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seventh-fantasy · 5 months

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friendships as marital ties (and other notes on relational ties) in mlc

this is sort of a third installment in the series of meta on 'mlc as an exemplar of constructing queer narratives out of chinese ideological frameworks' (1. jianghu as queer space and 2. how it manifests in li xiangyi) - focusing on the nature of relationships in it. (which I've briefly mentioned in the first one and finally actually getting to it!!)

I would like to first call attention to chinese ideological frameworks as a premise of queer reading in mlc. the goal of chinese philosophy is to explore the becoming of human, taking two broad paths of the (mainstream) secular vs. escaping the secular. (these two paths are not a strict dichotomy, and rather, are ever in flux and in conversation with each other.) as said by @markiafc too, chineseness is so much about the rigidity of structures, and in equal part, a desire to break out of them. thus, chinese ideological frameworks can very much offer a rich reading of queerness - that mlc, a story very deliberately structured based on chinese ideologies (more accurately, with good reasons for me to believe that it is as such), has managed to materialise.

if the conceptualisation of queerness is premised on a defiance against mainstream norms, then a reliable way to read queerness in chinese ideological frameworks can be to deconstruct it by the mainstream confucian frameworks.

in mlc, this is implicitly set up with its stage of wulin/martial jianghu. then it is further broken down by asking, hey wulin jianghu is still closely related to the hegemonic values and the mainstream structure of authority (historically, 侠 xia being politically involved says a lot about this), so what is the true meaning of jianghu? what does it then really take for jianghu to be a queer space offering comfort and freedom to those who have escaped to it - to be the space that allow the transcendence of rigid roles and labels? mlc took a step further to resist the proxy to mainstream values that wulin jianghu has become.

this is why there can be a very strong buddhism reading of mlc (suggested here, expounded in the A+++ meta by @markiafc here and here, and also what I've seen discussed by cnet as well), given that buddhism is one of the 'extra-secular' ideologies, alongside (philosophical) taoism. I've also touched on a taoist angle in this meta. both schools are articulated in different sets of languages, but ultimately convey a same ideal of what it means to be human and how to live well - that is, to resist the roles and labels defined by the norms.

so, back to confucian frameworks.

a lot can be discussed about mlc with it. but in the context of this meta about relationships in mlc, it's specifically drawing on how confucianism conceptualises social relationships with familial ties as a cornerstone, and how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self'.

as such, one of the things about mlc that has fascinated me is how deliberately it seems to ignore and reject the conventional familial ties (the kind by blood and marital ties). I've joked about how it is a miracle for me to love mlc as much as I do, as a prime dysfunctional family story enjoyer, despite none of its main characters struggling with any complicated feelings about their (biological) parents. but on closer examination, mlc is also making a comment on the model of familial-based relationships that dominates mainstream society - but through the absence of it.

with this, I want to talk about 1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties; and then 2) how it repurposes these ties in its own ways.

the five relational ties in confucianism:

father and son 父子有亲 - (natural) affection between father and son

ruler and subject 君臣有义 - righteous relationship between ruler and subject

older and younger brothers 兄弟 (长幼有序) - this is actually about seniority within the family; the order between older vs younger family members

husband and wife 夫妇有别 - differentiation between husband and wife (demarcated by the 内外 spectrum of gendered inner-external spheres)

friends 朋友有信 - trust between friends

logically inferred, all these ties are hierarchical and familial-based except for the last one: friends. ruler-subject is sort of an extension of the natural familial ties, while friendship is the inverse space of 1-4 (ie. you fall back on 5 to define a social relationship outside of the familial sphere that cannot be qualified as 1-4). while all are premised on mutuality, it is only no. 5 that is defined by a sense of choice and equality.

on the surface, 1-4 don't quite exist in mlc in particularly meaningful ways to the narrative or are even outright overlooked, and friendship is the relational tie most valued by mlc. we can tell it's true just by looking at the most meaningful relationships in mlc of difanghua. but at the same time, it is more nuanced. we can take a closer look at how the story plays around with most of the ties as part of a broader queer narrative.

