#and obviously those are very shallow views of those characters

[cherrysnax]

oh yeah we were also wondering why we flock to media with dead kids that haunt the narrative both figuratively and literally and uh :) yeah we know why

[buckyarchives]

MODERN OBI-WAN KENOBI BOYF HC

I haven’t ever done a head cannon post but with how busy / lazy I’ve been I might post more of these, they’re a lot of fun. probably one for Bucky and Luke skywalker. If you want any other characters just lmk! Make sure to check my request post!

warning: nsfw content (labeled so if you want to skip you totally can)

tea guy, like, it’s crazy. has so many drawers full of boxes and bags. always making you tea to fit whatever mood you’re in

landscaper or teacher, or both. I imagine him teaching younger kids but probably wishes to be a professor of some sort, maybe teaching environmental science.

just really likes plants and flowers but sometimes gets tired of having to craft and trim everything to be perfect so he thoroughly enjoys natural nature and the “overgrown’ aesthetic

Adding onto that, loves to hike, always takes you with and nerds out about the scenery and views.

definitely fosters dogs from the local shelter and takes them on hikes to help leash train them.

unintentionally a pretentious little prick

circle lens glasses and turtle neck combo 24/7

And of course you steal his sweaters ALL THE TIME

Smells like citrus, grass and rain. the warm sun rays and vanilla

Always watching some documentary, or the history channel.

All your friends lowkey want him because he’s. That Guy.

Whenever he blushes it goes straight to his nose, ears and neck.

Frequent at most coffee shops in town so when he started to bring you around it was a big deal for the workers lol, so much gossip. And mild disappointment from the staff knowing obi wan was official taken

Probably hates small talk, finds it tedious and shallow

The most supportive boyfriend in the world, he’s always the first person there to cheer you on

When you started dating him, his cousin/best friend, Anakin, came as a packaged deal. The younger one frequently trailing behind obi wan and now, as you’ve got too closer, you as he’s become a younger brother figure to you.

Not jealous at all, he’s very secure in your relationship and his trust in you is crazy strong. finds it quite amusing when men hit on you in front of him and kinda just lets you play it out.

That is unless you become uncomfortable, he mostly lets you stand up for yourself but if it becomes overbearing he definitely won’t hesitate to cause a small scene.

A big runner and boxer, you’re used to having to help his knuckles heal up from long sessions. As well as joining him on early morning runs if he can get you up and out of bed for it.

He loves art and mostly drew and painted landscapes but after meeting you this sketch book began to fill of pictures of you from every angle possible.

So naturally put together all the time it makes you insecure sometimes

Obviously, obi wan is the best at easing those insecurities. He always notices when you’re feeling off, sometimes even before yourself, so quick to embrace you and whisper exactly what you need to hear.

Another thing, so good with his words??? He always tell you what you need to hear, there’s rarely ever any miscommunication between the two of you because of this and even when they’re are, arguments are not common.

Crazy sarcastic, will say the funniest shit ever with the most monotone face and it just makes it 100% times funnier.

Really likes Taylor swift and David Bowie

Always getting you bouquets of flowers, even arranges them himself sometimes.

“This reminded me of you.”

Such a safe and non-judgemental aura, you’d struggle with asking for help or learning new / seemingly ‘common sense’ things with past relationships in fear of seeming dumb but you feel so safe around obi-wan that those thoughts never cross your mind, always learning new things from him and enjoying how helpful and supportive he is.

Definitely an impala driver, either 40s Chevy impala or the very sleek and fancy 2020 impala premier, probably black and rarely dirty

Not the biggest cuddler in the world but really enjoys naps together, will drape an arm over you but he tends to move around in his sleep so he’s just content with sleeping besides you rather than wrapping limbs

But when he is in the mood to cuddle, it’s mostly on the couch when you decides to binge shitty reality television. He’s usually on his back and you’re laying ontop of his stomach with your ear to his chest

You two constantly binge dating reality shows, always criticizing the other couple and mostly men LOL.

“He did not just say that! Maker, you would have broke up with me then and there.” “Damn right I would.”

You trace all the moles and freckles along his body, obi wan definitely had a skin care routine and moisturizes so I imagine his skin is always so soft

NSFW!

really likes nudes, like the grainy MacBook camera pictures with a matching cute set type nudes (iykyk). Hot and slightly artistic, his favorite.

Doesn’t like porn though, never enjoyed it and it never really got him off, doesn’t like the morals of it either

Also sexting, not his thing. He’s usually more on the serious end when it comes to intimacy but he cannot take sexting seriously LMAOO

lowkey the type to come home from a long day of work and look you in the eye with That Look and you just know what he needs

Thigh guy, the type to take breaks from eating you out by just resting his head fully on your inner thigh and just gaze up at you

Sir / master kink

Will jokingly come up behind you when you’re in the kitchen or something and press his groin to your behind

Just a little tease overall, always doing shit like that and acting all innocent about it

VERY VERY vocal during sex (cough, cough, shallow graves ending scene, COUGH)

[animehouse-moe]

Oushi and Ableism In A Sign of Affection

I want to get better at sharing more granular opinions on matters, so here's one of a few posts that's a sort of catchup from a busy weekend.

I totally get why everyone is talking nonstop about Oushi's ableism within the series- it's entirely justified and a point that's meant to be driven home. But I think a lot of people miss the remaining entirety of his character because of that.

Villains always get dismissed very quickly for their behavior, and I understand, but it means a lot of people fail to understand the purpose behind it. That's another conversation though I'm here to talk about Oushi.

Anyways, Oushi = Ableism is the thing I always see, and it's not wrong but it's abstracting a lot of the point of his character.

To him, Yuki is a delicate flower that needs protecting, and a girl that should be given everything on a silver platter.

The easiest example is that he exclusively talks to her via sign language. And I'd certainly forgive a lot of people for not quite understanding why that's ableist, so let me explain quickly with a very shallow and borderline incorrect answer.

You're in a foreign country, but you've studied their language so that you can converse with them in it, and you're pretty good with it. You try to speak with someone and they instead choose to respond in your language. Doesn't feel great, does it?

That's the point of ableism like this, it neglects the efforts of the individual to decide for them that another person should interact with them in a way that's "easiest" for them. They decide what is right and what is easy for another, and by doing so entirely discount the person that they're attempting to cater to.

But that's that, let me explain the depths beneath Oushi's ableism.

He learnt sign language specifically for Yuki, and chooses to converse entirely within sign language. What he thinks is that he's doing Yuki a favor and doing what's easiest for her. I mean, he spent all that time and effort on learning sign language just so that he could more easily interact with her.

