#analysis application

[taiturner]

"I think everyone’s first impression of Travis when they saw him on screen, people got an emotionless guy who doesn’t care about anyone and can’t show human emotion. And I was super happy when those were the comments coming out, even though it seemed negative, because that’s exactly what seemed important to me was this guy is going to hold it to his chest, any sort of emotion he has, and you’re barely ever going to see him give you a glimmer of it. I thought about when I was that age, and then I thought about the time period on top of that, and when I was that age, I already didn’t want to give people anything that felt like someone could come back at me with. It’s that protective, 'I don’t want to give someone something they’re going to use against me.'"

"So Travis has those walls built up, but on top of that, the way that he creates those walls is different than mine, where in 1996, it would be misogynistic comments coming at you, attacking you, rather than quiet. It’s not just quiet. He retaliates. That was really important, and the writing is what gave me that. As an actor, it’s our job to justify and figure out why. Why a writer put this in, why is this here, why is it important. That’s how I tried to build how he created his walls. I just read the script and went, ‘Where do they see him? Where is he on the spectrum of hiding himself?’ And I tried to draw from myself, but also from the writing, but also from the time period. It was really just a balance, because even as the episodes go, the writers allowed for Travis to have moments that changed the way that he was perceived and how much he gave people and how much he emoted. I’m glad the negative qualities came out in the sense that he does have toxic behavior that he throws out there quite often."

“It was a big point to me when I was trying to play Travis; none of these people really talked to him before this. There’s gotta be a really reserved quality, a defense mechanism quality to him because these people never cared about a single thing he said, but now all of a sudden they’re expecting him to act how they want him to act, so there’s a defense, there’s an anger in that. That was something I really wanted to explore. His anger, we definitely explore.”

lgbtq meme: (3/5) headcanon lgbtq+ characters — nonbinary TRAVIS MARTINEZ ft. Kevin Alves interview with Yellowjackets Buzz

[alwaysbewoke]

[sainteclectic]

and btw since I'm posting a lot of wholesoul content (intended as platonic but still), i do want to make it clear: my analysis of whole as a character is purely within the narrative of the story! while i am aware that behind the metaphors is whole is cj himself, that's never what i'm writing whole as in my work. basically I'm using the internal logic of the fiction (whole as viewed by the characters in the album) rather than the reason for the fiction existing (as a fictionalized version of chonny's mental state), just like i do with all the other characters. it's important to make that distinction when you're dealing with a piece of fiction so heavily based on the creator i think. I'll never use cj as a basis for how I write whole because I find that a little off putting tbh ^^;

basically I'm playing with touys. ok? play touys with me

[clfixationstation]

...so what if I told you the attack on titan brainrot made me pull an all-nighter...

a least I have a bunch of new aot drafts?

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

pretender

Relationship: Mello/Near Rating: M Chapters: 1/1 Words: 720 Series: sweet atonement (prequel that also works as a standalone)

pretender (noun) - One who simulates, pretends, or feigns. - A claimant to the throne or to the office of ruler (usually without just title). - A person who professes beliefs and opinions that they do not hold in order to conceal their real feelings or motives. With Mello gone I'm not I'm not gone I'm not on the wind, Near is the best option. The only option. L will be gone if he desists and he is nothing if not conscious of his duty. The shape of his life is all wrong and there is nothing he can do to change it; he can only change himself.

Warnings: Self-Harm Tags: Post-Canon, Dissociation, Depersonalization, Self-Dehumanization, Grief/Mourning, Near is not coping with being L on his own, Hallucinations, (or ghosts. Unclear.), Multiplicity/Plurality, Near's Mello Introject, (very quietly and subtly in this one but he is there)

[read on AO3]

[edraculation]

god i fucking hate how much the homestuck fandom waters down characters. hussie did such an amazing job at giving us a collection of multifaceted and nuance-rich characters to really become invested in, and so much of the fandom insists on molding them into a one-dimensional husk of themselves that only reflects the traits they can use to fulfill a trope of some sort, especially female characters. and so often this leads to people horribly misunderstanding so much of the story due to blinding themselves to why somebody could be doing something, either demonizing or angelicizing characters that are actually morally grey, or even the opposite alignment of what the fandom assigned them. this is represented perfectly in the "which troll was the worst" argument, where people almost always respond with gamzee, eridan, or vriska. while I don't believe any of the three were entirely innocent, i don't believe any of them were entirely in the wrong, either. for gamzee, so many of the things people point to in order to make their argument of him being awful or irredeemable were while he wasn't fully capable of properly vetting his decisions, e.g. sopor withdrawal. eridan is definitely less defendable than gamzee, as all of his actions were done in his right mind, but we do have to step back and look at the bigger picture. not only was he a young teenager living under a series of extremely traumatic events, he had lived his whole life having violence drilled into his head because of the lifestyle he had to live and the influence he took from Dualscar. i feel like these factors more heavily influenced his personality, and eventually his violent outburst, more than people give him credit for. after all, i feel like it's obvious that he would've turned out significantly less bitter and violent if he had been raised with more nurture. especially since feferi, a troll of a caste even more known for violence than eridan's, was significantly kinder. vriska, by far the most controversial of the three, was at least partially a product of spidermom's influence. she had no choice but to feed her lusus, of course, so what choice did she have but to become accustom to murder? coupled with the fact that manipulativeness is a trait her caste is nearly universally predisposed to, we can't have expected much from her in terms of kindness to others. now, none of this is to say any of these characters are entirely innocent, they most certainly are not. their flaws are obvious to anyone who's read the comic, so i won't touch them, but labeling any of them as simply "guilty" or "innocent" is a harsh disrespect to hussie's ability to create characters with depth and humanity. no one troll is entirely evil or entirely good, they all have flaws and redeeming traits that give them a truly life-like feel, which makes me believe that asking which troll is objectively the worst is reductionary at best and truly a crime against the masterpiece of literature that is Homestuck.