1) how mlc rejects the conventional ties

mlc's rejection of mainstream relational ties can be best seen in fdb escaping from marriage. and it was not just any engagement with anybody but an engagement with the imperial family. he struggles with the prospect of being married to princess zhaoling, but generally, it's about the idea of complying to mainstream conventions and expectations that includes compulsory heterosexuality. all these point not only to a defiance against amatonormativity - the resistance of the traditional husband-wife tie, but also an irreverence for the ties of ruler-subject (the engagement being an imperial decree) and father-son (matters of marriage being sole decisions made by parents).

of course this is on top of how fdb's own biological father is a p-o-s, and the narrative gives fdb minimal struggles in this aspect, allowing him to sever this tie without looking back (I love it, yeap). along the same line is how lxy is an orphan, who came to gain important relationships that are built on natural compassion among people rather than innate, blood-based ties - even as llh. the sense of defiance from the narrative is especially stark to me considering that he could have a completely different familial-based life - as a son, brother, and ruler, if his biological family was still around. the narrative also deliberately treats his biological brother as a phantom, replaced with an older brother who he was bonded with neither by blood nor marital ties. on dfs's front, absolutely nothing is to be known about his biological family. his childhood history with the toxic patriarch of his life - who is not even his biological father - was afforded a clean break and closure.

we can keep going on, but that's pretty much the point.

ritualisation is one of the most important things of the confucianism school, especially to the honoring of these social relationships (and the officiating of social roles). the one ceremony/ritual we saw in mlc involving the main characters - or more accurately speaking, came closest to seeing - was the imminent wedding ceremony of dfs and jlq. even in that case, it was premised on non-mutuality with dfs being the unwilling, passive party. (fem-coded dfs? 25 marks.)

and that brings us to the next part.

2) how mlc repurposes these ties

that particular wedding ceremony gets hijacked by dfs and lxy/llh, and gets turned into an important milestone in their relationship. they consummate - what is on text - their friendship after a long time being more enemies and rivals than friends. it is a clear establishment of the trust they have for each other. and here it is where I circle back to the subject of this post: friendships as marital ties.

in this article, as a part of a feminist, egalitarian reframing of confucianism, there is a proposal for spousal relationships to be reframed as a friendship tie. (this aligns with the interrelatedness of the five ties eg. the ruler-subject mirrors father-son dynamic, with the confucian belief that rulers have an obligation to their subjects alike parents to their own children.) by doing so, it removes the functional, gendered differentiation assigned to marital ties, and shifts it to something equal, and independent of gender. you exalt the value of trust between spouses, instead of basing marital relationships on gendered roles. as such, spouses become more like friends, and conversely, friends can also become more like spouses. (romance not a prerequisite. it has never been about romance anyway.)

given that mlc has repeatedly applied marital motifs to llh and dfs's characters in their joint narratives, this opens up a reading friendships as a marital tie. seeing marriage as a bridge for strangers to become family, marriage in mlc becomes a metaphor for the chosen commitment and mutual trust put in by strangers/friends (non-familial ties) into the becoming of family. the blurring of lines between marital ties and friendship encourages a genuine space of queer experience that goes beyond any pressure for strict labels - of sexuality, and relationships as romantic, sexual, etc etc.

(note: despite the borrowing of a feminist concept, I strongly hesitate to call mlc a feminist story. it's a whole discussion - or debate - on its own. nevertheless, it is definitely a gender-conscious story that lays foundation for a strong queer and egalitarian reading.)

it is to be noted that it is intended - and also beneficial to take the confucian framework of relational ties beyond face value. the framework offers what it believed to be the most fundamental social relationship dynamics, and sees room for extension and matching to other kinds of relationships (all if not, most). a relationship such as teacher-student, which is outside of the five ties stated, can also mirror the affection of father-son ties, albeit not in a literal and identical way.

speaking of which. fdb and lxy/llh.

indeed they're known by others to be good friends. fdb thinks they're good friends too - insists on it, and puts his best efforts in keeping it that way. but does it really go both ways? if it does not, then can it really still be friendship? my humble take is that, ultimately - weighing in with llh's perspective - this is a relationship that is not so much based on trust, and rather, based on an innate affection that is only unique to family. (in this case, not blood/marital-based but one that was chosen and built aka lxy's relationship with sgd.) in other words, less of a friendship, more of a familial one.

