#the thing is there's actually a lot of incestuous undertones in the show

[rewatching-sam-and-dean]

even as someone who does not ship the brothers (or deancas), i feel that there is no denying the heavy handed undertones of romance between them, and the writers' very intentional and frequent exploration into incestual themes, if one is truly understanding the show. however, it's also my understanding that a lot of hellers/deancas people/whomever use a frustrating argument that "sam doesn't really know dean" when in reality, he will always know dean better than cas. thats the whole point of the show. when dean and sam 'betray' each other from the other's persepctive, the person doing the betraying genuinely believes they are acting in the other's best interest, whereas with dean and cas it's always for personal benefit.

to stop the rambling, i wanted to ask, purely in interest of seeing multiple sides: if so many hellers were not so anti-sam and did not project so much onto castiel, do you think the fandom at large (outside of that group) would have less of an issue with the ship? again, i am genuinely curious and you seem both well established in the fandom and well versed in the show itself. i feel as though where other shows do have beef between shippers and such, the supernatural fandom is watching two completely different shows and so many of them are bypassing crucial parts.

Hey Anon!

I don’t ship Wincest either (though most Wincesties I know are cool), and I REALLY don’t ship Destiel. But, I do joke about brother husbands a lot and love the brothers’ codependency. Still, I don’t think the writers are actually ever suggesting there are true romantic feelings to Sam and Dean’s relationship. Or maybe I should say, I don’t think canon (or subtext) Sam and Dean are actually (even secretly) hot for their brother. However, I think the romantic parallels and even outright nods to incest are very deliberate (and obvious). Partly, it’s on brand for the horror/gothic genre of the early seasons, but it also serves the purpose of highlighting how important Sam and Dean are to each other. They are each other’s soulmate, life-partner, and number one, which are usually roles reserved for couples. Also, I think the show just likes to make jokes as well. It’s clearly deliberate when the show goes from having characters assume they are couples, to villains making incesty remarks about them, to Dean asking if Sam wants a divorce.

I agree that Sam knows Dean better than Castiel, or anyone else. And Dean knows Sam best. That being said, they don’t understand each other perfectly, and they speak “different languages” in terms of showing care a lot of the time. Sometimes this is works in a complimentary way that has them in sync (Dean loves his family, especially Sam most, and Sam needs to be Dean’s number one), and sometimes it causes friction between the brothers (Dean letting Gadreel inside Sam or Sam trying to cure MOC). But, I agree that MOST of the time when they “betray” each other it’s when they are trying to help each other, or at least it’s a byproduct of something they feel they need to do. They never treat each other as expendable. And I also agree that betrayals between Dean and Castiel just hit different. I think this is because 1) they don’t have the same obsessive love underlying everything they do to/for each other (despite what hellers think), 2) they are more brothers-in-arms than true adopted famoly until later seasons 3) Castiel is not human, and I believe that Dean (however subconsciously) treats him differently because of that, and Cass not being human also changes his view of the fallout his actions will have with the people he cares about, and 4) I agree that they both betray each other out of personal interest in thst they value other things/people more highly than each other quite often (Dean will always value Sam above all, and Castiel often values whatever mission he is on above the brothers or is at least willing to risk them for it to an extent).

Feel free to ramble in my asks whenever you like. Clearly, I do it too, so no judgement here.

My short answer to your question is … yes. If hellers didn’t hate on Sam in a transparent attempt to make him seem less important both to Dean and to the show in general, I doubt Sam girls would care that people shipped Castiel and Dean. It’s the attempt at twisting canon and down-playing Sam that is frustrating. And yes, the projecting added significance onto Castiel is massively annoying because it shows a lack of understanding of the show, whether purposeful or due to ignorance. And that annoys everyone who cares about the “fscts” of the show. It’s also their insistence that Dean is bi … because reasons (often offensive, stupid and/or steryotical) that annoys the people who actually enjoy Dean’s true chracter, not the fan-fic woobifued version of him that hellers (and some AAs) fawn over. But, I think what pisses the fandom at large off the most about hellers is their insistence that they get their way and the tantrums they throw about being “robbed” when a ship that was clearly never going to sail in the show continued not to happen. More specifically, their need to hate on actual actors, writers, producers, networks and other so called “homophobic” fans who don’t agree with them is abhorrent to many.

I agree with your final sentiment completely. It is like Supernatural is at least two totally different shows, depending on which type of fan you are talking to. I mean, there are arguably more than two versions of the show in collective fans’ minds, if we consider which of the brothers a group sympathizes with most and how they interpret the chracters’ actions (Sam is a whiny brat … Dean is an abusive monster 🙄). But, out of all the fan groups, there is only one who seems to be "watching" a piece of media that does not even resemble the actual show … and it’s hellers.

And to be clear, I’m not talking about Destiel shippers in general here, but hellers in particular. No one I know, including me, cares if people ship Dean and Castiel for their own enjoyment, but it’s the insistence they are right and attempted rewriting of canon (and threatening real people) that makes people ragey.

Anyway, thank you for your ask. I’m sorry my reply was so long. (This is likely one of the reasons I don’t get a ton of asks, lol).

[2n2n]

I was wondering if you’ve heard of the Japanese myth that lovers who committed dual suicide get reincarnated as twins? It feels like the Yugi twins are a warped version of that myth if the incestual undertones ( not even undertones ) have any credence to them, in that Aidalro sensei shows us a kiss or something. I just wanted to see if you felt there was a connection with that myth! I find your thoughts and ramblings very interesting!!!

I'll veer slightly off-topic and quibble a little bit about ancillary stuff, but I don't think there needs to be something like a kiss to lend credence to the Yugi twin's love!! I think they could never, ever kiss within the canon, and we could still have effective 'confessions' in a metaphoric and symbolic sense, which we could all understand plainly & have a hard time denying. I think central, evocative story themes that are understood in a prevailing literary sense to be symbolic of romance, is actually lending all of the credence it needs. (In that case, cultural divides probably would become the factor in not perceiving it...)...

I think an awful lot of people would not have any questions or second-guessing if they got the kinds of images we get for the Yugi twins, for their pairings… and, I think if one replaced the images participants with Hanako and Nene, or , well, Mitsuba and Kou, that it would be transparent. If you had an image of Mitsuba on his back, clutching Kou's lips, Kou looming above him, dressed as his Knight, with imagery of flower petals & torn wings scattered about them, and anyone looked into the symbology of such… there wouldn't be a single question about the intentions of that image. Actually, I think if you tried to fervidly deny the implications, you'd be called homophobic or something, right? I mean this playfully and with good humor, ok.... it's funny!!!

The same can be said about story parallel between Hanako and Nene-chan, and Amane and Tsukasa…. Sumire and Hakubo's story…

Anyway, I would say that, the entire aspect of a murder-suicide does call to mind all sorts of various theater plays, stories, myths, etc, in Japanese culture!! the very word 'shinjuu' contains the 'mind/heart' (心) and 'inside'(中) characters...

isn't it an interesting thing..............

'Shinjuu' are said to grant lovers to be reunited in heaven/the next world together. This is why Amane's decision to perform a shinjuu with Tsukasa is innately suspicious-- it's loaded… What was he hoping to accomplish? There almost isn't a way to depict this negatively or neutrally, in my opinion… the deciding factor (in how familial we perceive it to be) becomes the author's choices regarding imagery, emphasis... the very language of 'bound' reminds one of the dire passion of a shinjuu, the act of lovers binding fates. He is bound-boy Hanako-kun! He binds Nene-chan to him through the mermaid's curse ... binds, binds, binds....

As for this 'lovers reuniting as twins' contingency you specifically bring up... it doesn't seem to actually be a historical mythos quite like the old buddhist beliefs around shinjuu, but more secular, and maybe it seems to be more of a scattered superstition? I'm not very familiar with it, as a result!! It does seem to exist ? but not altogether popularly ?... hmm.. the only research I could easily find on it as well, referred only to twins of different sexes (kind of makes sense-- I don't think most people would want to like, imply or lampshade a same-sex relationship even by a magical proxy like this... I think it would generally be seen as tragic to be lovers reunited to be same-sex LOL... also, this research is dated from the 90s)

the term 'shinjumono' mentioned here, I mostly just see referring to shinjuu-centric kabuki/puppet plays.... no relevance to the superstition here. I can't find much.

I would say it's doubtful as a reference AidaIro-sensei themselves intend to make?

if YOU know of other research or historical accounts, let me know ?! I'm no expert hahaha....

However, I would love to take the chance to reference the mythos of lovers turning into butterflies after dying together, which AidaIro-sensei do borrow imagery from....

AidaIro-sensei love to use the imagery of butterfly's wings… for both the twins, and HanaNene. With Hanako, we'll see his wings as torn, damaged…. this spread coupled with the Severance arc-- an arc which ends with Nene-chan attempting to kill herself to be with Hanako in the far shore.... in the story, a girl mourning the death of her beloved, leaps into his grave to die with him instead of marrying another.

so too, of course, does Nene-chan forsake her future prospects in favor of dying with Hanako, her beloved.

Of course, someone else threw their future prospects away.... but why?

so, tattered butterfly wings scattered around a pair of lovers, gives an interesting impression...

[kateywritinganalysis]

3/25 Blog Post

These last episodes of Penguindrum were probably just as confusing as the previous episodes that we had to watch. Still, again, we did skip through a lot of episodes, so character motivations, development, etc. are not as present to us compared to if we had watched all the episodes. For example, the pink-haired guy (in my perspective) suddenly is a huge advocate for world destruction. The reasons are valid, wanting to stop the abandonment of children and those who are not chosen to live, but it is quite drastic. I did enjoy episode 20 which shows a flashback to a world that Shoma had chosen Himari to become part of his family, essentially changing her fate as someone who wasn’t chosen. Himari describes Shoma as her soulmate, but that does not have to have romantic implications. I saw it more as that their lives are intertwined with one another and that in whatever world they exist in, they will find each other some way somehow.

This show also deals with the topic of family. While there are some uncomfortable and some incestual undertones, this is more about a found family as opposed to blood relations. The use of the word “family” is mostly used in the case of the Takakura’s to describe their close relationship. With the character of Kanba, it was shown that he had a biological twin sister and little brother, but chose his “fake” family over them as their fates are intertwined with one another. Though I wish they kept things more platonic with the Takakura’s to avoid the incestual tones, but I don’t think they thought of Himari as an actual “sister.”

The whole topic of fate is kind of up in the air in this anime. The way I saw it is that someone’s fate will always catch up to them, no matter how long they delay it. Himari was always fated to die and the only way that this was changed was when Shoma and Kanba decided to alter the first time that they had diverged their fate in the splitting of the apple, thus eliminating themselves from the world for Himari to live happily.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Cry Little Sister

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, verbal threats, gaslighting, both reader and Peter are high school students, kinda slight incestuous undertones (the characters aren't related, though).

Words: 2214.

Summary: Your adopted older brother is not as nice as he seems, but no one is willing to believe you.

P.S. And yep, I used one of my favourite citations from Grishaverse in the end of this story. Hope you enjoy!

