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apollos-olives · 6 months

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hey, so, someone linked me this article, to "prove" to me that i should "condemn hamas". as a non-palestinian i was told there is no way i can refute this, since it comes from a gazan. i was wondering if, as a journalist and a palestinian, you would mind writing a rebuttal that i could show to people? if you have the time and energy.

https://www.newsweek.com/hamass-western-apologists-have-become-hamas-enthusiasts-gazan-im-horrified-opinion-1849228

okay sure let's go through this together

first thing i urge you is to be weary about propaganda. this person may be getting paid, blackmailed, or just genuinely might be brainwashed, in order to write this.

second is that this article might genuinely be this persons opinion 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ and if it is, i urge you to come and analyze it with me in order to point out it's faults

third, let me say that NO ONE is forced to support hamas as an entirety. but as this person's article states, he is against hamas even as a freedom fighter group, so i'm gonna walk you through some of his bullshit okay :)

one thing i noticed is that there is a LOT of propaganda that was debunked in the past that is still being used in this article

the actual number of "civilians" killed was 900, most of which were actually killed by the iof as they shot at their own "civilians" and soliders. so the author of this article may not be as educated as he might make you think he is.

he's saying that the attack on oct 7 wasn't a "legitimate armed resistance to occupation" but it literally was. there are like a billion un resolutions that state that armed resistance against an occupier is allowed. hamas has every right to fight back against israel. and what? you think armed resistance isn't going to get messy??? of course it will. it is already messy. people are going to die no matter what. that is how you fight against your oppressor. people will die. that's the whole "armed resistance" part. this person is utterly ignorant if he thinks that we can free palestine by a few peaceful protests (which i will come back to soon!)

and yeah what is wrong with "contextualizing" the attack by telling people that gazans are living in a concentration camp?? because they are. and they have every right to fight back. hamas wasn't the only one who was resisting that day, and more than one palestinian resistance group were there as well. condemning only hamas for this shit is idiotic and honestly grouping ALL palestinians, even ones who were not part of hamas, as hamas is... well do i gotta say it? racist.

this author is using a lot of words like "horrific nature" ...... palestinians who fight against their oppressors have a "horrific nature" ???? doesn't that sound... racist to you? and what "numbers" are involved ???? 900 "civilians" that were killed by their own army???? yeah. what massive numbers that hamas killed ooohhhhhh 😰😰

bruhhh this shit sounds like the whole "hamas is their new fandom" bullshit 💀💀💀 also where is he seeing this stuff???? how are bulldozers, paragliders, and motorcycles showing support to hamas?????? maybe they're just people who support palestine in general and mean to use them as symbols of resistance. mocking the "underprivileged fight back" hmmmm that sure sounds so inclusive and supportive of you mister palestinian author!!

this guy brings up international law when LITERALLY THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT. BY INTERNATIONAL LAW HAMAS AND OTHER PALESTINIANS ARE ALLOWED TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST THEIR OPPRESSORS. BY "ALL MEANS NECESSARY" - ughhh this is exhausting. and the fact that they call hamas enthusiasts (💀) "inhumane" ... wowwww what happened to the whole "stop dehumanizing poc and the oppressed" ???? this guy is a fucking weirdo.

and again with the "civilians" dude seriously???? israeli civilians are illegal settlers. there are no innocent israelis except for the children, and any harm that may come to the children should put the parents to be held accountable for bringing/settling their child into a land that isn't theirs anyway.

why would you equate being jewish with israel?? yeah a lot of israelis are jewish but pro-palestine jews have repeatedly told us that we should not and must not equate judaism and israel together, and that doing that is antisemitic because it's equating judaism as a supporter of genocide.

and why are you, as a palestinian, calling what's happening in palestine a "conflict" ??? even after years and years of palestinians begging for people to stop seeing it and calling it a conflict and name it for what it is, systematic ethnic cleansing and genocide ?? this guy's wording is ridiculous and so full of that "both sides" liberalism shit it's so exhausting.

wow we love the blatant propaganda. you could tell that the hostages were comfortable enough to wave or handshake the members who released them. they were smiling, no one was forcing them to do that. no one was threatening them harm. many family members have spoken out and have told the media that hamas has treated the hostages well, even if the conditions weren't very glorious.

and AGAIN with the whole "women and children" as if men weren't victims too. you are trying to push for the safety of israelis but disregard the men ???? hm

wow calling palestinians terrorists that's totally not racist at all!!!!

ohhh my god how many times do we have to say that peaceful protests DO NOT WORK !!! no one is listening to us. we've TRIED peacefully protesting. gazans tried peacefully protesting a few years back and HUNDREDS got killed and THOUSANDS got injured!!!! peaceful protesting isn't going to work alone. we need action!! we need to start fighting back!!! we need to make a difference!! palestinians have been begging for people to do this for years now!!!

what "slogans" ????? "from the river to the sea" ???? is that a dangerous slogan, mister palestinian author ?????? don't make me laugh.

and there is a FINE line between anti zionism and antisemitism. yes a lot of zionists are jews but also a lot of christian zionists are antisemites as well. we are allowed to call out and fight anti zionism without being antisemitic. but i guess you would know SO much about that huh, mister palestinian author.

wow what a totally normal thing to say!!! linking palestinians to their constant suffering under the occupation and linking them to be forever tied to their oppressors. "millions of jews will forever be part of the land" YES !!! PALESTINIAN JEWS !!! WHO WERE FOREVER PART OF THE LAND !!!!

ok that's all for the screenshots but i DO want to mention that not once did this guy say ANYTHING about how hamas was bad for gaza. he did not say anything or show any proof about gazans suffering under hamas' rule, and only talked about the "poor israelis" ☹️☹️☹️ who were huwt becawse they wewe illegal settlews on a land that's not theiw's :((((((

this guy was probably paid or blackmailed or something. or just brainwashed.

many palestinians ARE anti hamas as a whole. but we DO support their fight for our freedom.

i hope this helps. keep these arguments in mind next time you're reading an article.

#i would've made this longer and more concise but i wrote this in between my finals so i'm tired lol #palestine #free palestine #this was fun though. i like analyzing bullshit and then laughing about it with you all

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heartshapedconchas · 1 year

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okay..hi. i know i haven’t updated my fanfic in literal months, but that is NOT what is important right now.

first of all, what the hell is wrong with you all?? threatening black authors&readers and calling them slurs because they ask for more inclusiveness?? fuck all of you.

Second, im going to give my piece of mind with the whole situation that is happening. Mind you i am a high femme, brown lesbian who has been masculinized most of her life. Now, correct me if i’m wrong, but some people (mainly non white/black users) are calling out some white authors on centering their reader inserts on whiteness. I understand this , again as a brown woman, who has found it difficult since I began reading self insert fanfics at like..9 years old.

However.

Something that is.. bewildering to me that I’ve seen brought up in this conversation is how .. the readers being hyperfeminine and whatnot somehow… makes it not relatable to people of color, SPECIFICALLY women of color; because of the history of them being masculinized.

This is so incredibly confusing to me cuz again,,, for me as a very femme brown woman who has been nothing but masculinized her whole life … has never felt alienated by these femme characters. Ever. In fact they make me feel more included because god it feels good to be feminine and not have that denied, even in fanfics. From my perspective; if you feel as if these femme characters only represent white ones— are you not upholding the exact stereotype that has been given to women of color for years?

This is just my opinion though; you are free to believe whatever you believe in and express how you feel (without attacking and siccing your followers onto whoever you’re speaking on).

In my writing I will always try my best to make all woc/poc feel included. If at some point I’m not doing that, i’m trying to make my fellow brown women feel included (as even though there has been an influx of non white writings as of late, the majority I see are black readers).

To all the white writers out there, try and leave your descriptions of the reader to a minimum of exclusivity. While you don’t have to make your reader insert obviously a woman of color, don’t make them obviously a white women either.

Personally I think we should leave the race specific fanfics to the people of that race. Because what white woman is gonna write a brown latina fanfic the accurate way and in a way I would enjoy? Write your fanfics in a race neutral manner, and to all the writers of color out there — write your fanfics race specific if you want to!

To my fellow authors and readers of color, speak about your concerns of inclusivity in our community! You have the right to speak your mind. Just please, please do not speak about authors in an ill manner if they haven’t done anything horribly, absolutely wrong. Critique them. Give advice. They can only learn if you give them room to grow.

And for both parties, please for the love of god; don’t allow people to send r*pe threats or call them slurs. Regardless of your race or what “side” you are on, no one deserves that. Elskittie didn’t deserve it earlier on, MULTIPLE black authors/readers don’t deserve it now. Be kind , fucking respect each other. Be fucking mature enough to have conversations about this instead of childish fights.

Oh and one more thing, please absolutely just tell me if i’m misinterpreting something in this post at all! This is from my perspective as a brown woman of color. And also i’m 95% sure i’m autistic. I have a hard time understanding things sometimes and just need it put in simpler terms :) don’t be an asshole and just kindly explain! thank u! 💗

#ellie williams x reader #the last of us part two #thelastofus #elskittie #tlou2 smut #tlou2 fanfic #abby anderson x reader #the last of us #writer of color

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str8m82b8 · 2 years

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Triggered! I've Actually Been in This Situation Before.

