#it would be hilarious to get even a snippet of his inner monologue

[jccatstudios]

Name a chapter of Six of Crows or Crooked Kingdom and which different character's POV you'd want to read of the chapter

[hestzhyen]

Leap of (Lack of) Faith

There's some discourse about Hakuri's suicide attempt in chapter 24 going around on Twitter that got me thinking. Well, actually, I just want to share my own pointless take. Yeah, I genuinely want to be perceived for once. But I hate trying to communicate in 240-character snippets on that hellsite, so I'll post here to rot in obscurity where I'm most comfortable.

Basically, there was a post in the Kagurabachi Twitter community that requested to talk about the abuse flashback-jump sequence. And yeah, uh, I'm kind of surprised at how little it gets brought up too. To quote myself:

Please don't ask me why I have three different usernames- there's no satisfying answer.

It's been a while since chapter 24 happened, so let's recap the lead up to this important moment. We first see Hakuri in Ch. 19 with his drink spilling out of his mouth, putting his inner monologue about "hav[ing] to grit your teeth and push through" to the lie. The very first shot of him, the very first food metaphor we see with him, is Hakuri being unable to cope. We don't know why he lost his his family, but he's clearly alone and not doing well. He's struggling.

Next thing we see is him being coincidentally saved by Chihiro. We get a full page of him narrating his impression of the moment, showing us the contrast between his desire to do some unspecified "job" and his fatalistic frame of mind. Then we learn he's weak as hell even though his heart's in the right place. He saves a little girl and insists on being taken back to the Yakuza's hideout, leading him to get kicked around and beaten up. He's a bloody, scribbly-eyed mess by the time he meets Chihiro for real. And this is exactly how we are supposed to see him until the moment he jumps in chapter 24.

It's so, so easy to overlook the hints towards Hakuri's painful past due to the way he's written. Most of his actions and dialogue are framed in a comedic way to bounce off of Chihiro's stoicism. Hakuri's pessimistic inner monologues when he's being hurt or nearly killed are right at home in this demographic too- wimps start at their lowest to leave lots of room to grow. And Shounen series always have a weak, lonely kid who's inspired to become strong. It's extremely standard stuff. But this moment right here was probably the biggest, most blatant hint that he's got more to his circumstances than the average zero-to-hero character:

That tiny little panel of him casually smearing the blood from his nose while he talks to Chihiro lives rent-free in my head. It's a throwaway motion in the moment, and not really out of place in an ultra-violent series like Kagurabachi. But compare that to how Azami -a professional combat sorcerer and war veteran!- screamed when he realized his hand was sliced in chapter 7, or how Chihiro is often shown wincing and having to adjust to his injuries. These characters definitely feel the hits that land on them. But the most hilariously pathetic character yet acts like the beat-down he received never happened. Nor like he's surrounded by bloody corpses. Hakuri is not only used to violence, he's used to it experiencing it.

Again, this is all framed in a comedic way due to his over-the-top personality and expressions. He's a freakish mess on the floor after taking the hit from Hiyuki, sobs in a silly way over Chihiro's backstory, is called "weak" and "a moron" and "a mess" by other characters, on and on. Hakuri's not written like he's supposed to be taken seriously after the first few pages we see of him.

The only other moments of foreshadowing came in chapter 23 as a set of blink-and-you'll miss panels and the last scene:

Hakuri's clenched, shaking fist when he talks about his "scary" older siblings isn't a huge tell. Neither is the insistence that they'd kill him on sight. We can comfortably assume that he's afraid of the consequences of betraying his powerful family despite being a weakling- that's where most authors would have gone with this scenario. But then why does his big brother Soya look so happy to see him? Was Hakuri over-reacting again when he talked about his family? Something's off here, but it's impossible to say exactly what.

The next chapter starts. Chihiro and Shiba are facing off against the Tou and it's looking tense. Chihiro flashes back to his dad talking about the Shinuchi, the fight's about to begin- but it cuts to Soya being a pretty normal person who misses his little brother.

And then we see this.

Suddenly a whole new and very serious dimension is added to Hakuri's character. He's not a goofy weakling that's going to improve himself with some determination and a training arc: he's a victim of abuse. This is the signal that the Sazanamis are truly fucked up more than we know, setting the stage for the major themes of the Rakuzaichi arc. And it makes re-reading those little bits of foreshadowing so much more painful.

