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#but of course they have all their feelings & Consciously consider others' feelings & experiences & want to connect befriend & be liked....
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asia kate dillon (voice acting and guest starring) as LOS-307 in moon girl and devil dinosaur 1x04 "check yourself"
part two of two (part one)
#asia kate dillon#LOS-307#i see the ''lose'' in their name but is 07 coincidentally a flipped ''LO''? is it like o7 saluting? is it just a couple more random numbers#SO they're very good at something deemed like useful or impressive to be good at; it's not necessarily their passion but that's all they ge#attention for / the basis of interactions with them / what they're supposedly Good For at all#but of course they have all their feelings & Consciously consider others' feelings & experiences & want to connect befriend & be liked....#they had to Recharge & when pushed & stressed during this period on various fronts become discomfited & distressed & Melt Down#(weeeeeellllll Ya Did. emmy! if they get nongendered categories.)#and then they go sicko mode & try to kill you. sure this pertains to What Happens If You're Overcompetitive / Dead Set On The Win.#but like also hey who among us. we've all been there#and that again of course it's not ''the computer was....secretly evil???'' any more than ''ppl who don't enjoy playing games w/me b/c i'm#too competitive / dead set on winning like my family & friends were....secretly evil???'' like you Were a dingus to them#can't plow over or neglect ppl's wellbeing / Their experience in gamer mode. they told you abt the overheating melting down at least....#anyways but even prior: they're Clearly emotive & expressive & reaching out / communicating but they're talking to brick walls out here#& like nobody's Just ''Misunderstanding'' Them or confused / even realizing there's something they're not getting & reacting accordingly#like people are either unawares or ignoring them while they're bringing the social efforts hard. striking up an enthused exchange only to#get zero response & left alone overnight in an empty dark auditorium (gtm:pota moments) like. hmm. LOS-307 voice Wuh Ohhh#we've all been there. had a once in a blue moon occasion a few weeks ago having An Actual Conversation#otherwise Talking Aloud is like. ppl only speaking to Declare things they already meant to say. already walking away while you respond#or any response only getting a response about insisting on the original declaration they wanted to make. its being evident that even if you#Seemed to get a word or two or three in ft. nominal responses it was in one ear out the other / not processed at all. exhausting! godawful!#and LOS-307 has an (almost*) wholly nonverbal mode of communication / means of expression in their light/screen display huh#(*they do spell out THEY THEM as they introduce themself ft. pronouns. & their display is ft. as like time passage title cards too lol)#and also they rule and are your new best friend so what i'm saying is: the nonbinary computer can also totally be an autistic icon =]#obviously gonna require ppl do better than smash rocks together (& miss) abt their being a computer here lol. see like Everything Prior.#they're Actually relatable as a nonbinary &/or autistic person. not the idea that being that makes you inhuman / like a machine or w/e#and of course someone who's Clearly a person but where their behaving/acting in that capacity is ''wrong'' / Apparently invisible....#like why wouldn't they consciously reflect more on Concepts like gender / how ppl feel/interact; etc. that's what friends do; compromise...#everyone supposedly outside of [xyz] or Othered in some capacity: experts on exactly that lol#omg 1 tag: ''must be nice...to have a friend. like that.'' Waugh; glitching; Non glitching on ''lonely''; giggling; calling back; ilu los..
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shaylogic · 10 months
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Queer Experience Watching Barbie - AFAB Masculinity
I started to go into this in tags on another post but I wanted to type this up separately and try to develop my thoughts a little more. . .
Ryan!Ken’s arc in Barbie (2023) has been buzzing in my head for days.
I got fixated on it for a couple of major reasons:
1) We rarely have seen a feminist movie take time to address men with compassion in how patriarchy harms them too.
2) As a trans masc person, I think it hits a specific part of my identity that I don’t consciously let myself think about for too long. Something about being raised in a female world with sisterhood and community. Then being isolated in adult manhood without the tools to prepare you for that. Conscientious of respecting women and being unbothered by feminimity around you, but not knowing your place in the world.
How do I put it?
I know it’s not the direct intention of the film itself, but I’ve seen other trans folks (especially transmasc), reacting similarly to the feeling we get from it.
Ken’s arc feels pretty reminicent of the struggle afab lgbt folks go through when considering masculinity in their identity (butch lesbians, afab nbs, trans men, etc.)
How to make peace with masculine aspects of yourself without losing the women in your life? (One can argue Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie has aspects of this as well.)
Of course, then Ken goes off on the adopting patriarchy ride, which IS the point of the movie, and may skew a bit from the transmasc read on it--though I have known a trans guy here and there who avoids being misgendered so hard that they can become somewhat sexist. To which I say: “You don’t need to have a dick to be a man, and you don’t need to BE a dick to be a man.” But I digress.
Something about Ken being comfortable in a woman’s world but not understanding why he’s being shut out from socially bonding with them (in any sense! Romantic, Familial, Platonic Friendship. . .)
The overall theme of the movie for both Barbie and Ken--in an allegory of heavy gender roles harming all--leading them each to have to figure out who they are in themselves, regardless of others. . . 
Trans masc folx can relate to both Barbie and Ken’s arcs.
I don’t want to detract from Barbie’s arc being the main point of the movie.
I think the reason why we get hung up on Ryan!Ken’s character is because. . . we’ve related to the Barbie plot in other movies and shows before, thinking back to our “girlhoods” as children.
I have never seen the arc Ken has in this in any other story!!!!
There are some Man Movies that have attempted to discuss the struggle of Being a Man--but they often come off as too dismissive of feminine experiences, and are therefore as offputting to transmasc people as women.
Because of the nature of the two worlds exhibited in this movie, and Ken’s backround in his setting, personality, and purpose in relation to the Barbies, he’s a Man living with Female Socialization, in a Woman’s World; he’s a male character that inherently admires and respects women in his nature (until the real world influence distorts it).
This isn’t a perfect example of a transmasc experience either, but it’s a lot closer than most of us generally get to see! That’s why so many of us are getting caught up in this.
Please, other trans folx (transfems, too!), I really need us to have a discussion about this. What were your experiences and thoughts around this movie?
P.S. Yeah, we kinda get that nonbinary allegory from Allan (not a Ken, not a Barbie, siding with Feminism in the Gender War), but he wasn’t in significant focus of the plot the way Ryan!Ken was. If I try to read into Allan, I don’t have much to work with.
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genderkoolaid · 3 months
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Examples of transandrophobia: i've seen sections of Leslie Feinberg's piece "Sisterhood: Make it Real" passed around this site for literally years, and TODAY was the first time that I saw the whole thing and learned that ze called out cisfeminists in it for getting rid of trans men the second they started transitioning. Like I always thought it was a good piece but I had literally NO IDEA that it talked about trans men because that part was never included in posts about it, even when those posts were calling out cisfeminism for being transphobic. I'm just gobsmacked tbh
This is a great point!
Honestly more people need to read that full chapter. There's a lot of really good points.
Amongst other things, Leslie talks about how "women good men bad" is poor feminism:
Of course, as a result of the oppression women face growing up in such a violently anti-woman environment, some women draw a line between women as allies and men as enemies. While it’s understandable that an individual might do so out of fear, this approach fails as theory. It lumps John Brown and John D. Rockefeller together as enemies and Sojourner Truth and Margaret Thatcher together as allies. This view of who to trust and who to dread will not keep women safe or keep the movement on course.
How feminine men are victims of gender oppression:
The oppression of feminine men is an important one to me, since I consider drag queens to be my sisters. I’ve heard women criticize drag queens for “mocking women’s oppression” by imitating femininity to an extreme, just as I’ve been told that I am imitating men. Feminists are justifiably angry at women’s oppression - so am I! I believe, however, that those who denounce drag queens aim their criticism at the wrong people. This misunderstanding doesn’t take gender oppression into account. For instance, to criticize male-to-female drag performers, but leave out a discussion of gender oppression, lumps drag queen RuPaul together with men like actor John Wayne! RuPaul is a victim of gender oppression, as well as of racism.
How masculine women are assumed to know less about gender oppression:
But I grew up very masculine, so the complex and powerful set of skills that feminine girls developed to walk safely through the world were useless to me. I had to learn a very different set of skills, many of them martial. While we both grew up as girls, our experiences were dissimilar because our gender expressions were very different. Masculine girls and women face terrible condemnation and brutality including sexual violence - for crossing the boundary of what is “acceptable” female expression. But masculine women are not assumed to have a very high consciousness about fighting women’s oppression, since we are thought to be imitating men.
And as you said, how trans men deserve access to women's and lesbian's spaces without having their transmasculinity ignored or seen as being butch-in-denial:
And our female-to-male transsexual brothers have a right to feel welcome at women’s movement events or lesbian bars. However, that shouldn’t feed into to misconception that all female-to-male transsexuals were butches who just couldn’t deal with their oppression as lesbians. If that were true, then why does a large percentage of post-transition transsexual men identify as gay and bisexual, which may have placed them in a heterosexual or bisexual status before their transition? There are transsexual men who did help build the women’s and lesbian communities, and still have a large base of friends there. They should enjoy the support of women on their journey. Doesn’t everyone want their friends around them at a time of great change? And women could learn a great deal about what it means to be a man or a woman from sharing the lessons of transition.
Not that "trans women belong in feminism" wouldn't be a good point on its own, but people's selectivity with which parts of that chapter they share definitely warrant scrutiny.
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whateversawesome · 2 months
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About Twiyor, Damianya and Chapter 96
Let me start by saying that, I like both stories and that both ships are great precisely because they're so different:
Twiyor is a relationships between two adults. Is it developing slowly? Yes, of course. The slow-pacing of the relationship is what makes it so real. Here's why:
Entering a relationship as an adult, and I mean any kind of relationship (romantic, friendship, or even work relationship) can be tricky. Why? Well, adults have more experience, they've seen and gone through more things, the carry psychological issues, and, in some cases (like Twilight's) trauma. All this makes it difficult to open up and trust people. Twight's character arch is precisely about trust and vulnerability and that's one of the issues that pushes the story forward.
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So, even though I would love to see Twiyor kiss like in many fics, this will take time. Maybe it's not as obvious because there's not a lot of physical contact between them (yet 😏), but there's definitely progress in their relationship (more on that here and here).
The development of their relationship is so beautiful! Can you see it too? On one side, we have a man who lost everything and thinks of himself only as a tool for peace slowly regaining his humanity through love. On the other hand, we have an innocent woman turned into a weapon, who is slowly realizing she's much more than that, and getting to know herself while falling in love. Come on!!! You don't want to miss that!
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Even though it may take a while to get there, I think it's one of those things worth the wait.
Now Damianya in my opinion is about innocence and the development of a deep friendship.
Talking specifically about chapter 96, to me, it makes sense that Anya's secret slipped out. I don't think she consciously decided to tell Damian. I believe it just kind of slipped out because:
1.It's easier for kids to trust other kids and open up.
2. This is the second time Damian guessed her secret.
3. They are kindred spirits; they both were "abandoned" children (Anya while she was in the orphanage, Damian by his family) and they both seek the approval and love of their father.
4. She often uses her abilities in front of Damian and he pays enough attention to her to realize something is off.
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Let me ask you something: have you ever been forced to keep a secret?
Keeping a secret is a heavy burden, isn't it? Can you imagine a 5 year old carrying that kind of burden for so long? It doesn't help that Anya was returned to the orphanage by several different families. It's implied in the story that Anya used her telepathic abilities and the other families considered her too strange too keep her. This is the reason why Anya has kept quiet: she doesn't want to be abandoned again.
Still, it must be hard for her to carry that and to feel that people wouldn't accept her exactly for who she is if they knew about her secret. So, I'm happy she was able to tell someone. In some ways, her arch is similar to Twilight's: Anya is also learning it's okay for people to see her real self and trust they will still love her. I hope that in the future, Anya learns that she can trust her parents too and I think trusting someone else is a big step into that direction.
I know it will also take some time, but I can't wait for both stories (and all the stories) in sxf to merge into one. It'll be a very exciting time or everyone when that happens.
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drawnfamiliarfaces · 2 months
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Would Jenny allow Danny to tinker with her? I know robotics isn’t exactly the same as aerospace engineering (and I do be headcanoning that my boy chose this as his major since he wants to be an astronaut), but with all the experience he had from handling his parents inventions I believe he can be trusted with fixing something as complex as a robot. I like to think that Danny was really impressed with how Jenny was made and secretly wanted to take a look at how she works, but was too shy to ask because he knows how it’s like to be treated like an object and not a person (with the whole “ghosts are non-sentient globs of ectoplasm with post-human consciousness” spiel he heard so many times) and didn’t want to make Jenny uncomfortable. I believe it took Jenny some time and getting to know Danny and his engineering skills before she let him fix her when she got something badly broken. It was like a show of ultimate trust from Jenny’s side and Danny was flattered, humbled and very respectful. And super careful of course, constantly asking how Jenny’s doing or feeling while he tinkered, mindful of her. I bet she was touched.
