#using photoshop for evil (<- capitalism) because i need money

[blacksailsgf]

hi i made Goncharov stickers

[libretayatra]

Blog Post: On Fan Fiction and Other Storytelling Traditions

When I was twelve or thirteen years old, and even our family finally had DSL internet, I discovered the joys of fan fiction. In case you haven’t been living under the same rock as I have, allow me to explain. “Fan fiction” refers to stories written by enthusiasts of a particular book, TV show, or other creative work. While most “fics” – as my friends and I would call them – take place within the particular universe of the original story, others take known characters and put them in an entirely new setting. (That’s how 50 Shades of Grey was born.) There’s also fan fiction that doesn’t deliberately draw on any work but revolves around real, famous people in imagined situations. (See Graham Norton and Daniel Radcliffe discuss this type on the former’s show.)

The stories that interested me ranged from shorter “one shots” to multi-chapter epics, but most were placed in the Harry Potter universe and nearly all were tales of romance – if you could call it that.

The pairings I read about (and often ‘shipped’ – a verb that comes from the ‘ship’ in ‘relationship’ and means “hoped would bang”) – whether true to canon (i.e. the original books), such as Lily and James Potter, or wildly inventive, such as Hermione and a Tom Riddle to whom she has traveled back in time – usually engaged in the kind of love/hate banter that sends real couples to therapy. The pair would glare at and insult each other (often employing strangely American turns of phrase for a pair of ostensible Brits), their apparent mutual disgust hiding a deeper attraction. For my friends and I, it was riveting stuff.

While I was mainly a Lily/James shipper myself, you can’t talk about Harry Potter fan fiction and not mention Dramione. The fan-invented romance between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger was a tale of forbidden passion, a defiance of Hogwarts housing norms and the mandates of Potter canon itself. Draco did need to be less of a whiny loser to be a deserving match for Hermione, but this could be arranged without too much trouble. In the fan fiction world, Draco was dark and brooding, and he didn’t bring his dad up in conversation quite as often as in the books. Hermione was clever and empathetic, and although she was rarely depicted with less than Yule Ball-level beauty, her looks were not her main characteristic.

Sometimes fan fiction Draco and Hermione fell for each other while at Hogwarts. In other fics, they met again under changed circumstances years after the fall of Voldemort. Then there were the AU fics in which a brilliant young paralegal named Hermione Granger begins work at the firm where successful lawyer Draco Malfoy practices. You get the idea.

Photoshop creations starring Tom Felton and Emma Watson (no credit belongs to me). The purple one in particular has stayed in my memory for years, and brings on a familiar feeling of excitement at all the great content to peruse in the world. It was the banner for a website that allowed fans to nominate and vote for their favorite Dramione fics.

A particularly sexy iteration of the Draco/Hermione story was called Water by kissherdraco. In it, Draco and Hermione are Head Boy and Girl at Hogwarts. Of course, this means that they must live sequestered in their own dormitory, with its own entrance, common room and adjoining bathroom that ensure they see each other in a state of partial undress when the story demands it.

Water was held by many to be the pinnacle of the genre. It had lust and angst in equal measure, executed with a liberal dose of swear words and aggression. Moreover, Water took the common flaws of the Dramione world’s characters and actually explored them, allowing character to drive plot. In the story, Draco is brooding and cruel as ever, but these traits are linked to vicious abuse at the hands of Lucius. This backstory is not seen as an excuse for Draco’s behavior and he is forced to grow and change as the story progresses (although not quite enough, tbh).

I never finished the story, perhaps because my young brain was alarmed by all the hate-sex, but I revisited it with curiosity for this piece. Here is a relatively benign excerpt from the text, although please skip if you’d rather avoid themes of physical dominance:

“You’re crying,” growled Draco, leaning in and flicking his tongue onto her cheek. He tasted salt.

She struggled then, and he brought his hands to her shoulders to hold her still. “Don’t, Granger,” he warned. “I fucking need this. I can’t fucking…” He trailed off.

He never would have noticed before. Not like he did now, at least. Her lips were wet. They were red and moist and magnificently ripened for him. So full of blood. Hot, heated, sullied blood. He couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Other fics situated romance within a larger plot about the politics of the wizarding world. Prelude to Destiny by AnotherDreamer took place in the Marauder era (i.e. the time of Harry’s parents) and focused on the coming-of-age of Lily Evans and her role in the battle against evil. It begins, “Two cultures and a thousand miles from you, there is a castle on a hill…”

Another fave began life under the title Ancient and Most Noble and is now called Druella Black’s Guide to Womanhood. It is about the diverging lives of the three Black sisters — Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa — in the early years of Voldemort’s power. The sisters confront the crumbling of the their easy closeness as they make different choices in a changing world.

