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whentheynameyoujoy · 3 years

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So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

youtube

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

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thegrandkinghimself · 3 years

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who is oikawa tooru?

i guess that’s a weird way to start off a post, considering just how popular oikawa is in this fandom. i’m absolutely certain that he’s still one of the most popular characters if i can take the #oikawasear trend on twitter a couple of weeks ago seriously. (i will be mourning that iwaoi is no longer the top ship in this fandom. it’s devastating to me on a personal level). and i can’t say that i’m any different, either, otherwise i wouldn’t have made this blog or this post. but i guess the reason i’ve been itching to write this is because i’ve been in this fandom--and more specifically, a fan of oikawa--for about four or five years now. i devour the content available, and i can assure you that i’ve read too many of the fanfictions on ao3 to be healthy, and never before have i seen a character whose characterization is so hotly disputed.

and i get it. he’s a complex person. he’s kind of awkward in that there is a very clear disconnect between his outward personality and who he is alone. it’s a very hard balance to strike, especially when you consider just how much conjecture goes on in his characterization among fans and in discourse. he’s really easy to project and certain traits, correct or otherwise, are amplified based off how authors perceive him. there’s plenty of presumptions that can be made based on his on-screen actions/thoughts/beliefs that can be taken to some very logical conclusions.

but i’ve also seen people write him in ways that don’t strike me as particularly truthful. he’s type casted into stereotypes that don’t do him justice, or made into something that is vaguely like oikawa, but not quite. in the following post, i’ll be trying to dispel misunderstandings of his character, if only for my own sanity.

tl;dr i think that oikawa is chronically one of the most misrepresented characters in fandom and i want to fix that

exclaimer: i am solely an anime-watcher; i have seen snippets of the manga and therefore have a general idea of what is going on.

let’s establish some very very basic stuff. just to keep it simple, i’m not going to talk about anything beyond what has been published via the anime (as of season four).

Oikawa Tooru | 及川徹

gender: male

d.o.b.: 1994.7.20. or 20 July, 1994

height: 184.3 cm

weight: 72.2 kg

occupation: high school 3rd year, class 6

position/number: setter, 1 (captain)

here’s something that’s never pointed out: oikawa is in class 6 which, if we go off the trend of every other school in haikyuu!!, means that he is in a college preparatory class aka he’s pretty dang smart. it’s not confirmed or anything, but it a. follows the trend of every other class 6 student and b. is the highest class available among seijoh 3rd years (classes 5, 3, and 1). don’t get the idea that he’s dumb or unintelligent, or even that his strengths only lie in the classroom because that would be a gross understatement of his skills.

anywho.

generally speaking, i like to start with the building blocks of his personality because there’s so much room for assumptions. here are the things that i think make up his core personality:

intelligence/knowledgeable: not only academically speaking, but he’s also well-versed in people. he knows how to play them--what will make someone more confident, more doubtful, what will help his teammates succeed. clearly, oikawa is very knowledgeable in human thought patterns. or he’s dedicated a lot of time to knowing them.

loyalty: of all of oikawa’s traits, i think this one gets talked about the least, but we know it to be true. we make jokes about “you should have come to shiratorizawa” but it really shows you exactly how loyal, how much trust, oikawa has in this team that he has spent three years shaping. he never stops believing in the work that he has put in, and especially the hard work that his teammates have put into their volleyball.

hardworking: one of the most well-known things about oikawa. most fans already know that his white knee pad is actually a knee brace. ‘nuff said. i salute you, good sir.

insecurity: oikawa’s insecurities are perhaps his most notable trait. in a sense, he’s sort of the underdog--so good, but never quite good enough to accomplish what he’s set out to do. and we know that he’s struggled with his doubts since junior high, literally since he was 12 or 13, and that’s informed all of his character from the moment he ran into ushijima. oikawa is someone who is defined by his insecurities.

oikawa is a lot of things. he’s introduced as someone who is very flamboyant--he’s built up by kageyama as the best setter, his senpai literally and figuratively, his initial shots are all of smug smiles and easy, unfaltering swagger in the face of this new team. even his theme, all rambunctious brass and jazzy, is meant to be all in your face, here’s the big boss! he’s someone who is petty and silly and seems to favor shallow conversation. but he’s oikawa, so there’s a surprising amount of depth in the little time that we have with him. there’s a reason that, in any other franchise, he’d probably be the protagonist.

he is someone full of contradictions. he’s childish and he spends time with a bunch of girls and is very clearly someone who likes to project a certain image of himself to the public (see: his cute lil’ humming run after his yell in s4e23 to make him seem kind of normal). but he’s also spent a lot of time with himself. in fact, if we take the few scenes we have of him alone and his bedroom (bare, spartan, meticulous) into account, oikawa actually is much more solemn and/or serious than the image he projects. he’s comfortable in the silences between all the white noise. he’s alright just being with iwaizumi. he allows himself to dwell on the past and his shortcomings, while also looking forward to the future. his ambition and passion to improve drive him, but his past failures weigh him down. they haunt him.

personally, i think that he’s naturally a pretty silly guy when given the chance. it’s not just for show. iwaizumi would even corroborate this à la oikawa’s introduction speech in s1. he likes having fun when he can with his friends. if we assume that oikawa is most himself with iwaizumi, then we definitely know that’s the case (see: “are you my mom, iwa-chan?”), and there’s nothing wrong with that. but i think that the most basic traits of his character, combined with his experiences in volleyball, have pushed him to be this person who is mired in doubt. it’s forced him to go down a path where something that he once loved for the fun of it has now become the source of his ire. it’s really just that simple. maybe in another life, things would be different and oikawa wouldn’t have to struggle as much. but that’s really just a part of the human experience, isn’t it? and, in all honesty, would we really love oikawa as much without all his vices?

and maybe this is getting into speculation, but i don’t think it’s a difficult argument to make that oikawa is really mature. he’s introspective. i say introspective because the revelations that he’s had in regards to his own strengths and weaknesses--those are things he’s had to confront and deal with since he was in junior high (starts at 12 years of age). it takes someone with a lot of maturity and self-awareness to realize those kinds of things about himself.

and he’s stronger than he gets credit for. most people depict him as a crybaby, but he’s really not. he doesn’t cry or give up in the face of ushijima or kageyama’s unfettered growth and successes, he doesn’t cry when faced with defeat. oikawa is there to support iwaizumi in his own doubt as ace, and lend support to his teammates. and oikawa doesn’t get stuck on the what-ifs or has-beens. driven by his infamous ambition, he looks forward to the future.

it’s kind of a double-edged sword. it’s pushed him this far--he’s put in this much effort to be one of the best in the prefecture--because of his competitive spirit, but it’s also something that has caused him serious injury. oikawa’s motto (”if you’re gonna to hit it, hit it until it breaks!”) is the very epitome of this mentality. it’s a message to work hard to finish what you started, but i also think that you could interpret that hard work breaking you, too. he’s steadfast—obsessive, really—to the point that oikawa will let his passions break him before he would ever give up. it’s the point of all the strife in his life, because he would never have the problems he does if he were even a little less enamored by this sport.

and you really have to wonder where he would be without ushijima and kageyama as his obstacles. his drive will always be there, that is an intrinsic part of him, as are the standards to which he holds himself, but you really have to wonder just how good oikawa would be if he didn’t have such direct competitors. this is an incredibly important question to ask about kageyama and oikawa in particular. yes, oikawa does loathe ushijima: for his disregard for oikawa’s decisions, for his disregard of oikawa’s loyalty, for his flippant attitude of seijoh, who oikawa has poured his blood and sweat into creating. but ushijima is an opposite hitter. oikawa is a setter. those are two very different positions with little crossover. but with kageyama--that is a clear rivalry. they push each other to be better, made all the more potent by their differences as players; one setter’s growth as a player directly impacts how the other performs in each subsequent game. seijoh’s defeat by karasuno in season 2 just feeds into oikawa’s drive for the future. he has not intention of giving up. a light was lit under him, pushing him forward, to do better, to be better.

