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dantesinfcrno · 4 years

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐘.

I N S U M M A R Y ––– 𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 ; the explorer . 𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 ; two . 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 ; slytherin . 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆 ; four . 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 ; physical touch . 𝒎𝒃𝒕𝒊 ; istp . 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 ; chaotic good . 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔 ; runespoor . 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 ; sagittarius . 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 ; sanguine .

𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 ; the explorer .

the explorer archetype’s goal: to live an inspiring and fulfilling life. the explorer is authentic, curious, and independent. they want to answer questions such as: “why am I here?” or “what is my purpose?”. the explorer wants the freedom to forge a unique path and focus on self-discovery and the meaning of life. although one to criticize the establishment, the explorer would rather venture down their own path than put up a fight. just as much as they crave freedom, they also strive to help others feel free. their biggest fear is feeling trapped.

C L O S E R E S U L T S ––– the rebel + the caregiver .

𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 ; two with a three wing, sexual/social instinctual subtype .

twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. they are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. they are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. they typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others. their basic fear is of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved. the twos with a three wing are more driven and extroverted. they’re supportive and empathetic, and tend to search for the spotlight. they fear being unwanted or worthless, and avoid this by building personal connections with others and working hard to meet the needs of the community. their most basic desire is to be loved and accepted, and they may express this by being extremely attentive and attached to other people. they also tend to suppress their own negative emotions, which, when done frequently, can lead to high levels of stress or unexpected outbursts.

the subtype that exudes the most raw charisma and sexual energy, sx/so. they may identify so strongly with whatever they’re involved with that they often become the symbol of its core essence, and sometimes its lead agent for change. hardly content with the status quo, this subvariant seeks to alter the fundamental structure of something while at once embodying it’s purest or most extreme form. they enjoy pushing other’s buttons, especially those resistant to their modes of expression. may exploit and seek to redefine sexuality to reflect their own colorful and uncertain understanding of it. can feel pulled between wanting a life of maximum intensity and reassuring episodes of peaceful convention. motivation: to impact others, question assumptions, challenge convention. familiar roles: provocateur, activist, exhibitionist.

C L O S E R E S U L T S ––– type seven .

𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 ; slytherin .

the slytherin house is known for being associated with a tendency to look after their own. they are always striving to be the best, but will never leave their own behind. they’re cunning, resourceful, determined, and ambitious. slytherin has produced its share of dark witches and wizards, but members are not afraid to admit it.

C L O S E R E S U L T S ––– gryffindor .

𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆 ; four .

predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual.

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 ; physical touch .

a person whose primary language is physical touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. hugs, pats on the back, and thoughtful touches on the arm — they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive. appropriate and timely touches communicate warmth, safety, and love to you.

C L O S E R E S U L T S ––– quality time + words of affirmation .

𝒎𝒃𝒕𝒊 ; istp, the virtuoso or the artisan .

an improviser type, best at handling crisis situations. their core needs are to have the freedom to act without hindrance and to see a marked result from action. their energies are focused on skillful performance, variety, and stimulation. they trust their impulses and have a drive to action. some of their unique themes include: actively solving problems, observing how things work, unsettled by powerful emotional experiences. virtuosos are actually quite enigmatic. friendly but very private, calm but suddenly spontaneous, extremely curious but unable to stay focused on formal studies, virtuoso personalities can be a challenge to predict, even by their friends and loved ones. their decisions stem from a sense of practical realism, and at their heart is a strong sense of direct fairness. instead of being overly cautious though, they are likely to go too far, accepting likewise retaliation, good or bad, as fair play. while they’re creative and energetic, istps are known for being stubborn, reserved, and prone to risky behavior.

𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 ; chaotic good .

a chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. they make their own way, but they’re kind and benevolent. they believe in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. they hate when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. they follow their own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. they do what is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdain bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and place a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well. they usually intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of sync with the rest of society.

𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒔 ; runespoor .

the runespoor patronus is very rare. it is cast by a very complex witch or wizard, an individual who has deep thought and uncommon understanding of the world. it is said that each head of a runespoor has its own job, there is the head that decides what the creature will do, the head that often drifts off into fantasy, and the head that criticizes the other two. someone who casts this patronus is precise in decisions they make, but they can loose themselves in deep thought. they are incredibly wise and often live to bring greatness to their names. snakes are symbolic of change, fertility, healing, energy, and the duality of good and evil.

𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 ; sagittarius sun ; libra rising ; scorpio moon .

restless, cheerful, and friendly, sun in sagittarius people are generally on the go. they have a love of freedom, and a disdain for routine. generally quite easygoing, sagittarians make friends with people from all walks of life. they have an often blind faith in people, and in the world. their optimism is infectious, although it can get them into trouble from time to time. these are curious people who love to learn. the need for escape is generally strong, and some come across as a little irresponsible.

sagittarius sun / scorpio moon people are independent, capable and usually successful at whatever they are doing. there is the sound judgment and great wisdom of the sagittarius combined with the scorpio’s determination and ability to turn everything they want into a project. they’re intense and astute, but can also be temperamental, blunt and hypersensitive. discrete and intelligent, they will come up with great plans and strategies that will help them advance quickly in both professional and personal life. renewing themselves is one of their abilities. they love to dig deeply into unusual subjects and the exotic and the uncharted fascinate you. they seek to experience as much as possible in life and they are sensual and pleasure loving. they always get up from falls, no matter how many times they are setback or personal misfortunes they encounter.

the sagittarius sun / libra ascendant is known to be clever, intelligent and educated. their environment is delighted by their charming personalities and the joy they have in life and so, all hearts are easily won. these people know exactly how to take center stage and thus gain popularity. they have amazing artistic and psychological skills, besides their exquisite taste and knowledge on how to deal with others.

𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 ; sanguine / choleric blend .

sanguines are naturally people-oriented. they have an active, positive movement in a favorable environment. they influence their environment by encouraging others to work together. the sanguine is by far the most versatile of the four temperaments and has the potential for the widest range of behavior due to possessing the widest range of emotions. they are extroverted, fun-loving, playful, activity-prone, impulsive, entertaining, persuasive, easily amused, and optimistic. they are enthusiastic, expressive, tend to be very affectionate, and are word smiths. sanguines are very competitive, and they usually like sports of any kind. they tend to be disorganized and easily forgetful, and sometimes have difficulty controlling their thoughts and emotions. they fear rejection or not making a favorable impression. individuals with this personality have a hard time doing nothing and engage in more risk seeking behavior.

the sanguine-choleric combination is driven by the primary need to be accepted socially and the secondary need to get results. they are more assertive than the other sanguine combinations, being very persuasive and making good debaters! they have an outgoing interest in others and the ability to gain the respect and confidence of various types of individuals. they exhibit poise and confidence in most situations, especially social events, and will become bored without activity and social involvement.

#opalstask #𝑽 : DEVELOPMENT .#𝑽𝑰𝑰𝑰 : EDITS .#yes this is messy #yes its late #yes its ugly #:)#later today ill pos t the connections probably idk

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idkmybffpotter · 4 years

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HP Fic Rec List

Yooooooooo. Ive finally gotten started on making a fic rec list (Im so bad at remembering to save the fics I love).

Here is the start of it! Warning: Most of these fics are epic length, 250k+words. Enjoy!!!

Ps. Please feel free to DM me to talk about any of these! Id love to hear your thoughts!

DRARRY

***Life Cycle Series by WIndseeker2305. https://archiveofourown.org/series/21657

1,402,781 words. #Creatures #Soulmates #Mpreg, #Abandoned in 3rd book

After a summer of torture with the Dursleys, Harry falls into a self induced magical coma. Draco-who holds a hidden torch for him-jumps in to help. There they meet and decide many things that could very well change the Wizarding World forever.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Literally my fav story ive ever read everrrr.

***Turn by Saras_Girl https://archiveofourown.org/works/879852/chapters/1692695

306,708 words #Alternate Reality

***Leo Inter Serpentes by Aeternum https://archiveofourown.org/series/53590

746,048 words #Complete Series Rewrite #Slytherin Harry

Just one conversation between two eleven year old boys goes slightly differently, and the world changes. Just how much will be different with Harry being sorted into Slytherin, and how much will stay the same?

***Saving Connor Series by Lightning on The Wave https://www.fanfiction.net/u/895946/Lightning-on-the-Wave

3,069,375 words

Harry's twin Connor is the Boy Who Lived, and Harry is devoted to protecting him by making himself look ordinary. But certain people won't let Harry stay in the shadows...

***Survival is a Talent by ShanaStoryteller https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006417/chapters/27167826

338,714+words #WIP #soulmates #POC

In the middle of their second year, Draco and Harry discover they're soulmates and do their best to keep it a secret from everyone. Their best isn't perfect.

***Freedom To Be by Quicksilvermaid https://archiveofourown.org/works/16052705/chapters/37477826

169, 550words #COMPLETE #BDSM

Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived.12 years after the war, he's become the Boy Who Lived For Everyone Else. He has the perfect wife. The perfect house. The perfect job. The perfect friends.Only nothing feels perfect.Until one day he stumbles across a club called Release and begins a journey of self-discovery that takes him to a very different place.

***Brother to Basilisks by Lomonaaeren https://archiveofourown.org/works/2435531/chapters/5393471

595,688+ words AU of PoA. Harry wakes in the night to a voice calling him from somewhere in the castle—and when he follows it, everything changes

***Reparations by Saras_Girl https://archiveofourown.org/works/879599/chapters/1692075

87,376 words #Healer Harry

Harry is about to discover that the steepest learning curve comes after Healer training, and that second chances can be found in unexpected places.

***Secrets by Vorabiza https://archiveofourown.org/works/8184311/chapters/18751001

395,365 words Beginning with Draco's unexpected arrival at the Dursleys, Harry's summer after sixth year becomes filled with activity and many secrets. As his summer progresses, Harry generates several unexpected allies as he finds himself actively becoming the leader of the Light side.

