#Listen I know the show has its problematics but this is just plain mean at this point
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the good doctor pulling a bury your gays 5 episodes before the end of the show… why 😒
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(WLW anon) I really don’t like the “bad rep is better then none at all”. I hate that. We should want good rep, because bad rep has been used time and time again by homophobes as to say we shouldn’t get representation. To me it’s not “gay can have the same flaws as het”, it’s “fix the flaws in the het”. Also I know Renora being independent was a good, I was just saying in comparison BB. Also, yes, they were separated, but also didn’t stop thinking about each other. Especially bad with Yang.
Indulge me for a moment because I want to take a trip down memory lane and list some—just some—of the queer rep that has been important to me over the years:
Ellen comes out both as herself and as her character… years later, she’s a hated millionaire who is criticized for how she treats her staff
The wildly influential Buffy gives us two women entering a loving relationship… except then Tara is killed off, Willow goes evil for a time, and Buffy comes under fire for Joss Whedon’s everything
The beloved and respectable headmaster of one of the most popular book series ever published is revealed to be gay… except it doesn’t count because it wasn’t in the text and now all of Harry Potter is cancelled because JKR is transphobic
Kurt is an unambiguously gay teen in a hugely popular TV series, acting as one of the first overt representations a generation has seen… except he’s way too stereotypical and Glee is a joke now
Orange is the New Black gives us a number of queer women, including one of our first trans characters… but isn’t it problematic that they’re all criminals?
Brooklyn Nine-Nine hosts an out gay captain and gives us a bisexual coming out story that resonated with many, myself included… except now we’re supposed to hate all the characters on principle because they’re cops
Korra and Asami walk off into the spiritual sunset together… but they never kiss or anything, so that doesn’t count either
Steven Universe gives us a queer relationship and a wedding… but it’s an issue that this is just a kid’s show and, really, does it count when the rep is embodied by space rocks whose entire species only creates a single gender? Feels like a cop-out
Same with Good Omens. Yeah, Crowley and Aziraphale clearly love each other… but you never see them kiss or declare their intentions. It’s great ace rep though! Unless you want to level the criticism that asexual characters are always nonhuman
A character intended to be a minor guest becomes a show staple and eventually declares his love for one of the two main characters… except then Castiel immediately dies, Dean doesn’t respond, and they never meet on screen again
I finished Queen’s Gambit the other day and the main character had a one-night stand with a woman! … but everyone is talking about how bisexuality is used to represent her lowest point, so that’s bad too
I could go on for literal pages. Some of these arguments I agree with (Dumbledore), others I’ve pushed back against quite strongly (Crowley and Aziraphale), but all of them are valid criticisms depending on what part of the queer community you’re in and what your expectations are. My point here is that it’s all “bad rep.” I mean that seriously. If anyone reading this is scrambling for the comment section to say why [insert media title here] is actually fantastic rep, I guarantee that someone disagrees. Or if they don’t, give it some time. Just wait until the characterization becomes offensively outdated, or another part of the story ruins the relationship, or it comes out that the author did something truly horrific, or the terminology changes and it’s labeled as “problematic” now… just wait. At some point, any rep we feel is good rep now will be criticized, cancelled, and dragged through the mud. The rep that I personally haven’t seen much push-back against—like the beloved Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, or Schitts Creek that just won a ton of awards—is wrapped up in the criticism, “So it’s all just about able-bodied, cis, (mostly) white dudes, huh? :/” Even the argument that queer characters need to be written by queer authors doesn’t hold up. I absolutely adored Sense8. “Wow, a gay main character in a loving relationship with another gay man, both of whom enter a loving poly relationship with a woman, another lesbian trans main character who marries the love of her life on screen, an entire cast arguably queer due to them sharing orgy scenes centered around the emotional intimacy they share, everyone survives, and this was written by two trans women! Great, right?” Well, not according to the wealth of opinions explaining how Sense8 is horrible rep, actually. Every piece of rep we’ve got is either currently flawed or will become flawed in the future.
So what do we do with that?
That’s where my “I’d rather have bad rep than no rep at all” comes in. For me, that’s not waving the white flag. That’s not an oath that I won’t expect better rep in the future (I do) or that I won’t criticize the rep we get (BOY DO I), but rather just an acknowledgement of reality. The vast majority—if not the entirety—of rep is “bad rep” in one way or another, but I’d still rather have it than nothing at all. Because I’ve lived just long enough and studied media just enough to know what nothing looked like. It was watching all queer characters meet untimely deaths. Before that it was watching queer characters be derided and treated as jokes. Before that it was nothing but coding, where queer characters didn’t exist except in our own headcanons and interpretations. Obviously “bad rep” covers a very large range of issues and “They haven’t even confirmed this relationship yet” is a bigger issue than “This queer character embodies one or two, mild stereotypes,” but ultimately I’d take any of it over nothing at all. And enjoying what we’ve currently got doesn’t mean I’m willing to settle for it indefinitely.
To use an iffy analogy, imagine there’s a factory. This factory makes plates. So. Many. Plates. Big plates, small plates, plain plates, decorative plates, plates for every possible occasion in your life—and everyone with a steak for dinner is pleased as punch. You though? You’ve got soup. You need a bowl. Your entire life you’ve been struggling to eat your soup off a plate (it doesn’t work) and listening to friends and family claim that the plate with a slightly raised edge could be a bowl if you squint (it’s not). To say it’s frustrating is an understatement.
But then, one day, the factory starts producing bowls too. Hurray! Except as soon as you get your hands on one, you’re told you really shouldn’t be using it, let alone praising it. Look at the state of that bowl! It’s cracked right down the middle, ugly as hell, shoddily made all around… you’re not really going to settle for that, are you? And no, you obviously still want the factory to produce better bowls, but at the same time, this is a bowl. You’ve never gotten one before and you can finally enjoy your meal, even if the soup leaks at times. Sometimes a lot. But you’re still feeling better about your meal than you ever have before. And what you then begin to realize is that lots of the plates are a mess too. They also have cracks, they’re also ugly, many are also shoddily made. The difference is that the factory is producing so many plates at such a rapid pace that every steak eater is able to get by. One plate breaks completely? You’ve got a thousand fallbacks. Don’t like the look of this one? A thousand other options. You disagree about what “shoddily made” means? Luckily there are enough plates that everyone can find what they prefer! But the bowls… there’s only a few. Some are really expensive. Others are only available for a limited time before they suddenly disappear. Your bowl breaks and you have to wait months, years sometimes, to get another one. You’re constantly told to go buy this one obscure bowl no one else has heard about and yeah, you like it... but you’d also like to buy one of the bowls everyone is already enjoying. You find yourself looking at the plates and thinking, “I’d like that. I’d like to have so many options that the flaws, while still a problem, are much more bearable.” You’re still going to demand that the factory get its shit together, you’re still going to (rightly) complain about the awful quality of your bowl… but it’s still nice to have a bowl, period. There are still things you like about it, even if it’s a mess: the color, the size, the beauty of the shape of it. Its potential. You’re still pleased you have something to enjoy and that helps serve the need you’re looking to fill, even if that something is imperfect.
That’s “bad rep is better than no rep.” To bring this very long response back to Blake/Yang, I don’t think their problems negate their benefits. Is their relationship currently non-canonical and filled with a number of writing issues everyone has a right to be angry about? Yup. I express that anger a great deal. Are they still half of a team on a very popular show that is (presumably) set to be canonized as queer? Yup. I’d much rather live in a world where big shows like RWBY try to include queer rep and fail in a multitude of ways—with the expectation and hope that they’ll continue to improve—rather than in a world where authors a) don’t care or b) are too scared to try. Because that’s where a “good rep or no rep” stance leads. The danger isn’t homophobes because they’re, well, homophobes. It doesn’t matter if the rep is good or not, they hate it on principle. But if queer authors writing for other queer identities, or allies writing queer identities, or even queer authors writing their own experiences (like in Sense8) continually come under non-stop fire for their attempts… there’s a good chance that many people won’t ever try. We’re already seeing that here on tumblr with young authors admitting that they wouldn’t touch [insert topic here] with a ten-foot pole because just look at what happens when you get it wrong. And authors will get things wrong because authors are fallible people forever unlearning their own ignorance. So though it might sound strange coming from a blog that has turned into such a RWBY critical space, I am glad that RWBY’s queer rep exists, despite all the frustrations that I share about it. I think a RWBY with various types of “bad” queer rep is better than a RWBY with no queer rep at all, particularly when “bad” or “good” is so intensely subjective. There’s a middle ground between passively accepting whatever we’re given, and tearing into rep with such ferocity that we end up rejecting it all. There’s a space where we can be critical of rep and embrace the parts that work for us, simultaneously.
I hope and expect the het rep will get better too, but… that’s never going to happen instantly. To quote RWBY, there’s no magic wand we can wave to fix all our problems. Rather, it will take slow, plodding, meandering, lifetimes’ worth of work to see that change occur and I personally don’t want to spend the one life I have waiting for that perfect rep to show up. Because it’s unlikely that it will. While we work, I’d rather find the good in what rep we’ve already got.
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“f**k you.”
pairing(s): mandy milkovich x reader
summary: you and mandy are friends with benefits, or... something. you tentatively discuss her pregnancy, and offer your help. mandy is... less than pleased. (contains spoilers for season 2 of shameless)
rating: mature
word count: ~1,400
warnings: unhealthy relationships, implied/referenced canonical child abuse, teen pregnancy, implied/referenced sex, swearing, brief discussion of abortion, minor blood, implied/referenced drug addiction, implied/referenced forced pregnancy
notes: reader is an adoptive gallagher, raised with them since childhood but unrelated by blood. also, the reader is not necessarily specified as female, but they do have b00bies. take that as you will. also available on ao3.
if you've seen shameless (U.S.), this is written very much in keeping with the fucked-up interpersonal dynamics that make up the entirety of the show. the reader's relationship with mandy isn't a healthy one, and the writing reflects that. i'd even say there's likely a solid argument to be made that the relationship between mandy and the reader is actually abusive in some aspects. please don't read if that's going to trigger you in any way.
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You’re lying in bed together, naked and glistening with sweat, when you finally dare to broach the topic.
“So, uh…” you trail off, sitting yourself up with a grunt to reach for the pack of cigs and lighter strewn on the floor nearby. Mandy stares you down with an unreadable expression as you put one between your lips and— “Shit, sorry,” you apologize, tossing the joint aside. Smoking and pregnancy don’t mix. “That’s, um… Sorry.”
‘Cause sure, maybe you’re not the pregnant one here, and maybe you know for damn sure that your meth-head mom wasn’t sober when she had you kicking around in her tummy, but you figure refraining from smoking around Mandy when she can’t is the least you can do.
Mandy sighs, props herself up on her elbows and gives you a knowing look. “Just ask,” she says. She sounds exhausted.
You lean back into bed, hold yourself up with an elbow as you turn to face her. “Pregnant, huh?”
“Ian told you.”
“Your dad, actually,” you correct her, then instantly regret it when you see something like fear flicker through her gaze. “Ian’s fine, though.”
“No, he’s not.” Mandy huffs out a sigh, hanging her head back, eyelids fluttering shut. An errant thought comes—that you’ve never seen her look so defeated or beautiful: naked in bed after rounds of desperate sex, bedsheets sagging low on her slender hips, pert breasts rising and falling with every measured breath. You’re quick to do away with it. “My dad’s gonna kill him.”
You shrug. “Lip and I’ve been doing some brainstorming. We’ll figure it out.”
If Mandy hears you at all, she doesn’t let on. “I tried to tell him,” she murmurs, eyes still shut. “He didn’t listen.”
“Who, Ian?”
Mandy gives the slightest shake of her head. “My dad.”
“Well, I mean… We know it can’t be Ian’s, but you had that thing with Lip, right? What if it’s his?” You feel a little uncomfortable bringing it up, having grown up alongside him since you were little. Lip, Ian, Carl, Debby, Liam… they’re your siblings in everything but name.
“It’s not.” Mandy collapses back down onto the mattress with a huff.
“Oh,” you say. You don’t ask, ‘Then whose is it?’—even though you kind of want to.
“My dad… he drinks a lot,” Mandy mumbles after a long moment. Her eyes flutter open, but she isn’t looking at you. She’s staring straight up at the ceiling—through it, even, like it isn’t even there. Like she isn’t there. “Mistakes me for Mom.”
Every muscle in your body goes tense as nausea churns in your gut. “Your dad…” you repeat, swallowing down bile.
Mandy slants a look over to you, dead-eyed and emotionless. “It’s not a big deal,” she tells you, a cold edge to her tone. “Stop fuckin’ looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re pitying me.”
It takes everything in you not to glance away from her, run down the hall to the bathroom and puke your guts out in the toilet. “What do you want to do?”
Mandy shifts her gaze back to the ceiling. “You got $600 lying around?”
For a split second, you’re confused. Why $600—
And then it hits you. An abortion at the clinic.
You shake your head. “No, I don’t.”
Mandy nods, eyes watering, a sardonic smile tugging at her lips. “Thought so.”
You bite the inside of your cheek hard until you taste blood, thoughts racing. A second later, you’re surging upright, stumbling to your feet.
“The hell are you doing?” Mandy asks, sounding caught somewhere between bone-tired and just plain irritated.
You snatch up your jeans, feel around for the flip phone you had in your back pocke—
There it is.
You flip it open, scroll through the handful of contacts until you reach Kev.
Phone against your ear, you chance a look back at Mandy. She’s got a murderous look in her eye. You figure you’ve got about two minutes before she starts chucking anything and everything within reach your way.
Please, Kev, pick up.
Two rings on the other end, then—
“Go for Kev.”
Thank fuck.