this is something that has been pointed out in a different analysis (linked below) but, narratively speaking, oikawa is kageyama’s foil. their interactions inform their characters and are a major cause of tension in their development. their relationship is really the most complex in the story that i have noticed, and is something that has not been appreciated enough. the iwaizumi-oikawa thing has been expounded and studied in every facet possible (i love the alexander the great/hephaestion allusions), but it’s true that kageyama has impacted oikawa the most. they begrudgingly respect each other’s talents, what it is that they bring to the court, while also envying what the other has in spades that they do not. in oikawa’s case, his strength clearly lies in his interpersonal relationships--his ability to intuit exactly what his teammates need to be at their best. kags is just a fount of overwhelming technical skill who has a really hard time getting to know those around him. living up to the standards that oikawa places on himself, in tandem with kageyama threatening his position as setter, leave oikawa floundering, fearing his own incompetence against opponents who are naturally much better than he. so he’s left with the knowledge that maybe his best isn’t good enough, but he still continues on anyway. he pushes himself past a seemingly unreachable threshold just to go toe-to-toe with this monster. it’s the purpose of his character--to tell this story of the ordinary v. the extraordinary--and it is perhaps the most relatable arc that a story like haikyuu!! can tell.

their connection naturally causes oikawa to seek out help, seen in the flashback scenes where he is talking to an unspecified coach/adult. that coach’s words then become the creed upon which oikawa plays, maybe even more than what iwaizumi has taught him, and is the final push that completes oikawa’s character arc in s2ep24. that change in mindset allows oikawa to see kageyama’s unbridled talent not as an obstacle but as a challenge. it’s very nuanced, but it makes all the difference. it’s why, following seijoh’s defeat, oikawa has the audacity to declare to kageyama and ushijima his plans for the future. in a sense, karasuno and kageyama and ushijima have won the battle but not the war. it’s the tipping point in his story and, more than anything, what makes oikawa so compelling. we have seen what has led up to the change, but now we want to know what he’s going to do to meet that challenge. what will he be doing beyond the story when he is no longer relevant to the narrative? we don’t know the details at this point, but we know that oikawa’s love and ambition for volleyball have been reaffirmed in this moment.

but to bring it back, the kags-oiks connection also makes us question what it is we are watching, makes us as the audience think: what qualifies someone as a genius? are there any limitations to what that genius can do? what can ordinary people do in the face of those geniuses?

these are questions that exist beyond the reality of sports and transverse into other disciplines. for me, those are very real questions that i have had to ask myself as a musician. i have dedicated nine, almost 10, years to my practice but there are still 10-year-olds who are just better at it than i ever will be. part of it is time and practice to be sure, but some of it is just innate. and i think the more appropriate version of those questions would be this: what qualifies someone as a prodigy? are there limitations for prodigies? what can we do in the face of prodigies?

oikawa is a genius player--he knows the ins-and-outs of his sport better than anyone, and he can accomplish great feats that others in his same position can’t. but even with all that veritable experience and skill, he is ultimately still overtaken by a prodigy whose talents seem endless. it’s why he can hate ushijima but fear kageyama. one is something he can actively fight against, the other is inevitable.

and really, i think that’s the beauty of oikawa tooru, why he’s so beloved by the fandom, even years after he has stopped being relevant to the narrative. beyond the fluff and goofiness and hijinks, there’s someone there who is really, truly, human.

an aside with much less significance/why do people think this??

so here’s one thing: even though oikawa has fangirls, i wonder what he actually thinks of them. for one, it’s only natural for anyone to be super flattered if people think you’re hot stuff. that’s just... i don’t think he’s weird if he pays attention to them. but i think that people are conflating his being kind to them to being genuinely egotistical due to the attention. actually, i think these are opposing ideas and a contradiction of who oikawa is. when you’re an arrogant person, you think that you deserve all the attention you’re getting and you’re not going to bother with the people who worship you.

but that’s not at all what oikawa does. he’s rather kind to his fans. i would never say that he’s self-effacing, but knowing what you’re worth is different from being pompous. and think about it. it’d be a real jerk move for oikawa to not say nice things to them and thank his fangirls when they spend time, energy, and effort to make him food and see his games. he would just be a genuinely awful person if he didn’t at least give them thanks. it’d be more alarming if he didn’t talk to them, at least in my opinion. more than anything, we should consider this: why is it that oikawa has the fan club and not anyone else on the seijoh team? i’m sure a part of it is because he’s attractive and the captain of a team, but i think it’s more than that, too. we see these interactions from other perspectives, but i think that reflects more on those around oikawa than oikawa himself if they don’t understand why he acts the way he does with those girls.

another thing: i don’t think that anyone can question that oikawa is very pretty, or handsome, or whatever descriptor you would like. it’s prevalent in fandom (see: pretty setters squad), but he is also the only person in canon to be acknowledged by other characters as being particularly good-looking. maybe the miyas count at this point? i’m not sure. but i don’t really understand where people get the idea that he is particularly focused on his appearance, though. there is literally no indication of that from the material that i have seen. and maybe he uses that to his advantage with his fangirls, but i highly doubt that, in all honesty. i think that it’s fun to imagine him being into these things as a hobby, but it irks me greatly when i see that people spend time saying that oikawa wakes up extra early just to fix his hair or slather on foundation/concealer just to look presentable.

he’s a teenaged boy who clearly has other things that worry him, he’s a full-time student, and volunteers to coach at lil tykes volleyball classroom in his free time. he wouldn’t have time to spend on his hair or makeup. and we even seen in the hanger tooru special that he even wakes up looking like that.

he is au naturale, my friends. and we even know how little he gives thought to his own body, if you take into account his knee brace. for oikawa, his body is merely the medium through which he can accomplish his goals. we even have evidence of this when we see oikawa up all night studying karasuno game play or via his knee brace. he doesn’t know how to stop or understand when enough is enough. he breaks himself if there’s no one to watch him.

also, just... how would makeup work, logistically speaking? i don’t wear makeup, but i’m thinking that foundation and concealer and hair product would be, um, really bad. like, it’d run down his face and stuff. also, it’d probably get into his eyes, too? seriously. i’m not against oikawa wearing makeup in the slightest cause he’d be even prettier, but we know that oikawa would absolutely not jeopardize his chances in any way.

thank you for reading this long-winded, probably awful look into my favorite character of all time. and i do mean that. he is my favorite character in all of media. which, like, says a lot when he’s competing against the casts of a:tla, call me by your name, and my actual favorite book, the song of achilles. after all of that, if you would like another (better) analysis of oikawa’s character, i suggest this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/haikyuu/comments/94irsi/character_analysis_16_oikawa_tooru_discussion/

#oikawa tooru #haikyuu #character analysis #i'm so sorry about this #i just had to get this off of my chest #thanks for coming to my ted talk

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captainpikeachu · 4 years

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Differences between The Old Guard film & Book 1 of the comics (and how I feel about the changes)

Long story short, I actually do prefer the film version of the story, as I think it makes for stronger character dynamics established upfront and for greater character growth and arcs throughout the story.

I’ll list the differences here and I will speak about how each of these changes I think affects the story we saw on film versus the one we got in the comics, and how these changes may play into character dynamics and arcs if a sequel film were to happen.

1. No Baklava tasting scene.

In the comics, the team meets up at some outside cafe to speak about meeting Copley and teases Andy a bit about her “hall of fame” of bed partners. In the film, we have the Baklava tasting scene when everyone meets up at the hotel. The big difference between these two scenarios is that in the comics, it is to set up the job, and to comment upon Andy’s rotating door of bed partners which we are shown over the opening narration. But the film forgoes to the more sexualized focus on Andy’s love life to explore and show visually the bond of these 4 immortals. Using the baklava tasting, we immediately establish the character personalities and dynamics of the team, making us more invested in this group and their bonds with each other - all without sexualizing Andy, in fact, there’s more than a few times in the comics where Andy’s love life gets randomly brought up, including Andy saying Nile’s brother is hot upon seeing his photo. The film thankfully decided to focus on the character dynamics instead.

2. In the comics, it’s Nicky and Andy who meet Copley instead of Booker and Andy. (also Booker and Andy’s dynamic)

This change in the film where we have Booker and Andy meeting Copley instead is a continuation of the film’s intention to highlight Booker and Andy’s close dynamic. In fact, it begins even earlier as the movie opens with Andy and Booker meeting up first and Andy giving Booker the first edition Don Quixote. And this continues throughout the film where Booker basically acts as Andy’s right hand man, and this dynamic remains even through Booker’s betrayal and in the ending scene where they part ways. The little change with a different character swap doesn’t seem very important until you see the whole film and realizes that a lot of hinges on selling the audience of Booker and Andy’s relationship and Booker’s love for the team. And this is where the film, aware of each character’s full arc, changes things around to make sure every scene in the film is used to push character arcs into the right resolution at the end.

