularly (but not limited to) Sasuke?

Kakashi has linked Sasuke’s capacities to the Uchiha Clan’s value since the bell test (CH 7), and repeated the behavior more cruelly in CH 18, and again in CH 27 (albeit this time positively, in the face of an enemy). The technique he uses to “push Sasuke forward” (in the sense of giving him motivation, since Sasuke’s bond with his family is intrinsic to him) can be (should be) considered emotionally manipulative. Should Sasuke fail or perform at a lower level than expected, it means the Uchiha Clan’s honor downfall.

Furthermore, Sasuke is not the “finest hope” of the clan, as he called him, he is the only hope since the only other member of the clan is Itachi, who massacred them, and Kakashi is aware of such circumstances. It’s different in Naruto’s case (Kakashi also displays emotional manipulation towards him) because he’s not linking a traumatic experience to his value -furthermore, he’s not linking the honor of an entire (deceased/killed) clan to his value, which is what he’s doing to Sasuke. The caption on Sasuke’s panel is “stab”, the words of Kakashi were purposefully chosen in order to downgrade Sasuke’s ego (I’m not denying he still uses them to “motivate” Sasuke -I’m questioning his methods). If we also take into account that Sasuke, at this point, has seen Kakashi’s Sharingan (and believed him to be part of the Uchiha clan) it gives his input more weight since Sasuke’s doubt about whether or not his teacher is related to the clan hasn’t been addressed yet (Sasuke didn’t ask nor does he know where Kakashi got the eye, and since he doesn’t know doujutsu can be transplanted yet, he assumes he might be a distant relative).

In this sense, is to be added that, one, Jönin-sensei vow upon their clan’s honor that their students are ready for the Chünin Exams (CH 35), and two, Hiruzen, in CH 65, states that shinobi defend not only the balance between nations -but also, the honor of their village. It’s no surprise then that Kakashi is so insistent on tying the Uchiha’s honor to Sasuke’s name (Naruto is an orphan to whom a “generic” last name was given -even if it’s his mother’s, he represents no clan nor has any knowledge about his family, Sakura’s family name isn’t renowned nor important enough for him to even care).

However, and despite the fact that Kakashi’s abasement of Sasuke is harsher than the one he performs on Naruto, it doesn’t imply that such degradation doesn’t exist: Back in CH 10, after Team 7 is attacked (and for the first time for the three gënin, might I add), Kakashi says to him, “it never occurred to me that you would freeze up,” meaning, he elevates him first (implying that he did consider him capable enough to respond to an attack of such caliber), only to dismantle him from the previous conception he -apparently, possessed. His words leave such an impression that Naruto cuts himself with his own kunai: from a narrative perspective is a powerful moment -but hadn’t been for Kurama, Kakashi would have had an injured student (he even mentions he could bleed to death), so why apply such psychological pressure to a gënin that has already a lot of emotional stress from the earlier attack? From a teacher’s point of view, it doesn’t make sense, however, it does make sense from a commander’s point of view, something Kakashi has actually had experience on (Team 7 is literally the very first team he passed), so his methods of “teaching” are yet to be polished.

[Jönin-sensei is a title where jönins (soldiers) are told to pass on their experiences/techniques to future members of Konoha’s militia, without being given pedagogical education to interact better with their students. Being a teacher (that is, a person actually capable of educating, with everything that it entails), it’s not important -being a good soldier is. This is incredibly highlighted during this interaction back in Chapter 3, where Kakashi calls this pedagogical situation a “mission”].

But this type of approach isn’t reserved solely for those under his command, showing that Kakashi either is not using it consciously as a tool -but rather is the way he was approached and, therefore, believes to be the usual way to speak to others; or that he’s constantly on “shinobi mode”, meaning, he uses every tool at his disposal (always, ever) to achieve the result he considers is the best (I, personally, believe this option to be the most truthful to his character, for he performs emotionally charged speeches to his own peers).

An example of the point previously made: During CH 22 [Wave Arc] Inari and Naruto get into a fight, Inari screams at Naruto and the main character responds by calling him a crybaby. After the confrontation, Kakashi finds the little boy, and we have an interesting interaction where Kakashi talks to him and (without Naruto’s permission) tells him part of Naruto’s background for no real reason but to appeal to the emotions of Inari and build a case for his student (which isn’t strictly necessary, the kid doesn't have to like Naruto and -likewise-, Naruto doesn’t have to like Inari for the mission to be successful).

