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cosmic-light-fics · 10 months

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Claire Upset with Carmy vs. Sydney Upset with Carmy and How He Responds to Them - 2x03 "Sundae"

I feel overwhelmed by how many parallels Storer and Co. drew between Sydney and Claire and their respective relationships to Carmy in this season. Not only do the parallels serve to show Carmy's attachment to the past and his reluctance to join the present, but it also serves to contrast the way Carmy shows up for the people he cares about, more specifically how he shows up for the women he has feelings for. I think it's not only interesting how Carmy goes about showing up for both Claire and Sydney, but also how the women respond when they try to hold him accountable.

At the beginning of "Sundae", right after Carmy sends Sydney out so they can go have their palate cleanser at Kasama, Claire calls him. She is pissed off that he gave her a fake number, starting off the conversation with "Should my feelings be hurt? I think they're hurt." Her tone of voice is confrontationally upset while also carrying an air of trying to be sarcastically jokey, and it's affect is immediate on Carmy. He's tensed up, stuttering out an apology, immediately lying and claiming it was a mistake. He's not comfortable off the bat with the conversation and hunkers down on the lie when she continues to push him for answers. She also mentioned twice that she could have the Faks come and beat him up for giving her a fake number. It's a pretty awkward moment, not just because of how awkward Carmy is but because of how cornered he appears.

Carmy clams up when faced with Claire's anger and pressuring questions. When he agrees to help her move the furniture, it's not instant. He knows he has other obligations. But I think he felt some sort of obligation in that moment to make it up to Claire for giving her a fake number. And that's where we get him blowing off Sydney for the rest of the day.

Towards the end of the episode, after spending the day alone and unsuccessfully trying to reach Carmy all day, Sydney arrives at the restaurant and is surprised to find Carmy there. Then she finds out that the crew, with Carmy's knowledge and help, knocked down walls without calling her. She's not outwardly confrontational about the decision, but Carmy calls out her weighted silence. What's more, surprisingly, he pushes for her to tell him what's wrong. He asks what he could have done differently, and makes sure to let her know that he will do better to keep her updated. To have better communication with her.

Sydney is not the one pursuing answers in this situation, even though she has every right to. She is his partner in this business that they are building together, and she was left out of a fairly big decision. Instead of lying, instead of dodging her, instead of simply trying to quickly pacify her, Carmy explains why he did what he did without prompting, and he stands on it. I don't think that is irrelevant to this comparison. He was so avoidant with Claire and could easily have been with Sydney, but he made sure to tell her what he did and even promised to be better at communicating with her, unlike he did with Claire.

This whole parallel between Sydney and Claire revolves around communication and who Carmy feels more comfortable communicating with. Who he feels more comfortable taking accountability with. Who he's more willing to change for.

#the bear #sydney adamu #the bear fx #the bear hulu #carmy berzatto #carmy x sydney #sydcarmy #claire the bear #anti claire bear #i am not anti claire #i don't like her character but i am not anti claire #however i was asked to tag my posts that show dislike towards her #i get it

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kaladinkholins · 4 months

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BRB thinking thoughts about Taigen's character, the TaiMizu ship, and a big chunk of fandom's perceptions regarding both those things.

(Inspired by @farintonorth's post related to this topic that just got my brain going brrrrr)

OK so let me just... start off by saying that I think that reducing stories to their tropes is seriously detrimental to the way some people are interacting with fiction, and while that honestly warrants its own post about the subject, I wanna talk specifically about how this affects the way some people in the fandom talk about Taigen and TaiMizu.

Because yeah, tropes are useful shorthand to refer to certain dynamics or archetypes etc, and they are indeed the building blocks to any story. But in a well-written story, characters and their relationships, actions, and motivations, are much more complex than just tropes. Because in a story that has characters who are more than just cardboard cutouts, their behaviours, backgrounds, motivations and all of that, are inseparable from the context of the overall story they exist in.

So like, sure, you can say Mizu and Taigen have an enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers dynamic. I also use those terms because it's easier. But I also think this is where things start to get a bit twisted, especially from an intertextual sense. Because "enemies-to-lovers" is also commonly used to refer to other ships in other media, whereby it tends to be rooted in an imbalanced power dynamic, such as oppressor-oppressed and bully-victim.

And while that's a whole can of worms that I won't be getting into because it can quickly derail into a whole separate sort of fandom discourse, I'd just like to make it clear that Mizu and Taigen, in particular, do not have an imbalanced power dynamic. They are not bully-victim or oppressor-oppressed. The only understandable reason why someone might actually think their relationship is imbalanced is if

A) they only watched the first episode, or

B) they cannot grasp the slightest bit of nuance in a character, or

C) they're being obtuse on purpose simply because the Mizu/Taigen relationship, or Taigen's character in general, just doesn't suit their tastes.

