#the original trilogy as fairytale

[the-far-bright-center]

Dystopian themes in the Prequels

“Looking back is helpful in understanding his work. Lucas started out in the 1960’s as an experimental filmmaker heavily influenced by the avant-garde films of the San Francisco art scene. Initially interested in painting, he became an editor and visualist who made abstract tone poems. His first feature, THX 1138 (1971) was an experimental science fiction film that presented a surreal, underground world where a dictatorial state controls a docile population using drugs. Love and sex are outlawed, procreation is controlled through machines, and human beings shuffle meaninglessly around the system.”

—Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

The bolded parts in this description correspond with the Coruscant Underworld, the Jedi Order’s code, and the creation of the clone troopers, respectively.

Notably, in THX 1138's setting, emotions such as love and the concept of family are taboo:

I’ve always found it so interesting that Lucas incorporated the dystopian elements of his earlier sci-fi into the Prequels, taking place as they do in the context of the final years of the Repubic, with all its colourful and sumptuous visual spendour. In comparison, the post-apocalyptic ‘Dark Times’ of the Original Trilogy would seem on the surface to be the more outwardly ‘dystopian’ setting of the two—however, the actual story of the OT is a mythic hero's journey and fairytale, complete with an uplifting and transcendent happy ending. The OT's setting may be drained of colour, and its characters may be living under the shadow of the Empire, but as a story it is far from bleak or dystopian in tone. Rather, fascinatingly, it is the pre-apocalyptic era of the Prequels that is presented as the more dystopian storyline:

“On the surface, [The Phantom Menace] is an optimistic, colorful fantasy of a couple of swashbuckling samurai rescuing a child Queen and meeting a gifted slave boy who can help save the galaxy from the slimy Trade Federation and its Sith leaders. But beneath that cheerful facade is a sweatshop of horrors.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

This is referring to the state of the galaxy during the Prequels era, including the fact that slavery is known to exist, but is largely ignored by the Republic and the Jedi alike due to being too economically inconvenient to combat. It also refers to how the Jedi of the Old Order come across as cold and distant atop their ivory tower on the artificial world of Coruscant, far removed not only from the natural world but also from the true realities of the people they claim to serve. And then there is the additional revelation in Attack of the Clones that love and family are 'outlawed' within the Jedi Order, creating an environment in which their own 'Chosen One' is unable to flourish, leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Side. Finally, there's the fact that the characters end up so distracted by fighting a civil war (something that goes against their own principles and involves the use of a slave clone army in the process), that they are blinded to the entity of pure evil that is guiding their every move...until it is too late.

“Without a clear enemy, the Jedi Order, the Galactic Senate, the whole of the Star Wars galaxy bickers and backstabs and slides around the moral scales. But there is one benefit to Palpatine’s pure evil crashing down upon the galaxy; against its oppressive darkness, only the purest light can shine through.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

If anything, the Dark Times allows for the OT generation's acts of courage and heroism to flourish and succeed, because they are not hampered by the Old Jedi Order's restrictive rules, nor by its servitude to the whims of an increasingly corrupt Republic—so corrupt, in fact, that by the time of RotS, it is practically the Empire in all but name. Indeed, one of the key features of the Prequels, and what makes them so tragic, is that the characters are already living in a dystopia...they just don't know it.

There is, paradoxically, a level of freedom to be found in the midst of the Dark Times which had not been possible during the Twilight era, which allows Original Trio to rise above the tragedy that befell their predecessors. They are able to act as free agents (not as slaves of a corrupt government), serving only the fight for the liberation of all the peoples of the galaxy (not just citizens of the Republic), and are likewise free to live (and love!) on their own terms. Free to act on their positive attachments to one another, without having to hide the truth of their feelings. It's particularly telling that *this* is, above all, what makes the Prequels era so dystopian—the characters' inability to freely and openly participate in normal familial human relationships.

[strijkdesign]

Announcing the Bad Apple Artists onbline auction for this month with the theme "the fool's journey" (tarot). As soon as I heard that, I knew exactly where to find inspiration - in the incredible world of Robin Hobb's Farseer books! Who else here can't get enough of Fitz and the Fool's adventures? This original mixed media painting will be up for grabs during Bad Apple's July auction, scheduled from 28th JUL at 23:00 to 31st JUL at 23:00 UTC+02 Come, let's celebrate the Fool's Journey in the most whimsical way possible! See you at the auction!

[beasanfi1997]

During the ending of Return of Jedi and After Anakin kills Palpatine, i would like to see Ezra want to reunite Sabine and his crew and to see Jacen while Anakin's Ghost and Ahsoka in White cloak watching at him and Ahsoka see Anakin's expression Remember that he married Padme and then they have Kids like Luke and Leia that Ahsoka want to see too Luke and her love Lux and even her friend Rex.

Anakin: He really does love her, doesn't he, Snips?

Ahsoka: Well, it's like I always say, Skyguy: Sabine Is the Daughter of Ursa that She and Bo-Katan names her in the Honor of Satine and then they were team up to frees their homeplanet Mandalore and Lothal from Empire and they were falling in love since they Met and Is that because Children have to be free to lead their own lives.

Anakin: You always say that?[Ahsoka smiles sheepishly]Then I guess you're right, and there's just one problem left.

Ahsoka: And what's dat, Anakin?

Anakin: How much I'm going to miss him, when i will told him to marry his Mandalorian girlfriend on Naboo, as i did It with Padme when Clone Wars came and before i will Met you and as i saw Leia married that the Old friend of Qi'ra on Endor, Is that because i want that you must to reunite Ezra with his Crew and you too to reunite Rex First and then you will marry too with Lux and i will watching over you

I Always like that the stories ending with a wonderful wedding like a Triumph of hero

[onewomancitadel]

The kidult genre in fandom reception

I'm going to be a bit polemic and say that I think the emergence of kidult entertainment (or the idea of the kidult genre in fandom reception) might be a mistake, for a few reasons I'll outline in this post, most of which is that I think children's media analysis and adult media analysis is incompatible. I'm wondering now how much of a relationship there is between kidult entertainment and flattened media discourse ('if you consume bad thing you are/do bad thing'). Because I think it's undisputed that what types of stories children grow up on really does matter, and parent/guardian-led exposure is really important (and more complicated because there's so much you can watch just at your fingertips; I used to have to sneak into my brother's room late at night where he had a TV to watch South Park) - conflating that with adult experience is unrealistic at best, though, because helping children become discerning adults is part of growing up, but by the time you're grown up, you should be a discerning adult.