What we see is what follows: Kakashi applauds Naruto’s way of handling trauma (he doesn’t cry rather, he hides his feelings) and, by juxtaposition, he brings back Naruto’s claim about Inari (him being a cry-baby) in order to criticize the young boy. Inari -who is a kid younger than Naruto-, is a coward and uses his pain to justify that supposed cowardice, Naruto doesn’t, which makes him better and should be reason enough for Inari to one, get along with him; and two make him a role-model.

Now, Inari is a civilian who lives in a civilian village and his experiences have nothing to do with those of a shinobi. Kaiza (Inari’s father) was publicly killed because he tried to defend his hometown, but he lacked the tools a shinobi possesses. Naruto grew up in a hidden village and the shinobi’s approach to death is completely different from what a civilian kid might be taught or experience. Naruto doesn’t have to know this, so his hostile reactions towards Inari are understandable from a character’s point of view, but Kakashi's reaction isn’t. People can argue that Kakashi, like Naruto, was taught and lives solely under the cultural aspects of his village, which is the reason why he brings Inari’s experience to his own sphere of understanding, yet while we can see that as his reasoning, it doesn’t mean we should condone it, as he has more experience outside his cultural bubble.

His words are successful, as we see here and here. Inari internalized both Naruto's and Kakashi’s speeches and instead of running to escape and reach safety, he decides to help his captive mother (who has been taken hostage by Gato’s men). Let’s add some more context: a young, untrained boy is forced through emotional manipulation (and here I will spare Naruto due to his lack of experience, but not Kakashi, who might understand things through the veil of his own culture while lacking the knowledge of civilian rules -yet he is aware of civilians incapacities during armed conflicts and still “pushed” Inari to take action against Gato’s thugs by glorifying Naruto’s behaviors) to “stop” being a coward (meaning: to confront trauma in a particular manner: the shinobi way, that has no claim in civilian society); and his life had to be literally saved by a ninja as a consequence. Furthermore, his cowardliness wasn’t an issue he was already struggling with before the shinobi arrived to the island, it was an uncertainty introduced by the group (brought in by Naruto -who knew no better- and cemented by Kakashi).

It’s when Sasuke “dies” and Sakura recites one of the shinobi rules, that we learn that Kakashi and Naruto were judging Inari’s “cowardliness” through the perspective and internalization of the same rule Sakura is now reciting. Inari, as a civilian, can't be judged by those premises.

I have pointed this out in some other posts but there’s no harm to reiterate: the pass from childhood to adulthood -unlike in the civilian society that follows different rules, is marked by the bestowal of the headband. That is, adulthood has little to do with age and more to do with rank. With that mentality, Naruto and Kakashi’s behavior towards Inari is slightly more understandable since, to them, his age is not an excuse to behave like a “child” (furthermore, Kakashi took the Chünin Exams when he was six, meaning he was considered an adult since that age). Yet, again, where Kakashi fails is in understanding that Inari is not governed by the same principles that he is.

Nationalistic mindset

How do the Will of Fire and Obito’s apparent dogma interact? Did Kakashi’s character really have the possibility of seeing Konoha as an oppressive state that considered him nothing but a mere tool? Did he have the “potential” to rebel?

Back in Wave Arc, among many things, there’s an interaction between Tazuna and Kakashi, where Kakashi mentions that a previous Hokage (we aren’t told who) taught his people to “fight for what is right”, selling the idea to the civilian in front of him that his hidden village (specifically) is the “good” side against the “evil” side (Zabuza, Gato -even other hidden villages). However, this particular speech of Kakashi, which he gives solely to Tazuna and not to his subordinates (who, by Tazuna’s standards are children), clashes with the prior idea that “missions’ feuds are high and we do what we are paid to do” (assassinations or babysitting). Meaning: there’s a narrative to be told to civilians to shape their view of shinobi (particularly Konoha’s), and the actual reality that only Team 7 (as ninjas), gets to see.

