yippeeee the dices

there are a lot of reasons i'm really, really impressed by how well sdmi portrayed the dynamic of an abusive relationship with pericles and ricky, and one of the big ones is how accurately they show what it looks like when abuse starts to escalate.

the extent of that is yet another thing that'll take a longpost of its own to go into, because it spans like.... the entire arc of their relationship in the show. but one thing that stands out to me in particular is their portrayal of the massive red flag that is a partner trotting out bigoted behavior against a group you're in. especially insults, and especially directed right at you.

this show has a LOT of fatphobia, jesus christ does it ever, and there are certainly some fatphobic tropes going on with ricky; but i've always been surprised and impressed by how many of the nastier ones they avoided, especially considering his role in the story and what his arc is about.

he is a major, nuanced character whose trauma is treated with full weight and sincerity. it's implied that his body type changed the way it did due to the trauma he went through when he was younger, and the ensuing mental illness, which is a pretty realistic experience for a lot of people. the things that happen to him are played for full tragedy and horror, when it would have been so, so easy for them to make light of it because Tee Hee Fat Guy and Tee Hee Male Abuse Victims Funnee. despite how his whole thing involves corporate greed, they don't go the route of portraying him as Gluttonous and Hedonistic; if anything he is very obviously not using all that money for even basic physical self-care, and the only time we ever see him eating anything it's when he's drinking wine grape juice with pericles. which, like, there's issues to be unpacked with that too, but jesus christ it's an improvement over what usually happens with characters like him.

he's a fat queer man who isn't degendered or made feminine in a mocking and/or predatory way. (there's nothing wrong with feminine fat queer men and they need more non-shitty rep, please and thank you god, but there is a lot of nastiness in the tropes they're often used for in mainstream media, and one of those tropes is when people consider 'fat queer man' and 'masc' to be oxymorons.) no one ever once calls him ugly; if anything multiple people in his life think he's attractive and desirable, for better or for worse. no one body-shames him. and no one ever mentions his weight.

except pericles.

'The Horrible Herd' and 'The Devouring' are two halves of a whole here, re: escalation of abuse. 'Devouring' is when the abuser goes full mask off and shit hits the fan; 'Horrible Herd' is the wind-up before the punch. HH is when ricky realizes things are getting Bad and he needs to put a stop to this now, and Devouring shows what happens when he tries, because by the point where it's gotten bad enough to give him a wakeup call it's already too late. it's how abusive relationships tend to go, and it's chillingly accurate.

and what's one of the things pericles says during Horrible Herd when that punch is winding up? something no one's ever said before now, including him? 'you pudding-faced dummkopf.'

he body-shames him. he insults his weight, and that's a major turning point. bigotry is something that's often there to some degree from the start, but not always, because some abusers are good at hiding things like that until they're confident they've got you where they want you. the message with ricky and pericles is loud and clear: when this happens, the walls are dripping blood. get out.

(if you can. and be careful when you try.)

when this show is good, it is really, truly good. god damn.

I can’t gif this because the video file is so corrupt but look how cute he and Enaam are pleaseee they were just kids 🥺 This is September 2014 so he was almost 15??? TEENSY TINY 15 YEAR OLD???

i love reading things set in countries that i'm knowledgeable and/or have been to because i can point out really minor errors in fanfiction. i think the average american does not know that in england (and apparently some of asia! which i only just found out) there are switches on power outlets so you can just turn it off instead of unplugging it. like 9 times out of 10 that won't come up but on the off chance it does i'm like ohoho. this clown has never been to england...! my favorite part though is watching americans (specifically americans because i swear to god people who speak english as a second language and/or are from any other country have some idea of what it's like to have an accent / personally know people who have accents? idk) try to write british accents like it is REALLY funny. i literally only lived their for five years and i never picked up a full accent myself (certain words and tones i did but they're mostly gone after living in the states again for a few years) but between living there and having a ridiculous amount of family there & visiting them often (like once a year if im lucky) i like KNOW what british accents sound like. i think some americans genuinely dont even know theres more than one or two english accents i think some people think there's like posh english and chav english and nothing else. maybe scottish accent gets thrown in there if they remember the uk is not in fact just england. i would bet real money they've never heard a welsh accent. anyway my point is it's really funny watching people who don't know as much as i do write this stuff. like i see it and i understand how doctors read this and go Oh that is so medically inaccurate. i get them now. anyway i dont remember what my point here was but please know if you are attempting to write a british accent. reddit and youtube are your best friends if you don't have a british friend you can ask and also rest assured even if you do ONE google search. it will not be the worst attempt ive seen guaranteed

tagged by @lesbianjudasiscariot to post 3 albums i've been listening to recently THANK YOUUUU MWAHH

Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) by Yves Tumor / Ibn El Leil by Mashrou' Leila / Unreal Unearth by Hozier

tagging @henessy @adamnsey @bonivers @parrishh & @mnwlk if u want to — as always, no pressure <3!!!!!

why does fame decay SO FAST like bro you don't do anything fame related for ONE DAY and you're already a nobody

Ok I have to be completely honest: if yall could unlearn ur unconscious bias and internalized racism u would actually really like James Baldwin...

i know that by canon, john's favourite music genre ( or at least the one he was really into for a period of his time ) is punk/rock, but. what if he's really into 80s pop music instead. what can dc do about it.

.

My internet is back! *holds my downstairs neighbours like a cat that knocked over a potted plant* YOU!

anyway the second I realised my internet was fully back I immediately put on castlevania nocturne and there is so much I could say about it and if I had more energy I might but tldr

BAROQUE MUSIC

I feel kinda dumb but I don't even know who Oppenheimer is

blacklisting kanye west. because I just can't fuckimg take it anymore

I think Boba Fett and Han Solo definitely had some weird one sided rivalry but I cannot decide if Boba thought they were rivals or Han. Or which is funnier.

here is the silly photo i got with him also

NNEVER MAKE FRIENDS WITH HISTORIANS  one day you’ll casually mention something government related that your great-grandfather did and your friend will ask what his name was, and when you reveal it he will shout OH! and then recite not just your own relative’s detailed personal history but THE WAR CRIMES AND OTHERWISE SHADY SHIT that he would have ALMOST CERTAINLY been involved in. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK

i will never be over shb/enw oh my god