The kidult genre is in a really weird position where it can't lean into the innocence of children's media and it can't lean into the nuance of adult media. It means you end up with this kind of sterile brightly-coloured farce, which is trying to be serious and unserious at the same time - a spoonfeeding narrative message is expected, but it should be of the adult type. It's what makes Steven Universe's narrative resolution - I haven't seen the show, but it was impossible to not be subjected to the controversy as a Tumblr user - make little sense to the audience that didn't like it, because there was an expectation of a kidult resolution addressing the themes and characters in a way they think it ought to have. Redemption of all of the villains is unrealistic and offensive to the kidult palate, because of the way direct (adult) allegory is read into the evil committed by the villains in the story, and there needs to be a realistic moral system to address that.

I believe that Steven Universe was a children's show, but it attracted a major teenage/adult audience who cultivated very different expectations from what I think the show was trying to be - and I think this is an Internet phenomenon only really possible through the way fandom works now, coinciding with a major shift in the way we conceive of fandom not just as a hobby but as political activity. I don't think it's inappropriate to be a fan of children's media as an adult at all - it's just expecting it to be adult is a problem.

I think it's obvious media meant for children does have adult resonance - but I really think that's more from the angle that there are ways of writing things for children that are smart, timeless, and emotional, and make you think about a different perspective (a child's especially). The Little Prince is one of the best examples that come to mind, but things like Beatrix Potter, fairytales in general meant for children, any Studio Ghibli film etc. are all obviously things that touch the heart in adults. However, if you apply the wrong lens of interpretation (why is this thing not nuanced in the way an adult property ought to be) - up to and including misinterpreting how children interpret metaphor - you're going to be very disappointed, but also flatten the purpose of storytelling for kids.

I don't mean to sound like I'm stating the obvious, but storytelling is really important for kids, and so I think it is actually quite a serious matter. What types of shows they watch and stories they read impact their early schooling (it can supplement preschool education), reading itself is necessary for developing literacy (and reading to children is really important), what sorts of lessons they derive are really important, and learning to consider things from how a child sees something versus how you as an adult see something is an exercise in empathy for the most vulnerable people population we're responsible for. That's part of my issue with kidult fandom reception/analysis, because it wants to erase a different perspective, whilst wanting to preserve a superficial aesthetic.

The point I was working towards is that kidult entertainment is where you get to preserve moral simplicity, where things feel safe and in control, but introduce an adult expectation of nuance and in some cases realistic literalism. It's something that I feel is untenable - I mean, look at the explosion online after Steven Universe - because moral simplicity and nuance don't really go together by nature. I don't think it's surprising the kidult genre has emerged (and to me, it feels like something that largely exists on fandom spaces, though one may argue about Voltron because that did really blur the boundary) because it addresses the emergent political and emotional needs at hand.

Children need to see things that reflect the strengths they need to get through life, through loneliness, through being bullied at school or having a hard family life, that sometimes they might do bad things and need help to do good things, and they need to learn how to encounter new things and deal with them. It's really just a completely different genre and necessary media analysis. It's something I'm less familiar with as I'm not certified in any childhood development, but I can't emphasise enough it really is a different beast from normal narrative criticism. Even then, I don't think the issue is as simplistic as people make it out to be online, even for adult consumption - but for kids, hopefully a responsible parent/guardian is involved, not someone fingerwagging behind a social media account.

Identifying where adult consumption of children's media - the kidult genre - crosses over with recent shifts in Internet discourse is really interesting, though. Maybe it's as simplistic as the Internet flattening nuance and contrarian opinions going wild. Maybe it's the need for moral certainty when things seem uncertain. I can't be certain myself.

I still think the kidult genre (that, again, I think exists more in fandom reception than necessarily in production) is ultimately untenable, and I might go so far as to say is a product of moral discourse and bad media analysis in fandom.

[asocial-skye]

Reading over debates and flame wars on this site about the Jedi, Sith or literally anything about Star Wars made me realize how truly futile it is to have true debates on canon. You just can't.

All of the retcons, continuity errors, levels of canon and the differences between Legends and Disney canon just make everyone's arguments valid in their own selected universes. You can't really expect other people to simply drop their universes that they grew up with, bought merchandise and became attached (ironic) to in terms of characters. Having a discussion about worldbuilding or characterization is practically impossible.

It's like arguing on Luke's characterization, only one person in the discussion is using the Star Wars universe and the other is using the Percy Jackson universe as their basis. There's no connection; you're all right in your own universes. And it all just goes round and round and round forever.