But that point goes past Yuki because of how selfish it is. And childish, even.

Oushi's character is one that hasn't really matured past the idea of a young and insecure Yuki that he would have framed her as when they were younger. He sees her as fragile and something that should be protected, something that others would take advantage of. He's a person that can only see things through his own eyes.

And that inability to mature and view things from somewhere else is what's created this ableism. He loves Yuki, but he can't tell her and he thinks that his feelings will get across with his childish behavior. He can't say those words so he attempts to hold her within his world and keep her from slipping through his grasp.

Oushi is obviously very ableist, but the point is that his intentions are not to be. The point of his character is to illustrate the many ways that ableism arise in day to day life in forms and shapes that are not explicitly malicious. His whole character is a cautionary tale about how you interact with people, about how you should be meeting them where they set things rather than you deciding for yourself.

So yeah, A Sign of Affection remains an incredibly great story with very deep and important characters that I've been loving. They provide so much context and information to the reader/viewer that's deeply important in so many different conversations.

[heartbeatbookclub]

I think it's sorta weird how the Protagonist (MC, Y/N, Stinky, whatever you wanna call him) is treated within the context of DDLC's meta.

That sentence came out weird. What I mean is that on terms of DDLC playing with the 4th wall (in other words, on terms of its actual existence as a visual novel in universe), the nature of the Protagonist's...well, entire existence, is up in the air.

Dan Salvato literally stated that he doesn't actually see him as a character in the same way as the girls. He's a "blank slate that says whatever is convenient." In a different statement, he's described as the "nameless, faceless self-insert character that you find so commonly in romance games", which I think is a good way of putting it. It's a good way of justifying why he kinda...sucks, because he's meant to be a typical VN protagonist. He's shallow, and responds with little more than what makes sense in context, because he doesn't have much character on his own, which is what makes him pretty bad at dealing with delicate issues like with Sayori.

In DDLC+ (spoilers, I guess?), it's a little bit vague about it, but in one of the mails, it states that Monika has literally "manufactured" a new character to "force interaction between her and the user". This character is heavily implied to be the Protagonist of the main DDLC visual novel that we know, and he is, as stated, noticeably absent from the Side Stories, because Monika didn't actively create him to be there.

Except...he isn't.

He doesn't physically appear, but in Trust, though he's obviously not mentioned by name, it's implied that he does exist, because when asked to act like a "normal person" responding to the Literature Club, she imitates a friend of hers who says "Literature is stuuupid. I'm joining the Anime Club."

...Remind you of a certain someone?

I feel like I'm overexplaining this, but my point is, it suggests that the Protagonist as a character isn't just something Monika invented out of thin air, or at least he's heavily implied not to be.

I think there's a larger conversation on the vague way the game itself treats the world outside of what is defined within the limited scope of Doki Doki Literature Club. Fans have filled gaps of different characters and events, but it's important to acknowledge that they're gaps filled by fanon, not canon. I think those gaps are left very intentionally empty, mostly to play into the conceit of the world, being that literally nothing actually exists outside of its boundaries, because it's a visual novel. It's a limited, constricted reality, where things are implied to exist outside it, but they actually don't.

In other words, Monika did apparently generate all that makes up the Protagonist as a character and vehicle for the player in the main game, based off the limited concept implied by their interaction in the Side Story. Or, rather, probably by something else, since the side stories are inherently a "Control Simulation" where Monika doesn't have any sense of meta awareness. It's a prequel set before the main story, but...well, if you really think about it, it's implied to tie into the main story, but they don't directly link up, do they? If it's not explicitly shown on screen in the main line Doki Doki Literature Club, did it even happen?

Either way, the Protagonist is a character independent of Monika's creation, he's just given absolutely nothing, and technically doesn't even exist outside of what's implied of him. Technically, the character Monika creates as a vehicle for the Player has no real relation to him, outside of being Sayori's friend and wanting to join the Anime Club. Or, depending on your view, he does! Since he's the literal manifestation of that character concept where it didn't exist previously, it's fair to say that he is that character given life!

I don't know, I think it's just kinda fascinating in context. I don't really like a lot of the extra lore surrounding the whole thing in +, but there are plenty of interesting things like this which have been given just enough flavor to be interesting.

Obviously I don't think this means the Protagonist is a complete non-character and any & all fan interpretations of him should be defenestrated (quite the opposite actually, reality can be whatever you want, I have a few concepts with him floating around my head which I find fun to play with), but I think this sort of thing is probably important to keep in mind on terms of actual investigations of canon.

[eerna]

Hii wanted to bring this up to you because i love your tfota discussions(and other fandoms as well). i've noticed that a lot of the target audience for this series is very superficial and don't really appreciate and understand the series in its entirety but you always have great points.

so anywaysss with that being said. something that sort of made me side eye tpt a little was jude and cardan. obviously characters change overtime and i think the fact that jude and cardan sort of started to resemble each other in indirect ways is a nice little detail but i felt like some of their interactions were very unnatural. it felt like hb was feeding into how a lot of the audience sees them which isn't terrible but it feels the slightest bit out of character. like what did it for me specifically was in the end when jude excuses herself by saying she was going to go yell at people. i mean jude has always been very sarcastic and witty but it seemed weird for her to say that, it felt like one of those incorrect quotes. like yeah she probably would be yelling at people but would she really say that? like basically it's just very small things that seem like fan service more than intentional writing ya know? now don't get me wrong i love them and i shamelessly enjoyed all of their appearances i also think they were still pretty consistent as characters but it's basically that it seemed like things they said were only there to please the public which fed onto the whole superficial view the general audience has of them.

Hiiii! I definitely miss a lot of stuff so I wouldn't dare claim I get an entirety of anything, but I am very glad you enjoy my discussions nevertheless~

I get what you mean! For me it was that Jude "knife wife" line, and Cardan complaining about the snake thing. Knife-wife could have been funny if it was written smarter and not literally quoting a fandom meme. If we wanted to have a comedic moment where Cardan complains about something gross and Jude shuts him down, it could have been a new thing instead of an event that happened ages ago that we've seen on-page. It reads like a parody, the self aware "haha"s are so awkward. HOWEVER. In theory I wouldn't mind them being written as funnier than they used to be. Like you said, they are a decade older than the last time we've seen them, and they've solved most of the issues that made them not want to joke around during the trilogy. And it's also amusing bc HB said she had problems figuring out what an almost-thirty-years-old Cardan would be like, so the fact that she settled on "clown uncle" is hilarious.