”It’ll be a laugh, you’ll see,” Bellatrix whispered into her ear, her breath sweet and thick from wine. They were curled in the cool grass, tangled in the layers upon layers of lace and satin that were their dress robes; it had taken them an hour to get them on right and just ten minutes to unsettle them. Andromeda’s head was spinning: from the liquor, from the heat, from far too much dancing. “It’ll all be just like this,” Bella was murmuring, her lips brushing against her ear. Stars whirled by overhead, maybe close enough to touch. Close enough to try.

“Always just like this.”

—

Andromeda swore as she stepped off the train. From inside the nicely cool travel car, summer had looked so charming, green and bright and gloriously school-free…

I was most interested in these fics, the ones that revolved around the generations before Harry’s. There was something compelling about the knowledge of forthcoming tragedy for many of the characters…Plucked away from the happy ending of the books, these fics became an exploration of why life is meaningful even in its flawed and finite scope.

I look back on my fan fiction experiences as belonging to a beautiful time when the internet was less like Janet from The Good Place* (if Janet were selling everything she knew about us to profit-hungry corporations and belligerent, militarized governments), and more like a library you went to when you felt like checking out a book. Nobody knew what I ate and where I went every minute of the day, because I didn’t put that stuff online, nor did I (to my knowledge) carry a tracking device with me when I went downstairs to play with my friends. At 5 pm, our moms would have to call each friend’s landline to reach us and remind us to stop home for our daily glass of milk or what-have-you.

*Janet is a humanoid presence in the afterlife who holds all knowledge in the universe and can create objects out of the void.

Fan fiction was a commerce-free creative space – devoid of ad revenue and the quick accumulation of likes. Since there was neither money nor social capital to be gained, everyone who participated did so out of pure interest. One did have the hope of raking in reviews from other community members, but these were about more than validation; reviews allowed people to have conversations about a shared passion and often included constructive criticism along with praise. There was little need for bitterness – if a fic was well-written, everybody won, since it meant they got to read it.

Below are some examples from the reviews section of Prelude to Destiny. It’s certainly no Twitter.

Written by rach on chapter #13. (March 28th 2009, 5am) Hey,

So I’ve read your whole story before, and now I’m reading it again, because I saw it spotlighted on the site. And this chapter is amazing. I love the end…I’ve never (well, before I read this the first time) compared Lily to Mrs Crouch. But it’s so true. They both gave their lives for their sons and…this chapter is phenomenal. Just thought I’d let you know

Rach

Written by Smith on chapter #26. (April 29th 2008, 11am)

…If I am to find any fault in the story, then I should say that Remus was rather dull. Not that it was completely out of character, but I imagine him being funnier and also good Lily’s friend. Their friendship is mentioned by Lupin in the third film and, I should think, in the book as well, though I don’t have a copy right now and thus can’t provide a quote. Pity, that. [Given my extensive knowledge of canon, I can tell you that the reviewer is mistaken on this last point.]

Thank you very much for writing this story. Reading it was an enjoyable experience that I might repeat in the future. You’re brilliant, to put it short.

Author Response: Thanks for the review!Yeah, Remus was a bit dull. Actually, I didn’t intend for Lily to be friends with any of the marauders besides James. I just wanted them out of the way. But I know what you mean. After Sirius entered the story, Remus was even duller in comparison. Plus, I wanted to make Peter seem like he fit in, and Remus just fell by the wayside, you know?I’m enjoying writing Gertrude again after taking over a story from my friend who used my characters. Anyway, thanks again!Miranda

For me, too, fandom was a more than a casual hobby. Since I was only allowed an hour of internet use a day, I would spend the time copying and pasting chapter after chapter of fan fiction onto Microsoft Word, allowing me to read all I wanted later. (As you might imagine, Water was not stored on the family computer.) I remember scouring for new fics on fanfiction.net and clicking through page after page of fan art on deviantart.com (both of which retain their early-2000s layouts, unlike Mugglenet or JK Rowling’s official site), very differently from how I scroll through Instagram today. I admired works of fandom the way one appreciates springtime’s first flower, or the décor of a friend’s bedroom – I admired the stamp of individuality they bore and that inspired me to create something myself, to express my joys and sorrows, to be a part of the world.

RIP old websites

When I did put Harry Potter-inspired art out there, somewhere around age fourteen, it was of course in the form of fan fiction, writing being my weapon of choice. I wrote two one-shot pieces, one funny and the other sad — or such were my intentions, though perhaps the results were inverted. While some friends wrote longer stories, I never felt talented or inspired enough to commit, which is a typical self-doubting move of the kind I am trying to leave behind. (I now plan to write no matter how untalented and uninspired I may be.)

One piece was about a character of my own invention, a Slytherin guy with the requisite pure-blood, Dark magic-loving family, and a perky, ponytailed Huffelpuff girl on whom he develops an obsessive crush. It was intended to be a BBC-inspired mockery of the character, taking all the gloomy sexiness of the Dramione universe and making it ridiculous. It was also a thorough exploration of really wanting to make out with somebody sitting in the same classroom as you, not that I’d know anything about that myself.

