#i just think that with the prevalence of tumblr mobile (which is also what i mostly use) pinned posts are more convenient

[sstarlostt]

･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ starlost ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

main groups: seventeen, stray kids, day6

biases: wen junhui, kim seungmin, kim wonpil

bias wreckers: jeon wonwoo, hwang hyunjin, all of them

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

i really like rhythm games; Khddrhfkuruk on SSJYP, Rhythm Hive, and SSATEEZ

☆♬○♩●♪✧♩✧♩✧♪●♩○♬☆♬○♩●♪✧♩✧♩

really nothing else to say,, i just think these guys are not only neat but also make some banger tunes! im cringe but i am free

/`–｡–マ

[hashtagloveloses]

hi hashtagloveloses,

I'm a new user and saw your post about reblogs. Is there anything else I should pay attention to? Could you tell me if there is a post or guide or something I can consult on how tumblr works? I'm still getting really lost here and have trouble finding anything.

there’s actually an official staff blog with a bunch of good tips called @tips everybody should know about! but off the top of my head also:

1) make sure you have a profile photo. you don’t need a cover photo you can even just turn that off in your blog settings. this is to make sure people don’t think you’re a bot

2) have a different username here than you have other places and don’t share personal information of any kind here (huge mistake i made….). despite what some people say you do not need to share anything about ur sexuality, pronouns, diagnoses, opinions, etc. frankly if i could advise my younger self, i’d say just don’t make original posts or comments at all (if u wanna make commentary in reblog tags maybe?). use a diary or a journal instead of original posts about yourself or your opinions or comments on others’ posts. even if you delete your blog or change your username, the reblogs of things you say live on here forever.

4) reblog instead of like, and tag posts with what they’re about when you post and reblog (this is something i don’t do as much as i should bc im often on mobile and don’t feel like it and only do it for original posts). at least make sure you’re tagging for common content warnings and spoilers. don’t censor words in posts or tags if you’re trying to tag, bc that breaks people’s mute/blocklists. DO censor words/tags if you’re talking about something you don’t want to clog the tag for or attract attention to or something.

5) if you personally want to keep track of original posts, asks, and queued posts, create tags you use for each of those and on mobile manually tag with them every time you do one of those posts, and on desktop you can have an extension do it. in your blog settings you can make like your original post tag one of your “featured tags” if you want easy access, or other people to be able to see, which just means when they hit the search bar on your blog it’s suggested.

6) make sure you go to your dashboard settings and turn OFF “best things first”. i keep on the other algorithmic stuff like showing stuff based on likes as well, and i flip between the various feeds, but most of what you should be doing is following blogs that post or reblog what you like, following the TAGS of things you like, and those will appear chronologically in your regular dash “following” feed.

7) freely block, unfollow, and filter/mute people and topics. do not feel like you have any obligation to anyone. curate your experience on here.

8) turn off submissions on your blog, and turn off anon asks or even asks all together if you don’t want them. you are not obligated to answer every ask or even have an open ask box. you should also take a look at your settings for private messages and replies to set them to what you’re comfortable with.

9) how i use notifications is different than a lot of ppl bc i get a LOT of them but explore how the Activity and notifications page works to your favor, but turn off push notifs and as much as you can. followers, likes, etc, do not matter that much here if you’re not trying to build a following for art or something and you shouldn’t pay attention to it other than just for fun.

10) learn what T*RF, SW*RF, and white supremacist dogwhistles are and how to spot them bc they can still be prevalent on here and you may not realize. a lot of seemingly normal posts about feminism on here can be crypto t*rf shit so you need to learn how to spot it. (those kinds of posts spread to a lot of platforms and people don’t realize….)

11) do not get into discourse on here. of any kind. even if you’re right. some idiot will drain the life out of you arguing with you and people get weird. you’re not gonna convince people online of anything in a discourse fight most of the time and you will only come out of it drained or harassed yourself (frankly this is good advice for anywhere and sometimes even i slip up). in general even on here where engagement is not encouraged as much, every platform has engagement bait and discourse either purposely seeded to piss you off, or if it’s not on purpose it’s still pushed by algorithms.

12) for things like news, etc, this is general online advice but make sure you’re practicing basic media literacy to check how real a headline or a video or something is. what’s the source? how old is it? did they provide sources? etc

13) DO NOT REPOST ART. EITHER FROM HERE OR FROM OTHER WEBSITES. unless the artist says you can repost it (and you need to do so with credit, and look and see if they need to give permission). do not REBLOG reposted art either. you may find it in tags sometimes. do not encourage that behavior.

14) to that same end, do not post AI bullshit here. chatGPT, character AI, voiceover deepfakes, AI videos, etc. don’t do or support those in general but don’t post that shit here

15) in general, and this is something i try to tell people on EVERY platform, remember that what you see people discussing online is often a small minority of what most people think or feel. it may FEEL like everyone is talking about a certain thing, or fighting about a certain thing, but it does not represent the whole. there’s so many discourses where people are like “why do x always say y” and i’m like well they don’t. the very online segment of x often say y bc it gets engagement or bc they are very loud. (this isn’t the case for everything but it happens often for very stupid topics). this isn’t to dismiss important conversations had online by a minority of people that aren’t being discussed wider enough either - bc that also does happen. but that is often for things that are more important than like, the same movie sex scene discourse i see on twitter every 2 weeks.

16) don’t feel any obligation to your “followers”. you are not an influencer you are just here having fun, and your followers follow for the things you reblog, not for you. be FREE.

17) on desktop browser, get the XKit Rewritten extension and go wild with the settings. its a really nice tool and has a lot of good features, like the quick reblog and queue features that give you those auto tags and stuff. (also if you aren’t already using Ublock Origin extension as your adblocker on desktop, get that too).

18) if you have an iphone, apple store limits what they can show you within the app, so if you want to look at more NSFW, the mobile browser version of tumblr is quite decent. but also go to your blog settings on desktop and make sure your settings of what it is showing you on your dash include sensitive content (even if you set it to have a filter over it at first), bc it sometimes autoflags random shit as “sensitive”. also play with your dashboard filters with tags for nsfw content to your comfort - it wont remove it it’ll just put a thing over it so it doesn’t pop up in public accidentally before you click to look at it.

[fala-alfredo-pasta]

To ur last question: Komaedalovemail is more of a scenario where Komaeda is.. His own fucking thing!!

like, he's a species, there are deities HECK EVEN HINATA IS THERE AS A HUMAN BABY!!

it has a neocities and a tumblr blog and btw.. THERE'S A NEW KLM PAGE!!!! you can find most of the pages except /jar and the yaoimas 2022 page on the KLM portal soooo yeah!

Oh yeah and it does have a dating sim where you can hang out with mods n stuff!!

some of the dating sim routes:

- Mod 1

- Mod 13

- Mod 16

- Mod 18

There's also other mods in the thing like:

- mod 200

- mod 43

- mod 12

- mod 428 (the most well known mod cuz he's the clownmaeda guy btw, you see him on the page /hollow where you talk to him at a cafe)

- mod 33(this guy's pretty prevalent in the thanksgiving visual novel cuz the whole thing is about him getting surgery n stuff lolz)

Oh yeah, about the thanksgiving VN:

Mods in THIS thing:

- Mod 44 ( the guy visiting 33/jabley)

- DR Komaeda ( guy who's gonna give 33/jabley surgery)

- Mod 33 himself!!

There's also /deceit, which is a continuation to /hollow:

This page is the one where Mod 1862 talks to Komaedeus again and komaedeus tells 1862 that Gromaeda isn't a deity nor the creator of komaedakind.

Oh yeah and (extra info):

- Mod 19 & 16 r furries and have their own fursonas and also 18 has a ponysona

- Mod 43 is russian

- Mod 18 got horse surgery and also the dating sim might take place before the horse surgery

- mods 16,19,18,4,12,128 n 16 have their own artstyles with only 16, 18, 4 & 12 having drawn their sprites while the others are komaeda sprites edited

- mod 200 is scared of little men

-apparently, kokichi is bad (according to them)

- mod 12, 19, 18 n 16 have rocksonas

- chefmaeda accidentally cooked fetus hinata thinking he was raw chicken

- Dr komaeda has an attic in the 2bedroom2bathroom house the mods live in (aka the 2bed2bath)

- mod 4 drew the yaoimas 2022 komahina thing as seen at the end of the forum there's mod 4 profile with an embed 2 the yaoimas art

- there are 3 komaedeuses: Earth, Shadows n Trees

- Gromaeda has Groucho glasses and was I think the supposed "leader" of the mods and he grew clothes for the mods too

- if you take off 428's nose in time on the page /clown, you see a weird skull thing with a mouth

- Gromaeda stopped MK-33 aka Mod 33 becoming what he was supposed to be

- There's A Komaeda Proper, A Komaeda where the mods are from

- There's Also Venus, weird serpent thingy I liek her

- Young Mods are Komaedalings that are like, just komaeda's hair n stuff

- there's mod Ibuki, who mod 13 speculates is human

- komaedaling is also an affectionate term for a human as seen in the 2bed2bath dating sim

- komaedeus of the earth sat on a rock in a cave in a prison for a long time he also has sickles and told 1862 to say hi to cuckmaeda

- speaking of CUCKMAEDA: cuckmaeda was in the cellar n stuff and absorbed all the mods and burst through the roof of the 2bed2bath in The Final Lovemail video

- shrinkmaeda exists and probably works with gromaeda cuz komaedeus said "and shrinkmaeda,.. Their devil" or whatever

- Clowns are REAAAALLLY prevalent in the lore

- before the horse surgery, mod 18 was a cat thing and had a mobile gacha game addiction as seen in the 2bed2bath dating sim

Sorry if this is really long I just wanna give you all the info I can!! ^^

Oh yeah and also Shita Ni Shimizu from Bell Of Dreams by Kikuo somehow sorta also give s off a komaegi vibe ig

I am so so very late at this response by if that aint an in depth lore explanation over something I didn’t know existed and am now more confused about because I have so many questions, then I don’t know what is. Are these all those Komaeda accounts then? Like Komaeda420 one and stuff? Or is that just…another Nagito themed thing in itself…?

The internet is a surreal place.

[parkerlyn]

I love ur characters and world building sm! I really want to try out doing a fantasy story but I'm not sure where to start. Do you have any tips?

Hi! Oh, where to begin haha. I think first of all I'll caveat that I'm no expert and that there's no one-strategy-fits-all. But I can at least give what my experience was at the high-level when starting The Nameless!

I would say the first thing for me is thinking about broad strokes - i.e. theme and tone for the story. Are you writing epic high fantasy? Low fantasy? Urban fantasy? Alternate history? Are there huge, overarching themes you want to write about? Is it a serious, more "mature" adventure or something more whimsical and relaxed (though not to say you can't explore serious themes in those sorts of stories too!) What is the scale of conflict you want to write? Do you want to write a happy ending? A tragedy?

Predictably because I refuse to shut up, this turned into a novel so more under the cut:

Asking these questions doesn't mean you have to have a ten-point bulleted plan for each one, but at least helps to steer you in the direction you want to go. Keeping high level, then, I can say for The Nameless I went into worldbuilding in regards to culture first. In my case, there's a major theme I've always wanted to explore that's [spoilers]. So I knew I wanted to incorporate that and it's been a crucial driving point for the plot. Then I took a lot of inspiration from D&D and fey-related tropes and stories, which led to the thought of how a culture might shift if fey/sheevra deals were a lot more prevalent and well-known vs more mysterious and less-encountered. The world formed after that thought, and I'd definitely recommend looking at some world-building questionnaires or guides out there, even for topics that probably aren't going to be relevant within your writing.

It will almost definitely never be mentioned in the game, but someone asking me about how farmland and agriculture worked in a significantly barren world led to me thinking more about the food culture of each of the four cities, or travel between them i.e. the Crossings vs the river entrances, and more about weather and trade. A lot of random questions here on tumblr have also helped nail down other details! I've also been lucky enough to have a close friend and my SO absolutely pick apart my story and ask random questions which made me think, so don't be afraid to talk through things out loud even when you don't have everything completely fleshed out.

