#yes comedy is a commentary on society etc

[wastehound-voof]

My co-worker: "If you go to a stand up comedy show to laugh, you are a complete idiot."

Ok there, buddy.

[mha-grievances]

Ok, so I know that I constantly criticize MHA. I constantly bitch and moan about how much missed potential there are in the series, how the pacing is ass, how Hori’s comedy is atrocious, how there are many plot holes, how Katsuki is an utterly shit character, yada yada yada. The way you see me talk about MHA probably makes you think that I feel it’s the worst anime of all time.

Trust me, it’s far from the worst thing that’s out there. Like any sort of media, anime is littered with some bizarre, atrocious stuff.

Future Diaries is an anime that has cemented itself as a hugely influential aspect of pop culture, Yuno being THE character that defines the idea of a Yandere. However the series goes into batshit crazy territory that makes absolutely no sense, the MC is all kinds of shitty, and, well, shit happens just to happen.

Redo of Healer is revenge r*pe fantasy that has no well defined characters. They’re either comically fucked up or just there to contribute to the MC’s harem. Also magic sperm.

Pupa is an incest anime (yes, anime, not hentai) about a sister who needs to eat flesh to survive and a boy who can regenerate. For the sake of your sanity, I’m not going to talk about this further.

School Days goes off the rails and has perhaps some of the most unlikable characters to ever exist, including the MC himself. Meant to subvert the typical romance visual novel, things get into wtf territory fast. Honestly I constantly debate whether School Days is a masterpiece in what it does or if it falls under the same pit traps that other series that aim to “subvert expectations” does.

These series (except for perhaps School Days, still tryna figure out where I stand on it) are far worse than MHA, which is incompetent at worst.

So why do I criticize MHA rather than these series?

Well, MHA is an interesting beast. Future Diaries, Redo of Healer, and Pupa know what they are. They know that their storytelling isn’t the best. They know that they’re fantasies for perverts, people who just wanna watch something fucked up, those who like the shock factor/harem aspects, all that stuff. They don’t try to be anything more than what they are, and there’s nothing wrong with that (and by that I mean there’s nothing wrong with them not being deep. Whether the content shown might be is a different topic all together). MHA is a series that tries to offer commentary on the real world and wants us to take it seriously, but there are barriers that stop this from happening. Whether it’s Hori failing to allow his MC to breathe which makes things feel angsty for the sake of it, his failure to tackle the themes in a meaningful and non-hypocritical manner, his “comedy”, missed potential that he doesn’t capitalize on or cares to, the creation of characters meant to embody certain themes but fail at doing so (Katsuki, Shota, etc.), fake tension that goes nowhere, or Hori springing shit at the last minute to up the stakes but only makes people scratch their heads. MHA is a series that, despite it being a colorful world of superheroes and having a charming set of characters, is meant to serve as a criticism of society and a dive into what it means to be a hero. Sadly it fails to do this accurately. I can meme and shit on Pupa, Future Diaries, and Redo of Healer, but besides edgy 12 year olds on YouTube who think they’re philosophers, everyone will pretty much agree that these anime aren’t good. Even the fans will agree. Wildly entertaining as fuck, yes, but not good, and they weren’t designed to be good or thought provoking. They were designed to appeal to a certain demographic and keep them entertained as they turn their brains off. MHA however demands that we use our brains, to analyze the material that’s being shown and to question ourselves, but it sabotages its themes at numerous points and that’s what makes MHA the subject of my analysis. It’s a series that ultimately fails at what it’s trying to do, and what it’s trying to do is pretty big. Take Katsuki for example. MHA is constantly shoving down my throat that Katsuki is a good person and that he’s worthy of being a hero, but it does it in an obnoxious way and constantly contradicts itself with Katsuki’s actions. Meanwhile the other anime I mentioned don’t bother propping their characters like the second coming of Christ, some even embracing the fact that a character is shitty, and if they do try shoving down my throat a character is good, it’s done in such a laughably bad way that it’s far more funny than it is annoying.

To me it’s interesting HOW MHA manages to fail at what it’s trying to do and it serves as an example of what works and doesn’t work when writing a similar series. In MHA what works really works and shows that there is immense potential in MHA to be something amazing, further proven by the fact that some of the characters and some of the arcs are well written. However what doesn’t work really reduces the quality of the series and makes you wonder how one writer can understand the assignment in some instances and completely bomb it in others (especially in key moments where the writer is meant to give it their all and showcase WHY their series is so popular and WHY they chose to write this series and about certain topics rather than do something else).

So yeah, if you wonder why this blog was made, and why MHA over everything else, now you know 😂.

[meanypunches]

My current fascination with folklore and its relationship to modern global society demands I add my review of An American Werewolf in London, which skillfully marries the conflict between the world of the country ‘folk’ and the slick yet naive modern world of the urban citizenry, ripe for the slaughter. I do wonder though, if it was that easy to slay the beast, why didn’t the ‘folk’ take action *before* the city dwellers started mucking about after dark? Were the folk more afraid of the social awkwardness in revealing the embarrassing truth behind their superstitions than of the werewolf itself? As in Fincher’s exposition in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, perhaps the fear of social embarrassment is worse than the fear of pain— the killer in that David Fincher film asks his helpless victim: “Why don’t people trust their instincts? They sense something is wrong. Someone is walking too close behind them. You knew something was wrong. But you came back into the house. Did I force you? Did I drag you in? No. All I had to do was offer you a drink. It’s hard to believe that fear of offending can be stronger than the fear of pain, but you know what? It is . . .” – perhaps worth thinking about in the context of modern society and its relationship with folk horror. Surprisingly, in DVD commentary, Director John Landis describes his real life experience with the ‘folk’ as the inspiration for this modern horror-comedy masterpiece. My review below:

Over the moon, a bloody moon

An American Werewolf in London presses all the buttons for me. I hadn’t watched it in awhile and I forgot how wild the ending gets. Yes I suppose by today’s standards some of the gore is not all that and the creature once fully in action lacks the CGI full ambulatory range of motion we expect these days. Still it is an amazing piece that strikes to the core of humanity. The Nazi werewolves are like the work of a crazed madman but ironically enough, historically they called Nazis who resisted the Allied victory and refused to surrender ’werewolves’. And then the horrific synchronicity of the director’s career flame out due to his apparently cavalier attitude to child labor laws and safety on the set. On the DVD there is an interview with Landis talking about how he got the idea for this screenplay working on the location for the film Kelly’s Heroes with all those wild stars like Telly Savalas and Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland etc. a wild time he must have had. A bunch of cowboys in that film. During the shoot Landis witnessed a Yugoslav folk burial at a crossroads, he says in the interview, and saw them wrap the body in garlic and bury it feet first standing up in the ground to prevent the corpse rising as a vampire. This is heavy. And then what happened on the Twilight Zone shoot Landis almost went to jail for that gross disaster with that helicopter crash. A strange curse almost. And then you watch the ending of this movie. No I won’t spoil it (is that even possible?) but just mention briefly the flavor, the 70s vibe here, so magical. No cell phones to bother us. All night shows in Piccadilly Circus. A discussion with ghosts inside the porn theater. This movie is a rich feast of death, and so over the moon, a bloody moon.

[061890]

Asougi and Naruhodou’s speeches and localization

A while back when the Great Ace Attorney was first released, I made a post on my DGS Twitter on some… Not great localization changes made in the first Escapade in the game's DLC. Namely, the topic of Asougi's speech.

In the Dai Gyakuten Saiban subtitles channel's translation of the DLC, Asougi's speech excerpt is this:

"Now's the time to make a stand! All you young and elderly, gentlemen and ladyfolk of the downtrodden classes!"

In Japanese: 「さあ！ 今こそ立ち上がれ！ 低所得者層の老若男女よ!」

While the translation uses the phrase "downtrodden classes", the original text uses  「低所得者層」 specifically, referring to low-income working class people. This is relevant due to the fact that, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rapid modernization and changes in Japanese labor relations led to the mistreatment of the working class. The emphasis on social harmony, along with censorship and restricting the right to assembly (which would later become criminalized in 1900), made it difficult to organize labor strikes.

And yes, while this DLC episode was very much a slice-of-life thing compared to the rest of the Great Ace Attorney, the original topics of both Asougi and Naruhodou's speeches are very informative of their characters and political views; Asougi especially, which makes the changes made in the localization even more confusing.

See, at the time, rapid industrialization was done in order to bolster the military, as the government believed back then that doing so was necessary at the threat of European imperialism; however, as real-life history shows, this directly led to Japan doing irreparable damage in its own imperialist conquest.

So, for Asougi to have given a speech explicitly in support of low-income working class people was not just him being anti-capitalist, it also very much had to do with him being anti-militarist and anti-imperialist as well. 

Him planning to say 「老若男女」 ("men and women of all ages")  —specifically, him mentioning women of low-income in the working class— also references how labor relations for female workers in the textile industry were mostly girls from poor families that worked in wealthy households in preparation for marriage. Similarly, Asougi acknowledging workers of all ages references how at the time, Japanese labor unions were more inclusive than that of the United States', as apprentices could join regardless of age and skill level. 