Not gonna lie, this is one of the more fascinating asks I got - if only because its incredibly interesting to read about your take/interpretation of Danny & Jenny's relationship! I hope you don't mind me saying, but it feels like you adore both characters and it's very cute!
Well, now, in HoM AU, both Danny and Jenny are close friends and indeed Danny is one of the few people who Jenny trusts with - well, herself - her mechanical self. Like you, I headcanon Danny as quite mechanicaly gifted - in HoM AU he actually graduated college/uni with engineering degree, so he got education to polish his raw skills! He is one of the first people who would help Jenny in and out of the field, if there is a minor malfunction or an injury of some sort!
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But even for that to happen it took a couple of years and a few adventures together.
So to answer the original question, I would have to say that in HoM AU specifically, neither Danny would ask to 'tinker' with her, nor Jenny would probably be totally comfortable with that question if asked. 'Tinkering' would imply a degree of casual poking around, and in this case, both Danny and Jenny have certain life experiences that gave them... boundaries when it comes to their own and others' autonomy. Jenny especially.
(a bit of random background info dump here to explain the reasoning, but feel free to ignore it, since i basically answered the ask xD i just got bitten by a writing bunny, so its gotten a bit long - be warned!)
When Jenny was younger and only just acclimatizing herself with human world and amongst teenagers, she was rather blaze at times with how much access to her body she gave to her human friends and acquaintances.
After all, her mother was rather frank about it - often poking around in Jenny's mechanics and code. But it was her mother, who created her (sort of 'why are you covering yourself, i made you i already know what you have' mother attitude, which is a bit over-controlling and invasive to other's autonomy, but well, Jenny is a robot after all) and it a completely different deal from others.
So, despite her mother's warnings there are instances when Jenny was not very careful. Like when she allowed Brad, Tuck and Sheldon to literally remove and rip out her stuff in pursuit of fashion goals. Or when she dropped her guard around Todd Sweeney and got reprogrammed for her good deed.
And during the events of the last episode, she was once again controlled, by Dr Locus. While not exactly her fault, it still left a lasting impression that any mechanically gifted person could be dangerous to her.
Now, this is where we venture into my personal headcanons for MLAATR that are tied into HoM-verse:
Another aspect of Jenny's developed caution to giving access to her body - is the fact that she is not considered as a real person in the eye of the government/world. She is a thing, a weapon created by Dr. Walkman. She does not have the same rights as a human, and on paper she does not even have rights to her own body. It's all patented Nora Wakeman technology, (secretly) founded by the government.
And she has been fighting it ever since she was a teenager and refused to be called an IT - XJ-9 - and became a HER, a teenage girl Jenny, who also just happens to be a robot.
At first it started as a simple teenage rebellion and she went to school and started to hang out with other kids, but what about later after she graduates? Will she be even allowed to? Sure, maybe her school will give her a diploma, but how legal will it be to give something like that to someone who is legally not a real person? After all, its not like when other kids will turn 18 and can be their own people, not under the legal control of their parents. Jenny is her mother's property, intellectual and physical. For her to be considered a real person in the eye of government, it would require a law being passed about recognizing sentience of Artificial Intelligence.
And sure, she could probably be made an exception, being a hero robot and all, but the problem is, she is not the only human-made robot in existence! What about her sisters, who are prototypes and are not as developed as her? Her brother, who seemed to develop sentiency to the point of turning on humans?? Melody and Killgore?? And its not only in her world (cartoon), but in others (since its a crossover). So the question about AI/Robot sentience, no matter if they are good or bad or how developed they are, would not concern only her, it would be a global debate.
And we all know how the governments of the world would feel about passing laws about sentience of artificial beings that were created to serve the human race. It would be a struggle one way or another.
So, as she grows up and sees the world refusing to aknowledge her as a person, she doesnt have legal rights to finish school and go to college, to get a job, to get married, heck she cant even have a legal documentation that doesnt says 'Dr. Wakeman's creation'. The government says: your body belongs to us, because we paid for Dr. Wakeman to make you - you belong to us, we control you.
That, on top of several unpleasant experiences with other people disregarding her autonomy, will equal to Jenny trying to get some sense of that control back. So she starts to be more cautious about how much access others have to her physical self; she starts to build and reinforce boundaries with other people, starting with her family and friends.
It was one of the darkest days in Sheldon's life, when Jenny started to firmly say 'no' to whenever he asked her about her inner workings and casual access for poking around. xD Tuck was not a happy camper either, that his favorite robot friend became very stingy with all the cool stuff. But Brad got it. And after gentle (and sometimes not) reminders, others became more understanding.
It was a little harder with her mother. Dr. Wakeman truly loved her daughter, but she was a scientist first and mother second. She was so used to casual access to Jenny, in order to keep maitanance that it was hard for her to break the habits. Its still a constant struggle, but she has gotten so much better.
Now, when it came to her new friends amongst HoMies, she already has built a set of boundaries that allowed her to feel more secure as a person, despite how the world sees her, but she is much more reserved to opening herself up to others, at least compared to how she first approached people when she was younger.
It took a few missions and getting to know them better, for her to start trusting with them with her mechanical self. But now a few years later, she feels comfortable enough with most of them to give her a helping hand when needed!
Of course not everyone are capable of helping her though: Danny, Kim and Zak are three of more mechanically oriented people who can help. Though Danny is the one with actual education in that field, while Kim and Zak learned more by necessity, from Kim's various jobs and Zak to operate the Saturday's equipments.
When Rex joined them, he actually became the second best person for her to come to if she needed help. Not only because he has unprecedent skills in mechanics, but also because of his nanites. (but thats info dump for another time, lol)
Jun has some basic knowledge in mechanics, but nowhere near enough for her to feel comfortable poking in Jenny's insides. Jake is perhaps the least capable of helping, when it comes to engineering, followed by newbie Randy (tho we really aint counting him tbh xD).
Ben is a complicated situation - he has some training and knowledge in engineering and robotics because of his Plumber training, but Jenny has heard horror tales from Gwen about how he treats his stuff (the whole hacking/playing with Omnitrix settings), so she flat out refuses for Ben to touch her. However in emergency/battle situation she would allow Ben to use one of his aliens to do so (like, Grey Matter or Upgrade).
So, we talked about Jenny's experiences and why they would contribute to her feeling uncomfortable if someone asked to 'tinker' with her.
Now, let's talk about why Danny would not ask to 'tinker' with her in the first place.
Like you said, Danny is all to familiar with the struggle of being part of something tat is hardly recognized as a sentient species - he had to listen to his parents dismiss ghost sentience most of his younger life. Of course, they have gotten much better since the... 'finale' of DP, but this sort of racism? xenophobia? (im not rally sure which term to use tbh) prejudice against ghosts would have left a lasting impression on Danny.
So I dont remember if I ever implied it, but in HoM AU - events of DP finale happened very differently and the resulting consequences of it diverged a lot from Mr ButtHurtman's 'canon'.
(Also, I had ideas about it, before a Glitch In Time came out, so events from there were not taken into consideration. )
I don't want to reveal much, because it is kinda one of my planned flashback for HoM, but the events that happened reinforced Danny's ... well lets say regard of people's autonomy? It's kind of hard to put into words.
Ok, let's explain it like this: Danny would not ask Jenny if he could look at how she worked and if he could tinker with her, because it would be like if his Mom and Dad casually asked if they could perform a vivisection on him to see how different he is from a full human.
And while sure, the comparison might sound a bit extreme, since there is a difference when it comes to robots and humans about 'poking around' in their innards. But to Danny - it would be too close of a comparison - because of the whole 'recognition of sentience' thing.
After all, wasn't it just some years ago, his parents cried that ghost are nothing more than lump of malicious energy that have no feelings? They changed their mind after Danny's reveal, which allowed them to actually listen and look into evidence proving otherwise and learn. And here is Jenny, struggling to be recognized as a person, since she is considered nothing more than a lump of metal with no feelings - just a weapon to be pointed in a certain direction.
And Danny would feel like asking Jenny if he could casually poke inside her, is a bit... hypocritical? And not to mention insenstitive. After all, he knows how she feels - she is basically still living his worst imagined life in some ways.
So, I don't think he will ever ask to study how she works by casually poking inside her.
HOWEVER -
At some point, after they became friends, Danny would feel like he should know at least some basics on how Jenny works, just so he could help her in an emergency.
I imagine it happened after a particularly rough mission, and Danny had to help Jenny back home since she was unable to do so herself, so Dr. Wakeman could fix her. After some time thinking, he would sit in front of both Nora and Jenny and ask them for permission if he could learn how Jenny works - from Nora.
After all, Danny does not need to poke inside Jenny to learn how she functions, when there is her mother right there - the creator, the maintanance and doctor all in one package, with access to blueprints and all intricate knowledge, who can evaluate what Danny needs to know in accordance to his passable engineering skills. She could teach him the basics - but of course not without Jenny's permission.
So he asks her, if he could learn, because he is tired of looking how she gets hurt along with them, but unlike most of them she can not be easily fixed with bandages and some time. And Danny, since he is one of the few of them who has the skills, would like to be actually able to help her with those skills. But it is her body - it is her choice, to trust him or not.
And Jenny would be speechless. It would be the first time someone asked her like that. Not even Kim, who is one of her closest friends, asked before (but mostly because Kim was perfectly aware that she is nowhere skilled enough to even think about it).
And you would be right. It would be a show of ultimate trust from Jenny, to agree for Danny to learn. And maybe at some point, simply learning, turned into more on hands learning in some small ways. And Jenny's trust was never betrayed, and Danny always stayed humbled and aware of that.
so, i hope the answer was satisfying, or at least entertaining for you! thank you again, your ask was delightful to read and allowed me to explore some of my own backstory parts for HoM a little bit more!
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venussaidso · 4 months
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𝗞𝗲𝘁𝘂 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀 — 𝐍𝐚𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 (part 1) 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏𝟎
disclaimer: spoilers for all movies or shows mentioned.
the warnings: mentions of drug abuse, sexual violence, self-harm, genocide, mental disorders/illnesses, cannibalism and self amputation.
The most interesting theme within all the Ketu nakshatras was one that was unexpected, as it is common to mainly associate Ketu with concepts of disconnection or isolation from society as a whole -- since Ketu is often linked with the 12H. But it is more about the interactions with the unseen forces within society more than anything. Because the 12H also represents the collective's consciousness and all the interconnected energies that come with that which Ketu becomes possessed by. And it is Ashwini that is the most sensitive Ketu nakshatra, as it easily becomes consumed & absorbed by these 12H energies which often leads to chaos and loneliness.
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Ashwini nakshatra embodies Nothingness which is the oldest energy in the universe. It's between a space before actualized creation, and after the rise of awareness that's emerged from Nothingness (or the Cosmic Void). It is very fitting that this is the first nakshatra; but it should also be considered the last as it essentially represents the non-duality of Life & Death. This theme is further extended in Bharani and beautifully explored in that nakshatra, but in Ashwini we focus on the spirit's evolution. The energy found in this nakshatra is as undeveloped as it is chaotic, which is why evolution needs to take place -- and this usually involves extreme harsh forces to tame it. It is in Ashwini where there's confusion or lack of self-awareness of one's own identity as energies here become repressed, unconsciously accumulating. I'm going to use some films as examples to explore this point.
First, I'm going to use the most typical Ketu-coded character. Ashwini Moon Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho". This film follows an investment banker who relishes in the wealthy excesses of his superficial lifestyle in which everybody else around him also revels in. His life is empty, mostly revolving around getting into exclusive restaurants, wallowing in designer suits, having a meticulous morning routine etc. There's a pressure in general for conformity and Ashwini is sensitive to these energies which they take up, driving them to compete and also go too far with this -- because it's no longer about conforming anymore. It's become an obsession, and these pressures drive Patrick Bateman into homicidal tendencies as an outlet. This film perfectly encapsulates modern-day consumerisms, and it is of course an Ashwini native who is driven into a descent of madness from this empty, superficial culture he's subjected to.
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Nothing can fill up the emptiness inside of him and he knows that. This crippling, painful understanding is what continuously manifests his violent self-hatred and hatred towards others. And this is why he is forever trapped in a cycle of loneliness, as he is surrounded by the same narcissistic, self-absorbed suits who will continue to maintain this soulless, superficial culture.
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The movie was adapted from the book with the same name, written by Mula Moon Bret Easton Ellis whose own experiences inspired the book "American Psycho".
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Quote from an interview; OregonLive (2010);
"[Patrick Bateman] did not come out of me sitting down and wanting to write a grand sweeping indictment of yuppie culture. It initiated because my own isolation and alienation at a point in my life. I was living like Patrick Bateman. I was slipping into a consumerist kind of void that was supposed to give me confidence and make me feel good about myself but just made me feel worse and worse and worse about myself. That is where the tension of 'American Psycho' came from... It came from a much more personal place."
