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aropride · 1 year

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NO SERIOUSLY hp fans will hear "jk rowling is bad and theres a lot of racism in the series" and then go and defend that its not racist because of the blood purity aspect and how it "deconstructs that" when it literally never does and do you HEAR YOURSELF YOURE TALKING ABOUT BLOOD PURITY. POINT A AND POINT B ARE RIGHT THERE AND YOURE NOT CONNECTING THEM.

sorry as a former fan of the series and a trans person with reading comprehension ive had to have way too many conversations about hp recently and its driving me up a wall. merry christmas ^_^

hi im late answering this sorry i went 2 eat dinner and then forgot to respond BUT LITERALLY!!! i watched shaun's harry potter video last night and there is SO much racism in that series- way more than i remembered and i remembered a LOT. like. the fucking house elves just in general and how hermione is treated as an annoyance for saying "hey maybe we should not keep a certain race as slaves and treat them as inferior and say they like being slaves" and how the slavery and bigotry and general shittiness of the system of the wizarding world isnt resolved at all but it "ends happily ever after" like NO IT DOESNT? not for anyone but the white main characters who become cops and shit because those systems of oppression are still in place after the series ends and that's. framed as a good thing? because jkr is like, incapable of realizing that sometimes The Whole System needs to change rather than just the people in charge. and you'd think it'd be pretty easy to figure that out when the system is literally built on slavery and racism, but. well she's racist and just an idiot, so.

it's like she knows "racism is wrong" and "bigotry is wrong" as statements and tries to show that in her work by having, like, a muggle-born wizard do well in classes, or a strong woman who's still feminine or whatever, or having the wizard racists be the bad guys, but she doesn't understand WHY racism and bigotry are wrong and awful so she ends up supporting those things in every other aspect of the narrative that isn't a direct intentional allegory for those things and half the time also when it is!

like idk i read the books the first time when i was 10 or so and even then i was like. "hey why is slave labor glamorized in this kid's book i'm reading? that's kinda fucked up!" or like "it's kinda weird that sometimes the Good Guys do fucked up stuff but it's fine because they're Good, isn't doing a bad thing still bad if you're on the good side?" or "why are characters being fat treated as something that makes them a Bad Person / a signifier that they are Bad People" or again: Why is there slavery in the wizard books! why is it rationalized with "they like being slaves" and "they're sad if they can't be slaves!" or "tricking them into not being slaves would be more cruel than enslaving them in the first place" (<- real thing that was on the pottermore website !)

side note, but why was jkr trynig to talk about things like slavery and racism and blood purity and nazi ideology in a fantasy series meant for children anyway. that feels.. incredibly unnecessary and weird. <- leaving this in for transparency but someone sent me an ask that made me rethink this & i do think it's important for those subjects to be addressed in fiction, even fiction meant for children, as they're already experiencing those things & sheltering them does them a disservice. jkr approached it very badly and the story would have been better off without her attempt at exploring it but in general it's not a bad things to address those things in fiction

and not to mention the way most of the characters who weren't white and british were stereotypical caricatures and even their fucking names-- kingsely shacklebolt, anthony goldstein, and cho chang come to mind-- that speaks for itself, really

and the antisemitism that's present through all of the books. the blood purity and the fucking goblins.. jkr why are your goblins identical to antisemitic caricatures and why do they run the underground banks, answer quick and then kill yourself please! like maybe it wasn't intentional but it's still incredibly fucked up and to my knowledge she hasn't spoken about it or apologized at all.

and that's not even to mention the transphobia. which is only slightly present in the books (Bad People who are women are depicted with masculine traits fairly frequently) but as we all know jkr is a raging transphobe with far too much influence over trans legislation in britain and believes everyone who supports her work supports her transphobia. also she allies with far-right activists and people who ally with the far-right far too frequently like literally any of that should cause people to want to drop her and harry potter in general

though even if that weren't a factor at all. personally i wouldn't want to support or engage with hp at all because of All The Racism. and fatphobia and abuse apologism and ableism and misogyny and antisemitism and homophobia and queer baiting and Oh Yeah, the racism again! like i'm embarassed to have ever been a fan of it and supported it like genuinely idk why i was comfortable engaging with it despite All Of That. granted i didnt pick up on everything when i was 10-12 but even the stuff i did understand as a kid was gross and i wish i'd stopped reading it and engaging with it the second i realized that

sorry for writing an entire essay there is a lot to hate abt that damn series !and merry christmas LOL may you never have to hear about hp ever again 🙏

(ID: two dark red banners with black text meant to look like it's dripping. the first reads "harry potter fans fuck off" and the second reads "ter-fs fuck off too". end ID)