***Being a Veelas Mate by Chereche https://archiveofourown.org/works/7524595/chapters/17103607

399,867words Draco comes into his veela nature early when his mate's life is in danger. Will their unique bond be enough to finally bring peace to the wizarding world?

***All Life is Your to Miss by Saras_Girl https://archiveofourown.org/works/825875/chapters/1568057

114,741words #Professor Harry

Professor Malfoy's world is contained, controlled, and as solitary as he can make it, but when an act of petty revenge goes horribly awry, he and his trusty six-legged friend are thrown into Hogwarts life at the deep end and must learn to live, love and let go.

***Twist of Fate by Oakstone730 https://archiveofourown.org/works/473335/chapters/819506

302,209 words Draco asks Harry to help him beat the Imperius curse during 4th year. The lessons turn into more than either expected. A story of redemption and forgiveness

HINNY

***A Second Chance by Breanie https://archiveofourown.org/works/16237082/chapters/37957664

1,714,567 words #WIP

What if Sirius didn't spent twelve years in prison, but was given a trial after four years? Follow the story of Sirius Black as he learns what it means to be a father/brother/guardian to his young godson & the story of Harry Potter, a young boy with a loving home who learns about the Marauders from the two men who should have raised him. M for later. Eventual Hinny.

JEDDY

***Couldn’t Get Better They Say by JadePresley https://archiveofourown.org/works/14119629/chapters/32535660

78,611 words #NoMagic #TextingFic

A boy texts the wrong number late one night. Another boy replies. Chaos ensues. Or, The one where James is too caught up in his career to be the person he wants to be, Teddy drinks too much to avoid his past, Albus wears terrible hats, Lily is a badass, and Gavin is the star of the show.

***Chances by TheProdigyPenguin https://archiveofourown.org/works/21166652/chapters/50379941

78,761words #COMPLETE

Teddy has lived in France with his grandmother for his entire life, living unaware of his past or the significance of his parent's lives, cut short at the end of the war. He lives blissfully ignorant of the life he was meant to have in England, until his grandmother dies shortly after his twenty-seventh birthday, and the discovery of letters written by an estranged godfather he never knew he had leads him back to his families home, searching for answers but in the end finding more than he'd ever expected or hoped.

SCORBUS

***Its Tea Time by Ellizablue https://archiveofourown.org/series/538465

872,002+ #WIP #Trilogy

SEVERITUS

***Blood by Lord of Chaos https://archiveofourown.org/works/3089927/chapters/6696266

466,835words Harry's sent reeling when he learns that Professor Snape is his bio dad, and if that were all he had to deal with, he'd probably be all right, but he's got werewolves, escaped convicts, a stubborn Dark Lord, and his own inner demons to deal with. Starts third year. Rating mostly for violence. Story deals with mental health, bigotry and child abuse.

***Digging for bones by paganaidd https://archiveofourown.org/works/598019/chapters/1078847

203,178 words

Rather than allowing Harry to stay at Diagon Alley after he blew up Aunt Marge, the Ministry sends Harry back to the Dursleys. Harry returns to school after a terrible summer, to find that he's not the only one with this kind of secret. A student has been killed by his family. New screening measures are put into place by the Ministry: Every student must be given a medical exam and interview to look for child abuse. With Dumbledore facing an inquiry, Snape is entrusted with the task of making sure EVERYONE receives one.

***Broken Mind Series by SensiblyTainted https://archiveofourown.org/works/8873683/chapters/20344381

864,245 words #Mental Health Issues #Multiple Personaity Disorder #Abuse

Harry Potter watched his mother die when he was fifteen months old, a piece of Voldemort's soul invaded his own, Vernon abused him, Petunia tore him to shreds with her hateful words, and Lockhart molested him throughout Second-year. After all that trauma, is it any wonder Harry created multiple personalities to deal with it all? In Harry's third year, Severus Snape decides to do something about it. He gives Harry therapy in secret, and this opens Harry up to a friendship with Neville Longbottom, another victim of Lockhart's perversions, and Draco Malfoy who can understand Harry's Slytherin alter better than anyone else.

***A Year Like None Other by aspeninthesunlight https://archiveofourown.org/works/742072/chapters/1382061

789,589 words

A letter from home? A letter from family? Well, Harry Potter knows he has neither, but all the same, it starts with a letter from Surrey. Whatever the Durleys have to say, it can't be anything good, so Harry's determined to ignore it. But then, his evil schoolmate rival spots the letter and his slimy excuse for a teacher intercepts it and forces him to read it. And that sends Harry down a path he'd never have walked on his own.

SNARRY

***Gift of Kindness by Hippocrates460 https://archiveofourown.org/works/14656377/chapters/33859731

105,872words #COMPLETE #soulmates #courting rituals

When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, everything is overwhelming. Luckily he makes some friends, Hagrid who took him to Diagon Alley, Ron who he met on the train, and Severus, who explains why they have to pretend to hate each other. This story spans 7 years, during which Severus and Harry get to know each other and find understanding.

TOMARRY

***Descent into Darkness by Athey https://www.wattpad.com/story/179650625-harry-potter-and-the-descent-into-darkness

https://www.wattpad.com/684682449-harry-potter-and-the-breeding-darkness-prologue

It's Harry's 4th year at Hogwarts and his name has just come out of the Goblet of Fire. Everyone has abandoned him and he feels utterly alone. Through an accident Harry and the piece of Voldemort's soul that resides inside him begin to interact and Harry slowly begins to change. He becomes stronger and more aware, and slowly grows aware of a more sinister course of events that has perpetuated his entire life.

WOLFSTAR

***Sweater weather by lumosinlove

74,493words+ #WIP #NoMagicAU Remus works for the Gryffindor Lions as a physical trainer, and has been half in love with Sirius Black, the Lions' heartthrob captain, for a while now, but he never expected Sirius to return the feelings. Read if you like cute nicknames, slow burn, and pining. Yep. That's it.

***Soltnse by lumosinlove https://archiveofourown.org/works/17186087/chapters/40408559

61,997 words #COMPLETE #NoMagicAU Sirius, a young Russian billionaire hires Remus, who is working part time as a call boy to make ends meet. Things happen, feelings occur

***Text Talk by merlywhirls https://archiveofourown.org/works/1651109/chapters/3501239

141,250 words #NoMagicAU

Sirius is in boarding school, Remus is in hospital, and they don't know each other until Sirius texts the wrong number.

***Casting Moonshadows by moonsign https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3378356/1/Casting-Moonshadows

393,500 words #WIP #ANGST

Lonely and outcast by his classmates, Remus wishes on a moonshadow for a friend who understands him. To his amazement his wish is not only answered once, but three times by his former enemies, the Marauders.

***Of Leaves and Stars by irrationalmoony, lady amina https://archiveofourown.org/works/6535114/chapters/14950924

266,476words #Texting Fic #WIP

Almost a year out of Hogwarts, Lily finally manages to convince Sirius and James to get more acquainted with muggle technology and buy phones. Sirius, of course, texts the wrong number.

RANDOM PAIRINGS

Harry/Sirius/Remus:

***To See The Human Soul Take Wing by Maeglin Yedi 227,394 words

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007970/chapters/1999281

#Werewolf Harry #Friendly Vampires This is actually the 3rd

book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.

Harry's final year at Hogwarts is filled with secrets, old enemies and new threats. Unable to share his current life with his friends, Harry has to put his faith in the unlikeliest of allies to find a way to defeat Voldemort while his love for Sirius and Remus is repeatedly put to the test.

Hermione/Sirius

***Debt of Time by Shayalonnie

https://archiveofourown.org/series/760443

715,940 words #COMPLETE #Time Travel

When Hermione finds a way to bring Sirius back from the veil, her actions change the rest of the war. Little does she know her spell restoring him to life provokes magic she doesn't understand and sets her on a path that ends with a Time-Turner.

Severus Snape/OMC

*** Of A Linear Circle by flamethrower

https://archiveofourown.org/series/755028

1,428,885words #WIP #Long Series #Time Travel

In September of 1971, Severus Snape finds a forgotten portrait of the Slytherin family in a dark corner of the Slytherin Common Room. At the time, he has no idea that talking portrait will affect the rest of his life.

Harry/Theo/Charlie/OMCs

***There Be Dragons Harry by Scioneeris

https://archiveofourown.org/works/485605/chapters/845701

919,721words #WIP #Creature Inheritance

Harem!Fic Harry inherits a creature "thing" from both sides of his parents and somehow that leads to weird sleeping habits, conversations with Theodore Nott and finding himself caught up in a world of Dragons, elemental powers and new creatures he's never heard of before. Dragons? Mates? Very AU. Contains all kinds of slash.

Scorpius/Rose

***Ignite by Slide (JustSlide)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470272/chapters/14810293

191,497 words

A mysterious illness leaving a handful of uninfected. A school in quarantine, isolated from the outside world. Danger on all sides, striking seemingly at random. And, at the heart of it all, Scorpius Malfoy, the only man to believe this is a part of a wider, dangerous plot

***Raindrops on Roses by backinyourbox

https://archiveofourown.org/works/373224/chapters/608435

301,383 words

Beginning immediately after the Epilogue, this story follows Scorpius, Rose and Albus through their Hogwarts years and beyond. Childish fears and desires soon turn to more serious dilemmas as some members of the Ravenclaw trio are forced to grow up too soon. Albus wants to be remembered for being something other than Harry Potter's son. Scorpius knows his father expects him to follow in his footsteps, but how long can he keep his friends, his music and his OWL in Muggle Studies a secret? And Rose has yet to decide what she wants...

