#Interpretation kind of thing like the initial argument rather than pointing out someone is looking at the full picture | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

beomglocks · 3 years

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what soobin is like as a boyfriend

warnings & other: none i just love him but let’s be honest who doesn’t, this gets cheesy in some parts bc he just gives off stereotypical kdrama bf vibes but guys he’s the one

w/c: round to 1k

ok first off

sorry if i rant soobin is my baby so ofc i think he’s the perfect boyfriend

he’s so

ugh

ok when you meet him he’s a shy boy

like really won’t wanna look you in the eye

ok like super fucking awkward

like painfully and you’re like “hahah ok that’s cute”

that only applies if you look intimidating tho

if you’re one of those people who’s blessed with not having resting bitch face he’ll be flirty

well you know..

he has his own methods of being flirty

he’s charming in his own way

probably does what yeonjun does but more subtle

stares

will stare at you

and when you make eye contact he smiles and rubs his lip with his finger DJSJSKDK PLZ

alternatively: looks away, purses his lips with a smile, ears get red, looks back up to you already looking at him then he waves

youre left like

“omg he’s so fucking cute”

ok but actually like he will reel you in without you even knowing

next thing you know you’re laughing at his lame ass jokes

god forbid you think he’s funny

“you think I’m funny? well we should date” :)

wait im pretty sure he said he doesnt go after someone unless he knows they like him back

tbh he’d probably wait until you make the first move

or wait until you show interest or else he’ll just hide his feelings

you have to bring him out of his shell

once you do...oh boy

100% never leaving you alone

always telling you how much he loves you

he’s the sweetest

teeth rotting sweet

i feel like he would slowly open up to you during the relationship

he’s not like automatically into it if that makes sense

shy to initiate things at first

such as kissing and touching

asks you if it’s ok first

we love consent

free samples kind of guy

dont take him to an ice cream shop or shops in general

he will devour the free samples

next thing you know you’re leaving with goat cheese and the newest ice cream flavour

he gives hopeless romantic vibes

would want to bake with you in the kitchen

and i know this sounds cliche but

flour fight

he’s cute with it at first

just rubs some flour on your nose then next thing you know

“we turned our dog white”

he’s a simple man

however

he probably spoils you

but not like expensive item type of spoiling he isn’t extravagant

god forbid the price range of any of the items he buys you exceeds his actual paycheck

cute gifts that you’ll actually use and cherish

i dont see many fights happening with him tbh

maybe if you question his leadership choices then i can see a fight happening

for example if you think he couldve handled a situation better in a certain way and you point that out to him he’ll get all defensive

“im the leader of my group dont tell me what you think is best for my group”

then you’re just like “well shit fuck you too i was just tryna help”

i can see him distancing himself after a fight if you’re also feeling a bit aggitated

doesn’t talk to you until it’s literally 2am and neither of you are sleeping bc yall always cuddle and you’re not cuddling him

he’s always the first one to say sorry

my god he makes fun of you so much

not on a beomgyu level though

more of a “if you say something silly i will make you feel so dumb for the rest of the day” kind of clowning

wow jealousy

i feel like he’s not super jealous unless he feels threatened

everything was fine until the fire nation attacked

once he sees you getting a little too buddy buddy with someone else he’s like nah i gotta shut this shit down

he’s humble but once he’s jealous he’s all braggy to make himself seem above who ever was trying to get at you

“yeah i think we ALL-”

boy do you have to comfort this big baby

he’s sensitive :(

hold him and rub his head on his off days

tell him he’s the best boy and it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks screw them

he laughs like

“shouldnt i be comforting you?”

soooooooooo sappy

cliche asf boyfriend

buys you flowers

if he could he would be doing the whole radio outside your window thing (side note: yeonjun would too be he’s whipped asf)

college bf (we saw it coming)

see also: college bf who helps you in what he can and tells you to screw math bc you don’t need it anyways

shows up at your school or job after his practice

everyone loves him

everyone

you gotta be on guard 24/7

i wouldnt say you’d be insecure per se but soobin definietly lacks awareness when it comes to being flirted with

he recognizes others advances but laughs awkwardly, forgetting to tell the person he already has a partner

~cue mild argument~

at the end of it all he’s like “dont worry i only like you jeez”

if he’s working on a song he asks for your input

or rather how would you interpret a certain emotion that he isn’t able to convey

just to joke around, if he has to write a song about heartbreak but neither of you have been through that he’ll be like

“well there’s a first for everything :)”

soobin 100% takes the time to learn about your culture

he’s invested what can i say

introducing you to the other members isn’t THAT bad

but they definitely clown soobin

txt: “how come your partner is cooler than our own leader”

“maybe they should lead us instead” (joke)

soobin’s like fuck yall i can be cool :(

always send you cute selfies

with messages along the lines of

“i miss you :((((”

“bring ice cream on your way back!”

“be safe tho xxx”

he gives embarassing dad vibes

you can’t introduce him to your friends !

since he has you around he isn’t too shy and once he engages in conversation you better pack your bags

he’s trying to be funny (keyword: trying) but really it’s just your friends laughing to not make the hot idol bf not feel bad

you help him with his script for music bank

speaking of music bank

yes, yes, you are clowning him like the rest of txt and he comes home like

“not you too :(((((((”

hueningkai

my goodness hueningkai

yall tussle over soobin’s attention

sometimes it feels like youre sharing soobin with kai

you love them both but youre like “kai sweetie it’s cold and i wanna be the one to cuddle my bf so please”

speaking of cuddles

best cuddles

ones where he’s wearing a really comfortable sweater that’s actually nice material and your face gets buried in his chest

his limbs will be tangled in yours no doubt

but wow he’s so warm you almost never wanna let go

they don’t call him “home” for nothing

tall boy

makes fun of you if you’re shorter than him

yes he does tease you by placing items on higher-than-you-can-reach shelves

kick his shins he’ll give in

you: ”hows the weather up there”

him: “nice actually but you wouldnt know now would you :)”

tell him your problems, tell him anything

he will listen

and i mean let-you-ramble-for-hours kind of listen

but at the end of it his input is always valuable and he isn’t judgemental

he’s a good listener and gives good advice!!!

he’s not the leader for no reason put some damn trust in him!

#choi soobin #soobin #soobin imagines #fluff #soobin reactions #soobin drabbles #soobin drabble #soobin fluff #txt imagines #drabble #tomorrow x together imagines #txt headcanons #soobin headcanons #txt reactions #txt scenarios #soobin timestamps #soobin fic #soobin x reader

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

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Also if people instinctively reaching for their “its just my interpretation” arguments as a rebuttal to that post about issue #416 could just not, I’d super appreciate it, thaaaaaanks.

See, the problem I have with that is like....no its not. Its really really not. If your fic or your meta is otherwise DIRECTLY referencing specific story beats of that specific ISSUE, like Dick not having talked to Bruce in over a year, or Dick not knowing Jason even existed until he saw it on the news, or Dick leaving Jason his phone number, or anything of the like.....it is not at all unreasonable for me to expect you to acknowledge the story beats of that very same issue that all of those things are written IN RESPONSE TO.

You can yell at me about how the firing is just a retcon til the cows come home, but y’know what? It was a retcon that was reiterated IN THAT VERY SAME ISSUE. In it, Dick reiterated what the firing looked like from his perspective, how he waited around for two weeks for Bruce to change his mind before packing up and leaving with opportunities for Bruce to say something every step of the way....THAT is the SPECIFIC sequence of events that Dick’s anger about all of this comes from.

So its extremely disingenuous to try and pair that anger with the pre-Crisis ‘better version’ of events where Dick gives up being Robin all on his own and becomes Nightwing while still on good terms with Bruce...because that version of events has its OWN corresponding aftermath that was written in direct response to THOSE character choices. Like the aftermath where right after becoming Nightwing, Dick turns around and offers Robin to Jason himself, as he of course is already well acquainted with Jason by then. See, that’s kinda part of why Dick and Bruce are on such better terms in that version of events. It has a lot to do with Bruce not adopting a whole other son without so much as a phone call to let Dick know his family had expanded.

Now you can mix and match to your heart’s content, that has NEVER been in question. Especially since as so often said, its a fandom past time to take a match to canon and watch it burn. You don’t have to adhere to aaaaaanything you don’t want to.

BUT.

If you want to talk about INTERPRETING the canon? That is subject to a different set of standards. Because you’re acknowledging that the source material exists as a point of RELEVANCE to you.....and the fact is....the source material is the SAME for everyone discussing it. Now, people can and do have different interpretations of that same material, this is obviously true. But ACTUAL. GENUINE. DISCUSSION of it.....requires that all parties at least discuss those interpretations in good faith, and make an honest attempt to address the material as it is.

And that is not what happens in this fandom. Because you damn well KNOW that for all your talk of the firing just being a retcon......its still the specific version of events the “Dick being mad about Bruce giving Robin to Jason” thing is directly meant to reference and BUILD off of. Retcon or not, it is indisputably the FOUNDATION upon which the other character choices of that very same issue are built atop of.

Because there is another version of events, yes. The pre-Crisis version where Dick gives up Robin. But as I said, that version DOES NOT HAVE Dick angry or resentful....because a key component of it is that all three of them, Bruce, Dick and Jason, are already a family in spirit. There’s a true succession of Robin from Dick passing it down to Jason.

And a lot of you guys know this too. Especially the ones most likely to reach for that “let us have our interpretation!” arguments. Because the Dick Grayson corner of fandom has posted about it a LOT. In fact, we kinda churn out a crap ton of content for this fandom. Headcanons, ficlets, informative posts, etc. And there’s a very curious phenomenon that exists.....

Literally anything I or certain other DG fans post that is inclusive of the whole family, or does not reference any specific event that’s infamous within fandom for pitting Dick against another Batfam member in a ‘who was right, discuss” kinda way.....that tends to circulate WIDELY in fandom. We’re talking upwards of a thousand notes, regularly.

In comparison.....the informative posts that are chock full of panels pointing out how canon actually goes in these specific instances.....tend to top out at a couple hundred max. Its pretty much just fellow DG stans who reblog them. Everyone else, despite them going through the same initial routes of circulation....are very good at pretending they don’t see them.

Because see, misinformation - and make no mistake, that is what we’re talking about here - RELIES on a lack of like.....actual information provided to the contrary to thrive.

For instance, if it were as common knowledge that in the pre-Crisis version of Dick becoming Nightwing, he makes Jason Robin himself, as it is say.....that the firing Dick as Robin story is ‘just a shitty retcon’......people might start to ask in greater numbers, like, okay, so why DON’T more people write Dick making Jason into Robin after giving it up himself? Why have Dick so bitter at Bruce and/or Jason, if in the only version where Dick gives up Robin, Dick passes it on himself? If you’re gonna go with the one, why not the other?

Because we all know damn well that’s not a difference in interpretation. That’s a conscious CHOICE to TRANSFORM the source material by stitching together two different sides of a cause and effect chasm. The events transpiring after Dick finds out Bruce made Jason Robin himself ARE NOT MEANT to reference the inciting event of Dick giving up Robin himself. You can make that happen, sure. But you have to MAKE it happen. There is no point in the comics where you can honestly, genuinely point to the comics and say this right here shows Dick being mad about this, where ‘this’ is Bruce giving Robin to Jason SPECIFICALLY after Dick gave Robin up, rather than being fired.

A choice has to be made there, for that to happen, if one has the ACTUAL information about how that really played out in the comics rather than just misinformation. And not everyone in fandom trusts everyone else to make the choices they would like them to make with the source material, do they?

After all, isn’t that the REAL root of all this?

See.....its no secret to any of us that nobody’s been all that happy with the actual comics aka source material in years. Meaning most of fandom, myself included, is here for meta and fics based on previously written comics, or our own adaptations of the material.

And fandom, being interactive, unlike canon.....is something that CAN be influenced by other fans.

So why don’t we all just stop fucking pretending that we’re not all trying to influence what the overarching fandom narratives are, shall we?

Oh, you can say this is just me projecting, but I’ve got plenty of instances of hypocrisy to point to that say otherwise. And THAT is the true source of my hostility in so many posts in this fandom.

Because its the very same people who loudly cry “let people have their headcanons” and “let people have their interpretations” and “stop trying to tell people there’s only one true version of canon to go off of” who NEVER. EVER. fail to show up on posts like that last one, the SECOND they start to circulate ‘too widely’ throughout fandom. There is ALWAYS someone waiting in the wings the minute a post like that starts to top a couple hundred notes, ready and raring to shoot it down with some kind of derailment or condescending reminders to everyone who might see it that ‘that’s just a bad retcon for people obsessed with misery porn’ or something like that.

And what exactly should we be calling that? When people show up every single time I make a post about the importance of Robin as a name to Dick, in order to make a big stink about how it being his mother’s name for him is just a retcon? Even though....did I say it wasn’t? Does it being a retcon mean it doesn’t exist? Am I not allowed MY interpretation of a story that very much does exist in canon, am I not allowed to reference other stories where that specific retcon is specifically linked to?

Or how about if I say, post a headcanon about Alfred getting snippy with Bruce about not reaching out to Dick after he leaves home, where within the headcanon itself I specifically reference a clear version of the story where Dick is fired and its eighteen months before he and Bruce speak again? Does this story not exist in canon? Am I not allowed to base stuff of it? It would seem not, given the way people jumped to derail that one by adding in additions about Dick being upset with Bruce about college, which is an entirely different continuity that in no way intersects with the specific events I reference, where they’re estranged for a clear reason that is directly raised within the headcanon itself. People even acknowledge “OP is entitled to any version of continuity they want” in that one, but are like....this one is wrong though, and true fans prefer the one that isn’t just misery porn meant to validate Dick’s teenage angst. With people all too happy to reblog that one while gleefully pointing out the tags that completely derail the post about a clear point in canon by making it entirely about another unrelated point in a different continuity in order to invalidate the initial headcanon or whatever.

Don’t even get me started on when we dare reference stories where Bruce is actually physically abusive to Dick, or when we link Dick’s actions in stories that acknowledge the emotional abuse or neglect of certain key moments in his life TO those inciting moments directly and say “hey its kinda shitty to act like Dick was just being a standoffish brat here when Dick’s attitude is actually directly based on the last time he and Bruce interacted being when Bruce told him to get out and leave his keys.” LOLOL nooooo, that’s not allowed to stand, because see, the ONLY possible reason we could have for even CONSIDERING those stories in character or in continuity, is because of the aforementioned addiction to misery porn or else because we’re just trying to smear Bruce to make our own fave look better.

Never mind that another popular refrain for a lot of the people I’m talking about here is “you don’t know what people are thinking or why they like the things that they like” so, y’know. It is a tad irritating to see that double standard applied, like I mean. Just speaking personally, I’m a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse with a lifetime’s worth of C-PTSD and permanent estrangement from my abusive family, so like....those stories where Dick is abused by a figure he never thought would hurt him and now has to reconcile that with still loving and admiring that very same person and still wanting to be family.....like, hey guess what, those themes are part of why his character resonates for me in particular and so they’re kiiiiiinda key for me to explore for a lot of reasons. And given that this fandom looooooves to talk about some people writing dark shit to cope, I find it veeeeeery curious that people are so willing to shut the fuck up and say nothing about incest, rape and pedophilia fics even if they don’t like them themselves......but will still come out of the woodwork to condescend about there being absolutely no valid reason for anyone to ever engage with content where Bruce is abusive even just in one singular instance.....nah. Its literally just cuz of the misery porn addiction.

But see.....the thing at the heart of all this is the simple fact that this hypocrisy doesn’t exist just for the sake of hypocrisy. It exists because we actually all DO know how much power and influence fans can have in an interactive environment like fandom.

After all, the entire reason that Dick Grayson fans are so often posting informative panel-filled posts about what ACTUALLY happens in canon stories that are DIRECTLY cited in many meta, fanfics and headcanons, just.....in a totally backwards way that just so happens to fail to mention that its not intended to be an accurate depiction of the canon its definitely mentioning its in reference to....

The entire reason for this is because of how thoroughly fandom has crafted a specific narrative for Dick Grayson’s character that is based PURELY on their own characterization wants and needs and has very little to do with the actual canon of the character.

Its not a coincidence that so many fans just so happen to genuinely, truly believe that Dick was a grade A asshole to Jason while he was Robin, and there’s a wealth of canon out there somewhere to back it up. No, this happened because of fanFIC narratives where this is the case, and these catching on, and being encouraged by the initial writers of this trope and its fans and so on and so forth until it became the overarching fandom narrative and not only didn’t require any canon basis to be so....it barely ALLOWED for any talk of the contrary. Dick Grayson stans had to yell and churn out posts like that last one for YEARS to make a DENT in this fanon conviction, and do NOT even approach me about it being an issue of tone and ‘if we’d only asked politely’ because lol. No. We did. You can find the clear shift in the tone of my posts from when I first re-entered the fandom years ago to when I just got frustrated with the willful avoidance of WHY so many fans like myself are so annoyed by certain fandom convictions......and even then, it was about the hypocrisy. It was about how loudly other people crow about letting them have their headcanons while literally shouting down ANY post we made about wanting space to just have our CANON-canon.

Pro-tip: that thing where if you just ignore someone long enough on a certain point, they’ll inevitably start to get frustrated and then you can point to their tone as being the problem and claim that was the issue all along? Yeah. Its not slick. This fandom didn’t invent it. Its always very transparent, and very obnoxious.

But the point is.....fandom absolutely has the ability to override canon narratives with their own version that’s then formative for new entrants to the fandom who never even BOTHER with the source material and just are here for the fic. And so its dishonest as FUCK for people to not only MAKE no distinction between what’s genuinely their interpretation of the canon and what’s their transformation of it, with INTENT......but to weaponize fandom’s aversion to content-criticism to shout down even ATTEMPTS to introduce discussion of the actual source material by claiming oh you’re just trying force your preferred narrative on everyone else. Aka that thing THEY’RE actually doing themselves by once attaining a fandom wide narrative they like, maintaining a stranglehold on it and doing their best to dissuade any narratives to the contrary staking a claim alongside that.

Because again, it all comes back to the fic. See, as a Dick Grayson fan, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I turn to fic for what I can’t get from canon...and its frustrating as hell to see writers that loudly talk of being BETTER than canon and “RIP to canon but my Batfam loves each other” in a lot of cases DELIBERATELY make Dick in particular look WORSE.....and then act like they have no idea what we’re talking about when we try and tell fans who take these narratives at face value that uh, they’re lacking some extremely relevant context and nuance. Or in some cases, outright facts.

And I will happily laugh loudly in the face of anyone who tries to claim that they don’t feel similarly about fics that characterize their own faves in ways they don’t like.

