#and everything that is said about them is based primarily on the first two princes and even a bit of phillip

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Almost all of the "criticism" (i.e., hatred, bashing) thrown at Disney Princesses comes directly from a fundamental misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misreading of the core message of their stories and their respective characters and journeys.

[stagemanagerssaygo]

Heaven and Hell: or my experience being a person of color in Disney’s Hyperion Theater

by Cooper Howell

Heaven and Hell: or my experience being a person of color in Disney's Hyperion Theater. #holdingtheateraccountable Im just gonna go ahead and be straight up. This is pretty scary to share. HEAVEN: Once upon a time Liesl Tommy cast me as Prince Hans in Frozen: Live at the Hyperion. And I was gooped. GOOPED. There was nothing in my prior history that gave any indication this was possible. Up until then every role I played had to do with my race. Every. Single. One. And even ones where it didn’t (Shakespeare or classical pieces mostly) I was always made aware that the novelty of me being a poc in that role that gave me the part. So much did I not expect to get this part that when I got the callback I rolled my eyes and didn’t take the actual callback seriously. I mean, there was a zero percent chance that Disney would ever let me play a Prince, especially when the dude in the movie is a ginger. But then I got it. And immediately everything I thought was possible about my career changed. My whole life I’ve never inwardly felt black. I’ve never inwardly felt white. I’ve always felt like I was Cooper, you know, on the inside. But whether it was every single white human in Utah reminding me that I was “the whitest person they ever knew/saw” (which DIDNT mean how white my skin was. It was how white I ACTED) or Mr. Johnson, my 7th grade drama teacher, telling me that he “wanted to put Velcro on the ceiling to see if I’d stick” or Mr. Smith, my high school drama teacher, saying “finally we can do black shows” as soon as I entered high school and then not casting me in roles because of the "optics" of it, or even my best friend in high school Tanner Harmon who called me "blackie", I was always reminded that I was an other. So imagine getting paid good money to put on that $10,000 costume and waltzing out to 4000 people a day to play a really amazing part. A fantastic, evil, complicated, person who sings a killer duet and then grabs the show by the throat with a vicious about-face monologue... and not once was my race ever mentioned cuz it didnt matter. What was being prized was Cooper, my talent, not my skin color that I never asked for. Heaven. Liesl MADE SURE, almost overly sure, that the poc’s in the cast felt equal. The kingdom of Arendelle, after all, is a make believe place. It can be whatever. From having Disney executives come and tell us that they were happy to have us there, to side conversations with John Lasseter, we were made to feel overly welcome playing the parts we were playing. She encouraged us to dive deeper into the script of a cartoon that I didnt really think much of until I was in it. We were encouraged to ask why. We felt seen as talent and not commodities. There were, of course, detractors. Gosh, I remember people at a party of cast members from "Mickey and the Magical Map" another show at Disneyland which features a princess and the frog number and many of those casts mates angrily claiming that “if that black girl Tiana Okoye can play Elsa than I should be able to play Princess Tiana” and then looking at me to confirm that was okay to say, not realizing that a) she’s one of my best friends, b) that I’m in the show with her also playing a role that wasn't created to be a poc, c) how racist that sounded, and d) why there's a difference there and why that wouldn't make sense. On Liesls final night I came up to her and said “I don’t know why you did it but thank you so much for casting ME in this part” to which she replied “you mean why would I cast a handsome, talented person in this role?” And I stuttered something like “well, I mean, I’m black. You know...” to which she tilted her head to her side and said “no. I don’t know why. Tell me why that matters.” And I had no answer. Seeing that I had no answer she smiled. That was the answer. There was no reason. On the spot my outlook about myself changed. Windows into what I thought was possible for me opened. -------------------------------------- HELL: And then Liesl went back to NYC and she was replaced by a man named Roger Castellano as show director. Rogers task, he told us on the first day, was to "change the show". We were not told what needed to be changed or even why, but that changes were on the horizon. You've got to understand: to a full cast of actors who had just spent more than three months dissecting a 60 page Disney script with a Tony nominated director like it was Shakespeare, we were initially emotionally/mentally/spiritually resistant to changes. But then it became clear that the spirit of collaboration was over, and the show changes were to be given without the same care, consideration, and thematic explanation of why they were being made. Everyones initial reaction was to push back, but when people who questioned their notes or their changes started getting days removed their schedule or being replaced entirely by a new actor, the Hyperion theater became a place where no one was allowed to speak out. Injustices were happening left and right and no one felt they could do anything for fear of losing their livelihood. And that's when the Frozen: Live at the Hyperion became a living hell. In my first note session with Roger he pulled me into a room with Domonique Paton, my best friend and incredible costar who played princess Anna in the show I was in. She just so happens to also be black. Almost all of Prince Hans’s scenes in the show are with her character and so most of my notes would be primarily based on those interactions with her. Earlier in the day I performed with a different (white) actress but it was the show with Domonique that I had a note session about. Imagine my surprise and dismay when, with how Liesl set up the show experience, we were told this: “WHEN THE TWO OF YOU PERFORM THE SHOW TOGETHER ITS TOO… URBAN.” Urban. What else could that have meant, do you think? He could have said maybe “too contemporary” emphasizing that we were maybe too modern in our speech patterns or movements. We weren’t. He could have said “too lax” or “too loose” meaning that maybe we were being unprofessional and goofy up there because we’re really good friends. We were not. The best me and Ms. Paton could think of was a 8 count moment of improv dance that me and Domonique decided to use as a synchronized moment of unity. It happened to fall on the line “our mental synchronization can have but one explanation” and thought, with the freedom that Christopher (the original choreographer) had given us, was appropriate, especially considering everyone behind us was doing the robot. As in the 80s robot. But he didnt clarify. He just said “WHEN THE TWO OF YOU PERFORM THE SHOW TOGETHER IT’S TOO… URBAN” And when asked what he meant he smiled with a little shrug and said "you can figure that out. You're smart." And thats how I became Black Hans and Domonique became Black Anna. My every moment onstage afterwards became about the optics of being a poc in that show. It was if I was suddenly made aware that I was LUCKY enough to be there and under any normal circumstances, or this new directors circumstances, me getting this part would have never happened. But the message was clear. It was especially clear when me and Domonique Paton shows together durastically decreased and made even more clear when the vast majority of the new hires were not people of color. But no one said anything. And made even MORE clear when, over the next few weeks, both Domonique and I got COPIOUS notes, ten times that of our coworkers that played the same parts. It was almost a game. In fact we did turn it into a game, seeing who would get the least amount of notes from him in a day. Our costars would even joke about it onstage with us, during the ballroom scene, and jokingly whisper "The shows been up 15 minutes. How many do you think you got today?" But no one said anything. And the notes were about all kinds of things. How we held our hand. If our inflections went up or down on a word. Which side of a couch we leaned on… which was fine! When you're an actor, thats the gig... until we started comparing our notes with the actors that played our same parts and none of them, NONE, would get the same notes. Our notes would be outrageously longer, the note sessions sometimes lasting 10/15 minutes. Others would get the “Oh hey, try doing this or that next time, okay bye” walk-by notes. Sometimes I would sneak into the audience and watch as some of the other Han's, some of whom changed lines, changed entire intentions of scenes, some of whom adding in all types of vocalizations and cackles and dance moves and what have you, and would receive ZERO notes. But I was watching them to see what was wrong with me. What was my performance missing? What am I actually doing to feel this singled out. And then I realized that the thing that was wrong with me was that I was a different color than the 5 other white Hans's they cast. And then I started getting notes about my penis. Most of the time these “penis sessions”, as I called them, were given in private rooms without another stage manager present. It was incredibly unpleasant and unprofessional. In fairness, those Prince Hans pants are TIGHT! And yes, Mr. Howell is indeed a party in the front and a party in the back, but so were a lot of those fellas. And thats where I put my foot down. If Disney was going to provide me with a costume it is not my responsibility to fix their problem, especially when other of my (white) costars had been given a dance belt for the same thing. But they never got penis notes. Private session notes about what their penis looked like in that show. Over and over again I was told to fix it, to not make it (my dick) so apparent, and that “if my daughter were younger I wouldn’t want her to come to a show you were performing at" all the more insulting considering his daughter, a cast member in the show, was a friend of mine and the loveliest person. He started demanding that I buy a dance belt. It was “my fault”, “my responsibility” …and thats where I took my stand. And then it really became hell. Penis sessions were now done out in the open. Once, he screamed at me, in the green room in front of all of my costars during lunch, about how incredible unprofessional I was, about how he was tired of seeing my dick, and that if I didnt go buy myself one I didnt deserve to be there anymore. Followed by a huge litany of notes. That doesnt compare to some of what Domonique went through and I invite her to share them if she’s willing. During this time I went to every stage manager in the building and told them about being singling out and about my penis. They all told me to write a complaint report and it would go to some place called "HR". Which I did. Numerously. More months passed. Nothing from "HR". Multiple cast members who witnessed my note sessions encouraged me to go to the HR themselves. I didnt honestly know what an HR was. As soon as it was explained to me by my allies even what an HR was I went to the head of HR at Disneyland herself and waited outside of her door. I asked her if she got any of my HR reports and she told me that she had received no HR reports from the Hyperion. Ever. And then asked me to fill out a HR form. As we went over it, she asked me some questions, and then set up a second meeting. On the second meeting she said that in order for my report to be given credence I would need witnesses to give their testimony. The witnesses, in fact the very people that told me to go to HR in the first place, said no. They didnt want to lose their jobs. In retrospect that might be the thing that hurt the most but, whatever... anyway, I was told "“well… without testimonies we’ll do an investigation and we’ll call you when we’ve completed it.” I never received a phone call. With absolutely zero protection from the stage managers from both the sexual harassment or my obvious racial targeting I (and others) were experiencing, not to mention that HR reports were doing nothing, aka not being forwarded, I thought about quitting. And when a white stage manager made a show mistake and laughed it off to the cast by saying an entirely offensive lynching joke, I quit. I didnt matter to Disney. How I felt and what I was being put through didnt matter. I was a commodity. My departure was unceremonious. Bizarre. 100% un-magical. I hung up my costume one last time and it was given to a new Hans, one who looked very much like me oddly, and stepped out of the theater. The park was playing “every wish your heart desires will come to you” and I remember laughing at how dead that song felt. The director has since moved on but still works as a musical theater director in Southern California. This one time 4 years ago I got to feel something other than my color for the first and only time in my professional career. It lasted from about March 2016 to July 2016 and never again since. I will never forget in those early days looking at all the beautiful princesses I got to woo and thinking “wow. I’m a prince right now.” Im sure that sounds stupid. But it didn't feel stupid. And a Disney prince! Yeah, a shitty prince kinda... I mean, he's a sociopath... BUT still a Prince! Especially special was being able to look in Dominique’s eyes and I could see the same glimmer of “can you believe we get to do this right now” reflected back. We never knew it was in the cards for us. My race always has and will always be part of my career equation and a determining factor of its projection. It will always be a determining factor in how im treated, by creatives, by people, by the those in authority over me, including the government and the police. #wasitmyskin

Copied in its entirety here from Cooper Howell’s public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10163696376095054&set=a.10151302685610054&type=3&theater

[zen-garden-gnome]

Long post about whiteness

I’m seeing a lot of false-start questions based on a narrow understanding of whiteness. Whiteness (and recovery from whiteness) can be tricky to unpack because it has a lot of layers that have been added over the years. So you’ll run into a layer and may be tempted to stop there, but it goes deeper.

1) Racial identity was a vague belief before it was officially named, but it’s not as old as many think it is. Prior to European Expansionism, travelers and merchants and militaries alike have generally referred to people based on their place of origin or their language. The idea of vaguely lumping hundreds of ethnicities together based on a handful of physical attributes started to kick up when Portugal began capturing and enslaving huge numbers of sub-Saharan Africans in the mid-1400s. As slave traders and “explorers” brought shiploads of captured, multi-ethnic Africans to Portuguese auction blocks to be traded all over Europe, what set these enslaved people apart from anyone else there (including other enslaved people) was a) the fact that they were to some degree darker than the Portuguese despite displaying a wide range of skin tones, b) were from Africa at the time, and c) were enslaved. When Christian militant and royal biographer Gomes de Zurara was hired in 1453 to write about the life and “accomplishments” of Portugal’s most famous slave trader, Infante Henrique aka Prince Henry the Navigator, he officiated, in writing, the idea that all these newly enslaved people were their own class of people with no differentiation between them. Here, race is a burgeoning social narrative invented to praise European slave traders, and this racial concept is defined in relation to slavery, African origins, and skin tone. Racial concepts appeared in tandem with racist concepts, because races began to be envisioned in order to excuse the abuse of others. The ideas of whiteness and blackness were birthed simultaneously, specifically around slavery, and they became deeply entrenched beliefs before they were ever officially named.

2. “Negro” became the first major racial term before “white” was widely used, binding the development of racial concepts even more securely with the practice of European slavery. In fact, race and racism became encoded in colonial-American law in 1640, when African servant John Punch ran away from his European buyers along with two European servants. He was eventually recaptured, as were his Dutch and Scottish companions. However, the colonial judicial system sentenced Punch to a lifetime of slavery, while the two Europeans had an extra year added to their initial servitude. This marks the first record of a Euro/American legal precedence for lifetime sentencing of enslavement based openly on race. John Punch’s African lineage and the other servants’ European lineage were the differences between their sentencing. Here, European origin was what freed a person from being of the “negro race” and therefore severely reduced one’s likelihood to enslavement. It was also the requirement for incoming settlers who wanted to be able to buy land. Only white people were allowed to develop inter-generational wealth, at a time when this continent was being carved up by land speculators for massive profits.

3. The concept of whiteness was officially named by Carl Linnaeus in order to rank Europeans as superior among other conceptual categories of people. It involved grouping hundreds of ethnic groups together to form white, yellow, red, and black races in he text “System Naturale" (1735). While primarily an introduction to our current taxonomy system, it included these racial categories. It was highly regarded by Europeans eager to cast themselves as superior because it a) created a popular “scientific” framework for excusing the most obscene (and profitable) crimes against humanity, b) officially outlined/invented the white race and identified it with everything good and the black race as everything bad, and then c) clearly defined Europeans as the basis of whiteness, “Homo sapiens europaeus.” Here, whiteness is coined to describe European ancestry, particularly in relation to “grotesque” non-whites.

4. An individual’s personal ideas of whiteness fluctuates with time and circumstances. As governments, social institutions, literature, etc all work to redefine history and clean up their image, people have different/less information to work with, but the effects are the same. The popular spoken definition of whiteness is often simply a reference to a relatively pale skin tone caused by European ancestry. Obviously there are pale people in other places around the world who aren’t European and weren’t related to the slavery of European Expansionism, so pale skin isn’t enough. The relation to Europe’s capitalistic global expansion is key. But what about European countries who didn’t go expanding this way, or whose involvement is harder to pinpoint? After all, most of the trading of enslaved indigenous peoples from Africa and North & South America were carried out by the Portuguese, Genoese, Dutch, French, British, Spanish, and Americans. Well, the rapid enrichment and development of the rest of Europe for centuries to come was specifically made possible by all the labor, resources, and capital brought in by this period of the European slave trade. European ancestry links every white person to privileges and developments born on the backs of black and indigenous enslaved peoples. Furthermore, simply being white makes one safer from these kinds of exploits, and today it also makes one safer from the effects of generations of racial prejudices and resource extraction on the global scene. Which brings me to...

5. Whiteness tends to involve one’s relative freedom. Freedom of movement, both physical and social, without immediate threat of policing. Freedom to explore one’s ancestral history without being blocked by 500 years of forced removal, renaming, forced childbirth, etc. Freedom to exist without having to actually know or respond to one’s racial identity. This one’s really important. Whiteness involves not having to think about being white, usually in relation to living in a country/region whose laws and norms are defined and enforced almost exclusively by other white people. Since whiteness and blackness arose mutually around the European slave trade, blackness is inherently tied to a lack of rights/freedoms and whiteness is inherently tied to an abundance of them. That doesn’t mean that every white person experiences these equally, and there will always be exceptions to the rule. But the exceptions don’t make the rule, and after centuries of globalized white supremacy, whiteness has become a subconscious signifier of power for people all over the place.

The big take-away is this: whiteness is inherently toxic. There is nothing positive to defend in whiteness. It was born out of ugliness and it is ugly to its core. That’s why it feels so bad. It’s why “white pride” is always ugly. However, the solution is not to disconnect from our ancestry. All that does is leave us trapped here, in an ugly set of circumstances, with no concept of who we are except what we’re living in, now. The real work to be done is to connect with our ancestry before whiteness, with the ancestors who related to the land as a living entity, before the land was limited in social memory to a source of private capital, servitude, and empire-building. This land, this Earth, is the backdrop against which all our relativity is measured. From this place of relative security, understanding, and development of the spirit, we can withstand the reality of our more recent ancestors, and finally heal from the last 1000 to 2000 years of trauma.

I know I’ve said this before, but now that I have this huge post, I’ll repeat it: Dr. Daniel Foor’s Ancestral Medicine is a really helpful book and/or course for this whole process. It’s not the end-all be-all resource, but it’s a great start! I’m also always down to talk about this stuff. Hit me up. I need to be able to talk about it, too.

(I should add, while blackness was created by white people and therefore was born out of the racism of whiteness, blackness was forced on people, while whiteness was claimed by the takers. It’s no white person’s place to have an opinion about "black identity.” White people started race, so white people are responsible for deconstructing our own race--no one else’s. We cannot be “post-racial” while everyone else is still living the violent reality of racism.)

[nanso]

Do you think Rhaegar should be seen as good?

Anon, are you trolling me, lol

Sorry, ok, so to begin, I'm not entirely sure what you mean about 'good' so I'll approach two ways. 

Do I think the character of Rhaegar is a good person?  

No. I judge this based on his actions primarily. He made choices that not only set off the events of the war and put his family in danger, but then chose to sit out the near entirety of the war and not reverse any of this. Upon returning to the capital from his "sabbatical" in Dorne, he not only chose to fight on behalf of his father, he left his wife and two children with said father who also happened to be very racist and very violent and very unhinged. 

You could argue that he thought he was doing what needed to be done for a threat that, so far, we're not even sure he really knew what it was. But 1) that doesn't justify anything and 2) basic logic and possession of decent morals would say he did not do anything right. The only way you arrive at Rhaegar doing what he did is acknowledging the fact that this character deemed himself above the consequences. That, to me, is akin to a god complex. When you think about why Rhaegar left Elia and the kids with Aerys, you could argue that he did not think they would be harmed and all would be well because he was going to win. That's the kind of thinking of a man who has never faced the consequences of his own actions.  

In modern times, all of this might also be called white male privilege or unearned privilege - call me crazy! Or call me a gal who is used to watching white men walk away from the consequences of their immoral actions.

To rotate back - alleged good intentions do not make you a good person. When you have privilege, when you have resources at your disposal to help people who have no power - and you do not use your power and privilege to help people but instead use it for your own interests - that is neglectful and corrupt. The reality is that, aside from getting his family killed, Rhaegar's actions also led to a war that claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. Also war leads to less resources and higher prices, particularly food, and you know who that hits first? Civilians, particularly in this case the smallfolk (I can't remember if this is brought up in regards to the rebellion but we of course see this in the War of the Five Kings. Also there's, you know, our own real history). If Rhaegar was so concerned with a threat that would harm many people, shouldn't he be concerned with saving people in other ways too and not causing them harm now?

Now there is a different question that you may be asking - do I think Rhaegar is a good fictional character? 

I mean, I think we're lacking information on him, foremost. We have a handful of quotes that we can attribute to him and a few kind of tell us certain things, in terms of his motivation 'it seems I must be a warrior, the dragon must have three heads.'  A lot of the fandom tends to....follow what characters like Cersei do which is love a man because he's beautiful and a prince and oh, so tragic. Even with Jon Connington, we don't really hear anything that tells us anything about Rhaegar ('your father's lands are beautiful' - dats it? really, bruh?). But we actually don't know too much about what he was like as a person aside from his (pretty ridiculous!) actions, his good looks and possible hints towards motivation via Barristan and Aemon (motivation is still a bit cloudy tbf). Oh, and I guess people are drawn in by the melancholic and sad pretty guy thing. 