Harry Potter/George Weasley Looking Beyond by Shini_amaryllis

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3178778/chapters/6905645

674,719 #COMPLETE #FEM!Harry

The first thing everyone noticed about Hope Potter was that she may have had her mother's face, but she had her father's penchant for causing trouble or somehow finding it. It only made sense that she would fall for a prankster, and it only made sense that danger was attracted to her very scent. Somehow, she was going to prove she was more than just the Girl-Who-Lived

Harry Potter/Avengers Crossover

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1369690/chapters/2902480

324570 #Loki is Harrys Dad #Just Read it I promise its great

In the several millennia he had existed Loki Odinson, Norse God of Mischief and Lies, had been many things, he had been a liar, a warrior, and a trickster, just to name a few, but never before, in his thousands of years of existence had he been a loving father, but all it took was a single glance at the perfect little creature before him and he knew, he was gone.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #drarry #scorbus #jeddy #snarry #severitus #hinny #Marauders #wolfstar #cursed child #tomarry

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gurguliare · 5 years

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Aw man, I’m feeling sentimental for a fully unrelated reason so I wanted to take this moment to say that I really love Friends at the Table and it has been a comfort to me during some dull and sad parts of my life, and also remained there for me after I shed a lot of that dullness and sadness. I still find great charm in the show even as Austin and the players’ storytelling interests have, with time, diverged from mine, and for every choice that distances me there are more to woo me back... I used to feel FATT’s best moments were the ones that came like bolts from the blue: strange, gorgeous, fully-formed scenes and transformed ideas. But there are also themes, especially in Twilight Mirage and late-season Hieron, that struggle hard to get underway, gaining momentum creakingly after a hundred hours of nothing... I like that style of surprise too; it’s nice when against all odds a story earns your patience. “Stockholm Surprise.”

...I mean, I still think Spring in Hieron is pretty bad. But I liked the epilogue, and it made me less regretful about having listened to the rest of the season. Mainly I liked the climax and the Understanding, and I especially liked, and wish they had kept, the original name of the Six, which seemed to best capture the most important and most underwritten of Hieron’s throughlines---that the horror of divinity is the horror of unilateral action, and that there’s no categorical difference between mortals acting secretly and destructively to serve “the public good” and gods doing the same. So the Six from the Last University mirror the Six from Marielda and the original pantheon of gods, complete with numbering chicanery. “Utilitarianism is wrong because it’s a fundamentally paternalistic, tyrannical dream that inflexibly robs individuals of their right to self-determination and discovery; it is so corrosively wrong that you are not excused in using utilitarian methods to fight a greater or more catastrophic fiat,” is a surprisingly rare message to find in genre fiction, which tends more toward “Utilitarianism is wrong... oh shit, look at all those people who died, though. Kind of makes you think.” That’s not to say that the above view of utilitarianism is co-signed by yours truly, but it was nevertheless refreshing to find it so clearly articulated and pressed on by the story, even to the point of the absurd “and so...?” stalemate to which Hieron devolves. And so, nothing.

It made me think about how sad I am about Samol, as a character, and as prime wellspring of the trauma and abusive love that characterized his whole family; I find his narrative shadow really compelling in retrospect, but his decision to save Samot’s life without Samot’s consent---kind of the ultimate reconfiguration and evocative even of Samol’s own birth from the nothing---should have been explicitly linked to Samot’s meltdown and actions in the finale. Also to Adelaide’s thinking around Adularia. Because Samol’s death is a refusal to change that he offers as the nearest thing to changing: he sees the harm he’s caused, regrets it, but even the gift of freedom for his children has to be given against their will. As a human narrative, it’s incredibly dark, and as a godly one it touches me in its unapologetic apartness. His ability to care and empathize with people never allows him to act as a person, with a person’s responsibility to others; alone of the gods, he really seems to have no choice but to do as he sees fit, beyond reproach or challenge, because no one can challenge him and to pretend otherwise would be a new way of imposing his will. Nor can he remove himself from the world he is. Which is like the truest parent conundrum, haha. ... ... But ... he nonetheless is written, played, and felt as a person, just a person beyond others’ reach. Which I know I’ve mentioned before as my favorite early Hieron theme and, well, here it is again, in the last place I expected, even if the season really buries it. So. I’m sad. End of post.

#friends at the table #spring in hieron #seasons of hieron

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winterune · 5 years

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Well, that’s one more anime ticked off my 2019 watch list. I still have...I don’t know how many I have left ^^; Maybe I’ll finish those spring leftovers first haha, then maybe I’ll finally watch the part 2 of Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 (for which I would need to rewatch part 1) and Vinland Saga. Well, anyway, let’s get into it.

Hoshiai no Sora - Thoughts and Musings

This anime was...one hell of a ride. Okay, maybe not as much as Beastars was (though, Beastars wasn’t really emotional per se, but rather an anime that tackles really heavy topics), but the emotional roller coaster throughout its 12 episodes was really something to reckon with. Honestly, I wish this was a two-cour anime instead of a one-cour, because the 12-episode run doesn’t give it enough time to really flesh out all their characters and give everyone a satisfying ending.

I mean

As long as he’s alive, we will never be free. I’m ending this.

What kind of ending is that??? *flips table* (beware of spoilers)

In its heart, this is a story about trying to find your place in a world that is trying to box you in. It’s not just your average sports anime about a weak sports club trying to gain its reputation back. It’s more than that. We have this cast of seemingly stereotypical characters, but right from the very first episode, we’re immediately given a tease of a dysfunctional family in our two main leads: Maki with his single mother as a parent and his abusive father still terrorizing them from time to time for money, and Touma who doesn’t have a good relationship with his mother for unknown reasons. And it turns out, the rest of the team member has their own issues to deal with.

Rintaro, being a child born out of teen pregnancy and was then put up for adoption. Though he has loving parents, it still doesn’t erase the confusion and incompetence he had felt because of it. (I kind of have issues with how his parents told him he was adopted when he was still only 10? 11? I think that’s a bit too young for him to know he was adopted. I mean, an elementary school kid is suddenly being told that the parents he has always known has never been his real parents. It would get him thinking: why was he adopted? Why didn’t his mother take him? Was he unwanted? Was he a mistake? Huh, I guess that’s why I can’t do anything right. I’m a failure. I was a mistake. I shouldn’t have been born.)

Itsuki’s mother, in, probably, a bout of depression, poured hot water all over his body when he was only 1 year old.

Shingo, who doesn’t seem to have any problems, lives with a step-mother who is only protective over her daughter while dismissive over him. He doesn’t seem to be overly bothered by it. In fact, he adores his little sister. He’s probably learned to deal with his step-mother’s behavior.

Taiyo’s parents are quite overprotective and overbearing, but at least I don’t think they’re doing any real, permanent damage to him.

Tsubasa, though has wonderful relationship with his brothers, has a father with high expectations and will not settle for less, who won’t try to understand why he dropped soccer and took up soft tennis. Who won’t get off his case, saying that it’s stupid, that it doesn’t do him any good, that you’re better off studying instead of joining such a stupid club. And he actually slaps him, right across the face, causing Tsubasa to fall off the stairs and break his wrist, one month before his big game. And yes he looked shocked at what he had done, but he didn’t do anything; he just stood there, he didn’t even chase after him, as if he was justifying his actions to himself. Like, dammit! Don’t you know what you’re doing to your kid? You’re already hurting him emotionally and you slapped him?! I will say that Tsubasa’s story hurts me the most, because this kid, this happy-go-lucky kid who always smiles and laughs when he’s with his friends, cries as he runs out of the house. And can I just say that Toshii’s voice acting was just...spot on? To the point that I think I cried harder because of Toshii’s voice breaking when Shingo found him outside the house, when the doctor at the hospital asked him if he wasn’t pushed off the stairs, when they were talking in that park and Tsubasa hates how his father kept bragging about his time with his soccer team and never listens to a word he says, never sees him for who he is, because he’s not his brothers and he wanted so badly to play in their game.

But then we have Nao, with that kind of negative overprotective, overbearing, emotionally abusive mother and an indifferent father. It hurts. Hearing his mother talk hurts. Imagining myself in Nao’s shoes hurts. There are the kinds like Maki’s father, who knows they’re a jerk by abusing their own kid. Then there are the kinds like Nao’s mother, who, as Maki said, doesn’t even realize they’re abusing their children, justifying their actions by saying it’s for their kids. She’s blind to Nao’s feelings. All she cares about is what she wants. It doesn’t matter what Nao wants, because I’m her mother and I know what’s best for my son. What she doesn’t know, however, is the permanent damage it’s doing to Nao. Sure at the “conclusion” to Nao’s arc, Nao seems to have find the strength and will in him to shut out his mother’s words, but we also see something different. Nao’s mother is only going to let him off the hook this time. Which means she will probably be worse than she had ever been once Nao comes home from the match.

And finally, one of the most important of all: Yuuta’s arc, where he questions about himself, his gender, the role that is expected of him, and how he feels as if he doesn’t quite fit in with the boxes already laid down by the world. Also his desire to find an answer but also the fear of coming to terms with it, not wanting to disappoint his parents but all the while wanting to find a place he feels like he belongs in. Very realistic. Very relatable. I’m not entirely sure how it is seen in Japan, but in my country, due to strong religious beliefs and traditional values, people with “questionable” gender identities are seen as a sin, a violation, improper behavior - some might even call them a shame to the family. So, I really appreciate the director and his team writing quite a realistic portrayal of the lgbt+. I don’t hold anything against his mother, however, as I understand her feelings exactly, even as I would like Yuuta to have the freedom to learn and discover who he is and what he wants to be.

Even Mitsue, whose family wasn’t shown much, says that her parents don’t approve of her drawing. But that’s what she wants to do. That’s what she wants to be good at. She’s not good at studying. She doesn’t have passion for it. She likes to draw, but even people on the internet says her drawing isn’t good (when in fact it’s quite good). She’s not good with people and her classmates make fun of her. She’s haunted by an inferiority complex, social anxiety, frustration that she doesn’t fit in this world.

