#my brother in christ he is the nuance character

[ghost-sharks]

sally also deserves hell for how she’s treated or son

Hmmm, nope I mostly disagree.

Let me state that I don't think what Sally is doing to John is right at all, it's shitty and she's a terrible mom. Yet, I think it boils down to Sally has been a product of her environment since the beginning. From a cold uncaring mother, her acting teacher degrading her in front of her peers, her relationship with Sam, and now with Barry. She is continously in this cycle of abuse, and now she truly gets to be the actress she always wanted to be. I'm sure Sally feels nothing be resentment and emptiness towards her son, as he is a constant reminder of her failure, and that Barry gets to live out his fantasy we've seen throughout the series, while she has nothing and is just empty. Again, I'm not saying how she is treating John is right, it is super shitty as he is just a kid but it makes sense for Sally's character. Furthermore Barry isnt parent of the year either by isolating his son and putting fear into him because all he wants to do is make friends and be a kid. Sure, you could say that Barry and Sally are one in the same because Barry was in the military and his relationship with Fuches is also abusive. The man is listening to bible podcasts and cherry picking episodes to find a sign to justify killing Cousineau.

Even though Sally and Barry are both complicated characters, at the end of the day I think Barry deserves the shit kicked out of him, and Sally and John deserve a better life. There are posts on here that are standing up for Sally's character by defending her selfish attitude in the beginning of the series as everyone has a moment of being selfish versus Barry as he murders people. If you dont like Sally's character that's fine, you don't have to, it's your opinion. I don't think that a character that has gone through what Sally has gone through and has become nothing but a hollow shell of herself versus an actual murderer who thinks he is the hero of his own story deserves the same fate.

[rosemarydisaster]

I want to ask people to please please accept nuanced characters and not be a bitch about it. I've already seen so many crazy takes and I don't know if I can handle the death of media literacy right now. We've been through this in AFTG, let's not bring that energy to TSC.

For those who have read the book, examples under the cut.

Let's start with the fandom's favorite scapegoat: Thea Muldani. "She thought Jean was a whore sleeping with the defense line". That's what she was told and what Kevin and Jean allowed her to believe. Context is important: Thea was there because she just found out her team (and she wasn't involved at all with the mafia part or Riko's torture) had lied to her about her boyfriend's injuries. She obviously couldn't believe it because, would you!?? And when she sees Jean she's instantly on his side asking what happened to him. She's heartbroken when he doesn't answer and tells her to just believe what Kevin tells her. You can tell she cared about her little duckling and was horrified with what happened under her nose.

Then Kevin. Kevin is the recipient of Jean's unrequited love and that's not his fault. Hell, there's a lot of chances he didn't even know about it, Jean was the closest thing he had to a friend. He didn't seduce and trick Jean for his own benefit, he tricked his friend to survive and regretted ever since. He knew Jean wouldn't run, he knew Jean would have tried to stop him if he told him. It wasn't fair for Jean, but it was Kevin's only chance. I thought this was obvious. Jean is entitled to hate him, but the audience should know better than mischaracterize him like that.

Jeremy and the Trojans are the closest we have to a normal pov. Their way of handling Jean's trauma is not going to be like the Foxes'. They try not to pry too much, to offer him distractions and accommodations. They honestly do as well as they can. The people saying they're so pushy and annoying???? My bestie in Christ you'd probably handle it way worse.

I just think that we as a fandom should appreciate how good Nora's character writing is. Most characters are not fully evil (and those who are you can understand how they turned into monsters most of the time), but they fuck up. Sometimes they fuck up unknowingly, sometimes they fuck up because they don't know better, sometimes they fuck someone over because it's their only way out, sometimes the circumstances get in the way.

That doesn't make things better for the characters that get screwed over. Jean is entitled to his complicated feelings over Kevin. Aaron is allowed to not understand why his brother killed his mother. Just because the current narrator's pov makes it obvious for the audience doesn't mean the characters inside the book have the info and knowhow to do better.

TSC made me love Kevin even more because I'm a sucker for for imperfect victims. I hate the IRL narrative that in order to deserve sympathy you have to be purely the most victimized victim of them all. Kevin had to step over Jean to get out of his situation. Kevin had to witness the abuse, unable to do anything about it. Kevin is a bitch to his teammates and endangers them just by being in their team. He also loves them fiercely and forces them to keep on living.

It's complicated. And if you can't handle nuanced and complex characters please just keep your incorrect opinions to yourself??? Like why is everyone so comfortable admitting publicly they don't understand how to analyze realistic traumatized characters??? Why would you admit you can only see in black and white?? "Well if you're a victim and a good guy then you would never ever do something not nice. Gotcha!" That's how you sound.

[brettanomycroft]

My brother in christ how was I not following you. Anyways I'm going to pretend you reblogged the character bingo because PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT MARTIN!?

I only just came back and realized I wasn't following YOU until like yesterday but now all is right and good in the universe.

Okay hoo-ee whooo boy let's talk about Martin. Fucking. Blackwood!!!

A lot of characters in The Magnus Archives are truly tragic (see: Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Sopping Wet Meow Meow Institute) - they are victims of their own Fears and pride, or are manipulated to literal Hell and back, lose or destroy the things most precious to them, succumb fully to the machinations of horrible Eldritch abominations, or just straight-up get dead.

But in my mind, Martin is one of the few characters who in not really a tragic character. Does bad stuff happen to him? Oh yeah. Does he make bad or morally questionable decisions? As the Antichrist's plus one, absolutely. Is he kind of wheedling and pathetic at times? Definitely. A manipulative little shit? 100%.

But there's very little that happens to Martin that he doesn't in some sense own. He puts himself in horrible situation after horrible situation (from willingly letting his boss force him to relive a twisted version of his own deepest trauma to agreeing to jump into a tear in the space-time continuum) with a very clear-eyed view of what he's getting into and why he's doing it. Martin sometimes gets accused by characters in the show of being foolish or bumbling or just following orders, but he makes it clear time and time again that He Understands What He's Doing. More so, it seems he really understands what he's doing without the sort of illusion of trying to maintain objectivity or trying to "do good."

