#expected in a movie adaptation but also I'd like to see a version where everything matches up w the book

[bittersweetstargazer]

ppl who've seen howl's moving castle and not read the book would be stunned to know that

A. The real world exists in that universe and Howl is from Wales- his real name is Howell Jenkins

B. Sophie is a witch; she speaks life into things like hats, sticks, scarecrows, etc.

C. The scarecrow wasn't just some prince who got cursed and left on the side of the road, he's a prince who was taken apart by the Witch, who used pieces of his body to create the perfect man. He's wondering around looking for the missing pieces of his body

D. Howl has a human skull in his castle that belonged to the prince. When the scarecrow puts it on it can speak

E. In the book, it doesn't show howl & Sophie's relationship change like in the movie. They hold hands at the end of the book while ignoring everyone talking to them

F. Markl's name is Michael, and he's dating Sophie's youngest sister Martha, who runs the bakery that Lettie ran in the movie

G. Sophie has two younger sisters, Martha & Lettie, who switched places because Martha wanted to work at a bakery and Lettie wanted to learn magic, so they used a spell to disguise themselves

H. Howl courted Lettie for a period of time

I. Howl has a sister, Megan, who doesn't think too highly of him

J. Howl went to college

K. The black section leads to the real world, not the war scene you saw in the movie. There's no color for that in the book

L. There are more than 4 colors on the door selection

M. Heen is supposed to be a human cursed to be a dog, and he doesn't work for madame suliman

N. The person who taught howl was actually Mrs. Pentstemmon, who is killed by the Witch of the Waste

O. Madame suliman isn't a character in the book. She (might) be based off of wizard suliman, also named Ben sullivan (who is from wales), who went off to go kill the Witch and ended getting killed himself, and whose body parts were also used by the witch to make the perfect man

P. The witch of the waste was killed very quickly. Her demon, a woman from the human world named Mrs. Angorian, set out to find Howl and kill him.

Q. In the book, Howl spends a very long time in the bathroom preparing himself to go out and get another girl to fall in love him with him :/

R. Howl gets a cold and he basically convinces Michael that he's gonna die and gets him to do everything for him

S. Sophie's not allowed to mess with the spiders :/

T. Sophie doesn't get Calcifer to like her by telling him she likes his spark. She just bullies him into listening to her.

U. Sophie and Calcifer still have the deal, but Calcifer is trying to give her hints throughout the story so she can figure out what's up w Howl & Calcifer

V. Howl gets drunk. Very drunk. He says he is "cone sold stober" when he is, in fact not

W. Sophie gets mad at him and cuts up one of his suits.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I see you talking about ouat and it unlocked thoughts that have been neatly filed away for years so here I am, yelling them at you.

I assume at this point spoilers arent a problem anymore for you but you said you originally didn't watch past the frozen but a warning just in case.

I kept watching for quite a long time, but I quit after the whole thing with ruby and Dorothy because what? it just felt so incredibly forced and badly written? and I'd gotten so annoyed because before we'd already had the whole thing with aurora and mulan, which I was rooting for but okay, that didn't work out, too bad for mulan. then we get a perfect set up for ruby and mulan. and it's just. never mentioned again???? ruby comes back eventually but wtf happened to mulan? it annoyed me so fucking much let me tell you.

also I remember trying to write out family/relationship trees and stuff for ouat to see how weirdly convoluted everything got. was very impressed that it seemed they managed to avoid accidentally having incest or something in the show with everything that was going on there.

I have so many more things but this has already gotten way longer than intended. do you have a favourite part of the show? I'm assuming your favourite characters is either regina or emma?

Oh man all of that brings back memories. I didn't stick around long enough for Ruby and Dorothy, but I got the sense that they were doing it to try and counteract the "avoiding Swan Queen because homophobia" allegations.

(I actually don't think they WERE avoiding Swan Queen because of homophobia, necessarily. I think it was never their intent to begin with; they just happened to attract a sapphic audience who were deeply on the Enemies to Lovers train. I do think they may have indulged in a bit of queerbaiting, though, because of some Emma/Regina moments that happened after the writers definitely knew the ship existed. I think it was never going to be canon, but they handled it poorly once they realized that people saw it as an option.)

I stopped watching around Frozen for a couple of reasons:

On a personal level, I just got sick of seeing the characters I shipped with other people. That's not an objective problem; it's my opinion and not everyone will agree. But to me, Hook was a whiny insecure manchild and Robin had the personality of Clippy the MS Word paperclip, and damnit, I wanted Emma and Regina to kiss each other instead of them!

On a This Is Bad Storytelling level, I HATED how Frozen was integrated. Earlier stories had been a nice blend of traditional fairytales with Disney adaptation elements- Beauty and the Beast where Gaston and Chip are both kind of there but in subtler ways, for example, or Cinderella where her dress resembles the 1950s animated version but everything else is different. Frozen, though, was just...Frozen. The entire plot of the movie Frozen had happened before the characters entered the OUAT storyline, their costumes were identical to those in the movie, and while I've heard that they added some different backstory- it just wasn't the "Hans Christian Andersen story with subtle Disney touches" that I would have expected from earlier seasons.

