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nekropsii · 1 year

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man what I hate about the fandom excusing the Dave blog with the n word like "it's not IN the comic so it's not canon" is that in THE comic, Hussie was way too obsessed with having Dave rap about segregation and slavery as quips one of the first raps even referenced the slur negro, which textually went over many people's heads (because "it's just "black" in French") when the context was racist white men in segregation-era and how they pronounced that very closely to the well-known slur, pronouncing it with "knee" these types of raps weren't just in Act 1, it was even in Act 3 it's so uncomfortable considering Hussie said "I just type out how I'd talk" when it came to Dave's dialogue, considering his humor and how those raps and the blog came into light it's so annoying how people keep suggesting it's not IN the comic at all- like it's giving "read it once 5 years ago and never freshened up on it while still debating it", y'know?

I'll give as many sources to what you said here as I can, just so people listen more. Wasn't able to track everything down, so some things are more up in the air, but overall, you're on the money.

[Blog of Dave Strider- February 17, 2010.]

I heavily agree and identify with your frustration. Just because it's "not in the comic" doesn't mean Hussie didn't write it and that it's not worth evaluating. This isn't a case where you can disregard it for noncanonicity reasons, like Post Canon. This was written concurrently with canon, and therefore it reflects the political mindset of Hussie during the time of writing Homestuck. That much is valuable information. What I will point out is that the next paragraph here contains yet another phrase that is rather telling of Hussie's... Racial vocabulary.

Definitely not the most comfortable thing in the world, to put it nicely. Haven't personally seen it get mentioned, and I feel like it's apt to bring up here, since this is the closest I've seen Hussie get to the big Hard R. Typically, they default to Soft A, which doesn't make it less racist, but does have a different... Vibe, so to speak. It's more hateful sounding.

Moving on.

[Andrew Hussie's Formspring- Feb 24, 2010 - Mar 7, 2010. Exact date unknown.]

The fact that Dave is a near exact emulation of Hussie themself in speech mannerisms, down to the lifting of entire chatlogs, is telling. As we've seen from Hussie's past work, he was clearly... excessively comfortable with throwing around the N-word, as a white man. Why would Dave be any different? It's hard to argue that Dave's racism is "not indicative of Dave's flaws, but indicative of Hussie's", when Dave as a character is both a product of Hussie's mind and a direct extension of her. You can't truly divorce the two. Dave is racist because Hussie is racist. Dave is an extension of Hussie.

[Homestuck, Act 2, page 294- June 23, 2009.]

I believe this is what you were talking about in reference to that particular version of the N-word being used, as well as the references to slavery. This is in Act 2. I couldn't find much in Dave's other raps, outside of his fixation on the idea of Black presidents as a novel concept... Other than this.

[Homestuck, Act 5 Act 2, page 2825- November 1, 2010.]

Apparently using the term "Urban" to refer to Black people, culture, art, and music is a recurring Hussie-ism, even in Homestuck. Rose also uses this a couple times, notably more than Dave does. It sees more usage in Problem Sleuth as well- unsurprising, considering it is an older work than Homestuck is.

[Homestuck, Act 4, page 1590- March 17, 2010.]

[Homestuck, [o], page 3879- July 2, 2011.]

[Problem Sleuth, page 62- March 15, 2008.]

TL;DR: I don't think there's any real excuse to leave Hussie's racism out of genuine discussion of the contents of his works. It's obvious. The only valid defense for leaving it out of analytical conversations is ignorance, because... Well, some people just aren't that observant. Homestuck does not exist in a vacuum. Hussie did, in fact, write this, and Hussie is, in fact, bigoted. Bigotry shows throughout their works not because they're spinning a grand narrative of overcoming your moral failings, but because they kind of just suck. Dave isn't an exception, and shouldn't be divorced from the context of having been written by Andrew Hussie. There's no debate to be had over the existence of Hussie's bigotry, because contesting such a clear cut fact is pure stupidity. It's like arguing that evolution isn't real because you, personally, do not understand it, or don't find it comforting. Hussie's bigotry is one of the only things we can be 100% sure is a real part of his personhood, rather than another figment of his ironic online persona. The level of "Well, Actually"-ism people will engage in over this is mind-numbing, quite frankly.

Thank you for the ask- people being aware of the racism in Homestuck keep me sane. Have a lovely day.

#homestuck #problem sleuth #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #beta kids #dave strider #rose lalonde #john egbert #andrew hussie #cw racism #homestuck.pdf #dave.pdf #dave.prtsc #rose.prtsc #john.prtsc #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

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bramble-scramble · 4 months

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In which I dare to rant about Paper Mario

So there's this discourse going around twitter right now about Paper Mario being an AU and Paper Mario not being the "real" Mario and if ANY of the PM games happened in "the real Mario world" or have parallels, do the characters exist outside of the Paper World, etc etc

And all I can think is like, damn, how unfortunate is it that Intelligent Systems deciding to use a charming and timeless art style back on the N64 led to this. The idea to use 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds to create a storybook feel eventually spiraled into the series' ENTIRE IDENTITY. Gameplay does not unite the whole Paper Mario series, depth of story does not, shared characters do not, only the art style and the idea of 2D vs 3D.

And it's a shame because the first PM was a lovely fairy tale that clearly followed in the footsteps of SMRPG as an extrapolation of what the Mushroom Kingdom could be, and how Mario's world works. It was also my first Mario RPG and had tremendous influence on me. Friendly Koopas and Goombas, the Star Spirits, wishes. It was called Mario Story in Japan and the paper aspect mattered nothing to the actual narrative. And then TTYD got a little cheekier with the paper abilities (with them being a fourth-wall-wobbling joke tacked on to what was clearly supposed to still be a Mario Story). And then SPM, much as I love it, bases its entire hook around 2D/3D in a way that's hard to reconcile with Mario's "normal" existence. And by Sticker Star they just said screw it, reboot it, everyone is 100% aware they are made of paper and that's like the series' whole deal now. And it has stayed there ever since.