it is a lot clearer considering their relationship from llh's point of view: some brat you never wanted in your life came barging in, and whether he was going to bring any positive effect to your life was secondary to the tranquility - which you have carved for yourself in the past decade - that is so integral to your personhood. no way. but the moment you hear that he's family? well, that changes the game completely. even before learning about fdb being sgd's son (then beginning to take initiative in showing greater acceptance), it is apparent in llh that there was an instinctive resonance with fdb as his shixiong's nephew. (eg. he remarked to his shifu's grave about how alike fdb is to himself.) this is unlike with dfs whom he had taken a much longer time to build trust with. you do not apply trust - aka the quality of friendships - to family. family is something deeper, more instinctive than that. if fdb was never family, I find it hard to imagine given llh's personality, that he would have let some brazen, bratty stranger intrude for that long. (boy invited himself to llh's home, sat himself down eating the owner's dinner and nosing in his cooking abilities!!! ily bb but that was uncalled for 😭)

of course there are many more layers in their relationship. there is a substantial degree of their history as (unwitting) teacher-disciple: fdb is still healthy and alive all thanks to the existence of lxy as a spiritual teacher role model in his life, regardless it being one-sided or not. there is also indeed some part of friendship in it, especially from fdb's point of view. he sees llh as a kindred spirit who he could enjoy a life of freedom with for life. but llh never reciprocates. he knew this was short-lived. and so ultimately, the hierarchical layer of their relationship overpowers the equal one, where llh's treatment of fdb as a nephew/小辈 younger family member and a disciple is the one that sealed the fate of their relationship.

if (blood-based) familial ties are irrelevant in jianghu, then the closest proxy to a father-son relationship in the martial world would be a teacher-disciple relationship. lxy and his shifu are a clear, indisputable example. for fdb and llh, their teacher-disciple tie is murkier and not consistently applied. they were also never ritualised as teacher-disciple, and thus are not teacher-disciple in any official capacity as far as confucian ideas are concerned. yet in crucial moments, it is invoked by llh as a card of authority over fdb to get out of sticky situations with fdb. and there was their final scene together: in a moment of sincerity, llh gives the approval to fdb as his disciple - then entrusting fdb with the secret manual of his techniques, up until his final letter in which fdb was recommended to dfs as a successor to his martial abilities.

in an imperial setting, this would have been the relationship of an emperor and his crown prince that straddles both ruler-subject and father-son ties aka a tag-team of disaster. the teacher has an obligation to nurture his disciple as a successor to himself, and love him like a son too. on the flipside, he holds the final power in their relationship - withholding knowledge and feelings from the younger one. they are only equals in a way a parent-child can be. they are only equals as much as the parent allows. and this is how fdb got left behind in the dust of llh's departure. he was the child treating his parent like a friend, supporting him emotionally and begging to be loved back the same way he loves his parent - but the parent had a lifetime way ahead of him and stayed out of his reach, physically and emotionally.

llh and fdb operate with the trapping of a friendship but have always been family in the core. llh had known that way before fdb did, just like everything else he had known and put out of fdb's reach. because. fdb did not have to know. fdb is different and will forge his own path. and that's a kind of love llh has for him that nobody understands (in fact not even fdb himself) - one that is on a different plane from friendships.

by repurposing the framework of relational ties, mlc showed that the essence of familial relationships aka its intimacy and closeness can be independent from biology and formalised rituals. and it is important to myself for stories to say that people can build close ties and deeply meaningful relationships even without being born or ritualised into any.

then back to how these relational ties are inextricable from the conceptualisation of the 'self' in confucian worldview: the roles you play in these relationships are intended to define you. there is no 'self' independent from it. while the concept of a social, relational self is fully rooted in reality, being locked into social roles can be a painful way to live - a way that llh has experienced as lxy the sigu sect leader. so, in order for lxy/llh to realise a sense of self that exists outside the norms, it inevitably points to another way that requires a cut from these relationships. that is then the buddhist (or taoist) answer of looking past attachments to the world such as the confucian idea of relationships defining your being. only with a dissolution of a sense of 'self', can there be true liberation.