Yeah, try telling me that after years of some of you writing fics that specifically exclude all reference to the events of Nightwing #30 when talking about Dick’s death or Spyral.....while still including every in canon instance of people bagging on Dick for what he only did in canon because of Bruce’s abusive writing. There’s kinda a vested interest in keeping fandom relatively free of talk of Nightwing #30 then.....because weirdly, people who write about a DIFFERENT take that’s not hostile to Dick seem to end up putting the blame on Bruce for that situation. Bizarre, I know. People attributing blame to the character who was actually abusive in the canon and being cranky that the victim of said abuse is held up as the sacrificial lamb in everyone else’s fics? Whodathunkit.

(Also a point of irritation - it never had to be just one or the other. This is where the whole ‘maybe its YOU guys who were projecting all along when you said the only reason we could have for talking about Bruce’s abuse was an intent to smear the character’ bit is a thing. See, fun fact: if you were going to ignore an issue or two in order to completely flip the narrative of what really happened with Spyral and dominate the fandom landscape for a couple of years....it never had to be Nightwing #30 that was the ONLY issue you could leave out in order to not make Bruce look like an abusive asshat. Like, there was always another option right there in front of you. You could have instead chosen to also leave out Grayson #12, aka the one where Dick informs everyone else he’s alive.....then you could very easily just sliiiiiide in reference to Bruce and Dick quietly informing the whole family of his status and his mission while insisting on keeping it quiet for his safety. Voila. NOBODY has to be an asshole then, and the whole family gets to be in the know. But see, most people didn’t actually have a problem with someone being an asshole in that story. They just didn’t want it to be Bruce, and didn’t mind it being his actual victim.

Even though, lol, just another FYI.....abuse victims having things flipped on them so it looks like they’re the true problem and their abusers are completely innocent is a HUGE thing that happens a lot in real life, so FYI about that FYI.....anyone who does say, gravitate towards Dick Grayson specifically because of how he’s impacted or might be impacted by abuse from his father, like.....is proooooobably not going to have a super fun time with diehard commitment to making this particular fictional character the true mastermind of his family’s misery and abusive instead of the abused. Weird huh.)

And round and round it goes. Where it ends, nobody knows.....because it doesn’t. fucking. stop. The number of ways in which fandom has willfully flipped the narrative so that Dick is the aggressor instead of the aggrieved is just absolutely ridiculous. This guy has been punched by every member of his family except Duke and Alfred, and somehow he’s the one characterized as uncomfy to be around because of how volatile he is. This guy is the only one who has actually been KICKED OUT of the manor, and somehow that gets glossed over and considered out of character while he apparently definitely did very much do this exact specific thing to Tim, I hear.

And like broken records, people squawk ‘let us have our interpretations/headcanons/etc’ any time we try and make a stink about how no, actually, that’s NOT HOW IT WENT....and at the EXACT SAME TIME....most of these exact same people show up on every post that uses ACTUAL information to make Bruce or Jason or Tim or whomever look like the actual problem in a story where they were actually problematic, like, the SECOND a post gets popular enough....to derail, to condescend, to shout it down with how its just a retcon or its out of character or its just a bad take or how fans with taste know better than to take it seriously.

And why do you care? Like, if we’re all supposed to just live and let live and everyone’s allowed their own interpretations, why this everpresent need to show up all the time with a superior, patronizing ‘oof, this is just not good’ the second one of YOUR faves is in the hotseat, while condescendingly boxing out any posts informing people of how no, actually, Dick and Kory’s breakup WAS linked to Mirage and Dick and Donna’s infamous fight WASN’T the way its commonly talked about and oh yeah there was brainwashing there too and etc, etc....see, when WE do that, we’re just overacting stans who can’t stand others not liking our fave. Instead of just....trying to correct misinformation so more fans can at least engage with the character from a starting point of zero instead of a negative integer.

So why this hypocrisy? Oh yeah, because you don’t WANT the misinformation corrected. Because see, when the misinformation IS corrected, fic writers en masse....make different choices. And that’s why ever since more people started picking up the refrain of “well no actually Dick DIDN’T hate Jason, here’s the proof”.....there’s a lot more stories out there where...shockingly....Dick doesn’t hate Jason. Which bizarrely, does not really work well for the people who WANTED Dick to hate Jason and made a point to SHAPE the narrative to make him hate Jason.....because it wasn’t about that just being their interpretation, and it never was. Because the CHOICE to cut out Dick’s ‘justification for feeling slighted’ by being fired as Robin and pair that specifically WITH Dick resenting Jason for Bruce still making him Robin instead of Dick doing it....that has a narrative cause and effect within a lot of the fics that go with this. It gives Jason eternal underdog status that makes it easy to root for him while positioning someone specifically to blame for that underdog status and unfair playing field, and it also keeps focus off Bruce as the cause of any issues between his sons due to choices HE made, thus one singular figure is positioned as the obstacle to family unity....and that figure isn’t Bruce.

And no canon to the contrary will be acknowledged as legitimate.

Convenient huh?

Especially paired with the ‘thou shalt not con crit on another’s fic’ fandom commandment. Because when you can’t complain about any fanfic depictions whatsoever without immediately and inherently being cast as the rabble-rouser by default.....the ability to shape and dominate a specific fandom narrative becomes veeeeery key. After all, another popular fandom phrase is ‘we’re not the DC writers, complain to them about canon.’ But when there’s no canon complaint to be made to DC specifically, because its not canon we’re actually upset about, and we’re not ‘allowed’ to criticize fandom depictions because people are allowed to have their interpretations......all you have to do is stand your ground and insist that the fandom depictions of Dick are nothing BUT ‘interpretations’ and not acknowledge aaaaaaany of the places where you consciously make the decision to transform canon choices and behavior around him.....and voila. You’ve wrapped everything up in a neat little logic trap. Quite the fait accompli. There’s really no way for anyone to say or do anything ABOUT this little situation here without being ‘disruptive,’ ‘divisive’ and ‘having a negative impact on fandom harmony.’

Its just always gonna be a little weird to me, how much your positivity culture looks a lot like plausible deniability culture instead.

But whatever. That’s just a me problem I guess. Definitely not something anyone else in fandom has anything to do with. Just like they have nothing to do with derailments or condescension or counter arguments to so many of the canon-based Dick Grayson posts I make, and this is also all my doing...wait...hang on. I think I got mixed up again somewhere. Dang it.

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tuesdayintheservantshall · 3 years

Note

Jimmy has no right to *that* hostile (ie downright homophobic). He already almost threw Thomas out onto the street without a reference; if anyone has a right to be scared it’s Thomas; he’s now aware everyone knows he’s gay and he knows at least one or two of those people(one of them being jimmy) would happily throw him under the bus given the chance. He’s literally never been so vulnerable and there’s no need for jimmy to rub it in

Hey Nonny you’re my first official fandom argument! Or you were when I first drafted this over a week ago lol. Since then I've waded into some drama bc I have poor impulse control. Well you're my first argumentative anon still! Do I get a prize, or do you? Have an, um apple of discord: 🍏And I will have one too: 🍏 (Intended tone: genuinely friendly, although if you are not already aware you should know that in fandom spaces messages like these are generally considered hostile acts. Most people don’t want to argue with strangers about why their faves suck, and especially not in response to tags they made about their overwhelmed shippy feelings. (Although I guess if hypothetically you’re the OP of the post I put the tags on and weren’t comfortable with them being on your post that’s admittedly a tough place to be in. Coming to me with your face on and asking me to remove my reblog or the tags because you’re not comfortable with them runs the risk of me being an asshole or taking something in your phrasing badly and starting a big fight. Uh, the chances of that seem rather remote so I’m gonna leave the tags where they are unless OP comes to me and says “I hadn’t wanted to say anything but actually -”.) Anyway I’m not gonna derail this into a long(er than it is) ramble on preferred ways to discuss disagreements in fandom but I might post something like that at a later date.)

God I use way too many parentheses. Apologies to any with a blacklist for Jimmy (do I still have any of those? not sure), obviously I don’t want to put this in the tags. I shall tag this and any further discourse on the subject with “the storyline that shall not be named”. Let’s get (finally) to it!

So, the first thing I wanna say is: yes, Jimmy makes homophobic comments and that’s bad, both because Thomas being gay is not the reason he assaulted Jimmy and because there’s hypothetically a chance someone who doesn’t already know might figure out Thomas’s sexuality based on Jimmy’s comment(s? There's the one before the rope tug and then I could have sworn there was one other one but I'm blanking on what it actually was.)However a) the moment I was commenting on wasn’t one of the homophobic comments and b) I find it important to distinguish between the specific manner of hostility (sometimes homophobic) and the level of hostility (nasty remarks and making a constant point of distancing himself) and the level is in fact 100% warranted. If you think nasty remarks and pointed distancing are more hostile than a person has a right to be towards the guy who sexually assaulted them, then we have a pretty profound disagreement.

As for your other point, regarding fear: Thomas and Jimmy both have very compelling reasons to be afraid of each other but I have to ask exactly what you think Jimmy is “rubbing in?” He initially tried to retaliate excessively against Thomas, backed down from that, and then discovered that instead of facing a reasonable consequence for assaulting him, such as being fired but with a reference that reflected the fact that this was one very bad mistake rather than a pattern*, Thomas was promoted to a position of direct authority over Jimmy. Although Jimmy was bribed into not making a fuss about this rather than, say, threatened, I think he has nonetheless been given a fairly clear message from his employers that they will back the senior coworker who assaulted him against any potential consequence he might try to bring. From Jimmy’s point of view, which is admittedly blinkered by fear and self interest, Thomas is the one in the secure, powerful position and Jimmy is the one extremely vulnerable.

I don't even just mean from his point of view like, ~emotionally. Genuine question: what would happen if Thomas started being overly touchy-feely again, or did worse than that, and Jimmy went to Mr. Carson or Mrs. Hughes or Lord Grantham to report it? I really don't know, and neither does Jimmy. Personally, I'm guessing that whether they believed him would probably depend significantly on things like Jimmy’s demeanor, and exactly what words he used, and basically whether he came across as a victim or as a brat trying to get someone in trouble. And which of those things a person seems like has no particular correlation to the facts of what they’re reporting - as we can see from what happened the first time! Like, Jimmy came off as spiteful and nasty and instead of being fired Thomas was promoted. That is actually what happened! The fact that Jimmy's motives were mixed doesn't change the fact of what Thomas did: Jimmy, when evaluating his safety, has access to one really strong datapoint and that’s that last time the majority of his superiors came down on Thomas’s side, either from the beginning or by the end.

Now, it’s true that he’s had a year to observe Thomas’s behavior and make an educated guess that Thomas really is sorry and won’t do it again. We can only speculate as to what extent he may have reached that conclusion and why he has or hasn’t. Some possible reasons why he might not have: trauma blinkers, homophobic and sexist beliefs, sufficiently bad at reading people to not know what clues to even look for, too self-centered to bother thinking about it in those terms... we don’t know. And perhaps he does know perfectly well that Thomas won't do anything like that again and any lingering fear is of cooties or of people mistaking him for gay and him being in the line of fire along with Thomas next time! You can read him that way if you want. You can say “wtf I see no fear of any kind”. It’s a flexible canon and none of these interpretations are actually contradicted by the text. Indeed I happily read other interpretations and when I babbled in those tags it was more "this is the interpretation I am thinking about right now" than intended to assert it as my One True Headcanon that I will not deviate from. But Jimmy definitely has reasons to be afraid, and of more than cooties.

Of course Thomas also has logical and emotional reasons to be afraid of what Jimmy might do, I'm certainly not denying that. (In fact, one of the things I find so compelling about these two is that they both have such strong reasons not to trust each other and they both reach out anyway.) It seems that Thomas’s belief in who Jimmy is as a person supersedes those reasons (“He wouldn’t be so unkind. Not on his own.”) but if Jimmy has a similar belief about who Thomas he keeps it hidden at least until the fair.

P.S. please reconsider the phrase “has the right to be scared” in every context but especially when discussing someone’s reaction to a situation that involved them being sexually assaulted. I offer you the alternative “logical reason to be scared” or "compelling reason" as perhaps capturing what I hope you meant. I think that’s a language choice that really does matter a fair bit.

#*the reference thing is tricky to think about because on the one hand I don't think it would be out of line (ethically #it would definitely be out of line from a propriety standpoint)#for Jimmy to want to know that the incident was affecting Thomas's reference in some way #but I also don't actually know enough about service and references to know how much room for middle ground there was #like if the reference says 'efficient worker but has made other staff uncomfortable in the past' or some other euphemism what does that mea #was that the sort of thing reference writers did ever?#but I don't think Jimmy actually cared about this #so I guess it's moot #the storyline that shall not be named

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viridiave · 3 years

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NARUMITSU <ATTEMPTING TO READ THE SUBTEXT PLATONICALLY>

*Wrote all this some time last month so I might be off- really really off- also full disclosure I too am a Narumitsu shipper- this is just me giving myself a bad time doing the impossible and having fun XD

-I am going to fail sooner or later. Looking at you, Bridge to the Turnabout.

FIRST GAME >Turnabout Samurai -Yep. We're jumping right in with 'unnecessary feelings'. I'm going to be put on a stake for this. -This is going to become the main argument with any and all homoerotic subtext present in the first game- that it was unintentional. They didn't actively start making it gay until the second game, and even before then the producer for the games had to warn the development team not to try and insert these themes for fear of getting it wrong and lose the fanbase they'd accidentally caught the eye of. I can still create arguments for why this specific, hilariously meme-able line could be read romantically of course- but as far as the game development team at the time was concerned this interaction was never meant to be read as romantic. -Unease and uncertainty are... very valid feelings for Edgeworth to feel at this very moment and as much as I'd like to joke that he was feeling uncertain about his sexuality after seeing his childhood friend as an adult, this line was really just likely meant to lead up to the conclusion of Turnabout Goodbyes and Edgeworth's character arc for this game. His perfect win streak had just been shattered in a case prior. In this case, he was meant to persecute the lead actor of his favorite show- and in some ways his helping the defense can be taken as his biases getting the better of him. His sense of justice and his entire worldview is about to be overhauled, and I can see how he would regard this budding doubt in himself as an unnecessary (heh) distraction from what he believes is his true purpose in life.

>Turnabout Goodbyes -Edgeworth wanting to keep him away from DL-6 has its own section mostly because of how stubborn he becomes when it comes to Phoenix's insistence in particular. It's clear that this stubbornness is a front, I will concede with that- but there are merits to his initial reluctance in accepting Phoenix's defense. It's evident that Phoenix himself has grown over the course of the game so far, but in both of the times that he faced off against Edgeworth in court, his victories were... a tad bit contrived. For instance in Turnabout Sisters, Phoenix really only wins because Mia was being channeled and blackmailed White as he was about to leave the stand. Turnabout Samurai is a little better- but had him rely on quite a lot of coincidences (proven later to be substantiated) that surfaced during the trial. This is nothing to say of the deeper reason Edgeworth has over dissuading Phoenix from taking his case ("You in particular I cannot ask to do this.")- where I can make an argument for his pride and/or concern over Phoenix's career as an attorney. The stakes are relatively high here as well- if Phoenix fails, Edgeworth is incarcerated, Manfred von Karma goes free, DL-6 goes cold once again with no hope of getting re-opened, and everything that Phoenix has been working towards as an attorney would have been in vain. DL-6 is a case that has ruined many lives- it'd make sense if Edgeworth himself felt as though it would be a waste of time and effort to take this case because of how convinced he was of murdering his own father prior to Gourd Lake. He'd grown up for the past 15 years with a nightmare and a death sentence over his head- I wouldn't be surprised if he simply gave up and accepted that he was going to die at the hands of his prosecuting mentor. Even if he were acquitted for the murder of Robert Hammond, his perceived involvement in DL-6 would have thrown a wrench in his freedom- any lesser attorney would have given up on that. And this is unloaded BEFORE Phoenix tells him about the true reason as to why he became an attorney. -Phoenix's insistence to defend Edgeworth in this case can easily just be read as platonic- his complete, unfettered faith in Edgeworth's innocence is heavily influenced by that class trial, for better or for worse. While I'm perfectly happy to imagine that Phoenix's attachment to his idealized version of Edgeworth grew into something deeper sometime in the fifteen years that he hasn't seen him, I do believe that Phoenix in particular really is just that much of a sentimental person. This is to say nothing of his nature as a defense attorney- and what little time he's managed to spend with Mia has taught him that unbridled trust in his client is what gets him through the day, and he's putting it to practice here. Edgeworth was what he has been working towards the moment he decided he would practice law- as Phoenix at this point in time still believes that he could do no wrong despite seeing what Edgeworth is truly like in court. -Cutting into the meat of Phoenix and Edgeworth's shared past, I made a point earlier to say that Phoenix's perception of Edgeworth as a person is idealized. Every memory that Phoenix has had of Edgeworth prior to the events of the first game were from their childhood- and they had 4-8 months (plus one year if we're generous with the retconning some of the official art gave us) MAX to develop a friendship so strong that Phoenix makes major life decisions just to meet with this man. The fact that this time spent together was ENOUGH for Phoenix in the first place is... really hard to skirt around. To quote Dan from GameGrumps "this is something that you would only do for someone you're trying to marry" and if one of them was a woman I guarantee this ship would be canon already. But then again- since this is Phoenix Wright in particular somehow I can believe that he really is just that sentimental- and that isn't always a bad thing. He'd managed to save Edgeworth twice with this conviction after all. When Phoenix sees Edgeworth, he doesn't see a demon prosecutor, he sees his childhood friend who aimed to become a shining example of justice following in his father's footsteps. They address how shaky his foundations for becoming an attorney were in the Phoenix Wright Files once actually- going through a mini-existential crisis because he'd become an attorney with the main goal of saving Edgeworth from what he'd become, and now that he's accomplished that he's just kind of... lost. Edgeworth himself manages to pull him out of this, though. -man that hurts my case a lot actually but to be fair I was banking on failing -I just didn't expect it to happen so early even with the first game -in fact ESPECIALLY with the first game -though I cannot for the life of me wonder how I can come up with a heterosexual explanation for why the buildup towards Edgeworth telling Phoenix and Maya about his nightmares reads so much like a stunted love confession. I'm serious- just read any high school shojo manga ever. You'll find that it hits a lot of the same beats.

