#and the first human connection the narrator gets to have is with a 13 year old because they both love music
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#i will not tell you what book this was in because it would require a thousand trigger warnings but#the character is talking to a young girl and says she loves music. the young girl says me too!#and cites taylor and harry and selena. then asks: what do you like?#she cites the stones the beach boys the pointer sisters dolly. and e. specified like this#in a very dark circumstance it's the way she still offers music like a light and references him as a given that gets me#i was a dreamer#edit: whispering in the tags what i said to chelsea#this is not the type of book i would ordinarily read which almost made that hit harder?#a book centering on the worst kind of horrors#and the first human connection the narrator gets to have is with a 13 year old because they both love music#and it’s like the first spark that lights her back up#and elvis is included as a given#music is a good in the world; a beautiful thing in the world#and if you love music shouldn't you automatically love elvis?#“i guess everyone loves elvis”#like he IS music#elvis presley#sail on silver girl; sail on by
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I just wanna say you're really good at analysis. I was wondering if you have any tips? I feel like I kinda suck at analyzing whether it's connecting themes or character intentions.
Awww, thank you anon! I happen to have taught intro to Creative Writing courses, so this is right up my alley lol.
I always say that the first step of analysis is connecting with your emotions in how a particular work makes you feel. For instance, let’s say I read a story and I felt bad for the main character. From there, I can then move on to figuring out 1) why I, personally, felt bad for said character, 2) if the creator intended for me to feel bad for this character and how do I know, and potentially 3) if not then why did I feel bad despite the author’s intentions?
Because we as humans are storytellers, we recycle a lot of story beats and themes. This is not a bad thing, just a neutral fact. This allows us to make social commentary by either driving home certain points like societal morals or who we in society should look up to or disparage, and it also allows us to challenge the ideals society upholds since we would all be inundated with then through various stories. Now this is very general, but obviously these ideals may change in some ways from society to society and throughout history, and when we get into genres, the ideas expressed there will also naturally have their own specific commentary and commonalities. If I’m in the romance genre, I’m looking for what x society has to say about romantic love, how permanent/fleeting it is, and how that society defines it. If I’m in the scifi genre, I’m looking for social commentary on the future and how our current day trajectory will affect it.
Ok, so now let’s be specific: let’s discuss Wei Wuxian in mdzs. He is the protagonist, and we know this because the narrative mostly follows him. However, the POV is not in 1st person; why? Well, mdzs is a novel about gossip and mob mentality, how victors can rewrite truth to paint themselves as heroes and deny their wrongdoings. How do we know this? The story repeatedly tells us about what people say, then it shows us their actions that don’t align. Why is the story not in 1st person? Because then we would be left with wwx’s character bias and be unable to verify what others have done through a neutral narrator. Without a 3rd person perspective, we would not know what Jiang Cheng had been up to for the last 13 years as fact, but we do know this in the story because we see it from multiple character’s thoughts, his included. Without the 3rd person, we would be left in the dark about what really happened with Qin Su and some of the more intricate parts of Jin Guangyao’s villainy, since it only happens with the two present.
Now let’s bring feelings into it: I personally like Wei Wuxian because I think he is a charming, good person. I like underdog characters who come out on top in the end. Does the story support this? Well, we are shown multiple scenes where wwx in his first life is surrounded by people pre-ssc, and in his second, the juniors all flock to him before and after his identity is discovered. So him being charming is supported by the writing, itself. How about him being a good person? Well, we start off the story finding out that he’s a mass murdering villain who finally gets his due after attempting to kill off the other clans with his evil cultivation. However, this beginning narrative is undermined by:
1) being told almost immediately upon meeting the “hero who ended wwx,” Jiang Cheng, that jc is actually a mass murderer who imprisons and tortures people. Later, we find the other clans are also corrupt and willing to participate in and turn the other way in the face of actual evil. So not “heroes”
2) being told and shown that the people under wwx’s protection were not disciples but actually the powerless remnants of a fallen clan that were forced into a labor camp for sharing a surname with an already deposed tyrant
3) being told and shown that what the cultivation clans were actually after in murdering wwx was his cultivation tool so that they can oppress the other clans. Wwx’s death was necessary because he refused to conform to this corruption.
So is my feeling that wwx is a good guy justified by the narrative? Yes it is.
This is, of course, a very, very simplified crash course on analysis that takes me a semester to drive home with my students. It also takes a lot of practice in 1) learning how to recognize and state your feelings on a work (even “I don’t know” is an opening for parts 2 and 3 of an analysis: “what don’t you know?” “where are you confused?” “is this intentional?”) 2) not judging your opinions harshly i.e. thinking that everyone else is “sooooo much smarter” than you and discounting your ideas before they even fully form, and 3) learning to discuss these ideas with others in honest discourse, being open to learning something new and being mistaken in equal turns without shame or judgement.
I still miss things when I analyze, and that’s why I love discussion, because I learn something new. I also notice things people I discuss with miss, so I get to impart something that others may appreciate. We’re not infallible, but the goal should be to grow and create community around something, not be stuck and stagnant in our individual thinking. And also, have fun!
#anon#hope this helps#like i said: reeeeeaaaally simplified crash course#but these are some steps#it takes time but before you know it#it’s like second nature#like graduating from only being able to do 5-piece puzzle#to waking up one day and realizing you’ve been putting together 100-piece puzzles with little effort#and you’re looking forward to tackling the 200-piece puzzles next
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They aren’t remaking interview with the vampire…they are doing another adaptation of the book. It’s a series of 13 books. AMC wants to adapt all of the books. If you actually read the books, especially the first, you’d know that Brad Pitt is nothing like how Louis was described.
Sure, I am aware its based on the Vampire Chronicles series with more depth in the Lestats character background, what made him who he is, his background and credentials through the ages.
IwtV is among others books I like to revisit every other year or something, it's not that big of a read though it is narrative and description dense. A lot of booktubers use it as an entry review subject for a breakdown of Louise character and go over the "flawed" or "unreliable" narrator aspect, to give inference that Lestat is a character with morals and his own dilemmas to explain his behavior - and paint him in a sympathetic light. Which is a great critical analysis and a good initiator for new writers to review if they want to explore the aspect in writing.
But that is a simplification of the overall themes behind the VC series, and Anne Rice's work for those who are unfamiliar.
I typically refer to the series as film adaption verses series, not typically movie (singular), because it will be available as a live-action series. However, they are using the general formula of the original IwtV film adaptation with the reporter, the same titular characters, include more scenes exclusive to the book(s), and expand on the characters we didn't get to know through the two movies.
A lot of people are looking forward to the series, but the whole thing could easily be a different story fixed in the VC universe, with new characters based on or around the same events taking place around Louise, Lestat, or Armand. Just leave Louise, Lestat, and Claudie out of the way, and have actors undertake new characters and roles that don't have a face attached to them.
IwtV was a format that told the story and major events from Louise pov. Louise doesn't talk about anything outside of his field of context, nor how Lestat found him at the theater or other events; Lestat just sort of 'found him' and the theater vampires. Which is a wonderful way to avoid the explanation or details, and keep the pace of the story going.
And not excited about Claudia's character, since her whole point in the book was far darker and she was more disturbed as this child/adult in this purgatory existence, and Louise was as well unnerved by her. If you really analyze Claudia's character, we can gather that she was essentially 'born' a vampire, and didn't recall the events where she turned. She spent >5 years a human and a child at that, but the rest of her life was someone that 'evolved' detached and distanced from humans, and probably lacking the deeper development of morality or sympathy through lack of that connection. She pretty much became who she was through isolation and environmental context - aside from slaying and feeding, Claudia had no other interaction with humans. Except for the Madeleine women, who wanted an undying daughter (and was probably very unstable). The book version of Claudia was horrendous but at the same time a tragedy, and ultimately could lead to why Armand let what happened to her transpire - especially with her new vampire 'mother'.
Of course Louise spent centuries as a vampire and only a few decades as a human, but he did grow and experience life. Claudian didn't have any of that, and she didn't experience intimate love or anything a teen or adult would have felt, before she was turned. I'm sure the new Claudia will have a sordid story and a backstory to give the character depth, but it's going to erode the impact of "undying but condemned child", though this story will be written from a teens perspective. But maybe the baby from the trailer will give context to the situation, and tug at our heartstrings.
Even the movie adaptation had to 'age up' Claudia to get the characters portrayal, conform to child labor laws, and other scenes exclusive to the book but sort of 'manifested' into the scenes through the characters interactions on screen. But this new version of Claudia I don't think will carry the same gravity, even if she's... *sigh* trapped in perpetual puberty - as sited by Jones. It is a different take on the character, but doesn't hold a candle to the despair of a vampire child who is trapped not having the experiences of a child or teen.
Like I said, I wanted new actors to make new characters, and bring fresh viewer interest to the Vampire Chronicles as its own material, but there will likely be that sort of diversion and distraction with the Interview with the Vamp source materials. We might get deviation from the source story telling, to follow narratives and other characters - but Louise is used as the "Storyteller" to rekindled interest, and bring in new viewer/reader engagement.
#anonymous#anon reply#interview with the vampire#iwtv#vampire chronicles#vc#anne rice#I wanna talk about Claudia all day#ALL DAY#character anaysis#shes tragic and terrible#stick her in a yellow coat and call it a day#thinking about twilight (children) vampires#quotation marks#i need to read more of that 'puberty' aspect because I just fear right now#jones#tv series
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Integrated Project
DEFINITION:
Story: A story or narrative is a connected series of events told through words (written or spoken), imagery (still and moving), body language, performance, music, or any other form of communication. You can tell a story about anything, and the events described can be real or imaginary.
Tales: It is a genre of narration with a fantastic or magical story taking place in a real or magical world in which both real and fictional characters can act . The author can raise moral, social, aesthetic problems of history and modernity.
Science fiction: Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that contains imagined elements that don’t exist in the real world. Science fiction spans a wide range of themes that often explore time travel, space travel, are set in the future, and deal with the consequences of technological and scientific advances
''"Preserving the Flow: A Water Conservation Crusade"''
My name is Arturo, I'm from Equator and it's December 22, 2064. I used to enjoy spending time with my friends and relatives until the massacre broke out. One day, I woke up as usual, ready to carry out my daily routine, but for my surprise there was no water. Not a drop in my house, or anywhere else in the world. The implications were clear; our ecosystems were collapsing, and life, as we knew it, was hanging on the brink of extinction. I couldn't accept this as humanity's inevitable destiny. Desperation led me to seek out some friends: Pablo, Pepe, and María. Together, we embarked on an arduous mission, working relentlessly for sixteen hours straight. Our goal: to construct a time machine that would transport us back to the year 2023, a time when water was still a plentiful and vital resource. We decided to name our project "AquaGenesis’’. We rounded up equipment and materials, relying on scientific knowledge and intuition. With limited access to water, we used every drop wisely, recycling and reusing as much as we could. The project was finally designed, but we started arguing about what we should do next.- So, guys… Time is running! What we should do know that the machine is done? I said. -''Just give up and accept our destiny Arturo, we’re tired and also thirsty'', said Pepe, in a sad way. -''Chill out Pepe don’t say that, with this machine we’ll be able to travel to the past in 2023 to sort out this big problem'', I said. -''You are right Arturo; however, how do we ensure that the machine works, and how do we convince people from 2023 that what we are saying is true if we’re clearly teens'', María added. -''Don’t worry Maria, when people can see us with a time machine they won’t have option, they’ll trust us. Just in case, get your phone out to take some pictures of the landscape'', said Pablo. -''Great Idea Pablo! Now, let’s team up to save our planet and figure out a solution'', I finally said.
For our surprise the machine took us directly to 2023, the first thing we did was drink up a lot of water. After that, we called everyone’s attention with our time machine, pictures and identity cards. Fortunately, All entities around the world heard us and they set up campaigns and projects in order to preserve water, when we traveled to our future, everything was fixed up and I kept enjoying to spend time with my friends and relatives.
APA 7TH EDITION REFERENCES:
-Story. (2018, November 3). Literary Terms. https://literaryterms.net/story/
-What is a literary tale: definition, examples. (n.d.). Unansea.com. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://en.unansea.com/what-is-a-literary-tale-definition-examples/
-(N.d.). Masterclass.com. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-science-fiction-writing-definition-and-characteristics-of-science-fiction-literature
AI PICTURE RELATED TO THE STORY:
I ask AI in canva to create that picture for my presentation, I describe the image as I wanted in order to give the reader an idea of how the main characters look like.
30 SECONDS VIDEO:
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A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
Alice Childress's 1973 novel A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich goes against the conventional approach of YA literature that emphasizes relatability. Instead, Childress focuses on individualized experiences that are rarely discussed. She accomplishes this by creating humanized characters facing difficult and little-discussed problems that still connect with young adult readers. For example, the novel follows 13-year-old African American Benjie, who struggles with heroin addiction, a topic not often addressed in YA literature.
Through the perspectives of other characters in Benjie's life, readers gain insight into his challenges and come to understand him as more than just an addict. However, the novel faced censorship and was one of eleven books at the center of the 1982 Island Trees School District v. Pico case, which raised First Amendment issues concerning the availability of certain subject matter to children. While acknowledging the need for public schools to monitor potentially harmful material, the Supreme Court emphasized the importance of providing students with a range of viewpoints.
