#full compare and contrast essays were written!

[destinyesque]

please say more about the satan/beelzebub angel sex essay!!!

Aight so basically I was in a class about Milton and my prof was like "no one has ever written an essay abt Beelzebub" and I was like "bet" and I started looking into it and as it turns out, there are actually some really strong parallels between the Satan/Beelzebub relationship and the Adam/Eve relationship. It's some pretty specific stuff that really hints at it so I won't go into it all here.

Now, Milton is super weird about gender, and Eve's status in relation to Adam is in question for pretty much all of Paradise Lost. The gender hierarchy is never definitively resolved, so their whole relationship is super weird. Satan/Beelzebub, on the other hand, have a much more strict hierarchical relationship. Beelzebub here is cast in the "female" role to Satan's domineering "male" role (despite the fact that Paradise Lost fallen angels can switch genders whenever they want). Anyway, the contrast between the hierarchical Satan/Beelzebub relationship and the more equitable Adam/Eve relationship complicates Milton's view on gender even further.

Also, Raphael talks about angel sex at least once as an analogue for human sex/marriage, which, in combination with the fluidity of angel gender, raises questions about how exactly gender roles are supposed to work on a cosmic/divine scale.

TL;DR Satan and Beelzebub were 100% having gay sex offscreen

Anyway, it's a pretty complicated argument, so I'm putting the full essay under a readmore in case you're interested. The end is a little rushed bc i was strapped for time and reaching the max page count, but I'm proud of most of it.

Gender, Hierarchy, and the Façade of Male Friendship: The Relationship of Satan and Beelzebub in Paradise Lost

by Sam Destinyesque

Through the characters of Satan and Beelzebub, John Milton navigates an unequal, perplexing, and even at times strictly gendered relationship. Much has already been said on Milton's ideas on gender in the Adam and Eve relationship, but this angle posits an additional representation of the gendered relationship, although the female aspect must be confined to metaphor. Though Satan and Beelzebub are the pinnacle of evil within Paradise Lost, the aspects of their relationship which connect with contemporary ideas of relationships cannot be ignored. In Paradise Lost, the relationship between Beelzebub and Satan can be read in parts as friendship, hierarchy, and even a perverse version of marriage, akin to the relationship between Adam and Eve, complicating Milton's vision of gender and marriage.

To even allow an equivocation between the fallen angels and Adam and Eve, Milton's ideas on how angels relate to sex and intimacy must first be examined; this through the lens of Raphael in Book VIII. In response to Adam asking if and how angels express love, Raphael says:

Let it suffice thee that thou know'st

Us happy, and without Love no happiness.

Whatever pure thou in the body enjoy'st

(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy

In eminence, and obstacle find none

Of membrane, joint, of limb, exclusive bars:

Easier than Air with Air, if Spirits embrace,

Total they mix, Union of Pure with Pure

Desiring; nor restrain'd conveyance need

As Flesh to mix with Flesh, or Soul with Soul. (Milton Book VIII 620-629)

Clearly, the expression of love that Raphael describes is not synonymous with human sex in the sense that there is no physical "body" involved, no obstacles "of membrane, joint, of limb". Still, the angelic act of love is analogous to the same in humans, as Raphael can at least compare the two; though human sex involves flesh and soul while angelic "sex" involves some "pure" essence of a kind, both result in pleasure and the mixing of beings. If Adam and Eve, the unfallen humans, experience "pure" sex, as they were created pure and their bodies are yet without sin, the angels experience in even greater sense; Raphael says compared to what Adam and Eve experience, "[the angels] enjoy in eminence". Even compared to the unfallen human body and soul, the purity of angelic expressions of love is higher, unrestrained, and total. Thus, while angels do not experience sex and express love in the same way that humans do, it can be imagined that their analogous experiences are simply of a higher, purer nature. The existence of angelic "sex" opens up the possibility of angelic love relationships in a way that is similarly analogous to human relationships. In Book IV, Milton expresses that Adam and Eve's sex is contingent on their marriage:

[Eve] with eyes

Of conjugal attraction unreproved,

And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned

On our first father; half her swelling breast

Naked met his, under the flowing gold

Of her loose tresses hid (Milton Book IV 492-497)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, sex for Adam and Eve is inextricably linked to their marriage; the physical attraction Eve has for Adam is described as "conjugal". Only with the precondition that their attraction and their actions are within the context of marriage, can unfallen sex occur. Applying this information to Raphael's description of angelic sex, the possibility of some form of angelic marriage or some analogous love relationship is hardly unreasonable. Thus, I defend the idea of comparing angelic relationships, particularly that of Beelzebub and Satan, to the human marital and sexual relationship of Adam and Eve.

Milton's depiction of Satan and Beelzebub has some overlap with contemporary ideas of friendship, but it is still difficult to place the relationship between the two fallen angels within the context of 17th century male friendship. In her book Sovereign Amity: Figures of Friendship in Shakespearean Contexts, Laurie Shannon describes friendship as an equalizing or democratizing relationship in which neither party is meant to have control over the other: "Likeness in both sex and status is (the only) political equality in period terms; on the basis of this likeness, writers stress the making of a consensual social bond or body that is not inherently subordinating" (Shannon 3). Satan consistently uses the language of equality with the other angels, particularly Beelzebub, giving the appearance of an equal relationship like that Shannon describes. Seeing Beelzebub after they are cast from heaven, Satan calls him:

he whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

And hazard in the glorious enterprise

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined

In equal ruin (Milton Book 1 84-91)

Note the diction used: "mutual" and "united" appear once, both "equal" and "joined" appear twice. This language emphasizes a sense of shared status; not only are Satan and Beelzebub in "league" together, not only are their interests "united," but they are "equal" in the sense that they had the same stake in the war in heaven, and they now suffer the same ruin after their fall. Satan's language of equality reflects Shannon's description of friendship as a likeness in status, supporting a reading of Satan and Beelzebub as reflective of period-typical male friendship. Additionally, the narration itself supports this reading in some instances, referring to Beelzebub as Satan's "nearest mate" (Milton Book I 192) and his "next mate" (Milton Book I 238), implying a strong sense of familiarity and partnership rather than of hierarchy. Still, Beelzebub and Satan's relationship does not reflect the stated equality in practice. Most obviously, Beelzebub is not Satan's political equal. In the council of devils, Beelzebub is ranked highly; Milton says, "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat" (Milton Book II 299-300). It is no secret that Beelzebub is politically inferior to Satan, effectively his second-in-command. However, this in and of itself is perhaps not the obstacle to friendship it may seem to be. Shannon posits that it is not uncommon for contemporary representations of friendship to be between a subject and a political leader (particularly a monarch). In these relationships, legal political equality may not be achieved, but within the friendship, the subject may have the power to affect the ruler's character and policy (Shannon 8). Therefore, literal political status would not itself ruin the notion of Beelzebub and Satan as male friends with some sense of equality. However, after Beelzebub's speech in the council of devils, Milton writes:

Thus Beelzebub

Pleaded his devilish counsel—first devised

By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,

But from the author of all ill, could spring

So deep a malice (Milton Book II 377-381)

Beelzebub did not invent the content of the speech himself, instead just acting as a mouthpiece for Satan. Throughout the council, Beelzebub does not express original ideas nor does he act in any way that has not already been told to him by Satan, implying that even beyond political inequality, the two partners of the "friendship" are not equal in value. Satan's ideology overrides Beelzebub's intellectual independence, positioning Satan's mind as the more important of the two.

If Shannon's model of male friendship doesn't fit, then Bray's descriptions of the "secretary" and the "wedded brothers" may better reflect Satan and Beelzebub's relationship. In his book The Friend, Bray discusses how a traditional notion of friendship could include the character of the secretary, who functioned as "the intimate friend who acted for a great man and was his go-between with the world" (Bray 69). If Beelzebub is construed as the secretary, then his speech as directed by Satan during the council of devils perhaps makes more sense if one wishes to see the two as friends. Though, in this framework, the two may not be equals, Beelzebub could still act as "the intimate friend" who has the additional job of mediating between Satan and the rest of his legion. However, looking at Bray's work, it would be an oversight not to compare Satan and Beelzebub to the model of the wedded brothers. Bray describes that a "marriage" covenant between male friends could be made between families of a (heterosexual) marrying couple, or between parents and godparents of a child, but he additionally says that "such a covenant and kinship could also be made between two "wedded" brothers, directly by the oath itself and without the symbolic instrumentality of in the one case the bride or in the other the child" (Bray 102-103). This "wedded brother" relationship would have been very close, though not analogous to heterosexual marriage in that it was traditionally strictly platonic. Still, Bray notes that figures such as King James I and the Duke of Buckingham, who were in a "wedded brother" relationship of sorts, identified each other as "husband" and "wife" within their relationship. Thus, there is certainly precedent for describing close male friendship in gendered terms, the application of which to the Satan and Beelzebub relationship is later described. Additionally, the "wedded brother" relationship and its linguistic proximity to (heterosexual) marriage is notable, if only for the way that Satan and Beelzebub's relationship is later characterized not only as a close partnership but also as similar to heterosexual marriage.

Yet, the prescriptions of specifically masculine friendship may also slide off the fallen angels, as Milton seems to conceive 'gender' and 'sex' differently for angels than for humans. Harkening back to Raphael's description of angelic expressions of love, the angels are described as not to have the same restrictions as humans: namely, there is no obstacle "of membrane, joint, of limb" (Milton Book VIII 625) nor is there the presence of human flesh or soul. Put plainly, the angelic "sex" act lacks genitalia or identifying human sexual characteristics entirely. Though Raphael appears in comprehensible human form, his account here suggests that not only is physical sex irrelevant to angelic acts of love, but also that angels operate at a higher form of being in general; in some "pure" form instead of human "flesh" and "soul". Lacking human flesh, the medium through which human sexual characteristics are expressed, human sexual prescriptions would be inapplicable to the angelic being. Milton's ideas of gender roles, based as they are on sexual characteristics, would be similarly inapplicable. Furthermore, the fallen angelic beings engage with human gender differently than humans themselves or the a-gender angelic beings described by Raphael. When the fallen angels land in hell and begin to come up out of the lake of fire, Milton says:

With these came they who, from the bordering flood

Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

Of Baalim and Ashtaroth—those male,

These feminine. For Spirits, when they please,

Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

And uncompounded is their essence pure,

Not tried or manacled with joint or limb,

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones (Milton Book I 419-427)

The fallen angels assume the forms of male gods and female goddesses, the "Baalim and Ashtaroth", and Milton notes that the fallen angels, in their non-human forms not bound by flesh, "can either sex assume, or both". If, even in physical, embodied form, the fallen angels are capable of changing sex, then human sexuality and male/female dichotomy means little to the identity of the individual angel. Though the impermanent gender of fallen angels in Paradise Lost, apparently makes the strict application of 17th century masculine friendships and gender roles almost irrelevant, the consistent male gendering of the named fallen angels throughout rather indicates that analogy to male relationships is relevant, if not entirely accurate.

Returning to the question of equality within Satan and Beelzebub's relationship, Satan's address of Beelzebub as "cherub" is not an obviously applicable one, but looking into biblical and angelic hierarchical contexts, the use of "cherub" conveys important information about the true hierarchical nature of Satan and Beelzebub's relationship. In Book I, during Satan's exchange with Beelzebub in the lake of fire, he calls him "fallen cherub" (Milton Book I 157). According to Heywood's Hierarchie of the blessed angells, the cherub represents "absolute Knowledge, free from Humane dulnesse" (Heywood 194). On its own, this knowledge seems to mean little to Beelzebub. He proves to be a proficient orator, but this is only because he is given the content of his speech by Satan; otherwise, Beelzebub as depicted in the poem is not particularly knowledgeable. However, Heywood later says about the cherubim:

God is an absolute Monarch; and next Him,

Daniel doth place the holy Cherubim,

As knowing best His Counsels and Intent;

And such are seldome on his message sent. (Heywood 283)

This description of the cherubim has more in common with Beelzebub. His position as Satan's second-in-command reflects the cherubim's position beside God; Beelzebub is also the fallen angel privy to the most of Satan's plans, as in the speech at the council of devils. This interpretation places Satan in the position of God, though this is perhaps unsurprising, as Satan's claim of leadership in hell clearly mimics the rule of God in heaven. Referring to Beelzebub, his closest lieutenant, as a cherub, the type of angel closest to God, could be Satan's way of linguistically solidifying his claim to godhood in hell. Though cherub implies high rank, it also indicates a position of servitude, of one obedient to an absolute ruler, placing the Satan and Beelzebub relationship into the context of strict hierarchy. However, Heywood's writing on cherubim has yet more to offer. In a description of Lucifer, Heywood says, "For thee in the first day thou wert created./Thou art th' anointed Cherub" (Heywood 337), clearly stating that the unfallen Lucifer himself was a cherub. This complicates further Satan's use of "cherub," assuming Milton was working under the same assumption as Heywood, that Satan had been a cherub in his unfallen state. Heywood's Hierarchie of the blessed angels was published in 1635 in London, so that Milton would have considered similar ideas is not out of the question. Assuming the Satan of Paradise Lost was a cherub in heaven, his subsequent use of the word to describe Beelzebub could reflect a friendship dynamic of seeing oneself in the other, having a sense of sameness and kinship with Beelzebub. However, Satan has been previously discussed to use the language of equality with Beelzebub without acting out an equal relationship, so his nod to kinship could simply be another occasion of this kind. Perhaps a more compelling reading of the use of "cherub," however, is that Satan uses the word and its relationship to himself in the past to once more establish his godhood. When speaking to his fellow fallen angels, Satan speaks of their past servitude in heaven to God; to Satan, then, the cherub is a symbol of his own servitude. Recognizing another, Beelzebub, as cherub instead of himself, who ranks above Beelzebub in the politics of hell, places Satan in the position of control, of God. Thus, the use of "cherub" can be read as a casting-off of a past label of servitude onto another to assume godhood. This reading, once again, places Satan and Beelzebub in a hierarchy, but paradoxically links the two closer as beings who had both, at some point, worn the same label. In the Bible, the cherubim hold a similar position to that Heywood originally described. Ezekiel 10 describes God appearing to Ezekiel along with cherubim bearing his throne. At the end of Ezekiel's vision, "the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight" (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Again, the cherubim are seen closest to God, serving as wordless throne bearers and heralds. Satan addressing Beelzebub in this sense indicates that he sees him as a servant meant to be obedient and to serve his will. If Satan is intending to be the equivalent to God in hell, then Beelzebub being a "cherub" indicates that Satan wants anything but equality out of their relationship; the simplicity of an equal friendship as described by Shannon is nowhere to be found, as it is clear that their relationship entails strict hierarchy.

Despite the hierarchy in their relationship, the pair Satan and Beelzebub parallel Adam and Eve through similar awakening scenes in Book V, remarkably giving Satan and Beelzebub the appearance of lovers. Book V opens with Adam awakening Eve in the morning as he says:

"Awake,/My fairest, my espoused, my latest found" (Milton Book V 17-18), then, later, "why sleepest thou, Eve?" (Milton Book V 38). In the same book, Satan approaches a sleeping Beelzebub:

His next subordinate

Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.

Sleepest thou, Companion dear? What sleep can close

Thy eye-lids? and rememberest what decree

Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips

Of Heaven’s Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts

Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;

Both waking we were one; how then can now

Thy sleep dissent? (Milton Book V 671-679)

In both instances, the "sleepest thou" phrase is repeated drawing an immediate parallel through wording. Not only that, but the fact that the similar wording occurs in tandem with similar action—that of the "leader" or "head" in the relationship awakening his partner—ties these two instances and these two pairs closer together, to the point where one begins to wonder why this parallel would occur. Then, there is the parallel address of Eve and Beelzebub as familiar names—"fairest" and "espoused" for Eve, and "companion dear" for Beelzebub. Even on its own, Satan calling Beelzebub "companion dear" is particularly familiar language; on its own, "sleepest thou, companion dear" could easily be a phrase spoken between Adam and Eve in their own Book V awakening scene. However, the familiar name "companion dear" occurring soon after the language Adam uses once again drives home the parallel in the two scenes. Finally, Satan's declaration that "both waking we were one" once again recalls Raphael's talk of "mixing" of bodies and "union" as in both angelic and human sex. Not only that, but in Book VIII, when Adam recalls his discussion with God on the creation of Eve, he says of man and woman that "they shall be one Flesh, one Heart, one Soul" (Milton Book VIII 499) as in marriage. The parallels between Satan and Beelzebub and Adam and Eve evident in Book V are perhaps the clearest in all of Paradise Lost, but they are not the only parallels, and perhaps not even the most profound.

In their functions as well as their actions, the two pairs mirror each other; Satan and Adam acting as the superior while Eve and Beelzebub are considered inferior, thus also having the effect of gendering Beelzebub as feminine. As shown by his address of Beelzebub as "cherub" and his use of Beelzebub as a mouthpiece, Satan sees Beelzebub as not an equal, but as a "partner" who is essentially belongs to him and is meant to do as he asks. Adam and Eve's relationship, as outlined in Book IV, is similar:

Whence true authority in men; though both

Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;

For contemplation he and valour formed;

For softness she and sweet attractive grace;

He for God only, she for God in him (Milton Book IV 295-299)

In Adam and Eve's marriage, they are neither equal nor meant to be so; their sexes were made for different purposes which are not valued the same. Adam is spiritually higher than eve, made "for God only, she for God in him". Of the two, Adam is meant to be the closer of the two to God, and though the fallen Satan is not spiritually close to God, his aspiration to become the god of hell makes him conceptually closer to godhood than his partner, Beelzebub. Therefore, Satan can be read as analogous to Adam in their position in their closest relationship, while Beelzebub is analogous to Eve. This reading of the Satan and Beelzebub relationship differs from the strictly platonic "wedded brothers" as described by Bray, instead in closer agreement with a heterosexual marriage exemplified in Adam and Eve. This comparison, then, requires that Beelzebub be read as feminine in his submission and obedience.