For the last three games, you can say maybe there's a "real" Bobby out there or a "real" Captain T. Ode but it's impossible for their plots to take place in a world divorced from the craft universe unless we substitute in a lot of body horror and viscera (and even then, what of the Things? Etc). And that's ok for these games, they work within their own context and can be fun for what they are. But it's now got people thinking the first three games fold into this same AU. And you can blame Paper Jam for this but the PM series did it to itself. PJ just clearly spelled out the dual reality that Sticker Star and its follow-ups obviously necessitated. And now the whole series has retroactively been wrapped up into this Paper Universe.

Look, I know "Mario lore" doesn't actually matter, and most RPG characters never show up again even in their own series, and as long as you enjoy each game in a vacuum that's what matters. But it's frustrating that we've reached a point where PM characters have to be the odd ones out who may or may not "actually exist" or have actually met the "real Mario". Mallow is definitely real, Cackletta is definitely real but Chuck Quizmo- WHOA SLAM THE BRAKES, IDK ABOUT THAT ONE CHIEF. Thankfully most people don't give a shit about this drudgery and it won't stop people from drawing Vivian and Geno interacting, because it's just fun and good.

But my point is, I don't think the people working on the first PM (and TTYD) really could have foreseen the series evolving into what it is today, and it's unfair to wipe out their lovely narratives and relegate them to some kind of side universe not worthy of The Real Super Mario(tm) [especially because, taken in sum total of characters and vignettes, TTYD is the greatest Mario narrative there has ever been IMO]. SPM, so strange in both its style and its entire concept, is in some kind of weird limbo where I don't even really care what people think of it anymore, just let me enjoy my game that makes me cry every time in peace lmao

I can't think of another example of a series where an arbitrary stylistic gimmick (not a gameplay or story gimmick but a STYLISTIC gimmick) consumes it and becomes its entire thematic identity. Can you? It's Flanderization on the scale of a franchise, not just a character. Closest is perhaps the Yoshi series, where Yoshi's Island had a childlike crayon look to stand out on the SNES and fit the theme of Baby Mario, which got expanded to Yoshi's Story being a storybook and now we have craft themed Yoshi games. But it's still not entirely the same thing because the gameplay has remained somewhat consistent, if getting rather easier.

Anyway peace and love I just want Johnny Jones and Cortez to hang out

#paper mario #mario rpgs

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hilsoncrater · 1 year

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The thing is this: we knew that Jack wasn't going to be endgame for Keeley. We knew that from the jump. So now I'm trying to piece together why, to me, their breakup feels off and weird.

And it comes down to three main questions which are all interconnected.

1. Who is this for?

2. What is the context, both in show and in the broader sense?

3. What is the message underneath the choices the writers have made?

Who Is This For?

While the show itself is geared towards adults in the USA, there are storylines within that are written for specific demographics of the general audience. These are the implied audience.

Henry's storyline this episode was a nod to children of divorced parents; Sam's storyline last episode was geared towards immigrants and people of color (although, as others have pointed out, it also felt off in how it was handled); and Colin and Trent's storyline in episode six was for closeted queer people, gay men in particular. Keeley and Jack's implied audience are queer women.

But just because a storyline is written for an implied audience does not mean it excludes the general audience. If anything, it can be argued that it helps broaden the general audience's views on different stories they otherwise may not seek out or watch.

Which is why context is important. It plays a big role in how the general audience outside of the implied audience will form their opinions on the characters, the show, and the issues discussed. Context — especially in shows set in Today's World like Ted Lasso is — also informs how the general audience should interpret the underlying themes/messages.

It is worth noting that storytelling does not exist in a vacuum. Writers have a choice in how to present storylines and they have a responsibility to acknowledge how their choices interact with the real world. Life imitates art, art imitates life; societal norms inform stories, stories inform societal norms.

What Is The Context?

The context here is layered.

It isn't as simple as the microlevel of Jack breaking up with Keeley because she doesn't want to be associated with her anymore. To reduce it down to that level ignores the bigger picture. It's the same as judging a portrait painting based only on how, say, the eyes are rendered. (We knew the portrait will have eyes, but do the eyes fit to the face? How do the eye expressions shift the vibe of the portrait? What message is the artist trying to convey through the eyes?)

Let's talk in-show context, beginning with the characters and then expanding outwards.

Keeley, a bisexual woman who worked her way up to where she is now, is running her own PR firm. Jack, a queer woman who is the daughter of a billionaire, is her investor/employer. The chemistry is there, they get together even though Keeley is still upset over her breakup with Roy.

Jack sweeps Keeley off her feet with expensive gifts and trips. Keeley doesn't mind them, but Rebecca warns her (and the audience) that it sounds like love-bombing. Rebecca takes it a step further by comparing Jack to Rupert, who is established to the audience as an abuser. This idea of love-bombing — and by extension, the idea that Jack can be abusive like Rupert — is further reaffirmed when the waitress tells the two their bill had been taken care of by Jack.

Onscreen, Keeley establishes boundaries with Jack. The two appear to have discussed the love-bombing conversation offscreen, too, as they joke about it in Taste of Athens. The expectation for Jack to be like Rupert is subverted in the croissant scene, but still lingers in the background because of her remaining similarities to the man (wealthy/powerful/keen interest). We the audience need time to trust her after how Rebecca casted doubt on Jack's intentions.