I assume/hope that GRRM is going to deconstruct all of this by the end. (Though do we really need him to when Lyanna is being held against her will when her brother is trying to get to her? When he publicly humiliated his wife and then abandoned her and their children?) I don't find Rhaegar compelling as a character, but that's just me. I do think it’s interesting/hilarious/ridiculous that a lot of readers/fans like Rhaegar because of the very trope GRRM is likely trying to deconstruct

Maybe he did feel like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders but honestly - nah. If he did, indeed, believe in a prophecy, he clearly centered himself at it - first as the promised prince himself, then as one of his children - but that still involves him. See the trend? Obviously other people find him incredibly interesting. 

I don't. Womp. There are other characters that are my problematic while male fave.  (Jaime, wassup)

TLDR: When you have privilege and power and do not use it to help people and instead cause more harm (especially because everything centers around you), you lose all moral ground. I do not find that good. 

[tabloidtoc]

OK, December 21

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Queen Elizabeth cancels Christmas

Page 1: Big Pic -- David Beckham in an ad for Haig Club 

Page 2: Contents 

Page 4: Bella and Olivia Jade Giannulli -- life on their own -- find out what Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s daughters have been up to while their famous parents sweat it out in prison -- Bella has been so stressed out and felt she deserved a trip with her buds so she went to a luxury resort in Santa Barbara over Thanksgiving weekend 

Page 6: It’s been a little over a year since Felicity Huffman was released from prison after serving her time for role in the college admissions scandal but she is finally starting to get her life and career back on track -- initially she was nervous about working again given the controversy and everything that went down and she seriously wondered if there would be anything out there for her material-wise but she shouldn’t have worried as she landed a part in an upcoming pilot in which she’ll play a recently widowed owner of a Triple-A baseball team and she’s really excited about the show 

Page 7: Kristin Cavallari is fed up with Carrie Underwood’s meddling in her divorce from Jay Cutler -- after Kristin called time on her seven-year marriage Carrie and her husband Mike Fisher who used to be Nashville couple-friends to both Kristin and Jay have taken Jay’s side and since then there’s been some snide stuff said that’s made it clear how Carrie really fills about Kristin -- while Jay spent Thanksgiving with Carrie and Mike, Kristin filmed a wine-fueled Instagram Live and Carrie finds this type of thirsty behavior on social media incredibly lame and she’s saying it’s obvious Kristin cares more about upping her profile than making any type of family peace 

* After nearly 60 years in showbiz Cher has a different aspirations -- since traveling to Pakistan to help a mistreated elephant from a local zoo be relocated to an animal sanctuary she’s saying this is her new mission to help endangered species in third world countries and campaign for other good eco causes -- Cher spends much of her time cooped up and bored in her Malibu mansion and her trip made her realize there’s a world out there that needs her help 

* Mark Harmon of NCIS is all work and no play these days and nearly two decades in the same TV gig as Leroy Gibbs has only made things worse as the responsibilities of the show seem to wear heavier on Mark by the year and even on a break you can’t get him to crack a smile or tell a joke; he’d rather go lie down in his trailer -- off set Mark and his wife of 33 years Pam Dawber get along because they’re such homebodies and Mark can usually be found working on his cars in the garage or relaxing in the yard and he cherishes his quiet time but people have stopped inviting him out because he’s known as Mr. Boring 

Page 8: Dolly Parton is spreading Christmas cheer far and wide with a new TV special and album and Netflix movie but at her home in Tennessee the holiday spirit is decidedly lacking because Dolly is forgoing her favorite 40-year-running traditions which are filling her house with trees and driving her nieces and nephews and their kids around her farm in golf carts dressed as Santa and handing out presents because of her concern for her husband Carl Dean who has Alzheimer’s disease and he’s in a high-risk group for coronavirus so she’s restricted the property to just them and two staff members -- it breaks Dolly’s heart to have to cancel her big annual celebration and she’s still decorated her home to the nines but it’s a lonely feeling knowing the family won’t be there to see it 

* Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton are proving themselves to be perfectly postmodern parents by raising their kids Prince George and Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis with firm rules for TV and electronic use -- Kate who recently revealed she’s fielded her share of temper tantrums actively attempts to stave off meltdowns with a strict rewards chart and the kids have to earn screen time -- Kate prefers to keep them busy with activities like board games and hikes and baking which the children enjoy anyway

* After spending the last several years living a relatively low-key life in his native England Russell Brand is desperate to have a bigger presence in Hollywood but his wife Laura insists he stay put -- Russell’s craving SoCal living and the copious acting jobs and event invites that came with it but Laura prefers their British life outside the spotlight with their young daughters -- while some work has come to him in England like the upcoming Death on the Nile if he had his way he’d make a more aggressive career push in L.A. 

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- stars stand out in festive green dresses -- Carly Pearce, Angela Bassett, Zendaya 

Page 11: Jodie Comer, Adriana Lima 

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Melissa Gorga vs. Jennifer Lahmers, Abigail Spencer vs. Hailey Bieber in Max Mara, Olivia Culpo vs. Aurora Culpo 

Page 14: News in Photos -- Brooke Burke with Christmas ornaments that will be auctioned by non-profit Operation Smile 

Page 16: Audrina Patridge brought along her daughter Kirra’s favorite toys for a picnic in Beverly Hills, Padma Lakshmi visits The Vitamin Shoppe in NYC, Brandy at the BET Soul Train Awards 

Page 17: Kelly Rutherford felt the love from her dogs in L.A., Shawn Mendes out for a walk in Miami 

Page 21: Robin Wright and husband Clement Giraudet held hands while riding their bikes in L.A., long-time friends Gabrielle Union and Snoop Dogg unpacked ingredients delivered by Shipt 

Page 22: Josh Duhamel on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Karlie Kloss on her new Adidas collection 

Page 24: Vanessa Hudgens snuggled up to her beloved pup Darla while at the park in L.A., Jay-Z taking a walk around the island in Hawaii 

Page 25: Kimora Lee Simmons and her children handed out food to residents of a housing complex, Prince Jackson safely helped a community church distribute food to those in need 

Page 26: Inside My Home -- Ariel Winter’s stylish setup 

Page 28: Like most Garth Brooks and wife Trisha Yearwood have had a challenging 2020 but their 15-year marriage was put to the test this past summer when the country superstars’ daughter Allie tested positive for Covid-19 -- they were worried sick and had to go into quarantine themselves and not being able to hold Allie’s hand was terrible for both of them but fortunately Allie’s case was mild and Garth and Trisha’s tests came back negative 

Page 30: Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott who have amicably coparented their daughter Stormi since their split last year and recently spent Thanksgiving together as a family are drawing up plans to have another baby together in 2021 because both of them want to give Stormi a sibling ASAP and neither can imagine going through this process with anyone else -- the exes are figuring out a contract to specify their family plans that will protect Kylie’s money and outline coparenting terms more formally and give them each an agreeable share of custody if things don’t stay as rosy down the line

* They’ve costarred in five films and have proclaimed they’re each other’s work wives and are finally single at the same time so pals of Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis are urging the longtime friends to give it a go romantically especially now that Jason has split from Olivia Wilde -- Jennifer always says Jason makes her laugh the way no one else can -- while Jason’s primarily focusing on coparenting his kids he’s long harbored warm and fuzzy feelings toward Jen and he would love to ask her out but the only thing holding him back is the potential to ruin their solid friendship

* Love Bites -- Johnny Galecki and Alaina Meyer split, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky dating, Jonathan Bennett and Jaymes Vaughan engaged 

Page 31: Matthew Perry’s loved ones are worried the Friends star has made a rash call by suddenly getting engaged to literary manager Molly Hurwitz -- the on-off two-year romance between Matthew and Molly has been dysfunctional from the get-go and Matthew’s way more into this than Molly who seems to love him more like a brother

* A rough year for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle including inter-family strife and a move across the pond and a devastating miscarriage has only strengthened their bond -- after Meghan revealed she and Harry had miscarried in July the two were quite overwhelmed by the outpouring of compassion and the response not only validated their decision to go public a thousand times over but it also helped them grow even closer -- they’re determined to put this behind them and try for another baby at the earliest opportunity but more than anything else it’s really underlined how they belong together as soulmates 

Page 32: Cover Story -- Queen Elizabeth’s holiday shake-up -- inside the monarch’s heartbreaking decision to call off the family’s annual Christmas celebration -- the queen will celebrate the holidays at Windsor Castle in Berkshire for the first time in more than three decades -- while the queen is upset not to have the company of the younger royals this year she has to think about her and Prince Philip’s health 

Page 36: Katie Holmes’ season of joy -- how Katie is spending the holidays with her new love Emilio Vitolo Jr. 

Page 38: Mistaken Identity -- with these celeb look-alikes it’s deja vu all over again -- Carrie Underwood and Reese Witherspoon, Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood 

Page 39: Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon, Amy Adams and Isla Fisher, Lucy Hale and Selena Gomez 

Page 40: Interview -- Tommy Lee’s new beat -- the veteran rock star opens up about his latest solo album and his new fan base 

Page 42: Gal Power -- how Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot gets into superhero shape 

Page 43: Fight Club -- these buttkicking superheroines pushed themselves to new limits -- Brie Larson, Scarlett Johansson, Danai Gurira 

Page 46: Style -- Zendaya for Lancome’s new mascara 

Page 48: Sleek activewear from celeb-loved label Gigi C Bikinis makes it easy to look like a star when you work out 

Page 49: 5 minutes with Adrienne Bailon 

Page 54: Entertainment 

Page 58: Buzz -- Disney Holiday Singalong featuring Ryan Seacrest, Katy Perry, Pink and daughter Willow, Ciara and her kids Future and Sienna 

Page 60: Sound Bites -- Nelly on feeling disappointed with placing third on Dancing With the Stars, Kaley Cuoco on husband Karl Cook’s social media presence, Megan Fox on first meeting boyfriend Machine Gun Kelly 

Page 61: Paul McCartney on why he doesn’t like taking pictures with fans, Cardi B joking about how her 2-year-old crashed her selfie video 

Page 62: Horoscope -- Sagittarius Vanessa Hudgens turned 32 on December 14 

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Dan Levy 

[daydreamindollie]

00 | seven accursed princes

𝙘𝙝𝙥𝙩. 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 : prologue to the seven accursed princes. 

⏤ inspired by and based off of the manga ‘Sincerely: I Became a Duke’s Maid’

𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝 : 1.1k

𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚 : reincarnation!au ; bts!princes ; maid!reader ; reincarnated!reader ; curse!au ; fantasy!au

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 : mentions of major character death

𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 : pg

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 : eventually ot7 bts x f!reader

𝙖/𝙣 : this is- i don't even know what this is for. It mainly stems off of the +idea/teaser bullet point babble i previously posted. i was just inspired and started writing a day or two ago. i want to make it clear that the planning for this series is still in the works so regular chapter posts won't be here for a while, therefore the state of this series is still '𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣...' so please don't expect anything more for the meantime. all i can say right now is, i hope this gets you excited for the future of this fanfic series! lots of love x

✚          ✚          ✚

Between the worn, aged pages of a tragic novel resided eight grand kingdoms. Each was prosperous and had something valuable to offer, unique to what their independent sovereign state can cultivate in its lands or through its people. Although affluent in their providence, royal bloodlines were besmirched with a curse like none other.

The curse that all their first crown prince shall never succeed the throne.

Many speculate that it was all the result of nobility angering the holy ones through their selfish actions and poor conduct towards their people. With no heart or regard for those below them, the holy ones cursed all royal bloodlines to never have their true crown prince, with each subsequent child lacking further and further in skill and value to offer their kingdom. In some ways, they were able to bless the firstborn, crown prince of each kingdom with talent and potential whilst also delivering a curse that made them too weak and, therefore, inadequate to rule.

Laws were eventually passed to avoid the curse affecting royal bloodline as much as possible, meaning that females could now succeed the throne. This, however, did not apply to anything else and only applied to the royal family. Females that wanted to inherit their family business or estates would still be unable to.

There is not a soul that doesn’t know about the curse or that every firstborn prince, who would originally be the crown prince, was instantly taken to a Baron’s estate mansion. The manor is secluded and located deep within dense woodland. Roads leading up to the estate are tedious to voyage on coach as well as horseback and, therefore, visitors are scarce. No one dares approach the manor except for the servants forced to maintain the estate in fear of the curse being contagious.

Seven accursed princes live there now, not knowing of the others’ existence. Trapped in their rooms and atop their beds by the chains of their own exhaustion as was the consequence of their affliction.

Not only that but rotting flesh with peculiar alien script over the decay was yet another burden.

It is said that the curse leaves one side of the individual in a permanent state of spoil, primarily affecting their torso and upper limbs. The curse never heals and never fully decays away, either, which only furthers their suffering. It’s a delicate and sensitive area that must be handled with care, however, most servants in charge of nursing the afflicted princes rush with the mediocre treatment; slaves to their fear of contracting the same curse.

They needn’t ever have worried, however, as it was not contagious. Only those unfortunate firstborn crown princes were the hapless ones.

Their misfortune deprived their precious hearts of love and affection, leaving them to only look towards their imminent demise. However, it isn’t until one fateful stormy night where the princes are taken away to the Baron’s primary estate where they meet Areum, their 8th kingdom’s first crown princess. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t affected by the curse as it only pertained to firstborn, crown princes.

In her terror at the first sight of them, she screams and calls them for how they appear.

“MONSTERS!”

So blunt and soaked in horror was the little princess’s shriek that their worlds came tumbling down.

It was at this vulnerable time where they were finally able to lean against and be there for one another. In doing so, they helped each other gradually recover from their curse, many years later. They were cured enough to be invited back to their kingdoms in joined celebration and worship for the holy ones during the Holy festival, the end of which they were designated dukedoms by their families in compensation for their injurious childhoods.

Another fated meeting with the princess Areum within these festive times also fully cured the princes of their curse. This new love was not meant to be, however, as the princess was already engaged to the crown prince, Taehyung’s younger brother.

Sudden love and admiration for the princess blinded them into leading a rebellion. Relying on one another, they fought for the love that they felt would complete their circle of affection. Their fortitude and influence was comparable, if not outstanding, to royal forces and when combined intimidated and forced high standing individuals to cower in fear. Truly, they were blessed with formidable skills and remarkable traits worthy of being crown princes, whispering of promises to better their kingdom.

And yet, despite their efforts and the true devotion they had for one another supporting them, their rebellion ended with their passing. As it was the same devotion that blinded and ultimately trapped them. With no means of escape, they could do nothing but accept their ineluctable punishment.  

One by one, they were executed for all to see in the capital the day before the wedding of Princess Areum and the Crown Prince. Owing to the execution transpiring through order of age, the one to suffer most from seeing his loved ones die before him was Jungkook, the youngest.

Succeeding their deaths, two kingdoms were united through marriage, causing more tension to rise as an imbalance of power was established through this. Many talk of the curse of the princes, their efforts in overcoming it and eventual deaths after being blinded. Many rumors were spread of them. Some romanticised their love for each other and admired their determination, all under rose-tinted spectacles. Others viewed them with more negativity, shaming them for causing such an uproar where many inconveniences could have been avoided had they not been so selfishly inclined.

And thus concludes the tragic novel of ‘The Seven Accursed Princes’.

A heart-wrenching tale of woe that left many to speculate over why it ended with such disappointment. Nobody was satisfied. Neither the readers nor the characters of the novel.

Redemption for the princes was never sought after until murmurings of a sequel being written and published in the coming future came about.

You lived long enough to finish reading the first novel, ending with a heavy and sorrowful heart full of only pity and a want-no - a need to, somehow, make everything better for them in some way. On the other hand, they were merely fictional characters. There was nothing you could do but read the sequel.

Unfortunately, you were only able to read the prologue and first chapter before facing your own unexpected passing.

Many label death as the end of everything, one’s life, dreams, and ambition, therefore it is common for many to view death as unfavorable. However, it can also be a new beginning to something completely different.

To you, it was but the latter. A doorway was opened for your soul following your death. Through this, your spirit was able to cross dimensions and finally be granted a body in a new world.

Into the world of ‘The Seven Accursed Princes’ novel.

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navi. || prev.

[calliecat93]

Callie’s Disney Princess Retrospective: Cinderella

(Snow White Review)

The year was 1950, 13 years after Snow White’s release. Despite that film’s mass success, Walt Disney’s next feature films during the 1940’s such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi would all bomb. His only true success at the time was Dumbo, and that film was dampened by a mass strike during production that saw many animators walk out. It didn’t get any better when America entered World War II and the military took over many different animation studios, including Disney. They not only had to produce propaganda shorts but due to the limited funds, they were forced to rely on Package Films and live-action to survive. As the 1950s began to dawn, it was clear to Walt that if he wanted to stay in business, he needed another hit. But not just any hit, he needed the same kind of success that Snow White brought him. But what film could give him that success?

For that, he returned to fairy tales, and he found one. A story that he could relate to as a Missouri-born boy who began with nothing. A tale that could appeal to just about anyone. A true rags to riches story of one down-on-her-luck girl having all of her dreams come true. That film would be Walt Disney’s twelfth animated feature, his second fairy tale-based film, and of course the creation of the second Disney Princess who quickly became one of the most famous. Thus, let us discuss the 1950 film, Cinderella.

Overview

Since a young child, Cinderella has been in servitude by her cruel stepmother Lady Tremaine. She is regularly mistreated and worked to the bone by both Tremaine and her nasty stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia. Despite this, Cinderella keeps a cheerful and hopeful demeanor, caring for her mouse friends and hoping that someday the dream that she has wished for will come true. A day that seems to have arrived when the family gets an invitation to a ball held to find a suitor for The Prince. With all eligible maidens asked to attend, Cinderella believes that her chance has arrived, but Lady Tremaine has other plans.

Just as it looks like all of her hopes have been shattered, Cinderella’s kindness and hard-work are rewarded by her Fairy Godmother giving her what she needs to attend the ball. She has a lovely time but is forced to flee at midnight with only a lone glass slipper to remind her of that night. But the ended up charming the Prince and left the other slipper behind, so now the girl who fits the slipper will be made the prince’s bride. Once more, Tremaine tries to prevent Cinderella from succeeding. But with the help of her animal friends and her own hope, Cinderella’s dreams will at long last come true.

Review

As a little girl, there were many films that I would watch over and over again, such as The Aristocats or The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. But I think that Cinderella was the one that I would play back the most. I remember every single part of this movie. The music, the story, the characters, just everything. And even after all of these years, my feelings and love for the film haven’t changed. If anything, it’s only grown. I still remember when my family went to Walt Disney World, and aside from Mickey Mouse the only thing that I cared about was meeting Cinderella. I did so on the last day in the Magic Kingdom, and she was so kind and beautiful and was everything I ever dreamed of. It is a moment that I will never forget.

Looking at the film itself, it’s clear that it took a lot from Snow White. A fairy tale-inspired movie, a heroine in servitude who charms all around her, an evil stepmother, a handsome prince, animal companions, you name it. I don’t think that it was accidental either. As I said, Walt /needed/ another Snow White success story. He needed to replicate what made that film work and make it better. Which he did. While the two films are similar, it’s arguable that Cinderella improved on many of those elements. While we only really get told that Snow was a servant and only see it briefly at the start, we see Cinderella’s suffering throughout the film. While Snow could look a little off due to the animators still getting used to animating realistic humans, Cinderella looks realistic, moves more fluidly, and fits the style of the film much better. While The Queen never interacted with Snow until the end and therefore never see how she treats her, we see Lady Tremaine’s cruelty towards her stepdaughter in full force and it’s equally as chilling. It truly feels like Walt looked over Snow White, saw what could be improved on, and did so with Cinderella. It really shows how far the company had come since 1937.

But Walt wasn’t the only important person on the film. In fact, he was less involved than he was with Snow White since he was focusing more on live-action and developing Disneyland. This was the film that established Disney’s most talented and loyal animators, his Nine Old Men. These men not only worked on the first five features and the Package Films, but they would go on to work on every film up to The Fox and the Hound and some even went into Imagineering. These would be the men who not only pulled the company back onto its feet after WW2, but they would teach future Disney animators/directors such as Glen Keane, Jon Musker, Rob Clements, Andreas Deja, Brad Bird, and so many others who would continue their legacy. Cinderella herself was done primarily by Marc Davis, Eric Larson, and Les Clark.