Personally, I don't think the initial curse should have been broken in a season. I feel like that locked them into a pattern of having to continually invent a new Darkest Evilest Most Powerful Magic EVER!!!!! to top the previous season, and that took them to some really weird places (I heard they went to literal hell at one point?). The show had a cool premise and some interesting ideas- I loved how they managed to give individual kingdoms distinct cultures and even fashions. You can tell the "look" of Snow White's kingdom from Cinderella's and Cinderella's from Ariel's, etc.

Everyone who would watch an entire season of Abigail's Ancient Greek Steampunk-ish kingdom, raise your hands. Seriously, so cool.

But something went wrong, IMO around season 4. I'm not sure if the show had just outlived its original concept or had outside pressures pulling it in different directions or what. All I know is, as far as I'm concerned, the show ends when Emma and Henry leave Storybrooke in season 3A. Pity It Was Cancelled So Soon, etc.

(although OOC Matronly SnowTM would have been perfect for live slug reaction memes, so there's that)

[finleyforevermore]

HELLOOOOOO LIL BRO!!! (i don't actually know your age so you could he older than me. I'm 15 lol) LITERALLY CANNOT BELIEVE I HAVEN'T DONE THIS SOONER BUT ALAS I AM HERE NOW!!!!! AND I WILL CONTINUE TO BOMBARD YOU WITH LIL SCENARIOS WHENEVER I THINK OF THEM

You like theater. I like theater. It makes sense

We would definitely watch live action musicals and plays whenever possible and you would show me the ones you like and i would show you the ones I like

Now if you were interested we would audition to shows together bc i volunteer at a local theater all the time

We would have so much fun together! Honestly you would love the theater i go to (i even run their tiktok account but it only has two videos 😢)

Going over to your house to run lines and practice songs (well i don't sing bc i am bad at singing but i would help you!!)

Sleepovers bc i stayed over too late to go home. Taking all nighters to practice scenes and watch the show

Probably also fantasizing about our dream roles together. (Its Veronica from Heathers for me but again I can't sing 😭)

And if I'm not in the show you're in, don't worry!! I'll still be there cheering you on!!

We would be menaces if ee went to the same school. Targeting everyone to come see the show

convenient segue everyone 😉

If we went to the same school I imagine we would go to the gardening club together

You just have the vibes of someone who likes plants

I would complain about the weather and fret over you, making aure you're staying hydrated in the warm sun

I imagine it would be pretty empty except for us too

We're like the groundskeepers basically

Probably planting specific flowers to convey different meanings

Selling some of them during the holidays like poinciana

Getting specialized and matching gloves

Singing while we work bc music makes everything better

I would be give you all the drama and say all my judgy comments

"Then she got up and sat next to this other girl who is barely even her friend! Like hellooo, why are you ignoring me 🙄. And the bitchiest part was when she tried talking to me like normal."

And then you would be lile "amor 😨 that's pretty mean. Maybe she didn't notice?"

After gardening we would probably get a snack and eat inside the greenhouse, maybe also get a refreshing drink

I'm your younger bro to clarify then! XD

And for the record I'm sure you sound wonderful! 💚💚💚💚💚

I love theatre BUT I'm frightened of the idea of performing onstage XD

You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to the audition

But if I WASN'T, I'd be so excited ehehe

We rarely watch movie musicals anymore because I'm always ranting about how much better the stage versions are and how they ruined it XD (unless we watch one of the good adaptations ofc like West Side Story for example)

YESS US FANTASIZING OVER DREAM ROLES TOGETHER EHEHE

Got the funny visual of you waking up in the middle of the night and waking up to me trying (and falling) to quietly sing Pierre from NPATGCO1812 to not wake you up XD

I'd love the gardening club!! :D

I keep planting carnations "BECAUSE IT'S THA HADESTOWN FLOWER, AMOR! YOU EXPECT ME TO JOIN A GARDENING CLUB AND NOT PLANT THE HADESTOWN FLOWER?" "I love your enthusiasm but that's not at all what I said-"

Ik I seem all nice and kind on here and I think I'm like that irl, but trust and believe that if your pissed, I'm gonna be pissed too XD especially I've gone through similar crap with an ex friend

"She did not!! I told you about Marissa right? She did crap JUST like that! Even try to talk to me sometimes like she wasn't being a total prick- I swear people are the worst sometimes-"

We have a little treehouse or some kinda place where we can just hang out and have fun and have an absolute ball there :)

[therealriver1]

Getting Back Into Writing...

I know I've been gone a while, but I don't plan on making any grand speech or introductions. I've considered closing this account multiple times since I don't know if anyone still reads my content or uses this platform. Nonetheless it's 2024 and I'm still here.

I started blogging on Tumblr as a hobby and because I really enjoyed writing. I still love writing! Writing on here acted as a journal for me, something that I could use to look back on years from now. Since I started writing with the intention of doing it for myself, I will continue to do so. I am glad to be back and will try my best to stay consistent. At the same time, I also don't want to force myself to write just for writings' sake. Instead, I'll write when I feel most inspired.

I had this idea of doing a "movie watchlist" based on my opinion of course. I wanted this list to be here for me in the future so I could see if my taste in movies has changed, matured or anything at all. Over the years I've watched a bunch of movies that I've enjoyed for different reasons. Movies were one good source of entertainment for me and my family growing up and brought me lots of fond memories. I remember being so excited to go to the video shop and pick out some of my favorites to rent and then going back home & watching it with my family. Dad and I would go to the video store and browse, sometimes taking longer than expected. I'd spend time looking at the covers reading the synopsis on the back before choosing anything. I was so proud when I picked something decent that everyone liked, I'd brag and say I had good taste! Those were the simple times when life was easy.

