#it's about the PARALLELS and the SYMBOLISM okay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starrbitez · 17 hours

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Why Morty Smith is “like a dog” (pun unintended)

Okay so i saw a post (I’ll link it in comments!) that was talking about how Rick is more like a dog than Morty, and I definitely agree that Rick is similar to a dog too, I am going to discuss my personal opinions on Morty’s dog-like symbolism, parallels with snuffles/snowball, and my own ideas for the dog analogy. It begins below the cut :3

Firstly, there are some parallels between Morty and his former fluffy companion I think are important and very interesting !

One example, Morty is treated very similarly by Rick to the way Jerry treats Snowball. See; Rick pushing Morty down the stairs, Jerry rubbing snowball’s face in his pee. Both unnecessary punishments or just entirely unnecessary.

Morty is also threatened emptily a lot, in the way that an owner might threaten their dog when they do something bad, ie. “we’ll take you back to the shelter or replace you if you dont stop peeing on the rug,” and the replaceable nature that abusive pet owners exemplify towards their dogs is the exact same treatment Morty gets, with the you’re replaceable almost ‘I’ll take you back to the shelter’ threats Rick gives.

Morty is treated like a dog constantly, and while all Morty’s are on some level imo, Pmorty is the most. When Rick takes the voucher for a free replacement Morty — it’s like getting a discount on a rescue dog or picking up a stray when your dog dies.

Then, morty is talked down to like a dog, just like how Jerry talks to snowball.

Morty: whats wrong?

Jerry: your idiot dog! …. Don’t praise him Morty, he peed on the carpet! Bad dog, bad!

Rick: youre a perfect suit of impenetrable armor, Morty! because you’re as dumb as I am smart!

And then,

Morty: look rick, there’s a bunch of people strapped to that building!

Rick: Not people morty. Mortys.

At this point in the show (s1e10) Rick doesn’t even consider Mortys to be human, and he values Morty about the same amount that Jerry valued snowball — little to nothing, simply valued to feel superior over something.

I also think that in Rest and Ricklaxation, healthy morty and toxic morty are two opposite and extreme sides of the spectrum of dog-like behavior. While normal morty is loyal to a fault, he still his has own morals and enough personal confidence to argue with rick and engage in adventures. There’s a clear divide in his character in many episodes where he see his more violent tendencies, and in this episode you can see a split between his more “feral” side and his “domesticated” side. Healthy Morty is a sort of lone-wolf, he believes that health is being able to survive on your own, be strong and completely confident to an almost selfish and narcissistic point, and he desires to be a leader. Toxic Morty sees himself as weak, and he says that he just wants to die. He feels like the runt of the litter, left behind and clinging to the first person that offers him protection — rick. When combined, morty is somewhere in the middle, but the separate parts are opposite sides of dog-like behavior.

OKAY now im going to talk abt my SNOWBALL PARALLELS a bit more….

When snowball realizes how he is being treated, on some level gaining sentience, he starts to develop his intelligence, get stronger, more independent, rebel against the people who treated him like shit and took advantage of him. Snowball realizes how he is being treated and he does everything he can to prove he is intelligent, but out of his care and loyalty to morty, he leaves because he wants morty to live and be happy !!! Sound familiar?

Yes it is the exact same track as Morty’s character development.In season 3 episode 7 after the dinner with evil morty, morty realizes he is being manipulated, that he is replaceable, that he is just someones property. He gains ‘sentience’ or the conciousness of his free will ? Kinda. And from here on we see Morty’s attitude change significantly, asserting himself over rick often in season 4. Morty joins in on the intro, he leaves rick to die, he focuses on himself, he becomes more violent and more in control of his own decisions. In season 4 we see him become independent from ricks control, but he is still loyal and wants rick to be happy, the same loyalty snowball had to the one person who treated him right.

Snowball had an attachment to morty because morty was the only one to treat him well.

Morty has an attachment to rick because rick is the only one who gives him praise, albeit irregularly. He gets attention from rick. Morty is continuously in vulnerable or weaker positions to those around him, and i believe it is symbolism !! I think its even in subtle ways like when rick will pat morty on the head, call him ‘buddy’, rick even outright compares morty to a dog with his unwavering loyalty. Which — just like a dog — he was bred for.

I think the acknowledgement of morty being similar to a dog in his loyalty, his obedience, but also in his parallels to snowball align well with the citadel plot of Mortys being bred for forgiveness. Only when the Mortys. Become aware of their treatment and how they could be better, they start to change into a more violent/feral/intelligent/confident form, depending on the Morty. Intelligence seen in evil morty and c-137, feral behavior in the mutated morty’s on the citadel who are aware of their position And the corruption around them.

I think we are in track for morty to become more and more of an independent kid, following in the footsteps of snowball and developing his intelligence, confidence, ad strength until he will possibly leave or find independence from his codependency on rick, just like snowball was able to escape his codependency on humanity in general. (Interesting to think abt how Beth and Jerry have a codependent marriage and rick and morty have a codependent partnership… v interesting)

But yes . These are my thoughts on morty smith c-137 and the general theme of Mortys being a dog. For more info read my fic, like a dog. Jkjkjk B)

Pls pls tell me ur opinions on this !!

#rick and morty #rick n morty #morty smith #morty #rnm #rick sanchez #evil morty #toxic morty #rick and morty analysis #analysis #i was going to do my homework but i got distracted and spent like 45 minutes on this #anyway. morty dog #fanfic #meow !