>Rise From The Ashes -It's in this case that we observe some of the consequences that the intial upheaval of Edgeworth's worldview in Turnabout Goodbyes causes him; distrust in the enforcement of the law. Not exactly the time for him to be dabbling in another, meme-able brand of unnecessary feelings. Several things like the Prosecutor's Office's relationship with the Police Department starts to waver with the murder of Bruce Goodman, and this becomes the final nail in the coffin for Edgeworth's worldviews and values as a prosecutor. His and Phoenix's teamwork in this trial becomes prevalent- the story behind the King of Prosecutors award represents this best despite it's currently incomplete state. The backstory behind this award paints an ideal of justice in the courtroom wherein the truth comes out as a result of the efforts of contradictory forces. A broken halberd that can cut through any shield (the prosecution) and a broken, unbreakable shield (the defense). Read as representation the text becomes something of a metaphor for the ideal justice that manifests itself in the best parts of Edgeworth and Phoenix respectively- the duality of their opposing professions rather than something that is limited to their relationship. -The same argument that I've used for Phoenix's unwavering belief in Edgeworth's innocence in Turnabout Goodbyes can be used for this case as well. -Though Edgeworth still goes M.I.A for a year after this case, it does grant his disappearance a bit more context as to why exactly it is that he left- and I'll be taking a tiny liberty with this and apply the interpretation that the Miles Edgeworth Files grants us, and that he left in order to better himself and grow as a person, a prosecutor, and as a friend to Phoenix Wright. It's... difficult for me to want to read this as anything but romantically-charged because the narrative beats are NOT lost on me (the dialogue makes this especially hard. send help.)- there's a possibility that Edgeworth at this point in time realizes the value in having a better, more functional dynamic with the one defense attorney who he considers a true equal in court. This dynamic will allow for less chances to encounter missteps and errors in any verdicts handed down in court, and if Edgeworth is to pursue his ideal of justice- Phoenix Wright is undoubtedly essential to this endeavor. The aftermath of Rise From The Ashes is indicative of this newfound goal of his- the symbolism behind the old King of Prosecutors award and the two halves of the evidence list certainly helps this case. -<"It seems all you do is worry about me." -Miles Edgeworth, Rise From The Ashes> For good fucking reason Edgeworth. You were accused of murder and have implicated yourself on the stand for DL-6 just a few months ago- and if the Investigations games are anything to go by, you're more of a danger magnet than PHOENIX is. I had to say it. The first Investigations game takes place over the course of 2-3 days and the sheer amount of shit that Edgeworth had to deal with in between that interval truly makes me wonder how Phoenix Wright ended up with the title of danger magnet. And THIS time- Edgeworth's car becomes a crime scene because his corrupt superiors needed a convenient way of transporting a corpse. There's VERY good reasons to worry about the livelihood of Miles Edgeworth. -Okay I... can't believe I forgot about the chessboard. Here's the kicker- the one we see from his office isn't even the only one he owns. I... legitimately cannot give you ANY purely heterosexual, platonic explanation for why Miles Edgeworth has THREE (THREE. I CANNOT OVERSTATE THIS. HE HAS T H R E E OF THESE FUCKING THINGS. GOOD GOD. HE CAN'T BE ANY MORE EXTRA.)(there exists a similar, portable set in the Investigations games- and he has a new set by the time of Dual Destinies) sets of custom-made chessboards with personalized, highly-specific red and blue designs made purely to depict his rivalry with Phoenix Wright. I fold. I give up. I forgot about the chessboards I wAS NOT EXPECTING TO FAIL THIS E A R LY- -You know what the real kicker is with Rise From the Ashes? The main argument that I have introduced back in Turnabout Samurai does not apply here. Rise From the Ashes was made as a DS-exclusive case and did not exist in the original GameBoy version of the Trilogy. Which means if there is homoerotic tension written in for this case (and there happens to be a lot. the chessboard is proof enough.), then we can safely assume that the writers at this point were well-aware. So yeah- maybe don't feel TOO bad about the unnecessary feelings line- because ever since then the writers have been playing off of that and it SHOWS. -Is there really a point to this I'm just- everything is stacked against me tryna interpret this platonically -Like I know I make a point to say that a romantic relationship isn't the end-all of all relationships because this franchise LOVES pushing the Found Family dynamic and I'm an absolute sucker for that -good god by the time Dual Destinies rolls around I'll probably just give up and happily say they're happily married -that's literally what they act like don't even pretend

#narumitsu #wrightworth #ace attorney #gyakuten saiban #phoenix wright #naruhodou ryuuichi #miles edgeworth #mitsurugi reiji #i'll probably write more once school blows over #so have the first game for now #trust me i tried #maybe i'm just not an anti-shipper and that's why i failed #uh feel free to set the comments on fire #but like civilly #we're all here to have fun okay #even if fun means shipping

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microsuedemouse · 3 years

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last night I had an Absolute Stranger pop up in my notes to be totally hostile out of nowhere about my interpretations of some fictional characters. I took the initiative to block them because they were engaging in bad faith and clearly had no interest in discussing the subject. now they don't have to see my content anymore and everyone wins! but I've been thinking about it ever since, and I wanted to share some thoughts here, with those of you who are reasonable and not just trying to start arguments with people you've never interacted with before. I know that at times I've collected large numbers of young, passionate followers, so I think this is a discussion worth having with anyone who's willing to converse in good faith!

one of the most fundamental truths of how human beings interact with fiction is that every single member of the audience is going to have a different take on the story. if you ask me, this is also one of the most beautiful and interesting things about engaging with other fans of something. everyone is bringing something different to the table when they sit down to read, watch, listen, play, or otherwise take in the tale. everyone is going to have their own context through which to understand the characters and events in the story. when you're dealing with literally anything that isn't expressly stated by the storytelling, you're dealing with interpretation, and there is never only one correct way to interpret a story or character. this just isn't how fiction works.

let me give you a good, clear example of what I mean. several years ago, in one of my university classes, I read Karen Russell's short story St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. the story is about a group of girls - maybe werewolves, maybe only feral children; it's left somewhat ambiguous - who are taken from their wolf families and re-educated by nuns to be proper young ladies. they're made to sit up straight and cut their wild hair and speak only in human languages, giving up the howling and growling they've used all their lives. it's difficult and unnatural for them. when my prof asked us what the story reminded us of, I was the one who brought up residential schools, and it seemed that a lot of my classmates agreed with me: the similarities were striking, even if Russell hadn't had that in mind. but an autistic classmate of mine had a different comparison to make - to her, the story was uncomfortably reminiscent of the treatment received by many autistic children, being forced to give up everything that comes naturally to them and conform to other people's expectations of their behaviour. both of these reads were completely legitimate.

you don't have to have an english or literature degree to understand this concept. think back to your early experiences writing essays in school, based on a book you'd been assigned to read. think about your teachers telling you: make a point, and then use evidence to convince me. this is one of the most basic ways that we engage with fiction on an academic level. and when it comes to fandom, we don't even have to go that far! while many fans love to put a lot of thought into their interpretations, headcanons, fanfics, meta, and other fanworks, many don't. there are a lot of reasons for this, from wanting to see yourself reflected in the characters you love to simply having fun shaking things up. you don't have to justify your interpretations (or your reinterpretations). you're allowed to play in the sandbox just because it's a good time.

a lot of us, when we really love a story or character, get incredibly passionate about our interpretations. that's normal and understandable. and so, naturally, we're also going to find people whose interpretations fly in the face of our own. but people who disagree with you are not inherently wrong. people are incredibly complex, which means two things: one, real people are going to have all kinds of complex factors affecting how they read a story, and two, there are virtually infinite ways to interpret fictional people when the information you're working with is necessarily limited. when they're working from the same baseline information, two people can have two wildly different understandings of a character and neither of them is objectively more correct than the other.

(this intersects a lot with conversations about coding and authorial intent. both of these are their own huge discussions that I'm not going to get into in detail here. both are important in their own ways, but when you cut down to the bone, the basic truth remains that audience interpretations are still going to go in all directions and that's still allowed. even when you're working exclusively with interpretations that aim to be entirely canon-compliant, neither coding nor authorial intent is the same thing as explicit canon. yes, it's still crappy to erase heavy queer-coding [for example] in media where that's the best representation that creators can offer us; that's a matter of social issues intersecting with fiction, which is another huge discussion of its own. but even what qualifies as 'heavy' coding is going to vary from one audience member to the next.)

for me, this incredible variety of interpretation is one of fandom's greatest strengths! I have made friends with people whose character interpretations are incredibly different from mine, or whose favourite ships are the ones I can't stand, or who hated stories I loved. I think trading these ideas, discussing the differences in our readings of the same subject matter, is so interesting. learning how someone reads a character or storyline, and why they read it that way, is always really illuminating for me! discussing our differing interpretations can be such an interesting way to learn about other people's points of view and broaden your own perspective. I so strongly encourage it. embrace the passion you share, rather than starting arguments about things that ultimately don't have much in the way of impact on your real-world existence. for sure, yeah, block the weirdo who romanticises an abusive ship that gives you the creeps. but when you meet someone who headcanons your favourite character to be a completely different sexuality than you do, or who ships your brotp romantically... there's huge potential there for some really engaging conversations.

this isn't a manifesto. the topic of fan interpretation is enormous, and includes so many smaller discussions, and intersects with so many other issues. I'm not claiming to have covered all the bases here. I just really encourage you all to accept that there are no Objectively Correct Opinions - that's not how opinions work! you know that, I know you do! and when you do come across work that's just so far from your interpretation that you can't stand it... just don't engage. scroll on past. block the poster if you want. no one is making you look at fanwork that you don't like. you are not obligated to interact with the people creating that work in any way. please, for the love of god, curate your own fandom experience. someone doodling fanart for a ship that doesn't jibe with you isn't hurting you. you have the power to remove it from in front of your eyes and go find something else you like better. go engage with things that do interest you!! you will be happier for it!!!

#long post #fandom #Courtney thinks

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tillidontneedfantasy · 4 years

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A Track-by-Track Breakdown of Taylor Swift’s 8th Studio Album: ‘folklore’

Taylor Swift’s 8th studio album, folklore, starts off with the lie, “I’m on some new shit.” Perhaps to someone who hasn’t been paying attention this would seem to be true. But to those listening, folklore is the essence of her skill and success throughout her entire career stripped down for all to see, but more refined, enhanced, and impressive than ever.

Even prior to her pop-world domination with 1989 (2014), Taylor’s storytelling ability has always been her most compelling strength as a writer. In 2010, she released her third album, Speak Now, penned fully solo to prove to the cynics that she does, in fact, write her own music. And it’s damn good. Widely considered her best song, “All Too Well” from Red (2012) is a five and a half minute epic about love had and lost, all in walks through autumn trees, almost running red lights, dancing round the kitchen, and a scarf reminiscent of innocence, unreturned.

Yet her pop prowess over the last six years perhaps leads to her storytelling being overlooked to those more focused on the music. There is a particular genius in writing a successful pop song, let alone three successful pop albums, that still has hard-hitting lyrics underneath the synth. Take the excellent “Cruel Summer” from Lover (2019) for example. The song is just under 3 minutes, and the production is so enthralling and infectious that it can take such a hold on you, you might miss the tale being told along with it about a fraught summer relationship that was actually just the beginning of her own love story.

But without the pop production, her stories on folklore demand attention. Swept up by a strong wave of creativity and inspiration, Swift secretly wrote and produced this album in around three months with Aaron Dessner of The National, one of Swift’s favorite bands, and long-time collaborator and friend Jack Antonoff. A surprise album is a new endeavor for Swift, as she generally spends months meticulously planning an album rollout. It is refreshing, and as a dedicated, long-time fan of Taylor, it is thrilling. Due to the album cover where she is standing in the woods, and the genre of the album itself, there have been think pieces regarding the “man in the woods” trope and what it means that Taylor seems to be embodying it. As a result of over-exposure, people are unable to stop focusing on her image and the way she presents herself. It’s understandable, as she is a very smart and deliberate businesswoman, and clearly cares about how she is perceived. But with this album, it is clear that none of that was at play. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Her mother has been battling cancer for years. Isolate a creative person in a dangerous world and they will dream up an escape. She understands more than ever how precious each moment is, and does not want to waste another one. The woods being the landscape for the photo-shoot is most likely attributed to the fact that it is the safest place to have one under these circumstances. She’s not pretending she removed herself from society and became enlightened, she didn’t dabble into a more alternative sound to prove anything; she is just sharing stories she wants to tell that she is proud of, and nothing more.

Of course the music of the album is important, but the lyrics are the heart of it all, and I wanted to focus on them. Upon its release, Taylor explained in a foreword that the album was a mixture of personal and fictional accounts. The beauty of stories is that once they are shared, they never live one single life; each person who consumes a story interprets it uniquely, and the story becomes a multiverse, with different meanings and outcomes than what initially drove the pen to the paper. As explained by Swift in a YouTube comment prior to the album’s release, three songs on the album are all one story, which she has dubbed “the teenage love triangle.” The three points of the triangle are “cardigan,” “august,” and “betty.” But if someone had not seen her say that, they might not have figured it out. Maybe they’d interpret each song as their own story, and connect it to their own. Taylor knows this. It is why she loves storytelling and is why she is so good at it. The album itself is a mirror ball, shimmering with every version of the stories being told, reflecting a bit of each person who listens. These are my interpretations, but they can mean whatever you make of them.

1. the 1 The melody of this song helps set the scene; picture yourself skipping rocks on a lake, reminiscing on the one that got away. “the 1” is about learning to assimilate into a life without them, resentfully accepting that they might be moving on, too. She ruminates on what went wrong and what could have been. In a very Swift fashion, she puts the blame on herself when she sings, “in my defense, I have none / for digging up the grave another time.” Perhaps this song is fictional, perhaps it’s a revisit of a past feeling or relationship, but its relatability makes it feel real and present. She searches for explanations, restraining herself from asking, “if one thing had been different, would everything be different today?” But it’s good she didn’t ask, because she’d never find the answer, anyway. Best lyric: “We never painted by the numbers, baby, but we were making it count / You know the greatest loves of all time are over now.”

2. cardigan (teenage love triangle, part 1: betty’s perspective) “When you are young they assume you know nothing,” Swift sings in her smooth low-register on this Lana del Rey-esque single. “But I knew everything when I was young,” she asserts. They say wisdom comes with age, but there is wisdom lost, too, of what it felt like to be young; but she has held onto it. In this track, the narrator (Betty) is looking back on her relationship with someone she once loved (James, as name-dropped in “betty” later on in the album). Her insight on his character was always spot on; she knew he’d try to kiss it better, change the ending, miss her once the thrill expired and come back, begging for her forgiveness in her front porch light. As soon as she was feeling forgotten, he made her feel wanted, his favorite. The ending in question is unclear, whether she granted him her forgiveness or not. But what is clear is Taylor’s understanding of the pull of young love, the intensity, the immortalization of all the smallest of details, the longing to be someone’s favorite. It’s why we look back on it so often, read stories and watch films about it, even as we grow old. It’s the cardigan we put back on when we want to be Peter Pan and remember what it was like to fly with Wendy. Best lyric: “You drew stars around my scars / but now I’m bleeding.”

3. the last great american dynasty The story of Rebekah Harkness and her destruction of the last great American dynasty, Standard Oil, is documented in this track, as each verse covers a different part of Rebekah’s life, going from a middle class divorcee to one of the wealthiest women in America by marrying into an empire. Swift paints Rebekah as an outcast, the Rhode Island town blaming her for her husband’s heart giving out. Rebekah used her inherited fortune on her ballet company, throwing lavish parties with her friends who went by the “Bitch Pack,” playing cards with Dali (Yes, as in Salvador Dali. It’s not clear if they actually played cards together, but her ashes were placed in an urn designed by him), and feuding with her neighbors. Then, fifty years later, Taylor Swift bought that very house and ruined the neighborhood all over again, bringing with her the triumphant return of champagne pool parties and women with madness, their men and bad habits. It’s a note on how women will be blamed for tarnishing what is sacred to men rather than celebrated, specifically when its related to wealth and power. They will call them mad, shameless, loud. But just like Rebekah, Taylor learned to pay them no mind, and just have a marvelous time. It is also interesting to note that Rebekah went by Betty. Perhaps Taylor felt inspired by and connected to her and gave her a whole backstory, and thus the birth of “the teenage love triangle,” or maybe it’s just a coincidence; but that’s the fun of it all. Either way, this track is a standout showcase of how Swift has truly mastered her craft as a songwriter. Best lyric: “Holiday House sat quietly on that beach / free of women with madness, their men and bad habits / and then it was bought by me.”

4. exile ft. Bon Iver You know that feeling when your parents are fighting and it’s upsetting you but you can’t help but listen? That’s kind of what listening to this song feels like. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon co-wrote the track, and he lends his gorgeous vocals to play a man who has been exiled by his ex who has moved on with someone else while he desperately tries to understand where it all went wrong. The bridge is particularly poignant, both proclaiming, “you didn’t even hear me out,” while talking over each other. He thinks he was expected to read her mind, but she is adamant that she gave him plenty of warning signs. Miscommunication is one of the most common downfalls of a relationship, and the emotion in Swift’s and Vernon’s voices really draws you into the argument with them, transporting you back into your own exile from people you once called home. Best lyric: “I couldn’t turn things around / (You never turned things around) / ‘cause you never gave a warning sign / (I gave so many signs.)”

5. my tears ricochet Taylor describes this song in the foreword as “an embittered tormentor showing up to the funeral of his fallen object of obsession.” If you know enough, you can put the pieces together that the tormentor is Scott Borchetta, the head of Big Machine Records, and the funeral is of their professional and personal relationship. Taylor was the first artist ever signed to Big Machine. Borchetta and Swift had to trust each other in their partnership for it to be a success, and oh, how it was. But prior to Lover’s release, Taylor announced that she would be signing to Republic Records as her contract with Big Machine had ended and Republic offered her the opportunity to own all of her masters moving forward and negotiate on Spotify shares for all their artists. It all could have ended amicably there, but then Scott Borchetta sold all of Big Machine, along with Taylor’s masters from every album prior, to Scooter Braun. Braun manages some of the biggest stars out there, and had previously managed Kanye West. Taylor publicly spoke out about this purchase, stating that she was not made aware of this before the announcement, and how much of a betrayal it was considering she had cried to Scott before about Scooter’s mistreatment of her. Taylor has continued to be vocal about this, and so she sings, “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace.” There is a lot to unpack in this song, but the main takeaway is that this betrayal hurts him just as much if not more than it hurts her, because his career was built on her achievements. He buried her while decorated in her success, becoming what he swore he wouldn’t, erasing the good times for greed, all just to be haunted with regret for pushing her out and stealing her lullabies. The pain is palpable, and it is notable that this is song is placed at track 5, the spot generally reserved for the most vulnerable on the album; it shows that there are different types of heartbreak that can shatter you just as much as those from romance. Best lyric: “If I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? / Cursing my name, wishing I stayed.”