This ruling is particularly relevant to Childress's work because she believed in her writing's ability to represent the underrepresented. Hero highlights the compounding struggles of parental abandonment, racial dynamics, addiction, and poverty. By writing a character who navigates the world at a tumultuous age complicated by their circumstances, Childress creates a novel that appeals to readers who can identify with such experiences, creating an opportunity for readers to engage with difficult conversations about complex topics.
Proving the potency of Hero is writer and magazine editor, Miguel A. Ortiz in the article “The Politics of Poverty in Young Adult Literature”, who argues Childress’s novel accomplishes a tie-in between the issues we see in Benjie’s life. The addiction that Benjie deals with is given depth through the narration of other characters, who use their designated chapters to mention the underlying issues that cause Benjie to rely on heroin in the first place. This technique is as Ortiz states, “allow[ing] for utmost flexibility in portraying the conflicting interest of the several characters”. This depiction humanizes the drug addicted Benjie and gives him the depth to make him a character readers can grow invested in while also showing the broader issue of drug addiction since we see Benjie’s friends and family get realistically frustrated but they still provide necessary narration that keys the reader in to the complexity of an addict, offering room for in-depth discussion where it otherwise wouldn’t be approached. The harm that this causes for the overall conversation is prevalent in the discomfort that propelled the district to take action in the first place since the people who were concerned were likely plagued with their own prejudices about the subject matter that could have been properly combated had books like Hero been more readily available because as Ortiz puts it, "Childress’s novel offers a powerful critique of dominant narratives about drug use and addiction that reduce these complex issues to simplistic moral judgments or stigmatize those who struggle with drug use", which just goes to prove the importance of diverse materials for students who learn about political issues as it relates to literature.
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Jeff Is Back
by Anonymous
Now this is one of the most notable "Jeff is a meta-textual cognitohazard internet ghost" stories out there, getting narrations while the others did not.
Now this is not a canon detail, but to the average reader, this story would make it look like Jeff is Br*'ish, and while i'm no one to shut down your interpretations, that's a line i will never let anyone cross. Jeff's as American as Apple pie, Cheeseburgers and War on Terror Propaganda
CW// gore imagery, decapitation, murder, paranoia
Click below to read the original unedited story
The following story was written by a detective whom, after analyzing video evidence, witness accounts, and the video claimed to have been watched, developed a story. This is that story.
It was late at night on a typical Tuesday evening. I was surfing the internet as I had two large coffees from my local coffee shop earlier that day and was unable to sleep. After watching pointless YouTube video after YouTube video, I came across a strange title in the related videos bar. None of the characters were of the English language; however, the shapes of the characters seemed to resemble words, although I couldn't quite decipher them. Curious, I clicked on the video.
I suddenly began to hear various creaks and groans coming from my house. I whirled around and grabbed a nearby baseball bat, ready for a fatal battle. To my surprise, there were no intruders in the house, nor any signs of a forced entry. All the doors were also locked. Figuring I was just going crazy, I shrugged my shoulders and lazily walked back to my room.
I had spent a lot of money on a high bandwidth connection, so I was perplexed that the video I had clicked on had not loaded yet. I impatiently clicked the video four more times in an attempt to bring it up. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the page finally loaded. The background was black and it completely hid all of the text, except for the username of the uploader and the description, both in crimson red. The username of the uploader was "NightmareSLUMBER" and the description read as such:
How ignorant of you.
You are unaware of my demonic presence in your life.
I will destroy everything you stand for.
Worthless coward.
I am always watching you.
And soon you will come to live with me...
Forever...
Figuring this was simply the idiocy of a twelve year old, I did not heed the danger I was in. The video began with a picture of an abandoned mental asylum (Later found out to be Denbigh asylum). The picture was a long, dark, and tattered corridor extending past the viewer's visual field. The left wall of the corridor had windows separated by columns. The corridor was bathed in an eerie moonlight, only broken by the shadows of the columns. The darkness of the corridor was a pure black, the likes of which I had never seen. I got the vibe that the asylum was hastily abandoned and never cleaned up.
For the first minute of the video, it was simply a still frame of the corridor. There was no sound nor movement. At approximately 1:13 of the video, I noticed a slow but definite movement at the very end of the corridor. The had a human stance but walked very unusually, most noticeably with it's head pointed straight at the ground. The creature accelerated steadily as the video progressed, eventually breaking into a full run. The creature ran head first into the camera, knocking it over. Simultaneously, I heard a very loud bang at the door. There was only one, and it sounded like someone had just run into the door.
I jumped up and grabbed the bat again, when I heard my computer make an error sound. The computer then bluescreened at that point, saying it shut down for safety reasons. The screen then proceeded to make note of the fact that an unknown hacker had been obtaining information about my whereabouts. My antivirus program ran a trace of the hacker's IP address, and came back with a city in Northern Wales; specifically, the hack had been made from an abandoned mental asylum.
Then the power went out. At this point, I became extremely intimidated. My eyes welled up with water as my breathing accelerated. I began to hear someone groaning in pain outside the door. I knew it was a mistake to go look, but I decided to anyway. When I glanced through the peephole, there was nobody outside the door. I could still hear the groaning though. No way in hell was I opening that door.
I flew into a panic attack and immediately attempted to contact police; however, I simply got a busy tone on both the landline and my cell phone. I ran back up to my computer to see if I could hook it up to a generator to ask for help that way, when I noticed that the computer screen was still on. In giant red text upon a black screen, it read, "GO TO SLEEP".
A piercing scream then rang out. It sounded like someone was dying. I raced to the kitchen and drew two knives out of a drawer. This was real. This was actually happening. The screams got louder and more desperate. Under the screams, I began to hear a faint but distinct hysterical laughter.
I ran about the house trying to figure out what was going on. I then heard a sobbing coming from a closet near my computer room. My skin ran cold as I grasped the doorknob. It was cold to the touch. I should have said something before opening the door, but I didn't have the common sense to do so. I whipped the door open to see a young girl, dead and bloody, crumpled in a heap in my closet.
Her stomach had been ripped open and her entrails pulled out. She was entirely naked and coated completely in blood. The wall suddenly was illuminated with a red light. I noticed that something was written in blood on the wall.
"You should have heeded the warning. Time to go to sleep."
I whirled around and saw the figure in the video, head down and everything. I froze in fear. With one sudden movement, almost as if I was watching a video that had skipped a few frames, the figure twisted it's head and looked at me. Then everything went black.
Detective's note: The victim's body was found in a similar state to that of the young girl in the closet. Despite numerous blood tests, we could not identify the girl. In fact, due to the lack of a missing person's report, the fact that no one came forward to claim her remains or to try to solve the case of the murder, and because no blood test matched anyone we tested, it seemed like the girl never really existed. We have confirmed that the hacking came from the abandoned mental hospital; however, there is no explanation as to how this was timed so close together. We have issued an arrest warrant but no officer wants to enter the ruins in fear of his or her life. The only break we got was a witness sighting of an extremely unusual and frightening creature running into the hospital a few days later. From the witness' testimony, we noticed a shocking similarity between the face of the deranged mental hospital inhabitant and the following image, taken from a site filled with horror stories, with the words "GO TO SLEEP" captioned above it.
Numerous murders like this have occurred since, and every single one of the victims has been noted to watch the video a few minutes before the homicide is committed. YouTube officials have tried to remove the video; however, every moderator that tries ends up getting brutally murdered. The case is still unsolved."
Detective's note 2: After further researching the case, a few discoveries have been made. First, while I have been unable to find the source of the video, last minute accounts of the killer's victims have provided enough descriptive evidence to point to the image used as the background for the video. Although this is a JPEG image and thus by nature is a still image, rumor has it that, if you stare into the picture long enough, the image begins to twist and contort. Continue staring, and you can see a creature beginning to run towards the camera. No one has watched the image long enough to see the creature come close, but enough visual evidence is there to assume that it is the same person seen in the video. The image can be found below. View at your own risk, for your life may be at stake.
In addition, I have been searching for more information regarding the killer. To my horror, I have found a set of stories online regarding one "Jeff the Killer". The stories dictate a serial killer who develops his psychopathic tendencies at the onset of his teenage years, eventually killing everybody in his immediate family. The most shocking aspect of the story is that Jeff killed his victims in the same brutal way as seen with the Denbigh asylum killer, even going to the extent of both killers communicating "GO TO SLEEP" before murdering their victims. The most frightening aspect, however, is that the image provided for Jeff the Killer is the exact same as the image provided by witnesses for the Denbigh Asylum killer, leading investigators to believe that they are in fact the same person. For further reading, simply search "Jeff the Killer" online and read at your own risk.
The most terrifying fact of all, though, lies in my personal experience. After writing this report, I heard strange sounds throughout my home. Figuring it was nothing, I continued doing research on Jeff. The banging noises got louder and louder. I searched outside, thinking maybe a bird was injured. As I stepped to my door, however, I noticed movement in the window. I immediately attempted to phone police, but got a busy signal. Concerned, I put the phone down and looked toward the door, only to see Jeff staring directly at me with those cold, dead eyes and that horrific, disfigured face. His smile was the most eerie thing I have ever seen. I immediately pulled out my gun and began shooting. Jeff took off into the night.
I know I am in danger, so I have set up constant surveillance around my home to protect myself. I still see bright flashes of light and hear banging noises around my home, along with the rare but still horrifying laughter of which only a true psychotic serial killer can provide. I don't know how much longer it will be until we catch him, but, if he keeps making these mistakes, then we'll have a solid identity and an air-tight case. I feel we are on the brink of taking him in, for I keep hearing laughter and banging sounds that are escalating in volume, and I also am seeing an odd orb of light in the distance. I have radioed fellow police to the scene, but the radio has gone dead. The light is getting closer, and I have my gun ready. It's him. I can see his face. Time tot mntoujiujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujujyhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj/
Hello everyone. My name is Jeff. I don't like that this story is being published, but oh well. It's not like any of you could catch a demon of my caliber. The detective is now dead. The journal is over. And it's quite hilarious, because, in viewing this document, I have logged every single one of your IP addresses and know exactly where you are. For example: One of you works at a Cousin's on Drexel boulevard, one of you has the usernameTheLonelyMockingJay on the Wikia sites, one of you lives in Burbank, one of you lives on East avenue, one of you lives in Ohio, one of you goes to University and has a roommate named Becky, one of you is going to Iowa, one of you is quite the whiz at the piano.
The list goes on and on. I know where you work. I know your friends. Your family. Your loved ones. I know everything. Soon, all of that will be taken from you. Upon reading this message from me, you should start hearing odd noises and feel a sense of fear and dysphoria wash over you. You will become anxious and frantic for no logical reason. The banging isn't the building you reside in. It's something else. Something quite sinister. Something that wants your blood. If I don't get you, I will get those you love and care about. You, the one with a girlfriend named Jessica... She's mine.
You aren't safe. Heh. Hahahaha. AHAHAHAHHH!
I think it's time for you to go to sleep. I'll be in shortly.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey the Killer.
P.S. Wade (James) It was so kind of you for telling me where your school is. You think your so clever and thinking that I am not real? Just you wait! I will be coming for you. Of course your friends will soon follow! Now please wIll you be so kind and just GO TO SLEEP!
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Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (90)- First pages ONLY.
I skimmed thro ch-89 to know the context of ch-90. it was Cinderella’s play. In this chapter, Kyo says early on, that time has passed since the play & that they are NOW starting their third year in high school. cool.
This part will ONLY focus on the 1st few pages of ch 90 abt (kyo & tohru) & stop before kyo’s memories starts, because the early pages contain:
Tons of new unexplored analysis of (kyo & tohru) characters that unfortunately was intentionally cut & worse! “changed” in the anime.
No space to add kyoko’s story in this post.
Kyoko’s story is full psychologically & socially.. I need to take a deeeeeeep breath before I unpack it. very deeeeep breath!
-Glimpses of Tohru (the silent grieving girl) Subtle Writing of Grief:
Right from the beginning, I hate how much insight into tohru’s grief & weakness as a human being is already there in the first few pages of ch-90 than the entire 3 seasons of the anime! From few pages we have:
Tohru’s seemingly delighted watching a video. Subtly, showcasing tohru’s grieve & paving the path for tohru’s trauma exploration later in the story. Grief is not sth you quickly past, that’s the most tragic misunderstanding of grief. Time will pass, so, you’ll be better & healthier. Really?!. Tohru’s inner desire to see her mom alive manifested in her words: “ like a photo comes to life” T_T.
The story/writing/manga is acknowledging tohru’s heartbreaking & NOT cute habit of talking to her mom’s cold dead photo! In the anime, tohru talks to her a lot in se01 & it’s up to you to see as as “ cute” as all the canon characters do or actually feeling it IS wrong. Kyo’s “ what would she do if there were a video of her mom”! “ drives the point more abt tohru being a sad grieving human~not the “advice-giving, optimistic angel, & rain-stopping sunshine in the anime.
Tohru telling kyo to NOT catch cold connecting it to se01, ep 9 (haru’s ep) when tohru was afraid that yuki might catch cold & kyo noticed that! so now in se03, they’re dropping this plot altogether within the main anime, for what? we dont even know if this part would be included in whatever “ kyoko’s” spinoff content would be. -_-’.