The other short story was a sincere ode to the books and an exploration of some of their core questions on death and loss. It followed Harry in an imagined scene that takes place (SPOILER ALERT lol) after Dumbledore’s death in the Half-Blood Prince. Harry is climbing the steps to the Owlery with a package in his hand, thinking over his relationship with Dumbledore. As I wrote, I found that I absolutely had to include excerpts from a fairly unexpected source, a chapter in the first and most overlooked of the Harry Potter books. The chapter is “The Mirror of Erised,” whose titular object reveals to the onlooker their deepest desire.

“Professor Dumbledore. Can I ask you something?”

“Obviously, you’ve just done so,” Dumbledore smiled. “You may ask me one more thing, however.”

“What do you see when you look in the mirror?”

“I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.” Harry stared. “One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”

It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful.

In my story, Harry gazes out at the Forbidden Forest for a little while, wondering who Dumbledore had been behind the mask of calm wisdom and pondering the burden of those left alive and grieving. Harry then ties the package he’s been holding to Hedwig’s arm and sends her off, chuckling a little through tears. In the last line it is revealed that – OMG – he has just sent off a pair of thick, woolen SOCKS. To DUMBLEDORE. Even though Dumbledore is DEAD. Isn’t that profound?

Two years later, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, and to my complete surprise, it delved deep into some of the questions about Dumbledore that had tumbled out of me, stream-of-consciousness-like, in the story I wrote. The text even includes part of the above excerpt from “The Mirror of Erised”. At the outset of Deathly Hallows, Harry learns that Dumbledore’s childhood was a difficult one, the true details of which remain murky and contested by his admirers and critics. Harry regrets never having asked Dumbledore about his past, but recalls that, after all, the one personal question he had asked Dumbledore was not answered honestly…

While writing my story, I had imagined Harry’s pain and longing to know Dumbledore better. Because fan fiction allowed me to externalize my interpretation of the text, the questions in my mind took on concrete form. Their answers, when the next book presented them, became all the more striking and emotionally impactful. It was as though I had written a letter to the series of books that had shaped me and received, in a way, a gentle but meaningful response.

In 2004, JK Rowling released a statement about the phenomenon of fan fiction. She was flattered by fans’ desire to write about her characters, and her only caveats were that fan fiction should remain suitable for children (unfortunately that ship had already sailed, and Water was truly the least of it), as well as a non-commercial activity so that fans’ creative pursuits would remain unexploited. Other authors have not been as accepting, and have asked for fan fiction based on their work to be removed from popular websites. After all, in our current world, a story is classified as property. A sentence, a verse, a character’s name, can belong to someone the same way as the furniture in their house and the dollar figure in their bank account.

In the long history of storytelling, however, ownership is a relatively recent idea. Bear with me while I make an analogy – in pre-industrial Britain, every town had a commons, an area of land where anyone could gather firewood, take their cattle to graze, or hunt and fish to supplement a year of poor harvest. Storytelling has historically functioned as a kind of commons of ideas, one that anyone could pull from when the time came to tell a tale. Want to warn your kid against going near a well? Tell them about the hungry demon that lives in it. Were you hired to entertain a crowd at a wedding? Maybe you dust off an old poem about a prince and princess who meet one evening in the forest but spend years apart, not knowing each others’ true identity until it turns out they were betrothed all along.

Nobody invented well-dwelling monsters or estranged lovers for the first time – they simply existed in a shared cultural space, available when needed (or when it was particularly enjoyable to use them), ready to be shaped into something new and old at the same time. Even today, no one questions the use of familiar tropes in books and movies; we know that all storytelling involves a certain amount of borrowing and repetition, and we deem this acceptable as long as the storyteller has put an adequately original spin on the themes they utilize. The legal line is drawn once you get to the particulars – character names, or sentences and dialogue. These must be brand spanking new if you want to avoid a lawsuit and getting dropped by your publishers. (Does anyone else remember How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life?)

But for thousands of years, people told and re-told stories of beloved and familiar characters, not just unnamed archetypes – characters like Odysseus and Arjuna, Gilgamesh and King Arthur. The Sanskrit Mahabharata (Maha-BHA-rata) an epicly long, genre-defying story from South Asia, especially challenges the idea of a single, canonical text (much like other ancient story traditions from the subcontinent). It was told so many times by so many people that modern-day folks are not always able to agree on what the Mahabharata even is. The story is like a vast ocean — recognizable to all, but appears different depending on where you happen to be standing.

In the 20th century, some scholars collected Mahabharata manuscripts from all over the subcontinent, extracted the most commonly occurring parts to form a text, and detailed the many variations of each verse in footnotes that turned out longer than the text itself. No one can quite agree whether to treat this resulting (multi-volume) “Critical Edition” as the essential Sanskrit Mahabharata tradition, or as some kind of strange, post-colonial Mahabharata scrapbook. All this so that whenever somebody wrote an essay about the story, there was a single text, pieced together as it was, to use as a point of reference. (My Bachelor’s thesis was one of the lesser works of this scholarly genre.)

