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writingforfun0714 · 1 month

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I think the problems of TBB started in the Bad Batch episodes of TCW if I’m being honest, because of their treatment of Echo. While CF99 might’ve been planned characters (I remember reading somewhere that GL wanted a ‘unique’ clone squad in TCW), the fact is that Echo is a fan favorite and to treat him with such disrespect definitely rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.

In TCW, CF99 learn that Echo is alive and not actually a traitor and eventually accepts him into their squad as they learn that ‘not all regs are bad’. That’s all well and good but wouldn’t it have been nice if, I don’t know, CF99 actually fucking apologized? Like yeah, adopting him into the squad is a nice gesture, but by not apologizing, it’s like they avoid taking responsibility for thinking ‘all regs are bad’. CF99 see Echo as different like them, they don’t see themselves as one of the ‘regs’, which is a problem in a clone-centric show like what many fans claim TBB to be. This problem of not taking responsibility and actually apologizing for wrongdoings continues in TBB show and is especially noticeable in S3 with Hunter and Crosshair and even with Crosshair and Howzer. I noticed it in S2 as well with that Omega/Tech episode (2x9). Like yeah it confirmed he’s autistic but in that situation Tech is the adult and should’ve apologized to Omega for how he talked to her. Having autism doesn’t excuse being rude, especially when the dynamic is one of an adult/child.

Then all through TBB S1 Echo continues to get sidelined (along with Tech) up until S1 ep10, when the problems of the show compound. Echo should have been the focus for 1x10 Common Ground. The basic plot is that CF99 are hired to rescue a Seperatist senator from Raxus while Omega has to stay at Cid’s bar for her ‘protection’. Hunter leaves Omega behind but expects her to be a member of the squad and is surprised when the others have to remind him that he left her behind. I can understand what the writers were going for but the execution of that small line of dialogue was wrong (the wording and placement in the scene). Personally I’d prefer a sort of lamenting inner monologue with each member instead, reflecting on how they each miss Omega in different ways or something. They did a POV change in 1x9 so I think an inner monologue moment would’ve been a cool choice. That whole time on the mission the Batch question Echo when it really should’ve been Echo grappling with his trauma regarding Seperatists and his torture. This whole episode really doesn’t make sense due to the ‘S1 reset’ TBB go through. You’d think after their TCW arc that there would be no need to question Echo, that they would understand why he has such grievances. But no, TBB ‘resets’ the whole squad (aside from Echo) and makes them almost completely different from their Clone Wars counterparts (hence the memes of frat boy Hunter vs dad Hunter).

Another issue is the marketing and how the creators/people that worked on the show interacted with the fans. From what I can remember, TBB was never a ‘spin-off’ of TCW but more of a ‘successor’ mostly due to the use of the same animation. TBB was always marketed as a ‘dark’ kids show despite showing things we’ve already seen before in SW animation. We’ve seen Force sensitive babies being taken, we’ve seen clones realize they are little more than property, we’ve seen kids having to grow up faster due to their situation, we’ve seen child slaves, and even death on screen (Echo, Fives, Gregor, Savage Oppress, Satine, etc). All within TCW and Rebels (Disney’s first SW show). TBB is extremely tame compared to what we’ve seen previously. To make it worse, those that worked on the show would post ‘teasers’ online, trying to engage with the fans. I always had a strange sense of disappointment after every single episode due to how people like Jennifer Corbett or the Kiners ‘tease’ fans by posting ‘relevant’ memes or hints about an upcoming episode and after each episode, I remembered thinking ‘so they lied’. Teasing a winter soldier arc for CX-2 is definitely my top grievance with this particular problem. A red herring is supposed to make sense. CX-2 could’ve been anyone else besides Tech if they wanted to keep him dead (Dogma, Cody, Kix, Slick, etc).

The last main issue TBB has (that isn’t the blatant racism) is how ableist the show is. I don’t care if it was not intentional because honestly 3 whole seasons consisting of about 15-16eps is more than enough time to fix this problem. Now this show was already on thin ice for me, but to gloss over Echo so hard in S1 definitely put me off of this show. The way Echo is written in S2, as if he’s wrong for wanting to help Rex (how many times does Hunter ask him ‘when will it be enough?’ ‘You know it’s not worth the risk right?’ Seriously fuck Hunter for that especially). Then sidelining him again in S3 to focus on Crosshair (which is a whole other post). In S3, we get to learn Crosshair has to deal with his trauma, isn’t that an interesting concept—ooh-wait no let’s just cut off his shaky hand after spending an episode of ‘meditating’. It was like Hunter/Wrecker/Fennec go off on side mission while the b-plot is Crosshair/Omega meditating. This episode was frustrating but this whole show is made up of frustrating writing decisions that quite frankly, I had gotten used to by S3.

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clingyduoapologist · 1 year

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hello!! I was redirected here by bronzetomatoes after inquiring about kylo ren hate (I think the hitting him with a car post is so funny and also i know so little about star wars. it adds to the comedy tbh) and i was told if i want the funny/thorough answer that you’re the place to go. so if you’d like to, go absolutely off the walls about it :)

My friend have you come to the right place.

SO BASICALLY Star Wars is a story about how 3 good movies collectively altered the course of human history by making just like, stupid amounts of money right?

So obviously, Disney was like “I need to get in on that” and bought Star Wars and then started working on their own trilogy. If you’re a Star Wars fan, this is pretty cool! New planets, new character, new lore! It was pretty awesome. The trailer for the first movie in this new trilogy came out and everyone loved it! So much interesting things!!! A female protagonist?!?!? Wow this is so awesome!!!

The problem was the movie isn’t very good.

Don’t get me wrong the force awakens is fine, definitely the best movie in the trilogy, the problem is that it wasn’t good enough, not for most audiences, and especially not for Disney. So they fired JJ Abrams, who directed the force awakens, and hired Ryan Johnson to direct the second movie: the last Jedi.

I fucking hate the last Jedi.

And so did like half the world, and what followed the release of the film was probably the worst fucking time in the history of life on earth to be a Star Wars fan, as basically the entire fanbase devolved into a civil war between last jedi haters and last jedi defenders.

But amongst all the fighting, another group was beginning to form, one that had began in the shadows of the Force Awakens, but was now bolstered by the release of the last Jedi, a shadowy and secretive threat that was about to rear it’s ugly head:

Reylo.

Now, Reylo, as a ship is like, fine? It’s literally just the most barebones enemies to lovers ship you can imagine.

But Reylo as a fanbase? That’s where things start to get interesting. Because what Reylo lacked in character and writing, it made up for in hot fucking actors (I mean it’s fucking Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver what did you expect). this in turn led to a vicious cycle where Reylo fans were extremely uh… motivated… and also had basically blank canvases to build off of. This lead to the Reylo fandom becoming almost a separate entity to the Star Wars fandom, which only further boosted their forces.

But what made Reylo infamous was the scale. These guys were loud, and were prepared to rip anyone to shreds for even the smallest injustices. It was a dog eat dog world, and one that maintained itself through a constant state of war.

But setting Reylo fans aside for a second, you may be wondering “Okay but what does any of that have to do with Kylo Ren?” Which, sure fair question. But to answer that, we have to look at Reylo not as a ship, but as characters.

Now, Rey, as far as protagonists go, is… fine? She’s definitely screwed majorly by being in a completely unplanned trilogy of movies that wasn’t interest in making her a compelling and likable character, but like even then I’d be lying if I said that she wasn’t at the very least interesting. And again like I’ll take any excuse to see Daisy Ridl- sorry what, anyways point is Rey Palpatine skywalker kenobi whatever is a perfectly mediocre protagonist and thus, while sexist assholes may try to convince you that she burned the world’s crops and poisoned the town water supply, truth be told I and many others fans became at worst indifferent, and best charmed by her.

But Kylo Ren? Kylo Motherfucking Ren? Ben SWOLO himself?

This man makes me violent.

And it’s not because he’s more well written then Rey, or even because his writing is particularly worse, as far as I’m concerned they’re both hand in unlovable in in terms of writing quality.

The problem with Kylo is that he could of been so much better, so easily, and yet people still fawned over him.

Like, this guy is Darth Vader’s Fucking Grandson, Luke Skywalker’s Nephew, Son of Han Solo and Leia Skywalker, 1 hot actor removed from self insert character, and yet these writers fucking struggle, each and every time, to figure out what to do with him. Like they are fucking racking their brains trying to make a guy with one of the sickest lightsaber designs ever and a badass outfit all being acted by ADAM FUCKING DRIVER “interesting.”

And PEOPLE FUCKING FELL FOR IT. Like if you go into almost any even slightly sad tag in ao3 I guarantee there will be at least one kylo fic. Like I can not stress to you enough how many people fucking lost their MINDS!!!

FOR HIM

And remember, this is all ON TOP of the fawning that Reylo stans had already been doing. Which only made things worse, if you can even believe that.

And so ever since Rise of Skywalker managed to drag the sequel trilogy’s tired, burning, mangled corpse over the finish line, and all the buzz over it died down, and every YouTube video essayist/movie analyzer saw dollar signs in their eyes, we’re left here, with Adam Driver’s tits swaying in the wind. And for what? The most stock Sad Boy Villaintm of all time and his British gf? A marginally cool lightsaber design? Maybe like, 1 cool fight scene at the end of the first movie?

Like… I’m just left to stare… Stare at this man’s hot topic shopper ass hair cut and Zuko wannabe facial scar, left with nothing better to do than seethe, quietly and angrily, at a character who could have been so much, who could have done so much, but yet was doomed to only ever be himself.

In the end, I suppose I am like Sisyphus, rolling my anger up a hill, knowing that it’ll only roll back down again anyway, and yet not an ounce less motivated to continue my toil. Because Kylo Ren is my enemy, my one true opposite in this great narrative we call reality.

And at least, on some nights, I can rest easy knowing that he fucking died at the end.

#so so so so sorry for ranting at you.#I may have uh #gone a bit insane while writing this #but uh #hey you asked for #it #asks #Star Wars #reylo neg #<- for tag blocking purposes

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livelymyrtle · 1 year

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Honestly atp I don’t know how to feel about Lin Manuel Miranda. I don’t want to be in that crowd of the “Hamilton and everything else he does sucks and it’s all awful” because it’s not really true… Hamilton was very good (mostly brought down from excellence by the second act), and I actually quite liked Encanto (aside from the fact that Abuela gets pretty much excused at the end + Disney forced him to do stuff like writing in Isabela). In The Heights I haven’t paid much attention to, but what I saw I remember being good, and I know he has plenty of other gems…

so why is it that I, like so many people, am just not feeling it? Netizens have recently been feeling more meh on him or even begun to hate him. So why this shift in perspective?

