#it doesn't lean heavily on an unreliable narrator

[jenneferofjengaberg]

I recently finished Mary & George, a limited series that portrays a fictionalized version of the story of Mary Villiers and her son George, aka The Duke of Buckingham, who rose to power in the early 17th century court of King James VI (Scotland) and I (England).

It's very good, probably one of the better historical pieces I've seen this year. Julianne Moore (Mary Villiers) and Nicholas Galitzine (George Villiers) are excellent in their roles, and it's full of a great supporting cast as well, with particular honorable mentions going to Tony Curran as King James, Laurie Davidson as Somerset, Niamh Algar as Sandie, Nicola Walker as Lady Hatton, and Mark O'Halloran as Francis Bacon.

The story basically goes like this. Mary Villiers, the widow of a minor member of the aristocracy, molded her handsome son George into becoming a lover of King James, who was well known to prefer the company of beautiful young men. (Or as the show puts it, in probably the funniest line I've ever heard, James was, "So cock-struck it's like a curse.")

The trailers for the show seemed to lean heavily on the raunch and comedy aspects, and there certainly are plenty of steamy sex scenes and irreverent laughs to be had, but there's a more serious story here as well, with themes of corrupting power taking precedence over the lighthearted.

Mary Villiers is obsessed with gaining power and favor, and more than willing to pimp out her gorgeous son to do it. And yet Julianne Moore adeptly shows Mary's side of the story, with the complicating factors of being a woman in the 17th century and therefore lacking in any traditional access to the avenues of power and wealth. "Women grow by men", as Shakespeare's Nurse famously puts it, in a play written around the time that Mary was giving birth to her son.

Moore and the script infuse the character with wit and sarcasm, even when she's being her most evil self. And yet Mary is an unreliable narrator at best. There's a scene in the final episode, where she questions George's by now outrageous behavior, and seems to sincerely claim, "You are not who I raised". But her every action thus far makes that an obvious and galling lie, and the fact that she believes this lie renders the character's level of self-awareness as practically non-existent. To the end, she seems to accept no guilt or responsibility at all for either the predictable corruption and downfall of her son or the brutal consequences suffered by her girlfriend and co-conspirator, Sandie (Niamh Algar). But Moore's performance of this unconscious amorality is both fascinating and liberating to watch.

Galitzine is also exceptional at presenting the journey of George Villiers from a vulnerable young man into quite a monstrous egomaniac. In the beginning, George seems to act mostly out of a desire to keep his mother satisfied and even, at times, a sincere affection for the King. But as time goes on, and he must scheme and plot to maintain his place as the King's favorite, he transforms into an arrogant, selfishly ambitious, and recklessly dangerous member of the royal court. It's a complicated portrayal of a character that's a little slutty, a lot scheming, but still occasionally sincere, and sometimes even struck by conscience. His best moments, such as his patience and care for his neurodivergent brother, make the audience mourn the loss of the uncorrupted young man he was, and not the petty tyrant he turns into. Galitzine also looks screen scorchingly beautiful in every scene, which doesn't at all detract from his more nuanced performances.

My one quibble with the piece is the script's characterization of King James. Actor Tony Curran is very charming as the romantic, mercurial, and "cock-struck" King, but that may be a fault rather than a feature of this depiction. James gets off rather easy, compared to everyone else. After all, he's the one who turned his personal relationships into a patronage system that basically boiled down to a sex-for-power scheme. People like Somerset, Mary Villiers and Buckingham may have exploited that system, but they didn't author it. And, although this is obviously imposing a wildly modern set of sensibilities on a historical show/events, one wonders if a man who made a habit of sleeping with much younger men who had far less power than he, should be made out to be quite so much the victim as he is in this series. Particularly the way they changed the historical circumstances of his death to fit the narrative of the pitiable gay king who just wanted to be loved but was continually let down or betrayed by his lovers.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the performance overall. And his relationship with George also seemed touchingly sincere, but I also think they could have examined his role in corrupting those around him, both Somerset and Buckingham, more fully, rather than winking at it and mostly letting him off the hook.