__________

"Peter, sweetheart, I knew you'd make it!" Your mother had clasped her hands together while your father patted Peter's shoulder. "The best test results in the whole class! My goodness, we need to celebrate it!"

You smiled at them tiredly, seeing the faces of your parents practically glowing. True, Peter was a damn smart guy. You had never achieved such high results despite all those nights you spent studying, while he didn't care much about it at all, it seemed. You hadn't seen him with a book yet.

"I'm gonna bake an apple pie for you." A smile of your mother made you feel bitter, and you averted your eyes, missing an odd look your older adopted brother sent you.

Half a year ago he finally came to live with your family once your parents finished gathering all the papers and waited for almost a year to receive "the call". You remembered how you had jumped happily in the living room along with your mom, believing it was finally over. Well, maybe it was over for Peter, but for you it was only a beginning. You could hardly imagine the sweet skinny guy who you considered very shy and bashful would change so drastically.

It started very subtle. First, Peter was trying to be helpful, assisting you when you did the housework - he was actually way better at cooking and cleaning than you and easily got praised by your mom. You were truly thankful to him for his help, especially since it was easier to get to know him while working together. It was then when you first spotted the odd looks he was sending you when he thought you didn't see. There was something... uneasy lingering in his gaze. You couldn't quite put your finger on it, but sometimes Peter made you shiver with the way he spoke or touched you discreetly. It was strange. Of course, the boy didn't do or tell you something that would make you worried, but you just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. You blamed it on the fact you couldn't get accustomed to a new life with an adopted brother yet. Surely, it wasn't supposed to be easy?

But the more you spent time together, the stronger that feeling got. Despite Peter becoming a part of your family as easily as if he had always been your parents' son, you were wary of his sudden urges to touch you and always keep you in his sight. At first you thought he was just touch starved and needed human warmth. Maybe for Peter it was just easier to come to you rather than your parents since you were almost the same age as him.  But then... one day you saw him going through your things and taking one of your lipsticks from your makeup bag. You suddenly remembered losing a lip gloss two weeks ago.

Trying to voice your concerns, you talked to your mom who was so insensitive she went to speak with Peter right away. Of course, he said it wasn't true and you had probably misunderstood him since he only wanted to borrow a pen. He even showed his table and wardrobe to demonstrate he didn't hide anything.

From that time Peter had changed. He didn't hide his unhealthy behavior from you anymore, and he was scaring you with the things he had done, keeping an eye on you when you were around and stalking you if you were not, never staying far away aside from the time he had to be in class.

Of course, he sensed that you were becoming resteless, less and less eager to spend time with him, blaming it on lots of homework or sudden meetings with friends. You weren't blind to his frightening affection - if you could call his feelings like that. Why was he doing it? Despite spending only several months living with you, your parents loved him dearly, paying him twice more attention than you. You had never protested against it, knowing a poor soul like him who didn't have his own family needed all the help he could get now. But this... this wasn't alright. This wasn't a feeling siblings should have for each other. Did Peter consider you one? Did you truly consider him your older brother? You weren't sure. Nevertheless, it still didn't feel right.

Carefully, you attempted to talk to your father about it, vagualy wording your concerns and giving him little details - sure, you didn't like how Peter was behaving, but he didn't deserve to be banished from your family and sent back. You still believed something could be done to set everything right. Maybe the boy just didn't realize things were not supposed to work this way in a family. However, your father laughed it all off. He said little girls like you were thinking too much of themselves lately, claiming the whole world was obsessed with them. Peter simply tried to be a good brother and look out for you.

You had never felt more humiliated in your entire life.

Dropping all attempts to bring Peter's unhealthy behaviour to your parents' attention, you decided there was just one thing to do - separate yourself from him completely.

No more doing the housework together, no more chats in the kitchen in the morning, no more having lunch together at school, no more cuddles in the evening. You kept yourself as busy as you could - in the morning you did jogging, at school you spent time with your friends, in the evening you were taking your books and doing your homework in the park, at your friend's place or anywhere convenient. Even though Peter tried following you, you had started to change places all of a sudden to keep him away from you.

This was when he had enough of you distancing yourself.

Suddenly, Peter fighted for affection of your parents with such ferocity as if you tried to strip him of their love. His gradea were suddenly way better than yours - he claimed he had finally felt safe in his new home and could spent his energy elsewhere. The way he behaved was even more sweet than before. On the other hand, strange things started happening to you: once your mother found your expensive satin blouse torn and blamed it on you and your carelessness; the other time the chicken you cooked was so salty it ended in a trash bin; your friend received threats coming from your phone number, though you had never ever sent anything like that to her.

It was easy to guess who was doing this to you, but Peter never admitted it out loud. Talking to your parents was worthless, too, as in their eyes the boy was a pure blessing. How could you blame him for things you did to catch their attention?

Shit. You knew something was wrong with Peter, but you could hardly imagine to what extent he could go to have his way. It was unbelievable a boy like him could manipulate people so easily, wrapping them around his finger. Why was he doing it? Everyone already loved him. Everyone but you.

"Y/N!" Your mother's sharp voice broke the silence, and you hurried downstares, finding your mom near the washing machine with a wet black sock in her hands. "Are you out of your mind?! Did you put your black socks in there when I said to bring your WHITE clothes?!"

"But I didn't!" You gawked at her, knowing perfectly you only brought her what she asked you to. "I swear I didn't!"

"Oh yes, of course, it's Peter who went through your dirty clothes to incriminate you, dear." She sneered at you. "You have to come up with a new excuse, this is getting old. Look what you've done, my white jeans are ruined!"

"Please, mom, I-"

"Go to your room. I don't want to see or hear you." She snapped, tossing the sock to the floor as you stared at her in horror. She had never been so irritated like in the past month when your "slip-ups" were happening more and more often.

Racing upstairs, you pressed your hand to your mouth, trying not to cry. Why was he still doing it to you? Why did Peter want everything to be like he wished? Why did your parents never believe you? It was you who was their true daugther, for God's sake!

Locking the door, you fell down on your bed, burying your head in your soft pillow. It started to become unbearable. Why was this all happening? Despite your growing hate towards Peter, you couldn't say that he was ugly and unpleasant. He was easy on the eyes and could be really nice to people around him, and it made Peter quite popular among the girls at school. Why on Earth didn't he set his eyes on anyone other than you? There were plenty of girls who'd be willing to date him and give him as much attention as he wanted.

You wiped away your angry tears with your pillow, biting on your lower lip. It was unfair, and you weren't going to give in to him just because Peter wanted to play with you like a spoiled child. You'd find a way to prove you weren't guilty of all those things he wanted to pin on you, you just needed to gather yourself and think properly.

Suddenly, you heard someone knocking on your window and rushed to it immediately: your room was on the third floor. Seeing Peter sitting on the bench of a tree, you gasped in shock. You opened the window right away, praying for him to stay still.

"Are you out of your mind?" You whispered in horror, holding out your hand to him. "What are you doing there?!"

He smiled at you like nothing was happening, taking your arm and crawling towards your window. In the next moment he was already inside your room, grinning like a kid and shutting the window behind himself. You furrowed your brows, your heart racing. Peter was insane!

"What if you slipped?" You asked him furiously. "Are you mad? Do you want to die?!"

"No, but you wouldn't let me in your room unless I came in the window." He admitted carelessly and smiled, reaching out to you and enveloping you in a hug. "I'm glad you don't want me to fall."

"You're out of your mind, brother." You grunted, trying to push him away, but his grip was only becoming stronger. "What are you doing? Let me go, please."

"But I want a hug from you. Is it so bad?"

You clenched your teeth, watching him angrily. "You just made my mom scream at me for that stupid sock. You think you deserve a hug?"

"I only did it because you're stubborn. It's your fault I had come to this, Y/N." His sickly sweet smile made you nauseated as you put your hands on his chest in attempt to keep him away. "Come on, why have you been acting so cold? I just want to be a part of your family."

"Are you serious?"

Your eyes could burn a hole in his face as you stared at him, getting more and more angry with his behaviour and trying to blame you for his own actions.

"This isn't like it should be in a family, Peter. We're siblings now. Siblings don't do it... l-like that." You felt your face growing hot as you became deeply embarrassed, knowing how your words could be interpreted.

"But we're not siblings, are we?" He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his dark eyes at you and smiling widely.

You growled in irritation, still unable to get rid of him holding you like a doll in his hands.

"If you don't want me to be your sister, what family are you talking about, then?"

"We'll, it's not the only family I can have with you, right?"

You stilled, unsure you understood what Peter meant as he chuckled with content, watching you getting more and more confused while he gently caressed your back. What other family he could possibly mean?

It took you a few seconds to realize he was talking about marriage between you two.

Your eyes popped out of its sockets. Was he fucking serious? That kind of family? No, he should have been out of his mind completely. He definitely had to see a psychiatrist or something!

"You're joking, aren't you?" You muttered, shocked. "You can't be serious!"

"But I am, sister." Peter's sweet smile was slowly turning sinister as he leaned closer to you, dropping a kiss to your temple as you shivered against him, wanting nothing but get away. "And you better stop with that silly attitude of yours if you don't want me to get real angry."

"And what are you going to do if I don't? What if I will tell everyone about this?"

He smirked, touching your forehead with his and closing his eyes for a second.

"I see you still don't understand." Peter whispered to you, watching you getting more and more nervous. “I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no one but me.”

___________

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki   ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin ​@void-hoechlin @abyssaint @heeeyitskay @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight

[blackgirlsuperherorants]

With more articulation, I'm ready to talk about why the push for Lokius simply bothers me, and this can be said for other m/m or w/w ships that fans push to be canon so hard just because they ship it.

It's the framing. The framing that if Marvel doesn't do it (or whatever the brand is), it's because homophobia, and if other fans don't like it/ship it, it's because homophobia (even if they ship other queer ships and are queer themselves.) And the biggest problem with that is that it overshadows the REAL issue of lack of queer representation on screen in mainstream nerd media, especially from big things under the Disney umbrella (Marvel and Lucasfilm/Star Wars, especially.)

It makes it bad that your ship isn't canon instead of bad that there haven't been any queer romances on screen in the MCU.

And like, as a writer myself, I find myself dissecting the stories of other media all the time. I can watch an MCU movie or series and pretty much assess what direction the story is going in by the narrative points they're hitting. I knew Sylki was basically gonna happen (even if just a kiss) because narratively, that's what the show was doing as soon as they had that "what is love" conversation on Lamentis-1. It didn't mean I liked it. But I knew it was happening.

Similarly, there's no romantic undertones to Loki and Mobius. None. For Marvel to make them a couple, it would mean they'd be doing it simply because the two present as men and it would make stans happy. And while there's something to be said for fan service, it would be annoying to watch them cram two guys together who aren't romantic in the slightest. I'd much rather see Loki meet some guy and have the same type of undertones they were giving to Sylvie and form a real bond to where the kiss feels earned and warranted. Not just put him with the nearest man because "he gay lol."

