#the confidence is a but reason why Spring likes him btw. will be a plot point to Hare-brained

[m0nsterjuice-art]

I followed you originally because I'm a Springtrap simp but now I'm becoming an Alex simp as well. HOW??? IM NOT EVEN INTO STONERS

I was trying to figure out what it is about him I find so attractive, besides the obvious stuff, and I think it's his confidence and general bravery/"don't give a fuck" attitude. both incarnations of him he's very confident and sure of himself, and... yeah.

[lesser-mook]

My Hero Academia: Rising Heroes (film recommendation) *some spoilers

march 2023

Very plot armor heavy regarding Nine’s refusal to take advantage of his power level, usual MHA cliche’s, however:

Katsuma’s arc was wholesome, him learning to speak his mind and come into his own (building his own confidence) was a well executed little plot thread.

Bakugou’s very clear development post Season 3 displayed here (ie.he’s better written here)

Deku inspiring the youth to follow their goals as All Might did for him- a nice display of the future greatest hero uplifting the next generation.

The setting and the Class reaching out to the community on a remote little island was a nice change of pace.

For hero work, or the essence of a hero is technically the community service.

The music is decent,  as usual (especially the titular song of this movie, holy shit). 

Too many characters ie. Class 1A clusterfuck as usual but they’re not in the way too much, everyone’s got something to do, but they’re not always in your face here. Standard Class 1A, just dialed down compared to the show.

It’s mainly Deku, Nine, Bakugou, and the little ones.

Better focus here vs the show.

The villain is weak as hell (not in power, but in execution) for the same reasons why CHP355 doesn’t work, yet another baddie *Clearly made TOO POWERFUL but doesn’t immediately wipe the floor with the weaker opponents or at least catch some bodies*

You’d think for someone with their life on a timer they wouldn’t be moving slower than a T-800, drove me nuts how he didn’t just wreck a lot of people. ESPECIALLY with his particular gifts.

Villains explaining their weaknesses, for some reason. (Standard Anime trope btw, it’s not a MHA thing)

And ONE FOR ALL was basically turned into a magic plot device in this movie. No longer just a Quirk compiler, it is basically just magic.

A consequence i didn’t expect to happen was teased to be permanent which would’ve course corrected Deku’s character in a way (which we know is bullshit given S4 and onward, he still has OFA)

But ofc a very convenient (Uno reverse card springs up outta nowhere resetting status quo) thus Deku’s plot armor is still unrivaled.

One For All made a decision to reinstate itself because Deku was willing to sacrifice it for the right reasons. Good idea in concept but that's bullshit, OFA is basically magic.

The way Aang suddenly got the Avatar State back in the series finale was equally bullshit convenience/contrivance but at least he DID NOT have access to it the entire season as consequence of getting hit by Azula.

Most consequences do NOT matter in My Hero, if Deku had to go through S4 WITHOUT OFA and he got it back in S5, that shit would’ve been interesting.

But i digress.

The later half of the final fight is some of the best “second wind” deus ex machina’s i’ve ever seen, the choreography felt so hyper-emphasized, like you felt the power those two wielded.

One For All, is a serious super power, one of the best in fiction. Period, though it’s just a poor man’s hybrid of the Avatar state and power of Shazam.

And the music playing over the action is 11/10 and i’ve NEVER praised the show like this before but holy shit- 

That’s just good directing. (*chefs kiss) When it does something right, it does something right.

I naturally took notes heavily criticizing the minute details, some nitpicks, others just overall gripes with MHA’s very braindead way of getting the message across. But overall this wasn’t a bad little movie.

Edit MAY 2024: This is essentially where it could’ve ended, this movie is basically a prototype for Final Arc.

Much better pacing & a better plot than the first movie. 

[livlepretre]

ok wait i have some thoughts about acotar that you may or may not agree with... but basically i loved acotar/acomaf but hated acowar and i didn't even try to read acofas. there was a lot i hated about acowar but basically it sums up to 1) hated how sjm tried to retcon rhys into being this perfect amazing flawless person kind of destroying everything that was interesting about him in the first couple books. 2) THE EXTREMELY GRATUITOUS AND NUMEROUS SEX SCENES IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR. LIKE ??? oh god especially that one scene where feyre wakes rhys up by... yeah. 3) king of hybern fell so flat as a villain i was expecting to get more backstory or smthg on him but no he was just... there. and evil. for no real reason. and then they killed him. like... ok. 4) TAMLIN WAS SO OOC. AND I HATE HOW SHE VILLAINIZED HIM. i also find the whole fandoms take on tamlin to be very bland and ridiculous. like yeah he obviously was not the right person for feyre and he made some serious mistakes for which he should be held accountable, but he was traumatized too! he was a very flawed character but he's not a villain!!! that scene where he's like making rude sexual comments about feyre in front of everyone felt so ooc for him. hated it. 4) mor's coming out storyline was... very bizarrely handled, and frankly i just found it hard to believe that mor's sexuality was something sjm had planned from the start of the series. as a bi woman that whole plot just rubbed me the wrong way. anyway. ya those are my thoughts but i'm curious to know what u think about this series lolol

Oof complicated question. 

