#consume media critically! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

messiahzzz · 4 months

Text

i do wonder why fandom is so insistent on proving that "gale could eventually change his mind" when it comes to fatherhood.

if children are something you ideally want in your romance - that is completely valid and luckily for you, there are several romance options in the game that can provide just that. wyll, lae'zel, and halsin. even shadowheart briefly mentions that children might be a possibility for her in the future. 4 options total that either already have entire adoption subplots or are open to the idea.

meanwhile, fandom is bending over backwards, bringing up aspects of gale's arc that are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand and claiming that any statement coming from gale or any boundary he sets should forever be questioned because... "he has been known to have inferiority issues"?!

gale is a character who is very likely in his 40s. he isn't some 20-something college boy who is still trying to figure everything out. i personally never felt like there was any point in the context of gale's relationship with tav where he was unsure about his desires. quite the contrary.

gale is also very vocal about what he wants. not wasting any time in proposing to tav after the big bad had been defeated. i am pretty sure there would have been instances where gale expressed his desire to have children (whether that may mean immediate or somewhere down the line) if larian had intended to include this aspect in his romance as well.

...but instead all we have to go on when it comes to the subject of children in general are lines like these:

player: gale... how would you feel about having another person in our relationship?

gale: what, like a child? i'm not quite sure i'd consider myself father material, plus our current lifestyle isn't exactly what i'd call settled...

tara: this is why mrs. dekarios and i will be waiting an eternity more for grandchildren.

gale: psst! shoo, tara.

nodecontext: shooing away tara like one would a naughty cat.

gale, upon spotting oliver during their game of hide and seek: ah, i have you! just a shame i don't want you.

EDIT:

adding for clarification

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #by all means go wild with your headcanons #no ones stopping you #but recognize that they are ooc and merely self-indulgent #dad!gale #it speaks #fandom critical #on a different note: a good majority of media out there follows the usual marriage-nuclear-family trope #if you're into that sort of thing you'll likely never run out of content to consume #and here we have one (1) character who expresses no such desires #and yet fandom is still so insistent that: Akshually no. he should feel the same.#perhaps controversial but imo gale is for the cf gang

257 notes · View notes

4ggravation · 10 months

Text

the fact that people consistently forget/don't acknowledge the fact that vivienne medrano has been proven to be abusive and shitty towards her animators multiple times infuriates me to no end

#believe abuse victims until their abuser makes your favorite show #yall are fucking disgusting #oh and her racism #and transphobia #and ableism #shes just generally a shitty person #but her dickriders whove never consumed another piece of queer media in her life say that shes the messiah of adult animation #fuck vivienne medrano #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #anti spindlehorse #anti vivziepop

229 notes · View notes

xinyuehui · 8 months

Text

Hua Gongzi ‖ First Apperance

143 notes · View notes

bandtrees · 2 years

Text

one of the most infuriating things i’ve realized about fandom spaces lately to me has been some people’s inability to just trust a story and engage with its premise and what it’s trying to express. “canon sucks i can do it better lol!!!” is one of the most annoying attitudes to me and i do kinda hate how prevalent it’s gotten (in actually good polished media that isn’t to be engaged with like that)

like between people who read things in as bad a faith as possible and ceaselessly criticize things they supposedly like, and people who only care about media for the sake of making cookie cutter self-indulgent fandom content, it feels sometimes like the most controversial thing you can do in a fandom is “actually liking the source material for what it is”

#babbles #like yeah aus n such are fun but sometimes i see things in fandoms that make me like ‘do you even LIKE the source material anymore???’#‘just make ocs man!!!’#rewatches of source materials should be mandatory people go too insane when they start forgetting what they’re engaging with #to say nothing of the very specific phenomena of. intentional bad faith readings of media #like people who went too damn hard in ‘be critical of what you consume’ and just look SO. MISERABLE. What About Having Fun!#like as a former dr fan. dr fans. is it great No i outgrew dr. but i think it’s better to accept outgrowing it than being #the most miserable ‘fan’ ever like UUUGHH THIS SUCKS WHY DO I LIKE IT ITS SO BAAADDD UUGGHHH #and criticizing it 24/7 like i don’t like dr much anymore but there’s a very specific… Type of dr fan #where im like ‘ykno you can just leave if you hate it so bad?’#no need to self flagellate over it just accept you either like something kinda mediocre or just move on nobody’s keepin ya here

1K notes · View notes

mysticalcoffeequeen · 4 months

Text

Nothing can ever be “fine” anymore in media. There is a demand for constant greatness. If a game isn’t expansive and visually breathtaking like Baulders Gate or God of War, it’s pushed to the side. If a film isn’t super bold with its animation & storytelling like Spiderverse, it’s “mediocre”. A professional digital artist has noticeable flaws in their work, it’s publicly scrutinized & dismissed as AI. There are good pieces media people have worked hard on and made for the sake of being entertaining, not epic or game changing, just a nice way to pass time, but nowadays that’s just called “mediocrity” because of this demand to have our expectations constantly surpassed! We relish in how the bar has been set ridiculously high & punish those who don’t reach it for our satisfaction.