I think the sudden scrutiny against LMM has two main components:

1) Overexposure

After Disney has been putting him in everything, which was already after everyone was saturated with Hamilton and ITH stuff, I think people are just getting a bit sick of the man. It’s especially damning for Lin that he tends to make every main character himself, and that he has such a distinctive lyrical style(or rather, he is unwilling to diverge from that style - he wrote How Far I’ll Go for Moana and that was more off par for him). As a result, it just feels like you are watching the same thing over and over and over again with him - and at this point it’s just getting kind of exhausting to see him all the time doing what feels like the exact same thing.

It also probably doesn’t help that he has become associated with Disney just as Disney has begun losing popular favor. Nowadays, they mostly are doing mediocre movies with the exact same plot, characters, art style, aesthetic, and message(basically trying to be Studio Ghibli in plot except that they don’t have the slow pensiveness, nor the understanding of what consumers actually want, nor the desire to create art for art’s sake), and extremely awful live action remakes that literally nobody likes, so Disney’s new stuff has been bleeding popularity like a bullet wound. Now, people think of Lin in the same vein that think of their disappointment with Disney, which is probably not making him look better. I’ve even seen people blame Disney’s negative shift on him, which isn’t really fair, but… I can see why someone would draw that conclusion, you know?

2) More importantly, cultural shift in attitudes.

Post COVID and what I like to call the Reality Exodus, everyone went on their phones, got really depressed and pessimistic, and got really online. I think that this has directly lead to why people are no longer ok with some aspects of LMMs stuff. In 2015-16, we all loved Hamilton: it was an inclusive and fresh new take on US history, something that we were pretty starved of pride in. With the election of Trump, things seemed bleak: but people remained hopeful still that there could be pride in this country. The concept of Miranda only hiring actors of color was also just the right amount of groundbreaking but not too shocking for the culture - we were committed to diversity, but not so much to the point where we wanted truly diverse stories to be told, so the all-POC cast in a very white story was a good way to knock on the glass ceiling without breaking it. The added message of “we are all a part of America” was fitting for the widespread “we don’t see color, everyone is welcome, hakuna matata” brand of anti-racism that was the most widely accepted narrative at the time.

But as we got into COVID, we see In the Heights released. And all of a sudden, the Twitter mob has come out against LMM for… colorism in his casting, of all things??? Casting that was very diverse?? And that he wasn’t even in charge of anyway???

In hindsight the whole Twitter cancellation thing seems ridiculous, but I do think it’s an important example of how much more aware and critical we had gotten as a culture. And I think our new perspectives shifted our views on some of his earlier work, too: namely, Hamilton.

After COVID, a play written by a nonblack man about rapping slave masters (but they are all played by POC) didn’t really seem all that revolutionarily anti-racist. We as a culture had developed our understanding of racial theory to a different, more radical narrative: we should start uplifting the stories of real POC and make actual changes. All of a sudden, LMM’s rooting for diversity just didn’t seem genuine anymore the the culture at large. I think that has played one of the biggest parts in his loss of popular favor.

And that’s where we get to now: I just don’t know what to think. I mean, on the one hand, of course Lin Manuel Miranda does some great stuff artistically. But his art, his messaging, his image in general has become associated with an era of lenient attempts at equality that I just don’t really support. And no, before you think it, this isn’t going to devolve into the regular separation of art and artist stuff. But it is a question of separation: Can we separate the goodness of an art piece from its intent? Can we judge art or media as being good objectively? And how important of a part does messaging play in what makes something “good”?

My answer? I don’t know. I need a cup of tea and a nap. Peace.

#lin manuel miranda #alexander hamilton #lmm #in the heights #encanto #hamilton musical #musicals #personal essay #commentary/opinion #social commentary #media analysis #we live in a society #theater #discourse #philosophy #breadtube

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 1 year

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Further FOX AND THE HOUND Observations

I watch THE FOX AND THE HOUND... Like, a lot...

Not too long ago, while scoping around Goodwill... Even though I have largely halted collecting Disney VHS tapes (something I regularly did from the early 2000s up until the late 2010s, with some additions every now and then afterwards), I couldn't help but pick up some Disney VHS tapes that I saw there...

One of them was the 2000 release of THE FOX AND THE HOUND, which was in the Gold Classic Collection. This release came in both VHS and DVD formats, but I scooped up the tape, largely for the front artwork. I never really collected the Gold Classic Collection editions, even though they were the newest releases of several Disney films when I was in my late single-digits. I had gotten a couple of them, too, back in the day, as previous editions were no longer available. I had FUN & FANCY FREE, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER circa 2000-2002. I had also gotten the GCC DVDs of THE SWORD IN THE STONE and THE BLACK CAULDRON. Many years later, when I started collecting Disney VHS tapes, I did eventually throw in at least one more GCC release. I remember being given the 2000 release of TOY STORY from a relative, and... I didn't really pick up any after that, until I got the FOX AND THE HOUND VHS the other day.

I tend to watch the movie a lot, and I wanted an excuse to the other day, so I popped in the VHS. I had never seen what this transfer of the movie looked like, I was only familiar with how it looked on the original 1994 VHS release (from "The Classics" line) and the 2011 Blu-ray... But, THE FOX AND THE HOUND fascinates me, even if it's not among my personal favorite Disney animated features...

There was a period in my life where I watched it frequently, too. Circa early 2002, I want to say? And another time around mid-to-late 2005-ish, when I was nonstop watching many of the animated classics. Studying them like the obsessed 12 3/4-year old that I was at the time! These films are like my sun and moon, even the ones that aren't regarded as the greatest, or even considered below par.

Anyways... Where was I? Yeah, THE FOX AND THE HOUND. Well-known amongst the average animation (and/or Disney) historian as the smack-dab-in-the-middle of the transitional era picture of the Disney animated feature library. The film whose production was fraught by Don Bluth's mass exodus from the studio, resulting in a half-year delay and the enterprise scrambling to hire many new animators to work on the picture, getting it to its summer 1981 release date. A film worked on by many future giants in the animation and cinema landscape, from John Musker to Chris Buck to Glen Keane to Brad Bird to Tim Burton!

Wow-wee!

THE FOX AND THE HOUND wasn't quite a beloved picture upon release in 1981, with some brushing it off as yet another Disney cartoon in the age of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. In fact, this dog picture shared the same summer with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It is a very compromised picture, as it is well-known that the young artists and the veterans were both at odds- not so much with each other, but with a very strict management that feared the wrath of angry letters from parents and the Bible Belt. This middle-management wouldn't allow the animated features in the works at the time (THE RESCUERS, this film) to be more in line with the films overseen by Walt Disney, films that weren't afraid to frighten young children and commit to their visual drama. Thus, you had Chief surviving a fall from a railroad bridge that was *supposed* to result in his death (thus fueling Copper with vengeance and hate for his best friend), and a general lack of oomph in other scenes. Jerry Rees, one of the animators of the film, recently revealed in an interview that the directors and executives didn't want the death of Tod's mother in the opening sequence to be explicit! They had to fight, tooth and nail, to get that gunshot sound effect in the movie!

That tells you everything you need to know...

THE FOX AND THE HOUND was in full production by the end of 1978. An inked and painted image of Tod and Copper meeting each other in the fallen log appeared in a November issue of LIFE Magazine that year, in celebration of Mickey Mouse's 50th birthday. In this issue was also some concept art done up by Mel Shaw for THE BLACK CAULDRON, which ended up being the feature film to be completed after FOX/HOUND. Not too long ago, I had read that one of the remaining bits of Don Bluth's work on the film was in the scene where Tod causes trouble in the barn while Widow Tweed is tending to Abigail the cow... and yeah, it does look like a Bluth scene!

There's a particular way Bluth does eyes, and I feel like you can see that with both Tod and the cow. Also, Tod doesn't keep his tongue in his mouth (before he takes a drink), another Bluth staple. You can see where his work is, using the tongues as your guide, in THE RESCUERS and WINNIE THE POOH AND TIGGER TOO. He has a thing for characters' tongues flopping out of their mouths.

But I definitely think that Bluth-ness can be felt in other scenes during the film's first 10 or so minutes, such as Big Mama comforting Tod after losing his mother, and Widow Tweed feeding Tod milk. And then about 20 minutes or so into the picture, once Amos, Copper, and Chief go on their lengthy hunting trip, you can see where things resumed following Bluth's September 1979 exit from the animation wing. You can see the work of the Cal-Art animators, and the vibe of the picture is slightly different. The first 10-20min of the movie have that '70s slow quietness to it, the veterans and the animators who already had ROBIN HOOD, TIGGER TOO, and THE RESCUERS under their collective belts... And then the rest of the picture, the new animators. There's a looseness to the animation and structuring of that half of the film, I feel.

I find that very, very fascinating. We have roughly a quarter of the movie that was made in 1978-79, and then the rest resumed in - presumably - early 1980. Of course, the story itself was probably locked by the end of 1978 with few major changes made afterwards (for example, the earliest iterations of THE FOX AND THE HOUND had some crow characters instead of woodpecker Boomer and the Brooklyn-accented sparrow Dinky), it's the execution of what was laid down. One team handling the first 10-20min, the other handling the rest. There's at least two schools of thought at play here, maybe a third, because Glen Keane's bear sequence feels - from a visual and staging standpoint - like it's from a completely different movie. The powerhouse sequence showcases a kind of intensity and raw pencil-drawn power that did the early Walt-era films proud, that the rest of the movie could've lived up to if the filmmakers had been allowed to just make a great family movie without the fear of upsetting someone.

Then you look at MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1983) and THE BLACK CAULDRON (1985), it's the new team's work through and through... THE FOX AND THE HOUND is the full bridge from the end of the Nine Old Men's lengthy careers to the "Young Turks" who would eventually be at the forefront of Disney Animation's "Renaissance"... You have a little bit of everything in it, really... Nine Old Men stuff that feels like it's from the late 1970s, Don Bluth stuff that's in line with his work on THE RESCUERS and his first feature THE SECRET OF NIMH (and also his part-time short BANJO THE WOODPILE CAT), the new animators' work that rings more CAROL and CAULDRON, and Glen Keane just absolutely going off with a scene that looks like it could've come right out of one of the '90s movies.

Kind of an eclectic collection of filmmaking choices, if you think about it, all rolled into this often-overlooked 83-minute movie.