Which leads me to my main problem with it: The things that make them fun aged-up epilogue versions of themselves also make them worse main characters. Jude and Cardan in their late 20s are by default much less interesting than Jude and Cardan in the middle of their young adult angst unsolved trauma roller coaster. They should join Roiben and Severin in the lineup of side characters that are still plot relevant, but no longer the center of attention, which would make their shallower presentation less noticeable.

[mauveberries]

Why do you even ship tomarry? Like it honestly seems from most of your posts that you don’t have a very favorable view of Harry or Tom’s feelings/treatment of him, so what do you even like about it? Genuinely confused why you aren’t maining bellamort when nearly every post I’ve seen from you has put Harry down in some way and found a way to bring Bella or one of the other Blacks up.

ok, this is a very good question and i understand where you are coming from. i really do. this is what it seems like if you take a quick glance of my blog and you're right, i have thought about this myself too.

but the truth of the matter is, i like bellamort, but i dont love that ship, whereas i love tomarrymort if it is done right.

tomarrymort is a very difficult ship to bring together in a Realistic way, Because of all the problems i have pointed out. bellatrix happens to be one of my favourite characters and i hate the way she is treated as an unfavorable side character who has to compete with harry for voldemort's affections but loses because harry is v's pwecious liddol horcrux.

to me, that just ruins my whole mood for reading the fic because i believe that bella doesn't have to compete at all, not when she is objectively already so much better than harry in Voldemort's eyes. He favours those who are cruel, cunning and devoted to the cause. None of which harry is or possesses.

a truly good harrymort fic would have overcome this issue, not just make voldemort like how much harry hates him and learn to live with it, because who tf would like that??? Oh hey! Look at me! My partner hates me because i murdered his family and am advocating for the destruction of all the people like him! Isn't he fucking beautiful with his murderous eyes! Haha!

like.. not it.

and harry can't just suddenly turn all pureblood supremist and be like, omg, i should be v's favourite because i overcame my views from the past and.. and Bellatrix sucks because she killed sirius!!!!!

and voldemort would not like to be antagonised everytime he's trying to live. i hate to break it to you, but harry can't stop him from murdering people, but bellatrix would stand next to him, also torturing people, so obviously, bellamort is the easier ship.

but that doesn't necessarily mean i like it more.

i am a huge fan of enemies to lovers and if done right, can be peak.

and i am not a fan of the trope where voldemort urges harry to hurt him because voldenort killed his parents and welcomes harry's rage. it's so fucking stupid, like, please slap me because i killed your parents and facilitated in the murder of your godfather who was wrongly imprisoned for 13 years because of me, and you are sooo mad at me for it. just, no.

he is not the type of person to beg. at all. voldemort is a taker, he takes advantage and he exploits. he does this to bella, too. why did she end up in jail? because she was serving him! does it seem like he apologised to bella for it? No! So why should harry be any different?? Especially harry, because it was due to harry that he lost the war in the first place!

so, voldemort himself would harbour a LOT of resentment towards harry, not just the other way around, and im telling you, it won’t be easy to get over this hatred, and i think that should be explored more. Not just voldemort Suddenly being interested in harry because harry is the only one brave enough to outwardly hate him (which is literally such a stupid, shallow reason for voldemort to take any notice of him at all.)

It looks like neither harry nor v is willing to compromise and this is the challenge they have to overcome in order to get together.

voldemort is a character who does not bend to anyone's wills and having him bend to harry's will is a discredit to his character. at its core, tomarrymort will always be a toxic ship because of their fundamental different world views and i like it when it is kept that way, and with Voldemort being horribly overbearing. harry cannot keep him in check, he's just a kid compared to Voldemort's age.

tom is also someone who believes anything can be solved with murder and if harry refuses him, and he doesn't like harry vey much, it will end in bloodshed and that is what i like about this horrifying pairing in the first place. the fact that v would not hesitate to kill unless it is one of his closest followers. This is a challenge that has to be overcome too.

im also sick and tired of harry always being given the preferential treatment in fics just because he's witty and sassy or whatever, like this isn't canon. he's just some guy, not tom riddle who was a prodigy since eleven, not bellatrix who even harry described as being powerful.

and don't you think it's stale that the fact that harry is a horcrux is always always some kind of basis to them getting together??? it's just sooo... overused and the fic community is saturated with the same tropes over and over again.

and tom and harry are not murder husbands. Just.. no. It's either butchering tom's character or harry's character. And im telling you frankly, if you want murder husbands, that is literally voldemort x genderbent bellatrix.

And i know that harry is most peoples favourite character, so voldemort is not given enough justice in their writing. His character is always butchered when harry outsmarts him or something and im sick and tired of it. Like, yeah voldemort is not a good person, but if you hate him so much, why are you shipping harrymort? Literally leave.

Overall, it is not the ship i hate, i just really hate some of the overused tropes and think they can be done better. me putting it this way can seem like i don’t like harry, which is not true. it’s just that i hate this fandom’s glorification of him and how they think that voldemort always owes him something for being a terrible person, which i think is really ooc.

my inclusion of bella and the blacks into their dynamics has thus nothing to do with my dislike for harry, but more so on the fact that the complete disregard this fandom has for bellatrix angers me.

Important disclaimer!!!:

I am in no way bashing anyone or any trope. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and writing. I hope you understand that this is simply my perspective and if i have hurt any of your feelings, i apologise. Please keep writing whatever you wish to write. Everyone's writing is truly a gift to this community and keep writing what makes you happy.

[anhed-nia]

I have way too much shit to do over the next few days starting tonight, so yesterday I decided to stay on the couch and have cramps and vegetate and watch all the lady movies I've been sleeping on.

EILEEN is pretty much what I expected, it's good but not great and a little pretentious, but the character study with Thomasin McKenzie is really cool. Or maybe I just thought that because she reminded me so much of a close friend of mine that I just decided the movie was about my friend and it was more fun that way.

THE ASSISTANT was also about what I expected, good but not great and sort of predictable--although I like how it plays like a thriller even though what's happening is sadly mundane and unsurprising. That approach works pretty well for this movie.

THE SOUVENIR is not a masterpiece but very strong, and disturbing. One critic called it a type of horror film. Years ago I was in a version of the awful relationship at the heart of this movie, and although that guy didn't have the excuse of [SPOILER REDACTED], all of his behavior and its effects on me were basically the same. It could have literally been him on the screen. My viewing experience was pretty tainted by unpleasant, shameful flashbacks and although I'm confident in saying it's a good movie, it's hard for me to imagine what it's like to watch it if you don't connect it directly to your own biography. I'll just never know what it's like as a pure work of art.