And how you guys are claiming it's being queer that makes you want this is beyond me. It's not being queer that makes you want this. I don't want queer characters that fuck everyone of whatever gender(s) they're attracted to even when it doesn't make sense for them to. I want real love stories. I mean, yeah, sometimes we can have a slut character, because that's fun, too, but that's not even what y'all think Lokius is. You seem to want them to be in love. But why? Because he's the first friend Loki made that isn't through Thor?

I hate that, too, because I hate this idea that queer people cannot have friends of their same gender without wanting to fuck them. IDK how y'all are, maybe y'all are like that, but I almost never have wanted to fuck any of my friends. The only few exceptions have been when I tried to befriend someone I had a crush on (in which case, usually the friendship can't work, really, because I have a crush on them.) I also think it's okay if you can have casual sex with friends, or if you have a friendship that develops into romance, but Jesus, do you people not have friends that you don't want to fuck? I am bi, maybe more pan (gender kind of doesn't matter to me, I guess) and I'm friends with people of all kinds of gender identities and like... I love them as people, which is why they're my friends, but I DO NOT want to fuck them. Especially my closest friend. I talked about her, before, here, but she's like my sister. The thought of fucking her is gross, to me. Not because she's gross, but because it feels incestuous.

Loki shouldn't want to fuck Mobius just because they developed a friendship. And that's very much how it's written on the series. They almost dislike each other (or Mobius is at least indifferent to Loki) and then they become friends.

That's not to mention the power dynamic that exists, there. And I know some of y'all are subs, but yeah, it's a bit gross to imply a sexual relationship with Loki's captor.

But on to Sylki. It sucks that I feel like most of y'all hate Sylki because Sylvie is a girl, and not just because it's bad in other ways. Like, the reasons Sylki is bad have less to do with "it should have been Mobius" and more to do with it being a lazy 1980s action movie plot that should have never happened. I'm not as creeped out by the selfcest (as many of you wouldn't have been if she was a he, I'm almost positive), but what's bad about it is that they couldn't have a strong female lead character without her being the love interest of the main guy. She didn't need to be, especially because she was a Loki variant, anyway. There was no need for it to have romantic undertones, and there was no need for them to kiss. It was sexist more than it was homophobic (and I can't help feeling like y'all are kind of being biphobic in this case. Maybe I'll talk about that, later, but yeah.) It was sexist bullshit. And there's valid criticism that Sylvie is underdeveloped. She's just angry and something for Loki to project affection onto.

I was also hoping they'd do a "found family" type of thing with Sylvie and Loki and let her be like the sister he never knew he needed, but no, they had to go trope and make her the love interest. It was lazy and bad and basically went "If Loki girl, main Loki want bone!"

Basically, having the main character fall for a character just because of their proximity and gender is bad and I hate it (and it would have been bad with Mobius, too, but yeah.)

Both the Mobius and the Sylvie thing also feel kind of racist, to me, because the show has prominent Black women who aren't even presented as desirable to Loki. And y'all, of course, ship him with anyone but the Women of Color. Y'all can pull true love with Mobius out of your ass, but he couldn't possibly fall for the Black women. lol.

Anyway. Not every show needs ships, and this show shouldn't have had any. I hate it. It's bad.

I guess on the biphobia front, I have heard some takes that it's not biphobic because Loki being queer in the MCU which hasn't shown any queer relationships, and Loki being the first openly queer character means they shouldn't have shown him with a woman presenting character. Which, I guess I get where you're coming from... but I have also been in fandoms for a long time and I see mostly girls saying this shit, which is what leads me to feel like it's simply jealousy. It happens all the time when a long-beloved single male character/celebrity suddenly starts dating a woman. Everyone hates it. And like, we haven't seen Loki be with ANYONE in the MCU, because mostly he's been doing villainy and his dating life hasn't been relevant. If the demigod says he's bi, he can kiss a woman. Especially a woman version of himself. Like I said, I hate it for other reasons, but pretending it's because he should have kissed Mobius is utterly delusional. He probably shouldn't have kissed anyone. Not in this series. There was no reason for any canon romance, especially because the show has a season 2 and we'll have time to see Loki develop earned, deserved romance with someone.

I'd much rather see them create a character just to be his boyfriend than have y'all push Marvel into making Lokius canon, which is a nonsense ship that only happened because Mobius is the only prominent male-presenting character before we meet the other Lokis.

My sincere wish is for people to remember that their ships are just ships and to enjoy them without getting all self-righteous about it. I TOLD y'all that Lokius wasn't gonna be canon like 4 episodes back, and here y'all are acting shocked and like Marvel took something from you. NOBODY expected y'all to ship Lokius. It's not even queerbait.

You can make clear arguments as to why Sambucky was queerbait. It's there in undertones in the actual series.

You cannot watch Loki and tell me you thought it was queerbait, unless you think men can't have conversations or hug goodbye without being romantically involved. Which means, in my opinion, that you need to learn about healthy masculinity.

Again, this is not a defense of Marvel. They DO need to let characters be queer, for real, and not just by saying " A bit of both". Like, let Loki be queer. Let Deadpool be queer. Let these queer characters be queer on screen. Yes.

But please stop making it about your ship. I'd rather see a flashback of Loki dating a guy and see him kiss someone he loved back on Asgard than watch y'all force Lokius. Because my queer rep is not about your crackship. It really isn't. And the fact that y'all keep calling us homophobic for not liking your ship REALLY needs to be addressed.

Like, when will y'all stop? I got on Stucky shippers about this shit in the past. All of us gay as hell, too, we just don't like YOUR ship. A lot of us like other queer ships. A lot of us like queer ships in other fandoms, too, and even have queer OCs. YOUR ship just ain't it. Stop forcing it. Literally, most of the ship wars between MCU fans have been queer ship vs queer ship, not really queer ship vs straight ship. Like, the number one Stucky rival ship was Stony. Not Steggy. People are not homophobic for not wanting your ship.

Sometimes it's because they ship something else.

And sometimes, like me, it's because they want something to make sense narratively and not happen for the sake of it happening. It's always better writing to have a character meetcute a new love interest than to magically turn a platonic friendship into a romantic relationship. Like, even when the characters are straight. Like, when Moesha dated Hakeem. It was just weird, even if he was kind of a great boyfriend. He was just supposed to be her friend, and people didn't really like it because it didn't fit narratively.

And that's why ships for the most part should be left to fanfiction, with the exception of a few where fans are right to call out the writers for not making it canon because it's clearly bait (like what happened to Destiel shippers. To see Lokius shippers compare themselves to THAT was so ridiculous. Destiel shippers had a decade of evidence only to be let down by a criminally unfair ending. Lokius shippers saw two men have a deep conversation once and lost their minds.)

Anyway, I'm not saying don't ship Lokius. I don't even hate it, really. I just think it obviously shouldn't be canon, and fans pretending like they were robbed of it is ridiculous. Literally, Ao3 exists for this reason. I will never see Steve fuck Sam Wilson, so I wrote it into my fanfic. I am not mad that they didn't actually date in the main MCU storyline.

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Bombalurina’s Dance Segment: As Comedically Interpreted By Me, a Person With Good Ideas

I’m bored and I decided to try being funny. Here’s some pictures of Bombalurina’s dance at the Jellicle Ball with stupid lines for the characters and the occasional lazy addition of !s ?s and emoticons with my minimal photo editing skills.

NOTE: This will include quit a bit of sexual humor, including jokes about incest (though no incest is occurring and this blog does NOT approve of incest), and about underage characters being horny, though only to the extent that most teenagers are. (Once again, nothing actually happens and this blog does NOT approve of pairing underage characters with adult characters). Joking about something isn’t the same as approving of it, kay?

Bomba: Alright, boys! I’ma show you what real dancing is!

Tugger: *senses that shit’s about to get horny*

Misto: Bitch, you trying to show me up? I’m one of the most featured dancers in this show and if anyone’s gonna be front and center during the big dance number, it’s gonna be me!

Bomba: I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Misto: Oh! Well, I never!

Bomba: Quoting your own number won’t save you.

Tugger: Is my boyfriend jealous of my girlfriend again?

Bomba: One of his Three Words is “competitive”. Of course he’d be the jealous type.

Etcetera: omg Bomba’s so cool! I’m totally gonna join this sexy dance!

Etcetera: Lol that can’t stop me because I can’t read!

Tugger: Hey, Jenny? I was wondering if Mungojerrie might want to join me and the boys in-

Jenny: No way in hell.

Tugger and Jerrie: Damn it!

Tugger: Are you sure?

Jenny: Very.

Pouncival: I’m not standing at an angle where I should be able to see dat ass but daaaaamn...

Misto: Pouncival no. You people disgust me!

Jemima: Munkustrap, what’s everyone yelling about?

Munkustrap: Please don’t ask.

Misto: Hmph! I’ll be back for the next section and then I’ll show you! Bye bitch!

Bomba: I really don’t care.

Jenny: Etcetera?!

Bomba: I’m not taking responsibility for this.

Tugger: Alright, boys, I made the mistake of trying to get Jerrie in on this when his mom was around so we’re down one. 

Teazer: omfg Tugger <3

Demeter: Are we doing the Sexy Big Girl Dance? I love that one! Why’d you start without me?

Bomba: This was completely spontaneous. 

Cassandra: I can kick almost as high as Bomba can!

Etcetera: I can kick myself in the head! And yet, I feel no pain...

Tugger: Alright, George. I know it’s your first time on the field, but I’m gonna help you through it.

George: Thank god! I have no idea what I’m doing!

Teazer: I have got to see this!

Jenny: ETCETERA YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!!!

Jerrie: Wait. What’s going on? 

Teazer: I wish you bastards wouldn’t stand right in front of me and block my view...

Jerrie: You know, if you let me out there, I could drag Etcetera back.

Munkustrap: The rest of you kittens had better not act like Etcetera, okay?

Electra: Damn...I think I might be bi.

Teazer: I’m definitely bi!

Jemima: Hi, Jenny! Why do you look like you’re gonna have a stroke?

Tugger: Alright, boys! Let’s do this!

George: I still don’t know what I’m doing.

Skimble: JENNY!!! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!! We’ve got a situation.

Jenny: And you think I haven’t already noticed?

Jemima: Hi, Skimble :)

Jerrie: I’m so sick of familial drama...

Skimble: This is all Tugger’s fault!

Jenny: Where the hell is Jellylorum?! Etcetera’s her kitten and she usually doesn’t like this sort of insanity happen.

Jerrie: I’m trying to escape, just in case anyone cares.

Tugger: My eyes are mostly closed but damn!

Bomba: And that, ladies, is how you get what you want.

Alonzo: My eyes are mostly closed but also damn!

Cassandra: Oh Alonzo...

Alonzo: Sorry, Cass, I’ve gotta babysit the kitten. George, you go with her.

George: I have even less idea of what I’m doing than I did before.

Etcetera: This is the best day of my life!

Alonzo: I already regret this decision.

George: I still don’t know what I’m doing but I might as well make a :D face, because that’s what I always do.

Coricopat: This the sexy dance and I got stuck with my sister?! What the fuck?!

Tantomile: At least you’re not stuck with the kitten.

Coricopat: This whole scene is so wrong.

Jerrie: You know, if you’d let me out there, I could’ve danced with Tantomile and there wouldn’t be any incestuous undertones to this scene.

