#was it to to spite drayton in specific

[chaoticreivingu]

Heard some people saying that Drayton and Kieran might represent Zekrom and Reshiram's ideals but I think it's the opposite. Drayton is the reverse arcana version of Reshiram representing dishonesty and Kieran is the reverse arcana version of Zekrom representing obssessive idealism.

[with-the-same-tattoos]

Do you have any all american massacre head canons?

Ohhhh not sure let's see !!! :0 first of all, I will just eternally be mad about not getting to see aam, it seems like such a perfect end to the tcm 1-2, it its missing its trilogy ending, an ending of madness..... aCH. Yeah. I'm a little unsure what to classify as aam headcanons, instead of general tcm hcs? I guess the younger todd bates choptop headcanons, buckethead leatherface, maybe nubbins, so, teen to early 20s sawyer brothers hcs + Choptop in prison after tcm2 hcs? I'm gonna share a few of borh :) this wnded up not rly being HEADCANONS, just more of a vibe check & thoughts on his thoughts / mentalities. Witj a few doodles bc i needed warmup material :)

Thoughts about young Chop Top, Bobby

I was talking abt this w Jiangshi but he seems wayyy more feral. Like, absolutely just shaking with rage, to be honest. To me specifically I kinda imagine him having been a bit more clear headed in those days, with sharper feelings, and desperately, starkly bitter, from having frown up like he did. I'm sure this is not what they were going for, but I get the energy of a "spiteful angry nihilist who is so hurt".

I've mentioned that my ver of the Sawyer parents died when Drayton was in his teens, BUT. My brain has kinda come around to that changing? I kinda like the idea that one of them, sure, died, but one of them got jailed for like, smrh rly stupid & simple? No finding out about the cannibalism and murder.

I essentially see the Sawyer brothers feeling vewy abandoned, loosing structure, fighting among eachother etc.

I also mentioned that I kinda saw it as such: drayton was mommas boy, nubbins followed papa sawyer around, bubba was raised by drayton more or less, and chop top was kinda the kid to always run off and try to hang out w other people. And i think he had this weird envy of a regular life but just couldn't act regular and felt pushed away by what he loved.

Bobby boy was just chaos. Just feels like he was being mean for the sake of being mean, or just getting out his frusturations. Dunno. Todd Bates just looks weirdly sad sometimes to me???? Rip

Also, he looks weirdly a lil healthier. Still gangly, but he has a more rounded face, a bit more weight, n he just looks better fed. I don't really have a point to this xept i wanna just hold his face tenderly :)

Chop Top in prison

I don't have Many thoughts. Other than that I love him free the rat please.

Also I literally could not tell that he was supposed to be older. Bruh???? Moseley damb.....n....

Bitterness comes around. I see him as having chilled out Kinda by the events of tcm2, feeling more accepting of his family, feeling more OK w things being strange, but like. After society pushing him away first, them locking him up in a box so his isolation is completely controlled. I feel would kinda make u angy again.

Im talking like he has a right 2 be angry I don't mean to, hes an asshole but im talking bout his emotions n such....

Yeah. He just has violence in his heart and feels constantly hurt by nobody helping him / being able to help him. This is barely hcs im just rambling at this point im a Little sleepy.

Also, absolutely gets that rly weird criminal fangirl mail. Yk.

[anewhope4change-blog]

Protest and the Erotic

“America” by Claude McKay is a relatively short and incredibly compact poem.  America, to McKay, is a cruel woman who feeds him “bread of bitterness” and sinks into his throat “her tiger’s tooth”, likely implying that America is trying to silence him and people like him. Although despite her flaws, America is a place that he both loves and hates, writing that he “love(s) this cultured hell that tests my youth”. At a glance, this poem’s meaning appears to be one of resistance. McKay tells us he will continue to exist, to live in spite of the hatred and bitterness he receives from the land he hates to love. This stance is not unlike Langston Hughes, who, rather than wanting America, as the racist society it was, torn to shreds, simply wanted it to live up to its founding ideals and become a nation of equals. 

McKay was considered then, even today, as one of America’s finer protest poets. The manner in which he wrote his protest poetry is different than say, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Despite his unabashed pride about his Jamaican and African heritage (Drayton) and the fact this poem was written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, he doesn’t mention race a single time. The language of the poetry makes it clear he is talking about race, but regardless, the fact he chose to omit any language about race speaks volumes. McKay decides to make the poem about criticizing America the nation, not through the lens of a black American, but simply as an American. This speaks to McKay’s writing style and poetic philosophy, which is described as him “...protesting as a Negro and uttering a cry for the race of mankind as a member of that race.” (Drayton). It is possible this aspect of his poetry is due to his early attraction to Communism (Smethurst). Many of the thinkers and poets that were around towards the closing years of the Harlem Renaissance, specifically the year 1920 onwards, became infatuated with Communism similar to McKay (Smethurst) due to its revolutionary and egalitarian appeal. However, McKay, despite his love-hate relationship with America, never fully committed himself to the ideology, even going so far as to virulently criticize it a few years after the Harlem Renaissance “ended” (Smethurst). 

