#maybe the movie version will leave it ambiguous

[cjbolan]

NEW EMILY WINDSNAP THEORY -- did Ms. Tailspin betray Jake Windsnap to King Neptune? She conveniently knew all the details of how he ended up in jail. And she did smile while talking about it...

“’Prison’, Ms. Tailspin said with a proud smile. ‘Neptune decided to make an example of him. He said Jake would be locked up for life.’“

(The Tail of Emily Windsnap)

[ncfan-1]

I’ve largely avoided news about the upcoming Star Wars movie regarding Rey. Anyone who was around when TROS comes out knows how I feel about it, and since I can’t remember if I ever said it out loud, I’ll say it now: TROS tainted my experience of the entire Sequel Trilogy. I have never watched any of the ST movies again since I watched TROS in theaters, not even TLJ, which in my frank opinion is stronger than TFA and TROS combined. I… I’m not sure how to feel about the Rey movie.

Just based on my memories of TROS, I can’t view the Sequel Trilogy as anything but Rey’s villain origin story. By the end of TROS, she is immensely powerful, most likely the most powerful Force user left alive in the galaxy, and on the same token, intensely isolated. Her relationships with Poe and Finn seem markedly strained; she doesn’t seem especially close to either of them. The one person she felt understood her is dead, and moreover, he died saving her life, which is such a can of worms where guilt and trauma is concerned. Who does she have who she can really confide her troubles in? Who does she have whom she can really lean on? She seems almost totally unmoored from the community she is ostensibly a part of, her ties to her friends superficial at best.

Moreover, she’s reverted back to a more extreme version of her getup from TFA and kept it at the end of the movie, suggesting that she’s regressed emotionally in some way. She certainly seems to be in deep denial about all of the traumatic things that have happened to her and all of the traumatic revelations she’s learned over the course of the three films. The fact that she latches on to ‘Skywalker’ as her new identity signals that she isn’t at peace with her own past and heritage, that she hasn’t addressed and resolved her own feelings about where she came from and who she is. She hasn’t addressed or resolved anything.

And then, to top it all off, we end with Rey in a spiritual wasteland, where her only companions are ghosts and a droid with the emotional maturity of a young child, and the movie leaves it extremely ambiguous as to whether Rey is only on Tatooine to visit, or if she intends to set up shop and live there. It all gives me an extremely ominous feeling about where Rey’s journey is supposed to go next. Maybe she doesn’t become a full-on villain, but unless her upcoming movie devotes a huge chunk of time in the beginning to having her actually work through everything that happened to her and everything that she learned, instead of just sinking further and further into denial about everything, Rey being remotely well-adjusted in that movie is going to come off as so tonally dissonant to me.

Like I said, she doesn’t have to be a full-on villain, but where I would naturally expect to see Rey next from TROS is to see her as a liminal figure, someone who doesn’t really seem to belong anywhere, morally ambiguous, at least somewhat perilous. I could see her as something like a trickster figure. I could see her as an antagonistic force. But as prospective grandmaster to a new Jedi Order? Nah. That makes no sense tonally, based on where we last saw her. Yeah, I know there’s supposed to be about fifteen years between TROS and this film, but the huge time skip isn’t going to be enough to make up for the tonal gap. Not for me. I’ll watch it when it comes out, but I’m not sure how well it’s going to sit with me.

[laufire]

I watched under the red hood recently so maybe 🔥 + Jason in it?

nice 😃

first of all, in order to discuse this, I need to establish the Really Big Changes between that movie and comics canon because... yeah, they're huge lol.

in the comics, Bruce and Jason's relationship had been fracturing in his last days as robin, because Bruce suspect Jason of pushing a rapist with diplomatic immunity from a balcony (the comic leaves this ambiguous. I prefer it this way). with terrible timing, Jason finds out that the mother that raised him wasn't his biological mother, so he sets out on a search for new family. after a whole international quest, he finds her... and she gives him up to the Joker in order to cover her *check's notes* embezzling crimes. the rest is history.

Jason is not brought back by the Lazarus Pit (and Ra's certainly wanted nothing to do with him lol). he awakes one day on his coffin because of comic-typical nonsense (alternate version of superman punched the world?? and it "set things right" because Jason was never "meant" to die). he digs his way out, gets hit by a car, gets taken to a hospital, stays in a comma, awakens but ~catatonic, escapes and wanders the streets stealing and sharing food with the homeless... then a league ally finds him, Talia al Ghul is informed, and takes Jason under her wing. when he's not healing fast enough for Ra's tastes and he wants to take Jason a way to the farm, Talia throws him into the Pit without Ra's permision.

in their final confrontation, Bruce is far less calm and doesn't throw the batarang to Jason's hand: he throws it to his neck, with potential lethal force, to fully stop him. then the Joker blows things up. it's kind of implied that Jason dies, but maybe the same magic (there's a purple light thingy?) took effect, so he eventually returns to annoy Dick in New York and briefly turn into a tentacled monster. that's not relevant here though.

oh, and Black Mask didn't need to free the Joker. he was already chilling in some amusement park, as he does. while Batman did... eh. who knows.

there are other, less important changes. because comics are weird and quirky and inherently hard to adapt in a way general audiences will take seriously. a very funny one is that the assassin Jason kills when he and Bruce are fighting side by side calls himself Captain Nazi.

okay so. I have MIXED FEELINGS about the film, precisely because of these changes (well, minus the Captain Nazi one, but that is REALLY funny of Jason, imo). I like it a lot... but I'm also bummed it removes Talia's importance... and that it backs the post-death narrative pushed by DC that Jason died because he was "reckless"/eagerly violent as Robin... the changes pertaining Bruce... and most of all, Jason's resurrection (again, I get it's comics-weird. But I really like the digging-out-of-one's-grave's motif!! and it could've easily been left ambiguous - the characters in the comics have no idea of why Jason came back, so. it could remain a mystery!).

and as I said, re: Bruce. sometimes I'm annoyed because the changes seem designed to make Bruce seem less... objectionable lol. other times I'm curious because the changes because they suggest a very different person in some key ways that spark my imagination in fic-related ways. depends on the day!

but overall it's a good film and a more than competent adaptation, that REALLY showcases my perfect son who never did anything wrong in his life xD, that portrays him as competent (very important to me), and that hits just the right spot when it comes to all my Jason and Bruce-Jason FEELS. and teeny tiny robin!Jason was adorable.

(I'm very happy the fandom outgrew its phase of fancasting Jensen Ackles as Jason though. what a travesty).

Send Me a 🔥+ a Topic, and I’ll Tell You My Honest Opinion About It

[xjulixred45x]

WISH: the power of Wishes (RE-IMAGINATION)

okay, I know that many people have already done this, but I want to make my own version of this and above all do my bit for Magnífico Stands (the only salvageable character in the entire movie) and instead of just using the original concepts of the work (which is great) i wanted to mix both the concepts that i liked from the final work and the discarded concepts. we'll see.

First of all, Magnifico would not be the villain, nor would Queen Amaya. Is it simply too much to ask for a king/queen who truly cares about their people in a sincere way and does not want to harm them? although there would be a fixed villain. But I'll leave it for later. Asha and her family remain the same, except that Asha never really considered the stories her father told her about the stars as something real and thought it was another way of referring to the Magnificent King's wishes. which encouraged more fanaticism for him. I think Asha would be more studious, not exactly a book eater, but someone who has many hyper fixations and wants to know absolutely everything about those topics that she is passionate about. which causes some distance between her and boys her age. I mean, his clumsiness is a little more justified (maybe he's even neuro divergent? but I'll leave it ambiguous). Thanks to this and her somewhat more theatrical personality (which we see at the beginning of the movie), Asha participates in various activities to help the inhabitants of Rosas. In this way we would be introduced to the utopian way of life of the kingdom and perhaps even to Asha's few friends. I think that of his group of friends the only relevant ones would be Daliah and MAYBE Simon. Daliah would have a disability that makes her use a crutch (as in one of the old concepts) and she is like a book worm, she and Asha probably met because they had many hyperfixations in common. Simon dreams of being a knight of the kingdom, so he and Asha bond by having similar goals and helping each other achieve them. (Asha and Daliah even help Simón train and encourage him 😭Simon helps Asha get jobs). In general they are a fairly united group. then the main plot of the movie begins, Asha wanting to be Magnífico's apprentice, BUT not because of her Grandpa! But she genuinely wants to use magic to make her family's life easier by being just her and her mother (they're not going to put a 90-year-old man to work) and take better care of them. message about family in your face. The entire At All Costs sequence occurs but with a different context, not only does Magnífico open up to Asha but she also opens up and tells the above, that since her father died she feels that she has to do something to improve the life of her family, take care of them as best you can. generating not only empathy on our part but also on Magnifico. thus becoming his official apprentice. (no, here there is no problem with returning the wishes or anything else, because probably having removed the filling it could be explained in more detail why several dangerous wishes should not be fulfilled.

As an extra fact: I like to think that desires can also disappear on their own when they are fulfilled without the need for Magnifico, simply to give it a little more weight)

Asha and her acquaintances are obviously very happy, and proceed to have certain interactions with Queen Amaya, perhaps just giving more lore about her and Magnifico (God knows we needed it) and even about the founding of Rosas itself and the Magic sistem.

I like to thing wish Sistem of Magic is a mix between The Owl House and Harry Potter.

