#it’s risky but it’s not impossible

[tariah23]

They’ve been tearing yuuji apart on twitter for the last 2 days now

[jeeaark]

Shirtless Disaster Pt. 1

So. pretty sure the emperor cusses. just. never had the reason to say out loud. or has a filter on when they talk. Until Greygold happened. You ever try and look with the emperor's perspective when Tav makes decisions and go, 'H-how are you not ceaselessly cussing like a sailor at Tav?'

ANYWAY- HERE'S THE THING. TRULY. Always had my squinty-eyed caution on Emps. Trying to ascertain if they were for real with their words/actions/intentions or not. but. Squid buddy sharing their feelings of caring was the uh snowball that started this avalanche. Can't fake feelings huah, GREYGOLD FINALLY FOUND THOSE MUSHY BITS HUAH.

I ain't gonna let y'all wonder what Greygold's answer was, so uh. Bonus!

[countess-of-edessa]

weird how people think nowadays there’s like…a very specific personality type you have to be to be a mother instead of capacity for motherhood being a default trait almost all of the female population possesses. should having a child just be a thing that someone does by default without considering it? no. but also having children is not something your personality makes you fundamentally unsuited for 9/10 times, mothers have all types of personalities, the most important traits for childraising are unselfishness and kindness and everyone should cultivate those in themselves no matter what anyway regardless of whether or not they have children.

this also applies to men but ive never seen anyone say "it’s okay for men not to be fathers because it wouldn’t make any sense to their personality".

[huntmavs]

THE MANY FACES OF TOM CRUISE

[tulip-wizard]

every tom cruise character is neurodivergent

[d1lfluvor]

EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LOOK

[one-half-guy]

Okay... So... I had this EAH idea like 2 months ago and today it came back, so here we go:

Imagine if some huge sports game event happened in Ever After High, so both Cerise and Ramona are gonna participate and compete against each other...

Then Mr. Bad Wolf is 100% convinced that the victory is in the bag for Cerise, leaning on the fact that he often watches her training and trying hard closely, meanwhile Red Riding Hood believes in the potential of both of her daughters, so she thinks Bad Wolf is being pretty pretentious, unfair and rash in bet all his chips at Cerise over Ramona.

Then the secret married parents place a bet over believing the child with the opposite destiny to their can and will win and so, to assure it, themselves are allowed to train said daughters.

Then it could be just a comic relief and a secondary story, using the fact that "Wow the Bad Wolf is training the next Little Red Riding Hood and the Red Riding Hood is training the next Big Bad Wolf, what weird and ironic!" And so, when the secret couple is asked on why they are doing that, they answer all awkwardly something like "If my daughter can't win this competition for herself, then she's not ready for her destiny!" "I am actually preparing my daughter in the end!"

As well as this story could have some or a lot of dramatic points, with the rivalry between the girls growing at every match while the parents are constantly teasing each other about who was right and which daughter will accomplish more victories, or so the both daughters growing uncomfortable with this situation although they are loving this bonding moment with their parents...

Then in the final game, the old and classic racing, maybe only between these two, maybe with other competitors, the secret is revealed... Their rivalry is quite strong now, them both are determined to win, so in the heat of their emotions something happens...

Maybe Cerise awaken her wolf form before Ramona and then win the race before realize what just happened...

Maybe Cerise and Ramona both awaken their wolf forms (in the case of Ramone haven't learned to transform yet, I don't know how it works...) in a scenario where their rivalry is quite high and so they're skittish with each other as never before and can't stop teasing each other, then the race is interrupted because we have now two uncontrolled wolf teenagers wildly fighting and in this moment the parents realizes how wrong they were...