Things seem to go well after that, with the two waking up together and Jack making plans to take Keeley to a family event. Then Keeley becomes a victim of a leaked video, and Jack begins to distance herself because of it. When Keeley says she doesn't regret making or sending the video, Jack leaves after victim-blaming and slut-shaming her.

Again, we knew Keeley was not going to end up with Jack. Their breakup was in the cards, this aspect was no surprise.

Expanding outwards now to other relationships in the show, Keeley and Jack are contrasted against Nate and Jade in both episode seven and episode eight. Where Keeley and Jack are established in a sapphic relationship, Nate and Jade are just beginning their own heterosexual one. Where Keeley and Jack wake up and have breakfast together, Nate and Jade do too. Where Keeley and Jack breakup, Nate and Jade's blossoms and cements labels.

Which, sure, fine, that's how it goes. But if we further expand outwards, we see that Keeley and Jack are the only sapphic relationship in the entire series. An entire series which featured, up until this season, exclusively heterosexual relationships. And still does, now that these two have broken up. There isn't another gay relationship onscreen (unless you count Colin and Michael, even though we haven't seen Michael since episode 3).

Speaking of Colin, sidebar here: The phone scene with Issac and his reaction to what was on Colin's phone is now the second time this season the writers have dangled the expectation of Colin potentially getting outed. Which, judging by Colin's knee-jerk reaction to both Trent and Issac finding out, would be a traumatic experience for him. Being outed is a traumatic experience regardless. This repeated use of fear also specifically plays into the Gayngst (Gay Angst) trope.

If we expand another level outwards, we have the in-show damnation of sexism and slut-shaming and victim-blaming. Multiple characters offer sympathy to what Keeley's fallen victim to. Rebecca, Barbara, Jamie, Roy — they all condemn what's happened and express their support to Keeley in their own ways. This provides context for how the general audience should interpret the underlying message of "A woman's private photos or videos getting leaked online is not her fault. It's an act of violence normalized by a sexist society, and the blame needs to be placed on the person who leaked them."

But who at their core doesn't show that support to Keeley? Who acts as an oppositional view to the underlying message? Jack. Jack, a woman. Jack, a queer woman.

She has her own motives. In a toxic spiral, she begins by cancelling on the event, then she downgrades Keeley to "my friend" in front of a peer, and finally she verbally expresses that it's bad for her personal and professional image if she's seen linked to a woman who's private affairs got leaked. The line in the sand is drawn: Keeley's livelihood is not the priority, Jack's image is.

And this sequence of events all reaffirm Rebecca's earlier mistrust that Jack is not a good person. While Jack is no where near Rupert's level, how she handled what happened with Keeley is still terrible.

And like, yeah, it also serves to show that both men and women are capable of causing harm and abusing their privilege and being egotistical. It reflects real life in that way. But look at the context of the show's treatment of its queer characters in a broader sense and how that context interacts with both the general audience and the implied audience of queer people.

The only sapphic (or queer, if you don't count Colin/Michael) relationship onscreen within three seasons is set-up to fail. The love interest is placed in a position of power over Keeley, which is pointed out by a straight character. Then the love interest is revealed to be toxic, which was also foreshadowed by the same straight character, and she slut-shames/victim-blames Keeley before leaving.

This was a deliberate writing choice. There were so many different avenues the writers could have taken. They could have had Jack fallout with Keeley over the leak in a less internalized misogynistic way, or even over something completely irrelevant to the leak itself. Jack, being a new addition, does not have the same groundwork put into her character to where she is confined to how she'd react. It wouldn't have been OOC of her to genuinely support Keeley, because we don't know her well enough to pass that judgement! On the flipside, it isn't OOC of her to leave, either, because of the same reasoning. But then the discussion becomes: what kind of character is Jack, and what does she represent both symbolically and narratively?

Storytelling doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Going outside of the show now, if you look at queer women stories in television/film, you begin to see the repeated pattern of queer women characters being written as toxic — or worse, predatory — and this characterization is rooted in real life lesbophobia and misogyny. There are tons of resources out there that detail the damaging, pervasive idea that queer women — lesbians, especially — are the same as predatory men. In a patriarchal, misogynistic, heteronormative world where women are hyper-sexualized yet demonized for taking charge of their sexuality, society shames queer women on all fronts.

And because queer women do not center men in their relationships, society historically has viewed sapphic relationships as "lesser" or "not a true relationship" or "just friends/gal pals". It's dismissive. (Until, of course, the fetishization kicks in. However that is a can of worms not to be opened in this meta.)

Queer women barely get screen-time as it is, much less outside of period pieces, and so when every other confirmed relationship shown onscreen falls into the same pattern, the same routine, it's exhausting. It's the same message/theme over and over and over again: "Queer women are toxic. Sapphic relationships don't work."

So why, then, did the writers of Ted Lasso introduce a sapphic plot for Keeley and choose to make it toxic? For a show that takes pride in subverting expectations, there is nothing subversive about this.

We can't judge this storyline by just the eyes. We have to look at the entire portrait painting and then go from there.

Which leaves us with the big double question of: What Is The Underlying Message Here? Why Choose To Portray The Only Sapphic Relationship On The Show In This Way?

#ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso #keeley jones #jack danvers #idk im just. really fckigng tired of seeing queer women relationships fail onscreen #ted lasso meta

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unchartedthelostlegacy · 2 months

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this is the website of people writing walls of text about how someone else doesn't like a show the right way like it's normal here to have overwhelming feelings about a character that doesn't exist. don't tell me to not post about this massacre like it's not happening like blorbos are more important. especially on this stupid fanblog about Uncharted.

