#mother of the house of Renaissance

[bey-life]

[texasbama]

[layoutsjtpics]

renaissance: a film by beyoncé (official merch) - headers;

just reblog or like if you save, plase!

[beyszn]

Blue Ivy at the Renaissance World Tour 🤍💙

[luckydiorxoxo]

Beyoncé X Paper Magazine

[angelofverdum]

PERFECT 10

[ilovepedro]

just burst into tears rn i really saw Beyoncé almost a month ago, my life hasn’t been the same since. i miss that woman so much

[deanjohn]

Pieta (1876) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau / 4.03 In The Beginning

[murdrdocs]

GF! Ethan who occasionally happens to find himself peeking in ur window doesn’t understand why you do this weird aggressive head turny thing when Pure/Honey comes on and def thinks ur as crazy as him

this shit gave me the biggest fucking laugh this morning. especially since i check my tumblr like second thing in the morning

[justanothergeneralkrow]

the way Beyonce sings "That fleshy part, I scream so loud, I touch the stars"

[umabloomer]

I got a job at a Ukrainian museum.

On the first day someone asks me if I have any Ukrainian heritage. I say I had ancestors from Odesa, but they were Jewish, so they weren’t considered Ukrainian, and they wouldn’t have considered themselves Ukrainian. My job is every day I go through boxes of Ukrainian textiles and I write a physical description, take measurements, take photographs, and upload everything into the database. I look up “Jewish” in the database and there is no result. 

Some objects have no context at all, some come with handwritten notes or related documents. I look at thick hand-spun, hand-woven linen heavy with embroidery. Embroidery they say can take a year or more. I think of someone dressed for a wedding in their best clothes they made with their own hands. Some shirts were donated with photographs of the original owners dressed in them, for a dance at the Ukrainian Labour Temple, in 1935. I handle the pieces carefully, looking at how they fit the men in the photos, and how they look almost a hundred years later packed in acid-free tissue. One of the men died a few years later, in the war. He was younger than I am now. The military archive has more photographs of him with his mother, his father, his fiancé. I take care in writing the catalogue entry, breathing in the history, getting tearful. 

I imagine people dressed in their best shirts at Easter, going around town in their best shirts burning the houses of Jews, in their best shirts, killing Jews. A shirt with dense embroidery all over the sleeves and chest has a note that says it is from Husiatyn. I look it up and find that it was largely a Jewish town, and Ukrainians lived in the outskirts. There is a fortress synagogue from the Renaissance period, now abandoned. 

When my partner Aaron visits I take him to an event at the museum where a man shows his collection of over fifty musical instruments from Ukraine, and he plays each one. Children are seated on the floor at the front. We’re standing in a corner, the room full of Ukrainians, very aware that we look like Jews, but not sure if anyone recognizes what that looks like anymore. Aaron gets emotional over a song played on the bandura. 

A note with a dress says it came from the Buchach region. I find a story of Jewish life in Buchach in the early twentieth century, preparing to flee as the Nazis take over. I cry over this.

I’m cataloguing a set of commemorative ribbons that were placed on the grave of a Ukrainian Nationalist leader, Yevhen Konovalets, after he was assassinated. The ribbons were collected and stored by another Nationalist, Andriy Melnyk, who took over leadership after Konovalets’ death. The ribbons are painted or embroidered with messages honouring the dead politician. I start to recognize the word for “leader”, the Cyrillic letters which make up the name of the colonel, the letters “OYH” which stand for Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN in English). The OUN played a big part in the Lviv pogroms in 1941, I learn. The Wikipedia article has a black and white image of a woman in her underwear, running in terror from a man and a young boy carrying a stick of wood. The woman’s face is dark, her nose may be bleeding. Her underwear is torn, her breast exposed. I’m measuring, photographing, recording the stains and loose threads in the banners that honour men who would have done this to me. 

Every day I can’t stop looking at my phone, looking up the news from Gaza, tapping through Instagram stories that show what the news won’t. Half my family won’t talk to the other half, after I share an article by a scholar of Holocaust and genocide studies, who says Israel is committing a genocide. My dad makes a comment that compares Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. This gets him in trouble. My aunt says I must have learned this antisemitism at university, but there is no excuse for my dad. 

