#I’m just contradicting myself for some reason (I’m also watching a movie while typing so no wonder I can’t think) well bye 👋

[nashishishi]

saiouma fic recs (completed fics only)

LIST IS AT 200 AND COUNTING

(fic list and conditions for how i rate them below cut)

R A T I N G S :

                 Five stars at most. Increased number of stars for how memorable it is, how recognizable it is, and overall length and quality of the fanfiction. Originality was especially important when I rated these fics. Don't see your favorite SaiOuma fic here? It's probably because I didn't find it original. In addition, the way the fic ended was also very important to me. Depending on how much effect it had on me, it might have taken a star down.

                 Ratings are not based on placement on the list. The list is numbered purely so that it's more convenient for when I want to count how many there are. (Although I will note that the reason the first four are all 5 stars is because they were the best ones I thought of off the top of my head.)

                I rate these fics as SaiOuma fics, not as fics in general. That means that if the SaiOuma isn’t really important, but it just happens to make the fic cuter, then it’s on the list but it’s not 4 stars.

                 Ratings are in double corner brackets (「」).

 I M P O R T A N T:

                 All fanfictions in this list are of high quality. Some are just better than others, in my opinion. What I am ranking is: out of the best fics out there, which ones are the best of the best?

                 Don't be discouraged by any 1 star ratings. Those fics are still wonderful. Trust me, my tastes aren't garbage.

                 There aren't a lot of smut fics here. Most of, if not all the smut fics here are fics that are either Porn with Feelings or Porn with Plot. (I was hesitant to include smut fics at all, but goddamn, "Shuichi's Love Hotel" by ReturnToZero was just too damn good not to.) If you came here for smut fics (maybe you’re horny rn idk) then this isn’t the right place to look.

                 I didn’t add any of the summaries to these fics. This big block of text would only get bigger if I did that. I also didn’t add any links because I’m lazy. (I might add links later, though.)

 B I A S E S :

                 I don't like Sumb and Oumoron very much. Any fics that have Sumb and/or Oumoron are probably going to have lower ratings by default.

                 I'm always hesitant to read pregame fics. This is usually because the fic has something to do with violence, unhealthy obsessions, and toxic relationships. Because of this, my impression and overall opinion of the fic is bound to be tainted. (The only exception is “Sweetheart” by Hyacinthium, apparently.)

               I'm a sucker for Hanahaki fics. There's a lot of them here. I know it totally contradicts my earlier statement about originality, but I just love Hanahaki fics way too much. Please take Hanahaki fic ratings with a grain of salt.

                 I probably (read: most definitely) avoided some fics that have the Major Character Death tag. I've tried to steel myself in order to read the fics where Kokichi dies (because it's always Kokichi), but I still end up avoiding most of them. I could be missing out on some S-tier fics here, so make sure to tell me if I am.

                 I (probably, most likely) did not include any fics that were cross-posted on Wattpad, because I didn't bother to read the ones that said "cross-posted on Wattpad" in the summary. I don't like Wattpad fics, and I was only justified further when one of the cross-posted fics I was reading opened with the words "Shuichi's POV:". If there are any SaiOuma fics from Wattpad that are good, please tell me.

                 I, uhh, usually rate my fics based on how emotional they make me. I'm not the type to cry while reading, or even when watching a movie, so if a fic makes me cry, it is a goddamn good fic. Which means, if it's angsty enough (Kokichi dies probably, idk) then it made me cry. Therefore, 5 stars.

                If you don't trust my ratings at all, you should really just go check them out yourself. Really, they're all good.

 ☆ﾟ°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

25,244 | mediocre_kazoo_player 「☆☆☆☆☆」

In A Heartbeat | papapapuffy 「☆☆☆☆☆」

there's a thin line between comedy and tragedy | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Hologram | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

nouveau dèpart | kami (slowburnsunsets) 「☆☆☆☆」

Rubik's cubes a'rolling | Mbirnsings71 「☆☆」

Now you're speaking my language | Jimcloud 「☆☆☆」

Cigarettes & Grief | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆☆」

It's Lonely at Midnight | AnimeGirlAnn 「☆☆☆☆」

Second Chances | Lethargic_Lilac 「☆☆☆」

Shuichi's Love Hotel | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Field Trip | ReturnToZero 「☆☆」

Tells | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆」

listen, before i go | HopelessTodorokiLover 「☆☆☆☆」

How to express love | Litsu 「☆☆☆」

Hypothetical Situation | Tyingto_NoyFail_InLife 「☆☆☆☆」

cops and robbers | 264feet 「☆☆」

Meta | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆☆」

The Perks of Being Hollywood Spawn | Lenasaurous 「☆☆☆☆」

we can be ghosts together | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」

you have the right to remain right here | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆☆」

built to last | rannas 「☆☆☆☆☆」

starved. | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Unexpected Developments | adylini 「☆☆☆☆」

so YA novels were a fcking lie [series] | sleep_247 「☆☆☆」

welcome home | tougenkyous 「☆☆☆☆」

closet case | clownmaeda_renaissance 「☆☆☆」

Loop [series] | Romhack0101 「☆☆☆」

how to fall in love in three easy steps | chuwuyas 「☆☆☆☆」

sometimes i fantasize about faking my own death, just to see how it would make you feel [series] | hubbletuff 「☆☆☆☆」

Forget-Me-Not [series] | Rhyllow 「☆☆☆☆」

3.38 | Plus_ONE (SfrogPlus) 「☆☆☆☆」

Wishing It Was You | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」

flower for your thoughts? | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

The Long List of Things that Annoy Kokichi Ouma | FishMum 「☆☆☆☆」

Little Lies | Krokodyll 「☆☆☆☆」

His Mouth | RandomGuineaPig 「☆☆☆☆」

La la love | Tiramisseun 「☆☆」

soulmate's connection. | kiraqi (caticoo) 「☆☆☆☆」

Sectional Rivalry | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」

The Way to a Man's Heart (is through his stomach) | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

Month of Hell | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

summer depression | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆」

a future for you and me | Yukari 「☆」

And All the Things I Don't Talk About | murg 「☆☆☆☆」

Restoring Connections | queenshroom 「☆☆☆」

My Hat, Your Hat | Hittinmiss 「☆☆☆」

looking for what's right in front of me | kathoo 「☆☆☆」

You Don't Need to Say | auralikh 「☆☆」

His True Feelings | begonialily 「☆☆」

Your Sweet Russian Roulette | coeurdargent 「☆☆」

poem weaver | tia37 「☆☆☆」

Shine | taitofan 「☆☆」

(Life) After Death | Rovelae 「☆☆☆」

Things Could Be Worse... No, Really. | thatsrightdollface 「☆☆☆☆」

Monsoon | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆」

do not get blackout drunk [series] | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」

And now for something different | Serahne 「☆☆☆」

He Dreams Too | error_in_execution 「☆☆☆」

Flower Language | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Poison Mouth | psychiccupid 「☆☆」

After All, I'm (Not) A Liar | BrightStarWrites 「☆☆☆」

Alone | orphan_account 「☆☆☆☆」

Close | echocantspell 「☆☆☆」

Kriegspiel | Azia 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Valentine's Chocolate | shslAO3_fanficWriter 「☆☆」

A Game of Confessions (And Love) | HereComesAComment  「☆☆☆☆」

The Writer | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

Sleepovers and What They Mean to a Surpeme Leader | LavenderMilk 「☆」

Sweetheart | Hyacinthium 「☆☆☆☆☆」

midnight swim | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

Love in the Mist | winterflakes 「☆☆☆」

Feelings of Ham | lovingdefiance 「☆☆☆」

Pockets Full of Petals | ColorfulVoid  「☆☆☆☆」

Little Bastards (Saiouma) | ySoda (JESTERPH0BIC) 「☆☆☆」

Withdrawal | screaming_speedwell 「☆☆☆☆」

Roommates and Blind Dates | AchiOuma 「☆☆☆」

Googly Eyes and a Heart-Shaped Lollipop | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

A Flower's Meaning (hanakotoba) | hananocha 「☆☆☆☆」

Close Youre Eyes and Rest | Snowy_Snowflake 「☆☆☆」

Ad-Lib Performance | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Comfort In Your Silence | Akiragane 「☆☆☆」

Chocolates for My Beloved | sushihara_shuichi 「☆☆」

Seven Ways to Prove I Love You | EternalFluffy 「☆☆☆☆」

For What It's Worth | screaming_speedwell 「☆☆☆☆」

It's not stealing if I gift it to you freely | twinSky 「☆☆☆☆」

Cold, Warmer, Warmer..Hot! | Notcreativewithnames 「☆☆☆」

Cold Room and Closed Doors | HereComesAComment 「☆☆☆☆」

Guilty Redemption | TheAzureFox 「☆☆☆」

connections in a coffee shop | plaidnutmeg 「☆☆☆」

I Wish It Was A Lie | Browa123 「☆☆☆☆」

Kinder | Sakakura 「☆☆☆」

The Worst Lie and The True Ending | TheAlmightyResonance 「☆☆☆」

Redemption | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Like That | sunsets 「☆☆☆☆」

The Moonlit Revel of the Phantom Thief | TheMayBellTree 「☆☆☆」

Whatever It Takes | nanisorero (miriam_lee) 「☆☆☆☆」

feelings long since dead | ninata 「☆☆☆☆」

Rain | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆☆」

Seven Minutes In Hell | ariiiadne 「☆☆☆☆」

aftermath | shumais 「☆☆☆☆」

pull me close, hold me tight (i guess we just won't sleep tonight) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Fledgling | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

we'll never die (they'll immortalise us in the stars) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆」

all that's left is a ghost of you | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Overwhelming affection | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」

Holds My Heart | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Home | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Bittersweet | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Saccharine | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Stay | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

this song reminded me of you (so i played it on loop and my friends grew concerned for my mental well-being) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

anywhere whenever (apart but still together) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Something Off | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」 

Surface | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆」 

The Light of our Hearts | earthseaBorealis 「☆☆☆」 

Pulling at Heartstrings | megastarstrike 「☆☆」 

radio silence | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」 

From Me to You | Angelic_Ascent 「☆☆☆☆」 

Vos Autem Lux Inferos | megastarstrike 「☆☆」 

sunlight | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」 

Playing Detective | megastarstrike 「☆☆」 

Mister and Mister Communication | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」 

Strawberry Sweethearts | megastarstrike 「☆☆」 

Catch and Release | Hanzohara 「☆☆☆☆」 

Always In My Head | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」 

So Much More | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」 

These Nights | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」 

Heaven | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」 

healing takes time. [series] | kiraqi (caticoo) 「☆☆☆☆」 

drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, romeo! | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」 

Sick | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」 

Let's Do a Lot More Together | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

Salt in the Wound | kokichiouma 「☆☆☆」

Recluse | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

New and Better | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」

Alone | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」

Something to Live for | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

it's a little more fun when i'm with you | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」

How Many Will There Be By Dawn? | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Safehouse | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Safehouse | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Flashbulb Memory | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

I Forgive You | kokihara 「☆☆☆」

A Helping Hand | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」

cat scratch [series] | error_in_execution 「☆☆☆☆」

Contents of a Deadman's Pocket | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Best By Date on Label | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」

Good Mourning | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」

Day 7 - Mastermind AU | lake_writes 「☆☆☆」

Repeat Exposure | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆☆」

Contrived Courtship | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Five Steps Backwards Into Love | megastarstrike 「☆」

Our Final Words [series] | ImaginaryFigment 「☆☆☆☆」 

No One Was Ever Supposed To Know | TheTealTea 「☆☆☆☆」  

The truth | Ash_Shade 「☆☆」 

Accidental meetings, or is it fate? | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」 

Conflicting Opinions | kckicuma 「☆」 

sometimes it's hard to convince yourself to stay. | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」 

The Suicide of Shuichi Saihara. [series] | gay_fire_69 「☆☆」 

moving in | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」 

Put the Past Behind | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」 

Ameliorate the Pain | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆☆」 

How Many Letters to Say I Love You | Hypoxia 「☆☆☆☆☆」 

A Song of Sacrifice | SomeoneSpoopy 「☆☆☆」 

If you're with me | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆☆」 

Romeo's Quest (Saiouma) | ySoda (JESTERPH0BIC) 「☆☆☆☆」 

finding a relationship in the least likely way | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」 

Wilt | fatiguedfern 「☆☆☆☆☆」 

It's a lie! | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆」 

Freshly brewed dreams for a long spoiled talent | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆」 

what happened to the soul that you used to be? | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

waterfalls coming out your mouth | terrortxwer (dekimasen) 「☆☆☆☆」

Waste Paper | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」 

Everything was Beautiful | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」 

Congratulations for not dying yet. | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」 

Viral | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」 

smile (the worst is yet to come) | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」 

Attached (by heart and wrist, apparently) | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」 

Get To Reading | paooowa 「☆☆☆☆」 

That Funny Feeling | Loafas_Lawyer 「☆☆☆」 

Melancholia | ImaginaryFigment 「☆☆☆☆☆」 

Sleepless and (almost) alone | GrossShapes 「☆☆☆☆」 

death isn't the answer is it? | maddylime 「☆☆☆」 

birthday wish | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」 

Truths and Despair | tarochai 「☆☆」 

just know that if you hide (it doesn't go away) | moonlightsunny 「☆☆☆」 

i carry band-aids on me now (for when your soft hands hit the jagged ground) | Anonymous 「☆☆☆☆」 

Every Adventure Needs An Artist | SelenaShuu 「☆☆」 

Inventive Love | Cookiestar16 「☆」 

Missing The Detective | Shyhara 「☆☆☆」 

wash away | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」 

hospital roof | yhighon 「☆☆☆☆」 

Literary Affection | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」 

Chameleon Cat | SomeoneSpoopy 「☆☆」 

For Warmth | sai_ouma_trash 「☆☆☆」 

a special day calls for a special date | kckicuma 「☆☆」 

A Flower from My Beloved | DJBeatz 「☆☆☆」 

A Date with the School Heartthrob (ft. Overprotective Friends) | DJBeatz 「☆☆☆」 

Gentle Hands | DJBeatz 「☆☆」 

Gentleness - Saiou One Write/One Draw | DJCarnation 「☆☆」 

In my arms tonight | catcake 「☆☆」 

Irreplaceable You | DillasStrikesBack 「☆☆☆☆☆」

 ☆ﾟ°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

this list kinda just updates whenever i feel like it so,,,,, don’t expect consistency. i have other things to do like be a functional human being so sometimes i forget to read any fics that day. (although despite all the important things i’ve made time for i still fail to be a functional human being.)

  if you have any fics that you like but aren’t on this list, be sure to tell me. i’m trying to get to 420 ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

[aster-ion]

Sylvie x Loki Might Not Happen and Here’s Why

***SPOILERS FOR LOKI TV SHOW***

1.  They are basically siblings

Even though they have different personalities, backstories, and physical appearances, that doesn't change the fact that they are the genetic equivalent of siblings. No matter what Timeline you're looking at, both Sylvie and Loki are the offspring of Laufey and whoever he had children with. We know this because they are Variants of the exact same person, meaning that if either of them were born to someone other than Laufey, they would have been pruned as a baby. And since they weren't, that means they must be just as genetically similar as siblings are.

Because of this, the idea of Sylvie and Loki engaging in any kind of romantic or sexual relationship is extremely disturbing to a lot of fans. It's too big an oversight to brush past, especially when the show has continued to remind us over and over that they are, in fact, both Lokis. Maybe if them being the same person wasn't such a major plot point, it would be easier to ignore the facts, but it is, and that means that Marvel is basically pushing either an incest or selfcest (depending on how you look at it) type relationship. And that’s extremely risque for a corporation as large as Marvel, especially with a character as beloved by fans as Loki. 

2.  It is terrible LGBTQ+ representation

And before anyone says anything, no, it is not because Sylvie is portrayed as female and Loki as male. I've seen a lot of Sylvie x Loki shippers say that the reason people don't like the couple is due to it being one between a male and female, but that's not true. Loki and Sylvie were both confirmed to be bisexual, meaning that they can engage in a relationship with anyone of any gender. It would be completely valid for either of them to pursue romance with someone of a different sex and still be bisexual. No one is arguing against that, and if they are, I definitely do not agree with them.

However, the problem comes in when you take into account Marvel and Disney's (who owns Marvel) long history of queerbaiting. There have been countless times that Disney advertises their "first gay character!" only for it to be a single line of dialogue or a brief shot. Marvel in particular has used the popularity of certain LGBTQ+ ships and headcanons in their fanbase to generate media popularity that they don't actually follow through with in their movies/shows. So when Loki was confirmed to be both genderfluid and bisexual in Episode Three, lots of people felt like they were finally getting a win for representation. 

But those people, myself included, appear to have been let down again. The first two official queer characters had so much potential to go off and be with anyone they wanted, but instead, the show has set them up to be in a romance with each other. Now, this wouldn't be problematic on it's own, but when you take into consideration the questionable nature of their romance from Point One as well as the fact that the show has explicitly referred to it as "twisted," it raises the question of whether or not this is actually good representation. Because the fact is, in one episode the writers went “look, it’s two queer people!” and in the next, they said “their relationship is disgusting and demented.” Marvel’s first bisexual characters being borderline incestuous/selfcestuous does not sit well with me at all.

All of this is made even more confusing when you take into account the background of the Loki crew, most notably, the director Kate Herron. She also directed the Netflix series Sex Education, which has quite a bit of very well done representation of all kinds. So how is she managing to fail so badly on this project? It makes me wonder whether she truly is just losing her touch or if this is all a misdirection. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.

3.  It does not send the "self love" message people seem to think it does

The writers, director, and cast of Loki have said multiple times that the relationship between Sylvie and Loki is meant to act as a metaphor for self love. And in a way, that makes a lot of sense. Despite creating different identities for themselves over time, they are still ultimately the same person and therefore share a special bond because of it. And there's a lot of potential that can be done with that concept.

Loki is an extremely complex and intriguing character. He has experienced a lot of trauma in his past that has shaped him into the person he is today. And that person is clearly very broken. He has never given away or received any kind of love, with the exception of his mother and possibly his brother, Thor. Other than that, he's had no healthy friendships, romances, or perception of himself. It makes sense for him to be confused by this pull he feels towards Sylvie, who is both alarmingly alike and vastly different from himself.

Something this series does exceptionally well is breaking Loki out of his comfort zone. He is finally forced to see himself from other people's perspectives. It started with the file Mobius showed him in the first episode. Loki was able to view his actions apart from himself, and was hit with the realisation that he had been hurting people, and he didn't like that. 

Loki is also confronted by the existence of the Time Keepers and the TVA, who describe him as an antagonist and nothing more. To them, his role is to make those around him look better, even if that means he repeatedly gets the short end of the stick. Mobius mentions that he disagrees with this and that Loki "can be whoever and whatever he wants, even someone good," adding another layer of depth as to who Loki could be in the future of the series. 

Another huge moment for Loki's character development is while in the Time Loop Prison with Sif. Though he starts out annoyed with the situation and recalls not feeling apologetic when he cut off Sif's hair, the longer he is in the loop, the more he changes. Loki admits things to himself that we have never seen him say aloud, such as the fact that he is a narcissist that craves attention. Sif telling Loki over and over that he deserves to be alone makes Loki question whether or not he believes that to be true, allowing him an introspective moment where he really has to think about who he is. 

Now with all of that being said, I'd like to tie in why this is important to the writing of Loki and Sylvie. They act as a mirror to one another, representing both the flaws and strengths of "what makes a Loki a Loki." For once, Loki gets an honest, unbiased look at himself without layers of expectations or self doubt. On Lamentis, he calls Sylvie "amazing" and praises her for all her accomplishments. That's a huge moment for him because it shows that despite also finding her irritating, he can look past those traits and see someone worth being a hero underneath. And through that realisation, he begins to understand that he can also grow to love himself. That kind of character development for Loki is incredible to watch, and it's the kind of character development I want to see from this series. Unfortunately, them possibly engaging in a romantic relationship will ruin it.

