#THEY REALLY KNOW THEIR MOFO AUDIENCE

[disneydatass]

I’m losing my whole ass mind over the sexual tension between Deb and Ava! Also them giving us Helen Hunt in CEO-wear👀The third season just started and she is already delivering!!

[neotaissong]

Film screening went really well. B was sitting next to me laughing at every joke, which was nice cos her pen game goes craaaazy and I pray I can work to that level and standard, like she’s been in the game for 30, can choose her projects, is supported but most importantly is a solid soul. Here’s to solid souls in a dunya filled with sold souls and flip flopping, dishonourable weaklings lol. The q&a was wicked, I was nervous as fck, took the mic and all of a sudden another part of me emerged. The part that is always shining, beaming eloquence and confidently in command. Talked about the film with people in the foyer which was lovely and then went for a walk to clear my head and walk off my film crazy wide eyed energy. I was soooo high off this movie ish and yet before the screening, no, that’s a lie lol, all weekend I felt my imposter syndrome lingering on the edge of the frame. I questioned everything, people treating me so so well (I’ve never been asked so many times if I’m ok or need anything) and people looking after me with such care and consideration, preempting my ish. (It almost felt excessive in such oppressive times) Met C who is an amazing writer who wrote a killer movie (the kind of award winner I’d usually avoid tbh I only came across it for research but it turned out to be dope and not so traditional either) it was so good and revealed a reality so instantly recognisable to me that I called my mum to see it, cos the main character was sick the same as my pops was. I swear the film was literally about my pops, except, played by one of the best and most charismatic actors to ever do it. C was kind and encouraging, somewhat flustered by the print of his movie not being in great quality. B told me about her new forthcoming film, she worked with one of my favourite actresses at the moment. I’m hyped for them, even though I know she’s low cos the funders were lukewarm about the ting. Fck em, it’ll find its people. We all find our people and places, sometimes in the most strangest of times and spaces and not at all how we’d initially envisioned. It’s mad when community doesn’t quite look like how you imagined it but nourishes you all the same. Met some solid souls this weekend. Mostly the sea the sun and meeting myself again tbh. Lol randoms: I wonder what the sea’s soul looks like? Woke up and the stained glass window pane in my hotel room was glowing. You have to be twice as good for half as much as a non white in this place but what if you’re twice as tired and twice as much fed da fck up? Showers are wicked but baths are the ish, music on, drink by ya side. Sheeesh. Top tier tings. A good walk does wonders. When was the last time you saw the sea or jumped in the sea? There were some rocks/stones on that beach that looked and felt incredible. I miss watching movies with my childhood homie Alex we’d just sit and laugh at everything. I wanna go watch some movies in Peckham, the best audience ever. Partynextdoor came on when the train stopped by a farm and I couldn’t stop laughing. I observed so many animals horny af, kept cracking up and asking myself am I the only one seeing this ish and that boi stroking like a mofo lol. Some people are so freaking generous. But so many are on some crabs in the barrel ish it’s sad af. What you give you really do get back. Tenfold. And isn’t it a blessing to be able to give whatever you can if you can? Outside the city centre people are nicer. Was pissed cos I’m not a selfie person and I wanted to take a photo of my fit (not the one pictured lol) and I didn’t have time but pls believe me the levels were levelling my g. A trendy 30 something black woman in yellow walked past, came back and then dropped the: I like your style line and dipped. I was so gassed cos the fit did indeed go braazy lol and I wanted evidence. Frieren and Jujutsu Kaisen are sooooo freakin good and I don’t know anyone who watches em in real life which sucks cos I wanna talk about them sooo freakin bad. Let’s smile again soon. Let’s laugh again soon. DJ Screw Sade is a whole nother gravity, floaty and heavy

[bengiyo]

Theory of Love Rewatch Ep 9 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Khai struggled to reconnect with Third, because it's really difficult to do the emotional work required to be in effective long term relationships with anyone when the person you need to reconcile with is the person you relied on to do that work for you. Khai may be serious about Third at this point, but he's never treated his relationships as more than a physical release prior to this, and went through the motions for getting the booty. No one is on his side, and Third is trying to move on. Meanwhile, Two is trying to move forward with Lynn, and Bone just learned that Paan has someone who's serious about her. Everyone thinks Un is into Third. We left at Khai crashing his motorcycle and getting hurt after being yelled at by Third for forcing a kiss on him AGAIN.

I really think Un and Third just went to a screening to get inspiration for their script.

Oh, he's delirious from blood loss. I don't remember this portion of the show well, so I really hope Khai doesn't take Third giving him attention again because he's hurt as a reasonable approach to getting him to interact in the future.

Khai was talking all that shit about Un, but look whose big ass is driving them to the hospital.

Ep.09 Love Triangle. I think this is the first Thai film they've used as the inspiration for the episode.

I do like when a character has to confront their psyche in a nether space. The Walkabout episode of Babylon 5 is my favorite example of this.

Okay, I am really harsh on Khai, so let me say some nice things about the production. Having Bone and Two not be scared when Khai woke up is very reassuring for the audience, even if the inventory of injuries Khai sustained is extensive. Also, telling us he's been asleep for a day as Third walks up still in his bloody clothes lets us know immediately how worried Third was.

Obsessed with Khai's parents. The dad trying to keep upbeat, the mom chiding, the dad reminding Khai that this actually is quite serious, and them asking Third to look after Khai. I get it, show. They're best friends and everyone knows. I'm still salty.

Oh, thanks for explaining my earlier bullet, Bone.

Good job, bros. Khai is an idiot for kissing Third AGAIN. We ain't forget!!

See, this is what I'm saying. It's convenient he got injured? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Face yourself and your friend!

Bone, why are we suggesting checking again? Y'all pissed off me and Third the last time y'all did this shit.

These mofos really going through his messages. I know y'all are boys and all, but respect your homie's fucking privacy.

They don't even know how to set up a side chat. This is embarrassing.

I'm glad the privacy invasion bit ended quickly on Third telling them all to fuck off and let him handle his business.

Hold on, Lynn, we need to do some quick PPL.

Love that the musical cues in GMMTV shows were loud in 2019 and they're loud now.

It really is so hard for me not to simp over Gun constantly in every one of these reactions.

Oh, Khai, you're getting there. Is it hard when the person you're trying to get over suddenly treats you kindly?

I will accept the show using Khai's lingering injuries as a way to illustrate that he can't really heal or take care of himself while Third isn't part of his life.

"Let me help you with your shower." Now, Third, we have all seen this scene before. You gotta give your bro a hand?

Good thing Third wears capris.

I don't want to give Bone too much credit for his awareness of his feelings for Paan because they're hets. Two may just now be figuring out that he was jealous about Un sharing that restaurant with someone else, but it feels like this may be new for him and he's been trying to pursue Lynn.

All that paper is going to make a mess of the pool.

Listen, unnamed boy in the Never Have I Ever game, do you not realize there are queers at this table and you're just lobbing grenades into the chat??

Keyword association went to shit, too!

Why are they leaving us hanging on Lynn's answer to Two?

Curious why Praew wanted to come clean to Third.