Kazuma Asougi is, to the surprise of few, an incredibly political person. In fact, his actions here and generally recalcitrant treatment of authority figures, parallel left-wing socialist views at the time:

"One ideological faction [of the early labor leaders] favored discussion and cooperation with management, avoided strikes and political issues, and tried to win higher wages through improved productivity. These were moderates who favored harmony between labor and capital. The other major faction favored confrontation with management, thrived on political issues, and embraced the strike weapon. These were the left-wing socialists." — The Birth of the Japanese Labor Movement by Stephen E. Marsland

Even the year wherein he gave his speech, namely, the summer of 1897 is relevant to Japan's labor movement and how Asougi's character is rooted in exploitation by Western powers. This is because in April of 1897, Takano Fusataro, a Japanese labor activist, wrote "A Summons to the Workers", calling for the workers of Japan to organize at the threat of being exploited by foreign capitalist powers. Asougi's speech even parallels some of it, but notably, advocates for confrontation now while Fusataro discouraged revolution and radicalization, instead advocating for gradual change.

From "A Summons to the Workers":

「立て職工諸君、立つて組合を組織し、以てその重大なる責務とそのの男子たる面目を保つを務めよ。」

"Stand up, you workers! Stand up and organize unions!"

Asougi's speech:

「さあ！ 今こそ立ち上がれ！ 低所得者層の老若男女よ!」

"Now's the time to make a stand! All you young and elderly, gentlemen and ladyfolk of the downtrodden classes!"

Note: Fusataro references men due to "Summons" being directed towards factory workers at the time, but Asougi's speech generally references workers of all ages due to having a different audience.

In sharp contrast, Naruhodou's speech is about filial piety:

"Let's all cherish our mothers and fathers!"

Asougi losing all support for what was considered a very gutsy and controversial speech when he made a single slip-up —that being the infamous tongue twister— where Naruhodou wins for a very simple, even boring, speech tells us a lot about how they're seen by society. 

Asougi in canon is considered arrogant and annoying by multiple authority figures —namely, Auchi— because he's outspoken about current events and politics; and while being 23 years old is very much an adult by our standards, in Meiji era Japan, one couldn't vote unless they were male, over the age of 25, and paid taxes of at least 15 yen per year. This was something that mainly landowners and ex-samurai could do.

Naruhodou, on the other hand, is initially a typical Japanese young man that conforms to the status quo. He dislikes going against his parents' wishes, and as his speech shows, advocates for an idea that's the standard in Japanese society. He's also notably apolitical, as originally, when he claims he and Asougi talked about politics over lunch, Asougi corrects him stating he only ever talked about comedy theatre.

Note: While Naruhodou uses the term 「愛国」 (あいこく, lit. love of one's country, basically patriotism) when talking about he and Asougi's "debates", from literally everything we know about Asougi's political views, I seriously doubt Asougi was being patriotic when he criticizes the government as often as he does. That, and the fact that Naruhodou is already a very unreliable narrator and doesn’t even remember what actually happened.

Similarly, in the Japan-only DLC episode for Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2, he chides Naruhodou for not keeping up with current events:

Asougi: "It sounds like you haven't been reading the papers, Naruhodou." 

Naruhodou: "N-No, not so much lately..."

Asougi: [...] "Defence attorneys didn't exist in our country until only recently. Our reputations are still as low as mud, being called shysters who make underhanded deals. It's stuff like this which makes us have to claw back the people's trust. You should read at least this much, Naruhodou."

Naruhodou: "Urghhh… Newspapers are too complicated…"

Now, to return to the topic of the Great Ace Attorney, Asougi in the localization instead gives this speech:

Asougi: "So arise, ladies and gentlemen, and applaud our forefathers' plight and the fight for filial piety!"

...Thus, making him losing to Naruhodou a matter of skill and verbal articulation rather than that of politics. While again, yes, the DLC episodes are very much just extra content, the fact of the localization changing this not only weakens Asougi's character due to him being a very political person, but goes directly against his character.

After all, his original speech was a call to action for laborers in a time where labor relations were based in a parent-child (oyataka and kokata) dynamic for employers and employees respectively. To have him say that when he originally challenged this authority is just plain wrong, especially when Japanese society expects one to defer to their elders and authority.

Not only that, but Asougi's motivations for traveling to London had to do with how he and his immediate family were killed or harmed because of the Professor ordeal. He makes no mention of being obligated by his family name, even when he tells Naruhodou and Susato about them, nor the idea of clearing Genshin's name of wrongdoing. After all, while Genshin supposedly being the Professor was concealed from the public, it still would have brought him and his family shame in the wider Asougi family as a result.

While the Great Ace Attorney being localized certainly brings many great things —accessibility, directors' commentary, etc.— to the Ace Attorney's audience, it has several flaws in its localization, and this speech thing is just one of them; one particularly egregious example being Megundal being made Irish in a time where they were racially discriminated against, not to mention the antisemitism in DGS1-3, but that's a post for another day. 

In the meantime, I can only wonder why this change was made to a character whose story is inherently rooted in questioning authority, and speaking out regarding Japanese politics and current events at the time.

[juiceboxman]

Watching Bo Burnham’s recent special I keep thinking about his concerns about comedy and its place within society. Dedicating a whole song to like the moral implications of making jokes during a troubling world event such as an international pandemic. He ends up coming to a (what he would call) a flawed conclusion by “healing the world through comedy” which justifies the special he is creating.

I think Bo’s concerns and his whole meta-commentary on the meaning and use of comedy is like a side effect of an American cultural thing where like artists- be they movie stars, broadway stars, painters, singers etc- feel the need to justify their career by hyping up their influence on the culture.

I don’t necessarily know if this is unique to and only effects America, but from what I have seen it seems to be an American thing. Whereas say in Britain there’s kind of like a general understanding among most people that while the arts are good, they’re not the most important thing in the world. I remember watching this British comedy panel show one time called 8 out of 10 cats and they had an American guest on. They commended the comedians on the show and talked about how important their work is to the society and culture. The host, a tad confused and concerned, simply said “yeah, but I think nurses do a lot more than me.”

I think the ethics of comedy, especially in the digital era, has gotten way fuzzier as well. Like remember when the Russian Ambassador of Turkey was assassinated in 2016? People memed that IN REAL TIME! It’s like the old saying “comedy is tragedy plus time” but the time is now.

I don’t necessarily see anything wrong about making jokes during the pandemic- my only gripe would be if those jokes were spreading misinformation or trying to normalize the idea that the pandemic was fake. I think those jokes would be harmful, but Bo never made those jokes and he has no intention of making those jokes- only trying to make music that expresses his concerns and personal issues in a world that is often times very difficult to live in.

I don’t think comedy will “heal the world” but like it gives brevity to a situation and helps people enjoy life. In my case media and comedy in particular helped me get through the pandemic- but also a lot of other things such as having healthy habits and routines and socialising with other people so don’t rely to have on media as it can lead to some negative parasocial beliefs.

In the end I think a lot of Bo’s issues, particularly with the special, was trying to justify art. In my experiences Art doesn’t necessarily need a profound societal impact to be worthy. Art is simply a medium of expression, our hunter gatherer ancestors didn’t play drums “for the culture” they done t for the sick beats. Art doesn’t have to change the world, it just needs to express an experience or an emotion- something people can relate to. Good art expresses that experience with precision and accuracy, bad art expresses that experience poorly, ignorantly and lazily. Art doesn’t need an audience to be valid, it can just be a drawing you sketch on a sunday afternoon and lock in a drawer some where or it could be poetry that you write for yourself to sooth the heart. Creating art shouldn't be about pursuing acclaim or success, but about expressing yourself and your experiences and potentially showing this art to people would build a connection with people who would see it and say “yes, I resonate with this experience” or “no, I don’t resonate with this experience”

Anyway, I liked Bo’s special. I’ve dealt with a lot of mental health issues in my life so I really vibed with Bo’s work

[hirakdesherrani]

Scattered thoughts on Bulbbul 

(spoilers ahead)

Finally watched Bulbbul yesterday night, with my bff. We thought we needed each other’s support because we are phattus of the highest order, but there wasn’t much horror in it (as we found out later). 

Which brings me to the first thing, the trailer. Whoever edited the trailer did a splendid job, because it gave very little clue what the movie was about. I thought it was something like Stree, using horror to give a social message, just instead of comedy in that movie, this was more drama?

The movie, however, had very little horror/thrill. While the movie is one of Netflix’s better online products, it isn’t...great. Like it’s very on the surface. There are not many layers to the characters, neither is there a lot of subtext. Still, the pace is good, and the storytelling engaging. Hindi cinema, theatre or OTT, are very new in this genre, so I don’t want to be too severe here.

Things that I liked:

Tripti Dimri....omg what a revelation. Laila Majnu didn’t let us on how versatile this girl is. In the first few frames, me and my friend were commenting that why is she only sitting around, posing like a mermaid? But then with the flashbacks, her raw performance really took hold. The scene where they are sitting at a picnic and Mahendra pulls at her hair, the way she said, “Dada, na” slightly scared, but also not wanting to hurt his feelings (btw I’m very anti-Mahendra in this post), that was so well done. From there on, she owns every scene, that you can’t look anywhere else. Whether it’s the mix of annoyance and impatience when she wants to meet Satya but Binodini is taunting her, or whether it’s the scene where Indranil informs her and Satya that he’s sending the latter to London, she was so natural. Special mention to the two scenes of violence esp. the sexual assault one, because it takes a lot of guts to portray the victim in such scenes, and the scene was so difficult to watch, that we forwarded after a few seconds of it. 

