#like purposefully and fundamentally

[doorp]

the third house is so silly its the fucking ‘I eat hot chip and lie but you’ll like it because my lies are sexy’ house. It’s the ‘every time I show up i am noticeably out of place in the narrative i find myself in because ive sucker punched my way into being relevant’ house. a fundamental trait of the third house is just believing that you’re the main character when you’re absolutely not. They’re a house of tragically genre and role confused characters. Even down to their literature, (Abella Trine, the heroine of palamedes’ terrible river bubble novel he’s stuck with) the third house always acts in a way that implies that they all think they’re the main character of a trashy novel. And its so funny because they succeed! 90 percent of the time in any story, the main character randomly appears in the narrative with no warning to any of the other characters, and out of nowhere begins to affect the plot in ways unthinkable to the supporting cast.

In tlt we as the readers get to see that dynamic from the *other perspective* corona and ianthe and naberius and valency and cyrus are NOT the main characters, but any time they appear theres this sense of bewilderment you get when you think about them for like 2 seconds. Like where the hell did you come from man?? By all accounts you should not be doing this well. Who ARE YOU. Who do you *think* you are??? Throughout Gideon the ninth, ianthe is just like fucking stalking everyone and ignoring the entire plot to skulk around who knows where, and the only times she gets a spotlight or opens her mouth, the vibes are deplorable! delightfully nasty! befuddling! Every 80 pages ianthe pops out of her hole for 2 pages to say something weirdly ominous or offensive, and you’re like. Okay weird nasty c plot character you’re pretty funky and I kinda forgot you were here. AND THEN. NINETY PERCENT OF THE WAY THROUGH THE BOOK. SHE COMES OUT OF NOWHERE TO GIVE A DRAMATIZED VILLAINOUS SPEECH ABOUT HOW SHE KILLED AND ATE A DUDE. AND SHE WASNT EVEN THE ONE DOING ALL THE OTHER MURDERS. This is a completely unrelated murder she has committed, for completely unrelated reasons. everyone should now realize that they underestimated her and rue the day they assumed lesser of her necromantic capabilities! She even admits she had a whole speech planned out thats going Not Well bc the guy she ate is trying to come back up.

Babs is tragically in the wrong genre, stretching his fabulous abs for no one who cares, i mean, he is a guy who- in any book not filled with toxic lesbian drama- would be a star player, but he’s not! He gets eaten and all anyone there who knew him had to say about it was “babs? Who even cares about babs!” In line with the thirds rule of tropious misplaced leads with main character syndrome, he is a trope that is subverted tragically in that he has everything that should set him up for success narratively, yet any time he is mentioned or does anything ever, he’s humiliated! all his lovers cheat on him, even when he wins a duel he gets shat on by everyone there bc his personality sucks, no one cares about his abs, he’s stuck in a toxic power dynamic with bad twin and worse twin, he gets fucking EATEN. Babs by all accounts would be the successful male lead but gets ZERO WINS over the course of the entire series. You’re confused about how and why this kind of character is in this kind of book, and it makes perfect sense that he does not do well! He has you thinking “what is this hetero romance lead doing in this book of ravenous lesbians. I hate him. I hope they eat him.” And then they DO. Hes not supposed to be in this book but he insists he is and it gets him killed.

Cyrus and Valency never actually appear in the story, yet still manage this bewildering insistence of their own importance. Who else but 2 people eternally convinced that they are the main characters would paint dozens of their own nudes and give them out at birthday parties? I rest my case.

Corona is the most subtle out of all of these, the confident, charismatic and beautiful leader is present in any book no matter the genre. So what makes corona out of place? What makes her the genre switcher? Her relative mundanity. Her supreme insistence of making everything she does a hot girl summer, no matter the horrors. In as yet unset she is notably *not* the main character, yet she is able to turn the whole of Judith’s attempt at a gritty torturous prisoner of war log into a messy and petty sapphic drama. In nona the ninth she uses this power to become a key figure amongst characters such as: 10,000 year old woman stuck in her dead best friends body, A girl so obsessed with her QPR that shes dying bc she lets his ghost take over her body several times a day, the resurrected soul of the planet earth stuck inside the body of a malnourished 19 year old girl, a commando rebel nepo baby with 2 machetes and a gas mask, a 14 year old girl named hot sauce who keeps a gun in her pants. This is not to say Corona isn’t an outlandish or weird character. She’s MESSED up. this is to say that she has no magical powers or outlandish talent, yet still manages to come out of the woodwork performing deeds entirely unexpected. At some point in nona the ninth she is literally the only perfectly mortal person in a room of powerful superhumans and demigods. it has you thinking HOW AND WHY DID YOU GET HERE. and the answer is that shes third. This is what the third does. When you’re challenging a fascist demigod to a duel, the third comes in, grabs your gun, and goes “IM GOING TO KILL MYSELF IF YOU DONT FIGHT RIGHT NOW!” And because the fascist demigod is her sister and also third, it works somehow.

Speaking of that particular fascist third demigod: even when pal is fighting her in her mindscape, shes not the main character. Ianthe literally builds an entire pocket dimension where she is the center of attention of a stage play, and PAL is the main character. The third fundamentally cannot be main characters, bc their whole thing is being so self possessed that they feel like characters that are EXTREMELY genre confused.

The funny thing is, i think ianthe is the only one of these who realizes shes fundamentally misunderstood the role shes meant to play. In harrow the ninth she acts the roguish bad boy love interest who is mean and angsty to the female lead. She’s soooooo cynical, so quirky, referencing many times different tropes from trashy romance novels shes read. She directly parallels john in the belief that she is the main character. Its not until she spends her time babysitting and covering for john that she realizes she isnt like him, or realizes theyre both not what she thinks they are. She sees gods pathetic wallowing and is like “fuck. He thinks he’s the main character. Hes a pathetic villain. I think im the main character. Im a pathetic villain!” her experiences in the time between the end of harrow the ninth and when she shows up in nona have caused her to realize shes a full hog villain. She goes from “heh.. im the ill ignored female lead that no one expected…” in Gideon the ninth, to “heh… im the cynical bad boy romancer that the priggish female lead needs….” In harrow the ninth, to her nona the ninth mindset of “LMAO IM THE NARCISSISTIC VILLAIN!i am the fascist white girl this galaxy needs. The emperor is having a midlife crisis orgy and i am the shadow government. I literally don’t care anymore the zombie apocalypse is upon us and im best friends with a corpse who won’t stop moping over her ex” Whatever fucked up shit has happened to ianthe in that gap of time has caused her to completely reevaluate her role in the story.

anyway i love the third house. i love their freaky gimmicks and infiltrating the narrative and warping it to their own agenda bc they’re fundamentally genre confused. I love how it fucks them over in the stupidest ways.

[babykittenteach]

Just for a bit.

[dickgreyson]

so legally, ethically, this is the opposite of informed consent

[briefcasejuice]

i don't have a continuous/relentless internal monologue in the way people usually describe it but i am always thinking about something

[magdaclaire]

tagged by the great, the incredible, the iconic @castielsprostate, thank u bestie vik

last song: jealousy, jealousy by olivia rodrigo

currently watching: not a damn thing

last movie: visual media and i do not work well together

sweet/spicy/savory: in order, sweet, spicy, savory. my grandmother has always baked sweets and my dad has always had a robust pepper garden, so sweet and spicy are very homey for me

relationship status: guy with romantic trauma voice i am very healthily single

current obsessions: currently hyperfixated on smosh, with several lifelong special interests filling in the gaps- spn, music, education.

last thing i googled: gabumon digivolution map

tagging: @krondarling, @mrcowboydeanwinchester, @atomicrebelomega, @gaywerewolftransgender, @castielsupernatural, and honestly if you wanna do it just say i tagged you, no one checks, babe

[uraniumglassgirl]

Lalalalalaaaa

[headspace-hotel]

The idea of Pleistocene rewilding, even though it annoys the hell out of me, is so interesting in what it implies about ecosystems.

