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drakaripykiros130ac · 2 months

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TG stans trying to use Andal law to justify Aegon’s claim to the throne: don’t bother.

Andal law states that a daughter comes before an uncle.

So…

Why was Aerea passed over for Jaehaerys?

Why was Rhaenys passed over for Baelon?

Why was Rhaenyra passed over for Daemon?

The only tradition I see here is the one where legitimate female heirs are passed over in favor of their uncles simply because they are women.

And just because the Targaryens converted to the Faith, that doesn’t mean that Andal law applies to them fully. There have been many situations where the Targaryens have been ‘excused’ so to speak.

Aegon the Conqueror was permitted to be married to Visenya and Rhaenys at the same time. The law against polygamy was overlooked this time. And just because the Targaryens decided not to practice it later on (possibly so as to not start another conflict with the Faith), that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t do it. They could have continued to do it and they would have gotten away with it. Why? Because they have dragons. Dragons = power.

Then there’s the law of exceptionalism which allows Targaryens to marry within the family. Another exception.

All in all, basing Aegon’s claim on tradition and Andal law is not helping his cause one bit. Because neither tradition nor Andal law had been 100% respected since the Conquest.

On the other hand, Rhaenyra’s claim is based on a royal decree and the oaths swore to her by the Lords of the Realm (which actually mean something). Where there is no specific law of succession when it comes to the Iron Throne, the King’s word is what matters.

So yes, Viserys had every legal right to make Rhaenyra, his firstborn child, his heir. Because the King’s word is law. It’s one of those situations where you have a certain amount of power but certain people (like Council members) expect you not to use it. Viserys did, and it caught everyone off guard. His decision was perfectly legit but didn’t fit with the traditional misogynistic mentality, not to mention with the ambitions of the Hightower upstarts.

I have heard plenty of people state that a King has to abide by the laws of the Realm and he cannot do whatever he wants.

Well, if that’s the case, then Jaehaerys should have been obliged by Andal law to make Rhaenys his heir after Prince Aemon died. But he didn’t. Because it would have put into question his own claim to the throne. So, he picked his other son, Prince Baelon.

Queen Alysanne knew the laws well, which is why she supported Rhaenys (not because of some “girl power” desire). She knew that according to tradition and law, Rhaenys was the rightful heir.

The rules are altered, respected or ignored whenever it suits the patriarchy. This is precisely what GRRM has been trying to convey.

Alicent’s son is not the rightful heir. His ascension was the consequence of Hightower ambition, sustained by certain Council members who would rather have a usurper on the throne than a legitimate ruler who is a woman.

One of the things that I love about the story of the Dance is that despite the patriarchy going strong, we still see that mentality is changing, hence how Rhaenyra had the most supporters (53 Houses). The Hightowers expected to take the throne easily with the support of the entire Realm, because they were convinced that no one would S choose a Queen over a King. They thought wrong.

#team black #pro team black #rhaenyra targaryen #anti aegon ii targaryen #anti aegon ii #anti aegon ii stans #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #the dragon queen #queen rhaenyra #rhaenyra i #house of the dragon #hotd #anti team green #jaehaerys i targaryen #viserys i targaryen #good queen alysanne

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coffeewithcutcaffeine · 2 months

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3, 32, 51. Vlad and Cătălina

Thank you so much for sending these my way, dearest! ❤️️

⇒ from OTPs and Self-Ships Asks (Vlad and Cătălina)

3. Do they wear the other’s clothes?

Because both darlings live in the 15th century, exchanging clothes is not as straightforward as it is for modern-day couples. In essence, there are no unisex items as the fashion styles for men and women are quite distinct during this period — therefore, the answer is largely no.

BUT.

Occasionally, Cătălina does wear Vlad's clothes, particularly after intimate moments. She sometimes slips into his linen shirt or tunic for the feeling of extra closeness and intimacy. While Vlad is not particularly tall (we stan short kings — *ehm* voivodes *ehm* — in this house), he has a bulky physique, so she enjoys the comfortable looseness of his clothing without feeling overwhelmed by the extra fabric that might make her feel like she is drowning in it. If she happens to feel cold, he never hesitates to offer his giubea (a long, fur-lined coat) and wrap her in it.

32. Who’s the better story teller?

This is the perfect opportunity for me to dig into the whole "Vlad and Cătălina as parents" thing skdsksdsfls sending you tons of hugs for this one! 🥰️

They are both exceptional storytellers, and their boys could never favour one over the other. It's just the way their storytelling styles differ significantly, as each has a talent for a specific type of stories.

Cătălina is a highly creative soul and has the innate ability to spontaneously craft fantastic, adventure-filled stories. Her passion for storytelling was kindled during her own childhood — growing up without the presence of a mother in a household dominated by men, she found solace in the nightly fairy tales spun by her wet nurse which felt like something that she did not have to share with her brothers. Later as a mother herself, Cătălina holds dearly to the tradition of tucking her children into bed and inventing stories that transport her boys to magical lands. These tales are filled with princesses, dragons, castles, knights, and epic quests.

Vlad is not often allowed to spend each evening with his children because of the duties his position demands, but when an opportunity presents itself (he tries to make sure it does), he shares stories about their ancestors and history, all of which were imparted to him in his childhood to emphasise the bravery of their lineage. He wants his sons to be familiar with this, too, and tells them legends of the Black Voivode, the founder and long-time ruler of their land, and their great-grandfather Mircea, who held sway over the largest region in Wallachian history. Vlad also clarifies the reasons why their family consists of dragons, and why their grandfather earned that moniker. From time to time, he also tries to delve into his childhood memories to recount tales that his mother used to tell him and his siblings.

51. What’s a non-verbal way they say I love you?

In Vlad's case, it means offering Cătălina freedom and opportunities rarely afforded to women in their era. Cătălina is a fiercely independent and rebellious spirit, often struggling with accepting the status quo and, despite the unique challenges of her life with Vlad, she gains the assurance that she can make her own decisions in many areas. Vlad deeply loves her and is aware of the fact that their situation is less than perfect, especially with him being largely absent. Therefore, he respects her autonomy and allows her to adjust aspects of her life as she sees fit. (This is especially important given the significant burdens she carries because being a royal mistress often suggests a precarious position.) Consequently, he treats her as an equal partner, not as a possession. Vlad believes that love should not equate to imprisonment — as a rebellious and independent man himself, he understands that such constraints can feel suffocating.

In Cătălina's case, it means staying remarkably persistent, at least as seen through Vlad's eyes. His life is a rollercoaster of constant tumult and unpredictability, and Cătălina, for the most part, grits her teeth and tries to adapt to whatever challenges come her way as a direct consequence of his duties and responsibilities. This adaptability comes to her a bit more naturally, largely due to her supremely pragmatic and rational mindset, but there are moments in her life where she is thrust into very challenging, almost overwhelming situations that are difficult to handle. Looking into her past, particularly her history with men (both positive and negative), this only serves as clear evidence of the depth of her love for Vlad, but also about a profound belief in his mission, his purpose, and the path that he has chosen.

#otp asks #( oc: if i cannot move heaven i will raise hell )#( oc: sanctuary )

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demonkidpliz · 3 years

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Things I learned while re-watching Star Plus Mahabharata (Part 19/many):

Kansa’s death scene is A+, 10/10.

Boy Krishna literally looks like Devaki!

I know where else I have seen Boy Krishna! He plays Pradyumna in Radhakrishna!

Arjun, Bhim and Drupad have no chill and I am here for this rage. Let’s keep this going until the war starts.

It is very sad that in Kalyug a woman has to fend for her own honour when ideally it should be a joint effort by men and women.

The only appropriate reaction to a man attempting to dishonour your wife was shown by Krishna and by Ram before him = decapitation. I will not be hearing arguments against this at this time.

We should not be resorting to war. WELL YOU AND YOUR NEPHEWS SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE THAT GAME OF DICE KAKASHRI VIDUR.

I am here for this Panchali. What did you decide? What did Madhav have to say?

Panchali is against the peace proposal and honestly I am on her side.

Panchali is 100% right. The decision to fight or not is Panchali’s. Not the Pandavas. Because for every action and reaction of men, it is the women and their children who suffer. She is 100/100 right.

At least she has Krishna on her side who has absolutely no qualms in pretending anything other than the fact that he really badly wants this war. This is literally what he was put on earth to do.

In the actual story, Duryodhan offers to put Krishna up in Dushasan’s palace which was allegedly bigger and better than the main palace. And Krishna declines because he wishes to stay in Vidur’s palace but StarBharat fails to show why. It’s because Krishna’s aunt, Kunti, lives with Vidur and I think it is the most natural thing in the world that he would want to stay with his aunt rather than with these random cousins by marriage.

I am sorry sweetie (Krishna) there is no dharm ka phool in Angaraj Karna’s heart. He's a social climber.

Aye hai laddoo Gopal really be here turning all this karela into laddoos.

Nice that they gave some screen time to Vidur’s wife. Now they need to do this 200x with all the female characters.

