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the-owl-house-takes · 4 months

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The ask about racism in TOH made me realize, the show really is kinda racist?

Even tho the main character is afro latina, the crew is almost completely white. The one Black latina crew member (who Luz was named after, and who ✨inspired✨ the creator into making her afro latina) didn't even get to be a cultural consultant, let alone a writer. Instead, she was demoted to storyboard supervisor (AKA correcting other's drawings to make them in model, one of the LEAST creative roles of the bunch).

Then, there's the characters and setting. The demon realm "should" be a place of horror and awe, full of weird and bizarre creatures. And yet, all the important characters are human adiacent and far removed from any demonic trait. Even a supposed demon was stripped of his demonity (?) once it was time for him to become important.

Demons are, effectively, treated as an underclass by the narrative. Their only use is as spooky decorations, unnamed background characters, or comedic one off villains. They're never allowed to be complex, compelling or interesting. Even though the whole premise is about exploring a demon world full of different kinds of people, only the humanoids (AKA the people most similar to "us") are worthy of the show's time.

In a similar (but less obvious) vein, TOH excludes its POC characters from being actually important to the plot. Luz's cultural background is never properly explored outside of few background details and "speaking Spanish". Her being "afro" is never actually shown, being only mentioned outside the show. Her part in the big story, and her development, come much later than other characters, with a contrived time travel storyline.

Willow and Gus contribute very little to the overall story, and feel like network mandates. Gus especially gets overlooked all the time, inside and outside (post hoots, interviews) the show. His only few moments are overshadowed by some big character moments, like kisses.

Other POC characters are even more marginal (Raine, Darius). Meanwhile, Camila's characterization ping pongs all the time, before landing on "secret nerd all along" and hastly closing her arc.

Another way you can see the bias is in the world building. It should represent all of Earth's myths, but instead feels like reguegitated european fantasy. What about Willow being Korean? It doesn't get rep in the show since Korean culture never gets explored in any way. Just another informed attribute, a way to avoid the show saying "oh yeah she's not white she's... Asian" without putting the effort to actually represent Koreans (ik her va is Korean but Hunter's is Black... You shouldn't have to scroll imdb to find the rep).

And the show as a whole feels like this. It's "diverse" in a way that doesn't actually challenge the status quo, it shows different kinds of people but, at the end of the day, who gets the spotlight always falls into the same category of white/white passing, "good" looking, not too different in body frame, and aligned in values/behaviors to the norm.

TOH might pride itself for being "daring" because of the queer content... But it's a very "white" kind of queerness, only really welcoming to a very specific kind of person.

#the owl house #toh #toh critical #racism mention #long post

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vampiremilfs · 1 year

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hiiii <3 big ask big answer is what i'm expecting would LOVE to know your top 5/faves across various media that are new(in release or just new to you) this year! so: shows, movies, games, books, songs/albums, new artists you've discovered etc

OMG AAAAA I LOVE THIS ASK

brief comment i wanted to make, but this was the year i finally took control of my mental health and went to go see someone about it so congratulations to me for finally breaking down the wall of "im fine" and allowing myself to admit that i could use some help. that aside, lets get into it! beware, possible spoilers

MOVIES

1. Nope (dir. Jordan Peele) - this movie surprised me so much and reflects a LOT of my views on performative/spectacle-like behavior in front of the Camera and the effects things like hollywood or social media could potentially have on people...not going to get into that but i just liked the movie alot okay

2. X (dir. Ti West) - love me some camp. love mia goth. i also really liked Pearl and cannot WAIT for MaXXXine, i am so ready

3. Cruel Intentions (dir. Roger Kumble) - i dont think 2022 was the first year i watched Cruel Intentions but everytime i watch it, it feels like something brand new...i am so compelled to read the book that its based on like seriously

4. Turning Red (dir. Domee Shi) - this is the only Disney movie that exists to me...the mother-daughter relationship portrayed here is just so personal

5. Kiki’s Delivery Service (dir. Hayao Miyazaki) - yeah im extremely late to watching this lol. i watched literally every other ghibli film growing up but somehow, in some way, skipped over Kiki. so i watched it over the summer as an adult and needless to say...yeah i missed out as a kid asjashd

6. American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron) - this is the funniest film ive seen this whole year. im not even kidding

TV SHOWS

1. Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul - never thought id enjoy a show about a middle-aged white male turning to meth production to make ends meet and becoming the most annoying character ever created, but here we are. loved it, and literally EVERYONE around walt deserved so much better (jesse, gus, johnny/saul, mike, skylar, marie, hank)

