#i'm not tagging all the fandoms bc i want to have some modicum of chill

[a-flickering-soul]

realized a lot of the media i’ve gotten into recently all have hopepunk-ish elements. this is a nichepost made for me alone. sources, brief ID, and me rambling below cut.

Image 1: Mad Max: Fury Road. A picture of words, painted in white on the floor: “Our babies will not be warlords.” With the new generation of leaders in the Citadel, they break the culture, the cycle, of violence. They will not perpetuate unnecessary killings. Their children will green the world.

Image 2: Lyrics from “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier and Mavis Staples. “It’s not the song, it is the singing/ It is the heaven of a human spirit singing/ It’s the bringing of the line/ It’s the bearing of the rhyme/ It’s not the waking, it’s the rising.” Chains can be broken. Human beings cannot. There is strength in song, and it can inspire change.

Image 3: A screencap from Star Wars: The Force Awakens of Poe Dameron in an X-Wing cockpit, saying “--but as long as there’s light, we’ve got a chance.” A screencap from Star Wars: Rogue 1 of Cassian Andor as Jyn Erso says “Rebellions are built on hope.” Against insurmountable odds, incredible loss, rebellion against fascism and hatred cannot be stopped. As long as there’s hope, there’s change.

Image 4: A screencap of Janelle Monae’s emotion picture “Dirty Computer”, where she is looking directly into the camera. Lyrics from Janelle Monae’s “Americans”--”Hold on, don’t fight your war alone/ Hate all around you, don’t have to face it on your own/ We will win this fight, let all souls be brave/ We’ll find a way to heaven, we’ll find a way.”

Image 5: A screencap from BTS’s music video “ON”, where RM holds his fist up to the sky, his band members and other people gathered beside and behind him. Lyrics from “ON”--”Even if I fall, I come right back up. Even if my knees drop to the ground, as long as they’re not buried it don’t matter.” When you can’t run, walk. When you can’t walk, crawl. When you can’t crawl, use your voice and cry to your community for help.

Image 6: A screencap from “Stan Frederick” by Evan Santiago, where just out of focus, Stan Frederick faces off with a tall, menacing man in a black suit. A screencap from the Stan Frederick YouTube channel description--”Spent the second half of my life making up for the first half. Currently in the third half. Don’t think about it too much.” A quote from Stan Frederick--”(Stan, tired) I guess the whole point is that if they...want help, then I should probably just be there to help them...I want to start just worrying about stuff for the sake of helping people, not for the sake of guessing whether or not what they're asking of me is legitimate...I think that the last thing I can afford to do is pick and choose what's important. Everything is.” No one is beyond redemption with actionable repentance. Even in a fight against an enemy as old as humanity--if you can help one person even a little bit, do you not have a moral obligation to help?

Image 7: A screencap from Pacific Rim, where Stacker Pentecost stands in armor, addressing his people before they fight. A quote from his speech--”We have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there is not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today.” Again against insurmountable enemies, our strength lies within each others as well as ourself.

Image 8: A screencap of a transcript from The Adventure Zone: Balance by the McElroy Family, between John and Merle. The transcript can be found here--highlighted is Merle saying “And no matter how bad things are, no matter how crummy, no matter how many times some guy named John kills your ass, you find joy.” It takes strength to find joy. To choose joy. Against all odds.

Image 9: A screencap from “everymanHYBRID” by Jeffrey Koval, Vincent Caffarello, and Evan Jennings, where Evan, Vinnie, Jeff, and James Corenthal are walking off-screen into a sunlit field. The subtitles on the screencap read “You did what you thought was right.” A quote from everymanHYBRID--”(Patrick, muffled) One is going to break the machine, I guess...but, y’know, after every cycle it shifts a little bit at the end--you win a bit more every time. So that’s gonna take...endless cycles, man. But maybe eventually you and I will be done with this.” Humans are not infallible. They do what they think is right and usually, that’s good enough. And again, always, against a fight as old as time--if your actions make even the slightest difference, you have a moral obligation to make them. If not for yourself, then for the greater fight.

Image 10: A picture of the set of Hadestown, where Hermes sings in between Orpheus and Eurydice. The subtitles on the picture read “It’s a sad song. But we sing it anways. Because here’s the thing--to know how it ends, and still begin to sing it again, as if it might turn out this time...” Sorrow and sadness are not evil things. They help us remember why we are here, why we still fight. To tell the stories of our fallen friends is to keep their legacy alive.