That reminds me, from the moment the two brothers Indranil and Mahendra enter the frame, I knew what was going to happen, and which brother was going to perpetrate which abuse. The writing was on the nose, so to speak, with these two particular characters. Even so, Rahul Bose did the best that he could with them, but we have come to expect perfect performances when it comes to him, so not surprised here. 

The third brother, Satya, was what I would say the most layered character in this movie, surprisingly. Initially, I didn’t get why did they cast Avinash Tiwary for this role, because it wasn’t either a substantial role, or even a positive or negative or supportive role. I even thought the makers tried to cash on the Laila Majnu hangover, and hyped Bulbbul/Satya love story in the trailer. Unlike Bulbbul who loved Satya, I don’t think Satya loved Bulbbul, at least not like she did. Sure, he thought of her as his best friend, confidante, and all, but he didn’t care for her like that. It was evident when he was enamored by the idea of going to London, and didn’t notice Bulbbul’s voice breaking when Indranil informed them of the news. 

Halfway done with the film, I had made up my mind that Avinash is good with unrestrained roles like Qais, where he can completely let go, but not in subtle roles requiring controlled performances. What changed my mind was my growing dislike for Satya as the movie kept progressing. I kept thinking why does he annoy me so much, like he’s only there in a few scenes, and yet I want to snap at him? That’s when I realized how well the writers have written Satya, captured his mentality and vision, and without any overt or dramatic scenes, Avinash essayed the writer’s message.

Satya is proxy for the society in this film. He hears no evil, he sees no evil, just like our society which likes to pretend that there is nothing wrong going on behind closed doors. Satya is representative of those men, who argue whenever a woman raises her voice, that ‘not all men’ (ala that scene where Bullbul alludes to Master Dinkar beating his wife, while Satya defends the man by suggesting that his wife may have actually fallen down the stairs). In the scene where he meets Bulbbul after five years, he questions her what did she do that girl he knew five years ago, indirectly putting the blame on Bullbul for losing her childlike innocence, instead of asking her what happened to her that she became like this. Satya is classic ‘not all men’, victim-blaming abuse apologist in the film. Evil men are not just men like Indranil, who beat up their wives, or sexual assaulters like Mahendra, evil men are also those who stand by and watch, and pretend that nothing is going on, who put the onus on the woman for the upkeep of tradition, who question a woman’s morality and who act as the judge, jury and executioner of a woman’s character. Bulbbul’s dialogue is telling, “Tum sab ek jaise ho” Satya is no different from his brothers, he may not have committed and violence, but he was just as much a villain as the rest of them for willfully ignoring the evidence of his eyes. I haven’t made up my mind whether he was actually jealous of Dr. Sudip or not, or he just hated the man for being too bold to be friendly with the ‘women of his family’.

Which brings me to Dr. Sudip, the only likable man in this film. Even though at some level it is a little sad to see Parambrata Chatterjee slotted into these male guide/support to the female protagonist kind of roles (his role in Kahaani was something similar), I really do like watching him in these roles, playing them as he does with a lot of charm, subtlety, and empathy. The makers perhaps wanted to signify that there are a few men who are not completely evil, and not afraid or feel threatened in the presence of a assertive, and this case, avenging female. It’s his relationship with Bulbbul which I felt was the real love story of the film, though of course, Bulbbul didn’t harbor the same feelings for him, though she did care for him immensely. 

The other female role was that of Binodini. I know I should be feeling sympathy for her, at some level, she was also taught to keep quiet and bear all injustice, but I’m so tired of females taking out their bitterness on other females, making the lives of other women miserable, instead of directing them, rightfully, at the men in their lives and the dictates of the society. Binodini, like Satya, was a proxy for the women in the society who instead of being supportive of other women do the opposite, and help perpetuate patriarchy by teaching their fellow women to keep quiet. 

Another minor thing, like I mentioned before, from the first scene it’s evident what Mahendra’s going to do. And I wish to God that we stop with mentally ill men assaulting women. No, their mental condition does not excuse rape. Mental illness can provoke violence in a person, yes, killing accidentally or in a fit of rage, beating, pulling clothes, etc, but not rape. Rape is a specific offense that requires knowledge and intent, unless a mentally ill person has learnt it from somewhere, and even then, the fact that they drew pleasure from that violence shows that they have a sadistic instinct. Which is why I was glad when Mahendra was punished for his crime. (this is why I didn’t watch Ranjha Ranjha Kardi despite liking Iqra, because I knew they were going to excuse marital rape using mental illness). 

As such, there isn’t much of a plot per se in Bulbbul, it’s more of a commentary of our society, even though it’s set a century back, the issue of it’s choice being violence against women. Despite that, it’s an engaging enough film. It get’s through the message that the real horrors are not ghosts or witches, but what happens daily in our society. The length of the film is a huge plus, so I would suggest watching this film if you’ve some free time in the weekend. 

Also, don’t get fooled like me and my friend, it’s not horror genre. 

[amarguerite]

'What happened to make all the 50s musicians so schmatlzy' probably ww2

lmao yes i know... sorry i should have tagged that post “tongue in cheek” or “sarcasm” or added a winky face or something

(ETA: i have now done so)

i am very aware that the slide-this-by-the censor sarcasm, sex, and social commentary of the 30s was a continuation of the racier tone of entertainment in the 20s, heaped with a big dose of escapism because of the Great Depression, and that the lack of a coherent book for most musicals is because the musical and the musical revue (i.e. just a bunch of the composer’s songs presented in no particular order but to great spectacle) were much closer in the public mind than they are now. 

And I am aware that the 40s was the end of this particular era, as national taste shifted away from escapism to an arguably equally fictional version of America to rally the country round and to fit the prevailing ethos of “America: We Fight For Freedom.” Then too, vaudeville died out. There was a cultural shift in making musicals less like revues and no-longer-popular vaudeville acts and more like operas. 

The 50s version of the fantasy sold in musical theatre was a largely heteronormative and exclusionary one that rejected the more moxie-driven femininity and loosening of gender roles in the 20s/30s as a reaction against the flood of women in the workplace in the 40s and the more mixed society of the army with its various minority regiments, and the standard cyclical shifting of national taste. The previous generation’s liberalism was replaced with a more conservative approach. Then big-budget art in the 50s was pushed further right by the Red Scare and the effect of the House Committee of Un-American Activities on Hollywood. You didn’t want to be labeled a communist and have your career and your studio tanked. You pledged allegiance and you sang about how much you enjoyed waiting for men to come find you. 

Like, I do know that American musicals-- as big budget entertainment-- often play to the middle of the road to be safe and earn back money for their investors, and to do so they tend to reflect the prevailing ethos of America in any given historical moment. Take a look at Cole Porter’s two biggest musicals: Anything Goes in the 30s, and Kiss Me, Kate in 1948, film version in 1943. The first is a screwball comedy mocking all the tropes popular in the late 20s/ early 30s: mobsters, the veneration of people for being famous even if they were actual murderers, revival meetings, luxurious cruise ship travel, etc. The second is a more standard Hayes Code era “comedy of remarriage,” i.e. a romance where a divorced couple get back together (divorced because they can’t imply the two main characters have had sex outside of marriage, and because a divorced couple getting back together reifies the value of marriage as a social institution that shouldn’t be dissolved), overlaid with one of Shakespeare’s most misogynistic plays. It’s a comedy, but it’s played straight. No tongues are in cheeks. 

[deltaengineering]

Spring Anime 2020 Part 1: united states of whatever

BNA: Brand New Animal

So after Beastars wasn’t all that (feel free to tell me how wrong I am about everything ever, because I don’t already know this), Trigger is now taking a shot at the lucrative “Furries are a great metaphor for... society shit or whatever, I don’t know” market. It’s no surprise that it looks good; Trigger’s animation style is as easy on the eyes as ever and they brought in some of the Ａ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｔ Ｉ Ｃ from Promare. Expect CGA palette 1 in here. Of course, it’s not Imaishi, so it won’t annoy the pants off you in seconds. Usually that’s a cause for celebration but keep in mind that this is Yoh Yoshinari instead, and Little Witch Academia TV did nothing to change my impression that a Trigger writer is the janitor mopping up after the animation bros are done partying. The first episode of BNA in particular is just as vapid as expected, but they helpfully released more and it does improve somewhat, with more effort put into the worldbuilding and characters than none at all and even a few attempts to intentionally subvert the lameness. There’s still issues; Michiru is just the goofy and dim Trigger main girl again and aloof loner Shirou is either extremely someone’s wolf fursona or an uncommonly stealthy pisstake on someone’s wolf fursona. The social commentary is very “I see what you did there” and there remain some doubts on the long-term viability of any Trigger endeavor. So, is it good enough to watch? I dunno, to be honest. More like it’s not bad enough to not watch. Thanks, Trigger.