2. Ranma 1/2 - ive taken a break from watching new anime this year and started diving into older ones. i love ranma simply bc its a bit ahead of its time and is just so easy to digest. just a fun little show!!! a great way to take my mind off of shit

3. The Sandman - just found out recently that this was a DC comic so congrats to DC for successfully infiltrating my anti-superhero visual barrier LOL. anyways i am in dire NEED of the next season

4. You - PENN BADGLEY. thats all im going to say. im a huge fan of Gossip Girl (2007) and as soon as i saw him playing the lead character i RAN to watch the first season when it dropped. was not disappointed

5. The Witcher - ive never played the game lol but the show is so good...im not a fan of GoT (and therefore will never watch HotD) so this show p much fills the dark fantasy void for me

6. Bridgerton - im so glad i got over my weird distaste and finally gave this show a try...i see the hype, i see it!! and the show itself is so beautiful to look at, despite being historically innacurate or whatever

7. Gossip Girl (2007) - ive watched and rewatched this show a grand total of maybe like....20 times in my life total. rewatched it again this year. all six seasons. it never gets old despite being the most ridiculous insipid shit ever. im also currently watching the new version, and while i love the cast and maybe the soundtrack, it doesnt match up to the campy and fun vibe that the first one had. it takes itself way too seriously and the plot is almost nonexistent lol

but anyway, lets move on to music!! im skipping over books bc i have currently finished NONE from the book haul i had back in october.

MUSIC

just gonna list out a bunch of songs that have carried me thru the last half of this year :]

ass like that victoria monet / bang (my body) chase icon / meta angel fka twigs / wish i never kehlani / king for a day pierce the veil, kellin quinn / pass the nirvana pierce the veil / antagonist nova twins / gibson girl ethel cain / like a tattoo sade / the perfect pair beabadoobee / so it goes tamino / daybreak’s bell l’arc-en-ciel / colors flow / distant tevomxntana, cayo / grapefruit tove lo

sorry if this is extremely long. thanks for asking!!!!!! ❤️

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bees128 · 4 years

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What Is Emperor Belos’s Plan for the Human World

So here’s my theory and I actually have some Evidence, particularly it’s based on three aspects of the show so far

1 A Major theme that applies heavily to all the antagonistic forces in the show is the weird and interesting being assimilated into something "normal" e.g. destroying the "chaos" of wild witches and brainwashing the children to act like "Proper Witches".

2 As for Belos himself his character as far as I can tell he really does seem devoted to the titan? He follows the Titan’s will as he sees it. Also of lesser note is that with this most recent fight we have heavy connections between Belos and the manipulation of flesh.

3 The titan is still alive to a certain extent. It’s heart is still beating.

So how do you reconcile those 3 things together? Well something of note is that they’ve gone very hard into showing that the Human World is Weird to the people of the Boiling Isles. Gus has a fan club centered around them, Eda runs her business based on selling our junk as curios and oddities. Sure they exiled giraffes to our world in the past but with the exception of Eda bringing back Human Stuff it seems like No One has access to the human world (or at least no one we’ve met). So we have the human world is wierd and if we fit it into that theme up there Belos must want to assimilate the human world somehow. The question is how? Most people are going with the idea that “Belos wants to bring/force magic into the human world” and not gonna lie I could see that. Alot of the show is based around the destruction and assimilation of religions by Christianity/Catholicism and forcing magic as his “religion” upon a foreign land that none on the boiling isles except Eda, (and now lillith and King) have seen in living memory? A perfect allegory for missionaries spreading catholicism in North America. However, PERSONALLY I have 2 contentions with this. 1 is that Luz while not happy with Belos’s way would Absolutely be Down for magic to spread to the real world. B. Quite Frankly it doesn’t seem climactic enough for me as a BBEG Plan. Think to other cartoons like Gravity falls and SPoP with Wierdmageddon and the Heart of Etheria. I contest that Belos’s plan is going to be more concerted around some Major Event he’s going to try to bring about. But what could this shows Central event be? Well, Let’s talk about the Titan.

Belos serves the “Titan’s will” he doesn’t prostrate himself before it or anything but it’s clear that at least as far as we can see that he considers it a force greater than himself and places great value in it. He built his fortress around the one part of the Titan that we can see is visibly alive, he’s built machinery into the titans flesh (to help preserve/keep it alive?) which stretches throughout the entire fortress. He’s consolidating power through the covens system in the name of the titan. Quite frankly it’s almost like he’s trying to assimilate his castle and through the emporers coven, the strongest sources of magic he can get on the isles, into the Titan.