6. mirrorball On Lover’s “The Archer,” Taylor expresses her anxiety over people seeing through her act, her own grief at seeing through it herself, wondering if her lover does and whether he would stay with her regardless. “mirrorball” is about the act, one of the more obviously confessional songs on the album. She talks about how a mirror ball can illuminate all the different versions of a person, while also reflecting the light to fit in with the scene. Taylor’s critical self-awareness is heart wrenching, and it’s clear that the anxiety that surrounds the public perception of her is still prevalent. She describes herself as a member of a circus, still on the tightrope and the trapeze even after everyone else has packed up and left, doing anything she can to keep the public’s attention. It hurts to hear the desperation in her voice, but there’s hope in the song, too. She is speaking to someone (we can assume her long-term boyfriend, Joe Alwyn) and thanking them for not being like “the regulars, the masquerade revelers drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten.” In 2016, the height of Taylor’s fame and subsequently her farthest fall from grace, all the people who pretended to be her friends and attended all her parties celebrated her (temporary) demise, continuing to dance over her broken pieces on the floor. But he stayed by her side as she put herself back together. And so now, when no one is around, she’ll shine just for him, standing even taller than she does for the circus. Best lyric: “I’m still a believer, but I don’t know why / I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try / I’m still on that trapeze, I’m still trying everything / to keep you looking at me.”

7. seven Her voice gentle and haunting, Taylor recalls the freedom and innocence of her childhood in Pennsylvania. She asks to be remembered for how she was, swinging over the creek, before she learned civility when she would scream anytime she wanted, then letting out a very pretty one. She sings to her old friend soothingly about taking them away from their haunted house that their father is always shouting in, where they feel the need to hide in a closet, perhaps literally, or figuratively, or both. They can move into Taylor’s house instead, or maybe just to India, just be sure to pack their dolls and a sweater and then they’ll hit the road. She can no longer recall her friend’s face, but the love she had for them still lives in her heart, and she wants it to live forever through story. Just in the way that folklore itself blends reality and fiction, but the truth within it passes on, so will the purity of that love and friendship. Best lyric: “Please picture me in the weeds / before I learned civility / I used to scream ferociously / any time I wanted.”

8. august (teenage love triangle, part 2: the other girl’s perspective) If you had to assign the feeling of longing to a song, it’d be “august.” It’s when you’re teetering at the edge with someone, unsure of where you stand with them, clinging to anything they give you and doing anything just to raise your chances, “living for the hope of it all.” August, the last month of summer, its heat causing it to slip away the fastest in a haze before reality hits. This track is a display of how sometimes losing something you never had causes an even deeper ache than losing something that was yours, and Jack Antonoff’s signature production intensifies the emotion even more. It’s the story of shattered hope, and the longing for the days where it could still fuel you. Best lyric: “To live for the hope of it all / cancel plans just in case you’d call.”

9. this is me trying “this is me trying” is like a drive through a tunnel at night, hearing your loudest anxieties and insecurities echo all around you, caving in. The track is another apt insight into Swift’s struggles with her self-image, with the pressure she puts on herself, so much so that she sometimes pushes herself too close to the edge, her fears luring her out of the tunnel and down, down, down into her own cage, stunting her own growth and keeping those who care out of reach. She tells us how she was “so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere.” Every action has an equal, opposite reaction, meaning that she was pushing herself so hard, she rolled back to where she started, and now has to reset. This could be referring to the period between the end of the 1989 era and the release of reputation (2017), or a different time in her life, or just a general sentiment. It doesn’t really matter, though, because no one’s growth is a neat, straight line; growth is jagged. Just like any of us, Taylor will always have to face new obstacles, new pitfalls, new reasons to get back up. She sounds most vulnerable as she cries, “at least I’m trying,” and you feel comforted knowing someone so beautiful and successful has to push herself to try, too, and yet that motivates you more to try yourself. Best lyric: “They told me all of my cages were mental / so I got wasted, like all my potential.”

10. illicit affairs A quiet, slow-build testament of the passion, the tragedy, the secrecy, the inimitability of a romance that shouldn’t exist, “illicit affairs” demonstrates how you can ruin yourself for someone from just one moment of possibility or truth, quite like the narrator of “august” does for the hope of it all. An illicit affair can be many different things: infidelity, forbidden love, a love that can never be fully realized, a relationship that is inherently wrong but electrifying all the same. It’s a reminder of what so many of us would do just to see new colors, to learn a new language, even if the one moment of enlightenment destroys us forever. We might lose the iridescent glow but we don’t forget it; we carry it with us, but must be careful to remember its blinding effect, to remember how fatal the fall is from the dwindling, mercurial high. Best lyric: “Tell your friends you’re out for a run / you’ll be flushed when you return.”

11. invisible string Clearly the most outright autobiographical track, “invisible string” is the plucky pick-me-up needed. The song is like sunshine, as Swift endearingly links all the little connections between her and her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, since before they even met. She compares the green grass at the Nashville park she’d sit at in hopes of a meet-cute to the teal of his yogurt shop uniform shirt, and gives a nod to her smash hit “Bad Blood” from 1989 with the delightful line “bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to LA.” She reasons these coincidences as a fateful, invisible, golden string tying them together since the beginning, always destined to meet at the knot in the middle. She thanks time for healing her, (a callback to “Fifteen” from Fearless [2008]), fighting through hell to make it to heaven, transforming her from an axe grinder to a gift giver for her ex’s baby (the ex in question, Joe Jonas, and his wife Sophie Turner, happened to have their first daughter two days before this album’s release). As she has on her previous two albums, she uses the color gold to illustrate how prized their love is to one another. It’s sweet to know in all the gloom that the string has not been severed, and the trees are still golden somewhere. Best lyric: “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart / now I send their babies presents.”

12. mad woman Throughout her entire career, Taylor Swift has defiantly defended female rage, all the way back from throwing a chair off a platform on her Fearless Tour during the impassioned “Forever & Always,” to her patient, vengeful reliance on karma in reputation’s lead single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” to her most recent tackling of the matter on Lover’s last and final single, “The Man,” where she explores society’s acceptance and encouragement of angry men yet disdain for angry women. “The Man” is catchy and upbeat, and a fun thought experiment into how Swift’s career would be perceived if she was a man, something that is even more interesting to think about now as she releases an album in a genre heavily dominated and lauded by males. But on “mad woman,” she further explores the creation and perception of female rage, though masked under a smooth, haunting piano melody, her vocals subdued, taunting. In the album foreword, she describes the inspiration behind this song as “a misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out.” This could be the continuation of Rebekah “Betty” Harkness’s story at her Holiday House in Watch Hill, RI, and how she further alienated herself from the rest of the neighborhood as they cast stones at her for the collapse of the last great American dynasty. (Or perhaps Daenerys Targaryen’s descent as the Mad Queen played a part in the song’s inspiration, as Swift has spoken of her love for Game of Thrones and her character specifically.) Taylor herself could also represent the widow, her music and masters as her love lost, and the men behind the crime as the “town that cast her out.” In the first verse she sings, “What do you sing on your drive home? / Do you see my face in the neighbor’s lawn? / Does she smile, or does she mouth ‘fuck you forever’?” It’s the first f-bomb of Taylor’s career (though a much more playful one will come two tracks later in “betty”) and it speaks volume. Taylor has received a lot of condemnation for expressing her anger at their transaction, for calling out their greed for what it is. Some view Swift’s stance on the ordeal as petty and trivial; they see the men as orchestrating a good business deal, and Swift as the girl throwing a tantrum. Ask any woman, and they can tell you about a time a man told them they were crazy for being justifiably angry; it only makes us angrier. “No one likes a mad woman,” Taylor states, “You made her like that.” Swift underscores that here, how they will poke and poke the bear but then blame it for attacking, as if they had never provoked it at all, and how dare it defend itself. Just as they blamed Rebekah for her husband’s heart giving out, they somehow manage to blame Swift for not being allowed to purchase the rights to her own work. And yes, she’s mad, but the song is measured and controlled; she’s used to her anger now, and knows just how to wield it. Best lyric: “Women like hunting witches, too / doing your dirtiest work for you / It’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together.”

13. epiphany This is another track Swift provided some background on, stating it was inspired by her “grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942” during WWII. The first verse paints this image, while the second verse depicts a different kind of war, happening right now, fought by doctors and nurses. She speaks of holding hands through plastic, and the escape folklore has granted you suddenly lifts. Watching someone’s daughter, or mother, or anyone suffer at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic, just as watching a soldier bleed out, helpless, is too much to speak about. As she points out, they don’t teach you about that vicarious trauma in med school. We are living in a tireless world with barely any time time to rest our eyes, but too much going on while we’re awake to make sense of any of it. “epiphany” is a cinematic prayer, pleading for some quiet in order to find an answer in all the noise. We’re still waiting for that glimpse of relief. Best lyric: “Only twenty minutes to sleep / but you dream of some epiphany / Just one single glimpse of relief / to make some sense of what you’ve seen.”

14. betty (teenage love triangle, part 3: james’s perspective) It makes sense that a song reminiscent of Fearless would exemplify some of the best story-telling on folklore. The final puzzle piece of the teen love triangle, “betty” is a song sung by Swift from the perspective of the character of her own creation, James, attempting to win back his true love, Betty, who he slighted in some way. He proclaims that the worst thing he ever did is what he did to her, without explicitly stating it. Though the infamous deed is unclear, here’s the information we collect from this song: James saw Betty dancing with another boy at a school dance, one day when he was walking home another girl (from “august”) picked him up and he ended up spending his summer with her yet still loved Betty, and though he ended things with his fling and wanted to reconcile with Betty, he had returned to school to see she switched her homeroom (James assumes, after saying he won’t make assumptions. Classic men). So in order to make it up to her, he shows up at her party with the risk of being told to go fuck himself (the second and charming “fuck” on the album! Which is repeated!). Upon his arrival, there is a glorious key change (ala “Love Story”) and all the pieces fall into place for the listener; we realize Betty is the girl singing in “cardigan” as he lists the things he misses about her since the thrill expired, like the way she looks standing in her cardigan, and kissing in his car. He’s 17 and doesn’t know anything, but she knew everything when she was young, and she knew he’d come back. The way I see their story conclude is that she led him to the garden and trusted him, but as they grew older they grew apart, but the love she had for him never faded completely. Listening to this song is like being back in high school, whether you were the person who did someone wrong or the person so willing to forgive in the name of young love, or Inez, the school gossip, you’re right there with them. The other great thing about this song is that it is sung to a girl, and though it is set up so we understand it is most likely from a boy’s perspective, it doesn’t have to be. It’s really great that girls in the LGBTQ community can have a song in Taylor’s voice to fully connect to without changing the pronouns or names (even James, which is unisex and is one of the names of the daughters of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Taylor’s close friends, mentioned in this song). That is the beauty of folklore: the infinite ways a story can be told, perceived, retold from a different perspective, and told again. Maybe you’ll hear it from Inez. Best lyric: “But if I just showed up at your party / would you have me? Would you want me? / Would you tell me to go fuck myself, or lead me to the garden?”

15. peace One of the most beautifully solemn songs of her career, “peace” echoes the same fears explored in “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” from reputation; will the person she loves be able to weather the ever-present storm that comes with the life of a superstar, but also dwells within herself? Will holding him as the water rushes in be enough? Will giving him her wild, a child, her sunshine, her best, be a fair consolation? Presumably another confessional track and about Alwyn, Swift puts him up on a pedestal, praising his integrity and his dare to dream. She proclaims that she would die for him in secret, just as she told him she’d be on her tallest tip toes, spinning in her highest heels, shining just for him in “mirrorball.” She highlights some of the greatest gifts of love, such as comfortable silence and chosen family. She knows what they have is special, but she also knows the value of peace, the ultimate nirvana, and does not want to deprive him of that. It is so deeply relatable- to me, at least- to feel like you can give someone so much of yourself but know it still may never be enough, and to fear either losing them or robbing them of something better. But looking at what they have together, maybe peace is overrated. Or maybe, she’s looking for peace in the wrong places. The calm is in the eye of the storm, and sometimes, there’s nothing more freeing than throwing away the umbrella and soaking in the rain. Best lyric: “I never had the courage of my convictions / as long as danger is near / and it’s just around the corner, darling / ‘cause it lives in me / no, I could never give you peace.”

16. hoax The truest enigma of the album, the closer, “hoax” is a devastatingly dark ballad about the uncertainty, or perhaps incredulity, of someone’s love for you, a love that is your lifeline. The lyrics are ambiguous, which gives way to a plethora of interpretations. Perhaps she is speaking about a hypothetical situation that has yet to happen (and hopefully doesn’t) in which someone she loves and trusts betrays her. Maybe she is talking about a relationship, real (hopefully not) or fictional, in which despite the torment it brings her she holds onto it for dear life. I’m most inclined to believe that the song represents her difficulty in accepting that someone is willing to love her through such dark periods, that their love must actually be a hoax, but she chooses to believe in it anyway and uses it as the motivation to rebuild her kingdom, to rise from the ashes on her barren land. And even through the downs that come at some point in every relationship, she can still see the beauty in it all. Yes, their love is golden, but waves of blue will crash down around any partnership, because life does not exist without them. So even when things are as blue as can be, she’s at least grateful it’s with him. Best lyric: “Don’t want no other shade of blue but you / no other sadness in the world would do.”

Although we still have yet to hear the deluxe track, “the lakes,” as a fan of Taylor for almost 12 years, it feels so obvious that this is her strongest work yet. The storytelling I fell in love with on Fearless as a teenager (which, much like folklore, was highly inspired by imaginary situations and real emotions) is even sharper now as we have both grown into adults. The music on this album might not be everyone’s speed, and that’s okay. But it allowed Taylor to dip back into what made Fearless such a success: using pieces of her own truth and the whims of her imagination to develop a multi-faceted narrative that becomes universal. During her Tiny Desk concert, before performing “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from Lover, Swift explained the anxiety she felt around the possibility of stunted creativity when people would ask her what she would write about once she was happy. Taylor has released an abundance of beautiful, fun, complex love songs since the start of her relationship almost four years ago now. But “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” which is a fan favorite, helped her prove to herself that she can still write a killer breakup song while being in a happy, fulfilling relationship; the song was the last track written for Lover and was inspired by the film Something Great on Netflix. And so it makes perfect sense that Taylor used folklore to continue exploring this new avenue for songwriting. All of her discography and all of her life experiences have culminated to the folklore moment: as all the best artists do, she will never stop finding inspiration in hidden corners of this dark, mystical, wondrous universe, and falling in love with new ways to share those wonders. And that love will be passed on.

DISCLAIMER - REVIEWER’S BIAS: I love Taylor Swift more than any person in my life, yes including my parents, they are aware and have accepted this fact long ago ❤️

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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years

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10x21: Diverged - First Analysis

Okay, how did everyone like the episode? Did you see all the symbolism? If not, fear not, I’ll show it to you.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x21. Don’t read until you’ve watched!!!***

So let me start by saying this. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. The point of the six bonus episodes it retell, symbolically, every facet of Beth’s story. So 10x17 represented Inmates, but also 4b in general. I said HERE that it reminded me of everyone being split into small groups in 4b. But they were also tracking children’s foot tracks (in this case Hershel Jr) which is weirdly specific to what Beth and Daryl did in Inmates.

10x18 retold most of Beth and Daryl’s story through Leah. So there were elements of Inmates, Still, and even Coda in it. But it’s pretty much a play-by-play of Alone. Play. By. Play.

10x19 with Aaron and Father Gabriel can be called a retelling of Still. They get drunk. Playing drinking games. Play golf.

10x20 is all about Grady recalls, with the imprisonment theme and all.

So, where does that leave 10x21? As with all of them, there is lots of symbolism I’ll point out, but it’s kind of a scene by scene retelling of Them. I know others may go through it in more detail to show the exact parallels, so I’ll just go over the broad themes today. Tomorrow, I’ll do my normal details post.

So, it starts with Daryl giving Carol Leah’s knife, which is a retelling in reverse of her giving him Beth’s. She does try to return it to him at the end and he declines, which is super important. I’ll get into that more as we get into the weeds of this, but let’s go over this template first so you can see the broad strokes.

Starting with 10x18 (and I’m following the Daryl/Carol template here, so put Leah aside for the moment), Daryl and Carol get on his bike and leave together. They’re on the outside together for a while, searching for something. Mostly food in this case, though Daryl might have originally been planning to search for Connie. After a time, they come to a place where they spend the night, that has ties to one of their pasts. (In this case, Daryl/Leah.) Then they have an argument. The next day, they part ways.

We’ve actually seen this exact template before, in S5. It comprised 5x02 and 5x06. Daryl and Carol left together in a vehicle (car rather than bike that time). They were out for a while searching for something (Beth). They came to a place where they spent the night that had ties to one of their pasts (in that case, Carol and the abuse center).

The next day, they have a fight. In that case, it was about Noah and Carol wanting Daryl to help him. Not nearly as big or impactful a fight as in 10x18, but the conflict parallels are there. Then, they part ways. The mechanisms, again, are different. In 10x21, they chose to part ways. In Consumed, it’s because the Grady cops hit Carol with the car and took her into the hospital. But I don’t think the reasons matter. Just the basic events.

So what happened next in S5? Daryl went back to get Rick and TF, but then returned to where Carol (and Beth) were at Grady, right? Well, we’ve already established firmly that Dog = Beth. And notice that in this episode, Dog went with Carol. Are we seeing the symbolism?

So what follows with Carol is very reminiscent of Grady in some way. Now, unlike Princess, they can’t actually have Carol imprisoned here, because it wouldn’t work for where they need her to be in the story going into S11. So it’s all going to be symbolic.

Carol/Dog/Rat:

I said a few days ago that Rat = Beth. Think of it this way. Rat was minding his own business when Dog suddenly attacks him. So you could see that as Dog and Rat kind of being synonymous symbols. Actually, if we want to get really granular, Rat was in Daryl’s room. We’ll ignore the obvious romantic/sexual pun and just say it represents that rat (Beth) was hanging out with Daryl. Then someone tries to kill Rat. In this case, Carol.

We even have rat getting caught in Carol’s trap (Beth being kidnapped and taken to Grady) but escaping. Then Carol traps Rat in the wall by plugging up the way in with the scarf.

At that point, Rat is not only trapped, but kind of entombed behind the wall. And Carol can’t see Rat. (What is not seen theme.)

Now, in terms of Carol herself, I’ll talk about what they said on TTD, because it’s very helpful in deciphering all this. But in terms of the symbolism, we think what she does here probably equates to stuff that happened during the missing 17 days and whatever role she played in leaving Beth behind. Because of that, it’s kind of hard to pin down.

Other clues? Dog = Beth right? And not only is Dog present with Carol here, but he even watches over her while she sleeps, same as Beth did while Carol was unconscious at Grady. And Carol is definitely a “prisoner” of her own past and her own mind here. She’s clearly obsessing about things like Rat and soup and the scarf because she can’t “fix” bigger things in her life, like her relationship with Daryl or that Connie is still missing and that’s on her. I’ll talk more about this theme in a minute.

Daryl/Bike/Walkers:

Daryl’s arc here is also chalk full of symbolism that I don’t think I’ve even entirely pinned down, yet, but I really love it. In Daryl’s case, the bike breaks down, right? There’s a hole in one of the hoses that’s leaking stuff, which makes the bike stall, and he has to go find the tools and resources to fix it.