Krishna is…right? Yudhishthir should have been crowned Yuvraj the moment Pandu died and the Pandavas came to Hastinapur. Dhritarashtra was a placeholder king and his son cannot inherit this throne. It is a different matter altogether that Dhritarashtra was the rightful king and that they should have never crowned Pandu as king.

Krishna coming at the Kauravas with one banger after another. Their behaviour towards Draupadi cannot be forgiven. And not just Duryodhan, every man in that Sabha was culpable.

Is Duryodhan really going to bind Krishna with those big ass fake looking gold chains? This seems like a bad idea.

Krishna is asking for five villages for the five Pandavas. But Duryodhan has nothing if not his principles.

Karna is sooo annoying. Oh my god, we get it. You would give your life for your rich pals.

At least Bhishma, Vidur and Dronacharya are showing some good sense now. Long overdue.

Oho! Even Dhritarashtra has the good sense to agree to this five village business.

Lol, I can’t wait for Duryodhan to try and imprison Krishna.

I’m also waiting for the needle’s head worth of land line. Will StarBharat oblige?

StarBharat has obliged! Duryodhan will not concede a needle’s worth of land.

Krishna looks...mildly discomfited.

Arrest this cowherd LMAAOOO

The big ass fake looking gold chains are here.

The soldiers can’t even get up, let alone pick up the chains. How underwhelming.

Is StarBharat also going to show me the wondrous scene where Dhritarashtra temporarily gets his vision? Coz that would be cool.

Oh finally someone (Karna) has the sense to say that this is not how one behaves with a peace messenger.

Chal, gwale! I am ded 🤣

What happened to the Vishwaroop scene in the middle of the Hastinapur court??

Very attracted right now to moustached Krishna dressed like a guard.

Calm down, think of Jesus.

Is Krishna also dressed like Vikarna and Karna?

Accha, Drona also.

And Pitamaha.

This is fun!

Mamashri Shakuni 😂

Kakashri Vidur. I could do this forever.

SRJ looks amazing as all these characters. Even Dhritarashtra.

Where did Krishna transport them? On the banks of the Ganga? Dwarka?

Did Krishna strike Duryodhan’s thigh?

YAAAAS

Dhritarashtra can see the Vishwaroop!

Apparently, after this, Krishna gave him the option of retaining his sight. And Dhritarashtra said that after having seen the Vishwaroop to see other sights on earth was simply not worth it.

Should’ve kept his sight for the war but he has his satellite dish Sanjay.

Okay Krishna has left. This was anticlimactic.

Oh cool, Krishna is going to play the Kunti card.

I simply love Kunti’s character and every scene with Krishna and Kunti in the same frame is simply golden.

Kunti’s entire personality is so on brand with the no chill Yadav mood.

Please do not for one second pretend that you altruistically care about the child you abandoned at birth. You’re doing this to save the skins of the five sons you actually give a damn about.

At least Radha is slightly more realistic about Karna than Kunti is.

Radha and Vrushali are like, how do you know this, Vaasudev? Vaasudev (probably): I drink and I know things.

Nothing will astonish me as much as my progression in life going from a Karna Stan to an absolute Karna Skeptic.

Karna is a social climber. That is all I have to say on this topic.

The only thing admirable about Karna’s character is his loyalty towards Duryodhan.

Also, where is this conversation between Krishna and Karna taking place? On the banks of the Ganga? Yamuna? The sea beach at Dwarka?

Where is the big speech Krishna gives to Karna? Where he promised that Draupadi will marry him (HA, AS IF) and that Yudishthira will crown him King of Hastinapur (that fool might just) if he fights on behalf of the Pandavas.

Are all Radhas this terrible? Are they all hell bent on stealing for themselves things that do not belong to them? Why won’t this awful woman own up to the fact that she’s not Karna’s biological mom?

Okay Karna is back on the banks of this mysterious water body.

I will have you all know that Karna may be suddenly having feels for Kunti, but was totally okay to sacrifice her during the Varnavat episode.

Oh goddamn it, Starbharat!

Hitting me right in the feels when I least expect it.

Karna thinking back to all the times he was with Arjun, not knowing that they were brothers.

I’m not going to lie. Karna is in an impossible spot. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.

Now I am remembering why child me Stanned Karna so much.

I may not like Karna but at least I respect him for supporting Duryodhan.

I can’t wait for Queen of Resting Bitch Face, Kunti, to come and beg for her sons’ lives from Karna, when she literally does not give a damn if Karna lives or dies. Kunti knows which side her bread is buttered. Such a Yadav.

Oh this Karna-Vrushali scene is A+, 10/10. I really wish StarBharat gave more screen time to its women.

Okay I feel bad for Kunti also, mostly because I love Kunti.

But let us not pretend that given a choice between her Parth and this veritable stranger, she will always always choose Arjun.

She had to do this for Kuntibhoj, her poor father, who loved her so much, who couldn’t have children and all he ever wanted was a child of his own, so much so that he begged Shoorsena to give him one of his daughters.

I think what’s worse is that Kunti knew. Right from the beginning. And she stayed quiet. That was not right.

StarBharat really be here trying to make me feel for Karna again. Smh.

How tf will Karna be a Pandava? When Kunti wasn’t even mf married to Pandu when she gave birth to Karna?

Karna talking about Duryodhana while the Dharmecha shlok plays in the background. Chills.

I have a story called The tree stump on Karna, in case you are interested.

Yeah Kunti f*cked up here. I support Karna. He is nothing but a prisoner of birth.

Pretty big of Karna to ask Kunti not to tell his brothers. Uncharacteristic of a social climber. He’s not a bad soul, I guess.

I don’t know if it’s Kunti’s dialogue or her acting or the background score but I am tearing up. No assholes here.

Kunti might as well cry because if Karna refuses to call her Mata until Arjun dies, she’s never going to hear it from him. Coz he will be dead.

It’s okay, Kunti, you can relax. You got what you came here for (ish).

#mahabharata #mahabharat #starbharat #starbharat recap #siwt

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yeslordmyking · 3 years

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Happy 27th Birthday Jackson Wang

My Journey With Jackson Wang

For Jackson's birthday this year, I've decided to share why Jackson's birth is so important to me personally. I'll walk through the emotional journey that ensued once Jackson entered my life.

(Images and gifs are not mine)

Fun Beginnings

It all started when I decided to explore more kpop groups than just Bigbang. The last month of 2016, I discovered GOT7, the group that sang A and Hard Carry. I learned they were having a comeback very soon, so I studied up everything I could on them. The member that caught my eye was Jackson Wang.

Beneath the Surface

I won't pretend I had this amazing ability to go beyond what was shown to me. Not at first. I saw Jackson as the biggest goofball in the group. He was loud and fun and extra. Honestly I thought every GOT7 member was fun and crazy, but Jackson in particular stood out to me. Then, I found this moment.

When Jackson burst into tears and collapsed into his Mom and Dad's arms. As an empathetic cryer, I was obviously using my sleeves to dry my own eyes. That was when I realized there was more to Jackson than the compilation videos were showing. After studying up from some good Jackson fans, I learned he was a gentleman, he had a soft side, he likes compliments and attention from his members, he had olympic level athleticism. These were all nice things to learn, but things only got deeper from there.

Stanning in 2017

Flight Log: Arrival era. My first GOT7 comeback. Poor Jackson got sick for a little while. When he returned, I saw how everyone welcomed him back so warmly. I remember seeing GOT7 joined Monsta X backstage- who I was also im the process of stanning- while reacting to their performance at a music show and everyone just seemed so happy for him to be there. They all loved each other. Jackson got along with basically every idol. Jackson must be very loved.

As I continued to stan, I learned just how good of a person he was. Stories from his past showed that Jackson was the kind person to care for complete strangers as close friends. He cared for elderly women who felt lonely or neglected. He spent hours talking with someone who was too depressed to live another day. He stood up for fans that may be jostled by security, even if it was ultimately for his protection. He made sure the women in his workspace were comfortable and respected. He shook hands and made contact with every person involved in working alongside him. He thanked God for his success in his letters. To me, Jackson seemed to be nothing short of a complete angel. Who could deny it?

Then, Jackson announced his solo career. That was when I saw things how they really were. The amount of hate that I witnessed towards Jackson was crushing for me. So imagine how bad it was for him. Physically, mentally, I saw him hit a wall. People were telling him what kind of music he was and wasn't capable of. They spread lies about him. Then they wondered why he stopped smiling as much.

They only saw him as a comedian or a joke. I just couldn't believe someone I thought was so wonderful was so despised. He was human. He may make mistakes, but he made an effort to correct them. No matter what, he still had feelings. He wasn't a robot or a clown. He could get tired. He could hurt. This was when I decided that I was going to be a ride or die Jackson fan. Because someone so kind and talented didn't deserve anything but love and to be supported for his dreams. I wanted to give it to him.