If I was Un, I know I would have to whip Khai's ass later over this. This gang stay fucking with him and all he does is help them. Now he's being punched out because Khai is jealous and misunderstanding? Hell to the no. Don't start shit with me because I will finish it.

Oh lord we got big drama next episode with early dating, lies, and bad timing.

Khai is such an asshole, so I think it's correct for his character to confess his feelings in the heat of an argument. I think this is a pretty solid episode for the most part, but I'm not sure all of the party worked for me. I think Khai's injuries were used well to mirror his internal feelings. I'm a bit bored of the stuff going on with Bone and Two though.

As always, this rewatch is sponsored by @lurkingshan, with support from @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm. Tagging @twig-tea by request.

[sig-nifier]

twenty questions for writers

thanks sm @swifty-fox for the tag!! i love things like this.

tagging @magneticghouls and @onyxsboxes and literally anyone who fancies it

how many works do you have on ao3?

33!

what's your total ao3 word count?

155,902

what fandoms do you write for?

whatever tf the current fixation is. i've written for rooster teeth, our flag means death, buzzfeed unsolved, masters of the air, the eternals, and challengers! currently got a slow horses fic in the works :))

top five fics by kudos

i like the way your words taste - a fluffy druig/makkari oneshot with 860

wild things - a western gale cleven/john egan au with 849

the art of consumption - a smutty art/patrick fic with 780

make you feel alive - another gale cleven/john egan oneshot with 633

hitchhikers - a serial killer ryan begara/shane madej au with 485 (the first multichapter fic i wrote that got me an audience it was wild)

do you respond to comments?

ofc! i try and respond to every single one with at least a thank you

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

a fic called stay with me, which ended in MCD.

what is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i end most of my fics happily!

i think the happiest is probably wild things. everything works out for the better in that one

do you get hate on fics?

i dont! very grateful that everyones always so nice, makes me feel like the are you winning son meme

do you write smut?

i used to never write smut but something this year just had me writing so much of it and whilst it feels mostly awkward to write, people seem to like it!

craziest crossover?

i've never written any kind of crossover, and i don't like to read them either. i guess MOTA in the western genre is the closest i'll come.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of!

have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

also nope!

all time favorite ship?

ive been in fandoms since i was like 12, there's no way i can pick an all time favourite. it literally just depends on what im into at the time.

i really like inej/kaz from six of crows. i think scully/mulder is great. hannibal/will. ellie/dina. willem/jude.

off the top of my head i would say i'm most fond of the tenth doctor/rose. that one gets me.

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i'm really starting to doubt my ability to finish seven miles out of freedom town. im gonna try my best but the hyperfixation has moved on and it feels more like a chore than something im enjoying rn. im really sorry to anyone that disappoints, it disappoints me too, cos wild things was genuinely some of the most fun i've ever had writing fic and interacting with a community. i'll try and get it finished, it might just take me a while.

what are your writing strengths?

i think im pretty good at dialogue, making it sound like something a real person would say.

i think im fairly decent at dramatic writing, at making things sound flowery and poetic and theatric. thats my favourite way to write.

dont think im too bad at characterisation most of the time.

what are your writing weaknesses?

i suck at worldbuilding. i think its boring and i dont care for it, i just want to write about the characters. planning bores me. i just write things and go back and fix inconsistencies later.

wild things is the most effort i've ever put into a world. i was googling locations like a mofo to make things accurate.

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i think its great! one of my favourite fics has a character that speaks french and he uses it to tease other characters who don't know what he's saying. its done so beautifully.

first fandom you wrote in?

if we're talking actual first fandom it was probably one direction or creepy pasta when i was like 13.

the first fandom i ever wrote for seriously was buzzfeed unsolved in 2018.

favorite fic you've written?

im very proud of washed clean, an angsty oneshot about gale/john. i really like the writing in that one.

i dont think i can pick a favourite, i have like three. hitchhikers and the axeman of new orleans were my starting points and really showed me the joy of writing fic that other people were going to read. i had a lot of fun writing those and i love me some dark themes.

wild things consumed my every thought for like, the 11 days i was writing it. ive never been so obsessed with one of my own fics before, it still blows me away how well it was recieved and i met some great people through it so im eternally grateful for that.

yeehaw, y'all.

[frogizz]

The Untamed Episode 32ish spoilers

I've been real quiet about my thoughts watching The Untamed. I haven't read the novel yet but I've been looking at the fan wiki so I know how different things kinda are. Anyways, I'ma list how I feel about the characters and what not. I am at episode 32 or 33 btw.

Yanli is a sweetheart, an angel, a gift to this Earth AND HOW SHE DIES IS HEART WRENCHING! She just gave birth a month ago, she just lost her husband to some stupid fight, her injury and death is blamed on her kinda innocent brother, IM FURIOUS. She deserved so much more than she got, I knew she died young but not like this!

I never trusted Jin Guangyao from the start, I don't like his face (It's the character, not the actor, the actor is fine). He is shady and from the looks of his wiki page, I was right about my gut feeling.

Jin Zixuan has been a tough guy for me to like, but honestly, as long as he made Jiang Yanli happy, he was decent in my book.

THE HYPOCRATES THE JIN CLAN ARE. Explain to me how they think they can do whatever they want just because they aren't the Wen Clan? Their mentality is that they can do what they want because they believe they're already incapable of doing or being bad, when they should really be having the mentality of avoiding doing bad actions and reflect. Jin Zixun annoyed the hell out of me because he was the main culprit of acting just like he was all high and mighty.

Jin Zixun and the other smaller clans just HAD to point fingers and antagonize somebody, didn't they? Like of course, the Wen clan did terrible things, but you don't kill innocent people! Wei Wuxian didn't need to play the hero, but honestly, who would've stepped up to save them? Everything would've been fine if jin Zixun didn't assume Wei Wuxian cast that spell on him and went for the violent route.

I know Wen Qing doesn't show up as much in the novel, which I'll be sad reading through scenes I expected her to be in after watching The Untamed, but she is one of my favorites. She is innocent, or at least mostly, in my eyes. Her actions were those of "I don't want to exactly get involved, and I also kinda think that my clan is doing some bullsh*t but I can't exactly rebel now can I?". I could be wrong, but she deserved a better fate.

Wen Ning, oh my gosh, he deserved better too, he was such a good kid, SUCH A GOOD KID, and he got abused and basically tortured. He deserves more than to be a ghost puppet.

WEI WUXIAN YOU IDIOT, YOU MADE A PROMISE TO YOUR SISTER, YOU TOLD HER THE THREE OF YOU WOULD BE TOGETHER FOREVER YET YOU RUN OFF SO EASILY TO SAVE THE WEN REMNANTS?! Of course, who would've saved them if not Wei Wuxian, that's not necessarily bad. But he just didn't think twice about the promise he made to Jiang Yanli when he just left like that. Not cool dude. Not. Cool.

I don't hate Jiang Cheng, and I don't love him either. I like him, his actions are valid and especially his thoughts are too. To me he is reasonable and makes judgement based on what the audience sees, so I think he is sometimes portrayed as some angry guy when really, he is reacting to things without knowing the full story.

