#something something agency something something narratives

[werewolfpdfs]

"Love shouldn't be dictated." "Nothing should be dictated!"

"And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella."

— ella enchanted, gail carson levine // neverafter e4, brennan lee mulligan as cinderella, dimension 20 // cinderella - love me forever, pinkshift) // into the woods, 1991 original broadway cast reunion recording // cinders' song - once upon a time (in space), the mechanisms // cinderella, the brothers grimm

agency, safety, love, control

[ohmerricat]

i hope ruby gets a well-that’s-alright-then-style notdeath. on the one hand it will make haters mad because oh no not another companion with an impermanent end (and i like to see haters mad) on the other it would require creativity to depict this in a new way + i love all the implications i love the dark fairytale quality of these companion exits i love my un-undead schrodinger’s women

with the way the legend of ruby sunday is titled… legends aren’t usually told about living people. legends are stories of the bygone past, of an age long since over, fictionalised and overgrown with folklore like barnacles sticking to an abandoned shell. there is such a thing as a living legend, but they’re exceedingly rare. the unmistakeable raven’s call in the 73 yards teaser, the trailer’s cut to fifteen crying alone after promising to cherry he’d protect her daughter… the foreshadowing is clear as day…

and yet. there’s one massive HOWEVER. ruby appears in s15: millie’s been spotted on set filming it. which leads me to believe — the doctor isn’t one to take the time travel route and revisit companions that in his future are genuinely dead. that would hurt too much, it would cause unnecessary trauma and could break the timeline. that must mean ruby stays alive in some way. ish. she’s alive and a legend and a mystery. girl-ballad girl-song girl-paradox

here she is, fading out.

p.s.: thesis statement on moffatgirls from the tags i left on somebody else’s post about charley pollard.. well it belongs here since it’s basically the semiotic hurricane swirling around ruby at the moment :)

[scoupsahoy]

not to take a silly firefighter show and its characters too seriously but we need to talk about eddie diaz and why he was miserable this season and it isn't because he's being tortured by the narrative. he is absolutely torturing himself because he does not know how not to

i don't mean that in a "he was a bad father and deserved to have his child taken away" way. i hope that's obvious.

i mean it in a "he has never learned to prioritize himself in his life and doesn't know how to try" way. i mean it in a "he would never have gotten involved with kim if he ever internalized the fact that shannon wanted a divorce because they were best friends and high school sweethearts and they were in love but that was never going to be enough" way. i mean it in a "he doesnt know how to ask for help before it's WAY too late" way.

season 7 wasn't torturing eddie because the narrative hates him. it was showing him what he could have if he cared to think about what he needs. if he ever thought he was worthy of that kind of thing. 90% of eddie's storylines in this season correlated with someone else's in a really purposeful way and the difference was that he did not ask for help until it was too late. the worst part is that he could see it all happening for everyone else and he could not reach out until he was in pain.

the narrative said: THIS is what can happen when you unpack that guilt you know you have. THIS is what can happen if you think about your relationships and what they mean. THIS is what can happen if you stop running from your past. THIS is what can happen if you acknowledge that what happened to you was horrible but it wasnt your fault.

eddie diaz is being haunted and taunted by the narrative because it is trying to speak to him and he is taking it as a threat.

[shaylogic]

Crystal & Charles as Foils to Each Other

I see a lot of stuff neglecting Crystal entirely or mis-characterizing her in the fandom, so I wanted to share some points from my fanfic notes on this. . .

[brother-emperors]

Wait what is the misdirection element with Lucullus and Crassus ?

crassus is popularly associated with greed in part due to the parthia expedition/invasion, but following plutarch's narratives: it's actually lucullus who corrupts crassus with this trait, and implies a certain amount of blame for parthia/carrhae on lucullus

Now my own opinion is that the harm Lucullus did his country through his influence upon others, was greater than the good he did her himself. For his trophies in Armenia, standing on the borders of Parthia, and Tigranocerta, and Nisibis, and the vast wealth brought to Rome from these cities, and the display in his triumph of the captured diadem of Tigranes, incited Crassus to his attack upon Asia; he thought that the Barbarians were spoil and booty, and nothing else. It was not long, however, before he encountered the Parthian arrows, and proved that Lucullus had won his victories, not through the folly and cowardice of his enemies, but through his own daring and ability. This, however, is later history.

plutarch, lucullus

[jacobsbadwig]

I saw your tags on the other post and pls rant about Jessica Stanley being the main character. Kthankbye ✌🏻

I was trying to find a post on my blog that imagined Jessica as the Main character Twilight.