If we accept that North America's ecosystems are "incomplete" or "impoverished" because of the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, that implies there is a "complete" state of ecosystems. In the absolute sense, of course ecosystems don't ever have a "complete" state, but is it possible for an ecosystem to be relatively incomplete? What does that even mean?

Could an "incomplete" state of an ecosystem be recognizable without knowing what used to exist in that ecosystem, for comparison? Could a researcher tell that they were in an environment where an animal had gone extinct, without any direct evidence of that animal or knowledge of what it was? Who is to say how many taxa of a kind of creatures "should" be in the ecosystem?

Say we accept, then, that North America's ecosystems after the Pleistocene (but before European colonization, which involved intentional destruction) were "complete," in the sense that researchers couldn't detect any obvious "dysfunction," whatever that means.

But 10,000 years, compared with life's history on the earth, are nothing--- the blink of an eye. There hasn't been very much time for entirely new types of animals to evolve.

So it would imply that ecosystems have a LOT of plasticity and ability to re-arrange to absorb shock, and that animals can quickly expand their ranges and change their niches to adapt to the new state of existence.

...this, in turn, implies something strange about the introduction of new animal species to a continental mainland: that "native" and "non-native" animal species probably won't be distinguishably different in their impacts in the long term, because the ecosystem is chaotic and constantly changing to begin with.

Introducing new animals to islands is a disaster, because it's introducing an animal with a niche that didn't exist before at all, such as terrestrial predators or large herbivores. Introducing plants is a disaster in a small and unpredictable sample of cases.

But in the example of horses in North America, the impact could range from positive (horses used to be here, and their extinction "damaged the ecosystem," therefore horses being introduced "fixes" that damage) to neutral (the ecosystem adapted to not having horses very fast, therefore the ecosystem can likely adapt to having horses again very fast). Saying that horses are invasive seems to require us to believe contradictory things: that the ecosystem has changed so much since the Pleistocene that horses no longer belong, and that ecosystems can't adjust to change quickly.

Then, why indeed should we not introduce camels, or cheetahs, or lions?

Well, this is where "Pleistocene rewilding" gets on my nerves: it sees North America as fundamentally impoverished of animals, and at the same time, somehow treats different species of animal as weirdly interchangeable. We don't know if the American lion was closer to a lion or a tiger, and we don't know some important things like its hunting behavior. The "American cheetah" was not any more closely related to the African cheetah than to the cougar, and might not have been a specialized fast runner like the cheetah.

So this might apply to the horse just as well: the species of horse in Pleistocene times might have been so different from today's horse that they don't have the same role in the ecosystem. Well, is it better to be horseless or horsed?

I don't think that introduced species are inherently bad. This isn't a extreme position. Among plants, very few introduced species actually become invasive, and even some of those considered "invasive" are not actually harming the ecosystem in a way that can be demonstrated. I don't think I would recommend the introduction of a plant purposefully, though...or would I? With climate change occurring rapidly, I am in favor of moving species to areas where they can survive.

One philosophy of biodiversity is that the more biodiverse the ecosystem, the more ability the ecosystem has to absorb shock and adapt to change. Introduced species could have a range of potential to adapt different from native species, and could raise the shock absorption potential of an ecosystem. But they would also disrupt existing relationships and cause a shock to the native species that already exist.

Range expansions are an alternative to extinction for some species. We will probably HAVE to consider introducing species to new areas in the future. Well, imagine in the future we put Zebras in Arkansas, and the Zebras outcompeted the white-tailed deer in that area. Is that good or bad? Both species get to keep existing, but the deer's range is a bit smaller. Is the measure of biodiversity more important in a local area or in the world?

Makes my head hurt...

[jenanigans1207]

I actually need to talk about how Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi take on characteristics of each other in times of crisis.

Cheng Xiaoshi comes back to find Lu Guang bleeding out and unconscious on the couch and Qiao Ling possessed. You would expect him to do something extreme, right? You’d expect him to tackle Qiao Ling or run to Lu Guang, putting himself in between Lu Guang and the danger. But he doesn’t. He stays put and he thinks and he plans. He takes on a level-headed approach to try and minimize the damage, to stop anything worse from happening.

Lu Guang, upon seeing Cheng Xiaoshi shot, completely forgets about logic. He lunges towards Qian Jin, who is not just holding a gun still, but actively pointing it with his finger over the trigger. He throws himself directly and recklessly into what could very quickly turn into a bad and dangerous situation without a moment’s thought. He beats the shit out of Qian Jin, too (everyone cheer) instead of taking any sort of logical route or attempting to de-escalate in any way.

When Cheng Xiaoshi thinks that Lu Guang is dead, he almost jumps back in time but doesn’t, because he respects Lu Guang’s rules and wishes. He acknowledges that doing so would break the rules and fundamentally alter the past, so he tries his best to grapple with his feelings and take a logical approach to handling his grief.

When Lu Guang sees Cheng Xiaoshi die, he does jump back into the past. He admittedly tries to be rational, trying not to change too much because he knows the consequences. But then we get him in Bridon arc purposefully creating waves and starting to nudge things off track because he can’t handle or cope with the idea of losing Cheng Xiaoshi again.

And I know they’re meant to be yin-and-yang, right? Personality, color scheme, everything about their dynamic. And this always strikes me because in each side of the yin-and-yang, there’s the small circle of the other half. And they have that, too, in their personalities. When the other is threatened and they are left to their base instincts and fears to react, they react like each other.

I could argue that they replicate the parts of each other that they admire in a crisis. That they have a sort of unconscious “what would Cheng Xiaoshi/Lu Guang do?” sort of moment in the split second before they react. I could argue that they aren’t completely right without each other, and that shows. Or just that they’re so ingrained in each other, even their basic instincts reflect this.

I just think it’s really interesting and important to acknowledge because neither one of them is a 2D character. They have their archetype but they aren’t pigeonholed into that alone. Lu Guang is actually quite caring and open about showing it, often the opposite of what we see in the quiet, reserved one. And Cheng Xiaoshi isn’t stupid and all forgiving and even recognizes the outcomes of his recklessness, something not typically seen in the brash and outgoing one. They are very multifaceted in their personalities and dynamics and it’s even more so in their personal dynamic because of how close they are and how much they’re able to be truly genuine together.

Anyway, this got more rambly than I meant for it to. I just think it’s important to acknowledge the impact they’ve had on each other and how it’s demonstrated 🫶🏻

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

The more I see of these two the more I see how similar they are, like even when they're upset they're still quite similar to each other in some ways

my lifeblood is still parallels between Stolas and Blitz

[fromchaostocosmos]

If there are two main things that you notice pretty quickly when studying antisemitism it is this:

1] Antisemitism is not original. Everything we see is something else just reworded. It is all the same patterns repeated over and over to ad nauseam. There is no creativity. Everyone is just using the same thing with slight updates for the current era and events. Every is just copying someone else's homework only changing a few words here and there.

