Luis as Don Quixote

Luis' affection for/continuing references to Don Quixote are one of my favorite little details in RE4make. We find several files that mention it was his favorite book as a child, and of course he brings it up in chapter 11, casting himself as Don Quixote (the "dashing" hero), Leon as Sancho Panza (the goofy sidekick), and Ashley as Dulcinea (the beautiful, kidnapped princess.)

For the uninitiated, Don Quixote is an early 17th century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes about a middle aged nobleman whose obsession with books leads him to become a "knight," setting out to live the romantic ideals of chivalry and make the world a better place. However, out of delusion or idealism bordering on delusion, he makes foolish mistakes and causes a lot of trouble (for instance, the famous "tilting at windmills" incident.) The novel is a parody of the chivalric stories popular at the time, and interpretations over the years vary on whether Don Quixote is a comedic or a tragic figure, whether we are meant to feel pity for him or view him as a fool and a menace to society.

RE4make shows us that a young Luis was inspired to become a scientist by the plaga infection and death of his grandfather, and set out on his career in the outside world with good intentions. But just like Don Quixote, his obsession and idealism led him to making mistakes, both in his work for Umbrella and his affiliation with Los Illuminados. Though it's implied Luis kept some kind of moral compass intact (he quit Umbrella even before everything went to hell, and he was working to undermine and counter Saddler for some time,) he feels responsible for the collateral damage wrought by his work and blames himself for not seeing his mistakes before it was too late to prevent them.

I just find the whole thing really poignant. Luis holds lifelong enthusiasm for a story about a man who wants to make the world a better place, but who screws up over and over again. Regardless, Don Quixote keeps trying, hoping he'll be able to live up to the hero he's always wanted to be. The "Man of La Mancha" Quixote himself never succeeds at this, eventually returning to his ordinary life and regretful of the harm he has caused.

Luis, on the other hand, really does become a hero. No matter his past actions and no matter how sketchy he acts, by the time he announces his partnership with Leon, Luis is fully committed to a cause greater than saving his own skin. He makes an ACTIVE CHOICE to help Leon and Ashley when it is completely at odds with his own survival, and when he has the means of his own rescue in hand. If he left with Ada as soon as he recovered the Amber, Luis would have lived longer-- but more than likely fallen right back into his same old mistakes and handed over a bioweapon to Wesker. Choosing to help Leon and Ashley seals his fate, but it unquestionably saves both of their lives-- not to mention leads to the chain of events that end Saddler and Los Illuminados, potentially saving the world.

Unlike Don Quixote, Luis does manage to become a hero in the end. And unlike the original game, RE4make acknowledges and remembers it long after he's already gone. Dr. Luis Serra Navarro really was a fine knight, and he really did save the day.

IF YOU ARE TO READ ONE MACBETH ESSAY READ "MACBETH: THE PRISONER OF GENDER" BY ROBERT KIMBROUGH

help, I am being hunted by the narrative. the narrative is chasing me down as I run through alleyways without abandon. the narrative is hot on my heels and I cannot outrun it; I can only move. help, the narrative has caught up with me, grasping claws digging into my arms and shoulder blades and raking down my back. help, I am being devoured by the narrative. oh god, help me. I was meant for so much more than this. I swear I was going to do so many wonderful things before the narrative spotted me and wouldn’t let me go. I would have been incredible if it weren’t for the narrative.

lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper. lord give me the strength to finish this paper.

TWELFTH NIGHT MAKES ME CRAZYYYYYYYY IT MAKES ME CRAZY

blah blah fanfic is an extremely valid artform and all that but you literally can tell when a writer ONLY reads fic and doesn’t read actual published books

sometimes I think people think "narrative parallels" means "exactly the same" and like...that's not the point, actually, the point with narrative parallels is that they're variations on a theme that are meant to illuminate something about each variation. a narrative parallel that is just a precise reiteration of another thing isn't saying anything. it's just redundant.

I've finished Nona the Ninth. Cried like a little bitch thank you. The people in this book just loved each other, strangely, deeply, truly, and I liked the first two books but this one made my heart flutter <3

[I can't stop thinking about how this was the first time that Harrow's body knew... genuine parental/friendly affection? Holding hands and hugs and braiding hair and dancing and forehead kisses. The body smiled and giggled freely. It pains me that Harrow was not in the body at all to feel it, but... You can't take loved away]

omg soldier, poet, king is NOT a Christian worship song

folks on tiktok being like YALL DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS ABOUT JESUS??? and "better take it off my dnd playlist now!!!"

it's not about jesus holy fuck, i mean, it is, but it isn't.

Dear Wormwood is a concept album that uses biblical symbolism to talk about an abusive relationship. The Oh Hellos have a whole ass THING about retelling stories (biblical, mythological etc) to use to deal with your own story which is like...a whole thing in storytelling anyway (the new testament is a monomyth yall, Hero's Journey 1.0, in that regard everything is biblical)

Dear Wormwood is put in the context of someone writing letters (inspired by The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis) to their abuser. "Soldier, Poet, King" is from the perspective of the protagonist, on the receiving end of the abuse, who (after the song "Exeunt") is escaping from the abuse and attempting to continue their life outside of it. The person who is the soldier, poet, king, is the protagonist. "your city" is the abusive relationship. "Wormwood" is the devil of this person's life.

If you look on Genius, yeah the story is about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In context? It's about the Second Coming of the protagonist. The rebirth they get after escaping.