Grade: A-

[falmerbrook]

In regard to one of your recent reblogs, the while concept of unreliable narrator in TES lore is perfect. You never know if something is a reality or just random stuff someone made up while high. Especially creation myths and other mythology, how do you know they're real, you weren't there! I very much like the concept of bosmer and khajiit coming from the same source, just with some being formed by Azura and some by Y'ffre, but it could also just be not real, their roots being completely separate, and mythology being formed specifically because of their geographic placement. You don't know. I don't know. Author of that book probably doesn't know either, just relaying mythology they already knew. And it's beautiful.

Water is memories though, that's been basically confirmed by one dremora found in bangkorai

Yep, I think it's one of tes's best qualities. It's a bit of a shame they haven't leaned into it as heavily since they did in Morrowind, but I think it makes the world feel more alive and the lore more interesting to read about and interpret. I wish fans would lean into it more. I think there's a tendency (less on tesblr and more elsewhere) to just go with the altmer or imperial myths as the "truth", but I think treating them more as mythologies is more interesting!

Related: one of my minor wishes for future games is a group with a religion/belief system that is super out there and nothing like ones we've seen, but one where you can understand how they came to conclusions they did

[just-slightly-chayotic]

Mew: the unreliable narrator

i've been thinking about this since last week so i figured i'll put it in a post.

Mew says that he reads a lot of books and he trusts them to lead him in life - his knowledge about the world and people comes from books. which is all good and fine, as long as you also supplement book knowledge with real experiences because books always tend to lean heavily on stereotypes. this is something Mew doesn't do and it skews his worldview.

he says that he is a really good judge of character:

he trusts this "sense" so much that he doesn't bother actually getting to know people. he takes one look, catalogues their actions and appearance, decides what role they play in a story (introductions in ep. 1 are a great example of this) - specifically his story, if they're reoccurring "characters" - and never looks deeper.

he's going to be really shocked when his friends stop fitting into the roles he assigned them simply because they're real people and not stereotypes.

but it's not only the people around Mew who have a role in the story, it's him too: he's the protagonist. it's his story and he's self-absorbed. he doesn't pay attention to his friends' lives because they're the side character and it doesn't concern him.

Mew's specific role in his story is the person who will change the bad boy (Top) and get his happy ending. that's why he doesn't see/ignores the red flags, that's why he's so confident - he doesn't consider himself as capable of making mistakes because this story has been written a million times and he knows how it goes and how it ends. any mistake he makes won't have real consequences, at worst, it's a plot point to drive the story further - towards a happy ending.

[wholelotofweird]

Meowdy, I hope you're ready to take a peek at all of the books I've read the last 3 months!

By read, I do also mean listened to. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, because my brain is bad.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

I love a good mystery book, and this is a good mystery book. The narrator has a strong voice and is up-front about their unreliable nature. This book does a great job of making sure you are on the narrator's side, it never feels like they are purposefully keeping readers in the dark in order to pull a gotcha.

Pacing and suspense are SO well balanced to the point where I devoured this book in a day.

Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher

I was so prepared for this book to lean way more heavily into a fantasy world where I'd have to learn more terms and how social systems work, and just 1000 other things that can put me off of fantasy books. It's part of the reason I put it off for so long after getting it recommended to me (sorry, Ben.)

THIS BOOK, THOUGH, is not that at all. We don't have to learn new names for "church" or "palm tree". The author manages to thread the line between assuming that readers know the world already, and not creating a bunch of buckwild new words. The handholding though the worldbuilding is so light that you almost don't even feel it.

The setting manages to feel modern and fantastic all at once, which is just... The perfect food for me. The pantheon exists, but it isn't the focus.

This is a romance novel but not a bodice ripper, or overly erotic. I feel the depths of the emotions between the two main characters, which is what I really want.

My one gripe is that the final resolution feels very deus ex. Now, if I was going to pull out my fancy degree and analyze this, I could make an argument that the ending is supposed to feel that, for [spoilers]. But... I'm not sure how true that is. Maybe I'll have to re-read the book and keep that argument in mind.