Whenever I'm feeling insecure about myself and my abilities, the solution has never been to look at who I am through a romantic lens. Self love is an entirely different type of love from romantic love, so if the series tries to push this relationship as a romance, it will fail to truly represent the arc that they are trying to show.

4.  Nobody likes it 

This one's a little on the nose, but it's true. Almost no one likes this ship, and more than that, most people actively hate it. Yes, there is a small minority that like Loki and Sylvie together, but there is an overwhelmingly larger group that is disgusted and angry by the fact that the show paired them up.

After Episode 4 aired, I ranted for about an hour and a half with a friend about how much we didn't want them together. My aunt whom I have never texted reached out to me to say that she hated their relationship. My homophobic neighbour came over and told me that she would prefer any other romance to this. Friends that I haven't talked to much since school let out for summer have all agreed that they collectively dislike Loki x Sylvie. This ship has brought people together purely because everyone hates it more than they hate each other.

There is no denying that the general feedback for Loki and Sylvie being a couple has been negative, even if you support them getting together for some reason. So if there are so many people out there who don't like it, I'm confused as to how it would be approved by a team of professionals.

5.  The contradicting information we have gotten so far

Before the release of Episode Four, Kate Herron said that the relationship between Loki and Sylvie was “not necessarily romantic.” During the interview, she continued to refer to them as friends and people who found solace and trust in each other.

However, after Episode Four, the head writer, Michael Waldron, and other members of the crew spoke up about Sylvie and Loki. They said things like “it just felt right that that would be Loki’s first real love story” and “these are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another.” These kinds of comments very heavily imply something romantic, directly contradicting what Kate Herron said. Even Tom Hiddleston, the actor for Loki, has assessed the situation, highlighting the differing viewpoints. He’s also said before that the end of Episode Four ultimately has Loki getting in his own way. 

Now, this could all just be a misdirection on either side to build suspense for the show, but as of right now, it is entirely unclear who is telling the truth. Though it is more likely that the statements made by Michael Waldron are more accurate (as he is the writer), there is still a slight possibility that Loki x Sylvie won’t happen. I’ll link the articles I’ve found on this topic below so you can read them and decide for yourself. 

Kate Herron Statement - https://www.cbr.com/loki-sylvie-relationship-not-romantic/ 

Michael Waldron Statement - https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love 

Tom Hiddleston Statement - https://thedirect.com/article/loki-tom-hiddleston-sylvie-romance 

6.  It is still salvageable

The odds are not in our favour, I’m afraid. It is highly probable that the show will put Loki and Sylvie in a romantic relationship with each other. Yet there is still a way to salvage it and turn their bond into something incredibly satisfying. Like I mentioned in Point Three, the relationship between Loki and Sylvie has the potential to be incredibly empowering and provide both characters some much-needed growth. And I believe that while unlikely, it can still do that. 

The only mention of them being romantically interested in each other came from Mobius, who at the time was angry, betrayed, and doing anything he could to get Loki to talk. Then, at the end of the episode, right before Loki is about to confess something important to Sylvie, he is pruned. This results in no explicit confirmation from either Loki or Sylvie that they are in love with each other. The audience is left not knowing whether Mobius was correct in his speculations, and honestly, I don’t think Loki knows either.

Loki is no expert on love, as I explained earlier. It is entirely possible that he doesn’t grasp how he feels about Sylvie and defaults to romance because of what Mobius said. There is undoubtedly some sort of deep bond forming between them, and I would love to see that being explored in the next two episodes. I would love to watch Loki’s journey of realising that he doesn’t want anything romantic with Sylvie, and was simply confused by the new things he was feeling towards her. Loki even says “this is new for me” when talking to Sylvie at the end of Episode Four. Him momentarily believing that he wants to be a couple with her then shifting into them becoming friends who help each other grow is still a reality that could happen. And ultimately, I think that would benefit them both as characters as well as strengthen the overall message of the show.

In a show about self love, acceptance of yourself, and figuring out who you want to be, Loki very much needs people who support him. He has that in Mobius already, and now he’s beginning to have it in Sylvie as well. I just hope that it is done in a way that resonates with the audience and subverts expectations, which just cannot be done through some twisted romantic relationship. I’ve spoken to others watching the show and seen people talking online, and everyone seems to agree that Loki and Sylvie work much better as platonic soulmates or found family than a couple. 

Of course, my hopes aren’t that high up. While I’d love for this to happen, I’ve been let down by Marvel before and wouldn’t be surprised if they went for the easy route of pairing characters up rather than dealing with the emotions correctly. Still, I have hope for this series. Everything else about it is wonderful and perfect in every way. It has the potential to become a masterpiece and easily the best thing that Marvel has ever done. However, this romance would ruin it for me and so many others. We already feel incredibly disappointed by Loki x Sylvie being suggested, so I can’t even begin to fathom how people will react if the show makes it canon. I’m begging Marvel to please do better than this. They have a wonderful story to tell and a wonderful team to do it, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that they don’t throw that away. 

[samnyangie]

Personal reviews on RSL filmography

Rsl, iI thought it’d be a good idea to record my thought on each films rsl was in, it was something I always wanted to do...

Rsl in total, was starred in (excluding tv series etc) 27-ish films, to be honest, considering his years as an actor(approximately more than 30 years) he wasn’t starred in that many. We all know why lol

Just saying I’m not a film expert, therefore the list is very subjective.

The reviews with trigger warning (r*pe, g*re etc): Tape, Killer: Journal of Murder, A glimpse of hell. Tho in the writing I’ve censored them with * since I don’t feel comfortable saying them here

There isn’t particular spoilers except for dps, tape, and ground control

The favourites (literally my life time films)

Dead Poets Society

I assume many would agree, and as many would have, it was my first ever rsl film, like I was on the plane and it was one of the films they offered, and I was like, oh I think i heard of this, so I watched and instantly loved it. The message is very relevant to this day, the cinematography is very beautiful and somehow nostalgic. I was horrified with Neil’s death. Tbh now I’ve seen too many memes and all kind of things from the fandom (which I’m grateful for!) I thought the heartfelt I once had would deluded a bit, however when I watched it again last April with my family at the cinema and it still moved me very deeply.

The age of Innocence

Okay, unpopular opinion here, I love this so much. It’s my all time favourite rsl film. It even outruns dps tiny winy bit haha. Aside from how he had tiny winy screen time, appearing at the end but the fact that he played quite an important role and him being gorgeous in it just<33 I couldn’t help but smiling! It just the whole film was so much of my cup of tea? The melodrama and the hypocrisy hidden by elegance among the upper social classes in 19th century is just what I needed. The more I watch it, the more I understand the characters and their emotions, it’s one of those films you should keep visit to discover the things you weren’t aware of before. I watched it again this morning and i couldn’t stop thinking about it. However, I know some people find it boring and I understand why, my sister is one of them lol(except for a bit where rsl was in) but i think it’s more complex than what it appears to be at a first glance haha. In conclusion, it became one of my comfort film to watch time to time. 

The ones I like<33

Swing kids

At first viewing, I didn’t expected much because it had underwhelming reviews but when I actually saw it, I thought it was quite decent and more and more I watched it, I felt like it was underrated. Yes, I think some directing choices were bit old fashioned and cheesy especially the ending, I’m not saying it was a perfect masterpiece but it deserves more recognition than it has now. Also in spite that there’re some parts being too simplified, it touched on something other films about ww2 normally don’t. It was interesting to see the German perspective on it than Jewish or the allies perspective like many of them does, but of course the latter perspectives matter, it could be argued that they more valid than the former, which partly was where sk criticised for, however, the portrayal of the varied reactions of the German people (in this one particular the teenagers) has its value in their on way. Anyway along side with it, the music and the dance scenes were great, without exaggeration, though Swing kids isn’t my fav, peter’s solo dance scene is my favourite scene in any movies I’ve ever watched. I mean that scene had both visuals and meaning as it demonstrated Peter’s determination as well as resentment with a hitch of unsureness. Rsl acting in that scene was just phenomenal, it’s not about showing off the dancing skills but he portrayed every mixed emotions peter has from his expression and the moves, I just can’t talk about this enough especially this scene was the reason I started fallen for him. lol

Much ado about nothing

Much ado is something I never seen anything like so it was a refreshing exprience. I barely watched Shakespeare on screen kind of thing. Though I felt there were some bits too cheesy for me but they are also the charms in the same time, and the cinematography was pretty also Claudio aka rsl, it was like an official announcement of declaring my worship on this man. Especially it was after SWING KIDSSSS so I couldn’t help it now everyone knows how I fallen for him but no one can blame meeeeee Anyway, it’s a really good film to watch when you want be relaxed with cup of tea maybe hehe

In the gloaming

I heard about it before I watched it, that it’s a heart wrenching, tearful piece, though I didn’t managed to cry, it’s just.... painful and in a way heartfelt. I liked that story telling was calm and collected rather than forcing you to join the sob party, just showing the characters to carry on. And thanks to the great acting from the cast, the characters could be emphasised and understood, personally the older sister was the most relatable character for me, well, eldest complex lol. In short I liked it but it’s not something I would watch it often.

Last days of Disco

As a person who looks at aesthetic in films, I simply enjoyed this for that tbh. I don’t know, I just liked the feeling. But I don’t think it’d be everyone’s cup of tea. I love the day time clothes the girls wore in the film. Tbh I love the music too, I think I love all the films of rsl with music in it. Speaking about rsl, oh rsl, he’s.... His character might be bit unlikable but he was just.... This is why I can’t unlove his characters even the debatable ones<33

They were decent! (I would recommend it)

Married to it

This is the first and last ever attempt of rsl of romcomssss The film itself is cliche to be frank it’s like love actually but it’s about marriage life + it’s not christmas but I like heartfelt cliche stories like this, if anyone also loves this type of story, it’s really worth watching, it’s one of my comfort films, also, rsl is so pretty I mean he always is but to see him being a office man with a baby face made me go awww my baby grew up heheh I wish he did another romcom like this or more preferably, melodramatic romance, I’d have made a shrine of it and worship it every morning lol

The boys next door

I kind of smiled while watching it throughout, if you want something that is heartfelt and touch on some serious topic about social workers and the people with mental disorder, Rsl plays a character who has (I think it was) Schizophrenia and troubled relationship with his father(Deja vu I know) but general atmosphere tend to be quite humourous. I don’t get me wrong, though it’s light hearted, it doesn’t mean they treat the topic in the same way. There’s a scene where the protagonist imagining the one of the characters with the disorder talking eloquently and honourably at the court on the rights and the dignity of the people with mental disorders deserve to/should have and they’re just the same people as the people without mental disorders. It was a powerful scene.

My two loves

Rsl’s first ever screen debut film! Hehe it’s about a woman who is discovering her sexual identity and the conflicts within I personally thought it was fairly sensible depiction but I can’t say for sure whether it was accurate or else, since I don’t think it’s my place to say it:) But if you’re interested, it’s on YouTube, you can just search for it or go to this post I made. Fun fact: since it was his debut film, it credits him as he’s real name, Robert L. Leonard, I just find it amusing haha

Tape

It’s another type of film I don’t encounter that often, I enjoyed it, especially with Neil and Todd’s reunion lol. Rsl mentioned how he enjoyed it because it felt like doing a play, my first impression was that the structure is like a play, though the camera work made me quite dizzy haha. But the dialogues, the acting, I think it was quite spot on. Especially the human contradictions and hypocrisy side of it. The most people assume the baddie in the film is Jon the character rsl played and has a distaste for him. I mean how can anyone love a character who is accused of r*pe but to be honest, Vincent for me seemed just as problematic, both of them are hypocrites for sure in their own different ways but in the end we can’t be sure what’s really the truth or not. It’s about the vagueness, and phychology and the uncertainty from the audience on who to believe(well, myself included, most would trust on Amy’s claims since she’s the victim in the accusation, but by her denying the claims, making everything way unclear,) so I don’t know. I don’t really have an opinion haha tho I don’t believe nothing happened because Amy denied so, even Umma Thurman who played her, said that her interpretation was that Amy lied. I felt it’s endless rabbit hole this film. Sorry I couldn’t worded it better.

My best friend is a Vampire

It’s cringey and weird but there’re odd charm to it. Vampire rsl’s so cute as well.... and I think it’s the only film, he acted kind of flirty ? So for that itself I’d like to appreciate itttt And it’s so 80s/90s, like it has general odd nostalgia like all films from that age has. I saw a Korean blog about rsl films and this was mentioned, that- they said- it’s a bible of rsl’s adorableness and I think that sum up the film perfectly.

Mr&Mrs Bridge

Before this was in ‘I mean it was fine” category, but I watched it again and now I want to retract my statement lol Still isn’t my fav but I noticed how delicately depicted each characters are, Mr and Mrs Bridge in particular. This film is alternatively about the changes in the young generation regarding liberty, feminism, free expression especially on sex. It’s in the perspective of the bridges, the mother and father who is old fashioned and conservative (as it was normal in their previous generation) and the children who are the young generation, and the misunderstanding and conflicts between them. After all it all happened not only because of the difference but also the lack of communication, which rsl emphasised in his interviews. I found it interesting that they made it seems like the Bridges truly existed with the video footage and (with the ending) describing what happened to each family member in text with photos. When I watched it at first I was really confused if it was based on a real life. I think what they wanted to suggest was that the Bridges every typical American family at the time. It was something everyone was going through. I said previously I didn’t get why Rsl’s character (the youngest in the Bridges) treated his mother so coldly. Honestly I do get why, but I guess I felt so bad so the mother haha

I mean it was fine

The safe passage

It was okay but to be honest it didn’t stood out to me. It was okay. The story, the characters weren’t that interesting. I wish they extended it longer to go depth with their family relationship or something.

A painted house

I find it likeable, it has a chill, old folk story vibe, but same as previous one. it didn’t really stand out except for shirtless rsl, do close ups you cowards

Bluffing it

I was really fond of the premise of this film and I think it has great intention. It was specifically made to promote the awareness of illiteracy and how to get support. However, I don’t get the reason of Jack the protagonist’s illiteracy. Unless, it was common occurrence in America at the time, I feel like it’d have been more convincing if he was in poor family hood, so there was no time to learn at school due to working at young age...? I mean, just finding it hard to believe he passed the high school just like that, I mean the teachers or anyone should have noticed it, maybe I’m missing something here but it seemed unlikely to me.

Ground control

Again, I liked the message, as it depicted how frightening and difficult job the ground controller is, by one mistake could take away the lives of hundreds, especially as someone who goes on planes a lot... But it was quite cliche throughout, I just couldn’t get engaged to it. But I do admit at the end when the protagonist runs off to the landing zone see the pilot who he had just saved, they acknowledged each other and have eye contacts was truly wholesome. Rsl as cocky, bad boy was such a icing on the cake, I loved it so much. Chewing gum in every scene lol I hope he plays these sort of characters more often. I saw someone criticising him saying he has narrow spectrum of just playing nice boy roles like Neil but I really wanted to debunk the narrative and this could be one of the examples! 

Chelsea walls

I knew that this has split reviews but nonetheless I think worth to watch it, 1. Ethan and rsl re union, 2. Ethan is the directer of the film and rsl sing in it. But I have to say, it’s one of those hard to follow art indie film so I couldn’t finish it on one go. I feel like I have to devour it over and over again. Maybe later on I grow fond of it more lol But his character, I loved him so much. He’s just has everyone don’t touch me, I’m a cocky artist vibe, there’s a scene where his annoying friend annoying him and he looks up and says: ‘Fck off’. Absolute golddddd not to mention he sings and plays guitar so beautifully<333

Well... it’s not my cup of tea

The Manhattan project

I don’t think the film it self was that bad, it’s about high school boy who find out the existence of some nuclear energy research lab and stole the energy to make his own nuclear bomb. I just don’t get the thinking process of the protagonist. It really frustrated me. He seemed apathetic and unlikable I disliked him throughout and that’s why I didn’t really enjoyed it. I mean it has humour and ridiculous storyline might be humorous to some. But more importantly there was such little screen time for rsl!! LIKE WHY? WHY PEOPLE?? HE LOOKS LIKE A FRESH HUMAN MOCHI!!! It makes me soooo mad to think about it

Killer: Journal of Murder

Well, first of all, it had a lot of graphic things than I imagined, brutally murd*red bodies, execution, and r*pe scene, gosh I was strucken by it when I saw that, I had to skipped that scene. It’s based on a real event and a real criminal called Carl Panzram, so if you’re aware of it, it might be more intriguiging to see. But personally for me... meh, I don’t think directing was good as it failed to portray it enough for me to comprehend fully.

A Glimpse of Hell

This is also based on a true event of a tragic accident in the us battleship in Iowa in 1989. They shows tragedy lin a blunt, brutal way by showing horribly damaged bodies of the soldiers torn into pieces, all the horrid things directly so be warned about that. I was quite alarmed because i didn’t expect to see it haha there’s no much to say. The film quality was so so for me. I feel their approach wasn’t appropriate, they were clearly trying to make it dramatic which is fine but in a melodramatic emotional way. It didn’t work because first, there aren’t enough portrayal of the characters for me to get attached, secondly it added the unnecessary exaggeration it prevented me from being emotionally involved or even to think about it. In my opinion, I think it’d have been better if they made it more restrained, dry, focus on the accuracy. For example like 1987 or Zodiac, I mean both of them has dramatic elements since they’re not a documentary but they were not overdone, in a contrary added emphasis to their message/conclusion. I know it’s easier said than done but it was something I consistently felt during it.

Sir.... I’m sorry but-

Standoff

Haha... it’s very peculiar... the directing is off and it just weird. I knew it was bad already but I watched it because rsl as a cop with gunssssssss just... so rare and just.... something else. There’s no way of me missing that seriously. Tbh him doing an action stunt isn’t what I imagine when it comes to him and there’s really any actions scenes anyway but it really was something. Like the character he played here really became my soft spot Hehehehe he was pretty and plus, tbh it’s kind of film I’d make fun of while watching so everything was (alomst) forgivable. There is a recent thing I think about, since this is about a cult, I kind of hope he’d at some day play a role like Eli Sunday from There will be blood: a manipulative, deceitful and maddened priest with twisted faith. Though Paul Dano did a grand job, the idea was in my head the whole time. Well, it’s a shame he wasn’t any of those here lol

Driven

From what I seen, the majority of people seem to unanimously hate this film, and after watching it I became one of those ppl. At least Standoff could be make fun of and rsl held gunssss but this...... I want to say so many things... I feel like they should have chose either fancy, fast paced, thrilling racing film or detailed depiction of emotions/relationships with the racers and people involved in it, I know both can be done, but I think that was outside of their ability, but since they tried to do that at once, it became a mess that doesn’t go either way. And the characters, any of them, including rsl’s are narrow or impossible to understand. I mean rsl did great himself, it was not about acting, the problem lies on the script and editing in my opinion. Also there were so many unnecessary characters made me question of their existence. Luckily rsl’s character isn’t one of them, however because of them, he had to squeeze in and unable to elaborate, which is a shame as he was an interesting character and someone rsl rarely plays; a arrogant and opportunist agent/brother of the protagonist, who would do anything for success... ha.... whyyyyy

This is it. If I watch other stuff I might add to it in the future. Overall, I know I’m biased but I do like His filmography, I do have appreciations in every one of them in different way to the good ones to bad. He may have disagree, but I love his acting on screen, well, I barely seen him on stage (crying)

Edit: as some of you could see, I’ve edited this over and over again haha elaborating on thing or the contrary. I can say with a glimpse of hell I practically managed to watch every rsl films out there lol except for the i inside and the short film he did called a dog race in Alaska. But with the former I’m not interested and already know the storyline, and the latter is just impossible to find, trust me I did my best;; 

So to sum up: I HAVE MASTERED THE RSL FILMOGRAPHY!