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riddlerosehearts · 7 months

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since the last twst update i've seen some people disliking the knight of dawn's copy and paste design and discussing the theory that he actually looked different in reality but has simply taken on silver's face in lilia's dream--which i do think is a fun idea that's definitely plausible! but i'm here to admit that this design choice not only doesn't bother me at all, but... i actually actively really like it, to be honest.

my initial reason for why i didn't feel bothered by it was that as we all know by now, silver is clearly twisted from aurora, and so many of the disney princesses look identical to their moms with aurora herself being no exception. so i just took our disney princess boy looking identical to his dad as a sort of homage to this!

but my second reason, the one that made me grow to really like the knight of dawn's seemingly silly sameface design once i realized it, is the fact that malleus is literally also a copy of meleanor. maybe it's just not as immediately noticeable, but look, he is.

silver and malleus already have so many fascinating parallels and this latest main story update just added even more: they are both the royal children of enemy kingdoms in a war from centuries past. a war in which their own parents directly fought against each other, both just trying to protect their loved ones and their people, only for them both to meet tragic ends with meleanor even dying at knight of dawn's own hand. but it's because of everything that occurred back then--the knight of dawn choosing to save lilia and help him escape with malleus's egg in spite of everything, malleus needing a couple extra centuries to hatch from his egg without his parents there to give him their love, silver being put into an ageless sleep and not having anyone whose true love could wake him for hundreds of years--that malleus and silver were both able to be taken in by lilia and grow up alongside each other.

and it also just so happens that they're both near-perfect reflections of their parents who fought and died so long ago. but when they look at each other now, they don't see the face of an enemy, but of a beloved member of their family, of someone who they would do anything to protect.

#LISTEN maybe this is silly #and i think it's fine and cool if people wanna imagine the knight actually looking different #but yeah. malleus and silver both looking just like their parents got me emotional #it's about the PARALLELS and the SYMBOLISM okay #twisted wonderland #malleus draconia #silver vanrouge #twst silver #meleanor draconia #knight of dawn #twst #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland spoilers #book 7 spoilers

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heraldofcrow · 1 year

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Ok, but the way “Annalise” means “graced with God’s bounty” and they gave that name to a woman expecting a god’s child, but then also “Anna” by itself means “favored by God” or “grace” which is the latter half of Arianna’s name, linking a connection between two women graced with god-children.

However, the name “Arianna” in full means “Most holy,” which also poses a sharp contrast with her seemingly “defiled” character, AND the name Adella, which means “noble, nobility.”

Arianna wears the Vileblood noble dress, but Adella the NUN is called the noble, and Arianna is the prostitute but is called “Most holy.”

Furthermore, Adella’s name is etymologically the same name as “Adeline,” which ALSO MEANS NOBLE/NOBILITY.

The blood-saints are the nobles, and the two defiled Vileblood women are “most holy” and “graced with God’s bounty.”

LIKE WHO’S REALLY THE SINNER AND THE SAINT HERE? THE NOBLE AND THE NUN??

WOT??

DO YOU ALL SEE WHAT I AM SAYING??

ALSO THE FIRST PART OF ARIANNA’S NAME AKA “ARI” MEANS LION AND THAT’S WHAT “LEO” MEANS WHICH IS THE NAME OF THE CUT VILEBLOOD DRIFTER AND ALL THIS FURTHER CEMENTS THE CONNECTION BETWEN LIONS AND CAINHURST SOMEHOW DON’T ASK IDK—

Sorry.

#i’m losing my sanity #it’s about the parallels and the interwoven connections and symbolism and absolutely psychic genius of this game #i’m starting to sound deranged #like half of this is probably just my own delusion lol #it’s okay you can laugh #queen annalise #arianna woman of the night #adella the nun #saint adeline #bloodborne #CrowNotes

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precalamity · 2 years

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entitled: can y’all stop being gay for 5 seconds I’m having a fucking panic attack

#I like to imagine kris having their little green sweater on below the armor. its symbolic but also they deserve to be toasty #kris is sooo special to me. I want them to be so okay #kris’s relationships with both these characters fascinates me. the kris noelle parallels I have spoken of.#the kris protecting susie in chap 1 gets to me #I truly believe they want to connect w susie on their own terms and that they are following susie as much as susie is following them #and the noelle hand in unloveable hand stuff obv #and then noelle and susie and their whole hay thing going on that is so lovely but that kris is so outside of #love comes in so many forms but mostly kris is worried about their lack of basic autonomy in a world that was turned upside down #1) by their brother leaving 2) by all this dark world shit #and can’t they just be a teenager? can’t they just be young and emotional and listen to green day and sleep through class?#and make or remake tentative friendships?#I’ve been drinking wine in my dorm room can you tell #anyway #I’m ship tagging this Bc i can. ships are more than kissing it’s about an attentive detail to peoples relationships #deltarune #deltarune fanart #kris dreemurr #noelle deltarune #susie deltarune #kriselle #krusie #krusielle #j.art

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thenatashapulleyuniverse · 10 months

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Jem Castlereagh and Being the "Other"

The other night, I got into a discussion about Joe's racial and queer identity, and how these two things must have brought on a sense of guilt when he used to be Jem. It was such a fascinating topic to discuss that I want to share it here.

Joe is a white-passing biracial man. His mother is white, his father is Chinese. I want to specifically talk about Jem, since in that life, Jem was able to rise up to a high position with substantial power: The House of Lords.

On the topic of racial identity, Jem chose to be like other racialized white men, which in turn might have caused him to develop identity issues and guilt along the way. It's only speculation on our part whether or not he was gently persuaded/pushed/forced into this role, but this type of action brings about a sense of betrayal. He felt like he was betraying everything his family stood for.

Let's say his mother really did choose to go ahead and elope with a Chinese man. Jem's family history in of itself is already a betrayal to the fundamental order of things. His parents being a mixed race couple in the 19th century raising two sons, it couldn't have been easy for them. Toby (I don't think Jem mentioned an older brother but let's say Toby is also consistent with every Joe in every timeline) isn't white passing, so we can assume he's had his hardship of discrimination. So Jem knowing that he's "other" and that his family is "other", chooses to masquerade as a person who looks and sounds and fits right in with the group of people who would hurt his mother and father and brother for less than nothing just because they're a family. His family must be proud of him for being able to get opportunites they never would, but Jem carries that guilt because he knows he has to abandon his culture, his race, and inevitably his family just so that he can keep them all safe (him included). Jem choosing to use his mother's maiden name too is fact of this. Throwing away your true family name to fit in/to become somebody new is a reoccuring theme within the Kingdoms---Kite does it to appease to the English Navy, Agatha does it because she doesn't want to be connected to Lawrence anymore.