[squuote]

something that feels particularly notable is how much the game itself pushes the player to continue, whether or not that aligns with the narrator’s desires. That there is no real consequence by not playing an ending except for denying yourself of seeing the outcome of that choice. Which in itself is the very nature of continuing to push the wheel. Choices lead to actions that lead to player interaction. And even in scenarios like the zending, where the narrator desperately does not want us to move forward, the game provides a way for us to do so anyway. The way that the game will always provide a choice no matter the moral ramifications. But whether or not you choose to take that option will always be the choice you bear.

[rememberthelullabies]

It's time for some Random Ramblings!

I love "Loser, Baby". The first time i heard it, it almost made me cry. And i've already seen several people talk about how wholesome the "you're not alone" thing is. But that wasn't even the part that touched me the most.

For me, it was "it's okay to be fucked up." Of course, i'm not saying that Angel (or people in general) shouldn't change, neither is Husk. But often, accepting your situation is the first step towards a better life.

And not only accepting in the sense of acknowledging - because Angel already knows that his life is shitty. But what Husk does is telling Angel he doesn't have to constantly beat himself up about it. Right now, Angel's life is hard, but he's probably making it even harder by thinking stuff like: "God, why did i mess up my life so badly? It's all my fault. I'm such a useless idiot. I got myself into this, and now i can't even get out. I really should be able to get out. I should at least try. But i'm not strong enough, that's so pathetic." And so on. And that's completely normal in his situation. But now, Husk offers him to stop thinking about how different his life should be and why it isn't like that, and just accept his current situation. Saying "i'm not judging you for being a loser, and neither should you."

And then (after that great moment where Husk sings "Baby, that's fine by me", and Angel smiles and it's so sweet)... i think it's also about self-esteem. Because when Angel starts singing, he sounds like he's almost proud of being a loser. Which, again, has nothing to do with not wanting to change or glorifying a horrible life. It's just that in his current job, Angel constantly has to put up a show pretending he feels like the sexiest person in the world. And to protect himself, even in his free time, he pretends he loves his life - when in reality, he has started hating all of it more and more. Not just his life, but also himself. This ties back to the beating himself up thing i talked about before, but it goes so much deeper. When Husk encourages him to sing in "Loser, Baby", he offers Angel to be proud of who he is, for the first time in decades. As messed up as his life is, it must be so liberating to allow yourself to say: "Hell yeah, that's me, i'm like this, so what?" This allows him to reconnect to who he is, realize that his life is worth living, so it's also worth changing.

And another little thing: I think the "i've got an appetite for..." part is also important. Because a healthy changing process also includes accepting what you can't change about yourself. Yes, Angel has always wanted certain things, he will never turn into a chaste nun. That's okay. He doesn't have to become a completely different person in order to have a better life, he can live with his "sinful" traits and still get better.

And lastly, i wanted to point out that "Loser, Baby" is a great title/ main chorus line because it symbolises taking the words you use to beat yourself up and turn them into something positive - because others and yourself can love you even for your bad parts.

[hephaestuscrew]

"Minkowski's been talking about Sondheim again…": Minkowski's love of musical theatre and what it reveals about her characterisation and her relationships

TL;DR: Renée Minkowski's love of musicals, while it might seem just like a mundane character detail, is used to give depth to her character because it contrasts with expectations of her from both the listening audience and the other characters. Her willingness or unwillingness to share this interest in different circumstances reveals her relationships with other characters at various points. Since this is a long one, if you'd rather read it as a document, you can view it here: Google Doc version.

"She actually really cares about these talent shows": Episode 8 (Box 953)

In the early episodes of Season 1, Minkowski is presented (largely through Eiffel's unreliable perspective) purely as a strict no-nonsense authority figure without much emotional depth, the kind of person who only likes things that are useful, purposeful, or mandated by Command. In contrast, musical theatre is a creative pursuit that has nothing to do with the mission of the Hephaestus and is viewed by many people as fairly frivolous or silly. The gradual exploration of Minkowski's passion for musicals is one of the many ways that the show expands and challenges our understanding of her as a character. 

The first indication that we get of her interest in musicals is through her entry into the infamous talent show, something that is required as part of the mission. Minkowski really cares about 'crew morale' activities in general, even when they actually have a negative effect on morale and even before she's friends with any of her crew (for example, the Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners in the earlier stage of the mission), perhaps partly because doing things in the "right way" is important to her. 

But Eiffel senses that the talent shows aren't just about rules for her: "it’s bad enough when she makes us do something just because it’s military protocol, but I think that she actually really cares about these talent shows". This might be the first indication that we get of Minkowski caring deeply about anything that isn't inherently part of her role as a Commander. Moments like this are part of the gradual process of giving us insight into her character beyond the Commander archetype that she tries to embody. And yet, she only indulges her theatrical passion because something mandatory gives her permission, or an excuse, to let another part of herself out.

Of course, to satisfy the needs of a talent show, she'd only need to provide a performance of a few minutes. But Eiffel mentions "the second act of the play" - which along with Hera's comment that "Isabel isn't the biggest role in the play" - implies that Minkowski was intending to put on the whole of Pirates of Penzance as her talent show act, rather than a few of the songs or some kind of medley. (I suppose that Eiffel could be exaggerating or Minkowski might have been planning to do extracts from different parts of the play, but I prefer the interpretation in which Minkowski gets to be more ridiculous.) 

Even though no one else would be willing to be in her production of Pirates of Penzance, Minkowski casts Hera as Isabel, a role with two lines and no solo singing. I found some audition notes for this play which said "The traditional staging gives [Isabel] more prominence than the solo opportunities of the part suggest, so she must be a good actress" which does make me sad in relation to Hera's inability to have a more significant role by being physically present on stage. 

It’s sweet that Hera still wants to take part though. She tells Eiffel "Pirates of Penzance is a classic of 19th century comic opera", so either she’s absorbed what Minkowski has told her about the show, or she’s done her own research and formed her own opinions. I enjoy the fact that Hera is the one Hephaestus crew member who shows potential to share Minkowski's musical theatre appreciation; I like to think that this is something they could explore together post-canon.