Again - not that I'm expecting to go into a biosphere breakdown or trade laws of each city ever in game, but it did really help to make it more real in my head. More...lived in. And that helps with finding your characters and their motivations too. Obviously having the major goals or alignment of a character are vital for determining who they are at their core. But being asked "What's [character's] favorite meal or drink" or "What is their favorite time of day? memory? person?" or "What does their room look like" really helps to make them come alive for me, at least. I love the grand adventure of fantasy stories, but I love the small moments and details equally and in my opinion they're just as - if not even more - important.

Along that line I will say take notes!!! Write shorts that are smack dab in the middle of the story!!! Jot them down in your phone!! Write them on the back of a receipt!! Even if it's incoherent later (RIP 🤝 ajfdksalj), anything can help jog a memory or an idea, and like any craft, writing takes practice. Re: apps available, I use Scrivener more now to combine both writing and note-taking and it's the easiest for me to switch/sync between my main devices (aside from my base game folder in Visual Studio Code that's synced to my Dropbox, but I can't open that on mobile). But there are lots of wonderful free alternatives like Obsidian and Evernote (Evernote is free on a limited amount of devices, then goes into paid plans), and many more!

There's also another piece of advice I've heard which is to know how your story is going to end before you get too far. I waffle a little on recommending this one because I think half the fun is the journey to get there, and sometimes the end takes a bit to form. I do know how The Nameless is ultimately going to end, but there are still pieces missing in the middle and definitely more I want to finesse. So I'd say at least start with an idea of what sort of ending you want like in those initial questions - this will really help with your direction and determining a goal for the characters - and iron out the details as you go.

General advice outside of writing tools is to not expect or hold yourself to perfection and to not compare too much to other peers. This is so hard to do sometimes because I do want things to come out well written the first time around. But there's no way I'd write something without reading through it again, and that's what editing is for! That's what everyone has to go through! Take advice and do writing practices based on what you like from other author's writings who inspire you, but at the end of the day, your voice is your own.

Lastly the most important piece of advice I have is - at the core of everything - to write the story you want to tell. Write for you. This is also something I think can be hard to hold onto, especially if you do put a WIP out into the black hole of the internet and update it like an IF game.

Yes, if you're trying to make a living off writing or wanting to build a community around a story, the unfortunate reality of it is that that particular "success" criteria can sometimes depend on who likes it or who promotes it or how/how often you promote it, etc, if you're going purely based on interaction or follower counts or what have you. But honestly, there's always going to be someone who likes and even loves your story, and someone who can't stand your story or just can't get through it. And that's perfectly fine! But I mention this because if you try to write the story you think others want, then it'll impact your writing - whether it's not your voice anymore, or less lively or less enjoyable.

Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely times when I want to yell and groan and rip my hair out over something that doesn't sound right in The Nameless, and there's always going to be lows and highs in any pursuit. But at the end of the day, it's worth it because I know this is the story I want to write and share, and I hope it comes across how much I genuinely love this world and its characters.

Anyway! That's my long ramble for the day (and sorry this took so long to respond to). Again, this should definitely not be word of law, but just my experiences so far with writing. I hope it helps and good luck with your story! I'm sure it'll be amazing. 💖

[manonamora-if]

UX anon here - thank you for your response! I didn't realize the lack of resources in the community tbh. Would it be helpful if there was a master post of basic mobile UX principles to follow? Or would it be more helpful to gather a bunch of pre-existing twine templates and iterate them to be more in line with said principles? Or both?

Hi again Anon! :D

Yeah... it's kind of a common feeling. You [general you] don't know how much knowledge/resource/time/etc you need to invest until you actually make the thing you are enjoying. I've done the same when watching movies/series, believing I could write better dialogue... lol the audacity of my brain honestly...

I did make a Twine resource list some weeks back, with all I knew/could find, but I don't think there are any resource focused on mobile only. Though I do think most templates have some sort of mobile formatting/scaling in mind (even if not perfect). So this is definitely a niche to fill!

When it comes to the nitty-gritty of things, I can't really tell you which path to take (I am just one creator in the sea of many). You could send a poll to other authors, see their input.

I would advise against, though, reiterate pre-existing twine templates without the explicit consent of the creator (it might go without saying, but just in case). They might even prefer editing their templates with those advice instead of seeing their "updated" templates available out there (that's def the case for me).

But I do think the idea of a Master Post of Basic Principles with clear instructions (and images of what is good/not good!) would definitely be helpful. It leaves you open to go in more details about other principles in the future (if you want to do so, obviously you shouldn't feel pressured).

Last bit of advice, maybe check out Twine and how the different formats have built their visuals. It probably help you understand the limitations creators face when editing their UI. Theoretically, you could do anything on Twine, especially with SugarCube/Chapbook/Snowman (Harlowe is... wonky). But there are some class that have different rules depending on them being built through CSS or JavaScript.

EDIT: IF YOU POST SOMETHING LIKE THAT ON TUMBLR, TAG ME SO I CAN SHARE IT!!!

I'm also going on a bit more rambling, because I've realised I've had more feelings about the topic. PS: not directed at anyone in particular, just letting some steam out.

This is also my personal opinion, but I don't think (non-physical) IF was ever intended to be on mobile in the first place (ahem parsers/point-and-click...). When IF became a thing, there were no mobile (so that question was moot anyway). You just had a computer (maybe) that would run a program. I feels like it's been more of an evolution towards mobile use, as smaller/touch screens became the more prevalent device for entertainment (in general, not just IF). You have apps like CoG or HostedGames or those Story ones (they kind of look like VNs) that are very popular (and are incidentally fit for mobile...). And now we expect this of everyone that start with IF.***

While IF programs/format do allow for mobile support (to different degree), I do think we have to remind ourselves from time to time that IF creators still often create as a hobby, with often limited knowledge and resources. The fact that we sometimes/often uphold some IF to standard as high as actual game companies (who have headcounts and resources and knowledge to make things better) is just mind boggling to me (the number of asks/comments I get about my UI not looking professional because of a few mistakes...). Even trying to go through actual big company website is sometimes dreadful on mobile. Unileveeeeer *raise fist to the sky*...

Resources to make things more accessible (especially program/format specific) should be available to people, but we should leave some leeway to people who can't implement things or just don't want to. It might suck, but yeah... Think of it as computer exclusive projects (like you'd have with consoles :P ).

***Little side note, but we had a similar-ish discussion on the forum about Twine games during the IF Comp. It wasn't about mobile accessibility but the game being unstyled, and how many expected Twine entries to have some sort of styling and not just use the base UI, while the expectation was not as present (or not at all) for other programs. It is very interesting to go through.

[marshmellowtea]

What's the non sexual age play tag? Or is that what the tag is? (Asking because I want to look in it for genuine reasons not hate reasons)

that's what the tag is called, yeah. it's an ao3 tag that i frequent a lot because that's where a lot of age regression fics end up—i don't think a lot of younger people realize this, but before there was a significant, distinct age regression community, things that we now just consider age regression would just be lumped under sfw age play/cgl. that was technically a kink community, though, and eventually people realized that no, age regression is its own distinct thing that a lot of minors wanted to partake in for a variety of reasons, and people started to branch off into their own genuinely sfw, non-kink affiliated communities like cglre and chire and such. at least, that's the way i experienced it growing up and watching these communities divide, so idk if that's universal, that's just what i saw happen on tumblr.

i have.....some things i could say about the way it rose up and the harm it has done to contribute to this general atmosphere of hostility toward kink and adult spaces it's caused, but on its own, i really don't think it's inherently a bad thing for these spaces to have their own names and rules. that's not really my beef here, and i'm gonna.....reel in this side of the discussion before i go on a tangent here.

what is prevalent is that since age regression as we know it today wasn't really a thing when ao3 started, most fics that would be considered genuine, nonsexual regression ended up under the non-sexual age play tag, and because agere being a community of its own is still a relatively new phenomenon, it just kind of stuck that way. most "proper" age regression fics end up under the nsap tag, while the actual age regression tag is grouped with de-aging and thus generally implies physical regression. that doesn't mean you can't use it for mental regression, though—i actually generally prefer to use both tags on my agere fics—but it definitely has a different connotation than the one most people want for their agere fics.

i go into all this to say that there are people, probably mostly younger people, probably people who aren't aware of this history, who seem outright disgusted by the fact this is the case. i don't wanna demonize people for being uncomfortable with the tag—age play is still technically a kink term and age regression is generally understood to be separate from kink nowadays, and so it's perfectly fair to be uncomfortable with that!—but the problem comes when people do use this tag, claiming they're being ~forced~ into doing so (ao3 doesn't really force you to use any tags but okay), and throw big whiny fits about how their fic isn't ICKY AGE PLAY but rather PURE, WHOLESOME AGE REGRESSION, they're not DISGUSTING for using this tag cuz it's out of their hands, they can't help it, and isn't ao3 so wrong for making them do this???? they really should've fixed this by now, just more proof the site is evil!!!1!.....nevermind the fact there have been attempts to make a separate age regression tag for the agere community (that have mostly failed because people haven't properly mobilized to make them usable, but still), and that, once again, ao3 isn't making you use the damn tag in the first place and if you're that uncomfortable with it, then why are you using it at all?

it's....more a matter of tone, and also a complete and utter lack of self awareness that bugs me. there are people who do this in a less self pitying, virtue signaling way by putting a small a small "age regression not age play" in the tags that still kind of make me roll my eyes, but it doesn't feel as irritating to me as the people putting full on rants in the tags about using a tag no one is making them use in the first place. and, of course, they'll use the excuse of "well, it's the most popular tag, i do have to use it!!!" which is just a silly argument to me because they're just openly admitting their exchanging their personal discomfort for hits, which is....a superficial reason to use a tag that gives you an apparent full on meltdown, honestly.

sorry for going off on your very simple ask about this topic hglkdsajfkl, it's just......one i'm passionate about and i never really had the chance to properly express all my feelings on it. like i said, i really don't want to demonize people's very valid discomfort, it's just the hypocrisy and the lack of giving a shit of how we go to this point that bothers me. they don't care about why this tag is the most popular tag, they're just mad that it is. this isn't even getting into the kink negativity aspect of it all, but i think i've rambled long enough, so i'll stop here now.

[izzyspussy]

Where, besides Tumblr, can people find you doing fannish things? (Obviously only mention sites and usernames you actually want to be found at. Don’t expose your secret identities on my account.)

What other names have you gone by on these platforms, including Tumblr, if any?

When did you join the IT fandom? And what got you into fandom, to begin with?

What are your favorite ships, or characters, if any, and why? What do they mean to you?

In what ways do you participate in fandom? (ex. Posting memes, reblogging/commenting on content, writing fanfic, making fanart, creating fanmixes, etc.)

Do you have any in-fandom inspirations? Other members of the community that drive you? (And if you have the time/energy, in what ways do they inspire you?)

Name and link some of your favorite works, please!

Do you have any works of your own that you feel particularly proud of, or wish more people would’ve consumed? Please provide links if possible.

Have you ever participated in a fannish event (ie. IT Week, a fic Big Bang) or applied to be a part of a fanzine? If so, which ones, and can you please link them?

Without any form of bashing or lashing out, what is something you feel this fandom is missing?

I'm calicofiction everywhere, I don't have any secret identities lol. For fannish stuff specifically I really only use this account and AO3.

I've had sooooo many tumblr urls adjkjcs. The only other non-referential name I had was penlex, though.

I saw ITch1 in theaters (incidentally I also lived by a river and had bright orange hair at the time, which was.......... An Experience), but I didn't really enter The Fandom™ until setting ITch2a a few months ago. I didn't... know this would happen to me. (It was only a clown, how did it end up like this. it was only a clown...)

I started in fandom by talking to my older sister about how I thought Ginny Weasley should have been in Slytherin, and she hooked me up with ye olden fan sites.