Like Snow White, the story is pretty straight-forward. It seems to be based mainly on the version written by Charles Perrault and some of the Grimm Brothers version. It does some expansion, like showing what Cindy’s daily life is like. Having her dress get ripped apart, her getting locked up, and of course, giving an expanded role to the mice. Otherwise though like with Snow White, it’s one of the more faithful adaptations minus a few things. For example, if we go off the Grimm version, the stepsisters don’t mutilate themselves to fit into the slipper… and I don’t have an issue with that either. It can feel a little dragged out, like IDK how necessary the King and Grand Duke scenes were aside from establishing certain things like the ball and the slipper search, but it’s nothing that brings anything to a halt.

The animation is gorgeous. The Nine Old Men weren’t chosen out of random, after all. This film really shows off their talents. Characters like Jaq and Gus, Lucifer, and the Stepsisters are very lively and entertaining to watch. Ward Kimball, who was the main animator for Lucifer the Cat, used his own cat as a reference after Walt pointed it out to him, and you can tell that he was having fun with it. The more realistic characters like Cinderella and Lady Tremaine look and move very well despite the challenge the animators had keeping that realism up. I’d say that their work paid off though. Lady Tremaine especially has some of the most chilling, frightening expressions of any Disney Villain. Frank Thomas did a masterful job making her cold demeanor reach through the screen and to the audience. The art itself looks beautiful and we can thank artist Mary Blair for it as she did the concept art for the film. The use of colors and shadows were done very well. It’s just the right amount of brightness when necessary, and the right amount of darkness when necessary. It hits the mark perfectly.

Then there’s the sound and the music. On the latest rewatch, I noticed how they use music for characters a lot. Take the sequence where Jaq has to distract Lucifer in the first act for example. When he’s crawling across the wall, getting ready to get at Lucifer and kick him into his own milk bowl. They use strings for his movements as well as for strings, like the other mice shutting up Gus when he laughs. It’s nothing new for Disney, after all, it was doing this in Steamboat Willie that launched the company into fame. But it always adds so much even if you don’t realize it. The score uses a lot of strings and horns, knowing when to sound triumphant and when to be subdued. It’s a very good score.

Cinderella’s soundtrack was the first to be done by the newly established Walt Disney Records, allowing the company to gain profit for their own music. The vocal tracks have two classics worth mentioning. The first is Bippidi-Boppidi-Boo, the Fairy Godmother’s song. It’s a super fun, whimsical song and even though I still struggle to get the words right, it really fits the Fairy Godmother’s nature and is just so darn catchy! The other is of course the theme of the film,  Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. There are several variations of the song throughout the film, but of course, the first time done by Ilene Woods (I’ll talk about her more when I do Cinderella’s character in-depth) is the one we remember most. It’s beautiful, hopeful, and was one of my favorite songs as a little kid. I used to annoy people with how much I would try to sing it, haha. It really tries to convince you that your dreams CAN come true, and by golly did I believe it when I was a kid… and deep down I still do, I supposed. Point is, it’s a lovely song~

What about the characters though? Well, let us have a looksie.

As with Snow White, there are many animals, though this time it’s mainly mice and birds. The mice are the main ones, as well as the only ones who can talk. There are other animals like the birds, a horse, and of course Bruno the Dog. But the main animals to discuss are Lucifer the Cat and the du of Jaq and Gus. Lucifer is a cat, so as expected he chases the mice. But it’s clearly not just due to instinct. It’s shown throughout the movie that he seems to take sadistic glee in chasing after them, especially Gus which is especially clear in the final act. But he also enjoys tormenting Cinderella, such as messing up the floor when she’s wiping it down during the Sweet Nightingale sequence and trapping Gus with the key in part to keep her locked up. He also enjoyed getting Bruno into trouble at the start of the film, which ends up being his downfall at the end. He seems genuinely cruel which...I mean with a name like Lucifer, is it a surprise that he’s a little devil? He has some great expressions thanks to Ward Kimball and was a fun challenge for our favorite mice.  

Speaking of, Jaq and Gus serve as comedic relief and the unofficial heroes of the film when you really think about it. They drive many of the events forward such as making Cinderella’s dress and retrieving the key from Lady Tremaine. Jaq is the unofficial leader of the mice and the most talkative by far. He’s charismatic and crafty, usually unafraid (for the most part) of going up against Lucifer or from helping Cinderella whom he cares greatly for. We don’t know how long he’s known Cinderella, but he’s the one who assures Gus that she’s a nice person. Gus the newbie of the mice and a little dim-witted, but well-meaning. Due to being new, he ends up getting into several incidents like nearly being caught by Lucifer several times. Jaq and Gus make a fun duo and I always enjoyed seeing what the two would get themselves into. Also for added fun, both mice were voiced by Jimmy MacDonald (nowadays they’re played by Rob Paulsen and Corey Burton respectively). Jimmy was not only the main sound effects man for the studio but at the time he was also the voice of Mickey Mouse himself. Guess he’s a natural fit for mice, huh?

Next, we’ll go to the royals. Sadly, like with Snow White, the prince is more or less a plot device. I guess they were still having a tough time with realistic male characters. He’s a handsome young man, but sadly that’s all there really is. He doesn’t even get a name, being dubbed as Prince Charming in most material and IDK if that’s really official. They DID plan on giving the Prince more of a role, such a planned sequence with him hunting a deer but it turned out it was play hunting, but this never happened. He doesn’t even go looking for his mystery girl in the end, the Grand Duke does which is pretty disappointing. It’s a shame too since going off the King’s dialogue about how he’s been evading mariage he could have been like the male version of Jasmine. A royal who’s being pushed to get married, even though he wants to find true love on his own time and just have some freedom. They did do a bit more with him in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. They also did more with him in the live-action remake, expanding his and Cinderella’s relationship and giving him an actual name (Kit). But we’re focusing on the original, and it’s sad that he didn’t get more to him.

The King and Grand Duke are also comedic relief and overall pretty good ones. The King is loud, blusterous, and quick to anger. He’s not a bad man, after all the only reason he wants his son to get hitched is because he feels lonely and wants grandchildren. It’s kind of cute when you think about it, even if unfair to his own son. He can be very friendly, but as I said quickly to anger. After all, when the mystery girl got away, he outright attempted to /behead/ the Grand Duke until he told him about the slipper. In comparison, the Grand Duke is more timid, but quite sarcastic as well. Very much the straight man to the King’s blusterous personality. While very much afraid of the king (though not unwilling to backtalk him), up against anyone else he takes no crap from anyone. Just watch him as he tries to endure the Tremaines, it’s amazing how absolutely done he is with all of them, and he wins points for shutting up Lady Tremaine when Cinderella makes her way downstairs. A good man!

The Fairy Godmother is only in the film briefly, but she leaves a major impact. She is the first decent person to Cinderella in a long, /long/ time. She is very grandmotherly in her design, voice, and demeanor. She’s a little forgetful and scatterbrained, as she forgot where her wand was and it takes a good while for her to notice Cindy’s torn up dress. But she is a kindly old woman who was summoned by the hope remaining in Cinderella’s heart. She came at the girl’s darkest hour and gave her the one night that she had always dreamed of. She is voiced by Verna Felton, who was a pretty regular VA for Disney at the time. Though she often did much harsher characters such as The Matriarch in Dumbo and the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. But she perfectly portrays the Godmother’s kindly grandmother persona. Her modern VA was Disney Legend Russi Taylor, who also took over Drizella, who sadly passed away last year. It is unknown who will do the Godmother in the future, but I have no doubt that she will emerge again one day

We now come to the Tremaines. First, the daughters. Drizella and Anastasia are ugly, loud, snooty, and mean to both Cinderella and each other. They argue frequently, outright hitting each other during their… ugh… we’ll call it a music lesson. They’re spoiled in the worst way, never being happy with what they have yet get angry if Cinderella dares wear the things that they outright discarded as trash. It’s clear that their mother raised them to be as horrid as her, though they’re nowhere near as calculating. She pretty much raised them to be her attack dogs against Cinderella as well as to use them to marry off and move up in the world. Their obnoxiousness is their only real character trait, though their character animation via Ollie Johnston is quite fun to watch. Anastasia would gain more depth in the two direct-to-video sequels at the very least, more or less also getting a redemption arc. She was also voiced previously by Lucille Bliss, who played the teacher in Invader Zim, and is now voiced by the legendary Tress Macneille.

Then there is Lady Tremaine. Ho boy, Lady Tremaine. If I had the time, I could do an entire essay on this woman alone. She is one of the most chilling, yet memorable Disney Villains despite being nothing but an old woman. Why? First, her voice. In the film, she is voiced by Eleanor Audley, which remember that name cause it’s gonna come back later in this series. She is able to keep the perfect balance of calm and methodical, yet sharp when necessary. Perfectly in control. Actually, that’s a great way to describe Lady Tremaine, in control. She knows what she wants and is willing to go to any length to get it. She carries herself with confidence and regality, very rarely losing her cool. She’s calculative and methodical and you never quite know what she’s going to do until she does it. But most of all, she is cruel and petty, especially towards Cinderella.

Unlike her obnoxious daughters, Tremaine’s abuse towards Cinderella is calm and subdued, preferring to use emotional abuse and manipulation. She has brow-beaten the poor girl so bad that she becomes obedient as soon as the old woman speaks up. Tremaine is jealous of Cinderella’s beauty and therefore tries to make the girl’s life as difficult as possible. She enjoys mistreating and controlling Cinderella, wearing a cold smirk any time that she ramps up the cruelty. Probably her cruelest act in the film is manipulating her own daughters into ripping Cinderella’s dress right off of her after she managed to get it on for the ball. Despite having agreed to let Cindy go to the ball if she got her work done, she ruined her chances anyway just because she could. She’s not only horrible to her stepdaughter but even to her own daughters with how they ultimately turned out and clearly only interested in marrying them off

What makes Tremaine scary though is because… well, compare her to The Queen/Hag and later villainess Maleficent. In the real world, you’re not likely to encounter an evil queen who uses witchcraft and turn herself into an old hag just to poison you. In the real world, you’re unlikely to encounter an evil fairy witch who can curse you to die and transform into a ferocious dragon. But running into a cruel, petty old woman who will abuse you due to jealousy and for her own enjoyment? Oh yes, that can and does happen. Lady Tremaine is real. She is a perfect depiction of an abusive stepparent.  Plus as I said before, Frank Thomas did an excellent job depicting her expressions as utterly chilling. I was afraid of her as a child, and I still am now. Even at the end after her daughters failed to get on the slipper, she breaks it just to keep Cinderella from achieving a life of happiness out of pure spite. On the upside, seeing her plans all fall apart and especially her face when Cinderella reveals the other slipper is deliciously satisfying. One of the greatest all-time Disney moments.

Well, that was a lot more than I thought. But with all of that out of the way, there’s only one more character to discuss. Strap yourself in folks, because I have been waiting /years/ for this.

Cinderella Analysis

As I said above, Cinderella was one of my favorite princesses as a child. She was beautiful, had an amazing singing voice, was kind, and I wanted to have my dreams come true just as she did. She is one of the most famous Disney characters by far. I remember her pretty much being the face of the Disney Princess line when I was a kid. Nowadays I’d argue that Rapunzel is more of the face (or if we wanna count Frozen, Elsa is) but that doesn’t mean that Cindy has faded out of the public eye. After all, it is her castle that stands as the main landmark at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. That alone will ensure that she never fades out of popular consciousness.

In return, however, Cinderella is probably the most criticized princess of the Classic Three. It’s mostly for the same reasons as those two. She was a damsel-in-distress. She was domestic and passive. She got together with a man at first sight. She needed others to save her. It’s all the same thing you hear about pre-The Little Mermaid, but since Cinderella is probably the most well-known, she’s the one who gets it levied against her the most. As I said in Snow White, there is some truth about this portrayal furthering the depiction of women as domestic/passive in film. But it truly baffles me as to why Cinderella is the one who gets this criticism the most. It really, really baffles me. I can somewhat get it with Snow White and I can get it with Aurora, but Cinderella? Ugh… no. Just… no.

First of all, let’s get this part out of the way. Cinderella is an abuse victim. I think that Cinderella is meant to be about 19 years old in the film. While we don’t know how old she was exactly when her father died, we see in the opening narration that she was still a child. A child. Let’s say that she was around nine years old. That would mean that she has been under Lady Tremaine’s thumb for ten years. A full decade. If you are under abuse for that long at any age, but especially ever since a child, then that is going to affect you. So Cinderella being passive? Yeah, that’s likely in part because of the abuse that she went through. She was conditioned to not fight back, or if she did she would pay the consequences. As great as imagining standing up and fighting against your abuser is,  it is unfortunately very rarely that simple especially when you are under years of psychological conditioning like Cinderella was.

But it is also unfair to say that Cinderella is blindly obedient and broken either. She isn’t. Cinderella is introduced as kind, cheerful, and playful when she teases her bird friends and gets ready for the day. Cinderella is a kind young woman, facing every day with a smile despite her treatment. The girl lives in an attic, yet she happily sings as she gets her day started. Cinderella’s defining trait is that she is a dreamer. As she herself says in the opening, her dreams are something that no one can control. Not her step-family. Not the clock telling her that it’s time to get on with a new day. In her dreams, she is able to do whatever she wants. It is her escape. The one thing that gets her through the day, hoping that one day the dreams that she wishes in her heart will come true.

This is what fuels Cinderella ahead. It is what allows her to remain kind. It is what allows her to be sympathetic to others. What shows this most is her treatment of the mice. She treats them as her friends, making them clothing, feeds them, and frees them from traps. This is important for what happens later, but we’ll get to that later. She is also kind to the other animals, such as the horse and to her dog Bruno. In fact, it’s pretty interesting when she scolds Bruno for wanting to chase Lucifer. She tells him that it’s bad, how he’ll lose his warm bed, and quote “you know the orders”. She expects Bruno to obey the same way that she must obey. Doing so otherwise will mean consequences such as losing one’s own bed. The only animal that Cinderella doesn’t get along with is Lucifer, who is also the only character she is willing to speak against. At one point she was even willing to smack him with her broom when he ruined the floor she just finished scrubbing. It makes sense since Lucifer not only goes out of his way to make things more difficult for her, but he can’t order her around or really do anything to her as Lady Tremaine can. So in a way, it’s one thing that she has some power over.

Still, the first act shows what Cinderella’s life is like. It doesn’t seem too bad at first glance. She seems happy and treats her morning more like an annoyance than anything. But once we meet the Tremaines, it becomes clear just how bad it is. Anastasia immediately accuses Cindy of planting a mouse under her cup on purpose and Cinderella gets no chance to defend herself, though she is able to make Lucifer free Gus. She’s then summoned into Lady Tremaine’s room, clearly uneasy. Whenever she tries to explain herself, Lady Tremaine snaps back at her, making her go silent. There is no arguing. Lady Tremaine likely knows that Cinderella did nothing wrong, but doesn’t care. Whatever makes the girl miserable works for her and gives her an excuse to pile on that misery. Thus she piles on the workload, even making Cinderella do things that she already did once over again. Cinderella is unable to do anything but listen to the commands.

Everything changes, however, when the invitation to the ball arrives. Now we go back to one of the criticisms against Cinderella. Many accuse her of only going to the ball to meet the prince and get married. Now I will go more into this later, but there’s a reason why I am bringing it up now. Cinderella never at any point time from this point until the search for the mystery girl starts, even so much as mentions the prince. The ones who want to go to get married are the Tremaines. The whole reason that they go is because of the royal command for every eligible maiden to attend. Lady Tremaine wants to marry off her daughters. The sisters obviously want to get hitched to a good-looking man of power like the prince. Cinderella though? She just wants to go to a fancy ball because she can. By royal command every maiden is to attend no matter their status, so a lowly servant girl like herself is allowed. She even points this out to her step-family in one of the few cases she does stand up to them. Not by getting angry or defensive, she just outright points out the fine print. But no, nothing about getting with a guy ever comes up until much, much later.

Lady Tremaine agrees that Cinderella can go if gets her work done and finds a dress. But she uses the first part of that deal to bombard Cinderella with orders to make her unable to accomplish the second half. Cinderella has the dress picked, one of her mother’s, but she has no time to mend it up. As Jaq points out to the other mice, the Tremaines are going to make her do everything to make her unable to get her dress. But this is where Cinderella’s previous kindness kicks in. It’s clear that the mice really care for her because of how she cares for them. As such, they decide to fix up the dress for her. Jaq and Gus outright risk their lives against Lucifer to get some discarded trimmings.

Sure Cindy ultimately didn’t mend the dress herself, but it shows how her kindness came back to reward her. Just look at how downcast she is when the carriage arrives. She realized far too late that her step-family was never going to give her the chance to go to the ball. She is saddened as she returns to her attic-dwelling, looking out at the castle from the window and trying to convince herself that the ball would have been boring anyway. It fails. She is standing in darkness until the room lights up via candlelight and the mice reveal the mended dress to her. You can just hear the glee and gratitude in her voice as she swings around the dress and is at a loss of words before thanking her friends. Her kindness was rewarded… but sadly, not for long.

We now come to what is by far the darkest scene in the movie. Cinderella comes down to the door, shocking her stepfamily that she actually got a dress. At first, Cinderella is elated that she can actually go… until Lady Tremaine begins to approach. The old woman doesn’t seem to be doing anything wrong, agreeing that Cindy kept her end of the deal and even compliments the dress. But then she points out the beads to Drizella, who previously discarded them. It provokes her and Anastasia into a bitter, angry frenzy. They outright rip the dress apart while Cinderella is still in it. It is disturbing, Cinderella unable to do anything as her dreams are literally ripped away from her bit by bit. By the end, Tremaine calmly calls her daughters away and bids Cinderella a good night, leaving the girl standing in a pile of rags.

This is the final straw for Cinderella. She runs out to the back garden and breaks down. After trying so hard for so long to keep her hopes up, she can’t. All that she wanted was to go to the ball. Not to get married, just to have one night where she could have a good time. That was it. But her stepfamily just couldn’t allow for even that and tore it all away from her. Can you blame her for crying after all that? After dealing with that kind of treatment since she was a little girl? I can’t blame her. Her friends can only watch in sympathy and sadness as she says that there’s no use in dreaming and that she can’t dream anymore. She has hit her breaking point, a far cry from the hopeful young dreamer she was at the start of the film.

But not all is lost. In her despair, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother is summoned. So a big question I’ve seen some ask is how the Fairy Godmother was summoned to begin with? Well, it’s as she herself said, she couldn’t be there if Cinderella didn’t have hope in her heart still. She is essentially a manifestation of Cinderella’s hopes and dreams. If I had to guess with Cinderella reaching her breaking point and ready to give in to despair, the Fairy Godmother manifested because she now truly needed help. It was to restore her hopes and allow her to get to the ball after the chance was so cruelly ripped away from her. I know what some are going to say, once again Cinderella got something handed to her. But this is a case where Cinderella herself more or less summoned the one who would help her. Her kindness caused the mice to help her, now her hope summoned up her Fairy Godmother to help her. It’s not happening just because.

So The Fairy Godmother creates her carriage, makes her new dress, and gives her the glass slippers. But like all dreams, this can’t last forever. She has until midnight, after which the spell will be broken. Which is perfectly fine with Cinderella, she’s just grateful for what her Fairy Godmother has done for her. Seeing her smiling and hopeful again after the previous moment and her just receiving some motherly kindness from someone is just really nice to see. Thus, she is whisked away to the ball, and almost as quickly as she arrives, she catches the eye of The Prince himself. While Drizella and Anastasia are trying to get him to look at them, funny enough.

So let’s get back to the ‘Cindy only wanted a man!’ critique. As I already said, she never mentions a man until near the end. But here at the ball, it’s not even her who goes to The Prince. Heck later when midnight hits, it’s pretty clear that she didn’t even know that the guy she was dancing with was The Prince. No, it is Prince Charming who approaches her. We outright see him look up, notice her as she enters, and is stricken by her beauty. It is him who walks to her and presents himself to her, a major contrast to how all the other girls were going up to him with him clearly bored. So no, Cinderella never wanted to get a man. It all happened purely by chance, and again she didn’t even realize that he was The Prince until after the ball was long over.

