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kaibutsushidousha · 6 months

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You said once that Heian is a story rich with Tale of Genji intertextuality as it is Tsukihime intertextuality. From someone who hasn't read it, what other instances of this in action can you expand upon?

I might been missing a few pieces since it's been a couple years since I read Heian and a few years more for The Tale of Genji, but these are the parallels that stood out to me.

I guess I should start by explaining what I meant in my previous post. So, The Tale of Genji is a heavy long-runner series covering from the circumstances behind Hikaru Genji's birth to the major events of his son's life after his death. And the major early chapters of Hikaru's life are about him courting many different women in an attempt to ultimately choose his wife.

You probably know that Hikaru Genji is a controversial figure. This is true in the story, to the people of the time, and even more so to the people of our time. And the main source of Genji's discourse is his arguably main wife, Murasaki no Ue. What's important to understand about Hikaru is that despite his divisiveness, Murasaki Shikibu's narrative voice always described him as the perfect man. That character is her ideal no matter how much the characters and readers disagree. And the first chapter, the one before Hikaru's birth, establishes that he is the perfect man because his mother Kiritsubo no Koi was the perfect woman. Lady Kiritsubo dies between the first two chapters and that's when Hikaru's quest for a wife begins.

One of the relatively early wife-candidates-of-the-week is Fujitsubo. Her gimmick is straight-up samefaceing. Fujitsubo is the perfect woman because she's somehow a palette-swapped second coming of Kiritsubo. Hikaru obviously wants her but his father obviously also wants her because she's Lady Kiritsubo 2, and it's the dad who gets her because he's the emperor while Hikaru is an illegitimate prince not in line for the throne. With their social status preventing a real relationship, the 18-year-old Hikaru Genji started his relationship with Fujitsubo's 10-year-old niece Murasaki, in whom he saw the budding image of a future new Fujitsubo (Kiritsubo 3?).

Tsuna's backstory in FGO Heian is pretty much all built on references to this character trio. Tsuna came across a woman described word-for-word as "beautiful enough to be taken as the Emperor's wife" and instantly fell in love with her but couldn't actualize this love due to social class differences. Later Tsuna meets Ibaraki, recognizes the woman's face on the younger girl, and is nice to her because he likes seeing "that face" happy. Tsuna's and Ibaraki's relationship can be interpreted as a non-romantic version of The Tale of Genji's main couple, but I can't shake off the grooming undertones that come from its inspiration, and even if I could, the idea of Ibaraki being used as a proxy for her mother is still creepy regardless.

One important thing about The Tale of Genji is that it's the oldest novel we know of, so its earliest chapters were instrumental in popularizing novels as a format. For context, The Tale of Genji had a periodic release format, with each chapter being published as its own separate scrolls, so later chapters were published after the public had read the previous ones and their social impact was already tangible to the author.

One of the most memorable sections of The Tale of Genji (meaning more memorable to me specifically than generally notorious) comes in one of the middle chapters, I'll guess around chapter 25. In this scene, Hikaru Genji catches his wife Murasaki reading a novel. Hikaru parrots the time's popular opinion Genji-spawned novel trend: that prose is literature for dumb people and that only poetry has real value. Murasaki, as the character with the author's name would, verbally tears him apart with a big speech explaining what prose can do that poetry can't and how this new form of literature has just as much potential and value as the poetry classics.

In one of the first chapters when Kintoki's party is crashing at Murasaki's house, there's a similar conversation, where Kintoki tells Murasaki (author) about the things that a writer can do that a warrior like him can't, raising many similar points to Murasaki (character).

Nagiko got a short section giving out her Tale of Genji opinions. It's mostly a repeat of her comments at her debut event's epilogue, but it is there. The whole motivation for her boss fight is that she loves the books' cheery and vibrant depictions of romance despite Hikaru being an unbearable character (based and correct).

Could be related to Hikaru Genji having too many love interests, in contrast to Sei Shounagon's very "one and only" views of romance.

Speaking of a character's whole motivation in the plot, let's talk about Murasaki's. She's a funny character that gets a lot funnier with full context. The Heian Singularity/Lostbelt is set in a time when Murasaki Shikibu had already published many chapters of The Tale of Genji and caused a major cultural phenomenon. The whole capital was crazy to know what would happen next and this pressure gave her immense writer's block. So she fought in the Holy Grail War, risking her life for a chance to wish for the perfect conclusion to Hikaru Genji's story. She lost but Babbage gave her new motivation to write with her own hands the perfect conclusion that her perfect man deserves.

So? What's the conclusion Murasaki writes for Hikaru without any magical interference? You see, The Tale of Genji in its final form is comprised of 55 scrolls, each released separately as one chapter. The 42nd of these scrolls is Hikaru's death chapter. After 41 chapters deriving world-changing popularity, how did the genius Murasaki Shikibu close his story? With boldness and commitment to the bit. See, to Murasaki's authorial voice, Hikaru Genji is too hot and perfect. So hot and perfect that his death is too monumental of a tragedy to be possibly put into words. Thus, Murasaki published an entirely blank scroll and in the next one, Hikaru Genji was inexplicably dead.

Hikaru's death is my favorite thing about the Tale of Genji, not only for getting rid of the worst boy but mainly for the narrative power move that is still as insane writing for today's standards as it was back when it was published in the first novel ever. But this moment of genius is also a perfect thing to turn into a writer's block joke. Easily one of my best contenders for Sakurai's funniest joke.

#fate grand order #the tale of genji

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adarkrainbow · 22 days

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As you might have noticed with my latest post, I have been looking into Frau Holle recently. And I just read an article by Dominique Peyrache-Leborgne which has some interesting points.

The article starts out by pointing out the difficulty of translating "Frau Holle", the very name of the tale/entity, in French. "Frau" can become easily "Madame" or "Dame", Miss or Lady, no problem... But what about "Holle"? The very name is a part of German folklore - and not just German folklore, a very specific regional folklore in Germany around Hesse - and as such it means nothing to a French audience. Not only that, but since French is a Latin-derived language, unlike German, the very name "Holle" does not bear any connotations, implications or echoes in French the same way it does in German or even English. As such, while there were translations as "Madame Hollé" as early as 1869, the idea of keeping "Frau Holle" as "Frau Holle" or just transliterating as "Lady Holle" is quite recent - and only applies to scholarly translations. Meanwhile, for older or more "common" translations, a specific trend appeared in France, a translation-tradition that still lasts to this day. Translating Frau Holle as "Madame la Neige" (Miss Snow), "Dame Hiver" (Lady Winter) or other cold-related names.

An habit that the author of the article severely criticizes, because while indeed snow plays an important part in the fairytale, Frau Holle is not supposed to be a spirit of winter or an embodiment of the snow - or at least she does not appear exclusively as such. Frau Holle is a very complex cultural figure with various functions and appearances.

To help the audience understand the complexity of Frau Holle, the article presents in a simplified and summarized version the list of supernatural beings that appear in variations of the "Frau Holle" tale around the world - a list extracted from a work by Warren E. Roberts, a "very complete synthesis" called "The Tale of the Kind and Unkind Girls" (1958). To highlight this intertextuality not only helps understand the various roles and elements surrounding the "part" Frau Holle is supposed to play ; while also proving how Frau Holle synthetizes all of those various aspects together.

In most fairytales of the type "The Kind and Unkind Girls", the supernatural being is a female entity of magic. For example, a fairy - fairies are very recurring in this type of fairytale though, unlike in Perrault's famous "Diamonds and Toads", there is never just one fairy, they are always three. It is exemplified by Basile's "The Three Fairies" in his Pentamerone ; they also appear within several Judeo-Spanish fairytales of the Balkans (there was a recent anthology of them translated in French published by the José Corti edition), and it is quite common for these three fairies to be washer-women, or at least tied to water/rivers (several variations in the French region of Gascogne have the fairies as washer-women by the river). There is also an equally important number of fairytales, among these "female tales", where the girls rather deal with witches - characters that very easily replace or are confused with fairies in folktales. The most famous of those witches tale is the one Afanassiev called simply "The Baba Yaga", and where the famous Russian witch plays the part of Frau Holle. A third option also exists for the female magical being: just "an old woman", "little old woman", who is clearly magic but never called by any specific name like "fairy" or "witch" (this type of character, the "magical old woman", not quite a fairy not quite a witch, is very common among the Grimm fairytales). The "simple old woman" appears for example in another one of Basile's tales "The two little pizzas", and in a Bulgarian fairytale "Girl of gold, girl of ashes" (a story which did reach France through the Père Castor collection for children). Sometimes the old woman will ask to have lice removed from her head (for example in Greek fairytales). Finally, in lands with a strong Catholic presence, of course, the female supernatural entity is replaced by the Virgin Mary - something very common among Christianized fairytales, where the Virgin Mary plays the part of every positive female magical character (an example is the Spanish fairytale "Three Balls of Gold").

So we have here a quite coherent group of female entities, though quite ambiguous, the fairy-witch group. There is also a share of those stories that have male characters as the supernatural entity. Usually these are earthly entities tied somehow to nature: in the Ludwig Bechstein's "Golden Mary, Sticky Mary", it is a "wild man" or "savage man", the "Thürschemann" ; in Afanassiev's The Old Grumpy Woman it is a leshy, a male "forest spirit" ; and in Grimm's own "The Three Little Men of the Forest" it is, as the title says, three dwarves living in the woods. When it comes to the male stories, having them be a specific entity related to the weather or the flow of time similar to Frau Holle is quite common: in England you have Jack Frost, in Russia Grandfather Frost ; and in many European fairytales the supernatural group of men embodies either the four seasons or the twelve months (Basile's "The Months" for example ; the article also notes a 1996 French children book "Adeline, Adelune et le feu des saisons", Adeline, Adelune and the fire of the seasons).

Finally, there is also a set of tales with more enigmatic and mysterioues entities, whose roots seem to belong in myths, religious symbolism or magical rituals. For example in the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions, the entity is usually three disembodied heads within a well, that asked for their hair to be brushed, or simply to be treated with respect. Miranda Jane Green evoked this trope within her "Celtic Myths", and James Orchard Halliweel collected a version of it, "The Three Heads in the Well" for his "Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England".

And Frau Holle, as an old and ancient avatar of a lost Germanic goddess, manages to compile and regroup all of those aspects and all those various entities within her. Like the three heads in the well, she is associated with ancient myths and the world of the dead. Like the four seasons, the twelve months, and Jack/Grandfather Frost, she is a spirit of the weather and the cycle of time. Like the wild-men and forest-spirits, she is an entity of wilderness and nature (the Brothers Grimm, in their "German Legends", do note several times that she leads a "Wild Hunt" throughout the forest). And finally she is the ultimately fairy-witch ; she is the kind and benevolent wise woman... and the terrifying ogress-like long-teethed hag.