3. Killbox scene - in comics, team is still standing on their feet.

I noted upon reading the comics that when the team gets shot by the soldiers in that killbox ambush, the team are still on their feet, and Andy verbally signals “it’s our turn” before attacking. In the film, our team actually falls and dies, the soldiers then turn away from the group as the team regenerates and between a few shared gazes, wordlessly get up and attack. This is another indication of the film’s intention to SHOW not TELL. Through the visual language the film uses, we immediately not only see that our team can fall and die and the healing takes time and is not pleasant, but also that they move as a unit without so much as a word. And just like that baklava scene in the beginning of the movie, it builds up the team’s relationship and speaks to their years together without having to dump any exposition.

4. No Andy and Nile fight scene on the plane. (also Andy and Nile’s dynamic)

Not only does Nile not have a fight scene with Andy, for pretty much the entire run of Book 1, Nile really does not exhibit much agency beyond just following along with everyone else. Sure she asks questions and such, but her relationship with Andy is not built up much, and Nile seems to only be there because she’s got nowhere else to go, she seems to just serve as a plot point that happens and less as a character. The film, on the other hand, carefully crafts an arc for Andy and Nile to go on, culminating in Andy and Nile sharing that scene where Andy expresses that she now knows why Nile appeared when Andy lost her immortality. We see their relationship grow and change throughout the film, we see Nile react to Andy and eventually teaching Andy about how to live again.

5. Nile does not meet Nicky and Joe before their kidnapping.

In the comics, Nile does not meet Nicky and Joe until the very end fight when they’re all escaping from Merrick’s place. Nile basically has no relationship with Nicky and Joe, barely even knows them, because when she comes to the safehouse with Andy, Nicky and Joe were already kidnapped. The film instead changes scenes around where Nile does return with Andy and meet the team, spends at least some time with them before Nicky and Joe get kidnapped. I tweeted to the director Gina Prince-Bythewood to ask her about the decision to have Nile meet Nicky and Joe before the attack on the safehouse, and she confirmed my belief that it was to establish a stronger family/team dynamic to the audience. After all, if your main cast of characters don’t even know each other’s names until literally the last act of the movie, it is very difficult to make the team/family dynamic believable. This change of having Nile knowing Nicky and Joe establishes Nile’s further relationship and attachment to the team, that they aren’t just two random strangers that she doesn’t even know. And it builds up this team of 5 so that when they do go on to escape from Merrick’s labs at the end, we are cheering for this team to kick ass together, rather than wondering why Nile would care to go rescue two strangers she’s never met.

6. Copley is not sympathetic.

Copley in the comics is not a sympathetic character. While he is not necessarily evil, there is no motivation of grief and loss that drives him to act the way he does. He basically bails on Merrick at the end out of self preservation. In the film, we know that Copley watched his wife die and that pushed him to wanting to create a cure to end suffering, his backstory mirrors Booker’s struggles, in turn creating sympathy for both characters. The fact that Copley in the film is still a decent person makes Booker betraying the team and working with Copley a more palatable and understandable choice, especially as Copley ends up helping Nile get to Merrick’s lab and even ends up serving as the team’s tech/eye-in-the-sky person. This change for Copley’s character serves as another aspect where the film took great care to focus on character motivations and arcs. Copley’s research at the end serves to give Andy a reason to keep fighting, thus helping Andy and the team complete their arcs where they started jaded and tired, but now ready to fight another day.

7. Booker shoots Andy and Nile in revelation of his betrayal.

In the comics, Nile is also there with Andy when Booker turns on them upon meeting up with Copley again. Booker shoots both of them and doesn’t really say much as Copley talks about why they’re doing this. Then Andy basically kills Booker, threatens Copley, and jumps out of a window with Nile and Booker. They get to a desert where Booker and Andy proceed to shoot each other again multiple times until Nile stops them and Booker tells them why he betrayed the team. This chain of events is obviously different in the film, and this difference sharply contrasts Booker and Andy’s relationship in the comics as opposed to what they are in the film. In the film, when Booker shoots Andy and she’s tied up, he keeps on trying to explain to her why he’s doing this, Andy’s reaction is pained and heartbroken, and Booker is too and later on panics when she won’t stop bleeding. When Merrick’s men arrive, he tries to get them to leave her alone and fights to get to her when they take them both. This change, along with Andy’s more touching reaction to finding Booker injured at the safehouse, paints a more deep and nuanced bond between the two of them. Instead of them just repeatedly yelling and shooting at each other, we actually get to see them talk, we see them being gentle and physically caring towards each other. This shows to an audience a relationship that feels deeper and more loving than the comics which seem almost colder in comparison. And this deep bond the film creates plays into both Andy and Booker’s character arcs at the end of the film upon their separation. Again, the film takes care to focus on character relationships, and allow those relationships to fully form and fully reach the resolution that befits the character arcs.

8. Merrick is far more despicable and murderous. (also his doctor character is toned down)

Merrick in the comics is literally psychotic. He not only stabs Joe once, but multiple times, and proceeds to do the same to Nicky. And he constantly talks about wanting to hurt them and takes pleasure in it. Merrick in the film is not only smaller in stature than his buff comics counterpart, he’s also less physically violent. Sure he stabbed Joe because he wanted to see the evidence himself and he’s hardly that caring about ethics, but he still seems like an otherwise normal if not just simply greedy CEO type, not psychotic serial murderer type. This difference in toning down the character ultimately I think serves the film better because as Copley is more sympathetic, having him work with someone who is clearly and obviously behaving like a murdering lunatic would be really hard to swallow. This toning down of characters also happens with the doctor. In the comics, Doctor Ivan is basically just stated to not care about ethics, while Doctor Kozak in the film does share a talk about ethics and morality with Nicky where she says she believes they can be used to save the world. Again, the film seems intent on giving every character an understandable motivation, even among the villains of the story, which grounds the film in a feeling of reality, because no one is so outlandishly just being an evil mustache twirling villain. This change also produces some possible loose ends for the film’s sequel, as while the comics version of the doctor is dead, the film version only got whacked on the head by Nile, not outright killed so she may pop back up again in the sequel.

9. Nile does not get her solo fight.

In the comics, because Nile escapes from Copley with Andy and Booker, she returns with them to go find Nicky and Joe at Merrick’s place in Dubai. So she is never actually on her own at all in the comics. As I spoke about before, Nile’s character in the comics just tagged along, never really getting to come into her own. There is really no arc for Nile, whereas the film did the opposite. Because the film lets her have an arc, and lets her making the decision to join the team be something she comes to terms with on her own choice, this agency affords Nile growth that the comics doesn’t give her. Her solo fight is the culmination of her coming into her own power and acceptance. Once again, the film is consistent on ensuring that the characters change and grow and have arcs. This character building makes Nile a much more interesting and complex character than one note. Nile also gets to kill Merrick while protecting Andy and mirroring the plane moment from earlier in the film, while in the comics, everyone kills Merrick together. That moment in the comics did not serve the narrative catharsis that Nile taking out Merrick did.

10. Andy is mortal.

In the comics, Andy starts immortal and jaded, and ends the story really not much changed at all. Other than defeating a villain, you really don’t get the feeling that she’s changed from the experience. There is no revelation of her purpose, she just kinda does what she has to do, even if that means threatening an old woman. Andy in the film clearly starts out feeling lost in her purpose, but gradually through Nile’s joining of the team and Booker’s betrayal and her own mortality, she starts to see what her purpose is and wanting to be alive again. The scene of Andy at the store with the employee who helps bandage her up doesn’t exist in the comics because Andy is not mortal, therefore there is no sudden questioning of why, of re-evaluating her feelings about humanity. But the film takes the time to make Andy confront this, forces Andy to not only face it but learn from it. This change not only gives the story more stakes, but also allows Andy to have a character arc that affords her growth and an answer to her opening narration. It also makes Nile more than a plot point and her joining the team be an important narrative that makes an important change.

