#I mean she’s also a misogynist but that’s digressing

[ecce-felix]

I always ask the very good question of ‘if rhaenyra wanted to rule successfully and shut the greens down before they could gain traction why didn’t she foster more alliances besides with the velaryons and arryns’ like alliances aren’t just marital you can foster good relations and give lords attention and listen to them personally (since you have a dragon that gives you increased travel mobility) and make them feel important. She’s a woman in a misogynistic society and has three brothers (along with two nephews) that many would consider heirs above her, I genuinely don’t understand why she didn’t realize how weak her position was and work to combat it. She just squatted on dragonstone for years to the point that a betrayal from house Baratheon (who are literally just across the channel) came out of nowhere to her. She just expected they’d be her allies bc she didn’t consider the rumors about her sons might anger the baratheons. She knows she has two unmarried brothers that the greens could use to form marital alliances, why didn’t she try to figure out which great house with eligible daughters was their target? It’s just bizzare. I would’ve been visiting all the time to check the vibes at storms end and trying to charm them into forgetting they aren’t Actually related to my heir. Granted she’d have a harder time of it bc misogyny & her habit of lying but if she gave an effort the greens would’ve had a much weaker leg to stand on. It’s like she grew up so entitled/watching her stupid father flounder in KL that she forgot being a monarch is an actual job that requires networking with everyone and not one or two houses. She finally started networking during the war by sending her heir to treat with the north but by then it was too damn late to stop the war from happening. I blame viserys for being a fuckup bad example to her and I also blame Targaryen exceptionalism for making her ego & sense of delusional entitlement worse.

[onedeadkitty]

Mizus Gender

He/him they/them she/her pronouns for Mizu

I know the writers of the show wrote blue eye samurai with Mizu as a woman disguised as a man in a way similar ish to Mulan but uh

They accidentally made it deeper than that ??

If you removed like 2 lines of dialogue in episode 5 you could even make an argument for trans masc Mizu. Or at the least gender queer.

Being transgender is not a concept in this time period. But trust. People have always wanted to be other genders, probably for the entirety of human history. And how someone would go about being trans in a world with no true understanding of the concept, might be similar to what Mizu IS DOING RIGHT NOW.

Living as a man. PERMANENTLY. Not temporarily to achieve some near goal like Mulan and the many other stories with this concept. Mizu has lived as a man nearly their entire life and no intention to ever live as a woman in the future.

Mizu admires their freshly binded chest in the mirror as a teen.

When alone Mizu refers to himself as a man.

When alone with Ringo, (someone who knows the secret) Ringo also refers to Mizu as a man.

Mizu threatens to straight kill Ringo at the the very use of the word “girl”.

When, and ONLY when seeing 2 MEN kiss does he think of Taigen.

Not to mention madame Kajis indelicate insinuation of gay sex to Mizu, something I believe wasn’t for no reason. OR Madams iconic line “you are more man than ANY come through my door” (I’m convinced she has an idea of Mizus true sex but doesn’t care to accuse or call them out for it)

They HAD lived as a woman in the past. Only for about a year, and they did it to get married for her mothers sake. To save her from a life of prostitution. She was able to be happy, because it IS POSSIBLE to be happy while not presenting how you like. It’s a strain and some can never be happy doing so but it’s possible and people do it all the time to make their lives easier or to keep the peace with family or for many other reasons.

Episode 5 gave HUGE VIBES of going back into the closet when living with your parents or just visiting. And Mizu looked SO uncomfortable and awkward in woman’s clothing and doing “wife things” (partly cause they have never done that before) and maybe it was my own projecting but I felt so uncomfortable FOR Mizu.

These things don’t necessarily mean being a transgender man specifically. Gender is actually really complicated and has ALOT to do with what society deems it.

Mizu is a masculine person. Being what Japan wants women to be isn’t in line with what Mizu is. A violent, practical, stoic, cold, masculine, confident and capable warrior.

dressing up as a woman with the makeup ONLY to try and make her husband happy. She didn’t WANT to. “To soften her husbands heart, the bride… danced” performed femininity FOR HIM. Only for Mikio to betray her for, in his eyes, being more masculine than him, by beating him in a physical fight.

Mizu is both the ronin and the bride. Mizu will be whatever they need to in order to achieve their owed deaths. They HAVE to be a man to get their revenge but that doesn’t mean Mizu WANTS to be a woman. (To be fair who WOULD in that time but I digress) and it doesn’t mean they WANT to be a man. They WANT their revenge. Everything is secondary to that.

Mizu is so different from other characters…

I grew up in a kinda misogynistic place and my mom really didn’t let me “do boy stuff” or dress masculine in any sense until my late teens. I my self don’t know if I can even call myself Trans. But I’m masculine, I like looking like a man and dressing as one but I don’t WANT to be a man necessarily. But I don’t WANT to be a woman. I feel like we as a society put to much distinction between the two and the people who don’t fit either side get left out at times.

Mizu is such a relatable character to me, like no other characters complicated feelings about their own sex and gender have ever come close.

They are for those who don’t have a strong sense of their own gender. Especially those who are biologically female and hesitant to lean into their sex because of the societal baggage.

Once people realize that how you dress, how you act, and what you do in reality have nothing to do with your bio sex and everything with what society has forced people to do based on factors out of our control is the day we can finally stop having these conversations.

Do what you want, gender is fake.

But Mizu is forever 🫶

[genderkoolaid]

^ lets deconstruct this post

So. Look. If you want to define transmisogyny not as "transphobia targeting transfems" but as the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, that's fine. Honestly, I'm for differentiating between anti-transfemininity and transmisogyny, while acknowledging that transmisogyny is fundamental to anti-transfemininity (and fundamental to anti-transmasculinity, and sexism/genderism based in male stereotypes ("misandry"/"antimasculism") is also fundamental to both, but I digress).

However. If we are seriously defining transmisogyny as the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, then it makes no sense to say that trans men can be transmisogyny exempt. If its just about the intersecting oppressions and not identity (or perceived identity), then it makes no sense to center transmisogyny entirely on transfeminine experiences. Under this definition, trans men are transmisogyny affected not only when we are perceived as transfems but all the time because its a fundamental part of transphobic rhetoric against us. The best example would be how transmascs experience the intersection of anti-trans bigotry against "unnatural" modification of bodily sex/gender status and the misogynistic obsession with controlling pregnancy and the bodies of those who can become pregnant.

For example: a trans man is outed to his family, who then force him into a marriage with a cishet man where he is maritally raped and impregnated. Its inaccurate to say that this is just transphobia or just misogyny; this is about punishing him for threatening the patriarchy on two levels: taking autonomy over his "female" body, and transgressing the gender/sex boundary.

But if "transmisogyny" refers exclusively to the intersection of misogyny and transphobia which targets transfems, then it only makes sense that we need another term to describe that which targets transmascs. You can't both complain that transmisogyny isn't "transphobia targeting transfems", so there doesn't need to be a transmasc equivalent, and argue that transmisogyny only targets transfems and transmascs are capable of being TME.

The rest of this is just the same shitty takes on transandrophobia discourse:

"Its a term made in retaliation against transfems!" No it isn't. It was and has always been a term made for transmascs so we have our own language to center our own experiences. Your obsession with making everything we do about transfems says more about you than it does us.

"Its just used to say "when transfems are mean to transmascs!"" No it isn't. For one, personally and from what I've seen from others, we tend to complain a lot more about self-identified TMEs than about transfems because honestly? Other transmascs have been the most annoying in this discourse. But two: it is disgustingly reductive to say this shit when we discuss the very real issues of suicide, rape and sexual assault, forced pregnancy, forced marriage, the way criminalization of T criminalizes transmascs and especially TMOC, the murder of transmascs and how we are erased after death. Again, this is your obsession with making everything we do about transfems.

"As it seems to be used only on this site" No it isn't. Multiple academics, including the literal coiner of the term, are doing research onto this concept & terminology.

EDIT: OP was not aware of the ongoing sexual harassment. I still think saying "trans women taking the piss" is downplaying a lot of the lateral transphobia that takes place, but she's not referring to anything specific I believe.

[natileroxs]

Hey, I want to talk about Vincent and Sephiroth. Like, genuinely.

I've seen a post here and there about not wanting Sephiroth to be Vincent's son, and the sentiment puzzles me so much. I mean, do you hate fun or something?