2] After a certain amount of time passes from a very antisemitic period in history those who did the antisemitism, those who were party to it will do their best to erase it all. To pretend that it either never happened and/or they were apart of it. So for example: Christian love to pretend they have nothing to with christian antisemitism and the antisemitism of the Middle Ages has nothing to with them. Because well they are Modern Christians and also that was the Catholics. But if you point out that antisemitism is fundamental to Christianity and is the foundation on which it is built or the antisemitism of Luther and in Protestantism or the gospels or Modern Christian Antisemitism it is excuse after excuse.

The same goes for any discussion of antisemitism in atheism, antisemitism in the USA, antisemitism in academia, scientific antisemitism, antisemitism in the media, literature, and entertainment, antisemitism and misogyny, antisemitism in feminism, and on and on.

We also really see it when we talk about the history of MENA and Jews and that history has been totally whitewashed and twisted into this utopian world where everything was sunshine and roses.

That Jews were under dhimmi laws which for all that it means "protected person" in reality means second class citizens and paying a tax to have basic rights. That is was under Muslim rule that the color yellow, mustard yellow in fact, was introduced as the color to mark Jews as Jews because that was the first place that the color yellow was used for a marker that Jews had to wear to for the marker they wore to signal that they were Jews. This is something that we must never speak of or acknowledge.

The Farhud and the question of "where are all your Jews" is the prime example when it comes to the MENA region of things that are forbidden to discuss and things that ignored and erased.

So I know that somewhere down the line what is going on right now will be downplayed and erased. That it will turned into it wasn't that bad. And that there wasn't that many of these groups it was just really fringe. A couple of hundred. No one was really a part of them most of us ignored them. And all posts on social media that say otherwise will be deleted, all evidence that says contrary will be hidden, all social media handles that had the inverted red triangle will be changed and the lies will be told.

Just like the world lied so much after the Holocaust until they started to believe their own lies and that their own children and grandchildren never knew the truth. "We didn't know what was happening" even though it was being reported in newspapers all over.

"We would have let them in if we knew" you knew and you purposefully turned us away because you didn't care.

We, Jews, however will know, remember, and tell the truth. And each generation after us and each following generation will know, remember, and tell the truth.

Because that is what we do.

So that even if you no longer here we will still remember just as we remember the Ancient Egyptians and all they did to us even though they are no longer here. But we are. We have not forgotten. It is not what we do.

Am Yisrael Chai

We live and we remember.

[notebooks-and-laptops]

I've seen a few posts going around about how it's bad writing and unfair that Varric still considers himself a friend of Solas, but had such vicious hate of Anders in Inquisiton.

And these posts are right to an extent; it is very clear the writers of inquisition had no intention of portraying Anders in a positive light. Even a Hawke who romanced Anders and approved of his actions in the chantry sounds kinda on the fence when you actually talk to them about Anders, and implies that Anders constantly needs watching now which. Okay.

But I actually think the whole Varric thing makes a kind of sense to me. And I don't actually necessarily think it's down to 'growth'.

Solas is fundamentally responsible for a whole swath of awful things and far more death than Anders. The explosion of the divine conclave, for example which killed far more people than the chantry explosion in Kirkwall. And then arguably every rift that came after that and all the death associated, as well as the planned death of millions across thedas when he tears down the veil.

But there's a difference between Solas and Anders to Varric. And I think that line is very much how close they are.

Solas and Varric are obviously friends if you listen to their banter, but they're not friends like Varric was friends with the Kirkwall Crew. Varric was at the heart of a friendship group in Kirkwall who were a true found family for SEVEN YEARS. Not only that, but Varric is the reason those people came together to a large extent, especially the reason Anders and Hawke and himself came together for the deep roads expedition.

Varric knew solas for a year in which solas kept himself purposefully distant (not coming to wicked grace night for example) at a time when varric was ALSO keeping himself purposefully distant from making bonds like he had in Kirkwall.

Solas also did a lot of destruction, sure but it's almost...abstracted. it's easier to blame the whole thing on someone else, on Corphyeus. And it's not KIRKWALL. Maybe there are rifts in Kirkwall but we never go there, we never see it. And Kirkwall is the beating heart of Varric Tethras.

Anders, for Varric, destroyed not only the chantry that killed a bunch of people but also their found family, and the city of Kirkwall itself. After Anders act nothing could go back to the way it was before, not even the city itself and that's...that's kinda unforgivable to varric. It's personal and twisted and so so bitter it hurts. He was way more invested and emotionally caught up in the whole thing. Add a sprinkle of self-blame to the entire narrative with Anders that doesn't exist with Solas and of course Varric is way more likely to 'forgive' and try and redeem solas than he was Anders. Of course he is.

[takusan-no-ai]

Dating

PAIRING: Seol x Male Reader (Romantic) (Fluff)

SUMMARY: (Y/N) is her boyfriend.

Dating Seol Hee is like swimming in the cold ocean; struggling against a tide, against all adversity. Or in this case against Seol. It’s never easy in the best of ways. Her energetic and positive attitude leaving no room for doubt or concern. Life is always a party with her. And she loves having a boyfriend to keep it going.

Despite having powers capable of healing and hurting with the cold ice, it doesn’t do much for her own fortitude from the cold. In fact, it follows her every where like an ice chill. Even in her feelings. So much so that it is mandatory for you to cuddle her every night in bed. In reality she’s exaggerating a little bit, she just gets cold at night.

Seol doesn’t like to wait too long for things; the k-pop industry was kind enough to instill that notion in her. So if she can’t find anything to wear in an emergency, sorry but “your clothes” are now “our clothes”. But she’ll let you wear hers too! You have to remind her that you’re a guy and likely can’t fit her clothes let alone be comfortable in them.

Thanks to her always being in a hurry she can tend to have certain accidents. Like walking in on you changing. She knows how to play the part of an idol, so if her agent is with her she’ll pretend to be shocked and act coy. But Seol is a mischievous little gremlin deep down and when she wants to let her “dark side” show she will purposefully walk in just to compliment your body. Only if you’re comfortable of course! She loves her boyfriend more than her jokes.

Whenever she has the time, Seol loves going on dates with you. Her personal favorites are ice skating and karaoke. She loves styling on you, especially if you can’t skate or sing well. It’s the part of her that just loves to show off and be cocky.

Her confidence while off putting at times, knows when to lift up others as well; if anyone says anything negative about your skills it’s on site. On that note, her fans love watching you two act lovely-dovey. They definitely ship you two.

Seol loves showing affection. Anytime. Anywhere. In front of fans as Luna Snow? Yes. At home alone? Yes. In front of your family? Best believe so. Since she can skate mid air, one of her must do shows of affection is to float above you and give you an upside down kiss. “Like Spider-Man!” She’d say.

Seol also loves playing in the snow with you when it’s winter; she used to not like it growing up and had to bear with her halmoni throwing snowballs at her; now it’s your turn to endure it as she throws them with a shockingly good accuracy.

She just adores receiving affection from you and will almost always accept it; the only time she wouldn’t is during an important situation that calls for her to focus. Seol loves your kisses, hugs, and playful gestures. But what really makes her happy is seeing you support her work, whether it’s being an idol or superhero. Just seeing you cheer her on gets her confidence skyrocketing.

The biggest struggle for Seol is having to balance all the things important to her in life. Being an idol that brings record breaking beats to her lovely fans. Being a hero that saves the day and keeps those smiles alive. And then there’s being a good girlfriend to her boyfriend, the love of her life, that keeps a smile on her own face.

She’s actually surprised by how well she’s been able to manage it all. For the longest time all she ever wanted to do was sing, and being a literal superhero wasn’t on her bucket list. In fact, she used to hate her powers. But now she’s capable of loving them, seeing it as a fundamental part of herself.