This would be where the villain would be mentioned for the first time (mention, not appearance), who would be the one who destroyed the Old Village of Magnífico. For now I'll just call him Morgan (like, Morgan Le fay). and then there is the matter of the star. It seems to me that both Magnifico and Asha would be interested in this type of magic to prove ancient myths about stars, so they spend several weeks working on ways to "bring" a star to Magnifico's laboratory. First they study in depth Astronomy, alchemy, traditional magic and then they go to the attempts. **funny sequence of all the failed attempts to lower the star from the sky** I think there would come a time where Asha would even stay the night in the castle to be able to investigate Magnífico's books because her attempts failed and they are both super sleepless. There may even be a cute moment where Asha falls asleep in the castle so Amaya and Magnifico give her a blanket and pillow to make her comfortable (these two are so cute, I can't----) and Magnifico, searching for more books, ends up coming across the forbidden book. the book he took from his old town... that belonged to Morgan. Now, I imagined a whole Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde-like sequence with this(this was so long i'm sorry) Magnífico tempted to use the book, but as soon as he remembers everything that that same book provoked, what that book TOOK FROM him, it goes away, but he starts to reflect, if it is really good to keep that reminder, that constant nightmare, if he does well. and then (perhaps due to lack of sleep or a materialization of the book) Morgan appears. mocking him, laughing at him, like do you really think you will ever be free from what HE did? from all the damage he caused? He will NEVER be free of it. and Magnifico obviously denies this! Morgan should be dead now, this is just a bad dream. but "Morgan" lets him know that as long as he lives he will always be "there." Magnifico only sees it as all the damage he caused, he lets him know, that when he can completely get rid of his book, there will be no trace of it. That he'll be forgotten. Morgan makes it clear that he will never leave him, THAT HE WILL STAY no matter what he says while he struggles with Magnifico for the book.

AND WHEN MAGNIFICO HAS THE BOOK IN HIS HANDS HE SEE IN HIS REFLECTION THAT HE HAS GREEN EYES WHILE MORGAN SAYS THAT HE WILL BLOOM LONG AFTER HE IS GONE IF HE DECIDES TO FOLLOW HIS PATH (use dangerous magic, the star)... Magnificent knows Morgan well, he needs him to survive, he is a PARASITE, he may not be able to control him, but he will definitely rejoice when he knows that Morgan took his last breath. TRAUMA TIME, "Morgan" showing Magnífico a hallucination of how he destroys 1- the kingdom of roses 2- its inhabitants and 3- AMAYA. f for Magnifico. Magnificent, he's had enough of this, he just curses Morgan one last time, sending him to hell and throwing his book into the fire, which rises above his castle with a green flame... MEANWHILE Asha, still half asleep, settles in as she thinks about her failure with the star again, as she looks out the window at the northern stars, and JUST out of habit, she wishes she wished she could have one of those, so she could help people. and ZASSS! Before she realizes it, a great light appears in the room that almost blinds her and when she regains her composure she is a small creature! What a magic dust! A funny moment that my sister came up with for the inclusion of Star Boy is that Asha gave the star a simple nickname "little guy" and the star decided to change shape back into His kind of human boy😅 In any case, Magnífico hears the confusion and, with his adrenaline high, runs to see Asha and discovers a fucking star boy in his palace. He's shocked, obviously, but now he's much more cautious than before (lack of sleep + ptsd). I think it would take a moment with Amaya to calm down a little, remind him that he is not Morgan and that he would never use magic to hurt its habitants, and to get some sleep (another Amaya moment x Magnifico YEY!) Anyway, Asha, Amaya and Magnifico trying to teach Star boy the basics of human culture while figuring out how exactly it works without being too invasive.

But Star Boy dosen't make it easy, being kind of a knew-it-all(a little arrogant?), messing up some of the tries of Magnífico and Asha of get test material. Things like that.

I don't Even think he knows how frágile humans are at the Start, so it would take a little...incident to make him realize that. But definitely flying dust would be something fun 😝 I think Asha would have several moments with Star Boy showing her the kingdom of Rosas, just trying to use his magic for good and teach him human things.

But at the same time is hard with Someone who's never been with humans before, so when he tries to do something that Asha thinks is "good for the people" Star Boy misunderstand and end up doing something wrong, like grouwing too much the tries to the point the people can't reach them to get fruit, turn the water in ice for fun, etc. Her friends join in! but at the same time I think that some (especially Dalilah) would feel half done by having a new new person in the group (who is literally from another world).

Daliah Even Starts ti believe that Star Boy could be kind of dangerous, specially if she ever sees him mad, he literally is making a disaster without intention, what would happen if he DOES have intention?

But Asha tries to ressur her that Star Boy is not malicous, but just naive, and unexpefienced, and he's trying to learn! Trying to be better.

It would be Even better if Someone endup hurt or Asha almost gets hurt so Star Boy Star to realize, well, MORTALITY, and tries to make up what he did wrong And control better His own Magic. With the proper support ofc. which causes Daliah to distance herself a little while Asha and Star boy have their well-deserved romance (at all cost reprise? at all cost reprise) and Simon continues training hard to be a knight.

Daliah feels insecure around Star Boy, even if he is more careful and empathetic now, she definitely got the impression that his magic is dangerous, but does she feel guilty for distrusting Asha like that, for feeling jealous? so he is going to reflect alone.. That's when he runs into Morgan, probably while on the outskirts of Rosas. and in a certain way when they meet they have some worrying interactions. Morgan gets Daliah to tell him that she feels insecure about her friendship with someone and the whole thing, that she feels like someone is dangerous but they don't believe her, etc. Morgan, with a master's degree in Manipulation, tells her something personal to gain her trust, how he used to be seen as similar to where he came from, how he took refuge and distanced himself from everyone because he didn't fit in, how he had to find his own way of standing out, like her. It sounds like a very Evil Like me moment to me. I mean, Morgan manipulating Dalilah in an emotional moment by being passive aggressive and at the same time being "empathetic." You may even not only try to convince him to see his friends differently, but also his desires. Doesn't that seem archaic to you? Don't you think that having someone who fulfills your desires is something horribly selfish? Like? Are people going to learn if there is no pain involved? (a philosophy...valid, but taken to the extreme) Thanks to this, Daliah begins to hang out with her friends less, but with Star Boy around, they don't realize it at first. Star Boy and Asha do some experiments with their magic for Rosas' benefit, with good results, Magnifico is even being friendlier with him and not as tense. everything seems to be going well... but then Magnifico notices that some wishes have... disappeared. and in the distance, you can see a light on the outskirts of Rosas... a green light... oh no, no no no no- it has to be a mistake- a coincidence- The scene is made where help is sought from the town to find the traitor who stole the wishes, the people are worried, and they are attentive. Asha and Star Boy are confused: why would someone steal the wishes if only Magnifico can fulfill them? There is no way to know who it was? How could he get into the palace? Daliah seems especially distressed, it almost seems like she wants to approach Queen Amaya to tell her something. but at the last moment he decides not to and runs away. Asha and Star Boy get worried and go after her, following her through Rosas until they reach the outskirts of the kingdom. and that's when they see it. Morgan. He has his mirror scepter, Daliah is in front of him, tired from running.

Morgan has several orbs around him, stained and withered, it takes Asha a second to realize they are WISHES. THE LOST WISHES, HE WAS INFECTING THEM..

Now, two possible ways this could end. one attached to the film, another more of my own interpretation. The one attached to the movie is that, Morgan uses his powers augmented by wishes and manages to temporarily absorb Star Boy, and with his powers he manages to keep the entire kingdom of Rosas under his thumb. even Mangifico (maybe controlling it and only true love's kiss can break it?). but Asha, using what Magnifico taught her, manages to make a collective spell to summon the star and thus weaken Morgan, allowing the wishes to leave him and Star Boy using his powers/Magnifico to lock him in the mirror of his scepter. My own interpretation would be that Morgan would rather use people's fears, using their Wishes as a base, infecting them and in a certain way controlling them (and taking away vitality from the people of Rosas). that is the source of the power of evil, fear and ignorance. Then the people of Rosas, seeing that they are all weakened and that the wishes make Morgan stronger, decide to give the remaining wishes to Magnifico and Asha, so that they can recover and be able to face Morgan. Just saying that not only do they not need the physical desire for it to be fulfilled, but they will work to make it happen all together, now the COLLECTIVE desire is to defeat the villain. and thus they manage to give a Power Up to both Asha and Magnifico to fight with Morgan and thus free Star Boy, who similarly ends up locking Morgan in the mirror forever. In the end there is almost no wish left intact, Rosas is a mess, but now they have a new aura of optimism, of desire to try, to work to improve, the people decide to help with their own hands instead of just using magic. There could be a time skip for when Rosas is completely rebuilt, there could be more equity in magical and non-magical users, people no longer depend so much on their desires and work as a team with the few sorcerers there are to make everything better. Asha is Magnifico's official successor, so she is crowned princess of Rosas. while Amaya and Mangifico teach new, younger magic users. Simon is a guard, Dahlia found a way to feel complete in her own way (maybe working with Asha's mom) Star Boy and Asha together, as well as Amaya and Magnifico. In general the message would be that there are dreams that are selfish and that can lead to destruction, that should not be pursued. While there are dreams that are sincere but you have to work for them, everything you can, even if you need help to fulfill them, it is up to YOU to make it happen. and like that, this story is over. END

Shares, reglogs and comments are very welcome!

