#anti triangle of doom

[nikkiruncks]

Maturing is realizing that Elena deserved better than both Stefan and Damon

[kmze]

Tvd 's laser focus on the triangle where the female protagonist kept waffling between two men every season instead of developing as a character and never having an independent agenda integral to her personality proved to be detrimental for the show.This is where they failed with the ensemble.

The thing with Elena though is she wanted both brothers at once so like that was her agenda, the show even had her point it out in S3 when she said "if I chose one I lose the other" because Elena is in love with love and herself. The problem is that situation only works if Stefan is the one she's in a physical relationship with and Damon is the one she's in an emotional relationship with. Elena was at the height of her power in S2 because that's when she had both and didn't have to compromise anything to have both of them. The problem is Stefan never had any interest in being in an emotional relationship once Elena chose Damon, that's why Stefan was the one who said "if she choses you I'll leave" in S3 and he does leave in S4. There's also the fact that for Damon it's Elena>Stefan and for Stefan it's Damon>Elena so again just doesn't work if Stefan isn't the one in the physical relationship because he will always chose Damon and keeping him happy over himself.

So I don't think the triangle was detrimental to Elena's character, I actually think people did not see this selfishness in S1-2 because they believed the "Elena isn't Katherine" schtick. What hurt her is once she chose Damon she lost Stefan, because Stefan could move on and Stefan has more self respect that Damon. One thing that made me laugh so much in my rewatch because of how eye opening it was is how Elena acted around amnesia Stefan. She was GLOWING at the possibility of rebuilding her Stefan the way she wanted with only the memories she decided were important (HERSELF) and when Stefan found out that she was with Damon and told her to kick rocks she was devastated! Then she tried again in 5x06 and got a better reaction out of him and then the next day she's in his damn bedroom like the most desperate ex-girlfriend I have ever seen in my life lol.

This is kind of why I think Elena's ending should have been neither Salvatore, I don't think she was ever satisfied with having only one of them and that made them so bad for her. The problem is I don't think she'd ever chose to be single and "find herself" so compulsion was probably the only way that was going to happen.

[gojuo]

Proshippers be funny af. GoT opening sequence is nothing like hotd so that comparison they pulled up is false and desperate.

me: i want helaegon to be the deconstruction of targaryen incest that examines the psychological horror of a forced marriage to one's own sibling in which the full family is already hanging by a thread in a treacherous situation since there is no other targ couple in the entirety of canon perfectly situated to explore and dissect this horrific aspect of targaryen culture

#them: i want an incestuous love triangle (that is not canon) because incestuous love triangles is interesting writing or something

[bugsbenefit]

casually rewatching the Hunger Games because you know how it is

but then the parallels slap you in the face and the serious moments get way too funny

like

spoiler: she does in fact not love him. romantically at least

[lord-luminous]

Someone called Bill Cipher and Ford Pines a doomed soulmates pairing and I haven't been able to stop thinking about that.

Being doomed soulmates, to me, always felt intrinsically tragic. One of the few examples I could think off hand are Achilles and Patroclus, two people loved each other so much but they weren't destined for happiness. Greek heroes 99% of the time never are. Soulmates as a trope is defined in someone being destined to end up with their perfect match.

That's why Bill and Ford being doomed soulmates is so utterly fascinating. BillFord is probably the most anti-romantic pairing Gravity Falls (show) could honestly conjure. So much of that pairing is built on manipulation, lies and transaction. Bill is using Ford to get into the a physical realm so he can rule it, while Ford is idly using Bill to learn more things about the unnatural side of the world. So those two being soulmates on any level is going to be anything but healthy. I mean, even in the show, Bill tortures Ford for information.

Furthermore, it can be used in such fascinating theories and AUs. When we read the story as them as explicit doomed soulmates, while pairing information we have from the show and fandom theories you can bring to life fun concepts.

When the show was airing, there was a theory post-ATOTS that Blendin Possesed By Bill had messed with Ford's project to further ruin it than Stan had. Which is why it looked more damaged coupled with the "Blendin was here" with a triangle right there in the episode. So what if it was Bill that ruined the project? That would make the Stan Twins fight and go their separate ways, while this intentionally led Ford right down the path to meet Bill eventually in Gravity Falls. The path that eventually lead to their partnership, Ford being pushed into the portal, 30 years trapped in the Dream Dimension, and later, Bill's defeat.