So, here’s how we’re interpreting this: bike = Beth. Why? Well, I think we can all get behind music box = Beth, can’t we? (If not, I don’t know why you’re following my account.) And remember that I said this was a replay of Them. Just as Daryl fixed the music box in Them,

he fixes the bike here.

The train tracks are another clue. He takes the bike to the tracks and leaves it there. You know I think train tracks are indicative of Beth’s path, but I’m also sure they’re a multi-layered symbol with many meanings.

In S4, Beth was the only one who didn’t actually follow the tracks. She crossed them. Daryl did too, initially, but he later followed them to Terminus with Rick and Michonne. Beth was the only one who never did that and therefore never ended up at Terminus. Her path would be completely different. We saw hints of this symbolism in 6x08, when Daryl crossed train tracks on his bike after being hurt, and we see the same thing here.

The “hole” in the bike hose represents Beth’s gunshot wound, dripping blood. Daryl leaves the bike to go look for something to fix it with. So, this part is kinda non-specific.

You could say leaving the bike where it was in the woods = leaving Beth behind. But where does he search for the part?

In a group of 3 cars with a walker inside, which is also indicative of where we think they left her. So, this whole sequence kind of points to the missing 17 days and leaving her behind. With the bike being “dead,” (read: unconscious for a human) Daryl pushes the bike manually, which may parallel him carrying Beth.

My fellow theorists and I discussed the idea that back in S5, Daryl didn’t have the “tools” to fix Beth after she was shot, or the understanding not realize she wasn’t really dead. But at some point, he will. We don’t know what the “fixing” point refers to overall, or how it will manifest in the show. It could be lots of things. Literal, medical, emotional. Who knows? But it’s interesting.

Now, on the one hand, this points backward, to those missing scenes. But I always say every callback doubles as a foreshadow. After all, if Daryl had “fixed” Beth during those missing 17 days, she wouldn’t be missing and presumed dead, right? And in Them, we see him fix the music box, and the next scene is Aaron showing up with “good news” and the music box waking up. Clearly that didn’t happen with Beth in S5. So at some point, this shifts from a callback to a foreshadow of what will happen when he actually finds her again.

Now, in order to understand (as far as we can) this symbolism, I will have to get somewhat granular. Because the whole sequence is very strange. Daryl stops the bike on the tracks and looks through his binoculars. (Binocular Theory). It doesn’t really show us what he sees or what he’s trying to do, but I think the idea is that he sees the military walker and is hoping to find a smaller knife on him that he needs to fix his bike.

Imma come back to the knives, because they’re a theory all their own, but let’s examine the events first. He leaves the bike on the tracks and moves forward. Now, I had to watch this several times to understand it. I think the idea is that there were walkers on both sides of the tracks that hadn’t noticed him. They’re milling around but not focused on him. So he’s hoping to slip, unnoticed, between them. Unfortunately, he snaps a twig under his foot and they all turn toward him.

Everyone’s been asking about the Beth walker. She’s definitely here in this scene. I almost wonder, if she represents Beth, if it’s supposed to be that she’s there, close by, but he’s focused on something else, and doesn’t notice her. I kept thinking he would kill this walker, but he never does, and I think that’s significant.

Also, these military walkers probably represent the CRM. So, for example, this may represent a future storyline where Daryl has a run-in with some members of the CRM. He manages to get away here, which probably means during that future interaction, he’ll get away, too. But he may not realize Beth is with the CRM. So she’s there, hanging around, but he’s too focused on other things to notice.

(Disclaimer: I’m not saying this is exactly what this scene foreshadows. As always, the details will probably be wrong, but it’s something along these lines.)

Now, there are a lot of weirdnesses in this scene. He suddenly starts limping, for one thing. He wasn’t limping before this, and he doesn’t have the limp when he returns to Alexandria. So to me, that screams that this is a foreshadowing of something we haven’t seen yet. When whatever this sequence foreshadows plays out, Daryl will probably be dealing with an injury of some kind.

He hurries toward a ravine where a military walker is caught in a tree. (Tree/Trunk symbolism anyone?)

So, in terms of this episode, he obviously saw the military walker and hoped this dude might have a knife on him that Daryl could use to fix his bike. That’s what he’s up to here. And it turns out, he does.

Symbolically, it’s a whole other ballgame. In terms of the binocular theory, I always thought Red Poncho Guy, who Daryl and Aaron looked at through binoculars, represented Beth. Both because of the red poncho (red garment in Beth’s cell in 4x01) and because he was taken by the Wolves. It’s possible the Wolves are the symbolic antecedent of the Reapers or the CRM. Or both.

So, I think this whole sequence where he walks along the tracks, past the Beth walker, and then interacts with these military walkers that probably represent the CRM, is a foreshadow or future telling of how he’ll find Beth. Because of the limp, maybe he gets injured and the CRM take him somewhere—like they did with Rick—and that’s where he find Beth.

How is that represented here? He finds the knife he needs to fix the bike.

And again, we don’t know what the “fixing” will mean in a literal sense when this plays out. Maybe fixing is just finding her. Because that will “fix” the hole she left in his heart when he lost her. Maybe it will mean something else.

But the knife itself is important. Why? Because it’s…kinda cooler than Leah’s knife? It’s bigger. It does more stuff. It’s a better tool and a better weapon. It’s kind of life Knife 2.0. And how many times have we talked about how when Beth returns, she’ll be tougher, stronger, a better survivor. She’ll be Beth 2.0. They even said that in the TTD after Still. Remember the phrase they used? “Raised by Hershel, trained by Daryl, meet the new Beth Green.”

So, remember that Leah represents everything that came before in S4 and S5, so her knife then represents the old Beth. The one that died at Grady, emotionally if not physically. Knife 2.0 then represents the new Beth as she’ll be when Daryl finds her again. And where he did find Knife 2.0? With the military/CRM walker.

See what I mean?

A couple of details that parallel this to Them: When Daryl fights the military walker, he slides down into a dry creek bed. There was a dry creek bed in Them. There’s also a small bridge behind him (Bridge Theory) with a circular opening for water to pass under it. (Beth = Water.)

When he gets out of the ravine, he sort of goes a different way and all the walkers that were coming after him just sort of fall into the ravine. That’s exactly what happened in Them. Remember? TF was on the bridge and they would wait for the walkers to come close and then jump out of the way so they all fell off the bridge? Yeah. Replay of Them.

So then Daryl goes to fix the bike and two more military walkers come at him. Yes, two. At first, you’ll probably only see one because they show it weird. But there are actually two. He pulls ammo off one and food rations off another.

What does that mean? I don’t want to go into too much here, but I think it’s just all part of the CRM story arc, which we won’t truly see play out until the spinoff. I think this lack of food they’re dealing with will continue, and at some point their water will become undrinkable. So, it won’t be a matter of grabbing Beth and Rick and running back to Alexandria. They’ll all die without the CRM’s resources. (Hence why Daryl finds food and ammo on these walkers and is like, “nice.”) Much like with Negan/AOW, they’ll have to find some way to integrate and all live together peaceably. Which is also what Rick’s confrontation with the Governor in 4x08 foreshadowed.

Next clue. It takes Daryl a while to fix the bike and it gets dark before he’s done. I totally didn’t catch it the first time until @frangipanilove clued me in, but we hear a wolf howl in the distance. The subtitles confirm it is a wolf, not a coyote or dog, and Daryl even looks over his shoulder as though acknowledging it. So to me, that’s wolf symbolism, and shows that the Denise/Wolf template will be in play when Daryl finds and ‘fixes’ Beth.

It’s actually way more complicated than that, but this is part of that second rabbit hole I mentioned this morning that I won’t be posting about until after ep 22.

Repeat of Still Theme

Okay, the only other thing I want to draw your attention to today (Details tomorrow) is that there is a theme of letting go of the past in order to move forward. And that’s very much a Still theme. Beth and Daryl burnt down the moonshine shack as a symbol of letting of their pasts and moving forward. And we see that same thing here.

People are going to say this is boring bc Carol makes soup and chases a rat around the kitchen, and Daryl fixes his bike. And on the surface, they’re right. But I’ve already explained the significance of him fixing the bike.

For the rest, not until Carol gave up on the rat did it actually get free and get out of her hair. And I think the scarf represents something that really couldn't be saved, and wasn't worth her time, but she started to obsess over it. She couldn't control or fix the bigger things in her life, so she's trying to fix small things that actually don't matter much. And when she finally made her peace with that, she threw the scarf away because she didn't need it anymore.

Same with Daryl and Leah’s knife. They actually say on TTD (which I’ll post about in more detail on Wednesday) that Daryl letting go of Leah’s knife and letting Carol have it represents him letting go of Leah. So, we still think she’s mostly hallucination anyway, but even if we’re wrong about that, they’ve pretty much confirmed that the Daryl/Leah thing is completely over.

But think about what we’ve said about Leah. She represents his time with Beth IN THE PAST. He has to let that go in order to move forward. And I think he was always going to have to reach this point, emotionally, before Beth could return.

Another way to think about it: just as with Beth’s knife, he probably needed to hang onto Leah’s knife for emotional reasons. It has to do with his guilt and trauma and grief over whatever happened. Now, I don’t think they wanted him to give Beth’s actual knife to Carol because that will probably figure in the plot eventually, but this is a symbol of the same thing. The knife, like the hallucination of Leah, is something he created to get himself through the hardest time of his life. Now, he’s past it, and letting it go. Just as Beth taught him to do in Still.

It's about letting go of small things in order to move forward.

So, I’m really looking hard at knife #1 (Leah’s) vs. knife #2 (leatherman that he gets from the military guy). Because, I think just as we always talk about how Beth from S4/S5 was not only younger, but naïve, innocent, less mature in her character development, etc., when she comes back, we know she’ll be tougher, more badass, Beth 2.0, etc. right? Hence, she just changed.

And I think the knives represent that. The old model being left behind (by Daryl) and he finds the newer, better knife, which represents him finding the new Beth. Hence the train tracks and the military walkers (CRM). And incidentally (haha not so much) we do see the Beth walker in that same sequence where he finds the knife.

In Still, we learned he has to let his past go to move forward, and he’ll have to let his past go to find Beth. So again, I’m wondering what the knife will represent that he gives Carol when they part before he actually runs into Beth.

I did have one idea: maybe it’s not a tangible object. Maybe he gives her the truth about Leah. That she’s a hallucination. He finally admits it to her, and then later realizes he can’t function without it (just like he needed the knife). But he’s gonna need to let it go and find something better before he actually finds Beth.

And I actually think the scarf/leatherneck thing works with this. I mean, Leah wore the fox scarf. So in that way, it may function similarly to the knife. Something that needs to be let go to move forward, even if it’s kinda painful. And Carol throws away the scarf in this episode.

I was thinking about when Carol went to see him the last time in 10x18, she gave him a scarf, right? But it was kind of a token gift. He didn’t look particularly pleased with it. And she admitted it wasn’t the real reason she was there. First she said something about how she shouldn’t need an excuse to give him a gift, but then she says, “okay, the REAL reason I’m here…” And he took it, but you could tell he was kind of like, “okay, whatever.” And that’s similar to the knife here. She offers it to him, but he doesn’t want it. So yeah, at least in this respect, I think scarf and knife are somewhat synonymous.

Okay, I’ll stop there for today. I have TONS more to say about the specifics and TTD, and plenty about where all this is going. But I’ll leave you with that today. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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unpopularly-opinionated · 4 years

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Saw this thread on Twitter about ATLA that, while I think was well-intentioned, I disagree with.

Their relationship is pretty established throughout the series. Yes, it could’ve been better established, but it’s a kids show and kids don’t tend to care about that sort of thing too much.

“Their relationship never meaningfully develops past the initial angst of his revealed attraction...”

The show definitely could have given us an episode or two focusing on Katara and her feelings towards Aang, but w/o we’re left with interpretation. The moment between them in the Cave of Two Lovers is probably the biggest example that it was not a one-sided relationship in the slightest. Katara wanted to kiss Aang. Their lack of being able to communicate effectively just got in the way of that. Arguably, another good instance would be the moment when they danced together in the Fire Nation cave.

Beyond that, as I said, is left to interpretation. There are numerous instances of Katara kissing Aang’s cheek, or being very hands-on with Aang. Friendly gestures...or romantic signs? Again, up to interpretation.

...she is never given the space to think through or develop her feelings for him, and his unwanted advances are never commented upon or worked through...

I mean there’s literally a scene where Aang kisses her and she gets upset because she asked for time to think on it that he didn’t give her. Can’t exactly comment on it any further than that. Again, admittedly this could’ve been developed a little better, but I don’t think the relationship is nonexistent without it.

He doesn't engage with her goals or help her on her own journey of self-actualisation and maturity. He doesn't listen or meaningfully respond to her fears or difficulties. She helps him grow, but he doesn't reciprocate.

This line feels like it’s entirely based on one instance of Aang actively choosing to not get involved with Katara’s growth, a decision he makes reasonably and justifiably when you consider the position he’s put in. I can only assume what they interpret as non-engagement in Katara’s growth is actually just Katara and Aang growing side-by-side.

Aang takes Katara to the Northern Water Tribe so she can learn Waterbending. Yes, he goes there to learn Waterbending too, but that shouldn’t discount the fact that without Aang, Katara would have never gone there herself.

It’s also worth mentioning that in terms of growth, you really have to set aside their relationship for a minute and understand that the show is ultimately about Aang, not Katara and Aang. His growth is what’s most important to the show. Katara growing with him is just a side-benefit.

If we’re meant to take this statement negatively, then we could argue that Aang used Toph and Zuko too because they helped him grow as well, but when you look at the overall picture it only makes perfect sense.

consider how Zuko earned Katara's regard by helping her, no-judgement, find and face her mother's murderer

This is the one instance I referred to previously. Aang actively chose to take no part in this personal growth for Katara, and reasonably so when you consider his perspective, which I think she’s failing to do.

Aang was raised to be a pacifist; to forgive rather than to revenge. Katara up until this point had been kind and caring. Not weak, mind you, as she still knew when to attack justifiably, but she wouldn’t actively seek to hurt someone, let alone kill them.

So try to understand that from Aang’s perspective, he can’t reasonably connect the Katara he knows to this Katara who wants to seek out and kill an individual. It’s also worth mentioning that while at first Aang tries to stop Katara from going because he thinks she will regret her actions in the long run, he eventually relents to letting her go, but tells her that she should face him and then forgive him, which is exactly what she ends up doing.

I wish someone had said "you're more than what you can give to other people, you deserve love too" to Katara.

This part I fail to grasp entirely. This part seems to imply that Katara had zero agency of her own, and needed to be granted it. Do we not remember Katara and Jet? Katara was allowed to love, and she did love.

This also seems to imply that being an overly caring person makes her a badly written character. There’s a difference between a character with flaws, and a character written poorly. You can reasonably make the argument that Katara cared too much for other people, setting aside her own happiness, I guess. But that doesn’t make her a badly written character, that makes her more human-like than anything else.

I don’t think this person meant any of this in a nasty way, and I don’t intend for my response to come off as nasty either. As they themselves said, they weren’t doing this for The Discourse™, they were doing it as literary criticism, which I enjoy. But I personally think their criticism skewed too heavily to the other side. It was less a balanced argument, and more just tilted the opposite direction.

#random rant #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla spoilers

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hongism · 3 years

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hi caly boo its ur 🌊 anon! i finally finished the most brilliant darkness and oh my lawd i’m in spain without the s. to put it shortly: U DID NOT DISAPPOINT BESTIE, and it seems unreal that u and ur mind and this fic even exists bc every moment is just polished to perfection, while simultaneously every character is polished to a sort of imperfect perfection(?). i have so many questions and things to say idek where to start, and tho im not good with words and even worse at deciphering hidden meanings, here are just some of my thoughts that i remember from the story.

hello my dear!!! eee im gonna answer separately since i think i’ll be very long-winded as usual but first of all thank you so much :(( this fic is actually very full of subliminal messages and hidden nuances that are weaved throughout which i think could be quite confusing so i apologize for that! if i had managed my time better, i would have adjusted when i started the fic to account for managing those aspects of the fic but alas i’m terrible at time management and i suck so. anyways.

first of all, ngl halfway into the story i lowkey forgot this was a wooyoung fic bc SANNN and also bc wooyoung appeared like 3 times lol. even after it finishing all that, i still had my doubts as to why this is a wooyoung fic, or more like why is san this significant in a wooyoung fic. im still a bit slow on these pls forgive me and im just curious why u made it like that.

i think yeah the most interesting thing about this fic is the emphasis on san over wooyoung. and when looking over it yeah i could have switched san and wooyoung’s characters and called it a day, but wooyoung really in my mind acts as the integral turning point for decisions made in the story.

the goal with the fic wasn’t really to be hyperfocused on the pairing itself, but rather the emotions and thought processes of each character (aside from wooyoung). wooyoung was kept intentionally mysterious and a bit set apart from the rest of the fic because his role in story was moreso an abstract of hestia, the goddess of the hearth and home. wooyoung’s character appeared in times where y/n was struggling with the thought of home or adjusting to the new changes in her life! wooyoung’s pairing itself was actually intended to be solely platonic at first, but as the story went on i thought having mc develop feelings for him added another turning point in the fic!

moving on, the second biggest question i had is the whole hestia!wooyoung and cafe aurora situation. i did a bit of reading on hestia and only found out that she was the goddess of hearth, which might explain the fireplace and the kind of homey feeling to the cafe. and ‘cafe aurora not really existing to most’ part, which was already hinted at wooyoung randomly disappearing, mc never seeing the cafe before or wooyoung only bringing people he wants into it. i get that him inviting mc must suggest her significance to him, but why was he so adamant about his friends not mentioning him or the cafe to mc before that? wooyoung is quite a mysterious character i think, and given that this fic is supposed to be about him, it’s a bit odd that there’s still so many things left unknown, but its kinda cool that way nonetheless and im guessing u would also like to explain that further outside of the story too.

i think my biggest regret about this fic is the fucking summary.... i wrote that summary well before i even started writing the fic thinking it would go in that direction but it didn’t. and since this fic was for a collab, i left the summary as is because i genuinely cannot for the life of me figure out a better one. but i’m trying to figure out a better one. but i really fucking hate the current summary because it’s not at all what the fic is truly about and i hate it.

however, i don’t hate the fic itself, and the reason why i don’t is because i got to play with both my writing style and how i displayed the story. for this collab we were asked to pick a greek god and one of the seven deadly sins, and i selected hestia and sloth. and initially i had intended to have sloth be represented by the reader’s depression, and wooyoung be a more ‘real’ depiction of hestia. i shifted gears very early on in the fic but what it became is moreso abstract realizations in the characters.

san’s character is meant to be this idea of sloth, and it’s mentioned several times that he doesn’t want to move forward, he wants to go slow, he wants to stop moving so fast through life, and those things point to him being a depiction of sloth

wooyoung’s was harder to encapsulate in a more abstract way but you hit the nail on the head really with the homey feeling of the cafe. beyond that, mc talks about just naturally feeling at ease and comfortable with how things are with wooyoung and being around him, and he takes up this role of being the likeable, warm, cozy, comforting character. it all comes to a head in the last scene where he brings both y/n and san into the cafe.

and again wooyoung’s character is meant to be most mysterious and abstract, but if i had had more time to fully flesh out the fic, i think i would have liked to touch more on him. at the same time however i left it more open-ended and open to interpretation. the significance in him inviting mc in and not being mentioned by the others sooner is twofold. one; the others never really had any reason whatsoever to mention wooyoung. he was a friend outside the circle who never joined in with them when mc was around. i personally in my own friendships don’t mention friends outside the circle by name or anything, just kinda vaguely talking about them unless im certain the people know who this person is. the concept of wooyoung having to invite mc in was more nuanced and vague as well, intentionally so, but that was moreso meant to represent this idea of ‘you can’t make a home somewhere where you aren’t invited’ so y/n couldn’t fully make a home of the place she was in without being invited in and welcomed in, but again that’s something i wish i had more time to fully flesh out.

the hongjoong speech about love (and also the interaction with seonghwa after that) deserves a standing ovation of its own 👏 unfortunately, or not, im not actually going through the emotional turmoil regarding love the same way as hj or mc to be able to fully relate to his words, but the whole ‘if you dont love what u see in the mirror then u dont love it’ mentality really hit me hard, and i’d like to hang onto that when i make decisions in the future haha thank you wise caly! seonghwa and hongjoong’s story is also beautiful, and just like mc said, the more i look at it the more it hurts :’)

the hongjoong speech about love was meant to be something very jaded and specific to his worldview. it actually isn’t wholly how i view love personally, but it was a perfect description to how both he and y/n perceived the love in their own lives. mostly thanks to their own emotional turmoils. the mentality of the mirror quote is something that i think i also struggle with, which is why i included it. it’s hard to do, but even in friendships, i think it’s necessarily to stop and look at the person you were before this relationship and then the person during this relationship. if you don’t love the one you are now, then maybe it’s a sign to reflect and see the bigger picture, so that was a lil reminder to myself and i’m glad it touched you as well!!!