Even with the ending, this book is lovely.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop - Meredith Katz

This book is short and sweet and a lovely look at an ace relationship.

I haven't read a book sub 200 pages in about a billion years, so many modern books are 600+ pages. Some of them! So good! Others!! Painfully long! This book manages to build an amazing world, atmosphere, multiple characters, and a believable romantic relationship all in the space of a few hundred pages.

Not just that, but the story happens to be about grief, and life, and what it is a person really wants. There are a handful of books I've read in my life that I connect with on such a deep level that I feel seen and changed, Convince Store Woman is one, and this is one.

Cults - Max Cutler

Taking a hard swerve into some non-fiction. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this one. I'm not HUGE into true crime (anymore, 14 year old me S U P E R was), so I was a little concerned that I was signing up for some grim, overly detailed, look into the crimes.

What I got instead was a thoughtful look at the psychology behind cult leaders. Yeah, there are a few sections that are pretty grim, but the book doesn't revel in them, if that makes sense. There is never a point where I feel like I am supposed to be ENJOYING the crimes being detailed.

The focus on not just the leaders lives pre-cult, but the lives of the cult members does a ton of work to unmythologize (.... new word alert) some of these leaders.

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

So... I don't know. I didn't dislike this book, but I'm not sure I'm a fan. I will read the second one when I have access to it, but I don't know that I'd read this one again.

Here is a true fact about me - I don't read summaries of books or horror movies. This, as you may imagine, leads me to having to some WILD times with media.

Anyway, the point is: I was expecting a mystery period piece. What I got was a fantasy mystery period piece. It was fun, it was a little overly complicated. At the end of the day, I was definitely not the target audience for this.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Janette McCurdy

Jesus. Christ.

When i-Carly was popular I was juuuuuust old enough to say I hated it, while watching it with my younger sisters pretty frequently. I didn't make sure to watch any of the big event episodes. I didn't see every episode, but the show was a constant in my life.

To get such a raw look at someone's life who was molded to be a 'peer' was WACK. Jennette doesn't sugar coat anything. Her experiences are raw and honest and it is probably the only way these experiences could be expressed.

Paladin's Strength - T. Kingfisher

You may be asking "why didn't you put this up next to the first book?"

Great question.

I'm putting this list in order that I read them, so like. Ease off.

I equal parts liked this book just as much, and had trouble getting through it. I am once again in love with the world and with the characters. During some of the middle of the book it felt like the book was 600 pages just to be 600 pages, and not because things needed to be said.

When I was in college I was accused of writing too many "stage directions" in my literature. I blame my years of RPing on Gaia Online and fan-fic writing on that. There is a definite style that comes from those writing exercises, a style where you want all of the readers to know everything from point A to point B. The thing is, not all of that is needed. I don't need 200 pages of sexual tension and flirting to believe in the relationship of two people. It's the "show don't tell" rule taken to the extreme.

There are some times when it's okay to tell and not show.

I like this book, I wish it was shorter, I will be reading the next one in the series because, damn it, this series is fun.

The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't tend to read fantasy books Like This anymore. When I was younger this type of book was my bread and butter. I've found that a lot of them (to me, at my advanced age) are tedious. And I'm tired.

This book! Manages not to be tedious and absolutely cradled me in the arms of fantasy I loved when I was younger. The book isn't, plot wise, comforting and yet I felt comforted reading it. I understand that the sentiment makes little sense. I'll say, though, if you were like me and were/are a big fan of Tamora Pierce's work - I cannot recommend this book enough.

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes - Brad Ricca

What is more cool than a woman lawyer, investigator, and social rights advocate in the 1900s? Basically nothing. This is another non-fiction book that truly brought to life the folks it detailed. I am OBSESSED with this woman.

I had never heard of Grace Humiston, which seems like an absolute shame, not just because she was cool as all hell, but because she spent so much time and effort protecting the underserved classes of 1900s New York. She was a lawyer who often worked for free to represent folks who could either not speak or write in English and were being taken advantage of.

She became an investigator, basically, because she knew the police were not putting effort into it.

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw

This was another one that I didn't read the summary for before jumping in. I knew it was a queer book and I knew there was a mermaid, I didn't need any other convincing.