OOH I JUST KNOW THAT MOFO WHO WAS MAKING THE SPIRITS GO OUT OF CONTROL AT THE NIGHTLESS CITY WAS JIN GUANGYAO. Now, I have no evidence, but hear me out, where TF did he go after all the fighting broke out?

I really wanna write some fanfics of 2-5 chapters of different "What if" scenarios regarding Wei Wuxian's decisions in his life and how things could've been better.

Wen Yuan is so adorable and I will protect him with my life. I don't know too much about how he is as Lan Sizhui (btw, I think he's only an adult in The Untamed because he's around 3 when he was Wen Yuan and 16 passed so he's older compared to the novel which makes him 16 years old as Lan Sizhui. Fact check me please).

The music has me in a choke hold.

I have no opinion on Lan Wangji besides he's cool and Wei Wuxian's biggest supporter.

I care a lot more for Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian relationships being fine and healthy than I do for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangi. Mostly because we don't get to see the romance in The Untamed but I hope to see that connection and care for their relationship more when I read the novel. Until then, the siblings are all I care about because they're family and they could've been so happy together.

The way I sobbed when the Jiang clan was attacked and the previous Jiang clan leader and his wife died. The way the Jiang siblings were now orphaned and Wei Wuxian was orphaned a second time. (I call all three of them the Jiang siblings, is there another thing I can call them that would make more sense? I know Wei Wuxian was a part of the Jiang clan but he doesn't have the family name nor is he part of the clan anymore.)

Lan Xichen is another one of my favorites. Never hated any of his actions or words for one second. He is so agreeable and likeable for me. Reminds me of how I felt towards Yue Qingyuan when reading SVSSS. 10/10 character, mwah.

Where TF are my Nie Huaisang scenes, he barely shows up and I kinda wanna see him more.

Jin Ling is so adorable as a baby but damn does he take after his uncle.

I find it sweet that even after leaving the clan, Wei Wuxian was still allowed to see Jiang Yanli's wedding dress and even name his nephew. So sweet, I cried at that scene. She was so pretty, she was so generous to give a portion of the soup to Wen Ning and I love her generosity and kindness to the heavens.

I'm not gunna lie, I wasn't expecting Jin Zixun's death to be like how it was but it was kind of deserved? I was a little sad when Jin Zixuan died though, only because Jiang Yanli would be a widow with a newborn. Can't hurt my girl emotionally like that, just can't.

Last but not least, I can't remember his name and that one chick, but that Young Master Wen, I hated his face, his smug look, I think his death was deserved. And that lady he had with him all of the time, so annoying, so pitiful, they did a great job acting because they made me hate their faces.

Oh yeah, and, Wei Wuxian is an idiot, but a thoughtful idiot. I say that affectionally and I don't think he's actually full of himself (my interpretation can be so wrong and I'll realize that later). He does things for others not to look good (or at least that isn't the main concern), but to actually do something that no one else does. He plays the hero because no one else will help. Although, yeah, he does take on big challenges to look cool but at the end of the day, It's not really all for his own gain.

Okay, that's it. See another post like this when I finish Ep. 50 and I can't wait to find access to the animated MDZS!

[destiel-is-canon-i-guess]

Okay we can all agree that Sam and Dean swear, right? They say “shit” and “fuck” and “cuntbag” and all George Carlin’s seven words. When Dean says “mofo,” we know he’s really saying “motherfucker.” It’s like Good Place rules.

But what’s really wild is that there’s both a Doylist and a Watsonian explanation for why we the audience don’t hear the swears. The Doylist explanation is that the CW’s Standards and Practices doesn’t allow severe swear words because the FCC would fine the pants off of them if Sam or Dean dropped an f-bomb. And the Watsonian explanation is that Chuck doesn’t allow them to swear. Both explanations are that the author of the story is censoring them (well, Chuck may be a bit more free-wheeling, since Dean is, after all, “full frontal” in the Supernatural books). We see evidence of this in the Ghostfacers episode, where the “author” of the story is, for once, not Chuck, but Ed and Harry. Dean and Sam swear quite a bit but they just bleep them.

In what other media (except for the aforementioned Good Place) would there be an in-universe explanation for why the characters don’t swear? Unparalleled media experience indeed.

[macaroni-rascal]

Okay, here comes the ice dance roast.

I'm calling this first team Olivia and a Half, because dude is barely there. I liked her previous costume too but she's also a smokeshow in this one. I'm convinced they're putting her in distracting costumes so we won't be looking at Tim, who desperately needs to discover that there's an audience there that he should be projecting to. Good outing, but it made me miss Adrian.

I'd give anything for Katerina's skirt lengths not to give me anxiety for one (1) season, and now she's added a long ponytail as well - why does she hate me so? These costumes are giving 2000s more than 80s. They desperately need our mother hen Madison Hubbell to take them under her wing, these unpointed toe kicks are not it.

Why are the Browns skating in what are essentially practice outfits to the famously flamboyant Elton John? Give these talented children funding! Otherwise they slayed, which is why I'm annoyed at the packaging. Best sibling team here, I said what I said.

HanYe with the costumes of the event and possibly the field. Only guy with an actual outfit. I wish her sleeves were attached to the bodice more in the front, we don't need armpit cleavage, but other than that, best dressed. Levels were oof. IAM needs to leave their teams with Paul Mac over the summer to learn how to execute their turns, they've got pretty much everything else figured out.

Holly and Jason looking hot af. I prefer her golden butt to Olivia's in the free. His corset-y mesh top - cunty af. Her bodysuit seems very intricate up close, but I wish that same level of attention went into getting their levels.

Taschlers look okay for a European team and the costumes are accurate for the music choice, but why oh why is the cutout on the side of his stomach round instead of matching her pointed one? Love their attack and unison but wish them better programs moving forward.

I actually like this French team this season and I hate that for me. His boatneck I'll allow because he isn't a broad boye but I'm not quite sure what his top has to do with the 80s. Her outfit is cute but I wish she'd move on from the Slutskaya cut and the henna dyejob to a more contemporary pixie or bob or something, they need to look more polished because they are indeed very trained and technically strong.

Marjo and Zak - my loves. The only ones I genuinely care about, not gonna lie. Seemingly the only team that read the ISU Communication on the theme this year. Fantastic campy costumes, killer performance ability, couldn't take my eyes off them. Noticed in the warmup that the costume designer shaded his butt crack as well and for that, that mofo need Jesus. They need to sort their levels situation out because they're the stars of the discipline, really, but we're not allowed to talk about that just yet (🤫).

Now for the crime of the night - the grand larceny that was Green/Parsons' score. They were the strongest team here across the board, they're the most complete all around, and I was fuming when I saw 4th. They def need to rework the cut but I like this better than the Paula, it suits them, the costumes weren't revolutionary but they both looked fine af. I know he's old enough to be her great uncle but at the same time I don't want them with lesser partners. The judges went out of their fucking way to prevent last year's situation when H/B (let's be honest) obliterated C/B. Maybe if G/Pa weren't coached by human silver medal and Canadian trophy husband Charlie Allen White, they wouldn't be in this mess.