Or maybe, in a scenario where them both are immensely uncomfortable with all this competition between their parents and themselves actually got quite closer, but yet want win... It happens that this day is cloudy and windy, so Cerise is hesitating to not let her hood fall and reveal her ears, so before the race Ramona keeps teasing her because she can't reach full speed while holding the hood, but Cerise is not willing to give up and just run with the head down, but yet Ramona notices it's preventing her of reach her fullest and remarks still in a provocative tone saying she could run faster than that, all smirking because Cerise would never risk reveal the secret... And then Cerise does... The two sisters have their fiercest race (maybe ending in a tie, maybe ending with Cerise's victory, who knows) but so the realization hits and them both stares blankly at each other as everyone just starts to spot Cerise's ears.

And that's the idea.

[naamahdarling]

*

[aestroe]

I can never find merch of just Kon and its killing me

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Do you think buggy goes through his bad timeline? Do you think he enjoys his life?

generally? i mean, yeah, i think buggy has enough perspective to know he’s not living his worst life. that would be, like, dead at fifteen, up on that platform next to roger. or, if you require he still be alive at present day for it to count, he could always be stuck in impel down, or worse, a laughingstock in east blue while his childhood frenemy and a teenager he failed to beat up are literally emperors.

but he’s also enough of a dreamer to think this isn’t his best life. that would be one where he’s found the one piece, shanks and luffy have bowed to his greatness, marines quiver in his presence, people like crocodile beg to lick his boots, etc. etc. and maybe roger turns out to have been alive the whole time and he apologizes for leaving buggy all alone in the world

but, you know, on the infinite scale of possible timelines, i think he’s aware he’s in one of the better ones. he’s got tons of followers, the marines consider him a serious threat, by some standard he’s managed to make himself shanks’ equal after all these years! sure, his life isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good. and who knows? maybe he’ll find the one piece and it’ll get even better!

[cinemajunkie70]

Happy 60th Birthday to Tom Cruise!

[littlekingbergara]

I’m wondering what’s taking so long for them to say something? I feel like they need to try and put out a statement or something because the people are throwing out so many accusations about them. You have any guesses as to what might happen? I’m so excited for them to grow and I can’t wait to watch all the new content they bring but the whole situation as gotten so out of hand. Not to mention the live show coming up. I’m worried for them tbh and how intense the crowd will be.

it's saturday. i don't think they'd be spending their weekend doing damage control. i'm sure they'll address any concerns they're seeing probably in a statement on twitter and instagram or Maybe in a video or livestream if we're lucky. look out monday or possibly tuesday and we'll see something.

i guess we'll see about the live shows. i don't think their safety is at risk or anything.

[doctor-doctor-doctor-reid]

the little silences and avoiding of eye contact whenever a case is close to the personal life of one of the team and they say something that’s a fact, but also one that’s clearly known from personal experience…

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

Okay, TC moving ranking update when

arc you know your wish is my command

disclaimer 1: the below ranking is not at all based on movie quality. It's based on aspects like "personal enjoyment," "personal investment," "TC hotness levels," etc. proceed at your own risk

disclaimer 2: the below ranking is very, very long. proceed at your own risk

bottom to top, babey!

21. Eyes Wide Shut

This movie’s one of the ones I definitely expected to like way more than I did. I’d never seen a Kubrick film before and I think I didn’t get the points it was trying to make—I kept getting torn out of the story by the way the camera treated women and female bodies. And the very slow-moving style of the movie, with lines delivered slowly, long still shots, etc., really didn’t work for me. I also just couldn’t help but feel like the movie’s general relationship with sex and sexuality was coming from a very specific perspective that I just don’t share or understand. TC is good in this, it’s not my favorite of his roles but his acting was by far my favorite part of the movie so naturally they put him in a mask and made him stand completely still. Favorite bits of the movie were 1) that shot in the beginning where he curls up on the couch in jeans and Ugg boots (amanda marisatomay gets it) and 2) the scene in the bedroom where he’s in his boxers and he looks really cute. To specify i didn’t like these scenes for plot reasons or character reasons I just liked seeing him look comfy. I do think that in terms of the movie’s discussions on sex and sexuality TC’s character probably has the most interesting and complicated relationship with sex and I think somebody with tastes in media more suited to a movie like this would probably be able to find some pretty interesting ideas. I had a hard time with this movie, but I can understand why somebody else might love it.