Druckmann crowbars his zionism into every Naughty Dog IP and the Lost Legacy is no different. The beginning of the game despite being set in India has Chloe sneak aboard an aid truck to get into an active warzone; wandering around the market we notice families arguing with soldiers about their relatives who are still there. we see its driver later getting beaten by Asav's thugs while he cries out that it's aid for the civilians (that that are stealing) while she runs away muttering "why are they still here? get out while you still can". We see her get groped by Asav's henchmen at a checkpoint and then see the city being bombed "by the indian army" from a roof.

Asav is Druckmann's stand-in for Hamas. He almost cartoonishly dies trapped beneath his own bomb. Current events being what they are, I can't look past this, and I can't unsee it when I replay the game. Knowing what I now know, it's an entirely different game to me.

Art is not created in a vacuum. Uncharted by and large is a racist series full of caricatures and stereotypes of entire people groups and a mighty whitey protagonist. The last two games giving more humanity and backstory to the characters does not change that.

I can't tweezer out my two beloved characters from a steaming pile of genocide apologism so yes, I am giving space on this blog to the real issues the story pretends not to say out loud. and i have like 5 real followers anyway nobody sees this shit. get a grip

#uncharted #naughty dog #druckmann #the lost legacy #please keep sending misspelled asks into my inbox though. waste your time on me instead of more worthy victims

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literallyjusttoa · 9 months

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Ok I have just been scrolling on your blog for like ages now and I just wanna say that I find your greek mythology rants literally so interesting bc a) they are so informative and when reading them it's obvious your dedicated abt it and b) I just love the way you write??? There's so much passion and it makes reading all your posts so interesting. I just love the info dumps especially bc I really want to know more abt greek mythology but I just don't have the time + have no idea where to start finding this information.

Plus I just really really love your art. It's so adorable?? I love your style and the way you draw your characters I just want to bundle them all up and never let go like I am literally etching every last bit into my brain.

Anyways I hope this doesn't seem like weird ☀️

These are like the kindest compliments, thank you!!!!

I'm so glad my passion for mythology comes through in my writing bc I do care so much about greek mythology and like mythology in general, if I thought I could make it in academia I would totally get a job in mythology research it is one of my favorite things. AND! I have a couple of resources I would totally recommend for a good place to start researching!

Theoi.com: oml this is such a phenomenally good resource for greek mythology. It has a whole bunch of different information and all of it is linked back to it's original source from antiquity. I will say that the writing on the website can be a bit dense, but it's not horrible and I could not recommend this site enough as a source for information.

If you have the money to buy a book I would recommend getting a copy of the Apollodorus' Library. This is a collection of mythography (It's like a mythological dictionary) that is thought to have been written around 2nd century BC. So, two plusses. 1. It's a primary source. 2. It has a lot of myths in a small package. Obviously, the original book is in ancient greek, which I sadly have not learned to read, but there are a lot of really good translations in english that are readily available. The one I have was translated by R. Scott Smith and Stephan M. Trzaskoma, and it's really cool because it also has the translated Hyginus' Fabulae, which is also mythography but this time it's roman. So like, two in one go! Woop woop!

After these two resources, I would recommend going trying to find resources that go more in depth on whatever myth catches your eye. Of course, that could be anything, so I can't really offer up a certain book or website for that, but I can give a couple of tips I use when looking into potential sources of information!

Primary resources!!! Always look for primary resources!! These are the sources that are actually from ancient greece, and have little to no additions from an author. I know these sources are usually more dense and harder to get through, but I think it's good to have an understanding of the original myth before you start looking at other people's interpretations of that myth, just so you don't get their thoughts confused with the actual original text. If you're having trouble figuring out if a book or site is a good primary research, search it up and look for reviews! Usually there's at least a couple people talking about how good the source is academic-wise.

I would always encourage researching ancient greek and roman history alongside researching mythology. These myths did not exist in a vacuum, and a lot of the time certain myths and stories are the direct result of the culture and politics of the era. I think the connections between greek mythology and history give you a greater understanding of both topics, and is always a good step!

(Also just my bias showing, but greek art history!!! is so good!!! and tells you so much about the culture!!! and then roman art history is also great!!! Because you get to see how the artists of rome used the cultural and artistic values of greece to create meaning and influence the people!! Like, Octavian purposefully had himself sculpted in a hellenistic style so that people would be less worried about him ruling from such a young age?? That's so interesting!!! I love art history!!!!)

I will say a lot of this does take a lot of time (I only really have time to research now bc it's summer so i'm not in college ;-;) but I really think it's such an interesting field, as you can probably tell by how long this was.

#ask #sunny speaks #greek mythology #long post #also you're totally not weird it's cool!

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inventors-fair · 6 days

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The Wonderful Thing about Triggers

Wow, I kinda see this art from afar, but looking up close, Cityscape Leveler really is a terrifying card. Seriously, how did they make the production for that beast? Jeez. Anyway.

One of the things I love about playing Leveler is the fact that it's got a trigger that doesn't get countered if the creature itself gets countered. You have this with the Eldrazi titans, with Hydroid Krasis when that card dominated Standard—you get the idea. And there's also the cards like Young Pyromancer and Thermo-Alchemist that force your opponents to think about spells and their triggers as well! And there are cards like the Storm cycle from C18 that double themselves from casting, too.

I think you know where I'm going with this, right?

Design a card with a cool "cast" trigger!

It can trigger off of itself being cast, it can trigger off of another thing being cast, it doesn't matter what kind of card it is—all that matters is that it looks at something that's being cast.