-- Mula Moon Bret Easton Ellis
Now, onto the movie "Fight Club", which was directed by Magha Sun David Fincher, and stars Magha Sun Edward Norton and Mula Sun Brad Pitt.
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The most highlighted character from this film, played by Brad Pitt, is Tyler Durden, who plans on making a revolution to destroy the hyper-capitalistic, materialistic superficial culture that we saw destroy Patrick Bateman from the inside in "American Psycho".
(video - 🎧)
Of course, just like Ashwini Moon Patrick Bateman took his obsessive consumerism too far; Mula Sun Tyler Durden lays on the opposite spectrum -- aiming to destroy modern society by blowing up all credit card companies and ruining the world's economy. Mula is related to destruction as it is ruled by Nirriti, the goddess of destruction. The oppressive forces that weigh on this Mula character, Tyler Durden, causes him into a spiral for freedom (9H), using extremities and acts of terrorism to be rid of ego/society. Whereas Ashwini, having no solid identity and just being undeveloped in nature, is more likely to conform; but so long as Ketu is there, there will always be an emptiness in the ambitious pursuit of things. Ashwini can grant excess wealth and fame, but with no inner fulfillment or balance, you see characters like Patrick Bateman. Or Daniel Plainview from "There Will Be Blood".
A movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who has Ketu in Magha, and stars Ashwini Moon, Mula Ascendant Daniel Day Lewis who portrays Daniel Plainview. Plainview is more Ashwini, as he is an extremely ambitious, capitalistic and competitive oilman.
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His pursuit for wealth and power leads him to personal loneliness, isolation and emptiness -- we see how Ketuvians become so drained and eaten alive by the energies they absorb in the pursuit of things. Similarly to Patrick Bateman, he not only hates others but himself and wishes for no one to succeed in life.
(click on the gif(s) if they're buffering lmao, i swear they're cheap)
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His primal competitiveness and self-loathing even drives away his only family -- his only child. His adult son means to do his own oilrig business and cuts his partnership with him. But Plainview's unchecked ambition shows that even after attaining success and power, he literally goes ahead to disown his own son as he considers him competition now. And now he extends the same hatred he has for others to him. Further isolating himself; this validating his deep sense of loneliness that was always there with his self-loathing.
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The film ends in an Ashwini fashion; in which Plainview goes into a psychotic meltdown and murders someone who he has had a long stewing hatred for.
(YouTube clip by me - 🎧)
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I wanted to provide a brilliant video from the YouTuber "The Vile Eye", who explored the dark nature of this character; because it perfectly illustrates Ashwini nakshatra in a twisted way -- especially in how Aries in this segment is influenced by Ketu forces. Everything about this character is every Aries stereotype you can think of from the top of your head, but Ketu exaggerates it to the point of extremity and tragedy.
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Amazing video for anyone who wants to understand Ashwini at its extreme which can manifest in real life of course.
Now in the series "Peaky Blinders", which I quickly wanted to mention, stars Ashwini Moon Cillian Murphy whose character faces moral dilemmas, as his relentless pursuit of power contributes to his moral ambiguity.
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His ruthless ambition to become the most powerful in the criminal underworld is something I couldn't help but relate it back to Ashwini's drive & competitiveness.
The movie "Scarface" stars Ashwini Sun Al Pacino who plays Tony Montana. And fun fact, Tony Montana is loosely based and inspired by the real-life figure, Al Capone, who was literally a goddamn Ashwini Moon. So, I say Scarface is a fucking Ashwini movie.
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Both Tony Montana and Al Capone had unchecked ambitions and an unrelenting desire for power. In Ashwini, extreme power can be attained, and we saw how Tony Montana quickly rose to it (as Ashwini is the Star of Transport and it is associated with Shidhra Vyapani Shakti which translates to 'The Power to Quickly Reach Things'). Similarly, Al Capone was also driven by the desire for power and he attained it.
Like Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood", Tony Montana starts to experience isolation after all of his achievements. His chaotic behaviour contributes to his alienation, and he starts to feel intensifying loneliness, which seems to be a theme with this nakshatra. And this film also ends in Ashwini fashion; with absolute chaos, the psychotic unraveling of Tony and of course death.
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I wanted to also add in the movie "Nightcrawler" which stars Mula Sun Jake Gyllenhaal who plays a character willing to go to the extreme lengths for success and personal achievement, to the point of exploiting others and not giving two fucks about ethical boundaries.
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He has a distorted view of success and has an unchecked, ruthless ambition which is common in Ketu nakshatras. He is also a socially isolated character, behaving inappropriately as he is disconnected from social norms. He lacks zero empathy. In his obsessive & relentless pursuit of success, he is devoid of humanity. Had to mention this film because these themes are not exclusive to Ashwini.
But as I did mention, Mula is more likely to be aware of societal pressures and these natives often feel deeply disturbed by them -- while Ashwini is more focused on the Self, as it's ruled by the 1H. In the film "Falling Down", Mula Moon Michael Douglas plays a character who has become disillusioned and is now aware of the pressures and oppression caused by the modern-day life. This movie is literally directed by Magha Sun Joel Schumacher.
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He confronts many issues such as homelessness and crime, which are heavily rooted in the greedy, capitalistic system of modern society. But he becomes violent and chaotic himself, going into a descent to madness (from absorbing the energies felt by the collective who also feel the weight of these oppressive forces within society). This movie deals with the consequences of unchecked rage, a theme shared in all Ketu nakshatras.
The film "Taxi Driver", which stars Magha Sun Robert De Niro and is directed by Magha Ascendant Martin Scorsese, depicts a man who suffers from extreme loneliness, alienation from society, and struggles with existential crisis. The film explores social decay; such as social disparities, the disillusionment of our main character to society's ills, crime, poverty etc. He goes into a descent into vigilantism, using violence as a catharsis which is a common thing for these Ketu nakshatras (mainly Magha and Mula as it looks at societal frustrations and the emptiness in life/modern culture).
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The character also suffers from a possible case of untreated mental illness, and insomnia -- and this seems to be a theme with all Ketu nakshatras in general.
Another film where the main character suffers from extreme insomnia is "The Machinist", starring Ashwini Moon Christian Bale whose character's insomnia and untreated mental illness literally contribute to his isolation and alienation.
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will be coming back to this film in my part 2 post
And the film "Fight Club", in which Magha Sun Edward Norton plays an insomniac character who has dissociative identity disorder. And his split personality is interestingly played by Mula Sun Brad Pitt.
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Then we have the film "Insomnia", directed by Ketu in Magha Christopher Nolan, starring Ashwini Sun Al Pacino who plays an insomniac detective who faces some mental challenges.
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There is a spiritual belief about insomnia, which suggests that there may be a disturbance in one's spirit; unresolved issues that have been long suppressed can be linked to an imbalance of energy within the body. This causes restlessness and more mental problems. This could make sense as Ketu and the 12H deal with what is unconscious -- and how that tends to be our deep, rooted traumas and the way in which they affect us & those around us. And not just traumas, could just be repression of one's own internal suffering from either loneliness or external pressures. We see this with Patrick Bateman, whose only outlet is literal murder, or Tyler Durden's 'revolutionary' fight club causing more destruction around him as planned. Both characters violently act out from these unaddressed decaying energies within themselves and from within society.
The series "Sharp Objects", directed by Magha Moon Jean-Marc Vallé, mostly deals with family traumas, but also shows how those traumas and unresolved energies literally cause death and chaos around them.
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Camille Preaker, who is played by Magha Sun Amy Adams, is deeply traumatized and troubled. She has a history of self-harm and has many scars on her body; her self-destructive behaviour is a coping mechanism for what happened when she was young (sexual violence by a group of boys and witnessing the slow, painful and preventative death of her sister). Then we have her younger half-sister Amma, played by Magha Moon Eliza Scanlen, who has a hidden dark side that has been shaped by the family's troubled history and generational trauma. By the end of the series, we find out that Amma is the killer of the violent murders that have shocked the townspeople of Wind Gap. It is Amma who is responsible for all of the gruesome deaths of the girls whose teeth were removed. As Camille's coping mechanism is cutting herself as self-punishment for all the guilt she harbours from the death of her sister, Amma literally commits homicidal acts. All of this connecting to just how messed up, and complex, their trauma and the community they grew up in is. And then we have their mother, played by Mula Moon Patricia Clarkson, who has Munchausen syndrome and is responsible for the death of her oldest daughter. Camille was a witness to her sister's suffering and death, and she sees her mother as a monster and now her little sister is an extension of her. This series is such a good example of how our own personal unchecked traumas affect others, especially those who aren't involved. And how much destruction can be caused, as we see with Amma killing other girls as an 'outlet'. This is why I now realize how wrong I was about Ketu, as Ketu is not necessarily about isolating from society. Regarding society, Ketu will be the complex yet intricate unaddressed/rotting energies within society, and it always relates back to individuals' personal generational traumas. It makes sense that Magha relates to ancestry roots and origins of oneself, even the origins of one's trauma.
Now onto the film "Nocturnal Animals", which is directed by Magha Sun Tom Ford, stars Magha Sun Amy Adams and Mula Sun Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Amy Adams plays Susan who is a successful art gallery owner. She receives a manuscript for a novel called Nocturnal Animals sent to her by her ex-husband Edward who's played by Jake Gyllenhaal. The book is extremely violent & tragic; but it actually turns out to be a symbolic reflection of their relationship and marriage. Bringing in the Ketu themes of unresolved trauma and getting to the roots of it (Mula theme). This book serves to make Susan confront how much of her actions fucked him up. The movie focuses on the confronting of one's past, telling of how trauma will still continue to shape the lives of those involved. And the movie shows that even Susan still has unresolved issues just by her repulsed reactions to extreme parts of the novel.
The movies "Split" and "Glass", stars two Ashwini Suns, Anya Taylor Joy and James McAvoy. McAvoy's character, Kevin, has dissociative personality disorder and these different personalities exist to keep him safe. His trauma is so extreme and deeply painful that it manifested into the creation of The Beast, the most dangerous and superhuman personality. Three kidnapped girls are prey to The Beast as they end up being devoured by it but there is only one doesn't fall victim to him -- and that's Anya Taylor Joy's character Casey.
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The reason why she doesn't fall victim is because she, too, has suffered extreme trauma and her resilience through it is what creates an immediate connection with Kevin. It is when The Beast sees her scars that he calls her pure, implying that those who have been damaged are the ones who are truly evolved.
(YouTube clip by me - 🎧)
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Also, "Split" is another example of how deeply repressed energies and traumas of one can ruin everything around them and victimize those close to the Ketuvians (usually uninvolved people's lives being violently taken; "Split", "Sharp Objects", "American Psycho", "Falling Down" etc.).
Ashwini Moon Zendaya in the series "Euphoria" plays a character, Rue, who has been through a significant amount of trauma, including the passing of her father. She uses self-destructive ways to cope with her deep emotional pain and grief, very similarly to Magha Sun Amy Adams's character in "Sharp Objects". Rue uses drugs to numb herself from her harsh realities. There is a moment in the series in which she has a chaotic meltdown.
(YouTube clip by me - 🎧)
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Something I now understand with Ashwini is how explosive, volatile and scary its ungrounded energy can be -- exactly why I'd commonly associate it with hysterical meltdowns which can lead to accidental or unplanned homicidal acts or other forms of harm/self-harm. This scene of Rue is vaguely taking me back to Ashwini Moon Christian Bale's spiraling and meltdowns in "American Psycho".
(YouTube clip by me - 🎧)
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Ketu, especially with Magha, seems to cause erratic behaviours when its natives aren't purified of their long-accumulated baggage in their unconsciousness -- exactly why the 8H is also ruled by Ketu as Scorpio shares this particular theme. As long as there is deep disturbance and imbalance in the body, there is no rest for the soul -- even for future incarnations to come.
But now, I want to touch on the senseless harshness of Ketu. Remember, this energy embodies the eternal sucking void. Mula nakshatra relates to the center of the cosmic void and goes straight into the roots of it. Ashwini has already risen from it, while Mula is centering itself back into it. Mula is where we seek an awakening to the truth of what is behind reality. What is on the other side of the cosmic void? Truth is searched in Mula, but it seems that it is Ashwini that understands that chaos is the absolute truth of reality. There is no meaning to anything, which sounds nihilistic, but it is what makes life beautiful.
In the film "The Pianist", written & directed by Magha Sun Roman Polanski, starring Ashwini Sun Adrien Brody, starts out quite warm with a well-put together family and a handsome talented Ashwini man who dreams of being a pianist. But things take a drastic turn. We see a once bright-eyed boy turn into the shell of the person he once was after going through such harrowing events, and things just keep getting tragically worse and worse until there is not even a sliver of hope anymore. The majority of the film is literally just despair, senseless cruelty, and the protagonist's soul slowly becoming annihilated.