20. Jack Reacher

I have to be perfectly honest here. I didn’t finish this movie. I got up to the part where the young woman, I forget her name, is about to die, and I decided i didn’t want to watch anymore. So there is a chance that this movie gets really good after like the hour mark and I just don’t know that. The opening sequence of this film is fucking dynamite. I just really deeply hated this movie’s politics and I was willing to be patient with it for a while cause I wanted to see if there was anything redeeming in it, but my frustration won out. The movie in general spends a lot of time dealing with issues of criminality and the justice system, and imo it does it really clumsily. It also has a really weird treatment of women and female characters. TC’s performance of Jack Reacher is the only thing i liked about the character—I thought he did some really cool stuff with a lack of expressiveness, making the character really reserved, it went a long way towards likeability in a movie where the writing made him very unlikeable. The movie had a very action-hero-movie focus on making its protagonist badass and invulnerable, which was annoying to me and something that I’ve been spoiled in TC movies to not expect. To me even though I honestly didn’t like it much at all and couldn’t finish it I rank it above EWS because it’s entertaining, it’s a basically fun movie that’s well made, well acted, moves along at a nice clip and makes basic sense.

19. Oblivion

I had a strong emotional reaction to this movie when i watched it, anybody who was following me at that time probably remembers. This is another case of a quality film, well made, well acted, very entertaining, but it pissed me off. I felt like there was a ton of wasted potential in the concept, and in fact for the first third or so of the movie I was very invested and excited. To me Tom Cruise is not the emotional heart of the movie, that belongs to Vika, played by Andrea Riseborough, who has a deeply fucked up and compelling dynamic with TC’s Jack. Unfortunately (spoilers) the movie kills her, and that’s really the beginning of the end of my enjoyment of it. Meanwhile, TC’s other co-star Olga Kurylenko (Julia) is acting her heart out, but the script really gives her nothing to do. This film could have been a top pick for me, but it’s so thematically inconsistent and completely average in places it becomes almost unwatchable.

18. The Firm

The main sin of this movie to me is that I don’t have much to say about it. I think it didn’t totally mesh with me personally for some reason. Some just excellent acting all around, another kinda sucky TC guile hero protagonist which I always love, a conspiracy and emotional manipulation and plotting and suspense—but it just didn’t really do it for me. There were moments I loved. Some interesting compelling emotional beats. I could see why someone would really adore this movie. But it left me a bit cold.

17. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

I’ve talked before about my complex feelings on this movie and why I rank it lowest of the Mission Impossibles. This movie like all the MIs is very close to my heart. Ghost protocol ethan is one of my favorite ethans—his hair is my favorite of the ethan haircuts, which if you are an MI fan you know is significant. I love so much about this movie. It has some cool interesting twists on the classic action formula, I think it’s a significant point in Ethan’s arc, I think it’s a fun entertaining film. That being said ethan doesn’t feel like the heart of this movie in the way he normally does, and as much as I enjoy the team members I don’t feel that anyone steps up to take his place. The movie ends up feeling empty to me because of that, outside of the jailbreak opening where I feel ethan’s story and his character strongly. Anyway I do love this film, I just think this film and I have different priorities. And that’s why it’s not ranked very high

16. Top Gun

In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have had high hopes going into Top Gun but because of the fame of the movie I kinda did. I didn’t like the way the plane sequences were filmed in this movie—don’t get me wrong I’m sure that stuff was very difficult to capture well, but I always felt either too close to or completely disconnected from the action, and it was hard to tell what was going on. I expected to enjoy Val Kilmer as Iceman more than I did, I overall didn’t feel like the script gave him much to work with, although there were a couple excellent emotional beats and overall his acting is superb. The heart and soul of the movie was of course Goose, who completely outshone TC as mav in my opinion, which made his death hit really hard and mav’s grief feel very earned. Another main weak point of the movie was Charlie for me, I didn’t like her, I didn’t trust her, I didn’t connect with her. Overall I can see why the film is a classic, I enjoyed it but I didn’t love it