Cinderella dances with the prince throughout the night, getting so caught up that she loses track of time until the clock goes off. Once again, the clock is telling her that it’s time to wake up from her dream. She flees, but loses one of her slippers along the way. Midway on the road home, the spell is broken and she is once more in her torn-up dress. She apologizes to her animal friends for losing track of time, but happily recalls the night. But the mice then point something out to her: her glass slipper is still on her foot. Now… why is that? Well what summoned the Fairy Godmother to begin with? Hope. It is my opinion that this is why the slippers didn’t disappear as well. Cindy’s hope kept them manifested, to the point that I don’t believe that her losing one happened by chance. It is the key to her having a chance at a better life. It slippped off her foot due to that, and the other one remained for the same reason. Cindy seems to think it’s the Fary Godmother’s doing as she thanks her, but the truth is it is herself who caused both of those.

Thus, we come to the next day. The Grand Duke is looking for the mystery girl, and Tremaine is ready to leap at the chance. At first, Cinderella is pretty much ready to resume her regular life now that she’s gotten the one night that she had wanted. But as Tremaine explains the new development to her daughters, Cinderella hears it. This is when she realizes that it was The Prince that she was dancing with. That it was her slipper that was found, which means that she’s the mystery girl. Which means that she’s the one who can fit it and thus she will become The Prince's bride. This is the point that she wanted to get married to a man. In the final fifteen or so minutes. But look as to why she wants to. This will absolutely ensure that she is able to have a better life than she has now, so can we blame her for being happy?

Cinderella is so elated that she outright ignores her stepsisters demands and starts to day-dreamingly go to her room to prepare for the Grand Duke’s arrival. But this turns out to be a mistake. Because of her elation, Lady Tremaine immediately puts the pieces together. Cinderella not only managed to defy her and go to the ball, but she is now in the way of her plans to marry her daughters off. If she is there when the Grand Duke arrives, then that’ll be it. She’ll fit the slipper, be taken to the palace, and will marry The Prince not long after. That is something that Lady Tremaine simply cannot allow. Not to mention that she can’t allow the girl to go unpunished for her defiance. Thus, she locks Cinderella in her room. To both keep her out of the way and to make sure that she can never leave.

So… it looks like that’s it. There is nothing that Cinderella can do at this point. She realizes that she’s once more going to be trapped in a cruel life and begs Tremaine to let her out before just breaking down. She had her chance once more, and once more her stepmother took it away. But once more, Jaq and Gus act to help their friend and manage to get the key. But of course Lucifer interferes, trapping both Gus and the key and Cinderella is now in a position where she can’t make him stop. All of her animal friends try to help, but it proves futile. That is, until Cinderella has a realization. There is someone who can chase off Lucifer. The same someone that she previously scolded because it would be going against orders; Bruno the Dog.

Remember when I pointed out how Cinderella got after Bruno dreaming of chasing Lucifer because he’d lose his home otherwise? Yeah, it comes back around here. She’s now close to getting out of her situation, so why not allow Bruno the same thing? She has her bird friends alert Bruno, and indeed the dog rushes in and causes the evil cat to jump from the window. I think it was supposed to be implied that this killed Lucifer, but we see in the later sequels that he survived. But with him out of the way, the mice slip Cinderella the key and she is able to get out and to the stairs just as the Grand Duke is beginning to walk out. And he’s clearly glad to see her to, outright making his way past Lady Tremaine and reminding her that he’s supposed to give every maiden a chance when she tries to ward him away,

But, of course, Tremaine can’t just accept defeat. She trips the earl and the slipper is shattered. It looks like once again, Cinderella’s hopes have been for naught. But this time, she doesn't cry. She doesn’t even get sad. Why? Simple, because it wasn’t for naught. She pulls out the other slipper, proving beyond doubt that she is the mystery girl. It was her hope that created the slippers. It was her hope that kept them manifested when the spell was broken. Now it is her hope that gave her the key to at long last break free from her stepfamily for good. She gets married to The Prince (we don’t know how long after, so there is a window open for those who want to get after her for marrying a guy she just met) and is whisked away to a better life. The wish that she made at last came true.

Cinderella is defined by hope, kindness, and dreams. It is these things that fuel her to continue on with her life. It is these things that allow her to remain a good person and not be broken by her stepmother’s attempts to humiliate and demean her. Even at her lowest moment, her hope couldn’t be truly broken. Sure in real life you’re not going to be able to magically summon a Fairy Godmother or be married into royalty because of a shoe. But this is NOT real life. This is a fairy tale. It is escapism. It doesn't have to adhere to reality exactly. Plus even then, there is something to be said about not giving up hope and remaining kind in the face of adversity. It is that lesson that I have carried with me since I was a child, to remain kind no matter what. I’ve had my own breakdowns, especially since it’s still 2020 at the time of this writing. But even so, I’ve tried to remain kind. Because Cinderella taught me to do so.

It is why I have never understood the hate against her, and never will. I love the modern princesses and yes, they did need to become more proactive and strong. But this does NOT make the first three bad. Especially not Cinderella. She is an abuse survivor. She is a dreamer. She is a young woman who only wanted to have some happiness in her life. Her kindness and hope was eventually rewarded, and in a way was granted to her by herself. The mice helped her with both her first dress and to escape the attic because she was kind to them. Bruno and the animals liked her because she was kind to them, so they repaid her. The Fairy Godmother manifested because Cinderella wanted to give up, but hope still remained in her heart and gave her the help she desperately needed. The glass slippers remained because of her hope, and became the keys to her achieving a better life. Sure she didn’t have to physically fight for it, but it doesn't change the fact that things happened, that others helped her because she was kind and hopeful. Because of herself.

The last thing to note is her voice actress, Ilene Woods. She was originally hired to do the singing for Cinderella, but after Walt heard her he cast her to also do the speaking lines. She did a beautiful job. She conveys Cinderella’s grace, kindness, and hopeful nature absolutely beautifully and her singing voice is outright angelic. Do you want to know a sad, yet beautiful story? Well at the end of her life, Ilene Woods had sadly been inflicted with Alzheimer. I think we all know how devastating that disease is. She was living in a nursing home, unable to recall anything. Reportedly, the nurses would often play A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes for her. Even though Ilene couldn’t recognize that it was herself singing, it was the one thing that could make her happy all the way up to her passing in 2010. Mind you that story is from Wikipedia /TV Tropes and I haven’t been able to find an actual source saying this, but I’ve never seen anyone contest if this was true. Either way, Ilene was and will always be the Cinderella, a legacy that the current actress Jennifer Hale is keeping alive and well today.

Final Thoughts

Cinderella will always be special to me. She’s not my overall favorite princess, we still have quite a while before we get to her. But she is firmly my second favorite. The film is outright my second favorite of all time (again, we’ll get to number one later). It’s the first movie that I remember seeing in my life. I would watch it for hours over and over again. I had dolls of her. I would dress up as her. The whole reason I wanted to go to Disney World was to meet her, and I did. The film looks beautiful. The music is beautiful. The characters are memorable. The story is an outright classic even before Disney adapted it. To quote Beauty and the Beast, it is a tale as old as time. Maybe it’s just nostalgia talking, but even after all these years, I love this movie just as much as I did when I was a little girl. Maybe even moreso now. It is a true Disney Masterpiece.

Disney was hoping for a miracle, and he got it. Cinderella was the biggest hit that they had had in a looong time. Audiences and critics loved it. It was the moment that Disney was back in business and able to return to feature film, launching them into the Silver Age of Animation. While his next film, Alice in Wonderland, didn’t go very well, both Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp helped keep the studio afloat. As the decade came to a close, the studio decided that it was time to release another fairy tale-inspired film. Would this one strike gold like the first two? Come back next time to meet the final Classic Princess, Sleeping Beauty.

Image Sources: Disney Wiki, Animation Screencaps Other Sources: Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella Documentary

[beneaththetangles]

Otaku Reader’s Corner: Saint’s Magic Power, Holmes of Kyoto, and Knowing How to Give Birth

I Don’t Know How to Give Birth

I Don’t Know How to Give Birth is an incredibly raw look at pregnancy from the point of view of a couple of married manga artists. It was written and is primarily from the point of view of Ayami Kazama as she walks through their challenges becoming pregnant as well as the entire pregnancy. This manga not for the weak of heart as it is a truly unfiltered look at her thoughts throughout the pregnancy, covering everything from how frequently her and her husband had sex to the softness of her nipples as she prepares to nurse her unborn baby to how her husband feels about preparing a sample for in vitro. It’s authentic, and it’s entertaining. I appreciated the complete honesty shown on each page, while the art style keeps it light and fun to read. Each chapter ends with a written summary from both Kazama and her husband about their experiences with that chapter’s struggles, perfect footnotes to an endearing work. ~ MDMRN

I Don’t Know How to Give Birth is available from Yen Press.

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 1

This is the story a reluctant heroine who hears the call of adventure and studiously ignores it, yet gradually moves toward accepting her calling in spite of herself. Sei, an overworked office lady, is transported to another world through a ritual to call forth a magical Saint. But when the ritual summons two people, the prince in charge totally ignores Sei and arbitrarily decides the other, a high school girl, must be the chosen one. Naturally, Sei confirms fairly quickly that she’s the Saint. She just steadfastly (and hilariously) refuses to acknowledge the fact, even as her own narration reveals it! Sei longs to live a quiet, peaceful life, and to not be forced into doing a high-stress like job like being a world-saving hero. The rest of the volume is a chill, lighthearted tale of how Sei adapts to her new world, grows closer to its people, and starts to both accept and reveal to others that she’s the Saint. This volume was excellent, and I look forward to seeing how the story develops from here. ~ Jeskai

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent vol. 1 is available from Amazon.

Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into A Top-Tier Party , Vol. 1

This is another series I gave a first-impressions review of, where I said I was looking forward to the character development the first parts set up. And overall, the story did provide a pretty solid base for that character development. That said, I do have some issues with how that character development plays out, but that I can attribute to the fact that, when it comes down to it, an adventuring party is not a therapy group, and what happens makes sense for his situation. The narration definitely continues to help a lot as we get to see into the protagonist’s thought processes, and there are some decent character relations being built up as well. Overall, my view of the volume is positive, but like the protagonist, it is just getting started, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it improves from here on out. ~ stardf29

Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into A Top-Tier Party is available from J-Novel Club.

Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?!

A high school romance isekai with some fun twists. Past Life Countess features Annerosa, a noblewoman of another world in her past life, reincarnated as a girl named Urara in a variant of modern Japan based on an otome game. But while Urara is the protagonist of the book, she’s only supposed to be a nameless NPC in the game. Another girl, who played the game in her previous life, has reincarnated as the game’s protagonist. This combination of the two “protagonists” has pretty amusing results. There are several endearing characters and cool story beats, and by the end, all the story threads have (mostly) been tied off acceptably well. My main criticism of Past Life Countess resembles the ones the LNC had when covering another standalone, one-volume romance from Cross Infinite World: characters I wish had received more development, events I wish had been more fully explained, and one majorly unconvincing plot device that needed more work. That said, the story is totally still good enough to recommend. ~ Jeskai

Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?! is available from Amazon.

Time Paradox Ghostwriter (complete)

Time Paradox Ghostwriter quickly became one of my favorite weekly series on Shonen Jump after it dropped. The premise was complicated. It was about a mangaka having trouble connecting with his readers suddenly receiving issues of Weekly Shonen Jump from the future. He then used them to created a new manga series that became an immediate success. The story progresses from there as the protagonist meets the original creator of the manga (a teen girl who had shared it with no one) and discovers the meaning behind why the manga was sent back in time. The series seemed to know from day one that it’s days were numbered and tried its hardest to complete the ambitious story that was planned from the beginning. While I appreciated the ending, I know many who felt it was anticlimactic and I absolutely understand their point of view. ~ MDMRN

Time Paradox Ghostwriter is available from Shonen Jump.

Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 1

This “light novel” is pretty unusual in that it takes place in a modern Japan setting with no magic to speak of, and rather than focus on romantic hijinks or life-threatening scenarios it’s just about a guy solving pretty mundane mysteries. That said, it is definitely still quite good, as the focus is less on the mysteries themselves and more about the interpersonal relationships surrounding those mysteries. The main character Aoi, for example, is dealing with all sorts of issues after hearing that her best friend had taken her boyfriend behind her back, and without saying too much, the volume resolves that in quite a satisfying way, while also setting up a nice potential relationship with the titular Holmes. And if you had watched the anime, the light novel does have a number of additional parts that provide more context to various events, so it is definitely still worth reading. ~ stardf29

Holmes of Kyoto is available from J-Novel Club.

[soren-bleu-kun]

BnHA Fics I’ve Read This Week 2

Here are my notable stories that I found and read this week. Some of these contain manga spoilers. 

Confined By My Own Mind (I’m Not Fine) - This is a Dadzawa fic that, despite the title saying that it must be, takes place from Aizawa’s perspective and not Midoriya’s. During this fic, the homeroom teacher of 1A realizes that something is wrong with one of his students and pulls him aside during class. 

Aches and Pains - Another Dadzawa fic, this time from Midoriya’s side of things. Unable to sleep because of the old pains in his bones caused by misusing his Quirk, Midoriya heads out of his room and runs into his teacher in the dorm kitchen. 

Disowned - This is not the most realistic Shouto Todoroki fic that I’ve ever read, but I like the idea of him losing control of his power and himself after being kicked out of the Todoroki family. I wish this fic went a little more into the “why” of things, and the aftermath, but still a good little story. 

Angel’s Egg - THIS IS NOT COMPLETED YET! Usually I don’t read, much less review, incomplete stories, but this one - only at three chapters so far - is a great story so far. Basically, what if Izuku was left on All Might’s doorstep, but instead of a baby, he’s an egg that has to be incubated? It sounds weird but it’s actually really cute - and baby Izuku has little wings. Honestly, give this a read and encourage the author, it is so good. 

Day 10 - Wait No, Aww Crap, Here We Go Again - This long titled fic is the first Kaminari Centric fic that I have read, but it will not be the last. In this story, Kaminari gets upset about something that Monoma said to him, and his friends make sure that some adults takes care of it - like they should in canon but don’t. 

Pretty - This is a fic where Monoma and Shinsou are an established couple, and Monoma goes off to visit his boyfriend in the middle of the night. No smut, I don’t review any of that. Honestly, this was cute, even if I don’t really ship it. 

Spare Scares? - This is clearly going for ShinDoriya, and they really make this a cute story, but this is more or less before any relationship that they could/will have. Basically, Shinsou only came to this UA Halloween party to find Hatsume and pick up something he needs for training, and runs into Midoriya, who is here dressed as a ghost. 

The Road That Went Forever - Would you like to utter despise Hisashi Midoriya? I know that I wasn’t planning on it when I read this fic, but that is what happened. Basically, after he finds out that Izuku is Quirkless, he starts trying to find a way to get rid of him and he does. 

A Routine Affair - This is the second Huyumi fic that I’ve ever read, and I still see it as a bit of a crack ship more than anything else, but this story is cute. Basically, Hawks brings Fuyumi coffee before work every day and it takes her a very long time to realize that he likes her. 

Float - Now this is an interesting one. Basically, Midoriya is trying to unlock Float, which is Nana Shimura’s power. It turns out the only way that he can do that is to let go of the things he’s been feeling that are weighing him down and talk about them. This is very much a “fuck Bakugou” fic, which is my favorite. I love that Midoriya finally gets to feel and talk about all of the things that were done to him in this one. 

Savior - Basically, what if everyone told Bakugou to stop being an asshole to Midoriya on the first day of school instead of condoning his behavior? 

Uraraka’s Guide to Crushes - This is a TsuChako fic, which I think is a cute ship but don’t read about often. In this one, Uraraka is so sure that this will be a quick crush and then it’ll be over. The thing is, it doesn’t go away, which means she might actually have to confront her emotions... terrifying. 

The Sparkling Hero : Aoyama Yuuga - I have never seen a fic entirely dedicated to Aoyama, which made this an interesting read. Though not canon to the few things we do know about his background, it is still an interesting take on one of UA’s most sparkling future heroes. 

The Second Prince - This is a “what is AFO were Midoriya’s dad” fics, in a royal fantasy AU. Although some of the characters are OOC, this is a look at what Midoriya’s life would be like if he lived in a little castle where he can’t get hurt and still tried to help people anyways. I was surprised by how much I liked this fic. 

First Try (Not the Last) - In this fic, Midoriya has a Quirk, something that he only discovers when he tries to launch himself off of a building like Bakugou told him to. This is the first fic in the series, and I haven’t read it all the way through yet. Pretty good though. 

Like Light Through a Window - In this Aizawa and Hagakure Centric fic, the teacher finds the young hero in training after she’s been almost crushed under a building. He’s able to see her face for the first time, but only because it’s covered in blood. 

The Deaf Hero: Deku -  Basically, what if everything were the same but Midoriya was losing his hearing during it? Forty chapters, worth the read. 

I See You - In another fic where Midoriya is missing one of his senses, this blind successor of All Might wants to be able to see his mentor. The only embarrassing part is asking him if he wouldn’t mind Midoriya touching all over his face. 

Remember From Here on In - This is a fic where the author comes up with the six Quirks that Midoriya is going to get because of OFA. Although not canon, it was very good and fun. 

Remembrance - Throughout the course of these three chapters, Midoriya gets blasted back through time and lands in a world pre-All Might. Or at least, not the All Might that he knows, since he’s still at UA. 

Shout & Mute - In this EraserMic fic, the two of them are stuck in each other’s bodies throughout the course of the fic because of a villain. While staying at Hizashi’s apartment in his body, Shouta realizes just how much he loves him and knows that he’s going to end up confessing even if the feelings aren’t reciprocated. 

How Not to Enjoy the Weather, an Article by Kaminari Denki - The story toys around with the idea of this electric boy getting overpowered during thunder storms and him isolating himself so that he doesn’t end up hurting anyone that he cares about. 

A Deadman’s Gun - Throughout ten chapters, we get to see what would happen if Midoriya never got a Quirk and instead fell in league with Stain. 

See No Evil, Hear No Evil - A Bakugou and Kaminari friendship fic. Turns out that on the day that Kaminari forgot his contacts that he hasn’t told anyone about, and Bakugou forgot his hearing aids that he needs because of his Quirk. They decide to depend on each other throughout the day. 

Pictures, Posters, and Tender Beauty - During this fic, we get to see exactly what Midoriya thinks about his mentors weakened state. Dad Might fluff ahead. 

Electric Connection - This is a story where Kaminari can’t sleep - thanks ADHD - and so the entire BakuSquad comes into help. Shinsou is his boyfriend in this one, but it isn’t the focal point of the story. 

Caught Up - This is a Shinsou Centric fic where he fights through all of the not-quite-comments about his Quirk, and is thankful for having Aizawa in his corner. The last scene is Shinsou and Aizawa working together with the capture weapon. 

How To Ask Out a Guy in 2000 Words or Less - This is a ShinDoriya fic, and it features exactly what you think it does based off of the title. A very cute little story. 

Ghost - This is a story that actually features Shinsou and Shigaraki, the two of them having met at a toy store when Shinsou was just a little kid. Honestly, I wish there were multiple chapters of this because the idea is really interesting. 

Eyes On Me - Throughout three chapters, we see how Aizawa deals with his own panic attacks and the reasons why he feels the need to help his students through theirs. 

For Blood and Wine are Red (and Blood and Wine Were on His Hands) - Despite having a very long and Oscar Wilde inspired name, this is a short one-shot about Vigilante!Midoriya breaking into Aizawa’s apartment, looking for a first aid kit. 

Schrödinger’s Cat - This is a an extremely beautiful and painful story where Midoriya is found, months after going missing with a new powerful Quirk, white hair, and no memory of how he got there. This story was translated by the author from it’s native German, where is got less than five hundred hits. I think that everyone should read this fic and give the author a lot of love. 

Around and Around We Go - One of those “Five Things + One” things, this time with EraserMight and hair ties. A very cute story. I don’t get the chance to read a lot of EraserMight but I’m glad that I took the time to read this one. 

Playlists - Useless lesbians Momo and Jirou pine over each other and don’t realize that their love is requited until Jirou makes her crush known via a playlist. 

Nothing Cuts Like a Mother - In this Inko Midoriya Centric fic, we have the mother going to UA to tell Aizawa about the troubles that he has, with his Quirk. She also tells him about the bullying that Izuku Midoriya went through, and tells his teacher that these mistakes cannot be repeated. 