Jenny: Jerrie, I say no.

Jemima: Skimbledad, what’s going on?

Skimble: Never you mind. Just stay right here where I can see you. I refuse to lose more kittens to The Depravity.

Bomba: You know, this sexy dance has a lot more queens touching themselves than toms touching queens. Maybe only the first bit was meant to be suggestive.

George: How did I get into this situation?

Jemima: I still don’t know what’s going on, but now I’m in the Leg Tent.

Jenny and Skimble: *incoherent screaming*

Coricopat: This whole thing has honestly been a bit embarrassing.

Plato: Check out how great I am at lifting people!

Victoria, Somewhere: <3

Bomba: All the blood is going to my head...

Tugger: But I’ve got a great view from here.

Demeter: Hi, Munkustrap!

Munkustrap: Hi, Demeter!

Teazer: We love you, Demeter!

Electra: Also I think my dad likes you!

Bomba: I’m not even the center of attention anymore...

Skimble: Alright, Alonzo. Bring her right back here.

Jemima: No one has explained any of this to me.

George: Am I doing this right?

Misto: Alright, Tumble! Let’s show them what real dancing is!

Etcetera: You guys suck!

Skimble: You’re lucky that I’m not telling your mother about that stunt you pulled. Now, see those boys? Those are the sorts of boys you should be dancing with. That’s good, wholesome, age-appropriate dancing!

Victoria: Ballet! That’s totally my thing!

Bomba: Ballet is totally not my thing...

Tugger: I’m probably going to start ignoring you in a second. Ballet is actually kinda hot!

Misto: Who’s jealous now, Bomba!

Tumblebrutus: Not me, surprisingly. Since my actor is playing Mistoffelees in London at the time of filming, I basically am you! It’s kinda weird that we’re filming in London and the London Misto is right there, but they call in the Broadway one instead.

Misto: But both our actors are way too chill to care about that. You’re a good me! It’s great to not have behind-the-scenes drama!

Jemima: Yay! A dance I can join! Bye, Jenny, I’ma go play with the ballet boys!

Electra: Ballet boys! I’m totally gonna pair up with one of them during Nap Time!

Jemima: Me, too!

Victoria: Whenever Plato isn’t my love interest, it’s usually one of those two, so this is slightly awkward. Oh well. Ballet time :)

END

[camelotsheart]

MERLIN CHALLENGE 2020 Day Thirteen - Favourite Cast Member Katie & Julian in 5x13 commentary

I know this is a very big stretch from the theme, but Katie and Julian in this commentary were honestly iconic. Includes: mentions of bondage, incest, so, so much subtext and just a horrendous amount of queerbaiting. I’ve compiled a list of the funniest/most important exchanges below the line.

At the start of the commentary:

J: There are no homoerotic undertones to Merlin of any kind.

K: I think so. I mean, whenever I played any scenes with Millie it was always straight in my mind.

J: No, there are definitely lesbian undertones in those.

When Merlin tells Arthur he has magic:

J: It's a very beautiful moment between two men. [Katie tries to hold her laughter]

K: ...You are not helping this commentary at all, by the way, Julian.

J: No, I'm not. 

K: I think you possibly have been waiting for the sixty-five episodes to do this one commentary.  

J: Yes. I've always been a bit more serious in the previous ones.

K: No he hasn't, actually. 

Also in this scene:

J: ...On no level is magic metaphorical in this show.

K: It's funny, because I don't actually feel like you're being sincere.

J: I'm always sincere.

K: You're the exec. You are never sincere.

J: Believe me, I'm a fountain of truth and honesty.

K: Julian is lying right now. Lying.

When Gwen is back in the castle and Leon reports to her that Arthur is still missing:

J: We've gone to the spurned wife who wants to know where her husband is.

K: But she has Sir Leon. Why would she need...?

J: Ah... Well you see, that's another undercurrent in Merlin, isn't it?

K: Sir Leon?

J: Sir Leon.

K: Oh no. It's definitely-

J: Sir Leon and Gwen.

Also in this scene:

K: ...We know that you never gave me any love interests.  

J: I gave you Morgause. 

K: [She laughs] He says -- in all seriousness!

J: Incestuous lesbianism. What more can you want?

K: You cannot make a show without lesbianism, in all fairness.  

J: It's gotta be said.

Also in this scene:

K: I do worry about you guys, actually. I worry that there are men sitting in a room with Merlin just trying to come up with the most ridiculous scenes that they could get past the BBC.

J: That's...

K: He's nodding.

J: Not true.

K: He is nodding! He's nodding -- it's so true!

J: It's a family show.

K: Not in your head.

When Arthur tells Gaius Merlin is a sorcerer:

K: Did Gaius know?

J: What, that he was a sorcerer?

K: That's not what I asked. About the undertones.  

J: No, Richard would never think of anything like that.

K: You're right, he's a gentleman.

J: He's a gentleman... A man of genuine innocence.

When Arthur gives Gaius the royal seal:

K: The seal... He's passing the mantle to the woman-

J: Yep. That's the last vestige of his heterose-- I mean, sorry. That's the last vestige of his marriage--

K: Oh my god! [They laugh] This has descended to a level. I mean, I thought I was bad in these - playing up - but I have got nothing on Julian Murphy here. I think we should just throw it all out the window.

J: The way we directed the scene where Gaius tells Gwen is basically the thing of it.

K: I think you must just think of most of these scenes in this episode (as the thing of it), if you don't go-

J: It always helps, I swear.

K: You know, he ain't lying again. He has told me this.  

J: If you want to find the emotional truth of it, it does help. 

When Gaius comes back to Camelot and talks to Gwen:

J: That's a tricky one for Gaius to explain - why he's not come back to his wife.

K: You-- You're seeing an entirely different show here than a lot of people, aren't you?

J: Yeah, I know. I do.

When.... er, Julian describes it better:

J: This is the scene where Merlin feeds Arthur... I'll just let that hang in the air.

K: I will input what I can. Alex Vlahos is lost in laughter listening to this. He can't quite believe what's coming out of your mouth.

J: It's actually quite a moving scene.

K: And yet that's not what you want to comment on.

And uh, yeah... another one:

J: Now Merlin is giving Arthur a drink.

K: I think he's just giving him a drink there.

J: Yes. They just spend the whole episode on this journey. It's quite simple.

K: Feeding each other?

J: The feeding thing, I think, is in your mind, Katie.

K: You just said it then. I'm just repeating back to you what you said. Don't try and blame this on me! For a start, you guys came up with the episodes!

When Gwaine and Percival are attacking Morgana:

J: This entire sequence is actually a homage to Tom's arms.

When Morgana has tied them up:

J: Oh, Katie. You've tied up the man again.

K: I know. I just like them where I want them, you know. I don't want them to go far.

J: And as you say, thousands of girls watching Merlin want them in that position.... You've tied them both up!

K: Well, like I said - I don't want them to run away when I want them.

When Merlin uses his magic to lead Saxons on a false trail:

[Arthur: All these years Merlin, and you never once sought any credit.

Merlin: That's not why I do it.]

K: Liar!

J: Well, he knows.

K: What are you--

J: You can never be too sure about these things.

K: It's all the meaningful glances now after this DVD commentary that I'm just going--

J: I should say that Katie, just before we wrote this episode, insisted that it ended with a kiss between Arthur and Merlin.

K: That is not what I said. That's what you put into it. I had the most amazing ending.... My ending, which you didn't use, which I thought would have been amazing, is -- Arthur. Mortally wounded on the battlefield. Merlin comes up and cradles him in his arms. Merlin to Arthur: I have magic. Arthur takes his face in his hands: I know. I think I've always known.

When Arthur and Merlin rest for an hour:

[Arthur: Whatever happens--

Merlin: Shh. Don't talk.

Arthur: I'm the king, Merlin. You can't tell me what to do.]

K: Awww

[Merlin: I always have. I'm not going to change now.]

K: [laughs] oh my god....

[Arthur: I don't want you to change.]

K: [continues laughing] Do you know how much trouble we're going to get in from people saying this was a beautiful moment and all you guys can do is laugh?

J: Well I think you need to have both sides of it. And to be fair, we did genuinely think of the episode as a love story between two men. That's what I think it is. Jokes aside and innuendos aside, I remember talking to Justin and saying that's what it's about.

K: You can't deny that Merlin and Arthur love each other. On whatever love way you want to think. There is no denying it.

J: I think it's a purer love than you, say, had for your sister.

K: You say I had for my sister. [Julian laughs] Ok. I don't know how you read that into it.

J: No. We'll stop there.

K: Oh, we won't.

When Morgana rides her horse through the woods:

K: More Katie galloping.

J: I think you did that just so you could see my boobs.

K: I definitely didn't.

When The Scene happens:

J: Now we're nearing the moment. I'll show you where exactly I'd pick is the...

K: ...where it's all been building to -- almost sixty-five hours of TV. Special moment.

... [Arthur: Just hold me, please.]

J: There you are.

K: [gasps] I can't believe you put that in.

J: Well I think it's... you know, he's dying. The man he loves is dying, so he's holding him.

K: I don't think that's what you meant at all when you put that line.

J: It is!

Shameless trivialisation of ruining everyone’s holiday:

J: I don't know how the nation's gonna feel on christmas eve, but anyway.

K: Yeah, it's kind of a downer.

Katie being literally everyone in the Merlin fandom:

[Kilgharrah: No man, no matter how great, can know his destiny.]

K: Hold on a second here, hasn't the dragon been telling him his destiny this entire time?

J: Yeah, but that's the sort of annoying comment that people make when they're not just going with the flow.

K: Oh really? Oh really, is it? [they laugh] Fine then!

[grrmartin]

I don't think a Jonsa marriage will happen. But do you think an angst forbidden love dynamic with incestuous undertones could usher between the two without any pay off ? I also think R+L=J will have a much coherent walkthrough the plot if Jon falls for his cousin . Infact if Jonerys is a thing, then you actually don't need any secret parentage plot for Jon. Jon could be Ned and Ashara's son and Jonerys could still happen.

I for sure think that there will be an angsty, forbidden love. Potentially with payoff. I’ve written out how I think jonsa will become canon and end, but I can’t find it now. So I’ll summarize again.

Jonsa fall in love and have a tortured romance where they try to stay away from each other. They do not admit anything, or perhaps they do but decide it can never be and feel shame. Perhaps Jon tries to move on with the next available woman (Dany) or maybe it’s like the show where she’s obsessed with him idk. When it’s revealed they’re not siblings, they kiss/maybe have sex. Jon must go south with Daenerys one last time, and then he can come North and be with Sansa. There’s so much hope for the two of them. But then Jon must become kinslayer/queenslayer in order to protect Sansa and the North. Sansa comes and rescues him from a death sentence. It echoes Ned/Cat at the end of season 1, but Sansa makes it down and they make good and Jon lives... but must live in exile.

This gives Jon’s exile emotional weight. He is giving something up, not just hanging out with his dog and his best friend (/lover since in show canon Jonmund has uhhh a lot of subtext haha). He COULD have a woman to love and a child to hold in his arms, he could be lord of winterfell with somebody who he knows well. He could recreate the family he lost. All of this was going to happen, it was so real he could almost taste it. But in the end, he can’t have it, and he goes back to the Watch.