And now for the grand finale - I'm dispatching a firing squad for the tech panel because are you seriously telling me that this team that graduated with honors from the Diana Davis School of Edgework is best-in-class??? And I can see what she was trying to do with the dress but she didn't quite nail it, the front is awkward, the mid-buttcheek zipper-like split in the back is a choice, and the skirt flaps around awkwardly. Meanwhile, Evan's outfit is just low-effort and perfunctory. They should've just put him in a white tank top and lightwash jeans to highlight his white basicness, since he wears her like a jacket for most of their programs anyway, it would've been apropos. They were out-skated but most of the teams here, they had no energy, speed, power or ice coverage, and to top it all off, they were on the edge of disaster in the lift again, and that was the only edge they were on the entire program. They deserve a surprise P/C comeback at this point, I can't take this anymore.

A masterpiece of a roast.

Anon, I want you to know I got three OTHER anons that were excited to hear about your fashion opinions.

Olivia and a Half is beyond correct, I can forget he's there if I squint, and I enjoy the program so much more. I honestly don't think the Browns have ever had a good costume, and that's a damn shame. If Paul MacIntosh cam to IAM, I would cheer for years, they really need a kick in the ass in terms of tech, and quickly. Holly looks so good in that gold outfit, it's wILD. French team I can't even get into, they are never not So Deeply French Looking. You are spot on with G/Pa, they do not deserve to be sitting in 5th right now. I also can't even get into C/B, cause it's just Too Much at the moment when I'm trying to switch into women mode for the short program that starts in 5 minutes.

Anon, you're a damn icon.

[hartshorn-and-isinglass]

The 'Mulatto' Sonata and The Star Violinist Everyone Forgot

Imagine, if you will, being the violinist at the premiere of a violin sonata composed in your honor. It's 1803, and you're onstage at the Augarten Theater in Vienna at the ungodly hour of 8AM, no rehearsal because fuck it, we'll do it live. There are royals and dignitaries in the audience. Your homie Ludwig van Beethoven is at the piano; several passages of the sonata are unfinished and you're both just going to have to improvise as necessary. You don't even have your own copy of the second movement because he literally just finished sketching it out a half hour ago, and you'll have to sightread it over his shoulder.

And have you seen what Beethoven's handwriting looks like?

(Seriously, fuck a bunch of that.)

Click onwards for more!

Fortunately, you're George Bridgetower, former violin child prodigy and now celebrated professional musician, currently on leave from your employment to the Prince Regent in England to visit your mum in Austria. You've been taught and mentored by some of the most prominent musical minds in Europe, and you're well-prepared to improvise in the classical style, an aspect of the art form that will soon be lost. You absolutely have the chops to sightread whatever Beethoven throws at you, which is something that most violinists at the time would have blanched at. You are vibing on his level; the synergy is electric. The audience is absolutely blown away and demands two encores.

The dedication on the original manuscript reads: "Sonata mulattica composta per il mulatto Brischdauer, gran pazzo e compositore mulattico" (A sonata of mixed colors composed for the mulatto Bridgetower, crazy mofo and mixed-up composer).

This is the kind of shit that should make your name immortal in the pantheon of musical greats.

Unfortunately, you're friends with Beethoven, who is a mercurial and headstrong rock star on the best of days. Shortly before the official first edition of the sonata goes to publishing, you two fight about a girl, or some other bullshit*. Beethoven is a social climber, and tired of life in Vienna; he wants to make his way to Paris. So he re-dedicates his 9th violin sonata to Rudolphe Kreutzer, a French violin virtuoso he's met exactly once, in the hopes of ingratiating himself into Parisian musical society.

Kreutzer, for the record, hated Beethoven's music and refused to play the sonata, calling it difficult and "unintelligible". Nonetheless, the nickname "Kreutzer Sonata" sticks, especially after Tolstoy names a story after it decades later and starts his own round of drama in the literary world.

You move on to continue your musical career back in England, although your star gradually fades as you get older and your mental health takes a downturn. Once you've shuffled off this mortal coil the world gradually forgets your name.

Check out this BBC broadcast for more on Bridgetower:

But if you want to really go down the rabbit hole on George's own family history (and family drama, of which there was quite a bit) check out this blog series on Georgian Era: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

*There's some doubt about whether the story of their falling out is even true, given that it comes from one violinist allegedly recalling a story told to him by Bridgetower decades later... but this shit is so totally on-brand for Beethoven that no one even thought to question it until recently, LOL. I don't know if it was about a girl per se, but I find it entirely plausible that they had a falling out over something that led to them never talking again.

[pjisskullourful]

hey!! i just wanted to say that i think you’re an extremely talented writer and god your fics get me unbelievably hot and bothered. thank you for being so open about sexuality and masterbation on your blog - it’s really empowering and reading what you have to say about it helps with the embarrassment and shame i’m struggling with around it

anyway, if you need any more fic ideas… i’ve thought for a while that someone really should write one with vic and scissoring ;)

thankyousomuch babes!! i've always loved writing(definitely more than halfof my life its been my constant companion/greatest love) but to reach a point now where my audience gets meis extremely rewarding& im super duper grateful for it all of the time!

i still struggle with my own feelings of shame around masturbation- its definitely something thatis pushed uponus as something taboo. but we should just love our bodies- life is too short to not rub out an orgasm everynow& again.

you deserve to feel empowered!

listen here-- let me tell ya something... I. LOVE. SCISSORING!!!

like holy fuck so fucking much- its like the next stepup, the kinkier level up from thighgrinding! & that is something people have triedto shame me for inthe past. i've had partners refuse to do it cos its 'an unrealistic thing that men write into porn that is designed for other men to watch' . i've been made to feel like its a fantasy& not just a fantasy but a gross 1 implanted into my mind by the patriarchy basically. i've had partners try it with me for less than a second& really halfass it& then go 'see i told you it doesnt work, its just a stupid thing from shitty fanfic & gross porn'. & then im left feeling like the pervert cos i wanna rub my pussy on another pussy

& these mofos wonder why i stopped fucking with them!!!!

anyways-- i digress. to answer your request-- i already have scissoring worked into the vic+dami 3way fic, with a whole 'proscissoring' speech(lol notreally but close enough) from vic beforehand.

now that i know theres interest there i can definitely incorperate it intosome of my upcomingsolo vic fics as well& lets reclaim this magical position from those who only want to fetish we sapphics!!!

[highflyerwings]

I now can't get Gangjae out of my head... i have thoughts. Which is Gangjae’s real personality - the quirky pleasant guy we see in the beginning, the asshole after he lost (that shit with Jiwoo was such a lowblow) or the crazy mofo? I can't tell if it's the drugs or if that's really just him. What are your throughts o' wise one?

Oh, Gangjae…

Truly the most horrifying representation of “you never really know which ones are the nice guys.” When we first meet him he’s literally all smiles, and sweetness, and for a brief moment you think he and Jiwoo are going to be friends. For a brief moment the audience assumes “ah ok so maybe this is the friend/love interest for her.” You think you see where this is gonna go, but then it takes such a horrible, sharp left turn, and it suddenly is not at all what you thought it was going to be. It’s awful and it’s also so so good.