The one character that I can always come back to is Bruce Wayne, but the character I identify with the most of all time is Taako from The Adventure Zone: Balance. I've even considered writing to Justin to tell him how deeply Taako affected me and made me kind of stop feeling like my personality was an unfortunate consequence of my circumstances lmfao.

I'm a Jack of all Trades (*jeb bush voice* please laugh). I do fic, moodboards/aesthetics, traditional art, mixes/playlists, headcanons/shitposts... Mostly fic though.

I'm loving Milo @clownjizz's kink content right now, Kels @lethimrunsonia is a sweetheart and one of my best friends, (other fandoms now), Nathaniel @transbucky and Jess @sequencefairy keep me motivated to make Good Stuff (theirs highly recommended if you like MCU, SPN, BFU), and Rachel @dykerory keeps me from taking It All too seriously lmao (DCTV, Star Wars).

I have 500+ Bookmarks on AO3! I also reblog fics I like here under the tag /fic-rec, and I make a new recommendation every Thursday on my /interlude post.

I'm on mobile so I don't wanna do a lot of linking and formatting BUT you can find all my fic on my AO3 or in my /fic tag. I've done a few fic themed answers that highlight some particular works.

I participated in kink memes and gift exchanges during my LiveJournal days. I'm sorry to say those pages are lost to time.

I don't necessarily feel like the IT fandom is missing anything... but I do think fandom in general, including this one, adheres way too much to normative ideals when attempting to represent queer relationships. Not only is there so often an uncomfortable replication of heterosexual gender roles in every rating level, but there is also the prevalence of cohabitation, legal marriage, and kids as the ultimate happy ending for a couple. It's just plain not the case, and I long to see more relationships like the ones I participate in and witness as a queer person (and especially as a queer man) in real life represented in fanfic that purports itself to be About Us.

[ironwoman359]

Hello. I saw the post you reblogged about toxicity in the TS fandom. And as someone who is relatively new (Just over 2 months, heyo!), may I ask what kind of toxic behaviour do you see in the fandom? I hope this isn't too much for me to ask, I was just a bit curious and wanted some clarification on the matter. Please feel free to ignore this if it bothers you!

Well, welcome to the fandom, first of all! I hope you’re having fun so far. 

In regards to the post you’re talking about, I think @izzyfandoms said it best: “...most fandoms are okay but have a loud toxic minority, but for us the not-toxic people are often the loudest so we can come off as pure and perfect...” 

Most fandoms do have an amount of toxic behavior in them, it’s very rare (I’d say impossible, actually) to find one with zero problems, but it’s also usually more noticable in other communities than in this fandom, as we have been fortunate to have the non-toxic majority also be the louder voices most of the time (most often in fandoms, toxicity is a loud minority, though there are of course exceptions to this as well). 

The other thing I think is important to remember is that this fandom started out smaller than it is now. I’ve been a presence here since november 2017, and there are other who have been around even longer, and back then, the fandom was much smaller and therefore the toxic minority was even harder to notice. This led to us gaining a reputation of “purity,” which in turn made issues more complicated when they started to crop up. Every fandom is going to have issues, things that people in it disagree about, and people who try to stir up trouble. This is normal, and a fandom displaying those traits is not immediately a bad fandom. What can shift a fandom into an unhealthy one is when issues, disagreements, and drama become the focal point and people begin to treat each other poorly over these things. And I would say a majority of fanders are good at not falling into that type of thinking or acting. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t mean that the fandom as a whole can just stick our heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine. 

So, you asked me what toxic behaviors I see. I’m going to talk about some examples I’ve seen in this fandom, and before I do I’d like to state first off that it is not my intention to attack anyone specific, or to shame people for their tastes in characterizations, ships, or their triggers or squicks. This is me trying to give my open and honest opinion about this community while being as respectful and tactful as possible. 

Also going forward, every time I say “the fandom” or “people” or refer to the community in some other all encompassing way, know that I do not mean every single person in it, or even a majority necessarily, just enough people to make it noticable. If you exhibit some of the behaviors I’m talking about, I’m not saying you’re a bad person or that you shouldn’t be here, far from it. But everyone has flaws, and these are just some common things that I see in this community. Maybe if you see yourself in this post, you can take a step back and consider your thoughts and actions to see how they may be harming you or others. 

Regardless of everything I’ve said and am about to say, I really love this fandom and the people in it, and I’m incredibly grateful for the impact it’s had on my life. Some bumps in the road aren’t going to change that. (Also I don’t engage with the fandom much outside of tumblr, things may be different on twitter, discord, or other places, this is just my experience with this platform specifically. Okay? Okay.)

So...here’s what I see in this fandom:

It is quick to judge. Anyone been here long enough to remember the week when Roman was “cancelled” between Accepting Anxiety part 1 and part 2? I came into the community later that year, but the fandom elders can tell you, there was a rally against Roman as a character, and a slew of people calling out prinxiety shippers for shipping such a “toxic ship.”  You’d think after that first time, the community would have learned to perhaps be not so quick in its judgements, but we’ve seen the same pattern over and over again.

People were quick to judge Deceit when his character was introduced, which was followed by a back and forth where people argued about what was and wasn’t “sympathetic” content, how things should be tagged, and 

People were quick to judge Virgil after Embarrassing Phases

People were quck to judge Patton after SvS and Patton AND Virgil after DWIT. 

People were quick to judge Remus after DWIT.

And here’s the thing, it’s fine if you have different interpretations of characters, or prefer certain versions. You see Patton’s character flaws and decide “you know what, this character isn’t for me now” or want to explore those flaws taken to their extremes? That is okay. What is not okay, and what this fandom does a lot, is insisting that YOUR interpretation and version of the character is the correct one and shaming people with different ideas. It’s fine if you don’t like Patton or take issue with his current flaws being displayed. It’s NOT fine to attack people who disagree and send anon hate to blogs who speak out in support of Patton. It’s fine if you don’t like unsympathetic sides content. It’s NOT fine to shame people who do or send anon hate to unsympathetic sides blogs. There are lots of different ways to interpret all SIX sides, and yet so often I see people go on some sort of crusade to defend their opinon and insist that it’s canon. 

But that’s all just the characters, this fandom also is very quick to judge the individuals in it. Real, breathing people with lives outside the internet are often shamed or attacked for their opinions about the characters, different ships, the way they’ve chosen to portray the characters in their art or stories, I could go on. Purity culture and cancel culture are prevalant in all areas of the internet, and this fandom is not exempt from it. Demonizing people for making small mistakes, or even for just disagreeing with you, is never okay, and yet it is something I’ve seen again and again in this fandom. Which leads me to my next point...

Anon hate. God, it makes me so angry, and this is the only one that I won’t try to portray both sides of or be diplomatic about, because it is flat out unacceptable no matter the circumstance. There are so many blogs in this fandom that have horrible anon hate problems, and I am sick of seeing it. I don’t care what a person has done or what opinions they have that you may disagree with, I don’t care if they’re the worst person in the world. It’s not okay to send anon hate, and it’s not okay to tell people to kill themselves. You find a blog in this fandom that you just Do Not like, either because of their content, their opinions, hell, just their personality? Unfollow them. Block them if you want. But sending anon hate over ships, characters, opinions and statements, it’s just childish and unacceptable. And it happens enough in this fandom that there are people who are afraid of making statements about things for fear of attracting more of that energy. Love always follows the hate and drowns it out in this fandom, for which I’m grateful, but the hate shouldn’t exist in the first place. Cut that shit out. 

In general, this fandom has not handled differing opinions well, be it opinions on how to tag content, disagreements over characterizations, or encountering an idea that you personally may not care for. It is ultimately up to individuals to curate their online experience, by unfollowing blogs they don’t like, blocking tags and blogs they don’t want to see, and reading summaries and content warnings before opening fics. Often in this fandom I think people get upset if something isn’t tagged the way they want it to be (and I’m not talking about not tagging triggers, I’m talking like, someone insisting a blogger tag deceit content as #ts deceit when they already tag it as #deceit sanders. In situations like that it is the responsibilty of that someone to either block the tags a blog is using or not follow blogs whose tagging system doesn’t work for them), or if someone disagrees with them and we forget that it is okay to just...unfollow people. You don’t have to follow every blog in this fandom to be a part of the community, and if a blog is making posts and content you don’t like, unfollow them, don’t attack them for it. Accept that they have as much a right to their opinions and their space in the fandom as you do, and adjust your block and follow list accordingly so that you can get the experience that YOU want out of this fandom. 

I hope this was helpful, and I hope it didn’t get too long for you. I’m not putting this under a cut because I think it’s important, but I will tag it as #longpost so my mobile users don’t suffer too much. If you want to discuss this in the notes, please keep it civil, and remember that we all are fans of Thomas here, and that we probably have more in common than we do differences. I love you guys, stay awesome

[notafrogblog]

Who wants to read an entire fucking essay I’ve been writing over the last few months it’s about viddy games wooooooo

Video Games's Popularity

16% of entertainment hours in 2018 were spent playing video games, according to a study by The NPD Group, an American market research company (Stych). Video games have become more and more popular as they have become easier and easier to access through consoles, computers, tablets, and phones. Video games and gaming have become some of the most popular topics to watch on youtube, twitch, and other platforms, which is shown by the fact that youtube has a trending section just for video game content. I myself watch video game content whenever I get the chance. Merriam Webster defines video games as "an electronic game in which players control images on a video screen." If you use that definition for video games, it means gaming is a lot more widespread and prevalent than you'd first think. It would be a struggle to find anyone below the age of twenty who's never played a video game in some form. There are thousands of people in online communities who discuss video games and the people who play them, on sites like Reddit, Twitch, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and more. Video game music, posters, clothing, and general merchandise is popular and lucrative for the companies that make and sell the products. People continue to invest their time, money, and energy into playing and enjoying video games. Video games are such a big part of the online community and my life that I decided to take this opportunity to learn more about them.

While researching this paper, I found different types of sources than I was expecting. Many articles on video games are outdated, poorly written, or simply didn't contain much information. Most possible sources were game reviews, tabloid-esque gossip, or talked about events occurring recently in the gaming community. These weren't very helpful for the type of topics I wanted to discuss. When I set out to write this, I expected to find more analyses of video games or game genres as a whole, or perhaps more in-depth writing. Although I did find articles that were in-depth, they were often very niche, scholarly, or outdated. Video games as a culture moves indescribably quickly, with new games always being released. The vast amount of content and places to share said content on the internet makes video games so widespread, it's near impossible to categorize and talk about video games a whole, rather than individual games or franchises. I suppose that's why there are so many game reviews. People are always looking for new games to play, new content to view. I did my best to find articles and sources I could use to talk about video games a whole, as a culture, and as a complex and nuanced form of entertainment. Part of my own interest in video games is due to the large variety of games and game content available. I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about video games, especially after researching this essay. But I don't know much about games as a whole, or why people play them. As much as I love to talk about and watch video games, I don't play them often myself. I wanted to know what made other people love playing video games so much. Both my brothers are very engrossed in their respective games and consoles, and I found myself wondering what compels them to put their time and energy into something that doesn't give me that same satisfaction. Which begs the question, why do people play video games? What keeps them coming back? What makes video games so enjoyable?

I started by looking in the school databases, and on credible sites like the Washington Post and the New York Times. Video games is such a broad topic, but many articles focused on specific games or events. While I researched, I wondered what is so compelling about video games. I had some hypotheses. Video games often have a plot, a list of tasks to complete, or some sort of storyline. I found an article about the stories and plotlines of first-person shooter games, one of the most popular genres of games. In the article, David M. Leeson explains what differs between a multiplayer and a single-player shooter: "Most multiplayer shooters are gameplay-driven: play sessions consist of one or more matches, in which players compete with each other (either individually or as teams) to win the game, either by scoring points or capturing objectives. Most single-player shooters, by contrast, are story-driven: play sessions consist of one or more levels, in which the player is told the story so far and then must overcome a series of obstacles to find out what happens next." Already this provides some insight into what compels people to play video games. Multiplayer shooters, such as Fortnite, some Call of Duty games, Battlefield games, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, depend on other players to keep you interested. Winning a match is the main objective. In single-player games, the goal isn't to win a round, it's to complete the story. In a way, this makes a single-player shooter similar to a book or a movie. The difference between them is that the player takes an active part in moving the plotline forward, which keeps the player interested and motivated to find out what happens next.