And that's just one idea I came up for some random fanfiction floating in my brain. The reason I even like that particular concept is that it does more than absolve Stan of wrongdoing, but rather shows you how twisted Bill Cipher could be. There's more you can do with it. Doomed soulmates destined to find each other, and destined to ruin each other. Bill being half the reason Ford was pushed through portal or how he let Ford go insane through fear while Ford being a part of the Cipher Zodiac that could vanquish Bill or using the memory gun on Bill to erase him from existence.

It's so interesting because even if BillFord isn't my ship, you can unpack so much through their dynamic through this lens. Like what makes them click together and what drives them apart.

You guys might have already realized all this, but I just needed to get this off my chest. Finding out more about Bill and Ford's relationship has altered me on a fundamental level. Doomed Soulmates is actually the most appropriate way to define it. How else would you define it?

Thank you for listening to me, a semi-casual fan of Gravity Falls.

[spacebois-non-izshit]

I rewatched a few episodes to remember how Irep/foop acted in the og show (only a few because the late seasons of the show sucked) and fuck I feel bad for him

That poor kid, his first day of school everyone loves poof peri despite even foop/Irep pointing out that he literally can't say anything but his name, and the stupid "foop, spelt backwards" thing which like, that's such dick move for a teacher who has a student named foop

Not to mention the amount of times foop gets injured and blamed for stuff, like he's evil and does malicious things but like, just let him be happy...

My dude wanted a kiss from the new girl for crying out loud!

Also unrelated but I like that he talks back and forth to himself in the first few episodes and that he easily falls asleep like a baby

I didn't watch most of the episodes since the later season suck but I watched "anti poof", "playdate of doom", "spellementary school", "love triangle", "scary Godcouple" (dear God...) and "two and a half babies"

[forkdrawer]

ok anti bill x stamford moment im sorry but i don’t have strong feelings about toxic doomed yaoi bill and stanford, get it i guess but y’all who are horny for them to get it on is too much.. bill does not have pyramid pussy or cock i don’t even wanna get into him possessing stan or even worse someone else. non asexuals are actually insane sometimes … y’all really want a triangle and a man to have sex .. and the triangle isn’t even a thing he’s just like a ghost of a guy

[bl00dlight]

Helaemond antis gotta be some of the most boring bitches

All they do is complain and gaslight us all into think we are delusional for picking up what the actors legit did themselves

Hmmmmmmmmmmm yessss I think alot of the antis come down to two camps;

-book purist reddit dudes

-self inserter girlies who love alysmond/helaegon

Prove me wrong.

Yea yea yea there are other bullshit excuses people might give. And sure they may be valid. But both Alys x Aemond and Helaena x Aegon are SIGNIFICANTLY more like... morally questionable. Oh okay, so we got the 40-400 year old witch who may or may not be a master manipulator fucking an 17-18 year old who is criminally insane and possibly has taken her as a sex slave after Ethnically cleansing her entire House, whom he also abandons and then decides to come back for as an afterthought...

And we got the martial rape/neglect poster Child Aegon who rapes young serving girls paired with the deeply traumatised Helaena.

And yet the idea of the doomed bpd Aemond x his prophetic neurodivergent sister where they find a shared understanding of being deeply neglected and then she watches him descend into darkness despite the fact he still ultimately loves and care for her - so basically.... Padame and ANAKIN LMAOOO or half the books popular on tik tok.

That is the one which is egregious? The only ship which has been even acknowledged by the actors to have weight in the theory that Helaena and Aemond share a bond? I mean like the show itself validates us, young aemond wishing he was betrothed to her, defending Helaena, the actors implementing the character relationships, the fact Aemond is the one to even clock Helaena is a dragon dreamer - the entire balcony scene.... also remember all those pre show leaks that discussed Aemond x Helaena x Aegon being in a Aemon x Naerys x Aegon parallel and uhhh young Aemond leaks about him supposedly being in love with his sister on the character descriptions?

Like there is plenty there for people to grasp onto lmao.

I think people were really fucked off about the whole 'the kids were his' thing, but personally I just thought that was fun speculation. Fan theories are a staple in this world? Also personally I've seen very few Helaemonds who died on the hill without question the kids were his.