Vincent not being Sephiroth's father causes Vincent's motivations and guilt complex to be paper thin and Sephiroth to lose even more of his agency.

On the second point first, Sephiroth as Hojo's son signals an eventual downfall into madness. It's always a way to point and state "it's in his blood", Jenova notwithstanding but I digress. With Sephiroth as Vincent's son, the tragedy is tenfold because, in that instance, Sephiroth, instead, had two parents who genuinely loved and cared about him (Lucrecia is a very morally complicated character but I do believe her heart was in the right place. And Vincent, well, I'll get to Vincent) which makes his decent into madness and megalomania to be that much more tragic. Because it could have been different. He could have had a life. Making Hojo his father places a kind of certainty and makes Sephiroth lose agency and his downfall an inevitability.

On the other hand, you have Vincent. And his guilt complex. But without his direct connection to Sephiroth, there's a separation. Because if he is not Sephiroth's father, he actually doesn't have any responsibility over Sephiroth and his fate. In that instance, Vincent is in the exact position that literally everyone else is in, his only obligation is a moral one. So his guilt complex is fairly thin. Not to mention that it would come off as fairly misogynistic and weird if it was just him feeling guilty about not saving the woman that whom he had deep romantic feelings and her not reciprocating them. She made her own choices about her own body and while they were certainly the wrong choices, he doesn't have enough connection to have a discussion/stance on said issues, which makes things a little more icky in that sense.

If Vincent is Sephiroth's father, we can reframe it. Instead, Vincent and Lucrecia have a deep relationship so he can express to her that he cares for her safety and doesn't like that she's harming herself. It's less of a moral obligation and, instead, a more personal one. His standing up to Hojo becomes a fight for his own family. His guilt, still misplaced, is more believable because there is an understandable feeling of responsibility he had for Sephiroth, y'know, his SON instead of just some random kid. It also makes it kind of tragic in a way because Sephiroth was looking for meaning and family and both of them had locked themselves away from the guilt, eventually leading to his spiral downwards.

I do honestly hope that Part 3 gives us this confirmation and uses it to deepen Vincent's characterization.

[anti-spop]

Don’t forget, Sea Hawk is also apparently Asian. I also thought Frost might be Asian at first bc she kinda looks… maybe stereotypical isn’t the exact word, but just like what comes to mind when you think of a little Asian girl. Not to mention, she was originally designed as a white (Nordic coded?) teenager for this show before they decided to age her down into the little sister character. Never mind the fact the little sister character already existed in the old series with Glimmer and Allegra, and they could have done something with that, but I digress. I’ve also seen some people say Angella is Indian coded, because of the accent and her voice actress. Or maybe it’s because they think her gem is reminiscent of a bindi?

But yeah, idk about Perfuma, Entrapta, or Spinnerella. I think Perfuma could be latina because if the actress? But the character gives off the vibes of such a essential oils Karen that I associate with entitled white women, to the point I think she might just be a tanned white woman? Though I’ll admit, when I first saw her design I considered black and white biracial, and I considered Pacific Islander. So I have no idea. I’ve also seen some people interpret Entrapta as black. Though, I doubt it based on the hair alone. I like to think she’s latina, simply because I want her as my Latin rep, and not the literal cat. As for Spinnerella, I got nothing. Maybe white? All I know is that Huntara should have been black, and isn’t even coded as black. And I think that’s dumb, because I would have loved buff, queer, gets-a-character-arc Grace Jones in this show, since we didn’t get to have it in the old one.

Okay, hold on. I had no idea Sea Hawk was apparently half-Asian. I had to look this up. It was "confirmed" (as in, on Twitter) by the lead character designer for SPOP, who also "confirmed" Scorpia as half-Asian as well. However, I'm pretty sure Frosta is supposed to be Inuk like Katara, but I don't think that was ever confirmed. I could be wrong. I'm not even sure where her kingdom is located, for that matter. The worldbuilding in SPOP sucks so badly I barely remember how the kingdoms were like, save for Perfuma's and maybe Mermista's.

Idk, man. I honestly don't think that much about most characters' ethnicities, because the SPOP crew clearly didn't put a lot of thought into it. I mean, the literal cat teenager who licks herself, who walks on fours, who bites and claws people, who hisses and hates water, and who's sexualized on top of it all, is supposed to be Latina. Or Iranian or Middle Eastern, because apparently OG Catra came from "Purrsia", which is like... the Persian Empire? And fans really want to apply that to the reboot, too. Except Catra's origins were never brought up in SPOP, only that Catra was found abandoned in a cardboard box according to Nate. Regardless, neither theories are great because both Latinas and Iranian women (and Middle Eastern women in general) are not treated like people. They're sexualized and are victims of colonization. I've heard people headcanon Catra as Indigenous, too. Which is even worse considering she got her hair cut against her will.

As for the other characters... I just don't care, lmao. I will agree that Huntara should've been black, too. But since the SPOP crew didn't care about developing their kingdoms and their origins, then I don't think that hard. I mainly mention and dissect "Latina" Catra because the fandom won't shut up about her. Idk about Entrapta's ethnicity, but if Latina Entrapta makes you happy, go for it. Especially because Latin America is pretty diverse, so there are a lot of possibilities.

I don't agree with the term Karen, though. I get what you mean, that Perfuma is annoying and ableist and treats other people like garbage, but sadly that's another term that actual misogynists use against any women who get angry. But I know that's not your intention, I get where you come from.

[mothmans-wedding-photographer]

Finished Thunder! Here are my thoughts (spoilers obviously):

SQUIRRELSTAR SQUIRRELSTAR WE WON

Oh my I have so many mixed feelings on this book. I mean first of all I'm so excited for Squirrelstar but I digress. Also I'm pretty good with Ivypool deputy, I was rooting for Twigbranch but she was my second option :)

Frostpaw and Whistlepaw's friendship was so cute, Whistlepaw cares so much for her :) and I loved the bonding between Frostpaw and Nightheart, they're such good friends. It's nice to see Nightheart with someone with problems a lot worse than his, gives him some perspective.

The fact that Frostpaw was spayed is... interesting. I hope the story team doesn't make her be a medicine cat because "hey i can't have kits what's even the point of being a warrior :(" in real life TNR is great but from the perspective of humanized cats it feels so awful :(. Im not entirely against the plotline, I just hope it's handled well.

I hate Riverstar in this book he's so annoying and OOC. I did like the fact that they essentially sent Frostpaw to therapy to work through some of her trauma though lmao. Waffle is so cute, and I love Rook and Bee. I felt Wasp was a bit of an odd choice to come back to the Clans but whatever.

CURLFEATHER COMFIRMED EVIL YES our first main series female villain and she's complex?? She's awful and she used her kid, but she still loves her enough to sacrifice her life?? That's so cool. Splashtail is fine ig

Nightheart really did not need a POV this book lmao he just spent it worrying about Sunbeam. I do like that he's learning he's not the main character though lol, and again his friendship with Frostpaw is so sweet.

Sunbeam was sooo good this book I loved how they showed her learning to want to be in ThunderClan for ThunderClan, not just Nightheart. And she girlbossed when she stood up to her mom and Cherryfall, she's no longer a pushover! Character development.

I will say that argument at the start of the book between Bramble and Squirrel was stupid like ah yes the perfectly mentally capable woman somehow walked STRAIGHT INTO ANOTHER CLANS TERRITORY without realizing but somehow Bramble with his deteriorating mental state is right. Not misogynistic at all

OTTER CAMEO WHOOHOO

The ending with Berryheart was so anticlimactic and awful like she gets exiled for?? Expressing that she doesn't agree with her leader?? What the actual fuck??? I know she's xenophobic but she's not being exiled for that, she's being exiled for exercising her rights. Thanks I hate it! I wanted her to get kicked for like. Getting someone killed, or starting a fight, not this bullshit. Also Puddleshine miss me with that shit about how "one grudge can exploit this new code" like yeah ok but he's fucking invading and controlling another Clan, even if he has good intentions that's still a fair thing to be mad about?? (To be fair though Berryheart was being more xenophobic than on the side of RiverClan's freedom so I guess I can see where Puddleshine's coming from. I guess)

Speaking of why are all the protagonists so forgiving of Tigerheartstar like "he invaded, beat up, threatened to kill, and forcefully took control of this Clan and gets mad when people question him but he just has good intentions UwU" like no.