“Hey, Kev,” you say, beginning to pace. You’re buck-ass naked, and Mandy’s watching you like a hawk (a very angry hawk, granted), but you don’t really have it in you to be self-conscious about it for the moment. “You think I can rent out the Alibi for tomorrow night, do a, uh… fund-raiser type thing?”
“What? Who’s dying?”
You roll your eyes. “No one’s dying, Kev. I just need to raise $600 bucks. It can be a… bake-sale, or some shit. Put a couple other random things up for sale, too. Grammy’s gun, some of Monica’s old clothes… All goes well, we make enough to cover renting the bar for the night and then some.”
Mandy’s gaze turns from murderous to calculating as she watches you, though you know better than to think that means you’re in the clear with her.
It’s quiet on the other end for a beat, then two. Eventually, “Tomorrow night?” he repeats.
You nod, biting your lip. “Tomorrow night. I’ll get everyone off their ass to start baking tonight. Debby can make some fliers, spread the word. It’ll be a full house. Please, Kev.”
He heaves a sigh, and you know you have him. “Alright,” he agrees. “Drop by later today, we’ll work out the details, yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah, ‘course, I’ll be there,” you agree earnestly, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Thank you, Kev. You’re the best.”
“Don’t I know it. See you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.”
You’ve only just shut the phone and clutched it to your bare chest, wearing a stupidly proud grin, when—
SMACK!
Pain explodes across your left cheek, whipping your entire head to one side.
“Fuck!” you curse, looking up to see a fuming Mandy standing before you, bloodshot green eyes alight with mutiny. “The hell was that for?”
Mandy just glares, seething silently.
“What?” you ask, pins and needles dancing along your cheek.
It’s quiet for a beat.
Then Mandy’s surging forward, crashing her lips into yours in a bruising kiss, all tongue and teeth and wet warmth.
Oh.
You’re frozen in shock for a second or two, your mind still kind of stuck on the part where she slapped you, but a warning growl against your mouth has you instinctively parting your lips and ceding Mandy’s unspoken request, reciprocating with fervor.
A strangled groan works its way up your throat and she swallows it with ease, fingers snaking into your hair, yanking until you whine.
You toss the phone somewhere off to the side, hear it land with clatter. You really couldn’t care less.
Your hands fall to her naked hips and you pull her flush against your body—chest to chest, hip to hip. Mandy whines with approval as you snake an arm around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer like it’s not enough to have her breasts mashed against your own, her heartbeat thrumming along your skin.
You want more; no, you need more.
She’s a whirlwind—destructive, turbulent, beautiful in her fury. Your free hand creeps down to lift her thigh, guiding it to curl around your torso even as she devours you, bites at your lower lip hard enough to make it bleed.
“Fuck you,” she gasps between violent kisses, breathless and angry. “You fucking idiot.”
“Kiss me again,” you say, and she does—gripping a hand around your throat and crashing her lips into yours, one hand still tugging relentlessly at a fistful of your tousled hair. The stinging sensation brings tears to your eyes.
“Don’t need your help. Don’t need anyone’s help.” She pulls away panting, only to lick up the blood that’s started dribbling down your chin before kissing you again with just as much fierceness and hostility as before.
Your cheek aches, your lip stings, your lungs burn from lack of oxygen. All you can taste is coppery blood and stale cigarettes and Mandy, Mandy, Mandy.
She’s never been this rough with you before. Then again, she’s never been this pissed off at you before.
You decide you should piss her off a lot more often. (Especially if this is how it’s gonna be when you do.)
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end notes: do i realize mandy milkovich is problematic and kind of insane? yes. am i still lowkey in love with her? double yes.
link to masterlist
#stuff I wrote#mandy milkovich x reader#shameless fic#shameless (u.s.) fic#reader-insert#mandy milkovich
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ok wait after u sent me that ask i have to know ur top books!!! dw if u don't feel like it but i would love to hear them 🌷
This is so sweet and considerate! Thank you Eva, you gave me 5 so I’ll try to keep it to that # as well 💖🐰 off the top of my head:
🌷 The Stormlight Archive series, especially the second book, Words of Radiance. Stormlight is like 4 books + 2 novellas right now, and is projected to be 10 books and ???novellas eventually. And on top of that each main book is 1000+ pages and while you can read Stormlight on its own, most of the other books by the author, Brandon Sanderson, are part of this larger fictional universe called the cosmere. Each series takes place on a different planet, and if you are invested in the whole cosmere, there’s Easter egg references to other series in other series. So like! While I rec these books often, most people understandably don’t take me up on it wgshshh 🤭 Sanderson’s non-Stormlight books are all MUCH shorter but also much more flawed imo. Like I wouldn’t count him among my favorite authors were it not for Stormlight. anyway I’m a die hard fantasy fan so the length didn’t deter me, and I picked these up because a friend told me the world building in these books was genuinely unique instead of the typical very lazy maps composed of like. Fantasy Russia and its hostile mysterious neighbors Fantasy General East Asia and Fantasy Africa lol. and she was right! The world building is exquisite and refreshing and almost every character is canonically of color. They live in a society with an eye color based caste system and it’s.., so hard to sum up this massive series with four main characters and a ridiculous(ly fun) amount of plot lines, so I’ll cut this short and say 1) the first book, The Way of Kings, is highly expository but the ending is so so worth it, and if you enjoy the ending you’ll find merit in continuing with the series 2) Words of Radiance is my favorite book so far partially because I haven’t read the newest, Rhythm of War, yet, and also because it’s the book with the most scenes that solidified Kaladin Stormblessed (one of the main characters) as one of my favorites of all time. Another one of the best things about this series is how Brandon Sanderson portrays mental health in very natural ways, and it makes Kaladin’s growth so incredibly soothing to follow (I MEAN. He has low points that sometimes hit too close to home, but it makes you root for him harder) he really is just. Truly my definition of a hero, if we wanna get cheesy about it, and I had to pick one solid example. I love him so much this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg as to why 😭!
🌷Jane Eyre. Silly frivolous teenaged girl that I am this book swept me off my feet when I first read it and I condone every problematic aspect of it❤️ (I DONT ofc but like! I love drama and being played like a fiddle by narratives and the book delivered on both fronts! And it couldn’t have without its unsavory plot twist soooo 😙💖) (the hate this book and especially one specific character gets is funny to me just because like. Hate for the former (imo) usually stems from people taking the book too seriously while simultaneously missing the point (JE and du Maurier’s Rebecca (highly influenced by the former) are oft considered loose Bluebeard retellings for a reasonnnn!) and hate for the latter is usually just like. Warranted and then taken over the top like... he’s just a fake funny little man you guys :( and the book would’ve been boring if he wasn’t so twisted and out of touch and passionate ): not to mention I do personally in a mean ish way think it’s funny how for some people this character is one of the worst examples of men they can imagine. Like good for Them! I don’t want them to have lower standards for horribleness in people But also omg 🤭 it just reminds me of how... irony of all ironies, I’m semi frequently told I’m too harsh on real life men and then when I love twisted ones in books (for being funny and entertaining and good solid characters) I like. get the most interesting side eyes (whether figurative or literal) bwjswnhshe anyway I have nothing against Austen, I definitely enjoy her, but from what I’ve read so far, I prefer the Brontës a lot more... I need adventure! Show me horror show me rot etc etc❤️ also I’m. A stupid sucker so the fact that the book was Charlotte Brontë’s attempt to write a plain looking lady protagonist and to make her praiseworthy and virtuous and worthy of spellbinding romance makes me... 💗💓💕
🌷Keturah and Lord Death — Martine Leavitt. I haven’t seen it officially stated anywhere but to me it’s p clear this book is a retelling of/highly inspired by Godfather Death (the Grimm tale) Very simple, predictable but effective plot, and the characters are just. So much fun. From my url you can probably tell I love stories in which women (or anyone but you know. Death and the Maiden is its own trope for a reason) outsmart/face off against death. If they also k*ss, when done right, I think that’s swell as well.
🌷A Thousand Splendid Suns — Khalid Hosseini. By far the heaviest book I will mention in this ask, and I don’t rec it willy nilly for that and a few other reasons. It’s a forever fave to me because I read it at the exact right time in my life, where I was like... noticing a ton of things irl and things at home were tumultuous, and when I saw very similar things unfold in this book while I was being silenced and made to feel crazy by the adults around me, it meant so much to me to see reality as I was experiencing it in real time reflected back at me via this novel. The context of the story is wildly different from my own life and the stakes the characters face are far higher, and it is if I remember right mostly a novel about the horrors of war, which isn’t something I pretend to have any firsthand experience with, but! It was legitimately cathartic to read when I read it, and it especially meant a lot to me at the time that the author was a grown man. Not to mention how my mother is not and never has been a reader, and somehow the one and only book I ever managed to get her to read was this. Hilariously she got mad at me for only (“only”) reading depressing things (there’s... a grain of truth to that but she doesn’t need to know! 🤫) but also... she was hooked I could tell! (I got all tmi explaining this one gag I’m so sorry)
🌷A Slight Trick of the Mind — Mitch Cullin. Retirement-era Holmes! Holmes as an old man! A sad old man who keeps bees!! It’s the novel the movie Mr. Holmes was based off of (haven’t seen it yet) and I was not expecting it to get me all sentimental like it did 🤨😪 but anyway it’s like. A prolonged character study and explores some of the most interesting (to me, anyway) parts of Holmes that are only lightly touched upon in canon, like his occasionally huge follies when navigating his few close relationships and how he copes with them afterwards, his fatigue at the random injustice of the world, how he’s often mistaken both by characters that surround him and people irl as a man without feelings, etc etc. like there’s no Dr. Watson or Mrs. Hudson in this book, and the people he interacts with are almost entirely original characters, but as I listened to the audiobook it barely occurred to me to miss Watson and Hudson (I know! 😦) and the author’s original characters interacted with Holmes so believably that I sometimes forgot they weren’t ever Doyle’s. Def recommend to any flexible Holmes fan that’s not a total stickler for canon (though you don’t actually have to know much about Holmes to read this book and enjoy it! 🐝)
🌷Sleepless — Sarah Vaughn + Leila del Luca. I began with the longest book, so let me end with the shortest. It’s a 2 volume long graphic novel series and that it’s so short is the only long standing, legitimate complaint I have of it! Gorgeous art, really effectively written romance, a dark skinned girl who gets to be the proactive, lively protagonist and stunning, pined after love interest at the same time, a cast of characters that is majority of color, the perfect %-age of drama and angst etc etc. if you can find it via your library or online or smth, you can knock it out in one sitting and leave the experience eternally altered in the funnest way 👁👄👁
Honorable mentions: The Botany of Desire — Michael Pollan, Troubling Love — Elena Ferrante, The Girl from the Garden — Parnaz Foroutan
#asks#book recs#wasn’t sure if you’d read Jane Eyre before so I was vague abt it qgzhshshs#long post
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Nevada Ramirez 4, 7, 18, and 30 if you're still doing the meme? 😘😘😘
Nevada Ramirez? I haven’t heard that name in years... 🚬 Stuff’s below the cut!
4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?:
If you and Nevada are in the same room, chances are he’s got a hand somewhere on you. Not in a gushy, immature way like some boy would, though: Nevada Ramirez is a man. The man. El motherfucking Trujillo. And anything that belongs to him, you’re gonna know it. Especially if it’s his woman.
A hand around your waist if you’re standing somewhere like at the bar of one of his haunts; a hand resting on your thigh at dinner or when relaxing at home; you sitting on his lap during a meeting that he, for whatever reason, deems as mandatory for you to attend.
You think (correctly) that Nevada gets two main things from doing these things. First off, he likes to rub it in other peoples’ faces. Especially if you’re all dolled up. Secondly, he likes getting a rise out of you because sometimes, he purposefully fucks with you by way of his touch. You can be at a perfectly fine night out, just you, ‘Vada, and one of his greatest allies in the game, and that’s when you’ll feel that warm, calloused palm of his drift slowly but surely up from its place on your lower thigh, all the way until it’s tiptoeing the hem of your dress. And that’s when he’s being clean about it!
7. What do they get up to on a night out?:
Frankly, the concept of dates exasperate Nevada. He likes you, don’t get him wrong, but why do you have to be so needy?! But, of course, he eventually gives in every time. And every time, it’s some surprisingly classy affair. The first time you tried going to one of the clubs where he holds stake, you had a positively dreadful time. As much as he hates to admit it, your disappointment in him wounded his pride enough for him to decide to never take you on dates to similar places again unless prompted.
Generally speaking, ‘Vada’s answer is to go the opposite direction: He wants to show you the finer things in life.
Thanks to his connections (and fearful image in the Heights), he has fingers dipped in all kinds of locations, primarily five-star restaurants. If you’re in the mood for a simple McNugget meal, too bad! You’re gonna get sat down and lectured about why your peasant taste buds have been deprived of the superior wonders of chicken breast in demi-glace, coupled with seasonal vegetables as prepared in a panzanella salad! Because for all his gruff appearance and brusque diction, Nevada has a silver palate and he’s gonna foist that on you. (Heaven help you when you cook for this giant baby.)
In the event you’re not really feeling a dinner date, if you really bug him enough, you can squeeze a Broadway show out of him. He’s not crazy about musicals, frankly, and makes this abundantly clear when you’re picking up your tickets from the box office ( “Don’t ask for nothin’ for a month,” he grumbles).
But then you catch him the next day mumbling the lyrics to “My Shot” as he gets himself ready . . .
He insists he’s buying you merch at whatever shows you two go to because he wants to have more reason for you to not ask him for anything after, but you know there’s something in him that really wants to own a mug or two, or a signed poster he can have framed. If any of his men are over for whatever reason, he can easily just brush it off as something you had wanted while also getting a thrill from the absolute status symbol of being able to see one of the biggest shows in the world. Because let’s get one thing straight: No matter what the date is, no matter who planned it, Nevada’s gonna find a way to show off with it.