Helaemond is probably the least insane ship, espeically when you think about the fact people ship.... Luke and Aemond.... uhhhh. Also... Aegon and Aemond. Idk about yall, I don't really think I've ever seen a moment between Aemond where he reasonably loved either Aegon or Luke. But he did move in front of Helaena when Rhaneys attacked the dragonpit... so... and he also did say as a kid he lowkey would marry her. And then also begged her to come with him to Harrenhal. So clearly there is uhhh some connection.

People also act as though the idea of Aemond and Helaena is so preposterous as if the entire show isn't about hypocrisy and external martial affairs.

They also act as though Targaryen siblings ain't constantly been getting into messy ass love triangles where they sucking or ATTEMPTING to suck and fuck one or both. Cough cough.

Visenya x Aegon x Rhaenys

Bittersteal x Sheira x Bloodraven

Aegon x Naerys x Aemon

And honourable mention to Baelon x Alyssa + this diva Viserra trying to suck and FUCK on Baelon???

So like.... not really so sure how it's such an outrageous concept.

Again most of the time the critiques of the ship aren't valid other than the fact that 'It isn't canon' - but it's like what the fuck constitutes as canon? And why does it only apply to Helaemond. No one cares that Rhaenyra x Alicent isn't canon. No one cares that Rhaenyra x Mysaria isn't canon. Daemon x Alys isn't canon AT ALL, like Daemon legit doesn't think twice about Alys. And Helaena and Aegon aren't canon either - they are just in a fucken marriage with each other to which the actors have stated they don't really love each other? So is it a canon romance? No. Are they married? Yes. But Rhaenyra and Laenor were married too, I don't see anyone shipping them.

I legit don't care who people ship. But it's always obvious it's a THEM thing when they haven't got any real points other than virtue signalling or just being hateful. Like I said, Helaemond is probably the least problematic logistically. And is not out of the question in world (as said by the actors and proof by canon have it be a theme amongst targ siblings). They mad cause they jealous, they mad cause it doesn't align with THEIR personal wants/desires etc.

For example you cant sit here and tell me Alys is a healthier choice for Aemond or Aegon a healthier choice for Helaena? At worst it's equal. So anyone who pretends to give a fuck is just like... annoying.

Which is a big factor. Many in this fandom are annoying as fuck. They are rude to actors, rude to other fans, hateful, and take it so seriously that it literally sucks the joy from it. Like seriously, it's not that fucken deep and people DO need to chill. I've seen fans on twitter get called BAD PEOPLE for shipping Helaena and Aemond??? Like that's crazy.

I'll sit here and admit I love toxic and messy ships cause it's interesting. I don't fucken like boring fluff. Go watch Bridgerton or whatever the fuck, HOTD is not for those ships. So it would be alot more fun if people would just admit to wanting to see some messy and fun shit instead of posturing morality over fictional magical dragon flying people.

The point is, people hate Helaemond because it has the most plausibility in the show to become a thing. And it did. People don't get that most Helaemonds don't really care nor did we expect a romance. We just wanted interaction with subtext... and uh.... we won. Hoes mad on tumblr cause they wanna self insert. Hoes mad on reddit cause they wanted a documentary instead of a prime time TV show.

But helaemond?

We won. Pay them no mind. We been out here doing it for helamond and they mad cause it worked.

Oop..

[maxwell-grant]

so with the show gone, what's your headcanon on the ventures's future? have the creators mentioned anything about it?

A few things in passing but not too much. Namely just that Dean is gonna lose his hair and that Hank will eventually step foot in Mars as an adventurer. I think Doc and Jackson said as much that they want to keep the door open for future stories in case they do get to come back, and that they'll always have new things they'll want to do, but anyway yes okay, post-show headcanons:

Doc burns through Jonas Jr's fortune and for the most part remains the same, but he eventually achieves a true breakthrough of his own: a permanent solution to hair loss. It comes with a few little side effect mutations but for the most part it does work and Doc is, reasonably pretty happy that for once he gets something to his name that he actually made and isn't something horrible done to him. "Reasonably happy" is as happy as Rusty is ever allowed to get, and he dies a few weeks later by something predictably stupid, like auto-erotic asphyxiation.

It's shitty, Dr Orpheus cries over it, but everyone kinda saw it coming.

Most of Doc's assets get seized and the boys actually don't get much, he forgot to put them in the will because he made it back when he still had the clone farm. Rusty's last wish is to be cremated so nobody gets to clone him, and for his ashes to be scattered at Spanakopita, which has become a big White Lotus-esque resort island since Doc's last visit, built by Giorgo almost entirely off the Venture fortune. On the boat ride to Spanakopita, (WHITE LOTUS SEASON 2 SPOILERS) Sgt Hatred dies exactly like Tanya did and nobody bothers to fish his body back up.