On top of that, he's a queer man. It's evident that he has a fondness for Madeline, but at the core of it, it wasn't a satisfying marriage because he's still playing the role of a heterosexual man to fit in. His queer identity basically ties in with what I'm saying about him betraying his family. I can't really imagine them being, you know, acceptable of gay people given they are a product of their time. At least with Jem's racial identity, he isn't alone. He has his brother. He has his father. He has a support system when it comes to being a racial minority. But being queer goes even deeper than that, because he's alone with all of that. You don't go to the asylum for being half-Chinese, but you can for being gay. Can you imagine how deep he must have suppressed that when he marries Madeline? How utterly alone? That is, until he meets Kite, another deeply repressed gay man. In his head, Jem must have had his reservations. His guilt, this time, is not only directed towards his mother and father and brother, but as well as to his wife and son. On paper, he's the ideal Englishman and they have given him everything to hold up that ideal. Yet the minute he finds somebody who understands what it means to be "other", he throws away everything his family had given him and goes with Kite to be "other" with him. My explanation here makes Jem wanting to go back home and be with his son even more symbolic and even sadder, because once he has thrown away everything to be the "other" there was never a world where he could have gone back unscathed, where he could have had his son and Kite too. So he loses everything when the timeline shifts. I think he knew that too, somewhere deep, deep inside, and so we can't even begin to fathom how deep his guilt goes regarding his racial and queer identity.

Of course, all of this is still speculation and we know nothing about Jem, Jem's family, and Madeline except from Kite's POV and the letters. However, all of this places even more importance on just how essential Kite is to Joe/Jem's person. He was willing to share his real name with Kite, willing to reveal his biracial heritage to him (I can't imagine that he shared that information with Madeline or his son Edward in his rise to power). At the intersection of Joe's character, between his race and his queerness, is just a man who wants to keep everybody he loves safe---whether that means having to hide who he really is, or joining the side of the "other" despite everything.

#i would love to hear what everybody has to say on this!#am i making sense do people understand me. everything makes more sense when im cooking something up in a frenzy in a public discord server #somewhere here is a banger essay topic on the themes of choices and decisions in the kingdoms #as i wrote this up it really reminded me of thaniel's character and watchmaker's themes of choosing for yourself vs fate #and you know i love me some parallels between novels. its about the overarching themes. its about the symbolism.#its about the inherent struggle of the pulley protagonist #theres also a banger fanfic idea here about joe/jem with imposter syndrome can somebody get on that #okay ive said my thinkpiece #the kingdoms #natasha pulley

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deanwasalwaysbi · 2 years

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Matt Baume about Dynasty being the only show on the air at the time with a gay main character: "On a show where the straight characters are constantly getting naked in bed together, the closest the gay characters are allowed to get is this one moment in what looks like a pizza hut"

Me: Wait.

"Dynasty was free to show Steven getting gay bashed, he just couldn't show a gay kiss."

#destiel #spn film studies #matt baume #dynasty #destiel parallels #okay this one is really a reach but my brain did the pattern thing #spn queercoding #okay we look at this scene over and over again but we dont talk about the fact that dean wasn't eating and would not be honest with sam #and then he turns around and not only eats his burger but cas's burger too and opens up to cas and even asks him to kill him which whoa.#and yes - those ships were added to the restaurant just for this scene. which is fully insane.#i still need an explanation from wanek or dabb and i need it to be a gay one #original content #destiel nonsense #i went off in the tags #stephen slept with both men and women until the network tried to make him a straight sex symbol soooooo

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berlinnelity · 1 year

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i love it when tragedy is hereditary, something that just plagues your ancestors and those that came before you. that thing about, “some people are born with tragedy in their blood”? love that shit. absolutely adore this kind of stuff. it is the reason i am alive. i once listened to “runs in the family” by amanda palmer and i have never been the same since

#yes this is about my characters #most of them #ugh. like i absolutely adore to give them 'hereditary traits' you know #it. it adds depth. it makes me question 'would them be like this if they hadn't born into the family they did?'#<- 99% of the time the answer is no #you know oliver carries two surnames: gustav and birdwhistle #so his full name is 'oliver gustav von birdwhistle'#his mother was german his father british all that yada yada yada #and THERE IS SO MUCH PARALLELS BETWEEN HIM AND STORIES OF THE GUSTAV'S AND THE BIRDWHISTLE'S #i love it all #anyways #my characters #amanda palmer idk #i don't particularly like amanda palmer #she has commited if anything problematic actions #but 'runs in the family' just makes my brain function in a different vibration #writers of tumblr #writerblr #symbolism #i swear to god symbolism is everything to me okay #if you're reading something i wrote #you better pay attention and not miss shit #be aware that there will be heavy use of symbolism at just about every paragraph

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fauxbia · 1 year

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i have;. so many thoughts n emotions about the silly space game...

#girl help!!! themes and symbolism and parallels and existentialism and #i'm so normal :] <- lying #man i know i have two irl friends to talk to abt it but like #that's not enough #i need to talk i need people to KNOW #i need to SHARE EVERYTHING i'm FEeling about all this #okay anyway

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wildflowercryptid · 8 months

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actually, thinking about it more, i could always make a dualmuse for wally & zinnia if i end up making a pkmn irl/rp blog... 🤔

#i think about the parallels & contrasts between those 2 constantly idk why i didn't think about this sooner #i... may have already snagged a url for it #i need to look into how pkmn irl blogs work before i actually make one tho #i actually had those tags blocked while i was trying to get back into multipara pkmn rps so i'm gonna have to fix that 😂#if i do make the blog the first thing i'm doing is finally infodumping about what spider lillies symbolize when related to wally & zinnia #okay i need to try going to bed now #mj.txt

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public-trans-it · 8 months

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A lot of people talk about Actual Play podcasts giving unrealistic expectations for TTRPGs (Surprise! Trained Actors improv differently from your average player, and even for indie APs, playing for an audience is completely different from playing among friends)

But I absolutely think that watching other people play CAN inspire new ways to play, in a way you can’t really get elsewhere.