18. When they fight, how do they make up?:
“They”? Let’s be real, now: There is no “when they fight.” Because if you two are fighting, it’s most definitely got something to do with something Nevada did or said, or didn’t do or didn’t say. But whatever it was, you’re sad or angry or both now and it’s up to him to fix it.
Don’t get me wrong, you’ve made some wrong turns in this relationship, but the fact of the matter is that Nevada is a huge asshole. But he’s an asshole who’s found himself inexplicably dedicated to you. Be warned, though: He’s going to try to wait it out. He’ll be especially grumpy and moody and eerily quiet, too, trying to convince himself that whatever happened, it’s on you, or that you’re being way too sensitive or hardheaded.
It doesn’t work. Mainly because Nevada is no idiot, he knows well and good that he’s an asshole. Also, you’re far more patient than he is. And what pisses him off more, frankly, is that he’s actually pretty proud of you for holding your ground. Most people let him walk all over them but not you; not his girl.
. . . Fuck, why did he have to pick somebody like that?!
Whatever the case, he’s not the best with talking so his go-to tends to be to try to wrap it up in a pretty bow, a la just plain buying you crap. He uses his resources to get his hands on nice dresses, designer bags, sweet shoes, tickets to shows that are supposedly impossible to get a hole of, the whole sweet deal. But you’re infuriatingly (and rightfully) stubborn about giving him your immediate forgiveness -- especially since the bastard hasn’t even actually apologized so much as he just placed all these items in the living room for you to find after you woke up!
In which case, he wants to shove his face into a wall and just scream and cuss because you’re one of the only people who can pull this shit on him and live.
Which forces him to resort to something more personal: Cooking.
Despite his silver palate making him a rather fussy eater, Nevada typically prefers to have others cook. But don’t mistake this for being a slouch in the kitchen: If given the right tools and proper time, he’s more than capable of whipping up a glorious three-course dining experience in the comfort of your home.
He holds no stops, bringing out the good table dressings and having one of his goons run out and grab him the top three wines best suited for whatever he has planned and plated. All that’s missing now is a prayer that this works because if it doesn’t, he’s going to lose it at a warehouse somewhere.
Thankfully, you openly appreciate the gesture . . . Mainly because now you have him in an environment where he sort of has to talk to you about what happened. He wants to scowl, realizing he’s set up his own trap -- one that he falls into constantly. But he’s tired of this crap and just wants to be able to get into bed with you without thinking you’ll freeze him to death so he complies. He’ll listen to your points and hold his tongue, even if he doesn’t exactly agree with them. But in the end, he does apologize. There’s some obvious pout to it, he won’t even attempt to hide that, but you know that beneath it all he does mean it.
“Now can we just eat already? I got a torte chilling in the fridge, if that shit gets soggy, you owe me.” Translation: “I’m ready to carry on like normal. Please love me already.”
30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?:
Realistically, it doesn’t work and we all know why: Nevada Ramirez is a bastard. He’s been hardened by the streets, by his life, and he actively plays a part in making it that way with his “job” as a dealer and God knows what else. We know he has a soft spot somewhere for those whom he loves, but the digging one has to do just to get there is comparable to digging out of prison with a spoon: It can technically be done, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. Oh, and also Nevada has to actually like you enough. And even still it won’t be easy because he’s so stubborn and cold and ruthless.
Frankly, you’d be better off without him.
But suppose you do win him over. Suppose he determines he can’t and will not be without you (and you’re okay with this). Should such a miracle occur, I feel that it is helped in no small part by the fact that you provide Nevada with challenges. Not genuinely problematic ones that make him tear his hair out (no matter what he says), but things that stimulate his constantly working brain and force him to actually make efforts.
For example, you can love that man all you want but sometimes, he just does things that make you slam your foot down. And when that happens, he’s gonna listen. Maybe not immediately, but time is fleeting. You were (and still probably are) a rather reserved person, especially when placed next to your partner. But the problem for Nevada is that being around him means you’ve learned a thing or two: His cusses, his intimidation tactics, whatever he uses to get his way? It’s rubbed off on you. Maybe not perfectly, but just enough to where you can use it as your own. Juxtaposed with your relatively calm demeanor and we get an icy queen who’s beyond tired of his bullshit and completely ready to let him have it when provoked.
He acts like it’s no big deal and he’s doing you a favor by listening. But deep down he’s actually a bit intimidated by you when you’re like this, mainly because there’s a chance you’ll leave him and as much as he pretends it doesn’t bother him, it definitely does. He’s actually a bit impressed, not that he’d ever let you know. Going off of this, he likes a woman who’s decisive. So as much of a pain as it is while he’s doing it, he’s actually impressed when you make him work for things only you can give him. It’s a little like a thrilling chase for him, and everyone else is too pussy to actually give him one.
Secondly, he sees a partner in you. And I don’t mean romantically -- he does, of course, but what I mean here is someone whom can be a benefit to his practices both in business and out. Nevada strikes me as the type of guy who prefers to keep his circle consisting of those whom he can benefit from, be it in terms of providing company or providing assistance and so on. With you, he sees potential for essentially becoming one of those power couples consisting of two stone-cold baddies: He handles the dirty work but you both are the brains behind the operations.
Of course, there’s a very good chance you have a long way to go. There’s even a chance he prefers not to directly involve you in his business affairs. But even in such a case, he’d much rather have you stick around than let you walk out of his life. Because as anyone can tell you: A bored Nevada is a dangerous Nevada.
Thanks for asking!
#nevada ramirez#nevada ramirez x reader#nevada ramirez imagine#nevada ramirez imagines#trouble in the heights#man i haven’t written for this asshole in eons...#prolly for the best he’s so hard to make empathetic#and also hard to figure out...#regrettablewritings#character ship meme#character ship headcanons
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Cutscene: The Consecration
Onyx lost count on how long he had spent pouring over these letters between his mother and grandfather. The more he read them, the more he had felt that he had been lied to. He tried to focus on the ones that pertained to the time he came into the Cheshire household and the years following. There were talks of what were to become of him after being given to them by Leroux, ostensibly to be a spy alongside Ivory. This, of course, hadn’t happened. He had been raised as one of their own children. It was never a warm household, he knew, but something still felt off.
Tyrael’s words, words he repeated more than once during their less civil encounters, still bothered him. Your mother loved you.
Why was he demanding confirmation of this? He had been scouring these letters for something, anything positive or warm concerning him. Nothing. He refused to believe that even as harsh a man as Dunstan Baskerville was, his own daughter would lie or cover up her feelings in these letters. Nothing else about them seemed like she did. Still, it was all about how useful he would be and how damaging the situation would be to Jade’s plans. Jade Leroux was dead now, so was Cassandra Cheshire. It didn’t matter anymore, did it? But what did that leave him?
A light shone through the dimly lit office as the door opened. Violet saw Onyx still there, still reading those old letters. Outside of training and missions, this was where he’d been spending all his time. Every day- for hours. She saw a half-eaten meal on a small table that had since grown cold from their breakfast earlier today. Had he even eaten anything since? “Onyx...? Come on, the rest of us are heading out today.” She was still a little shocked they were allowed outside at all, but perhaps that was just for appearances so no one would assume nothing was wrong. “You can’t keep doing this, it’s not good for you.”
Onyx lifted his head silently turned to the bright beam of light from the door. He set his jaw and rubbed his neck. It looked like he hadn’t slept well in days and his once near perfect grooming had begun to fall short. “I will stay here.” He forces out in his now usual harsh whisper.
“No you won’t.” Ivory came in through the door, opening it the rest of the way. Lapis also stood in the hallway with his arms crossed and waiting. “You need to go outside for a change. Listen, did you hear was Lapis and Violet told us about that altar girl? We’re going to go check it out, see what’s going on. We’re not letting you stay here like this. Those letters aren’t going anywhere and if you don’t start eating and sleeping right, you won’t be able to handle yourself on missions anymore. Then what?”
Onyx sucked in a breath and set the pages down. He hated that she had a point. They also weren’t going to just allow him to read in peace. “Fine...” He scoops up the papers and stacks them gently before going to put them back where they belonged, locking the drawer to his mother’s old desk again. “We had better not be gone all day.”
-----------------------
The four stared at the large archway and heavy wooden double doors to the church entrance. A full, unbroken moon with a chain around the edges was embossed in the center of the doors, split in half perfectly. Reliefs depicted mankind on one side, both human and faunus, fighting Grimm on the other door. Behind both were depictions of the religion’s gods of Creation and Destruction.
“I don’t want to feel like I have to say this, but please remember this is a church- my church. No one’s going to expect you to know the rules or taboos or anything like that since you’re just visitors, but be respectful.”
Ivory stared up at the lofty building and its carvings. It was probably more elaborate than anywhere else in Mantle. It looked old, too; pre-war old. “We won’t try to break anything or attack anyone if that’s what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, we’ll behave.”
Entering into the church, the plain white stone of the main sanctuary was nearly devoid of decoration. There were a few old tapestries, wooden benches, a few pamphlets left on a table, the altar at the back, and a few simple doors that lead to places only Violet knew about. It was empty for the most part. A small handful of people sat at some of the benches speaking to a priestess at the far corner while another figure in a simple white and blue robe was sweeping.
Sapir paused from her duties and gave the group a small bow and a smile, focusing mostly on Violet. She beckoned them closer, noting that Violet had brought two more with her. She offered a simple curtsy as greeting.
“Let’s start here. Sapir, this is Team OLIV, the ones I went to Atlas Academy with. I don’t think I actually introduced Lapis the first time. He was my partner at the academy. This is Ivory, and our team leader Onyx.”
Ivory stood as tall as she could, monitoring the girl. If Lapis and Violet were to be believed, this little silent altar girl took down an alpha Grimm with Auburn. “So does everyone in this church get taught how to fight?” She opens immediately, “I heard some pretty impressive things about you.”
Sapir shakes her head. She held up a hand and flashed a series of numbers with her fingers.
Lapis stared at Ivory’s confused state. She didn’t have any exposure to Violet’s silent friend and her bizarre way of “talking”. “Goodfellow, translate.”
“Allow me.” The woman from the back, wearing yellow on her robe instead of Sapir’s blue and wearing a matching miter stepped forward. “The call of the huntsmen is one of holiness. We must all of us prepare for the coming enemy. The Gift of Creation Book 1, Chapter 2, Verse 16.”
Violet stared at the woman for longer than was probably comfortable. She didn’t recognize her at all but here she was, wearing the high priest’s robes. “I... Who are you?”
“You must be Sister Violet. Your family has told me a great deal about you. I am Sister Lucianna. I have been the head priestess of the church for a few years now.”
Violet had a lot of questions. “Wait... What happened to Father Benjamin? And, you don’t have to call me Sister. I’m not ordained like Sap is.”
Sapir shrunk into her robes and set her jaw the mention of the old priest. Unlike many of the others of the church who merely looked up to and respected him, he and the other clergy were the closest thing to family she had. She saw Violet’s sad reaction and knew she had figured it out.
Lapis had hung back from the conversation for the time being, but this sounded fairly familiar. This was the kind of reactions he’d seen on the faces of Pineyard’s villagers whenever one of the elders passed from old age or illness. “I’m sorry.” He offers.
“It is alright. Hurt and loss are natural. Love leaving the soul can be damaging if you do not remind yourself of those you still have around you.” The high priestess offers a comforting smile and a change of subject.
“As for you, Sister Violet, you were once of the choir, weren’t you? I do not believe that the members of the church clergy should hold themselves above our parishioners. I did not take the title of Mother when I was placed in charge nor will I restrict our togetherness to simply those of us in robes.
Ivory listened to the small story. The fact that this woman was newer to this place’s inner workings might explain a few things. “So was her taking up fighting your idea then?”
Sapir stared at Ivory with a stern look, seemingly daring her to continue questioning them the way she was. She takes a few steps forward in a challenging manner before Lucianna holds an arm out in front of her.
“It was.” She answers simply, “Huntsmen do not take all jobs that show up in Mantle and we have a holy duty to fight the forces of Destruction. The Grimm are an unholy blight that must be destroyed. We may not have been in the age of templars for nearly a century and the Atlas council has forbidden non-licensed huntsmen from operating, so I have elected to train Sister Sapir myself and have her take the exam to allow the church to more properly play its part in our struggles against evil.”
Lapis paused for a moment, “That means you’re a huntress, aren’t you?”
Lucianna shrugs slightly and turns around as another visitor comes in and heads to a seat. “A story for another time, I think. Sister Sapir, please see to your duties. You are after all the one who greeted them.” She gives one final smile to the group. “I am glad to have finally met you and your team, Sister Violet. I hope I can look forward to seeing you all again. These are dark times and we must all band together for the coming of Destruction whenever it shows its face.”
Sapir makes a circle gesture with her hands and nods her head as Lucianna passes before turning back to the group. She fixates her gaze on Onyx, who had been standing behind the group silently the entire time. He was dressed well, if slightly disheveled, but more importantly she had caught herself staring at the gnarled scar that made up the base of his left ear where it no longer attached to his head. She snapped her eyes to his when she realized he had noticed.
Onyx stared back for a few tense moments, having not decided to simply glare at the girl. The cold air of Mantle made it more difficult for him to speak than normal and this church didn’t seem to do much with its heating outside of what the city itself provided, so he kept silent and his hands in his pockets. For now, he just kept contact to gauge her intentions. He might have been looking too much into someone staring at an old ugly scar, but it still bothered him.
Ivory reflexively placed her hand on Isengrim’s handle, but didn’t grab it. She knew Onyx wouldn’t do anything too problematic here, but she found the sudden stare down worrying. Then it hit her. This was Onyx’s first time outdoors within Atlas borders with his faunus ears in plain view. He already didn’t like people asking about his ear. She hoped nothing bad would spring from something so petty.