Eventually some Rusty clones will pop up over the years, one of which is gonna be on that offscreen Rusty that went on the Cleveland Time Machine adventure with Billy. Once they leave Rusty's science basement, Billy and Pete White will never make it to the big leagues, but they'll pretty much be together until the end, and they are gonna go on some real weird adventures, like freaky Doom Patrol stuff, St.Cloud is gonna get up to some shit in the future once he bumbles into becoming rich enough to warp space-time around him just by existing and turn into the world's first Level 100 antagonist by the least amount of effort humanly possible. Actually the whole world is gonna get a lot weirder in the future, when stuff like the cloning tech and anti-gravity music boxes bleed over into general public use.

At some point the Earth will be menaced by the return of General Treister, who has absorbed enough cosmic radiation to become Galactus (this one was mentioned in the artbook as something they'd play around with, if they ever brought Treister back). He will be stopped from devouring the planet by a joint effort between Hank Venture, the Guild and the OSI, and Hunter Gathers will sacrifice herself in the process, passing the OSI's leadership to Shore Leave, who will bring SPHINX back every few months just so he has an excuse to interject SPHINX! into sentences again for funsies. Brock essentially becomes the OSI's equivalent to Red Death: basically retired, but he goes on assignments a couple times per year or gets brought onboard for decision-making, some part of him actually does kinda like this life and he stands by the friends he's made in it. He keeps touch with the Ventures but for the most part he flies solo. At some point he will have enough illegitimate children across the world for them to start their own super spy group.

Hank becomes an adventurer, and for the most part he just remains Hank as always. He makes a lot of strange alliances all over the place, he doesn't resort as much to his entourage of personas but some still come up on occasion (the double life of Enrico Matassa is one for the history books), he reforms Shallow Gravy with Dermott (who is totally 100% getting kicked out of the OSI) and Gary and HELPeR and Scare Bear playing the triangle, for the most part he lives up to the idea of being more "Rusty Venture" than Rusty himself ever was and he becomes like the first major Venture adventurer who's not some kind of monster. He completely and totally blows out any chance at settling down into normalcy, but he lives an exciting life. 50/50 on him either dying young doing something incredibly stupid and careless, or somehow stumbling his way into full-blown Highlander immortality just as 21 foresaw.

Dean I think stays in New York full time and is another 50/50 on him: he's either gonna succeed in having a normal life, or he's becoming a villain, I'm taking the fandom side on this one, villain Dean is not the most exciting idea in the world but it has some legs to it and I can't see him being anything else if he's gotta be a part of that binary whether he likes it or not. In the former, I imagine he finishes college, maybe gets a degree in something lowkey, probably changes his name and settles down with somebody and stops answering most calls, basically makes it like Professor Van Helping in that his life is okay and that's just how he wants it. Villain Dean I think happens in largely a similar way to how it happened to Dr Girlfriend taking over the Guild: not something they wanted or planned to, but it's the best way to keep things stable and keep themselves afloat amidst the chaos that surrounds them whether they want it or not. Maybe he finally listens to King Crimson and it breaks his brain into mad science a bit, as it tends to do, or maybe he invokes his blood right to appoint himself Sovereign but otherwise keeps hands-free of the Guild, and only does it so the Guild leaves him alone and he can boss other villains into standing down. He's gonna have freaks in costume trying to get him for the rest of his life so, fuck it, when in Rome or something.

At some point in the very near future Mantilla takes over the Peril Partnership and guts it to make ARCH a real thing, and maybe in the future ARCH kinda replaces the Guild at the forefront of supervillain institutions, with the Guild having the final word in matters of diplomacy and the old guard and ARCH as the new high-tech face of things. She never succeeds in getting to be besties with Dr Girlfriend, but she does hit it off nicely with Sirena, who takes over after Wide Wale and fires basically everyone that was still around after the Morpho saga. The Order of the Triad actually does succeed in making it pretty big, with comparatively few players but some very powerful additions like Lila, Red Death's daughter, and some of Jefferson's old buddies. Definitely not Triana though, she's got better to do than run with her dad's crew. Somehow HELPeR winds up joining and gets married to the Pants Golem.