The plot of the Mahabharata goes like this: The five Pandava brothers, namely the prone-to-gambling leader Yudhishthira, morally-conflicted archer Arjuna, lovable beefcake Bhima, and something-to-do-with-horses twins Nakula and Sachdeva, along with their badass wife Draupadi, are exiled from their kingdom and forced into a year of disguise after a rigged dice game that Yudhishthira loses, and in which Draupadi is stripped and humiliated before a hall full of men. Eventually the Pandavas regain what they lost through a bloody war that leaves both sides devastated and questioning the point of all this conflict. The End.

Does my summary reflect my biases a little bit? For somebody else, the Pandavas might be perfect heroes, Draupadi a whiny ungrateful shrew who won’t stop yelling at them. To me, she is the moral backbone of the Pandavas, unafraid to call for what she feels is right even as everyone around her takes the coward’s way out of trouble.

Interpretations of Draupadi from various traditions

But it’s not just me who has a take on the story: the Mahabharata itself reflects a range of interacting and conflicting views, which might indicate that people from various backgrounds heard it and were able, in some way, to influence it. For example, although the text generally upholds hierarchies of caste and gender, it also pulls at the listener’s heartstrings with stories of characters who must confront these oppressive norms.

There’s Amba, who is stolen from her future-husband at her wedding and rejected by him when she manages to return; she later chooses to be re-born as a man in order to kill her kidnapper in battle. There’s Ekalavya, the talented archer from a forest tribe who trains with the Pandavas in youth and asks to prove his devotion to his archery guru any way he can; the guru, who favors the upper-caste prince Arjuna, asks Ekalavya to cut off his right thumb. There’s Kunti, who finds herself pregnant after an illicit affair with a god and places her baby, Karna, in a river; Karna is adopted by a lower-caste charioteer couple and goes on to fight against Kunti’s legitimate sons in the great battle that destroys the universe. And there’s Satyavati, whose husband/baby daddy pretends not to recognize her in front of his kingly court but gets completely schooled on how not to be an asshole.

“You know very well [who I am], your majesty; why do you say that you don’t, lying like a common man? Your heart knows the truth, and knows your lie. A man who does something wrong thinks, ‘No one knows me,’ but the gods know. If you do not do what I ask, your head will burst into a hundred pieces.” She discoursed at length on the reasons why a man should honor his wife, quoting the dharma texts.

(from The Ring of Truth: And Other Myths of Sex and Jewelry by Wendy Doniger)

Perhaps, among the traveling bards and indulgent grandmas who told the Mahabharata over centuries, there were some who identified or empathized with the pain of oppression and through whom otherwise-marginalized voices could ring out into the millennia.

The many Mahabharatas, along with the many conversations inside the Mahabharata, illustrate how the human imagination is prolific and messy, not content with merely absorbing information but impelled to remake, to take inspiration, to create, create, create. Isn’t that what happens when we read? We see the world we are reading about in our own way. We make up something in our own head as we go along, and that’s where the entertainment lies. The book itself is but a wonderful tool.

Perhaps if I had a right-wing patron who paid me to tell stories, I would tell the Mahabharata a little differently from how I do here, focusing on how the Pandavas were self-made men or how the ethnic minorities they killed were thieving encroachers. Or if I were telling the story to children, I might leave out anything particularly frightening. In the telling of a story, the will and whims of the teller have influence, as do those of the listener (or reader) and the financial benefactor (or publishing house).

What remains inevitable, however, is that rarely is a story told the same way twice. Even in our post-printing press, post-internet world, where stories are replicated identically again and again, we continue to dissect, analyze, and change them, whether it be through everyday conversations, online forums, or the prestige lens of a critic’s review. (A perfect example is the adaptation of works from one medium into another, be it from literature to film or from film to theater.) Sometimes the authors themselves continue to tweak and interpret their work – Virginia Wolf was known to make changes to her books prior to reprinting, and we all know that JK Rowling can’t leave the Potter universe well enough alone (love you Jo!).

For me, fan fiction is a grand storytelling and textual tradition not entirely unlike the Mahabharata. Fan fiction not only illustrates the malleable, generative nature of stories, it also provides a rare space, in our capitalist global economy, for storytelling to be that malleable, generative thing it has always been. It allows for democratic engagement in the storytelling traditions of our time, free from the boxes of profit and ownership. It lets us expand the possibilities of our collective imagination. Importantly, it allows voices from the margins into the story, where our canonical texts routinely fail us.

I’m also thankful to fan fiction for being a rare space, outside overpriced college English classes, where literary discussion can thrive. When I say discussion, I don’t mean mere binary criticism – like book reviews, or the Goodreads star rating-aggregates that help determine book sales. I mean questions about how a text makes you feel, what it reflects or critiques about our world, the things that literary characters, beloved and abhorred, may teach us about our shared humanity and flawed choices. And yes, some of these conversations involve Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy as co-Heads of Hogwarts, using the same bathroom.