“do you love him, or do you love the idea of being in love with him?” - haha i see what u did there (or maybe i didnt please dont laugh at me if i didnt). its still so good everytime i see it bc i keep finding myself loving just the idea of things time and time again even when this makes total sense to me oof :/

heh yeah again with the more abstract concepts this one was more direct and ‘cliche’ but i fully wanted that cliche in the fic because i thought it suited the situation where mc was constantly struggling with a version of san that she thought she loved vs the version of san she got every time they were together

despite how enlightened she seems to be, mc still made the same choices, and i wanna smack her for it and pat her back at the same time. and maybe also bc of the fact that she feels so differently for the two men that i feel like no ending could really justify her decision, so ending in the vague is probably the best. your ending might kind of allude to someone more than the other already, and tho i still don’t think he’s the best one for her based on just my pov on love, i kinda agree with you. but again, this raises the question of, why a wooyoung fic and not a san fic?

and yeah the whole knife in the chest at the end of it all is that she was still too scared to face the music so to speak. but really i would say she made the same choices up until the conversation on the balcony with san. and you’re absolutely right, the reason i chose the ending the way i did was because either way, there’s no justification. and actually although it might seems like i was alluding to someone specific, san being in the cafe at the very end was moreso to represent that as much as they fought, he still very much loved her and wanted to be loved by her. it was kinda an open casket ending there were no nails in the coffin, the choice between wooyoung and san still stands and an argument could be made for either of them! i think this is a fic that i could see myself revisiting one day with two endings - one for san, and one for wooyoung.

something i didn’t mention earlier about wooyoung’s character being left intentionally mysterious was that he was representing a new and budding love. the honeymoon phase where you’re falling for someone you don’t even really know. you are the reader aren’t meant to really know who wooyoung is because of that beyond what you read about him, so his past and such was left out intentionally to represent that idea of ‘hey wow im in love with a stranger!’ whereas san was this gritty love that’s bad for you. and there are pros and cons to each just as with anything!!

so,,,, why a wooyoung fic and not a san fic? well i picked wooyoung for my collab so he was one of the main focuses of the fic regardless of which direction i took with it. as for why wooyoung wasn’t more forward, i already answered that but !!! i view it as both a wooyoung fic and a san fic. both are highlighted characters with main pairing roles!

i literally just woke up to write this and am going back to sleep ahaha so i apologize if this makes no sense. i somehow felt like i’ve read so much yet so little at the same time, maybe bc there are still so many things i havent fully made sense of, and that’s where i hope you come in and enlighten me. i still stand by my word that this fic deserves so much more recognition despite the lack of explicit smut bc of how much more you’ve explored through character building. love you caly and thank u for working so hard <3 — 🌊

no worries my beloved i hope you go back to sleep and get lots and lots of rest!! and i hope my response helps enlighten the not so clear things as well dgjdklfg but really thank you so much. it was a long fic and hard to get through at times, but as a whole, i’m proud of it and what i created, so thank you for recognizing my efforts and appreciating them 🥺

#🌊 anon #fic; the most brilliant darkness

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foundthe8wing · 4 years

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I know exactly what I mean when I say “the dndads team is endangering minors in their spaces,” but I think from the outside, seeing that sentiment repeated, it’s easy to interpret it as rhetoric or as something like “if you’ve ever mentioned the existence of sex you’re a danger to children” when that isn’t the argument here at all. So I want to do my best to lay out why we call it dangerous.

CW: discussion of grooming (a bit more specifically than in previous posts of mine)

For context, these are the rules for the dndads patron server, at least as of October 4:

[ID: a discord message from Freddie:

In order to keep this a safe and welcoming community, we have some rules and guidelines everyone must follow.

If you need help or if anyone makes you uncomfortable (in chat or in DMs), the mods are here for you! You can ping them in the chat by using @/moderator, message the group using @/ModMail, or if you’d prefer to discuss a matter privately 1-on-1, you can also PM the community manager @/Ash or moderators directly.

Listen to the mods! They enforce the rules. Infractions are handled on a case-by-case basis. Breaking the rules will result in you being muted for a duration determined by severity and infraction history.

We’ve enabled nicknamed editing on the server, so please feel free to append your preferred pronouns at the end of your username.

Always remember these basic guidelines:

This is an 18+ space. Per Patreon’s policy, you must be 18+ or have parental permission.

Keep conversation polite. NSFW content is not allowed!

Stay on topic! If you find yourself drifting off topic, move to another channel. When in doubt, go to #shoot-the-breeze or #shoot-the-breeze-2 /End ID]

You’ll note the policy against NSFW content, but damn, I don’t know what kind of world they live in where linking kink tests and writing erotica are SFW activities. Definitely wouldn’t fly at my job, I’ll tell you that. Anyway.

I’m not saying that everyone who’s ever discussed sex in the presence of a minor is a predator, or that these discussions are always, definitely a slippery slope to kids getting groomed. But I’m saying that when the cast says things like “Grant has never jerked off in that house” and “there’s so much sexual tension between Bella and Dr. Cullen” and “Glenn definitely looks through Nick’s porn history,” among other things; and when they then allow people to regularly discuss sex acts and share kink test results and erotica in their server (yes, even if it’s meant as a joke), they’re making it much easier for predators to approach minors, and much harder for those minors to then be able to tell when lines are being crossed.

You know the saying about how you can boil a frog and it won’t hop out of the pot as long as you heat it up slowly? The server is getting uncomfortably warm, and it makes it that much easier for someone to turn it up a few degrees in private. It contributes to things like, for example, 9th grade me not pushing back when a then-20-year old made comments on all the “sexual tension” between me and one of my classmates (in response to me telling a story from when we were eleven).

I believe that if a 14-year-old in a position like the one I was in said “hey, this person keeps asking invasive sexual questions and I’m uncomfortable,” the mods would do something (though whether it’d be handled well is still questionable), but I don’t feel confident that that hypothetical kid has a good reason to believe that’s the case. If I was in a similar situation, I can’t cite anything that would make me feel like I’d be supported and have my concerns addressed, or that would validate my discomfort with the situation, and I can actually point to a lot of things that send the opposite message.

Because if that kid takes a look around the server and sees that plenty of adults here are bringing up sexual topics in this all-ages space anyway, that no one in charge is objecting to users sexually discussing 13-year-old characters, that Anthony considers “why, did the podcast make you nut” a perfectly acceptable thing to say unprompted . . . it doesn’t give a great impression that whoever they approach will take them seriously if they ask for help. It doesn’t give them a good basis for trusting their instinct that something is off with the way they’re being spoken to. That piece is vital, and it’s where the cast, community manager, and moderators have failed over and over and over.

Simply saying “if anyone makes you uncomfortable (in chat or in DMs), the mods are here for you!” isn’t sufficient when it’s not coupled with a direct statement that adults approaching minors about sexual topics isn’t okay. It’s not cool for adults to be having explicit conversations with or around minors. There is no good reason for an adult to be asking or speculating about a minor’s sexual behaviors, or discussing their own sex life with minors, or sharing/discussing explicit media with them. Make that clear. It’s not the kid’s job to automatically know this; it’s your job to tell them.

(Which isn’t to say that an action has to definitively cross that line in order for someone to express discomfort-- “these things aren’t okay, and if you’re unsure, you can reach out anyway” would be a good approach in my book, but the second part on its own isn’t enough.)

Right now, if a teen in the dndads server is being groomed, all of the responsibility is placed on this teen to:

Identify the fact that they’re uncomfortable (and then choose to examine that discomfort rather than immediately downplay it)

Articulate why this is bothering them

Convince themself (and, potentially, whoever they approach about it) that it’s a big enough deal to bring up at all

Speaking as someone who’s been there: it can be really fucking hard to do. But it’d be a hell of a lot easier if the cast said anything to the effect of “hey, adults shouldn’t be initiating this kind of conversation with you,” or if they made any effort to rein in the “spicier” conversations in the server.

Adults detailing their kinks in the presence of kids isn’t cool, even if none of those kids say they’re uncomfortable. I need an indication that a single person managing the dndads patron server understands that and is taking it into account.

Nobody wants to be the killjoy who says “hey, I’m not comfortable.” Especially not in an environment where there’s a pattern of such concerns getting dismissed and belittled. Double especially when the behavior is coming from some of the most influential members of the community. It’s not fair--and not safe--to foist all of that pressure onto an uncomfortable kid, and it’s absolutely crucial that the people with power get ahead of it and take on the responsibility of calling out and shutting down unacceptable behavior.

In order to be effective, “reach out if you’re uncomfortable” needs to also be coupled with an apology for the way they’ve been conducting themselves. Because if they don’t apologize for things like the examples I listed above, for the ways their content and actions have contributed to harmful ideas about consent and about sexualizing kids, for allowing the server to exist in this state for so long, then they’re implicitly saying either that those things were okay, or that they’re above those standards. Not a great look no matter how you slice it.

TL;DR: allowing this level of sexual discussion around minors, especially in the absence of any type of messaging or warning regarding grooming, makes it easy for those minors to get preyed on. And saying “we’re here for you if you’re uncomfortable” doesn’t on its own count as actually making the server a safe or comfortable environment.

#dndads #dungeons and daddies #cw grooming #cw sexualizing minors #8wing

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wildeacademics · 3 years

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The Paradox of Equality - and its Relationship with Equity

A note about the article before we begin: This essay is hella long with 1.2k words, and there’s a tl;dr at the end if you don’t want to go through the whole thing.

If we’re looking to establish absolute, true equality, I can first tell you that true equality does not exist. The best thing we can do is to improve the circumstances of the ‘oppressed’/those suffering from inequality so that their psychological wellbeing improves.

Why does true, absolute equality not exist? Let’s break down the term ‘equality’. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, there are various different definitions, which all tries to skirt around what most people might want equality to be. The closest definition, however, would be this: ‘a situation in which men and women, people of different races, religions, etc. are all treated fairly and have the same opportunities’.

The first part of the definition seems easy enough to understand. ‘Men and women, people of different races, religions, etc.’ points out the various different groups of people who might be living in inequality, and hence suggests that they should have a right, and consequently need to achieve equality. However, the second part of the definition seems a bit daunting. What does it mean to be ‘treated fairly’? And what does it mean to ‘have the same opportunities’?

When reading the definition, it is likely that you would already have had a broad idea of what being ‘treated fairly’ is. Be it established from consuming modern media (e.g. books, television, podcasts), or people around you, it’s ultimately subjective to the person’s interpretation (i.e. it’s different from people to people). It is because the term ‘fair’ is ultimately subjective. A way to make it objective would be to provide a ‘guideline’ of what would be deemed ‘fair treatment’. For example, fair treatment could mean forbidding someone from being held in slavery/servitude, which is Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Furthermore, having the same opportunities is also subjective. In which context do you have same opportunities? I think the general consensus is to have the same opportunities since birth, and the same opportunities in all circumstances. But that is impossible. You can’t control where people are born, and in what kind of families people are born. Furthermore, you can’t guarantee same opportunities in all circumstances, because it would mean controlling people’s thoughts, desires, personality types. It would also mean restricting people’s choices in order to guarantee that the opportunities are actually equal. It shows that equality is circumstantial, but generally impossible. To actually carry out equality one would have to identify the scope, the context in which equality would be. But that would defeat the ultimate objective of equality, because it’s not equality ‘at all times’.

The problem of equality is also paradoxical, because to ensure equality you need someone, or a source of authority to enforce such equality. Otherwise people would do whatever they want however they want it, and there would be no equality. (Think about a Lord of the Flies situation?) However, if there is an authority figure in place to guarantee equality, then there is no equality because of the power hierarchy. This paradox is why it makes equality impossible.

Let me first address the problem of having an authorial figure in place to keep equality. Initially, this might seem to be a good idea to allow a single leader to give out equal opportunities for everyone, especially if this person is wise and knows what they are doing. But here’s the thing. If only the real world have such wise leaders who could make such informed decisions. In fact, in reality these authority figures would probably give the people a smaller share of the resources, while keeping more for themselves. For example, North Korea (which claims to be socialist[1]) has had a long record of political corruption, where the common citizens starve whereas the higher echelons of the government enjoy luxurious lives. Because equality in all circles of society is required/guaranteed, it means that jobs are mandated. Since citizens can’t move up the social ladder, there is no threat to the government. Therefore, with absolute power, politicians/leaders would inevitably be corrupt, perhaps even more so than ‘democratic’ societies.

So how do we ensure equality (absolute equality, I think, would be a better term to be used in this argument) without authority figures and no one ensuring such equality? The simplest answer to this question is anarchism. Anarchism refers to the political belief that there should be little or no formal or official organization to society, but that people should work freely together. By getting rid of a leadership organization altogether, it gives a chance for equality at the bottom - for the common people. But once people are left to their own devices, it’ll probably be Lord of the Flies all again, and would likely result in the rise of yet another leadership - who knows.

Furthermore, equality can sometimes damage the situations of those it’s meant to improve. Equality, as established above, means to give the same opportunities to everyone regardless of background. This might work well on discrimination based on race, gender or other situations where people have no physical barriers to success. But what if the people as established are facing handicaps? Imagine a situation where a man in a wheelchair, and a man with no physical handicaps, and they are both given the ‘same opportunity’ to go up to the fourth floor of the same building through taking the stairs. They are given the same opportunities, yet this benefits only the man with no physical handicaps. Giving equal opportunities to everyone with no regard to situation is not only unequal since people aren’t treated fairly, it also worsens the problem of inequality and discrimination. A real-life scenario where there are equal opportunities but does not benefit everyone would probably be the education system, where neurodivergent children are forced to study under the same conditions as neurotypical children.

So far I’ve established the fact that true equality is not possible. What should be in place then? How could we improve people’s lives, and improve inequality? The best answer to this would be equity. You probably have seen this cartoon before:

This gives a glimpse of the difference between equality and equity, in which not everyone is given the same opportunity, but rather the opportunities that would suit them. Equality had been proposed because of increasing discrimination, as a means to reduce such inequality. However, if we ignore the circumstances surrounding individuals, then providing the same opportunities might very well widen the inequality gap. Hence equity would be the best solution to solve the problem of inequality. One example would be progressive taxing; the more money you earn, the more taxes you pay. By taking into account the monetary ability of individuals, this would allow wealth inequality to decrease. Hence equity would be the best solution to the discrimination and inequality problem instead.

TL;DR: True equality doesn’t exist, advocate for equity instead.

A/N: This is long as heck and I’m really sorry, because the problem should’ve been tackled in less words but here we are. I hope this is somewhat enlightening and not a waste of your time ;w;. Feel free to have discussions with me through reblogging this/dm-ing me! I’ll be interested to see what other people think of this issue. (I’ll also be writing another article on the paradoxical relationship of equality and freedom next if anyone wants to read that)

Notes below:

[1] North Korea’s official ideology is juche, which is meant to claim that, through man acting as ‘the master of his destiny’, they would become self-reliant and strong’, allowing the nation to achieve true socialism.

- Source: Juche Idea: Answers to Hundred Questions. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. 2014.

Picture source: https://interactioninstitute.org/illustrating-equality-vs-equity/

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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Okay so tumblr did something super weird with the formatting and I couldn’t fix it; for some reason it had the page cut under the ask itself (as if the ask itself had the page cut in it) so I literally couldn’t edit it out and re-format it right. So I just took a screencap of the ask and I’ll respond via a standard textpost.

Gonna give a little warning because I’m gonna be talking about child abuse a bit.

Glad to hear it, anon. :) I try to keep an open mind with these discussions.

Tbh, I kinda get uncomfortable with some of the stuff I've seen in her tag regarding Zuko especially. I've seen a handful of people kind of dismissing him as being whiny or sensitive, and I just don't really vibe with that. I don't have anything against any of the people I've seen posting it, but I just don't vibe with.

I'm also gonna take the opportunity to try to break some of the misconceptions about the Azula fandom by saying that I don't feel afraid or intimidated to kinda go against a good portion of the fandom in a sense. And that's because, fellow Azula fans have never really outcast me or tried to fight me for saying that I think that Azula's a bit of an abuser. The Azula fandom imo, isn't full of bullies and hateful people; everyone I have talked to has been very open to a nice discussion. I think that it just depends how you approach them with your arguments.

All of that said, Imma get back on topic here; It’s a little tough to talk about Azula's flaws sometimes because I feel like (though, thankfully this hasn’t happened on tumblr to me yet) that some people take pointing out flaws in your faves as bashing them or posting hate.

