#the power of the narrative!!!

[knownoshamc]

I am rewatching Black Sails and I'm still astonished by the fact that they waited 15 episodes to give us Flint's motivations and backstory. but also, knowing that backstory, makes so many scenes look different, far more meaningful. the power of the narrative!

[magpie-trinkets]

continuing that "maya tries to contact claire" post, i present you the post-Spirit of Justice follow-up

[david-talks-sw]

Dooku didn't leave because of the Jedi.

At least, if you're going by George Lucas' word.

In deleted scenes of Attack of the Clones, when we learn about Dooku's departure and his values, there's no mention of the Jedi or "the Jedi Order as an institution".

And every time Lucas refers to Dooku's disenchantment and reason for falling, he doesn't mention the Jedi.

"When you realize that Dooku is Darth Tyranus, it explains what Darth Sidious did after Darth Maul was killed: he seduced a Jedi who had become disenchanted with the Republic. He preyed on that disenchantment and converted him to the dark side, which is also a setup for what happens with Anakin." - Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, 2002

"[Dooku is] one of the few Jedi who became disenchanted with the Republic and left the order and he is leading a separatist movement." - Vanity Fair, 2002

"I wanted a more sophisticated kind of villain. Dooku’s disenchantment with the corruption in the Empire is actually valid. It’s all valid.  So, Chris plays it as, 'Is he really a villain or is he just someone who is disenchanted and trying to make things right?'" - Starlog Magazine #300, 2002

He probably meant the Republic/Senate in that last one, but you get the point. And you're seeing the pattern, right?

Dooku's problem isn't the Jedi, it's the Republic.

He's become disenchanted with a system that - according to Lucas' prologue in the 2004 book Shatterpoint - worked for 1,000 years...

"For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the venerable Jedi Knights."

... but has been rendered ineffective because of 1) senators becoming corrupt and 2) corporations gaining political power.

"But as often happens when wealth and power grow beyond all reasonable proportion, an evil fueled by greed arose. The massive organs of commerce mushroomed in power, the Senate became corrupt, and an ambitious named Palpatine was voted Supreme Chancellor."

That's the message Dooku runs on, when he rallies the systems to form the Separatist Alliance.

"By promising an alternative to the corruption and greed that was rotting the Republic from within, Dooku was able to persuade thousands of star systems to secede from the Republic."

The Jedi aren't really a factor in his decision to leave.

Why would they be? Their political status isn't very high, they're virtually powerless, as illustrated by the film's narrative and stated repeatedly by Lucas.

On the contrary, as we already established in this post, Lucas full-on confirmed that Dooku actually carries the sympathies of most of the Jedi. Again:

Most Jedi agree with Dooku, ideologically.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, the politicians are effing up the Republic, and it sucks because the Jedi see this but aren't allowed to interfere in the political process. They have to resort to looking for loopholes in their mandates to actually get stuff done.

That's what that whole "she's a politician" scene is meant to hint at. In the commentary of Attack of the Clones, Lucas uses a similar turn of phrase as he does with Dooku.

"[This scene gives us] a chance to talk a little bit about politics and the Jedi’s disenchantment with the political process, due to the corruption and the ineffectiveness of the Senate." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

Considering all this, it becomes clear that the intended narrative surrounding Dooku's decision to leave the Order is not:

"The Jedi are dogmatic and asleep at the wheel except for Dooku, who is ahead of the curb and sees the system is flawed, so he left."

It's actually:

"ALL Jedi see the system is flawed, Dooku's the only Jedi who decided to take it a step further and leave the Order so he can try to get into politics himself and change things."

That's why they hesitate to accuse him of murder.

That's why in an earlier draft of the Attack of the Clones script, by the end of the second act, Mace STILL has his doubts that Dooku would sign a treaty with the Trade Federation to attack the Republic.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, Dooku is out there fighting the good fight, making noise because whenever they try to protest it falls on deaf ears... until his betrayal on Geonosis.

After all, let's not get it twisted: the Dooku we're introduced to in the films and The Clone Wars, isn't really just Dooku anymore.

He's Darth Tyranus.

A point Lucas makes sure to highlight in his Shatterpoint prologue:

"Unbeknownst to most of his followers, Dooku was himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, acting in collusion with his master, Darth Sidious, who, over the years, had struck an unholy alliance with the greater forces of commerce and their private droid armies."