Are you a reader or writer of fan fiction? Have you you dabbled in fan art? Or do you engage in a non-online form of fandom, like a book club? Please share!

Thanks for reading.

[verllaine-blog]

A guide to the fandom of French politics/lolitics

I found something similar going around in the Spanish lolitics fandom (I think?) and thought it was kind of funny, and what with French politics going world-wide since the elections in May and Macron making himself heard around the globe (and before you come at me, he’s also got his flaws too, I’ll fully agree with you there), I thought it would be cool to open up the wonderful fandom of French politics (and our ships!) to our international friends. So sit tight, this is probably going to be long!

First off, who are the big names you’re likely to find the most often?

Emmanuel Macron

° Not surprising since he’s our new president.

° He’s actually pretty smol. Especially when standing next to other taller world leaders.

° He’s a lot younger than the other members of the French politics fandom. (He’s 39).

° Can’t take selfies.

° POUDRE DE PERLIMPIMPIN.

° (It’s even a song).

° He looks like a pretty cool guy but does have some shitty policies he wants to put into effect (*cough* doesn't necessarily plan to stop nuclear energy jobs even though they are polluting *cough*).

° Literally seems to think that he’s some kind of king/God.

° Loves Europe & the European Union (like, Emmanuel Macron x the EU is as canon as Emmanuel x Brigitte).

° Likes cordons bleus (and I get him, cordons bleus are amazing), chocolates and eating off the kid’s menu and is essentially a child in an adult’s body.

° Apparently even the official cook at the Elysée palace makes him little cordons bleus. (And he loves them).

° Is probably going to be annoying in the upcoming five years but we currently kind of like him. Or at the very least, he hasn’t fucked up too bad yet. (But please don’t cozy up to Trump too much).

° Is far better at speaking English than most French politicians (and possibly even the current US president) and uses expressions that are probably twice his age and that nobody uses anymore.

Manuel Valls

° He’s from Spain Catalonia but he’s French.

° Our former Prime Minister. Apparently he tried to join Macron’s party after the elections?

° The scapegoat who gets blamed for everything, even stuff he isn't fully responsible for.

° Had flour thrown on him that one time.

° Often angry, but he does smile sometimes. (They’re actually rays of sunshine)

° Really did try to save the Parti Socialiste but didn’t manage and ended up quitting it. Is more of a center-left candidate??

° Dealt with a wide variety of shit ranging from terrorist attacks to being slapped across the face.

° The VEINY HANDS ™.

° King of the style game and sometimes wears see-through shirts. (cf La Rochelle, 2015).

° Was kind of friends with Macron (he was the one who convinced Hollande to hire him before they started to work together).

° People are beginning to realize that their hatred towards him was misdirected, which is nice. Hell, some are even beginning to appreciate him, which is even better.

° Gave that one really amazing speech at the Assemblée Nationale on January 13 2015 and got a standing ovation for it.

° Probably chilling off somewhere now? Or is he still trying to join En Marche?

° Has a cute Cairn Terrier called Homère. He even used to bring him to his meetings at the Elysée palace.

Benoît Hamon

° Former member of the Socialist party. He tried hard to save it, he really did.

° Is basically a Hobbit.

° Has lots of cute pairs of glasses.

° Good with kids.

° REGION BRETAGNE EN FORCE!

° His real name is Baenoît Hamon.

° Even shared a picture of his kebab once and it was way more popular than President Macron’s official portrait.

° Deserved so much better.

° Is an actual cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure.

Arnaud Montebourg

° Toll ™.

° Often seen hanging out with Hamon.

° A rebel, he resigned from his post as economy minister from Hollande’s government.

° Is a drama queen.

° Loves everything with the label “Made in France”.

° Has fluffy looking hair.

Phillipe Poutou

° Far-left anticapitalist.

° He literally has no chill and will destroy you if you give him the opportunity.

° Popular among the young voters (I think???).

° Can also be really cute and adorable when he doesn’t vent about the evils of capitalism.

° Too cool to wear an actual suit.

Jean-François Copé

° Sometimes wonder whether he’s an actual politician or not.

° Is sometimes problematic ™

° Says chocolatine instead of pain au chocolat (which is downright wrong >:(( ) (Question à part: ça se dit où "chocolatine" exactement?? Ca va bientôt faire quinze ans que j'habite en France et je suis jamais tombée dessus?? Ca a toujours été "pain au chocolat" chez moi???)

° Never really scores any higher than 0.5%.

° Always enthusiastic and up for a good laugh.

° Memes.

° One of the rare right-wing politicians to actually be part of the fandom since everybody else ranges from the center (Macron & maybe even Valls) to the far-left (Poutou & Mélenchon).

Jean Lassalle

° He’s not really a big name, kind of a centrist?

° Has a heavy accent and loves his region very much.