This scene is the "oh shit" equivalent of Chihiro finding Char's severed leg in the car- yeah, the author really went there. And it's not even the last time we'll get a moment like this for Hakuri. The Ice Lady chapter is rightly remembered for it's impact, but Hakuri choosing to commit suicide should be held up alongside it IMO. Again: the author really went there, and not just for the shock value.

This moment should be remembered far more often than it is. It was the pivot from Hakuri being a generic potential sidekick into a complex and fully-realized character. Hakuri found people who could help him. Who treated him kindly. Who inspired him. But he chose death in an instant when his past came back to haunt him. Despite his improved circumstances, he had no hope for the future. He only felt fear and the urge to escape from looming torment.

Looking at what we know up to this chapter alone... how can you not feel for him? This goofy, ridiculous mess of a boy is really truly hurting and probably has been for years. But like many victims, he downplays and doesn't talk about it. He just tries to escape via whatever means he can.

So it burns me up that people are still reducing him to Chihiro's silly sidekick. If this scene was somehow not enough to dispel that notion, consider that Chihiro probably doesn't know that Hakuri had all those tools used on him, much less anything about Ice Lady. He knows that Hakuri was regularly ganged up on and beaten, and probably could infer that Kyoura deliberately looked away. But we haven't seen Hakuri talk about in detail about how "someone set him on the right path", nor mention taking a flying leap, nor share what's in his storehouse. He's still got a hell of a lot of literal and metaphorical pain he keeps inside. In the right circumstances, Hakuri could jump again.

Talk about this scene more often! REMEMBER it more often!

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Part Six Scene Six: Jolup Sinks Rewind’s Ship

You sure as shit have, sugarplum.

It’s time to get the down-low on everyone’s favorite severely-depressed detective.

So, hey, remember waaaaay back in Part One, when Nightbeat used his deadname to sign a report accidentally? It’s okay if you don’t, because I sure did.

God, that was ages ago, wasn’t it? Anyway, that string of numbers is his biocode, which I guess sort of functions as his social security number. So, if any of y’all wanna go ahead and steal his identity, I’m not gonna say anything.

Now, that’s a mighty low number for a Transformer. Strikingly low, even. Turns out that Nightbeat wasn’t biomorphically created, but rather cold constructed. Cold construction as a term didn’t exist within the canon when this was written- trust me, I checked. Sure, robots were built, as opposed to bursting from another’s torso like an over-microwaved hotdog, but they usually turned out like the Dinobots… that is to say, not exactly smart.

Cold construction was an experiment, trying to build Transformers outside of the messy lines of “genetics" and “family lineage”, and as it turns out, the first batch didn’t come out as expected. Or, at least, Nightbeat didn’t.

Hey there, friends. Just a head’s up, before I try to tackle this: I am, as far as I’m aware, neurotypical. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what may be an honest attempt at inclusion for a neurodivergent take on a character in a story published in 2001.  

Now, some of these snippets look kind of harsh at face value, but let’s take a closer look. Everything harsh isn’t really Nightbeat putting himself down, but rather him quoting what others have said. Notice the use of quotation marks. Think back to Part One, how he was treated by his peers- they treat him like everyone else, they respect him, they trust his input. Hell, Rodimus himself wanted Nightbeat on the mission to go get Optimus from the past. Nobody who’s been in the story has tried to belittle Nightbeat for being wired differently. That’s fucking phenomenal treatment of a character like him in the early 2000’s.

I’m probably out of my depth here, but it seemed worthwhile to mention.

Anyway, back to the plot.

Right, that.

Nightbeat gets pulled out of his inner monologue when Red Alert asks if he’s okay, since he’s been staring off into space for the last little while. They’re still waiting for Optimus to show up, and everyone’s starting to get antsy. It’s hot as hell over by this collapsing wormhole, which isn’t helping them settle either.

Something finally comes up over the horizon, but you and I both know that it wouldn’t be Eugenesis if things just got on smoothly, now would it? Quantax starts firing on the team of Transformers, while he gets nervous about the wormhole still being there. He decides that if it is, he’ll jump back to this exact point in time to show himself that it is. This is a stupid plan, for a lot of reasons. 

Good idea, Quantax.

While he’s trying to come up with something better, someone lands a lucky shot and takes his ship down. Trailbreaker goes to see who it is, I guess because he isn’t aware of what happened the last time a Transformer went to go see Quantax.  

Oh no, he’s been turned into The Transformers The Movie Prowl!