#莲花楼 #mysterious lotus casebook #lhlmeta #lhl #my posts #dihua #can't believe this is how i choose to spend an inordinate amt of my free time 😐😐 being a broken recorder of brainrot 😐#anw the handful of fanghua moments that have moved me are the ones that are about the unbridgeable gap between them as 长��小辈 as 徒弟师父 #(me realising lxy telling fdb 这个徒弟我没有白收 actually drives me nuts)#me: a brainrot-level dihua shipper first and foremost. also me: dedicating more of this meta to fanghua than dihua #about how fanghua's relationship is its own unique kind in the story. equally deep as dihua. just in a wholly different way.#dihua are friends and married and familial. but fanghua is family through and through #-> tl;dr of this meta actually #i just have extremely strong feelings about fanghua as a complicated little family unit.#which is independent of “shipping” FOR ME. but for anyone else though you can make anything out of it.#(gotta admit i'm a bit antsy about posting this and is uncertain how it's gonna be read. bc my reading of fanghua is so specific...well)#anyways. obsessed with dihua appropriating the heteronormative rituals <3 #edit: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT DIFANG aaaAAAGHHHHHHHHHH #but. it's true they're very purely friendship-based i think

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u5an5 · 4 months

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I know ultimate sacrifice is dying in fight for what matters the most and in 100% cases it was reversed by kissing headcanon is strong, but what if your existence was erased from the universe and only I remember about you now instead, huh?

#the fact that 100% cases is a one game is irrelevant #so far rule was simple: hedgehog has to be kissed to be deadn't #sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime season 3 #shadow the hedgehog #i know that making potentialy at least several episodes if not a whole season without titular character is unlikely but what if?#it seems to be year of Shadow so its more likely than ever #sonadow #the “i heart you too”/“you must hate having to admit you need me” callback potential is too good #its not even as much about shipping as hoping for it to be meanigful in any way #i just want it to be more than everyone being sad and constantly saying how amazing he was and how they miss him #& brooding shadow grudgingly working with nine/anyone else because they forced him to and them winning because of power of friendship #and shoving a chaos emerald up sonics ass and everything going back to how it was #i want character development for shadow too damn it!#i want him to make some sort of a sacrifice too #i want him to fight for it. i want him to struggle without sonic. i want him to regret. i want him to go trough 5 stages of grief.#i! want! him! to! FEEL!!!#and what i DEFINITELY dont want is '06v2 #which potentialy can be the case but with “everything is back to normal as if it never happened but i remember Everything” instead #(hopefuly cause if theyre gonna retcon themseves again i swear im gonna give birth of cacti out of my ass)#sonic prime #sonic prime s3 #sth #in this concept sonic goes away somewhere in the first episode/somewhere early in s3 btw #and other ppl will remember sonic in some way at some point or at least help shadow cause lets be honest he needs all the help he can get #but make it gradual and more like a snyder sized movie than a tvshow

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heroswine · 6 months

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ok so i hadn’t been watching hermitcraft for a while & i’m getting caught up so i’ve only just now watched the bot battle and…. the rendoc sniffer costume………… i can’t

#‘doc is literally the bottom of a sniffer’ i have some Thoughts #some jokes or perhaps allusions i could be making about the choices made here #regarding the. top and bottom… halves of this costume…….#but i will refrain from saying anything #hermitshipping #rendoc #honestly this is barely even shipping i’m just being an idiot but #it is straight up adorable that they dressed up as one sniffer i love that for them #i’ve been watching mumbo’s pov but now i rlly need to go watch either ren or doc’s bc i love when they team up #and no one can @ me for shipping them ok THEY ship them #anyone else remember the painting that doc said looked like him and ren snuggling????#then talking about how people ship them #followed by ren saying ‘dude you and i would make beautiful babies let’s be honest with ourselves… we should get it on baby!’#and commenting hashtag shiprendoc on each other’s videos

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lesbiradshaw · 10 months

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sometimes I worry if I've accidentally slipped into headcanons around stucky b/c the majority of the the fanon is so different and overwhelming sometimes but then someone shares the scripts to the movies and remember my "headcanons" are actual canon and I've just been forgetting how layered and deep devastating these two are and I'm not making it up omfg

Bucky was Steve's shield and savior the whole time keeping him safe he faced the brutality of war and tried to protect him from it and was willing to die to keep Steve rogers safe and faced indescribable horrors enslaved in his own mind for it, & Steve is pained in his soul for failing to return the favor and protect his hero in return and now Bucky Barnes is named as a face of evil while everyone praises Captain America and it feels so wrong to Steve and he throws his whole life into doing right by Bucky because he is his home he was the first hero and the history books will never give Buck his due. I am inconsolable T.T