[thatmexisaurusrex]

My Current Table of Contents

Lol finally changed the banner into something better 😂 Anyways, reposting an updated Table of Contents for my AO3 works. Check it out here or on my AO3 😆 :

Canon Divergence:

The Bucky Quest Saga, which tells the behind the scenes story between Sam and Bucky post-Captain America: the Winter Soldier through to The Falcon and the Winters Soldier and beyond that

A Captain and His Bucky which is what if Bucky was the original Captain America, Sam has been Captain America since the events Avengers Movie, Steve Rogers is the Winter Soldier, and Sam found Bucky thawing from a chunk of ice in SHIELD headquarters during the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and has now taken him in to help him navigate life in the future

My Aaron Davis/Peter B. Parker Fake Marriage Enemies to Lovers Fic You're a Sunflower (I Think Your Love Would Be Too Much)

My Heimdall/Sam Wilson Post-TFATWS Fic Series, Loving Are All-Seeing Men and Midgardian Captains

Sam Wilson finds himself in a very strange game show with some asshole named Bucky Barnes, The Marriage Game

Two clubbing feelings with porn SamBucky fics. One that happens post-TWS during Bucky's European Tour and one that happens during the black market art auction nightclub scene in TFATWS. The fics titles, as well as this collection title, are based on lines in the song hand crushed by a mallet by 100 gecs, I didn’t get to tell you goodbye

A story about Sam and Bucky finding out that Sam's dead husband Riley is a Winter Soldier, Captain America, The White Wolf, and the Winter Soldier

A story about Bucky hearing Sam truly laugh for the first and a bonus series of vignettes about Bucky's twenty-three goats and their pun names, Sam and Bucky's Cabin

Time After Time, or my Sorcerer Supreme Sam Canon Divergence Fic

Back in the Gulf, where Sam Wilson tries to figure out where he fits in the world post-blip and if he wants Bucky Barnes to be part of his life.

My All Caps fic, sometimes that's all we need, an Endgame Canon Divergence where everyone lived, no one went old and went to the past, and Steve and Bucky are competing for Captain America Sam Wilson's love and attention

Five Times Bucky Got Dirty and the One Time Bucky Got Sam Dirty, a two-part fic about five times Bucky got dirty around Sam and the one time Bucky got Sam dirty

My gay chicken, post-blip, accidental undercover fake married fic, Playing with Fire

My Valentine's Day Fic about Sam Not Knowing He's Actually Dating Bucky, You'll Never Be My Maybe.

Meanwhile... a short two-part fic about Sam and Bucky figuring out their love for each other while on a mission.

My Gideon Visits and Shenanigans Ensue two-parter, A Surprise Visit

My IWTV Season 1, Episode 2 Loustat fic, I don't think you realize (but you are in my insides)

The Beyoncé Trilogy, a series of three fics inspired by the Beyoncé songs "Blow", "Cuff It", and "Texas Hold 'Em" that take place during an alternate version of CATWS.

Fantasy AUs:

My Fantasy/Medieval/Arranged Marriage AU, Golden is the Sun

His Wingless Stranger, which is a "What if WWII Bucky fell off that train into a world that spliced Tomorrowland with Hiyao Miyazaki and Sam lived in a future society where everyone has wings?"

My Zombie AU, ESCAPE TO WAKANDA

My Apothecary Meets Prince Who Accidentally Becomes His Apprentice Fic Series, The White Wolf Apothecary

My Star Wars AU, Star Wars Episode IV.V: The Phantom Hookup

Fairytale AU, The Little White Wolf

A story about monster Hunter Joaquín meets Vampire Sam and Werewolf Bucky in a bar, Joaquín Torres Monster Hunter

The Two Strangers, A post-apocalyptic future western SamBucky AU on a different planet

My Practical Magic inspired AU, Impractical Magic

My matelotage Pirate!Sam, Merman!Bucky fic, Reaching Out For You

My Future Kid Fic, Pre-Vampire Apocalypse fic Canary in the Coal Mine

My Selkie and Pirate two-part love story, The Selkie and the Pirate Elect

My If You Were the Last AU, The Hypothetical

The Midnight Lover, my bittersweet Vampire AU

My Percy Jackson and the Olympians AU, Sam Wilson and the Olympians

No Powers AUs:

My Single All the Way AU, A No Snow Christmas

My Popstar AU, The Only Thing That I Refuse to Forget

My one fantastic impromptu date fic, A Night With You

My airport chase confession fic My Best Friend's Brother

My Bachelor AU, If I Take You Home

My Christmas Fake Relationship Fic, For the Holidays

From That Show, my Sitcom Actors!AU

My High School AU fic, Walking and Running to You 

My Anthologies:

The SamBucky Halloween 2021 Anthology I made for the SamBucky Halloween 2021 event the SamBucky Library is hosting

The WinterFalcon Week 2021 I participated in that's being hosted by the WinterFalcon Week tumble

The Nine Short Dates with Sam and Bucky ficlet series I made

The Sambtember Ficlets and Drabble Anthology I created for the Samtember event hosted by the Sam Wilson Fest tumblr

The Kinktober Collection 2021;

Water They Waiting For anthology series. It's 9 writers, 19 stories, and a lot of sexual tension involving water

My SarahBucky fics for Fleur de Louve Month2021

My SamBuckyTorres anthology, Captains and Falcons and White Wolves, Or My!

My collection of three fics for the MYSU Holiday Gift Exchange 2021!

My collection of fics based on the SamBucky Library's Candy Hearts Event 2022, SamBucky Library's Candy Hearts Event 2022 Fic Anthology

My collection of stories inspired by my the Daily SamBucky Fluff Diary on my tumblr, The Daily SamBucky Fluff Diary Auxiliary Stories

My collection of fics based on the 2 card of the MYSU Valentine's Day Bingo 2022, MYSU Valentine's Day Bingo 2022 Fic Anthology

My collection of fics based on the photos in post by hot-chocolates-world on tumblr, The Tush Collection

My collection for the SamBucky AU Week 2022, My SamBucky AU Week 2022 Collection

My collection of Drabbles and Ficlets for Samtember 2022

My collection of WinterFalcon Bingo Round Two 2022-2023 Bingo Fills 

My collection of fills for SamBucky Halloween Bingo 2022

My collection of fills for the Sam Wilson Bingo Round 2

My collection of fills for the SamBucky Festive Bingo 2022

My collection of fills for TFATWS Anniversary 2023 Fics

My collection of All Caps Bingo Round One 2023 Fills

My collection of SamBucky Summer Bingo 2023 Fills

My collection of Samtember 2023 Fills

My collection of SamBucky Halloween Bingo 2023 Fills

My collection of SamBucky Gift Event 2023 Fics

My collection of SamBucky Valentine's Day Bingo 2024 Fics

My SamBucky One-Shots!