However, what is perhaps more interesting is the differences between Beelzebub and Eve; while he is complacent in his inferior position, Eve continuously challenges her designation as less important than her husband. It is Eve who is first to tell her own story in Book IV, Eve in Book IX whose temptation takes pages and pages rather than the fall of Adam, which takes a few lines, Eve who directly communicates with God in a dream while Adam speaks to the intermediary, Raphael. Eve continuously expresses her own original thoughts and opinions throughout Paradise Lost, but there are simply no instances of Beelzebub doing the same. If Beelzebub and Satan are to be read as a corrupted reflection of the Adam and Eve marriage, then perhaps part of what makes their relationship corrupted, or a result of said corruption, may be Beelzebub's abject submission to Satan. Perhaps it is Eve's ability to think and act independently from Adam that sets them above the relationship between the two fallen angels.

Readings of Beelzebub and Satan's relationship can be more complex than they may seem from the surface. Elements of male friendship exist between them, though confounded by hierarchy and the perplexing nature of angelic gender. The most profound aspect of their relationship, however, may relate them back to the marriage of Adam and Eve, putting the two fallen angels into an unequal gendered relationship. However, looking at the two pairs together, Satan and Beelzebub's relationship is more strictly hierarchical, a clearer definition between leader and follower, superior and inferior, while Adam and Eve's marriage is more confused in terms of where Eve stands as compared to Adam. She, like Beelzebub, seems to be placed below her husband in importance, but she challenges this notion, unlike the complacent Beelzebub. That the more clearly defined relationship is embodied in the fallen angels may perhaps highlight that the parallel relationship is messier, and that strict gendered hierarchy and absolute subjugation, as far as Milton is concerned, is reserved for the fallen.

Works Cited:

Bray, Alan. The Friend. University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Heywood, Thomas. The hierarchie of the blessed angells Their names, orders and offices the fall of Lucifer with his angells. London, Printed by Adam Islip, 1635. ProQuest, http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/hierarchie-blessed-angells-their-names-orders/docview/2248523987/se-2?accountid=14244.

King James Version. 1611. The Bible in English. http://collections.chadwyck.com/bie/htxview?template=basic.htx&content=frameset.htx

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 1667. Reprint. Hackett Publishing, 2003.

Shannon, Laurie. Sovereign Amity: Figures of Friendship in Shakespearean Contexts. The University of Chicago Press, 2002.

[daniel-mga2022-mi4017]

TV Show VS Live Action Movie Remake (Referral)

Live action VS Adaptation

Concept: Video Essay

Topic: Differences between live action and animated adaptation

Important Points:

● Mise-en-scene

● Lighting

● Colour

● Editing

● Cinematography

● Music and sound

● Narration

Key scenes: 

Opening

Irina Jelavic intro

Script:

Intro: Hello and welcome to the very first installment of a brand new segment; Action X Adaptation where we will be taking a look at some popular animated shows that were adapted from novels or comics, and then comparing it to the live action remake of that same show. We will be comparing the overall storytelling and narration of each version as well as discussing certain aspects of scenes and the overall feel of the media and how they differ from animated adaptations to live action remakes. 

Body: Today's subject shall be interesting as I shall be looking at what is actually my all time favorite anime and its subsequent live action remake: Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, or as it’s known in english: Assassination Classroom. Assassination Classroom was an anime, which is a form of Japanese cartoon, which aired from January 10, 2015 to June 20, 2015. It was adapted from its manga(a japanese comic book), which began its serialization on July 2nd 2012. 

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu follows the lives of a classroom full of highschool students. Looked down upon by their peers, teachers, and the rest of their school, this classroom is located in the mountains near their school but away from the main buildings and houses the biggest delinquents and dropouts the school has to offer in Class 3-E. These students have no hope in advancing in their studies and have given up on such until they are suddenly thrust into an abnormal situation. Their national government  tasks them with eliminating the largest threat to their planet, a giant yellow octopus monster, who just so happens to be their newest teacher.

The anime begins with a bizarre scene that immediately grabs your attention. The scene starts with ominous music and the dark lighting of a dimly lit classroom, the word “assassination” written on the wall. The students all appear to be grimly waiting for something to arrive. (So far this sounds like the same school experience I had, but moving on)  We then cut to the outside, where something is moving towards this classroom at a fast speed before landing outside with a large impact that causes a cloud of dust to be stirred up. The students are alert at this and all seem to be anxiously waiting for someone to arrive. There is an air of unease added to this scene, it is edited in such a way that it is hard to tell exactly what is causing the distress in the students and leaves the audience in the dark as to what the future holds for them. All the colors are muted and the lighting is gloomy which only contributes to this effect. We hear the sound of grotesque slimy footsteps approaching the classroom as we cut to the view of whatever is causing this noise, as it slowly and menacingly approaches the classroom. We then finally cut to the first sighting of this being as a yellow tentacle slams an attendance book down on the desk and we pan up to see a large yellow octopus-like creature wearing a uniform standing at the head of the class. In contrast to the atmosphere thus far this being has a wide grin on its face, which only adds to the aura of fear built up thus far. This being then asks the class representative to command the rest of the class to stand and greet their teacher. Now in contrast to a regular role call, the students all stand armed with guns pointed at their teacher. When given the command to bow, they all shoot at this being. The classroom erupts with gunfire as all the students shoot at this creature, however the teacher calmly begins taking attendance while moving at incredibly fast speeds and dodging every single bullet shot at him. 

This scene works to create an air of mystery and intrigue to the show around this teacher and classroom, while also establishing its absurdist comedy through the unusual attendance taking. This scene is excellent as it draws the viewer in and sets the tone for the entire show. 

The live action movie starts rather differently. We are shown the moon, which has been destroyed and now remains in a crescent shape. Information which was divulged only later on in the Animated show. We then zoom into the earth where it’s currently stormy and dark and we see a heli-carrier filled with soldiers. They are being informed of a mission where they have two hours to capture their objective, their lives are on the line. This is emphasized when we see one of the soldiers looking at a picture, presumably of his family. The scene has an air of danger and suspense to it, encapsulated by the chaotic background sounds and the fog making it harder to see, the lighting is dark and the weather is stormy, all adding to the sense of danger, suspense and overall chaos of the scene. The soldiers deploy from the heli-carrier in a chaotic shot filled with storm clouds, the camera is shown to be shaky and then noise becomes distorted before the scene cuts to what appears to be some sort of government headquarters. The lighting is tinted green which adds a militaristic feel to the scene. We see a large amount of people tracking some sort of being and viewing live footage as the soldiers search for their target. The music is intense and adds a sense of urgency to the scene, adding to the sense of danger and the stakes. We then cut to the ground where the soldiers are running, searching for their target. The lighting is tinted purple, making the scene feel alien, as if it was taking place on another planet rather than earth. The scene takes a dark turn as we see soldiers being picked off by some unseen force. They disappear and are dragged away by tentacles that emerge from the shadows. The music takes a more horror-like tone as we see gunfire and hear shouting among the soldiers as they fight this unseen being. We see the soldiers' video footage being cut as they are taken out. Finally the scene ends with a single soldier remaining and an oddly shaped alien-like shadow looms over them before the music crescendos and the scene cuts to black. 

This scene in the live action has an effect that is in stark contrast to the opening scene of the tv show. Rather than setting up the show as comedic and light hearted, it portrays this being (who shall eventually come to be known as Koro Sensei) as violent and aggressive. 

We do get a scene reminiscent of the anime in the live action adaptation, where Koro Sensei is taking attendance as the students fire at him, however this comes later on in the movie rather than being an establishing shot. The movie has significantly less time to establish certain things that are established in the anime and therefore scenes have to be shortened, reordered and combined to portray the key scenes in the anime. 

The introduction of the class’s English teacher Irina Jelavic has a dedicated episode in the anime. In this episode we get a look into her character as she works. Irina Jelavic joins the school with the same goal as the students; the assassination of Koro Sensei. Irina Jelavic is portrayed as a knowingly attractive woman who utilizes charm and seduction as her main weapon. Using this to extract information from one of the students, the main protagonist of the anime, Nagisa. She even resorts to kissing him, a child, to essentially twirl him around her finger and extract information from him on Koro Sensei’s weaknesses and abilities. In her official introductory scene we see that she is being mugged by some men and Koro Sensei, while in disguise, saves her from them. She then immediately employs her charm and clings to his arm as she thanks him and asks for directions to the school. Knowing Irina Jelavic’s character, this mugging was very likely a setup to allow Irina to craft a good rapport with  Koro Sensei. The music in Irina’s presence varies between romantic Jazz music, whenever we see her trying to gain someone’s favor, be it Koro Sensei, or the students, or her targets in a flashback explanation given by the main government operative, Mr Karasuma from the Ministry of Defence, in charge of the operation with Koro Sensei. Within the first day of being at the school Irina proves herself to have no wish to actually teach the students anything and instead sets up an elaborate trap for Koro Sensei. She asks to meet him in the school shed and once inside begins to make advances on him. Through the introduction of Irina we get some insight into one of Koro Sensei’s weaknesses, conveyed to us and compiled by Nagisa in a notebook he holds on to through the show. in that he is highly susceptible to seduction based ploys. However this is revealed later on to not work as Koro Sensei was simply going along with her tactics to “uncover his assassin”. Once in the shed Irina pretends to make a move on Koro Sensei, before giving the sign to her operatives and they open fire. Three machine guns start firing at Koro Sensei as Irina takes cover, there's a flurry of gunfire before finally things quiet down. Irina smugly steps out expecting to see Koro Sensei dead but is then shocked to see him standing there unharmed. As it so happens, Koro Sensei is immune to the lead bullets being shot at him. They simply melt inside of him. The only bullets which can hurt him are the special BB bullets which are used by the students. Koro Sensei smugly explains this to her and we see an ominous look appear on his face. Finally we have a questionable scene of Koro Sensei aggressively grooming Irina as finally she stumbles out of the shed wearing a “wholesome retro PE outfit”

The live action adaptation of this is in stark contrast to the animated scene. Irina Jelavic doesn’t have a particularly well fleshed out introduction as in the anime, rather we see her burst out from a cupboard in the classroom while the students are firing during roll call. We get a quick introduction from a voiceover as to who she is and how she operates. The music, similarly to the anime, is Jazz however it’s not as romantically pronounced as in the anime and is more spy-themed. After she is introduced, we immediately see a scene of her in a hallway with Koro Sensei. A large amount of her character establishment and planning capabilities are cut short here as we see the stand in for the shed scene here. She uncovers a machine gun and begins shooting at Koro Sensei, however none of these bullets damage him and we see the student’s perspective from another building as with a flash of light Koro Sensei disarms Irina and does the quick change, dressing her in the wholesome retro PE outfit. While this scene does work as a quick, comedic introduction to the character, what is saved on time is detrimental to the character. We do not see how Irina utilizes her charm or seduction tactics and we see virtually no strategy being employed on her part. We learn nothing about her character other than her tendency to use large guns and some expositional backstory. 

[michael-langdon-appreciation]

Another tag game to spread the love: Tag 3 (or more) fellow authors and name their strengths! – Chanel #2

I am absolutely heartbroken because I have just spent the best part of an HOUR answering this ask because there are authors on here that I just ADORE and I legit wrote a mini essay on each one and TUMBLR LOST THE WHOLE THING AS I POSTED IT! 😭💔 SCREW THIS CRAPPY WEBSITE SOMETIMES! 

I will create a post about this another time in detail because it deserves to be said but for the moment while I recover my sanity here is my list and a very brief outline of what makes these authors so bloody fantastic! I’m so sorry for missing any of you out because there are SO MANY TALENTED WRITERS IN THIS FANDOM! 

Here they are: 

@avesatanormalpeoplescareme - my QUEEN OF SMUT with her amazing descriptions that make you feel fully in the moment. Her attention to detail and ability to make a simple sentence sound like filth is so enviable to me! Plumper is such a good example of how description can be used to eek out every delicious moment in a story! 

@langdonsoceaneyes - Jacqueline writes from what she knows, which is the sign of a great author! Her brand is fashion and that is what makes Millions, Baby and What Do You Wanna Wear This Season? so damn good because of the unique perspective! Plus Vertigo is an absolute masterpiece and I have such respect for anyone writing a long, slow-burner series!!!! 

@sojournmichael - Eva is able to soften her characters, creating beautiful moments of fluff and romance without losing the nature of Jim, Michael and Duncan! Her SHY!HAWTHORNE!MICHAEL MASTERLIST is just incredible and highlights a side of Michael we don’t get to see very often. 

@thelangdoncooperative - I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my OG inspiration! I wouldn’t have started my blog without this girl and her fics! I admire her dedication to writing series like ‘Forbidden Fruit’, ‘Seven Wonders’ and ‘Scary Love’. I think she inspired the foursome without me even realising it as there’s nothing I love more than a good juicy love triangle! https://thelangdoncooperative.tumblr.com/post/178709129650/masterlist

@ritualmichael - She is one of the most prolific content creators in this fandom. She is truly here for her friends and followers, answering so many asks and developing them into drabbles and mini fics! She is another author who writes smut so damn well, “Red Handed” will forever be one of my favourite fics because of her ability to create a Y/N who is a fully three dimensional character. A Y/N I am SO jealous of! 

@cryptid-coalition - Sonny unlocks the psychosis behind Michael Langdon and other characters. He roots his stories in the mentality and motivations behind a character, creating relationship dynamics that are completely believable such as the bratty sub club and sub!Michael/dom!Cordelia verse! In may opinion that trajectory is far more interesting than how AHS Apocalypse played out at all because it comes from the base and humanistic desires in all of us. You know you’re good when you’re writing better than the season itself! https://www.tumblr.com/blog/michael-langdon-appreciation

@lvngdvns - WOW is Mallory good! She creates some of the most interesting and exciting dynamics and verses I have seen in the fandom! I read ‘Toying Somewhere Between Love and Abuse’ just this morning and her ability to create a new world with these characters and keep them completely authentic is spellbinding, not to mention she captures the romance and a vivid realism to her characters. Mallory is another who always answers and develops her asks with such detail and dedication, I admire her so much! https://lvngdvns.tumblr.com/post/185508794199/toying-somewhere-between-love-and-abuse-michael-x

@ccodyfern - I may not have partaken much in the rise of Jonathon but I see him, I read him and I know him! This girl has created an entirely new character with so much precision I’m sure she knows what he ate for breakfast today! There is real skill in creating something from nothing, or just a stimulus. Despite what happens in the upcoming season, Jonathon is here to stay. He’s sexy, dangerous and everything we love in this fandom. He’s a multilayered complex character, the villain we all want to murder us….literally. 

❤️❤️❤️

[dracosaurusrex]

Bookworms (Part 2) | Draco x Reader

Summary: The feelings that Y/N and Draco have for one another continues to increase as their relationship begins to bloom.

Word count: 3.3k

Genre: Fluff; enemies-to-friends-to-lovers

TW: Slight bullying, but not too bad.

A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for all the support @.@ Here’s another chapter! It’s might not be much, but I think I like it hehe. Love is in the small things, I suppose. There’s not much dialogue in the beginning, but that’s compensated towards the end :) I hope you enjoy! Feedback is very much appreciated :D

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You wake up to the feeling of warmth. Warmth in your fingers, in your arms, and in your face. It covers the expanse of your body as your surroundings come into view. As your eyes and consciousness adjust to your environment, you immediately go red. Looking down, you see that your fingers are interlocked with someone else’s, the owner’s right arm is draped over your waist, and your legs are entangled with his. You were in someone’s embrace. Before you could identify who this person is, small breaths of air brush your forehead, alerting your attention upward. You gasp silently at the sight of Draco’s peaceful face while your heart speeds up to a rate that is comparable to that of a seeker attempting a 50 m dive for the snitch--it was very fast.

You don’t dare to move your fingers from his grasp. Rather, you begin to analyze all of his features. It is then that you notice the way his eyelids are shut peacefully, and how his lashes feather his cheeks. The scowl that usually graces his face is absent, relieving the tension that is often settled in between his eyebrows. His lips are opened slightly--his bottom one pouting more outward than its upper counterpart. His platinum locks flutter slightly over his eyes, making him look more angelic in contrast to his typical gittish appearance. Your focus travels down to where your fingers interlace into his. His hands are comparable to yours in size and in texture. While you had long fingers and soft hands, his was slightly bigger, longer, and much more rough in characteristic. And yet, they caress yours so well. You take the opportunity to completely intertwine your fingers with his, giving his hand a squeeze with hopes that he wouldn’t stir from his slumber. With full consciousness now, you press your ear against him, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. 