[vampexx]

Thoughts on Luka and in general

Well, I have been working on an analysis for Luka’s character for a little while now and every time I worked on it, I just didn’t like the way it was turning out. As in, it wasn’t flowing well, it was super messy and patchy, and it was so long that I was losing track of all of the points I was planning on making....yes, that long. SO, I thought I would not only spare myself the headache, but that I would spare you guys too lol.  So I just threw this together hoping it would sit better with me and luckily, it does :) .

I was going to make this post some grand master-analysis on my theories, thoughts and opinions of everything from characters, theories, different ships, etc. and yikes, that idea was scratched pretty quickly because someone who rambles as much as I do, that’s the worst decision ever lol I do not have the time nor patience for any of that mess lol.

Besides, most of what was in this post before I scrapped it has all been said before so I didn’t want to be repetitive.

So instead, I have decided to include mainly my new thoughts on Luka since coming to a different conclusion and stance on his character. The rest will be included, yes, but in the form of links to my other theories and opinions that I was planning including originally to some degree for anyone who may care what my opinion is.

With all that being said, let’s talk about my new found opinion of Luka.

I have always agreed with those that said that Luka’s character was flat, 2-dimensional and too “perfect” to be true. Now here’s the thing, while I was writing the scrapped analysis that was essentially going to reiterate those same things, I came to the conclusion that Luka is, in fact, not perfect. 

For instance:

In the episode, “Silencer,” Marinette and Luka go to XY and his manager to defend Kitty Section when discovering their style and song were wrongfully stolen/ copied. Of course, Luka is a very reserved and subdued character so his flaws are more easily unnoticed at first glance. To spot his flaws, you have to look less at what he is doing (writing melodies, being compassionate, etc. you know, things that make him “perfect.”) and look more at what he is not doing. Back to my point in, “Silencer.” So, Marinette, as she normally does, is quick to defend and argue over the wrongful use of Kitty Section’s style and song. She ends up in a pretty heated argument with XY’s manager. Where is Luka, you ask? While he is in indeed angry like Marinette, but he is standing in the background not really helping nor backing her up in said argument when he arguably should have. Now, this is in fact a flaw. It is due to his non-confrontational and reserved nature that he does not get involved in the argument, neither to back up / defend Marinette, but also not to defend Kitty Section, his own band. He just let’s Marinette do all the arguing and talking while he’s just there watching, getting angrier and angrier, eventually being akumatized. 

Granted, Luka has shown to be not as good with words as say maybe someone like Marinette. What I mean by that is, he usually seems to speak via music so maybe he struggles with verbal expression although that would contradict his poetic words in, “Silencer,” and compassionate words in, “Felix.” Not that expression primarily through music is a bad thing, it is easily endearing to his character however it can also be viewed as another “flaw,” being that he is not a communicator unlike Marinette, who sometimes over communicates lol. It’s pretty clear that Luka does have some nice choice of words to say, however when he does talk, he doesn’t say a whole lot as in, it’s fairly brief. Otherwise, he keeps to himself it seems. Now Luka’s lack of communication can be foreseen as kryptonite to the Lukanette ship, just as I have said above, Marinette is a communicator and not Luka. For someone like Marinette, that could easily be a “turn off” for her, who is a very (sometimes overly) outwardly expressive person, although sometimes not by choice lol.

I may not have found many flaws for Luka, however I feel it’s enough to combat the statement of his character being too “perfect.” I agree, he seems that way at first. Due to his “laid back,” and “go with the flow,” type nature, it’s easy to potentially misinterpret him as a “too good to be true,” type of character. To reiterate, his flaws can be more easily found in what he is not doing, rather than what he is doing. For comparison, a good example of someone having flaws based off of what they do/ their actions (as opposed to inaction) would be Kagami, basing this statement off of her vastly differing personality from Luka. 

To sum up regarding Luka’s flaws, the ones that I have found so far are inaction, seemingly distant and disinterested (mentioned more in depth in link #2) and lack of general communication. Why he possesses those flaws are open to anyone’s interpretation. I for one, am not digging that deep.

Thus being why I have changed my opinion of Luka from being neither good nor bad, just generally indifferent to his character, to actually now being a Luka stan. Now, I’m not necessarily his biggest fan and I am certainly not a fan of Lukanette, but I’m ok with his character and  I do stan Lukagami because they are both Adrien and Marinette’s mirrors, therefore they are also arguably yin and yang like Adrien and Marinette.

Now this post is titled, “Thoughts on Luka and in general.” Meaning, there are some other things I wanted to include that don’t necessarily involve Luka’s character. 

1st being - As of the season 3 finale, I would like to state that no one is officially dating. Nothing official has happened. No one even kissed. 90% of Lukanette’s actions were essentially friendly, nothing too romantic. Marinette does not appear to really reciprocate Luka’s feelings (as backed by, “Luka as seen by Marinette,” video where she never mentions returning his feelings). Also, Adrigami didn’t officially happen either. Although a kiss was attempted, it did in fact fail on Adrien’s end. Some kids sat next to each other, hung out  and ate ice cream which normally doesn’t suggest that people are dating. If anything at all romantic happened in the very end of the finale, it’s that the two pairs are in the, “testing the waters,” phase at best. No more no less, in my opinion.

Remember: The theme of the finale was, “You don’t always get what you want.” That doesn’t just apply to Adrien, Marinette and especially the fandom. It also applies to Kagami, Luka, Chloe, Hawkmoth, Mayra and hell, even Andre lol.

Let’s be honest, we’re not even guaranteed to pick up where we left off in the season 3 finale when season 4 starts.

2nd thing - Now that the peacock miraculous is fixed, I will be shocked if we don’t see the butterfly and peacock miraculous unified, and whatever fresh hell that will bring lol.

Third thing - The kiss in season 2 finale was not just friendly unless when a friend kisses you on the cheek, you look at them like this...

To which I must ask....are they just a friend lmao? (Lol sorry, don't @ me, trying to make a MLB pun....)

4th  thing - I really don’t know which love square ship will be primary in season 4. Like, Adrien still loves Ladybug, obviously, and always will but seems to be taking a break from pursuing her romantically. It is also made crystal clear via a forgotten confession in, “Chat Blanc,” and through increasingly prominent heart eyes from Adrien that his, “more than friends,” feelings for Marinette are growing so much and so fast that they’re quickly reaching the point for him to no longer be able to ignore it. So Adrien, “changing his target,” will not shift to Kagami, rather it will shift to Marinette. I mean, there was no mention of Adrigami vs. Adrinette having a decided victor in season 4 like Lukanette vs. Adrinette, which leads me to think they will not only end first, but also end pretty early on in the season if the ship takes off officially at all, which is still unknown. Next, we have Marinette who is in a more complicated position. She believes that she cannot love Chat due to thinking, for what she knows to be some outrageous reason that she refuses to look into, “will end the world.” She is also trying to move on from Adrien, who obviously she will also never get over. So for Marinette it’s trickier because she feels like she can’t have either, while Adrien seems to get a simple shift in “targets.” 

So how this love square business is going to play out in season 4 is kind of up in the air for me. Marichat is a possible route, where Adrien is pining for Marinette as Chat and Marinette is pining for Chat (while believing they can’t be together) however that makes it seem less likely. It could also be Adrinette, which I feel might be the most sensible route, because Adrien pining for Marinette after finally coming to terms with his feelings for her, and Marinette I guess then deciding to give them a shot romantically assuming Adrien confesses, otherwise if she is still trying to move on without knowing Adriens feelings for her, then I don’t know how well that would work. Ladrien I guess could work, like an unrequited love type deal although I don’t know how likely that is to happen given both main character’s head spaces. Ladynoir I expect, at least for most of the season, to be mostly platonic temporarily. Ladynoir, in my opinion, will probably be the last corner of the love square to be resolved, which I think will take place in the movie after season 4. So, yeah.....more than likely to be played out either via Marichat or Adrinette in my opinion.

That’s all I have to talk about for now....I have just been kind of sitting on those thoughts for a while. Now I will include the links as mentioned earlier:

Link 1) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/190128222840/just-my-opinion

Link 2) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/190054338050/uh-ohi-used-my-brain-againget-ready-lol

Link 3) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/189482028990/just-a-thought-there-are-spoilers-in-case

Link 4) https://vampexx.tumblr.com/post/189856458390/alright-sorry-but-im-gonna-be-salty-real

Sorry this was lengthy, but believe me, this is way better than what this post would have been originally lol. I’m still so tired after all that though...oh well. Worth it I guess.

Have a miraculous day and thank you for your patience! 

[professorspork]

Frozen 2: first impressions

Hello friends! As you know, Frozen was a HUGE part of my fandom life ~back in the day.~ So of course I saw the sequel opening night and of course I have thoughts after ruminating on it for 24 hours. I’m sure there will be many things I forget or don’t cover--after all, I’ve only seen it the once. And I make no guarantees that my thoughts are coherent or consistent. (If I contradict myself, I contradict myself-- I am large, I contain multitudes.) I’m also sure my opinions will evolve upon rewatch. Lord knows they did last time.

Is that enough disclaimer yet? OKAY. Some of my thoughts are negative! Some are positive! It’s a grab bag! Here we go!

Spoilers under the cut, pals.

IN SHORT: As an expansion on the world and the characters I adore, I pretty much loved it! As an extension of uh Big Capitalism and what it means in terms of real world ramifications... I have questions/comments/concerns!

IN LONG: I think I’ll start with what didn’t work for me and work my way around to fangirling at the end.

the meh

I feel like... part of it is that Disney has just gotten worse and power-grabbier in way more blatant ways in the last few years, and part of it is that I’m ever-more cognizant of these things. And the fine line they want to walk of “We can tell stories about progressive concepts! Princesses are woke now, actually!” without taking a single financial risk when it comes to alienating foreign markets, homophobes abroad or Nazis domestically is just a fundamentally untenable position to be in. You don’t get to retcon Elsa and Anna as being somehow less white than they clearly are and then try to tell a story about reparations in which no one actually gets reparations. You don’t get to get points for that. It’s in some ways admirable to want to try, but all you do when you’re coming at it from the position of being Disney when you tell this story is show the cracks in it.

I can see how, on a purely storytelling level, having Papa King Arendelle Agnarr be of Arendelle and Iduna be of the Northuldra and having their daughters be the bridge between the two communities is a really tempting, tidy, tie-a-bow-on-it narrative. And I also see how creating the backstory of the war and the mist neatly explains the absence of indigenous faces in the first film. But like... come on. Introducing an indigenous group like the Northuldra and then declaring that Elsa and Anna are a part of it is insulting. There’s no other way to say it. It just feels gross. I’m glad that Disney consulted with the Sámi on the movie, and I acknowledge that both real-life Sámi folks and the onscreen Northuldra come in a broad variety of skin tones and phenotypes. But even with the most generous possible reading of the choice-- that it’s well-intentioned, albeit misguided-- falls flat for me. It feels like Disney trying to have their cake and eat it too. And I don’t really see any way around that. It just... gives me tremendous pause, and it’s so core to so many of the things the movie chooses to be that it’s really disquieting and disappointing.

But then again, Disney being racist isn’t exactly news, and there’s still plenty of flaws to tackle even when we put this (massive) issue aside.

This movie is... weirdly allergic to stakes? It’s not like I wanted Elsa to stay dead, or that I expected Olaf to (more on that in a minute). But Anna’s decision to go full Thor Ragnarok and, as @theseerasures​ jokingly put it to me last night, “throw the first brick at Stonewall” and destroy Arendelle felt right. It felt appropriate to the story they were telling, and it would have had the film put its money where its mouth is re: how atoning for the sins of our forebears requires massive systemic change. So having Elsa charge to the rescue on her water-type Rapidash extremely queer steed daemon Gay Horse and save the city felt cheap. (Also, side note: is Arendelle really just... that one seaside port town and nothing else? Are there only like fifty people in Arendelle?) The citizens had already been taken to safety. The society would live on; they’d all get to rebuild. What was the point of saving the castle, just for saving the castle’s sake? To what end? I don’t see how that’s more inspiring or reassuring or worth it than watching the sisters lead their people from the ground up and starting anew. I don’t understand what they thought was worth protecting, when, again, all of the people were safe. Stories need stakes in order to have meaning! HTTYD has impact because Hiccup loses his leg in his attempt to save his dragon and his people. You know? You don’t get to just... keep everything the way it is and call that restorative justice, and the film clearly wants us to. And I don’t understand why. The only reason that makes any sense at all to me is that they thought it would scare little kids, but like. THIS COMPANY HAS PORTRAYED WAY MORE TRAUMATIZING THINGS THAN THAT. MANY TIMES.

Point in fact: Olaf’s death! Genuinely disturbing! Sad! For the most part I really liked the way it was handled, but it also felt very. Y’know. “Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good.” This is perhaps my most uncharitable nitpick, so I’ll keep it brief, but having Olaf drift away Snap-style just felt like an extremely synergistic, Disney+ nod at Infinity War instead of an organic decision. Which maybe isn’t fair, because it makes more sense for Olaf to become a flurry than for the Snap to make people dust! But nevertheless, the weird wink-and-a-nudge feeling of it totally pulled me out of what should have been an extremely poignant moment. Elsa’s revelation during “Show Yourself” felt similar--like. Not to take away from your moment, Elsa, but the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me was already covered by this larger canon, and in a more elegant and eloquent manner.

Which--tbh, the music overall was a bit of a letdown (though “Into the Unknown” slaps and a boyband of five joshes “Lost in the Woods” was perhaps the best sequence in the whole movie). I respect that they clearly wanted to give everyone a solo this time around in a deliberate way, but the songs felt perfunctory for the most part--describing moments instead of advancing them. This film was such a departure from how Disney normally makes sequels (mostly in a good way, actually) and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have looked like to make a version of this movie where no one sang at all. It didn’t feel cohesive.

And, though it would kill me to get rid of “Lost in the Woods” because it’s perfect... I kinda wish Anna and Kristoff had gotten engaged at the end of act 1, as I think they pretty clearly did in the first draft of this script. Their relationship drama felt like a hat on top of a hat, and they could still have addressed their codependency/insecurities while being engaged. Leaving the proposal for the end just made it an anticlimax after everyone’s been brought back from the literal dead. And it maybe would have left them with more options than having Kristoff just vanish from the narrative for the entire back half of the second act.

Also Honeymaren should have had at least two more scenes. I can’t justify this on a narrative level; the movie didn’t actually need more of her. But like. If you’re going to go out of your way to keep Elsa carefully single, and even give KRISTOFF a new boyfriend, I feel like the least you can do is let us get to know the obvious throw-us-a-bone offering a little bit better. Like. Literally. the actual least you can do.

anyway. all of that said.

the yay!

I can’t tell you how gratifying it was to me, personally to open with a flashback of the girls that demonstrates as clear as day that Elsa is an ace lesbian and Anna is bi and polyamorous. Thank you, snow action figures.

And like. Overall the way the movie tackled the sisters and their relationship was pure *chef’s kiss.* (And I think for me, the strength in this particular bullet point probably outweighs all of my complaints and concerns from above, in the end. At least from an “I still derive enjoyment from this flawed thing” standpoint, though perhaps not from an “I’d recommend this to anyone without caveats” standpoint.) THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THEY WERE SO THEMSELVES. I do think part of the fear of any sequel where there’s been a significant amount of time since the last one and you were so emotionally invested in it the first go-around is like... what if everyone feels OOC? What if what I saw wasn’t what was really in them after all? What if they feel like strangers? What if they let me down? And there was none of that, even for a second, with this movie. Their parallel journeys were character-appropriate and impactful. Elsa finally gets the freedom she’s always been looking for. Anna finally gets the responsibility she’s always been ready for. Anna, the caretaker, is positioned to take care of everyone. Elsa, the lesbian, runs away to the forest to hang out with beautiful powerful women. Elsa, the force of nature, is finally allowed to commune with it. The scene at their parents’ ship truly anchors the whole movie in the best possible way. And also, like... this movie showed how fucking weird Elsa is, and I feel so vindicated. SHE’S SUCH A DORK. I can’t believe I never realized that Elsa would totally choose Charmander as her starter, and the way she talked to the fire salamander was literally the most charming thing I have ever seen. “They’re staring at us, aren’t they?” GOSH. [IMDb says the salamander’s name is Bruni, and I’m very sad they never spoke it aloud.] [Someone do a rotoscope of the Tangled short where Pascal and Max almost ruin Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding by losing the rings but it’s Bruni and Sven at Kristoff and Anna’s wedding, thank]

Anyway. All of that goes double for Olaf, because I really wasn’t sure they could pull off the miracle of him not being annoying twice. And they did! Olaf’s grappling with his burgeoning maturity was adorable and profound in equal measure, and his plot reenactments were sublime. And when he realized to Anna for the first time that he was feeling angry, that he was capable of feeling angry... what a tremendous moment. (Actually, I’ll extend what I said about the boat scene to include the Earth Giants river sequence in total, because. Again. Wow.)

And I have to say... as much as I am given real pause by their execution of the concept, “you just do the next right thing” is such beautiful (*cough* Jewish *cough*) praxis. I love that. In the broader Disney Revival canon of Tiana’s work ethic and Rapunzel’s abuse narrative and how Wreck-It Ralph talked about PTSD and all of the myriad things the first Frozen did, I might love “the next right thing” most of all. What a simple, powerful, evocative message. It’s so lovely. A perfect gem.

Also worth acknowledging that the animation was straight-up stunning. Which I expected, generally, but the water droplets in the ship? The way Elsa just loses it sobbing when she sees her mother’s face in the ice? The tender, shattered way Anna pulls Olaf in closer to her as he fades? W.O.W. And, y’know, while I stand by what I said above about stakes, I will say that the moment we first see that Elsa is experiencing cold, that Elsa is freezing? Genuinely--and please forgive the pun--genuinely chilling.

I love Gail the Gale. I love Mattias and Yelana and Ryder and Honeymaren. But mostly I just... loved the dialogue and these characters and that I got to spend a little more time with them. And I’m sure I’ll do so at least two more times before it leaves theaters.

... apparently this is over 2k words now so that seems as good a place to leave it as any. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[thegiver---ofbookreviews]

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I have been wanting to read this book for ages and now I finally had the chance. When I heard about this I thought, “What kind of sick and twisted society would burn books???.... I need to read it!” And so I did and now here’s my review.

Synopsis: Guy Montag is a fireman but not your typical one. Instead of putting our fires, he creates them. See, books are now illegal and must be burned. When the alarm goes off at the fire station it’s off to work to burn those books. Montag seems to enjoy his job until he meets Clarisse, a neighbor who just moved in next door to him. As soon as she appeared, she disappeared without a trace or warning. Then Montag finds his wife not moving and en empty pill bottle next to her. Suddenly, Montag’s life doesn’t make sense anymore and the only way he can find the answers he’s looking for is in books. 