The Jacky Life

There was a lot of ups and downs after this. Jackson started Team Wang. This is where I saw a new side of Jackson. The hardworking Jackson, in real time. He showed the world his work ethic as he began to work from the ground up to make Team Wang a strong label. Through every release and every appearance he made, he gave 1000% of his effort. To the point where fans were afraid he was going to push himself too hard. He went through endless performances, intense dance competitions, long variety show shoots while enduring exhaustion, anemia, back pain, mental illness all without a complaint or a sign of lessening his passion for his art. I was so concerned, often breaking into tears over my worry. I didn't know what to do to let him know we were proud of him, we supported him, it was ok to rest. But I understood his mindset. He wanted to be taken seriously. He wanted people to see what he was capable of. He wanted the world to see him as Jackys already did. Then one day, it clicked for him. He stopped focusing on what negativity came his way. He learned and grew from it, and focused on improving himself. It was an amazing journey to witness.

It Gets Personal

Jackson continued to blast off as a solo artist, and participate in GOT7, all of which gained immense success. But then it was my turn to hit a wall. In my own life, I'd had doors slammed in my face over and over again, wearing me down more and more. I couldn't move forward. It seemed I wasn't meant to achieve my dreams. I started to kill my own dreams and believe they weren't meant to be pursued. My self worth and hope plummeted. Then Jackson's brand began to grow. "Know Yourself. Make Your Own History." He began to give more and more insight on how he left behind a secure future of olympic fencing to pursue his dreams. He talked about taking risks, learning from failure, not having regrets and at least trying to make your dreams come true. And these weren't just empty words for Jackson. He was living proof. I actually witnessed him rise like a phoenix from the ashes as he began to manage his health better, released his first album Mirrors, launch his own fashion brand, all while remaining his remarkably humble self. Other artists from all over the world flocked to be participants in his career. In his music, he expressed what his fans' support meant to him, and in his interviews he gives Jackys so much credit for getting him where he is now. It felt unreal to be acknowledged by someone I admired so much, and to hear someone who seems so out-of-my-league successful and talented encourage me to do the same. To say it so much that I truly believe he wants us to reach all of our dreams.

Team Wang For Life

For me, being a fan of Jackson Wang is beyond just liking his music. It's a source of love and motivation that I often have trouble giving myself. I see Jackson Wang as a blessing and a guide for me to help me take steps in my life I would've been afraid to were it not for Jackson's words and actions. So I'm extremely grateful for his existence on this earth and his decision to be a goodhearted and determined human being. His birthday is a day that I go back and think about everything he is and appreciate it.

Happy birthday Jackson Wang. Your journey so far has helped me in so many ways, and I will support you in whatever way I can. Thank you for making your presence on this earth so impactful. To me, you truly are a king, that I will continue to love through the ups and downs of this world. You're never alone.

~♡Sincerely, Your Princess♡~

#i know this is probably the most cringey thing in the entirety of kpop twitter but i wanted to share it #happy birthday my dearest Jackson Wang #may you be happy and loved today and every single day of your life #your princess will always have love and gratitude for you #got7 jackson #jackson wang #jackson #ultimate bias #got7 #team wang #kpop #cpop #my baby boo #👑 be my king and i'll be your princess 👑#jackson wang you are my only true love #KingJacksonDay #JacksonNeverAlone

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asoiaf-source · 4 years

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Fighting Hate with more Hate. That always works, right?

“Sansa’s fans are so defensive of her because of the rest of the fandom demonize her and hate her for no reason.” - helenakey

So then the answer is to demonize the other women characters for no reason?

Of course there are going to be ‘fans’ that hate on a character for no reason, I’ve seen people post unnecessary and unreasonable hate on many of the characters, not just Sansa, and they can be as annoying, but they are not representative of the entire fandom. Not ALL fans are hating on her, and some are just looking at the character critically. I’m new to the tumblr metas (avoided for a long time due to the toxic reputation), but i’ve been on ASOIAF forums for a long time and there are plenty of Sansa supporters, even if she is still quite a polarizing character due to how people wish to interpret her... but Sansa stans on tumblr take it to the next level!

I’ve never seen this side of her fans before, or at least so much nearly every day, and subsequently the many rebuttals! And how often they like throwing other characters under the bus, often for hypocritical reasons. Like the OP yendany said, they ignore the trauma in other characters or dismiss it as not as bad, when it is often much, much worse. They criticize and attack other female characters to prop up Sansa ‘better’ survival skills, or attribute qualities to her she doesn’t possess (I see this a lot in fanfiction, before I realized the self-insert aspect), or use her age as excuse when all the main characters are young or even younger than her. The line porcelain to ivory to steel... can really apply to any character that has to grow up and face the harsh realities of the world... so it is really hypocritical to think Sansa is special in some way for overcoming her situation, all the characters are going through the same struggle, and many have it much worse. That is where I think so much of the anti-sansa stans come from, the hypocrisy and the tearing down of other just as deserving of sympathy/empathy characters, especially other women characters. It is a weird juxtaposition, that anyone with a reasonable sense of objectivity can pick up on and often do.

I mostly see it done against Arya and Dany, the two more prominent female characters in the books (thus the 2 who draw more focus than #3 Sansa?). The two female characters GRRM is telling a lot of his story through and spending a large amount of the text (right from book 1) to develop their growth as characters and showcase their strengths, intelligence, determination, fortitude, agency, cleverness, resilience and so much more. It’s as if because the other women are not ‘pure’ or see themselves that way and stronger in personality and character that somehow their suffering doesn’t affect them as much because they are tougher and didn’t let anything that happened to them stop them from growing stronger. They aren’t dwelling in victim-hood too long before they pick themselves back up and move forward.

And yet, they cheer when Sansa starts to grow stronger... Sansa’s growth has been much slower, we are moving into book 6 and she is just starting to gain a bit of agency, but she is still heavily under the tutelage of Baelish. We will see how far she gains in the next book and if she will break with Baelish by the end of it and be a fully independent player. But her development isn’t nearly on the same scale as Daenerys and Arya. That isn’t to imply that she isn’t going to be important, but it is clear from the text that she is not one of the main focuses for GRRM, or he would have developed her faster and given her more to do. We will see how much ground he can cover in 1-2 books, but there is only so much he will be able to accomplish and have it be believable, especially with so many POVs and story lines that he needs to develop.

I actually think their attempts to (over) defend her backfire, as so many feel the need to point out the falsehoods and misinterpretations, especially when they are wildly mean-spirited and completely refutable by the text. As I traverse through the ASOIAF metas I often come across fans metas writing rebuttals to other posts, to ‘correct’ their conclusion or ‘facts’. I’ve read so many of these they are starting to get repetitive, I also read some of the Sansa-stan posts they are rebutting and, yeah I can see why so many get upset. If you don’t like it when others tears down or dismisses Sansa, why do you think fans of the other characters wouldn’t comment when you go after their favs, especially so mean-spiritedly.

I don’t think I ever felt so much negativity towards the Sansa character until I had to read so many skewed and biased metas turning her into some kind of saintly YA Disney princess type that is just too good for this cruel world. That kind of character has no place in a series like this. You can’t help but want to point out the wild inaccuracies, and it makes me feel a negativity towards a character I didn’t feel negative to before. And I don’t want to feel negative towards her, she is a Stark and I root for the Starks, especially the kids. I often defended her against those who (I feel) just don’t understand what it is like to be a preteen girl, I relate to a lot of Sansa’s weaknesses and how she feels, especially at that age, and that is her appeal (to me) - the fact that she starts off very weak.

Sansa is weak both physically and mentally, she cares too much about rank, privilege, and what others think about her, her desire to conform, for everything to be proper, and properly in their place. She has the luxury to think that way because she is a rich, pretty, noble girl who ranks at the top of society, of course she sees life as great and never questions it... she is already at the top and winning from birth. This is why (I think) she is so hard on Arya, she messes with her idea of what is proper/good/right. Arya isn’t pretty and doesn’t try to be, she acts more boy than girl, she plays with dirty, smelly, poor children, etc... Those are all an embarrassment to Sansa and go against what a proper lady of her rank should do and care about. Once they head south, all the things Arya gets away with at home will stand out even more and reflect badly on Sansa, by association. So, she criticizes and distances herself even more, because she wants to join the elite glamorous world of the nobility.

The other girls don’t have those weaknesses, that is why they are seen as better able to cope than Sansa does. They grow quicker and stronger faster because they are not as inhibited by what the ‘rules’ are. This isn’t a criticism of Sansa, this is an observation and I think it is the entire point of including a character like her in the story. GRRM could have followed the original outline for her, but he wanted to ‘reform/rescue’ her character and give her (I hope) a better path back to her family and happiness. I think it is GRRMs way to show how young girls should NOT romanticize noble life or being pretty will lead to a ‘perfect’ life. That thinking of yourself as a lady or being a princess/queen isn’t what is important. That marring a ‘title’ (lord/prince) or a handsome face is not enough to lead to happiness. It is what you do with your life, and how you care about others and who cares about you - that is what is important. But some Sansa fans seem to miss that and want her to have all those thing and more... they want it both ways, her to learn all those things, and yet still get all those things... a beautiful princess life clear of the harsh actions to gain it and also a happy family married to the best, more heroic and honorable man - a fairy tale ending. And that is not ASOIAF.

They are reducing her entire arc to becoming a nicer, more pure, and pretty, prize for a man to love, marry and make their queen. If so, GRRM will botch the ending of his series and all the points he *seems* to be making thus far.