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I've never watched a film more Ketuvian than this; surrounded by genocide, death and being completely isolated while being eaten by one's own lonely misery.
One moment you think one character is going to make it out alive somehow because they have the conviction and drive to survive, but the film immediately takes that idea away as they helplessly die. You think the protagonist is going to see some light, and the film even makes you slightly comfortable in some moments given the harsh realities, but you witness just how everything remains tragic. There are no answers to any prayers, as suffering is just ongoing. This tonality creates another layer of feeling trapped, and you watch as the character just lets life do whatever it wants to him as he is trapped in a world where he is helpless anyway. With Ketu, you realize that there was never any security or answers to this senseless chaos in this world to begin with.
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But his survival at the end makes you question why he even went through all of that. There was no lesson to be taken from such a tragic, horrifying experience. Why did his other friends and family die but not him? In the end, he became a successful pianist as he dreamt of from the beginning. He was exceptionally talented from the start; these events took everything away from him except his passion for the piano. What he went through was senseless, as Ketu has no prime motivation. Saturn will push you through the worst so that you can reach a level where you can now attain all of your reaped rewards, Ketu doesn't care for what you get in the end -- that's Rahu's objective, as Rahu deals with ego; Ketu deals with the evolution of one's soul and that usually involves its annihilation.
The kdrama "Save Me", stars three Ketu natives; Magha Moon Seo Yea-ji, Mula Moon Woo Do-hwan and Mula Sun Ok Taec-yeon. It follows Seo Yeah-ji's character, Sang-mi, and her family after moving into a new town. They become influenced and entangled by a religious cult. Sang-mi becomes aware of just how oppressive and dangerous the cult is when she & her family literally lose all control to them. Sang-mi's attempts to escape become futile, as she remains trapped under the oppressive abuse of the cult, turning her more into a shell of the person she once was.
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(The Mula male characters are the ones who find out about the Magha girl's whereabouts, and they plan to save her and her family from the clutches of the cult.)
She witnesses extremely harrowing events, and the drama makes you feel the sense of hopelessness that she's feeling -- trapped and completely helpless no matter how much she tries to save herself and family. There is a similar sense of hopelessness and lose of one's own identity found in "The Pianist", but in this drama it's more about extreme involuntary isolation from society (which I will be expanding on in part 2 of this exploration).
The film "Society of the Snow" is literally directed by Ashwini Moon J.A. Bayona, based on real life events. There's a documentary based on these events as well, "Stranded: I've Come From A Plane That Crashed On The Mountains", directed by Magha Moon Gonzalo Arijon.
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Now, in the "Society of the Snow", there is a tone of hopelessness set in the film because of the gruesome reality that these characters (based on real life people) experience. And never in their lifetime did they think that everything was going to change so drastically from just living the average life of normal teenage boys. These characters, who were in a rugby team, get on a plane that would soon crash onto glacier surrounded by endless cold harsh mountains -- with just a piece of the wrecked plane remaining in which they take shelter in. The protagonists are surrounded by the dead bodies of friends who did not survive the crash, and now they must spend the first night in harsh coldness while many are severely injured. They couldn't even sleep, the first night being spent with many of them crying and wailing out loud, nearly freezing to death. One day after, a rescue helicopter searches for them, and they all scream out for help. But the helicopter misses them as they're barely noticeable under all the glacier that surrounds them. This is when the sense of hopelessness and despair kicks in and intensifies as the story progresses. Now that chances of being rescued have completely fallen to zero, they realize that they can't ignore their growing hunger anymore. They all have no choice but to eat the flesh of the dead bodies after running out of chocolates. We see how these decisions mentally challenge some of the characters. It is truly tragic as they were stranded, isolated from the world and completely in despair in every waking day, for a span of 72 days.
After being rescued, we see just how malnourished they were from the looks of their bodies. They come back home bone-skinny and weak. And the monologue in the ending scene tells us how the survivors wondered; "Why didn't we all get to come back [home]?" "What is the meaning of it all?" These are the questions asked when we observe these raw Ketu events.
Ashwini Moon J.A. Bayona also made the film "The Impossible", which is about survival and resilience -- based on real life events. Much like "Society of the Snow", it also has a sense of complete despair and there is an involuntary separation of a family (which reminds me of "The Pianist" in which Ashwini Sun Adrien Brody's character is also separated from his family in the story).
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"Nothing is more powerful than the human spirit" it writes on the poster.
"Nowhere", is directed by Ashwini Moon Albert Pintó, a survival thriller about a pregnant woman who finds herself isolated from society as she's drifting in the sea trapped inside a container. Because of her newborn baby, she is forced to survive and protect her child even when there is no hope. The reason why she's even in the container is because she was fleeing a society of a dystopian future in which women & children are caged and murdered (Ketu's oppressive forces and her attempt to run away from them leads her to total isolation which is another manifestation of Ketu).
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And we also have the film "127 Hours", directed by Ashwini Moon Danny Boyle, starring Ashwini Sun James Franco who plays Aron Ralston whose right arm becomes trapped against the canyon wall when he was on a solo canyoneering trip. When he is unable to release himself, we realize the severity of his situation. He is completely isolated and alone. His own supplies running out and he's losing his mind. The struggle for survival and one's own helplessness is a theme of Ashwini nakshatra as this eventually drives one into taking extreme measures for freedom -- as the audience sees him resorting to cutting his own arm off.
These themes seem to speak of the power and resilience of the human spirit, as emphasized in "The Impossible" and "Society of the Snow". Our ability to survive even just our own personal traumas must be a testament to our spirit being an extension of the Higher Power which is behind the happenings of all of these senseless yet significant experiences and events we go through.
It is in Ashwini that one's experience through harsh forces contributes to the spirit's evolution after total annihilation, which leads us on the path towards moksha. This is particularly why I state that Ashwini must be the last nakshatra, in my opinion of course.
Ketu is very pure by nature, and it wants to destroy impurities. The repression of one's accumulated dirt can manifest in destructive tendencies, this being a misdirected flow of Ketu energies wanting to express the very raw forces we're wired to run away from. By facing one's true inner self and embracing your entirety is how you embrace Ketu in general. But one must go deep and inward. All three Ketu nakshatras deal with getting to the roots for this reason.
Ashwini is ruled by the Ashwini Kumaras, gods of medicine and healing. Also known as divine physicians. In order to heal, one must get to the root of all disturbances in order to create the perfect medicine to heal. As Ashwini is ruled by the 1H, this does involve getting into the roots of oneself for self-liberation. Magha, on the other hand, is about tracing your own existence back to the consciousness of others -- usually family members and ancestors. Magha relates to generational trauma and shining light on that in order to be freer. Mula is symbolized by the roots of a tree, and 'mula' translates to 'roots'. It signifies ancestry roots as well, but mostly the truth. Mula is where disillusionment takes place as one gets directly into the roots of everything; going right into the galactic center -- which can also signify going right into the roots of our demons and letting all of that rotting energy burn from your body. And after this purification process, one's consciousness raises by default.
Ashwini has strong, undeveloped energies which can be tamed and grounded to be properly channeled -- in order for this to be achieved, one must let go of poisonous impurities so that they're no longer controlled/possessed by unseen forces. It is in Ashwini that we expand on the interconnection of the collective consciousness being tight, as this was secretly discovered in Uttara Bhadrapada and remembered in Revati. Ashwini nakshatra is extremely sensitive to outward energies, as are the rest of the Ketu nakshatras. Every individual's consciousness is affecting the whole world somehow. This being a Ketu theme in general describes the whole energetic field of the world and how we each play a part in it and affect each other's lives. As all Ketu nakshatras deal with getting into the roots of things, we must get dirty by digging into our own roots which are connected to the reasons for our layers of repressed emotions such as rage, numbness, resentment, hatred and grief which are commonly harboured in Ketu natives. These unconscious emotions, which form our Shadow Self, contribute to how we interact with the world and other people -- and there's always that capacity to harm or further traumatize others because of our own unchecked, hidden troubles. Mula also perfectly shows how all of the complex, interconnected traumas of everyone else are intertwining and creating more chaos and confusion in society; and the disillusionment to how the oppressive systems of society are just breeding more of these pains & troubles -- which in turn, in Ketu fashion, demonstrates just how trapped everyone is.
Continued in Part 2 of this exploration
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heliosoll · 2 years
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Applying the Law to Shifting: The Ultimate Key
By @multiversebaddie x @heliosoll
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DISCLAIMER: everything that we will explain is based on our opinions, we are not stating that any of these things are facts. You can take what you resonate with and leave the rest. Also, we will explain reality shifting based off of the multiverse theory. 
Welcome to our collab post, where we will be talking about how to use the law of assumption to reality shift for our fellow reality shifters who want to apply the law of assumption in their shifts! Let’s start off with basic definitions. The law of assumption is a form of manifestation where your assumptions and dominant thoughts harden into reality. It is important to note that you don’t need to believe or feel a certain way to manifest, all you need to do is persist in the assumption that you already have your manifestations no matter what. Reality shifting is simply moving your awareness (or consciousness, whichever you believe) to another reality, if you believe in the multiverse theory. Nothing is impossible so you can even shift to “fictional” realities like anime, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc because with the multiverse theory nothing is impossible and other realities are just as real as ours. Our reality is just one of many and what’s considered fiction here can be a fully realized reality somewhere else.
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We’re going to start off with some basic terms and definitions to ensure everyone understands the post fully. Assumption: a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof. Self Concept: how you think and view yourself, other people, other people in relation to you, and the world. Persistence: firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition (aka continuing to do something even if it’s difficult). Intention: a thing intended, an aim or plan. Methods: a procedure, technique, or way of doing something. 
And now some shifting definitions! DR- Desired/Dream Reality, WR- Waiting Room, CR- Current Reality, OR- Old/Original Reality, Methods- a process done to shift, Safe Word/Action- A word/phrase that you say or an action that you do that shifts you somewhere else, most often used to shift back to your CR or WR.
Law of Assumption
In order to apply the law of assumption to shifting, you should have a basic understanding of what it is and how it works. We already explained this a little just above! The law of assumption simply states that whatever you assume to be true must be true. That’s pretty much it! Your dominant thoughts create your reality. Grass is green because you assume it is. If you were to assume grass is pink instead, eventually, you would see pink grass. People use the law of assumption to manifest their ideal lives every day! 
Now that you know the absolute basic definition of the law, here are some things to take note of:
The 4D (fourth dimension), in the world of manifesting, is composed of your thoughts, assumptions, imagination, dreams, and beliefs. The 3D is the physical world in which you experience things through the five senses. Both of these dimensions are just as real as the other and are a lot more connected than people tend to think.
Your 3D (the physical realm) reflects your 4D. So just like the grass example above, where we made grass pink simply by thinking it is, your 3D reflects your 4D. This is what we mean when we say “your thoughts create your reality”.
Persistence does wonders (we’ll talk about this further in the post)!
Manifesting with the law of assumption in the 3D can be instant if you assume it so. Remember, what you assume to be true will be true. So if you assume that manifesting takes time, then it will for you. But if you assume that it’s instant, or that it happens within 48 hours, or whatever, and persist in that assumption, then that will be true for you instead.
Assumptions = thoughts. Don’t overcomplicate what an assumption is. An assumption is literally just a thought you think to be true with no proof of it being so. That’s it. To assume something, you just need to have a thought about it. So, “manifesting is easy”, is an assumption. Just like “manifesting is hard” is also an assumption. (hint: always assume manifesting is easy)
You don’t need to believe in your assumptions for them to manifest. Again, we’ll go over this further down!
Your desires already exist. If they exist in the 4D, if they exist in your imagination, then they exist right now because time isn’t real in the 4D. Full stop. Imagination creates your reality. Creation is finished, it is done. Regardless of whether or not you believe in your assumptions aside, try to always remember that your desires already exist and already belong to you. When you manifest your desires, you’re never manifesting from a state of lack because you never lack what you already have, you’re simply reminding yourself that you already have your desires right now.
How They’re Both Related 
The Law of Assumption and reality shifting are both related in that every time you manifest a desire with the law of assumption, you simply shift to a reality where you already have said desire, no matter how “large” or “small” the desire is. Also, we are constantly shifting-with every single decision no matter how “big” or “small”  that we make, and every manifestation that we desire -we shift to another reality where we made that decision. There's another reality where we made a different decision or manifested something completely different. With the multiverse theory, there are an infinite number of realities with an infinite number of possibilities. ANYTHING is possible; there’s no such thing as impossible in the multiverse! In regards to the belief that the 3D is malleable in this reality and that it isn’t necessary to shift when you manifest, that is also completely possible. Everything that you can imagine and desire already exists in the 4D because time isn’t real, ultimately you decide whether you want to change your current reality to fit your desires or you shift to another reality in the 3D.