This morning I see images from Israeli attacks in the West Bank, where they are not at war. There are naked bodies on the dusty ground. I’m not sure if they are alive. This is what I think of when I see the image from the Lviv pogrom. If what it means for Jews to be safe from oppression is to become the oppressor, I don’t want safety. I don’t want to speak about Jews as if we are one People, because I have so little in common with those in green uniforms and tanks. I am called a self-hating Jew but I think I am a self-reflecting Jew.

I don’t know how to articulate how it feels to be handling objects which remind me of Jewish traumas I inherited only from history classes and books. Textiles hold evidence of the bodies that made them and used them. I measure the waist of a skirt and notice that it is the same as my waist size. I think of clothing and textiles that were looted from Jewish homes during pogroms. I think of clothing and textiles that were looted from Palestinian homes during the ongoing Nakba. Clothes hold the shape of the body that once dressed in them. Sometimes there are tears, mends, stains. I am rummaging through personal belongings in my nitrile gloves. 

I am hands-on learning about the violence caused by Ukrainian Nationalism while more than nine thousand Palestinians have been killed by the State of Israel in three weeks, not to mention all those who have been killed in the last seventy-five years of occupation, in the name of the Jewish Nation, the Jewish People — me? If we (and I am hesitant to say “we”) learned anything from the centuries of being killed, it was how to kill. This should not have been the lesson learned. Zionism wants us to feel constantly like the victims, like we need to defend ourself, like violence is necessary, inevitable. I need community that believes in freedom for all, not just our own People. I need the half of my family who believes in this necessary “self-defence” to remember our history, and not just the one that ends happily ever after with the creation of the State of Israel. Genocide should not be this controversial. We should not be okay with this. 

Tomorrow I will go to work and keep cataloguing banners that honour the leader of an organization which led pogroms. I will keep checking the news, crying into my phone, coordinating with organizers about our next actions, grappling with how we can be a tiny part in ending this genocide that the world won’t acknowledge, out of guilt over the ones it ignored long ago. 

[euphternal]

random paige bueckers headcanon 🫧

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀🪞🕊️🤍✨

notes: im new to the paige/uconn huskies fandom, so i don’t know everything, the sports, her friends or family. pls just give me a chance. i saw her and i instantly LOVED her sm 😭 so just give me patience here. please 🩷 and it's partly self indulged

࿔*:: when she's arriving home, ur instantly playing daddy by usher and has a cake that says, "welcome back daddy🤰🏼" LMFAOOOOOO

࿔*:: u both have too many album filled on your photo apps of you two in 0.5x photos (like the middle photo at the top)😭

࿔*:: she's a messy mf, CLOTHES EVERYWHERE. remember she said in an interview say if she was a boy she would NASTTTYY, ur wrong paige babes xx

࿔*:: she's such a ass, "babe, if u come to miami. i PROMISSSEEE i'll do the dishes for the week." u just gave her the PHATTEST eye roll, as if shes gonna do that lmfao

࿔*:: as ur from the uk, she cant and WONT stop mocking ur accent. shes got ice, kk, nika AND azzi doing it too when you visit her at her games

࿔*:: also as ur from the uk, she ADORRREEEE house music (esp 2005 - 2017 house music)

࿔*:: shes only gotten into skincare bc of u 😃

࿔*:: also shes has the brain of a 13 yr old boy on fornite...

࿔*:: shes always saying the most out of pocket stuff with you, you've just learned to block it out at this point lol

࿔*:: always has some kind of way of her skin touching yours, spacial awareness is out of the window lmfao

࿔*:: paige know pissed u get when you see the videos of azzi and her, but she only teases you with them videos LMFAO. she know how piss you off, BIG TIME.

࿔*:: it's because you both know whats gonna happen that following night...👀

࿔*:: as much as i LIVE AND BREAAATTHHEE for bottom!paige... she not🧍🏻‍♀️ SHE'S A TOPPPPPP, I MEAN COME OOOONNNNN...

࿔*:: shes wearing the pants in the relationship... the princess treatment is UGGGHHHH😵‍💫

࿔*:: the strap game... no comment. ˢ⁽ᶜʳᵉᵃᵐᶦⁿᵍ⁾

࿔*:: i bet she loves marvel ngl, idk i feel like shes either love shuri, natasha or wanda ngl

࿔*:: dont play beyonce in the car, ur both dead. u both ADOREEE AND LOVEEE BEY

࿔*:: omg she surprised u with tickets to the renaissance, (i wish i went, EVERTHING about 2023 summer 🥹)

࿔*:: always posting about you on socials, shes wont shut up about you...