This entire show is like a How Not To Be A Parent 101. I do think some are stretching it a bit too far, but I understand what the director’s trying to say. A parental figure is important in a child’s life. Even if you have a crappy life, even if you’re bent on pushing your dreams and expectations to your children, even if your spouse doesn’t appreciate you any longer, that’s no reason or justification to “push the blame on your child”, to abuse them, both emotionally and/or physically.

When you don’t have a good parental figure, a good family environment, it will scar your children for life, and these children will start looking for a place they can belong to outside of their families. Whereas Nao’s mother said that the soft tennis club is a bad influence for Nao, I’d say it’s a good thing Nao found his place inside it. With a mother like that, and a father who doesn’t care much about what happens to him, Nao could have done a lot worse. And yet there’s this sports club made up of misfit children, who are hiding all their pain behind their smile and laughter, because this club is the only place where they can be themselves. Where they don’t have to worry about overbearing/indifferent/abusive parents. In this club of misfits, everyone has everyone else’s backs. When one’s down on the low, someone else will try to lift them up.

This club is their refuge, but in a way, I also think this is their sort of escapism. Because once they’re back in their homes, their lives return to being pressured and trapped under the expectations of their parents. Why I think it is an escape is because, neither of them really grow from it, aside from, I guess, Shingo, Rintaro, Itsuki, and Taiyo. They have either learned to live with their families or showed positive development. Nao’s mother is still a problem, Yuuta’s journey of self-discovery is still long and winding, while Tsubasa still has yet to make amends with his father. Not to mention we have Touma, whose mother just basically told him over the phone that she despises him and is getting a divorce, and Maki, who’s bent on killing his father.

This is not a story of self-healing. This is a slice-of-life story that is trying to tell how bad parenting affects children, especially children in those early adolescence years, when they’re just beginning to learn who they are and what they want to be. It’s not a story of how these children can overcome it. The club acts as their refuge, but not a place of healing. And if their psychosocial development took on a negative turn (see Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development), especially like Maki’s case, well you can imagine what will happen next if he’s not given the proper treatment.

As a final note, I would like to say the sports aspect is a bit weak. The soft tennis matches were too easy, too straightforward, as if the staff didn’t really care what happened in the matches. Well, the main story isn’t in the matches, so there’s that. Also, I would like to say that how they dealt with Maki’s father in episode 5 was also weak. I mean, what’s with Touma yelling at him? To me, it was a bit out of character for Maki to let Touma meet his father (I’d thought he was the type to say, no, that’s all right, I’ll deal with him myself, though I think Touma would have forced himself inside Maki’s house nonetheless). And that spontaneous outbursts about killing him? It was very cringe-worthy when I saw it, but now that I think about it, though it was probably Toma’s heat-of-the-moment outburst then, Maki certainly took it seriously with how he was holding that knife in the end.

#hoshiai no sora #stars align #anime #musings #anime musings #hoshiai no sora musings

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appalachiananarchist · 5 years

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Hi Kaitlyn! Your post on matching popped up on my dash, congrats! I was poking around your blog, and I realized I'm not super educated on anarchy. Would you be willing to sum up the aim and the vision, in your point of view? I know you're probably busy getting ready for your move, so I understand if you can't! I've just been feeling ultra frustrated with some of the "realities" of medicine in America lately, so I'm intrigued!

I am going to begin with a Lucy Parsons quote that I love: “The philosophy of anarchism is included in the word “Liberty”; yet it is comprehensive enough to include all things else that are conducive to progress. No barriers whatever to human progression, to thought, or investigation are placed by anarchism; nothing is considered so true or so certain, that future discoveries may not prove it false; therefore, it has but one infallible, unchangeable motto, “Freedom.” Freedom to discover any truth, freedom to develop, to live naturally and fully.”

In a literal sense, anarchism means a system with “no rulers.” It places at its core respect for the absolute autonomy of all people—that is, the ability to live as you please without domination by another. It fights against rulers, authorities, bosses, and any others who restrict the autonomy or will of another person by forcing, coercing, dominating, or hurting them. Not only do anarchists oppose power/authority/rulers based on our ideals, but we oppose them practically: we have seen, as evidenced by history, that power is inevitably and always abused to cause more harm than good, no matter how “good” the initial intentions were. In summary, anarchists oppose all manifestations of power in society for both practical and ideological reasons, the two most well-known manifestations of this being the state and capitalism.

We oppose capitalism and the state because the offending parties dominate, or control and inhibit the full autonomy of others, within a territory they claim to own. Some will excuse their domination by saying that if they have a rightful ownership claim to the land, they have the right to control what happens on it, who enters is, and how the people inside it may conduct themselves. Anarchists do not agree that they have any sort of rightful ownership over these properties, so say their (often violent and brutal) control is in direct opposition to freedom. Even the most lenient anarchists, such as myself, stick with a strict occupancy-and-use vision of ownership, which would still disqualify the claims of capitalists and states as legitimate (if you dig deeper into what that idea means, which is outside the scope of your question). Some anarchists deny land ownership entirely. There are lots of flavors of us, but all of us agree that both the state and capitalists have no exclusive right to what they claim, so should not have exclusive control over it or the other people interacting with it.

It is also worth noting that anarchists are aware and consider the ways in which states and capitalists obtained and maintain their power over these properties, and how they are also in opposition to freedom. For example, capitalists and the state are infamous for taking over land and resources from populations that were already using it using state military/police powers and then selling its use back to the original inhabitants in the form of rented properties or wage labor. Capitalists will employ state police and military power to harm workers who attempt to unionize or strike or gain better conditions. For example, during the coal wars in central Appalachia where I’m from, the US government got involved and even dropped a bomb on strikers. Capitalists also use their wealth to influence the state, which enabled them to more easily abuse workers and damage the environment. To quote Parsons yet again, “Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth.” States start wars in the name of resources and power, killing innocents globally. These are just a very, very few examples of the sort of nonsense state and capitalist agents get away with—all of it in opposition to freedom.

So that’s what we fight AGAINST—now I’ll talk about what we fight FOR. Let me start by saying not one of us believes in utopia. We recognize our ideal world will still be imperfect, as all visions will be—attempting to legislate away those imperfections will always fail and replace old problems with new ones. Anarchism is a set of guiding principles, a process more than a result: the process of always striving for liberation. There is no set, perfect anarchist society we all envision in unison. Communities could take many unique forms and still be anarchist.

I have explained that we oppose domination of one person over another—what we promote is cooperation and free association. Anarchists promote replacing hierarchical structures in society (governments and businesses) with horizontal ones; ones where people are meeting the needs of their community by cooperating and working together freely as equals, not as boss-bossed, ruler-ruled, or owner-owned. And there’s always the option to go live on your own somewhere, but humans are social and most would not choose that. Without a state, you are likely looking at smaller communities of people self-governing, utilizing democratic decision-making among all in the community who wished to be involved in any large-scale decision that affects multiple people. Decisions or projects that affected only you would be made entirely by you, or done entirely by you.

One thing some anarchists have often proposed is a committee system, which is comprised of all who wish to be involved in a community-wide decision, with democratically elected delegated to perform certain tasks. Delegates are instantly abolished if they act beyond what their initial task was. If communities are associating with each other, they too would need to operate democratically using a similar system on a larger scale. If you want a more specific idea of what something like this could potentially look like, you can read here. I’ll quote something from that source:

“The key difference between a statist or hierarchical system and an anarchist community is who wields power. In a parliamentary system, for example, people give power to a group of representatives to make decisions for them for a fixed period of time. Whether they carry out their promises is irrelevant as people cannot recall them till the next election. Power lies at the top and those at the base are expected to obey. Similarly, in the capitalist workplace, power is held by an unelected minority of bosses and managers at the top and the workers are expected to obey.”

Just know that this is ONE vision of how anarchism would work, and likely not all communities would operate this way. Many anarchists aren’t too fond of this system—and that’s expected. We are not looking for a single top-down approach, and there are actually multiple different flavors of anarchism that approach these things a little differently. But we are all unified in a desire for freedom, and opposition to domination.

Anyway, I am trying to give the sparknotes on an ideology with a massive and rich history, described and even practiced in depth by people much smarter than me. For that reason, I am going to leave some links for reading that might flesh out some of what I’ve said, and if there are specific questions, please feel free to ask them. And my other anarchist followers, please clarify any unclear things I said, add your input, or give recommendations for reading! It benefits us all.

This page is nice because its lists LOTS of anarchist texts sorted by author

An Anarchist FAQ - MUCH more detailed than anything I could write

A Lifelong Anarchist by Lucy Parsons, since I quoted it

Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman, because I like her stuff

#i think i just rambled for two pages #thanks benadryl #anarchism #anarchy #my ramblings

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alarriefantasy · 7 years

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Ok, so there was this one Larry fic that I can't remember much about. Just that it was an au and Louis was in an abusive relationship and Harry tried to get him out. Do you know any similar fics?

Yes!!! I hope the one you’re looking for is on my list, and if not, then I hope you like the ones I have down! Also, sorry this is relatively short! If you’re looking for more let me, I can look further for you! 😊😊

Louis’ in a Bad Relationship

Catnap by Raven100104

Words: 4k

A soft-hearted Harry finds a Cat Hybrid named Louis when he first moved to London. Upon the discovery of Louis’ gross mistreatment under the hands of his owner, Harry catnaps him.

Black and Blue by alison

Words:19k

Louis is a barista who is a bit damaged from a previous relationship. Harry is a musician who is all warmth and light. Rebuilding a life takes time.

And My Heart Is A Hollow Plain by NiamJenn1994

Words: 58k

Its the 1600s and all Louis wants is the freedom he knows he will never taste again.

He knew happiness, knew a good life and love. Had dreams and reasons to see the good in people, to expect good things from life.

Forced into a marriage he will never get out of, all he’s looking for is a breath of life. Maybe something or someone to come save him from the hell he knows.