*SPOILER ALERT*

There is a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, what the fuck?? The thought of just burning books is hell to me! Who thought that was a good idea??? Bradbury, you have some serious issues. Sorry, I digress. Bradbury shows how important books are for humanity. We become lost without them. Reader or not, books have impacted our lives. It taught us how to read, write, and most importantly learn. Bradbury is also showing us the effects of tv and technology. Now, I love technology as much as the next person (hell, I’m typing this on a computer as we speak) but technology is not all there is. We need to have a sense of culture, of wonder, in our lives and we aren’t going to get that from sitting behind a computer all day (as much as I want to). Unless you read on your computer, then that’s different. Anyway, books are here for a reason and I really believe we take them for granted. I think Bradbury believes this as well. The entire book we witness Montag’s wife, Mildred, sucked into the void of television. All she wants are three walls of screens to project her favorite shows and has not a care in the world for anything else. It really shows how mindless television made her. Without books, we become of something different.

I want to take a deeper look into Mildred. At the beginning of the book, Montag walks in on her overdosed on sleeping pills. Why? We never find out. As soon as she is helped and back to full health, she doesn’t remember a thing. This says something huge. I am going to contradict myself a bit from the previous paragraph. I said before Mildred was mindless, not caring about anything but her tv shows. But then why did she try and commit suicide? Obviously, she is not as mindless as she seems and something is causing her pain. She is not as happy as she makes herself out to be. Is tv not giving her the joy she needs? But isn’t that why books were banned and tv was in? Because books were pointless and tv gave us the joy books didn't? There are a lot of questions but the one answer that I know for sure is, people are not any better off then they were before books were banned. When Montag called the police after finding his wife, guess who they sent over. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not medics! They send over plumbers. Medics are too busy doing something more important or something. The plumbers tell Montag that “this happens all the time”, and like pumping out a clogged toilet, they pumped Mildred’s stomach until the drugs were out. Suicides must be very high in this universe if this “happens all the time”. That tells you again, screams it in your face really, that people aren’t as happy as they should be. 

So let's pretend I’m dumb and I believe everyone is happy watching tv all day in this book. After a while, you need some new and exciting tv shows instead of watching the same thing all day (except for those binge-watchers... you know who you are). While Montag makes his daring escape after killing his Captain and evading arrest, the police and a bloodthirsty hellhound made of metal hunt him down. What’s the best thing they could do in this situation? Oh, I know! Let’s make it into a show like cops! And that’s exactly what they did. They had helicopters and on the ground, cameramen following the hellhound and tracking Montag’s every move. They even decided to make it into a game! They told everyone listening on the radio to count down with them and when they were done, they all opened their doors and looked out their houses to see if they found Montag. Fortunately, Montag was able to disappear into a river. People are fucking nuts. If I knew a murderer was running around outside my house, I deadbolt the door and block all the windows! I wasn’t about to look out the door to certain death! This ain’t no horror movie! But I guess that’s how enticing tv is in these days. Continuing on, Montag was able to cover his tracks as soon as he hit the river and flowed down with the current. The hellhound couldn’t figure out where he was but the tv show was still going! What were they to do?? They decided that this episode needed a finale, a great ending. So they faked it. They found a random guy on the street that had some kind of violation and killed him. They pretended that he was Montag all along. Poor man. You can tell they did this for two reasons. One: they needed a great ending to the episode. One that left the viewers satisfied. Two: they couldn’t show that someone got away with it. We know that there are a lot of others hiding out with books (the reason why the fire department is open in the first place) but if they found out one got away with it, there’s hope, hope that others can get away with it too. It’s pretty disturbing thinking about it. The government probably does that today, NAY! does do that. I’m almost positive about that.

When we’re not sucked into the void of television shows, we realize what is happening around us. For example, all we hear in the news these days is about school shootings. Awful, terrible news. The thing about this world, people are too busy watching their favorite shows to realize what’s really happening. A couple of times in the book, there were mentions of a war going on. There wasn’t anything specific, just that there was a war. Throughout the entire book, the main characters didn’t mention it once. It was the least important thing to them. Montag was too busy trying to understand the importance of books, Mildred was too busy watching her favorite show and Clarise, well Clarisse was missing, presumably dead. But as Montag was far away from the city, a plane flew by and dropped a huge bomb on the city, destroying everyone and everything. No one was warned and no one saw it coming. They were too busy watching their favorite shows to realize. Moral of the story, pay attention to your surroundings. You never know what’s coming. 

*SPOILER ALERT ENDS*

If you love books with a lot of deeper meanings, this is the one for you. It’s a little hard to follow at first but I could just be saying that because I’ve been reading a lot of children’s books lately lol. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one and all the hidden clues you can find in the writing. You can understand, though, that the overall message is BOOKS ARE WAY TOO IMPORTANT TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED!!

I’m gonna say that one more time for the people in the back

BOOKS ARE WAY TOO IMPORTANT TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED!!!

Overall rating: 8/10

[sanoiro]

Lucifer 3x22 - Meta Post A: On Doubt, Fear and Expectations.

Before I begin I would like to mention my viewing experience of the episode. I knew that this episode would be a very unconventional one hence why the S&S post was so difficult.  It was not a great episode for sure but it gave us some information we needed.  What it also did was to raise a sandstorm in order to blind and confuse us with only two more episodes remaining in S3. 

Questions were raised such as, Is Marcus really mortal and in love with Chloe? I sincerely doubt he truly is. If this episode told us anything, it was about how fears act out and how we tend to beautify an idea and then turn it into an expectation. 

So let’s begin slowly here... 

Part 1: Doubt 

Let’s assume for a moment that Lucifer’s vulnerability and Marcus’ Mark loss are caused by two very different causes. Not love. I still believe that Lucifer’s vulnerability is caused by Chloe’s feelings but I have come to suspect that perhaps Marcus Mark loss is not. 

Why? Because I see a connection between the wings and the mark. 

I have mentioned it before but I never gave it enough importance.  What if Chloe in 2x18 was the reason Lucifer’s wings returned? The reason would be in this case that she trusted him and forgave him at the end of the episode. 

What if Marcus Mark is gone because Chloe trusts him and yes once again she acted as a redeemer. That can also be extended to Amenadie or/and Charlotte if we think about it but we will know for sure in 3x23. 

Therefore the fact that Chloe has doubts in 3x22 does not affect Marcus Mark in my opinion her trust and forgiveness does. Additionally, I would also like to add that something smells fishy here. Who would give so much money for a tattoo if that’s what it was in the envelope and not the ring? Again we will know for sure soon... In this part I leave you the exchange between Marcus and Maze: 

Maze: If Decker loves you then the Mark should be gone unless she is having second thoughts about you.

Marcus: Well that’s not ent- (Entirely what? Wrong? Yep!)

Part 2: Fear

Let’s talk about fear. As Linda said in 3x21, what are you so afraid of? Lucifer seems to always retract his realisations after an episode because he seems to be afraid of the answers. Funny how he actually nudged Dan to finally admit his feelings for Charlotte but himself took a step back in 3x22. 

In 3x22 - All Hands On Decker, we see a Lucifer going through Chloe’s mind but he focuses only on the details that her job has pushed forward and nothing else. We do know that Lucifer can and has seen beyond that in 2x11. But the problem here is that Lucifer in this episode projects his issue on identity and the loss of it on Chloe. 

What is also important to connect in this episode is the Driver’s everything, Chloe’s and of course what Lucifer believes it is... As he says to Fredrick in the beginning while trying to imitate Chloe, 

 Lucifer: Not yet, but my job means everything to me.

Lucifer has not yet grasped what everything is in someone’s life. 

Near the end of the episode, Dan reveals why Lucifer calls Chloe, Detective. Dan accuses Lucifer of seeing Chloe only as her job and nothing else while Lucifer contradicts him with the fact that he thinks that calling her Detective is endearing... 

Indeed it is because of Lucifer that title carries a noble meaning of justice and rightness. He sees Chloe as the ultimate definition of the word so for him it is endearing but at the same time we learn something more and he does as well. 

Your profession does not define your whole identity. Okay, so several if not all industrial sociologists would oppose that thought but in Lucifer’s case, that’s a vital understanding. 

His lack of Devil Face and his wings were the sign of his loss of identity. In S2 when Mum asks him why he works with the LAPD he comes to a conclusion that he doesn’t necessarily like punishing people but he is good at it.  He sees being the Devil as his job and his job is irreversibly tied to who he is, meaning his identity. 

Considering all the above Lucifer comes to a realisation which is that Chloe is not only her job hence why he probably calls her Chloe in 3x24 (perhaps as part of an experiment?). It is also why I believe that in 3x24 he will accept his wings because, in a very interesting move from the writers, no matter of your work or body parts your identity is you and only you can define it (see 3x01).

So an identity cannot be imposed and that is what leads us to Chloe’s part. That of the expectations. 

Part 3: Expectations

Chloe in this episode seems for the most part of it uncomfortable with the idea of marriage. Or at least how quickly everything moves. What we also learn is that Chloe married Dan at the courthouse and was back at work after the ceremony. 

An anon on Monday asked me more or less if the 2x05 Dan admission he had skipped the wedding plans in order to watch the Body Bag movie was a plot hole. To answer you, no I don’t believe it was. Courthouse weddings also require some planning, minimal but they are still there. 

-Interlude-

1) What interests me more though in this episode and which will get us in this section, a bit further away from Chloe, is Marcus’ insistence to marry her... Why did Marcus wanted to marry her? I have a mini-theory which basically goes like this: 

Chloe never wed Dan in a church or had the divine blessing so we can assume that for God that marriage was void. Same can be said about Lucifer’s wedding with Candy. Lucifer’s and Candy’s wedding certificate says in join in lawful wedlock, not a holy one which would have been the case if they had been married by a minister and not an officiant (see 3x07). Still, Lucifer seems a bit too conscious about the meaning of wedlock. So I wonder if a religious wedding holds a deeper meaning in this story. 

2) What I cannot stop thinking about as well is Lucifer’s 54th wait no... 55th reason of Chloe saying yes. Drugs or as Lucifer explained, she was under the influence. And what if she was EUI aka Engaged Under the Influence?

Now I plead you to not forget what happened in 3x02. That brainwashing act was not a random thing. Moreover, Trixie was at a sleepover date that night and Marcus went to check on her??? Seriously now? 

What kind of child - Trixie in particular- would ever want to leave a sleepover. Not to mention that the sleepover was in the next house. So was Trixie manipulated somehow? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was or just found herself at her house the next morning without ny memory of what had happened if she was conscious of course to remember... 

3) Finally, Lucifer was really good at delivering the problem with desires:

Lucifer: Well, maybe it's what she thinks she wants, but does she know what she truly desires? 'Cause few do unless I help them. And unfortunately, I can't do that with her.

Chloe cannot be affected by Lucifer’s mojo but Marcus was. Marcus was supposed to be at least a difficult case but it took Lucifer only a second or so although the willingness of the participant might have something to do with that. But what if Marcus was immune to the mojo as well but he can affect Chloe with his powers if he has any that is? We know that Amenadiel was able to make her freeze in time so Marcus’ manipulation might be running deeper than we think. 

-End of Interlude-

Now back to Chloe. 

In 3x22 we see that Chloe can be open and have fun when she feels safe like she did in 2x04, 2x12 and 3x06. Throughout the episode, she took advantage of the bachelorette party in order to let loose and was shown as a more carefree person but the talk with the bus driver shows us the bittersweet truth.

First, the driver was an excellent addition to the episode and acted obviously as a Deus ex machina which was brilliant as none of the characters had to spill the beans. We have time for that, meaning other characters telling Chloe their observations like Ella did with Marcus to Maze, 

We are at this point of the story that the most important thing for me it was that Chloe reached the decision to split from Marcus on her own. No persuasion or manipulation just her and her thoughts something that had to be done in order for the audience but also for Chloe herself to realise that she makes her own decisions in this life/series. 

Now about Chloe’s words on the bus.

Well, it just it all happened so fast, and everyone's wondering why I said yes, and I-I'm wondering the same thing myself.

As we said sometimes decisions are not logical and as Lucifer said to Dan sometimes what we truly desire is not apparent to us from the very start. 

I don't know, m-maybe I thought that marrying a a safe, steady guy would somehow change me into a different person,

This episode reminded me a lot of 3x08 but in reverse.

 Chloe was trying to be something more and yet she believed that by marrying a guy who was stable like her father was, she would probably become the fun one in the relationship. Deep inside her, Chloe is not her work and she knows it but that’s how she is treated. As the boring, strict Detective and perhaps, just perhaps she wanted to free herself from that assumption that even Lucifer carried for the most part. 

Yet we see in 3x22 that although Lucifer and Chloe are the exact opposites on how they live their daily lives they are also carrying a very important piece of sobriety (Lucifer) and spontaneousness (Chloe) on different levels which might not always be obvious to the other person but it acts like the glue they need. 

In 3x22 Lucifer realised that he can be like Chloe and understood what that meant.

 It meant that he was basically insufferable as a partner but that he also carried something in him that was very much alike to Chloe. At the same time, Chloe having her night of fun understands that being wild is not based on the comparison you get to have with your life partner or how you will define your life through them as the strict or fun type in the relationship. You are just yourself and let the relationship balance these qualities. Much like she has done in her partnership with Lucifer. 

That’s what happens at the very end of the episode. 

Lucifer sees that Chloe is not wearing a ring anymore so he backs off on telling her what he realised about himself, herself and their partnership but I’m sure it will come out soon enough. 

Why though?

Because he knows as she does now that no matter how absurd this partnership is for some reason it works. Their differences make them stronger and no, they do not drive them apart but closer. He can be more considerate but at the end of the day, his aloofness is her strength while her seriousness is his. They hold just enough of each other’s qualities to come close and rotate perfectly around each other but have enough differences in order to not collide.  

Her last line though was the most confusing one: 

that-that maybe this new, spontaneous me would-would somehow inspire the the person that I still am. 

I can translate this as I needed a change to make me feel more like myself again. The problem with that though is that there was no balance. As the driver says she has been married for 17 years and 

 He's my everything. Hopefully, your guy is, too.

At this point, we see Chloe sigh and shake her head. 

The problem with Chloe and her relationships both with Dan and Marcus was that she was seeking the steady guy who could make her happy. Unfortunately, there was nothing to challenge her anymore in both cases. 

Dan had his job so when she decided to go on with the divorce it hurt her as you remember in 2x01 but also gave her space to feel free and move on again. Dan and Chloe were meant to be friends and parents and thankfully he was a good guy. Marcus once again has the same vibe. Sturdy, responsible, a man who can help me walk but the problem is that Chloe needs to fly. 

Remember that she left her house with her child because her husband was not there and she could not trust him after S1. 

She leaves Marcus because regardless of what we saw in 3x20 it was herself that was wounded and the idea that she wasn’t worth it. I have come to believe that her breaking down in 3x20 it was mostly because of what Lucifer did in 2x14 than what Marcus said and did in 3x20. 

When Marcus in 3x22 tells her that this is about him and her, Chloe stops him and says that is why he cannot marry him. Why? Because it’s about her and Lucifer. Marcus was a rebound a pleasant and honest mistake but after the bus she knows there is not her and him. There is only her and Lucifer on every imaginable level. 

Lucifer as we have seen always had an ability to leave an echo lingering behind for her no matter what he did, where he disappeared to. So no matter the drugs, the women, the absurd unreliable self he showed her in S2 and S3 she fell for him. 

Not just that but as we see in 3x22 her gut is correct. Lucifer deep down, he cares, he can solve a case, he can be responsible and he deserves her trust so when the driver of the bus tells her she hopes that Chloe’s fiance is also everything for her, Chloe realises that’s not true. Her everything is Lucifer and as @isk12-blog said noticed the next scene from the bus? Lucifer...

The only person she has followed through Hell and back again is Lucifer and she knows he has done the same thing for her no matter his immaturity. In 3x23 I believe we will see their relationship taking a turn because both know they have gone too far. And finally this... The last scene of 3x22. 

Chloe plays with her ringless finger. There are no tears but an afterthought of the decision she has made. She has not broken down over losing Marcus as she did in 3x20 because as I’ve said, before the incident in 3x20 and as it is explained by Chloe to Ella in 3x21, corresponds directly with Lucifer’s actions in the past, not Marcus’ harsh words.

So we have Chloe at her desk and Lucifer comes to tell her most probably that he has learned that he has not been a good partner but the fact that she no longer has her ring changes everything. It’s not that she is unattached again it’s the fact that Lucifer understands that there is also something more into their partnership than what he saw in his mock-staged one with Dan. 

Like with Linda and the discussion, after  Reese shot Lucifer in 3x07, Chloe in 3x22 shows Lucifer instead that she is with him because he showed her who he really is. Yes, he can be more considerate and I believe that he will be in the next episodes but something in his true character has Chloe trust him even more. 

You see when you are somebody’s everything it’s not about the good qualities and the immaculate manners nor how adorable someone is because he scratches off the burned side of his toast. 

Everything means that for some reason the good and the bad make a person lovable. What you know and you don't know as well and so you take the risk to love everything about that person and that happens unwittingly! With Marcus, Chloe can’t see or feel that everything and so she has her answer. 

It’s not about eternity or stability anymore, it’s about loving the unexpected as much as the expected. The greatest achievements and the greatest mistakes so yes, if 3x24 gives us the reveal then Chloe needed this episode to realise that everything about Lucifer and her feelings, was all about.

As we draw closer to the end of this post, did you notice how she invites him as her partner again? Or how she is so open in their partnership? 

Sometimes everything is not attainable but something out of it might be so Chloe once again gets back at Lucifer’s side knowing that he might never be perfect or ready for a relationship. When she says “right” that’s when she decides to just go with the flow once more and that word weights as much as her words in 3x20, “We both know that’s not true!”

 Finally, I loved how she decided to start stealing the small moments once again with Lucifer... The romantic drives...

Lucifer: Shall we take my car? Chloe: Yes.  Lucifer: That’s what I’m talking about!

I hope you enjoyed this meta... I fell in love with the characters once more while writing it. Have a nice week and forgive any moodiness. I cannot be perfect, never claimed to be. 