A major theme (to me) in Sansa arc is her lack of value in her home and family. Sansa (to me) is like the small town girl who can’t wait to leave her family / Winterfell behind and to move to the big glamorous city (King’s Landing) and become royalty. But once she got there wasn’t able to accumulate with its more complicated and corrupt realities of the court. Even setting the cruelty of Joffrey aside (he is an aberration, not a normal example), how everyone else ostracizes or ignores her (except the hound, and to some extent Tyrion - although he isn’t all that great). The way the Tyrells treat her before and after her wedding is much more representative of how typical court life and nobility behaves normally (I think). Sansa never saw the true value of being surrounded by people who love and care about YOU and whom you can trust and rely upon - until that is all taken from her. She slowly sees how the people at court are corrupt and deceitful under all the beauty and glamor she so aspired to only after being fooled more than once, and (to me) no longer wants any part of it, but is forced to play, thanks to Baelish.

This is a point I find many of her fan miss, they think Sansa is going to learn to play the game, destroy everyone with her cunning and beauty and rise to the top to be queen or a ruler - a path which will ultimately lead to down a very dark and cynical path... but somehow they think Sansa will be different, and her rise will be more like a Disney princess story, one where she will gain power without having to sink low to do it. That is NOT the kind of book GRRM is writing.

”I’ll make them love me.” - another childish statement, you can’t make people love you, you earn love and respect. And Sansa hasn’t done that once the entire series, she hasn’t made a single friend. No one is looking to follow or fight for/beside Sansa, save Baelish, and we all know that plan is doomed to fail, as he isn’t to be trusted or relied upon and wants to use her. I would even question her friendship with Jeyne Poole as it is clear she never saw them as equals, and that is not real friendship... more like Jeyne was a companion/lady-in-waiting type.

The few people who care about her (other than family) either are working on behalf of an oath to Catelyn, or have their own ambitions/sexual desires/pity for her and not necessarily care about her for herself because she was a good and loyal friend to them. Maybe this will change in the next book, but with Baelish keeping close tabs and guiding her, who knows how well she will be able to make any genuine relationships with others given all the secrets she has to keep.

Her only realistic path to leadership is through marriage and that is hardly giving her agency as a heroic rise to a leader of a men... more like sleeping her way to the top. Not something I want for Sansa, and I hope her ‘marriage’ to Tyrion works as plot armor against her being used like that.

Besides GRRM has kinda stressed that ‘real’ leadership comes from understanding people, observation, and experience, and not just from strategics marriage (Margaery, Cersei) or inheritance (Joffrey, Tommen, Cersei - she could prove the point all on her own :). Every leader in the book so far has to make compromises, make hard decisions and even make harsh, sometimes very bad decisions and live with those consequences. None of the characters in the series have escaped this as much as Sansa has, since so much of her story thus far is about her lack of agency, and being a pawn used by others (and to some extent she still is with Baelish). For her to make it to the end w/o doing anything and staying ‘pure’ and that is how she ends up on top, by essentially not taking many large personal risks, allowing others to do all the heavy lifting morally, mentally and physically. If winning means standing on the sidelines watching everyone else do the WORK, and just giving suggestive nudges here and there to have things turn out in your favor so you can just coast to the top (that is the Baelish way)... well, that is kinda the worst message GRRM could leave us with.

If GRRM wants Sansa to become a leader, she will have to get her hands dirty too, she will have to take great personal risks to gain power and accept the consequences good or bad that result, learn from them and move forward... otherwise it defeats one of the main points of his series and turns her into a simplistic cliche version of a character. Every character with a POV has gone through this, it is one of the major themes in ASOIAF, a more realistic, less easy way of looking at how you obtain power and learn by experience and a series of victories and defeats. Thus far Sansa has also avoided examining her actions and how they have affected her, she either never thinks about them, changes the facts to suit her better, or blames others without seeing the part she also played... I’m not blaming her, but her action did contribute to the situation... she never seems to realize this and I feel it is going to eventually hit her hard, she has to mature and grow out of her ‘unreliable narrator’ eventually, and it must lead to something for GRRM to make it such a large part of her narrative of coping with her trauma. I assume he wrote her this way for a reason and is going to do something with it.

I’m looking forward to a darker more realistic Sansa who has more agency and understanding, and I expect her to make her own mistakes and moral compromises (well she already has, but there was some coercion - but it also means she is capable of doing so) just like all the other POVs have had to do. I also look forward to her finally owning up to her past actions and how they also contributed to where she is now. If she can’t take some personal responsibility she will never grow. That is a part of having agency, understanding how your decisions and actions affect you and others.

I wish all the back and forth would stop, cause I’m tired of seeing it in my feeds, but I guess it has been going on for years - the same arguments/rebuttals - so I guess it will continue, even after we get the next book... I think only the completion of the entire series will end some of these arguments, but who knows - after some of the meta I’ve read, there will probably be even more, lol.

Well, I wanted to comment and give my two cents, but it ended up being longer and I guess for me all this is still new and offsetting. I guess I had more to say that I thought, even though I edited A LOT out because I wanted to keep it focused. I’ve just started to dip my toes into this crazy platform, so I’m sure this is just the tip of the toxic metas that I heard can be found here... can’t wait to read the anti-dany metas... that is sure to fill me with a sad rage as well, i know the show did her no favors, sigh....

#topic anti-sansa-stans #topic toxic fandom #topic sansa stark stans

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poetlcs · 4 years

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books I’ve read in 2020 (so far) + their ratings

non-fiction

crossing the line: australia’s secret history in the timor sea by kim mcgrath: important research into australia’s theft of oil in timor leste. didn’t rate

hood feminism: notes from the women that a movement forgot by mikki kendall: essay collection dissecting modern feminism, pointing out the exclusionary practices of mainstream feminism and offering new frameworks through which feminism should operate. really recommend. didn’t rate

the uninhabitable earth: life after warming by david wallace-wells: good introduction to environmentalism and the climate disaster. a little too introductory for me but good for those new to the topic. ★★★

homo deus: a brief history of tomorrow by yuval noah harari: it is simply not Sapiens nor as good as Sapiens. Looks at potentials for our future but, thought it was a little poorly researched. Some parts were still interesting though. ★★★

SPQR: a history of ancient rome by mary beard: a little dense at times, but super interesting and detailed look at ancient rome. enjoyed it a lot. ★★★★

sister outsider by audre lorde: collection of audre lorde’s essays and speeches, about feminism, lesbianism, the queer community, being Black and a lesbian ect ect. outstanding, important collection anyone interested in intersectional feminism must read. ★★★★★

all boys aren’t blue by george m. johnson: memoir about johnson’s experiences growing up as a Black gay boy in a poor neighbourhood. Very poignant memoir, written in such accessible language which I liked. guarenteed to get you emotional, another one everyone should read. didn’t rate because it’s so highly personal that felt wrong but highly recommend.

under a biliari tree i born by alice biari smith: memoir by an Aboriginal Australian detailing her life growing up learning traditional Aboriginal ways and how the lives of Indigenous Australian’s have been impacted through the years, specifically in Western Australia. Probably more aimed at school age people but still a 101 I think many Australian’s (and non Australian’s) can benefit from. didn’t rate

classics

maurice by e.m forster: gay man coming of age story in college + themes around class and sexuality. forster’s end note saying he thought it imperative to write a happy ending because we need that in fiction, i love him. ★★★★★

emma by jane austen: read before seeing the movie. loved emma as a character but thought this was okay compared to other Austen I’ve read. ★★★½

perfume by patrick suskind: a man with an incredible sense of smell starts murdering young women to try and bottle their scent for a perfume. weirdest shit I ever read still don’t know how to feel about it. ★★★

the color purple by alice walker: follows the life of Celie, an Black woman living in rural Georgia. deals with her relationship with her sister Nettie, her lover Shug Avery, and with God. this tore my heart to shreds absolutely everyone must read it, like even just for the beautiful writing ALONE. ★★★★

a study in scarlet by arthur conan doyle: its sherlock holmes #1 no further explanation required. not my fave sherlock story, was the weird morman subplot needed? ★★½

dracula by bram stoker: yeah vampires!! this was way easier to read and also way funnier than I expected. we STAN gothic aesthetics and Miss Mina Harker here. ★★★★

fantasy

the diviners by libba bray: teens with magical powers/abilities solving mysteries in 1920′s new york. reread. ★★★★★

lair of dreams by libba bray: the diviners #2. reread. ★★★★½

before the devil breaks you by libba bray: the diviners #3. reread. best one in the series hands down. ★★★★★

the king of crows by libba bray: waited so long for this series ender and it let me down lol. ★★★

clockwork princess by cassandra clare: the infernal devices #3. dont @ me this is my comfort reread series and I was travelling. ★★★★★

we unleash the merciless storm by tehlor kay mejia: we set the dark on fire #2. latinx inspired fantasy about overthrowing a corrupt government with an f/f romance. didn’t like as much as book one but still good, BEST girlfriends ever. ★★★½

wolfsong by t.j klune: basically feral gay werewolves and witches living in a town together. feels like a teen wolf episode but way more gayer. despite that hated the writing style and I don’t like age gap romances so yay the concept no the execution. ★★

the fate of the tearling by erika johansan: the tearling #3. finally finished this series, dunno why everyone loathes the ending so much I thought it was cool. underrated fantasy because it’s very unique. ★★★★

girl, serpent, thorn by melissa bashardoust: persian inspired fantasy about a girl who is cursed by a div to kill anyone she touches. has an f/f romance. bashardoust writes the most aesthetically rich settings I love her. ★★★★

crier’s war by nina varela: reread. f/f enemies to lovers where the main character poses as a handmaiden in order to try and murder the princess whose father killed her family. PEAK gay content literally a modern classic. ★★★★★

we hunt the flame by hafsah faizal: I was so disinterested in this book I barely can describe the plot but basically it’s a prince and a hunter who are enemies but are forced to go looking for this magical artifact together anyway it was boring. ★

ghosts of the shadow market by cassandra clare + others: short story collection set in the shadowhunter world. probably the strongest of her collections but they just don’t hit the same as her full length books. didn’t rate.