I Wonder what Else he might Try to Assimilate Into the Titan...

Ok so I won’t beat around the bush anymore. I think Belos is going to try to use the human world in some fashion, to essentially revive the Titan and I feel like theres so many reasons why this works. Narratively theres a couple good reasons, it shows how destructive and harmful the assimilation of religion and culture is in the real world, it’s a plan worthy of of a BBEG centered around a concrete goal that the heroes can have clear objectives on how to stop. It puts Luz in direct personally driven conflict with Belos’s ambitions because instead of bringing magic to the human world, he’s harming the human world in order to achieve a goal that literally no character in the show other than a Titan Obsessed Madman would want, likely in one way or another it will show Camilla in direct danger too which further compounds Luz having to oppose Belos. It fits Belos’s character down to his abilities I mean the man moves flesh so its not too far of a stretch to imagine his plan involves flesh too or that what with his obsession with the titan that his plan might involve the titan. As well as the human world the Boiling Isles is entirely inside of the carcass of the titan so what do you thinks going to happen to Everyone and Everything on the boiling isles if the flesh of the titan starts to grow back? That’s Right guys gals and NB pals ASSIMILATION. (im thinking of that billy and mandy meme where billy from I think the Movie? where a robot billy just keeps yelling ASSIMILATE. ASSIMILATE. ASSIMILATE.) So now Luz now has precedent to not only save the human world, but also demon world as she knows and loves it. Also it answers a question that the audience has had since we first saw the carcass which is what did it look like when it was alive? It gives Belos a motivation on why he suppresses wild witches because they understandably, would be the first to step up to stop his plan, and conversely the more he has people under the coven system the less likely they are to rebel when he tries to consume them all in his grand plan. *cough Cough allegory for capitalism too cough

Belos will have Unity, at any cost.

So we have the What of the Plan and the Why, but all that’s left is the How? Well at this point i’ve kinda run out of compelling evidence so instead of halfbaked theories this here is now in Wild Speculation Territory. The only thing thats certain is that if this theory is true something he’s missing for the revival of the Titan is in the Human World. So i’ve got a couple ideas and im just gonna lightning round them

1 Theres been multiple insinuations that the Boiling Isles isn’t the Only Titan, presumably if there is another in some shape or form it’s somehow in the Human World. Maybe there’s some Key Item from this Titan that Belos Needs to revive the Boiling Isles Titan (im gonna call it the BI titan) what could that key item be?

1a A item to supercharge his Magic for Magic Reasons(tm) so he can revive the titan

1b A Item to make the Titan able to receive Whatever Belos would use from the human world to fill in its flesh (ala anti rejection drugs when it comes to a organ transplant)

1c He has what he needs to Revive the Titan but to take what he needs from the Human World he needs a big portal like a BIG one. And the thing he needs to make a portal of that size (or potentially reopen since because of giraffes we know there was Some Way to the human world that probably wasnt the door unless they like, used shrinking magic on the entire Boiling Isles Giraffe Population, brought them through the door, then unshrunk them all) is inconveniently in the Human World

2 Same as all of 1 except instead of another titan its just something thats there

3 same as 2 except that its a Someone (Camilla?) for Some Reason

4 He thinks what he needs is in the human world but it’s actually in the demon world and Belos is just Blind

5 He has what he needs and instead of needing a really big portal the door is enough, he just needs to fix it and start assimilating

Beyond those I have some more wild Speculation on how they’re gonna deal with the Titan

1. They either destroy Belos or force him into a change of heart somehow

2. They FMA:B this and do a Massive Glyph thats at least as big as his fortress if not Larger to stop belos (likely not murder, maybe through a “trap you in a false world where everything went right for you” or something like that)

3. Luz is the one that gives Magic to the Human world either from the BI Titan or the hypotetical Human World one and the glorious revolution of the people overthrows the tyrants

4. What either Belos or Luz or both be going after is King’s Crown. If Belos doesnt need the crown Luz would and gives it to King and then King and the Titan do a Kaiju Big Battle.