° Lives a down-to-earth-appreciate-everything kind of life.

° Is probably one of the only politicians to actually be a really adorable person in real life.

° Appreciated by both his fellow politician colleagues and the general public. (Which is a real feat here).

Christiane Taubira

° The Queen ™

° She's from French Guyana.

° Everybody loves her.

° She’s amazing, that’s all you need to know.

° She won’t let you mess with her: she might be smoll but she’s always ready to brawl (and clash you in the Assemblée Nationale).

° Has the law legalizing gay marriage named after her, like how cool is that???

Jean-Luc Mélenchon

° He's on the far-left.

° He's the hologram guy, loves modern technology.

° Has developed a legit game called "Fiscal Kombat", where the Mélenchon character fights other French politicians to make them give back money, counter frauds and earn as much cash as possible to implement his program.

° He's actually from Morocco.

° Is either angry or will take a great satisfaction in publicly clashing you.

° He has no chill and will call you out to your face.

° Always up for a fight and lives off drama.

° Is a sore looser tho.

Our international players:

Justin Trudeau

° The French speaking cousin ™ (with a slight accent)

° He’s not French but he’s basically considered as part of the fandom.

° Like Macron would say, he’s “part of the club” (yes, he really did use that expression).

° He got on well enough with the previous government,and currently has a thriving bromance with Macron.

° They probably diss Trump together in French.

° We’re all looking forward to anything more they can give us.

° Can also be spotted on photos with François Hollande and Manuel Valls.

Theresa May

°  The annoying friend from across the Channel.

° Brexit with Benefits ™

° Likes football.

° Speaks English only.

° Probably a source of conflict over Europe and the EU.

° Still the English member of our Franco-British (or soon to be English-only?) bromance.

° Hopefully introduced Manu to the wonders that are Fish & Chips.

Barack Obama

° He may no longer be president but we still love him.

° Had a soft spot for Hollande’s poor English.

Angela Merkel

° Proud member of the pro-EU squad.

° Holds the flag for the Franco-German bromance.

° Was bros with Sarkozy and seems to like Macron a lot.

° Also an avid football supporter.

As for our ships, well here’s what we’ve got to offer :))

The French only ships

Vallande: François Hollande and Manuel Valls

° I don’t know, it’s the first of the political ships I really heard of.

° Apparently it was a thing??

° Basically the president and his Prime Minister.

° There is legit real fanart out there if you look hard.

° They seemed to be happy when they were together sometimes, so I guess there’s that??

° Unfortunately they then broke up when Valls left Hollande’s government to run for the left wing primaries. I guess not every pairing can have a happy ending :(

° **Edit: I just happen to have found an entire blog dedicated to the ship (Vallande is real les amis), and it's the most unlikely thing ever but also fucking hilarious! (Je ne sais pas qui est derrière ce Tumblr, mais... Merci, pour le coup, ça m'a bien fait rire ^^).

° **Edit 2: Guys, just... Check the “Vallande“ tag, I promise it’s worth it. ^^

M&M’s/Vacron: Manuel Valls and Emmanuel Macron

° Probably the most popular/biggest ship in the fandom for now.

° They have a complicated ™ relationship.

° They used to be kind of friends??? But Macron essentially stabbed Valls in the back by using Valls’ declining popularity and problems to push himself forward. ° I’m not even sure where they stand at now. Probably former colleagues?

° Although Valls did immediately back Macron after losing the socialist primary final to Hamon (whether that is to be taken as a sense of affection/friendship/something else towards Macron, I’ll let you decide for yourself).

° We still ship them though.

° All the more so because there are lots of pics (and non-photoshopped ones I might add) that are out there.

° (Perhaps they even ship themselves, who knows?)

°  Oh and Vall's official nickname for Macron when they were in the same government was "Microbe", which basically means germ (if you translate it literally) or squirt.

° We also have AO3 fics and fanart. (Seriously, the M&M's fandom is amazing :)).

(Add Myriam El Khomri and you get an OT3).

(But Valls and El Khomri look more like embarrassed parents and Macron their overly-enthusiastic five year-old).

(Or you can add Najat Vallaud-Bellkacem if you’d prefer). 

Cinnhamonbourge: Benoît Hamon and Arnaud Montebourg

° The Cuties ™.

° Also quite popular in the fics and fanart territory.

° Fluff, fluff and more fluff. (And possibly the occasional angst, but it's mostly fluff).

° Team “Looks like a cinnamon roll and actually is a cinnamon roll”.

° Well Hamon is, Montebourg can get a little more angry at times.

° But they like each other, that’s the most important part.

° Both are now former members of the PS, Montebourg quit in 2014 and Hamon only a month ago.

° Used to hang out together a lot.

° Probably diss Hollande (and Macron’s) government together.

° Organize cool-looking parties.

° Like flowers.

° Probably drowning their sorrows and crying over the state of French politics together. (With a bottle of fine champagne).

(You can even add Valls if you want an OT3, not sure they’d get along tho).