Before anyone can try and save Trailbreaker’s stupid ass, the Quintessential Flying Fucks show up. Nightbeat’s not having it- he orders his team to take them down.

The Quintessential Flying Fucks are here for the wormhole as well, but they’ll be taking out the Autobots beforehand. While everyone else handles the Fucks, Nightbeat chases after Quantax, who just bolted for the temple.

Nightbeat catches up and tackles him to the ground, only to get himself pummeled for his efforts. As the blows rain down, Nightbeat tries to reason with Quantax that the wormhole is dangerous and shouldn’t be tampered with. Not sure why he thinks this would ever work, but alright.

Quantax, pal, do I have some friggin’ news for you.

Quantax pulls out of Nightbeat’s hold to hide in the shadows, only to jump out and slash him once he gets close enough.  

I hope nothing bad happens to Muzzle here. I feel like Nightbeat really would snap if that orb got broken.

Trying to buy some time, Nightbeat tells Quantax about the futility of trying to change the past, the future, simply because it’s all already laid out, and has been from the beginning. Quantax doesn’t take the jab well, jumping out at Nightbeat again and stabbing him in the stomach, spilling his guts. Nightbeat uses the slump of his body to topple the both of them into the hole in the floor.

Outside the temple, Centurion’s wondering just how the fuck he’s still alive. Jolup’s got him by the throat, his legs have gone AWOL, and he honestly just wants to go home at this point. Jolup’s about to drop the poor guy in a conveniently-placed pool of lava, when Optimus finally shows up.

He, Thundercracker, and Astrotrain- who I’d legitimately forgotten was in this novel- are all pointing their weapons at Jolup, and demand he put the cinnamon roll down and back away slowly. It’s a sweet gesture. Too bad Centurion’s already dead, though.

With a grand, villainous flourish, he drops Centurion into the lava, where he promptly explodes, then flies off for the temple. Astrotrain pursues, as Optimus orders Thundercracker to find Nightbeat and get back to the eighties.

Sevax is in the middle of a scrape with Hound, about to be shot to death. Looks like it’s all over for this son of a gun.

Or not. Man, there goes Rewind’s weird coworker ship. Too bad, he’d already written a huge chunk of his slowburn Ultra Magnus/Hound coffeeshop AU slashfic.

Jolup tells Sevax to slap a bandaid on it and get ready to go while he goes and grabs Ryknia.

Back inside the temple, Nightbeat is clinging to Quantax like his life depends on it- because it does. They’re both hanging off the edge of a hole that’s filled with molten lava. Quantax pulls himself up with his very strong arms, just in time to stand up and immediately be shot back into the pit. Nightbeat dares to dream a dream almost too beautiful- that Optimus is here to save him, like the romance novel protagonist he is!

No such luck. It’s just the Quintessential Flying Fucks. But how did they shoot Quantax? Didn’t he make that impossible? Good thing they dragged Trailbreaker along for the ride, and also good thing he’d managed to keep hold of his gun. Loopholes are fun.

The Fucks run for the wormhole, and all Nightbeat can think to do at this point is stand in front of it and hope for the best. Or maybe the least worst, in this case.

But… but the lore!

Nightbeat gets them with the device as they go through the portal, thus wiping everything from their brains and assumedly dooming them to a short, brutal loop for the rest of time. Thus the plight of the Quintessential Flying Fucks draws to a flaccid and confusing close. I had a feeling this might happen. I was hoping it wouldn’t, though.

Thundercracker soars through the wormhole next, and Nightbeat manages to hit him with the mindpurge just as he crosses the barrier. He’s not even sure if it’s working anymore at this point.

Then Optimus gets there, and it’s time to take him back. They hold hands, click their heels three times, say “there’s no place like home”, and step into 1984. Optimus stares at the collection of almost-dead robots on the Ark, not really feeling the scene, as Nightbeat blathers on. He offers to let Optimus keep his memories of 2013, so he can try and prevent his own death. Optimus… well…

And then he gives Nightbeat a gun and tells him to shoot him until he’s basically dead. Which he does, once the guy’s had the entirety of the last few days scrubbed out of his head. There’s an actual reason for this, though I won’t lie, I kinda freaked out a little when I first got to this part. In order for Aunty to reformat Optimus into his fresh new Earth bod, he needs to be injured enough for the scans to pick up. While this is happening, we also get an explanation for why the 1984 Decepticons got reformatted too- the mindpurge dropped and rolled under the counter while Nightbeat was busy murdering his celebrity crush, and wiped the entire history of the war out of the ship’s database. Now it didn’t see Autobots and Decepticons, but rather just a whole slew of injured robots. So if we want to end prejudice, what we need to do is mindwipe our cars and then shoot our dads in the chest. Gotcha.