#the fox and the hound #disney animation #random observations #unorganized thoughts

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lucashz · 2 years

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jacob elordi. he/him. cis male. ›spotted at the met steps , lucas huntzberger , most likely listening to trust issues by drake with their airpods pro . the twenty three gained quite a reputation , known to be -self-obsessed yet +protective to anyone who knows them . you’ll easily spot them when you hear about cigarette butts, rudely canceling important plans at the very last minute, rolex shopping, any excuse to use the private jet , followed by antaeus by chanel . latest nepoupdates article talks about luke getting into a physical fight with a random paparazzi once being asked about his ex-girlfriend , but i guess any reputation is good reputation .

* PINTEREST BOARD . * WANTED CONNECTIONS .

* 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬

name: lucas huntzberger. nickname: luke. age: twenty three. gender: cis male. sexuality: heterosexual. birthday: august 8th. education: finished high school, never went to college. occupation: trust fund baby. he also gets paid for party appearances and instagram pr.

* 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

“ now i've realized that i'm probably just perfect and it's everybody else around me that got issues ”

tw: cheating

he SWEARS he works hard ...

lucas was born and raised in manhattan, new york city to donald and amy huntzberger. a beautiful woman and a powerful man. people would talk about how his mom was the luckiest to have a man like donald. he was faithful, worked hard, treated her right. he was a good example, even though he was a busy man, traveling consistently. he’d be gone for the entire year, but the holidays were like their thing. he’d come back with the best gifts luke could ask for.

for most of his years, it was just him and his mom. she seemed ... happy with the life she had. always shopping with her friends, throwing fancy events, supporting charity organizations. luke and her didn’t have much in common except for the clothes she’d buy him --- lavender suits, silk jacquard robes, bedazzled powder-blue bowties. she’d also take him to get pedicure with her, trying her best to include him in her plans since the boy missed his dad so much.

but it all changed when luke was eleven years old, came home early from school and caught his mom with the family driver in bed. fact: the man was wearing his dad's robe . the same silk jacquard robe he also had . it was when he got older that he started digging her shady side - he hired a private investigator to find out that the driver wasn't the only affair . the list was long , cheating on him with men from low society, with zero prestige . it was like donald was the perfect bait from the start , handpicked . she had nothing before his father , and finally got the upper east side life she'd always dreamed of . they never talked about it, though it was enough for him to avoid family events. the thought of donald not being his real father consumed him. physically , luke is his mother but in a man's body.

he's an only child, the golden boy in the eyes of those who DON'T really know him, or what he is capable of. he was meant to follow his dad's steps and become successful a real estate developer, but he REFUSED to do such a thing. after high school he realized he needed a break from studying, a year partying and traveling. what a DREAM. during this year, he started dating famous celebrities and influencers, his relationships wouldn't last longer than a month -- STILL there he was, holding their hands and acting like the perfect disney prince. he knows when to wear the fake sweet smile. so he became RELEVANT. then he started getting paid for nightclub appearances and became even more relevant.

* 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

he's not a man of many scandals, he tries his best to keep his GOOD BOY status in front of cameras. at a surface level, luke is selfobssesed, materialistic, cocky and can be quite disrespectful. his way of expressing himself is buying luxury and showing it all to the world. he will refer to others who are not as wealthy as he is as peasants.

if he gets a chance, he'll show his other face. loyal, he'll literally take a bullet for the people he sort of of loves (if he's really capable of love), no matter how bad what you've done, he'll be there to cover for you. also !! if you're having a bad day or even a normal day, he'll come up with the craziest ideas or pranks. maybe it's because his life is not busy at all, so his thoughts go everywhere. all of a sudden he's out there trying to rap, trying to learn a different language in a day, then failing. but he will make the teacher teach him the basic dirty words so he can say it to other people.

* 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

*** needs update!

friend (f/m/nb) - party buddies. together they throw the best parties, share deep conversations when they're drunk and pretend they don't remember it the next day. nate

enemie(m) - luke once tried to humiliate the other but he reacted back (maybe punched him in front of other people). now he avoids eye contact because deep down he's afraid of the guy. lightning, daniel

ex gf [1] -- toxic alert!! his first everything. they dated for most of high school years, every month they would have the worst breakup but after a few days, they were together as if nothing had happened. because they were his first girlfriend, he thought they were his property. luke was extremely possessive and jealous, would say the worst things to then during his rage attacks . but everything made sense again when he apologized for everything and showed how nice he could be . until they finally broke up and cut ties. whenever he sees them, he does the best he can to tease .

ex gf [2] -- luke used them to get attention of the media and once he was done , he simply ended things between them. natasha

ex gf [3] -- they never officially became boyfriend and girlfriend but were always seen together and for a while, their relationship was EXCLUSIVE. it could have been the best relationship of his life considering they quickly became his best friend - also his family loved them. it didn't last due his self sabotage skills. he cheated publicly (maybe with gf[2]?) but claims they werent dating so in his head he didn't do anything wrong.

enemie - maybe he tried something with them but they simply said um no thanks and that hurt his massive ego.

omg im out of ideas rn, but i should add more to the list soon ! im open to anything so feel free to msg me <3

#cheating tw #nepofm.intro #im sorry for this

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colorisbyshe · 2 years

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Oh yeah, filling that subpoena against reddit and fucking google lmao is totally disney getting desperate. They're looking for a scapegoat, but this will backfire big time. I also lurked in that sub and many, many other movies leaked there. Endgame leaked there way before the premiere, so did the doctor strange movie. Disney clutching pearls over the ant man movie is obviously them using spoiler culture as an excuse. Spend that time and money hiring better writers/directors/producers babes!

This is gonna fuck them over in the long term because a lot of leaks were used to build up hype and having a centralized place to discuss leaks (including their validity) was vital to that. Like the "Andrew/Tobey are appearing in NWH" thing PROPELLED that film (way beyond where it should've been).

Burning good will with a fandom already pissed at them for forcing (well, "forcing") them to go to the theaters 2-5 times a year and pay for Disney+ for content that feels more and more like homework for future projects that keep getting delayed... well, that certainly is a choice.

I still think the MCU has a good ~5 years of strong box office performance (but with mostly diminishing returns) but I think this is gonna speed things up a bit in terms of its ultimate loss of cultural and monetary value

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svankmajerbaby · 2 years

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not to keep sinking into a monster high shaped hole or to bring that wednesday series topic again but yknow since i had to see dull memes about the avatar sequel stuff guess this is my revenge

anyway. millar and gough who are the actual showrunners of the netflix wednesday show, not tim burton, and who wrote and produced the series, also produced and wrote the monster high movie so many people were pissed off by at first and slowly, i think? they came around to. and i find this interesting bc these are two franchises/properties which i see a lot of similarities between but that in the end i feel like should be treated as different things bc of their respective tone and general audience.

monster high in general is meant for younger kids especially now that it has softened its image to relatable instead of aspirational, which to me is fascinating from a marketing toy line perspective. the addams family was alwys meant as skewing older. i really assumed that the series would be about riverdale/teen wolf/supernatural level horror/suspense/adult content, and having a meaner edge and really much darker humor. in the end bc of the need to have stakes in the netflix series a lot of the humor was softened in a way that it doesnt really appeal to me/becomes a character quirk of wednesday instead of something that its normal inside this universe, the sort of casual cruelty and cartoon logic of the 90s comedy movies cant apply when you also have to be worried about characters dying tragic deaths and there are harry potter-esque mysteries and drama going on. that change in tone to me was what really killed it, it took away what made the addams interesting and left it at a level in which it was purely aesthetic surface. im not saying its completely unenjoyable, after all it has millions of fans who seem to vibe with it. im just saying that it doesnt really carry the spirit or the tone of the 90s movies, or even the 60s tv series, which was more focused on comedy overall and was much better at it.

with monster high the movie though, i think the gothic magical high school mystery works much better since it already has a few animated movies that have that sort of tone. the franchise itself works with issues of adolescence and therefore identity, self-acceptance and friendship (issues that the wednesday series wants to give to the protagonist, to varying degrees of success). and i find it really interesting that ive seen so many posts that say something like "oh the outfits are so bad, the fashions all wrong, why didnt they get actual cosplayers", etc. i dont expect everyone to know this but tv movie budgets, especially channels like nickelodeon or disney channel or the like, are pretty small even compared to streaming movie budgets. they usually recycle sets and costumes from other series by the same production company/costume company in the area, and between preproduction and shooting there is barely any time or budget for customized pieces. this isnt an excuse as much as reasoning. and apart from that there is also the nature of the new generation which is more focused on relatability and being appealing to a wider demographic than the first generation, which was more aimed at shocking and calling attention to itself. in that sense im kinda happy with what they went with, the clothes looks kinda cheap but it also looks like what kids in the 14-15 year range would believably wear to look cool and that remains accessible while also being fashionably easy to identify and distinguish themselves and their tastes. the actors are all Very Much covered in makeup and wigs but there is a difference in the styling of the generation 1 dolls/fanart/restylings that make them look much much older, and that would probably spark more controversy that mattel might not be super keen on rn. so unless they literally went the riverdale route of hiring actors in their mid to late twenties to portray fourteen year olds, dress them in miniskirts and risk losing that 8 to 11 year old audience to upset parents, what we ended up with is next to the best we could have hoped for.

apart from that, what im most curious about is how they will touch upon the issue of the two worlds in conflict, monsters and humans. the wednesday series didnt quite work it out in a way im satisfied with, partly bc of burtons and burton properties' own difficulty applying crítical thought to the very concept of "outcast" and marginalization, and partly bc of a tendency of wanting to apply allegories and analogies to these matters. you want to create meaningful comparisons to real feelings of alienation to emotionally appeal to the audience. but also you as a writer have no real experience reading about real actual marginalized identities and just have a general idea that things were bad and people are angry and people protest about it and also that the Teens™ are complaining in social media using new terms you can stick in the mouths of your characters. in that sense monster high's aim at the younger audience saves them from embarrassing themselves too much, which i cant say the same for wednesday (or the winx netflix series, and a bunch of other teen-aimed media, for that matter). so what remains for the monster high franchise is to figure out how to properly handle something like the idea of the two worlds of humans and monsters needing to find some common ground (something i think its really cool in the way it could be sparked by clawdeens new status as a werewolf being half human half wolf), though its the sort of thing that the writers of future iterations should be careful about and really just not be afraid to shake things up a bit and defy their own narrative status quo. like not be scared to have characters like claire the goth girl from that one animated movie, or the jekyll/hyde kid that was also technically half "normie", to explore further aspects to the idea of identity and marginalization that have a much more appropriate home in something like monster high.