I digress, getting back to this list of mine. Let's just call it "Rivers' ultimate watchlist" for now. Like I said before this will be a random list of movies in no particular order from horror, comedy, romance, adventure, sci-fi and everything else in between. You might not know all of these movies or even like them but if you do find yourself bored and wondering what to watch, give it a try. I am sure you will find at least one good gem worth your time! I think I might do the same list for anime, kdrama, tv series and animated films later on and possibly update this movie list and add more titles.

Here's the list: ⦁ Harry Potter 2001 1-7 (The first four movies were among my faves) ⦁ Thirteen Ghosts 2001 (I don't know why but I've always liked this one) ⦁ Darkness Falls 2003 (A horror movie about the tooth fairy. This one will scare your kids.) ⦁ The Exorcist 1973 (The first one is still the scariest of all time. I also liked Exorcist: The Beginning but these are flicks I don't want to watch repeatedly or at night.) ⦁ Resident Evil 2002 (Yes, I know it's a video game adaptation and not everyone likes it. The very first one is a classic. I've also seen all the other movies in the franchise multiple times mostly because I like zombie action and Milla Jovovich) ⦁ Without a Paddle 2004 (A great comedy full of laughs. Definitely a fun watch in my opinion) ⦁ Euro Trip 2004 ("Scotty doesn't know!" "This isn't where I parked my car". I still remember the lyrics to the song. This one is a bit raunchy but in a good way if that makes sense.) ⦁ Me, Myself and Irene 2000 (Jim Carrey is great and so is Renée Zellweger. I really liked this one. Watch with an open mind) ⦁ Alien 1979 by Ridley Scott (I can't believe some people still haven't seen this. I love aliens and this one is a certified classic. You just have to see it for yourself. I've seen all the movies in the franchise and I'm still a fan after all these years. I'd happily rewatch any time.) ⦁ Blade 1988 1-3 (Ah vampires what can I say, I do love my supernatural movies! I think Wesley Snipes totally embodied Blade and was perfect for the role. I only recently found out that there's an animated version which features more of the lore from the comic books. The action in this movie is too good to pass on. In fact, my mom loved it so much she named our dog Blade) ⦁ Terminator 1984 (The second one is my favorite out of all the Terminator films, but I still enjoyed watching the others. There's just something about man versus machine that keeps you glued to your screen, that and Arnold Swarzenegger. ⦁ Zathura : A Space Adventure 2005 (I loved it! It's a kids movie but it's still a good) ⦁ Predator 1987 (Tying into the whole Alien vs Predator universe I naturally had to watch this. Prey is the most recently released movie in the franchise, do not skip this one!) ⦁ RV 2006 (Robin Williams is so funny, great family movie to watch together on movie night! ⦁ Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events 2004 (Some might say it's depressing, but the cast are brilliant actors and I thought it was a very clever film.) ⦁ Serenity 2005 (I didn't even know there was a show called Firefly linked to this movie. I only found out years later) ⦁ Pan's Labyrinth 2005 (Dark, twisted and brilliant but definitely not meant for everyone! This is a Spanish movie by Guillermo del Toro and still one of my faves. Please watch it with subtitles and not in dub. Also see Pacific Rim from the same director if you haven't watched it yet) ⦁ Jurassic Park 1993 1-3 (What can I say, I love dinos! The original will always be my favorite.) ⦁ Because of Winn Dixie 2005 (Great family film. Wholesome and heartwarming) ⦁ Dreamcatcher 2003 (This movie freaked me out as a kid, especially the toilet scene. I also heard there's a book so I might have to read it eventually) ⦁ Apocalypto 2006 (A really great film by Mel Gibson. If you can handle brutality, give it a try. It's definitely not for the faint of heart) ⦁ The Descent 2005 (If you're claustrophobic this movie will be your worst nightmare) ⦁ A Sound of Thunder 2005 (When I was young, I thought this movie had a really interesting concept.) ⦁ The Cave 2005 (It's similar to The Descent. It has that element of fear, the unknown and of course a mysterious creature) ⦁ Wonder 2017 (A really beautiful film with a great message) ⦁ Billie Elliot 2000 (The ending was so great! And I love the soundtrack because of Elton John. My favorite song from the movie was "electricity".)

(P.S I will be posting this in two parts because this was way longer than I expected!!)

[unproduciblesmackdown]

presuming that orville does at least participate in the musical numbers "always" (and maybe its reprise) and "till we meet again," b/c the name that's cut off has that left half [Q,O,G,C] shape, & the only other name that shares that is "Gloria," who is already listed first

the versions of these songs used in the spotify playlist on the show's official page:

sure can believe that this is put into the context of orville and his mother margaret, and, with mrs. margaret wingate's film counterpart being orville's (mostly) antagonistic overbearing father, and corbin describing orville's mother as the "villain," does lend the song a dramatic ironic twist...."when the things you plan / need a helping hand" (way too pushily interfering)....the whole ending of "not for just an hour / not for just a day / not for just a year / but always" to a slowing tempo is definitely interpretable like [THREAT] and i can imagine that we get this duet to introduce this duo/dynamic, like well isn't that nice, then we get a scene in between actually seeing their dynamic play out, and then one or both characters hit that reprise within our fresh, more informed context, so we can be like, Ah :I