The funny thing about THE SOUVENIR is that it has this weird Rotten Tomatoes ratio were the audience score is really low, I wonder what that's about. Maybe it's just one of those things where general audiences are more resistant to being Very Bummed Out than film critics and aficionados. Or maybe it's that dumb thing where audiences find the choices of the victimized protagonist too hard to relate to because of the media they've been trained on. I often notice this in discussions about horror movies where the characters are motivated by fear, hysteria, dissociation, incomprehension, and other totally normal responses to extreme experience, and shallow unimaginative viewers go "UGH why did she do THAT, THAT'S not what I WOULD DO," and not only is it exactly what they would do in an incomprehensible situation, but their basis of comparison is not even "rational behavior"; their basis of comparison is the behavior you see in THE BOURNE IDENTITY or something where the hero does everything perfectly all the time and because certain viewers are strongly pursuaded by inhuman perfection, they think that's the standard everyone should be meeting, that's what they think is "realistic". It's stupid and ignorant and egotistical, and it's actually part of my secret criteria for who I can and cannot be friends with.

But anyway that's kind of what THE SOUVENIR PART II is about, which has high ratings for both critics and audience. It is a better movie, to some degree, but it was extra fascinating to me because as the protagonist uses her senior film school project to do a post mortem on her awful relationship, she is confronted with the fact that nobody quite gets what the story is about because none of her cast or crew have been in her shoes and they find the whole thing unconvincing. They don't get why the heroine subjects herself to abuse, or how to humanize the guy who seems like a total monster. You know, why is she so weak, he's "obviously" bad, what is the logic of this situation? All this black and white, judgmental thinking from people who are lucky enough not to have had to live through such a thing. The truth is that the abusive relationships are sort of absurdist in nature, they don't play by the normal rules, even the laws of time and space bend around this black hole you're being sucked into, which the heroine finds out as she's trying to put scenes in order. Strong stuff.

THE SOUVENIR PART II reminded me of this great rant Joe Bob Briggs has about "strong female protagonists" that basically amounts to the idea that characters should be whoever they need to be to serve the story. They're not exemplars of some ideal state of existence for us all to emulate--I mean unless they are, but that's under fairly specific conditions. His example is always Laurie Strode, who is typically upheld as a Strong Female Protagonist even though she doesn't become that thing until years down the road; in the meantime, she is a completely normal person with anxieties and phobias and insecurities and perfectly rational responses to Michael Myers. And that's what makes her so relatable, not her perfection, but her humanity.

[EDIT: Pardon me if the tone of this is a little alien to this blog. I don't even know if it definitely is, or if anyone cares, but I couldn't figure out where to put this post because I don't post much autobiographical material here anymore and I try to make the content of this blog reasonably appropriate for colleagues to see in both tone and content (like this feels both too intimate and too casual to me). But, I also try to keep all my movie information over here, so this is what I picked. I'm sure this doesn't bother anyone but me, but I have to justify my own rule-breaking to myself in order to feel better, so there.]

[elvendorx]

Hi! I really like your blog! I was just wondering, how do you manage to find canon-based marauders content? I’m pretty new to Tumblr and while I follow the main tags, I’m tired of the short and shallow Siriuses, activist Jameses, and naive Lupins that don’t seem anything like the marauders I fell in love with. And the hatred for Snape and the condescension towards his fans makes me super scared to interact with blogs since I have posted Snape content on my main blog and I feel like I’d be eaten alive. I’m so overwhelmed! Do you use filters to help you? Or is it just finding and following the right people? Thanks for any and all advice!

hello and thank you! <3

a lot of it honestly is just finding and following the right people. the exact balance of that is personal that it will take a while to feel like you're consistently seeing things on your own specific wavelength but it's definitely doable. i think once you find one blog you really align with, see who they interact with regularly, check out those blogs, then check out who those blogs follow, etc etc. i used to systematically go through likes and reblogs on posts i liked, but once you find a few blogs you really enjoy, you'll end up finding more like-minded people quite naturally. and honestly, anyone who expects you to have the exact same tolerances for different characters as they do is probably not going to be much fun to interact with anyway.

i use filters for things i absolutely never want to see but not everything gets tagged/not everything that is tagged is the thing you don't want to see (so much sirius solo art/gen marauder stuff is tagged wolfstar) but it works and i would recommend it for absolute no-gos.

the main tags unfortunately are not safe spaces anymore and tbh if there's anything worth seeing in there, someone else will reblog it so it ends up on your dash anyway. sometimes i look in the prongsfoot tag but if anything look at anti (ship)/anti (character) tags lol and sometimes finding people who dislike the same things as you is also a good way to find like-minded people - hating can work, kids.

specifically for mwpp stuff, in my broad experience, snape fans are often more comfortable with the morally grey thing so they have solid views on snape AND sirius, james and remus, tho obviously you get the ultra protective stans too. but def follow snape fans if you are even slighty interested in snape, it's a great way of seeing how other pockets of hp fandom function. also, you could have identical views on a character as someone but you love them and they hate them, for the same reasons, and i feel like the joy is in finding the same interpretation, it's very fun and just in life it's good to see different perspectives. i got unfollowed a while back for a snape post i can't even remember but it was like 5 people and honestly the right people will probably be cooler than you think about it :)

so really my advice boils down to:

know what you do and don't want to see

know what you can and can't tolerate seeing (things that annoy you or more serious triggers)

find connections through sources you trust

try finding a mix of people who like the same things as you do/people who dislike the same things you do/people who you might not always agree with in judgement but whose analyses and approaches are objective

and eventually you'll have a great balanced lil circle <3

anyway a few recommendations of people i follow who i think offer great hp ideas:

@remus-poopin @narcissa-black-supermacy @ashesandhackles @urupotter @act-more-like-a-dog-sirius

but also consider anyone i follow/interact with a lot an endorsement! hope u have fun exploring :)

[builtlikeastickofcelery]

i deleted the ask by accident im so sorryyy

@nrrrdgrrrl2002​

AUGHGHGHGH THANK YOU okay i just feel like his character captures my personal neurodivergent (?) (ish??) experience so well, specifically because of the way he’s written.

He has a hard time with close friendships and measures them by longevity (ex. the friend he’d had since 2nd grade ghosting him after an accident which, while obviously a terribly thing to happen, isn’t average 7-year friendship behavior) and doesn’t seem to share a lot about his personal life with anyone except, to a small extent, april. Instead he chooses to emphasize the bold or loud aspects of his personality to the point that he doesn’t seem like much past the facepaint and hockey sticks. Sort of like mikey, he’s not viewed as the smart one (though to less of an extent since he’s not as silly goofy) despite the fact that he is really smart, he just isn’t built for the public school system. He can build a taser into a hockey glove but needs tutoring to pass school. He can engage in full combat on foot, ice skates, and roller blades, repair cars, and cook (presumably), but sucks at geometry or algebra or whatever. He’s smart, really smart, but his teachers don’t care. (Or maybe they do and i’m totally wrong canon is super vague about it).