While yes, Taigen, along with his whole gang, had bullied Mizu when they were children, that dynamic does not exist between them whatsoever in adulthood. Whatever imbalanced bully-victim power dynamic that had once existed between them was decisively ripped apart the moment Mizu beat him in that duel in the dojo, and then completely obliterated by the end of the season.

Mizu is not a defenseless victim at Taigen's mercy. Mizu can beat Taigen's ass any time she wants (and she DOES, repeatedly in fact), and could even kill him if she felt like it. She taunts him openly and without fear ("I like your hair"; "I can beat you with any weapon you choose") and all he does is bark back, because that's pretty much all Taigen ever does. Time and time again, he yaps about how much he wants to kill her, but time and time again, his actions prove that all of it is just an empty threat. Because though his words say "I hate you", his actions demonstrate the complete opposite. He's shown how protective he is of Mizu, how unhesitatingly he sacrifices himself up for her, how loyal he is in enduring days-long torture to not give up information about her, how even when near-death and in pain, he's still willing to keep standing back up so he can fight by her side and help her win against her enemies.

And Mizu is not an idiot! She sees that too. She does not see him as a threat, an enemy, or even a bully. Especially not by the end of Episode 3, and definitely not by the end of the season. When she finds him in the dungeon in Episode 6, she smiles from relief, and doesn't think twice to take him with her. Mizu finds him, at best, an annoyance, or at worst, an infuriating hindrance on her quest for vengeance. Which is why, when Taigen is about to say, "It's a shame our duel's set for tomorrow; I have to kill you before you get your revenge," Mizu whacks him on the head without a second thought before he can even finish his sentence, and leaves him lying unconscious, face-down, in the snow.

And this further emphasises how he does not hold any power over her. There is no abusive power dynamic between them. She is more powerful than him, he knows this, and all he's ever done after they've met up again in adulthood is get his ass whooped by her, get mad about it and pester her and follow her around, get his ass whooped by her some more, and put his life on the line to protect her.

"OOoooOOoooH b-but he called her a demon at the end of Episode 7 and threatened to kill her again!!!" Oh my god. He called her that because he's calling her out on her selfishness to stay silent about her knowledge of Fowler's plans to attack Edo. Because to him, loyalty and honour as a samurai is more important than anything. So in his own brash-and-immature Taigen way, he felt betrayed that Mizu did not hold the same principles. That's why he got angry. He wasn't even that mad about letting Akemi get dragged off by the Tokunobu guards. It was about saving the Shogun and the Shogunate as a whole. That's why the first thing he does in Edo is not find Akemi, but try to warn the Shogun about Fowler's attack.

Look, I'm not defending his stupid ass, of course. Because calling her a demon especially after their cute little wrestling time was obviously rude and inappropriate, especially since words like "demon", "monster" and "Onryo" have had such a deep effect on Mizu throughout her life, and continue to contribute to her self-hatred. But like? That's the fun of realistic and flawed characters, and realistic and flawed relationships. They're not perfect, and it's why we as an audience root for them, wanting to see them work through their shit and find a way to prevail despite it all.

Also, him saying that was in the heat of the moment. He was angry, he felt like his initial belief of who Mizu was—a strong and loyal samurai, just like him—was shattered, and so he lashed out. Was it rude? Definitely. Was it immature of him? Yes, incredibly. But it's also very much in line with his character, because even though he's grown a lot over the course of the season, the show isn't over yet, so obviously his character arc is just beginning, as that is also the case for the other three main characters: Mizu is beginning to accept herself, Akemi is beginning to grow into her position of power, Ringo beginning to train under Master Eiji, while Taigen is beginning to simply be a better person.

On that note, when speaking of Taigen's immaturity, I think that's also one of the main things that people tend to gloss over when it comes to his character. Because when you boil everything down to its bare essentials, Taigen is, essentially, a boy. I've talked about this before, but to reiterate, Taigen very much behaves like an unhealed child. Even as an adult, he is insecure, prone to throwing tantrums, and is desperate to latch onto some material goal in hopes that it will make him feel better—initially he was chasing status/glory/greatness, and then when Mizu tells him that "Nothing comes from being a samurai but death," he immediately decides he wants to run away with Akemi in hopes that he will be happy.