A complexity of character, a multiplicity of faces, that is retranscribed within the ungoing debate surrounding the etymology of "Holle". For those who want to study the German fairytales under a mythological angle (Jacob Grimm was one of the most famous names to do so, more recently Eugen Rewermann, a religion specialist, took back the Grimm theory), Holle is survivance of the old pagan goddess of Germany Hulda, a mother-earth goddess (hence why Frau Holle lives underground, down a well). This is notably this analysis that led Lucie Crane, the woman that translated the Grimm fairytales for the edition illustrated by Walter Crane, to translate "Frau Holle" as "Mother Hulda": it was an attempt to give back to her a mythological glory. But other scholars have argued that Frau Holle could also be a female version of this Norse winter-god associated with the dead that appears in the Eddas: Uller/Holler. Another analysis, that is tied to the fairytale, is the homonimy between "Frau Holle" and "die Hölle" - which is "Hell" of course, but since here Frau Holle rules over a benevolet underground "land of the dead", we can think of it as a generic term for the "Underworld" (the same way for example in some languages the Greek Underworld are referred to as "Hell" despite having the paradise of the Elysian Fields). And more so: "Holle" coul also be... "die Holde", which means kindness or benevolence.

Many, many possible readings all true in their own way, which not only testifies to the cultural wealth behind the figure of Frau Holle, but also reflects perfectly how the character is one of paradoxes, duality and multiplicites. Frau Holle is so powerful that she mixes the up and the down - her realm is underground and yet in it she makes it snow in the sky, as a goddess both chthonian and celestial... With Frau Holle, life and death becomes a blur ; and more importantly Frau Holle gathers within her all seasons, because she might make it snow like in winter, her domain is stilled filled with the fresh flowers of spring and the hot sun of summer...

[The author of the article did praise greatly John Warren Stewig's decision of translating the character's name as "Mother Holly" in 2001. "Holly" is close enough to "Holle" in sonority, but it also makes the character feel more familiar to an English-speaking audience since it is a quite common name ; and "Holly" also plays cleverly on both "holly", the plant, one of the defining symbols of winter, and "holy", evoking Frau Holle's alternate roles as a saint or a goddess]

#frau holle #grimm fairytales #mother holle #brothers grimm #mother holly #german fairytales #the kind and unkind girls #fairytale type #fairytale comparisons #supernatural beings #supernatural beings in fairytales #lady winter #mother hulda #european fairytales #mother winter

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quillyfied · 6 months

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Okay final episode thoughts that I don’t know that I can expand into real coherent thoughts so heck it we’re doing it live and cramming them together, no chronology just memory vibes, PART FOUR:

- I think part of the problem of it feeling so fast an episode, for me, is the anticipation; I waited to watch it with friends and by the time it was finally happening I had been waiting all day and it was killing me.

- That being said, the pace is breakneck, for something that starts so peacefully

- Love that we get immediate confirmation that Ed is not suited to a fisherman’s life. Though I do love the conflict inherent in Ed meaning “simple” as a compliment based on how hectic and chaotic his life has been up to this point, but of course someone who doesn’t know any of that would think he’s insulting them.

- Also very interested in the shift of Ed going to direct killing rather than trying to put a layer between it and himself; it’s the Kraken but in Protection Mode. Adore that for him. (And maybe the killing doesn’t count if they’re English Navy.)

- I had a feeling Stede was talking to Zheng about being a failure the longer the season went on. Delighted to be proven right. Was also shocked to hear she thought Auntie was dead but then had to reckon with the fact that she hasn’t analyzed a single screenshot and spotted Auntie like I did soooooo

- The simmering anger in my own gut when I saw Spanish Jackie’s overrun and the lady herself treated like that. Also OF COURSE THEY BUILD UP RESISTANCES TO IOCANE POWDER POISON IN THIS HOUSE

- (Side note but the number of ofmd fics, my own included, that have Princess Bride as a reference or element in them makes me smile)

- Calling Ricky Pinocchio. IZZY calling Ricky Pinocchio. The layers. The subtext. The intertextuality. The face-value humor. I’m salivating.

- The letter Ed reads! The way they say the words together!! If they don’t start next season with matching lover’s tattoos (or include it somewhere), I’m rioting.

- THEY GET TO RUN AT EACH OTHER ON A BEACH TO NINA SIMONE FOR REAL THIS TIME

- okay but is Ed’s knee brace a victim of the budget cuts this season bc I miss it

- the entire time they were running at each other I kept shrieking “please don’t stab each other. Please don’t stab each other. Boys please drop the swords and don’t accidentally stab each other”

- KISSIES.

- I LOVE YOU. TWICE.

- Zheng having it up to HERE with these useless gays

- NOT NOW ZHENG THEYRE VERBALLY AFFIRMING THEIR CARE FOR EACH OTHER AND ALSO KISSING

- Olu caring for Auntie. I cry.

- I also cry bc it has seemed to me all season that Auntie and Zheng have a dynamic similar to Izzy and Ed but less deeply toxic; I love that just because it isn’t as toxic, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still hurt them both. Auntie choosing to listen to Olu and be softer and more open with Zheng, and Zheng returning the favor, is so important to me. Cannot emphasize enough its sweetness. Especially with Zheng thinking she’d lost Auntie.

- “It’s only a suicide plan if we die” STEDE.

- Giggling to myself at the butt shot bc 1. Of course the guy whose butt it is has a whole post about it where he’s a delight, and 2. Fandom has been begging for them to show hole all season, y’all satisfied? ;P

- Why does everyone look so hot in those uniforms though. Why is Ed putting on a tricorn hat so attractive. These are uniforms that represent imperialist cruelty, WHY IS EVERYONE HOT IN THEM

- (It’s the rebellion of it all I think)

- Awfully bold of Ricky to immediately turn on them when he’s still close enough to be shot, but I think it’s his Rich White Boy recklessness.

- Con O’Niell giving the performance of a lifetime to the very end. The subtlety of Izzy not being okay through the entire mad dash to the Revenge, culminating in him leaning on Ed AND Frenchie and the implications of that I EXPLODE

- So. Turns out my final mini theory about that bloody hand screenshot from the trailer was right; it is Izzy’s blood, and it is Jim that Ed’s hand is blocking.

- Izzy giving the apology we have been waiting for all season as a deathbed confession, HECK

- And giving voice to the fact that he loved and needed Blackbeard! And that he knew he was feeding it even though Ed had OUTGROWN it!! And giving Ed closure and release from having to be Blackbeard!!! GUUUUUHHHHH.

- I really didn’t think izzy was going to die until three days ago. Im so sad. It’s thematic and perfect and if someone had to die of course it had to be Izzy and they did him right by that death scene but I CARE MORE NOW. CHEFS KISS STORYTELLING.

- This end bit, to my memory, feels a little scattered and messy; Zheng wanting to work together to get back at Ricky…and then the ship sails off without Ed and Stede. Maybe I need to watch again but I got some whiplash there. Like yeah it’s way more important to the story that Ed and Stede get at the very least a break from piracy before the next season, more in line with the themes and character arcs, but. Idk. Felt sudden still?

- Pete and Lucius marriage ;A; “you may slash each other’s faces” ROACH PLEASE

- YES ED WE SEE YOUR ROMANTIC SIDE EYE

- FRENCHIE IS THE CAPTAIN NOW. Capitalizing on that quiet arc he’s had all season!! I love it!!! And showing that all of the Revenge crew have it in them to be leaders and the best versions of themselves when given an environment where they can. And now they have capable women aboard! Win-win!!

- I need to go dig up my post about the hollowness and toxicity of revenge in this show bc I have more examples to add to it and strengthen my theory

- Ed and Stede about to go through their Anne and Mary arc. Let’s hope they pivot faster than the other two and don’t get stuck in a rut the same way. But I love that they get to try this out together, to find new dreams and things to do together. They deserve that.

- I also respect the showrunners so much for giving us an ending that could be a decent end if Max doesn’t renew for a third. I like being able to hold my two favorite shows next to each other and see that the two extremes of ending in an uncertain place work—for GOmens, a heart-shattering cliffhanger was absolutely the right call. For OFMD, a soft ending that can be expanded on if allowed. I love them both.

- Gonna go rewatch and then rewatch the whole season and then rewatch both seasons, excuse me.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #I weep. I cry. I sob.#what a good. WHAT A GOOD.

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pumpkinpaix · 4 years

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so what does zewu-jun mean, then? like how should it be properly translated? and what is the meaning of the title/ how does it fit him as a character?

in reference to this post

hi anon, I think you may have missed my point a little? there’s often no such thing as a “proper” translation, especially with something like zewu-jun, which aligns so poorly with english by nature. as i said in that post, one of the most frustrating things that happens in this fandom is the tendency to adhere to a “correct” translation, as if just getting the right translation will mean that they will be able understand the text as a whole. this is impossible. forcing one language into the shape of another is never going to work perfectly.

for example, even just translating -jun = lord, which seems straightforward, isn’t really. the same goes for -zun. just as there’s no direct translation for many japanese honorifics (-san, -sama, -chan, -kun etc.), it’s hard for chinese as well. I was part of a translation discussion recently where someone jokingly suggested translating 大人 (another honorific) as -sama, and everyone went “wait, but that IS the closest thing”, which was unfortunate, given that we were looking for an english translation lol.

all translations must fail. that’s the nature of the thing. i understand that that might be disappointing, but 🤷🏻‍♀️

i can speak a little as to how I see and understand the title, with the caveat that my interpretation is heavily personal. I’m extremely poorly read in chinese, so if there are intertextual references, chances are, I’ll miss them. I will not give you a translation here.

zewu-jun, to me, mostly manifests as a combination of an image and an emotion. i think of pools in the clearing of a forest, overrun with greenery. i think of wildflowers. i think of soft light. when I asked my mother how she felt about the character 芜, she said she thought of a very lonely atmosphere, and I feel that too. a place devoid of people, but full of life. i don’t know, a place that gives by its nature. a place you can visit, but not stay.

that’s basically how i think of lan xichen too, at least, how people have perceived and labelled him: generous, untouchable, lonely.