Splashstar real? That's going to be interesting. And I'm excited to see more of Podlight as a character

Overall an ok book, probably my least favourite of the arc so far but I still enjoyed most of it

[daenerysies]

Honestly, I think the Alicent stans are gleeful about what the show did to Alicent's character because now they can fully indulge in their dislike of Rhaenyra (all Targaryen women because apparently, they're all evil whores who don't fit into the image of a perfect Westerosi Lady), prop up Alicent's "suffering" as something aesthetically pleasing, and fixate on Alicent being a repressed lesbian "betrayed" by her crush and how Rhaenyra is a spoiled brat who abused poor baby Alicent. Don't even get me started on the constant comparisons they make between Sansa Stark and Alicent Hightower. "ALICENT WALKED SO SANSA STARK COULD RUN!" The theme is not only worrisome but nauseating.

that seems to be the case, doesn’t it anon? i think it feels vindicating for them, due to the whole ‘she spent her entire life suffering in the name of duty and honor, she deserves a conciliation prize’ like you mentioned (maybe there’s some deeper trauma that needs to be looked into for some of them idk) as if said 'prize' doesn’t end up costing her her entire family. the way they’ve written her in the show just screams the glorification of abuse. she’s allowed to physically, mentally, and emotionally abuse her own kids in their eyes bc she too was abused, every misdeed she commits is because she was abused, etc. she isn’t allowed to just want her son on the throne despite the set-back it would do to women, she has to have some sort of sob story to make her seem more sympathetic bc women can’t just be against other women without reason (eye roll) or be antagonistic in general without reason. the queer plot-line was also not needed seeing as it was doomed to fail from the start and its existence dives deep into queerbaiting and even racist territory; subsequently, they decided to make the velaryon’s black and then completely sideline laena, rhaenyra’s actual queer love interest, in order to uplift and pair the sad white woman with her instead (which is strange since it seems like most rhaenicent shippers loath rhaenyra, but i digress). she’s not a complex character; she’s one-dimensional, inconsistent, AND the result of hypocritical writers not being able to understand that victimization doesn’t automatically mean interesting.

it also feels like half the time her stan's can’t decide if all of her suffering is bc of the men in her life, or if it’s *somehow* all rhaenyra’s fault that she was put in that position. the show has attempted to switch the power dynamics at play by aging alicent down and rhaenyra up, but it doesn’t work simply bc alicent still has more power than her as queen consort (and still spends around 10 years without otto's influence bullying and ostracizing rhaenyra, which is not how a mother terrified for her children's lives would act in the face of their would-be murderer). furthering that, the lack of critical thinking skills is blatant in this fandom and shows when they attempt to vilify the targaryen's (especially the women, yikes) because they only do so to uplift their own boring favs. show!alicent, and by extension, both media's versions of helaena, are passive characters who conform to and uphold the patriarchy, they’re the perfect type of women for incels and pick-me’s to glomp onto to ‘prove’ they’re not misogynists (see? we DO like women! (only if they’re submissive and don’t fight back ofc)).

the only comparisons between sansa and alicent would be their show characters. only the latter half of got for sansa makes any since comparison wise. she too was a character that was further victimized to make her seem more interesting and righteous in the show writers efforts to make her qitn (and also to further the bullshit mad queen dany plot line). sansa is still quite a compelling character without adding in an unnecessary rape plotline, but if they hadn’t included it the only similarities between these two women are that both are apparently redheads (nope) and bastard-phobic (debatable). that right there is where any and all similarities end. in reality, alicent is the cersei to rhaenyra’s sansa, not the other way around.

the fact that many consumers (especially the women) seem to like the adding of an abuse storyline to these characters is so gross, and really telling of how the media has construed the reaction one should have to gender-based violence (or benevolent sexism). they condemn and pity these characters for what they go through, but in the same breath, praise the writers for adding ‘nuance’ to these women’s stories. worrisome indeed.

[justthoughts1310]

Live Action Naruto: Does Sakura need to be re-written?

Spoiler Alert: The answer is Yes and No.

Now, if you follow me or look at my page, you will see that I wrote a post a few months ago about how Netflix's ATLA is misogynist, because of how they rewrote the female characters. So, you might be wondering if that went so poorly before, why would I advocate for it now? Well, because Dante DiMartino and Konietzko wrote a cultural and feminist master class on how to make compelling, strong female characters and I honestly do not know how they did it. I have No IDEA how these two men did this, because men have failed at this for centuries.

The creators of ATLA did not write one strong female character, they wrote an entire class of strong female characters who are diverse and strong in many different ways. Their show exemplifies the fact that there is no one right way to be strong or a woman. So... why? Why do I think Sakura Haruno needs to be re-written for the Naruto live action? Simply put, because Masashi Kishimoto did a bad job writing a strong female character, and as a reader of Boruto, I can tell you that he is still doing a very very bad job.

One could argue that he almost did a good job and then jumped off a cliff. I hope Himawari will be better, but I am not convinced, because he is failing Sarada (an Uchiha) miserably.

I digress.

Now some may argue, who cares if Kishimoto is doing a bad job? Naruto is a boys' show.

Maybe that was Kishimoto's intention, but it certainly isn't the reality anymore. Naruto is one of the most popular animes to ever exist, and A LOT of women watch it (including me), because it has a beautiful and compelling message about the power of hard work and human connection.

Now what would I rewrite about Sakura?

Her greatest character flaw of course, which is not hat she was mean to Naruto as a child. As NCHAMMER23 pointed out, she actually reflects the sentiments of the leaf village. She's also an irritating know it all to begin with, so her disliking Naruto because of his antics (and not understanding her own privilege) is very much in line with her personality and is a sign of her immaturity.

No. Her greatest character flaw is her simp behavior for Sasuke Uchiha and it gets her every single time. Her simp behavior makes her forever a damsel in distress to the most abusive and trash male character in the entire Hidden Leaf. It undermines everything about her, and makes her one of the most hated characters in the entire show. She is literally useless against Sasuke despite being the strongest Kunoichi in the entire Naruto Universe. The truth is that when Sakura falls short, all the kunoichi fall short. When Sakura has to be rescued by Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi because of the most minute and inconsequential thing, it is an immense disservice to all of the Kunoichi, even Kunoichi like Temari who seldom need to be saved. Not to mention that the whole thing is just cringe.

However, it's not just a disservice to the Kunoichi, it's a disservice to the entire show. Why? Because Sakura embodies the central message of Naruto 1000X better than Naruto Uzumaki does.

Naruto Uzumaki is a demi-God who was born with every advantage in the Universe born to the most famous ninja in the village, who doesn't yet know how to use his powers, because his powers are that OP. Sakura is a no name, no talent ninja, with very low chakra reserves, who truly makes the best of what she has. She becomes a phenomenal ninja through hard work, perseverance, and intelligence.

When Sakura gets tripped up by stupid stuff and is saved by these three male characters: Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke who were born with every talent and advantage in the world, it throws the entire point of Naruto into the freaking trash bin! Now I get it. We get it. Men on average are bigger, faster, and stronger, but as evidenced from Boruto that's not what Naruto is about. Combat amongst elite ninja is not a battle of strength, it is a battle of expertise and perseverance, it is a chess match, and if there's anyone who should be good at chess matches, it's Sakura Haruno. She is literally known for her brilliance and resourcefulness and perseverance.

So for this reason, the whole Sasuke fan girl thing and damsel in distress thing has got to go!

Now some of you might say, wait justthoughts1310, Sasuke was a large part of her driving motivation to get stronger. That's true. He was and so was Naruto, which is why Sakura should be modeled off of Attack on Titan's Mikasa Ackerman in this regard. Mikasa is a total simp for Eren Yeager, but she never lets him get too out of pocket. She'll punch him in the face if need be, and she is ultimately the one who kills him. Mikasa is indisputably stronger than Eren, and if not for Mikasa's love for Eren, Eren would stand no chance against Mikasa in a real fight. Eren knows this. That's why he never dared to challenge her.

Mikasa's immense love for both Eren and Armin is her driving motivation to become as strong as she is. Her desire is to protect them, because they wanted to join the Survey Corp and then the Scouts. Mikasa didn't want to do either of those things, and she even told Eren that he probably wasn't cut out to be a soldier.

However, because of her undying love and desire to protect Eren and Armin, Mikasa is the second strongest character in the entire show next to Levi. Titans don't stand a chance against Levi, and men and soldiers do not stand a chance against Mikasa.