Violet gave a nod to Lapis who was ready to be a big body in the way of a possible issue while she paid attention to Sapir. She knew her friend’s facial expressions by this point, but this was a new one. She watched Sapir slowly walk forward.
Her step was less confident and serene than normal and she withdrew as she moved. There was a hesitance that Violet had never seen before. Then she flushed slightly as Onyx took a step back and Violet couldn’t help but burst out laughing which caught everyone’s attention.
Violet tried her best to stop her giggling but instead was forced to cut her words into her laughter. “O-Oh my goodness... I... I can’t believe...” She continued her laughing before smiling brightly at Sapir. “You know if you wanted me to introduce you earlier, you could have just asked. Come on! We’re about to head out to eat anyway. See you can come with us! We’ll get a table for you two.”
Sapir froze and cursed herself for being so transparent. She turned around to hide her face and prayed to God it would fade by the time she reached Sister Lucianna. She had never asked for time to herself before like this. She marched away from the others and hoped this wasn’t about to be a terrible mistake.
“I did not agree to this.” Onyx chokes out to Violet, his dry voice causing him to groan in frustration. This was far from healing fast enough for his liking.
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun! I get to hang out with an old friend, you get a date out of it...” She trailed off with a sigh.
“And maybe I can ask Sapir what else that Sister Lucianna had changed here since I left. I’ll explain after we eat, but let’s wait for Sap and get going. Ivory, can you pick out a place for us?”
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“And what sort of question is this? ‘Do not stray from your duties, but know the difference between idleness and caring for yourself.’? You want a break then, Sister Sapir?” Lucianna looked down the large room at the team still waiting by the door and seemingly arguing over a scroll. “I see... Of course you can. However, might I ask a favor?
“While you are with them, discover what their connection is to Cheshire’s unholy experiment. We may be able to convince Sister Violet and her team to join us in the coming conflict. Destruction approaches and we must be ready. Evil needs to be exorcised from our home sooner rather than later.”
Sapir nods firmly before returning a small smile to her face and rushing back off to where Team OLIV was waiting for her. Once she seemed to have what few things she actually owned with her, they departed. A voice came from the darkness of the small preparation area behind the wall of the altar.
“Is this wise, Sister Lucianna? One of them is from the Cheshire line, the other Reynard. They are evil people and should be excised. Corruption comes in many forms.”
“I think it is good to see Sister Sapir reconnect and find some new friends. Besides, the Cheshire boy is a faunus- not of Tyrael’s blood. He has likely lead a dark life, but I do not believe that they are beyond salvation. As for the Reynard daughter, corrupt though they may be, with effort even the naturally wicked can be brought to see Creation’s holy mission.
“I do not trust this. We must prepare for the battles ahead.”
“And for that we will need allies, Brother Castor. We will see where their hearts lie. If they are good and true, we will have valuable potential templars for the coming struggles against Destruction’s monsters. If they are false, they will be destroyed with the rest of their wicked ilk. Trust Sister Sapir. They do not know it yet, but she will be their judge.”
#teamoliv#Onyx Cheshire - Cutscene#Lapis Hamelin - Cutscene#Ivory Reynard - Cutscene#Violet Goodfellow - Cutscene#Sapir Antiny - Cutscene#Lucianna Markella - Cutscene#Castor Lucan - Cutscene#Team OLIV - Project Borealis
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About that Umbrella Academy End…
Yes, there will be spoilers.
I think deep down, we have always known that Ellen Page's sadness would bring about the end of the world. And we're okay with it.
I've been meaning to make this joke since about episode five or six, I think? The show really does telegraph its major plot points far in advance. But seeing how it actually happened, I don't know, I have thoughts.
The start is definitely great. After a lifetime of various men trying to control her, Ellen Page breaks free. The cruel stepfather is dead, the creepy abusive boyfriend is murdered, and she breaks out of the prison that her big brother put her in to control her. And obviously, we're all thinking, "yes, sweety, you're doing amazing, go and destroy the world!"
But then the show doesn't really do anything with all that. They just plain end up defeating her. Luther, whose "big brother knows best little girl" attitude is a huge part of the cause of the apocalypse, doesn't learn a lesson. Nobody reconciles. The biggest personal arc is that Ben can now give high fives.
The opportunity was right there! At the same time as all of that, the other female lead character has literally no voice in what's happening. The "no voice" part is technically Ellen Page's fault, but the fact that nobody listens to her when she does try to communicate, and actively blocks her when she tries to take action, that's on the men in the situation.It's so blatantly obvious that it really feels like a plot point, but in the end it's not. She does save the day/unwittingly cause the end of mankind as we know it, but that has nothing to do with all of that highly meaningful stuff either. She doesn't win/start the apocalypse because she manages to connect with and respect her sister; she does it by coming at her from behind while she's occupied.
The whole thing ends with the plan to travel back in time to literally try and "fix" Ellen Page, the annoying little girl who has been causing all that trouble, at least when she finally started making decisions for herself.
Am I crazy? Did years on Tumblr make me too over-eager to see "problematic" in the things I watch? I have no idea. But this show is not the least bit subtle; it allows you on average 1.5 episodes to figure everything out before the characters do. So it seems like someone should have cuaght the fact that this was obvious setup but the payoff was lost in descending moon wreckage. Otherwise this would just be obviously sexist in a rather boring way.
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Favorite production of Bare + why? And what is one thing that people do or don't do during productions that you hate? (Personally I hate it when productions make Jason seem super violent and like shoving and yelling at Peter all the time. They're eager to show that side of him but shy away from the soft tender side). And what's one thing that productions do that you love/wish they would include more?
listen my thoughts are organized -2% of the time so if u wanna read this mess go for it but I’ve only seen the LA version, the 2004 version, and the musical and i recently listened to the 1999 demo so i decided to include that too also i may or may not have finished these??? idk i get sad over bare hella easy so i have to plan when i watch these because they screw me up for a solid couple days after
LA 2013-literally everyone has seen this one but i love peter and jasons chemistry in this one?? also i just love the jason/nadia relationship in this one bc it is clear that nadia cares about him so much. essentially i love jason in this?? i also like father in this one because of the way he holds himself. it is clear that he is rigid to his faith and he fully believes every word of the bible. pilgrams hands in this is the best?? i love the way peter confidently is able to do that!!
2004- i love how the depict peter in this one. they show peter as this kid who wants to come out, but is unsure how the reaction will be? (i can’t articulate this as well as someone else could,, it was a post comparing la peter and micheal ardan as peter I’m so sorry i can’t remember who’s) but i ABSOLUTLY love all the confessional songs in this. cross and absolution??? HEARTBREAKING confession??? BEAUTIFUL and my final thought about this one is birthday bitch, low-key love the new lines even if it is way worse
1999 demo-EPIPHANY IS SUCH A FUCKING BOP LIKE PLEASE LISTEN TO IT LIKE I SHOULD NOT BEING BOPPING THIS HARD BUT I AM. i dont love some of the more unfamiliar songs but see me? even more heartbreaking because claire tries to avoid the topic more. in warning its so sad because claire like blames herself?(problematic ik) I’m not sure how to describe it but like she truly believes that this is not best for her child and she blames herself for this. i do like the storyline that claire isn’t THAT homophobic better but that’s just me. the are you there? is a little confusing because it is technically called cut from the same cloth and it is just matt i believe. but the stupid second thoughts??? BEAUTIFUL i love this so so so much because the last line is “so goodnight my love, yes you heard me right you were my love but ill have to let those words fall on your sleeping ears so i won’t see your honestly” and i UGLY SOBBED at that and he says “i should be the hero you want me to be” AND AHHHHH also bare???? UGLY SOBBING but real talk idk what’s going on??? like where they planning to come out??? “one stolen kiss and everyone will know” or is that referring to best kept secret??? “i really never thought it would end like this” AHHHHHHHHHHHHH also jason’s love confession followed by peter saying :i never thought you’d say it”??? BREAKING MY HEART no voice, i don’t love when they overlapped peter+matt’s parts but it is interesting how they go together. also the new verse with the whole bridge theme? AHHH SO GOOD but if anyone is down to explain the plot of this demo to me i would be so down bc a sis is low-key confused
musical- yes i know i know its terrible but i do like some of the new musical elements to it? for example, best friend? great,, pls don’t attack me for this but i like the are you and i and portrait of a girl? and i do like jason’s version of role of a lifetime and this point i will defend with my life. also peter is so adorable in this you cant change my mind on that one. in are you there “stupid stolen moments, this can’t all there is” IS SO AHHHHH also they changed the “one day he’ll wake up” to “one day SHE’LL” and damn. my absolute FAVORITE PART of this whole mess is in the middle of you and i when peter says that he has a bigger dick than jason i screamed the first time i saw it its fine lol also i didnt fully finish this whoopsie
things i hate/like about productions- i love it when peter+jason have these little moments in big groups (ex: in LA production in wonderland when jason offers clothes to matt and peter makes that little dont you dare!! thing) also lemme tell you, the you and i makes or breaks the production for me because i feel like if the you and i has no chemistry or pizzaz than that’s IT MAN game o v e r and also, i love it when they have confessionals on stage and when father is facing the audience and the children are facing him because this to me shows the disconnect between father and the kids. ok finally, i hear what you’re saying about jason being mean, but i actually kinda like it? but this is because i feel like it makes it more realistic? it shows what kind of emotional distress he was under and while that behavior is not okay in any sense, i feel like it would not have the same impact without it. and now the things i H A T E first one: nadia and jason not having a tight relationship/only moment is plain jane fatass. this relationship is SO important?? depict it well u cowards! also matt?? i dont love it when they DONT depict him as an uptight kinda guy. like this dude constantly has a stick up his ass and is NOT happy about it fam. we all know it
ok thats all my thoughts and clearly i have a ton of them so ask me questions
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Let’s Check Our Thought Process
MAKING A COMMITMENT TO CRITICAL THINKING
“When we are not given reasons, you must understand the natural human response is to form our own conclusions. And I feel that is what we have done.”
-Comment recorded at a school board meeting
Recently, as part of a group exercise, I was asked to reflect on my “greatest professional learning” during the pandemic. We were given a few weeks to think and then were asked to share our responses when we met.
A cynical answer popped into my mind: People don’t practice critical thinking very well and are either unconscious of that or are willing to flaunt it without shame.
The quotation at the top of the page is verbatim; It was spoken during a well-attended public meeting. It was not taken out of context; it was offered plainly in an effort to explain peoples’ actions by framing the thought process that guided them.
More outrageous than the statement itself (which argues openly in favor of prejudice and justifies acting without understanding relevant facts) was the lack of response from others in the on-line meeting. No one pushed back. No one questioned the premise, a premise that would be flatly rejected by any competent scientist, logician, academic publication or court of law. It hardly needs dissecting; its potential consequences are so obvious. And yet, 40 people remained silent. In a governance meeting of an institution dedicated to learning, dedicated to teaching children how to think rationally and independently, someone was able to say something so irrational and receive no response other than some nodding agreement from the audience.
To be fair, emotions were running high and arguing a logical counterpoint (even an argument that nearly makes itself simply by repeating what was said slowly) would probably come across as aggressive and partisan. But later on, when the emotional tenor of the meeting had subsided, shouldn’t the entire group, including the person who said it, have taken a moment to reflect and consider the foolishness of such thinking? Are we so concerned with the fragility of others’ egos that we don’t have the collective will to set and reinforce norms for rational thinking like we do for other elements of public discourse?
Unfortunately, I believe we do not. The year of the pandemic has provided many examples of our cultural tendency to avoid being critical of others’ reasoning in favor of avoiding hurt feelings or of “just moving on”. In board meetings, task force gatherings and during the every-day interactions in our schools, I have observed the abject failure of critical thinking coupled with the social failure to respond. (In some cases people have even applauded fundamentally flawed thinking.)
Maybe, like a man with a hammer to whom the world appears to be a nail, I am seeing the failure of critical thinking everywhere I look. However, it may not be that the pandemic has diminished peoples’ capacity to think critically; perhaps this widely-shared social deficit was just as bad before COVID-19 and the crisis has simply made it more plain.
COMMON POPULAR LAPSES IN CRITICAL THINKING
Your Truth, Best Practices, Trauma, Words are Violence and Speaking from the Heart.
“Thank you for telling your truth.” I heard someone say recently when another person shared a perspective and a set of supporting facts that could have brought about reasonable disagreement. I had to check my own thinking because I happened to agree with the person’s perspective. But that doesn’t mean she was sharing the truth. If my “truth” were different from hers and mutually exclusive, would that mean that there are two contradictory truths? If that is the case, doesn’t that mean that truth and perspective have become synonymous? Doesn’t that give Kellyanne Conway license to develop “alternative facts” when the actual facts don’t support her perspective or opinion? Doesn’t that mean Donald Trump is still the President or that at least has reasonable claim to the office?
I have running joke with a colleague: During a discussion or debate, whomever declares “best practice” first, wins. We’ve even begun team meetings by entering the room and shouting “best practice!” before anyone else can talk. It actually gets funny when you start listening for it at work. By beginning your proposition thus: “Best practice says….” one automatically ties a potentially controversial statement (fairly easy to debate) to one’s own professional judgement and reputation, which others are usually more hesitant to question. An idea is somewhat independent of the person but a judgement is not, and people in polite company generally prefer to debate ideas rather than question others’ judgement.
For example, if I were to say that giving 3rd graders timed multiplication fact tests in large groups is “best practice” anyone who argues with me not only objects to the tests but also insults me by questioning my judgement.
On the other hand if I were to make the proposition without judgement: “I’m thinking of giving my 3rd grade class a timed whole group multiplication test on Friday.” It is more socially acceptable for my colleagues to give me candid feedback. I’m not hitching my wagon to the practice but expressing an idea. The obvious advantage to that is it gives one better access to the wisdom of one’s colleagues, helps one clarify his or her thinking and act in a more effective and humane manner.