A couple minutes pass by, filled with the soothing sounds of his lingering beats. You begin to gently untangle yourself from his limbs, lifting each with care and placing them delicately on the bed. As soon as you slid off, you began to loosen the sheets from underneath him, trying your hardest to be as discrete as possible. Taking them with a firm grasp, you lift it over Draco’s body, stopping just below his shoulders. A smile appears as you stand and stare at his peaceful face. With much care, you sweep stray platinum strands away from his eyes. Your fingers gently stroke his porcelain skin. He was a beautiful boy.

Stepping away from the sight, you walk towards your belongings and rummage through them before pulling out a quill and paper. You then take a seat at his desk, settling yourself comfortably, while looking at the items left astray on the surface. Books and parchment littered the space. An ink bottle was left open, and a quill was perched on a stand. Lined up against the wall was a small collection of books. Ones that contrasted greatly from the vibrant cover of the memory police. Each of them were written on subjects that weren’t taught at school. You suspected that he probably studied them due to the demands of his parents. 

Tearing your attention away, you gently dip your quill in the inkwell, totally focusing in on your task at hand. On the piece of parchment before you, you lay down a pattern of dots, connecting them with lines to form a familiar constellation. It was Draco. Recalling a few facts you knew from the astronomy books you’ve read, you write one with much care followed by a small message. It causes your mind to drift to the boy behind you, knowing that he’s much more than the image he portrays to the world. A sense of fondness overcomes you and you smile at the thought of him. You begin to fold the paper as soon as you place the quill down. Its creases and folds form into a crane. Satisfied with your work, you reach for the Happy Prince, and tuck the crane within the middle of the pages. 

Sounds of shuffling interrupt your train of thought. When you look to your side, you see the boy stirring from his sleep, opening his eyes shortly. His eyelashes batter innocently before realizing that you were gone from his grasp. He jolts upward in response, looking for any signs of your presence. Once he sees you, the frantic look that was fixed on his expression dissipates.

“You could’ve woke me up.” He states. You throw him a soft smile.

“You looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to disturb you.” Draco’s heart flutters before he recomposes himself. He shifts his body, so that he’s sitting at the edge of his bed.

“What are you up to now?” He asks with yawn.

“Something for you.” You hand the object to him. As he takes it, he begins to scan the cover with adoration.

“I suppose this is for you as well.” He picks up the book from his nightstand and passes it to you. As you grab it, you begin to trace its edges before flipping it to look at the back for the summary.

“Did you enjoy it?” You ask.

“Very much. I hate to admit it, but muggles are quite the storytellers.” His statement shocks you.

“Oh shove off, Y/N. Don’t give me that look.” He scowls at you. In response you raise your hands up in defense and his eyes soften.

“You have a good point. I’m compelled to read it now. Thank you.” You say simply. Within the silence, the faint sound of the bell erupts, indicating the time. 

“I should get going. I still have studying to do.” You announce as you stand up from the bed. As you gather your belongings, you turn back to look at him.

“Thank you for spending time with me again.” The sweet smile that you give elicits a matching one from Draco’s lips. He raises himself to lead you to the door. As you step into the hallway, you turn around to give him your farewell.

“Do you think we can do this again? Saturday’s at Avenoir and Sunday’s in the dorm?” He asks while he scratches the back of his neck. You nod happily.

“It’s settled then.” There was an undeniable gleam in your eyes. One that makes his heart flutter for the umpteenth time that day. After you depart from his room, the boy walks to his bed, picking up The Happy Prince. As he flips through the pages, the paper crane falls out. He gingerly picks it up and delicately unfolds it. What he finds inside creates an explosion of warmth in his chest. Depicted is his constellation, and below it, “The guardian of the star that never moves.” He moves his fingers to trace the lines that were etched into the page and smiles as his eyes scan over your message: “Hope you’re ready for another adventure :)” It’s so characteristic of you. He folds the crane back up and inserts it within the pockets of his book bag. 

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The week goes by as it usually does, with the exception of an eventful Wednesday night. While you normally study in your dorm alone, Draco studies in the common room surrounded by the company of his friends. To his dismay, however, his companions tend to engage in conversations that are irrelevant to the assignments given. On most days, he is able to tune the noise out and concentrate on his work, but on this particular day the mentioning of your name piques his attention.

The assignment given out for potions that day was particularly difficult, resulting in complaints being made by those around him. As they do so, he initially keeps his focus on the information given in his textbook.

“Snape is really out to get us now, huh? This assignment is a killer.” Pansy is the first to speak. Daphne agrees.

“Agreed. What’s the point of writing an essay on the properties of Moonstone when you can just read the book like a normal person?” She exclaims.

“I bet that Y/L/N is breezing through this, huh? Why is she even in Slytherin? She might as well be in Ravenclaw with all those books she buries herself in.” Theo took a turn to speak. Draco stops his writing at the sound of his statement, but keeps his head facing down as he tunes into the conversation.

“Tell me about it, the sorting hat must’ve been sick when she was sorted.” The group starts laughing. When Draco looks up, he sees that Blaise had also kept his head down, eyes staring hard at the parchment in front of him. He looks up at him and gives an exasperated expression. A tinge of annoyance kindles in the blonde’s heart, yet he makes no sound.

“Y/L/N should really know her place. Did you see her when I spoke to Draco this past Sunday? She really had the nerve to mock me. She ought to keep her nose stuck in those books if she knows what’s good for her.” Astoria finally spoke out. Astoria, who was two years younger than her sister, Daphne, had a massive crush on the boy. She ensured that everyone knew of it also--even Draco himself. Unlike Y/N, she was proud. Proud of her family name, proud of her looks, proud of her blood status. She would be the perfect fit for him within the eyes of his parents’ standards. However, she wasn’t anything like you. Furthermore, it angered him knowing that these people spoke so lowly of you. You were much more than anything and everything that they had to say. 

As the boy immersed himself in anger, he catches sight of you as you enter the common room from the dorms. His eyes linger on you as you swiftly make your way to the entrance of the dungeons. Without any hesitance, he collects his stuff and places it into his bag, preparing to follow you.

“Draco, where are you going?” Daphne asks.

“Somewhere else to write this bloody essay. You all are damn noisy.” He says with a cold tone embedded in voice. The group looks at him in shock. He’s normally very tolerant of the insults that are thrown amongst them. As he steps away from them, he looks back with vile-looking eyes.

“You idiots know nothing of Y/N. Leave her alone.” The ordeal attracts the attention of every student in the common room. They look at the boy with astonishment as he exits the Slytherin confines. It was the first time he defended anyone other than his family, and he had done so with just as much passion. He doesn’t care much about the shocked eyes, however. Instead, he’s more concerned about your whereabouts, envisioning the smile that gives him peace of mind. As he walks out, his mind remains occupied with anger. He mentally throws insults to the sorry excuse of a group, without giving much attention to where he was going. As a result, he bumps into something hard. It was you.

“Hey! Watch where you’re go- Draco! Are you on your way to the library too?” The genuine look in your eyes automatically relieves him of the bitterness that lingers in his mind.

“Yes, I am actually. I couldn’t concentrate in the common room.” He says truthfully. You nod your head in understanding.

“It can get rather loud in there. I don’t blame you.” His mind drifts back to the conversation his friends had just a few minutes ago. He then drifts to you. Beneath your quiet and focused demeanor was a vibrant and genuine personality. One that was so intelligent, witty, and resourceful, yet caring and empathic to a select few. He can’t help but to get angry for you.

You both enter the library and quickly find a seat. As you do so, you pull out your materials before exploring the sections for books on Moonstone. The boy sets down his belongings to follow you. When he finds you, you’re seen with an arm outstretched, struggling to reach a book from the top shelf. Draco gets behind you and reaches for the book with ease. He chuckles at your stunned face.

“You seem to have forgotten my height in comparison to yours.” You roll your eyes, trying to get the book from his grasp. 

“Give it here you git. I found it first.” You spew out as you jump to retrieve it. Instead he snickers at you, and raises it higher.

“Draco!” You whisper harshly before jumping again. This time you grip his shoulders and push off, successfully retrieving the book from his hand before landing. However, your feet don’t touch the ground quite properly, resulting in you stumbling over. With quick reflexes, Draco wraps his around the small of your back, and holds your body against his in attempts to steady you. The action makes you both freeze in shock. You felt his warmth before, but you were sleeping then. Now that you were fully awake and conscious, the feel of his body against yours becomes so real, and there’s a flush of red that covers both your faces. After realizing the amount of time that has passed, the boy loosens his grip on you, and you step back.

“Let’s go back?” You ask him nervously.

“Uh yea.” His response holds the same kind of energy as you turn to walk towards the table. You get through your work with racing hearts. It was the first time you two had sat together with a purpose other than reading. You would’ve expected that it’d be easier to concentrate on your work in comparison to reading when he was around. With the whole scene playing in your mind, however, that is proven to be less likely. Nevertheless, you make an attempt to progress, flipping through pages and taking notes. Your efforts in focusing are fruitful as you continue to wrap your mind around the subject at hand. However, it is only when you feel someone’s gaze that you stop. 

You catch the conflicted look on Draco’s face, making you stop yourself from writing.

“Are you alright?” The question catches him off guard, and his face contorts when he thinks of the conversation yet again.

“Draco, is there something bothering you?” You ask again with a little more concern. He lets out a sigh.

“Y/N, in a hypothetical scenario, how would you deal with people talking behind your back?” You sit there without reacting for a moment, recollecting an appropriate response. 

“It hurts to find out, but I guess reading or being in my own world helps to tune out the irrelevant stress.” It’s a truthful response, that much Draco knows. It’s you after all.

“Have you ever wanted revenge?” The boy props his head on the palm of his hand, his elbow on the surface of the table. He looks at you with pure curiosity.

“It’s pointless, don’t you think? To stoop on the level of those who already showed they’re beneath you? Regardless of what they said, if I didn’t do anything wrong, the only problem lies with them. Not me. I would appreciate it, though, if someone told me if I ever did something wrong or offensive. Besides that, revenge is a waste of energy. To be frank, it’s more satisfying to see the karma go back to them. Sorry for sounding harsh.” He shakes his head in objection to your apology.

“But why?” He asks as he begins to question himself. 

“It’s a waste of energy, it gets in the way of my business, and I don’t need anyone to throw me off.” The way you respond conveys a fire in your eyes. No one can stop you from achieving the things you want, and your awareness of that excites him. At the same time, however, his knowledge of your independence and sense of responsibility enforces the feeling of worry within him.

“Y/N?” 

“Yes, Draco?” The boy sits up and shuffles slightly in his seat. The words that he wants to say next are not things others would typically hear him say.

“Slytherin’s code.” He says simply. When you don’t understand what he was referring to, you quirk a brow upward.

“Come again?” He sighs. You can see him fidgeting with his fingers.

“You’ve seen me at my worst and took care of me. I’ll look after you too..if you let me that is.” You look at him stunned. It wasn’t like him to express his feelings so openly. As a few minutes pass, he begins to grow weary of your lack of response. Before you could say anything, he beats you to it.

“I understand if you don’t want it. I-” Your eyes widen.

“No! I do!” You raised your voice mindlessly. After remembering where you were, you repeat yourself slowly with a softer tone.

“I do, truly. I enjoy your presence, Draco. I treasure you.” Your genuine words come out stumbling, and the flush that you tried to suppress finds you again. You look down at your lap, starting to play with the edges of your skirt. Silence fills the air for a moment until you cautiously look up at him. A satisfied smile graces his lips and his eyes are filled with something you can’t exactly comprehend. It makes your heart race, nevertheless.

“D-don’t look at me like that.” You glance back down before looking up again. He still has the same expression on his face. You push his shoulder slightly.

“Stop.” You say again as you try to suppress your smile. You fail miserably. Draco on the other hand is filled with joy and relief at the sound of your words. His focus is fixated on you with much adoration. There were plenty of things people could say about you, yet your response has always been so eloquent, elegant, graceful, and wise. You were resilient. Today, your hair was up in a ponytail, but in Draco’s eyes, your beauty surpassed that of physical appearance--one that Astoria could never top. You were amazing, you made him better, and he was aware of all of that.

“I for you and you for me?” He asks earnestly. The sincerity in his voice prompts you to come to terms with the seriousness of the matter. As you meet his gaze, you see that he has a pinky extended upward and outward over the table.

“Blaise told me it’s a muggle thing to make promises with pinkies. I think it’s stupid, but in this case I suppose it’s...fitting.” You chuckled as the hint of his familiar arrogant tone emerges when he tries to defend himself. You wrapped your pinky delicately around his, and pressed the pad of his thumb with yours to seal it.

“I for you and you for me.” You say softly, yet so contently. Neither of you break from the position. Instead, you simply resume your work--you write and cross reference with your right hand, while Draco reads, using his left to flip pages from his textbook. You’d glance at the view occasionally, heart skipping beats at the sight of his finger wrapped around yours. After working for a while, you take a break and stare at his focused expression. If your past self saw you, she’d be raging, but now his presence represented new beginnings. For once, you didn’t feel alone within the school grounds. For once, there was someone who was willing to care for you as much as you for him. For once, you felt safe right where you were--pinkies tangled together and all. Draco being there encompassed all those things, and you couldn’t be more content.

You tightened your grip around his finger. Without looking up at you, he does the same.

A/N: I want to thank you again if you make it this far! Let me know what you think :D Other than that, I hope you have a good day!

A few tags! C:

@fadesbrina @redheaded-hobbit @ccabian @rottenhexrt

[sherl-grey]

☕️ the eleventh doctor 👀

Hahahahaha where do I even begin? In this essay I will...

There are a few ways I can interpret this, and I'm not sure which one matches the ask, so:

Matt Smith as the Doctor? Loved it. Loved the energy, loved the light and energy and youth as well as the rippling underlying darkness that flowed over from Ten (and I will admit part of me had trouble forgiving him for simply not being David Tennant, but that wasn't his fault. What a tough act to follow).

The Eleventh Doctor's actual episodes? Oh boy... the toughest thing for me to swallow was just how different the writing was, particularly the characterization of the Doctor himself. I've only ever seen New Who, but the Nine-to-Ten regeneration was very big on "same man!! same man!!" and I didn't get that feeling at all from Ten-to-Eleven, which sucked. One of my biggest complaints is his quicker tendency towards and acceptance of violence that builds up over the seasons. This is a Doctor that's okay with guns, okay with soldiers and armies, okay with morally-grey plots and people, and I wasn't a fan of the episodes that showcased that very flippantly. I did admittedly like some of the character studies like "A Town Called Mercy" where we look at the dark side of the Doctor through the post-Time War lens, but not episodes like "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Let's Kill Hitler" where we got very non-Doctor-ish personality with very little explanation.

The general feel to Eleven's era was "man strapped to a trolley with no control over where he's going" which was a bit of a bummer compared to the fun, adventure-y feel we get from Nine and Ten. Eleven's best episodes were the ones that were just standalone trips--Vincent and the Doctor, the Lodger episodes, the God Complex, etc. The overarching plot episodes, however, were a mess--all I was doing was watching a man perform his half of a script, literally. He had virtually no autonomy but had to keep going, and it was exhausting to watch.

The companions were a mess too--I'll ignore individual flaws for the Ponds and just look at the dynamic. I would've expected Amy and Rory to bring in a very Nine-Jack-Rose feel, where all three of them mixed well as a team--especially since Rory was around for a pretty significant amount of time. But instead it felt constantly like the Amy-and-the-Doctor show, with Rory included either as an afterthought OR for some unnecessarily dramatic contrast/tension with the Doctor (or a romance plot, I guess) until a couple episodes before their exit--and even then, in The Angels Take Manhattan the Doctor almost exclusively mourns Amy in the dialogue.

And don't get me started on River--I'll leave a lot of that alone for now, but the Doctor's entire character has to change for episodes with her in them to work. He positively responds to or mentions that she's a "bad girl," that she's good with a gun, that she just expects him to come when she calls... she's a large part of why his future is locked in, something that should make him furious (as Ten was in the Library), and yet we just see him go from angry and annoyed to suddenly accepting and flirty with very little transition in between. Not to mention--I watched a 4 season arc about his relationship with Rose and how he coped (or didn't) with losing her, and could make the argument that they never really got a true kiss. And then I was supposed to believe that I watched a full, marriage-level romance build within a few (bad) episodes spread across 2 seasons? Nope.

The TLDR is that in general, I like Eleven! I like his character (the fun, nonviolent bits), and I like his potential (that's probably the best way I can phrase that, actually, and it explains why I like to write Eleven in spite of my many complaints). But his era leaves room for a lot of fix-its and headcanons since actual canon content in his era is... *shudders* not typically, in my opinion, well-written or satisfying.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, and thanks for the ask!

[niamhuncensored]

Can I see the essay on Into the Spider-Verse?

of course! this was written as a film analysis for my Intro to Humanities class. for the sake of your dash, and to avoid spoilers, the essay is under the cut.

Great Expectations (And Refusing to Meet Them)

           There is a phrase often used to describe the experiences of minorities, especially in America. “Twice as good for half as much.” A minority, in the case of this analysis, Black people, know that they will never get the same level of praise as a white person, even when doing exceptional work. This was likely in the minds of Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, the men who wrote Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

           Spider-Verse came out in December of 2018, following nine prior movies, including Peter Parker’s introduction to the high-profile Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to mention all of the TV shows, video games, and the extensive history of Spider-Man comic books.