Don't @ me this week. Seriously, what that means is that you should be using "when" and "whenever," not "at" for your triggers, because the only thing I can think of that could use an "at" is a conditional "if," and that's not what I'm looking for; the card must trigger as soon as something is cast. But that doesn't feel like too hard an ask, right?

You know what we're usually after here. I wanna see cards that are pushing the envelope a little bit. Or, like, really effectively flavorful cast triggers can be fun too! Just remember that your cards don't exist in a vacuum, you have many options and worlds at your fingertips, you're cleverer than you think, etc.

G'luck, h'fun, b'well! — @abelzumi

Cast into our inbox >> HERE Trigger Discord notifications >> HERE

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #announcement #cast trigger contest

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mindscapic-exposure · 8 months

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Post Concerning a Worrying Trend I've Seen

With the start of Amane's trial I think now is good time to voice my concerns about something that is not exclusively about her but is nonetheless very relevant in current events (and I'm probably going to be pointing at her trial most since it's the most clear sign of this). But something I've noticed this trial, something I'd expected but am nonetheless sad to see, is the heavier sway of people towards Guilty or general harsher methods compared to the last trial. A brief pause before a continue to reassure people that I am still aware of the difference between fiction and reality, so no, I am not saying that I think people who would punish people in the project would do the same thing in this reality if confronted with it. I'm aware that having the distance of acting behind a screen, seeing these characters through song and art is different than people reacting to the people they see every day. Just so that's out of the way. But I do also think the difference might be part of the point in a different way, how this extreme environment, voting on prisoners as a warden, in itself is likely to influence people into doing things they wouldn't normally do. It's been talked about how this may (and is) influencing Es, and judging based on some fans' comments, I think those participating in voting are not exempt from the process as they act through Es' role. Let's go back to Amane, since as I said before, she seems like the most obvious example of this. During the first trial a lot of people who were voting her Guilty were claiming that they ultimately were going to forgive her, that it would be "just for this trial", but that she "needed to learn her lesson". I didn't agree with the rationale even at the time, because I'd already seen from experience why that logic doesn't work. And come trial 2 it didn't, it went badly (albeit not in the way I expected). But that was the rationale people had at the time. And now, come trial 2 a lot of people are suddenly feeling reason to vote her Guilty again. Even after being shown what Guilty means, even after a lot of people being aware that it essentially constitutes to (at least) psychological torture. I've even heard some people who thought she shouldn't have been voted Guilty the first trial rationalizing voting her that way this trial, thinking they "have to", or it'll be "worse" otherwise. And isn't that strange? Like I said, I don't think people who voting harshly would necessarily treat a child that way in person. I'm aware that most people are voting Amane Guilty would probably say "I'd never hurt a child" and "I'd never psychologically torture a child". And they'd mean it. Which is why I think it's important to remind people about the name of this project. Milgram. Named for The Milgram Experiment. A psychological experiment where participants were asked to "punish" someone for making mistakes. I won't draw this out by explaining all the details, as I'm aware that most of you already know about it, and I won't talk down to you like that. But the participants weren't particularly malevolent people going in, they were normal people. Just like here. I imagine many of them, if asked beforehand, would probably say "I'd never kill a person". Just how many of those same people went on to administer what they thought would be a fatal shock anyway? This is a fictional project, yes, but these votes don't exist in a vacuum, and the environment is part of the process. So if you vote, try to think about how you too, are also being influenced.

#milgram #milgram project #ミルグラム #analysis #long post #cw psychological torture

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sol1loqu1st · 17 days

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im not like married to this take and also this kinda applies to every distinct music genre because, like, art doesn't exist in a vacuum, and also someone more engrossed in the respective subcultures will probably have a way more nuanced and interesting take than me so like, dont take my opinions as fact im not a music theorist etc etc etc but ok sometimes i feel like the line between punk and hip hop is significantly more blurry than people tend to assume. bold takes from the 'qu1st tonight i know

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inbarfink · 24 days

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I do think it’s kinda fun the way the DHSAB prequel Comics play around with the idea of POV. Like, the Captain Hammer, Moist, Penny and Dr. Horrible Comics all include one shared event - a confrontation between Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible during a CH autograph signing event in the park. But the way each of the characters seem to remember the event is… very different.

Captain Hammer’s version of events is extremely dramatic and dynamic. Constantly portraying the Captain himself in Cool Action Poses, while Dr. Horrible look as pathetic as possible

And the whole sequence ends with Captain Hammer throwing Dr. Horrible into space (or at least, like, halfway across the park).

It’s also drawn in a very stylized art-style (courtesy of Dave Canete and Dave Stewart) that exaggerate and cartoonify the features of the characters in a way that is very complimentary to the Captain and very much not so to poor Billy.

Plus, this is the only one of these comics that seem to be, like, an in-universe diegetic work. Like, this is a PSA Captain Hammer is making to the audience that exists in the Horribleverse. So that’s another layer of Fiction put between the comic and what really happened. And all in all, it’s very much promoting the audience to doubt this version of events (especially considering, you know, Dr. Horrible probably couldn’t survive in the vacuum of space).

So when one reads through the Moist comic, and see how that old’ familiar scene plays, but with a more realistic artstyle (by Farel Darlymple and Dan Jackson), and a considerably more understated tone that allows the not-so-good Doctor to retain some of his dignity

And even the ‘power-neutralizing ray’ being a better match to Horrible's usual tech aesthetic compared to the Captain Hammer Version’s Dinky Raygun-Gothic Thingy…

It might be easy to think this is a simple matter of Captain Hammer, being the full-of-himself antagonist of the whole DHSAB narrative, overexaggerating and aggrandizing the events, while Moist’s version shows us what really happened. But, well… let’s look at how our protagonist, Dr. Horrible recalls the events…

On the one hand we do get the added context that the ‘evil scheme’ Captain Hammer supposedly foiled that day was - in fact - all part of Dr. Horrible’s actual plan.