#mdzs #the untamed #mdzs meta #the untamed meta #mine #mymeta #translation #cql #idk how do tags work now??#lan xichen #i love lan xichen so much #don't look at me!!!!#is this a valid interpretation of the title? YOU DECIDE!!!!#Anonymous #asks and replies #meta

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fandom-oracle · 3 years

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Wait wdym? Do you think fic is bad?

i'm getting canceled tonight i guess.

if you actually did a good a faith interpretation of my post you know it's not really ABOUT fanfiction at all, i actually write fanfiction myself. i'm not sharing here because it's overwhelmingly bad fic that i write exclusively as wish-fulfilment or for self-projection, but at least i'm self-aware about it. i am ALSO one of the people who reads ze Books™️, although most of the academic material i consume are nonfiction, so this whole thing is particularly annoying to me. the crux of the matter is that, if you're a little younger you might've missed it, but this website was a hotbed of scalding takes like 'dante's divine comedy is literally fanfiction', 'something something is literally fanfiction' when the thing in question barely counts as a transformative work and, in fact, it weakens the definition of transformative work in itself to try to apply it to literally anything that exhibits an ounce of intertextuality. plenty of takes that are... true, but require some nuance, focused on the idea of transformative fandom as a place defined by its presence of overwhelmingly female and disproportionately queer (occasionally, though disputedly, nonwhite) content creators and the ways in which transformative fan content could be interpreted as a space of defiance to cisheteropatriarchy in the way it permeates traditional media. a third, less common but still relevant take was the focus on how certain fandoms such as trek and doctor who have a long history of involvement in real-world civil rights issues and progressive politics. so this kind of take has been the dominant view on tumblr and transformative fandom for a good decade now, perhaps longer, and the people with this kind of takes can sometimes be a little... obnoxious. and the majority of people on transformative fandom (regardless of wether or not the fandom is disproportionately composed of nonwhite individuals or not, by sheer virtue of american demographics and this site`s heaily skewed userbase, the majority will still be white) are white, and like any other space dominated by white people, fandom has often been a vehicle for white supremacy. "Stitch Media Mix" talks about this in-depth. the discourse on fandom racism and ways in which transformative fandom as a whole contribute to racialized stereotypes, hierarchies, and deeper problems within online culture has led to a lot of people with grievances with fandom, many of whom are women of color, to develop an entire online identity built around the concept of being "critical of fandom", which is a very weird thing to do with fandom is literally billions of people, not a unified demographic, and that being critical of something can mean a WIDE amount of things; which in turn has led to a lot of people insulating themselves completely from any criticism of fandom as being inherently in bad faith, which a weird thing to do when literally ANY sphere of society should be open to criticism. people taking critiques of media they consume and taking critiques of their own critiques as personal attacks are abound here and make everything worse. so a fairly recent (mid2018ish, definitely post the insanity of reylo discourse but before sarah z blew up in popularity) trend has been that people in these communities isolate more and more and the general discourse has effetively resulted in people with differing takes in fanfiction specifically but fandom as a Whole (which is, again very weird to say because fandom is not 'a Whole' because there's no unifying element to different fandoms) only interacting with each other in hostile ways. and increasingly, in my personal sphere, a lot of people are positioning themselves in the "fandom critical" (AGAIN, WEIRD THING TO SAY, WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN, PLEASE USE WORDS WITH PRECISION) sphere, and I tend to take that "side" myself, but i specifically do not think framing this as a team A or team B thing is useful. this culture war was in the buildup.

last week a post by a user i follow recently became popular. the post itself was a critique that i.. do not necessarily agree with. it was ultimately about the idea of easily-consumable popular media being seen as an acceptable form of exclusive media engagement by people in the "pro-fandom" sphere, and how the insidiousness of this line of thinking has to do with how capitalist media production is designed to spread, and how fandom AS A TREND, not specifically any individuals or any fanworks, can empower capitalism. the post specifically did NOT use the kindest possible words, but that was what they were trying to say. howelljenkins also has really good takes on the subject, albeit from a different angle.

anyway because this is a circular culture war, the result was as follows: 1) a bunch of pro-fandom types refuse to actually make a charitable reading of the post and insist the user in question hates fandom and thinks people under capitalism shouldn't have things that are Fun, and should Only Read Theory and keep sending anon hate to several blogs in the opposing sphere, therefore proving the point that fandom sometimes prevent people from being able to engage critically with things; 2) a bunch of anti-fandom types who defined their entire identity on hating fandom being like "haha look at these cringe people" instead of trying to understand why a demographic overwhelmingly composed of marginalized people would feel strongly to posts that use inflammatory language against an interest of theirs, thereby proving the point that most criticism of fandom is divorced from actual fan content and is vaguely defined. the reason this is a culture war that actually deserves attention (unlike most fandom culture wars, which are just really granular ship wars made into social justice issues for clout) is that, for the most part, both of these groups are mostly people with college degrees, many of whom will contirbute to academia in the coming years. fan studies is a relevant field. these discussions have repercussions in wider media criticism trends, and this is why i can't really stand it or just passively ignoring it the way i do with most other inconsequential discourse. like it's genuinely upsetting seeing almost every single tumblr user, most of whom should know better, patting themselves in the back for their inability to read things in a way that doesn't feed into preexisting cultural hostilities in fan spaces.

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onewomancitadel · 2 years

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I was thinking about your v2 dance analysis, and I've been pondering that maybe Ruby's situation there is nudging at the idea that she will go the whole series without a romance. As much as I do see the evidence for rosegarden, I also see it as so faint that it could just as easily be played platonically (though that could just be the slow-burn, we all know how many folks said the same thing about bumbleby XD). Do you think it would be a missed opportunity if Ruby remains single forever?

And you also sent:

Oh also! On the topic of the v2 dance: I think it's interesting that Ruby brings no date to the dance, and neither does Cinder (Emerald and Merc paired with each other, she's alone), and then they end the night by dancing with each other (fighting at the CCT building). Not that I think they're seeding any sort of Fallen Petals agenda, not even remotely, but I think it's interesting. Another parallel between them. Sorry if I'm repeating something you already have remarked on, btw!

To answer the first ask:

Dance analysis in question.

(Caveat for people who've never read a post from me before: I think RG is probably canon, I'm just not an active shipper).

Yeah I mean, I have a few thoughts. I think RG is probably an endgame/lategame pairing like Knightfall, and there's a reason Ruby hasn't had very much romance (which will probably be explored with her oncoming arc): as a leader she's in a removed position from everybody else, and she's saddled a lot on her own. RG is interesting because it seems like Oscar is one of the characters interested in trying to challenge that. It's probably safe to say that Ruby's worldview being challenged over the next few volumes (and her mother wound) coincides with the opening possibility of a textual romance.

The thing with romance is that romance isn't just about the heart twinges, though I think that's a big deal, it also represents things emotionally and thematically inside the story... a RG romance is like Knightfall, in that Knightfall involves Cindemption, and a RG romance involves Ruby opening up and also confronting her own pains that she puts aside, as well as her own desires. Cinder and Ruby's arcs mirror each other, that's why Summer-the-Grimm is introduced the same volume Cinder's own mother wounds are. Then we have these in direct sequence:

As I remarked in that sexuality post, I also think handling Ruby's romance properly is necessary. You can do that through Knightfall, but it seems kind of remiss not... to give her a romance, because of the source material. Oscar is a non-traditional love interest in his design, and I think there's some interesting gender stuff there - especially because he is one of the characters emotionally in touch with his feelings, which help Ruby open herself up to hers.

I understand there are people who might want Ruby to be asexual - which doesn't preclude romance, and the show probably won't go sexual in any way textually - or don't want her to have a romance at all, but I can see this playing out with Weiss, personally, presently in the text. There's no set up romance for her that I can see following patterns of the other romances.

So yes, it would be a missed opportunity for Ruby's character arc as well as her intertextuality to not give her a proper, intense romance. I do think BB is easy to see as textual, particularly on RWBY's own terms, but I also think they've demonstrated with, say, V6, they can do high drama romance. That scene with Blake and Yang at the waterfall is really moving and passionate, and it should be, given that was a symbolic wedding. Blake even made a promise to Yang!

I actually sort of have... middling hopes for the romances yet to be canon, because honestly every new volume in recent years has become my favourite volume. If we get later development of RG and Knightfall, that's... kind of a good thing at present honestly.

Also the thing with the dance I mentioned was the colour-co-ordinating. Oscar isn't there, so he can't be matched with Ruby, and Ruby doesn't have a date-date, but a significant shot of her is with Ozpin at the ball. He's not her real partner, and he's in green (complementary to red) but also black like her. My point is that Ozpin hasn't reincarnated into Oscar (which is what makes Ruby and Oscar meet; without Ozpin, they never would have). Ruby doesn't have any childhood romance either, not like Jaune and Weiss, Jaune and Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, etc.

To circle into your second ask:

I think it's interesting that Ruby brings no date to the dance, and neither does Cinder (Emerald and Merc paired with each other, she's alone), and then they end the night by dancing with each other (fighting at the CCT building).

Yes, Cinder matches Jaune though, when I was being crazy about the colour-coding, and she turns up just in time at the ball... I think in the case of Ruby and Cinder, since they're not a couple dancing at the ball it's not childhood romance - it is a childhood fight though. Cinder's obsession with Ruby and hatred of her comes from a place of deep childish (not in a condescending way) fear. But you're right, it does count as dancing! Given that they don't fit the colour-coding, or the pattern of, say, Blake and Yang, I don't think it's romantic. But also neither of them leave the fight really hurt - so again, harmless and childish.

Also, I'm not really sure if this is contributing to anything... but as I remarked also in my post about sexuality in R/WBY, Cinder does represent adult sexuality in Ruby's story (and as her Jungian Shadow). It's very fitting that on the night that Ruby is confronted with the idea of a life beyond being a Huntress - by the bad wizard who reincarnates into her presumable love interest - is also the night she sneaks out on her own, and fights Cinder. Basically she's confronting the idea of sexuality, is what I'm saying, in her journey again.

So yes... it's actually appropriate that they 'dance' in conflict! Thank you for making me think about that!!!!

In other stories, sometimes the Shadow will be conflated with the anima or the animus - R/WBY is a show where for a lot of characters you can pretty much split them individually across the psyche. So I don't think this is Cinder/Ruby foreshadowing, but it is fitting for the narrative conventions R/WBY follows. Cinder isn't sexually confronting to Ruby romantically, just conceptually.

I mean I could take this even further and say that Ruby's dismissal of Cinder for so long is because she refuses to confront the idea of a life beyond being a Huntress (and by extension her own inner life, sexuality, romance, etc. these are all bundled up ideas), which is the next key part of her journey... which happens to line up with the foreshadowing of Ruby healing Cinder of her Dark Curse with her silver eyes.

So these are all interconnected ideas. Cindemption does a lot for Ruby's story, and the show overall. This is also why I read Knightfall and Rosegarden in relation to each other, and by extension a canon romance like BB.