As Gods, you create your own rules/reality in the entire Multiverse, and you can even define your laws of physics. Our *personal* belief is that within one reality, there are many different “layers” of other mini realities that are malleable and very similar with only slight differences, like a branch of trees that all stem from one reality at the root. This is how you can manipulate the 3D reality you reside in without shifting. Let’s remember all the crazy things Neville Goddard himself was able to do-such as time travel to the past, be in two places at once, and even revise a person back from the dead! He may very well have manipulated the 3D reality to fit his desires, or he shifted to those specific realities where those things are possible! Who’s to say how he was able to do those things? The answer could be different depending on your perspective, and both are completely correct and valid. 
Loa Self concept + Shifting Self Concept - Why It’s Important and How To Reach It
Almost everyone in the Law of Assumption community knows the importance of having a good self concept, but let’s take a quick recap as to what that entails and the benefits of having a good self concept. While it isn’t necessary to have a good self concept to manifest or to shift, there are a lot of benefits to having one and you won’t regret prioritizing your self concept. When you have a good self concept with the law of assumption you stop having doubts and limiting beliefs, you always manifest instantly and effortlessly, time doesn’t bother you, the 3D doesn’t bother you, everyone treats you well, you live a perfect life, and you no longer have a victim mindset. In regards to reality shifting, having a good self concept can help with how you view reality shifting as a whole, and how you reality shift yourself. If you work on your self concept, you’ll start to see reality shifting as easy and effortless, and that NOTHING can stop you from shifting-not even your own doubts or fears. Also, you don’t need to do a million things or fancy methods to shift, all you need is the intention to shift and yourself!
Reality shifting is supposed to be that easy and effortless, if you intend it you can even blink and be at your desired reality! In order to work on your self concept with reality shifting, you must affirm and persist no matter what that you already have a good self concept. You can affirm:
I am a master at reality shifting
Reality shifting is easy and effortless for me
Nothing stops me from shifting
I am always reality shifting no matter what
I always wake up in my desired reality no matter what
Every time I blink I reality shift to my desired reality
Reality shifting is easier than blinking
I always reality shift instantly no matter what 
I am the best and most powerful reality shifter in the entire multiverse
I can shift whenever I desire
I can shift anywhere on command
I can shift at any time of the day
How to Apply the Law of Assumption To Shifting
The belief in the law of assumption and shifting is very similar! A person can choose what kind of life they live just with their thoughts - which one am I describing here? It could be either one! With this in mind, you can absolutely use the law to your advantage to help with your shifting journey and vice versa. For now, we’ll focus on how to apply the law to shifting.
The law of assumption can easily be summed up with, “what you assume must be true for your reality”. While there are other facets of the law, this is the most basic belief and the only one you really need to know. Knowing that you can change your entire world with just your assumptions is powerful! But how do we apply that to shifting? Very easily actually! 
It’s all about your thoughts. Your assumptions. What do you believe about shifting? Do you think it’s hard? That it’ll just be inherently hard for some people, regardless of what they do? Do you think it takes a lot of time and practice to accomplish? Do you think some realities are just impossible to shift to, that they don’t even exist maybe? All of your answers to these questions are assumptions. I mean this with the utmost respect, but you have absolutely no proof for them. So, if you have to choose between thinking “shifting is hard” or “shifting is easy” with no proof for either one, which one do you think would benefit you more? Obviously, “shifting is easy”. And why is that? Because your thoughts create your reality. By telling yourself “shifting is easy”, that assumption has to become true in your reality, regardless of what anyone else says.
Now I know you may not immediately believe that shifting is easy and that’s okay. But if you regularly tell yourself things like “shifting is hard. I can’t shift. I probably won’t shift like usual”, then pay attention to that. Your thoughts about shifting are important, so always choose the kinder one. Instead of saying, “shifting is too hard for me”, try saying, “shifting is always easy for me” or anything with that energy in mind. Persist in these “easy” assumptions until they harden into fact! Throw away the belief that you can’t shift and focus your energy on being able to! I know it can be hard to just change how you think about things, so let’s move on to our next section.
Mental Diet In Shifting
What exactly is a “mental diet” and how can it be helpful? A mental diet is when a person actively checks their thoughts and makes sure they align with what they actually want to think. This can be “flipping” anxious thoughts, affirming positive ones, and just generally making sure that what they’re telling themselves aligns with what they want. You wouldn’t tell yourself you’re dumb if you’re manifesting good grades, right? People often deal with doubts, anxiety, and other “negative” thoughts when manifesting/shifting. Now, it’s important to note that you absolutely can still manifest and shift even with these kinds of thoughts. You don’t need to get rid of them or go on a mental diet. People go on mental diets because these thoughts can be annoying and frustrating to deal with, not because it’s necessary. 
Now that we know what a mental diet is, how do we do it? This will be different for everyone! Here are some suggestions for what you can do during a mental diet: flipping undesirable thoughts (ex: “no one likes me” to “everyone likes me”), affirming things that do align with your desires, reassuring yourself when you have doubts/worries, assume/affirm that you don’t have negative thoughts and/or that they don’t bother you, and practice talking to yourself with love and respect. These are just a few things that could help you! Don’t be afraid to take the time to figure out what works for you. Remember, you don’t need to go on a mental diet, but it can help your self concept a lot, and if you find yourself having any sort of trouble with manifesting/shifting, try to see if your thoughts actually align with your desires. If you’re constantly telling yourself you “can’t” shift, that could be a reason for your troubles.
So, ask yourself, what do you think about shifting? How do you want to think about shifting? A mental diet doesn’t have to be an exhausting, stressful event. Ideally, it shouldn’t be. Be aware of your thoughts and how you view shifting and yourself. That’s it. You choose how your mental diet goes. You choose your thoughts. You choose everything! Don’t think of a mental diet as a scary, long-lasting thing that you need to do. Instead, view it as a helpful tool for when you want to change your thoughts. That’s all it is!
As a side note, I would highly recommend assuming/affirming that these doubts, worries, and other negative thoughts do not affect your manifestation/shifting journey. Just assume that these thoughts don’t do anything! This is another way to go on a mental diet. Assume that undesirable thoughts have no power over you.
Dealing With Doubts and Other Negative Emotions and Thoughts
The first thing we want to normalise is that it is okay to have doubts, fears, and other negative emotions and thoughts when it comes to shifting. A lot of people in the shifting community are trying to enforce toxic positivity and repress those feelings and thoughts with the belief that if you have those negative thoughts and feelings, you can’t shift. That is completely false, no matter what you feel and think you can always reality shift. There have been people who didn’t believe in shifting or that they could even do it, and they still reality shifted. The only reason why people haven’t shifted is because they have limited themselves from shifting with those kinds of beliefs. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from shifting except yourself. As long as you assume that nothing, no matter what you feel and think, can stop you from shifting then nothing will stop you from shifting. You can create that assumption by working on your self concept as stated above and having a mental diet. When you affirm that you are a master shifter, you are stating that you can shift whenever and wherever you want to no matter what you think or feel because nothing except yourself can stop you from shifting. Your feelings and thoughts are always completely valid-it’s okay to have doubts because after all since we were born we have been programmed to believe that these things are impossible. However, don’t let these feelings and thoughts overpower you and get in your way of shifting because you are completely limitless and at the end of the day you decide when to shift.
Persistence
Let’s talk about how persistence is important when it comes to reality shifting. Neville Goddard once said, “An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.” Persistence is simply insisting in your affirmations/visualisations that you are already in your DR, or that you are shifting to your DR. Persistence is very important because your dominant thoughts always create your reality no matter what. For example, you do not need to believe your assumptions about shifting being easy at first. As long as you keep repeating that assumption in your mind as a dominant thought it has to conform to the 3D no matter what you think or feel! That is how the law works.
You have to remember that in another reality currently, you are already experiencing your DR because your consciousness is infinite in the entire multiverse. Your subconscious knows everything, so it will know the DR you want to shift to. When you shift you are simply moving your awareness to another reality but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t experiencing your DR right now. After all, everything that could possibly happen is already happening in the 4D, you already are in your DR in the 4D right now. All you must do is change your 4D reality so that your 3D reality can reflect it instantly by persisting. In order to persist, you must affirm or visualise yourself in your DR, or going to your DR. So think to yourself and REPEAT no matter what: “I am already in my DR right now,” “I am waking up in my DR,” or “I am going to my DR today/tonight.” You must persist that no matter what you choose to do to go to your DR, whether that be meditating, setting an intention, or waking up there, you WILL shift or wake up in your DR no matter what.
If you find yourself wavering and reacting to the 3D, which shows your CR, simply contradict those intrusive thoughts and feelings by saying that you already are in your DR currently or that you are going to wake up or going to your DR regardless of what the 3D shows you. REPETITION AND CONSISTENCY ARE KEY WHEN YOU AFFIRM OR VISUALISE, I CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH! Remember that you can literally blink and be in your DR at any moment in your waking day as you keep persisting. Never give up on persisting, because anything can change at any moment and you can shift when you least expect it. People have shifted with their eyes open and even by accident in the middle of the day by persisting and not giving up that they are in their DR, or that they are inevitably going to their DR no matter what!
Setting the Intention
We mentioned that all you need to shift is intention. And it’s true! All you need is intention. But what does that mean? And how do we do it?
Well, it’s pretty simple! By definition, intention means, “a thing intended; an aim or plan”. To “set the intention to shift” all you actually need to do is think to yourself, “I’m going to shift/I’ve shifted”. That can be at night, during the day, in the shower, even at school! Where you shift, when you shift, how you shift, none of that really matters. What does matter is the intention. Simply thinking about when you want to shift is an intention. 
I know it seems a little too easy. All you have to do is think about shifting and that’s it? Just that will shift you? Trust me, I know it sounds too easy, but that’s because it is. The belief of shifting has been around for hundreds of years. There are stories about shifting that literally date back centuries and even just a couple of decades ago. In fact, most of those really old stories go something like this, “meditate and focus and boom. You shifted.” The act of shifting is not hard. It’s not complicated. You’ve been told that it’s hard, unnatural, that you have to learn how to do it and use all your energy in doing methods to shift. But that’s just not true. You just need to want to shift. The simple goal of shifting is an intention!
Everyone says this but it’s true; don’t overcomplicate this. Even if shifting was hard (which it isn’t), the knowledge of the law adds an entirely new layer to it. You’re literally the creator. You choose your life! You dictate your reality! However you want to say it, that’s how it is. Assume that shifting is easy, know that you can shift whenever and however you want no matter what you think or feel, and recognize just how powerful you are.
So take a deep breath, make the decision to shift, and let go. Let go of all those doubts and worries. Don’t focus so much on the how and just let yourself shift. Set the intention and boom! You’ve shifted.
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You are the Creator
I hope by now the message that all you need to shift is you has really gotten across. All you need is intention! Things like methods can be fun, but they aren’t necessary. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that any specific thing is necessary for shifting. All you “need” is the intention to shift! Remember, you are the creator of your reality. You make the rules. If you decide that you don’t need methods to shift, then you won’t need methods. If you decide that all you need to do is blink once and then you’ll shift, then all you’ll need to do is blink. Get it? It’s all you. Every “rule”, every decision, every belief and doubt, every little thing that goes into shifting all comes from you. So make it easy for yourself! Like seriously why make it harder? Shifting is inherently easy, and you can make it easier for yourself with just a simple thought.
Have fun with methods, but always, always remind yourself that they are just an option. You don’t need them. All you need to shift is intention. All you need to shift is you. You are the creator of your reality; the operant power in everything that goes on. You make the rules. No one else can tell you how to think or what to believe. So don’t listen to people when they say that you “need” to do methods, use your 5 senses, detach from your CR, meditate, be high vibrational, or that “visualisation is necessary” to shift. The only thing you will ever “need” to shift is yourself. Your own thoughts are all you need. You are all you need to shift!!
Take advantage of the power inside you! Your thoughts create your reality, your thoughts make the rules, your thoughts run the entire multiverse! Assume that you’re a master shifter and you will be. Assume that you’ve shifted and you have. Everything you need is already inside you. So what are you waiting for! Shift!!
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I want to say again that this post was written by @multiversebaddie and I so please give your love to her if you haven't already! She wrote a heavy chunk of this post and it wouldn't have been possible without her!!
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la-pheacienne · 7 months
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Okay nobody asked for this but I have some thoughts about Anna Karenina. I read that book in highschool and it was a pain in the ass but still a rewarding experience. I remember liking it, but at the end feeling like "okay, an adulterous unstable woman, at the time when it was written I suppose it was really ground-breaking, it doesn't seem that relevant anymore, who would condemn Anna today for wanting to leave her miserable cucumber of a husband for a hot blond horse rider with BDE, relatable, no one would stone her alive for that today, that was then".
Wrong. So Wrong.
It was obvious to me that Anna was unfairly punished by society for being human and the author intended to present it that way. Apparently, it is not so obvious to a big part of the readers. The discourse I saw online is extremely disturbing:
"I felt like she chose her lover over her son? To me she just seemed extremely selfish. She has a loving and rich husband".