But also… Dr. Horrible’s version of events has him sent blasting off again, much like the Captain Hammer version of events.

I mean, there's no 'thrown into outer-space' stuff, but it still resembles Captain Hammer’s recollections much more than Moist’s. And Dr. Horrible version also doesn't include his first meeting with Moist. Perhaps implying Dr. Horrible doesn't consider this encounter as important to his personal narrative as Moist obviously does? Plus, the art style (by Joelle Jones and Dan Jackson) is not as exaggerated as CH’s story, but still kinda cartoony.

So… where does it leave us? Is Moist underplaying the confrontation in his version of events due to his own kinda laid-back personality or because the matter of how Captain Hammer knocked-out Dr. Horrible is just not as important to him as the fact that Doc even stood up to him in the first place? Or are Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible both overdramatizing what happened back there, because obviously it’s good for Captain Hammer’s ego to see himself as so effortlessly thwarting and humiliating his enemies but also it’s actually good for Dr. Horrible’s ego to focus on Captain Hammer’s strength because then it feels even more impressive that he is able to match him as an arch-enemy? Or is it a bit of both?

And what about Penny? How does she recall the event?

Well, Penny was in the park that day, but as far as she was concerned that epic confrontation of Good vs Evil was just in the background. Only slightly more notable than a guy losing a grip on his dog’s leash.

Because this is really what defines Penny in her POV comic, as the opening panel summarizes in a wonderfully succinct visual manner (as drawn by Jim Rugg and Dan Jackson).

Until the event of DHSAB, for Penny, all of these superhero vs. supervillain business was just background noise, the really important stuff is the suffering and inequality she sees vividly around her on the ground level, in all of it’s grim detail - and despite it all she tries to remain bright and optimistic. That panel is really just... Penny in a nutshell.

And that’s a really important throughline with how this comic characterize Penny, she is out of lockstep with the mainstream because she doesn’t worship superheroes, maybe even resents them just a bit, because she kinda sees their super-escapades and fights against supervillains as… fun little distractions from the real problems of the world. The ones that she’s trying to correct little-by-little in that unglamorous non-super way of hers.

And this is… I think the reason why the Fridging of Penny can feel so infuriating sometimes, is, well, leaving aside one’s feeling about the behind-the-scenes crew, it really feels like there was a really compelling character with her own story that was kinda tossed aside just for the sake of Billy getting ‘punished’ with her death.

Because when you read the Penny Comic, and you see, not just her general lack of worship for superheroes, but also the way she’s running herself rugged with different charitable activities

(It is probably not just a stylistic flare that Penny has bags under her eyes in almost every panel of this comic)

And the way she tends to bury down her own grief and negative emotions, to the point of lying to her fellow volunteers about her parents being alive.

And the way that as selfless and kind as she is, that kindness doesn’t always come easy to her. Sometimes she will grit her teeth and sigh in regret even as she keeps giving away all of herself.

And the way that she’s struggling, really really struggling to, as the title says, keep her head up.

Like, ‘hope’ is the Big Obvious Motif of Penny’s character. But this comic really really drives home the fact that Penny is not some incorruptible platonic concept of Hope, and she’s not some storybook character living in a fantasy world. She’s just a person, trying her best to keep up a positive outlook in a world she knows is cruel and unfair.

Like I said earlier, the different art styles of the comics can be seen as a reflection to how these characters see the world. Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible both have an outlook of the world that’s maybe kinda exaggerated or cartoony. Even if the Doc is still considerably more tethered to the live-action reality.

Meanwhile, Moist’s art style is more realistic, but also detailed in a way that makes it feel… kinda icky in a way that’s very Moist-appropriate.

And Penny’s artstyle shares the grounded feel of Moist’s and also the same kinda over-detail, but what distinguishes it is… this element of contrast. The contrast between the way the poverty and suffering around Penny is portrayed in a way that emphasizes grimness and grime (compared to the other art styles here at least) while you can also see how Penny is trying to see the brightness and beauty in the world, and preserve her own brightness and kindness as well - while still being fully aware of what kind of world she lives in.

It seems like the default position in the Horribleverse is to just…buy into the spectacle and distraction of the Superheroes. Admire and flock around them, while ignoring the Real Issues around them.

(note how the robot is described as 'disgruntled', so this is probably another Dr. Horrible-like situation of supervillain or super-menace being motivated by the inequalities of society and a superhero who does nothing about it but punch them into submission)

And Penny is specifically not that kind of Oblivious Happiness. Her brand of Hope confronts all the uncomfortable things Captain Hammer and Wingspan and their ilk would usually ignore, while still preserving a positive attitude. That’s, like, what all the imagery in ‘Penny’s Song’ is about.

Even in the darkness Every color can be found And every day of rain Brings water flowing To things growing in the ground

But also, this is hard, and she still struggles sometimes with keeping that balance between reality and optimism. With how the casual cruelty around her is so frustrating. With how much this takes away from her ability to have a ‘normal life’. With how isolated she feels caring about stuff so few around her seem to care about.

And with all of this context now retroactively added to Penny in the actual Sing-Along Blog, there is actually so much going on with her character. Like, the entire events of the plot revolve around her worldview getting totally turned around again and again all in a row.