Anyway, I'm obsessed with the idea that Minkowski was planning to play every character except one in Pirates of Penzance, a show which is designed to have 10 principal characters and a chorus of 14 men. It seems that her contribution to the talent show was supposed to be an entire two-hour two-act musical, with costumes and props, in which she would play almost all of the parts. This is very funny to me as the perhaps predictable consequence of giving an ambitious and frustrated grown-up theatre kid a position of authority and asking them to arrange a talent show. Minkowski knows that the audience will be made up of her subordinates who are theoretically obliged by the chain of command to watch and listen, so she absolutely tries to make the most of that opportunity. There's probably also a degree to which she limits other people's involvement in her musical because - as with her other endeavors - she wants the outcome to be almost entirely within her control (something that is usually pretty much impossible in as collaborative a medium as musical theatre).

Of course, Minkowski's behaviour in most of the talent show episode is affected by her being drugged by Hilbert. This creates an exaggerated situation which is the first real opportunity for Minkowski to be something other than the strict sensible authoritarian Commander and the foil to Eiffel's jokey laid-back attitude. I don't agree with ideas that being intoxicated brings out anyone's true self (especially in the absence of consent for the intoxication), but it seems pretty clear that being under the influence of whatever was in Hilbert's concoction caused Minkowski to fully commit to a level of manic enthusiasm for her musical production that might have otherwise been obscured by her professionalism. It's a particular kind of person who belts showtunes when drunk, and Minkowski is that kind of person, even if that's not how she wants to present herself. (As a sidenote, I seem to remember that they took Emma Sherr-Ziarko's script off her to help her sound more drunk. It's an excellent performance.)

Minkowski wants interval ice cream. She wants "pirate costumes" (and she'll threaten to shoot a man to get them). She wants "swashes and buckles". She wants whatever props she can get her hands on (including a real cannon). This show is important to her, even though only three other people will witness it and two of them actively don't want to be there. It’s important to her for its own sake.

Eiffel says Minkowski wants "a second pair of eyes to tell her if the prop sabre for her Major-General costume was a bit much…"  While I certainly wouldn't put it past Goddard Futuristics to have a prop sabre on the station for no apparent reason, it feels more likely that she might have made it or adapted some existing item. Which suggests that maybe she was that passionate about the props even before Hilbert drugged her. 

Even so, it does feel significant that Minkowski's love of musicals is only revealed in the episode in which she is drugged, exhibiting lowered inhibitions, exaggerated behaviour, and an "impaired euphoric effect". Her love of musical theatre is initially revealed through a professional structure that provides permission, and then further emphasised by a forced intoxication that exaggerates some impulses that perhaps she already had.

"Some hobbies other than making trains run on time": Episode 17 (Bach to the Future)

After Eiffel tells to find Minkowski to find something else to do while her work duties have quietened down, they have the following exchange:

EIFFEL: You must have some hobbies other than making trains run on time. Something to do with friends? Boyfriends? MINKOWSKI: Of course I do, but, well, there aren't really a lot of opportunities for rock climbing or trail hiking in the immediate vicinity. 

Even though this quote doesn't mention musicals, I've included it here for two reasons. Firstly, it's very funny to me that, even after the talent show debacle, Eiffel acts like he's never had any evidence of Minkowski's hobbies. She tried to perform a whole play almost single-handedly and it didn't occur to him that this might indicate an interest of hers outside of work. I think this reflects the fairly two-dimensional view that Eiffel has previously had of Minkowski, which her interest in musical theatre didn't fit into. 

Secondly, it feels notable that Minkowski doesn't mention musical theatre here. She wants to show that she has non-work interests, but without undermining her own authoritative image. Her interest in rock climbing and trail hiking - while it may be genuine - fits with how she wants to be seen as a Commander. These are hobbies which portray her as physically capable, with a high degree of stamina and a willingness to adapt to perhaps less hospitable surroundings. Of course, Minkowski does have these traits and they serve her well on the Hephaestus. But there's not really anything particularly surprising about her expressing these interests. The surprise in this scene comes from the reveal that she has a husband, a character detail which - like her love of musicals - isn't something we'd necessarily expect from the archetype-based view of her we are initially presented with. 

Her interest in rock climbing and trail hiking never come up again, because these details don't really deepen her characterisation (or at least, they aren't really used to deepen her characterisation beyond proving that she isn't entirely all-work-and-no-play). In contrast, Minkowski's love of musicals is brought up over and over because it shows another side of her that she struggles to reveal on the Hephaestus, and that allows more interesting things to be done with her characterisation.

"You wanted to write showtunes": Episode 35 (Need to Know)

Alongside the more high stakes discoveries prompted by the leak from Kepler's files, we also learn that Minkowski applied to - and was rejected from - the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program.

Up until this point, we've only had evidence that Minkowski enjoys performing in musicals. But here we learn that Minkowski doesn't just love watching or performing in musicals - she wanted to write them too. This suggests a creative side to her that we never see her fully express.

The course

The Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program claims to be the only course of its kind in the world and it accepts just 30 students each year. The current application process requires applicants to: upload play scripts or recordings of songs they've written; answer a large number of extended response questions about their creative process and views on musical theatre; write a 'statement of purpose' which has to talk about why they are applying and include 3 original ideas for musicals; provide a professional resume and a digital portfolio; complete an exercise of writing in response to a prompt; and undergo an interview. The process might have changed somewhat since Minkowski would have been applying (which, if it was soon after she finished college, might have been around the early 2000s) or it might be different in Wolf 359's alternate universe, but I think we can safely assume that applying to this course was a serious undertaking that required an intense amount of commitment and work. 

Applying to a course like that isn't something you do half-heartedly or on a whim. You couldn't apply to this course if you hadn't done a fair amount of musical theatre writing already. (The course requires applicants to choose to apply as bookwriters, lyricists, or composers, but I'm not going to make a guess here as to which of these Minkowski went for.) The fact that Minkowski wanted to study this course suggests that she was seriously considering trying to make a career out of musical theatre writing. In Once In A Lifetime, she tells Cutter that commanding a space station has always been her dream job, but we've got evidence here that it wasn't her only dream job. There's something kind of funny and kind of sad about the idea that writing musicals was her back-up / fall-back career path. She does not like to make life easy for herself.