MCU was cooking when they were first writing their story. Marvel needs to stop being afraid of stucky and get back to their roots they had such gold at the heart of their story it was like divine intervention how hard they went at the beginning

one of my fav bits of Steve&Bucky Lore that isn’t explicitly shown in the movie is that bucky isn’t only steve’s protector before the war, he’s also the first one who actually taught steve how to defend himself. steve’s motivation to stand up to bullies is completely his own but in the first vengeance comic (the tfa prequel) bucky, upon realizing steve is not going to give up on enlisting, decides that since he can’t persuade steve to stay out of it, he’s going to make sure he at least knows the basics of protecting himself. they go to bucky’s boxing gym together and bucky gives him lessons on how to fight, stressing the importance of steve focusing his tactics on speed and agility because the people he’ll be going up against are going to be bigger, but not necessarily dumb. he has a whole speech that sort of ties into what erskine says about steve being the little guy— and even when steve takes the serum and gets bigger and stronger, you can tell that he uses what bucky taught him. bucky didn’t stop protecting steve when they were apart. he did his best to prepare him to fight despite being frustrated by how steve was trying to throw himself headfirst into battle and i think that speaks to how much they understand each other. bucky knew steve was too stubborn to stay out of it and steve knew bucky would never let the matter go without doing his best to help. even when they weren’t necessarily on the same side of an argument, they were still a team, and that’s something that has never changed.

#i love first vengance sm theres sooooo much good material not just for the ship but also both characters #bucky has no issue acknowledging steves weaknesses because he knows where steve other strengths lie #my family forever there will never be anyone else like them #that one interview that talks ab how wartime bucky kind of works in the shadows & does some of the more gruesome work so steve wont have to #and thats another aspect of him protecting steve even after the serum like that shit is ingrained into his SOUL #its what makes the ending of tws poetic. bucky coming back to himself is a process kicked off by his instinct to protect steve breaking thru #‘i know men with none of that worth ten of you’ ‘even when i had nothing i had bucky’ YEAHHHHHHHH.#the mcu can try and rewrite history but tws remains one of their best projects so that shit isnt gonna work!#stevebucky

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cosmik-homo · 2 months

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I wrote about this on discord a bit back but I think a big part of the whole doctor-master complication is that it's the type of argument and the master is the kind of person where they'd rather die than do something that might make it seem like conceding they're wrong, regardless what they actually think, and that's why "where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me" that almost works on Missy: She has made her move here, she killed him- made so he's dead when the other shoe drops- and he knows and acknowledges that and can offer her a way of coming near him and being on the same side without it being her side losing, saving face that she can join him in this. And the speech very much highlights how to the doctor it's never been about winning, always about harm to people and help to people, but I don't think the master is as affected by that as by the 'if you want to hold my hand now I can make it so it doesn't make you seem the fool for your past actions'.

#and thats how i think you get missy2 is that hes at a point where hes so exhausted with the role he stuck himself in w the master #he wants out but he would NEVER take the embarassment of changing his mind or his ways in public-#proving anyone else right all along? unthinkable- he instead concots some great last evil design #not sure whether its to gurantee some retirement from a position of dignity or to change his own timeline-#leaning second- but regardless its Very very much 'or die trying' (and have that peace)#and when 18 realizes she cant not just. her hearts are so squished by that. by seeing her friend treat himself like that #and if she foiled his plan before realizing this and now she needs him to step from the beink and not go down w his ship #and his tardis gets destroyed and. what is she gonna do. well obviously take him but what i mean is #when she takes him what do you expect her- to be all naggy and complicated about his morals?#ok maybe but shes gonna just let them both be messed up and trying to do better except when theyre not yknow #he can have little a murder as a treat. or. yknow. 'if youre gonna femme fatale please just do what my wife did and go behind my back'

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its-tea-time-darling · 1 year

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↳The Scorch Trials (2015) but I make it about Newteresa. (1/?) // do you see how HE lokks at HER and then looks AWAY and then SHE looks at him and they don’t know the OTHER just looked at them and HRrnnnGHHHHHHHH //

If there's one thing I know about that girl, it's that she can take care of herself.