A storyline isn't the only thing that can be necessary to keep a player motivated. The gameplay plays a big role in keeping the player interested in continuing the game. Games have two main parts, speed and strategy. Speed-based games rely on fast reflexes, immediate feedback, and quick thinking to be enjoyable. Games like these require you to be in the moment the whole time, ready to react to whatever is thrown at you. Games that are more speed-based include titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and endless runner games such as Temple Run or Subway Surfers. Despite being very different games in style, aesthetic, plot, and goals, these all rely on speed as a main mechanic. Another aspect of games is strategy. Strategy-based games take a slower route, and are more based on planning and thinking before you act. Strategy games often have some sort of back-and-forth mechanic between the player and some sort of other entity, usually a non-player character (npc) or the game itself. This includes games such as battling games such as Pokemon, storyline games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and many mobile games. Strategy games require the player to think about what they want to do before they do it, and often have multiple storylines or options for how to play the game or what to do when. All games have elements of both strategy and speed, but usually one takes precedence over the other. Each category of game has its pros and cons and its own problems.

There are a few problems with speed-based games that the developers must remedy for the game to be enjoyable. Firstly, games with speed-based mechanics are often very easy to pick up and learn. Many Super Smash Bros. players will mash buttons or spam attacks rather than use combination attacks or the full variety of moves available. Speed-based games must introduce a learning curve for players to learn new skills, become better at the skills they already have, and some sort of challenge that requires those skills to be used. Another problem with speed-based games is the lack of variety. One character with only one set of moves can quickly become boring to play. Most games don't have this problem, with many games having multiple characters. Breath of the Wild, however, only has one playable character, Link. Nintendo keeps BotW from becoming boring by having Link have many weapons and clothing to collect and choose from to use, food items to temporarily boost stats, and a way to upgrade Link's health points as the game grows more difficult. Many endless runner games (i.e. Subway Surfers or Temple Run) lack this attribute, which causes players to become bored of them after playing for a while. While they may include customizable or lots of character choices, the changes are purely cosmetic and don't impact the gameplay.

Strategy games have issues as well, most notably those to do with speed. Strategy games often have a slower pace, and making the pace too slow can cause players to become bored. This was an issue with the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, a 1997 turn-based rpg by Square Enix. Final Fantasy VII is set to have a remake by Square Enix, the first part of which was released on April 10, 2020. An article I discovered addressed some flaws in the original game as well as what the remake should have to make the game better. The article reads: "Modern releases of Final Fantasy VII include an option to speed up combat by a factor of three, and after turning it on, you quickly learn that you almost never need to turn it off to more carefully manage the flow of battle, such is the monotony of just attacking and healing over and over. This speed boost is greeted by latter-day players as a crucial "quality of life" improvement. It doesn't matter how many oakleaves you've acquired in 22 years; when letting the player essentially skip the gameplay is treated as a godsend, you don't have a very good game." (Vogt) As said in the quote, the ability to speed up gameplay shouldn't be necessary. The gameplay is also described as monotonous. Games must be interesting to keep players motivated to continue playing. Keeping players interested in the game is a big part of video game making.

Game designers and developers must put player enjoyment first when making a game. Even if the ultimate goal is to make money or gain popularity in the community, player enjoyment is what leads to a game's success. If a player isn't having fun playing a game, they won't recommend it to others, or join an online community about it, or even continue playing it. For this reason, I decided to find information about the process of game design and development, where ideas came from, and how enjoyment of the game came into the mix. I found an academic study of a game jam in 2013. A game jam is an event where multiple groups of game makers come together to make games in an allotted time using a given prompt. The study discusses multiple aspects of the game jam, including initial ideas, prototyping, and game development and testing, the latter of which is shown in the quote here: "Participants [in the game jam] removed systems within the game (e.g. attacks requiring combinations of buttons rather than single buttons) or reduced the total number of components used (e.g. fewer game levels or types of enemies). Swapping mechanics occurred when already implemented systems were buggy or dysfunctional or when playtesting (personally or with others) showed them to be overly complex or unintuitive." (Zook) This quote shows how game developers must think about how the players will interact with mechanics, especially mechanics they aren't used to. Mechanics are how you do things in the game, whether it be with certain buttons, an item, movement, interaction with the environment, or a combination of these. Mechanics must be easy to pick up on and learn for beginning players, but difficult to master so as to keep players entertained. The quote shows how initially complex mechanisms such as button combinations or buggy systems can be unintuitive for the players, and therefore need to be fixed. If a player has difficulties with the game's function, it won't be fun to play. Games must be fun if they want to keep players interested.

For this paper, I interviewed one of my friend's younger brothers, an avid player of video games. Ian plays video games for a few hours every day, he says, on xbox, nintendo switch, and mobile devices. In the interview, he says that what he thinks makes video games enjoyable is having fun. Although he plays video games more suited to younger users, there were a few things he had to say about games he disliked. The main things he didn't like about games were the difficulty (too hard, too easy) bad graphics, or he "wasn't as interested as he thought he was." His viewpoint as someone who plays a lot of video games is very useful for the question I'm asking. Difficulty of games is something that is hard to balance for game developers. As discussed earlier, the mechanics must be intuitive so the player can pick up on them easily. However, if the entire game is easy, the player will get bored, just like Ian did.

"What makes video games enjoyable?" is the question I've tried to answer. So, what does make video games enjoyable? I'd say it's a variety of things. Video games are so complex, and what makes them entertaining is even more complex. There's such a huge variety of video games available to play, on dozens of platforms and consoles, and in many different ways. Expecting to find just one answer for such a broad question would be unjustifiable. So, I've determined a couple things that make video games enjoyable. As Ian said, games should be fun. Fun means different things to each person, so different games will be better for different people. Different difficulties and styles of games will be different for different people. A more casual game style, like mobile games or kid's games, might be more enjoyable for a gamer like Ian. However, strategy based games such as Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, or shooting games such as CS:GO might be more suited to older players. In short, what makes video games enjoyable is the variety of games there are to play. Games are for everyone, and each type of video game has people who enjoy it, and people who don't. There is no one clear answer to this question. Unfortunately, this means that if I want to be more involved in playing video games, I'm going to have to try some games and find out what I like. If you're interested in video games, I suggest you do the same.

Works Cited

Jabr, Ferris. “Can You Really Be Addicted to Video Games?” New York Times, 22 October 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/magazine/can-you-really-be-addicted-to-video-games.html. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Leeson, David M. "Northrop Frye and the story structure of the single-player shooter." English Studies in Canada, vol. 37, no. 2, 2011, p. 137+. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A294194389/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=e5b85bc6. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/video%20game. Accessed 5 November 2020.

S., Ian. Personal interview. December 2020.

Stych, Anne. “Americans' favorite forms of entertainment are digital.” bizjournals, 28 March 2019, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/03/americans-favorite-forms-of-entertainment-are.html?page=all#:~:text=The%20shift%20to%20digital%20is,research%20by%20The%20NPD%20Group. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Vogt, Ryan. "For all its greatness, Final Fantasy VII wasn't a good game. Let's remember why." Washingtonpost.com, 7 Apr. 2020. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619723232/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=0b17c660. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Zook, Alexander and Mark O. Riedl. "Game Conceptualization and Development Processes in the Global Game Jam." School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, http://www.fdg2013.org/program/workshops/papers/GGJ2013/ggj13_submission_4.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

[aelaer]

Hmm, I saw the Howard post and I haven’t read the MCU comic tie nor have I read any iron man comics but i guess he was abusive for hitting his son toy. Many parents from older generations are fine with corporal punishment. It’s not an excuse but abuse is way more severe. A daily constant beating for no reason.

For the Howard post (here, for those who missed it), I was focused strictly on the MCU rather than the comics. In the comics for Earth-616 he was 100% abusive, no question about it, from my understanding. I’m no expert on comic Tony.

As the ask indicates, this is gonna get into heavy topics. Mind yourselves. The heavier stuff is under a cut (at least if you aren’t viewing the original post on the mobile app; fix your stuff tumblr).

For the MCU, it’s much greyer if you rely on the movies, but Tony’s memories of his father from Iron Man 2 don’t speak well of Howard’s character, though they try to paint him in a better light by the end of it. So if you only view the films, it’s much harder to determine the relationship based on only one scene (after all, everyone has bad days, and there’s no parent out there who hasn’t been cranky at a four-year-old).

But then you get a second, worse occurrence with the tie-in comic. The official MCU tie-in comics (as opposed to the inspired-by comics) are considered canon. You can find a list of the tie-in comics and inspired-by comics over at Wiki, as well as most of their summaries. (Sadly they fail to mention the comic sponsored for Iron Man 2, which is freaking hilarious if you read what happens in the 2010 timeline of the wiki. He’s driving race cars in India. It’s great. The wiki timeline is literally the only place I can find information for this promotional comic.)

Anyway, back to the serious topic. Abuse comes in various forms, and from what I can see from a quick look at Google, there is no hard agreement of the types of abuse or the number. For instance, this site categorizes six types of abuse, while this site categorizes ten types, but lumps one of the abuse types above into one category and includes self-neglect as a type of abuse. Still, it’s some reading if you’re looking for further education on the topic.

Based on those definitions and what we see in the tie-in panels, Howard would fall into both emotional/verbal and physical abuser categories - if the reader considers corporal punishment on children as inherently abusive. Let me explain, and get into the nitty gritty of corporal punishment in the home.

Corporal punishment has hugely shifted in public opinion as a parenting/teaching tactic from the mid-20th century to now in the United States. In America in 2020, in my personal experiences, the most a parent could get away with is spanking (as opposed to using a switch, cane, belt, or slapping as used to be normal), and that has been massively falling out of favor the last 20 years, especially in states that have made it illegal in schools. This is at least, how it’s seen in media; I just don’t know enough about different sub-cultures in the United States to know if it’s universal. In middle-class California, it has fallen hugely out of favor. This may be very different in the rural areas of, say, Mississippi. I just don’t know.

I also don’t know about the status of corporal punishment for children across the world and had to do some digging. There is a lot of statistics in how favorable vs unfavorable it is around the world again on Wiki, and you can see most of Europe has made it illegal everywhere, half of the states have it illegal in schools, but as Wiki mentions, it’s legal in the home across most of the world and largely not illegal in schools. I think in the 21st century we’re going to see it sharply decrease as a punishment tactic as millennials raise their children and Gen Z starts growing up and raising their own children.

I want to address something you said: “Many parents from older generations are fine with corporal punishment. It’s not an excuse but abuse is way more severe. A daily constant beating for no reason.”

In the mid-1970s it was definitely very common for open-handed smacks to be dealt out by a parent to a children in Western society, at least from what statistics I can find. Here’s some more Wiki reading on it.

So I’ll play devil’s advocate: if we’re looking at the American mid-late 1970s (when Tony was a kid) and physical discipline not being viewed as abusive by the overall general populace, so long as it wasn’t excessive, let’s say that in this panel the smack in itself wasn’t abusive. If we’re going to make that conclusion, let’s look instead at the reason why Tony was being punished and the words used in the panel.

Howard [holding up a toy car that hit his foot]: This is yours, I take it? Is this how you spend your weekend at home?!

Tony [holding up a remote control for the toy car]: D-dad, I…

Howard [slaps Tony, and breaks the remote control]: Waste of time! I don’t need to deal with this nonsense! Do you understand me?!

Corporal punishment was delivered for many reasons in the ‘70s in America; in schools it happened from fooling around when you were supposed to be paying attention to being a punishment for nasty fights to disrespecting the teacher. In the home, I suspect it was largely disrespect or things like fighting with your siblings or stealing a sweet.