(Is Macrontebourg also a thing? Just askin’) (Although we all know Arnaud and Benoît belong together).

Along with Montebourg, apparently Hamon and Taubira were also good friends :)

Marine Le Pen x Florian Philippot

° I think this is also a thing?

° They’re basically the Evil Power Couple of French politics.

° Probably want to dominate France and are secretly building a “Grand Villain Manifesto” for the 2022 elections.

° They can stay together as long as they don’t bother us.

° Apparently people also ship Le Pen and Mélenchon???

° Is it a hate-ship??

° (Je n'en sais rien vraiment, mais je suis tombée dessus une ou deux fois… Je ne sais toujours pas trop quoi en penser ^^).

Team Destroy Capitalism: Nathalie Arthaud and Philippe Poutou

° Like the ship name suggests, they hate capitalism.

° The far-left bros.

° They’re full of bitterness and full of salt.

° Arthaud is Angry ™, elle est là pour NIQUER SES MERES.

° Often angry. Just a reminder.

° Poutou has no chill and will fight you even though he’s only a factory worker for Ford, who works REALLY HARD.

° (But he’s cool). (He can also be really nice and really cute).

° Arthaud will also fight you, especially on capitalism. Arthaud x Capitalism is probably her biggest NOTP.

° Team Tiny Candidates.

The international ships

Merkozy: Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy (aka President Bling Bling ™).

° I wasn’t really following politics all that much back in 2007.

° Apparently they were like BFF’s, and are one of the early bro-ships in French politics??

° The Oldie but Goldie, I guess that’s what we could roll with?

° The Smol bros.

° I don’t know whether they are still in touch or not but let’s hope so, because Merkel’s huge smiles are literal rays of sunshine.

Don't ask me, but there was also something with Hollande.

And Valls.

And she seems to be climbing up the new BFF scale with Macron too.

Hobama: François Hollande and Barack Obama

° Obama seemed to get along well with Macron’s clumsy predecessor, maybe his poor English even grew on him after a while.

° “Ah na wol spriking in French because ay oblairge ay oblaïge to do that.”

° President Classy ™ and President Awkward ™.

° They both exited the world stage at the same time at the end of 2016, right before shit got real.

° Might be keeping in touch and maybe even mounting a scheme to take out the Crazy Orange Cheeto (okay probably not, but let’s just imagine for a second that they are really doing this?)

(Obama was also friends with Sarkozy, if you were wondering).

Macdeau: Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron

(C'est bien Macdeau le "nom officiel"? Parce que j'ai vu des choses du style Macreau, Trudon et Trudō également)

° Highly anticipated bromance that came about shortly after Macron won the election.

° Basically became canon in Taormina when they met for the G7 Summit, and we got the pics of them strolling along in the flowery gardens. (Looking extremely similar to that one scene in Game of Thrones between Margaery and Sansa)

° Trudeau is Toll ™ and Macron is Smoll ™.

° Always smiling.

° New pics and Twitter posts are always welcomed and widely shared. ° They’re always happy together and as long as their bromance is thriving, so are we. 

(( But if you’d rather ship him with Valls, then there’s also canon photos you can use too :) ))

Then we've also got this but:

Does it

Really warrant

An explanation?

(There aren't any pictures, but just in case you were wondering, our friend Mister Donald the Crazy Orange Cheeto also rooted for her during the elections).

Maycron: Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron

° Also a G7 baby.

° Speak English together.

° Trying to mend bridges between the UK and France. (Because from what I’ve gathered, neither Sarkozy or Hollande were apparently great friends with David Cameron).

° Give affectionate hugs.

° Probably butt heads over topics like Europe and Brexit since May wants out of the EU and Macron is arguably one of the EU leader who loves the EU the most (like I said, Macron x EU is as canon as Emmanuel x Brigitte).

° Share a passion and enthusiasm for football. May can even be a little bit too enthusiastic sometimes ;)

° Probably also vent about the Orange Cheeto to one another.

And as a Franco-Irish member of the French lolitics fandom, I'm also really happy to be able to say that

French politicians

Seem to have an ongoing bromance

With their Irish counterparts

That doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon :)

And if you really want to go deep down, here are the over-the-top-not-really-serious-recurring-pairings you can also find:

Benoît Hamon x Kebabs (It’s pure, it’s lovely, and believe it or not, it’s way more popular than you’d think more popular than Macron at any rate).

François Fillon & "Rends l'argent" (we basically want him to give back the public money he stole).

Eva Joly x The Green Glasses

° Kind of an older pairing, since it goes back to the 2012 elections (she didn't run this year).

° Joly usually wore red glasses, but to represent her Green Party (EELV), she campaigned with a pair of green ones.

° Basically what she was remembered for.

° Maybe she still wears them?

Emmanuel Macron x Cordons bleus (the truest OTP of this 2017 presidential campaign and we understand him, those things taste like heaven).