In addition, during Kakashi’s second fight against Zabuza (CH 30), Kakashi states that Konoha (therefore, he), knows about the swordsman’s attempt to coup and kill the current Mizukage -alongside his wish to raise funds to attempt another coup after his failure. We learned previously thanks to Haku’s background that there’s a bloodline cleansing currently happening in Mist; a genocide on such a large scale can’t be kept secret that long -furthermore, there’s no indication that the murders are happening quietly either since those who possessed Kekkei Genkai were pushed to hide their bloodline; and if Konoha knows about Zabuza and his attempt to take over the government, then they surely know about the reasons behind it.

What I mean by this is what follows: Kakashi and Konoha claim that they fight for “the right thing” to those civilians they encounter, but do nothing -neither military nor diplomatically, to stop those massacres from occurring (nor do they take a stance against them either, as it reduces Mist numbers and weakens their military power). They’re still pretty much in touch with the Mizukage that carried out/ordered such killings, for his government was the one that told Konoha about Zabuza’s attempted coup when declaring him rogue.

Kakashi downgrading Zabuza for working for Gato is, in a way, absolutely comical because not only is he working for an authoritarian regime, but he also downgrades someone who (even as despicable as he might be) is actually trying to do something against those who wronged him. Kakashi (under Konoha’s mindset), can’t differentiate between a person’s ambitions and their ideals, they might seem equal on the surface, but they are intrinsically different: One goes after an individualistic goal, and the other one is founded on the possibility of a communal achievement. To Zabuza, another individual raised under shinobi culture, killing innocent civilians to gain funds in order to bring down his oppressive government is a plausible course of action (we can make a value judgment on this, but this does not dispute the idea of Zabuza taking actual actions in order to overthrow the oppressive government in his village).

As said before, Kakashi doesn’t seem able to differentiate between personal ambitions and ideals, therefore, he will never be able to take a stand against Konoha. Hence, the belief/headcanon where Kakashi rebels against Konoha or has the “potential” to do so should Kishimoto “allow him to” is contradicted by Kakashi himself, to the point where he defends Konoha even when it’s not being questioned (building it in a positive light).

Furthermore, there’s an interaction that pretty much confirms this: Here and here. Kakashi admits that the belief system under which a shinobi’s life is valued “bubbles beneath the surface of his mind, disturbing him” (he also uses the plural, referring to the ninjas -as a kind, which means that from his perspective everyone feels uncomfortable with that mindset, and yet, no one seems to question it, for those who questioned are then labeled as missing-nin). Even if Naruto later on promises that he will create his own “Nindo” (and by context, that destiny is presented as opposed to the “I’m a tool” mentality previously discussed) and Kakashi smiles, there’s no actual denial of his current belief system.

Kakashi was intended to be the representation of a nationalistic/pro-shinobi system mindset, as he follows the narrative’s stance (which, in turn, follows Naruto’s). Even after everything Kakashi said to Zabuza in order to degrade him (like, for instance, questioning his standards for affiliating with Gato and staging a coup), the moment Zabuza says “I won’t kill Tazuna because I won’t get paid, so let’s not fight”, Kakashi immediately agrees. His problem with Zabuza isn’t that his mindset is different per se, but that is opposed -at that moment- to Kakashi’s and his mission, once Zabuza is not at the other end of their fight, everything is forgotten/forgiven (he simply doesn’t care anymore).

Later on, because of this nationalistic ideology, Kakashi is willing to sacrifice his students’ well-being: Again, the Chünin Exams (analysis I made here), are nothing but staged wars in order to display each village’s military forces to draw the attention of potential customers; therefore, even tho Kakashi knows about Sasuke’s condition (Orochimaru giving him the Cursed Mark) - he stands against Anko when she asks the Hokage to pull Sasuke out of the exam. Even though he later on warns the child the fact that he allows such a dangerous situation to occur while putting the whole weight of the issue on Sasuke’s shoulders, is rather telling of his priorities.

Kakashi’s phrase (well, it isn’t Kakashi’s phrase but actually his interpretation of Obito’s) “I will never let my comrades die” (x) is solely true until Konoha’s wellbeing (in any sort of way, including prestigiously) is on the line. Dying is the only thing Kakashi protects them from, physical or psychological damage isn’t included.