A Pansexual On Dating and Relationships :

Happy Holiday's, but don't do this!

Gay men, yes I understand that I am calm, confident, assertive, and attractive and that your insecurities can be debilitating. Yes I know you need reassurance and attention. Yes I know a lot of gay men writhe in anxiety like 13 year old girls. Yes, I am aware that I don't seem very compassionate, but I am done with all that on this issue. No more telling me I can't game, no more demanding we go out to gay clubs I hate, no more one-sided sex with bottoms who just lie there. Most gay men just want to date their twin. A sublime exercise in narcissism, which also more than suggests that the "G" in LGBTQ+ is not really a group of men who are as inclusive as they claim to be. Especially considering gay and trans POC made their lives possible. Jeffery Dahmer's victims were failed not only by the police, but also by the gay community. Too many white gay men use the word "preference" when in actuality, it is a prejudice. Gay men tend to have the egos of straight men and the emotional instability or insecurities of a lot of straight women. The result is often an insufferable, over-achieving, emotionally juvenile man with both mommy and daddy issues who wants to find an exact replica of himself down to the clothing to then marry and cheat on until death do they part.

And no, I'm not self-loathing nor homophobic. I just don't like attention seeking, overly dramatic, effeminate for attention, gay men OR women for the purpose of romantic relationships. Friendship is fine, but if you get annoying, know that imma head out. Be yourself, but if yourself is annoying, I will be somewhere else with other people. We have our limits, and we choose who to stretch those for.

Don't get me wrong straight people, you all aren't without a multitude of dubious, toxic and ridiculous behaviors in today's society. As a pansexual who has dated everything but an actual pan, I can say these things, but there's plenty of data to go over should you need references I will provide in the comments. For starters, straight men tend to be emotionally and platonically attracted to other men. Straight women tend to be emotionally and platonically attracted to other women. If it were not for sex, most straight people of opposite gender would want nothing to do with one another! You have nothing in common! And when you do, it's something trivial, toxic, or tasteless that is the the straight male's interest, such as watching sports. This is one of many reasons why heterosexual relationships not only fail more often than they work, but also fail more often than those in the LGBTQ+ community. I remain friends with, or at least friendly with all my exes. Straight people turn their lovers into enemies for life. Straight women have friend bases consisting almost entirely of other women and men's of other men. Although the men are more likely to have people they call female friends who are in reality either people they fuck, have fucked, or want to fuck. Lacking lasting, honest, strictly platonic friendships with the opposite gender is a life-altering, growth stunting mistake that has become the norm in society for straight people.

Sexuality is a spectrum. You choose the label that seems to be the closest to how you feel or behave, or at least the one everyone seems comfortable with. But, too many of you choose this prematurely and then follow it too rigidly despite feelings or behaviors to the contrary. When you are attractive, people tell you "no" less often. Including and perhaps especially when it comes to sexual experiences. I've made super macho masculine heterosexual men blush with a compliment. The type of men you would expect to want to fight another cis male for doing just that. I'm confident and not afraid to slug a dude in front of his boys if necessary. People can sense that. I've also had more sexual experiences with heterosexual men than gay men or women. And I don't mean closeted gay men either. I'm talking actual straight men who have no sexual attraction to me what-so-ever. But when you are attractive in general, very good at oral sex, and tell a straight guy you'd like to bob on his knob the number of men who will oblige might surprise you. After all, heterosexual men and women are generally awful at oral sex, if not sex in general. Straight women do all this shit: Makeup, lighting, candles, toys, lingerie, inviting a third (almost always another women) etc. for sex that lasts for a mere 10 minutes if she is lucky, and she often does not even orgasm! How sad that people go their entire lives never having had truly mind-blowing sex, unusual sex, or sexual experiences etc. They just be making babies missionary from the comfort of their orthopedic mattresses. No thank you.

You can be mindful, chill, and still be yourself. If you think you must always be the center of attention, you'll find that unless actually worthy of it, your audience will shrink. Don't marry the first asshole that makes you wet. Instead, actually become friends with people so that you can learn what you do and do not want in a partner. If ever there should come a time in which you feel the need to knock something gaming related from my hands, know that it will never happen again. You can go hit the club tomorrow and find your twin and the two of you can spread monkey pox and Covid-19 all pandemic long and beyond.

As for me, I am happily awaiting my first child with my amazing boyfriend, who is transgender. Two of my exes sent baby shower gifts. There are no hang ups as to whose job it is to do what concerning our home or child. No toxic gender norms to force our children to adhere to, just genuine love and acceptance from both people who had a hand in their creation. We aren't married, but we very well are considering it for the legal more than anything. It doesn't stand as a religious symbol of our love as it does for others. We make our own rules and will raise our children our way. If we want to invite someone into our bed or hearts, we aren't as hung up on monogamy and jealousy as you "heteros" either. As far as raising children, we will of course ask for advice, but overbearing relatives or friends will know the decisions are ours to make. Want to know what is more important than what you have in common with your partner? What you don't! Don't look for a twin, look for someone who picks up where you fall short and vice versa. Look for someone who challenges you, someone you grow with. My partner and I actually love each other, enjoy each other, share our feelings, have joys, pains, and much more in common, plus we have the right things not in common and we communicate. Catch up.

Sources/References (just a few to be polite)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/men-and-women-cant-be-just-friends/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/202204/why-male-and-female-friendships-are-so-different

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7135e2.htm

https://time.com/4978727/bromance-male-friendships/

#queer love #lgbtq #dating #relationships #sexuality #pansexual #bisexual #queer #lgbtqia

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wistfulrat · 3 years

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it’s the katie leung john boyega kelly marie tran [insert other poc here] experience of somehow being at the center of white media and getting none of the supposed satisfaction bc at the end of the day, you’re not meant to be in those spaces. you’re just meant to be props for white escapism. and if you think transformative spaces like fanfic communities are immune to that exact method of silencing poc, you’re not paying attention.

every day i think about hp and other globally popular western media as conduits for cultural colonialism and the prevalence of whiteness in fandom and the america-centric internet and the inaccessibility of escapism when most fantasy is just another word for euro/western/anglo dreamscapes.

this is the context of what you’re responding to. most of the time being a fan is fun and harmless and i think 99% of people here have good intentions so this post isn’t even targeted at anyone specific and more just the culture itself. bc god, fandom is so very white. i love it here but when u come across posts comparing targeted cyber bullying to the witch burnings of actual indigenous people and the impacts of colonialism that killed off thousands upon thousands of us before imperialists ever reached salem. when u come across discourse that says fandom is an inherently inclusive space because women and lgbtq+ communities built it and yet, it only takes being here for a couple months to be reminded that when they mean inclusive, they mean white. when the attempt at solidarity is tainted by minimizing non-white oppression in progressive spaces. it’s exhausting.

im not a book burner, i like ao3, i read the brit lit canon. i like hp for what it is—a british children’s series about magic, war, found fam, etc. but these are colonial texts and holy fuck the compulsory whiteness of it all. and the way we never enjoy things in a vacuum bc the rest of the world outside western nations were explicitly forced to elevate white aesthetics since the dawn of imperialism. you think subcultures aren’t affected by that? ao3 is growing rapidly as fannish works move closer to mainstream. and yes, i know that this is explicitly because marginalized people have worked hard to fight for freedom of thought/speech/creativity. i am not interested in policing that space because the net positive outweighs the shit bits in my perspective.

but it’s the way the slightest hint of criticism against popular media and the fan works created for it is silenced with a swift “let people enjoy things” when the Thing that is being perpetuated and enjoyed is the very center of white media and white fantasy and white imagination and even white queerness. people will rally against a resurgence of harmful purity culture (as they should) but in the same breath, talk about that as if it’s akin to systematic genocide against non-white people groups. i don’t understand the need to conflate those experiences when the danger you face online as a white woman is still inherently protected by your whiteness. and like yes, marginalized people have made a home out of fic spaces. yes, your fear of that space being taken away is completely valid. but this is still a predominantly white community. and white grief is always, always the priority. that is a safety that you can count on because no social class can match that power of being at the center of culture creating.

so it’s just exhausting as poc in fandom, when you see how non-white creators and fans are treated, and always having to be the nicest, sweetest, most docile version of ourselves because we’re constantly being painted as toxic bullies with an inability to relax/unclench around problematic art. like you all wonder why fandom remains a predominately white space. it’s just wildly uncomfortable being here when you want to enjoy women and lgbtq+ art and transgressive works in general but knowing that support is just not reciprocated.

edit: i wrote a better/more thorough follow up post to talk about good faith discussions vs. shipping wars, colonialism, unhelpful anti/pro discourse, and the role of cultural criticism in transformative spaces if any of you are interested

#sometimes fandom is cool and other times it is just whiteness remixed so #anyway if u critically enjoy things this doesn’t apply to you i’m just exhausted #but um yeah #can non-white hp fans hop in my inbox bc i feel insane #txt

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akookminsupporter · 2 years

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Love you Rosie. Fighting! I know it's hard to take compliments sometines but I have always loved your blog. You have maintained a great inclusive space for Armies for a while. I love your grounded attitude. I love how you are firm with your boundaries but also willing to listen and share your platform, not that you ever need to or that it is what we take for granted. I trust you on issues of racism because you get it. I don't have to worry. I don't have to experience the whiplash I have in other spaces as a POC. I love the way you write about your love and respect for BTS and Jimin and JK as humans and artists. You are sensitive and open. I am sorry you get trolls. I hope these people who write you rude and abusive things know they are not nearly as slick as they think. Sorry if all of that is embarrassing to read but you deserve the love.