What Are You Running From? by polasteroids

Words: 60k/WIP

Louis is a smart, self-sufficient omega that’s quick on his feet and running from his past. When a new alpha finds his way into his life, he is unsure if he can trust him or if trusting him would be a horrible mistake. One thing he does know though, is that as secrets, lies and people of the past work their way into the complicated intertwining of Louis and Harry, it is up to them to either face their fates heads held high or crumble beneath them.

Every Story Has Its Scars, Ours Is a Brand New Start by Rearviewdreamer

Words: 62k

Life as a devoted husband and an amazing father turned out to be a little different than Louis had expected. Everyone tells him it doesn’t have to be that way; that he’s worth more and that he’s so much stronger than any one person trying to keep him down. It’s all just words though until he meets the one person who makes him truly believe it.

He kissed my lips, I taste your mouth by MrsStylinson

Words: 290k

When Louis moves into the flat next to Harry’s, neither of them thinks it will change their lives. Louis is stuck in a relationship with his controlling and overly possessive boyfriend who he loves too much to break up with. Harry is content, seeking refuge from the snobby world he grew up in and forging a new path for himself. He does happen to have a habit of wanting to fix people though and when he meets Louis, the gorgeous man with a prat of a boyfriend, he finds himself trying to do just that. While Harry tries to avoid getting tangled in a messy situation, Louis tries to deny that there’s a niggling voice in the back of his head that prefers Harry to his own boyfriend. While both determinedly refuse to let change come, they fail to notice that exact force wrapping around them and pulling them tighter together until there just might be no escape from the feelings brewing within.

Time Bomb by ThisSentimentalHeart

Words: 291k

“Why exactly are you here?” Louis asked, feigning annoyance and failing pathetically at it.“My publicist told me I can’t go anywhere near you.” Harry said, eyes still smudged with last night’s eye liner. “That makes you my favorite person in the world.”

Or the one where Louis has everything: a lead role in a giant Hollywood franchise, a glittering new house with an entertaining Irish neighbor, and a steady, normal boyfriend who he probably loves. Louis never expected to become a household name among young Hollywood overnight. He also never expected to find something endearing about the enigmatic rockstar who keeps showing up on his back porch.

♡ credit to the owner of the manip

♡ past themed recs here

♡ updated 3.17.20

#ask

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vileart · 7 years

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Fragile Dramaturgy: David Martin @ Edfringe 2017

New playwright tackles the fragility of being human at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Softsod Productions presents…

Fragile Man

It’s not an event, it’s a process.

The Space on the Mile (Venue 39); 10th-26th August; 11.50am (50 mins).

Playwright David Martin is making his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut with a newly written two-hander dealing with the fragility of being human in the modern world.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The play’s topical inspiration was initially drawn from the dramatic and shocking rise in Western male suicide rates, highlighting the stress and isolation of 21st century living. There are still strong elements of this inspiration in the play but we undertook a series of improvised workshops and the play is now focused more broadly, on the difficulties we face in 'becoming ourselves’ and the mental and emotional struggle we face to know who we truly are, both men and women.

The play's themes delve deeply into our shared experience of being human and take a new perspective on our freedom to choose, faith, guilt, self-preservation and the dawning reality of our own fragile existence. So what started as an exploration of the hidden depths of male identity has become a darkly mysterious, sometimes comedic and often moving journey of human self-discovery.

It’s a play with strong overtones of what it is to suffer poor mental health, and how our own defence mechanisms, particularly repression, can often be as damaging as they are protective.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

It’s the perfect way to raise awareness of topical issues, to spark debate and to present and challenge ideas, beliefs, norms, expectations and behaviours held firmly by society.

Fragile Man for example pushes boundaries on what it is to suffer mental health problems in silence and to ask the questions “what would we do in this situation?” “how am I different in reality to people who suffer self-doubt, anxiety and repression which lead to ‘mental health’ issues?’ “is mental health something that is ‘out there’ (not my problem), or ‘in here’ - a key part of all of us” and finally “if I suffered uncontrollable loss, abuse, anxiety or internal conflict, how would this affect me and those around me?”

We believe that Fragile Man is an expose of what it is to be human and how we are all affected by stress and demands and usually by loss. If this is the case, surely we all suffer ‘poor mental health’ from time to time and can admit it? So why do we medicalise, patronise and exile those who suffer mental poor health?”.

Presenting these themes through the ‘acceptable’ medium of performance brings topics otherwise pushed to our outer-consciousness into the realms of our own reality. We simply can not ignore the messages.

I have written Fragile Man from first hand experience, having suffered poor mental health myself and having worked for many years in mental health services. I have seen the devastating affects of poor mental health on people’s lives and know the importance of raising its profile.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I was so inspired by visits to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015 and 2016, that I formed Softsod Productions specifically to create a drama for the Fringe that would stand out from the crowd. So in writing the play I have always been focused on creating 50 minutes of dynamic ‘Fringe’ drama.

And we truly believe in Fragile Man we’ve been able to achieve that in the writing, directing, production and performance. It even has its own originally scripted musical score to add to its unique and edgy feel.

The play opens on an isolated hilltop with high drama that is both uncomfortable and riveting as we witness a chance encounter between two men which is destined to change their lives forever.

Having watched it, people have described it as an unsettling and insightful drama exposing two men's fight for truth, justice and survival, as well as a unique, well-crafted, edgy and evocative. Audiences can expect themes of mental health, psychological disturbance, guilt, abandonment and projection.

Less noted, but just as present throughout the play is the importance of your name and of belonging, the evanescence of love and the conflict of the very human need for both presence and isolation. The hilltop setting for Fragile Man is perfect for the dramatic opening and has allowed us to introduce plenty of metaphorical references; such as being on the edge, staring into the abyss, the fading of the light and the setting of the sun.

However, the ‘real’ story is told through a series of flashbacks which take the men (and the many characters they portray) off the hillside and into a number of other locations in time and place. This shifting between the flashbacks and the hillside creates a real dynamic, with an accompanying, original soundscape, which helps transport the audience and projects the story forward with great pace and poignancy.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Having been inspired by how many men are turning to suicide to resolve deep emotional issues we took the play on its own journey through improved workshops. We wanted the play to be direct yet mysterious, revealing and yet shadowy and inspiring and yet confrontational.

Now it’s written, rehearsed and ready to go, we’re really proud to announce that our show is entered for the Fringe First Award and eligible for the new Mental Health Fringe Award. given the themes in Fragile Man are centred around suicide, self harm and repression - aiming to help raise mental health awareness.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

The is our first Softsod Production, but yes, its focus will continue to be on ‘the human condition’ making plays that are edgy, challenging and always resonating with the deep psychology and complexity of our inner world. I have a degree in Psychology, practised as a Social Worker for many years and went on to be a counselling and psychotherapy practitioner, As a result I am fascinated at how the unconscious, upbringing and socialisation affect us in ways that are often barely perceptible.

I am keen to use our writing and performance to focus on this ‘hidden vulnerability’ within all of us whilst also ensuring the drama is also always entertaining, humorous but challenging.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

After performing Fragile Man for the first time to a live, paying audience (our Preview Performance) at the Bath Fringe Festival at a marvellous Fringe-friendly theatre the Rondo Theatre, we are fairly certain now what the audience will experience and take away.

We gave the Bath Fringe audience members feedback forms to fill in which asked some very pointed questions aimed at generating constructive criticism to help us shape any parts of the show that people felt it needed.

So when we received comment after comment about how much they had enjoyed the show, ‘got’ the show, felt it was real, moving, inspiring and relevant, Jacqs (the Director), Richard (my fellow ‘creative’ and actor) and I were taken off guard somewhat. I’m going to admit that I welled up at one stage where an audience member I didn’t know spoke in such glowing terms I didn’t know where to look or what to say to her.

So it’s given us a renewed confidence that the play is Fringe-ready and destined to generate a fabulous response in Edinburgh. Fragile Man is designed to take people on a very personal emotional journey and we’re confident people are going to experience it as much as watch it. From the feedback, my favourite comment was “deep issues, beautifully communicated”. We all came out of the evening glowing.

After watching Fragile Man we anticipate many entertaining evenings sat with friends, a glass of wine and some bar snacks, whilst trying to unpack the hidden depths of the play and piece together all of its messages, some clear, some barely-visible, some light, some refreshing and some deeply disturbing.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

The key strategy was to write a play that had strength and depth in its writing and in getting the audience to go on the Fragile Man (person) experience with us.

The play was developed and refined through Workshops and in live rehearsals. Undoubtedly the greatest challenge has been in getting the scripting of the play to the quality we wanted in the timescales we’ve had.

Deciding to do a Preview at Bath Fringe at the end of May was both the best and worst decision. It put us all under enormous pressure to get the production ready for such an early date and we often doubted we would be ready. But it also gave us a target to aim for and in achieving it, this has taken a lot of pressure off us when bringing the production to Edinburgh.

During the early days the workshops had generated a huge amount of material and deciding what to leave out was a real test. For example, the play has had 4 different endings since January, each with a lot of merit, so again it was hard to let the early ones go in search of the one with just the right impact and ability to both surprise and delight.

I think a lot of writers struggle with this aspect - in getting attached to a particular plot line which is good, but not good enough and struggling to let it go in search of 'the one'. But I was encouraged by writer friends and family to be brave and to trust my instincts. And in doing so we’ve got a story and an ending that we're extremely happy with and is hopefully anything other than what the audience will be expecting.

Their experience will be, we believe, one of a lasting impact of Fragile Man, one to ‘keep’ from their Edinburgh experience.

Fragile Man is an unsettling and insightful debut drama exposing two men's mental and emotional struggle to know their true selves. On an isolated hilltop they must face their darkest secrets and deepest fears in a chance encounter destined to change their lives forever.

A battle for truth, justice and ultimately their own survival.