࿔*:: kk is definitely ur kid, the useless comments (that has NO correlation to the posts) from her under ur ig pages... "parents ate🎀", "come pick me up mothers" or "i fear to ask the mothers... what's for dinner?"

࿔*:: omg, u both have a gulity pleasure in review really fucking cute, big and expensive classy houses together and both getting baby feverrrrr🥹

࿔*:: shes fucking adores ur relationship with drew :(

࿔*:: she wants to impregnant right now if she could LMFAOOO

࿔*:: shes literally wants to be under ur skin

࿔*:: and she's definitely waiting for the right time to pop the question, more than likely at the basketball court. lets be honest LMFAOOOO

[omgthatdress]

Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has called the Harlem Renaissance "As gay as it was Black."

With the convergence of the great migration and the jazz age, Harlem became a new center of cultural life for African-Americans. It brought together Black artists in a way that had never been seen before and saw an abundance of new music, theater literature, and art.

Chief among the new art being created there, of course, was drag.

While drag houses and drag balls had previously been put together by the likes of William Dorsey Swann, they reached a level of unprecedented vibrancy and popularity in Harlem in the 1920s. Famed poet Langston Hughes called them "The strangest and gaudiest of all of Harlem's spectacles."

The most celebrated of these balls was the one organized by the fraternal organization The Society of Odd Fellows at the Hamilton Lodge.

As told by writer George Chauncey in an article for Columbia News, "After I published Gay New York I met a gentleman who grew up in Harlem whose parents would dress up to go to what they called the “faggots’ ball,” and come home and talk about how fine this one looked, and how wonderful it was. He said, "My mother was a very ladylike lady. She was a very prominent woman in Harlem society. This is just something you did.""

[saintslewis]

❝ 𝐂𝐎𝐙𝐘 ❞

𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 — 𝐋𝐇𝟒𝟒

˖ ࣪⭑ - pairing: lewis hamilton x fem!oc

˖ ࣪⭑ - summary: imagine you go for dinner at your neighbours house and you’re told you’re getting married? you better get cozy for this one!

˖ ࣪⭑ - warnings for this chapter: none

˖ ࣪⭑ - saint’s team radio: hey y’all…. i told you guys i don’t have a planned schedule for this series and i’m really starting to think i should 😭. i hope you guys enjoy this and lemme know if you wanna be tagged 🤭

masterlist

previous chapter • next chapter

"Renaissance yachtin' in capri!" Nadia sang as she entered the driveway of the Hamiltons only a week after the first dinner. Knowing her mother's dramatics, Thembi had once again requested her presence at the home except she had to drive straight to the Hamiltons house. Finding the situation weird but not giving it a second thought, she parked next to the all black G63, one of her many dream cars and one she hadn't seen the last time she was here. Thinking it was just a simple visit (and Thembi hadn't given her a chance to dress up after the phone call), Nadia fixed the Nike tee and adjusted the biker shorts she had worn throughout her chill Saturday morning.

Knocking on the wooden door felt weird, given that she was welcomed into the house before but she felt like something quite suspicious was going on but she couldn't even figure it out. Rubbing her eye whilst waiting for someone to answer the door, she wrote a few reminders on her phone to not forget to complete the work she had to take home from the previous day.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine?" Nadia had recognised the voice to be Nicola, adding a little laugh after her sentence. "I woke up late so this is valid." Nadia replied, giving a smile as she entered the house with Nicola making room for her to walk in. After the first dinner, the two women had kept in touch because of the growing friendship and Willow, who would send a voice message every day to say hi. But this time, Nadia couldn't hear the kids laughing or playing around the house.

Oh, this was serious.

"Is that Nadia, darling?" Linda's voice chimed through the entrance hallway leading to the living room. "Hello Mrs Hamilton." The young woman greeted, giving Linda a side eye as she held a glass of water in her hand. "Please Nadia, rather call me Linda. Do come through, my dear!"

"We're out by the patio, need the bathroom before we start?" Nicola asked, making Nadia way more confused the more footsteps she took. "Start with what?" She trailed off, seeing Nicola just smile and head into the direction of the patio with her following. This was officially starting to get weird but Nadia chose to push her thoughts aside for this lunch.

"Oh she's here! How was the drive, Nads?" Her mom spoke up as soon as Nadia's foot hit the wooden floor of the large patio. Different types of charcuterie boards were placed with juices and waters to accommodate everyone but the atmosphere seemed so different from the dinner last week, it rather felt like a meeting.