Tony’s “crime”, so to speak, is playing with a toy car and accidentally hitting his father with it. Nowhere in the lead-up does it indicate that it was done maliciously. It was careless, sure, but breaking a toy and meting out a slap in turn from carelessness is a huge overreaction. The punishment does not fit the crime.

Going into Wiki’s definitions of child abuse (more official answers can be found elsewhere, I’m sure), the conflict and debate about physical abuse is noted there, but I’m more interested in what they say about psychological/emotional abuse. With the resources listed there, they note that modern definitions of emotional abuse of a child entail:

“A repeated pattern of caregiver behavior or extreme incident(s) that

convey to children that they are worthless, flawed, unloved, unwanted…”

“Other examples include name-calling, ridicule, degradation, destruction of personal belongings […] excessive criticism…”

“Emotional neglect: characterized by a lack of nurturance, encouragement, and support…”

Furthermore, it notes some of the consequences:

“Childhood psychological abuse [is] as harmful as sexual or physical abuse.”

“Psychological maltreatment is “the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect."”

"Given the prevalence of childhood psychological abuse and the severity of harm to young victims, it should be at the forefront of mental health and social service training”

You can read the sources all in the Wiki article.

With all of those definitions, and the two scenes in canon we see with Howard interacting with young Tony (this one and the film reel in Iron Man 2), the evidence provided suggests that this was Howard’s natural tone when talking to his young son.

And that is, following all those definitions above, emotionally negligent and psychologically abusive.

So one may argue about corporal punishment all they want, and cultures around the world will continue to change their attitude towards it as we go further into the 21st century, but the scenes presented in canon firmly put Howard into an abuse role psychologically at the least.

Thanks for the ask, anon, and I hope that you found this interesting and potentially enlightening.

[tlbodine]

A Decade of Horror Recommendations

With 2020 approaching, we’re reaching the end of a decade that has been uncommonly good to the horror genre, especially the last few years. Here’s an overview of some of the stand-out titles and my recommendations. Feel free to ask me about any of the titles on this list and I’ll happily share my more in-depth thoughts on them! 

Note that, of course, I have not seen every movie that’s come out in recent years, so I’ve probably missed some titles -- feel free to jump in with your own recommendations! 

Also this post is really long and has gifs, so I’m putting it under a cut. Sorry for the dash spam, mobile fam. Tell Tumblr to fix their shit. 

2010: Supernatural Horror Starts Making a Comeback 

Some stand-out films: 

Insidious: An important film for modern horror history, helping to usher in the new wave of paranormal/hauntings/demon films. It lays the tropes for a lot of the films that would get big in upcoming years. I thought it was pretty solidly decent. 

Devil: A clever script about being trapped on an elevator with the devil. It’s a bit too ambitious and doesn’t quite live up to those ambitions, but it’s solidly decent and refreshingly original. A hidden gem for the year. 

Black Swan: Maybe the height of Darren Aronofsky’s career as a household name. Not my favorite of his movies, but a pretty solid psychological suspense. 

Frozen: No, not that one. This is a clever movie that embraces a narrow scope: some teenagers get stuck on a ski lift and have to endure the elements and some hungry wolves below. Not a great movie, but worth watching as a study in what you can do with limited resources. 

Black Death: Quick shout-out for a dark and grisly historical horror involving witchcraft and torture. It’s not a fun movie to watch, but it’s got Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne, and I feel like both original screenplays and historical horrors are rare enough to warrant support. 

2010 also had its share of predictable franchise tie-ins (a Saw movie, a Resident Evil movie, remakes like I Spit on Your Grave and The Crazies, etc.) The Horror Renaissance was a few years in coming. 

2011: The Year of the Predictable Remakes 

So many franchises getting flogged to death this year -- tripe like SCRE4M, Final Destination 5, Human Centipede 2, a Hellraiser reboot literally no one watched, and Paranormal Activity 3. Blech. BUT. 2011 also brought us a couple of my favorite movies ever: 

You’re Next: I would credit You’re Next with re-defining the “final girl” in horror. Also it’s a damn good home invasion movie with buckets of gore and a smart script. 

Cabin in the Woods: This one’s a bit divisive -- some folks really hated it I guess -- but it’s such a loving deconstruction of horror, and it’s wholly original even while being comfortingly familiar. Also it’s hilarious. 

2012: A Few Important Titles

I feel like 2012 was full of movies nobody has actually ever seen or talked about. But some of the good ones that I’d recommend: 

Sinister: Like Insidious in some ways, but maybe better.  Also, “Snakes don’t have feet.” Honestly just a very good, solid demon/haunted kid movie. 

V/H/S: A must-watch for horror buffs. It didn’t invent the found footage genre, but it did refine it and really show off what it could do best. 

Smiley: OK so like. This is not really a great film, but I think about it a lot and recommend it a lot. It’s stuck with me quite a bit somehow, and in some ways it feels very much ahead of its time as a creepy prediction of what internet culture would be like at the end of the decade. “We did it for the lulz.” Seriously, watch this movie today, and remember that it was made eight years ago, and see if it gives you chills too. 

I guess I should also mention Prometheus here, which lots of people liked. I was not one of them, but it was a heavily talked-about film I feel like and of course an Alien franchise tie-in. 

2013: The Year the World Remembered It Liked Horror 

This was a big turning point year, launching some new franchises instead of just re-treading old ones: 

The Conjuring: I personally hate all of these movies, but they are huge and you can’t swing a dead cat in the modern horror fandom without encountering one of them. The first Conjuring film was at least decent. For extra credit, watch it as a triple feature with Insidious and Sinister and do a compare/contrast. 

The Purge: Not only the start of a successful franchise but also a pop culture phenomenon and a damn good movie to boot. 

Mama: I love this movie. I have this movie on DVD. It’s kind of bittersweet and may not completely follow through on all of its promises, but it’s still quite good and has some lovely performances. 

Warm Bodies: Not really a horror -- kind of a romance -- but it warrants mention here because zombies were a hot item in 2013, and that’s a current special interest of mine on account of having a zombie book of my own coming out that is more than a little influenced by this story. (the film is a pretty good adaptation of the book, although honestly you could just skip the movie and read the book and get a better experience.)  

Willow Creek: I feel like I recommend this movie a lot, but that’s just because I think it’s very good and a very smart use of its own resources. A found footage mockumentary that actually manages to make Bigfoot frightening. Totally worth the watch. 

Mr. Jones: Here’s another hidden gem, also in found footage style (I feel like that was a prevailing theme in the years after V/H/S) but it’s surprisingly fresh. It’s a folk horror piece that doesn’t go at all where you might expect despite its thoroughly well-trodden ‘couple in secluded house’ setup. 

A bucketful of remakes and sequels this year too, including an Evil Dead reboot, V/H/S sequel, Insidious sequel, etc.  I should also probably mention World War Z, which was not actually very good and also had nothing in common with the book of the same name, but does mark an important moment in the mainstreaming of the zombie revival, especially considering it came out the same year as Warm Bodies. 

2014: Fuck Yeah People Actually Like This Shit Let’s Make More 

I feel like maybe our current horror renaissance started this year. Some recs: 

The Babadook: No surprises to anyone who follows my blog, but I love The Babadook and I will defend it to the bitter end against its detractors. It is one of my favorite horror films of all time and one of the best of the decade. 

It Follows: Ok confession, I actually did not like this movie at all. I thought it was ridiculous and over-hyped. But it makes the list because a lot of other people really, really loved it, and I accept that they saw something in it that I didn’t. Watch it and make up your own mind (and report back with your findings). 

As Above, So Below: This may be the most claustrophobic film ever made, and it deserves to be studied on that merit alone. It’s also pretty creepy and I suspect a lot creepier for folks who are unnerved by Christian horror/mythology (I am not, but I know lots of folks really are). 

Housebound: A hidden gem from New Zealand, this one is worth a watch because it takes a familiar haunted house premise and gives it a surprising and honestly delightful twist. 

Jessabelle: Not a great movie, but deserving of a spot here because it’s a Southern Gothic and features a main character in a wheelchair, which I think is neat. 

13 Sins: I feel like I’ve written about this movie for the blog before, and I recommend it a lot. But it’s clever and is a great early example of the “killing game” genre that has become increasingly prevalent (I mean, aside from the Battle Royale/Hunger Games version). 

It was neat to see so many original horror stories (as opposed to reboots/franchises) coming out, and that’s a trend that would continue (and is something that makes horror one of my preferred genres - there are more original stories in it than in many other types of film). 

2015: Hell Yeah Let’s Ride This Horror Train 

So many excellent movies this year! Ahh! 

Crimson Peak: Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to the Gothic. What I love about this movie (aside from Tom Hiddleston) is it plays all the tropes straight. It’s not trying to be a new spin or reinvent the genre or break all the tropes. It’s just a gothic horror story, told exactly like what it is, by a guy who makes damn good movies. I felt like that was really brave and surprising at the time. 

The Visit: M. Night Shyamalan had basically made a joke of himself after a string of awful movies, but this movie was enough to earn back a bit of respect in my book. It’s a clever premise and a smart use of found footage. 

The VVitch: Creepy-ass slow-burn supernatural historical horror, sign me up. I actually don’t like this movie as much as a lot of people (see above: religious-themed horror doesn’t push my fear buttons much) but it’s beautifully made, thoughtful, and artistic in a way that makes people sit up and pay attention to just how good the horror genre can be. 

Krampus: This movie is extremely silly and I love it. A holiday favorite I watch every year now. It’s hilarious, and imaginative, with some really creepy visuals and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. 

The Invitation: For me, some of my favorite horror movies are the ones where the film is uncomfortable to watch before the actual horror stuff starts up. This one has an almost unbearably tense build-up and pays off in an incredibly satisfying and creepy manner. 

2016: Horror Goes Hella Mainstream

I feel like 2016 was another year of just...lots of kind of fun unique premises tossed out like spaghetti to see what would stick. And I am here for it. 

Don’t Breathe: Home invasion gone wrong is a great trope, and this one gets extra points for having the single most disturbing sequence utilizing a turkey baster I’ve ever seen in film. 

Hush: Speaking of home invasions. This one is pretty standard fare -- homeowner fights back! -- but the deaf main character is a neat twist. 

Lights Out: It’s pretty cheesy at times and the plot sort of falls in on itself, but the opening sequence is genuinely frightening and the movie almost literally killed @comicreliefmorlock so that’s a commendation I guess? 

Train to Busan: An Asian take on the zombie survival story. It’s a really good movie (if horribly bleak) and it does such an excellent job of making you genuinely care for all of the characters. 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe: A really neat premise with some wonderful slow-build horror. The storyline kind of goes off the rails, and it asks a lot of questions it doesn’t answer, but it’s quite good regardless. 

The Forest: I was disappointed with this one -- it just failed to live up to my expectations -- but it’s decent, and it’s a good attempt at capturing the creepiness of Japan’s Suicide Forest. 

Before I Wake: This one was sad more than scary, I thought, but it fits so neatly into a certain aesthetic that I am always a sucker for -- dreams and nightmares bleeding into reality, yes please. 

Split: Say what you will, I thought Split was amazing, and James McAvoy deserves a goddamn Oscar for his performance in this movie. 

The Monster: A hidden gem that’s worth watching to see how well it delivers on its premise: two characters stuck in a car with a monster outside. It’s not amazing, but it’s neat, and sometimes it’s nice to have just a straightforward creature feature with a bit of emotional heft for good measure. 

2017: Did Somebody Say Blockbuster? 

In hindsight, they’ll probably say 2017 was the start of the horror renaissance, but we’ll all know they’re a few years too late. Still, this was another great year: 

Get Out: Funny, dark, deeply uncomfortable and with some real meat to it -- Jordan Peele knows how to make a great movie. This absolutely deserves all the awards. 

It: Not a perfect movie, but a good adaptation of a difficult-to-adapt book. The kids are great. Pennywise is menacing, but that fucking flute lady is the scariest part. 