#category: gifs i make for myself and only myself #maze runner #looking at each other like the sMITTEN FOOLS they are #newteresa #< btw if you don't like the ship this is the tag you can easily block :)#no need to make your dislike anyone else's problem #btw i was gonna make this prettier but i don't have the patience because DO YOU SEE how HE looks at HER and then he looks AWAY and then SHE #the maze runner #tmr #tmr edit #mine #my gifs #promising myself that FROM NOW ON i will put watermarks on my gifs #do not steal them ok :3 #btw i was gonna make this prettier but i didn’t have the patience because THEY MAKE ME GO INSANE

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remyfire · 2 months

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I like to think that I am very good about presenting my case for a rare ship, then gently backing off and not pressuring anyone to ship it, even feel perfectly fine when the majority of people acknowledge that it's not for them and move onto something else. But boy, there are some that I am visibly vibrating the entire time I'm trying to be normal about it.

#if both beje and margaret are near the center of it you know i am about to make a crater in the ground from how hard i vibrate #i'm fine i am so fine i never need anyone to ship them together or in a group with anybody else #but i am also registering on the richter scale until i can get myself to settle back down fhkdfs #my ramblings

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heniareth · 2 years

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I wish the marketing industry a very please die

#reviewing a document on how to market to kids and i just want to burn the whole thing to the ground #it talks about community and the need for companionship and mental health and everything. EVERYTHING goes back to how can we use that #*to promote our brand #leave the kids alone for fuck's sake #what are you gonna prey on kids' loneliness to have them buy more product? you gonna foment the already present addiction to social #media for a few clicks and some cash? fuck you. fuck you fuck you fuck you to the sun and back #advertising to kids should be forbidden #let's tell a heartwarming story about friendship and cameraderie to advertise pur products IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE #they talk about the fucking dopamine loop that happens on social media and i don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing in their eyes #''being where they escape'' written over a photo of a skateboard park with a huge ad hanging over the ramps IT'S NOT AN ESCAPE ANYMORE NOW #image of 3D avatars with speech bubbles over them with stuff like ''let's play'' or ''what's up?'' and the figures are all just. looking #*into the distance. is there a more poignant depiction of loneliness in an online hyperconected world?? and i think it's unironically meant #to be a positive depiction of people having fun in a virtual world and yet ALL OF THEM ARE STANDING AROUND AND SYARING INTO NOTHING #antithesis of fun. they talk about overload of information in the context of how to cut through the noise and basically scream louder than #*anyone else. for God's sake if kids are overloaded don't expose them to more????? wtf??? if ''constant exposure to global issues and #*social media are resulting in their need for mental health support'' maybe don't try to build places for them on FUCKING social media??#like are we dumb? do we build playgrounds on highways now?? you talk about the fine line between escapism and avoidance and then about the #dopamine loop?? this industry is predatory to the most extreme degree and i hate it to death. if i ever have kids i'll buy myself a brick #*nokia and relinquish all social media. fuck all of this. the worst part is i WORK here and i should be able to do something to make it #*better but fuck if i know how. can the ship bee saved or do we have to burn it to the ground. i am so angry #swearing #vent post

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bumblingbabooshka · 2 years

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In ‘The Gift’ Tuvok calls being able to control how strong a candle burns “A Vulcan exercise” ... i s it really?

#C an YOU do that Tuvok??????????#Imagine if Vulcans do have telepathic abilities like that but they can only use them for party-trick level things so they only use it #as a mind strengthening exercise...they don't want humans to know or else they'd have to light the candles every birthday party #forever questioning how Tuvok is able to train Kes' telepathic abilities despite her seemingly being a stronger telepath than him #unless he also has these abilities but never brings them up #Tuvok ostensibly has the ability to read the mind of anyone on the ship and yet he doesn't #and that is NOT a complaint I love silly things like that

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leatherbookmark · 1 year

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i got curious and checked how my old babygirls (enstars lads) are doing and. well since the game got its English version and the wiki doesn't have any translations online, i don't know how they're doing, but I looked at their cards and they're so cute. miss them lots (but not enough to play again, Oh No)