with the [more "inspired by" than adaptation], sure interested if this role just stays a villain. the father in the film sure basically goes full amicable mode once orville puts his foot down the once like "oh i respect you now" like well that's not how it works lol, but i definitely like, understand it in the same way i understand "that's not how it works lol. but." re: everything wrapping up basically literally last minute in a comedic collision of all lingering threads, also this is backstage midshow btw like okay we've all seen this classique musical comedyesque movie form....but i Also am betting that this 2023 version doesn't really go for that, and develops the threads/conflicts differently and doesn't go for As jampacked a sprint to resolution at thee very last moments. and here in i'm wondering if, you know, this conflict needn't resolve at all, or not with reconciliation anyways lol. always looking up over the menu like oh sorry did someone say a plotline where a kid doesn't have to conclude things on "i guess this is more tolerable &/or i'm just tolerating more" terms w/their parents? love those possibilities, meanwhile seems like we have a supportive enough counterparental figure in pop falbury

between the setup of "always" previously and this title (but not this album cover) i was caught off guard by how upbeat uptempo this is, kinda swing, kinda doo-wop, especially with how orville is, unlike gloria, montgomery (the fancy would-be lead actor who joe steps in for), & phil (joe's partner you say?), Not amongst the actors / troupe / company. but given the expectation that this show changes things up, as it says, i'd be delighted to suppose he can get brought into the fold somewhat / also share in the [whoa, i'm learning and developing / growing / evolving from this Shakeup and Unlikely Convergence/Overlap]....naturally wondering what the vocal arrangements might be, besides [one lyrics / melody] [everyone else: harmonizing / nonlexical lyrics], or whether the fact this Is perchance more straightforwardly a love song, and gloria and orville are here (presuming they do end up together still), like hey montgomery and phil?? like sure why not, so far as any of us know. anyways it's a little bop. let me see this show

[tomatograter]

I saw you mentioning the princess bride in a post and it made me wonder both of what you think of the movie adaptation (as it was practically my entire childhood) and the references to it made in homestuck the comic and whether they serve any purpose to the text. I also wonder if you’ve seen the movie stardust from 2007 and what you think of. Like always, I love to read pretty much everything you write, whether analysing text on tumblr or your ao3 fics, thanks!

OK SO. I should have answered this MONTHS ago but I wanted to properly write down something and… that took a while! I'm sorry it was this long </3 Thank you for your patience! Now on to the meat of it:

These two stories definitely have a fond place in my heart. Early this year I read the original Stardust novel for the first time (then rewatched the movie due to brilliant childhood memories), and I gotta say I have a bit of a strange relationship with it since I did think the book was good, but not nearly as fun or engaging as the movie, and what the movie did to some underused characters-- particularly the ship captain, who is just the extreme blueprint for Jake Harley from tip to toes; BUT. I found out I really liked the book ending better.

The movie is a remix of the book, it takes a lot of the convoluted plots and streamlines them into something that ties together nicely, cuts out characters that don’t add much, & explores characters that were interesting in the original but never given enough time to do stuff. It’s not a masterpiece, there was definitely a scene in the middle where I got really tense and expected to see a violent hate crime happen, it definitely... aged badly in some places (repeated instances of ‘man in a dress’ jokes including the character I mentioned above), but it’s an entertaining movie. It’s got quirky fun dialogue from a time before that became a tryhard hollywood staple. Everyone loves a fetch quest fantasy romp! Most of all, me!

I think what I really liked from the book ending is that we’re shown how the main couple avoids the expectation of ruling the kingdom for actual decades, finding other paths to follow in their very young lives instead of immediately marrying and settling down. It had a very nice, peaceful, sort of pensive bittersweet ending about the star not being quite human. The movie changes how the story approaches immortality, and that's not inherently bad but it’s also not the same y'know. Generally I'd recommend the movie first thing but then add on that the book is worth going through for that different flavor characterization of the story, if you're up to it.

(This comparison also seems very apt, the director of the Stardust movie adaptation famously only convinced Gaiman that he'd be fit to adapt it because he wanted the movie to be "his Princess Bride".)

I love the princess bride movie.

I watched it way before I got around to reading the book and I *tend* to prefer the book version to the movie version 9 out of 10 times, HOWEVER... As far as adaptations go, I think The Princess Bride is a prime example for condensing a story so its heart remains even if a lot of the juicy book details didn't. It also utilizes its respective mediums really well! The PB Movie works because it tells a story through a Cinematic lens, focusing on a satire of the Hollywood romance formula, while the PB Book does the same through the application of literary farce to its greatest extent. It's a prolonged roast of the fantasy literary romance genre - but it's also dangerously genuine.

It is a book that presents itself as not only a narrative, but as a conversation between the reader and the ‘abridger’ of one other fictional text (from a made up writer) while tripling as a confessional for the real life frustrations of said ‘abridger’. A juggling feat that was undoubtedly only made possible because William Goldman, on top of being Princess Bride's original author, also worked as a professional scriptwriter. He wrote both the book and the movie adaptation, and he jokes about this by fully narrativizing himself as a character within the book's text. (And I’m sure this sounds familiar.)