The revelation 

This information is revealed against Minkowski's will. It's not something she wanted people to find out, and she isn't happy about them knowing:

JACOBI: "Dear Renée, thank you for your interest in the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program..." MINKOWSKI: Oh, come on!  JACOBI: (pressing on) "We are sorry to say, we will not be able to offer you a spot in this year's blah blah blah." Oh this is too good. You wanted to write showtunes?  MINKOWSKI: Number one? Shut up. Number two, why are my personal records on there?! [...] How is it in any way relevant?! JACOBI: Oh, I think it's very relevant. I mean, if you're sending someone to pilot ships in deep space, you want to make sure that they can, you know... paint with all the colors of the wind.  Jacobi CRACKS UP - and, although to a lesser degree, so does Lovelace. Minkowski looks at her: really?  LOVELACE: Sorry, Minkowski. It's... it's a little funny.  MINKOWKSI: No, it isn't!

Minkowski seems defensive and embarrassed here. She obviously doesn't trust everyone there with this revelation (Jacobi, Maxwell, Lovelace, and Hera are all present). She considers this information to be "personal" and irrelevant and not even "a little funny". She's used to reactions like Jacobi's (and to a lesser extent Lovelace's); in Ep41 Memoria, she says "most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals" (see below for more thoughts about this quote). But the fact that these mocking reactions are expected doesn't mean that they don't bother her. She wants so badly to be taken seriously and, in this scene, her interest in musical theatre seems to be incompatible with that. Jacobi reacts the way that he does because of the idea that I've already expressed, that a passion for musical theatre does not fit with the serious authoritative image that Minkowski has often presented. It's not the typical hobby of a soldier, especially not a Commander.

To me, the way Lovelace laughs suggests that she might not have previously known about Minkowski's love of musicals, or at least perhaps not the full extent of it. At any rate, it's definitely news to Jacobi. And Minkowski clearly hasn't talked about it enough for it not to feel like a big reveal for her.

The rejection 

It's notable that this reveal is not just that she wanted to write for the stage, but also that she failed to get into a course that might have helped her work towards that goal. This of course compounds Minkowski's discomfort at having this information revealed. Not only did she want to write showtunes, but she encountered rejection in her attempts to do so. This detail implies that perhaps it wasn't just the appeal of her spacefaring dream that stopped her going down a theatrical career path. 

I'm about to move more into headcanon territory rather than just straightforward analysis, but I personally believe that, while Minkowski auditioned for a lot of musicals (particularly as a child / young person), she was never cast as the main role. She seems embarrassed about her interest in musical theatre in a way that (at least judging by people I've encountered) people who were always the lead in their school / college productions don't tend to be. 

We don't have much evidence about her actual level of singing/acting ability, given that she is inebriated during the only time we hear her sing in the podcast. However, it resonates with other aspects of her characterisation to imagine that Minkowski was generally good enough to get an ensemble part but never quite good enough to be cast as a main part. I think she might see only ever being cast as part of the ensemble, and failing to get into the Tisch Musical Theatre Writing programme, as slightly more down-to-earth examples of the same pattern as her repeated rejections from NASA. She is desperate to prove herself. She is "someone who very much wants to matter. To do something important." When she casts herself as almost every part in Pirates of Penzance, she is finally taking the opportunity to be a main character, an opportunity which I imagine had been denied to her over and over in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

"It's just from a play I saw once": Episode 41 (Memoria)

The next scene I want to talk about is from a memory of Hera's, which took place on Day 57 of the Hephaestus mission and in which Minkowski appears to be talking about the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George:

MINKOWSKI: Oh, it's just from a play I saw once. It doesn't matter. (BEAT) The guy who sings it is this famous French painter. And his entire life is kinda falling apart. But he can always turn what's happening around him into these beautiful paintings.  HERA: And? MINKOWSKI: And... That's, I don't know. Reassuring, maybe? (BEAT) I don't know why I'm going on about this. You don't care.  HERA: I think it's interesting.  MINKOWSKI: Yeah? Most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals.  HERA: I don't see what's funny about it.  MINKOWSKI: Well, thank you Hera, but you're not exactly... you know.  HERA: I'm not... what? 

There's a couple of different things I want to pick out from this exchange. Firstly, the line "Most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals" makes me sad. I don't think she's talking about people on the Hephaestus there. Judging by the quote I talked about from Bach to the Future, Eiffel definitely wouldn't have registered Minkowski's love of musicals at this stage, and I doubt Hilbert cares at all about the hobbies of his fellow crew members. So Minkowski is talking about experiences that she's had on Earth, of people mocking her interest in musicals and thinking it doesn't fit with who she is. You can hear the impact of those experiences in Minkowski's reluctance to elaborate, in the way she says that something she obviously cares about doesn't matter, in her assumption that Hera doesn't care.

Secondly, this scene is a complicated one for Minkowski and Hera's relationship. On the one hand, Minkowski freely talks to Hera about something she's passionate about, and Hera listens and expresses interest. Hera validates Minkowski's interest in musical theatre without making a thing of it being weird and Minkowski thanks her. Again, it’s shown as an interest they could could potentially share.

But on the other hand, it seems like part of the reason Minkowski feels able to open up to Hera is because at this point Minkowski doesn't see opening up to Hera as fully equivalent to opening up to a fellow human. She doesn't just accept Hera not making fun of her interest; instead it seems Minkowski is about to imply that this lack of judgment indicates Hera's difference from humans (although she does have the decency not to say it outright). Minkowski's expectation of judgment from others contributes to her saying something very hurtful to Hera here. (This kind of potential consequence of negative self-attitude is explored a lot with Eiffel, so it's interesting that Minkowski can sometimes have a similar issue.)

Minkowski and Hera's conversation is interrupted when:

The DOOR OPENS.  EIFFEL: Hey, Minkowski, we've - What are you guys talking about?  MINKOWSKI: We were just discussing how I'm going to take away your hot water privileges if you don't reset the long-range scan.

