#Talking about how feminism was ruining good TV and all that shit
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Happy back-to-school y’all
I’ve attended and worked at a couple of super liberal universities. I avoid the gender studies departments for obvious reasons and I still had a lecture in which the female prof gave a brief overview of TERFs and proclaimed her hatred of JKR. Being openly critical of gender ideology, the porn industry, kinks, and ‘sex work’ are the kind of things that can ruin your future in academia. Not to mention the fact that any speech or actions that could be labelled transphobic (ie. defining woman as adult human female) can get you a suspension according to many universities anti-hate-speech policies.
So, here’s a list of small and smallish (small in terms of overt TERFery, some may require more effort than others) radical feminist actions you can take as a university student:
(this is a liberal arts perspective so if you’re a stem gal this may not apply. but also if you’re in stem maybe you can actually acknowledge that women are oppressed as a sex class without getting kicked out of school. idk)
(Note for TRAs hate reading this: One of the core actions of radical feminism is creating female networks. This is not so that we can brainwash people into being anti-trans. This is because female solidarity is necessary for creating class consciousness and overturning patriarchy. It is harder to subjugate the female sex when we stand together.)
Take classes with female profs. Multiple sections of a class? Pick the one taught by a woman. Have to chose an elective? Only look at electives offered by women. When classes have low numbers they get cancelled. When classes are super popular, universities are forced to consider promoting the faculty that teach them
Make relationships with these female profs. Go to office hours. Chat after class. Ask them about their research. Building female networks is sooooo important!
Actually fill in your end of year course feedback forms. Profs often need these when applying for tenure or applying for a job at another university so it is very important (especially with young and/or new profs) that you fill out these forms and give specific examples of how great these women are. Go off about what you love about them! Give her a brilliant review because you know the idiot boy in that class who won’t shut up even though he knows nothing is going to give her only negative feedback because he thinks any woman who leaves the house is a feminazi b*tch.
(note: obviously don’t go praising any prof - female or male - who is blatantly racist, homophobic, etc.)
(Also if you have shitty male profs write down all the horrible things they have done and said and put it in these forms because once a shitty man gets tenure they are virtually untouchable)
(also also, leave a good review on rate my profs or whatever other thing students use to figure out if they want to take classes. idc if you copy paste your feedback from the formal review. rave about the class to your friends. do what you can to get good enrolment for that prof for reasons above.)
Participate in class. Talk over the male students. Say what you mean and mean it. Call out the boys when they say dumb shit
Write about women. If you have the option to make a text written by a woman your primary text in an essay, do it. Pick the female-centred option if you’re writing an exam-essay with multiple prompts. (Profs often look at what works on their syllabus are being written about/engaged with as a marker of whether to keep those texts the next time they teach the class. If there are badass women on your syllabus, write about them to keep them on the syllabus) Use female-written secondary sources whenever possible.
(pro tip: many women in academia are more than happy to talk to you about their papers. expand your female networks by reaching out to article authors through email and asking them about their cool shit)
Get your essays published! Many departments have undergrad journals you can publish in. This will ensure more people read about the women you write about and will demonstrate to the department that people like learning about women
Consider trying to publish your undergrad essay with a legit peer-reviewed journal. If you can do it, your use of female-written secondary sources boosts the reputations of the women who wrote those secondary sources. Also this helps generally to increase scholarship about women’s writing!
Present your papers at conferences! Many schools have their own undergraduate/departmental conferences that you can present at. Push yourself by submitting to outside conferences. Bring attention to women’s works by presenting your papers. Take a space at a conference that would otherwise be reserved for mediocre men
Talk to your profs and/or your department and/or your university about mandating the inclusion of female works in classes if this isn’t something they do already
Sit next to other women in your classes. Talk to them. Make friends. Form study groups. Proofread each other’s essays. Give each other knowing looks when the boys are being dumb. Just interact with other women! Build those female networks!
Be generous with your compliments. A female classmate and I were talking to a prof after class and the classmate told me (out of the blue) that I always have such interesting things to say. I think about that whenever I’m lacking confidence about my academic skills. Compliment the women in your classes for speaking up, for sharing their opinions, for challenging your classmates/profs, for doing cool presentations, etc.
Talk to other women about sexist things going on on campus. Make everyone aware of the sexist profs. Complain about how there are many more tenured men than tenured women. Go on rate my professor and be explicit about how the sexist profs are sexist
Be active on campus and in societies. If a society has an all male executive or is male-dominated, any women who join that society make it less intimidating for more women to join. Run for executive positions! Bring in more women!
(Pro tip: Many societies’ elections are super gameable. You can be eligible to vote in a society election sometimes just by being a student at that university — even without having done anything with the society before. Other societies might just require that you’ve taken a class in a particular department or attended a society event. (Check the society’s governing documents.) Use those female networks you’ve been building. If you can bring three or four random people to vote for you, that might be enough for you to win. Societies have trouble meeting quorum (the minimum number of people in attendance to do votes) so it is really super achievable to rig an election with a few friends. And don’t feel bad about this. The system is rigged against women so you have every right to exploit loopholes!)
(Also feel free to go vote “non-confidence”/“re-open election” if only shitty men are running. Too often people see that only candidates they don’t like are running and so they give up. But you can actually stop them getting elected)
Your campus may have a LGBTQIA+alphabetsoup society. That society definitely needs more L and B women representation. It may be tedious to argue with the nb straight dudes who insist that it’s fine to use “q***r” in the society’s posters and that attraction has nothing to do with genitals, but just imagine what could happen if we could make these sorts of societies actually safe spaces for same-sex attracted women and advocated for our concerns
Attend random societies’ election meetings. Get women elected and peace out. (or actually get involved but I’m trying to emphasize the lowest commitment option with this one)
Write for the campus newspaper. Write about what women are doing - women’s sports, cool society activities, whatever. Review female movies, books, tv shows, local theatre productions. Write about sexism on campus. We need more female by-lines and more stories about women
Get involved with your campus’s sexual assault & r*pe hotline/sexual assault survivor’s centre/whatever similar organization your campus has if you can. This is hard work and definitely not for everyone (pls take care of yourself first, especially if you are a survivor)
(If your campus doesn’t have an organization for supporting survivor’s of sexualized violence, start one! This is probably going to be a lot of hard work though, so don’t do it alone)
Talk to your student council about providing free menstrual hygiene products on campus if your campus doesn’t already do this. If your campus provides free condoms (which they probs do), use that as leverage (ie. ‘sex is optional, menstruation is not. so why do we have free condoms and no free pads?’)
If you’re an older student, get involved with younger students (orientation week and such activities are good for this). Show the freshman that you can be a successful and well-liked woman without shaving your legs, wearing heels, wearing make-up, etc. Mentor these young women. Offer to go for coffee or proofread essays.
Come to class looking like a human being. Be visibly make-up less, unshaven, unfeminine, etc. to show off the many different ways of being a woman
Talk to the custodial staff and learn their names. (I know there are men who work in this profession, but it is dominated by low-income women) Say hi in the hallways, ask them about their lives, show them they’re appreciated
Be explicit with your language. When you are talking about sex-based oppression, say it. Don’t say ‘sex worker’ when you mean survivor of human trafficking. This tip is obviously a bit tricky in terms of overt TERFyness, so use your best judgement
That’s all from me for now! Feel free to add your suggestions and remember that feminism is about action
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Ari's ranking of Imagine Dragon's discography
Here's something literally no one asked for! Anyway rankings are out of 10 and I'll have album stats at the end. Also any songs in the EPs that would later appear on Night Visions are just going under the album. I know that'll screw with their averages but I don't really care.
Imagine Dragons (2009) average rating: 7.2
I Need A Minute: 6/10 A nice fun song I used to like dancing around my room to. The lyrics are completely incomprehensible but I guess that's the point, I like it. The vocals are just a little bit too low
Uptight: 7/10 Funky beat, I really like the synth. I didn't listen to this one much as a kid but I really missed out this song kinda fucks.
Cover Up: 7/10 Some more funky bass and synth, getting into some of the more poetic lyrics that I like from them. Pretty solid.
Curse: 9/10 This 👏 was 👏 my 👏 favorite 👏 song 👏 back 👏 in 👏 the 👏 day 👏 Here's where my bias comes in cause this one gets an extra point purely for that. The lyrics don't really make sense but I would lay up at night coming up with complex amvs in my head to go along with it :) Still holds up to 11 y/o Ari's love.
Drive: 7/10 Again, another one I never really listened to as a kid. It's a pretty good, relaxing song, really different from the rest of the upbeat songs on the EP.
Hell and Silence (2010) average rating: 6.75
All Eyes: 6/10 Another funky song, nothing really special but pretty solid
I Don't Mind: 4/10 Honestly not a fan of this one, the synth is kinda annoying and the lyrics are kinda irritating
Selene: 8/10 Idk what to say I just like this song :)
Emma: 9/10 Honestly pretty much the same as Selene but with a chiller vibe, I like the raspier vocals. Extra points for that nearly yelled bridge HELL AND SILENCE I CAN FIGHT IT
It's Time (2011) average rating: 4.2
Tokyo: 3/10 Look I'm a sucker for funky synth OKAY. I don't speak Japanese but I don't have to to tell you Dan's pronunciation is really cringy. Deducting points for the kinda fetishy lyrics too.
The River: 8/10 This is one of those songs I like to listen to when I'm sad to make myself sadder so I can cry my feelings out. It's got a pretty, soothing melody and nice lyrics.
Leave Me: 2/10 This song used to make the feminism leave my body as a kid but I just can't bring myself to really do that anymore lmao. Come on Dan, that's two kinda gross songs on one album :/
Pantomime: 2/10 I. Really did not like this song as a kid. Like I had a playlist on youtube of all their music except this song. I was right.
Look How Far We've Come: 6/10 Hearing this song for the first time in like nine years was an experience. Not a bad song but dome of the lines are a little clunky.
Night Visions (2012) average rating: 7.33
Radioactive: 9/10 Ya know this is the song that got them famous and for good reason. It's a good song and great amv fodder.
Tiptoe: 8/10 It's gonna be harder to write about these songs going forward because these are ones I listen to regularly so I know I like them but yeah. Good song.
It's Time: 10/10 Radioactive may have been what got them famous but this was their first real big single and it was my favorite. I'm a big sucker for a mandolin and I think this is where they started to lean more into the folky sound than the synthy sound.
Demons: 9/10 Another one of their songs I used to listen to to cry and I don't listen to it much anymore because of that but it's still a good, poetic song that hits me in the feels.
On Top Of The World: 6/10 My mom had this as her alarm when I was in middle school so I couldn't listen to it for a long time. The lyrics are a little heavy handed sometimes and a little incomprehensible at others but it's an alright little tune.
Hear Me: 8/10 This album is a little confusing because they include some of their older synth heavy songs alongside their newer folky songs, but I won't complain with this song. Frustrated 13 year old me loved this song because I, too, felt that no one ever heard me when I talked. Ya know, 13 y/o things.
Amsterdam: 7/10 I have no idea what this song is about but it's pretty good.
Every Night: 5/10 This was their first and last try at what I call a "first dance bait" song. Ya know like Perfect by Ed Sheeren or Marry Me by Train? It's alright, just really heavy handed.
Bleeding Out: 10/10 Oh emo eleven year old me ate this edgy shit up. Is it a grimdark? Yes. But that's a plus for this song. This song makes me wanna scream every time I listen to it I BARE MY SKIN AND I COUNT MY SINS AND I CLOSE MY EYES AND I TAKE IT IN
Underdog: 6/10 Another cute song, not much to say about this one, it's alright.
Nothing Left To Say: 9/10 ANOTHER another song I cry to, this one still hits home for me. It's pretty and soothing but the lyrics are still heart wrenching. The instrumental at the end is nice and I like to fall asleep to it.
Rocks: 8/10 A nice upbeat song that is a little repetative but it's only about a minute long so it doesn't over stay its welcome.
Working Man: 5/10 This song isn't on spotify so I don't get to hear it often and I actually hadn't heard it in a while when I listened to it to do this. It's kinda trying to be a 9 to 5 type song but it doesn't really do it for me.
Fallen: 8/10 Another song I hadn't heard in a while since it's not on spotify but I'm more of a fan of this one. Another amv bait song to me but one with more of a triumphant vibe to it. I really like the vocals in the chorus.
Cha-Ching ('Til We Grow Older): 8/10 The hook of this song, cha-ching x3, has a big potential to become really annoying like some of their later songs (cough cough, Thunder) but they actually somhow make it work. This song hits me a lot harder now than it did as a kid cause god. Yeah. They're so right. We are all living until we grow older.
Smoke + Mirrors (2015) average rating: 9.06
Shots: 9/10 Hell YES my favorite album finally let's get into this shit. Anyway songs that make me wanna lay in a field of wildflowers. Well the music, the lyrics are pretty depressing. But that's what makes a great song ya know.
Gold: 9/10 Songs about the rich losing their humanity? Hell yeah. I fucking love the percussion and the synth in this one too.
Smoke and Mirrors: 10/10 The under appreciated masterpiece of this album in my humble opinion. Everyone always talks about Dream as the best song on the album but I really think it's this one. That yelled OPEN UP MY EYES gets me all the time I just really really love this song.
I'm So Sorry: 9/10 Real sexy bassline on this one. I can't tell what the fuck this song is about but I don't care because it goes pretty hard.
I Bet My Life: 8/10 I like the gospel vibes, especially the backing vocals, some of them out-sing Dan a little bit. This one also hits a little harder now that I'm grown up a bit.
Polaroid: 8/10 Another one with cool percussion, some of the lyrics are lost on me but I get the overall vibe of it.
Friction: 10/10 I have no clue what that string is at the beginning of the song but man does it fuck hard. God actually everything in this song goes pretty hard, I'm especially a fan of the vocals.
It Comes Back To You: 8/10 Nice chill song, I feel like this is one that's gonna hit in a few years. Not much to say about it tbh besides I like it.
Dream: 10/10 This song really does live up to the hype even if I like other songs better. It's really poetic and well composed. You really just have to listen to it to get it tbh.
Trouble: 8/10 The piano at the beginning is a little grating but it gets better. Again not much to say about this one, it's solid, just not one of my favorites.
Summer: 8/10 Another sexy baseline, another set of incomprehensible lyrics. I like it.
Hopeless Opus: 10/10 This one's a little weird but it was my favorite for a while. I like weird. Idk if anyone would agree with me but this one was kind of a self fulfilling prophecy, this really was a hopeless opus since, in my opinion, they've yet to make album as good as this one. Also. Guitar solo.
The Fall: 10/10 I like to put this song on when we get the first cold snap of the year after summer :) It's just really chill and I like the vibes and the vocals
Thief: 10/10 AAAAHHHHHH SONGS THAT MAKE ME WANNA RUN THROUGH THE WOODS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
The Unknown: 9/10 Cool percussion, I like the intermediate piano, it's a nice touch.
Second Chances: 9/10 I like the strings and the vocals. Another nice chill song.
Release: 9/10 I like that this one is completely acoustic, it's a nice send off for a great album, if a little depressing.
Evolve (2017) average rating: 5.5
I Don't Know Why: 10/10 I have wanted to choreograph something to this song for the fucking longest time oh my god. I really love the vocals and the synth in this one.
Whatever It Takes: 5/10 This one's alright. It's not great but it's definitely not the worst. Perfectly average pop song.
Believer: 10/10 I am a little bit biased with this one because I use it for my OCs a lot but like. It's a really good song. And I don't watch TV so I haven't gotten it ruined for me by commercials.
Walking The Wire: 6/10 I hadn't listened to this song in a while and it's really not as bad as I remember. I guess you can really tell that he was having marital issues when they made this album and that didn't really connect with me back then. But I'm kinda into a little bit of it now.
Rise Up: 4/10 Another really average, inspirational pop song. I like the raspiness of Dan's voice in most songs but it sounds so over processed in this song I can't stand it.
I'll Make It Up To You: 3/10 Wow okay never mind the marital issues vibe is coming back real heavily in this one. Idk it's just such Straight People vibes, I don't like it :/
Yesterday: 1/10 I associate this song with someone I don't talk to anymore and really wanna forget so it's kinda running at a deficit already. But. Um. It's not a good song otherwise. It's another weird song but something about this one just doesn't work.
Mouth Of The River: 7/10 I think I liked this one when it came out, idk why I stopped listening to it. It's pretty good. Not great. But I like the river imagery. Well. I like river imagery in general.
Thunder: 2/10 hhhhhhhhhhhh why did they think this was a good idea. Probably their most notorious song, I know a lot of people cite it when they say Imagine Dragons makes shitty music. I just think it's tragic that this is one of the ones that got super popular for some reason. However as someone who teaches children's dance classes, however annoying you think this version is, you haven't heard anything until you have to listen to the KidzBop version twice a week for a year. Not a complete 0 because I do like some of the vocals that aren't. That Part.
Start Over: 6/10 Another one I hadn't heard in a while, but it's pretty groovy. Not as heavy handed as some of the other songs, and that flute in the chorus is pretty cool.
Dancing In The Dark: 8/10 I like this one a lot, the processing on the vocals is a little wonky but I like the vibes.
Next To Me: 4/10 Yeah this was the "please don't divorce me" song. It's. alright. Really heavy handed, they probably should've waited to release this one but you know.
Origins (2018) average rating: 4.8
Natural: 10/10 Another one I'm biased for because I associate it with a beloved OC. But It's still a good song. I like it.