But it isn’t always easy being herself. Sometimes it all gets frustrating and confusing. And try as she may, Seol can only be so happy-go-lucky for so long. She’ll even get frustrated with you at times, making some snide joke, but she always takes it back. And you’re understanding of her situation. Truth be told, a lot of her problems come from within herself.

Seol is very insecure, often feeling too down to even flirt or be affectionate when she’s in her icy moods. A lot of it comes from feeling inferior to others, like Storm, and even you. She sees how you all have it under control, no managers breathing down your necks. Nor having to worry about keeping up with others just to stay relevant and irreplaceable; in her eyes everyone is already at the top of the ladder. Meanwhile she still can’t even get her’s to stand straight.

Just comfort her during those dark moments. Let her know she’s more loved and phenomenal than she thinks she is. That her dark side isn’t all there is to her power. It’ll put a smile on her face and help chase away the stormy clouds.

- Fin

[yingdu-lover]

"I am not an accessory...I want freedom!" : Li Haolin's critique of the comphet media expectations, toxic entertainment industry and deconstruction of 'heroism' in To Be Bero X episode 2

Disclaimer : There are two more episodes left, and things will go haywire beyond our expectations; interpretations will change. However, I do believe that the core message should not change; the vision Li Haolin has, and I hope people who have watched his previous works recognize this. Li Haolin did say that the core theme remains the same in all To Be Hero works. May I have the pleasure of reminding you that Link Click was previously named 'To Be Hero: Photo'? Yeah. That being said, I should start my yapping.

Note : If you are a Link Clicker and have gone through all the stages of emotional peculiarities when Yingdu was airing, you may have noticed, with a critical lens, that Yingdu was very vocal about the nuances and politics of the entertainment industry. The recurring dialectic between (heteropatriarchal) capitalist consumerism and subversive counter-narratives really makes me happy; it affirms that Li Haolin is a political artist.

TBHX had a massive worldwide release; of course, it is aimed at an international audience, but I am sure that releasing TBHX a short period after Yingdu's completion was something Li Haolin did purposefully. Probably, it was a deliberate nod to avid Link Click fans to keep thinking intertextually. I took that as a sign.

Link Click and To Be Hero : Photo

(If you wish to skip this section, you can, but you won't be able to understand much when I actually start talking about To Be Hero X. I will draw ample comparisons with these discussions.)

Link Click, especially Yingdu, really deconstructs the concept and construction of 'Hero' and their identity. To quote Li Haolin: Tbhx is not your usual superhero story. It is fundamentally deconstructing the typical popular narratives.

To summarise, Link Click has/shows/raises questions about

1. explicit references to the concept of 'Hero'

2. how heteronormative masculinist capitalism forges the figure of 'Hero'

3. the question of agency : The dichotomy between public and private

4. narrative identity : hero, villain or is it a blur?

5. the 'soft' power of artistic hierarchy : genre and gender

6. the politics of ordinariness in popular culture (the communist propaganda :D)

[Of course, a lot of introductory yapping is about Link Click! It's important! So I am not stopping]

1. explicit references to the concept of 'Hero'

Starting with the 'Hero' (Hero with a capital H) theme, I think the first time we were introduced to Power Rangers-type heroes in Link Click was in the Doudou episode. Oh my God, this was the only episode that really stressed me out. Anyway, the Doudou story hits so hard because it is painfully realistic; it weaves simple yet endearing love with guilt, escapism, patience, helplessness, brutal honesty, and the acceptance of vulnerability, creating an alternative form of 'heroism' that is both funny and poignant at the same time. It is truly one of the most powerful episodes in the entire season 1.

Season 2's 'hero' discourse is more nuanced, so I'll discuss it while addressing the fifth point. It continues in Yingdu.

Ah, Yingdu. Cheng Xiaoshi's studio was called 'Hero Photo Studio' (ah) before Lu Guang moved in (actually- no, 'Hero' was replaced with 'Time' after they returned from Yingdu and Cheng Xiaoshi kept the promise he made with his maa)

Cheng Xiaoshi exclaiming : am I a hero in a freaking donghua-?! (ah.)

And those lines from The Eye full version :

No matter how hard we looked in the lost and found We never could shine the moonlight underground To the point where we got sick of pretending like we are saviors Till we learn to carry on

Heroes and their savior complex: What is a hero if he does not save people? Useless, right? Heroes are built on narratives. There needs to be a villain to blame, victims to be saved, and most importantly, people to identify the hero as a hero and give the final verdict. What happens when even one parameter is missing?

It's quite amazing how Lu Guang is highlighting his fragility. He does pretend, and he has to be adamant and quite delulu in order to continue his task, or he will collapse.

The interesting thing is that there is an utterance of 'we' rather than 'I.' So, is Cheng Xiaoshi cognizant of this? Something is amiss. It beautifully haunts. It's not just a recollection of the past or their shared suffering and understanding of the world, but rather a sense of final submission on Lu Guang's part.

2. how heteronormative masculinist capitalism forges the figure of 'Hero'

'Heroism' is a fundamentally masculinist construction. Even the term 'virtue,' which has taken on a moral connotation in modern vocabulary, is actually associated with virility/vir (the Latin word for 'man'). Historically, justice, reason, and virtue—the three most basic tenets of heroism—were reserved for (and believed to be possessed only by) exclusively able-bodied men. Women are bestial, devoid of reason, driven by excessive passion, and therefore can never be eligible for the role of a 'Hero.' Even in recent years, the trend is that a female character has to renounce some (or all) parts of her femininity to access aggressive masculinity. Moreover, she can almost never exist without being a shadow to her male counterpart(s). In short, humanist 'Heroism' is predominantly masculine. Female characters must follow a norm to be considered a 'Hero'; they can't topple a system. The fixed binary positions of hero/heroine are heteronormative constructs. Ever wondered why, when a 'heroine' saves a 'Hero' (let's assume both are able-bodied, of equal caliber), it's considered very 'subversive'? It should just be another story of saving people, right? But...It is the normative story that sells. It sells, and that's what matters to capitalism. An alternative story of heroism will remain alternative and special (you know those companies that hire disabled people, queer people, and Black people as a form of tokenism? Then they sack them first without any legible reason or notice). A cluster of 'heroes' will never be able to compete with the 'Hero' (hero with a capital H).

Now, what kind of 'hero' is Qiao Ling?

Honestly speaking, she has been saving Shiguang's ass since the beginning of season 1. Whether it is financial help, legal help, paying hospital bills, paying their bail, or confronting difficult opponents, Qiao Ling hardly backs down. She takes risks; she is overprotective of Shiguang, but since her 'heroism' is so subtle and there is a lack of an audience to identify her as a hero, her 'heroism' goes unnoticed for the most part.

3. the question of agency : The dichotomy between public and private

I discussed a hell lot about it in my analysis of Xia Fei's character before. A few excerpts-

He (Xia Fei) is smart enough to know he is being exploited (and tbh the theme of surveillance and making him the 'morbid' object of gaze, I say morbid because in the last scene of his pv, it's a dead shot, his eyes look so dead, the camera's battery is dead. But yk what remains? his face card. The like button continually popping with likes made me very uncomfortable.

and

Also Xia Fei's story talks about another important theme of the donghua; photo! How photos taken in private spheres are meant to preserve memories of the loved ones, loved encounters. How you capture someone you love in that still image, alive with the emotion you associate with them, giving it an afterlife. The photo becomes the literal and metaphorical medium through which Lu Guang can rewrite history. Forget-me-not, remembrance. It empowers him.

