I think the long-running fandom argument over whether The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is "grimdark" or not – e.g., yes it is, because it has tropes X, Y and Z, no it isn't, because what it does with those tropes is so deeply silly, etc. – is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what a genre of media is.
Like, yes, genres of media typically have checklists of tropes, but a checklist of tropes isn't what a genre is. A genre of media is a dialogue, consisting of creators borrowing from and responding to and criticising each other. Insofar as it's possible to draw lines between genres at all, those lines are drawn between works that are participating in the conversation and works that aren't.
In this sense, Twilight Princess is absolutely a work of early 2000s dark fantasy – even a conventional one, in some respects. It's participating in the conversation, it's got something to say about it, and it's engaging with the tropes of contemporary dark fantasy in very specific and intentional ways. Those ways happen to be goofy as fuck.
4K notes
·
View notes
so much ‘analysis’ of fandom and fanfiction still has this pervading air of ‘teehee, can you believe I’m doing a serious analysis of fandom and fanfiction?!’ which sticks it firmly in the zone of merely recounting things which fans do and terms they use (because it’s assumed that the audience isn’t familiar with them) while failing to really provide the ‘analysis’ part
663 notes
·
View notes
every time people talk about whats ‘canon’ or not its so obvious that little to none of mcyt fans have actually played/done roleplay on a minecraft server(or similar situation) themselves
Like girl the ‘timeline’ is whatever you want it to be for your character. Show up to whatever events you want. Maybe you play every day or maybe you log in once a month. Who gives a shit lol we are here to have fun.
and i very much think fans need to keep in mind this same mentality. Continuity is nice and good but also its whatever the roleplayers want their story to be. And no matter what continuity errors this could cause for the overall story I have genuine faith that these guys can Yes-And their way out of any situation. And for fans making fan content you can make the timeline whatever you want. The world is your oyster. Literally who gives a shit.
288 notes
·
View notes
Firefly Wedding is so…
It’s so
It’s them. It’s "It’s just a firefly, they’re meant to die soon. Why should I care about the sick, or the poor?"
It’s "I was purposely trying to scare you and push you away to see how far you were willing to go with your act, how desperate you were to play with my feelings as if I was a fool, but it didn’t work."
It’s "I know you’re just using me but now I care. Please keep using me. I need you to need me."
It’s choosing to give her her freedom anyways. Because your love is no longer all about you, no longer selfish. Because this love isn’t just a shallow balm to soothe your complexes anymore.
It’s being betrayed, finally facing the lies and no longer pretending you both don’t know that this is a farce, but desperately wanting to keep it going anyways. It’s "I should hate you now. Why don’t I? Hey, tell me we’ll go through with the plan, tell me you’ll marry me after all. Otherwise, why am I still here? Why don’t I want to leave? You act like you don’t need me but I still need you."
Like that’s so revolutionary for a yandere story. The self-delusion is strong, denial that things have changed despite it being impossible to truly believe, BUT HE STAYS. It’s no longer selfish 😭😭
"I don’t care about you anymore, I won’t help you. Get yourself killed for all I care." <- Jumps to her rescue 3 milliseconds later when she almost falls down a ladder/roof. It happens twice. The ‘lying and trying to emotionally distance yourself from something to protect yourself and not get hurt’ defense mechanism is blatant and it’s failing really bad.
It’s "My sense of duty and goals to have accomplished something useful in my short life are making me do this, but I do want you to stay with me." The yandere stuff here gets turned on its head because what he says is empty where it matters and meaningful where it matters. It’s knowing that if Satoko asks him not to kill anyone he won’t, but knowing that he won’t give up on her no matter what, even if she’s unattainable, even if she’s sickly, even if she pushes him away like just before. It’s so thinly veiled for "I’m determined to see my goal through, but that’s not what I want. If you just so happen to take me away and I don’t try to run away hard enough then we can elope and be free. I want to have an excuse to leave with you. Please give up on marrying me. Please don’t. I want that, but I can’t."
It’s "If I didn’t burn brightly in my short firefly life, then what was the point?"
Except that burning brightly doesn’t have to mean making big achievements, or being useful to your family.
It can be living happily, living for the ones you love, fighting for them. It can be worth to risk it for things that actually matter to you.
It’s giving your heart to someone, figuratively and literally. To lend it to them even if it might get used or battered, for as long as it beats to use your body to protect them, even if you have to sacrifice yourself. A love that burns bright into a bonfire before they both turn to ashes. Unwise but wholehearted.
It’s despite even that, needing grandiose gestures to be able to trust that this is real. It’s needing external cues that prove it to feel safe in their love existing, other people to confirm that he’s not crazy, that this is happening and this is how they both feel. Their love has been fake, both being a warped love and being a lie, only being out of necessity or because the other was the only one willing to offer it to them, offering comfort, safety, support and care. And showing that they care is the most loving of all
It’s despite everything falling back into old habits that "Oh if she was miserably worried for me then that means she’s not indifferent to me! That’s good!" And then once again being taken aback by her, by her earnestness and by her will. Because oh, no, this goes deeper than that. She cares. It’s love.
It’s opening your heart up to love, and both being punished and rewarded for it.
But most of all it’s
And it being the most loving thing he’d ever heard
Firefly Wedding is so…
And yet it’s also
The complicated and hurtful nature of love and the joy and light it brings are two sides of the same coin, because that’s what inevitably happens when you care about something. But caring about a firefly isn’t a waste even however short lived it is, or how hard the loss will inevitably hit you. Isn’t their light just such a wonder to witness?
208 notes
·
View notes