But honestly this is really cool to hear because back when I first opened up this blog I used to do that thing where I’d justify everything that my faves did, which was a bit of a problem because my faves are all antagonists! xD So there has been a lot of progress made.

I think that there are three main reasons that people have a hard time admitting that she’s an abuser too.

I think that the biggest one is that a lot of Azula fans lately have been massively on the defensive. There has been quite a bit of hate in her tag, there have been things said by the writers (taken the wrong way or not), there have been a lot of generalizations, and so on. And all of it kind of puts fans on the defensive. I see so many posts about how Azula is irredeemable and just the worst, most evil character in the show and so people kind of swing hardcore the other way (Azula did nothing wrong) to make up for all of the demonizing she gets. One extreme usually leads to another. Seeing Azula get so much shit, like being called a killer and a sadist, provokes the Azula is a cinnamon roll reaction. Basically when a fandom gets put on blast for being 'the crazy' or 'mean' side of the fandom, I feel like it creates a cycle where that part of the fandom starts to actually act meaner because they feel backed into a corner. The more they are called 'delusional' for seeing good in Azula the more radically they will start to defend that belief until the shades of grey start disappearing, if that makes sense.

But this is just a theory of course.

The second reason I think that people tend to dismiss the things she does do wrong is that there's this association with criticism and hate. And this goes beyond the Avatar fandom. In general I feel like people find it hard to say bad things about their favorite characters because they feel like they're bashing their character and/or they don't want people to think that they are being negative. Plus it's just kinda hard to say bad things about something you like/love. Speaking as someone who used to do this; I always felt really weird about or like I was being negative when admitting that things I like have flaws. I'm not exactly sure why I used to feel like this because it wasn't an, 'I seem myself in this character, so insulting them is like insulting me' thing because I usually have almost nothing in common with my faves. Idk, it's just always been way easier for me to find things I like in a character I hate than it is for me to find things I don't like in a character that I do. On a personal level, it might just be because I'd rather focus on liking things that I like than hating things that I hate?

I guess that I think that it's just easy to forget that 'I don't like xyz aspect of Azula' is not the same as 'I don't like Azula at all'. I think that it's possible to love a character but not love everything about them, just like real people; you can love your mom to death but there will always be those things about her that drive you nuts.

And really, imo, I think that fans who are able to see flaws with their faves are the ones who understand them the best. I'm definitely not saying that the people who don't see/acknowledge their fave's flaws don't understand their fave. But I think that they are missing out on very crucial aspects of their favorite character. If you like a character you should like them for what they are in canon, not what you want them to be or what they could be.

I see a lot of potential for growth in Azula. I see potential for a redemption arc and I do love what her character can be. But I also love her character as is. Currently in canon, she's manipulative and goal driven to the point where she has a disregard for people. Currently she's an antagonist and I love her for that. Because antagonist, unredeemed Azula is the character I liked in the beginning. I don't condone her being manipulative and I don't like that as a personality trait. But I do love it as far as, she is a fantastically written antagonist. And those cold, manipulative, abusive traits add to her complexity when juxtaposed against her own abuse, insecurities, and need to be loved.

And that's kind of what I mean when I say that, if you like Azula, you should like her despite the flaws. If that makes sense. I feel like people who say that she isn't an abuser (at least to some degree) kind of have a misunderstanding of her character. I think that one of the points of her character is to show that some abused kids don't come out okay. It's a tragic reality.

But with Azula I think that there's still room for her to change and start to break that cycle. I feel like she'd have a much harder time doing it than Zuko, because she has been subjected to his mental abuse in close range for much longer than he has. And I think that it would be something she'd struggle with her whole life, but I see good in her.

That said, I think that the third reason people have trouble seeing her as an abuse is because it is just really hard to see abuse victims become the abuser. I've mentioned before, but I come from a family where the chain ended with one of my parents. Said parent has told me many times how hard it was to fight that kind of upbringing. That's the real tragedy of abuse, it just goes on and on until you're mentally strong enough to fight yourself and break that chain. And the sad thing is, that some people just can't seem to do that. And I think that when discussing Azula, this comes into play a bit; it's just hard to look at even a fictional abuse victim and knowledge that they've become the abuser because it is all that they have known.

It's just a really hard topic and that's why it's so easy for discourse like this to get heated; a lot of people have an Azula in their lives or relate to her in some way.

Thanks for the ask, sorry it took so long to reply! I wanted to make it thoughtful and word everything the best that I can.

As always, everyone is welcomed to chime in and give their own opinions.

EDIT: There are a few things that I don’t think I was clear enough on with the initial post lol. First and foremost, I’m definitely not saying that these three reasons are the only reasons people don’t talk about Azula’s flaws. @wingsfreedom made a good point about differing ways of interpreting scenes. That’s another biggy.

The other thing I want to clarify is that I don’t think that Azula is a full on abuser. I think that she displays tendencies and does some abusive things. But I also don’t put her on the same level as Ozai. I feel like she’s a bit more merciful than him. Like Ozai is pretty much too far gone; he’s an abuser and his mind is set there. Azula, I think still has the capacity to break the chain. She’s not a lost cause. I also feel like she can be reasoned with more than Ozai. Ozai is all about power; Azula is motivated more by desperation (be it for her father’s love, to keep the last bit of control she has, and to keep her friends). It still leads to that harmful behavior, but I don’t think that she’s a lost cause like Ozai. Like, she has some abusive tendencies now, but I can also see her being able to break the chain under the right conditions. If that makes sense.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Azula Discourse #Discourse #Zuko #Fandom Discourse

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pinelife3 · 3 years

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What’s this Pizzagate in the heart of nature?

The big tech story in Australia last month was Facebook’s decision to restrict people and organisations in Australia from sharing or viewing news content on Facebook. This was in response to the Morrison government’s proposed Media Bargaining legislation which is basically a Murdoch-serving law to try to get tech companies to pay media organisations for news content hosted/linked/displayed on their sites and, most galling of all, share details of their algorithms with Australian media orgs. The idea that Facebook would have to notify NewsCorp every time they want to tweak their algorithm is patently insane. So I admire Facebook’s petty, dramatic manoeuvre: “if the way we share news on the site is such a problem then fine, no more news for you”. After all the fuss, the Australian government agreed to amend the Media Bargaining legislation - evidently with terms more agreeable to Facebook, meaning news has been restored to Facebook down under.

One of the key responses I saw expressed in relation to Facebook’s initial news eradication was concern that disinformation would be able to spread more easily on the site - and that people wouldn’t be able to rebut disinformation with factual news articles.

So far as I can tell, the proliferation of disinformation online wouldn’t matter if people didn’t believe it. And most especially, if people didn’t want to believe it. After all, the web is full of persuasive writing and people who want to convince you of things - for whatever reason, conspiracy theories just seem to be very alluring. So rather than trying to protect people from their own stupidity by hiding disinformation... maybe we could look at why people are so credulous in the first place. Deep state? Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams? CIA Contra cocaine trafficking? The great replacement? Pizzagate?

I’m going to class conspiracy theorists into three categories of my own making:

I believe: well meaning, uninformed people who have been fooled or duped. The fraudulent 1998 Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield which started the vaccines cause autism conspiracy was actually written to support a class action lawsuit. Wakefield knew the results in his paper were not true: in addition to his conflicts of interest, he had falsified data. The paper was eventually debunked and retracted but the conspiracy had its roots and has continued to grow. I think a lot of the people who believe that vaccines are dangerous are parents who are just worried about their kids - and also want to protect other kids from a threat they believe to be real. Why is one debunked article more persuasive to people than a million proving the efficacy of vaccines? It is literally beyond reason.

It suits me to believe: people motivated by self-interest who adopt a conspiracy theory to support their larger world view. Their self-interest could be anything from their own ego to gun rights. The conspiracies around the Sandy Hook Primary School shooting are interesting because you can see a clear motivation for people to subscribe to that theory rather than the truth. If you’re a keen gun-owner, arguining that the shooting was a hoax to generate anti-gun sentiment and thereby allow the Democrats to pass harsher gun restrictions is neat and comforting. No one could argue that the events of Sandy Hook weren’t inhumanly terrible - so the only option is to argue that they didn’t happen at all. Plus, in this worldview, no kids are getting hurt so you can sleep easy knowing you have seven semi-automatic weapons in the house.

I need to believe: the world is disorganised, scary, unknowable. Ocean deep, sky vast, dark impenetrable - and meanwhile our skin is so thin and delicate. So. Wouldn’t it be comforting to think that there’s a race of reptilian overlords that control the planet by whipping their tails against a complicated system of levers and pullies? That would explain a lot of the chaos in our world. Or maybe the problem is an elite coterie of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles? If only we could defeat those accursed pedophiles then life would be peaceful. Luckily, Q and a septuagenarian reality TV host are here to save us.

Across these categories, there are two unifying features:

Rejection of widely accepted truth

Investment in the conspiracy

As a comparison with the conspiracists above, here’s my take on a conspiracy: I think it’s quite probable that Epstein didn’t kill himself. I think that some powerful, shadowy entity took him out to protect itself. But I’m not obsessed by this idea. It would not surprise or upset me if this was officially confirmed - similarly crazy shit happens all the time. I haven’t devoted my life to revealing this truth. I guess I fit into the “I Believe” category: all official information says that Epstein took his own life but my scepticism of the unusual circumstances around his death and Epstein’s powerful connections leads me to doubt the official information. The difference is I don’t do anything about it. I don’t really care if I’m right or not - I’m not that invested in the conspiracy.

And that’s why it seems ludicrous to me that Facebook should be tasked with combatting the conspiracy theories spiralling across our culture. Simply being exposed to bad information does not radicalise you, does not conjure an investment in the conspiracy. If a normal person reads something creatively wrong or misleading they discard it from their mind. If it hits a chord with them, they may adopt that opinion themselves - see: astrology, Armie Hammer as cannibal, tarot cards, essential oils as serious medical treatment, etc. But the evolution from agreeing with a thought to militaristically insisting that the rest of society also agree with it is an abnormal progression. That strange impulse runs deeper in people than their Facebook timeline.

Most people have fears for the planet or believe there are major issues plaguing humanity - and we never do anything about it because it would be mildly inconvenient or because it’s too hard to care about every issue under late capitalism:

"But sorting my recycling is boring”

“Yeah yeah fast fashion is problematic but H&M is just so affordable"

"Of course I hate R.Kelly! But ‘Ignition (Remix)’ is my jam”

“At least they have suicide nets in the Foxconn factories now”

“I only buy free range chicken thighs because I care about animal welfare”

“I retweeted that thing about anti-Black racism. Yay racism solved!”

There are probably lots of people who believe in conspiracy theories but are ultimately apathetic about doing anything: they can’t be bothered talking about vaccines and politics all the time, can’t be bothered going to a protest, can’t summon the interest to care much. So what’s interesting then is that across the three categories of conspiracy theory belief (I believe > It suits me to believe > I need to believe), what a person believes in, and perhaps even the reason for the belief, doesn’t create any impetus to enact real world change. On both the left and the right, the impulse to do something about an issue is rare. Do you think conspiracy theorists, like the left, have a problem with performative activism?

Imagine that you agree that Sandy Hook was a false flag, that ‘they’ hired crisis actors to publicly grieve as if their pretend children had been murdered... do you then get in your car and drive overnight to Sandy Hook and start harassing those crisis actors at the pretend funerals? What do you call someone like that? The hero of their own story.

Just wait!

In their worldview, QAnon are unironically trying to save us from pedophile cannibals. Given what conspiracists believe to be true, they are acting in good faith and doing the right thing. If you believed this shit, you’d be upset too. The fact that they’re doing something about it is kind of admirable: they don’t want our babies to get autism from the measles vaccine, they don’t want a deep state to manipulate our democratic governments. It’s existential for all of us - we just don’t agree on the threat.

youtube

Can you imagine how electric the riot at the Capitol Building must have felt for the people who led it. Brave, romantic, a grand gesture: it was like their Storming of Tuileries. Remember this day forever!

Modern conspiracists are actually similar to the sans-culottes in terms of being avid consumers of propaganda and inflammatory reporting. Disinformation and stirring rhetoric are not new - but shouldn’t people today be less clueless than 18th century peasants?

youtube

Why are there are so many people who believe things which are untrue? They exist on this planet with us but interpret it so differently. These questions really are existential: an ancient, echoing maw pointing to the heart of human nature. The struggle for a more perfect world, whispers about where the danger comes from at night, arguments about how to protect ourselves.

youtube

Has there ever been a society where people didn’t have differing views on how best to shape the world? It’s the central conflict of human existence: epic, older than language - and now we want Facebook to fix it?

#qanon #epstein #trump #anti-vaxxers #facebook #auspol #media bargaining code #pizzagate #sandy hook

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onelungmcclung · 3 years

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Talk in-series McToye to me, babey

u spoil me 💛

I was originally just going to write a long list of bullet point headcanons in zero order, but since we established you were asking more about toye’s pov (vs mcclung’s pov) I will write the “whole essay” version.

précis: toye noticing/falling for mcclung, pre & during (& after?) bastogne.

first meetings: mcclung transfers from the replacement depot with a few other guys and they join easy company at fort bragg, north carolina and toye doesn’t expect to be impressed, doesn’t necessarily expect any of them to last long. he’s right about some of them; he’s wrong about mcclung.

the new guys have all done their jump training too, but most of the toccoa guys figure that anyone who didn’t train under sobel must have had it easy. so the new guys are treated a little like a separate group, and by default mcclung hangs out a little more with them, and toye still doesn’t know him that well.

but it becomes obvious mcclung is probably the most competent of them. he’s an excellent shot; the training regime doesn’t bother him; he’s fast; nothing makes him nervous. toye’s just glad of as many good soldiers as they can get, but he’s starting to think maybe he should get to know mcclung better.

(toye notices some of the guys who are not good shots suddenly start to improve dramatically at target practice, and he pays close attention and realises mcclung and shifty are helping them. he has to wonder if this is a good idea or not, but it’s kind of them, especially that they never acknowledge it, and he enjoys watching the whole thing.)

between not being a toccoa guy and being much better than the other new guys, mcclung doesn’t have much in the way of close friends. he doesn’t seem fazed by that; he just gets on with his thing and gets on ok with everyone. he’s fairly easy-going on a personal level. he has a very dry, deadpan, slightly oblique sense of humour (occasionally passive aggressive, with regard to people he dislikes/is irritated by), which at first takes toye a little by surprise but he privately enjoys it; for the most part, it’s one they share. mcclung is a very specific type of argumentative: he doesn’t usually start arguments, but he rarely backs down from them. relatedly, he’s very stubborn. (for better or worse, those are traits they share too.)

he is not a good garrison soldier, because he doesn’t think it’s important. he may have a theoretical point, but it’s a real fucking headache for his comrades. the only reason they accept it is because he’s really good at everything else. (when they’re training/in combat they are grateful to have him. when they have a parade someone has to say “please for the love of g-d make sure mcclung looks presentable”. who knows how many weekend passes he would lose them otherwise. maybe his master plan is to cause sobel an aneurism, but as far as everyone else is concerned it’s a dangerous game.)

in combat, he is this slightly unknown quantity of often surprising + faintly terrifying. he can find his way around in the dark better than pretty much anyone else. he makes casual references to the germans’ position based on smell. he takes detours to kill them. sometimes he seems to vanish and reappear suddenly. he never disobeys orders, but nevertheless no one is ever quite sure what he’ll do next.

mcclung is good friends with shifty, of course, who is one of the nicest people in the universe; he also gets on very well with ramirez, with whom he seems to share a sense of humour, and that’s a potentially terrifying combination. liebgott respects his... work ethic. within 2nd platoon, they’re all happy for him to take the initiative on killing a few more enemy soldiers, but they try to make sure he doesn’t disappear off on his own while there are officers around.

toye truly admires him as a soldier and is also faintly baffled by him. he learns to trust mcclung’s instincts/observations, even when there isn’t time for mcclung to explain how he came to his conclusions.

still, regardless of how competent he is, toye — as a responsible nco — tries to make sure mcclung’s ok. mcclung gets picked as a scout often, so toye always checks in on him after.

they work together very well when someone's hurt: fast and efficient and careful. they develop a rapport of sarcastic comments that other people aren’t sure how to interpret. toye likes his steadiness, his calmness, that he can always be trusted to know what he’s doing and get it done well. he feels comfortable around mcclung.

they end up sharing a foxhole in bastogne; no real reason for it. (in the same way it’s thought better not to have medics sharing a hole, officers/ncos of the same rank don’t usually share; for the time being at least, toye outranks mcclung.)

it’s not easy for toye to let himself rely completely on someone else, but he has to — at intervals — rely entirely on mcclung. when he sleeps, he depends on mcclung to keep them safe, and vice versa. mcclung is his eyes and ears, and vice versa. (like. early prototype of drift compatibility.) the sarcasm, developing into shared injokes, helps.

and toye’s boots get blown up, of course, and that’s just... embarrassing, frankly. he tries to get by as best he can, doesn’t want to bother the medics with it, figures they won’t be able to help with this one. mcclung thinks he’s being stoically stupid and lets him know it. but he does his best to help: tries to find ways to keep toye dry, tries to keep him warm.

it’s the most anyone’s touched him in a while, and you can tell a certain amount about someone by the way they touch. mcclung is so careful and gentle and trying so hard to stop toye’s feet from getting any worse. toye thinks, maybe they’re going to die here, and maybe this is the last real closeness he’ll experience. mcclung never says anything sympathetic — more likely the opposite — but he gives toye his scarf. (headcanon arrived at via the fact neither of them seem to be wearing scarves in their scene together.)

he’s truly offended when mcclung lets roe know of toye’s missing boots, but he can’t exactly argue. mcclung knows he can’t. mcclung knowing is also annoying.

they settle back into their previous dynamic: toye feels a little less dependent on mcclung; mcclung no longer takes on quite so much responsibility in looking after toye’s feet. but toye feels even closer to him before, and feels indebted to him for trying so hard to help him.

toye’s evacuated to the aid station when he’s wounded in the arm, and comes back to the line as soon as he can. for the company, and especially 2nd platoon, but maybe also, a little, for mcclung. mcclung is a separate category from best friend and fellow soldier and toye isn’t thinking closely about what that category is. but he’s relieved to see him again, to be able to go back to sharing a foxhole with him. there’s a pattern, a rhythm, a synchronicity between them, and they can fall back into it.

he thinks mcclung is perhaps the best combat soldier he’s ever known, and a good person, and kind, and likely the best person he could be sharing a foxhole with, and maybe good-looking but he probably shouldn’t be thinking that and probably the cold & isolation are just getting to him. and he of course will say nothing of that to mcclung, because any of it would be embarrassingly sentimental and to say all of it would be uncomfortably revealing in ways he’d rather not think about.

and then he gets hit.

they’re not in the same place when the shelling starts, and later toye will be glad of that because it would have been worse to see someone else get hit and not be able to help them, or to see them die next to him.

he doesn’t know if he’ll survive the shelling, but he does. later he’ll ask himself if it’s his fault guarnere gets hit.

he sees mcclung afterwards, but there’s no time, really, to talk to him. he’s taken off the line, again, and he doesn’t know who among them he’ll see again.

he still thinks about mcclung a lot, and gradually he realises other vets don’t miss their foxhole buddies quite as much as he misses mcclung. he feels guilty about being taken off the line and leaving the rest of the company and not being able to help them, but, out of everyone he’s left behind, mcclung is the person he thinks about the most. even if they both survive, he doesn’t expect to see mcclung again. he wants to, but he’s not sure if he’ll have the courage to make it happen. he doesn’t think mcclung can miss him as much as he misses mcclung; he doesn’t think it would be worth admitting his feelings.

so: they’re falling for each other on more or less the same timeframe, and they’re both kind of slow on the uptake / burying their feelings for slightly different reasons.