I’ve heard the word “trauma” abused to the point that feel traumatized when I hear it. I’m exactly half kidding. Hearing the word trauma does not cause me trauma but the term trauma has been weakened substantially by overuse. Last week I was in a meeting and the host said, “I understand all of our kids have suffered trauma over the last year.” Being polite, and not wanting to disrupt her flow as the meeting began, I resisted the temptation to speak up and say, “No, they have not. Some kids are happier and more resilient now than they were before the pandemic and we should not expect them to suffer long term psychological harm. Others have had a hard time but have not suffered trauma. Maybe some (I would guess a small number) have gone through trauma but certainly not all of them.
Trauma indicates the need for a serious response either medically or psychologically. To claim that all children have suffered trauma when common sense and probability would argue otherwise is doubly problematic. First, diagnosing all children with trauma might lead us to implement an uneven distribution of resources, reducing timely access for legitimately traumatized children. Secondly, declaring universal trauma weakens the term itself. For example, if my child is presumed to have had trauma (absent a serious medical or psychological event that can be reasonably predicted to cause long-term problems) he is put on the same footing as another child who actually did suffer a serious medical or psychological event. Should he not then be treated with the same urgency? After a while because everyone is traumatized, no one is traumatized.
“There are different kinds of violence, words are violence!” An audience member asserted during the public comment period in a recent school board meeting. Others nodded. Words can be violent metaphorically but in and of themselves words are never violent. Similar to trauma, the entire concept of violence (and its attendant appropriate responses) are weakened by misuse. Words can certainly be powerful. They can encourage, perhaps even cause violence, but alone, they do not constitute violence.
It is important to make that distinction. For example, if someone were to say to me, I am going to say some really horrible words to you or if you prefer, I am going to do something physically violent to you, which would you choose? I’m pretty sure, I’d opt for the words even if I didn’t have the details about the kind of violence being planned. If a guy in the next car yells a nasty name at me, I would certainly prefer that to him punching me in the mouth. We can ignore words. We can tune them out. We can consider them and respond. Lumping words together with real violence lessens the outrage we should feel about violence and increases the outrage we should be able to control about words.
Okay, I am going to speak from the heart: I have learned that when I speak from the heart it is acceptable to say anything no matter how irrational, absurd or self-serving without fear that others will question it. Speaking from the heart gets my audience to pause and understand that my forthcoming statement is deeply attached to my emotional composition and that challenging it will go beyond questioning my logic and into the realm of hurting my feelings. I know that questioning my logic is socially appropriate and professionally desirable but hurting my feelings goes too far! If I speak from the heart well enough, I might even choke up a little letting everyone know a line has been drawn that should not be crossed. Real speaking from the heart also signals my virtue because it shows I have the courage to be vulnerable in public. What brute would argue with someone who has the courage to be vulnerable, to speak from the heart?
I actually spoke from the heart accidentally a few weeks ago. I was in a meeting and was accused of something I thought was particularly unfair. When I responded, I choked up a little, something I try to avoid in my professional life, but it happens from time to time. Anyway, the people who had said the thing I didn’t appreciate changed their tone and were suddenly very polite to me and even thanked me for being vulnerable. They assured me that they understood my perspective and knew my intentions were positive. So I know speaking from the heart works but I’ll still try to avoid it. (I know when it comes up naturally it works better than when you just declare it in advacne.)
Kidding aside, wrapping one’s opinion or perspective in emotional language or gestures is problematic. It squelches honest inquiry and may discourage others from sharing important information that will help everyone concerned. Emotions are important and worth our attention but they should not be used as a tool to override reason. Emotions arise in all of us and deserve consideration but they also deserve time to settle so that we can think straight. We need to allow others that courtesy as well. When someone speaks “from the heart”, including oneself, it’s worth listening, maybe even acting. But the words that come from that kind of speaking need time to cool off and be tempered by dispassionate critical thinking.
We Can Work on This... and we should!
A cultural tendency to avoid critical thinking was not, it turns out, my greatest learning from the pandemic. A deeper recognition of our ability to consider any situation, let emotions arise and eventually choose our response was. This isn’t a new lesson but a deepening of an old one. It gives me the optimism to get back to the work of advocating for critical thinking for ourselves and for our children. It isn’t easy. It can make people angry. I think its what got Socrates killed. But it is, I believe, the core of our work: Critical thinking is the foundation for all the subjects kids learn in school. And it’s time to re-commit to making it a central feature of our work and discourse.
To that end I propose a community-wide, long term study of the topic. I’d like to start by recommending the adoption of a definition of critical thinking, the one offered by The Foundation for Critical Thinking: The art of analyzing and evaluating thought processes with a view to improving them. Critical Thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. (Linda Elder, 2020)
From here, I hope we can make it fun and interesting. We need to get comfortable with being wrong about things and re-thinking our positions. It’s not about winning individually but improving as a community of learners. That’s an important part of our mission.
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SPOILS OF WAR AFTERTHOUGHTS
So this episode still upsets me somehow. Everyone around me is just like wow this was an amazing episode and I’m here trying to pinpoint why I still have concerns. And then I think I finally pinpointed what’s wrong. It’s Dany’s storyline. This episode really made me realize how problematic her character is no matter how much I love her.
At the beginning of the show she was introduced as this fragile young woman who awakened and seized her chance at living life on her own terms and she instantly became this symbol of feminism and girl power. All the while she retained her greatest quality: compassion. By season 3 she had become the badass Mother of Dragons everybody rooted for. At this point, I was cheering every time she accomplished something without really thinking about the other side of said something. When she torched Astapor and took the Unsullied I was like YEAH. Like everybody else. When she was celebrated as Mhysa I was like YEAH. Like everybody else. When she freed Meereen I was like YEAH. Like everybody else. Etc etc.
Until the Field of Fire where I should have been like YEAH. Like everybody else. Except I wasn’t. The scene itself was impressive but for the first time it was constructed differently. Instead of an epic and victorious variation of the Dracarys theme - as was used during every single one of her battle scenes (yes I pay much attention to the score) - we got a sad rendition of the Rains of Castamere. And so I realized what was wrong. The show had just gone on the other side for the first time. Apart from Jaime and Bronn who we naturally root for and so don’t wish to see dead, we met Ed Sheeran and his friends three episodes ago and it was a nice scene of humanizing what we still perceived as the enemy because they were Lannisters.
This got me questioning everything backwards. And I realized the show made us root for Dany by never showing us the other side of things. It always painted her storyline as her vs evil men. Plain and simple. Sure the guy in Astapor was a douchebag. He deserved to be torched. And yes the dynamic between masters and slaves is problematic and needs to be changed. But when you think about it the rest of the masters were just guilty of respecting centuries-old traditions. Nothing more. Same in Meereen. When she crucified them as retaliation for the slaves that were crucified I did not think twice about it because the show just identified the masters to bad men. That’s why the Sons of the Harpy storyline never properly worked to me. They were just depicted as rebellious terrorists who didn’t accept Dany’s reign. It would have been more interesting if we could actually go into their reasons. Reasons being they do not accept this foreign ruler who would come and change the way things had been in forever because nobody likes change. And so I did not even notice when she said or did problematic things because I was only seeing her side. She fed masters to her dragons just because they were masters and on the assumption they were guilty of helping the Sons of the Harpy. Those men were potentially innocent… but I only saw the badassery in it.
Now seeing the Field of Fire and how the show established that not all Lannisters are bad I noticed how big of a contrast there is between then and now. What helped during past seasons is that we could still see a soft side to Dany. She genuinely seemed to care for the small folk. When she had to execute one of them we could see she didn’t like it. But Westeros seems like a curse to her because she seems to have lost the last of her humanity since she stepped foot on it. Where is the girl who gave her followers the choice to walk freely and unharmed if they did not wish to go with her ? Compare this to her upcoming ‘Bend the knee or die’ speech. (Although we already got a taste of it before: ‘They can live in my new world or they can die in their old one’.) Some choice she’s giving here…
Where is the wit and the clever strategy we saw during past seasons ? When she conquered all those cities, when she killed the Dothraki chiefs, that was always through a smart plan with a twist. That was part of why we loved her so much. But now she’s reduced to traditional war ? Granted Westeros is not a city. It’s seven kingdoms. Still… And I get that this is war and that she is still a better person than Cersei because she comes with good intentions (at the very bottom of her heart she’s not bad. She just goes the wrong way). Yes war means soldiers will be lost. Innocent soldiers with lives and children and families. So I’m not saying that she did a bad thing in waging war. It is what it is. Dany has always been a conqueror more than she is a ruler. And she’s a beginner. That’s why she surrounds herself with people who are more skilled in that matter yet she does not always listen to them. Sure when she takes matters in her own hands we’re in for spectacular stuff. Most viewers stop at that. But what has she accomplished here on the Field of Fire? Besides weakening the Lannister armies, she’s also weakened her own - albeit significantly less - she’s harmed her most powerful dragon and she flambeed food reserves that would have been very useful. And she didn’t listen to every single one of her advisors. Tyrion was utterly devastated in seeing this massacre. (No matter his allegiance, he cares about Westeros and its people. And he still cares about at least his brother and Bronn). He chose her and he thought that with clever plans he could have her win the throne without too much bloodshed. She didn’t listen to Barristan in the past who once told her to be merciful. She didn’t listen to Tyrion when he told her to be patient in her war. War is not a matter of days, Dany. She didn’t listen to his strategy despite it being smarter than go upfront with the enemy. Or Jon for that matter. Who told her not to do it either. Jon who seems lately to think more about the small folk that she does. Both Varys and Tyrion said they chose her because she is the one who thinks about the people first. But since she’s arrived at Dragonstone all I could see from Dany is teenage-ish behavior of someone who throws a tantrum when they don’t get what they want. ‘Call me by my rightful title’ and ‘bend the knee’ seem to be her new favorite sentences. Bend the knee and I will help you save your people, she says to Jon. Uh you know you said the North is one of YOUR kingdoms so that’s your people as well who are going to be attacked. Where is Tyrion to give her a good wake-up slap ? A good ruler thinks about their subjects first, not about their crown. Wouldn’t it be better if you’d go save everyone in an unselfish way and then maybe perhaps they would be more willing to accept you..? Because so far, again let us go on the other side. The Westerosi just see this foreign queen, the last remaining of a dynasty they consider cursed because of its last ruler… of course they are weary. Of course I can understand Jaime and Bronn going against her and Drogon.
She made Varys swear to tell her to her face when she’s failing her people. Your first failure to do your duty, Varys. Varys? Varys where are you ? Oh over here with Tyrion discussing about maybe you chose wrong again. She used to genuinely care about the well being of the small folk and I believe she still does. She still refuses (for now) to attack King’s Landing and kill innocent people. But it’s not her priority anymore. Her priority is getting people to bend the knee. Meanwhile we have Jon whose new favorite sentences are ‘Help me fight the White Walkers and save the lives of everybody’ and ‘Do not touch my sister’. Jon who was thrust into the role of being King when that was clearly not his wish. Jon who united Wildings with Northmen to save them from the White Walkers. Jon who’s trying to rally everybody to save the lives of small folk and highborn alike. Jon who initially decided to take up the fight again because he could not fathom the idea of harm coming to his sister whether it be from Ramsey or the White Walkers. Jon who left his Kingdom in the care of his sister who’s trying her best to follow in his steps in her own ways - starting food reserves, making sure that the soldiers who will defend them are warm enough against winter, preparing Winterfell as a rallying location. Just Jon and Sansa caring more for the people than the power they were given.
And so here I am. Still liking Dany as much as before but not blind anymore to her faults. I still like her better on the throne than Cersei but really who are the better rulers here I ask you Tyrion and Varys?
#got#game of thrones#got thoughts#anti daenerys#sansa stark#jon snow#got meta#tyrion lannister#got 7x04#jonsa#sansa stark meta#jon snow meta
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ok i came across an actually pretty good post yesterday abt emotional immaturity and manhood in tlj and how portraying grown 30 yr old man as emotional immature is problematic, and i definitely agree to a certain extent, but i couldn’t reblog or like it. First and foremost, the post kinda implies that in order for the bullshit mutiny arc in the 2nd act to resolve rationally and satisfyingly, there should be some true consequences to poe’s actions just because he shouldn’t be treated as a child, ....and it’s like....what consequences? and like, idk, like what, you would rather poe to get put on trial and executed? or has his freedom take away and get imprisoned? (not that its actually possible cause the resistance is down to the last men and it doesnt even have a prison) Is that what you think should happen??? Cause that’d be consequences to mutiny lol. But does poe deserve that? even if you dont think about the fact that he was out of character? or the fact that poe was framed as a an irresponsible and immature child that he is not ? NO bitch!
Like, i’m the last person who uses “if this woman didn’t do something, this man wouldn’t do this, so really it is this woman’s action that made this man do this not-so-great thing” kind of logic, but this literally happened with poe and holdo lmao. If Holdo had told a high ranking officer--someone who commends humongous respect from her troops, or be transparent about a plan that concerns the lives of every single surviving member of resistance, this whole inner conflict would have been avoided. She assumed a officer she doesn’t even know would oppose to her, assumed that he is dangerous (that was some bullshit foreshadowing to the mutiny but literally none of his previous actions in tfa or in comics/novel show him to be a dangerous person so it makes no sense). For anything, I wonder how Holdo explained to Leia about her lack of transparency that led to a unnecessary mutiny within the resistance! It was literally her fault that this bullshit happened! Also, leia, out of all people, knows and LIKES that poe is someone who would challenge authority if it means to save the lives of his troops and those he swore to protect. Keeping Poe in the dark would result in literally nothing good. Leia was supposed to build him to become the leader he could become, but doing what? making him blindly follow leaders he has no reason to trust in? It’s the main reason why poe is recruited in the first place! Holdo led everybody in the resistance to believe that she is leading them to literal death as she exhausted all the escort ships. Her plan, by the way, was risky anyways, because she relied on delivering the resistance members to safety in unarmored transport ships! After she exhausted all the escort ships that could protect these transport ships! The way she sees the last couple of people on the resistance is disgusting cause she sees them as inconsequential and expandable and probably why she is willing to sacrifice ppl like that, yet shes painted to be the one who cares abt her troops?? lmao (she says something abt rose being a nobody or something like that, which shows what thinks of gross-root resistance fights--not as important as she is, and im sorry but i dont have respect for this kind of bourgeois attitude ) There was no good way to resolve this mutiny conflict because if not for bad writing, it wouldn’t have happened anyways. Leia supposedly taught Poe a lesson--what lesson? It’s not like Poe disagreed with Holdo’s plan and tried to start a mutiny? This conflict resolves in such weird fashion because it is a shitty conflict to start with!