[claudiadonovan]

Please write 70 paragraphs of meta about elizabeth and olive as characters

ok so first of all: i had multiple paragraphs of this typed up a couple days ago and then my computer crashed, so clearly the universe wants me to chill. but here i am, rewriting all the words to spite the universe, for I WILL NEVER KNOW CHILL. (disclaimer: this is largely incoherent, and the organization isn’t exactly thesis ready. tyfyt.)

anyway. let’s begin with something i’ve talked about at length before, because i do think it’s at least worth setting elizabeth’s narrative against the backdrop of the movie’s full scope—that is, elizabeth’s arc is the driving force of the movie. regardless of what the film is ostensibly about (at least in terms of marketing, for obvious reasons; it’s clear that everyone working on it knows better), what angela’s crafted is a love story. bill functions as a steady presence throughout, providing the technical framework (and the shoves that elizabeth needs in the direction of what she wants); olive certainly takes her own journey, but hers is a growth told largely in flashes; it is through elizabeth’s terror and conflict and indeed love that we see much of the movie unfold. all of those things are central to the conflicts we find and necessarily the heart of the movie’s resolution. there is a reason the film must end in the place it does, with elizabeth cracking open her heart and finding the means to build a bridge between them inside.

but i’m getting ahead of myself. (and, yes, rambling already. LISTEN, i was asked for 70 paragraphs, a lannister always pays her debts, etc. etc. you’ve been warned as to what lies beneath the cut!)

if you will let me set one final scene, before i move inside the universe of the movie: i saw professor marston for the first time at an advance screening. the theater wasn’t enormous, but it was completely packed. there were a couple moments in the opening bill/josette scene that drew a few chuckles, iirc, but the moment elizabeth spoke her first line, that entire theater came to life. and let me tell you: what a relief that that was my first experience with the movie, because clutching your leg and alternating between wheezing with laughter and delighted squealing draws a lot less attention if everyone around you is also in hysterics. the reaction both to “i know” and “i know that, too” was incomparable. it felt rare and wonderful, nevermind the fact that rebecca’s delivery remains impossible to oversell.

all of which is kind of beside the point, except that i will say i appreciate the in-universe acknowledgement that elizabeth is genuinely hilarious? BECAUSE SHE’S HILARIOUS. the fact is that angela, as she designed her (and rebecca, as she played her), allowed elizabeth to be SO MANY THINGS. there are a million ways that this could have (would have, lbr) gone wrong in literally anyone else’s hands, but one of those many ways is elizabeth herself. like, i think there’s a particular character cut-out for the combination of attributes that include controlling/ferocious/brisk/kind of a stubborn asshole, especially if you’re angling for the arc to conclude with a display of vulnerability. that sets off the WEE OOOH WEEE OOOH DO NOT TRUST WEE OOH alarms in my brain. but elizabeth is a million things, among them also funny, charming, pragmatic, and so utterly full of life. (i sort of figured “totally brilliant” went without saying.) she is never limited to one or two of these at a time, as they shift along some linear arc; there are moments that showcase particular aspects, but she is always the sum of all of her parts.

one of my very favorite moments, particularly in the way that it establishes both elizabeth/bill and, i think, to some degree the way that elizabeth interacts with the world, is the lie detector epiphany scene. one of the things about them is that they are able to shift very fluidly from “heated debate” to whatever the opposite of an argument looks like. which – i realize in that scene the lie detector was a Huge Deal, but there’s no sense of bill and elizabeth ever stagnating in their arguments; more often, they delight in them. they sharpen their wits and their knowledge against each other – it’s (a huge) part of what makes them work, and it’s also part of what makes them so damn extra. (olive’s utterly baffled face as she watches them that transforms slowly into an amused/fond/still-puzzled smile says all i want to say here.) the point is: they don’t require things like apologies from each other, particularly as a result of their exchanges. like, their arguments are more likely to lead to proposals than to pleas for forgiveness.

basically, i don’t think elizabeth has huge reserves of patience for other kinds of interactions; she spends much of her time with a person who always meets her halfway. anyone who can’t inevitably falls underfoot. she also thinks dropping things like “oh, and if you fuck my husband, i’ll kill you” into conversation during a first meeting with a student they’ve just brought on as an assistant is absolutely fine, especially since she doesn’t initially view them as on the same ~~~level. (not that she doesn’t mean to be hostile—and condescending—because obviously she has some self-awareness, but her casual, wry delivery of it is so very, very elizabeth. she gets a kick out of herself.) my other favorite thing is how much i do think she believes she’s offering some genuinely useful clarification as she carries on through that atrocious explanation of olive’s beauty—she gets it, it’s not olive’s fault, like any of those are reasonable things to say to another person. elizabeth’s answer to dealing with the emotions she was kind of pretending she didn’t have when she told bill it was fine to fuck olive? be a patronizing asshole! works every time!

but olive isn’t bill, and she’s not just gonna spring back from whatever that was, because literally what the fuck is wrong with this woman (i know, olive. i know). and it’s not like elizabeth doesn’t have the capacity for guilt; that’s the whole reason bill telling her she made olive cry finds them in the middle of the apology that unfolds. (let me side note here that bill gently leading elizabeth back onto the edge of some moral pathway with signs like “maybe be less of an asshole?” is one of my favorite things in the entire world.) which elizabeth begins delivering so perfectly awkwardly and vaguely sardonically that it’s hard to imagine anyone could even take it seriously? the way she ends the “i didn’t mean to insult you” with a smile that could physically not be less real—great, look, i did the apology, bye—really sums it up. and the exchange that follows—i’ve done nothing / no, i know, you’re right—is so peak elizabeth, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, like she’s sitting there like, yes, i know, all i said was don’t fuck my husband, i didn’t say you already had. anyway, didn’t i say it wasn’t your fault? why do i even bother talking???? elizabeth, who manages to jump into apologies without any real willingness to make overt concessions about any wrongdoing. (an apology that leads them to a speakeasy is much more suited to her, really.)

as mentioned before, elizabeth really is a million things all at once, and she’s a mess of contradictions on top of that—see: completely fearless and deeply terrified, a woman who answers her husband’s admission of her own brilliance with “i know” but cannot accept that olive thinks she’s amazing. a lot of that, imo, stems from the fact that every time she walks into a room, she has to prove herself. so she brandishes her intelligence like a blade, for it is only with a sword to their throats that the men inside her circles (and outside, presumably) are willing to acknowledge her beyond her gender. and even then, no doubt there are many who dismiss the weapon for a toy, or suggest she cannot even hold it properly, so unprepared are they to change a lifetime of bullshit ideas that they craft their own false reality. and bill has known her his whole life; presumably, elizabeth was central to the foundation of his own ideas surrounding gender. he has had access to her brilliance at every turn.

olive is an anomaly. olive catches her off guard. all elizabeth has done is upset her, and yet olive says with conviction almost virulent that it is criminal that they will not give her a degree. but elizabeth still holds the sword in her hand, and so she swings it in defense, instead, in aggressive disbelief. because, of course, elizabeth’s never met anyone like olive.

but, of course, olive’s existence forces elizabeth to reconcile much more than just that. at least, sort of, though elizabeth’s pretty stubborn about closing her eyes and putting her fingers in her ears and waiting for them to go away. (ELIZABETH YOUR HUSBAND LITERALLY FINGERBANGED YOU WHILE YOU WERE BOTH WATCHING OLIVE SPANK A GIRL BUT SURE, YEAH, VERY MYSTERIOUS FEELINGS.) that she manages to frame the conceit of them all trying this thing out more like a research project than like, hi, i like you too? is almost too elizabeth to handle. that the second there is no denying this particular combination of sexual attraction and love—what else is the lie detector good for if not invariably forcing inarguable realities at them?—elizabeth retreats into sarcasm. “open emotional dialogue” isn’t exactly her forte of fortes, is kind of the point i’m making here. (the surprising moments of truth are always interesting, though. “i was afraid i’d always be in his shadow,” for instance, is a startlingly sincere moment of vulnerability, which i think is an important nod to the shift in her relationship to olive. i mean, obviously they started flirting way back in the speakeasy, but it’s inherently a given with that line that she sees them as existing on the same playing field. elizabeth, inviting other people onto her level? a miracle!)

here’s the thing; elizabeth is a disaster, and a revolutionary, and a realist. in an effort to achieve the goals she thinks she can (forcibly! with much effort!) achieve, she has already made concessions, things like: demand her goddamn doctorate due, but surrender her name. i think elizabeth has probably, pragmatically, already had to rearrange enough of herself and her life to fit into the crawl space that might, if she bends and scrapes and pushes hard enough, win her access to the other side—the things she wants, the vision she imagines. (a world she is as stubbornly committed to as she is her Opinions About Things.) bill has not had to make the same kinds of sacrifices, and so giving this thing up—this person up, this person they both love—is inconceivable to him. but elizabeth sees their love as something that has already bent her into the wrong shape; they have lost their jobs, an essential part of elizabeth’s future. bill demands their happiness be prioritized; elizabeth’s perspective isn’t half so black and white. since when can a woman simply have the things she wants?

one of the most interesting things elizabeth says, in the way that it sort of lays bare her character, is the whole: “they are right to shun us, and perhaps they are right to beat us. not because we fuck each other, but because we’re foolish enough to think we’re better than them.” which, a) obviously we have access to the amount of shame she keeps inside her, which is a lot, but b) this idea that elizabeth has always held herself a little aloof from the rest of the world, in terms of her own superiority complex, is v. real and v. interesting. and the idea that it’s that high ground that she feels come crashing down when they get caught is fascinating. like, only when the neighbors were suddenly able to exact judgment, to ruin the lives of their children, did she realize that she’d been pretending to see them from a tower above. that nothing she’d ever done—that no proof of her own intelligence—could change that, that it was her supposed disillusionment of their own superiority that had safeguarded their relationship in her head.

in the end, of course, she finds it is a loss she cannot bear. stubborn asshole that she is, one can only imagine how very long she would have spent miserable and steadfast about the decision were it not for bill’s prognosis. but with a little hand-holding from bill along the way, it’s elizabeth who finally chooses the thing that has brought her the most happiness, and who issues a damn apology like she means it. (and rebecca delivers a performance more than worthy of oscar buzz, dammit.)

WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO OLIVE. let’s start with the descriptors the movie provides for her, first from bill: beautiful, guileless, kind, pure of heart. and then, from elizabeth: an exceptional student, a quick study with a passion for learning, strong work ethic, keen mind, an unwavering moral compass, and a deeply instilled sense of justice. (obviously, a lot of those are re: academics, given it was from a letter of recommendation – a letter of recommendation for a student she and her husband have more or less just propositioned! iconic – and “an unwavering moral compass” is still a hilarious dig, but anyway.)

so obviously olive’s “beauty” is at the center of the film’s early conversations – this idea of asset vs. albatross plays a heavy role, and what it means as a quality that olive must manage and navigate. even though elizabeth acknowledges it as a detriment, it’s also basically the foundation of their first encounter—the way olive’s beauty has already invaded the space of elizabeth’s marriage, professionally speaking or otherwise. and it’s kind of interesting that it’s more or less the assumptions surrounding olive’s appearance and impressions that basically kickstart her interest in psychology in the first place – that she is so incredibly frustrated with her interactions with people (unlike elizabeth, she doesn’t walk a blade into every room she enters).

anyway, i’ve mentioned it before but it’s still one of my favorite things, and i do think it bears noting: olive’s investment in the marston/holloway duo begins with and is showcased in its beginning stages primarily via her admiration for elizabeth. in so many ways – both within the film’s universe and in meta terms – bill is the obvious choice here. young pretty ingénue ™ falls for charming intelligent attractive (male) professor ™ who is, as it happens, very clearly into her. all of which, of course, the movie (delightfully!) paves the way for, but by the time there’s more focus there they’ve also crystallized into people not done justice by those descriptors alone, particularly in olive’s case. the point: elizabeth being as compelling to olive as she is right from the beginning i think says a great deal about olive, who is utterly charmed by a woman so brazenly, indelicately brilliant.

i mean, honestly, here’s the thing: angela did a SHIT TON of research over the course of eight years about the marstons. that’s why it’s so easy to spot which decisions she made that were very active departures from likely history, like this one. honestly, as someone who truly could not give less of a shit about the “veracity” of the movie as it applies to the movie’s quality/worthwhileness/watchability, i definitely think it’s fascinating to consider in terms of the choices angela made—olive becoming a part of the family first as bill’s mistress in real life (note: not to suggest i’m wielding total historical fact, just at least one propagated history, and one that likely would have been developed by another director) vs. an olive whose initial attraction lands at the feet of elizabeth’s radicalism. an olive who is wooed by the ferociousness of elizabeth’s intellect! i ask again: WHO BUT ANGELA WOULD HAVE EVER WRITTEN THEIR STORY THIS WAY. (in case this needs clarifying: no, i do not in any way make this claim to make an “exclusive attraction” claim, i mean to make note of the particular choices that provided the early foundations for their relationship, narratively speaking; obviously, them all being in love with each other is quite literally the entire point of the film, wonder woman be damned.) (jk diana i love you!!!)

as a whole, olive’s relationship to feminism is super interesting and absolutely a thing i would have loved them to explore more (among, like, the other nine hours of things i want more content about). it’s also another part of the whole appearance vs. reality question as it applies to olive (i thought that you were just… / what? / i don’t know. not that.) and what a world that olive, too, is allowed to be so many things: a cult sorority pledge master, kind, just, raised in a convent; the daughter and niece of radical feminists, incredibly smart, the bravest person in the whole movie, etc. etc. (also, THE ONLY FUNCTIONING ADULT. but we’ll get there.) her “guilelessness” is complicated by her history, and even as we are presented with the possibility of naivete, the “observing olive” scene sort of dismisses that cut-out figure out of hand, by way of elizabeth. olive knows exactly what she’s doing; she has lived many years having to navigate precisely the right amount of eye contact to make with a boy, precisely the tone to select. that is practice, and experience. she both finds herself apologizing every other minute and is unwilling to be anyone’s doormat—accommodating, yes, generous, yes, but even as early as the elizabeth/bill/olive apology sequence, she by no means jumps at the chance to accept this vague gesture. she wears her emotions on her sleeve and finds herself the more powerful for it.

olive is absolutely searching at the beginning of the movie – for explanations, for answers, for the kind of life she wants to lead. (for, i think it’s safe to say, elizabeth’s respect—a much more arduous ask than her husband’s.) and the truly incredible thing about olive is that as soon as she experiences the thing that she wants, she knows herself well enough not only to know with absolute certainty that it is what she wants, but also to pursue the hell out of it. after their joint first time, olive literally has no doubt left in her; this makes her happier than anything else she has. “unwavering moral compass” or not (lmao), uh, what fiancé? because the truth is that olive’s heart is her conviction, not duty. if it’s right, she will feel it. and so she does.

olive’s connection to her emotions, to her convictions, to her awareness of what she wants—like, it’s honestly a superpower. emotional intelligence and academic intelligence? honestly, chill. she’s also kind of their guiding light, whether in the moment she steps out on that platform in the pseudo-wonder-woman outfit, thereby changing the conversation entirely, or the first time she kisses elizabeth and rearranges everybody’s headspace. she always casts light on the next step of the narrative, on a place often frightening but a place everybody else will end up by the next act, anyway. (elizabeth may expect people to meet her halfway in terms of words, but olive’s the one reaching out her hand at every turn, waiting for someone to take it. and olive is the one—in many ways—with everything to lose.)

olive takes most care of the children; olive is the one most often sending them off to school with lunches in hand; olive is the most capable at wrangling something edible out of the oven; let’s be honest, olive is definitely the only who can convince their 1930’s (etc) cars into motion when they’re feeling particularly stubborn; olive likely exchanges baked goods with the neighbors and shares small talk and offers the helpful advice only possible from someone who cares enough to be a good listener. olive makes friends. so i ask you: literally, how the fuck did elizabeth and bill ever live their lives without her?

elizabeth probably spends more time making snide comments about the neighbors than making friends with them; bill spends time working on manuscript #17 (and then, you know, the obvious), although i’m sure he can be wrangled out to offer some charm every now and again.

(clearly not enough for Prying Neighbor to call his name when she walks in their damn house, though. I WILL SAY, while i’m here and because i can, the biggest moment of discontinuity in this entire movie is Prying Neighbor shouting elizabeth’s name next after olive’s. OLIVE, yes, checks out, she’s home and available and friendliest most of the time. BUT WHY ELIZABETH??? WHEN WOULD ELIZABETH EVER BE HOME ON A WORK DAY??? BILL IS THE ONLY OTHER PERSON IN THE HOUSE WHO WOULD USUALLY BE HANGING AROUND. I CANNOT MAKE THIS MAKE SENSE. i mean, i’ve since headcanoned that they’re always making fun of the fact that she literally cannot get into her brain that it’s elizabeth with the regular job and not bill, but i’m just saying.) 

anyway, returning from that tangent: i think the exchange about happiness in the final hospital scene provides an interesting echo to elizabeth’s earlier “love – it doesn’t matter” (are you happy? / does it matter?), which is fairly heart-shattering from someone who’s been certain of and willing to pursue happiness throughout the course of the whole movie. but it’s also an incredibly valid question: it’s not as if “happiness” was in the calculus when elizabeth told her to leave, either. what does happiness actually mean to them? (the brief shots of them without OLIVE are! fucking! brilliant! angela’s ability to make that tiny bed look empty without olive in it was a stroke of genius.)

and, of course, “does it matter?” is the question the movie answers resoundingly in the affirmative. in the end, it’s olive’s choice that decides how the film will end. it’s olive who gets to say “no,” who gets to dictate the terms. it’s olive with all the leverage. it’s olive who decides if she will meet elizabeth halfway. it’s olive with elizabeth’s heart in her hands. it’s olive who deserves a new goddamn stove, you assholes.

in the end, it’s olive who has the capacity to shape their future, and shape it she does. for decades to come.

[academiablogs]

Is Genre a Four-Letter Word?

Here are the plots to three novels: can you tell which are fantasy novels? * The son of a twisted duke is killed in a bizarre accident, and his innocent fiancée finds herself a prisoner of a haunted castle, pursued by the duke himself. Only the strange, twisting corridors of Otranto can save her now, where statues cry bloody tears and giant helmets exact their unholy revenge.

* A sailor is shipwrecked on an island and wakes up to find that ant-sized people have captured him. They dub him the “Man Mountain” and force him to do various menial tasks (like saving the entire kingdom with his own urine), until, terrified by his potential power, decide to kill him and parcel off his body to various parts of the kingdom. But the “Man Mountain” has other ideas...

* Two knights are captured in battle and thrown into a dungeon for life. Through the bars, they glimpse a garden outside tended by a beautiful woman: both of them fall madly in love with her, and vow eternal hatred on the other, since only one can lay claim to her heart. Eventually, one knight is pardoned while the other manages through subterfuge to escape. Once free, the second knight prays to Mars to assure him victory, while the other prays to Venus; both god and goddess grant each one success in love and battle. This causes quite a debate in Olympus, and Jupiter has to stand in judgment as to which lover will live with the maiden—and which will die in defeat.

So which are the fantasy novels? The answer is simple: none of them. Each one is a work of “classic literature” published by academic presses and used in tens of thousands of high school and college classrooms each year. The first one, and the trickiest, comes from Walpole’s early gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764). The second, a little more familiar to most, is from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). And the final one, a plot which the author borrowed, and which Shakespeare also stole for a very late play, is from “The Knight’s Tale,” the very first installment of The Canterbury Tales (1476). So search as you will through the fantasy and science fiction section of the bookstore (or clicking through the same section in Amazon), you won’t find a single copy of these books. They’re all great literature, classics, poetry, or the more popular term, literary fiction.

And yet, if someone borrowed one of those plots today to weave together a novel where an astronaut lands on a strange planet of tiny aliens who abduct him, would that also be literary fiction? Or even just “fiction”? No, it would be science fiction, genre fiction, and to some people, merely “pulp fiction.” The same is true for any number of books with knights, haunted castles, shipwrecked sailors, or indeed, most works set in the ancient past. Fantasy. Juvenile literature. Maybe Young Adult at best. The implication is that these plots aren’t sufficiently literary to engage our minds or to make us think, feel, and examine the “human drama” that continues to be enacted.

Unless, of course, a book sells particularly well...then people start hedging their bets. The Harry Potter books, for example, have always held a respected place in the fantasy section...though you can also find them in Young Adult and mainstream fiction (depending on the bookstore). Or what about The Martian? Basically Robinson Crusoe set on Mars...yet you will rarely find it in the science fiction section. No, it’s “fiction” through and through. Why? Simply because it sells well and people like it—and that goes for people who have never watched an episode of Star Trek or read ten pages of Dune. So if a plot doesn’t doom a novel to a specific genre, why is that so often the case in traditional publishing? Why isn’t Frank Herbert (who wrote the Dune books) also found in fiction, when his books are more complex and interesting than The Martian, and why does J.K. Rowling get the literary mantle when it is forever denied to someone like Clifford Simak or Robert E. Howard (both of whom have sold countless books themselves)?

(Herbert’s Dune series pictured above). In the end, the problem lies with the bugbear of “realism,” which is hilarious given that we’re talking about fiction. If a book isn’t sufficiently realistic then it is seen as less important, or less serious, than the more “sensible” books in the market. Even among the science fiction community, there is often great snobbery about books that don’t pay tribute to hard science and instead fall back on the softer science of Star Wars (I’ve heard day-long debates on whether or not ‘parsecs’ is a measurement of speed or distance—as in Han’s comment, “it made the Kessel Run in less than 5 parsecs”). The Martian is given a pass since it’s composed of wall-to-wall hard science—and very impressively, too. Yet Dune, which is far less technical when it comes to “folding space” is seen as a talky space opera which is more suitable for nerdy preteens than your local biology professor.