That's not to say that Martin doesn't care - he cares fiercely about the people he loves and is willing to make the hard choice when it's the right one - but his gray morality (especially when it comes to himself) is part of what makes him such an appealing character to me. He knows that the choices he's making will hurt him, or are morally questionable, or may cause a bigger problem down the line. He also knows that at the end of the day, he's still going to make those choices. I think ultimately that's what lets him support and push John in the final season: Martin has few doubts about the path he's taken to get to this point, and so he's able to shoulder some of the shock and trauma John is rocked with when it hits him that he's at the catalyst for a literal apocalypse and spirals into unknowable "What ifs."

OF COURSE A LOT OF THE REASON MARTIN IS ABLE TO DO THIS IS BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIME HE HAS LITTLE SENSE OF SELF-WORTH OR VALUE WHICH IS WHY INTO THE SALAD SPINNER HE GOES!!

Anyway, as someone who is a recovering people pleaser and is same hat when it comes to "Mommy issues" and "writing mediocre poetry," I really resonate with Martin's character in a lot of ways and think he's a lot of fun to write. Martin has a lot of nuance in his ability to seem unthreatening, using it to fly under the radar and still get what he wants (and in the end! He gets what he wants!!). I've read about people pleasing as a form of manipulation and, yeah, that's Marto to a T. But he's still also a soft and loving boy even as he advocates for his monster boyfriend to kill their enemies.

Personality aside, Martin is a canon Big Guy and there is something about trekking through the apocalypse with a guy who is big and tall enough to wrap me up in him that just makes me 😳😳😳😳 Like same, John, same. Some of my favorite Martin fics/Fanart feature situations where he's like a strapping farmer or breaks a zip tie with his bicep or just hauls people around and I am looking *so* respectfully.

[hismercytomyjustice]

Jesus CHRIST. Finally watched the latest episode of IWTV.

Good god these guys are acting like the rent is fucking due.

I cannot get over how intense their performances are and all the nuances they give to each of their characters. Especially Assad Zaman. I cannot get enough of his performance.

!AMC IWTV 2.05 SPOILERS BELOW!

I was in awe of Sam Reid the first season and how he could flip so effortlessly from the man of Louis’s dreams to his worst fucking nightmare at the drop of a hat.

And now Assad Zaman is here to show how he can be 99% the man of Louis’s dreams but don’t you dare forget that fucking 1%.

And of course Jacob Anderson is fucking PHENOMENAL. I am in awe of how masterfully he shows how Louis has changed over the years. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to play three different versions of yourself decades apart.

He goes from semi-reluctant pimp to grieving newly made vampire to Lestat’s victim to Claudia’s brother who is trying he is trying so fucking hard to a photographer trying to remember why life is worth living to Daniel Molloy’s suspicious adversary to his hesitant friend.

I just. UGH. They are all so TALENTED.

And of course Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles as Claudia!!! I do miss Bailey Bass, but Delainey Hayles has stepped up to the plate SO HARD. I love her so much too. The scene with Claudia playing chess with Lestat in Season One will forever live rent-free in my head though. Seeing her play the newly turned vampire/daughter/sister to playing the overconfident Lestat like a fiddle was *chef’s kiss*. God they’re all just SO GOOD.

And Eric Bogosian!!! And Luke Brandon Field!!! And Ben Daniels!!!

They are all JUST SO GOOD. My brain struggles to find the words to describe how fucking phenomenal they all are!!!

┻━┻︵ \(°□°)/ ︵ ┻━┻

I gotta reiterate what I posted in response to angel-starbeam’s question around whether Dracula comes across as “less like a supernatural evil being and more like a real life monster” because IWTV hits that duality on the head so well too. The show does such a phenomenal job of delving into both aspects, digging into the human trauma/emotions of the vamps and the horrible things they do while also going all in on the supernatural horror front.

Episode 2.02 is a perfect example with how the Theatre des Vampires is introduced. Specifically the scene where Louis and Claudia go see the show for the first time and how the company delights in playing pretend while also literally murdering and devouring people on stage in front of their audience.

The scene where the young woman is brought out on stage and begging for someone to save her, but everyone just thinks it’s part of the play. And yet you see so many people in the audience growing uncomfortable. Especially the guy who she agreed could take her place. He looks downright terrified.

It’s so fucking haunting, seeing this woman crying out for her husband and child and for rescue while being heckled by audience members. But it’s still theater for the vampires. A show within a show, solely for their entertainment. They get to watch humanity in its basest form, the woman agreeing to let someone else take her place, the audience looking away, and the audience cheering the slaughter on.

They’re literally playing with their food because it’s fun for them. They don’t need to kidnap people and “convince” (heavy air quotes) them to die on stage. And OF COURSE Lestat is the one who came up with that whole idea, what with his flair for sadism and drama.

They do it because they’re fucking human. Or were, anyway. The Theatre des Vampires is such a sharp contrast from the vampires we meet in 2.01, the ones who are little more than feral, whittled down to their basest instincts. They don’t fucking play with their food, they just hunt and eat. And yet isn’t that somehow more civilized than whatever the fuck they’re doing in France? Convincing themselves they’re doing these people a favor by getting them to “agree” to die?

Because that’s what Claudia’s so fixated on isn’t it? What she asks Santiago?

“How do you make them want it?”

Because that makes the deaths more interesting and more meaningful, doesn’t it? Connecting with your victim, lulling them into submission, getting them to “let” you bring them the inevitable end you, as an immortal, can never have?

And the woman in that scene is so young too. She has a child and a husband. Her adult life is only just now taking shape and they rip her away from it. They could find older targets, ones whose sudden disappearances/deaths are more readily accepted by society because of their age.

But they don’t. Because they’re fucking obsessed with youth. With people who have their entire lives ahead of them and everything to live for while they’re trapped in unending night, desperate to find meaning in it.

