NOOOO
this person called me by dovewingkinnie in the youtube stream chat Completely forbidden!!! no one on youtube is to cross paths into my tumblr!!!!
Something that's been on my mind recently has been the ways in which hair is such a major part of Ranma 1/2. It's a major plot catalyst in at least 4 arcs (Ryoga's introduction, Super Soba, Dragon's Whisker, and Porcupine-Genma). And obviously I feel like this is thie case because hair is a gendered signifier that effects how the characters move through the world (whether or not it remains a punchline).
For Ranma and Genma, the loss of hair is tied to a loss of masculinity. For Akane, the way in which she does her hair defines her performance as a woman. This is why even as the manga progresses, and the arcs become more ridiculous, over-done, and lack the early introspection of "A Bad Cut," these themes never really go away.
In that early chapter Akane grapples with accepting herself for who she is, rather than pushing herself to adhere to a standard of femininity that both promises social acceptance and the "reward" of heterosexual affection from men. Her unwanted haircut (lining up neatly with her unwanted engagement to a woman) forces her to confront the ways in which she does not conform. It's also a visual tool to explain the thematic concerns to the audience. Despite the devastation she feels in the moment, it's truer to herself, and she chooses to start accepting that side of herself and stop trying as hard.
However, obviously because it's Ranma 1/2, the effort never totally goes away, in her nor in the other characters. The threat of her growing facial hair is just too much deviation from the norm for Akane to deal with, just as the threat of Genma and/or Ranma losing all their hair is too much. The audience is asked to accept these concepts as simple truths, and not to question them as plot catalysts in the way we do Akane's haircut "A Bad Cut." Though the later occurrences lack the nuance of chapter 13, they are very revealing about the gendered pressures all the characters experience moving through the world. The emphasis on hair in a comedy about gender really shows the ways in which, even though deviation is not consciously explored past the second book, hair defines these characters as means of expressing and conforming to their gender/gendered stereotypes.
I post a lot of weird shit on here and I'm never consistent but I have been reminded of something and I wanna talk about it.
Does anyone remember Lazy Town? Because like, that used to be my entire childhood. Coming back to it as an adult however...
Like the whole premise of the show is to encourage kids to get up and be active, but... You got all these doll-like characters, then you got Robbie Rotten (an absolute riot), Stephanie, and Sportecus.
We are led to believe from the very first episode that Stephanie is a child, hanging out with other children, doing kid things, and upon searching it up, her character turns out to be 8 (her actor clearly isn't but that's the age of Stephanie as a character).
And then you see Sportecus.
He's a tall, buff guy with a mustache, clearly an adult, and some kind of wannabe superhero and I'm pretty sure there was some side plot about how he and Robbie were twins?? And Robbie is CLEARLY a much older man than all the doll children.
All fine, all chill, all good, nothing wrong... But then you start paying attention to the relationships between the characters.
Stephanie starts writing about Sportecus in her diary all the time like a kid with a crush, Sportecus is constantly hanging out with Stephanie and the other kids and seems particularly close to Stephanie. Stephanie and Sportecus definitely have something going on
But isn't Sportecus an adult?
So like, either Stephanie is high-key flirting with an adult all the time, or Stephanie is an adult hanging out with children (which we already know not to be the case).
Now I had to go back and watch a few episodes to make sure I wasn't just like, delusional or something, because I haven't watched this show since I was a kid, but I remembered that Sportecus and Stephanie would constantly like, flirt and act closer than they were with the other characters, and I was right, however it doesn't seem consistent with Stephanie all the time and I believe this is due to the fact that Stephanie has had three different actors.
Now, nothing wrong with two consenting adults dating (idk how old Stephanie's actor was nor do I know how old Sportecus' actor was) but when it's an adult character interacting with an 8 year old, I feel like it should go without saying that there should not be that much romantic tension between them. I can't just be crazy, right?
At 5 am this morning, almost at the edge of my hearing, so that I felt the vibrations traveling through me/my bed/my home more than actually hearing it, there were 16 extremely deep-sounding booms (explosions?), spaced roughly 30 minutes apart. Curious.
first off can someone explain how there are now 2 doctors? because isn’t the doctor one person who just gets regenerated into a different body when the old one isn’t suitable anymore? so how can there now be 2?
Second, we never actually found out why The Doctor got reincarnated in the same body (if we did i’m sorry for missing it can someone remind me?) so i’d kind of like an explanation for that.
Third, i feel like they kind of messes up trying to represent LGBTQ+. I didn’t really like Donna’s daughter as a character at all, she just came across as quite bratty and spoilt, which i don’t think was the aim at all. Of course, i am not at all disliking the fact that she was trans, i just wish they had represented it better, or in a different way entirely, because representation is important for LGBTQ+, and messing it up can give people wrong impressions.
On the good side, i absolutely love the new doctor and i can’t wait for the christmas episode! I’ve watched the trailer and it genuinely looks awesome, and i’m really excited to see how him and his new companion are going to work with each other.
I also loved Neil in the finale! i can’t hear spice up your life the same now and he played the role superbly. It’s a shame they got rid of him so quickly though as i could see him being the next big villain.
does anyone else forget ian's season one hair entirely until you rewatch an episode and it's like an actual jumpscare from the most x-rated horror movie