5. They pull a SPoP and its literally the magic of Gay is Too Strong and Saves the Day and they date and kiss and everything is good

The End

#Luz #Eda #Belos #Lillith #Emperor Belos #King #Owl House #The Owl House #TOH #Boiling Isles #Amity #Luz Noceda #Camilla Noceda #Camilla #lumity #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lillith Clawthorne #theory

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hepbern82 · 6 years

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I wrote up a skit for a John Cho hosting of Saturday Night Live. I did this because I felt compelled, and it was fun.

He looks dapper as ever behind his “Personally Muddled / Certified Organic Fireworks” stand. It is not by the side of some small town road the fuck out of there. It is in the middle of a Fourth of July family festival, because his shit is homemade and full of heart. He is wearing a bowler hat, vest, and old timey mustache. It does not look weird on him, because he is John Cho.

Customer (Beck Bennett): I need ten of your most explosive big thing you got back there.

JC: Close your eyes.

Beck Bennett, who is kinda drunk and wearing one those tank tops for men with the realllly big armholes. Not for disparaging reasons, but because it’s the forth of July: Ok.

JC: Picture an inky black sky that feels like death and destruction but makes you want to cradle its beauty for the rest of your days. There is no one here. No one here but you and the sky and a love so pure that your body becomes weightless. What’s that sound?

Beck: Oh my god, what is it?

JC: It’s the stars. Millions and millions of burning lights that seek you out in the darkness. Pink from the east, butter yellow from the west, and specks of baby blue all over. Each one called to you. They swirl around you and explode in a tornado of love and beauty and light which purifies your soul like the first step of a new born fawn. Open your eyes, and go out into this world carrying this light with you forevermore.

Beck, crying: Thank you.

JC: *Nods*

Kyle Mooney, trying to match Cho’s level of hipster perfection but failing: Hey, like, what do you think I should get? Like, what’s the freshest thing here?

JC: The closest to my heart is a peacock named Penelope. Her feathers are coated in Biodegradable glitter and when her tail fans out and up and a little over, it’s like the Northern Lights. Which is where we met.

Kate McKinnon as Penelope pops up: Squawk!

JC: Yeah, she does not like you and your whole vibe, so I need you to go away.

*Kyle sadwalks away*

Penelope: Squawk.

JC: Yes. Soon, darling.

Cecily Strong and Heidi Gardner, girl nighting it hard: *speaking softly the whole time, like it’s a secret, but obliviously stage whispers*

C&H: Hi. Hi. We have martinis. They are sooo good, and totally recommend (points to food truck). And this whole thing is like so nice. But. Can we have, um, sparklers to put in our glasses?

Heidi: You don’t have to!

Cecily: But it would just mean so much, because we’re such good friends. And I love America.

Heidi: It’s just kind of disappointing, because they were out of the cheese we like.

Either/Or: And we just want to feel special.

Cecily: So, if you could find it in your heart. To please sell us some sparklers to put into our drinks.

Heidi: That would be so amazing.

Cecily: AMAZING. Sorry.

JC: *Brings out glass of sticks, upon each is a very glowy glowworm.*

C&H both start to speak at normal volume: Ooohhh!

JC: What color?

Cecily: Gold

Heidi: Pink.

JC: *Places chill glowworms into glasses.*

Heidi: What is it?

JC: Do not worry, these glowworms are very well trained and gentlemanly. They only wish to sparkle naturally and keep you company. Fabricated sparklers are environment killers and fire hazards to those gorgeous lady frocks. Let me introduce you to Gus and Van Sant.

Cecily: They have names?!

Heidi: I think mine just smiled at me. It gives me this feeling that I will never be judged or found lacking ever again.

Cecily: Well I think mine wants to marry me.

JC: I think you might be right, that was the dirtiest wink that I have ever seen. I apologize, would you like to switch glowworms? Neil is much less hot blooded.

Cecily: No. I like it. Here’s my phone. I have Apple Pay, take whatever you think is appropriate and I will send my friend back for it later.

Heidi: That’s me.

Melissa Villasenor: *Points* What’s that?

JC: Night Boomerang.

MV: Cool. What’s that?

JC: Bags full of luminous sand that you can pierce with any handy bow and arrow.

MV: Nice. What’s that?

JC: Jars of fireflys, each one trained to fly in the pattern shown in charcoal onto charcoal paint as is the customary label.

MV: Sold. Can I get the Banjo Fireflys and two night boomerangs?

JC: It would be my greatest pleasure. Enjoy the night, strange one of good taste.

MV: Right back at you, Fire Butler.

What if Skit: John Cho on SNL I wrote up a skit for a John Cho hosting of Saturday Night Live. I did this because I felt compelled, and it was fun.

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