Team Player - This is a fic about Dabi not wanting to be redeemed from his sins. That was for Touya, an old him. He isn’t that guy anymore. 

Helping Hands - Primarily from the perspective of Kirishima, this is a fic that deals with an AU where Midoriya never got into the Hero Course, and is instead a Gen Ed course student at UA. Cue Bakugou attacking him on the second day, telling him that he doesn’t even belong at the same school as someone like himself - and then see all of Class 1A get angry for Midoriya because “Dude did you just fucking attack a dude because he’s Quirkless?” 

It’s Hurt Denki Hours - Now, I don’t really like the way that this one ends, but in this story the BakuSquad is convinced that Kaminari is the traitor and refuses to talk to him. This really hurts Kami, because he was actually really, really worried about his friends and this hurts him deeply. There is also a bit of a misunderstanding about how Shinsou’s Quirk works, but I will overlook it for the angst. 

Optimistic Friendship Association - This fic features Midoriya accidentally texting Shinsou instead of Yagi, asking how to get OFA to stop breaking his bones. When he’s asked what that is, he panics and says it’s a school group. Now he just has to find a way to explain why a group around optimism is breaking bones... 

Lichtenberg Figures - Another Kaminari Centric fic. In this one, Kaminari accidentally hurts a civilian after panicking during a villain attack. Not wanting to hurt anyone else, he starts refusing to use his Quirk, which does nothing but hurt him in the end. 

Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll - This is a fic that has nothing to do with intercourse, drugs, or music. No, this is an ADHD Kaminari fic, where his RSD makes him not want to fill out a test that he doesn’t remember any of the answers to and he draws all over it. As someone with ADHD, this hit close to home but was really good. 

Kiss Away All These Thrills - A short ShinKami fic about the two of them playing the Pocky Game. Spoilers: it ends with a kiss and a confession. 

[aion-rsa]

Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood

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Before becoming a filmmaker, Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis was a musician and performer in the experimental group called The People Show. Before that, he played trumpet and guitar in the experimental jazz ensemble The People Band, whose first record was produced by Rolling Stone drummer Charlie Watts. He is also the founding patron of an online community of independent filmmakers called Shooting People. You can say Figgis is a People person, which makes him the perfect director to capture Ronnie Wood in the documentary Somebody Up There Likes Me.

One of rock and roll’s most iconic guitarists, Wood is good with people. He plays well with others. He is the Stone who’s never alone. Before he began weaving guitar licks with Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones, Wood helped shape the British rock sound in bands like The Birds and the Creation. He was the bass player to the guitar maestro in The Jeff Beck Group, which featured the distinctive voice of Rod Stewart at the front. They put out two albums, 1968’s Truth and 1969’s Beck-Ola, before splintering just as they were to appear at Woodstock. Wood and Stewart inherited the Small Faces from Steve Marriott and dropped the album First Step in 1970. They realized they were too tall for the diminutive moniker and renamed the band The Faces. They released the albums Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse in 1971, and Ooh La La (1973), before splitting up in 1975.

Wood guested on albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, the Band, Donovan, B.B. King, and on Stewart’s solo albums. He spent so much time flavoring other performers’ works, he didn’t put out a solo album of his own until 1974 which he aptly titled I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Wood also went solo for 1981’s 1234 and collaborated with Bo Diddley on Live at the Ritz in 1988, Wood’s seventh solo album, I Feel Like Playing (2010), featured guest spots from ex-Faces bandmate Ian McLagan, as well as The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Billy Gibbons, Bobby Womack, and Jim Keltner.

Somebody Up There Likes Me isn’t structured like most music documentaries. It is primarily a conversation, and it veers from much of Wood’s vast output. The hard-partying musician beat lung cancer and candidly blames his excessive indulgences. He saw bandmates, contemporaries and friends, like Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and John Bonham push past the lethal limits of chemical reactions. Wood himself remembers telling Keith Moon to take pills, not bottles of them. Richards remarks in the documentary how the two Rolling Stones guitarists share strong constitutions. Wood began recording with the Rolling Stones when they were halfway through their 1976 album, Black and Blue, and has been steady even up to their recent pandemic live stream.

The documentary also captures Wood’s visual artistry. He was an artist before he was a musician. His drawings were featured on BBC TV’s Sketch Club when he was a child, and he studied at the Ealing Art College. Wood did the cover artwork to Eric Clapton’s 1988 box set Crossroads. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee continues to capture visions like Mick Jagger’s dancing in a Picasso style, as well as the shots in Somebody Up There Likes Me of him capturing the grace of a ballerina on canvas.

Born in northern England, director Mike Figgis was raised on jazz and Jean-Luc Godard movies. The inventor of the “fig rig” knows when to experiment, such as he did in Timecode (2000) and Hotel (2001), how to get drama out of romance, as he did with One Night Stand, starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski, and The Loss of Sexual Innocence. He is adept at crime dramas, directing the “Cold Cuts” episode of The Sopranos in 2004 and Internal Affairs, which starred Richard Gere. He also mines deep emotional schisms in films like Mr. North and Leaving Las Vegas (1995) for which he was nominated for Best Directing and Best Screenplay Oscars. Figgis spoke with Den of Geek about cinematic jams and studio sessions with Ronnie Wood.

Den of Geek: Over the course of the film, you produced a song using nothing but your backings and an orchestra of Ronnie Woods. How was he to produce?

Mike Figgis: He was a delight, actually. We did most of the interviews and everything where he was painting, he was in his own space for that. Then the dialog, he’s very very witty and so on. But at the end of the day, the man’s a musician. Quite later on in the process I said, “Let’s go into a studio and do something.” I think the minute we got into a studio it was different. For both of us because I’m a musician too. It’s just a different kind of reality and the language becomes much simpler between musicians and understanding the equipment, the whole vibe.

Originally Mark Ronson was going to do a soundtrack for us which would have been fantastic and then he just got very, very busy because we got late. I presented him with a kind of template of how maybe could make a nice soundtrack, which is basically what we did anyway. So we did it without Mark and Ronnie was very comfortable with that.

He very much left it to me. He added a lot, obviously. He said, “I’d like to do this as well,” and so on. So, we had a pretty full couple of days in studio time. But he was great to produce.

There are a lot of musicians working on this besides you and Ronnie. Rosey Chan did the score for a painting scene.

Rosey’s my wife by the way. She’s a phenomenal concert pianist and composer and musician in her own right. She’s releasing an album now. She’s an amazing pianist, I just needed something to take us into a different zone, so I asked her to compose some piano pieces for that. Then I did some score myself. Just when he’s talking about drugs. I put a little bit of a weird score on that one.

So is this film more of a cinematic jam that you just edited in the mixing room?

Yeah, I think so. I think that’s a good way of putting it, actually.

Ronnie also worked with Bob Dylan, Prince, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin. Did you allow the interviews to determine what parts of his career you were going to include?

I actually wanted to avoid anybody else. I said, “Let’s just make it about him painting and us talking.” I wanted to make it as simple as possible. That didn’t happen because as soon as you sort of uncover one little stone, you kind of say “Oh, well obviously we should interview the Rolling Stones.” Then he started thinking, “Well, Rod’s around, we can use Rod.” When I discovered about Damien Hirst, “Actually that would be an interesting, unexpected one. That would be good, yeah.” So yeah.

It was kind of organic, really. It was all sort of scheduled based in a sense that, “When are you available?” And, “When am I available? When are these people available?” So, getting the Stones was actually the trickiest thing. You had to go to Berlin and get them between gigs when they were watching the World Cup. In between World Cups actually. Very specific.

I know you’re in the People Band which had an album produced by Charlie Watts. So, were you in the same periphery of the Stones as Ronnie Wood back then?

No, the connection with Charlie was very interesting because the People Band was a free music ensemble. I mean really experimental. Really way out. The drummer was this phenomenal percussionist, still is, called Terry Day. Terry Day went to art college with Charlie’s wife and he knew Charlie because they were both drummers, so they got on really, really well. Charlie Watts has always been a huge jazz fan. Through Terry, it was one of those moments where Charlie says, “You know, we can record you. We got a mobile studio. We can either send the mobile to you wherever you’re playing.” I’m talking about in those days, in ’68 or whenever it was, the idea of a mobile multi-track was pretty amazing. “Or you can come to Olympic Studios,” which was where they recorded Beggars Banquet and everything. It was an amazing studio. And, “We’ll just give you the studio and the engineer, and you guys do what you want.” That’s how that came about and it was really lovely.

Over the years, once in a while I would see Charlie and just catch up, talk about drumming, really. And jazz. So it was really nice interviewing for this one again.

When you were asking Rod Stewart about Peter Grant, he sort of cut back and he became the young man that was bullied.

He did, didn’t he? When he said, “I’m protecting my hands and my face.”

The gangster aspect of that mid ’60’s period, especially with Peter Grant, how did that affect the musicians and the working? Do you think it actually in some ways was good for it?

Well, you know that comes about from a very strange coincidence which was sort of touched on in the film. But, quite a few years back, Malcolm McLaren was wanting to produce a film. A feature film about Led Zeppelin and as a result of that, he and I went and interviewed Peter Grant which is where that footage comes from. I did a huge amount of research into Led Zeppelin and Peter Grant at the time, and spoke to and interviewed a lot of the people who were involved with their success. I didn’t interview Johnny Bindon, but he was a key figure. Johnny Bindon was a kind of very violent criminal. In London. Very good looking. He became an actor for a while. Had amazing sexual legends built around him involving royalty and all kinds of things, and was part of a kind of fashionable gangster scene. The craze and all the rest of it. The London gangster scene.

Sort of became fashionable because people went to all their clubs, and hung out with them, and David Bailey photographed them and all that. So there was a kind of a zeitgeist about gangsterism. There’s an incredibly good book written about it called Jumping Jack Flash which came out two years ago. Bindon became one of the agents for Led Zeppelin and famously beat up somebody so badly on one of their tours that was hospitalized. He was a very mean individual.

The whole association with Led Zeppelin was very much gangsterish because of Peter Grant and his associates who had those stories and so on. So that was a kind of one aspect, and also a lot of the management were fairly crooked in London at that time. There’s a bit of a gay mafia and all the rest of it, so part of the folklore of that period of British rock and roll is very gangsterish, and very much part of the story.

Whenever I think about gangsters and British rock I think of the movie Performance. When you’re filming conversations in the moment, are you saying in your head “this is filmic?”

Not consciously, no. I accept it as being part of the fabric, actually. I try to make everything filmic anyway, so I’m always trying to get as far away from any kind of documentary feel. I like things to have a live element to it.

I loved Peter Grant’s Gene Vincent story. In the Beatles Anthology, George Harrison tells a similar one. What did Gene Vincent mean to young British rock and roller’s that everyone’s got a story about them?

Oh, because he was there, he was around. A little bit like the stories about everyone remembers Big Bill Broonzy and everyone remembers Sister Rosetta Thorpe. Main reason for that is they were a part of a very small group of musicians who were allowed to visit the UK during the Musician’s Union ban on touring. We were basically deprived of a lot of American musicians after the war, and the only reason Broonzy got in and Sister Rosetta Thorpe, was folk musicians were allowed in as opposed to, say, Louis Armstrong.

They all came in as folk singers even though they weren’t. I mean Broonzy was a fully-fledged Chicago blues musician and so was Sister Rosetta Thorpe. But everybody knows that. Anybody that was anybody around at that time would know those names. And Gene Vincent has become a kind of UK legend.

Do you see Ronnie as a very varied painter?

I wanted to capture a certain aspect of his art which was the line drawing. When we first started talking, I looked at all his art books. He does huge canvases with a lot of color, featuring the Rolling Stones, et cetera, et cetera. I was less interested in those. Those sell for a lot of money apparently and people really like them.

But when I saw his line drawing, his very quick drawings. Line drawing is very, very important. Sketching is very important in the same way that when you hear a very basic demo from a musician, there’s a certain truth about that. Then you can produce it and over produce it, and you can make it super sophisticated. I was interested in the bit that leads up to the way that he started producing. I wanted to set up situations where I would just see his line drawing. His ability to control lines, that was amazing.

Then physically watching him do that is fascinating. I love filming people playing their musical instruments. There’s a certain truth about that, they get into their thing. And watching him draw I thought was fascinating. His concentration, absolute. Even in the interview with Damian Hirst. He’s so focused on what he’s doing that he doesn’t really pay much attention to Damian Hirst. Sort of answers the question. He doesn’t pick up on any of the jokes. Because he’s really focused on what he’s doing.

Watching his live stuff, Wood is a different person. While he’s playing guitar, you see him and Keith joking around.

I think that has something to do with the eye. Because I think it’s about blues guitar. You can see the finger memory is really, really strong so I mean in that early footage he’s smoking at the same time, right? He’s smoking, joking around, getting to the microphone, late usually, for the backup vocals. And moving around and having a great time. He doesn’t have to look at the guitar to do that. However, if you are drawing something, either you make that contact with your eye, so creating the triangle between the subject, the canvas, and your eye.  And you’re quite right. Radically different body language, and that’s interesting. There are two physical sides of him demonstrated on film, which you don’t really have to explain. There it is.

Is Somebody Up There Like Me a flip side to Leaving Las Vegas?

Maybe. You know, people have had a life, have had experience and come through darkness and coming to light and so on. For me, it just becomes 10 times more interesting than people who’ve just had a nice life and behaved well. Look a little puzzled that they’re not sort of 70 or something because it’s all been quite peaceful, you know? So there’s a kind of turbulence there which I think he says quite well when he says, “I see a fork in a road I take it.”

Like he says, “I would do it with my eyes more open now if I did it again.” I kind of admired that. It’s not like me. I’m much more protective. But I also loved the way he talked about the drugs. He talked about, “I would never get to the point of losing control because I always knew.” Because he’s very ambitious. “I always knew where I had to be next and I never wanted to be at the place where I couldn’t control where I wanted to be.” I’m sure there were a few exceptions to that, but in general, that was quite truthful.

You’re known as a very experimental filmmaker and I was wondering how you keep coming up with different ways to look through the camera?

I got sort of bored with 35mm and started going back to 16mm and then when video got more interesting, looking at video. Then as video got smaller and XLR happened, that radically changed the possibilities. Then as the world changes, like with at the beginning of this conversation we talked about the coronavirus effect. And how the Timecode principle, how that then ties in with what is possible in terms of filmmaking, really.

When you were making Timecode, did you know that you were predicting pandemic filmmaking?

No, although looking back I can think where it’d be really useful now.

The Rolling Stones streamed their performance early in the pandemic, is this the future of entertainment and is it an imposition?

I think in a way it is. Obviously at some point we will get coronavirus under some kind of control. But there are dire predictions about what’s coming next in terms of the unleashing of the demons that come through global warming, et cetera, et cetera.

On the one hand, maybe these variations of these conditions will continue well into the future. But I think even if it was just coronavirus, I’m talking about making films with various people right now, it’s almost like unless you actually acknowledge the world as it is today and has been for the last six months, any film that you make is going to have an air of unreality about it because this is quite definitely a global reality now. The way we’re communicating now and so forth.

I’m doing a masterclass in London at the film school next week and I’m going to be talking just about that to young filmmakers. The best ways to go about making films now.

As a jazz musician, what did you make of Jagger’s classification of jazz from back then?

It was pretty accurate, actually. I’d done the blues documentary with Martin Scorsese, the history of the British Blues, Red, White, and Blues. So, I covered that period and I was fascinated by that unique British period anyway, which is why in a way Marty and I got on so well too was because unlike America, the post war British music scene was heavily into traditional jazz and then bebop. Then folk music, and skiffle, and all those things. They all combined. If you talk to anybody, Eric Clapton, anybody, they’ll all make the same references. Big Bill Broonzy and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and then Woody Guthrie, and so kind of everybody was listening to all those influences and people were coming out of traditional jazz and then making quite dynamic decisions about this, that, and the other.

But the Trad boom was, the commercial aspect of the British jazz movement was very commercial, and immediately commercialized. There are some great musicians, but not the hippest genre in the world, so Jagger’s commented quite rightly if you want to be a young, sexy, happening musician, you’re not going to base your style on your grandfather’s taste and the rest of it. It was a kind of nice point of view. I loved it when he said, “I like the MJQ because of the way they looked and the way they played. I’m not sure I was crazy about the music or something like that.”

And I loved that he said, “We can be like that or we can be something different.” I love that moment in the film where you actually suddenly see the Stones kind of go, “Yep.” That’s pretty different from those two choices. That was, you’re creating a new genre there. And I have to say, my respect for the Rolling Stones went very, very high in making this documentary. I always like the Stones. I preferred more basically a blues band and I was listening to a lot more complicated pop musicians and jazz musicians.

I read that you’re doing a K-drama about the #MeToo movement. Would that be in the K-pop industry?

Yeah, I became interested in Korean film of course like most filmmakers. And then on an impulse, two and a half years ago, I bought a ticket to Seoul and I went and stayed there for three or four weeks, and just went around meeting people and just trying to get a handle on their film scene, initially. Then, I kind of got hooked on K-dramas as well and started to meet the actors. That’s turned into a project that’s been in development for about a year now. It’s going really, really well, but coming up with this series of scenarios. Sort of loosely around the #MeToo movement, really but just to do with the Korean social pop entertainment scene. And that’s what that was there.

I didn’t know that the Stones had originally thought about asking Ron Wood to replace Brian Jones. As a musician, you said they stuck to their guns. Do you think that would have been more true had they skipped over Mick Taylor and gone straight to Ronnie Wood?

It was interesting because that period, because obviously Jagger comes from a very much blues background. But by that time he was a megastar and the Stones were very much “Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.” He was making movies, he was hanging out at the clubs, he was the hip guy. So obviously his horizons were expanding and he said that having Mick Taylor in the band really expanded his horizons as a songwriter because the voicings that Mick Taylor used. Mick did incredibly lyrical runs as the guitarist. Not a straight down the line blues player by any stretch of the imagination. A great blues player, but that’s not all he did.

So, I can imagine at that period, it would have been totally understandable if they’d continued to go in a different direction. I think what happened when Mick Taylor walked out, there was a kind of obvious cause of action to go to Ronnie. That probably then put Keith in a more comfortable zone in terms of the two-guitar thing because I would imagine that with Mick Taylor in the band, Keith’s role must have been definitely not so much the two-guitar thing because they are functioning at different levels. Probably in a way, back to a kind of grassroots level by bringing Ronnie back in.

Also, he looks like them. They were like brothers at that point. There’s a kind of a, suddenly a cohesiveness to the band as a band in a different way. Mick had a wider range in terms of songwriting and performance. A different way to go, but I think he was more than happy to go back into the kind of grassroots journey that they’d been on.

It’s very interesting how one musician can radically alter the destiny of the band, the longest lasting band in rock and roll history basically now.

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Ronnie Wood: Somebody Up There Likes Me will be available as a Virtual Cinema release at www.ronniewoodmovie.com starting Sept. 18 running through October. It will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe hardback book release on October 9.

The post Director Mike Figgis Talks Trading Licks with Ronnie Wood appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mikauzoran]

Lukadrien Drabble: Nachtmusik Chapter Twenty-One

A Little Night Music (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) Chapter Twenty-One: Bubble, Bubble

Luka wasn’t quite sure what he’d been expecting.

He’d received a text string from Nino, simply reading, “yo.”, “meet friday 13:00 place du châtelet by fountain?”, “need to talk.”

Honestly, it had felt rather cryptic, but Luka assumed it was something about Marinette and agreed to the meeting.

Friday at one, he parked his motorcycle by the fence bordering parts of the plaza, next to one of the many trees lining the perimeter. He took off his helmet and shook out his squished hair like a wet dog shedding excess water.

Nino was sitting on the lip of the Fontaine du Palmier with his back to the column rising out of the center, one of the four sphynxes spewing jets of water directly behind him. He was tapping his foot along to the music coursing through his headphones, and it seemed like he didn’t notice Luka’s approach at first, but when he did, Nino gave Luka a nod of acknowledgement and slipped the headphones down to rest around his neck.

“What’s up with the bubbles?” Luka couldn’t help but ask.