It wasn’t until I listened to Friends at the Table and listened to how Austin Walker narrates the games they play that I considered the potential of treating a TTRPG less like the kind of collaborative improv we normally treat it as, and more like storyboarding.

The major difference being: Austin regularly talks about ‘the camera’. It is practically its own character with how much attention it gets.

“So I’m imagining this like one of those shots where everything kinda freezes in place, and the character is still moving to show the out of body experience they are having right now, and when the scene cuts back, these are the parts that are different.”

“Oh yeah, you open the box, and it’s like that scene in Pulp Fiction. Where we just see this golden glow from what’s coming inside. Your characters know what’s in there now, but I have no idea, we haven’t gotten to that point yet. We will come back to it.”

“Okay you see this symbol, and your character wasn’t there for it so they don’t know what it was, but we the audience can immediately connect it back to this one cult we were dealing with.”

At one point just blatantly goes “Oh man, actually should we change it to this, for a better thematic parallel to what happened in that other session? That might be a really good resolution for your character.”

It’s such an INCREDIBLE example of what you can do by treating the fiction so casually, and like the work in progress it actually is. Genuinely one of the best GM practices I have ever seen, and something that very quickly became a tool I make heavy use of in my campaigns.

The story isn’t a finished product, and it turns out treating it like a draft instead of a finished product makes the game able to do SO MUCH more cool shit.

#it’s SUCH a good way to narrate!#AND it’s system agnostic! AND it makes GMing a far more approachable practice!!!#TTRPGs #Friends at the Table

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slitsfordan · 27 days

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DanandPhilCrafts + Fucked Up Queer Devotion + Christian Homophobia: An Essay

We’ve all been talking about the willingness of Dan and Phil to perform the ritual, we’ve all been talking about the intimacy of carving out your lover’s heart, but I have not heard anyone talk about the fucked up side of Dan and Phil’s (fictional) relationship with each other, and with Him, so here goes.

On the craft channel, Dan and Phil act overwhelmingly positive, like satanic children’s show hosts, but this is clearly a farce. We see them drop their smiles quite a few times during the crafting- most notably in Glitter Faces when Dan’s craft turns out wrong, and when Phil cuts Dan’s hand. “Don’t cry, craft” is directed towards the audience, but it seems Dan and Phil are following their own advice. Cults, after all, prey on vulnerable people. While they do seem scared of doing the ritual, and their involvement with Him, they are, however, definitely willing. In

The blood on Dan after he kills Phil is interesting; The handprint on his shirt isn’t a sign of a struggle, but rather Phil just grabbing his shirt- that’s pretty intimate, honestly. The blood on his face could’ve been caused by a bunch of things: blood splatter he wiped at? wiping at his face (eyes?) with a bloody hand? or Phil holding his face? (I like the third option) The blood on his nose might totally have been accidental, and just a thing that happened, but it could also be an allusion to the cat whiskers, in the spirit of bringing things back to the beginning and whatnot.

After the ritual is complete, there’s the obvious tarot symbolism. @freckliedan has a great post about this, but I’ve got more to add, so bear with me. Yes, Dan and Phil are framed as the lovers, but that’s not all. While the sexual deviance associated with the devil card has clear connections to queerness, it’s main association is usually unhealthy relationships and dependence. From this, and the obvious devotion displayed in the video, the craft versions of Dan and Phil are implied to be unhealthily dependent on each other, and devoted to the point of obsession. While the relationship certainly isn’t abusive, this obsession just isn’t healthy.

Furthering the unhealthy relationship idea is when Phil calls Dan “Sampson”. In the Bible or whatever (I’m not Christian sue me) Sampson topples these pillars, killing both himself and his enemies, which has a clear parallel to Dan’s stacked ingredients falling over, but the use of “folly” is interesting, and suggests a further connection. Sampson had married a prostitute, and she sold him out, basically, leading to his enslavement and later death. In this story, this is the clearest and most obvious act of folly by Sampson: marrying someone who he shouldn’t have, someone who it was taboo for him to be with. Connected to Dan and Phil, it suggests that their relationship is dangerous due to the social taboo, but it’s also implied that Phil will betray Dan. Perhaps we’ll see that in a 5th crafts installment, or perhaps it’s simply a commentary on being in a relationship with someone considered unacceptable.

Speaking of unhealthy relationships, that’s sure what they’ve got with Him! Leading up to the ritual, Dan and Phil are shown to be scared of Him, even though they call Him their friend. Dan’s head shake when Phil says “crafting has improved my life in numerous ways” is very telling. At the end, Dan’s shoulders tense at His first footstep, however, when He actually touches Dan, he doesn’t seem scared at all- forgive me for this next point, but from the way he kinda leans into the touch and tilts his head back, it seems more like he’s going for “turned on” rather than “scared”.

“Okay, cool” you say, “but what does it mean?” Well, Dan and Phil’s relationship in this series is not just about homoerotic undertones- this is an allegory for toxic queer sexual relationships. Why would they make something about toxic relationships when they’re in a healthy relationship? With the toxicity, and the power imbalances, and the satanism, Dan and Phil’s (fictional) relationship is a representation of Christian fears of queerness, and the supposed immoral/corrupting/anti-Christian effects of being in a queer relationship. The fear Dan and Phil show throughout the series is representative of internalized homophobia. They’re scared to align themselves with Him because it means accepting their own queerness. Dan shows more fear than Phil throughout the series (like after his glitter face turns out to be a pentacle) which parallels his real world internalized homophobia that he’s experienced. By holding hands with the devil (or baphomet?) standing behind them, Dan and Phil have embodied every conservative fear about queerness, but have come out on top. Through their YouTube channel, we get to do the same.