The idea of him respecting and following Obito's true dogma is an absolute contradiction because Obito’s core ideology and Konoha’s are intrinsically contradictory, they can’t coexist and still be truthful to their basis. To Kakashi, Konoha is the symbol of peace -of his comrades, so the physical existence of an individual isn’t as important as the symbol’s survival, therefore, sacrificing his soldiers’ wellbeing to give the village more leverage during the chünin exams isn’t a problem -unlike them dying at the hands of Zabuza, which would mean Konoha failed on the mission and lost three gënin in the process.

And here I'll add this: Obito's actual phrase was "Sure, in a ninja’s world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders …. are lower than garbage. However….Those who do not care for and support their fellows…are even lower than that! If I’m scum…the rules are no good to me! And if breaking them makes me the wrong kind of shinobi…then I’ll crush all the so-called shinobi!!" here. In lesser terms, Obito's dogma is this one: If a system (shinobi's/Konoha's) prioritizes political/warfare success over the lives of those fighting for it, I will not be a part of such a system - furthermore, I'll rise against it.

My claim of Obito joining Madara in his quest as something always existing at his core sustains mostly in this. Rin is a catalyst, for I'll admit, he didn't turn completely against it until her death when the system personally affected him and those he cared for (can he be blamed when he was taught to be loyal to it? It isn’t weird for him not to see such flaws until they impact him specifically, we can’t fault him for something so humane), yet his beliefs are right there and have always been there.

The very important, very much intrinsic difference between Obito and Kakashi's approaches is that Kakashi (and later on, Naruto) puts the weight of his comrades' well-being upon his shoulders and his shoulders alone (his trauma with Obito's death, who sacrificed to save him, and Rin's who was "killed'' by his hand, are probably the main reason for Kakashi's specific approach to his former classmate's dogma), while Obito disputes the very basis of the issue. Obito isn’t blaming Kakashi per se but the rules that Kakashi, as a commander, chooses to follow indisputably (x, x). Obito will gain no awards or recognition for saving Rin while compromising the mission, on the contrary, he'll gain the same punishment Sakumo did: ostracization, now not only from the Uchiha but also from the general population.

And here's the thing: at that moment, his respect for Konoha is so little that he doesn't care - going against the rules is going against Konoha, fine "I'm scum, I'll crush the so-called shinobi!!". Here Kakashi "fails" (yet it's to be mentioned he's a child soldier in distress and in the middle of a battlefield) to externalize the critique and place it upon the rules (hence, the system) where it belongs, rather, he internalizes it and blames himself, believing that he's responsible for everything since he was "too uptight" to bend (x and x).

Obito and Kakashi’s opposition comes from the answers to these questions: "What are they fighting for?" and "Why are they fighting for it?" (the what's and why's in narrative and character-construction by Dushman-e-jaan). The first answer might be similar as they both might answer, "Konoha", particularly at that point in time; it's the why, which drives the what, that's different. For Kakashi, as established prior (although, during his childhood, that might have been the answer as that's what he was told to do and what he was taught to want, rather than a personal conviction), Konoha in and of itself is what matters, the place, the land, the symbol of peace; while Obito's core belief would push him to say "Rin", as in, an individual; hence, “the people”. Then why would he choose to sacrifice Rin (the people) in exchange for the survival of a place created to ensure their well-being? In his eyes, it makes no sense (and yes, later on, he “betrays” his own core beliefs as he carries out the UCM for a "greater good", yet he does that because he considers the real world to be hell, so he cares not for it -x,x-, as the only world that matters it’s the I.T one).

Obito was written by Kishimoto to be Naruto’s “dark” parallel, as he was a morally good child (wanted to become Hokage to stop the war, helped ladies on the street, even sought his master advice and changed his stance on Kakashi after Minato’s speech) that the environment transformed onto one of its darkest consequences (and well prior to Madara’s intervention as he claimed he would crush the “so called shinobi” shall he need to). Meanwhile, Kakashi reflects the pro-shinobi stance as he never even begun to question it when a child (the same could be said for Neji, who showed revulsion to his personal situation, and was definitely closer than Kakashi to rebel, yet he never questioned the status quo in itself).