I do not think there will be a jonsa baby, but I would be happily surprised if there was one. I don’t think any Targaryens will remain at the end of the story.

[rememberingthesugden-dingles]

I keep seeing your spn gifs and having never seen the show before, I was just wondering what it's about. As from the gifs I seem to gather it's a supernatural show about 2 brothers but they are the loves of each others lives ??? But not in a incestuous way but a brotherly way ?? Cos each time I see a gifset and your tags I'm like ok this shows wild, they're brothers but also their weird love bond they have intrigues me. A quick rundown of the show would be appreciated if you don't mind !

oh boy haha...

actually no you know what you’ve summed it up perfectly tbh! 👌

the show is obviously called supernatural and so this is the context in which the protagonists exist. it is indeed about two brothers: sam and dean winchester.

basically it starts like this: on november 2nd 1983, their mum dies in weird supernatural circumstances when sam is a baby and dean is 4 yo, which sends their dad on a downward spiral, obsessed with finding answers and getting revenge. soon their dad realises there are things that go bump in the night and he starts researching them and fighting them.

thus is the way that sam and dean are brought up, staying in cheap motel rooms while their dad goes on a ‘case’, having no one to really rely on but each other. the family can’t bring too much attention on themselves and they never stay in the same town too long, always off to another case, another motel etc. their dad raises them like warriors, “hunters”, wanting them to be ready and to know how to defend themselves. he loves them but he’s obsessive and authoritative. they don’t get to socialize like normal kids, but at least they know how to use guns, eh! #thefamilybusiness

dean (the older brother) is the soldier child, his dad’s right hand man. an extreme amount of responsibility was put on his shoulders from the moment the mum died and he follows in his dad’s footsteps with blind faith.

sam (the younger brother) is the rebellious child. protected by dean growing up, he doesn’t hero-worship their dad as much as dean does and questions his orders a lot. he longs for a normal life... mostly, he wants to be normal really bad (spoiler alert: he’s not).

when the pilot starts, sam is 22, at college (stanford) living in a dorm with his girlfriend after being booed out of his family for choosing normal, for wanting to go to college. he hasn’t seen them in four years.  but then the brothers are reunited when dean comes to find him because their dad has ‘gone missing’ and dean needs sam’s help finding him. sam accepts to go with dean for just one case but when he comes home to his dorm, he finds his girlfriend dead in the same circumstances as his mum. and BOOM, you have the show!  sam packs his bags to go on road with dean and together the brothers embark on a quest to find their dad and the demon that killed their mum. 

travelling across america in their 67′ chevrolet impala (their home), going from motel room to motel room, they will spend the next 15 seasons hunting and facing everything supernatural from ghosts, urban legends, demons, sirens, vampires to the devil himself, angels, god... and themselves.

despite its humor and sometimes ‘upbeat’ tone, the show is pretty dark and the characters do nothing but suffer... but it’s hella entertaining! 😂

basically it’s about two brothers clinging to each other for better or worse, in a world and a life of trauma. <3

the relationship between those brothers is the very heart and essence of the show. it’s fascinating and oh so very messed up, for reasons that the context of the show makes understandable, and will make your heart clench every episode.

they are indeed the love of each other’s life, as well as canon soulmates. unable to form lasting romantic relationships, whenever they’ve tried it didn’t last long and they always ended up coming back to each other.

their relationship is incestuous, or has strong incestuous undertones at the very least, not in a ‘they’re doing it on screen’ kind of way, but in the sense that it doesn’t have a normal sibling relationship’s boundaries. they are textually codependent to a very unhealthy degree, but in the context of their lives, and within the show, that codependency is almost romanticised and viewed as this beautiful thing that you can only root for. it keeps them human, it keeps them going.

they have gone to hell for each other, sacrificed themselves as well as other loved ones for each other, they have become monsters for each other. there is no limit to the bond that they have. sure it’s rooted in trauma but it’s theirs and they love it. it doesn’t make sense to me to apply words like “romantic” or “platonic” to them, because that would require clear boundaries, which aren’t there. it’s all mushed together and that’s the point.

the best way to explain sam and dean’s relationship is probably the word “all-encompassing”. you know how in a normal/healthy setting you have several different people playing several different social roles in your life? well the thing is sam and dean are each other’s everything and they play all of these roles for each other. hence the mess. they very much are siblings but they are also to a point parent/child, life-partners, best friends, spouses, lovers, coworkers etc.. and all of these different dynamics create the messy result that they are.

to conclude, i will now quote a line straight from the show itself that to this day is still the most accurate description of them i’ve ever heard : “you know sam and dean winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically codependent on each other, right? [...] hell, they’d rather save each other’s sweet bacon than save the planet”.

there you go, hope that helped! fdjklk

[rainbowamory]

Mansfield Park (1999) Review

The film I am reviewing is the one that came out in 1999. There is actually another film made in 2007.

I want to start by saying that I was a fool. I take back everything I said in my first post about this film. I had been reluctant to watch it for the reasons I explained in the previous post, but I finally pushed myself to give it a chance and… by the end of the film, it went from being my least favourite cousin love story in a novel to one of my Top Favourite films exploring this kind of relationship. I want to explain why I loved it this time round and what my impressions were of the book vs. the film.

The truth is I read the novel by Jane Austen years ago, so I don’t really remember the exact details or what the film might have changed. The main love story is still there. They might’ve just changed some details of the scenes here and there. But I remember that my first impression of the novel was that Edmund was indecisive and took forever to realize Fanny’s worth. Or that’s how it seemed to me, and that was the main reason for the bad impression I got of the book. It’s possible I misremembered or simply misinterpreted the book’s version of Edmund.

As for Fanny, I thought they changed her personality completely, but that too was a misunderstanding. The first time I tried to watch this film, I had only watched the opening scenes and I was irritated because I didn’t like the creepy stories that Fanny was reading out loud… I recall the book version of her being more sensitive, so I was put off by those opening lines because it seemed on the surface that the film version of her was harsh and unfeeling.

But the fact it, sometimes Fanny is cold on the outside, but she’s a sweetheart on the inside, and always faithful. (Wait a minute. Isn’t that my type?? So how could I possibly dislike her?) I think if they changed anything about her it was just that they made her personality more vivid and passionate in the film. They didn’t change her core character traits or values from the book.

The 2nd reason I had a negative impression of Fanny was that before I watched this film, I had seen some screenshots of the 2007 film, and I noticed two males in the picture, which sometimes indicates a love triangle. My personal preference in ships has always been monogamous pairings. The only scenarios in which I am ok with non-monogamous ships is if all characters involved are truly poly. I don’t care for stories where one person leads on two people and acts like the center of attention. In the 1999 version of the film, it’s clear that Fanny’s heart is always with the one guy: Edmund. There is no ambiguity there. If Henry Crawford feels like a third wheel, it’s his own dumb fault because no one is leading him on....

As I watched more of the film, it became clear that the dilemma Fanny and Edmund were really going through was the dilemma of a second-born son being in love with a woman from a lower class. Their marriage would not have been “advantageous” in a material sense in their time period. That was a huge part of what was holding them back from getting together.

So Edmund actually had a good reason for his hesitations. He was struggling inside because he felt he didn’t have enough to offer Fanny if she were to be his wife. And the only reason Fanny went along with the courtship with the other guy was because she too was trying to make the best of her circumstances and the fact that being with Edmund was not initially an option.

➤

[Typo in the captions below. It should read “I hope you know how much I shall...”]

Edmund and Fanny were always each other’s first choice. And they were always honest with each other every step of the way, even when they were going in separate directions. There was no sleezy deception. It’s this fact that ultimately won my heart: this consistent mutual respect. It’s what made them worthy of each other in the end.

There were a number of other things I also loved about this film. Often times, when consanguineous pairings are handled in fiction, especially more modern fiction, they tend to set the pair in a “broken family backdrop”. That’s something I really hate—this implication that incestuous relations only happen in unstable or “dysfunctional” families. Mansfield Park appears on the surface to follow this stereotype, but there’s more going on. Fanny’s uncle is a very sick individual who gets away with horrific crimes, but there was unfortunately nothing Fanny could directly do as she didn’t have the power to expose him. To add to that, Edmund’s mother is emotionally absent, Fanny’s parents are always struggling with poverty, and Edmund’s siblings are troubled in their own ways.

So one can say that Edmund and Fanny really only had each other. But it’s clear that the “broken family backdrop” is not the reason they got together.

I look at the common Cousin Dynamics to see where Fanny and Edmund would fit, and they actually don’t fit into the 3 main categories that are most typical. They grew up separately up to a certain point, and they didn’t seem to see each other as siblings, so it’s not Dynamic 1. But they did grow up together under the same roof for a big part of their lives, so it’s not Dynamic 2 which involves more distance. It’s not Genetic Sexual Attraction, because they did not fall in love upon first meeting. They had developed a bond and shared history before they fell in love.

They were playful and mutually supportive and they just seemed very in synch with each other’s personalities and values. It was a bond that came with the build-up of trust over time, familial and romantic at the same time. The “broken family backdrop” in this scenario did not force any of that. If anything, it only brought two already close people even closer. Dysfunction in their families was a circumstance, not the catalyst for their love.

Would I recommend this film? YES. However, you should know it’s not a plot-heavy story. It’s more a “slice of life” kind of story. When I watched it with my partner, half-way through she asked me, “Is this one of those stories where nothing really happens?”

My answer was that actually a lot is happening, but it’s in subtext. The themes that we see in subtext include women’s social expectations, inequalities between genders, classism, and the darker undertones of what was happening with slavery in those times.

But the main story is focused on the inner conflicts and coming-of-age of two characters.

It’s a refreshing exploration of a relationship that is allowed to form without the added stigma of the “incest taboo”. This is also due to the time period in which the story is set, in which cousin marriage was not automatically seen in a negative light.

As the 2nd born son, Edmund will not inherit the main wealth of the family. So their future is that of a clergyman and a clergyman’s wife, a humble middle class couple. This is an interesting alternative to the usual stories about royal couples or rural stereotypes. And something tells me they will not be the blind, bigoted type of religious people. Edmund’s comments about the music at church and about Fanny’s character traits, and Fanny’s own ability to see through falseness in others shows they are people who can see the very essence of things.

Watching this movie was like watching a dream. It was beautiful and very charming and satisfying. The symbolism, the subtle humor, the way it was filmed, the acting… every decision fit the story and the themes. I was getting worried near the end whether it would end the way I was hoping it would, and when he started confessing to her, this was my reaction: 

YES. SAY IT YOU SON OF A B*TCH. SAY IT. APOLOGIZE TO HER. THAT’S RIGHT. YES. NOW KISS HER. 

And after that moment, all was forgiven in my head…

It was really a treat for a romantic with an open mind. And I regret dismissing it before, but now that I’ve seen it in full, I love it so much I would actually like to make a fanvideo for it eventually.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

It's not leaving me alone, so I gotta ask soneone: Do u have an opnion on why 15x09 gave us future Dean & Sam vampires (like Gordan Walker dying as the monsters they hunt), so a bad vision, while hunters-turned-(hunter-)werewolf (see Garth, or briefly Claire) don't necessarily mean smth bad? Or am I seeing things & in need of more sleep?