That’s how you write subtle trauma such as (grief) for a main (female) MC. subtlety is the key. Respect the viewers intelligence & do it.
You don’t have to give her the long speeches or the many focused ep that yuki had. he’s the kind who confront himself inwardly constantly.
You don’t have to showcase drama, confrontation & force the emotions out like you did with kyo. he runs from his trauma & punishes himself.
Tohru buries her feelings! she’s different from both kyo & yuki. So, with her subtle & symbolic scenes are enough!!!The viewers will catch it if you show it, but ignoring it, cutting it & hoping the viewers will magically predict what you cut, is weird. But the anime isn’t even into us predicting nor subtly showing her cuz this tohru is NOT the tohru we have in the anime. How?
Simply cuz there is no kyo’s inner thoughts abt small things such as tohru’s photo obsession which subtly shows her grief & trauma. If kyo didn’t monologue abt her, tohru does not exist as she’s meant to be. You loose the subtle insights into tohru if you cut kyo’s inner thoughts. Not everything kyo thinks abt in regards to tohru is romance!!! That’s a very narrow & superficial look into the writing of kyo/’tohru dynamics. Flip the pages, hmm..cut this kyoru scene here & there cuz we dont want the anime to be only their love story.. But the story itself IS NOT only their love story at all. These pages/scenes here are abt tohru as a PERSON. Not tohru the lover...
- Writing Clashes between manga & anime: (Kyo’s Conscious Gradual Psychological Exploration vs Shock Value & Drama)
In ch 90 i really love all the inner self talking that kyo’s doing. It really explains why he ended up rejecting tohru so strongly. Also, going for a trip into kyo’s mind is hella exciting, new, refreshing & full of analysis-worthy exploration! Kyo’s inner psychological argument with himself is a psychologically-informed presentation of a tried guilty mind:
“ Why can’t I stop thinking of (kyoko’s words) lately? Acknowledging that he IS remembering kyoko & never forgot her. This is also supported in the anime itself. When he apologized to a sleeping tohru in se01, ep14 & se02, ep9 , confronting yuki in the stairs & other instances as well.
“ It’s like a lid been opened & all the memories came pouring”. Acknowledging that kyo DID open his lid since se02, ep9 byt chose to run & not confront it due to his guilt of ruining tohru’s happiness by confessing his connection to her mom.
“ pretending I didn’t know, pretending I forgot”. Here is a blatant clash in kyo’s writing (1) between the anime & manga (2) between the anime’s episodes themselves!!. In the manga, again kyo chose to ignore & pretended to forget. Death is NOT sth you forgot. Kyo saw kyoko bleeding & dying. The anime chose to make him totally forget & it could’ve worked if they didn’t included all the canon moments of him actually remembering & pretending to forget. Is that lazy writing? or was the director for se03 different from se 1 &2 &? chose to NOT watch the two previous seasons? Why would you consciously include a contradicting depiction of your character on screen for thousands of confused viewers? Was the scene of kyo’s shocked gave upon seeing kyoko’s photo that artistically appealing that you forgot everything? I really have NO problem of kyo forgetting kyoko if that was written in the anime since se01, but it wasn't. that's why it sucks.
“Is this payback? maybe I want to blame ME?” augh! i love this line so much! Directly hinting to the viewers that this is kyo’s one-sided guilt before his story with kyoko even started! subtly paving the path for the reason of his rejection of tohru” I dont want forgiveness. I want to blame ME.
-I don’t mind that the anime left kyo’s thoughts of kyoko until the climax in eo8, cuz ep 8 was SO well-done! Se03, ep 8 pacing was very suitable to (1) uncovering dark secrets & death, trauma, & guilt. (2) for exploring the effects such secrets on kyo’s character, decisions, mentality. Also, the animation of kyo’s face all ep 8 was one of the most expressive facial expressions the anime has ever delivered! The eyebrows, eyes, mouth, tears, body languages, heartache was all 100% perfect. The fact that the following eps didnt have much time to express everything & chapters were cramped is not ep 8′s fault but the decision to have 13 eps. Kyo’s delayed trauma deserved to have its own ep.
-What I DO mind is the added scene of ep 6 where he freaked out upon seeing kyoko’s picture, the concept of shock is perfect & so suitable for an anime but was NEVER properly written into the anime itself from the beginning. On the contrary, the anime itself contradict such usage of such value. Good job ruining an otherwise perfect-depiction of two traumatized characters (kyo & tohru) with ONE scene.. -_-
Side Notes:
I thought tohru is narrating the 1st page in ch-90, turned it out it is kyo!!!! Kyo narrates sth? Kyo monologues? kyo has a POV? Just the setting of kyo doing that feels different! I duno if it cuz when that happens in the anime it’s always clash & drama! lol, or cuz it’s sth original!
Shigure’s “ it’s broadcasted all over the nation” is epic! XD! you know poor stupid kyo would fall for that! XD. kyo, you really are an idiot! XD... man this scene would’ve been epic comedy~ lol.
Tohru not knowing what a “dvd” is is outdated for the anime, but to still keep the sentiment of “her wishing she’d have a video footage of her mom”, they could’ve replaced her words with “ It’d be fun watching this play years from now & remembering all the details”. I know that to some, it feels weird that tohru doesn't have video footage of her mom in this era. but trust me, this is more common than you might think. My late brother, who’s way younger than me, doesn't have much video footage, he always felt awkward & preferred not to be filmed. We got photos for him tho~
Even if you want kyo’s knowledge of kyoko to be in the climax only. You can always include this scene of tohru & kyo in the first pages in the anime somehow. It doesn't even need to be abt the dvd even tho that’s manageable. Cutting this short scene of them talking abt videos, & catching cold is cutting tohru’s trauma from its core. Then, the old grandpa’s narration from se03, ep6 would at least have some backup in the anime’s canon.
Momiji & shigure are perfect as a comedic duo!
I can’t get over tohru’s art~ <3
Pinning kyo at the beginning is epic~ kyo always gets the BEST romantic lines when he talks to himself. “ burning (tohru’s ) memories into my head or forgetting everything”. The torturing fire inside him is only distinguished by loving her but is also ignited by loving her~ what’s the solution~
#Fruits Basket#manga#fruits basket manga#manga spoilers#reading paper#love the new content!#Hate the missing content#lol
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How Bridgerton is poised to revolutionize romance on television
Lace up your corset and put up your dukes.
Words by Maureen Lee Lenker, November 13, 2020
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Regency romance must be in want of glittering ballrooms, witty banter, a dashing leading man, and a piquant heroine.
Bridgerton, Netflix’s first scripted title with über-producer Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland production company — under its headline-grabbing $150 million deal — has all of this in abundance. Not to mention a diverse cast that’s a far cry from the typical lily-white hues of Jane Austen adaptations and their ilk. Oh, and the narrator is a Regency-era Gossip Girl voiced by Julie Andrews. As showrunner Chris Van Dusen puts it, “It’s not your grandmother’s period [piece].”
Based on a series of romance novels by Julia Quinn — beginning with The Duke and I, which offers the season 1 blueprint — Bridgerton follows Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), a debutante who’s thirsty for a love match. Buoyed (and slightly overprotected) by her family, including her marriage-obsessed mum, Violet (Ruth Gemmell), and her seven siblings, Daphne embarks on a fauxmance with Simon, the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page). “When we first meet her, she’s this young, naive woman who’s been in this little bubble and doesn’t know anything about love or sex,” says Dynevor.
Simon, meanwhile, is hell-bent on avoiding matrimony, as part of a vengeful vow he made to his execrable father. Page drew inspiration from the classic Romantic poet Lord Byron to craft a character who is part aesthete, part brooding enigma. “You have this beautiful, shadowy, broken, thoroughly complex man, who is as glamorous as we all wish we were on the outside,” notes Page. “But [he’s] trying to figure out who he is.”
It’s standard fare for Shondaland: men and women looking to find themselves within the social confines of their reality. This time it’s in a completely different world, one that shares the female-gaze ethos that often defines Shondaland series — think Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and more. Romance novels account for nearly a quarter of all fiction book sales, yet they’re rarely fodder for splashy screen adaptations. “I never thought this would happen to me,” Quinn says. “Nobody was adapting romance novels, and if somebody was going to do a period piece, they wanted to do another adaptation of Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters.”
That prestige gap between Austen and mass-market historical romance was something executive producer Betsy Beers admits she bumped up against when Rhimes first recommended the novels to her. “I didn’t take what the books were as seriously as I could’ve initially,” she says. “But there should be no pejorative association with romance novels. Nobody sneezes at suspense, at action, at true crime. These are just good stories about relationships, about emotional politics, about how you juggle duty, love, and lust.”
For Van Dusen, the 280-year evolution of romance writing was something to exploit. “I wanted to infuse everything with my own unique, modern lens,” he says. “The tone is very spirited and daring. Everything’s fresh and youthful. There’s a little effervescence to everything.”
That freshness manifests throughout — from the score, which features classical string arrangements of contemporary pop songs (Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next,” Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood”), to the costumes (“Jane Austen loved her bonnets, but Bridgerton is a bonnet-free world,” quips Van Dusen). But nowhere is it more evident than in the casting.
The series looks like any Shondaland show: multi-hued and reflective of the world we live in. Romance novelists like Vanessa Riley and Diana Quincy are challenging the established narrative of who inhabited the 19th-century aristocracy. Austen herself featured a mixed-race heiress in her unfinished novel Sanditon. But such a cast is still dismayingly rare in period pieces.
Though the casting here is a far cry from the source material, Quinn wholeheartedly endorses it. “Bridgerton isn’t a history lesson; it’s a show for a modern audience,” she notes. There were, of course, people of color who existed in this time and place, but the show hands them more power than historical assumptions allow. It imagines a British aristocracy where Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) is of mixed race (a fact some historians suggest there’s evidence for), thus elevating other people of color to dukedoms and positions of status. “It’s not color-blind casting,” explains Beers. “We try to imagine history and the world in the way we wanted to see it.”
It’s what allows Page to play the powerful, devastatingly handsome duke, a role that previously would have been the exclusive domain of white actors. For Page, who made his U.S. TV debut as Chicken George in the 2016 remake of Roots, it makes Bridgerton’s romantic narrative even more potent. “With color-conscious casting, I get to exist as a Black person in the world,” he says. “It doesn’t mean I’m a slave. It doesn’t mean we have to focus on trauma. It just means we get to focus on Black joy and humanity.”
That joy opens up another narrative component often left behind closed doors in period drama: intimacy. Typically, the Regency’s idea of sexual tension is the brush of a gloved hand, but in the world of Bridgerton, audiences find themselves in an opera singer’s boudoir within the first 10 minutes. “The sexiness and the steaminess was always going to be there,” says Van Dusen, adding that it’s core to the “education of Daphne Bridgerton.”
Dynevor echoes this, explaining that the show’s sex scenes, overseen by an intimacy coordinator, were as intricately choreographed as a fight sequence. But for Dynevor, it was a key part of Daphne’s arc, one that foregrounds her character’s wants above any objectified desirability. (What other Regency literary adaptations feature a heroine experimenting with self-pleasure at the suggestion of her suitor?)
“It’s not often you see sex [treated] in that way,” Dynevor reflects. “It wasn’t gratuitous. It was so essential in Daphne’s journey and sexual awakening. I love the fact that it is very much the female gaze.”
That gaze is the connective tissue between Shondaland and romance publishing, a match so fortuitous it could only end in happily ever after. “[The show] is not going to be so different from the experience of reading a romance novel,” Van Dusen concludes. “It’s sexy and a little dangerous and fun. It leaves you a little hot and bothered and breathless.” Fetch the fainting couch — and the remote.
Bridgerton hits Netflix on Dec. 25.
#long post#bridgerton#the bridgertons#bridgerton netflix#netflix#netflix bridgerton#daphne bridgerton#simon basset#julia quinn#ew#entertainment weekly#article
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Why the ending of Supernatural is problematic - the meaning of storytelling
Originally, I wanted to write a full essay on this and I still might, but since the university libraries are closed and I have three other big writing projects at hand, one of which is my final thesis, this might take a while. I still want to share my thoughts about this. A lot of this has been said before, but not yet by everyone. Trigger warning for mentions of suicide and homophobia.
The thing that bugs me most about the whole discussion about the ending of Supernatural is people saying “why do you care so much? It´s just a story.” Storytelling has been a part of human culture for thousands of years, it is something that everyone does and to think that telling stories doesn´t have a function in society that goes beyond entertainment is just plain wrong. Every part of storytelling, be it the actions shown, the words used, the characters involved or the connotations connected with any of the above, have the power to influence the way that the recipients of the story perceive reality. Now let that sink in for a moment.
To borrow some words from a text about gendered narration: “Narration is understood as a cultural practice that spans genres and media and it is of great significance for gender constructions and gender relations, because stories don´t simply reflect on the perception or imagination of ´gender´, but they create them. From this perspective, storytelling seems to be one of the performative acts that produce and establish identities and gender constructs in the first place.” (Nünning/Nünning (2006): Making gendered selves; translated from german). The important thing to take from this quote is the last bit: Storytelling is an act that produces and establishes identities. And from here, we jump directly into the ending of Supernatural.