#Society is unfair to people working in media #we demand more and better like children #without pausing to understand what and how much goes into it #I recall a studio that tried to keep up with Baulders Gate because of pressure #they went bankrupt #and gamers blamed them for not doing enough #a lot of shit goes into the art you consume #just because it doesn’t knock your socks off but also doesn’t suck #doesn’t mean it’s bad full stop #learn to enjoy media without this expectation #see how much fun you have #my thoughts #movies #media #video games #gamers #media criticism #trends

71 notes · View notes

teruthecreator · 11 months

Text

(tw for racism, pedophilia, transphobia, child impregnation mention)

yeah idk why y'all read this

i was originally going to just post this and have some tags with my reasonings, but i realized that opens me up to too much bullshit from people who may think i'm being unnecessarily mean or whatever. so i'm going to explain exactly why the screenshots above are something i hold issue with.

firstly, and i just want to get this out of the way, this post is not intended to be a hit piece against the creator. i've seen how she reacts to any mild-mannered or slightly joking criticism, so i know this post is probably going to not land well. but it isn't my intention to make her mad or anything--she's writing a piece of content for the internet, which means she is just as open to criticism as any other poster. and what i intend to go into in this post is criticism. i'm allowed to do this, as that is the nature of the internet. people are allowed to critique whatever they please, and if you don't want critique then you shouldn't post. simple as!

i am also making no attempts to posit myself as better than the creator. i'm not doing this for clout or moral superiority or any of that dumb shit. i simply want to discuss something that's been bothering me for a bit, while simultaneously warning people who haven't read this yet (who may be sensitive to the issues above) to steer clear. if things like casual racism or transphobia aren't properly tagged, then readers who are affected by such things run a risk reading this! same goes with people who are triggered by lewd content involving minors. i wanna make sure people are getting a more critical scope of this work than what has been hoisted up by others.

okay, now that i've gotten that out of the way, i'm going to get into my points.

firstly, the subtle and not-so-subtle racism throughout this fic, especially in relation to serizawa. i'm white, so there is only so much i can speak on without trampling over the words of other fans of color, but some of this feels so blatant it's odd it hasn't been noted earlier. it's important to note before i go into it that serizawa is specifically written as half-black half-japanese for this fic, in case the screenshots don't make it abundantly clear. but there are just too many moments of casual racism in this fic. i'm not talking about the plot point of serizawa being bullied as a kid for being mixed; i'm not mixed, so i can't speak on the accuracy there but it is well-known that black people face a lot of racism in japan. i'm talking about how it seems everyone else has these racist moments that aren't acknowledged by serizawa or the narration as being bad.

reigen hypothesizing over serizawa's exact ethnic background is just strange. yes he's a fairly observant guy (he has to be, with his job), but there is no canonical evidence to suggest he would immediately jump to theorizing whether serizawa is american or not. and the way it's posed in that first quote--"he has darker skin and the kind of hair texture that would likely indicate African ancestry"--is not great. that's an extremely inappropriate way to bring up someone's race. i don't think most people would stare at someone and be like "hmmm well your nose shape and hair texture would suggest you're of this race". it's racial essentialization that is only slightly covered up by the excuse of "oh he tweets in english". there are some other smaller moments of questionable wording, like calling serizawa's afro "sloppy" when it isnt (which btw there's another issue with the creator only referring to an afro as a "fro". it's a hairstyle; you're allowed to use the actual name of it). even if reigen cuts his hair in canon, he never states it's because serizawa's afro looks sloppy. (also there's something to be said about the casual racism baked into making your employee cut his natural hairstyle for a job, as that is a very real issue many black people face when wearing their natural hair or even protective styles in the workplace.)

i'm especially bothered by toichiro's very casual racist remarks. toichiro in this fic is a general bother of mine (most of which can be boiled down to "he would not fucking say that"), but the way she chooses to characterize him in relation to serizawa feels gross. calling a black man a slave should be a very obvious red flag, but also saying serizawa (again, as a black man) has a "brutal masculine appeal" is also extremely stereotypical and racist. and really there is just no need for it; toichiro's actions in canon prove how shitty of a guy he is without the need for him to be racist (along with other things i'll get to in a bit). as my girlfriend put it: he doesn't need to be a member of the fucking kkk to show he's a bad guy.