My Other One-Shots!

[antianakin]

I think something a lot of fans of Anakin tend to forget about him is that his story is told and looked at in reverse: the effect of his actions (Vader and the Empire) were shown an written before the cause (him being a Jedi and then falling). Vader, the irredeemable monster, being forgiven by Luke, is supposed to be a statement on Luke’s character, not Anakin’s. Vader isn’t post Anakin, Anakin is pre-Vader. Framing him like that, it’s suddenly clear just how flawed and terrible Anakin was even before he took a nosedive off the diving board of common sense (if he was ever on it)

The redemption that so many fans want to give Vader, then, is framed in film less as Vader realizing he’s wrong and doing a 180. It’s Luke recognizing how close he is to becoming Vader, choosing a better path, and getting tortured for it. Honestly, as far as Vader’s actual redemptive moment, it’s a fairytale moment of “death equals redemption” that holds up in the narrative of Luke’s story, but wouldn’t actually accomplish anything for Vader.

All that to say… Anakin should be recognized as being Pre-Vader, and if someone wants to do a fixit good ending story with him they either need to kill him off or spend a LOT of time getting him to actually recognize his failures and then turn away from them.

(Unfortunately, that’s a LOT of *work*, so most people just woobify him and call it a day. Thank you for your work of correcting this misunderstanding, and sorry for the long ask 😅)

In fairness, Lucas had a pretty good amount of the story from the Prequels WRITTEN already, he just ended up having to make the story in reverse, which is why there's references to Anakin having been a Jedi who fell and the Clone War. But most of it is just that... references. We ARE focused on Luke's story and so Anakin's background is there to, as you say, highlight LUKE'S choices and struggles and triumphs. We never find out why Anakin did the things he did in the OT (aside from Obi-Wan's comments about his own arrogance in trying to train Anakin which the Prequels retconned anyway), so Anakin's choices are a reflection on Luke more than anything else because Luke is the character we actually know.

And... yeah. Anakin's redemption is difficult for me because I get why it happened the way it did in the OT. Anakin's biggest crimes within the context of JUST what we see in the Original Trilogy are against Luke himself (chopping off the arm, killing Obi-Wan) and so the fact that he dies by saving Luke means he's fairly directly addressed those crimes and made amends for them. He can die having fixed those mistakes and forgiven by the person he's hurt the most. It works. But adding in the Prequels means now there's the Tuskens he murdered, Padme who he manipulates and betrays, the Republic he's dismantled, and the Jedi Order that he betrays and genocides (and adding in TCW means we can also include the clones that he betrays and enslaves). And now all of the sudden there's a LOT more that we have directly seen him do that needs to be redeemed and a lot more amends he needs to make and a lot more people whose forgiveness he doesn't have and will likely never get. There's a lot of things that killing Palpatine can never and will never fix or undo. It doesn't directly address almost ANY of those sins. And so this sudden redemption via death stops feeling so satisfying because it just... doesn't actually mean anything in the face of what we've now seen him do.

Like you say, it holds up if you just look at Luke's narrative, but it falls apart when you look at Anakin's own.

Redeeming Anakin while taking into account everything he has done over the Prequels, TCW, Rebels, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and anything else that's been written for him in other media would be a difficult story to write. It WOULD take a lot of time, he may never actually completely redeem himself for what he's done because he may never truly be able to let go of some of those fears or some of his guilt and grief. He may never quite lose the instinct to react to things with violence. It SHOULD be messy and complicated, but that's not always the most satisfying story to write or even to read, so that's where we end up with woobified Anakin who just gets to do one slightly goodish thing and call it a day.

[pieandpaperbacks]

Top 10 books of 2023

My favourite books of 2023, in no particular order:

A House With Good Bones - T. Kingfisher I was so disappointed when this didn’t win the goodreads choice awards for horror of the year. It’s so creepy and unsettling but in a uniquely T. Kingfisher way that somehow manages to still be funny and kind of cozy.

Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett Of all the Discworld books I read this year, this one was definitely my favourite. I feel like Pratchett started to find his stride in this one, which I noticed more reading chronologically. Also it’s a spoof of Macbeth, and I’m a sucker for anything with Macbeth jokes.

The Bone Season (10th Anniversary Revised Edition) - Samantha Shannon I’ve loved the Bone Season series ever since I binged it in 2021, but the first book always fell a little flat for me. This revised edition fixed all the problems I had with the original. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a really unique fantasy/dystopia.

A Day of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon I love Priory of the Orange Tree, so I was a little hesitant about a prequel, but ADOFN somehow managed to surpass Priory. It’s a  perfect high fantasy that spans many countries and characters, and features multiple sapphic characters, as well as bisexual, asexual, and other queer folks. This was my absolute favourite book of the year.

Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg One of the most important queer novels of the last 50 years. So glad I read this.

Tell Me I'm An Artist - Chelsea Martin This book found me at just the right time. It asks what it means to be an artist, and explores the intersections between the art world and privilege, and looks at the age old question; what is art?

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir I am so late to the Locked Tomb hype, and I can’t believe it took me this long to pick up Gideon the Ninth! The Locked Tomb is quickly becoming one of my favourite fantasy series.

Heartstopper Volume 5 - Alice Oseman I waited all year for this instalment of the Heartstopper series to come out, and I devoured it in one day. Alice Oseman's work is always beautiful and heartfelt, and Volume 5 of Heartstopper is no exception.

The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson I dipped my toes into Sanderson's work for the first time this year, and I started with the Mistborn series. While the prose is not the most complex, the characters and setting are what truly drew me in. So far, The Well of Ascension is my favourite of the trilogy.

Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher I read six T. Kingfisher books this year, with the first one being Nettle and Bone, and it's still one of my favourites. A weird dark fairytale with goblin markets, a quest to kill a prince, grave witches, an evil puppet, and a chicken possessed by a demon. What else could you want?