11. We never see Joe and Nicky’s reaction to Booker’s betrayal.

In the comics, because Andy and Booker never gets captured, when the team meets back up together, Nicky and Joe has no idea of the betrayal. And we never see them find out because after they kill Merrick, the next scene is them exiling Booker. In the film however, we do see Joe reacting angrily to Booker, we once again get a look into their dynamic and Booker pointing out how Nicky and Joe always had each other, meanwhile Nicky is trying to calm Joe down to stop him from saying something that he might regret later. This change is a further way that this film builds upon the established character dynamics. We as the audience see their reactions, see their humanity, and see them behave as a family would when feeling betrayal. But also that Andy has changed from that jaded tired person into someone ready to fight again when she tells Booker that they’ve been doing a shitty job of living and he needs to get up and stop wallowing in his self pity and pain. This makes their separation hit harder at the end because there are real emotions on all sides. Like all families, feelings can be complicated but there is also care and love. At the end, we see Booker nod to Joe as they all leave, signaling that despite the anger and chasm between them right now, they are still family. The film once again reorients the story to focus on character relationship, on selling the audience this familial bond, because if we don’t believe in it, then Booker’s redemption falls apart, and the film in many ways falls apart.

12. Noriko and Lykon.

Now the obvious change here is casting. Noriko is Japanese in the comics and her film counterpart Quynh is played by a Vietnamese actress. And Lykon is white in the comics whereas in the film he is portrayed by a Black actor. In the comics, Noriko fell overboard during a storm. In the film, due to budget constraints, they went with her being dropped into the ocean locked in an iron maiden. In the comics, Lykon spent over 2000 years with Andy before he died during the Renaissance, meaning he would have met Nicky and Joe. In the film and the history clips that Netflix posted, Lykon died before Nicky and Joe were immortal. Obviously with Lykon, it ultimately does not affect the story either way since he is dead, it’s just clearly the film changed the years he spent with Andy to avoid any confusions and to make things a little more simple in streamlining the team’s history. But the change with Noriko/Quynh is a much bigger thing. Firstly, character motivation - it’s one thing to be lost during a storm and another thing to be purposefully locked into an iron coffin and left in the ocean to suffer. This difference could make the difference between how Noriko reacts to Andy and the team in the comics, and how Quynh will react to everyone in the film. Secondly, because of the way the film presents Andy and Booker’s bond and especially now with Andy’s mortality, which the comics does not have, this could spell a big divergence in what a sequel could do with Booker and Quynh’s interactions. Because Booker would still be guilty over Andy’s mortality, and he would be more reluctant to do anything that could hurt Andy and the team, leaving me to suspect that he is less likely to go towards a villain route in betraying the team again. Whatever Quynh may get him to do is likely going to be out of force/coercion, if Quynh’s intention is less than good.

---------------

So these are just some of the big differences that I feel like affects the story ultimately told in the comics and the film. I did enjoy Book 1 of the comic and I am planning to get Book 2 once the collection is out. But I think the film’s changes really made it a focus on enhancing the character relationships and allowing individual characters to have their own arcs of growth. The comic tells a great action fare. But the film’s changes effused more humanity into the characters in a way that I feel the comic lacked. The film also really make you question the issue of immortality and what it all means and how it effects people while the comic focused on more of the action adventure story with the immortality as more or less a tool than really a theme.

Ultimately, I think the changes in the film took what worked in the comics and really elevated the story.

#the old guard #andromache the scythian #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #sebastien le livre #nile freeman #james copley #steven merrick #the old guard spoilers

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smallfrost · 4 years

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Mother Mycelium Theory; portal to the Otherworld?

MFS Research Institute is open and we have patches! Make sure to use the hashtag #MFS Research Institute when sharing all of your well crafted theories and investigations so everyone can follow along.

When I first posted the crack theory about Mother Mushroom, I captioned the screen shot of the Necro Mycelium with “The entrance to The Upside Down, probably”. Now, this was meant to be a joke but perhaps it was unintentionally accurate? What exactly is the Mycelium and how may it come into play? Let’s discuss a possibility below.

The thing is, MFS has now established that Mushrooms are very important to witches in this universe; especially Necros. This is first brought to light by Scylla in the graveyard but now Izadora confirms this in the Necro Mausoleum. I’m not going to write about mushrooms here because others already have (here is a great breakdown) but I think we can all agree that Necros have a special relationship with fungi; perhaps as a conduit to channel the resonance of the dead.

If you come to my office, I’ll make you cream of mushroom soup

So here is where my upside-down joke may have stumbled unintentionally onto something. Throughout different mythologies there are Underworlds or Otherworlds that heroes travel through during their odysseys. In order to reach these worlds, the hero needs to travel through some sort of gateway. I’m not convinced that the Mycelium is a gateway to an Underworld because of its fungal nature. I am unaware of a Greek or Roman myth associating mushrooms with an odyssey to the Underworld and journeys there typically require crossing a body of water. Mushrooms instead seem to be very prevalent in European folklore as a source of power and connection to magic. Regardless of origin and culture, however, one thing is prevalent when it comes to mushrooms: they are often associated with hallucinogenic properties and are therefore utilized for visions (by a religious figure head or oracles for example) or that they can be used to enter a spirit realm to commune with the dead.

Therefore, is it possible that the Mycelium is a gateway to the Otherworld; the Orbis Alius? In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is a place where souls of the dead travel while they wait to be reincarnated or the in between (or limbo) before moving to their final destination. It is a dimensional plane that contains a high concentration of power and magic where the rules of physics may not apply. The Necros in MFS may therefore use this gateway to amplify their connection to the resonance of the dead such that the dead being in closer dimensional proximity to their own plane may aid them in their work. Together with the visionary implications of fungi and mushrooms, this could suggest a potential dreamscape/lucid dream/vision scenario for Raelle due to her connection with the Mycelium.

I could make so many lesbian jokes but I’ll withhold… for now

Aside. Since Scylla has mentioned that “nothing ever really dies” it is possible that in this universe, reincarnation may be a widely accepted belief. This may suggest that my original theory about “resurrecting” Willa Collar may still be plausible (especially now that we know the Mycelium has a memory of a Collar). I’m not unconvinced that this connection won’t serve as a way for Raelle to communicate with her Collar ancestors at some point if they are themselves in the Otherworld.

Me after I’ve been in quarantine for 5 weeks

Yes, Necros have a connection to mushrooms. And now we know that the Mycelium has a memory of Raelle. This was obviously something that Izadora DID NOT want to have happen. We also know that there is a metaphysical connection between Raelle and Scylla; Scylla has bound herself to Raelle in some way such that she can communicate with her directly. Now listen, this is not some small piece of work. In ‘My Witches’, the only way Alder and Co. can visualize the Kiev raid is through General Clary’s [metaphysical] connection with her daughter. Therefore, this type of connection (where one witch can communicate with another witch almost telepathically) suggests a bond of a different strength. This also implies that Raelle is now Scylla’s family (another theory which I am very fond of).

All of us when MFS season 1 ends

In terms of additional context clues for episode 7, in several different trailers (including the most recent one for ‘Mother Mycelium’), we see a moment when Raelle wakes up rather suddenly, looking as though she was bursting out of a dream or had a sudden realization. She is wearing a grey sleep shirt.

When you remember you left a NSFW post up on your work computer

This appears to be the same shirt she is wearing in the promo pics with her in the Dungeon with Scylla. Two things stick out to me from the following photos:

1) Raelle appears to be asleep or unconscious, with Scylla attempting to get her attention 2) Raelle is unbound and alone in the Dungeon with Scylla

Now, no well-structured military body would EVER lock two hostages in the same dungeon together but especially if they have a relationship such as that between Raelle and Scylla. This show is too intelligent to play into the “they’re locked in a cell together; I wonder what will happen?” fanfiction trope (there’s a prompt, someone go write it). Further, if Raelle WAS a hostage, she also would have been chained and bound. So, for these reasons, together with the context any mythological clues above, I think we are perhaps getting a glimpse at a dreamscape.

EDIT: The final piece of evidence is actually one of the first we ever received. A line of dialogue and later a clip from a trailer where Scylla says “You have no idea how powerful you are”. From this trailer, we can now see that Scylla says this while she is in the dungeon.

Oh darling, you make me powerless...

It is likely she is speaking to Raelle in this moment because 1) Anacostia has told Scylla directly that she is a gifted student, 2) Abigail has acknowledged she is naturally gifted (and will be seeking her help to save Khalida), 3) We see her use intense power in training (the storm she brews when fighting Abigail, vocal, wind strike training, her power with the scourge, her healing leveling the entire class), and 4) The Spree want to extract Raelle, perhaps because of her power. No one else has been made out to be this powerful contextually yet so we can infer that Scylla is talking to Raelle. So somehow, Raelle ends up in the dungeon, and likely utilized a lot of power to do so. End EDIT.

Raelle, through her metaphysical connection with Scylla and their physical connections to the Mycelium, may enter the Otherworld and be able to travel through this dimensional plane and commune with Scylla. So, is that the real Raelle? I think perhaps it is, but in a metaphysical way.

However, I am not convinced that all of the promotional photos are from the same scene. Scylla is being tortured in one. Raelle looks like she is being dragged into the dungeon in another. I’m not sure how these all fit together but @pure-gay-fandom-trash and I have a hunch that the release of all of these photos serves to throw us off our predictions due to the lack of context. So it is very possible that there may in fact be a faux Raelle scenario as well (which I’ll discuss in more detail in a separate post).

EDIT: All this being said, the fact that Scylla directly states that mushrooms occupy the underworld in the kingdom of plants does suggest the existence of an actual Underworld in this universe. It could be that the Otherworld is the space in between (limbo) or it could be that Eliot is creating an entirely new mythology which I am totally here for.

#MFS Research Institute #mfs theories #episode predictions #motherland fort salem #motherland: fort salem #raylla #raelle collar #raelle x scylla #scylla x raelle #scylla ramshorn

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serendipityseulgi · 5 years

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a love that burned so deep.

— jeon jungkook

･*:༅｡ the one where loving jungkook was easy. but for him, he just didn’t know how.

aka, fwb!au, f2l, and an unhealthy relationship with an excessive use of the word fuck.

EDIT: i would also like to note in no way am i saying this relationship is healthy. as some of you know, i tend to write from some personal experiences or things i’ve been apart of/seen in my life, so although i understand this isn’t the most conventional relationship, it is very real thing that happens. the reader and jungkook have an established fwb relationship. he has real feelings for her, he is not using her, but he also doesn’t know what it’s like to be in a relationship with someone thus why he acts out the way he does. yes, i understand this causes emotional strain for the reader because i have been there. and yes, jungkook is not the most considerate, and can be kind of selfish in this story. that was what i was trying to portray.

the point i was trying to make was that these two people love each other. not that this was an ideal relationship, or healthy for that matter. you do crazy things when you love someone that much, regardless of the other factors. this was a small portrayal of that kind of relationship. that is all i want to say before you read it, just so you understand what i meant when i wrote this.

when you love someone so deeply you start to realize the things you would for them that you wouldn’t even dream of doing for anyone else. when you care too much for someone they become a piece of your heart that breaks every single time something happens to threaten that connection with them. when you love so deeply, and care too much, your emotions get the best of you, and sometimes that doesn’t always turn out to be a good thing.

one thing everyone knew about you and jungkook was the immense love you felt for one another. it was strong and it was passionate, and it was a love that was so rare and genuine. that kind of love burned deep.

it was a mystery really. none of your friends knew why you and jungkook never made things official. your feelings for each other were so painfully obvious that it irritated everyone beyond belief when you both denied the significance you both held to one another.

jungkook wasn’t your boyfriend, and you weren’t his girlfriend. you were just a girl who he considered his best friend, who he slept with again and again, but never had the balls to make you his, and only his.

he had commitment issues. and you knew that.

that didn’t stop you from falling deeper and deeper in love with the boy, and though you knew he felt the exact same way, he still went out of his way to distract himself with other girls. he may not have slept with them but he surely did some, ungodly things with them. he flirted hard, and made them catch feelings for him. he lead them on, and broke their hearts. because every single time, he would always come back to you.

jungkook never denied his love for you. but he never confirmed it either. and though it was an unspoken understanding between you two, it just didn’t seem to be enough.

no matter how strongly you both felt for one another, there were still times where you both wanted to rip each other to absolute shreds.

you loved jungkook, and he loved you, but no one infuriated the both of you more than each other.

“he’s such a fucking dick,” you seethe as you push your way past the crowd of drunken people on your way to the kitchen.

“y/n, calm down, what’s the matter?” jennie called after you as she and rosé followed right behind you.

“i’m gonna kill this motherfucker,” you exclaim, downing the shot you grabbed from the countertop.

“who? are you talking about jungkook?” your best friend questioned.

“who else would fucking piss me off at a party that i’m supposed to be having fun at!” you throw your hands up in exasperation. “nobody fucking told me he was gonna be here.”

“taehyung brought him last minute, said jungkook had a change of plans.” rosé said, pouring a shot for herself.

“it’s because he found out y/n was coming to this party so he decided to show up hoping he would get his dick wet tonight.” jennie stated. “we all know how fucking crazy he is for her.”

“no, no he’s fucking not.” you shake your head. “he’s practically dry fucking sana on your couch right now, jen.”

to that comment, your best friends look outside the kitchen watching the way sana was grinding down onto jungkook.

she had been glued to his side since he walked into this party and you never even got the chance to talk to him. the only form of acknowledgement he gave you was a small smirk and a wink in your direction as you watched the way he gripped sana’s waist as she planted kisses onto his neck.

you felt your heart sink knowing very well jungkook had been with you the night before. cuddled up in your bed that he begged to stay the night in, whispering sweet nothings into your ear and telling you how much you meant to him. though you knew he wasn’t lying, he clearly had other things on his mind as well.

you hated him for making you feel this way.

jennie rolled her eyes and muttered a ‘disgusting fucker’ under her breathe, and rosé scowled in disgust before averting her eyes away from the scene.

“what the fuck?” she spoke. “y/n, why don’t you tell that ass to get his shit together. you guys have been a thing for like, fucking ever, you can’t let him do all that gross shit in front of you. it’s not right.”

you laughed bitterly, downing another shot as you felt the way it burned your throat. “he’s, he’s always been like that. he can’t do commitment. i have been friends with that douchebag for years, he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet till you bring up relationships around him and suddenly he doesn’t know how to fucking act. all i am to him is a good fuck and a friend to hang out with. he’s not my boyfriend i have no control over him.”

your heart hurts because you know no matter how much you want him in that way, he’ll never want the same thing.

“but it’s so fucking obvious that he’s in love with you!” jennie proclaimed. “this is the kid we’re talking about that always gets jealous when our guy friends are too close to you, the kid who picks you up after work and drives you home, and buys you coffee the next morning before your lectures. and he’s the kid who defends the shit out of you and takes care of you more than any of his other friends! he doesn’t do that shit for any other girl and that’s because he fucking loves you!”

“he may fucking love me but he doesn’t know how to show it.” you state, slamming your shot glass down onto the counter. “and you know what i fucking realized? i was so fucking stupid to think i would be the one he wanted a relationship with. i should’ve known better than to sleep with him and fall in love with him. we should’ve just stayed friends. i’m never gonna be able to get over how i feel for him but i am gonna have to accept the fact that he is the way he is and no one is gonna change that except for him. i’m done. i can’t, i can’t fucking do this anymore.” you remarked, leaving the kitchen in a rush.

your vision was slightly blurred and all you wanted to do was go upstairs and sleep your sorrows away.

fuck this party, and fuck jungkook you thought.

as you were making your way towards the staircase you bumped into a large figure as you looked up at the man. “oh, hey taehyung.” you greet with a nod.

“y/n! i was wondering where you were this whole time!” he chuckled as he pulled you into his arms. you returned the gesture, wrapping your much smaller arms around his body.

“i’ve just been, around,” you state. “um, i’m not feeling too well, i’m actually gonna go upstairs and lay down.”

“what, really?” your friend pouted. “you seem upset.” he observes.

“i’m.. okay. really. just need to lay down,” you nod.

“i’m gonna keep you company.” he states firmly.

“oh my god, no, you don’t have to!” you assure. “you’re the biggest part person i know taehyung, i don’t want you to miss out on the fun.” you chuckle.

“yeah, but you know what,” he begins. “i’ve been to enough of these it won’t hurt me to miss just one, and you’re my friend and i love you, and i’m not gonna let you sulk at this party alone. so i’m gonna go upstairs with you and you don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but i’m not gonna leave you alone till i know you’re actually okay.”

taehyung’s kindness was both a blessing and a curse. though you would be just fine left alone, you still appreciated how much taehyung cared for you. so without much of a fight, you nod your head with a smile, grabbing onto his hand and leading him upstairs.

that did not go unnoticed by jungkook however as he pulled apart from sana for just a split second to see your hand intertwined with his best friend’s. his jaw hardened as he clenched his teeth, no longer interested in the petite girl he had in his arms.

what the fuck, he thought.

“so what’s the matter?” taehyung asks as he takes a seat next to you on the bed.

you shrug, but you can’t tell if he’s able to see you amidst the darkness in the room. “it’s stupid really.”

“and that’s how i know it’s about jungkook.” he chuckles.

“that obvious huh?” you breathe out.

“it’s just that i know the both of you really well, and i’ve been around the two of you for so many years that i understand the whole weird dynamic between you guys.” he explains. “i know you guys are in love with each other. everyone knows. but i also know you both never really had to confront those feelings till you started sleeping together. that whole thing just complicated everything.”

“you’re so observant.” you remark.

“it’s because i’ve been around the two of you the longest. it’s just something i came to notice when i spent all this time with you guys.” taehyung adds. “and i know you always doubt if he even loves you. he’s a dick, we all know that. but he does love you. so much. he just doesn’t know how to express it towards you other than sex.”

you let your head drop on taehyung’s shoulder. “i just want to be with him.” you whisper. “but i feel like he’s just using me at this point. he hurts my feelings too much, it doesn’t even seem worth it anymore.”

“you’ll only know if it’s worth it if you try talking to him.” taehyung answered.

a comfortable silence filled the atmosphere and you closed your eyes for just a second. that moment didn’t last too long however as you heard the door slam open.

the sudden crash of the door slamming onto the wall startled the both of you as you jumped apart. you watched as jungkook made his way inside the room before finding your arm easily and grabbing it.

“dude what the fuck!” you hiss as you tried to pull away from his grip.

“taehyung i fucking warned you not to touch her,” jungkook seethed.

“kook, we were just talking.” taehyung reassured his friend calmly.

“my fucking ass!” jungkook bit back harshly. “back the fuck off.”

you pulled your arm aggressively out of jungkook’s hold. “who the fuck are you to say that?” you fumed. “i was just fucking talking to him!”

“yeah, about what? huh?” jungkook pressed.

“it’s none of your business.” you scowl at him.

“because you were gonna fuck him weren’t you?” he hissed. “right? that’s what you two were gonna do behind my back?”

“oh my fucking god, you’re unbelievable!” you threw your hands in the air in disbelief. “no i wasn’t fucking him, jungkook, i’m not you.” you exclaim, and you notice his slight flinch at your comment. “and even if i was, you shouldn’t fucking care anyway, i’m not your problem to worry about!”

“what? are you serious right now?!” jungkook scoffs. “you are my fucking problem, you’re always my fucking problem!”

“kook, seriously you need to relax.” taehyung interjects, sensing the obvious tension in the room. he softly pushes jungkook back away from you which irritates the boy beyond belief. jungkook retaliates and shoves taehyung roughly away from him. “dude! calm the fuck down i didn’t do anything!” taehyung growls, shoving his best friend back in response.

“how many times did i fucking tell you to back the fuck off of her!“ jungkook snarls.

“and i did just that, jungkook! i wouldn’t fucking go behind your back like that!” taehyung defends.

jungkook pushes his elder once again, even harsher than the first time. “you’re a fucking piece of shit! you’re a shit friend taehyung! you know how i fucking feel about her and you’re gonna betray me like that you fucking asshole!”

that pisses off taehyung immensely as he grabs onto the younger’s boys shirt, shoving him roughly against the wall, the impact loud and clear as it echoes in the room. you stand there stunned, and all you can do is watch.

“listen to me you little shit,” taehyung hisses in jungkook’s face. “she’s my fucking friend. and i was talking to her. about you, for that matter. you’re the fucking shit friend here jungkook. you don’t fucking own y/n. she’s not your girlfriend. you don’t even act like you give a shit about her anyways. it’s only when she gets your dick wet that you seem to want her. but i fucking know you like her more than that. so either man the fuck up and tell her before you lose her, or leave her the fuck alone. i’m not trying to take her from you jungkook, but someone else will and you won’t ever get the chance to have her the way she deserves.” with one last shove against the wall, the older boy walks away from his friend.

taehyung walks over to you and places a hand on your shoulder. “fuck, i’m really sorry about that y/n.” he smiles sadly at you. “i should probably go downstairs. i’ll talk to you later okay?”

you nod your head. “i’m sorry too.” you murmur.

“are you gonna be okay up here?” he asks as he spares a glance at jungkook who’s still pressed up against the wall, catching his breath.

“yeah, i think i should talk to him.” you assure. “i’ll be okay.”

with one last nod he makes his way out the room, closing the door behind him. suddenly you’re hyper aware that it’s just you and jungkook in the room, and the tension thickens as the seconds pass.

you look over at the boy and your heart constricts in your chest. “are you okay?” you ask him, finally breaking the silence.

he sighs. “no.” he shakes his head. “taehyung’s right. i’m a fucking piece of shit.”

you walk over to jungkook, grabbing onto his hand and leading him towards the bed.

“we need to talk this shit out.” you state.

“well, i guess lets just state the obvious fact here, i’m a fucking asshole.” he acknowledges.

“yeah,” you say quietly. “you can be.”

you hear him let out a deep breath. “fuck, i screwed this up”

you hum in acknowledgement. “you mess a lot of things up.”

jungkook sighs.

“yeah i do.”

“you know i love you right?” you ask.

“yeah.”

“and you hurt me all the time. and i don’t know if you realize what you’re doing. because i want to think that, maybe, you know, you aren’t really aware of how much you affect me.” your throat burns as you talk. “and i know you just wanted sex at first. and i was willingly to give that to you. but i... i realized deep down i had feelings for you for so long so when you gave me the chance to be something with you, as more than friends, even if i wasn’t yours, i took it. but you never wanted the same things i did, yet i still let you hurt me over and over again because i love you that much.” your eyes blur and the moment you blink, you feel the tears run down your face. “i would do fucking everything for you. i put up with so much shit that i would never, ever let anyone else do to me. that’s how much i fucking loved you. even when i mean nothing to you.” you conclude, and you quickly wipe the tears off your face.

“that’s not fucking true, y/n.” jungkook exclaims, but his voice is quiet and on the verge of breaking. he swallows the lump in his throat before continuing. “you mean everything to me.”

you chuckle sadly. “you’re so back and forth, jungkook. i never know what you’re actually feeling. one minute you want all of me, telling me that you’d fucking die for me, and do everything for me, and the next thing i know you’re five seconds away from fucking another girl right in front of me when you know it fucking kills me inside.” your voice breaks and your practically sobbing. your heart feels crushed, and you feel defeated.

jungkook turns to you. “fuck, y/n, i’m so sorry.” he cries. “i don’t, fuck, i don’t know how to show my feelings properly. and that’s a shitty fucking excuse but i’ve never loved anyone before. never loved anyone before you. but you have to believe me when i say i do fucking love you. so fucking much it hurts me. i love you beyond words, y/n. but i don’t know how to be with you. i don’t know how to be with anyone and i don’t want you to suffer because of that. i don’t know if i’ll ever treat you properly, or be the kind of boyfriend that makes you happy. and you’ve been my best friend for as long as i can remember. i could never live with myself if we were together and i wasn’t able to treat you the way you deserve. but i don’t want you to ever think i don’t care about you when you are the person i care the most about in this world.”

“but you doing this hurts me just as much.” you whisper. “you make me feel like i’m not enough for you. that i’m not enough for you to want to be with just me. that you need other people to fulfill the things i can’t.”