François Hollande x Being Akward (pretty much what you can resume his five-year presidency as).

Benoît Hamon x His glasses (they even have their own Twitter account apparently at LunettesBenoit).

Apparently he loves them so much he went and bought a bunch of them right before the presidential race began.

Marine Le Pen & Being a scary arsehole (basically she hates anything non 100% French, was high on drugs or something during her debate with Macron and couldn’t make coherent arguments. Blames immigrants, non French citizens and Muslims for everything wrong in the country).

She’s basically our equivalent of the horrors known as Donald Trump, Geert Wilders, Frauke Petry and Nigel Farage.

(Unsurprisingly, she's also friends with all of them).

French politicians in general x Being assaulted with food ingredients: whether it’s flour, eggs or the hand that whisks them up in the form of a slap, Valls, Macron, Le Pen, Sarkozy, Fillon and Hollande have all had it thrown at them. ^^

Après, si j'en ai oublié d'autres, n'hésitez pas à les rajouter, histoire de faire répandre nos ships et la fandom politique française à l'international! C'est ma toute première contribution, donc je n'ai probablement pas donné une liste exhaustive :))

[nadeeshjayasundara-mga2019mi4011]

Research….

So basically, my idea was a poor boy that is hungry and has no money to buy food, picks up a coin on the street, and buys food and then shares it with another little boy. So I had to do some research on poor children and poor areas in the world to get the personality of my characters and backgrounds. 

Research I did on poverty in India. Because I’m making an animation in which the protagonist is a poor boy, I’m doing research on poverty. I’m using these for my concept styled and artwork. I decided to place the story in India because the context of my story is to find food and India is very famous for their authentic street food. And also the level of poverty in India is reasonably higher. The world’s poorest countries are home to hundreds of millions of poor children in desperate need. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day, and according to UNICEF, 387 million (19.5 percent) of the world’s children live below this poverty line. Families and children living in extreme poverty in the world’s low- and middle-income countries lack access to clean water, healthcare, social services, educational opportunities and social capital. They are vulnerable, powerless and fear for their futures. An estimated 15,000 children under the age of five die every day, and more than half die from preventable or treatable causes. This translates into the unnecessary loss of more than 5 million young lives a year; half of which die in the first month of life.    I derived the personality of my characters through these.

The background was some thing I created in my own mind as a rich area but I did some reaearch on the background of Indian suburbs

                            2D animation Traditional, hand-drawn 2D animation is all about freedom in styling. Its main purpose is to create characters, storyboards, and backgrounds in two-dimensional environments. In the past in order to make 2D animations people had to take photographs of drawings on paper and then place them on transparent acetate sheets called cels.   I’m planning to do this style. It’s because I love it and the ability do it very effectively with the advancement of software recently. I’m hoping to do it digitally using software such as TV Paint or Adobe animate, After effects and Photoshop. Traditional vs. Digital It's easy to define the difference between traditional and computer animation. Traditional animation uses methods that don't involve digital tools, while computer animation methods use digital tools such as computers. Another way of distinguishing the two is physical vs. virtual; traditional animation uses physical materials and activities, while computer animation uses virtual materials in a digital space.

Traditional Animation Traditional 2D cel animation may use digital methods of filming in the end. But the specialty is the method of producing the animation itself. Cel animation involves hand-drawing, and handpainting thousands of frames on clear cels that are displayed against painted backgrounds and photographed in rapid sequence,   This hands-on method requires a team of artists, cleanup artists, painters, directors, background artists, and camera crews, along with the storyboard artists and scriptwriters to work out the original concepts. For large-scale projects, the amount of time, labor, and equipment involved is staggering. This is the best way to go for learning processes. But for this module, we have a final submission deadline and I have to speed up my process. So I will have to choose the faster and easier method which is digital animation.

Digital Animation 2D computer animation often involves virtualization of the traditional 2D animation workspace, bringing pen and paper into the digital environment to recreate cartoon animation workflows and styles. Computer animation removes the need for many of the extra tools required to create an animation; all we need is a computer with enough system requirements to run the 2D  software of choice and skill of using that software. I intend to use this method because of it’s efficiency and easiness. And it is far more advanced than 2D traditional animation. The recent advancement of the software used for the process and the tools they possess can make a very effective looking 2D animation.

Development work and Concept art…     I developed the characters and the food stall using recerence.  

Colours Colour psychology is a large area to deal with and yet  a large amount of it has been discovered. Different sources on the internet have different emotions related to different colours. Here’s what I analyzed; • Black  – Powerful, mysterious, bold, evil, strength • White  – Goodness, innocence, purity, easy • Red     - Love, energy, anger, danger, passion • Orange- Courage, success, confidence • Yellow  - Happiness, Joy,  creativity • Purple  - Wealth, royal, arrogant, luxury • Gray    -  Gloomy, sad, dull      There are many other colours but these are the ones that were almost there in every source. After colour research, I changed the colours of my characters a bit while colouring the animation.