#in conclusion:#if DanandPhilCrafts is about anything #it’s about how it’s okay to be gay #lol #thanks for reading if you made it this far :)#I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this!#dnp #dan and phil #phan #amazingphil #daniel howell #danandphilcrafts #dan and phil crafts #phandom analysis

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rainyinautumn · 1 year

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there's a parallel in last life that I don't see talked about as much as it deserves and so I'm going to dissect the ever-living hell out of it. remember the ghast farm incident? everyone remembers the ghast farm incident. Grian turns red, he starts knocking blocks of a bridge out from under Mumbo, "there's a way we can still be friends," etc etc etc. it's fantastic. WELL. two sessions earlier, there's a similar confrontation between Scar and Joel after Joel turns red, except the roles are reversed. Joel approaches and it's Scar who starts breaking blocks of the bridge, trying to put distance between the two of them. HOWEVER, the interesting difference here is that Scar is doing it not because he doesn't want to be Joel's friend anymore, but because he still wants to be. lets take a look at a transcript of part of that scene, shall we?

[Scar breaks several blocks of the bridge.] Joel: Scar, what are you doing? I know you're not my friend anymore, but come on, Scar. Not the bridge. Scar: I wanted to make an arrangement. Are- are we not friends? Joel: We can't be friends, Scar. We can't be friends.

Scar knows that Joel is a red life and that he might hurt him, but he still wants to be friends, so he's providing a way that they can be near each other while he isn't in any danger by putting a gap in the bridge. he even breaks it again when he comes by to chat later. during that chat, Joel reminds him of how dangerous he is, Scar says he "gets it," and then proceeds to let him continue living under magical mountain. Scar doesn't "get" that he needs to be cautious of Joel—what he "gets" is that he's taking a risk by letting him stay and that he's already accepted something might happen. and he's OKAY with that. Joel is red. he gets it.

now compare that to this excerpt from the ghast farm incident:

Grian: Y'know, Mumbo, there's a way we can still be friends. Mumbo: Yeah? Grian: Yeah. [he starts breaking blocks at of Mumbo's feet] You could join me.

with Joel and Scar, it's a red life choosing to step away from his friend in order to protect him, while said friend tries to find a way that they can still be near each other without placing himself in danger. with Grian and Mumbo, it's a red life choosing to try to take his friend down with him so that they can be near each other because he can't accept not being his friend. the fact that in BOTH scenarios the friendship is symbolized by a bridge being broken is a perfect illustration of one of Grian's lines from the ghast farm incident: "it was a bad idea for the wrong reasons." those friendships should have been a good idea, those bridges should have been a good idea, but now they provide a connection that isn't safe, and they all know that.

and I'm not done talking about this. no no no no no. this offers a FASCINATING insight into why desert duo is Like That. Scar would sooner let Grian kill him than have to stop being his friend. Grian would sooner kill Scar than have to stop being his friend. which is all kinds of perfectly fucked up and explains exactly why 3rd life ended the way that it did. it also makes the cactus scene from double life very interesting to think about. remember the cactus scene? it's a doozy.

Grian starts session by dropping a stalactite on Scar's head as a prank and (unintentionally) taking them down to two and a half hearts. Scar then retaliates by leaning against a cactus until Grian breaks it. he then leans against Yet Another Cactus until Grian breaks that one too, at which point they are at only one heart. a question I've been asking since that day is this: if Grian hadn't broken the cactus, would Scar have stepped away before it was too late?

using bridge theory, we can find an answer to this.

the answer is no.

this isn't necessarily because Scar is actively trying to get them killed—it's more because he knows with absolute certainty that Grian will break the cactus. he's not prepared to step away because he isn't worried he needs to. see, the difference between Grian and Scar is that Grian is willing to throw around the lives of other people to get what he wants, and Scar is willing to throw around his own life to get what he wants (the fact that what they really want out of all this is often the other's trust is an issue I will dissect another day). once again, last life is the perfect example of this. Grian steals a life from Scar right off the bat and gets another one out of him by force a few episodes later. meanwhile, Scar makes a business out of selling his soul and threatens Team BEST that he'll kill himself in order to go red life crazy on them. and they don't doubt him! and they SHOULDN'T doubt him, because Scar is the kind of guy that would do that! the same way that Grian is the kind of guy who will drop a stalactite on his soulmate's head but break the cactus he's leaning against.

Grian is willing to risk Scar's life, but he's not okay with Scar risking his own life, because he knows that he's completely willing to stand against a cactus until he dies if it makes a point. so Grian breaks it.

but Scar knows Grian as well as Grian knows him. Scar knows that this is hardly a risk at all. so he leans against the cactus a third second time.

#normal about desert duo #normal about last life #normal about how the life series is a tragedy of epic proportions but is also just a block game that some guys play for fun #these two are so integral to each other's demise it is unbelievable #desert duo #grian #goodtimeswithscar #last life #double life #overrainylyzed

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lunahearts · 3 months

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Okay I'm doing it. I'm chapter 96 posting.

This is not meant to be a big analysis post this is mostly just me sharing all the little moments that Marcille & Laios show their care for each other because they are SO beloved to me. Join me on the journey if you wish.

(but also the above statement may be a lie. I do have a point here, it turns out, and the point gets at some of my Big Feelings of what Dungeon Meshi has to say about the nature of friendship & living in the world)

So, first of all, the conversation about Laios being king at the start of the chapter. Just in general Laios insisting on presenting himself in his own way here is so good. Character development!!

Before the events of the story he hadn't shared his inner world with anyone but Falin. Now he's like Actually I'm gonna dress up in the discarded remains of my monstersona and that's just how it is.

And even though there are a LOT of parts of the story and bits of character growth that go into this, I think it specifically highlights some interactions from a few chapters ago.

After all, his initial reaction to having been in that monster form & coming out of it was trying to hide from everyone.

And I think everyone helping him put things in perspective here contributes to how he is able to present himself as king. They assure him that he is accepted, despite having just been seen by EVERYONE at his Peak "Weird Monster Guy" mode.

Highlighting what Marcille says here especially:

Going out to "face them with a smile" is EXACTLY what he does. Not right away. He's still pretty stressed in the following scene in this chapter. But he is able to face the crowds with a smile, eventually...

As king. Dressed in the memory of his most vulnerable moments, the most honest expression of his desire.

BUT I'M GETTING A LITTLE AHEAD OF MYSELF. Before the King Laios speech, there's a little moment with Marcille I want to highlight, because...

