#because they don't want to make disfigurement = evil

[cripplecharacters]

The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media

[large text: The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media]

If you followed this blog for more than like a week, you're probably familiar with “the mask trope” or at least with me complaining about it over and over in perpetuity. But why is it bad and why can't this dude shut up about it?

Let's start with who this trope applies to: characters with facial differences. There is some overlap with blind characters as well; think of the blindfold that is forced on a blind character for no reason. Here is a great explanation of it in this context by blindbeta. It's an excellent post in general, even if your character isn't blind or low vision you should read at least the last few paragraphs.

Here's a good ol’ tired link to what a facial difference is, but to put it simply:

If you have a character, who is a burn survivor or has scars, who wears a mask, this is exactly this trope.

The concept applies to other facial differences as well, but scars and burns are 99% of the representation and “representation” we get, so I'll be using these somewhat interchangeably here.

The mask can be exactly what you think, but it refers to any facial covering that doesn't have a medical purpose. So for example, a CPAP mask doesn't count for this trope, but a Magic Porcelain Mask absolutely does. Bandages do as well. If it covers the part of the face that is “different”, it can be a mask in the context used here.

Eye patches are on thin ice because while they do serve a medical purpose in real life, in 99.9% of media they are used for the same purpose as a mask. It's purely aesthetic.

With that out of the way, let's get into why this trope sucks and find its roots. Because every trope is just a symptom of something, really.

Roughly in order of the least to most important reasons...

Why It Sucks 

[large text: Why It Sucks]

It's overdone. As in — boring. You made your character visibly different, and now they're no longer that. What is the point? Just don't give them the damn scar if you're going to hide it. 

Zero connection with reality. No one does this. I don't even know how to elaborate on this. This doesn't represent anyone because no one does this.

Disability erasure. For the majority of characters with facial differences, their scars or burns somehow don't disable them physically, so the only thing left is the visible part… aaand the mask takes care of it too. Again, what's the point? If you want to make your disabled character abled, then just have them be abled. What is the point of "curing" them other than to make it completely pointless?

Making your readers with facial differences feel straight up bad. I'm gonna be honest! This hurts to see when it's all you get, over and over. Imagine there's this thing that everyone bullied you about, everyone still stares at, that is with you 24/7. Imagine you wanted to see something where people like you aren't treated like a freakshow. Somewhat unrealistic, but imagine that. That kind of world would only exist in fiction, right? So let's look into fiction- oh, none of the positive (or at least not "child-murderer evil") characters look like me. I mean they do, but they don't. They're forced to hide the one thing that connects us. I don't want to hide myself. I don't want to be told over and over that this is what people like me should do. That this is what other people expect so much that it's basically the default way a person with a facial difference can exist. I don't want this.

Perpetuating disfiguremisia. 

"Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk

[large text: "Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk]

It's quick when compared to my average facial difference discussion post, bear with me please.

Disfiguremisia; portmanteau of disfigure from “disfigurement” and -misia, Greek for hatred. 

Also known as discrimination of those mythical horrifically deformed people.

It shows up in fiction all the time; in-universe and in-narrative. Mask trope is one of the most common* representations of it, and it's also a trope that is gaining traction more and more, both in visual art and writing. This is a trope I particularly hate, because it's a blatant symptom of disfiguremisia. It's not hidden and it doesn't try to be. It's a painful remainder that I do not want nor need.

*most common is easily “evil disfigured villain”, just look at any horror media. But that's for another post, if ever.

When you put your character in a mask, it sends a clear message: in your story, facial differences aren't welcome. The world is hostile. Other characters are hostile. The author is, quite possibly, hostile. Maybe consciously, but almost always not, they just don't think that disfiguremisia means anything because it's the default setting. No one wants to see you because your face makes you gross and unsightly. If you have a burn; good luck, but we think you're too ugly to have a face. Have a scar? Too bad, now you don't. Get hidden.

Everything here is a decision that was made by the author. You are the one who makes the world. You are the person who decides if being disabled is acceptable or not there. The story doesn't have a mind of its own, you chose to make it disfiguremisic. 

It doesn't have to be.

Questions to Ask Yourself

[large text: Questions to Ask Yourself]

Since I started talking about facial differences on this blog, I have noticed a very specific trend in how facial differences are treated when compared to other disabilities. A lot of writers and artists are interested in worldbuilding where accessibility is considered, where disabled people are accepted, where neurodivergence is seen as an important part of the human experience, not something “other”. This is amazing, genuinely.

Yet, absolutely no one seems to be interested in a world that is anything but cruel to facial differences. There's no escapist fantasies for us.

You see this over and over, at some point it feels like the same story with different names attached.

The only way a character with a facial difference can exist is to hide it. Otherwise, they are shamed by society. Seen as something gross. I noticed that it really doesn't matter who the character is, facial difference is this great equalizer. Both ancient deities and talking forest cats get treated as the same brand of disgusting thing as long as they're scarred, as long as they had something explode in their face, as long as they've been cursed. They can be accomplished, they can be a badass, they can be the leader of the world, they can kill a dragon, but they cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to peacefully exist with a facial difference. They have to hide it in the literal sense, or be made to feel that they should. Constantly ashamed, embarrassed that they dare to have a face.

Question one to ask yourself: why is disfiguremisia a part of your story?

I'm part of a few minority groups. I'm an immigrant, I'm disabled, I'm queer. I get enough shit in real life for this so I like to take a break once in a while. I love stories where transphobia isn't a thing. Where xenophobia doesn't come up. But my whole life, I can't seem to find stories that don't spew out disfiguremisia in one way or the other at the first possible opportunity.

Why is disfiguremisia a default part of your worldbuilding? Why can't it be left out? Why in societies with scarred saviors and warriors is there such intense disgust for them? Why can't anyone even just question why this is the state of the world?

Why is disfiguremisia normal in your story?

Question two: do you know enough about disfiguremisia to write about it?

Ask yourself, really. Do you? Writers sometimes ask if or how to portray ableism when they themselves aren't disabled, but no one bothers to wonder if maybe they aren't knowledgeable enough to make half their story about their POV character experiencing disfiguremisia. How much do you know, and from where? Have you read Mikaela Moody or any other advocates’ work around disfiguremisia? Do you understand the way it intersects; with being a trans woman, with being Black? What is your education on this topic?

And for USAmericans... do you know what "Ugly Laws" are, and when they ended?

Question three: what does your story associate with facial difference — and why?

If I had to guess; “shame”, “embarrassment”, “violence”, "disgust", “intimidation”, “trauma”, “guilt”, “evil”, “curse”, “discomfort”, “fear”, or similar would show up. 

Why doesn't it associate it with positive concepts? Why not “hope” or “love” or “pride” or “community”? Why not “soft” or “delicate”? Dare I say, “beauty” or “innocence”? Why not “blessing”? “Acceptance”?

Why not “normal”?

Question four: why did you make the character the way they are? 

Have you considered that there are other things than “horrifically burned for some moral failing” or “most traumatic scenario put to paper”? Why is it always “a tough character with a history of violence” and never “a Disfigured princess”? Why not “a loving parent” or “a fashionable girl”, instead of “the most unkind person you ever met” and “total badass who doesn’t care about anything - other than how scary their facial difference is to these poor ableds”? Don’t endlessly associate us with brutality and suffering. We aren’t violent or manipulative or physically strong or brash or bloodthirsty by default. We can be soft, and frail and gentle and kind - and we can still be proud and unashamed.

Question five: why is your character just… fine with all this?

Can’t they make a community with other people with facial differences and do something about this? Demand the right to exist as disabled and not have to hide their literal face? Why are they cool with being dehumanized and treated with such hatred? Especially if they fall into the "not so soft and kind" category that I just talked about, it seems obvious to me that they would be incredibly and loudly pissed off about being discriminated against over and over... Why can't your character, who is a subject of disfiguremisia, realize that maybe it's disfiguremisia that's the problem, and try to fix it?

Question six: why is your character wearing a mask? 

Usually, there's no reason. Most of the time the author hasn't considered that there even should be one, the character just wears a mask because that's what people with facial differences do in their mind. Most writers aren't interested in this kind of research or even considering it as a thing they should do. The community is unimportant to them, it's not like we are real people who read books. They think they understand, because to them it's not complex, it's not nuanced. It's ugly = bad. Why would you need a reason?

For cases where the reason is stated, I promise, I have heard of every single one. To quote, "to spare others from looking at them". I have read, "content warning: he has burn scars under the mask, he absolutely hates taking it off!", emphasis not mine. Because "he hates the way his skin looks", because "they care for their appearance a lot" (facial differences make you ugly, remember?). My favorite: "only has scars and the mask when he's a villain, not as a hero", just to subtly drive the point home. This isn't the extreme end of the spectrum. Now, imagine being a reader with a facial difference. This is your representation, sitting next to Freddy Krueger and Voldemort.

How do you feel?

F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]

[large text: F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]]

As in, answers and “answers” to common arguments or concerns. 

“Actually they want to hide their facial difference” - your character doesn’t have free will. You want them to hide it. Again; why.

“They are hiding it to be more inconspicuous!” - I get that there are elves in their world, but there’s no universe where wearing a mask with eye cutouts on the street is less noticeable than having a scar. Facial differences aren’t open wounds sprinkling with blood, in case that's not clear.

“It’s for other people's comfort” - why are other characters disfiguremisic to this extent? Are they forcing all minorities to stay hidden and out of sight too? That’s a horrible society to exist in.

“They are wearing it for Actual Practical Reason” - cool! I hope that this means you have other characters with facial differences that don’t wear it for any reason.

"It's the character's artistic expression" - I sure hope that there are abled characters with the same kind of expression then.

“They’re ashamed of their face” - and they never have any character development that would make that go away? That's just bad writing. Why are they ashamed in the first place? Why is shame the default stance to have about your own face in your story? I get that you think we should be ashamed and do these ridiculous things, but in real life we just live with it. 