15. Mission Impossible 3

This movie is deeply special to me…it’s very frustrating in a lot of ways. Ethan’s relationship with violence here is almost entirely incoherent. This movie’s take on the IMF is deeply frustrating. That being said every moment between Ethan and Julia is lodged so deeply in my heart…and I’m obsessed with the way this movie kills its protagonist for 5 minutes and for those five minutes Julia is the star of the movie. I think action movies should do this more often. Julia and Ethan are what makes this movie for me, also Benji and Luther are fantastic here, specifically thinking of Benji’s scene at the end on the phone with Ethan, not the anti-God bullshit. Good movie, important moment in Ethan’s arc, feels like it inherently misunderstands MI in some ways and particularly Ethan. But good movie.

14. Jack Reacher Never Go Back

I think this movie is generally seen as worse than the first which I don’t understand. I actually really enjoyed it. I absolutely adored Danika Yarosh as Samantha, and her relationship with TC’s Reacher was far and away the heart of the movie. I’ve seen the “grizzled emotionally stunted action hero accidentally adopts a kid” thing a lot, and sometimes it works for me but sometimes it doesn’t. This time it really worked. Their relationship felt believable, complicated, earned. I loved every second they were on screen together. His other co-star of the movie was good (I think of her as Maria Hill always from my Marvel days) and had some solid moments, but IMO was overshadowed. Mostly I appreciated that this movie was thematically coherent and interesting, there was a solid arc, and TC’s acting was fantastic, taking the expressionlessness of the first film and holding onto that while using his microexpressions to their fullest potential. Really excellent work from him in this film.

13. Mission Impossible 2

I love this movie. I think it’s fun, I think it’s campy, I think it’s boring in places and deeply entertaining in others. I think it’s a well done action film that brings new and interesting ideas to MI and was crucial in MI becoming the franchise it is today. TC is standout in it, Thandie Newton is incredible in it. I like what it does for Ethan as a character, it pushes him down the action hero path while keeping this inherent understanding of his weirdness, his intensity, his almost dorky charm. I think there’s a lot of vulnerability for both Ethan and Nyah in this movie, and I really like that the very classic action movie style doesn’t take that away. It’s by no means a perfect film, and I understand a lot of the criticism of it (and have plenty of my own), but personally I think it’s a really important and fun part of the MI franchise and the TC filmography.

12. Interview with the Vampire

I really enjoyed…certain aspects of this movie. Tom Cruise as Lestat is an absolute unmitigated delight. My favorite TC roles in general (this is one of them, we’re going to start to get into them at this point) are usually his campiest, specifically because he brings a realness to them that makes them way more compelling even than pure camp, without sacrificing the campiness at all. His Lestat is a great example of that. It never feels as if TC is putting distance between himself and the role—Lestat is ridiculous and funny, but TC is always right there with him, never laughing at him if that makes sense. And there’s an emotional vulnerability and petty mundanity to Lestat that I just love. Antonio Banderas is also standout in this movie, as well as Kristen Dunst, both of whom commit 100% and have fantastic charisma on screen, while taking a kind of darker and more serious approach to the roles than TC’s Lestat. Brad Pitt is—brad what are you doing here. It’s so obvious he is not enjoying himself in this film. Go back to fight club my dude. The parts of the movie where we were following him only for long periods of time were honestly quite boring to me. Another issue I had with this movie was the way all the slavery elements were handled. Just very clumsy and racist handling of that stuff. 