Why would McKay opt not to embrace radicalism, be it political or poetic, despite many of his peers deciding to do so? Fortunately, McKay answers this for us. His answer is a lot more interesting than one would expect, to say the least. Personally, this required a couple more readings before I could find McKay’s answer. 

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate,

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state

I stand within her walls with not a shred

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer

McKay stands “erect” in the face of America’s “hate”, whose “bigness” overwhelms him. Despite being overwhelmed, he “stand(s) within her walls”, unafraid of what might happen to him. McKay could have just as easily used different words to get the idea across he will stand resolute in spite of the country’s racism. Why would he eroticize this entire section of the poem? It all has to do with the love-hate relationship he has with America. Relationships between couples can get very complicated - I doubt further description is needed in that subject. McKay is using that dynamic between certain couples to describe his relationship with America. He does not like America, America does not like him. Yet they still have sex all the same, as couples generally do. The answer to why McKay rebuffed and rejected the radicalism which had influenced other artists from the Harlem Renaissance is that he, against all odds, loved the country too much - like a man loyal to his woman, or vice versa. 

After reading that part of the poem over for the third time, I was surprised I didn’t pick up on McKay’s erotic language the first time. However, after picking up on it, I encountered a new problem. “How can I use this information to discuss a protest poem?” I thought. “It’s not like eroticism has anything to do with protest... or does it?” In the span of 5 minutes, I was hit with two major “aha!” moments. First from realizing you could use eroticism in protest and second from realizing that we have been using it for quite some time. Although this might be common knowledge to some people, humor me for a few minutes. It is possible I and possibly many others, did not realize the nature of this section of the poem because of how widespread eroticism has become. 

Even beyond protest, eroticism - sex in general - has permeated society at almost every conceivable level. Eroticism, for better or worse, has been intrinsically linked with the idea of protest for decades. This is especially relevant when looking at recent events, such as Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign in 2016, as well as the protests that occurred before and after his election. Eroticism as protest has been particularly popular against Trump, due to a leaked tape which recorded him making several sexist comments, chief among them being the famous “grab her by the pussy” line. This tape, as well as a few other questionable past comments by Trump, prompted waves protests following his ascension to the Presidency in 2017. The most famous of these protests occurred on January 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration. The Women’s March, which became the single largest protest day in American history, was defined by the sheer amount of protesters, as well as the “pussyhats” worn by many of them. Although the hats are not necessarily eros in the form of protest, many of the signs employed by the protesters were sexual (sexually derogatory towards Trump to be precise) in nature - at least in Richmond. Another example was the Trump statues that popped up overnight in multiple states in August of 2018 (Snyder). These statues were designed to resemble a naked Trump, depicting him as an overweight, unhealthy, and unattractive man, with a micropenis (Snyder). 

This trend of anti-Trump, sexually-based insults and protest slogans/signs employed by protesters has increased in popularity and absurdity. While the original meaning of the protest is still present, the protest messages have degenerated into the realm of ineffectiveness and pettiness. A brief journey to one of the political hashtags on Twitter or other social media platforms is proof of that. 

While eros is not something Claude McKay should be remembered by, his use of erotic language in “America” and other poems helps shed a light on its usage in modern protest. The Greeks believed the idea of eros came from the god Eros. They recognized that eros, as an idea, was extremely powerful, divinely so. While there are certainly many ideas made, or inspired by, the ancient Greeks that are worth forgetting, perhaps their concept of eros is worth remembering. It is an immensely powerful idea, one that should be applied in the form of protest against the most worthy of opponents. In his time, McKay used these ideas to fight the racism and discrimination he and other African-Americans encountered. In our time, it was used effectively, however briefly, against Trump. While politics and discrimination are worthy subjects to use eros as protest, it is important not to overuse the idea. The key aspect of protest is the hope that change will come as a result. By using the same idea to protest, no matter how powerful that idea is, it is hypocritical and foolish to believe that any change can be made.

Works Cited:

Drayton, Arthur. "Claude Mckay's Human Pity: A Note on His Protest Poetry." Introduction to African Literature: an Anthology of Critical Writing. (1979): 86-98. Print.Smethurst, J. (February 19, 2009). 

"The Red Is East: Claude McKay and the New Black Radicalism of the Twentieth Century". American Literary History. 21 (2): 355–367. DOI:10.1093/alh/ajp011. ISSN 0896-7148.

Snyder, Chris. “Naked Donald Trump Statues Are Popping up across America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 18 Aug. 2016, https://www.businessinsider.com/naked-donald-trump-statues-video-2016-8.