#Daphne does not read as rich to me

[bumblingbabooshka]

Fred Jones - All American Rich Boy!

[araivallejo]

I’ve only ever “shipped” characters in two programs I’ve watched. The first one was Niles and Daphne from Frasier, when I was a teen/young twenty something, and Ted and Rebecca from Ted Lasso.

These two pairings could not be more different. Niles was smitten from the start with Daphne, despite being married (!) with seemingly everyone clued in except Daphne herself for seven years (!!) until Frasier blurts it out to her. Only then does she start to view Niles as someone she might love. The Frasier writers had all the tropes on display for this one. Ah, the 90s.

Looking back now as a much older adult, I see glaring red flags in the Niles and Daphne pairing. The man was married, not once but twice, while claiming to be in lust/love with Daphne. Young me didn’t care though. I thought – romance! And when they ran off together, I was smitten. My one and only delve into fanfiction I wrote in 2000 when they both took off in the Winnebago. Oh my. With the benefit of hindsight, I wonder just how much I’d ship those two these days. Now if Frasier were to be remade the creators would have made the Niles character what he should have been all along, which is gay. The early 90s you just couldn’t do that, although the Frasier team loved to give a wink to it at times.

For Ted and Rebecca, I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t ship them in season 1 and most of season 2 at all. I thought this was simply a lovely friendship and that’s that. It was only the writers’ little bantr fakeout that clued me in on the possibility. I knew it wasn’t Ted, but it got me thinking when it was revealed to be Sam and I was disappointed it wasn’t Ted. Why was I disappointed? Then looking back at the earlier episodes and seeing all the ways they cared for one another and seemed to be clued in to each other. I thought – aha! This is the way to go about a real relationship. Show the friendship. Show the trust. Show each other at your best and your worst. It’s not a fantasy. I never minded that there were no obvious longing looks between the two because I saw all those signs the writers put into the show that kept pointing back (for me) to only one conclusion: Ted and Rebecca were meant to be together. The two obviously long for a romantic relationship and are deeply loving people. It wouldn’t be lazy writing! It would be brilliant to have it slowly evolve into a beautiful relationship built on friendship.

My only sticking point on the two getting together was the fact that at the end of the day, Rebecca was still Ted’s boss. Having grown up in the same region at the same time as Ted, I figured his midwestern values would deem that as unethical and therefore a deal breaker, no matter how deep the attraction was. I figured Ted would always choose his son and want to go back to Kansas, but I also concluded he would still need someone else in his life and not make Henry his sole reason to live. That’s too much of a burden on Henry. So if there were some way to have Ted be with Henry and Rebecca not be his boss… There have been some wonderful fics written to show how these two could still manage that feat. Both Ted and Rebecca are wealthy – with Rebecca shown to be “filthy” rich. Miss “I’ll just buy the restaurant” could make just about anything happen.

It all seems like a hell of a missed opportunity. I believe Jason was so enamored of the movie “Once” that he wanted to make his own version. That’s fine – it was his show. I just wish maybe they would have thought more about why they needed to do some of these little fakeouts. Having read some of the writers and editors’ responses this past week I have concluded that while some of this was purely accidental, the vast majority was absolutely intentional to keep the incredibly loyal and vocal fanbase (the shippers) coming back for more. They knew exactly what they were doing. I’m not naïve; I get that it is a product, and they need eyes viewing said product. But this show was a huge hit from day one when many of us didn’t give a damn about the pairing. Why go to these lengths?

What is hilarious to me is what we’ve been given instead of the well thought out relationship is the very definition of lazy writing: throwing Rebecca with some random man we’ve seen ONE TIME in the last season. We don’t even know his name. Yes, he is attractive and clearly Rebecca enjoyed being around this man. I even said after the ep aired that I wouldn’t mind it, but I was hoping there would be more buildup between the last time we saw him and now. And unlike above with Ted, boat man has not seen Rebecca at her worst, nor she his. It does not feel earned at all and that just pisses me off.

Don’t even get me started on Beard and Jane. Jesus that’s a topic for another post.

[saintsenara]

So, I've saw you (I think, sorry if I'm wrong) talk about two things and I want to read more about them? Them being: Molly used a love potion on Arthur; and the weasleys getting paid to stay close to Harry? Pls tell me more!

Also sorry if I am again wrongly attributing stuff to you lol 😅

you have indeed @in-flvx, although i would like to out myself as a weasley defender and say that i think these are completely bullshit tropes. they just happen to be very, very funny.

the easiest way to stumble upon them is to click on the 'independent harry' tag on ao3. i'm going to preemptively apologise for what a bitch i'll sound in what follows - not least because it's clear that a lot of the stories under this tag are written by teens just starting out with fan-fiction - but pretty much everything which comes under this umbrella can only be described as so incandescently bad it's good.

if you should click, you will find yourself in a topsy-turvy world where you can get a blood test at a bank and where harry is so hot, cool, talented, and rich that he could shatter the sun with the force of his avada kedavra eyes orbs.