The *medium* through which The Princess Bride is told is given emphasis when you compare where the story starts in each version, who is telling it, and precisely how it is told. This is going to be relevant for that HS comparison if you hang on for a second.

IN THE MOVIE:

(Where) The story begins with a kid sick in bed, and his visiting grandfather, who's planning to read him a book.

(Who) The aforementioned grandfather serves as our main narrator, with some skeptical commentary from the kid.

(How) We get intro montages to quickly establish characters, middle montages to stitch the story beats together, and some narrative interruptions to move scenes along, but aside from that the events of the fairytale roll on seamlessly with the assistance of the grandfather’s kindly voiceover.

It is a very straightforward take. We blur in and out of scenes with the benefit of contextless visuals - the audience is encouraged to fill in the gaps of "missing" information about the world/kingdom/mechanics with generic stock tropes, most of the book's Lore isn't even hinted at. The movie is a tongue-in-cheek subversion of twee romantic films and their inherent ridiculousness - but it's just as helplessly and wholeheartedly in love with the simplicity of the tropes it employs.

IN THE BOOK:

(Where) The book begins with William Goldman (the character) dumping his tormented childhood backstory and emotional connection to The Princess Bride directly upon your doorstep; after he’s reminded of the book's existence on the day of his son’s birthday, and then later discovers the original text is nothing like the cool adventure romp he knew as a kid. That story doesn’t exist. It was fabricated. The official book translation is actually an over-bloated total bore.

(Who) Goldman explains that he will serve as your editor and guide to ‘the good parts version’ of The Princess Bride — a book his immigrant father once read to him when he was utterly delirious for weeks, hospitalized and bedridden with a sour case of pneumonia. The original Princess Bride is said to be written by S. Morgenstern, an avid political satirist from the fictional country of Florin, the historical setting of The Princess Bride, which doubles as a birthplace for Morgenstern, and incidentally, Goldman's immigrant father. He has the Florinese accent, and a connection to the story as a piece of his own personal history. Goldman insists that the best possible version of the book was the version his dad once read to him, and to make sure his kid gets the same experience, the BEST experience, he’s going to essentially edit the whole monster of a book into a proper shape. Alone. With his own two hands.

In total we have about three-to-four narrators; Current Goldman, Kid Goldman, (Arguably) Goldman’s Father, and S. Morgenstein — who’s just Goldman again under a Florinese pseudonym.

(How) The Princess Bride is written in black and red text for ease of readability. Red is reserved for Goldman’s annotations and footnotes; he tries to introduce chapters and then give context to most of the cuts he makes to the book wherever he can, but since these can be very lengthy and merciless edits (think 20+ pages trashed at a time) he uses most of the space for the purpose of ranting or explaining himself. Sometimes he will gossip about S. Morgenstein’s life and critique his narrative choices, sometimes he will vent about his coworkers and his own life, sometimes he will tell you he has written an unofficial missing reunion scene and sequel for The Princess Bride, and is trying to convince the publishing house to let him print it, and would really, really like if you phoned or mailed the company, if you’d like to be in on that sweet fucking deal. (And these outside documents could be actually mailed to you at the time, though currently the only way to access them is through preserved online copies.)

This results in a book that is constantly taking itself apart on its own terms, and that is really funny to read. The humor aspect is played up to its fullest; sometimes S. Morgenstein tells jokes, sometimes the joke is Goldman dogging on Morgenstein (and thus himself), and sometimes, the meta-humor reaches around to being about you being slightly stupefied by Goldman’s reckless self-obsessed oversharing completely taking over someone else’s story - which he had ALREADY been recklessly fucking around with to fulfill a childhood delirium.

The book is a tongue-in-cheek dissection of fairytale romances, chivalric heroes, medieval fantasy tropes, why people read stories, why people *need* stories, disappointment, dissatisfaction, and The General Feeling Of ‘Catharsis’ that can only be found by choosing to look at things a certain way even when Shit Fucking Sucks. And also taking matters into your own hands, when you can. And also, it’s a little bit wholeheartedly in love with the genuine fondness shared between its main characters? (and I don’t mean just Buttercup and Westley, Inigo and Fezzik’s friendship plays a big part)

I think you must already know where I’m going with this, but let’s bring it back to how Princess Bride shows up in Homestuck, aka: okay how the hell does any of this connect with anything?

1- The Princess Bride Movie is in line with Jake’s outlook and approach to storytelling,

And:

2- The Princess Bride Book is in line with Dirk’s outlook and approach to storytelling.

While:

3- Both of them can be associated with the respective narrator roles in each version of the story (The earnest romantic guidance of the movie’s narrating grandfather, the book’s self-obsessed Goldman & history-bloated satirist Morgenstein), and not only that; They are both close to the story’s own protagonists (Dirk as Westley, Jake as Buttercup) and the supporting duo (Inigo and Fezzik’s long time friendship definitely tips towards the softly bromoromantic)

And I believe it’s worth exploring just how we get those Princess Bride lines and fight choreography added into Homestuck in the first place:

Brain Ghost Dirk is misquoting Movie Inigo’s lines (“You killed my father” becomes “You kissed my boyfriend”) to announce his intention of protecting Jake, directly placing himself as a mix of Inigo/Westley in this situation- both these characters embody a take on the chivalric sword-swinging hero motivated by love, which is something Dirk really wants to be, but while Inigo’s core is platonic, Westley only does everything he does in the story because he loves Buttercup, and has done so since they were kids.