Boomerang: 5/10 Another song that just has an awkward hook with awkward delivery.
Machine: 9/10 I like this song a lot more now that I know the band is really outspoken about their experiences with mormanism and escaping it. But the irony of a song with a nonconformist message from a pop band is not lost on me.
Cool Out: 5/10 Idk I don't have much to say about this one. It's alright.
Bad Liar: 4/10 Oh boy more divorced dad energy. Hhhhhh I'm getting burnt out on this. For the record I have no problem with people going through things like this, I'm just not into these vibes in my music, especially when they're super desperate like this.
West Coast: 3/10 East coast supremacy. Also why are you trying to be Mumford and Sons.
Zero: 4/10 You know, the Ralph Breaks the internet song? God. That sure was a movie. The song is better, but not by much. It is fun and bouncy but I don't like listening to it too often.
Bullet In A Gun: 5/10 I used to really like this song but now I just associate it with an embarrassing character I used to stan so :/ I do still like the lyrics even if I don't listen to it anymore.
Digital: 3/10 I can't tell if this song is pro or anti technology??? And the electronic melody is annoying.
Only: 4/10 Hhhhhh I'm so tired. I don't like this one.
Stuck: 2/10 idk man. bad.
Love: 3/10 Really trying hard to be the Beatles here. :/ That's really not a compliment.
Birds: 5/10 This one's kinda nice, a little more original but like. I'm so burned out on this theme. hhhhhhhh
Burn Out: 10/10 Speaking of burn out. lmao, no I actually really like this one. I just recently listened to it kinda intently for the first time and I just. Wow. The second verse really gets to me. I feel like this song has a lot of the poeticness I liked from Smoke + Mirrors.
Real Life: 0/10 Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh obligatory "PHONES BAD" song from the folk pop band. At least when Bastille does it they don't literally say "turn your phone off!" in the song. I'm so tired. I'm gonna take a nap before I listen to the next album.
Mercury - Act 1 (2021) average rating: 7.46
Okay I'm still tired but let's do this. Also I've only heard this album like three times so far so this ranking is most definitely gonna change as I listen to it more.
My Life: 9/10 Holy shit this song is fucking heart wrenching and I first listened to it at like just the perfect time for me to ball like a baby listening to it. Literally my only gripe is I wish the tempo would've picked up a little bit earlier.
Lonely: 9/10 This song is equally fucking depressing but it's upbeat and I eat that shit up. The vocals are a little weird sometimes but I really like the pre-chorus a lot.
Wrecked: 8/10 Okay so this album is just gonna be gut punch after gut punch huh? Look, I was really going through some shit when they dropped this album so I like really connected with a lot of it. But yeah I like this song.
Monday: 4/10 Alright. Not a fan of this one. The metaphor is kinda cute I guess, even if it implies that like literally everyone else things your sweetheart is fucking insufferable. Actually. Who tf thinks monday is the best day of the week? Like what kind of person? But, uh, musically, it's kinda annoying.
#1: 7/10 Self-care babie!!!!!!! Okay but this is a nice song. Yes we all need to learn self love it's a fucking journey babe.
Easy Come Easy Go: 9/10 I really like this one, it might be my favorite on the album. My only gripe is the bridge/3rd verse/whatever it's called is a little bit clunky
Giants: 8/10 god DAMN those vocals. This is another kinda weird song but I'm into this one like I am with Hopeless Opus.
It's Okay: 7/10 Honestly I'm kinda tired of hearing "it's okay to be not okay" Like yeah I've been depressed for most of my life now I think I got that at this point. But I am a fan of "I don't want this body, I don't want this voice, I don't wanna be here but I guess I have no choice." Like damn even my gender crisis? Y'all are really just hitting all my nails from the past year right on the head huh?
Dull Knives: 9/10 OKAY ROCK RIFF I HEAR YOU, I just wish it would've lasted through the song instead of going slow again during the second chorus. But yeah, songs that make me wanna scream in the woods in the middle of the night.
Follow You: 8/10 ME AND WHO???????
Cutthroat: 9/10 HELLO AMV BAIT I MISSED YOU I wish it was longer. Also, love Dan's screamo debut I wish he'd just fucking scream his throat raw more often.
No Time For Toxic People: 4/10 okay I think we've established that I'm not a fan of completely unsubtle songs so I don't think it should be a shock that I'm not a fan of this one. The music doesn't really save it either.
One Day: 6/10 M E A N D W H O ? ? ? Not as much of a fan of this one as Follow You though.
Additional Singles but only one's I've already heard because fuck you there are so many of these
Battle Cry: 6/10 I thought this one was from some soundtrack but idk. A transformers movie I think? I can't find anything on it. Anyway, okay song. I like the line stars are only visible in darkness. The rest of the song is kinda repetitive
Born To Be Yours: 8/10 I like this song a lot. I have no idea who Kygo is but I'm a fan of this beat. For the record, this is more something I would use for my first dance.
Destination: 6/10 Another song I haven't hear in a while. I enjoy the vocals from the other band members. But it is an itunes sessions song so it's a little messy, probably could have been better if they'd recorded it as a regular song.
I Was Me: 7/10 A nice sad acoustic song, not much to say, I like it
Levitate: 6/10 This one is from that Jennifer Lawrence Crisp Rat movie no one saw. It's okay. I like the sci-fi vibes.
Lost Cause: 4/10 This one is from the Frankenweenie soundtrack of all things. This is another grimdark edgy song, but it just doesn't have the staying power to me that Bleeding Out did.
Monster: 8/10 This song was my fucking jam as a kid and was the song that got me into Nightcore in middle school so you know it's important to me. Still a big fan of it.
Not Today: 7/10 I actually saw the movie this was from, Me Before You. I would say this is another first dance bait song but I think they were just trying to match the vibes of the movie. The song is better than the movie though. In case you were wondering.
Ready! Aim! Fire!: 7/10 continuing the trend of songs from soundtracks, apparently this song is from Iron Man 3? Seems kinda weird to put a song about rebellion and revolution in a movie about a billionaire 🤔🤔🤔. Anyway it has a more electronic, industrial sound than most of their stuff which i appreciate. Still have to deduct points for being from a marvel movie though oops.
Roots: 10/10 Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh I love this song. Another another biased one because I associate it with one of my OCs but like. It's a good song.
Sucker For Pain: 5/10 Ya know that song from the Suicide Squad soundtrack? The masochist anthem? It's alright, I mean Dan's part is probably the best, the rap is okay I guess, I'm not a huge rap fan so I don't really know what constitutes a good rap. I guess the appeal of this song was all the big names but it just gets tiresome that there's a new voice every 30 seconds. Really gimmicky but Lil Wayne's part is kinda funny so I'll give it that.
Warriors: 8/10 More amv bait, another one I could've sworn this was from some soundtrack but I can't find anything on it. Pretty solid song.
Who We Are: 6/10 This sing is from one of the Hunger Games Movies, I can't remember which one though. Anyway it's fucking incomprehensible but I like it.
Conclusion
Okay so in order from Highest to Lowest ranked the albums and EPs are
Smoke + Mirrors: 9.06
Mercury - Act 1: 7.46
Night Visions: 7.33
Self Titled: 7.2
Hell and Silence: 6.75
Evolve: 5.5
Origins: 4.8
It's Time: 4.2
See and this is completly objective because if you had asked me to rank my favorite albums I would've put Night Visions above Mercury 😠 I did have a good time going back and listening to a lot of old songs I hadn't heard in forever
anyway I'm tired and this post no one asked for is over 3k words so I am going to bed good fucking night
#long post#even with the read more hhhhhh#oh well#anyway#enjoy the most basic band that I like lmao#imagine dragons#ari screams into the void
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Typhoid Mary: feminist femme fatale?
“Season 4 was going to be Typhoid Mary, Alice Eve [who played the role in Iron Fist], we were doing a kind of...I had a much different version of her than what Raven [Metzner] had done in Iron Fist. I was kind of rebooting what she was going to be like, and we were going to do a, you know, kind of a warped love story/murder mystery kind of femme fatale, but kind of a modern-day, feminist version of it, as opposed to kind of the older, sexist kind of femme fatale archetype.”
-Erik Oleson, in conversation with Steven DeKnight, SaveDaredevilCon
As I said yesterday, I have some thoughts about this! If you want some opinions nobody asked for, about a storyline that may never come to pass, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in.
A femme fatale is a character type with quite a history, that can take various forms. She is always an attractive woman who brings ruin to the man who gets involved with her. But sometimes she is deliberately manipulative, while sometimes she is more a victim of circumstances. She may be evil, or she may be sympathetic/tragic. But whatever her moral alignment, she has two defining traits: sexual allure, and some form of negative consequences for the hero as a result of his involvement with her.
A woman who schemes against the hero, and succeeds in harming him, but without using feminine wiles? Not a femme fatale. The Marvel TV universe has featured several examples on different shows: Madame Gao, Mariah Dillard, Alexandra. And, ironically, the version of Typhoid Mary who appeared in Iron Fist. (We’ll get there.)
A sexy woman who tries to manipulate/damage the hero, but fails? Also not a femme fatale. I wish I could give some examples, but sadly I can’t think of any, in dramas at least. Our current media culture loves a sexy manipulator, no writer ever seems to introduce one into a dramatic story without making her succeed in her schemes, to some extent at least.
Which is unfortunate, from my perspective, because I loathe sexy manipulators. It’s a character type I really dislike, whenever I encounter her. As soon as she shows up, I know the hero is going to fall for her bullshit like a chump, and I’m going to end up respecting him less as a result. I could try to unpack my feelings about this a bit more, but that would probably make a post all on its own, so for now I’ll leave it at that.
This doesn’t mean I hate all femmes fatales—it really depends on her motivation and her behavior. If she isn’t trying to harm the hero, and it happens due to circumstances, then I might like the character, but the story becomes a tragedy. Which is not necessarily bad. Just, you know. Tragic.
Anyway! Let’s talk about Typhoid Mary.
Mary Walker is a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), and high-level combat skills. In the comics, she is also a mutant with mental powers. She appeared in the Daredevil comics starting in 1988.
In this original version, her personality fragmented due to childhood abuse, leading her to vow as an adult that no man would ever hurt her again. Her personalities are: Mary, who is timid and gentle; Typhoid, who is adventurous, lusty, and violent; and Bloody Mary, who is even more violent, sadistic, and hates all men.
Mary becomes romantically involved with Matt Murdock, who is cheating on his girlfriend, Karen Page, to be with her. At the same time, Typhoid is trying to ruin him, having been hired to do so by the Kingpin. Matt can’t tell they’re the same woman, because when she switches personalities all her bio signs change (voice, scent, heartbeat, etc) so much that he can’t recognize her. (Uh, sure.) She may also be using some of her mutant powers to confuse his senses. I haven’t read the comics, I’m relying here on what I could learn from the internet.
Eventually Typhoid drops him off a bridge, but then Mary finds him and gets him to a hospital, saving him. Karen is with him when he wakes up, but he breaks her heart by calling out for Mary.
This storyline...does not thrill me. As I said, I haven’t read it, but comics writing about mental illness is generally neither nuanced nor accurate, and comics writing about women circa 1988 is also not great, by today’s standards. And comics Matt’s disastrous love life is legendary—cheating on your girlfriend is bad, Matt! Don’t do it!
I have, however, watched season 2 of Iron Fist, where we get a different version. This Mary Walker is a US army veteran, special ops, who was captured by the Sokovian military. Her personality fragmented due to the brutal abuse she received from her captors for nearly two years, until she finally escaped. She got a medical discharge from the army after being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Her personalities are: Mary, who is innocent and naive; and Walker, who is a ruthless, coolly efficient mercenary-for-hire. The existence of a third, ultraviolent personality, previously unknown to either Mary or Walker, is revealed near the end of the season.
Mary meets and befriends Danny Rand, while Walker is hired by his enemies to stalk him, and eventually capture him so they can steal his Iron Fist powers from him. She later changes sides, getting hired to bring down Davos, the season’s main villain, by Joy Meachum, his former ally.
There are clear parallels to the Daredevil comics storyline, albeit in less extreme form—Mary befriends the hero, but isn’t romantically involved with him; her more violent personality works against him and fights him, but doesn’t try to destroy him.
I enjoyed this version of the character more than I expected to, for a couple of reasons. For one, she is never the out of control, “crazy” stereotype of a person with mental illness. Both Mary and Walker are more-or-less functional adults, managing to live a strange hybrid life, aware of each other’s existence even though they don’t share memories.
But what I especially like is that she isn’t sexualized, at all. It’s incredibly rare, in my experience, to see a young, female antagonist opposing a male hero, and not have her be sexy. Older women are exempt from this obligation (see my list of examples above), but the young ones always vamp it up, and I am so tired of it. I am not opposed to sexy women, but I am very opposed to the requirement that all women must be sexy. (Unless they’re old.) Male antagonists aren’t required to be alluring, so why should women be? (Yes, I know why. I just don’t like it.)
There’s also a lot of potential YIKES in sexualizing a woman with a severe mental illness, which was caused by (among other things) repeated sexual violence. Could it be done in a way that isn’t super problematic? It’s possible, sure. Am I assuming that most television writers would give the subject the respect it deserves? NOPE!
I’m really glad they chose to just not go there. Walker is extremely good at what she does, takes no shit from anyone, and (almost) never gets riled up. After everything she’s been through, nothing in her present life has the power to faze her, and none of the men around her have the power to intimidate her. It’s pretty great!
She isn’t the least bit coy or seductive, and, equally refreshing, none of the men try to sexualize her or hit on her. Everyone Walker talks to knows she is a highly skilled professional, and they treat her accordingly. Or, when someone does disrespect her, it’s never gendered as far as I can remember, and it stops as soon as she calmly states what she’s going to do to him if it doesn’t.
As for Mary, although she has a more feminine appearance than Walker (hair down and loose, makeup), she is also not sexualized. Her friendship with Danny, who is in an established relationship with Colleen Wing, is platonic, and no one else tries to hit on her that I remember.
So this is the version of Typhoid Mary that Erik Oleson was going to reboot, into a femme fatale. Only, you know. A feminist one.
I...have some questions. What does that even mean? What does feminism mean to Erik Oleson? Let’s be real, the idea of a woman becoming an ultraviolent, sadistic man-hater as a result of sexual trauma would have been seen as feminist in some circles, back in 1988 when that version was written. So what, exactly, did he have in mind?
As I said before, sexual allure is a necessary component of a femme fatale. So she was definitely gonna be sexy. And you know now how I feel about sexy female antagonists. As for the “warped love story” part...Matt wouldn’t be cheating on Karen, since they aren’t together (please, for the love of mercy, don’t have them get together right before he meets Mary, we did that once and I do NOT want to see it again), but I am still not a fan of Matt/Mary as a couple.
Her Dissociative Identity Disorder raises some serious issues around consent, and even if the show chose to ignore that, there’s still the issue of past sexual trauma. Unless Oleson’s reworking of the character was going to include a completely different back story, a Matt/Mary relationship would mean Matt unknowingly having sex with a woman who has suffered brutal sexual abuse in her past. Not to mention, having sex with her that only one part of her personality actually wants.
Is it possible for someone with Mary’s past trauma and present mental illness to have a positive sexual relationship? In reality, of course! In the hands of writers with only a layman’s knowledge of psychology, on a show that loves to torment its hero, I wouldn’t bet on it. How do you suppose our poster boy for Catholic guilt would react when he inevitably finds out the truth?
Plus, aside from any issues around Mary herself, Matt starting a relationship with anyone other than the handful of people who already know his secret identity, means a whole new round of Matt lying to someone he cares about. Does anyone really want to see that? I know I don’t. Sure, maybe he’d tell her eventually, but how long would they have to date before he decided to trust her with the truth?
I’m not opposed to the Mary Walker from Iron Fist appearing in Daredevil, if the writers could come up with a new story for her (i.e, don’t just have her repeat all the same plot beats with Matt that she already did with Danny). But bringing her in as a femme fatale really doesn’t sit well with me. We’ve already seen Matt in an ultimately destructive relationship with a sexy, violent, morally grey woman. I really don’t want to watch Round 2: now with multiple personalities!
Of course, maybe we never will. The quote at the beginning of this post is from just a couple of weeks ago (July 25 2020), so Erik Oleson still seems to think it’s a fine idea. But obviously we don’t know yet if there will ever be a season 4, or who the show runner will be if there is. He may never get to make the story he was planning.
So yes, I realize I’m merely speculating about a completely theoretical story that may never happen. But I wanted to write this anyway. I had a strong “ugh, no” reaction to the idea of a feminist femme fatale Typhoid Mary, and I wanted to go deeper and pick apart my reasons for not liking the idea.
To the three of you who have read this all the way through to the end (this post is nearly 2000 words, yikes), thank you for indulging me! These are, as always, my own opinions, and YMMV.
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entry #3
Jordon Peterson just encouraged me to write more, so here we are again. Sat on my bed with my little laptop, letting the streams of consciousness manifest into the tippy tapping of the keyboard, a noise I really like. I normally can’t stand little noises like that. Clocks ticking for example, drives me crazy. The beeping of a low battery fire alarm is even worse. Fascinating, I know.
