#it's a frustrating viewing experience

[scorndotexe]

midnight mass should have been weirder and bolder and it would have been better for it

[tenvishund]

F I S S I O N - Why the hell do you hurt yourself for this?

[uncanny-tranny]

I think when people talk about things like desirability, they can miss the deeper point of why it can be important to analyze why people are seen as undesirable. It isn't just that a type of person is just... not hot... but often, it's the dehumanization of a person based on marginalized features.

For instance, I had a conversation with somebody about disability portrayal in media, and we had agreed that, historically, disability had been portrayed as a horrific ordeal. However, I think they missed the point as to why the "undesirable disabled" character was so appealing to a broader audience. The idea that disability is other, inhuman, and something that depersonalizes somebody from society is partly why those ideas were and are prevalent in mainstream media and culture. It is the idea that "nobody likes you. Nobody needs you. Nobody wants you" because of the person's marginalized body or experience or whatever it may be.

It isn't some superficial "oh why aren't I seen as pretty by everybody?" It is the knowledge that you are portrayed as undesirable in this way because it is a way to separate you from everybody else. It isn't about beauty, nor is it a selfish desire to be wanted by somebody. It is the desire to be seen as a person - an equal, regardless of who desires you or who does not.

[televisionforwhales]

God early magicians sets up Penny as The Specialist Boy (psychic powers, Traveler, childhood link to the big bad, NOT a king of Fillory, reluctantly suckered in to the group project) and then....what. what then

[starbuck]

Was thinking earlier about “People are not stupid, Ives.” “Really?” and how Ives’ self-centered misanthropy is so important within the larger thematic context of American Imperialism. Imperialists prioritize their own interests over all others since they believe that those they have deemed “others” are unworthy of human consideration. On an individual level, this comes down to believing that you are better than other people, more worthy of life and happiness. 

This is how Hart ends up working with Ives as a willing coconspirator… Even before Colqhoun’s arrival, Hart clearly looks down on the other residents of Fort Spencer. He describes them so uncharitably to Boyd that it isolates Boyd from everyone before he’s even met them. Hart hates his job and the life he lived that got him there and he copes by believing that he is, at least, a superior type of person to everyone under his command. 

In that way, Hart killing his former comrades in cold blood doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the logical conclusion of his superior, misanthropic perspective pushed to the extreme. He’s better than them, so why SHOULDN’T he kill and eat them? Don’t you understand? You have to KILL! to live! You have to KILL!!!!!!! 

[billymayslesbian]

i always find posts that are like "marvel movies/fanfiction/booktok books/(thing original poster finds cringy or annoying) arent art" so fascinating because like. maybe there wasnt a creative vision behind a marvel movie, but why wasnt there? what does this movies existence say about the media landscape in which it exists? what does the content of the movie say about what is considered to be "safe" by our current culture? you can ask the same questions of fanfiction, what does this text say about the creators relationship with the source material? what does this booktok novel say about current trends in literature targetted towards women? even if something is derivative and the text itself doesnt have much to say theres a thousands ways to analyze WHY that might be, which is sort of how art works?

[diedinflorida]

i'm getting tired of combing through my experiences and finding the same thing over and over again: that "male privilege" is not privilege i've touched. i can think of benefits from my being white but when it comes to being a (trans) man i come up blank. i didn't gain respect or community or opportunities or money or whatever else from transitioning, i gained myself. in gaining myself i lost a major amount of closeness and familiarity with the world. i genuinely cannot figure out what male privilege is for me when being male has not been a privilege. i wouldn't trade it for the world but things suck just as much as when i was a girl, just in different ways.

[wonder-worker]

are there any books you'd recommend for Isabelle of Angouleme?

Hi! I’m really not an expert on Isabella of Angouleme so I'm probably not the best person to ask for recommendations for her. Here are some I've heard of, though I haven't read all of them:

"Isabella of Angouleme: John's Jezebel" by Nicholas Vincent (King John: New Interpretations). I haven't read it myself but I've heard good things!

“Maternal Abandonment and Surrogate Caregivers: Isabella of Angoulême and Her Children by King John” by Louise J. Wilkinson (Virtuous or Villainess? The Image of the Royal Mother from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern Era). It focuses more-so on Isabella's tenure as queen, the period shortly after John's death, and her decision to leave England. Despite what the title may imply, it's sympathetic to Isabella and analyzes her situation in detail.

“Co-Operation, Co-Rulership and Competition: Queenship in the Angevin Domains 1135-1230” by Gabrielle Storey, her PHD thesis which collectively focuses on Isabella of Angouleme along with Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Berengaria of Navarre. You can read/download it here, it's an excellent piece for all four women.