But frankly it all boils down to Smeyer using Bella as a self insert. Now a lot of people hate that criticism, but it’s not a criticism rather than a statement of fact. Her crime isn’t basing a character on herself (or a young version of herself) it’s refusing to kill her darlings. Bella’s book description is the same description of Stephenie Meyer. (See @panlight or @fuckmeyer for more information)

As for Jessica, it’s hard to figure out what Bellas (and Stephenies) beef with Jessica as a character. I would argue because we don’t get an inkling of how Bella’s friend group was in Arizona (or if she had many friends) that Jessica is another character foil how girls shouldn’t (I will link that post here) act. Of course this is a subconscious point that the narrative makes.

Jessica is this determined high schooler who likes boys (as far as we know) who is focused on her grades but is a bit of a gossip. At least from Bella’s prespective. Also, Bella is an unreliable narrator although the narrative and the author don’t treat her as such.

I think Jessica Stanley makes more sense as the main character mostly because she has more to lose than Bella, a character who doesn’t want to make connections and is only in town because of her self sacrificing mindset. (I will not go into Bella’s mother mostly because my interpretation is that she (her mother) only got worse because the narrative needed her to and then it didn’t really matter because she got to keep her family around anyway). (Also mini rant- It’s strange that a girl who was born in that town and spent summers there until she was 13 Doesn’t know any other teenagers before moving back there especially being the Chief’s daughter. I would assume she would know everyone since she wouldn’t have been left home alone. Whatever Steph)

Jessica has a family. She’s grown up in the town. She has worked so hard for her grades. It would be interesting to see all of that come crashing down because of her involvement with vampires.

@humans4vampires just made a post pointing out the adrenaline caused by Edward’s presence and its masking via Bella’s attraction to Edward. Who’s to say that couldn’t happen to Jessica in their initial meeting.

The narrative would be the Cullens moving to Forks. Jessica gets rejected by Edward. Yes, she’s heartbroken by it, but that’s the new boys problem she’s on a mission to get all A’s. Her tight knit friend group keeps her distracted. Then one day, she’s walking around in the woods taking a break from her studies or just for some quiet time and comes across Edward hunting and covered in blood.

Edward, of course, hearing her thoughts, panics. They just moved to Forks. He can’t just let her get away, but she’s well known in the town. It’s small. He can’t kill her. So (like a dingus), he runs off.

Jessica having seen something so frightening rushes home to calm down, and she plays sick for the next week.

Anyway, I just think Jessica has more to lose, and it will be real push and pull of narrative as she is not only protecting this secret from the rest of her friends. She has to get through high school without dying until she realizes that she won’t be able to live her dreams because she will be a vampire or be killed.

[atthebell]

the fed workers killings also ruled from like a meta perspective bc we finally got to see a player have some agency again (before being ripped away immediately but still)

[enhanced-operatives-division]

This blog is gonna end up posting purely Prism stuff at this rate ..good lord

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

i see a lot of interpretations of zor being this otherworldly, anomalous presence- larger than life, practically non-human. and i, too, like perceiving zor through this veil of anonymity. i think making them too tangible or perceivable really detracts from what's been established about their character.

but, i personally really, really like the thought of zor being human. mortal. but terrifying to the point where you'd be forgiven for forgetting it.

i think one of the things that i adored about ieytd before the third game dropped (and honestly made me a little disappointed when it was changed later on) was the fact that the agency never had a face. it just... was what it was. it had facets- granted, the EOD was always the only one of any relevance. but, really, think about what we know about the agency between all three games. compare that to how much we know about zoraxis.

there's something really appealing to me about zor being who they are... they're probably the most wealthiest person on earth. they had a monopoly that quite literally gripped the world in their first- as their emblem would suggest. they hire some of the most lethal minds in the world- chemists, inventors, engineers.

and yet... despite it all, they're just one person. to me, their anonymity is a shield against the fact they are a person. they hide behind the lethality and prowess of their elite operatives- not to mention we've seen how clever they can be when it came to manipulating prism. they're by no means useless.

but what would they be without their anonymity? what would they be without the weapons they didn't design, the lairs they didn't build, the employees they use as human shields? the second zor is gone, zoraxis crumbles. they are the support pillar of their entire corporation.