I always say that you guys seem to know when I need a message like this and I never lie but anon, today more than ever I needed it. You may not believe me but I cried. I was in my office blocking rude, offensive asks direct to Jungkook and me ahah and among those asks was this one. And I cried because it was too much.

I don't mean to play the victim because nobody forces me to have this blog, nobody forces me to have the anon option on, nobody forces me to respond to asks but still, I feel like some people seem to expect a lot from me and I feel it's not fair. I explained the reasons why I didn't want to start a discussion about JP on my blog but many didn't seem to like it. Some of the insults and accusations I received were unfair but the one that hurt me the most was when someone accused me of lying when I said I was black or Afro-Latino as I explained. That's when I turned off the question option, even though it was only for a few hours. Probably nobody noticed.

The point is, I'm just another bts fan. I'm human, I'm not perfect. I don't always have the answers and I don't always have the ability to talk about a topic. And you should respect that, right? I deserve that at least. I don't HAVE to talk about X or Y topics on my blog and no, not doing so doesn't make me a coward or that I'm running away from topics that don't fit my narrative as someone said yesterday. I just don't do it because I'm not the right person to do it, I don't know much about it or I just don't want to. And that should be respected. It's the least I deserve from some of you.

This is hard ahahah Sorry for taking your asks to vent, anon. I just want to say thank you, thank you for your kind words. Thank you for supporting me or my blog. Thank you for the confidence. You don't know how good it felt to read that I'm not doing so bad around here.

GRACIAS.

#anon #ask #messages to rosie #mensajes que me hacen llorar

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 3 years

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Old (2021)

Oh you guys. You guyyyyyys. Buckle the fuck up, I am so pumped to tell you about this absolutely GONZO mummified deuce of a movie. Spoilers will be had in this one, because you need to know everything.

Old is the latest from M. Night Shyamalan and like....I think we all know M. Night’s track record. For every Sixth Sense, we also get a Happening or a Village. In some ways, he’s the most exciting director working today because every new film is a 50/50 coin toss, and mama loves living on the edge. The gist of this latest roll of the dice is that a group of different families who have all come to stay at a remote luxury beach resort get invited to go to a secluded private beach for the day, and after they arrive they discover they can’t leave. That’s not great, but the bigger problem is that they seem to be aging rapidly - like 2 years older every hour or so. That’s a solid “how are we gonna get outta this one” bottle episode premise, and in the hands of a better writer, it could be a fun sci-fi romp. M. is NOT that writer.

Some thoughts:

I should have known it would all go wrong from the terrible foreshadowing starting at the very beginning scene. The mom of our main family, Prisca (Vicky Krieps) says “You have such a beautiful voice, I can’t wait to hear it when you’re older.” The dad, Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) says, “Don’t rush this moment, enjoy the present while you can.” BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS WON’T BE ABLE TO LATER, DO YOU GET IT? dO yOU GEt iT? Wife leaned over and said “look at all the ferns - the oldest plants!” That last one was probably her projecting, but the point stands: there is nothing subtle about Old.

There’s a lot of just like, shouting out loud the things that are currently happening onscreen. “She’s having a seizure!” “People who go back the way we came black out!” “The rust has entered your bloodstream; it acts like poison!” That’s how you tell stories, right? Just having characters point out events that are occurring right in front of their stupid fucking faces with no other commentary or reflection?

An additional element that feels woefully ignorant at best and malicious at worst is the inclusion of a black male character (Aaron Pierre) who 1) is a rapper 2) is named Mid-Sized Sedan [I’ll give you a moment to deal with that detail emotionally] 3) says the single line of dialogue “Damn.” at least 4 times and 4) suffers the bloodiest, most violent onscreen death at the hands of a racist white man who is revealed to have paranoid schizophrenia. There are other gruesome deaths onscreen, to be sure, but the worst are body horror nightmares that could never occur in the real world - a woman whose bones are breaking and setting in the wrong position nearly instantaneously until she resembles a horrifying spider creature, and the aforementioned rust-in-the-bloodstream trick that leads to a Jeff-Goldblum-in-The Fly-bubbling-skin infection kinda deal. But Mid-Sized Sedan just gets stabbed in the chest repeatedly, brutally, a bunch of times by a white guy who pleads fear for his life even though MSS posed no danger to him, and it all happens onscreen when so many other characters are offered the mercy of offscreen deaths. I’m not sure if M. is trying to throw some real-world horror in and he’s just shit at it, or if it really didn’t occur to him how malicious this inclusion feels in a fantasy narrative, and I don’t really care. If you have a black character in your story and they die, you better think really long and hard about how it happens and what it means and it’s clear no one did that here.

Nothing to do with the film itself, but it did tickle me that someone brought a tiny infant to my pretty packed screening. The baby was very chill, thank goodness, and as far as I know did not age up to a kindergartner during the course of the film.

There is a Very Good Dog, a Yorkie, present for the first part of the film, but unfortunately the dog dies. It occurs offscreen, and given the premise of what’s going on on this beach, it’s not a shock when it happens BUT STILL.

The old age makeup, at least on Prisca is pretty great. Good job makeup department!

At one point, Guy gets attacked by another beachgoer, and his eyesight is failing so he has a hard time fighting back. But you are surrounded by sand, my dude, and you can still see blurry shapes. You’re not gonna throw some sand in the eyes until you’ve been stabbed like 10 times? Not gonna try to push him down, or sweep the fucking leg, or do anything but just keep raising your arms and getting stabbed while yelling “I’ll protect you!” I’ve seen stale tuna sandwiches with better defense mechanisms than you.

Like most fantastical premises, there are only a certain number of ways this narrative can end that really make any sense. It reminds me quite a bit of 2019’s Brightburn which was like “what if Superman but evil?” Either everyone is gonna die, or someone is going to improbably survive and you better have a real neat explanation for how that’s possible. Oh M. Night, when will you realize that your explanations are never as clever as you think they are? There’s no “twist” here really, simply a reveal, and it’s the equivalent of eating one of those sugar-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free snack cakes I broke down and ate out of desperation when I was on Weight Watchers. That shit is “food” in the same way that the climax is a “logical explanation for all this.” Big Pharma is luring sick people to the resort through targeted ads, then arranging these excursions to the wacky time beach in order to test how medicine they secretly slipped into the guests’ drinks works over decades of life. These sneaky medical breakthroughs are saving hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, we’re told, and the scientists offer a moment of silence for each fallen group of unwitting human lab rats after they inevitably die. Because if there’s one thing the world needs right now, it’s more distrust of pharmaceutical companies and the ethics of modern science! I can’t think of one possible reason we’d want to portray molecular biologists, immunologists, and virologists in a positive light right now, can you? When will those assholes get off their high horses and stop being universally trusted and beloved by everyone, am I right??

My saddest takeaway, tbh, is that this is a stacked international cast, with at least half the roles going to POC - this is the future liberals want, etc etc - and the result is THIS.

Did I Cry? Of course not.

Not all is terrible! It’s a beautiful movie to look at, because M. Night’s direction is never the problem, but combined with the script, the acting, and the absurd narrative leaps needed to make this story make even a little bit of sense, the whole thing turns into a mess. Unfortunately, getting Old with M. Night is less “leisurely retirement at a plush resort in Florida” and more “rancid can of Ensure and a poop-choked pair of Depends.”

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

#121in2021 #old #old movie #old 2021 #m. night shyamalan #old review #vicky krieps #gael garcia bernal #alex wolff #aaron pierre #movie reviews #film reviews

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pomidorek · 2 years

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Since a certain movie has come out so the topic is fresh, maybe it's good time to talk about that Idealized Queer Romance Media™ aren't actually helpful/good to the community?

Starting with a disclaimer: I absolutely don't intend to hate on people that enjoy the media, nor is it directed at the movie/comics itself. If you like it, peace out.

Don't we love to see some representation, everything being all nice, little to no angst? Well, sadly it's not realistic. Yes, the world slowly becomes a more inclusive place but it still is far from ideal.

The single queerphobe that represents All The Bad Things the world has to present is being banished by the power of friendship, love, and acceptance, while in real life you just have to slightly drift away from "the norm" to become an outsider, a freak. Families are meant to love you unconditionally but don't we all know that there are conditions which are often unreachable, far from the thing we actually are or want to be?