Here we have another sub 200 page book that tells an amazing love story. A story of personhood and growth and revenge.

It is not an easy read either in content or syntax. I haven't really put any trigger warnings with any of the other books, maybe that's a system I'll implement if anyone is interested. But this one: Body Horror, and Gore. If you have a weak stomach I would, sadly, not recommend this to you.

That said, this book is one of the more poetic ones I've read in a long time. Every word feels purposeful in a way that I don't run into often. Keeping the book short works perfectly for that style. If it were any longer I could easily find myself getting lost in the writing.

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

This book has been on my TBR for... A While. It took my friend starting it and sending rave reviews for me to pick it up.

Here's another fun fact about me - My brain is broken. I have a hard time engaging with media that I KNOW I will enjoy, simply because. Because why? I don't know. To be contrary? Because I don't want to be disappointed? Because I'm scared I'll like it too much?

Who knows, don't recommend shows or movies to me and expect me to get back to you in a timely manner. You have to wait 3-5 years.

So, knowing that, I am glad I forced myself to pick this up. This is the coffee shop AU that we all love. The creation of this AU was treated with such love and care, it's clear the author knows what's up. All I want is a big strong character to fall in love with a smaller, softer, character and also run a little shop.

This book delivers on that and more. I cannot WAIT for the next book.

Leech - Hiron Ennes

I'm going to start with the easy stuff - This is a wonderfully dark book. I'm not usually a gothic horror reader, but wow. This book is about horror, identity, reclaiming the self. My library had it miss-tagged as romance which??? It is SUPER not.

The harder part is putting into words how I feel about this book. I like this book, it is complex and poetic. There were times where I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin, in a good way. Emotions are so viscerally described that I could feel them in my gut.

The history of the world feels so deep, and the author does an amazing job at making me feel like that there are things going on outside the view of the character. That is an amazing skill to pull on, making the world around the character feel truly alive.

I told my friends when I finished it that sometimes "u read a book and the book read u."

I haven't put on my literature analysis hat on in nearly a decade. I would LOVE to spend more time to sit with this book and peel back the layers and figure out all of the ways this book makes me feel seen as a queer person. I don't have the words for that right now. Just know that I felt it.

Ghost Eaters - Clay McLeod Chapman

I don't know how I feel about this book. I think, overall, I like it. I think the plot is interesting, but the book isn't really about the plot, it's about the character. It's about grief and relationships and healing.

I felt like the first 200 pages were a real struggle for me. Unlike some of the other books I've read on this list, I did read a blurb about this one. I wonder if that was why the first 3rd of this book was a struggle. I was waiting the hook to find me. Instead, I had pages and pages of character exploration. I don't hate character exploration! But it wasn't what I was expecting.

The end... Left me feeling sad, and a little hopeless. Which, I think is the point. I think is why I don't read a ton of horror books. I love horror movies, I don't mind if the endings of those are bleak and hopeless. I think the difference is time spent. Reading a book takes so much more time and dedication and like... I want to be happy, is the thing.

I like this book, I think it's a wonderfully written look at addiction and grief and the ways those can eat a person alive.

Paladin's Hope - T. Kingfisher

I devoured this book in 5 hours. I... I opened it and did not put it down. I think this one may be my favorite of the three. I think the author managed to strike the exact right balance of tension, romance, and action.

Unlike Paladin's Strength, I never felt that there were these big empty spaces -- There was momentum.

I want to once again say that I LOVE that the characters are into their 30s. As a person also into their 30s it's just nice to see folks who feel real. Maybe I've been reading the wrong books for years, I simply feel a deep connection for characters similar in age who are just so... Normal (ignoring that some of them are paladin's of a dead god... you know what I mean).