Thanks for the food for thought, you made some great observations!!! <3 Hope you're having a good evening. And thank you for reading my posts, it means a lot. (o:

#seraphina's asks #rosegarden #I may as well #user: anomalous-fox

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fallynleaf · 2 years

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re: Young Bucks Carry On Wayward Son, i actually spend a fair amount of time thinking about what AEW could do to become a Tumblr Fandom lol. pro wrestling is absolutely one of those things that media fandom people should theoretically be all about (source: i got into it), and it already has loads of overlap with nerd subculture, and yet... there is a divide.

some of it is definitely a gender thing, at least in America, because wrestling communities are often extremely hostile toward women (and AEW is legitimately struggling to build their audience among women). i kind of wish i’d paid more attention to some of the early fan studies scholarship i read, because one of the things they talked about was how wrestling and sports fandom were overstudied at the time (in comparison to media fandom) because those were of interest to the (predominantly male) academics, and media fandom communities were almost exclusively women. naturally, i was like “yeah who cares about wrestling and sports!! 😤” and did not even glance in the direction of any of that research. but now i want to know what they were studying!

because wrestling is chronically under-researched and under-reported and under-respected, and is seen as cheap, disposable entertainment. but, like, so were the pulps!

there are many things that appeal to me about pro wrestling, but i think part of the reason why it captured my entire heart like it did is because it felt like in many ways the combination of every other type of media i’d ever been obsessed with or had any passing interest in. you get long plot arcs like you see in shounen anime, there’s magic and fantasy stuff, fake things becoming real, super cool costuming and spectacular stunt work that appeals to the part of me that enjoys ballet, intertextual references to every single other media property under the sun, extremely subtle and complex stories woven over a period of many years, which require a lot of analysis and interpretation, a vividly elaborate and in-depth world, and really well-developed characters and relationships. and the whole thing is combined with the kind of real person personality-driven content like vlogs and streams, which appeal to the part of me that likes let’s plays and Buzzfeed Unsolved or whatever, and coupled with twitter and such, it basically becomes an extremely immersive ARG, where we as fans are ourselves characters in this world, and can shape and influence it based on our support.

but of course, i did not know all of this about pro wrestling until i cared enough to give it a chance. and even once i started to become interested, there’s a long, steep climb from there to actually learning the right language to be able to talk about it, and developing an eye for actually watching it, and understanding enough of the characters’ history in order to interpret it.

maybe it’s just too different. too insular, too weird, too repulsive to people outside of it. i guess wrestling is sort of one of those things that people tend to have strong opinions about. either they absolutely love it or they hate it and don’t see the appeal at all. i have been in both camps lol. there was never a time in my life where i was neutral about it.

in any case, this post sort of got away from me, but i legitimately wonder what would happen if the Young Bucks entered to Carry On Wayward Son on november 5 lol. would that be enough to get tumblr’s attention? i think at least one post would probably go viral, like Kenny’s Sans entrance did, but probably most of the people reblogging it and memeing it wouldn’t know that they were maybe one or two google searches away from discovering an industry-shaking decade plus long gay love story, which is something that supernatural fans are sort of primed to be really into.

it kind of makes me wonder about how many hyperfixations i only narrowly missed getting into because i didn’t look close enough at a funny viral post or something, lol

#for the record i think AEW's best shot at reaching the media fandom people is the golden lovers reuniting and getting screentime in the US #legit i think AEW would see a huge increase in women and LGBTQ viewers if they had a story like that at the forefront #love and genuine feeling #wrassling

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algernoninwonderland · 3 years

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Miraculous, intertextuality and why referencing other works all the time isn’t necessarily a great idea

TL;DR: Miraculous loves itself some pop culture references, they’re in the show all the time for you to enjoy, especially if you’re a big nerd.

Only, making a list of references and trying to replicate what other works did before yours doesn’t make your show good by association, and when it comes to Miraculous, these references seldom do these original works justice. Instead, it makes comparing these other works with Miraculous really easy, and the comparison is rarely flattering.

Miraculous would be a much better show if it tried to be its own thing, a few scenes are just that and they are great. It’d be a wonderful show were they not so few and far between.

Miraculous is made by nerds, as is the case with most cartoons. The show itself lets you know that right away. It’s a pastiche of magical girl anime and Silver Age comics, it uses a lot of their visual languages, and references its other inspirations a lot, for instance:

The name of its fictional locations, (Françoise Dupont is a regular kid with a masked detective alter ego named Fantomette, Marinette’s address is a reference to a French illustrator who often drew a talking ladybird)

The way its characters look (Master Fu is both Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid and Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball, when akumatised, Mme Couffaine becomes basically Captain Harlock and her houseboat becomes the Arcadia)

Sometimes entire scenes are references to other works (Aurore’s akumatisation is straight out of Utena’s Dark Rose Saga, “Gorizilla” has a King Kong pastiche).

You could fill an entire Wiki with all the references in Miraculous if you wanted to. If you paid me well, I’d do it myself.

Wearing your inspirations on your sleeves is a double-edged sword, really.

On the one hand, you showcase the things that inspired your creative process, a way to say, “hey, that show/film/book exists within a landscape, it’s the heir to such and such work”. You acknowledge that you owe a lot to your predecessors, you acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a 100% original thing. That’s a great act of humility.

And intertextuality conveys meaning, too! Let’s take a very mainstream example. When you notice that ha! The pod-racing scene in Phantom Menace comes from the 1959 movie Ben-Hur for instance, you get the sense that you understand the cinematic masterpiece that is Episode 1 a bit more. It tells you that your movie about space wizards owes a lot to other genres, and that it transposes these genres to another setting, space! “It’s Ben-Hur, in that that slave kid is pod-racing for his freedom, but I gave it my own spin,” George Lucas tells you. “Look, the funny Gungan stepped into that space cow’s poop! Haha, sure hope I’ll sell lots of toys and buy myself some death sticks!”

You feel really smart when you get a reference, too! “Hey, that’s a Dezaki effect right there!” “Wow, is that a robot from Castle in the Sky in Age of Ultron?” Likewise, if you don’t recognise the work being referred to, you might get curious about it! References send back to other things and your knowledge of these things and when you get it, it feels nice. Lots of people discovered Utena thanks to Steven Universe and that’s really cool, and these references add to the meaning of the cartoon! Folks who casually got into RWBY but didn’t know Soul Eater and Cowboy Bebop heard about those shows and many others while discussing RWBY and I’m sure lots of them got into anime thanks to RWBY!

On the other hand, by being so open about your sources of inspiration, you expose yourself to criticism, especially in the case of your work being compared with what inspired it: it might be seen as derivative, or even worse, unable to do these previous pieces of media justice by only retaining and replicating their most superficial elements without a great understanding of what made them work, gratuitous fanservice for nerds.

And I’m not quite sure where Miraculous stands. Oftentimes, it feels more like a Spider-Man/Kamen Rider crossover with bits of outdated shoujo manga and superficial wuxia sprinkled in there than a show at least trying to be its own thing.

And the problem is, Sailor Moon is better at being Sailor Moon than Miraculous could ever be, as it uses its visual language better, and it has a tiny thing called “the main character having a group of friends who aren’t props and a plot you can follow” that is the very reason why people liked the manga and anime in the first place. Miraculous only retains the very superficial aspects of the manga/anime and of the genre. Marinette still trips over a cat in the opening. Because that’s how it happens in Sailor Moon. Her characterisation as a civilian screams “Usagi Tsukino but more stressed out”.

Spider-Man is better at splash pages than Miraculous because ML’s CGI is pretty meh when it’s not in motion, these weird filter effects don’t look great, that only works when you’re Into the Spiderverse and have comic-book aesthetics. Queen Wasp has a whole sequence that is just that scene in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 only this time Queen Bee sabotaged a metro on purpose to stop it. It’s not an awful scene, it carries its point across rather well (Chloé is a selfish nerd who thinks she can be like these comic book characters but truly isn’t fit to be a hero) but the original did it better, it was more impressive, there was more tension to that original scene, some really interesting camera and foley work that made you feel the weight of that train. It didn’t feel cheap the way that scene in “Queen Wasp” did.

Utena’s Black Rose Saga explores the psyche of some of its secondary characters the audience is already familiar with, with problems we could already identify within them. It offers an examination of the storyworld from another point of view, and helps build it further. There’s always a proper buildup before these characters have a mental breakdown in an moody elevator with a butterfly pinned on the wall that turns back into a chrysalis, because the characters are going through a kind of regression that makes them easier to manipulate and turn into “villains” while acting out their true desires in a twisted way. “Stormy Weather” has most of that, an elevator with dramatic lighting, a butterfly and a mental breakdown, but the character is all new to us so it’s just not that impactful. Often, that one secondary character who’ll get transformed has had spoken lines, yes, but that’s only minutes before they get akumatised.

“Kinda the same but a bit worse and missing some of the key aspects of what made the original thing so good” isn’t much of a tribute, is it?

In an earlier post, I stated that Animaestro was basically “I have watched a lot of animated shows and I know how to mimic them, the episode”. It told us nothing about animation as a medium except that it’s cool sometimes and that you get to imitate other people who are much better at the things they do than you are.

It’s not a clever metacommentary, it’s just “me likey moving pictures”. Good for you, I guess… Did you really need an entire episode to make that point?

And then you’ve got all the bad outdated shoujo tropes with characters falling on top of each other, aggressive flirting (harassment, really) from Adrien portrayed as really sweet and romantic because it’s just like in the shoujo manga (which one?) you see… And that’s just not great, is it?

Miraculous is a much better cartoon when it doesn’t try (and fail) to emulate other shows and movies and comic books and manga. The only thing it tells us about these works is that That Guy and co really like them and that copy-pasting them is the best way they’ve found to show their love. Imitation and flattery and all of that I guess.

“Look, it’s like in that scene in the anime! Did you like the anime? It sure was a good anime, and if our show makes you think about it, then it’s also good, right?”

No, you guys, I’m sorry but no. If making references was all it took to be good, then gaming webcomics would be regarded as masterpieces.

Very often, the show seems interested in being anything but itself. And it’s a shame, because there are lots of ideas the show kind of brings up but never quite touches. Marinette is interested in fashion design? That’s great, show us more of that! Make it an important part of her character, and by the same occasion, make her creations look not-laughable. Miraculous could be the first cartoon to explore what it’s like to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent in France (would that work with a crew of almost strictly middle-aged white men is another question to which the answer is a resounding “no”). The show is set in Paris? Cool, how about exploring the city outside of its landmarks every tourist and their mom already knows?