Did y'all know that by the end of the manga, Marcille isn't like... grossed out by eating monsters any more? Or at least, she's definitely changed her reaction to it. It's Namari who makes the "yeah it smells good despite what it is" comment, not Marcille.

We even get shots later of Tansu, Shuro, and Kabru being kinda grossed out by - but still going ahead and eating - the different Falin foods. Chilchuck also throws out a line about it being surprised that it's good.

But there's no disparaging comment from Marcille, despite the Everything of the situation. I just think that's also a nice little detail. She may not be as far in the monster eating game as Laios, but she's more willing to roll with the weirdness.

So after this little moment, this is when Laios comes out in his new regal outfit. And first of all...

This is such a good contrast to the moment when the group goes to save Marcille in chapter 84. The monsters had stopped attacking, and everyone's reactions to Laios and the others framed him as unsettling. Creepy. Maybe even traitors.

They even use some of the same labels (lord of the monsters/lord of the dungeon, dark lord/demon king)., but the context is that they are disgusted. The parallels in this manga....

Have a tendency to destroy me. What a difference in reception.

Anyway, after this moment, Laios stops to talk to the group... and I'd like to point out again: MARCILLE ISN'T FLIPPANT HERE EITHER!!

Chilchuck is still Chilchuck, of course, and I want to be clear I love that, too. Chilchuck is who he is to his core. His little jabs are very affectionate in this chapter.

But Marcille... Marcille only points to the Winged Lion symbol as being weird, not the monster bits. And like, considering what she's just been through with the lion, being skeptical of that part is... fair.

(don't get me wrong, her "that's fine and all" isn't exactly excitement. BUT the point I'm trying to make is less about her completely changing her feelings & preferences. It's more about how she expresses them, and how she treats Laios and HIS feelings & preferences)

And she continues to be so encouraging!! Wah!! Like, despite, all four of these people definitely caring about Laios, it's Marcille specifically who tells him to relax and just be honest. And you know what? I think that's what Falin would have said, too.

Please also note how cute everyone's little faces are in the crowd:

(see, Chilchuck loves him too!! Look at that fond face, and the cheer. and Senshi! and Namari! They really are such a family)

Laios' short speech actually has a little bit I'd like to highlight as well, since I think it is a nice little reflection of his choice to keep the lion insignia on his new outfit:

"Eat to your heart's content," he says. Not just "enjoy," or "let's eat."

Dunmeshi does such a wonderful job of framing so much about the Winged Lion with nuance, and this is a good example of that. Desire is not bad! Craving and consuming is beautiful. As Laios says when explaining the lion insignia...

It's not just something to get rid of.

So then... on to the feast!

And not only does Marcille not express any grossed out feelings, as I mentioned before... she even helps to gross out Chilchuck!!

Her weird girl powers are only just in their infancy. She will only grow more powerful in time...

As the feast goes on of course we get the group's realization about her hair, and I'd like to point out:

I really feel like they have such similar reactions to finding out about how the other has been affected by the Winged Lion

Just... the quiet concern. Not making a huge fuss, but... worried. Understanding. A little heartbroken for each other.

SPEAKING OF HEARTBROKEN REACTIONS THOUGH. WHAT COMES NEXT REALLY GETS ME.

After Chilchuck braids Marcille's hair for her, the topic of her needing to leave everyone comes up and...

God, these expressions. Every Time I see these panels I think about about what Laios saw in her nightmare. Her fears. The weight of inevitable loneliness, and the way it has marked her. As much as Marcille tries to keep things light when talking about it, he knows what this means to her. And it HURTS.

So he doesn't accept it. But do you notice how he frames this. Do you see. Not "do you want me to fix this." Not "hey I have an idea."

"Would you be willing to stay."

He doesn't know whether she will accept. Whether she will hate the idea, actually, of staying here with him. He's putting himself out there fully prepared for rejection & dismissal, as he has faced many times before.

But his pitch, his proposal to her, it's not JUST an excuse to ask her to stay, either. He's put thought into this. Into what Marcille could mean and do here. Not just to and for him, but for the people of this area. The place he has taken responsibility for.

He's also thinking about Falin. And about all the other little girls, the people of all sorts, just like her. He's thinking about the people who have been killed (burned at the stake???), hurt, shunned. About the people who have been abandoned. The people who are still alone.

He's not just offering Marcille an out from her isolation, he's offering her a new purpose. A new way to continue her work, to do the things she cares about. He SEES her! he understands her.

BUT ALSO HE'S SO NERVOUS OUGH. FIDDLING WITH THE PLATE. UNSURE IF SHE WILL CARE. UNSURE IF HE HAS IT RIGHT.

HE'S NOT GOOD WITH PEOPLE HE'S NOT GOOD AT THIS.

BUT THEY UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. AND SHE WANTS THIS LIFE HE'S OFFERING HER.

Still... it's not that simple for her, even if for a moment she is swept up in how much she wants this.

Again here, Marcille is working so hard to be chill about the whole 'going west with the elves' thing. She looks absolutely devastated in the first panel, but puts on a smile in the second.

Maybe she doesn't want to bring down the mood. Maybe she doesn't want to burden everyone with what seems like the only option she has. Maybe she had already accepted the cost that might come with bringing Falin back. Maybe after everything with the Winged Lion, she doesn't want to risk letting herself fight for her desires too hard.

But hey. Desires aren't always bad. They aren't something to just get rid of.

A small bit of visual storytelling here... I love that Marcille is confined by the panel, but Laios is stepping outside of it. He's literally pulling her outside of the box she feels trapped in.

Also, I love that his first acts as king are:

1) welcome everyone to a big feast

2) stand by his friend and help her find happiness

It's great stuff and it's so Laios.

In addition to that, I love how this whole act actually plays out. I love that, while getting the elves to let Marcille go, he gets to be extremely cool and protective...

but also like. Not THAT cool and protective.

No really, I mean it! I think it's important! It's important that cool 'suave king guy Laios' is a front he puts up when he needs to deal with these strangers, and one that he completely drops once it's just him and Marcille.