Anyways, I’m on the “poe dameron did nothing wrong” team and you all know that this is the right team to be on, but tlj does frame his actions like he’s a immature child...like he needed to learn lessons that he already know, when in reality he really doesn’t cause he’s not a goddamn teenager/child!!!! Tlj framed his first battle as result of reckless action, but when if you think about the entire battle again, you’d know that he made the right call to take out the gigantic dreadnaught ship that would unquestionably destroy the resistance fleet. After all, Leia didn’t counter Poe’s order, she let him follow through his own plan anyways because she must have see the point in his plan anyways! When the dreadnaught is destroyed, she was visibly glad and only become concerned when she realizes the bomber squadrons are all dead (but its really what, 50? maybe not even then vs thousands upon thousands of imperial officers deaths, this is war! poe did what he could do make sure resistance suffer as minimal casualties while causing the maximum damage to F/O!) Leia has been through a war and she maybe too old to send people to deaths, it’s time for her to pass on the burden of a military leader. But for her to blame and physically punished him (someone who just got torture a couple of days ago) because she could no longer deal with the need to send soldiers to their death? Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing Leia should have done! Not to mention, Poe didn’t really develop as a leader, he was just shown as the competent leader that he always was at the end of the narrative! It’s just previously, he was framed as someone who’s made bad and reckless mistakes by not listening to grown-ups and being inconsiderate of others by publicly displaying anger (SUPER NOT IN CHARACTER BTW). Framing Poe as some sort of reckless child that he probably was when he was 15, instead of the 32 year old seasoned leader he already was is disrespectful to his character! Sure, Poe, along with Finn and Rey give off a particular youthful energy. He was enthusiastic, he was passionated, and despite his age, he did not grow cynical--instead he was hopeful and still wanted to fight for a better future. But that does not mean he was a child! Just because leia would be a mother figure to him, doesnt mean hes gotta be come off as a literal child/teenager.
On the other hand, this post, also sort of compared poe to kylo? and that? kinda pissed me off too? Because kylo was a relatively weak villain because he was emotionally immature and doesn’t realize it’s a problem. He was a man-child, that’s canon. Poe was not a man-child, that was not canon. Kylo is actually pretty in character here. He was someone who decided to ruin his parents’ legacy simply because they didn’t pay as much attention as he thought he should get. Yet despite being such man-child, who’s also emotionally manipulative and abusive on top of that, and just plain emotionally detached from people that he was willing to inflict immense harm to anybody who got in his way, YET DESPITE ALL THAT, he was not necessarily framed as the bad guy.
The heart of the problem was not that rian portrayed two grown ass men as two man-childs. The heart of the problem was that one of these two grown ass men (poe, a moc) was canonically not a man-child and was framed as so and vilified for a out-of-character characterization, WHILE the other actual villain is framed as endearing man-child who was Deep and Complex. (I saw some ex-mutual reblogged a post in which OP says that kylo is not abusive cause he was a deep and complex character and the implication that abusive people are not complex is super hilarious to me, you all can bend backward to suck his dick its amazing!)
#yolanda talks#i had to say if i dont look at finn rey and poe's canon ages i'd thought they r all 25-27#rey. esp in tlj is characterized as someone much older than who she is. very bad!!!#portraying young girls to be more emotionally mature than her age is one of the reason pedophiliac culture exists#also young girl expecting to be emotionally mature enough to redeem 30 yr old man-chid? bad trope!!!!#finn doesnt even have an actual story but he was not much older than rey (23! at#he was also abused all his life! coming of age story should have happened for him!#he SHOULD be the one to find his place and have emotional development and poe should be there to help him as older peer#(this is one of the things finnpoe fandom is bad at...making poe the emotionally vulnerable one and make finn to counsel him)#finn is the younger one here! he is not a child and hes super competent! but he needs help dealing with trauma and emotional vulnerability#his arc should have taken a lot of space and instead of letting a younger man to develop as a person and character#rian gives the space for finn's arc (whos not parallel with any OT characters actually) to kylo#tlj should have been luke passing the torch to rey as a father figure and leia passing the torch to poe as a mother figure#while finn become a true rebel and deals with his trauma--this arc needs so much screen time! but its given to kylo!!!!!
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via planamag.com
Western reactions to K-pop, the acceptability of racist Asian jokes, and the perceived threat of Asians
Source: Big Hit Entertainment
This is a guest article by EC
Follow EC on Twitter at @ececlulu
The first time K-pop boy group BTS performed in America was on their show, American Hustle Life, where members “worried they wouldn’t find 200 fans to fill the venue” they were tasked to perform at in 2014 (Billboard).
Two days ago, BTS performed live at the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ to millions of viewers and rang in the new year in America. Yet, Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper of CNN chose to comment on how they were “lackluster”:
“I mean…here’s the deal. We gotta get real. We just saw BTS, we think they were phoning it in.” — Andy Cohen (2:06:46 on the countdown here)
All while BTS was still performing on stage.
I wasn’t surprised. Disrespect towards Asian artists isn’t new in the United States. Unfortunately, informed by a history of devaluing and antagonizing Asian work, Western reactions to K-pop haven’t been as accepting as media outlets have made them out to be.
Creator Ethan Klein of H3H3 Productions has never been one to shy away from controversy, especially on Twitter and his H3 Podcast series.
Indeed, when Blackpink came up in “The Most Liked Music Videos” segment of YouTube Rewind 2019, Klein commented:
“I don’t like K-pop, I hate K-pop. I don’t get BTS. They look like — They’re just a bunch of — How did this become a thing in Western culture? Where all these grown men and little girls are jerking off to little k-pop boys. It’s like a little fetish. It’s like a little tw*nk gay fetish about these k-pop boys.” — Ethan Klein, H3 Podcast #164 (25:45–26:10)
#h3h3isoverparty trended on Twitter almost immediately after the episode’s release. K-pop fans criticized how Klein characterized them as “little girls,” emphasizing the diversity of the fandom. Other fans called Klein out for xenophobia and homophobia.
Klein did not take the criticism seriously. In response, he tweeted:
My message to K-pop fans: Lighten up nerds, it you can't handle your hobby being made fun of a little bit then you are really are just a bunch of little girls jerking off to kpop boys.
— @h3h3productions
To the rest of the world, this may be easily brushed off as just fandom drama. Yet on a deeper level, Klein’s comments reflect troubling stereotypes. His comments add to a history of Western racial humor typecasting, antagonizing, and devaluing Asians — normalized by comics, presenters, and public figures.
We’ve seen it before. 2016, on the Oscars stage: Chris Rock’s tasteless skit involving Asian children, ironically after criticizing the Oscars for lacking diverse representation (Vanity Fair). 2017, from the Chainsmokers: member Alex Pall joking about not bringing his dog to China in a Chinese interview (Mashable). 2018, in a comedy podcast by then-to-be-SNL member Shane Gillis (he got fired for this segment): “Why do the fucking ch*nks live there?” when discussing reasons for disliking Chinatown and Asians (Vox). 2019, in an unaired “America’s Got Talent” segment: Jay Leno’s tired joke about Koreans eating dog meat (NBC). All perpetuate damaging, xenophobic stereotypes about Asians. All portrayed as harmless humor.
There’s a lot to criticize in K-pop. Fancam spamming, cultural appropriation, sex crimes, etc., the list goes on and on. But stereotyping groups and the industry as a whole isn’t productive.
Categorizing something as humor can be extremely effective at perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
After all, the easiest response to someone taking offense is to counter: “it’s just a joke!” It’s an easy way to absolve the speaker of responsibility. Suddenly, it’s the listener’s fault for getting offended; they’re too sensitive, or too slow, or just unable to take a joke.
Now, imagine you’re at a bar. Or in an auditorium. Or at the Oscars. Or wherever you’re among an audience where there’s more than just you listening. I don’t know how many times I’ve kept quiet because everyone else around me is laughing.
Here’s the thing, though: not everything that elicits laughter is a joke.
There are good-natured jokes, and then there’s just plain old mockery.
If we look at racial humor, Yumi Nagashima, for example, incorporates lots of stereotypes about Asian women in her acts. Hasan Minhaj bases material on his Indian family and identity all the time. Misha Han, Joel Kim Booster, and more do similar things. But these comics incorporate stereotypes effectively. Often, their jokes are funny because their punchlines subvert what the audience expects according to their preconceived notions. Or, they attest to a universal experience between them and their audience. Most importantly, their jokes effectively provoke an examination of relevant social dynamics. Take one of Hasan Minhaj’s jokes: “Americans hit on the arm and bruise the body…Indians slap on the face and bruise the soul.” This plays on the stereotype of Asian parents utilizing corporal punishment, but consider the “bruise the soul” part. The joke prompts reflection — how and why does corporeal punishment bruise the soul? There’s an implied statement on the Asian practice of corporal punishment and how it affects children’s development here.
But where’s the punchline with the Asian jokes mentioned earlier in this article? Is joking about Asians eating dogs going to make Asians and Asian Americans listening reflect upon their dog-eating habits? No, because most of us don’t. Eat. Dogs. And even if we did, why is a joke about Asians eating dogs more acceptable than a joke about Westerners eating cows or pigs? We have to acknowledge the inherent cultural bias in these hackneyed comments about Asians consuming dogs. (See a great article about the double standard here).
Cheap shots like this only serve to denigrate Asians and Asian Americans. Like Klein’s and Gillis’s segments, their comments are mere bashing. Once called out, they attempt to mitigate reactions by characterizing their comments as humor. So why did they consider their comments acceptable in the first place?
The fact that racist Asian comments are considered acceptable says something about how Asians are viewed in the United States. Think model minority. We’re meek, submissive, quiet. We’re followers, listeners, takers of what we can get. We don’t complain about what we can’t get.
First, how problematic is it that this is considered what’s “model”?
Second, this makes us an easy target. Mockery works best when it’s one-directional.
The portrayal of Asians as meek and submissive has special implications for Asian men. As Klein echoed in his comments about K-pop, Asian men are effeminate, weak, and only desirable as fetish symbols.
Now, calling a star “gay” isn’t a new comment in pop culture. Justin Bieber, One Direction, and countless other young male stars have been insulted in a similar fashion online. Once these insults are levied at stars of Asian descent, however, racial implications are emphasized. To call a man “gay” and a “tw*nk” suggests emasculation and effeminacy, reflecting Asian stereotypes perpetuated by early racial theorists. Assistant Professor at Lebanon Valley College, Julia Meszaros, sums it up well in a HuffPost article:
In order to “prove” to the world that colonialism was indeed a “civilizing” mission, Western theorists utilized discussions of others’ aberrant sexualities to justify their interventions abroad. As white Europeans colonized large swaths of Asia, white masculinity was posited as the apex that men could potentially reach. Asian men were placed on the opposite side of the spectrum and constantly portrayed as feminine and weak in the face of European conquerors. The colonial stereotypes regarding Asian men’s femininity continue to inform our current racial stereotypes. — Julia Meszaros, HuffPost
The stereotypical portrayal of Asian male stars isn’t new. Psy, when Gangnam Style became popular in the United States, received similar emasculating comments. In an analysis of Western media coverage of K-pop published by the University of Chicago, author Jenna Gibson notes that:
In addition, even supposedly positive appearances brought with them problematic stereotypes that likely colored the view of K-pop among readers or viewers. Particularly when discussing Gangnam Style and Psy, articles often described him as unattractive, chubby, and quirky, exoticizing and ultimately dismissing supposedly shallow Asian pop culture, as well as feeding into problematic stereotypes of hilarious but ultimately emasculated Asian men. — Jenna Gibson, University of Chicago
Here, we see a conflict between Western media’s desire to take advantage of the hallyu wave and its inability to tell informed, aware stories because of internalized biases. K-pop’s ability to generate buzz and conversation is undeniable. This is why there’s been a surge in news outlets covering K-pop and celebrities dropping K-pop names to attract views and clicks. And by the nature of media, there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is relying on clichéd stereotypes to frame commentary. Stereotypes that inform judgment.
Klein likely meant to generate controversy with his comments, not attack a whole racial group — he’s basked in the attention that fans on both sides have given him in the past few days. Yet no matter the intentions, the result is the same, and it again reflects upon how casually racism against Asians is accepted in the Western world today.
Furthermore, we can differentiate between standard anti-pop reactions and anti-Asian reactions by identifying an anti-Asian narrative painting Asians as alien and not belonging. About K-pop entering the US, Klein exclaims, “how did this become a thing in Western culture,” exasperated. Here, BTS and K-pop are portrayed as infringing upon “Western culture.” Subtext: they don’t belong — they shouldn’t belong. Klein’s comments, while reflecting standard anti-pop reactions combined with emasculating stereotypes against Asian males, also reflect another troubling angle on Asians: that they are somehow threatening to the Western status quo. It isn’t hard to draw a parallel between this stance and Yellow Peril, emphasizing again just how racially charged Western reactions to K-pop are.