The play’s topical inspiration was initially drawn from the dramatic and shocking rise in Western male suicide rates, highlighting the stress and isolation of 21st century living.

Further developed through improvised workshops, Fragile Man has grown into an originally scripted drama which delves deeply into our shared experience of being human and takes a new perspective on our freedom to choose, faith, guilt, self-preservation and the dawning reality of our own fragile existence.

On making its Fringe debut, Fragile Man’s writer, David Martin says…

”what started as an exploration of the hidden depths of male identity has become a darkly mysterious, sometimes comedic and often moving journey of self-discovery, which is relevant, thought-provoking and designed to resonate loudly with its audience.”

Inspired by visits to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015 and 2016, David formed Softsod Productions specifically to create a drama for the Fringe that would stand out from the crowd.

He continues … “in the hands of our outstanding Director Jacqs Graham and alongside fellow creative and actor Richard Miltiadis, we truly believe Fragile Man captures the very essence of the Fringe, in this unique, well-crafted, edgy and evocative piece of theatre.”

Genre: New Writing; Drama

Original script and original musical score: David Martin

Cast & Crew

Director: Jacqs Graham

Producer: David Martin

Cast: David Martin and Richard Miltiadis

Sound and Lighting: Neil Bonnett

Photography and Arts: Sammy Pea

Basic Listing Information

Company: Softsod Productions

Show: FRAGILE MAN

Venue: The Space on the Mile (39), Theatre 2, Radisson Hotel, Royal Mile, EH1 1TH

Dates: 10th - 26th August (11.50am - 12.40pm)

Tickets: [email protected], Tel: 01315102382 or www.edfringe.com Tel: 01312260000 - £10 (£8 concessions)

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2uNgrY0

#Theatre #Blogger #visual art #Edinburgh Fringe #Experimental Critique

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confrontingbabble-on · 8 years

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“This post, instead of arguing against the existence of god, will focus on why a belief in god is scientifically but most importantly morally unsound...

Our mind, body and psychology is fine tuned to deal with tragedies like individual deaths from predators or illness, but events like volcanoes, hurricanes or tornadoes could end tribal societies in minutes: how does one comprehend that without the aid of science and study?

We as thinking and analytical creatures yearn so much for explanation that we prefer an utterly baseless, contrived theory over no theory at all. Disasters that in reality pay no attention to our trifles then must be a product of something, anything at all. Believing one to be punished due to sin is more comforting than the realization nature gives no heed to our lives, let alone deaths. The personification of Earth and the Universe serves to give meaning to this tragedy, portraying it as a purposeful punishment of a spiritual parent rather than the blind trashings of chaos. The concept of God is this very personification – a denial of a disinterested universe, a yearning for meaning, and a cry out against the apathetic crises we so often endure. Karl Marx is often quoted as saying religion is an opiate, but this portrayal is a betrayal of the true, unabridged statement:

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.” – Karl Marx, Deutsch Französische Jahrbücher

Evolution forced our species to be paranoid, fearful, and leader oriented, but also to incessantly search for meaning. Religion was our first attempt at philosophy, morality, astrology, biology and meteorology. Its privilege is that it came before any other existential framework, and thus retains an exceedingly personal and comfortable position in our society – old habits die hard.

Faith is a habit brought upon by necessity, but not truth. Man created god, and while the concept of deities ever binds and tears our world in a very tangible sense, no supernatural being, certainly not a personal one, created the universe, Earth, man or nature. As our species grows from its infancy, old crutches including religion may be thrown out, to secure both solidarity and foster progress in a new age where we strive to ascend beyond basic, Darwinian fears and come to find we don’t need the coping mechanism of myth after all.

If you are reading this, you are an atheist. No this isn’t hyperbole – you are an atheist, everyone is. You don’t believe in Thor, Gaia, Brahma, Jupiter or the thousands of deities worshiped by the estimated 4,200 religions that have existed – so called “atheists” today just go one god further and dispel the myth of Yahweh and the holy spirit along with the countless, yet equally probable others.

I bring this up to show how simple and intuitive a non-belief in god is; so simple that any Christian would discount the existence of Poseidon in a heartbeat, and so intuitive that discounting these entities follows with literally no logical persuasion: a Christian, Muslim or Jew never placed the burden upon themselves to disprove the sun god Ra, nor should have they, instead the logic was as trivial as “I see no reason to believe in Ra”.

The hypocrisy, with a nagging implication of ethnocentrism, is to apply this self-evident truth to only gods one was not grown up believing in, and to assume a priori that this same logic does not apply to the gods of one own’s culture. Indeed, to the religious, every god is the one-true-god. If one wishes to believe in a god while being logically consistent, they must concede belief in any one specific god is assuming this myth, by its very virtue is more true than any of the thousand identical myths with equally compelling evidence.

My argument begins with a rebuttal of these personal, named gods. Those who are deists – believers in some transcendent, higher form that influences the universe – manage to avoid the problem of identifying their heavenly idol of choice by abstracting their belief to the point of near irrelevance. Theists however cannot make such an evasion – they claim to know not just the name, gender, and appearance of the entity that birthed the universe, but also its (usually his) opinion on what you should eat, when and in which direction you should pray, who should be burned at the stake, who should be grovelled to, and who you should sleep with and how.

Those who so humbly claim to know the mind of god justify laws, social expectations, wars and executions on this very clairvoyance.

Throughout the past and today, organized religion has stood in ferocious defiance of science and social progress at every turn, from evolution to stem cell research to woman and gay rights. An incredible certainty is imparted through religion, unlike any other moral system the religious are so intensely sure in beliefs that revel in their own lack of evidence.

Simply defining what faith is undermines any notion of consistency under theism: faith is belief without proof, valuing mysticism and tradition over skepticism or debate, and a willingness to trust thousand year old texts over scientific rigor and basic intuition. Faith is not a virtue, and often those who are most flawed in their ways have the most faith in themselves. Why is it religion has a monopoly on suicide bombers, genital mutilators and plane-hijackers? Because religion forces one to trust their priests over politics, social laws, and basic human dignity. One cannot, for example, be both patriotic and religious – god must come before all else, including one’s nation, one’s decency, and especially one’s family – as taught by the Christian depictions of Abraham and Lot, who are permitted by divine authority to kill their son and allow their daughters to be raped.

It has been said in a morally normal world, the good do good and the evil do evil, but only religion is capable of coercing the good to do evil. This may seem broad, but consider: there is no good act a nonbeliever is incapable of doing, but the list of evil acts only a believer could commit are endless. It would seem therefore, no moral teaching or insight is unique to religion, while it offers much in the negation of morality. The idea that without god, anything is permissible, first conceptualized by Fyodor Dostoyevsky underestimates both human morality and religious fundamentalism. In fact precisely the opposite is the case – only with God on your side is one capable of acting independent of the usual social expectations that keep us from murdering, torture or otherwise. Afterall, how could such menial, materialist, human trifles stand in the way God’s will, carried out by his divine instruments? Religion, unlike any other modern philosophy, permits its believers to supersede ethics and veto common sense, with the confidence and conceit only the faithful are capable of mustering.

Simple study of religious texts makes this obvious – one must actively self-deceive at worst and thoroughly self-edit the texts at the best in order to believe the either of the Testaments, Qur’an or Torah are moral. The God of the old testament revels in genocide and ethnic cleansing, contrasted by the ever praised enlightening god of the new testament, a book which unlike its more direct counterpart mandates the existence of hell – an idea whose nefariousness is only tempered by habituation. The new testament describes to us a universe where not only is your every action, word and thought judged by a supreme, supernatural dictator, but this authoritarian existence can never be escaped, even through death.

The myth of morality found within the new testament is often perpetuated by the belief that the ten commandments serve as some moral guidance for modern, western society: in fact only the opposite is true, let us consider each.

You shall have no other gods before me. A petty attempt to limit the mind and intellectual exploration of man. This is not morality, this is establishing religious hegemony and intolerance.

You shall not make idols. Further insistence Christianity has a monopoly on the divine. If seen as a barring of depictions of God, every mosaic or church painting of Jesus or holy scenes violates this.

You shall not take the name of the lord your god in vain. Stating Jesus Christ of Nazareth is so inhumanly hallowed as to ban the very uttering of his name without purpose.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Establishing a holy holiday.

Honor your father and your mother. Of the first five, this is the first commandment that has any relevance in the modern, morally advanced world. Regardless, familial kinship is a virtue valued unanimously throughout every culture since even before Christ – the bible neither invented this unstated axiom nor does it exude any notable or consistent respect for family values anyways.

You shall not murder. Another unstated moral assumption, no individual, culture or society ever believed unjust murder was acceptable – we simply wouldn’t have gotten this far if we hadn’t.

You shall not commit adultery. A condemnation of the unfaithful to eternal damnation. Cheating on one’s spouse should not be encouraged, but should it be equated to murder or held as holy instruction? Should an abused wife who sought freedom from a hostile relationship via extramarital relations be condemned to hell?

You shall not steal. The advantage of modern legal systems is their flexibility and proportionality on legality – theft is not deemed an evil equal to murder, nor are misdemeanors seen as inherent evils, but instead a lesser of two evils or an unsavory outcome of unavoidable social situations. Divine instruction lends no room for interpretation or context that is essential in any advanced society.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. While often misinterpreted as an imperative against lying, “bearing false witness” was intended to prevent witnesses in religious courts from lying under oath – a condition which presupposes capital justice, and capital punishment, be served under the guidance of the Church.

You shall not covet. I, and presumably God, saved the best for last. You shall not covet: an impossible request met with the ultimate punishment. Jealousy is a fundamental part of the human psyche, and if capitalists are to be believed it drives our very economic systems. Christianity defines us as imperfect and demands us to be flawless. These rules are not higher moral guidelines that serve as a Platonist ideal – they are dogmatic, sadomasochistic and ignorant of the complex human condition.