a storm of swords: part two by george r.r martin: a song of ice and fire #3. I WILL finish reading these books eventually i swear !! probably the best one yet though. ★★★★

amarah by l.l mcneil: world of linaria #3. high fantasy with politics, dragons, warring races. tolkein/asoiaf vibes if they had more women with agency. didn’t rate because I haven’t decided my feelings on the end yet.

science fiction

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: f/f enemies to lovers between spies on rival sides of a time war. good book but writing style wasn’t for me (others love this so eh take my opinion with a grain os salt: ★★★

not your sidekick by c.b lee: main character is from a superhero family but has no powers herself, so she takes an internship working with a superhero corp. has an f/f romance with a villain character. so much fun and super cute

speculative fiction:

the deep by rivers solomon: speculative fiction wherein pregnant African women thrown overboard by slave ships gave birth to babies that became mermaids. main character holds all the memories of her people’s past but runs away after being unable to deal with the burden. about self discovery, intergenerational trauma and the burden of remembering. a little short imo but still all round excellent book ★★★★

how long ‘til black future month? by n.k jemisin: short story collection, many with an afro-futurism focus. hard to explain because there is such a wide variety of stories but this is an AMAZING collection. didn’t rate because I don’t like rating short story collections but wish more people would read it.

mystery

the family upstairs by lisa jewell: woman inherits an english house and starts to unravel the secrets of a mass cult suicide that happened there years ago. loved it because it was wild. ★★★★★

the hand on the wall by maureen johnson: truly devious #3. boarding school mystery where the main character has to solve a murder that happened in the 1920s at her school while another mystery is happening in present time. my least favourite of the series but satisfying conclusion nonetheless. ★★★½

contemporary fiction

maybe in another life by taylor jenkins reid: dual timeline book showing the two outcomes of a decision the main character makes. cool concept but ultimately boring book because I didn’t care about the main character at all. didn’t rate because I didn’t finish it.

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo: vignette stories of various women whose lives are vaguely interconnected. incredibly well written with such vivid characters. deserves the hype. ★★★★

tin heart by shivan plozza: australian YA, the recipient of a heart transplant wishes to connect with the family of her donor, after she discovers the identity of her donor. good story but didn’t like the writing style. ★★★

a little life by hanya yanigahara: follows the life of a group of friends living in life, especially that of jude, a closed off and damaged man with a troubling past. a little too torture-porny/Tragic Gays but I cannot deny the author has a beautiful writing style and I went through all the emotions. didn’t rate

a girl like that by tanaz bhathena: explores the events leading up to the main character dying in a car crash. set in Jeddah, saudi arabia and explores expectations on women, feminism and expressions of sexuality and relationships between women during teenage years. kinda no good characters but I loved it for it’s messy depiction of teen girls (whilst not condemning them for this). underrated. ★★★★

little fires everywhere by celeste ng: drama in white american suburbs when a new family moves in and the neighbours start investigating their past. eh, I heard a lot about this and thought it was just okay. ★★★

stay gold by tobly mcsmith: trans boy decides to go stealth at his new school and falls for a cheerleader, georgia. about navigating being trans and definitely felt like it was written to educate cis people. it was okay but ultimately not my thing and not really the story I was looking for, even though I respect it being written by a trans author and still would recommend to certain people. ★★½

everything leads to you by nina lacour: main character and her best friend have to unravel a hollywood mystery, all while the main character is trying to get over her ex-girlfriend and find work as a set designer. f/f romance and loved the focus on movie making and the power of stories. ★★★½

the falling in love montage by ciara smyth: a girl meets another girl at a party, but she’s not looking to date due to the amount of family issues she has going on. so her and the girl decide to spend the summer having fun, renacting scenes from rom-coms, but never dating. awesome family dynamics and the relationship between the two girls was sweet also set in ireland which is fun.

normal people by sally rooney: explores the relationship between connell and marianne, who meet in school, date secretly, and then are inexplicably drawn to each other for the rest of their lives. explores power dynamics, relationships, love and trust, and what we owe to eachother. great book, great mini-series, love it to bits. ★★★★★

the glass hotel by emily st john mandel: impossible to explain this book, but there’s a mystery about grafitti, a ponzi scheme and a character falling to their death on a boat under suspicious circumstances. honestly idk what happened in this book but I liked it. ★★★½

historical fiction

half of a yellow sun by chimamanda ngozi adichie: historical fiction about the biafran war loosely based on adichie’s family experiences. incredibly well written with an ending that punches you in the gut. ★★★★

hamnet by maggie o’farrell: explores the shakespeare family after the death of their child, Hamnet, from the plague, and how this leads to Shakespeare writing Hamlet. cool as fuck concept and boring as fuck book with such tropey female characters. ★★

all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr: WW2 fiction, dual perspective between a blind girl living in france and a german boy forced into nazi youth. I cannot believe this book is award winning it’s so boring and predictable and i reget the time i wasted on it. ★

poetry:

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong: poetry memoir. vuong writes a letter to his illiterate mother, knowing she’ll never read it, exploring their relationship, his experiences growing up as second generation Vietnamese-American, and hers during the Vietnam War. My favorite book I’ve read so far this year, just too good to explain, genuinely just feel like everyone is better off for having read this. ★★★★★

currrently reading:

girls of storm and shadow by natasha ngan

meet me at the intersection: edited by rebecca lim & ambelin kwaymullina

stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america by ibram x. kendi

get a life, chloe brown by talia hibbert

#books #reading #booklr #book #book recommendation #mine #reading update #did anyone ask for this #no #did i do it anyway yes #its my continuing agenda to get book tumblr to read books that aren't soc and aftg aaldkskska #ok bye #after making this its become apparent to me I need to balance out how much fantasy I let myself read akdksks #i lov fantasy but im TRYING to read more uhh non fiction and lit fic

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howlandreads · 5 years

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Thoughts on Sansa in 8x03

Though I enjoyed a lot of "The Long Night", I had significant issues with how Sansa was characterized in this episode. ASOIAF's Sansa is a leader. Though she is introverted and self-contained, she consistantly finds herself in leadership positions. Instead of allowing Show!Sansa to share this same mentality, D&D completely ignored it, choosing to highlight action sequences instead investing in character moments. Nearly every scene is offensive to Sansa's character:

The Pointy End

Do I love that we get a referance to Jon and Arya's childhood goodbye? Yes. Do I love that it comes at the expense of Sansa's canonical resourefulness? That's a hard no. If D&D cared for and respected Sansa's character half as much as they pretend to, they would know that her's is a story of resistance, and that she's prepared for this resistance to become physical in the past:

"Sansa threw a plain grey cloak over her shoulders and picked up the knife she used to cut her meat. If it is some trap, better that I die than let them hurt me more, she told herself. She hid the blade under her cloak."

- Sansa II, A Clash of Kings

Even as a child she clearly had a good understanding of knives, how to use them, and how to defend herself. So why did 8x03 present us with an adult Sansa who's seemingly lost her defiant and capable constitution? Because, in this episode especially, D&D use her only as a conveniant plot device. Need to make a S1 callback? Sansa! Need to remind the audience of how Good™ Tyrion is? Sansa! Nevermind the fact that she has her own arc that's worth investing in and respecting. This scene only sets the tone for the rest of the episode.

Silence In The Crypts

This scene is by far the most upsetting in the episode. A battle rages outside and Sansa is sheltered inside with the women and children. It's a setting that's incredibly reminiscent of Blackwater, so why don't we see Blackwater!Sansa 2.0?

Not only would I assume that comforting the frightened is in character for Sansa, it's actually happened before:

"Sansa raised her hands for quiet. 'Joffrey's come back to the castle. He's not hurt. They're still fighting, that's all I know, they're fighting bravely. The queen will be back soon.' The last was a lie, but she had to soothe them. She noticed the fools standing under the galley. 'Moon Boy, make us laugh.'"

- Sansa VII, A Clash of Kings

Surrounded by people who have been indifferent towards her public suffering, and have done nothing to help her, she still goes out of her way to both comfort and distract them. But I'm supposed to believe that years later, surround by Northerners (her own people), she would choose silence over leadership?