Nino gave a snort and a wry smile as he pulled the bubble wand out of the bottle and blew another stream of soapy, opalescent orbs into the air. “Stress relief. It’s very calming. Really mindless in a therapeutic kind of way. I blow bubbles when I’m ticked. I used to do it for fun too, but…not so much anymore.”

“Oh,” Luka replied politely, nodding. He sensed a story there but could tell from Nino’s wildly fluctuating aura that it would be best not to ask.

“It’s also a reminder to control my temper,” Nino continued in a warning tone, flashing a neon red sign concerning his current mood. “as well as of how much Adrien means to me.”

There was something dangerous in Nino’s eyes, a rattlesnake’s tail shake in his voice at the word “Adrien”, and Luka realized what it was that Nino thought they needed to talk about.

“I see,” Luka muttered gravely. “And that’s why we’re here?”

Nino nodded, blowing an additional stream of bubbles. “I’m going to level with you. This,” He lifted the bubble wand and bottle. “is to give my hands something to do besides punch you in the face. I picked this plaza so that there’d be witnesses so that I’d think twice about punching you. Adrien seems to think you’re some kind of angel or something, but I have to admit that I’m not a fan.”

“That’s fair,” Luka allowed. “So, I gather this is about things between me and Adrien?”

“I’m here to tell you to back the hell off,” Nino informed. “Break things off and stay away from him. Like, never talk to him again.”

Unexpectedly, something inside Luka snapped. Normally he was very slow to get upset, but that reminder of what Gabriel had done to them, separating Adrien and Luka for two years, it set off all kinds of alarm bells and defence responses in Luka’s mind.

“No,” Luka answered curtly. “I don’t think I will. Sorry, but Adrien is too important to me to give him up just because you’re jealous and want him for yourself. You’ll have to think of some other way of getting out of the friend-zone with him than comforting him over losing me.”

Nino’s face flushed dark, a dangerous-looking snarl contorting his features as he stood to match Luka’s height. “Dude, that is not what this is about.”

Luka laughed mockingly, crossing his arms and tipping his head. “Oh, it’s not? Lahiffe, I have seen the way you look at him. Sometimes it’s not very platonic. Pardon the pun, but, if we’re going to do this, be straight with me.”

Nino’s grip on the bubble wand and bottle tightened. “Okay. Fine. Sometimes he pushes my less-than-straight buttons, but that is a teeny, tiny part of my relationship with him. An insignificant crush like that means nothing next to everything else we’ve been through together. Above all, Adrien is my friend, and I love him like a brother. This isn’t about me. This is about you messing around with my brother, so don’t you dare drag this down to the level of a cheap crush and petty jealousy.”

Luka uncrossed his arms and made a placating gesture with his palms at the level of his chest. He gave a nonchalant shrug.

“And another thing,” Nino hissed, capping the bubbles so that he could point a finger accusatorially at Luka. “I have a girlfriend, and I love her. You know, that actually means something to some people.”

Luka gave a snort, hand going to his hip as he raised his chin challengingly. “Why don’t you just say what you came here to say and be done with it already?”

“Did you tell Adrien you were in love with him?” Nino spit.

Luka blinked, the fight momentarily surprised out of him. He frowned, confused. “I mean…yes?”

Past tense. Luka had told Adrien that first night they’d gone to the opera together that Luka had been in love with Adrien that summer two years prior.

Nino hissed like something being dropped into hot oil. “Mec, you can’t do that.”

Luka laughed indignantly. “Too late?”

“Look, I don’t know why you said that, if you thought it’d get you into his pants or whatever,”

Luka took a step forward and almost grabbed Nino for daring to sully the memory of how Luka had felt that summer, but halfway through the step he came to his senses and stomped down the urge to lash out in retaliation.

“but you can’t say stuff like that to Adrien,” Nino continued. “Like, it actually means something to him.”

“Crazy, because it meant something to me too,” Luka remarked flatly.

Nino shook his head, jaw set in a hard line. “No, Mec. Like, it means something. In Adrien’s mind, people don’t love Adrien. Marinette doesn’t love Adrien. Gabriel doesn’t love Adrien. None of his screaming fangirls love Adrien. I let him down, so I don’t love Adrien. The guy’s got it in his head that his mother didn’t even love him because she didn’t take him with her when she ran away. He thinks he’s unlovable. I’m gonna say it again because this is important: Adrien thinks he’s unlovable.”

Luka’s face fell. Yes, Adrien had always been extremely insecure about other people’s feelings for him, but Luka hadn’t realized how deep-seated an issue this was.

“And then you come along,” Nino growled, “and you somehow manage to convince him that you really do love him. Do you maybe get it now? What that means to him? How important that is to him? You said, ‘I love you’, and he heard promises. He heard, ‘I’ll always love you’ and ‘I want to marry you’ and ‘happily ever after’. Do you maybe get now some semblance of what you’ve done?”

Luka was silent as his mind raced, trying to pick through Nino’s bias to the truth.

“I don’t know why you said that.” Nino shook his head slowly and sighed. “I don’t know if you just enjoyed watching him fawn all over you or what, but whatever you intended, it’s blown up bigger than you could have possibly anticipated.

“Adrien had a really sheltered, isolated childhood,” Nino explained wearily. “He didn’t have the chance to interact with others and learn about relationships in real life. He bases his expectations and behavior off of fairytales and anime because that’s what he’s primarily been exposed to. Seriously. Take his age and subtract ten. That’s the level of emotional intelligence and maturity he has. That’s why this whole thing with Marinette is so hard for him. He thought he’d found his soulmate and everything was magically going to work out because that’s how it always goes in the fantasy world he lives in. He has no frame of reference to help him deal with this besides shutting down like his dad did when his mom left. He doesn’t know how to deal with a world without ‘happily ever after’s.”

Nino sighed and sat back down on the lip of the fountain, tiredly uncapping the bottle and taking out the bubble wand once more. He gave Luka a pleading look. “He was doing better, though. He was doing really well with therapy and learning how to live in the real world and take care of himself and coping strategies and all that…but then you came along with your ‘I love you’, and he’s latched onto that. He thinks he’s a Disney princess and you’re his Prince Charming and you’re going to save him. …I think you’re smart enough to know that you can’t save him, even if you wanted to,” Nino added darkly. “Adrien has to save himself. That’s how the real world works. When it comes to mental health stuff and becoming stronger people, other people can help, but they can’t do the work for us. I’ve tried telling him that. I’ve tried explaining that you’re not in love with him and that you’re not going to leave Marinette and sweep him off his feet and take him away to happily ever after…but he’s not hearing me, so I thought I’d talk to you.”

Luka frowned grimly. “What do you expect me to do about this?”

Nino shrugged, blowing a gentle stream of bubbles. “Talk to him. Break his heart gently so his friends and family and I can get him refocused on getting himself better.”

Luka took a deep breath. “And what if I really am in love with him and want to sweep him off his feet and take him away?”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Dude. You have a girlfriend. Do the decent thing and lie. Break his heart anyway and stop cheating on Marinette.”

“If I say no?” Luka tested.

Nino glared. “I’m going to tell your girlfriend what you’re doing behind her back.”

A jolt of fear raced through Luka’s veins for an instant before a realization came to him: “If you tell on me, you’ll be snitching on Adrien. I don’t think that will do much for his trust in you.”

Nino shrugged. “I don’t have to tell Marinette who you’re cheating with.”

“She won’t believe you unless you do,” Luka countered.

Nino glowered.

Somehow, the victory felt extremely hollow to Luka.

“…Well,” Luka remarked aimlessly after a minute of hostile silence. “If that’s all you needed?”

“Bastard,” Nino spit, giving Luka the finger.

Luka nodded, unphased. “I’ll talk to him about expectations, but I’m not breaking his heart, and I’m not giving him up again. I’m not going to lie to him…but I’m not going to lie to him either…if that makes any sense.”

“I hope the rest of your day sucks,” Nino replied cheerily, reemphasizing his middle finger.

Luka grinned. “Thanks. You too.” He turned, raising a hand to wave goodbye over his shoulder as he went.

[khantoelessar]

Rubeus Hagrid: One of the powerful and talented wizards in the Harry Potter Universe. A mini-meta on Rubeus Hagrid and his skill at magic.

Can we just talk for a moment about what an amazingly powerful but also talented wizard Rubeus Hagrid is?

Putting aside for a moment his gift with magical creatures, let’s just focus on his ability with magic, to cast spells.

We actually see Hagrid cast a number of spells throughout the books. In the Philosopher’s Stone, the very first time we meet Hagrid, we not only see him cast the fire spell Incendio . . .

. . . we also see him cast a partial human transfiguration spell on Dudley (which we learn in the Half Blood Prince is an immensely difficult spell and is only taught in the sixth year).

Now granted he was going for a full transfiguration and didn’t quite make it but still even a partial transfiguration is impressive.

When they leave the hut on the rock the next morning, Hagrid tells Harry that he is not allowed to do magic again once he has collected Harry. This is why they do not apparate or use a portkey. But instead of rowing Harry and himself back to the mainland (because what’s the fun in that) he casts another spell on the boat to make it go speeding through the water (much more fun).

So that’s three spells right there, at least one of them was a sixth-year level spell and Hagrid was expelled in his third year[1] On top of all of this we never actually hear him cast these spells. He did them all non-verbally, again something that is very difficult and taught only in the sixth-year.

In Chamber of Secrets we learn that Hagrid cast an Engorgement charm on his pumpkins and did this well enough that Hermione said he did a good job.[2] Additionally, when his roosters were being killed to protect the basilisk from the sound of their crowing, he goes to Dumbledore to ask permission to cast a charm on the chicken coop to protect them.[3] Please note, he does not go to Dumbledore to get him or one of the other teachers to cast the spell, he goes to gets permission to cast the charm himself.

Now as what kind of charm it is, we are not specifically told so I’m going into the realm of speculation here and assuming that it’s some form of shielding charm. The first time we see Harry cast a shield charm is in Order of the Phoenix when he uses it against Snape in his Occlumency lessons. We do not see Harry use any form of shielding charm in the Goblet of Fire so again I’m assuming, based on the evidence that it’s a fifth-year level spell that Hagrid cast.

Finally, the last actual spell that we see him directly cast is in The Half-Blood Prince after the Death Eaters set fire to his hut.

Now granted, Harry had to remind him that the charm was Aguamenti, but once he remembered it, he certainly had no trouble casting it. [4]

This brings me to the most significant point I want to make. Hagrid cast all these spells and, in most cases, did so correctly with a broken wand. A. BROKEN. Wand. We learn in the Philosopher’s Stone that Hagrid’s wand was snapped when he was expelled.

“[Ollivander] Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again … Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn’t it? “It was, sir, yes,” said Hagrid. “Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?” said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern. “Er – yes, they did, yes,” said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. “I’ve still got the pieces, though,” he added brightly. “But you don’t use them?” said Mr. Ollivander sharply. “Oh, no, sir,” said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pick umbrella very tightly as he spoke.[5]

Now, how many other characters within the Harry Potter universe do we see being able to successfully use a broken wand?

We see a lot of wandless magic in the movies, especially in the third and fourth ones,

but do we ever see a witch or wizard being able to successfully use a broken wand? No, not really.

The closest person we see even come close to using a broken wand is Ron Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets and even then, the wand wasn’t completely snapped into separate pieces.

“My wand,” said Ron, in a shaky voice. “Look at my wand.” It had snapped in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.” [6]

Now Ron did manage to make some very basic repairs to it. Enough that it could still channel magic (of a sorts) but every attempt to actually used it ended in disaster, both for Ron . . .

“[Ron] had patched up his wand with some borrowed Spellotape, but it seemed to be damaged beyond repair. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick grey smoke which smelled of rotten eggs.” [7]

. . . and ultimately Gildroy Lockhart when he tried to use Ron’s wand to obliviate Harry and Ron, which is the one spell that he is actually quite gifted at and it backfired on him, wiping out his mind instead. [8]

We never actually see anyone, other than Hagrid actually be able to successfully use a broken wand, not even Dumbledore, though I imagine he could if anyone. But even he I suspect would find it difficult. Now I ask you, if this is the kind of magic Hagrid is capable of with a broken wand, what do you think he could do with a whole one?

I also want to point out once again that Hagrid was expelled in his third year. A number of the spells and charms we see him use are at least fifth year or above. This means that even after he was expelled Hagrid did not stop studying and learning. How else could he have learnt sixth year level spells? Despite Ron Weasley being surprised at seeing Hagrid in the library in the Philosopher’s Stone, I suspect he would have known his way around the Hogwarts Library quite well. (So well, in fact that he managed to smuggle a book right out from under Madam Pince’s nose without her even being aware of it, and given Madam Pince’s legendary zealousness over her library, how often has that happened?) Where else could he have learned to do that kind of magic? Certainly, the Hogwarts teachers couldn’t have taught him, not after he’d been expelled.

It’s one of my personal head canon theories that Dumbledore would have done everything in his power to help and teach Hagrid. But this probably would have taken the form of subtle hints and nudges towards certain books in the library, idle talk of wand techniques over cups of tea and brandy in Hagrid’s hut. After all, there was little Dumbledore could do openly, what with Hagrid’s position of being expelled and having his wand snapped. On top of this we should never forget that as much as it is Dumbledore’s nature to nurture and teach so is his nature equally inclined towards secrecy, manipulation and . . . shall we say, circumventing the dictates of authority when he thinks it is in the best interests.

But this is only my personal head canon and whatever help he might have given Hagrid it would have had to have been discrete and hidden under the cloak of misdirection. The majority of the work and study would have had to have been done by Hagrid on his own time after his gamekeeping duties were done. It certainly would not have been the full-time regulated, organized study and teaching that the regular students received. Primarily Hagrid would have had to have been self-taught. In doing this he demonstrated (and I say this with more than a bit of Slytherin pride)

“resourcefulness, determination, and if I may say so, a certain disregard for the rules” [9]

It’s no wonder Hagrid and Harry got on so well.

If you add this skill and talent for magic with his gift with magical creatures, power with mind you, not power over creatures that most of the rest of the wizarding world would call extremely dangerous at best, kill on sight at worst, and you’ve got a man who is not only an extremely talented and skilled wizard but a very powerful one as well. This is something that goes unrecognised by most of the wizarding world, including Hagrid himself, though not I suspect by Albus Dumbledore (see my previously mentioned head canon).

It was this very blindness by Voldemort and his Death Eaters not only to Hagrid’s skill and power but also his intelligence (Voldemort calls him a great oaf [10] ) that lets him escape their attention, to seem insignificant and thus beneath their notice. This in turn lets him become one of the most important and powerful pieces on Dumbledore’s chessboard. In many ways he’s Dumbledore’s rook, his castle. He provides not only shelter and protection to Harry and his friends during his time at Hogwarts but also like the rook, he’s a powerful and versatile fighter. In the battle of Hogwarts, he not only brings Grawp and the Hippogriffs into the battle but is a deadly fighter in his own right. [11]

That Voldemort failed to recognise Hagrid’s power and intelligence is not only one of the reasons why he lost the war but is also indicative (and I’m saying this again as a Slytherin) of his complete and utter stupidity and blindness when it comes to recognising where a person’s true power and influence lies. But as Dumbledore said “…but then, if he had been able to understand, he could not be Lord Voldemort, and might never have murdered at all.”[12]

Dumbledore on the other hand was not so stupid or blind but rather was able to recognise greatness and potential even in the most unlikely of outcasts. Which is why Voldemort lost and Dumbledore ultimately won.

[1] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone illustrated ed., Rowling, J.K. & Kay, J. p.g. 41, 48, 54

[2] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets illustrated ed., Rowling, J.K. & Kay J. p.g. 91-92

[3] Ibid, p.g. 153

[4] Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Bloomsbury and Raincoast books, Rowling, J.K., p.g 565

[5] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, illustrated ed, Rowling, J.K. and Kay, J. p.g. 71

[6] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, illustrated ed., Rowling, J.K. and Kay, J. p.g. 64

[7] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, illustrated ed., Rowling, J.K. and Kay, J. p.g. 77

[8] Ibid p.g. 230

[9] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, movie, Warner Brothers, 2002

10] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets illustrated ed., Rowling, J.K. and Kay, J. p.g. 234

[11] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling, J.K. and Kay, J. p.g.519 & 589

[12 Ibid, p.g. 569

[sage-nebula]

One small detail I really loved in season two of The Dragon Prince was the way Amaya’s deafness was incorporated as an integral part of her character (albeit one that does not define her; she is a character who is deaf, not a Deaf Character™ if that makes sense), but in a way that was shown as a believable, realistic strength, rather than a superpower or a weakness.

Before I go any further with this, I want to add a disclaimer: I myself am not deaf or hard of hearing. I’m a hearing person, and that’s the viewpoint I’m speaking from. So if anything I say here doesn’t resonate with deaf / hard of hearing fans, or if I accidentally say anything offensive, please let me know. I’m always trying to learn how to be a better ally, and the last thing I want to do is hurt anyone. If I do hurt someone, I want to know so I can apologize and correct it.

With that said . . .

Over the years I’ve paid attention to how people with disabilities are portrayed in media because, as I’m sure we can all agree on, there are plenty of ableist tropes that made their way into mainstream culture, so much that many of us who aren’t disabled in the same way as the character in question might not even realize that the portrayal or trope in question is, in fact, ableist. I’m a content creator myself, and I want to portray a diverse cast of characters in my works. But I don’t want to fall into the same ableist pitfalls that other writers have, and so I pay attention to how disabled characters are portrayed in other stories (while also listening to how people from those communities feel about those portrayals) so that when my own works are someday published, they can hopefully provide positive representation that uplifts people in those communities, rather than hurts them. Of course, my portrayals will probably never be perfect because I am not deaf or blind myself, but I’m still going to do the best I can regardless.

That said, one thing I’ve noticed as recurring themes in narratives that feature disabled characters is that if a character’s disability is used to affect a scene in a narrative, it’s usually used in one of two ways: Either it’s used to put the disabled character at a disadvantage that an abled character wouldn’t be in, or it’s some sort of cool accessory / weapon / superpower that the character only has because they’re disabled.

The first portrayal is ableist for obvious reasons, so I don’t think I need to explain that, but it’s one that has been averted with Amaya time and time again. Amaya is deaf, yet although we have seen instances where Commander Gren, for example, had to get her attention to let her know that Viren was talking from behind her, we’ve never seen her be ambushed or wounded because she couldn’t hear an enemy sneaking up on her. Instead, we see Amaya able to sense enemies in other ways (for instance, you know that feeling you get when someone is behind you, the hairs standing up on the back of your neck? I’m sure that’s what Amaya feels as well, particularly as a trained general in the military), and able to easily hold her own (and then some!) in combat. Amaya being deaf counts as a disability, but it’s not portrayed as a weakness. We’re not given a plot event where Amaya is knocked out, captured, or otherwise incapacitated because she was unable to hear something that a hearing person would. As I said, this one is a blatantly ableist trope and I’m thrilled that it has been avoided with Amaya. I’m so glad that we see her able to kick ass, take names, and be deaf all at the same time.

The second portrayal, though, takes a bit more explaining. I will say that I don’t think this one is necessarily ableist, but I also feel it’s not necessarily the best representation, because it often feels less like portraying an area where a disabled character excels because of their disability, and more like portraying an area where a disabled person excels because they have a superpower or cool, weaponized prosthetic because of their disability, if that makes sense. For instance, lets take the superhero Daredevil. Daredevil is blind thanks to an accident in his childhood, but that same accident enhanced his other senses to superhuman levels. Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly cool that he is a blind superhero . . . but blind people in real life probably aren’t going to be able to relate to having super senses to “compensate” for their blindness, either (nor should they have to). Similarly, Shiro from VLD lost his arm due to having the galra Empire chop it off, but they replaced it with a prosthetic that never gives him phantom pains, and that lets him hack galra tech, enhances his strength, and so on and so forth. While there have been advancements in science in recent years that have created robotic prosthetics, I would wager that most amputees probably won’t be able to relate with the experiences that Shiro has with his prosthetic. I could be wrong on that, and I certainly don’t want to speak for everyone, but in cases like these it feels as though the disability was given not to represent people with those disabilities, but rather to have an excuse for the cool “enhancements” that the creators then give to those characters.