there are several key features in these sorts of stories: that all the slytherins are lovely and misunderstood; that harry hadrian is some sort of minor aristocrat who speaks like lord of the rings if it had been written by chat gpt; that dumbledore is a moustache-twirling, machiavellian villain who is keeping harry locked at the dursleys for a laugh, hiding his fan-mail from him in a vault, and stopping him being so hot, cool, talented, and rich through a combination of dark magic and pop psychology.

you will also find, sometimes, that - in these stories - ron has the personality of a bag of flour which has been left out in the rain. which gets harry wondering - why would he, since he's hot, cool, talented, and rich, be friends with someone who is ginger, poor, and irrelevant? and he will learn, usually with the help of a goblin or two, that it's because dumbledore tricked him into it! by paying mrs weasley to help him get onto platform 9 3/4 and ron to sit with him on the hogwarts express and then gaslight him into buying him some sweets! and then by paying them to make harry stay with them every summer! until he's missed his chance to be bffs with draco malfoy! gasp!

why would dumbledore do this? don't worry yourself.

if these sort of stories manage to restrain harry going apeshit at dumbledore's evil until he's seventeen, rather than eleven, they will often also have him working out that he couldn't be in love with someone ginger, poor, and irrelevant either, and concluding that ginny's given him love potions. or, on occasion, molly's been giving him them on ginny's behalf. probably to keep harry from his true love: regulus black's old wank sock daphne greengrass.

[molly does mention having brewed a love potion once in prisoner of azkaban - although not that she used it on arthur. as it does with love potions generally, the text treats this as all a bit of a joke, which isn't great, but the woman isn't running a mind-control lab in her chicken shed, come on now...]

[doberbutts]

Honestly I really am not a fan of the raceswapping done in Velma. I think race swapping for the most part tends to be cool as I love seeing different interpretations of characters (especially in a series as long running as Scooby Doo) but from what I've seen of Velma, it rubs me the wrong way. Not because they make the characters PoC, but more so what choices they make. For example, they make Shaggy black and emphasize that's he's lazy, pathetic and adjacent to stoners, or Daphnie is Asian and her role is mostly to be a popular girl and her portrayal of being particularly sexy and alluring feels almost orientalist in a sense. Traits that the original characters had to an extent but were further exaggerated. If they made for example, Shaggy East Asian or Velma black I wouldn't have these issues but idk, I feel like you need to be aware of what tropes you could possibly be playing into if you change a character's race or ethnicity and I don't feel like Velma keeps this in mind.

It's not the worst adult cartoon out there and I think a lot of the backlash is unwarranted and over exaggerated, but it does play into a lot of not great tropes. It's mostly just a mediocre Scooby Doo adaptation with the main cast being pretty out of character.

Oh this is an interesting critique- at first I saw just the preview of "don't like raceswapping" and was like "man boring racist anons" but then I read the whole thing.

I didn't even know Daphne is Asian in this one, I've just seen snippets of trailers because I'm trying very hard to ignore it and Facebook is trying very hard to get me to watch it. But I do think that's interesting- making Velma the "dumpy but brainy" one into an Indian woman, making Shaggy the "cowardly, lazy hippy who probably outsmokes Snoop on a regular basis" the black one, and making Daphne the "super rich, super hot, mostly trophy wife damsel in distress" the Asian one... these are all character tropes that these characters already had, but a line has to be tread when changing the race of these characters to avoid furthering racist tropes on top of everything else.

There was this discussion with Rings of Power as well- Arondir having buzzed hair and Disa having barely-there sideburns, and how one has to toe the line to avoid racist sterotypes (putting the afrolatino elf character in a white-textured wig, making the black dwarf indistinguishable from the men at first glance) when race swapping and adding diversity where there was a severe lack of such.

[widowshill]

top 5 books (can be favorite books or book recommendations ?)

TOP FIVE ANYTHING !

the price of freedom, by a.c. crispin. listen. is this a lowbrow pirates of the caribbean practically-fanfiction novel? yes. does it also introduce my fave girlboss of all time, esmeralda maria consuela anna de sevilla? yes. also there's homoeroticism and a fingering scene published by the Mouse idk what more you want.

between the devil and the deep blue sea, marcus rediker. AHHHHHHHHHH. rewired my brain permanently. that's all i have to say about that.

mary poppins, she wrote, valerie lawson. i actually haven't read this in a really long time, but it made me fall in absoluteee love with p.l. travers. my fave cringefail sapphic.

rebecca, daphne du maurier. I don't have to convince you lol but good god. i already loved the movie and her prose? swoon.

les liaisons dangereuses, pierre choderlos de laclos. i love an epistolary novel and I also love rich people committing war crimes on ingenues what can I say.

[folklauerate]

No pressure to respond - sending this only as a way to say what a GORGEOUS chapter 12 of The Set Up! I loved seeing Aunt Billie’s perspective especially. Your characterizations of Ben/Hen/Daphne/Edwina are endearing and rich and I’m glad we got to spend some time with them this chapter. Thank you for writing this - we can all see your efforts and they are paying off!! Feeling grateful to be on this reading journey 🫶🏼

And what if I cried reading this WHAT THEN???

Thank you anon, that is so incredibly nice and kind and thoughtful of you to say :,,,) These characters (all of them!!) all live so largely in my head and I loved getting the chance to bring the reader's into their world in a more immersive way, and also show Kate and Anthony's relationship from an outside perspective, since it really isn't just the two of them merging lives, it's them bringing their families, friends, and worlds together!