#do u like my banners im not bothering to censor this so they are my first line of defense against wizard book likers #second line is Well i shan't say but it would get me suspended on twitter for threats or something probably #ask #sinsear-aisteach #anti harry potter #racism tw #slavery tw #nazi tw #transphobia tw #hp tw #fuck jkr

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dasakuryo · 1 year

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Hey Ai! Just wanted to say that I feel like And*r made many og Cassian stans leave or be far from the fandom because of all the discourse with new fans doesn’t accepting any criticism of the show and it’s quite sad… I still love Rogue One and Cassian but it feels like everyone adores And*r and we are wrong for not liking some points

Che, nonnie, let me smother you into a hug! My heart goes out to you 🫂 I am fed up with those so called fans that are so dense they can't understand what we og Cassian fans are actually complaining about is the constant belittling, undermining and general mistreatment Cassian gets from his own show's narrative at every turn, when he's supposed to be the focus of said show. Mistreatment and general nonsense that, by the way, completely obliterate the depth, weight, and importance his character had in Rogue One.

It hurts ten times more when this 'And0r cannot be criticised under any circumstance' attitude comes from people who actually argued back then that Cassian's character in RO was a breath of fresh air, and highly important due to both his characterization and what he represented allegory-wise. They don't seem to realise, or refuse to realise at this point who knows, that the nonsensical retcons and the butchering of Cassian's characterization and core traits ruin all of that.

I will always say this, And0r brings forth amazing and very necessary messages and allegories that makes us reflect about RL, AND YET they shouldn't have been done at the expense of Cassian's characterization and story —his actual backstory, which I refuse to call the og backstory on principle for what Cassian's character stands for, were fitting and necessary as well. These two arguments aren't mutually exclusive or cancel each other out, both can coexist at the same time, but many people are allergic to acknowledging there are perfectly valid criticisms of And0r, not just in terms of narrative consistency but also allegory- and representation-wise.

#and0r critical #ai responde #see that I am redacting the show's name because I don't want this to show up in the tags #if people enjoyed the show good for them but not everyone is able to handwave what they did to Cassian and his characterization #we could have had badass older Latina rebel as Cassian mum and instead we got that 🤮 storyline with M**rva

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hopeymchope · 3 years

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hey, sorry to barge into your inbox despite being a total stranger (and feel free to respond to this privately if you want) but i came across some of your s/n/k critical posts and i just wanted to say i agree SO much. and i wanted to thank you for vocalizing this opinion because i know both i and some others agree with you. i've personally felt that everything after chapter 80 was a mistake (because i thought the whole serum fight over erwin vs armin was pretty fuckin stupid too) and it's kinda funny (i guess) to see the ending 100% validate my opinion completely. i can't believe every character was done this dirty for the sake of a very poorly constructed "both sides are bad" scenario that was also in VERY poor taste considering the explicit allegories to n*zi germany and a literal race war. like what's up with the jews - sorry, the "eldians" - once ruling the entire world via a bloodthirsty empire and also being inhuman creatures? gee, that sure doesn't sound like every antisemitic conspiracy theory i've ever heard. and way to rationalize oppression, too. the entire point of an oppression narrative is supposed to be "hey, the oppressor's prejudices have no rational basis and are literally mistreating this oppressed group due to their own selfishness and cruelty," not "oh btw marley's fear/hatred of eldians kinda makes sense considering eldians once enslaved the entire planet and can turn into giant man-eating monsters." is*yama SERIOUSLY should've just stuck to writing glorified vore lmao.

and while all the characters were either killed, turned into plot devices, or both, it hurts that EMA and the main protag himself suffered this treatment as well. i still think pre-timeskip eren is utterly irreconciliable with post-timeskip eren and the fact that both fans and the author himself try to make it seem like "hey he was ALWAYS a batshit crazy psychopath from the start!" is sort of pathetic to watch. like yeah, lemme just ignore the first 80 chapters of character development for this guy. or lemme pretend that the author didn't spend the significant majority of the decade making eren the most empathetic character in the entire series. or let me also pretend that eren killing those human traffickers to save a 9 year old girl from being a child sex slave is somehow evidence/foreshadowing/etc of him eventually growing up to destroy 80% of the planet. like, what? not to mention he even rebuked himself for recklessly killing those two men like that in chapter 17...so am i supposed to ignore that too?? and don't even get me started on the "eren went insane and accidentally caused his mom's death." bro. BRO. i've watched the entirety of game of thrones yet i STILL have never seen this level of "edgy plot twist for shock value with no benefit or relevance to the story whatsoever" in any media to exist.