Instead of taking the opportunity to remind the audience of Sansa's leadership qualities, they once again choose to use her as a conveniance instead of a character, abandoning her arc to cheaply let the audience know just how much of a threat the Army of the Dead really is. This scene also has the incredibly uncomfortable effect of making Sansa more like Cersei was during Black water than she was. She sits in silence, talks shit about political rivals, and generally ignores her responsibilites. I know D&D didn't mean to write her at all negatively this episode, but good lord they suck at storytelling sometimes.

Tyrion's Redemption

I'm divided on this scene. I like it because Sophie's acting is nothing short of phenominal, but I also take issue with it because it continues the show's terrible habit of stealing Sansa's development and giving it to others, especially Tyrion. Since Tyrion has been completely white-washed in the show, I knew there was no chance for any real character work between him and Sansa, but it could have at least been better than him wishing he could have stayed married to his child bride, and her deciding to let bygones be bygones about the whole forced marriage/political prisoner thing.

Instead of allowing Sansa the righteous anger she deserves for having spent her formative years being abused by political enemies, the writers instead have her remind the audience that Tyrion did nothing wrong, and that it shouldn't really be held against him that he participated in her torment.

Cut Scenes

I know I'm hardly the first to mention it, but the decision to cut out scenes of Sansa and Tyrion fighting wights is unbelievably frustrating. So I'll just join my voice to the chorus of Sansa stans who say she deserved better. In an episode almost universally criticized for battle sequences that lasted too long, it seems like some of those run-on scenes could have been cut to give at least a moments worth of payoff for the set-up that was Arya giving Sansa her dagger.

Overall this episode was a nagging reminder of just how little respect D&D have paid to Sansa and her development.

#game of thrones #Sansa Stark #the long night #Sophie Turner #gotsansastark #ASoIaF #asoiaf meta

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nightcoremoon · 5 years

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ok so let's talk twilight. girl meets vampire. girl falls in love with vampire. vampire falls in love with girl. girl and vampire start dating. evil vampire wants to eat girl. vampire kills evil vampire.

new moon. vampire leaves girl. girl gets depressed. girl rebounds with werewolf. werewolf wants to fuck girl. werewolf realizes he's the rebound. werewolf leaves girl. girl seemingly attempts suicide. vampire learns about this and attempts suicide. girl goes to tell him she's not dead. vampire king gives a warning.

eclipse. vampire and girl are back together. evil vampire girlfriend wants revenge. evil vampire girlfriend makes evil vampire army. vampires and werewolves kill evil vampire and army. vampire king gives another warning. vampire marries girl.

breaking dawn. vampire and girl get married. and fuck. girl gets pregnant. baby will kill girl. but abortion is ~evil~. girl dies and gets turned into vampire. werewolf wants to fuck the baby vampire. vampire king shows up to kill the baby. it was a big misunderstanding lol. happily ever after except for the people who died.

that's the gist of things for anyone who doesn't remember.

ok so there's two groups of people. team edward, people who are satisfied with the canon. team jacob, people who say "fuck that, girl should be with werewolf instead". and many people on team jacob proceed to say that team edward all condone pedophilia and stalking and other terrible things. fandom wars happened. and in the end, most people moved on.

...

but not me.

now, I wasn't an obsessed super fan. I thought the first book was boring as shit until the second half. it took me a month to read the first half and three days to read the second half. I read the entire second in literally one day. the entire third in like 3 days. and the entire fourth in like 5. I watched all the movies in theaters. but none of this was by choice. my mom and my several sisters basically made me, but it was okay I guess. personally my fandom progression started with final fantasy 12. it moved into eragon, death note, jak and daxter, avatar the last airbender, invader zim, tales of symphonia, a dash of harry potter, sly cooper, my little pony friendship is magic, dead space, red vs blue, twokinds, resident evil, etc. I'm not in the twilight fandom by choice, but I know all the lore and trivia so fuck it. I might as well be.

I'm team edward.

I know what you're thinking. "but he's 100 years old trying to fuck a teenager! he watched her sleep! he almost killed her drinking her blood! he made her suicidal and depressed! he was super jealous and possessive whenever jacob was around! he broke her bones when they had sex! he impregated her with a monster baby that killed her! HE IS TEH EVILEST EVAR!!1"

let's take this one piece at a time.

1- he didn't try to fuck her. she tried to fuck him. but he said not until she's a full grown adult capable of making her own decisions, and not until marriage ~because premarital sex is wrong~

2- yeah watching her sleep was a little creepy but we can attribute that to stephenie meyer thought it was romantic because she's a dumb white mormon cultist

3- he is a VAMPIRE, and not by choice. and it was either suck the poison out of bella or let her become a vampire. which he didn't want to happen because ~being a vampire sucks 🥁~ so yeah he saved her life. and he managed to not drain her dry and kill her even though her blood is so goddamn delicious because she's a fucking mary sue

4- he didn't make her suicidal and depressed by leaving the country so she didn't get in any life threatening situations like being around jasper who has the self control of a fat kid in a twinkie factory. bella just took the breakup really really badly, and if someone reacts badly to a breakup, it's on THEM, not the other person. saying any differently is, what's the word, toxic and clingy. her emotional instability for plot is just indicative of the author's inherent misogyny (which makes sense, as dumbass mormon cultists are rife with the stuff)

5- he was not jealous and possessive. JACOB was the one who was toxic, since "that cold one will TAKE MY BELLA AWAY FROM ME". jacob wanted bella for himself because he had a crush on her since they were kids, and it was a super unhealthy obsession. edward could read his thoughts and was pissed; consider his backstory in hearing potential rapists' thoughts and killing them. but edward couldn't kill jacob because he was bella's friend. nothing more, though, and jacob fumed in his nice guy fedora

6- again, edward is a VAMPIRE, and a horny bastard at that, because he is a gentleman and therefore probably was a virgin too. he even told bella countless times that it would happen but bella thought it was #WORTH to get some of that hot vampire dick. I guess she's into some super kinky shit. no wonder 50 shades of grey made sense as a twilight fanfiction. anyway, bella seems to have fully consented, otherwise she's the world's most unreliable narrator.

7- the monster baby plot arc was propaganda against female bodily autonomy because "teh babby haz a SOUL and abortion is MURDER even tho she'll LITERALLY DIE otherwise but hey backwoods redneck mormon values are more important than the lives of women, right? anyway, ironically enough, he respected her bodily autonomy by not fixing the mistake he didn't think could happen (uterus vampires can't get pregnant but dick vampires can get other people pregnant? NANI, THE FUCK???) because bella didn't consent to him killing the fetus that was literally breaking her bones from inside since ~abortion is wrooOOoong~

and now, counterpoint.

...and counter-counterpoint.

"edward groomed bella" edward's main focus when she was 16 was to not kill her and drink the delicious cherry fanta, and his main focus at 17 was to make sure she didn't die and that nobody else killed her and drank her delicious cherry fanta, and only when she was a full ass adult was he like "alright fine you wanna marry me sooooo bad here's ur fuckin diamond ring". yeah they made out but like, consider that a FUCKING MORMON WROTE THIS BOOK. one can't fault a character for the dumbassery of the author. that's why in this house we stan james potter. and besides, a few years ago whilst playing truth or dare I at 21 was dared to kiss a 17 year old and I did- granted I didn't know he was 17 at the time but that doesn't even matter because granted edward was a lot older than 21, but granted that doesn't even matter anyways because you know how many teenage girls would make out with oscar wilde, keanu reeves, chris evans, or danny devito jason momoa if they had the chance? I know I would have. it isn't necessarily sexual unless you want it to be. besides, the argument could be made that brain development stops when you become a vampire, considering their body stops developing too. technically edward had the brain and body of a 17 year old, he was just 17 for a long time. so any way you slice it, there are acceptable explanations justifying this in the magic fantasy land of what-ifs and JUST BAD WRITING.

we good?

now let's tackle jacob.

he demanded she "choose" him over edward. he was just as childish and petty as mike. oh, poor mike. he was just too dumb. SWM be like. anyway, he literally abandoned her, his friend, because she wouldn't fuck him, when she needed her best friend the most. because that's who jacob was to her. he was her best friend. she kinda ignored him because edward is smexy and it overpowered her tiny teenage girl brain, or at least that's the author's excuse (yay for internalized misogyny). when they were in the mountains and he was keeping her from dying of hypothermia edward literally had to ask him to stop thinking about fucking her. while she was unconscious. which is kinda rapey. and then to top it all off, he wanted to fuck her baby daughter. so jacob is literally every single thing people called edward. he is jealous, possessive, creepy, obsessed with bella, and a whole bunch of other stereotypes associated with brown skinned man wanting to fuck white skinned women.