Graphic Warning (In Italics): I mean Mikasa literally cut off a guy's head, impaled him into another guy, set off a thunder spear, and showered in their blood. When the other yeagerist saw this, they freaked out and RAN. As they should. Though, I still think Mikasa's unwavering love for Eren undermines her character, because it becomes her entire personality, I think that Sakura has a lot more to offer in that regard.

Sakura's personality could round out and complete these aspects of Mikasa's personality and make Sakura an all around more compelling character. Unlike Mikasa, Sakura has a whole personality outside of Sasuke. This is likely because Sasuke has been away from the village for so long. In reality, Sakura's love for Sasuke isn't her personality. It is one of her only (and most glaring), personality flaws.

So, in truth, I say that I would both rewrite Sakura and not rewrite her for the live action, because I wouldn't rewrite her. I would alter her personality flaw and make it the source of her strength. Her burning desire is to protect the two most important people to her: Sasuke and Naruto, and she holds both of them to equal account. No more of Sasuke's bullshit. He deserves to be punched in the face too. Of course sometimes Sakura will need a little help and a little bit of saving, but not more or less than any male character of comparable skill.

Sakura is the story of Naruto hidden in plain sight. Getting rid of her or rewriting her altogether would be an immense disservice. What the live action needs to do is work harder to highlight the characteristics that Sakura already has and bring them to the foreground.

Sakura is already the strongest Kunoichi in the Naruto universe by the time of Boruto, the movie needs to showcase how she became just that.

[bungoustraypups]

idk man i just really think that if u genuinely believe that fic authors are required to care about characters they dont care about and make content for characters or ships they dont care about just to prove theyre not secretly misogynists uh. i dont think you actually care about how theyre actually treating real women. because you seem to be using solely the characters they choose to write self-indulgent free fanworks about as the metric to define that instead of, yknow. anything else they do. or at least youre putting a whole lot of emphasis on it

also theres quite a few lesbians ive met who actually dont write men. some even genderbend, whether thru a cis-swap where theyre now AFAB cis women or thru trans headcanons or whatever, canonically male characters so they dont have to write about men. theyre a minority in most animanga and other mainstream fandoms ive seen but as i am not in every fandom nor am i privy to the inner workings of every fandom idk how like, rare those ppl actually are compared to authors who exclusively or mostly write abt men

also like. not sorry for this one, but as a nonbinary trans man who is not a woman even a little bit and refuses to be seen as one or associate myself with womanhood because i am not a woman, it is specifically irritating to me to be told this, because i tend to write most about the characters i project on to or see myself reflected in, and, unsurprisingly, 99% of those characters are men, or can be read as men or are men at least some of the time, or more masculine in presentation

jasper from SU has always been my favorite gem and i didn't get invested in the series until she showed up, for example, and i heavily project onto her and see my experiences in her, despite her being considered woman-aligned, which i have no problem with and am actually glad about because there's not a whole lot of very masculine/butch women in mainstream media to start with, though i wish the show had been more sympathetic with her considering she's literally an abuse victim but i digress

but i often don't write for female or fem-presenting canon characters, or focus many of my fics on them, because in order for me to really get attached to a pre-existing character not of my own creation in a series, i need to be able to see some aspect of myself in them, or they need to have something that makes me interested in their story and draws me towards them. but seeing myself reflected in a character who is a woman or identifies mostly or often as a woman is dysphoria-inducing for me. that's why most of the female characters i write for are my own OCs, because i created them, which means a little piece of me goes into them, which means i'm able to have that connection i often lack with canon characters. i also tend to make the most content for characters i feel attracted towards, who are always men because i'm gay lmao

like i'm not misogynistic or a misogynist. i don't hate women. it's just that between my writing process and the canon characters my brain gets attached to, when i write fic, i write about the canon characters i care about the most, who most often tend to be men because i'm mostly in fandoms of male character-dominated series where the women are either uninteresting, poorly written, or extremely minor, or all three in the worst case scenario. and since i do this for fun, i'm not gonna waste my time writing something i'm not 100% passionate about just because there's a lack of f/f and women-centric content like

that's a problem! but it's a problem that can be just as easily fixed by the people who are demanding more content themselves if they, yknow, actually made some. which a lot of them don't

[simcardiac-arrested]

unskippable cutscene time?

ok. this turned into me complaining about the fandom misinterpreting one of my fav characters, and only after all that did i actually start talking about said character. also i think this might actually be several separate reblogs because i talk way too much and it doesn’t all fit into one post

everyday i go on this website and i talk about my ace attorney faves. but look. godot. he's a very interesting guy. he's a very interesting Character. but no one fucking likes godot. it's just me and my friend who has a huge crush on him BUT LOOK. i dont need you to have a crush on godot. i just need someone to Think about him the same way i do. i need someone to actually think about his character for more than 2 seconds beyond the good looks and the asshole front. but because of a few mistranslations and scenes that just Read Wrong in an american setting, everyone thinks godot is a misogynist. even though he is SOOO not. like it;s literally not a thing for him in actual canon it's an actual mistranslation that makes people think he drinks misogyny juice instead of coffee every morning. my point is that godot is in fact not a misogynist, but my BIGGER point is: what if he Was. like if half the fandom thinks he hates women anyways, then why not make it interesting, you know?? like. look. obviously misogyny is not cool. but there are ways to write about it and to actually develop the character behind it. some of the fandom literally just reduces him to woman hater. like that's it? forreal? all im saying is if you're going to mischaracterize him that badly, at least make it INTERESTING. don't just make that his One Singular Trait. don't make him a misogynist because he hates every woman that's ever existed, make him one because he has good intentions but really warped ideas and worldviews. i don't know how well i'm explaining this, godot is just a complicated character, and everyone i see always simplifies him to The Asshole or The Misogynist. like yeah he CAN be those things if you want but maybe you could actually put some effort in deconstructing his biases and whatever. This is all a really long way to say that people mischaracterize godot very often and i hate it when they do that so if they're gonna do it so much they should at least make it fucking interesting (and i have a great example of a fic that does just that!! it's not godot-centered, and i just think that it's a really amazing fic in general and if you like ace attorney you should definitely read it. But like, back to godot: this fic does make him a misogynist, sure. it also Actually Explores how his toxic masculinity, his trauma, his loss of mia and his desire to protect maya all intertwine. he has good intentions and he's coming from a good place, and yet he's hurt and represses a lot and has some really fucked up ideas about what it means to be a man. he needs to protect maya not just because he failed protecting mia, but also because he's a man and she's a woman, etc etc. both of those ideas coexist for him. and i think it's really interesting to try and figure out where his "debt" and guilt about mia ends and where his toxic masculinity starts, where his need to protect maya because she's like a little sister to him ends and where the need to Protect Women(tm) in general starts. you know?? and then by the end of it he starts unlearning his bad ideas and starts coming to terms with his trauma!! Like holy shit can every godot is a misogynist truther start doing this please!!!!! i'm soo serious if you;re going to mischaracterize him at least make it fun to think about. but i digress. read the fic not only because it explores godot's character but also because it actually explores dahlia's character and backstory and explores the von karma family dynamic as well as many other things which the games never did. it's awesome)

[yourhighness6]

I Just Listened to the First Episode of Braving the Elements and I Know I'm Late to the Party but I Have Very Incoherent, Babbling Thoughts About It

(now that I heard Janet and Dante talking I needed to draw young Zuko and Korra. I think they'd be friends. Like, they'd get into fights [with Sokka, too] about who's muscles are more impressive and dumb jock stuff like that. Their respective girlfriends would be so tired.)

Anyway, I think the UGGs ad was a great way to start this out. Really set the tone. I'm also vibing to the theme music cuz I literally haven't listened to it since I rewatched the finale a couple of weeks ago.

[I had no idea Dante Basco was in a dance group as a child I'm laughing for no reason now. I shouldn't judge though I was a drama kid too lol]

I feel like they're doing the whole "the LIGHTS, the CAMERA, the CINEMATOGRAPHY" thing while they're talking about the opening scene. you know what, i'm fine with it.

Basically them:

"Kataang."

"...And I digress,"

The animal crossing segment is cute Appa finally getting the appreciation he deserves

"thINgS HapPEn SoMEtiMeS" has the same energy as Zuko telling Suki "oh, sorry about that" when she reminded him he burned down her village

"I love GranGran" do you Zuko? DO you??