#i kinda wanna know how things are rn but... yeah i can't #i can only hope theyre still alive and unharmed but fuck you never know with akira #i doubt anyone here knows enst but i wonder how obvious my tastes are... could anyone guess who was my best boy/otp? lol #wait no im xi/yao maining now. is there a ship in enst thats similar to them....? I DONT KNOW #is there a ship in md/zs thats similar to my enst otp... I ALSO DONT KNOW #anyway i was also pathetically lonely in my enst tastes because iirc no one else looked at rei and saw his INCREDIBLE pathetic little man #potential. only a cool sexy dude with depression and like yes but PRECISELY because of that its so satisfying when he's a loser #does anyone get my vision? no. such is the fate #i make a new ao3 account almost every new life-consuming fandom because im always ashamed of my old shit and dont want to be Perceived #but my old fics are still there and i gave them a reread the other day and they werent That horrible lol #anyway.#i should stop now before i get emotionally invested. in this house we dont trust akira. we hiss at him actually #shrimp thoughts

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scramble-crossing · 1 year

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ok ships for the ship bingo. you don't have to do all of these. sho x hanekoma, sho x coco, sho x beat (in neo obvs), sho x joshua (spicy), sho x nagi, sho x neku (also in neo obvs), sho x konishi, sho x megumi. + whichever other sho ships exist idfk. all characters 18+ in this question

Anon. I am so sorry to tell you that I am physically incapable of shipping Sho with anybody. Ever.

It's just a personal thing! Sho's one of my favourite characters ever and I project my aroaceness onto him HARD so shippy stuff with him is kind of a squick for me. This isn't to say that I think ships with him are BAD or anything they're just not my cup of tea!

That said! Sho and Neku are actually one of my absolute favourite dynamics in the series so I'm gonna do a platonic version of the bingo for them!

The fact that Neku's willing to give Sho a chance after everything he's done, choosing to believe that for all of his failures he is genuinely trying to be better is just so *chefs kiss* It shows how much both of them have grown since the first game. Not only has Neku become someone who can forgive Sho, but Sho's become someone who is worthy of forgiveness. I know neo gave up on the concept of them becoming partners in a new game, but I still love the idea of them being forced into Shinjuku and having to learn to work with and rely on each other as the city comes crashing down around them. I think them having some shared history where Neku actually saw Sho make a decision to change would be way more interesting than what we get in neo, which seems to be that Neku can just. Scan souls? Or something? Boring! Give me Neku and Sho enemies to friends arc or give me death

#also not to be a little hater but this why i dont get sho-beat (please dont show up in the main tag please dont show up in the main tag ple)#why on earth is BEAT the main choice for an enemies to lovers sho ship???? when Neku is RIGHT THERE #HES HAD ACTUAL SUBSTANTIAL INTERACTIONS WITH HIM. HE THOUGHT SHO K I L L E D HIM.#he thought sho killed joshua!! it was PERSONAL it was ON-SIGHT #sho kicked beats ass once and he held a grudge about it for three years (im being dramatic here btw)#CANNOT bring myself to care about beats feelings towards sho when he wasnt even around for the bulk of his bullshit #neku's been in the trenches since day ONE alright #if anyone should hate sho its neku. but he doesnt! he sticks up for him when no one else will!!#idk i guess i just dont get how someone can play that part of the game and come out focusing on the sho-beat dynamic #not the infinitely more interesting sho and neku dynamic #not romantically!! just like in general!#if you ship them I am so so sorry i promise i will not talk about disliking them again #ive got it out of my system im good im good #also joshua (spicy)#just thinking about that phrase #asks

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elegyofthemoon · 1 year

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💫 favorite love confession trope

maybe its just cuz i do like my knight/lord dynamics so bad but damn that vow of loyalty that masks a love confession slaps a little too hard

whats your favorite💫ask!

#answered #cues to me sobbing while me and cat were watching fena last week or something and i was just like 😭😭😭😭😭all over my keyboard #OH MY GDO I WAS TRYING TO FIDN THE FUCKING QUOTE BUT I REALIZED THE EPISODE IS CALLED 'A KNIGHTS VOW' IM GOING TO DIE AGAIN #OKAY NOT TO SCREECH AGAIN ABOUT FENA IM SORRY BUT YUKIMARUS WHOLE SPEECH ABOUT #'two moments of greatest joy in life' and one of them being finding the reason why you were put here #aND THEN HE WENT AND SAID THAT HE WILL PROTECT FENA AND-AND -AND #SCREEAAAAAAMS #also you can Absolutely see how much this trope damaged my brain by looking deeper into the selfships. im just saying #i feel that a lot of the ships that i DO like tend to fall into this #or this dynamic anyways but for that reason that trope for confession is why i like it #to anyone else it may just be another vow of duty #BUT TO THE INDIVIDUALS --- AS SUBTLE AS THE FEELINGS MAY BE -----#augmentedampharos #anyways thanks wendy ^7^

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caramel-ribbons · 11 months

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I just watched Avatar for the first time all the way through, and yeah, it’s great, but the one thing that surprised me was how different Katara was compared to the fandom interpretation I’d seen and internalized before watching.