           All of those nine movies, and as many TV shows as I have personally seen, were about Peter Parker, a white high schooler, or college student, in the latter parts of the Raimi trilogy.

           The producers of Spider-Verse saw the surrounding films in the genre and chose to do something different. Rather than the typical live action movie, they chose to make the movie with 3D animation. Rather than make that animation hyper-realistic, like previous animated films, they animated it as if it were a comic book. And rather than make a movie about the same white kid from Queens, they introduced the movie-viewing world to Miles Morales.

           Spider-Verse features the origin story of Miles Morales, a young artist living in Brooklyn, whose parents are PDNY officer Jefferson Bridges and nurse Rio Morales. Miles struggles in his new boarding school but has an outlet in his uncle Aaron. One night, they sneak into the subway to put up some graffiti, and it is there that Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider.

           Miles’s powers develop overnight, getting him into a number of embarrassing situations the next day, before discovering a plot by villain Kingpin, and witnessing the death of his universe’s Spider-Man. From there, he discovers additional spider-people, learns to control his powers, and stops Kingpin.

           The plot of the film is consistent with other works in the genre, but the artistic style is a love letter to the original medium of the character, comic books, in addition to being a refreshing change from the typical live-action format of superhero movies and an introduction to Miles Morales.

           The art style makes itself apparent from the first frame. The camera zooms into and through the Sony logo, revealing that it has been constructed of pixels in multiple colors. The pixelated theme continues into the movie, not only because it is animated, but because everything is shaded with halftones, or dots of varying sizes and distributions. This mimics the Ben Day dots and printing styles of classic comics.

           Characters are drawn with sharp lines and bold colors but are not outlined perfectly. Fingers are more squared-off than usual, and the irises in characters’ eyes are not circles, but ovals. Blur effects are created by misaligning colors in the halftones. The animators repeatedly make new, imperfect, yet still interesting stylistic choices. This even supports the film thematically. Just as the animation style is imperfect and interesting, so is Miles. He leaves his shoes untied. He deliberately makes drips in his artwork, even on his own suit. Miles himself is imperfect as Spider-Man: he lacks experience, he is not trained as a fighter, he even breaks the object he needed to complete his universe’s Peter’s dying wish. But he is an interesting character, nonetheless.

           Not only are the characters drawn as if they had come straight from a comic page, but the movie is shot the same way. Shots, while not always innovative, are often interesting and make frequent use of center framing, mimicking issues of a comic book. Comic mimicry quite often appears much more literally. Miles’s thoughts appear in yellow boxes around his head. Onomatopoeia and burst cards appear frequently. Panels appear on screen to break up the flow of action, make the scene more engaging, or to draw attention to multiple details in a short amount of time. Even more clearly, some frames in the action sequences are actually drawn in a comic style. The background is drawn in bright colors with high contrast and full Ben Day dots. One clear example is during the first chase sequence, through the subway. Miles jumps in front of an oncoming train, and for a few frames, the scene turns black and orange. Additionally, though less in the comic style and more similar to Miles’s graffiti, the first meeting between Peter and Miles is similar colored with block color. Peter in red and blue, the colors of his suit, and Miles in green and purple, perhaps as symbolism of his coming growth and the name of comic series, “Ultimate Spider-Man,” as purple is associated with royalty, or for the combination to signal how this change is discordant with his current life, or how confused he is.

          Comparing this movie to others in the genre, one gets the sense that most live action films are almost embarrassed of their comic origins. Spider-Verse embraces them.

          Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse breaks the mold of the superhero media audiences have become accustomed to. It is not an adaption of a comic book so much as it is an homage. It does not try to be high-brow and traditional. Instead it does something new. It is animated. It is animated in a new style.

          It features a Black kid from Brooklyn.

          Spider-Verse was not perfect by the contemporary standards of Hollywood. But it was refreshing and made with care.

          Miles was not a perfect spider-man. But he was unique, and vibrant, and new.

          And if any more proof were necessary to show that Spider-Verse forgoes the standards of previous Marvel films, recall that Marvel films always include an after-credits scene, usually for slight comic relief or to tease the next movie. Spider-Verse has one, too.

          Spider-Verse ends on a meme.

[inspired-by-the-music]

y’all know I can’t control myself when shinee loving anon encourages me to do literary analysis! here are nearly 2,000 words of me analyzing my own writing like a weirdo :p because this is not the first time I have done literary alaysis of my own work, and it certainly won’t be the last (I’m already working on a thesis statement that could connect themes from the SHINee universe to at least 2/3 main plots of For You), I’ve decided to make a little banner for these essays lol. 

First, some disclaimers: For You is an ongoing work. It might be an ongoing work for the rest of forever because Lei provides a perfect character through which I can explore S.M. In case you haven’t gathered from scrolling through my blog for a few seconds — I am a huge S.M. fan. With that being said, the main plot of 4 O’Clock is completed. This informal essay will discuss similarities between 4 O’Clock and works in the SHINee Universe.

I think I should begin by expressing my deep attachment to Taemin that is reflected in my writing. He is the first SHINee member that I wrote about; that drabble resulted in my friendship with SHINee Loving Anon and inspired my confidence to write about all five SHINee members. “Beautiful Parts” should be read as what it is: my reunion with my favorite group. Writing that story was therapeutic; it ranks with “Between Souls - Jonghyun,” “Lights - Taeyeon,” and “Orenda - Onew.” All of these works were written with my emotional needs in mind. They are deeply personal, and that’s why I love them. I created them with the intent of bringing myself comfort, and I shared them with the hope of extending that comfort to others. 

“Beautiful Parts” also represents the shift toward Taemin becoming one of my ultimate idols and creative inspirations. When I could not yet write about Jonghyun, I could write about Taemin; when I could not yet listen to Jonghyun or SHINee without hurting, I could listen to Taemin. The image that I created of Taemin comforting someone — an unnamed reader — in “Beautiful Parts” remains with me. I can’t unsee it. It is obviously not a moment that I have lived through, but it feels real to me.

That image is integral to the relationship between Taemin and Lei. Comfort —  the fact that Taemin sat beside her when she cried — is a key component of Lei’s love for him. 

One could and should find similarities between the unnamed character of “Beautiful Parts” and Lei. Granted, “Beautiful Parts” is a part of the SHINee Universe. The character is Minho’s sister; although much of her character is intentionally vague, she is a separate character from Lei. She could and should, however, be read as a precursor to Lei. Both characters seek the company of the moon when they are troubled and cannot sleep. They share a desire — a compulsion, even — to reach for the moon and stars that they know they can never reach. 

“What’s so comforting about the moon and the single star in the sky? How can they be so far, lightyears away, yet feel so close? Why did they convince you to lean against the railing, reaching for them like a child with no understanding of the distance? You couldn’t say, even though you wondered almost every night.” “Beautiful Parts”

“The stars were on full display, and the moon was a sterling crescent so bright that I thought, were my wrists not bound, I could have reached out and grabbed it out of the sky and put it in my pocket.

That was a silly thought I dreamt about often: holding the moon, carrying it around with me in the daylight as if I could protect it better than the sky. I don't know who planted that dream in my mind or why, but I was always grateful for it" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 2). 

If you read 4 O'Clock, you cannot mistake the significance of the moon; Lei will not let you. In third-person or second-person narratives— like "Beautiful Parts"— I think that it would cheapen the story to overtly impress upon the reader the significance of a symbol. Put simply: if the second- or third-person narrator has to explain, "this is significant because," then the writer has failed in their application or execution of a symbol. However, as Lei is a first-person narrator relating her story to her mother, she is permitted to express plainly, "this is important— this is important, and this is why." She does exactly that by referring to the moon, in later chapters, as "our moon," meaning that she has claimed this symbol as hers and Taemin's. 

This claim of ownership becomes especially significant as Lei struggles to confine her love for Taemin to times when it is safe to express— at night in their hotel room or, in post-tour chapters, in her room. This distinction is also expressed in "Beautiful parts" compared to its counterpart "Morning Confessions." I used "Morning Confession" as a guide in writing the morning scenes of 4 O'Clock Chapter 9, Chapter 12, Chapter 14, and part 6 of the Epilogue. In all of these scenes referenced, there is a clear shift between the night— when a character receives comfort— and the morning— when that comfort is reciprocated, usually through some form of affection. 

The exception is the scene from Chapter 9. This part of the story occurs before the New Year's kiss that dispels much of Lei's discomfort about being in a relationship. Within this scene, Lei is torn between the desire to share her first kiss with Taemin and the desire to escape his embrace and start her day. Notice, then, that Lei is imposing this binary of day and night. (Granted, Lei believes that this binary is imposed upon her by external forces. I am inclined to agree that she is limited in self-expression by the pressures of standing in the public eye. Using my author knowledge of her life, I would also argue that her fears and reservations are rooted in real-life experiences; those are always the hardest fears to shake.)

Another interesting observation is that this scene from Chapter 9 is sandwiched between Lei's comforting Taemin post-Jaemin-induced-tantrum and the tense bathroom scene where Lei object to the terms "mine" and "yours" when referring to another person. 

"That's something I've always struggled to accept: the idea of calling somebody— a whole individual— mine. I know some people are infatuated with the idea of ownership, but that kind of dynamic has always made my skin crawl." 

"It's just, those words— mine and yours—" I cringed, and Taemin dropped my hands. "I don't know. I think it's fine to call you my soulmate or my boyfriend, if that's what you are, but the thought of calling you— all of you— mine just seems wrong'" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 9). 

Note: Lei does not yet accept that Taemin is her soulmate. These quotes are indicative of Lei's character as they express her deepest fears. Consider that 4 O'Clock— while it is about Lei's love for Taemin, and it is about Donghae's unrequited (totally requited) love for Manager Kim— is ultimately about Lei's liberation from fear. Certainly, Taemin places a role in that liberation; Lei states far too many times to reference that he was an inspiration to her before she knew him as anything more than an idol. However, one would be remiss in failing to recognize the relationship through which Lei discovers herself: her relationship with her mother. 

(If you need proof of this claim, and I seriously doubt you do, here is a quote from Chapter 10: 

"I had been considering what it meant to be the fulfillment of her dreams, and it meant that I couldn’t be afraid. It meant I didn’t have to be. There was liberation in the fact that I could be confident in the truth that no matter what anybody in that hotel room, in the country, in the whole world even (!) said or thought or did, I now knew who I was. I knew who Mom was. I knew that no matter what— come what may— we would love each other forever. 

All along, I had the forever love I couldn’t admit to wanting. . .") 

The whole "'mine' and 'yours' makes me cringe" scene occurs right before Lei admits to her mother that she knows who she is: the idol who never debuted. Throughout most of the story, Lei refers to her mother as "Mom," capital-M, as if "Mom" is her birth name. There are scattered incidents where Lei writes "my mom," but she usually does so to distinguish her relationship with Mom and the one Lucas claims by using the name. 

"Were I not used to that— Lucas referring to my mother as if she were also his, calling her hot— I might have cringed" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 1). 

This use of the phrase "my mother" should be viewed in contrast to Lei's use of the phrase "my mom" in chapter 9. 

"No. No, I knew my mom. I knew her long before I saw her as the idol who never debuted. She had eyes that found possibilities where others saw none. There was no way that she hadn't considered how the last 21 years of her life had been affected by my existence" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 9). 

By using the word "my," Lei does not take ownership of the relationship— or of her mother as a whole individual— in a way that should make anybody's skin crawl. Rather, she uses that word to distinguish her Mom from the idol who never debuted. "My" is a protective word— a word through which Lei can shield her mother from judgment. Distinction of identities matters deeply to Lei because she feels that she is inadequate in her roles as an idol and as a human being. 

She writes when reflecting on Kai's request to be called Jongin that she has always been hyper-sensitive to the difference between calling an artist by their stage name and their birth name. Considering whether she should have used a stage name herself, Lei wonders: 

"Would that have made it easier to distinguish me (the person) from me (the idol)?" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 2). 

It is crucial to understand these distinctions of identities and their significance to Lei if you are to feel the weight of a post-New Year's- Kiss moment:

"That time, when Taemin whispered, “My Lei,” against my skin, I didn’t cringe at the thought that I— all of me, every thought locked away in my mind, every fear hidden in the darkest corners of my heart— belonged to him. 

Maybe that’s not the best way to phrase it. Maybe I mean to say that I didn’t cringe at the thought that all of me, even the parts that I considered fruitless or dangerous or flawed, belonged with Taemin. I don’t know" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 14)."

There's our Lei, still caught up in things like proper wording! Also significant is Lei's limited use of the phrase "my Taemin." She thinks it for the first time shortly before the scene quoted above; she doesn't say it aloud until the next day. We could take this, I suppose, as another example of the binary of day and night that culminates in Lei's decision to "live in the light," expressed in the closing chapters. 

[queendom25]

Black Liberation in the Black Church

Brace yourselves Southern Oregon because the Why We Can’t Wait challenge is but an appetizer to the cause! Yours truly is working with Black Alliance & Social Empowerment (B.A.S.E) on the project of reading the book Why We Can’t Wait written by Dr. King and comparing the civil rights movement to what we see today. Change starts with action and I encourage everyone to read the book as a stepping stone in their research of other America. With that being said let's talk about the role of the Black church from enslavement to liberation movements because have you seen what’s happened in the Georgia Senate race? We can’t just overlook the historical significance of a pastor from the spiritual home of Dr. King competing with a Senator that confidently poses in pictures with known white supremacists. 

It’s no accident that the key players from Reconstruction to Black Power have been men of faith. In 1865, Reverend J.W. Wood of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church introduced a series of reforms considered “radical” including the right to vote for Black people, “Without exaggeration, it can be stated that almost every Black minister was something of a politician, and that every aspiring Black politician had to be something of a minister.”(Marable, 2015) The foundation of modern Black politics rests with the Black church and in 1910 there was a decrease in clergy. It was W.E.B Dubois that stated the Black church was an expression of the “Negro’s soul” and organizational ability but he along with other key figures had choice criticisms of the church.(Marable, 2015) Historians and sociologists alike that specialize in 20th century Black liberationist ideologies, have traced the ambivalences that set Black Christianity apart from the mainstream and debate on whether it’s been an obstacle or a blessing in the struggle for liberation. V.F. Calverton for example, declared in 1927 that the  Judeo-Christian ethics of submissive behavior and tolerance towards Earthly oppressors only sustained white racism and exploitation of labor power from the Black proletariat. An unsettling number of ministers were silent as Dubois, Paul Robeson, and other socialists and progressives were arrested with tarnished reputations but the buy out of other Black ministers was the most despicable! If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to follow the money which always pays corporate interests instead of the laborer. Henry Ford was among many capitalists of his time to pay off Black ministers for their influence to convince the Black working-class to accept low pay and reject unionism. Tokenism is no stranger to the pulpit so the real question is when will the general population focus on the politics of the person instead of their color?

In the early stages of my personal involvement with the cause, I came across a unique Christian bigot with the sexist, transphobic, and  homophobic attitude to match. Interacting with him on social media made me realize my own intersectionality and how this bigot’s melanated skin is more detrimental than a Black Trump supporter. He boasted that he rejects Western Christian doctrine because the Ethiopian bible was the true path as he “corrects me on my learned self-hatred.” The doctrine that he’s referring to dates back to when the “Ethiops” joined the Crusaders in the war against Islam and just like a toxic breakup, the Europeans ghosted the Africans after the fact as the slave traders made their big debut. As a Black woman in America I realize that my heroes will contrast dramatically from that of male counterparts both Black and white. While W.E.B Dubois could labeled as the feminist of his time, he still talked about the emancipation of women in his essays as he invited Margaret Sanger to contribute to the pages of his periodicals. Margaret Sanger was the peak of white feminism that’s responsible for the Negro Project. This “ally” used Black stereotypes in order to reduce fertility in African American women. Religious Black separatists often referred to her work in later years to sway my melanated sisters from participating and who could blame them? But as Dubois noted, “The mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.” (Washington, 2006) Thanks to Dubois’ advice Sanger recruited ministers like Dr. King to promote such a project.

The liberation of Black people has never been so cut and dry but the deliberate lack of knowledge within American textbooks ought to be incriminating. Replacing representation with tokenism should’ve been clear to us from Kamala Harris to Kelly Loeffler and from ministers on capitalist payroll to Ben Carson. We are still met with indifference as women of color and members of the LGBT+ community on the topic of basic human rights including adequate access to medical care. We may have avoided the full cancelation of “democracy” by voting out Donald Trump but the Black caucus has not forgotten the “jungle” that Joe Biden thinks we belong in.

Sources:

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America Manning Marable 2015.

Medical Apartheid Harriet A. Washington 2006.

Black Liberation George M. Fredrickson 1995.

[thunderbirds-are-fab]

The Mechanic

An unnecessarily long fan essay examining the character ‘The Mechanic’ from Thunderbirds are Go by thunderbirds-are-fab

Pretty much since the Mechanic was first revealed as an upcoming character to be introduced into Thunderbirds are Go, he’s been surrounded by mystery. There were a lot of wild fan theories about who he could be and if he was related to any original character in particular (He was either Brains’ brother or his father, Kyrano gone mad, and even Jeff in some weird disguise trying to traumatise his children to someone), but he has since turned out to be a completely new character and therefore had a lot of possibilities as to how he could fit into the established TAG universe.