Gary is gonna keep on being Henchman 21 up until the moment The Monarch dies, at which point he might actually undergo another big transformation of the self and will probably just outright become a sidekick to the heroes. He's never going to truly be a hero or a villain himself, he gave those a try and he's pretty firmly the kind of guy that only comes to life when someone else tells him what to do, so I imagine he's gonna bounce around until he finds something he finds fulfilling, will probably go on plenty of adventures with Hank. Really by this point he's already an honorary Venture, with The Monarch out of the picture so goes the pretense. Sheila, I think she just runs the Guild for as long as she can, probably reformulates it into something more sustainable by the end of her run. Sheila's arc in the show is about her climbing the ranks and moving away from her role as a number two, and distancing herself more from The Monarch because of it, and she's not going back to her old life so I think she's just fully going to remain The Sovereign up until she gets too sick of it, possibly moves into politics at Radical Left's suggestion and hands the Guild off to Phantom Limb. Maybe even becomes President of the United States for a bit, if anyone in the cast is becoming president it's really gotta be her. Or maybe not since she's overqualified, but still, if she does, in the process she hands the Guild to Phantom Limb, who basically makes it a drinking buddies gentleman's club and is too retired and rich and old to care much about anything anymore.

The movie ends with a pretty firm statement that The Monarch is just going to keep on being The Monarch no matter what and that he will in fact never stop trying to arch Rusty, and he's had like a million chances to kill Doc by now and didn't seize any of them so really yes he will just keep doing this until one or both pass. And I'm definitely thinking Doc goes first, Malcolm is torn between celebrating and flipping the fuck out that Doc DARED to not let The Mighty Monarch kill him, and for a brief moment he's completely and totally unsure as to what the fuck is he going to do with his life. He's like this close to genuinely trying to turn his life around and try to be a Blue Morpho-esque hero again if only because he and Gary had some good times and, y'know by this point he hates the Guild more so than the OSI, but then the Rusty clones show up and, you know what, fine, I can work with this, THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH IS NO MATCH FOR THE ACID CUMSHOT OF VENGEANCE, DOCTOR VENTURE, MUUUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! and then he crashes his new butterglider into a cliffside Wile E.Coyote style and he dies like two weeks into a new plan.

Gary cries, Sheila's heartbroken, but again, they and everyone totally saw this coming.

[original-character-championship]

Bracket G Round 1

Poll 18

Present (@sleepyblr-heart) vs. Eddie Alfaro (@calicojackofficial)

419. Present (@sleepyblr-heart)

She/Her

she's got everything you could want! Transgenderism. 2 weed smoking girlfriends. Doomed by the narrative. friends(?) with 3 entire gods. ALSO a god. might end the world. might save it. Kidnapped and forced to compete on a show called battle for penis.  truly, what more do you need in a woman!

She is a present! Currently with white and pink wrapping paper, but it changes sometimes! She also has sick butterfly wings and 3 (working) eyes!

420. Eddie Alfaro (@calicojackofficial)

she/her

Eddie is the scrungly pathetic man we all know and love, but she's a girl! She's a clairvoyant anti-cop detective with a drinking problem she's trying to recover from by herself. She's endlessly devoted to her family, even the ones that have abandoned her, and she wants to be a better sister to her big sibling who raised her all alone. She has and unbendable - but also unorthodox - sense of morality. Her character development is realizing she wants to live, and choosing to do so! She is tormented by visions. She's covered shoulders to ankles in rose tattoos. She's butch. She cuts her own hair. She has daddy issues AND mommy issues. She's instantly devoted to her femme fatale love interest, but even though she'd die for her she WON'T compromise her principles for her. Her love triangle becomes a happy throuple, despite her initial jealous sabotaging. After defeating the bad guy, she goes to therapy.

Eddie is a relatively short and curvy "pear shaped" Latina woman with very short shaggy brown hair that she cuts herself. She has a round face, a widow's peak, and dark brown eyes. She has blooming rose vines tattooed all over her entire body, and several ear piercings. She wears punky butch clothing and no makeup (except when she is "cross" dressing in her femme girlfriend's clothes). She has lightish brown skin. She's in her mid twenties.

[nikkiruncks]

Plot twist: Bamon/klefan endgame and Elena lives a Salvatore free life

[kmze]

Be it Klefanoline or Sterowood, either or both would have been much better than that triangle of doom but for some reason that I can never comprehend, julie wouldn't let any other character or their dynamics shine over Damon,Elena and their "vomit-inducing love story".I don't know if it was her obsession with Damon or it was the network or Nian factor or 15 year old twitter warriors or what it was but this show had the potential to be different instead ended up delivering chin-kiss.

Word Anon, I don't even know what the reason was I think it was a combination of a few things, I think the Network didn't want them to let it completely go because that was the premise of the show. I think JP and KW didn't want to let it go (moreso KW though) and I think that's why there was just bait for SE in S6-8 to keep those shippers delusions. JP pretty much took over in S4 completely and that's when SC started getting foreshadowed and Stefan was removed from the triangle more. The scene in 4x15 stood out to me with the trio where Elena and Damon keep walking together and he stands back and ends up separated from them. I also think JP was way more susceptible to online feedback and especially the obsession fans had with Damon/Ian whereas she needed to ignore it.

Honestly JP should have listened to Nina more about why she wanted to end Elena's story after S6 because I think Nina was more clear-sighted about Elena's journey. Nina wanted Elena's story to end and it probably should have, not saying she should have died but she should have been freed from the supernatural world once she took the cure again. I think JP and KW were actually on point with their original premise of the Salvatores dying and watching over Elena from the other side because they both were bad for her! They should have compelled her and had her transfer to a different school on the other other side of the country so she could actually live her life in peace. Then S7&8 could have focused more on Defan outside of Elena (and if were being honest how much Katherine fucked them both up) and having Lily would have helped do that.

The thing I felt with Elena is unlike Caroline and Bonnie who both embraced their supernatural powers Elena faltered badly. Mostly because Caroline embraced the strength and confidence that came with her vampirism whereas Elena couldn't. Bonnie as well when they actually let her keep her powers loved being a witch and as she became less self sacrifice-y she became more open to bending her morality to survive in this world. It's also frustrating that in S6 the writers gave Caroline and Bonnie big character arcs and each one of them had a Salvatore following their lead so it's like they knew it could work and then just refused to do that again in S7. I mean I know some of that is because Candice was pregnant and she couldn't do stunts but what about Kat? They could have re-negotiated her contract and gave her more episodes and they could have not had Damon basically handcuffed to a coffin all season.

Feels like we'll never know the real answer, I also think in general they didn't realize that a love triangle can only be a premise for so long because how many times are you going to brother swap before it's just laughable.

[lesbiannancytruther]

no but hear me out:

i want robin to kiss a girl in season 5 so badly and no matter who it is, in the end of the day i will take it because she needs a gf already BUT

it has to be nancy. like it has to be. it's not that i dislike vickie or anything but i just (i better not get canceled for that one) feel like her character was kind of poorly written? no hate to the actress at all, but to me it just felt like they copy-pasted robin's entire personality and turned it into a new character?? i don't know maybe that's just me? robin deserves a complex character by her side (nancy god damn wheeler) and i am dying on that hill. nancy is and has always been such a complex character and giving her a girlfriend would only EMPHASIZE this complexity. from s1 one until now nancy has been captured in this love triangle and it is pretty clear that she never felt fully understood in neither of those relationships. like she always had to prove herself you know what i mean? with both steve and jonathan. now guess what? she never had to prove herself around robin. ROBIN EVEN PUT HER IN CHARGE HELLO??

and robin...well the way she rambled around nancy?? the way she looked down when she saw the way nancy was looking at steve?? the way she called for nancy when she went after steve?? the way they held hands??? they both deserve each other so much. i could literally talk about this for HOURS oh my god. the ronance hyperfixation is going strong!

hello anon i understand u so strongly, and im sorry this took me so long to get to! i promise it wasn't intentional!

i will forever be on the train that even if vickie was done better than she was, she will always be a character introduced to give the lesbian character a love interest, she was doomed to this position from the start because she had no other real purpose! rockie will always feel inorganic because vickie is nothing beyond a love interest for robin.

this is. such a common problem, ESPECIALLY in wlw ships, and that's why i love ronance. nancy wheeler is immune to this phenomenon because she and robin were both created independently and with different purposes, and their stories come together so well its actually insane

nancy wheeler is one of those characters that is so hard to understand if you don't look at her through a queer lens, or at the very least an anti-misogynist one. i think the best thing the duffers could do for her is finish the arc she started in season 1, which is focused on self-realization and discovery.

the entire show she has been told who she is, what she should do, who she likes, who she loves, by everyone! it is never nancy who says these things, it is other characters telling her, even barb, even robin. how insane would it be if she came to the conclusion on her own that she liked women? or at the very least had looked at her own feelings not through the lens of someone who didn't understand her or the situation they were talking about.

robin falls into these same patterns, but the more she gets to know nancy, the more she really understands her, the more she backs off on those kinds of comments and the more she uplifts nancy's voice. there is SO MUCH POTENTIAL in them and the fact that it will more likely than not be ignored is so. agonizing. please duffer brothers see the vision

[thistlecatfics]

do you have opinions on cbt

Hahaha everyone has opinions on CBT. For the radical queer trauma therapist circles I run in I’m actually pretty pro-CBT. For the average person involved in mental/behavioral health, I’m probably anti-CBT. 

[For context, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a famously evidence based type of therapy which works by targeting thoughts/cognitions. It theorizes that thoughts cause behaviors which cause feelings which cause thoughts all around and around in a spiral of doom for which the easiest intervention is targeting the thoughts. It can be very regimented, hence it’s easily studied, hence why it’s so “evidence based.” You basically identify “cognitive distortions” like catastrophizing (I failed my exam and so I’m going to fail out of school and live in a cardboard box) and reality-check them (it’s one exam in one class and I can still pass the class if I get a decent grade on my final). You also identify the thought/feeling/behavior spiral (thought=I failed -> I will be homeless, feeling=fear, shame, behavior=avoiding the professor and anything associated with the class.) It’s definitely bigger and more complicated than that, but you get the idea.]

For a lot of people with anxiety and with OCD especially, it can be so life changing. 

For a lot of people, especially people who are trauma survivors or whose presenting problems are connected to trauma, it can feel like gaslighting. 

(Fun fact! Part of the reason TF-CBT (trauma focused CBT) has such solid evidence behind it is that it ignores the wild survival bias in its studies. People who have a lot of trauma or really intense PTSD tend to drop out. Those who stay mostly have success with it and provide happy little data points)

I think certain parts of CBT can be so useful – noticing thoughts, identifying cognitive distortions, checking in with reality – and I think using the triangle with clients (the little triangle of “thoughts,” “emotions,” “behaviors”) can be super useful, and I do it fairly often.

Personally, I find a lot of my clients can do (most of) the mental/cognitive work on their own – what they really need help with from a trained professional is actually a felt sense of safety and emotional processing which require therapeutic flexibility and other modalities -- and a longer period of work.  

Some people like a very concrete, structured approach, especially if they’re new to therapy or skeptical of the value of therapy. Also, a lot of people only can access therapy for a short time and a lot of people only want to be in therapy for a short time, and you can make changes quickly with CBT. Also, from the therapist end, there are a million free CBT trainings and workshops you can do vs. most other modalities where you have to pay $1000s for trainings (on top of getting a graduate degree). 

Insurance companies and payers in general LOVE CBT because it’s structured, evidence-based, and short-term. You also require clients to do homework, which is basically like extra therapy time you don’t have to pay the clinician for. You can also train people in it pretty easily. I think it’s important to understand *why* CBT is held up as the best/standard therapy type now, and it has a lot less to do with CBT itself and more to do with service provision and structural factors around paying for therapy and with what can be effectively researched. 

I’m reading Richard Schwartz’s “No Bad Parts” right now about Internal Family Systems therapy, and I’m now thinking of CBT within that framework. Basically, CBT is an effective part of the overall therapy system but it’s being asked to do too much, and so is overfunctioning and causing problems. We really should just let it settle into its own niche. 

It’s not my therapy niche! But it has a place. 

(If you were asking about Cock and Ball Torture therapy that would probably fall under the category of “experiential” therapy. Not sure it’s really been studied, but I’m sure there would be enthusiastic participants.)

[filmnoirfoundation]

NOIR CITY 21 Day 3

NOIR CITY returns to Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre with a double feature of THE HUMAN BEAST / LA BÊTE HUMAINE and HUMAN DESIRE both based on Émile Zola's novel. Full festival schedule, tickets and Passports (All-Access Passes) available at NoirCity.com

Sunday • January 21, 2024  DOUBLE FEATURE

THE HUMAN BEAST / LA BÊTE HUMAINE

1:30, 5:30, 9:30 PM

In the 1930s, Jean Gabin brought a gallery of doomed anti-heroes to life with a blend of poetic fatalism and blunt proletarian defiance, becoming the first global icon of the noir spirit. He personally selected Jean Renoir, after their collaboration on the classic La Grande Illusion (1937), to direct La bête humaine, adapted from a novel by Émile Zola. Untrammeled by Hollywood censorship, they stayed true to Zola’s disturbing conception of Gabin’s character: a decent working-class man whose “hereditary flaw” causes violent psychotic episodes, mostly aimed at women. When he falls in love with the wife of a railway official (Simone Simon), herself damaged by a history of abuse and exploitation, they are on track for inevitable tragedy. Renoir gives the film a gritty, neorealist flavor (Gabin, a train enthusiast, learned to drive a locomotive for his role) and instills the bleak story with unsentimental empathy.

In French with English subtitles

FRANCE (1938) Dir. Jean Renoir. 100 min.

HUMAN DESIRE

3:30, 7:30 PM

Following the popular success of 1953's The Big Heat, Columbia Pictures reteamed Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame with director Fritz Lang for this Americanized adaptation of Le bête humaine, smuggling the sordid tale of adultery and murder past the censors. Gloria Grahame gives a bruised and beleaguered performance as the abused woman who wonders if murdering her loutish husband (Broderick Crawford) is the only way out of her domestic hell. DP Burnett Guffey adds noir panache to Lang's cruel and suffocating depiction of the eternal noir triangle.

UNITED STATES (1954) Dir. by Fritz Lang. 91 min.

TICKETS FOR SUNDAY MATINÉE DOUBLE FEATURE STARTING AT 1:30 PM

TICKETS FOR SUNDAY MATINÉE DOUBLE FEATURE STARTING AT 3:30 PM

TICKETS FOR SUNDAY evening DOUBLE FEATURE STARTING AT 5:30 PM

TICKETS FOR SUNDAY evening DOUBLE FEATURE STARTING AT 7:30 PM

[zooterchet]

National Lampoons: Animal House

University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Berkshire Valley.

War on Terror, 2003-2007, Counter-Rabbinical Program.

Program: Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, Airbase Operations.

Mentor Program: Resource Economics, Site Management.

Training Facility: Van Meter Dormitory, Subgenius Floor, Iran-Contra.

Hire of Facility: Joseph Kennedy III, Prosecutor, 4th District Massachusetts.

Representation: Garfield Lodge, marijuana and dominatrixes, abolition of contract labor, police training site "Bridgewater Triangle".

Forensics Field Forms (Deputies Union, State Police):

John Gotti ("Free the Weed", state police enforce rackets with coupons, mob in poverty without marijuana and police tenants in hostels).

Charles Floyd ("Master Herbert", the incarceration of Insane Clown Posse Mossad, investigation into Yardies "secret courts", the Russian Mafia).

Steven Flemmi ("The Entwhistle Incident", murder of Spanish Republican accountant family, John Warren Freemasonic Temple).

Vincent Gigante ("Hard Candy", Air Force investigation into Taunton Behavioral Ward, Queen Elizabeth II marked for war crimes tribunal, at duel of statesmanship).

Ted Bundy ("The Biggest Loser", mass incarceration of Canadian spies, all claiming allegiance to David Charlebois as United States President, of the MUSH).

Charles Manson ("Exalted", long range reconnaissance mission, the capture of John "Cusack" Washburne, for pedophilia related to Marvel Comics research, "The Amazing Spider-Man").

Timothy Leary ("Sin City", reprogramming of Ivan Tomasic, Secret Service, into Alan Moore, DC Comics Laureate).

Karl Unterweger ("The Dark Knight Rises", print of Bellevue program as "Law and Order: Gotham City", dooming Barack Obama to status as psychiatric patient controlled by the Jesuits; "Gotham", hits the airwaves, on FOX).

Moshe Dayan ("Point Break", rescue of Dr. Joshua Golden, from B'nai B'rith Sheriffs service, South revealed as an anti-Semite).

Richard Ramirez ("Autism Candles", shutdown of Clinton Foundation and oil numbers out of Jordan, Bill Clinton informed Jordan has no oil, just a large and shallow river; already mined for gold, 2000 BC, "Hindu Dindu").

Reinhard Heydrich ("Covid-19", Taiwan invades Ukraine, to take away Russia's only food and water supply; Elon Musk, representative of INTERPOL, triumphs, at creating a black hole, the Twitter universe).