"Now that you say that it is kinda messed up but I'm too far into the story please help" - here you go.

“[some variation of My Character is evil so it's fine/a killer so it fits/just too disgusting to show their disability” - this is the one of the only cases where I’m fine with disability erasure, actually. Please don’t make them have a facial difference. This is the type of harm that real life activists spend years and decades undoing. Disfiguremisia from horror movies released in the 70s is still relevant. It still affects people today.

"But [in-universe explanation why disfiguremisia is cool and fine actually]" - this changes nothing.

Closing Remarks

[large text: Closing Remarks]

I hope that this post explains my thoughts on facial difference representation better. It's a complicated topic, I get it. I'm also aware that this post might come off as harsh (?) but disfiguremisia shouldn't be treated lightly, it shouldn't be a prop. It's real world discrimination with a big chunk of its origins coming out of popular media.

With the asks that have been sent regarding facial differences, I realized that I probably haven't explained what the actual problems are well enough. It's not about some technical definition, or about weird in-universe explanations. It's about categorizing us as some apparently fundamentally different entity that can't possibly be kind and happy, about disfiguremisia so ingrained into our culture that it's apparently impossible to make a world without it; discrimination so deep that it can't be excised, only worked around. But you can get rid of it. You can just not have it there in the first place. Disfiguremisia isn't a fundamental part of how the world works; getting rid of it won't cause it to collapse. Don't portray discrimination as an integral, unquestionable part of the world that has to stay no matter what; whether it's ableism, transphobia, or Islamophobia or anything else. A world without discrimination can exist. If you can't imagine a world without disfiguremisia in fiction... that's bad. Sad, mostly. To me, at least.

Remember, that your readers aren't going to look at Character with a Scar #14673 and think "now I'm going to research how real life people with facial differences live." They won't, there's no inclination for them to do so. If you don't give them a reason, they won't magically start thinking critically about facial differences and disfiguremisia. People like their biases and they like to think that they understand.

And, even if you're explaining it over and over ;-) (winky face) there will still be people who are going to be actively resistant to giving a shit. To try and get the ones who are capable of caring about us, you, as the author, need to first understand disfiguremisia, study Face Equality, think of me as a human being with human emotions who doesn't want to see people like me treated like garbage in every piece of media I look at. There's a place and time for that media, and if you don't actually understand disfiguremisia, you will only perpetuate it; not "subvert" it, not "comment" on it.

I hope this helps :-) (smile emoji. for good measure)

Mod Sasza

[whumpthemusical]

Whump: The Musical Prompts!!

As stated before, this challenge will run from March 1- March 31, 2024. All fandoms are welcome to participate despite it being prompts based off of musicals. Once again, all types of media are allowed. This challenge has the standard "choose one for the day" style, but feel free to do all three prompts if that's what you want to do!! All types of whump are allowed, but please be respectful to your fellow audience members and properly tag it!! Some of these prompts are sensitive, so make sure you warn your readers correctly! There will be an ao3 collection and an FAQ post coming soon, so if you have any further questions or comments about this challenge, feel free to drop me a line. Happy writing, my beautiful ingénues, and enjoy the show :)))

The prompts will be listed under the cut for those who have difficulty reading fonts!!

Cats- Sabotage • Second Chances • "I Can Dream Of The Old Days."

Wicked- Mob Mentality • Propaganda • "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished."

Jesus Christ Superstar- Whipping • Betrayal • "Then I Was Inspired, Now I'm Sad And Tired."

Les Mis- Survivor's Guilt • Failure • "Drink With Me To Days Gone By."

Heathers- Poison • Reluctant Whumper • "Wanna fight for me?"

Newsies- Chronic Pain • Exploitation • "Let 'Em Laugh In My Face, I Don't Care."

The Last Five Years- Infidelity • Gaslighting • "I Will Not Lose Because You Can't WIn."

Hadestown- Deals • Doomed Narrative • "Doubt Comes In."

Sweeney Todd- False Imprisonment • Razors • "Have You Decided It's Safer In Cages?"

Rent- Substance Abuse • Poverty • "Feels Too Much Damn Like Home."

Bare: A Pop Opera- Outing • Religious Trauma • "Please, See Me."

Waitress- Unplanned Pregnancy • Abuse • "She Is Broken And Won't Ask For Help."

Tick Tick Boom- Atychiphobia • Working To Exhaustion • "Is This Real Life?"

Dear Evan Hansen- Deception • Broken Bone • "Words Fail."

West Side Story- Star-Crossed Lovers • Prejudices • "A Boy Who Kills Cannot Love."

Come From Away- Stranded • Aftermath • "Blankets And Bedding And Maybe Some Food."

Spring Awakening- Withheld Information • Suicide  • "I Don't Scream, Though I Know It's Wrong."

Hamilton- Hurricane  • Dueling • "I Will Kill Your Friends And Family To Remind You Of My Love."

Falsettos- Sickness • Identity Issues • "Death Is Not A Friend."

Into The Woods- Blame • Lost • "Nothing But A Vast Midnight."

The Great Comet- Abduction • Letters • "Did You Love That Bad Man?"

In The Heights- Grief • Homesickness • "I Know That I'm Letting You Down."

Be More Chill- Mind Manipulation • Panic Attack • "Everything About Me Makes Me Want To Die."

Moulin Rouge- Class Differences • Sex Work • "Come What May."

Chicago- Cold Blood • Trial • "He Had It Coming."

Six- Execution • Trauma Bonding • "Playtime's Over."

Ride The Cyclone- Unexpected Tragedy • Forgotten Whumpee • "I Hear The Anguish Of The Street."

The Rocky Horror Show- Obsession • Wrong Place, Wrong Time • "I've Seen Blue Skies Through The Tears."

Nerdy Prudes Must Die- Bullying • Ritual • "Who Will Pray For You?"

Jekyll And Hyde- Duality • Good Vs Evil • "If I Die, You'll Die."

Phantom Of The Opera- Disfiguration • Shunned • "My Power Over You Grows Stronger Yet."

[some-pers0n]

Okay after seeing that nuclear bad take about Albatross being a "fucking psycho", here!! Get another one of these emotional rants of mine.

Albatross is a character I think a lot of people misunderstand. I think a good chunk of the reason why this somewhat new obsession I have over him was kick-started by just how many times I saw people on Reddit or in YouTube video comments go on and on about how he was insane in the membrane and was a pure evil dragon. It reminds me of my thoughts on Orca as well, where I don't want to take her at face value and see her as this dragon who just wanted to take over the throne. That's boring. I like the idea of her being something more.

But with Albatross? We've got a lot more evidence pointing to him being more than just "crazy old dragon". Reading the text, you see that Albatross is just kinda..sad? He's miserable and I personally get the feeling that he regrets having spent decades being bossed around by Lagoon. That he's tired of being seen as this freak-show dragon who could snap at any moment. He did once all of those years ago, and now it haunts him ever since.

Lagoon (and Sapphire to an extent) and their impact on Albatross's life is one that I find extremely overlooked. I don't know how people can think Albatross had no reason to do any of this and was just "snapping because he lost all of his soul" when Lagoon literally was egging him on just minutes before the massacre happened. He was being shown like a disfigured and disturbing trophy to the SkyWings. Statues of herself built by Albatross for no other reason than to have statues of herself. Lagoon flaunted her control over him and how he could do anything for her, mentioning ideas for enchantments that'll make her immortal. When Albatross speaks up, she shuts him down. She emotionally manipulates him by bringing up Sapphire again, saying that he'll never live it down. She then goes on to say how happy she is about how Fathom is an animus, excited to finally replaced her old, snappy, and unreasonable brother.

How much more obvious can you get that Lagoon was manipulating and controlling Albatross? For god's sake we even see this in the guide as well, with Lagoon bringing up Sapphire again. Lagoon uses that one tramatic event as leverage for everything. Something that she did is now Albatross's fault forever because he swiped back. He didn't want to be beaten down and made fun of anymore. He didn't want to be tormented by them any longer.

It's a moment that haunts Albatross. He regrets it deeply. It was an accident, but Lagoon won't ever make him forget it. She used the guilt that Albatross felt and made him do anything she wanted. How could he do such a thing? Cut off his sister's talons and drive her to madness? Lagoon knew how much this incident impacted Albatross. She wanted to make sure he always knew that it was his fault. That, no matter what, he will never live down being the one to ruin Sapphire's life.

His entire life he's more or less been just a means for Lagoon to exploit. A tool for her to use whenever she wanted something. The Summer Palace was more or less a vanity project, where Lagoon could show off how she has two palaces now. I don't think he ever used animus magic for himself. The only time he acted of his own accord, he would be snapped at by Lagoon. Him being mentioned to have traumatized dragonets by setting the trees ablaze during a Talons of Power ceremony was, again, brought up by Lagoon so that she could remind him of how he's unstable and should listen to her.

Not to also mention that he was described by Fathom as kind, albiet distant and somewhat cold at times. I don't think he was evil. He was a dragon who was spat into a world that was unkind and took advantage of him at every moment. Him being different than the others was the catalyist for everything. He was told he would be nothing more than an unstable, murderous dragon who could snap at any moment.

And he did just that, didn't he?

[distort-opia]

hey tort, what you didn't like about Batman caped crusader new design? And apparently with what I seen of the news, Joker was left out of this one hahaha

Mm, well... there's some stuff I like the sound of:

"A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man." It's funny to me he's talking about this as if it's that new of a take, Bruce has been weaponizing Alfred and Alfred's been enabling him in the comics for a while. But I am excited about an intentional approach to Bruce as a dark spooky offputting freak. Timm has been talking elsewhere about how he wants to depict a Bruce who's not very heroic and much darker, who's wearing a "person suit" over his true self which is Batman, and I think that could be quite interesting.