I don´t think I have to explain a lot about what happens in the last two episodes of Supernatural. But I want to go into the potential impact. So, in the ending of episode 15x18, we see a male presenting character, Castiel, declare his love to another male presenting character, Dean Winchester. It is made very clear, both by the actual show and the comments of Misha Collins, who plays Castiel, right afterwards, that this is in fact meant to be romantic. Right after that scene, Castiel dies. He not only dies by coincidence, but confessing his love is the thing that makes him happy and therefore, because of a deal he made with the empty, is the thing that kills him. It is not explicitly said if Dean loves him back. In the next episode, this confession is never mentioned, but Dean shows some signs of wanting Castiel back desperately (begging Chuck to bring him back, running up the stairs because he thinks that Cas will be there), but these signs just stop at some point during the episode. In the series finale, Castiel is mentioned twice, but not once by Dean and always in a fleeting manner. It never becomes clear if Dean loves him back and life apparently just went on without him. Not to mention that death has never been a permanent or undefeatable state in the show. But Castiel never comes back, his feelings are never mentioned and neither are Dean´s, although it has been clear in previous seasons that he usually takes it very, very hard to lose Castiel, to a point where he becomes reckless and suicidal (see early season 13).
There are a few things to address here, but the main thing for me is that it seems like Castiel loses his status as a friend who will be dearly missed as soon as he comes out as in love with Dean Winchester, which is perceived by the audience as being gay (angelic gender discourse aside). And this is a bad message. It´s a really bad message both for people who struggle with their sexuality and see all their fears come true, and for people who have prejudices about LGBTQI+ people and get the message that they are less valuable as human beings. Which is not true, but again: Storytelling is an act that produces and establishes identities. The death of Castiel was only one of the problematic messages. Dean Winchester, who has been coded and perceived as bisexual and who has been a beacon of light for many who struggle with mental illnesses, dies too. Worse, he basically chooses death, which completely destroys the hopeful message of never giving up. Eileen Leahy, a deaf character who represents a group of people who are seldomly represented in media in a positive and empowering way, disappeares from the narrative, too, without an explanation and takes that empowerment with her. There are more examples, but the general idea is clear.
And this is, for me, the main problem with the Supernatural finale. The ending of Supernatural helps to establish hurtful tropes and assumptions. It transports messages that can be very harmful both for people who identify with those characters and see their own very real and important hopes and dreams fall to pieces, and for people who could use to see good representation of diverse characters to question their own values and opinions.
I hear you asking: “Okay, so bad media representation is bad in an abstract, cultural context. But how big can the impact of such media representation actually be for individual people? And how do you prove that?” So let me ask back: “Have you ever heard of the Werther effect?”
In 1774, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published the novel “The sorrows of Young Werther”. In this book the main character kills himself after being rejected by the woman he´s in love with. After the novel had been published, a number of young men committed suicide, following the example of the book character Werther. This is not the only case where the depiction of the suicide of a character inspired people who strongly identify themselves with the character commit suicide: “There have been other such “epidemics” [meaning suicides in imitation], such as the rash of suicides in young Jewish females after the publication of Otto Weininger´s Sex and Character in 1903. However, an earlier recorded epidemic occurred in the early 1700s in Japan.” (Krysinka/Lester (2006): Comment on the Werther effect. S.100).
Long story short, it is a known phenomenon that media has a huge influence on the lives of recipients, especially if they can identify strongly with the characters, all the way to existential decisions like suicide. And in the case of Supernatural, that´s an extraordinarily relevant question.
The character Dean Winchester has battled depression, trauma and suicidal thoughts and tendencies in his journey. Many people who battled the same issues could identify themselves with this character, which is a known fact in the fandom and has been said multiple times on conventions and on social media. Showing that this character accepts death, even though it is questionable if that was necessary, and implying that the only way that he can find peace is by dying is highly problematic. Combined with the number of people who identify as LGBTQI+ and who have a strong connection to the character Dean Winchester, and considering the high suicide rate among LGBTQ+ individuals, death as the conclusion of his character arc is a dangerous message.
To summarize my point, storytelling is an insanely powerful instrument to shape the collective social memory of a culture and it has direct influence on how we perceive the world and other humans. Bad media representation causes real life issues and can be very harmful, both on a personal level and in society, for those who are affected. It lets hypocrites, homophobes and racists stay in their bubble of righteousness and fails to call them out on their bullshit. It is a lethal threat to some. Bad media representation and thoughtless storytelling is dangerous. And this is why I care so much. Because it´s not just about a story.
So, that´s it for now. I would love to hear your thoughts about it!
And I send love to all of my mutuals, everyone who loves Supernatural and hates the finale because of it, all of my rainbow siblings and everyone who needs it! <3
#the15yearshow#destiel#eileen leahy#media representation#spn season 15#spn finale#literature textpost#the importance of representation#the sorrows of young werther#meta post#I guess#narratology#storytelling#literature student#supernatural
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Taking a break from work so time to write up more of my Loki trailer thoughts since all the cool cats around here seem to be doing it :-D.
In chronological order:
1) Personally I was 'meh' about the trailer starting with the Endgame scene just because I think the Russos did a terrible job matching the tone of that scene with the tone of the original Avengers film's conclusion and I want the Loki series to feel like a continuation of Avengers. Alas, the Endgame scene grates on me as feeling inauthentic to the story it's supposed to take place in. But I certainly understand the practicality of needing to put it in to give the audience the context for when/how this new story with Loki is taking place.
2) But five seconds later on the other side of the wormhole…yay, Kate Herron fixed the tone! This feels much closer in tone to when Thor and Lok depart for Asgard at the end of Avengers. Excellent job Kate.
3) Was so pleasantly surprised by Owen Wilson's portrayal! Very different than any of the comedic characters I strongly associate the actor's acting style with. I like his character a lot with what we've been given so far. It's instructive reflecting back on the potential concerns I had and that were being discussed in the fandom when we were working with scraps and rumors that we now know don't have merit: things like 'Hiddleston is only there to narrate the series' and 'How comedic in tone is this going to be if Waldron from Rick and Morty is hiring Owen Wilson?'. Ah the good old days of baseless speculation.
4) I mentioned the frequently low camera position in another post -- it does a poor job of conveying how Loki carries himself, tall and straight and elegant. It makes him seem more ordinary, but maybe that's the point -- equalizing him with Mobius rather than it being an Asgardian in a non-Asgardian's presence.
5) The way Loki goes from locked down and not letting any sense of what's going on his head slip to Mobius (what I feel is in-character for Loki) to suddenly being a lot more open with what he's actually feeling and having less guarded, more friendly/casual attitude toward Mobius is weird to me. I think it's a cut just for the trailer and hopefully it will make more sense in context, but Hiddleston's acting here and the way he has no qualms about being physically guided out of the elevator by Mobius is one of the points where it felt more like Hiddleston playing a different character than playing Loki to me (and lacking Loki's costuming doesn't help that perception certainly). Which I know is nitpicky, but I was just curious to see to what degree this would actually feel like 'fresh off of Avengers' Loki and so I'm paying close attention to what feels in and out of character for me. Does Mobius say something to really throw Loki for a loop that would cause him to drop his guard like that?
6) "Glorious" -> YAASSSS that's the Loki I wanted to recognize. He's back! I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around how blessed I am, but we've got him back for more screen time. Also, with him back in Stark Tower and the later image of post-apocalyptic Manhattan, I am super intrigued by the possibility of Loki (and me too!) experiencing different ways things could have played out on Earth, if he'd succeeded in his conquest for example.
7) Loki's going to learn about what happened in the main timeline and the choices he made in the future?! That's huge! Should be a fascinating character moment. This bit of Loki turning away from the projector gives me a lot of hope that the writing in the show is actually going to explore, honor, and authentically run with where Loki was as a character at the end of Avengers and the context of what he experienced rather than Marvel just plopping the "general" character of Loki into a genre-fied crime thriller show basically disconnected from the events of Thor and Avengers so they can say they made a Loki show.
8) Do I like Loki in the beige detective jacket? Nah, not really. But I do appreciate that even with the earth costume they kept Loki's style of being completely covered up. Also creates contrast with him not being in control when he's in the TVA prisoner jumpsuit that has short sleeves.
9) Thought that was Nat on Voromir at first because of the purple environment. Been reading some thoughts on how that's probably not Nat, and while the theories make sense, if that's true, why would Marvel put in a shot of a character that looks so much like Nat that it would cause confusion and maybe get her fans' hopes up?
10) I agree with @delyth88 on the D.B. Cooper scene. Didn't think I'd want Loki looking like Hiddleston, but I don't mind it / it's not taking me out of the scene as I might have expected.
11) The fight choreo and edit into the twirling -- I already discussed this before, but the physicality of it is giving me human-strength!Loki vibes. If instead the guy he's fighting is also super strong, wouldn't the plastic or metal disc thing between them break upon impact? Also the fact that it seems implied that Loki would get hurt by jumping out of the plane w/o Heimdall’s help to catch him.
12) The twirling -- is Loki legitimately, celebratorily, uninhibitedly happy? I feel like we've never seen him like that since the Thor cut scene before they all made that fateful trip to Jotunheim. I read a theory that the roman numerals on the building in this frame might mean he is in Pompeii the year the volcano erupts, which is interesting.
13) Loki saying "Brother”, “Heimdall", coordinating with at least Heimdall, traveling on the Bifrost -- HOPE! BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, HOPE! I was honestly expecting the show to make no mention of anything connected to Asgard, except maybe segueing into Thor 4 at the very end, so the fact that Loki is (indirectly) interacting with Heimdall -- calling Thor "Brother" (even if not to Thor) !!!!!!!!!!!! -- interesting!
14) The idea of him being D.B. Cooper is very fun! (though I didn't know who that was in advance). It's very easy to pretend that Loki is real and has been an unidentified part of our history all along.
15) I do not like the last scene with comics!Loki suddenly being brought to life. In fact I had a very kneejerk dislike of it the first couple times I watched the trailer (so many watches ago :-P) because it presses a very personal button of mine, which is how the MCU is moving toward becoming more spectacle-driven and comic-book-y and therefore away from the grounded, character driven storytelling that I enjoy about the MCU. I'm here for the character of Loki that I love as he is already established in the MCU, not the comics versions of the character. Also, IMO the acting is out of character for MCU Loki and more goofy.
That said, I'm hopeful context will help a whole bunch here as @iamanartichoke has said. Given all the timey-wimey multiverse shenanigans, it's probably not even Avengers!Loki anyway, and I'm certainly not going to begrudge the many fans who are excited to see comics references on screen.
Overall impression? Very excited, very hopeful. Would I selfishly want a story that's just a direct continuation of the Avengers and hyper focused on the exact context of the character of Loki as he was in Avengers, fleshing out the off-screen bits and up-until-now only implied emotional impact of what Loki experienced between the end of Thor and the start of Avengers, digging into his relationships with the Black Order, and family, reconciling with his heritage? Uh…duh ;-).
But you have to give an audience what they need as opposed to what they think they want, and from a craft perspective, this has to be its own story. The Thor and Avengers stories are their own stories, they're told, they're done, even if certain emotional threads were left hanging / implied / off-screen that we as very detail-oriented Loki fans would like to see dealt with explicitly.
But given that this was always going to be its own story, I'm very hopeful that the series has an explicit creative goal of telling a story that also does a great job with emotional continuity and exploring the fallout of Thor and Avengers and what that means for Loki's character; of honoring, picking up from, and running with Loki as a character in the context of who he was when he surrendered to the Avengers and where he goes from there.
The Marvel Studios executives could have easily decided to make an isolated story featuring Loki that general MCU fans that don't think overly deeply about the character would have been very happy with and probably it would be very successful, and I would have gladly taken that over nothing. But I'm optimistic that that isn't what we're getting and that they chose to ground their story in the specific context of Loki's character. We'll see!
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Val Kilmer Documentary Punctures the Actor’s Bad Boy Myth
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Leo Scott and Ting Poo’s new documentary feature, Val, is not a mortality play. It is a rehearsal for an upcoming act. During a tour of his one-man stage show, Citizen Twain, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. The actor underwent two tracheostomies, and now can only speak while covering a tube. The narration of the new film is thus done by his son Jack Kilmer, allowing the pair to share a non-verbal connection throughout the journey, and through time and expression itself. While there are flourishes of humor, the documentary is a serious study of an artist who has always struggled to be understood, told through the selective memory of Kilmer’s POV.
“I’ve wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time,” Kilmer says toward the beginning of the documentary. “And now that it’s difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever.” Kilmer is an artist, one who takes his vocation very seriously and introspectively. An actor’s voice is more than a tool, it is their primary source of communication. Non-verbal exchanges are important, but dialogue is the primary idea delivery system in staged and filmed works. Surgical procedures have split his throat, shredding the scope of his instrument. In the film, Kilmer is forced to project his story on the empty space between the notes.
Among Kilmer’s many defining roles, the one which appears to ring truest is his encapsulation of Jim Morrison, the poet and lead vocalist of the Doors in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic, The Doors. The young Kilmer is shown onstage in a small club, lost in the music, awaiting his cue to become one with the mic. Moments in Kilmer’s personal history, like how the actor was tagged with a “difficult” label, are consigned to rests. The most overt reference to Kilmer’s “bad boy” reputation comes from Robert Downey Jr., who smashes the notoriety to bits in a moment of impromptu dismissal.