And then Mount St. Hilary erupts. Time to go.

Back in 2013, Astrotrain’s been reduced to being transportation, as he always is, and the team’s watching the wormhole cook the atmosphere around it from a good fifty miles away. Fun fact, the curvature of the earth makes it so that we can’t see more than eight miles in any given direction from sea-level. Even though they’re holed up in a building right now and arguably above sea-level, I can’t help but wonder just how friggin’ big Cybertron must be for them to be able to see this right now.

Genocide’s over! Time to break out the booze.

Nightbeat’s taking his sweet time, but it isn’t for a lack of trying. He’s been dodging the repair beams, trying not to kick dead people in the head as he scrambles for the portal. He gets there eventually, the wormhole now running so hot he literally bursts into flames and his eyes melt out of his head as he passes through.  

There’s my macabre little man! Back to normal at last. All’s well that ends well!

The wormhole explodes as it shuts down behind him.

Hours after, things finally cool down enough for a rescue team to go try and find survivors.

Motherfuckin’-

NO.

NO, NIGHTBEAT, YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED.

That’s the end of Part Six.

[astateofjess]

From Lukov with Love

This might be an extremely niche opinion, that I hope resonates with someone, that popped into my head while reading this book but you know that Ice Cube scene in 22 Jump Street? The one where he's like "c'mon man, hook me up. give me the gd string beans". That frustration after getting just two little string beans. That's how I felt throughout and I can't describe it in any other way.

With each little crumb of romance dropped in the story, it left me feeling starved for more. At first, the humorous banter between the two had me internally screeeeaming. It was truly some sh!t two rivals would say to each other and I was howling with laughter at some of the things they'd say. The progression of the nature of their relationship was slow and steady. By the time I finally got my string beans, I was FED. Though a bit predictable, (I literally wrote an annotation about ~60% in of what I had hoped the end would be and eerily got everything correct), it was still very SATISFYING!

Now to dive in to our main characters. Let's start with Jasmine Santos aka Grumpy. The way she resonated and spoke to my soul had me feeling so seen. She doesn't take shit from anybody, and loves the people close to her fiercely, yet beneath that tough exterior is simply a woman who wants to be enough. The deep and fiery love she gives is an overcompensation for the love she feels she lacks. This book did such an excellent job in exploring the vulnerabilities Jasmine had to face in order to heal and grow.

"My [redacted] hurt me. And baby and adult Jasmine had never known what to do with that" (428).

This part HURT. Facing the childhood trauma that she carried, and realizing how exhausting and taxing it is to hold on to it. It can be so detrimental in early adulthood, evident in her overthinking and anxious attachment, but it was through her developing bond with Ivan where she realized that she didn't have to earn love. She could be loved, cared for, and believed in for simply being.

Which leads me to discuss Ivan Lukov. A wholesome gem. At first, we don't really know much about him other than he is Jasmine's best friend's brother, and her rival. He is a renowned champion figure skater, and apparently good-looking from all of the side comments we hear from other girls in the skating rink. He is equally as witty and dedicated to the sport as Jasmine is. When it comes to the love they have for the sport, they are one in the same.

As their partnership continues to develop, we see snippets of just how caring Ivan can be. From the little things he remembers, the acts of kindness offered, to creating a safe space for Jasmine to be vulnerable without judgment, it is an accumulation of all of these gestures that have you falling HARD. By the time we see a more personal side of him, it's even more endearing and has you wondering if he could get any more perfect. The answer is yes, yes he can. He isn't just a ray of sunshine, he is the literal embodiment of warmth and comfort. Jasmine at one point describes his hugs as "warm and heavy and [she] liked the way it made [her] feel: cocooned. Safe" (347). It is exactly how I would describe his demeanor, gentle and kind.

In the end, I loved how they remained true to themselves, hilarious banter and all. It was truly one of the most gratifying slow burn romances I have ever read and it was a reminder that while passionate romances that feel like fireworks is nice, the calm and soothing feeling that love envelopes you in can be just as lovely too.

If I had to give one critique, it would be that at first Jasmine's inner monologues felt long. But as I continued to write this review, it dawned on me that I only thought that in the beginning. If anything, I felt it progressively got less because she was less in her head and more in the present as Ivan helped her step into her power.