Hachi-nan tte, Sore wa Nai deshou!

Oh boy, it’s the isekai light novel again, and expectations are so low that I’m positively surprised when I’m merely bored while watching it. Hachi-nan is one of those isekai things where the isekai is more or less perfunctory: regular dude gets reborn with complementary hax magic in ye olde kyngdomme of fantasy, whoop. A plus is that he’s put in a disadvantageous position and has to work for his power fantasy, i.e. he isn’t starting with an instaharem etc. - or rather, he does, but it’s a brief flashforward that seems mostly there to assure the viewer that they’re not watching anything good by mistake. And even that is not egregious, to be fair. It’s so “not even all that bad” that I’m wondering who’s supposed to watch this: People like me will never give it the time of the day with its tired gimmick and very unimpressive production, and people who start “lookin 4 ainme w/op mc” recommendations threads on reddit won’t get anything out of it either. How very curious.

Kakushigoto

I can only assume Kouji Kumeta (of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei fame) has a daughter now, and like all new dads he just can’t stop telling people how cute she is. Case in point: This manga, which is about a mangaka keeping his manga-drawing exploits secret from his very adorable daughter and that’s the joke. The character design is obviously very Kumeta, and so is the ceaseless discharge of puns, plus Ajia-do even put some light SHAFT touches on the adaptation. However, SZS’ semi-smart bickering is just replaced with very basic panic manzai antics here. You can even tell Kumeta is a good comedy writer, since the stories are fairly elaborate, introduce elements, go somewhere else and bring them back, and it’s all very technically solid - but that doesn’t change the fact that the punchline is lame and predictable. It’s like David Mamet writing a fart joke, you can admire the craft but at the end of the day, it’s still a fart joke. Adding to that is that I’ve grown rather tired of SZS over the course of its endless run, and this isn’t even as good as SZS. Maybe worth getting back to when we’re 30 volumes in and Kumeta reveals the daughter never really existed in the first place.

Tamayomi

I don’t know if you noticed this, but in baseball, there’s a pretty close relationship between pitcher and catcher. We’ve seen the BL version of this in Battery, and now someone’s doing it with girls, in Kirara no less. Even the name is Tama + Yomi, you know, like Haru + Kana (Receive). So far so good, only this is about baseball, the most boring team sport you’re ever likely to see an anime about, and Yomi’s special power is an unhittable pitch - which means that if everything goes right for our heroes, the game is even more boring. Some hackneyed tragic backstory about how only your waifu can catch your bomb-ass pitch doesn’t help. Being very dull isn’t even the worst problem here though. Tamayomi is adapted by Studio A-Cat (of Frame Arms Girl and Amazing Stranger “fame”), and they manage to make it look like episode 7 of a 2004-vintage DEEN production. Bad animation, dusty character designs, off-model shots, it’s all there, and this is the best-looking episode this show is ever likely to get. Ouch.

Tower of God

Crunchyroll is producing anime now, and I’m sure they know better than most people what sells. The answer is “Jump Shounen”, which is something I also knew, but whatever. Of course Jump doesn’t let them anywhere near their properties so they got the next big thing: An immensely popular Korean webtoon people unironically describe as “like One Piece” while thinking that that’s praise. And then it isn’t even like One Piece much, apart from where it’s about having fights to get to the thing (eventually). What it seems to be is the fighting shounen in the abstract: No “pirates” or “ninjas” or “shinigami” or other “setting” excuses here, the tower is just a whole bunch of fights stacked on top of each other and some shounen characters dropped in to excrete Jump-brand baby dialog. I guess that’s what fans of the genre are looking for. It isn’t much of a production either, the best I can say about it is that it’s colorful and has some really good music by Kevin Penkin. The animation is just functional and of course without a setting it doesn’t have any unifying aesthetic either. But the real decider is this: I thought the pacing was sluggish and interminable, and then I find out that fans of the source material think it’s rushing through it at a breakneck pace. This is likely going to be outrageously popular, so I will never struggle to find out what did or didn’t happen in the latest episode and can safely skip it.

[sammy8d257]

Masterlist For Object Head Media

LAST UPDATED: April 1st, 2020

Google Doc: HERE

Welcome! Ever wanted to find out if there’s any types of media that feature Object Head characters that aren’t just one-off or background characters?

Well you’ve come to the right place!

Here I hope to create a comprehensible list of all types of media that contain Object Headed characters!

But I’m only one person who doesn’t know every piece of Object Head media out there

SO IF YOU have a suggestion for a piece of media that would fit on this list

Send me a message through my Tumblr @sammy8d257 ​  

or on Twitter under the same name

With your help, I hope this list becomes very long with all sorts of amazing Object Head media!

Other than that, have fun exploring to your heart's content!

- Sammy

(List under “Keep Reading”)

Comics/Webcomics:

Saga - written by Brian Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples

Gene: Space/fantasy

Rating: M+

Language: English

Status: 54 issues, On Hiatus (as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Physical Comic

Description: Saga is an epic science-fiction/fantasy drama about two lovers from long-warring extraterrestrial races, Alana and Marko, fleeing from authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their daughter, Hazel.

Object Heads: TV Heads, in Saga there is a whole race known as Robots Kingdom that are made entirely TV Headed characters.

Character Status: The object head characters turns from side to supporting character in the main cast

Warnings: Nudity, Sex, Death, Violence, its a war setting, blood, drugs, etc.

MyStereoBot - by bioatomic

Gene: Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy

Rating: M

Language: English

Status: 537 pages + 24 page Epilogue, Completed on 6/6/2017

Read On: Smackjeeves or Tapas

Description: Infinity, a stereo head robot, finds himself conflicted with his worth as a person, as a partner, and as a friend. Having trouble with feeling at home on Planet Ribbon and finding happiness, his boyfriend, Cloudburn, and his cousin, Ohm, do the best they can to help him feel worthy. Things seem to go downhill when Quence, a new friend, worries Cloudburn about Infinity’s motives towards him. That is, until an outer-worldly encounter changes all of their lives, for better or for worse, and may just show Infinity what home really is.

Object Heads: Stereo heads, radio heads, tv heads, box heads, etc. There's a lot of different Object heads in this comic

Character Status: Main characters and other side characters are object heads

Warnings: Swearing, partial nudity, drugs

Notes: You can find more information on Tumblr - @mystereobot

Sebastian - by Amanda Heard

Gene: Slice-of-Life, Romantic, Comedy

Rating: pg-13 to M

Language: English

Status: On-going, 80+ pages (as of 4/1/2020), Updates Tuesdays and Thursdays

Read On: http://www.sebastiancomic.com/, Tumblr: https://sebastiancomic.tumblr.com/ or @sebastiancomic

Description: Sebastian is about a pessimistic thief and a happy-go-lucky dork finding each other through unexpected circumstances and learning about forgiveness, love, and loss. Also CRIME!

Object Heads: Pumpkin Heads

Character Status: Main characters are object heads

Warnings: Swearing

Notes: Created by @batberryboo on Tumblr

The Property of Hate - by Sarah Jolley

Gene: Fantasy/Adventure

Rating: Pg 13

Language: English, translations in French, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, Breton, Brazilian, Tagalog, German, Chinese, Swedish, Spanish, Esperanto, Latin, Korean, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, Czech

Status: On-going, 400+ pages(as of 4/1/2020), Updates Sundays

Read On: http://jolleycomics.com/, Smackjeeves

Description: When offered a chance to be a hero by a strange figure with a TV for a head, a young girl is whisked away to a whimsical land in desperate need of a hero. This journey will take them across the lands where emotions manifest into physical forms and the inanimate becomes animate.

Object Heads: Tv Head, Radio Head, etc.

Character Status: One of the main characters and a few secondary characters are object heads

Warnings: None

Notes: Created by @modmad ​ on Tumblr

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn - by Tri Vuong

Gene: Fantasy, slight horror

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 100 Chapters, Completed on 5/21/2019(maybe on Hiatus?)(as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Webtoons

Description: Follow the journey of the world's greatest paranormal investigator - Oscar Zahn. Friend to lost souls, enemy of evil, he may lack a body but that doesn't mean he's missing a heart!

Object Heads: Skull Head

Character Status: Main character is an object head

Warnings: Some disturbing imagery

Robot Dream - by Robot Dream, written down by Paulie Godbout, illustrated by Sandra Grygier

Gene: Action, Drama

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: On-Going, 70+ pages (as of 4/1/2020) No Solid Update schedule

Read On: https://www.robotdream.com/mystory (up until page 73), Tapas (up until page 70)

Description: When a lonely human-robot-hybrid refuses to live a life of seclusion, he discovers a community of outcasts in the world of electronic music. But, when he begins creating his own remixes, and discovers they somehow have the power to heal broken hearts and minds, he must learn that revealing who you truly are comes at a price before he is captured by the people who “created” him.