And it's a big step, acknowledging that he doesn't truly want greatness, but had always just assumed it was his only path to a good life. But it's clear he still hasn't really figured it out. Because if he did run off with Akemi to get married and live in the countryside, he still wouldn't be happy. Because he still doesn't know who he really is, or what it is he really wants. Marriage at this moment is the last thing he needs, and as he is now, he would be a pretty awful husband. A simple life would be good for him, but would he be good at a simple life, when he still has so much he needs to work through?

So anyway, what I'm getting at here, is that he's trying and he is learning and growing. So yeah, he is flawed, but honestly? So is Mizu. And the funny thing is that they're flawed in very similar ways.

Because Mizu is also an unhealed child. That's why she's so angry all the time. That's why she pushes people away. That's why she, just like Taigen, is so happy when given the chance to playfully wrestle in the forge, laughing and rolling around like children without shame or pretense.

Again, this shows there is no imbalance between them. They had grown up together as peers from the same town. And while Taigen had had the upper hand back then, because he'd had a gang of other kids with him, that is definitely not the case anymore. Today, they are equally flawed, equally strong, equally skilled swordsmen, and equally bull-headed.

However, yes, Mizu is definitely leagues more mature than Taigen. But she still holds a lot of childhood wounds that mirror Taigen's own. And we see this especially in relation to her mother. Similar to Taigen who had an abusive and alcoholic father, Mizu's Mama was an opium addict and had hit her, berated her, had shaved her head without her consent as a child, and as an adult, had constantly emotionally manipulated and guilt-tripped her. Mizu's love for her Mama was what had driven her to a path of vengeance in the very beginning. And when she'd found out Mama was still alive, she had wanted nothing more than her Mama's love, and it was this alone that pushed her to agree to the marriage with Mikio in the first place. And now, knowing from Fowler that her birth mother is someone else entirely, is what makes her agree to keep him alive and haul his ass to London to seek answers.

Thus, integral to Mizu's self-hatred is also Mizu's intense longing for love and family. Just like Taigen, whose pompousness comes from his insecurity about being the son of a poor fisherman, Mizu's goals are also shaped by who her parents are. Remember, her vengeance is not against just anyone who's corrupt or evil, but specifically against the men who she believes had assaulted her mother, the men she believes had made her a monster, the men she believes had abandoned her to die and continue to try to kill her. Her vengeance is against a father, on behalf of a mother. In The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, Mizu is not merely the Ronin, the Bride, or the Onryo, but also the Child.

This is also why Ringo is so good, not only for Mizu, but for Taigen as well. Ringo is wise and caring and considerate, but above all, he is in tune with his inner child in ways that Mizu and Taigen are not. He is always earnest and positive, he sees the world with childlike wonder, but is not naive or blind to its ugliness. His whole life has been a battle. Ringo brings out the best in Mizu, consistently acting as her moral compass and conscience, and Mizu's choice to save Akemi in the final episode is only because she promised Ringo that she would. Because it's the right thing to do. Ringo inspires her to be a better person, and to think outside of her narrow-minded goal of revenge. At the same time, Ringo also brings out the best in Taigen. While at first Taigen had looked down on both Mizu and Ringo ("Half-limb to a half-wit"), by the end of the season, he's proud to have Ringo as a friend and ally, he listens to Ringo's advice ("What would Master do?"), and asserts to the fucking Shogun that Ringo is a worthy warrior to have by his side.

Okay, I've gone on a bit of a tangent here, but my main point is that Mizu and Taigen are incredibly similar. They are equals. They are both flawed, unhealed children who are chasing some impossible outlandish goal in hopes that it will fill the void in their hearts. They also both have a long way to go in terms of character development if they were to ever build a healthy romantic relationship (either with each other, or even with anyone else). So while I believe things will be rocky (because duh, it's a story, we all live for the drama, etc), I think with Ringo's help, they'll get there eventually.

#blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #mizu x taigen #taigen x mizu #taimizu #taigen blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #meta dissertations.pdf #im not a taigen defender. but i AM a taimizu truther #wank.mp3 #sorta #fandom.rtf #shut up haydar #like i KNOW we all love mizu and want her for ourselves but cmon. let's be real here for a second.#ahem. hear ye! put down the delulu for a mere moment!#and ask thyself. why am i beefing with this pathetic bald man? a man who is the definition of a wet rat?#thus. my brother in nerd ass shit. i beg thee put down thy weapon. this man is not worth beefing with! he is literally... just some guy.#yes...he is bitchy. however! he is also a loser obsessed with mizu. remember this. he is not thine enemy. but simply...one of us.#also lmao like jokes aside lemme be clear. you ARE ALLOWED to hate taigen and taimizu all you like!!!! feel free to do so!!!!#but please just acknowledge it's like. a preference thing. like it's just not your cup of tea! thats A-OK!#but please dont insist that the ship is toxic unhealthy abusive etc #but if you still feel the need to do so. then for the love of god just tag your posts as anti-[insert whatever here] so it helps ppl mute #i knew how to tag shit as anti-makorra since i was fourteen! 😭 like it's basic courtesy cmon