Sadly, two seasons since his introduction we still don’t know all that much about him or his super villain origin story, and with the conclusion of Season 3 we likely never will. The writers put this guy on the back shelf, and this is why I’m writing an essay piecing together all the messy details we have regarding the character of the Mechanic. It turns out there’s quite a lot to talk about, so get comfy.

*Episode spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched Seasons 2 and 3*

The biggest tease about the Mechanic was his hinting that he knows Brains very well or even personally in Earthbreaker, but after that it’s not really brought up again. Massive wasted potential there. He made it sound like he and Brains were old rivals from long ago, but Brains doesn’t show any signs of recognising him. Brains himself never really reacts to the Mechanic’s hints that they might know each other during Earthbreaker or after, and never even tries to guess at who this masked engineer may be, which feels ridiculous.

“Hey Brains, in all your years of being one of the world’s best engineers, did you ever meet anyone in your field of expertise who was capable of making an army of robots completely on his own, looked like he could bench press MAX with one hand, and maybe seemed a little power-hungry and unhinged?”

“Nope, sorry. That sounds like it could have been anyone.”

Surely if they were both brilliant inventors working on similar stuff, they would have mutually run into each other before???

Not only does Brains not keep up his end of the ‘we-may-know-each-other’ plotline to make it believable, but after Earthbreaker the writers seem to drop it from the Mechanic’s character too. He doesn’t show the same ominous bias towards focusing on Brains again whenever he crosses paths with IR, and if anything he seems to reacts with distrust towards Brains when he first offers to help him in Home on the Range. In Brains vs Brawn Brains offers to help him again, but still acts wary of him wanting to get close. If they had known each other before then this could have been a great bonding moment for them to reconnect and win each other’s trust, but instead Brains has to use the promise of “engineer to engineer” which is as far as their personal connection seems to go in the end.

Brains also only ever calls him “the Mechanic” the same as everyone else does, and going into Season 3 this lack of a proper name becomes more of a problem for the Mechanic’s character as a whole. We finally see him without his mask in Chaos Part 2, but a face reveal is all it is. It’s not a grand finale Scooby-Doo moment of “Aha! It was old man Jenkins the janitor all along!”, and this again feels like wasted potential to me. What’s the point of having a masked villain if he’s still exactly the same person without the mask, just a little sadder?

Between being taken into GDF custody in Brains vs. Brawn and then being negotiated for release in Break Out (a 20 episode gap, which is quite a long time span in TAGverse), the GDF don’t seem to have done any background check on him whatsoever. Everyone, including Colonel Casey, still refers to him as “the Mechanic”. If even the in-world authorities couldn’t find this guy’s original identity, then it seems that the entirety of who he was before never existed, and that’s because the writers never properly wrote it. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the TAG writers and have rarely had to fault them on anything in 78 episodes, but fitting their OCs into the series for more than an episode or two is by far their biggest weakness *coughcoughwhydidn’tyouuseEOSmorecough*

His backstory was clearly set up before his introduction, but then scrapped for whatever reason. Perhaps with everything else going on in the show they simply didn’t have time for it? This I can understand, because there’s only so much time in a children’s show and action has to come first in this genre, but it opens up a lot of additional plot holes when you keep trying to build a story on top of a poorly-established character.

What I’m trying to get at here is that without ever having his personal motivations revealed, looking back on the Mechanic’s pervious actions in the story gets a lot more confusing, and makes his character development and the plot development between Season 2 and 3 more difficult to understand.

I’ll split these last points into two parts:

1.    How do we know he built the the T-Drive when he’s unidentifiable?

In Break Out it’s suddenly revealed that the Mechanic was the engineer who designed the first T-Drive engine/Zero-X prototype... But how? How do they now know that??? Surely being the engineer who came up with this fantastic revolutionary warp drive for the spaceship that allegedly killed the great Jeff Tracy would make this guy pretty famous? His former name should probably be common knowledge, and yet he’s still only ever called the Mechanic. It’s been suggested to me on anon that maybe he’s shunned his former name in favour of the Mechanic moniker, which is fine, except that’s no reason for all of the other characters never to speak his true name even when he’s not there to hear it. To us he’s still just the villain we were introduced to, never the man he was before. Without being shown how that past and him today are linked, it’s difficult for us as an audience to attach such important prior information to a character who doesn’t seem to have previously existed.

2.    Was he ever really a true villain, or was it all because of the Hood? And does his change of heart make sense?

We’re never told how the Mechanic came to be. Why did he go from brilliant engineer, to turning over to the dark side and becoming a puppet of the Hood? In Break Out he hints that the Hood manipulated his bitterness over ~something~ in order to get him to work under him, but again it’s frustratingly vague! In the beginning we assumed it was through some personal grudge with Brains, but as I’ve already gone through at length, all that backstory just got washed away. Another anon has suggested to me that his rivalry with Brains was manufactured by the Hood. He didn’t know Brains personally, but developed a grudge against him through being compared. “Brains is brilliant, but you’re a failure”... because of the Zero-X disaster? He’s clearly as good as or even better than Brains when it comes to inventing things, so he had to have had something big happen to him in order to spiral downwards as he did. The Zero-X disaster would certainly fit the bill for that, but it’s a shame to leave all that to speculation. If it were true, then would it have been so hard to fit that into the show?

Anyway, the Hood somehow fostered a hatred for IR in him that served his own motives, and so began their partnership. He’s clearly very strong, so that’s probably why the Hood needed extra control over him via cybernetics. It’s in Brains vs. Brawn that we first learn that the Mechanic is at least partially being controlled by the Hood. Since the Hood spent most of Season 2 in jail, this was maintained through a connection between his bionic eye and some kind of cybernetics that the Mechanic has (forcibly implanted by the Hood or just already there and hacked, we don’t know). Partially coerced and partially forced, but we will never really know how much of each.

The Mechanic is a lot more violent than the Hood ever is on his own. The Hood may not care much for other people or the collateral damage he causes (e.g. in Falling Skies he’s fine with abandoning the Estrella Grand hotel full of people to crash and burn if he decides that he doesn’t want it anymore), but it isn’t really his priority. For the whole of Season 3 he makes the Chaos Crew do the physical dirty work he doesn’t care for (btw I let the Chaos Crew off for not having much background story because their “we’re bad just because we enjoy being that way” motive stays fairly consistent throughout the show. They aren’t that complicated). 

In contrast, the Mechanic has frequently plowed forward with no regard for anyone’s safety. He doesn’t make sneaking around his Plan A like the Hood, and he doesn’t hit and run for fun like the Chaos Crew. He’s brutal. Earthbreaker really sets him up for being a ruthless villain because he’s so focused on getting what he wants that he’s willing to take down anyone who gets in his way. Even when Scott asks for him just to let IR work around him to rescue the civilians below, he attacks! He’s a genuinely scary and thrilling character for how relentlessly destructive he manages to be every time she shows up in Season 2. Seriously, just read his wiki page and you’ll see it’s got ‘perfect villain traits’ written all the way through it.

Then comes the redemption arc.

In Brains vs. Brawn he is subdued and chooses to trust that Brains can redeem him. In Break Out he shows remorse for his actions. He believes that he deserves to be in prison and is beyond redemption for what he’s done. He puts Kayo’s safety before his own and saves her life. He could have disappeared, but instead comes to Tracy Island of his own free will and voluntarily works with his former enemies. That’s a pretty big change from someone who was hellbent on destruction regardless of innocent people begging for their lives! It’s a pretty big ask to believe that all of that relentless anger and complete apathy towards human life was only there because the Hood was in control the whole time.

There’s something else which leads me to believe that “I was being controlled by the Hood” isn’t the watertight excuse it’s presented as. The Mechanic makes it sound like he’s totally stuck and irredeemable without the Hood’s control being removed, but prior to that happening in Buried Treasure he makes choices of his own that the Hood could’ve stopped.

Between being dumped by the Hood in Escape Proof and Brains vs. Brawn, he’s pretty much a villain under his own steam. He’s working independently on continuing Project Sentinel, which has the aim of using to destroy the Hood for having control over him. Sure, he may only be doing bad things because he’s desperate for revenge against his abuser, but he’s still willfully endangering a lot of other people in the process. The Hood may have lost interest in him during that period, but the control system was still in place that whole time - and he was resisting it! If he can manage to hide himself from the Hood and work directly against him despite that, then he still has some free will of his own.

In Chaos - Part 2 Havoc learns the Mechanic is in space prison, which is why the Hood has lost control over him. Arguably the HEX probably had a faraday cage around his prison cell to block the Hood’s influence, and it is stated that it’s harder for the Hood to influence him from space anyway. But after breaking out and coming to Tracy Island of his own free will, shouldn’t being back on earth have put him back under influence again? The only time he had to fight against the Hood’s direct control after that was when Brains disturbed the control software and alerted the Hood, who then suddenly reveals that he has a fail-safe that can wipe the Mechanic’s memories. Wow. If he could really do that, then why didn’t he do so in Escape Proof and not leave the Mechanic as the potential enemy that he turned out to be? Sure, he later says that he still has plans for the Mechanic, but you would think that during Brains vs. Brawn when he’s getting shot at by a giant lazer whilst being thrown around by IR, and the Mechanic is resisting his commands to stop, that then would have been the ideal time to use the secret factory reset ability?  

Afterthoughts aside, I’m still convinced that the Mechanic had a lot of evil in himself that wasn’t just there because of the Hood, and it’s really a wonder that the Tracys let him into heir home after how many times he tried to kill them. i really don’t blame Scott for staying suspicious, even though he was the one most obviously anxious to find a way to get his father back. 

Despite all the questions that the show failed to answer about him, I still think that the Mechanic was a good villain. Whatever his super villain origin story was supposed to be, I think it had a lot more potential to be morally complex than the origin they ended up giving the Hood. It’s a shame that writers across the board these days often don’t have the time to write villains more complex than the trope of “once upon a time somebody made me sad, so I decided to be evil to get revenge”. I know that somebody out there will be looking at this unnecessarily long post and screaming But fab, it’s just a kid’s show! Kids won’t care about tying up offscreen plotlines or any of this crap! And my answer is yes, I know that. That’s why I’m not actually mad about what the writers did with the Mechanic’s character. The writers of TAG did a great job and the show works as it is, but I can’t help but feel that they only had to push a little more or add a line or two somewhere and then all of these questions I have about the Mechanic could have been answered. A little backstory goes a long way in fleshing out a character, and Thunderbirds is a franchise with a lot of history.

[imaginariumpod]

ORIENTALISM : edmund dulac and the 1001 nights

Once upon a time.

Fairytales and bedtime stories for children were always part of the general culture, especially in western society, but from the late 18th c., they steadily gained popularity until the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century where the popularity of these stories was at an all time height. The stories were often found in small illustrated books that were read by both adults and children alike. From Perrault to Andersen, as well as various foreign tales. That era was also known as the Golden Age of Illustrations, since the wide releases of illustrated books made book illustration a very important part of popular visual culture. The late XIXth century will see a growing industry for the illustrated book. The context of the industrial revolution as well as a renewed interest for folktales and fairytales will make for a very busy era of illustrated books. The reprinting of a lot of traditional fairy tales by Andrew Lang as well the constant new editions and new fairy tale books during that specific era (1870-1920 according to most sources) will create a climate where lots of books will be published and even though, it will be mostly european tales, sometimes more foreign tales such as the 1001 nights will also be published and illustrated. 

Artists like Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Aubrey Beardsley and many other will definitely impact the visual culture of the times, and still how we think about fairy tales illustrations to this day. In fact, some of the strongest visual influences behind the early Disney movies that were inspired by fairytales were indeed those illustrators. In fact, Kay Nielsen, who is one of the most well-known illustrators of the Golden Age era will become a creative director in the Disney Studio.

The particular historical context of the XIXth c. in Europe will bring a newfound fascination for the Orient (™) with the colonial empires of european countries such as France and the United Kingdom exercising their powers over countries such as Algeria, Egypt, India and many others. This era brought an interest for all things exotic and foreign. People longed to be mystified ad captured by the exoticism and romanticism of a foreign land. Of course, this all reeked of the white privilege and the western gaze but we’ll come to this. I’ll first start by explaining what is orientalist art, it’s art made specifically by white/western people incorporating stereotypical elements of what the Occident thinks the Orient looks like and pushing these pieces of art as accurate and representative of what the Orient really is. A lot of orientalist artists will never have left their countries and only make their art based on travel journals. So it’s a very biased art based on a second_, which will already a biased perspective of what the orient looks like because oh boy do white ppl in the XIXth love looking at foreign countries from the Orient™ as if it's some sort of curiosity that’s there for their entertainment. The most important element to consider to truly understand what is orientalist art, is that it’s art made by white people FOR white people. It won’t be a real representation of those countries, the culture and the people that will live in it. Orientalist art will create a truly foreign, exciting and, most importantly, imaginary idea of what the Orient is. It’s truly an invention of the West.

One of the main scholars of Orientalism and post-colonial theory is Edward Said, and what he will explain of what is Orientalism. For Said, Orientalism will be a way for the Western World to speak about the Orient from the western perspective. Orientalism will be a way to look at the Other and to truly otherize the East by putting it in contrast to the West. Said explains that the western culture will develop its own identity by putting it in opposition to what it considers foreign. Before I go further, i just want to say that what i define by the word Orient here will be the arab world as well as the entirety of the asian continent. Those old timey whites were just like oh. u look foreign… that means ur oriental 😔 what do you mean china and india are wildly different ? no same shit. So the base concept of Orient will be really vast and will mostly be used to talk about anything that is Other compared to the West. The West will define itself by showing itself as rational and normal while the East will be irrational and abhorrent, and yet. So fascinating to them.

Now that i’ve established the base concepts we will be working with, it’s time to start talking about the fairytales and the illustrations in themselves. I will talk mainly about Edmund Dulac in this article and his work within the fairytale illustration genre as well as his orientalist leanings. Also. sometimes it makes sense (even tho. its like. bro. please be better) and sometimes he puts a dude in a stereotypical turban in a the little mermaid illustration.  Dulac is a french artist established in London, who will be really well known during most of his career. He illustrated books and magazines for most of his career. The main book we will talk about in this essay will be  Stories from the Arabian Nights, written in 1907, and published and translated by Hodder & Sloughton. This edition will contain 50 colored illustrations as well as a pseudo arabic typography to give an exotic feel to this book and the tales it contains.

As it’s possible to notice by the first page, Dulac will create a very immersive oriental universe in this book that will bring the tales to life in a universe full of oriental aesthetics (whatever THAT means). The illustrations will be more inspired by Orientalist western paintings of what they imagined the Orient™ to be, rather than a depiction of what it truly is. And look, i’m aware that this is the 1001 nights, and since it's a phantasmagorical imaginary story, there should be no such thing as realist or not, but in the Dulac illustrations, the imaginary east will be a jumble of whatever they think the oriental looks like as well as a mish-mash of cultures that are wildly different one from another and it’s not really about a coherent imaginary universe, it’s just how the west will think of the east.

For example, one of the most well known orientalist artists will be Eugène Delacroix, who will make orientalist art wayyy before any of his travels to Morocco and Algeria, proving that it was never about accuracy, but mostly about a fictional, imaginary vision of what the East is supposed to be, especially in contrast to the west. The wild exotic East inspires, scares and fascinates western artists. It’s possible to compare one of Dulac’s illustration in this book with one  of Delacroix’s most well known orientalist paintings Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement, and you can see that the visual compositions of both art pieces will be very similar. The oriental woman is shown as languid, relaxed, the epitome of everything that the western woman isn't. (also i just want to say that i'm talking about cultural identity here and not like. the realness of daily life. Also i don't want to get into sexism and stuff RIGHT now but there’s like. for every woman involved here lol) Mostly, what i want to say is that women in the western society should be proper, civilised, polite, quiet. And this is what orientalism is about, once again, its putting the Orient™ in  contrast to the West, so that the West can build its own cultural identity by comparing itself to the East.

It’s also possible to notice that the colors that will be used for these paintings and illustrations will be very rich and vibrant. The color scheme will be used to add a sense of exoticism and foreignness. The imagined East will be luxurious, wild, pleasurable, the complete opposite of a western society that will still be plagued by very strict sociological rules. This imagined freedom and temptation of sins will fascinate the western viewer.

Dulac will use mostly watercolors for his illustrations, this will help him create a very soft yet fantastical atmosphere to his illustrations. It will help him communicate the exoticism of the settings in which the tales will take place in. His illustrations will accompany tales and stories that have an oriental origin, and yet published and tailored to a western audience. So the visuals of this story will be created specifically to cater to a western public and that’s where the orientalism and the post-colonial perspective of these illustrations will start being in play. You can’t ignore the relations of power between the colonized and the colonizer. More than simply a curious look upon the east, the west will look at the East with a colonial gaze. The illustrations will indeed appropriate and incorporate elements of oriental art, but it will only be a reflexion of western society.

As you can see, in the following illustrations, more than wanting to represent the East, Dulac wants to give his illustrations an oriental flavors with elements that reminds of what people think the orient looks like. The influences will be arabic, indian, chinese, etc, and it will all be creating the Oriental universe of this fairytale book.

The postcolonial approach is very interesting and important in this case, because it will help the voices of the marginalized people who didn’t have a say in the visual representation of their own identity to reappropriate it. Those images, even if they do depict the Orient, won’t belong to the Orient. It belongs to the West.