[silvergeek]

About Tolkien "fans"....

I've spent the last 25+ years studying Tolkien fans. I thought I was indulging in the books and the fantasy lore but, lo and behold, I was mostly interacting with the other fans. And let me tell you something... the bulk of them are assholes.

The first die hard Tolkien fan I met was a boy in my high school freshman English literature class. The year was 1995. We were all assigned to read The Hobbit and, I would have to agree, 14 years of age is the perfect age to get to reading it if you hadn't started it in middle school.

A boy in my class had already read it, plus the LOTR trilogy, as well as The Silmarillion. What ensued for the rest of that semester was this particular boy dominating class discussions and telling everyone else what was going to happen in the book before we'd reached that chapter. This boy wasn't gifted by any means, just a superfan. I found him annoying by the end of the semester. He nearly ruined the book for me.

I loved reading The Hobbit and that assignment inspired me to read the rest of the LOTR books, but I'll never not associate my introduction to Tolkien with the blathering and nerdsplaining of that loud mouthed teenage boy.

Then, in my early 20's, I met a man. We were, well, married in the early 2000's. (It didn't last. We divorced just four years later.)

He was one of those Tolkien fans who had a monopoly on the franchise. Nevermind that I'd also read the books and saw the original trilogy in theaters. He was The Expert on Tolkien mythos, and don't you forget that. Also, I came to learn that he was a huge racist. He kept that reined in around me, letting it gradually bleed out over the years until he finally dropped all pretenses and voiced every racist thought that crossed his mind.

Oddly, his love of Tolkien was intimately associated with his love of Nordic and Anglo culture, coupled with his unfiltered disdain for African American people. He also boasted that he loved Wagner, a notorious anti-semite, and said it was my first name (I was named after a famous european fairytale that was adapted into one of Wagner's operas) that originally drew him to me.

He made black jokes, jew jokes, dropped n-bombs, the list goes on. The more racist he became, the more he revealed other ugly aspects of himself and the less I loved him -- and eventually grew to loathe him. I filed for divorce and that was that. But he was a preachy, die hard, you-don't-know-Tolkien-lore-better-than-me, nordic pride racist.

Odd, considering Tolkien’s revulsion for Hitler. Anyway...

Moving forward, I have spent the last few months in and out of Tolkien discord chats, mainly observing the others chatting. The "fans". Oh they know their lore. Yes they do. They have it memorized like the holy bible. They fight over concepts of if whether or not orcs were corrupted elves or corrupted men. They revere Tolkien almost like a deity. Some of them have this misguided concept that Tolkien lived in "old England", like "ye olde" with that extra "e" on there and everything. But the truth is that Tolkien died literally ten years before I was born and while The Hobbit was being published, the Three Stooges was playing at the cinema.

Point is, their memories of the lore are photographic, pretentiously spelling Sauron's name like "Þauron" and everything, but their memories and concepts of the author are distorted. It almost reminds me of how American nationalists deify the "founding fathers". (Typically to push some outmoded, traditionalist agenda onto the masses by law.)

When I look back on how much of Tolkien’s work that I've read and enjoyed, from The Silmarillion to The Return of the King, and I look at how many of the adaptations I've watched on screen (the cartoons, the live action trilogy, suffered through the Hobbit films, and now I quite enjoy the Rings of Power), I know deep down that I am a fan because I thoroughly enjoy the content that this world of middle earth has inspired. Whether it inspired J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson, or the creators of the cartoons as well as the live action Amazon prime series, this world is rife with storytelling possibilities.

Isn't that what stories become? There are so many variations on folk fairy tales in of themselves. Hell, as I mentioned, I was named after one and then centuries later an anti-semite composed an opera about it! No one begrudged him for that.

Greek myths became cartoons, European fantasy folk tales became mass marketed table top games, and an overwhelming number of Japanese lore has been adapted into manga comics, video games, and anime cartoons.

And this trend of human storytelling and adaptation will continue until the sun swallows us up. Yes it will.

And yet... the "hardcore" Tolkien fanbase... it hasn't changed in my lifetime.

At the end of the day, they are still that 14 year old little boy yelling over the class discussion.

[kalak]

What I really like about the Original Trilogy is the mystique, the potential, the feeling that this world has so many yet to be uncovered secrets and endless planets - it didn't tell the full story but it dropped just enough hints and pieces to make you intrigued, to make you thirst for more. What happened before Luke's time? What was the clone wars? Why is Darth Vader encased in a metal suit? It has such a quaint fairytale vibe to it, and I fucking love it

[the-far-bright-center]

On Lucas' saga, Joseph Campbell, and mythopoesis

Mythopoeia (Ancient Greek: μυθοποιία, lit. 'myth-making')—or mythopoesis—is a narrative genre in modern literature and film where an artificial or fictionalised mythology is created by the writer of prose, poetry, or other literary forms. This definition follows the use of the word by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s. The authors in this genre integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes into fiction. Mythopoeia can also refer to the act of 'myth-creation' itself.

A compilation of quotes on Lucas' Star Wars and how it was directly influenced by Joseph Campbell's mythopoeic concepts. I'm sharing these here mostly for my own reference purposes, but also because I feel it's important for people to remember that the saga in its original form was intended to function as a modern myth. And as such, it was not meant to be 'realistic' in its outcome, but rather transcendent.

Quotes on Lucas' saga as a 'created myth':

"With his galactic fairytale, Lucas hoped to reinvent a classic genre. Among his influences, were the writings of scholar and educator Joseph Campbell, in which he explored the origins of myth and world religions."

— Robert Clotworthy, Empire of Dreams (2004)

"What Joseph Campbell was interested in, was to see the connections between myths, the myths of different cultures, to try to find out what were the threads that tied all these very disparate cultures together."