-

On the contrary, for Xia Fei, it is the panopticon seizing his life and rendering it absurd. The emotive power and affect for lu guang changes into viscous institutionalised power politics for Xia Fei. Brilliant! 😭

Xia Fei is surrounded by cameras and it's the play of fate that it continues even to his private life (while befriending Shiguang)

The most perfect focus Wandering between gazes

-

Wherever there's a good position, I'll offer a smile To the lights, I lend this beautiful body To stand in the center

-

No need to guess, this complete disguise The crowd will eventually forget this mask It doesn't matter if the great fire extinguishes the truth Who will it be, perfectly concealed The stolen gaze Yeah, I know I gotta run Yeah, fake a smile in calm

It's a public performance and an elaborate enterprise of concealing the truth; the more you can hide yourself and present what the viewers want, the more success comes to your plate. But very dangerously, when the mask starts to replace your real face, you don't even process it in the beginning, but when it's realized, it's actually too late.

4. narrative identity : hero, villain or is it a blur?

Let alone heroes, villains, or contradictions, all of us are a cluster of fragmented or gap narratives trying to make sense of each other's existence. The reason we resonate with others is that some of our own narratives click with theirs. Our narratives have gaps, and we fill those gaps with what we want to believe. The way we perceive others, forge relationships with others, or even ourselves fills in the gaps in the storytelling. That's how we become complex human beings. Objectively, we are on a perpetual stage of liminality, but to make it easier for our subjectivity, we appropriate narratives according to our ease and taste.

A few months ago, I would easily lose my calm over the 'Is Lu Guang evil?' debate. Now, I feel that it is actually important. Lu Guang himself doesn't identify as a 'Hero.' The problematization of Lu Guang's stance as a 'Hero' is important. Remember the fable-esque story of the forest fire that began featuring in S2 and continued in Yingdu? Who was the culprit? Who was the hero? We may NEVER know. When you are searching for the absolute truth, after a point in time, you realize that absolute truth has no practical value. If you have watched Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (I strongly recommend this movie; please watch it), you know how people choose a narrative for their own convenience and continue their lives with it, however contradictory they might be from each other. This is what really happens in our daily lives. The problem arises when one narrative is weaponized by a certain group and preached as the grand narrative, and the people who believe in alternative narratives become victims of persecution.

The similar story follows in creating the figures of a 'Hero' or a 'villain.' Until now, Xia Fei and Lu Guang's characters have subverted those horizons of expectations the most in the Link Click universe.

5. the 'soft' power of artistic hierarchy : genre and gender

First, I would like to mention a few lines from Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own

Speaking crudely, football and sport are 'important'; the worship of fashion, the buying of clothes 'trivial'. And these values are inevitably transferred from life to fiction. This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room.

Sadly, there will be even a tiny residual of internalized misogyny even when we grow up. It's hard to deal with and that's why it's very important to point out. Romance and shipping is for feminine minds, therefore 'trivial' as a genre. War narratives and heroic battles talk about 'serious' topics, therefore it has an actual 'plot.'

Firstly,

the notion of heroism is inextricably linked with patriotism. In modern-day popular narratives, we may not see the blatant nationalism, but there always remains an echo of 'sacrificing for our own people.' Who are these people? Heroism can't exist if there is no distinction between 'us' and the 'other.' Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. (Very rough translation: It is one's sweet duty to die for his fatherland/country.)

Heroic narratives are war narratives. If you change the perspective, your hero becomes a villain. We always like to see ourselves at the end of suffering as people who have been wronged; injustice has been thwarted against us, and it's our hero's duty to save us.

I know this is more relevant to tbhx, but if you look closely, Link Click implicitly builds upon this: the hierarchy of gendered genres.

Also, Lu Guang's commentary on art, fiction, and philosophy was much more than just shits and giggles. He equates Shakespeare with donghua and manhua; all of these are forms of popular art with different modes of presenting philosophy. Donning a mask and playing a character from Shakespeare's play and cosplaying as a donghua or manhua character are not that different. Lu Guang questions the hierarchy of high culture and low culture. He writes his diary in Latin and Mandarin; he is undoubtedly a fierce scholar. He respects alternative belief systems such as Tarot cards, traditional Chinese medicine; indigenous or pagan forms of knowledge that are often looked down upon by modern Western scientific disciplines (I will write a separate post on this). The crux of my discussion is that Lu Guang continuously identifies the various forms of hierarchy in social beliefs and art and questions their validity. It's a form of soft power that no one bats an eye at, but many do not realize that it shapes how they process information. It is very much linked to the gendered hierarchy, as misogyny and the exclusion of women are very pervasive. And this brings to our last point : the question of power.

6. the politics of ordinariness in popular culture (the communist propaganda :D)

Lmao. Did I say communist propaganda? wth sure.

I will start my combined discussion from here.

Heroes are these big, big people with big, big superpowers-very flashy, very cute, and very demure. Can ordinary people afford to be a hero? It's not a new question, but I can't remember anyone who has dealt with this topic the way Li Haolin has.

I have talked about this before. This genre reflects Li Haolin's vision in his various works. Take, for example, an episode from To Be Hero: Leaf, where little children are playing on the midnight streets, where all the adults have gone for a factory strike. There is a HUGE focus on ordinary people. The reason I remember Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin's Odessa Steps sequence is not because it was a government-funded Russian film to preach communism, but because it showed how to decentralize your focus from grand narratives in artistic representation (for example: navy mutiny and soldiers fighting) and strike the audience with alternative, lesser important narratives (normal people suffering from the war). Digressing from the crime-suspense plot and delving deep into Emma's experience, weaving the Shiguang story with hers in 'Keep in Mind' was not truly a necessity plot-wise, but Haolin felt compelled to do so. To the person who mentioned in their post: 'link click' centers around two young boys who are struggling to pay their debt. I will forever be indebted to you. It's all there, but we need to identify it.

Now that I have discussed all of that, let's dive back into To Be Hero X. Just a list so that I don't forget things,

1. Moon and her plight : Idol culture and how relationship rumours affect female idols' public reputation

2. how corporate dehumanizes people

3. Private queer lives and politics in entertainment industry: Wreck and Nice's relationship as a twofold critique on the audience.

So, Moon.

Can you imagine how disturbing it is to be romantically associated with a person just because you signed a contract with a company? For three years, her main identity was someone's girlfriend, whom she didn't even love. She used to be a travel vlogger, a woman who constantly travels and archives different experiences. If you are into the earliest feminist discourses, women traveling is a frequent topic. From Mary Wollstonecraft to Virginia Woolf - everybody acknowledges that. From THAT, she became someone's girlfriend. The sheer humiliation. The most heartbreaking part is that it is the people's expectations which curbed her teleportation powers; it can only open to Nice's side. Moon can't leave Nice. But is Nice bound to her? I don't think there were any suggestions like that.

If you have already guessed it, then congratulations! You are right; Moon's experience as a female idol is actually a microcosmic representation of how women are treated in a heteropatriarchal society.

When they were hatching the plan to 'free' Moon, Lin Ling said :

'Since Nice is a perfect husband, you can't say no to his proposal.'

Of course! If a man is handsome, virtuous, a respectable 'Hero', and the people love to see the heroine as the Hero's partner, how dare the heroine refuse this proposal? The Moon's consent does not matter. It would be a narrative so audacious and absurd that it would not sell. Champagne problems, ha?