The concept of family has been knocking around my head lately, I always find it strangely coincidental when the themes within my own mind are outwardly validated by what is going on externally around me. When I’m thinking about something and then the subject happens to present itself to me in some form, through a TV show or a film or a podcast or a real-life event. I went with my grandad to visit his daughter (my auntie), and her two teenage sons to have a Sunday Roast together today. It was good to see them because my family has always been small and fragmented. It feels positively ritualistic for us to gather together like that even briefly. Then later on in the night a podcast pops up in my YouTube subscriptions of Jordan Peterson and his daughter talking with Russell Brand about family. Also, coincidentally, Brand and Peterson have written the books that I’m currently reading. Both of them are great men. Brand was an inspiration for me due to his journey from addiction to recovery. He actually first got clean in my hometown of Bury Saint Edmunds by the same organisation that my mum and nan worked with to kick heroin. Another strange coincidence. Or maybe it really is just a small world with a very few central themes that transcend through time and space for humanity, hence I see them everywhere. The very heavy, important themes that surround the meaning of existence: Love, life, death, sacrifice, devotion, duality, surrender, forgiveness, hatred, progression, conflict, values, ethics, symbolism, truth, illusion, punishment, good and evil. All sounds very religious actually. Which isn’t much of a surprise if the purpose of religion is to reconcile with these themes which we all deal with in life. Religion never clicked with me; it still doesn’t. I consider myself an extreme atheist and sceptic, to the point where I jive heavily with the vibes of LaVeyan Satanism. I read the satanic bible when I was about 14, but I can’t recollect if it was before or after my mum died. I just remember how it was the first book that truly resonated with me and gave me the courage to stand up for myself in the face of tyranny, which at that time were bullies at school, some of those bullies were teachers. This is a little post I recently submitted to the r/satanism, the online Satanist forum on Reddit:
‘Growing up in the Christian country of England, we had to sing hymns and take part in attempted brainwashing in our public schools from an early age. Not only that but teachers usually had 'good vs evil' (authority = good) philosophy that this culture has instilled into us that really is not that helpful on its own. I was SO frustrated with the whole system and the people in it. There were some bullies too, and I was always told to 'be the bigger man' by never retaliating. I was about ready to do something extreme to get myself expelled. Then I got hold of this book when I was about 14, read it all in one sitting, and it was so comforting to me to read Anton spin everything I had known on its head, and he was the first person who ever told me to smite those who have infringed upon me, not turn the other cheek. And it worked. I never took shit lying down from bullies or teachers after processing the book mentally. After that, when they dished it to me, I threw it back at them, and many times I would win. I won by getting through school and passing my exams despite hating the environment I was in.’
I don’t really want to read the book again, because I may have outgrown the deliberate edgy nature of it, and I have so many new books to read, but I will always keep it close to me as a symbol and reminder of what I took from it. It was a really important step for me towards self-love and self-respect, as well as being able to discriminate between the people that deserve my love and those who deserve my wrath, or even better, those I should take no consideration for at all. If I have to sum it up, the philosophy of satanism encourages you to challenge God’s authority, not just submit to it because ‘that’s just the way it is and has always been.’ Through doing that, we become our own gods, which is a far more appealing position to be in than the sinner damned to suffer for eternity, for me anyway. Satan himself is the good guy in the story if you really think about it. The advances we have made culturally, legally and socially are mostly thanks to those brave enough to challenge the status que and authority. The first couple waves of feminism, LGBT rights, protection of the sanctity of childhood, better care for the sick and disabled are a few crucial movements. And without discrediting the brave soldiers who fought in the world wars, because what they went through really was hell on earth, the Armageddon, it’s an example of what happens when people are encouraged to follow their false gods. It is still mind boggling to me how the world nearly ended in all out nuclear warfare only recently. Well, I say ended, but we’ve all seen Jurassic Park… ‘Life finds a way.’ That dark fetishization of destruction within me I have mentioned before still sort of wants that to happen. Or even better, the whole planet being obliterated into pieces by something hurtling through the abyss directly into us. Not just a small asteroid that disrupts the atmosphere like the one that killed the dinosaurs off, I mean something BIG that gives life no chance of recovery. Perhaps the reason for this ultra-mega-death wish is because the alternative is so cruel and unappealing. The sun will burn out and everything will slowly wilt away. I just want us to go out with a bang, you know? Again, it is just me trying to control fate and death. I’m sure any astrophysicist would be able to ruin my Earth killing fantasy by informing me that it’s not even possible because of gravity and all that other magical shit that’s beyond me. That’s if I ever bad the balls to even talk about these terrible things out loud.
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I went off on a rant to a friend about things like Gamble Era, and miscellaneous idolized past authors, and you know what, fuck it. I'm going to say it out loud. And listen, listen this is NOT going to be my normal "Whatever you like :)" post like, this is literally an accumulation of horse shit I've seen talked about in any and all lanes for years that have been driving me fucking bananas for years. Don't just read this going HAHA I HATE GAMBLE TOO and then be shocked when I slap at inexplicably favorited authors in this fandom beyond that.
------
God how can anyone genuinely like Gamble, like, literally, legitimately and 1000%, not even about her killing Cas or whatever, what kind of pure trash TV do these people intake in mass that they think Gamble was good at her job
I can not emphasize enough how cripplingly disappointing the shift from S4-5 to 6-7 was
I know art is in the eye of the beholder or whatever but JESUS. FUCKING. CHRIST.
Fuck constructivist theory there's a point when things are just clearly trash
Benefits S7 had: Just da bros
uhhhh
*flips through pages*
Anything else? Are dick jokes art?
Her era was overrun by plot holes you could fly boeing jets through -- and I don’t mean shit like when fandom goddamn made up in their own damn head about an angelreaper retcon even though the reaper in the same episode they said was a retcon said the deadass opposite of what everybody fucking wound themselves up about, just deadass yawning voids -- it had unstable mechanics on previously established species shit, the villain plot was one giant monster of the week that tried desperately to go back to how they handled shit like Azazel as a threat but miserably failed, the monster had the dumbest weakness possible, the characters themselves were unstable in their characterizations and not even in that general "I don't like what the show is doing with them" but episode to episode Sam flipping from ripping Dean with laughter over gay jokes to woke-sounding sentiments
The cinematic style was gone and just vacant, it was neither the overexposed horror desaturated film nor the vivid fantasy of Carver, it just sat there like an unpolished lump
While later seasons also lost the classic rock vibe for budget reasons, that too disappeared in her era so we had no film energy, no story energy, no character energy, no villain energy, no structure energy, and we didn't even have the fucking cool tunez
but we had dicks allergic to windex
It even lacked the elements that gave Kripke era value
Dusty americana died, all we had left was teenage girl fuckin emo sad boi drama
And even that was miserably piss poor
I have never seen such a visionless fucking disaster successfully air an entire season on my fucking TV
I will never, EVER be able to outline what a fucking disappointment it was to go from S4-5 level show maturation into this negative embarrassment by season 7.
S6 Kripke was still around to some extent and that's the only reason I can deduce, S7 minded, there was any substance to it, even if her writing and editing crew at the time were a goddamn tire fire. And then people turn around and yell feminism if you criticise the giant fucking blazing slag heap that was her era and blame anyone and everyone but her and here you FUCKING go and she does half the shit all over again in the Magicians
(The friend replied: "The season only works in reverse, which is a crime on serialised TV (and just bad screenwriting)." )
That's just it though, it's like S7 we were suddenly back to fucking episodical TV like S1-2 because enough fuckbats yelled about Good Old Days.
Only instead of
ʷĤε𝕣є'𝓼 đα𝒹
or
𝐓Ħⓔ DεᗰＯᶰ 卄𝓐ｓ Ƥl𝓐𝓝Ş ℱⓞｒ Ⓜ𝔢
it was
ħ𝔞ⓗａ 𝓓ＩＣ𝐤ᔕ 🍆
I mean fucking sure this show started targeting late teenage women but Kripke had started maturing it forward and then Gamble fucking rolls along and it's like she's writing for 13 year old boys suddenly
Well I say that's what she seemed to be writing for but at the time the marketing was gross objectification going LOOK PRETTY BOYS WITH GUNS and that was it, that was the substance of what they gave a shit about and apparently the kind of demographic they thought constituted the sum of the SPN audience which, go get fucked guys, seriously. No fucking wonder the ratings got gouged in half over the course of a year. And fandom yells BUT FRIDAY DEATH SLOT but go sit and spin, S6 was friday deathslot too but before Kripke disappeared as the last thread holding SOME kind of cohesive value in the piece together in S6, that went to shitfuckhell in a handbag at light speed. People migrated to SPN Fridays S6 just fine. They LEFT season 7 and then people plug their ears if they don’t like that. And Carver had to fight all S8 to get it back, /but succeeded, and then-some./
oh and lemme head off fandom dumbfuck argument #72 about “well Dabb’s ratings are lower than Gamble’s were so he sucks and ruined it worse” go take your fucking ass and google “national primetime ratings decline” and enjoy exploring the last fucking 70 years of TV history. Pointing out a show crashes within a year because of massive failure is not the same as people being intentionally fucking daft sods to the TV universe’s decline over the last decade so like, don’t. Don’t be that person. Because you’re still embarrassingly wrong.
(The friend replied: "That's why I don't get why people care about what the vocal minority have to say. They *already* got what they wanted. It crashed and burned. Nobody in their right mind in corporate world is gonna be like, let's try that again, let's throw more money into that burning pit
That's just not happening. Gay angels or no, it just ain't." )
I mean that should have been obvious when
1. Carver brought back Cas and pretty much immediately promoted him to Regular
2. Misha then got promoted to lead credits in S12, no matter what circles of intentional, willful ignorance fandom argues about what the credits mean for petty piss fights
"LOL & MEANS HE'S LESS IMPORTANT" Shut the fuck up and sit down you basement dwelling shitlord, go watch the A-Team, tell me how Mr T is the least important character
Also unpopular fuckin opinion
Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are not That Great. Compared to what they were SURROUNDED with they were exceptional but Berens and Yockey could run circles around them both. They just happened to give fandom shit they liked during dark times so it made them fun.
Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are basically the baseline value of our current writing team on random names. Give me Robbie Thompson and give me Davy Perez and I see no fucking difference. People compare Edlund to Yockey because of certain shit he pulled off but like, no? If there WAS a comparison it’d be like, Meredith, and even then I can’t see any way Edlund is substantially better than Meredith but could list the other in reverse?
But if we're talking about being able to write pieces with more than 1 or 2 layers of impact I'm sorry, it's rose colored glasses that makes people idolize them
Like if people seriously objectively fucking sat and reviewed the methodology and substance of their past idol authors to the demonstratable level of the current crew where I am DEAD ASS HAVING DISCOURSE WITH THE EXEC PRODUCER ABOUT BAUDRILLARDIAN CONCEPTS AND DELILLO in the middle of a hypercomplex postmodern two-directional commentary piece on some scaffolding of sociopolitical representation commentary that SAILS past the level the ‘activists’ in this fandom think about, literally, what people like is Gay Shit They Got lobbed at them or shiny visuals. And you know what, whatever, sure, like what you like IDGAF but don't sit here like Thompson was some fucking Shakespeare. No, your fucking "meta" you -- you, in any lane, anyone, any ship, anywhere, ever -- wrote by COMPLETELY randomly associating whatever storyline you could staple on to try to pretend the text was doing what you want at the time -- is not the same as author intent and actual weight and merit to the cohesive structure of what they build.
YES YES I KNOW, Death of the Author, someone just popped that up in their head, like the ten thousand posts I've made over the last 209349 years addressing how people abusive the fuck out of the term and that's fine, interpret shit however you wanna make it do jumping jacks but don't sit here entering the time you attached Little Bo Peep as some sort of intrinsic value to Dean trying to find Sam in 1492 and act like that's some deep critical shit the authors thoughtfully laced into the piece, these are not the same fucking conversation.
Big hollow voids of statements doesn’t make a better author, it makes you bust your ass harder to actually give any sort of consequential meaning to the piece, and that has nothing to do with the quality of the author or text themselves, that has to do with your interpretation in a piece devoid of genuine thematic subtext so people desperately try to bobby pin some bullshit together. Which also is probably why this fandom can’t tell the difference between coding, interpretation, subtext, and text for their fucking life anymore.
Protip the entire goddamn writing room is pouring that gay shit in your cup that's been triple brewed above Robbie or Edlund’s pots and people are still complaining it isn't enough
Another point that drives me up a wall, "LAZARUS RISING IS THE BEST EPISODE EVER" okay like lmaooooo what the fuck are you smoking
Was it impressive as fuck at the time yes it was. But again, fucking perspective. I literally went back and watched it like a month ago and I realized it was a fucking void of content compared to our modern writing, it just had one of the most impressive entrances, it DID have good directing (YES MANNERS WAS GOOD, NO DISRESPECT), and it introduced a character everybody loved. Dean was still a halfass caricature
You wanna know why everybody made that shit gay right away
Because there was no fucking substance around it
it was a wallpaper of a cool looking episode that was otherwise blank space to run around in on dialogue they should have thought to construct better if they didn't want it to be gay
And sure since then the author room has picked up the big gay ball and started actually turning it into some shit which, great, but this is yet again a matter of structure and intent versus throwing rotten pasta at the wall and seeing if the mold makes it stick. I don't care if you have a vegan recipe that converts the fucking mold on the pasta into a healthy sauce base that isn't what it was thrown at the wall like, and no amount of complimenting the original chef's moldy pasta means it was some tasty shit before you added 10,000 ingredients they never fucking thought about or at least a second chef came along and figure out what to do with the pile of goo.
Fandom would stop being this miserable fucking putrid stinkhole if people would collectively apply some goddamn perspective to the content they argue about before even bothering to engage with uwustiel/cest dot tumblr dot com in irrelevant argument #9238428934 they use to fence off whether they should enjoy the content or try to explore it for its value or not because there is NO. MORE. PERSPECTIVE.
YOU KNOW WHAT? IT’S FINE TO EVEN ADMIT YOU LIKED THINKY-FREE TV, THAT’S FINE, THAT’S YOUR RIGHT.
But don’t SIT here acting like a lot of these former train wrecks were “better authors” or somehow objectively “better content.” No like, you like not thinking about shit that much and staring at pretty boys or whatever, good on you, but you literally like, objectively, some of the shit I’ve seen go down is like genuinely trying to compare a toddler’s fridge art to a Vasarely and hold them both up in front of people who do art for a living. They ain’t gonna shit on the kid’s fridge art, but they’re gonna go “awwwww she’s gonna grow up to be a great artist!” before breaking down on Vasarely’s vector illusion shit, sorry, that’s just how it be. I’m sure the kid had some sort of vision to drawing the triangle over the square that kinda looks like a house but the hypercomplex thought processes simply aren’t there.
Just people STUCK in weird idolization of shit that is so far past irrelevant to the current piece in play and fighting to win arguments while trying to convince themselves they're right and secretly dreading how titanically failboat wrong they are ignoring the sound of the glacier having ripped through their hulls SEASONS ago. The ice water has already leaked onto the fucking DECK and people are still arguing about completely ridiculous shit or fancying things that were 1/10th of the value of the current content they're claiming isn't good or enough or valid compared to the shallow specters that birthed them out of old aeons.
Dead-ASS Kripke picked shit because it “sounded cool.” I’m sorry if there weren’t some model guys fandom wanted to hump everybody would be making fun of the fedora-tipping mindset that probably is where the fucking trenchcoat came from and may have debated giving Cas -- sorry, “CASS” because “COOL” -- katanas. But sure. Way, way deeper and more intricate than the Jungian intertextual post modern piece that’s so tightly knit it’s making fandom unwittingly comment on themselves.
I thought people grew out of that shit when they were like 16 unless they were incels
(My spidey senses detected someone unironically preparing to inform me about stealing borrowing the imagery from Constantine on reflex, because you know, that’s some peak intertext right there.)
Dead ASS that writing logic is that motherfucker that wanders into your freeform RP server with Spawn knockoff miasma chainsaw arms under his leather trenchcoat shooting twin Deagles with a vague story of wanting to face his demon overlord father that’s written like a looney tunes villain, in the middle of you cowriting with your lit-savvy friends trying to make a fun fantasy adaptation rendering fascism and corporate america and then he gets upset when nobody wants him to shit lightning -- /fight me/.
SERIOUSLY FOLKS. WANNA ENJOY THE SHOW AGAIN? GET SOME PERSPECTIVE. LET GO OF FETISHIZING WEIRD WARPED MEMORIES AND LINES OF ARGUMENT INSIDE YOUR OWN HEADS ISTG IT'LL HELP.
The day I find an argument that makes season 7 legit good TV rather than, at very best, “fun junk TV I had a cool ride on”, that does NOT involve evoking arguments distinctly born out of petty shipping culture arguments and/or (generally the same) attaching their own shit with a stapler to MAKE it have some sort of meaning at the time it was airing (rather than later showrunners making it add up to something), I’ll eat my fucking arm.
𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴. Carver era had already gone through dramatic changes that deepend the scope of the show and even then, 15.09 Bobo’s The Trap held more ACTUAL commentary on this fandom than Thompson’s Fanfiction episode did as a supposed fandom-commentary episode much LESS 15.04 as an actual meta framed episode. Fanfiction was like 4 years behind and completely fucking unplugged, whereas the base of the show itself is more integrated now in these dynamics than any attempt at meta episodes back then were.
old days it took one goddamn episode of dreaming for people to 1. start talking about Freud and 2. pretend the whole everything after that was some Freudian masterpiece even when, if it were, it would have been an entire avalanche of dropped balls. But two seasons of direct citations and literal manifest avatar-bodies of Jungian psychology elements and it’s hard to pull more than a peep out of the fandom about it because they’re too busy yelling about tulpas or sirens from before most of the people around here hit puberty.