[icecreambeach]

no man's space - CH2

Pairing: Din Djarin/Boba Fett

Rating: Explicit

Words: 13,670

Chapters: 2/3

Tags: Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Let Din Say Fuck, Din Djarin Needs a Huge, Trauma, Grief, Religious Trauma, Unreliable Narrator, Pansexual Din Djarin, Pansexual Boba Fett, in space everyone's pan, Boba on that throne changed a whole generation huh, BDSM, light for now, Din Djarin Doesn't Remove the Helmet, for now, Protective Boba Fett, Dom Boba Fett, Sub Din Djarin, sort of, Brat Din, brat taming, a little bit, Cultural Differences, Isolation, Din Djarin is Bad at Flirting, or is he?, Violence, Blood, canon with a sepia filter, or maybe a high-contrast one

Summary: Shortly after reuniting Grogu with his own kind, Din Djarin seeks the same. But he needs information. Luckily, he has a friend who has recently come into some wealth and is all too happy to give Din what he needs.

Excerpt below.

EXCERPT (CHAPTER 2) “Couldn’t turn over a rock without running into a friend of yours. No one’s that lucky.” Din feels the truth of Fett’s words just as heavily as its opposite. “Not all of my networking has gone so well.” Ran’s crew is just one amidst a rogue’s gallery of back-stabbers, double-crossers, and those who have good reason not to ever speak to Din again. Those who’d never known him after— “Things have been different since I took the kid.” Fett leaves too long a silence, waiting, so Din elaborates: “not leaving as many bodies behind as I used to.” A knowing rumble loosens from Fett’s chest. “Hunting’s simple. Family isn’t.” Din looks Fett up and down. “Is hunting always simple to you?” Fett drinks slowly, regarding Din with a distant sort of mirth. “You really have no idea who I am, do you?” Din leans back in his seat, smiling. “Should I?”

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

https://www.tumblr.com/catsvrsdogscatswin/738535501443842048

While your point stands well, I think there's also a multitude of other elements at play as well.

Someone once noted that a big issue is how people tend to analyze media...or rather, how they DON'T analyze it. There's a very strong anti-analytical mentality present in fandom that leans heavily towards the mentality that "if it doesn't explicitly explain and say what's going on, then nothing is happening at all".

RWBY does a lot of showing and telling, but a good chunk of the time it's not super explicit about it, or does it in a way that's highly unconventional. A lot of body language, framing of scenes, comparison of narrative structure, attention to detail, etc. But to a lot of people, they literally do not make any effort to understand what's going on unless someone else basically tells them what is going on, or the story itself spoonfeeds everything for them to regurgitate as if it's their own idea all along.

Like that one criticism about the Dust subplot being obtuse, because the story doesn't explicitly connect the dots for them, despite the fact that its setup is really obvious in hindsight:

Dust is introduced as very valuable, and also highly explosive.

Roman is established as stealing them for his own profits, but them implicitly being strongarmed by Cinder into using the Dust for something else.

Roman is taking increasingly bigger risks with Atlesian equipment and Dust, and Blake and co. finds it odd because he's also affiliating with the White Fang.

They find out that he's using bombs alongside the White Fang and Atlesian Paladins.

Really, all of the pieces are pretty much right in front of them, but because of the way they approach media, they don't think to connect the dots and basically act as if it's incomprehensible due to their own ignorance and lack of willingness to engage with the story. It's just such a passive and unthinking way of dealing with media.

Then there's also the fact that they just constantly take everything at face value, even when it's blatantly clear that there are numerous inconsistencies in the characters' recollections and statements. This is pretty much Unreliable Narrator: The Series, and yet people just outright don't seem to get that.

Exactly! If you pay close attention and are used to analyzing things, there are plenty of moments that lead up to a retroactive "aha!" moment when the plot twists or the character arcs start going in deconstructive directions. But if you're not (and occasionally even if you are, and just miss a step) then it feels like it comes out of nowhere and then everybody gets mad.

Oh, I could write a whole thesis about how RWBY's cues are almost always subtle and how it both helps and hurts the show, because on the one hand that means they can be sneaky with their plot twists, but on the other... well, if you aren't clear enough about some things, the fans won't pick it up, and you don't want that to happen often in your show. It's a happy medium that RWBY doesn't always quite manage to nail.

[pearlcaddy]

for those times when it feels like fans might have lost track of the medium/genre of the source material a wee bit

+ bonus: