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saltpepperbeard · 7 months

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It's the entitlement that really frustrates me. David didn't create this show to fix all problems with representation, he didn't even know what queerbaiting was, bless his heart.

People keep saying "we were promised xyz, we were baited, he betrayed us" ( I wish I was joking about the last once.

He literally promised none of that. And he ows us nothing. Whether people want want to admit it or not, OFMD is his story. This happens a lot nowadays, someone makes something, the response is "well its not what I want ,therefore it's trash".

I dunno, I'm just angry at this point

HONESTLY. And I feel like that's becoming such a large issue that spans across numerous forms of media too. Like, from tv shows to youtube to fanfiction, the audience thinks they're "owed" something. "Owed" something simply for being there and consuming the thing. And it's like??? No??? You are just there on your own volition to consume the thing that's being provided to you???

*hands you a cupcake* "i don't like this cupcake >:(" THEN DON'T EAT IT???

And yeah, as you said, this is very much David's story. This has always been his story. He was passionate to tell it even before it got such a large following. He was surprised it got such a large following!

It seems like he's had a lot of things in mind since the very beginning, and a rather clear direction in which he's wanted to steer the story. And, based on his recent interviews and also very interesting meta pieces I've seen, the whole [redacted] was probably a long time coming too.

That's just the thing. I also feel like everyone just gets so caught up in their own interpretations and their own headcanons and their own versions of the story that it leads to almost inevitable disappointment and/or upset. Hell, even I'm a bit guilty of that; I looked too hard into that one article that described Stede's beach reunion dream, and thought we were going to get a makeout in the waves. And then when we didn't, I was like "oh lol 😀." Same with the little brief snippet of Stede pushing Ed against the wall that we got before episodes 6 and 7 dropped; I went in with preconceived notions which didn't end up getting met.

BUT LIKE, THE THING IS, THAT WAS ENTIRELY ON ME LMAO??? NOT THE FAULT OF ANYONE INVOLVED IN THE SHOW???? And it seems like people are disregarding that very fact! Like, oh I'm upset with how this went, so it's YOUR fault. I'm not responsible for how I'm reacting to this; it's YOU. YOU were supposed to bend exactly to MY wants.

And that's just,,,not! the case!

I'm over here piloting my safe spaceship, but what I've been seeing in my peripherals is making me sad too. Like, just the blatant disregard for everything else this show has given us, and the vitriol being slung towards the cast and crew, and all the negativity around what was supposed to be a hopeful sendoff...

People can be upset. People are absolutely allowed to be disappointed, or sad, or even angry. People can definitely dislike a narrative or character choice. Hell, I'd definitely feel some kind of way if Ed or Stede died, and I've gotten angry over narrative directions in other fandoms before. But just...the lines that have been crossed are just so so disheartening to see. You can be angry without being ugly about it, without pulling so many people down with you.

If people are that upset, I really encourage them to just step back, take a breath, and focus on other outlets. Because the entitlement and accusatory bits are certainly not it.

#Answered #Anons #OFMD S2 Spoilers #only tagging the necessary ones PFFFF #because yeah it's just...#whew #AND #I definitely extend open arms to you anon #Because this little circle is definitely trying to turn poison into positivity

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ladyluscinia · 6 months

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OFMD fandom has me thinking about Protagonist Centered Morality, like, in general.

I feel like we only call it that when we think it's been handled wrong and are criticizing it, even though - let's be honest - we have all bought into some degree of protagonist centered morality in our favorite show. Like. It's the beating heart behind the very idea of a Mook - the faceless darkside minion that your heroes can destroy without any moral consequence for that action because who gives a shit? It's basically inescapable in every cop-show (or reskinned cop show like spn), chosen one story, action movie, revenge quest, underdog tale... we fucking love it when the universe agrees "yeah they earned that" and will generally just roll our eyes at people going "ok but you know your fictional murderers are doing bad things, right?"

Until we don't.

And, like, as an offshoot of this... 99% of the time, when you're criticizing a show for its protagonist centered morality, the most straightforward way to get your point across is complaining about whatever happened. "X did Y and then we're just supposed to forget about it?" Or "X is being such a hypocrite about Z!" And then someone else (real or hypothetical) pushes back with some point about how the story / other characters / etc. don't treat this as a problem and that kicks off the framing criticisms. But is it really about what they did?

People will object to the protagonist centered framing of actions they don't consider that serious, and be satisfied or unconcerned with the framing of actions they find borderline unforgivable. Protagonist centered morality can casually handwave (or seriously penalize) the whole spectrum of morally questionable actions from being a shit in high school to committing massive war crimes. Sometimes the primary complaint is that the protagonist already took a stance against this action, so now being fine with doing it themselves is hypocritical and out of character, and the problem with protagonist centered morality seems to be more that it's letting the OOC part slide.

The concept engages with genuine criticism of a characterization or character's actions as a shorthand, but the part it's actually complaining about is closer to feeling the narrative failed somewhere on a meta level to calibrate how much the audience should care about this event (and what level of in-universe caring would then satisfy).

It's not (at least usually) a fancy way of putting forward character crit of the good guys - most people who want to do that are just going to do so directly. If anything it has more in common with being upset at a story for breaking your Suspension of Disbelief (usually in the arena of character relationships).

#media #tropes #analysis #fandom culture #suspension of disbelief #protagonist centered morality #i'm mostly just rambling here after seeing lots of back and forth flame stuff just bounce entirely off the points being made #like you can't argue someone around to your pov on this by doubling down on how there's no issue until they make one #or defending your fave from perceived attacks. it's not *about* blorbo it's about the meta narrative #see: criticizing the fact the spn universe treats dean winchester's pov as divine law is not really deancrit #in fact my poor blorbo is actively denied character growth because he's fundamentally no allowed to be wrong #ladyluscinia

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frostofafeather · 7 months

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thoughts about only friends

NUMBER ONE THING.

I liked it!

Honestly, looking at the entirety of the series, I think it's a solid 10/10 show and I feel very attached to the characters and their world.

The writing and the OVERALL narrative direction of this series were actually pretty satisfying to me and ultimately I enjoy it as a whole.

However, I do want to talk about the good AND bad

I felt only friends suffered in a couple different ways:

the cutting or sliming of scenes due to audience response or air time problems

bad pacing especially in later episodes

the narrative treatment of some characters (mostly boston but we'll get into that.)

Number 1: Cutting scenes

We know that several scenes were cut out, some due to audience "feedback" after a couple episodes had aired, some due to simple air time cuts.

The biggest reason I (and I think most people) have a problem with this, is that this caused some characters and events to feel like they don't have meaning or motivation. Because we as the audience don't have the full picture that the writers originally intended to give us.

Do I think that this series would have been totally "perfect" or "fixed" if this hadn't happened? No really, it's just one part of the problem.

Number 2: Bad pacing

I already talked a little about this in this post, but let me just restate some things.

I don't really agree with ALL the stuff in that post anymore however the main point still stands. This series would have benefited if the narrative events were more spread out and the characters were given more time on screen to make decisions and choices.

Controversial opinion I think, but I would have actually loved it if it was 14 episodes.

Number 3: How the narrative treats characters

Now, the thing about this. I do UNDERSTAND what the intentions for all the characters were. I see the writers's/directors's intentions and I can appreciate that.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to criticize it though.

How the narrative treated boston in particular makes me just a little pissed off and probably IS the biggest critique I have for this show. Other people have talked about this numerous times but this last episode only proves that the narrative wants boston to be unredeemable, not necessarily a "villain" but as someone who doesn't deserve or need to be given an apology even though he's been treated badly by his friends just as he treated them.

Ok, you can look at this in the meta way of "Well all these characters are supposed to be bad people and it's an example of what NOT to do" I agree with this for the most part, but with this last episode and how botson's role in the story concluded, I don't really think that was the intention.

(A quick side note, I was initially upset at how bostonnick ended but I actually think it's ultimately for the best and something the writers did right. See, I would much rather them not end up together than push the narrative of boston has to change for nick, which is what I feared would happen.)

So. All these things combined made this wonderful series not able to reach its greatest potential. And I think that's why most people are critical about it. It didn't feel like what it could have been.

This series claimed to be "different" and it would change the BL world. And, in my opinion, it did! But it feels like a letdown in a lot of ways because it still fell victim to tropes and narratives that are perpetuated in this industry while also adding in unique problems that come with creating a series of this nature.

But anyway, loved it, 100%. Would rewatch it a million times. Definitely recommend!

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denimbex1986 · 9 months

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'Sex scenes have been a part of television and movies for my entire life. So that’s at least a couple of decades of sexually explicit material in your entertainment. I’m not even that old. And there are plenty of movies and television shows that had sex scenes prior to me joining the world. My point here is that there have been sex scenes in media for quite some time...

So maybe it’s because I have just always watched things with sex scenes in them, or maybe I am just built differently than the latest group of people talking about this, but this aversion to sex scenes that’s popping up on social media is really weird. In recent years, a new idea has emerged—that sex scenes “don’t help develop anything” in terms of plot, which is not true. Famously, all of Javier Peña’s sex scenes in Narcos give insight into where his character is emotionally.

The latest “outrage” has to do with Oppenheimer, as audiences go on social media to complain about Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy’s sex scenes. The film features two sex scenes that many have called “unnecessary,” or suggested that taking them out of the movie wouldn’t hurt it (which is not true). This new need to censor movies because of your own ideals or discomfort is putting your own thoughts and feelings above everyone else’s and that’s a problem we need to unpack. Made so much worse by social media.

It’s not everyone else’s problem! There are people on TikTok, like user ThatsNotLove, pushing the narrative that if someone watches “corn” (the code word for porn on TikTok) in a relationship then that is considered cheating. These are some of the same people pushing the narrative that the sex scenes in Oppenheimer are not crucial to the story. Moreover, these individuals who don’t want to see sex scenes (whether it’s because they consider them to be pornographic or because of their own personal reasons) should quite frankly be making these choices for themselves only.

Going on social media to talk about sex scenes in a negative way, dismissing their importance in film and television, or pushing the narrative that things of a sexual nature in media are unnecessary because you don’t want to see it is censorship, plain and simple. It also plays into a bigger social and cultural issue.

Right now, the topic of conversation is Oppenheimer, but the idea that sexuality or sex of any kind in media is bad comes from a conservative talking point. Even the most wholesome queer media, like Heartstopper, is being censored because conservatives think it’s being used “to recruit your kids.”

...If you think that a movie or a show “doesn’t need” a sex scene, then you are not paying attention to what that scene might actually have to say about its characters. If you’re that upset about a sex scene, maybe don’t watch movies! Help yourself by not putting yourself in that situation. Instead, you’re going to try and force your views on everyone else? Enough.'

#Oppenheimer #Cillian Murphy #Florence Pugh #Narcos #TikTok #Heartstopper

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elcorhamletlive · 2 years

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Not a Byler, but can you explain how “conspiracy shipping” promotes media illiteracy and is bad for fandom discourse? What’s wrong with people interpreting a show differently? Genuine q, not trying to be belligerent, just really curious

I mean you don't need to go too far to understand why - just look at the extreme, viscerally upset reaction so many shippers had when vol. 2 aired. I know I make fun and complain about them a lot, but some b*l*rs are very young, queer kids who have convinced themselves they are experiencing something unique and new with ST. They read the elaborate, far-reaching, pedantic meta the older fans write; mistakenly assume that just because something is well-written and very long, it must be correct; and then get their hopes up and their hearts broken when these hopes aren't met.

The media illiteracy comes from the way these theories, somewhat unintentionally, promote a very bizarre way to look at media and how it's written. The Sherlock fans managed to convince themselves it was possible the BBC would pretend to end the show and promote a fake series on its place, as an elaborate ploy to get viewers to tune in the following week to find canon Johnlock. Of course this didn't happen, but why did they think it could happen in the first place? It's absurd. The idea that a group of showrunners would deliberately hide the main romance they're trying to tell from the audience for four seasons, while pushing another couple just to fuck with viewers, is bizarre - that's just not how TV works.

In addition to that, the encouragement to look at a series with the assumption that it's leading towards the desired ship, and working backwards to make everything that happens fit into this idea, is also harmful. It leads to a tunnel vision where other characters and plotlines simply cease to matter and what the characters actually say and do is replaced by the fanon interpretation of their actions. Then when a new installment comes and these other narrative elements do matter, and characters don't behave in ways that are coherent with the (highly elaborate and insubstancial) view they have of them, they resent it. Because it's not coherent with the story they made up in their heads (i.e. B*l*r shippers being shocked and upset that Will isn't treated as a main character, when he hasn't gotten an actual storyline in ages; or being mad at Mike ignoring Will to focus on El, when that's been his consistent behaviour since they got together).

Going back to the "you just don't trick your audience to root for a different couple if your goal is to tell another story", I also want to add that even if that were the case, it would be pretty shitty storytelling. It shocks me that people don't realise that. Prior to vol. 2 airing, I saw a b*l*r on Reddit say that, because Mike saying "I love you" to El was so heavily foreshadowed, that meant it wouldn't happen, because it was too predictable and they were definitely going to subvert it. This is bad media literacy. As a rule, it is a good thing when the audience, at large, can tell what the characters' emotional turmoils are, and where their arcs are going. Basically: if you need a 300 slide long document to convince people a love story is taking place, then it's not a very good love story.

Finally, the poisoning of discourse comes from the (inevitable) disappointment that follows all this, and that, also inevitably, turns into vitriol. The word "queerbaiting" has lost all meaning because of how many times shippers use it to mean "my two favorite dudes didn't kiss". And that's not even getting into the accusations of homophobia and "bad writing" towards anyone involved in the property they're invested in. It makes actual discussion of the way the story uses its gay characters very difficult to have.

#antibyler #also if you are going to send me asks about this #i'm gonna ask you to censor the ship name bc i'm not sure if saying it in the asks makes it show up in the main tag #and i'd rather avoid that as much as possible

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overobsessedfanboy23 · 2 years

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I Have Some Concerns About Aki’s Arc

Okay let me clear: Aki has been nothing but excellent from the moment she was introduced. She’s my favourite character and just aspect of 5Ds so far. She’s a badass but she’s also very emotionally damaged and repressed due to brainwashing and a dark past, that I inwardly theorised for a while could’ve been due to abuse. She’s honestly very relatable to me personally.

And that’s why I’m saying this now: the way Aki’s parents were handled is problematic to put it lightly. First off, her mother barely exists. Her mother might as well not exist: the narrative would’ve been stronger if Aki had a single father, thus her only family/positive connection early in life who never had any time for her as a child and later in life unintentionally abused her. It would’ve also been stronger if Aki’s father realised himself that it was his fault Aki turned out the way she did rather than his wife having to be the one to tell him.

(This moment really makes it feel like Aki’s father doesn’t even fully think he’s to blame when the way Aki’s backstory is framed makes it abundantly clear Aki’s father is to blame for a lot of what happened to her psychologically.)

Second, and more importantly, Aki’s father abused her. It was clearly unintentional, the narrative makes that clear, but not all abuse is intentional. Some abusers believe that they’re right to treat their victim the way they do and in some aspects, Aki’s father does believe he’s in the right. He believed he was right to fear his daughter even when she was a small child, he believed his job was more important than her (or at least his actions hammer in this point) and that he was right to never make any time for her, thus making Aki feel emotionally isolated from a young age. Aki’s father makes it clear he never meant to hurt her, and some of it wasn’t even his fault like Aki assuming her parents were happier without her just from seeing them through the window and some of the times he’s legitimately too busy to spend time with her, but intent does not matter. Whether he meant to or not, he still abused her. He emotionally neglected her, he called her a monster, and treated her like one by further distancing himself from her.

And I haven’t yet addressed the fact that he HITS her.

Sure we only know for sure it happened once and he regretted it but you can’t say he did that by accident. You don’t accidentally slap someone across the face, that’s an intentional choice. He could’ve left the room if he was that pissed off. There’s no excuse for that moment.

Whether he meant to or not, Aki’s father was abusive and both the audience and the character himself know for a fact Aki internalised what he said and did to her:

I sound negative but so far all of this is actually really good writing. Besides Aki’s mother’s lack of involvement, this backstory perfectly explains how Aki ended up the way she did, and makes her even more sympathetic and relatable than she was before. What bothers me about this narrative is its resolution. As I discussed, Aki was abused by her father, and while her mother is never shown directly abusing her, she did nothing to stop it. Yeah, that could be due to the narrative being sexist but my point is this: Aki is justified in not wanting to be around her parents. Even if the abuser regrets their actions, the victim is in no way obligated to forgive them or even give them the time of day, much less let them back into their life.

So why the holy hell is the narrative not just pushing but forcing Aki to forgive her parents?! It’s not just Aki’s father pleading Aki to forgive her, that would be one thing, but both Yusei and the narrative itself act like Aki needs to forgive her parents in order to heal:

(This phrasing in particular really gets under my skin. “Incorrect hatred?!” Sure, ‘hate’ might be a bit far but Aki has every right to be upset with them! THEY HURT HER. It’s not your place to tell her that she’s wrong for being upset!)

Also, before you comment, for the love of god do NOT say “because it’s Japanese culture! They believe in more traditional family values!” Traditions that hurt people have no place in modern society and need to GO. This is just wrong. And harmful. Not all abusers regret what they��ve done. Making amends isn’t always possible, even in cases where there is regret, and it shouldn’t be treated as the end all be all solution. Of course I’m happy Aki was able to come to a place where she could forgive her parents but it never should’ve been the point of her redemption. The point should’ve been for her to move on from that resentment/trauma and not let it define her and that shouldn’t require making amends, otherwise many of us would never move on…

If the narrative wanted Aki and her parents to reconcile, it should’ve come after this. They either shouldn’t have been there or Aki shouldn’t have been forced to forgive them the way she was. That’s a harmful thing to enforce.

For a quick example of this idea being done right (within Yugioh, and I’m sorry to do this again if you’re getting sick of hearing me gush over how good GX is but this instantly came to mind), Judai wasn’t forced or even expected to forgive Yubel, not by the narrative, not by any other characters, not even by Yubel themself. It was a choice Judai made all on his own. And it wasn’t a last resort either. Judai was about to win the duel, as proven by this line:

Judai was about to win. He instead chose to activate Super Polymerization and fuse their souls. It was his choice to forgive Yubel and repair their relationship (that Judai was barely remembering existed) and the narrative treated it as such:

I know these are two very different relationships: Judai and Yubel’s being romantic and Aki and her parents’ being familial, but you should never be required to make amends with someone, regardless of whether you’re related by blood. At the end of the day, blood ties don’t automatically make a relationship meaningful or positive. If someone is hurting you, you have every right to cut them out of your life and never look back, and no one should ever tell you otherwise.

I’ll admit Aki’s narrative isn’t the worst version of this I’ve seen. Her father feels legitimately regretful and actually worked to earn his daughter’s forgiveness.

(This moment is really powerful and did legitimately hit me in the feels)

Really, I have nothing against the fact that she forgave her parents in the end. That was her choice to make and her parents showed they were deserving of that forgiveness. My problem is that it felt like the narrative and Yusei, a character within that narrative who has absolutely nothing to do with this situation and shouldn’t have a say in it whatsoever, were forcing her to that conclusion. It’s something that prevented me from feeling the weight of the moments that actually did work, which sucks because with some tweaking, this could’ve easily been one of the most powerful arcs in all of Yugioh, and I know to some people it still is. I assure you I’m not looking for reasons to dislike 5Ds. I desperately want to see it as the masterpiece others see it as, but with a storyline as intense and personally familiar as this, they needed to get it completely right or not try it at all. I can’t accept only halfway with something like this.

It’s honestly a shame is a shame because this story came so close to true greatness. I mean, just look at it:

Aki’s power being symbolized by these rose petals, something you’d normally think of as beautiful causing all this destruction and pain, her range of expressions as her mask of sadism slips off to show that she’s truly just a scared child who only ever wanted acceptance, the dialogue feels very grounded and real and the way the actors deliver their lines really does sell it. I really did mean it when I said a simple rewrite could’ve fixed all my issues with this. It was so close to being something truly fantastic. Maybe the following episodes will change things but as of episode 41, I’m disappointed.

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skadi-gemini · 1 year

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I posted 1,637 times in 2022

That's 1,617 more posts than 2021!

20 posts created (1%)

1,617 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@scarlettaagni

@roguemonsterfucker

@spockvarietyhour

@reh-hateshumans

@literalnobody

I tagged 51 of my posts in 2022

#my art - 6 posts

#skadi-gemini - 4 posts

#snowandmonsters - 4 posts

#tumblr milestone - 3 posts

#obsidian and kitty - 3 posts

#gothic romance - 3 posts

#mine - 3 posts

#my ocs - 3 posts

#terato - 2 posts

#ao3 - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 105 characters

#i’d also have a lazy river but then a big ass pool that gradually slopes from a beach to a turquoise pool

My Top Posts in 2022:

The Phantom of the Opera is having its final performance in 2023 in New York. I am SO upset I’ve never been able to go. And now I’ll NEVER be able to go!

It hurts my heart to imagine him singing “It’s over now, the music of the night!” and there being ACTUAL TEARS in the audience because it WILL BE OVER. Like, that has me crying today. I love this musical so much and it was one of those that was a gateway to Broadway musicals and my love for them. (Don’t get me started on Hamilton 🥹)

I’m just…devastated. Let me spread a virtual comfort hug to my fellow fans who could never afford to go.

12 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

It was good to see Johnny Depp winning his case against Amber Heard. Her testimonies were all over the place and she did some horrific things to him. I hope he can now find peace and move on to start healing. It’s honestly shocking that there are people who blindly believed her when there wasn’t any evidence to support that she was the victim. The Me Too movement was something Heard took advantage of to push a narrative forward that made herself look good. I hope more victims of domestic violence will get the courage to step forward and seek justice. This will be the first and last post about this as I don’t want to clog it with this kind of stuff.

13 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

My fan art for The Monster and the Butterfly by @theboarsbride on Ao3. I was looking at old gothic romance covers and was inspired to draw this.

I pictured Sophie walking a dark hall with only the light of a candelabra while the monstrous shadow of Edgar in the candlelight, his fingers long, spindly, and clawed like Dracula’s, reaching out to touch her. Her light, however, keeps him from touching her with his darkness. Sophie, unbeknownst to her, also has a shadow that follows in her wake, a shapeless blob created by her own self-doubts and melancholy. In this work I kept her a beacon in the darkness; that darkness not necessarily a bad thing as we’ve seen.

Even though the pointed shape beneath his arm looks like a beak, it’s really not, as it’s just his nose and below that, his chin. I do, however, liked how his silhouette came out Raven-like, harking back to the Edgar Allen Poe tales where he yearned for belonging; to feel like he matters to the world.

I ran out of room to spell “Butterfly”, so I drew one instead. This was drawn with charcoal and pencil, smudging with fingers to smooth out the shadows. Sophie sports a Gibson girl hairstyle and a dress with the silhouette of the area she lives in.

Thanks to @theboarsbride for creating such wonderful characters!

20 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

The amount of TERFS coming out of the woodworks concerning trans athletes Lia Thomas is disheartening. I saw it become ugly in a Feminism group on Facebook. They won’t see it but I thank the owners of that page, Feminism News, for supporting Miss Thomas. People only care about woman’s sports when it’s news that there is a trans athlete competing.

Even with evidence of trans athletes having no proven “biological advantage” for having a “male body”, they continue on with their harmful narratives. There is a clear difference between sex and gender which many people need to educate themselves on. By taking part in this narrative, these people, almost all afab women themselves, are helping to promote the bullshit that people like J.K. Rowling spout. It’s harmful and doesn’t make you a good ally with the LGBT+ community.

Do better.

152 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

My first attempt at a Capybara! I was heavily inspired by @capydoodle ! Their cute Capybara’s give me a boost of seratonin every day!

I wanted this little guy to look like he was sunbathing in a flourishing spring field.

153 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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xiaoshengnu · 2 years

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immortal samsara part way review ep 1-16

hey hey hey

when you see me write a part-way review, it is very likely that I will give up on the series very soon afterwards, and today, our part-way review is going to be on immortal samsara and oh boi. it’s going to get spicy.

if you are a fan of the drama or the actors (btw, this is a critique on the characters and the drama not the actors) and will get upset by criticism, then pls look away, pls don’t ruin your day over a drama :(

okay friends- this is a lot longer than my usual part-way posts but,

lets begin.

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 4/10

the angst okay, being the xianxia drama it is, is really good, I can feel it so hard. there was a whole episode which made me sit in bed crying the whole way through (it was really cathartic I won’t lie). however, the plot really is nothing new, I like it better than ashes of love because at least it doesn’t have a really awkward sexual sense of humour while trying to maintain an innocent front, but overall it’s not much better. the demon clan is still evil for no good reason and still dressed in black because hey, we need to judge people by appearances because that has never caused any societal problems ever before! and the heavenly realm is still good and perfect for no good reason.

however, there was one brilliant thing that the demon lord says to yingyuan before the great battle that I really liked which was along the lines of ‘the heavenly realm is unjust and discriminatory. they bar us from the same privileges, only by starting this war can our people have a way out from oppression’- which is honestly such a valid and beautifully morally grey thing to say! but the scriptwriters didn’t push this forwards and instead shot it down by making yingyuan say ‘yeah right, you’re just giving excuses to satiate your greed’. and of course, since yingyuan is endlessly good, the audience will undoubtedly side with his reasoning which made me kinda sad.

after all it seems clear to me that the whole universe in this drama is pretty divided and unequal. cultivation is probably like the most important thing in these people’s lives. for example the dragon king who came to visit his son said ‘wow the heavenly realm’s heavenly aura is amazing, great for cultivation’ suggesting the sea realm and other realms are lesser in heavenly aura in comparison. the heavenly realm monopolises the access to their realm, as well as cultivation books (as assumed from the rare and priceless books in yingyuan’s palace that everyones like so ‘omg yandan you got to read those?’ about) for who they like and if cultivation is people’s livelihoods in this drama, this is blatantly unfair and genuinely horrible. those who take human form in the heavenly realm or are of heavenly clans (such as the handan lotus clan) are automatically given a huge head start.

let’s put this in a modern context; its literally “yo so since you weren’t born white and also maybe because I don’t like you, you can’t go to school, yeah sorry about that lmao- good luck with surviving now, bye-bye!”

I mean with this inequality and this set up, had the scriptwriters brought this narrative forwards, the drama had so much potential to have so many impactful themes, like fighting against unjust rules in an unjust system that could feature both immortals and demons. And even if they didn't want to explore this route, and wanted to stick to love, a storyline exploring how to emotionally vulnerable could have been good!- it could be so many things! it’d also be so much more fun if the heavenly emperor was like a sociopath and yingyuan had to reshuffle his idea of the heavenly realm, departing from the good evil, white black dichotomy.

I mean it doesn’t even have to be as big as that! like anything as simple as changing the gender of the two leads- like ANYTHING that is slightly more original and slightly more fleshed out would have been so. much. more. interesting. and also- patching up some of the logic-ing in this drama would have also been good too? like just maybe y’know? like perhaps MOST NOTABLY IN EPISODE 13?

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 7/10

the acting of the leads, guys- is top tier. if it wasn’t for yang zi and cheng yi I wouldn’t have been sobbing my eyes out over this drama T-T. I'm so surprised why some c-netz yang zi fans were so upset over the fact that she was paired with cheng yi because my god besties, he can act. if I ever manage to force my way through the drama, I'm looking forwards to seeing cheng yi act as tang zhou who I hear is a more open and smily than yingyuan. aughhhh they both do so wellllll. these two- they rock.

meng ziyi is great too, she acts well as always and the actress (Vicki Xu?) of yingdeng plays her character wonderfully- even though I feel quite sorry for her for getting assigned a character who literally has ‘I am a product of misogynistic writing’ stamped across her face.

the rest of the cast tho... and the dubbing....? no.

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 3/10

I kind of wanted to rate it a 1 out of righteous rage (jkjk) for the writing of yingdeng which honestly makes me want to scream- it’s like everything wrong with the stereotypical perception of women is all condensed into yingdeng alone. she's crazy man chaser, she wants to use her wiles to further her career, she’s catty, she’s scheming, she’s jealous, she lashes out at women- the way that she is so one-dimensional as well- the scriptwriters offer no nuanced explanation to why she is like this besides from being obsessed with a man. its just terrible. it’s just so insulting. there’s better ways to make yandan look better without demonising other women- like- I’m just sayingggg

but anyway, before I slammed in 1/10 out of anger, all was saved by yingyuan’s survivors guilt arc and the scriptwriters attempt to write a dimensional zhixi. I found yingyuan’s survivors guilt arc with yandan really sweet and it actually worked to expose the way yingyuan thought and why he was (supposedly; we were never shown any instances) so rule obsessed (from the beginning he has been breaking rules- even his existence breaks rules- there is no instance where he is seen sincerely enforcing rules. his ‘rule abiding-ness’ is not particularly convincing 👀 and doesn’t make is rule-breaking for yan dan as impactful as it should have been). (But anyway) I thought they really showed what they meant to each other here.

zhixi’s writing, was better than what was done to yingdeng. sibling jealousy is something quite convoluted and confusing, coupled with zhixi’s meek personality, her actions are understandable and I appreciated the scriptwriters for that. though I have no idea how they plan to redeem her effectively- honestly. however while the scriptwriters offered a valid motivator for zhixi’s actions, she is still not a fleshed out character. besides from being easily manipulated and a force for problems, zhixi has no friends and other influences of her own which makes little sense when you consider that she has been around for thousands of years. it honestly makes her quite a flat character. but a little effort was made I guess.

but besides from these things, I wasn't particularly surprised by any of the other characters or their dynamics.

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 8/10

the production is absolutely beautiful, I love the colour palette, the styling the jewellery, the lighting, the concept photos... they’re all so gorgeous. my favourite set in the whole drama has to be yanxu palace, yingyuan’s home. I love the raw stone detailing and the deep turquoise colour which looks so good against the chess set with white and amber pieces.

I know some people have complained about the plasticy-feel of some of the props and I sometimes do get that vibe from time to time, however I don’t think that would be the biggest problem ever so I didn't nock it down by much. the cgi is good too.

my favourite costume so far in the drama has to be the dragon princess zhaolan’s. I love her nautical themed styling like her fishtail earrings, her super long jelly-fish buyao and her horned hair. its so cute and it suits the actress so well.

overall average - 5.5/10

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vaugarde · 2 years

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i feel so stuffy whenever i see general fandom takes on why fiction should always be happy by the end and should always be escapism and needs ao3 tags stamped all over it like the “well ACTUALLY” feelings just leap out i cant help myself

#i do like the push for tws at the start of novels which ive seen a few books do #echoed voice #but the need to ao3 label them is just…. so dumb….#i dont wanna sound like a snob but at the same time. the full on confidence of these ppl claiming that general literature sucks #bc ‘’oh it didnt warn me the ending would be sad thats super manipulative of them. also fanfic is more progressive’’ with full confidence…#like. yall……#maybe i just really like it when a book is intending to tell a darker story and ends w a bittersweet ending at best #bc i do like the whole ‘’heres how we coped with it and its not always the best outcome’’ aspect #but like…. the idea that its problematic or ‘’behind’’ or ‘’grimdark for the sake of it’’ is soooo dumb #ofc an ending CAN be pointlessly dark for the sake of being like ‘’ohhh i UPSET my audience hehehe’’ (like the end of divergent where the mc #died in a really pointless way that didnt support the narratives themes at all) but again. nuance. its not ALWAYS like that #idk the books that impacted me the most as a kid/teen were always the ones that tackled heavier topics like cancer or grief #and werent cleanly resolved by the end. or even if the ending was bittersweet. it was sad but like it left an impression and felt grounded

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starkjoy · 3 years

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Let's talk Episode 5x02.

Buck and Eddie's heart-to-heart confirmed two of our suspicions: first, Ana caused his panic attacks, not the shooting.

Second, Eddie's definitely not in love with Ana.

On its own, that sounds innocent enough—they've dated for months, yes, but Eddie's suffered tremendously in love and life, so progressing slowly is understandable. That's enough to warrant a breakup itself, so why would the writers add fuel to the fire with panic attacks?

Mom, wife, or both, the mere mention of Ana becoming a permanent fixture in Eddie's family induces a life-threatening visceral response. This isn't just a case of incompatibility, or not being ready to move on. It's a physical, mental, and emotional crisis.

More analysis under the cut:

As many have speculated, there may be more to unpack beyond Eddie's excuse that he's "not ready" for a "ready-made family." So playing house with Ana causes him to panic, but co-parenting with Buck doesn't? Literally choosing Buck to be Christopher's legal guardian in the event of his own death didn't? Not even a little bit? The juxtaposition between Eddie's uncomfortable interactions with Ana and joy when seeing Buck with Chris or talking about Buck and Chris at the zoo makes us wonder: is Eddie not ready for a "ready-made family"...or has he already made one with someone else?

If he's aware of the latter, whether consciously or not, the implications of Buck being the person he wants in his life permanently is enough to warrant panic given Eddie's background.

In that same vein, the "stick with it" line felt particularly telling—I can't help but wonder if he stuck with Shannon, too. He was so young when they met, then their relationship became complicated so quickly...and ultimately cut too short. Perhaps he "stuck with" her despite the chaos because it was easier than confronting his own feelings or sexuality. As others have mentioned, "stick with it" implicitly evokes subtext around compulsory heterosexuality, being in the closet, repression, etc. Whether the writers intended for anything beyond Eddie's textual answer remains to be seen, however.

Now let's move on to Buck.

Maybe we can chalk this up to Oliver's acting choices, but Buck's frustrated—angry, even—emotional response to Eddie's admission surprised me. He's genuinely upset that Eddie would force feelings instead of breaking things off now, even directly comparing himself to Ana because he too has loved someone who didn't reciprocate his feelings (presumably he's referencing Abby, questionably Ali as well). The writers' choice in having Buck compare his own love struggles to Eddie's here naturally drums up questions about his current relationship.

I find it ...interesting that Taylor and Buck's one scene (so far) has already implied there's trouble in paradise. Yet again, Buck seems more invested in his relationship than his partner does. No shade to Taylor or those who ship her with Buck, but why would the writers want the pair's first scene post-canonization to be Taylor choosing work over Buck? Even in a lighthearted scene? If the writers' intent wasn't getting the audience to question whether Buck's latest romantic endeavor will work out, then I'm not sure what they were doing in that scene.

Now, let's remember how the show reintroduced Ana and Taylor as love interests last season. Ana was first, then Taylor after a time jump in the latter half of the season, during which Ana and Eddie were already seeing each other. I remember fans speculating that Buck dipped his feet back in the dating pool not only because he was healing but also because Eddie had made the first step toward moving on. However you want to interpret Buck's choices, shipper goggles on or off, by the end of last season both Eddie and Buck entered two separate, seemingly healthy relationships. Two happily ever afters, two happy families.

Four months later and the fairytale's already fallen apart.

Perhaps Buck's knee-jerk frustration not only stems from his past wounds with Abby, but also because he's sensing he's veering down a familiar path with Taylor. He's angry less so because Eddie said he'd "stick it out" with Ana, but more so because he's always the person people "stick it out" with. Shipper goggles on, maybe he's angry at himself for jumping into another relationship that isn't working when he only reentered the dating pool because of Eddie...whether that be out of jealousy, fear of being left behind, or repressing his confusing feelings.

Eddie's on a clear path to renewed singlehood, and Buck's storyline already leaves room for a similar journey. It's too early to tell, especially with how the writers have dealt with Buddie in the past, but if the show really wanted to quash the ship...why all of this? Will the beginnings of their respective relationships mirror their ends, with Eddie breaking up with Ana in the first half of the season, then Buck in the latter?

The question of the night remains: why break up the couples they just built and write off the characters they just reintroduced if they have no intention of pursuing Buddie romantically?

Maybe they'll push a platonic soulmate narrative where Buck and Eddie raise Chris together and are a family unit, but as bros—but that seems a bit ridiculous after knocking out both of their girlfriends, especially if they're trying to avoid claims of queerbaiting. You never know when there's a general audience to appease as well, though.

Based on what I've seen tonight, however, we may have a genuine chance. At least more of a chance then I thought last season.

#buddie #911 spoilers #evan buck buckely #eddie diaz #this was long as shit but i had to get my thoughts out

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steveyockey · 3 years

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Honestly I've been thinking. All I want is to go to Andrew Dabb's house and knock on his door and ask him if it was worth it. If him getting his 30% audience score on rotten tomatoes really was worth disappointing so many fans in so many ways. If he's been plotting his last revenge against deancas shippers as soon as he became show runners and knew he would make an end that is so bad and heartbreaking for the fans of the show. I'd ask him if he sincerely feels proud of the work he's put in, his last hurray, his legacy, if he really feels like this was it for the show.

Like Jensen has been saying he doesn't like the ending since 2019 (?) So Dabb has had plenty of time to change things around. But he didn't. So is he really like.... Is this really it?

Not even mad at this point. Just.... sad and tired like is homophobia that important to you man. Is queerbaiting really worth all of this? Idk. It's just sad to think 12 years of this happened and all we have to show for it is whatever the hell they gave us.

If you watched “carry on” and the hour of preamble live, I think you received an amazing class in the power of narrativizing wherein the cast and writers of supernatural tried to convince you, the audience, what the tv show you have spent hundreds of hours watching has really been about this whole time. 15.20 is not so much a finale as a set piece that desperately wants to assert its status as The Final Word on what supernatural is. I agree that dabb is most certainly at fault, but I also think it’s a testament to the lack of belief in their own work shared by much of the writers room as well as the network, coupled with the bizarre demographics of america’s most unifying tv show, that they felt they could only aim so low and yet committed so fiercely to their own undoing. it seems almost silly at points to be upset with the finale because it is frankly such a blatant power grab. they defanged god, symbolically washing their hands of their own narrative missteps, and chose to push past that into? nostalgia? calvinism? circularity? it’s very telling that the thing dean most needs to convey upon his death is how nervous he was to see sam at stanford that first episode. there’s no reflection. there’s no growth. there’s nothing built on that. it’s about the perpetual motion machine of supernatural chugging on even when it no longer has a conductor. it’s about shrinking the narrative all the way back down to its own infancy, not even acknowledging what it became but reestablishing what it set out to be and declaring “this is what it has always been.”

put simply, it’s a lie! “writers lie.” how deeply compelling it is to me that supernatural contains all the antidotes to its own ending. that it told us again and again that the only solution is to write your own story and that it would never do anything on purpose as interesting as anything it did on accident, that its characters shone their brightest when they fought tooth and nail to be who they chose be instead of who they were told to be. of course it remains most mind-boggling, as many people have pointed out, how easy it would have been for them to cash in on that sweet sweet representation, but I am oddly thankful they didn’t because it would never have worked if they actually tried. and now what that means is it was never theirs. it was cas’s and dean’s and it was ours. it is ours. maybe it’s jensen’s and misha’s too, but really and truly it is ours. I hope andrew dabb sleeps well at night knowing every person who creates something out of the deluge of emotions destiel inspired in them since november 5th has about a million times more perception and integrity than his last act. but I mostly don’t care how andrew dabb sleeps since his bills are probably paid and he no longer has any say over anything that happens in the world of supernatural. we do. and to say we have nothing to show for it... well that’s also a lie. just go rewatch tierney’s strawberry blond amv. or scroll through soup’s art of our favorite little gay family. look at sam’s auden edit, or, fuck it, go find out whatever kath is doing half the time. as ephemeral as social media tends to feel, we are literally reclaiming the narrative every day we assert that we know supernatural was about gay love and its power to change the world. always above all else. love.

#every day i get anons and then i give them back things that are not really answers but more just like #extended monologues during which i cry and then immediately leave my computer to pretend to be a normal human person #spn #anon

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

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where do i even begin

The focus in this episode is all over the place and also on none of the right things.

Let’s just start with the obvious: they didn’t even bother showing Alya's reaction to Marinette being Ladybug. We got nothing. Marinette revealing her identity to Alya is supposed to be a big deal, but the episode brushes it under the rug and even seems to lowkey blame Marinette for not telling Alya sooner, to the point where it outright lies and has Alya claim that Marinette’s secret was responsible for all of Alya’s Lady Wifi appearances.

It’s not like I’m surprised anymore when the show blames Marinette for like--anything, but the fact that this season seems to brag about its continuity by being on a firm timeline and then keeps going against continuity is really irritating.

And speaking of continuity, the Adrien pictures are back on the wall with absolutely no reason given. Narratively speaking, the show put them there so Alya would see them and think of bringing up Adrien to get Marinette to take a break, but the show can’t just do that if it wants to imply that it has continuity. Worse still is that this is the episode featuring “Charm Bug” (does her form have a name? I just call it Charm Bug and continue to do so), meaning that “Gang of Secrets” (where there were no Adrien pictures) has to take place before this and “Furious Fu” (where there are also no Adrien pictures) has to take place after.

At this point, they might as well just confirm that “destiny” is a real force and the ladybug miraculous is messing with Marinette’s room and twisting her emotions to make the love square endgame because--yeah, that’s all it is at this point.

The other thing is that Alya shoos Marinette away from her guardian duties so Marinette can go comfort Kagami (let’s be honest, the best part of the episode was Alya being like, “but what about Adrien?” and Marinette was basically like, “what about Adrien?”), which sounds great, but then it all goes back to Adrien, because of course it does.

Not only that, but the episode mocks Marinette for worrying about Kagami. Not only does Alya doubt Marinette’s concern, but Kagami isn’t at all affected by the break-up and isn’t even touched by Marinette’s worry.

The thing is, I get where Marinette’s coming from, because this is the Kagami who told Ladybug in “Heart Hunter” that she (Kagami) and Adrien were perfect for each other to the point where Kagami prioritized her potentially getting together with Adrien over her friendship with Marinette. Also keep in mind that Marinette is Kagami’s only friend, and it makes total sense that Marinette would expect Kagami to be devastated by the break-up.

But because it’s Miraculous, the show makes Marinette look like an idiot for being concerned for Kagami, as if saying, “Silly Marinette! Kagami’s not like you! Kagami is a strong independent woman!! You’re just so over-emotional and you were ridiculous for being sad about your own break-up! You should be more like her!”

I also don’t like it because it presents Kagami as this character who really does feel nothing due to the show not letting her. She was angry at Adrien, obviously, but she was also immensely upset and it made sense when she put so much effort in trying to get him to return her affections.

Buuuut no. Kagami is just annoyed by Marinette’s efforts to try and get her back together with Adrien (it’s not that her anger isn’t warranted, but that’s all they let her feel instead of any genuine sadness over the break-up).

And of course, there’s no mention about Marinette literally trying to help get Kagami back together with Adrien and how selfless that is on Marinette’s part. Obviously I don’t agree with Marinette disregarding Kagami’s feelings (I do hate though how the episode refused to have Kagami explain why Adrien upset her, which would help Marinette understand because she seems to think there’s a misunderstanding/Kagami doubting herself), but the episode refuses to acknowledge Marinette’s good intentions because it’s Marinette and because she’s supporting Adrimi and not the love square, so they’ll make her look as bad as possible. This led to the fandom talking about Marinette and her oBsEsSiOn with Adrien instead of saying UM HI YEAH MARINETTE IS DOING A “HEART HUNTER” 2.0??

(The show also does this consistently, by the way.)

Another thing the show won’t acknowledge is that what Marinette does with Kagami is extremely similar to what Alya does with Marinette. Alya has ignored Marinette’s agency, physically pushed her towards Adrien, and locked her in a room with Adrien no matter how many times Marinette has told her no and that she doesn’t want that.

But because it’s Marinette and because what she’s shipping is Adrimi (i.e: a ship that interferes with the love square), the episode absolutely tears her apart for it. If Alya’s meddling was treated the same way - where she’d be constantly put in the wrong and punished for it - I wouldn’t say a word about this, but we know that’s not the case from “Reflekdoll” (where Reflekta targeted Marinette and Rose of all people) and “The Puppeteer 2″ (hey, remember when Alya did all of that and then it was the museum staff who did nothing wrong who got the worst of Puppeteer’s wrath?).

And this isn’t even taking into consideration that, once again, Marinette has learned something from someone else because they were never called out or punished or learned (originally being Adrien/Bustier where she “learned” to trust Chloe and see where that got her???), and then she’s the one who gets the heat for it.

Might I also add how insulting it is that the episode before this had Marinette saying that she “didn’t want to focus on love,” and then immediately afterwards, Alya is pushing for Adrienette and the episode itself won’t let anyone shut up about Adrien?

Like, this is the episode where Marinette does guardian stuff, gets an upgrade in Charm Bug, and yet the episode hyperfocuses on Aaaaaadrien. He doesn’t even do anything; he’s just a black hole that inhales all available attention and magically pulls all the characters towards his general location.

Then the episode keeps breaking its own continuity as an excuse to make things more about Adrien and also more about the love square, like saying that Marinette carries her disguises everywhere when it’s really just an excuse for Marinette to conveniently have the umbrella so that they can recreate the umbrella scene (by the way, the line from Marinette about “recreating Kagami’s moment where she fell in love with Adrien” is both incredibly forced and incredibly obvious because we’ve never even seen how Kagami fell for Adrien).

And when you already know how the show goes, it all becomes so predictable, which is a huge problem. By the time you hear Marinette say that she “didn’t want to focus on love” last episode, you already know what’s going happen. This episode reaffirms Marinette’s crush on Adrien, which is weird because it’s not as if there was ever any doubt in the first place? The show didn’t even try to convince its audience that Marinette was actually trying to move on, which gives the scene no impact when it happens. We already know that Marinette isn’t really in denial (she’s not stupid) and is very likely saying that she’s not in love with Adrien because admitting it hasn’t gotten her anywhere and she’s repeating something to herself is an attempt to make it true (which is a common coping mechanism for people with self-esteem issues/anxiety), so the scene is just for shipping fuel.

We’ve seen future episodes that show that Marinette hasn’t made any actual progress, hence being another piece of evidence towards my theory that the show does it on purpose to get the Adrienette fans to freak out when anything happens even if it’s reversed in the end. It’s particularly frustrating because it denies Marinette of agency yet again, with her saying something and the show then going lol okay but what if--

It’s gross, and made more so by Kagami watching Marinette and Adrien from a distance and saying that they’re “made for each other.” I’ve talked many times before about how the show is too lazy to have actual chemistry between the love square so they’ll just have characters say that they’re meant to beeeeee, so I won’t go into that, but really, actually think about what Kagami’s saying here.

This is the guy that, in her eyes, abandoned her repeatedly on dates and lied in order to get away from her. She stated outright that Adrien had disappointed her to the point where all of her feelings for Adrien seemed to have completely disappeared and she didn’t even want to be friends with him anymore (at least for now).

Yet, the show had Kagami not only say that line, but told Marinette directly that Adrien was perfect for her. This means either one of two things, neither being good:

- the show intentionally had Marinette do all this so that Kagami would feel embarrassed for Adrien and thus fix all of Adrimi’s relationship problems without Adrien having to do any work to earn her trust back (notice how Adrien in this episode is an “extra good boy” this time around, probably even more than they usually try - keyword: try - to portray him)

- Kagami’s opinion on Adrien hasn’t changed at all and she’s essentially saying that Marinette belongs with this guy who has hurt Kagami, betrayed her trust, and will probably do the same to Marinette

And obviously the show doesn’t think about any of that. It just wants to push for the love square. The only reason there was any focus on Kagami at all was to have a reason to get Marinette to go to Kagami, for Kagami to get angry at Marinette because - as we all know - Marinette “has to mess up and learn in every episode,” so there’d be a reason to go to where Adrien was, and so Kagami could become the next local shipper for the love square.

Marinette didn’t even get to figure out the magical charms by herself; Rena Rouge gave her the answer. It was like the show saw her doing guardian work and shoved her out the door because the only thing she’s good for is being part of the love square. Alya gets seconds of time shown with her looking over the grimoire to figure out the trick, which makes the whole thing underwhelming and rushed when Rena comes up and tells Ladybug that it’s essentially “just been about her” the whole time, meaning it’s just the show yet again being like “see, Marinette? If you’d just figured this out bEfORe...” (note that the episode never tells Marinette that she’s unnecessarily guilting/blaming herself)

But yeah, despite the episode not giving Adrien anything to do, characters talk about him constantly, Marinette somehow doesn’t get the spotlight she needs despite getting a power-up form, and the episode feels the need to constantly railroad Marinette exactly where it wanted to go, not for her, but for the love square, which has always been about not her. It’s already bad when the episode itself is bad, but when it has so much to throw in and delivers on absolutely none of it, it just makes it all the more painful.

#category: salt #episode: Mr. Pigeon 72 #other: ml spoilers #other: ask and answer

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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Hi! I was just watching good omens and I came up with some questions, but I didn't know whom to ask, so I was digging around for go analysis blogs and found you. *takes a breath* So, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on why Heaven's camera angles are the way they are. I noticed that, in heaven, the camera tends to focus on the characters' heads specifically, so they fill most of the screen. Either it's a meta reason or a reference to something (like Newt with the Office) that I'm not getting. That's the main thing, but I've also wondered why exactly Aziraphale uses the verb "fraternize" in the 19th century. It seemed an odd pivot from caring about Crowley's safety to Heaven's rules. Thanks so much!

Hello! Omg yes, let's talk Good Omens cinematography.

First, the obligatory Analysis Disclaimer: I doubt there's a specific interpretation that you're just not getting, some singular, "correct" reading of the scene(s). Two years past release, I'm positive the fandom as a whole has come up with plenty of ideas (I mostly hang on the periphery. I'm far from up to date with GO meta), but any and all of it will, by nature, be subjective. Thus, all I can offer is my own, personal interpretation.

So for me? It's about intimacy.

Not intimacy in the sense of friendship, but rather the broad idea of closeness. Confidentiality. Emotion. Knowledge. Understanding by means of literally getting into the thick of these conversations. I love the camerawork in Heaven (and elsewhere) because the camera itself acts like a person — an additional party to these interactions. And, since we're the ones watching this show via the camera, it makes it feel as if we're peeking into scenes that are otherwise private. Obviously all cinematography does this to a certain extent, the camera is always watching someone or something without acknowledging that we're doing the watching (outside of documentary-esque filmmaking), but GO uses angles and closeups to mimic another person observing these scenes, someone other than the characters involved.

The easiest example I can give here is when Michael makes their call to Ligur. Here, the camera is positioned up on the next landing of the staircase, as if we're sneaking a look down at this otherwise secret call. There's even a moment when the camera pans to the right to look at them through the gap in the railing, briefly obscuring Michael from our view.

Here, a standard expectation of any scene — keep your character in focus — is done away with to instead mimic the movements of someone actually hiding in the stairwell, listening in on the conversation. It creates that feeling of intimacy, as if we're really there with Michael, not just watching Michael through a screen. The camerawork acts like a person overhearing an illicit conversation prior to falling back on mid/closeup shots. We're spying on them.

To give a non-Heaven example, the camera helps us connect with Aziraphale during Gabriel's jogging scene. It's hard to show through screenshots, but if you re-watch you'll see that the camera initially keeps them both in the frame with full body shots, allowing us to compare things like Gabriel's unadorned gray workout clothes with Aziraphale's more stylish outfit; one's good jogging form and the other's awkward shuffle. However, this distance also creates the sense that we're jogging with them, we're keeping pace.

That is, until Aziraphale begins to lag. Then the camera lags too, giving them both the chance to catch up, so to speak.

Until, finally, Aziraphale has to stop completely and the camera, of course, stops with him. We're emotionally attuned to Aziraphale, not Gabriel, and the camerawork reflects that. Even more-so when we cut to a low shot of Gabriel's annoyed huff at having to stop at all, making him appear larger and more imposing. Because to Aziraphale, he is.

This work carries over into Heaven's other scenes. The closeups are pretty much a given since, whether it's Gabriel realizing Aziraphale has been "fraternizing" with Crowley (more on that below!), or Aziraphale choosing to go back to Earth, the scenes in Heaven are incredibly important to the narrative. Closeups allow the viewer to get a good read on each character's emotional state — focusing on minute facial changes as opposed to overall body language — and that fly-on-the-wall feeling is increased as we literally get an up close and personal look at these pivotal moments.

Compare a shot like this one of Gabriel to the line of angels ready for battle. We don't get closeups on any of their faces because their emotions aren't important. Yes, that's in part because they're background characters, not main characters, but a lack of emotion — their willingness to enter this war without question — is also the point of their presence in this scene. So they remain a semi-identical, nearly faceless mass that runs off into infinity down that hallway, not any individual whose inner life we get a peek at via a closeup.

I particularly like Aziraphale's conversation with the angel... general? Idk what to call this guy. He's just gonna be Mustache Angel. But, getting back on track, his scene has a lot of over the shoulder shots which, admittedly, are pretty common. From a practical perspective they're used to help the audience situate both characters in the scene — you're here, you're there, this is how you're spaced during this conversation — but it can also help emphasize that closeness between them. Keeping both characters in the shot connects them and though Aziraphale and Mustache Angel definitely aren't on the same page here, those shots help cue us in to the unwanted intimacy of this moment. They're both angels... even though Aziraphale no longer aligns himself with them. They're both soldiers in a war... but Aziraphale will not fight. This angel has a list of Aziraphale's secrets, including that he once had a flaming sword and lost it... but Aziraphale doesn't want to admit those circumstances to him. This angel wouldn't understand, even if he did. Intimacy here, connection and closeness, is something discomforting because Aziraphale can no longer embrace those similarities. They put him (and us) out of sorts, so when we get them both in frame, that connection creates tension, not relief.

And many of those over the shoulder shots are given sharp angels, or the camera is placed too close to the "off screen" party. Compare a shot like Luke and Rey to Aziraphale and Mustache Angel. Here, Luke is a clean, solid line on the left side of the screen, just enough there to cue us in to where he is in relationship to Ray, In contrast, Mustache Angel's mustache is Too Close and proves rather distracting. Rey and Luke are connecting here over being Jedi with responsibilities to uphold (or at least, Luke will acknowledge that connection later lol); Mustache Angel is forcing a connection with Aziraphale that makes everyone uncomfortable.

We are too close to him here. He feels too close to Aziraphale too. This whole conversation is upsetting and discomforting, pushing Aziraphale to finally choose which side he's on (his own with Crowley). The shots aren't meant to subtly keep the audience from getting lost and then otherwise be unobtrusive, we're supposed to be Very Aware of this angel's body and how close he's getting to the character we've come to identify with — both literally (he's leaning in) and in terms of forcing Aziraphale to finally make his choice.

When Mustache Angel marches forward and gets all up in Aziraphale's face, the camera positions itself behind Aziraphale in a way that makes it feel like we're hiding behind him, with Aziraphale taking up far more of the screen than Luke does. Like the scene with Michael or running with Gabriel, the camera often likes to mimic a "realistic" response to these events. This angry, shouty angel is getting closer, best take a step back and stay out of sight behind Aziraphale, holding his ground.

These closeups also serve as a nice contrast to the wide and longshots we get of Heaven. It's an imposing place with skyscrapers in the distance, lots of steel, immaculate floors, and endless white. It's overwhelming and it's cold. But then we cut to those mid-shots of Gabriel and Michael, telling us that they're in control of it all.

Aziraphale? Aziraphale is not in control. Not now, anyway. When he appears in Heaven we get a longshot to show off this endless void and he's just another, tiny speck in it. If he weren't flailing around — an acting move that likewise helps sell how out of his depth he is — it's unlikely you'd even notice him. Aziraphale's clothing and hair blends in perfectly with the background. He's forgettable. Easily overlooked. Someone to underestimate. And when he moves, he has to come to the camera. We don't cut to Aziraphale to establish control like we do with Gabriel. He's left to awkwardly shuffle up to Mustache Angel until he's finally come into view.

Yet when Aziraphale makes his decision, he aligns himself with the brightest, most colorful, most interesting thing in the room: Earth. Earth, with all its messy individuality, is the antithesis to Heaven's controlled uniformity and a bright blue orb hanging in the midst of all this white helps remind us of that. Aziraphale rejects becoming one of the identical soldiers and instead literally reaches out for the one thing in Heaven that doesn't fit in.

When he leaves, we get an extreme closeup for the first time. Mustache Angel is pissed and as such we not only get a good look at his face in the aftermath of Aziraphale's choice, but that extreme closeup on his mouth as he's shouting too. It's like he's shouting directly at us, the viewer who is currently cheering on Aziraphale's decision. There's a war, dammit... but we don't care. Not in the way he cares, anyway.

So there's a lot! And I could probably go on, but apparently I'm only allowed to add 10 images per post now (tumblr what the actual fuck if anyone knows a way around this please share!) and I've already had to merge a bunch of images like an animal. So let's awkwardly finish up with the duck pond scene.

...without a GIF because they apparently count as images too 🙃

Simply put, I don't think Aziraphale bringing up fraternizing is a pivot from one to the other — from caring about Crowley to caring about Heaven's rules. I mean yes, Aziraphale is lagging behind Crowley in terms of rebellion and a part of him is, at this point, absolutely concerned with how he'll come across to the higherups, but that worry doesn't stem solely from a (now very shaky) desire to obey for the sake of obeying. The thing is, Aziraphale's disobedience is, by default, also Crowley's disobedience. If they're friends and they're ever found out, they'll both get in trouble. Which, we know from the end of Season One, basically means being wiped from existence. That's horrifying! And it's a horror that threatens them both. I don't think Aziraphale cares about rules for the sake of rules; after all, he started off by giving away his sword, lying to God, is currently meeting with Crowley anyway... this angel has always ignored/bent the rules — established and implied — that don't suit him. Rather, he cares about the rules if he thinks they have a chance of being enforced. If there will be consequences for breaking and bending them. This is still about caring for Crowley (as well as saving his own, angelic skin). If they're found out, Crowley dies. And, as we the viewer learn, Heaven was indeed observing them that whole time. There was always legitimate risk attached to this relationship. Aziraphale's fear, hesitance, and at times forceful pleas to stop this stem as much from Aziraphale worrying about Crowley's safety as they do a learned instinct to obey the rules without question. He pushes to end the relationship because the relationship threatens the only thing Aziraphale cares about more than that: Crowley himself.