It’s exactly what young Daniel accuses Louis of in the 70’s. What sets him off. Because he fucking nailed it. Louis has spent his entire undead life striving for connection and meaning, but he can’t fucking find it because none of the vampires around him understand he never wanted to be one of them and he fucking hates what he’s become.

Yes, he was hurting and grieving after his brother’s death. But he still had his sister and his mother. He still had his job. He still had a place in the community. His business was wildly successful. And we see him trying so fucking hard to hold onto all of that when he bursts into the church the night of his brother’s funeral, desperately trying to evade Lestat’s siren song as his world crumbles around him.

Lestat makes him beg for a different sort of death. An end solely to his living life that Louis doesn’t understand is just as final as if Lestat had just slit his throat. Because by becoming a vampire, Louis loses everything he’s ever cared about “by choice” and he’s forced to live in the ashes of his former life for all eternity while all he wants is for everything to go back to the way it was before his brother’s death. But he can’t have that, so he just stops fucking living.

All of the vampires are so desperate for connection. Lestat wants a companion, Louis wants a family, Claudia wants a community, Armand wants to be wanted, Santiago wants authority…

I’d argue younger Daniel’s raw desire to just fucking live even though his life is middling at best (lol sorry bro) is what Louis finds so fascinating about him. And it’s because he loves life so much that he asks Louis to turn him.

Have we seen any voluntary vampires at this point? Maybe Santiago? Vampirism is something that has happened to them and stolen their agency in the process. Louis never wanted it, he just wanted an escape from his pain. Claudia never asked for it. Neither did Lestat or Armand or any of the feral European vampires.

The show so perfectly balances the vampires’ humanity with their monstrousness so fucking well. Being turned into vampires didn’t magically fix what was wrong with them in their human lives, and now they’re forever trapped in the bodies they had at the worst fucking moment of their human lives, never able to move past it.

Claudia is the poster child for this, stuck forever at fourteen even as her mind “ages” into adulthood. As mentally grown up as she is at this point, she’s still trapped in the body of a teenager. She will never be able to physically mature beyond that and she constantly tries to escape that reality only to have it thrown back in her face time and time again. She thinks she’s finally found people who will accept her as a grown woman in the coven, but then she’s forced into the role of Baby Lulu. Tbh, I feel like if she hadn’t had that role forced on her, maybe she would have finally been able to find some genuine happiness.

I mean, probably not given the shows themes, but a person can dream, dammit!

I know IWTV was a book series before it became a show and I’ll be honest, I haven’t read the books. I’ve googled some stuff because I’ve been curious about the how it differs, but my interpretation is solely form the pov of the show.

I’m just really fuckin’ digging it and I can’t wait for more. (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ) I just love how passionate everyone involved in it is and how much that passion shines in their work.

[gildalilli]

just saw someone's big analysis of why House MD is autistic coded and it was a lovely nuanced thing about love and other things

but im here as a non fan who just caught eps in the early-mid 00s as it aired.

and, my brothers in christ. no. shit.

like im glad people caught on and their analysis was lovely

but of course he is autistic coded because he is sherlock fucking holmes, the most autistic character in detective fiction. This isn't me drawing comparisons, house is literally a Sherlock medical au.

[420technoblazeit]

ok so i rewatched gabriel's big 2 episodes, changing channels and hammer of the gods. and honestly? jesus christ they were so good. like i had to pause the episode multiple times to scream about it, insane how good this show was at its peak

and like. gabriel's great in both episodes, i love the contrast of his playful side and the moments where sam and dean really piss him off. it's so easy to forget how dangerous he is when he's literally just trapped them in a sitcom but then he does something like teleport cas into an alternate dimension with a snap of his fingers and it's like. it's just so good. he was so fun and i know it would've been bad pacing but i wish gabriel was in more episodes

i love that they drew a parallel between gabriel and dean as characters who have so much weight on their shoulders and don't know what to do with it other than hide everything behind a carefree demeanour. i know gabriel doesn't actually die in this scene and i watched his season 13 episodes before they. killed him off for no real reason i guess. but the act of him confronting lucifer and standing with humanity after an eternity of running away is still real and it's sad that after everything lucifer was ready to kill him just like that. i really do think that gabriel still felt betrayed in the end, even if he knew it was coming and lucifer could never give up his revenge. that was still his brother and he still hesitated, even if lucifer didn't

and i always knew that mark pellegrino as lucifer was great but oh my god the snarkiness? the confidence in his voice, the sureness that he really does deserve to end the whole world and kill his brother in cold blood to get his revenge? the tears in his eyes when he stabs gabriel anyway??? season 5 lucifer was so good. i really buy the idea that lucifer feels like what he's doing is justified

hammer of the gods really nailed in the idea that as high stakes and insane as the apocalypse plot was, it was really grounded in the simplest of things. gabriel says it himself, it all boils down to lucifer feeling betrayed by god and wanting his revenge after everything that happened. that's all it was and ever will be, a family feud

and it's not that the later seasons of supernatural are awful, but the application of dean and sam's relationship as brothers paralleling the struggle of the archangels and their broken family gives michael and lucifer especially a lot more nuance. the later villains don't really get that, with the exception of maybe crowley and rowena but they get full fledged redemption arcs so that 's a whole other case entirely. but having the actual devil in your show and then tying his story to your main protagonist's to give him a sense of humanity is so fucking compelling. drives me nuts

[elfdragon12]

Prowl has so much potential for being a genuine tragic and meaningful character and an example of the tragedy of war/the effects of war on people. Like, my brother in christ was literally SIC for 4 mil yrs give that guy a break

It lowkey need people to see my vision LAZER BEAM OF NEURODIVERGANT AUTISM HYPERFIXATION GO!!!!

That requires reading/writing Prowl with nuance! It's much easier to be mad at him for being a meanie jerkface rather than acknowledging the many events and people that made him the way he is. (And I do actually have a post about that exact reading of Prowl, bringing up the book version of Inspector Javert of Les Miserables and how it didn't matter how good and upright of a cop he was because the justice system was bad and made to trap people. War is, well, hell and no one escapes it unscathed.)

I know I've seen that take on Prowl and honestly! I can see it.