(jk they get along after the war when he apologizes properly)

Aww they brought up Greta Thomburg. I forgot how old this podcast is, but that was a really great message about how the young are the ones saving us and stuff. As a Zoomer [do people still say that?] I can say confidently most of us have no idea what we're doing but we're opinionated and we're here and we're ready to fight for the environment and social justice and shit

HE SWORE

HE SWORE TWICE

HE SWORE THREE TIMES IN LESS THAN TWO MINUTES

Idk about ya'll but I don't think Nick should be letting Mr. Basco represent them I mean that was like three whole "damn"s that is some inappropriate behavior right there

"they're people of privilege" This hit me so hard for no reason. Like it's really obvious, especially in Book 2, that despite all of the abuse Zuko went through he was still in that whole royalty mindset where he basically expects things to be handed to him for most of his arc.

I mean, yeah, that speaks for itself, and there are other instances too. I think Zuko's arc largely corrects a lot of his entitlement, which is a great thing to see throughout the series, but IROH. For some insane reason, maybe because he's very wise and seems content with the little things in life and is basically trying to oppose books 1 and 2 Zuko in every way possible, I never really thought of him as privileged but now it's so obvious that he is. IDK I think that was an interesting thing to point out. It almost makes me value Iroh more because he obviously had to go through a similar journey to Zuko's unlearning all of the arrogance that came with his position and came out of it on the other side as a kind, wise individual who cares deeply for other people and puts the fate of the world before his own. Still interesting to think about on my next rewatch of B1 though, I'll have to start looking out for those behaviors in Iroh.

ANYWAY

Dante Basco, trying so hard to be impartial: "Kataang!"

Janet Varney, one with Zutara nation, apparently: "Meh"

OMG THEY TALKED ABOUT THE SPYGLASS!! I know that scene with Zuko standing on the boat was supposed to be all suspenseful and scary and everything

But I just laugh

I can imagine Aang being like "Aww Zuzu thanks for noticing"

OMG I love Katara finally getting some recognition!! Like there's this meme about the world being saved by "nagging" or whatever and it kind of annoys me. Like, she's calling Sokka out on all of his sexist behavior and that's "nagging"??

Let's be honest it's because she gets kind of "emotional".

Whatever. She deserves to be emotional. Let's be honest the Avatar world was saved by Katara deciding she was done putting up with her brother being a misogynistic ass. [END RANT]

Okay, honestly, I liked it. It was funny, it was cute, I can see it being good, I'll keep listening to it... But, I felt like we were only getting surface level thoughts? There were a few moments where I was like "GODDAMMIT JUST SAY WHAT YOU THINK" which is kind of annoying on a podcast that's supposed to be reviewing the episodes. Like, really? That heavy pause after Dante mentioned Kataang? Janet hesitating to say what she thought when it came up again? C'mon guys, I know you don't want to start anything but the ship wars are not stopping no matter what any of us do at this point because there will always be people on both sides of the war that are toxic and like to start drama. They're not saying everything they want to about the ships and that's a fact. We know it. They know it. Bryke knows it. Also, Dante having not read the series bible was funny but it's only going to be a good joke for so long. Know your shit if you're doing a podcast on it.

I might just be complaining because I need to complain, it's only the first episode, after all, so I want to be clear that I really did like it. 10/10 would recommend, I just hope they maybe get more into the fandom stuff as we go along instead of just looking at the episode. Dig a little deeper, discuss controversial stuff, have a little fun with it, READ THE SERIES BIBLE.

(btw I might make more Korra and young Zuko fanart. It was fun, and now I have ideas for them meeting in some weird spirit world thing)

[calamitys-child]

What’s the problem with bbc Sherlock specifically? I’ve only seen that one bc it’s the only one I have access to but I don’t see the problem? I’m genuinely curious I don’t understand.

On a real life level: the actors and writers have a history of being misogynistic, queerphobic, and ableist including cumberbatch saying some anti-autistic bullshit when he played frankenstein + making ignorant comments about asexuality being equal to abnormality being equal to autism, freeman slagging off Lucy Liu for daring to also play a modern Watson including specifically by saying she's unattractive (bold move for the world's most bland looking man to say about LUCY FUCKING LIU but I digress), abbington being anti-mask and anti-vax about covid, Moffat and Gatiss constantly writing Evil Predatory Bisexuals and deeply misogynistic portrayals of women, this is just a skim through from memory but all easily googleable and all common knowledge when I was engaging with the BBC show in 2012-2015 ish before I grew up and learned better

On a textual level: the characterisation and adaptation of the original characters and stories is inaccurate, sloppy, and honestly mean spirited, making characters incompetent, rude, cruel, undermining interesting complex motives to become Silly Woman Can't Resist Sherlocks Special Supergenius Cock rather than Smart Woman Being Harassed By Her Scummy Ex Outsmarts Holmes In Her Pursuit Of Being Left Alone To Happily Marry Her New Partner for example

On a personal level: the BBC sherlock fandom encouraged and enabled me to get harassed and groomed by predatory adults as a very vulnerable child and pre-teen and I don't want to ever see it brought onto my blog again

Further viewing: Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why by hbomberguy my favourite video essay in the world

[comradekatara]

responding to @levitatingbiscuits reply here because this post is already way too fucking long and I am not subjecting your dashboards to all that, but I do think this conversation is interesting enough to continue it (albeit under the cut):

I agree that roach work’s comment was annoying, and if you were responding to that, I get why you said what you said. this person regularly adds replies to my posts that are completely unrelated to the original point I was making, effectively derailing my argument and getting a bunch of reblogs from their followers who don’t have the common sense to ignore their pointless (and in this case, editorializing) additions. but everyone reblogging my post with your addition attacked me in the notes, as if I had said/implied all that you were arguing against, when I quite literally did not. and they said some quite nasty things, as if I couldn’t see their comments! I don’t go seeking out ppl saying shit about me ever, but if you do it in my house, we’re gonna have a problem.

as for your points...

I 100% agree that defending katara against people who unfairly vilified her, especially during the [vomits] atla renaissance (netflix you will rue the day...) is justified! I quite literally said aloud just last night, “anyone who hates katara can die,” and I fully fucking meant it. I don’t know why you seem to think we don’t agree here. maybe because I don’t think the solution to combatting idiotic, racist & misogynistic fans is by extolling katara to the point where you can’t appreciate her for her flaws. her flaws make her who she is as much as her virtues, and I would never negate the depth of her character just because I love her. I don’t “stan” katara, I appreciate her as a character who inspired me as a child for her strength and growth and brilliance, who is stunningly well-written and compelling.

meanwhile, the older I get, the more I’ve come to appreciate sokka. yes, I too was obsessed with katara the moment she came onscreen, especially when she showed the full depth of her anger over sokka’s misogynistic comment. I’d literally never even seen misogyny addressed before, let alone been given permission to be angry with it. katara knows her worth, and that makes her so fucking important!!! and yes, I know what it’s like to raise misogynistic brothers; it’s a thankless job!

katara was immediately inspiring to me, but appreciating sokka and the full depth of his character has been something earned with time. i think it's incredibly easy to misread him, dismiss his underlying motivations, and just generally discard him for the sake of the more exciting and shiny characters (in my case katara, azula, toph, iroh. truly appreciating aang has also been something i needed to grow older to do, but i think the more my maternal instincts develop, the more i want to pinch his baby cheeks and wrap him up in a big hug and kiss his forehead and put him in my pocket... i digress). i have come to forgive sokka for his sexism, and even excuse it. does that mean i think katara isn't in the right to challenge patriarchal ideas? of course she fucking is! just because sokka was deeply misguided in his gender essentialist views for logical reasons (before meeting suki, that is) it's not like katara should excuse him for it. katara has every right to get mad, every time she gets mad, and i love that her anger is treated as a virtue, because it is! her anger is righteous and sympathetic and revolutionary. she is so fucking important.

by "delicate touch" i didn't mean "sokka isn't acting like an airport dad" because i would never deny his grumpiness. sokka can be a massive cunt most of the time, and i love that about him. he is a miserable, neurotic, curmudgeonly little freak, and frankly, that rules. i think we need more teenage jewish grandpa representation always.