"Helloooo." Nadia dragged out the greeting as she eventually found an empty seat, once again, next to Lewis. The man was genuinely a sight to see as the sun shined on him as he sat comfortably on the patio bench chair. Wearing a black NY cap, a graphic tee once again with a pair of jeans this time and his jewellery on display, Lewis smiled up at her with a toothy grin.

After personally greeting everyone around the table and answering their fast questions, she plopped down onto the chair with a few of her bracelets clanging together. The familiar scents of each other from the last time they met fused together as they both studied each other once again.

Nadia's tattoos were finally on display, each dainty artwork fluttered around her skin with a few being inked in red. The most noticeable thing being her hair as she changed the colour to black and it reached past her back. The makeup was very simple and she only carried her phone and lipgloss in her hand as she placed the overly cracked device onto the table right next to Lewis'. When she smiled, he noticed a small gem on one of her front teeth and he definitely admired her style, not one he would regularly picture on a high school teacher.

"You know Nadia, we were just talking about how odd it would be to suddenly become famous within a matter of hours." Linda started, grabbing the large jug of grape juice to give the girl a glass. Helping the older woman, Nadia lifted herself off the chair and gave Lewis a look, non verbally asking if it was true and his eyebrows furrowed whilst pursing his lip upwards, making Nadia smile a little.

"Really? In what aspects?" She sat back down, lifting the glass to her gloss covered lips and only taking little sips. "Oh just how you'd maybe have to close off social media for a while and suddenly having people around you to help with everything." Linda said, taking her glass of water and eyeing Nadia's mom after her sentence. Tilting her head in confusion, she made sure to sit comfortably as this was definitely an interesting conversation.

"I never really thought about it like that actually. The way teams assemble within a matter of hours is something else but I always hear my students say that they're one hundred percent ready for fame." Nadia watched the two older women constantly look at each other with the older men being suspiciously quiet. "Oh and don't even get me started on the scandals you're put through." Nicola submerged from the house, holding a fresh pizza on a wooden board with an extra plate.

"Lewis, you'd know a thing or two about these things right?" Nicola smirked as she placed the plate on the opposite side of the table. Snapping her head towards Lewis, he sighed then nodded before straightening up his posture as it was before. Now Nadia was incredibly confused. Although she spent at least two hours in conversation with Lewis, she never really found out what exactly he does for a living even though he knew what she did as she went on a whole rant about her day with the teenagers. The way he had carried himself whilst speaking with everyone and just how he listened made it seem like he could be a businessman of some sort that clearly made his money and he made it well as he wore jewellery pieces that she could only dream of seeing.

A beat of silence passed and a knock on the door was heard. "Oh, that must be Gerald." Anthony got up in quite a hurry, with the table falling into conversation to detour the previous topic. After the man was welcomed onto the patio, he placed his small briefcase next to him on the chair with Nadia's suspicions growing more and more.

But what if he was really just there for lunch?

The word 'deactivate' kept being thrown around between Nicola, Thembi and Linda for several minutes, snapping Nadia and Lewis out of their conversation on her tattoos. "Nads, come here really quickly and bring your phone." Her mom ordered as the young girl walked to their side of the table. Standing over all three women, she held her phone in front of her mom's face. "How do you deactivate your Instagram? Nicola here made one for me but i don't want it anymore." Thembi asked, once again eyeing Linda.

Showing the directions on her own phone, Nadia then became distracted by her stepdad's question. "Nads, do you know when Rea's flight lands? Will you be okay to go?" He asked, slightly jumping at something. "Yes, I'll be fine. Her flight lands at like two in the morning so after here I'll just finish up some work then go to the airport early." Nadia responded, feeling her hand move a little as she spoke to James.

Thembi tapped her daughter's hand as Nadia focused back on her phone. Seeing her instagram page now logged out, she groaned at the thought of her completely forgetting her password to it. Plopping back into her seat defeated, Lewis eyed her then her phone that she placed on the table. "You good?" He asked, turning his body to look at her. "I think I  accidentally logged myself out of insta and i forgot where i wrote down the password." Nadia frowned a little as she clasped her hands together. Even though he didn't want to seem like he was smiling at her misery but the little pout she had on her face was adorable and obviously he wasn't going to admit that anytime soon.