well anyway...sorry for ranting in your inbox like this LMAO i really just wanted to tell you that i agree with your opinions about both the series ending and the series as a whole. i doubt i'll ever engage with this cursed manga ever again but at least pre-chapter 80 s/n/k will always be a thing and i can pretend they all got reincarnated into a modern AU where eren and mikasa are happily married and living with their bff armin in a nice condo or something. they alternate between visiting carla and grisha or mikasa's family on weekends. yeah that sounds pretty good. if you made it this far then kudos to you and thank you for reading lol

Thanks a ton for the kind words of commiseration. It feels like there’s a plurality of people who are unhappy, sure... but it comes off as still being a minority, and even among that minority, it seems like most people are still fine with most of the timeskip so long as they stuck the landing. But I think they were much too far off-course pretty fast after the Timeskip started to really correct it very well. It was possible, but the writing was on the wall. The intentions were already clear pretty early on after the skip.

That said, I try to keep this Tumblr mostly positive and DR-focused, yet I still absolutely had to rant about SNK 139. The more I thought about it, the more I disliked it... and this comes from someone who was already unhappy for a while, obviously, so. Yeah. Of course I was gonna dislike it on some level, but I thought it’d at least provide closure to the Timeskip arc, even if I do think the Timeskip arc feels at odds with everything else the series was for 3/4 of its run.

And HOLY SHIT I literally forgot about the Eldians’ history of apparently being horrible, vicious rulers of a sinister empire. You know why? Because I NEVER BELIEVED IT. I was so 100% certain that it was going to be outed as bullshit propaganda from Marley that I never once thought it was plausible, so I just... pushed it out of my mind as soon as I read it. After all, all that kind of talk about the arch-conspiracy of Jews has always been total bullshit from anti-semetic monsters, so why would I put any stock in this kind of talk being applied to the Jewish race of Attack on Titan?

But now, at the end of the story... yup, I guess he never DID go back on that! So it was fucking true?! The Jewish people in this WWII analogy were apparently an evil master race at one point?! Oh. OHHHHH. Go fuck yourself with a shovel for that one, Isayama.

And yeah, Eren... god, what a sad story. He becomes unrecognizable as the same character thanks to the Timeskip, the new characterization is never explained or justified retroactively - it’s just opposite day now, forever - and he dies accomplishing nothing. I don’t know what to say, except I do know how much I loved that character and this series before things went south. I didn’t even mind the backstory for the Titans and the horrible story of Eldians in Marley... because it seemed so obvious that it was setting up a battle against a hateful, technologically advanced foe that was beyond the darkness of anything they’d fought before, y’know? Marley, as it was set up in the flashbacks before the Timeskip, is Nazi Germany if the Nazis had tech and scientific horrors and numbers far beyond what the Allies had. And nobody EVER feels bad for killing Nazis, so this was obviously going to be a final battle to destroy the Marleyan military, with Zeke likely to serve as a Final Boss who has totally 100% bought the propaganda and who hated everything Eren stood for. It was all RIGHT THERE. Maybe it was just too easy to tell that story, because instead, Zeke is suddenly supposed to be a gray character (very hard to accept given his backstory), and we end with the “uwu both sides were bad bc war is hell” message that is really pretty fucked up, as you already correctly pointed out.

#snk 139 #aot 139 #snk spoilers #aot spoilers #negativity #snk negativity #aot negativity #snk ending #AOT ending

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sleepynegress · 5 years

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WATCHMEN thoughts from a black woman fan...

Thought I’d do a quick rundown on all the eps so far, because this show has so much to chew on...

And TBH, I am starved for a perspective that isn’t a smug white dude yelling “I CALLED IT!!” (yeah, fool that’s what good storytelling does *purposely* lay out crumbs on the path!) or “ugh, too lib.” The fact that we have this wonderful internet or a mass forum, means we lose the organic first watch experience that I remember from back in the day. So, too many try to outsmart shows by cheating and then smugly pat themselves on the back for “getting it”. I’m saying, the point isn’t the twist or the gotcha. The point is good storytelling, which this show does ably. So relax. You don’t get a cookie for “calling it” and you won’t get lambasted as stupid for not seeing it. Just. Enjoy. The show. ANYWAY... You know I gotta put it beneath a cut and bullet it because my scatter-brain lays out things easier that way....

First LINDELOF?! I mean LOST was okay and now I feel like I need to make a beeline to The Leftovers, because acting, writing, visuals, plot, food for the brain... All. here. in a genre (which you know is my favorite) package.