The thing with those illustrations is that they are gorgeous. They truly are. Dulac was known as one of the best illustrators of the Golden Age and he really was, (tbh that era was amazingly full of talented and inspiring artists, some that are remembered today, and other who were forgotten but GOD THE SHEER TALENT) Those illustrations truly are of their times with their desire to showcase the Orient without having to face to colonial trauma they inflicted on these people or the reality of what those countries are. This specific book of Edmund Dulac and Housman is an interesting mix between two genres of art that were very predominant in the late XIXth century aka Orientalist Art as well as the typical book illustrations prints.

[protectwoc]

The Problem with Mal (part 3/3)

The Solution

This part of the essay is where we’re going to get into more opinion based stuff rather than facts or actual analysis, so if this is where you check out I don’t blame you. But I believe that with a little reworking the Descendants franchise could have reached its full potential story-wise. This reworking centers around one general idea:

The movies would have been better if Mal had not been the protagonist. Specifically, Evie should have been the protagonist of D1, Uma should have been the protagonist of D2, and they should have co-lead D3.

To truly discuss this thesis, we’re going to have to turn some literary techniques on its head. Bear with me everybody.

To start, let’s look at one particular literary device which I find most relevant to this discussion, that of a foil. Wikipedia defines a foil as “a character who contrasts with another character, usually the protagonist, to highlight qualities of the other character… A foil usually either differs dramatically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart.” Essentially, a foil provides a “what-if?” to another character, usually the protagonist.

Evie and Uma are both foils to Mal, but of different types. Evie’s character is radically different from Mal’s on both superficial and significant levels. On the other hand, Uma’s character is very similar to Mal’s, with a few key differences that make Uma a more compelling POV character. Unfortunately, while foils are usually intended to highlight positive qualities of the protagonist, Mal’s foils serve to show us what a missed opportunity the Descendants writers had.

Let’s compare and contrast Mal with these other two characters. We’ll start with Evie.

Motivation

What is Mal’s motivation throughout D1? In part one we decided her over-arching motivation is self-interest, specifically power and opportunity. However, if we look simply at D1, we can also see a different, more charitable motivation for her: To make her mother proud.

This is particularly interesting because it is one of the few places where Mal’s character and Evie’s intersect. As we’ve already noted, Mal and Evie are starkly different characters. Evie is more traditionally feminine, more sensitive, and shows more generally positive emotions like kindness and compassion than Mal does. In the background of many scenes (such as Mal’s dragon fight with Hades on the bridge in D3), Evie can be seen checking up on the other characters and making sure they are okay. Strangely enough, even though Mal is ostensibly the protagonist/POV character, we know more about who Evie is than Mal. Evie is, for some reason, gifted a rich inner life that even the main character is not allowed. We know Evie is interested in science and fairly adept at it, she is proficient in many homemaking activities such as sewing and cooking, and she helps Ben with the legislation for the VK project. We also know that she has a strong, steady relationship with her boyfriend that does not stop her from becoming a successful businesswoman who runs her own fashion line. The viewers are not actually told much about who Mal is beside her relationship with Ben and her talent with graffiti. Oh, and her middle name is Bertha I guess.

But for all these differences between these characters, the one place that they align is their D1 goals. Mal and Evie both go into the wand-stealing plan with the intention of making their mothers proud, but even though these motivations are the same on paper, I would argue that this motivation is better handled with Evie’s storyline than Mal’s.

Consider the relationships between Mal and her mother and Evie and her mother throughout D1. Unlike Evie, Mal is actually shown as having a sometimes-positive relationship with her mother. Maleficent pays her “compliments” (see: “That’s my nasty little girl”). She tells Mal that she intends for them to rule Auradon together with “matching thrones” and “hers and hers crowns.” There is even a whole song in D1 that revolves around Mal receiving encouragement from her mother, albeit an imaginary one.

On the other hand, The Evil Queen instilled in Evie anxiety over her physical appearance and relationship status and an intense inferiority complex. The only time she pays Evie a compliment comes when they are video chatting in front of the Fairy Godmother and all of the parents are putting on a facade. In their first scene together, Grimhilda charges Evie with “just finding (herself) a prince with a big castle” and then reprimands her for laughing because it will cause wrinkles.

As a consequence of this difference in parenting styles, Evie has a much stronger motivation to impress her mother than Mal does. Every decision that Evie makes in D1 is a result of this motivation, most notably in her side plot with Chad and Doug, whereas gaining Maleficent’s approval does not factor as heavily into Mal’s decision-making process, as seen in her relationship with Ben.  

So it makes sense that given the two differing relationships between these daughters and mothers, Evie’s desire to impress her mother would be much stronger than Mal’s because she has never truly gotten it before. I’m not denying that Mal and Evie were both the victims of abusive parenting, and of course, in the real world, people respond to different levels of abuse in different but equally valid ways. However, in a Disney Channel Original Movie, a brand that is not known for its subtlety, it makes more sense that from a writing standpoint Evie has a much stronger motivation and a much higher stake in this wand-stealing plan.

Arc

If I were to ask a random Descendants fan what Mal’s arc in D1 was, what is the most likely answer I would receive? Probably that she learned to be good rather than evil, I imagine. What about Evie? Probably that she learned she didn’t need a prince to have value, or maybe not to change herself for a man. Now, based on D2 and D3, which of these characters actually fulfilled that arc?

We can’t say that Mal “learned to be good” because she never actually learned to be good. Whatever lesson Mal learned in D1 didn’t stop her from trying to magically manipulate Ben at the beginning of D2, or trying to permanently banish all the VKs to the Isle in D3. What’s the point of claiming to be on the side of good if your actions don’t corroborate that?

On the other hand, Evie experienced actual growth over the three movies. In D1, we saw her struggle to find validation somewhere other than the nearest available prince, but later learn that she could take pride in her academic capabilities and her aptitude for clothing design. In D2, she continued to build her business with support from her non-prince boyfriend, and later find a new purpose in the plights of the VKs who remained on the Isle. And finally in D3, although we saw more of her relationship with Doug, we also saw her continue to fight for the remaining VKs, building her relationship with Dizzy, and once again continuing to grow her fashion line.

Evie, unlike Mal, actually had one continuous arc with true upward growth. Now, imagine, if you will, what D1 would have looked like with the story shifted to center Evie instead of Mal. It would be a largely similar story, but with a few key changes that would enhance the overall quality.

Removing Mal as the main character of D1 would allow for some actual conflict within the group as well as outside of it. Imagine a core four, led by Evie, that features Mal as her questionably-aligned best friend/number two. Evie and the boys begin to experience doubts about the benefits of their plan, but throughout the movie, Mal remains strong, reminding them that they are “rotten to the core.” Evie is conflicted, with her innate desire to be good and love of the sanctuary Auradon provides warring with her desire to please her mother and her acknowledgment that Mal may have a point. At the finale, Evie, Carlos, and Jay make the decision to stand up for good, and Mal joins them begrudgingly but fondly. Wouldn’t that have been a better, richer conflict than the “Mal feels pulled between her evil habits and the boy she has a crush on” plotline that we got?

Evie is closer to Carlos and probably Jay than Mal is. We see this in all of her background actions, but wouldn’t it have been nice to see these relationships, and these characters, brought into the forefront of the story?

Evie’s general kindness, generosity, and dedication to doing the right thing make her a protagonist you can actually root for, but it also proves Ben’s original argument, and the argument of the whole movie, that the VKs are not predisposed to evil simply because of who their parents are. This argument rings a little hollow as the story stands because its main example is not actually a good person. With Evie in the center of this story, this theme is actually valid.

Positioning Evie as the main character also means that the next two villains of the movies are not direct results of the actions of the character who is supposed to be the protagonist.

Now let’s look at Uma, and how she compares to Mal. Uma’s character is particularly interesting because unlike Evie, she and Mal are very similar. There are, however, a few key differences that make her a more compelling protagonist than Mal

Motivation

This topic has been done to death in fandom, so I won’t dwell too deeply on it, but it’s no secret that Uma’s motivation was handled better than Mal’s at essentially every level. Uma’s story as it was shown in D2 was so well written, in fact, that I was surprised that it came out of a DCOM, and a sequel to boot. The writers did an excellent job of giving Uma a sympathetic, well-fleshed out, compelling character. The only place they fumbled was in remembering two-thirds of the way through that she was supposed to be the villain.

It is strange, however, that in a story that revolves around children finally being set free from an unfair life sentence of prison and poverty, that its villain’s motivation is to continue to liberate these children while its supposed main character actively works against this goal. It is even stranger that in D3, presumably after they saw the massive internet and fan reaction to Uma’s character and motivation, that they doubled down on this distinction instead of rectifying it.

Arc

This section was originally going to be on character arcs, but it is hard to analyze Uma’s

because she doesn’t really… have one. She doesn’t need one, because her character starts out from a place of moral superiority over Mal’s. It could be argued that in D3 she learns to work with others, but even that isn’t supported by the source material because she never actually had to learn that lesson. She already works fine with the rest of her pirate crew, the Sea Three, and even the original VKs, shown in her musical support of Evie during the “One Kiss” song, albeit with, again, a copious amount of eye-rolling. The only one she has a conflict with is Mal (for good reason) and she never truly had to learn to play nice with Mal or to amend her behavior at all because she was always in the right. That brings me to my true second point…

#umadeservedbetter/#umawasright, or, Actions

This is where we examine the actions of these two characters. On paper, Mal and Uma have very similar character traits, but the actions they take within those constraints prove them to be very different people.

Leadership

Mal and Uma are both hailed as leaders within their respective groups, to the point that there is an entire song in D3 that centers around them vying for leadership of their temporarily-combined groups. However, this comparison does not shine favorably on Mal’s leadership skills. Uma has followers because she fights for them. She works tirelessly to get them off the Isle, and then to get back to them when they are separated. Mal never shows this same care for Evie, Jay, or Carlos. When Harry struggles climbing out of the ocean during the big “It’s Goin’ Down” fight scene, Uma goes back to help him without a second thought, sacrificing her revenge in the process. Do we ever see any indication that Mal would make the same choice if it came down to her end goal vs. her friends?

2. Strategy

If you asked a random fan, they would probably say that Mal and Uma are pretty intelligent characters, and they would probably be right. Uma, however, is the only one with any tactical aptitude. In D2 Mal foolishly and callously rejects her friends’ help and goes to face Uma alone, where she is tricked into agreeing to trade Ben for the wand. Then later, Mal’s plan for how to trick Uma with the fake wand is to just “get him [Ben] out of there really fast,” which fails miserably. After that, her solution to every problem is “turn into a dragon,” which is only actually helpful one of the three times she does it. Uma on the other hand is a pretty efficient strategist. In D3 she captures Ben smoothly and only turns him back over after seeing a pretty convincing display of the fake wand’s power. In D3 every plan Uma suggests comes to fruition. In “Night Falls” she orders the group to hold the line in the back while she goes to the front, while Mal thinks they should take left and right sides, respectively. However, as the chorus and next verse start, you can clearly see that they ended up following Uma’s plan, albeit with her and Mal at the front instead of just Uma. Later she suggests that they split up and search Audrey’s dorm, which they do, and they end up finding her diary which leads them to her cottage. Mal herself acknowledges that this was a good idea. The only maybe strategically unsound decision that Uma makes (spelling Ben into falling in love with her which has historically not been successful) is a decision that Mal also made, so I can’t necessarily take points off of either one for that.

3. Choosing “Good”

We’ve already established that Mal has failed astronomically at actually, honestly, switching to the side of good, but Uma manages to start out at a higher ground than Mal and then grow from there. We see Mal pull stunts like taking candy from a baby, graffiting walls around the Isle, and kicking over the merchandise in the Isle’s bazaar/shopping center, but we never see Uma do anything like this, except maybe yell at a patron in the Chip Shoppe. She isn’t cruel to her crew for kicks; she doesn’t even throw Gil out when he calls her Shrimpy, Harry does that. Her motives have always been noble and inclusive of others besides herself. Then, we see her go through the only growth left to her in D3 when she puts her pride behind her to help Mal save Celia and defeat Audrey. We never see Mal go through this type of growth, with the possible exception of her deciding to free all the children and bring down the barrier at the end of D3… WHICH WAS UMA’S ENTIRE PLAN FROM THE JUMP OOOOOHHHH MY GOD WE HAD A WHOLE MOVIE TRYING TO PREVENT THIS VERY THING AND FOR WHAT? IS BRINGING DOWN THE BARRIER ONLY BAD WHEN UMA SUGGESTS IT? BUT NOW THAT IT’S MAL’S IDEA IT IS JUST A-OK I GUESS OOOOOHHH, MY GOD. #UMAWASRIGHT #UMADESERVESBETTER

Ahem. Anyway…

Were these movies framed differently, Evie and Uma would have been the protagonists from the start. Interestingly enough, Evie and Uma serve as foils to Mal both on a story level, and a real-world level. They serve not just as a what-if to Mal’s in-character decisions, but also as a “what if the writers had framed the story to match their writing?” Because here’s the thing, the writers knew what they were doing. They acknowledged Uma’s similarities to Mal as early as D2, with Ben’s “angry girl with a bad plan” comment, but then a few scenes later they chose to position her as a villain anyway. They knew that having Mal suggest closing the barrier permanently in D3 would position her against the rest of the VKs, particularly Evie, and they even wrote a beautiful disagreement for them that could have led to some actual growth for Evie and Mal’s characters. And then a few minutes later Evie, Jay, and Carlos have just… forgiven her, with basically no effort on Mal’s part. Most egregiously of all, they know that Mal did at the end of D3 exactly what Uma was trying to do for all of D2, and they treated Uma like a villain for it. They even have Uma’s character acknowledge this but have basically no problem with it!

This, I think, is why I had such a problem with Mal, and why it grew so aggressively. Bad writing is one thing, but bad writing that is self-aware and yet makes no motion to deal with itself is another. This is basically the end of this entirely-too-long meta/rant. I’ve never been good with conclusions, I just kind of… run out of things to talk about and deflate like a helium balloon. But if there are any points I missed, any other topics to discuss, feel free to let me know. I highly doubt anyone has actually finished this whole essay, but if you did, just know you’re my favorite person. Until next time I guess.

[artificiary-fr]

ok so arti’s unnecessary opinion time

Just wanna give a disclaimer that these are just my sort of thoughts in general, and are in no way an attempt to demean, attack, or cause drama about any artist or staff member, or community member. Just kind of what I’ve observed and come to the questions/conclusions of. I got a little opinionated at the end but I tried not to single anyone out save for I think, one unnamed example? 

I’ll put everything under the cut here, because I know I have a tendency to get wordy (and spoiler: It did. This is a super long post, I’m sorry). So, here we go...

TL;DR: I like the gene, I’ll wait for the revamp before giving a concrete opinion, there were definitely some issues, I appreciate that staff took note/action, more communication like this or the dev streams is good (though communication between staff/community is a Thing unto itself of which I probably have a Disliked Take on and that was the really long part that isn’t necessary to read)

Okay before anything: the familiars. They’re super pretty! I like the recolors, and now I’m gonna have to grind the Kelp Beds for those boss fams. Dang. I love the kitty golem recolor.

With that out of the way, here we are - the subject of today’s discussions... Glowtail.

So, my first opinion: It’s not a bad gene! I can see some curious use for it, certainly. But there are some problems with it (and yes; I am aware staff has addressed this and pulled it to fix those problems! That’ll be more relevant later on here c: )

Note One: I think I do understand why it is a gem gene. Yes, design/thematically it does appear to fit the bill of a Baldwin Gene more. But I’d like to posit it’s the completion of a gem-gene set - Wasp/Bee/Glowtail. So in that regard, it makes sense!

Note Two: My personal opinion with the gene is that I like it, but it feels... hm. Plain isn’t correct. Like it’s missing something, I guess? I wish the segmenting was a little more prominent, and that the glow or gradient had a little more glitz/glamor, maybe some glitteries around the hips, to really sell it as a gem gene. I do like the glow we have on the other bits of dragon like light reflection, though, because it adds a little bit of dimension! All in all however even so, I do like it, and I won’t cement my opinion until we see what their updated version looks like in the future.

Note Three (The Problems): The art errors. What... what happened here?

As we’ve noticed, male snappers and male tundras are the two big offenders, with large chunks of color erroneously sitting outside the lineart quite noticeably. There is also part of the ‘glow’ (the aforementioned light reflection) that doesn’t make sense - being on parts of the dragon where it shouldn’t be, like on the front of wings where the tail is not in front of said limb, but behind.

But like... how did this not get caught before it got posted? Was it a time crunch, or it just... didn’t get quality checked before this happened? It’s really unfortunate. :c

Something I do with my art - and this is just my own process/thoughts - is when I’ve put down the base color, before I do any shading/highlights/big details, I pop a layer underneath the entire drawing and fill it with a high contrast color to the palette. That way any bits where I missed coloring in - or didn’t clean up outside the lines - becomes super noticeable, and I can fix it then instead of being a problem later. Maybe doing something like this before throwing the gene through the color automation process would’ve helped?

Last Note:

I feel like part of why these errors went unnoticed is because of how often, and sometimes how rushed, some of these updates have been - and this has been more noticeable in this year than otherwise. Is it because of community dissent with wanting more updates creating more crunch? Due to low-attention reticence creating a need for pushing more ad revenue / more “come to the site there’s new”?