#replies #toye x mcclung #'charactering'#mctoye #joe toye #earl mcclung #am I capable of talking about these two forever? until the sun engulfs the earth? possibly #all I can say is it's been a gently snowballing situation that has finally eaten me alive #and now I am talking bullshit from the belly of the beast #(what's everyone else's weird lockdown development?)

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cornyregans · 4 years

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Relationship with the Rivals

Word Count: 3,965

I have been planning on discussing the birth orders for what I call the “Lear” generation and “ABC” Montys for more than a year now. As I was compiling my entries, however, I thought it would be fun to look at how the ages of these sims might have contributed to each of their eventual roles in the feud. As such, I wrote this thing to show pieces of evidence that might explain where each sim fits on the feud spectrum, and how their ages might have something to do with it.

Roles in the Feud

Before we dive into the main body of this essay, we should first look at the different categories where each sim might fit. In my opinion, these sims can fall into one of six categories. Each group is rather self-explanatory once you see what they’re called; however, there are some nuances to these roles that I believe should be acknowledged.

The first group is what I like to call the “major players.” These sims play a large role in the feud as a whole; whether it be due to their role in starting it, or because none of them are all that willing to befriend anyone on the other side. In addition to their unwillingness to cross the canal, so to speak, these sims are also loathed by one or more sims in return, though the animosity the other sim shows them is not always mutual.

Within this group of “major players,” there are two subsections that I like to call “passively major players” and “aggressively major players.” Both groups are uninterested in burying the hatchet and don’t care for making amends with the other side. That said, their approach to the feud differs.

Aggressively major players are sims who take an active role in initiating disputes between the families, and who will probably hate on someone based on their last name alone. Also, aggressively major players not only hate sims on the other side, but their aggressive nature has likely earned them some enemies in return.

Passively major players, on the other hand, are more reactionary than their aggressive counterparts. While these sims don’t think too positively of sims on the other side of the canal, they will have an additional reason for hatred other than just the whole last name thing. Finally, passively major players do not need to have anyone on the other side hold them in contempt since, as stated previously, much of their disdain is more reactionary than anything else.

The second main group is the “minor players,” these sims are more willing to befriend people on the other side than the major players; however, some also consider one or more sims on the other side to be their enemies. Another kind of minor player is one who does not consider any rival family members to be enemies, yet one or more members of the rival family do hate them for one reason or another.

The third main group is what I like to call the “anti-feuders.” These sims do not consider any members of the rival family to be their enemies and they are more than willing to befriend them as well. Unlike what I mentioned above regarding minor players, anti-feuders are completely free of enemies on the other side. That said, given the nature of the feud, anti-feuders are probably more likely to be found outside the two feuding families, though there are some exceptions.

The fourth category is what I call the “undecided” because there is no way for us to say how they feel about the feud since they lack relationships with the rival family. That said, the fourth category will not come up in any capacity later in this essay since the game either strongly implies or outright confirms that all seven of these sims had an opinion on either the feud itself or the sims from the other family.

There are two other categories I will not be covering here that deserve a mention. Both groups are exactly what you would expect upon seeing their names, “Capp allies” (sims from auxiliary families who display loyalty towards the Capps), and “Monty allies” (basically the same as Capp allies, but their loyalties lie with the Montys instead). Given the dearth of premade families in modern-day Veronaville, these final two groups no longer exist in the neighborhood unless the player decides to incorporate townies into these factions or create some new families to fill some empty houses.

Premade Roles at Capp Manor and Monty Ranch

When it comes to categorizing the individuals living at the Manor or Ranch, it is probably safe to say that Consort, Patrizio, Isabella, and Tybalt are major players. Consort and Patrizio are self-explanatory: both of them were essential in starting the feud, and neither of them seems to have any intention of letting bygones be bygones as far as the narrative is concerned. An argument could be made for Isabella being more of a minor player due to the implication that she’s getting tired of Patrizio’s anti-Capp ways; however, she doesn’t seem very willing to befriend any Capps herself, so it’s hard to categorize her as anything but a major player as a result (though, I would place her in the passively major subsection). Tybalt, whose biography highlights his Capp pride, considers both of the Montys he knows enemies, so there’s no way he could fit into any other category when the game begins. All four of these sims have a few individuals on the other side who consider them to be an enemy, so they really can’t fit anywhere else on this spectrum.

Romeo, Juliette, and Mercutio are more minor players in the feud since they have both friends and foes on the opposite side (though most of the hatred is one-sided). Romeo and Juliette are friends, which is practically a necessity for a romantic relationship in TS2. As for Mercutio, he considers Hermia and Miranda Capp to be his friends, in addition to having a crush on the former and being crushed on by the latter. When it comes to the enemies they have on the other side, Romeo is considered an enemy by Consort and Tybalt Capp, Mercutio is enemies with Tybalt, and Juliette loathes Bianca Monty. Mercutio and Juliette also aren’t all that fond of each other, though not to the point of considering the other an enemy when the game starts. The same can be said for Romeo who, while loathed by Consort and Tybalt, lacks enough animosity towards either sim when the game begins to reciprocate their feelings of hatred.

Hermia is the only sim living at either the manor or ranch to be an Anti-Feuder since she isn’t enemies with any of the Montys when you first play the manor, nor do any of the Montys consider her an enemy in return. She considers Mercutio Monty to be a friend and also reciprocates his crush on her (though, the fact that she also reciprocates Puck’s crush on her slightly complicates things).

So with that out of the way, let’s begin by looking at the five-generation four sims still alive when the game begins.

The Living Capps and Montys

Given that they consider all of the living third and fourth generation members of their respective rival families to be enemies, it seems safe to say that Goneril, Regan, and Antonio are all involved in the feud in some way. That said, only Antonio’s bios (both personal and household) and Regan’s household bio reference their thoughts on the feud. Rather than touching upon her opinion of the feud, both of Goneril’s bios instead focus on her marriage and motherhood.

Antonio’s personal bio references the feud by stating:

“…what will be his role in the family feud that may have cost him his one true love?”

By taking this quote into account, Antonio’s involvement in the feud is more of a recent development. Either that or he wasn’t much of a player until he lost his wife. His household bio says the same thing as his personal bio so there’s no need to go into detail about it.

Regan’s household bio refers to the feud here:

“…Bianca Monty’s affections for Kent have the family on high alert.”

Regardless of how you interpret Bianca’s “affections” for Kent (I’ll probably cover that at a later date), this biography is rather interesting. Though this line from Regan’s household bio doesn’t reference her specifically, the implication is definitely there when it comes to her involvement in the feud. The fact that Regan is concerned about a Capp/Monty friendship makes her a strong candidate for being a major player in the feud since such a concern would be considered silly for minor players and anti feuders.

Even though neither of Goneril’s bios specifically reference her thoughts on the feud, they may be subtly alluded to in her daughter Miranda’s personal bio:

“Miranda’s cynical and rebellious — and wants out of her parents’ crowded house. Could that explain her sudden interest in Mercutio?”

By combining Miranda’s interest in Mercutio with her being described as “rebellious,” we can probably conclude that her attraction to him might be, at least in part, due to Goneril and Albany’s views regarding the Monty family. Also, when comparing her relationships with her parents, she starts the game closer with Albany than she does Goneril. As such, her interest in Mercutio may have started to get a rise out of Goneril in particular. If this is the case, then Goneril would most likely be a major player in the feud.

Kent and Bianca are also involved in the feud, but to a lesser extent. Kent is mutual enemies with both third-generation Montys, considered an enemy by Antonio, and friends with Bianca. Conversely, while Bianca is friends with Kent, she hates Consort, Goneril, and Regan. She’s also not super fond of Tybalt either, but her negative feelings towards him are one-sided since he doesn’t seem to acknowledge her existence.

How did Claudio and Cordelia feel about the feud?

While we can get a general idea regarding their siblings’ opinions on the feud, the fact that Claudio and Cordelia are deceased when the game starts makes it difficult to decipher their feelings on the matter. That said, it’s not impossible to form a hypothesis by looking at two bios that are not immediately accessible to the player.

This line from Claudio’s personal bio implies that he was involved in it:

“…will he be able to reconcile his son’s romance with the enemy family?”

Conversely, this line from Contessa’s personal bio implies Cordelia was against it:

“…Will [Contessa] let go of her anger at the Montys and do her daughter Cordelia’s memory justice by allowing Juliette to pursue her true love?”

Additionally, there is an image of Cordelia reacting negatively to Patrizio and Consort fighting, further reinforcing the idea of her being anti feud.

Of course, it could be possible that I’m completely wrong about these two. However, the textual evidence is hidden inside those two biographies, as well as the picture of Cordelia, which are things I cannot ignore due to the lack of evidence to the contrary.

Their Ages

Goneril, Regan, and Kent’s age bars all line up with Consort’s memories. On the other hand, Antonio and Bianca’s age bars do not line up with Patrizio’s memories. While I do plan on looking into this more in the future, I will be going off of age bars here since that’s really where the crux of this argument comes from.

According to their age bars and SimPE, Antonio has eighteen sim days left until elderhood, whereas Bianca has twenty-three. Should the player use a rotational play style, then the only living Capp who would be close in age to both of them is Goneril, who would be four sim!days younger than Antonio and two sim!days older than Bianca. Not only that, but there is also a possibility that the age gap between Goneril and Claudio is small enough that she would have had ample opportunity to interact with him as well.

Regan is three sim!days younger than Bianca and eight sim!days younger than Antonio. As such, it would be easy to assume that Regan’s antipathy towards the enemy family would be weaker than her older sister’s. Despite this, two factors may have ended up making Regan a bigger player than her age would suggest.

The first factor involves the late Claudio’s age. Of the two living Montys, Regan is only really close in age to Bianca, who seems like a fairly minor player in the grand scheme of things. As mentioned above, Claudio’s bio implies that he was involved in the feud as well. If he was younger than Antonio, then Regan would have had a greater opportunity to interact with him than if he was the elder Monty brother. The other factor is Regan’s relationship with Goneril. A look at both of their relationship panels shows that each sister considers the other to be a friend when the game begins. If Goneril and Regan were close back when they were growing up, then it wouldn’t be too farfetched to assume that Regan being close to Goneril may have influenced how she saw the Montys and could have made her a bigger player than she otherwise would have been.

As stated above, even Kent’s not entirely immune to Anti Monty sentiments. According to his relationship panel at the start of the game, he considers Isabella, and Patrizio Monty to be enemies, so Bianca is more of an exception than the rule since those three Montys are the only ones present in his relationship panel. As such, Kent’s hatred towards those two Montys (possibly three if he considered Claudio an enemy as well) is likely more reactionary than due to family rivalries. A case of “I don’t hate them because they’re Montys, I hate them because they’re jerks.” Bianca is also closer in age to Kent than Antonio is when taking age bars into account. As such, their bonding over their mutual disdain of the feud would be easier than Kent possibly doing the same with Antonio provided the latter also has (or had) his misgivings about it.

Taking Cordelia and Claudio into Account

If Cordelia was the eldest Capp child, then we know she would have been closer to elderhood than Bianca before her death. That said, it is unknown whether she would have been older than Antonio and/or Claudio (at least according to their age bars).

Speaking of Claudio, SimPE states that he had twenty-three days left until elderhood when he died. If this is the case, then we know he would have become an elder sooner than Bianca in rotational gameplay. While we cannot say for sure when he died, his sons’ ages point at it being a relatively recent event. Should you use both SimPE and this timeframe in determining Claudio’s place in the birth order, then he would likely have been somewhere around the same age as Goneril.

Most people who I’ve seen interpret Cordelia as the eldest Capp child also interpret Claudio as the eldest Monty child. This is likely due to their children’s ages when the game begins. That said, their ages concerning each other is something that I’ve never seen discussed. I’ve never seen any argument stating whether Cordelia was younger than both of the Monty brothers, sandwiched in the middle of them, or older than both of them. As a result, I can’t analyze a possible dynamic between the two, let alone if one existed in the first place.

Claudio’s Age and his Role in the Feud

Claudio, the Eldest Child

The way I see it, Claudio’s involvement in the feud correlates with how much older the player considers him to be than Antonio. If he’s too far ahead of his brother in age, then his interactions with the enemy Capps would have been somewhat limited throughout the years. This would be problematic since the oldest Capp to be involved in the feud is Goneril.

While the player could view Cordelia as the oldest Capp child, the evidence we are provided with paints her as being anti feud. As such, Claudio only being close in age to Cordelia would somewhat isolate him from his generation’s major players on the Capp side. That said, this would not be a problem should the player view Claudio and Antonio as twins, since he would have had as much opportunity to interact with the rival Capps that Antonio did when growing up. If this was, in fact, the case, then Claudio would have eighteen days at most until elderhood if he were still alive.

Claudio, the Middle Child

Claudio being the middle child means that he would have anywhere from eighteen to twenty-three days until elderhood if he were still alive. As such he, like Goneril, would be sandwiched between Antonio and Bianca.

As you have probably already figured out, Claudio being the middle child would have meant that the Capp he would have likely interacted with the most would be Goneril (and possibly Cordelia, should you consider her to be older than Goneril but younger than Antonio). Claudio being close in age to Goneril could have easily played a role in the latter being involved in the feud. Of the two living Montys, Goneril is closer in age to Bianca, a more minor player, than Antonio, a more major player. If the player considers Claudio to be a major player in the feud, it may explain not only why Goneril could be a major player, but also why Miranda’s interest in Mercutio (Claudio’s son) might upset her.

Claudio, the Youngest Child

Claudio being the youngest means that he would have had at least twenty-three days left until elderhood if he was still alive.

If Claudio was the youngest Monty child then he would have been more likely to interact with Regan and Kent than either of his siblings, at least while growing up. Should this be the case, then Regan’s involvement in the feud might not be entirely due to being close to Goneril. That said, Claudio might have also had ample opportunity to interact with Goneril as well, though to what degree depends on how much younger the player considers him to be than Bianca. Should the player consider both Claudio and Cordelia to be the youngest in their families, then Claudio most likely would have to be older than Kent. The reason for this will be explained in the next section.

The Isolation of Cordelia Capp

There is a possibility that Cordelia being anti-feud could have been a result of her being somewhat isolated from the Montys of her generation. As mentioned above, Goneril being sandwiched between Antonio and Bianca (and possibly Claudio) could have played a role in dragging her into the feud. As such, Cordelia’s aversion to the feud may have been because she might not have been all that close in age to any of the Montys.

This is a theory that only works should Cordelia be either the oldest or youngest Capp child. That said, some layers to it should probably be analyzed further.

Cordelia as the Oldest

As mentioned above, for this argument to work there would need to be a considerable level of isolation between Cordelia and the three Montys. As such, Cordelia would likely have to be older than all the Montys to keep her interactions with them to a minimum while growing up.

Also, there would probably have to be a pronounced age difference between her and the oldest Monty since them being too close in age might have had the potential of dragging her into the feud in the first place. The only real exception to this rule that I can think of would be Bianca, whose Anti-Capp sentiments seem quite a bit weaker than those of her brothers. That said, the fact Bianca’s age bar lists her as being younger than Goneril makes this seem unlikely should you use the age bars to determine the birth orders.

Of the brothers, Antonio’s personality seems less confrontational than Claudio’s, so of the two brothers, Antonio would be the safer option as the oldest Monty for this theory to work. That’s not to say it couldn’t work if Claudio was the oldest, just that his two nice points might have made it a tad more difficult to pull off.

Cordelia as the Youngest

If Cordelia were the youngest Capp child, then the isolation argument is pretty self-explanatory since she would have been younger than all three of the Montys (at least as far as the age bars are concerned).

Also, the Capp who would be closest in age to her is Kent, who is less involved in the feud than either Goneril or Regan. Not to mention, Kent is on good terms with Bianca, who is the youngest living Monty as far as age bars are concerned. If Bianca is younger than Claudio, then that would further limit the negative interactions Cordelia could have had with the Montys because Bianca herself is probably the most anti feud among the Montys of her generation.

Final Thoughts

Since there are a variety of ways one can play Veronaville as far as the ages of these seven sims is concerned, the bits regarding the correlation between age and role in the feud will not be universally agreed upon. This is an idea that works better with some birth orders than others, and I will be the first to admit that.

The individuals you are exposed to during your life play a role in determining the person you become, whether you choose to associate with them or not. There are some people who you meet and become close with who you may never have known had you been any older or younger, and the same can be said with people you meet and try to keep your distance from. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have become the person who I am today had I been born a year earlier or later, so I believe that it’s worth talking about when it comes to this topic.

_______________________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for reading, it’s been a while since I posted one of these essays. This was originally part of a larger project where I look at the birth orders for the gen. 4 Capps and Montys, but I thought it worked well enough to stand on its own. Most of the other entries in that group focus more on looking at programming and Shakespeare inspirations with multiple perspectives in mind. This one, on the other hand, looks more at character dynamics when taking one perspective (the accessible age bars) into account.

Outside of that, this is the essay that I mentioned in my 100 followers post (sorry it took so long). While I have plans to start the Great Veronaville Genetics Project, I still haven’t found a way to extract Damon Featherlight and the Bramble couple for it. I tried installing neighborhoods, but all of them seem to be improperly deleted. The only option I have left, other than asking if anyone has BodyShop templates of the three, is to make them myself (something I will admit I’m atrocious at). So, if anyone has BodyShop templates of these three sims, I would appreciate it if you would share them with me (don’t worry, I will give you credit for sharing).

Thanks again for reading, and for those of you who followed my simblr, thanks again for following, I sincerely hope you enjoyed.

#sims #sims 2 #veronaville #capp family #monty family #antonio monty #bianca monty #claudio monty #cordelia capp #goneril capp #kent capp #regan capp #veronaville vault

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