11. Knight and Day

I really really enjoyed this movie both times I watched it. It’s so fun, it’s so campy, it’s clever and interesting and compelling. TC is just magnificent as Roy Miller, and his chemistry with Cameron Diaz is fabulous—she’s also excellent in this movie, all of the meat of June’s character comes from her fantastic acting. Paul Dano is also standout as Simon Feck. Those core three characters are very well done, although I have some frustration with the way the movie consistently cuts June off from a substantial character arc and agency. There are hints of substance in her plotline that never fully materialize and mostly get pushed aside in favor of focus on her dynamic with Roy, which is admittedly dynamite. Anyway really good film, not perfect but would highly recommend

10. American Made

Anybody looking at my posts this morning already knows probably most of my feelings on this movie. This movie really sucked me in, I really loved it, it felt immersive and interesting and nuanced and heartfelt. It completely devastated me at the end. Barry Seal is another one of my favorite TC roles, there’s again a (more subtle) camp that’s portrayed very genuinely and feels human and real. He’s so deeply endearing in this role. I love his hair. I love his style. I think TC should wear that style of clothing more often if he so desires cause god he looks great in this movie. Barry’s dynamic with his wife Lucy, played by Sarah Wright, was the unexpected heart of the movie. This film also features one of the only times I have ever felt catharsis from a character’s self-sacrifice, mostly because this is one of the only times I’ve ever seen that plotline with a character who I genuinely believe would do pretty much anything to survive (I see it alllll the time with characters who already have a death wish). My main issue with this film is that…I don’t know what I’m talking about, to preface. But the portrayal of South America felt stereotyped to me. It didn’t sit right. I would be interested in the perspective of someone who knows more.

9. Jerry Maguire

I watched this movie on an airplane when I was younger and I didn’t connect with it. Then I watched it again and I got bored and I stopped. Then I started Again, 30 minutes in, and watched the rest of it and absolutely loved it. I think my placing of this even in the upper middle is probably controversial, since from what I’ve heard this movie is broadly considered to be TC’s best role. Personally I disagree. I think he’s very good in this, but it isn’t one of my favorite TC roles, and not just because he has short hair in it lol. I think his particular brand of earnest comedy works great in this film. I think TC does manic energy better than any actor I’ve ever seen, and his natural emotional vulnerability works really well too. I can see why people really adore this film. I really loved this film. I guess to me the ultimate message and sentiment of the movie feels…this is a personal taste thing, but I guess the bottom line is this movie isn’t subversive enough for me LOL. The message being “having a life and a family that you love is more important than being wildly successful” is a great message! It just isn’t something I totally connect with, it doesn’t feel like an end goal that satisfies all the (to me more interesting) emotional pain and dysregulation beforehand. I am an angsty bitch though, and very queer, so that’s probably influencing my perspective on this movie. It’s a very well done film, the thematic arc is well built and coherent and interesting, the emotional beats land, I teared up at the end, I loved all the characters and felt like they were all treated well by the movie and given interesting, great journeys. Very good film, I can see why it’s so beloved, it’s very good but not special to me in the same way as some others.

8. Edge of Tomorrow

Ugh I adore this movie. I watched it, wrote a fic the same day, thought about it for a few months, watched it again, and immediately started on a second fic (which I might not finish, but still—the sheer fic-generating power of this movie…) I love this movie for many reasons, one of them is Rita Vrataski, who is so fucking excellent, Emily Blunt does a masterful job. Another one is Bill Cage, who is another favorite TC role even though he breaks the “favorite role” mold a bit, simply because he is Also kind of ridiculous and campy in a way that underlies all of his action-hero-ness and makes him constantly so much more interesting than he should by all rights be allowed to be. His arc is incredibly excellent because it doesn’t allow him to grow a moral backbone, it just forces him into the hero mold without one, which makes for a much more fascinating movie-watching experience. TC is so good at (this is a repetition, but it deserves repetition) playing characters who are kind of not great people, or kind of ridiculous, without ever putting distance between his acting and the lived experience of the character—he’s never poking fun at his own role, he lets us laugh at him. Anyway I really love this movie, I think it’s a gem of a film and a credit to the action genre.