... but what's the agency's equivalent? even post morales being a character, can we be certain that he's the glue holding the entire organization together?

think about zoraxis' most lethal schemes. seizing control of the world's atomic weaponry. striking targets anywhere on earth's surface with a giant laser. exploding the brain of every telekinetic agent on the planet. are they really seeking to cause as much damage as possible- to the agency specifically, collateral, or otherwise?

or do they not know where to strike. zor's tactic- for as high the stakes have been escalating- has always carried a similar motif. cleave and strike indiscriminately until the threat is neutralized.

but it never works. zor is lashing at a hydra- sprouting new heads where the old ones have been lopped off. they don't seem aware of how to destroy the agency other than exterminating each and every one of them off the face of the earth, in whatever way is most convenient at the moment.

i just think there's something to be said about zoraxis- and by extension, zor- always being seen as this oppressive, near-otherworldly force, constantly applying pressure on phoenix... when for all we know, zoraxis could be perceiving the agency in the exact same light.

zor, ultimately, has one beating heart. the agency has thousands. and all of them are dispensable.

[innocentartery]

”halcarol is toxic!!!” “halcarol should just be friends!!!” well first of all l + ratio and you don’t even understand that the circumstances keeping them apart have nothing to do with their influence on nor feelings for each other… they dance in a constant choreography of interchanging power dynamics because deep down they’re the same. and they’re soulmates who fuck nasty <3

[youngerfrankenstein]

I’m starting to think a lot of people on Tumblr think “doomed by the narrative” just means “bad things happen to a character”.

[prototypelq]

Reasons to look up/play (if you can) Alan Wake 2:

- this in-universe ad

- multiple music numbers

[loveswirl]

I feel the same way lately. Feeling unheard and ignored, like I'm not worth it and nothing I do matters. I like your blog, loveswirl.

i'm sorry to hear you're also feeling like this, but it's nice to not be alone... you do matter, though. you are worth it c: and thank you, i appreciate that... i like yours too !!

[sameteeth]

something that i think is really interesting about billy's view of flint in s3 is that he thinks flint's death (if it's in a self-sacrificial way) will not absolve him of his sins in life but that it will make up for the hurt he's caused. or at least that billy wants it to. he pushes flint to take the maroon queen hostage so that flint will die, but flint will die for the crew. billy says in s3e6 "with all the shit that he's done, the things he's gotten away with, [flint dying to free them from the maroons] would have been fair. that would have been right" and that he wants to see "the moment the world finally catches up to [flint]" if/when he dies dueling teach. billy has a very simple idea of justice - he wants flint to die for the death and destruction he has caused, no matter how. that will make the world right, that the narrative will be balanced again.

but what billy doesn't know, and what makes me INSANE about this show is that the full quote from billy is is "I think part of the reason I've been able to stand by his [flint's] side is that I wanted to make sure I've got a good view of the moment the world finally catches up to him... and this story starts to make sense again." but to flint, what he has done is in service of his own justice. justice for the deaths of thomas and miranda and james mcgraw, for the theft of his home in london and again his home in nassau. but to billy, HIS narrative identifies flint as the villain. as the monster. for billy to get justice, flint must die. but it's SUCH a good line, because it also prompts the viewer to think - in OUR narrative, which follows flint and silver mostly, flint must succeed. we want him to beat teach and take the fleet back and overthrow the british empire. flint is shown to be a murderer but he is also shown to be deeply deeply human and we are set up to sympathize him. but it makes you consider what other voices we aren't hearing. who else has been hurt by flint's actions? what narratives have flint as the villain ? none of the characters in black sails are the heroes in every story - but to who are they the villains?

[zukkaoru]

i didn't even touch on the idea of dead girls in jjk in that yuki post from last weekend.. something about the idea of yuki being the strongest woman watching everyone else fall..... something to the effect of dead girls by penelope scott,, "you like us better dead". riko and kuroi. rika. mai. nobara. even those who aren't dead being broken down physically and emotionally - maki scarred from the flames & responsible for the destruction of her entire clan. shoko worn to the bone and surrounded by constant death, more familiar with dead bodies than living ones. utahime losing two of her students. kirara left behind. tsumiki spending ~2(?) years in a coma and then left behind as soon as she wakes. momo having to carry mai's body back. miwa clutching the last remainder of mechamaru's consciousness. both of them having to turn right around and go into the culling games. you like us better dead, you like us better weak, you like us better left out of the story altogether. yuki chose herself because she knew no one else would choose her, and now she has to watch every other girl who comes after her beaten down and buried, unable to reach her level of self-realization and acceptance, unable or unwilling to choose their own life over the lives of others. and what can she do? she's just the no-good special grade who bums around overseas doing nothing; she's the one no one likes; she's the one who has never helped anyone, right? why would anyone listen to her?

[yoursincalendricalheresy]

So we know that TM uses names a foreshadowing of characters eventual fates and I’ve seen some neat analyses of potential ways those could play out (Ulysses=Odysseus=coming back after a long journey). But after reading Nona and having the confirmation that Jod literally renamed all of his friends, I also have to wonder what those names say about how he thinks of them.