I picked up a copy of WATCHMEN on a whim waaay back in 2006 (?) in a dusty used book store I used to frequent to just chill in my corner and read a stack. And I remember having the exact same feeling reading it then *galaxy brain food entertainment goodness* as I’m having with this show...but sadly didn’t have with the movie. The fact that people came away stanning the “heroes”? Was a symptom of how wrong Snyder got it.

So, setting up this series sequel as a different type of hero deconstruction, using blackness, especially given how fandom swerves to ignore all the story cues to stan a white villain...is a BRILLIANT way to make certain the show keeps the essence of what WATCHMEN is about. Basically, Lindelof used blackness and race as his own Trieu empathy bomb for what WATCHMEN is actually about. It’s harder to stan Rorschach as a symbol for white supremacy

....I’m saying... white men ain’t supposed to be good at this... Hey, IDK maybe being Jewish helps...wow. he actually is handling the all the layers of black experience allegory and ancestral memory/trauma *soooo* damn well.

*whew!* So Yahya, is this gorgeous, amazingly smart black actor who is picking some interesting projects!! He’s like MBJ, w/o the anime hotep taint, in terms of projects he’s picking. LOVED this reveal.

Someone posted that they wanted that whole centuries of longing love cliche with a black woman centered... *whelp* How about one better, where time don’t even exist??

It must be re-iterated that the work and thought put into all the easter eggs of connections is just so much hand-rubbingly, awesome, world-building and minutiae food for fans... and most especially and uniquely... “empathy” in the black experience... such as...

the existence of an actual 70′s blaxploitation movie called, and I shit you not: Abar, the First Black Superman

Her husband being Cal (as in Kal -El)

Laurie always thinking Cal is fine, because her subconscious knew!

Her blue dildo being from a company called Excalibur, --Ex. Cal Abar

Cal’s very straight conversation about atheism with the kids

Cal’s eternal calm

the much more resonant imbued meaning in Hooded Justice’s costume now that he’s actually black

the fact that this show went there, when it comes to specifically, white gays and a twist on that Paul Mooney quote “Everybody wanna be [in with] a nigga but don’t nobody wanna be a nigga.”

the latest with... intra-racial dynamics with non-white people, whiteness and assimilation being touched on with that flash of nostalgia-hazed memory of Angela seeing Will being bagged at the same moment as the bomber who killed her parents... which I think foreshadows both the common cause and complicated morality of Trieu’s ultimate cooperative plan with Will Reeves.

REALLY all of the nostalgia flashes have meaning...they are all narrative underlines for character motives and hints of what is to come.

UM!!! That elephant is such spot-on symbolism because the real Lady Trieu was said to have ridden a white one, and because all the things they say about elephants and memory are true... 10 pound brains, people (but I did not like seeing an elephant in that state)

Okay... so back to the show: Looking Glass remains the most trustworthy of the whites on the show IMO. Remember, he joined AFTER the White Night. And he has infiltrated the Kalvary, because one of the masks was missing... And purely because “I would like to see it” (.gif) I really hope they provide a full recount of how he dispatched the Kalvary in his bunker.

Laurie is my girl, with all her elder cynicism and remaining longing for her cosmic fuckboy...(and she should NOT be underestimated I KNOW she has a plan) but I think her feelings for the Dr. may cause a stumble or two (maybe that’s why she was slow getting up off the couch)

Angela remains a Regina King whose character has subverted the whole SBW thing by actually have a fully realized character beyond it (love, children, a damn life!) . HELL, we didn’t even *see it* fully until this last ep but yeah...man... she is the dream and nightmare of her grandfather.

I still really want to know what the adopted kids backgrounds are... I feel like of all the theories online...Everyone has forgotten them and given the heavy theme around fertility, cloning, reproduction, memory as empathy AND her son saying to Angela in the first damn ep. (I hit him because you wanted to hit him) etc... I think there may be more *there*-there. Okay... I’ve written enough for now... So, I’m just gonna call his a placeholder for any thoughts I may have forgotten, because I could do this all day. I’ll add/edit later as I need to. That said, it bugs me so much that this fandom isn’t thriving as much as other lesser shows featuring black women. Pleease get onboard with this show!!