"yes, she did ultimately choose her lover over her son. It's terrible that she lived in a culture that forced her to make that choice, but that's the choice she made. Her own happiness was more important to her than her child's. That's not a choice most parents would make".
"She is not even a good mother she hated her daughter when her daughter Anya was sick only thing that was important to her was that Vronsky didn't came home at the time so she started using opium".
"I don’t like her. She made a poor decision that left a child without a mother and a husband without a wife. Any woman who puts their own selfish desires over their family is not to be liked".
"I can not abide women who let themselves be pushed around so much by society and the moralists of the day; I keep wanting to give them a good shaking and say "Stand up for yourself, girl!"
"One of the reason that Anna is so hard to like is that she only defines herself in relation to other people. Wife to a husband. Mother to a son. Lover to Vronsky. Who was Anna? What did she like? What were her passions (besides men)"?
"Vronsky said that while Anna seemed only to have him to care for, he had many friends and many interests and responsibilities. Adults usually do. Anna was an eternal child, wanting gratification, indulgence, entertainment". 
The first observation is of course, how completely off the mark these takes are considering the particular female experience in 19th century Russia. Especially the comments about her not acting like an adult or her being boy-crazy are laughable, as if a woman in that time period could just "stand up for herself" or even define her life and choose her course of action indepentently of men in any fundamental way. As if she would have ever comitted suicide if she could do any of those things. If she could still keep the boyfriend and her son, if she could decide to have a divorce whenever she wanted to, if she could be allowed to simply exist on her own, she wouldn't have committed suicide. A person who commits suicide is a person who doesn't have a way out. She didn't. And it is pretty obviously stated in the text.
The second remark is that in this story we have a (female) character that is so appallingly victimized and crushed, entirely at the mercy of other men, circumstances or even pure chance, while at the same time keeping her personality, desires, and agency intact. This is why this story is so great and this is why these people do not get it. Tolstoy, consciously or not (probably consciously) really outdid himself precisely because he told the story of a victimized woman who was also kind of a bitch, to put it bluntly. She was both. You can't talk about Anna just by focusing on gender inequality. Being a victim of patriarchy is not all Anna was. Anna was selfish yes, she was irrational and obsessive and ruthless and she wanted it all and she wanted it now. It wasn't enough for her just to have an extramarital relationship, tolerated by social norms, allowing her to keep her son and her lover. No, that was not enough, she wanted to live with her lover freely, she wanted to make the rules and she didn't understand why she just couldn't. She felt terribly guilty for abandoning her son, yet she didn't give a single fuck about the kid she had after, the one kid she could actually take care of. Horrendous. Her husband offers divorce, she doesn't want it. He later refuses the divorce, now she wants it. She is not ready to travel and wants to wait, and when her lover tells her they have to wait one day because he wants to see his mother, she suddently wants to leave now. She is strongly advised not to go to the opera because that would bring herself and everyone around her misery, she goes to the opera. She does exactly the opposite of what she was supposed to do at any given circumstance. What she wanted was bigger than what life could give her, and she killed herself.
Now that may be Tolstoy just showcasing what happens to lusty restless adulterous women. Tolstoy, after all, had the misogynistic factory settings of his time. He was also a genius. I don't believe there is anything about this thrilling, vibrant, catastrophic portrait of a woman that came by chance. The inequality, the unfairness of it all is so palpable everywhere in the book, her absolute lack of freedom constrasting with the freedom of her husband lover and brother. All of these men can do whatever they want, they can fuck, cheat, dominate, determine their life and other's without any criticism or consequences whatsoever, and she can't even leave the house without it being a major scandal. She doesn't control anything in her life, she is completely ostracized. She is considered an actual criminal, a pariah, for having human desires.
And yet, despite all that, she has the audacity to want for herself. In her ultimate victimhood, seemingly at the loss of all agency she still does not let others define her inner world one bit. She absolutely defines her life, she makes autonomous decisions, she even defines her own demise by suicide. She chose this, she could have chosen differently, but she didn't want to. The social setting was horrible for women, but if she was slightly more reasonable she could have had a better outcome. She didn't want that. Crazy right?
And that's why modern readers cannot get this book. We are used to media that convey a "message", ready to consume on a plate with a pink ribbon. We are used to passively watching women reacting to horrors imposed on them, and feeling sorry for them. We are used to a Handmaid's tale type of social discourse. We are used to dystopias. We are used to good guy - bad guy dichotomies. We empathize with female characters getting killed, tortured, physically and sexually abused, because they are the victims. But a woman who dares to leave her kid and go away with her lover? Abhorrent. Inconceivable. It is so extremely difficult to empathize with a female character that is just palpably human, it is confusing, she is not victimized enough to deserve empathy from the modern audience. A victim is a symbol, it is an abstraction. Give a victim a mind of her own and human desires, and she is suddenly a whore.
Tolstoy in all his moralizing puritanical 19th century glory, gave us an actually "complex" (as much as I have come to hate the word) female character, and by "complex female character" I mean a fictional woman that maintains her spiritual autonomy while seemingly being entirely determined by other people or circumstances. I cannot say the same for the vast majority of "strong female character" models of contemporary media.
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just-spectating · 3 months
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The Objecthead Phenomenon: Another Brief Essay
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One of the most thought provoking concepts in 17776 is the idea of a mind with all the emotions and complexities of a human being forced to inhabit a completely inhuman body. Juice, Nine, and Ten do not, and never will, have human bodies. They will never experience what it is like to have a human body - additionally, this means machines, unlike humans, have to consider their own mortality and come to terms with their weird, disjoined, person-object existence. 
The fact that space probes, who are completely physically different from an organic being, mange to be so human is something that makes 17776 so special. This also leads to me having what I can imagine are controversial tastes in fanart: I don’t particularly care for the “objecthead” designs and feel they undermine one of the most important things about Nine, Ten and Juice as characters.
 Like, Jon Bois created these remarkable and bizarre characters, who are intentionally physically inhuman, something that has significance in the story - and people immediately decided to go ahead and draw them in order to…undo that.  This is why the objecthead or humanized fanart saddens me a bit. 
I do, however, understand the desire to further anthropomorphize the probes. After all, it’s frustrating for characters with such distinct personalities to be completely physically inexpressive. Nine, Ten, and Juice don’t have facial expressions (other than emoticons, of course). They don’t pose, they don’t wear clothes, they can’t touch or physically interact or any way. That makes it pretty much impossible to easily make visually interesting art, as you could only ever draw them. Uh. Floating in space. Visually unchanging. Forever and ever. Not exactly appealing. 
In a way, the objecthead phenomenon in 17776 fanart provides some poetic insight: the idea that these beloved characters are objects is uncomfortable. We want to give them bodies that correspond with their personalities, we want them to be physically expressive. We want to give them these experiences that they will never be able to have. I can imagine that the probes feel these things too, this desire to have their consciousness match what their body looks and feels like. 
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Practically the first thing Nine assumes when they wake up is that they are trapped aboard the probe and need to escape. They experience a moment of visceral panic and existentialism, which I found very distressing because they are trapped in a space probe. Their first instinct is to leave, to get out, and that will never happen. There is no hope of escape. 
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Juice also demonstrates this kind of thinking in a much more lighthearted way during the spaghetti conversation in the first chapter of 20020. The nonexistent bowl of spaghetti shows that the probes, or at least Juice, do imagine themselves with bodies, doing human things. This makes you wonder how often they think about the things they will never be able to experience. Do Nine and Ten wish that they could hug? Does Juice lament not being able to enjoy a Lunchable or catch a football?
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This was meant for my 17776 blog (@we-perpetually-hang-out) but is posted here instead due to tag issues.
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therianterritory · 3 months
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Hello 👋
Recently I've been looking into the whole therian/fictkin (I can't spell)/alterhuman ECT communities because at first it was just for fun and to see what the internet has been doing lately but it's started to feel less like a polite exploratory thing and more a thing I've been considering in myself.
I don't really know why it's all of a sudden become a thing I'm personally interested in but it has and I'm very confused.
I don't think I'm a therian because I got basically none of the "criteria" ( I know it's not like a list you check off but I'm nothing like any of the therians Ive seen online) and it's mildly distressing when I think too hard about it.
Ive been asking around but no one has been responding and I'm hoping maybe you can help as you've stated that you are an educator.
I have a list of things I felt like may fit along the lines of the aforementioned identities (sorry if that's the wrong word to use. I'm really nervous and trying to be as respectful as possible)
- When I was a kid I used to wish I could build a den/nest and used to get really sad when I had to take down my pillow "nests"
- I had a fascination with things that could fly and always wished that I had wings. Not necessarily that I was a type of bird but more like a hybrid human with wings.
- sometimes now I wish I had wings and it's almost like I can feel them stretch when I flex my back
- I had a fun idea to create horns once and I couldn't sleep thinking about how much I couldn't wait to make them. And when I made them it just felt so right to have them on. They felt natural.
- Sometimes I'll just run around my backyard whilst no one is home and it gives me an amazing sense of being free.
- Ive always been fascinated with the forest and ever since I was a little kid I used to imagine living in the forest all on my own and making a treehouse to live in away from society.
I honestly don't know if any of that means anything and I'm really really sorry for such a long message but I just really need some answers or guidance right now. Literally anything could be helpful if you have the time to read this.
Hope you have a good day
Hi! I am of course never able to tell people whether they are alterhuman of any kind or not. This is simply something that you can only tell for yourself. All I can do is give advice on how to look into your identity more accurately. So I will just review the things you've mentioned and give advice if I see fit. You can do with this what you want. My advice is also not the answer to everything.
While it's good to take your childhood into account, it's also very important to realize that as kids, we have a way bigger imagination. Unless you really feel like your urges and behaviors from the past weren't completely human, wanting to do things as a kid usually does not say much. I often recommend for people to mostly look at what they experience now, unless the past holds any significance despite childhood imagination (I'm therewith not stating however, that what you experienced is imagination and not alterhumanity. That's something I cannot know). I'm just saying that in my opinion, what you experienced as a kid isn't always one-hundred percent reliable. But do surely take it into consideration alongside your current experiences!
Feeling phantom wings is definitely a potential alterhuman experience. What's mostly important is to think for yourself whether you focus on the phantom wings on purpose when you believe you feel them, or if they are simply there naturally. While even natural shifts may sometimes occur when you consciously focus on it, any sign of consciously inducing a shift might mean that the experience was not an involuntary experience (and therianthropy is of course mostly determined by that). So the question is rather if you ever experienced such phantom sensations or other types of shifts, behaviors, instincts, and/or urges without thinking about it at all. Or if something somewhat unrelated triggered you into such a state.
Having an affection for nature and deliberating actions are debatable things. Because humans are instinctively also drawn to nature, and running around would probably be a freeing experience to anyone. It's always important to nuance your experiences with human instincts to at least some extend (while sometimes, of course, it may overlap) The question is rather how it made you feel on the inside. Do you feel like you aren't your human self when you do these things? Or do you feel like your human self mixes with something else? Etc.
In the end, it's really about how you define yourself and the nonhuman experiences you have naturally. And be mindful of the other alterhuman terms as well. You say you might be a humanoid creature in some way, so do not be afraid to look into Otherkin and the like as well! Therianthropy is really about that natural animalistic experience. If you do not have that, that doesn't mean you cannot identify as alterhuman/nonhuman!
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all-of-her-light · 4 months
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Aqua, Guilt, and Gorou
Let's set the stage. It's Chapter 50, in the middle of rehearsal for Tokyo Blade, and Aqua is trying to learn emotional acting from Kana. She tells him that in order to portray a moment of joy from his character, he should remember times when he himself was happy.
And so Aqua begins collecting his happy memories. (Perhaps meaningfully, all of the ones we see him recalling are from the past few in-universe months.) It's enough to put a smile on his face, and even make him blush a little as he looks back at Kana. But then –
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An apparition of Gorou in Aqua's mind berates him for enjoying himself when he couldn't save Ai, and Aqua begins to have a panic attack. As the next chapter opens, Aqua leaves the rehearsal session to go rest, but Ai's death and the Gorou apparition haunt his dreams:
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This is the first time we directly see Aqua struggling with guilt over Ai's death. Of course, Chapters 11 and 12 show that he's strongly motivated to prevent Ai's tragedy from repeating with Ruby, and in Chapter 26 we get a hint that he feels some kind of responsibility for Ai's death:
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Guilt and self-blame are conspicuously absent from Aqua's extensive monologuing about Ai's death in Chapter 10, though. I think the in-universe explanation for that would have to be something like "the idea that Ai's death was in any sense his fault is too painful for him to even consider so soon after it happened" – and maybe that was Akasaka's intent, or maybe Aqua feeling guilty just wasn't part of his plans yet. Either way, though, as of Chapter 50, Aqua's guilt is very much present and here to stay.