Also, a lot of his friendships in the show feel knee-deep. Not necessarily shallow, but not fully fleshed out, and this super super applies to me. Like, he’s been through a ton of shit with april and the turtles but he’s never really talked about himself or his childhood or anything with them, at least not to the extent that the rest of the main characters get to. And I think it’s on purpose. I think that’s part of the character he makes for himself, because that’s the character I make. And I do it totally unconsciously and never notice that I’m concerningly different from myself until someone asks me if i’m sad or upset and all i’ve done is relax. All the things I do are things i notice in casey’s character portrayal throughout all of 2012. He’s loud and acts the way he does because it’s easier to be like that than remind himself to be a Fleshed Out Character With Clear Feelings And Motivations.  Just to be clear, i use the term “making a character” very generously because that’s just a quick descriptor; nothing from how casey is written/presents his personality isn’t an already present trait of his, it’s just how he emphasizes those traits around other people (usually) unconsciously. It’s not like he’s purposefully not being emotionally vulnerable/giving people personal details abt himself/his life, he just can’t do it.  i really hope this was coherent casey is just like me fr so this was great to write down, if someone wants to tl;dr this for me that would be great bc i have no clue how to summarize this absolute behemoth of text

[bitterfrosts]

For the shipping meme: Would you share your lanlan and songning thoughts with the class?

Ohohoho!!!! Those are my sleeper agent code words!

In my view for both of these, it’s quite a lot of “this person is the only person who understands what I’m going through”. That person is: Song Lan.

On the LanLan side: there’s quite a bit obviously to parallel. Both have lost people that they can never get back, even through reincarnation. Xiao Xingchen’s soul is so broken he removed himself from the cycle of rebirth entirely and both jiggy and nmj are trapped in that coffin so dead or alive or reanimated or what else have you, they’re gone. A huge chunk of what makes both so tragic is that aside from each other, in terms of having someone who can comfort you and knows what you’re going through? They’re alone. And for both of them at the ends of their respective stories it’s by choice!!!!! Song Lan goes off with xxc and aq’s souls and just… leaves! He could go anywhere and accompany anyone, and chose not to. There’s an interesting element of “walking off to his doom” present that makes the whole thing even worse. Lxc chooses seclusion and never comes out. This is, again, also by choice. I think from a meta standpoint, the only thing that could get him to come out is a heart to heart with Song Lan. Much as the twin jades love each other, Wangji can’t help him. I do honestly think the only way either of them could really move on is to move on together.

For SongNing, the thing that song lan understands is being a fierce corpse. And on a surface level it seems like a shallow comparison but it really isn’t. We Ning may have been initially created out of distress and wanting him back, but it does not change that before the timeskip and Wei wuxian’s character development, wen ning fills the same niche that sl filled with xy. He’s a tool. A beloved one, but a tool nonetheless. Wei Wuxian can protest much as he likes, but his actions have him used that way. There’s something very isolating about the idea that everyone you live is gone and you will outlive them not because of cultivated immortality but because you’ve been made into an abomination. You will always be permanently “othered” and ordinary people will always (somewhat justifiably) be afraid of them. Fierce corpses are dangerous! And the average person might not have the luxury of double checking to see if they’re sentient or not before having to run away. For wen ning, song lan is an opportunity for a companion that both understands him and won’t fear him.

Anyway we love parallels in this house 🥹

I’d do the questions but I’m too rambly about them also both are rarepairs so I’m not sure any option on either would have an element of “unpopular?” So yeah 🤍

[sneezemonster15]

Are you for real? No, seriously are you?

Do you know that Hinduism is a religion, not a race? Do you know that every religion has had a bloody and bigoted history? Do you know that religions can be, and have been, used as a way to discriminate far more than they were used to bring people together? Do you know anything about the Hindu religion? Did you know that in Manusmriti, which is basically a guidebook for 'moral code of conduct' for the Hindus, it says that women are men's property and men can choose to use them however they want? That women should be seen and not heard? Did you know that it categorically discriminates people on the basis of caste and gender? Do you know that in its conception itself, it is a discriminatory religion? I know those who practice it themselves will chafe at it and not agree. But it's true nevertheless.

The only reason I am even responding to this is because I have gotten queries about it and I don't want to see those because, like I have already said, I value my privacy.

I am here to talk about storytelling and characters and that's what I wanna stick to. If you like it, go ahead. If not, then it's beyond the ambit of my consideration.

People here feel way too comfortable to judge others' personal and political feelings heh, without having any damn idea about that person's history or background. Well, you could have given me the benefit of doubt, given up until now, you didn't have a problem with my views. But you chose to simply say this bs? You know the world is bigger than you imagine. There are a lot of things you don't know. Why didn't you at least Google it first? What I am talking about is an extremely well documented subject.

Yes, I have very, very justified reasons to feel the way I feel. And oh by the way, that person who is harassing me, who has made several different accounts to bother me, only because they didn't like that I blocked them, you really think that person gives a shit about my views on religion? That person obsessively went over a year back on my blog just to find something to frame me, so they could use it as a reason to get me in trouble with Tumblr. They have been reported and already been partially banned by Tumblr, yes Tumblr can do that. The person's whose screenshots you saw abused me calling vile names in the name of this religion. That person has been reported by several people, and not just SNS. If you knew the meaning of those swear words that they used for me, your ears would turn pink. Do you have any sense of proportion? Do you think everyone in the world will think like you and everyone has had the same circumstances as you? What is this fucking homogeneity? I don't care about your shallow and obviously ignorant understanding of the world.

You think this person's feelings got hurt because of what I said? You think a person who acts like that person has any consideration for being politically correct? How naive you are. Heh. The person who told me that, I underestimated their pettiness and that they would take a break but they would be back for me?

For real? They are clearly doing whatever they are doing out of SPITE. If nothing else, you should have been able to clock that. There's a reason I judge SS and NH people the way I do. Because they aren't capable of rational thought. You think anything that comes out of their mouths would be rational? I haven't seen one time when they did that. One can't be intelligent or logical or rational and say and believe things that they say and believe.

No one is ever Right? Is that so? How easily you generalise lol. Except I am right in my beliefs. I don't believe in or condone discrimination based on gender, religion, caste, sexual orientation or class.

