For reference if you're a non Warcraft fan or haven't been keeping up with WoW, Warcraft has blatantly racially coded fantasy races like the trolls have jamaican accents, wear tiki masks and grass skirts, and practice voodoo in Jungles, whilst the tauren (Minotaurs) have feather headdress, smoke peace pipes, have totem poles and tepees, ETC.
Warcraft's so called new "woke" writers have doubled down on the "PoC coded monsters are evil" stuff with the very few good characters from those races being depicted as the "good ones" because they reject the savage ways of their people and side with white humans.
They've also whitewashed any bad actions from white characters.
Around the same time, Mathias Shaw was confirmed as gay, we got 2021's Shadowlands where:
There was a story with the pure and good white colonizers vs the completely evil savage natives that deserved to be wiped out because they didn't want to share.
Confirmation that the gods that the white races worshipped were real, whilst the gods of the tauren and other PoC coded races were fake.
An afterlife where all spirits are converted to bodies resembling caucasian humans.
A POC coded character (Zul'jin) that fought against the white colonizers that stole his land and treat his people as vermin to be exterminated, being one of the only characters being sent to Hell, whilst white characters whom did far worse weren't.
Real world revered voodoo loa Dambala being depicted as a God of evil that players are sent to kill.
So I think more people should've voted negatively on Mathias Shaw because whilst the character himself isn't racist, he's closely associated with horrible racist writing that thought throwing a white gay character in to their broke ass script script would somehow make it "woke".
I encourage people to interpret the poll options in whatever way they want, whether that's the character's writing, the strength of the representation, or their overall feelings on the media. I've talked about this before, but at the end of the day I am not trying to be an arbiter of what media is good and what's not, because I am simply not qualified to be. I sincerely appreciate when people send in asks like this detailing the issues with a piece of media so that other people can be more aware in the future. All posts like this are tagged with "media critical"!
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Don't think I'm finished on "Movie is how Howl tells the story..." statement. Because it's fundamentally wrong.
Look, I get it when you want to say that the hmc movie is its own story with an original plot — because it is, mostly, the only things that remain are the concept and some hits given here in there that lead to nowhere. However, movie is absolutely not how Howl would tell the story. It is, in fact, pretty opposite of it in some aspects.
Even when talking about Howl self-image, wich started it all, I think people keep forgetting how self-aware Howl can be. He knows he's vain and cowardly and an absolute loser and he doesn't want to be respectful whatsoever. He even tells Michael that, quote
“I know I’m slapdash, but there's no need for you to copy me"
And the whole ending sequence is just him being honest with Sophie and telling her the truth about who he thinks he is and his weaknesses. He pretty much states all he flanks are weak — he knows it, and it is true. Would he try to make it all more romantic and cool and so he would make himself seem less of a loser? Yes, absolutely. Would he make it by erasing absolutely everything about his character being unique and standing out turning it into a whole-blown "love peace not war" story? Absolutely not.
He may not mention him getting with another women every week, that's true. But he wouldn't leave out his stupidly-"romantic" nature while he was doing so, and he would not leave the guitar courting stuff out just because it's connected to it, gosh, he thinks it's cool.
Yes, he is quoting Shakespeare and John Dohn and he is poetic and sometimes overly romantise thinks to make it more dramatic, but that does not mean he's gonna achieve it by leaving out all his shenanigans whatsoever. Also, note, he does not want to be seen perfect by everyone, just by ones he thinks is important to him or his life or his stupid decisions. After all, he was the one who started the rumors about Wizard Howl being a heart-eater. He was the one to ask Sophie to blaken his name — to show him in the worst light possible.
"He wants to be seen perfect by everyone" is such a... mediocre analysis of his character, honestly, it might work with appearance, in Ingary at least, but personality wise. He want to be seen so only when it benefits him and people he thinks highly of. When he thinks that too high thoughts about him would bring him into trouble, give him unwanted attention or make him actually works, that his last wish ever. That's the whole subplot of the book — Howl does not want to be seen too good by the king because it's gonna lead him somewhere he doesn't want to be. Hell, he even denies doing something just because he wanted to help, saying that he "did it for money".
(it doesn't mean he wants people to see him as someone great, it's just that's pretty selective and his "perfect" persona is as fake as his "horrible wizard one)
Movie!Howl might be Book!Howl propaganda, but definitely not ALL of him. Some parts, some scenes, some moments might work (and that's actually the most accurate thing out of all statement), but I don't personally think this is the EXACT way Howl would tell his character.
Him telling about Sophie is the whole other thing. He LOVES Sophie for how crazy and stubborn and nosy and moody she can be — there's NO WAY he's not gonna give weed killer a half an hour or screen time just to talk about what haos of a woman his wife is. Yes, some of them might not fit into his "perfect picture" but he loves Sophie, and he loves what she does with this "perfect picture" and he's gonna give another hour on them bantering just because Sophie is being Sophie. He's NOT gonna leave out everything he loves about Sophie making her kind-hearted quiet protagonist with one mean line, the ones she was supposed to be the opposite, the caricature of.
There's also no way he would make Michael into a... white about six years old child? He may see him younger than Sophie does due to them growing up in a different environments, true, but 1) not that much 2) the whole thing about Michael is that he's the most responsible adult-like person in the whole Castle, despite being the youngest of all them, and Howl also KNOWS that. Also there's no need to change his skin or hair colour, as well as making him having no role in the story. I don't think he'll mention Michael trying to catch a star because of his nephew's homework — this is embarrassing, after all, but there's so MUCH more of Michael than that.