Notably, Chapters 50 and 51 are also the first time that the manga plays with the idea of a Hoshino twin's past life as a separate entity from their current self. (For instance, Aqua has always referred to Gorou in first person in his inner monologue, and likewise with Ruby and Sarina.) I think it's clear that Aqua is not literally being haunted by Gorou's ghost here – for one thing, Crow Girl strongly implies in Chapter 75 that Aqua's soul is Gorou's soul – but the split does make sense symbolically and psychologically for Aqua. After all, Gorou was an adult who took on the responsibility of caring for Ai and helping her achieve the family life that she wanted...
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...and when that life was ripped away from her before his eyes, it's understandable that he'd feel like he ultimately failed her. But Aqua Hoshino, who was only three years old when Ai died, is someone who obviously has no business feeling guilt like that, and indeed no one holds him at all responsible for Ai's death. So Aqua's guilt manifests in his mind as Gorou, his past life standing in the way of him properly living his current one.
After Chapter 51, we next see the Gorou apparition in Chapter 55, just before Tokyo Blade's opening performance. Aqua prepares for the show by staring at a picture of Ai on his phone and recalling her death, reaching the verge of a panic attack – and summoning the apparition.
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Here, Aqua reciprocates the apparition's practice of referring to him and it as separate entities. (Which makes this the first and only time as of Chapter 136 that Aqua internally refers to Gorou as a separate entity, if it counts.) Even so, though, the guilt that the apparition embodies is intermingled with the emotions that Aqua consciously experiences:
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And why is Aqua practicing calling his own trauma to mind like this? So he can use it for emotional acting, of course. (Pretty messed up.) We see the fruits of this in Chapters 64 and 65, when Aqua's character has to react to the apparent death of the one for whose sake he fought, and Aqua himself is in about as much turmoil. But this encounter with the Gorou apparition – the final one of the arc – goes a bit differently from the others.
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This time, Aqua refuses to separate the apparition from himself, instead recognizing it as a manifestation of his very own past trauma. Correspondingly, the apparition's form as Gorou – an identity that Aqua has left behind – dissipates to reveal Aqua as he was in the immediate aftermath of Ai's death. Aqua still maintains some conscious distance from those feelings, represented by his current self existing separately in the scene and handling the narration – which makes sense, since he's trying to control the feelings for acting purposes. But they're nonetheless his feelings, and he takes advantage of that to fuel his acting.
Also notable are the apparition's own words here, which frame Aqua's revenge as an obligation that he has no right to be happy before fulfilling – presumably because of his failure to save Ai. Aqua's revenge quest, it seems, is motivated in large part by his guilt; making himself miserable living only for revenge is an attempt at penance, and all of the blood and suffering that he intends to extract from Ai's murderer is an attempt to repay Ai for everything he let her lose.
And then Chapter 68 happens. One of Aqua's DNA tests has revealed that he and Taiki Himekawa share the same father. Taiki's father is Seijuurou Uehara, who is dead. Which means Aqua's father is dead, and avenging Ai is no longer possible. Right?
That's certainly what Aqua chooses to believe. Because if avenging Ai is no longer possible, then it's no longer obligatory, and Aqua doesn't have to make himself miserable anymore. He's finally free to do the things that make him happy without being crippled by guilt about how he should be obsessing over revenge instead.
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Also, since Aqua is no longer bound to penance for Gorou's failure to protect Ai, thoughts of Gorou's life don't demand nearly as much space in his mind now. There's really only one loose end from his past life left to tie up:
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Of course, the corpse that Aqua wants to find is Gorou's. He stops looking for it once Akane points out that the "pet's corpse" is probably either buried or scattered – but when she stumbles on it later anyway, he's very grateful to her:
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By the way, it seems like Aqua means it when he says he always wanted Gorou's corpse to be found. This monologue of his echoes one in Chapter 7 of all places:
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And as it happens, on the very next page, we see Aqua ask Ruby about her past life – a conversation which swiftly ends as follows:
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In general, it seems like Gorou wasn't a very happy or fulfilled person, so it's not surprising that even aside from carried-over guilt, Aqua is motivated to forget about his past life in favor of his new one as a young person full of potential. I'm inclined to see his desire for Gorou's corpse to be found as at least partially a desire to symbolically say goodbye to Gorou; to see Gorou confirmed to the world as dead and laid properly to rest.
Speaking of carried-over guilt, Chapter 75 reveals that Gorou was at least implicitly made to feel guilty by his maternal grandparents over his mother's death from giving birth to him. And then in Chapter 78, when Aqua is talking to Akane, he blames himself for her having seen Gorou's corpse even though she ended up finding it by chance. He even claims that he tried to manipulate her into finding it for him when Chapter 75 pretty clearly shows him giving up on it being found. Akane comments a couple times in Chapter 78 that this behavior is typical for him:
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So it seems like the Takachiho arc is intentionally establishing "feels guilty and responsible for things that aren't really his fault" as a general character trait of Gorou/Aqua, stemming originally from how Gorou's grandparents made him feel about his mother's death. (Chapter 122 takes this trait significantly further by portraying Gorou/Aqua as so guilty about being unable to save Sarina that, despite suspecting Ruby was Sarina, he spent his whole life as Aqua in denial of it. Please forgive me if I smell a retcon.)
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Let's continue with the story now. Aqua spends about a year in-universe believing that Ai's killer is dead – but then in Chapter 95, Ichigo points out to him that Seijuurou Uehara died before Ai moved to the apartment where she was killed, and the DNA test doesn't eliminate the possibility that Uehara isn't Taiki's biological father. Aqua begins spiraling, and we see the Gorou apparition confront him for the first time since Chapter 65. Alongside it is a separate apparition taking the form of young Aqua; it seems to embody sadistic hatred for Ai's killer while Gorou embodies Aqua's guilt.
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I think the logic behind the two distinct apparitions is this: the reason why these feelings manifest as apparitions separate from Aqua in the first place is that they're egodystonic feelings that he doesn't want to feel, and as of late he's been trying to avoid feeling both his guilt over Ai's death (Gorou) and his hatred for her killer (young Aqua) for the sake of leading a normal happy life.
Aqua now consciously believes that he cannot pursue revenge and be happy at the same time, but he struggles with which one to choose. He comes to Akane for advice in Chapter 97, probably hoping that she'll tell him to forget about revenge – but instead, she tries to deal with the culprit herself behind his back. He catches her, though, and reveals that he's made his decision:
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And when he says he's going to hell, he may not be exaggerating. His renewed pursuit of revenge is much more directly self-destructive than before; he deliberately pushes away Akane and later Ruby as well, consciously intending to die or at least ruin his life in the course of revenge, and not wanting his loved ones to suffer when it happens.
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(For what it's worth, this is not the first time we see Aqua consider dying. There's also an instance in Chapter 10, though that one is framed more as Aqua just feeling completely lost in life without Ai.)
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Aqua's renewed revenge is also somewhat more consciously sadistic than before, I think; despite knowing the culprit's identity, he puts off killing him for the sole purpose of executing a plan to make him suffer as much as possible (see Chapters 99 and 108). Granted, that plan was one he came up with when he was little (Chapter 108), and wanting the culprit to suffer was always part of his conscious motivation (Chapter 13), but just as often he'd state his goal as simply killing him (e.g. Chapters 10 and 52). Black-starred Aqua, however, displays a level of intent to make the culprit suffer while alive that was previously only the territory of the apparitions from his mind's dark corners.
Speaking of the apparitions, all of black-starred Aqua's talk about going to hell and making Ai's killer suffer and "I've thrown away the naive thought about being happy" (Chapter 108) seems like it should be right up their alley, but after Chapter 95 (and as of Chapter 136), they're nowhere to be seen. I think this is because Aqua's guilt and hatred essentially won the battle for his ego that occurred in Chapters 95-98; they now manifest directly in his thoughts and behavior instead of as apparitions. Black-starred Aqua consciously believes that both he and the culprit deserve nothing but suffering for their roles in Ai's death. It's Aqua's desire to move forward that's marginalized in his mind now.
Perhaps relevantly, in the panel after Ruby bids Aqua farewell in Chapter 106, Aqua himself appears as a black silhouette – just like the Gorou apparition in several places in the Tokyo Blade arc. And then in Chapter 122, when Aqua has discovered Ruby's past identity and is trying to convince her to stop worrying about revenge, this exchange happens:
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It's possible that Aqua here is mentally "being Gorou" or speaking as him only as a reaction to this specific situation – but given everything else we've talked about here, I can't help but suspect that this reflects a stable feature of black-starred Aqua's self-concept. Black-starred Aqua thinks of himself as Gorou, the man who failed Ai. "Aqua Hoshino" is just a mask that he's been wearing – once to hide from his responsibility, and now to fulfill it through his revenge plan. He doesn't deserve to sincerely call himself by the name that tempts him with a chance at a happy life.
@aihoshiino points out that Aqua has been acting somewhat awkward around Ruby since the mutual past-life reveal (e.g. in their talk in Chapter 132), and theorizes that part of the reason for this is that Ruby is now seeing Aqua as Gorou, but Aqua doesn't want to be Gorou. Given what I've been theorizing here, though, I think Aqua's discomfort is more precisely because Ruby is seeing him as Gorou and loving him for it. From Ruby's perspective, Gorou is wonderful and it's wonderful that she's been reunited with him. But from Aqua's perspective, Gorou let Ai die. Gorou is a failure. Gorou doesn't deserve Ruby's love. (He doesn't want her love in a romantic sense anyway, I think, but he feels he doesn't deserve any kind of love from her.) And he feels especially bad because he's letting her love him regardless for the sake of the movie revenge plan, which eventually involves his destruction. He's using her for a purpose that she'd never agree to and that will leave her heartbroken if it succeeds – even if he believes that what she loves is a lie.
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Phullo there, I’d like to ask you a question! I hope I won’t be such a bothersome.
So, I’m planning to write a story about Laughingstock and since I find your storytelling very pleasing I figured it’d be a great idea to ask for your advice about the writing!
My Idea in general for this story is just Howdy taking a day off from working in his bodega. And basically, he’ll be just wearing normal clothes.. shocking truly.
And thennn, Barnaby and Howdy accidentally stumbled into each other’s path. They later then of course had a very long conversation that lasted until evening maybe.
Of course there’ll be some fishy moments like them looking at each other with goggly eyes and other cheesy romantic nonsense- but it’s just mainly them having their usual conversation with a ‘couple’ of jokes here and there. It’s supposed to be a sweet memory for them to remember basically.
So, what I’m really trying to ask you for is- how the heck do you start a story exactly and not make it into just the dialogues? Like, I want my story to be kind of long but I’m afraid it’ll be just them, y’know, talking and I really don’t want it to be boring.. therefore, I really need your help.
I am so sorry if it’s such a bad timing considering the fact that you just had an interview which I am very proud for you for that! Even if it didn’t go as expected at least you did good half of it.
Soo, yeah! I’d very much appreciate your advice and I am sooo sorry that this was soo long!!! And again, a bad timing too.. but hey if you got any time, please consider answering. Thank you..
Also any response yet? On the interview of course.
hmmm... in my experience and Knowledge Accumulated Over The Years via reading And writing... the best place to start is to just drop in. no story introduction, no "it was a dark and stormy night", just Start. it sounds like your story begins with Howdy taking the day off, so maybe kick off with him getting ready / choosing an outfit, or w/ him reflexively almost opening the store before he stops and chides himself for almost forgetting that he's taking the day off
to combat the dialogue, maybe detail him leaving the bodega to go into the neighborhood. what does he see? hear? feel both physically and mentally? is there anyone else out and about? set the scene! ive been struggling with this too lately since i haven't seriously written in a while and i haven't been reading actual books
WHICH! IMPORTANT TANGENTS!! read well-written books, Not fanfic! im not saying dont read fanfic ever or i'd be the world's biggest hypocrite, but also read actual books. it's important to study how published authors write, how stories are structured, dialogue and action. because these books have more often then not gone through a Rigorous screening process. multiple drafts, beta readers, publishers reading it with great scrutiny before agreeing to publish - of course there are exceptions, but a lot of books are the highest quality they can be, and will outshine most fics. because, and i say all of this as good things, fics are unregulated. most dont have beta readers. a lot are from amateur authors new to the scene. there will be spelling mistakes, weird grammar & sentence structure, etc - most fics have Entirely different writing styles from each other. so if you only read fanfic, That is what your brain will learn, and it's gonna be harder for you to write. published books have less variation in styles, and the styles are subtler. there's less spelling mistakes if any, so your spelling will improve. your internal vocabulary will expand. even if you don't consciously study what you read, your brain will pick up on & internalize patterns, how action works, how dialogue works, how to structure a story, all that good stuff. if you want, i can recommend well-written books! i've been an avid reader since... like, ever. i've got recs galore! you can tell me your preferred genre & literary interest and i'll probably have something for you! and if you're not big on books, well... get out of your comfort zone lmao, books are fucking awesome and i guarantee there are plenty out there that you would love.
and when you're writing dialogue, intersperse it with little actions or the main povs' internal dialogue. if there's a natural lull in the conversation, explore that lull! what do the characters do in this moment? what's going on around them? sprinkle bits of setting in so that your reader knows where they are and what's going on.
plus, exploring the non-dialogue sections of your story can, and often will, spark inspiration in your brain for scenes and actions to fill out the story if you want it to be long (but also! if you just want to write the scene of their conversation, that's the beauty of fanfic - there's no requirements. do whatever you want lmao). when Howdy is going into town, maybe Wally calls him over for a quick pose - does Howdy say yes or no, and how does that decision change the story? maybe Julie invites him to join her in a game, or Eddie stops to talk to Howdy about him being out and about. maybe there are some complaints over the bodega not being open. what's the lead-up to Howdy and Barnaby running into each other? do they literally run into each other? what happens when they do? those are just a few possibilities of many!
remember, when you're writing, you're that story's god. you can do literally fucking anything. you decide what the characters do, where they go, what happens in their world. that mindset should help you bolster the plot instead of just "these two characters have a conversation", yk?
i hope this helps!