There is no gossip here. There is no discussion of A-list-bad behavior. Kilmer sees it all as artistic license. He was searching for honesty, he remembers. Choices like lying on top of a mattress filled with ice in order to feel a real pain during his last scene with Kurt Russell in Tombstone come across as perfectly valid. Kilmer is still bitter over spending four months learning to play guitar for Top Secret!, and his first note informs him the director thinks he looks funnier faking it. There is little evidence of unprofessionalism, only growing pains.
The bulk of Val comes from clips of 8mm home video footage Kilmer has been shooting most of his life. “I’ve kept everything, and it’s been sitting in boxes for years,” Kilmer informs us. The archive was intended to tell a story about “where you end and the acting begins.” We are gifted with moon shots of both Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn, which have nothing to do with the films Apollo 13 or The First.
Early self-directed screen tests provoke a series of what-ifs. A tortuous encapsulation of a Juilliard acting class is a lesson in what-nots. Val’s hand-held approach to The Island of Dr. Moreau is a highlight. The actor respectfully rocks his co-star and idol, Marlon Brando, on a hammock they both wish was strung to John Frankenheimer. Please turn off the camera, the film’s replacement director demands. But Kilmer only hits pause when it’s time to rehearse.
The behind-the-scenes camcorder footage from sets of Top Gun, Tombstone, and The Doors are treasure troves in themselves, and possibly underused. Most of the audience will be very interested in the candid youth and truth recorded over his career. Val uses the archival clips and unearthed b-roll to establish a chronology.
Many videos were made at home in Los Angeles with Kilmer’s younger brother Wesley, who had an epileptic seizure and drowned at age 15. His death casts a mournful pall following the news that Val was the youngest applicant ever accepted as a drama student at Juilliard. Kilmer calls his brother “an artistic genius,” and one of the most revealing things to come out of the documentary is how often Kilmer used this brother’s art to augment the backgrounds of the sets he is living through on film.
Seeing how Stone speaks about Kilmer now makes me wonder if Val would have been able to put in the same performances in his movies if he knew it at the time. In his audition tapes for Full Metal Jacket and Goodfellas, we see an actor who needs to be taken seriously. He flies 6,000 miles to hand deliver his tape to Stanley Kubrick in London.
While he makes no comment, footage reveals Kilmer’s favorite Batman was played by Adam West. “Every boy wants to be Batman,” we hear, and see the Caped Crusader in every era of Kilmer’s life. A short, animated film he and his brother made with what looks like crayon is a Batman spoof. He still glories in the moment he got deposited behind the classic TV series’ iconic wheels as a youngster visiting the lot. It appears Kilmer still can’t pass a grocery store Batmobile without feeding it quarters. He wears the classic blue Halloween ensemble expecting tricks and treats as a kid, and as a daddy with his kids.
Don’t expect to see Kilmer wearing his cinematic puffed rubber suit at home, and it’s not because he left it at the dry cleaners. Footage old and new, homemade or professionally recorded, presents the Batsuit as an albatross. Heavy rests the cowl. He has to be lifted from chairs, deposited on marks, and his only identifying feature on the set of Batman Forever is a chin and bottom lip. Anyone could have been behind the mask, and the human superhero envied the subhuman villains. Kilmer comes across as quite happy Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones are able to create fully formed performance art in their portrayals. But he wanted to play with those toys.
“Batman Forever,” Kilmer laments, “whatever boyish excitement I had going in was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit. I realized it was just my job to show up and stand where they told me.” As the captured past footage is juxtaposed with modern sequences, we get an unfiltered glimpse of how little this has changed. The sequence of Kilmer at the Comic-Con autograph booth is wrenching. He initially didn’t want to take the part of Iceman in Top Gun because he felt it glorified the military. So many fans ask him to sign “You can be my wingman” on their souvenirs. It turns his stomach. He throws up in a garbage can and wheeled through hallways with a blanket over his head. Trouper that he is, he returns to the booth to finish out the signatures.
Kilmer blurred himself into the role of Mark Twain. There is a beautiful sequence where the actor walks through town to the beach, in full stage makeup, dressed in the signature white suit and long mustache of his character. It is extremely telling when Kilmer tells the camera it’s hard enough writing a good screenplay, much less a great one, which itself doesn’t even match what he feels he needs to bring to a script of a film version of Citizen Twain. Kilmer sold his ranch in New Mexico to finance the project. The documentary only captures some of the frustrations.
Most of the anecdotes are guarded, and all the admissions are part of a subjective narrative. Kilmer’s arc has rough edges, these tales are too smooth, and leave little room for impressionistic interpretation. Kilmer met his former wife, Joanne Whalley, when she was starring in a West End play directed by Danny Boyle, but he didn’t approach her.
“She was brilliant, and I was in town making fluff,” Kilmer concedes. It’s all about the art, even appearances. The documentary hints that Kilmer’s dedication to character did the most damage to their relationship. Wearing the same pair of leather pants for nine months could almost be on the books as probable cause for divorce in Hollywood.
Similarly, Kilmer’s Christian Science upbringing is brought up, and dropped. There is a loving but ambiguous undertone to Kilmer’s relationship with his once-rich-and-powerful father, who put his son in debt after trying to become a southern California land tycoon. But a sequence on his Swedish mother which juxtaposes a car ride he took with her when he was a child with one of being driven to her funeral speaks volumes without words.
Val is about the next step. “What’s past is prologue” William Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest. Kilmer pondered the “too, too solid flesh” while rehearsing Hamlet, and the documentary opens after the actor faced his own mortality. Kilmer swears he feels better than he sounds and, while he finds little to regret in his memories, he expects less in the ones he has yet to create.
Val can be seen on Amazon Prime Video.
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S1 E4: Saucy Deep Dives: Third Person SIngular Number
After spending the last two months watching and examining Bollywood hits, it’s been very exciting for us to introduce our audience to hits from all across South Asia. In this episode, we are thrilled to be watching a Bangladeshi favorite made by one of the most famous contemporary directors there.
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki came into the scene in the early 2000s, at a time when mainstream television and cinema largely existed either in the form of family entertainment or copy-pasted “hero’s journey” scripts made for quick consumption.
This is where Farooki came in with his more casual and approachable filmmaking. His stories revolved around the relatable everyday struggles of ordinary people. This also meant utilizing colloquial language in his cinema (which was rare, given that the media at the time would only depict formal Bangla or a standard dialectical Bangla [for rural stories]).
Third Person Singular Number (2009) was Farooki’s third movie, which solidified his position as one of the most notable contemporary directors in Bangladesh.
Third Person Singular Number is conceptualized as a fairytale-like story of Ruba (played brilliantly by Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Farooki’s partner, and long-time muse), who is confronted by the challenges of being a single woman in South Asia, after her partner (note, not husband lol) is sent to jail. Ruba struggles with constant harassment as she attempts to find housing and employment. The Prince Charming character of this movie comes to us in the form of Ruba’s childhood friend - Topu (a successful musician in Bangladesh, both in the movie and IRL), whose support helps in making Ruba feel safe. Her feelings for Topu force Ruba to engage with her conflicted relationship with her mother (who left her father for her lover) as well as her fidelity to her jailed partner.
One of the most remarkable things about the film is its deliberate focus on Ruba and how it centers her perspective - this is extremely apparent in the cinematography and Farooki being able to employ the feminine gaze aptly. The first half of the movie depicts at length the various ways in which women become victims of sexual assault - be it at home, in public, or in professional spaces.
There's this one scene in particular, where Ruba becomes hesitant to go to the police station as she recalls a news story from a couple of weeks ago where a woman was r*ped at one. A male gaze retelling of this would tell the audience through action - a flashback where the woman is facing violence, or perhaps when Ruba was reading the paper, or conversing about it with someone.
But in this story, Farooki chose to make this woman materialize in front of Ruba and tell the story herself. Not only giving voice to an unnamed woman who had met a horrible fate, but also creating a moment of emotional connection between the two women. It humanized what is often just reduced to news headlines, statistics, or water filter conversations.
There are hints throughout that she is an unreliable narrator. Resulting in the (spoiler alert!) the fairytale-esque second half of the movie. Fairytales, historical romances, and fan-fictions often serve as great mediums for social commentary, particularly on the dynamics of power (esp. geared towards women). The fact that the only escape available to Ruba from her bleak reality is an absurd Prince Charming figure speaks heavily to the harsh reality of the real Rubas of the world. For them, her ending would not be a possibility.
The use of space in the visuals of the film was also noteworthy, with Ruba being shown to feel trapped or caged in the company of predatory men (even including her own partner, whom she feels stifled by later in the film). This is often done through the use of close and medium shots, along with physical obstructions in the shot. Meanwhile, her relationship with Topu is shown to be much more affectionate and easy-going; this is depicted with a wide shot of the beautiful kashbons of Bashundhara. Not only was this technique used to remark on the state of Ruba’s mind (which is rare given that male directors rarely highlight women’s perspectives), it also commentated on the wider issue of South Asian women and how they are often made to feel small and struggle to find space (be it physically or metaphorically).
This beautiful work with space is further used to remark on the silence of the other women in the film (notably, Ruba’s cousin, friend, and mother). Unlike Ruba, the only woman with a voice (and the narrator, of course), these women are often seen in the confines of layered cage-like homes (with distinct obstructions like columns, furniture, etc. present in every layer). These characters, like their real-life counterparts, often exist in the crevices of their own homes and are stifled by the domineering presence of the patriarchal structures and insecurities around them.
The two noteworthy women characters (aside from Ruba) are her cousin and her mother. Both of whom we know very little about. However, in their fleeting moments on the screen, some of them make attempts to defy patriarchal structures around them in small but significant ways – Ruba’s mother by being courageous enough to follow her heart and leave a marriage and her cousin by helping Ruba despite her mother-in-law’s objections.
Another interesting thing is that despite Topu being Prince Charming, his character was given depth by not making him entirely selfless and sacrificial. Topu’s expectations were conveyed to the audience in a subtle but effective manner, using scenes like his outrage in the forest after Ruba backs out of having sex with him (though sex was never mentioned, only alluded to), as well as the ever-awkward buying condoms at a chemist shop (an entirely silent and secretive transaction, btw).
Ruba’s character in the film is shown to be determined, independent and tenacious even while she struggles with the oppressive realities of being a woman under patriarchy. One of the focal points of the movie is her strained relationship with her mother (who passes away, leaving no possibility of redemption or reconciliation ). The film uses an interesting technique of showing Ruba’s internal demons manifesting as younger versions of herself, hypothesized to be metaphors for her id (6-year-old Ruba), ego (present Ruba), and superego (13-year-old Ruba) as she battles over her feelings for Topu and consequently her feelings of resentment for her mother. Though her relationship with her mother is significant to Ruba’s evolution as a character, very little is shown of her mother and her motivations. Despite trying to give Ruba some semblance of closure with her mother at the end, the film falls short in creating multiple well-written women to enhance the story and the emotional connection to the characters.
We’ve also had the pleasure of having Raidah of Raidahcal on this episode. She does wonderful work addressing contemporary feminist issues in Dhaka, Bangladesh. While we all had different takes on the movie, it was wonderful to have Raidah’s unique insights and perspectives. Be sure to check her out. We’ve also had the pleasure of collaborating with her on her podcast Raidahcal in an episode exploring feminist economics – we would love for you to check it out as well!
She also asked us a question that made us pause a bit: Why are men given passes for not portraying women's realities accurately just because they are creating sophisticated art?
And this made us realize that there is a very thin line between centering a woman's perspective in a film, versus presenting an intrusively voyeuristic gaze to watch her struggle.
Ultimately if the author of the art is not able to distinguish the two for everyone watching the movie, is all that nuance pointless?
This ambiguity within the film became more clear to us as we left our own echo chambers and were faced with a wonderfully challenging guest and the realization that the film is sometimes as good as the viewer wants it to be.
Even on our Sauce Meter, this film fared better than some of our previous takes. Here’s a breakdown of our scores.
1. Is there at least one character who adds a nuanced representation of a diverse South Asian identity, without stereotyping and tokenization?
Ruba, the protagonist of the film is a complex, well-rounded character and a woman – the film also uses an unfamiliar perspective by centering the story around the experiences of a woman vs a man (which is considered the default) – but she is one of the few non-male characters that get significant screen time, so not full points.
0.5
2. Are the primary characters (especially women and marginalized characters) portrayed with agency, individuality, and motivation?
Despite Ruba being limited by the sexist nature of the social structures around her – notably her struggle to find housing and employment as a single woman, she is shown to have agency and individual motivation – she is also shown to want autonomy and finds ways to assert herself despite inhibiting circumstances.
0.75
3. Are women and marginalized characters shown to be cognizant of their identities and how they exist within the social context?
Taking half a point off because there are limited representations of women and other marginalized characters, but the glimpses we get into other women apart from Ruba all seem to be painfully aware of how their choices and abilities are limited by oppressive patriarchal structures. Notably, her cousin despite having limited control over her life and household still tries to help Ruba, and Ruba herself has several moments where she points to the tribulations of being a woman in society.