I grew up navigating certain social realities that not many people of my generation have had to experience in their lifetimes. Do I have Hindu friends? Yes, I do. Many. Do they celebrate their religion? No. Do they agree with me? Also, yes. But is it a simple matter of leaving all ties behind to agree with me? No. These things are complex, very much rooted in their own identity, and I understand it.

I appreciate honesty, common sense and generosity of spirit in people. I don't care for ignorance. I try in my own ways to address it. The major reason why I made this blog is one of them.

I have had enough of this. I will NOT entertain any further enquires on my views regarding this subject. That's not why I am here. And anyone who feels like they are not satisfied is welcome to unfollow me. Right now. You have no idea about the depth and strength of my convictions. Heh.

Anyone who continues to enquire about my reasons to feel what I feel about this religion will be immediately blocked with haste.

[earthsickwithoutyou]

Showgirls 1995 - (contains spoilers)

This review may contain spoilers.

I think there's actually a good movie in here somewhere, buried underneath all the trappings of glamor, glitz, monkeys and profoundly weird yet somehow not hot pool sex. The first few times I saw this I only saw the camp, but on this viewing, I could see some meaning and light shining through in a cutting allegory about the cruelties and shallow nature of show business. Pretty cool! Granted my first two-ish viewings of the movie were on scrambled pay-per-view I didn't pay for when I was a teen in the 90's 😂. Ah, memories! 😄🥰

But Nomi and Cristal are *the ship.* Too bad everytime she had the chance to shoot her shot, Cristal put her foot in her mouth. We all get awkward around our crushes. :/. Oh for the version with a Nomi/Cristal love story...it would bode terribly for all the villains in this Vegas showbiz world if those two joined forces, as well!

"Bad acting" blah blah blah, "unlikeable character" WHATEVER. To *you*! I find Nomi delightful. She's obviously endured trauma and come out rattled in some very jarring ways. I loved how she stayed true to herself and found something like a good person beneath her own selfish ambitions, much like the movie itself has some hidden layers if you care to look. If you don't, it's still entertaining and fun for the extreme camp!

I was in a very sad mood today and this movie cheered me up, which is honestly the nicest thing you can really say about a film. Also, it's in the Criterion Collection now, ya hear? Fuck dem haters. 🥰

Also, Elizabeth Berkley is a queen, idk what anyone says. She's fearless in this!

from Letterboxd - Virginia Mae https://ift.tt/D7dOyZP

[enneamalia]

Heathers Enneagram:

Veronica: 4w3

Heather Chandler: 3w2

Heather Duke: 3w4

Heather MacNamara: 6w7

JD: 1w9

Martha: 9w1

Notes:

Veronica and JD are both most definitely in the idealist triad, it’s part of the reason why their relationship is the way that it is and why JD was able to get so far before Veronica stopped him. The idealism is core to their identities which is part of the reason why i don’t agree with the common read of Veronica as a core 5

I can see both disintegration to 2 and integration to 1 in Veronica’s character arc (her relationships with JD and Heather C are where the 2 disintegration shows the most while her courage and bravery to take charge and do what’s right at the end shows the 1 integration). she craves the drama and intensity her relationships with JD and the Heathers bring to her life which is a very VERY strong sign of a 4 (ie craving the full breadth of human experience and emotions, including the bad parts because it makes her feel alive). she feels the need to set herself apart from her peers, mentioning how she feels everyone around her is shallow and mean (and in the cafeteria scene in the movie she clearly resents how fake her classmates are). the first thing that she notices about JD is that he’s different from others and she likes that about him. she’s looking for deeper human connection in JD because her time with the Heathers makes her feel like she can’t really be herself. she’s also got that type 4 sarcastic sense of humor, one of the most memorable parts of her character. in the musical she absolutely has the 3 wing but i could probably read her as a 4w5 for the movie if i wanted to

JD obviously has delusions of grandeur and i can see him being typed as a 3 or 4 if that’s the only thing you pay attention to. personally i feel that his motivations are a warped sense of right and wrong w/ a very strict black and white view on morals. he sees himself as a hero and thinks that it’s his personal duty to right the wrongs of society (even though he goes about it in an extremely messed up way, that is what he believes). the combination of those things with his repeated insistence that he’s incredibly broken makes me type him as a 1 who has disintegrated to 4. also i can’t see him as anything other than idealism triad and gut triad (he’s got that signature brand of type 1 rage that often gets people mistyping as 8s)

Debated 3w4 vs 3w2 for Duke for a while but i think the way she allowed herself to take the backseat to Chandler and also her themes of jealousy lend to the 4 wing more. literally could not be anything other than a core 3 so i’m not even going into that

Originally had Chandler typed as an 8 but after reviewing type 8’s fears and desires i don’t think it quite fits. yes she wants power but she seems to be more motivated by everyone else thinking that she’s impossibly hot and in a league above them all. there’s a bit of grandiosity about it, she wants to be viewed as a god. 8s don’t really care about what other people think of them and are much more individualistic. i still think an 8 reading of her character is not impossible but i am leaning more towards 3

MacNamara is very obviously a 6, her themes of loyalty and being willing to do anything to have a group to belong to are very 6 motivations. she’s played as a noticeably anxious character in the stage adaptation and i think her 6ness is more solid in the musical than the movie. 7 wing based entirely on vibes idk

Went back and forth between 9w1 and 2w1 for a bit with martha and honestly i still don’t really know but i think her whole being in love with the idealized version of some guy she barely knows for years gives me more 9 than 2. also her biggest desire is just to “be happy” which i interpret as desiring that whole inner peace thing. in kindergarten boyfriend she describes a cute idyllic fantasy which reminds me of the fantasies and inner world of a 9. she just gives the effect of being a 9 that could easily be mistyped as a 2. but i’m not 100%

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

People really be like “he fought every day to get his body back that’s looveee!!!” What? If some random guy I didn’t even really know just showed up and took my siblings body from me I would be fighting tooth and nail every damn day to get them back??? You don’t even know what they’ve been doing with the body!!

I'll just stick these two anons together:

Well let of course it's "love", but narrowing down Liu Qingge's dedication down to just that, is shallow at best. It removes all other depth for him that he himself became more than just a one off side character and became a real person.