[pennycat83]

I keep thinking about Kaname so I wanna rant about Him

(Following contains mentions of S.A and child abuse)

Y'know what's weird?

I don't hate Kaname

But I DO hate how his characters is handled as both a concept and throughout the story.

On paper I like the idea of this kid who's pressured into doing so perfect in school in order to succeed what his dad never could 'cause of his existence. It's such a wonderfully fucked up concept and could work as a great tragic character (somethin' like the idea behind My Ordinary Life).

I'm also not against him having a mild God complex, granted I think it's handled like a fake dog turd at first, but the idea of his inner monologue being his actual personality and external dialogue giving off a facade might make for an interesting concept, as long as it's done sparingly to give us the viewer a sense of danger with him. We get snippets of what he actually thinks about certain things and people but never consistently.

Hell even his bootleg Madoka Kaname name is kinda cute when you realise Kaname roughly translates to cycle/circle, as in the cycle of abuse his dad puts him through.

Here's the problem with Kentaro though. The man's got the character writing IQ of a tapeworm. So instead of an interestingly fucked up character, we get immidately ass pounded with his treatment of the main character that already snipes some of the sympathy we might get towards him. There's no subtly, no nuance as to how he's pissed Aya gets off scott free.

Too much work. He just keeps, beating her ass to the point we don't give a shit about him, so we WANT to see him suffer. And he does after he gets kidnaps by shit cop (I don't wanna remember his name).

And THEN I start feeling sympathetic towards him. Not because they give him any character depth, but because Kentaro huffed too much glue and thought "I'MMA GET 'IM ASSULTED!". Just straight 50 Shades of Grey levels of uncomfortable, like I'm very opinionated on male S.A getting played for laughs of a valid justice. That's bullshit, regardless of gender this kinda stuff shouldn't be seen as anything good.

But it's fact that after this his character kinda falls to the wayside until he gives Aya a half assed "hey sorry I beat your ass a lot". Even Ichi taunts him about the S.A and the fact he WILLINGLY PUTS UP WITH THE SHIT COP?! My man pummel his ass like your dad's after he died!

Jesus Christ why doesn't Aya just nuke her dad, no one fucking likes him and he's the reason your adopted brother's like this!

Can you tell I'm furiously mixed on this man? Like again the idea of a stressed out teen who can't handle his outlet for his stress is a legit brilliant idea as both a critique on certain parenting methods and in the context of a magical girl show.

Hell I only mildly tolerate him, I wanna smack him 'round the back so hard he goes Fansworth but it's only 'cause his later abuse is so intense I can't hold that much hate for him! That's not how you redeem a shitty person KENTARO THA-

[covenofthearticulate]

I think it's for the better that JA's Louis was not written "a coward at his core" like his book counterpart. As a rule of thumb, fandom hates "soft and scared" characters, and love the "loud and wild ones". The absolute victim-blaming Louis and Claudia suffered after episode 5 is a good case in point.

I'll be honest, anon, I actually didn't see a lot of "victim blaming" after episode 5??? if anything, most of what I saw was people blaming the fans who were upset at the graphic depiction of domestic violence against a black man on screen. maybe that's bc i've curated my dash so specifically that i barely interact with blogs who have different show opinions than me but that actually brings me to my point:

The fandom that already existed, that the showrunners explicitly cited time and time again as part of their target audience, LOVES Louis!!! We’ve been here the entire goddamn time!! Of course Lestat is a fan favorite in a fun-loving kind of way, but I think what draws fans to these books in the first place is the emotional vulnerability with ALL the characters!

Louis is the embodiment of his own grief, Armand deals with crippling loneliness, Lestat acts out because he's so desperate to distract himself from the gaping emptiness inside him.

There’s so much nuance to these characters, and I wish they allowed Louis that room to breathe as much as they did Lestat. 

There was so much focus on Lestat’s backstory, like he gets multiple monologues expressing his trauma, whereas every time Louis’ grief is expressed it feels like a sloppily written afterthought, or something to be rushed through. 

Like, the same people who gave us “there is an ocean between christ and myself” made us watch louis’ brother die on screen, his sister abandon him, and the only time it’s addressed is in the 2022 interview where louis says “i was grieving my brother” in the most unconvincing, scripted delivery LOL 

like don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the moments where Louis get s to lean into his anger because that’s canon too, but I don’t think this is an either/or situation like, you can have him be soft and meek in moments and aggressive in others like that’s The Whole Point!!!!

[ginnotwist]

What is your favorite jojo part? And favorite character? I have noticed that people who like both jjba and enstars can often be the smartest most nuanced people youll have the pleasure of talking to and i think you qualify

HIII okay preemptively putting this under a readmore since its just going to be me rambling. thank you though im glad u think my takes are good. it makes me happy to be able to discuss stuff (dreamy sigh) i love discussions

my fav jojo part kind of pingpongs between parts 7, 8 and 3. i think part 7 is exceptionally written. i love the characters i love their interactions i love their banter to offset the more serious tone and conflicts of the part. jesus christ corpse aside i think part 7 touches some very heavy issues with how johnny is handled and while things couldve been done better, i think it's good. i love part 8's entire plot and it feels like a murder mystery the whole time to me, at the beginning it feels quite silly but when the focus shifts over to the rokaka, the rock humans and gappy's origins thats where it starts getting really good. i'd rather not spoil since ik a lot of people havent finished reading p8 and i implore u to because p9 is just around the corner. p3 is just kind of. there. i feel bad because part 3 is just a hero's journey. it's not outstanding but i think it's charming in its simplicity. i like the characters and the stand fights and the format is silly and lets me turn my brain off.

ok fav characters... i'll try to narrow this down to 3. johnny, jotaro, and fugo. fugo probably the one i am most fond of (hes my milk webkinz). johnny aside, i feel like the other two are kind of simple characters but this is where my Tendency To Overanalyze Anything I Like kicks in so to me they're a lot deeper and fleshed out than they seem at first glance.