I think this is an interesting question, sorry for the late response ^-^

Why vampires?

Now, it’s to be noted that Chuck loves monsters. From 15x04: “But people like monsters though. They do. I mean, Leviathans are cool. What? They’re all teeth! Like, there’s… like, they don’t even have lips. They’re just, like, teeth face. Raa!”. Obviously you can’t turn a human into a Leviathan but I suppose the next best thing is a vampire. (Okay, werewolves have weird teeth too but c’mon, when you think about monster teeth...? Vampire fangs are a classic.) Everyone has made fun of Vampire!Sam-and-Dean’s teeth, and they did look ridiculous, but I think that was the point -- Chuck loves a nice “teeth face”. Obviously, like Becky says, fans don’t care about that. Filling the characters’ mouth with weird teeth is just another of Chuck’s bad writing issues.

I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘vampires are bad, werewolves are good’ because the vision happens in the same episode where Benny is mentioned, and Benny is the quintessential case of vampire ally and friend. But it is interesting that back-to-back episodes paint a picture of a tragic ending for the quintessential vampire friend, and a happy ending for the quintessential werewolf friend.

Consider also that in the same episode Eve is mentioned, which brings us back to season 6, which is when Dean was temporarily turned into a vampire. Back then he was cured (I’ll mourn forever that they didn’t keep Dean as a vampire through the entire Eve arc, but okay, this isn’t relevant here :p) while in Chuck’s vision they ostensibly aren’t, which makes us suppose that they didn’t even try and fed on human blood (remember the cure only works if you don’t feed on human blood after being turned). In fact it’s implied that they did something especially monstrous for Bobby and Jody to decide that killing them is the only option.

Now, vampires and werewolves are often used to signify similar meanings, and in parallel to one another (Claire being cured from being a werewolf parallels Dean’s experience with vampirism for instance) and Chuck himself has in fact recently used werewolf brothers as a (badly written) mirror from Dean and Sam. Both vampires and werewolves are steeped in subtext regarding sexuality and relationships -- which makes it extra creepy when you get ~monsters brothers being monsters together~. The werewolves brothers from 15x05 had an incestuous vibe about them, and we’re also supposed to be creeped out by Dean and Sam’s unhealthy bond in the vision too. Vampirism adds that sexual undertones that they can’t have Dean and Sam play actual incestuous undertones on screen. (While both werewolves and vampires are connected to sexuality subtext, vampirism is definitely the strongest of the two in this sense, especially when you consider not just the show but general lore and culture.)

Vampires are also connected to unhealthy family dynamics in the show, such as the vampire family who took Alex, but the Winchesters themselves (vampires being introduced in an episode where they hunt with John...) to whom after all Alex’ vampire family was a mirror (Dean was used as bait just like Alex was, and here the sexual connotations come up again).

Werewolves are often connected to toxic romantic relationships, especially toxic non-requited feelings, with Garth and Bess being the subversion. In Heart, Madison was turned by the neighbor that had a thing for her; in Bitten, there’s the guy who was into Kate and killed her boyfriend to be with her; in Red Meat the guy does terrible things for his wife’s sake; in Ladies Drink Free, a guy tries to turn girls into werewolves to be his pack... even in 15x08 Eileen is hunting a werewolf when Sam intervenes and almost puts her in danger, signaling that their relationship has issues to be solved. I think that, other than Garth episodes and the “plotty” episodes with monsters in them, the only exception is Paper Moon, which deals with a complicated relationship between siblings, but that was right after the demon Dean episodes and fit in the MoC arc.

Vampires, in general, are more connected to a subtext about sexual fears. From Gordon’s seduction of Dean and the whole dynamic of Dean’s queerness and John’s expectations in the earlier seasons, the fake vampire in Monster Movie, Dean’s turning, even the whole Cas-Crowley thing in s6 where vampires were featured a lot, or the fact that the Alpha Vampire blood is one of the ingredients to defeat the Leviathan together with Crowley’s and Cas’, but also arcs that had a sexuality-related subtext for Dean like the BMoL and AU Michael. Heck even the vampire Maul in 15x10 represents virility-related fears...

(If Garth and Bess are the subversion of the werewolf pattern of toxic and/or unrequited romantic feelings, what’s the subversion of the vampire pattern of sexuality-related fears? I’d say Benny,  but he’s apparently dead... or is he?)

Anyway, Chuck might have turned them into vampires because vampires is the most classic, teeth-y monster out there, or because he wanted to sprinkle some w-ncest-y vibes on the whole thing, or because the whole thing is a metaphor for fears related to his own virility (the whole vision being a plan to rid himself of the wound “emasculating” him, but in general there seems to be a sort of sense of inferiority towards Dean in particular - in the same episode Dean punches him and he punches Dean back harder, in a sort of measuring contest that Chuck sorts of loses in their verbal confrontation), or all of that together.

Thoughts??

[malachi-walker]

What character(s) from other fandoms that you're a part of remind you the most of Catra? Personally, I don't think I've seen too many, aside from maybe Vegeta from DBZ and maybe Jason Todd from DC comics but that's about it for me

Ok, anon, thanks for your patience. Let's go.

Firstly, I have two ladies that do give me a similar vibe to Catra (though they aren't 100% matches as you'll see.) And I want you to take particular note of that: it's very telling that the characters you mentioned are both dudes. This is something I have been thinking about for literally decades because it is a deeply entrenched stereotype in our culture: male abuse victims are angry, frustrated loners who lash out until they find that one (girl) person that gets through their facade, female abuse victims are portrayed as either anxious messes (more common in recent years) or as just... These smiling caricatures who continue to pretend to be happy because that's what our societies expect women to be. And this is something I took note of at a very early age, because as someone growing up with an abusive birth father I looked to the MALE characters as a guide book on how to act, because getting angry and lashing out was what made sense to me at the time and I resented the hell out of that unspoken implication that I was supposed to just suck it up and plaster on a smile when I wanted to rage against the injustice of what I was dealing with. In hindsight it wasn't great behavior, but it was what I needed to keep myself sane at the time. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I have waited my whole life for a character like Catra: someone who is reflective of my experiences as an ex-abuse victim, someone who is angry and wrathful and still allowed to be sympathetic. Now on to our two ladies.

First up: Vriska Serket from Homestuck. (I know, Homestuck is a huge fandom with a lot of assholes, but I do still enjoy the original comic. I just don't interact with the fandom.) Vriska and Catra both have similar vibes in the way they project their outward personas of being the badass bitch who takes no shit and is on top of things, but we all know that's a lie. And they both come from abusive backgrounds: Vriska was forced to become a killer at a very young age because her parental guardian (a literal giant spider) would eat her if Vriska didn't feed her other kids. Doesn't excuse her jerkass tendencies or her terrible actions, but that was how she started out. And Catra's deal with SW needs no explanation.

They both have developed very similar gadfly tendencies in order to maintain a sense of control around other people (though Vriska is a lot more mean spirited about it) and both have moments when the facade cracks and they show actual sincerity and frustration at themselves and other people. The main difference between them is that Vriska's actions are driven by a sense of grandiose self-importance that she has cultivated and fed into as a way to avoid looking at her own actions (because she's the best, so everything she does is awesome, right?) whereas Catra's primary driving motivation is pain: either making sure she doesn't have to hurt anymore or hurting those who hurt her. Plus Catra grapples with her sense of guilt a lot throughout Spop and maintains those sympathetic undertones while Vriska's moments of clarity are so rare that you basically have to keep a chart to locate them. But you could totally picture them both teaming up to make fun of their respective frenemies, assuming they didn't kill each other first for reminding themselves of their deep underlying self-loathing.

Second candidate: Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena. And boy howdy, if anyone is interested in this show and wants to avoid spoilers, skip to the end now, because we're going on a deep and dark journey here.

At first glance, she and Catra don't have much in common. In fact, she seems to fit the stereotype I described above: the placid smiling doll who takes the abuse and keeps going. Key word: seems to. Anyone who actually watches the show knows exactly where I'm going here.

We're introduced to Anthy as the "Rose Bride": the prize in a series of sword fights between students at a very strange school, with the ultimate promise being that whoever owns the Rose Bride at the end of the duels will gain some nebulous ultimate power. And yeah, I said "own" for a reason: whoever possesses the Rose Bride effectively owns her and some of the most uncomfortable scenes in the show reinforce the fact that Anthy tailors her thoughts and actions to whoever currently controls her. And as you can expect, this leads to BUCKETS of abuse. Literally everyone in this show is culpable in some manner for this, no matter how well intentioned.

But remember that "seems to?" Because that's only one side of Anthy; the outward persona if you will. On the other side of the coin you have Anthy the Witch, and that's where the parallels with Catra come into play and why Anthy was my go-to abuse representation before Spop rocked my world. Because the big twist we find out at the end of the series is that Anthy and her older brother Akio (formerly Dios) are the former literal personifications of the fairytale damsel in distress princess and the noble prince on a white horse, respectively.

But the balance was upset: having to constantly go around saving people was literally killing Dios, because one of the major points of RGU is that you can assist people in saving themselves but doing it yourself strips them of agency and traps them in a cycle of needing to be saved again and again. The more people the noble prince saved, the more people needed saving. When it became clear that he couldn't keep going, Anthy took a stand and prevented the people coming for Dios (angry that he wasn't saving them anymore) from getting to him, and thus incurred the wrath of everyone and got skewered alive by an angry mob in the process. This isn't hyperbole: the role of the Rose Bride is to instinctively bring out the disdain and hatred of everyone on the planet. It's a punishment for stepping out of line, for not being the placid princess who needs to be rescued anymore.

Because we're operating on fairy tale logic, no longer being a princess means that Anthy became a witch, and no longer being the prince made Dios into satanic archetype Akio. So behind the scenes of the entire show, Anthy is the witch assisting her brother in orchestrating the duels, and their ultimate goal is to find someone pure of heart enough to embody those princely virtues Dios once possessed and to steal that power so Akio can return to being who he once was. All of the psychological torments and head games are designed to weed out the potential candidates to find that special someone... Except it's an impossible goal because no human being can live up to that standard. And with each atrocity they commit it becomes even more impossible to return to being that person.

Ok, tangent done, here's where it gets interesting: Anthy is a character with two sides to her, the suffering Rose Bride fated to endure the hatred of the entire world and the Wicked Witch who manipulates and orchestrates the torment of those around her. But here's the deal: she's a victim too. She's a victim of a system that won't let her be anything other than these two binaries; she's a victim of her brother who has all the power over her and has trapped her in a codependent incestuous relationship, and I don't care how awful the things she's done are: nobody deserves to go through the shit she does. So with all of that in mind, the actions that she goes through as the witch make perfect sense. Why shouldn't she torment these people who do nothing but abuse her and deny her of agency? Even the best hearted of the duellists (aka the ones who don't hit her or abuse her sexually) nonetheless fall into the trap of projecting their own biases and expectations onto her, biases that her role dictates she carry out. Her actions as the witch aren't right, but nothing about this situation is. That's the entire point.