Of course, fantasy is also expected to worship at the altar of realism—we need psychologically believable characters who are always consistent and plausible (and preferably, anti-heroes). With realism goes an expectation of defying the conventional tropes, even if doing so becomes a convention in itself: every heroine is a badass, basically usurping the ‘male’ role and saving the day. Wonderful on the face of it, but what about a novel that goes back to older traditions and stories? The beauty of folklore and fairy tales is their defiant refusal to make sense: characters act strangely, as in a dream; events appear and disappear following their own logic, and it’s the work of the reader to stitch them together. God help the modern novelist who attempts such innovation! Surely there are some women who long to be princesses, or who would rather be magic users, or bards, or scholars? Does ever hero or heroine have to wield a sword to be “heroic”? Is kicking ass the only way to “kick ass”?

Worse still, if you use magic, it had better work like science! The idea that magic should follow strict rules and laws probably comes from role playing games, where it does by necessity...but this is storytelling! In the Arthurian Legends, does Merlin explain the logistics of his spellcraft? What about Circe? Do we see the actual recipe that goes into her spells transforming men into beasts? Of course not. It’s fiction, fantasy, make-believe. The sense of wonder and mystery that surrounds it is half the fun, and all the author’s intention (whoever they were). If magic existed, I imagine it would work differently for each person, much the way writing does. No one writes the same way, or understands exactly how it works. It just does. That’s why there are so many self-help books for authors, most of them contradicting each other. Would it be any different for magic and magicians?

While we all like to read a story and believe in it—Coleridge called it the “willing suspension of disbelief”—we can also take it too far. An agent once told me that Young Adult readers will only read a heroine that is the same age as they are, more or less. They want to see themselves in the novel, like wearing a costume and playing make-believe. I couldn’t disagree more. I never read to wear borrowed clothes. I read to be a spy—I want to peek on a world of wonders that I don’t personally take part in, and that looks nothing like myself. I don’t need to see myself writ large (or small) in a novel; I just want to experience something mysterious and divine, or else see the mysterious and divine in the world around me. Either one will do, but I’m not a literary narcissist; I want to read beyond and outside myself. And I don’t demand that the books make sense or follow the rules of my own world. I only ask for one thing and even that is negotiable: make me never want to close the book. Keep me turning the pages in wonder, delight, confusion, anger, and frustration. Any story that does that, in any genre, has done its work.

In conclusion, I will admit that works of fantasy and science fiction (even if they’re not classified as such) tend to keep me turning the pages more than others. I read widely and in every possible style and genre, but nothing excites me more than a story set in the distant past or the far-flung future. These are stories that simply delight me. Even when they’re old, they seem brand new. The very cover of a castle enveloped by mist with twin moons on the horizon makes me eager to crack open the book and get lost in the pages. I wager that a lot of people would feel the same if we removed the stigma of genre of “fantasy” (or whatever other genre). Look at the run-away popularity of the Lord of the Rings movies; everyone seemed to love them, even people who would have gagged at the very sight of a hard bound copy of The Simarillion. Why? Because films are almost genre neutral, as we also see with superhero films (how many fans of Wolverine actually own any X-Men comics?); the point being, that when we look at books as books, and fiction as fiction, we expand our horizons. We look at stories, and not types or genres or categories.

Reading is fun. It makes life worth living. So why reduce it to a dry set of analytics or algorithms? Only a complete idiot thinks that numbers can encompass the diverse reasons that we read and value art. Or not “idiots”—that’s too strong a term. Let’s call them “people who don’t read books.”

[eggheadsguidetorunning]

Top Ten Films I saw in @)!&

10.) Last Jedi/It

                I enjoyed Last Jedi, I think half of you will agree with that statement and another half will not where as the rest will not have even read this. But I did enjoy Last Jedi the use of space battles were awesome, the fight seen with Luke amazing, Lelia surviving in space weird. And that is the kind of problem with this Star Wars movie there are many great scenes but then there is something just off, something that doesn’t work at all. In the end this has just enough great moments to keep me loving it and interested in the next Star Wars, which I was probably already invested in.

                Considering another movie It was a enjoyable movie. It, that being the pronoun not the title although I guess it could still be the title I mean it works both ways NO focus Matt, had some great moments of friendship and development of strikingly relatable characters. At the same time there were for almost every two great moments some moments that were simply off. Like really, why did you decide to give a chain and a wife beater to the abusive dad after he decides to chase his daughter I mean at this point we already no he is bad news and is that also supposed to show that anyone who wears a chain and wife beater is suspicious for being abusive? I mean it is really nitpicking but that one net pick left me confused, I don’t know why it just did, for the rest of the movie which is still enjoyable. And since that is more of a personal scene that isn't right for the rest how about that rock throwing scene wasn't that odd?

In the end both these movies present a similar problem they are both here for nostalgic appeal and while being good enjoyable movies are weighed down by the few poor decisions they make. And if you don’t like a tie the bad news is that Star Wars wins the war of nostalgia for me because I still have memorized the sequence for the battle of yavin IV.

 9.) Captain Underpants

This movie confused me when I first saw it but the good kind of confusion. I was in awe of the fact that this movie, of all the Hollywood movies that were adapted from comics or books, this one this one for some reason decided to follow its source material precisely. Even with what it added seemed like something that could easily be added to and make sense in the source material. Like I could totally see George and Harold doing a parody of Handles Messiah when they found out a villain had a funny name. But this still led me to a question why Captain Underpants? As much as I enjoyed this movie why did this get a proper adaptation? I thought maybe I was reaching when I watched a critic I like talking about this movie and halfway through he stopped talking about Captain Underpants and started talking about the cartoons he drew as a kid. I having no artistic talent and barely even being able to write well, you are probably already tired of all the gramma mistakes I have made through this piece you probably also hate my jokes, didn’t write or make any comics as a kid but I did read many of the comics my friends and siblings wrote. That is when I realized the movie perfectly shows that feeling and care of being young and doodling stories in your notes and I put it here for that, also it is funny movie.

8.) Wonder Woman

This movie is awesome even with the beard helmet I love its use of Christiania to help get across the story of Greek mythology to a wider audience. I love the characteristics of Wonder Woman doing everything to help and the badass fighting scenes I love that the people without super powers help and make a difference. I don’t know what else to say without out spoiling it if you haven’t seen it see it this is the movie that will hopefully lead to more blockbusters with female heroes. Jeeze, it’s almost like if you make the movie more about the hero instead of the gender of the hero then it becomes a better movie who would have thunk it. Talking to you 1990s.

7.) Murder on Orient Express

The thing is these are turning into reviews and the general thought for this top ten should be: DUDE!!! you need to see these movies! And should say only that letting you go in cold I bring that up because putting a mystery on your list is not a good thing because there isn’t much for me to talk about because I don’t want to spoil anything. That being said I can say the portrayal Hercule Pirot is amazing the character is interesting in a manner I haven’t seen in a while. No not Sherlock Holmes interesting his own kind of interesting, I really hope we see more of him in the future.

6.) Disaster Artist

You’re tearing me apart James Franco. I mean this movie is still great despite the character of the actor playing a person with questionable character. In fairness this is a movie that needs to be seen in honor of not the room or tommy but because of Greg Sestero. This guy puts up with so much shit and forgives so much he needs to be a role model. Man he is such a good person just for putting up with this, go see this movie.

5.) Coco

Coco is a story about family and the necessity of letting family be free of family. It is about tradition and about not letting traditions being tie one down and most importantly is about forgiveness. It is a complex use of more contradicting themes that I am not smart enough to notice, but it still feels lacking. I think what weights it down to only number five on this list is that it seems too Disney it seems like the villain is too evil the ending is too happy, even for Pixar which had a string of bitter sweet endings. Of course the sweet ending makes sense I guess since that same problem hit Zootopia last year. In the end many won't care about that as Coco is still a stellar movie and the way it uses Hispanic culture is mesmerizing. 

4.) The Shape of Water

This movie is great. Like it is great fun I can't think of a award chasing movie that is as much fun as this one is. Everything happens in this movie EVERYTHING. Here's a slight list of things that happen in this movie, still trying to keep spoilers to a minimum so bare with the brevity, this movie is a comedy, an intrigue plot movie, a romance, a realism movie, a fantasy, a freaking musical, and a scam artist movie Ocean Eleven style. When I think of this movie I can only think of how fun it is which is why I want this movie to be the movie that wins gold for sucking Hollywoods cock if anything has to win it. I know Post will win but I want this one to.

3.) Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Maybe this should be four but naaahh, with more time to develop and grow the characters we loved from the first Guardians Guardians 2 is able to push  and to develop these characters as well as develop  and add more characters too develop. Plus I’m a complete and total sucker for a movie that provides a awesome soundtrack and then uses that soundtrack. I love this space rock opera I want more.

2.) Detroit

Leaving fun town next stop depression valley. Honestly the only real reason Detroit isn’t number one is because I didn’t see it in theaters I saw it on dvd, speaking of it’s the only reason John Wick 2 isn’t on this list. But Detroit is a horror movie I want to watch again and again because this is the type of movie that keeps me up at night staring at the ceiling hating myself and the world around me. It makes me use my mind to try and justify a world were this could even happen. Secondly this movie forces me to think from a perspective that I literally can never understand and offers a true piece of understanding with it. This is a movie that I can say changed me, maybe only a little, maybe a lot but it did change me.

2b.) Logan

I know I’m cheating but a lot of good movies came out this year so I’m going to cheat just this year. Don’t get confused this is 2b and is under Detroit its more like 3a I guess but still I maybe shouldn’t have put Logan on here because I almost forgot about it. But almost forgetting about it has more to do with it coming out so early in the year. It would be wrong to leave out an adult a truly adult version of wolverine and in many extent the X-men as a whole. This movie is fantastic in everything it does and I want more way more movies in the future to follow its example. We can have more smart adult super hero movies.

1.)Baby Driver

Like I said earlier I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack paired with great action. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie and left with an adrenaline rush. The idea of making a movie in which one can only hear what the main character hears is extraordinary and someone else must have thought of it and I got to see that whatever it is even if it is bad. This movie is hype this movie is exhilarating this movie is insane. Let me put it this way in the first 6 min if the movie decided to end after this I would have seen everything I needed to see and this movie kept going from there delivering more than that. Baby this is a SWEEET movie!

[mydarlingfelix]

Get to know me tag(s)!

Tagged by: @hyunjinh  @felox-the-great @jaeffreyy @squishywoojin @welcometochanskitchen @dabkingfelix @mosquitofelix

Hi! I’m Summer btw (Ik it’s not in my bio), but I just go by Sum or other nicknames lol *I also just put multiple “get to know me” tags in 1 lol THIS IS A SUPER LONG POST IM SORRY However thank you for tagging me!! I Love you all soOoOo much!

Bold Thingy Tag

1ST RULE: tag 9 people you want to get to know better

I think everyone done this already fkjdjgb

2ND RULE: BOLD the statements that are true.

APPEARANCE: - I am 5'7 or taller - I wear glasses - I have at least one tattoo -I have at least one piercing - I have blonde hair - I have brown eyes - I have short hair (idk it’s growing) - My abs are at least somewhat defined - I have or had braces

PERSONALITY: - I love meeting new people - People tell me I am funny - Helping others with their problems is a big priority of mine - I enjoy physical challenges - I enjoy mental challenges - I am playfully rude to people I know - I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it - There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY: - I can sing well - I can play an instrument - I can do over 30 pushups without stopping - I am a fast runner - I can draw well - I have a good memory - I am good at doing maths in my head - I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute - I have beaten at least 2 people arm wrestling - I can make at least 3 recipes from scratch - I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES: - I enjoy sports - I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else - I’m in a orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else - I have learned a new song in the past week - I exercise at least once a week - I have gone for runs at least once a week in warmer months - I have drawn something in the past month (Lucy wanted to be drawn for her bday and I did a watercolor portrait thing ig? for her) - I enjoy writing - Fandoms are my #1 priority- I do some form of Martial arts

EXPERIENCES: - I have had my first kiss - I have had alcohol- I have scored a winning point in a sport - I have watched an entire TV series in one sitting - I have been at an overnight event- I have been in a taxi - I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year - I have beaten a video game in one day - I have visited another country - I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

MY LIFE: - I have one person that I consider to be my Best Friend - I live close to my school/work - My parents are still together - I have at least one sibling (I have like 5)- I live in the United States - There is snow where I live right now - I have hung out with a friend in the past month - I have a smart phone - I own at least 15 CDs - I share my room with someone

RELATIONSHIPS: - I am in a Relationship - I have a crush on a celebrity (?) - I have a crush on someone I know - I’ve been in at least 3 relationships - I have never been in a Relationship (not a healthy one at least)- I have admitted my feelings to a crush - I get crushes easily (It’s disgusting, wtf is wrong with me. I don’t need feels) - I have had a crush for over a year (Umm kinda he’s just really really cute. I talked to Dain about this before) - I have been in a relationship for over a year (but not currently) - I have had feelings for a friend

RANDOM: - I have break-danced - I know a person named Jamie - I have had a teacher that has a name that is hard to pronounce - I have dyed my hair - I’m listening to a song on repeat right now - I have punched someone in the past week - I know someone who has gone to jail - I have broken a bone - I have eaten a waffle today - I know what I want to do in life - I speak at least two languages - I have made a new friend in the past year

Alphabet Soup Tag

A: Age - “I’m 19, you fight me?” B: Birthplace - Cali C: Current time - As I’m during this 1:26pm D: Drink you had last - Water, but also Thai Tea Boba E: Easiest person to talk to - F: Favorite song - None G: Grossest memory - My cousin’s and I were doing a auntie and niece day and went theMall and I saw this girl throw up on the second floor in Forever 21. I felt sorry for the workers...  H: Hogwarts house - G I: in love? - nah, never gonna happen J: Jealous of people? - It’s only a human aspect, you’re only truly horrible if you do something nasty to others because of that feeling K: Killed someone? - Not yet lmfao L: Love at first sight or should I walk by again? - No thank you M: Middle name - Summer N: Number of siblings - 5 O: One wish - None P: Person you called last - My mom Q: Question you are always asked - Idk tbvh R: Reason to smile - Idk things make me happy S: Song you sang last - The Unit No way (I dont remember the unit colors)  T: Time you woke up - 6:43am  U: Underwear color - White  V: Vacation destination - South Korea, Japan, & idk the other one, but honestly my goal is to visit all my mutuals before I died lmfaooo W: Worst habit - Not caring, sleeping in, getting distracted easily, being anixious all the time.  X: X-rays - Teeth Y: Your favorite food - I have a lot... Z: Zodiac sign - Gemini

🥛 Colour(s) I’m currently wearing: Black... Just a lot of black (I need to stop wearing sm black omg)  🍥 Last band t-shirt I bought: I don’t ever buy clothes for myself, idk when was last time? Maybe during the Got7 concert?  🥛 Last band I saw live: Got7 (Fly In LA: Day 1) and Paradise (A Hmong Band)  🍥 Last song I listened to: Rn I’m listening to The Unit’s Cherry on Top  🥛 Lipstick or chapstick: Idk... I wear lip tints.  🍥 Last movie I watched: Ever Wonder? (idk it’s a true story about the creation of wonder women)  🥛 Last 3 TV shows I watched: Wanna One Go, Wanna One x Aimgo TV, and The Unit 🍥 Last 3 characters I identified with: Kora, Steven Universe, & Ken Kaneki (idk for this part, I never thought about this fkdfdkgd)  🥛 Book I’m currently reading: Books for my classes njfdkjd 

What’s my name? (Imma just put my initials) 

M. S. L.

What’s my nickname?

Sum, SumSum, SumShine, Summahh Girl, Tsumdere, Chee, 

How old am I?

“I’m 19, you fight me?”

What got me into Kpop?

SJ- Sorry Sorry, but Got7 made me offically stay and learning everything about the kpop fandom

What’s my favourite Kpop group?

Rn W1 (the most)

Who’s my ultimate bias?

Park Jihoon

What groups/artists do I stan?

Too many to count, you all can ask my personally if you want lol

What groups/artists do I casually listen to?

A lot, I try to be diverse, but what’s good music is good music to me. Feel free to suggest me some :D

What artists do I listen to that aren’t Kpop?

Ahh I’m lazy, but just good sounding music. Calvin Harris just popped up in my head. fknfkjskfnj 

Who’s my bias and bias wrecker from my ultimate group(s)?

Omfg

Wanna One: Park Jihoon & Kang Daniel

JBJ: Kim Donghan & ??? (They’re all messing me up rn)

SK: Felix & I think Hyunjin? Idk

What’s your favourite song(s) to sing/hum?

It’s recently been Chungha’s roller coaster lol and The Unit songs  

What are your favourite flower/tree/plant (all 3 or whatever you have an answer to)?

I really love plants and flowers in general, however Peonies are one of my many faves!! 

Favourite colour(s)?

Pink, blue, purple, black, white, and gray

What do you always doodle (if you ever do)?

Umm yeah I always doodling, but I try not to because I want to be able to focus in class haha. 

How do you take your coffee/tea? If you don’t like those what’s your fav warm drink?

It probably like 20% coffee and 80% french vanilla cream nfksjfgsbjg sometimes I add a lil milk too 

Favourite candle scent?

Anything flowery, but i really like sweet pea smell lol. I don’t any candles yet, so I don’t quite know which I like more yet. Soorrryy

Sunrise or Sunset?

Sunset! The colors are soo pretty and like it doesn’t require me to wake up from my sleep lmfao. The transitions of day and night it just so beautiful! and the stars that start peeking through the dark sky! 

What perfume do you wear if any?

I don’t wear perfume? I have them at home but in my opinion I feel like if you’ve showered and smell nice why try to mix more scents onto you?? and I don’t really need it? DONT WORRY I AM CLEAN NFJSNJF idk if I make any sense

What’s your go to dance move when you’re alone?

-

Favourite quote?

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.” ― Carl Sandburg 

&  “We ran as if to meet the moon.” ― Robert Frost  

& also 

“The moon and stars just for you my love” - Me lol 

Favourite self care thing(s) or routine(s)?

Umm... Drawing. Showering and putting a face mask afterwards. Painting my nails. It’s more like small things, especially like painting my nails and drawings are things I can’t do often because I try to focus on school, because ik I’m bad at focusing. Sleeping and reminding to just eat, when I get too busy and focused I tend to skip meals. njfkdsnfj s

Fuzzy socks or House slippers?

OMFG BOTH THAT’S LIKE THE BEST COMBO! I have these pinky and purple house slippers I got aND IT’S FUZZY KSFJ SK IT’S SOOO CUTE OMG!! I love. nfjdnfd 

What colour are your eyes? 

Dark Brown

What’s your favourite eye colour on others?

Hazel, black, and gray

Favourite season? why?

Autumn and Winter (Ik contradicts with my name) but I love the rain! and cloudy weather! The sound of rain is calming and being inside while hearing the rain is nice. I really love Spring too when the flowers begin to bloom and like it’s a fresh type of feeling when spring hits lol.

Cheek, neck or nose kisses?

SJFNKFS Honestly depends on my mood  (´•/// ω \\\•`) but I like cheek kisses because softtt

What does your happy place look like?

My room on a rainy day with my fairy lights flickering

Favourite breed of dog?

YO OKAY SO I SAW THIS FB POST ABOUT THIS DOG BEAR AND I WANT A DOG BEAR IDK WHAT THEY’RE CALLED JKFDFHKSF. My dad is a dog breeder as a side business, so I grew up with pitbulls, pocket pits, american bull dogs, frenches, and now ‘exotics’ are the trend atm. 