— Professor and Cultural Historian Leo Braudy, Empire of Dreams (2004)

"Lucas, too, was interested in [comparative mythology], in particular when creating Star Wars. Lucas actually asked Campbell to supervise his work on Star Wars, to be sure it fit with what he was trying to convey. Campbell, in turn, described Lucas as his best student. This is truly the crux of the matter. What Lucas was attempting to accomplish was the writing a modern myth, following conventional, thousand year old methods, all the while having it be relevant, fluid, cross-culturally and generationally meaningful."

— Star Wars: The Creation of a Modern Myth

"I did research to try to distill everything down into motifs that would be universal. I attribute most of the success of to the psychological underpinning, which had been around for thousands of years and the people still react the same way to the stories as they always have."

— George Lucas

"From the beginning, Star Wars was conceptualized not as a science fiction film, but as a mythical epic, consistent with those of poetic eddas, from Beowulf to the Iliad and the Odyssey. In Empire of Dreams, these are cited as influences, as well as the Legend of King Arthur, and other assorted Arthuriana, determining that they comprised the pool from which Star Wars drew it’s mythic archetypes."

— Star Wars: The Creation of a Modern Myth "...Lucas speaks of the cinematic storyline of Star Wars as an example of modern myth-making. In 1999 he told Bill Moyers, "With Star Wars I consciously set about to re-create myths and the classic mythological motifs." [Frank] McConnell writes that "it has passed, quicker than anyone could have imagined, from the status of film to that of legitimate and deeply embedded popular mythology."John Lyden, the Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at Dana College, argues that Star Wars does indeed reproduce religious and mythical themes; specifically, he argues that the work is apocalyptic in concept and scope."

— Mythopoeia (Wikipedia)

"[Lucas] drew from ancient mythology, medieval literature, Japanese cinema, and American westerns, creating a modern myth in the form of a sci-fi fairy tale."

— Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

"The six films form one larger epic that is constructed like a piece of music....built on archetypal themes and psychological motifs that reverberate throughout the six episodes."

— Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

"The saga has religious sensibilities that stand in marked contrast to the secular moods of science fiction. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek followed an Enlightenment view of history where religion is left behind as humanity arrives at a benevolent utopia. Luke Skywalker’s journey is precisely the opposite, where the hero must reach back to recover the spiritual traditions of the past and save the galaxy."

— Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

"...the moral drama at the heart of these six films has proven to be quite exceptional. The story is entirely centered around the fall and redemption of the human soul."

— Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

"...Star Wars is not a futuristic world, it is a mythological one. Star Wars happened a long time ago, so it is more mythology than science fiction. Consequently, what we design doesn't have to make scientific sense, but it must spark some recognition of with a familiar mythological archetype."

— Iain McCaig, Myth Making: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones

Joseph Campbell quotes on 'myth' (applicable to Lucas' saga):

"Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world."

— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

"One thing that comes out of myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light."

— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

"Perhaps some of us have to go through dark and devious ways before we can find the river of peace or the highroad to the soul's destination."

— Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

"Death closes in; there is nothing we can do, except be crucified—and resurrected; dismembered totally, and then reborn."

— Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces

"The usual hero adventure begins with someone from whom something has been taken, or who feels there is something lacking in the normal experience available or permitted to the members of society. The person then takes off on a series of adventures beyond the ordinary, either to recover what has been lost or to discover some life-giving elixir. It's usually a cycle, a coming and a returning."

― Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

"The hero…for a moment rises to a glimpse of the source. He beholds the face of the father, understands—and the two are atoned…. For the son who has grown really to know the father, the agonies of the ordeal are readily borne; the world is no longer a vale of tears but a bliss-yielding, perpetual manifestation of the Presence."

—Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

"Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; and where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world."

— Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

"Sober, modern…judgement is founded on a total misunderstanding of the realities depicted in the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedies of redemption. These, in the ancient world, were regarded as of a higher rank than tragedy, of a deeper truth, of a more difficult realization, of a sounder structure, and of a revelation more complete. The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read, not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

— Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

[piglet26]

Sequel Trilogy stumbled upon greatness with Reylo and more

In hindsight, it's obvious to see how chaotically thrown together the sequel trilogy was. While many things were planned - it wasn't as thought out as it should have been. Both Rian and JJ were able to highly execute different things. JJ, in TFA only, was able to establish very fun and interesting characters. Rian was able to add depth and though provoking existential. It's obvious that it would've been better had one director been allowed to a see a vision through especially for character arcs. (Personally, I vote for Rian for all 3) However! As crazy as it sounds the sequel trilogy might have stumbled into greatness. When you slow down and let the work settle you're able to deduct certain things. For several LITERARY reasons the sequels were not as bad as people make them out to be. TROS is made somewhat redeemable trash because of Reylo. Thank them.

Star Wars is a fairytale right out of the romanticism era. So much of the journey is about the love of a woman. While many young boys who became the grown fanboy we know today saw lightsabers and alien creatures...... there is more to the story. Motherhood is such an essential element. The emotional crux of The Phantom Menace, and indeed the prequels, is Anakin leaving his mother. That's the attachment injury that Anakin never quite recovers from. Anakin's relationship with Padme is very much about a transference of that love. As much as he loves Padme, his mother is the purest love of his life and her loss causes him to cling onto everyone with a desperation. Watching Star Wars for the first time in chronic logical order it's obvious Anakin is quite a tragic character.

In TROS, Leia directly “intervenes” at the critical point, as her son grapples with the confusion and pain that his grandfather shared: an abject rejection from someone that he feels he is destined to be with. In this case it transcends the romantic and is in the very fabric of the Force. Unfortunately, due to Carrie Fisher passing we were never able get a scene directly between CF and AD, so there was only so much development we received but it's also clear that Ben has a soft spot for his mama.

Stars is as much a story about Palpatine as it is about the Skywalkers. While in the original story Palpatine was this ominous dictator in the background.... the prequels make it clear that Palpatine is always there in the background. He touches several characters lives and ultimately is the driving force for the world these characters live in. While I hated the last minute switch to Rey is a Palpatine.... it's also fitting. In many ways Ben is given a chance redo Anakin's decisions.