And that woman who constantly speaks corporate said: "We have locked them in the same room for a whole month without any other engagement. Of course, they will grow feelings for each other." Ah, fuck-ass logic. Before you jump on me saying, 'But oh, what about the propinquity effect?' and shit, it is a very heteronormative notion to assume that a man and a woman will always develop romantic feelings for each other. Many people (me, I am the many people) headcanon that Moon is queer, aro-ace, and a strong independent woman—I second all of these, but my point is Moon doesn't need a thesis paper on her sexual preference or romantic orientation to reject Nice or Nice's substitute. Again, Lin Ling is Nice's substitute! Imagine the horror: you are shipped with a man you don't love, and people want you to marry him. Then the fucking company doesn't even have the basic courtesy to inform you that that man died, and now you are playing the same game with a substitute! It's a double violation of Moon's dignity. So, Moon is just a mindless idk animal? You throw a man assigned to be her husband or his decoy WITHOUT her consent and EXPECT her to fall in love with him? I mean, Moon would eventually know about Lin Ling's identity...wha-what was the point of excluding her from the discussion and keeping her in the dark? If it was just work, then why wasn't she consulted before the step was taken? She is the central figure, and she has no say in any of the mayhem unfolding.

Moon could be a sorted woman totally comfortable with her heterosexuality and still say no to Nice, even if he is the last surviving man on Earth. She just doesn't like him; it's that simple. That should be the end of the debate. However, people are not ready to accept that. The audience of the 'To Be Hero X' world and the real audience of 'To Be Hero X' donghua both should question themselves: is it okay to still enforce a relationship between them when the woman clearly expresses her sheer irritation at this fake relationship?

And that staged marriage plot! A perfect woman can either be a wife or a dead wife. Part of the reason Lin Ling cries while holding Moon during Moon's 'death' scene is that Moon has to metaphorically and literally die and withdraw herself from the narrative in order to chase the freedom she deserves. She can't exist with her individuality and agency in this world; capitalism and heteronormativity will not allow that.

Also, Moon's mock attempt at suicide is not funny. If I remember correctly, Li Haolin said in the Link Click art book interview that Liu Siwen and his girlfriend's story was something he actually took from a real-life story from a newspaper. Contrary to the happy ending in episode 5.5, the girl actually ended her life.

Another thing I want to mention is Moon from Lin Ling's perspective. In that interview, Lin Ling said

: Moon is not my girlfriend, she is my goddess.

It is not a typical 'romantic' declaration. Lin Ling acknowledges his position and accepts the fact that he will never be able to reach an equal position with Xiao Yueqing. That's why Yueqing is an inspiration to be admired from afar. And do you know why he accepts this? Because he respects Xiao Yueqing. During their one month together, Lin Ling realized that she never loved Nice to begin with. Lin Ling was the person she learned to be a bit softer. "Lin Ling is a much better name," she said. There is no possibility of assuming a relationship (which, honestly, most men don't even pay heed to. If I love you, I will be eligible to be with you, I will make you fall for me, and then how will you be able to say no to me? This is the general logic. Annoy, cross boundaries, violate personal space, and then coerce the woman into falling in love with you because YOUR love is so pure, omg) when the other party doesn't reciprocate. Lin Ling can still love her, but the love will not be actualized. I think Lin Ling was really upset when he learned that Yuqqing was forced to be in a fake relationship with Nice. He didn't want to hurt her more. The idol-fan relationship was fine, but in my opinion, Lin Ling did see her as more than an idol. His simple efforts to make things better for Xiao Yueqing without the illogical hope that 'if I do this, she will fall in love with me' make their relationship very humane. There might be a desire to be with her, but it never becomes the determining motive. I think Lin Ling would say this to Xiao Yueqing: Ti voglio bene. The literal translation of this Italian phrase is 'I want good for you,' which feels more impactful to me than its allegedly more intense romantic cousin.

Whatever the nature of the feelings Lin Ling had for Xiao Yueqing, if more people had this kind of feeling for others in our world, the world would be a much better place than it is today.

I love Li Haolin for how he tries to liberate heterosexual relationships from heteronormative constraints. In a sense, he introduces a splash of queerness into those relationships. Haolin's hetero couples are couples not merely because they share the same room as a boy and a girl. He portrays heterosocial relationships in a beautiful way. There is room to explore and form different kinds of human bonding. If things were normal, maybe Moon would form a really good friendship with Lin Ling. I feel that Lin Ling is the best interpreter of Moon as a human in tbhx.

2. how corporate dehumanizes people

Moon clearly has a more marginalized space in the dynamic, but how does one process power and position thrown towards them without their full control? Nice's character makes us ponder over this. Power and privilege come with a price. For Moon, she still had room to be subversive because things were clearly not working in her favor. What excuse does Nice have in this regard? It's much more complex. His death was so comical and absurd that until a new character is introduced in the second episode, we don't even feel that a real person has died. THAT is the power of perspective and storytelling. Lin Ling didn't quite process what he saw and perhaps didn't feel the need to bother. And Moon... yes, Moon had her reasons and irritation towards Nice, but it was really appalling to see that she did not even feel a little sad about Nice's death. How bitter must her workplace be? How much does capitalism isolate people to the point where fellow sufferers do not even bat an eye at each other? I am not blaming Moon, but I am asking you to consider the horrifying simplicity in this admission: so what if he died? You arranged for another one? Well, I felt chills. Imagine, one day you die, and then, very unfortunately, you didn't actually die and return to see a clone of yourself performing better than you probably could have done. Corporate not only dehumanizes people but makes people dehumanize each other and that's how it thrives.

Next, I would ask you to remember or re-read the third discussion; the question of agency : The dichotomy between public and private. Just replace Xia Fei with Nice. Heck, listen to Xia Fei's character song and if that doesn't make you remember Nice-

fake a smile in calm

3. Private queer lives and politics in the entertainment industry: Wreck and Nice's relationship as a twofold critique on the audience.

*sighs*.

I thought Haolin would just tease us with a iykyk rivals-enemies to lovers trope between a hero and a villain. Like, people who want to ship, ship. I really didn't expect him to pick shiguang, reverse the colour scheme and maintain the trauma and go : did you like my doomed yaoi?! 😃 man-

Haolin's obsession with widows needs to be studied. He pulled the similar string thrice in Yingdu and it's just the second episode in tbhx. Chill, man.

Back to analysis...what should I say? Let's assume you are Wreck.

you look at him like this. You wanted to be a hero with Nice together. So, for Wreck, to be a hero really meant to be with Nice.

Then one day, a script shattered everything. He became a hero, you became his villain, a literal stepping stone for him, so that his trust value increases.

The flashback suggests that Nice would frequently visit Wreck's house, probably the only place he could call 'home.' Nice would let his imperfect but real, unguarded self liberate in front of him.

And then suddenly, one day, he calls Moon his 'goddess.' You text him, call him, and send letters, but he doesn't reply. You shared a private life beyond the gaze of the camera and the prompt of scripts with him, and the company doesn't feel the need to inform you of his death. You reached there for the much-awaited encounter because nothing makes sense to you. The moment he speaks, a world shatters in your heart; he doesn't seem like your Nice. Still, you urge him to speak, almost pleadingly, because nothing makes sense and you hold onto that one tiny belief that things are still okay; maybe it's just a play. Then the illusion breaks. You can't tolerate it anymore and implore the imposter to speak the truth. He says that Nice committed suicide. He died.

People will remember Moon as an individual and someone who had an emotional dynamic with Lin Ling. But Wreck makes us mourn for the original Nice who died.

I don't know if Wreck knew that Nice was capable of doing something like that. He had already begun to cry, and when he heard the truth, he didn't even say things like, 'It can't be possible,' or 'How can it be possible?' Probably, it was more than possible, and that's why he was so tortured and disturbed. Wreck fell to his death with a smile, thinking that perhaps he might finally be able to be together with Nice peacefully.