𝓕 𝓤 𝓒 𝓚
furthermore why does anyone that idolize season 7 for what they think fits their bill think season 15 is gonna end how they want when they’ve been taking the piss out of season 7 over and over and over and over again IN THE TEXT as being dumb as SHIT
𝕀ℕ 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔽𝕌ℂ𝕂𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕋𝔼𝕏𝕋
WHY SET YOURSELF UP FOR DISAPPOINTMENT
TO WIN TEMPORARY ARGUMENTS? THAT YOU’RE ACTUALLY LOSING FROM START TO FINISH?
actually you know what
rolling back to the whole “empty/subtextless stuff making people bust their ass” seems to be what you miss. Saying, “I miss empty, shallow, shitty writing” doesn’t really sound as good though so we change “what I like” into “this is talentless trash” it postures better, but it seems to be the people who have objectively fucking refused core tenets the show has evolved over the last 7 years, most explicitly the last 3-4, and absolutely refused to soak them in the form they deliver in. And they’re mad. Because it isn’t hollow. They can’t run around in fucking blank space and plug absolute horse shit into the voids and then posture like they’re supreme in this noncommital wasteland. Because everything’s built out and structured in and loud as fuck and people are debating the actual installed and even dogmatically cited work of philosophers driving the ideology of the show now and they can’t get away from it, and/or actually have to pay attention to the whole show and think about it all as a picture instead of the parts they want, so it’s “bad.”
I just sensed like 50 readers shoving their foot into that shoe. Good.
Jesus christ I’m pretty sure that’s what it is in hindsight after yelling all of this. These characters can’t be used as sock puppets anymore that people can win bullshit arguments unless they literally delete the entire principle of the modern show -- and this goes for MULTIPLE lanes really, each in their own way -- so now it’s “bad.” And that’s just not how this works.
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Gender Obsession? Really?!!!
So I just saw this bullshit video about how gender obsession (feminism) ruins movies, and I’m like what the f*ck are you talking about? Why is it gender obsession only when the movies are aimed at female audiences (specifically white female audiences because movies rarely aim at women of color as their audiences, and when they do, white men don’t notice those.) No, no no, gender obsession is a term only used when action films, or comic films get made that are aimed at women.
Catwoman, Supergirl, Charlie’s Angels, these movies didn’t fail because they had feminist messages in them, or because they were aimed at women as the audience. They failed because they were awful f*ckimg movies, made by non feminist white men, trying to write feminist movies, and failing horribly. They even failed outside of their messaging. These were simply awful movies no one wanted to see, and women didn’t buy them. For every one of those movies, there are some that get it right, and are fantastically well written feminist action oriented movies that somebody put some thought into like Mad Max Fury Road, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, the two Charlie’s Angels that came before this shitty newone, every one of these films had some blatantly feminist theme. You didn’t have to look for the message, because it was right in your face! Did those movies fail because of their messaging?
This is the bullshit argument white men want to gleefully, and obnoxiously throw out into the world now, whenever one of these movies fails. And remember this is something only trotted out for action movies because feminist comedies have been out there, and succeeding just fine.
Whoever made that video knows shit all about film history. There are at least a good dozen comedies, romances, and even some science fiction movies aimed at women, or have feminist themes in them. Hell, there are. throughout the history of Hollywood, thousands of movies and tv shows with feminist messaging or aimed at women, but those are not gender obsession?
And what about the millions of films about men produced over the course of a century that aimed to examine white men’s lives, histories, issues, comedy, achievements, a lot which failed, but none of that shit was gender obsession? The aiming of, the making of, films aimed entirely at white male audiences for seven decades isn’t gender and racial obsession? Why is it obsession only when a movie doesn’t feature a white man in the middle of the story? And only certain types of stories? Because remember only certain kinds of stories get this “gender obsession” label.
No, I honestly want to find that person and shake all the letters out of their keyboard for having the nerve to type that myopically stupid bullshit into a computer, and foisting it on the world!
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More Deleted Scenes
More deleted scenes from TBAWY.
These ones should go after the chapter “No More Fear”.
Olenna Tyrell gives Dany some useful advice ;)
Arianne went to get Dany out of the computer room. She had been there all evening. She hadn’t even noticed when had the night fallen. She pressed her fingers against her aching eyes. She had been extracting data from the Bloomberg computers and analyzing every single number she could see. She looked around at all the rows of computers with dark screens, only a couple of people were in the room besides her.
No one was keeping her there until late. Professor Tyrell did not demand her to do so. It was her own will to finish what she had started during the day instead of leaving it for the next one and losing track of what she was doing.
Besides Jon, her best friends were the only ones who knew about the problem with Viserys. It had also been a shock to Arianne to hear such news, as she had been close to the family since they were little. He was getting better, though. He had been in rehabilitation for a couple of months. It was difficult and he had wanted to leave a couple of times, but he had not done so, which at least was a good indicator. Her mother, Rhaegar and she had recovered from the initial shock and went on with their daily lives, which at least for Dany was the best way of coping instead of staying in her room crying or lying in her bed with her laptop watching Netflix until late, clicking on any movie or TV show and just staring at the screen, many times without actually being interested in what she was watching.
At least now she could focus more on work and school, but then Jon or her friends would insist that she spent too much time on those activities and needed more time to relax. She had said no multiple times to going out clubbing with her friends, which she hardly ever used to deny. She would prefer now to curl up in bed, most of the times with Jon but sometimes alone as well, and just put on a movie or read a book.
Yet Arianne wanted to take her out for a drink with their friends, insisting she would buy. Even though she was exhausted and her limbs felt heavy, pressing down her body, she agreed to go with her, Margaery and Myrcella to school’s pub and clear her head. Each took their glass of beer in their hands and walked from the bar to a wooden, round table. It was a Wednesday night, perhaps nine thirty, so not many people were there besides them.
They talked about their classes, internships they were looking for, their day, the party from the previous weekend, politics, feminism, what TV shows they were watching or how their love life was doing.
“Dany,” Margaery said. “How long have you and Jon been together exactly?”
“Almost three years now.”
Myrcella gasped. “Holy shit.”
“Time flies,” said Arianne. “Three years of getting laid every day.”
“I mean…not every day," Dany replied. "But…kinda, yeah.”
“Did you guys think we would be together for this long? Jon and I?” she dared to ask them.
Her three friends stayed silent, an obvious answer to her question.
“I’ll speak for myself and say no,” Margaery told her. “You guys were so different.”
“So different, Dany,” Arianne said.
“You’re…so extroverted and outgoing and he couldn’t even say more than three sentences together,” Myrcella said.
“But it’s so clear he loves you,” Margaery said. “What I couldn’t understand, though, was…what drew you so much into him? Into someone so different from you? Into someone you took to parties and just stood there awkwardly?”
Myrcella turned to Margaery and told her, “You know why.”
Margaery laughed out loud. “Ohhh! Because he’s great in bed!”
Dany laughed, “Come on, that’s not the reason. That’s not the only reason,” she said, making them laugh. “No, really, he was so nice, we had such a good time together. I don’t know, I felt good with him, he made me feel comfortable.”
“Awww,” said Margaery, “So it wasn’t the sex, then?”
“It wasn’t, cause, well…we didn’t have sex until our fourth month together.”
“What?!” said Myrcella.
“WHAT?! Shut the fuck up,” said Margaery.
Arianne only laughed with her beer in her hand, she already knew this. In fact, Dany had told her right after her first time.
“I know,” Dany smiled, looking down at the table.
“Why?” Margaery asked.
“He just wasn’t ready. He got…too nervous about it.”
“You are the definition of patience,” Arianne told her.
“Come on, four months is not that much!” Myrcella said, who hadn’t had sex yet.
“Was it worth waiting, though?” Margaery asked.
Dany smiled, “Totally.”
“I’ve always said so, shy guys are the best in bed,” Arianne said.
Dany laughed, “I can’t disagree. The first weeks after our first time were crazy.”
Arianne laughed. “Remember this Myrcella, after your first time you will be horny all the time.”
“All the time,” Dany agreed, and they all laughed.
She did not take for granted having people that cared for her—her friends, her boyfriend, her family. When she was born, her mother and her brothers had decided that she would never have a life like the one they had had with her father at home. Even Viserys.
Time flew by that night and Dany did not regret for a second coming along to meet her friends. They drank a little more than planned, not caring that it was a school night, they had such fun together they didn’t want to leave and stop joking and laughing. Her friends knew he was in rehab now, but they knew better not to bring up the topic tonight and ruin her mood. It had not been easy to laugh these past months as much as before.
With the passing of days, the thoughts of work and school took over the ones from her family, undermining them, pushing them to the back of her head. She usually went to class, have lunch, worked with Olenna Tyrell, go back to her dorm or to Jon’s place to spend the night there. Cuddling with him in bed, hugging him and feeling his body warmth and his scent on the sheets, was a somniferous. It lulled her to sleep as opposed to staying up, staring at the roof when she was in her bed on her own.
She had class in the mornings and worked after lunch, so she sometimes ate with Olenna in the cafeteria.
“I don’t think Margaery would ever sit with me in the cafeteria,” Olenna told her one time.
At the start, it felt funny to be sitting down with a professor, but then she stopped caring about it, she had the most interesting conversations about economics with her, and with every word she said, Dany admired her even more.
“Now, dear, I must say,” Olenna cleared her throat as she cut a piece of grilled fish. “I don’t want you to work excessively on this. No more than it’s good for you. Margaery told me you were not going through an easy time.” Dany sighed. She did not like being pitied or perceived as weak—as somebody who needs to say if work is too hard. She only wanted to get things done right. Olenna was such a remarkable woman, academically, that Dany wanted her to think the same about the work she was doing. “Don’t worry, she did it with the best intentions. She’s worried about you. I don’t want you to feel overloaded with work all day, alright? Let me know if it feels like too much or if you don’t feel okay and need to go. This should not make things worse for you.”
Dany nodded and smiled. “Thank you very much, professor. Much appreciated.”
“Now, I don’t want to intrude in your personal problems, you don’t have to tell me about them. I just want to let you know that they will pass. Look at me, I’m so old, am I not? Life hits you hard, I know it, dear.”
Dany gave her a tiny smile and nodded.
“Oh, to be your age again!” Olenna continued. “There's so much I wish I could have done when I was young. You’re in your early twenties, dear, the best years of your life.”
“I guess so. That’s what everyone says,” Dany replied.
“Daenerys, I’ll give you some advice.” She cleared her throat. “If I could go back in time to when I was your age…” she looked around, leaned in and silently, almost whispering, said, “I’d have so much sex.”
“What?” Dany laughed awkwardly.
“All you can, dear,” Olenna nodded.
“Professor…Tyrell,” Dany chuckled, foolishly trying to keep her cheeks from reddening.
“You’re luckier to live in a time when women are so…free when it comes to that topic. It’s not the solution for everything, but do you know how much serotonin you release by doing so? You have no idea how much you’ll miss it in the end. Now you’ve got all the energy in the world. In the blink of an eye, you’ll have children and there’ll be no more time for it,” Olenna continued.
Dany nodded, smiling nervously, “I guess so. I think we’re doing fine, my boyfriend and I.”
“Good,” Olenna replied. “Just don’t tell Margaery we’ve been talking about this, she’d never speak to me again.”
Dany laughed. Jon had to hear about this.
“Do you think it’s true, though?” she asked him, moving her bare feet in the air as her legs hung down the kitchen counter, as he washed the dishes at his place after dinner. “That we should have all the sex we can these years before work and children fuck it all up.”
“I guess. She’s old, she’s been through it. She must know,” he said, making her chuckle. “And couples over forty…I just don’t think they have much sex, you know? It shows. They're arguing all the time. They're sex-deprived.”
She laughed, but then asked, “Will that happen to us?”
He dried his hands with a kitchen towel and stood in front of her, placing them on the counter on either side of her.
“I hope the hell not. I mean, I hope we can bang this often our whole lives but…we won’t always have this energy and…flexibility and strength. So, why take risks?”
She grinned and nodded, “Yeah, you’re right.”
He held her face with both hands, cold from the sink water, and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“Now?” he asked.
She chuckled and said, “Okay.”
She opened her mouth wider against his lips. She had to do some reading for the following day, but thirty more minutes with her boyfriend would not do her any harm.
“Here?” she asked when she felt his fingers unzipping her pants. “In the kitchen? Like a freaking porn video?”
“We could go to bed if you want,” he said. “You choose.”
She hesitated, the kitchen was not too comfortable, but it could be good for a change.
“Okay, here," she smiled.
He chuckled and restarted the kiss, passing his hand underneath her blouse. Her stomach contracted by the touch of his cold hand. He slowly moved it up to her ribcage while she grabbed the nape of his neck with both hands.
She suddenly laughed between his kisses.
"What?" he asked.
"I just think the situation is funny," she said, pressing more kisses on his lips. "We're gonna fuck because my boss told me so. Because my friend's grandmother told me so."
Jon laughed, "And because we are," he kissed her lips, "such," one more kiss, "a horny," another kiss, "couple." He let go and said, “Wait, let me bring the vibrator.”
She laughed as he rushed into his room. “Hurry up!”
#you don't have to read this#they're only here so i can share this link on ao3#i hate deleting chapters#i keep a screenshot of all the comments every time i do so#waaaaaahhhhh#tbawy#deleted scenes
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A Handmaiden’s Tale. Specifically, Mine.
I’e been debating on whether or not to make this post for a while now, and I’ve decided that the benefits of saying my piece outweigh any hate I’ll get for this. It’s really long but I have no more fucks to give.
I am so, so, sick of the trend in radical feminism of calling women who aren’t radical feminists “cocksuckers” “wastes of time” “dick riders” “sellouts” “cowards” and “handmaidens”. Anti feminist women and liberal feminist women can be incredibly annoying and have made me want to put my head through a wall, and I honestly can’t blame anyone for making a snide remark about them here or there. But I absolutely cannot wrap my mind around the fact that a group of women who supposedly A) understands the misogyny of using a woman’s (real of hypothetical) sexual interactions with a man as an insult against her, B) acknowledges the realities of female socialization in a patriarchal society and C) understands the potential dangerous outcomes of a woman speaking up against misogyny, can go around unabashedly talking about women this way. Every time I scroll through my dash I’ll come across at least one post lamenting how young girls are indoctrinated into believing their worth lies in their beauty, femininity, and (hetero)sexuality. Why then, do I see so much vitriol directed at the ones who believed it?
The last time I spoke about this I was accused of ‘making it all about myself’ because I shared a snippet of my personal experience. Well, I’m about to share more than a snippet. Yet this isn’t about me, and I will be the first one to tell you that I am nowhere near unique in this sense. So I guess this is actually the experience of thousands and thousands of women, this is just how it happened to me:
To start with, y’all need to understand where I grew up. If the ‘y’all’ wasn’t a big enough clue, I grew up in bumfuck nowhere USA. Here’s another fact that’s vital to my story: I was born in 1991. That fact, coupled with my geographic location, meant that when I started school in 1996, corporal punishment was still legal (to be carried out by the principal) and up until around that time my mother could still legally sign documents as “mrs” *insert my father’s name*.
Growing up in this environment meant that gender roles were highly enforced around me and that at an early age I saw deviance from them met with hatred and scorn. I could name plenty of examples, but really, haven’t we all seen that? Even the respectable women who dared not be housewives never rose to a more prominent position than a teacher, bank clerk, or selling Mary Kay. Before the age of about 10 I have absolutely no memory of seeing a woman in a position of skill and power beyond these things except for Terry Irwin on tv. It might be noted that I grew up wanting to be a zookeeper. I don’t remember the first time I heard the word “feminist” but from my earliest recollection it was not a good word. Then, as today in my neck of the woods, “feminist” is an insult. I can remember sitting in the back seat of the car listening to my father and his friend ranting about something they heard on the radio about how “the feminists” (word spat out like tobacco juice) were ruining something or other. It was clear to me that whatever these feminists were, they were bad.
Things really kicked into gear once I got into middle school. What had been a vague concept in the back of my mind was now pulled to the front of the classroom. I distinctly remember sitting in 7th grade biology and learning about the inherent differences between male and female brains. The teacher explained how our brains were wired differently, and that male brains were designed so that logical and analytical thought came naturally to them, but expressing emotion and communicating did not. This, the teacher said, is why men often erupt into fits of anger rather than say how they feel. On the other hand, female brains were designed to have ease of communication, and to be more aware of our own emotions and those of others. They were not designed for quick, logical, rational thinking. Don’t get me wrong; it was never taught to me that women were incapable of logical, rational, thinking, just that we were biologically at a disadvantage to men in that regard. I tried (like other girls in the class) to have some pride in my lady-brain. I’m wired to be better at something than a boy! Ha! Though it was around this time I began to shift my focus away from scientific pursuits and towards the arts. 7th grade was also the beginning of outright public sexual harassment that no adult seemed to give a shit about. There was “thong Thursday”, for example. We 12-13 year old girls were encouraged by the boys to wear thongs and lean over so that they could see the tops of them, or to wear our jeans low enough for them to peek over. This happened openly in the halls, but never once addressed by the adults. And woe to any girl who spoke out about it. That much feared “feminist!” accusation could be hurled at her, and she’d be publicly humiliated and mocked, and no one would dare help her lest they be feminist by association. There was also ‘grab-ass Wednesday’ which makes absolutely no sense but is exactly what you’re thinking.