Inexplicably, in the middle of an episode when you expect it the least, you get brilliant bits of directing that aren’t references to other works. Alya becoming Rena Rouge and her first steps as a superhero? Brilliant, really immersive, loved it, not a reference. The sad car scene in Puppeteer 2? It’s really really good, not a reference either. All the unexplored lore? It seemed really promising and having more of it would help us understand things a bit more!

People don’t just like your show because it reminds them of another show. Why watch it if you can watch that original work in the first place?

Trying to make a superficial mashup of all things you think are great in other works is not the way to do these works justice, nor is it the way to make your show interesting, let alone good.

#miraculous #ml salt #ml writers salt #ml critical #ml analysis #longpost #rwby #star wars #spider-man #adrien salt

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ladyherenya · 4 years

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My favourite thing this year has been the Korean drama Crash Landing on You (2019-20).

It has something of a ridiculous title (I’ve ended up calling it Crash Landing or sometimes just Crash). But, to be fair, North and South was already taken.

“I can go to Africa and even Antarctica but not here. It’s a shame that you live here.” “It’s a shame that you live there.” -- episode three

To my great amusement, every month or so, Netflix has sent me an email that’s said: “Don’t forget to finish Crash Landing on You” or “Remember this? Watch it again: Crash Landing on You” or “Rewatch your favourite moments - Watch it again: Crash Landing on You…”

And I’m like: NETFLIX! Seriously, WHAT do you THINK I’M DOING?

I have now watched Crash Landing on You five times.

There are several reasons for this:

I successfully dragged other family members down this particular rabbit hole, and in a pandemic season, when things have been unpredictable (or cancelled), rewatching Crash Landing has been an appealing and comfortably-familiar distraction, as well as the source of many, many long, analytical fandom-y conversations, which has been fun.

I needed to watch it more than once to straighten out all the pieces of the story in my head. With 16 episodes, each over an hour long, it’s one of the longest stories I’ve ever watched. I’ve seen other TV series with more episodes, but nearly all have been much more episodic, rather than telling one continuous story.

I kept noticing details that I’d previously missed because I’d been focused on the subtitles or that I hadn’t properly understood some cultural nuance. And some things are ambiguous in translation -- in a good way, a fodder-for-discussion way.

I have ALWAYS rewatched (or reread) my favourite stories. And Crash Landing fits right in with those. Someone in my family described it as: “Like Lord of the Rings on steroids!” However, I think it actually has far more in common -- visually and thematically, and also in terms of my willingness to discuss the characters as if they were real people -- with my favourite historical dramas.

In terms of story, Crash Landing is easy enough to summarise: A South Korean businesswoman is paragliding when a freak storm blows her across the border; she’s discovered by a North Korean captain, who hides her and helps her get home.

But I’m going to need more words to explain why I fell in love with it.

It is fascinating and, first time round, tense and unpredictable. It’s funny and very meta -- very aware of the tropes it’s playing with and of parallels and contrasts within the story. It’s visually and aesthetically pleasing, and the soundtrack grew on me.

There are a number of coincidences and a few ridiculous fight scenes, but the emotions are intensely real and so are the consequences. It has camaraderie and found-family and thoughtfully-complicated family relationships. There are characters I love, and characters who surprised me, and so much time given to character development! It’s romantic. There’s a fake engagement (a favourite trope of mine) and while I’m not a fan of love triangles, I liked how this quadrangle-tangle is handled. And the obstacles to the romance are satisfyingly realistic; characters have sensible reasons for the choices they make.

I love how the story uses flashbacks, particularly the post-credit scenes.

The final episode isn’t perfect, but given that a perfectly happy ending would, realistically, require the reunification of north and south, I thought it came very close.

Let me elaborate.

Cut for sheer verbosity, rather than spoilers. (I’m not allowing myself to list spoiler-ish examples or dive into analysing my favourite scenes, because then I wouldn’t just be here all night, I’d be here all week).

⬦ Fascinating, tense, unpredictable: I knew almost nothing about life in North Korea, so that was fascinating and made the story harder to predict, as I couldn’t anticipate what options the characters had or what obstacles might arise. And that isn’t the only reason I found it tense -- at different times, different characters are greatly at risk if discovered; there are occasions when characters are in danger of physical violence or are injured; and they have a couple of dilemmas to which there are just not easy solutions (See also: Obstacles for romance).

While I’m on the subject of the setting, although I cannot judge how accurate this portrayal of the north was, it’s portrayal of people as people was incredibly convincing. It’s a society where people have differences in personality and in circumstances. There are orphans begging in the market, people who can afford to stay in fancy hotels -- and a lot of people somewhere in between. In the military village, people have varying attitudes, tastes in clothes, privileges, standards of living, etc. Their lifestyle differs from that in Pyongyang, and also in other parts of the country. Amongst the military, some men are compassionate, some are corrupt and some are not obviously one or the other.

Moreover, it’s clear that corruption and villainy isn’t just in the north. In the south, as in the north, we see a range of humanity -- selfishness, good friends, complicated families, happy marriages, criminal behaviour, and so on.

I’ve read an article or two suggesting that the least realistic aspect is Ri Jeong Hyeok being such a sympathetic and honourable officer. I think it’s interesting that he clearly isn’t a typical captain -- he wanted a different career, he’s spent time studying overseas (in a democratic country), and, perhaps most importantly, his father’s position gives him protection from pressures many others face. He has the privilege of being able to afford to act with integrity, and of encouraging such behaviour in the men he leads.

⬦ Humour and meta: I’ve included these two together, because so much of the story’s self-awareness and intertextuality is humorous. I am very amused by so many things -- the village women’s interactions, Se-ri’s wit and banter, Jeong Hyeok’s facial expressions, the duckling's reactions, the way Ju Meok keeps comparing things to South Korean dramas:

Ju Meok: “I haven’t seen any drama characters that don’t fall in love in that situation. That’s how they all fall in love.”

(Because my knowledge of Korean drama is limited, there are a few cameos and references which I suspect would be amusing if one was in the know. The exception is the taxi driver singing, who was funny even without recognising the actor.)

I love the commentary that comes from all the moments when other characters witness the unfolding romance. Others’ reactions are often memorably hilarious -- some of my favouritest scenes fall into this category. (The customs officer! Jeong Hyeok’s dad!) They introduce humour and self-awareness into these moments, allowing the story to acknowledge “Yeah, we know these two are being ridiculous/sappy/emotional”. These moments reveal people’s attitudes towards displays of affection, particularly in the north, and their different attitudes towards Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok’s relationship.

And as their relationship changes, Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok’s awareness of being watched and commented upon changes, too.

Which leads me to…

⬦ Contrasts and parallels: So many scenes which echo/parallel earlier scenes. Most obviously, this allows the story to compare and contrast the north and south, but it also shows changes in time, differences between characters, and differences in relationships too. Sometimes all at once!

It means some plot developments weren’t totally unexpected -- it was Oh, of COURSE, we’re going to now see that character in this situation! or OBVIOUSLY we now have to see what this is like in the south!

But I thought it was really effective storytelling and I so much enjoyed spotting and analysing these moments.

⬦ Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong Hyeok: These two are the heart of the story and there are so many things I love about them. Like how, even though Se-ri is dependent upon Jeong Hyeok to hide and help her -- even though they’re initially hesitant about a romantic relationship -- they quickly become very protective of each other. Often to the point of willingly risking their own safety. Often to the point of exasperating the other. It’s great.

That’s not the only thing they discover they have in common. They share some interests. They’re both highly intelligent, driven, successful leaders (he’s a captain, she’s a CEO) who are very private, lonely people carrying around grief about their family and their past. Neither of them likes to reveal their emotions -- he tries to conceal his by suppressing his facial expressions and avoiding answering questions, while Se-ri hides behind play-acting.

I like watching Se-ri trying to get to know Jeong Hyeok. She isn’t deterred by his silences (unlike someone else) and she keeps the conversation going even when he doesn’t respond. She watches him closely, and says or does things to provoke a reaction. Poke, poke, poke.

And the time they spend together is really revealing. They share meals, they share a house. They see how the other responds under pressure, but also in various social and domestic situations. They see each other in a range of moods: calm, happy, grumpy, scared, tired, upset, unwell. Crash Landing takes advantage of spending sixteen episodes with these characters. Going through so many different experiences together, they learn a lot about each other -- about each other’s values, tastes and temperament -- and this means the audience gets a deeper, more nuanced understanding of who they are, too.

Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok are also well-matched in how they show they appreciate each other -- she delights in giving presents, and he is quick to notice things Se-ri might need or like.

And it’s very satisfying when they open up, or when they cry in front of each other, because you know that they don’t do this lightly or easily.

⬦ Obstacles for romance, love triangle quadrangle-tangle: I appreciate that the obstacles in this story are not contrived or fueled by needless misunderstandings. Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok have really solid, sensible reasons to be hesitant to first recognise, then admit to, and then act upon, a romantic attraction. Even once they realise that getting Se-ri home is going to take longer than they’d hoped and she’s pretending to be Jeong Hyeok’s fiancée, romance between them is still a road that leads nowhere. She isn’t safe staying in the north and he would endanger his family if he defected to the south, and they both accept that. And they’re reticent about sharing vulnerable feelings, and Jeong Hyeok is actually engaged to someone else.

But once they really open up to each other, the narrative conflict revolves around their circumstances, rather than doubts or misunderstandings they have about each other. Because the situations they face are dangerous and difficult, with no obvious or straightforward path to a happy ending, there’s quite enough tension to drive the story forward. They still have a couple of misunderstandings, but I like how they handle those, and I like that they don’t have more of them.

As for the love triangle, it doesn’t have the angst of someone torn between, or even attracted to, two people. Jeong Hyeok’s engagement has been arranged. Having feelings for someone else doesn’t change the foundation of that engagement, nor the pressure to please his family. He doesn’t love or know his fiancée -- not well enough to risk revealing Se-ri’s true identity to her. He’s honest with Se-ri and he makes an effort with Dan.

(I have a theory that, if he had been in love before, he might be quicker to recognise how some of his behaviour towards Se-ri fosters intimacy and sends her messages he doesn’t intend, but this is all new for him.)

He tries not to mislead or hurt Dan, but she’s hurt nonetheless, and I like that Crash Landing doesn’t gloss over that. It explores why she’s hurt, why she’s so reluctant to let him go and why their relationship never really worked. (Neither of them are good at communicating with each other, and I think she takes some of the things he does for her for granted, rather than recognising them as overtures and as opportunities to get to know him better.)

Dan is not just a romantic rival, nor a narrative complication, but a person whose concerns and desire are taken seriously, and who is given space to grow.

Which leads me to...