It Comes At Night: I didn’t like this one much, but a lot of folks did so it makes the list. See above re: It Follows. 

Gerald’s Game: Everything that’s wrong with this movie (ie, the ending) is wrong in the original story, so where this movie fails it’s a matter of sticking too close to its source material. But the premise is truly, genuinely horrifying, and the degloving scene almost made me vomit. So that’s cool. 

Happy Death Day: Another horror-comedy, with a healthy dose of self-awareness. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s what allows it to be fun. 

The Babysitter: This movie is hilarious. It’s also super bloody and clever and clearly made by people who love slashers, and the affection shows. 

The Ritual: So-so in the acting and pacing, but the creature design is A+ and the concept is really neat. Seriously just watch this one for the monster, it’s super cool looking. 

I should probably mention Mother here, but I can’t speak for it as I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. It’s a very divisive film. One of these days I’ll watch it and let you know.

2018: There’s More Where That Came From 

If 2016 was the year of filmmakers just trying stuff for the hell of it, 2018 was the year of talented filmmakers and studios realizing that, oh shit, you can make really good horror movies with mass appeal. 

A Quiet Place: I’m glad I caught this one in theaters, because it really deserves to be watched in a dark, quiet room where no one dares to make a sound. The ending left a lot to be desired, but it was a clever premise. 

Hereditary: The best horror movie of the year imo. Painfully uncomfortable - I’m not sure I could watch it again - but highly recommended. 

Apostle: Watch this one in a triple-feature with The VVitch and Hereditary. A really good period piece with a character you actually want to root for. 

Bird Box: I didn’t like this movie much, but it was hugely popular. I bought the book recently and suspect it is much better. Still, it’s worth a mention for its impact on mainstream viewers (lots of people who don’t like horror really liked this movie). I won’t budge from my initial opinion that it’s just A Quiet Place meets The Happening, though. 

What Does 2019 Hold? 

We’re only halfway through the year, so we’ve got some time to see what is coming down the pipe. Lots of things to look forward to! But some solid titles so far this year that I’d heartily recommend: 

Us: Jordan Peele is at it again. It may not be as good as Get Out  -- there’s some plot holes where the internal logic of the world is at odds with the message it’s trying to send -- but it’s thoughtful and gives plenty to chew on. And there are places where it’s just unbearably tense and creepy. 

Brightburn: I had high hopes for this movie and was not disappointed. This is a super (ha, ha) good film. 

The Wind: A Gothic on the American frontier. It accomplishes what I think It Comes At Night was supposed to do, but more effectively (for me anyway). Bonus points for being written and directed by women. Double bonus: Caitlin Gerard, the main actress, is also the lead character in Smiley. 

I have not yet watched Velvet Buzzsaw, Ma or Midsommar this year, but I really want to. I’m also looking forward to the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark film despite having some reservations about the whole concept. 

[hwhelldayum-blog-blog]

I Figured It Out (A Gummi Phone Rant)

So I loved Kingdom Hearts 3. It answered a lot of questions I had, reunited the sea salt and the Wayfinder trios, and validated why I spent so much time on my phone playing a mobile game people kept telling me to quit because it would never be part of the whole story. However, something about the story left me unsatisfied. I’ll probably do a post about my feelings on the game as a whole, but there is one specific thing I want to discuss (three guesses based on the title.)

Yes I am talking about the Gummi Phone. Spoiler/not really spoiler Chip and Dale send Sora the Gummi Phone so he can keep in contact with them and Ienzo because plot purposes. Also installed on the phone is Jimimy’s journal, a secret emblem count, treasure count, play games, take selfies and a few other things. But plot-wise this phone is used to contact Mickey/Riku, Chip/Dale and Ienzo throughout cutscenes. 

Now being a girl who picks up her phone in the morning before she picks up her glasses I can happily tell you that one of the best features of the phone is the ability to communicate to others knowing that the message would get to the recipient when they had time to read it. Thus time constraints are a second thought when you can text something you just thought of or even life events you cannot wait to share with others. It is why instagram, snapchat, youtube, facebook and tumblr are so prevalent in modern day life.  

Speaking of which during the game all of the transitions from place to place have a psuedo-instagram posts. They feature the worlds Sora goes to, Ienzo and Riku being deep, and Mickey trying to humanize his uber-strict teacher. I mention this because when they first showed up I got so excited, but then they just cycled through the same fifteen posts and I was disappointed. I bring up these posts because I feel thy could have helped with communication in another way. 

One of my biggest gripes with this still fantastic game is the lack of communication between the main #1 trio of the entire series: The Destiny Trio. When the trailers came out I was so excited to see Sora, Riku, and Kairi rekindle their friendship after being stuck doing things high school students should not have to. Instead they isolate all three from each other and then try to crunch their communication to 2 at a time per character for about an hour and a half of cutscene time. And this is for a game that has about 12 hours worth of cutscenes. Now I believe they could have done an easier way to make sure these cinnamon rolls could have been in constant communication throughout the whole game and it all starts with this gosh darned gummi phone. 

Now lets say that there was another button to select on the gummi phone menu. Lets call it... Snapstagram. After some important cutscenes or after completing worlds, you can log into Snapstagram and BAM! Look who is posting. It’s Kairi sending a selfie with Lea about her training and Riku being #plaidbrothers with King MIckey. Finished with Corona? Well guess what? Kairi successfully beat up Lea in a sparring match. Meanwhile Riku revisted radiant garden and reunited with Leon and Cloud for a selfie. But most importantly you have the option of commenting one thing for each post by your two besties. Not only is this a way to keep these three paopu-fruitnuts in constant contact but also lets the players follow Riku and Kairi on their progress with their missions. 

Now I know what you are thinking: But wouldn’t that be a lot of programming for the Kingdom hearts team? First off, they had 13 years to work out the details of this game. Secondly THEY HAD 13 YEARS TO WORK OUT THE DETAILS OF THIS GAME. But most importantly they have done something similar to this concept in an earlier game. FFXV. 

Check it. Spoiler/You’ve had plenty of time to play this game not spoiler: Noctis and Luna are arranged to marry but since they live in rival areas their only means of communication has been this journal sent back and forth by Luna’s magical dog Umbra. Every time Luna sent Noctis a letter about how she is excited to be reunited with him, Noctis has the option to give one reply to her. Now in FFXV, so far we have only seen Luna and Noctis communicate when they were children in flashbacks, the heartbreaking death scene, and the fully completed are they in heaven post credits scene. If the player has not watched Kingsglaive of FFXV Brotherhood, they do not see Luna for more than 30 minutes of the entire game. But this constant communication between the two lovers give those players enough information to get “Yeah they are a long distance relationship and I should care about the girl my character feels this strongly about. 

A common trend I see in the Kingdom hearts thread is the lack of communication with Kairi in particular with Sora and then Nomura kind of hoping the players assume they don’t need communication, but that is my problem. The main theme of the whole kingdom hearts games since number one is that Sora’s friends are his power. I realize that quite a few people believe this means his friendship with Donald and Goofy (And don’t get me wrong if anything happened to either of my disney brothers I would kill all 13 darknesses, 7 lights and then myself in an instant) but the journey started because Sora was separated from both Riku and Kairi. 

Now people believe that Riku has so much communication with Sora but I need to remind you that Riku popped up in brief moments of Sora’s life in KH1 while Kairi was a litteral resident in Sora’s heart most of the game. COM Riku’s route only happened after Sora went beddy-bye. No Kairi communication but no real Riku connection either. KH2 Riku and Kairi slipped between Sora’s fingers most of the game until Endgame. So equal communication. DDD No Kairi but Riku also didn’t truly communicate with Sora except for before and after the Mark of Mastery exam. But he was Sora’s dream eater so it makes up for the time Kairi was literally in sora’s heart.  So Lack of Communication is pretty equal between all three hot messes. 

Now if they were able to have something to keep in touch to make sure the other two were safe that would satisfy the small part of me that turned sour when the other two trios were reunited and the main group got the shaft. The Wayfinder Trio during BBS had constant scenes between them and constantly verbally worried about each other the whole game. The sea salt trio had mostly scenes between duos but they were spread evenly during their game so each character had their own grievances about their breakup. Sora, Kairi, and Riku got the opposite. Equal amount of time in the past games, but this game when it was supposed to be the ultimate reunion story they had nothing until endgame.

With Snapstagram, not only does it give us background on mission progression for the non-player friends, it tells the players who did not play 1 or 2 enough information to go “These are my best friends I would die for them”. When I came to this conclusion a few hours ago I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I love KH3 and I kept wondering why I was so unsatisfied. If they game had utilized the gummi phone to be more like a regular phone, I think it would have been an easy was to solve some of the story issues that players had with the game. 

[growing-yet-into-magic]

Gendering Witchcraft; Why Bother?

So a lot of people hate the weird gendering of objects and concepts in witchcraft. This is totally understandable; gender is pliable, if not completely fake, and serves more as a social cue than anything relating to biological norms. 

This makes it especially weird when it’s not longer humans that are being gendered, but rocks, plants, and energies. 

So why is it so prevalent? Why are we still glancing over masterposts that really want you to know this particular rock has an incredibly masculine energy? Your author has a few theories. 

tldr: It’s not the gender, but the journey ;)

1) Language

I took Spanish once (oh, so shocking!), which let me into a new whole world where almost every object is gendered. That table? A girl. That sofa? A boy. Why is every object gendered? Beats me, but considering how the New Age™ movement loves to incorporate other peoples’ ideas into a set of New Age™ laws, not to mention the unfortunate amount of forced cultural blending of the English language, it wouldn’t surprise me that, along the way, other cultures’ tendency to gender objects got mixed up into modern witchcraft. 

But hey…I got no way to prove this one. It’s more a shot in the dark. What I feel more strongly about are the…

2) Gender Roles

Gender roles are a Thing and I Do Not Like Them, but they’ve had a huge chunk of societal ground for the last thousand years or so, and as such have had plenty of time to immerse themselves into everything you have ever held dear. 

The reason I include this one is because when people describe “feminine” and “masculine” energy it’s less about gender itself (well, duh) and more about how gender is traditionally perceived. “Feminine energies” usually involve words like “passive”, and “gentle”, and I think I saw “introversion” tossed in the mix. “Masculine” has words like “strong” and “powerful”, “extraversion” too. 

It’s seems like less then, that people are actually gendering rocks, and more like there is a gigantic cop-out by using gender to describe something that is typically assumed to be part of gender: personality traits. 

…but why?

3) Personification and the art thereof

Have you ever read a poem, only to realize halfway through that the moon has female pronouns? Or the ocean? Or the night, or death, or fuck it, birds all suddenly have male pronouns? 

Humans l o v e personifying anything and everything. Personification allows us to look at things that aren’t human like they are, and ascribe them motivations and actions they would not otherwise possess. It’s an artistic thing, but it also changes how we interact with non-human objects and organisms. 

Do you remember that hundred-year-old tumblr post about a roomba with knives taped to it? People named it stabby, gave it a job, and loved it to pieces? It was still a roomba. It wasn’t inherently different from any other mobile vacuum, except now we had changed we treated it, and now it had new personality and qualities that aren’t typical of a vacuum. 

Giving something non-sentient (or differently sentient, depending on your belief system) is something for humans their perception and interaction with the world. It’s probably how we domesticated dogs, tbh. As a social species, personification is perfectly natural and enhances our empathy and social abilities. But so what if we ascribe non-human things human traits? How does the weird gendering play in?

You know what’s a purely, 100% human trait? Gender.

Gendering things is a surefire way to connect yourself to something and affect how you see it in your worldview, not to mention affect how you treat it in your craft and life. Sure, gender roles probably affect how the gender binary is ascribed to nonhuman objects, organisms, and energies, but ultimately, it’s primary purpose is more likely an aspect of a bigger idea…connecting yourself to them in a semi-social manner (via personification). 

Gendering (or perhaps, just applying gender roles) then is for quickfire labelling of something you perceive as animate and want to empathize and interact with. It’s not the gender itself, but what the gendering itself means to you, that makes the gendering important.