I think in general I come down positively on ACOTAR based mostly on the strength of the first 2 novels? I read ACOTAR and ACOMAF back to back right after ACOMAF came out, and let me tell you: I was obsessed. I was devastated. I was enthralled. It filled some very particular requirements for what I really wanted-- it was gorgeous and atmospheric and really frightening and romantic. I thought the characters were well developed, and I just thoroughly enjoyed the world-building with vicious alien faeries and the real sense of danger, as well as the magic and the breathtaking imagery. As a painter myself, I LOVED reading about painting in a way that felt so true to the actual experience of what it’s like-- so much rarer and harder to actually find than one would think-- ACOTAR and An Enchantment of Ravens are the only two novels I can think of that even grasp the experience. I loved Feyre as a human, loved loved loved the trials, and I loved how even after she became High Fae, there was an element to it that was incredibly disturbing-- the idea of having a human soul in a fae body, which meant that things that sort of roll off of the fae around her-- like violence and killing-- profoundly disturb her and wreck her soul. I loved that. (at least, that was how I interpreted the “be glad for your human heart” thing, and also why I assumed she didn’t recognize the mating bond... that maybe, as a human soul in a fae body, it would be lost in translation for her until it was actually consummated). 

One of the things I also really loved about ACOMAF was that it took everything in ACOTAR and subtly turned it on its side. At that point, I was used to 1st love = true love, so actually reading a narrative where a heroine could change partners was really refreshing, and I liked all the ways that, looking back, we could realize that Tamlin wasn’t it-- that he didn’t try to free her from Under the Mountain (wow that should have been obvious) or how he never offered to teach her to read in the 1st book. I also really liked Feyre’s observation that she needed to feel protected in the 1st book because of where she was coming from then, but that by the 2nd book, because of the trauma of her imprisonment, she felt smothered and trapped. I thought the 2nd book did a good job of showing how Tamlin and Feyre could be really trying to make their pieces fit together the way they once did, but they had both been too changed by their experiences to work and had in fact become poison for each other. They both had PTSD, and I felt that was clear in the narrative. And I was happy for Feyre to leave, I loved the exploration of her depression and her slow recovery, and I was okay with how Tamlin was presented in that way because there is a way in which he really was as helpless as her-- yes, his actions were abusive, but I didn’t think that came from having an abuser’s personality. The tragedy was in the fact that he was also suffering and screwed up, and that meant that Feyre had to leave for her own sake, and that Rhysand ended up being what she needed. 

I’ll put my problems with the series under the cut. 

My problems started in ACOWAR, and it was primarily a characterization problem with Feyre that bothered me. To be honest, SJ Maas has this thing where she makes her main characters (male and female) just the most extraordinary over the top horrendous bitches out of the blue and it’s just like what the fuck. I think she does it for drama, and while I love a cold bitch (NESTA IS MY QUEEN)... that’s not Feyre. Her actions in the Spring Court were so much crueler than I would have anticipated. And it bothered me the way that those actions hurt everyone there, which was wild to me, as it was her home once, and that’s not Feyre. She’s the girl so empathetic that she gave those water faeries her bracelet to use as tribute. That she mourned so hard it nearly broke her for those faeries she killed in her third task. The whole point of the 1st novel was that she started with hate in her heart, but that she’s naturally so empathetic when given a chance to think about anything other than bare survival that love comes rushing in. So, I really disliked Feyre being a bitch for the sake of being a bitch. She felt unrecognizable to me. I realized recently that part of this is that Feyre actually completes her character arc in the 2nd book-- at that point, she’s figured out who she is, gained peace, happiness, and empowerment through it, and found a home. She’s answered all of the conflict within herself, so there’s just not really anywhere for her character to go in the 3rd book, which is part of why she feels so weird as a pov character. 