Meanwhile, Harley Quinn is now a serious psychiatrist who only fakes being bubbly... and actually a serial killer going after the rich of Gotham? The more you read about the changes, the more she's just a whole ass new character. I do get wanting to reinterpret things or bringing novel elements, but going "let's make everything about her the opposite" doesn't really land you in the realm of interpretation. Harley now sounds like a new person, with the only things in common she has with actual Harley Quinn being the name, profession and the harlequin-themed suit... which isn't even red, black and white.

And well. While the description of Selina isn't too flattering, I can't say she hasn't been depicted this way before. I just don't really like it:

Making her a rich person who's stealing because she wants to keep being rich... [sigh] I prefer the Selina who grew up impoverished, and who's got much more complex motivations to her being Catwoman.

Alas, Harley might be hard to recognize, but then there's Harvey:

The "let's take character traits and turn them opposite" approach strikes again! And once more, it makes the character very different, because Harvey being disfigured by acid after trying so hard to be good and save Gotham, and the disfigurement bringing Two-Face to the surface... it's such a core tenet of him.

I know some people might prefer these extreme changes over how the original characters were written, or even argue that they've gone through so many different origins and versions-- this is just another one of those. And I agree that this is just how things go, when a story that's almost a century old gets readapted, again and again. But well, especially when it comes to Harley and Harvey, I personally feel that if you're changing the core traits so much... at least don't call them by the same name, dammit. I'd feel similarly if they made a show about Batman and then went "oh we put a whole new spin on him by making everything the opposite!" and you find out he doesn't give a shit about his parents' murder and he kills people.

But who knows! The show isn't out yet. Maybe it'll be super well written, or these things have been blown out of proportion in interviews, and so on. We can only really tell once the show is out, so I'm waiting until then to truly form an opinion. And to be honest, I'm not that upset they left out Joker; DC has been overusing him for a while, and Joker fatigue is sadly not that hard to understand. Plus, keeping in mind all these major changes... they'd probably give us a Joker we can barely recognize, too.

[mikuyuuss]

The Glory: my thoughts so far

Broke: I love you.

Woke: I will k1ll for you.

So I'm watching this show called "The Glory" it's about a girl named Moon Dong Eun who's plotting to get revenge on her high school classmates and teacher who bullied her, and by bullying I mean (extremely violent mental and physical abuse, which left her body disfigured, and her life ruined)

And I gotta say, THE REVENGE PLOT IN THIS SHOW IS REALLY SATISFYING SO FAR

There's already so much media that vilifies bully victims, so SEEING A BULLY VICTIM AS THE MAIN CHARACTER THAT WE ARE ROOTING FOR IS SO REFRESHING.

I haven't watched that many kdramas but this is also the reason why I appreciated Gangnam Beauty, bc just like The Glory, both the female leads are 

not vilified by the narrative for their unconventional choices, (Kang Mi-rae for her plastic surgery and now Moon Dong Eun for her revenge). In The Glory, the the trauma Dong Eun had to endure while being abused by her classmates and teacher was portrayed in a very sympathetic light, and the story instead pins the blame on the people and the circumstances that led her to make those choices. Not to mention her bullies live good lives but continue to be terrible people with NO REMORSE for their actions even in adulthood, so while Dong Eun's revenge is still morally questionable, it is also VERY understandable.

Another thing I LOVE is how realistic Dong Eun's revenge plot is executed. The show and the Dong Eun herself is aware of the disadvantages she has (with the laws and all) and so she carefully executes her revenge in the way that she doesn't have to get her hands dirty. WHICH MAKES THE REVENGE TO THESE TERRIBLE PEOPLE ALL THE MORE SATISFYING! Remember that teacher who abused her? Yeah, She orchestrated his son to kill him, by simply confessing what the teacher did to her (bc she knows how much their family values reputation) HONESTLY QUEEN, LOVE THAT FOR HER! (also the irony that she also became a teacher like him except better, and is actually kind to her students)

And this show isn't exactly the usual "ReVENGe is BAd!! DOn't throw away your life for reVEnge!!" In fact, most of Dong Eun's allies actually support her because they understand just how evil her former highschool bullies are that they needed to be punished.

Which leads to the scene with Dong Eun and her love interest Ju Yeo-jeong. When she first confessed how she was planning revenge against her bullies, Yeo-jeong thought it was just some light bullying, until she undressed and showed the disfigured scars littered across her body. Yeo-jeong being a doctor, saw her scars and understood how much she suffered that he wept. He went from telling her not to pursue revenge to declared that he is willing to be her accomplish hence this scene.

MURDEROUS VENGEFUL COUPLE, Love that for them. They probably won't come out of this unscathed, but I really want them to WIN and get a happy ending, idk if that's too much to ask for. 😩😩😩😩

[imtrashraccoon]

Just a thought but imagining Nightmare in a fairy tale where he would be the prince is so funny because he's an evil and grumpy guy and would be the second villan or something

on that note. Rapunzel Au.

I'm reminded of the fairy tale about the swan princes who's sister had to make them coats so they could turn back into humans again. I'm otherwise not super familiar with fairy tales lol.

This is funny to picture!

Mkay. cracks fingers

Here is a quick spitball for a Rapunzel AU.

The queen is about to give birth to the Royal family's first child, however she falls ill and like in the original fairy tale, someone steals the witch's flower. Although this time, it's not a flower but a magic apple. The apple cures the queen's illness and she gives birth.

The witch is angry that her source of eternal youth was stolen and she decides to steal the Royal family's new child out of revenge. Only there's two children instead of one. The witch steals them away for nefarious witchy purposes but is nearly caught and so only manages to escape with one - Dream.

Nightmare is injured in the commotion, possibly being dropped by accident, but is ultimately rescued and survives his injuries. The kingdom mourns the loss of one of their young princes but life goes on.

Dream is a happy child and grows up in a secluded tower, far away from the kingdom in a forest. He's kept from the world outside by his supposedly loving mother, the witch. Maybe he makes a few odd friends like Ink or other wanderers but he never gets to see them or actually leave the tower.

Meanwhile, Nightmare also grew up and took the throne after his mother died; maybe there was an attempted coup or something. He was cold and often cruel to those who'd supposedly wronged him, earning himself quite the fearsome reputation. The problem is, his injury left him disfigured and he often struggles to function at the same level as those around him. He's also incredibly lonely but has no one willing to be friends with him. Maybe he creates an inner circle of men he tasks with doing the dirty work.

MC is a dashing rogue that has earned a rather high bounty. They stumble upon the tower one day while on the run after a job (possibly from the Royal Guard) and meet Dream. After some humourous shenanigans, they agree to take him to go see the outside world since he's been wanting to leave for a while. Maybe Ink tags along for fun and they meet some other interesting characters, like Blue who's an aspiring guard.

They travel around and see the sights of the kingdom. Their presence doesn't escape Nightmare's eye and he sends some of his men after them. (Cue Horror, Killer, and Dust.) Dream and MC don't know why Nightmare is after them but they really don't want to be caught. So an epic fight scene ensues!

Eventually, there is a confrontation with Nightmare and Dream actually recognizes him but doesn't know why. Nightmare doesn't either and hesitates to attack them. MC decides to be a hero and creates a distraction so that Dream can escape.

Dream finds himself in the forest again which is where the witch finds him and acts overjoyed to see him alive and well. The witch entreats him to return to the tower where it's safe and he does, for a time. During his time in the kingdom, he heard the tale of the lost prince and eventually he realizes that he's that prince. His "mother" only wants him for his healing powers and so he confronts her but it doesn't go well.

Meanwhile, Nightmare can't stop thinking about how familiar that golden skeleton felt and so he questions a captured MC. At first, they don't want to tell him anything but when they make the connection that Dream must be the lost prince, they agree to work together to find him.

MC is released and they make their way back to the tower, although the guards are slower to follow. They find Dream has been tied up and go to free him, only to be attacked by the witch. Nightmare arrives just in time and turns the tide of the fight. He can't kill the witch on his own, despite how powerful his magic is, and it takes the combined efforts of everyone to finally slay her.

With the witch dead, Dream returns to the kingdom with his brother and they work together to rule fairly. Although, Dream has a habit of sneaking out to go see his friends, which irritates Nightmare to no end, until he is eventually persuaded to by his men to join in as well of course!

[cheezeybread]

Recently, I've had one of those moments where my brain reminds me of something existing that I'm not sure many other people remember about, and that thing is American McGee's Alice [and, additionally, the sequel to that game, Madness Returns].

Two braincells collided here, because I've got mild Twisted Wonderland brainrot to go along with this reminder, and so inevitably my mind conjured up this: Riddle [or all of Heartslaybyul, if you're up for it. Individually, of course.] with a reader who is a lot like Alice, but instead of the expected Alice in Wonderland personality, they're the warped version we wind up with in American McGee's Alice.

For additional context, I've got some brief excerpts from the Wikipedias for both games:

"The game centers on the novels' protagonist Alice, whose family is killed in a house fire years before the story of the game takes place. After several years of treatment in a psychiatric clinic, the emotionally traumatized Alice makes a mental retreat to Wonderland, which has been disfigured by her injured psyche."

"Alice was discharged from a psychiatric clinic and now lives in an orphanage for mentally traumatized orphans under the care of Dr. Angus Bumby. To get rid of the trauma and learn the truth about her past, she once again falls into Wonderland, where a new evil force has corrupted it."

Bonus points if you feel like covering, touching on experiences near the beginning of the reader being present at NCR and potentially making an assumption of being ported off to some place like that Twisted version of Wonderland [haha] that they'd been in before, only to have to learn this is something very separate from that [the focus doesn't have to be on this obviously, especially not since there's not MUCH you can do with that, I don't think]

Yeah, hi, I was literally just about to go to bed when I saw this and thought "no, I'll do it in the morning" and then I COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT

I've never heard of this game before, but tbh, now I really want to play it! Sorry if it's messy, but I started thinking about Overblot Riddle, and then I just started typing away...

.....