He's not trying to impress her, or convince her he's cool and suave. Why would he? He trusts that she's okay with the messy, often unimpressive, sometimes kinda gross reality of who he is.

And isn't that what Dungeon Meshi is all about? Messy, unimpressive, gross reality. And how beautiful, how wonderful, how very precious it is

Especially when you get to share it with your friends.

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #laios touden #marcille donato #dunmeshi analysis #dungeon meshi spoilers #posting on this blog bc I'm not sure the sideblog is showing up in tags yet :/

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bluegarners · 1 year

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getting a tiny bit tired of the adamancy of the new fanony-but-think-its-canon take of dick being the absolutely rage filled robin. like yes, kind of? he was 9, his whole world just ended before his eyes, and his only way to process was through grief and anger bc nobody was taking a child seriously. additionally, the only person who wanted to help him at that time was also a man who was filled with a similar grief and anger and had learned to channel it in a violent way. of course dick grayson as robin resembled something as "angry" or "rage-filled" but that wasn't him too?? like, how to explain it...

the reversal of the fanon trope of dick being the "sunshiny" robin into someone angry and violent and out for blood is not the helpful shift many people think it is when trying to understand dick grayson as a character as a child. so much of fandom is turning characters very flat and not allowing them to experience two things at the same time or in fluctuating variances. which is. counterintuitive when trying to construct a cognitive map about them. having linear lines drawn for a character and keeping them in direct parallel to others, never letting them cross or intermingle, does the opposite of deepening understanding and depth of character.

what a lot of the "hot takes" i see about this very pivotal moment in dick's life focus on the rage as a very ongoing thing. i myself have touched on it a few times in metas and fics, and although i do believe dick's relationship with anger and how he responds to it is important to understanding his character, i do not believe it is a core aspect of it. yes, dick was angry as robin. he was angry bc his parents were taken from him in a very violent way for something that dick had very little understanding of. these are things that are obviously understandable to be angry about. heck, anger would not begin to describe the kind of feeling at having everything you've ever known be stripped away from you by something you had no part in or control over

but anger is not who dick grayson's robin was. his entire character is centered around hope and kindness and giving second chances. his character is about forgiveness and so many people brush over that part when laser focusing on his anger over the man that killed his family. one of the first things dick did as robin was go after and beat his parents' murderer, but he also stopped. he didn't beat that man to the point of killing him and he didn't go after him again once the man was put in prison. that may not seem like such a monumental thing but dick grayson forgave the man who took everything away from him in that simple action of stopping

by pulling him away from his anger, bruce gave dick a second chance at a life beyond that. and in return, dick never forgot that lesson and actively worked on and added to it. he became better because of his anger by practicing kindness, exercising restraint, and learning from his mistakes when things went too far

dick grayson as robin is more than just the violent night he cemented himself as a vigilante by catching his first murderer. his robin is about moving past it and being a symbol of hope for others who are lost in similar ways, showing them that there is a path beyond the grief and rage. that there is hope and light at the end of the long tunnel and it's okay if a little guidance is needed along the way to get there

#dick grayson #robin #anyway never want to see those posts again thank u #they are getting to be just as bad as those weird ones that make dick happy 24/7 and sugary cereal munching

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thatlittleegyptologist · 5 months

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This probably has a pretty obvious answer but I need to know - how do we know how to write in ancient Egyptian? What I mean is, we can read hieroglyphs because of Rossetta stone, but wouldn't that only show us what certain words mean in another language that we do understand, not how it's actually spelled? With names I assume it's easy, but what about actual words, when all we have are symbols and what they correlate with in another language, not actual letters. Sorry if half of that was incorrect, English is not my first language.

I think where your problem lies is that you understand that the Rosetta Stone helped crack the code of reading hieroglyphs, but you're unaware that there were other sources too. I will also say that for Hieroglyphs, the 'symbols' are the letters, we just didn't know their values.

The Rosetta Stone allowed scholars, for the first time, to see three parallel texts all in different scripts. The only one at the time that could be read was the Greek script, so, working with the simple things first, they were able to map the name 'Ptolemy' between all three texts and then started with other words. Once they understood 'okay well this word means king, but we don't know how it sounds' is when they began to use those other sources I mentioned.

One of these sources was another language that is a known descendent of Old/Middle/Late Egyptian and is called Coptic. Now Coptic is still spoken and written, though it is not as widespread as it used to be, so what happened was that Champollion studied it to see how the language worked and how those words sounded. Prior to this, it was decided that each Hieroglyphic sign couldn't be an individual word but had to have a phonetic sound value that when combined in groups formed words. So, armed with that knowledge, Champollion began to find words that appear on the stone and that also appear in Coptic to see if there were similarities. He also looked at how they were using Hieroglyphs to spell known Greek names (like Ptolemy and Cleopatra) because that's a huge indication of a phonetic value of a sign. With Coptic, he knew that the word for 'sun' was 'ⲣⲉ' or 're' and believed that the 𓇳 sign was that of the sun in Hieroglyphs. The contexts in which they were used matched, so it seemed certain that the sign meant 're' or 'ra'.

In his work on deciphering Ptolemy's name in the Hieroglyphs (written as Ptolmes) the 𓋴 sign he'd designated as having the phonetic value of 's' also appeared in the same name at Abu Simbel he'd seen the 𓇳 sign, thus meaning he could potentially read the name 𓇳𓄟𓋴𓋴. We did have names of some kings at this time, and one of them was very well known to be 'Ramesses', thus armed with a sign he knew to be 're' and another he knew to be 's', Champollion surmised that this group of Hieroglyphs must be the name 'Ramesses'. He suggested the 𓄟 must be 'm' and he got further confirmation came from the Rosetta Stone, where the m and s signs appeared together at a point corresponding to the word for "birth" in the Greek, and from Coptic, in which the word for "birth" was ⲙⲓⲥⲉ (mise). We know now that 𓄟 on it's own has the phonetic value of 'ms' so he was pretty close! Another name he used this on was 𓅝𓄟𓋴. The first sign was already known to represent the god Thoth, and taking what he'd learnt from the name Ramesses the two signs at the end must be 'ms' thus making 'thothmes'. Again, known from Mantheo was a king's name 'Thutmosis' so it was very likely to be the same name. From here, he started finding similar Greek and Coptic words and then seeing what they looked like in the hieroglyphs to decipher them and assign them phonetic values. He wasn't entirely right about these. In the latter half of the 19th Century, once Egyptologists had become more comfortable with Hieroglyphs, they were able to see Champollion's mistakes. Champollion believed that each sign only had one value like our alphabet. This was wrong! Signs can have up to 4-consonantal values, but most have only have 2-3 consonantal values. This was demonstrated above with the 𓄟 sign, which Champollion thought was just 1-consonant 'm' but it turned out to be the 2-consonant 'ms'.