Not to mention that this genre of media tends to show middle class only, avoiding the existence of poor people. Making the main character/s white, yet getting the inclusive ticket by making the love interest (often a second plan character) of our protagonist or someone in their almost completely queer, in-real-life friend group (which by itself is quite hard to accomplish if you don't live in an urban area, even more all going to the same school) a POC.

They also happen in highschool making it even more bizarre. High schools aren't the perfect place to discover yourself. They're often full of cishets who would never leave you alone once they find out you're queer. Oh! surprisingly your school doesn't actually care about you so you're somewhat free to come out? But what if your parents find out? If you know they aren't accepting, I highly doubt they'll change their opinions because of you, instead they'll try to change, to fix you. Queer people often have time to fully grow as a person, get into their desired social relationships after moving out to roll into a university or start working, when they as adults finally have a possibility to do many more things than before.

And then you, a stressed, alone queer person find a romance which was made for you, or so you think. You follow those happy characters with problems they're able to quickly resolve, with an accepting group of friends that don't have any fights, and deeply understand one another. Doesn't it make you feel more miserable? More depressed? You yearn for this life. You want this now but you know you have to wait a lot longer to make it real. You feel so upset that these kids around your age have a life like this.

You feel empty and need to find a way to stop it. Here you go! Another generic queer romance, just for you :) We will deliver more once you finish this one and start feeling bad again! <3

Yes, representation in media is extremely important but we should verify whenever it's good to us. Wow, they're in a happy relationship, but how does it make you feel? Isn't it paradoxically making you feel less happy?

Personally I believe an amazing representation would be just by making queer characters in a different genre, for an example The Owl House and gay panicking Amity.

#queer #queer pride #lgbt pride #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq community #lgbt novel #queer novel #lgbt fiction #lgbt film #lgbt books #discussion #mlm #wlw #mlm romance #wlw romance #lgbt romance #lgbtq romance

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colorfullyminded · 3 years

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Did anyone else feel like Book 4 of Infinity Train was underwhelming?

It’s still an amazing show, but book 4 didn’t hit the same way that the last 3 books. (Putting the rest under keep reading for spoilers, in case anyone hasn’t finished watching Book 4)

All the prior seasons had great final episodes with tons of emotion, but also action...and book 4 had the characters say “I’m sorry.” And then they just--- left. That’s it.

Which isn’t a bad thing necessarily-- the message of facing your actions head on, of accepting them and apologizing for your mistakes, instead of running away is a great message. Hell I prefer emotional resolutions to conflicts than simply beat the bad guy. It just, compared to the last 3 finals that managed to juggle both the emotions and the action perfectly--- I feel like nothing happened at the end of book 4. The sorry felt very rushed, and not nearly as genuine as the other messages in the previous books.

Ryan and Min’s relationship also felt very up and down, which you would think that’s the whole point; their friendship is very unstable, because it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other. Of course it’s going to teether back and forth-- but it felt like it was accidental, rather than intentional. Their progression/regression/progression felt rushed narratively, like there wasn’t enough time to really sit and brood with them.

Example: In “The Art Galley car”, it ends with Min-Gi hurt about Ryan abandoning him, to the point that he breaks down in actual tears over it. Then in the next episode, “The Mega Maze car”, Min-Gi is still upset about that for a couple minutes...before he just kind of goes back to neutral, and they just kind of talk like normal again. They’re not allowed to process their emotions or really flesh them out. Heck, my girlfriend mentioned how good the talk in the maze was-- and yeah-- it was a great conversation...that is sadly interrupted by the returning villains of the prior cars. Imagine if that conversation happened at the end of the episode, and it was more Ryan and Min-Gi dealing with what happened and processing their feelings of losing each other, not just in the art museum car-- but from their real lives instead. Imagine if when Min-Gi talked about how much it hurt to have Ryan run off and leave him behind, Ryan would blow up and say “Well what about when you left me?” back in Highschool. There was a perfect parallel that I was waiting to show up...and it didn’t.

Also remember how Samatha implied she’d be expecting a favor in the future....

Uhm....so that was a lie?

Also in the Meza car, Min-Gi also asked, “Have you ever seen a popular band...that looks like us?” Which, again, a really interesting perspective on race and media that could have been beautiful to play out. Except they didn’t. In fact, other than that one line, and the first episode, they really didn’t go into the difficulties of being Asian or how their music/passions are affected by their race. Basically I would have loved to see more of that. Or hell-- again, sometimes it’s nice to see a poc protagonist/s, where their race/sexuality/gender/disability aren’t the only focus of a story-- but it’s the fact that they brought it up as a throw away line at all that felt very just... lack luster to me. Like you could have showed us more-- or just not shown us at all; the story already has it’s conflict which is Ryan and Min-Gi trying to deal with relationship and what they want to do in the future. The slight inclusion of their race, with no real like deeper exploration into it felt unnecessary.

And again, please don’t take that as me saying “Why do we need so much diversity in our shows? Shows needs to stop forcing their agenda on other people. If you’re going to have representation, then only good representation is allowed. Or, you can have diversity, but only if it makes senses in the narrative” bullshit, because that’s not what I’m saying. I always want to see more diversity in media. I want characters to just exist, and be different, and not have to explain themselves. I live in America, I grew up in California, and I’m white-- and I’ve seen so many different types of people in my life, and they don’t have to explain why they’re here. Diversity matters, and it should be included-- no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I’m just saying, it felt like this was a secret problem they wanted to slip in, when I really didn’t see that present in anything prior. And if they wanted that to be an issue, then I wish they would have shown a little more.

But they didn’t-- which again leads me to my conclusion, that book 4 felt more rushed. And it’s a miniseries-- all the seasons are 10 episodes, but lord, seasons 1-3 managed to spread those complexities out within their short runtime perfectly. Another great miniseries that showcased their plot, and managed their limited time well was Over the Garden Wall.

I guess I just wanted more dealing with the consequences of their fall out-- more sitting and assessing their lives. If that makes sense?

We really didn’t get to sit down with them, except in the party car, which I felt gave us the most emotion. That ending with them just playing by themselves in a bathroom, hit so much harder than anything else in the season did. Also the first episode-- the first episode did a ton, and I guess I had higher hopes.

Again, I’m not trying to say this was a bad season-- there’s a lot about this season that I liked. And if it were just part of a season, and there was more coming, I’d say it was just a lesser arc. But it’s not. This is supposedly, the last season of the show. And that’s not the creator’s fault. I know they had more planned. But sadly this is what we have, and it doesn’t hit the same way.

But please don’t think I’m like hating on anyone who liked the season, or that I felt this ruined the show overall. Absolutely not, and again, there was a lot to love about this season overall. Let me know if you agree, and if you think I’m wrong, then also let me know why you disagree (but please be kind). I’m not looking to fight, and I’d love to hear more opinions about Book 4, and just your thoughts on Infinity Train as a whole.

Thank you for listening to me ramble.

#Infinity Train #book 4 spoilers #Infinity Trains book 4 #Spoilers #Ranting #Light ranting #I still love this show #and I did like this season #But what did you guys think?#it be nice to talk with others about what happened #And if people want to know what I liked about the season #then please ask me that too and I'd be happy to point them out

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incarnateirony · 3 years

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Pre-Rewatch Notes

So since I’m going to be doing a mix of in-timeline and full retrospective text value of the canon, one of the things I’d like to actually get out of the way is the Key Concepts of the eras, most explicitly Kripke and Dabb as the start and end.

The Key concepts are the single most important framework in media studies. They have evolved as a means of understanding a text by using a critical framework, rather than just making unconnected and meaningless observations. Throughout the course, you will need to refer to the Key Concepts and use the terms you learn when analysing media texts. One way to remember the Key Concepts is to use the mnemonic "RAILING". Representations, Audiences, Institutions, (Media) Language, Ideology, Narrative, Genre.

(also sometimes called MIGRAIN if using Media Language to clarify rather than spoken language)

With this as my note in front of the cut, I’m going to drop the rest behind one while I try to sort out the RAILING of the show before I even try to start establishing long term collective rewatch arguments on the canon. I do also invite some discussion on these, as in, if you feel my markers are off, or if I’m missing anything that I could probably negotiate the text.

Pulling, for my sanity, from here [x]

SO FIRST TO DEFINE:

Media Language This is how media producers communicate their ideas to the audience. Below are some examples to think about when considering media language:

Images used

Words used

Use of colour

Signs and signifiers

Connotative meaning

Use of sound

Iconography

Camera angles and picture composition

Institutions The companies who produce the media. Fox, Disney, CNN, the BBC, Warner Brothers etc will have a set of Institutional Values; beliefs on aspects of life e.g. their political stance or moral beliefs etc. Also, whether they have to make large profits for a board of directors. These institutional values will guide what their media products include. You should consider who made a particular media product and what impact this has on that product.

Genre The style of the media form.

A film could be Horror or Action.

A book could be Fantasy or Thriller.

A computer game could be RPG or Sports Simulation.