7. Top Gun: Maverick

Another really excellent older TC film. To be perfectly honest despite my deep and enduring love of young TC my tastes generally tend to TC’s later work, with a few notable exceptions. I love this movie, it’s sweet and honest and earnest, and TC’s Mav is endlessly endearing. It’s the kind of movie that I would really like to see one day if/when I grow much older, because I think it has such meaningful emotion behind it about age and legacy. To me a weak point of this movie was that I didn’t totally connect with the young pilots, and I didn’t connect with Jennifer Connelly’s Penny. I think that was a personal thing, I know a lot of other people really loved those characters, but I didn’t connect. For me, I was watching the movie entirely for Mav, and in one scene for Ice, and I still really loved it. So that says something about the film, I think. This is also a slightly difficult film for me because I know at least one kid who decided he wanted to be a fighter pilot because of this movie, and I have complicated feelings about that. Also this is off topic and i hate to even write this down but for some reason mav looks like my ex boyfriend’s dad in a way that is VERY off putting. Still, a very good movie.

6. Fallout

This is one of my favorite MIs, and MI in general is precious to me so you’re going to see a lot of them in the upper echelons of my ranking. I love so much about this movie, I don’t feel like I need to talk much about it here cause I’ve gotten into the intricacies of my feelings about it before. Fallout Ethan is probably my favorite Ethan, I love the place he arrives at in his arc in this movie, I love what this movie does to him and for him. I adore TC’s acting in this film it’s remarkable. The end of this movie is my favorite ending of the MI films, maybe one of my favorite film endings ever. I love all the characters in this movie and I love how much care they’re given by the script, by the actors, by the film. Just excellent. I don’t like Walker, I don’t personally find him hot or interesting, maybe if I did this would be ranked higher.

5. Rogue Nation

RN is just a really fucking excellent movie. Another MI, because I love them. I love Ilsa so dearly, I love Benji and Ethan’s arc in this movie. Again, I’ve talked about this movie more in depth elsewhere, so I’ll keep it brief here. I just think this movie is great cinema, it’s deeply compelling and entertaining, it’s well written, it’s well acted, it has some really interesting elements, it has the opera sequence which is just one of the most excellently constructed sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie featuring music that I adore. Anyway I love this movie

4. Dead Reckoning, Part 1

I saw this movie in theaters—it’s the only one of all these movies that I saw in theaters. That necessarily influences the ranking. I think this movie is just masterful. It’s so cinematic, it’s so thoughtful, it’s so well acted, it’s so well made. It drives Ethan’s arc in a compelling direction that feels significant and new despite also being something that’s been building for six prior films. I love the new characters it introduces, I love the thoughtful and careful treatment of the returning characters. I love Ethan’s sexy lawyer fit. This is just a really excellent movie that I feel like is a masterclass in Pure Cinema.

3. Rock of Ages

On the one hand I’m aware this is my most controversial ranking. On the other hand I don’t actually think anyone who knows me and my tastes is surprised by this. Stacee Jaxx is far and away my favorite TC role I’ve seen so far. I just can’t say enough great things about TC’s acting in this movie, it’s literally spellbinding. Not only the thorough commitment to camp, but the commitment to something way deeper than camp, to bringing out depth and genuine emotion through camp, and on top of all of that to stand on stage and perform a full song (training his voice to do so!) with all the panache and physicality and weird professional joy and manic eyes of a rock star, it boggles the mind. This movie is absolutely terrible in my opinion. But it’s just weird enough that it gives this backing of deep subversiveness to TC’s performance and to the ideas behind his Stacee. There are so many haunting moments in this movie and so many moments that made me laugh hysterically while also feeling deeply impacted. The ideas TC is conveying are weird, and dramatic, and not simple at all, and he manages to convey them honestly, dramatically, and with so much nuance, and so much fucking gravitas, and he does all of that without sacrificing comedy—in fact he elevates it, he heightens it. I think his work in this movie is absolutely masterful. I also love his romantic interest in this movie, Constance, played by Malin Akerman, who is a delight. Her scenes with TC are so dynamic and interesting and fun. Also I just love everything about TC’s look in this movie, from the particular build (which feels interesting to me, it’s a very specific build, muscled but not washboard, and solid but showy instead of tank-y, I know this is something he thinks about so I’d be interested in how he prepared physically for the role) to the hair to the tattoos to the leather pants to the trailing hankies, it’s all striking and fun while feeling somehow honest. Despite objectively being a caricature, and having all the flamboyance and drama of a caricature, TC’s Stacee never actually feels like one. He feels like someone who’s trying to become one, and I know several people like that, and he just…nails it.