On that note, I am blown away by Mariana Zapata. This is the first novel of hers I have read and the way I was left BEGGING for crumbs, has me feeling certain this won't be the last. I am officially a fan.

[hentaihunblog-blog]

Love is Like After the Rain Episode 1: Sound of Rain (First Impression)

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2018/01/12/love-is-like-after-the-rain-episode-1-sound-of-rain-first-impression/

Love is Like After the Rain Episode 1: Sound of Rain (First Impression)

Initially I was really worried when I read the premise of this show, but when I had checked out the PV I had the feeling that this story of a high school girl falling for a middle-aged man would be handled with care. I didn’t get any feelings of raunchiness, lewdness, or plain smut for shock value that anime likes to do. I saw from the PV, and especially after watching this episode, of a girl probably confused about her feelings after dealing with a hard moment in her life. I actually feel really comfortable with this episode and am awed by how wonderfully directed this was and how beautiful eyes are drawn in this show.

Akira Tachibana is a girl that works in a restaurant. She’s aloof and a little strange, but under that seemingly cold exterior is a girl in love with her manager, Masami Kondo. Her love came to be after her visit with her chiropractor, due to her sports injury on the back on her ankle (yikes) that brought the end to her days in her track and field team. It starts to rain and she heads to the restaurant where she now works and falls in love with Kondo as he kindly brings her a free coffee as she waits for the rain to end, while also charming her with a little magic trick. I suppose eventually she gets a job there just to be near him and in this episode we see most of her time working there, as well as some snippets at school. This particular flashback scene was nice because of how short it was. It didn’t spend too much time and just showed us what we needed to see, which is what I can say for the rest of the episode. Like, instead of telling us with a monologue how Akira injured herself, we saw her try to attempt to copy the usual track routine, with also a zoom onto her injury. We put two and two together and it’s easy to understand. Showing and not telling really is a strong form of storytelling.

One thing I really liked about this episode was how it was presented to us. Other than its gorgeous animation, the show gave us certain shots depending where the story was and what the mood was. Particularly when Akira is alone, we always get zoomed out shots with a lot of negative space, signifying her depressive side. How she woke up in her classroom after school alone, eating lunch alone, how she stood in front of the track team’s area, etc., all those scenes were zoomed out to really show us how alone and sad Akira is. But when she’s with other people we get the more standard shots. Akira is a quiet character, so through these shots we can understand her character a bit. But she also has a more humorous side, such as when she dropped her plates in the kitchen when hearing Kondo has a son, but learned he was divorced. Her expressions, her actions, etc. With characters like Akira that is aloof and doesn’t have inner monologues, it’s the little actions that have to be observed to understand her. And while she may be aloof, she still acts like a typical high school girl in love.

I think the visuals in the OP is actually what goes on in her strange head. The vivid colors, the weird dream-like scenarios of riding an alpaca with her love. It’s…weird and silly, but I think it’s all Akira’s point of view.

As for Kondo, I’m actually surprised by him. From the art work, I expected Kondo to be a more serious man, but he’s actually kind of a pushover and…pretty lame. ^^; One of the waitresses complains that he’s always apologizing and that he’s pathetic, and the other waitress Akira’s age says he stinks. He’s a nice man but he makes bad puns, he sneezes too loud, sometimes his fly is down, he’s a little sloppy, and…he’s such a dad. Like not even a daddy, but just a dad. He’s sweet and lame and doesn’t know anything about messaging and IDs, it’s hilarious. I fully expect this man to make some sort of dad joke around his son and I want to see Akira’s reaction because she’s completely enamored. I don’t really know why other than that flashback scene we got but that’s why we need to watch more. I like Kondo, he’s lame like I said but he’s seems like a very kind and fair man. The synopsis says that eventually Akira is going to confess to him so I wonder how he’ll react. I’m not sure what to make of the scene in the very end when he imagined his younger self talking to Akira when he thought the boy that has a crush on her is her boyfriend. Maybe reminiscing about his old days, or something else? I can’t tell for sure yet.

I feel like Wit Studio really shines when they’re not doing shows like Attack on EDGE, Seraph of the EDGE, and Kabaneri of the Iron EDGE. I like seeing their amazing animation used in other types of shows, not that they don’t look good in their actions shows because dear lord it leaves me speechless sometimes. But in a show like this with zero action, it has to be used in other ways and again they’ve succeeded. The way scenes were presented, the eyes, the bubbles, the sparkles, and just how pleasing the characters look to me.