A website could be News or Social Networking.

Representation How media producers show a thing, person or group of people.

May be positive or negative.

Why have they chosen to show them in this way?

Think about the 5 w’s: who, what, where, when and why?

Audience

The people who buy and consume media.

Who are they?

What do they want from the media product?

How does the media product fulfill these wants?

Use theories such as Uses and Gratification theory.

Ideology Ties in with Institution.

What values and beliefs underpin the product?

How does this fit with the values of society?

Narrative How is the text structured?

Use Todorov’s Theory of Narrative Structure.

Use Propp’s Character Theory.

Use Strauss’ Theory of Binary Opposition

I’m going to use VERY shorthand notes on these moving forward.

So here’s what I see off the cuff:

KRIPKE ERA

Media Language Faded film stock to denote horror; darkness; emphasis on SFX like footsteps. Grim cinematic. Eventual christian imagery overlapping urban myth icons. Faded color palettes. Fairly classic color use (pink or white for femininity or purity, etc). Nostalgic classic rock/music. Nostalgia, general. Muscle cars. "Classic american masculinity." Hopelessness seeking hope.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009. Kripke, Singer. Manners. McGee. Sgriccia.

Genre Horror, survival, drama

Representation Americana, working class america, "american masculinity", fraternity; Sam and Dean vs the world with occasional help from other friends or family in the life. Metanarrative hostility to issues like queerness reflective of both time and institution at the time.

Audience Originally targeted at young/teen men (to “not be like other girl shows on the network”), became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Fraternal bonds. Arguably, family. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Rule of Cool; Christendom; Man vs Divine

GAMBLE

Media Language Film stock, brightness, saturation at fairly standard media level -- sometimes unstable. Standard cinematics. Residual christian imagery overlapping lovecraft. Decline in classic music from Kripke. Unclear or unreliable interpersonal messaging. Arguably southern gothic. Hopelessness.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2010-2011. Gamble, Singer. McGee. Sgriccia. Norman Bee. Edlund.

Genre Teen Drama, Adventure

Representation Established characters Sam and Dean. Fraternity. Sam and Dean vs the world.

Audience Originally targeted at young women, became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Brothers quarreling; fight monsters; I don't know. Did she know? "Everything is tragic but have some dick jokes"

Narrative Lovecraft. Does anyone know. "I need to make more episodes"

CARVER

Media Language Brightened film stock with increased saturation establishes fantasy setting. Smash cut interruptions to former grim cinematics offset more hopeful visuals. Fairly media standard lighting and color use in related fantasy cinema. Found family. Hope against hopeless odds.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2012-2014 (arguably 2015). Carver, Singer. Glass. Sgriccia.

Genre Fantasy, Adventure, drama

Representation Widened character base. Widened hero's journey arcs (castiel). Masculinity messaging of the past has not vanished, but has dampened and become less hostile to the LGBTQ and woman audience. Regular Cast widened (Crowley, Castiel)

Audience Split gender demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Split age demographic from targeting vs duration. Increasingly digital demographic and marketing; begins increasing queer, poc and other audience. International boom (Netflix deal, digital 2012+). Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found Family, Hope against odds. Free Will highlighted. Destructive or harmful relationships. Humanity. The human journey.

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, residual christianized mythos or christendom. Castiel acquires first proper hero’s journey personal arc/lens. Multiple relationships vs world, man vs world

DABB

Media Language Carries from carver; largely identical but more close-up shots and interaction shots for drama focus. Internal color pallate unique to its own while still interacting with Carver standard media pallate.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2015-2020. Dabb, Singer. Sgriccia. Buckner, Leming. S15: Berens. CW has begun rebranding into a “queer friendly” platform with unreliable results.

Genre High-fantasy, drama, arguably soap.

Representation Carries heavily from Carver, plus. Expansion of queer creatives adds queer voice to the text. Queer text manifests over time into show's canon text. Lack of metanarrative hostility has become space for queer text. Attempted routine inclusion of women, queer characters. While not a queer piece, establishes queer narrative with roots as far back as Kripke. While still maintaining strong leads, Regular Cast and other leading cast has expanded (Crowley, Castiel, Jack, other major recognizeable faces: Rowena, Wayward). It flirts with ensemble presentation without ever landing on it wholly.

Audience Split gender demographic skewing towards women. Split conservative and liberal demographic skewing towards liberal. Multiple generations of demographic from longevity. Primarily digital demographic and marketing (top 99.9% digital but a bottom live ratings performer on live TV outside of the CW); primarily queer, poc and other audience. International boom. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found family. hope against odds/defining the odds. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families. (finale not withstanding)

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, subverting christendom and authority with alchemy or gnosticism. Optimism vs Nihilism. Contrasting ending (see: Nihilism) Campbell. Other characters, like Jack, begin claiming narrative presence like Carver era Castiel, whereas Castiel maintains or expands on his. Man vs Divine vs Man IS Divine

These will be used to address the text during the large scale rewatch.

Each era has its own parameters to best address its showrunners’ visions in. Each era will receive snapshots unto itself, or snapshots also only in regards to how it adapts to the previous text. On the other hand, as half the goal is also a full retrospective to address the complete body of the text since the show stands as a complete body of word and I shouldn’t change my tools over and over again throughout for the complete-text study the same way I will by showrunner era.

I’m going to make a PITCH on the most likely way to give this a strong reading through to prepare what targets to keep an eye on as they evolve. This may change along the way if at any point I realize the first-glance overview was wrong, but

OVERVIEW MIGRAIN

Media Language The growth from hopeless dark into vivid potential; the lost heroes still oblivious to the world, their vision distant and dark to begin. Contrast faded dark to vivid and bright as much over timeline as Carver did between shots. Consider addressing the increased interpersonal camera work that blooms in later seasons for commentary in regards to the increased interpersonal complexity and growth of the cast.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009 as the holdover of some audience being maintained with inevitable pressures from the outside world of 2020 forcing change.

Genre Survival, drama, fantasy

Representation Americana, fraternity, family; Split Hero's Journey Narratives. Late-end queer story affirmation demands a look at the body of the text for its queer journey throughout, though the work itself should not be expected to perform as an LGBT genre work but rather a Survival-Drama-Fantasy work with queer characters. Loved ones versus external forces.

Audience Too shifting to consider in the target read anymore.

Ideology Expanding knowledge. Growing expansion of the world first to find, then surpass and subvert God--or at least their intention. The growth out of expectations of work or behavior into passions and dreams. Finding and pursuing hope. Fraternal bonds. Family, Found Family. Queerness. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good, but to find and define what that greater good is, one must know the self through the family. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Occasional intertext (On the Road, Vonnegut, Lovecraft). Varied mythos, best collected and then addressed and subverted through gnostic thoughtform per the ending.

Comments, critiques, criticisms, ideas to add, things I may be missing?

#polol #the great rewatch project #RAILING #MIGRAIN #meta

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biofreak659 · 3 years

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U know what? On that note: why I didn't like Netflix Castlevania and how it could have been better (with the caveat that I gave up 2 episodes into season 3 because everyone was obnoxious lol)

The biggest problem Netflixvania suffers from as a story is it's poor pacing. It takes an entire season for our main characters to even meet, and then another entire season for them to finally face Dracula. This could have easily been a single season series, but of course how could the show have survived without long rambling jokes about having sex with sheep, or our main trio bickering like high schoolers (I'll never forgive marvel for making annoying 'witty' dialogue the standard for comedy).

The interesting stuff (ie the castle part of the castlevania) is condensed into a ten minute fight scene, while our mains waste so much time on complete nonsense. But don't worry! Because the show also wastes time on complete nonsense! We definitely needed to see Dracula's whole backstory.

Anyways, now to ramble about how I think it would be better. My opinion is 💯 correct so if you disagree you are wrong and stupid.

Instead of going ahead and laying out all of the story cards, Netflixvania should have at least tried to be a bit more subtle, and more careful with what they chose to share with the viewer.

The existence of Lisa and Alucard really should have been kept secret until Alucard was encountered in the Castle.

Anyways, story. It begins with Trevor saving some hapless villagers or somesuch. They thank him, until they realize he's a Belmont, and then they flee, cursing him because he's been excommunicated and is evil now, yadda yadda. Like it or not, Trevor is our main character, not Dracula or Alucard, and thus the story really should be his. I felt a big problem in Netflixvania is that he really doesn't have any motivation to kill Dracula, beyond Sypha making him feel bad about it.

Give the man some internal motivation! It doesn't matter if it's a sense of duty, or the desire to regain his family's honor, or even if Drac kicked his dog—give Trevor a reason beyond 'because the plot needed me to'.

Anyways, I did like Dracula's generals. I thought they were very interesting, but I think Godbrand should not have been included. He's a dumb marvel archetype for comic relief, and he doesn't do anything for the story beyond being obnoxious. I would have preferred it if, like Carmilla, they were all monsters that appeared in the games (Orlox, Abbadon, The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, etc), but regular vampire generals are cool too. I really like Carmilla as a schemer, and moreover, I liked that her scheme failed, largely due to the trio smashing through that plot and killing everyone.