Like, her falling in love with Captain Hammer after he supposedly ‘saved her life’ isn’t just ‘augh, typical Horribleverse Civilian obliviously fawning over their stupid superheroes’, or ‘well, Penny basically just met her idol'. Penny would not usually care about Captain Hammer, but then he (as far as she could tell) saved her life and, well… maybe it’s easier for Penny to read about Captain Hammer stopping a rampaging van some supervillain tried to hijack and go “Oh, that’s nice, but what about the people starving on the streets?” but to actually be in a life-threatening situation and get saved by a superhero… Maybe that was the first time in a long while that Penny actually understood why everyone thinks Captain Hammer is so great.

And then he started putting his charm on her at just the right time and then he agreed to go with her on a date at one of the homeless shelters she volunteers at. We the viewers understand that Captain Hammer only agreed for the sake of scoring with her, but Penny doesn’t come into it with the preconceived desire dislike CH cause he's the antagonist or has the time to watch out for the microexpressions of disgust on Captain Hammer’s face…

For her this is just… a wonderful turnaround on her previous opinion on superheroes. Here is an actual big name superhero taking an actual interest in the life of the poor and unhoused. Finally, after all of these years of not believing they’re going to do anything to really help people, here is a superhero actively taking interest in Penny’s most important issues. Because of the inherent goodness in his heart, and because of… love.

Like, the whole thing about “My Eyes” is that it’s about a change in perspective. (You know, “I cannot believe my eyes!”). It's about both Billy and Penny’s perspectives… intensifying. Billy is growing more cynical and more misanthropic and more resentful due to jealousy over Penny and Hammer's relationship, meanwhile Penny is shifting to be more optimistic and hopeful than she was before.

I cannot believe my eyes How the world's Filled with filth and lies / finally growing wise But it's plain to see / And it's plain to see Evil inside of me / Rapture inside of me Is on the rise

If anything, I’d say her part of the song is even more overtly about a change in worldview than Billy’s are…

You know, the world is ‘finally growing wise’, because… a lot like Billy, she was also frustrated with the stupidity and shallowness that surrounded her, but unlike Billy who has fallen totally into self-important misanthropy, she was actually trying to keep her head up despite all of that and have some faith in humanity and the general public - and now, with Captain Hammer learning to care about homeless people… that probably validated all of her hopes for the whole world... well, at least in her eyes...

But then a few days pass, the rush of that Heroic Rescue is starting to subside, and obviously the longer she keeps interacting with Captain Hammer the more chances there are for her to see the cracks in his facade. So she is starting to have some second thoughts…

Billy: How are things with "cheesy on the outside"? Penny:... Good. They're good. He's... nice.

Especially since at the same time she is starting to get closer to that cute guy from the laundromat.

Okay, so the fact that Billy’s crush on Penny was never a purely one-sided affair was another thing explicitly confirmed by the Penny Comic. Specifically in the very final panel.

But I think a lot of the previous interactions in the comic also help with that as well, both with the terrible awkward date that shows how Penny behaves around someone she has no ill will towards but also no affection or attraction towards… and also just in general how she seems to keep even her fellow volunteers at emotional-arm's-length by just repressing all of her emotional anguish away from them. Like, not just not opening up to them about her problems, she is actively lying to them about her parents not being dead.

And meanwhile, like… she is finding Billy to be someone she can open up too, that she can commiserate with about her own problems and like… okay, so ‘Penny’s Song’ doesn’t have her directly say ‘you know, I’ve had it pretty rough cause my parents are DEEEEAAAAAAD’ - but it does allude to it repeatedly.

Here's a story of a girl Who grew up lost and lonely Thinking love was fairytale And trouble was made only for me

Grief replaced with pity For a city barely coping Dreams are easy to achieve If hope is all I'm hoping to be

In contrast to ‘directly flat-out lying to friends about her parents being alive’ I still think this must be a huge step for emotional intimacy from her, and she feels comfortable doing that with Billy.

Also just like her verses in ‘My Eyes’, this song is about how perspective shifted from despair into hope. And I think this is as much about her initially going into charity work to cope with the grief of her parents’ death, it’s also about going from kind of the low-point of isolation in the comic and feeling ignored in ‘Caring Hands’ to now making new connections and feeling like the world is finally paying attention to her causes.

But even with the ‘high’ of having her superhero boyfriend literally just easily gifting her the building her charity was working so hard to acquire - literally the manifestation of all the hopes she had for getting Captain Hammer involved in her causes… she is still noticing the red flags about Captain Hammer…

So they say we'll have blankets and beds We can open by Monday Thanks to you Thanks to me

And she’s still having her doubts. On one hand she’s out of the honeymoon phase with Captain Hammer and is getting more and more ambivalent with him and the cult of personality around him…

This is perfect for me So they say I guess he's pretty okay After years of stormy Sailing have I finally found the bay

But as always, the need to balance an acknowledgment of reality and the need to hold on to hope is the defining internal struggle of Penny’s life. Does she acknowledge the red flags, or… does she just allow herself to believe that this is a world where she can have love and happiness and make some real positive changes and the world is in general heading in a better direction?

There's no happy ending So they say Should I stop pretending Or is this a brand new day

“Should I stop pretending or is this a brand new day?”

Stop pretending to herself that she’s still in love with Captain Hammer (note that she’s literally waiting for Billy for a Laundromat Frozen Yogurt Hangout as she sings this)

And also… stop pretending that a better world, a brand new day, is coming. Again, keeping her head up is as much a struggle for Penny as it is for anyone else. And in her darker, loneliest moments, drifting away from her boyfriend, her new friend and crush disappeared to Plan a Murder, hearing how shallow the media storm around Captain Hammer and Caring Hands is - she thinks about it not as hope, but as ‘pretending’. But she keeps on going, because… maybe this is a brand new day for her? Is this a chance she can afford to miss?