This was by long shot the LARGEST work i Ever done, but i hope You guys like it.

[runelocked]

rune speaks about remnant & rotten old men becoming computer viruses

in my version of gli.tchtrap, it actually IS william to an extent. not the version of him that got springtrapped though it does have a partial memory of that, kind of like it’s watched it happen in a movie, but the part of him he used remnant to extract and put into the computer. this is gonna be rambling probably bear with me ALSO IF YOU WRITE ANY OF THE CHARACTERS MENTIONED. your canon takes precedence in my threads w u!!! — this is just me trying to sort this out in my head svkxbdk

trigger warnings for child death / murder, human experimentation, mental instability, self harm ( but because of self experimentation ), general dark themes !

so remnant !!!! is kind of a weird ambiguous thing in my canon mainly because i haven’t thought much about it. it keeps william alive, it’s extracted from the blood of those that have suffered agony in their last few moments, without agony it’s less potent and kind of useless. it extends lifespan and gives users extra invincibility against horrific injuries, but mainly just keeps them alive no matter what state their body is in. that’s the extent of development i’ve done of remnant in my canon so far.

but i’ve been toying with what gli.tchtrap actually IS recently and think it’s explicitly linked to william’s experimentation. because of course he experimented on himself too — he HAD to. he wasn’t about to waste remnant on anyone else, and he wasn’t about to give anyone else a substance that kept them alive and then experiment on them: that would just create more problems for him lmao. so yeah, 100% experimented on himself, very carefully, and gli.tch.trap is the result of william realizing he could utilise his OWN remnant for his own gain.

so remnant: the substance that keeps the spirits tethered to animatronics and to their bodies, right. but it exists in everyone: it’s only made POTENT by the release of a chemical / substance during bodily agony. this . . . doesn’t actually mean DEATH, though. william kills because it’s much easier to deal with dead people than deal with leaving them alive after putting them through agony — it makes more sense to him to kill them instead of dealing with the fallout ( and because it gives him that extra rush and them that extra despair ). if, then, he can extract remnant & agony WITHOUT killing . . . there’s no real reason he can’t extract his own.

which means what, then ? well, it means that william probably at LEAST once or twice inflicted excruciating pain on himself to bottle his own agony & remnant. probably at his most unhinged ( just before liz died ). he’s not thinking straight, he’s sleeping maybe like. four hours every few days, he’s killing and experimenting and generally at his most unstable. there’s no real reason he WOULDN’T experiment on himself, first out of curiosity, then out of the realization he can use his OWN remnant to further his lifespan — rather than keeping THIS body alive, he can use it to tether an ‘imprint’ of himself to something else.

to a computer.

remnant essentially is just that, in my canon: an imprint. a ghost of a person in their worst most painful moments, tethered to the living world while the actual REAL part passes on or in william’s case springlocked in eternal agonising life. so glitchtr.a.p is . . . just that. the part of william at his most unstable and powerful, captured forever in that computer virus that its creator transferred it to. it’s not william exactly. but it’s also not NOT william. it’s like a snapshot of him captured in time with one fixed personality and one fixed goal, unable to ever change or develop unless it gets corrupted or something idk. it’s clever, and knows how to manipulate to get its own way, but it’s not . Fully William ? it has his wants, goals, needs, memories, feelings from the late 80s. it sees itself as human, in a way. and it acts that way: it can be affected by emotion and experience in the exact manner of way that william would have been, at the time of its creation.

but whereas william deteriorated drastically after liz’s death ( which happened like. 1989/1990-ish in my canon, but obv changes dependent on who i’m writing with as does all of this post!!!! ), the part of him that is glitch.tr.ap does NOT. it retains that same feverish dangerous personality, still fixated on killing & eternal life, whereas william in reality kind of . . . falls apart. first time experiencing real consequences to his actions and first time he can’t blame someone else. this last part is v dependent on who i’m writing with so is v open to changing but this is how i set out writing william: mounting in instability & power until liz’s death, where he shrinks, and begins to try and focus more on trying to move on with his life. glitch.t.r.ap doesn’t have this though — he’s william frozen in time essentially, forever at that height of his work.

[svankmajerbaby]

A Brief (?) Analysis of the Barbie (2023) Teaser

here’s the teaser itself btw

ok So. first of all getting a teaser that looks so polished this early on (considering this comes out in July) is kind of amazing. it makes me wonder just how much special effects it will have, and if there’s any particular reason for it to be released specifically in july of 2023 (apart from competing with nolan’s latest).

but to what matters: i have three big questions regarding this movie so far. 1. who’s the target audience, 2. what time it is set in, 3. what place it is set in. all of them are more ambiguous than it sounds.

1. who’s the target audience

we don’t get a mpaa rating, but i’m gonna assume it will be pg-13 (as most movies are nowadays it feels like). i do not believe this will be targeted towards kids, which makes me curious to what sort of message it will try to send its audience and what themes it’s trying to convey. from the admittedly unreliable original plot that was announced, in which barbie is kicked out of barbieland for not being “perfect” enough (which tbh i dont love as a base concept), i had a feeling this would be a sort of enchanted 2007-style movie. barbie has to leave her dreamhouse for the grimy reality, ken might chase after her through the real world to bring her back, maybe will ferrel’s big bad executive discovers shes left and tries to ‘discontinue’ her or something, barbie will learn about self-acceptance or bravery or self-reliance or her own inner strength along the way, happy ending. i want to give gerwig and baumbach a little more credit, though, and say that they can do something more interesting. not being focused on sending a positive message to kids, and hopefully being allowed by mattel to actually put barbie in challenging situations can help this happen.

also, there has been (again, unreliable) reports on the movies that influenced this barbie feature: where i had thought, thinking of a children’s movie version, about enchanted 2007 meets the lego movie 2014, or even something like legally blonde 2001, theres jacques demy movies and the truman show 1998 --which i think is absolutely fascinating. this does promise a more “grown up” narrative, which im excited to see.

2. what time it is set in

one of the first images we see are of little girls playing with baby dolls, dressed in this old-timey but still twentieth century fashion.... considering the reveal at the end of this sequence, it would be safe to say they’re meant to be 1950s little girls. i have a feeling this sequence is either just for the teaser or it won’t have much actual weight in the movie --it’s meant to be a joke, is what im trying to say. still, it does give a glimpse of what the general style and tone of the movie will be like.

(this is also just a detail but i love how the girls’ clothes are all in these dusty dirt tones that make them blend with the background, its very much in line with how “life was all dull and grim until Barbie™ showed up!!”)

and also, it makes the pink pop out, of course. but the lettering is usually a great indicator of tone and time a movie is set in: and this lettering in particular, used around the late 1970s throughout the 1980s, i think is really good to make a guess. i don’t think the movie will be set in any particular time (at least not the scenes in “barbieland”, but more on that later) but choosing a styling more associated with the 80s does make the story one that is less focused on modern critiques and successes associated with the brand and more on the nostalgic feeling of the doll itself. separating the modern brand from the past also allows for a much broader critique, which makes for any self-aware jokes much easier than if it mocked decisions made by modern-day mattel, is what i mean (this is what i meant by associating it with enchanted 2007: the disney movie was made decades after the cliches it mocks, like the helpless princess who sings to animals and marries the prince rightaway, so at least to me it was funny but not particularly topical or timely. like a modern mocking of victorian corset-wearing, its not the sort of critiques i find particularly urgent or interesting to make)

3. what place it’s set in

the united states of course, probably los angeles --but i mean it in what reality its gonna be set. from my enchanted-meets-lego movie perspective, i thought it would differentiate between the barbieland (the clear artificial space these characters inhabit) and the real world (where barbie goes to learn a valuable lesson)

(the lack of privacy is astounding, which, if we are really going to go the truman show route, is pretty cool in and of itself. and also an amazing feat of set design, if it’s all real sets)

the teaser shows all “artificial” spaces, which by the production design all seem part of barbieland. i’m assuming its to convey the fun glitzy comedy tone of the movie so far, which would probably be more developed once we get a full length trailer. though, if the whole movie is set in barbieland (since those reports of the plot are admittedly pretty old and i think gerwig and baumbach have done extensive rewrites, if not a complete overhauling of the script), that could also be very interesting. by not having a parallel reality, we would have to see barbie develop own opinions and change this whole society from the ground up, instead of having the influence of a real world’s views affecting her and pushing her to change. i don’t think thats truly the case (the existence of will ferrel’s lord business-style matter executive villain/antagonist throws a wrench on this theory) but it would still be fun to see.

all in all, even with a brief teaser we get a lot of info. i believe so far that this will not be meant to be a children’s movie (so any hopes that it will do a shoutout to the direct-to-video movies are rather moot), it will focus on a nostalgic version of barbie instead of any set in the present or in an actual time period, and that at least the reports of there being a “barbieland” are true. it exists, and its plastic, and fantastic, and very, very pink

[thegeminisage]

76 for broken road please!!

76. Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]? 

actually, most of what i wanted got into broken road! i'm really happy about that. there were only a few things i didn't quite have room for:

john & mary resolution. i left it pretty ambiguous so everyone could imagine their own ending, because i just couldn't decide what felt right. but it feels like a little bit of a cop-out, you know? ultimately though it was just out of the scope of this fic

and speaking of things out of the scope of this fic...since it's a fix-it fic, i was sad that i couldn't bring back eileen. they fridged her for absolutely NO reason whatsoever and i'm mad about it. like, yes, samwena is great and fun, but i like them equally as friends, and i LOVED sam and eileen...but it would have required SO much more work (and words!) to make it feel earned and this fic is already over the 100k limit

similarly, i would have liked to include pov from mary and sam, and go deeper into their issues with each other. it's a four-person family! john got time with sam, mary, and dean, and dean got time with sam, mary, and john, but by virtue of excluding these two povs they didn't get much meaningful stuff hashed out between themselves. again, this was due to size and scope. it would have been another 50k at least, maybe even another 100k. additionally, the bad guy of this story - michael - doesn't tie into their stories as well as he does with dean & john, so whatever work i did with them would not have had the climax that dean and john had. if anything, there needs to be some kind of roleswap broken road fic where we do the same thing with mary and sam but they're playing whack-a-mole with lucifer instead and eileen is the love interest that survives despite all odds. i'm never going to write it, so this is an open invitation, lol.

believe it or not, there was originally a scene where dean taught jack to play pool. in the original version of this fic, which was gen and not dean/cas (i thought i didn't have room, but after nov 5...), they left the bunker a lot more. (actually, by the end of writing it, i was a little frustrated with how little they seemed to need to leave it for all the melodrama to happen! i wish i could have varied my scenery more.) so, prior to the sex scene in ch3, when dean confides in cas about his complex feelings about john - this originally happened at a bar, or some other place with pool tables - maybe there was a pool table in the bunker, lol. dean would teach jack a few things about pool and talk to him about john. (this ultimately became the conversation they had during the hatchet man movies.) sam, mary, cas, and john would come in, and cas would jerk his head at dean so they could talk semi-privately at the bar or in the corner to tell dean how the mission went. john would move to teach jack how to hold a pool stick, cas would become alarmed, and dean would stop him from interfering. john would play Good Dad and teach jack a couple of tricks without doing anything horrible (i think at this point he either didn't know what jack was or was less bothered by it), and dean and cas would both relax. and then dean would go on to say the same things he said in ch3 about john being good to him, just...without the sex. that all got moved around - due to the urgency of dean's situation, which was necessary to build tension, we didn't have time for as many quiet moments like this. i replaced pool with hatchet man because it was necessary for dean to be restrained, and i love the hatchet man episode, and also because john going "we all do bad things sometimes" was in my opinion unequivocally hilarious. after i decided to do dean/cas after all, i instantly pictured this conversation moving to the car - you absolutely cannot have their first time be anywhere else - and that was that. history and memes were made.

thank you for asking actually!! that was so much more than i realized i still had in my brain, lol. i'm really happy that people still think about broken road so often after the fact, it makes me warm and fuzzy.

[ASK MEME]

[rovermcfly]

Any frank & sonny headcanons that don’t really fit in the modern gomorrah but that you would like to share with us?

[crashes through door] OKAY DONT LEAVE ALRIGHT

One of my favourites is thinking about them post-movie. obviously the movie ends ambiguously on purpose but I like to imagine they make it out and run away to Italy together (maybe a small town around lake como bc I was there while forming this hc). Sonny is "Italian-American" in the sense that sure, someone in his family line did come from Italy but like most americans who claim some certain European ancestry he doesn't actually have any connection to the place or culture, doesn't speak the language, has never been there and essentially bases his knowledge only on stereotypes. but he's always dreamed of going to italy so that's where they run away to and like, live their own version of a happy end which is a lifetime of being perpetually simultaneously divorced and newly-wed. all in al they're happy.

@all-chickens-are-trans has SO many amazing headcanons for their post-movie life in Italy and wrote an amazing fic about it too and you should ask them about their various headcanons as well bc they're 👀👀

I also love coming up with other insane headcanons that I would never canonize in the script but are just how I like to do fandom, like for example sonny was what his mother always called him and moreno is his mother's maiden's name, bc he adores his mother and she was the most important person in his life UNTIL HIS FATHER BRUTALLY MURDERED HER WITH A GUN WHICH IS WHY HE REFUSES TO TOUCH GUNS. however canonically, sonny is a p carefree guy and idk if he'd have an angsty backstory or is really just vibing.

also sonny can't drive. I just think it'd be funny if he literally just doesn't have a drivers license and cannot drive.

Sonny literally experienced the events that are chronicled in the song Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. like that song is about him.

Collins, the rookie cop, quits the force after the events of the movie and becomes an artist. maybe he writes a book about the mysterious disappearance of Detective Barnes or something. And on that note- in the modern gomorrah universe there is a buzzfeed unsolved episode about it and shane and ryan accidentally stumble over the truth without realising when they jokingly theorize that the detective fell in love with the mysterious suspect and they eloped.

well these weren't so much "frank & sonny" headcanons as just general headcanons but I hope you enjoy them anyway

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

The worst part of The Maze Runner was its ending. No, not the ending; the last few minutes. It overexplained too much when it should’ve just cut to black. But the film couldn’t leave the characters’ fate ambiguous; it had to set up its sequel. Well, the follow-up sure doesn’t feel like it was worth it. While knowing the series does come to a proper end does make this second entry better, The Scorch Trials takes the story in a new direction that feels like a bad idea.

Set immediately after the last film ended, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and the other maze escapees find the outside world a sun-blasted wasteland populated by cranks (zombies). When they realize the W.C.K.D. (World Catastrophe Killzone Department) is still operational, they set out into the unknown, searching for allies in the desolate landscape with their enemies only a short distance behind.

The first chapter felt original but The Scorch Trials feels so familiar. Like a better version of the later Divergent movies, without the factions or the dopey romance. There’s little character development which makes you grateful for the time spent with the characters previously. Those moments still resonate enough for you to remain attached to Thomas, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and Winston (Alexander Flores). They’re navigating through obviously slimy villains who, once revealed fully, make you go “come on, really?” I’m not spoiling anything by telling you this. Just look at Aidan Gillen’s face and tell me you’d trust him. You can’t. He's as subtle as W.C.K.D. - pronounced “Wicked”. Boy is that a contrived acryonym.

The chases and action scenes are where this film racks up some points. We’ve seen zombies done many many times but The Scorch Trials finds a couple of new things to do with them. With the desert setting, this winds up being kind of like a better version of Resident Evil: Extinction. It ain’t much but this chapter is necessary to get to the end so I’ll take what I can get.

Overall, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is an unmemorable but serviceable post-apocalyptic teenage adventure. It ranks better than many of the others due to its focus on the plot and not the high-school romance and drama but not much here feels original. I still feel as though we should’ve simply cut to black a few minutes before the end  of the first film, but maybe the final entry will change my mind. (On Blu-ray, May 31, 2019)

[thatsparrow]

thoughts on lady chatterley's lover (2022 version)

visually stunning—every shot of the grounds, wragby, the fashion—lush and delightful the whole way through

deeply sexy, not just in the sense that, you know, there’s a good amount of sex, but that the sex itself is uh pretty damn hot, tender and intimate, messy and urgent and desperate, the hands! every instance felt like it spoke to the connection connie and oliver have, what they needed from each other in each moment. I also loved that the scene with the most nudity was the two of them playing in the rain, which was fun and romantic and easy and also not particularly sexual at all

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know much about the plot before watching, and so was surprised at the start to feel so fond toward connie and clifford’s relationship—they genuinely seemed to love one another and make each other happy, and it’s not like that all just stops after clifford is injured and they move to wragby. in no way am I trying to justify clifford’s possessiveness, but I do think the beginning of the movie gave more nuance and understanding to the conflicting needs of the marriage than the latter half. it’s understandable that clifford wants to move to wragby after his injury, to return to a place where he feels safe and secure while recovering (as well as maybe wanting a level of privacy as opposed to the visibility of london) but it’s also understandable that it leaves connie feeling isolated and lonely. I think it’s understandable that clifford is reluctant to have anyone’s help but connie, particularly as he’s newly vulnerable and requires more assistance than he’s used to, but it’s also very clear that clifford prioritizing his own needs has connie feeling overwhelmed and exhausted (“when she’s taking care of you, who’s taking care of her”). now, clearly things become a lot less understandable when clifford refuses to let connie visit her sister, which is why I really love the scene when hilda shows up to call clifford on his bullshit, and he listens (albeit temporarily) and hires mrs. bolton for help. but then as the movie goes on, it feels like the treatment of clifford becomes unambiguously villainous—he takes on this very paternalistic view of himself and the surrounding time and the mines, he exploits the miners, he admits to seeing them as distinctly lesser than himself. given that the movie is largely concerned with class dynamics, it makes sense that it would draw a sharper contrast between clifford and oliver, but it does feel like by the end of the movie, clifford is much more a charicature than the character he started off as

also speaking of, I loved mrs. bolton, and how protective and non-judgmental she was of connie’s affair, both to connie herself, and also while defending connie’s character and refuting ned’s rumors to the other women

it surprised me that we got that scene of connie in the town while the miners were striking, where she’s confronted by this very uncomfortable reality, and then we don’t return to that issue in any real way beyond hearing about how clifford is further exploiting the miners of the town

thinking about the nature of possessiveness and possession in the movie — of course there’s how clifford views connie, any potential child she has, the town, the miners, but to me a sense of possession also felt present in connie’s first interactions with oliver (when she visits his cabin and there’s this sense of expectation that he invite her inside, and then later when she discovers the hut and asks for the key), but also thinking about it in terms of the title—“lady chatterley’s lover,” connie is only identified in relationship to her husband, and oliver in relation to her (compare to oliver’s letter at the end of the movie, where he’s relaying the story in which they now have their own distinct identities, connie is “the lady in love” and he’s “the gamekeeper”)

my understanding of the book is that it has a much more ambiguous ending (we get oliver’s letter but no proof that the two actually end up together), and there was something—reassuring? interesting? comforting? that the movie is so clear that these two get a happy ending. like there’s a moment where it doesn’t feel it’s going that direction (hilda warns the two of them what will happen if they're found out, the rumors spread, oliver is fired, mrs. flint wants nothing to do with connie in case clifford kicks them off their farm, women are gossiping about connie in venice) but then it pivots and we get mrs. bolton saying (maybe just me, but felt very fleabag s2 fourth wall break) “this is a love story,” and not only are they together, but together in a place where they’re both free from their prior marriages and the complications of their pasts and can raise their child and live together in peace