He is more than his feelings for Shen Qingqiu, and I do wish fandom gave him more than just a role of a side piece for Shen Qingqiu's "harem" or make him out as the real knight in shining armor or focus his all on only ever having been looked over in love for who they think is undeserving of Shen Qingqiu's affections. Shen Qingqiu planned out his own survival and rebirth, he didn't need saving nor did he need a burial in the end, however well meaning both men were with their intentions. Also, Liu Qingge didn't expect "love back" he was perfectly fine and comfortable with the friendship they had, otherwise how he is as a person, he knows when to take and get what he wants, he is stubborn like that obviously. If he really was pining and yearning, he would have made a move to make it more. But he's not interested and Shen Qingqiu isn't either at any point despite the multiple openings for that. Reasonably, I would be worried too about the desecration of Shen Qingqiu's body of someone that outright seems to hate him (as Shen Qingqiu himself thought until more than 3/4th's through of the novel and he still hesitated badly which made Luo Binghe REALLY go off the deep end).

He also is suspicious of Luo Binghe for very good reason as demons (that he is in charge of) kept attacking them as well and Luo Binghe wasn't exactly easing those tensions himself playing into the "they say I am evil so evil I'll be" role. For the overarching theme of Shen Qingqui playing up the betrayed Shizun by a scoundrel, Liu Qingge's hesitation makes sense, from an outside view without all details. He just knows that Shen Qingqiu is weary, and that Luo Binghe is overarchingly, coming off as a threat to a friend multiple times after the fall out of the Immortal Alliance Conference, that was never discussed anyways by Shen Qingqiu. Until suddenly Shen Qingqiu is making multiple excuses to protect Binghe after all that weariness and paranoia! Liu Qingge not "liking" Luo Binghe doesn't come off as jealously as much as "this guy is crazy and why are you actively acting just as crazy?".

(Oh look it sounds like my usual fits when it comes to how fandom also says Lan Wangji was a good person just because of Wei Wuxian having to "change him" from a Rapunzel in her tower.)

[shaineybainey]

Lab Rats characters as colognes

Donald Davenport ➡️ Angels' Share (Kilian Paris)

One of the classics. There are polarizing views regarding Donald, and while he did do some things that I didn't like either, looking back, I can honestly say that I still hold him in a positive light--which is why I chose a pretty great scent to represent him.

The main accords of woody and warm spicy, as well as the top note of cognac and middle notes of cinnamon and oak, says Donald. Like, this man would probably smell like that.

Add to that the beautiful bottle design? So rich and executive?

Yeah. Definitely Donald.

The vanilla at the base gives the cologne (perfume?) some sweetness, too. Donald can be like that. He's egotistic most of the time (let's just be honest), but he had lots of sweet moments with his wife and little ones throughout the show.

That's why I think he would be Kilian's Angels' Share.

Tasha Davenport ➡️ Baccarat Rouge 540 (Maison Francis Kurkdijian)

The king of all EDPs--matched, of course, with the queen of the castle. I don't have this scent (a 2.3 oz bottle can cost $250+ 😭), and I haven't gotten to try it through a sample spray, but I've heard it said that this has a sweetness to it, just enough.

That trait is similar to Tasha because while she can be sweet and warm, those things have a limit. She was never cloyingly sweet, never permissive and lax in disciplining Leo, but she wasn't sharp and cold to him, either (interestingly both in their universe and the parallel one). She was just perfect.

Tasha is also this perfume in that they call attention. I mean, honestly. Tasha is just gorgeous. Hot take, but I don't think there's ever been a Disney TV mom as beautiful as her.

In the same vein, there are SO many fragrances out there trying to dupe BR540. While a few had gotten close, collectors still spend money to get the original - because there's nothing quite like it.

So, yeah. Mama Davenport is definitely the Baccarat Rouge 540.

Douglas Davenport ➡️ Replica By the Fireplace (Maison Margiela)

This scent isn't for everyone, but it is for me. When you spray this on a tester or just out in the air, you will smell campfire. The smoky scent, I'm guessing, is brought about by the clove oil and the guaiac wood. I hate the smell of smoke, but what saves, and even endears, this scent to me is the vanilla note that comes and stays.

Some people had described it like smelling campfire with marshmallows being roasted over it. I used to think that, too, but the more I think about it, I just pick up a comforting sweetness that isn't necessarily marshmallow.

That represents Douglas well, I think. There had always been a bit of a wilderness feel to him, something a bit rough around the edges, you know? But, once you get to know him and once you understand the new person he's become, you realize that he's actually kind and sweet, though begrudgingly.

Adam Davenport ➡️ Spicebomb Night Vision (Viktor&Rolf)

Chose this for the very shallow reason that this is probably one of the sexiest colognes I've ever smelled in my life. It exudes strength, magnetism, comfort. It...It's just attractive.

Obviously, Adam himself is not lacking in the looks area. He's a very handsome man. But I also chose this specific flanker to represent him because of how the bottle looks. You can't really see it on the board, but the bottle both in the complete pictures and real life has a dark green "glow" at the bottom. It's just so cool.

Though Adam is very childlike, he has a lot of moments that shows a cool side to him. In particular are the several moments when he would actually stand up and protect his siblings.

That's why this cologne is for him. (Side note: Also, I really do think Adam would own this scent.)

Bree Davenport ➡️ Uomo Born in Roma Yellow Dream (Valentino)

First off, I am of the personal opinion that Valentino has the best perfumes and colognes in the designer category of the market.

Now, that said, Uomo BIR Yellow Dream is definitely one of my favorite colognes out there. It opens up bright due to the pineapple and mandarin orange notes, deepens just a little due to the spicy notes that follows, and continues sweet because of the vanilla at the base.

It matches Bree, I think, because she definitely had moments where she brought the light into an otherwise bleak situation. And once upon a time, she was one of my favorites before they turned her into the Disney stereotype of a teenaged girl. She was complex, very relatable to girls who had grown up around boys.

The scent matches her, too, due to the bottle. It's probably got one of the better designs out there. Like Bree, it's beautiful and pretty stylish.

Anyway, that's why I think she would be Uomo BIR Yellow Dream if she was a scent.

Chase Davenport ➡️ Light Blue Pour Homme (Dolce&Gabbana)

D&G's Light Blue Pour Homme is definitely one of the modern classics. It's one of your well-loved summertime scents that comes across as refreshing (because of the citrus notes) and relaxing (because of the green notes). I didn't know this 'til I looked it up, but apparently, it has incense at the base? Which now, thinking back on it, I get, because even though this is fresh and cool, there is a depth to this - a smokiness, if you will - that does draw you in.

Chase matches those descriptions well -- the original LR Chase, at least. He was a bright guy whose concern and priority in life were the safety of others, his family, and the planet. Chase had a good heart, and pre-S4, I don't think I ever remember him acting unreasonably selfish.

He was the youngest of the trio, but he had his head on straight and actually cared about things that mattered. He was refreshing.