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wri0thesley · 1 year
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Thots plague me (gn!reader with fem anatomy and they wear a skirt!)
Mainly of obsessive Pantalone with a shy darling assistant who hides from him. Whether it’s when he’s dressing them up with bejeweled corsets and even tighter underwear, or when their chubby cheeks are squished behind a silk pillow they use to hide their face. Maybe they have glasses that get fucked up from their startled jumps when he simply walks behind them. They are so easy to scare, it’s adorable yet makes Pantalone so much closer to wanting to lock them up somewhere where they can show that cute frightened expression only for him.
Maybe they are kind too? Even funny? A sweet little scientist or Sumeru medical graduate. Maybe they are even Dottore’s chubby little assistant? Making sure that his experiments don’t die so quickly, yet the work affects them to the point of tears. They feel oh so much. They check on Pantalone, make him cookies sometimes, though they are left on his desk with a note because they are too scared to look at him directly.
Or even Dottore that sees his little assistant with something a little more than professional admiration. With those stupidly short skirts, and tight tops. Sneznayan sizing is a bit different than other nations and maybe darling is just discovering that. When they smile at him, and squeak out a little “Sorry sir!”
He wants nothing more than to grab you by the cheeks and make you pout up at him. Maybe even make you a sweet little parent so you only bake for him. He wouldn’t mind a little marriage experiment, maybe even one where he sees how many aphrodisiacs he can give you before you turn into a little slut in heat.
Ah or maybe this assistant has to travel to Inazuma for business. Maybe accompanying the Balladeer, and they meet Ayato and Yae Miko who are so insistent on making your face heat up and your pudgy thighs clench. Even going as far as to nip at your neck and cheeks (it feels like biting into a pillow) and calling you sweet names. With every sweet you bring them, and everytime you hide from them? Or even worriedly scold them?
They just want you more and more for themselves and to warm their beds as their sweet little housespouse. Even if it means they have to be a little manipulative to do so.
I wrote this in a haze 😞
all of these are SUCH good thoughts hhh... i love when the powerful men get themselves all obsessive over a pretty little shy darling who doesn't know what to do with themselves about all of the attention that they're getting! ugh. the snezhnayan sizing . . . pantalone . . . dottore. . . ayato! yae miko!
also consider; capitano who sees the way that his fellow harbingers look at you, sizing you up and talking you around until you're so confused that you can't think straight, clearly imagining depraved things happening to you at their hand . . . and wanting to protect you from it. thinking you sweet and pure and wanting to make sure they don't corrupt you, whilst he ignores the pounding in his own body that says he wants you just as badly and just as sinfully as they do.
or pierro . . . who, as the director, really should have first pick of whatever he wants - and you're just so sweet! sometimes he has to bring his subordinates into line, and if they're all fighting over you - maybe taking you for himself is the best thing to do? to remind them of their place, of course. not because he's imagining you bent over his desk with his big hands sinking into your hips and your soft little breaths echoing around his office . . .
(also! i know you don't mean anything by it but as a non-binary person i am incredibly uncomfortable with the term 'fem anatomy'. that's my anatomy! please don't gender it! it feels like you're sub-consciously saying anybody with that anatomy is Fem and that feels bad to me! that's why i always use 'afab reader', or if you don't like that 'reader has a vagina/breasts' also works! <3)
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ghost-of-a-system · 3 months
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Asking about fronting / awareness / existing in Innerworld, how you percieve that, how others might if they see this, idk. (not dx, questioning at "ok there is apparently *something* idk how to comprehend it, so my perception / understanding / the concepts i'm fitting these experiences into might be wrong. but it is not nothing. and dissociation and trauma is medically dx sooo." but like i don't want to fakeclaim.) I see systems / alters talking about being in the headspace, living there, interacting, like they have their own consciousness, going to sleep there or doing activities. And I'm like - how - howwwww how are you that real and separate and alive For me it is more like there's the front room with a big control / signal board and whoever is at these controls is the current I. there's like that omniscient consciousness that is just linked to that front room. and i (?) sometimes see pictures of it or of other Alters, i hear their voices, sometimes we can interact. but conscious I = whoever is at the controls more or less. there'll be intrusions and fragments from elsewhere / others that i might be able to identify as "probably from xy" but not a real other I that exists and is able to think and have its own consciousness??? I think? So how do you do that shift from a collective consciousness to being separate? and like being real and thoughts and feelings and actions *existing* when they arent perceived through that front? Is this even how systems work / would I be a system if it's like that? is this collective PoV just actually all 1 personality that is changing wildly and only the intrusions are a different thing from that? is it all just me and I need to get my shit together and stop imagining stuff? i'm so confused by all this (reminder i'm as far as "there is something complex dissociative going on i guess??" - and that after said brain threatened revolution and unaliving us if we didn't stop denying their existence which uh pretty hard to argue with) honestly i'm amazed i can even type this without getting a strike i think this is the first time i've ever used we this much in a public space and was even thinking about signing off - midi / keeper / plus whoever the mini was in the middle there. also a bunch of others maybe somewhere around too, basically almost everyone who was distinct enough to get a name i guess somehow. but mainly those. ...a bit of time has passed and uh wtf howww what did you do brain?! and i feel obligated to add that this is all just in my head and i might as well have imagined / been crazy like I don't wanna appropriate anything ...more time has passed and I added this & cut out like 4000 words of further rambling: Idk I really hope this makes sense, if not please ask and I'll try to explain further! Also hope this was okay to ask, I really was trying to be respectful and stuff, you don't have to answer!
I feel that what you are describing could very well be perceived as a system one. Of course, the disclaimer... we are no professionals. But, if I am understanding this properly, we relate to feeling as though we are one consciousness, almost... cycling through different identities rather than (metaphorically) individual consciousnesses taking turns with control. At the end of the day, we are all one brain, I suppose! If you are a system, the most I could chalk this up to is simply being a matter of how your individual system functions. It isn't always the same down to the little details as someone else's, and it is all about what your brain needs.
We cannot answer on behalf of systems with complex headspaces, or inner-worlds, in which their alters can manifest and experience fleshed-out lives. We have no inner-world, and have never been able to experience this (Despite attempts). But, I do not believe that the presence of this is required for alters to be considered "more separate", or distinct. We have fairly distinct alters despite having no inner-world, no fronting room, and nothing of the sort. What makes us so distinct is who we are when we are here. But that is just our experience.
We are no inner-world professionals; we hardly understand the ability to visualize in itself! Having aphantasia, and all. It may be better to ask a system who is more experienced with these things. But I will try. You mention wondering how to shift this one consciousness into being more separated, and I'm afraid I do not know if this is possible or something that someone can achieve. Perhaps we are uninformed, in which case I do hope that someone corrects us. I do recall reading about how inner-worlds can be constructed and expanded, if that was something you feel you are interested in, or something you feel could help. After all, inner worlds are visualization tools to help with communication, at the basics. I believe that this is generally achieved through therapy, though I'm sure it isn't required. You can probably try to look more into that online and see if anything helps.
This is the most I feel comfortable suggesting. I do not want to speak too much for something we do not experience.
Feel free to reach out if we misunderstood or should expand upon anything.
Best wishes, Yellowfang
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smilesession · 6 months
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ur not a man ur just a woman with enough autism to not feel like shes doing womanhood correctly
i'm going to level with you because you're invested enough to have sent this
i have spent the last five years solidly living under the paradigm youre suggesting. and before that, i had spent an additional five years actively compromising with a nonbinary identity, ten years of "it's ok, i don't really care you can call me 'she', it doesn't bother me, i know i look like a woman and i don't want to make it complicated for people, my identity's really just an internal thing and not something i'm worried about other people acknowledging" and so on. but before that i was, momentarily, an incredibly self-confident and assured transgender young man. ten years ago i was exploring transition. i was tall, androgynous, and young enough to have had the experience of passing as male, which i vividly remember the feeling of. it was only my parents bringing the hammer down, shaming me, telling me i could dress however i wished but they'd never refer to me as a different name or consider me their son that made me spend the next decade considering it futile. so i reversed course entirely, leading to this moment, and what you've come to me on this day to repeat to me thinking youre doing a service for women
i dont owe proof and i dont want to rely too heavily on medicalizing it, but if everything i felt was just the social phenomenon and a result of my experiences as an autistic woman, why do i remember being a young child who had not even lived long enough to have formative social experiences yet, whose parents raised me pretty gender-neutrally, ten years prior to an autism diagnosis, wonder when i'd "grow into my boy's body"? i have had thoughts and experiences that i would largely prefer to keep private that completely defy the reasoning that i'm just a confused sperg who just couldnt hack it as a woman in this crazy mixed up world. if i could simplify it to what youve just said, i would. i tried.
if radfem jesus comes down from heaven and reveals that i was truly and ontologically a woman with autism, defying my sex and so on all along, then I'm Sorry Women. but until that day comes i can promise you that i feel secure in my current decision of addressing the fact that living with the idea that "i'm just an autistic woman who feels i cant perform womanhood correctly" has been enormously damaging. instead of beating my head into that wall for the rest of my life i have considered changing course and trying out a different way of living, acknowledging that i've experienced dyed in the wool gender dysphoria since i gained consciousness. and i have as much of a right to acknowledge my autonomy as anyone else, that i have as much of a right to choose my own outcomes as anyone else, and in the process of doing so i find healing for a slew of personal handicaps that stretch far beyond the matter at hand, then so be it. do not politicize my ass
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kdinjenzen · 5 months
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Hi! Just wanted you to know I appreciated your nuanced take on Barbie. You raised some excellent points that I hadn’t considered, especially the mean dialogue. Don’t get me wrong I caught like, a few mean quips but I hadn’t registered that so much of the dialogue was mean. This is particularly concerning to me since I really dislike mean humor and I didn’t even clock it. I think I need to watch it again paying attention to it and doing some self introspection.
I really appreciated the trans point of view, which I also hadn’t considered, and I know often gets overlooked. I don’t necessarily think some of the things (trans doctor Barbie seduction thing) were consciously malicious choices, but that only speaks to the lack of awareness and knowledge of common trans experiences. Which can of course be just as harmful.
I just wanted to let you know I found your comments articulate, well thought out, and insightful and I hope you have a wonderful day/week/year/forever.
Love, ☔️
I really DON'T think they were trying to intentionally be as mean or malicious as they come across, I really DO think it was intended to be snappy and snarky as a way to clap back at things... but like... most of the people the movie is centered around are people who are hurting and they really end up hurting each other more than clapping back at the root cause of the problems.
So it all comes across as just... mean for the sake of "mean is funny."
And, yeah, there's a lot of movies/tv shows/content from the last forever (but especially the early 2000's to mid 2010's) that favored the "BE MEAN! IT'S FUNNY!" kind of comedy and I'd like to think that we've all grown away from that... but then again things like South Park, Family Guy, and Rick & Morty are all still super popular and all they do is bill themselves as "irreverent comedy" so I guess we, as society and people, haven't all grown that much together and it's more a "person-by-person" case.
For me, I used to really like irreverent comedy stuff way back when... and then I realized that it's not "irreverent" it's just fucking mean.
A lot of the clap backs and zingers in Barbie are like that. They're supposed to be snarky and irreverent, but tbh that's just, to paraphrase a certain show: "being mean with extra steps."
Seeing someone get actually hurt (emotionally, physically, etc) isn't really funny, seeing someone struggle and then have that not be resolved or fixed (in fiction) doesn't fill me with any positive feelings, seeing these escapism type of films that deal with "crashing down into reality" only for the lesson of reality to just be "HAHA! PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY MEAN! TAKE WHAT YOU CAN AND FUCK THE REST OF THEM!" isn't... good or fun or... I dunno... it just kinda sucks.
I went into Barbie really hopeful and expecting to enjoy my time with it, but it really just felt like "the same thing as every other movie that talks about this shit" but with a bright pink coating.
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