But in season two of The Dragon Prince, I saw something different with Amaya. When Amaya takes her team to the outpost to investigate the signal, they touch base with one of the soldiers stationed there. He says, verbally, that he was a bit late on his cue, but that everything is fine. The hearing soldiers that Amaya brought with her express relief and prepare to leave. But Amaya lingers, and that’s when it happens: 

This scene---and this rescue, because Amaya is able to push the guard out of the way of a sunfire elf’s arrow, blocking it with her shield---was possible because Amaya was deaf. Not because being deaf gives her a superpower, but because being deaf has informed how she has grown as a person, in the sense that, because she is deaf, she has learned to observe things differently in the world around her than a hearing person would.

What I’m talking about is . . . the hearing characters in the scene, the other soldiers that Amaya brings with her---they only pay attention to the guard’s spoken words. He tells them, verbally, that everything is fine, and they believe him with that and move on. But as a person who is deaf, Amaya grew up primarily communicating via ASL. She can read lips, of course, but I’ve read accounts from numerous deaf or hard of hearing people that say that reading lips is very, very hard, and takes an abundance of concentration (and even with that isn’t 100%, even for those who are comfortable with it), and so ASL is understandably easier. Because Amaya has grown up communicating via ASL, she takes the type to look at the soldier’s hands---and that’s when she sees him signing to her. Of course, even people who aren’t deaf or hard of hearing can learn ASL, and those who have family members who are deaf or hard of hearing (such as Sarai and Callum in this very show!) often take the time to learn it. But speaking as a hearing person, I can tell you that my first instinct when communicating with someone is not to look at their hands. When we see Sarai and Callum talk to people, they often look people in the face instead of at their hands. But Amaya is used to watching people’s hands when she communicates with them, because those close to her use ASL to talk to her. So it is her instinct to look at people’s hands, and that’s what she did here, and that’s what saved this soldier’s life.

And I really love that, because not only do we never see Amaya’s deafness portrayed as a weakness, but she also isn’t given a superpower to “compensate” for the fact that she’s deaf. Rather, the fact that she’s deaf has affected how she has grown up, but that effect that it had on her? It’s one that is invaluable. It’s one that literally saves a man’s life here, because she has that instinct to look at someone’s hands when communicating with them, so she saw that he was signing for help. She instinctively did what a hearing person probably wouldn’t do, because she is deaf, and that was life-saving for that guard. This story point was changed by the fact that Amaya was deaf (because again, we saw how the hearing characters reacted to the “yup everything is fine!” verbal confirmation), but it was changed in a way that is positive, one that portrays the fact that Amaya is deaf in a positive and heroic light.

Again, I’m not deaf or hard of hearing myself, so it’s not my place to say what is or is not good representation. I will leave that to the deaf / hard of hearing community. But at least, knowing what I know right now, I really liked this little detail in season two of The Dragon Prince, and I just wanted to take a moment to highlight it.

[shivaom99]

Siddhartha Gautama, Dearest Buddha

Gautama, was born around 567 B.C.E., in a small kingdom just below the Himalayan foothills. His father was a chief of the Shakya clan. It is said that twelve years before his birth the brahmins prophesied that he would become either a universal monarch or a great sage. To prevent him from becoming an ascetic, his father kept him within the confines of the palace. Gautama grew up in princely luxury, shielded from the outside world, entertained by dancing girls, instructed by brahmins, and trained in archery, swordsmanship, wrestling, swimming, and running. When he came of age he married Gopa, who gave birth to a son. He had, as we might say today, everything. And yet, it was not enough. Something—something as persistent as his own shadow—drew him into the world beyond the castle walls. There, in the streets of Kapilavastu, he encountered three simple things: a sick man, an old man, and a corpse being carried to the burning grounds. Nothing in his life of ease had prepared him for this experience. When his charioteer told him that all beings are subject to sickness, old age, and death, he could not rest. As he returned to the palace, he passed a wandering ascetic walking peacefully along the road, wearing the robe and carrying the single bowl of a sadhu. He then resolved to leave the palace in search of the answer to the problem of suffering. After bidding his wife and child a silent farewell without waking them, he rode to the edge of the forest. There, he cut his long hair with his sword and exchanged his fine clothes for the simple robes of an ascetic. FINDING LIBERATION

With these actions Siddhartha Gautama joined a whole class of men who had dropped out of Indian society to find liberation. There were a variety of methods and teachers, and Gautama investigated many—atheists, materialists, idealists, and dialecticians. The deep forest and the teeming marketplace were alive with the sounds of thousands of arguments and opinions, unlike in our time.

Gautama finally settled down to work with two teachers. From Arada Kalama, who had three hundred disciples, he learned how to discipline his mind to enter the sphere of nothingness. But even though Arada Kalama asked him to remain and teach as an equal, he recognized that this was not liberation, and left. Next Siddhartha learned how to enter the concentration of mind which is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness from Udraka Ramaputra. But neither was this liberation and Siddhartha left his second teacher. For six years Siddhartha along with five companions practiced austerities and concentration. He drove himself mercilessly, eating only a single grain of rice a day, pitting mind against body. His ribs stuck through his wasted flesh and he seemed more dead than alive.

THE MIDDLE PATH

His five companions left him after he made the decision to take more substantial food and to abandon asceticism. Then, Siddhartha entered a village in search of food. There, a woman named Sujata offered him a dish of milk and a separate vessel of honey. His strength returned, Siddhartha washed himself in the Nairanjana River, and then set off to the Bodhi tree. He spread a mat of kusha grass underneath, crossed his legs and sat. He sat, having listened to all the teachers, studied all the sacred texts and tried all the methods. Now there was nothing to rely on, no one to turn to, nowhere to go. He sat solid and unmoving and determined as a mountain, until finally, after six days, his eye opened on the rising morning star, so it is said, and he realized that what he had been looking for had never been lost, neither to him nor to anyone else. Therefore there was nothing to attain, and no longer any struggle to attain it. “Wonder of wonders,” he is reported to have said, “this very enlightenment is the nature of all beings, and yet they are unhappy for lack of it.” So it was that Siddhartha Gautama woke up at the age of thirty-five, and became the Buddha, the Awakened One, known as Shakyamuni, the sage of the Shakyas. For seven weeks he enjoyed the freedom and tranquillity of liberation. At first he had no inclination to speak about his realization. He felt would be too difficult for most people to understand. But when, according to legend, Brahma, chief of the three thousand worlds, requested that the Awakened One teach, since there were those “whose eyes were only a little clouded over,” the Buddha agreed. THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH

Shakyamuni’s two former teachers, Udraka and Arada Kalama, had both died only a few days earlier, and so he sought the five ascetics who had left him. When they saw him approaching the Deer Park in Benares they decided to ignore him, since he had broken his vows. Yet they found something so radiant about his presence that they rose, prepared a seat, bathed his feet and listened as the Buddha turned the wheel of the dharma, the teachings, for the first time. The First Noble Truth of the Buddha stated that all life, all existence, is characterized by duhkha. The Sanskrit word meaning suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness. Even moments of happiness have a way of turning into pain when we hold onto them, or, once they have passed into memory, they twist the present as the mind makes an inevitable, hopeless attempt to recreate the past. The teaching of the Buddha is based on direct insight into the nature of existence. Ir is a radical critique of wishful thinking and the myriad tactics of escapism—whether through political utopianism, psychological therapeutics, simple hedonism, or (and it is this which primarily distinguishes Buddhism from most of the world’s religions) the theistic salvation of mysticism. SUFFERING IS TRUE

Duhkha is Noble, and it is true. It is a foundation, a stepping stone, to be comprehended fully, not to be escaped from or explained. The experience of duhkha, of the working of one’s mind, leads to the Second Noble Truth, the origin of suffering, traditionally described as craving, thirsting for pleasure, but also and more fundamentally a thirst for continued existence, as well as nonexistence. Examination of the nature of this thirst leads to the heart of the Second Noble Truth, the idea of the “self,” or “I,” with all its desires, hopes, and fears, and it is only when this self is comprehended and seen to be insubstantial that the Third Noble Truth, the cessation of suffering, is realized. THE FIRST SANGHA

The five ascetics who listened to the Buddha ‘s first discourse in the Deer Park became the nucleus of a community, a sangha, of men (women were to enter later) who followed the way the Buddha had described in his Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path. These bhikshus, or monks, lived simply, owning a bowl, a robe, a needle, a water strainer, and a razor, since they shaved their heads as a sign of having left home. They traveled around northeastern India, practicing meditation alone or in small groups, begging for their meals.

The Buddha’s teaching, however, was not only for the monastic community. Shakyamuni had instructed them to bring it to all: “Go ye, O bhikshus, for the gain of the many, the welfare of the many, in compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain, for the welfare of gods and men.” For the next forty-nine years Shakyamuni walked through the villages and towns of India, speaking in the vernacular, using common figures of speech that everyone could understand. He taught a villager to practice mindfulness while drawing water from a well, and when a distraught mother asked him to heal the dead child she carried in her arms, he did not perform a miracle, but instead instructed her to bring him a mustard seed from a house where no one had ever died. She returned from her search without the seed, but with the knowledge that death is universal. DEATH AND IMPERMANENCE

As the Buddha’s fame spread, kings and other wealthy patrons donated parks and gardens for retreats. The Buddha accepted these, but he continued to live as he had ever since his twenty-ninth year: as a wandering sadhu, begging his own meal, spending his days in meditation. Only now there was one difference. Almost every day, after his noon meal, the Buddha taught. None of these discourses, or the questions and answers that followed, were recorded during the Buddha’s lifetime. The Buddha died in the town of Kushinagara, at the age of eighty, having eaten a meal of pork or mushrooms. Some of the assembled monks were despondent, but the Buddha, lying on his side, with his head resting on his right hand, reminded them that everything is impermanent, and advised them to take refuge in themselves and the dharma—the teaching. He asked for questions a last time. There were none. Then he spoke his final words: “Now then, bhikshus, I address you: all compound things are subject to decay; strive diligently.” The first rainy season after the Buddha’s parinirvana, it is said that five hundred elders gathered at a mountain cave near Rajagriha, where they held the First Council. Ananda, who had been the Buddha’s attendant, repeated all the discourses, or sutras, he had heard, and Upali recited the two hundred fifty monastic rules, the Vinaya, while Mahakashyapa recited the Abhidharma, the compendium of Buddhist psychology and metaphysics. These three collections, which were written on palm leaves a few centuries later and known as the Tripitaka (literally “three baskets”), became the basis for all subsequent versions of the Buddhist canon. Adapted from How the Swans Came to the Lake (Shambhala Publications). Rick Fields (1942–1999) was a contributing editor to Tricycle and the author of Chop Wood, Carry Water; The Code of the Warrior; (with Bernie Glassman) Instructions to the Cook; and the well-known history of American Buddhism, How the Swans Came to the Lake.

[scoutception]

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon review: a debatable niche

Fire Emblem, also known as “that series that only got localized because of Super Smash Bros. Melee”, is a series I enjoy greatly, despite becoming one of Nintendo’s most controversial franchises in recent years. For all its rough patches and longstanding flaws, I’m always eager to start another run when it comes to most of what I’ve played, something that ties into this specific review more than I’d even like to admit. This is Shadow Dragon for the DS, the remake of the very first Fire Emblem on the NES.

Story:

The story of Shadow Dragon takes place on the continent of Archanea, inhabited by humans and a species known as Manaketes, dragons who have sealed their power within magical objects known as dragonstones and have assumed the forms of humans to avoid succumbing to the insanity that their power would cause, which most of their race had fallen to. Abused and persecuted by humanity, many of these Manaketes would form the Dolhr empire, led by Medeus, the only member of the Earth Dragons who chose to become a Manakete, and the titular Shadow Dragon, though only in nickname. Conquering all of Archanea and subjecting humanity to their wrath, a rebellion eventually led to the death of Medeus at the hands of Anri of Altea, wielding the blade Falchion, forged from the fang of Naga, queen of the Divine Dragons. Half a century later, however, Medeus is revived by a sorcerer named Gharnef, soon reestablishing his empire, and gaining the aid of the kingdoms of Grust and Macedon. The king of Altea and inheritor of Falchion, Cornelius, is slain after Altea’s neighbor kingdom, Gra, joins Dolhr and launches a surprise attack on Altea. While they successfully take the kingdom and steal Falchion, prince Marth escapes with a small contingent of knights to the island kingdom of Talys. After 2 years in hiding, preparing for the day he shall join in the fight against Dolhr, Marth reemerges when pirates raid the kingdom, and afterwards, joined only by his small band of knights and a few allies from Talys, including its princess, Caeda, Marth journeys to the last kingdom able to oppose Medeus, Aurelis, led by prince Hardin, determined to reclaim Altea and Falchion and avenge his father.

That’s about as far as Shadow Dragon’s story goes, unfortunately. While it’s not lacking in dialogue, it plays its premise very straight. There’s very few, if any, twists along the way, with the journey mostly just being the reclamation of Archanea’s conquered lands, though there are a few detours when Gharnef gets involved. At the least, however, it’s still fairly entertaining to go through, mostly thanks to the localization giving the script a very old fashioned Elizabethan flair. While some dislike it, it adds a lot of charm to what would otherwise be a very unmemorable story, in my opinion.

As for the characters, unfortunately, they suffer quite a bit more. The large majority of the playable cast, though admittedly at a downright massive 59 characters, are simply brushed aside, with most only having their recruitment scenes to display any characterization, with about 10 of them not even having that much, leaving them to only serve as units to command. That’s not to say that aren’t some gems to be found, though. Marth especially makes a good impression with the amount of focus he’s given as the main character, being a likeable mix of almost overly idealistic and trusting given his situation, yet still reasonable enough to know when he must steel himself, along with some subtle character development along the way. Even beyond Marth, though, there are quite a few memorable characters to be found, such as Caeda, Marth’s love interest, who, while genuinely very kind and good intentioned, is also very clever and manipulative, and has some of the best scenes in the game, such as convincing an extremely stubborn enemy general to join their cause by flipping his entire idea of what serving his country truly entails, and recruiting a completely random knight she had never even met before through, among other things, thinly veiled flirtation. Other notable characters include Minerva, the princess of Macedon who, despite knowing it would bring her into conflict with her brother, king Michalis, chooses her ideals over her family and rebels to join Marth, Linde, the wielder of the legendary Aura tome out to avenge her father’s death at the hands of Gharnef, Tiki, a Divine Dragon who is the daughter of Naga herself, Merric, a friend of Marth’s who uses the powerful Excalibur tome, and the trio of sister pegasus knights, Palla, Catria, and Est, who are the most frequently appearing playable characters in the franchise. Unfortunately, these only make up a small portion of an otherwise very unmemorable cast.

Gameplay:

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, and, well, all the other games in the series, is a turn based strategy role playing game, taking control of Marth and his army of assorted misfits on tile based maps. Turns are separated into player phase and enemy phase, during which the respective side gets to choose all the actions their units will take, without any factors like, say, turn order. The player is limited to bringing 12-16 of their units per chapter past the initial few chapters, while enemy numbers often exceed that, though the vast majority of the regular enemies you fight, even for cannon fodder, are rather underpowered in this game. Every unit can carry up to 5 items, which can be anything from weapons they use to attack, to consumables to restore their HP. However, all items, including weapons, have limited uses, and while gold is pretty plentiful, many items are not easy to find copies of, or are unique, period, which can add a fair bit of stress. To engage in combat, a unit must be placed on a tile directly next to an enemy if they’re a melee unit, or 1 space away, if they’re an archer, while mages are able to attack directly in front of one space away from enemies. In combat, each unit takes at least one rounds attacking each other, assuming both units are within each other’s ranges. There’s also a weapons triangle which affects accuracy and damage; swords beat axes, lances beat swords, axes beat lances. There are 8 stats that are used in combat: HP, which determines how much health a unit has, strength, which determines the power of physical attacks, magic, which determines the strength of magic attacks, skill, which determines the accuracy of attacks, speed, which, if high enough compared to an enemy, allows a unit to take two rounds attacking instead of just one, luck, which influences many things, but primarily the possibility evading attacks and of critical hits, which do triple the damage of normal attacks, defense, which lowers damage from physical attacks, and resistance, which lowers damage from magic attacks. There is one other stat, movement, which determines how far a unit can move on the map. All of these stats except for movement can be raised by leveling up by gaining 100 experience points, which are gotten mostly from defeating enemies, but can be gotten in smaller amounts from simply attacking an enemy or healing another unit. Most units can initially level up to 20, but at level 10, they gain the ability to promote into stronger classes using master seals, giving them fixed stat increases, additional movement, and the ability to level up even more. A select few classes, such as thieves, Manaketes, and Marth’s personal class, the lord, cannot promote, but to compensate, their levels cap at 30 instead of 20.

The objective in every chapter is to seize the castle/throne being guarded by the chapter boss using Marth, defeating the enemies along the way. While some units are given to the player automatically, many others must be recruited from the enemy side by talking to them with specific units, generally Marth or Caeda, or by visiting villages with Marth, which can also give items, but are at risk at being destroyed by bandits or thieves. It’s an interesting system that very much helps the feeling that this is a ragtag little army only held together by Marth. Unfortunately, Marth’s importance comes at a cost: if he is defeated at any point during the game, it’s an automatic game over. While he is a very capable unit, this can encourage only sending him out in special situations, while letting the normal units handle most of everything, but this isn’t the perfect solution either. Not only is Marth likely to end up underleveled if he doesn’t fight enough, but if a regular unit has their HP reach 0, they die, permanently, taking all the experience and items they were carrying. While an interesting idea, it doesn’t work out very well. The amount of experience points available to your units is finite, outside of the extremely risky arena, which allows your units to fight somewhat absurd enemies for gold, at the risk of dying if they lose, as if they were against any normal enemy. Since the viability gap between units is quite sizeable, something I shall go into more detail on in a moment, losing a unit you’ve trained a good amount is an extreme inconvenience, especially if they were holding rare items. Additionally, though it’s downplayed in this game for reasons I’ve said earlier, every unit is their own character, in some form. They have names, their own designs, and individual endings in the epilogue, and that alone is enough to encourage caring about them, if in varying amounts. With all these factors combined, many players, including myself, choose to just reset the game if a unit dies and start the chapter over. While that in of itself isn’t really a valid complaint, considering the developers weren’t intending that, considering some of the cheap tricks that get pulled, like enemy reinforcements showing up where your units started in a chapter, it can get grating, especially with how long some of the maps can go on.

The unit and class balance, unfortunately, is not very good. There is a very prominent viability gap when it comes to the individual units. There are three main points that usually determine a unit’s viability: their base stats, the stats they automatically come with upon recruitment, growth rates, hidden percentages that determine the likelihood of each stat being raised on a level up, and availability, how early in the game they are recruited. A character can have fantastic growth rates and a low starting level, but come so late in the game and with such awful bases that it’s not worth bothering with. Conversely, someone can come in fairly early in the game, prepromoted and with good base stats, but have such low growth rates that the chance of them actually improving at all is near zero. This holds true for every Fire Emblem game, to varying extents, but it’s especially notable here because almost invariably, the first couple of units you get of each class, or in some cases, just the first, are the best to use by far. Past chapter 12, and this is a 25 chapter game, the amount of units you get that are actually worth using over the units you got earlier could be counted on one hand, and even before that it’s giving you several units that are near pointless if you put even a bit of effort into the people of the same class you got a few chapters before. I think, though, that this was intentional on the part of the developers. The intention seems to have been for players to not get attached to their units at all, and simply accept any death they take, thus most units only function as replacements for what they thought would be inevitable losses. However, this is partially what caused the vastly underdeveloped cast, and thankfully future games would drop this mentality. Even past how underpowered the replacements are, many early units are just plain too powerful. Caeda in particular is an absolute monster thanks to her personal weapon, the wing spear, which grants damage bonuses against knights and cavaliers, which many of the enemy units are comprised of, but other special mentions go to Hardin, a very early and powerful cavalier who is flat out better than Jagen, the early game crutch character, despite not even being promoted, Barst, an early fighter who joins with two other fighters, but is strong enough and has good enough growth rates to render them pointless, and Julian, a thief who has very strong growth rates, to the point of easily becoming very hard hitting and tanky, despite the questionable class choice.