~*~

“But what about me? I hate all of this stuff and don’t like it or want it!” 

That’s totally fine! Gendering it just one of a trillion things you can do to empathize with something, to accept it as having personality. If it’s not for you, or you see it as stupid, or it somehow affects your wellbeing and/or mental health, then don’t! It’s that easy. Some people probably mesh with it, but it’s certainly not a requirement for every single witch. 

Okay that’s it those are my theories. You don’t have to agree, but my psych/lit/sex studies/women+gender background wanted to think about this for a solid hour. 

Thanks for reading! :)

-Blessings!

[the-roadkill-cafe]

I like your writing and answers so I'm going to do another. 50: How does Himiko react to the sexism in the Uchiha? And an anon once asked how Himiko would Touka as a stepmom, but what I want to know is how she would view her father after he goes into this relationship where the consent is grey.

adv;ands;vansdv;dlvna;jhaf;hdsv I LOVE these questions, thank you 1192ibelin!

50. Create your own/How does Himiko react to the sexism in the Uchiha?

Well, this is a doozy of a question (that is, it is an excellent question but my answer is very long, lolol). So first of all, it is my opinion that society at large during the Warring Clans Era (and probably still in contemporary Naruto) is sexist. It is not at all unique to the Uchiha. There are of course people, whether because of their personal beliefs or their personality who aren’t sexist, and people are sexist to different degrees, but it is very prevalent. 

Among the Uchiha, this most commonly takes the form of “I am your father/brother/husband and I may or may not make major life decisions for you.” Women in general in the WCE don’t tend to be active shinobi; my idea is that they’re trained, but their training usually starts later, may or may not be less intense, and is more centered on defending the clan compound. Basically, they’re a reserve force, not the active force (men). Some men take this further and say it’s not because of practically but because women can’t fight or shouldn’t (”their job is at home”). But!! All of that said, women do most of the logistical stuff and day to day running of *everything* at home. For instance, while Izuna helps Madara with planning and what not regarding missions/patrols/etc, when it comes to supplies and things not directly related to fighting, Madara’s primary aid comes from a woman in the clan (who would ordinarily be his wife but well....he doesn’t have one so there, lol). 

Each clan is slightly different, and civilians are even more different besides. Therefore, what sexism looks like *exactly* in each clan is going to differ. For Himiko specifically, her case is special because she’s the only daughter of the main family. Ordinarily, because she has no brothers, her husband would be the next head of the Uchiha clan. Depending on how long Madara and/or Izuna live, it would be the case that they choose Himiko’s husband for her, or, depending on the state of the clan and their mindset, just provide her with a list of candidates that she can choose from (which is more likely - it’s not enough to have a shinobi with strong martial abilities running a clan, they also have to be intelligent and able to handle other aspects, which Himiko, as the highest ranking woman, would be the judge of). As a final judge in a lot of matters, this gives her a *lot* of power....but the fact is that her life is very much laid out for her and it doesn’t matter if she likes it or not because she has a duty to her clan. 

In short, Himiko has a lot of the privilege of being born in the main family, but because she has no siblings, she also bears the burdens of it all alone. Compare to another girl in the clan who is born to a foot soldier, or who has several sisters - there is less social status, but also no one is putting very specific expectations on her.

Which comes to your actual question, how does Himiko react? The answer is: poorly. Himiko sees a lot of this as a child, but it doesn’t really sink in until she’s a teenager when suddenly she’s required to behave a certain way and think of the clan all the time etc etc. Himiko wants to make whatever choices she wants, not be beholden to what someone else thinks is the right choice. And there’s not really a good way she can show that she can still be responsible to her clan *and* have the freedom to do whatever she wants. Unfortunately, rejecting the hold that the clan has over her means rejecting the clan as a whole - which means she’s a traitor and needs to be killed. 

And adding on to this - certainly there’s other women who aren’t exactly thrilled with this system. It’s not like they’re all passively accepting it. Some work to change it, some don’t - just like any other social movement at any time. But Himiko’s version of feminism and what women should be allowed to do (which is everything) reads as very extreme to many of the women around her, even the ones who, if they knew the word, would call themselves feminists. It’s like...compare women’s rights movements in history. Depending on the time and the region, what women’s rights movements actually wanted all differed. Even today we see that with the difference between American feminists and, say, Japanese feminists. (and of course, this also isn’t to say that women never imagined until fifty years ago that they could be equal to men, just that, in general, what people consider extreme in social movements can be somewhat considered relative). 

Anyway, this last paragraph was probably a bit clumsily written (I’m on mobile and keep getting distracted) so if you want me to clarify or add anything on this point or anything in this first answer, let me know. 

And the next question...

How would Himiko view her father when he enters into a relationship with Touka where the consent is grey?

Quick recap/summary for people who aren’t familiar: I wrote an Izuna/Touka fic called “the devil and the deep blue sea” (which I will link once I am off mobile, but it is available on ao3 and tumblr in its smutty entirety, and the non smut is on ffnet).The premise was that as part of the Uchiha-Senju peace treaty, there was to be an arranged marriage. Eventually both Izuna and Touka volunteered to marry each other. What makes the consent gray is that they don’t like each other in any fashion (nor do they by the end of the installment) and they don’t really want to get married. Even though they weren’t tricked/forced/coerced into marrying each other (and having sex with each other), it isn’t something they would ordinarily do except that they both want peace enough that they’re willing to try. 

I later received an ask from an anon about what would happen if, in my SI fic, Himiko’s mother died and Izuna remarried Touka. I immediately thought of my fic, and answered the ask as if the premise of their marriage was the same as in “devil and the deep blue sea”; that is, Izuna and Touka married under very tense conditions for political purposes. In that ask, I focused on Himiko and Touka, but here I’ll talk about Himiko and Izuna. 

With all of that said, Himiko knows that for *both* Izuna and Touka, the consent is grey. Izuna is in fact more conservative than Madara; he’d rather not have peace with the Senju at all except that Madara wants it. So she knows it’s not a case of Izuna coercing Touka (though of course Himiko doesn’t know for certain until later that none of the Senju didn’t pressure Touka and that she actually volunteered, like Izuna). Himiko knows that Izuna volunteered to do it, and while he isn’t thrilled to be married to Touka, she’s also fairly certain he won’t mistreat Touka, if only to make sure the treaty succeeds (and also because later Touka is pregnant with his own child). Overall, her opinion of him, based solely on the fact that he entered into the relationship, wouldn’t really change. It’s not a mystery to her that Izuna would do everything he could if he thought it would benefit the Uchiha. 

On the other hand, Izuna isn’t exactly welcoming of Touka when she finally moves in, and he avoids her as much as possible. He also does his level best to keep Himiko from Touka, because he doesn’t trust Touka around her. The avoidance and distrust is something that, though Himiko understands *why*, she doesn’t approve of. To Himiko, this is not the way to show that the Uchiha are serious and that Izuna is taking it seriously. And also if Touka was planning on assassinating someone, leaving her to her own devices at all times isn’t really a smart idea. 

But Himiko tries not to be too hard on Izuna. She can understand why he’s behaving the way he is, and also that he’s stressed. Since she’s a child, her version of not being too hard on him is basically behaving and going with the flow, and not causing him any problems. Honestly what she wants is for them both to get along so that this peace thing works out, because living in a constant state of war is not really on her list of enjoyable things. 

I hope I answered this well! I really loved your questions; feel free to send me more! And as always, this goes for anyone else too; you can check out any memes I’ve reblogged or just send me in questions you’ve made up. Thank you!

[sarahcomm3p18]

Audience Studies (3P18) Blog Post #1

Week #1

The first week of this class really got me thinking about what is considered to be an audience. When I walked into this class I wasn’t sure what it was going to be about, I didn’t understand how an entire class could be based around studying audiences. For me, when I think of an audience, the first thing that comes to mind is a large crowd watching and/or listening to something together. However, this is not the only definition of an audience and after just one class, I realized audiences can be many things that I had never thought of before. We can be considered part of an audience in everyday life, an audience to everyday things both big and small, not just when we are at events like concerts or speeches.

Sitting in lecture is one example of where we take on the role of being an audience member. As a student we have the responsibility to attend our lectures and listen attentively to what the professor is teaching us. In this case, being an audience member is more work than at something such as a concert. We are paying to be there to obtain knowledge in a field of our interest. We must listen to, and make notes on the information presented to us because once that lecture is over, it’s over for good. If we were not present as an audience member, we have missed that experience.

In lecture, audiences were defined as the act of hearing or listening, as well as a group of listeners, spectators, admirers, or devotees. It was also stated how audience is a role that people temporarily perform. Just as I mentioned how when we are the audience to a professor in lecture, we must perform that role a certain way to achieve our academic goals. It was also mentioned how audiences are changing from many years ago to how they are perceived today. In today’s society there are even more meanings to the word audience because of advancements and popularity of technology. We can now be part of an audience to something that we are not physically attending. People all over the world can come together as an audience to watch or hear the same thing at the same time through the use of technology. With nearly everyone in our generation owning a mobile phone, we are playing the role of an audience member nearly everyday. People may watch videos on sites such as Youtube or Netflix on their phones at any point in the day and become an audience member for that moment.

Both of these points of how being a student in lecture is an example of audiences, and the use of technology to become an audience member, made me think of the use of TopHat. This class we will be using an app called TopHat to participate in lecture through our phones or laptops. I have used this once before in a class a few years ago but I think it suits this class especially well. Since the class is about audiences, it makes sense to have the entire class participating together as an audience. The professor will pose questions to the class through the app which will allow us to test our own understanding as an audience member. It also allows the entire audience to become more interactive with the professor, making each student’s role that much more important. That is also interesting because at the moments where the students are participating and discussing, the roles are reversed. As students share their thoughts with the professor, she becomes an audience member for that moment. 

Overall, I am looking forward to this course as I think we will learn some interesting information about audiences and how it portrays to our lives in ways I wouldn’t have thought of before this course. Learning about audiences both old and new and about audience-related theories will be helpful in my Business Communication program. Audiences can be applied to many aspects in both business and communication studies. I think these weekly blog posts will be a great way to remember and understand lecture/seminar materials as well as to go through the textbook and readings to connect it all together each week. I have decided to create a Tumblr for my blog posts because I have used it in the past so I understand how it works. This will allow me to create a creative blog that hopefully has both good content from the course as well as creative visuals.

Week #2

This week was the start of looking at what an audience really is and how audiences have changed throughout history. The textbook defined audiences in two ways, an information-based notion and a meaning-based notion. The first describing audiences as a “transmission view of communication” (Carey, 1989). The second explains how feedback between the sender and receiver creates meaning which is more significant than the actual transmission of the message. The meaning-based definition also seemed similar to what Sonia Livingstone wrote about in this week’s reading. She explained the importance of the interview process where there is a back and forth between the interviewer and interviewee. Understanding these definitions of audiences, as well as the four main topics we discussed in lecture, got me thinking about a particular audience experience I had over the summer. 

The four things we discussed in lecture to make sense of audiences throughout history, were size, danger, Sullivan’s “trilogy”, and power. The definition of an audience and points on these four topics reminded me of watching the final Raptors game with my friends over the summer. By watching at home, the game was transmitted to us through the television as well as through social media and people who were at the game in person. In this case, both audience definitions fit. In regards to the topic of size, this audience could be seen as both mediated and unmediated depending on how you look at it. Me and my friends sitting together watching the game was a small, unmediated audience. However, we were part of a larger, mediated audience that were watching the same thing at the same time. There were people at the game, at “Jurassic Park” gatherings in various cities, and other people watching at home. We could easily connect with the rest of the audience through social media. This is why mediated audiences are much more prevalent today than they were in the past. 