Least we forget (like I'd ever) Ben chooses the light, runs like a hero to Rey's side to fight Palpatine along with her. Versus Anakin choosing Palpatine against the people he loves. Then Ben is presented with the same reality Anakin was. The person he loves the most lies dead before him. As Ben cradles the lifeless form of Rey, it's paralleled to the lifeless form of Shmi cradled in Anakin’s arms in the Tusken tent. He does love Rey more than he loves even his own parents let's keep it real. His whole family couldn't reach him, but Rey held his hand and he switched to Team Hero.

The story of Rey also turned the play-by-play heroes arc on it's head. Whereas Luke started out sheltered, protected, surrounded by family looking into the dual suns with thoughts of adventure and grandeur. She has been forged by a hard life of self-reliance, of solitude and toil. The reverse was that in addition to Finn she joined a ready-made family in The Resistance. Especially Ren's abandoned family. She lived the Jedi ideal before she had even heard of the Force, and has arrived at her own conclusions of morality and justice. Oddly, this is what mainly confused people about Rey's journey. (the same people frustrated about the lack of originality from Disney wanted Rey to be just like Luke) Any attempts to move into new territory was met with groans. It was interesting to see a character change to see a character not a child or naive young man, but a world wary young woman. (Stick the landing they did not, but the potential was there.) That's not to say there isn't consistency Rey's greatest pull to the dark is her attraction/connection/love for her soul mate.

I suspect with time the Disney Sequels, like with the Prequels, will be more appreciated. Somewhat amusingly in retrospect, The Last Jedi, despite having featured our heroes exposed as flawed, human and capable of making mistakes..,.... ends on a note of more universal hope — that another generation might be inspired by defiance without violence. Even more important and this is what Rian Johnson was telling with Luke in The Last Jedi....the hero doesn't matter as much as the myth of the hero. Behind the scenes our heroes are as capable of faltering as we are, even of getting exhausted of the fight. It doesn't matter though. We need them to be inspired to fight, to believe. Meanwhile, Luke begins to sense the darkness inside of Rey which surprisingly leads quite well into the next movie. The movie is gorgeous and the soundtrack cannot be faulted.

The sequels fall mostly in their side characters. Then again.... they are side characters. The only exception is Finn. He started off as a major player and someone I wanted to know more about, but by the end of the trilogy, we learn nothing more and he fades into the background. Was he going to ever outshine Kylo Ren/Ben Solo? Hell, no, but he should have been bigger.

The biggest challenge Disney LucasFilm had was building a Star Wards that could move forward. Whatever the world says about Rian Johnson, he had the guts to do something different with the franchise when he made The Last Jedi, which is what many fans asked for after The Force Awakens. The latter movie rehashed multiple elements from the original trilogy to satisfy fans to the point that people thought the film was unoriginal and playing it too safe. However, it's clear JJ Adams sought to honor the original films.

[arleniansdoodles]

So I recently rewatched the original Star Wars trilogy, got all the feels for Luke and Vader, and now I have my own little designs for my fave space twins!

My main inspiration for them was the medieval European-style of clothing, especially since some of the old illustrations have hair-buns like Leia’s! And also to add to that space fairytale vibe loll Her first two designs are travel dresses for “diplomatic missions,” the third is a redesign of her Bespin dress, and the final two are her regal robes on Alderaan (which we can imagine she wore for Return XDDD)

As for Luke, I really liked the idea of him wearing white at the start of his journey, then grey, then black as he’s tempted by the Dark Side. So I kept that with his designs here, showing his journey from Hope to Return! His white robe is pretty much based on his outfit from Hope, but I ended up adding the turtleneck for all his designs since Owen and Obi-wan both have them (and also to give him something to match with Leia loll). 

[longsightmyth]

what's a book or series that you genuinely love? I'm always seeing your commentary on "not so great" (bad) books (no hate, love ur commentary) but I'd love to know the ones you like best.

Ah tumblr search function you fail us yet again (inexplicable fondness).

"The ones I like best" is a very broad category that I will try to narrow down I guess?

My favorite book of all time remains The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin. The other books in the trilogy are still excellent (I have yet to read anything by NK Jemisin that is not excellent) but specifically the first book of the inheritance trilogy remains my favorite. Other standouts of hers include the short story The Effluent Engine and the second book of the Dreamblood series, The Shadowed Sun (though, again! I cannot stress enough that I'm not even sure NK Jemisin could write a bad book/story if she wanted to!)

I routinely recommend all of Alyssa Cole's romances: not only are they incredibly inclusive, the characters navigate believable conflicts based around their characterization and not simply Because Of The Plot. Her contemporary romances are some of the few contemporary romances I enjoy: it's not usually my genre, but anything Alyssa Cole writes I will read. Shoutout to her expansion into horror, she's also one of the few authors who will get me to read THAT genre. Standouts include Can't Escape Love (novella), A Duke by Default, and Let It Shine (also a novella). Another author who I cannot stress enough: just go read her entire backlog okay. She's got historical romances in a range of time periods. She's got contemporary romances. She's got horror, god help me.

The other author who can convince me to read horror is T Kingfisher, aka Ursula Vernon. Her fairytale retellings are A+ and always contain horror elements, and she is another author who has yet to write a dud for me. Standouts include Nettle & Bone (NETTLE AND BOOOOOOOOONE), The Raven and the Reindeer, and The Seventh Bride.

Tamora Pierce is sort of a no-brainer here for me. Her books are not always perfect by any means, but they are always progressive for the time they are written and she continues to improve and take feedback into account. Plus you probably owe the existence of your favorite stabby ya lady to her. Tortall owns my heart because I read it first but she has a lovely magic school series in a different world where friendship is literally magic and social commentary the norm.