It's not about doing the selfless thing for Dooku, anymore. He's knowingly part of the problem.

He's all about ambition, now. His personal goals are things like overthrowing Sidious and becoming the most powerful Jedi.

"[Anakin's] ambition and his dialogue here is the same as Dooku’s. He says “I will become more powerful than every Jedi.” And you’ll hear later on Dooku will say “I have become more powerful than any Jedi.” [...] It is possible for a Jedi to want to become more powerful, and control things." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

"If you put two Sith together, they try to get others to join them to get rid of the other Sith. [When revealing the truth to Obi-Wan], Dooku's ambition is really to get rid of Darth Sidious. He's trying to get Obi-Wan's assistance in that and help in that, so that he and Obi-Wan could overthrow Sidious and take over." - Attack of the Clones, Commentary Track 2, 2002

Y'know? Selfish things.

Dooku - like all other Sith, and like the very corporations and Senators he had sworn to destroy - is consumed by his own greed.

[gloriousmonsters]

love when you can ask the Narrator why the Princess is a Princess and he's like 'well i uhhhh YOU did that. maybe it's because uh... something something about her being above you... but still approachable... look i don't want to analyze or anthropomorphize your--' my guy. i am a primal being of Order and Eternity and Shaping. You're the one who convinced me I was some dude and were quite willing to take credit for shaping my view on the world through narration five seconds ago. Are you gonna look me in the eye and tell me the desire to interpret something worthy of adoration and more powerful than me as a dommy princess is written in the very nature of the universe or are you going to show me your browser history like a man

[hastyprovocateur]

My Roman empire is how if Mizu hadn't doomed Akemi to her arranged marriage with the Shogun's son, Akemi would have never set out on the path of greatness.

Had Mizu not ruined her engagement, Akemi would've never run away from home, braved the world or met Kaji and learnt how to survive within her means.

Likewise, if not for Akemi, Ringo would've been stabbed and Mizu strangled to death. Had Akemi not attacked Mizu with her knife, Mizu's sword would be incomplete.

Without having betrayed Akemi, Mizu wouldn't have grasped the value Ringo, Taigen and Eiji have in her life. She wouldn't have understood the importance of love, friendship and weakness.

[quicksandblock]

Grian being a Watcher

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

cannot stop thinking about how the beast from Beauty and the Beast was originally envisioned as a baboon. what a world we might have had

[carlyraejepsans]

was it foolishness? (was it fate)

[aragornsrockcollection]

Isn’t it funny that you never see anyone throwing a hissy fit over the inclusion of flora not native to Medieval Europe in Tolkien or other fantasy works.

Tomatoes, tobacco, POTATOES, tea and sugar, are all perfectly acceptable and normal for Tolkien to have included in Middle earth, but depict a single character with brown skin, and suddenly it’s not realistic, and WHAT ABOUT OUR HERITAGE.

Forget that we don’t analyze the heritage of white actors playing these rolls to make sure they’re from the proper culture to represent Tolkien’s extremely English story. Has a single person ever complained that Frodo and Sam were played by Americans when Hobbiton is CLEARLY based on rural England?

According to some, Hobbits can grow food and other crops that were only introduced into Europe through the violence of imperialism, but to have the hobbits look like the people who originally grew those crops is sacrilegious.

Medieval Europe, which wasn’t as homogenous as people think anyways, is only ever trotted out to justify hating the inclusion of black and brown characters.

If Sam can wax poetic about potatoes, he can look like came from Peru, like potatoes did.

And if that idea bothers you, maybe examine why.

[deancasforcutie]

*talks myself down from the The Horrors by remembering that Cas Fucking Helped* I am centered I am at peace I create my own path and walk in it fearlessly

[evilkaeya]

The thing about skk is that their narrative is very much doomed coded alright, it's SUPPOSED to be doomed. It's just that they don't care. They're flipping the narrative off while making out.

[immediatebreakfast]

There are many explanations of why Mrs. Westenra decides to enter her daughter's bedroom in the middle of the night, and simply throw away all of the garlic flowers.

I know the doylist reasons behind Mrs. Westenra decision of throwing away her daughter's flowers. I know how the narrative needed more blood to oil the gears of the story. I know this was needed to wake up Van Helsing from his state of "don't ask because I won't tell".

But I just can't fathom why.