I both liked and had complicated feelings about the dynamic between child Angela and Officer Jen (can’t wait to learn more about her) because what she saw in the girl, was the pain redirected into resilience and indifference to the violent end of the perpetrator, w/o a trial(!) mind you... which adds up to potential to be a good cop...*mmhmm*

Adrian Veidt is the least interesting aspect of the show for me, albeit weird and funny (I missed our boy Scar, in Jeremy Irons) his prison is surreal and imaginative and Tom and Sarah are both doing great jobs playing the dim imprints of empty-until-filled clones

Most think HE is Trieu’s father and I have to say what her mother-daughter said to Angela gives credence to that. I could see her having the same kind of conversation with Veidt and coming to a conversational space with Veidt’s plan for humanity. Also “D” is the first letter in “daughter”

#watchmen #meta #rambling #yes theorizing is part of the fun #but it more fun as a conversation #vs. a race #I'm saying I wish I knew someone as into it as I am #my askbox is open #I wanna talk about this show!!

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cutiepie-keith-blog · 5 years

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Lance, sweetie, what have they done to you

So how about that finale huh?

Yeeeeaah, wasn’t that… Something.

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But, okay, real talk here… Given the state of the fandom, I feel like I need to add my two cents to the situation. Which situation you may ask?

The Voltron Cast queerbaiting its audience with its characters? The terrible way they handled the villain’s overarching narratives? No. None of that here.

I’m talking about the finale. That trainwreck to end that dumpster of a final season. That absolute worm-infested cabbage mulch that brought a pickaxe to keep digging when they hit rock bottom. But forget about cinematography or allegories because there’s already dozens of other blogs that tore it to bits and explaining how it’s a disgrace to the sacred art of animation and serialization.

Instead, I’m ranting about how they mistreated my favourite character, Lance McClain.

So how did the Voltron staff do him dirty? Let’s see… Which one of these options sounds the most plausible…?

Killing off his chances for a character arc

Problematic stereotyping

Retconning CANON LORE to accommodate this sloppily written finale

All of the above

Did you choose 4? Congratulations! Here’s your prize:

-----

Part 1: “Character arc? What’s a character arc? Is that a sauce?”

Ugh, it’s like the showrunners didn’t even CARE about writing Lance’s development. Season one and two were brilliant because they offered a set-up for his internal growth from a self-depreciating goof to confident marksman.

I guess the writers never heard of following through, though, huh!!

A constant from season 1 was style over substance when it came to Lance, and each time a new season dropped we all waited for something - ANYTHING - that would show us that he had grown; that we were witnessing the development of a fully realized character.

But no. Lance is just comic relief! He’s funny! Look at him failing to flirt! Hahaha! It’s funny because he’s stupid!

But he’s really not! And we all know this! Lance has been shown time and time again that he is a competent character... That’s why it’s so painful to watch his importance be relegated to that of a side-character. ESPECIALLY after his motivations were so clearly established.

In episode one, what did Lance say to establish his motivation?

“I’d love to explore the cosmos! There’s a whole new world out there!”

He, THE Lance that wanted nothing more than to explore the great wide galaxy and live free-spiritedly… You’re telling me THAT Lance would give all of that up to separate from the rest of his team (who up to this point he regarded very clearly as family) to live a quiet life?? You’re telling me that the Space Paladin, Lance McClain - after saving the universe - would drop every relationship he made with his team… To be a FARMER??

And oh yeah, he’s Cuban and they made the Cuban boy a farmer.

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Part 2: They made the Cuban boy a farmer

AKA the ‘Look how WOKE you are now, Netflix’ second half because the whole Lance becomes a farmer thing comes a bit later.

Gather ‘round the dumpster fire, children, and let’s just take a moment to remember how PROBLEMATIC it is that they made the CUBAN boy a farmer...! Oh, Voltron showrunners, you absolute uneducated walnuts! The way they did it was so forced, too, and it made Lion King (2019) look sincere; So let’s start at the beginning...

In the original series, Lance was a one note ‘prince charming’ that existed as the pretty boy that would end up with the main girl, Allura, so you can only imagine the sheer, utter EUPHORIA I felt when I saw the first hints, the traces, the signs of a 3 dimensional character from him.

And then Allura...! My Queen! They gave her a personality too! So how could I not love them being a canon couple!

I’ll tell ya how. They killed off Allura, that’s what. And let’s ignore that one tiny detail that the only main character chose to kill was Allura, the BLACK PRINCESS because that’s a whole other rodeo that I ain’t ready to play clown in just yet.

And what happened to our soggy cardboard cutout of Lance do when forced to deal with grief??

Well to start, the death of his alien girlfriend suddenly made him an alien too so?? Okay?? Are all the rules of the universe worthless now?? Because according to the rules that the showrunners set with Keith being half-galra, you can’t change SPECIES.

There’s being artistically adventurous on one hand and then there’s throwing whatever shred of artistry out the window.