johnny, well...i see a lot of dislike towards johnny from certain parts of the community because of his (implied) depression and him being disabled. a lot of dudebros seem to see him as someone whiny and a "useless" jojo, comparing him to gyro which seems to do most of the emotional heavylifting this part. this is not at all true and i think both his and gyro's efforts are what result in them progressing in the race as well as johnny's own progress irt to the spin, in coping with his brother's loss, and finding purpose in himself. i am Not disabled, so i cant truly comment on how good of a representation he is but while one of his motivations is to obtain the jesus corpse to be able to walk again, this motivation is almost entirely set aside by the end of the part – and by the time he does 'gain the ability' to walk again for lack of a better term it's not at all the main focus. it's almost cathartic to see that when gyro passes away johnny thanks him for all he's done, but he's most certainly not making reference to his working legs, but rather, everything else. his best friend just died, and his main goal is to finish the race, and get his corpse back to italy. throughout the part gyro helps him find strength in himself to see that he is capable of more than he thinks (even though he can be quite harsh, i think this is exactly what johnny needs), and johnny's depression and survivor guilt when it comes to being alive while his brother, who he considers was better in every respect, is dead, is very realistic within the confines of what Can Be, in a story like jojo, and idk. when his neglectful father who left him to die comes back to greet him at the end of the race, begging for forgiveness, is essentially spat on by johnny because after all his growth he knows he deserves more than that, that he does not owe him forgiveness just because after years of mistreating him he's finally seen the error of his ways... stuff like that just kind of sells him for me. he feels so real. that and he's really cute and funny ✌️

JOTAROS A BIT HARDER TO TALK ABOUT BECAUSE he feels very flat. in part 3 you can argue hes just some angsty brooding teenager who's mean to his mom and punches shit. which is true. that's what it is on paper. idk though. i made a lot of shit about jotaro up in my head so a lot of this is going to be hcs and my interpretation of him. but i dont think he's ever really had a healthy outlet for his issues. i love holly, but she's always just kind of gone with what jotaro wants/says, and jotaro's never really had a father figure in his life. ofc he wants to save his mom when he goes off to egypt, it's almost all he has. then in egypt i like to think that meeting the other three and becoming friends with someone close to his age, kakyoin, he realizes things about himself that he never really considered, or wishes to put a name to. i think jotaro has a bit of internalized homophobia in regards to kakyoin and having lost him, his first love, at 17 fucks you up. i also like the interpretation that jotaro is autistic and this is one of the reasons he has such a hard time relating to people, voicing his thoughts and latched onto marine biology which is something that persists throughout his whole life.

i think one of the best things about jotaro is that he might seem underdeveloped in his own part but then in p4+p6 when he shows up enough has happened to him that you can infer some of his development behind the scenes. by p4 we know he has jolyne but travels around a lot and we know nothing about his spouse so we can assume his relationship with her isnt the best (this is confirmed in p6). going back to the internalized homophobia i think jotaro would take on a spouse because of comphet and because he feels like this is something that should be normal. keep in mind his father was also never around while he was growing up, so again traveling around and not spending time with his daughter, spending more time on speedwagon foundation business and his studies, and it never once occurs to him that this might not be the best thing to do (at the time). he's a lot more mature now and knows he cant use violence to solve everything, which is good, and tries to form lasting relationships with josuke, koichi and okuyasu. he's trying to make progress

and then p6 rolls around and jolyne is grown up and we find out that yeah jotaro was a pretty shit dad. our suspicions were correct. he was never around, he's always had fights with jolyne’s mother not because hes violent but because hes completely disinterested. again, the comphet, but also: he's out of the house all of the time on spf business because he wants to keep jolyne safe. to this day the effects and losses of egypt still rest heavy on him and marine biologist work aside he doesn't want the same fate to befall jolyne. him sending her the brooch is a last resort for her to protect herself. when hes awake during the part he's trying to make it up to jolyne, in his own way, and he loves and protects his daughter until his dying breath (this brought me to tears, btw part 6 is a ride). also i rly think he loved kakyoin his whole life. idk. i think jotaro can be pretty tragic depending on how you see him. which is why i love him but he also makes me sad as fuck because i think after p3 he spends his whole life lamenting the trauma he suffered when he was 17 and forcing himself to suck it up; ofc this doesnt excuse him being a shitty father to jolyne, i think she deserves better, but... you know

NOW FUGO!!!!!!! This is all going to sound delusional. bear with me. fugo is literally in p5 for like 2 milliseconds so ill explain how /i/ see him. but also keep in mind ive read phf like 3 times. OK SO fugo is this moody ass 16 year old with extreme anger issues -- while most of the time hes mature, good with people with only a bit of snark, he has an explosive temper that stemmed from his childhood. he was a prodigy child, he got into university at the age of 13, but was for the most part neglected by his family (not including his grandmother), his parents only looking after him/demanding More from him when it came to his studies/extracurricular activities. his family is new money, so they need fugo to excel in life to ensure that they are not taken lightly.

here is where stuff kind of varies: in the anime, he is almost sexually harassed by a much older uni professor and in a fit of rage beats him over the head with a heavy book. in the novel and the manga i think it just comes from the teacher mocking him (in the novel he gets pissed off because his grandmother died prior and the teacher belittled him for failing an exam when he had requested to not take it) but the consequence is the same: hes kicked out of uni and disowned by his family to not blunder the family name, making him homeless. time goes by and he's taken in by bruno and hes the first one to join his gang under the guise of needing a "level head" (ironic bc bruno knows why fugo ended up on the streets).

then the actual events of p5 happen and he actually leaves the gang really early on as bruno had decided to betray the boss. fugo is inept emotionally and prefers to not face the wrath of the boss, narrowly avoiding his own death LOL and then being like ok why did they ditch me. 

he doesnt understand why bruno and the rest of the gang would throw away their lives for some girl theyd just met. he's logical, emotion-driven only when it comes to himself. hes moody, as a teenager should be, but after joining brunos gang becomes heavily reliant on routine, on being told what to do, and despite all of the gang related activities they carry out, is likely the only time he's ever been able to be a kid/someone's child. from here on we dont see him at all unless you read his spin-off novel which is technically not considered canon by a lot of ppl bc its not by araki, but its overseen by him and the illustrations included are all provided by him. but basically i like fugo for a lot of the same reasons i like kakyoin: that being hes a socially inept introvert who had no friends until the main story and didnt realize what they had until it was too late