[dirigibleplumbing]

When do you think Castiel consciously knew he was in love with Dean? Like he’d been down bad for a WHILE and clearly he loved him, but him canonically knowing he was in romantic love with Dean means there’s was a point of canonical realization and oh boy :3

(And when do you think Dean knew he was in love with Cas? I think it was Purgatory 1 at the earliest or the widower arc at the latest, barring the idea he doesn’t know until Cas gets taken by the empty and THEN he gets it.)

I don’t actually have strong opinions on these! I like how open to interpretation it is. It can be frustrating how the show presents certain things in a different light depending on the story a particular episode is trying to tell--how the boys feel about John or killing “innocent” monsters being prime examples of this--but in other ways I think this is a really beautiful part of the show. 

It’s also a necessary one because of how serial fiction like long-running TV shows are constructed. If some show bible or consistent showrunner had had and executed a 5-season or even 15-season arc planned for the whole show, it would look wildly different, and likely not include Cas at all.

Thinking about fic I’d write or enjoy reading, or about what I’d want to see from a s16 or sequel movie, I think the answers to these questions could vary depending on what else is going on. For fic, fill in the blank with any post 15x18 fics you enjoy and how they handled it.

For further examples:

A sequel movie that is just about Dean rescuing Cas from the Empty, from Dean’s POV while Cas is “asleep,” could be served well by Dean not realizing he was in love with Cas until the aftermath of Cas’s confession, from some combo of denial, self-awareness, self-identity, internalized homophobia, etc. It could even leave the answer ambiguous--Dean knows he’s in love with Cas now, and maybe he has for years (this would be harder to pull off but still possible, I think).

On the other hand, a Cas-POV Cas-narrated “Man Who Would Be King”-style movie about Cas being rescued from the Empty could save money by relying heavily on clips from early episodes and Cas describing when and how he figured out what he felt was romantic love for Dean, and I think almost anywhere from “the moment he laid a hand on him in Hell” to “the second he rebelled at the end of s4″ to “during ‘Free To Be You and Me’“ to “when Cas was in a circle of fire at the end of s6″ to--etc., etc.--would ring true

A s16 where Jack decides to stop being God and he and Cas, Dean, and Sam go back to right before 15x20 along with fan favorite dead characters and do monster-of-the-week hunts could have an arc where Dean initially thinks he’s just not into Cas at all, they struggle to find their footing in friendship now, Dean eventually realizes he’s totally butt-crazy in love with Cas and that he really wants to retire, and the season builds up to a Dean love confession and happy retirement

A s16 where Jack is at least partially controlled by Chuck and some version of Team Free Will (could include any character on Earth, Heaven, Hell, or the Empty!) works to free him from it could literally BEGIN with Dean finding Cas, going “um, hey, me too” and a kiss, and then it’s just a variation on their regular dynamic as they try to defeat Chuck for real this time. The specifics of when they realized could or could not be revealed in further episodes--there’s plenty else for them to misunderstand and fight about!

A s16 or movie that’s paralleling the Purgatory 1.0 plotline in terms of an Empty rescue could decide that Cas realized when Dean prayed to him every night, and Dean realized during “The Trap” (or even vice versa)

A s16 or movie that’s paralleling seasons 4 and 5 in terms of a defeat of Chuck / freeing of Jack could pick any time during those seasons for either Dean or Cas

and so on!

If any of those were done well, they would ring true for me. 

AND I would still read and write fic where they realized at times other than what’s told by the new canon.

[westshellos]

cyborgs, magical girls, girlboss capitalism and temp-scapes: a review of bee and puppycat

[ preface: this is in reference to the original youtube series, not the netflix lazy in space re-release. i liked the original’s subtle storytelling and worldbuilding techniques (ye old adage, “show not tell”), which, in my opinion, was carelessly done away with in the re-release. the netflix version feels more “tell” than “show”, and its in-your-face expositions completely remove the ambiguity and complexity that made the original so enjoyable. so yeah, i’m a little disappointed with the direction of the netflix version, but because i love the concept of the series so much, i’ll be following it to see if it gets any better. 

also, spoilers ahead, of course. ]

the first time i watched bee and puppycat 4 years ago, i couldn’t help but see parallels between bee’s damaged arm in the final episode and major kusanagi’s mangled cyborg body in the iconic tank scene of ghost in the shell (1995). i couldn’t find any sources linking the two, and i don’t know if natasha allegri drew from mamoru oshii specifically, but let me outline their similarity: in their respective scenes, both of them exert themselves to the point of bodily destruction, exposing their bodies as mechanically-constituted—beneath the appearance of skin, both bee and kusanagi are shown to be amalgamations of wires, nuts and bolts.

immediately i was reminded of donna haraway’s cyborg manifesto, which suggested that examining the figure of the cyborg was productive for feminism because it represented a rejection of established boundaries—such as that of human/animal, human/machine, nature/nurture, man/woman and so on and so forth—that have structured our ways of knowing thus far (gross oversimplification but you get the point). 

ghost in the shell captures this sense of productive transgression more directly: kusanagi is portrayed to be simultaneously masculine in her strength and behavior yet feminine in her physical appearance; she’s also a mechanical body with an (albeit questionable) “organic” implanted soul or “ghost”. the movie in turn asks questions about life—how we classify something as living and why others don’t fall under the same category. it complicates our assumptions about biology, humanity and gender. in line with haraway’s project, ghost in the shell highlights new possibilities of thinking about the human. maybe if we abandon our narrow-minded assumptions, they both posit, we can also leave behind the pointless bickering over who can or cannot go to which bathrooms or why men shouldn’t be allowed to wear dresses and focus on other things that might actually contribute to improving lives. 

bee and puppycat doesn’t quite interrogate the same things, or if it does it isn’t presented as overtly. starring an unemployed woman named bee and her part-puppy part-cat pet-partner, the series revolves around the eponymous pair traversing strange landscapes in an alternate dimension named “fishbowl space”, completing absurd “temp jobs” and hanging out with bee’s friend and aspiring-chef deckard. on the surface, it’s easy to look at its pastel color palette and cutesy aesthetic and dismiss its seriousness. but a closer look at allegri’s history and the series itself proves that it’s far from shallow. having worked on adventure time (like her contemporary rebecca sugar) prior to bee and puppycat, allegri’s show has been compared to both adventure time and steven universe, which have each gained attention for the depth and solemnity of their narratives when contrasted against their cartoon visuals. combine that with the parallels between bee and kusanagi, and you get me wondering what the significance of the cyborg is in the show. i don’t have an answer quite yet, but i do have thoughts. 

one thing that caught my attention was the character bee herself. unlike your usual girlboss (think amy dunne, furiosa, lara croft, or even major kusanagi), bee is unemployed, unmotivated, lazy (hence the tagline: lazy in space), lives alone with her pet and does nothing but eat and watch tv all day. under the lens of contemporary girlbossery, bee is a catastrophic failure. 

but girlbossery, as we already know, is a capitalist scam. not only does it perpetuate the idea that gender equality is contingent on economic productivity, it repackages consumerism as feminism—“if you want to be the perfect girlboss like me, you need to have this thing!” or “if you want to support a girlboss, please buy this!” worst of all, girlbossery sells you the lie of an ideal woman who is, more often than not, just a reinforcement of the status quo: she’s usually thin (coded as “healthy”) and conventionally attractive (read: european-looking), smart and always financially successful (by her own merit, of course). at its core, the girlboss is an exclusionary construct that ignores the intersections of race and class in favor of a flimsy promise of meritocratic justice. 

bee, then, signals a “willingness to move beyond the ‘girl power’ rhetoric...and offer a range of nuanced female characters”, as mihaela mihailova writes. sometimes, this just means someone who’s relatable. bee might not be a girlboss, but she is one of us. allegri herself was surprised at “[h]ow many girls [watched the show and] were like, ‘oh, that’s me.’” having relatable female characters means having realistic depictions of women that might not conform to societal norms or expectations; it means representing women as we are rather than putting forth abstract ideas of women that are fundamentally unattainable. 