^ literally sokka

i think by delicate touch (again, i wrote this post like 3 years ago, i don't even remember writing it) i just meant that as much as he does kvetch, he also knows how to engage them in a way that gets them to do what he wants. when he makes them go to the library, he frames it in their terms, as if he's taking a vacation (frankly, taking a vacation to a library is something i've actually done, and it was awesome, but we all know how their library excursion turned out, so, yknow). or just how the only time he ever actually even reveals like a fraction of his insecurities is in "sokka's master," because as much as he complains, he never actually wants to burden them with his internal problems (which is not why aang bottles up his shit, and i think we all know that). as much as he complains, he also tries as hard as possible to preserve their innocence whenever he can, especially when it comes to aang. he could've been way less indulgent of aang's antics, but he isn't, because he knows how important it is for aang to be a kid despite the enormous loss he's suffered. anyway, since i know how hard it is to wrangle twelve year olds and try to convince them to do something when they'd rather do something else, sokka is fucking jesus on the cross for that, and you can't change my mind.

and by "de facto chief" i don't mean that sokka was the one taking care of the whole tribe. obviously kanna and the other adults were the ones in charge of making sure the community functioned smoothly, because again, sokka was like thirteen, and thirteen years olds are fucking useless. what i meant was that sokka took what hakoda said to heart, and thus considered himself the first and last line of defense should the fire nation ever return. it's not remotely a reach to think sokka was prepared to die for katara, because a) his mother literally did and b) his father all but told him to? maybe he was just trying to placate his kid, because i really doubt hakoda would actually be in favor of letting his son get himself killed, but it's clear that sokka took that to heart in the way in which he prioritizes katara over everything else. also, it's clear that hakoda does respect sokka a lot. he calls him a "great warrior" and a "genius," and it's not in vain, sokka is those things! hakoda sees his son better than he sees himself.

and i would never claim that katara talks about her issues for attention or sympathy from others. that's absurd. anyone who does so is plain wrong. but empathizing with others isn't emotional labor, it's healing for her, it's cathartic. when she talks to haru, jet, zuko, hama, aang, etc. about her trauma, she's doing so from a place of healthy emotion and vulnerability wherein she is exchanging empathy between them, receiving comfort and comforting in return. sokka doesn't know how to do that, which is a shortcoming to be sure, but the fact that katara is so open about her trauma does signify that she never felt a need to bottle it up the way sokka clearly does. (i would argue sokka's arc in the entire "swamp" episode is about the spirits all but taunting him for being so repressed about his trauma, but that's for another post.)

sokka wanted a bag to carry supplies in, not because it was fashionable. he enjoys that the bag matches the belt he got from the earth rumble tournament (he had no intention of purchasing such a belt), but katara is the one who shows an interest in fashion. and to be clear, i'm not saying that sokka would immediately know how and what to forage in unfamiliar terrain; foraging is fucking hard, and that's when you already have any kind of guide. katara is definitely the one buying the groceries, i won't argue that. whenever sokka is in the vicinity of a grocer while wearing blue, they tend to dismiss him with outright hostility, while being much more sympathetic to katara. it's a running joke that throughout the earth kingdom adults are far kinder to katara than to sokka. but this isn't actually an issue when they're hiding out in the fire nation and both disguised in red, curious! i wonder why adults fed imperialist rhetoric their whole life might internalize the idea that a young water tribe girl is harmless whereas a water tribe boy is a threat to be treated with hostility... but yknow, it could also just be vibes. katara does generally have a more pleasant attitude. it could just be that. who can say!

as for "jet," as i've already stated, i don't think the gaang has a leader. but katara does grow to trust sokka's instincts more and more over the course of the show. and sokka only tells katara not to trust jet once he has evidence! he tells her that he beat up a harmless old man, and katara still takes jet's side, even though he's obviously lying. as for aang, i really don't think sokka's instincts not to trust a person who for all intents and purposes should not currently exist and suddenly waltzes into their life while ignoring their current reality are that contrived. katara thinks she's in a story that she is the narrator and hero of (which, metatextually speaking, is true), but sokka thinks he's in a war and is thus suspicious of magical little manic pixie dream boys. and not for nothing, aang does set off the fire nation flare that alerts zuko to the location of their village, so sokka's instincts were actually correct here, even if aang is of course an angel.

and katara calms aang down from the avatar state, what, twice? and once she's literally just talking to him from behind a rock. her act in "the desert" is 100% a testament to her bravery and the unique bond she shares with aang, i'm not denying that whatsoever. sokka simultaneously shields toph in this moment, which granted is far less dangerous than what katara does with aang, but is also a subtle moment that demonstrates the nature of his bond with her (i don't really have a point here, i just love aang & katara and sokka & toph's relationships). i don't remember katara comforting aang for burning her, i just remember her reasonably telling him that he can't let his guilt get in the way of learning firebending, and showing him that she's healed to calm him down. and the comics are stupid, so i'm not even gonna address this point. anyway. sokka does come to trust her to fight her own battles as the show goes on and she gets demonstrably stronger, but he still worries about her whenever she's in trouble, and would do anything to protect her. he's still her big brother.

katara's idealism is inspiring & beautiful & heroic. but yes, it is also naive. that's not even a bad thing! katara fighting to preserve her childhood wonder and innocence in the face of incalculable loss is deeply moving to me. aang and katara show sokka and toph how to become more awe-inspired and vulnerable over the course of the show. sokka never would've suggested a beach party in "sozin's comet" if not for aang and katara's influence. that's growth. but that doesn't mean that katara was right to trust zuko in the crystal catacombs, or that she was right to trust jet, or aunt wu, or hama. i understand why she trusts these people (especially jet and especially hama), and it's hardly a bad thing to see the potential good in everyone, but zuko's betrayal hits her so hard because she had mistakenly put so much faith in him right before he turned around and helped azula kill aang. of course she sees potential in both aang and zuko, though. she's the heart of the show, and they're both mirrors to her character in significant ways. sokka is not a part of this central thematic triad, and he doesn't care that he's in a story, he just wants to make sure that his friends and family don't get murdered. they have different narrative priorities, but katara's are admittedly much prettier.

also, of course sokka wouldn't say he sees himself as a sacrificial lamb. even if he realized this about himself (which i also don't think he does), he wouldn't say it. saying it would negate the entire point. but i do think it's justified by the text. katara clearly carries the guilt of knowing kya died for her, and it's what inspires her to try and be her own mother for herself and her family, and to be the best waterbender in the world. sokka doesn't have that guilt. while katara feels it her duty to remember, to carry on her mother's legacy so that her sacrifice was not in vain, sokka feels it his duty to repress, to tamp down any shred of humanity that is not relevant to the war and to making sure his sister isn't killed for who she is. i don't think it's a reach for him to want to emulate his parents in this regard, since he clearly idealizes them and their bravery in defending their home, their culture, and their family.

no, i don't think sokka acts like a mom or a dad or even a wacky uncle (a grandpa, maybe). my point was to illustrate how neither of them are parents. they may try to emulate their parents in many regards, but they are still both very much kids, who happen have both seen far too much for their years. and katara mourns kya differently (more, as she claims, which i believe to be true) because her death was deeply personal to katara, in a way that it just wasn't for sokka. like i said, sokka represses his trauma. he claims that he thinks about yue all the time, and yet he barely ever talks about her. a defining moment in his life, which is hakoda leaving him behind, is only revealed to us in a flashback that occurs while he's sitting quietly by the fire watching over katara and aang as they sleep. katara's way of mourning kya was to try to become her in her guilt over her sacrifice. do you really think sokka doesn't understand the implications of this?

sure, he dismisses the domestic labor she does, which sucks of him for sure, though i'd argue it's just as much his cerebral stem bro attitude that prioritizes ideas and theory over those little manual tasks as it is straight up sexism. but yeah, it sucks. i know very few men who appreciate the work that goes into those "feminine chores," and it's absolutely because what is categorized as feminine is devalued by society. but yes, i think if the binary established is between "mom" and "servant", sokka sees katara as someone who is simply better at feminine labor, and that's not great of him, but katara does enjoy being feminine, so i understand why he'd make that assumption, seeing as the only thing she doesn't seem to enjoy is doing his laundry for him, which, yknow, checks out. do your own laundry, sokka.

again, katara has a more personal connection to the events surrounding kya's death. it's why her saying "you didn't love her the way i did" is both deeply hurtful, and something she clearly believes to be true. what she really means is, "you didn't grieve her the way i did," and it's because sokka doesn't feel like his very existence was responsible for her death. "the southern raiders" is a deeply personal episode for katara, and zuko is the one who understands her trauma, more intimately than sokka can, because kya did not sacrifice herself for him, but ursa did with zuko.

and yes, katara's seemingly throwaway line about how she's lost her childhood innocence hits really hard. it's why she's so immediately drawn to aang. because she wants to have fun again, but no one is there to encourage her, certainly not her depressed as fuck brother who only cares about being a better warrior. aang and katara inspire each other to preserve their innocence and they get to be kids together, which is what makes their friendship such a beautiful thing.

katara has a lot of skills and roles sokka doesn't. he can't midwife, he can't heal (obviously), he can't shop for groceries in the earth kingdom without being abused by vendors. he could probably cook and sew if he set his mind to it (we never actually see katara clean, but we do see sokka clean appa) but katara seems pretty confident in those areas, so why step on her toes. but sokka also has a lot of skills and roles katara does not. he reads maps, makes schedules, strategizes in battles, helps invent new technology, is able to fight without bending, is able to sense red flags that katara refuses to see, etc etc. they balance each other out, both emotionally and practically. considering that they basically raised each other, and didn't have parents to do things for them, it makes sense that they each have their own skillset, and function as a codependent team.