I feel like there’s so much self-fulfilling prophecy in this show, especially attached to Mujin. Every one of Mujin’s actions sets the course of his own fate and those around him. So his choice to mangle Gangjae’s face instead of killing him effectively seals both of their fates. Mujin turns Gangjae into the villain we see later on. Mujin creates his own enemy when he puts that mark on Gangjae’s face.

It’s safe to say Gangjae is just a piece of shit, first and foremost. What he did to Jiwoo likely wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that. So I think he was already on the road to being a scary piece of shit, but I truly think it was Mujin’s actions (and Taeju’s inaction) that really turned him into the exaggerated villain we see him become. And I don’t think the drugs helped either.

But it’s interesting to think about what he would have turned into if he’d stayed with Dongcheon. Let’s pretend he didn’t do what he did to Jiwoo. If he’d stayed and been allowed to rise through the ranks, I think he had enough determination to get to the top like he really wanted. To make it all the way to that penthouse. And whether he took it by force or won the seat fairly, I feel like he still would have been one scary motherfucker. Mujin was scary. But Mujin was also smart (and for what it’s worth I also think he had a good heart deep down in there). And I feel like that’s where their differences truly lie. Gangjae was just a little too hot-headed, a little too chaotic to truly have a firm handle on the reins of that organization. I think he still would have been the same Gangjae in that version of events, just in a fancy penthouse wearing a three-piece suit.

[chronic-ghost]

I was tagged by @astarkey Thank you so much for tagging me!!! 🥰💖If anyone wants to read my fics, I’m waterfront on AO3 - come say hi!

How many works do you have on AO3? 19 😱

What’s your total ao3 word count? 144,393

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Your Love Could Start a War (ATLA - Zutara)

flintlocked (FDTD - SethKate)

we are fated to grow old (FDTD - SethKate)

the ex is a hurricane (FDTD - SethKate)

Good Grief (FDTD - SethKate)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I don’t, actually because AO3 counts the responses as comments so it looks like my fics have more comments than they really do. I want my fics to stand on their own.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? Hmm, probably Good Grief. Kate is giving a haircut to Seth after their horrific misadventures in Alaska and it’s just peaceful and domestic and blissful.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I don’t know if this counts as angsty but in this particular king. this particular man it ends with a lot of uncertainty that they will last, if they can. I am a bitch for closure and I didn’t allow myself or the audience the decency of that. 

Do you write crossovers? YES. The Buffy/MCU fic was one of the first things I ever published and I am proud of it to this day! I also have an unpublished NCIS/BTVS fic that will never see the light of day.

Have you received hate on a fic? Lol, nah. I think I write for fandoms that are too small for that. 

Do you write smut? Uh, yeah, a lot and mostly for myself. My own tailor-made porno tapes I can watch again and again.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Once, but we never finished *shrug*

What’s your all-time favorite ship? Damn, that’s really hard. But maybe my longest standing ship is Zutara. Been shipping that since ATLA first aired, baby!

What’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Ooh, a callout post because most of my fics are unfinished. Whomp whomp. 

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and characterization. 

What are your writing weakness? Plot and overthinking themes and nuance.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? If possible, work with someone who speaks that language. It will always be better than Google Translate and collaboration makes things better!

What was the first fandom you wrote for? I THINK harry potter, but it was either that or BTVS. Shipped Draco/Ginny like a mofo. My first popular fic was one where Draco turns into a vampire and is held captive at the Burrow. *chef’s kiss*

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Hmm, I think just because it was a multi-chapter fic that I finished, I’ll have to go with Good Grief. I am notorious for getting invested in a long fic, and then like a dog with a squirrel, my attention flies to another fic. So to finish a long, multi-chapter, I’m really proud of that! 

I tag (GIVE ME YOUR WIPS) @notahotlibrarian @sunsetofdoom @tuntematonkorppi @fortysevenswrites @stormikins @foibles-fables @yossariandawn and anyone else who wants to share!

[sexmask123]

PISSED THE FUCK OFF!!!! (Also, a few other things)

Been keeping this in draft for a few hours, not sure about wanting to post it, but, at this point, fuck it, maybe i’ve mellowed out a bit, maybe not, who knows. And, honestly, who cares?

(Caution: spoilers) If it’s true that the picture above really is 2x05, which would take place after the aubrey hall scenes from 2x04, and there’s a possibility that it has something to do with jealousy, or at least a separate suitor for Kate, I’m assuming that means there’s a good chance the thunderstorms scenes, and specifically the library scene at Aubrey Hall, aren’t happening. I would just find it hard to believe Kate taking an afternoon out with a suitor seriously after all of that emotional dev. with her and Anthony, unless they’re taking her burying her feelings to a new level. And i also feel like the fact that they’re making Kate’s fears similar to Anthony’s, in that she doesn’t want to marry for fear of losing someone else she loves, pretty much extinguishes any hope for the thunderstorm scene so...whatever. It is what it is. 

As far as the bee scene goes, i feel like that’s been all but confirmed, and if need be, that could easily be moved to a different location.

Lastly...SERIOUSLY, can we talk about the pacing of this season? Again, if they’re planning on having this beautiful mofo swim in the serpentine in 2x05, which i always pictured as the wedding episode, just like it was for Saphne, then that would mean that the wedding and wedding night events would, in fact, take place on episode 6, leaving only two episodes left for everything else after the wedding for Kathony. WTF!!! How is that EVEN POSSIBLE CHRIS?!!! 

Regardless of your love or annoyance for s1, i think plenty of people feel the ending for Simon and Daphne was too rushed, and they had three post wedding episodes. Kate and Anthony are getting TWO FUCKING EPISODES!!! Either we’re gonna sacrifice joyous happy scenes after the ceremony for the emotional conflict, or we’re gonna keep more happy dancy scenes at the expense of their trauma and resolution, or maybe a little of both. You know, why not shit on both piles. 

Yes, i realize no adaptation is 100% a true copy of the source material, nor were they ever promoting s2 as such, and yes i realize i should manage my expectations for how much main couple content we’re getting because of side plots (similar to s1), but this might be too much for me. 

You want some slow burn? ROLL AROUND IN POLIN!!! This isn’t slow burn. I don’t want a pile of unnecessary as fuck pre wedding scenes at the expense of post wedding ones that are necessary as fuck. But, no, please, Chris, have Kate beat out Anthony’s horse at the track, have her be a better shot than him at hunting, AND have her sink his ball into the water at pall mall all at the expense of Anthony holding and kissing his screaming wife who’s having a nightmare about her dead mother. I want to see Kate put Anthony’s attitude in it’s place too but, good god, if pall mall is the last of those scenes, you’re gonna turn an iconic scene into a tiresome, repetitive scene (audience member: “Oh...wow. She sunk his ball. She bested him, totally wasn’t expecting that (cue eye roll).”) 

I WANT MY CUTE LITTLE LOVING BUNNY RABBITS MARRIED, LOVEY DOVEY WITHOUT ADMITTING IT, AND LEANING ON EACH OTHER FOR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FOR MORE THAN TWO GODDAMN MOTHER FUCKING EPISODES!!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO EXPECT FROM TWO EPISODES?!!!