Some of the earlier intended replacements, however, can at least work out, since growth rates in Shadow Dragon are overall pretty awful. It’s entirely possible for several of your units to just refuse to gain important stats, and eventually cross a threshold where they’re beyond catching up, and the earlier replacements do have growth rates built that they should be able to level up their important points decently, but many of the post chapter 11 units have awful growths and bases, and even then, the class distribution throughout is awful. Of the “normal” classes that promote, there’s 12 in all: cavaliers, mounted knights that tend to be very nicely balanced overall, archers, who have to attack from a distance, but are useful for chipping and get damage bonuses against flying enemies, knights, who specialize in attack and especially defense in exchange for speed and moment, making them useful for baiting enemies out, pegasus knights, who lack attack but make up for it with speed, skill, and resistance, plus they can move over terrain freely, mercenaries, who are also very solidly balanced sword fighters, rangers, who are much like archers, but typically with higher attack, myrmidons, who, like pegasus knights, sacrifice attack for speed, though they focus more on evasion, fighters, axe users with low defense and skill, but much HP and attack, pirates, who sacrifice skill even harder in exchange for walking over water tiles freely, mages, who are very squishy physically but very much make up for it with attack, dark mages, who are more defensive based, and clerics, who cannot attack until promotion, but are able to heal units with staves. Some of the non typical classes are thieves, who are, in theory, supposed to stay away from combat, and instead go after the various treasure chests found in various maps, ballisticians, who have extremely low move and stats in exchange for having absolutely massive range, and manaketes, who have horrid stats normally, but use dragonstones to attack, which confer large stat bonuses, though they are very limited.

Just to begin with, the classes are rather unbalanced. Pegasus knights and cavaliers have way too much movement, being able to cross large portions of the map in one turn, while mages can destroy 90% of the units encountered due to resistance being extremely low on most enemies, and most playable units, for that matter. Several of them have 0 res, and 0% growth in it, to the point Marth has one of the highest growths, at 1%. Additionally, as I said, the distribution of the classes is extremely unbalanced, to the point there are 10 cavaliers, most of which you get very quickly, while there’s only 4 fighters and one singular pirate to be found, which is pretty bad considering those are the only axe users in the game other than promoted mercenaries, and the only dark mage is already promoted when, or if, you get him. However, the game does introduce the reclass system, where you can change any character in a normal class to a different one, depending on which of two class pools they’re in. It’s a good idea, in theory, however, the growth rates also change depending on class, so you could accidentally put them into a class they can barely grow in.

Many of these flaws are carried over from the original NES version, but the remake changes surprisingly little overall, and sticking true to the original wasn’t the best of moves. It did add several classes that didn’t exist in the original, along with items, dialogue, and the like, but the lack of significant additions, like support conversations to develop the characters, or alternative chapter goals, like defense chapters, make Shadow Dragon feel downright barren compared to almost any other game in the series. This does, however, debatably give Shadow Dragon a niche: it’s very easy to pick up and play. There’s not many complexities you need to worry about. You could even see it as a good introduction to the series. However, that’s not really a view I hold. More than anything, it’s just a bland experience, albeit a bland experience I’ve gone through several times, mostly just because of how easy it is to go through. On the subject of additions to the remake, however, there is one rather notable addition: gaiden chapters, which are short, easy bonus chapters that come after certain chapters if you fulfill certain requirements, and contain helpful items and new units. All good in theory, but unfortunately, all but one of them share the same requirement, and it’s an absolute doozy: have 15 or less units alive by the end of the preceding chapters. Not only is that the most counter intuitive requirement possible, but the sheer amount of characters you have to get killed, many of them useful, make them nowhere near worth bothering with, especially as many of the new units are not worth using, both in characterization and gameplay, with two exceptions: Athena, the first available, who is a very good myrmidon, and moreover is downright hilarious, and possibly the most notable character in the game just for sheer absurdity, with an extremely thick accent, a bad grasp on idioms and phrases, and the audacity to call Marth “a stupid manchild” right to his face, and Nagi, whose gaiden chapter can only be accessed by losing both Tiki and Falchion, the main methods for defeating Medeus. Not only is she a good unit by herself, she’s also quite interesting, despite her very limited, as she’s heavily hinted to be the reincarnation of Naga herself. Overall, though, the gaiden chapters are a very poorly thought out addition.

Graphics:

Shadow Dragon is not a great looking game, unfortunately, largely due to the artstyle used, being a rather weird combination of anime styled, yet realistic. It does lend to some rather good looking illustrations throughout the game, and some of the character designs do fit it, especially Gharnef, who looks downright horrific.

Unfortunately, overall the artstyle just does not work, and many character portraits are rather off putting, not helped by some being poorly drawn to begin with.

The map and battle graphics are also odd. They seem to be in prerendered style, and while they do animated decently, and while I honestly don’t mind them, they still aren’t very appealing.

Music:

The music, unfortunately, is not a high point either. It’s not that the soundtrack is outright bad; there’s many decent tracks throughout, but few of them are actually memorable. The map themes are generally the most enjoyable, though, and thankfully they swap out as you get farther in the game, and Shadow Dragon has what may be my favorite version of the Fire Emblem theme.

Conclusion:

Overall, I honestly cannot solidly say if this is recommended or not recommended. There are certainly much more enjoyable games in the series, such as New Mystery of the Emblem, Awakening, Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, and Path of Radiance, but even with me thinking it’s bland, it’s not a bad time. The dialogue is fun to go through, there’s plenty of room for experimentation, it’s very easy to pick up and play, there’s 5 different harder difficulties if you want more of a challenge, and it can be quite a bit of fun if you’re in the right mood. However, you’re not missing much if you choose not to go through it. With that, I’ve said more than enough about this game. Till next time.

-Scout

[wolvesdevour]

How Not to Write Gay Stories

I’m very torn between writing two different posts and there’s a chance these may combine, so we’ll see how this goes. There are two topics that are in my mind a fair amount: gay fetishism by women authors (both in fanfic & professional writing), and how to translate fanfic writing skills to professional writing (and how it can fail). Miraculously, perhaps, the book I just read, How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom by SJ Goslee is a fairly good example of both of these. 

The problem with addressing gay fetishism among women authors is that when is it fetishistic versus well-meaning? It’s hard for me to say why the originators of gay slash fic wrote the way they did, but its hard to miss that when fanfic especially grew prominent, over 80% of writers were women. In Star Trek fandom, the first gay slash fic was published by a woman in 1974: A Fragment Out of Time. By 1973, 90% of ST fan writers were women. 

To clear the air a little: women writers can write good gay stories. One of series I am currently read, The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, includes many gay men, some of which are centered POVs. I will not say she is a perfect author, but I deeply enjoy how she writes men. For a good portion of the series, she shows a man growing up: he starts as a young boy, and we see how the men around him teach him to be a man. A very good portion of the lessons stray away from toxic masculinity. He is still taught to be a man, and there are certain “this is a manly trait” aspects (although when she features women as forefront POV, she often includes very similar lessons: ultimately nothing is exclusive to one’s sex, but society is what it is and they may learn lessons differently or overcome different hurdles).

She addresses writing gay men in this interview: Here’s the thing - when I meet a person, their gender identity is most often not the most important thing about them. If we become friends, it’s not because my first impulse is, “I will be friends with you because you’re female.” I mean, there’s a lot of women I can’t stand. There’s a lot of men that I absolutely can spend hours talking to. There are a lot of people on the whole gender spectrum and whether I become friends with them or not has nothing to do with that, so when I am writing these characters, although in some ways gender can influence a plot - for instance, if you want the prince and the princess to get married and live happily ever after in a medieval setting, gender is going to influence that - but for the most part, gender is not much more important than who has blue eyes. What’s more important is who is a skilled navigator, who is tough enough to survive a bad situation, who can think on their feet and find the creative solution to a problem they haven’t encountered before, and that’s got nothing to do with gender. So it was not that I said, “Gee, I will write a book with gay characters.” It was, I’m writing a book, this character has stepped out onto the stage, he’s told me about him- or herself, and this is who they are. As I said: I’m not here to say that women cannot write gay stories. But there is also gay fetishism. I am both a gay man and a trans man; I get a lot of “OMG, you’ll love this!” and cis or straight people presenting me with things that appear inclusive or caring. I personally don’t find memes like “Steve Rogers is a transwoman!”** or whatever amusing. Am I, say, happy to see that Loki is canonically not straight nor cisgender? Yes. I love that. (Does that potentially make Victor von Doom not straight, uh, I like to think so.) I like reading LGBT+ stories, but a good portion of them may not interest me, especially if the writer isn’t part of that demographic and has a tendency to post a lot of art, writing, or discuss a lot of how hot, cute, or general appealing it is that a character or couple are LGBT. That creeps me out. I’m not alone. Very not alone. Absolutely not alone. Here’s another post, this time by a woman that I appreciate:

The worst thing,” one gay friend said, “is that [women in the slash community] aren’t listening to me. You’re not listening when I tell you that you’re being hurtful.”

What I find especially difficult to convey is the nuances to when women write gay men versus when men do. I’ve been trying to collect “gay stories written by gay men” although due to publishing bias, this can be very difficult: As a queer, trans reader, I looked forward to seeing myself in their pages. But I was surprised to find that some LGBTQ-focused stories were reflecting not me, but a straight person’s imagination of me. [Link 1]

The current transman story I like is seen in Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. The character utterly blindsided me in a great way: he never appeared “omg trans” until it was forced to come to light. I appreciate him as well, as a character, because in a harsh survival world, he is a man who survives well. I especially see a lot of “transmen are soft uwu such boi” and I despise this. I did not survive everything in my life to be diminished to pastels and cute/sweet and childish-boyish characteristics.  Similarly, as a gay man, I am not there to be pretty, to serve as a fashion guru for straight people, to be soft and pretty and welcoming. And that’s not how gay men write themselves. This isn’t how transmen write themselves. As a writer, I struggled a lot on how to depict trans characters, and my largest lesson (and I certainly hope to published one day, but who knows) is that I never saw good examples of myself because most typically they are written by straight, cis women.  So what is so wrong with Goslee’s How (Not) To Ask A Boy to Prom? (There will absolutely be spoilers.) The main character is a teen boy who has long hair, loves succulents aggressively, loves narwhals, and has no male friends. His school is supportive of gay men: a very popular football player is gay and has supportive friends, another gay teen (who becomes his boyfriend) has very supportive friends. For some reason, this gay teen is incapable to do anything for himself. He loves art, doesn’t do sports, doesn’t really connect with his foster parents, and seems overly attached to his sister. He is effectively a very flat and “soft” person. Some guys are, of course. Some gay guys are more art, less sports. But the other men? Si & Bern? They’re equally soft. Si is described as soft, beautiful, kind, sweet. He has zero personality. He is described the same way, every time, and is overly described as soft, all men are soft, it’s like they bathe in fabric softener. Bern, the “bad boy” is barely... That. He is supposed to be gruff to the main character, but for the good portion, he is like the main character (Nolan), and Si. They are all the same person, ultimately. 

Bloom might be a good comparison to How (Not) To Ask a Boy to Prom. This is written by a man (Kevin Pancetta) and illustrated by a woman (Savanna Ganucheau). I don’t like the character design. Most of the gay men I showed it to asked if at one of the guys (or both) are women. But it is a story about a frustrated kid who wants to move out of his small town to Baltimore (okay: as a Marylander who grew up in a very small town and eventually moved to Baltimore, I kinda.... Get this), but meets another man who is older, but not creepily too old for him, and its a romance & vague coming of age story. If you grew up in a small city as LGBT+, it’s hard to find your sense of self. You miss out a lot on life; I think Ari reflects that: he wants to be himself.  A lot of this enters into my point 2: The problem of being a fanfic writer, or the pitfalls of translating fanfic writing skills to professional writing. Nolan is not a person; he has no strong characteristics. We’re told he likes narwhals and succulents, he is a foster child, he’s gay, and I have trouble quantifying him the way I do Ari because he’s so devoid of personality. Si is probably the least developed character at all, as the “perfect, Apollo-esque gay football player.” Bern is maybe the most developed, going from gruff-mean guy to gay softy--a motorcycling math nerd.  The problems with fanfic writing is that it is based on knowing characters. As fanfic writers, we don’t have to nail down reality, because there’s a whole piece devoted to who they are. We’re just filling in those blanks. The author seems to primarily be a Teen Wolf fanfic writer (her bio lists “werewolves,” but her tumblr blog is very devoted to Teen Wolf, so well). This brings up another creepy pitfall, which is beyond slash fic writing, there is the aspect of word usage. If you’ve been following my vague live-reading, I’ve been posting about the massive references to “puppy” and other trends. It is creepy to read out of context. 

It seems, according to reviews, that Goslee has trouble with this in her other book, Whatever: or how junior high became totally f$@ked. She has a stream of consciousness that doesn’t explain the main character’s thoughts or the world very well. In fanfic writing, this would end up being a slow burn. “Oh, but are they really going to date?” etc. In How Not, Nolan fake-dates Bern, and googles this concept, finding fanfic works. This gets weird for me, because it’s supposed to be an inside joke, I guess? “Hey teeny nerds: fanfics” but most gay men I know have a difficult relationship with fanfic and with fan community due to fetishism. We get pressed out of spaces a fair amount because of it. (One link above, the Mary Sue one, discusses how women do this.) Of course, this is meant to be a cute, happy book, right? Alright, it’s a cute, upbeat story. Except we don’t get a very good baseline for the world. Bern & Si’s friends are supportive. We get a form of negativity from Bern’s mother, who wishes he’d date his ex-gf, I think? (Bern is bisexual.) Or maybe just date women. So is there homophobia in this world or not? We aren’t given a good sense how Nolan’s parents feel that he is gay? It seems to wholly not discuss his foster parents barring “they are aggressively competitive, Tom makes crazy food concoctions and Marla talks to him about dating Bern.” As a whole, the parents are extremely unimportant other than they provide a home and food. Are they unusual for the area? (And knowing PA, that state can have some major issues.) Or is it common in this world? Is there a reason to not hand-hold? Do they every worry about homophobia when outside school? Do the teachers say shit? There is a lot to consider. The world-building is deeply lacking. Beyond the lack of world, we get a lot of fanfic trope writing. A lot of this I’ve seen from people on my dash who are Teen Wolf fans. I used to like the show & follow TW blogs; I’m not a massive fanfic reader (*ahem* a lot of gay fetishism), but I have read it. For series like TW, you may see what I consider “animalistic tropes;” such as tackling, growling, etc. There is a lot of this. A lot of people are tackling each other to the ground, growling, and there’s this weird moment when Bern grabs the nape of Nolan’s neck that while some men do this, it felt very strange in the moment, particularly aggressively? Because the author openly admits to writing werewolf fanfic, it feels like that is what it is. For authors who write both fanfic and seek to write professionally, this is a consideration. For a gay reader, it’s really weird for a guy to grab another guy’s “nape of the neck” affectionately. (As someone who has worked around large predators, albeit primarily felids, grabbing the neck is a sexual behavior, but that just makes this weirder.) Anyways, it really struck out as weird; just very very weird. Bern is mentioned to not be into PDA (which later in the book, they do it a fair amount it seems, that is also very weird? this happens a fair amount). 

Another part is that there is a lot of use of the word puppy. It is frequents so often that I’d have to stop reading because it was grossing me out. It sounds like that author is into puppy play. This isn’t to kink shame, but this is a YA novel and she writes werewolf fanfic. It starts seemingly, albeit weirdly innocuous with moments like “Bern was smooth and graceful while I was still growing out of my puppy paws” and “She tilted her head like a puppy” and “I followed him up the stairs like a puppy.” But it keeps happening. Then people start growling at each other and it just... Gets a very specific note. Mixed in with how smooth and hairless and Adonis-like the teens are written, especially by an adult woman fan, it feels... Well... It makes my skin crawl. I’m not saying that the author means to. I’m really not trying to be like ‘Hey, guys, sexual predator?” I really, really want to address that that is not my intention. My intention is that this compounds on itself. In the links about how the slash side of fandom can make gay men uncomfortable: this is the perfect example.  I’ve been to events with fans and found myself, barring maybe my fiance, to be the only gay man there. If I’m shipping two characters, such as when I went to a TAZ photoshoot, and my fiance and I are the only gay cosplayers, and almost the only men period, whereas a lot of women are screaming about how cute Taako is, that gets uncomfortable. It’s not about this one fandom. It’s all fandoms. Every single one has had this fetishization problem. It’s why I never entered the Lord of the Rings fandom. I was in middle school and found “my first” fandom, only to see all of the fanfic about Sam/Frodo ships and it grossed me out. As a teen boy, it creeped me out, that all these men had to be sexual to each other, and as I only came across women shipping men, it made it more and more ostracizing.  Maybe I should have addressed this earlier, but: Not all fetishization is sexual. It can be romantic, too. How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom’s relationships are about a teen boy who doesn’t want to date or go to prom. His sister makes him ask out Si, the big popular gay guy. Nolan/the author mocks the GSA (gay-straight alliance) club. While there are problems with some GSAs*, the author, a seemingly straight woman, is mocking an LGBT+ space. There is a chance she is bisexual; I haven’t managed to find otherwise, and that’s how this will appear to many people, as she has a husband. I will also note: a bisexual woman’s experience will differ from a gay man’s experience, and sometimes LGBT+ folks need to not speak for/over each other.  Nolan ends up fake-dating Bern due to a mistake, and there’s a bit of problem I have, with how for a good portion of the book, these gay teens “need to FAKE date”. Worse to me, is that Nolan, upon realizing he likes Bern, breaks up with him and ends up sleeping (non-sexually) in a bed with his sister, deciding to go to prom together. For a straight/cis-presenting women to write this, it’s... Got a lot of different baggage to it. Especially with how idealistic (but not for gay men) she writes the characters, it gets worse and worse. It makes the gay character seem just a little less gay. His relationship with his sister is odd. It’s not “cool” to really hang out with your sister at school; I know, I had a step sister & brother. We were all roughly the same age. If these two went to prom together in the real world? They would be mocked. Also, it really makes Nolan appear not actually gay. As a gay writer, I would have him, if not go at all, go stag. The message here is: it’s better to be straight than gay and without a boyfriend. Hence how it becomes fetishistic: Nolan’s sister, both of which are older teens (around 17-18 or so) sleep together in a bed. It may not be “coded as sexual” but it is ignorant of the history that “maybe gay men can be fixed.” They even dance at prom. This is one step below asking your mother to prom. She is still his sister. It creates a narrative that he, out of the blue, dumps his boyfriend to then sleep/cuddle with his sister and they go to prom. Again, this is seen more in fanfic: we often, especially with adopted siblings, see closeness that can become romantic or sexual. I have a fair amount of friends who are adopted and this trope style is infinitely horrifying to them. It makes them feel like that society doesn’t view them as actually family. It is also a real problem: adopted family members (especially kids) have been abused by their adopted family, as if “it’s okay, they’re not actually biologically family.”

While he does eventually get back together with Bern, it’s after prom that he does this. I don’t even know why Bern accepts him. Nolan has been truly awful to this guy. Goslee doesn’t seem to understand how tenuous gay men’s statuses are. This can be held against Nolan, if not for the simple creepy fact that he sleeps and goes to prom with his sister, that he goes to prom with a woman, he may get a lot of “But are you really gay?” comments. Especially because Nolan dates only one man before going to prom with his sister (and is the one to dump his boyfriend, who he was fake-dating).

Is there more on this I could write? Yes. I probably could, but I also have to get ready to go to a movie with my fiance. So uh... Maybe there will be a part 2? We’ll see. _______ *I personally was forced out of my college’s GSA because the group was actually gay/bisexual people having orgies. So, yea, there’s some problems with certain LGBT+ spaces and being actually open to LGBT+ folks. It was also extremely transphobic and ace-phobic.  **My point with this for clarification is that: I don’t want to be bribed with “lol this person is LGBT+ cuuuute!?” headcanon or otherwise. I am fine with that form of headcanoning, or AUs, but the idea of playing with gender identity and pulling it off as cute, especially by cis or straight people is skeevy and at best, ignorant, at worst, fetishistic.  Link List: LGBT Exploitation in Fandom: we are not here for your entertainment

Fetishizing Homosexuality

gbpt boys’ ask about women readers of mlm stories

The Mary Sue’s On The Fetishization of Gay Men by Women in the Slash Community

Why Are So Many Gay Romances Written By Straight Women?

The Lack of Published Gay YA by Gay Authors? Let’s Talk About It