The Dragonriders of Pern is not for everyone. Much of the sexual politics in the early novels are, as I have discussed elsewhere, outdated, but the books evolved as Anne McCaffrey's understanding did, and there are soulmate dragons and impeccably rendered closed time loops (multiples! Happening at the same time!) and a constant discussion and tension of evolving social norms and the needs of society: at what point does technology become Too Much? Does it at all? What happens when the people in charge stop giving a shit about their responsibilities? Seriously the impeachment plot in Dragonseye/red star rising is nearly prescient. Most of these conflicts originate early on but don't truly come to fruition until later, and please take my word for it and simply don't read the books written by her son. They are bad.

The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard! Tbh I think this series deserves more love than it gets. It's not perfect, it can improve, but that's the thing: it routinely does. Dennard puts time and care into her work from all sides and discusses openly her early and middle mistakes, from a technical level to a 'needing a sensitivity reader' level.

Sarah Rees Brennan! Y'all know I love Sarah Rees Brennan, right? You should. She likes to explore tropes and genre convention and snappy, snappy dialogue. I haven't reread The Lynburn Legacy yet this year, but that's an anomaly. In Other Lands is pretty widely acknowledged as superior portal fantasy, I think. Tell The Wind and Fire was constrained by the book it was retelling and I think suffered for it, but that just means it wasn't as good as I personally think it could have been, not that it wasn't good at all. The Demon's Lexicon trilogy is her first series and yes, okay, it shows a little, but have you ever thought to yourself, hey. What if Supernatural was actually, like. Good. And wanted to actually explore in a thoughtful manner morality and what it means to be a person and nature vs nurture and how complicated your relationships with parents can be. Because if so, go give The Demon's Lexicon a shot.

The Rivers of London! We will excuse magic cops this once because they are specifically *magic* cops and because Nightingale literally fought nazis and Peter is pretty critical of the met in general. These books almost make me like London, and as a bonus Peter is fully aware that King Arthur was Welsh (look this is important to me okay)

Lockwood & Co! I am on the final book now and really enjoying my feral child soldier ghosthunters. I want to give them all soup. I want to wrap them all in blankets. My inexplicable attraction to the actor playing Kipps in the show is irrelevant to book enjoyment but I am still flabbergasted, by all accounts it doesn't make sense.

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is space opera. I love it. I admittedly love the Cordelia and Ekaterin novels most, but that is a matter of my eternal love for ladies who are generally nice but willing to fuck shit up, they're all good.

Artemis Fowl! Criminal mastermind child WHO JUST NEEDS FRIENDS OH MY GOD. I cried at the end of the third book. It's fine! We're all fine! Colfer does an excellent job of portraying the fairies as having a culture different from ours with real reasons that they haven't taken over the world, and if you don't love Holly you're wrong.

I have more but I'll stop here for now I guess. Whoops.

[whimsicaldragonette]

ARC Review: The Cursed Rose by Leslie Vedder

Preorder:

Add to Goodreads:

Publication Date: February 6, 2024

Synopsis:

The fate of a cursed kingdom rests on ancient secrets, broken promises, and fierce friendships in this gasp-worthy final book of the bestselling twisted fairytale Bone Spindle series. **Perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson, Holly Black, and Marissa Meyer** Not all curses should be broken. Not all fairytales end happily ever after. Fi is a prisoner. Briar, a monster. Shane's a warrior. And Red is a traitor. What was once a formidable group of four fighting to reawaken the kingdom is now ruptured, torn apart by the wicked Spindle Witch. Confined to a tower with the monstrous Briar Rose, Fi is caught in the Spindle Witch’s ever-tightening web. With the Spindle Witch on the verge of finding the Siphoning Spells and crushing Andar—with Fi’s help, no less—Fi’s only hope lies in decoding the ancient riddle of the Rose Witches before she loses Briar forever. Shane is desperate to save Andar—and her partner. She’s on the hunt for a weapon left by the mysterious Lord of the Butterflies, which holds the key to the Spindle Witch’s demise. Her love for Red has only fortified. But Red’s betrayal puts her in danger from a new enemy—the Spindle Witch’s executioner, the Wraith, a witch as powerful as he is cruel. The future of Andar lies in the secrets of its past. Fi and Shane must take on the greatest lost ruin of them all—the Tomb of Queen Aurora. Filled with vicious bone monsters, new alliances, and surprises at every turn, prepare to be swept away by this taut, clever, and heart-filled series conclusion.

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was a fantastic end to the trilogy and one of my favorite books of 2024 so far. I was surprised at how quickly everything from the previous books came back to me once I started reading, even though I was sure I didn't remember much. There are no obvious "this is what already happened" sections either. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days.

I love how Leslie Vedder took what is on the surface a Sleeping Beauty retelling and completely transformed it, giving it a hefty dose of Indiana Jones and so much more depth than the original tale. The characters are also fantastic, complex and compelling and difficult. I was absolutely hooked from the first moments of the first book to the final moments of the last. I love how, even when things seemed to be wrapping up, there were so many surprises and unexpected moments. I never knew what to expect.

The writing is fabulous and sucked me in immediately. The magic is both beautiful and ominous. The setting is incredibly vivid as well, and there are so many scenes that would make amazing paintings.

I am sad to come to the end of Fi and Shane and Briar and Red's tale. I would love to see a spinoff series of their adventures after the events in Andar. Especially if Perrin and the Paper Witch were to make cameo appearances. I will be keeping an eye out for Leslie Vedder's next book - she's jumped onto my shortlist of autobuy authors at this point.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Razorbill for providing an early copy for review.

[animezinglife]

Is there any sort of fantasy romance with a true fairytale-esque setting and is a little more slow-burn?

The only thing I can even think of like that aside from the originals is the Once Upon a Broken Heart series (which I loved).

I want something unapologetically magical where the girl gets the guy in the end/vice versa. Preferably adult, but I'm willing to go for YA again if it can pull me in and hold my attention like the Broken Hearts trilogy.