Fuck it, whatever, i’m this close to not watching, and i’ve checked on news for season 2 EVERY SINGLE DAY since season 2 was officially announced. Is this the feeling you want me to have, Chris? Funny, as a loving fan who cares so much for the characters and the actors who play them, i would think you’d want me to be excited...whatever, it’s almost all gone and, honestly, who the fuck cares? I look up new info after work, so often finding new pictures that get me all excited, only for more information to come around that just breaks my heart, this is just the final nail in the coffin.

Is this rant pathetic? Yes. Do i realize it’s just a show? Yes. AM I OVERREACTING?!!! Probably, yeah. Have things been pretty shitty lately and this felt like one thing i could count on to give me hope? Also yes. Is it that hard of a thing to get right, Chris? FUCK NO

Anyway, long story short, probably not watching anymore, can’t bare to watch the shit show.

[butterfly--empress]

So About BnHA…

Man! I don’t participate much on here but it sure has been an interesting popcorn eating time, lurking through the good, the bad, and the annoying posts in the spoiler chapter tags. For this week’s chapter, especially!

Not gonna rant (I save those for close friends on discord) 

I do notice that lines within this crazy ass fandom have been drawn, tears have been shed and righteous fury has been felt. And no matter wtf Mister Horikoshi has in stored for chapter 320, it’s going to be a make or break chapter for a lot of folks. I did try my best to keep this post Bakugou neutral grounds. I don’t think I’ve bashed nor favored the character just fyi.

But the most inconspicuous opinions can be taken too serious these days…

The Silly:

For chapter 320 onwards, I am and have ALWAYS BEEN 100% Team: The Legend, The Myth, The Champ, Izuku ‘Feral!Rabbit-Cryptid!’ Midoriya! Win or Lose, I ride or die with Midoriya, hands down! ON GOD!

While everybody yelling into the tumblr void over whose gonna win or lose.

I’m sitting here thinking about two things: A) Has no one thought that maybe some of Class 1-A might side with Deku? *coughsUraraka/Iida/Todorokicoughs* *coughsmaybeevenMineta/Asui/Yaoyorozu???coughs* *coughs maybe even a surprise Shinsou/class1-b reveal even though class 1-b don’t know deku that well* B) Did everyone forget in all the excitement that uhh my boi has yet to unlock the 2nd OFA user’s quirk???

I mean, I’m not saying if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win.

But I am saying, if it does come down to a bawl of drama and angst, that Izuku’s gonna win…I regret nothing with this bet! If my boi loses we just gonna take that L but…ya know…*shrugs*…Baby, beat their Bakugou’s collective asses.

The Serious:

Personally, I honest to god really love this shounen series with all my heart. It is the anime that reignited my love for shounen after my fatigued of constant disappointment with two old shounen favorites. 

Now, having said all that: I truly have not had a serious issue with the writing choices made by Horikoshi. Yes, I have my…gripes…(it’s complicated) but considering what I got compared to the stuff I’ve watched/read in the past, it’s definitely better to me. Having read/watched a lot of anime/manga and shounen, (I haven’t watched them ALL, srsly after my great disappointment and real life I sort of had an anime dry spell if you must know. Watched some stuff here and there when I could/in the mood but not as frequent as I’ve done like yrs ago), I’ve come to learn to just…begrudgingly accept/expect certain; I suppose you can say, writing choices or ‘tropes’ that I can just easily ignore them, roll my eyes when I see them, and still enjoy whatever I’m invested in at the time. 

The only real frustrations I have is with a certain character. Yes, I mean Bakugou. I have come to tolerate him, I have come to begrudgingly like him, especially after a second rewatch of the series, I could see and accept that in a very typical shounen way, Bakugou did change, though very little, and it’s subtle and undeniably frustrating how it’s happening but it’s there. However, I do question Horikoshi’s writing choices when it comes to him at times. I see the character development, I know it’s there but….*sighs*

Now I’m one of these people who do believe that the creator of this universe, actually knows wtf he’s doing with his own story (even if rabid/hormonal younger fans loudly disagree but YMMV). One thing I’ve noticed, for the most part, he doesn’t just write/draw things for the hell of it, even if a certain plot or a certain character’s development takes a snail’s pace to get to the point. The conclusion of building up to arcs do have a pay off. (And I 100% understand that for some people, moving at a snail’s pace just don’t cut it. Everything cannot please everybody all of the time and that is FINE!)

Katsuki Bakugou…I know the crumbs and very subtle ways he’s changed have to lead somewhere and to something huge. When Bakugou admits to All Might he bullied Midoriya when they were kids, I had an ‘ah ha!’ Moment. The fact that a very prideful guy like Bakugou was finally starting to admit just that much, (even though, we the audience knows it runs way deeper than he’s admitting here) even in his frustrating roundabout way I like to think this is progress, is very in-character and cannot just be for the hell of it. It has to be leading up to something else other than Bakugou jumping in to take that hit for Deku during the war arc. There is unresolved tension still between Bakugou and Midoriya that is not going to just go away because they will it to.

Which brings us to Chapters 318 and especially 319. It’s the perfect set up for all the dirty skeletons to come out of the closet that both Bakugou and Midoriya have been avoiding/trying to pretend doesn’t exists between them, because it’s been a long time coming. The honest to god truth? This is actually how I always thought this confrontation will go, with a showdown that forces Midoriya into a corner where all those repressed negative feelings he’s bottled up inside is bound to come out; Because I Honestly think Izuku would take what Bakugou’s done to him to his grave if he had it, his way. (Boy can be very frustratingly stubborn when he wants to be).

It’s just, after saying all this, I don’t hold my breath that Horikoshi will take it there…The opportunity is there, I want it to go there, it NEEDS to go there! In order for both characters to come out for the better. But will Mister Horikoshi ‘DO THE THING?’

Remains to be seen. A little bit of me is hopeful, another part of me is resigning myself to feeling dissatisfied with what little we got for Bakugou’s character development and by proxy, Izuku’s getting stuck in limbo. I’m not kidding, Bakugou being a very contentious character within this fandom doesn’t just come from nowhere. But this post isn’t about me ranting into the void about Bakugou. (I don’t even think I can muster up the rage I felt the first time watching MHA blindly to rant to high hell about the bullshit Bakugou’s done now.)

I suppose I will just have to internally scream for 1,000 yrs over half baked character development if Horikoshi doesn’t do the FUCKING THING in giving a satisfying pay off to Katsuki and Midoriya’s history. I’ll just frustratingly chalk it up to old freaking shounen logic and just continue to enjoy the series because I’ve been here for Izuku Midoriya since ep 1 and I am not about to let Bakugou or Horikoshi’s unwillingness to do something with him derail that. And there’s always hoping that someone is writing some really good Bakugou gets actual Consequences fanfic out there because ooh boy…I like Bakugou but mofo can catch these hands…and I’m not even a fighter, but Bakugou…this lil shit does make you want to choke the hell out of him at times. 

I haven’t been this emotionally frustrated over an anime character since…maybe fucking Louise from Zero no Tsukaima and it takes a LOT to make me actually dislike characters, good or bad. 