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lovebunnie · 3 months

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#then you wont survive bro hawk really thought tim might be murdered

Ahhhhhhhh!!!! Hawk having to play it cool when Tim told him about Roy Cohn following him into the bathroom and hearing that Cohn said the slur and Tim's a terrible liar. After Tim left his office, Hawk probably had to take a few breaths to center himself. Every one of his instincts, every single cell in his body, was telling him to storm Cohn's office and hold him by his collar and snarl at him, "You stay the fuck away from him." But he couldn't. What would that look like? I hate that I had to even write that and it's so fucked up that he can't protect Tim or even defend his honor. He probably couldn't even be like, "Hey, Mr. Cohn, he's just an aide. Leave him alone."

Imagine if Hawk found out that McCarthy pressed his thumb against Tim's throat. Or if he had seen it.

that is the crux of the dynamic between tim and hawk, atleast to me: hawk had no interest in changing the world and simply accepted it for what it was, and tim sought out a better life and worked to change things he saw as unjust.

i honestly dont think hawk would have stood up for tim at all if cohn or mccarthy used their intimidation tactics in front of him because hawk had been deceiving everyone for so long, it seems like he thought tim was just slow in realizing how the real world worked. its what makes tims response about hawk sounding like cohn hit: hawk did not care about tims feelings enough to want things to change. tim was being harassed into complacency and instead of hawk being on his side and condemning them, he stayed quiet and let the world as he knew it play out. tim was always the brave one and he basically tells hawk, again, that he is a coward like cohn.

#anonymous #fellow travelers #tried to organize my thoughts as best as i could #this is NOT anti hawk however i am very pro hawkins fuller #his character has just been in politics too long he is politic pilled #at the gala he redeems himself and it kicks ass dwdw

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thl-vrmr · 1 year

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That one girl from Beyond the Trailer saying she had problems with the new Scarlet Witch comic because 'It focused on the twin's Roma heritage and thus made the MCU version look bad' and also because 'It has nothing to do with the MCU's Scarlet Witch who is popular'... Some people just shouldn't have opinions

#These are actually good things about that comic #These are in no way flaws #Also am I meant to feel bad that the new SW Solo is making the MCU look bad... Because I am not #Like it did that to itself. Im not gonna pity a Disney-owned company working with bigoted people #Olsen/MCU stans stay out of my mentions you're annoying #Wanda Maximoff #Scarlet Witch #Anti MCU #Hating Hours #B4 anyone gets on my dick I am joking people are allowed to have opinions. But however if these opinions are shit Im not gonna hold back #Its 3AM Im tired and Im hating to distract myself from exams hbu all?

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blackgatesys · 15 days

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scratching at my neck but instead of it being for meth it’s for the need to bully rqs

#lambert complains #I WILL NOT #HOWEVER I AM A GOOD WITCHER #A GOOD LITTLE STUPID WITCHER #endo safe #endogenic #anti radshit #anti rq #anti radqueer #anti 🍓🌈

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charlesemersonwinchesteriii · 11 months

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Rosaria Champagne, “Law of the (Nameless) Father: Mary Shelley’s Mathilda and the Incest Taboo” // Star Trek: Deep Space 9, 2x22 “The Wire”

#incest tw #RENT LOWERING GUNSHOT POST #''I never met anyone who relished a good interrogation as much as you did.''#and then we proceed to hear a story about how Garak preferred to stare at someone for four hours straight rather than interrogate them #and THEN we proceed to watch him try to interrogate someone and not be able to do it even when he literally doesn't even have to doanything #because the anti-changeling machine basically does it for him and he still can't even watch it happen #hm. hmmmmmmmmmm #''We're both getting sentimental in our old age.''#Fathers love to tell you you enjoyed it actually. and also you're basically a fellow adult really.#it's their favorite thing in the whole world #Starky's Original Posts #Star Trek: Deep Space 9 #watch these tags look stupid after I watch Broken Link or something. whatever I'm basking in them for now.#not sorry for posting this due to the fact that I wanted to do so. however I am sorry you had to see it.#god I looked up TDIC script for this and I cannot do it anymore #NO NEED TO PRETEND. YOU'RE FOND OF MILA. AREN'T YOU? YOU DON'T WANT HER HURT DO YOU?#SICKO TELEVISION SHOW I CAN'T WAIT FOR ALL OF CARDASSIA TO GET EXPLODED BY ONE TRILLION BOMBS #GOODBYE