⬦ Surprising characters, thoughtfully-complicated family relationships: As mentioned, Crash Landing takes advantage of the amount of character development 16 episodes allows, and not just for its lead couple. I was surprised by how much my opinion of certain characters changed, as I came to understand them better.

The character I was most surprised by was Gu Seung-jun.

Each time I’ve watched this, I’ve liked Dan more. I have a lot of sympathy for her now. I also like her mother, even though she’s embarrassingly over the top, because she cares fiercely about her daughter and about advocating for her.

Se-ri’s dysfunctional family are more nuanced than I expected, too. In particular, I love the attention the story gives to Se-ri’s relationship with her step-mother. I was expecting Se-ri’s father to play a larger role, perhaps because he’s nominally the one with the power and influence, and at first Se-ri’s mother seems so passive. But it was really interesting to understand where she’s coming from, why her relationship with Se-ri is broken and sad. The steps the two of them take towards rebuilding their relationship are believable.

(On a related thought, I appreciate a lot of the choices this makes in addressing these women’s mental health struggles. One or two moments arguably could have been handled better, but on the whole it’s realistically optimistic, with enough detail so that we understand the seriousness -- the impact it’s had on these women’s lives.)

⬦ Camaraderie, found family and the ducklings: Se-ri doesn’t spend as much time with the village women as she does with Jeong Hyeok and his soldiers, and when she does, she’s play-acting, in order to keep her identity a secret. But I like how they nevertheless support her, and how meeting her sparks change their dynamic with each other. They grow closer and become much better at supporting each other. It’s really heartwarming.

We gave many of the characters codenames, so we could discuss them when we were still learning their names. (I was surprised by how long it took me to learn some of the characters’ names. Because so many were unfamiliar to me, they were harder to remember; I wasn’t always sure, from just reading the subtitles, how all of them were pronounced, and sometimes it was hard to separate the sound of the names from surrounding sentences, especially when, due to honorifics and titles and so on, subtitles don’t always match exactly what is being said.) Jeong Hyeok’s men are “the ducklings”, inspired by something I saw on Tumblr: Gwang Beom is “Handsome Duckling”, Ju Meok is “Drama Duckling” and Chi Su is just the sergeant.) I love how they function as a found-family, especially in contrast to Se-ri’s real family. They’re funny, loyal and caring, and in spite of their different personalities, work well together as a team. I enjoyed seeing the different relationships they have with each other, with Jeong Hyeok and Se-ri, and how some of those relationships change. And they’re so protective they are of Eun Dong!

Man Bok has an interesting arc -- I could have mentioned him under Surprising characters. I really like how he fits into this story, how he’s connected to the mystery Jeong Hyeok is investigating, how he becomes involved with the rest of the characters and has these moments when he plays a significant role. Or gets to be funny. I like the contrast and parallels too -- he’s in a different place in his life to the ducklings, and he gets opportunities to revisit past choices he regrets.

And I’m trying not to write essays about all the characters, and it’s ahhh, I have too many thoughts and feelings about them all!

⬦ Satisfyingly realistic: I like how -- one or two ridiculous fight scenes and an unrealistic paragliding scene aside -- things which happen have believable consequences. Particularly emotionally. We see men cry! A lot! And it always feels like a genuine expression of emotion, not gratuitous or overwrought. (Well, okay, there’s a very minor character who’s a bit over the top but he’s very minor.)

When one of the characters is gravely ill, she looks it, I found it oddly satisfying that she doesn’t have to be pretty all the time.

And I wasn’t sure if this belonged here or under “Visual details” but I love the attention given to Se-ri’s clothes. She cares a lot about fashion and in the north her clothing choices indicate that she cares a lot about her appearance, while making do with a limited wardrobe and still dressing for warmth. (I’m happy to handwave that she seems to have more clothes than would realistically fit in those shopping bags.) I appreciated the practical streak, and, as winter wore on here, became envious of one of her outfits.

I don’t personally like the style of Se-ri chooses for work, but it’s different it is from what she wore in the north and from what she wears at home -- her power-dressing is like a uniform or a statement of persona she projects in her working life, and not necessarily a reflection of her personal tastes.

⬦ Visual details: I love so many of the visuals. Gorgeous scenery, interesting settings and clever framing for significant scenes. The sky, a place without borders, often becomes a focus and there’s a thematically-relevant flight motif -- paragliders, birds and kites.

I did not start noticing the product placement until a rewatch, when I stopped to think about how often they went to Subway. The first time, it just seemed like a commentary on south-versus-north, and then I was just baffled-yet-amused by it all. (That sort of thing does not make me want to eat fried chicken...)

⬦ Soundtrack: The first time round, I liked the instrumental score and the presence of piano music actually in the story. As I kept rewatching, the rest of the soundtrack slowly but steadily grew on me, and I found myself liking the songs more and more.

Now I not only recognise them by name, I can recall most of them well enough to hum them and know which scenes they’re associated with. Which is a lot harder when the lyrics are in a language I don’t speak and so I can’t use them as a prompt for memory.

⬦ Flashbacks: Instead of “previously-on” segments, Crash Landing employs lots of flashbacks whenever it wants to remind the audience of something.

Sometimes, instead of just repeating part of an earlier scene, it takes the opportunity to show the same moment from different angles or from a different character’s perspective, or to juxtapose it with a different scene or to introduce new information. This was really effective. And when flashbacks were a simple repeat, I was usually happy to revisit important moments in the story (and sometimes, having a different person translating the subtitles meant there was a slightly different perspective on the dialogue).

Then there are the post-credit flashbacks, quite a few of which take places years earlier. I love how they’re puzzle pieces about the characters’ pasts and the connections between them.

⬦ The end: The first time round, after watching the penultimate episode I was so engrossed in the story and so invested in the characters that I had trouble sleeping and I went around the next day with this tight, anxious feeling, unable to get the story out of my head.

The final episode is an emotional rollercoaster. SO. MANY. FEELINGS. There’s one particular scene which packs a powerful punch -- it’s exceptionally emotional and beautifully filmed. I love it, but I’m glad we get the aftermath too.

It isn’t a perfect ending, but as I said, I don’t think there was a perfect ending was possible, not one that was both realistic and satisfying. But this comes very close. In the very final scenes, not everything is resolved or explained, and I like how that ambiguity is open to interpretation -- I like that there are some gaps for the viewer to fill in for oneself, however one prefers to imagine the characters’ lives going forward.

I know I could easily write another four thousand words about this story -- there are aspects I haven’t really discussed but this seems like a good place to stop. For now. I really like this story. I expect I’ll watch it all again soon.

#Herenya recommends things #Crash Landing on You #thoughts I have them #Yet another CLOY rewatch

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sidleyparkhermit · 3 years

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fanfic meme thing!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

24 (though it should probably be counted as 23 because the crossword puzzle solution isn't really a separate work)

2) What is your total ao3 word count?

49,608

3) How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Around 12 or 13 on AO3, depending how you count various interconnected media franchises. But if you collected all the non-AO3 tumblr fic, pre-AO3 fic that I never collected properly outside LJ/DW/mailing lists (yes really), old Yuletides, god knows what-all else… It’s certainly in the dozens. Some favorites not found in my AO3 would include X-Files, Pacific Rim, DC Vertigo-verse, due South, M*A*S*H, the Peter Wimsey novels, Law & Order: SVU, and I think LOST at some point

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Derry Days (IT (Movies - Muschietti))

Binary (Star Wars Original Trilogy)

Arena (Hannibal (TV))

#postedbyteamcap (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV))

Multitudes (Star Wars - All Media Types)

5) Do you respond to comments?

I try! Oh, how I try! And I get so neurotic about it when I don’t get around to them. Especially since people comment so little nowadays! God I miss posting fic on LiveJournal.

(I mean, I still do post fic on LiveJournal, but obviously people don’t comment there)

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Angstiest, I would have to go with hologram/sunset, from beginning to end (which is a pretty short walk). Can’t really beat Alderaanian survivor’s guilt.

The first one that came to mind, though, was the Westworld flashfic Reflection, because it has the look of an angsty romantic vignette and then right at the end gets CREEPY.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Well, there's a lot of get-togethers and hopeful endings on my AO3 but the end of Derry Days is the only one that was described by one commenter as “schmoopy”.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

If I had all the crazy flashfic from all the pseuds of my youth, I think there would be some great ones in there. I do love crossovers. Harder to find an audience for them, though, if you don’t have a significant audience of your own to begin with.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can recall.

10) Do you write smut? What kind?

Sigh… I’ve written a lot more of it than I’ve posted, that’s for sure. I get too embarrassed and don’t finish things up. (Special shout-out to the beta readers who gave me such nice feedback on drafts that then faded away unfinished and abandoned, like the kinky novella-length Zeller/Chilton thing or the one with the miniseries Reddie phone sex)

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I can recall. I once had a translation request that I didn’t see until long after the fandom event it would have been for, so these days I’ve made sure to keep a blanket permission statement where it’s easy to find. (Because of this, I did get a story podficced once! So that was cool.)

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Only with @kumquatweekend when we were about 12!

14) What’s your favorite ship?

My brain says there’s no possible way to even narrow this down to a top 10, but my gut says Newt/Hermann

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’d love to get back to Lovecraft in Brooklyn — I had some fun stuff brewing for Chapter 3 with Endgame Natasha and probably T’Challa — but to complete that story would require so much lore and worldbuilding and it just was not gonna happen.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Banter. Feels. Intertextuality. Plotting. Getting in, saying just what I want to say, and getting out (something I’m ironically terrible at in every other aspect of life).

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Procrastination. Over-editing. Repeating myself. Being too protective of my precious little ideas to let them actually become a thing other people will look at. And, quite often, failure to figure out how to get in, say just what I want to say, and get out.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

Not being fluent in any other languages, I avoid this as best I can. Can’t remember the last time it would have come up, though.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Whoo boy. X-Files? Highlander: The Series? We’re going way back to middle school here. I might have written things that counted as fanfic for ACD Holmes/Watson before any TV fandoms.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

The one I’m going to do next.

tagging: anyone reading this who thinks it would be fun, consider yourself tagged!