Sometimes you write things and hope that other people see the effort or see the thought you're putting into things, and a lot of the times you just write and hope that someone gets it, so it's very very nice when someone does :,) I'm so glad you enjoyed this chapter! That warms my heart! Thanks for telling me so!! I'm so grateful you're reading!

<3 much love to you

[jon-withnoh]

100, 121, 129!

100. Your favourite Gothic novel:

It’s impossible to choose just one so I‘ll give you several. I spent a lot of time with Jane Eyre during my English degree and it‘s still one of my favourites. There‘s just so much there! (I‘d also recommend Wild Sargasso Sea and Jane Steele as interesting takes on the Jane Eyre story.) Secondly, people are sleeping on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. I actually prefer her prose to Charlotte‘s and she opens up extremely interesting subject matter (a woman fleeing her abusive husband with her son and earning her own living as an artist, to give the briefest of summaries). Thirdly, I do of course have to recommend Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It‘s an extremely rich text that rewards multiple readings (I am currently on my third reread, armed with book tabs and a pencil). Definitely try to get a copy that has Sally Beauman‘s introduction (or find it on my blog under the rebecca das musical tag, hehe). It gives a lot of context and provides a jumping off point for further research.

121. A book that makes you nostalgic:

Anne of Green Gables (specifically the German translation I read as a child). I „borrowed“ (read: stole) the copy from my cousin, fully intending to give it back but never actually doing it. I‘m pretty sure she never noticed. It had the first two books of the series and I reread it countless times, especially over the summer. It‘s the perfect mixture of a heroine I could really identify with and an atmosphere that fits really well with that endless, sunny feeling of childhood summer holidays (at least in my memory).

Another book that makes me very nostalgic now is Alanna, the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. I had the first two books of the series in German translation and read them many, many times. (I actually didn‘t end up finishing the series until I was in my early twenties).

129. A book with beautiful prose:

I have to recommend another book connected to Rebecca here (mainly because I just moved and all my books are in boxes, depriving me of visual reminders of the books I have actually read): Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill has very smooth, atmospheric prose that I enjoyed a lot.

I haven‘t read a lot of fiction in the last couple of years because I focused on poetry in my MA, so I also want to recommend a couple of poetry collections:

Flèche by Mary Jean Chan — this collection changed me. I want to memorise it and have it with me everywhere. I‘m stealing this description from the back of the book since words really are failing me: „As complex themes of multilingualism, queerness, psychoanalysis and cultural history emerge, so too does a richly imagined personal, maternal and national biography. The result is a series of poems that feel urgent and true, dazzling and devastating by turns“.

Good Bones by Maggie Smith — you might have read the title poem of the collection, „Good Bones“ that went viral a few years ago. This whole collection is a delight though, with images that appear and reappear in different places in the collection, thoughts on maturing, motherhood, and the feeling of being anchored to — or escaping — the place where you grow up.

No Map Could Show Them by Helen Mort — I recommend this book to everyone who asks me about poetry. I am not lying when I say that this is the book that made me a poet. I solidly thought of myself as a prose writer before I read it. It‘s a collection focusing on present day and historical women mountaineers (with detours into other subjects). What always draws me in about Mort‘s poetry is her incredible gift of getting the imagery and form of her poems work together to really make them sing. I could give a twenty minute lecture on her use of white space alone. I love this book.

[spiceynoodls]

Okay so like, Mystery Inc. is a club they started in middle school when Shaggy moved into Coolsville. They originally just read mystery novels and talked about famous mysteries and stuff, but when they got in high school they started solving mysteries. They’re around 16-18 (Shaggy being the youngest and Fred being the oldest).

They have sleepovers all the time, to the point where Daphne has clothes for all of them at her house, and they’ll jump between everyone’s houses all the time. They all call Shaggy’s grandma “Gran” and she helps them with schoolwork.

Daphne is mega rich, and super popular. She knows everyone at school and most people in town because her parents are both very social, and she takes after them. They have most meetings in her bedroom with Little Bites and Pepsi, provided by Shaggy & Fred. Daphne is super kind to everyone and strongly believes that everyone should be treated with the same respect, but she doesn’t tolerate bullying and will stand up for anyone. She likes to do Shaggy’s hair because she has trouble doing her own and Velma’s is too short to do much. She paints Velma’s nails, though.

Velma lives with her dad, and she spends most of her time either with him or Daphne. They’ve been best friends since the third grade when Daphne gave Velma a pudding cup after she tripped and scraped her knee. She’s a mega nerd when it comes to ghosts, even though she’s dead afraid of them. Velma gets annoyed easily, but she’s never mean. She’s very picky, only Daphne can get her to try new foods, and Velma usually loves them. Velma’s the only person who gets to make fun of her friends, and she has gotten in a fist fight because some kid made fun of Fred for saying he liked Taylor Swift.