And then the opening ceremony comes and… turns out all the fears she’s been suppressing over the last montage have been confirmed. Captain Hammer talks about her in a way she clearly finds uncomfortable and his speech makes it clear that he hasn’t been actually listening to anything she’s been actually trying to teach him about homeless people and their problems.

Everyone's a hero in their own way Everyone's got something they can do Get up, go out and fly Especially that guy – he smells like poo

And worst of all, everyone else is eating it up. The entire crowd is just 100% buying whatever comes out of this superhero’s mouth and most of them probably don’t care at all about homeless shelters and will probably stop caring once the big shiny superhero isn’t there. Not only all of the suspicions she’s been having about Captain Hammer validated, but all of the negativity she used to have about superheroes but pushed away once she started dating him has been validated as well.

If superheroes can really help the impoverished and unhoused, Captain Hammer sure isn’t really interested in it.

In a way, it also kinda reminds me of the moment in Dr. Horrible’s comic, where Billy first gets disillusioned with superheroes.

But this is a lot more personal.

Really, the only way this moment can be any more of an emotional low-point for a character who always tried to hold on to hope in the goodness of humanity is if it turns out that the other person she’s been getting kinda emotionally intimate with recently is actually a murderous supervillain!

But what are the odds of that?

No sign of Penny - good I would give anything not to have her see It's gonna be bloody, head up, Billy buddy There's no time for mercy Here goes no mercy...

Yeah, she’s clearly mouthing ‘Billy?’ in this shot, she does know what’s going on now.

And okay, leaving aside the criticisms of Penny’s death from a thematic standpoint, I’ve also heard some complaints about it from a purely Wastonian perspective. Of, like, how the hell was she even hurt by that explosion happening on the other side of the room and basically no one else? But… I do think it’s notable that the general crowd is seen dodging the Death Ray Explosion Shrapnel by ducking down

And the last time we got a look at Penny she had just decided to stand up.

Right after recognizing Dr. Horrible as Billy and then seeing him hesitate to pull the trigger. Maybe... She was considering confronting Billy directly? That despite him running around gloating with a death-ray, she still believed she could talk him out of it somehow? Was it just pure instinct to do something as she saw Captain Hammer in mortal danger?

And if she was still standing as Captain Hammer turned the tables around, was she just frozen in shock, or was she still considering if she should run ahead and intervene as Captain Hammer pulled the trigger.

Well, whatever was going on in her head, it seems like this instinct to try and get involved in that situation while still being too unsure to actually go ahead and try and do it - is what did her in.

So now Penny has been disgusted by her boyfriend and disillusioned by the general public and emotionally betrayed by her best-friend-slash-crush and now she’s dying and it’s all the fault of these two aforementioned dudes and also maybe the fault of her trying to believe there’s something worth saving about both of them and I dunno how lucid she is to realize all of this but… I think the emotions of these events have made their impact regardless.

And like, Penny has spent her entire life running herself rugged trying to do the right thing, the actual right thing. And she’s been playing this balancing game of choosing both to not ignore all of the societal problems and not just focusing on ‘wow!! Cool superheroes!!’ and also keeping some amount of optimism and hope in humanity all this time. And sometimes it makes her just so isolated and depressed. And sometimes it gives her false hope that is just yanked from under her in the most cruel way.

So… why bother? When her life is so obviously over? Why bother keeping that balance of realism and hope? Billy decided to give up on hope and gave into self-important misanthropy. Penny couldn’t give up on hope, so she decided to give up on reality. Decided at that last moment to try and just be one of those civilians fawning over superheroes and hanging all their faith on them and ignoring everything else. She shouldn't have 'stopped pretending', so should start pretending harder.

Penny: Captain Hammer will save us...

This isn’t Penny holding on to her optimism and ideals despite it all, this is Penny giving up, for the last time.

Well, this is my read of Penny's last line with the added context of her prequel comics. There are other places you can take this of course. You can connect it to that 'pie' motif that's also present with Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer's characters - You might think that Penny's hopeful attitude is naive and overly-idyllic and fawning at superheroes. But actually she's a lot more world-weary and savvy than that and she's actually the only civilian around to recognize Captain Hammer's bullshit when the time comes. But also deep down she is maybe overly naive and would want to believe in that fantasy of the clear-cut hero who will make it all better, and that's the feelings she retreats too when it's all over.

That's just one off the top of my head, there's probably other readings as well. But the main point is that regardless of what reading you take, Penny's prequel comic really contextualizes a lot about the character. The confirmation of her parents being dead explains the lyrics of her song, the reveal she was always kinda into Billy help shed light on her perspective of their interactions and seeing her pre-DHSAB feelings on superheroes really recontextualize how one can look at her last words. Cause it can't just be like "oh, Penny is always holding on to hope and faith in superheroes until her last moments", because we now know this is explicitly ISN'T something she would always do. Something has changed within Penny.

But also… you really can’t avoid the fact that the main narrative focus DHSAB gives to her death scene is not as a culmination of an arc about realism and hope and the failure of superheroes… It is mostly as This is the Most Emotionally Devastating Thing for Billy to hear Penny say. And that the narrative prioritizes how Penny’s death’s effects Billy’s arc. Where she mostly plays the role of a Symbol of Hope and Optimism and Goodness. Rather than a person who struggled with what it means to be Hopeful.

And that’s just… really frustrating sometimes.

#dr. horrible's sing along blog #dr horrible #doctor horrible #penny #dhsab #dr. horrible #musical #musicals #musical theatre #musical theater #well that was certainly a Category Five Autism Event lol #I hope anyone still cares about Dr. Horrible at the Futuristic Space Year of 2024

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