(PHF SUMMARY HERE) after the events of p5, with bruno, abbacchio and narancia dead, giorno as the head of the mafia seeks him out to carry out a mission to exterminate the head (happens to be an old university classmate of his) of this group selling drugs under the passione's name. essentially a suicide mission if it goes wrong. hes tasked to go with sheila e. (girl, same age as boss' daughter approx.) and murolo (middle aged man). they butt heads quite a bit but grow rather close. thru various parts of the novel hes still on some Dumb shit with his anger issues like nearly killing sheila e. when she caught him while he was falling bc he was still seeing red from the enemy. otherwise this part he just kinda comes off as depressed, less explosive. without going into much detail about the fights or what actually happens, he begins to trust people, i think. he doesnt see Everything as if the world was against him and it makes me rly happy for him. like up until this point hes never been Alone alone, but has alienated himself from others bc he feels that they dont understand, or that theyre too different from him, too dumb. very this ⬇️

im going to link to a post i wrote a while back about some phf fugo thoughts because this post is already long enough

anyways i think im done here. i hope this was satisfying and good. i went on a bit of a tangent irt fugo and jotaro because i feel like unlike johnny people dont really tend to look at them with the same depth. i also think i am just out of my mind. if youve read this far i love you

[siena-sevenwits]

I posted 1,673 times in 2022

That's 1,673 more posts than 2021!

243 posts created (15%)

1,430 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lady-merian

@gailyinthedark

@telthor

@hollers-and-holmes

@lovesodeepandwideandwell

I tagged 1,408 of my posts in 2022

Only 16% of my posts had no tags

#literary - 289 posts

#ha! - 208 posts

#art - 177 posts

#beauty - 153 posts

#tolkien - 91 posts

#lotr - 74 posts

#film - 69 posts

#faith - 60 posts

#writing - 53 posts

#ideas - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and growing from his time in community life and following the horarium and going to the chapel daily and interpersonal stuff with the monks

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

One of the things I have learned as a teacher - there are some things in literature that students have to believe for a while and get passionate about,. You have to make space for them to express it before you try to steer them toward a greater curiosity and understanding of the character/the author's intention.

High schoolers often need to express some vitriol toward Romeo and Juliet's relationship, and a chance to throw disgust at it. They need it before you can get into discussions about why they might have fallen for each other in the way they did, or whether Shakespeare is holding them up for admiration or for something a little more nuanced, OR (and you can only have this discussion a little way down the road) why they're reacting to an ill-advised romance with such visceral frustration when they've been very even-tempered about murder and cheating and deception in other works. (And if they've been heard out first, they often find this discussion fascinating.) Once they've had room to give their honest first impressions, room for greater understanding and empathy is opened up.

Students need to joke with the teacher about how meandering Polybius is and how he seldom comes to his point. You need to good-naturedly tease Polybius from beyond the grave before you can throw a magnifying glass on the fact that Polybius's most interesting thoughts are in the "tangents."

Students need to be able to express that they're horrified that God would order the Israelites to kill every last Canaanite - have to admit that they can't seem to reconcile it with their understanding of a loving God. Only after this is acknowledged - that this is a difficult passage to comprehend - can you start examining it to understand.

I used to think I was aiding my students by debunking some thoughts before they could even be expressed. I thought if I gave them the chance to say these things, they'd become the entrenched class opinion, and they'd resent attempts to budge them from it. So I used to start classes with phrases like, "When it comes to Romeo and Juliet, many people tend to think ______, but in fact if we look closer...." I try not to do that anymore.

There must be room for honest first impressions, or you will not be able to go on honestly. No one can become more open-minded when you attempt to short-circuit their thoughts before they are even expressed.

118 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#4

Whenever I buy iron or zinc from the pharmacy I feel like a Mistborn.

188 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

#3

Love that "my brother in Christ" became a thing, because fraternal correction is ripe for comedy! I do think all the adaptations of it into other phrases are hilarious though. Because while they often work for their jokes, almost all of them would be that much funnier with the original implied layer that you're being called out because someone thought it was their scriptural duty to do so, and probably feels super awkward about. They are just hoping you will amend your misguided opinions about Pokemon before they have to take you before two or three witnesses.

194 notes - Posted October 17, 2022

#2

This is hardly original, but tonight I'm obsessed with how in the Passion narratives, even the words and accidental prayers of Christ's enemies are fulfilled and proclaim Him.

And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: "I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look you to it." And the whole people answering, said: "His blood be upon us and our children." (Matthew 27:24-25)

They mean it in the most horrific and bloodthirsty sense - let us be proud to have caused this man's death! - but looking at their actual words - could there be a better prayer if meant with love? Let His blood, lovingly shed for us, mark us for all time! Not just in our generation, but in all generations to come! Let His sacrifice ensure our redemption. Let His blood be our true drink.

And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him... and saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself... And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." (from Luke 23:36-39)

And He does! He does! He doesn't save Himself from mockery, torture, and death in that moment - He fulfills the thief's mocking "prayer" in a far more thorough and incredible way - He reverses death itself! He makes it that death has no power over Himself nor us!

And there was also a superscription written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. (Luke 23:38)

Pilate's plaque accurately proclaims to the world, in the local and universal languages, just who this is dying on the cross. In spite of Himself, he unwittingly proclaims the truth, though he questions what truth even is.

It's just - wild. All creation is telling the glory of God, even when we most reject Him.

204 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Imagine meeting your online friends in person, and there is not one single moment of awkwardness except of the enjoyable kind. It's all joy. You get to see sides of them that never came through online. You get to see the light in their eyes. Their sense of humour is the same but broader because you're in person. Any worries you might have had that it will turn out disappointing or embarrassing fly out the window, and at the end of the day you feel twice as close as you already were, if not more.