OH HO HO BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! (And spoiler alert! This is the part where Netflix making Lance a farmer kicks in)

Now we all know Netflix is a company that is well known for being progressive in the film industry because of how they cast minorities in their original films and series, and they’ve made it clear time and time again that they support LGBTQ+ community.

Hey Netflix, REAL progressive of you to play right into the stereotype of (Here it is) MAKING THE CUBAN BOY A FARMER. With Takashi Shirogane, japanese fans of the original series had a new strong leader to look up to. And what’s more was that they showed him marrying his husband in the finale!

And Lance? Out of heartbreak and sudden alien-ness, he abandoned all his dreams to explore the universe to become a farmer in some throwaway planet.

All the other fans from Central America (e.g. that’s ME) now get to see a once in a million chance of mainstream representation not as something to look up to, but as another disappointment perpetuation the steel wheel of assumption.

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IN CONCLUSION: UGH

Good riddance to this show.

I will never forgive the V:LD staff for ruining NOT ONLY my favorite show, but my favorite character in all of fiction.

*mic drop*

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postmodernmulticoloredcloak · 6 years

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Wonky preliminary thoughts

I watched the episode once this morning then I’ve been various degrees of busy and sickly so the episode is sort of nebulous in my mind but I want to throw down the thoughts I remember thinking this morning... on a second watch I could change my mind. Honestly I don’t even know yet what this post is going to be like. I’m gonna make it up as I go. Let’s find out together.

- It’s a finale baby

Okay I haven’t touched my dash but I know my chickens and I know there’s gonna be wank, because people forget that every year when the finale comes out no one likes it. That’s it, that’s the finale, expectations are high because finales are supposed to be epic so people end up disappointed, some things were predicted 8 weeks prior and people complain that they were too obvious, some things were unexpected and people complain they came out of the blue, some people say Cas wasn’t in it enough some people write down explanations why his part was actually meaningful, you know the drill. This has been a typical finale: Dean makes The Sacrificial Decision (having Death kill him, become the soul bomb...) and things don’t just work the way he expected them to (sometimes positively like with Amara, sometimes negatively like with Michael).

I personally expected Dean to let Michael (although until recently I supposed it could be the original version of him) in since 13x15 (the showrunner’s own meta manifesto relatively to the ‘reverse season 5/reverse Swan Song’ nature of the final part of the season) and that it would be about shouldering himself the task of getting Lucifer killed since 13x20 (where he goes after Loki himself and is not enthusiastic about Sam’s revenge intents against Lucifer), and heck the ‘I let you in but you provide the power but I’m behind the wheel’ kind of speech was something I pictured in a thousand scenarios, so I didn’t get any shocks from that part of the episode’s plot, but I still enjoyed how we got there. And then, Lucifer is dead! *celebration noise coming from the fandom*

- Um okay let’s say you did your best

Okay, the impression I got from my first watch: the script worked, but the episode got wonky in its execution. Not even the special effects (insert a wonky gold star for the trying) but I remember being unimpressed by the sound/music? Is it just me? Like, sometimes the sound choices were too over the top? There were also overdramatic zooms but that’s Supernatural, and Supernatural without overdramatic zooms is like Supernatural without the Winchesters.

I liked the recap montage a lot (what do you think came first, Rowena’s line about the music or the idea of having that line inside the season to use it for the finale recap?). I got a bit sad because there was a lot of Wayward Sisters in it, and it would have been better if the finale came in a moment of celebration for it happening rather than anger and bitterness for the CW’s choices. Something I felt missing from the last portion of the season was Jody, but I was obviously okay with it because she was missing in preparation of her role in the spin-off. If we can’t change the network’s decision, I hope next season is packed with those characters.

Anyway, back to the episode - it was weird at times, you all know what times, let’s just run with it and make jokes.

- But in season 5 they said--

No, the act itself of Michael killing Lucifer wasn’t what was going to kill half the planet’s population. It was that act inside the large picture of that spell-like orchestration that was the apocalypse (seals, horsemen, omens, stuff like that). I would argue the large-scale damage that was expected wasn’t an accidental consequence, but kind of the whole point of the apocalypse. I hate myself for bringing it up, but you know Thanos killing half the people to ~save the universe~ or whatever dangerously ambiguous nazi crap that dumbasses have actually fallen for because Marvel is just that bad and dangerously ambiguously conservative? I think that the archangels kind of were similar to that mindset, making a huge sacrifice of humans to bring ~paradise~ because they were tired or whatever. You know, I know some people don’t think Supernatural is particularly progressive, but in the current media climate not framing the mass-murderous, abusive characters with nazi-coded intents as the actual heroes is apparently too progressive for some, so kudos to Supernatural for not making Lucifer or Michael the hero of the story but to stick to common sense and decency. (I know, this part is not about Supernatural but just me being salty at Marvel, but let me, please.)