what has the cyborg have to do with all of this? to be honest, and like i said, i’m not sure. but allegri has cited sailor moon as a major inspiration for the series, and that gives me some sort of insight: maybe it’s an update of the mahou shoujo (literally magical girl) genre. instead of a young girl who transforms into a cute costume via the power of magic and defeats evil (often older, powerful women), you have a cyborg who’s essentially your average millenial/older gen-z woman fighting a mysterious, abstract dark force from an alternate dimension that coincidentally is a realm where precarious (and not to mention absurd) work is found. while classic mahou shoujo tropes arose in the 1990s and are aligned with notions of feminine power and innocence, bee and puppycat’s incorporation of the cyborg seems to be a 2010/2020s rejection of these ideas. for the cyborg, as haraway says, “is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and perversity. It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence.” 

bee’s cyborg ontology firstly highlights that femininity is a construct that is fluid, malleable and therefore imitable—when we find out that she’s actually a cyborg at the end of the series, it doesn’t stop us from perceiving her as a girl. she looks like a girl, dresses and behaves like one, so why would we think any different? what that unveiling does is say that anyone can be a girl, as long as they adhere to enough social norms. in doing so, bee and puppycat suggests that there is no magical feminine power because there is no inherent feminine essence to draw from. bee doesn’t channel the magical power of femininity like her magical girl counterparts; she relies on her mechanically-constituted body. her attempt at saving moully in the final scene wasn’t done with magic but by harnessing her mechanical strength as a cyborg. 

that is not to say that older mahou shoujo depictions are “bad”—what does that mean, anyway?—rather, bee and puppycat conveys a shift in female representation that is more inclusive and relevant in the present. which brings me to my next point: temp jobs and precarious work. 

while deciding on the primary text for my ht i stumbled upon temporary, a book by hilary leichter with a premise that’s supiciously similar to bee and puppycat’s concept of fishbowl space (albeit published after the web series aired): a young woman floats through different worlds, fulfilling various duties under a myriad of temporary positions with no prospect of stable, permanent employment. similarly, bee is fired from her job at deckard’s family restaurant and earns a living with puppycat by going to strange places in “fishbowl space” to complete whimsical, absurd tasks. in one of the first episodes, bee and puppycat go to jellycube planet (pictured below) to complete the task of feeding a sugared cherry on one side of the planet so food will grow for the animals on the other side of the planet, all of which are owned by an unnamed alien farmer (also pictured below). 

if leichter’s temporary is about the precarity of work in the age of late capitalism, then bee and puppy cat is undoubtedly on the same page. not only do the disparate planets and unnamed clients in the show parallel the fractured, contract-based and short-term nature of jobs in our real world, bee almost always encounters danger within fishbowl space. whether it’s the aforementioned cherry being a soul-eating monster that tries to eat bee or the shadowy black hands that end up capturing moully, these landscapes of temporary work (or temp-scapes, as i deem them) are often treacherous and difficult to navigate. with precarious jobs taking up an increasingly larger proportion of the job market, and with the pandemic exacerbating this trend, bee and puppycat sees the magical girl grow into a woman whose freedoms and safety are threatened by the demands of the economy. bee’s cyborg body, then, is also symbolic of the effects of capitalism as it continues to figure humans as productive machines. 

nevertheless, i think bee and puppycat is trying to construct something positive. about femininity, capitalism and about the future of humanity. and with a cyborg at the heart of the show, i don’t doubt that they will. or maybe i’m just overthinking all of this. either way, the web series was really fascinating and engaging and, if fate allows, i might write all of these ideas out in full detail in the future. until then, i rate the bee and puppycat series a 9/10. 

[uzumakiheart]

About the Little Women post — I've only watched the 2019 version and I also got the idea that Jo never loved Laurie romantically, but someone I know who doesn't even know what shipping is watched the 1994 version and thought it's ambiguous. If you watched both, do you think that maybe it could be because of that and not just ships? (in this case at least)

sorry it took me a while to answer this but i wanted to watch the 1994 version again before i answered this. and lol yeah i should’ve clarified that i was mostly talking about the 2019 version because in my opinion it’s so much better, it’s like my favorite movie ever. the 1994 version is very good, but imo it failed to properly develop the relationship between amy and laurie. because of this, it doesn’t feel nearly as genuine, and it’s not as satisfactory so it leaves room for ambiguity in jo/laurie’s relationship. buttt at the same time the movie does portray jo and laurie’s relationship as very sibling-like to me 🤔

[rosiegeee]

Disney Film Characters That Should Have Been LGBTQ+

After my list of all lgbt characters in disney films I thought I’d make a list of those who should have joined them. This won’t be a fan-ficy post as all these characters had great reason to be not straight.

Oaken: Frozen

When this scene aired the lgbt community lost there minds as in the sauna there appears to be four children between the ages of 5 to 17, and 1 adult male, and since he referred to those in the sauna as his family many people automatically assumed that the man was his partner and the one he was raising his children with. This would have been so easy for Disney to leave in a sort of limbo canon but instead (despite gay marriage supposedly being legal in Arendelle) they eventually confirmed he has a wife. This inferiorities me because all they had to do was nothing, but they couldn’t let people think one of there characters were gay.

Valkyrie: MCU

I know she is confirmed bisexual, my beef is how marvel and the mcu has cut both of her only lgbtq scenes. There was one where we see two people leaving her bedroom (one of which female) and they are implied to be her lovers, and then an extended version of her flashback where we see that the blonde Valkyrie was her girlfriend. They are so proud of her but cut the only two scenes that would have made it canon on screen. Maybe Love and Hammers will fix this, but for now I am very mad and what they did to her.

Poe and Finn: Star Wars

For four years this ship was teased, from the very first time Oscar Isaac said there was a small romance in tfa to every single actor saying they want Finn and Poe to be a couple, to the director saying there would be an lgbt kiss in tros. But what did we get in the final film, a far background kiss of two background characters and am implied straight Poe. It was 2019, after all those years of teasing and onscreen chemistry it would have been so easy to have Finn or Poe confess there love by the end that could have been redubbed in foreign countries to still be a bromance. Instead they chickened out and to make sure there wasn’t even an implied romance, gave Poe a sort-of girlfriend.

Pumbaa and Timon (2019)

I don’t have much to say here, they were queer coded in the original, it would have been easy to have them actually be a couple or at least gay in 2019, especially considering one was even played by a gay actor in the remake.

Chen Honghui: Mulan 2020

Even though it was never canon, Li Shang was a bisexual icon amongst the lgbt community, and it would have been so nice if his 2020 counterpart actually got to be bi. But no, the little screen time he does have is just as ambiguous as Li Shang.

Elsa and Honeymaren: Frozen 2

They don’t have much dialogue, but what they do have is very sweet. And when Elsa says she is staying behind she is looking directly at Honeymaren. Since the first film there had been a huge movement called GiveElsaAGirlfriend that was proof to disney that we are ready, and wanting an lgbt disney character, and although they flat out said they wouldn’t, they gave us Honeymaren who totally isn’t flirting with Elsa and Elsa totally didn’t decide to live with. It would not have been hard to make these two a couple, especially considering so many people want them.

Raya and Namaari: Raya and the Last Dragon

They obviously couldn’t be girlfriends in the actual film as they were trying to kill each other and that would give bad messages, but once they were allies they could have implied there was romance in there future. They flirted the entire film, when they first meet Namaari tucks her hair behind her ears like a crush would talking to who they like, and they call each other “Strangly Beautiful” repeatedly throughout the film, they were gay in all but words. Kelly Marie Tran who plays Raya (who also supported Stormpilot) stated she thinks they should be a couple. This was the most Queerbaiting I have ever seen. Actually I take that back:

Luca and Alberto: Luca

No, this entire movie wasn’t just one big metaphor for being in the closet in a homophobic town, defiantly not. I have gone into depth about these two on many an occasion so I am not going to again, however I will summarize. Alberto showed Luca a whole new world, they both fantasized about running away together, Alberto gets extremely jealous when Luca changes his mind about running away together, they both out themselves to save each other, and Luca only cries when he wishes Alberto goodbye. Despite what the director says, THEY ARE GAY! (also they watch multiple sun sets together)

Katy and xialing: Shang-Chi

The only time Xialing smiles as an adult is when she is talking to Katy, she is awfully smitten with her and despite seemingly disliking America, listens to Katy’s compliments and gives a seemingly genuine one back. They had very instant chemistry and I want to see where it goes. 

[the-insomniac-emporium]

RE8 Ladies + S/o with chronic pain HCs

Type/cause of chronic pain is kept ambiguous, but some of the hcs might seem geared towards migraines, since that's the main thing that I personally struggle with (and these are very definitely comfort hcs). Features Alcina, Bela, Cassandra, Daniela, Donna, Mother Miranda, and as a 'lil bonus Ava. Not particularly long, but the combined length of every character is enough to be put under a read-more (About 2,500 words in total).

Alcina:

It’s difficult for her to know that you are suffering, but be unable to deal directly with the source of the problem. Chasing off unwanted nuisances or hunting down threats to the castle was one thing, trying to solve complicated medical issues was another thing entirely. If only she could tear your condition asunder without tearing you asunder.

That being said, she’ll still support you endlessly, however she can. It doesn’t matter how expensive or hard-to-access possible treatments are. If there’s something you haven’t tried, and are interested in trying, she’ll find a way for you to get it.

The biggest, and arguably most helpful, thing that she does is set up a space for you within her office. She spends quite a lot of time there for her family’s business, but doesn’t want to leave you alone on bad days. So this was her idea of a nice compromise.