#. 🦴#full disclosure i havent finished the wednesday series i dont have the energy in me to invest that much attention in boring subplots #i saw a recap and know what happens and im sad that bianca doesnt appear so much later on #netflix wednesday #monster high the movie

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aizenat · 5 months

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Kpop fans make no sense. Le sserafim has proven on multiple occasions that they can’t sing. And these Coachella performances put it on full display front and center. And even the ppl criticizing the performance and how bad they sound keep repeating it “the girls don’t deserve hate” and I’m like wtf do these idiots think this is? A hs popularity contest?

This is the fucking MUSIC INDUSTRY. Know what that means? You’re in the business of making music. And guess what you need to be able to do in that case? Fucking sing. If you can’t sing, get the fuck off the fucking stage. Yes I’m booing you. Yes I’m saying you suck. What else am I supposed to do? Just hum how sad you sing bad and then keep streaming and supporting you despite your inability to the do the bare minimum required to be in this industry? Fucking jlo can hold a note better than these hoes. JLO!

Like honestly, kpop fans are so delusional. They could never last in the music industry for real lol. You know how often and how much artists get torn down when they’re talented? Look at Beyonce and Megan thee Stallion. Fuck, look at Dua Lipa! When she got called out for being a shit performer, did she make excuses like “I tried my best and my audience had fun so there’s that?” No! She got in the studio, hired some dance instructors and choreographers, and put her ass to work. Now this bitch is singing on apparatuses and shit like it’s easy. THAT’S what artists worth our time and attention and praise do. They put in the fucking work.

Maybe if kpop idols focused more on doing the work than starving themselves skinny, practicing how to take selfies, and filming tik toks, they could fucking sing.

And Sakura is too old to be acting this obtuse and stupid. “We’re a rookie group” like okay yes, and? What that got to do with the price of tea in china? Britney went from promoting at malls to selling out stadiums within two years of her “debuting.” And she was dancing and singing with steady vocals. And like Britney even in her time was not the best vocalist we had to offer. Fucking Christina Aguilera was right there! Hell Pink is a much better singer than Britney! And that’s not even including BLACK singers who would dance circles around them!

This is why I refuse to tolerate this shit. If this is the best kpop has to offer, then why listen to it? Hybe and many other labels are trying to remove the k from kpop, and their best acts aren’t even good enough to be background dancers to our (American) most mid artists. Like this is embarrassing.

I was listening to Wonder Girls The DJ is Mine featuring School Gyrls and while those girls never went anywhere, School Gyrls could sing. And when I first heard the song, I didn’t even realize that there was an American girl girl on the track because Wonder Girls’ vocals were on par with the American girls. And that was the standard in second gen. Fucking Wonder Girls weren’t even the best second gen had to offer (and I say this as a very loyal wonderful) and they could hold their own vocally with American singers.

But these recent idols could NEVER no matter how hard they work at it. Fucking Demi Lovato was on that remix of le serrafim’s English version of eve psyche and Bluebeard’s wife, and I still remember the way when I was listening to that for the first time how I woke the fuck up when Demi starting singing because the difference in how amazing she sounded compared to le serrafim on their own fucking track was wild to me. And Demi is also not the best singer we have to offer! She might make some ppls top 100 vocalists, but only braindead Disney kids would put her in their top 50, and she sure as hell is no one’s top 20 or 10. And that’s not a dig but just to show how far the gap is. Demi isn’t even the best we have to offer and she’s singing circles around these girls on their own track? What does that say about them?

Oh I know! They fucking suck!

I’m not giving them a pass nor giving them excuses nor tolerating this. This is the music industry in America sweeties. And guess what? When you suck, we dunk on you. Can’t sing and we’re laughing and mocking you. If this was the Apollo, Black folk would be throwing tomatoes. No cookout invite for you tired hoes. Get the fuck out of here. No mercy for the weak too focused on being pretty than good at your fucking job. If we dunked on summer walker for canceling her tour due to anxiety when she can actually sing but was boring as hell on stage, why do you expect better treatment when you can’t even sing?

We’re not giving these mugs a handicap. You wanna tour in the us and promote here? Then get good. Period. And if you can’t, then get the fuck off the stage and stick with the inkigayo performances. Just don’t actually win because god forbid yall have to sing a fucking encore stage and everyone hears your live vocals again.

#Kpop idols need to be shamed into improving and idc who disagrees #this industry is not for the weak or faint of heart #if you can’t hang then quit #there are a thousand hungrier girls and women who would jump at the opportunity #who will actually put in work to be good

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iamnmbr3 · 3 years

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i’m literally waiting in the lgbt rep in the loki show & the “visibility” of black women in pivotal roles on it as advertised in interviews cause rn i’m just seeing white lady better than everyone syndrome show

This is a great ask and I have several thoughts on this so buckle up guys, gals, and pals bc this is going to get long. Here’s the thing. Visibility does not equal good representation. Disney seems to have forgotten that the FRAMING matters the most of all. And boy oh boy does the show fail on that front.

“The Birth of a Nation” is a famous pro-KKK film from 1915 which is still influential today in some white nationalist circles. This film actually has a lot of black characters. Many of those black characters are portrayed by white actors in blackface, but let’s ignore that issue for a second and pretend that they hired only black actors for those roles. Guess what? That still wouldn’t make the film progressive or have it count as good representation in any way. Why? Well because the film is repugnant, racist propaganda. The point of having black characters in the film is to demonstrate to audiences that they are inherently inferior, unintelligent, sexually aggressive and violent and that the “heroic” KKK is needed to defend against them. This is one of the most famous racist films of all time and a lot of the ideas represented in it are still problems today. Just having black characters in the film doesn’t mean that it counts as good representation or is some victory of progressivism.

Similarly Jewish characters figure very prominently in a lot of Nazi films. These characters aren’t implied to be Jewish or Jewish coded or whatever. They are explicitly Jewish. Diversity win right? Not so much! Because again, FRAMING MATTERS. The Nazis put Jewish characters into their films in order to portray them as greedy, conniving, cowardly, selfish, violent, and dangerous and to show why they were supposedly a blight on German society and needed to be exterminated. So again. Just having Jewish characters who are “visible” doesn’t mean the films aren’t horrifically bigoted and harmful and the very opposite of good representation.

Now let’s get back to the Loki Series and the way it claims to be progressive and throws around “representation” like a buzzword when it has absolutely no right to be doing so. There are several black women in the cast whose characters are in positions of power. That’s true. However, their characters are not granted much focus. They don’t have much depth or complexity. We don’t really know much about their flaws or vulnerabilities. Why does that matter? Because that’s what HUMANIZES a character. These characters are treated more as cardboard cutouts than as humans.

But it gets A LOT worse than that. My biggest issue is that these characters are extremely complicit in the actions of the TVA - a violent, genocidal, fascistic, policing organization that regularly commits acts of torture, enslavement, and violation of due process and that is trying to eliminate free will. Now I’m not saying you cannot have black characters who are villains. Of course you can. No group of people are a monolith and acting like any group is just uniformly pure and perfect is very insulting and infantilizing. However, if you had a movie with all black female characters and the only white males were members of a fascistic policing organization it would certainly feel like the narrative was saying something with that, and the opposite is also true.

But it still gets EVEN WORSE. Because the TVA despite being objectively evil (yes they are. there is no excuse for torture and slavery and anybody coming into my replies to defend such heinous acts needs to go study their history bc I shouldn’t have to argue with you about this) is hero coded. We’re supposed to laugh at their treatment of Loki and think it’s justified. It’s not. Full stop. They torture him and they enslave him. THAT ISN’T OK. But it’s treated as a joke. And the characters who are complicit in it are absolved of their involvement.

Even the ones who later turn against the TVA somewhat don’t feel any guilt about what they have been involved in, because according to the narrative they never did anything so terrible. B-15 gets her memories back and her focus is on herself - “I was happy” rather than on all the people she victimized while she wasn’t in her right mind. Because the narrative wants us to forget about that and think the TVA is mostly alright really. We know this because Loki views Mobius as a friend despite the fact that Mobius has never treated him as a friend - he has tortured him, mocked him, humiliated him, and enslaved him. And the narrative says it’s ok.

And I can’t help feel that the writer - Mike Waldron - is using these black characters to try to insulate the TVA from criticism and push his vile pro authoritarian narrative. It is worth noting that Mike Waldron is white and male. Now I am not at ALL saying that white men cannot write characters who are female or black or any other group they don’t belong to so no one put words in my mouth. They can and they should. But they should do so responsibly (just like writers should depict trauma responsibly etc). And Mike doesn’t seem to be doing so responsibly.

Now I don’t know whether Mike has sympathies with rightwing ideologies, but one of the things I’ve studied irl is rightwing extremism, and some things he has said certainly make me think that he might. The way he writes “representation” in his stories also feels like a bigot’s idea of “what liberals want.” Like how the women are these empty badasses with no personality who demean and mistreat the male characters.

Mike once made a very telling comment about how the show is great because Loki spends a lot of time “under the thumb of strong black women” and to me that is indicative of his world view. He seems to view the idea of racial justice and racial equality as inherently violent and oppressive. When that isn’t the point at all. Equality, whether between genders or races etc isn’t about supremacy. It’s about...EQUALITY! Making sure that everyone is treated fairly. It’s not about switching who the oppressor is. It’s about liberating everyone. It’s like when people say “Well don’t all lives matter?” in response to “Black Lives Matter.” Of course they do. That’s the point of Black Lives Matter. It’s to make sure that all lives do matter - including black lives! It’s not about saying that only black lives matter. It’s about making sure that black and brown lives matter too. Mike’s viewpoint seems to be consistent with rightwing scare tactics about how diversity and racial equality will lead to “white replacement” or “white genocide” or various other conspiracies where white people end up being killed or oppressed. And that seems to have carried over into his work. The black characters are all in positions of power and use that power in ways that are abusive.