Object Heads: TV Head

Character Status: Main Character

Warnings: References to manipulation and abuse

Notes: You can also read it on Webtoon under the same name but it is only up to page 32

Third Shift Society - by Meredith Moriarty

Gene: Supernatural, Adventure

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 24 Episodes, On Hiatus(as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Webtoon

Description: Life’s funny. One minute you're jobless, deep in debt and on the verge of eviction; the next you’re in a fight with a monster and getting a job working for a Paranormal Detective with the head of a Jack-o-Lantern. It’s an age-old story. Now the financially-challenged Ellie (who’s just discovered she has strong psychic powers) and her Pumpkin-headed boss Ichabod have to team up and fight the things that go bump in the night.

Object Heads: Pumpkin Head

Character Status: Secondary Main Character

Warnings: None

Notes: Created by @meredithmoriarty ​ on Tumblr

Rice Boy - by Evan Dahm

Gene: Surreal fantasy, Adventure

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 439 pages, Completed as of 2008,

Read On: http://www.rice-boy.com/see/, or on Soft/Hardcover Graphic Novels,

Description: Rice Boy is a simple creature torn from his mundane life by an immortal “machine man” called The One Electronic, who suspects that Rice Boy may fulfill an ancient prophecy. Now tasked with trying to fulfill a prophecy he did not choose, Rice Boy must explore the vast, fantastical, and surreal world of Overside and encounter the dangers that it hides.

Object Heads: Circular TV Head

Character Status: Secondary Main Character

Warnings: Chapter 19 contains one page of suggestive incest, Slightly disturbing imagery, violence, drug use

Notes: Dahm also runs a Rerun blog of Rice Boy where he does commentary on the pages as he posts them on Tumblr: @riceboycomic ​

Film/Shows/Anime:

FLCL (also known as Fooly Cooly) - written by Yōji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki

Studio: Gainax

Gene: Comedy, drama

Style: 2D Animation

Rating: PG 13

Language: Japanese, with an English sub and Dub

Status: 1 season(6 episodes), Completed as of 2001

Description:  A boy's humdrum life turns upside-down when he encounters a maniacal girl who causes strange things to grow out of his forehead and draws him into conflict with a mysterious, otherworldly organization.

Object Heads: TV Head Robot

Character Status: Side Main Character

Warnings: Sexual innuendos

Notes: There are 2 more seasons of FLCL known as FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative, I haven’t watched them but I don’t believe there are any object head robots in them

The Amazing World of Gumball - created by Ben Bocquelet

Premiered on: Cartoon Network

Gene: slice of life, comedy

Style: Mixed Media Animation

Rating: PG

Language: English,

Status: 6 seasons(240 episodes) + a 6 episode miniseries, Completed as of December 2019

Description: The series revolves around the misadventures of blue cat Gumball Watterson and his adopted goldfish brother and best friend, Darwin. Together they spread mischief across the weird and wacky city of Elmore.

Object Heads: Bomb Head, Boombox head, whatever rob was

Character Status: Secondary and background characters

Warnings: None

Notes: This one really shouldn’t be on the list but I added it because I literally could not think of another show or film that has Object Head characters

Video Games:

Cuphead by StudioMDHR

Gene: Classic Run and Gun

Style: 2D Handpainted Visuals

Rating: E

Language: English

Released: 9/29/2017, DLC (coming soon 2020)

Playable On: Steam, Xbox, Windows 10, Mac, Nintendo Switch

Price: $19.99

Description: Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.

Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil!

Object Heads: Cup Heads, Apple Head, Dice Head, Fork Head, etc.

Character Status: Playable Main Characters, some secondary characters, and some of the Bosses

Warnings: Cartoony violence

BattleBlock Theater by The Behemoth

Gene: Platforming, comedy

Style: 2D Graphics

Rating: E

Language: English

Released: Xbox Live-4/3/2013, Steam- 5/15/2014,

Playable On: Steam, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Macintosh operating system

Price: $14.99

Description: Shipwrecked. Captured. Betrayed. Forced to perform for an audience of cats? Yes, all that and more when you unlock BattleBlock Theater! There’s no turning back once you've started on your quest to free over 300 of your imprisoned friends from evil technological cats. Immerse yourself in this mind bending tale of treachery as you use your arsenal of weapon-tools to battle your way through hundreds of levels in order to discover the puzzling truth behind BattleBlock Theater.

If solo acts aren't your style, go online or bring a buddy couch-side to play a thoroughly co-optimized quest or enter the arenas. The game also includes a level editor so you can craft your own mind bending trials!

Object Heads: Heads are customizable but the main game gives you many heads to choose from. Block heads, Shape Heads

Character Status: Playable Characters

Warnings: Cartoony violence, crude humor

Pumpkin Noir by PumpkinNoirDev

Gene: RPG Adventure

Style: Pixel Graphics, RPGMaker

Rating: E

Language: English

Status: Demo as of 6/19/2017

Play On: PC, demo link - https://rpgmaker.net/games/9817/

Price: Not available

Description: Stop, Drop, Noir!

Perched on the precipice of endless void-- a single seedy city. Detectives “Smoke & Fire” Rem and Wednesday face a puzzling situation as the curtain lifts on Halloween night. Go broke, or investigate a rollickingly risky mafia mystery? The answer is clear.

Search for the void’s greatest criminal minds, uncover the shocking secrets of the underworld!

Object Heads: Pumpkin Head

Character Status: Main Character

Warnings: None

Notes: This game is still under development, for more information visit the dev’s blog- https://pumpkin-noir.tumblr.com/ or @pumpkin-noir ​

Other:

Object Head Zine - hosted by @potentialforart on Tumblr

Style: Mostly 2D Illustrations and short comics

Gene: Genes differ per year

Rating: PG-PG 13

Language: English

Status: On-Going Project, This zine is a yearly thing

Read On: Tumblr- https://objectheadzine.tumblr.com/ or @objectheadzine, Buy Physical/Digital Copies here - https://gumroad.com/objectheadzine

Price: Prices Vary

Description: The Object Head Zine is a collection of artwork from different artists coming together for a common love of object heads. The Object Head Zine is a yearly project with a new theme chosen for each year. Such themes include Forks and Utensils, Spooky, Flora and Fungi, Superstitions, and Science and Technology.

Object Heads: Yes

Character Status: Main Focus

Warnings: None

And if you have any more suggestions for this list, please let me know!!

[sweetcatastrophex]

holy shiiiiit i just watched Joker and i can’t stop thinking about it. i also just watched AHS Cult but one thing at a time. also i’m very attracted to joaquin phoenix and evan peters now. well i was already attracted to evan peters, and might i add, i liked him when he was spongebob in sleepover!!! lmao tbt to 2004  *spoilers alert*  i went into Joker expecting interesting commentary on mental health, which i know is very vague in retrospect, but this movie touches on so many things. it shows you the crumbling of a broken man — it’s cringey, but intentionally so, and hard to watch at times. it made me uncomfortable, but i think it was supposed to. pheonix’s performance was amazing, of course. i just watched Her last week so i could compare his performances and he’s just so good.  i see why there has been some criticism on the portrayal of mental illness. i think it was portrayed properly, his character clearly has a medical condition, but it’s easy to associate that with his lashing out violently. but that was inspired by his being fired from his job and everyone being so rude and mean to him and his mother dying, etc. there were many factors that went into his decision to lash out violently. the world kept beating him up, kicking him when he was down. literally and figuratively. the movie at one point even says how can you not go crazy in a world like this? the way things are now and that’s straight up relatable.  i think one of the overarching and recurring themes is toxic masculinity. although it’s not verbalized or directly addressed, you see all these horrible men attacking him in different ways, whether making fun of him for his condition, picking on him and ganging up on him on the subway, the group of boys stealing his sign and contributing to the loss of his job, etc. and after he was jumped, his coworker gives him a gun to protect himself, which may have been with good intentions, but he handed a loaded weapon to a man who was suffering from mental issues and was extremely unstable and volatile... they show you how he was going to state or federally funded therapy sessions and how it gets defunded (powerful and realistic!!!) and then he has nowhere to go and he stops taking his seven medications... it was a recipe for disaster. then when he’s being attacked on the subway he ends up defending himself and killing the three men going after him. then you see the media paint a narrative that’s totally different from reality and you see Joker/Arthur slowly becoming what society is painting him as... which happens a lot but no one talks about it. so the media and the public interpret the attacks as the poor going after “the rich” bc the three men were wall street guys. you see newspaper headlines saying “eat the rich” and stuff and it turns into a whole revolution type of situation where people are rallying in the streets and that’s not what Joker intended at all. but that whole concept of poor vs. rich people is interesting and relevant right now. so the way Joker was modernized was great imo.  then there’s the whole storyline with Bruce Wayne and his parents and how Joker was indirectly responsible for Bruce Wayne’s parents dying bc they were shot by one of the people at the rallies. and you hear about his mother’s former relationship with Bruce Wayne’s father... it’s so interesting!!! i’m not even too familiar with the original storylines and stuff but still. and you see how Joker faces rejection after rejection after rejection. no one shows him any kindness or compassion, not even his biological father, or so he thought. (side note: this makes me think about that security cam footage that came out recently where a school teacher/coach confiscates a shotgun from a volatile student and hugs him and completely quashes a potentially dangerous situation.) so you see Thomas Wayne tell Joker that his mother is “crazy” and he freaks out and i thought about how overused that word has become these days. not sure if that’s what they were going for or not but yeah. and then Joker learns that she actually was delusional and diagnosed as such according to medical documents and that he was actually adopted and all this other stuff which also contributes to his crumbling mental state and eventual violent lash-out. you see how he becomes a man who has nothing left to lose, and no one is more powerful than someone who has nothing left to live for.  so then the scene comes where he shoots and kills robert deniro’s character. personally i wonder if the original plan was a mass shooting but then the filmmakers thought it wouldn’t be in good taste or show-able to the public bc of the state of our country rn, especially bc there was that other movie that was produced fully and ready to screen but canceled bc of public backlash over a mass shooting scene. bc on one hand, yes it might be in bad taste, but we have freedom of speech here and this is art they’re creating. movies have always been commentary on society. bc it would’ve made sense, it was a perfect recipe for someone who would perpetrate a mass shooting. Joker was angry with deniro’s character but also with the public... i think? well he was angry with deniro bc deniro made fun of him by showing a clip of Joker embarrassing himself while trying to pursue a standup comedy career. after seeing all that, i immediately googled interviews with joaquin phoenix to learn more about him and hear about his preparations for the role etc. and he was on Fallon and Kimmel and holy shiiiit it was WEIRD. it was ironic, meta, creepy bc it was so similar to the scene in the movie lol. Kimmel (fuck him) shows a clip of phoenix breaking character and angrily telling off some production ppl on set bc they were distracting him and phoenix is clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable and said it was supposed to be private. and i thought he was gonna shoot Kimmel hahah it was weirdly close to the movie. 