Shaggy is the most pure innocent child ever, he can do no wrong. He’s good at doing things accidentally. Secret passage? Found. Spooky riddle? Solved. Multiple choice quiz he didn’t study for? Aced. He somehow always has food, and is an expert is all things mysterious. He has a backpack that has the most random stuff in it. Velma will be like “If only I had this random thing.” And Shaggy will pull it out like “This random thing?” Scooby is his new puppy he just loves so much, and he brings Scooby everywhere- except school, for obvious reasons- and Scooby is surprisingly well trained. He moved to Coolsville in the seventh grade right next door to Fred and across the street from Daphne. He and Fred are like brothers, they’re always together and aren’t shy when it comes to showing affection for one another. Even without a job, Shaggy always has spending money. Nobody knows how.

Fred, the aromantic king, chugs the respect woman juice, treats everyone he meets with respect, respects his friends boundaries like no man ever has. He’s a straight-A honor roll student with way too much free time. He’s not really educated when it comes to ghosts and ghouls, but he loves watching Velma and Shaggy launch into monologues about all the spooky things. He’s known Daphne since they were both babies, since their parents are friends. Fred can make a MEAN potato casserole, and cleans for fun. FOR. FUN. As the only Mystery Inc. member with a license, Fred is everyone’s personal driver and often does fast-food runs for the gang. Everyone insists on paying for the food and the gas, even though Fred feels like he doesn’t need them to. He appreciates the gesture, though.

Okay feel free to judge me harshly because I threw this together just now in the past 15 minutes. Have a good day/night!

Scooby Dooby Doo!

[linecoveredinjellyfish]

currently reading rebecca by daphne du maurier and im only on chapter 3 so take this with a grain of salt but like. i find it really interesting and kind of hilarious that writers like e.l james love to reference rebecca (which i know because i watch a lot of youtube book reviews). cause rebecca absolutely does do the "plain lonely girl plucked out of her ordinary life by hot rich guy who inexplicably Must Have Her" thing but books like fifty shades do that unironically and with absolute certainty that this is a Good Thing. whereas in rebecca the hot rich guys advances are pretty explicitly suspicious and absolutely leading our heroine to disaster. idk it's just fascinating to me how people spin that plotline. it's like if you wrote about someone who became really pretentious and cut ties with all but a few friends, and by so doing, gained happiness and prosperity, and then you littered that book with allusions to the secret history. like yeah i guess but you seem to have missed the point here. anyway. im rambling.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb: In Emily Carroll's haunting adult graphic novel horror story A Guest in the House, a young woman marries a kind dentist only to realize that there’s a dark mystery surrounding his former wife’s death. After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life. Emily's masterful balance of black and white, surreal colors, rich textures, and dramatic lettering is assured to bring this story to life and give readers a chill up their spine as they read.

Review:

This is a haunting story that gave off Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca vibes.The story follows a woman named Abby who has just gotten married to a recently widowed dentist who has a daughter. Abby has always been lonely, but she hopes that she can be a good wife and a good step mother. Yet the more she learns about her husband’s previous wife the more suspicious she becomes of what actually happened to her. Was Shiela’s death due to natural causes or was it something more sinister. Abby becomes obsessed with finding out what happened... it also doesn’t help that she has begun to see the ghost of said wife and start communicating with it.., yet the real question is, what is real? This definitely was such an interesting mundane horror story, filled with gorgeous artwork and honestly had me guessing as to what was actually going on til the end of the book. 

*Thanks Netgalley and First Second Books, First Second for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[animentality]

Call for beta readers

Heyyyyy guys. 

As some of you know, I’m releasing a book soon, tentative date somewhere in December of 2022. 

This book has already been heavily revised and beta-read, and revised a few more times, but I could use some last minute eyes on the most polished version. 

Does anyone want to beta read or beta swap? 

I’m available to beta read any books, fanfics, or other written works, anywhere from 40k to 100k words. 

This novel is 81k. 

It’s like if a pansexual John Wick met Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. 

The description is as follows: 

Small time real estate CEO Don Francisco has a mysterious, but passionate lethal grudge against one of the richest women in the world. Her name?

Daphne Oakland: actress, model, heir to the Oakland financial empire, and unbeknownst to the general public, talented demon summoner. But since Francisco isn’t nearly as rich as the established Oakland family, he hires the only assassin he can afford: Sebastián Monterey, a down-on-his-luck, struggling demon summoner, the cheapest and lowest ranking one there is.

But Monterey is nothing like Francisco expected. He’s high-spirited, reckless, relentlessly cheerful …and worse, he’s a bit of a slut. The CEO is horrified to find out that Monterey has not just one, but seven angry exes in the killing business, who will stop at nothing to get in the way of an already impossible hit. Not only do they have personal reasons for wanting to see their former lover dead, they also have professional reasons: they are all currently employed by the Oakland family members!

The unlikely duo find themselves all over the cursed city of Larkhaven, fighting exes, gathering cursed items, and making strange friends in cursed places.

Content Warnings: Sexual content, violence, mentions of statutory rape. Also, it's LGBT, so. You have been warned.

Please DM me if you’d like to beta read or beta swap! 

Feel free to reblog or share with anyone who might be interested! 

[filmthoughtsbyfinn]

Bridgerton: A Good Screen Adaption

In 2012 The Hunger Games was released to a sea of enthusiastic young people who all used to pretend to fight in a death match. This movie was one of the only of its kind to achieve its success at a Box Office rate of 14 million dollars domestically. This can be attributed to a couple of things but the one I will be focusing on primarily is its ability to move so well from book to screen. 