“fuck no, no, no, that’s so fucking far from the truth.” jungkook shakes his head. “you’re enough. you’re always gonna be enough for me. i’m just a fucking coward. i couldn’t face how i really felt for you, and i got scared to be with you. i’ve never had the chance to be with just one person. and i know i wouldn’t be unfaithful to you, i just don’t know if i can be the guy you’d want to be with for the rest of your life. i can’t disappointment you like that, y/n. i care too much about you to let you down.”

“but i do know what i want, jungkook.” you answered. “i’ve always wanted you. but i can’t be with you if you can’t change. i want you so bad, and i love you so fucking much but i need to know if you’re willing to try for us because if you aren’t then i’m wasting my time loving you.”

jungkook lets out a deep breath.

you speak once more. “if you want this you have to tell me or i’m walking out this door and i’m done for good. i can’t wait my whole fucking life to realize what you want. i deserve better than that jungkook. and if you don’t want to try then that’s fine, but you can’t lead me on like this. i can’t keep doing it anymore, it’s tiring and it hurts me so fucking badly. so tell me what you want or let me go.”

no words are said for the next few minutes, all that fills the tense atmosphere on the room is your heavy breathing and jungkook’s sniffling.

you’re patient with him. you let him think of what he wants. you don’t force it, and you don’t rush it.

you know you’re either gonna leave this room with a broken heart, or a heart that can learn to heal properly with jungkook by your side.

and after what feels like an eternity, he speaks up.

“i might not be any good at this. and i don’t fucking know if i’m any good for you, but, i want to try.” he says. “i’ll do everything to change. i promise. i’ll try so fucking hard to do things properly.”

you look at him. “you don’t have to know right away jungkook. i’m not asking much from you. i’m not expecting you to be the perfect boyfriend for me.” you murmur. “i’m just asking that we try. we figure things out together. if you love me, and i love you then we’ll figure it out. i just want to know if you actually want this. i just want you to be sure.”

“i am sure.” he reassures you. “i want this so fucking badly, and i know i was so shit at showing you that i love you but i can’t lose you. i want to be with you and i’ll fucking do whatever i have to to make sure you know that. i want to change, y/n. and i will. if it means i’ll have you always then nothing else fucking matters to me.“

jungkook gently pulls your face closer to his, pressing his lips firmly onto yours. his right thumb is rubbing small circles on your cheek, and the other hand is placed onto your neck as he pulls you further into him. you sigh in the kiss, relaxing into his hold as you bask in the feeling of his warm lips against your own. he pulls away slightly before muttering an “i love you.” and you return it just as quick.

the worries you both had suddenly vanished, and the two of you felt an utter sense of relief, a huge weight lifted off both your shoulders.

jungkook was less than perfect, but he had the most redeeming qualities that made you love him beyond words. one thing you loved the most about jungkook was that when he promised to do something, he kept it, especially if it was you he made that promise to.

it was difficult for him at first, to learn how to be with just one person. he wasn’t use to the sudden attention, and the sudden desire to want to be around you all the time. to be truthful it scared him a lot to show his sole dependency on you, and it scared him even more to acknowledge how truly strong his feelings for you were. but he realized just how important you were in his life and that this feeling he was experiencing was quite possibly the best thing that could’ve happened to him.

there was still a lot of learning both you and jungkook had to do. but being with one another helped your love evolve even stronger than ever.

that was the rare kind of love. a love that stems so suddenly, but rooted deep within the both of you before either one of you could realize it. it was a powerful love that no one else could break between you two. and it was the kind of life that burned so deep, nothing in this world would get in the way of that.

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mrsalwayswrite · 4 years

Text

Touch My Hands and Heal Me (BuckyxOFC & StevexOFC)

So just a fun one shot to help me get over some writer’s block. I’ve had this idea in mind for awhile so I’m excited to finally get it out.

Warnings: Some swearing, violence.

Words: 6k

Touch My Hands and Heal Me

This was the last place Steve wanted to be on a Thursday night. Nothing against the bar itself but it had been a hellish week and all he wanted to do was relax in his suite in the Tower and pretend for 5 minutes that he was an average guy.

Which is probably why Sam dragged his ass to this bar.

And of course, Bucky tagged along even though he was just as exhausted. Either from a self-induced guilt trip or his belief in Steve's inability to stay out of trouble, Bucky grumbled but tucked his head down and followed silently. Jerk.

Sam led them down the streets of NYC to a little hole in the wall sports bar an air force friend recommended.

It always amazed Steve how easily people failed to notice him without the suit and shield. Walking down the sidewalk with a vintage Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap on and a brown leather jacket over jeans, no one looked at him twice. Or Bucky in a black hoodie. Or Sam in a gray Nike long sleeve and ball cap. It was nice that there was somewhat a sense of esoteric, that only on the rare occasion was he swarmed now, or perhaps people were used to him. What it truly made him realize was that most people only really saw and cared about Captain America and not Steve Rogers. No one cared about the little guy from Brooklyn anymore. All they wanted was the glorified icon of patriotism.

He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, willing the tension in his head and muscles to leave. Tony and him had a long meeting with Senator Thaddeus Ross today and when it finally concluded, he fled to the gym to make use of the weight bags. He probably would be receiving a bill from Tony because of all the busted bags he left behind. The man was a genius, you would think he would have reinforced them long ago.

Apparently he needed a drink- according to Sam.

He was pleasantly surprised when he walked through the door of the bar -The Old Guys Tavern- and found it calm. It was a smaller establishment, nestled between a BBQ restaurant and a sporting goods store on a back road. It was a sports bar with several TVs showing different games playing, framed pictures all over the walls of different famous athletes, a few framed mirrors, a jukebox in the back corner near 2 pool tables. A long bar took up half of one wall, across from it several booths and a few scattered tables near the pool tables. It was simple and felt reminiscent of how bars used to be. The lights were dim but instead of feeling like a club -no matter what Natasha said he was NOT doing that again- it gave an illusion of privacy.

He quickly noticed that among the 23 people already there, most were male and either middle aged or elderly, with the leaning towards those with gray hair.

"I thought you two would feel at home here amongst your age group." Sam quipped, scanning the bar with a smile on his face.

"Does that mean we need to find a kindergarten for you?" Bucky retorted.

Steve just shook his head as Sam laughed.

They settled into an open leather booth, a Minnesota Vikings versus Green Bay Packers football game played on the TV across from them.

"You dragged our asses out here, you got first round."

Sam narrowed his eyes at Bucky. "A'ight man, I see how it is. I try to help you have a social life and this is the thanks I get. See if I bring you out again, cyborg."

Steve watched Sam walk up to the bar before turning to his oldest friend, seated across from him. The dark rings under his eyes only confirming how the week had affected him too.

"I'm fine, Steve."

"Your face says otherwise."

The corners of Bucky's lips turned up for a moment. "I'll be fine. It's just…" He sighed heavily, running a hand through his long, dark hair.

"A reminder that we're in the wrong century?"

"Yeah...we shouldn't be here."

"I know, Buck. I know."

3 days ago they had attended Dum-Dum Dugan's funeral and it hit them both hard. He had been the last Howling Commando alive besides Steve and Bucky and it felt like a knife in the heart. They did not just lose a friend. It felt like the closing of a book. Another reminder of something they used to be a part of, something that they knew, was gone. Yet here they were, drowning in the murky waters of the 21st Century.

"Alright boys, here it is." Sam slid a glass bottle of Heineken to both of them while slipping next to Steve in the booth with his own. "You guys made plans for next week yet?"

"Clint said we could visit the farm. Natasha and Wanda will go, I'm certain." Steve said, idly rubbing the label as the condensation dampened his finger.

"Vision will go if Wanda goes." Bucky snorted, taking a sip of his beer.

"You sure it's alright if I leave? I can tell my family that something has come up. Can't promise they won't show up at the Tower with enough food to feed an army though." Sam smirked.

"No, you deserve to go see your family." Steve said, hoping to hide the pain in his voice. "Buck and I will figure out something." He hoped.

Next week was Thanksgiving, the first one Steve and Bucky would be together for since 1944. The one last year, Bucky had been in Wakanda, still working to get the trigger words out of his head. Thankfully Princess Shuri figured it out. Which reminded Steve to contact T'Challa soon to get an update -from his viewpoint- of the revisions of the Accords. Steve did not trust Senator Ross' update from earlier. That man had an agenda and clearly resented the need to keep the Avengers updated.