It’s difficult to give closure to a post this charged and long (as of now, it’s fourteen pages), so I’ll finish up with this: Whether you agree or not with this post, try not to just blatantly insult me (if you end up doing it, oh well). I genuinely don’t care if you find my analysis revolting, and it’s just as easy as ignoring my blog altogether or creating your own post with your own takes and reading of the manga; I have no problem discussing these topics, but if your entire argument relies on your personal headcanons and you provide not a single panel of evidence I’m ignoring you, so don’t bother.

Here it is, spent months on this post (it depended on my re-reading of the manga, which is why it took this long), so I hope you guys enjoyed it and I want to personally thank those who read all of this, I genuinely appreciate it.

Cheers.

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myfandomscollide · 10 months ago

Text

An Examination of Richard Mendelson

For @obscuravoid as part of the Jonah Magnus Fic/Art Exchange 2024

The institute’s halls were filled with stifled murmurs. The rustle of paper and scratching of pen, muted conversation filled the air with quiet contemplation.

A man strode through the vestibule and into the foyer, arriving at the near desk. He stood there, looking down at the worker entrenched in folders and lists as they filed paperwork. “Eh, hem.” The figure drew his hand to a fist and coughed, emphasizing his importance. The receptionist glanced up from their work, glaring at the newcomer. “Who are you?”

“Angus Stacey.” The man boasted. “I have an appointment with the Director of this institution.” He produced an envelope sealed with the institute’s sigil.

“Right…” The receptionist responded in feigned interest, hiding his own annoyance. “He’s currently engaged in a meeting right now. You may wait for him should you desire.” The receptionist pointed across the hallway to a couple of chairs adjacent to a large carved door fixed with the relief of an owl. “He should be done soon.”

Angus nodded at the man, then crossed the room to sit in the indicated chair. He settled comfortably into the seat, while he looked around the room admiring the architecture. He marveled at the construction of the walls and the vaulting of the ceiling, his vision trailed up to the paintings on the wall.

The first was an impressionistic painting hung imposingly on the wall with its heavy, dark varnished frame. It depicted an older man with tired, sunken eyes peering down through spectacles on his nose. He was dressed in a green suit, with brocaded accents. The brass plaque was etched in calligraphic script, ‘Founder, Jonah Magnus’.

The other painting was of the modernist style, framed in a simplistic metal, etched with a geometric art deco style. The figure was a younger lithe man with a wry smile. He wore a three piece suit with a double breasted vest, maroon with red pinstripes. The accompanying plaque, ‘Director, Richard Mendelson’.

Looking at the two paintings slightly unnerved Angus as he continued to wait. He idly scratched his chin as he observed the receptionist completing their work. In the corner of the room a grandfather clock ticked punctually away at the passage of time.

Tick.

Click , went the handle belonging to the door next to him, snapping Angus of his concentration. His head jolted to see the source of the noise.

“And that’s how Mr. Fairchild finally made his investment in my future…” An old man with white hair and a cane stepped out of the office along with a familiar faced man.

“Fascinating as ever, Simon.” Richard said with a smile, which belied indifference. “You should really call the next time you're in town.”

“You know, I might.” The stranger, Simon, grinned. He looked across the room at the clock then to the side down at Angus. “Oh dear, the time flies… I do hope you haven’t been waiting too long for mister Mendelson here.”

While standing up from the chair Angus looked between the two men and shook his head.

Simon smiled widely, “Splendid, I do hope you have a brilliant day.” He held out a hand amiably which Angus accepted.

Angus's voice lilted in confusion, “Thank you.” He found that Simon’s hand was slightly chilly, as if a breeze scurried up his forearm.

“Simon…” Richard pointed, annoyed.

“Alright, alright I’ll be off.” Simon conceded, donning a top hat. He turned to Angus and winked. The tap of his cane against the floor echoed as he left through the doors.

“Come on in,” Richard beckoned, ushering Angus into his office.

The office was lit warmly with an orange glow from the few lamps in the corners in addition to the one illuminated on the central desk.

Richard sat in the leather chair and motioned for Angus to take the opposite one.

“Now I trust the missive informed you enough for the nature of the work that we do here.” Richard steepled his hands as he rested them on his desk.

“Of course, the transcription of oral testimony for collection and preservation is paramount for safeguarding the availability of information through time.” Angus replied.

“Correct, though it's customary that I must ask… what are you afraid of?” Richard leaned closer.