Do you ever want to be married? If so what colours would you pick for your wedding theme?

Umm yes and no? I’m not sure. If I have an American wedding I like to stick to a traditional white with maybe a peach and light pink here and there, but for sure I would love to do a traditional Hmong wedding. 

Silk or Lace?

Silk feels nice, but I like lace too :)

Favorite weather?

SF type of weather 

[passingideasofaredballoon]

Would you make tiktoks?

As a result of being relatively out of touch with my friends, I decided to finally accept the peer pressure and download tik tok (again). And I really mean it this time - I made an account, selected my interests, and spend about 2 hours scrolling. It’s getting real up here.

And what conclusion have I come to? Well, after analyzing my opinion for quite a while (it seems with so much time, these are the things I’ve decided to think about) is that it really isn’t that bad. Weird, I know. You’re wondering if I’ve had a brain injury, but give me a second to explain. After my scrolling adventure, it seems the range of content really is pretty cool. I watched videos of people playing instruments (really well, at that), amazing photography put to audio, witty jokes, conspiracy theories, sharing cool facts, events in history, book and movie recommendations, beautiful paintings, drawings, (mildly ok) song recommendations. I’ve found at least 8 tips for school, fashion, daily life and etc. Despite the short clips, some have been edited to perfection for hours and are truly works of art. Of course, there are those tik tok dances (cough stupid sorry cough) and people who get views just for looking attractive, but the point remains that this is content that seems valid in my books. As for a means of creative expression, this is one that actually seems very up my alley. Although traditional social media seems to favour influencer types and people who are just simply hot, this platform offers praise to the largest bunch of nerds, weirdos, and indie culture enthusiasts I’ve ever seen.

That said, I still don’t like tik tok. No I’m not contradicting myself, I’m just recognizing that tik tok is actually ok, but I still don’t like it. I’m not a fan, but I’ve loosened up on the hatred a bit. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m appreciating these videos for the content and not the concept. I love the art and the music and the visuals but I hate that they’re so short, so fast, and so idealized. As much as my restless brain is appreciating the how easy it is to be captivated and thrown from interesting video to video (the only thing that was able to occupy my mind for over 30 minutes at a time today), I’m very aware at how wrong this feels. You see, I want to think about these things for longer than 30 seconds before being passed onto the next thing. I don’t like the idea that most of them are only posted for likes and recognition, a chance at being seen but not appreciated. These are things I wish had a larger place in my life, the things I desperately wish I had people to talk to about. But instead, my friends get together and scroll through tik tok. Then then go into the washroom and make peace signs in the mirror, wink and do another tik tok dance. Maybe I don’t like tik tok because it’s seemed to have stolen my friends. Maybe it’s because I just want to talk, more than most people seem to want to. I want to go out and do things, I want my friends to ask me a damn question and look at me like someone they actually want to be around instead of just someone who’s there. Or maybe, it’s just because I’m a hideous dancer and can’t for the life of me do a tik tok dance without looking like a complete idiot. No, I have not tried.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason I feel so isolated from my friends is because I haven’t made an effort. Sometimes part of life seems to be sucking it up and doing things that you don’t like with your friends, simply because you like them and want hang with them. Maybe it’s also my determination to hate these things that have caused me to avoid a creative outlet that I ultimately might enjoy (see: second paragraph). Or maybe, it’s just time to stop begging these people to give my interests the attention they don’t really care to give me. Am I being true to myself, or am I being a stubborn idiot that won’t do stuff with their friends? Should I be making tik toks?

[daesungindistress]

1.Hi, I came across this post (daesungindistress(.)tumblr(.)com/post/161838867627/i-used-to-love-todae-too-but-then-realized-theyre) but unfortunately I deleted my tumblr some time ago and can't reply on it so here is something that came to mind while reading through it. This might get a little long. Bare with me :) .. I actually started liking BB not long ago through Dae and his amazing voice and started looking at some videos and concerts and such and one thing that struck me was SH and Dae

Besides the fact that he is literally the other half of Dae in every Dae related show out there. Their relationship is something that sticks out from the group although it is the one they Seung Hyung and mostly Dae goes out to put little focus on. If they did the whole GD+Ri and GD+Top that Ri and GD does then they will blow them all out in terms of “fanservice”. Something they barely do.

I enjoyed reading through both your thoughts and like I said, I haven’t been listening or paying attention to them for long, a couple of months at most. I do agree with both your posts. From what I’ve seen of Seung Hyun, he is more impulsive as far as his emotions goes and he says and does things that some times makes you go what the hell is you doing baby. I remember seeing one interview where I think it was PSY who diverted from the whole mess he was digging himself into.

He is not someone who hides things or goes out of his way to really hide it. You give him the opportunity to talk about something that he doesn’t mind talking about without any backlash and he will tell it all. And then you have Dae who is more “calculating” on how much he lets out. Something I’ve noticed is that during interviews he mostly says the same thing where he either takes something out and add something new or shift it a little. And he makes it so funny that most are like awww and

and then goes so funny like you said the smiling angel until the times comes where things like Seung Hyun talking about calling him whenever he is feeling down and then people goes oh, that was serious. I’ve been watching k-dramas and such for almost a decade so I know the K-Entertainment is brutal and sometimes how you conduct yourself can come back and bite you in the ass. I do have artists that I like but in general I stay far far away from the K-Pop/music world.

In Daes case by being “closed”up, there isn’t much people can use against him in any case that isn’t made up situations. Also as an introverted person he charges his energy by being with himself and I get that, after having too much conferences within a week I tend to not want to see anyone during the weekend to recharge. I think they balance each other out, his “need” to always be there for Seung Hyun forces him out of his comfort zone.

They are so silly whenever they are on screen together I question how they are considered adults lol. And that’s like one part of their relationship the part that they can show without showing too much. If their situation was a drowning person and one saving I believe both would have drowned by now. Seeing how even more serious Seung Hyun situation seems to be, there is only so much holding above water you can do before you drown yourself or let go.

Normally when people are in a low place, they go to their therapist and try to work through things or do things you normally do that helps you. And so for him to call Dae in such a situation means he knows he is someone who can help him tip the balance back into his life. I think what Dae does, is to be constantly be there for him in order to make sure he doesn’t get to that low point but that can’t be always the case since they also have a life out there.

There is this translation of I think it was the final concert they did and Dae mentioned always wanting to be there for him and give him strength but not doing enough because he easily gets embarrassed. I found that quote interesting. I think they are so low key with their friendship in the public eye that even meeting in private is something the rest of the world with never know, until they decide it is time to do so. But I get why some times people will be like oh maybe they aren’t that

close because they don’t get “caught” or didn’t post about it. Regarding SeungRi’s mess, from what I’ve read, he has been dropping enough hints about those two relationship. It was interesting how Dae got pissed at him for even dropping the fact that Seung Hyun called him. Like really Dae, it’s not that deep. Which also shows, if it was up to him there will be less shown to the rest of the world about how deep their relationship is.

The fact that they haven’t beaten SeungRi with his mouth yet is funny. Dropping the fact that Seung Hyun loves Dae the most o teasing them as lovers from their recent FM. I’m actually expecting his ass to be whooped at this point lol. Did this whole mess even make sense? I didn’t type it out before and just went with what’s on my mind. Hopefully it made some sense.

So when I said this reply would take “a day or two” evidently what I really meant was over a week. So sorry! 😰

I think it’s really cool that you’ve been able to see all these things despite not being into BB for all that long (since you said you started liking them “not long ago”). The short version of this is: yes, I agree! “Literally the other half of Dae” …I love that! Aaaaand now I’m putting the rest behind a cut because… length. Yep.

About fanservice and how they’d blow the others out of the water if only they did it… I don’t think Daesung is all that into couple-y fanservice. Or shippy fanservice, I should probably say. Sad but (probably) true. In fact, he seems to make attempts to discourage it at times, and I try not to think too hard about why that is. This is in stark contrast to Seungri, who keeps up with the trends and knows what the fans want and enjoys giving it to them (us)… even if that means, yes, fanservice. And not always of the spontaneous variety; sometimes it’s pre-planned and carefully thought out.

What comes to mind first is a pretty renowned onstage GRi moment during the MADE tour that was later revealed in the MADE movie to have been a product of Seungri’s planning. He suggested it to GD well ahead of the concert and it seemed GD balked a bit at the idea. But they did it anyway, because they knew the fans would love it. I think that disappointed a lot of fans, when the truth came out, and I completely understand why. We like our shippy moments between the members to be ~real~ and ~natural~ and ~organic~ and ~heartfelt~

…or something. You know?

WHICH is why I get the sense that what we see between TOP and Daesung is rarely just fanservice, if it’s fanservice at all. I don’t think Daesung is into it, and as for TOP… I really feel like TOP just does what he wants, when he wants, cameras be damned. What we end up seeing from them… I dunno. It feels sincere. Probably part of why I’m so drawn to it, to them. Even if it sometimes leaves me feeling like a creeper, lol. 😅

Another thing: I could be wrong, but I don’t think Daesung is much for PDA (public displays of affection). Taking it further, I’m not sure he’s very handsy at all, with his friends or otherwise. You always see the other members touching and caressing and hanging all over him (except for Seungri?), but Daesung rarely reaches out and reciprocates. The only times I can recall seeing him touch the other guys of his own volition (i.e., when he’s not being instructed to for photos or whatever) is when he’s collapsing against them in laughter. You know, dropping his hands on their arms or shoulders. Safe places. No hands on knees or thighs like YB, no arm slung low around the back like TOP, no soft hugs from behind or chin hooked over a shoulder like GD.

The other times Daesung initiates touching are when he and Seungri are sharing the stage, such as in their recent dual rendition of Joyful. He gets a little rough sometimes with Ri, grabbing and pulling him in or pushing him away. But the way I see it, he’s deep into performance mode then and can be expected to play it up a bit for the crowd. (But wait, didn’t I just say he doesn’t do that kind of fanservice? God, y'all, I hate when I end up contradicting myself. I’m just gonna call it the Maknae Effect.)

Sometimes I wonder if his reticence to touch has anything to do with GD, YB, and TOP being his hyungs. Possibly he doesn’t feel it’s appropriate to touch them as freely as they do him. But then… nah. Dismiss that thought. I might be projecting a bit, not being a physically affectionate person myself– the thought to make contact never really occurs to me, and when it does? I’d rather not– but yeah, I just think Daesung tends to be more of a hands to himself kinda guy. (Of course, if we were talking about a love interest he’d surely be warmer toward them, but what I’m discussing here is in a more general sense.)

OKAY. Yikes, sorry, went off on a tangent there. Finally moving on from that. I like that you pointed out how Daesung has this tendency to repeat himself in interviews, often telling the same story over and over again but adding or taking away tidbits, just enough variation to keep it interesting and fresh. And yes, often putting a funny spin on it. Humor is not only great entertainment, it’s a good diversionary tactic. Give people that quick laugh they’re looking for and they’re satisfied, ready to move on. I mean, hey, more power to him, but this is largely why I say that Daesung’s air of openness feels a bit shallow to me at times. I’m always left feeling like we’re just scratching at the surface and getting, well… nowhere.

…Which is perfectly understandable, of course! He’s not exactly going to bare all to the public. I keep having to remind myself that because, perhaps like TOP, once I get to talking I tend to tell all (perhaps a better word is “overshare”). Now there’s one good reason to never become famous. hah!

Alright alright. As for everything else you’ve said, really, agreed 100%! I don’t know that I have anything left to add at this point– or that anything I could add would make it any better tbh. I think your observations about ToDae are on point. Thank you for taking the time to type up and send so many messages to get this to me. And now I’m finally freeing it from my inbox so others can see too.😃

*Oh! I do also like that you brought up Seungri casually throwing out a “because TOP loves Daesung the most” in that one fanmeeting. And his teasing when Daesung was asked about his relationship with TOP in another fanmeeting: “Lovers?”😂 Can’t remember if I ever shared those moments here at this blog, but I have seen them (and loooved them, of course).

[twopointthreeninetoone]

The Dark Knight (2008)

Batman Begins caught my heart as soon as I saw it, and so I followed news of its sequel pretty religiously when they announced plans to make a second film. I paid attention when they decided to title it The Dark Knight, I threw in my two cents when all the casting was announced (I was all for Aaron Eckhart when he was chosen to play Harvey Dent, believed that the casting of Heath Ledger as the Joker had possibilities, and although I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal, I at least preferred her over Katie Holmes to play Rachel Dawes). I went over the moon with the viral ad campaign, although I didn’t partake in it.  I checked Batman on Film (the website for Dark Knight updates) incessantly.  And I was worried about the impact Heath Ledger’s death would have on the response to the film, and on the film itself (all while being genuinely saddened by the death of a very, very talented and charismatic actor). I didn’t, however, read the reviews when they came out—I didn’t want to be in the slightest bit spoiled, although I got enough out of them to know that The Dark Knight wasn’t so much a film as it was an experience. People were saying that it was even better than Batman Begins. I would have seen it if the reviews had been god-awful, heaven knows. But by the time the premiere date rolled around, I was holding my breath in anticipation.  And, luckily enough, my cousin was equally excited about seeing it, and so we saw it together, discussing the first film and what we anticipated for the sequel hours before actually entering the theater.

And, really, it was an experience before the film even started.  We were gunning for tickets to a 5:45 showing on Friday, opening night.  At about five my cousin called to say that he was sure that we wouldn’t make it in time, and so we decided to try for 6:30.  At 5:45 my cousin called again to say that he’d just seen a news report about how much business the film was doing, and judging by the video of people standing in line and the mention of shows selling out (hell, some theaters were selling out two or three weeks before opening night), he doubted we’d get into a 6:30 showing.  So at 7 o’clock we went to the theater and got tickets for the 9:00 showing and hung out until 8 o’clock.  We stood in a line that grew and grew until 8:30, when we were all allowed into the theater.  There was a semi-desperate shuffling for good seats, and at 9:15 the film started.

That is, it should have started. In what well could be every theater manager’s worst nightmare, the packed theater sat in anticipation as the previews began and…there was no sound. That is, the sound was lousy, fading in and out and wobbling about when you could actually hear it. The fear really began to kick in when the film actually started and all we could hear was a very low-pitched drumming. We couldn’t hear the dialogue. I could make out that there were guys in clown masks, and they were preparing to rob a bank, apparently, but by the time they had assembled to rob said bank, people were already yelling “Fix the sound!” and “I hate this theater!” and “This sucks!” and standing up and glaring their meanest glares at the projection room. The film was turned off, and for the next thirty minutes people shouted random comments (all along the same line—The theater sucks. We want our money back. This sucks.) Some went home. My cousin and I decided that they would have to come out and tell us that the thing would never be fixed before we left. We’d waited years to see this. I think I was relatively calm throughout the entire thing. I simply didn’t want to believe that I wouldn’t see it that night. Not when I’d told myself that I would see it, and not after I’d gone to the theater to see it, and not when I’d seen the first three minutes of it. I wasn’t going to leave with only the first three minutes of it. No bloody way. I refused to consider the possibility.

At 9:30 they finally got the film running.  They skipped the previews and headed straight into the film. And then…I don’t think I blinked for the next 150 minutes. There have been extraordinary cinematic moments in my life, and I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing a few of them in actual movie theaters, but I can’t recall the last time I was this riveted by a film. Honestly. I can’t even properly explain what made this movie so amazing, but I suppose I can try. 

Obviously Heath Ledger had something to do with it. I remember Michael Caine gushing over Ledger’s performance before Ledger had even died—but I knew that Michael Caine often heaps praise upon his costar’s performances, so I only gave it so much thought. When critics began circulating Oscar buzz for his performance—well, my ears perked up, but I thought that they just might be in love with the idea of a second posthumous Oscar in the history of the Academy Awards. After all, an Oscar for playing the Joker? Really? I didn’t doubt that Ledger was going to put in an amazing performance (I’d liked him even before he’d been considered a “serious” actor), but…an Oscar? But then you see it and, yeah, the dude definitely deserved an Oscar for this. I didn’t once think, “Wow, that’s Heath Ledger in Joker makeup,” in the same way that you think, “Wow, that’s Jack Nicholson…playing a psychotic Jack Nicholson…but in Joker makeup.” This was an amazingly orchestrated performance—although “orchestrated” might not be the greatest word, because it could suggest some sort of superficiality to it. There’s nothing superficial about Ledger’s Joker. There’s a darkness to his performance that is rooted way down, past the funny makeup and stringy green hair, and even past the creepy mannerisms—the licking of the lips and the high-pitched voice. Ledger’s Joker is more than a bad-ass—he’s a startling psycho. He’s horrific, but you can’t turn away from him, and you hang onto his every word. If there’s a downside to Ledger’s performance, it’s the sad knowledge that he won’t be able to reprise the role.

Really, the Joker is the culmination of every reason why Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are so great in the first place (and why they’re shoulders above any of the previous Batman films, and why, in my opinion, Batman is the greatest superhero of all time). There’s nothing bright and cartoonish about Gotham City. Gotham City is a scary place, an anarchic place; as exciting as it and the Joker and Batman are, there’s a sorrow and genuine menace about them. Batman Begins recognized the utter strangeness of a guy who dresses up as a bat to fight crime, and The Dark Knight illustrated the level of depravity that a villain—and the limit of desperation that a city—would have to reach for a persona like Batman to be required. There’s a great line spoken by Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon at the end of the film, about how Batman has to become hated by Gotham because that’s the type of hero the city needs. It’s reached the point where not even the whitest knight could save it. An idolized hero can’t make it there, because there are hundreds of villains ready to either pull him down to their level, or to kill him because they’re prepared to break the rules he feels obligated to uphold. These are the sort of ideas that the earlier Batman movies never could have conceived—or at least didn’t have the guts to convey—because the psychology behind Batman (his dead parents, his fear of bats, his obsession with justice) were merely plot points to explain the action sequences, the cars and weaponry, and the bizarre costumes.

The “white knight”, in this case, is Harvey Dent, an idealistic but strong-willed district attorney who ultimately becomes the scarred villain Two-Face. That he spends most of the movie as Harvey Dent instead of Two-Face is an example, I think, of the trust that Chris and Jonathan Nolan had in the central theme of the film, and the mature stance they take on the character. While Joel Schumacher’s Two-Face (played in Batman Forever by Tommy Lee Jones) bounded about with costumes and accessories expressing the contradictions of his physical appearance, Nolan’s Harvey Dent is one of the few leaders of Gotham City with real principles that he can readily uphold—until the Joker takes everything away from him, and he simply can’t hold up under the pressure. What makes the character of Harvey Dent work is that he’s so well-written and likable, as well as the fact that Aaron Eckhart does such a good job in what can easily be considered a thankless role. To be honest, Two-Face is overshadowed by the gleeful anarchy that is Ledger’s Joker; we’ve had about two hours of the Joker, with his array of knives and bombs and countless insane henchmen, and only thirty minutes of Two-Face with…a gun…and a scarred coin. But to focus completely on Two-Face as a villain would be to ignore the tragedy of Harvey Dent as a hero. Two-Face isn’t so much a central villain as he is the horrific product of the Joker and the corruption that eats away at Gotham City. This is what happens to white knights in Gotham. It’s easy to watch Heath Ledger’s performance and say it’s brilliant because—well, firstly, because it is, but also because he didn’t need to reign himself in as a performer. The opposite has to be said of Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. A lesser actor could have easily played Dent as being insufferably milquetoast. But Eckhart tones it down—you genuinely like Harvey Dent and you believe that he wants to save Gotham, even though you know what’s to become of him.