All in All: Regardless of how the story goes from here on out, we are all about to lose our collective shits. No matter how you feel about which characters…

It’s about to go down!

[fizzydrink698]

Gosh! That han jisung vampire fic 🥵🔥 I swear you're my fav author, anything you write is just *chef's kiss*~ The smooth transition from kinda shy and hesitant jisung to confident mofo, love it! 😆 also I really like how u give off the idea of y/n being like "a mess" but at the same time having some character and not being reduced to just a "whiny bot"...? I don't really know how to describe it I guess, but bottom line is, great work as always queen~ 👏❤

sssshh, writing compliments, i can’t take them 🥺🥺

jisung when he thinks his crush is unrequited is a very different beast to a jisung who realises his crush is just as thirsty (ayyyy) as he is 😂 but whether that confidence manages to last into spicy activity is entirely up to personal choice 👀

y/ns with characterisation are just easier to write. you can get the witty banter, you can add some nuance bc backstory and previous character dynamics. i enjoy any and all flavours of reader-insert, i just personally find it easier to write a y/n with a little pre-existing flavour to them - unfortunately, at the risk of decreasing audience applicability.

(although, i gotta say, i do kinda wanna write a bratty reader. that would be fun. when i’m a little more into my ✨spice✨ i hope i can pull off a real bratty, difficult reader)

[300mirrors]

YOU S3

Let me preface by saying I don't condone anyone's actions in this series. Don't hurt people, be good and do good things! I don't think I like this series anymore. Listen I know how this is going to come off because Joe is a serial killer, but the last two seasons they painted him as this troubled man who got obsessed with women he loved and killed people who hurt them and it confused the audience because we always rooted for him. This season however, I hated him. Maybe it's intentional because he's a bad guy and he's not supposed to win, but wtf man.

 Love was by no means perfect and she had her own shit going on, but she didn't deserve the amount of gaslighting and mental abuse he put her through. His actions were the catalyst for this whole season, Nathalie died because he just couldn't stop. When else is he going to find someone he can be his whole self with that KNOWS all his dark secrets and still loves him? NEVER. Because Joe is never going to be happy. His happiness comes from the thrill of the chase and the hunt, but when he has her he gets bored. Or they find out he’s a total creep and he kills them, and then he moves on to the next victim. 

What really made me mad this season too is that he brought Marienne into all this when she was already going through so much with her ex and her daughter and because he’s selfish he pursued her. Doesn’t Joe get it that he’s the problem? How many ex-girlfriends and now his wife has he killed? This is #4 and that’s a pattern buddy, you’re not happy. There was a point he and Love were doing so well and then he just couldn’t help it. I’m not sure there was anything to be done at that point. Everything Love said to Marienne was right and now the mofo is in Paris looking for her. What a freaking creep, and if he finds her and they’ll be happy for a while until she figures it out and he kills her too. 

Then he has the audacity to stage it and blame it all on Love, my gosh what an asshole! What I hope happens next season is that Theo tells his dad everything and he really starts investigating and they find him and finally put an end to all of Joe’s nonsense because he really has it coming. This is so long, but I’m so mad lol. F U Joe Goldberg!!!!

[buzzdixonwriter]

COMPARE & CONTRAST: Birth Of A Nation vs Gone With The Wind vs The General

TRIGGER WARNING:   Talking about race in American culture and movies, so some readers may want to brace themselves (looking at you, wypipo).

. . .

Confining “classic films” to movies that: Demonstrate technical expertise, and Influenced other films and creators

-- we have three (and only three) movies about the American Civil War we can safely put in the classic bin.

Before we go further, let’s restate the obvious: A film’s impact in the medium of motion pictures is separate from its impact on the culture as a whole.

Case in point: Leni Riefenstahl’s The Triumph Of The Will is a perfect textbook example of how to stage massive crowd scenes for maximum visual impact, and how to promote individuals and ideas in purely cinematic terms.

It also contributed mightily to the Nazis’ rise to power, their subsequent wars of conquest, and the deaths directly and indirectly of tens of millions of human beings.

It’s important to know The Triumph Of The Will exists and why it’s important in film and cultural and political history, but you need never subject yourself to its vile hate mongering.

With that in mind, let us proceed.

. . . 

Here are the three bona fide classic movies about the American Civil War:

The Birth Of A Nation (1915)

Gone With The Wind (1939) 

The General (1926)

They are all problematic for the same reason: They embrace the “lost cause” myth of Southern white supremacists.

The Birth Of A Nation is by far the worst offender of the trio, helping to restart the Ku Klux Klan and promulgate jim crow for decades to come.

Director D.W. Griffith was a Southern boy, Kentucky born with a father who served as a colonel in the Confederate army (Kentucky, a border slave state, tried to stay neutral at the beginning of the Civil War, then leaned heavily towards secession, but by 1862 threw its lot in with the Union).

Griffith bought into the lost cause myth heavily, and The Birth Of A Nation explicitly states African-Americans are fit only for slavery, becoming a murderous / rapacious mob once freed, and the Ku Klux Klan were gallant heroes attempting to turn this tide.

Griffith tries to have it both ways, depicting Abraham Lincoln as a thoughtful and compassionate leader who would have treated the South better had he survived (ignoring the fact Andrew Johnson did everything in his power to prevent the Union from holding the South accountable, and that Lincoln’s assassin was a Southerner who killed him in revenge after the war ended).

There can be no denying Griffith’s enormous talents as a film maker (again, separating thematic content from the technical expertise).  While the Hollywood publicity machine was quick to claim The Birth Of A Nation was the first feature length film (i.e., 65 minutes or more), the truth is the Australians, the Chinese, the English, the French, the Italians, the Japanese, and the Russians all made feature films long before Griffith, and Griffith wasn’t even the first American to make a feature but was preceded by at least a half a dozen other film makers.

What Griffith was, however, was a master synthesis of all the techniques that preceded him.  Griffith made movies better than anyone else of his era, and his best films are still eminently watchable to this day.

That’s what makes The Birth Of A Nation so harmful and destructive:  Like the Riefenstahl film, it seduced common audiences into complacency while stirring the worst people to action.

It’s a film whose final cost is not measured in dollars but in innocent blood and tears.

Griffith wasn’t stupid, and while he might have felt personally immune to the criticism of his racist attitudes, he was savvy enough to recognize publicly embracing them would not serve his career well.  He followed The Birth Of A Nation with Intolerance, an epic that jumps around in its story lines like a Tarantino film, and in later movies displayed a far gentler albeit still patronizing attitude towards African-Americans.

But the damage was done, the lost cause myth cemented into not just the Southern psyche but white America in general.

Like The Triumph Of The Will, I would never recommend The Birth Of A Nation as a “must see” film to anyone.  If you’re a film historian and you want to subject yourself to this cancer, that’s your choice, but if you’re a student of film there’s nothing Griffith did technically or artistically in this movie that he didn’t do better in his later efforts, and other film makers have since emulated his innovations and built upon them.

. . . 

For many decades Gone With The Wind was celebrated as the pinnacle of American film making, but once the romantic blinders were removed we see it for what it is:  An over long, over blown epic that promulgates what we now recognize as white supremacy, classism, and rape culture.