The official school lesson on male and female brains resurfaced again, this time in 10th grade sociology class. This time in addition to the physical differences in the brains, we learned about inherent differences in behavior and societal roles. It was honestly something taken straight from some MRA’s drivel; men evolved to be the Strong Hunter Protector of the species, brain different, this why big words make man ANGRY he hit you because his brain can’t make his mouth talk feelings he want to BREED. Woman want BABY lots of emotions need man to protec blah blah blah. To us at this point, all of this was objective fact. Also at this point, the effects and impact of female socialization were starting to become disgustingly apparent. Around this time the security officer at the school was fired for ‘having sex’ with a fourteen year old freshman. It was so SCANDALOUS because...what a SLUT! It would not occur to me until YEARS later that maybe sex between a 14 year old girl and the adult male security officer hired to protect her was...uh, rape. As high school continued, so did the development of our female anti-feminism. I’ve seen radfems on here discuss how men are socialized to think that their thoughts and emotions are objective fact, but I’ve never seen it pointed out that women are socialized to believe so, too. As interactions with boys became more frequent their attention became more and more prized. When a boy said “you’re beautiful” or “you’re not like the other girls” or “you’re smart” it was seen as a pure and shining compliment, a shining nugget of truth. If a girl said the same thing? You never knew, she could just be two-faced, she would change her mind in a matter of seconds, or just be on her period. Of course, we began to strive to receive more compliments from boys because what teenager DOESN’T want to be respected and valued by their peers?
By the end of high school several of my peers were married and/or had a baby already. I had intended to go to school for journalism, but in a sudden fit of either teenage rebellion or wisdom, I took the plunge into working with animals. This saw me moving about a thousand miles away from my home town, my parents, friends, and all forms of social support. As it turns out, animal training and handling, particularly dog training and handling, is an incredibly male dominated field. Even compared to my previous life experience, it was extremely misogynistic. I found myself working long shifts at night, often with only male coworkers who were near universally older, larger, and stronger than I was. Here, I was expected to laugh it off when one of them said that if the world were about to end, the first thing he’d do was rape me. Or when my boss joked about raping me. Or when one of them (more or less out of nowhere) said that he didn’t think there would ever be a female president because “when I think “president” I think “man””. I did what I was supposed to do and took some satisfaction in their approval despite my first, suppressed, twinge of discomfort. In a strange city, in a strange area of the country, sleeping during the day and working long hours, I had little elsewhere to look for friendship and social interaction. So I made friends. Long night shifts with no one else to talk to and little else to do will do that to people. Of course, I wasn’t the ONLY woman at my place of work. I was friendly with the other women but the lifelong effects of being socialized to view women as inferior kept any of us from growing too close to each other. After all, despite growing up elsewhere they had similar upbringings. When they weren’t present the men openly chatted about who they thought the woman had slept with, how smelly her vagina must be, what her nipples probably looked like, and I held my tongue still under the delusion that if I was Good and Not Like the Other Girls, they wouldn’t speak like that about me behind my back. Feminism was only mentioned to mock women, or, more importantly, to bring up how the the country was sexist against men. The men lamented about how “in this country a man can’t be raped I guess” and “female special privileges” and “the DRAFT” and I believed them, because I didn’t have much of a reason or incentive not to. Women were viewed and treated as walking cries of rape unless they laughed when groped.
I called one of these male friends one night, in tears. My kitten, a tiny little thing named Ginkgo, had escaped from my apartment and I pleaded with him to help me search for her. He came over and we searched in vain for her. I was heartbroken, sobbing, and desperate for comfort and when the hug I was given became lustful I tried to refuse. He argued that I had woken him up in the middle of the night to come all the way to my home to look for a lost kitten; I owed it to him. That it wasn’t fair for me to refuse him and that it was selfish of me to expect compassion and company for nothing in return. And at that time in my life, I believed him. It was only fair. Afterwards, alone in my apartment, I was confronted with the reality that the only reason anyone would ever show me compassion, love, or kindness was because I was female and therefore potential sex. At the time, I was beginning to realize I was asexual (though it would be many years before I had a word for it). It was like I had been shown that my worth, my worthiness of love and life, and all my achievements were housed in my sensuality and sexuality. And I didn’t posses either. Dark times, I tell ya. Of course, there was no chance of me seeking sympathy from any female friends or acquaintances for what took place. Years later when a man in a bar shoved his finger inside me and I smashed a beer mug over his head I was berated by my female companions for overreacting and ruining the night. Further blows to any sense of being anything other than “woman” came in the form, ironically, of my achievements. I excelled at dog handling, particularly scent detection and received many an award for it, each time being told by my male peers that the only reason I received it was because I was a woman. I took my awards with a pinch of shame, believing I had taken it from a more deserving man.
It was around this time I first dipped my toes in the shallow end of feminism. I got a Tumblr! I was about 23. The internet wasn’t too big a thing when I was growing up and I got my first social media account when I was 17, the year I moved out. Until I logged onto the blue hell site, I didn’t use the internet outside of facebook (with only my irl friends there to form an echo chamber) and looking up definitions of words. Now, for the first time, I discovered that feminism wasn’t taboo everywhere. Fascinating! Of course, the “feminism” I found was pretty much identical to the patriarchal world I lived in, just with more lipstick. But it was a step. Secret radfem blog? Shit, I had a secret libfem blog and was still terrified of being found out by people I knew. I had good reason, too. When I tried to, very tentatively, voice some opinions that were not male-approved, I was met with swift and immediate backlash. I mentioned to a male coworker that I didn’t want children, which ended with him screaming at me to go out and have a hysterectomy right now if I really didn’t want any because I was being stupid and of course I wasn’t serious otherwise I’d just rip my uterus out. Or when I voiced concern over that one politician that said women should be forced to deliver stillbirths naturally because that’s what happened on his farm and was publicly berated for being a crybaby and a little girl, freaking out over ‘one weird fluke’. Still, I grew more and more interested in feminism. I spent a year deeeep in the libbiest-of libfem glitter-choked hells until one fateful day: I saw a study that proved there was no such thing as brainsex.
My entire perception of reality was irreparably shattered. Over the course of a few days, I was forced to realize that I had been lied to my entire life. I had been lied to by my teachers and the adults in my life as a kid, I was forced to realize how deeply sexist and inappropriate the boys at schools were being, that I was taught in school to excuse male violence as not their fault, that no one ever owed anyone sex, that what my coworkers and ‘friends’ were saying was blatantly false and not ok, that I was just as capable of pursuing a scientific field as a man, to realize just how much the most important people in my life really hated me. And I was forced to confront the fact that I had backed myself into a corner, cut off any escape routes, and that I relied on the acceptance of these men for my safety and job security. That made the next few years......uncomfortable. And yet, bit by bit, little by little, I’ve pulled myself away from that world and set up a new life for myself. I’ve said goodbye to a lot of people. I’ve hurt a lot. I’ve cringed a lot. The antifeminist keyboard smashing seen on radfem posts is something I could have (and probably would have) typed myself back then, safe in the conviction that I was right.
“No one held a gun to your head and forced you to be an antifeminist” I’ve been told. That’s true, I guess. At nine, after riding my bike to the one small library in town I could have checked out a book by Dworkin (whom I’d never heard of) from the feminist section (which may or may not have existed) instead of Animorphs. I could have walked around shouting “hey, anyone want to be a feminist so I can see how it’s done?” to try and find someone to look up to. I could have, upon getting internet in my late teens, immediately googled “how to be a feminist”, but I didn’t so my bad. Certainly there were girls who grew up in similar circumstances who were always feminists, and certainly there are women who grew up with outlets for feminism that are antifeminist, but I feel my story is a much more common one and in the end at least I made it. I think most radfems have had a libfem phase and I think most of us would cringe at it, but in so many ways I’m grateful for it. Not only did it introduce me to the movement that would change my life, but it was inviting and welcoming. I cannot, and DO NOT want to imagine what would have happened if, seeking to find voice for my discomfort, I had come across radical feminism first and saw the words that were beginning to cut so deeply echoed by the women who claimed to be for women. Cocksucker. Waste of time. Stupid. Coward. Being told I ‘lapped it all up’. The thought of it really makes me uncomfortable, and I think the only message it all would have sent was “Your entire world is against you and hates you but also you wanted it and it’s your fault.”.
I see radfems speak often about non western women and how they face and view sexism. It’s quite universally accepted that non western women are acutely aware of biological sex and wouldn’t stand for this gemgender floridesexual nonsense and that’s lauded as a sort of....kinship I guess. When I see radfems speak about non western women in this way, I feel they have a sense of kinship with them, like they’re one of the radfem crowd. I wonder, however, what the women who grew up and lived in those environments would really think about everything radical feminism stands for? Surely some would agree completely, but how often do you see women in these situations agree that rape is sometimes (or always) the girl’s fault? Or that women should not be educated? Are they still our sisters, or cock sucking cowards? And is the extension of sisterhood dependent on their hypothetical ability to, if they hold these beliefs, listen to what feminists have to say and change their minds to agree? Let’s say the woman in your gifsets is presented with these resources and never changes her mind. What then? Even still I've seen it said that anti feminist women will never change so there’s no point in trying. I see libfems pointing to non western cultures with ‘other’ genders and saying ‘see? see? THEY agree with me! They’d agree with liberal feminism!’ and I see radfems pointing to non western women and saying ‘see? see? THEY agree with me! They’d agree with radical feminism!’ and I can’t help but see these cultures and women within them being pressed into an ideal of one argument or the other purely for internet posturing.
I’m very disheartened to see the movement which once seemed so academic and helpful to me seeming to become a ‘cool girls’ club. Sisterhood, compassion, and help, but only for women who think the way we do. Others are there to be mocked. It’s eerily similar to the way we laughed at the ‘other’ girls in high school, completely full of ourselves and thinking we were so much better.
When I think of anti feminist women, I see the little girl being told men were prone to violence instead of talking because that’s how they were built, I see the girl being called a whore for being raped by someone she was told to trust, and I see the women pitted against each other, who have never had a feminist role model, and the girls who harbor a strange feeling of discontent and isolation they can’t articulate. I don’t see wastes of time.
If you’re still reading, thank you.
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🎀 Female Characters And Performances I l❤️ve 🎞
1. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster, The Silence Of The Lambs)
-Starling, when I told that sheriff we shouldn't talk in front of a woman, that really burned you, didn't it? It was just smoke, Starling. I had to get rid of him.
-It matters, Mr. Crawford. Cops look at you to see how to act. It matters.
Why?:
She is perhaps my all-time favorite female character and of the first ones, that I think of when I hear the phrase “strong women” in reference to films. She doesn’t go around kicking literal ass but she takes pride what she does.
She is driven and passionate about her work and even with obstacles, she believes in herself. Which isn’t to say that she isn’t vulnerable or scared at times, she is. But rather than beat herself up about it or suppress she eventually learns to overcome it. Or rather work around it and draws strength from it and in the end shows that real strength isn’t not feeling fear, it isn’t being emotionless or numb it is continuing in spite of it.
2. Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl)
“It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Why?:
Because she is one of the most complex female characters in modern literature and cinema. It’s incredibly easy to write her off as a female psychopath or a crazy bitch. While I don’t doubt that she might have mental problems, the film also shows us what might have caused some of her problems (the relationship with her parents, the pressure of living up to being Amazing Amy).
All of this aside, she’s just an incredibly fun and interesting character to watch. No matter what you might think of her morally.
There’s a phrase in the book that goes if I remember correctly something like this: “Amy likes to play god when she’s not happy. Old Testament God.” And yes, she’s incredibly pissed off for a large part of the film and does loads of scary, crazy shit throughout the film... all motivated by her absolutely astounding smartness and cunningness.
Personally, I wouldn’t say I agree with everything Amy does (I would be crazy if I did) but I do understand where some of her anger comes from and I even sympathize with her in a few instances in the film.
Point is though there should be more of these difficult, morally complex women in film. Sadly sometimes when women are unlikeable or difficult in a film we tend to as an audience dismiss them as “a crazy bitch”, or worse sometimes equate the actress behind the character to her on-screen persona.
3. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, Alien)
“Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?”
Why?:
Instead of naming the obvious reasons which are her stubbornness and overall badassery, determination and courage. What I love about her is the fact that she’s not really always likable, she’s quite moody and cranky and even plain bitchy sometimes.
She speaks her mind even when that doesn’t always make her popular with those around her. A not always likable female lead isn’t so unusual nowadays but Ripley really was one of the first ones in a big blockbuster. And she’s a cat lady.
Also if I ever get a cat again, I want to name it Jonesy or if it’s a black one Salem.
4. Shelly Johnson (Mädchen Amick, Twin Peaks)
“I’m a waitress in a diner. I’ve never been compared to a goddess before.”
Why?:
Okay, first of all, I’ll admit to having a small crush on Shelly (like probably many a Twin Peaks fan) but she’s more than just a sexy waitress. We all know she married an absolute piece of shit of a man, and when we see her at home she is almost always silent and completely submissive out of fear.
But then we see her at the diner, and she transforms: she’s charismatic, flirty, bubbly and just insanely loveable overall. What I think makes her a great character though is that there are also hints at rougher and darker edges.
In Episode 4 of season 1, after Laura’s funeral (after Leland falls into the coffin and sobs hysterically, which yes I thought was quite hysterical) we see her making fun of Leland in the diner in front of a group of admiring old men. There’s an interesting side to her that seems to want to bully almost, perhaps as a way to get what she is experiencing at home out of her system.
5. Mademoiselle De Poitiers ( Helen Morse, Picnic At Hanging Rock)
-Ah! Now I know.
-What do you know?
I know that Miranda is a Botticelli angel.
Why?:
Because she is for her time (which was not always easy for women) an incredibly sunny, optimistic and kind person. While everyone is telling the girls at the school off or being strict with them she treats them with respect and shows an interest in their “teenage world”.
While she might seem like a conventional and quite traditional female character, I adore that she seems like she genuinely enjoys her feminity. You look at her and see a woman who you can tell simply loves and revels in flirting and romance and it’s incredibly charming performance to watch.
6. Laura (Gene Tierney, Laura)
“You forced me to give you my word. I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do of my own free will.”
Why?:
I think it’s a remarkable film for its time. Laura is portrayed (once she appears) as an incredibly charismatic, alluring and smart woman that values her privacy and independence and as loving and being successful in her career.
The twist though is that for a seemingly very strong woman she has a very toxic friendship with a male friend who’s extremely jealous and possessive of her. He has ruined countless of her romantic relationships because no man is ever good enough for his Laura.
Finally, she dumps him as she realizes his manipulation and stays with the man she’d fallen in love with, which might seem like a conventional ending but I love how Laura, in the end, takes control of her own happiness and by extension her life.
7. Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon, Freeway)
I know there’s a lot of sick guys that get hard… thinkin’ about messin’ women up. Hell, that’s all you ever see on TV. But when a guy goes and does that for real like you were plannin’ on doin’ – I was just trying to scare you. You had your turn to talk! I think it’s only fair to let me get my two cents in. You’re absolutely right. Sorry. Please, go on. But when a guy goes and hurts someone who never hurt them… that makes him a criminal first and a sick guy second. It’s like being sick has to take second place to being crooked.
Why?:
Reese Witherspoon’s plentiful and colorful swearing, as well as her unapologetic aggressiveness. She’s a trashy and violent female character, and I always find it incredibly interesting to take a look at female characters that are perpetrators of violence and what motivated them.
An interesting thing is also that she is supposedly a morally despicable, white trash and uneducated character but actually has a better understanding of and less twisted sense of morality than any of the characters that are supposedly well adjusted, refined and educated people. Some of her blunt, often shocking comments hit the nail on the head on several problems in American and general society.
8. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren, The Birds)
“I thought you knew! I want to go through life jumping into fountains naked, good night!”
Why?:
She’s my all-time favorite Hitchcock heroine. What I love about her particularly as a character is her spontaneity, her assertiveness, sass, and humor but above all her perseverance and genuine strength (though she’s occasionally prone to the dramatic sighing or shrieking women just sometimes did in older films ).
A delight for me in the film is that it turns a common romantic trope around: she is the one that first sets her sights on the man and consequently chases and gets with him.
She also consistently stands up for herself, point in case: the scene in the diner in which a local accuses her of causing the bird’s irrational and unexplainable behavior. I really believe she’s one of Hitchcock's most underestimated heroines and in my opinion also written with a depth that proves he was not a misogynist as is so often believed.
9. Wendy (Shelley Duvall, The Shining)
“You son of a bitch! You did this to him, didn't you! How could you! How could you!”
Why?:
While controversial just like Tippi Hedren’s performance in The Birds, I absolutely love Shelley Duvall’s work in The Shining and I think her performance is often very wrongly looked down upon.
Personally, I always thought film Wendy was stronger than book Wendy her performance is often dismissed as hysterical, over the top and she’s also called a dumb character very frequently.
In contrast to Nicholson’s performance though she’s pretty calm. What I love about the performance is the very subtle and slow changes in her attitude. People often find her a weak character, because she stays with her abusive husband I don’t think however that it is that unrealistic.
People in real life sometimes also tend to stay in these relationships until something drastic happens that forces them to really evaluate the situation. Her husband has moments where he convincingly plays at pretending to be the “nice and good husband” and so she chooses to buy it.