Now, after everything, people will come and say: 'Ah, they were best friends.' Sure, they were. And that doesn't sit mutually exclusive to being lovers. What I feel is that it is a very conscious narrative within the narrative that Haolin deliberately put forth to unfold the compulsory heterosexuality and queer erasure in the viewership. Fans in the tbhx world forgot Wreck and didn't bother to understand what made him a villain. If tbhx donghua fans do the same after knowing the other perspectives, it's really... just, um, disappointing. You are proving Haolin's point, and you are the type of fans being criticized in the show. If Wreck were a female villain, my god.

I mean, yeah, I am kind of tired of 'proving' that they were lovers. It's the basic lack of media literacy.

I HAVE YAPPED TOO MUCH HELLO

did moon really survive? we don't know. did nice really die? we don't know. did wreck really die? i don't know. did LIN LING REALLY survive? I DON'T KNOW.

But I don't think those will totally topple these reflections.

Special note :

hello, today is this head emptu's birthday. please give him blessings and pray that he does not bite through the longevity noodles. He has a wife at home. and a sister. please. He has a family.

[thegreatyin]

heart's desire power ending is great because it's like what if you got torturous mindbreaking surgery every month and then it was immediately followed by inverse therapy slowly and steadily grooming you into Something You Are Not, shaping the fundamental aspects of your personality and identity before you even realize they're being altered, destroying your instincts until you forget if, or even why you ever wanted to protest this in the first place, and you did all of that while being at the mercy of an utterly poisonous group of ""people"" who decimate your mental health just by existing in your presence. and you threw away your chance at freedom and adoration and escape and happiness just for this. you chose this, deliberately, purposefully. you brought this upon yourself. you have no choice but to outlive everything you love and watch the person you were fade into a distant memory and you don't even have the dignity to scream and cry and fight against it anymore. it doesn't even cross your mind. you chose this, just you, entirely of your own volition, and now you have to live with it. You Have To Live With It.

and also what if you were an AWESOME TRANSGENDER FURRY 🔥🔥🔥🦇🏳️‍⚧️🔥🔥🔥

[daimus]

“He acts like your boyfriend,” Hiori says. “Are you okay with that?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really,” he says, his voice going purposefully flat so you know that he’s mocking you. “No idea.”

“Don’t be an asshole,” you gripe.

He tilts his head at you. He’s a little more drunk than he should be. There’s something about him that feels off, more so than usual. He normally has quite a good grip on whatever strange tendencies lay dormant inside him, but tonight his inhibitions are loose.

It unnerves you. You’ve always known there was something fundamentally fucked about his psyche. Other people have tried, futilely, to warn you away from him, but you came into this relationship with your eyes wide open.

You’ve always known there was a crack in his personality, as twisted as his face was cute. It’s what drew you to him in the first place, actually. There’s something sexy about someone with a secret side to them. You can’t help but want to pry it out of them.

But knowledge and experience are two different things, and Hiori’s acting kind of scary tonight. He’s not doing anything, technically. It’s all in your head. It’s like watching a charmed snake dance - sinuous, mesmerizing, and perilous.

“I thought,” he says, enunciating his words carefully, his finger tracing the rim of his glass almost as if he’s not paying attention while you’re hyperaware of him, “that you liked that sort of thing. You have a type, ya know.”

“Wasn’t aware, actually.”

He looks up at you from under lowered lashes. You suck in a breath. It’s seductive in the way an anglerfish light is seductive. There’s a small smile playing about his lips.

“Yeah?”

“I have to- um. I’m going to get another drink.”

He grabs your arm before you can flee. “You can just have mine. It’s your favorite,” he says softly, gently. You’re definitely the problem. He’s being so nice to you and all you can feel is this weird vertigo inducing blend of overwhelming lust and fear. Forget Hiori, something is definitely fucked in your brain.

“I’m okay-“

“Why are you being so skittish?” He’s still smiling. He’s so, so happy about this. His hand is still on your arm. His thumb is tracing warm, comforting circles on your gooseflesh skin even as he tries to devour you with his eyes.

The thing is, you kind of want him to.

“Oh,” Hiori says. His face has gone kind of dead and flat. “Look. Your little boyfriend is back.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you protest, reminded of your initial argument.

“Really?” Hiori smiles. It’s this special, rare thing that only shows up when he’s drunk. It’s just the hint of curved lips and eyes that are a little too bright. He looks kind of unhinged, but not in a serial killer way. It’s far more subtle than that. “Should I do something about it, then?”

[randomfoggytiger]

Fox Mulder: Jewish, Dutch, Or Other Some Such (UPDATED)

In my curiosity to explore Jewish cultural practices, I stumbled on an enlightening article (and a couple noteworthy theories.)

AUTHORIAL INTENT AND OTHER INTERPRETATIONS

I've briefly explored this concept in another meta post here, but it's wisest to tackle the subject as thoroughly as possible.

**Note**: This post has been shelved, since it failed to achieve its original goal. Proceed at your own peril.

Chris Carter named the Mulders in honor of his mother, a descendant of Dutch-Americans.

April 2001:

Loyal “X-Files” fans may know that Fox Mulder, the brainy protagonist played by David Duchovny, was named after Carter’s mother, the late Catherine Mulder Carter. (Scully was named for longtime-Los Angeles Dodgers’ baseball commentator Vin Scully – no relation). But very few people know that Carter’s mother was born to a Dutch-American family in Manhattan, Mont.

According to McCoy [Carter's cousin], the Mulder family moved to the Amsterdam-Manhattan area from Grand Rapids, Mich. Seven of their nine children were born in the Gallatin Valley and after an unsuccessful turn farming here, the Mulders moved to Southern California to start a feed and grain business in Bellflower, Calif. Norman Mulder was the only one of the nine children in the family to return to the Gallatin Valley. While McCoy and Mulder are Carter’s closest area relatives, there are probably many distant relatives still living in the Gallatin Valley’s Dutch community, McCoy said. She added that the California and Montana Mulders have always been, and remain, close.

(**Note**: While Kuiper, Tena Mulder's maiden name, is also of Dutch origin, that does not exclude the possibility of Jewish heritage.)

Meanwhile, David Duchovny and Vince Gilligan had a differing view. David inherently played any character through his experience of the world-- culturally-ish Jewish-- while Vince worked in a reference to Mulder's "Jewishness" in a deleted portion of Drive's script:

Crump: You know... what kinda name is Mulder, anyway? What is that, like, Jewish?

Mulder: Excuse me?

Crump: Jewish. It is, right?

Mulder: No it's not, yes I am....

But there is, yet again, another schism of dissent: Howard Gordon, write of the episode Kaddish, agreed with Carter's perspective, stating that he didn't think Mulder was Jewish "or even half-Jewish." The purpose of his work was to set Mulder up as the outsider peering inward: "We had never dealt with the horrors of antisemitism and the power of the word [on The X-Files]. And because I'm Jewish, it was something that was really compelling to me personally." As explained in Paula Vitaris's Cinefantastique article, Gordon purposefully wrote in three references to Mulder's Gentile identity: Mulder is unable to identify a Jewish book, does not read or speak the language himself (" I don't speak Hebrew, I don't know what that means"), and is unwilling to pass up a reference to Jesus Christ's Christian resurrection ("A Jew pulled it off 2000 years ago") in response to an antisemite. Gordon's Mulder, then, is a man who related to all people while still remaining, fixedly, an outsider.