It’s easier for me to count the number of times I wasn’t surprised by scenes in this movie than the number of times things absolutely shocked and/or floored me. I wasn’t surprised when the Judge’s car blew up—I knew she was going to catch her lunch at some point, and when she got into her car…well, I’ve seen enough movies about organized crime to know that’s a bad sign. I wasn’t surprised when the Joker and his henchmen stole the police officers’ uniforms and hid among the genuine cops to (seemingly) try to assassinate the mayor. That being said, I shouldn’t have been surprised when it was revealed that Gordon hadn’t been killed earlier in the film—I spent a good deal of time after the scene where he’s apparently gunned down while trying to save the mayor’s life thinking, “How could they kill Commissioner Gordon? They can’t kill Commissioner Gordon!” But I never thought, “Nah, they couldn’t have killed Commissioner Gordon.” Because I knew that this film hadn’t been following every aspect of the Batman canon. And I simply assumed the masked driver of the armed car holding Harvey Dent was one of the Joker’s men, who would ultimately reveal himself and…do whatever with Dent. So when the driver revealed himself to be Gordon—well, I and a lot of other people audibly gasped, and many applauded. That reveal capped off an utterly amazing chase sequence. I was surprised, however, when Dent died, because I thought he would play a big part of the next film. Although the scene where Dent and Rachel are strapped to bombs and dozens of barrels of gasoline did initially invite flashbacks to the Saw movies, it was really just par for the course for the Joker, and was actually a really effective scene dramatically. I wasn’t surprised that Batman would decide to save Dent rather than Rachel, but I was surprised when Rachel was killed, because I’m used to the movie formula where the hero is faced with a choice that should inevitably lead to the death of a character, but is able to save everyone just in the nick of time. But this isn’t the sort of movie that gives us that comfort; anything goes. I should have realized that. And while I never really liked the character of Rachel, I thought that Maggie Gyllenhaal was a step up from Katie Holmes, and was starting to accept the fact that she would be Batman’s love interest. I even liked the fact that she chose Harvey Dent over Bruce Wayne because I probably would have chosen him over Bruce Wayne in the long run too. And then she died. Ultimately, it played as a good reason for Batman to briefly reconsider his “no killing” policy, while sending Dent over the deep end (and to the dark side). Two-Face’s speech while holding Gordon’s son hostage (“Lie to him—tell him that he’s going to be okay.”) was unnerving and heartbreaking because it was believable.

Also, Rachel’s death set the stage for the inclusion of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.  Of course.

As for Batman? What’s interesting about Batman is the (repeated) declaration that he isn’t a hero. While superheroes like Spider Man and Super Man are celebrations of the fight against evil, Batman exposes the dangers and the anguish that are presented in that struggle. Batman is physically and mentally punished for being a hero. He’s beaten up, has scars all over his body to show for it, and he loses people he cares about, like Rachel and Dent. Batman Begins chronicled the partial loss of Bruce Wayne as a person (facilitated by the death of his parents and the ruination of Gotham) and the creation of Batman as a weapon against evil. It was thrilling to see Bruce Wayne become Batman, but you also realized the sense of darkness that accompanied it. Bruce Wayne hated having to tarnish his own character (and, in effect, the whole Wayne legacy) in order to prolong his obsession with revenge and his compulsion to fight crime, but in the end, inner demons won out and Batman carried on. In The Dark Knight, Batman continues to struggle with the darker aspects of his character—how far he would allow himself to go and how much would he have to sacrifice to keep the public safe, to stop the bad guys, to restore faith and humanity to Gotham City, and to avenge his friends and family. He not only continues to ruin Bruce Wayne’s character (he’s still a spoiled brat) but also ultimately sacrifices Batman’s heroic persona as well, for the sake of Harvey Dent’s (and, by proxy, for the sake of Gotham City). It’s not readily apparent whether things are going to end well for Batman. The very act of being a superhero is a sacrifice for him, and the story that has been constructed doesn’t necessarily allow a happy ending. That’s what gives Batman an edge that other superheroes lack. 

In addition to all the psychological stuff, there’s also a heap of great action sequences and fight scenes. It’s just a great movie. Nearly perfect.

[cabotcreekuniversity]

Dear Eloise Green as portrayed by NATALIE,

Congratulations! On behalf of Cabot Creek University, I am pleased to announce your admission for Fall 2017!

The academic and personal accomplishments reflected on your application for admissions are exactly what Cabot Creek University embodies and represents.

We cannot wait to greet you this coming school year.

Please [ check here ] for further instructions on accepting the offer of admissions. We look forward to working with you.

Name, Age, Timezone, Pronouns: Natalie, 20, EST, She/Her/Her’s

✯ IC Questionnaire ✯ Answer the following OOC about your character:

Character name: Eloise Green

Character major: Her major is education, and specifically, Eloise wants to go on an early childhood education route. In her junior year of high school, Eloise took a class to fill a Home Economics graduation requirement, that was geared towards Early Childhood Development. In the class, not only did they learn about the different stages of development, but also had to do craft assignments one could put up to stimulate children on Fridays. Each student would also eventually spend two days job shadowing in an early education classroom. Through this, Eloise found that it is frankly the perfect fit for her. There was so much organization to it. Being able to just even teach, tell people what they should know without seeming condescending. And the kids, oh how she loved kids and caring for said kids. After that, she couldn’t see any other path to go on. She also has a minor in Sociology. She tended to always be interested in the social sciences and does see getting this knowledge of groups of people as also being very helpful when she is a teacher.

Clubs or sports: Gymnastics! She has been in gymnastics since she could walk and it’s the perfect way to get out everything she builds up inside her with her very type A personality. Other than Gymnastics, she does just throw herself into her school work, actual work, and friends, but she is also signed up for, and occasionally goes to events for, the Philosophy Club. She didn’t have some type of reason, which got a giggle at the first meeting when she said she didn’t really know why she decided to join it, but she just found herself interested in it.

Will your character have a job?: Yes, she is a cashier at Yaya Yogurt. It is not nearly what she would like to be doing, but for the sake that she even had to go to Cabot Creek was a tight financial situation, so she definitely needs to continue to make money whilst here. Also, hey, it gives customer service experience, something she sees as being helpful practice for when she has to spend 6 hours teaching a day, and especially when parents will want to talk about their children’s performances.

Give us a head canon about your character:

The first time Eloise watched Pretty Little Liars, it was weird, and “weird” may even be too light of a word for what she experienced. It took her over a year to get past the second episode, as when they showed Spencer, with her family, at that dinner, she saw her own family.

There was that high/low game, and the family was using it solely to brag about their victories in work and school, and that was what happened so much with Eloise. Even on Eloise’s birthday, every year, her parents would fill a room with all her accomplishments both from that year, and all years past, and they would “tour” it together. Eloise could always expect two gifts from her parents every single year, and that “tour of accomplishments” was one of them.

That game, though? While not exactly the same, because there would never be any lows, it was all trying to just beat out each other in highs, when her siblings would come over that was all that would happen at the dinner table. It was strange too, how they played it. On one hand, her parents wanted to win themselves. On another hand, they barely saw Eloise’s older siblings, with the closest sibling age-wise to Eloise was even 14 years older than her. On the final hand, Eloise was their baby, and a miracle baby at that due to how old her parents were when they conceived her, so of course they wanted their baby to win.

However, seeing that scene, it struck a nerve in her. She saw the body language that the actors were having their characters give off. She saw how it wasn’t supposed to be seen as normal, with Spencer’s sister’s fiancee not totally understanding it due to his ‘outsider’ status still when it comes to the family.

It was too weird to not only see something that resembles you that much on air but even have it shown it was actually something ‘weird’? ‘Taboo’, even? She couldn’t deal with it, couldn’t face that fact and continue on with the show, until over a year later.

Answer the following questions IC about your character. Feel free to use a gif to respond if you’d like:

What is an issue you feel most passionate about?: “The lack of education towards girls worldwide. Did you know, in Chad, there is a sixteen percent gap between literacy rates for men and women? And a twenty-one percent gap between boys and girls enrolled in primary school? And remember Malala Yousafzai, when the Taliban shot her in the head - nearly killed - for daring to want not only herself to be educated but other girls in Pakistan to receive education, too? And, coming from Oklahoma, it isn’t much better here either. I mean, I was from the city, but I knew more out in rural areas, once kids could drop out of school, they were having their daughters do so. And that’s not even touching on the school-to-prison pipeline in this country when it comes to students of color. It’s ridiculous. We need to focus caring towards all kids getting an education, it leads to opportunities like I have.”

Describe your thoughts on social media?: “This may contradict my caring for world wide stance just before, but I love my social media. Well, except MySpace, does anyone use that anymore? Like, seriously, do they? Or, Google Plus was a thing for a hot second because of Google and YouTube combining, but I don’t think anyone ever used that in the history of ever. Did they? Anyway, one may even call me a ‘social media whore’. I think if I have gone seventy-two hours without a post on Instagram, and twenty-four hours without a tweet on Twitter, you can assume something bad has happened to me. FaceBook, SnapChat, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr … You know, I also love and have those, but especially pay attention to me and my activity on Instagram and Twitter. Oh, and Pinterest! I love doing projects I find on there so much! And I always post the completed project to my Instagram!”

What is your favorite fandom or movie or TV show or book series (choose one)?: “Untold Stories of the E.R.! Oh god, what a guilty pleasure of mine. I just find myself completely letting go watching it. It’s kind of nice, wow.”

Opinion on love and romance?: “I’ve been in about two long term relationships before. There was my high school sweetheart, Seth. Then I’m sure you know but I started dating Erica the beginning of freshman year here, but we broke up at the end of sophomore year. My relationships, they are always super romantic and I do feel I am in love, so yes. I think that exists. That idea of one true love, that there is some one person in Montenegro, who at this point in time could be barely a year old, that I won’t be happy until I am with? No, I don’t believe in that. But, yes, cynics, love is a real feeling, and with it, heartbreak is a real feeling too. And romance as a concept exists.”

Optional Extras: http://eloisegreen.tumblr.com/

[mbtizone]

Main Character Syndrome & MBTI

I’ve been thinking a lot about why certain characters can seem impossible to type. Sometimes, it can be really difficult to type a character when the writers haven’t really taken the time to give them a concrete personality. I notice that this seems to happen a lot with main characters specifically, which seems ludicrous, doesn’t it? I mean, if we’re watching a show, we’re supposed to root for the main character. We should feel as though we have a sense of who they are. However, many main characters are very poorly written. They’re defined in terms of what happens to them. We know them by their situation and their story. But their story isn’t who they are. Often, I find that their cognition will change in order to suit a storyline, which seems to happen less with supporting characters. Supporting characters tend to be very solid in terms of cognition, while main characters are all over the place and contradictory. I find it frustrating because it’s lazy.

I am starting to believe that certain characters can’t be typed. If you can see arguments for nearly every function in a character, then sure, you can try to narrow down which ones they use most frequently and pull a type out of that, but in the next episode, you’ll probably doubt yourself or change your mind. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s probably not you. It’s likely more of a reflection of the author/screenwriter than it is of your typing abilities. I’m going to run down some specific examples of this problem off the top of my head.

Elena Gilbert: Man, Elena is rough. I’ve seen her typed as an ISFJ, INFP, ISTJ, INFJ, etc. The only thing people seem to agree on is that she leads with an introverted function. I would have to agree with that. I will say that I see more Si/Ne than Ni/Se. However, she’s extremely damaged, which may make it more difficult to type her. If you look at her life prior to losing her parents, she seemed very different, so how much of what we see is her true self and not muddied by all of the tragedy in her life? Elena is so inconsistent. She’s a giant ball of contradictions. I think a lot of people stereotype her, and, I can’t say that I fully blame them for that because there’s not a lot else to really go on. I can make arguments for both Fi and Fe, but if I were being forced to make a call one way or the other, I would probably go with Fi. Where Fi is in her functional stack… I really couldn’t say at this point in time.

In the six seasons that Elena was on the show, she really wasn’t developed very well at all. It seems that the writers relied too heavily on what other people do to her and what happens to her and not enough on defining who she is. She’s probably the best example of “Main Character Syndrome” that I can think of. She lost her parents. She’s a piece of meat in an alley and the Salvatore brothers are a couple of stray dogs. She’s a doppelgänger. Elena is a Mary Sue. I was never really able to root for her because, after six years, I honestly never really felt like I knew anything about her other than those facts. She’ll do anything to protect the people she cares about, but that’s not really a defining trait. As a matter of fact, that’s probably true of most people. She prioritizes the people who are close to her over strangers or people she doesn’t know very well. It’s hard to analyze her character and pull a personality type out of it when she’s just kind of all over the place.

Lucas Scott: Lucas is usually typed as an NF, most often INFJ or INFP. I’ve watched all of One Tree Hill more times than I can count over the years and I still find myself wavering on whether Lucas uses Fi or Fe. He can appear to use both functions at different times. He sometimes clings to his moral judgments and can become extremely critical of those who fail to measure up, but he is also good at articulating his feelings and giving speeches about them, and has ideas about the way things “should” be. I think that I see more Fi in him than Fe. I have a theory that when he appears to use Fe, it’s actually Fi. Lucas has strong ideas about the kind of person he is (or wants to be), and because he sees himself a certain way, he can take on some stereotypical Fe traits. Lucas cares about people and, for him, it is important to express that to them. I don’t think he expresses himself because he feels that’s the appropriate thing to do. I think he does it because that’s the sort of person he wants to be. It’s not really for other people’s sake, it’s for him. He wants to live up to his own personal ideals. However, when I try to look for the Te, there is virtually none in him. Honestly, I see a stronger case for Ti in him than Te. But, he obviously can’t be both Fi and Ti. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe his morality isn’t decided internally. It’s really difficult for me to decide one way or another. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of certain instances and going, “Oh, you know, maybe he is Fe after all.” I can’t make a call either way with any real certainty, so for now, I won’t.

Now… is he Ne-Si or Se-Ni? This is an even bigger struggle for me to lock down than Fi-Te/Fe-Ti. Lucas has an appreciation of symbolism and he’s extremely insightful. He can see people for who they are and has inherent understandings about things. I don’t really see Ne in him but I do see Ni. I can see a case for inferior Se in him, but is he really Ni-dom? And, if he were Ni-dom, he would have to be an INFJ, and I’m not ready to label him Fe just yet. He’s definitely not an INTJ. If he uses Te at all (which is a big “if” for me), then it would be low in his stack. I can’t come up with a single function that he absolutely, undoubtedly uses.

Aria Montgomery: Beyond being an Fi-dom, what other functions does Aria really use? There really isn’t enough evidence to support Se, Ne, Si, or Ni. She’s defined by her relationship with Ezra, but her personality is pretty bland. She’s “artsy.” I’ve seen people use her interest in writing and photography as support for both Ne and Se, which is weak and stereotypical. She makes stupid short-sighted decisions sometimes, like having an affair with her teacher, but I don’t feel like that’s evidence of Se. I’m sure you can find Ne users who have, or would be willing to have a sexual relationship with a teacher. Doesn’t mean they’re not Ne. A repeated argument I see to “support” INFP is her love of old movies as though no Se in the world enjoys older films. All of the reasonings I’ve seen have been extremely superficial and weak. I believe this to be a result of people desperately trying to fit her somewhere, when, in reality, she is just a poorly written character. Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Alison are all reasonably fleshed out characters. I’ve never seen Hanna typed anything other than ESFP. Spencer is mostly typed ENTJ, but I have seen the occasional ESTJ, but the general consensus does seem to be ENTJ. I’ve never seen Emily typed as anything but ISFJ. I’ve never seen Alison typed as anything other than ENFJ. This isn’t because everyone jumps on the same bandwagon. It’s because there’s evidence and consistency. Aria, on the other hand, is defined in terms of her relationships and what happens to her. Is there really more to her than that?

Dawson Leery: Sort of like a less tolerable late ’90s Lucas Scott. I see him typed as INFJ or INFP, just like Lucas. I can’t justify him being Ni-dom, though. I lean towards INFP for him because he has that strong moral code and a tendency to chastise anyone who violates it. He can be so judgmental with people when they make decisions he disagrees with. Dawson sees a lot of things as black and white. He can also be pretty selfish with his emotions. And I can see a stronger case for inferior Te than inferior Se. If someone were to ask me what type I think he is, I would probably instinctively say INFP, but if I were asked to explain why, in any kind of detail, I would probably be at a loss.

Sam and Dean Winchester: Ugh, Sam and Dean. I love them to death, but they give me such a headache when it comes to MBTI. I’ve mostly seen Sam typed INFJ, INTJ, and INTP. I definitely think that he’s a Fe-user, and I don’t think it’s inferior, so I’m more inclined to subscribe to the INFJ typing, but I’m still trying to gather enough evidence to actually do a post for him. A lot of people think he’s Fi because he carves out an individual identity from his family away from hunting, but I don’t think that argument is strong enough. Fe-users are capable of doing that. Leaving home and carving out a new life for himself could stem from Ni instead of Fi. Though, there are also times I think he might use Si instead of Ni. All of the “evidence” I’ve seen in the various typings for him that I’ve read seem flimsy and like they’re really just trying to make something fit him, so as of right now, I don’t really know anything for sure when it comes to Sam. My opinion varies episode to episode.

I see Dean mostly typed as ESTJ, ESTP, and the most ridiculous one in my opinion, ESFJ. I believe that he’s definitely Fi/Te, so I don’t think that he’s an ESTP and definitely not an ESFJ, but I’m not completely sold on him as a Te-dom, either. I’ve always been mostly torn between ESTJ and ESFP for him. I think a big problem with the Winchesters is that Supernatural has been on the air for so long that their personalities seem to go through a lot of changes over the years. Maybe it has to do with different writers coming on, I’m not really sure. They’ve also been through a lot and are far from healthy, which makes things pretty difficult as well.

Klaus Mikaelson: ENTJ or ESFP? Most days, I will declare Klaus an ESFP with absolute certainty, but every now and then I find myself watching an episode of The Originals (or an old episode of The Vampire Diaries) and second guess myself. My problem with him is that I see more of a case for dominant Se than dominant Te… but I notice more signs of inferior Fi in him than inferior Ni. I’m going to have to launch a massive character study to determine his type once and for all because he drives me crazy.

Ted Mosby: I sometimes see him typed as an INFJ, but the main argument in those typings seems to be his long-term goal of getting married, as though that can’t also be true of a Si-dom. Does his goal come from doing what is traditional and expected of him (Si) or because that is simply the vision he has for his life (Ni)? What is his motivation? There are sometimes cases to be made for inferior Se in him, though. I’m actually pretty evenly split on Ted. Let’s take the story that he’s telling his kids. Very detail-oriented. Very specific, vivid memories (which he sometimes tends to remember subjectively rather than objectively). However, he sees how all of these memories are connected to build a larger, overall picture and has a strong concept of symbolism. He’s future-focused and has a clear visual of the life he wants for himself, yet he is also hung up on the past and tends to hold onto old relationships instead of moving forward (Karen, Victoria, Robin). He even keeps all of the stuff he has received in his past relationships in his apartment because they remind him of specific experiences. He’s both a realist and an idealist. He’s grounded and his head is in the clouds. Past-focused and future-oriented. Out of every character I’ve had to decide between Si and Ni for, Ted probably gives me the most trouble.

I’m currently rewatching episodes of One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars in order to definitively type Lucas and Aria. After that, I’m going to try to tackle Elena and Klaus… and then the Winchesters. Ted will probably come sometime after that. Dawson is probably going to take a while, because while I loved Dawson’s Creek, I don’t know if rewatching the series is actually worth sitting through Dawson himself. I consider him to be one of the most insufferable television characters in history, so, while I find the show entertaining and I like the other characters, I always have a heavy feeling when I consider watching it again because he just annoys me to no end.

Main Character Syndrome & MBTI was originally published on MBTI Zone