One is expected to believe this collection of commands was written by the very hand of god in order to help us achieve divine approval and moral enlightenment. Compared to other charters on ethics such as the US Constitution or even the Geneva convention codes, these commandments pale in comparison – they are utterly incapable of addressing complex moral and societal issues like totalitarianism or discrimination, nor offer any weighing mechanism in order to balance varied crimes. Should both murder and theft be met with the ultimate punishment of eternal damnation?

In today’s pluralist society the irrelevance of the commandments and general ethics of the bible have become increasingly apparent – today we simply do not need moral absolutes dictating strict sexual relations or religious belief. Today we have the insight of philosophers, legal study and the hindsight of thousands of years of attempts, failures and successes in government and structured, enforced morality. The bible and its ethics may have at some point kept a murderer from killing or a thief from stealing, but today they only serve as an ancient relic of times where slavery, discrimination, genocide and incest were the norm. If not fully misleading and only imperfect, one should question the divinity of these mandates. The commandments, at best, were a first stepping stone towards today’s moral guidelines written for humans, by humans, which guide without pretending to have or demanding divine authority. There are no appeals with religious judgement.

The reason it is so vital to highlight the inconsistencies and irrelevance of the bible’s ethics is because one of the most widespread arguments for religion is that it offers us a basis of morality. So I hope it is clear: the bible is not ethical, nor should we expect a holy text written by first century scholars in bronze age Palestine to be particularly enlightening. I do not wish to discredit the insight of ancient thinkers however, it goes without saying philosophers, writers and mathematicians of ancient times often built the foundations of our modern world, but in some respect they mustn’t meet the same standard as set by those who claim to be the followers and instrument of God’s will. Furthermore every imperfection is magnified when millions have died in crusades, witch hunts and holy wars fueled by these very texts. The bible should not and cannot serve as a foundation of morality, and we do not need it to.

I may seem to have a vendetta against Judeo-Christian creation myths, but I only focus on them due to their prevalence and impact on my own life and society in America. Perhaps surprisingly to many conservatives today, I do not find Islam to be particularly threatening to America’s core values – I do however find the core texts and beliefs of Islam to be fundamentally offensive and counter to basic human rights. More accurately, I might claim to believe Islam is primarily a threat to Muslims – a diverse group of worshipers who are not bound to nor even necessarily promote the humanitarian disaster that is Islam and the theocracies based on its teachings. Islam’s problems begin right from the get go – Islam claims to be the last and final religion: a moral, legal, existential framework that demands influence in every aspect of a human’s life from clothing to food to sex.

Of course some areas of the religion are admirable – halal, while being any activity that is considered “allowed” under Islamic doctrine (in contrast to the other four Ahkam—fard (compulsory), mustahabb (recommended), makruh (disliked), and haram (forbidden)), offers many advantages in food preparation and animal treatment. Unfortunately the rich history and historical value of Islamic study is often overshadowed by the truly grotesque elephant in the room – Islam’s persistence to embrace the flaws of ancient religion and society. Take Sharia, the legal framework informing much Islamic tradition – under these laws, non-Muslims, women and minorities are all treated as lesser than Muslim males, and automatically suffer harsher punishment and longer sentencing. Furthermore Islamic majority theocracies are infamous for human rights abuses and a general lack of concern for female, let alone homosexual rights. The journal Free Inquiry 2009 succinctly encapsulates modern Islam’s moral shortcomings which include “legal inequality of women, the suppression of political dissent, the curtailment of free expression, [and] the persecution of ethnic minorities and religious dissenters”. In short, Islam stands in solidarity with its theological counterparts – a stance shrouded by a patina of charity and ideological consolation, but a stance that inherently opposes human decency and logic. Religion, it appears, is uniquely incapable of, on the macro level, standing as a pluralist, humanitarian moral framework.

Those sympathetic to the faithful or belonging to faith themselves may ask why, as they often do, religion must be held to the same rigorous standards of proof and testing that science is held to – why can’t religion just be a comforting white lie we tell our children and ourselves in face of the uncertainty of life and eternity of death? Religion, in this respect, does offer a legitimate place of comfort for many, and can satisfy the desire for community and neighborly company inherent to us all. Ask the devout – so many look to religion as a center for community gathering even before a place of worship.

Furthermore, in the case of Christianity especially, many religious people barely follow their own holy texts and see God as some ephemeral figure that is not bound by the bible or otherwise – instead he a loosely Freudian father figure that can manifest whatever the believer wishes him to. In a way, this vague, compromising faucet of religious belief is more desirable than the dogmatic, extremist approach: someone who only goes to church to appease their religious parents is preferable to someone who wants to blow up that church for their own god. For this reason I am not worried about the impending “invasion” of Muslim immigrants nor the forceful implementation of Sharia that conservatives and our newly-elected president fear – mainly because our secular constitution is built to prevent such a theocratic coup, but also because the massive majority of Muslims are kind enough to not follow their holy texts to the tee, and align themselves more with humanitarian notions before Islamic doctrine. My point here is that religion satisfies needs exterior to worship, and in a hypothetical, fully secular world many would fear what would come in the place of religion – what could satiate these needs without turning to dogmatism, divisiveness or fearful superstition in the way so many faiths have today?

My answer, and the answer of a majority of most atheists today, is that secular humanism is a prime candidate to come in religion’s wake. Yes – governments and legislation founded on Darwinian, strictly scientific moral outlooks have in the past lead to humanitarian disasters (Nazism, the French Revolution, aspects of Communism), but these crimes were never unique to nor followed causally from science. Science was improperly used, just as religion is, as an excuse to carry out racist intentions. What I can tell you is that no nation built on the secular morals of Locke, Robespierre, Jefferson or Einstein could ever commit crimes against humanity in equal or greater degree than is exuded by theocracies. Naturally, tragically, humans have a tendency to want to kill and subjugate each other, so even nations based on these ideals such as the United States have their own share of abuses – but this is even more justification for guiding principles that attempt to ascend petty division and prejudice – principles founded on secular ideals of humanism, diversity, just law and equality under state.

What I have found is that the nonreligious, in the face of the nihilist cliche, often come to appreciate human existence even more than those who claim it marches under divine guidance. The religious, after all, see humans as inherently flawed projections of a perfect deity, projections that eternally yearn for and perhaps follow divine instruction, but by their very nature are designed to be imperfect. The nonreligious, on the other hand, see humans as nothing more than moderately evolved apes, that through experience, hardship, failure and success have created via their own agency modern technology, morality and philosophy. Religion damns humans to heaven, the expectation ultimate perfection; reality damns us to be tragically flawed, while giving us the opportunity to ascend beyond the expectations of any holy book, god or religion.

“We were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted to battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.” – Robert Ardrey, African Genesis, 1961 –

Demanding the success of man was inscribed to history by a omnipotent being millennia ago, or misattributing the accomplishments of lifesaving doctors or world-changing engineers to God only diminishes the power of the individual and the majesty of human creation. God did not eradicate smallpox, the combined skill and determination of the medical community did; God did not send man to the moon, the work of a generation and the technical prowess of an entire nation did. Religion revels in the same ignorance the patients of Nepal’s “Miracle Eye Doctor” Dr. Sanduk Ruit in North Korea exuded upon finding they could see again after undergoing his treatment, who after seeing for the first time in years exalted their great leader, not the doctor standing before them.

It is a fundamental mischaracterization to conflate atheism with nihilism, cynicism or any attitude that surrenders spiritualism or notions of subjectivity. Reciprocally, religion does not hold a monopoly on beauty, nor does a scientific, rational attitude demand a submission of one’s humanity. The pop culture notion that science and math are these sterile, emotionally distant schemas which offer nothing in terms of inspiration ignore the inherent beauty of rational frameworks and their implications upon reality. Understanding the mechanisms and precedent conditions behind a night’s sky full of stars offers so much more beauty than believing a deity popped them into existence. And in terms of past works of art, as put by Richard Dawkins: we will never know what Michelangelo would have painted on the ceiling of the Natural History Museum of the Vatican. Artists, surprisingly, need a salary too, so they are drawn towards the people who have money – which consistently throughout time has been the church.

Point being, secular science and rational, atheistic philosophy possess a beauty unlike the superficial trappings of religion which appeal to our lesser attributes of tribalism – they offer a window to cosmological mechanisms and fundamental properties which truly ascend beyond the human realm in a way not unlike gods, but without the ignorance or human-centric narcissism. In this respect religion is somewhat the cop-out philosophy to the question of why anything matters, it demands the universe was made with us in mind and as the supreme end goal. Science, however, has realized we are not the pinnacle of creation; instead it showed us how little we are, how ignorant we have been and how far we have to go. Progress as a species as defined by religion is gifted by external means, while secularism defines it as the fruits of our internal, collective labor and sacrifice. Religion might be the comforting perspective, but when has wishful thinking ever been the intellectually respectable or morally appropriate route?

Do I think we will one day reach a point where religion is replaced with rationalism, art is inspired by evolution not creationism, and humans see ourselves as a organism millions of years in development and not children appointed by divine mandate? I’m not sure, but I do know in many countries, from Britain to Japan to Sweden, religion is at an all time low and only a small fraction of many populations consider faith as an important part of their lives. Note that secular morality does not force this change under the threat of execution, ghettoization or inquisition – in contrast to so many theistic social upheavals. Historically, aswell, we have seen a general, deliberate tempering of religious ferocity via secular law and a diffusion of social justice through time. The correlation between advancement of society and the gagging of theism is no accident – as society develops religion can no longer revel in crusades, witch hunts or lynchings – and so this trend approaches the situation where theism’s dogmatic virtues has been neutered to the point of elimination or at least societal irrelevance, so we hope.