The Hunger Games book series was already an incredible story, the characters, plot, and idea were all fantastic so changing anything would have been a mistake. And when you do make changes fans will notice. One example of this was the Cat Scandal. 

The Cat Scandal refers to the fact that in the first Hunger Games movie the breed of the main character’s cat changes from a tabby(in the book) to a black and white one instead. This sparked outrage within the fandom and every was frustrated. Following this mass outrage the director ended up changing the cat breed back to the original from the book. As quoted, “Thought the cat from the first movie was not the way he was described in the book. And that had annoyed a bunch of fans, and things like that. But it also just kind of bothered them that Buttercup was not a black and white cat.” The main frustration with this change was that it added nothing to the plot and therefore was not well received by anyone. 

Now, the question arises what does a dystopian movie made in 2012 have to do with a period romance piece that came out in 2020? 

Well, both are good adaptions. One because it stuck almost entirely to the books, and the other because it differed so much from its books. 

In 2000 Julia Quinn wrote the first Bridgerton book “The Duke and I”. Nearly 20 years later the television series Bridgerton would be released on December 25, 2020, with immense success. 

I have read and watched the Bridgerton series and if I am completely honest, it is one of the few series in which I enjoy there screen adaption better. Many people have come to agree with me. 

Now the question: Adaptions are notorious for being done poorly(look at any book to screen adaption made in the 2010s), the main gripe is that the movie/tv adaption doesn’t compare to the books. But both of these adaptions were well done one with everything coming from the book and the other with much less. 

The Bridgerton book series is problematic. This isn’t a question it is a fact. The female characters are all very docile and aren’t very self sufficient and tend to fall into the familiar damsel in distress category. There is nearly no representation other than mostly rich, white people. So how can a series like this do so well in todays current climate? 

The simple answer is that they changed everything. But, unlike the Cat Scandal these changes were purposeful. Instead of making changes that would add nothing to the book this cast and crew was able to make meaningful and incredible changes that allowed the series to grow outside of the books limits. Allowing for more inclusivity and more power to be given to those who lack it. 

While there are still some issues(ie. the SA scene involving Simon/Daphne that was ignored), this series took a good book series and made it great in the onscreen adaption. 

Citations: 

https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/ticash-21/125973088

https://whatcanilearntoday.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/whydidtheyrecastbuttercupforhungergamescatchingfire/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

[clandestine-j]

MY BRINGERTON HOT TAKE

which isn’t really all of that hot. I’m going to sum up a little but i want to cover it all-ish. i really want to talk about polin but i don’t want to make a bunch of post so i’m going to toss everything into one. 

Season 1: I really liked it. I liked the subplots of this season better. I did like Simon & Daphne...aside from that one ugh scene that I had to FIGHT so many people about because they didn’t believe it. I can only remember Simon’s speech to The Queen as a stand-out relationship moment but the flirting was cute and all. 

Season 2: I liked the main couple better but the side plots of season 1 more. I’m glad I wasn’t on social media when season 2 first dropped because it would’ve been a headache. I know people saw Kate & Anthony got less time together BUT I remember them so much more and I can re-call various of scenes with them more than I can our S1 couple. The bee string with Kate, Anthony telling her to tell him no before Daphne came in, the game of pall mall and etc, I just felt more for the couple. 

Side note, also viewing S2, I like Daphne more as a side character who gives advice than a main lead. 

I’ll agree Kate should’ve gotten some more depth added by the end but I wasn’t unhappy (I didn’t even realize this was an issue until I joined fandom stuff because I just loved her so....)

All I’m going to say about Edwina is she’s not some evil bitch. Home girl is out here fighting in the streets but I liked her and I don’t mind ep 6 being mostly about her because LMAO SHE was the one getting married. SHE was the one who trusted her sister. SHE was the one who watched her sister and fiancé making love to each other standing at the alter. SHE was the one who found about the money last, SHE’s the one who was told there weren’t anymore secrets. 

So, yeah.  

Onto the meat of my topic! POLIN, it’s under a read more because there will be some book spoilers. 

I feel like I need to address a few things first. 

I know all of the characters in the show and in the book are mainly rich, privileged, spoiled, entitled people. I know most of their problems will be first world problems. I’ve accepted it that, I’ve accepted that I’ll have to relate the character flaws and ‘whinying’ and I say this, because it ties into my post overall but i’m going to roll my eyes if a rich character feels listless compared to their family because, well, this rich person is human and being rich doesn’t prevent them from feeling. 

TV POLIN:

Honestly, I’m here for it. I’m going to eat, no crumbs left. I can do friends to lovers. I got all of those ‘OOF’ feelings whenever Colin would say something sweet to Pen and then follow it up with “HEY BESTIE!” I like how Penelope is all heart eyes in a romantic way and Colin is heart eyes like ‘i love my little sis so much’

so, Pen as LW in the show is MILES extra than what she did as LW in the books. I was EEK. I’ll admit, ya girl doesn’t know how she’s gonna comeback from this. I mean, her apologizing, telling the Bridgeton family and etc all has to happen but I’m scared for her to come out as LW.  It’s life or death. In the books, that C girl finds out and they do whole reveal but with the Queen in it....hmm...maybe...they let the Queen in on it? Let her do the reveal, maybe she’ll be impressed that it was PEN of all of people who did it. Idk, I’m here for the romance. 