[sagemoderocklee]

Do you like mystery/horror? If so, how do you think GaaLee would do in a horror-esque mystery fic?

Yes, absolutely! 

As far as horror, I’ve never thought about that in the context for GaaLee, but I’m sure that there’s plenty of room to come up with a strong horror plot, but it would have to be done right. I think my biggest concern with horror is the potential for people to use mental illness as the horror, especially given fandom’s tendencies with regards to Gaara.  Horror is an amazing genre that I’ve learned more about thanks to my roommate who’s a huge horror buff. It’s a great way to make commentary on society, but it can go very very wrong in the wrong hands. 

I don’t know if I’d ever try to tackle horror, but it’s certainly not completely out of the realm of possibility. Goodness knows I’m always coming up with ideas. 

As for mystery--absolutely. I actually consider my fic The Art of Love to be a political thriller/mystery. I think mysteries are very suited to canon verse fics if we’re coming up with plots revolving around things like espionage, political dramas, etc. 

Honestly, I think that with the right perspective and a thoughtful execution, you can fit GaaLee into any genre: Action/Adventure, Post-Apocalypse, Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life, Fantasy, Medieval, etc.  It’s just a matter of the how. That’s really the way to approach, I feel, any story. 

And as I’m about to post this, I realise you may actually be asking how they’d fair??? I’m not sure, but just in case, as with most of my answers to such broad questions: It depends. Like I said above, the how is the most important question in a story. How do they meet? How do they become friends? How do they fall in love? How do they achieve their goals? How do they express themselves? Etc. 

I think depending on how you play it Gaara could be a weak link in a horror setting, depending on what you’re horror is? Like is he being haunted by his past victims? Because that would be devastating to him. And while I think Lee is easily spooked when it comes to like horror films, that in any actual situation he would always take the bravest route. 

Whereas with mystery, Gaara would be the strongest. Lee isn’t as good with piecing together clues. Which don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Lee is stupid. I think his intelligence is just very different from most shinobi. Lee isn’t a logic based person. He’s action and feeling based. He’s emotionally intelligent, he’s intelligent in reacting in the heat of the moment. but puzzles just aren’t his thing. 

Anyway, I hope both answers are satisfying! 

[semper-legens]

93. Doctor Who Short Trips: The Muses, edited by Jacqueline Rayner

Owned?: Yes Page count: 209 My summary: Nine Doctor Who short stories based on the nine Muses, of Greek mythology. The First Doctor takes a trip through the Underworld, while Seventh has plans in Sydney during World War Two. The Third Doctor and Sarah investigate a man from the Doctor’s future, while the Fourth and Leela take a trip to Ancient Greece, and the Sixth takes a dance class. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

You know, I said when going into this blog proect that I wouldn’t censor what I was reading just because very few people other than me would be interested. So here’s a Doctor Who book from the Wilderness Years! Published in between the TV movie and the revival of the series in 2005, and featuring many writers that would go on to write for the revived series, these Doctor Who books were always a mixed bag to me. Some of them were far too focused on being Dark and Edgy, some barely felt like Doctor Who at all. Still, I came across Short Trips at a particularly formative time in my Doctor Who fandom, and as such they hold a special place in my heart.

Again, these are short stories, so I’ll only talk about the few that interested me. Each Short Trips book has a loose theme, and usually contains at least one story per Doctor - if they double up on Doctors, it’s usually 8 or 7, as the most recent at the time.

Terpsichore is my favourite, purely for its simplicity. The Sixth Doctor is bored, and tries to learn to dance. The POV character is the teacher, Becky, a tired 38 year old, in whose life the Doctor immediately starts to meddle. She wanted to be a ballet dancer as a kid, so he goes back to clumsily try and help her achieve that dream. He wants her to be happy, ultimately. He doesn’t really change anything, but he does return to her as an old woman, and bring her flowers, and talk. It’s a sweet story for its simplicity, and the mundanity of it. There’s no aliens, no threat. Just the Doctor growing to like a random human, and doing his best in his own way to help her. It’s especially sweet for being from the Sixth Doctor, known for his brusque nature. Here, he’s entirely sincere. He just wants her to be happy. It’s sweet.

Thalia is my least favourite of these, and not just because it was written by noted transmisogynist Gareth Roberts. It features the Fourth Doctor taking Leela to Ancient Greece to take in some comedy, and the whole tone is of the Ancient Greek society being the pinnacle of Civilisation, etc. There’s already so many gross colonialist overtones with Leela as a character, this hearkening back to Ancient Greece as being perfect just seems...ew. I mean, I get that this collection is based on Greek myth, but all the other stories manage not to wax lyrical about how goshdarn great Ancient Greece was.

Euterepe stands out to me for a couple of reasons. In it, Sarah Jane and the Third Doctor discovers that the musician she is interviewing for a piece, Isaac, was previously a companion of the Doctor - but this is still in the Doctor’s future. I love stories that play around with the Doctor’s timelessness, his being out of step with conventional time and space even in this period where he’s still largely constrained to Earth. It’s notable that the mysteries surrounding Isaac are not solved by the end - I wonder if they knew they would base a later Short Trips collection around him? Still, it’s an interesting and engaging story of the Doctor’s meddling within his own timestream.

Calliope is my second favourite of the collection, not least because it features the First Doctor, my favourite. It’s from the POV of companion Katarina, originally from Ancient Troy, who was the first companion on the show to die, sacrificing herself for the Doctor. Here, the Doctor descends to the Underworld in his sleep (aided, we learn, by the goddess Persephone) to guide Katarina through the Underworld and help her find her way to Elysium. Here we see the best of the First Doctor - his caring, grandfatherly nature, the way he wants the best for this young woman he failed. Katarina, too, strikes a balance between being terrified of everything that���s happening all the time and still being an engaging protagonist. I also love the involvement of the gods, not least because the Greek Underworld is just treated as a real thing that exists without any handwringing over the concept. But the fact that they would involve themselves in the life of a reasonably normal young woman is nice, and gives them nuance despite their short time in the story.

Clio is the last story, and the most heartbreaking of the lot. On her sixth birthday, a princess (Clio) is poisoned and her father’s kingdom descends into war. The Doctor, who happens to be present, creates a machine to hold her in suspension and extend her limited life. She is woken every year, for a new birthday. I say the Doctor here because multiple Doctors are used, a new one each time Clio wakes. It’s told through Clio’s perspective, a six year old girl in an increasing older body, confused and not understanding - most of what we learn, we do through guessing and interpreting the events she sees and cannot comprehend, like how old her family looks in comparison to her, or that more than a day passes between wakings for her. The ending is heartbreaking, with the Doctor waking Clio the last time to an empty palace, the war having ravaged her home and time having taken everyone and everything. He just wants to give her one last birthday. It’s a melancholy and effective little story that always sticks with me.

[bakagamieru]

There was something that bothered me after hearing Harry’s album, although I couldn’t completely explain it.  After hearing Niall’s new song (admittedly I couldn’t make out all the lyrics), I was able to define it better.

It bothers me to hear so many of their songs dedicated solely to painting this stylized picture of a woman or even explaining how a particular woman is feeling.  It’s so presumptuous and in some cases it’s also reinforcing sexist and heteronormative stereotypes.

I know that asking male songwriters to never talk about women would be odd (because women are half of the people in the world) and I wouldn’t even want to do that because it would be erasing women completely.  However, I think there’s a difference between a songwriter giving the story of what happened to them or to their character versus going outside the speaker of the song to assume a woman’s feelings or the state of her existence.