CHANGES IN JEWISH CUSTOM

When toying with the idea of Mulder's Jewish ancestry, I had assumed that matrilineal lineage was the opening and closing authority on the subject.

Not so, apparently (or not completely.)

REFORM

Chabad.org

The Code of Jewish Law clearly states that a child of a Jewish mother is Jewish, regardless of the father’s lineage (or whatever else may show up in a DNA test), while the child of a non-Jewish mother is not Jewish. Matrilineal descent has been a fundamental principle of Torah since the Jewish people came into existence.

The code, however, has gone under intense scrutiny in recent years.

As My Jewish Learning explains: Although the Hebrew Bible defines Jewish identity in patrilineal terms (determined by the identity of the father) the Mishnah [a record of the oral Torah in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple, 70 CE] states that the offspring of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father is recognized as a Jew, while the offspring of a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father is considered a non-Jew. This talmudic position became normative in Jewish law.

This continued as the religious and ethnic norm for many centuries until, about, 1947: ...the CCAR adopted a resolution that stated that if a Jewish father and a gentile mother wanted to raise their children as Jewish, “the declaration of the parents to raise them as Jews shall be deemed sufficient for conversion.” And though the wording changed somewhat in 1961 ["The insistence on a “conversion” was dropped completely...."]

But it did not become-- in effect-- law until 1983 resolution:

By 1983, the CCAR was ready to spell out the patrilineal descent resolution in greater detail. By this time there was a broad-based commitment to egalitarianism. To many, it seemed unnecessarily biased to accept the child of a Jewish mother and a gentile father as Jewish while rejecting the child of a Jewish father and a gentile mother. 

[Rabbit Alexander] Schindler initiated a process that eventually led to the CCAR voting in favor of what became known as the Patrilineal Descent Resolution....

What this meant was that if a child was born of either a Jewish father or a Jewish mother, and was raised as Jewish, that child would be regarded by the Reform movement as Jewish. They were, however, expected to participate in the various Jewish life-cycle ceremonies which usually mark the life stages of a Jewish person.

1996 brought another development:  ...the CCAR created an 11-member task force to interpret and develop guidelines for the successful implementation of the patrilineal descent policy. The task force recommended that the resolution be referred to as “equilineal descent” or simply “Jewish descent” rather than patrilineal descent since the resolution accepted descent from either the mother or the father.

The radical shift, encapsulated, is as follows: While Jewish children had always been asked to prepare for their bar and bat mitzvahs, their Jewishness was never contingent upon successful completion of that ceremony or any other.  The Patrilineal Descent Resolution shifted the emphasis from birth to conscious choice.

DISSENT

Regardless, there is still broad disputation between Conservative and Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews:

...However, patrilineal Jews are likely to encounter problems later in life if they decide to become more traditional in their observance. A problem arises if Reform Jews who are Jewish by patrilineal descent choose to participate in ritual or celebrations at more observant synagogues. 

...Conservative and Orthodox Jews do not recognize patrilineal descent as a valid means of passing on Judaism. “Who is a Jew?” has been a controversial issue for several decades, and the Patrilineal Descent Resolution deepened the division between the opposing viewpoints. 

The article also raises an intriguing point:

Interestingly, this created the possibility that someone who had a Jewish mother, but had not been raised Jewish and had not had any public religious acts of identification such as a Jewish baby-naming ceremony, a bar or bat mitzvah, or a Jewish confirmation service could theoretically be regarded as a non-Jew despite his or her lineage. However, many rabbis recognize lineage alone.

SECULAR JUDAISM

If we work off of the assumption that Tena Mulder was a Jew, then Mulder's heritage is without question, as matrilineal descent is a core part of the Jewish identity.

It would then inherently inform Mulder's branch of Judaism, nonbeliever that he is--

Phoebe Maltz Bovy, The Canadian Jewish News:

Secular Jews are in some sense a process-of-elimination category. If other Jews register you as Jewish, if antisemites hate you for being Jewish, but you are not a practising member of any religion, then you are a secular Jew. It’s roughly the same as being nominally Jewish. It’s Jewishness, rather than Judaism, perhaps. A convert from Judaism to another faith might be culturally or ethnically Jewish but is not, obviously, a secular Jew. I will not belabour the terminological aspects of this....

“Secular” is a spectrum, and means different things to different people. It might mean avowed atheism, it might not. Secular Jews pick and choose from elements of their—our—religious heritage, but tend to interpret these as cultural, rather than spiritual, traditions. Though “pick and choose” suggests more intent than may enter into it.

MULDER'S EARLY PARENTAGE: A DIFFERING THEORY

Early canon states that Bill Mulder was Mulder's father, while later canon debates the issue back and forth a bit before settling on CSM in Season 9. In spite of this, the world en masse wouldn't have known the murky nature of Mulder's paternal origins; and, thus, would have regarded him in line with Bill's (and Tena's) ethnic heritage.

That being said, I do find it interesting that Mulder wouldn't have been considered a Jew until the 80s by the broader, entrenched community had his father-- and not his mother-- been a Jew.

Regardless, this speculation bears little weight on canon; and is just an interesting thought exercise.

CANONICAL INTERPRETATIONS (AND GAPS)

We are shown three Mulder family funerals: Bill Mulder's in The Blessing Way, Fox Mulder's in Field Trip, and Fox Mulder's again in Deadalive.

For Bill's funeral, Tena Mulder made the executive decision (or carried out his expressed wishes) to involve a minister, not Jewish Rabbi, in her ex-husband's final service:

For Mulder's Season 6 funeral, Scully glimpses a cross of white flowers standing above her partner's casket; and doesn't bat an eye:

For Mulder's Season 8 funeral, Scully chose a Protestant (or derivative thereof) minister-- not rabbi or priest-- to read from scripture and pray over her partner:

We aren't shown Tena Mulder's funeral; however, her burial wasn't within the traditional twenty-four hour timetable for Jewish custom (i.e. her body was likely preserved for multiple days while Mulder was tracking his sister.) Barring Shabbat or other religious observances, this points to two possibilities:

Tena Kuiper-Mulder was, like Carter originally imagined, a "generalized" American with Dutch roots.

Tena Kuiper-Mulder was a nonsecular Jew (with or without Dutch roots.)

Both interpretations work for her son, as well. Referring back to Howard Gordon's Kaddish, Mulder can't read or speak Hebrew; additionally, he is nonreligious (and devoutly so.) However: as @waxworkdaughter and @leiascully both pointed out (here and here, respectively), Jewish identity is a complicated, personalized topic that expands beyond simplified, black-and-white thinking. Mulder's lack of familiarity in Gordon's script could (and can) easily be explained if Tena Mulder distanced herself-- and by extension, her children-- from her heritage, for a myriad of reasons. Mulder's familiarity with other religious observances (i.e. kneeling in a Christian church and weeping for his sister in Conduit) could as equally be explained by many other factors without erasing a tie to that Jewish heritage.

With reference to the end scene in Conduit, Mulder's observance could simply be a shadow of Bill Mulder's WASP upbringing: Protestant symbolism tied to his father's upper crust, in-group sensibilities-- a societal expectation passed down as tradition.

CONCLUSION

Church and prayer, funerals and flags, could all be part of the nostalgic American 90s, symbols of meaning rather than actual belief.

Mulder could have been raised Christian, Jewish, agnostic; or all three. Mulder himself could be Jewish or Dutch or Dutch Jew or generic American (or a combination thereof.)

Tena Mulder could have been Jewish. Or Bill Mulder. Or neither.

The truth is, ultimately, what you make of it: everyone has their own perspective.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!