And while it uses every technical trick in the book, it doesn’t use them as well as Orson Welles did a year later with Citizen Kane.

Gone With The Wind is really two movies:  A well made Civil War epic and its lackluster Reconstruction sequel.

They should have ended the movie with “As God is my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!”  (Seriously.  The only two memorable scenes in the second half other than “I don’t give a damn” both center around Scarlett O’Hara’s dresses.)

Again, let’s emphasize that a technically well made movie does not excuse bad intentions in thematic content.

Gone With The Wind is a rip-roaring bodice-ripping historical novel, admittedly well research and well written by Margaret Mitchell.

She isn’t necessarily writing from a conscious desire to spread the message of white supremacy, but as a Southern gal who grew up in the midst of the lost cause myth, she ends up breathing that message into every line of the book.

The movie version can’t escape that, nor does it try to.  There’s a brief scene early on where both Mitchell and the later film makers prefigure the lost cause myth where Rhett Butler explains to the good ol’ boys at the Tara cotillion that they’re about to be brutally decimated by the Union in a war of attrition, but both author and film makers side with the good ol’ boys and support their God given right to throw away their lives and destroy their homes in an attempt to keep enslaving millions of innocent people.

That last part in bold never gets mentioned, does it?  As others have observed, Gone With The Wind isn’t antagonistic towards African-Americans, rather it treats them as if they don’t exist other that walking / talking props among the scenery.

In that regard, Gone With The Wind is on par with The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged (only with a far superior writing style).  The protagonists of all three books are narcissistic sociopaths who will lie / cheat / steal / blow up buildings because the common folk -- the people who actually put in the grunt labor to make things work -- are nothing but slaves there for the elites’ entitlements, and God (or market forces, take your pick) help them if they ever raise their heads or voices -- much less their hands -- in protest.

Oh, but doesn’t it look gorgeous?  As those beautiful rich Technicolor gowns and sets and matte paintings.  All those balls and dances.  All those smoldering looks.  All those flames as Atlanta burns…

There’s the true hero of the story:  William Tecumseh Sherman.  The mofo cut the Confederacy in half, destroying lines of supply and communication, obliterating any rebels who dared to stand up to him, shortening the war by several months, and freeing tens of thousands of enslaved people in the process.

None of which would have been necessary if a few greedy bastards such as the O’Haras had lived Christian enough lives to say, “Y’know, maybe the way we’re treating these people is wrong…”

Gone With The Wind proved insanely popular, on a scale with The Birth Of A Nation a generation earlier, and once again it made it easier for mainstream middle American whites to turn a blind eye to injustices still being perpetuated on African-Americans of that day.  

And it kept playing again and again, one of the very few non-Disney movies to enjoy a substantial re-release schedule, popping up about once every seven years in theaters until the arrival of first cable then VHS.

And it’s still popular, still a steady seller in DVD and BluRay.

That’s in no small part to the skill of both Mitchell and the film makers in hiding the most egregiously problematic elements of the story under a think patina of romanticism.  It became a cultural touchstone that everyone knew and everyone could reference, from political cartoons to Carol Burnett skits.

But it’s still racist and white supremacist, saying African-Americans exist only to serve whites.

It’s still classist, saying not all whites are worthy of what the upper class hogs for itself.

It’s still about rape culture, saying all Scarlett needed was one good rape by Rhett Butler to set her straight.

Is it a product of its era?

Absolutely. The same way over the counter heroin at your friendly neighborhood drug store was a product of its era.  The same way cocaine laced Coca-Cola was a product of its era.

Just because it wasn’t recognized as a bad idea then means we should still circulate it now.

Compared to The Birth Of A Nation, Gone With The Wind is a far less hate filled work, and one that inspires less immediate harm.

It has inspired harm over several generations by making it easy to overlook the real harm it represents in favor of a romantic antebellum fantasy.

If someone wants to see a film that represents the Hollywood studio system at the height of its creative power, I’d recommend Casablanca or The Wizard Of Oz.

I’d put Gone With The Wind way down on that list, and I’d caution it with caveats, but I would say it represents a good example of the old Hollywood system firing on all eight cylinders.

At least for the first half of the film.

. . . 

In most ways, Buster Keaton’s The General is the least problematic of these three films.

In another, it’s as bad as Gone With The Wind.

The good thing about The General is that modern audiences can easily enjoy it.

Buster Keaton chasing after a stolen steam locomotive?  What’s not to love?

It’s one of his best comedies and if it’s not the very best, I’d hate to live on the difference.

It certainly lacks the overt racism of The Birth Of A Nation. 

In fact, it almost lacks any race at all.

And ironically, that’s what makes it a problem.

In researching this post, I re-watched The General, something I wasn’t willing to do for The Birth Of A Nation or Gone With The Wind.

I re-watched it looking for African-American faces anywhere in the film.

I think I found four.

Two porters lugging a trunk in an early scene at a train station, possibly two small children with their backs turned to the camera at the edge of a crowd about ten minutes later.

That’s it.

In a movie about one of the most crucial events in American history, an event entirely predicated on the issue of the enslavement of millions of African-Americans…that’s it.

Four faces.

Total screen time: Less than a minute.

If critics can justifiably lambast Gone With The Wind for sailing over the bloodied backs of millions of enslaved African-Americans to focus on the luxury liner S.S. Scarlett O’Hara, what can they say about a Civil War movie that almost succeeds in eradicating those enslaved humans from the story?

Paradoxically, this makes The General the safest of these movies to show an unsuspecting audience.

The Civil War is boiled down to the dark uniform army fighting the light uniform army; why they were fighting is never explored in detail.

But the lost cause myth was so prevalent at that point that Keaton and company didn’t need to discuss the causes of the war.

Audiences – even those completely ignorant of U.S. history -- automatically assume the light uniform army are the good guys simply because Buster is on their side.

Buster would never do anything bad, would he?

Of course not!

And so -- =poof!= -- millions of people erased from history.

Top that, Thanos.

To be honest, I don’t know how a modern audience should react to that, in particular an African-American audience.

Disappointment at being culturally short changed again?

Relief at being spared the most egregious stereotyping and white supremacy apologies?

Or just plain enjoy Buster chasing after a stolen locomotive?

The General’s cultural weightlessness helps it become a great film.

It’s a purely cinematic endeavor, with the intertitles used primarily to explain the spies’ and military leaders’ plans and motives, not tell us what Buster is thinking and doing.

For a guy called “the great stone face” Buster could be awfully expressive with his body language, and he needs title cards the least of all the performers in this movie

. . .

So where does that leave us, as a 21st century audience in a 21st century culture?

We can neither deny nor ignore the impact of these three films.  Even The Birth Of A Nation, as vile and as hateful as it is, influenced the country and the countries attitudes for a century.

Gone With The Wind feels like something we’ve outgrown, something some audience members can look back on with fondness, but not anything we can fully embrace again.

The General can still make us laugh, and in this case the sin of omission seems far less than the others’ sins of commission.

Learn from the past.

Do better in the future.

    © Buzz Dixon