Like, before you watch Avatar, you’ve seen all these memes about Katara and her mom, and based on those memes, you assume it’s one of those lines you have to get used to hearing at least once every episode. But then you watch the show and realize that she only talks about her mom maybe five or six times per season and you also realize she only brings her up when she’s trying to comfort someone or empathize with them because that’s how she processes her grief and that’s one way she connects with people.

Or you hear the infamous line, “then you didn’t love [our mother] the way I did” and you prepare yourself for one of the worst character assassinations ever only to see the scene after nearly three seasons worth of context and realize she was kinda right. She’s been the mother, the nurturer, the comforter. She’s been patient, gentle, and accommodating where everyone else has gotten to be insensible and reckless and childish, and the one moment where she allows herself to feel her grief, suddenly she’s this evil bitch and not, y’know, a 14 year old girl whose been thrusted into adulthood in a way no other character has. A 14 year old girl who should be allowed immaturity and raw emotion and anger instead of the patience and grace she’s been forced to extend to every character without even the smallest amount of gratitude or even consideration in return.

Or you see all of the clips where Katara puts Aang in the “friendzone” and you expect to have this wishy washy back and forth where Aang is putting his feelings out there only to have Katara neither commit nor express any clear reciprocation or rejection. Then you watch and realize that, as cute as the ship is initially, that there’s never a point where Aang returns any comfort or grace to Katara despite her always doing this for him to the point of coddling. That for as much as Aang says he loves her, he never seems to outgrow his perception of her so he can recognize her as someone who feels grief, anger, and pain as much as she expresses love, kindness, and maturity. And instead of having moments where he learns to see her beyond her strength or compassion, you’re instead given moments where Aang forces his feelings onto her, both romantic and non-romantic, and Katara is expected to just…shoulder those feelings the way she shoulders everyone else’s.

Katara is the most misunderstood character in the show. As much as people recognize the complexities of Zuko, Sokka, and Azula, they struggle to do the same for Katara because they see her struggles as somehow lesser, and therefore, less deserving of sympathy. They can handle her so long as she’s being endlessly patient and loving and kind, but the moment her endless love, patience, and kindness runs out, she’s suddenly this annoying bitch who can’t shut up about her mother or reciprocate Aang’s feelings. But Katara’s trauma does matter as much as anyone else’s. No, she wasn’t banished from her kingdom. No, she didn’t lose her entire community, and no, she isn’t the only one who lost her mother. But the difference between her and everyone else whose experienced loss because of the Fire Nation is that she’s never given time to process her trauma. Aang gets to lean on Katara constantly. Toph gets to express her feelings to Katara, and yeah, Sokka also lost their mother, but unlike Katara, he isn’t put in the position of being a substitute for everyone’s parent. He even admits that he sees his sister as a mother. The only characters who ever comfort Katara or allow her to vent is Zuko and her father and that’s, like, three scenes in a show where the other characters are consistently given opportunities to seek out Katara for unconditional support.

The fandom interpretation of Katara has been so bastardized that even those who haven’t watched the show know her for this fanon version and not for who she is. She’s such an interesting character beyond her fandom limitations, though. She’s brave, hot-headed, and hopeful as well as gentle and caring. She wishes to learn waterbending, not only because she wants to fight in the war, but because she wants to continue her culture’s practices because, and people often forget this, she also lost an entire subculture within her already fractured tribe. And she wants to defeat the Fire Nation both because of her deep love and empathy for other people, but also because she wants to avenge her mother. But because some of the fans have reduced Katara to a bitch who constantly whines about her mother and friendzones Aang, you wouldn’t know any of this, and it sucks because she’s the only character whose been dumbed down to such an extent.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar #katara #you can tell she’s my favorite character #female character #zutara #I’m not anti or pro either #just something I noticed #I’m not against Aang either #just this writing

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