So for the romance. I don’t know how Colin & Pen will handle LW, so I won’t touch but this is what I will touch. HOT TAKE. DON’T HATE ME.

While Colin does need to say sorry and prove he’s sorry, I can’t do an entire season of him groveling at her feet while she plays hard to get. I say this because, while Colin was tactless and etc, I do get where he was coming from when he did it in two ways, one, the peer pressure and drinking with the guys and etc! But even more than that (two) as of right now, he really wouldn’t dream of courting of her. I think I took that scene in...is based off my real life, growing up, I had a guy bff and everyone would hit me with you like him and all and I’d be like NO, that’s my BFF. 

It’s obvious to see that Colin DOES care about Penelope, he values her, he looks out for her, he’s open in a way with her that he isn’t with his own family. I don’t think he meant it in a mean way but in his mind, they’re asking him about his bff, someone who could be like a little sister to him. I don’t think what he said is worth making him grovel for half a season. He does love Pen, just not in the way we want.

I think what I would like, is Colin starting look at Pen in the way society would sort of look at her. He isn’t supposed to be as comfortable he is with Pen, how he treats her like friend, how he doesn’t really dance/talk with other women outside his family. How, in his mind, saying what he said is harmless because everyone knows that they’re good friends but the issue is, men and woman *aren’t* really suppose to be friends in this era, at least until they reach a certain age. I’d like someone, like Violet or Daph or even Fran to have that talk with him. And maybe once he starts looking at her through that lens, he starts seeing her as a *woman* and not as Pen. 

I’d even like an episode or something of him, maybe, possibly, for whatever reason of him helping Pen find a boo and just harshly inspecting them all and he’s complaining about it at the breakfast table and everyone is gets it and just giggles and laughs at him.

OR 

Maybe a scene where someone is talking about the different types of loves, the different ways it can hit you and as the scene is going on and that person is talking to Colin or around, he see’s Pen and what they describe truly hit home for him and he starts to get it. And then he freaks out and panics and is like OHSHITIMINLOVEWITHPEN and he’s running around, freaking OUT. 

I’d like some real courting. It was too rushed in the books. This is a TV series so, give me the courting. Give me starting to court and taking a bet on how long it’ll take everyone to figure it out. 

Onto my next bit, which is more book related. Julia rushed Colin’s emotional journey too much. Which hurts me because I liked that! I like a guy from his period being that in touch with his emotions. Which leads me to my next point, I get it. He’s a white boy with money and is entitled. He’s liked by everyone and compared to Pen he has a lot going on. AND STILL.

The scene in which he’s being open and vulnerable, trusting her and she shits on it. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why she’s saying it, it’s just that it was resolved too easily for me. He doesn’t matter if he didn’t love her, it doesn’t matter if he’s more well liked. When you’re being open with someone and they shit on your feelings right after, when you’re putting your trust in them, that hurts. 

Which leads me too, I hope the show goes more in depth on that emotional journey. All aspects. Does he feel like he can’t go to his older brothers? Does he feel like he can’t be open with them like he was with Pen because on some level he knows it’s a petty problem (which, I don’t think it is, it’s a human thing.), is he scared of getting the same reason. How does their father’s death impact him? (And all of the siblings honestly.) In the books, there’s a throw away when he says he isn’t tall and brooding. It shows what type of person he thinks women are into and that he doesn’t see himself that way so he’s putting himself down. Why does it bother him to be known as charming fool and why would Pen see that as a compliment? (In the books, he mentions whistle down saying he was charming and it made him feel some type of way because is that *all* he is, is that the only way people see him.) I just think a few of things could be used in the show to go a little deeper into Colin, because compared to Pen, he hasn’t had that deep dive yet. 

And to transition to home girl, it’s funny, they don’t communicate GREAT as in not yelling but I like in the books they tend to get the problems out, right the and there. It might translate differently to the scene but I like the no-nonsense stuff. 

And to say, my girl Pen gives at good as she gets when given the chance. In the book and we’ve seen this in the show. I think Penelope needs to work on ownership most of all. In the books, LW wasn’t a big deal, LW wasn’t horrible and picked on mean people. In that sense, her being LW isn’t that big, but the SHOW OH BOY THE SHOW. 

Guys. Home girl fucked up. I’m rooting for home girl but she fucked up. 