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: After years of intensive treatment after a housefire, Reader is brought to Twisted Wonderland, and mistakes it for the Wonderland they've previously been trapped in mentally. Even after the realization of this different world, old scars still stay

𝙁𝙩: 𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙍𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚, 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙪𝙡 𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨!

Tw// Dark imagery, graphic depictions of death and fire, mentally unstable mc (just like me fr fr)

𝙏𝙒𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙒𝙊𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿 (𝙥𝙩. 1)

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

You couldn't seem to escape it.

The Twisted Wonderland of your own mind.

You thought you were starting to get better, after the first incident. Or, at least, as better as someone in your situation could get. You had escaped the torment that your brain had cooked up. You learned to deal with your emotional scars, alongside the physical scars lining bits and pieces of your skin.

But then, the black mirror seemed to call out to you in your dream. It held such alluring promises, and the dark glass, rippling like some sort of soft river current, seemed to invite you to look through it once more. Without thinking twice about it, you stepped through the mirror, and found yourself trapped in another world.

.....

The shapes of the cards haunted your mind.

Ace, Spades, Clovers, Diamonds...they circled your brain in a make-believe dance. Refusing to leave.

Meeting Heartslabyul was the trigger for it all.

The small, seemingly innocuous symbols marked on their faces made your blood freeze. Paint the roses. Happy Unbirthday.

"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

The words made your skin crawl, and the burns etched on your skin began to ache, to jolt your brain into remembering.

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

A happy little tea party, set in a field of bright green grass, unnaturally soft under your toes. The table set before you was piled with goodies, and a set of friendly faces sat around you, each carrying their own conversation. It was such a wonderful party.

But then the grass under your feet grew from a cooling sensation to a burning one. You stood up from your chair, and the motion sent you reeling back into reality.

Bright orange flames flickered around you, each one reaching out like the hand of a ghoul attempting to pull you down into the grave. You jumped out of your bed, crying in pain when your bare feet hit the carpet underfoot. Although it wasn't exactly carpet at that point; the plastic fibers in the fabric had melted and were boiling hot.

Despite the pain, and the terrifying feeling of the fire, you ran out of your room and out into the hallway, only to be met with the sight of your father laying on the ground mere feet away, face-down, one arm outstretched to the door of your room. His flesh had mostly melted away at that point, the charred bones in his skeleton peeking out from barely clinging-on skin. The only distinguishable feature was his silver wedding ring, now dulled to a flat gray.

Room by room you ran, despite the flames grabbing at your arms and legs, causing irreversible damage. Dead. Dead. Dead.

The Firemen who arrived on the scene first found you in the front yard, alone, passed out from smoke inhalation and pain.

You didn't wake up fully for several years after that.

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

"IT'S OFF WITH THE HEADS OF ANYONE WHO DEFIES ME!"

Not even a whole week into your stay in this world, you were met with the horrifying fact that "overblots" existed.

Unfortunately for you, the very first was akin to the Queen of Hearts herself.

"Riddle, please, stop!" Trey yelled out, his skin glistening with sweat from exerting his own power in an attempt to block Riddle's signature spell.

Either oblivious to his friend's cries, or simply not caring enough to respond, Riddle raised his arms up and dropped a fist in a slamming motion, causing one of the rosebushes to uproot itself and leap towards those trying to save the Heartslabyul leader.

You dropped to the ground, hands covering your ears as you shut your eyes tightly. At the first sight of Riddle, at his transformation, everything had ceased to be. Your progress in recovering, your calm demeanor towards this "Twisted Wonderland", your semi-friendly actions towards the students who sneered at you, and even your attempts at befriending the Heartslabyul members. It all came crashing down, and all you could feel was the ghost of of a fire encircling your body, and the quick flashed of those in your own twisted Wonderland coming back to haunt you.

You couldn't escape them, could you?

"Hey, HEY!" Someone put a hand on your shoulder, causing you to scream and jerk away. You opened your eyes in panic, which allowed you another glimpse of the Ruthless Tyrant, and only made you panic more, your chest heaving from gasped breaths.

The man who had touched you looked concerned- and rightfully so- at your wide eyes, paled skin, and wet eyes "Hey, stay with us, please," Ace begged "We need all the help we can get."

But you would be no help here.

You gave one final look to the Blotted Riddle...surprisingly, he looked back at you, his eyes narrowed with hatred and disgust.

They looked just like her eyes...

Everything went dark.

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

Riddle sat in a chair next to the mysterious student's bed, his gaze focused on a small piece of hair laying on the floor underfoot. He looked like shit, to say the least. He held bags under his eyes, and his skin was several shades paler than it normally was. He had just been released by the nurse a day ago, following the incident with his overblotting.

There was a slight shuffling sound, and Riddle looked up hopefully, expecting to see you awake and fine. But no such luck. It was only your shoulder twitching in your sleep.

Riddle would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in you from the beginning. The sheer amount of terror in your eyes as you stepped foot into the Heartslabyul's territory (as told to him from Ace) was something to behold. And, also according to Ace and Deuce, you had some....issues...with cards and a certain "Wonderland". And he felt like shit about it all. He had known, even from just a gut feeling, that there was something going on with you. He could tell that much just from looking at the deep, darkened burn scars that flashed underneath your sleeved, that showed whenever the leg of your pants raised up a little bit above your ankle.

And he had played into that terror. He had made you get worse, and you were still in the nurse's office, recovering from the "incident".

"I'm sorry," he said softly, reaching out a hand to pat your arm gently. An apology was all he could muster at the moment.

But, to be sure, he would make up for everything when you woke up.

If you woke up.

.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

The Problem With The Southern Raiders

Brynn_Sasha191 asked: And what do you have to say about TSR episode as a whole? And how ZK shippers constantly refer and think of it as 'the Zutara episode'.

***

The episode itself is alright. Katara and Zuko looked cool as hell in their ninja outfits, sneaking around and being menaces. The scene of Katara choosing to bloodbend (and her horror after) were shocking. The moral of the episode ("Unnecessary violence is never the answer, BUT that doesn't mean people who wronged you are entitled to your forgiveness") is pretty good. Zuko looked like he gained some genuine understanding for Katara's situation, as well as respect for her mom, when he was told about how Kya's death happened. Plus the Sukka bit, and Zuko's reaction to it, was one of the funniest moments in the show.

The only thing that REALLY bothers me about it how it is the ONE time the show tried to sweep Zuko's mistakes under the rug. Katara was not mad at him because she was wrongfully "projecting" her grief over her mom, and her anger at the killer, on poor, innocent Zuzu.

She was mad because this entitled prince that had threatened the people of her village, tried to use her mom's necklace to blackmail her and then threatened to burn it, had been chasing her group all around the world, endangering them several times, to kidnap her best friend managed to convince her for five minutes that maybe there was some humanity to him - and then immediately helped his sister essentially win the war for the Fire Nation, and killing Aang. Then after Katara saved him, the same goddamn prince sent an assassin after them.

It doesn't matter that he was never fully evil, that he had understandable reasons to do what he did, that truly changed sides, and that he doesn't intend to ever do something like that again. Katara does NOT have to forgive him, and she sure as hell does not owe him her friendship, and it's not cool how the episode keeps allowing Zuko to act all entitled, without ever calling him out for it - and worse, activelly saying KATARA is the one in the wrong.

Plus, it's kinda fucked up that it's never acknowledged how Zuko, the guy who was disfigured and banished for wanting the soldiers of the Fire Nation to be treated fairly and with any humanity, and saw harming them for daring to OBEY ORDERS as an absolute betrayal, was willing to kill one of these guys for the crime of... following the Fire Lord's orders - which Zuko had also been doing mere WEEKS before.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand Katara being out for blood and not giving a shit about "well, if he didn't obey, he'd be traitor" when what he did traumatized her for life and made her grow up without her mom, but Zuko just seemed a bit hypocritical, and like he was betraying his beliefs there. It just doesn't make sense in my head that he wouldn't be thinking "What that guy did was fucked up, but I nearly got all of my current allies killed just a month ago because they were still enemies and it'd make sure my dad would not disfigure/banish me again or even kill me, it'd not be right of me to act like I can judge this guy"

But this one doesn't bother me as much since the whole point of that episode was for Zuko to unlearn all the awful "lessons" his father taught him by fully normalizing violence to him - and considering the finale showed us he was feeling sorry for Azula (hell, he was already giving off Concerned Big Brother vibes on the opening scene of TSR)  and was willing to spare even Ozai, I think it's safe to say he will never make that kind of mistake again (the comics are not canon, I don't care what anyone says).

So yeah, it's a deeply flawed, but entertaining episode that MOSTLY works - but it's NOT the "zutara" episode, not just because there's no romance there, but also because, if anything, 99% of it just shows how these two have the potential to bring out the absolute worst in each other, and that, at least until he genuinely started bonding with her during their mission) Zuko had no problem with playing the victim whenever Katara dared to be mad at him for doing horrible things that hurt her, the people she cared about, and innocents in general.

Thank God they grew as people AND have other friends that can pull them out of destructive spirals.