I'm... iffy about the inclusion of the Forgemasters. I don't think Hector or Isaac really added anything to the plot that needed to be added (they make monsters! Uh okay, why do the monsters have to be made?), apart from being sucked into the aforementioned scheming.

I'm losing the thread. Anyways! Trevor goes into the castle, does some fighting and exploring, etc. Basically the stuff from early season one, but with no obnoxious quipping. Along the way, he runs into Sypha, as a statue, Grant, as a gremlin man, and eventually Alucard.

I'm torn about including Sypha's disguise as a man. On one hand, it's very funny, on the other, it really doesn't serve a purpose.

I suppose now I ought to mention Netflivania's decision to poc-ify it's white characters.

This, like a lot of netflix's other IPs feels very, hmm, performative. Take the generals for example. There's the japanese lady, and the turkish guy, the indian lady, etc. In the third season, the japanese lady even serves as a sort of tertiary antagonist, as the two vampire hunters were once her slaves. She's got a cool design, too. You know what would make her cooler? A line of dialogue, perhaps, or even, a Name.

I had to look the generals up, and only then did I realize that they actually had names. Netflixvania has a very diverse cast, except the only characters that actually do anything are white.

Except for Isaac, but for some reason Netflixvania decided they had to justify his being black with a slavery backstory, that did not exist in Curse of Darkness.

Anyways, back to the problems with the story.

Dracula and Lisa

In SOTN, we don't even know what happened to Lisa until the Succubus boss battle. In Netflixvania, it's the first thing we see. I feel the decision to humanize Dracula from the getgo, rather than cast him as a complete monster, then make both us and the characters realize the error in thinking of him as an emotionless monster once the existence of Alucard and Lisa are revealed, makes the story seem flatter. It's very predictable in that sense.

'oh Drac wants revenge cause they killed his dead wife but he's gone too far and needs to be put down' is way more interesting if it's

'oh drac needs to be put down but wait he's doing it because he wants revenge cause they killed his dead wife'

It's a fairly predictable story either way, because it's, y'know based on a video game with 3 gig of storage, but at least we have some mystery in why he wants to kill everyone.

And, you could add a but if foreshadowing and drama with the vampire generals, who know why drac is out for revenge, but aren't allowed to ever bring it up.

Characters

All of the characters in Netflixvania are obnoxious and seem to hate each other, except for Sypha who inexplicably falls in love with Trevor, possibly because the future told her she had to.

Seriously, the trio doesn't seem like they can stand each other, and Alucard and Trevor especially. This would be fine, except the series also likes to pretend that they're just doing some friendly witty bickering. This would be fine, if Netflixvania decided to show us that they were actually friends.

Just leave them as enemies, it's fine.

Grant Danasty

Okay this one is more petty and personal, but I like Grant mostly because my sister mained him in that awful castlevania fighting game (I was always Eric)

Where are you looking!

Anyways, they totally could have included Grant, but there were more important scenes, such as: Godbrand doesn't bathe, and

Yeah okay I'm giving up for now. This dumb show incenses me

I will write more later unless I forget

#wah wah #long post #i hesitantly tag this #castlevania

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thattimdrakeguy · 4 years

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New 52 TEEN TITANS #3 Read Along - The fact this got made is still shocking.

It’s been a while since I done one of these. It’s probably been since last year or so. This isn’t so much of a formal review where I try my best to explain why something doesn’t work, with tons of back references, or interviews, and contexts, and such. I might do some of that, but I’m mostly just writing this along the same time I continue to read it.

I’ve already done the first two issues, and if I can I’ll link them in the post somewhere.

Basically, this series gets about everything wrong about the returning Core Four for this reboot. They made Cassie the tomboy a “girly” thief, Conner the punky flirt a creepy emotionally numb stalker, Tim the insecure dork a super genius that blew up part of a freaking skyscraper, and Bart the teen with an attention span problem into an arrogant jerkwad loudmouth.

With the origins later given in the series, the boys are revealed to not reaally be the characters we knew at all in a more literal sense. This Conner is a clone of an alternate version of Jon, not Clark and Lex. This Tim Drake, is literally only Tim Drake in name only, as that’s the name this teen got in witness protection. And this Bart Allen, isn’t even related to Barry.

So these are versions of the characters that are them in literally name only, bar Cassie (sadly). Although, they’d later retconned Tim’s origin back (which doesn’t make sense). But what else can I compare them to but the originals?

A really common criticism of this series, and one that’s pretty dang valid in my opinion. Is just how unlikable everyone is-- or at least the Core Four, because I feel like we can all be honest and say that most people just read this for the Core Four, and sometimes Bunker. (Like Bart’s condescending here. Like “I’m Kid Flash, girl.” Maybe I’m just reading it too 1940s, but it comes off as really dickish.)

I mean seriously, how many people do you know talk abut Skitter? The original characters that Lobdell came up with are really hit and miss for me, mostly miss. Because I find Skitter so forgettable, that even though I’ve read the first few issues of this series just for entertainment value, I still forget she exists. She could’ve been so much more interesting, but he just doesn’t give her much.

To me, a good character has a personality that you can notice, grab onto, and have lots of unique stories with, that simply work, not even because it causes a great drama, but just because the perspective the character will have in any situation depending on the circumstance will be interesting.

Which is one of the reasons why I find Tim an interesting character, because his perspective is one that’s very interactive with any given circumstances but will still work for me. An insecure, super hero fanboy, that’s doing his best to be brave, but is secretly scared, with the cleverness to do things, but the anxiety that he can’t. Which the circumstances they give him, like having to make sure he proves he should be Robin, having parents at home, not feeling like he’s good enough, constantly seeing others better them him. It’ll just make him an interesting perspective to read from that won’t get too repetitive in any way that interferes with the enjoyment, because there’s a lot of levels you can take his harsh feelings, or things to interact with, that it won’t always be predictable what’s going to happen with him, and you want to read to see more.

With this series and quite a bunch of other original characters made, they have soap opera writing. Which works with fleshed out characters like the iconic 80s incarnation of the Teen Titans, but when the new characters don’t have a well-formed personality that you can really grab onto and gain constant interest and intrigue from, you just have a lame duck.

When your main character’s traits are “I’m angsty and sad”. No one is going to be able to invest themselves with that. They need to be more third dimensional and genuine to make them a character you want to pick up each issue for.

This series even with the old characters fails at that, by making them into absolute butchered heaps of rotted rump rather than their full personalities.

At least the art is pretty creative early on in it’s second page, I will give it that.

Then there’s Bunker--

--who I really want to like, but just can’t find myself enjoying.

A lot of these characters I’m unfamiliar with I want to like. They’re minority characters with very interesting concepts, but writing so flat that it ruins any chance of paying attention to them. A common curse when it comes to POC and a bad writer like Lobdell.

But Bunker actually has a personality, but the reason why I can’t find myself attaching myself to him is because he feels like an uncomfortable stereotype character. An outdated one that you’d see in the 80s or 90s to either seem inclusive or use as a joke rather than a true deal character.

Bunker is a flamboyant, religious, fashion involved, gay, Latino. Something that feels like you’d really bet he wouldn’t be if he wasn’t gay or Latino, because it’s just all based in stereotypes. Like if the pages weren’t colored, and you didn’t have the context he was gay, you’d probably still guess what he’s supposed to be just because of how much they involve stereotypes with him.

However, despite the stereotypes, he is the one most people can remember from this series beyond the core four, because he at least has a personality, and they actually try to build up a unique mystery to him, that would make you want to continue to know them.

And there is something about his confidence and religious beliefs, and determination that does feel very genuine, and makes you actually like him despite the stereotypes.

You want to know what makes you able to tell he’s a better made character than the other relatively new, to straight up new characters? You can actually talk about him, and have a lot more to say about them then his backstory, two personality traits, and angst. Even if his personality seems limited at first, they still write it in a way that’s genuine enough that you can get more out of it, a lot like what I was describing with Tim earlier.

He still feels like a character that you could write a solo about, and with a good enough writer and personal life, would actually make for a very rereadable series, because you just enjoy seeing him on his journey, because it won’t always be the same exact things. He has loyal personality traits about him, but depending on his circumstances, it won’t be the same side of him you’re seeing, and it won’t feel contrived. He has potential to become a true third dimensional character, and not one that just feels like he looks like one, but isn’t really.

But that depends on where the writing goes with him-- and I can’t remember where it goes. But take away the dated stereotypes and there’s actual good potential with Bunker. Making your character feel like another decade’s minority caricature is kind of a turn off when it comes to feeling comfortable reading them.

Which is why some don’t tend to like him.

There’s not a lot to say about this quick page of Cassie, besides the fact they make her come across as apathetic and nuts. She’s also mildly sexualized given it looks like she’s posing for a fashion shoot and not just closing a door, which feels pretty typical of the team that made this book.