[seeminglyseph]

I feel like.... compelled to keep watching Velma because so many the arguments being made about how it’s flawed are based on things that *don’t* matter, like whether Daphne, Velma or Shaggy are white or not. That shouldn’t matter if you can tell a good story around it. I’m a fan of raceblind casting because I think actors tend to matter a lot more than characters on the grand scheme of things. Only one of them has to pay bills. And while the art style looks... undeniably cheap despite the HBO money? it does feel like it’s going for Clone High. The corpse reveal joke does feel like it would happen between Joan and Cleo, not Velma and Daphne. Though the whole opening setup doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me for a high school, it 100% feels written for a college and then they went with high school. Why are they having a group shower first thing in the morning in their grungy school shower full of bugs if....... they all live at home. And would have been there before going to school. This is written half like they live on a dorm and then got shifted to something else after they already animated that part for the trailer? It would also make sense why there are young teens constantly sprawled on the front lawn smoking weed. Like, come on guys. There’s a smoker’s shack just off school property. Everyone knows that. So school authority technically can’t expel you for doing something on school grounds. like you don’t even know enough about fucked up schools to write about one. But from what I’ve read most of the writers came from affluent households. Which makes all the “pampered rich baby never learned how to do anything hard” stuff ring a little hollow. like you don’t even know about the smoke shack and you expect me to believe you know what the experience of a fucked up teenager is?

[unexaggerateddumbass]

The new Velma series is ok, but it’s not really about the mystery gang. Plenty of talented and creative people worked on it. The jokes often land. There’s some really pleasant animation. I feel as though it was written by someone who has been on ao3. These people were put together to create a show, and they did a good job, but it’s obvious that none of them had any interest in actually making a Velma origin story. Velma’s the teen detective. Fred is a rich asshole. Velma is the popular girl. Shaggy’s the love interest(And his name is Norville for some reason?). They straight up do not resemble to mystery gang even superficially. I think the creators just wanted to play around with these tropes, but they were handed this weird pitch and they decided to roll with it.

That is to say that this show exists in a weird space. It’s basically an adult cartoon sitcom in the same vein as The Simpsons or Rick and Morty, but(for some reason) contextualized by the cultural legacy of Scooby Doo. And there are several writing decisions that I think are interesting. It is set up that Norville has a crush on Velma. Velma is unaware of this. Velma and Daphne, having been friends in the past, are forced to work together again due to circumstancestm, and both develop a crush on eachother. While this is happening Norville basically says out loud to the camera “I’m gonna get velma to like me by performing unhealthy tropes from romcoms” and has his own little b-plot that does not pan out for him. and idk. Isn’t that interesting? unhealthy manipulation in rhetorically healthy relationships from pop culture are weird. I know that and you probably know that. Niche little video essayists on youtube say it all the time, but here’s this show. The pop-culture itself is saying it now.

And that’s kind of the vibe of this whole show so far. It’s difficult to create a coherent reading, partly because there are only two episodes out right now, but largely because it’s all over the place. I want to create a reading of Norville as this balanced deconstruction of male love interests—and I think there is one there — but everytime someone says his name all I can think is “why is Shaggy called Norville?” And why is the popular girl archetype and her rich asshole boyfriend dressed up like Daphne and Fred from cultural monolith “Scooby Doo”? I didn’t even mention that Velma was already a mystery solver at the beginning of the show. The first episode itself contains another backstory where an even younger velma cultivates a love for solving mysteries. How the hell do I read this? Is it self-aware? I thought it was funny, but I can’t tell if I’m laughing because it was a sincerely good joke or if I’m laughing because at idea of a show pitched as a backstory creating its own fully motivated main character who needed backstory, or if I’m laughing because the creators understood the absurdity of that scenario and wrote it like that on purpose.

So yeah. It would have been easy to write this show off, but for some reason I chose the hard way and now I’m invested. Watch it or don’t.

[salmonthestoryteller]

Bridgerton S2 Rant -  I Don’t Like Theo

Time for Salmon says something not everyone is going to like - Fandom rant time.

This is about Bridgerton s2 - which I finally got around to watching because my sister gave me streaming services for Christmas. (If you're wondering who my favorite sister is…)

If you're a fan of Theo or the romance between Eloise and him, this post is not for you. I'm going to avoid tags as I often do when going full rant. Please respect that.

Time for a line cut.

I am not a fan of Theo. At all.  I have read what was supposed to be the point of Theo’s character.  However, watching the actual scenes we were given, absolutely none of it works for me.

For starters, Theo’s character is supposed to be a feminist.  But, sorry, no, Theo is literally sexist.  Furthermore, he is the epitome of someone who loudly supports a cause, while lacking any true understanding of the struggles of the people it is for and looking down his nose at them.

Let's start with their first interaction.  Obviously, the writers thought this was some sort of meet-cute where both are supposed to make misassumptions about each other and then realize they’re both wrong.  Except Eloise isn’t wrong.

Theo’s treatment of Eloise isn’t because she is rich or privileged.  It is because she is a rich, privileged woman. You will never make me believe that if Anthony or Benedict had been in front of him asking him questions that Theo would have dared respond to them the way he did Eloise.  Which means he acted that way strictly because she was a woman, only changing his tune once she “proved herself” by telling him off about her reasons.  If a woman has to “prove” to him that she’s intelligent in order for him to treat her as an equal, then he’s sexist.  Period.

While giving her the political pamphlets that inspire her to attend the rally does open up Eloise’s world a bit, that still really isn’t about privilege.  Or, it’s not about Eloise having privilege - it’s in fact about the opposite.  Eloise just came out to society - she was considered a child by society before this year. Her hems were not even dropped until toward the end of season one.  Her ability to move about was limited, and even now is still limited because she is unmarried.  Her interest in Lady Whistledown, and subsequent rebelliousness of wandering outside the bubble she has lived in, has done far more to teach her about the world than Theo does - despite it supposedly being the whole point of his character.