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neometalsilver · 5 months

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if shadow isn’t a swiftie then what is this outfit

#not over him doing the gay coffee hold #sonic #that’s a red tv outfit baby!!#BRAVE to post this on the famous anti taylor website #i am not a swiftie myself #however #she has some bangers #anyway #sonic the hedgehog #sth #shth #shadow the hedgehog

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toxicpineapple · 1 month

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do you have any jewish friends?

uhhhh… yes i do! quite a few in fact. why…?

#is this because i’m pro palestine #because i dont conflate that with being anti jewish #there are jewish palestinians #anti zionist? yes #but i am against jewish hate and i am against any regime or ideology that seeks to threaten the rights of jewish people #anon if thats not what this was about and ive said something antisemitic in some other way pls let me know #however if youre a zionist block me

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strangerthingspolls · 1 year

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#stranger things #polls #stranger things polls #billy hargrove #i’m silly and should’ve done THIS for the last poll instead of harringrove however my brain glitched #but now here i am. it’s not abt steve it’s abt billy!!! how do you feel about him and is there a pattern in your age?????#i’m gonna reblog this w anti tags so that it shows up in anti search but hopefully not on the main post so that it hopefully reaches #a wider audience??? anywho. this is for science and i won’t do anything with the results #like i pinky promise i’m not gonna be like AHA GOTCHA YOUR AGE DEFINES YOUR OPINIONS #i’m just genuinely curious if the trend i’ve noticed is real or just in my mind based on my own preconceived biases

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guiltyidealist · 4 months

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I cannot STAND the shipcourse label terms.

Rant.

"Anti-ship". "Pro-ship".

They're such fucking misnomers for what they're actually referring to that it's not even CLEAR what they're actually referring to.

I struggle to even apply any of this shit to myself. Labels serve as a concise way to communicate something. A label has failed to function as a concise descriptor when it does not describe what you want it to.

Put the shipcourse connotations to these words aside for a second. Just take them for their literal, face-value translation.

I'm not """anti-ship""". I'm not fucking against shipping. Nor am I """pro-ship""" per se?? I'm shipping-positive and shipping-favorable -- like sex-positive and sex-favorable, I'm good with other people doing it and I like doing it -- but not indiscriminately???

There are ships I dislike and there's nothing about it related to ethics. "Anti-ship" and "pro-ship" are such absolutist fucking terms, black-and-white and binary and un-nuanced, "this or that".

But here's the thing: these words don't just mean "how you feel about shipping". Shipping is hardly the tip of the fucking iceberg. A small, singular, surface-level facet to a deep and complex issue related to art, reality, human relationships, and responsibility.

(And that's problem #2 with the labels: encompassing a fraction's fraction's fraction of what this is really about and making it sound like petty fandom bullshit instead.)

What it's really about is portrayal of sensitive and fucked up matters in fiction, and of how to engage with it. It's about what's healthy and what's not. It's about what's ethical and what's not.

It's about boundaries; the line between fiction and reality, the line between artists and their works, the line between creator and audience.

It's about the nature of art, the nature of the relationship between an artist and their artwork, the nature of the relationship between artwork and those who view it. It's about art as a medium through which interaction occurs simply by one person creating it and another perceiving it.

It's about responsibility and accountability. It's about the placement of responsibility and accountability in the artist-viewer relationship. Who is accountable for what. Where does the artist's due diligence end, and where do the viewer's discretion and critical thinking begin. Who takes credit or blame for what.

It's about consequences and who receives them. It's about how art reflects upon the artist, and how it doesn't. It's about what it means to create, to bring something forth to the world and to put it out there to be perceived and judged and acted upon.

I ran out of spoons but. TLDR: shipcourse labels suck so much -- dysfunctional and counterproductive, misleading, wildly failing to capture stances in the real issue at hand -- and we should stop using them actually

#i am considered an ''anti''. i however do not use this label nor identify with it. for the above reasons #<- hashtag stealing/paraphrasing tags left in the notes by someone else #my simple answer stance is against prosh//ppers but even this statement can't be considered accurate for. all of the above reasons #there are so many prosh//ppers and antis out there who functionally have the same beliefs but fight ultimately because of shitty labeling #I just know it.#rant

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