The ending song of the album, "Thus Always to Tyrants", the last line of the album is

Where I go, will you still follow? Will you leave your shaded hollow? Will you greet the daylight looming? Learn to love without consuming?

The protagonist is attempting to mentally escape from the abuse, worried about carrying the trauma into the next relationship.

Soldier Poet King is not about Jesus. It's about fighting. It's about escaping the cycle of abuse. It's about the power that resides in stories, about people who have experienced this before and succeeded. It's about using those stories and learning from them.

Keep the shit on your dnd playlist, it's sort of the whole point.

it is so so interesting to me that one of the most popular forms of a Hallmark movie is that a woman is returning to her small town either for an emergency or because things didn't work out in The Big City™, and realizing that what she needed was in that small town all along

It's so rare that it's a man returning to his small town for any such reason

I'm just interested in what that may say culturally? Like, a woman leaving her home and family for the sake of her ambition

And either that ambition doesn't pan out, or despite her success, she's going to leave it behind because hometown dick is just that good

What does that say about a woman's ambition, and what script writers think an ambitious woman is most likely to regret and subsequently value? And furthermore, what does it say about the ability and ambition of the men in their stories? Does it tie into the "traditional American home/family values" (I am using the heaviest of quotes around that)? Or does it point toward the writers believing that men are more firm and certain in their choices and values? Or does it point to the idea that men have no ambition beyond their immediate lives?

I dunno. I'm just. I'm just thinking

I’ve noticed a pattern in fandom where people flock to stick Popular Characters into two extremes of morality: Popular Character has either never done anything wrong in their entire lives, or they’re a stinky bastard murder man but beloved regardless. People seem much more comfortable with characters who can easily slot into one of these two extremes. It’s the characters who fall somewhere in the middle that tend to freak people out.

There are some circles of fandom where people seem absolutely terrified at the prospect of a character who is good but makes questionable decisions, or who is bad but has a noble or admirable goal. Characters who don’t slot easily into “all good” or “all bad” end up getting their edges filed off so they fit one or the other. One character will have a past of truly dreadful sins ignored and washed clean by fandom at large, but another is villainized and has their actions nitpicked and misinterpreted to turn them irredeemable. Stereotypes and oversimplification turn complex characters into one-dimensional caricatures. This is annoying as shit, not only because it turns nuanced stories into thoughtless Goofus and Gallant-level morality fables, but it eventually devolves into fans judging each other for their opinions on fictional people.

Stories are a lot more interesting when characters are allowed to be multi-faceted; neither all good nor all bad. Even heroic characters have flaws and can have bad opinions, bad ideas, or just plain make mistakes. And even the worst and most despicable villains are more interesting if there is some level of relatability to them, some glimmer of understandable motivation or human emotion in their actions or beliefs.

In conclusion, everyone is entitled to like or dislike characters for their own reasons, but my problematic favs are the best, actually, so there.

Time to title my budding "LGBT themes in Shakespeare plays and poetry" essay

"A closet never pierced with crystal eyes: queer theory in Shakespeare"

Now I'm normally a big defender of the "Tom really does love Shiv" argument, but god, that scene on Logan's stairs in the last episode might be the single most manipulative thing we've seen Tom do.

Like, his whole thing this episode is that he's trying to ingratiate himself to everyone he can. Logan was his support and Logan is dead, so Tom is hanging out with the suits and trying to throw his hat in the CEO ring. He's going on about "living to serve" them. He's sneaking off to suck up to Roman and Ken. And then there's his scene with Shiv.

And like I said, I'm usually a big defender of Tom's love for Shiv. I think he originally fell in legitimate love with her as much as he was social climbing, and I think that the story he told on the stairs was about something genuine. The past Tom that sent Shiv handwritten letters and asked her constantly to tell him "yes" sure wouldn't have minded getting close to the big boss's daughter, but he also did all that because he loved her.

But on the stairs? When he tells the story? He is still so deeply in "ingratiate myself" mode. He needs someone on his side in Waystar, and the best way to do that would be to make Shiv fall in love with or depend on him again. So he goes to her and pulls out the sweet romance and reminds her of the past. He says "hey, remember when you were going through a hard time and I made it good for you? remember when you fell for me and depended on me for support?" And the unspoken words behind the words are "hey, I see you're going through a hard time now, and I could be all that for you again. Don't you want that?"

He knows she wants the divorce and she's made it pretty clear that things are emotionally over, but he's trying to pull her back in while she's vulnerable.

I doubt Tom sat in a room somewhere and thought the words, "I will take advantage of my wife's emotional vulnerability," but when he went up to her and followed his instincts toward what might make her want to take him back again, that's exactly what he did.

what if we were back to back in the american literature syllabus 😳 (reading melville after hawthorne)

guess the plot of my thesis but i only give you the footnotes

Helllo i Love your art more than i love donuts and thats ALLOT.but my boy lucifer can have babys,like i dont even know how that works!make it make sense! I just wanna say thank you again for curing are boredom👍🏻

You are SO right that is high praise indeed! I'm honored! =D So here. Have a donut! 🍩🍩🍩 As for Luci, let us turn to the world's favorite 700k+ words old man fanfiction that is The Bible (tm) as according to their lore, it's been canonically stated that angels are genderless for they are beings made of the Pure Holy Spirit and- Holy SHIT! What do you know??? Our dear depressed duck dad was an angel himself and in some depictions Lilith is infertile as was her punishment for her freedom! The more you know! -Bubbly💙

(LMAO. My guy's been traumatized. Once is enough XD)