Eiffel can obviously tell that he's walked in on a conversation that is about something other than work, or he wouldn't have asked. But Minkowski actively chooses not to tell him that she was talking to Hera about musicals. Perhaps she doesn't know how to open up to a human subordinate about it. Perhaps she doesn't trust him not to make fun of her. Perhaps she just doesn't have any impulse to talk about her interests with him. Either way, if Minkowski's love of musicals is something which reflects a side of her personality outside of her Commander role, this is a moment where she chooses not to take an opportunity to share that side of herself with Eiffel. This reflects the emotional distance between them three months into the mission, which forms a nice contrast with the next couple of quotes I'm going to talk about.

"Composition. Balance. Harmony.": Episode 54 (The Watchtower)

When Eiffel comes directly face to face with alien life, he discovers that music is the human invention that fascinates the Dear Listeners:

EIFFEL: You haven't figured out music?  BOB: ORDER. DESIGN. TENSION. COMPOSITION. BALANCE. HARMONY.  EIFFEL: (low, to himself) Minkowski's been talking about Sondheim again…

I only learned in the course of writing this post that in this moment the Dear Listeners are almost exactly quoting a repeated phrase used throughout Sunday in the Park with George. The titular protagonist lists various combinations of these qualities in multiple songs in reference to his art. In the closing song, the lyrics are "Order. Design. Tension. Composition. Balance. Light. [...] Harmony." It's not only Eiffel's references that the Dear Listeners are incorporating into their speech - they've picked this one up from Minkowski. This also suggests that some element of her appreciation for musicals and the way she talks about them has fed into the Dear Listeners' understanding of the human phenomenon of music. The Dear Listeners aren't just parroting - they understood the quote enough that they left out the word "light", arguably the only quality in that phrase which isn't a big part of music as well as visual art. Eiffel likes music too, but I don't think that this is how he'd talk about his favourite songs.

This is a refrain about finding order and beauty out of the chaos and uncertainty of life, which was also the aspect of Sunday in the Park with George that Minkowski focused on when talking about it in Memoria. It suggests that art/music could be something governed by rules and principles, which is potentially something that appeals both to Minkowski and to the Dear Listeners.

Eiffel's response to this reference is one of those little hints that reminds us that Eiffel and Minkowski have spent a lot of time together and that not all of that time has involved them being at each others' throats or actively in a life-or-death situation. Some of it has just been Minkowski going on about a musical she loves and Eiffel (willingly or not) paying enough attention that he recognises this phrase as a Sondheim quote that Minkowski has talked about. I suppose that this quote might have been in Eiffel's pop-culture-brain anyway, but judging from Eiffel's general tastes and the fact that I don't think Sunday in the Park with George is one of the more commonly known Sondheim musicals among non-musical fans, it seems more likely that this quote is something he only knows because Minkowski has talked about it. 

Eiffel sounds exasperated at the mention, like he's heard Minkowski talk about Sondheim far too much. But I'd argue that this still says something positive about their relationship, when we contrast it with a couple of other moments I've already mentioned. Firstly, when her previous musical theatre ambitions are revealed to Jacobi, Maxwell, and Lovelace in Need to Know, Minkowski seems embarrassed and defensive. Secondly, in the memory from Memoria, she avoids telling Eiffel that she was talking about this same musical. Yet, by the time The Watchtower takes place, Eiffel is sick of hearing Minkowski talk about Sondheim. She doesn't have the same barriers up in sharing her interests with him, even though he doesn't have the same interests. I think this is a demonstration of how comfortable she feels with him. It's a hint at the kind of easy downtime that they've sometimes shared.

"One day more": Episode 61 (Brave New World)

Eiffel recognises another musical reference of Minkowski’s in the finale. As the crew are preparing for their final confrontation with Cutter and co., Minkowski quotes Les Misérables, mostly to herself - but Eiffel recognises the lyrics and joins in:

EIFFEL: Hey - chin up, soldier. We're almost through. Just one more day, and then we're done.  MINKOWSKI: Yeah, one more day. (more to herself) The time is now, the place is here - one day more.  EIFFEL: - one day more.  They both stop, dead in their tracks. MINKOWSKI: Did you just - ?  EIFFEL: Was that what I - ?  They look at each other: No way. And BURST INTO LAUGHTER.  EIFFEL: Man... this is really it, huh? The end of everything. 

It feels really important that Minkowski and Eiffel share this moment of togetherness before she tries to send him back to Earth and before the rest of the action goes down. I think there’s some nice symbolism about them finding a way to communicate that they both understand. Making references is Eiffel's thing, and musicals are Minkowski's thing, so this is a synthesis of their two approaches. Again, there's a contrast with Minkowski's previous unwillingness to share her musical theatre passions with Eiffel (at least without the mitigating circumstances of a mandatory talent show and some kind of intoxicating substance).

I talked about the significance of the fact that they reference this particular musical in this post from ages ago. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler for Les Misérables to say that the revolution that the song One Day More is building up to does not end well for the revolutionaries. When Eiffel says "Just one more day, and then we're done", it encompasses both the possibility that the crew will escape to travel back to Earth and the possibility that they will all die. Minkowski's reference to a famously tragic musical suggests that it's the latter possibility that's at the forefront of her mind (right before she tries to send Eiffel away from the danger). But Les Misérables is also a story about people standing together in solidarity against powerful oppressive forces, which gives particular resonance to the way that this reference brings Eiffel and Minkowski together in a moment of being completely on the same wavelength as they prepare to fight Cutter and Pryce's plan.

When they laugh here, it's not about the 'hilariousness' of Minkowski's interest in musicals, it's about their unexpected unison - Eiffel's recognition of Minkowski's reference and Minkowski's surprise at the fact he joined in. It's a laugh of togetherness, of shared understanding, of friendship. It's a moment of lightness in dark times. And that moment is provided by Minkowski's pop culture interests, not Eiffel's. In spite of all they've been through, she's not lost that part of herself, and in fact, she's more open about it, at least to Eiffel.