...

oh dear god.

wow I can't believe that the white woman who took an existing native american tribe and rewrote their culture to fit her vampire love story for white girls to have a sexy ~exotic~ savage feral werewolf boy in the love triangle turned out to be a racist all along.

so ideally, jacob would be the ideal partner for bella. lore-wise as well. bella and jacob grow old together in their plain regular normal human lives (and hopefully bella's face doesn't get clawed off like sam and leah BIG OOF FOR THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE), edward and tanya get married like they were supposed to do all along and gallivant off and do vampire things, all that jazz. edward isn't creepy and weird, bella isn't a magic mary sue with a magic fucking jean grey mind shield, jacob isnt an asshole.

but after reading the books and the evidence provided, I cannot in good conscience be team jacob over team edward.

thank you for your time.

fuck stephenie meyer.

and fuck all the dudebros who dog on girls for liking twilight anyways, as if dudebros don't watch and consume shitty media all the time.

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thoughtfulpaperback · 5 years

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People crying like they never watched the show before.

So like the GOT fandom is going crazy over certain deaths like "_______ didnt deserve to die like that"... and Ned deserved to die the way he did what about Mance Ryder, Cat, Robb, Lady, and Rickon? Like this is a story wereany characters either through thier decisions or through another person's actions die. They are good, complicated characters, that have emotional growth only to be torn down. Robb made stupid decisions but he wasnt the same boy he was when his father died. He grew into a good military leader and prospective king. His bad decisions were ones that made sense to his character and for sure didnt deserve to be massacred. But it happened. And for arguably didnt make sense to build up this character, show him on a journey of growth only to decimate what he built with like 3 bad decisions made in the season he dies.

I don't think D and D hate women or are racist. Cat was a strong female character and was butchered. Because what game of thrones does best kills off all people across the spectrum of good and bad. Talisa didnt need to be a medically trained foreigner from volantis because in the books she was a southerner or more south than riverrun if I remember correctly. So on one hand I appreciated them not going that route and giving us a stronger female partner to Robb than the books did, but it was crappy that she died, but made sense since unlike the book wife she wouldnt have had been staying with her family who was in on it.

Shae dying was sad, but it happens in the books (granted books shae wasnt nearly as interesting or that compelling of a character and was not in love with Tyrion (arguably)) Book Gilly isnt as developed as show Gilly and show gilly is pretty great. Arya and Sansa are two women who have gone through crap but are strong and fierce characters in thier respective ways. Book missandei is like 9 so I think the plot with grey worm was D and Ds add in and it explored both the characters and developed then in a way that made us love them even more. Like the women arent treated differently then the men writing wise.

Then the there is the argument about women being pitted against each other... so like did we forget this is the game of thrones and everyone is playing. Did we forget that Margery was moving against Cersei the whole time she was at kings landing. That was what made the characters compelling was that admist this War of 5 kings the women were fighting just as hard in thier own ways. And now these women have armies and are in actual positions of power and have differing interests. And we dont expect them to have tension or to distrust each other??? They did it when they had nothing so of course now that they are in charge they are gonna keep doing it.

Also the idea that Dany's character is being slaughtered to service Jon's is a total slap to his character development. Danys people have been murdered before and she has decimated those who were responsible in her eyes before too (not on that scale but not out of character). She has trusted the wrong people, hurt those that were loyal to her (mostly jorah) similar to Robb( justified in the desicion but it still wasnt the best one), etc.

Jon has been betrayed bullied killed and he even had to do some betraying too. Also as a bastard he was treated more poorly than noble women (social structure wise).He hasnt had it any easier in that sense than other characters and has earned the respect of his people just as dany did hers. Again as a woman I feel that the women of the show have had it tougher because they have to deal with that extra societal level of crap. Dany and sansa have been sexually harassed and raped, and treated poorly because they are women. But the point is that Jon hasnt had it easy either and earned the respect just as much as Dany and Sansa.

Her character isnt being butchered to make him look better. In the context of Westeros he is the better option. Dany is a foreigner with a an army made up of foreigners. The locals are there because of jon (its him they trust). All the locals know of targs since the mad king is that they are incestual, violent, dragon obsessed and conquerors. And from a small folk perspective Dany fits the bill. Of course we've seen dany from the beginning so we sympathize with her experience. But I mean Dany has been pulling some shade crap since season 3 imo. I started to dislike her character then or I should say I started to dislike they way her character went around conquering and ruling.

I think it is disappointing that we will be left with little or possibly no POC characters and that I feel could have been fixed by D and D (who arent strangers to adding or replacing character with thier own characters or changing the backgrounds). And I think that other television shows should take note and add more POCs across the board so that you arent killing off all the POCs.

But I dont think that makes them racist, they could have done better but working with so much material and so many characters I can understand how they dropped the ball. If a show has like four characters and the kill of the only POC, lgbtq+, trans, character or a character that doesn't conform to ableist standards I riot because like there is not excuse at that point when you are working with very little.

I just feel like people have been dying on this show like crazy since the beginning and so many "unfair" things have happened we like game of thrones for doing that. But now that the end is near people are more upset over these things than they were before.

I think my favorite thing about GOT is that everyone has a justification for thier actions. To Just say that Dany is suddenly going insane is unfair to her. Again books wise it seems more obvious since we get things from her perspective, but Danys experience shaped her yes she is compassionate but like she is ruthless too she has had to be to conquer cities in essos. She is just as emotional and volatile as other characters only unlike jon and sansa she has a dragon and the actual power to cause massive damage. She basically has a nuclear bomb and that kind of power in anyone's hands is dangerous. And she doesn't have to go through others to use it.

Dany is complex flawed and angry, so I dont think "Mad" as in insane is correct but she is super charged and that is a threat to many people. Always was, but now we get to see it while she is with the other main POV characters.

Again could the writing have been better..

Yes. But don't think it would change anything because Dany, Jon, sansa and the remaining characters are all justified. We have example of them being good and bad at leading, strategy, and so on, they also represent different styles and ideology that political scientists still argue about. So of course Dany stans will still stan her and people like me who sympathize with her character but cannot ideologically align themselves with her will not.

I am not saying people shouldn't be upset with the way thier fav dies. I cried so hard during the red wedding. But can we not pretend that the whole show wasn't built on that. Jaime destroyed jaime's character development he is constantly one step forward 2 steps back as a character when it comes to his family. He always has the most growth Way from them but he always goes back. This is not D and D's fault. How else could they write his character to get that across? I will see how George does it and decide if they did it justice or not. I mean again from the book people guessed that jaime would die with cersei.

I dont know yall. I do think the show is flawed and wished somethings were done better but then there are somethings that I am just like...it is game of thrones they have been doing it since the beginning why are we more mad about it now versus then?

#game of thrones spoilers #game of thrones

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newstfionline · 6 years

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Trump voters stay loyal because they feel disrespected

By James Hohmann, Washington Post, May 14, 2018

Three new deep dives into Donald Trump’s strength in Midwestern counties that were previously Democratic strongholds--written by conservatives, liberals and a nonpartisan journalist--each highlight a deep craving for respect among supporters of the president and an enduring resentment toward coastal elites that buoys his popularity.

Republicans and Democrats who have traveled to Macomb County in the Detroit suburbs, which Trump won by 12 points after Barack Obama carried it twice, including by 16 points in 2008, came away struck by these dynamics.

-- Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, who helped orchestrate Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory, has obsessively studied the “Reagan Democrats” in Macomb for more than three decades. He went back after the 2016 election to understand how Trump won Michigan and recently returned to conduct another round of focus groups. “Trump voters complain that there is no respect for President Trump or for people like them who voted for him,” Greenberg writes in a new memo summarizing his latest findings, with Nancy Zdunkewicz of Democracy Corps.

One older white working-class woman recalled that, when she first started voting, “There was so much respect for the president. And I don’t care what he did, or what he said, there was always respect. It was always ‘Mr. President.’” She said she is disgusted by the way people talk about Trump.

“A healthy diet of Fox News is feeding the white working-class men fending off the challenges of Trump’s opponents, including those within their own families,” Greenberg and Zdunkewicz write. “They … feel vindicated that a businessman like Trump has produced a strong macro-economy and kept his promises on immigration. They continue to appreciate how he speaks his mind, unlike a typical politician. … One white working class man shared that he ‘lost contact with [his] own daughter because of the election.’ Others complain that their children and millennial friends challenge their views and suggest the media manipulates them. … Families dividing over the 2016 election reflects just how central feelings about Trump have become to people’s identities.”

-- Respect is also a central undercurrent in “The Great Revolt,” a new book by Republican operative Brad Todd and conservative columnist Salena Zito. Macomb is one of 10 counties they studied across the five states that tipped the election to Trump to chronicle how he forged his conservative-populist coalition. Here is sampling of quotes from Trump voters interviewed for the book:

“We voted for President Obama and still we are ridiculed. Still we are considered racists,” said Cindy Hutchins, a store owner and nurse in Baldwin, Mich. “There is no respect for anyone who is just average and trying to do the right things.”

“Our culture in Hollywood or in the media gives off the distinct air of disregard to people who live in the middle of the country, as if we have no value or do not contribute to the betterment of society,” said Amy Giles-Maurer of Kenosha, Wis. “It’s frustrating. It really wants to make you stand up and yell, ‘We count,’ except of course we don’t. At least not in their eyes.”

“Live in a small or medium-sized town, and you would think we were dragging the country down,” said Michael Martin of Erie, Pa. “We aren’t a country just made up of large metropolitan areas. Our politics and our culture up until now has dictated that we are less than in the scale of importance and value.”