And because of Lobdell’s bizarre writing and tone changes, I don’t know if this is supposed to be taken as serious or comedy, because of how abrupt it is, and how a fight broke out right after and we find out the old guy is Tim somehow convincing someone he isn’t like-- 15? I think he’d be either 14 or 15, not because that’s how Lobdell intended him to be, because I believe in a now lost interview he said Tim was “probably” 16 or 17. However, they didn’t settle on Tim’s age till Damian was near thirteen, meaning Tim would’ve been either fourteen or fifteen here, depending if Damian was eleven as I remember, or ten at the start of the New 52.

And here’s some more out of character Tim, because New 52 is what you get when you skim through Red Robin without any context, and being edgy is still really popular with the teenage demographic at the time.

This is a Tim that blew up a building, is an incel towards Cassie, and is overall an arrogant prick.

How Lobdell thought anyone thought any of a good idea is beyond me, but I figure he’s just not self-aware enough to realize that he just made one of the most unlikable protagonists I’ve ever seen, and absolutely bastardized who was once a mega-fan-favorite.

Although, this is pretty cute and in-character. It’s something that definitely fits in with a classic Tim comic, but down let this make you think Lobdell knows how to write Tim, because he makes it really obvious all the time that he doesn’t really.

And that’s basically everything relevant that happens in this issue-- not a lot when you actually read it, and not just me spouting off the proverbial mouth as I try my best to mentally process this freaking comic.

Conner doesn’t even show up, most likely because he was the only one with a solo, that Lobdell was also writing (you can probably guess accurately what the quality of that was too).

A lot of it is just more of the same, and it’s tedious, although it’s tedious nature is not so much on Lobdell, as he’s said in interviews before that it was editorial or a publisher (I can’t remember to be honest) that made him not have them previously know each other. So he had to work from that.

Which goes to show just how much DC knows how their characters and teams work, given the reason why Young Justice worked so well was because Tim, Conner, and Bart, already had stories where they duo’d up, and teamed up before they were even official. Which allowed them to have a preconceived friendship, they could build dynamics that were naturally built off of their unique personalities, which made everything feel natural and good to go when they did have an official team comic.

Here you have a Tim, that’s supposed to be very much a rookie of only one year, acting like he’s the greatest protégé talent ever, searching out for metahumans and coincidentally running into them, just to make some kind of story that would explain them being together for a team.

I’m not saying they have to redo the duo stuff again, because I’m pretty sure most readers already know their dynamics, and as for new readers, it doesn’t take a lot of time to say “We’re just good friends that like hanging out” does it? They have issue zeroes for each comic for a reason, they could’ve easily had a nice summary there if they wanted.

New 52′s obsession with trying to fit everything they can in, but have everyone still be relatively new, made everything a mess.

Like isn’t it weird that Superman only started being a super hero FOUR YEARS before Tim was? Doesn’t that sound entirely too squeezed in?

Then because they messed with the characters so much it works less for old readers as well. Like they have Tim, only a year in, acting like all the out of character elements of Red Robin, with an origin that’s a Bizarro styled mirror of his original one, with nothing that made him the popular character he used to be.

Same for the others.

New 52 is partially scary, because it shows just how little they know about what made them work.

I’m not against reboots in comics as a concept, they do need some modernization, and clean-ups every now and again, but you have to keep what works in there, or else the reboot will be a total failure. And paint-jobs and fan service like Rebirth aren’t gonna work either, when the heart of it all is still just so bad.

All this is a lot easier to say in hindsight, but DC Comics really has to work towards remembering their mistakes if they actually want to get better again. They’re doing a bit better at it, as forced and contrived as it can be sometimes. So they are getting somewhere.

But this is only the start of a Didio-less era. Looking like good things are coming, and little presents that truly make it seem true, is something that’s only going to last for a little bit. They have to still do the work, and learn what worked for their characters in the first place, and reremember who they all are.

Otherwise sales will just get worse again.

But I’m genuinely hoping they’ll at least begin to learn from mistakes. No one gets a win otherwise.

Oh, and he’s the entirety of the fight advertised on the cover. “Red Robin vs. Bunker”.

They stop fighting right after this.

It’s the comic book equivalent of clickbait if I’ve ever seen it in my entire life.

#Tim Drake #Robin #Red Robin #Bart Allen #Kid Flash #Cassie Sandsmark #Wonder Girl #New 52 #Teen Titans #DC Comics #Only tagging them because odds are those are the only tags people will check

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aizenat · 3 years

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I'm asexual and my experience has always been far more relatable to LGBT+ than straight people. People definitely did not treat me like I was straight, I am unwelcome in straight culture. And that is the experience for almost every other ace too! The inclusive side of the LGBT+ community has been far kinder to me than straight culture ever will be. Not to mention asexuals have been part of LGBT+ activism since its inception, fighting right alongside the rest of the community! Asexuals receive zero help or love from straight people why on earth would you want to deny them the LGBT+ community?

This ask is really offensive in a so many ways, and showcases the issue with asexuals who are not same-sex attracted trying to demand they be a part of the LGBT community. Not only is what you said ahistorical af (AVEN wasn’t even founded until 2001, and there is no documented group of asexual-identified people engaging in LGBT activism prior to that for you to make such an emboldened claim), but that last sentence shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what the LGBT “community” is.

It’s not a place where anyone who doesn’t “relate to” straights can go. Like what even is straight culture? People who engage in BDSM aren’t automatically LGBT. If they’re same sex attracted, then they are part of the community, but straight people who are into spanking and bondage aren’t LGBT for their “deviant” sexual expression. Why should your lack of sexual expression automatically classify you as LGBT?

We’re not a fucking community for “others.” We’re not a club for all the misfit sexual expressions. We are all bounded by our attraction to same sex people. We might be nice to people because, surprise, people who are marginalized tend to identify with people deemed as “different” due to sympathy. Being able to sympathize with the struggles of asexuals (given our hypersexual modern culture, I won’t doubt that there are issues someone who is asexual faces that can make things frustrating, even more so if from conservative communities where certain sexist expectations are heavily enforced) does not mean it’s a “hey, come on in, you’re gay now” invitation.

When Black people relate to other non-black POC because we’re racially marginalized groups, that doesn’t mean you get a pass to say the N word. And if you try to say it and a Black person corrects you, you don’t get to cry about how you don’t fit in with whites, and therefore why would we “deny them the Black community?”

Doesn’t that sound insane?

If you were actually part of the LGBT community, I wouldn’t be able to “deny” it from you. I’m a lesbian, and no matter my race, ethnicity, language, culture, religion, social and political beliefs, I am a part of this community because I am a woman who is sexually (and romantic with you weird two attraction model folks) attracted to women. Period. I can’t be removed because I’m gay. I’m a lesbian. I am both the L and G (though more so the former lol). I am this community.

Asexuals who are not same sex attracted are not LGBT. It’s not some special club for the cool kids. And we’re not just a group of “misfit” “sexual deviants” that anyone who doesn’t identify with the commercialized experience of hypersexuality can identify into.

#Anonymous

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sometimesanartdragon · 4 years

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A little argument by me

I am finally jumping into discourse (read the whole thing before you get mad please and thank you)

Okay so I want to walk through something about Undertale and to start let me make myself clear: I AM A NON BINARIY INDIVIDUAL and I am a very big supporter of the trans community at large. There is no trans phobia in my logic and I am constantly working to keep up with a community that seems to keep one to five steps ahead of me.

Now that the disclaimer has been made lets move on

Frisk and Chara can be whatever gender the person playing them wants them to be. End of story. The only point it is wrong is when someone else is imposing their views on you or an AU where they have established sexes

This is my argument:

First many people believe Frisk and Chara are trans/non binary individuals. Well I am here to remind you, that trans and non binary people can use gendered pronouns, not to mention gender fluid people are both non binary and trans and use gendered pronouns. Also just because someone calls Frisk and Chara a specific pronoun does not make them any less trans just not the trans you want them to be.

Second the evidence is very weak to Frisk and Chara being non binary to begin with. I can only remember in one scene where they refer to Frisk as “they” and it was said by monsters who could not even tell that Frisk was human to begin with let alone know what human sexual dimorphism manifests as or what modern human gender identity is.

Not to mention that using they them does not automatically prove someone to be non binary. It just means the other person does not know.

Third Frisk displays all the signs of a “player insert character” little to no personality, simple design, no real speaking roles (aka no voice/voice actor), customizable name (while it turns out to be Chara later you do not know this at the time and therefor play as if this were true making this a valid statement), little to nothing revealed about characters background/history/culture and so on. This means you as the player fill in the blanks. Some fill it in with themselves. Some fill it in with other things. No version is any less valid.

Fourth Tobi Fox has not once supported any theory over the others pertaining to Frisk and Chara’s sex/gender. Therefore there is no official “cannon” In Deltarune your customization of Kris gets thrown out. Again this does not mean “non binary wins” It means you cannot impose your views on the character. meaning no one is technically right. This one scene has been used like crazy for confirmation bias as to the player character’s non binary status but again non binary people were also told that they do not get to choose in this scene. There is no real evidence to imply otherwise.