I'll finish by highlighting what Eiffel says when he's trying to get into character to impersonate Minkowski so he can turn the Sol around:

EIFFEL: Umm... yes, this is Lieutenant Commander Renée Minkowski. I'm... uh... well I sure love schedules, and, uh, musicals. And that man, who I married…

I just think this is a nice example of Eiffel not defining Minkowski solely by her professional Commander role. Sure, she likes schedules (probably in a personal as well a professional capacity to be fair), but she also loves musicals, and her husband. It is a fairly reductive overview of her as a person, but it feels reductive in a fond way, like these things are part of Minkowski's brand to Eiffel in a way that he might affectionately tease her about. (Credit to @commsroom for this thought.) His view of Minkowski has come a long way from "our resident Statsi agent" or even just "you must have some hobbies other than making trains run on time." He doesn't see any contradiction or inherent humour in Lieutenant Commander Renée Minkowski's appreciation of musicals.

Conclusion

Minkowski's love of musical theatre is used to deepen her characterisation and is one of the ways in which we gradually begin to see her complexity beyond the strict Commander archetype. The degree to which she is prepared to share this interest at various points is used to illustrate the nature of her relationships with other characters: a general unwillingness to show a less serious side of herself; a complicated potential shared interest with Hera; and the growing understanding between her and Eiffel.

If you read this whole thing, well done / thank you 😄 It wasn't meant to be this long - it just happened… Feel free to share your thoughts!

[mania-sama]

Repetition in Mondstadt (Genshin Impact Analysis)

In response to @sleepytwyla42's request for my thoughts in Old Mondstadt, I present you this: something that is not quite Old Mondstadt but kind of sort of is. If you squint. :)

One of the most common and sensible theories for Genshin Impact's main storyline is that the Traveler is going to return to Mondstadt for, essentially, Round 2 of Archon quests. This is backed namely by the fact that the Mondstadt storyline feels very unfinished, especially in comparison to the other nations. There are several mysteries left yet to unfold, with their proximity to Khaenri'ah being one and the upside-down tainted Anemo Statue of the Seven being another. However, I'd like to present a slightly different point of view on why we are probably going to be returning to Mondstadt before this game is over:

Mondstadt's theme of repetition. Yes, I think it has even Sumeru beat out on this theme. Here's why.

Everybody knows the story of Old Mondstadt and Decarabian. It's fairly straightforward: Decarabian, the god of storms, and Andrius, the north wind (god of ice and snow, if you wish to interpret it that way) get into a small war with each other during the chaotic, power-struggle time period overall known as the Archon War. Andrius covers the land now known as Mondstadt in ice and snow, making it virtually uninhabitable by humans, which causes Decarabian to gather his followers/people into a sectioned-off area. He encases his segment in protective winds, and although it does a good job of keeping out the cold, he also completely traps his people inside. They cannot escape (for the most part), he treats them terribly, hides in his tower to "watch" over them, and is overall an evil tyrant. When evil tyrants rule, revolutions tend to happen. After encouragement from a small wind sprite giving a blessing to a group of Gunnhildr's that left Decarabian's land to live in the cold, Mondstadt's people uprise and overthrow Decarabian's rule. No, we do not know where Decarabian is now. We are not quite sure where his body is or how they managed to contain such a powerful god.

Anyway, now that we have a brief summary of Old Mondstadt, it is time to move to what happens next. Decarabian's (ex) followers all leave to live in the little sprite-blessed town called Mondstadt. The wind sprite strikes up a deal with Andrius; Andrius stops terrorizing the land and gives up his title of Anemo Archon to Barbatos, and Barbatos proceeds to terraform the land to be more habitable to his newfound people. These people pack up and move to Cider Lake, which is then terraformed to keep the city strategically protected.

Now we have (New?) Mondstadt and the Anemo Archon. Here is where our repetition begins.

The Genshin Impact manga depicts two times of Mondstadt's history: one, the Era of Aristocracy, which was Venessa's early life in Mondstadt as a slave battling for her freedom. The second is Diluc and Kaeya's timeline, about 3-4 years before the main timeline events, where their father dies, they fight, and Diluc defects. For right now, we will focus on the Era of Aristocracy.

Here is this thing about aristocracy: it doesn't come out of nowhere. Generally speaking, based on actual human history, ruling clans, factions, and families tend to come from the early founders of a certain city/state/nation. They could also come from the noble classes of other cities/states/nations, and they just use their wealth, power, and status to establish dominance in whatever region they are taking over. Really, truly, the whole of Mondstadt is pretty reminiscent of French and English history.

To tie into Mondstadt: Really, truly, the whole of this nation is pretty reminiscent of French and English history. We see that Decarabian is overthrown by the people. What we don't see, at first, is that the ones leading the charge would later become the major and minor noble clans. Some of them probably already were noble families (case in point, the Gunnhildrs probably were. They most likely used some sect of their power to escape the storms and brave the Monstadt's snowy wasteland). A tyrannical ruler is never going to rule alone. They are always going to have an upper noble class that they have in their pocket to quell the common people and stomp out uprisings. You have to have friends to defeat your enemies. Or, you want to keep those wealthy who are happy, appealing to other proverb keep your friends close but your enemies closer. The noble class can kill you. Typically, peasants cannot.

Until the peasants do kill you. In this case, they probably still did have help from some rich people. See: the likelihood of the Gunnhildr family being high nobles. MOVING ON.

So three big clans established Mondstadt on Cider Lake with the blessing of freedom and independence from Barbatos: Gunnhildr, Lawrence, and Imunlaukr (which seems to have faded into obscurity in modern Mondstadt, but I digress). You may be thinking: what about Ragnvindr? I imagine they were a noble class at this time, along with many unnamed ones; they were likely lesser nobles and weren't those founding Mondstadt like the big three.

What do nobles do when they gain power? That's right. THEY BECOME TRYANTS! Even though Barbatos gave them their independence to escape tyranny, rich people did what rich people do best and they became rulers and tyrants. This is where we see the first major repetition come into play in Mondstadt's history. Even though they all knew of Decarabian's tyranny like the back of their hand, history still repeated itself. Like it always doomed to do.