Todd is a partner at OnMessage, a powerhouse GOP consulting firm, who has helped elect seven senators, five governors and more than two dozen congressmen. Zito is a syndicated columnist from Pittsburgh. Together, they identify seven archetypes of voters who fueled Trump’s victory. The chapters include vignettes about three individual voters who fit each mold.

Some categories are obvious, like blue-collar workers who have personally experienced a job loss in the past seven years or independents who were amenable to Ross Perot’s campaigns two decades earlier. Others are more surprising, such as women under 45 who support gun rights for self-defense reasons. A majority in that category admit in post-election polling that they felt uncomfortable telling friends they supported Trump because they knew they would face disapproval.

“King Cyrus Republicans” is what the authors call evangelicals who stuck with Trump after the “Access Hollywood” tape came out because they wanted a conservative to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. That’s a reference to the sixth-century pagan Persian king who released Jews from bondage in Babylon.

Trump’s margin was weaker than Mitt Romney’s in 86 of the 100 most educated counties in the country. Trump’s level of support was higher than Romney’s in 1,449 of the 1,500 American counties with the lowest concentration of bachelor’s degrees. “The driver of this split is not the college education itself, but the social pressure that comes with living exclusively among other college graduates,” Zito and Todd write. “Rotary Reliables” is the name the authors give to the kind of country-club Republicans who refused to support Trump in more highly educated areas of the country but stuck with him in the Rust Belt because they spend their days hanging or working around less-educated blue-collar types.

Notably, people in all seven of their categories expressed frustration, even a year after the election, that they are not understood, respected or valued by the powers that be on the East and West coasts. “In the short span of a generation, the face and focus of the Democratic Party nationally has shifted from a glorification of the working-class ethos to multiculturalist militancy pushed by the Far Left of the party,” Zito and Todd argue. “The driving construct of otherness … is at its core driven by perceptions of respect. … The professional Left focuses heavily on race-related questions in analyzing the Trump vote, but race-tinged subjects were rarely cited by Trump voters interviewed for this book.”

-- Trump appealed to the “forgotten man,” a term his campaign often used, with a message that was infused less with ideology than grievance. He repeatedly benefited from his opponent giving him fodder. “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Hillary Clinton said in September 2016 at an “LGBT for Hillary” gala in New York. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic--you name it. And, unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

The Democratic nominee added that “the other half” of Trump’s supporters were “people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.” But this nuance was lost. Many heard Clinton saying they were deplorable, and the gaffe helped galvanize wobbly Republicans.

-- Dan Balz, The Washington Post’s chief correspondent, spent the past 16 months interviewing voters in rural areas of the upper Mississippi River valley where Obama won but then broke decisively for Trump. Macomb is suburban and wasn’t part of the area Balz explored, but there are notable echoes in his piece. His fascinating report filled a special section in Sunday’s newspaper. Some relevant nuggets:

“One of the places I would agree with the hardcore Trump people, they’re tired of being treated as the enemy by Barack Obama,” said Dennis Schminke, 65, a retired manager at Hormel, the company makes Spam in Austin, Minn., an area just north of the border with Iowa.

Trump was the first Republican to carry Mower County, which includes the meatpacking town, since Richard Nixon beat John F. Kennedy there in 1960. Schminke said Trump’s appeal there was born in part of resentment toward the Obama presidency. “His comment, the whole thing, it’s been worn out to death, that clinging to God and guns, God and guns and afraid of people who don’t look like them, blah, blah, blah. Just quit talking down to me,” he explained. “I despise Barack Obama. I think primarily because I don’t think he thinks very much of people like me. That’s just the long and short of it.”

Andrew Chesney, 36, a conservative businessman in Freeport, Ill.--the site of the second Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858 and a county that Obama carried in 2008--said Midwesterners feel let down by political leaders from both parties. “We’re constantly being preached to by those that in many cases have never done it,” he said. “This is an area that we try to work hard, play by the rules. It’s not a fast pace, it’s not a fancy pace, but we appreciate it. We like our big vehicles and our large parking spots, and that works for some people and it doesn’t work for others.”

-- Other reporters on our staff routinely hear similar sentiments when interviewing voters. David Miller, a white 54-year-old, talked with The Post at a polling place in Cleveland last Tuesday as he pulled a Republican primary ballot for the first time he could remember to vote in the governor’s race. Like so many others, he said he came to feel left behind before the 2016 election. “I mainly was a mainstream Democrat,” he told Afi Scruggs. “Every time I turned on the TV, there’s a Democrat calling me a racist and I just got tired of it.”

-- One reason Balz’s piece is great is that it’s longitudinal: It tracks in a nuanced way how specific people’s attitudes about Trump have shifted gradually since he took office. In some cases, folks who reluctantly backed him are more strongly supportive now than then. Others have peeled away as they became fatigued by the drama and scandal that follows this president.

The best illustration is Kurt Glazier, 50, from Sterling, Ill. He’s a state worker, a union member and chairman of the Republican Party in Whiteside County, where Ronald Reagan was born. Balz visited him four times, including long talks in the dining room of his home.

Eight days before the inauguration, Glazier lamented the political divisions that had been building for years. “I very much dislike the fact that a lot of people stereotype Republican individuals, Republican people, that we’re racists. I think that is further from the truth,” he said.

By midsummer of 2017, Glazier had growing concerns about Trump. “Every night when I watch the national news, I wonder what circus is going to be on the news, what they’re going to talk about,” he said. “I hoped for more of the making America great again … It’s almost like it’s ‘The Apprentice’ on a daily basis.”

Near the first anniversary of the president taking office, Glazier worried especially that those who voted for Trump are now viewed by others as therefore being like Trump. “I’m far from being a racist,” he said. “I’m far from being a bigot. Not everybody makes the crude comments. Not everybody walks and talks like he’s a big bully, like the president can do sometimes.”

A few weeks ago, Glazier watched Stormy Daniels’s interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” and felt “a little saddened” by the steady stream of Trump’s self-inflicted mistakes. “It does nothing for his reputation,” he said. “Of course, the real die-hard Donald Trump lovers eat this up and they eat these scandals up.”

But Glazier drew a distinction between the staunchest Trump supporters and other Republicans--like him. “I think the real party faithful, the educated voters, might be beginning to distance themselves from him, and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a Republican challenger or challengers against Trump,” he said. “They wanted so much of a change. But he has some changing to do himself before I would be supportive of him again. … A 71-year-old man like he is, I don’t foresee him changing a whole lot.”

#Trump voters #Trump supporters #US politics

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jennawynn · 7 years

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This post where you can see how someone defending Mon-El, and that he did nothing wrong, but blames Kara for all the problems, it reminds me of a similar argument to that I came a year ago when someone similarly defended Mako , and claimed that he was the real victim in a love triangle, and that Korra and Asami only manipulated with him because they wanted to hurt each other or something.

I didn’t see a lot of Mako stans where I was. Mostly just Mkrra shippers who assumed they were endgame. Maybe it’s because I just wasn’t “here,” especially in the beginning, but Mkrra is far different from Krml and Blarke from my vantage point.

With Mkrra, the ‘bad guy’ was Asami. I saw posts critiquing her to hell and back. Called her manipulative or a secret spy or femme fatale or a mary sue or useless to the plot... tons of different, sometimes contradictory things. She couldn’t possibly be all of them. I didn’t see Mkrra stans insulting Korra.

With Blarke, you see Blarkers putting down Eliza or Clarke all the time. Insulting both the actress and the character. They demonize Lexa too, but a lot of their ire is directed at half their ship! Even in their best posts, they call her Princess (which was an insulting nickname). Princess because he’s the Rebel King.

Now it looks like Krml is going down the path of Blarke. People calling Kara a stuck up bitch or holier than thou, using the words of Mon-El’s mom, which were supposed to be clear manipulation, as real insults. People saying that she’s over-reacting to the lies or whatever.

I hesitate to make a lot of comparisons between Legend of Korra and Supergirl. I know it’s all the rage to compare Supercorp and Korrasami, but I feel like that’s a very shallow comparison at best. I can accept Lena and Asami parallels as individual characters, but the ship comparisons leave a lot to be desired. Similarly, I don’t want to compare Mako to Mon-El or Mkrra to Krml. Mako was insensitive and hot-headed, especially in the early books, but I wouldn’t call him abusive. Mkrra was volatile and unhealthy, but again, not abusive. Mako made some really bad decisions and cheated, but that’s about the worst of what he did.

Mon-El comes with the baggage of being the prince of a planet that treats women like objects and owns slaves. He’s intentionally lied to Kara and manipulated her. He admits he would have continued to lie to her if she hadn’t found out. He clearly doesn’t respect her, he just wants her. He straight up says as much. “I will respect you, just give me one more chance.” “I like being a hero because I get to spend my day with you.”

Mako may have fought with Korra about her role as the Avatar, but he still respected her and her role. I think Mkrra stans also liked Korra.

The thing about Blarks and Krmls is that they don’t like the female half of their ships. They just idolize the dude.

#pbw #raging about #supergirl #anti mon-el #extreme-madness-x

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