And that's where she ties into being like Catra. Catra does some truly fucked up things, but it doesn't cancel out the fact that she's an abuse victim that has been literally tortured for most of her life for no good reason and has received zero acknowledgement of that abuse in universe. And much like Anthy, she can't begin to heal until the situation is acknowledged, because that's literally step one of breaking the cycle: confirming that this is not okay and that no one deserves the shit she's been through. Just knowing that herself isn't enough: it's acknowledgement from others that enables that process to begin, because no one can recover from abuse in a vacuum. You need outside people to be touchstones, because so much of recovering from abuse is confronting the way it warps your perception and thought processes. You need at the minimum one normal perspective to give you that, preferably more, but one minimum.

Hurting the people who care about her is definitely not okay and I'm not excusing her actions in that category, but it doesn't change the fact that she is justified in wanting to rage and lash out, because she is still trapped in that cycle. She can't heal or let go because the process hasn't even been started. She's not off the hook for the things she's done, but neither should she be automatically condemned without taking those factors into account (which is the entire reason why the distinction between an excuse and a justification exists.)

And if I can be a little pithy... The other similarity between Catra and Anthy is I can guarantee that in twenty years people will STILL be arguing over whether or not Catra "deserved" to be freed from her abusive situation.

Good God this turned into an essay. Hope this makes up for how long it took, anon. And anyone else who makes it this far, treat yourself. You earned it.

[messmersflame]

final assessment of death stranding:

cool concept, surprisingly fun gameplay, some very good moments that ultimately fell apart in the overall plot. the entire thing was carried by the actors and what they brought to the characters.

towards the end i legitimately got sick of the constant exposition and big braining and just wanted to take that gun and shoot myself.

i got very frustrated and tired by the apparent stupidity of sam and some of the characters because of where the plot sent them, considering a lot of the 'twists' are fairly easy to figure out.

i was also disappointed by the conclusion to cliff and bb in the end and was expecting it to be far more interesting than it actually was.

also the creepy incestuous undertones from sam and his mothersister just made every single scene with her and believing that he had any reason to actually like her completely unbelievable.

that said, a lot of the ideas and lore, and the designs, were breathtaking and there are so many good moments, several of which made me straight up cry. i guess that's why i'm so frustrated with it- i love this game, but also i hate it.

basically this game just shows that, perhaps.... kojima being allowed to run rampant isn't a good thing after all, because he gets so distracted by being pretentious and sucking his own intellectual dick, that he leaves extremely important things like pacing and character building by the wayside.

overall i did really enjoy it despite the glaringly obvious flaws and will probably play it again. while it was a pain to get to the post credits was really worth it, and very touching. it ended on a much more hopeful note than i thought it was going to

final thought- i will kill and die for fragile.

[dent-de-leon]

I started voltron 2 weeks ago, FINALLY finished it and have got a question (sorry about my english). I'm quite into sheith and all but, into my fast research trough the fandom I saw it isn't really a thing and now I'm a little fearful of shipping them bc, I'm not saying it is sorry if this come out bad, isn't keith and shiro's relationship incestuous? I rly don't know what to do. Thank you anyway

asjskjfkglfgk I absolutely am so exhausted seeing this kind of false rhetoric still thrown around to harass others. But since you’re new I feel bad so I’d rather not have to explain this all again, but real quick, Shiro and Keith aren’t in the least related, and plenty of the staff support their relationship in an explicitly romantic context. For reference, here’s some sources:

One of the head writers basically laughed at the idea that Shiro and Keith were related and said it would be impossible:

Keith says, “You’re my brother.” A lot of people were saying, is that literal brother or is that just sort of just like a brother figure?

Josh Hamilton: “Yeah, I think he’s just saying he’s like a brother figure. A lot of times the words don’t matter, it’s the way you say it. You know what I mean? He says you’re my brother, you know. When he does eventually say ‘I love you,’ those words matter, but it’s like, ‘You know, you’re my brother, and you’re everything to me.’ You know, that brotherly love. So it’s hard for him. But literally? No.” 

“Literally I don’t think they could be related.”

Josh Hamilton: “No.” (source)

The show runners have stated before that sheith can be interpreted as romantic and it’s 100% a valid reading of their relationship in canon:

“Will (Shiro’s sexuality) change the undertones of his close relationship with Keith?”

Lauren: “Fans are going to see it anyway they want. Some people are going to say their relationship is just brotherly and others will say it’s 100 percent confirmed they’re in a relationship.” (source)

Plenty of staff have supported and liked fanart, cosplay, merch, ect. for this ship that is explicitly romantic, and again, the show runners openly support it. Some of the animators have even drawn romantic fanart for the ship; there was never any stigma that it was problematic or wrong if interpreted as anything but platonic–that was created but arrogant fans to harass both other fans and even the staff. The notion that they’re related is not only not canon in the least, and entirely impossible, it’s also rooted in racist headcanons and has always been this made up thing to vilify and harass others–often out of spite because people didn’t like all the canon context for the ship and were uncomfortable seeing the possibility of an actually healthy, well developed relationship between these two men, one of whom is canonically mlm. 

This kind of nonsense has been thrown around for years to harass so many of us which is why it bothers me to see it even brought up again. That’s not even getting into how blatantly homophobic it is and how I’ve had people repeatedly tell me what is or isn’t valid representation for me. I absolutely really really hope that next time you will do some good research first and get the facts before you start blindly believing this kind of harmful rhetoric without cause, because people hearing this kind of nonsense and repeating it without realizing the ramifications is part of how things get so misconstrued. I hope this helps clear up your concerns. 

[burnouts3s3]

Simoun, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for Season (MSRP): 25.00 USD How much I paid: 23 Dollars USD. Number of Episodes: 26 Episodes Price per episode: 1 Dollar per episode Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Number of Discs: 5 DVD Discs in total.   Episodes per Disc: 5 or 6. Licensed and Localized by: Media Blasters Animation Studio: Deen Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles available Bonus Features: Staff and Voice Actor Commentary. My Personal Biases: I actually saw Simoun a while back but never reviewed it. I like other shows in the Shoujo Ai genre such as Mai Hime, Mai Otome, Maria Watches over Us, Strawberry Panic and yes, even Kannazuki no Miko/Destiny of the Shrine Maiden.   My Verdict: Simoun is probably one of the best shows and anime series I’ve seen even if it wasn’t part of the shoujo ai genre. It stands up to one of the best in the business with its beautiful animation, amazing soundtrack, incredible world building and interesting characters. But its tone and message is joyless, sullen and grim. Even when the series has a handful of hopeful (not happy mind you) scenes, there’s still the sense of loss. If you can stomach some truly heart wrenching scenes, check this show out when you can. A/N: Okay, so Media Blasters is the official licenser of the show and translated most of the subs. A lot of the names were also translated but a lot of fans noticed a change in names. Mainly, a lot of characters whose names end with a “u” end up having the “u” dropped. So Caimu is Kaim, Anubitufu is Anubituf and Aeru is Aer. Also, Rodoreamon is apparently Rotreamon now. I’m going to use the names Media Blasters chose for the characters for the sake of simplicity. Simoun, a review

I consider myself a fan of shoujo-ai or Yuri anime. I own a couple of boxsets of Yuri anime. I watch Yuri anime. Even the stuff that bores me (Strawberry Panic) or annoys me (Kannazuki no Miko/Destiny of the Shrine Maiden) at least makes me rewatch it again and again. Like all things, I tend to have agreements of which shows I like and which shows I detest like the fucking plague. But, then comes a series that not only makes me rethink preconceptions I had about religion, war, politics, children, innocence and romances, but also makes me rethink myself and how I rate things on a good or bad rating. Simoun is a particularly hard series for me to review. It’s a study of contrasts. While I can honestly say the efforts put forth by the director, the animators, the voice actors and the writers is nothing less than something I find in a movie studio and the passion put into this project is nothing less than soul bearing, it remains one of the most polarizing and controversial shows I’ve ever reviewed. So, let me say this upfront so you can understand where I’m coming from: Simoun is a fantastic anime that covers the concepts of children at war, religion rivaling technology, gender roles, maturity, war in the name of religion, and the loss of innocence… that also happens to have lesbian romances. It’s probably one of the few shows that’s legitimately good and can recommend to people who aren’t shoujo ai fans. The scope magnificent, the animation, even the stilled shots, are gorgeous to look at, the music is haunting and the characters and voice actors do their absolute best to make the characters come alive. Even the use of CGI ships against a 2D backdrop manage to still look compelling (if a bit dated). A war breaks out between three nations Simulacrum, Argentum, and Plumbum over Simulacrum helical motor technology that powers the airships known as Simouns. Two fleets of the Simoun, Chor Caput and Chor Tempest, stumble upon a huge Argentum airship fleet attempting steal a Simoun. Suffering massive losses in the battle, the pair Neviril and Amuria of Chor Tempest attempt an extremely powerful but extremely dangerous maneuver out of desperation named the Emerald Ri Mājon. Neviril hesitates after making eye contact with the enemy, and the pair fail resulting in an explosion that takes Amuria with it. The fight leaves the sibyllae or members of Chor Tempest extremely demoralized and Neviril in despair. This is not Strawberry Panic, an all-girls school romance; this is Ender’s Game and Top Gun for the Shoujo Ai Genre. I would even hesitate to use the word Romance to describe this show because of how dark and at times bleak it can get. But, if you can stomach through the hardships and the gut wrenching scenes, you will find a light at the end of the tunnel and will find hope for the world and its characters. The people of Daikūriku are all born female. In Simulacrum, the girls grow up until age of seventeen, when they make a pilgrimage to a holy place known as "the Spring" to select their permanent sex. Four new sibyllae join Chor Tempest, one of them an excellent pilot with an unshakeable morale named Aer. Aer immediately decides to partner with Neviril, however despite her persistent attempts, Neviril remains too mired in her grief over Amuria's death to accept her. How committed are the producers to this premise of everyone being born female? So committed that they literally hired only female voice performers to voice all the characters, even the older men with facial hair. It’s that fact that haunts the world around them. Certain countries do not have access to the well so they have to perform sex reassignment surgery operations for half of the population to keep them afloat. And the use of such technology is polluting their world to the point of seeing nothing but red and black. This show came out in 2006 before the idea of there being more than 2 genders, debates on whether gender and general roles are a social or biological constructs and gender fluidity became popularized on internet sites like Tumblr. (I will point out to my internet skeptic friends that the show’s setting depicts EVERYONE as being born biologically female and, according to this world, that certain members MUST transition to the male gender to keep society functioning.) But be warned; the show can get bleak and downright depressing at times. If you thought it was hard to sit through some of the darker parts of Kannazuki no Miko or My-Hime, you haven’t seen anything yet! For example, as early as Episode 4 (one of the ‘filler’ episodes), Aer and Rimone take an unauthorized flight and get ambushed on the ground by an enemy soldier. The Soldier dies only to have his body stiffen up with his hands on the controls of the Simoun. Rimone points out that prying his hands off will break the controls, stranding them there in enemy territory while the enemy comes closer. So Aer has to take her tiny pocket knife and SAW OFF THE SOLDIER’S HANDS FROM THE REST OF HIS BODY. It’s not even the amount of blood or gore that’s disturbing; it’s seeing a child having to endure and do such a thing that’s so messed up. See, one of the interesting things I love is seeing how characters interact or react to the world around them. In Simoun, the Sybillae are so used to the idea of war that hearing about people dying is nothing new for them but the idea of having to deal with a mouse is frightening. It’s the type of world where a kiss on the lips between women is so commonplace but Rotreamon cutting off her braids is more dramatic. If there’s a consequence to the proceedings it’s the characters. Don’t get me wrong; the characters aren’t ‘bad’ per say and a lot are very interesting and have interesting dynamics, such as the incestuous undertone of Kaim and Alti, the mechanic Waporif dealing with the idea of faith and technology, the class struggle between Roderamon and Mamina. Even Floe, the cute girl and comedic relief, doesn’t escape the world unscathed. It’s just that the world and the situations and the conflict are so interesting, that you start to notice that the characters are a bit on the stock type. (Then again, I think you need familiar stock types so you can digest some of the bigger concepts.) But our main pair, Neviril and Aer, are the center of the proceedings and it’s their relationship that nails it. You get the sense that Neviril and Aer are both locked in a sense of immaturity, albeit from different perspectives. Neviril is locked in the idea of being pure and being a priestess forever, even going so far as to not fly again once Amuria dies. Aer, meanwhile, is an impulsive hothead who wants to do nothing but fly, even at the cost of being an adolescence. But as the war rages on and the casualties of people they know and love start piling up, the two eventually find comfort in each other’s arms. It first seems like Aer is the stronger of the two only for her to completely break down when one death becomes one death too many. If Junji Nishimura’s direction and co-writing are what brings the characters alive, Toshihiko Sahashi’s music is what makes them transcendent. Every so often, he would incorporate pieces of church music, classical music and tango to make the dichotomy and juxtaposition of certain scenes blow you away. Yes, Tango.