But then there’s that extra layer; Brain Ghost Dirk is Dirk’s splinter, yeah, but he’s also Jake’s creation, and as demonstrated by how the rest of this scene unfolds; his physical existence is wholly dependent on how desperately Jake needs him. 

There’s the whole double reacharound of creator-creation, protector-protected, how one depends on the other to keep upright, a theme that is prevalent in The Princess Bride. (Not to speak of the work’s love for satire, especially satire mixed with romance. It’s perfectly in the spirit of the thing.)

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the story, and a refresher for those who may have forgotten, here's a brief breakdown of the character links and summary;

The Princess Bride is a medieval-fantasy tale that tells the story of Buttercup, a simple-minded farm girl who just wants to fuck around and have a silly little life, but keeps being interrupted by the text & the characters in it ceaselessly preaching about her nebulous “potential”, and how she could be one of the Most Prettiest Beautifulest Women Ever if she just Tried, despite her disinterest. (that’s our Jake)

She’s also got some really fucked up recurring night terrors to do with her arranged marriage and childbirth and her perceived “inherent inability to love” because we already knew she was a jake but I guess it had to be made real obvious. (link from my screencap thread from when I was reading it in april)

Anyway, keeping on: Westley (Dirk) is a boy who works at her parent’s farm and fulfils her every wish because he’s deeply in love with her, but she never notices; until the day a countess makes eyes at Westley, Buttercup gets jealous, and then she finally gets it. Buttercup confesses, and is seemingly rejected by Westley’s total inability to respond. (Common theme with Dirks) She’s bummed out for a bit about this, but then the next day Westley announces that he does love her, he just has to go away to America for a while and work real hard so they can actually be together. He knows he can do this, because he’s trained for this moment; day in and day out he honed his craft in his hovel. He barely even fucking sleeps.

He can speak this part for himself tbh:

Westley departs. Buttercup decides that while she waits for him, she’ll finally learn to take care of herself, maybe even realize that whole ‘potential’ business. Her efforts are laudable, but they aren’t enough. Then one day, Buttercup is told that Westley’s ship was ambushed by the Dread Pirate Roberts; they would never even see his body.

Ironically, Westley’s death and the grief Buttercup suffers from it are the last straw that unlocks her ‘true potential’.

MEANWHILE, the king of Florin is dying, and Prince Humperdinck (Jane) needs to marry to be crowned king. He doesn’t really want to get married, but the law is the law and the new king needs to have a way to make a son and keep the lineage going. Since he’s only interested in the position, but he’d rather have some clout as well, Humperdinck comes up with a plan; he will marry the most beautiful woman alive, kill her, and then pin the blame of this “mysterious attack” in a neighboring kingdom, giving him an excuse to launch a war and conquer a place he wanted to own anyway. Buttercup is also not jazzed about his proposal, but she’s coerced into accepting or dying.

Once everything is settled, three years have passed in preparation to the wedding. Humperdinck hires a band of mercenaries to kidnap Buttercup and leave her body by the neighboring kingdom of Guilder. Those are Vizzini, Fezzik and Inigo. For our point-of-comparison purposes, I’ll only dwell on Inigo: he’s a Spanish swordsman rumored to be the Best Swordsman Alive, on a bloody revenge quest to find the six-fingered-man who killed his father, and slay him in turn. He’s so good, they might even call him the wizard of sword fighting. He also has a bit of a liquor problem. Can’t touch the stuff. (It’s interesting to note that while BGD associates himself with Inigo, and much of the character’s single-drive towards strict training and revenge for a father that was killed in combat is undoubtedly dirkesque, he also has some Roxy features. This is puzzling at first. And THEN you remember that Roxy is the one who ends up killing HIC with Dirk’s unbreakable katana in [S]: Collide as a symbolic revenge for them both, and the mixed nature of his character in specific makes a lot more sense.)

But not all hope is lost. Unbeknownst to Buttercup, Westley was merely taken as the pirate’s apprentice. He’s heard of her upcoming marriage - and now her sudden kidnapping, and the rest of the story revolves around him trying to save her from her captors, dispelling the mix-up about his identity along the way. He’s kinda upset about the whole marriage thing and intends to be very bitchy about it though. (Dirks will do that.)

This is just the movie intro, or the first couple chapters of the book, so if you’re interested in reading it now to see for yourself -- you absolutely should! Some of the jokes have admittedly Aged (this is a book from 1973 after all) but I find they’re mostly clustered at the beginning/modern segments, and in the long run it’s very much worth it to stick with the story. When it's all said and done you can read it as a seamless dirkjake au.

[helmes-deep]

I'd love to hear more about why you love Marianne/Brandon and Sense and Sensibility in general!!

Oh my word, yes!! :D :D I also wanted to let you know that I’ve also been thinking of sending you some Austen-related asks as well, but I think your askbox is disabled?? If you don’t want to be sent asks, though, that’s okay, too; I’m okay with chatting as well, I was just wondering since you sent me this one!!