Lines

Couldn't take you home to mother in a skirt that short But I think that's what I like about it

Told it to her brother and she told it to me That she's gonna be an angel, just you wait and see When it turns out she's a devil in between the sheets And there's nothing she can do about it

these lyrics reinforce this messed up idea that women who are sexual can’t occupy the same space as a girlfriend that you introduce to the family, also that the length of a woman’s skirt gives men the right to make a judgment about her character

She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes Hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect And all the boys, they were saying they were into it Such a pretty face, on a pretty neck

...

When she's alone, she goes home to a cactus In a black dress, she's such a such an actress

She sits beside me like a silhouette Hard candy dripping on me 'til my feet are wet And now she's all over me, it's like I paid for it It's like I paid for it, I'm gonna pay for this

there’s direct objectification of her by reducing her to a pretty face on a pretty neck that has a hard “cool” edge that is treated as yet another thing that’s only there to attract male attention, it’s also heteronormative to single out the guys all having an attraction to her (and no girls) as well as suggesting that all guys are the same in that they apparently all have to be attracted to her

then she’s apparently a “prostitute” because she either takes the lead or enthusiastically participates in a physical relationship with him

She's a good girl She's such a good girl Yeah, she's a good girl She feels so good

here’s this whole “good girl” thing that was in the other song again, this infantilization of women who apparently act the way they’re “supposed” to, the last line teeters between being yet another sexual reference tying being “good” to having sex (making “being good” about pleasing the man) or speaking for her about how she feels

Should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and see what we find?  

I'm selfish, I know I don't ever want to see you with him I'm selfish, I know I told you, but I know you never listen I hope you can see, the shape that I'm in While he's touching your skin He's right where I should, where I should be But you're making me bleed

Tempted, you know Apologies are never gonna fix this I'm empty, I know Promises are broken like the stitches I hope you can see, the shape I've been in While he's touching your skin This thing upon me, howls like a beast You flower, you feast

I kind of want to interpret this as a scathing commentary of how the unlikely best friend always “wins” the girl in romantic comedies, I hope it is because it’s way out of line otherwise, but even if it’s a commentary it’s problematic because it’s not obvious enough as a commentary and so just becomes another example for society to soak up and think of as “normal” and “right”

the whole thing has that whole “I’m the nice guy and you owe it to me to be with me” vibe to it, but the last 2 lines in particular and actually the last 2 paragraphs make me extremely uncomfortable

Yeah, she loves when everybody's watching She loves the way her body moves She loves the way they all crawl back when she says She loves nobody else but you

this part of Niall’s song, when taken out of context, is a good example of the way I really don’t want to see songs written, I feel like so many songs written by men do this whole “explaining a woman’s story” thing, but it’s not their story to tell and I have serious doubts that most of the men writing these songs have any idea how the women around them feel about things

out of context it’s upsetting, but I was able to find the rest of the lyrics for this one even though I couldn’t hear them clearly before, so now I understand the story of the song more and it’s really more from the perspective of the song’s speaker and what happened to him which is better

Point

In any case, I’m just really baffled and disappointed to find so many references to women that bother me in Harry’s songs since he’s always been vocal about not objectifying women and I really think gender equality is something he holds as an ideal that should be real.  If any of the boys were to respect women in their songs, I had always though Harry was the most likely.  If it were just one song, that could easily be a commentary, but these references pop up in multiple songs.  I’m honestly so confused that it’s Harry that has all these references that bother me in his songs.

I don’t have as much problem with what Niall’s written since it’s focused more on the speaker and the couple as a pair, but I also have only heard 3 songs from his album compared to the 10 from Harry’s, so who knows what the future will bring.

And yes, I know that past 1D songs have been problematic such as “Steal My Girl”, etc.  However, it’s hard to say how much of those songs were written by the boys, which lines were written by the boys during collaborations, and who had the last say in approving lyrics and making revisions.  Basically, there’s no way to know if the boys were even involved in the decision-making in previous albums, but since these are solo albums, the responsibility is a lot clearer.

I’m not going to say that I know what the boys’ intentions are when writing their lyrics and songs.  That’s not something I can know for sure.  All I can say is that the things I’m hearing make me uncomfortable because I can’t not see those lines as borderline or outright sexist.  

Things like how women are portrayed in media and entertainment are always a concern to me because they affect how current and future generations will view the world and, thus, how they’ll think and act.  It’s also important to me that women are able to define themselves and aren’t so often defined by the way a man is telling their stories.

Even if sexism wasn’t the intention, intentions don’t always come across and good intentions can still lead to negative outcomes.  I really hope that Harry and all the boys think carefully about how their lyrics portray women in the future.  As ever, I only want to see them moving forwards and upwards.

[joanndromeda]

Welcome Back

Hello. I had quite the experience last month; three weeks ago, I graduated from university! The final weeks following my graduation day were filled with nothing but relief, anxiety, excitement, and a culmination of uncertainties waiting to be explored. On the day of the ceremony, my friends and family joined me for this important milestone. It was a significant moment for all of us to see me walk up the stage, receive the embroidered casing for my diploma, and get hooded with the final piece to my regalia. First-generation student. First surname of my kind in the family lineage to earn a bachelor’s from a four-year institution. First woman in the family to graduate from university. Woman of color. Magna cum laude graduate. As my friends used to tell my old timid self, “Say it loud and proud.” So yes, this is my greatest achievement thus far. I’ve since then been relaxing while taking time off from job hunting and composing my cover letters. It’s been a restful intermission in my life so far, and I don’t take it for granted.

Initially, I thought I would take this resting period to begin blogging my experiences in college, what I’ve learned thus far since entering young adulthood, what I should or plan to do with my position in larger society, and everything else fueling my existential crisis. I have A LOT to say. My mind is racing with thoughts and I’m excited to break them up and delve into their different dimensions. I, however, recalled a post that one of my beloved internet celebrities posted on his Instagram. He finished writing in his 12th journal. In other words, he finished journaling 12-books worth of his own thoughts that no social media outlet can ever bare witness to. I find that awe-inspiring. When I think about how much people overshare and curate their identity in the cesspool of social media, I become less and less enthuse about others’ integrity. The amount of filters, needless perfection, curation, artificiality, and overexposure we feed into how we want people to perceive us and how we apparently live our day-to-day lives on the media is alarming. Just scratching the surface, it’s an arduous and dishonest interaction we have with ourselves, others, and the rest of the world. Obviously, I don’t want to conflate these people with those who are actually genuine (if being truly genuine is even a thing in the online world) and non-showy on social media.

There is just something about having a sense of liberation and peace of mind that journaling in your own private space provides. I can’t put my finger on it, but how intimate, how raw, how sincere. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t see myself fully quitting blogging. Taking a dual approach, though, I’m considering the possibility of starting up a journal and being fully (but humanly) committed to it. There are just so many things I want to say, and I want to be openly and boldly honest with myself as I go about it. I want to have a physical archive that I can easily access right in the palms of my hands. And perhaps one day, I want to use the journal to express and share my innermost, intimate words with those dearest to me. I don’t have an empty, quality journal at the moment. But I don’t mind starting one of my first entries on here. As long as I know I’m true to myself. So one of the things I’ve learned in this journey we call life is that I am not a one-dimensional, static character following some simple linear path. I am multifaceted. More specifically, it’s surreal to me to learn how many of my hobbies and interests make odd couples or juxtapose each other. And that’s what I love about myself; I love the unusual or atypical combination of hobbies and interests that make me who I am. That’s what makes me multifaceted. So here it is:

I’m Joanne. I am multifaceted. I like doodling, drawing, sketching, and watercolor painting. Watercolor painting is the hardest paint medium I’ve used, but I appreciate the small and certain progress when I see it. l like baking and making sweet treats. I’ve recently made cookies ‘n cream bars and homemade marshmallow matcha cookies. I’m considering dedicating a separate journal to all the cooking and baking recipes I’ve mastered. I like writing poetry. This hobby is new for me and I just finished my first serious poem back in February. I’m obviously not good at it and I sometimes feel discouraged when I jump right into the writing process. About a month or two ago, though, I had the honor of attending a private lunch and poetry reading by an award-winning Southeast Asian-American poet. She was incredibly inspiring, and she definitely boosted my poetry game as a Southeast Asian-American myself. In my future journal, I plan to incorporate my own poems. I like using psychological and sociological concepts to help inform my everyday life, politics, and just larger society. And I just like discussing them in fruitful conversations. Although it’s pretty difficult for me to get a jumpstart in reading a psychological or sociological academic journal, once I get started, I become pretty engrossed in the author’s argument, theories, and findings. I archive some summaries of journals in a separate file folder because I think they’re that valuable and fascinating. I like feminism. I hold strong feminist beliefs but I don’t slap myself with the title. Feminist has become such a buzzword. I think holding that title should only be honored to those who are active in the sociopolitical climate, who speak up against misogyny and patriarchy on a regular basis, and who make strides in restructuring the system that produces and maintains institutional inequality. Calling yourself a feminist because you simply “believe in gender equality” just to then go right on about your merry day? Lazy. I like listening to underground and alternative hip hop. A few of my favorite groups that I’ve been listening to since middle school include Hieroglyphics, A Tribe Called Quest, and Pharcyde. Just a few years back, I read a few books about the origin of hip hop and its prominent role in Black youth’s sociopolitical commentary, political activism, and Afrocentrism. Since then, my appreciation for (non-)mainstream hip hop has grown. But don’t get me wrong; I think mainstream artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole are spitting great, woke material. I also recommend giving T.I.’s “Warzone” song a good listen. Along with hip hop, I like listening to Japanese hip hop instrumental beats. Old favorites include Nujabes, DJ Okawari, and I can’t forget my beloved, TOKiMONSTA, who is Korean American. Low-key artists that I like listening to when I want some simple, feel-good electric beats are COR!S, AZUpubschool, and their musical collaboration, KiWi. I like photography. Although I’m still a novice, I finished a social documentary class project last month on the communal and environmental degradation of my city’s parks. Artist proposal and statement, window matted photographs cut and framed by hand, the whole shebang. Social documentary photography is one of my favorite types of photography; I just really appreciate the impact of different social commentaries. Honorable shoutout to Barbara Kruger for revitalizing the conceptual art scene and calling out capitalism, consumerism, and racial and gender stereotypes in her work. I like anything that is deemed cute. Extra brownie points if it’s also something I can use. I own a cat pencil pouch that I had used during my final year in school, I sleep in a pink blanket that is printed with ponies, and I just have a large Darth Vader Tsum Tsum sitting on my bed. Speaking of Darth, I like Star Wars and any action-packed story with a good plot. As a kid, I actually used to be pretty well-versed about the Marvel and DC world. Boys at school used to test my knowledge and were always surprised at how much I knew. I drastically strayed away from comic book movies and shows over the years, though. I like anime. The anime world has serious problems, though (e.g., pedophilia, hypersexualization of young female characters, etc.), and I fully acknowledge that. Otherwise, I’d like to say I don’t have a preference but I know I gravitate towards shonen and seinen anime. Any show or manga that incorporates some combination of comedy, dark fantasy, science fiction, action, relationships, mystery, and politics makes for a promising watch. Light-hearted, easy-to-watch shows like Shirokuma Cafe are hard to pass up, though.

I have some other hobbies and interests that I could talk about, but I think this thorough and exhausting entry does solid justice. I’m Joanne. I am multifaceted.

[margueritestjust-a]

1-5 !

Questions for Canons | Not Accepting!

1. What is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? Why did you come up with it?

I don’t know if it’s a headcanon deviation from the source, or if it’s merely the way I interpreted Marguerite’s character, but I believe that A) she was always in love with Percy, even when she was acting snarky about him and B) she wasn’t “testing” Percy’s love for her by not telling him the truth about St. Cyr - she was overcome with emotion and claims that it was a “test” to save face. In fact, I believe a lot of Marguerite’s actions that audiences use to vilify her are about saving face when overcome with emotions that she doesn’t know how to process. Let’s start with the snark towards Percy. 

The book starts after the honeymoon phase is over for the Blakeneys - literally months into their marriage. Despite being the most fashionable couple in London, you couldn’t find a stranger match. We have Marguerite who is clever and charming and talented and Percy... whose chief talents seem to be superfluous commentary, bad poetry, and a laugh with the power to irritate everyone in a two mile vicinity. Why on earth would the intelligent, charming, beautiful Marguerite St. Just marry this guy? In the book, she confides in her brother, Armand, that she’s sure people think she did it for the money, but that she really, truly loved Percy for his passionate nature. And that, after she told him about the St. Cyrs, that passion dried up and that she’s left with this buffoon of a husband who does not love her and who is not the man she loved in Paris. It is, however, clear to me that prior to their argument, Marguerite loved Percy a great deal - and perhaps continues to wistfully love him (or the memory of him) and that his change in behavior baffles her. Armand, being the reasonable, level-headed (lmao) big brother he is, gives Marguerite Actually Solid Advice that basically goes, “Well, maybe if you told him the whole truth about the St. Cyrs, you two would be okay!” and Marguerite is like, “He wouldn’t listen to me about it now; it’s too late. I messed up and I just have to deal.” And her way of dealing is by making sarcastic jibes at her husband to get him to pay attention to her because otherwise, he’s much more into his fatuous, foppish friends than her. It’s the only time Percy pays attention to Marguerite (as far as Marguerite knows) and it lets her get out some of her hurt and frustration. 

Fast forward to when she tells him “I betrayed St. Cyr at the tribunal because I thought he was just going to be punished for trying to murder my brother but APPARENTLY we just guillotine entire families these days in France for one man’s crime and now I have the blood of an entire family on my soul and have been living with the guilt since.” And Percy is like, “Babe, why didn’t you tell me?” and Marguerite - who told her brother pages and pages ago that she didn’t think Percy would believe her, that she was afraid of losing him and lost him anyways, goes, “... I wanted to test your love for me.” 

What.

The conversation gets EVEN WEIRDER because Percy is like “Well, I wanted you to keep explaining yourself and you didn’t” and Marguerite is like, “I just wanted you to ask me to elaborate” and it goes on for a bit and you’re sitting there as a reader trying to reconcile Marguerite-talking-to-Armand and Marguerite-talking-to-Percy. It’s a nightmare tbh because there’s so much inconsistency. So here’s what we have to bear in mind: A) Armand is the man who raised Marguerite, her brother and dearest confidant. He has never betrayed her trust and vice versa. B) Marguerite and Percy have marital issues like woah and at this moment in time, she’s justifying herself to her husband - while worried that she will lose what little of his love for her remains. (Surprise: there’s a whole lotta love there and she doesn’t lose any of it. She probably gains some because he has a SUPER EMOTIONAL moment in the garden once she’s gone to bed where he kisses all the places she’s walked and like Percy find your chill). 

So here’s what I think - and it may be a deviation from canon, it may not be, it’s so unclear that I just roll with it and smile. I think that Marguerite loves Percy but when she tells him “Hey, so I accidentally got an entire family murdered” she freaks out internally and shuts down because How do you explain that? Omg my husband is going to hate me - see look he hates me!  and then, by the time she’s recovered from her internal panic attack, she convinces herself that it’s too late to make things right with Percy. Doesn’t help that now Percy has chosen to freeze her out because of what she told him and has nothing else to go on. So, what’s she do? Lash out. When she’s finally forced to tell him the truth and he asks why she didn’t just tell him, she doesn’t want to admit weakness - she already looks so weak and emotional and vulnerable - so she says, “I was testing you.” As if it was some kind of intentional maneuver on her part. And with most guys, this would shame them because they failed the test. But Percy is smarter than that and he calls her bluff with “I was just waiting for an explanation.” And HERE IS MARGUERITE’S GOLDEN CHANCE to tell him how scared and repentant and guilty she’s felt but instead she continues to save face as much as she can. 

Yes, she’s still prideful. Yes, this pride still leads to miscommunication. But, no, she is not some unfeeling bitch. I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Meet me in the pit. 

2. Do you have any controversial headcanons that go against what is generally accepted by the fandom? Do you incorporate this into writing your muse or keep it to yourself?

Umm... I guess one HC that I have - which is actually canon, not headcanon - is that Marguerite was never a prostitute. I’ve been seeing a lot of things in the tags that indicate people believe otherwise even though there is no canon indication that Marguerite was ever a prostitute (she was the leading actress of the Comedie Francaise and her family was bourgeois). The thing that most frustrates me about this headcanon is that people who hold it tend to A) slut-shame Marguerite (and/or all prostitutes and sex workers) and/or B) hold Percy up as a paragon of virtue for not slut-shaming his wife? Like, guys. That is literally doing the minimum as your job as a husband (and as a human being). It’s not heroic and it’s definitely not more heroic than saving innocent people from the guillotine. 

Anyways, my adherence to canon crops up plenty in threads, but it’s not something I’m like... making a point of showcasing? It’s just the facts where my muse is concerned. 

3. What is something that was never addressed at all in the canon material that you have independently developed for your muse?

Canon - as far as I know - never addresses the St. Justs’ social status prior to their parents’ death. We just know there’s an eight year age gap between Armand and Marguerite, that their parents died when Armand was “a youth” and Marguerite was “a child” and Marguerite raised her, and that they aren’t nobility, but they’re doing well enough to be respected by all walks of society. Soooo... I’ve had to elaborate. 

I’ve HC’d that the St. Justs were upper-middle class business owners - perhaps Moniseur St. Just was a merchant - whose work brought them into contact with the nobility as well as common people and whose profit was enough to send both Armand and Marguerite to school. Furthermore, when their parents died, Armand and Marguerite would be left with a sizable inheritance and a business... which they could sell or run. It just makes sense to me.

As with the prostitution HC that’s so popular in the fandom, there’s a notion that Armand and Marguerite were born and raised in the gutter, which has no canonical basis and doesn’t really make sense with either of their characterizations. So... yeah. I had to develop that on my own.

4. Have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?

Probably, but I can’t think of any specifics. 

5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

Marguerite’s relationships with other canon characters, Percy aside. We’re talking Armand, Chauvelin, Suzanne, Ffoulkes, Dewhurst, the whole damn League. It’s a little hard to do since... like... the fandom is a ghost town, but I’d love to explore some of these relationships somehow.