Towards the latter half of the series, I noticed that the animation liked to use still shots with characters still talking. At first, I thought this was intentional by the showrunners. But, as I rewatched the series, it dawned on me that the animation budget was probably blown on the CGI battles and the rest of the team had to resort to cost saving techniques for the show. CAVEAT: Shows like Simoun do not get made every day. Directors and writers willing this bold of a risk to tell this dense of a tale should be rewarded. And yet for the same time, it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s not for the casual viewer. In some ways, it’s not even for anime fans. This is the anime version of 12 years a Slave as it provides a brutal, harsh and unflinching look at the world. Do you hate this show? No, because if I hated it, I’d simply write it off and say it’s a piece of crap just to be done with it. It’s not. If anything, Simoun is an ambitious anime made by well-intentioned people that for a lot of people is not going to resonate with them. And I’m not even throwing shade on religious viewers who have trouble digesting the heavier concepts. Even more progressive minded viewers are not going to sign on to a lot of the negative and just melancholy tones throughout the work. The work isn’t so much dark as say parts of Kannazuki or Mai Hime are as it is bleak. There’s a sense of melancholy in the air that just persists and there’s no getting rid of it with glimmers of hope scattered here and there. Why is recommending the anime so hard for you if you thought it was good? Because for a lot of people, a lot of the world building, concept provoking and issue debates are not what they wanted. Aside from the heavy themes and messages, a lot of the technical flaws do stick out. Neviril and other character designs were a bit off putting to me the first time I saw it, resembling more like dolls than usual anime characters. The CGI Simouns are interesting in concept (and I like the idea of rendering them in CG to show off how alien/foreign they are) but do show a dated look. And for some people, the slow (intentionally deliberate or not) pacing will drive them nuts.   I came upon Simoun as I was exploring Yuri anime and wanted to see, yes, anime girls kissing. What I got instead were thought provoking concepts that only changed my view but changed the views of people around me. Buying this show just to watch girls kissing each other is like, as Jeff Foxworthy said, buying a 747 just to eat the peanuts. Erica Friedman, writer of the blog Okazu Yuri, once said this show is not for the Lowest Common Denominator. And upon rewatching Simoun, I had the startling realization that not only was Friedman right but also that I was part of the Lowest Common Denominator. Simoun is more of a show that I admire and respect the hell of, than I actually like and the fault lies more because of me than what the show did. And for 23 USD with the amount of content AND the numerous special features including Director Commentary and cast interviews, this is truly a must buy! That ending shot gets me every time. Verdict: Buy it!

[swampgallows]

Final thoughts on Bright under cut (contains spoilers)

As far as a mainstream film I can imagine a lot of people not being on board with it. Urban fantasy as a genre is pretty niche as it is which is essentially why more urban fantasy probably hasn’t been made. It’s hard to balance the concept of magic with the reality of technology. In my opinion Bright had a bit of The Dark Knight syndrome, I guess; I personally thought The Dark Knight was insufferable and hokey as hell, saved solely by Heath Ledger’s Joker which, I think if it were a less-than-stellar performance, would have shown the film’s true colors. I can’t go too dark in the realm of superheroes or fantasy because it’s ultimately a very lighthearted thing, and it has to take root in reality for it to pull off darkness well. So, to me, The Dark Knight felt like just an everyday crime drama/action film a la James Bond or Bourne Identity but with two technicolor off-the-wall characters thrown in. Solely Two-Face could have kept it in the realm of being believable (something like American Psycho, a man going off the rails), but having the Joker and Christian Bale’s hilarious throaty Batman just swung the pendulum too far in the other direction. Like, it’s dudes in spandex and literal clown makeup; Ledger’s portrayal of such a concept as disturbing rather than admirable (as we tend to view costumed vigilantes within the superhero genre) is what saved the film. 

So I’m getting a bit of that with Bright. Telling a story of discrimination with fantasy races as if we live in a post-racist society is clumsy at best and violent at worst. Jakoby’s story is essentially that of the “whitewashed” POC straddled between worlds: not orc enough for other orcs (not “blooded”, clan-less, round-toothed) but not human enough to fit in with humans. I’m watching this as a white woman, so while I might identify with orcs in fantasy as their being outcasts, how a person of color relates to this story can vastly differ. Orcs as a construction of white fantasy (Western, European, however you want to phrase it) are riddled with racist undertones (and sometimes overtones) as it is, so in the context of the real world you can end up with some echo chamber racism in a setting like Bright’s. Orcs predominantly portrayed as gangsters living in the hood, shown as existing only in seedy or “ghetto” type environments with almost clownish stereotypical baggy clothing, jerseys, and chains, was heinously tone deaf. And the “cuerpo” jeers of the Altamira gangsters just felt like the writing of someone who believes in “trickle down racism”, that oppressed groups can be “racist” against one another rather than all subject to the ruling class. Additionally, it seemed like a shoddy way for the writer to absolve himself by saying “see, orcs are even LOWER than humans. Even dark-skinned humans! Because Will Smith is black and he’s a successful cop and also here is a latino and an asian cop...who is a WOMAN, and also he has a WHITE WIFE RACISM IS OVER”

I’m still reeling from just watching the film so I’m still in a bit of the afterglow of just having a movie MADE in this genre. And with an orc as a MAIN character, not off to the side or played for laughs as a dopey peon, etc., it made me very happy. But “positive orcish representation” only puts points in the fun meter and has no actual validity or importance; the real world representation lodged quite a wedge in my suspension of disbelief. It was hard to go along for the ride seeing actual places in L.A. that I visit in reality (like... was that rolling shot of all the tents on San Julian Street necessary?) being treated like props for “orcish oppression”. It’s hard to summarize my feelings on this particular subject, but ultimately this is not the time or era to be making a buddy cop film, truly, and the trope of the cookie cutter thug is tiresome. But that’s probably why I don’t watch these kinds of movies to begin with: the expectations are low, the story is the same, and it’s just a vehicle for shoot-outs, car chases, and combat scenes. 

Women in this movie were nonexistent. Just accessories or one-dimensional plot devices. And that incestuous “sister” shit always gets to me; I dunno about you, but I’ve never stroked my sister’s face and hair and given her nose kisses while straddling her. Who the fuck is that for? Tikka was rolling around like a damn e-tard half the time, completely nonverbal and helpless, fridged-but-not-really, and pretty much just inconsequential. Did not pass the Bechdel test.

I wish more of a backstory had been fleshed out. We heard a lot about the Shield of Light but we never saw them in action. We were told stories about “what happened 2,000 years ago” but there weren’t even flashbacks or any residual effect of those except the existence of the wand. And where is the wand now? How do we know it’s safe? How do we actually know the steel-blue-haired elf man who apparently had no name except that he was the “Magic Fed” elf can keep it safe and that he doesn’t want to bring about the Darklord? How do we know the Darklord was real? There were apparently “fanatics” but if it was that influential of an event, would there not be more evidence? We have human artifacts that are tens of thousands of years old; 2,000 years is nothing in comparison to Niaux cave paintings or Sumerian cuneiform. 

If this movie was trying to be Shadowrun in terms of urban fantasy, then it failed to understand what even I, with only passing exposure to it, know: it’s for nerds, and nerds love knowing shit. That means the more background information and minutiae, the better. Having a superficial story driven by tropes or special effects rather than by fantasy means it will ultimately flop. We live in the here and now; so focus on what we don’t have! There were little things: elves like shopping, orcs have great sense of smell and remote understanding of human facial expressions, and fairies are apparently... pests? But beyond that, the story was just about a bunch of people. The point was supposed to be “orcs are people too”, which is a shit benchmark, really, when the people going in to a movie about urban fantasy have already accepted this tacitly. The whole point is that they are “people too”, but they’re different. Nobody is interested in aliens because they’re gung-ho about meeting tunicates from another atmosphere; we want to meet people: conscious, sentient beings who think like us but are not us, who have their own culture and behaviors and mannerisms and so on. That is part of the huge appeal of orcs, to me. They’re everything I’m not, but of course I see them as sentient people; not better or worse, but different.

So, really, the “message” of this movie is lost on everyone: its stereotypes are insensitive to actual oppressed groups and its bullying of the humanoids we came to see is disheartening, insulting, and annoying for those who are already initiated with the genre. They should be working side by side because that’s what we came to see, not spending two solid hours treating the fantasy races like shit just for a shitty “human after all” sentiment. Where’s Bright 2 so I can watch a human and orc getting taco cart burritos together, elves and orcs and humans all moshing at an underground metal show, and Ward and Jakoby actually solving some real shit together instead of Ward making his partner a punching bag?

Bright missed a lot of very major opportunities to bring urban fantasy to life. Hellboy II’s single scene in the troll marketplace provided more magical backdrop than Bright’s entire running time (a statement I am unintentionally echoing from a film critic on rottentomatoes; but let it be known that Hellboy II is one of my favorite films purely for the perfect urban fantasy themes, a genre I felt at home in before I even knew there was such a thing). That being said, it was still a lot of fun and it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re even vaguely into orcs or the urban fantasy genre, and also I will protect Nicholas Jakoby with my life.