[v1leblood]

I’m looking for someone who can crack Amy Dallon open for me, and lakesbian thought you might have ideas! Everything about her is so interesting: being a body manipulator who brands herself as a healer, being a kid with the weight of the world on her shoulders, being raised by a woman who resents her, falling in love with her sister because she’s never felt like she belonged to the family. But when I think about the mindrape and the fleshpuddle, I bounce right off. They’re so over-the-top evil actions that I can’t conceive of a theory of mind for a her. So…thoughts about Amy?

to start with thoughts: i like amy. i like her a lot even! probably top 5 characters in worm to me. i think she's probably one of the most homophobic characters ever written and i also think she's incredibly tragic and compelling

to begin with, the first bit of mind control was, for all intents and purposes, an accident. victoria hugs her, amy's overwhelmed, and in the heat of the moment essentially literalizes her desires by making victoria like her. she's instantly remorseful and offers to fix it, but victoria's horrified and runs away. there's a lot of discourse surrounding the degree to which it was or wasn't accidental, but to me, the fact that she Immediately regrets it and that the text describes it as a semi-conscious reaction puts it pretty thoroughly in the camp of 'didn't mean to do this'. imo, if you were to Remove powers from the situation, it would be the equivalent of amy going in for a kiss -- she's overwhelmed and her guard's down from how emotionally bruised and battered she is and she does something rash, only powers make everything worse and more extreme and it turns into that whole clusterfuck instead. so, like, is amy accidentally or mostly accidentally making victoria like her back okay? obviously not, but i do think its an understandable Mistake to make

with the second bout of mindcontrol, its obviously dicier. not accidental, to start with, but while fucked up and wrong, there Is a rationale. amy wants victoria to be okay. victoria might die or be permanently disfigured because of her injuries by crawler. victoria won't let amy heal her because of how disgusted and angry she is at amy. obviously its better that victoria's healed, so amy decides to do what's best for victoria against victoria's wishes. (worth noting that taking it upon yourself to Do What's Best for someone else against their express desire is exactly what victoria did when she hugged amy despite amy's warnings) so amy mind controls her again, harder this time, and convinces herself that she's going to fix victoria's body And Then turn off the love effect. it's fucked up, unjustifiable, and wrong, but i think you can See how amy comes to make that decision, through a combination of a genuine humanitarian argument (victoria needs to be healed or she might be disfigured forever) and self-delusion (i'll not only be able to do this in the state the city's in, but i'll fix victoria's mind when i'm done)

and then there's the time when she turns victoria into a car. years down the line metatextual information and ward confirm it to be an instance of literal, rather than metaphorical, rape on amy's part, but i don't think that was the intention in worm and it's not my preferred interpretation (i think it's an insane idea that wildbow, who with his own words said he wouldn't depict rape in worm more explicitly than what the implications of heartbreaker's power portray, would write it as rape and then spend an insane amount of screen time focusing on amy and her story after that point while continuing to portray her broadly sympathetically). whatever the case though, it's an instance of amy going through with a gross violation of victoria's mental and bodily autonomy. the facts of the in-universe power mechanics remain the same whichever the interpretation -- amy, frazzled and traumatized, couldn't fix victoria anymore, her power not making the correct adjustments to her form.

amy convinced herself that she would spend some time with victoria while she licked her wounds and then remove the mind control and let her go, but she couldn't even fix her back into her old shape. it is an evil act. it's fucked up. but it's not... out of nowhere, you know? it's a culmination of amy's obsession and self-delusion and the lingering mental health crisis that's been hovering over her all book finally coming to a head, making her fall down a rabbit hole of self-justification that says that it's alright that she does this and that because it means she can fix victoria only to end up being wholly unable to fix her At All, and in fact only making victoria Worse

so like. i think amy does fucked up things to varying degrees of culpability and "forgivability", but there's definitely Reasons for why she did them, even if they're fucked up or not very good

by the time we get to ward there's no qualia whatsoever though lol she's just an evil devilspawn

[astraea802]

Merlin "Rewatch" w/ Mom -- 5x10

("Rewatch" here meaning "Mostly first time watch, but with the knowledge of what happens.)

First of all: WHAT THE HECK WAS UP WITH THAT HORRIFIC FACE DISFIGUREMENT THING AT THE END?? I've never seen ANYONE discuss how messed up that is, and they SHOULD. I know this aired in the same time slot as Doctor Who, but Mom and I were NOT prepared.

Second of all: Uggghhhh

We're coming into the final three episodes.

Mom doesn't want to know what's coming, but knows it won't end well. She suspects Arthur's going to die (but we all know it's the execution that's the real kicker).

I will say, I was surprised Season 5 has actually had a lot of nice moments I never knew. It's a little moodier than I'd like, and Merlin as a character makes me sad, but there's still some nice comedy and character moments. Like Arthur saving that woman from being burned at the stake, that was so good! (Maybe it's easier for me to appreciate certain scenes knowing what's going to happen? I'm not as tense?)

(It also helps I sat out The Disir and The Dark Tower since I was walking the dog. I don't know I could have bore either without spoiling the finale out of pure frustration)

Mom's been just absorbing it all. She's had a lot of questions, like:

Mom: Why did Aithusa join Morgana? Me: We don't know. They never told us. 😒

Mom: (after The Dark Tower) How did Gwen turn evil? Me: Magic. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Mom: Oh, for gods sake! 🤦‍♀️

Mom: When do they find out about that bracelet Morgana gave Gwen to make her love Lancelot? Me: They don't. 😤 Mom: ...Are you kidding??

The deaths have been a little tougher this season, especially Elyan's. She liked the Dolma, but rolled her eyes a bit at Merlin trying to "act like a woman" instead of just getting on with curing Gwen. And she was NOT happy with Uther's ghost (who was??) or Gaius telling on Merlin and endangering Finna.

But god... watching Merlin's struggles, I just keep thinking, what was the point of it all?

There's so much back and forth the whole season, the whole series really, about destiny and duty and following your heart, and I just... what's the moral here? Follow destiny and get screwed? Follow your heart and still get screwed? It's good to know prophecies and Merlin just didn't know how to handle it? It's bad to know prophecies because you cause them to happen? If that was the case, why did Finna die to pass that last prophecy on? Also, you deserve to die, even when you haven't done anything wrong, because a prophecy says you will? You have choice? You never had one? Some will say the point is "the friends we made along the way", or there doesn't need to be a moral, but there's just no consistency, except whatever keeps the drama going.

It doesn't help that, except for the Camlann prophecy, we never actually hear any of the other prophecies everyone talks about. So we never know for sure if the problem was a misinterpretation of the prophecies in terms of what the Golden Age looked like, or if Merlin failed because of his choices, or if he was ALWAYS going to fail no matter what he did, or if he even failed at all! Because the dragon tells him he didn't in the end, but it doesn't make much sense.

Did the writers even know? They have admitted in interviews they were working nonstop on the show for five years, at grueling pace, so I forgive them for being fuzzy, but it seems like the show's moral code and prophecy lore really depended on who was writing the episode that week.

What I've always loved about Harry Potter is that while prophecies exist, the power of choice is emphasized. Prophecies can be, and often are, misinterpreted. Not every prophecy in the Department of Mysteries was ever fulfilled, so destiny is not the be-all end-all. It's made very clear that it's whether you act on prophecies or not that matters. The characters' beliefs and convictions still matter. It's consistent, it's clean, and it leaves the characters' agency.

In Merlin... you can interpret it a million different ways and still be wrong. And maybe part of the issue is that while Harry agrees to be the Chosen One since he already wanted Voldemort dead, Merlin's heart and destiny are so often divided. And that's what makes it so darn frustrating. And why I believe they gave Merlin too much of a burden for one person. No "almost" about it.

(We'll see if I revisit this after the finale)

[cripplecharacters]

How should you write/draw burn survivors? I know this isn't a drawing blog but I don't know of one that I could ask this question to.

Hello!

I'm not a burn survivor myself, so I'll mostly talk about facial differences/visible disability in general and link some stuff made by burn survivors.

First thing, I think it's important to remember that being a burn survivor changes a lot of things - not only appearance. Very important part is the psychological one, but I'm not a burn survivor so I will just let the resources linked below speak.

From the physical aspect, burns can also come with: chronic pain, limited range of motion due to scarring, tightened skin, problems with regulating temperature, itching, skin irritation, and even different nutritional needs during the initial healing process.

There is also specific everyday care associated with burns - something you basically never see in fiction. That could be things like occupational therapy, physical therapy, skincare (like heavy moisturizing and scar massaging), wearing sunblock, wearing splints, or stretching to prevent contractures or tightness.

There are also different types of burns and they (unsurprisingly) differ from each other - for example, electrical burns have a much higher rate of amputation than any other type. Chemical burns can cause eye issues. A burn caused by a fire in a closed space might result in a brain injury due to the lack of oxygen. A much larger portion of people than you (probably) assume have survived burn injuries as small children, and if they were young enough they might not even remember the event at all, unlike older people who might be very affected by the trauma.

Experiences of a person with 80% body surface burns, a person with quadruple amputations from an electrical burn, a person with a facial burn, and a person burnt very recently will be different from someone who has a 5% body surface 2nd degree burn in a spot that’s usually hidden, who has lived with their burn for a decade - despite them all being burn survivors.

When it comes to more thorough research, I recommend going through Phoenix Society’s and Face Equality International’s websites to learn more about both real burn survivor’s perspectives, and face equality as a social justice topic. I think the 3rd link (see below) puts it very well when talking about burn survivors being represented in fiction:

“Most likely, these characters were not created by someone with lived experience. The result is an increasingly garbled game of telephone [...] To avoid contributing to this false narrative, embrace research as part of the process. Explore interviews, first-person accounts, and articles from reliable sources.”

I personally think that the links below should be mandatory reading for writing not only burn survivors, not only people with facial differences, but visibly disabled people in general - because the treatment we get is often so similar the advice still holds up just fine. And if you don't plan on writing any of these, you should still read them to see how prevalent of a problem ableism in media is.

Lise Deguire's Hey Hollywood - scars don't make you evil.

Face Equality International's International Media Standard on Disfigurement.

Niki Averton's Tips for Writing about Burn Survivors.

The main sentiment that you will read from basically any first-hand source is that if you're writing the burn survivor to be either:

evil (just throw the whole character away. please.)

a guy with the "World's Saddest Most Tragic Backstory Ever and It's So Sad and Tragic" (because he revealed he has a scar.)

a helpless victim who is there to be The Helpless Victim

...then you're already doing it wrong and need to make some major changes.

From our blog's reblogs and posts, you might want to look at tips for writing a visibly different/disabled character and tips on drawing people with facial differences. Neither are specific to burn survivors but cover the topic of visible disability and facial differences.