He's not gonna may ms. Pentstemmon a villain of any kind. Letting alone mixing her with Ben for some reason (who to hell is ms. Suliman, seriously?? W H Y). He highly respects her, to the point he's ready to attend her funeral even If it's gonna make him dead. If anything, he's gonna show her figure even more heroic than she is, maybe adding a whole sequence with her heroicly fighting with WoTW and loosing with an epic SGI. But making her a villain? No. Just not. There's no reason for that.
There's also no WAY he wouldn't mention Wales. He LOVES his country, he outright states it with "I love Wales but Wales doesn't love me" quote. Yes, there's jokes about Megan being a war metaphor, but Wales is not just Megan — it's also Mari, Niel, his old rugby team, his childhood and teen years, his memories and his experience. He would not make that portal If there was no things he wants to go back for — it's such an obvious weakness of his that WoTW notices it right away. He may not mention getting drunk before a fight, but he's gonna mention Wales.
(also I think people exaggerate Howl's hate for Megan. Yes, their relationship are far from perfect, but they still talk, she lest him go into her house announced and her family is what triggers him to fight with his evil ex in the first place. They may not be on a good terms but they DIDN'T cut off their connection. And "hate" is def not the word for that. Don't forget his first reaction to Sophie being in danger in CITA is "send her to Wales to his sister". He sees Wales as safe and reliable place, this is his first solution for dangerous situations. Even when he's not the biggest fan of his sister herself.)
He's also not gonna leave the sister subplot simply cause it was funny. He may change WoTW because he doesn't like her but he's not gonna make her live with them and feed her with a spoon, for the God's sake, that's disgusting. Him making himself Ingarian is the last thing he would do. He would NEVER.
(he's also not gonna leave out Shakespeare quoting in the sake of "romantise sequence you guys are talking about.)
Also, he could not care less about the war. I've seen a war with my own eyes, and... this is really, eh, too optimistic image of it I might say. Somehow realistic in showing it, but not by the way it provides solution, honestly. "Let's all just create love and King's gonna cancel war" IT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. NO.
When he did attend war in CITA, he literally have won it by bringing IBUPROFEN onto the war field. Ibuprofen and bandages. What a "all-giving" reckless hero, really.
Book!Howl is a caricature to everything Movie! Howl is, and otherwise would not tell the story providing cliches he himself is the opposite of. He's a loser and an idiot and we love him for that.
It's two completely different stories. There's no need to connect them. Please.
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Since bread metaphors are in, I'd like to express a controversial opinion on correspondences.
As the metaphor goes, if you want to learn how to bake bread extremely well, you may study multiple types of bread from various different cultures, because many of these breads will have something to teach you which you can apply to your own bread.
Additionally, in examining the recipes of a multitude of cultures, you may begin to notice a few common threads.
"Bread," you might then say "Is made with flour." And you would not be incorrect.
"But," someone else might point out, "Flour is for making papier-mâché!" And they would not be incorrect either.
So then, does flour have bread-making capabilities, or papier-mâché-making capabilities? It has both.
And what if someone were to add, "Bread is made with almond flour, which is completely different from wheat flour. In fact, you shouldn't use wheat flour, because some people can't use that bread." ("Well I'm allergic to almonds, so really--")
So, if bread can be made without flour, and flour can make things that are not bread, is there any connection between bread and flour at all?
Obviously, there is.
It's just complicated. If you study the practices of many different cultures, and you find similarities, then you might feel inspired to create your own recipe using some of these common traits-- the ones that you find you like the most.
The correspondences of different things are not fixed-- new ones can be constantly invented. Likewise, your spell can be ruined by a bad combination-- or a bad combination for you.
If something is not working for you, find alternatives.
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Recently read a really fantastic fic on Ao3 by the very talented @hellokittysasuke (Link can be found here - do check it out if you're interested in an exploration of Apollo and his many griefs) and one of the things they mentioned in their wonderful reply to my extremely long comment has been rolling around in my head a bit.
Specifically, it was about readings of the Iliad where people view Apollo's directing of Paris' arrow as an act of mercy - that it was a rare act of compassion from a god that had been otherwise adversarial to Achilles because he, more than any god or mortal, understood the pain of continuing to live after one's soul has already died. I find this interesting for a myriad of reasons - the fact that Achilles' death is not actually portrayed in the text of the Iliad notwithstanding - but chiefly because, well, put plainly, Apollo despises Achilles. And, even more relevantly, in the context of this fic which deals primarily with Apollo writing a letter to Hyacinthus, I felt like it highlights even more intensely what Apollo despised about Achilles.
In Book 24, when Apollo makes a stand against Achilles' prolonged desecration of Hector's corpse and rights as a warrior, he says:
"But murderous Achilles... that man without a shred of decency in his heart... his temper can never bend and change--/Achilles has lost all pity!... No doubt some mortal has suffered a dearer loss than this, a brother born in the same womb, or even a son... "
"The Fates have given mortals hearts that can endure."
Because grief affords lenience - just as wrath, or passion or any other myriad of intense, afflicting emotion but Achilles had lost his humanity in his anger, had lost every human decency and thus had to be hunted like a beast and slain with the arrow instead of the sword. And I think the contrast between Achilles' grieving and the other examples that are presented in the fic - Prometheus' anguish as he's eaten alive, primordial man when they were severed down the middle and left yearning, Apollo who must love and lose in perpetuity - are that they are examples of that human quality of endurance. That yes, things hurt - they might even hurt for thousands of years, but eventually, eventually they will stop hurting. The pain that was endured will be alleviated, it will be a memory, it will be a kindness and it must be accepted just as joy and peace and love are accepted.
Anyway, go read hellokittysasuke's fic, it's really good and I cannot stop thinking about it.
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