0.5
4. Do the women and marginalized characters have meaningful relationships with each other?
While the women’s relationships with each other are not given a lot of screen time, they remain focal plot points. In particular, Ruba’s relationship with her mother is instrumental in the evolution of Ruba’s character and arguably even her liberation, however, the movie does not do these relationships complete justice and dedicates very little time to other women or marginalized characters in the movie.
0.25
5. Does it challenge any flawed notions upheld by capitalism, patriarchy, and the caste system?
The movie successfully subverts stereotypical representations of women and even defies traditional ideas of marriage and power dynamics between men and women and for that, it gets a full point!
1
TOTAL SCORE ON THE SAUCE METER: 3/5
What did you think of our rating of Third Person Singular Number? Did we reach too hard? Let us know!
- Usha and Rekha
Listen Now
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VLD S8E13: The End is the Beginning
Season 8 Episode 13: The End is the Beginning
Transcript by @dragonofyang
Summary: As the Paladins and Honerva battle, they find themselves at the source of all realities in the final showdown for the very existence of the universe.
[Google Doc]
Keith: We have to take the fight as far away from here as--
Allura: Now let’s finish this!
Lance: Incoming!
Shiro: We can’t let this happen. She can’t get away.
[Transition to the Atlas-Voltron mech floating in a black abyss lit by glowing white tendrils.]
Keith: Is everyone okay?
Lance: Yep.
Pidge: Here.
Allura: Yes.
Shiro: Does anyone have eyes on Honerva?
Lance: What is this place?
Allura: I--I’m not sure.
Honerva: This is the beginning. And the end.
Allura: Can--can you all feel that? These strands are…
Lance: The only remaining realities left in existence.
Pidge: This place is the source of time, of space, of…
Hunk: Everything.
Honerva: I will end this once and for all!
Allura: She’s destroying… all realities!
Keith: She’s destroyed everything. There’s only one reality left.
Allura: No, please. If Honerva destroys this final strand, all of existence will end with it!
[Scene change to a white abyss not unlike the rift, but it’s the source of all realities.]
Honerva: Where are we?
Allura: The connected consciousness of all existence.
Honerva: You think you’re safe here? Soon all will cease to exist.
Hunk: You have to stop this. All these worlds, all these realities, they deserve to live.
Honerva: Those realities are flawed and weak, living out the same pathetic cycle of war and pain.
Allura: There is beauty in their flaws. I lost my father, my mother, my planet to this war, but I’ve gained a new family and a purpose stronger than any I could have imagined.
Pidge: Humans began very flawed. There were wars, hate. But with each mistake, they learned and grew.
Shiro: And now we reach out to other worlds to pass on those same lessons and spread them across the entire universe. Like your people once did.
Hunk: And with every new world touched, the message grows.
Keith: Every world, every reality. We wouldn’t exist without the others.
Lance: Our differences are what make us stronger.
Honerva: You think your words mean anything to me? I’ve lived multiple lifetimes, and all of them filled with pain and loss. If I cannot experience the simple joys of life, why should anyone else?
Allura: There was a time when you loved more than just your family, a time when your fascination with how vast the universe is gave way to your desire to help and uplift others.
Lotor: The beginning of Altean alchemy.
Honerva: You tried to help him.
Lotor: ...the tales you grew up with…
Honerva: He was happy. He deserved better. Better than I could give.
Allura: Lotor may have been misguided, but ultimately he wanted to preserve life. Honor your son. Help me change this.
Honerva: I’m sorry, but the damage is done. There’s nothing left to save.
Allura: I can change the quintessence within your vessel. Your son helped me learn how to transform it from a destructive force into a life-giving force. But I cannot do it alone.
Honerva: But, that would require…
Allura: I know the risks. I’m afraid this is where we part ways.
Hunk: Wait, what?
Keith: Allura.
Lance: What?
Pidge: No.
Allura: This is our only chance to undo what has been done, to save all of existence. I have to take it. It is my purpose. Your paths go on. Mine ends here.
Hunk: But there is no Voltron without you.
Allura: Voltron isn’t needed anymore. The rest of the work is up to the people. And they’ll have you to guide them, Hunk. Goodbye, Pidge.
Pidge: I’m gonna miss you, Allura.
Allura: Remain curious and fearless.
Shiro: Most of them won’t know the sacrifice you made so they could live.
Allura: And they’ll never need to. Your selflessness taught me that. Thank you.
Shiro: You never have to thank me for anything.
Allura: Keith… I cannot thank you enough for all you’ve given me.
Keith: Allura, when you accepted me, it helped me to accept myself. Thank you.
Allura: There is greatness in your heart and in your actions.
Lance: No. Allura, there--there has to be another way.
Allura: There is no other way. This is all we have.
Lance: But you’re too important to the cause. You’re--you’re too important to me.
Allura: I’ll always be with you, Lance. And I’ll always love you.
[Transition to the two mechs once more as all realities explode from between the two of them and the paladins wake up.]
Keith: Is this…? Are we…?
Pidge: Yeah. It’s our reality.
Lance: She did it. She saved us all.
Hunk: I don’t remember that planet being there before.
Lance: It’s Altea.
[Timeskip transition, with the text reading “One Year Later…” as we open on the flame of Feyiv.]
Keith: With the return of Planet Daibazaal, the Galra Empire is at a crossroads. For too long, the people of this extraordinary civilization have been manipulated by a dictatorship that placed a misguided sense of self-preservation above all else. It was a tragic, unfortunate series of events that led us down this dark, never-ending path of power and greed. But now we, the citizens of the Galra Empire, have an opportunity to make right all of the injustices set into motion by our forefathers. Because of the sacrifice made by Princess Allura, we have been given a second chance to come together in rebuilding the Galra Empire by joining the Galactic Coalition and ushering in a new era of peace across the universe.
[Scene change to the IGF-Atlas flying through deep space.]
Male Chancellor: Your armies have attacked us at every turn.
Female Chancellor: If you had just agreed to our terms, the attacks would not be necessary.
Male Chancellor: You are occupying a peaceful settlement!
Female Chancellor: Our people were starving!
Hunk: Chancellors. Please, sit. Dinner is served. The filet of bandrillo, spiced with the seasoning from the plains of planet Mabo, alongside pilaf of long-grain forlongian brill from the vast fields of Antidoll. And it’s accompanied by a cider made from the petals of the Altean juniberry flower. Bon appetit.
Female Chancellor: Delicious.
Hunk: And it wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of all three planets of the Xritoo system. Much like my cooking crew, comprised of aliens from all across the cosmos working together to bring you this delicious meal. Princess Allura, the very person we celebrate on this day, once said, “We are always stronger together.” If the people of your planets work together, so much more can be achieved.
Shiro: Honor her by following in her footsteps and walk in the path towards peace.
[Scene change to Pidge and Matt in a robotics lab as they build an android.]
Pidge: All done.
Matt: So, have you been thinking of any names?
Pidge: Yeah, I was thinking of Chip.
Matt: You and your puns.
Colleen: Katie, your father’s got the teludav all warmed up for you. Better get going. You don’t want to be late.
Matt: Don’t worry, Pidge, I’ll have Chip all ready to go by the time you get back.
Pidge: Just don’t initialize until I return. I want to witness Chip’s first moments of consciousness.
Sam: Have a good time, honey.
Pidge: I will, Dad.
[Scene change to New Altea, where a new Castle of Lions is being constructed.]
Merla: Construction is on course.
Coran: Ah, most excellent! How are the preparations for tonight’s feast coming? It has to be perfect. It will be the first Celebration of Allura. The first of many to come.
Merla: As soon as we can get access to the location, we can begin setup. But it’s currently occupied by your friend, sir.
Lance: And had Princess Allura not seen that there was still good left in Honerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today. She grew to understand that there is good in everyone.
Balmera Girl: Even Emperor Zarkon?
Lance: Yes, even Emperor Zarkon.
Balmera Girl: Do you miss her?
Lance: I do. Very much. But I’m reminded of her everywhere I look. So in that way, she’s still very much with me. With all of us, actually.
Altean Child: Now that you no longer pilot the Red Lion, what do you do?
Lance: Well, I help run a small farm back on my home planet with my family. It’s a simple life, just the way I like it.
Altean Instructor: Alright, everybody, I think Paladin Lance has somewhere to be in a few doboshes, and you all have class to get back to.
Kids: Aw!
[Scene change to the paladins and Coran all sitting at a table loaded with food in front of Allura’s memorial statue.]
Pidge: I mean, seriously, though, Earth has come a long way. It’s a hub for all alien activity now that my dad’s stabilized his teludav technology.
Shiro: That’ll make travel on the Atlas much easier. We’ll be able to reach so many more sectors with the improved mobility. Not to mention the supplies we’ll save with the shorter journey.
Hunk: Yeah, yeah! We’ll have so much more room for the cooking ingredients. People are just so much easier to reason with when they’re full. Man, this diplomacy thing isn’t nearly as easy as Allura made it look.
Keith: Right? But then, she did make everything look easy.
Shiro: Speaking of which, how are things going on Daibazaal?
Keith: We’re calling for an election to select the Galran representative for the Galactic Coalition. So that’s a step in the right direction.
Lance: Let me guess, they asked you to be their leader and you said no?
Keith: Yeah, pretty much.
Lance: Classic Keith.
Coran: Allura would be proud of your decision, Keith. I think she knew that you would always be the key to the Galra’s future. Just around this table, I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family. To Allura!
Paladins: To Allura!
[Scene change to Lance’s quarters in the middle of the night.]
Lance: Huh?
[Scene change to the epilogues, which are without dialogue. The text narration follows in order.]
The Holt family established the next generation of Legendary Defenders.
Hunk created a culinary empire, bringing the universe together, one meal at a time.
Lance continued to spread Allura’s message while surrounding himself with the things he loved.
Kolivan and Krolia became the Galra representatives to the Galactic Coalition.
Keith helped transition the Blade of Marmora to a humanitarian relief organization.
Shiro found his happiness and finally left the battle behind.
End.
#vld#voltron#transcript#allura#keith#shiro#hunk#matt holt#sam holt#slav#lance#coran#lotor#honerva#merla#colleen holt
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Two Sides of the Coin (14)
Chapter 14: First Conscious Moments | Jidné Sheedra x Cal Kestis
Summary: Hell-bent on exacting revenge and retrieving the Holocron, the dreaded Darth Vader is now on the hunt for the young Jedi Knight, Cal Kestis. Under the assumption that he still possessed the artifact, while fueled by the intrigue of the boy’s strength and skill with the Force, the dark lord hires the bounty hunter, Jidné Sheedra, to track him down and have him delivered alive. However, the task becomes a trial for young Jidné, as she faces a conflict that tests her beliefs of a scarred past she had hidden for so long.
Also tagging @berenilion @silver-is-in-too-many-fandoms @justtinfoley @stellar-trinity @justtinfoley @peterwandaparker @justtinfoley @superwarsofthrones @queen-destenie @calgasm @cal-jestis @ayamenimthiriel @calsponchoemporium @sweeetteaa @fallenjedii
Also in AO3
Tags: Fem OC, Jidné Sheedra, Force-Sensitive! Fem OC, Bounty Hunter! Fem OC, Jedi! Fem OC | Special tags for this chapter: Youngling! Jidné Sheedra, Nomara Anesh, Jedi Master! Fem OC, Togruta! Fem OC,
Chapters: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 | Previous: Part 13 | Next: Part 15 | Masterlist
14 of ?
JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT
Nomara has returned to Coruscant with little Jidné along. Never has she ever been this careful, ignoring the ache of her arm as she held the swaddled child while her free hand steered her ship—with the partial assistance of Evy—until she landed on the east bay of the Jedi Temple. Nomara marched towards the main entrance of the grand temple while shielding the baby with her other wide sleeve, worried that the unusually strong wind might prick her little eyes.
Upon her entry to the temple, she was greeted by Master Yoda, the little sage being waddled with the aid of his cane. The green Jedi noticed the precious cargo in the Togruta’s arm.
“Back so soon, are you, Master Anesh,”
Nomara bowed curtly in return, “I’ve been only gone for a day and a half, Master Yoda,”
Yoda took notice of the swaddled bundle in the Togruta’s arm a second time. A weak smile managed upon his ancient face.
“Something precious with you, you seem to have brought, hmmm?”
An eager grin stretched upon the young Togruta’s face, she knelt down to his level, and then unfurled a portion of the swaddle that covered Jidné’s face. The child cooed at the sight of Master Yoda’s face—curious and delighted at the same time—the old master chuckled while being in the presence of something so small yet seemingly strong.
Yoda inquired about the child’s origin planet, Nomara indulged the old master with the goings on in Eshyn, he expressed his awareness of the planet’s state as he was also informed during council meetings.
“I swore to her mother that she’ll be taken care of,” Nomara reiterated.
“I understand. Trained and cared for, she will be. A good Jedi, she will grow into.”
Upon those final words, Nomara glanced on Jidné again; she afforded a hopeful look at the child’s face and she was greeted with an infectious, angelic smile—the young Togruta wholeheartedly agreed with the elderly master, she could almost imagine Jidné growing up as a Padawna and then a Knight.