But more pernicious still is the fact that I feel like he’s using black characters to prop up his fascistic policing organization and insulate it from criticism. I feel like he’s the conservative who thinks he can “outsmart” the the liberals by being like ‘see. I made the fascistic police black so no one can criticize them now haha im so clever.’ And no Mike. It doesn’t work like that because this is fiction and YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WROTE IT THAT WAY. You are the one who chose to have the only black women characters be abusive authority figures. And guess what? Someone who uses their power to abuse and enslave and torture is evil no matter what race they are. And as I said before it’s fine to have villains who aren’t white, but why are these the only prominent black female characters? “People complicit in police brutality and enslavement of others” is not good representation and it’s also really tone deaf. And it doesn’t at all excuse the pro-abuse, pro-torture, pro-authoritarian messaging of the show. It just makes it worse because he is trying to call it good representation and using the inclusion of these black characters to try to achieve his agenda.

I could say a lot more about this but I also want to talk about the queer representation. Because wow, is it not good. Again, framing matters. Just like “The Birth of a Nation” isn’t progressive just because not all the characters are white, the Loki Series isn’t progressive just because not all the characters are straight. In fact it’s the opposite of progressive. The queer “representation” feels straight out of bigoted propaganda. It’s honestly frightening how viciously cruel it is. Loki’s personality traits have been retconned to map onto harmful stereotypes about queer men. He is overly expressive, makes grand gestures, is flamboyant, cowardly, dishonest, weak, bad at fighting, lazy, spineless, meek, unused to exercise etc. Now a person could be all these things and also happen to be queer. However, Loki was never like this before. His character was retconned to be this way only in this series where he is confirmed to be queer.

Furthermore, the entire premise of the series seems to be that it is funny and entertaining and justified when Loki is dehumanized, mocked, humiliated, hurt, tortured, beaten, assaulted, and/or robbed of his dignity. That’s the premise. That’s the whole show. HOW THE FUCK IS THAT PROGRESSIVE?!?! No really. I want Mike to explain the joke to me. Because the joke can’t be “it’s funny when people get hit in the face” because that sort of thing isn’t routinely happening to Mobius or to other characters. It’s only happening to Loki who is coded as the Other in many different ways and who has been confirmed to be a queer man.

So why is it ok when it happens to him? Why is it funny? Why is the point of him being stripped naked not that this is a horrible violation but that it’s funny that he’s scared? Why is him being repeatedly kicked in the groin (and btw that kind of sexual violence has commonly been used against queer men) supposed to be funny? Why are we supposed to jeer and glory in his degradation and think he deserves it? Because I'm not getting it Mike. Explain the joke to me. I dare you.

In fact I dare Mike to explain how any of the show is progressive or counts as good representation. Yes sure the show has female characters and black female characters and queer characters. But that’s not enough. The FRAMING matters. So c’mon Mike. Don't just tell me what kinds of identities you included in your show. Explain to me why they occupy the roles they do.

I dare you.

#cw discussion of racism #cw reference to police brutality #asks #cw discussion of bigotry #loki tv series #loki series #loki show #loki 2021 #loki tv show #cw bigotry #cw reference to homophobia #cw reference to assault #Marvel #MCU #my post

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theliterarywolf · 3 years

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Sam anon again. Many actual voodoo practitioners are happy that the tattoos were removed because they were inaccurate and apparently if you're not from the religion you shouldn't use them, but this still sounds dishonest from Disney to me because the multi-billion dollar company chose to erase a part of specific black culture instead of hiring people to redesign it, which they easily could have. Respect? My ass, to me it screams EW BLACK RELIGION TOO COMPLICATED AND FUSSY TO PORTRAY FUCKING ERASE IT ALL TO MAKE IT MORE PALATABLE TO US AUDIENCES. And I'd like to see if they'll do the same thing with the future Christian references.

Anonymous asked:

Sam's bones were removed because it's considered offensive when those tattoos are done by none-practitioners, so it was to BE respectful. I think Sam being changed is nontroversy

Anonymous asked:

Why didn't Disney I don't fucking know HIRE A CONSULTANT WHO ACTUALLY PRACTICES VOODOO TO REDESIGN THE TATTOOS RATHER THAN JUST REMOVING THEM

Here are the reasons why this whole thing bothers me.

1. Disney originally approved this game in the first place. Yana Toboso may be the creator but Disney had to approve the use of their aesthetics and IPs. So they obviously had to see and sign-off on all of the character designs since this is using aesthetics and motifs from their IPs.

Why didn't they say 'Hey, can you change this?' before?

2. Why didn't the western fanbase try to make this complaint known to Disney/Yana Toboso beforehand? I swear, western fans of things will go out of their way to try an harass an anime studio over Yasahime for 'you're condoning pedophilia, reeee', but actual matters like this just results in 'I'm sorry, I don't know how to use contact information all of a sudden'.

3. Following that last point, it reeks of fans gladly letting a problem fester so they'll have something to complain about rather than making their concerns known in a calm, rational way. I am, once again, reminded of how a section of this hellsite went after Himaruya Hidekazu when in a chapter of Hetalia, he wrote about Emperor Heliogabalus of Rome -- 'The Roman Emperor Who "Lived Life as a Woman" (Though He Was Really a Guy)' -- and rather than contact him to say 'whoa, my buddy, my friend, this is kind of transphobic' (and Himaruya had an open-blog for letters and fanmail that he took in both English and Japanese at the time so they had no excuse), they just sat around and whinged.

4. Disney, you can go above and beyond to make sure that your IPs based on other cultures are accurate and respectful while still being present, but when it comes to anything black or African it's just better to erase anything problematic rather than re-examining and re-approaching? Alright, cool. That's cool.

5. Why is it okay for so much of media to use gaudy sprinklings of Christian and Hindu iconography without research or respect but this is a big no-no and it has to be removed for 'respect' reasons?

6. Are the tattoos not still there in the Japanese version of the game so what is the point?

At the end of the day, they can do whatever they want because, of course, this is Disney and they don't want any controversy and they want to make sure that people will watch the TWST anime they're going to make for Disney+. But I personally think that the whole this is a none-issue that got turned into an issue and the handling of it reads like

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tomtenadia · 3 years

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My warrior queen

Rowaelin month day 7 - Fairytale AU

So, this is a bit a strange fairytale. I am not a fan of Disney style princesses so I went for something different. I wasn’t even going to write this prompt but then inspiration hit and honestly I had to rein it in because otherwise this was going to be a 10k words one shot.

To be honest I am not even sure if it follows the prompt but here you go...

I hope you will enjoy it.

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In the northern part of Erilea there stood a land of unforgiving winters and majestic mountains. The place was called Terrasen and it was ruled by a queen. Her name was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. It was rumoured that she was the most stunning woman in the whole continent and that she had a long line of suitors trying to win her hand. So far, no man had ever accomplished the task. No one seemed to be a match enough for the fiery woman. She had standards, very high apparently and rumour had it that she rejected many potential rich men from other kingdoms as soon as they mentioned they would cover her in gold, lavish dresses and fine jewellery.

She liked her luxury, fine dresses and jewellery, but she if she had to settle down she would not to do that with a man who would treat her like a prize to show around at parties.

No, she was looking for a man who treated her as an equal, and was not scared of a woman who could defend herself and have a high skilled competence with knives, swords and bows.

Far too many men had been horrified by her past times.

Tough. She was not going to give that up, because they thought it was very un-lady like. Screw it. She was the queen.

It was a balmy afternoon and she was in the training yard with her sword master Brullo, practicing her sword skills, when Ress, one of her guards interrupted them. At his side stood a tall man with silver hair and clothed in a dark green cloak. The stranger was broad-shouldered and incredibly tall. Definitely close to 2m. His eyes were a beautiful pine green and the man emanated a certain air of danger. She could tell he was a born and bred warrior and that sparring with him might be quite amazing if he accepted. A rival with a challenge. Brullo was skilled but she had a feeling he was not pushing her as much he could just because she was the queen. Truth was, she wanted to be pushed to the limit. Wanted a sparring partner who ignored her title and just treated her as an equal warrior.

“Your majesty,” said Ress, kneeling in front of her “I present you with your new captain of the guard.”

Aelin sheathed her sword at her side and took a step closer, circling around the new arrived and taking stock of his frame.

“What’s your name, captain?”

“Rowan Whitethorn, ma’am.”

A gasp surged from both Brullo and Ress for the lack of use of her title, but Aelin smirked, loving that already. Maybe he was the one.

“Ress told me you come highly recommended.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“She is your queen,” shouted Brullo from behind her “show some respect, you oaf.”

Aelin turned and glared at her master at arms.

“Brullo, Ress, leave me alone with the captain.” Not a request but an order.

“Yes, your majesty.” They both bowed and walked away.

Aelin grinned then once they were gone sat on the edge of the fence and grabbed the knife she kept on her thigh and started peeling her apple “you must excuse them. Brullo might kill in the name of lèse-majesté.” She explained, taking a bite of her fruit, “I would just recommend you to use my title in public. When we are alone and in training you can call me ma’am or Aelin.” She stared at him and saw surprise in his stark features “in training? I am your captain of the guard, ma’am.”

She got off the fence and walked to him, flipping the knife in her hands and Rowan approved of her skills. Maybe that assignment would not suck as he feared. It looked like he did not have to guard a weak queen who mostly used him as an errand boy, but one that appeared fierce and capable of handling a sword probably just as much as him.

“I know, captain, but I am looking for a sparring partner who would actually present a challenge. One who is not afraid of inflicting a few bruises to his queen. Brullo is good but he holds back a bit too much for my tastes.” She looked up at him, meeting his green eyes. Gods, the man was stunning as well.

“As long as you promise not to put me in irons if I scratch your esteemed highness.” His eyes glinted with mirth and she laughed hard.

She walked away and then turned and threw her knife at him.

Rowan grabbed it with a very easy gesture.

Gods, he was all of a sudden drawn to her. She threw a knife at him and his male nature found the gesture a turn on. He could not deny that the queen in front of him was stunning, probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

“Good reflexes,” then she threw the apple, Rowan grabbed it and took a bite, never averting his gaze.

“Meet me here tomorrow at nine, captain.” And she walked away swaying her hips on purpose.

Rowan looked at her walk away and thought that his new assignment was not bad after all.

Back in her quarters, Aelin shed her boots and started removing all the weapons stashed on her body.

“Do you really need all that metal on you?” Asked a voice at her back. Aelin turned and saw Lysandra, her lady in waiting.

“You never know who is ready to attack you on the streets, I need to be ready to defend myself.”

And threw a few knives on the bed.

“Maybe if you actually stopped wandering around Orynth on you own and used your guards? They are here to protect you, you know? That’s why you pay them.”

Aelin shedded her fighting leathers and remained in her undergarments while Lysandra held out one of those horrible gowns she hated so much.

“And where’s the fun in that?”

“You are the Queen.”