And like Venti is always doomed to do, he wakes from his slumber to give his blessing to his people to overthrow the tyrannical Lawrence clan. As for the other clans, people tend to herald the Gunnhildr clan mainly for being awesome and helping the people, but they were still a clan that did NOTHING until the common people revolted. Which is also pretty common in real-life history. Rich clans tend to only cash in when it seems profitable, and in order to not be exiled with the "bad guys", even though their inaction was still aiding the tyranny (proverb: "Evil persists when good people do nothing"),

We come to the modern day, where the clans are still evident in different ways. While the Lawrence clan and Imunlaukr clans have both lost significant power and relevance (due to their previous exile) and are more just an occasional societal nuisance, the Gunnhildr and Ragnvindr clans are still extremely prevalent in modern society. And while I am not saying that either of them is going to repeat their ancestors' mistakes any time soon (moreso Diluc than Jean, no hate to my queen though, it's just the archetype of intense, overworked protection leading to Accidental Tyranny), it still shows that Mondstadt cannot let go of the scars of the past. Their aristocracy still exists, it just breathes a different air.

It seems inevitable that one day, it will be the Gunnhildr's turn to be tyrannical. It's just how this thing goes. Or, someone else is going to come in and take over to terrorize the Mondstadt citizens. I am going to use this as a shitty transition into the second repetition: Dvalin and Durin.

By the time Dvalin comes around, the Archon War is finished and done with. This also means that dragons are Not Liked by General Populous, so nobody really likes this new, innocent creature. Nobody tries to befriend it. Except for, well, Venti. Venti and Dvalin the Dragon become friends. They are ride or DIE, okay. And then the abyss strikes.

While Mondstadt's people fight a war on the ground by sending out a squadron to the apparent source of the abyssal monsters (Khaenri'ah), Venti and Dvalin fight a sky(?) war against the Khemia-dragon named Durin, who is most notable for being Evil, corrupted by the Abyss, and for terrorizing the citizens of Mondstadt. Dvalin and Venti manage to defeat Durin, but not without grave hits to their health. They both seem to follow the path of deep slumber to recover from the abyssal corrosion they suffered from the fight. And while Venti seemed to heal... Dvalin, with an immense lack of Venti's archon power, is not so lucky.

Dvalin is then woken from his slumber and his abyssal corrosion from his fight 500 years ago is used to by the Abyss to be Evil and terrorize the citizens of Mondstadt. Sound familiar? Yes, because this is the second major repetition. While it isn't the exact same circumstances, it is still similar. Proper measures were not taken to root out evil (like the Mondstadt aristocracy), and thus, evil came back with a vicious bite. Thankfully, the Traveler's ability to cure abyssal corrosion seems to have solved the biggest of these issues. Still don't know what's going on with Durin's heart, though. That's kind of. Concerning.

But on the topic of dragons, we do have another pretty important and relevant repetition, which concerns both the first and the second half of the Genshin Impact manga, and now with our favorite evil organization: the Fatui!

The Era of Aristocracy is a painful time in Mondstadt's history. It is also a point in time when Ursa the Drake was roaming around Mondstadt. For those unaware, the creature drake is essentially just a dragon/dragon-like animal. So, by accordance to our pre-established rules, Ursa was not very well liked at this point. She was also a bit of a foul creature, unlike Dvalin, who was pretty innocent and unassuming at his point of roaming Teyvat originally.

Vanessa and her tribe run into Ursa the Drake while traveling in the Mondstadt wilderness, which is what leads to their seeking of refugee, capture, and subsequent enslavement by the high nobles in Mondstadt on Cider Lake. They do eventually have to fight Ursa the Drake again in the gladiator-type arena while attempting to win their freedom, and while they think they've killed Ursa, they've merely driven her away.

Which is why she comes back, 1000 years later. Ursa the Drake serves as sort of our third and fourth repetition. For now, I will just focus on the third major repetition: the mere fact of her return. Just like always, something that is not properly vanquished will come back to bite in Mondstadt. And so it does: Ursa does not merely terrorize a group of traveling tribesmen. Ursa indirectly kills Crepus, Diluc's father, which leads to a massive political scandal. Eroch, a high-ranking member of the Knights of Favonius, tries first to make Diluc take credit for killing Ursa (at this point in time, Ursa had only been driven away again, not killed). Eroch suggests this because Diluc, newly 18 - quite literally, it was his birthday - and promoted in the Knights, was the only one there at the time of Crepus' death. Diluc, enraged by the suggestion, promptly quits the Knights and flees Mondstadt entirely after a fight with his adopted brother, Kaeya. Eroch takes claim for the defeat, but that is quickly uprooted and dismissed.

As I've repeated, nothing that is not killed comes back. Nothing that is not defeated will bite. Ursa does not come back again, but she is killed by a Fatui Harbinger: Il Dottore, the Doctor, the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. And the big thing to understand about Dottore is that he is not a dumb man; he does not do something nice for the sake of nicety. No. This action of eliminating a major threat to Mondstadt makes Mondstadt indebted to Snezhnaya and the Fatui Harbingers.

You all have (presumably) played the Archon Quest. You know that the major point of concern for our leaders of Mondstadt is to make sure that the Fatui have no hand in eliminating Dvalin. That would put them in an incredibly horrendous position with Snezhnaya, and they could not afford it. Hence, our fourth major repetition: a dragon that terrorizes Mondstadt and leads to immense pressure from Mondstadt and the Fatui Harbingers. A problem that is not killed or defeated coming to bite them in the ass, as always.

It is also at this point that Venti makes a reappearance in Mondstadt. He wakes up again to help his people, as he always does when it is apparent their freedom is in danger. So far, this has been recorded in these instances (excluding the Archon War/and the years following. Only starting from when he first relinquished full freedom to his people): the Era of Aristocracy, the Cataclysm, and the Stormterror.

... But it really isn't Stormterror, is it? Because we know that Dvalin was never really out to kill anybody. He was being hurt and manipulated. That situation is quite unlike the Cataclysm, in which he likely also received a calling from Celestia and the other gods to, I don't know, do something??????????? So it can't just be Stormterror. Venti knows that his people's freedom is at stake.