When Yoda offered to summon the caretakers, Nomara politely refused and insisted she deliver Jidné to the children’s ward herself. Yoda caved, they ended up walking together to their destination, bowing to greet those whoever comes in their way.
Nomara was pretty sure that she had sensed it: Yoda’s cautious examination of how she behaved towards him regarding Jidné. Attachment was forbidden to the Jedi, since time immemorial that has been one of the primary lessons embedded into younglings’ minds the moment they can comprehend words. However, Nomara’s notion differed from the Council’s, stemming from the like-mindedness of her master, Loriq Caius—he was more inclined to learning the ways of the “Living Force,” an ideology that he and Master Qui Gon Jinn shared and often find one another in concurrence.
Upon their arrival of the children’s ward, a caretaker slowly approaches the Jedi with the child in hand and transfers Jidné into her arms; for a moment, the baby squirmed and cooed a worried tone to which Nomara quickly hushed softly, comforting the child before being held by someone else. Shortly after the separation, Master Caius himself enters the ward.
“Master Caius!” the Togruta exclaimed.
“I heard news that Nomara has returned quite so soon—with a youngling at that—I just wanted to check on my old apprentice,”
“I’m well, Master. And you?”
“Likewise,” Caius leisurely answered.
The banter was abruptly cut off because Jidné’s fussing had caught all of those in the ward, all heads turned to the child. Loriq got the hint. He examined the child who’s settled in that tiny pod of a bassinet while being bottle-fed. From where he stood, he can sense the Force rippling out of the child in an overwhelming magnitude that it’s unusual to see it from one so tenderly young; he rubbed his bearded chin as he joined the others’ observation of the toddler.
The caretaker approached the Jedi.
“With all due respect, Jedi, it is time for the children’s midday slumber. May I request you to exit the ward?”
The three Jedi obliged and bowed at the caretaker who returned the gesture. The room dimmed as soon as they left the room. Yoda excused himself and went the other way; Nomara was now left with her master by the door.
Ever since Loriq saw the child in the nursery and felt her Force ripple, he sensed something else—from Nomara. It’s as if the amount of Force that Jidné exuded, Nomara’s body—although unconsciously—repeats it, like soundwaves resonating with one another. Before the Togruta could walk away, the master gently tapped her shoulder.
“Nomara, do you have a moment?”
Promptly, the Togruta turned around and faced her master. Standing close to Loriq, she never realized that she was nearly as tall as him, with her montrals boosting her height just three inches more until its tips go past his head—memories of her youth reminded her of how she always had to tilt her head in order to look at him in the eye, but now that she’s grown, she didn’t need to take a pace backwards to see him eye-to-eye.
“Something on your mind, Master?”
“You sense something within the child,”
“Yes, the Force is strong with her that… just by looking at her, it’s overwhelming,”
“In addition to that, Nomara, I’m sure you’ve sensed it as well,”
The former, now-grown apprentice doesn’t follow. She pulled her eyebrows together, shooting a puzzled look at her master and wordlessly asking him to elaborate. Loriq decided to rephrase himself, he shifted and began to walk, Nomara followed by his side as they spoke
“I’d like you to recollect your feelings when you saw the child,” Loriq craned his head to Nomara, who kept her eyes ahead. “Search your feelings.”
Eventually, Nomara narrated everything that she saw in Eshyn—beginning with her meeting with Sentuk until taking Jidné with her, as well as what she felt from the little girl. She explains the feeling as a closeness of sorts, as though the pure feeling always finds its way to her, and then she’d resonate with the child—this occurred constantly ever since she and Jidné touched hands upon meeting.
“It’s only natural for two Force-sensitive to have a sort of connection, however, the difference is that connection grows over time. As for you—and Jidné, I suppose—it’s different, unusual even. The ripple is strong, perhaps the better would be ‘current’ given the magnitude of your Force energies’ convergence.”
“I’m not sure if I’m accurate, but are you implying that two Force-individuals may already forge a connection despite how briefly they just met? Do their energies bounce back one another, like a wave?”
“Perhaps. Whichever it is, it’s a rare Force-sensitive trait. I might have to meditate on it soon,”
The sage Jedi Master stopped walking in place, they ended up standing by the tall window overlooking the city and continued their conversation there with enough privacy. Loriq read Nomara’s silence as an eagerness to watch over the child, given that the first chain links of their bond have already closed. Instead of dismissing the gradual attachment between his apprentice and the youngling, he encouraged her with an open mind.
“The Force is telling you something about and through this child, Nomara. I implore you to allow your insights to serve you well, as I have taught you,”
“I’ll keep in mind, Master,”
——————————————————–
26 BBY
Over the years, Nomara has become a frequent audience member in the arena where the younglings—the prospective Initiates and Padawans—undergo their formal training and education. A single session is equally distributed between typical classroom lectures and application, the latter being the children’s favorite part. The Togruta always keeps a watchful eye on Jidné from the stands, but kept herself subtle; she’d often find herself in the company of the other masters—even the members of the Council themselves—as they observed the children from a distance.
Jidné, now seven years old, has made friends with the male Nautolan named Brese, and another human female, Leane. Each child was just one year apart from the other—but Jidné was the one in the middle—the small age gap made it much easier for them to get along. Master Tera Sinube was today’s proctor, he stood at the center of a ring of excited children who couldn’t stay still with their practice sabers in hand.
Tera Sinube tapped the floor with the end of his cane, “Youngling, younglings! Settle.”
The murmurs of the children died down, allowing Master Sinube to begin his session. He briefed them about the practical application of today’s lecture: performing basic lightsaber stances while balancing their dependence on the Force. Everyone in the chamber sensed some of the children’s gradual anxiety, it felt like too big a task for them to juggle between two abilities—one physically, and mentally for the other—including Jidné and her friends.
“Now, now,” Sinube hushed. “I understand that it may sound and look difficult, but remember: if you let the Force guide you, it will come to each and every one of you like second nature. As easy as breathing, if I may so!”
Sinube decided to encourage the class with a volunteer, when nobody stepped forward after twenty seconds have passed, the old proctor decided to find one himself. He followed the line that the children formed, some of them followed him with their heads or eyes while the others stared blankly straight into random portions of the room to avoid eye contact. While the search for a volunteer continued, the Jedi Knights Mace Windu and Shaak Ti stopped by to do some observing as well.
“Master Windu, Master Ti,” acknowledged Nomara.
Her greeting was returned by the two knights. Shaak Ti stood closer to her fellow Togruta by the stands—they were very alike physically, but their unique markings and clothes distinguished one from the other—they watched the session take place by the rails. The Jedi Master asked Nomara what’s already transpiring, the younger Togruta was happy to fill her in with the details.
Windu, on the other hand, stood by the banister though at a few inches away from the pair. His perpetually-furrowed eyebrows looked upon the gathered children surrounding the single proctor, he watched the older Jedi below circle the group of children with crossed arms and a curious scowl.
“Jidné?”
Despite Master Sinube’s gentle tone, the girl was still startled by the mention of her name. She looked to her friends and they subtly bobbed their heads, prompting her to move. She had no choice but to step forward, both hands clutched around the practice saber’s sleeve; Jidné’s nervous eyes found Tera Sinube returning to the center of the circle, patiently waiting as he leaned on his cane for support, then her gaze panned left and right, and then up and down—searching for some sort of visual signal to calm herself.
Her eyes found a pair of near-identical Togrutas standing next to each other at the stands, but her eyes focused on the one whose montrals had indigo patches snaking along the tapering, white tendrils. Somehow, she recognized that Togruta, and all of a sudden, the queasy stomach she had disappeared.
“Jidné, are you ready?” Sinube checked.
“Yes, Master Sinube,”
“Very good. Now, take your saber and put yourself in a stance, any stance,”
The little girl took a deep breath before buckling her knees and holding her saber in a defensive stance. The old Jedi commended the child. Moments later, he summoned an older child, a blond boy whose age may play along the line of twelve or thirteen—with a single glance of the thin braid hanging behind his ear, everyone knew that he was a Padawan.
“Alright, let’s do some light sparring—while keeping in mind the lessons we learned today,” Sinube placed his hand on the blond boy’s shoulder and gently shepherded him to the spot where he stands. “Paz, you may begin with Jidné here.”
“You ready, Jidné?” Paz checked before positioning himself in a stance.
The little girl nodded, following the words of the lecture and then putting it to play. At the first few seconds of the spar, Jidné anticipated the bigger kid’s attack—she got lucky by evading Paz’s lunge by deflecting his strike, holding for a few seconds, and then pull away to recompose herself for the next attack.
This was only the beginning. Janky strikes between the two children filled the room with the blinding lights of the sabers once clashed, both Jidné and Paz with a novice’s footwork before trading strikes; the other younglings who stood close in the action as the two sparred gave way and then returned when they’ve gotten farther.
As the sparring continued, Nomara brings her chin between her two fingers as she watches the action below ensue—it’s evident she was on edge just by spectating from the stands. The other Togruta dismissed the young Seeker’s mannerism as intrigue—as one would when observing something energetic. As for Master Windu, ever so direct of a man, took note of this too, but didn’t come as gently as Shaak Ti does.
“You seem to have your eye on that girl over there,” Mace Windu points out.
“It’s because I was the one who discovered her,” Nomara spoke with a degree of pride, her private smile was just one inch shy of being a grin.
Jidné eventually came to a point where she used a little bit of the Force out of impulse—outstretching her open hand at him caused him to stagger a few paces back from her. When she succeeded, she bought the opportunity to deliver a flurry of blows; it invigorated her when she pulled off a spinning deflect—a heat of the moment sort of thing, despite being a basic spin—which denied Paz a hit on her when he thought he found a window of opportunity.
The other masters continued their observation, Jidné and Paz’s sparring passively encouraged the other children. It concluded when both children had each other at swordpoint—their sabers hovering mere inches above the shoulder. Jidné and Paz quickly retracted their sabers and bowed while facing each other, a customary greeting amongst the Jedi, old and young alike. Tera Sinube hushed the excited children squirming in place and commanded them to settle down, promising them their own chance to spar.
Jidné and Paz were allowed to catch a breather while the other children prepare themselves, Tera Sinube briefly lectured the children again—reminding them of the practicalities of the assignment so as not allow the excitement cloud their senses. While waiting, the little girl surveyed the stands above them, she angled her head where she spotted the Togrutas together and searched for the one with the particular montral pattern.
There you are… Jidné thought, fixating her eyes on the younger-looking Togruta.
Nomara sensed Jidné’s gaze piercing her, she slightly craned her head to the side where the girl and boy sat and waited. Despite their distance from one another, the Togruta flashed a small smile as her eyes met with the girl’s once more.
#cal kestis#cal kestis fic#jidne sheedra#cal kestis x jidne sheedra#cal kestis x jidne sheedra fic#fem oc#cal kestis x fem oc#cal kestis x fem oc fic#force-sensitive! fem oc#bounty hunter! fem oc#jedi! fem oc#youngling! jidne sheedra#nomara anesh#jedi master! fem oc#togruta! fem oc#star wars#star wars jedi fallen order#star wars jedi fallen order fic#swjfo#swjfo fic#sw jfo#sw jfo fic#jedi fallen order#jedi fallen order fic#jfo#jfo fic#sw#fic#fluff#fluff fic
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Day 4 Books (13 Days of Halloween)
There are so many books perfect for reading in the fall. Many people read with Halloween in mind at this time of year and I happen to be one of them from about July through mid November. At this time of year, we gravitate towards Stephen King and now Joe Hill or the latest big name. Sometimes we forget about the classics that started it all or we don’t think to look in our own backyard for new favorites.
Today I’m going to share a list of 13 of my favorite spooky classics mixed in with brand new hits on my to read list. And as a bonus, I’m including a list of Rhode Island authors of Supernatural fiction, Mysteries, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller, and more to keep you enthralled as we get closer to Halloween.
Let’s check them out!
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
For those who know me well, they know the special love I have for The haunting of Hill House. Last year I even got the crazy opportunity to direct the play at the Rhode Island Stage Ensemble because they knew of my crazy obsession. I might talk about this book too much. That being said, I will keep it brief today. Read it! Go! No, you have not experienced it through Netflix or even the play. They’re wonderful, amazing interpretations, but they are very different.
To truly know Hill House and the people staying there to study it, you need to read this book and get trapped in the mind of its not quite reliable narrator.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Speaking of Netflix, on this list is another psychological haunted house thriller that has just been made into a streaming hit in The Haunting of Bly Manor.
The Turn of the Screw is a short but not so sweet story with an atmosphere of slowly growing tension. This is a great quick read for a rainy day home alone to get your nerves just the right amount of frayed for when the trick or treaters start knocking.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Another classic is the travelogue Dracula! With any other title, people would question how a travel journal could be scary, but Dracula needs no introduction. If anything, time and popular culture has added so much to this story that when we go back and look at the original tale we are terrified all over again by the simplicity of atmosphere and characterization over props, costumes, and all the other added layers.