I’m just really happy with this premiere episode. I feel confident that this will be a heartwarming, and maybe sad series. I’m sure this show will explore a lot of emotions with its characters and I’m going to get involved with all of it. I’m getting good vibes from this show and I hope people won’t get deterred by the premise and at least give this a chance.

Possibility of watching: Guaranteed

Possibility of blogging: Guaranteed 

“Girl he totally stinks, what is wrong with you!” Rip Kondo

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[viralhottopics]

#OscarsSoWhite Was Important But The Oscars Were Not

In todays social media driven, viral culture, its not uncommon for a singular story to dominate the news cycle, only to be completely forgotten about shortly thereafter. If you haven’t overdosed on flakka or been poisoned by lead, think back to a couple of weeks ago when Jada Pinkett-Smith and Spike Lee announced, via their Instagram accounts, that they wouldn’t be attending Sundays Academy Awards over the exclusively eggshell pigment of the nominees.

Thanks to social media, their boycott then became a movement with momentum. #OscarsSoWhite, the movements popularly elected Twitter banner, was trending for a matter of weeks which is basically the highest validation something can receive nowadays. Joining their call for more diversity in films were: black people tired of not being represented in films, black actors tired of being racially type casted, and white actors apparently tired of being over-represented.

The movement to boycott the Oscars got so popular that some called for Chris Rock (the man doesn’t need an introduction), to join the cause and step down as host. As a result, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, issued a statement saying that she was heartbroken over the lack of diversity and that she would do everything in her power to fix it.

All of this and more, came to a head Sunday night at the ceremony. Leonardo DiCaprios prayers were answered and Chris Rock showed up, making the event a go. This was despite George Clooney among others, but namely George Clooney, being absent.

With his opening monologue, Rock wasted no time in addressing the racist elephant in the room. While his opening monologue was comedically brilliant, it will be remembered as the best opening monologue of all time because it summed up the current state of diversity and representation in the entertainment industry so well. Like much of Chris Rocks comedy, the genius of it lay in between the lines. Sure the punch lines slayed, but the subtexts made you really think.

ith his opening monologue, Rock wasted no time in addressing the racist elephant in the room.

In regards to the shows opening sequence, which included snippets from many of the years snubs, Rock said, Man, I counted at least 15 black people on that montage. Im here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White peoples Choice Awards. In this choice line, Rock prophetically calls out the Academy for its after-the-fact attempts at diversity. I say it was prophetic because it just so happened that every commercial belonging to an Academy sponsor featured a mixed race or black family. However, the most painfully contrived example of pandering came at the end of the show, when Public Enemys played over the credits. My eyes were rolling so hard, I almost passed out.

After letting the initial shock, caused by directly calling the Oscars racist die, Rock pointed out the inherent irony of the #OscarsSoWhite movement by saying: Why are we protesting? The big question: Why this Oscars? Why this Oscars, you know? Its the 88th Academy Awards. Its the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times. O.K.? You gotta figure that it happened in the 50s, in the 60s you know, in the 60s, one of those years Sidney didnt put out a movie. Im sure there were no black nominees some of those years. Say 62 or 63, and black people did not protest. Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time, you know? We had real things to protest; you know, were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.

This is what makes Chris Rock a genius. His comedy operates on multiple levels. What hes saying, most clearly, is that the Oscars have never been diverse. But what hes really getting at is the systematic racism in Hollywood. Through further implication, hes also exposing the nearsightedness of people who don’t agree with the #OscarsSoWhite message. People in other decades never protested the obviously racist Oscar ceremonies, because they had other things on their plate like trying not to be killed. But that doesn’t make the Oscars any less racist.

That being said, the Oscars aren’t diverse because Hollywood doesn’t offer good roles to black actors on a regular basis. Not because the voters are racist. When he hilariously pointed out that he didn’t want to lose another job to Kevin Hart, the implication was that as two comedic black actors, theyre offered the same roles. It also says that there aren’t enough jobs in Hollywood for the both of them. He revisits this point later when he says that Jamie Foxx was so good in that Hollywood killed the real Ray Charles because they didn’t need two of these.

That being said, the Oscars aren’t diverse because Hollywood doesn’t offer good roles to black actors on a regular basis. Not because the voters are racist.