However once in the hotel, as Jack becomes increasingly mad she realizes her husband was never a good man, to begin with, and that she has reason to be very, very afraid of him and Duvall absolutely illustrates that fear brilliantly. At this point, instead of walking on eggshells as she did initially she realizes she and her son must simply get away from that man if they are to live.
I see how some people might not like her a character, it does feel like she screams a lot sometimes, but I find it incredible that even in her fear she still soldiers for herself and her child.
10. Ana (Isabelle Adjani, Possession)
“We are all the same. Different words, different bodies, different versions. Like insects! Meat!”
Why?:
Very simply put, Adjani’s utterly crazy and unhinged performance. It’s also a fantastic depiction of a slow and finally full blown descend into madness. What I love most of all is that while it may easy to dismiss her as a “psycho, hysteric” kind of female character she is not completely that there’s more nuance to it.
The film shows that the unhappiness in her marriage and the hints of abuse in it played a huge role as well. A showcase of the fact that love can sometimes truly drive us mad and make us lose ourselves.
Some fictional ladies that didn’t quite make this particular list, but might make appearances on another one:
Thelma (Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise)
-It’s not like I killed anybody, for God’s sake!
-Thelma!
Grace (Brie Larson, Short Term 12)
-Grace, you are a line staff. It's not your job to interpret tears. That's what our trained therapists are here for.
-Then your trained therapists don't know shit.
Celine (Julie Delpy, Before Trilogy)
“I always feel this pressure of being a strong and independent icon of womanhood, and without making it look like my whole life is revolving around some guy. But loving someone, and being loved means so much to me. We always make fun of it and stuff. But isn’t everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?”
#since I get asked about this a lot#I decided to make a list with some of my faves#I just realised after how much horror is in here#female characters#favourite female characters#women on film#movies#films#horror#favorites#cinema#filmista
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Why BBC Sherlock was ruined by bad writing - Part 1
This post is a part of a long summary of some of the problems with BBC Sherlock which in my opinion ultimately caused the show damage which seems practically irreparable now.
One of the related problems actually is that it seems Moffat and Gatiss didn’t get why S4 was met with disdain by fanbase, why reviewers picked it apart, why ratings dropped. It means they don’t want to learn from their mistakes or simply can’t. In fact Gatiss outright refused to believe ratings dropped and that does speak about very huge denial as ratings are facts, not opinions. Both Moffat and Gatiss also suddenly lost enthusiasm about ACD, Sherlock Holmes, although they were gushing about it just not so long ago.
But let’s get back to the problems of the writing I wanted to talk about:
1) The problem with Moriarty
Looking back at first two seasons after clusterfuck of S4, sadly, I could now notice some problems which were already planted in earlier seasons. While S1-2 were the best out of the show some decisions which were made by the writers indicated their true approach to the material even back then. But these problems would only grow like a snow ball and in the end would contribute to the undoing of the show in many ways. Mofftiss were overusing Moriarty from the start.
In ACD’s canon he appears in one story (and is mentioned several times) like the nemesis to take down Sherlock once and for all. Since it’s TV series it was perfectly understandable and fair to expand the role of Moriarty, however it was way overexpanded. Moriarty was connected with the cabby, was behind Chinese mafia, then arranged the whole Great Game with Sherlock and then meeting with him in person took place-all in the scope of all 3 episodes of S1. Had the S1 been longer perhaps it wouldn’t have looked so jam-packed with Moriarty and would have been more subtle, but since the S1 is only 3 episodes long it did. S1 also told us that Moriarty killed the school boy, the only case which young Sherlock was not able to solve then, thus setting up Moriarty as this ultimate enemy of Sherlock literally for decades. Then in Ep1S2 we find out that Irene Adler was also working for Moriarty and that he consulted her. Ep2S2 has Sherlock having hallucinations about Moriarty and Ep3S3 have the grand finale where Moriarty tries to destroy Sherlock and kills himself on the roof, and then Sherlock jumps from the roof, faking his suicide.
Honestly by the end of S2 Moriarty was made by the Mofftiss as this be-all and the end-all guy and that already looked over the top. But it still could have been ok, if the Mofftiss could stop there with Moriarty. And that’s exactly what they couldn’t do. They didn’t know how to stop and so they ran this character into the ground. S3 teased us if Moriarty really died or not, with “shocking cliffhanger” final, adding more hallucinations and flashbacks and fake flashbacks with Jim along the way. But the result was that by the end of S3 Moriarty no longer looked liked some threatening dangerous villain, but rather as a self-caricature. S3 also told us that Moriarty had in fact a death wish and that he would have killed himself anyway, making his whole suicide on the roof pretty weak. Instead of some diabolically clever villain with diabolically bold clever calculated plan, we got the guy who just was crazy and wanted to off himself. Big whoop.
It got only worse when TAB special was literally dedicated to Sherlock trying to understand that Moriarty, who shot himself standing right in front of Sherlock in broad daylight, was actually really dead. No shit, Sherlock. Moriarty was again present in Sherlock’s Mind Palace, grimacing all the way, which probably was supposed to look cool and edgy, but didn’t, and looked like a tired rehash.
Then S4 finally completely killed any coolness or sense which Moriarty still had in the show (and there wasn’t much left by the time). S4 told us how Moriarty met with secret super powerful sister Eurus, spent 5 minutes talking with her or smh and even teamed with her, recording some dumb edgy videos for Eurus, which she used when Moriarty himself was already dead. Since Eurus is capable to hypnotize people after talking with them the question was left open if Moriarty was really compromised by Eurus and was just her puppet since then.
Either way Moriarty was pretty much destroyed as interesting and effective villain in the show, because a) he either was hypnotized by Eurus, made into her puppet and lost any personal agenda or free will since then; or b) he wasn’t hypnotized by Eurus, remained himself but was just really unhinged, mad dude, whose unpredictability didn’t seem like a result of his great intellect or scheming or an act, but rather a result of him being a psycho, who wanted badly to kill himself, also hoping that Sherlock would ~ probably~ kill himself as well—and if Sherlock doesn’t kill himself, hey, no biggie, he got those great choo-choo videos for Eurus which she could use against Sherlock, though Moriarty wouldn’t be able to see this anyway, because he will be dead by then. But surely choo-choo videos will work! Surely the world's only consulting criminal could always count on choo-choo videos! Great plan!
2) The problem with women
I already talked once about how Mofftiss treat female characters on the shows and the short answer is: they treat them pretty awful as they pretend to write “strong female characters” while basically doing “Feminism for Dummies: The Male Edition”.
According to Mofftiss strong female characters mean mostly villainous, dubious, criminal, weaponized psychopaths.
---Irene Adler – twisted rewritten version of ACD’s Irene Adler, here villainized cruel sex worker and blackmailer, who is told what to do by male villain, because she can’t figure it out on her own, loses to Sherlock because she fell for him and later is saved by him. Moffat literally described Irene as psychopath, in fact he describes Sherlock as one as well, saying: ”He's a psychopath, so is she”.
Moffat also considers ACD’s Irene boring, saying:
“In the original, Irene Adler's victory over Sherlock Holmes was to move house and run away with her husband. That's not a feminist victory."
Moffat is a very big fan of ACD’s stories according to Moffat. No comments here.
---Eurus “Ebony Dark'ness Dementia” Holmes – OC, secret sister genius with super powers, who killed a child while she herself was a child, tortured her brother Sherlock and has been put to medical facility- prison for life (where she continued to torture and kill people, and even rape them-well, there was one case at least. She also was able to leave prison at her will and kill people outside). A total psycopath, who fixed her multi-talents on playing some evil games with Sherlock. Turned out to be so, so very needy, that the only thing she really wants is a hug from Sherlock, cause she loses the minute he hugs her. Obviously Mofftiss tried to build her as this greatest villain on the show who ever villain, but it didn’t work out.
--Mary Watson – practically an OC, since Mofftiss so heavily rewrote her, that she doesn’t resemble Mary Morstan from ACD’s canon. Even her real name is not really Mary Morstan here, she borrowed it from the grave slab of another person. She is ex-assassin who was murdering people for cash, but retired now, who lies and hides her past from everybody, then she shoots Sherlock almost killing him for good, in order to cover up the fact that she came to kill her blackmailer and Sherlock discovered her. Then Mofftiss make a big point that her main agenda in show is really a new life with a husband she loves and their baby (Mary shoots Sherlock while already being pregnant). Then Mary leaves her husband and little baby girl (the girl given to Mary by Mofftiss in the show, she doesn’t exist in ACD’s canon) when somebody hunts her ex-fellow assassins (yep, they still out there or some of them). Then she is tracked down and returns, but then she is killed off because she jumped in front of the bullet meant for Sherlock leaving her baby girl without the mother and her husband as widower. Bye bye Mary’s agenda, it has been destroyed. (Also what an insult to professional mercenary getting killed by some institutional secretary, honestly). Then it turns out Mary recorded some weird ass DVDs which are now regularly sent to Sherlock and John, and while she makes some kitch speeches there she barely remembers about existence of her baby daughter, if at all. In the process we find out that John, while Mary was still alive, was already heavily flirting with another woman (it was Eurus “Ebony Dark'ness” in disguise) and really wanted to cheat on Mary. Oh, and Amanda Abbington herself described Mary as psychopath.
--A small shout out to those Victorian ladies from TAB’s Mind Palace - they formed a secret sect in order to kill men, had creepy secret meetings and basically were an underground murder club on the loose, even were referred to as “league of furies” at one point. Oh look, women are again portrayed as vile, criminal and agressive entities, with attached aesthetic of KKK. Straw feminism is strong with these ones.
--Ok, let’s remember Molly Hooper, she is not a psychopath, she is not villainous, she is not a criminal, she is a nice, smart, normal, kind young working woman. At long last something different, right? Real potential? Ehm, nope, Mofftiss still ruined it. Because she is kept in the show as a female character with a deep desperate unrequired crush on Sherlock who is ready to do a lot for him, but repeatedly mistreated by the object of her affections. Sherlock humiliates, manipulates and abuses her emotionally several times during the show, when it gets better between them, but Mofftiss make sure that poor Molly still can’t have personal life outside of Sherlock, her new BF/fiance Tom ins S3 is a poor copy of Sherlock, he even dresses like him (probably it was done for laughs in the show “ha ha, poor Molly, got replacement goldfish, can’t really move on” only it wasn’t really funny), but they broke up by the end of S3. Then Molly is pushed aside for most of S4, and then there is that famous “I love you” scene, which deeply hurts Molly and makes her cry.....the scene, which according to Mofftiss was a last-minute addition to the script and was not about Molly or her relationships with Sherlock at all, but only about Sherlock and his emotional development and how he is more human now. Molly was simply used by Mofftiss as show-case of Sherlock’s manpain. There was no resolution to this scene and Moffat simply said that Molly would get over it, by having a drink and shagging someone. That’s...deep. Not.
It really makes you wonder what’s Mofftiss’s problem with women and why writing for female characters on the show is such a trainwreck?
Well, according to Moffat:
--“The original [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] stories had a huge female following, which I'd never forgotten, and that's because the Victorian ladies liked the way Sherlock looked. (Laughs.) So I thought, use this massively exciting, rather handsome man who could see right through your heart and have no interest ... of course, he's going to be a sex god! I think we pitched that character right. I think our female fan base all believe that they'll be the one to melt that glacier. They're all wrong -- nothing will melt that glacier.”
--"Women are needy. Women are out there hunting for husbands."
Also his understanding of pregnancy and motherhood “Your wife turns into a boat, and shortly after that, you never sleep again and you clean shit off someone. It doesn’t seem like a very appealing prospect”.
Also the infamous “There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of respect for anything male.”
I guess all of it sort of explains why Mofftiss write women that way.
To be continued...
#sherlock#bbc sherlock#sherlock holmes#sherlock season 4#eurus holmes#moriarty#irene adler#john watson#molly hooper#mary morstan#mary watson
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But why though?
Things I will never really understand about people in my generation.
1.Current rappers and current music trends
Mummble rap has gotten in my opinion, out of hand....Like we have LITERAL KIDS making money off of mumbaling about drugs, gang life and promoting THOT mentality like its cool but we perpetuate it as a generation because we "relate". We've taken pretending to be thug to a whole new level when a lot of the people who boost this music ain't never hold a gun or sell drugs. "BEEF" is now one of the biggist ways to get your music looked at or get your name in the spot light other then jumping on soundcloud or your music being run behined a meme. Hearing a good beat be wasted on someone reapeting the same shit over and over shows the lack of an attention span we have now. We just want music that makes us move and take our mind off of the lack luster enviorment we have to push through as young adults who can't afford our own. But really how many times do you want to hear someone talk about weed, pills, lean and gang banging if its shit you know you don't do?
2.THOT MENTALITY
Yes, my generation preaches feminism to EMPOWER woman but what I've seen is a sloppy excuse to disregard the lack of self respect some of these men and woman have for themselves. Sexual freedom is great but bringing a child into this world because it'll just be a financial boost or a status boost and not because you genuinely want to build a family sickens me. It sickens me seeing someone use someone else's life for finacial and celebrity gain. Celebs like Black Chyna, Fetty Wap or [INSERT RANDOM REALITY TV STAR] who pop out babies because they want attention or because they have no regard for thier partner or future children. THOT mentality has become a way of life for some people. Man and woman alike ruining their own relationships or others because they want to play house. Being proud to be a side piece dosen't make sense to me. Trying to ruin someone elses relationaship /allowing someone to sway you to ruin your own relationship is also apart of this THOT mentality. What happen to being proud of having your own shit without using someone elses name to get peoples eye on you? Nothing is empowering about being the person no one can trust sexually or emotionaly. Nothings brave about being a single parent because two people couldn't stop and say "Thiers no future in this one time thing". Not to mention the mistrust you breed in people who are actually faithful. THOT mentality just makes people look at you like a quick fix and nothing more. Being proud that someone and yourself let lust and vanity ruin a family isn't something to be proud of. If anything it shows a low sense of self esteem that you had to ruin someone else's emotional state just to make yourself feel proud of how you look and the fact you and that partner have no self control. Which brings me to my next topic.
3.Baby mamas/daddy trend.
Being a single parant isn't something to shame. But if you are a single parant as a result of cheating ,think of how hard that life will be for your child or your childs half siblings. Take Beyonce and her family for example beautiful talented family. Father is a scum bag yet people at a point expected Beyonce to show her step sibling love just because shes was a little girl. Or the jackson five who COMPLETELY ostracized thier other sister. What added insult to injury is her attitude that she expected them to welcome her. That first family dosen't owe you and your kids shit. You are seen as an outside fource that messed up their set up. Even if the parent involved stays with that family they will never be the same because they will get the sense they weren't enough. Partners that put all the blame on the other man/woman stop doing that bullshit. If you were with someone for 3 years and they cheated on you that person is the problem. The outsider holds no obligation to be faithful or fair to your relationship. Its YOUR partners obligation to be faithful to you. Seeing sittuations like Fetty Waps where he VERY MUCH does not give a flying FUCK about the multiple woman he's impregnated and sits by as they argue and bicker at one another about stupid shit instead of figuring out how thier children will get along with their half siblings. My generation eats it up and copies it. Not all but its becoming a thing that I hope dies off.
I know this isn't something EVERYONE is doing but its common enough that its just got me like 🤔🙄😐😒😞😤😫😩😧 We can do WAY better.
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My thoughts on The Last Jedi and fandoms in general. (No spoilers.)
Happy Christmas folks.
I’m gonna talk a bit about Star Wars here, and just fandoms in general. And I’m sure this may be a bit controversial, but quite frankly… I don’t care anymore.
First of all, earlier tonight I saw the Last Jedi, and I really liked the movie. In fact, I have to see it again a few more times to be sure, but it may be my favorite Star Wars movie ever. Or at least second place to Empire Strikes Back. (It’s not my favorite Star Wars story. Oh no, that honor goes right to Star Wars: Rebels.) I’ll remain mostly spoiler-free here, so if you haven’t seen it, don’t worry. I won’t ruin it for you, like most of the events were ruined for me, because of certain fanboys and their whining.
And that’s what I wanted to talk about. In the last few years, I’ve seen various fandoms of mine turn into the biggest, whiniest group of crybabies I have ever seen and usually over nothing. And before you say, “That’s how fandoms are!” I’m 42 years old and I’m going to chose my words as specifically and effectively here, so you understand that I am not being hyperbolic in any way:
In 1997, there was less bitching and whining about Batman and Robin than there is toward The Last Jedi.
It seems nothing can come out now without being criticized and nitpicked apart to the point of… Well… Pointlessness. Movies, comics, games, toys, TV shows, books… Whatever.
Rey’s a Mary Sue! (Despite the fact, so was Luke. And Anakin.)
There’s a black Stormtrooper! (Despite the fact that all clone troopers were based on Jango Fett, who wasn’t white either.)
Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t even about Mad Max! (Despite the fact that none but the very first Mad Max movie has been about Max.)
A black guy is Captain America. (Despite the fact that it’s Sam “The Falcon” Wilson, which is the equivalent of Dick Grayson becoming Batman.)
Thor’s a woman now! (Despite the fact that other people have wielded Mjolnir before, including Eric Masterson, Jake Olsen, Beta Ray Bill, ect…)
Iron Man’s a black girl now! (Despite the fact that Riri’s actually called IronHEART, and Tony Stark is just temporarily incapacitated and a big ass backdoor is right there for his revival.)
SJW and Feminism is ruining Marvel Comics sales! (Despite the fact that Marvel had no less than THREE major poorly conceived company-wide crossovers that were forced upon various books for no damn reasons. But sure, let’s blame Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur.)