First off, I probably really like Marianne and Brandon together mostly because of how well Alan Rickman portrayed him, lol. His expressions of quiet pain, grief, and unrequited love were just so on point that I was amazed and actually quite impressed by how well he portrayed Brandon’s reserved, but quietly passionate, lovesick nature—it was also the first time I’d realized that he was actually quite talented and an accomplished actor (and I grew up this whole time knowing his existence as Snape, lol). His lovestruck expressions are just SO GOOD!! Like when he sees Marianne playing the piano for the first time or when she thanks him for saving her. Alan Rickman doesn’t have to say a word, but you can see everything happening to Brandon through his expression and eyes. His portrayal of Colonel Brandon is one of my favorite cinematic portrayals of any Austen hero—if not my absolute favorite of all time. I just loved how Rickman portrayed Brandon having so much passion for Marianne, despite it not being overtly dramatic or in-your-face. In terms of the books, Marianne and Brandon actually aren’t my favorite Austen couple, but in terms of cinematic adaptations, the 1995 version is my ultimate otp. 

On an additional note, I’m also a sucker for the “unworthy/lowly guy loves popular/pretty girl” trope in relationships, and I also loved the angsty pining that was happening between Marianne and the Colonel, lol. I just LOVE that angsty drama, lololol. I also think that Marianne and Brandon’s dynamic is also a lot more interesting than Elinor and Edward’s—Marianne and Brandon have a lot more of the “opposites attract” type of thing going on, and moreover, Marianne matures from being in a relationship with Brandon, unlike Elinor (though, to be fair, I guess the point of Sense and Sensibility is that Elinor is more mature from the get-go, so perhaps that’s a moot point, but I still think that there’s so much more to explore in regard to the “opposites” dynamic between Marianne and Brandon than there is to Elinor and Edward).

Secondly, Sense and Sensibility is not my favorite Austen novel. It probably ranks as fourth or fifth?? on my Austen reading list?? (First is Persuasion, then Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and then maybe Sense and Sensibility or Northanger Abbey; I haven’t read Mansfield Park yet :v) It’s very plodding with how little action/dialogue there is and how much we read about what’s happening in the characters’ heads instead of actually getting to see it happen (in a way, this is fine since it seems like Sense and Sensibility turned out to be more introspective, but I prefer more action in my reading :dd). But Ang Lee’s 1995 portrayal is perfect, imo. Granted, I haven’t seen another film adaptation for Sense and Sensibility, so I don’t really have anything to compare—and I do wonder if my opinion of the film would have been different if I’d read the book before seeing the movie—but the movie does so many things well from beginning to end, imo, that I don’t think my opinion could’ve changed that much if I’d experienced the book first. The book Sense and Sensibility is a bit like Emma, imo—a story that plays out much better on screen than it does on the page (unless your only option at the time is to read it :p). I love the story, plot, and all the casting (Edward kinda annoys me in the book with how reserved he is and he kinda still does in the movie, but Hugh Grant—as much as I kinda don’t care for him, lol—plays his super-reserved and shy ways very perfectly, imo). It just summarizes the original’s story and spirit so well, imo, with all of the drama and dialogue and romance and longing, etc. that you’d expect and want to have from any Austen or period film 👌👌

In regards to Marianne and Brandon, I love how the 1995 adaptation does a much better job of Marianne coming to the realization that she loves him. On the smallest level, perhaps I am just a tiny bit disappointed that I didn’t get as much Marianne and Brandon interactions in the book as I’d hoped, but I still think the movie does a much better job of outlining Marianne’s growth. I don’t quite agree with Austen’s sentiments that you shouldn’t be as boisterous or passionately driven as Marianne is at the beginning of the book, but what I do like about her arc in the 1995 version is that she comes to the realization that true love isn’t always excitement and fiery passion—sometimes it’s just quiet, steady care from the person you love, and most importantly, it’s always there for you to support and look after you (I think maybe if Austen had come up with that lesson at the end of the book, it might have held up better over time—certainly in ours, I think—but I get why she compared and contrasted the things she did, considering her time period). This progression that we get with Marianne’s developing feelings for Brandon in the film are so much better than the book’s, imo, where Brandon and Marianne barely talk to each other or get any interactions at all (I think Brandon maybe says one line to her in the entire book??). The book’s ending just seems extremely rushed with how Austen pretty much jammed all of Marianne’s closing development into like three large paragraphs. I honestly think Sense and Sensibility’s ending reads very rushed when you compare it to Austen’s other stories, imo—at least in regard to Marianne’s arc. I was really surprised by how quickly Marianne’s story ended, considering how much time and care she gave to Pride and Prejudice’s ending (which I read before S&S). It almost seemed like even Austen was getting tired of how long this book was dragging along and decided to just end it fast because none of her other books seem to have that kind of quick/snapshot end development, imo. I suppose you could argue that Sense and Sensibility is more of Elinor and Edward’s story than it is Marianne’s, and that Marianne’s situation at the end of the book is kind of her “punishment,” which I get, but still MARIANNE AND BRANDON ARE MY OTP AND I WILL NOT HAVE THEM DISRESPECTED LIKE THAT, LOL the terribly rushed ending just seems so out-of-place for Austen, imo. So yeah, that’s why I love the 1995 film version more than the book, lol, and from all the cinematic adaptations of an Austen book that I’ve seen so far, it is probably my favorite 💗😊

[pxrtgasdace]

Mun question: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz - which do you like best and why and what are your thoughts and ideas on those worlds as AUs for One Piece/Ace & co? (If you hate them or some of them I'm sorry but in that case I'd also like to know what makes you despise them. Well, I at least know you like Peter Pan going by your already existing AU ideas. Thank you for your time!)