There’s a scary bit of truth to this tale as well, one that even connects back to Rhode Island! Did you know that Bram Stoker was inspired by the story of Mercy Brown? Yes, news of her tragedy and horrific exhumation made it all the way to London! Stay tuned this week for our 13 Haunted RI Tales for more on Mercy.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
While we’re in the Victorian Era and talking about classic monsters, we can’t forget about Frankenstein’s monster! This is another one that’s been taken apart and put back together by so many different writers, directors, and actors that we forget how terrifying the original is.
What really makes this story stand the test of time even past the language changes that can make other stories written in the same period slog along, is Shelley’s understanding of human nature.
We all question the meaning of life and death and Frankenstein has a way of helping our imagination come up with the most terrifying answers.
Edgar Allan Poe
How could we discuss Horror classics without the twisted tales of Edgar Allan Poe? I can’t even pick a single story to discuss for this list, just trust me and get a collection of his stories if you don’t already own one. You won’t be disappointed.
Haunted houses? Evil animals? Disease? Death? Human Nature? Poe has covered all of the best horror tropes and even invented a few himself. If I had to choose a favorite to start with… one that sticks with me and makes me shudder to even think about is The Lighthouse. It’s the rats. They get me everytime and unlike the suspense they bring in The Pit and the Pendulum, the rats in The Lighthouse just bring terror and an overall sense of disgust. Happy reading!
His Hideous Heart Edited by Dahlia Adler
While we’re on the subject of the laste, great E.A.P. I bring you a fairly recent edition to his fandom.
His Hideous Heart is an anthology put together by 13 well known YA authors for a new, contemporary audience. Edgar Allan Poe may be gone, but his works and their themes have stayed with us and in our classrooms with a love their surprising and unsettling nature.
Contributors include Dahlia Adler (reimagining “Ligeia”), Kendare Blake (“Metzengerstein”), Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”), Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”), Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”), Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”), Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”), amanda lovelace (“The Raven”), Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”), Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”), Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”), and Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”).
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Continuing to move forward in time, I find myself thinking of Ray Bradbury. Bradbury has a wonderful way of slowly seeping discontent into the reader but with Something Wicked he seems to put pedal to the metal.
This is the only book on my list to feature a nightmarish carnival and Bradbury might be why. I somehow walked away without a fear of clowns or carnivals but reading about them… still gives me the heebie jeebies. Now that I think about it, this book might have something to do with why mirrors creep me out too.
Readers be warned. Something Wicked This Way Comes has all the marks of a beautifully written coming of age tale, but the themes stick with you like a shadow well into adulthood.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
If you haven’t read this book, you have definitely heard of it. That book with the weird typography, with the backwards words and print in the margins and all that weird stuff? Yes, it’s House of Leaves and “all that weird stuff” makes for one exciting and unsettling ride. People I give this book two either firmly LOVE it or HATE it, but I recommend it today because 8 out of 10 are on the love side and passing around their copies to others because it’s hard not too.
As you read, you follow two stories. The main story is about the Navidson family moving into a new home where some very strange things begin to happen. The second story takes place in the footnotes where we follow a man named Johnny as he finds, reads and obsesses over the first story which is referred to in the book as The Navidson Record. Now, I have set out with the mission of not spoiling anything for anyone today, especially since most the books on this list are of the thriller or suspense genre so I will stop here, but know I really, really want to tell you everything that happens and everything I think of it! Go read this crazy work of art and message me. We’ll talk.
Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker
I said it earlier and I’ll say it again, I have a soft spot for a good haunted house. Now, haunted by people or haunted by spirits… I think both are the best kind. Those who have started reading my series The Monsters Within can probably guess that I love the “Humans are the Monsters” horror trope. And, well, nothing brings out the monsters in humans faster than the particular fear that comes with staying in a haunted house. Or at least, a house perceived to be haunted where your mind can play such glorious tricks on you.
Twelve Nights at Rotter House is admittedly slow to start, but I like and recommend this title because that slow pace is there for a reason. We get comfortable when nothing much is happening, when the pace is slow and friendly. I think it makes everything that comes next that much more exciting. Give it a chance and let me know what you think.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
The Twisted Ones is a delicious cocktail of Suspense, Thriller, Horror fiction, Psychological Fiction, Occult Fiction. It’s everything I wanted M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village to be when the trailers came out back in 2004 and everything it wasn’t for me. Add into it the the main character is cleaning a hoarder’s house in the woods… yeah! Sold, this is creepy and gross and sets off all my alarms, I’m reading it with ALL the lights on.
And somehow, through not being able to put it down and finding myself breathlessly speed reading , I still found time to laugh. There are these little gems in the main character’s personality and the story telling that are so relatable and likeable that it adds an effortless humor on top of the effortless horror. This is the only work I’ve read by this author, but she is absolutely on my follow list and I hope she makes yours as well.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Some might recognise the name Leigh Bardugo from popular YA fantasies but fear not (or do for that matter) Bardugo can write the hell out of terrifying adult themes. Ninth House is almost impossible to out down in its fast paced, constantly twisting and turning mystery and terrifying ghost story.
[Now, I feel the need to mention before we move on that this is an award winning piece and it is loved by too many to count, BUT if you are on my blog then you may be here because I write about mental health and mental illness and all the emotions dark and light that come with psychology. I try my best to do so in an educated and realistic way that relates back to what I’m going through with good intentions. I try my absolute best to write realistically without including triggers. That being said, as someone who has mental health issues, this story did trigger me. Did I still enjoy the read and do I think you would too, absolutely! I wouldn’t have it on my list otherwise. But if you have anxiety, depression, ptsd, or are overcoming assault you may want to do some further research into the adult topics of this novel before reading. Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments regarding this topic. Thank you.]
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Moving into this year’s releases there is the ever popular The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. This is another one that seamlessly works in some brilliant comedy into the spooky plot.
Some have compared this to Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula and I’d just like to throw in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the cherry on that brilliant summary sundae.
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
I had the pleasure of studying under Emily Danforth while going after my BA in Writing at Rhode Island College. At that point, she had just published The Miseducation of Cameron Post and I was completely enamored. That being said, I have kept up with her writing and oh man am I glad because Plain Bad Heroines was GREAT!
There are so few great additions to their horror genre that I just want to paste gold stars all over this beautifully written, funny, sexy, and utterly disturbing coming of age hit. I hope you love it as much as I did and if you do, be sure to review! This book is brand spanking new and new book sales depend on reviews to help audiences find them. Get out there and post what you liked or even what you didn’t about everything you read. In the end, even negative reviews help new readers find something they will enjoy.
Supernatural/Paranormal
Lorne J. Therrian Sr.
Jeanine Duval Spikes
Alexander Smith
Elizabeth Splaine
D. R. Perry
Sheryl Lynn Kimball
Lisa Jacob
Paul & Ben Eno
Christine Depetrillo
Roland Comtois
Daniel Cano
J. C. Brown
Horror
Alexander Smith
H.P. Lovecraft
Lisa Jacob
Christa Carmen
Science Fiction
Rachel Menard
Tabitha Lord
R. K. Bentley
Fantasy
J. Michael Squatrito, Jr.
Lorne J. Therrian Sr.
Angelina Singer
Scott William Simmons
C. K. Sholly
Heather Rigney
Rachel Menard
Paul Magnan
M. A. Guglielmo
Heather Dunn
Susan Catalano
A. Keith Carreiro
Daniel Cano
Noel Anne Brennan
Tim Baird
Mystery
Anne-Marie Sutton
Elizabeth Splaine
Dusty Pembroke
Risa Nyman
Rick Marchetti
Jean Kelly
Sam Kafrissen
Ilhy
Daniel Currier
Judy Boss
Julien Ayotte
Thriller
Heather Rigney
Glede Browne
Judy Boss
David Boiani
David Aiello
DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT BELOW!
13 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN IS A SPECIAL TREAT FOR ME AND MY READERS. ON HALLOWEEN, THERE WILL BE A VERY SPECIAL GIVEAWAY I’D LOVE FOR YOU TO TAKE PART IN. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO ENTER IS COMMENT OR SHARE THIS POST TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA.
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING AND BEST OF LUCK!
#to read list#horror#science fiction#fantasy#dark fiction#thriller#mystery#supernatural#paranormal#psychological thriller#psychological fiction#the haunting of hill house#shirley jackson#the turn of the screw#bly manor#the haunting of bly manor#henry james#dracula#bram stoker#frankenstein#mary shelley#edgar allan poe#EAP#his hideous heart#dahlia adler#kendare blake#rin chupeco#lamar giles#tessa gratton#tiffany d jackson
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Altean & Galra Lifespans
What we know and how to connect it into something that seems inane but is canon, I guess.
Also Lotor’s personal history’s timeline disclosed.
I sincerely do not think anyone on Voltron staff has supervised this very tightly so none of these implications are likely to be lore-relevant. I just found them fun to pick apart. If I missed any info, please let me know!
Let's begin with Altean lifespans! This one is easy. We know the Castle of Lions is 600 years old. We also know that Coran was older than baby age by the time of its creation, since he was able to accompany his grandfather places while it was being built:
This marks Coran as anywhere between 600 and 700 maybe, since he seems to have still been generally young then.
Coran is further considered not OLD-old but definitely on the older end of adult age. This is evidenced by the discussion about him having the slipperies - he is definitely aging, but he’s got plausible deniability on being a real senior citizen. Maybe around 60 to 65 years of human age. So assuming he's maybe 650 or something, it'd make sense to assume Alteans naturally age to around 1000 years. That’s a pretty neat 1:10 conversion from human age... seemingly.
In reality, it doesn’t work out nearly as smoothly.
Because now we get into how the process of aging works for Alteans. We have a pretty solid timeframe for it thanks to Allura and Kova, the cat. Kova is intially a cute fat baby and we see her as such before Allura is born:
That it’s before Allura’s birth is important to remember because Kova gives the only solid indicator of timeframe in the flashbacks.
Kova is 28 decaphoebs (thus roughly years) old shortly before everything goes to shit and the war starts. Assuming Kova was around 1 or 2 when we first see her, that leaves 21 years for.... all of building Voltron, Voltron being active AND Allura growing into the person we see.
Let that sink in. Voltron was only active for about 25 years. That’s canon. It left a legend for millenia, but it wasn't even there for a full century.
And this also tells us that Allura initially aged at human speed. When staff calls her a teenager, that is LITERAL in Earth terms. We are thus forced to conclude that while Alteans live for thousand years on average, their whole childhood to adulthood process only takes 20 years. Like, basically the blink of an eye. Holy shit.
Meanwhile the one thing to truly age Alteans is stress. Look at Alfor before and after Zarkon and Honerva got obsessed with quintessence.... This is what stress does to you......
... okay no, this is me being flippant.
Enough of that, let’s move on to Galra lifespans.
The imperial Galra as we know them all live to incredibly long age. Sendak is as old as Zarkon and Haggar but he's far from the only one who's reached such incredibly lifespans.
Lotor's nanny--- I mean governess-- is also still around. She raised Lotor since some point in his childhood after his old governess is implied to be executed, so she's still thousands of years old.
I'd been wondering for a long time why they'd keep her around until my best friend pointed out the easy solution: the majority of citizens in the Galra empire had one-time quintessence transfusions that simply let them ALL live to such incredible ages.. This also explains the constant expansion of the Empire and its growing quintessence need since the population is only decimated by battle deaths but not really by anyone passing of old age.
Only people who were already on the brink of death at the time of quintessence administration seem to need continous amounts of it: Zarkon, Haggar and the Archivist. Lotor, who's had his administration in the womb, naturally also never needs another dose.
So by now everyone's kind of immortal, but what about before?
The best we get is this statement on Galra history. 33 rulers through 13 millenia - substracting Zarkon we get 32 rulers through 3 millenia here. We get an average time of ruling from this. It's 94 years.
Of course, the correlation of these 94 years to lifespan is nebulous. There are numerous references to the Galra always having been a warring and conquering people, even before they started space travel:
Thus it is pretty hard to believe that Galra rulers historically just died of old age. They likely got killed one way or another after they passed their physical prime.
Now we can only speculate... if this rough century of leadership represents maybe the strongest age of 20 to 40 in human years, then that adds another 100 years of childhood and then a few hundred years more of later adulthood. Galra could maybe age to 600 or even 800?
These are also just speculations. They might have the exact same life expectancy as Alteans originally. We can’t say for sure.
This is also all assuming a continuous aging process akin to that of humans and not whatever is going on with Altean speed childhoods. We can’t really say anything about the aging speed of Galra. Allura is already a teen when Lotor is born so her age compared to his in the final episode’s canon AU means nothing - hell, Lotor isn't even pure Galra so he might age different from the rest of them......
But we do still know some interesting facts about his individual life story.
Romelle states that they've been at the colony since pretty much the time the war began - it can't be EXACTLY that time, of course, but she's also narrating this generations (read: millenia) after the fact.
But with this we know that the colony has likely been around for maybe 8 000 or 9 000 years. That's enough for nearly 10 generations of Alteans but still close to the war to be known as ‘since the war began’ in the local folklore.
Meanwhile we also know research for building the colony took Lotor a few hundred years:
This implies that his one year test that lead to his banishment was maybe 500 to 1 000 years or so after the war.
And by that time Lotor already looked the same as we know him now. Lotor's been a young adult for ca. 9 000 and years, it took him less than 1 000 years to reach adulthood.
This concludes my thoughts on alien aging in Voltron. Thanks for reading!
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