And, well, that Abyss issue was never really resolved in Mondstadt, was it? Durin's heart is still beating, Venti's statue is corroded and upside-down, and the hilichurls and other Abyssal creatures still have strongholds and are forming true offenses against Mondstadt. And the Fatui are still, you know, around. They were never defeated. Only minorly wounded, a mere setback in their plan.

If I know anything about Mondstadt, it is that their oversights will eat them alive.

At least Barbatos is sticking around for this one.

[bleue-flora]

It's very interesting... how despite efforts to remain an objective overseer of the whole story, it seems the point of view of the streamer always seems to taint the facts. It's like the foundational lore streams are muddied in the innate bias of the streamer's character and no matter how much comparison to the wider picture or other characters, their perception still colors the truth.

For example, why is it that we believe Dream in the second to last finale stream? We know he's a liar. We know the things he's lied about and why. We know he put's on a show before, specifically for Tommy and Tubbo. And yet, we believe him? We believe them. They reveal that the disc finale was all staged, in a sinisterly over the top room. And we believe every word they say. They make fun of clingy duo like a couple of movie bad guys, malicious cackle and all. And yet, still we believe them. In the very next stream, we see Dream's motivation change, like we knew it would, and yet we still believe what they said before, even when we now know part of it wasn't real. That's not to say everything they say is a lie, we know for sure some of it is true. Still, every convincing lie is born of some form of truth and we know Dream uses this method of lying. We have every reason to doubt anything they say to anyone but eachother because we know they play their parts just like their enemies designate them. And yet, we still believe them. Why?

Maybe because clingy duo does.

And because they believe it's fact, it becomes fact to the viewer.

Not to say it isn't, or that there isn't truth in it, or that anyone is wrong for taking what they said and making assumptions, or that their assumptions are wrong... But I had someone tell me recently about how some of the Enderboo community dismissed the brainwash comment as a lie because it didn't align with Ranboo lore and ever since then, I realized you know it would be reasonable to say they lied, which begs the question, what else did they lie or exaggerate or give partial truth about?...

[aardvaark]

every time brennan says psychology is a "soft science" i’m like. bestie. beloved. i’m so sorry but i have to tell you something about anthropology

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

...The love potion is Hell Viagra. Guys tHE LOVE POTION IS HELL VIAGRA-

Like okay maybe its not *exactly* that. I don't think Viagra like, actively turns ppl on or whatever, BUT I think it's primary intended purpose IS something similar. It's get horny juice. Cuz like, think about it for a second. Why sell something that's JUST advertised as a date r*pe drug? Why would you do that? Like, I get that it's hell, and bad people gonna do bad things, but the audience for that kind of thing is probably relatively limited. Plus, there are definitely people down there that would be VERY put off by a company that sells something being actively advertised as for date r*pe. Like, a lot of the sinners we see seem to be. Normal people. Which is also why Val shooting up the hotel would be considered bad for the Vees image- A lot of the truly nasty shit the Vees do has got to be kept at least kind of under wraps because a decent portion of Hell's population probably still wouldn't be okay with actively supporting that shit, no matter how much they're being encouraged to indulge in their worst impulses. It's like how, in jail, a lot of the time ppl will gang up on the worst criminals and beat the shit out of them or smthn. Like even the drone ad that explicitly stated one of the features was spying on your neighbors felt more like it was implying just spying rather then like, peeping on them naked. People are more likely to openly say they've been sticking their nose into their neighbors business then they are to say they've been peeping. Still not good, but like. Vaguely more socially acceptable and appealing to a wider market.

There's also the fact that, from the advertisements we've seen, it doesn't really look like that's what it's being advertised for? One of them is Velvette doing a magical girl pose and the other is Val(who is the porn guy. Aka the romanticized sex genre) and Vel just like, laying there together all sexy like. It's vague, but none of it, besides the name if you're genre savy(which I'd like to point out that not everybody is involved in media criticism enough to realize the issues w/ the love potion trope, which wasn't even taboo until a couple years ago tbh), really screams "use this to make people have sex with you against their will!" That, along with the fact that the love potion definitely CAN'T act how love potions normally do in fiction(making the person who ingested it fall deeply, head-over-heals in love with specifically the person that gave it to them), because that would be too difficult to mass produce, and the other usual approach(fall in love with the first person you see) is just too impractical unless someone is truly desperate, I think the use that gets ADVERTISED is "use this to make your sex better and more fun, just like in those pornos we also sell!(buy our shit)" rather than date r*pe.

That doesn't mean I think the Vees like. Actively discourage other uses though. A sale's a sale and one of them is fucking Valentino there's no way they care that much. Any negative reviews along the lines of "somebody used this to fucking drug me" probably get deleted and nothing is ever done about it because, in the end, as long as the suffering is invisible nobody's gonna care. This take doesn't really make the Vees any less shitty, it just makes them more ~realistically~ shitty.

It also makes the love potion a little bit funnier. Like just a lil bit. Bcuz it means you can make Hell Viagra jokes :)

[boycritter]

three weeks left in the semester and neither of my major papers ive submitted for english have been graded. this functionally means i have no idea what my grade actually is in this class, and also that i have received extremely limited feedback in my longer writing assignments, and i have no idea what i need to improve in my final one so i can make sure whatever fucking grade i end up with is a good one !!!!

[forensicfield]

Forensic Botany: Utilizing Plant Evidence in Crime Scene Analysis

While Botany refers to the scientific study of plant life, growth and development, Forensic Botany can be defined as the study of plants and various plant parts and their derivatives and to understand how these... #forensicbotany #forensicscience #crime

Continue reading Forensic Botany: Utilizing Plant Evidence in Crime Scene Analysis

[psalmsofpsychosis]

people say "pro artist" like it matters for shit lmaooo "pro artist critiques students' work" who gives a fuck about his title, he's just another person with his own subjective opinions. "He makes money off his work and works in a big name company" WHO GIVES A FUCK HE'S JUST ANOTHER PERSON WITH HIS OWN SUBJECTIVE OPINIONS MARKETABILITY AND INDUSTRY WORK DOES NOT INDICATE QUALITY OF THOUGHT OR QUALITY OF WORK IT JUST MEANS MASS APPEAL