Aelin rolled her eyes. She loved Lysandra like a sister but the woman was a proper lady and had been trying for years to teach Aelin to be less wild and more approachable to men. As the queen it was expected of her to marry and then sire heirs to the throne. She had no patience for all that crap.

“Rumour has it that your new captain of the guard is quite hot.” Lysandra tied the corset and Aelin whimpered at the damn cage “Elide has seen him with Ress.”

“Hopefully he is not scared of sparring with me like a true warrior.”

Lysandra was about to reply but Aelin lifted a finger “I don’t care.” And walked away. Ready spend another afternoon in a tedious council meeting.

The next morning she almost ran to the training grounds. Once at the site she noticed Rowan was already there, sitting on the ground and sharpening his sword. He had trousers tucked in his high boots and a white shirt with the first three buttons open. The sleeves were rolled to the elbows and a stunning tattoo in the old language swirled around his left arm and she could notice a hint of it on his chest as well, from the opening in his shirt. She stood in silence staring at his powerful arms running the wet stone on the length of the sword and her treacherous mind pictured those powerful hands on her body.

She cleared her voice and saw Rowan raised his head “Good, you are here.” In a powerful move he stood.

“So, captain. Where do we start this morning?”

“We’ll do some conditioning to strengthen your muscles a bit, then we can choose sword or knives. The choice is yours.”

In private he did as she had told him and didn’t use any title and she was grateful for that.

“I’ll take the sword.”

For the first hour he put her through a gruelling series of exercises that, according to him, would reinforce the muscles in her arms, her core and her legs. She was not a frail lady. After years of training she had build her body to be quite toned and alethic but apparently she could do a bit better.

“Good, take a break.” He sat at her side and she drank from her canteen.

“So, how did you end up here in Terrasen?”

He looked at her quizzically.

“Your accent. You are definitely not from here. Wendlyn, perhaps?”

Rowan nodded “Born and bred in Doranelle.”

“I visited a few times. Very hot place.” She looked at him “why Terrasen?”

He was silent for a moment as if to ponder his answer “I needed a change of scenery. I have been here a few years already. Mostly worked as a hired guard for some rich lords. Then I saw that the palace was looking for a new captain of the guard and here I am.”

Aelin knew there was more to the story, but she didn’t push.

“Let’s go, captain.” She said standing up again “show me how to fight like a real warrior.”

And Rowan did not hold back. For over an hour they trained relentlessly and Aelin was now sporting some cuts on her arms, a bruise and a limp from when she slipped on the ground after Rowan disarmed her for the umpteenth time. She realised at the end of the session that she was not even remotely skilled as she thought.

“We better stop here for today.”

“No,” she grunted, still sitting on the cold ground exhausted.

“Aelin,” and the way he said her name made her heart race “You need to rest for the day and have a healer see to those cuts.”

“Thank you for not holding back, for not treating me as if I was made of glass.”

Rowan placed his hand on her shoulder to steady her as she tried to stand, when a jolt went through both at the contact.

Their heads snapped up in surprise and their gaze met.

Aelin’s heart started to race madly. What had just happened? Was that the bond? She heard about that. All the girls dreamed of eventually find their mate, to look a man in the eye and feel the bond snap into place. She thought it was just a kids fairytale but as she looked at Rowan’s expression she knew he was thinking about the same thing.

They were mates.

He was her mate and she was his.

As she limped back to her quarters she could not stop thinking about what had happened with Rowan. How was that possible? And how was she going to solve that? According to the stories, once the bond was in place it was difficult to resist and painful to ignore, but what if Rowan didn’t want to be her mate? He’d be tied to a queen, making him king consort. It was far too much to force on someone. It was in moment like this in which she wished her mum was still alive. She’d need her support right now.

“Your majesty, what happened to you?” Said a horrified voice at her back. She turned and saw Chaol, one of her guards.

“Oh, I had an amazing training session with the captan.”

She saw disgust in his face “did he hurt you?”

Aelin rolled her eyes “No, well technically yes, but we were training so it’s okay.”

“You are the queen. He cannot treat you like that.”

Aelin was fuming when a familiar figure joined them in the courtyard.

Chaol drew his sword, pointing it at Rowan’s throat and Aelin felt a surge of rage in her “Put the sword down.” She commanded.

“Majesty, he hurt you.”

“It’s called training,” said Rowan, moving Chaol’s sword aside in a bored gesture. His eyes on hers, ignoring the man in front of him.

“She is your queen.”

“She gave me an order. I followed it. If she wants to punish me for hurting her during training I will take anything she will inflict upon me. Until that moment I would order you, as your captain, to go back to you patrol, or I’ll have you scrub the stables.”

Chaol stormed away back to his post and Rowan and Aelin remained alone.

“Rowan, we should talk—” he shook his head.

“Not here.”

Aelin nodded “let’s go to my library. No one is allowed in there. We will have privacy.”

He followed her and once in the room she locked the door for good measure and then collapsed on the sofa exhausted.

Rowan looked around the room and stared amazed and the astounding collection of books. The bookcases where floor to ceiling high and there must have been thousands of books.

“The perks of being the queen. I have unlimited funds to gave in in my obsession for books.” Then he turned and saw a piano against the window “do you play?”

Aelin nodded and he moved a step back in her direction “Rowan…”

“We are mates.” He said in a gentle tone that disarmed her.

“You don’t have to…” she had no idea how to tackle the issue “Rowan, I will not force you into something you don’t want.” She sighed “I thought it was just a fairytale mothers spun to their daughters before bed. But I felt it. The power of the bond, curse through me when you touched me.” She stood and took a step to him “and when Chaol had his sword at your throat I was ready to rip his head off if he touched you.”

“Aelin, it’s up to you, I am your subject and if you decide to follow the bond I will not reject you.”

She looked at him and for an instant she had a glimpse of another Rowan, one that under the warrior face was in fact a loving and caring man. Her heart ached. She could not force something on him that he didn’t want.

Rowan went on his knees in front of her and bowed his head “If I accept the bond I will be your king consort.” He looked up at her “I am just a warrior, with no power or gold to offer or alliances. Accepting me would be a very bad move for a queen. I have nothing to offer you.”

Aelin kneeled in front of him and took his face in her hands “For the first time, I found a man who is willing to fight me like a warrior. A man who treats me like an equal, something I have been searching for a very long time. A man who is not afraid of me or who does not feel the need to tame my wild side. You are that man, Rowan.” She caressed the stark lines of his face, the gesture feeling natural all of a sudden “It’s your decision. Not a command from a queen.”

“It would be political suicide.”

She laughed “you let me deal with the council and the politicians. It’s my life. And I think my citizens might like the idea that I choose one of them as their king.”

Rowan nodded.

“This is new, for both of us. We barely know each other, but if you want I would like to get to know you better.”

“It’d be my honour, my queen.”

She smiled at him “but we are not stopping my training. I am not giving up on that. You keep your territorial male nonsense at bay.”

He nodded and Aelin kissed his forehead “thank you, captain.”

Two weeks had passed and Aelin had continued her life as normal. Rowan had been true to his words and kept training with her and she realised that under his supervision her skills were improving, to the point that once she had even managed to disarm him. She had celebrated by jumping into his arms for a hug. One that he did not deny her.

They had also started to spend time alone in the library and learn about each other. He had told her the real reason why he moved. A raid had attacked Doranelle, setting the city on fire. He was not quick enough and his family died in the huge fire and some of his friends too. So he had decided to help for a while, but as soon as the worst was over he had left Doranelle.

Aelin had heard about the raid. She had contacted the royal family there and offered her help, but they had been proud and replied with a no thank you.

Slowly they had also been getting closer, feeling the bond between them getting stronger with each passing day. And with it its side effects.

Aelin one day had almost put a woman called Remelle in irons when she saw her flirting with Rowan while he was guarding the throne room. He had ignored her but Aelin had felt jealousy spread like a wildfire. Through the bond she felt the same from him during a meeting in the throne room. As captain of the guard he was at her side on the throne and he had to suffer through a parade of men walking to Aelin and promising her riches beyond imagination and power.

You’d better look interested he had mused through the bond. A nifty trick that had appeared very recently.

I am disappointed that no one so far had offered me a unicorn

Aelin threw a sneaky glance at Rowan and saw him fighting the smirk threatening to appear on his face.

She tried not to smile either, it was not polite.

They hadn’t told anything to anyone about them being mates. It was all still too new and they needed time to adjust, so she had to suffer the tedious courtship from men who were as interesting as a bowl of broth with no salt. But they had decided to tell soon. The solstice ball was almost upon them and she was going to announce that she had found her mate and that all other men could just fuck off for all she cared. Her council was going to kill her, but she couldn’t care less. Rowan was her mate and even if they hadn’t even kissed or been intimate, she could not deny how strong the pull between them was becoming. Even being away from him was getting hard.

While she left the throne room, Rowan stepped at her side, taking his place as he usually did. Two more guards were trailing behind them at a distance.

“Are you getting me my unicorn, captain?”

“I’d do everything in my power to make you happy, but I think they really are a legend.”

“Everything?” She looked at him with a wicked grin “well, I need more training, captain. And it’s an order.”

She said the last sentence out loud and Chaol looked at them in disappointment. Her guards and maids had not appreciated the marks that training left on her. Lysandra complaining that a lady should not turn up for court with a bandaged arm and a limp.

Aelin ignored the protests relentlessly.

During training Rowan never gave her special treatment. Not even now that they were mates and she respected him so much for that.

They had been training with knives and close contact when she did manage to win an encounter and Rowan lost his balance and they both tumbled on the ground. Aelin on top of him. Her face had smashed on his chest and she inhaled sharply his scent of pine and snow. Rowan smelled like home, like Terrasen. She looked up at him and his expression was curious. That was the closest they had ever been. Rowan had been a proper gentleman and always been respectful of her, especially when alone in the library.

But now… now she wanted him to grab her in his arms, rip off her clothes and make her forget her name.

Some of her thoughts must have trickled through the bond because his stare grew lustful. Her eyes landed on his lips and a moment later he was kissing her. And rutting gods, she almost combusted on the spot. The kiss was not gentle, she could taste the desire in him. Aelin’s hand were in his hair and pulled him closer and felt his arms tighten around her back.

Rowan had tried to be respectful and not to give in to the instinct that had slowly been taking over him recently. With the passing of days the bond between them had become much stronger and he found himself needing her. To wake up in the middle her smelling lemon verbena and feeling an insane need for her. He knew that was the downside of a new mating bond. It would drive him insane until he could finally claim her. But he would not rush her.