2. Risky Business

Unlike Rock of Ages, this is an absolutely incredible movie. It’s weird, it’s complex, it’s sad, it’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s really fucking good. TC’s acting here is just fabulous, this is another favorite TC role for completely different reasons—Joel can’t be described as camp, although he is a bit ridiculous, but TC brings so much vulnerability to the role that it feels painful to watch in a very good way. This is an unusually special movie. All the acting is fabulous, TC is standout.

1. Mission: Impossible

What can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said by my 10 times watching it and my countless textposts and rambling essays? This is my favorite movie of all time. MI1 Ethan and his arc in this movie is fascinating, unusual, grounded, arresting. He’s an unusual action hero, this is an unusual action movie, it’s creepy and compelling. The Jim/Ethan/Claire trio has captured my mind ever since I saw it—as well as the Ethan/Max interactions—Luther is also fucking standout in this movie he’s everything. I just adore this film, it’s incredibly close to my heart, I can’t watch it without losing my mind about 30 times and ranting about the same scenes on tumblr for the fifth time. Anyway. MI1, number one, least surprising ranking to anyone who knows me or follows me.

This has been the Tom Cruise Ranking So Far! I’ve got somewhere in the realm of…fifteen? Twenty? of his films left to watch. I started on Legend today and I think it’s going to land on the bottom. Overall I’ve learned so much about storytelling and performance and character from TC, every movie feels like a masterclass, especially the later films. Anyway I love thoughts and reactions, please feel free to disagree loudly. Thank you for attending my TC Ted Talk

[mirrorhouse]

hmmm thinking about how ocelot’s self-hypnosis works in mgsv (my interpretation of it anyway)

he tells snake to think of what he’s going to do to himself as “doublethink”, so to me it’s that he is always holding two conflicting and contradictory beliefs at the exact same time. depending on what’s going on, one belief is stronger than the other, and that becomes the “truth” to him.

so to him, there’s two truths: 1) i’m working with the real big boss and 2) this is just the phantom that i created.

for the majority of the time, he believes the first “truth”— although the other is always there, beneath the surface. in moments where he’s presented with information or situations that are inconsistent with what he believes to be reality (for example, snake “forgetting” russian), he’s able to subconsciously switch to the other “truth” in order to think up lies that keep the facade from faltering; to minimise the risk of the fabricated truth being splintered for himself, the phantom, and everyone around them.

then, as soon as he’s finished telling that lie, it’s no longer a lie; it’s the truth to him, incorporated into that first belief system, and that’s what he goes back to believing. so something like this:

from the mgsv script: Boss, you don’t understand what he said? Ahh… I guess that makes sense… (Ocelot is thinking of an appropriate lie) It looks like that “horn” stuck in your head has impacted the language center of your brain.

is something he’s telling himself too, a way to justify the phantom not acting like the real snake, and now it’s the real explanation. he knows he’s just a copy beneath the surface, but at the same time, he’s able to totally convince himself he’s not, and that he’s the real thing.

all throughout mgsv (or at least, until the time is right for him to completely abandon the “truth” he’s convinced himself of and understand that the real big boss is who he’s truly working with— whenever that is) i think he’s actively lying to and manipulating not just everyone else, but also himself, yet he doesn’t even fully realise it.

[cruiseperuse]

insane selection at [redacted] records in [redacted]