“I beg your pardon?” Angus cocked his head to a tilt, a chill rushed up his spine. “Why should that matter?”

“Because the subject matter we collect are of sensitive matters.” The corner of Richard’s lip drew up imperceptibly.

The back of Angus’s throat dried up, he stifled a cough. “Sensitive how?”

“Do you not know what it is we hold here?” Richard tilted his head quizzically.

Shaking his head, Angus spoke, “Folk stories, old maids tales..”

“Not quite.”

“Then what?” Angus demanded.

“Mr. Stacey…” Richard began.

----

For a drawn out moment Angus recalled sitting in his professor’s office, a quizzical look on his senior’s face.

“Mr. Stacy, surely you were informed about the selected presentation?” Spoke the professor.

“I believed it to be the one regarding the transcription process…” the pitch of his voice rose with a tinge of nervousness.

“Believed or knew?” The professor’s eyebrows raised as he cocked his head in interest.

“W-well… Tobias and the others told me…” Angus stammered.

“Let it not be the words of others that dictate what your studies should ought to be.” His old eyes narrowed, while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m sorry, professor.” Angus bowed, crestfallen.

“You’re a bright lad, see that you don’t lose focus.” He tapped his temple.

“Yes, sir.”

“Unfortunately I must remove marks for the incorrect assignment, Mr. Stacey.”

----

“Mr. Stacey? ” Angus heard gently in the recesses of his mind as his attention snapped back to the present.

“Mr. Stacey…” Richard’s eyes focused as he repeated. “Are you quite alright?”

“Eh, hem. Yes sir.” Angus repeated hastily, composing himself amidst the conclusion of his daze. He struggled to recall what Richard had been asking him about, failing that, he opted to nod agreeably; a weak smile crossed his face.

“I trust that you have the requisite experience for the tasks I’ve outlined.” The corner of Richard’s lip twitched upward in a slight smirk.

Tiny rivulets of moisture pooled down the back of his suit. Angus nodded again with more vigour.

“Good.” Richard grinned. “Then I shall return to my earlier query, what are you afraid of?”

----

Echoing from another recess of his mind. An earlier memory floated up from childhood. A candle lit dormitory with several boys reclining in their bunks.

“Go on, Angus, tell us what you're afraid of…” Tobias’s eyes lit up with keen interest, wrapping his bed covers around himself like a nest. “We’ve all shared ours…” Tobias’s grin twisted stretched a bit too far across his chin, as he leaned closer.

Hackles pricked up his spine, Angus leant away reflexively. ‘Why must he always stare at me like that?', the question resonated through his thoughts. Angus glanced off to the side of Tobias’s face, to avert his returning eye contact. He struggled to confront his peer’s question. ‘I can’t really tell him the truth… Can I? No.’

“Well… I…” the youth swallowed down his nerves as he spoke up. Finally meeting Tobias’s penetrating gaze he exhaled heavily and weakly supplied, “… clowns.”

“Oh really, what makes them so scary?”

“I don’t like their make up… can’t trust them because they’re hiding themselves.”

“Well, well, well.” Tobias smirked. “Fascinating that is.” The memory faded back into the corner of his mind.

----

“Well…” Angus hesitated, “it’s clowns.”

Angus momentarily thought he saw Richard shift in his chair, leaning imperceptibly forward.

“What a rather strange thing to be afraid of.” Richard remarked and waived his hand dismissively, “but it’s not out of the ordinary.” Richard pressed his lips together in a small curt smile. “A rather pragmatic choice .” Richard stressed the final word, laden with weight, but Angus detected unexpected approval in Richard’s tone which unnerved him even more.

“Thank you?” Angus replied unsure if it was Richard’s desired response.

Richard coughed as he covered up a snort. “I do believe that brings our interview to a close.” Richard spoke, extending his hand out.

Angus, with trepidation, placed his hand in Richard’s and the pair shook.

“You’ll be informed if you’ve been selected for the position.” Richard replied with a broader smile.

Angus stood nervously and was ushered to the door by Richard. Richard’s hand appeared on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Be seeing you.”

Angus stepped out the office door, crumpled invitation in hand. Parchment soaked in moisture.

I wanted to draw something, and have a fic to go with it!

#jonah magnus #the magnus archives #tma #richard mendelson #simon fairchild #my art #one shot

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