He was still of the opinion that he was her worst choice, he had tried again to convince her that choosing him was a political mistake. That as queen she should think about alliances. But Aelin had always refused to listen, saying that she was not going to marry a stranger just for the sake of an alliance. She was not a romantic and kept repeating her that they were mates and the council could not stop that. She had told him of her plan of announcing their bind at the solstice ball. The idea scared him but he would follow her.

***

Solstice was upon them and the castle was buzzing for the celebrations. The guests had started to arrive and to gather in the ballroom.

Rowan was posted outside Aelin’s quarters, ready to escort her to the ballroom.

Two weeks had gone by since they kissed on the training grounds and since then they had been barely able to keep their hands off each other when they were alone.

Rowan would go as far as to admit that feelings had started to develop for her. Deep, strong feelings.

“So, who is going to be at your arm tonight at the ball?” Asked Lysandra while dressing Aelin. She had chosen a deep green gown with laces in silver to match Terrasen colours. Her hair was tied in a braid that was then tied in a complicated fashion on her head. And on top of it her tiara. She was not going to a ball with her crown. At her neck Lysandra had clasped a necklace with a pendant a kingsflame. Her mother had left that for her and Aelin would wear it on special occasions.

“It’s a surprise,” replied Aelin with a wicked grin. She had managed to convince Rowan to agree to dance with her.

“Oh, is it one of the lords?”

“Are you going with Aedion?” She changed the topic.

“Yes, as soon as you are ready I will join him. If you are okay.”

Aelin turned and hugged her friend “of course. I want you to enjoy the evening and if you end up spending the night in Aedion’s quarters I will not complain.”

Lysandra blushed “you are ready.”

Aelin stared at her image in the mirror and was looking forward to Rowan’s reaction.

Rowan heard the door open and jumped to attention, then saw Aelin step away from the big doors and he was sure his heart stopped for a moment. Her gown matched his uniform in shade of green. She was stunning, she was the most perfect creature he had ever set eyes on.

Stop staring, captain. We need to maintain the ruse a bit longer.

Rowan looked at her and nodded briefly “shall we go, my queen? Your court awaits you.”

While they walked she could see Rowan scanning the area “relax, captain.”

“Aelin, my job is to keep you safe. Both as your mate and your captain. And might I say that your idea of inviting the citizens to the festivities is a dangerous one?”

Aelin sighed. He had raised his concerns every single day since she had explained to him the tradition. On the solstice the castle had always been open to everyone. The ground would host a fair with vendor and some stalls. The ballroom and the banquet hall were the only two room open to everyone. She had explained that her father had started the tradition and that the solstice was a big thing in Terrasen and she had continued such celebrations as a legacy to the late king.

Rowan had yielded but she could feel he was nervous.

“Have you given your guards rotations so they can enjoy the festivities as well?”

He nodded “and I told the vendor selling alcohol that they are not allowed to sell it to any of the guards. If they do I’ll take their licence.”

At the door of the ballroom he saw Chaol and Ress and Rowan nodded to them and the two men opened the doors.

The ballroom was incredible. Metres and metres of fairy light adorned the walls instead of the big candelabra. Snowflake shaped decorations hung from the ceiling and spruce and holly adorned the big windows.

Aelin stepped inside and everyone pulled aside and bowed. In the crowd she spotted aristocracy and citizens alike.

Once in the centre of the ballroom she turned and Rowan stepped at her side. Hands behind his back and back straight.

He was nervous. His life was about to change but as he looked at her smiling at her people, he realised that if his life had her in it, maybe it wasn’t going to be so scary after all.

Aelin stared at all the people gathered around her and tried so hard not to stare too hard at Rowan. He had his uniform of captain of the guard, the one reserved for special occasions. The deep green of the fabric matching his eyes and the silver of the trimmings at the hem accompanied his hair. He was stunning.

No improper thoughts, my queen.” He told her, sensing where her mind had wandered.

As if you restrained yours a few minutes ago when you saw me. I must admit that the sparring room surrounded by weapons is a massive turn on.

Rowan cleared his voice at her side and she tried not to laugh.

“Good evening dear citizens of Terrasen and thank you for joining us tonight for this solstice celebrations. Like every year we follow the tradition started by my father and gather all together here and have fun. This year, however I have a special announcement that I hope will make this day a bit more special.” She then spoke and noticed her council member look at her with a puzzled expression. Lysandra was holding Aedion’s hand and looked curious. Her cousin was downright terrified.

I am at your side was all that Rowan said through the bond.

“I want to use this night of festivities to announce that I have found my mate.” A chorus of gasps echoed in the room.

Aelin took Rowan’s hand and pulled him closer to her side “Captain Rowan Whitethorn is my mate. We have accepted the bond a few days ago.”

They had discussed the whole thing in the library. Both had confessed that feeling were starting to appear. The attraction was definitely there and Aelin had confessed that the idea of not having him at her side pained her. Rowan had made the same admission. She then had explained to him that if he was going to accept the bond he’d become king consort and he’d have to drop his job as captain of the guard. Rowan had accepted with the condition that she would keep on training with him. Aelin had, of course, accepted. And after that they had officially accepted the bond and that night he had claimed her and she claimed him, body and soul. They were now one and there was nothing separating them.

“My queen,” said Darrow, the head of her council, bowing to her “you should have consulted the council before making such an important decision. Also, may I suggest that the captain might not be the most suitable candidate?”

Aelin was raging, but as queen she had learned to restrain her wild side. In public, at least.

“Darrow, thank you for your concern but this is my life. Who I choose as my king consort it’s not your concern. I told you all before, I will not be sold in marriage for the sake of an alliance. Rowan is my mate. You cannot ignore the bond.” Aelin looked at Lysandra and saw that the woman was sobbing happily.

Then cheers erupted from the crowd, the common citizens, the ones who approved their queen choosing one of them.

“All hail the queen,” shouted one of them “all hail the king,” chanted another one and slowly everyone joined in, Lys and Aedion included. Her councilmen were the only ones who stood silent. Oh well, that was a battle for another day.

Rowan went to his knee and took her hands, bowing his head at the same time “my queen, I have no riches, no power, no land to offer you. All I can give you is my loyalty and my love. Until my last day. To whatever end.” He recited out loud for everyone to hear.

Aelin squeezed his hand and pulled him up. They were equals, something she had told him over and over again. She would not allow him to bow to her or to feel diminished. He was her world.

“To whatever end .” She whispered back while holding his face and kissing him deeply in front of everyone.

Her buzzard.

Her equal.

Her friend.

Her mate.

#rowaelinmonth #day 7 #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #rowaelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction

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violetwolfraven · 3 years

Text

Okay. I am probably going to get hate for this, but I need to get it off my chest:

People on this site have this mentality of you have to hate it and boycott it and cancel it if it isn’t perfect and otherwise you are a bad person and I’m going to tell you why that mentality is not helpful at all.

This happens with many movies/shows/media, but I’m going to use Raya and the Last Dragon for my main example, considering I am of Vietnamese descent and therefore am more personally affected by this movie than any other controversial movie that I can think of.

Now, Raya has a lot of problems. For one thing, Disney acting like Southeast Asia is one big country with the creation of this fictional land of Kumandra, when in reality it is a really fuckin large region with many unique countries and cultures. Categorizing them all under one country is like trying to feed a shark and a beta the same food because they’re both technically fish. Completely inaccurate and ultimately ineffective.

Also, many of the leading voice actors are not Southeast Asian. Kelly Marie Tran is Vietnamese, but Awkwafina is Chinese and Korean. Even more of that old problem of generalizing Asia, here, as if casting any old Asian actor is the same.

And then there’s the whole ‘unifying all the regions under one banner’ thing. It’s pretty imperialistic. Just because the United States created a (relatively) harmonious union between states doesn’t mean it worked for everyone! This is especially not great considering most, if not all of the countries in Southeast Asia were conquered by China, Japan, and/or a western power at some point.

So, yeah. Lots of flaws. I’m sure there are even more than I listed that I haven’t thought of. But guess what? My family still watched that movie. My sister, my cousins, and I got hyped as fuck for it. We paid the fee to see it early because we don’t have any other mainstream representation and we cannot afford to be picky.

But let’s say we were picky, and let’s say everyone else was, too, so Raya and the Last Dragon completely flopped. What happens now? Hollywood learns its lesson and bows to our whims?

No. What would happen is that they would have an excuse not to make another movie featuring a Southeast Asian protagonist, because Raya got so much criticism and didn’t even make them a profit, so why exactly would they risk trying again?

Do you get it yet?

If you expect representation to be perfect the first time and tear it to pieces for not living up to that, it will never get better. Because Hollywood will have an excuse to keep saying those projects aren’t worth it. They will keep excluding writers and directors of minorities, approve projects where all the leads are white, cishet, and abled, and keep just enough people of minorities around in supporting roles both on and off screen that people can’t accuse them of only hiring and casting white, cishet, abled people.

I’m not talking about media that is blatantly bigoted. For example, Sia’s movie, Music? The public made that flop and it was a good thing, because Music was blatantly ableist and promoted practices that would get autistic people killed. In that case, that representation was so bad that no representation was a preferable option.

I’m talking about media like Raya, where the cast and crew clearly meant it to be good representation, tried their damn best to make it good, and made mistakes. We can call them out on those mistakes, but if we all cancel the entire movie for them, we will never get anything better.

I’m not thrilled that the only movie in which I’ve seen something like my culture and my family has so many issues. But you bet your ass I support it, because if I don’t, Hollywood won’t green light more projects like it.

I hope someday my generation’s grandchildren look back on the flawed representation we have today the same way we look back on old movies from the 50s, where female characters were just starting to have personality traits beyond ‘damsel in distress.’ But these things take time. Capitalism in the arts resists change, but it is improving. We just have to help it along. Also:

There’s a fucking difference between maliciously creating bad representation (blatant white-washing for example) and not fully thinking through the implications of creative decisions. Directors, writers, and casting directors are people, too. They have their own conscious and unconscious biases based on their environments. But if you mercilessly cancel them for a mistake, they never get a chance to do better another day. And again: what doesn’t get created? Better representation.

In short: stop cancelling things for flaws in representation that almost definitely weren’t intentional. The only thing you’re doing is making it harder for better representation to get created in the future.

You can enjoy something and acknowledge that it’s not perfect. God, people.