Yellow Peril, a racist term originating from the 19th century, describes the existential threat that Asians pose to Western culture and lifestyles; it was popularized as Asian workers began to immigrate to the West. Economically, Westerners feared that Asians workers, who often worked for much lower wages, were undercutting native workers and stealing their work. Sexually, racial theorists painted Asian men as predators of white women and Asian women as hyper-sexual and submissive. Politically, Asian immigrants were seen as potential security threats and carriers of communism. These stereotypes combined built up the metaphor of Yellow Peril, which informed legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and race riots such as the Chinese massacre of 1871. The depiction of Asians and Asian forces as threatening continues to exist and inform action in today’s society. White flight, when white people move out en mass out of ethnicized suburbias, often comes from fears that their children will be unable to compete with minority children in public schools. We see headlines about China encroaching on trade almost every day. And online, anti-Asian rhetoric festers in forums, posts, and social media.
Western society fears Asian improvement. It tells the Asian individual, yes, pull yourself up by the bootstraps enough so that he/she can be used as a model, an example, but never pull yourself up high enough to threaten existing power structures. Racial rhetoric places Asians as a convenient separator between white people and other minorities. The perceived success of Asians is used to delegitimize struggles faced by other ethnic groups; at the same time, Asians are still not welcomed into spaces traditionally inhabited by whites. The integration of Asians occurs when it only reinforces traditional hierarchies.
Pop music is not just a cultural export but also part of Korea’s economic engine. As K-pop songs begin to hit the US iTunes and Billboard charts, and as BTS begins to perform on shows such as New Year’s Rockin Eve, SNL, and GMA, the potential of K-pop unseating American pop (and by extension, Asian culture becoming more present in Western culture) becomes very real. This perhaps explains why as the Western music market has clamored to profit off of K-pop, they’ve carved out a niche for it instead of integrating it into the existing system. Despite high chart positions, K-pop songs are rarely played on radio. The VMAs were criticized for singling out K-pop as a category this year. Washington Post has called this “separate but equal” (Washington Post). And Klein’s comments, in an attempt to minimize the perceived threat of K-pop, infantilizes its fans and emasculates its idols.
BLACKPINK (Source: udiscovermusic)
It’s interesting to note that Klein’s first reaction, upon seeing a BLACKPINK music video, is to comment upon BTS’s entry into the US and not BLACKPINK’s. First, BTS is the representative group to Westerners right now. But beneath that, BTS is a male k-pop group, and in our examination of reactions to K-pop, we cannot ignore the implications that gender may have. Different stereotypes of Asian men and women likely inform differing reactions to K-pop groups as well. Asian women have been historically stereotyped as submissive and compliant. Yet Asian men, on the other hand, have been also stereotyped as predatory to white women: Asian men are a threat to dirtying or contaminating the purity of the white race, as perpetuated by Hollywood and WWII-era propaganda. Emasculation is a solution, as is redirection. Comments describing Asian men as asexual or gay invalidate their supposed sexual agency against white women, and these stereotypes may explain why Asian men are often seen as the least desirable type of partner. Steve Harvey utilized a punchline in 2017 based on the idea that finding Asian men attractive is amusing (Hollywood Reporter). Data from Yahoo! Personal in the 2000s showed that “more than 90% of non-Asian women said they would not date an Asian man” (Sage Journals). And 10 years later, OkCupid’s data shows Asian men rated lowest by women on their platform (OkCupid).
Pop culture has fed into this stereotype. As Eddie Huang from Fresh Off the Boat wrote in a New York Times opinion piece:
“The structural emasculation of Asian men in all forms of media became a self-fulfilling prophecy that produced an actual abhorrence to Asian men in the real world” — Eddie Huang, The New York Times.
Keeping Asian men undesirable proves beneficial to non-Asian men, as non-Asian men will never be the “most undesirable one.” An ego boost of sorts. However, K-pop’s popularity proves that Asian men can be attractive in the West, thus threatening this dynamic between Asian men and non-Asian men. Deconstruct further and we return to the concept of Yellow Peril, of restricting the spread of Asian culture, ideas, and genes. To racists, with K-pop, as masses of female, white fans begin to find Asian men worthy of idolizing, the popularization of Asian men connotes not just a cultural takeover but perhaps a racial takeover as well.
K-pop has continued to break boundaries anyways — groups playing major stadiums, BLACKPINK headlining Coachella, NCT 127 appearing on major talk shows — so I’m optimistic. Ironically, growing up, I don’t think my friends or I have ever been questioned for idolizing white pop stars as Asian Americans. Our favorites: Taylor Swift and One Direction. Neither have Western stars ever avoided the Asian music markets. Linkin Park, Beyoncé, Avril Lavigne— all have toured China in the last decade. Dua Lipa just attended MAMA 2019. And arguably, collaborations between K-pop stars and Western artists can be seen as attempts to capitalize upon K-pop’s popularity as much as they can be seen as attempts to penetrate a Western market. It’s just that Western reactions to K-pop can be informed by Western stereotypes against Asians.
I think back to when I went to Poptopia this year, when NCT 127 played last. Fans called out 99.7, the organizer, for letting NCT 127 apparently headline while other artists such as Halsey and Lizzo were not headlining.
Fans Expressing Their Discontent (Source: Facebook)
In reality, Halsey and Lizzo played the longest sets. NCT 127 only played four songs: Cherry Bomb, Regular, Superhuman, Highway to Heaven. Yet during the break between Lizzo and NCT 127, I watched as throngs of attendees streamed out of the stadium, leaving only a sea of fans holding green lanterns in front.
As a family passed by, I overheard the son asking, “Mom, is the concert over?”
“It’s over, we’re going home,” she answered decisively, while the son looked back at the fans congregating in the front.
Attendees were still streaming out as NCT 127 danced to Cherry Bomb. Less than half of the floor and 100s sections stayed. I couldn’t stop thinking about how disheartening it must be to dance to a leaving audience. Of course, not being able to finish watching the concert could be attributed to other things. Needing to rise early for work or wanting to avoid the traffic, for example. But secretly, I griped about attendees not being able to stay for just 15 more minutes out of respect for a new group. It seemed to me that they weren’t taken seriously because they were new, they were Asian, and that they were foreign. Like the CNN comments. It’s true that Cohen and Cooper might not have found the performances engaging. But to criticize on live national television, while the group was still performing in the background, conveys a fundamental level of disrespect.
Perhaps, the question isn’t if K-pop is ready for the United States, but if the United States is ready to accept K-pop as legitimate.
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CNN, H3H3, and BTS: The West’s Disrespect of Asian Artists was originally published in Plan A Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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Steven Universe Review: Seasons 4 and 5 (PART 2)
STEVEN UNIVERSE SPOILERS
READ PART ONE HERE.
Lion 4: Alternate Ending
Honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about this one? I guess the episode is supposed to be about Steven struggling with this idea that he has some kind of magical destiny—that Rose made him with a specific purpose in mind—and then it turns out that he’s just supposed to be a normal kid. On the one hand, I kind of get it because the show has sort of felt like it’s treated Steven like this all-important anomaly. But on the other hand, I don’t feel like Steven ever has really been given reason to think that he’s got some sort of grander purpose beyond maybe being a Crystal Gem.
Maybe he just assumes that he does because of how he’s seen that Rose Quartz is such a big deal, but I dunno, I wasn’t super feeling the emotional conflict in this one. I can get that he’s desperate to find answers to mysteries, but I’m not sure this is one where I felt like there was a real sense of urgency. Even if he did have some kind of destiny, it didn’t seem like it was something he needed to know, like, right away or else everything is meaningless. I’m sure there are different ways to look at it, but I just didn’t really connect with this one.
I’m not shitting on the episode, though. I think it works fine. Steven’s desperation is still believable and I did share in his desire to get some answers. Plus it was also sort of an unspoken mystery the whole series, like “Did Rose have a higher purpose for Steven?” and this episode kinda puts that question to rest.
I said I didn’t have a lot to say and then I talked endlessly about it.
Doug Out
This episode is about the closest thing to filler that you can get in this show. We learn a little about Connie’s dad and the relationship she has with him. It’s not very dramatic and it’s not very funny. There’s a tease at the end about a foreboding threat. I don’t have anything else to say other than wow it sure is irresponsible to just leave Onion alone in a closed, deserted amusement park at night when you were specifically there to get rid of trespassers.
The Good Lars
I like this one. You know Lars has always been a problematic character. He was flawed, but it was like, he was so flawed he was almost unlikable (or just plain unlikable for a lot of the fans). We got character progression, but it was incredibly incremental, and took place over the course of four seasons. In this episode, we finally get Lars earnestly making an effort to change and be a better person and stand up for himself. We also learn that he’s actually good at baking, and that he’s actually somewhat passionate about it. It’s refreshing, redeeming, and endearing. Sure, he chickens out in the end, but this time it feels not like a step backward, but a struggle forward. Lars fails at the end of the episode, but it’s also the first time he’s ever failed because it feels like the first time he’s really ever tried in the first place. It was also nice to sort of see the more relaxed and non-stereotypical-teenager side of the cool kid crew. This episode was the real jumpstart of Lars’ ongoing character arc, and it was a really good place to start considering the crap he does in the next couple episodes.
Are You My Dad? / I Am My Mom
I’m reviewing these two episodes together because they really are just one story split into two halves. Plus, while it’s an eventful part of the story and everything and there is sort of this weird mystery they’re trying to unravel, there’s actually not a whole lot of substance to these episodes in terms of character development or progression. But they’re not bad episodes. Topaz and Aquamarine are pretty intimidating gems. I really like their designs, and I like how posh and condescending Aquamarine is. The mystery is also pretty enticing, though, if I’m being honest, the payoff of “My Dad” being a name from “the list” was a teensy bit on the weak side. I mean it’s neat and everything, but I wasn’t like “GASP. OH MY GOD. IT’S THAT THROWAWAY LINE OF DIALOGUE FROM THAT ONE EPISODE. IT TURNED OUT TO BE A MEANINGFUL PLOT POINT.” Maybe that’s because it feels like something that didn’t have to be planned—like someone could’ve just looked at that episode and been like “oh hey we can retroactively make this a plot twist thing.”
Feel free to disagree with me. I think it’s fun and all, just not, like, the mind-blowing revelation Steven made it out to be. Also the fact that he feels like he has to take responsibility for the situation because he said some dumb shit a year ago feels a tiny bit forced. Maybe if they were there specifically looking for Rose or something, and then Steven feeling like he has to specifically own up to Rose Quartz’s crimes, I’d buy it a little better. But it’s sort of just a means to getting Steven to admit to Homeworld that he’s Rose and to set up the next set of events that unfolds. Still, it’s a pretty intense moment when he reveals his identity and they fly off with him and you don’t know what’s gonna happen. It’s a pretty cliffhanger-y cliffhanger, possibly the biggest one that the series has had yet.
Stuck Together
Not a whole lot happens in this one, but I enjoyed it all the same. We get some more character development and progression for Lars, which is nice. He finally really opens up to Steven and Steven in turn opens up to him. It’s a touchy-feely moment where they bond over and in spite of their dire situation that falls just short of going overboard. What really sells this episode is when you find out that Topaz has been listening the entire time and is actually a delicate, soft-voiced softy, which was amazing. When she turns on Aquamarine at the end, it’s actually kind of tense. You almost believe she’s actually gonna do it. But then Aquamarine gets her to come to her senses and the pair of humans is taken off in separate directions. I’m actually kinda sad Topaz didn’t come back, and I hope we see more of her in the future. Overall, though, good, heartfelt episode for right before shit officially hits the fan.
The Trial
Our first episode that fully takes place on Homeworld and boy is it a doozy. First of all, we find out that Homeworld has a judicial system resembling ours and they have Gems who function as lawyers? Gem culture did not strike me as one that held trials allowing Gems to persuade the presiding officials with legal rhetoric. But okay, whatever, I can buy it, and it makes for a more interesting episode anyway than Steven just breaking out of prison (actually, why was he so ready to accept punishment at first and then suddenly he got cold feet?).
The courtroom stuff was pretty neat and incredibly tense. I love how Yellow and Blue Diamond enter the room, and how Steven’s lawyer is just like “I literally have to defend the Gem who shattered Pink Diamond. What the actual fuck”. And then by some twist of plot, she actually comes up with a plausible case for the defendant. Seeing her put it together that “Hey, could Rose have actually shattered Pink Diamond?” was pretty intense. It actually felt like one of those scenes in a detective show where the guy is putting together how the crime was committed—fitting, considering Rebecca Sugar claimed that she wants season 5 to be like a murder mystery.
So this episode was fun and intense and had interesting stuff happen and you learned things and it’s all around a good episode. Seven out of ten. Would watch again.
Off Colors
Hey, look at that, Homeworld has its own batch of misfit, deformed, defective, or otherwise inappropriate Gem lifeforms. And we always thought they were specific to Earth. While I do like the off-color crew, I do feel as though I did not like them quite as much as the show wanted me to? I mean they’re nice, I’d be sad probably if they got captured, but I don’t feel any particularly strong attachment to them. Of course, they’ve only been in two episodes thus far, so hopefully that changes over the course of the season.
That being said, Lars was definitely the star of this episode. He finally gets a pair and starts being the hero that Homeworld deserves. Or the one it needs. Whatever. Lars was cool in this episode, and it is pretty amazing how much they were able to turn around his character in the span of a few chapters. And not just turn it around, but do it in a way that actually felt believable. I think that you could probably retrospect the old Lars episodes where he’s all annoying and jerky and probably now see the very gradual (maybe too gradual) arc that they had been building this whole time. And when he dies at the end of the episode, I did think for a moment, like “Oh my god. Did they actually just kill a character on screen?” But, no, of course, Steven brings him back to life with his now magical tears. I mean, I’m, not saying I would’ve preferred that Lars be dead, and the tear thing makes sense I guess. It’s just one of those moments, you know, where it’s like “oh, right, kids show.” NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT, AND IF YOU INSINUATE THAT I’M BELITTLING CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT, THEN YOU’D BETTER WATCH YOUR MOUTH, BUSTER. BECAUSE I WATCH MORE CHILDREN’S CARTOONS THAN ADULT PROGRAMMING AND I SHOULD PROBABLY try to grow up.