There’s an all female Ghostbusters! (Despite the fact that the movie wasn’t worse than Ghostbusters 2. And in fact, the IDW comics proves the idea is actually really good. Just the movie was kinda weak.)
Ocean’s 8 is just feminists ruining a good movie! (Despite the fact that Ocean’s 12 and 13 were pretty craptacular.)
Blizzard keeps trying to appease the SJWs! (Despite the fact that dudebros seemed to love Tracer before you found out that she was a lesbian.)
Hasbro keeps shoving Windblade down our throats! (Despite the fact that she won the fan vote, and we kind of created her. And she’s actually a really good character.)
Star Trek has a bunch of black captains and gay people on it! (H-have you… Have you SEEN Star Trek before?)
The 13th Doctor’s going to be a woman now! (Look, the ONLY problem with Jodie Whittaker is that we’re going to lose Capaldi in return. THAT’S IT. We’ll get over it!)
INSERT RANDOM BITCHING ABOUT FANDOM HERE THAT I’M NOT AWARE OF.
We have an immature man-child for a President. We have a Congress that seems to legitimately not care about it’s people. We have almost half a society of people using this as an excuse to be racist, homophobic, xenophobic and just all around assholes to everyone. The environment is all messed up, and the people making policies are pretending that the EPA are the bad guys. We just had a serious election where a goddamned pedophile almost won an election. (Oh sorry. Ephebophilie. My bad. That’s oh SOOO much better!) We’re condemning black men kneeling on a football field for protesting cops shooting them, while we praise FUCKING NAZIS as “very fine people”. Puerto Rico is barely recovering from being an uninhabitable island, because we wanted to send more money to what will be a totally ineffective wall…
And they’re bitching about Porgs.
I’m tired. I’m so tired. 2017 has actually broken me. And I just don’t have it in me anymore to get broken up over things like this anymore.
*deep breath*
I like Rey. And Finn. And Rose. And especially Poe Dameron. I think Kylo Ren is an interesting villain. Visually, story wise and just in general. There are things in this movie I cannot talk about, because of spoilers. (But really, that bit with Vice Admiral Holdo and the transport cruiser? Holy shit, that was amazing!) I think it was an amazing movie and I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in Episode IX. MY Star Wars trilogy ended 30 years ago. This new trilogy isn’t for the next generations after mine. No, that was the Prequels. This trilogy is for the ones AFTER the Millennials. This is THEIR Star Wars. My opinion means shit.
I loved The Last Jedi.
And that’s it.
(PS: Using “SJW” non-ironically really doesn’t make sound like anything but a raving neckbeard. You may want to develop a new term to use.)
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ok u know what ? what i had planned was taking way too long n i don’t wanna rush myself so let me just share what i have n then we’ll take it from there xx HELLO AGAIN ! i’m emmy (she/her) of the house aest/gmt+10 aka yes i did wake up at 6am on a saturday then fall asleep halfway through putting this together. my things are intersectional feminism, avocados, inxs, dogs, history, and watching every single tv show to ever exist (except suits... one day...) ! i have 25 too many muses so get ready for one line on each ! don’t @ me bc they’re all fleshed out and if u wanna ask abt any of them, i’m ready 2 go off. do @ me bc i’m too lazy to finish their individual pages. anyways ! i love plotting so if ur interested... pick a muse or five and we’ll brainstorm !!
i do have a muse navigation here which you can click through. an amazing 2 out of 25 muse pages are completely finished, some have completed stats, most have shit-all. also, they do have intro posts in this tag but probably don’t read them bc they’re mostly messy and expired memes.
MARI RIBEIRO (camila mendes, 21) rich girl with her shit mostly sorted. was loved an unrealistic amount by her parents and now does the same to her friends. if ethan jumped off a bridge, would mari do it too? absolutely. always overreacting to something. can’t drive.
TOMAS TURUNEN (bill skarsgard, 25) pretentious romantic. mad at his dad and takes it out on everyone else w mind games. has probably killed someone. manages the bar in soho and that is literally... all most people know about his private (fake) ass.
CICI GAUTIER (elle fanning, 18) thinks she’s marie antoinette. filthy rich, filthy morals. does whatever jennifer meade tells her to if she can’t make someone else do it for her. uncomfortably obsessed with her cousin (no incest tho, i promise). very very little empathy. absolutely the type to costume change at any event.
WES KOTECHA (avan jogia, 24) has a lot of feelings, all of them hurt. plays guitar (and keytar but...) for liberal scum. tfw no gf meme. king of making dinner awkward by either bringing up his latest personal problems or just getting into politics. surrounds himself w vegans.
MINDY WILLIAMS (margaret qualley, 22) the goth girl kevsdgaf is always tweeting about. monotone. only listens to one direction or the cure. loves twilight and shakespeare. the weird girl who never got over her vampire phase. rarely experiences bad moods.
BECK HOLMES (alfie enoch, 29) big nerd. means well. loves learning and helping others learn. literally does not ever stop looking for new information to absorb. needs better friends right now immediately. does not have a life outside of his few friends n his books.
ROSIE RIVERA BLANCHE (eiza gonzalez, 25) my first muse... my baby... biological and adoptive daughter of rock royalty. got into acting instead. too good for the show she’s on but hasn’t gotten any other big offers. thinks she’s better than everyone else. friendship and romance? she doesn’t know either. just hugo.
ANGEL ROSADO (zoe kravitz, 24) heiress to a resort empire, head of a fitness one. competitive. has considered having other gyms burned down. has her head stuck up her own ass most of the time. dependent on her family. takes everything personally.
AJA PAREKH (naomi scott, 22) farm girl who was forced to run away to the city when family dramas got tough. can’t decide if her dream is to drive a van around europe or just milk some cows. super friendly, super annoying. doesn’t even know how to acknowledge a problem.
ARABELLA GOMFREY (gabriella wilde, 23) lucrezia borgia. pious. thinks her family are right about everything no matter how wrong it is. would do anything to make them look good. cliquey. likes surrounding herself with beautiful people but gets pressed if they’re cuter than her. nice until you come for her family.
ZACH BALTAZAR (jamie blackley, 25) insecure or just lazy? he’ll crack a joke about it. deserves happiness but doubts that. is up for anything but will judge you the whole time. king of impressive first dates and romantic poetry then forgetting to text you back for a solid three weeks.
NATALYA BELYAKOVA (alicia vikander, 27) boring. literally just reads, works and wears pencil skirts. actually only moved to london to get bloody revenge on the people who killed her father and brother. good at keeping secrets obviously. smart.
ALANIS BAUMANN (emily ratajkowski, 25) a hero. literally scammed 9 different people for money telling them her baby was theirs before calvin shut that down. actually named her kid freddie mercury. would die for him. crude. just tryna have a good time.
CONSTANCE ABERNATHY (diana silvers, 20) church girl who didn’t wanna go to church or read her bible. got married young n ran away. not the one who put her husband in a coma but we all have our suspicions. was famous on vine and refuses to let it go. kinda mean.
PARIS BAYOUMI (mimi elashiry, 20) full time kitchen witch. has a herb garden that she actually talks to. will ask how you are then immediately tune out. serene. unintentionally sardonic. tells detailed stories that literally no one cares about. no one knows anything about where she came from.
GWEN HATHAWAY (madchen amick, 43) soft spoken angel who can and will turn into the actual devil if you get in her way. still dealing with the 90s. has children somewhere. impulsive. always putting herself first. seems so sweet it’ll takes a second to realize she doesn’t care.
LUKE FALLEY (toby regbo, 25) the biggest pain in the ass. seems to think he knows everything. actually does not have a mean bone in his body but seems condescending. always got some weird shit to say. feminist. does not stop talking ever.
HELENA O’SHEA (lily james, 26) the girl who had it all together at a young age n then fell from grace. successful wedding planner who threw it all away out of embarrassment when she got dumped and called off her wedding. miserable. hates children. extremely organized.
GIA VISARIYA (charli xcx, 23) actual queen of youtube. writes n stars in a ‘reality’ series there. very loud and very friendly. thinks of everyone as a bff. if you end up in her contacts for whatever reason she will invite you out every weekend. needs some manners.
VERONIKA ERIKSON (angelina jolie, 40) goddess. half retired supermodel who has spent the last 20 years trying to have a baby. got divorced n “””moved on””” bc she couldn’t take the heartache anymore. iconic aunt. deserves the world. now flips houses to keep herself busy.
LUMA PONTECORVO (sofia black-d’elia, 23) such a bad influence that her older brother literally set her up in a different country so she would stop getting his kids into trouble. brat. always showing up to work late and hungover. cunty. mad abt her mom dipping.
ELIZABETH LEBLANC (margot robbie, 27) fakes the domestic goddess stereotype to please other people. gets her kicks from spending her dirty drug money on clothes and curtains. has experienced poverty and would probably kill before going back there.
AJAY JOHAL (rahul kohli, 30) everything he does is literally just in an effort to support his parents. super flighty. could not make a decision to save his life. super respectful. quality lad. maybe a lil immature but he’s working on it. sike ! he’s not.
PERCY NICHOLS (finn cole, 20) an actual stain. just a horrible lil shunt. screwed over his friends and got rich. would absolutely do it again. cheeky nandos. very smart but you wouldn’t know it. coked out. absolutely has to live a certain life. will never be satisfied anyway.
BOBBIE SANTOS (blanca padilla, 22) ruins lives w how angelic she is. ur annoying yoga friend who instagrams her food before eating it. doesn’t know how to mind her own business but thankfully isn’t very perceptive. glass half full. under educated. independent.
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my number one favorite thing is Omar saying, "come here." my number two favorite thing is how he is... he's so nice. he opens doors for me (not all the time, but most of the time), he asks me a million questions because he genuinely wants to know, being in his presence is calming... i don't feel bad things. it's peaceful. it's been an adjustment because i'm used to being the affectionate one... but he's all over me and i've had to adjust. sometimes i feel like i'm not affectionate enough for him, but he says i am. he says that when i do affectionate things, i mean them. he respects me... he walks by my side instead of in front of me. we talk about things. we share our feelings openly. he's comfortable being weird around me, and he enjoys it when i spazz out and jump around the bedroom or fuck with him and move my tongue like a lizard sometimes when we kiss, lmao. i know i am appreciated. i can FEEL it. he's just... good. he's a great person. we just enjoy each other's company. we don't watch TV when we hang out... most of the time we're just in his bedroom talking. it's nice. he started counteracting my fear of getting bored with someone in less than a week. i told him what i don't like about my body and he looked at me all shocked and said, "what's not to like? your body is perfect." and he kisses all those areas or tells me things so i won't be insecure about stuff. he's the way you're supposed to be. i was talking with my therapist about it today and she said the things he does and what we do remind her of her and her husband's relationship. it was so sweet. she said her friends complain about their husbands or they talk about how they get into screaming matches, and she said how her friends always point out how she never says anything bad about her husband and how they think her and her husband never fight. she says they disagree. they aren't perfect. but they never yell at each other or throw their wedding rings at each other... they just talk it out. it was really sweet. and we talked about how relationships are work and how my fear of getting bored is basically what happens when you are no longer working on your relationship... when you just get comfortable and kind of lose focus on the two of you and focus on the kids or what have you. i don't think i'm explaining this part well. but she said you shouldn't ever lose focus on your relationship because the kids won't be around forever... yes, obviously they are important and they need attention, but you can't completely focus on them while your significant other falls to the wayside. your kids move out and create lives of their own. and then what? your S/O is (hopefully) still there. you cannot stop working on your relationship. that's when the boredom starts. i told her Omar is normal behavior-wise and she said he isn't. he's above normal. then we were talking about chivalry and how feminism ruined it a little (we weren't talking shit about feminism in any way). idk, i liked what she was saying today when we talked about Omar. unfortunately, she informed me she's starting a new job in August. i wanted to cry. it took me a long time to like her and feel like i was gaining from therapy. those feelings lasted a few months, but once i got more stable, i started looking forward to my appointments. they were enjoyable. she told me her boss asked her to consider PRN work. i don't know what that means in her field, but with my job, the clients have PRN meds. they're meds that are taken on an "as needed" basis, such as cough medicine, pain killers, maybe anxiety pills. stuff like that. she said that if she does choose to do that, she'd only keep a handful of clients, seriously only a few, and i'd be one of them. it was so kind. she's told me before that she thinks we could definitely be friends in another setting. i agree. we click. she asked if i wanted to stay in therapy after she leaves and she can pair me up with a different therapist (the guy i saw when i was little works with her... but that was 19 years ago!), but i don't want to start over. the reason she'd keep me is because i'm willing to change and i want to grow... i don't come in with the same problems week after week, month after month. i listen to what she says and think about it. and i think things out myself... i don't make a habit of falling into traps. i don't know. and she told me that whether or not Omar and i work out, i have made a life changing decision by being with him. i know she's right. i've already learned so much about relationships and life and it's only been one month. my mood has been stable. i never ever mind the 30 minute drive to him. it's been good. i look forward to his company. i look forward to what we'll do that day, what we'll talk about that day.
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15 things you love about jackie?(p.s. i loveeee your blog so much )
Hello! Thank you SO much for your question! I’m actually happy someone wants to talk about Jackie with me (lol). And for your kind words, thank you so much too
Now, I love plenty about Jackie but made this Top15 was kind of hard. I dind’t want it to get too long, but I guess that’s never posible with me lol. Everything must be long with me, lol. This is in no particular order.
1. Her enormous heart
This woman loves like no one ever. Even when she is mean and selective, she is capable of loving with all in her and beyond. When it comes to love, her selectiveness is gone, she just gives and gives. That’s why she ends up hurt so easily, and yet she still gives everything… and most times, she gets nothing back but a bunch of lies, jokes and hard words.
Honestly, this show hates its female characters, but Jackie was always their favorite target to make crap out of her.
Jackie has the super power of loving with the force and the long of thousand lifetimes, which also leans to…
2. That incredible capacity of forgiveness
OH BOY. Actually, I think this should be number one, but at the end of the day this exist because of that amazing heart. Jackie is capable of forgiveness in a way most people doesn’t even understand. She even forgivess when the person honest to god doesn’t deserve to be forigven (cofcofcofKelsocofcofcof).
She listens, she cries and yells, and gets angry, but then walks away and wait for things to cool down, be sad for a while if necessary, but never mad. This is also a bad thing, to be honest. Because she always gets hurt thanks to this. Always.
Yet, I admire her. I crave to have a heart like hers, because hate and anger only consumes you at the end, but she lets it go. She holds onto hope and happiness, and tries to see the good in other people, to think they are capable of change. It’s amazing.
3. The fact that she is such a good friend
Because, honestly, she is. Hyde, Eric and Jackie are the ones who are the better friends on the gang, Jackie being the one who doesn’t get anything in return most of the times. I’m sorry, but Jackie is always there for all of them, all. Even for Eric, even when he obviously doesn’t like her and doesn’t appreciate her.
Jackie has been trying to be Donna’s friends since day one. It may be her desire of approval, but Jackie has an incredible ability to understand and care for the people around her. She tries to help, even when she may not get the situation or be the most imparcial or needed teller in the story.
Honestly, i’ll die for a friend like Jackie. I mean, she paid for Donna’s engagement ring. SHE DID THAT. The man she loves doesn’t want to marry her, her best friend doesn’t even know what to say when asked why they are friends, her ex is always trying to get something from her, her other friend is always sexualizing her on her face, and the man she paid that fucking ring for is always talking shit about her, trying to get ride of her like if she was some kind of virus.
And yet, she is always there for all of them.
4. And an amazing girlfriend
Listen, she may not be the most reasonable person when it comes to loving someone. She blinds love, she tries to make her relationships work and fix the problems they find in their way. It’s not her fault her boyfriends end up being such fucking assholes (Hey, I’m talking about s8!Hye and you all know that).
She gives everything when she loves, she has an insane need of feel loved and not be alone, but when truly in love (aka with Hyde), we saw an actual human being who makes mistakes and works out those mistakes. Like I said before, she listens, she understands, she gets over herself, forgives and keeps going.
And she is so damn sweet, so damn cute, I want a girlfriend like Jackie.
5. That she never gives up
LOOK AT HER, SHE GOT THAT ONE STEVEN HYDE WHO DIDN’T DO RELATIONSHIPS TO NOT ONLY BE WITH HER BUT ALSO LOVE HER.
The show actually lets us know Jackie has a will fo steel. She sets herself into getting something done her way or at her side, and she gets it at the end. It’s also amazing to see how she grows from her previous mistakes and gets to make her technique even better.
Once she understands she has to be nice, polite and understanding to ask for something, she does nicely and gets what she wants. And yes, I’m talking again about Hyde; but also about how even when her father takes away her money, she gets a job so she can still see Kelso, she puts everything in her to show Hyde she isn’t who she thinks she is, to get him to know her and lmao, at the end of the day he falls for her.
Honestly, Jackie, give me your secrets.
6. And is also hard-working (when she wants)
DUDE. Like I said, she doesn’t give up, so it’s kind of obvious she would turn out to be a hard-working person. And it’s so funny because fandom always puts her like this useless girl who can do crap for herself, when in reality we are always seeing Jackie doing something.
We know she is a straight As student, who also is a cheerleader (don’t get me started on this. Because this show and media always makes cheerleaders look like they are stupid or something, but in most teams, you have to be an excellent student and be strong as fuck to get in), who even if she doesn’t like it, can get a job and do that damn job even wearing a ridiculous costume.