As for the term "fraternizing," that's a loaded one! I won't go into a whole history lesson here, but suffice to say it has military roots: to sympathize as brothers with an opponent. That is literally what Crowley and Aziraphale are doing. They are an angel and a demon, supposedly innate enemies, supposedly poised for an inevitable war... yet they've formed an incredibly strong kinship. They've both learned to love their enemy, the thing every army fears because, well, then your army won't fight (just as Aziraphale won't). However, beyond the enemy implications, "to fraternize" eventually took on a sexual meaning: to not merely love as a brother, but to lay with the enemy too, usually women from enemy countries (because, you know, heteronormativity). Nowadays, "to fraternize" often implies a sexual component. I've been rewatching The Good Wife lately and in one subplot, the State's Attorney cracks down on fraternization in his office. He doesn't mean his employees are forming bonds with assumed enemies, he means his employees are having sex on his office couch. So Aziraphale's phrasing here carries a LOT of weight. He's both reminding Crowley of their stations in the world — you are a demon, I am an angel, us meeting like this can have formal, irrevocable consequences for us both — as well as, given the fact that this is a love story, drawing attention to the depth of this relationship. They love one another, as more than just friends. Though whether Crowley's scathing "Fraternizing?" is a response to Aziraphale falling back on the technicalities of their positions, or acknowledging a love he's yet to overtly admit and commit to — or both! — is definitely up for debate.

#Good Omens #Ineffable Husbands #Air Conditioning #mymetas #whew #long post!#with too few images imo #with this done I'm gonna steam #about tumblr's absurd limitations #how's a girl supposed to do meta on this website anyway

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leighlew3 · 4 years

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I’d say this is it. On top of everything else, I’d say THIS is the cherry on top of definitive proof of Supercorp having been planned/attempted all along.

According to this S2 finale script with unaired moments, Lena had literally JUST left the room after they made future dinner plans together post-Mon-El loss, and then Kara has a talk with Cat in which Cat says love is still ahead for her… wow. Seriously. It’s 99.999% undeniable at this point.

Especially because even if they changed the idea of them having dinner plans and removed that scene, the very next episode on screen in 3x01, we still had the moment where Kara is looking at photos of her with Mon-El, then she tells herself to wake up, sets it aside, texts LENA, who responds with a RED HEART EMOJI, and Kara smiles authentically for the second time since losing Mon-El (first time, also being at Lena during the statue dedication). Meanwhile the romantic-vibe song lyrics “good for me, what I need...” plays over the moment, and then Kara has the strength to move on and go meet her friends. So there’s a character losing one love interest, then another steps up as the obvious next choice/endgame that gives the person hope, as all signs around them also point to it as well, which is a pretty typical narrative set up for writers in situations like this.

They clearly were always trying to set Lena up as Kara’s future love interest/ultimate endgame. Repeatedly. All of these script leaks (on top of what we’ve seen on screen all along as well) just confirms it. That one writer (who co-wrote this 2x22 script and the other one for 3x17 where she actually mentioned “Supercorp” directly on the page) officially confirmed she was rooting for it, and we see obviously was trying to set it up in the writing as well. Which by extension then confirms that someone - either showrunners or execs at the top - have forced them to remove these elements, halt development, go in other directions, or possibly in the case of S5 - delay it - every step of the way. Writers have clearly aimed for Supercorp more than once over the years. And it seems someone has clam-jammed it every damn time.

So now, once again, here we are, back to the same old question… now that the show is ending, if it was a network or executive level clam-jam, are they FINALLY going to let the show go there? Or are they going to dig in their heels just to break an ankle and go out having wasted the ripest element in the show’s entire run - its biggest and most potentially impactful and memorable love story - and being one of the worst queer baiters in TV history, never fulfilling the best and most organic outcome for Kara, Lena, the show and the fans, due only to ego and/or homophobia? Same for the showrunners, IF they’re the hangup instead/also (hopefully not, but who knows)?

Lastly, these scripts made it clear that they were also trying to make it obvious that Mon-El was NOT Kara’s endgame, nor anything remotely close to that. It was simply a first real relationship along the way of her finding her true soulmate. We’ve said all along that she didn’t like him in that way, until she became lonely and saw everyone else paired up, so she pushed herself to finally give him a chance since he liked her and she had nobody else. She even grew to love him, as she admits, but obviously she recognized that she got with him because she wanted to experience a relationship like everyone else had, and that says a lot. Especially when you combine it with her on screen blow up later, where she openly admitted she over romanticized their relationship, and he treated her like crap, and she was obviously glad it ended, and then again when she never gave into his attempts to get with her in S3, and easily let him go yet again in the S3 finale, and barely paid him attention in the 100th.

These scripts just fully confirmed that Kara wants a soulmate/deep relationship, but she never really wanted Mon-El, specifically. She simply desires true love (like she’d told James - wanting her perfect game night partner, which was confirmed in S4 to be Lena, and someone who knew everything about her, which as of S5 is also Lena). I’ve always said that while Kara grew to love Mon-El and was hurt by losing him, she was more hurt by losing the potential he represented of her having a true love, having happiness, etc. And this script confirms that. He was NOT the one, and she’s always known it, which is why she’s never mentioned him since, and barely paid him attention in the 100th except to discuss Lena, and he didn’t even exist in a world where she and Lena were partners.

The whole “Karamel vs Supercorp” of it all really shouldn’t even be up for debate anymore. They have made it clear, time and again both on screen and in these unaired script pages, that he is not Kara’s soulmate nor endgame. So unless the show decides to go against their own history and character development out of absolutely nowhere and pull something out of their arse at the last second that won’t make any sense and would send bad messaging and upset the bulk of their remaining audience, it won’t (and shouldn’t) happen.

Meanwhile, again, they’ve also made it clear, time and again both on screen and in these unaired script pages, that Lena is Kara’s soulmate and endgame.

So let’s see what they do with that. Throw it all away? Or soar, and finally fulfill the story they’ve been telling all along, while also make history, by letting Supergirl finally have what she’s always dreamed of: true love. And Lena. Because those two things are one in the same, per their own narrative.

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monzterzack · 4 years

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Im starting to get worried about the future of complex story telling

Cause i see a lot of people taking allegories and methaphors in stories not that well

Im still thinking a lot about how a lot of people in here pinned rebecca sugar as a "nazi apologist" cause steven didnt kill the diamonds

I still think how a lot of people love to hate pink diamond for being "a manipulative abuser" without taking into consideration all the emotional distress and trauma she went throught

And i am most definetely still thinking about those months between the steven universe movie and steven universe future where a lot of people got super pissed at steven for not letting spinnel live with him and help "fix her"

I see a lot of people super mad at catra and glimmer and being like "hope they go away" without realizing the whole point of their arcs is about learning that their unhealthy mechanism isolate them from their loved ones

And the whole "beastars is nazi propaganda" thing that i already talked about

And im just.... really worried

As a writer and comic artist i am getting really worried about how difficult is to talk about real issues throught methaphor or allegory, about how simplified a story can get in order to push some narrative that the "creators intended to do harm" and people buying it without even looking at the media their criticizing

Im really worried, cause i tackle a lot of controversial issues in my stories, in fact the whole point of one of my comics is about bad people becoming better and im already freaking out about people misconstructing what i have to say for "apologizing abusers" or "fetishizing toxic behaviour"

And im already worrying about being a bad person in my core for just writing about this issues, like.... i am sorry i just cant write wholesome pure characters, i dont find the appeal on them, i cant relate to characters that are just good by nature, for me being good is an active choice that needs to be taken every second and not something that comes naturally without a thought, so i write about that

I write about trauma, about heartbreak, about obsesiveness and violence, and im already freaking out over people coming to my inbox and calling me a bad person for it

So yeah.... the way some people misinterpret really good stories and shows and push this narratives about the creators being secretely bad evil people that are looking to hurt everyone is not really .... good

I dont know why is it always media that tries to have an honest conversation about what is like to be queer or different, but i see it happen way more there than in media that is just your basic character arc

I love being on fanbases and fandoms, a lot of people make really REALLY good analisis on shows i like (i specially enjoy really long post breakin down the psychological state of the characters through the story) but it feels.... as if.... creating stories and sharing them with others brings more stress and heartbreak than just not bothering to talk about it, and thats really upsetting to think about when u want to share a story

And i know, creators and writers dont exist to cather to their audiences, specially in the media that is webcomics, a writer tells a story and the public is to decide if they like it or not, but i just cant feel comfortable with the idea that someone might get hurt or upset with the content i create and its really making it hard for me to create said content

I been cutting my own ideas short, changing characters around, getting rid of ships and ideas i was really passionate about, in order to show the healthiest possible story but thats.... not what my stories are about and as a result im just feeling more and more dead inside and unmotivated to write them cause in a way i dont feel like i can tell the story i want to tell without people getting mad or sad

I dont know chief, this is hard

#ramble

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