There’s a very comfortable sofa that folds out, a cabinet filled with the softest blankets, and several pillows of a few different sizes. Servants are instructed not to interrupt Alcina’s work without good reason, but she has a couple who ensure your snack cabinet is always well stocked.

If there are certain environmental factors to your condition, such as sensitivity to light and sound, she does her best to reduce their effects. Lights remain dimmed (or she’ll rely on candlelight), her music will be kept quiet enough to be soothing, and she’ll refrain from taking any calls while you are with her.

Bela:

To think that Daniela once tried to claim that Bela would “never need to know any of that (medical) stuff”! Sure, there haven’t been many people who have needed (and received) treatment from her, but that didn’t mean the skill was useless. Admittedly, she doesn’t know enough to replace one of your doctors, or try to create her own version of a cure, though no one really expected that much from her.

Still, she knows enough to help soothe your pain. Obviously there are different techniques for different kinds of pain, and she does research before trying anything specific. Bela’s also aware that you’ve been dealing with this for far longer than she has, meaning that you probably wouldn’t be pleased if she came in, acted like an expert, or assumed that you hadn’t really thought about the most popular remedies. So she’s tactful with how she approaches things, always checking if you’re familiar with a subject before she tries to explain anything.

Bela ends up surprising you with a lesser-known skill of hers: Massage. Studying anatomy has given her a decent idea of the body’s more sensitive spots, and the rest she’s figured out through her own, ahem, experiences. Regardless of where you’re in pain, your girlfriend can help reduce your suffering. Okay, well, if your pain is more internal than external, it’s a bit harder for her, but she can still help you relax.

One of her favorite things to do after giving you a massage is to just pull you in close for some cuddling. Preferably you’ll be in her lap, with her arms around your waist, her chin tucked on top of your shoulder. Then she’ll do her best to whisper you praises, reminding you how strong you are, and that she’s incredibly proud of you.

Cassandra:

She’s, uh, not great at this. At least not at first. Maybe she’ll never be more than good at it, though. But she’s definitely trying! And learning! By Jove, that’s something, right?

First things first, she’s always ready to try to distract you, primarily through kisses and gentle touches. Fingers softly trailing over your skin, lips tickling your neck, featherlight in all the right places… It’s not inherently sexual (though it can quickly go that route if you ask), just intimate. It’s harder for your brain to process pain when you’re also processing pleasure, so there is some science behind Cassandra’s methods, even if she herself isn’t entirely aware of that.

While she’s not great with words, there are certain things that she manages to articulate well enough. For one, she makes sure you know that you aren’t a burden. Taking care of you- no, helping you take care of yourself- is a labor of love, if a labor at all. More than that, she knows full well that you probably don’t like feeling pitied, or coddled. That, over time, being sick ends up being beyond frustrating. She never wants you to feel like your condition defines you, or like it puts any strain on your relationship.

That said, she’ll avoid telling her family any specifics unless you do first, and ensures that the staff know how to accommodate you (without telling them why, because it’s none of their fucking business, and she’s their boss, and for fuck’s sake it’s their job to do what she tells them. Maybe she gets a lil bit overzealous with it). At no point will she ever complain about helping you, or otherwise indicate that your needs are “troublesome”.

At the end of the day, the best comfort she brings you is her presence, simply being near you, endlessly loyal, tireless in her affections. Especially considering she gets clingier the worse your symptoms get.

Daniela:

Hope you enjoy cuddling. Seriously. There’s nothing Daniela loves more than curling up with you, and that goes double for bad pain days. Some adjustments will be made position-wise if you need, but she’ll still hold you as close as possible, for as long as you need. Although she might eventually fall asleep (because damn are you comfy), she’ll play with your hair or run her fingers along your scalp until she eventually dozes off.

If you want a little more from her than light snoring, or if she feels like going above and beyond, or honestly just if she’s thinking about how much she loves you (so all the effing time), she’ll do something she’s always loved in movies/books: Reading to you! She’ll pick special books that neither of you have read before, so you can experience them together on your sick(er) days. Which does, of course, mean that it might take months to finish even a single one. Surprisingly, Daniela won’t even briefly consider reading any without you. Even if the plot is really good.

But, uh, if you wanted her to read to you on a day where you aren’t bedridden? Hell yes, my friend, she’s absolutely down for that!

On days where she’s too busy to spend hours upon hours in bed with you, or days where her ADHD is just particularly bad, she tries her best to leave you with a “substitute”. AKA a massive fucking teddy bear, in a reddish brown color, with a green bowtie. Custom ordered (The Duke did not dare tease her for it). There’s a heart stitched onto the stuffed animal’s chest, which features your first initial alongside a D for Daniela.

Additionally, she has a blanket she only brings out for you, which she periodically sprays with her favorite perfume. That way you can hold it close when she’s not around, as if you were cuddling her. For her sake, though, don’t hold the teddy bear or blanket too tightly when she is around. Homegirl here will get jealous of inanimate objects, even ones that she gave you.

Donna:

“I think I have a tea for this…” Damn right she has a tea for this. Donna has a massive garden, with dozens if not hundreds of different plants, including a variety of herbs/spices. At least one of them has to be a little helpful for you. Whether it relieves pain, helps you nap off some of your misery, or just distracts you by tasting bloody-well delicious! Besides, few things make you feel quite as loved as holding a cup of freshly brewed tea in your hands, knowing your lover made it just for you. Like a hug in a mug, it is!

Similarly to Alcina, Donna will also try to create a comfortable space for you, but isn’t likely to put it downstairs with her workshop. Instead she’ll let you take over one of the larger guest rooms, customizing it to suit your specific needs. There will be some easy to care for plants for decoration (ones that won’t mind potentially missing out on natural sunlight), a couple relaxing paintings, and a shelf near the bed with things to help you pass the time, mainly books.

Furthermore, she’ll do her best to keep you company as often as possible. She’s naturally a fairly quiet person, so you won’t have to worry about sound if that’s something you’re sensitive to. While she prefers using a sewing machine, she’ll do things by hand while you’re in pain, just to reduce the chances of you getting irritated by the sound.

Speaking of potentially irritating sounds… by god can Angie be difficult to be around when you’re ill. Thankfully, Donna is perfectly understanding of this, and, as the only person Angie ever listens to, makes sure to give the doll a stern talking to about your health. To your immense surprise, it actually works. You’re not exactly sure what was said, but Angie certainly becomes a lot more compensating afterwards. She’ll keep her antics to herself, and usually even on another side of the house from where you rest, but only for as long as you’re tucked away in your room. As soon as you set foot outside, her restraints are metaphorically removed. All hell breaks loose (as is her universe-given right as the physical embodiment of both Chaos and Entropy).

Mother Miranda:

If the two of you weren’t lovers, there’s a decent chance you would completely misinterpret her actions. She might come off as irritated, like she has bigger concerns than your health, you fragile little human. After all, she is a goddess (well, practically). But the truth is that she’s aching inside every time you have a bad pain day, knowing that (for once) she cannot cure your ailment. Maybe if she had infinite subjects with the same condition as you…

But, at the end of the day, that’s the problem. There’s only one of you. One of her beloved, her little human darling, so dangerously fragile in comparison to the scale she works on. Even with all the time in the world, which she most certainly has, she cannot cure you without taking incredible risks. With your life at stake… It is a gamble she refuses to take. You are hers, and while she hates to see you suffer, the truth is that she’ll always be selfish enough to let you endure on your own.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t help, though, just that she doesn't do a full-out experiment on you. Instead, she keeps notes. She’ll track your activities, bedtimes/when you get up, dietary habits, when you have pain, what you do to treat said pain, how effective the treatments are, etc, etc. All of this can be very useful in establishing patterns (a skill she’s gotten very good at, in her many decades of being a scientist), which can in turn lead to less pain days.

(For example, many people with migraines find that certain foods seem to trigger a migraine, or at least increase the chances of getting one. Though admittedly they don’t always end up cutting the food out of their diet. I mean, come on, you want me to give up chocolate? You want me to drink normal milk, like an adult? Kidding, kidding, I don’t have any food triggers. Nor do I particularly enjoy chocolate milk, nor do I dislike it.)

Moving on! While her work seemingly takes precedence over your condition, Miranda is not heartless, and she does do some things to lend you more direct comfort. Specifically, she tries to work in the same room as you when she can, normally while making electronic copies of physical documents, or while looking over the details of a finished experiment. She’s not always one for cuddling, so she won’t often get in bed with you during the daytime. But at night? Yes, fine, she will wrap her arms around you, maybe one of her wings too if you like how soft they are.

Just don’t think that she secretly loves every second. It’s not like she’ll spend half an hour whispering about how sweet and adorable you are as soon as you fall asleep, or anything like that. It’s twenty minutes at the most.

Bonus!Avaskian Caldwell:

“Oh, fuckin’ mood!” Followed by a solid thirty seconds of pure regret. Seriously, though, Ava has spent xer entire life (starting at age 10) dealing with chronic migraines. For a while xe also dealt with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which meant lots of chest pain, but that (thankfully) faded as xe grew into an adult, as is fairly common with the condition. If anyone in Castle Dimitrescu understands unrelenting, unexplainable pain, it’s xer.