"Okay, I cannot do this anymore." Anthony announced out as he sighed which caught everyone's attention. "Dad, what's going on?" Lewis asked worried, he had noticed his father was quiet most of the time but he brushed it off knowing that his father was usually like this.

"Son, listen. I know what I'm about to say will sound insane but I need you to listen very carefully. Along with you too, Nadia." Anthony stated. Linda then stood next to her husband in terror. "Wait, Anthony. Are you sure you want to do this right now?" She muttered.

And now the uneasy feeling came right back.

"Lewis, you know I care for you deeply however these past few weeks have been tough for you... and pr." His dad started off, earning a sigh from Lewis and a pinch on the bridge of his nose. Seeing Lewis stress like this was weird for Nadia and what exactly did his father mean by PR? Anyone could tell that he wanted to say something but chose to keep quiet.

Now sitting up properly, Nadia was intrigued with the entire situation and wondered how famous Lewis actually was.

"Linda and I, along with Nadia's parents and Nicola have decided that we wanted to help you to clean up your image a little more even though you are a private person. And for that, we've come up with the concept of a fake marriage between you and Nadia." Anthony concluded and took his seat.

It was as if the blood from Nadia completely left her face after that very last sentence however her face stayed extremely neutral. Her face rather snapped towards her parents who were avoiding eye contact with her.

The silence was so loud, the birds chirping ever so slightly as if they were part of the plan as well. Looking at everyone's face, anyone could tell that this had probably been discussed many times before. "What?" Nadia being the first one to say something, spoke in a monotone voice.

"Look we wanted to see how you two would get along when you first met and it had seemed to work very well. We're only really looking out for you, Lewis. These rumours have kinda taken a toll on you." Nicola voiced, seeing that their faces were stoic yet burning daggers into everyone's skulls.

Finally looking at each other, Lewis and Nadia's eyes met with no source of attraction to each other in that present moment. "This is crazy." Lewis muttered to himself as he shook his head whilst looking down at his shoes.

"Okay." Nadia said, crossing her arms and looked at her mom directly. "Okay?" Lewis grumbled with slightly narrowed eyes to the girl. "Yeah. Clearly this is important and stuff so I'll do it." Nadia responded with a calm facade but she was truly screaming on the inside, her leg shaking underneath the table. Shocked as he was at her nonchalant response to the situation, he slumped back and chose to not speak up in front of guests. Lewis wasn't frustrated in the slightest but he was just extremely confused.

"What about the details?" Lewis sighed, feeling through his beard and accepting his fate.

"Wait, you're actually doing this?" Thembi expressed. If anything, Thembi felt embarrassed to even coming up with this suggestion thinking that it was going to help the driver and his many social problems. "Ma, please tell us the details before we rethink doing this for you guys." Nadia deadpanned, grabbing a grape from one of the charcuterie boards displayed.

"Well. You would have to tell the world that you've been married for at least a year or two and I've already told your PR team, Lewis, to get everything ready before you announce. For now, you're only allowed to tell your closest friends and coworkers about this so that it doesn't seem suspicious that your friends didn't know of your marriage." Nicola started.

"Nadia, because you're now affiliated with Lewis, security and a team will have to assembled to be at your beck and call. Marie from Lewis' team will come over to help you choose potential candidates for your everyday team. Now the difficult part. You two have to be married legally because you know how people get, Lewis. They'll want evidence. And that's Gerald is here for." She concluded, gesturing to the guest to open his briefcase but god, did he feel awkward.

"Uh, hello. Here's the marriage certificate you two are meant to sign for the court to recognise it as an actual marriage." The poor man was red in the face as he shakily placed the certificate between Nadia and Lewis with a pen. With her freshly manicured hand, the girl picked the pen and signed underneath her name officially as a Mrs. She took a quick glance at Lewis' name and it seemed so familiar but the thing that intrigued her the most was the 'Sir' before anything.

Lewis had a good look at Nadia's side profile as he watched her sign the official papers. She didn't seem bothered with anything that was said, it was as if everything just defeated her and she just accepted it. If there's one thing he noticed was that it looked like she didn't have a clue about who he was at all and that was so fascinating to him.

She handed the pen to him, their hands touching a little with the warmest touch as they made eye contact. They both couldn't read each other's eyes, only dark brown pupils staring into each other's souls. Lewis then also signed with a bit of hesitation, the reality falling on him as he dragged the pen to the very last of his signature.

"Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Hamilton." Gerald broke the silence as he uttered his words. He quickly packed his briefcase and walked away from the table with a small wave to everyone to escape from the awkwardness of the lunch table.

"You only have to do this for a year or so then you can either divorce publicly or privately. And the living situation has to be changed. Nadia, you will have to be almost everywhere with Lewis now that you've signed that certificate so I am not sure how you will handle this at your workplace. Do you have an active passport?" Anthony ended with his question to which the quiet girl just nodded.

"Wait, where am I going to live?" Nadia asked, eventually snapping out of the quiet demeanour she had. "Well you'll have to speak to your husband about that." Linda smiled at the two, the smile slowly falling when seeing their deadpanned faces.

Sighing out for the final time, Lewis sighed and lightly tapped Nadia on the arm signaling for her attention. He held his car keys in his hand and she knew that she had to go because being there any longer would've suffocated her. The newly married couple simultaneously stood up and gathered their belongings, making everyone's faces grow into confusion.

"Where are you guys going?" Thembi asked, standing up as well with a worried expression. All Lewis did was shrug as he fixed his shirt and move out of the way so that Nadia could walk before him. "Bye everyone! Your charcuterie boards looked amazing by the way, Linda." It was as if someone completely different had greeted the group goodbye because her mood changed in a matter of seconds as if nothing happened.

"What the hell did we just do?" Nicola asked, rubbing her forehead as she watched the two walk away and out of the house.

-

"You've arrived at your destination." The automated voice rang through the large car as it approached a large black gate behind an elegant building.

The drive to the unknown destination was not as quiet as they thought it would be. When entering the car, all Nadia could do was to laugh as soon as Lewis entered the car so much so that a few tears of laughter came out. It was a sound that he appreciated to hear and he joined her in her laughter. They couldn't believe that they even went through that, mainly laughing at the fact they went into the house for lunch and left as a married couple.

It was quite the lengthy drive but it seemed much quicker as they spent the time speaking about what happened at lunch yet they never got to the topic of his job and also because they decided to play music to get rid of the negative mood they both had.

“I thought you were going to kidnap for a second. I still do.” Nadia joked as he playfully rolled his eyes at her. “Where are we even?” She looked out of the window to see the back of the large building, eventually spotting a small yet visible sign on the wall reading ‘Harrods VIP parking’.

Letting the smallest gasp escape her mouth, she gazed at Lewis once again who was typing on his phone and wondered what he did for a living for him to be able to decide to park his car here. The rumours from this department store were unbelievable so to see them bloom in real life felt surreal to Nadia.

Lewis definitely saw Nadia to be a good friend to him and could keep her around his circle and vice versa. It was a sign that a friendship was brewing between each other and they’re somewhat grateful for that although it happened so quickly.

“Seriously bruv, where are you taking me? I have to get home to watch catfish.” She asked, flicking her hair back and he laughed once more. “Bruv?” He said in between his giggles. “Okay my pookie wookie buddy bear, where are you taking me?” She said, fluttering her eyelashes at him which made him burst into so much more laughter.

“Since you want to know so badly, we’re going to Cartier to get our wedding rings.” He smiled a toothy grin, turning off the ignition of the car while looking at her stunned expression.

“…what?”

taglist: @non-stop-imagines @folkloresthings @tispys-blog @userlando @lorarri @thisismeracing @thatsdemko @myescapefromthislife @slytherinjimin3nthusiast @jamie2305 @like-fire-love-blog @sugardontbesweet @simpfortoomanymen @mauvecherie-writes @queenshikongo3 @eugene-emt-roe @deepgothfiremuffin @18754389 @cherry2stems @anubisnoir @goldsainz

dividers by: @cafekitsune

faceclaim for nadia: @/unclewaffles_ on ig!

all pictures from pinterest and ig!

[texasbama]

Mother Beyoncé of the House of Renaissance🪩

[thewormformerlyknownasletojrjr]

Sometimes self care is rewatching Dune (2021) and going on and on about ‘the symbolism of this or that’ or how ‘something here is a nod to the sequels’ or ‘look how the casting characterizes the house atreides’ or ‘the music here is phenomenal, it foreshadows gurney’s fate later on’ or ‘I think the difference in the vocalizing in the soundtrack here is deliberate’ until whoever you’re watching it with is ready to commit murder to shut you up.