Rock then offered a caveat to the criticism of the Oscars by specifically addressing the people who started the movement. But what happened this year? What happened? People went mad. Spike got mad got mad, and Jada went mad, and Will went mad. Everybody went mad, you know? Jada got mad? Jada says she not coming, protesting. Im like aint she on a TV show? Jada is going to boycott the Oscars Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihannas panties. I wasnt invited. Oh, thats not an invitation I would turn down.

While he agrees with Jada and Spikes message, hes a comedian and cultural commentator, so hes paid to tell the whole truth, even when its unpopular. Jada is basically a television actress who is paid millions of dollars. Will, her husband, is an actor who has reaped the rewards of being the most bankable black actor in Hollywood not the most prolific. The Smiths are not a relatable family with relatable problems. Moreover, is also not exactly the movie to scream racism! over either. Its a PG-13 Sports drama not exactly Oscar material. That being said, Rock doesn’t mention Spike in any of this because was a great movie. But Spike Lee is wellSpike Lee. His films are too controversial, too real, to win Academy awards. Im not saying that its right but the Academy doesn’t often reward risk takers.

Rock then goes on by saying, Not everything is sexism. Not everything is racism. The Academys membership is mainly comprised of old, wrinkled, white men. So whats happening here isn’t exactly police brutality racism, its more, old-lady-clutching-her-purse racism. Its the summation of unconscious bias and the result of archaic perceptions of highbrow art.

This is what an organization that is totally out of touch with the public, looks like. This is what Rock is getting at when he points out that Hollywood is home to the nicest, most-liberal, white people; theyll vote for a black president, yet they wont hire black actors. Despite their liberal sensibilities, their whole way of thinking about entertainment has been shaped by an archaic system that deals in white stories. After all, the institution theyre part of still refers to movies as motion pictures.

This is what an organization that is totally out of touch with the public, looks like.

How many old people do you know saw How many old people you know of, know who the hell the N.W.A. are? As for yeah, its possible Oscar material, but its also a Netflix movie. Why the hell would the Academy of Motion pictures nominate a film thats made by the same company (Netflix) thats ravaging their industry, for anything? Oh, thats right, they wouldnt.

Despite the Oscars boycott, the general point of the #OscarsSoWhite movement is accurate. As Chris Rock puts it: We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors.

It seems that the only way a black person can be nominated for something is by playing a mammy or a slave. While its truly fucked up, its nothing new, and blaming The Academy misses the point.

Who we should really be mad at, are the studios. The studios decide what gets made and what doesn’t. Theyre the ones who only want to make films dealing in the stalest of stereotypes. Theyre the ones who only want quality movies made with all black casts.

When Rock talked about Paul Giamatti playing someone who hates black people one year and playing someone who loves black people another, hes inferring something about the industry. He later says it out right: white actors get great roles, real roles, all the time. Black actors dont. They are confined to the archetypes and stereotypes created by the older generation.

Only in a Hollywood thats racist can an insane monologue about fucking fried chicken happen ina movie that won a bunch of Oscars (Only in a totally out of touch Hollywood could that god-forsaken movie about that white guy who saves the inner-city black kids from themselves, keep being made. You know the movie that Im talking about. The one with that white guy the black kids dont trust him at first, because of their rough upbringing and all that bullshit, so they treat him badly. But eventually he wins them over and they learn to trust him. He then teaches them about the beauty of learning or creative expression. He gets them out of the projects, they teach him how to dance. These movies are tired, embarrassing, and insulting.

However, the studios are only interested in making money, so they dont care about the cultural or societal repercussions that their trash movies are having on America. Theyve been doing it for so long that these stereotypes have become embedded in movie-watching language without most people even knowing it.

Its not an accident that we dont have an Asian American or Native American Ryan Gosling type of actor. To these old, white, wrinkled men, white is the norm. White culture and white people are considered the mainstream audience, which is where most of the money is to be made. Thats why the media has labeled Eddie Murphy and Kevin Hart, two of the biggest actor-comedians of all time, cross-over artists. As in, they successfully crossed over from the niche (black) market to the mainstream (white) market.

Getting mad at the Academy Awards is pointless. Yes, theyre celebrating their craft but its also an award show of made-up importance. All it is, is an event where beautiful people, who are already worshipped by the culture, further exacerbate their self-importance by giving each other golden statues of no inherent value. It only takes about $100 to make one of those creepy things. Giving them any more attention than that is a waste of time and energy.

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