Now for tips on drawing burn survivors (that weren't included in the last link);

Reference real people. 99.9% drawings of burn survivors seem to go through the same "increasingly garbled game of telephone" that Niki Averton mentions with how burn survivors are written, in that the newer the drawing, the less in common it has with how real people with burns look like because people reference from each other and none of them ever think to actually check if their depiction is accurate. If you just google "burn survivor" you will very quickly notice that burn survivors don't have that damn red overlay layer put on top of their skin. It just doesn't look like that, and basic research (aka Google Images search) will tell you that - and still, people color a hand with bright red and think that's how it looks like (it doesn't).

In the same vein, maybe don't just draw an able-bodied person and then put some scarring on top (or maybe do exactly that. No burn scar and no burn survivor is the same, and there are people that fit what I just described... but hear me out for a second). Think about how scars interact with their features - do they have both of their ears? Do they still have all of their hair? Do they only have parts of their eyebrow? Do they have all of their fingers? Can they move the same as before their burn, or are their scars limiting their joints? How did their body react to the post-burn hypermetabolism? Lots to think about. Take into account what type and thickness of burns your character has.

Ditch the mask trope. Just ditch it. There's no need to cover your character's scar from the world unless you as the author think it requires to be hidden, is too scary to show, or other ableist trope that seems to always come up with drawings of visibly disabled people, especially burn survivors. The one exception I will mention is a transparent face orthosis/mask (TFO) that facial burn survivors might wear while awaiting a skin graft early after their injury. But as the name suggests, it's transparent and doesn't work for the awful "ohh scary facial difference better cover it up and only reveal it in some hyper dramatic scene!!" trope because you can see right through it. (I will also mention that TFOs are a very modern thing. Your medieval burn survivor wouldn't be wearing one.)

No "body horror", no "gore" tags or trigger warnings or whatever. That's a human being. If you feel the need to warn your followers before they see a disabled person existing, you're better off not drawing them.

Some last notes;

Throughout this ask I used the term "burn survivor" rather than "burn victim" because that is, to my knowledge, the general community preferred phrase. Individual opinions will differ (because no group is a monolith) but "burn survivor" is generally the safest term to use and probably the best if talking about a fictional character.

Similarly, I used "facial difference" rather than "disfigurement". Just as the above, opinions will differ on what is the best to use but I personally, as someone with facial asymmetry and a cranial nerve disorder, heavily prefer the term "facial difference" over "disfigurement". (I am in this case The Individual Opinion Differing because you can notice that in the links above, facial difference and disfigurement are used interchangeably. The general community uses both, some people have specific preferences. I'm some people.) When talking about a fictional character, "facial difference", "visible difference" and "disfigurement" are all probably fine. Just stay away from calling a person "deformed".

mod Sasza

[fenicenera83]

What, to you, is the most under appreciated Marius scene? I wanna hear from someone who shows so much real love for him

Thank you for this ask is so beautiful and interesting! Sorry it take me a long time to answer! But here we are.

- I think there are several scenes that are used against Marius, and actually they are often misinterpreted more because as Oscar Wilde said, "Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault." and I think this is one of the aspects that we have to consider, especially towards the real Marius, canon Marius, the one created by Anne Rice. Many interpretations can be made, and a character can seem so close to us or so far from us, but we should never make the mistake of superimposing him on ourselves. The character of Marius has taught me so much sometimes even to see those sides of my person that I do not accept. I can admit that I would like to be like him, but I am not, and I would never allow myself to superimpose my story or my feelings on his. As much as I love him as much as I feel close to him, I don't have the same feelings as him toward other characters in the chronicles, but I don't allow myself to disfigure or deny them because I personally don't like them.

Marius does not come from me or my story or my feelings, but from Anne Rice's, and like all of her characters, they have a life and a story and feelings, that she has given them and that belong to each of them. And without them their story or what the author wants to tell or teach, fades away and no longer makes sense. Having said that, to clarify that I am not calling anyone unintelligent or perverted or whatever! May I ask for forgiveness because I would like to talk about two scenes and not one. The first is from TVA and is the scene where Marius shows Amadeo what it is like to be a vampire and what the dark gift entails, the dinner with the Florentines. There is talk of cruelty and wickedness when there is neither. It is a scene of teaching not cruelty. Leaving out the reason why Marius is there , namely, to protect Bianca, everything revolves around life even though it is a death scene. The reality of canon Marius is that there is hardly anyone else who has maintained as a vampire such high moral values as his. And this is also attested in Prince Lestat where it is clearly stated that Marius has always lived by the rule of doing as little harm as possible. Marius's is not a lesson in cruelty or suffering, it is actually a teaching to respect life in death.

Marius and Amadeo are there because these people are evil people, acting for evil and for personal gain, who have no problem killing or torturing, destroying other people's lives, often after using them to their own advantage. Amadeo suffers the charm, but shows no sign of fear as Marius proceeds to drink the blood of every person present. "It is a penance to kill, Amadeo, that is the obstacle. It is a penance to kill for nothing,nothing, not honor or valor or decency." It is against everything that Marius has always felt could somehow justify death or killing another living being, this killing of the dark gift, Marius, as an ancient Roman sees valor or honor as a reason to kill. It is a penance to kill, Marius says, because in fact it is, he who did not want to be an immortal, he who was torn from his mortal life and had to accept that he had become a vampire, a killer, who must kill to live. And in spite of that, he found in killing evil men a way to survive that pain, and in spite of that he considers it a penance because it is always depriving a human being of his own life. And that is already a lesson, but there is an even greater one. At the moment when Marius kills Martino, Amadeo rebels, gets angry, cries, accuses Marius " You wanted me to hate the thing, to cry for them..." and Marius responds to him:

"Weep at least for one of them...Is it too much to ask that one death be regretted among many? For a nameless beggar sleeping on a makeshift boat we have no tears do we? And we do not weep for any of them except for Martino, the most wicked and because he flatters us do we not?" And if this is not a lesson, well .... Yes it is true, there is anger in Marius, yes it is true I can grant that there is even a little jealousy, but the fact remains that he is very clear about how Amadeo's behavior is wrong. Every life is important and every life deserves to be plant, it matters little whether you are a poor beggar or a banker, death comes, and in it there is no difference.

Amadeo cry Martino but because he flattered him, because he spoke of his beauty, of his desire for him, and that was enough to make Amadeo weak, to consider letting go of the reason why that man had to die, not only for Bianca, but because he was evil, and his evilness was the destruction of so many other lives. And that in itself is a lesson, for an immortal, and in addition Marius adds how it is a pain, a penance to deprive the world of a life, even if it is evil, and to take on a death in order to continue living. And beyond that, how it is wrong to give in to flattery, how it is wrong to have tears only for those who have flattered us and not for those who are simply poor like the beggar. Life is precious whether it is a poor man's life or a rich man's life and to be the reason why that life ceases is cause for sorrow. And Amadeo after that moment of anger understands Marius, understands his lesson: "I saw you drinking from those who were wicked,condemned in your hearts for an abominable crime. I have seen you feast as is your nature, I have seen you sip the blood with which you must live...I see this is what you intended to show me and you have succeeded." Amadeo is not afraid, not shocked, not traumatized, not terrified, no none of this.

Amadeo saw and understood, reasoned and absorbed Marius' lesson, and came to the conclusion and to understand what Marius was showing him. Amadeo does not see cruelty or wickedness he sees the choice of a creature, who could indiscriminately feed on whatever he wants, but who chooses to feed on the wicked, and not only that, he mourns that death at the same time. It is a lesson, there is no cruelty or mistreatment, rather, there is a profound teaching which is to respect life, even the lives of the wicked, even the lives of those who do evil. And as Armand himself will admit in TVA, about how Marius was always a Master and a source of love and inspiration, he will say that he was not a Marius to Daniel. I would also like to briefly add a little reference to the scene in the Queen of the Damned, where Marius exposes himself and tries to talk and reason with Akasha. As those who, like me, have read Blood and Gold know, Thorne clearly talks about seeing the scene while he was trapped in the ice, and explains how he sensed the burning hatred Marius felt for Akasha at that moment. I not only want to highlight this scene to emphasize how Marius has always been extremely brave, because some people have the nerve to call him a coward, but mostly to emphasize his strength both in thought and the strength of his love.

Marius comes forward to talk to Akasha, not because he is her follower, not because he is her devotee, but to protect the other vampires, all the vampires he loves. And this is actually what he has always done, protecting the parents, he has allowed all the other vampires to live freely and peacefully their immortality.His chains have been the wings of all the other vampires. He does not want to reason with Akasha because he loves her or because he recognizes her as a deity; he wants to try to reason with her because he wants to protect those he loves. And he swallows his pride, he swallows his anger, his sacrifice, his pain, and he chooses each and every word carefully and carefully, because he knows that they are all in danger. And he knows that he cannot protect them if it comes to a confrontation. His weapon is reason, his mind clear and rational, his words full of feeling and care, he is sacrificing every bit of himself to be able to somehow put an end to that madness. And I would also add his sacrifice in Blood communion because even there it is Marius who in order to protect the younger ones, though there were more powerful and older vampires, it is Marius who exposes himself, it is Marius who goes and tries to protect everybody. That's what Marius is-a Master, a Protector, a bulwark of willpower, love and dedication. Marius is an outstanding character.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s1 episode 22 thoughts

i watched this episode in its intended setting: high on painkillers post surgery and holding an ice pack to my aching jaw. i think dana scully would be proud.

the first thing i thought was man, our duo has to deal with ANOTHER child. someone give them a raise.

the kid allegedly threw a cop out the window and killed him, to which scully says "you don't really think the kid had anything to do with it, do you?" which i think is a feasible conclusion to be drawn based on physical strength, but we also must remember that mere weeks? months? ago, 2 evil children tried to poison them so. never let ur guard down, agents.

mulder is trying to get a visual on the guy the little girl claims she saw and gives the guy a funny mustache to get her to laugh. to this i wrote "ohhhh fuck me" (stated as an expression of empathy, not literally. for now.)

he just wanted to make her smile and she did. and then she physically changed the screen to show the mystery man's actual mustache but come on. that was on the back of my mind here. mulder just wanted to make the little girl laugh.

(getting flashbacks to him letting the previous little girl hand the cashier the money for their soda. he is once again shifting into Protective Mode, this time trying to make a little kid caught in a tragedy feel normal. is it his psychological training or the innate big brother instincts? i will be analyzing this. he is the big brother in his family, right? that explains a lot)

scully was asking the girl's mom questions and the mom was like "she's scary and has no friends and we can't get her to go near water" but i was actually just admiring how beautiful scully was in this scene. sorry about ur daughter ma'am but have you seen the agent you're talking to? highly distracting

then mulder goes to leave but scully says "wait we have an autopsy at 7 :(" and i think this is sosososo funny because the last time "they" did an autopsy (scully doing the work, mulder trying not to gag) he looked like he was going to pass tf out. so him having a very convenient excuse to dip and visit the girl's psychologist must have felt amazing.

(but how sweet was it that she still wanted him there?)

((he tells her to look for electrocution from psychokinesis, though))

mulder asks the girl's psychologist, in all seriousness, if she's witnessed the little girl do any sort of psychic behavior and he has SUCH a straight face. she gets annoyed and leaves. mulder, the world isn't ready for your level of honesty, but i am and i appreciate it.

scully was then all scrubbed up, back in her autopsy era, talking to a recording machine and one of the cops burst in and asks "can i talk to you for a second?" scully is thrown off and says "i just started the autopsy" but the cop says "i don't think he's going anywhere" lmaoooo. i mean sure. guess that's true!

they think the guy the girl saw was another cop who died 9 years ago in a gang related bust... AND GET THIS! the little girl disfigures her dolls in the same way the dude died. fucked up tbh. weird seeing mulder with a doll on his desk but that's part of the job for a man like him.

new awful way to die just dropped: having ur scarf caught in the door of a moving bus. while a child stares at you. again, fucked up.

it seems that all the people who are dying were related to this drug bust a while ago... much to ponder...

they make a visit to the last living cop from the case's house and mulder stares at his fish tank for a while which i thought was lovely. i bet he does love tropical fish. this became relevant to the case later due to what tv writers refer to as "foreshadowing" but in the moment i really enjoyed his dedication to watching them swim about.

mulder immediately decides this girl is the cop that died 9 years ago reincarnated (which he seems to thinks occurs when a child is conceived the same time someone dies which. well. need to unpack that worldview at a later date)

"it's not so farfetched scully, reincarnation is a basic tenant of many religions!" <- said by a man who is a Nerd

(i say this lovingly as i also study belief systems. i'm expressing solidarity here. nerds need to have that in this world)

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!!!!! scully's all, even if we DO get this child to go back into her past life with hypnosis, will the court take that as evidence? gagged him a little there tbh

(mulder's relationship to hypnosis is also fascinating. he seems to think that since it helped him find his missing memories with his sister, of course this little girl can go back into her past life using the same stuff! he doesn't seem very concerned about her screaming for her life, though, again complicating my view on if mulder is actually good with kids. because i would be like aww damn, she's screaming that she's dying, is that normal? he was just tuned in. it seems he is good at interacting with them, but unclear on if there's a level of real concern there or just a need to get to the bottom of the class. i will move forward in gathering evidence to support finding the Truth)

one of my favorite parts of this show is when scully recites some medical lore. like yeah he was drowned in sea water because of the stuff in his lungs or whatever. sooo cool babe how u just know that <3

turns out the cop that died 9 years ago was drowned in this other guy's fish tank!!! awful way to go. no need to get the fish involved.

the girl breaks into the only surviving cop from the incident's house and leaves threatening origami and starts blowing stuff up with her mind which is a standard evening around these parts

to get in the house mulder elbows through a window which OUCH! had to hurt. he then tries to talk some sense into a little girl who is about to kill her past life's murderer. she's 3 kills deep already idk what he thinks he's gonna do here.

BUT! she doesn't kill the guy! she just blows up his fish tank instead which was honestly sadder. rip those fish. and she walks away and then turns into a normal child and even starts swimming lessons!

mulder wraps up the case for the episode and it fades to black with a very confused expression on his face. i wrote "he's pondering at their splashing about".

a good episode! i like that scully got to see all the paranormal happenings going on, which usually she manages to miss. mulder is a believer in reincarnation, at least in some cases, so that information we can add to his psychological profile. need to know which course they took at the academy that was "dealing with very creepy children in stressful situations" because maybe we could all apply that into our life.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

TBH, I don't consider reducing/hiding scars a minor pet peeve at all. Activists for facial differences have been talking for years about 'disfigurement' being used as shorthand for moral failings. I could blame wanting to lighten the burden on makeup artists, but there's never any hesitation to make villains scarred. It's only if the character is meant to be sexy or heroic that their scars get toned down or removed.

DEFINITELY!

I think there are many aspects to this, the biggest one being the one you mentioned, this dynamic of villain = scarred, hero = not scarred.

And another thing that I hate about it is how especially in adaptions they take a facial difference and make it much smaller, less visible, move it etc. - and then try to pull off the same narrative about this character being perceived as not conventionally attractive. Which immediately becomes incredibly condescending and makes it even worse, especially when they choose a conventionally good-looking character to play that role.

An example:

He is supposed to look "monstrous" - like bro, what does that make the rest of us?

(And just to make the dehumanisation of people with facial differences more obvious: In the source material, this guy had half-lion features)

Another aspect I can think of is the fetishisation of self-hatred in this regard. It is portrayed as "good" when a character with a facial difference (especially a woman, in these tropes) puts herself down - but then in swoops a love-interest to tell how beautiful they are. Meanwhile, a character with a facial difference or something similiar who - for themselves - says: "Hey, actually I like the way I look" - is treated as arrogant and the butt-end of the joke. (There is this Colleen Hoover book I'm thinking of here, as one example, that in my defence I only watched a pretty scathing review of)

But I also think that there are some racial aspects and gender aspects to this. There are probably a lot of people more qualified to talk about these racial aspects of this and maybe I am imagining things or don't see the full scope of it but I definitely feel like they feel far more comfortable doing this "villains have scars" thing with characters of colour - at least relative to the amount of representation characters of colour get to begin with. And it feels like...well, again, I'm not the best person to put this into words but since it usually goes hand in hand with the villain-trope, it feels like an effort to dial up the othering, especially in older shows and movies that use stuff like rituals or something for shock value. To make other races or cultures look sCaRy and DifFeReNt.

Or - just the first example that comes to my mind: The original mirror-verse episode of Star Trek. The reason I'm mentioning this is because it is a piece of media where you can see side-by-side which visual cues writers settled on to make our characters look "evil": One is dialling up the sexy - especially with the women who are all much more horny - another is giving mirror!Sulu a big facial scar. And on the surface level, the reasoning even makes sense - that world is a lot more brutal so it makes sense that someone would have scars. But for one, there is the interesting choice to make Sulu the character to give it to. Not to mention: Our "normal"-verse characters also see fights and injuries. They could have scars very reasonably. Star Trek is all about inclusivity - but there is a notable absence of e.g. scarring of visible body differences in the original show - they even used body doubles and selective shots to hide James Doohan's missing finger. But the moment we go into an "evil" universe, there is facial difference and it is on the body of a man of colour.

And then you have the issue that female characters must not have visible scars in most cases - because they have to be eye-candy for the audience. And considering the huge pressure that is already placed on women to be beautiful, it feels like another body standard in the media ("we will show women suffering in all shapes all the time to the point of being exploitative, but also they heal back perfectly and don't appear changed at all. So the audience gets to eat their misogyny cake and eat it too.) Meanwhile, some male hero characters (usually action heroes, video game heroes) do get to have scars or some facial difference to show their "journey" and how much they hardened and what they survived - which I think can be a positive message - "hey, your scars talk about what you went through and what you survived and that you're a badass!" - but women get this to a much smaller degree despite having extra tons of pressure placed upon them to look beautiful so it feels really cool (also - referring back to my first point, self-empowerment is also treated as negative and almost egomanical because informing a woman that she is beautiful is a man's job)

(An example: I watched a a Netflix adaption of a book I had read recently and in the book, two major female characters have an identical scar on their face and that is pretty relevant to the story - and they just decide to place in the palms of her hands instead where it is much less visible and the scenario behind the first woman's injury becomes a lot less believable than the one in the novel)

And the thing is, I don't even always buy that it to save on make-up or effects in a lot of cases because often they are productions that have tons of budget for other things and a lot of movies and shows can show their characters for half the episode/movie with scrapes on their face and blood on their face etc. I have a hard time believing that this is so much harder to do than a scar.

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Omega

Synopsis

A strange telepathic message prompts the Doctor to travel to the Sector of Forgotten Souls, a place where, thousands of years ago, Omega's ship vanished whilst detonating a star.

He's not the only one journeying towards it. Jolly Chronolidays prides itself on giving its tourists an experience of galactic history that is far better than mere time travel.

Its motto is, "We don't go into history, we prefer to bring history to you".

When Omega's ship suddenly materialises in front of their shuttle, and one of their employees goes insane and tries to destroy his hands...

...suddenly it's not just a motto any more.

And Omega — and his madness — is closer than they think.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Master

Synopsis

Many years ago, on a dark and stormy night, the disfigured and enigmatic Doctor John Smith invited his closest friends, Inspector Victor Schaeffer and his wife, to a dinner to celebrate his birthday. A mere few hours later all the occupants in that house had been changed — some were dead, others mentally scarred forever by the events of that night.

So, what happened to the distinguished dinner guests on that evening? Perhaps we'll never know. But two clues have led to much speculation — found outside the study window, a charred umbrella with a curved red handle and found inside the house, a blood-stained copy of Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

For one person, this night represented an ending: an ending to one thousand years of darkness and an ending to ten years of light.

But for everyone else, is there no ending of this one night of Hell?

Propaganda

Iconic. Everyone knows this whether they’ve heard it or not. The audio that launched a thousand fanfics. (anonymous)

Zagreus

Synopsis

Zagreus sits inside your head

Zagreus lives among the dead

Zagreus sees you in your bed

And eats you when you're sleeping.

Propaganda

ok so, its the 40th annivercery!! its not offical as the show was off the air at the time, but still!!!! every single companion and doctor actor Big Finish managed to get they got!! but do they play their parts? ...actually not really! here we have the end of an arc that two seasons coming, Charley and 8 has been through a lot, and at this point their story comes to a starteling and rather horrid conclusion! (OR IS IT?) Charley, who has been rescued from death by the eight doctor, rescuing her when he was not supposed to, has been through a lot, and even as that got solved last episode, by saving her from becoming a portal of death to galifray (a long and better constracted story XD), the doctor and the tardis has sufferd a huge explosen of an anti time bomb! making the doctor to become infected with an anti time infection! making him concive himself as the childhood time lord rhyme known as Zagreus! so now he must distory the entire univerce hahaha, because apperently Rassilon, ie one of the og creatorss of galifray socity wants to make the doctor into Zagrues so he can use him to distroy his emenies!! by distroying him body and soul!!! but what's this??? his former selfes as random people around the time stream coming in with the steal chair????? all led by a very rightfully annoyed Charley because the doctor refused to kill her as she asked because she loves him???? what the fuck will happen next!! all led delightfuly by Romana and Leela, and K9, and a rather jealous and EVIL tardis played by the Brigadier himself!! in between this 3 HOUR LONG epic and delightful advanture, apart from the absolote chaos of the event, you will get a suprisingly beutifull speaches filled with exploration of the meaning of love, of friendship! of a love so strong that it shall forfit between dimantions and also canon, the doctor explores what it actually means to be in love with a companion! and Charley, explores what it means to love him even more strongly back! what it means to be the doctor!! and the fact that the distruction of the tardis is actuall the thing stopping him from completely losing himself to loss and grief 😭, the absolote hammering in of the fact the coraption of time lord scoaity and Rasilon's bigotry, and finally someone understands that if you corrupt the Doctor, you have the absolotle potancial to distroy the entire univerce!! Paul Mcgann screaming for amazing hours, as he has the best time playing the baddy and people who are not the doctor!! India Fisher as Charley giving it her all and being amazing at it!! (also the fact that this delightful story is the leadthrough to one of the most terrefying stories of doccy who history, Scherzo! as it explores the themes of this story in a much more detailed way! but that's a horrefying story for another day XD) (@geronimomo-spd )

The 30th anniversary special is overly long and complicated but mostly it is INSANE ! Alice in Wonderlands, giant animatronic rabbits, Vampires and an evil doctor who hAMS it up,,,,that and 4 different doctors as well as TONS of companions plus the Briggs who is actually the TARDIS. it makes no sense! Compels me tho. Everyone says it with me : Zagreus sits inside your head Zagreus lives among the dead Zagreus Sees you in your bed And eats you when you're sleeping It's the best anniversary special day of the doctor whomst ? (@gnougnouss )

Scherzo

Synopsis

Once upon a time...

There were two friends, and together they travelled the cosmos. They thwarted tyrants and defeated monsters, they righted wrongs wherever they went. They explored the distant future and the distant past, new worlds and galaxies, places beyond imagining.

But every good story has to come to an end.

With no times or places left to explore, all the two friends have now are each other. But maybe that's one voyage too many. Maybe they'll discover things they'd rather have left undisturbed... hidden away in the suffocating, unfeeling, deafening brightness.

Once upon a time. Far, far away.

Propaganda

It’s a great and fucked up dissection of the Doctor and Charley’s relationship, with a healthy dose of body horror (anonymous)

you will never look at the handshake emoji the same way again (october)

Really creative concept. Puts 8 and Charley into a situation where they have to confront their relationship and what they mean to each other while dealing with an incredibly engaging creature. I can't name an audio that suits the medium better and Ive been consuming Big Finish at an alarming rate. Also noises™️ (anonymous)

Absolutely INSANE episode back when big finish was allowed to get WEIRD weird it has everything: heartfelt discussion about the doctor/companion relationship, love, cannibalism, body horror, the exploration of a very alien world. All of this while making full use of the audio medium in a story that could simply never have been done anywhere else. It's a must listen for everyone. (@gnougnouss )

The Natural History of Fear

Synopsis

IT IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE TO COPY OR ATTEMPT TO COPY ANY PERSONALITY OR MEMORY-RELATED ARTICLE SHOWN OR DISPLAYED IN THIS PUBLIC THEATRE, INCLUDING THIS WARNING. PUNISHMENT OR CONVICTION IS AN UNLIMITED REDUCTION OF AUTHORISED OVERTIME HOURS AND TOTAL PERSONALITY REVISION. YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BRING ANY JUKEBOX OR RECORDING EQUIPMENT INTO THIS PUBLIC THEATRE. THIS WILL BE TREATED AS AN ATTEMPT TO BREACH COPYRIGHT. ANY PERSON DOING SO CAN BE EJECTED AND THE EDITOR MAY CONFISCATE SUCH ARTICLES. WE ASK THE PUBLIC TO BE VIGILANT AGAINST ANY SUCH ACTIVITY AND REPORT ANY MATTERS AROUSING SUSPICION TO THEIR LOCAL CONSCIENCE. THANK YOU.

Public Warning

Faction Against Character Theft

Propaganda

Paul McGann eats a rat .MP3 (anonymous)

[seeminglyseph]

listening to a podcast discuss The Orphanage and it keeps bringing up like. "It's sad enough that they're dead orphans, why are they also disabled??"

And I keep feeling like. I get. technically. that the film being a weird tragic horror film where like everyone dies basically and there's a bunch of like. dead disabled orphan children. which is really like both sad and off-putting in multiple ways in the film like. it prompts the question of 'why?'

but like. part of the point is like 'who are the most vulnerable people in society?' as well as 'who is most frequently villainized in horror movies?' because like. initially in the movie it impression of the disfigured and disabled ghost children is 'these ghosts are evil' because on top of being ghosts, one of them wears a mask to hide a disfigurement. And then the rest of them were murdered because they were very vulnerable and left in the care of someone who actively hated them and wanted to do them harm, and could because of how little disabled orphans like. matter? that sounds callous but like. it's not my perspective I very much mean it in the like. "Less Dead" kind of way. Like how much investigation and stuff gets prioritized. At some point people start feeling like 'they didn't have *that much* of a future anyway, so it's not like the murder is *that much* of a tragedy' and ultimately if you don't have a family to fight on your behalf then like... sucks to suck.

Something that's really terrifying about being disabled is like. if you don't have a community or no one really knows or likes you? like. you're kind of fucked. it's kinda been exemplified by the GoFundMe Healthcare Situation, but like. if you're not popular enough, if you don't have a family to advocate for you or support you, if you don't have people to give you advice, sometimes you just don't get help and you don't get acceptance and you don't get treatment and you don't get safety. But being disabled can also be extremely isolating because people really quickly lose patience for your limitations and for the idea of making accommodations.

I'm not gonna pretend it's always easy to be friends with someone, disabilities are as varied as the days are long and I can only speak from my perspective and I have more comorbidities than I technically even know currently. It makes things difficult for me, let alone people trying to work around me, and not everyone is willing to do that. Some of them suck eggs and some of them just have their own lives they have to prioritize. It's complicated, but it does leave me (and I will assume many other people in similar situations) in a complicated situation where our support network is very small but our need for support is very large.

And many people, through ignorance rather than malice, assume that there are already systems in place that care for people. The argument against larger social care networks aren't necessarily that they think people like me shouldn't have our needs met, they just have always assumed that these systems already exist. They think their taxes already pay for it and everyone is already being cared for and expanding the system is about a desire for overindulgence because they simply do not know what the reality is. They have been taught that if you work hard enough you can stay healthy, and if something happens you will be taken care of because there is some sort of social safety net that will catch you, and only the very few fall through because they failed in some way. That's why advocacy is so important, it's important to know that many disabilities can affect *anyone* at *any time* and the holes in the safety net are much larger than people have been led to believe, and are much easier to fall through. You can do *everything right* and still fall through. Your body can destroy you no matter how "healthy" you are. You can follow every piece of advice your doctor gives you, and be failed because you 'looked too healthy' to get sent in for scans on time. Sometimes working too hard will literally destroy your whole future and there's no one there to help when that happens. But it's important not to treat ignorance like malice because people will shut their ears to hard truth delivered with anger. So sometimes a message has to be tailored to an audience.

This has gotten away from me a bit.. but like. I think what I mean to say is like. sometimes I feel very frustrated. and this is my blog so often this is a place of venting and anger and ranting and stuff. But I do understand like. a majority of people are speaking out of ignorance rather than malice, and have their own troubles they feel overwhelmed by. I often try to tailor conversations personally to where people are at, rather than where I'm at because like. I can't expect everyone to prioritize my problems over theirs, especially if I don't even bother to learn what theirs are. And that's been a problem with some of modern political debate as far as I've seen it, a lot of 'your problems don't matter as much as mine' and everyone immediately gets angry if they're told that. like. universally. No one wants to be told their problems don't matter...

anyway. idk. the point of The Orphanage is that disabled kids without people to protect them are especially vulnerable and often the people who are supposed to protect them fail, and the people who need the most support have the least. And people assume those supports are in place and normal and far more sufficient than they are, and will lash out when that failure is pointed out to them. It's a difficult dance and exhausting, and so many people are lost to it because they don't do it well enough or fit in or fake the dance to a sufficient degree. and it's important to try and become aware of that with grace.