505 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mcu-vanity-blog]

GOTG 3 Review (done by the characters I care about)

Disclaimer: I didn't watch the Christmas special

Peter: Has a complete alcoholism arc in the first ten minutes for some reason? It's implied he's been drinking a lot since Endgame and then, like 15 minutes in, he says out loud "This wouldn't've happened if I hadn't been drinking" and then that's just the end of it? My brother in Christ, this movie is 2 and a half hours long, maybe cut that bit aye?

He is very much just another character in this entry. Most of his lines could easily be given to Mantis or Nebula and nothing would really change. Chris Pratt looks visibly unenthused to be here most of the time.

(New) Gamora: Honestly, could've been left out of the MCU entirely since her death in Infinity War. Zoe Saldana is the best part of every MCU film she's been in.

In this film though, she starts off with the Ravagers >> maybe learns that she's a slightly better person than she thought >> goes back to the Ravagers.

She's basically just sort of "also there" for the whole film, and is often just acting as a foil for Peter's arc (which, btw, is realising that this woman who looks like his dead girlfriend isn't actually his dead girlfriend; a fact he already knows).

Idk man, it's weird. I think Zoe just contractually had to be in this one?

Rocket: Is very much the main character of this film, but spends a good two-thirds of it asleep. You mainly see him in flashbacks where he's being abused/experimented on by the film's villain.

It's a very classic James Gunn thing I think; take a small and helpless guy and make the audience empathise with him because of how small and helpless he is. I guess it's not super nuanced in that way, but it's not necessarily an unenjoyable story for him.

It was weird that they decided to give us his origin in what is apparently the final entry of this trilogy though?

Like, "you've loved this character for 9 years now and this might be the last chance you get to see him and his friends all together again! How about we have sleep the entire time and, instead, explain exactly how he became who he was when you met him 5 movies ago!". It's kind of just silly (Dan Harmon articulates this idea really well here at 0:35-0:51).

Nebula: Gets more screen-time and characterization in this film, still not the most interesting character tho :/.

I also don't think that Karen Gillian can act :(. Would much rather have OG Gamora over her

Drax: Still just relegated to unfunny comic relief. His thing in the first movie was that his culture didn't have metaphors and he was a little careless/happy-go-lucky; he wasn't an idiot.

Ever since then? He has exclusively been an idiot.

Don't care, but feel sorry that Dave Bautista still has to play this role, even though he does very well in it <3

Groot: Again, hasn't been interesting since the first movie. He used to be this sort of mysterious, ancient, gentle giant type of character, but he's basically been just a type of sci-fi set dressing in all the movies since then.

I know James Gunn has said he's a brand new Groot from the one we see in that movie, but it's like... why? Compare the scenes of OG Groot to literally any scene of Gunn-written Groot and tell me which one is the more interesting character.

Adam Warlock: Surprisingly good. Unfortunately, he's that same James Gunn character of grown-up person with the mind of a child (think Killer Sharl in Suicide Squad), but it kinda works in this? I like that they let Will Poulter keep his accent and I look forward to seeing him written by more competent writers.

[leofrith]

i am late but... din djarin for character asks? (i just want to know what fan takes are the worst asjksjks)

oh GODDDDDDDD never in my life have i wanted a character i love to get killed off so badly. jesus christ 💔

a song that reminds me of them: lonely feelings by love supreme

what they smell like: sweat and gunpowder. or whatever the star wars blaster equivalent of gunpowder is lmao

an otp: luke and omera!!! also boba is neat

a notp: i never want to see mayfeld on my screen ever again, love and light. also i've already talked about it but bo-katan could have been good if it had been executed with the bare minimum amount of care. but it wasn't. so when it inevitably happens in the finale this week i will not be coping.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: grogurt!!!! also the armorer and big brother paz. rip king gone too soon. also the din and ahsoka friendship that exists in my head. ❤️

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: girl....... so many. the way a ton of people in this fandom reduce his character to some vaguely sexist, hypermasculine badass who is aggressive all the time for no reason is so irritating. the sheer amount of fics that portray him as some kind of daddy dom or spicy latin lover stereotype is gross and it makes me actually insane. at worst, it's just fucking racist and at best, it's an extremely reductive way of looking at an otherwise very interesting character. there is a truly staggering amount of fic that is obvious, thinly-veiled p*dro pascal rpf that is only using the vague idea of din's character as proof that it's not actually rpf. and the fact that there is no way to reliably filter any of it because people refuse to tag their shit accordingly just makes it worse. this certainly isn't to say that this is an issue confined solely to x reader spaces. i know for a fact that a ton of dinluke writers do this too, which is why i rarely interact with the fandom anymore. also, the lack of nuance when people talk about din's faith is truly awe inspiring. people will see din's clan say "this is the way" and religiously cover their faces and will call it cult behaviour without a hint of critical thought. ah yes, cults, which are famous for letting their members come and go as they please and also teaching their members to be self sufficient. those cults. sure. anyway... i could go on for ages. but i'll finish this off with the fact that yesterday i saw someone say that din in a modern au would be a casually homophobic catholic, which aged me 10 years. do not watch star wars. never ever watch star wars.

the position they sleep in: canonically sleeps in a tiny ball in full armour to fit into his tiny bed on the razor crest (rip razor crest), in the pilot's seat with his arms crossed like a dad falling asleep in his recliner after dinner, or on his back like this:🧍‍♂️ that man has back problems i know he does.

a crossover au i’d love to see them in: i think that din and eivor would get along very well if they existed in the same universe. something about the shared sense of honour and their inability to pass by random people in need. but din as an assassin could also be very fun. me putting assassin's creed characters in star wars aus 🤝 me putting star wars characters in assassin's creed aus. i love bad media <3

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: he only has one!!! actually that's a lie, there was the stormtrooper disguise on morak (episode of all time) and the two iterations of his armor. i'm gonna go with his beskar armour but specifically when he has his helmet off while saying goodbye to grogu in the s2 finale. we could have had at least half a season of him looking like this while separated from his son. pathetic wet cat looking man. look at what they took from us.

send me a character and i will answer these questions!