#representation matters #representation #cancel culture #movies #raya and the last dragon #minority representation

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princessphilly · 3 years

Text

Word Count: 1975 (you know I start small then build up)

Tag list: @newlibrary , @luvsherleafs @spine-buster , @m00nlightdelights @lovethepreds @myhockeyworld87 @Defiant-mouse, @callllumhood @yzas-stuff , @stars-canucks @laurenairay @cutiesara23, @besthockeyfics @hockeyallthetime @tazerass , @markymarkstrom @letsgobaby, @himbos-on-ice @hockeywocs @bloodthedevil @nhlboyshavemyhart88 @whatishockey @dreamer1430 @shelbsatans

CW: people failing to be mean, some angst. We are still rated pg-13 but we will be hitting NC-17 soon.

Add me to the tag list!

It’s okay to admit that you are enough. It’s also okay to struggle with admitting that to yourself. At least, that’s what I learned when Meghan Markle still had her old blog, The Tig, up online before she became the Duchess of Sussex. Honestly, she’s one of my goals; her father is a trip and she’s managed to live well despite his issues. I’d like to be able to do whatever she did with my mom. - journal 9/2

“The man over there says thanks.”

Jamila looked at the waiter, confused. “Um, okay,” she questioned as she looked where the waiter was discreetly pointing. A tall, brown haired guy raised a whiskey neat in salute. Jamila gave him a tentative grin. After the waiter left, she hissed, “I didn’t send him a drink, Lisa! What the hell?”

Jamila had to admit he was attractive but not her usual type. Her type was the outdoorsy type, the kind who could fish, hunt, and actually be able to live off the land if society collapsed overnight. This guy… he looked like money and power, the kind to hire someone to take care of him.

After a moment, it became obvious what happened as Alyssa and Frances came back over. Jamila put on her best movie-star fake smile as those two came by. They were the worst kind of people; backstabbers who even when they got caught, still got away with it because they knew how to suck up to the people in power. Jamila knew exactly why they didn’t like her: she had enough fame left over that she didn’t need to be their friend to earn a good reputation in their phD program.

“Meet any nice guys,” Frances asked with a sly smirk on her face.

Jamila gave Lisa a sideways look as Alyssa said, “I mean, there’s Jonathan Toews, he’s single. I bet he’d be interested in a washed-up actress.”

“Hmmm, I have no idea who you are talking about,” Jamila honestly said.

Alyssa smirked as she replied, “He plays for the Blackhawks, Meena.”

Jamila grit her teeth as Alyssa used her first name. She hated when people used her first name, it brought up too many bad memories. Before she could reply, the attractive brown-haired guy was standing next to her with a faint grin on his face. “Um, hi,” Jamila said as Lisa, Alyssa, and Frances stared at him.

“I figured I’d say hi after you sent me that drink. I would have bought you one but I don’t know what you’re drinking and it wouldn’t be nice to assume. My name is Jonathan,” he said with a flirtatious wink.

Jamila hesitantly replied, “My name is Jamila and I’m just drinking merlot tonight.”

“Another glass,” Jonathan asked, his deep voice doing things to Jamila’s insides. She bit her lip as she looked at him, trying to decide if she wanted to encourage him or not.

“Sure.”

As he found a waiter, Jamila looked at Lisa. Lisa motioned to her phone and Jamila checked her screen. That’s jonathan toews, the guy those bitches were talking about. He plays hockey and is the captain of the blackhawks

Jamila texted back, what is hockey n y should i care

Then the waiter came with a fresh glass of merlot and Jonathan passed it to her. Jamila took a deep sip, loving the taste. Merlot was truly her favorite and they had a good house vintage. Jonathan asked, “Are you new to Chicago?”

“I’ve been here for a year. It’s alright,” Jamila replied. “This is my first time going out on the North Side though.”

Jonathan gave Jamila a slow smile and her breath caught. He definitely was attractive but not her usual type. He said, “Then that’s why we’ve never met til now. I would have definitely remembered such a beautiful woman if I saw you before.”

Jamila giggled. “That’s a good one. You get one point for that.”

“Just one point? Is it an assist or a goal?”

“Um,” Jamila stalled. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

The sly smile on Jonathan’s face turned into a wide smile. This girl was not only hot but he could tell that she was truly clueless about hockey. Tonight was a win-win for him. “I’m going to assume it’s a goal then.”

“Okay.” Jamila shrugged as she took another sip of her wine. “I’m still not completely impressed so you still need to work on it.”

Jonathan laughed, causing some people to turn towards them. Jamila caught Alyssa and Frances giving her the evil eye and she smirked. Reaching out a hand, she touched Jonathan’s upper arm. Jamila had no idea what hockey was but whatever it was, he definitely was built. Jamila turned slightly as she rubbed his arm, making sure that those two bitches could see that she was touching him.

“You like what you feel,” Jonathan asked, his voice slightly deeper with a sultry tone.

Unable to resist the bait, Jamila replied, “Of course,” licking her lips. There was no problem in flirting with him, she thought to herself as he smirked at her.

Jonathan’s eyes were on her lips. She had full lips, made for kissing. Jamila wasn’t his usual type but Jonathan didn’t have a problem with that. “There’s more that you can-,” he started before someone bellowed, “TAZER!”

Jamila whipped around towards the sound, annoyed to have been interrupted before her attention was caught by the kind of guy of her dreams. He was tall, auburn haired, and looked like a lumberjack. He was perfection and he came over to them.

“Duncs,” Jonathan called.

The lumberjack said, “Heyy Tazer.”

Jamila smiled. Maybe this whole drink mix-up thing was working out for her, she thought until she saw her LA friend, Shan, come up behind this Duncs guy. Shan’s brother Alex was with them, his ever present backwards cap covering his hair.

Jonathan loved Duncs as a brother but right now, he was annoyed and pissed. He had been close to sealing the deal but Jamila was now looking at Duncs like he was the last man on earth. Then Jamila gave him a brilliant smile and Jonathan suddenly realized that he was totally fucked.

“Hi,” Jamila purred, forgetting that her hand was still on Jonathan’s bicep. Duncan looked at that and raised an eyebrow at his captain. Jonathan gave him a glare and Duncan made a motion with his hands.

Before Duncan could reply, Shan yelled, “Jamillllaaa!! Long time no see!”

“Hi Shan,” Jamila drily replied, glad she used her preferred name instead of her first name. Shan was a fellow child actress, a Canadian who managed to get supporting roles at Disney over the years before transitioning to a character actress when she became an adult. Shan was the only one whose parents were actually on-set all of the time and paid attention to what was going on. Consequently, Shan was the only one who didn’t have substance abuse problems, etc. and the only one from her former shows that Jamila kept in contact with.

Jonathan looked at Shan and Jamila. “You two know each other?”

Shan drunkenly giggled as Alex closed his eyes. “We were both Disney kids back in the day.”

Jamila sardonically smiled. “Those were fun days.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex replied. “Shan’s got a role in one of the next Marvel movies so she decided to celebrate.”

“Congratulations,” Jamila sincerely stated. Getting a role in the MCU was a steady check and something to celebrate. Then Jonathan took a double take and looked at her and Jamila groaned. He bit one of his thin lips and then he smirked before putting a finger to his mouth. Jamila exhaled and gave him her biggest smile. He recognized her but he didn’t say anything. Jamila leaned over and whispered into Jonathan’s ear, “You just got a second point.”

“Then maybe you should let me have your number,” Jonathan purred into Jamila’s ear.

Jamila smirked, rolling her eyes but before she could respond, Shan slurred, “Wow, Jamila, you waste no time. You were just telling me yesterday that you didn’t know a damn thing about hockey and tonight, you’re talking with Captain Serious.”

Jonathan wanted to shake his teammate’s sister because Jamila shut down, pursing her lips.

Oblivious, Shan continued, “Now, you don’t have an excuse not to go with my brother to the bowling thing.”

Alex face-palmed as Jamila pinched the bridge of her nose. She had totally forgotten about that and of course, when Shan was drunk, she was loud and obnoxious.

Pasting her best fake smile on her face, Jamila said, “I think it’s time for me to go.”

“So soon,” Duncan teased.

Jamila smirked at him, looking him up and down. “I need my beauty rest and to not strangle my friend.”

Jonathan gritted his teeth as he watched Jamila eye his friend. Then she turned to him and blew him a kiss. “It was nice to meet you, Jonathan,” Jamila said, giving him a wink.

Jonathan smiled back and Jamila was taken aback for a moment. There was a promise in those dark brown eyes and she felt her body begin to respond. Then he licked his lips and for a moment, all Jamila could think about was maybe those lips on her body. Slightly shaking her head, Jamila waved her fingers before going to call an Uber. This was a night.

After getting home, Jamila tossed her bag onto her front table. She suddenly felt exhausted even though it was barely after 11:30pm. Walking into her living room, Jamila saw her other cell phone glowing. Picking it up, she cursed. There were fifteen messages and ten missed calls, all from Janine. The messages started off nice, asking how Jamila was doing to nasty, calling her all kinds of names for not picking up and giving her “mother” money.

Tossing the phone back onto the table, Jamila sighed. Getting a separate cell phone just for her mother’s calls was the best but it was draining just to look at it.

Janine Brown was a bit actress, stage-mother, and now two-bit manager. Janine had always wanted to be an actress, even when she was attending grad school at MIT for physics. There, she met Jayesh Vyas, a student earning a PhD in computer engineering. Within six months, they were married and expecting a child; after two years, they were divorced after pressure from Jayesh’s parents. Jayesh returned to India and Janine was stuck with an 11 month old baby with dimples made of gold.

By the time that Jamila could remember, she was in front of a camera. Her life as a child was in front of a camera; first as the adorable adopted child in Granger vs Granger, then the youngest kid in The Elliot Show as a young child. Then from age 12 to 17, Jamila starred as Jane Lee in the Disney show, Plain Jane. School was on set. Birthdays were celebrated on set. Everything revolved around a set year round until right after Jamila’s 17th birthday.

The aftermath of that birthday was a stay in rehab, a cancelled show, and living with her dad and stepmom full time in Atlanta.

Jamila promptly deleted all the messages and voicemails before going on online banking. After authorizing a transfer to Janine’s account, Jamila showered, put on pajamas, and grabbed her pink Lepidolite and pink quartz crystals. Sitting cross legged, Jamila worked to calm her anxiety so that she could have a restful night sleep.

But in her dreams, she tried to focus on a pair of blue eyes and a lumberjack look. However, she kept dreaming of a pair of deep obsidian brown eyes, a crooked smile, and a deep voice telling her everything he was going to do to her

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