But it’s just so phenomenal that you can watch it and catch new things each time, the visual and auditory storytelling in the background gives you so much! All these little things that go unnoticed until you see and want to jump out of your seat at them, let’s talk about that.

Let’s talk about how Jessica is always hooded when her scenes are associated with her Bene Gesserit powers and upbringing, how you can literally watch her out her hood down or up mid scene as she transitions from mother and concubine to an obedient disciple, how it foreshadows her struggle in the books all the way through Children of Dune.

Let’s talk about how well done the foreshadowing of the jihad is, how even this early on we can see the start of what is integral to Paul’s conflict in Messiah, how that feeling of helplessness about a destiny he doesn’t want will keep him frozen and unable to stop what’s in motion, how Messiah is such an incredible book because it ties into the dystopian trope wherein revolutionaries become like those they once revolted against, but how it’s so much more fascinating than some of the ways we see it in modern dystopias, because it’s the main characters who are following the pattern, not just watching in horror as those they fought with change for the worse, but actually experiencing it, horrified at what they’ve done and what they will continue to do, frozen and so unable or unwilling to do what needs to be done to stop it, how the movie is still in the stage where they are noble and valiant, but it makes sure to show the dread of what it coming, how it does such a good job of showing the burden of foresight that is so integral to Dune, the way that even as they see the future and can attempt to change it, they know that no matter their decisions, horrible things will come, how it shows Paul as scared hating the power he was given and blaming his mother and her aspirations, how the atreides family never wanted to be great, they wanted to be good, how Paul is coming to see that great and good cannot always coexist, how you look at this boy and you can genuinely see how he will become the man saying ‘Believers, all of them’ how Dune is such a hard story to get right because you watch someone devolve and stand by why horrible things are done without seeing him as a terrible person from the start, without the boy and the man seeming irreconcilable from one another, how the movie actually is on the right track even though the end result is unpalatable to the majority of society, how they are showing the white savior trope in a way that is thus far complaint with how it is deconstructed later on, how they have the epic notes of the beginning without going in a direction that makes the ending impossible.

Let’s talk about how they cast the Atreides family as beautiful people, but not soft, not tamed to modern standards, aristocratic in their looks in such a way that you believe they have been nobility for centuries, maybe millennia, slightly untouchable, dangerous, like those in power during the Italian Renaissance, how Paul looks young but also ethereal and formal, the balance between boy and duke and messiah in his appearance, how Leto’s hair and beard make him not only regal but worn by politics, cold and formal yet fatherly all at once, how Jessica’s ghostly pale complexion nods to her Harkonnen ancestry in the books and how she is beautiful in a way that seems not entirely human, how the other members of the Atreides house are each unique and full of character, not designed to fit a palette or aesthetic, whereas the Harkonnens have an eerie similarity that shows how little they value free will, how the Harkonnens are not dramatized to emphasize their characterization but rather understated, devoid of emotion save for rare explosive moments, how they echoed this in their design, making them blank slates, taking away rather than adding, leaving them almost human, but not quite, enough to trigger that ancient animal instinct in a person that says ‘something is wrong here, something is dangerous’ rather than making them fit in with the conventions of a time period or trend as to how to look evil.

Let’s talk about the soundtrack, how the epic music playing when House Atreides lands on Arrakis is echoed as Gurney and his men charge at the Harkonnens who so greatly outnumber them, how this not only ties you emotionally to the battle, hearing this dying cry of the Atreides, more so than the music continuing to be dark and foreboding through it all, but also how it foreshadows the survival of Gurney and the small group of men with him, living to reunite with Paul later on.

Let’s talk about how throughout the soundtrack we have women vocalizing, the emphasis on the power of the Bene Gesserit and how in Leto’s death scene we diverge from this trend, how he was so powerless against all these grand plans but he still took a stand, still ended things on his own terms.

Let’s talk about how Jessica doesn’t answer when Leto asks her to protect Paul as a Bene Gesserit. Let’s talk about the bull and the matador, the symbolism there. Let’s talk about the emphasis on medieval and renaissance headdresses on the Bene Gesserit, the significance of choosing attire from a time when the Catholic Church was in the peak of its power. Let’s talk about the nods to Gurney’s music. Just, look at all this stuff in the movie that you barely even notice, the first time. All the planning that went into it, how to fit in all these little nods, how to stay true to who the characters are in the present while also beginning to show who they will become. Let’s talk about it.

Though maybe not to the people I was watching the movie with. I don’t actually have a death wish.