On the topic of danger, it was discussed how Greek audiences and audiences in the 17th or 18th century acted. There was a shift from the talkative and unruly Greek audiences to a quieter yet still over active audience atmosphere in the 17th and 18th century. By the 20th century, there were worries on how the media might degenerate audience and how there was preparation for more mediated audiences. Going back to the Raptors game, the police had to come up with strategic plans to deal with such large crowds especially one were emotions would be high depending on whether the team won or lost. In the 20th century, audiences that behaved in a rowdy manner were seen as the lower class, whereas the upper class did not tend to behave in such a manner. 

Sullivan’s “trilogy” is where James G. Webster (1998) argues that there are three basic models of the media audience, outcome, mass, and agent. The one that most applies to my audience experience is audiences-as-mass. This sees audiences as, “a large collection of people scattered across time and space who act autonomously and have little or no immediate knowledge of one another” (Sullivan, p.6). This essentially describes exactly what was going on during the Raptors game. With a Canadian team playing an American team, there were people scattered across many different cities all audience members to the same game. Although no one in the audience had any knowledge of each other (apart from the people they were with), everyone took two sides to cheer for one of the teams. Strangers all across Canada joined together as one audience to see the Raptors win. 

Lastly, we learned about power, the ability of one actor to alter the decisions and experiences of another actor. Some audience members are more powerful than others causing certain individuals to support ruling systems even when it may not be in their best interest to do so. This ties back to the Livingstone reading where one person is seen as the interviewer and one is seen as the interviewee. In my case, the Raptors essentially had all the power over the audience and managed to captivate the city of Toronto as well as many others. This power may have altered certain individuals actions such as the way fans were acting in the streets during both wins and losses. Between the power the team had over the audience and people’s need for approval to fit in to this event, certain audience members may have acted in a way that they normally wouldn’t. 

The final Raptors game was a fun experience and it was interesting to see such a large audience connected through a basketball game. It is a great example of how audiences have changed over the years, yet there are still similarities to the traits describing audiences both past and present. 

Week #3

An important topic of this week’s lecture and reading was the topic of mass media. We examined Mass Society Theory, Dependency Theory, and Brown’s four processes of audience involvement. For me, the audience experience that came to mind regarding these topics was the current federal election debates. With the election going on right now, each of us are an audience to the things we are watching and hearing through the media about each candidate. As we learned this week, mass media can play a huge role in changing the way audiences view a certain topic or in this case, a certain candidate or party. 

In lecture it was stated that media effects are important because everything we hear as an audience has a story and stories matter, but who is telling the story also matters. When we are hearing things through the media about the election, we have to take into consideration who is telling the story because it can be twisted by one party to make another look worse. According to Lazarsfeld mass media involves opinion leaders and people in contact with those leaders. He found that voters are not so much influenced by the media as they are reinforced. Some things that could influence someone to be persuaded are their personality, the source of credibility, cognitive consistency, and cognitive dissonance. When it comes to elections, most people already have a party in mind that they tend to vote for because they fit their wants and needs the best. However, mass media could play a role in changing their minds. As an audience to the election debates and campaigns, we must listen to the points being made from all parties. We also must take into consideration what media source we are using to get our information and how credible it is.

Mass Society Theory builds on Ferdinand Tönnies (1957) claims that people who live in an modern, urban environment have a more isolated nature. It examines the role that mass media has on such a society, that this kind of media “have the capacity to directly influence the attitudes and behaviours of individuals” (Sullivan, p. 31). Around election time, certain facts are often released by opposing parties to try to influence voters to make a different choice than they were planning. For example, this year photos were released of Justin Trudeau dressed up in blackface so people who may have been planning to vote for him may now view him as racist. Modern audiences in an urban setting who have been cut off from cultural traditions and social institutions are most vulnerable to this kind of media influence. Especially with the popularity of social media in the modern society, this is where many people are getting their information. 

Dependency Theory by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur explains cognitive, affective, and behavioural effects on society and media. Also how society, media, and audiences all effect each other. We become more dependant on the mediated message as there is common access to stories and information. With the election, I would say audiences have a high dependancy on media information and stories. Personally, I did not know a lot about each party’s platform so I am relying a lot on media coverage to make a decision. 

The problems surrounding mass media are things such as stereotypes and media propaganda. Each political party tends to have a certain stereotype based on the way they have performed in the past. We already have expectations of what each candidate will be doing before we see their platform in reality. Media propaganda promotes certain ideas and if this propaganda is shown to the audience over and over again, it can easily sway voters opinions. 

This week’s reading stated that, “During the past 60 years, the influence of mediated personalities on audiences has substantially increased” (Brown, 2015, p. 259). This includes political leaders, we become attached to their personalities or personae. Audience involvement with these media personae includes four processes: transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship. Some audience members are highly transported, meaning that they are very cognitively and emotionally involved. These people would feel a strong attachment to a certain candidate and would likely share their view with others to get them to vote for that person as well. This could also lead to a parasocial interaction where they have a one-way relationship through media with the politician. I wouldn’t say I am highly transported or have a high parasocial interaction as an audience member in this case as I am not extremely involved in politics or the election. However, I believe myself and most audience members experience a certain degree of identification. We all take on some of the beliefs, attitudes, and values of these candidates. This is what allows us to feel a connection to one person more than the others to place our vote. The last process is worship, which again I wouldn’t say I feel strongly enough to feel as though I worship any candidate but some audience members may feel this way. 

At the end of the day mass media does play a huge role in the way and audience perceives something especially when it comes to politics. When there is an election, we are an audience to many different sources of information through the media. We must use our own knowledge and instincts to decide what stories are credible and valuable versus what may propaganda attempting to change our mind. 

Week #4

This week was all about the public and evolution of public opinion. Over the years the way public opinion is shared and measured has changed drastically with advancements in technology and the popularity of social media. Back in 4th century BCE, Plato respected the public making decisions but was skeptical that they would do so in their own best interests. By the middle ages, the King was the voice of the people. In today’s society, public opinion is often shared across social media. Anyone with access to the internet can share their opinion with people worldwide and it is easy for opinion to spread quickly. The textbook defines public opinion as, “group consensus about matters of public concern which has developed in the wake of informed discussion” (Graber, 1982, p. 556). Who is actually considered a member of “the public” is always changing. 

Thinking about public opinion and this week’s reading by Neubaum and Krämer, got me thinking about recent controversial opinions shared online. A big issue over recent years is the issue of gun control in the United States. Even though I live in Canada, I am still an audience to this issue through social media. The issue still concerns me because although we have stricter gun control laws, it is upsetting to see others living such a similar life facing these issues everyday. In the past, the public was not able to share information to a large audience as easily as they can today. We may not have seen so many shootings in the news if they were not close to our home. 

Without social media being as prevalent it was easier to measure public opinion in the earlier centuries. In the 19th century, there was a rise of quantification, where public opinion was measured numerically. This includes things such as polls especially in regards to politics. After this there was an increase in using surveys as a method of measurement. These could be conducted systemically or randomly to get an idea of public opinion. However, these kind of measurements can predict the wrong outcome, such as when they predict the wrong politician will win. Today, while these methods can still be used it is harder to measure public opinion because there are more media spaces for the public to share their opinion. Going back to the issue of gun control, personally I have been an audience to people’s opinion on that for years and I’m sure many other people have been as well. Every time there is a shooting it is brought up again across social media. As an audience member, I have seen opinions on both sides but it is hard to measure exactly which opinion is more popular. I tend to see more people in favour of stricter gun control laws, yet the people in power leave the laws as they are so that to me is interesting. While it seems public opinion has changed, as we no longer have a King making all the decisions for the public, in a way, it remains the same. 

In regards to agenda setting theory and framing, the media chooses the way we see stories by making certain things seem more important than others. This also leads into the idea of the “spiral of silence” which defines people as social creatures who generally want to fit in. We use the media to find out what other people think and tend not to speak out against the public’s more popular opinion. 

This topic was brought up again in the reading where Neubaum and Krämer examined what people fear about expressing the minority opinion both online and offline. They found that our “silence” differs online versus offline, that people face a greater fear of being personally attacked on the internet than face-to-face. To me this was somewhat surprising, as an audience to the back and forth of gun control opinions, I find people are very willing to share both sides online. Even watching debates on other controversial topics, I find many people share their opinion online even if it is the minority opinion because nothing can be physically done through the internet. Realistically, the public can share their personal opinion online and while hundreds or thousands of people may disagree, they are not physically there to do anything to that person. I would’ve thought there would be a greater fear for people sharing their opinion face-to-face because if someone was very passionate and upset, there could be physical bodily harm. Online people can only be attacked with words. This week’s lecture and readings made me think about this more and now I can see how online people may be attacked over and over for their opinion and nothing really goes away once it is posted online. Whereas face-to-face it’s unlikely someone will physically attack you and you can really just walk away from the conversation and it’s over with. 

This week was particularly interesting to me and really made me think about how public opinions are shared, viewed, and measured. Everyday we are an audience to many online and offline opinions. When it comes to controversial issues like gun control, the public can go both ways and public opinion may change over time but certain people in power may not so easily change their opinion. 

Week #5

I found this week’s topics to be the most interesting so far because it applied audiences to marketing which has always been a topic of interest to me. We learned about how Walmart monitors purchasing behaviour of their customers so that they know what products to have at which locations. This lead into the two fundamental principles this week which are as follows. Surveillance mechanisms have been put in place to measure individual’s thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours. Powerful institutions and organizations use these tools to advance their own goals, which brings up issues of power. Along with Walmart’s surveillance we talked about Neilson and how they use surveillance for things like ratings and marketing. When I was younger, my family and I actually participated in a Neilson ratings study by simply wearing pagers when we were watching television and it picked up on what we were watching. This is a direct example of being an audience member and a company using it for their own goals. It also ties into this weeks reading about the Neilson company. 

As outlined by Dallas W. Smythe in his “blindspot” debate, mass media produces products such as television shows, radio shows, etc. to market to consumers. However, the viewers become a product themselves that the media corporations can market to advertisers. This is called the audience commodity. When I was an audience member wearing the pager sent by Neilson, this is essentially what was going on. While I can see how it can be seen as an issue that companies use their consumers for their own gain, I personally don’t see the harm in most of these cases. It didn’t require any extra effort from me to watch the television I normally watch, and Neilson got the information they needed. In the case of Walmart’s surveillance, consumers weren’t affected, they were buying what they usually buy, and Walmart was using that information to help in their marketing and stocking. 

The reading this week by Karen S.F. Buzzard explained market information regimes specifically Neilson’s contribution to this system. The article defined market information regimes as, “systems of assessing market performance that are publicly available and are used by stakeholders in the market to assess their performance and the performance of their competitors” (Buzzard, 2015, p. 512). Neilson’s rating system falls under this. It goes on to explain Neilson’s methods and how they must be the most efficient with costs and time to beat their competitors who also produce these kinds of ratings. Personally, I found Neilson’s method to be good because they used real people, such as myself, to be their audience. This way there was no bias and all I had to do was wear a pager, making it easy as an audience member. While this may be using audience as an object, again I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing. Especially when these ratings are made public to stakeholders as mentioned in the article because that is helping multiple companies without much effort from the audience. 

So what is the problem with viewing audiences as an object? That’s where the five question approach comes in. This includes the following questions. What if our “choices” are not really choices? They may just be a result of target marketing specifically target to you by media ratings. What if we’re doing all the work, even when we think we’re not? As I said, in my cause as an audience, it really didn’t require any work from me. In cases where companies like Walmart are using surveillance mechanisms, it also isn’t requiring extra work. What if ratings and marketing have turned us into data? In a way, we are data in this case as an audience but I don’t see that as a bad thing necessarily. What if ratings and marketing have made us unhappy? What if they have made the planet unhealthy? These last two questions I could see both sides of the debate but personally I don’t think ratings cause this much of an issue to us as an audience.

This last week of my Blog #1 was a lot of my own opinion on this topic and I can see how some people may disagree. I just think that in today’s society we know that there is a lot of surveillance in our everyday lives so it is not surprising that large corporations use this to their advantage. I think as long as we as an audience aren’t harmed by what they are doing, it is a great way for them to target market their products to us. 

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

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