Let’s talk about their first fight.  He apologizes for it later, with the claim of simply trying to protect her.  But that doesn’t address the inherent problem with the sheer gaslighting lies that were his initial claims to begin with.

First of all, I would like to remind everyone that Penelope did not turn her friend into a ruined woman with her Whistledown article.  She references Eloise’s political affiliations, and specifically uses the plural term radicals.  Whether Eloise attended multiple political rallies or just the one is not fully delved into by the show - but the Whisteldown article is definitely written to suggest she had been meeting a group of people, and not just Theo.  Which, honestly, was the less damning of the two possible stories she could have written.

Which is what makes Theo’s suggestion that Eloise would be protected if they were found together, and he the only one to suffer so laughable, I can’t even…

We literally have so many examples of how not okay Eloise can come out of this.

Daphne being blackmailed into almost marrying her attempted r*pist ringing any bells?

Daphne marrying Simon, not because she loves him but because they'd been spotted alone together by Cressida ringing any bells?

Lady Mary being all but disowned by her family for daring to marry a man below her station and her and her husband literally leaving the country so their family could live in peace ringing any bells?

Marina’s entire plot ringing any bells?

The only reason Eloise is okay after her political affiliations were known has nothing to do with her wealth or standing.  It’s because she is lucky enough to come from a family who honestly love and care for one another. Any other wealthy, privileged family?  She would have been shipped out of town.  But actually being caught with Theo?  Unchaperoned? Another family and chances were very high they would have disowned their daughter to save themselves and tossed her out to the streets.  

This is why I say Theo is not written as truly understanding the struggle of women in their current society.  If he did, he would never have made the suggestion that their continued association could not affect Eloise.

Then we get to their final scene, and are you kidding me here?

Who in the writers' room was like, “I’ve got a great idea.  Let’s mix consent in with Theo going off in order for Eloise to have a harsh lesson on privilege.”??

I’m sorry, but did everyone in the writers’ room collectively lose their brain cells the day that was suggested?

Because all I see is the unsurprising sight of a man throwing a fit because a woman dared reject his advances.

Also, his claim that Eloise was the one who wanted to “meet like this” is a lie.  It’s pure gaslighting.  All of their initial meetings take place during the day with other people around.  Theo is the one who decides that was too dangerous and moved their meetings to be private and at night.

Which is the very reason Eloise is worried and shuts them down after Penelope lies and says people are talking about their meetings, because - as all the previous plots I listed show - this is dangerous for both of them. Unless Theo thinks he’s up to facing Anthony at dawn for a duel.

Furthermore, Theo literally said he was trying to protect her when he initially sent her away.  But now that she’s decided they should stop to protect him, he refuses to believe her motives.  Goes right into accusations all based - once again - not strictly on her being a member of high society.  But on her being a high society woman.  And, of course, daring to not continue to pursue a relationship with him.  Because clearly, he’s god’s gift to women, and the only reason she could possibly not want him is if she was being a privileged snob.

Sure, Jan.

The housekeeper lecturing and telling Eloise off in season one for going through her things and being clueless enough to think a servant had time to write Whistledown’s columns was Eloise learning about her privilege.

Granville telling Benedict off for suggesting he and Wetherby don’t truly love each other was Benedict learning about his privilege.

Siena explaining to Anthony that she would be the one targeted by society if they went public, not him, was Anthony learning about his privilege.

Theo being angry and accusing Eloise of toying with him because she rejected his advances and wants to stop meeting him is a man being a jackass over a woman refusing him.

Simply put, the moment they made Theo both a man and a romance, there was no way to properly use his character for Eloise to learn about privilege.  Because of what being caught alone with a man could do to a woman’s reputation, there was never going to be a time having private meetings with Theo wouldn’t have put Eloise just as much at risk.

In order for Eloise to continue to have protected privileges, it would have to be a woman from the lower class she was meeting with.  That would have skewed the risks in her favor, and provided a way she could have learned about her privilege. (Not to mention another woman teaching her about the suffrage movement would have simply been more believable.  Sorry, not sorry.  It’s just the truth.)  And, as much as I would personally love some w/w on this show, it also needed to be strictly a friendship and not a romance.  Making it a romance is where the idea also falls apart.  Because that starts to mix consent and rejection into the story - and that doesn’t work with the idea of this being a lesson in privilege.  Because at the end of the day, rejecting someone’s advances is everyone’s right - regardless of the reasons.  That just needs to be respected.

If this had simply been a friendship and partnership with another female, and Eloise chose to break up the partnership and friendship over what Penelope said, claiming it was because of the danger? That could have been met with derision, with the claim Eloise was running back to her privileged life.  Was backing out because she lacked the conviction to truly support the causes she claimed she did.  Because, let’s face it, women’s right was a dangerous cause at that time.  But, in the case of a lower-class blue stocking friend rather than a male romance, the risk would never have changed.  So her withdrawal would have been rightfully suspect.

But Theo as Theo is written?  He’s nothing but a sexist jerk who's all lip service and no substance.