But yeah, good episode. Good character progression. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Lars’ Head
So, Lars is dead, Lion is dead, Rose is dead, Pink Diamond is dead. Everyone is dead. And now we have to find out who killed them. I mean, we already know who killed Lars—character development. Also Rose was killed by Greg and indirectly by Steven and indirectly by Pearl not being woman enough for her HA. Joke at Pearl’s expense (I like Pearl and hope she’s happy with her new girlfriend, don’t get started with me).
The whole episode is basically just Steven and Lars trying to figure out exactly what the sweet holy honey biscuit is going on now with Lars and his new hue. Turns out he’s got a slow heartbeat and magic hair. Only time will tell if he also farts space portals, or whatever. The fact that his hair actually teleports Steven to the same dimension as Lion’s mane was a pretty interesting tidbit, and it really does kinda make you wonder just what is going on with that business. The show is really starting to build up a lot of intricately connected mysteries, and I really hope that the payoff is worth all this tension and foreshadowing. But, fortunately, in the meantime, the characters are still enjoyable and interesting and the animation is pretty, so it’s still a good watch.
Don’t actually have a ton else to say about this one. It was nice seeing Lars determined to make whatever sacrifices necessary to help with the cause (whatever that cause was) and Steven return home to his family. I’ve complained before about ending heavy episodes with Steven and his mates hugging or smiling, like we have to end it on a happy note no matter what, and while I did get a twinge of that, I think here it felt sorta justified. Steven had just been missing for like days and they were happy and relieved to see each other. It was a good way to temporarily end the show until the next million year hiatus is over.
Closing Thoughts
Steven Universe is still kicking and it’s still got some cool and meaningful character moments and some painfully intriguing mysteries to be resolved. Season 5 is only a couple episodes in, and it’s already got a whole lot of new questions, concerns, and stakes set up. I can only imagine how things will go from here. As for the quality of the show itself, I can’t really say that there’s been an episode lately that’s affected me quite as deeply as, say, Jail Break or Rose’s Scabbard or Sworn to the Sword or anything like that. But it’s still a damn good show and I really want to keep watching it to see where the characters go next and what they’re gonna get into (and subsequently out of). Solid show, and I hope to see more soon.
PLEASE NO SPOILERS/LEAKS ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES IN THE COMMENTS/NOTES. THANK YOU.
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Writing the Shadows
One of the great things about writing fiction is that we have the ability to create an ideal world - a world without prejudice, bigotry, hatred, or crime. Unfortunately, if you really think about it, that kind of safe world is also pretty boring. One of the purposes of art is to reflect the world we live in and show it to us in a different light, and it’s really difficult to do that if you ignore the shadows.
What I’m trying to say is this: sometimes, you have to write bad people into your story. I’m not talking about villains, of course, because villains are a different type of character entirely. I’m talking about people who are prejudiced, bigoted, who are hateful either overtly or subtly. People who make you and others feel uncomfortable. Are these characters hard to write? You bet! But they can also be really important to your story.
This falls a lot under the “show, don’t tell” heading. Let’s fall back on Harry Potter for an example. Aunt Marge isn’t a villain; in fact, she shows up exactly once in the entire series, and is arguably a victim in that scene. We learn first that Harry doesn’t like her. Aunt Marge has whacked him on the shins with her cane to stop him from winning a game of musical chairs, gifted him a box of dog biscuits, and allowed her dog to chase him around the garden. We learn these things from Harry’s reminiscing. When Aunt Marge actually appears in the scene, her speech is described as “roaring” and “shouting”, and she asks him if he’s being caned at school; she is a proponent of corporal punishment, and makes that clear in her conversation. She makes implications (and outright accusations) about Harry’s parents, and spends her time rudely voicing all the shortcomings she perceives in him and suggesting ways the Dursleys might put those things right. In short, she’s a disagreeable and nasty old woman, and nobody reading that chapter likes her…and they’re not supposed to. But Harry’s interactions with Marge set up the event that incites the plot for the next few chapters, so she’s absolutely necessary to the story. And she’s not the only character in Harry Potter who falls into this category, either. There are lots of other characters who aren’t nice people, or who the protagonists don’t necessarily like, who are still vital to the world that Harry Potter is set in. Think about Filch, who is generally nasty to all of the students of Hogwarts, or of Peeves, whose revelry varies between annoying to frightening to downright dangerous. Colin Creevey is harmless, but obnoxious. Percy Weasley is superciliously unpleasant for most of the story. Minister Fudge is inept and spineless. These are not good people - not people you would want to relate to, or people you would think would be useful to the heroes - but they’re not villains, either. And they’re important!
In a similar manner, your story can and should include people who are nasty, inept, obnoxious, or just plain unpleasant. It’s okay to include these people. They exist in the real world, and if your story is going to reflect the full panoply of humanity (whether your characters are human or not), they should be included in some way. You don’t need to go overboard, of course, but consider adding a few in places where they make sense.
“But Kyo,” I hear you saying, trepidation in your voice, “won’t that make me…problematic?”
Listen, I understand your fear. I really do. The thing is, the way that the word “problematic” is generally used is inaccurate, and it’s become a catch-all term for anything that people might not like. That’s not its true meaning at all. A problematic story or character is one that glorifies a problematic worldview, like racism, homophobia, ableism, or what have you. If your story is all about how a white person has to go out and save the culture of an indigenous people because their whiteness inherently makes them superior, that’s problematic. If you’re including a character in your story who uses offensive language (think “mudblood”, which we very clearly know is a derogatory term) that’s not problematic. That’s a reflection of a real world problem, and a thing that real people do that illustrates and exacerbates that problem. You’re allowed to use moments like that as long as you’re using them for a purpose, and not just for shock value.
And yes, these characters and the moments they create can have value beyond just expanding your world by showing the variety of people who inhabit it. Suppose your character hears another character using a slur. What they do about it says a lot about who they are as a person. Do they ignore it? Do they try to comfort the person that it was aimed at? Do they take direct action against the offensive party? Something else? Any of these options can show us who your character is far better than you could ever tell us. Likewise, how your character treats other characters - characters of a different race, gender, romantic or sexual orientation, culture, religion, body type, or whatever else you can think of - tells us a lot about who your character is. Does Ron hate house elves? Not really, but he’s never really thought about them as people before, and that shows through in the way he talks about them. Does Draco Malfoy hate people who aren’t born from pure-blooded wizarding families? You bet, and we see him act on that hatred all the time. And both of these attitudes are more or less accepted in the wizarding community, and we know that because of the way average people react to them, so they also tell us something about the world these characters exist in. Use these moments of unpleasantness to show us something about your characters, or something about your world, and they become a valuable part of your story.
Yes, we’d all like to live in a better, safer, happier world, and yes, we could create that world in fiction if we wanted to, but I think that when you include the unpleasant parts of life, you create a richer and more complex world for your characters to inhabit and provide a lot of opportunities to show your readers information that you would otherwise have to tell them. Don’t be afraid to show us the shadows in your world. Used properly and well, they can make your story live. Good luck!
-Kyo
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It’s That Bad That Now I Talk Politics: A Rant
That was a clickbait, guys, I’m not going to preach about political things as I am not in a proper capability to do that. I’m sorry (not sorry) but I do still think that we all can and need to educate ourselves with the current social issues instead of hoping that someone “better” would spoon-feed it to us. However, I will provide a few reliable news link by the end of the post to give you insights about what happened.
Things are getting worse that people like me, who prefers to look up about how JLo learned how to pole dance from the internet rather than what my own President is doing, actually got off my comfort bubble screaming “HOLY SHIT!” then changing my profile pictures into some plain black hashtags in solidarity of my peers and fellow Indonesians. Yup, it’s that bad. If you hate politics as much as I do, understand this: I get it that you just wanna get everything over with, and you’re tired of all the negativity and you don’t know who to trust, but sadly, we’re not 10 years old anymore, we can’t afford to stay at the same level of ignorant as when we were a kid just because it’s not our cup of tea. I mean, look at Greta Thurnberg, that kid is screaming for her future, and so should we. I mean, in 30 years we are most probably still alive, though not in our prime age anymore. So yes, for people with big egos like us, think about our own futures!
In this post, I will only stating my opinions and concerns towards a massive student demonstration that took place is various cities in indonesia yeterday. This is another complex and urgent issue, that has been spread out in many misleading ways by the western medias: the demonstration against the revision of the criminal code, anti-corruption bill, urging government to execute the anti-sexual violence bill, and of course, the environment issues.
As I mentioned before, many western media wrote misleading articles about the movement. Most of them only highlight a piece of the first point, that in the criminal code draft, pre-marital sex could be criminalized, including for the foreign tourists. So they simplify it into “sex laws”. like EXCUSE ME? There are so many problematic points in the code yet of course you gotta pick the sex points because Indonesia as the stereotype of taboo-ing the matter and/or because it actually the thing that can affect the western. Like, seriously, I had to lecture my husband when he shared a Facebook status about how Australians should stop taking vacation to Bali because of the “new law” while he had no idea what it was about (and so did the author of the post). White people seriously need to check their privilege and educate themselves regarding the issues that aren’t their story.
Anyway, As per this morning, the hashtag #HidupMahasiswa (Long Live the Students) has been #1 worldwide trend as the demonstrations that took place yesterday in many cities in Indonesia were conducted by hundreds of students from different Universities. Each of them wore their alma mater jackets to show solidarity and status as they didn’t want other civilians with hidden agenda to join. This honestly is the peak of my nationality, it’s like the best historical moment I’ve ever been through all my life. I tear up and sincerely having mixed feelings of worry and proud every time I stumble on the news.
I followed the real-time development of the movement since many of my peers are sharing it through social media. Yeah right, said the baby boomers, why believe social media? Oh maybe because the mainstream media doesn’t talk the truth about big issues due to some private interests. These are real people with real friends and communities, some of them I know personally, and let’s admit, social media is our power in this generation. These people share their genuine experiences and tackle the false issues based on what they see in the field.
Some points that I noted from people who actually were in the field is that many of the allegations by the parliament on TV were NOT true, such as the claim that the students demonstrated with violence. The thing is the students did not start the chaos, police started shooting them with tear gas and they panicked and started running away. Imagine hundreds of people that can’t see clearly, in pain, panicking and running to so many directions. The students asked the police to stop but they didn’t stop, many students actually warned each others not to get provoked. The chaos mentioned started when it was getting dark by unknown civilians who didn’t wear alma mater jacket. The clarifications were very precise, from many angles, and even civilians who happened to be in locations said the same thing. Not to mention the victim of police violence, many students had to be taken to hospitals for injuries.
It’s very sad to see people with privileges posting on their Facebook page shaming these brave students saying that they were dumb for not calculating other civilians who could use this opportunity to start chaos. I am filled with rage reading how they conveniently type from the comfort of their homes, that demonstrating is stupid and irrelevant and inviting violence. These people watched the news from mainstream TV medias who only interviewed the elites of the governments being in denial of their mistakes, and never show the other side of the story. Some became a delusional fan of the President, only caring about news saying that there were never any request from the students to drag him down.
What was even more upsetting, when I looked at the creative demonstration posters uploaded to Facebook, I found a lot of disgusting comments towards women protesters. People, mostly men, wrote like, “I should start raping then.” And even one of the elite government officer tweeted how the demonstration was “infiltrated by liberals who wants to do adultery sin”. The head of People’s Representative Council of Indonesia called a female journalist, “honey” as he was answering questions in an interview, followed by men’s audience laughter.
These are exactly why we need the anti-sexual harassment bill! Look at our sex education system, it lacks so much because of the “taboo” culture that tends to block information, so that people keep being clueless and missing the real point of the education: how to use contraception, the importance of consent, etc. And instead of educating properly, they suggest to block the entire sex education? Sex will always be there and people will always find ways to do it, it’s one of human’s basic instincts, The problem is how they can have better, safer sex instead of how they to make them stop having sex at all.
These old geezers should face that values have changed in today’s society, they should’ve realized that the old Indonesian way to block everything “bad” is never the answer. It’s 2019 and we need to catch up with time. As time flows, things change, values shift, and we need an open mind to always be “relatable”. Today, ageism is no longer acceptable, just because you’re older, doesn’t mean you always know better.
The seniors said that students should be at their class studying, when on other times complaining about how much millennial and Gen Z don’t care about the government. They want us to listen to them coz they are the adults, forgetting that we are adults too, just because we haven’t worked as long as you, doesn’t mean we haven’t developed the same (or maybe better) critical thinking that makes an adult, adult. We have the rights to speak up and be listened to, especially because we’re the ones going to suffer all the consequences in the long run.
I believe yesterday’s movement would become one of the turning points of Indonesia, we still haven’t gotten an exact, satisfying answer towards our demands, heck we still haven’t gotten the respect we deserve as the citizen of this nation. However I’m sure, more young people are becoming more aware of what’s happening in the country and hopefully more will join us in the fights for humanity and justice.
Recommended articles:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-indonesia-politics-rights-bill-explai/explainer-its-not-only-about-sex-indonesias-divisive-criminal-bill-idUKKBN1W91DE
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/indonesia-protests-80-students-hurt-police-clashes-190925044211780.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/indonesia-students-rally-against-changes-to-corruption-law/2019/09/24/e860a64a-deb5-11e9-be7f-4cc85017c36f_story.html
https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1252142/gelombang-demonstrasi-mahasiswa-menggulung-dominasi-dpr
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