there's also, again, the very casual racist remark of calling serizawa a "dog". i don't care if that isn't the intent; when you are writing a character of color you need to be aware of your wording, even in insults (unless she intended to make tsuchiya racist, which i don't think she did).

secondly, the eugenics/child pregnancy bit. it is surreal to even have to write this, but i seriously do not understand the purpose of either of these bits in the story. they are so minor yet so jarring you can't help but wonder why they're there. once again, i do not think you need to have toichiro doing esper eugenics just to prove he is an evil guy. he has nuance, and by making him casually reference child pregnancy (like that isn't an INSANE thing to say) reduces that nuance to nothing. that's the only reason i could see why that bit was included: to make toichiro look worse. but, even still, the author is running the risk of potentially triggering victims of csa or people who don't want to see that by not properly tagging the mention of it (or, at the very least, warning readers in the intro notes). the only other explanation for it would maybe be shock factor??? but that's a pretty shitty thing to use for shock factor, if i'm honest. also the fact that the esper eugenics was referenced again in a more recent chapter just has me very disturbed and confused. there isn't a canonical explanation for why we see less espers who are women than espers who are men, but that doesn't mean we need to jump to fucking Eugenics. it's weird!

thirdly (and this is probably one of my biggest problems and the main reason i wanted to make this post), the weirdly lewd/sexual language shou uses constantly, along with referring to reigen as a pedo or a creep at several points. frankly, i think it's pretty fucking gross for someone in their near-40's to be writing a 12-year-old talking so casually about sex like that's normal. which, i'm sorry, but it's not. yes, teens know about sex and like to joke about lewd shit. but a 12-year-old is not about to make references to a grown man's virginity. 12-year-olds draw dicks on their desk bc they think it's funny. 12-year-olds say the word "buttfuck" because it has the words "butt" and "fuck" in it, and those are the two funniest words on earth to a kid that age. i literally do not understand the purpose of having shou be so lewd all the time. for one, it doesn't make sense for his character. shou is shown time and time again to be extremely mature for his age, but that maturity extends to shit like assembling a counter-terrorism unit and extending a hand to his father to allow him to try again. and even then he's still just as naive as any other kid his age! the omake where he's telling his guys to go to the "far right corner" based on ritsu’s advice proves that he still has plenty of blindspots that are indicative of his age. leaning into this raunchy, lewd version of shou is just weird. and, again, i think it is made a bit weirder given the author's age!!! not ageshaming or whatever--i'm 23 and i write fanfic, clearly i cannot judge there--but it is just extremely inappropriate in my opinion. also having shou be more versed in sextalk than serizawa is odd too and speaks to a larger issue of serizawa's infantilzation throughout this fic, but that's something i can get into in another post if people want an explanation.

also, the way she constantly calls reigen a creep and even has him being accused of being a pedophile during the twitter cancellation is extremely inappropriate when, again, there is NO CANONICAL BASIS FOR THIS! everyone just calls him a fraud and a scammer during separation arc; there is never a reference to reigen being seen as a pedophile in that arc. and, yes, while there are versions of mob psycho where reigen is very clearly written as a creep (looking very specifically at the netflix adaptation), that doesn't mean it's good. honestly, the creep mentions all just feel like really poor jokes that do not land in the slightest.

finally, the transphobia (aka WHY IS SHIMAZAKI A CHASER). i literally do not know what else to say other than: why? why is this a thing? why is he a chaser? what is the purpose of this? is it a joke? i feel like it's supposed to be, but seeing as the author is cis i don't think that's a joke she should really be making. it not only comes out of left field, but it's just kind of a weird thing to ascribe to a character for no reason. not to mention, it's uncomfortable! trans women deal with enough creepy antics from cis men in real life--why must they be accosted by this guy too? it's just weird and uncomfortable.

i wanna round out this post by saying, once again, that i'm not trying to attack anyone with this post. but i do hope people come away from this with a new perspective on this work, and maybe think twice before recommending it uncritically to someone. to the author specifically, i hope you can read my post without rage or indignance blinding you. i might be a little blunt or rude in parts, but it's only because i'm passionate and i don't mince my words when it comes to things i'm passionate about. to the readers, understand i am not judging you for reading this fic without noticing these things. your own life experiences will give you certain blindspots and there's nothing wrong with that. i have plenty of blindspots of my own! it's what makes us human.

there is more i could say, but this post is long enough. i ask that if you come to me in my inbox or in dms about this that you treat me with respect, as i will do that for you. writing something like this took a lot out of me, as i'm usually not so open about my opinion on shit like this.

have a good day :-)