- So while we’re talking about this...

I can say that what Supernatural did with Lucifer in season 13, in my opinion, has been really good. I’ve never been afraid they were going to ‘redeem’ him, so I wasn’t worried or bothered by the story throwing the tools of redemption at him. Because not only he didn’t pick them up, he couldn’t see them even if they hit him in the face. He didn’t understand what redemption even means. He kept seeing himself as the misunderstood victim, so instead of bettering himself he just felt sorry for himself, and completely missed the point of a ‘second chance’ or whatever he claimed he was after. So, eventually, it was all a lie. I think Lucifer’s “I’ve changed” attitude was partly a schemed lie (because he’s not that clueless), partly something he was convinced of himself, because he has his head up his ass enough to actually believe he was a poor victim. I think this narrative hits the nail on the head - white male fragility works like that, the men wrapped in toxic masculinity and male entitlement think they’re the victims of a big bad oppression from women and queer people and non-white people. But they’re just pathetic, and when the bubble bursts, all they can do is scream in rage and their ‘nice guy’ persona disappears. Lucifer’s 180° change of attitude towards Jack reminded me of the nice guys who start throwing all sorts of disgusting invectives against women after being rejected. So yeah, I think that Lucifer’s arc this season was sort of relevant, if you want to interpret it like this.

Either way, Supernatural, unlike some other pieces of media, doesn’t actually try to make you sympathize with abusive, violent, misogynistic men (unless they actually show to be self-aware and to seek change, and again you aren’t meant to sympathize with their bad side! Toxic masculinity is supposed to be bad, and slaughtering billions of innocents not justified for any reason, and especially does not make you the hero and the ones fighting to save the people the actual villains! *gasp*). There was even a clear dig at Trump, and I am pretty sure that’s Dabb’s answer to accusations of not being clear enough on the subject...

So yeah, I think this season’s big bad was an allegory for white male entitlement and the ‘nice guy’ victim complex, and Dean stabbed him (I’d say with the help of a Black man, sure it’s actually Michael another villain but momentary symbolism, I guess? Or maybe that just isn’t supposed to be relevant.) I felt someone cheer that was still bitter that Sam killed Alastair. You just know someone out there was still bitter about it. I mean it was teamwork, of course, but Dean provided the power and the stab. Oh, Dean letting Michael in to acquire the power to kill Lucifer (who killed Cas and Sam) as a parallel for Sam’s demon blood usage to acquire the power to kill Lilith (who killed Dean) *insert lengthy reflection here*

- Speaking of parallels--

Someone was irked at the apparent belief across fandom that Dean leaving Sam to the vampires in the cave was ~the codepencency being broken~? (I am not a fan of analyzing the show in these terms that have become so simplified, in case you’re wondering.) And of course now we see that that wasn’t so simple, because Dean makes the same face when Sam disappears with Lucifer and Jack, and Cas tries to stop him, but Dean decides to do the sacrificial decision (did he really expect Michael to keep the deal, really really?). But! (I wasn’t saying that things are still stuck in the 10x23 mud puddle, don’t misunderstand me!) This time it’s not just about Sam, it’s about Lucifer being set on really breaking dad’s toys on a large scale this time. Dean Winchester gives up his humanity to save humanity, because that’s his middle name, and not just to save his brother at the cost of harming the universe. Of course Michael is still on the loose and with a stronger vessel now, but hey, one threat at a time... But I also think there’s something significant with the fact that the last sequence of the episode shows Michael on earth, looking in his element and satisfied about it - to stop Lucifer, Sam, with Lucifer inside, went to hell; to stop Lucifer, Dean, with Michael inside... is on earth. Of course, next season he’ll probably be involved with heaven and whatnot, but I think there’s something significant there, but I’d wait to make much meta about Michael-in-Dean when we actually are shown more about it.

- So, overall?

Overall it was a good finale! Satisfying to have Jack discover Lucifer’s true nature and the nice guy lie shatter, emotional the Jack stuff, powerful that we didn’t see Dean actually getting possessed and Cas seeing it but only Cas being fraught about it, just there, kind of like the narrative was telling us, what do you even expect Cas’ face while losing Dean to Michael to look like? Now, this post is long enough and I’ll need a rewatch and some health points more to analyze the details, but I am sure that I’m going to enjoy analyzing them.

- And what now?

Oh, I expect a lot of fanworks of Charlie and Rowena during the hiatus. It’s probably already started...