Finally Tobi Fox has made an amazingly inclusive game. there is representation all over for many people who often do not get representation. Tobi Fox clearly made it a goal to welcome everyone possible to enjoy the game and make something that did not alienate players as other games often do. Why would someone who clearly worked so hard to make sure so many people were included stop before they get to the player character?

People already know that having one type of player character alienates large groups of people. That is why the gaming industry is currently adding more POC and women into their games.(we still have a long way to go) By making Frisk be anything other than everything you are making sure that, those who do feel uncomfortable playing such defined characters, have less chance to get the immersion that others do. imposing one type of non binary still alienates another type. same with trans by imposing that they can only use this set of pronouns you can be triggering dysphoria for other trans individuals.

One thing that has been consistent for this Non binary talk is that those who argue the hardest for Frisk being Non binary is that they seem to be so emotionally invested in Frisk being their type of non binary (and not all non binary people as a whole) \ that seeing them as anything else but their idea of NB is distressing. I have seen anon hate, general announcements of “my way or the highway”, blocking of any blog that even thinks of liking/ rebloging any gendered Frisk that they do not approve of (even if they support NB Frisk), anon threats, even going as far as identifying them as Non binary afab or amab being wrong and bad.

If this is the case I am sorry it is distressing for you. I support your need to have representation but it should not do harm to others/exclude others in the process.

Frisk is literally the most flexible and representative character in gaming today. I have never seen a character with more identities race/sex/gender/age etc, (even when Frisk is gendered it is usually hardly even the focus of the plot it just is a simple fact that no one pays a whole fuck ton of to attention to.)

Often it feels like Undertale is too inclusive as people jump on the main character and fight over what is true and what is not. It seems we were not ready for something so openly welcoming in media.

TLDR: Undertale is an inclusive game and inclusion is not the same thing as representation. Inclusion means everyone gets a share even if you don’t think they should. Frisk needs to be able to be any sex/gender/age/race/ability to properly include all players, and with little solid evidence that Frisk is any ONE thing then Frisk is likely everything.

This has been my TED talk thank you

#Undertale #Undertale discourse #Frisk #Chara #gender identity #Really every time I see this fight I feel so hurt as a non binary person #their versions of NB does not include me and many others I have met #to let you have your way you also are involved in trans erasure #all gender identities are valid #even if you dont like them #sorry if it causes dysphoria we cant be perfect #yes it is erasure you are saying NB has to be this way or its wrong #if an nb person uses a pronoun that is not they/them or other non traditional you exclude it from your list #just tired and frustrated with this mess

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jyndor · 4 years

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lol i got mad about a thing reylos said. shocking. (tw: nazism, fascism)

just saw a ridiculous post about how people who talk about the first order as being nazis are ignoring history and disrespecting jewish people and let me tell you

that the only reason I didn’t write this on that post is because I think the op is probably jewish and also a kyle ron/reylo fan and lol well. I don’t need to be told I can’t have an opinion on this or that I am attacking them. this is nothing personal, except that reylos have a history of being racist and dismissive about fascism, and so I am honestly shook that someone could be so disingenuous. lol oop that was personal.

if you know anything about film history, you know that george lucas got his inspiration for the empire’s look, and also for certain shots of the rebels, from nazi propaganda made by leni riefenstahl, specifically triumph of the will. (guys don’t go looking it up if you haven’t seen it unless you have a strong stomach because it is really, really disgusting). now, that is more or less what happens when you have a guy who is a student of film history make a movie about, you guessed it, a band of rebels fighting an imperial force but in space. george lucas also put a lot of politics into star wars, specifically anti-fascist messaging. this is like the most basic argument people make when dealing with right-wing fans of sw. this is what we’ve all said to some dumbass white guy who got mad about rey or finn or poe. I would bet that some reylos have also had that conversation, since they care about rey (I guess, although that might be too strong a word; they certainly don’t care about shipping her with a guy who tortured her lol but I digress).

jj abrams took what was already overt fascist imagery from the empire and turned it up to eleven for the first order. this is actually why I found the inclusion of POC as first order OFFICERS (not low level workers Bodhi or stolen baby stormtroopers like Finn) to be kind of fucked up, because it diluted the narrative. do not come at me with some idiotic YESS MORE BLACK IMPERIALS YESS because I am just not here for that brand of idiot representational pinkwashing(? this is a term we use for putting gay shit on monstrous corporate/imperial shit to seem more progressive but it might not be the right term for this).

if you look at the og trilogy, every single imperial officer is a posh white british man, and while I am sure that was partly because diversity was not really something george seemed mindful of, it was also a deliberate thing. like, they clearly wanted to evoke an image of imperialist, and yes FASCIST, rule. this is not that hard to understand so don’t be fucking obtuse just because you like kyle ron or reylo. not that I believe that the intent of the creator is the end all, be all, but in this case it does matter.

yes the anti-alien biases were mainly a product of legends, but I am pretty sure it is also implicit in the original movies because there are no aliens to be found in imperial ranks, and they are everywhere in the rebellion. and yes, I can understand why this might be offensive because you don’t need metaphors to understand why the nazis were bad, and yet. maybe, sometimes, you do need to give people a metaphorical understanding of things they haven’t experienced. and humans have a notoriously difficult time understanding large numbers - so maybe, a visual example of what the fuck genocide might seem like is... idk, helpful for kids? alderaan being death star’d might not be actual history, and it might not represent what jewish/romani/etc victims of the nazis experienced, but it IS chilling. personally I think that tfa did a better job with its death star knock-off because we actually saw people in their last moments. alderaan’s destruction can be rightfully criticized as too distant, since we only see leia’s response, and not what it felt like on the ground. but undoubtedly this is a fictional representation of fascist, imperial might - and all the destruction that comes with it.

it isn’t just visual, and of course the star war isn’t real and no real alderaanians were harmed in the making of the movies. duh. it’s a metaphor, an allegory. like idk who these reylos are kidding, acting like people who criticize you guys for stanning a fascist fuckboy don’t understand that these are just fiction.

the REASON I get mad about reylo and about kyle ron stans, is because nothing exists in a vacuum. NOTHING. not a damn thing. the dumbing down of stormtroopers and imperial ideology (vague though it might be) is actually how Disney gets away with marketing t-shirts with stormtrooper helmets on them to little kids, or like idk how people have convinced themselves that ben solo is just misunderstood and damaged, and not a thirty-year-old man who has made a deliberate choice to commit genocide. his so-called abuse (which we only get to see in a comic? like I’m sorry do better with your sob story) is no excuse for at best being silently complicit in genocide, and at worst actively campaigning for it.

I think there are good critiques that people make about saying the empire is nazism, because obviously this is fiction. you cannot have it both ways. you cannot say that it is anti-fascist when you are arguing with right-wingers who didn’t get that message, and then turn around when people say your fave is at best neutral on genocide (lol) and say we can’t talk about how he is a fascist.

I saw someone say something like, no one calls darth vader a fascist. LMAO yes we fucking do. now I will be the first to admit that anakin gets a lot more empathy, and part of that is because he is a more beloved character with more nuance than kyle ron. and decades of lore. but also because he didn’t grow up a privileged son of a princess, he grew up enslaved and because of his traumas he went right-wing. which does in fact happen. but yeah, darth vader had to die at the end of rotj for a reason - because no one would forgive him for the crimes he committed against the galaxy. it’s tragic because he had the potential to do great, and he redeems himself by killing the emperor, but approximately no critic of kyle ron would ever say that anakin skywalker deserved to go free and live without consequences for his actions.

if I have more sympathy for him, it is because the movies gave me reason. not because he’s hot. or idk a bad boy.

and after the racist abuse that john boyega got from KYLE RON AND REYLO stans specifically, if I were them I would shut the fuck up about how offended you guys are about calling him a fascist or a nazi. you can like your bad boy wet dream if you want, and you don’t have to even like that people think he is a fascist, and you can deny all you want all of that OVERT FASCIST IMAGERY that jj abrams put into tfa, but it’s there, and we don’t live in a vacuum, and I am not here for people dumbing down cultural phenomenon.

redemptions arcs are great! I believe in rehabilitative justice, and I agree that there is a bit of gatekeeping on who gets to be redeemed in stories. but rehabilitative justice isn’t just like you let people who do bad shit get away with it, it is a long process wherein offenders have to do some serious work on themselves. it is not easy. it is not fun, doesn’t end in sex with daisy ridley. and in many ways, it might be harder than doing hard time.

but I also don’t think we get to just... rehabilitate the lead officers who are complicit in war crimes without dealing with what they’ve done, that is how I feel about george bush, and yes, that is how I feel about kylo ren, no matter how much you try to woobify him. because that is what society already does - we let the monsters at the top of the system get away with war crimes and murder and rape, so maybe we should fight that kind of narrative in fiction, too.

we don’t live in a vacuum.

#i have jewish family members and i am not here for this bullshit #like who you like if you must #but that was some cognitive dissonant shit #fascism tw #nazism tw #war crimes tw #i mean these are pretty vaguely mentioned but still #cait got mad #shocking

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