Sally Spong has written/is writing:

Isabella of Angouleme: The Vanished Queen (Norman to Early Plantagenet Consorts). You can see her conclusion here. It's nuanced and sympathetic, though not without its issues and pre-conceived notions.

Isabella of Gloucester and Isabella of Angouleme: Female Lordship, Queenship, Power, and Authority 1189-1220 (PHD thesis University of East Anglia).

“Isabelle d’Angouleme, By the Grace of God, Queen” by William Chester Jordan. You can read it online here, though I will say that it's ... very very questionable, accepting the sensational claims of lot of unreliable sources (including the idea of John abducting Isabella in a fit of uncontrollable infatuation) entirely at face-value.

“The Marriage and Coronation of Isabelle of Angouleme” by H.G. Richardson, available here on JSTOR.

Isabella has also been the subject of two complete French biographies till date:

"Isabelle d’Angoulême, reine d’Angleterre" (Aquitaine: 1998) by Sophie Fougere.

"Isabelle d’Angoulême, comtesse-reine et son temps (1186-1246)" [Actes du colloque tenu à Lusignan, 8 au 10 novembre 1996] by Gabriel Biancotto, Robert Favreau and Piotr Skubiszewski.

There are also a few blog posts about her (here and here) which may help if you want a brief overview of her life, though they can get a little sensationalistic sometimes.

Hope this helps! If anyone knows any others, please feel free to add on!

[seaglassdinosaur]

The way Percy talks about himself in the show though, having ADHD and dyslexia, saying he knows that something is wrong with his brain, it’s heartbreaking.

Because stepping aside from the magic and monsters, this is a kid who’s internalized the ableist messages and bullying that’s been directed at him. He believes that having ADHD and dyslexia means that something is broken in his head. Not that his experience is natural, another one of the many different ways that people go through the world, but that his difficulties mean his brain is broken, and by extension, he is innately wrong.

It’s this out loud recognition of the struggling quiet part of someone with a learning disability, who can’t figure out what is going on with themself. They don’t know why they are the way they are, they don’t know how to manage it, and they certainly haven’t accepted it as a part of them, trying to fit into the expectations of a neurotypical society. All they know is that according to everyone else, they’re ‘wrong’. So they must just be ‘wrong’.

[fefairys]

definitely something to be said about the privilege of having queer community in real life. cause not everywhere has places where u can go and easily/safely meet other queer people... so there are a lot of people online who are in echo chambers bc they only surround themselves with people like them and they dont really know any queer ppl irl (through no fault of their own) and so they end up only knowing about perspectives of themself and people who agree with them on everything.

in real life queer communities youre not going to agree with everyone on everything, but thats a good thing. we're all from different backgrounds and have different experiences, different upbringings, etc. online if you disagree with someone you can just unfollow them, but if you're in a community irl and you disagree with someone you cant just kick them out of their damn community. you have to listen to each others perspectives and find common ground. and sometimes agree to disagree on certain things. i feel very lucky to be able to be exposed to so many different queer experiences through my irl queer friends that i wouldn't have if my only exposure to the queer community was the people i choose to surround myself with online.

[anassemblageofpassions]

Not to be that person but truly baffles me how you all ignore sam. *sniffles* you are all so stupid.

[fideidefenswhore]

or, to be extremely clear:

i don't dispute that "no matter Anne’s role in what happened to Mary, it existed, [and] impacted her".

but what has always seemed strange to me is that chapuys' dispatches on the matter are treated as if they are definitive. because we have no corroboration of them (and we don't, despite what weir has claimed-- nothing 'corroborates', there are reports from those such as dr. ortiz, the imperial ambassador to rome, that are relaying what chapuys has already sent him, not corroborating them, as he's not in england himself); the extent of her role is always going to be ambiguous, barring further found evidence on the matter. the only aspect that is definitive is that she was not-- again-- the sole author of mary's treatment, because henry followed an amplified version of the same policy regarding his eldest daughter after anne's execution, and followed it to the extreme.

[thats-my-passion-right-there]

I finally saw the mean girls musical (the movie one) I have so many fucking thoughts oh my god

[loyalhorror]

i want a break from flat hunting and flat viewings but its not the kind of thing i can just take a break from because. i need to move. aughghgh

[kingcriccket]

The thing about the fall of the house of usher is that like. I think Mike Flanagan is a great character writer but... somehow maybe not a very good horror writer? Which I know is an insane take given his body of work but like. He's great with suspense, but when that tension finally breaks, at least in Usher, it tends to feel kind of... stupid rather than scary.

Which means you're watching all of these interesting, horrible people play off of one another in excellent ways, portrayed by excellent actors, as they unerringly make their ways towards extremely obviously telegraphed and kind of stupid deaths.

[ouroboobos]

its soooo fucking impossible to sift through information about religions youre not famililar with