I’m unsure, but it’s unfortunate nonetheless. I think staff, and FR as a whole, would benefit from like... hm. How to word this...

Maybe taking more time on updates / a more extended schedule so things aren’t as crunch (of course this being said, I don’t know what the workload is like so I can’t even say if crunch is applicable), and more open communication? Like how the dev streams were going - that was pretty well liked and everyone I know got pretty excited to see em and how the art was doing. It also opened up the avenue for more open communication / more nuanced opinions or thoughts.

---

But herein lies the huge issue, I think, with communication. This is the part where I’d like to reiterate, this is just my observations, and is not intended as an attack, a vaguepost, or deliberate callout at anybody. There’s no malicious intent here. This bit could also be construed as drama I suppose, and I apologize for that because again - not the intent. Just my take.

I’ve noticed posts going ‘no drama please’ or being tired when new updates come out of like, ‘oh boy here comes the negativity’ so I don’t think it’s just me who’s seen it, but have you guys noticed when anything new comes out, there’s an immediate rush of extreme salt and negativity?

And I don’t mean posts where its like “it’s not for me” or “I don’t like it but here’s [detailed/explained reason why]” - those are the nuanced opinions I mean. Those are fine. I mean the ones where people in forums, or on the more prolific drama blogs, are just.... mean/empty? Like “FUCK staff I hate how lazy they are with this it’s shitty looking” - that really vocal generally super salty in general minority of the community. Just hate without explanation, or just kind of aimless generalized attack/complaint.

I think that’s where communication with Staff fell off the bandwagon. The really loud, really vocal minority of folks who throw super salt or yell “This Sucks You Suck” completely overshadow the people who are well intentioned with sharing their opinions or problems/criticisms. The toxic bits and really vitriolic words are what gets seen and noticed. I think this is the majority of what gets heard, which is why communication got so closed off / shut down unless positive, in recent times. Do I agree with that? No, I don’t either - but I’m just looking at this from the outside. Idk how staff feels or thinks.

And this goes for both people who don’t like the content, and people that do.

Remember that the Keel thread got locked because someone who was white-knighting started getting real nasty with people in the thread, and going to extremes insulting artists who did mock-ups to help visualize their thoughts/opinions and was just being a real douche?

What I really wish was that we could have more open communication. Some of the things I really liked to see were like: Dev Streams, Community Updates/Q&A, Opinion Polls, That Update Progress on Breed/Gene Progress from a while back. All of that was excellent. And I like to see the community responding in well thought out ways! I like to see staff more hands on too! We’re only human and love this site and our dragons and want to see it at it’s best - but they’re also only human, and make mistakes, and we don’t know what’s goin on in there, just out here.

Trello is a really good way to kind of show that communication, and is transparent, but isn’t free-to-use for businesses, so... of course I also don’t know how Stormlight Workshop runs their business/hours so I’m just blowing hot smoke. But anyway, I think everyone would benefit from slowing down and opening up. If things are going slow, that’s okay - if Staff opens up to the community and says “This is taking longer than expected, but here’s upcoming releases / current in-progresses” I think we’d be like oh okay things are happening and it’ll be nice! As compared to everyone gets super antsy, nothing’s happening, no-one is talking... and then we get hit with a bunch of updates, some of which, like today’s, have... issues.

Of course then I worry that with more open talking or “we’re experiencing delays” the more vitriolic will get even angrier/saltier which doesn’t... help... but I mean... yeah. 

ANYWAY so I’ve written a full dissertation essay here without really intending to (see? I warned y’all! I ramble/don’t shut up ahahaha) so I’m gonna just stop myself here before I start going in circles. This last chunk I don’t really know what the meat of what I was trying to say was, now, I think. Sorry about that. It was just “here’s my stream of consciousness” apparently ^^;;;;

Have a good evening y’all! Thanks for listenin’ to my (rant?) if y’all made it this far. You’re appreciated and thank you for letting me bend your ears! Stay safe in this crazy world, hang in there, and have a good one!

[historyy]

The Oxbridge Applications Masterlist✨✨✨

I’ve had a ton of people both online and irl ask me for this, so here it is. I’m sorry its a month or so later than I initially promised but I’ve been pretty busy. This is basically a breakdown of the application process, some advice, and my experiences as an applicant for History and Politics to Oxford in 2018-19; because of that its pretty Oxford / humanities specific. I was lucky enough to have some great resources available at school but applying for Oxford was still daunting, so I wanted to demystify it and give some advice. Hopefully you find it helpful!

Personal Statement

How you write it: 

My main advice with the PS is to get started early, because Oxbridge is early entry so you’ll have months less time than your friends. Do a first draft of your personal statement in summer Y12. Mine was pretty much done by September and it made that early deadline much easier to reach.

Keeping a list of everything relevant you’re doing will be useful when you come to write the PS, as well as for developing your ideas for interview. My list was split into Books, Academic Papers, Extracts, Documentaries, Podcasts, Lectures / Online Lectures, Other Publications, Courses, Newspapers, and Extracurriculars. I also had a list of my particular interests related to my subject. 

It will need lots of editing, but thats what teachers, friends, and former applicants are for! I edited so many personal statements for people in my year, because they knew I was a writer and thus good at cutting words and finding shorter ways to express.

With your first draft, write big. Go way over the character count and put everything you want to in it, then cut. A few tips for cutting: 

Don’t waffle on about irrelevant anecdotes 

‘Such as’ ‘like’ ‘indeed’ ‘including’ are useful but overused 

Rearranging sentence structure can cut lots of characters and make your syntax snappier. E.g I interviewed a civil servant which showed me… versus Interviewing a civil servant showed me…  

Semicolons will save your life.

It will hurt, but kill your Oxford commas 

You don’t need to give each author / source a bio, assume the reader knows their stuff, and you don’t need to use full names / titles 

What you write in it:

With the PS, a catchy opening is vital; you need to show why you’re interested in your subject and why you’re the right choice. Mine was:

The 2015 Leaders’ Debate sparked my interest in politics and the language surrounding it, when I realised I was focussed both on what the debaters were saying and how they were saying it.

The best advice I got is to treat your PS like you’re narrating your journey with your subject. Start with why you got into your subject, show what you did following on from that sparked interest, then how you built on that action, and so forth. You might want to map this out before you start writing. An example might look like this (this isn’t mine, but assume its for HistPol):

Saw an exhibition on Renaissance artists - interested in social and political context of the art - researched Italian city states focussing in on famed patrons of the arts who were politically eminent  - read Machiavelli’s The Prince as is based on Cesare Borgia - interested in other theories of rule and governed/govt relations - read Locke and Hobbes to compare later theories and the development of these ideas - entered an essay competition about the development of the state citing Locke’s ideas on the social contract

Then you build on this journey, talking about your reading and research. Cite specific papers / books / articles you’ve read, and engage with them. Did you agree with everything they said? Or not? How do they link to other things you’ve read? For example, I wrote:

D’Ancona’s ‘Post-Truth’ with its discussion of disinformation and the collapse in trust also influenced me, though I disagreed with his assertion that the post-truth era only began five years ago (Orwell springs to mind).

Don’t just name drop books etc, actually engage with them, or you might as well not have read them.

In terms of what to include, Oxbridge don’t give a damn if you do Grade 5 piano or were the lead on your ballet show; you should focus your PS on the subject you’re applying for. When I mentioned extracurriculars it was in relation to the subject; I was editor of the school magazine, and I interviewed a senior civil servant on Brexit’s impact for it, increasing my understanding of current affairs and I gave a presentation on sexuality in the Weimar Republic at our LGBT society, exploring oft forgotten facets of history.  

I would suggest that only 10% of your PS should be about extracurriculars, and even those should be related to your subject, or linked to transferable skills.

You should end your PS with a brief concluding statement or paragraph which summarises why you want to study your subject.

Aptitude Tests 

I did the HAT so this is skewed towards that, but other tests are similar.

The aptitude tests are stressful but formulaic, so once you’ve worked out the formula and done as many practices as you can, you should be fine. You don’t need to get a high mark, only pass the benchmark to secure an interview, so it won’t be perfect. No one gets full marks; I think the benchmark for the HAT was 60% last year. 

My main advice on the tests is to go to all the sessions on them with your teachers that you can, and if your teachers don’t offer sessions ask them to hold some, or find a former applicant. Do lots of practices, starting not in timed conditions and work up doing them in time. Talk through your completed papers in detail with your teachers. If there are other applicants doing the same test, talk with them — orally write the essay together and bounce ideas off one another. 

Learn how to pull together an argument in a way which will grab the reader’s attention and show that you’re interested and engaged, and that you think outside the box and are different to the other candidates. For example in our HAT, the source was on a 16C woman’s relations with her servants, and I talked about her household as a microcosm of a class stratified and hierarchical society with moral expectations of servitude.

Basically, its an exam paper, treat it as such! 

Interview

The interview is, on the whole, more important than the PS. If you’re lucky enough to get one it means you’ve already done better than most people. I found the experience to be a mix of absolutely terrifying and weirdly enjoyable. 

I had two interviews, one for History and one for Politics, but you can be called to interview at other colleges. I know someone who had six…

The interview is basically like a tutorial will be if you get in, and there are different types (this is a bit humanities specific, sorry). You can get asked about your PS and reference, though this is rare. Extract interviews are common, for my Politics I was given an extract about citizenship. You can also get asked about your submitted work, as I was for History. 

In terms of prep, make sure you’re familiar with your submitted work and PS, as well as all the stuff you say you’ve done in your PS and your reference. You can get asked about any of it. Bring copies of these and your reading notes with you to interview so you’re familiar with them. Also look into some other key concepts of your subject, for example I looked at a lot of historiography, and in the interview talked about the concept of history as teleology and how I disagree with it. I think I was actually asked if I agreed with the Idea of Progress, having read on that a lot I felt equipped to answer it. 

Do as many practice interviews as you can. I got lucky as we had teachers who could do these, and I also did one at my sister’s school. However even if you don’t have that access, ask a friend, parent, teacher, a previous applicant, or even someone online. Even just talking about your subject helps. On the flip side of all this, don’t do so much prep your answers are stale and formulaic, you need to show you’re thinking on your feet. 

Both my interviews were only 20-25 minutes. My Politics interview was really chill, I had an hour reading time before in which I made notes on an extract and basically wrote a script for myself. The questions I was asked were actually given to me in this time so I had lots of material to work with. The man was really nice as well, and I enjoyed the experience. In contrast my History one was a disaster and I felt like I was being interrogated by the two women the whole time, though they were nice.

Don’t be scared if you screw up, in my History interview on my Tudors essay on Tudor parliamentary changes (which I’d been studying only 2 months), my interviewer was an expert on Tudor parliament, writing a book on the subject. This one question about groups of people represented strongly in parliament really threw me, and I went through three answers before I found the right one (lawyers). At another question I blanked for thirty seconds before speaking. I came out in tears and was certain I’d failed, but clearly I did okay…

General advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Go chat to that scary teacher who told you your essay was too journalistic and not historical enough and just because you want to be a journalist you can’t write like one in academia (personal experience? me?). Ask them for advice and just talk to them about the subject! 

Leading on to: JUST TALK ABOUT THE SUBJECT. Talking nonstop about History and Politics helped me know my interests inside out and it gave me a way to develop my speaking skills as well as my love for my subject.

Also, read. JSTOR is your bff for academic articles and Niche Stuff here, but you can find plenty of good books at libraries and shops. The A Very Short Introduction series is amazing for this, as they’re all really short and written by Oxbridge academics, I read tons of them. You can even just dip into longer books or collections of articles. 

Keep asking yourself And so? — take your ideas further. This was my History teacher’s advice for essays, but it works for PS, tests, interviews, and general critical thinking. 

For example in the HAT (I’m making up this example, it might have asked you what you could learn about social norms of a time from a source): You could say: The woman bosses her servants around but is subordinate to her husband so we can learn about gender and social roles. Or you could say: The woman commands her servants, yet remains servile to her husband, indicating the prevalence of hierarchical gender and class relations in the society of the time; her role as wife is clearly interlinked with her position as ‘head of the household’, which she is unpaid for. Viewing this through the lens of feminist theory, one can infer that an unequal sexual division of labour exists in this society, and women’s contributions to society are not appreciated, as when the husband ‘dismisses’ his wife. While her command of the servants shows she is elevated by her ‘great wealth’, her subordination to her husband suggests that a woman in this society was unable to further her position as easily as a man could. 

Don’t fret about choosing a college on the form, 1/3 of people (including me) get pooled. 

And finally, don’t set your heart on Oxbridge. They’re by no means the only good universities out there, and they’re not for everyone. If you’re not enjoying the research for the PS, or are finding the aptitude tests unbearable and the interview style uncomfortable, it might not be for you. But if you do decide to apply, good luck!✨

[morlock-holmes]

@flakmaniak

Timmy Turner and Finn aren’t from ensemble casts though, right? I mean, there are recurring other characters, but they’re The Main Character, with one or two nonhuman sidekicks along for the ride.

Well, yes, but that’s kind of my point, actually.

Maybe I’ll just try writing out that essay...

Early on in the run of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, series creator Lauren Faust wrote out a short article for Ms. Magazine laying out her goals and intentions for the show. I think it’s a very interesting article, so much that I kind of want to quote the whole thing, but one thing Faust said that really stuck with me was,

There are lots of different ways to be a girl. You can be sweet and shy, or bold and physical. You can be silly and friendly, or reserved and studious. You can be strong and hard working, or artistic and beautiful.

I think the show is quite successful at that, depicting many different kinds of people, er, pastel ponies, with different strengths, weaknesses, and interests without denigrating any of them.

Faust also talks about being mostly completely alienated by the girls shows of her youth, which is interesting to me because I was extremely into at least a couple of girls shows. As a little boy, I was obsessed with the My Little Pony cartoon, and then, later, Sailor Moon.

Around the late 70s and early 80s, kids shows in the US kind of bifurcated, with shows becoming very explicitly “for girls” and “for boys”. This was especially true during the 80s, and this division wasn’t just about whether you had angular, primary color robots or soft pastel horses, the characters and story structures were very different as well.

I liked the boys shows, but I also liked some of the girls shows, because they addressed feelings and ideas I had that just weren’t going to be addressed in the boys shows. I especially liked the original My Little Pony series.

Now, the 80s version of My Little Pony has a lot of flaws. Particularly, the animation is terrible even by the standards of the 80s and the voice acting can be grating. But rewatching it, I still see what I liked as a kid, which was that it paid a lot of attention to motives and feelings. Like, here are some of the motivations for villains in the show:

I remember when my villainous boss used to be nice, so maybe if I stay with her I can keep her from causing too much trouble and help her go back to how she was.

I was kidnapped by a weird monster and he’s threatened to hurt my loved ones if I don’t do his evil bidding.

I made a deal for fame and fortune with a genie and now I know he eats souls but I’m afraid if I reject him I’ll go back to being poor.\

Our Queen stole a magic rock to revitalize our frozen country, and even though she’s overbearing I have to do right by my country.

These are fairly complex motivations for a kids show, especially when you compare them to, say, Transformers or Ninja Turtles. Shredder or Megatron are just bad because they’re bad, and so are most of their minions. Even if you have somebody like, I don’t know, Jetfire, the story there is that he discovers that his old friend Starscream is bad, at which point neither character has any further compunctions about blasting his old friend with laser guns.

Meanwhile, villains in My Little Pony would be conflicted, have divided loyalties, and be genuinely unsure what the right thing to do was. Even as a very small child, I thought that was more interesting and more honest then other shows were being.

Later, I had many of the same feelings about Sailor Moon. Hell, I still do. Even in the bowdlerized American version, I could still relate to Ami wondering if being a nerd meant she wasn’t properly into the things girls are “supposed” to be into and Usagi’s complete loathing of schoolwork and studies.

Even though these shows weren’t “for” me I really loved them, because the shows that were “for” me, the boys shows, never really expressed the kinds of ideas I’m talking about here. Like, especially during the early nineties, the answer to the question, “Does being a quiet, studious nerd make me less of a boy?” was, “Yes.”

I actually remember, as a child, constantly wishing I had been born a girl, not because I had some inner girl nature, but because girls (or so it seemed from outside) were allowed to be quiet, to be studious, to talk about feelings and to like predictability and calm. The idea of a boy wanting those things was largely foreign.

So... put a pin in that.

Okay, I want to describe a young boy to you. 

He’s energetic, but a bit scatterbrained. He isn’t bookish at all; trying to sit still for long periods of time makes him antsy, and he’d rather be out in the world doing physical things than reading or thinking. In fact, he tends to act without thinking things through, and this gets him in trouble. 

Despite being energetic and physical, he isn’t really into sports; he chafes under authority so teamwork isn’t always his strong suit, even though he cares deeply about his friends. 

I would argue that I’ve just described pretty much every adolsecent male protagonist of every cartoon released over the last 15 years or so. Aang. Danny Phantom. Timmy Turner. Ben 10. Finn from Adventure Time. I’m  sure more will come to mind later. 

This character shows up again and again in boys cartoons, and he’s almost always depicted as the default, with other characters understood through their relationship to this default boy.