#writing memes #long post #not fewer butts but less butts

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kindred-is-obsessed · 5 years

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Reasons you should be watching Craig of the Creek

Not enough people are watching this wonderful show, so I thought I’d do my best to introduce people to it. It’s made by former Steven Universe crew Ben Levin and Matt Burnett, so if you’re missing Steven Universe while it’s on hiatus this is a great way to keep away the hiatus blues, or if you just enjoy in cartoons. It’s great for a whole list of reasons, which broadly fall into the two categories of great representation and great storytelling:

Canonical queer representation

- The witches premiere in the episode The Curse. If you aren’t sure if you want to watch this whole show definitely watch this one at least! It’s my absolute favourite not least of all because it’s about teen goth girls in love. It has a sequel The Last Kid in The Creek which is also wonderful, and the witches cameo throughout the series. I don’t want to spoil too much but The Curse is essentially about the two not wanting to be separated and struggling to admit their feelings for each other. (Spoilers: they do and walk off alone, blushing, staring at each other lovingly, while the kids aww at them)

- Bernard and his girlfriend watch a cooking show hosted by a gay couple.

- Other cameos, hints and coded queer kids such as JP’s sister (who has fancy dinner reservations with Kat, a woman with a shaved head who compliments Kelsey’s fake sword). There’s also Raj and Shaun (two very close friends), as well as several very boyish tomboys, including Handlebarb and Turner.

- All public bathrooms I’ve spotted in the show have gender neutral signs on them which is nice.

POC representation

- Craig, the main character, is black and has a loving family explored in depth, including an activist grandmother working for the council, a wise and fun grandfather, a supportive fun dad who loves his amazing wife, an adorable assertive little sister, and an angsty overachieving older brother who just wants to be a good grownup who loves his family and girlfriend.

- There are MANY characters of colour. There are black and brown characters, Raj is Indian, Stacks is Hispanic (and it’s implied she is an immigrant), there are several Asian characters, Kelsey is Hungarian and Jewish, a persistent background character wears a hijab (I’m pretty sure she was named at some point but I can’t find her name anywhere. She definitely has lines at one point). I’m sure there are others I have missed. No one is a stereotype as far as I am aware.

Subtle neurodivergent representation

- JP is possibly on the autism spectrum. I’d love neurodivergent people’s opinions on this, but while the representation isn’t canonical or obvious I think it’s good that while JP is represented as having different thought processes from his friends, he isn’t made fun of for it, at least not by them. It’s noteworthy I think that he’s the eldest of the core trio, probably because he finds it easier to relate to younger people who still share his imagination and care less about his unique way of thinking. His neurodivergence is explored most explicitly in the episode Jextra Perrestrial, so if you’re interested in this kind of representation definitely check that episode out.

Non-nuclear family representation

- While the main character is a member of the typical nuclear family you see on TV (except black, and actually interesting) most of the other families we see are not.

- JP is raised by his mother and older sister. His father is never mentioned and their house is definitely in worse condition than the others we see. His family works hard to take care of each other. His sister is a nurse and both her and her mother are away a lot of the time, but they both love JP very much. JP’s sister also happens to be really openly body positive. I love them a lot.

- Kelsey’s father is an only parent. There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding how Kelsey’s mother passed away. It’s a very subtle but important part of Kelsey’s character and comes through in really bittersweet adorable ways (not limited to Kelsey using her “half-orphan”ness to guilt trip a man into giving her money)

- Other kinds of families are scattered throughout the show, including families that move around a lot, a home-school kid with a strict mother, and more.

Unique approach to fantasy and sci-fi

- You know how most kids show will take a kid’s fantasy and bring it to reality? Well Craig of the Creek keeps the fantastical and nostalgic element of that line of thinking but never confirms or denies whether the kids fantasies are real or in their heads. And not in a Scooby Doo way where the fantastical elements are explained away, but are hinted as a possibility right at the very end. Instead, two perspectives (the fantastical perspective and the realistic perspective) are woven into every episode.

- This means there are two ways to interpret every episode. You can view the witches as real witches, or as goth teenagers. You can view Helen as a kid from another dimension, or a home-school kid who is never at the creek at the same time as the other kids. You can view Deltron as a cyborg from the future, or as an imaginative kid from a big city.

- This is super unique and fun to watch. They come up with so many new ideas and its always fun to figure out what’s actually happening, while still getting to relive childhood fantastical nostalgia.

- Almost all of these episodes use this to talk about an issue, but these issues can get quite complex and are definitely not shoved down your throat.

Overarching mystery plot about a colonialist kingdom / cult

- Love the slow burn storytelling of Steven Universe’s Diamond Authority? Love putting together the mysteries of Gravity Falls? Then you’ll love this plot about colonialism, classism, bullying, peer pressure and more and its mysterious build up including cryptic graffiti art and flower symbolism.

- Even before this arc properly begins, Craig of The Creek primarily centers around the microcosm of the Creek. Many of the episodes have a lot of commentary on society, politics and how different factions of people form and interact.

- The show is over 50 episodes in and this arc is only just starting to kick off so now is the time to catch up and watch.

- Fun complex villain(s)

Complex relatable characters

- Want commentary and nostalgia about horse girls, children’s tea parties, weird kids, angsty teens, young weebs, dweebs and more!? Every childhood obsession is represented in this show.

- Adults! All the parents and older teens in this show are just as rich and complex as the kids. They are all so interesting and fun.

- Want characters with arcs, aims, fun relationships and complexity!? Look no further! Redemption arcs! Revelations! Found family! It’s all here!

Great art and soundtrack

- Cute background and character designs that make you nostalgic as hell and are also beautiful and well thought out.

- Sometimes the art design is changed up for a particular episode to portray a certain fantastical / sci fi element. It’s very fun and engaging.

- An opening song that’s fun to sing along to, bittersweet ending song that makes me want to cry, a couple of musical episodes including a super fun rap musical episode, and a great OST

Queer headcanons

- There are tons of ways to interpret the show but here’s some of my head canons just to get an idea.

- (Note that despite my headcanons I use the pronouns for the kids that they use in the show cause I’m not certain about any of it and they’re kids who haven’t come out yet and also for clarity and consistency’s sake – I’m not saying trans people are not their genders. Don’t worry I’m nonbinary)

- I headcanon that all the main trio grow up to realise they are queer. They strike me as that weird group of friends that doesn’t fit in with the other kids and aren’t quite sure how they all came to be friends, only to later realise they all showed early signs of breaking gender roles and that’s why they stuck together.

- Craig definitely grows up to realise he’s gay, bisexual or queer. His admiration for characters like Deltron and Green Poncho are definitely crushes that he mistakes for a strong sudden and eager desire for friendship.

- Kelsey probably grows up to realise she is nonbinary, a trans boy or a WLW. I mostly headcanon this because I relate to her a lot and I’m nonbinary and queer so I said so. She reminds me a lot of myself as a kid. She throws herself into books, mostly fantasy for escapism. She fantasises and writes a lot for the same reasons. She dresses like a tomboy (She always wears her hair up in the same bun which strongly reminds me of my own childhood hair dysphoria) and she hangs out solely with male friends.

- JP gives me strong trans lesbian vibes, or to a lesser extent nonbinary vibes. (I know his sister is WLW coded but take it from me there can be more than one queer in a family). He is interested in girls, specifically Maney the horse girl (he even joined the horse girls for one episode). He wears a long V-neck shirt that is essentially a dress ALL the time. He’s aware that he’s different and while self conscious sometimes, mostly just wants to express himself the way he wants to. He also chooses to go by initials JP over his very gendered name Johnathan Paul (In a recent episode he names a ship after himself, calling it “The SS Johnathon Paulina”).

- (Sidenote if you do start watching this show and I see any nasty shipping of these characters in non puppy-love fashion so help me god)

Other reasons

- The show is at times very intertextual and references Princess Mononoke, Super Smash Brothers, Sailor Moon, Lord of the Rings, and a billion other things. It also has some fun cameos, including background images of the Tres Horny Boys from The Adventure Zone, a TARDIS from Doctor Who, and a Cookie Cat from Steven Universe.

- Honestly, this post hasn’t done the best job explaining why I love this show so much. You honestly just have to watch an episode to understand fully what I’m talking about, so give it a go! Watch The Curse at least, it only goes for 10 minutes.

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eyreguide · 4 years

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5 Things I Learned About Jane Eyre

A few years ago I was interviewed by a UK based educational company in preparation for their release of content about the Brontës aimed for teachers and students. Sadly the company, Train of Thought Productions, seems to be no more, but at the time they sent me a complimentary copy of the DVD titled “Brontës in Context”. Unfortunately I believe it is hard to find now, but I found it a very interesting examination of the Brontës’ lives and work.

The Jane Eyre section of the DVD was especially illuminating. I’ve never studied Jane Eyre in school, and although I've read critical texts about the story, there are schools of thoughts that I haven’t really explored. Jane Eyre is such an intertextually rich story, that I should have anticipated that this DVD would be eye-opening in unexpected ways. So this post is about the things I learned from the "Brontës in Context" DVD.

1st Person Narration

Okay, I do know that Jane Eyre is written in the first person. And I know that because the novel has a first person POV, the reader is drawn more into Jane's story, her spirit and her fiery nature. But one comment from a professor on the DVD really struck me - the idea that Jane addresses the reader personally (by saying "reader") more and more as the story progresses. "Reader, I married him." being the famous example. I was curious though to see if that was really true, so I went to the Gutenberg online copy and did a search - in the scroll bar, there are little yellow ticks that show where the word comes up in the text, so I took a screenshot of that bar to illustrate (I made the scroll bar horizontal).

From left to right: The beginning of Jane Eyre to the end

Again the yellow marks are every time Jane says "reader" (which is not absolutely accurate since there are like three times it's in the novel, and it's not addressing the reader of the book) But it's true that Jane does directly reach out to the reader more as the novel progresses. The professor on the DVD explains it as Jane wanting to take control of her story, and one way she does this is by correcting the reader's thoughts - by giving them the truth directly. I thought that was a fascinating and accurate explanation of the purpose of Jane addressing the reader.

Bluebeard

To me, Jane Eyre is most succinctly compared to two fairy tales - Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. I am aware of a Bluebeard connection, but I feel like the aforementioned tales encompasses the story more. But after watching this DVD I am leaning more towards seeing Jane Eyre in a "Bluebeard" light. Especially as Jane Eyre is a Gothic novel, and Bluebeard fits that genre the best of these three tales. There's a "secret at its heart" (quote from the DVD) which is a thoughtful encapsulation of both stories. And there was a comment made by one of the professors that placed the reader of the novel as the curious Bluebeard wife, reading the novel to discover the secret. Such an interesting idea! (And does that mean that Mr. Rochester is my husband??)

