barbie is not an "anti man" movie at all. it's so obvious to me that the kens were written like idiots not to call all men idiots (well... maybe a little) but instead to show how easy it is for someone to get taken advantage of. it's important to remember that while the barbies and kens are played by and written as adults, they function in the real world and overarching narrative as adolescents that don't know very much about the world.
reading ken as a young boy, he's initially nice to the girls around him (if insecure, lonely, and feeling pretty disrespected) but as soon as he steps into the real world, he sees all these men who feel very secure in their masculinity and self-assured, and he wants that for himself. he falls into the trap of the patriarchy much like a lot of young boys in real life fall into extremist right wing ideologies. but ken's insecurity never really goes away, it just gets covered with faux fur and headbands and country music. it's why he cries and admits to barbie that leading was hard. he never really wanted to hurt the barbies at all, he just wanted to feel confident and accepted by everyone, but especially barbie.
ken was never the problem by himself. he wasn't made into the world hating women. he was manipulated and turned into a misogynist by society.
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The thing that almost never gets brought up in "banned books" conversations but that I think is essential to address, is the distinction between "students shouldn't be allowed to read this" and "students shouldn't be required to read this".
There is a wide gulf between removing a book from a curriculum list and removing a book from a library but I almost never hear that acknowledged.
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I think one thing that's going to be interesting to see play out in Touchstarved is the theme of willing vs. unwilling. I feel like Ais, Kuras, and Mhin's bad ends are going to be largely unwilling; their monster forms overpower their will and attack you out of spite or random animal instinct, or a "this hurts me just as much as it hurts you" greater-good kind of decision.
Meanwhile Leander and Vere are going to be almost completely willing. You were always just a pawn in their game from the start, a means to an end for them. It's a pity they got so attached, but... oh well. There's always whoever comes next.
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unreliable narrators my beloved. reading from the perspective of a liar who’s deliberately obfuscating their depiction of the world my cherished. relying on the reader to ascertain their true intentions my dearest. books that trust their reader’s intelligence my treasured. stories that question the nature of the narrative itself my darling
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you have to go to work so you can pay for your doctor, who is not taking your insurance right now, and if you say i can't afford the doctor's you are told - get a better job. it is very sad that you are unwell, yes, but maybe you should have thought about that before not having a better job.
(where is the better job? who is giving out these better jobs? you are sick, you are hurting - how the hell are you supposed to be well enough for this better job?)
but you go to the doctor because you had the nerve to be hurt or sick or whatever else. and they tell you that it is because you have anxiety. you try your best. you are a self-advocate. you've done the reading (which sometimes pisses them off worse, honestly). you say it is actually adding to my anxiety, it is effecting my quality of life. so they say that you are fat. they say that all young people have this happen to them, isn't it a medical marvel! they say that you should eat more vegetables. they say that you probably just need to lose a little more weight, and that you are faking it for attention.
(what attention could this doctor possibly give? what validation? that's their fucking job, isn't it?)
there is always a hypochondriac, right. someone always tells you about a hypochondriac. or someone who is unnecessarily aggressive during the worst days of their life. or someone looking "for a quick fix". or some idiot who wasn't educated about how to properly care for themselves who just abandons their treatment. and again, the hypochondriac, the overly-cautious hysteric. these people don't deserve to be treated like humans (right), and since you might be one of these people, you also don't get treated like a human. because those people can really fuck with the system, you now have to pay for it. and besides. you're actually probably faking it.
(more often than not, you find a 2:1 ratio of these stories. for every "hypochondriac", there are 2 people who knew something was wrong, and yet nobody could fucking find it. the story often ends with pointless suffering. the story often ends with and now it's too late, and it's going to kill me.)
you are actually just making excuses. someone else got that procedure or that diagnosis and he's fine, you should be fine too. someone else said they watched a documentary about other inspirational people with your exact same condition, maybe you should be inspirational, too. you're just too morbid. your pain and your experience is probably just not statistically concerning. it is all self-reported anyway, and you're just being a baby.
(once, while sitting down in the middle of making coffee, you had the sudden, horrible thought - i could kill myself to make the pain stop. you had to call your best friend after that. had to pet your dog. had to cry about it in the shower. you won't, but that moment - god, fuck. the pain just goes on and on.)
you know someone who went in for routine surgery and said i still feel everything. they told her to just relax. it took her kicking and screaming before they figured out she wasn't lying - the anesthetic drip hadn't been working. you know someone who went in for severe migraines who was told drink water and lose weight. you know someone who was actively bleeding out and throwing up in the ER and was told you're just having a bad period.
in the ER there are always these little posters saying things like "don't wait! get checked today!" and you think about how often you do wait. how often the days spool out. you once waited a full week before seeing the doctor for what you thought was a sprained wrist. it had actually been broken - they had to rebreak it to set it.
but you go into the doctor. the problem you're having is immediate. the person behind the counter frowns and says we're not taking your insurance. you will be paying for this out-of-pocket.
they send you home with tylenol and a little health packet about weight loss or anxiety or attention deficit. on the front it has your birthday and diagnosis. you think about crying, and the words swim. it might as well say go fuck yourself. it might as well say you're a fucking idiot. it might as well say light your money on fire and lie down in it. and the entire fucking time - the problem persists.
it's okay. it's okay, it's just another thing, you think. it's just another thing i have to learn to live with.
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"Roy wouldn't like Jason! They have completely opposing ideologies! It's out of character for Roy!"
Jason was a general menace that kidnapped Mia for one conversation in a pathetic attempt to convince her to abandon Ollie and partner with him instead. He kills criminals, but only criminals. His mindset as Red Hood is "I'm protecting civilians by killing criminals"
Jade is a mercenary, an assassin, someone who kills people for money regardless of whether or not they're a criminal and has no problem killing people without monetary incentive. Roy fell in love with her. The government told him to bring her in, since she's a mercenary, and he fell in love with her and didn't bring her in, indirectly allowing her to continue to kill people.
Out of character my ass.
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I think aspec people in fandoms should be allowed to complain about how much of fandom is about shipping and I don't think it has to be taken as an attack on people who do enjoy shipping. I'm not really in any fandoms so I don't have a lot to say but often I think about how yeah shipping can be an interesting way to explore the characters but at the same time if the only value you see in a story is making characters kiss that's kind of a shallow way to enjoy it. At the end of the day there is a healthy balance
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