"the desert" puts her in a new situation to show that she's the group's heart. not just the group's heart, but the show's heart. she is the narrative center. that's what i mean by "the desert" being a trial for katara. it's not that no one else will step up, it's that they can't. aang is in the first stages of experiencing an immense grief, toph is feeling guilty and scared and lost, and sokka's attempt to quench their thirst put him out of commission for the rest of the day (though granted, he was trying to be helpful). katara is always there. she will never give up on people who need her. that's a core tenet of her character, and it is what makes her not only so kind and giving, but also a revolutionary leader. it's why i think she should go on to be chief, because while sokka wants to be like hakoda, he's not actually a warrior at heart, but katara is an inspiration to many, and her connection with people and the way she sees the best in them is what makes her the pride and joy of her people, just as much as her waterbending skill.

toph and katara are both in the wrong in the chase. katara comes from a communal society where everyone pitches in, so she sees toph as a spoiled brat for not helping her. toph came from a family that acted as if she was useless and helpless, so she thinks by letting every member of the group carry their own weight, she is affording them the basic respect her parents did not afford to her. it's a classic miscommunication, which escalates because katara and toph are both very loud, assertive middle schoolers who don't enjoy compromising their beliefs. they eventually do, which we see illustrated in the spa episode. but katara clearly wants to go to the spa and enjoys every second of it, she's just taking toph with her because she thinks toph needs a shower. for the most part, they both have a good time, katara because she enjoys feminine activities and relaxing, toph because she likes mud and spending time with her friends, and both of them because they got to do violence to some mean girls.

aang also gets mad at toph because he's prone to take katara's side in arguments, and also she insults appa, which is the final straw for him, even though toph is fully right about appa's shedding being how azula tracks them. toph leaves because she thought she was joining people who would make her feel respected, but they don't. katara literally mocks toph for being blind. i also got bullied for being disabled when i was their age, and i don't blame toph for not taking that shit. it's downright cruel. iroh helps her adjust her perspective, but ultimately sokka is the one who makes her feel most welcomed and seen, and while she loves katara and aang, it's clear that sokka is her best friend. he's also the only one who doesn't interfere in their fight in "the chase" (because he knows there's no winning against two extremely stubborn, sleep-deprived powerhouses).

katara didn't sacrifice her childhood for the sake of her family, her childhood was robbed from her. there's a crucial difference. she doesn't sacrifice her own emotional needs to comfort others, she engages in fruitful dialogues. the only person she actually sacrifices anything for is aang, you're right, and i do think that's extremely important as an aspect of her character. she believes in the power of the avatar, and she loves aang deeply. it's why if aang is the soul of the show, she is the heart.

zuko isn't a dad to aang, that's just a ridiculous thing to say, sorry. i don't think sokka is a dad to aang either, if anything they're brothers. zuko acts as a brother to aang and katara too. he's their older, grumpy, kind of an airhead, kind of a jerk brother. sort of like sokka 2: electric boogaloo, except unlike sokka, he's a wide-eyed idealist just like they are! idk where i was going with this. my point is i love this trio. lol

you're right to criticize what roach works said, but you were wrong not to specify the target of your criticism. just because someone adds a dumbass comment on my post doesn't mean i endorse it. and just because i make a post appreciating sokka doesn't mean i don't love katara. i mean, i think it should be pretty obvious that i love her a lot. it seems like we grew up in fairly similar circumstances, and while i know what it's like to grow up with a cerebral math bro misogynist brother who gets far more credit for doing far less work and is utterly fucking useless at taking care of himself, that doesn't mean i resent sokka, a fictional character, for whatever commonalities they may share.

katara and sokka are both flawed, multi-dimensional, well-written fictional characters, and i've given a lot of thought to their motivations, nuances, and the unspoken symbolic undertones of their dynamic and its relation to the themes of the narrative. we don't have to agree on what every unspoken detail signifies, but i don't appreciate being misinterpreted, and i especially don't appreciate the implication that i don't love katara, because i absolutely fucking do, with my whole heart, and anyone can see that. she means a lot to me!!! her virtues, her strengths, her flaws, and her failures. she doesn't have to be perfect to be amazing. in fact, if she were perfect, i doubt she'd be amazing at all.

[bethanydelleman]

Jane Austen Doesn’t Write Cartoon Villains!!!

I encounter this constantly! Willoughby, Wickham, and Henry Crawford are INCAPABLE OF LOVE. They are MONSTERS. They are NARCISSISTS.

NO!

Jane Austen writes highly realistic social satire, highly realistic. I will say it again, all her characters have realistic flaws (sometimes exaggerated). When you read them, you feel like you’ve met them in real life. Edmund, the idealistic university student with a degree in Environmental Sciences who thinks his girlfriend will change for him and agree to live in the desert; John Thorpe, the frat boy who thinks girls will like him if he brags harder about his car; Caroline Bingley, a mean girl who doesn’t care who she steps on to get ahead... I could go on. These are people that still exist today.

When it comes to Willoughby, it’s pretty clear he was in love with Marianne. But he was also up to his ears in debt. The Eliza debacle made Mrs. Smith threaten to disinherit him and he panicked and married Miss Grey. Not that wild, it’s just desperate. Love wasn’t enough for Willoughby, he was unwilling to face relative poverty.

Henry Crawford is also pretty clear, he’s too rich and too bored. He’s too smart for his own good. Now he’s a little unrelatable because how many of us know trust fund kids? And he’s got the added mix of being raised by a misogynist. But yeah, he messes with emotions because he’s never worked a day in his life and his mind needs stimulation. He also likes the vanity high. He might be a very successful influencer type if he lived today. Or a Kardashian...

Wickham, he is more tricky. Unlike Willoughby and Henry, we don’t get glimpses into his mind. We don’t know if he sincerely liked Elizabeth, for example, or was just stoking his vanity. But again, his motivations seem relatable to me, he thinks he deserves more. He doesn’t want to work hard for his money (even being a clergyman isn’t honestly that hard, look at what Mary Crawford says, but I digress). He just wants to win the marriage lottery and be set. He’s willing to do underhanded things to achieve his goals. That’s pretty common. Tons of people do things like embezzle from their companies to get rich faster. And they aren’t evil, just misguided and greedy.

Lastly, I checked the freaking DSM-5 (the psychology Bible) and asked my friend with a PhD in clinical psychology (I tried Google Scholar but “Is everyone capable of love” isn’t actually a scientific question, because “love” isn’t something you can measure. I don’t even know exactly what the scientific question would be which is why I resorted to Ask an Expert). Anyway, she said that everyone IS capable of love, they just might not be capable of selfless, healthy attachment.