Unfortunately, I also chose this scent for Chase because he and the perfume version of this have something in common as far as my relationship with them. Ugh, I loved Light Blue when I first came across it. I loved it when I was first gifted it!

But sadly, I've fallen out of love. I still think it's a classic, and I will continue to use it because there are times when it's the perfect scent for the occasion, but...the notes are often coming across as wrong to me.

Personally, Chase had started hitting the wrong notes, too, as the show went along and eventually transitioned to the spinoff. I'm not happy that the writers did that, because they turned him into someone I didn't like anymore.

But hey. Like I said, he still has times when he's pretty cool to me.

Leo Dooley ➡️ Sauvage (Dior)

Saved the best for last.

Y'all ready?

Okay. I know I could have chosen a niche fragrance for my baby because there is no one else quite like the L-Doo. But, I gotta match my absolute loves with each other.

So, I mentioned that V&R's Spicebomb Night Vision is one of the sexiest colognes I've ever smelled - and that still holds true! However, this cologne? Honey. He's got everything. He's sexy, he's cool, he's deep. He can hold an intelligent conversation. He's manly, but comfortable to be around.

He's a gentleman.

I'm not gonna talk too much about notes because this thing has about 1034872 different notes in the middle alone (7, to be exact, but you get the point). But, I will bring out three: bergamot from the top, lavender from the middle, and cedar from the base.

It's no doubt that Leo's full of life. He has a sunny personality (bergamot), and his humor is just off the charts. Easily one of the funniest characters in the show, if not the funniest.

He's also a constant, a stabilizing force in the show (cedar). I can honestly say that in terms of growth as a character, he didn't have much of it (Douglas takes that crown), but he was still a dynamic character that you can depend on.

He stayed true to who he is: sarcastic, sweet, caring, protective, clumsy, smooth, smart - the list goes on. And the show needed that. Needed him and Adam being constants, because everybody changed so much over the next few years, and not necessarily in good ways.

Finally, lavender, for the simple reason that who he was during the course of the show, the stability he offered as a character, gave me comfort. He's forever going to be one of my TV babies :)

Anyway, before this turns into a full blown essay, Leo is Dior's Sauvage just for being the best.

Okay. Mighty Med's next!

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2023 Movie Journey #3: Elvis

elvis. i watched this with @actuallylukedanes​, which is the only reason it landed so early in my viewing this year. it was on my list but not a high priority at all: obviously i love tom hanks but i knew he wasn’t playing his lovable usual here, and i really have no feelings towards elvis either way. i barely grew up aware of who he was, my exposure to him was entirely secondhand through an episode of designing women and a john waters movie that i imprinted on like a baby duck when i was way too young to be watching a john waters movie (and which i can never enjoy again cuz now Some Things ruin my childhood retroactively).

so honestly, the only reason this movie went on my list is because i read a long profile about it that was really about baz luhrmann, and because moulin rouge was like a gift he gave just to me that lasts forever, i’ll give anything he makes a chance. once i was reconsidering my disinterest in the subject matter, the plan to watch it with leander sealed the deal. 

putting it behind a cut even though i have less to say about it than some other movies, because it really...wasn’t good, exactly. i wouldn’t say it was bad, either, but it was structured really similarly to every other biopic, which surprised me. the visuals were baz luhrmann all the way, but other than deciding to make this a story of ‘elvis through the lens of the complicated figure whose presence both made him and doomed him’ (as opposed to just centering the story on freaking elvis, whose name is on the poster!) his life and career story is told almost identically to how they framed the whitney houston biopic i saw. start near the end, then take us back to the origin story, and eventually make it back to where you started after showing how we got there. then conclude with a tragic death (offscreen).

so i mean, the performances were good. i can give the movie full credit for that. austin butler did a good job and is very talented. tom hanks (who i already knew is talented, obviously) really fills up his character so that even though he’s a truly cruel and masterful huckster, there’s still a chance that he might believe his own lies in the end. i didn’t recognize elvis’s father as being played by the duke from moulin rouge but leander did right away, so they get all the points. :) and billy from stranger things was there! wearing eyeliner! he is very pretty in eyeliner and i highly preferred his styling in this to stranger things.

but underneath all the glitz and the big performances, i guess to me the movie just felt so shallow. watching it didn’t make me feel more interested in elvis, though it did make me like austin butler more...and i have to wonder if some of that is because for all its big visuals, this movie didn’t go as big on emotions. 

it is so invested in the character tom hanks plays, but he’s a canny operator with few sincere feelings we can connect to. a lot of elvis’s emotions are all about his love of performing, so we get establishments of his marriage and family but quickly speed past those things to his affairs and eventual divorce. when he loses his mother and when his marriage ends, he’s given about a minute onscreen to mourn each before it’s quite literally back on with the show, prodded forward by gambling-addicted tom hanks.

and so instead of being a movie that explores elvis, exactly, this is a movie where we watch elvis be so often a passive actor in his own life. a young man naively trusting a greedy influence, a lonely man accepting affection from strangers despite its effect on his family, an addicted man taking whatever drugs he’s given to keep moving. it was hard to feel connected to the main character when he was being constantly taken advantage of or only seemed happy onstage and was, in this telling, a star who kept doing whatever he was told no matter how much it hurt. (his very brief rebellious phase before they sent him to basic training was my favorite part of the film. that had some power.)

i can’t help comparing this movie to the whitney houston one because there was such life and joy in that, which gave its sad ending all the more impact. i knew to expect a similar depressing ending for elvis, and yet, this movie held his death at a distance, repeating the framing of tom hanks narrating about elvis in the end. i was glad that the whitney biopic didn’t show her death, and didn’t need to see his--but we could have seen his family and friends reacting, or some moment of him in private, rather than the last shot we got which was literally physically distanced, too. 

using colonel parker they way they did gave tom hanks a lot to do, but it felt like a concept the filmmakers were too excited about as a ‘twist’ to realize that it sapped what makes a biopic great: the force of the star at its center. if they elevated tom hank’s role because they were worried about fully giving austin butler the stage, i don’t think they needed to be. he was a good choice, and i just wish they had trusted him to do more. then maybe i could’ve seen the movie i expected this to be, in which baz luhrmann told me the story of elvis--rather than one where tom hanks did so while defending his villainous actions as he got the last word.

(though technically elvis got the last word in a delightfully predictable post-credits moment and i do give them--ahem--credit for that. and leander more points, for playing that part on purpose.)

in conclusion, not my favorite viewing experience for a lot of different reasons, but i’m still glad i saw it. because austin butler was fun, and, well, baz luhrmann. the man makes the shiniest glittery movies, and i love them so much for existing even when i don’t love them at all.