#mp100 #side quest #yeah this is all from <- that fic btw #ive been sitting on this for about a week or so bc ive been nervous abt posting something like this #i dont want people to think im making a callout post just to call shit out #im doing this bc i dont want people to get triggered by this content and because i want fans to be more critical of the content they consum #media literacy is something A LOT of fandoms struggle with and it leads to things being praised uncritically #i simply want people to have perspective when going into a thing #anyways uh. goodbye <3 #edit: took the tw tags off bc tumblr was suppressing the post bc of it #so PLEASE heed the warning at the top if u have specific triggers and things

148 notes · View notes

gorgeousgreymatter-x · 1 year

Text

hi hello if you read books or fanfiction or consume media with the express intent to find something problematic to be upset about idk how to tell you my buddy my friend my guy but the problem is u

#you can consume media and fiction with a critical eye that is not what i am saying here #but if you explicity come in to it with bad faith intentions you are simply never going to have a good time #pro library #pro fiction #anti anti #fandom discourse #anti booktok #booktok #pro ao3 #anti censorship

368 notes · View notes

artyapplebee · 6 months

Text

Juggling fandoms like a professional Tumblr clown rn

#hyperfixation #i feel insane #if consuming medias was a sport I wouldn't be allowed #the amazing digital circus #helluva boss #warrior nun #osemanverse #heathers #harlivy #supercorp #critical role #bells hells #valorant #okay i'll shut up now #there is too many

79 notes · View notes

dindjarindiaries · 7 months

Text

Another reminder that it's completely normal to have enjoyed The Mandalorian season 3 but also have frustrations about certain elements of it

#it's called consuming media critically! you can like it and still not like parts about it #the mandalorian

62 notes · View notes

cicadaknight · 9 months

Text

okay i have more (critical) barbie thoughts under the cut.

i really did enjoy it overall. it was fun, cheeky, surreal. i loved the experience of watching it in an energetic theater. i even cried a couple times. but i’m baffled at how powerful it was for so many people when it fell so flat for me. honestly, maybe what i’m feeling is just because i’m trans and it didn’t resonate as strongly with my experience of womanhood or masculinity.

i keep coming across people using gloria’s monologue to dismiss criticism by saying “anyone saying barbie isn’t feminist enough are doing the exact thing gloria pointed out! women have to be perfect but it’s just never good enough!” Y’ALL. having issues with a high-budget, corporate funded movie that has the same milquetoast girl-power messaging you’d find in teen mags from the early 2000s… is not the same as oppressing women under patriarchy. you can critique media and still resonate with aspects of it. good grief.

another response i’ve seen to critiques (specifically of gloria’s monologue) is that the movie’s messages are meant for barbie herself! not for the audience! it had to be super tame and generic because otherwise barbie wouldn’t have understood! all those speeches and ideas are aimed solely at barbie who is learning about all of this for the first time! it’s not for you if you already get it! what?????? that’s not how media works and you know it.

also, the idea that it’s meant to be palatable for a “wider audience” so it couldn’t have included intersectionality without losing people. translation: “wider audience” means white suburbia? white men? cishet people? where the most “representation” they can tolerate is a 3 second clip of a voiceless barbie in a wheelchair dancing? or a black president barbie who mostly says one liners and disappears? a wider audience being the same audience every blockbuster is catered towards?

i’m just spit balling here, but i don’t think it would have been impossible to introduce some unironic nuances like:

america’s latinx character experiencing sexism differently from stereotypical barbie?

maybe not using mount rushmore repeatedly to symbolize who’s in power?

avoiding comparing bringing patriarchy to barbieland to indigenous genocide?

a harsher perspective on mattel’s role in all this? where the outcome isn’t just will farrell’s character griping that he doesn’t even want to be in charge, he just wants to be tickled? (wtf was that lmao)

making a more obvious statement that patriarchy isn’t just a symptom of men stumbling across power and relishing it but that it’s rooted in violent white supremacy and capitalism? i’m positive there’s a way to address that without going full blown academic feminist theory mode.

having the black, fat, and disabled characters speak more than 5 collective minutes? (but at least they had screentime at all, right? ✨representation✨)

explicitly queer characters instead of “weird barbie” and allan being coded as the outsiders to an otherwise regimented cishet universe?

but all those ideas are irrelevant, right? because the movie was just SOOO self aware and layered in irony and if i was smart enough and hadn’t missed the point, i’d know the writers were in on it all.

#barbie spoilers #barbie #barbie criticism #h #okay one last vent #it’s wild to me that people are like ‘no one picks apart movies made by men like this! it’s because everyone hates women!’#creative work made by women is often more heavily scrutinized than work by men #so i think it's necessary to keep that idea of undue scrutiny in mind as we consume media #but at the same time it's not a reason to just avoid engaging with women's work critically #am i losing it?#i’m losing it #also specifically with movies like barbie #if they're going to very openly and specifically address patriarchy and misogyny to make a statement about them #would it not make sense that those themes would be at the front and center of criticism?

77 notes · View notes