Man, do I keep this? Okay: she doesn’t know how to cook, she can’t touch an egg, but still tries to learn and does her best to get good at it; she gets her own tv show, gets over her nervouness and works it out perfectly and immediately gets a bigger job offer because she is talented, and smart, and fucking pretty too (even when the show is always saying that Donna is prettier and sexier than her); even in the hell of season 8, she gets a job and leaves her house to share an apartment, and you know, fucking sexist fandom: lives without Hyde.
7. How much she loves being femenine (and doesn’t let anyone ruin it for her)
THIS IS AMAZING.
Most times, we women get dragged for loving being femenine. We can’t be because then it means we are sexist, because people think that feminism doesn’t allowes being femenine. But that’s bullshit, people should be able to be ‘femenine’ if they want and that’s exactly what Jackie thaugh me.
She loves fashion and style, and yet she is still smart and gives no fucks to anyone, she can wear a dress a literally kick people who are being idiots ot her. And by the Lord, she is so taken for granted by everyone, so It’s always nice to see everyone’s reaction when she turns out to be not your typical femenine cutie pie.
8. She’s an excellent advicer (even when nobody asked for it)
Which is funny because they put something out of reality: she never listens to herself (at first).
Like I said before, Jackie is a person who is always there for the people she loves. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that she also gives advice to the other cheerleaders or other people in school, maybe the people on her class rooms and so, more friends besides the basement gang.
I always love how there are plenty of times when she actually gives Donna excellent advice, but her friend, for no other reaosn but the fact that she literally considers Jackie dumb and always wrong (and that she is always right in return), never listens to her.
9. Who is also always there for whoever needs her
This girl is my everything and the big of her heart will always amaze me. I cheerish the scenes when she gets to keep someone, especially Donna, company. Not only because her punch lines are mostly good, but because we see her in action, another thing Iove of her gets to shine in those scenes, too.
Jackie is full of love, so being there for whoever needs her, even Eric and Kelso, she will be there.
10. And is capable of puting everyone else’s happiness before her own
She was having the crappiest of the times when Donna had to be told to ask her is she wanted to stay at her home after Jackie’s mom abandoned her, yet Jackie thinks of Donna first and how happy she would be to keep her engagement ring, so she pays for it.
I’m gonna say it in another way: Jackie didn’t have too much money in that moment. Her father was in jail and her mother had abandoned her, she didn’t have a job, but she decided to pay for a fucking engagement ring that wasn’t for her.
That’s just an example.
11. Her compassion
THIS IS IT. Also something she shares with Hyde.
I love this aspect of her because we are told all the time that she is mean, shallow and selective, but Jackie’s heart is so big and so warm, she can’t stop feeling for people. She understands situations better than anyone lse very often, she can read a room and spot who needs some space or to talk.
Sometimes that compassion makes her connect with people, like every time she listens to Donna’s ups and downs with Eric, and when she feels sorry for people who has hurt her so much, even when she is in her right to be mad at them and make fun of them for their very silly problem.
This girl is a beautiful sea.
12. Actual strong female lead
See all that crap that has been happening to Jackie since season one? A dreaming girl who wants true love, to have her on family, be happy?
Her first love turned out to be an egomaniac cheater, her best friend doesn’t want her to be her best friend, her other friends are constantly wanting her out of their lives, her parents are never at home nor near her, her cheerleader squad hates her, she got crap for loving Hyde, even called names for it by her own friends, her father went to prision, her mother abandoned her, then came back and her idiot boyfriend flirted with her.
She got cheated on by the man she loved the most, then he didn’t want to spend time with her, let alone think they had a future, and let’s not talk about marrying her. Season 8 even went so far to phisically hurt her and have Hyde laugh about it, and she ended with a guy who sexualized her and saw her as no more than a prize to win during the entire show.
And yet, she is still standing. She still gets to be herself, to be brilliant, to be amazing. I love her.
13. Her relationship with Kitty and Red
Out of all the gang, I think she and Hyde are the ones who respect the Formans the most and who spend more time with them, aside from their actual kids.
Jackie is seen not only as Red’s favorite, but also Kitty’s helped in the kitchen and somoene she can talk to. I like Kitty and Donna’s relationship, but to be honest it doesn’t look as close and intimate like Jackie and Kitty’s. Even in the earlier seasons, we see Jackie trying to get close to the marriage.
Maybe is because she recognizes in them her dream come true: a strong couple who love each other so much, their relationship has survived for many years, keeping their marriage holy and great. They formed their own family, working together and loving each other, all Jackie wants the most.
In my mind, I know Jackie admires the hell out of Kitty. She’s a femenine girl who was like Jackie: naive in the love matter, popular, even a cheerleader. And she became a femenine woman who has a job she loves, who is great at said job and is also great at being a mother, a wife and be happy.
Besides her desire of having parental figures in her life, I think Jackie see in them what she wants in life and I love how she is always around them, even before being Hyde’s girlfriend.
14. She is not perfect
Something that gives her humanity.
The show tried so hard to always put Donna on a good light, they gave Jackie the chance to be imperfect and work in her shit while growing up. It gave her character interesting turns and changes that we were able to see and understand.
Even in the little things, she is great at school but not so good at cooking, yet she is an incredible femenine girl but that doesn’t make her weak, she is literally strong enough to make Hyde bend over when she kicks him, or to take away a bigger guy out of her home.
Really, the writers wanted to make Donna the coolest, but instead they gave Jackie characterization and reality.
15. And of course, her relationship with Hyde
Coulnd’t not put this one, let’s be honest.
Jackie is a character that didn’t get too much recognition and characterization until she started to be around Hyde, literally. Both characters start being seen in a different light after the first episode that also puts them together, season 1′s Prom Night.
This is a relationship based on trust, on the fact that they were in the good and the bad together, went from friendship to lovers in a slow but right way. They love each other so much, they grow up and start changing together, finding out in their way together that they fit, they had something between them, and there’s no better home for both, these lonely people, than each other’s arms.
#that 70s show#jackie burkhart#queenjackieburkhart#jackie x hyde#last-exit-to-nowhere#about me#sorry for the meta#show#meta#the queen#mine
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Kersti Jan Werdal Interviews Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes has completed seven feature films in which she controlled all aspects of production, including directing, writing, shooting, as well as editing picture and sound on her own productions. She has worked in various media including Super-8, 16mm, 35mm and lately HD. Her films have often met with hostility, as she confronts and expresses violence in an unusual way, creating and following her own rules. Menkes is presently on faculty in the
Film/Video Program at California Institute of the Arts.
Menkes’s article published in October 2017 titled “The Visual Language of Oppression: Harvey Weinstein Wasn’t Working in a Vacuum” can be found on Filmmaker Magazine’s website. Her recent presentation at Sundance 2018 was titled “Sex and Power: the Visual Language of Oppression”.
KJW: I want to first hear a little bit about where you’re from, and how you came to filmmaking as a medium?
NM: I grew up in Berkeley California in the 60’s-70’s, and as a teenager I was pretty serious about dance, and I also was always a photographer. I had a camera and I would take pictures, back in the days before digital. You actually had to develop the film, and print in a dark room. It was really different, now it’s so instant! The first film I made was, I guess you could call it a dance film. I choreographed a dance, set it to sound, and shot it on 16mm. I think that this background in many ways helped define my filmic style because I wasn’t coming to film from the base idea of dialogue. It was more about movement and space and sound. I actually made two dance films before I started making my own stories. To this day I am not interested in dialogue as a main way to tell stories.
KJW: Thinking of the body and dance reminds me of the rooftop scene in your film Dissolution, where the camera is locked down in a long shot from the protagonist as he moves around the roof. This scene is very quiet without any music, but conveys so much energy. I really love that scene.
NM: Thank you! That scene was funny because the actor requested music. He wanted to listen to a rock and roll track. The first take he was jumping around like Michael Jackson, and I was like “No no no no no!” so I turned off the music. Later when I was editing it he wanted there to be music in that scene, and I said “Nope, that’ll ruin it.” I love that scene too, so thank you I’m glad you appreciate the use of silence.
KJW: So back to how you came to filmmaking, what was your next step after the two dance films?
NM: I was dancing in a performance which I myself had choreographed, in high school. The guy I was dancing with, well, we were supposed to jump up into a Grand Jete and then come down and go into the splits on the ground. We were supposed to do it at the same time and for whatever reason I was slightly ahead of him. I went down first and then he came down straight onto my knee. He was 175lbs, so that kind of destroyed my knee and that was the end of my dance career. But I really think I’m a much better filmmaker than I ever would have been, at my best, a dancer. It’s just my calling, I know it. I also worked for a couple years in television doing camera for a Spanish language TV station, and that’s when I got really good at camera because you have to do things fast. And I just didn’t want to work at a job, I wanted to be a creative artist. I felt that I’d rather die than have a 9-5 job. I still don’t like having a job, I wish I could just win the lottery.
I was ecstatic when I got into the to the UCLA film school and our first assignment was to make a super 8 film, with non-sync sound, so I created a sound environment which is something I’ve continued to do with all my films. I’ve continued to have dialogue be low on my priority list.
In fact dialog in movies usually bugs me, especially when there’s a lot of it.
KJW: I want to talk about the article you published in Filmmaker Magazine back in October called “The Visual Language of Oppression: Harvey Weinstein Wasn’t Working in a Vacuum”. I found it interesting in the article that you redirect the conversation of sexual oppression in the film industry to also include the framing and lighting of the picture itself - not just how the characters are written into the script. For example, the way many filmmakers include shots of women as sex-objects that do not serve the narrative or story whatsoever. It made me reflect on my own work, wondering what ways I’ve also fallen into these traps that are now most likely imbedded into my psyche. I was wondering what kind of feedback or responses you received from women of any age in the industry, but also men?
NM: Well, I got more responses from women than from men. But people from all ages seem to respond to it really strongly. Its funny because the lecture I ended up giving at Sundance is not very different than one I give to my students. This is a talk that I’ve been giving, with variations, for many years. No one prior to Harvey was really interested in it, and then suddenly it became a high interest topic! My article was the most popular article of the year in Filmmaker Magazine, it’s crazy! So, who knew feminism suddenly got interesting? The #MeToo movement and the fall of Harvey Weinstein and all this stuff is quite astonishing. As a feminist and as a filmmaker and as a teacher I’ve been talking about all this for years and years and years. And who cared? Nobody cared. Now suddenly everybody cares. I’m glad and I don’t really know why now, but it seems to be the right time.
KJW: Do you have specific ideas in mind of real action that can be taken in the industry to shift consciousness? And do you think we are in a moment of it evolving right now?
NM: There’s two main things. Because of severe discrimination in the field of cinema, women have not had the same opportunities. We’re not hired to be DP’s and we’re not hired to be Directors. So you have these unbelievable statistics of men and women coming out of the top film schools at 50/50 and then being hired into the industry or getting their films financed [at different rates] depending on the budget: the higher the budget the lower number of women, hahaha. Even in the lower budget films its like 85% men to 15% women. And if you go into the higher budget films its more like 93% men and 7% women [receiving financing]. So the first thing that has to happen is hiring practices have to change. The point of my article and talk is that where do people get the idea that women are not really full-on subjects, that they’re sexual objects? Well this idea comes from many, many places, but one big place that it comes from is all the media that we see around us. If we see images of sexualized women 25 times a day or 2500 times a day, when you’re a DP on set people don’t defer to you, because you represent a sex-object and not authority or a director of photography. It’s so ingrained and that is the point of my talk. When I gave my presentation last month at Sundance I included a clip of Carrie by Brian de Palma. At the beginning of Carrie there’s this very long sequence where all these women are running around in the locker room, naked, for absolutely no reason. Then there’s a long sequence of close-ups of Sissy Spacek’s naked body. It has nothing to do with the story and it just goes on and on and on. A number of people spoke to me about it and said “I’ve always loved that move and I did not notice”. And I thought, “You did not notice? That was a five minute scene of naked women!” But the fact they didn’t notice is the whole point. It’s like the air that we breathe. You don’t notice that you’re breathing, but you would notice if there’s no air. But as long as there’s air you just breathe it. And naked women and women as sex-objects is like the air that we breath. You only notice if it’s taken out. And boy you get a lot of shit if you take it out, which is what I’ve experienced with my films because I take it out. I’ve gotten a lot of hostile reaction to my films. I have not gotten work financed even though I’ve received major awards and major critical acclaim. No one in Hollywood wanted to give me big money because I’m not going to have naked women prancing around all cute and sweet in steamy locker rooms.
KJW: What was the nature of the talk at Sundance, were you and Julie Dash leading the discussion together?
NM: It was actually a presentation that started with a woman called Gwen Wynne. She is creating a new fund called the EOS World Fund that aims to support innovative women directors. She talked about her fund and then she introduced me, I gave my 75minute talk, and then after that, Julie Dash and Rachel Watanabe-Baton (who’s producing for Julie) and I led a panel discussion.
KJW: Were there any things that people in the audience said during the panel discussion that stuck with you afterwards?
NM: I think that people felt like “oh my god we knew this, we know it, we live with it” but when you see the clips one after the other it just looks ridiculous. A number of people said, “it looks like a joke”. When you watch Carrie you don’t notice, but when you watch this film and that film, one after another, it’s almost laughable. But of course it’s not laughable because it has very serious negative repercussions in our lives. “Its like a joke. Really? You’re just panning down this woman’s naked body again and again and again!?” — that I heard from a number of people.
KJW: Did you see any films at Sundance that you thought were good?
NM: I saw one film which was made by a Jennifer Fox called The Tale. It’s an autobiographical narrative feature about her [the filmmaker’s] experience of sexual abuse as a little girl. That was pretty intense. I think that its more intense because you know it’s her, she uses her real name for the main character. The girl in the film is called Jennifer Fox, so the director makes it very explicit that it’s about her. It’s disturbing in a good way.
KJW: I read that EOS Fund is financing your next film Minotaur Rex. Is it in pre-production?
NM: They are bringing part of the financing, but we still have to get more funding. If you consider my stellar critical track record it’s kind of depressing that it’s so difficult to get financing. But that is part of the problem that we’re talking about. They say, “a woman has to be ten times as good to go half as far,” and that is absolutely correct.
KJW: Can you talk about the premise of Minotaur Rex?
NM: Well, the premise is that everyone has to face their inner self. I’m a bit of a Buddhist and I’ve done Jungian Psychoanalysis. I finished analysis a while ago but I did it for a very long time: 17 years to be exact. The basic idea is to look within and face yourself, which doesn’t mean that you don’t acknowledge external political realities, but you do look inside to see how you might in some way be participating to undermine yourself. It’s harder to change somebody else. Better to start within-- inside with yourself. So the idea of the Minotaur is a metaphor. The main character has to confront the Minotaur and transform the Minotaur. The Minotaur is his own inner pain, violence, and rage. It’s both a political allegory for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it also uses the Minotaur as a symbol for the self; you have to face the scary parts within yourself in order to transform. That’s the basic idea.
KJW: You’ve shot three or more movies in the Middle East.
NM: Yeah, it’s three or more.
KJW: Do you have any personal connection to the Middle East or Israel that brought you to make works there?
NM: Oh yeah I do. My family is from there. My mother and father immigrated, and came to the United States through Ellis Island. They were held there for quite a while before they were admitted into the US. So, my parents are immigrants and I’m a first generation American. I speak fluent Hebrew and I’ve been struggling with Arabic for a very long time, I’m still not even close to fluent in Arabic... but I do speak Hebrew very well. When I was growing up we went to Israel every summer to visit my mother’s parents. My father had no parents because his family was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. So, I have a very strong tie to Israel. I have a number of very close friends there and I go there often. I care about it and it’s a core part of my life.
KJW: I have one more question for you. As a female new to filmmaking, do you have any insight or mantra to offer for those who are entering the industry right now in order to stay positive and focused and not be discouraged through negative experience, whether its from a person in power or people not paying attention to you because you’re a woman who made that work, and so forth?
NM: Well the first thing I have to say is I don’t really know. I don’t know what its like now but I think that actually it’s a little better. There’s more awareness and we’ll see if the statistics actually change. We will see if when you graduate you’ll have a different and more even playing field. I don’t know what you’re facing versus what I faced. What I faced was extreme discrimination. So my way of keeping going was just being deeply deeply committed to what I wanted to do, and not looking left or right. If you wont give me money then I’ll do it on a shoestring, and if you don’t give me a shoestring I’ll do it for free and I’ll just find a way to do it. So I kept going for a long time until I got tired. I probably got tired after 30 years of non-stop struggle. Now I feel tired.
Very, very tired.
But, I’m not sure what you actually are facing today. I think you have a better chance and slightly more opportunities…maybe. But I don’t know, we don’t know. We’ll see if this whole #MeToo thing actually changes employment statistics and actually changes how many women get their films financed. Maybe it will. I hope it will, but we don’t know.
Is this just going to be the groovy #MeToo movement and then, back to business as usual? Or is something really going to change? That remains to be seen.
Considering that women constitute 51% of the population, we are silenced and treated like shit on many levels. You’re paid less than your male peers, you have less opportunities, and again, the saying that you have to be “ten times as good to go half as far” is true. It sucks. But maybe it’s going to change now. We’ll see.
WATCH “Dissolution” and select other Menkes films online:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/filmsbyninamenkes
Follow Nina on twitter @menkesfilm
For more information: www.ninamenkes.com
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