St. John and Helen

The role of religion is touched on in the DVD, and there was a thought that the character of St. John Rivers (who is not a bad person, but is kind of unforgivably self-righteous - oh, just me?) hearkens back to Jane's friend Helen Burns. Helen is such a positive character and St. John considerably less so, that I initally felt it's almost a slur on Helen to link the two. But in the context of what the professor on the DVD said it makes sense - they are similar in that they 'quash physical desires'. And in that way I can understand why Jane would be drawn to them - they both encourage Jane to embrace a devotion to God and reason, at a time when her passionate nature is giving her the most pain. Unfortunately for St. John, his function later in the novel means he also has to show Jane that living such a cold, dispassionate life is not for her. And hey, both Helen and St. John meet untimely ends. Which to my mind is Charlotte making a harsh judgement on the idea of living just for God.

Jane and Injustice

Here's something that is hugely appealing to me about this novel. The novel can be pointed to as a feminist work, and Jane is speaking out for women everywhere, but what I love about Jane is that it's not her treatment as a woman that makes her upset. She's really angry at injustice. And the whole misogyny thing is just a part of that. It really took this DVD to drive that home to me. Jane is so passionate about what she feels is not right - the inability of Mrs. Reed to love her, the treatment of the girls at Lowood, the way Mr. Rochester speaks of Bertha, St. John Rivers not wanting to marry Rosamund Oliver. It's a glorious aspect to her character and reminds me of a line from an old sixties adaptation of the novel - Mr. Rochester calls Jane "the small crusader, pitiless with righteousness and rectitude." Rochester was a little harsh with that line, but I do like the 'small crusader' imagery. (In the 1961 adaptation he's more perturbed than happy that Jane's come back to him after he's been blinded and can not be the kind of man he wants to be for her.)

Postcolonialism

The DVD touches on three critical schools of thought in connection to Jane Eyre - Feminism, Marxism and Postcolonialism. And I learned two things in relation to the last one - what Postcolonialism is exactly, and that I really don't like seeing Jane Eyre in that context. In a nutshell, Postcolonialism is looking at the imperialist, British attitude as represented by Mr. Rochester as rich white guy, and Bertha as poor Creole woman. And Bertha's relation to Jane as a dark mirror. There's even a book written with those themes called Wide Sargasso Sea which is a prequel to Jane Eyre. It's from Bertha's viewpoint. I didn't care for the book actually. The thing with me is, I am sympathetic to Mr. Rochester. And I don't really see how you can accept the view that Mr. Rochester is a lying, manipulative scoundrel with no redeeming qualities and still like the novel or Jane. Because Jane - the character to whom the reader is intimately involved and invested in - chooses Mr. Rochester in the end, as the person who makes her the happiest. And if you love Jane because she is an intelligent, moral, capable heroine, as we have gotten to know her and rely on her throughout this story - it's silly to think she is so mistaken as to have made a horrible choice in the end. Also she is telling her story with 10 years distance, and not repenting her decision. She is happy, so what more could anyone ask for?

But back to Postcolonialism and why it does not gel with me; because I also feel like making a story called JANE EYRE, with the first person narration by said JANE EYRE, and then evaluating the story through NOT the main character is kind of ridiculous. Jane Eyre is such a personal journey, that I feel it's a big leap to talk about the novel like Charlotte Brontë was seriously examining slavery/race and British imperialism. If one chooses to see Bertha as completely innocent and horrendously mistreated, at least let it be because Mr. Rochester has misjudged her and acted unsympathetically, before saying it's obviously a master/slave dynamic. And I will just insert this excerpt of a letter that Charlottë Bronte wrote in response to some comments on Bertha:

Miss Kavanagh's view of the Maniac coincides with Leigh Hunt's. I agree with them that the character is shocking, but I know that it is but too natural. There is a phase of insanity which may be called moral madness, in which all that is good or even human seems to disappear from the mind and a fiend-nature replaces it. The sole aim and desire of the being thus possessed is to exasperate, to molest, to destroy, and preternatural ingenuity and energy are often exercised to that dreadful end. The aspect in such cases, assimilates with the disposition; all seems demonized. It is true that profound pity ought to be the only sentiment elicited by the view of such degradation, and equally true is it that I have not sufficiently dwelt on that feeling; I have erred in making horror too predominant. Mrs. Rochester indeed lived a sinful life before she was insane, but sin is itself a species of insanity: the truly good behold and compassionate it as such.

- Charlottë Bronte to W.S. Williams, written 4 January 1848

For me, the interesting points in the letter being Charlotte was (later?) more sympathetic to Bertha's plight, but not condemnatory of Mr. Rochester - she mentions that Bertha has led a sinful life before she was insane and that because of the nature of Bertha's insanity (as Charlotte wrote and understood it), it was probably too easy to 'demonize' her from the character's POV, which shouldn't happen to someone who is truly compassionate. Obviously Mr. Rochester doesn't get points in the philanthropy department which is noted by Jane early on. I understand and completely believe that Bertha's situation is awful and sad in so many ways, but I don't feel that it is important enough to the novel to base interpretations of the story on. Yet can I point out that Mr. Rochester didn't lock up Bertha for funnsies - it would have been so much easier for him if she were not mad because then he could divorce her. (The law at the time being that you could not divorce your wife if she was diagnosed insane.) If he could have let her go to have a normal life and not been responsible if she attacked people, he probably would have been all over that.

To wrap up, I am saddned that this DVD is not widely available any more (at least my google searches have not been fruitful) because it was a very well concieved educational program. This DVD was sent to me in 2015, and I’m revisiting it, by posting this on my blog. I orginally posted this on a former blog. And I believe this post once featured on the Train of Thought Productions website, but sadly that site is no more.

#Jane Eyre #Charlotte Bronte #Literary Analysis #Victorian Literature

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darcyscoattails · 4 years

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Meme was made with imgflip.com --

As I watched Lost in Austen, there were particular moments that captured my attention. Certain moments are ‘meta,’ ‘self-referential,’ and ‘time bending.’ These are the moments when there is a compelling interplay between the text of Pride and Prejudice and the Lost in Austen video rendition. In these moments the intertextuality between the two works is most apparent. Also at play is tension between regency era and modern England. Guy Andrews does not seek to recreate or retell Pride and Prejudice; he merely references it. More than just another rendition of Austen, this is a complex work with relationships to the original Austenian text as well as the modern Austenian world.

Laurie Kaplan writes that “willingness to defy the viewer’s plot expectations” and Miss Price’s “constant presence” offer a “metafictional writerly or authorial point of view.” [1] There is a disconnect between what happens in Lost in Austen and what ought to happen if the original novel were followed entirely. These discrepancies are often noted by our protagonist, Amanda Price. Around the 21st minute of the first video, Amanda thinks “stop looking at me; look at Jane,” silently urging Mr. Bingley to follow the dictates of the novel (Andrews). We are given, via Amanda, the point of view of someone who has read the novel and knows the plot, but she is transported into the work and disrupts it. Moreover, this only works because the viewer is in on the joke – we recognize, like Amanda, all the departures from Austen’s original work. The video takes the form of an embedded narrative, though this narrative is in a way self-referential, almost paradoxical. The viewer is able to observe the tensions between the interior and exterior narrative only because he is completely removed.

Amanda, for her part, recognizes many of the discrepancies between the original text and the derivative, quasi-faithful version we get in Lost in Austen. Amanda at one point notes “nothing’s happening the way it should” (Andrews). She is aware that Jane, Darcy, Bingley, are characters within a text that has already been written; it is starling, then, when they do not fall into place. Bingley around the 31-minute mark exclaims that “we are both of us in a dream, Miss Price,” to which she responds “more than you know, Mr. Bingley” (Andrews). Though she is talking literally to Mr. Bingley, she also can be construed to be speaking to the audience. She first notes the strangeness of her insertion into the classic Austen text. The comparison to a dream is an acknowledgement that something a bit unsettling is happening. This time bending, meta, Twilight Zone effect is produced by the friction between Price and the world she enters. She is speaking to the reader, too, or even takes the place of the readers whose dream it is to enter Austen’s world. Some of this friction is caused by the insertion of 2000s objects into Austenian England. Consider scenes with the lip gloss (curious stares) or cigarette (“She even breathes fire”). Conversely, Miss Price’s awkward fanning herself demonstrates her attempt and failure to master regency manners, mannerisms, and decorum. These sources of friction underline the play between the original Austenian text its derivative.

Much of the ‘meta’ or ‘self-referential’ moments come from Miss Price’s own knowledge of and desire to uphold Austen’s original plot. At the 40-minute mark, Jane even calls her “oracular” (Andrews). Around an hour and 25 minutes in, she hints to Bingley that he should not give up on Jane. Despite her best efforts, we witness “the marriage of Jane and Collins,” “Lydia running off with a drunken Mr. Bingley,” and a match between Mr. Darcy and (a lesbian) Caroline Bingley[2]. Miss Price’s desire to stick to the original plot is in tension with Andrews’ acknowledgement of other renditions of Austen’s work. Though Miss Price has a desire to maintain textual integrity, she also references Colin Firth, comparing his performance as Darcy with the Darcy she meets in her journey into Austen’s world. This allusion surfaces again with the pool scene. These moments are significant for the way in which they create the interplay between this work, original Austen, and other renditions of Austen. This is a deeply intertextual work that is not only self-referential to its original source material, but other spinoffs as well.

Perhaps the most mind-wrangling moment occurs when Mr. Darcy discovers a copy of Pride and Prejudice and asks Amanda, “Is your name Price, or is it Austen?” (Andrews). He speaks as if the book is the derivative of the happenings of the movie, though he of course has it backwards. He lacks awareness that he is not, in fact, a real person, but exists in this work only because of the existence of the book he holds in his hand. Miss Price is not Austen, either; rather; she is the quintessential Austenite. She inserts herself into a version of the work, and she has knowledge of both the original work and other subsequent renditions of the work (movies, tv shows, etc,).

Lost in Austen, then, exemplifies the way in which various parties have adapted, forwarded, altered, derived, mangled Austen. This is demonstrated through the relations between this work, Pride and Prejudice, and all the other allusions to the Austensphere. A “post-modern,” self-referential, time bending, or meta effect is both produced by and produces intertextuality / relations between all these works. This is achieved via time period friction, deviance from original plot, and enlightened moments where Miss Price’s awareness contrasts with the ‘characters’ lack of awareness. If this seems confusing, that’s because my own thinking is confused. Lost in Austen is a fitting title. My only point is to pay attention to the seemingly ‘meta’ moments, because they are indicative of the intertextuality occurring here, and that intertextuality is the most essential feature of the work.

Works Cited:

Andrews, G. (Director). (2008). Lost in Austen.

Kaplan, L. (2008). "Completely without Sense" Lost in Austen. Persuasions; The Jane Austen Journal.

[1] Kaplan, “Completely without Sense”: Lost in Austen (243)

[2] Kaplan, “Completely without Sense”: Lost in Austen (247).

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