Alright, more coherent and hopefully meaningful thoughts coming shortly (...maybe) to your screens ^-^

#my spn thoughts #spn spoilers #spn 13x23 #spn meta #spn

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echoequinox · 7 years

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Okay, so, it’s time for me to rant about Princess Turdina. Obviously, there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t watched it yet, scoot on past.

This episode was… bad. Like, really bad? I’d like to specifically hear from other trans women like myself, but yeah, wow. This was… a bad fuckin’ allegory.

SO. From the very beginning of the episode, Marco is worried about “coming clean”, and how they “can’t keep lying”. From the get-go we have this crisis between Marco’s assigned gender and their assumed one, which is COMPLETELY contrasting to previous episodes like St. O’s and Heinous, wherein it was just assumed that it was fine that Marco was being who they were, and presenting how they wanted. Gender had not come up in ANY way until this episode. Being a princess was just… being a princess.

Then you’ve got the line from Princess Arms about “if you weren’t being honest about who you are, then this whole school would be built on a lie!” essentially shaming Marco for having represented themselves in a different way during their first time in St. O’s.

(Obligatory shoutout to the Whispering Gardens for once again saying All Girls Gossip, nice stereotyping, what an amazing progressive show)

The lines from Goat Princess (“You showed us that all princesses don’t have to fit into the same mold”), Ponyhead (“You are SO much more fun as Turdina!”), and Marco themselves (“I’m so beautiful…!”) in the following scene really drives home that this episode IS meant to be a trans allegory, whether or not it’s explicit, but then is QUICKLY followed up with Star’s “Well he should tell the truth, like a decent human being” as if not outing themselves is a fucking capital crime.

After the statue scene, Star and Ponyhead do an emotional tug of war on Marco, in which Star says Marco should “Tell the truth” and Ponyhead insists that Marco is happier and should do as they please. The framing of the argument, in that Ponyhead is always displayed as more emotional and almost always in the wrong for these things, frames the narrative that Marco SHOULD be taking Star’s advice, and that they should “Tell the truth like a decent human being”. Star’s been wrong before, but in this instance, they really frame her decision as the right thing to do.

Marco then, on stage, attempts to out themselves, but before they can, Heinous LITERALLY EXPOSES THEIR BODY ON STAGE, OUTING THEM TO THE SCHOOL. THIS IS INEXCUSABLE, WHY IS THIS FUCKING IN AKID’S SHOW. I get that it was just their chest hair, but I’m fucking so mad at this scene, and it’s ridiculous that not only was this allowed, but also that the crew even THOUGHT to put this in a fucking episode, I’m SO mad. Then the fact that Marco is a boy SHOCKS the audience.

They then attempt - in a bad, hamfisted way - to let Marco know that “He can be a princess if he wants to!” and claiming “Turdina is a state of mind!”. They drive Heinous out, blah blah. Star states that Marco looks like “You can breathe a lot easier now” and Marco jokes that it’s because they’re out of the dress, which is like… I guess it feels like Marco thought the whole thing didn’t really matter? Like, that it wasn’t a big deal? And then it goes back to Heinous and how she’s Eclipsa’s daughter but ANYWAY.

The theme and tone of the show is up and down and up and down and it feels… I mean, I guess it feels like cis people trying to write a Trans Lesson, which it literally is, and it’s never a fucking good idea. It was blunt allegories and trying to take the middle road to appeal to both trans Marco fans and also those who dislike the theory, but it just DOESN’T work. Not in an episode where Marco’s gender is the whole POINT.

It was all just… bad. I wasn’t hoping for this to outright confirm trans Marco OBVIOUSLY, because the crew is too scared to do that, even with other shows like Andi Mack confirming their gays. What I WAS hoping for was some acceptance and some confirming of Marco’s femininity and, I guess, breadcrumbs, leading us toward the eventual canon of Marco being trans. Instead the crew basically said “Hey look another St. O’s episode and also let’s talk about GENDER and how BAD IT IS to LIE TO PEOPLE” and it was just a shitty fucking episode.

Honestly if this is how the SvtFoE crew is going to handle transness, I’d just rather them fucking not. Let us write our fanfiction, and have our art, and just… leave trans Marco out of the show if you’re going to do this shit.

#trans marco #marco diaz #trans girl marco diaz #princess turdina #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe spoilers #svtfoe season 3 #svtfoe season 3 spoilers #svtfoe s3 #honestly y'all out here defending this episode better be fucking trans women #i'm not gonna listen to some cis people telling me shit ain't transphobic #like... i'm a white girl i'm not going to say something isn't racist???#come at me if you want to defend this shitty episode

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