[limeade-l3sbian]

i have...conflicting feelings on the female sumo painting. i will say i am enticed by seeing strong women with relatively natural-looking physiques. however, i am off-put by the fact that i was instantly aware that this was produced by men for fetishistic purposes, even without looking at the original post or the notes (which make it clear the source of this is a vintage bdsm magazine). bear with me, because i know you probably only reblogged it because it is pleasing to see strong women (i don't fault you for this at all, i wholeheartedly agree).

if i put aside my own sexuality and love of strong women, the conflicting feelings remain, however. this is because the content of the painting is coincidentally feminist, but the intent of it is fundamentally antifeminist. this may take a moment to explain.

for starters, sumo is a "male-only" sport. there are no professional leagues for women in sumo, at least not in japan. as far as i'm aware, all women's leagues across the world are considered "amateur," and women being sumo wrestlers at all, even if they're only "amateur," is still considered controversial anyways. sumo is deeply tied to shintoism, which is highly influenced by buddhism--both view women as "polluted" by menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth. as a result, women are not seen as "pure" enough to participate in a sport that includes religious aspects like sumo.

secondly, sumo wrestlers are heavily benefitted by having large builds. despite popular belief, sumo wrestlers aren't obese--the fat that they have is different from that of someone who is obese (obese people have a lot of visceral fat, sumo wrestlers have very little). but, by all visual definitions, they are fat. this is because having greater mass is hugely beneficial in sumo.

a brief digression on the art style, before i continue. it appears to be, or at least be inspired by, ukiyo-e. in this art style, women are almost always depicted as the japanese standard of the "ideal woman": demure and slender, with any curves of her body hidden away by her clothing so that she would have a sort of "rectangle" or fully obfuscated silhouette while standing.

continuing on, combining the last two paragraphs into a single point: these women are blatantly not as heavyset as a good deal of sumo wrestlers (look up "female sumo wrestler" to get an idea of how they look, in terms of build), and that could easily be considered sexist. the idea that these women (who, by all means, look to be an average, healthy weight and build for women) are heavyset enough to be sumo wrestlers is quite disturbing and misogynistic, indeed. however, these women are also worlds away from the demure and slender women of ukiyo-e, making the image feminist, in that regard.

i feel this happens somewhat often around the world-- men producing fetishistic art that could be reinterpreted as feminist, but certainly isn't. or, perhaps, men fetishizing the very idea of female liberation. i believe this is because there is a way of thinking some men have, where they feel more comfortable having the ability to reframe things such as female power, dominance, strength, nonconformity to restrictive roles put upon women by patriarchy, and liberation as "sexy," or otherwise to their (male) tastes, because it means that even female liberation is in service to men. to heterosexual male "masochists," this "service" is explicitly sexual. in this way, these men are among the most vile of misogynists. they are men who do not wish to, or genuinely cannot, conceptualize the idea of women as something other than "something that exists only to benefit and please men."

there is something deeply uncomfortable about this concept, and yet i have seen it in action. men fetishizing female strength, men fetishizing lesbians (not just "two feminine women being sexually involved," but actual lesbians and lesbianism), studying lesbian culture and behavior, men fetishizing gnc or outright butch women, and so on. some women may be fooled into thinking these men are "allies" because they appear to value female strength and liberation, but the truth is that these men only value these things as much as the breasts of a woman a catcaller has shouted "nice tits" towards. the idea that even female liberation is fetishized (by men) is a truly repugnant one, showing just how thoroughly men view us as objects that exist only for their needs and pleasures.

i apologize that this was so heavy, when i assume you just wanted to reblog a picture that fascinated you. there is no particular intent in this message aside from perhaps discussing the topic at hand. i want to make it absolutely clear that i find there is no shame in you being interested in the image (as i was, as well), and i am not trying to convince you that it is evil or should be removed from your blog. despite its origins and intent, it is still a nice image that depicts women in an interesting way that i value, both as a feminist and as a lesbian. to be honest, i'm not quite sure how i expect you, or anyone else for that matter, to respond to all this. i'm not certain how i feel when taking all of this into account, either.

I respond the way I always do. Kicking my feet as I read through your message on my stomach and saying, "She's so smart. ☺️"

[inu-jiru]

Damn Jazz Back At It Again With The Helluva Boss Rambles

Back on my bullshit again with another post now that I’ve mellowed out from the shock of how shit that episode was lol

I wish mobile made it easier to add the “Keep Reading” tab but it’s fine 

I’ve seen so many people go around being like “o it’s ok if Stella’s generic and not given more personality like everyone else because women can be bad didn’t you know that something something Amber Herd” and apparently anyone who thinks otherwise is just a Vivziepop hater who thinks she’s a misogynist (love the strawman shit mmm so juicy). And while evil for evil’s sake can be fun and cool in something like Sleeping Beauty (aka an adaptation of a fairy tale that’s already a story of “good vs evil”), why would you expect me to be chill with that in a show where the demons are, for the most part, more than just evil demons? If Stella was some minor, one-off character like that asshole imp guy at Loo Loo Land, that’d be one thing, but she’s not. She’s one of the main antagonists. This isn’t a “good vs. evil” story where you don’t need to worry about that kind of thing, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are supposed to be more than that. I’d be just as confused if Valentino or Vox, for every second of screentime they had, were doing nothing but going “haha rape haha prostitution haha tv is so cool” for 25 minutes and that’s it. But I digress.

I’m writing this because I was suddenly reminded of a character that’s basically what Stella could’ve been: Flowey. Flowey is just as volatile and agressive as Stella is, attacking you, killing you, and possibly having done countless genocide runs in the past with his own ability to RESET. Then, we get his backstory and find out who he used to be and why he’s the way he is. He’s an unfeeling sociopathic child. He was created with absolutely no way of feeling empathy because he has no SOUL. The child that he used to be is angry, longing for his past and his old friend, and was put into this situation for reasons that weren’t even his fault. Flowey is also a victim, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also be evil or do hurtful things. Whether or not you choose to show him pity or mercy is up to the player, but the fact that he’s that complex enough to warrant that choice is just part of Undertale’s writing. Hell, even Toriel is a better Stella than what Stella is in “canon”. I personally don’t like Toriel, but she does have depth to her (until the end where she just waltzes in and takes over the situation and no one does a thing to stop her because it’s Toriel and I guess everyone’s just chill with the traitorous queen coming in and acting like she’s in charge). Toriel comes in acting all sweet and nice, but is very clingy and definitely has issues with guilt and a black-and-white morality to justify her own actions. She’s not simply “ah, my child have some pie and we’ll be a family my child” 24/7. She’s a spiteful bitch, a hypocrite, and runs away from her problems. Again, this is because Undertale’s writing is (for the most part) consistent with giving it’s characters more depth underneath the memes and quotable dialogue.

Now, why am I writing all this about Undertale? Because it and HB/HH are on similar levels of writing. They both try to show more than just what’s at face value. Charlie is nice and sweet but will throw hands and has self-doubts, Alastor is everyone’s nightmare, but according to the comics, he does crave genuine interaction and is much nicer towards women (aside from Vaggie but my theory is that it’s because she’s not as feminine as Charlie or the Sheep Woman and far less easy to charm). So if Alastor, a mass murderer and cannibal who is more than likely going to do everything he can to mess with the Hotel’s success for his own entertainment, can have elements of good in him, then why the fuck can’t Stella? Oh, I know why, because Alastor isn’t interfering with the “romance”. I already didn’t like Stolitz before but Season 2 has nuked any chance of making me change my mind. This whole “romance” is being pushed so hard that it’s tainting the writing with retcons and things that just make no sense. Why would Octavia say “you ruined it” to Stolas in episode 2 if Stella was apparently just mean and nasty the whole time and Stolas was just soooo innocent? Why does the Ozzie’s song frame it like Stella and Octavia are victims of Stolas fucking up if Stella was always secretly the evil one and not Stolas? Why is Stolas ashamed if he was so proudly yelling about his divorce in front of her friends? Why is Goetia divorce a thing if the Goetia family looks down on it and sets up arranged marriages? Why the fuck is Stella just around and eating at the dinner table like they’re married if she can’t stand Stolas? Why is she ranting about Stolas being a cheater on the phone, if they’re separated and if she just doesn’t care about anything but money? And why the dickshit would Stella, someone who everyone is so fucking sure is only in it for her image, just blabbing about how shit her marriage is if that would just make her look like a loser who’s settling for trash? It makes no fucking sense unless it’s all just some poorly done retcon of earlier events. Hell, the pilot is supposedly non-canon, and yet a scene of it pops up in the new episode, so I can’t even be sure what’s true or not.

Sigh, but I guess at the end of the day, I saw this coming. They’re trying so hard to push Stolitz that the writing has to suffer for it. I’m not even sure I want to continue the series, if it’s just gonna become some genetic telenovela where everyone is so evil unless they wanna help Stolas in some way because he’s “such a victim”. I never wanted to have to write something like this and I sure as shit never foresaw myself reblogging critical content, but it is the way it is, I guess. But, that’s what rewrites and AUs are for, and I’ll be working on mine.

Anyway, that’s it for now unless I find something else to ramble about. Later.