Okay, I’m going to get into representation politics, and specifically I’m about to criticize Adventure Time, so I think a disclaimer is in order. One of the problems with talking about representation is that you end up criticizing broad patterns, but the same people aren’t in charge of the whole media landscape, and any single instance of the pattern is probably actually extremely defensible.

So. Okay. I haven’t seen all of Adventure Time, but I’ve seen the first couple of seasons, and they are very well written, and I think Finn in particular is a very well observed character who is very true to life, and in order to change what I’m going to complain about you’d have to rework the show from the ground up. So it’s not that this is a terrible decision, but...

Okay, something that bothers me about early Adventure Time is that Princess Bubblegum is a science nerd only because Finn isn’t. Princess Bubblegum kind of represents, to Finn, the mysteries of adulthood and sexuality. She’s part of this mysterious world of women and adulthood that Finn longs for but hasn’t grown up enough, or had enough experience with, to really understand.

And so to hammer that home her personality and life are also full of things that Finn can’t understand... Like sitting still, and doing meticulous, complex experiments and researching in books.

It’s not that the show denigrates this, not at all, it’s just that it’s positioned as incomprehensible and distant from the audience stand-in character. The Boy doesn’t like to sit still and study, he likes to go on dangerous, physical adventures! And he certainly couldn’t ever prefer to sit still and study over going out and having a physical adventure. Doing that would be incomprehensible.

She’s well-written and I’m sure lots of kids relate to her, but fundamentally her nerdiness is portrayed as foreignness.

A lot of the shows I mentioned above aren’t even really ensembles, but those that kind of are, e.g. Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Ben 10 give The Boy special powers that differentiate him from the rest of the cast.

Go back to the early episodes of My Little Pony and Twilight Sparkle is kind of the viewpoint character; the framing device of the early episodes is letters she writes, but she doesn’t really have, like, one special power that the others don’t, and structurally she’s a tertiary character in a lot of episodes. 

Contrast that to Aang, who is central to the story of Avatar, the Last Airbender. Like... you can have episodes that aren’t really about him but he has a special, important power that no other character does or can have, and the fate of the whole plot rests on his shoulders. Like, if the Avatar dies the natural order is upended and the Fire Nation almost certainly wins; you could kill off any other supporting cast member and then replace them without completely upending the world.

This is not to say that any of the shows I have called out are bad or harmful, but, to go way back, I remember being genuinely upset as a child not to see boy characters who had the feelings and struggles I did, and if anything, I think the situation might be slightly worse than when I was a kid. Go back to that Lauren Faust quote up there. How many cartoons feature a boy who is “Reserved and Studious”? Dexter’s Lab... Maybe Invader Zim... How many with a boy that is “Sweet and Shy”? Have you ever seen one about a boy who is “Artistic and beautiful?”

What about a show with all those boys portrayed as friends and equals, rather than one for you to relate to and a bunch of sidekicks and side characters?

Like, one of the only male, American cartoon characters who has ever made me go, “Yeah, that’s what it was like for me as a kid” is fucking Butters from South Park.

[tlbodine]

The End of 1960s Horror...

After a few delays, we’re back on track with our jaunt through the horror decades. Last night’s films were two favorites and genuine classics. 

First up, Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The film, directed by Roman Polanski, is an adaptation of a novel by the same name by Ira Levin (the guy who wrote The Stepford Wives). I’d never read the book, and @comicreliefmorlock​ had read it but never seen the film, so that made for some interesting compare/contrast. 

The big takeaway? The movie is so much sleazier and, well, rapey-er, despite being an extremely faithful adaptation (even down to exact dialogue lines being replicated). 

This may have been influenced by the director. It’s hard to watch Rosemary’s Baby now without the film being clouded by knowing that Polanski was charged in 1977 with drugging and raping a 13-year-old (a charge which caused him to flee the country, allowing him to continue making critically acclaimed movies without suffering any particular consequences for his crime). You can read more about that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case

It’s also interesting to note that, a year after Rosemary’s Baby came out, Polanski’s pregnant wife and four friends were among the victims of the Manson family murders. 

There’s a lot to unpack there. 

But let’s get back to the movie. Rosemary’s Baby tells a pretty straightforward story: A pair of newlyweds move into an apartment and develop a relationship with the eccentric elderly couple next door. The husband is a struggling actor who serendipitously gets his big break shortly after meeting the old folks. The wife, raised Catholic and from a large family, is eager to start having children of her own. She succeeds in getting pregnant, but it’s a difficult pregnancy, and through a series of odd events, she becomes convinced that everyone in her life is part of a satanic coven of witches intent to sacrifice her baby. 

Ira Levin has always impressed me with his skill at writing about women -- not just writing female characters well (which he does) but deeply understanding the fears and anxieties of womanhood in a way that is frankly surprising from a male writer in the 1960s. That shines through clearly in the film, and I can’t say for certain how much of that was influenced by Polanski -- not having seen any of his other movies, I’m not sure how he handles other source material. 

Anxieties explored head-on by the film include: 

Spousal rape 

Gaslighting (and “hysteria” perhaps) 

The loss of bodily autonomy inherent in pregnancy

Woman-as-vessel-for-baby as opposed to “whole individual person” 

I could write whole essays about this movie, and I probably will at some point. The primary plot fails to shock or frighten me anymore, of course, but there are still some lingering fridge horrors that are deeply unsettling in the vein of “oh my god can you IMAGINE how it would feel to be her right now.” 

Next up, and our final film for the decade, Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Written and directed by George Romero, Night of the Living Dead was a groundbreaking work for the zombie genre. Drawing clear inspiration from Richard Matheson’s story “I Am Legend,” Living Dead was an original tale that pulled together disparate strands of mythos to create many of the tropes that remain staples of zombie media. 

The story centers on an event of possible cosmic origins, with radiation leading the recently deceased to rise and go on a murderous, flesh-eating rampage. Well-dressed corpses shamble about and kill. A group of strangers are stuck defending a house together, one of them is secretly infected, the group tears itself apart with infighting -- you name the zombie apocalypse trope, it’s all here. 

One of the really interesting and groundbreaking things of Night of the Living Dead is that it features a black male protagonist. Now, I can’t say for certain that this is the first time in history someone made a movie about a heroic black man, but it’s certainly the earliest in our chronology that we’ve seen. And Ben (played by Duane Jones, an accomplished stage actor) is truly a great character -- resourceful, kind, brave, sometimes sassy and never afraid to stand up for himself. 

The role wasn’t written for a black character -- Romero said Jones just gave the best audition -- and the film is all the better for it because it avoids all of the troubling stereotypes that would haunt black people in horror for several more decades. 

In my opinion, the movie deserves a spot in history for that reason alone, but even aside from this historically significant casting choice, it’s just a good movie. A bit slow by modern standards, but with plenty of good action and some clever storytelling. Large chunks of it play out almost like a silent film, with the score and visuals doing most of the heavy lifting. The choice to film it in black and white helps to make it seem almost timeless (and likely helped to assuage the concerns of the viewing public, who were still squeamish about gore). A lot of the story is also told through snippets of radio broadcast and second-hand accounts, which adds to the claustrophobia of the main storyline while hinting at a much larger and more devastating event. 

And the ending! 

I remember watching Night of the Living Dead for the first time when I was in 8th grade. It was on TCM, I think, and I gleefully watched it alone in the dark and was totally blown away by the ending. I won’t ruin it in case you’ve never seen it, somehow, but man I didn’t see it coming, and cynical-preteen me thought it was the coolest shit. I still think it’s a very daring ending. 

Incidentally, WOW, the post-Hayes era of filmmaking took off with a bang. A few films ago we could hardly show a married couple kissing, and now we’ve got full nudity (including an appearance from Mia Farrow’s nipples in Rosemary’s Baby), on-screen graphic violence, and “morally corrupt” endings where the bad guys win. 

It must have been a wild time, growing up on the films of the 40s and 50s, and then coming of age in the 60s to see how WILDLY DIFFERENT they became in a few short years. 

The 1970s are coming, and I am stoked, because we’re entering the era of movies I adore (and which the Morlock has never seen) and I’m so excited to revisit them. 

[kiarasdeclassified]

how to write a foolproof DBQ essay

the document-based question essay, or dbq as everyone in the ap history realm likes to call it, is arguably the most dreaded part of any ap history essay. the time constraints are short, there’s way too much stimulus to get through on time, and meanwhile, you have no clue if you’re getting all 7 points. maybe you can just skip it? maybe if you write a really sloppy essay you’ll at least get a 3 on the exam? or, maybe, you can follow this guide in preparation for another post coming later this summer & ace your dbq every. single. time.

first things first, you should get comfortably familiar with the official college board dbq rubric. 

i’ve simplified the descriptions a bit so you can better understand them.

thesis statement (1 point) construct a sentence located in either the introduction or conclusion which adequately responds to the prompt rather than just restating it.

contextualization (1 point) describe a broader historical context related to the prompt in about three sentences.

evidence (1-2 points) accurately describe content from at least six documents without quoting to get the first point, then use the content to support the argument described in the thesis to get the second point.

analysis & reasoning (2 points) explain how at least three of the documents’ point of view, historical situation, intended audience or authorial purpose is relevant to the argument described in the thesis.

synthesis/outside evidence (1 point) demonstrate a better understanding of the prompt by relating the argument to another piece of specific historical evidence found outside of the documents (use a specific example rather than a simple phrase or reference; this can be done in up to 5 sentences, but if written properly, just 1 can suffice).

total: 7 points

next, here’s a few things that you should know before preparing to write a dbq:

while i did take ap world history during my sophomore year & wrote some practice dbq’s, i never took the ap world exam, so here’s some tips from my ap world teacher who has taught ap world for almost 17 years:

don’t stress over complexity. while it seems as though every single essay you provide to the college board has to demonstrate your complex vocabulary, they really don’t care if you use “a lot” instead of “plentiful” or “numerous.” all they’re looking for is those 7 points on the essay.

don’t stick to formatting so much. like i said, the college board doesn’t care about a perfect essay when it comes to history exams. while ideally, you’ll have 4-5 paragraphs in your essay, all you are required to do is hit all 5 criteria of the rubric & include an introduction & conclusion. your essay could be 6 paragraphs long; your essay could be 14 paragraphs long; your essay could be just 3 paragraphs long. as long as you did something to satisfy all criteria, you can safely secure your 7 points & be on your merry way.

do NOT make an outline. you only get 55 minutes to write your essay. creating an outline, which seems like a helpful way to ensure you get all 7 points in theory, will actually just cut down the time you have to actually expand that outline into a full essay by 15-20 minutes. even if it only takes you 5 minutes to write the outline, DON’T DO IT. i promise you, every minute of this essay will matter, especially since its handwritten & you’ll take longer to write it versus if the test was taken digitally.

structure as you go. to elaborate on my previous point, as you read each document & transition from reading to writing, you’ll want to start getting an idea in your head of how exactly you’re going to answer the prompt & turn your thesis into an essay. i’ll go more into detail about structuring later in this post.

let’s quickly go over historical bias:

historical bias plays a part in every document you’ll receive on the dbq, even if it doesn’t seem as though the document you’re reading has any bias in it whatsoever. there are four parts you can choose to write about for your analysis points, commonly abbreviated to HIPP by many ap history teachers so you can better remember them. however, my teacher used “SOAP,” an abbreviation which i personally like a lot better as it tends to be slightly simpler:

S - speaker: the author who wrote the document. for example, if reading documents relating to a prompt about early twentieth century work conditions in the US, a journal entry written by a worker will show bias toward the opinion that work conditions were subpar, as it is a firsthand account of how work conditions truly were.

O - occasion: the historical timeframe which the document was written in. for example, if reading documents relating to a prompt about the Great Depression, a chart showing government spending rates overtime will show bias toward the theory that the GD affected not only citizens but national governments.

A - audience: the intended audience for the document. for example, if reading documents relating to a prompt about Luther’s Reformation, a letter to a Catholic pope from a reformist will show bias toward the theory that reformists wanted to persuade Catholics into conversion.

P - purpose: the purpose for writing the document. for example, if reading documents relating to a prompt about the Opium Wars, a newspaper article published in Britain urging others to support the war will show bias toward the theory that the British wanted to push their goal of opening a trade market with China.

now, here’s everything you need to write a perfect thesis statement:

the thesis statement tends to be one of the hardest parts of writing the dbq essay. while it is only 1 point, there’s so much criteria you need to fill to actually get the point. there are absolutely no half points given, so if you miss one thing, you miss the entire point. it’s not your fault, but it’s 100% your problem.

the simplest format i can suggest for a successful thesis is the following:

- restate the prompt.

- answer the prompt. 

- give reasons as to why your answer to the prompt is arguable. this part is crucial, as it will help tons in creating body paragraphs.

what i recommend doing is searching up dbq prompts from old ap exams & trying to write proper thesis statements out of them. every tuesday, my ap world teacher would put a sample prompt on the board, have us spend all class reading our prep books for information on the prompt, then writing thesis statements. before class ended, he would check them & let us know whether or not we’d get the point if we were taking the exam. try this out yourself, & if you don’t have an ap history teacher to check them for you, see if your thesis answers the following questions my teacher always used to determine point-worthy theses:

“so what?” a thesis which does not answer this question needs clarification, a relationship between the reasons & your answer, or a connection to a larger issue.

improper thesis: the north & south fought the civil war for many reasons, some of which were the same & some different.

better thesis: while both sides fought the civil war over the issue of slavery, the north fought for moral reasons while the south fought to preserve its own institutions.

“how & why?” a thesis which does not answer this question is too open-ended & lacks guidance for the reader. for example, if you look at the better thesis i wrote above, it answers “so what?” but still lacks clarity. we can help specify exactly what we’re referring to with a little tweaking:

while both northerners & southerners fought the civil war against what they each considered oppression, northerners focused on oppression of slaves while southerners focused on oppression of their right to self-govern.

in addition to proper structuring, it’s good to know what exactly the college board is looking for in an answer so that you can be sure to pass the question-answering tests. the college board loves to throw in specific key words in their prompts which can also make everything seem like it’s all sounding the same. here’s a few of the most popular dbq prompt key words you may see when you take the exam for yourself & what to do if you see them.

evaluate

to determine the value of

evaluate the extent to which differing ideas of national identity shaped views of United States overseas expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

use any word which indicates value in your thesis. for example, “differing ideas greatly shaped views” or “differing ideas did little to shape views.”

identify

to indicate what something is

identify the reasons early Islamic societies used to justify slavery

perhaps the most straightforward of all key words, simply list your reasons. “early Islamic societies used …”

analyze

to examine and/or explain closely in detail

analyze the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration to the problems of the great depression.

use words which demonstrate detail in your thesis. for example, “administration’s responses to the problems included ...” or “administration’s responses to the problems described ...”

compare/contrast

to find similarities & differences

compare the motives of the North and South for participating in the American Civil War.

separate your comparisons from your contrasts. for example, “while both northerners & southerners _____, northerners _____ while southerners _____.”

determine

to figure out, to establish a fact

determine the success of twentieth century African decolonization efforts.

use either a direct positive or negative word to defend your argument in your thesis. for example, “decolonization efforts were greatly successful” or “decolonization efforts were not successful.”

now that you know what you need to prepare for beforehand, let’s go over what to do during the exam.

to ensure you can complete the essay in time, try your best to stick to a mini-schedule recommended by the college board: spend 15 minutes reading your documents & 40 minutes writing the essay. the quicker you can finish reading (not just skimming through the documents, but instead reading thoroughly & gaining a clear understanding of each document without having to completely reread them), the more time you’ll have to write, so try to work quickly, but don’t rush yourself so that you have time to process each document & their meanings.

to help simplify the writing portion, there’s a few things you should try to accomplish while reading:

read all documents

off to the side, summarize each document without quoting or paraphrasing. mention all parts of document. to save time, when you need to reference it again, use your summary instead of rereading. these summaries can be used to help get your evidence point.

identify 1-3 parts of historical bias (remember SOAP) if possible for each document. this will help you get your analysis point.

categorize documents by reasons for supporting a certain argument, opinions, political biases, etc.; this will help you write the reasons in your thesis.

write your thesis & incorporate all parts; proper structuring, keyword answer, & clarity for your reasons.

& finally, time to write the essay!

since there’s no real tips or strategies that’ll help you specifically write the essay (as i can’t tell you how to answer every possible prompt you’ll be given), here’s an outline that if written correctly WILL get you all 7 points no matter what.

introduction paragraph

contextualize (broadly explain historical context and/or timeframe related to prompt) in 3 sentences

thesis statement

body paragraphs

topic sentence for each reason

write document summary & it’s significance (use as many documents as needed for each reason) for 6 documents throughout all body paragraphs, aim to do this for 7 documents

explain historical bias & significance for at least 3 documents throughout all body paragraphs, try to do this for 5 documents

closing sentence

concluding paragraph

synthesize (incorporate outside evidence) in 3 sentences

restate thesis

my last piece of advice: relax.

while the dbq essay tends to be incredibly intimidating to a lot of the students who cross its path, it truly can be done successfully with proper preparation & a solid strategy. after reading this incredibly lengthy post, save it, screenshot it, take note of it somehow & you can look over this + other resources later on to help you study. at the end of the day, it’s still possible to get at least a good score on the ap exam without a flawless dbq essay; so instead of focusing all of your energy into one thing, just take a breath & give yourself breaks when you need to. good luck, & happy studying! :)