That being said… Ava never really managed xer chronic pain, at least not when xe was at xer worst. Xe had to drop out of school because of it. Hell, xe didn’t have a “real” job until xe was almost 23! Didn’t have a chance until things just calmed down for xer. So xe gets anxious whenever you talk about your health, worried that things are (or will at some point be) as bad for you as they were for xer. Other than that, though, you might initially think that xe doesn’t care, or didn’t understand the conversation.

Truth is, xe knows how absolutely fucking ANNOYING it can be to have to explain your health to every new person you meet (like the dozen different doctors you’ve met over the years, possibly every nurse who takes your pulse and thinks it’s a little bit high). So xe did a shit ton of research on your condition, in order to reduce how much you need to explain. Sure, xe will still have questions, and there are always aspects that only you can tell xer, but it’s a nice gesture.

As for helping you destress, xe’s pretty much a mix of Bela and Miranda. You’ll get plenty of massages (because Ava has learned from personal experience what sort of touches help with which sorts of pain), but also some scientific insight on any noticeable patterns. Lots of holding you close and telling you that you’re the coolest person in the world, and that Ava feels beyond lucky to have you.

[keingleichgewicht]

WERE YOU KIDDING ABOUT THE ASK GAME if not i dont have any specific lyrics in mind but i always thought the lyrics to the mill were so cool and maybe you could get some thoughts out of them? :0

YEAH GOD OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MILL. LET’S TALK ABOUT UHHHHHHHHH [THROWS DARTBOARD]

this line. this MIGHT go on for a while so i will............  readmore

so the mill feels kind of notably different to the rest of the pafl songs, which tend to be unusually literal for lyric, either straightforward retellings of events (punch it, punk!) or character piece monologues set to plot visuals (strike 3) or both (all of them, but for instance particularly comfort zone, which is just dmitry’s horrible manifesto until it gets hijacked by a death sentence in the second verse.) the mill is a lot more like what we expect from poetry these days, which is to say it’s heavy on imagery, low on clarity, and fucking confusing!

I’ll draw a circle in the sand, drive myself around the bend in a desperate attempt to hold on to your battered hand Rocked to sleep beneath the snow, she is bathed in youthful glow ‘Strong enough to let it go,’ he says, but darling, I don’t know

a lot of the mill is about circles. this is in the name: a mill is something which turns. a waterwheel is a circle, a grindstone is a circle. it’s even in the melody: the chorus is a cyclic, pentatonic four-note riff that keeps going up and down and up its own ladder, chasing its own tail, not really reaching resolution. and then it’s also in, you know, the story:

the meat grinder!!!! everyone’s favorite fucking hellhole!!!! it is only semi-explicitly identified in the song but that’s because it’s a concept from the source material - both tarkovsky’s stalker and roadside picnic feature the meat-grinder, as a location nicknamed thus by stalkers because it is even more fucking deadly than the rest of the zone, all of which is already ridiculously fucking deadly, and if you’ve seen the movie:

it is more or less instantly recognizable in the mill as well. so here we have a circle! here we have a mill (the title has about seventy double meanings but this is certainly one of them,) and as it turns out, this mill at least will absolutely kill you. and horribly too. interestingly though, in roadside picnic (the book) the meat-grinder is not a tunnel, and it’s not round - it’s just a nondescript patch of ground which will wring you out like a dishcloth and kill you extremely dead if you walk into it. on the other hand what we have in the book in terms of circles is the golden ball, which is the equivalent of the movie’s the room, which is, well,

in short both stories ultimately hinge upon the idea that there is a something in the zone which can give you your heart’s desire. anything you want. everything you want. whatever you want. it is infinitely powerful; it is infinitely capable. the catch is that it will only give you what you want. the catch is that giving you what you want is not the same as giving you what you are asking for. the other catch is that in both cases you have to get through the meat-grinder first.

(so, by the way, what the fuck, right? does pafl’s zone have a wish-granting factory? is it also behind the grinder? where were the original trio going when they got themselves fucked up? and did they get there?)

but the point is: the golden ball, the wish-granting factory, is also a circle. it’s just sort of a sphere. it’s a big round fuckin yellow thing. you know, sorta like:

which is THE ONLY TIME yellow is used in occam’s razor not counting the full-colour shots, and it drives me CRAZY, but it is also me going full conspiracy board so let’s not even worry about it. THE POINT IS.

the circle is the death-machine and the wish-machine. neither of these things are really.... very good. the circle, or at least the arc, is also very closely associated with death:

(розовая дуга предрассветного, ‘rose arc of pre-dawn’. if i’ve fucked up that nominative please feel free to stone me to death!) 

in the gdoc notes to message lost ferry briefly refers to the dawn as if it were a good thing, the dawn of hope, which is a usage that sort of agrees with the desolate and deathless hope of strike 3′s ‘everything will pass / a day will come,’ but on the other hand it really is very closely associated with dying. nikolai bites it; nikita bites it; sergei and olga left significant chunks of themselves behind. and the thing about ‘this too shall pass’ is that it’s always true, as is ‘everything ends’, but of course that’s ‘cause the thing that ends might be you. and as we know

dawn is an ending. so that seems concerning!

i think the circle, the arc, the bolt falling back to the ground, is not a good thing. i am getting a little conspiracy board here in general but forgive me, i cannot make you a wholesome answer, my wit’s diseased. i think the circle is an enclosed space. it’s an unbroken cycle. it’s the grindstone. it’s the mill. it’s about what pafl’s always been about: about being trapped, about having no chances, about being bordered upon. the circle’s the geometric figure of equidistance from a given point, and you can walk on it forever, and nothing will ever change; you will never get closer, you will never get further away, you will never get out! the sun rises, the sun sets, and you are no closer to anything you wanted. it’s worth noting that anya’s borderline city, the zone-edge port town she complains is trying to crush all her dreams, her mill

is a circle. (a cog in a machine! a grind-wheel! a cage!)

and yura, whose dreams have already been burned out of him, who starts the series already resigned to never getting out of here, calls it ‘this dire deja-vu’, i am specifically resisting putting the accent marks back onto that, which is to say, it’s a repetition that haunts him. it’s going round and round and getting nowhere.

so if we bring it back around: drawing a line in the sand, as the phrase is generally used, means setting a border, means saying this far and no further. often it’s yourself you’re setting the border for. you hit some divide you can’t abide crossing so you say this stops here, it may be too early or too late, but i say it stops here. so logically: drawing a circle in the sand means you’ve locked yourself in completely.

I’ll draw a circle in the sand, drive myself around the bend in a desperate attempt to hold your battered hand

the whole first half of this song, i think, is olga promising to grind herself down in a hundred ways if it means she won’t be left alone. how hard can it be to never let it overflow? she may feel lower than the low, she may wish she could just disappear out here, into the postindustrial rust, but though it gets harder all the time she will keep pretending. she isn’t going to burden sergei, or indeed anyone, with her problems, her fears, her scars. she is hurt, but she’s used to it, she’s gotten used to being haunted long ago. she keeps her bad eye covered. she stays within her circle she has drawn. she keeps going round and round. she will take the smallest sliver of human connection and be happy, she promises she will be happy, she promises she won’t ask for more, she will take just the ‘hello.’

but you knooooow it’s not true. you know it’s grinding her down, that she’ll be milled to nothing pretty soon, and really she knows it too.

i am perhaps seventy percent sure that this line is a reference to the windmills of your mind by michel legrande, which features such lines as

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

which on one hand seems sort of obscure to be a purposeful reference but on the other hand would be a hell of a coincidence if it wasn’t, wouldn’t it. either way it characterizes circles ambiguously, but definitely unsettlingly. going around in circles is chasing infinity, but what in god’s name would you do with it if you caught it? what are you even hoping to accomplish? and: 

the second half of this song is bitterer, sharper - staring down the mouth of the meat-grinder she’s a little more willing to admit to herself that this is going nowhere. she is running out of cages to keep herself in. she is very tired. it’s easy to say why don’t you leave it all behind, it’s easy to say, she’s strong enough to let it go, it’s easy to say, too strong to die. it is a lot harder to actually live.

this is also where the flashbacks admit to us how badly hurt they really were - sergei with his whole side in shreds, she still hides her eye but at least we get to see it’s bleeding. this moral compass is forever misaligned, she says, so there is damage, and it is lasting. and she can’t settle for hello, she can’t live like this, she needs someone by her side. the trouble is whether she can believe she has any hope of getting that

as for who ‘her’ is, or the ‘she’ of ‘she is bathed in youthful glow’, i figure there’s two possibilities: either it’s nadya, who haunts olga too, because nikita’s abandonment of nadya represents exactly what she most fears for herself, or it’s olga’s younger, unbroken, binocular self - both of whom were so young, and so easily hurt, and are now unfindable.

and then there’s this conclusion: ‘the sun will rise, until then / i’ll be waiting for you on the other side.’ which maybe is a sort of hope after all? she’s reached no real conclusions in the zone - she knows there must be hope but she can only barely believe in it - she thinks she is destined to self-destruct. but on the other hand she still has that, a version of sergei’s own ‘a day will come’

you may be hurt, but if you can hold yourself together, you can hope for a dawn someday. an ending. a change. but the trouble’s that there’s more than one kind of ending. and there’s more than one meaning for other side. there are cages, and then there are cages. and you know what else looks like a tunnel, a circle?

staring down the barrel of the gun.