There were other things of course. Rhys had lost that edge I loved in him so much. (what was the point of that prologue, btw?) This is a little thing but giving Lucien a last name really wrecked a lot of the wonderful strangeness of the world building and I resent it. Especially since no one else has a last name. Sarah was on the right track when she gave Rowan the last name “Whitethorn.” THAT is a faerie last name. I don’t know what this Vanserra stuff is. What else. Hybern was supes whatever. Feyre making bargains was pretty much what we’d seen before. I didn’t mind the sex scenes because that’s just what you can expect from an SJM novel, and I don’t really have any comments on Mor’s coming out story. I also suspect that she was originally written as straight in ACOMAF, but then SJM changed her mind while working on ACOWAR. I’m not going to fault her for attempting to write more inclusively and more diversely (which, as we know, is already not something she excels at). I did find the hook up with Lucien’s dad real awkward though for everyone involved though. YIKES. TOGAS. YIKES. SJM also does this thing in her finales where too much of the books tend to be about the battles and the actual war, and that’s not nearly as interesting as the character moments that might occur because of the war. 

So, that leaves my primary complaint, which is Tamlin. I kind of think that it’s not even a matter of him being OOC, so much as Feyre being completely hateful toward him. Like, I remember thinking he was wildly OOC when he was siding with Hybern, a human hater, as he had specifically said in the 1st book that he would always fight against that. I remember being THRILLED when it turned out that he was playing Hybern, and how disappointed he was in Feyre for ever thinking him capable of actually siding with Hybern and bringing up that conversation they had in ACOTAR. I also loved it when he helped her escape the POW camp, and when he told her to be happy at the end. But honestly, after Feyre fucked him over SO! HARD! in the beginning of the novel, not at all surprised that he showed up at that meeting ready to talk smack. I was on his side during that whole thing, because by that point, I was like, get wreckt Feyre. (Which KILLS ME because I LOVED Feyre in the first 2 books, I think SJM really does mistake just horrendous bitchiness with confidence or something? It just horrified and embarrassed me the whole novel). I really do hope that Tamlin gets some sort of arc going forward. I was so depressed by our visit in him in ACOFAS-- sitting alone in that crumbling manor. I think he actually does deserve a “redemption” arc, although I don’t think he actually has to be redeemed. 

On the subject of bitchy Feyre: I do NOT like the way she treats Nesta in ACOFAS. I guess we see that Feyre has an empathy problem in ACOTAR in that she totally misreads her sisters in the first few chapters and thinks of them in the most uncharitable light possible, and of course, once she decides she’s done with Tamlin, she always assumes the worst of him, but wow. The way she handles things with Nesta just horrifies me. I just can’t imagine treating my siblings like that, or extending them so little empathy. 

And ACOFAS made me think about building snowmen and other horrible fluffy things and it was not my favorite. 

But all this being said I know myself and I am definitely going to read A Court of Silver Flames. I think it might be really good, actually. 

[auselysium]

Author’s Notes for The Other Road

So I used to love to read these things on LJ WAY back in the day.  My fave authors would write these lengthy essays about why they did certain things and explaining hidden meanings etc.

I definitely put a lot of thought into The Other Road, especially the music so I thought I’d break things down.  I do hope you’ll take a second to read my ramblings but massive spoilers ahoy!

REASONS FOR A SCREENPLAY

So why not just another fic?  Because I never had before.  Because I am a very visual writer - I see scenes and hear dialogue in my head.  It was actually a really natural way for me to write, in the end.

SETTING/TONE

My ultimate goal here was to make something that fit into Luca’s comments about being “different tonally”.  NYC is the polar opposite of Crema - gritty, loud, packed with people.  I set it in late winter/early spring, that weird transitional time when it is neither one nor the other (this represents their relationship too - they aren’t ready to commit but they aren’t ready to let go either).  Also, the weather would be so different from the lush greens of CMBYN.  Instead, we’d get concrete, naked trees, gray skies.  Summer is very much over.

Luca also mentioned wanting to deal with the AIDS crisis in the sequel.  I wasn’t about to give either E or O AIDS (and Luca better fucking not either), so there quickly appeared this idea of Elio taking care of a dying best friend instead.  The line from the book “I wish I had a friend I wasn’t destined to lose” almost ended up in a scene but it was still very much there as a theme for me.  All summer in Crema (in the book) Elio’s parents are trying to get him to make friends, spend more time with people - so I wanted to give him a best friend, someone who he had confided in, someone who loves him just as unconditionally as Oliver but differently.  Josh also allowed for a splash of humor.  Fancast: Josh Hutcherson, btw.

He basically replaced the missing Vimini for me, that same kind of preternatural understanding of love and relationships.

I set the “movie” in 1988 because that was the year AZT came out.  This was really the first time patients with HIV/AIDS had hope.  So Josh does too, I think.

MUSIC

Music is obviously a huge part of my life, a huge part of Elio’s life, and a huge part of CMBYN.  