[raphexim]

Literally the only Gosling film I'd ever seen before Barbie was Remember the Titans like 25 years ago.

Jesus that makes me feel old. I am. Christ.

(it's only 23 years? That's... not better)

Working my way through belatedly so imma just use this post to keep track of thoughts and feelings

The Gray Man: fucking loved it so much??? Murder weapon turned unwilling father figure??? Sad grumpy dads are my one trope to rule them all, particularly when bound with found family. I'd wanna play checkers with Six. Like the characters were super compelling to me, the way they showed development and how everything felt character driven to me? And there were such good unspoken implications that also expanded on these characters without burdening the storytelling. AND the lack of gore!!!! This was a super violent movie and it only got a PG-13 because you literally don't need to show that shit on a screen. Bless

The Nice Guys: I expected to be aced out by the whole porno thing, but it was more nudity with implications than *the do* and I guess that didn't cross the line for me. And honestly pretty mild at that. The plot has holes. So many holes. Russell Crowe's accent was distracting. And crazily, I didn't really care about any of that, because the characters and their dynamics and chemistry were just chef's kiss. I love Holland? And I love that he is a disaster. I would not like him in person. There is a little gore at the end, but if you consider physics, it's not realistic at all (crazy how you can convey a visual without having to emotionally scar your audience, who knew???). This is the only one I have re-watched so far, and now have the book so that I can consume my comfort in multiple forms.

La La Land: idk. The music was good. Ryan walks some kind of way. I was VERY impressed with his piano skills. (I was raised by a pianist, so I have to notice that stuff, which makes me sound pretentious I'm so sorry). Idk what happened. I have no idea what the message was, or if there even was one. It seemed like it was trying to have one?? But like "you can either fall in love, follow your dreams, or be successful, but only two out of three. And if you get rid of one, you're guaranteed to get the others." Idk. Very meh, probably won't watch again except for specifically the piano playing.

Lars and the Real Girl: tbh my only context for this movie was an episode of Pushing Daisies where a delusional guy used his doll to murder someone, so. I did not have high expectations. Also had no idea RG had anything to do with it. *And* my tolerance level for secondhand embarrassment is on the fucking floor so I expected to have to turn it off. I didn't. Fuck. This movie was so wholesome???? The treatment of a mental illness was so supportive and positive??? (Except for the touch thing, that was... Let people not want to be touched!)

The Notebook: hi, I hated the Notebook. I don't get the hype, I don't know why people treat it like the ultimate romance. Man coerces a girl into a date by threatening to kill himself, she retaliates by publicly humiliating him. They scream at each other a lot. Poor communication. Obsessive behavior?? Literally so creepy??? Anyway they're terrible for each other and it's an unhealthy relationship. Ryan with brown eyes. Only rewatching if it's to roast and drink.

Half Nelson: made me uncomfy, but that was the point, right? It's a white savior movie but it's about being a white savior movie. The racial subtext of a white guy stepping in inappropriately and what the fallout of that is; stack on the nuance of addiction, male entitlement. How powerful of a moment for Drey to ask "will I end up like my brother" and Dan being the one to make her so. (Also the performance by Shareeka Epps? Spellbinding.) The writer who became a teacher and then never got around to writing? Real. So was the fact that nothing happened professionally after he did what he did to his coworker. Very pre-Me Too. Anthony Mackey was both the most charismatic and, somehow, most responsible character in the entire thing. My only actual beef is the camera work. This last bit is petty - they finally gave me a RG character with a cat, and the cat dies (but, very single white bachelor to name him Dave omg.)

Crazy, Stupid Love: uhhhhh the children involved in this were... this wasn't good. There could have been good lessons for them (the son with consent maybe??) (*not* depicting a teenage girl giving suggestive photos to a child???) but there weren't. There were good aspects in the story, don't get me wrong: exploring relationships, trying to find your identity outside of just 'who you're married to'. I get it. Everything that wasn't actively trying to teach a lesson was funny. The parts that were meant to be heartfelt, did not age well and also probably weren't great to begin with. Maybe that's the male gaze idk. I wanted more of Jacob and Cal's actual relationship, because what was being suggested between the lines was way more interesting to me than the actual plot. Jacob with the family/bonding with Cal's kids completely off-screen, are you kidding me? Cal being a really weird, awkward stand-in for Jacob's father? Jacob accidentally being written demi-romantic and having a crisis about it? I'd love someone to remake this movie. Preferably women-directed. [But I am obsessed with the second Jacob heard David's name and had zero hesitation, just ring off 'we doin this'. He's a real one.]

Can you tell I have feelings about overuse of sex and gore? Esp how it's been the last few years? Ugh. Like I want to watch Drive bc it sounds like it's supposed to be an ✨iconic✨ role for him but I get squicked out by chunks/organs and stuff and I have no idea how graphic it is. Can we go back to shit being implied, off screen, or at least artistic again???

I'm not tagging this, it's for me lmao

[lord-squiggletits]

Sometimes I see people call IDW Optimus an asshole (never talking about him in any other way), and then I look at their content and they stan characters who are literally worse than him in personality or in the shitty things they've done

And I go ah, so when you say "IDW Optimus is an asshole" what you really mean is "I hate it when Optimus has a personality and agency and fucks up like a human person. What I really want is for other characters to get depth and nuance while Optimus forever remains a G1 character who does nothing but inoffensively smile and make dad jokes in the background."

[dontexpecttomakesense]

Like Alador’s redemtion is great, the fact that he wants to do right by his children is great, and yes I know that none of that erases what he did in the past or how he neglected them, nor should be expected to get forgiveness for the bare minimum.

But twitter has already reduced all nuance to:

"if you weren't abused by your parents you cannot talk about Alastor's character arc"

My brother in christ, and I’m being completely sincere in here, I am very sorry for those who were abused by their parents, but Alador is literally fictional and people's reaction to his redemtion is in no way indicative of their actual morality or what they think about how children should treat their abusive parents