The author James Branch Cabell once said optimists believe that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. But I hope our world, with all its flaws, will be remembered as simply a stage in human development, where the comforts of religion still shackled human agency and independence, but loosened these shackles were – by the same species that made them. Afterall, if god won’t save us, then we have nowhere to look but to each other.”

From...https://gamesortheory.com/2017/02/22/on-religion/

#atheist #agnostic #secular humanist #skeptic #Religion #Christianity #religious insanity

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 7 years

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11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies

Earlier this year, I added an LGBT column for the website to make the site more inclusive and talk about issues that affect some members of our community. We hear from LGBT voices about their experiences on the road, safety tips, events, and overall advice for other LGBT travelers! Returning this month is our column leader, Adam from Travels of Adam to share some of his favorite LGBT travel films!

Of the many things that motivate me to travel and explore the world, movies are definitely one of the strongest influences. Cinematography helps us experience different worlds, stories take us to new places.

And as the experience of coming out feels like a journey for so many LGBT people, it makes sense that there’d be many LGBT movies that cover the emotional journey of discovery alongside the physical adventure of travel.

From Oscar-winning classics like Brokeback Mountain to cult favorites like To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar to arthouse cinema by Almodóvar and John Waters, many films inspire us to travel.

This is my list of all-time favorite LGBT-themed movies that include traveling, and they come in all genres, from silly comedies to thoughtful dramas, from Hollywood masterpieces to indie productions.

Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain is (rightfully) at the top of any LGBT movie list. This 2005 movie tells the story of two cowboys and their annual trip from Wyoming to Texas. The beautiful scenery of the mountains and the men’s camping trip is the perfect background for this painful drama, which depicts how many gay relationships, however they’re defined, frequently start as friendship, but how there’s also often a struggle with society and one’s personal boundaries. Despite the tragic outcome, the story reminds us that love triumphs over hate — and over physical distance.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

From the mountains we travel to the desert. Two of my favorite movies are inspired by sand and hot winds. The first one is a classic and has become a gay cult movie. Set in Australia’s Simpson Desert, 1994’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is actually the name of a bus used by two drag queens and a trans woman to cross Australia on their way to a casino in Alice Springs. Along the journey, the characters interact with rural populations, aboriginal Australians, and homophobic gangs. A young Guy Pearce and award-winning costume design make the film especially memorable. The film’s combination of humor and drama is essential to any road trip movie, because traveling gives you exactly that: laughs and tears.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

The second desert movie on this list is a more recent (2005) Canadian production, and the desert depicted is that of the beautiful city of Essaouira, Morocco (though the setting of the movie is actually Jerusalem). C.R.A.Z.Y. is a story about acceptance and family life, but it includes an honest portrayal of traveling as a way of silencing the voices in our heads, only to return home completely empowered and strong. It follows Zac during his journey of coming out, which includes an escape to the Middle East before he reunites with his friends and family back home. Moreover, the soundtrack includes many iconic gay anthems, including Patsy Cline (“Crazy”), Giorgio Moroder (“Here to Eternity”), and David Bowie (“Space Oddity”).

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

This 1995 film seems to be inspired by Priscilla, but the producers insist that production started before the Australian film was released. To Wong Foo follows the lives of three New York drag queens (Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo) on a road trip from NYC to Los Angeles for a drag competition. Naturally, their car breaks down and they end up stranded in small-town America, where they have several comedic and dramatic encounters with the local police and other stereotypical Southern characters. The movie shows both the welcoming and homophobic attitudes of the American South, but for me, the best part is the combination of black, Latino and “white” narratives during the road trip. By overcoming stereotypes and hate — mostly depicted in the figure of a police officer — the drag queens change the lives of many people and rediscover the value of friendship.

Transamerica

Another great story, Transamerica features an outstanding performance by Felicity Huffman as a trans woman, Bree, on a road trip. Her therapist insists that she must make amends with her estranged son, who doesn’t know of her transition, before signing off on her final surgery. Bree drives her son from NYC to Los Angeles under the pretense of being a Christian missionary helping him out of jail and breaking his bad habits. As they travel together and learn about one another, the movie explores the meaning of words like “father” and “mother,” “boy” and “girl,” all the while revealing the characters’ complicated and emotional journey. It’s a story about family life, tolerance, and self-respect.

Weekend

This 2011 British drama was director Andrew Haigh’s breakout film (before he went on to direct Looking and 45 Years). Two men who meet in a gay club looking for a casual hookup before one of them is to move away. They have a passionate weekend together, sharing intimate details and experiences: their coming out, past relationships, and thoughts on sexuality. It’s the story of that emotional, in-between moment before leaving something behind and starting anew: passionate, intense, and fleeting but unforgettable.

Y Tu Mamá También

While some people are hesitant to consider it an LGBT movie, I believe Y Tu Mamá También is clearly about the stigma against bisexuality (or about the freedom to overcome any labels). While on a road trip around Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman head to the beach, only to discover the secrets of their own passions against the backdrop of Mexico’s political and social realities. The movie deftly combines comedy and drama, and it shows how traveling opens us up to new experiences by fighting societal and interal worries or doubts.

Seashore (Beira-Mar)

This lovely film from Brazil tells the story of two young men on a road trip trying to recover legal documents from relatives, with a detour to the beach. The journey gives them the opportunity to reconnect while solving their own internal struggles. One of the boys is gay, and the story follows his internal dilemma of sharing that fact with his friend. Part of the magic of this movie is that it’s a sweet and positive depiction of gay youth. The pain of coming out is mostly absent, and the whole experience is presented as natural and easy, with very little tension. There’s a sweetness to the story, a youthfulness—and, importantly, also a realness. Not everyone has a bad experience coming out. And those stories are just as worth sharing as the others.

Todo Sobre Mi Madre

It’s impossible to talk about LGBT movies and travel without making a reference to the work of Pedro Almodóvar. Many of his movies reflect gender, politics, and pain. Todo Sobre Mi Madre tells the story of a tragicomic drag queen and prostitute, Amparo, surrounded by a couple of lesbian theater actresses, a pregnant nun, and a mother (portrayed by Argentinian actress Cecilia Roth), all while searching for a trans woman who is the biological father of her son. The tragic story is set in two beautiful Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, and through the protagonist, we learn that every trip has a different meaning at different points in our lives.

Happy Together

As for Asian cinema, the must-see film is this 1997 classic by Wong Kar-Wai. A gay couple from Hong Kong travel to Argentina, with the objective of visiting the Iguazú waterfalls and resetting their relationship. Their physical trip abroad is a metaphor for their spiritual trip, and includes episodes of depression, emotional pain, and abuse. The story is tumultuous but reveals the power of resilience and shows us how traveling can affect both past and present relationships.

August

August is another gay-themed movie about separation and reunification. After living for many years in Spain, Troy travels back to Los Angeles and begins a journey that explores the boundaries of relationships and the ugly difference between reality and expectations. For me, travel here is a symbolic way to break old habits and learn more about ourselves and others. Returning from a long trip always has its complications, especially when old relationships show up again. But it’s our journeys abroad that add to our own personal stories, and things always change before, during, and after a big trip.

***

We often travel to different places in other to imagine how life would be for us there, to discover new cultures and social contexts and to explore unknown parts of our own being. Many LGBT-inspired films do exactly the same. Today, it’s easy to explore both the real or fictional worlds of gay lives in many films from different cultures, cities, and social contexts as more and more LGBT films make it to mainstream screens. But even if you don’t identify as LGBT, I encourage you to seek out these films that follow unique and personal stories, themes we can all relate to no matter our sexuality or gender.

Maybe the more LGBT movies you watch, the easier it is to interact with others who are different or have a background that’s hard to assess. The same goes for travel. The more international friends and acquaintances you have and the more diversity in your life, the easier to understand and empathize with other cultures.

Note: Some of these films aren’t 100% accurate in their depictions of LGBT people and may seem dated, but many of them have had a positive impact on LGBT culture and continue to be important.

Adam Groffman is a former graphic designer who left a publishing job in Boston to settling in Berlin, Germany. He’s a gay travel expert, writer, and blogger and publishes a series of LGBT-friendly Hipster City Guides from around the world on his gay travel blog, Travels of Adam. When he’s not out exploring the coolest bars and clubs, he’s usually enjoying the local arts and culture scene. Find more of his travel tips (and embarrassing stories) on Twitter @travelsofadam.

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies

Brokeback Mountain

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

C.R.A.Z.Y.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Transamerica

Weekend

Y Tu Mamá También

Seashore (Beira-Mar)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre

Happy Together

August

***

Note: Some of these films aren’t 100% accurate in their depictions of LGBT people and may seem dated, but many of them have had a positive impact on LGBT culture and continue to be important.

Photo Credit: 1

The post 11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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tamboradventure · 7 years

Text

11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies

Brokeback Mountain

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

C.R.A.Z.Y.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Transamerica

Weekend

Y Tu Mamá También

Seashore (Beira-Mar)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre

Happy Together

August

***

Note: Some of these films aren’t 100% accurate in their depictions of LGBT people and may seem dated, but many of them have had a positive impact on LGBT culture and continue to be important.

The post 11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/2inz3JD via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

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vidovicart · 7 years

Text

11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies

Brokeback Mountain

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

C.R.A.Z.Y.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Transamerica

Weekend

Y Tu Mamá También

Seashore (Beira-Mar)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre

Happy Together

August

***

Note: Some of these films aren’t 100% accurate in their depictions of LGBT people and may seem dated, but many of them have had a positive impact on LGBT culture and continue to be important.

The post 11 Incredible LGBT Travel Movies appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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theladyjstyle · 7 years

Photo

Brokeback Mountain

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

C.R.A.Z.Y.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Transamerica

Weekend

Y Tu Mamá También

Seashore (Beira-Mar)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre

Happy Together

August

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Note: Some of these films aren’t 100% accurate in their depictions of LGBT people and may seem dated, but many of them have had a positive impact on LGBT culture and continue to be important.

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