After this, it was basically a lot of work understanding how the language fit together (i.e. where the pronouns/definite articles/particles etc) and then we were constantly correcting/updating our understanding of the values of the signs until pretty recently. It still happens to this day, but it's much more infrequent. I think there's only been two changes since 2007 that I know of. These changes are also why Egyptologists will tell you not to use earlier linguistic work unless you know what you're looking at. We're a baby discipline (only just 200 years!) and so a lot of stuff from even 80 years ago is so massively out of date and incorrect (Budge, it's E.A.Wallis Budge) that we beg people not to touch it with a barge pole.

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danswideslit · 28 days

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slime video analysed thru horror with a queer pov

kay it gets its own post because im stil aaa bout it

This is just what I remember/was able to brush up on, since I studied this in 2019, so if anything is outdated I apologise, feel free to correct me, I love to learn!!

also I realized it has all become a lil rambly as I couldn’t contain my excitement soz

So this is my essay on the parallels of queerness in the horror genre and how DanAndPhilCRAFTS - Slime (2024) could be analysed in this light, especially given the creators’ personal history with the topic.

Among the classic tropes of the horror genre, is the topic of losing ones innocence.

Most emphasised is the loss of ones virginity, as a synonym for the innocence, although the innocence as such has many forms. As mentioned in Scream (1996), you may not survive if you have sex, if you drink/do drugs, or if you claim to “be right back” or in other ways investigate to satisfy your own curiosity.

The parallels to the christian church and societal norms are already obvious. If you deviate from the path of purity, it will lead to death and suffering. The only way to survive the night, is to stay pure. Do not be tempted by mere curiosities, for they will be the death of you, essentially.

In the same light, Baphomet is most often portrayed with characteristics from both the male and female human anatomy, and can be used as a metaphor for the inherent evil of gender expressions beyond the societal norm.

In the same light, monsters in various movies are often shown with a deviance in gender and/or sexuality. This role of ‘sexual outsider’ has, for years, been a symbolism that queer people have connected with. The has only further skewed the ‘stay pure’ narrative, as it brings on an ambience of kill or be killed. An either/or of sorts. But it has also made monsters and villains walk the line between sexy and terrifying, which naturally leads people to be enticed. We are sexual creatures afterall.

Often the monsters have an aura of masculine energy, as they make people cower, and the stereotypical jocks abandon their hardcore exterior. This, on one hand birthed the “the boyfriend is the killer” trope, but it also gave way for diving into morality, how many crimes can a villain get away with, as long as the character resonates with the audience.

This is demonstrated in Jennifers Body (2009) which was, at first, marketed to the male audience, making the monster Jennifer an attractive young woman, essentially getting the film marked as “Twilight for boys” by film critic Robert Ebert.

The ratings, however, were lackluster and claimed the movie was neither funny nor scary and thus was unsuccessful. Jennifer wasn’t “as hot as you’d hope she’d be” and essentially the “lesbians-for-the-male-gaze” marketing to boys 17+ failed.

However, many women and young girls between 17-25 saw the character of Jennifer as empowering and resonated with the film. My theory is that the men did not like being the victim, being killed my something that they are supposed to be worse than. But the women saw a strength in the conflict between what is essentially two sides of the same existence - on one hand the rage of the injustice and gender inequality, and on the other hand Needy, who follows every character trope connected to the “last girl standing.” Except even she is tainted in the end, killing Jennifer and losing her innocence. (more talk about innocence, murder/virginity bla bla bla, okay but this essay aint about that)

All this plays a role in how the queerness of DanAndPhilCRAFTS - slime (2024) can be interpreted. Throughout all four installments of the narrative, Dan is seen being guided by Phil and scolded when he doesn’t do it right. Phil seems not at all surprised when Dans glitter face turns satanic, and by the third video, Phil hands the control over as he gives himself away.

Essentially, the indoctrination of Dans role in Phils devotion is cult-like. Cults are often hidden behind a facade of “found family” before the true behind-the-scenes terror is revealed. Dan is evidently comfortable in letting a more experienced person guide the way, despite his own hesitance. He knows that he cant do this halfway.

also the idea of Phil rising from the dead, during Easter… Jesus Christ, where would we even begin (lol)

But beyond that symbolism, It is the hesitance in Dans nature that seems to point to the “purity being tainted” horror trope. Phils devotion to Him is evident, but Dan seems more so to be devoted to Phil. A follower. Believing whatever Phil believes to be true. A Billy and Stu, Scream situation, if you will. The subtext of two lovers and the blurred lines of love and death, which has been analysed and discussed a whole while by smarter people than me.

Dans hesitance to follow Phil guiding him to the other (queer) side. The penetrative stab and the menacing disarray of emotions on Dans face afterwards. This was anything but a selfish act, but he gave into the curiosity, he is not the last survivor, he has joined Him. This ritual was giving into love, without trying to contain, rationalise, or diminish any part of it.

(Kind of how like dan, selfproclaimidly, would still be a ‘Daniel in denial’ if Phil hadn’t come into his life, because Phil ‘led him astray’ but he’s very okay with it and he has embraced it, and he’s happier giving in instead of fighting it?? Too far??)

#dan #phil #dan and phil #dnp #daniel howell #amazingphil #danandphil #dan howell #dandandphilgames #danandphilcrafts

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