None of this would have happened if Dracula wasn't so offended that Lucy did not die when he drained her to the point of needing Arthur's blood. The fault lies on this monster who is enjoying this slow torture process because this poor young lady has people around that care about her. Dracula has been causing all of this.

And I still ask myself WHY.

The fault lies in Van Helsing? Absolutely, he thought that communication and explanation were not important enough while treating Lucy, and that decision smacked him in the face as he keeps losing time.

AND YET WHY, WHY THROW AWAY LUCY'S FLOWERS. THOSE WERE HERS.

It's not only the act of throwing away the flowers in the middle of the night while Lucy is sleeping, which is disregarding of Lucy's privacy. It's how smug Mrs. Westenra is after it, telling the two doctors who have been treating Lucy since the beginning.

Think about for a second! Jack and Van Helsing are established as Lucy's doctors. Both of them have been visiting her every day. Then, suddenly a bunch of strong smelling flowers appear in Lucy's room after they left. Yes both of them made the mistake of not telling anyone that the garlic flowers were medicine. However, Mrs. Westenra didn't even question what those were!

Think about the situation! WHO WOULD HAVE LEFT THESE FLOWERS IN LUCY'S ROOM. WHO IS VISTING LUCY FREQUENTLY ENOUGH TO LEAVE FLOWERS THAT SMELL SO STRONG. Jack is starting to lose hope already.

"What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of life amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain."

Yet the only thing replaying in my mind is how happy Lucy felt yesterday. She woke up in the middle of the night to write about how happy she was because of the flowers, the care, the words, everything. Lucy even liked the smell of garlic! It was comforting! She was going to have her first time of good sleep in ages.

Those garlic flowers carefully put in all of her room, that beautiful flower wreath around her neck made by the doctor. Ripped away while Lucy was sleeping and vulnerable by a mother who thought that she could because those flowers are just in Lucy's room, so it means they are not important.

All of Lucy's flowers were thrown away. At least Ophelia got to keep hers.

Can this woman treat her only daughter like a person for once?

[adakechi]

you're gonna look at me and tell me that im wrong? am i wrong?

[zykamiliah]

i love it when fandom infantilizes characters to the point of denying them their own agency.

"if people in cang qiong had treated shen jiu differently-" do you have any evidence that they mistreated him? or is it too hard a pill to swallow that shen jiu was the one who decided to close himself off and be an asshole. that cang qiong treated him just fine, that his martial siblings tolerated him to the point that even when he was suspected of murder nothing was done to him?

who forced shen jiu to abuse luo binghe? to abuse other disciples? those were his decisions, that was him acting in a position of power.

the moral of the story is not "shen jiu was misunderstood :(" the moral is: the person who was abused can also become an abuser. the one who suffers violence can be violent towards others. you, despite what you've gone through, have the capacity for kindness and cruelty. so be wise on how you decide to act, because your pain doesn't justify hurting others, and your actions will have consequences.

you have agency, you have whatever amount of power you have over your own life and the things you do have and impact in the lives of those around you and yourself. so maybe try being at the very least neutral to the world and yourself, if you can't be kind.

but no, shen jiu's mentality was "since I suffered, they deserve to suffer too". and by taking that path he perpetuated the cycle of abuse.

bingge is the same, because he could have stopped at taking revenge on shen jiu, but he decided to involve the whole sect and the rest of the world, no matter who was innocent. he was unnecessarily cruel, but so was his master.

both shen jiu and bingge had the capacity for some form of "niceness" (in the way they treated women), so it wasn't as if they'd never known some form of love. at some point in their lives, they stopped being abused children and became abusive adults.

and that's an expression of human behaviour that we have to accept as possible. the svsss narrative invites us to examine ourselves in this light, to witness our capacity for both love and hate, to realize that even in the most adverse of circumstances, there's always a small sliver of agency over how we feel and how we act. that, despite the things that defines us from birth through childhood, our decisions also define what we'll become in the future.

[yuridovewing]

i really hate how the fandom’s excuse for jayfeather’s shitty behavior (and outright medical malpractice in certain cases. looking at the time he refused to help squilf in labour bc he couldnt be bothered and later blamed her for how bad it was) is “well the clan was ableist to him growing up, so fuck them!” ok how does that excuse him screaming at and berating the cats that didnt do any of that. or the babies.

[a2zillustration]

I carried this thing for MONTHS with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of putting Raphael in it (knowing full well Larian wouldn't let me do that, mechanically) and I had one major miscalculation.

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