Oh, first of all, thank you so much for the unexpected question and for a very sweet theme, too!

I hate none of the three but maybe I should talk a bit what I know of/from them?

Peter Pan is, answering your question, my favourite out of the three. Of course my first big contact with the story was through the Disney movie. I don’t know what year it was when I got the VHS but love was an instant thing. If you have pirates and fairies together, what’s not to like? Plus my version was the Brazilian dub and contrasting it with the English original many years later, I believe it has more humour than the original. Smee always cracked me up. 

But the reason why I truly loved Peter Pan - and I know this now - was because of the projection it had compared to my favourite book from my childhood, another pirate staple - Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It was the first ‘big book’ I read as a child, and from a copy that belonged to my mother, too, and it is to this day one of my favourites. I love how Stevenson blended the childish wonder kids have for pirates with the more adult part of the theme, for being a young boy hiding in a barrel of apples listening to talk of mutiny can’t be anything other than scary, right?

Unfortunately, Island never got the adaptation it deserved (from Disney). In the 90′s what I had was the 1950 live-action and the 1996 Muppets version - which I really love but never watched back then. Treasure Planet came out in 2002 and… I don’t hate it but… My favourite book did not need a sci-fi twist to make it more appealing or modern or anything like it. It’s a classic.

So, Peter Pan was the closest I had to a pirate story before POTC appeared. And you know Disney does their homework too well with marketing, meaning there was an access to Pan that there wasn’t to Island. I bought The Complete Peter Pan in the beginning of this year and I must say I am glad for Disney’s take on the story, as Barrie leaves some details rather abstract, albeit on purpose. Disney unified our vision on Peter Pan without limiting, for each person can still add their personal twist to Neverland while sharing a ‘common ground’. 

Likewise, I am a big fan of the Disney Fairies franchise. It’s a great addition to canon, what with Pixie Hollow, the sparrowmen, the different talents for the fairies… It’s a new part of Neverland that doesn’t mangle Barrie’s work.

I admit most of my ideas for Neverland!Ace are fueled by the franchise and the Disney work as a whole rather than Barrie’s original precisely because of how it crystalised certain aspects of it while it enhanced others. My ideas about it are already on the verses page and also here. I never considered this world for One Piece as a whole, only for Ace but, if anything, it fits ASL. 

For instance, if there’s only Ace and Ace alone, he might be the leader of a gang of boys akin to Peter’s - for I do not replace Peter for Ace but would rather have both. They support Ace’s idea of making a crew and one day leave Neverland behind in search for adventures other than the ones they’re used to, with the othe inhabitants of Neverland. If Sabo exists, perhaps there is no need for a gang of kids and it’s just the two brothers trying to set out to sea someday. Whichever the scenario, Ace will still want to find Pixie Hollow to see the pixies and get some pixie dust for his ship to fly & he doesn’t like pirates very much - because he knows his father, Roger, was one and he left him alone in Neverland. Just like Peter, he doesn’t like James Hook very much but his hatred is different - it’s angrier, it’s on principle, it’s because of the bad things pirates do to innocent folks of Neverland - and irony, a pirate’s what he’ll become. Alas, being a child, his morals are still in grey and he doesn’t see or wants to see that stealing pixie dust for a crew is… piracy.

Alice In Wonderland I knew through illustrated books and, of course, the Disney movie. It was never a favourite. Don’t get me wrong, pushing those ‘twisted’ aspects or readings people make of it aside, it’s another wonderful children’s story. I do love new worlds! But… where them pirates at, you know? When there are so many great stories, one if just bound to touch you more than others and that’s what Pan did for me - just like I expect Alice did to others.

I have no ideas for an Alice AU for Ace or One Piece as a whole - and I guess that is mostly to blame on my ignorance. If I recall correctly, Carroll mentioned more creatures/beasts in his works (so beyond Wonderland) and made-up words and everything and for an AU to be believable, those would have to be included. That demands research and knowledge. So… I am very sorry I can’t provide an accurate answer. All I can say is that for Carroll’s works I would never set a verse for Ace that is exclusively drawn from the Disney movie when I know the books are richer and they ought to be considered.

The Wizard of Oz. Kill me but I haven’t yet read Oz though I have the complete ebooks! I know the basic story, yes, but Baum wrote so much more! You know what’s funny, though? I know of the darker adaptations of it: The Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire - of which the first book spawned a very different musical - and Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige.  Those I have read but not Baum’s originals (or the other novels considered canonical).

Oz I do consider for an AU! At least there is enough space for many One Piece characters, considering the geography/size of Oz and all these different takes. For the original ‘verse’, I would have to assign Ace to a county/race and build my story around that. I gues using Dorothy Must Die as a base would be easier for me and smoother, too, as pirates could be part of The Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. Perhaps this would be more appealing than Baum’s story, too, as Paige made this world more adult - don’t know if you know the story, and without spoiling it for you, imagine Dorothy as a tyrant and those sweet characters - the Lion, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman - are some seriously sick bastards. 

Maybe if I reread DMD I might make a fitting verse for Ace - again, in this particular Oz rather than the original. But that will have to wait a while as I am currently working on establishing another verse for him!