The classical music, for the most part, is either New York based, 20th century minimalism (inspired by Luca’s use of John Adams in the original) Phillip Glass, Steve Reich etc or early 20th cent. French/French influenced (Prokofiev) music.  This pays homage to Elio/Timmy’s French side.  Poulenc, Ravel, Satie.   

Bernstein is not minimalist, but it doesn’t get much more New York than him.  I’ve also just recently played the On The Town and the Ravel Piano Concerto and new those had to be included.

While in the first movie, the piano is always alone, I made sure all the repertoire was piano in a chamber music or orchestral setting (Brahms sonata, Poulenc Sonata etc), representing Elio’s fleshed out life.  He’s not this isolated kid anymore - he has good friends, a career (more on that later.)

The only time I list a solo piano piece is for the morning shower scene - the Satie Gnossienne.  This is meant to represent Elio’s knowledge that Oliver will soon be leaving and he’ll be alone once more.

Obviously 80′s music was going to play a huge part in it this too, but no way Elio was going to be listening gross 80′s pop.  So I went very included Morrissey at the opening to give us that sort of brooding, British pop, but also very of-the-time sound.  Also, it was not such a subtle hint with the lyrics “Why do you come here?  When you know it makes it hard for me?”

The words for all the songs are pretty monumental, in fact.  I won’t go into detail here but check out the lyrics if you’re interested!

The one song I do want to talk about is the Sufjan Stevens song “The Predatory Wasp is out to Get Us!”  He’s there for obvious reasons, but I was listening to the album Illinoise on a long drive and this song just destroyed me with the exact perfect tone for the ending.

I didn’t want them to depart with the same bleakness they arrived with and this song with the flutes and accordion and rich over laying of melodies was perfect.  Once again, the words ended up being mind bending-ly perfect:   

We were in love, we were in love... I can wait I can wait

As soon as I heard it, there was this vision of Elio at the Met, just having said goodbye to Oliver but smiling.  Oliver driving down the road going back to his parallel life, but with hope.  Thanks, Sufjan.

PLOT POINTS OF INTEREST

Just a few final thoughts in no particular order.

Elio may gripe about his career but for some one just 1 year out of conservatory, he is killing the freelance scene in NYC.  I have friends who are twice his age who’d be happy for some of those gigs I gave him.  But I think that plays into his spoiled nature, having been the prized, privileged only child, so he can’t see that.  At the same time, I have a feeling Elio might be going back to Grad school or something soon to really make a go of a solo career.  (Sequel #2! lol)

There is no fucking way a security guard would let Elio and Oliver onto stage at Avery Fisher but whatever!  Willing suspension.  lol

I wanted to include flashbacks to scenes from James Ivory’s original screen play that ended up not making the cut.  

Can we just talk about how happy I am I got Cor Cordium in there?

The infamous dancing scene in CMBYN kills me because it’s the first time Elio desperately craves closeness to Oliver, but the closest he can get is on the dance floor.  So I NEEDED them to dance together.  I basically just envisioned every dance scene from QAF writing that part. :)

I wanted to pay homage to the book and the fact that in the book their relationship really starts when they start going running together every morning - this is why they go to the running track in Central Park.  Just a nod there.

The first scene with Oliver and Josh establishes that Oliver is basically still paying for his relationship with Elio because he still can’t move on.  Yes he’s married with kids, but it still haunts him and he realizes over the next day with Elio that it always will. This is a blessing and a curse.

I also wanted to give us explicit sex.  You’re welcome.  Hopefully Luca won’t cut it this time. :)

There was a while where I was going to explore the idea of Elio basically having become celebate - his friends calling him Il Popa (The pope).  At a way to avoid getting sick but also because he, at the end of the day, wanted something like his parents have, like what Oliver and his wife have, what they COULD have had.  Something meaningful and committed.  In the end, it just didn’t really seem important so I let it go.

Also: Billowy.  I’m proud.  lol

Very much like CMBYN, I wanted them to be happy together.  After the movie and the way Luca, Armie and Timmy portrayed them on screen, I think they are just ridiculous boys who love each other’s company - so yeah, they eat pizza, they go dancing, they take selfies with a Polaroid.  They’re still young and in love even after the passing of time.

I loved the idea of ending with the “Don’t say you didn’t know” because to me that is Oliver’s way of saying I love you.  Don’t say you didn’t know exactly how I felt - that you meant everything.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

I want to thank everyone who is SO incredibly kind to me about my writing and for interacting with me here on Tumblr.  This fandom has been a beautiful place and has helped me produce some of the writing I am most proud of.  

I promise to keep writing about Elio and Oliver as long as you promise to keep reading!  xo