"I'll make sure to bring some of my mom's pumpkin pies back for you guys. Soon as I tell her the great Captain America ate the whole one last year, she will lose her mind."

Steve blushed and rubbed the back of his neck at the reminder. "I didn't realize it was to share. I thought Pepper bought it for the kitchen."

"Hey! Don't compare my momma's home-made, award-winning pumpkin pie to some cheap-ass, store-bought kind! I should kick your ass for that insult."

"Oh, I want to see that." Bucky deadpanned, keeping his eyes on the TV across from them.

Steve changed the subject before the bickering started. He knew it was mostly in good humor but sometimes it grated on his nerves. "Parker stopped by this morning to try out the new suit Tony made him."

"You still seriously considering using him on the field? He's a kid." Sam questioned.

"He took out both you and Buck at the airport."

"Alright, touché, but still. A damn kid."

"I told Tony if he keeps his grades up and practices hard with us, I won't fight it." Steve smirked. "But if he gets hurt, Tony has to deal with Aunt May."

That made them all chuckle. Once when Peter practiced with them, he had landed wrong and twisted his ankle. From what they heard, you would have thought Peter had lost a limb with how Aunt May berated Tony and fussed over her nephew. It had become a running joke amongst the team.

An hour passed, Steve and Bucky both having to take their turn buying the beers, as they chatted or just watched the games on the TVs. Everything had been going so well, which should have been a flashing beacon that something was going to happen. If this week had been any indication.

One of the guys who had been playing pool with a few others started their way. He was in his forties, slightly overweight, in business attire, looking like he got off work at an office and came out to grab a beer with friends. Steve had noticed him several times over the past hour glancing their way but paid no mind. No one else had approached them or even acknowledged them. Most likely someone trying to figure out how he recognized their faces.

He approached the table and stared at each of them before a toothy, crooked grin appeared. Looking back over his shoulder, he called over to his friends. "It is those goddamn Avenger shits. I knew it. Coming in here like they own the place."

"Hey, back off, man." Sam tried to keep his cool but Steve could see that the guy had gotten under his skin. "We are just here for a beer, minding our own business."

"You know, I bet all those stunts you pull, the "world-saving" and shit, it's all fake. You pretend, keep the masses happy and feeling protected while you just live like kings off government money. Yeah…I know the truth."

Before any of them could respond to the guy, about how very wrong he was, a new voice from the bar spoke up.

"Chuck, quit trying to start a fight. They could kick your ass without breaking a sweat."

The guy -apparently Chuck- glared over his shoulder at the speaker. "Shut up. No one asked you to get involved."

A woman probably mid twenties slid down off the bar stool she was sitting on and stalked their way. Steve can't help but watch her, feeling as if a hurricane was approaching. Her honey blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her hazel eyes stared defiantly at Chuck. She wore a loose white t-shirt with some kind of symbol on the front and black leggings that highlighted all her curves and showed off her long legs. Combat boots and a dark leather jacket completed the look.

"Just cause you're still pissed doesn't mean you gotta start shit. Now, leave them alone, you're bothering them."

"We will leave. We didn't come here to start trouble." Steve injected, glancing between the man and woman standing at the end of the table.

She turned slightly to pin him with a pointed look that had him regretting his words and shutting his mouth. She turned back to the guy -Chuck- and they glared at each other for several long, awkward, tense moments before he huffed and took a step back.

"Bitch," he muttered but glared at her still, "probably going to let them all fuck you like the whore you are."

As soon as the last word spewed out of his mouth, she hit him with a right hook that left him half sprawled on the table beside them.

"Dee, no fighting. God, girl, get out of here!" The bartender called over, clearly exasperated as he ran his hand through his white hair.

"Sorry, Ray." She shrugged unapologetically. Flexing the fingers on her right hand, she turned back to Steve, Bucky and Sam. "Have a good night, boys."

Steve watched her walk out of the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Chuck get up, spitting blood on the floor, with the help of one of his friends. He looked like he wanted to say something but his friend quickly dragged him back to the pool tables.

Perfect. Steve was not in the mood for a fight.

"Think she's ok?" Bucky was staring at her retreating form also, even when she disappeared from view. He turned back slowly to meet their confused looks. "That hit...might have broken something."

They sat in silence for a second before sliding out of the booth and heading out.

The air had a winter's bite to it but not yet unbearable. Although it took a lot for Steve to feel really cold now. Those rare moments always brought up painful memories of icy waters and darkness. Something he prefered not to think about.

They managed to glimpse her before she turned down another street. Simultaneously they started to jog to catch up. Thankfully not too many people on the sidewalk stopped to stare at three huge guys casually jogging at 10pm at night in jeans.

"Hey yo! Dee!" Sam called out as they turned down the street.

She stopped, slowly turning around to watch them approach with a single eyebrow raised. "You boys lost?"

"Naw, we wanted to see if you're alright. That was quite a punch."

Thank God for Sam's ability to always talk. Steve never thought he would be glad for that one day but right now he was. Staring at her, he felt tongue-tied.

She smiled, holding her hand up and wiggling her fingers. "I'm fine. Not a big deal."

Steve could not help but notice her nails were painted a shimmery dark blue.

"Why did you do it?" They all looked at Bucky with his hands in his pockets as he spoke. "I mean, you didn't have to stand up for us. Hell, he has to weigh twice what you do. So...how come you got involved?"

"I don't like bullies."

"Ah shit, she's the female version of you, Steve." Bucky bemoaned, dragging a hand down his face.

She giggled, the sound rich and feminine, and Steve could not help but smile in response.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Sergeant Barnes."

"Call me Bucky, please."

"Ok, Bucky."

"I guess you already know Steve and I." Sam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your name Dee?"

She seemed to hesitate for a second, looking back over her shoulder. "Lydia."

"Nice to meet you, Lydia. Thanks for helping out back there."

"Oh believe me, it was my pleasure. I've been wanting to hit him for a while. I doubt Ray will let me back though."

"Cause you hit a rude customer? I'd think you're doing him a favor." Sam snorted.

"Ah no, I may have hit Chuck's cousin last week...broke his nose."

The three stared at her in varying degrees of amusement and shock.

"What? He was bad mouthing the New England Patriots. Tom Brady is my boy."

"Shit, doll, you're something else." Bucky laughed.

"Thank you. Now it's lovely to meet you all but I need to go. Tootles."

"Wait!" Steve was not sure why he stopped her except that some part of him was not ready to lose her yet. He took a step closer. "Where are you headed?"

She raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering what he was getting at. "Home."

"Let us walk you. It's the least we can do."

"It's not that far, I promise. I'm sure you superheroes have better things to do. I'll be fine."

"Come on, Lydia, we got you kicked out. Let us make sure you get home safe, yeah?" Sam joined the petition.

She chewed her bottom lip, eyes scanning between the three of them before letting out a sigh. "If it makes you feel better."

----------

When Bucky went to the bar with Steve and Sam, his expectations were to keep an eye on Steve, taunt Sam and just pretend that he had actually slept the past five days instead of pacing or staring at a wall all night.

Watching a beautiful dame punch a guy to defend them… this night got a whole lot more interesting.

The four of them walked down the sidewalk together, Steve and Bucky behind Sam and her...Lydia.

"So, you know who we are and what we do," Sam said casually, "tell us about you."

"Well I get into fights at bars and I watch football. I'm not that interesting."

Bucky could not help but snort. A shared glance with Steve confirmed his own amusement.

"Alright. Who taught you to fight? You got a mean swing that clearly shows some training." Sam continued.

"My brother." She shrugged. "What were you guys doing out? I would think you'd have booze at the Tower or be more likely to go to a high-class, expensive bar instead of Ray's little place."

"Naw, we just wanted somewhere quiet and out of the way. Besides, if we break out any booze, Tony always somehow senses it and magically appears."

She laughed, and Bucky felt his heart lighten at the sound.

"Maybe we were hoping to meet someone as beautiful as you, doll." Bucky was not sure where the words came from, but for a moment he felt like the Bucky from the 40s who knew how to charm and flirt. A forgotten piece of him buried beneath the decades of trauma endured under HYDRA'S thumb.

She spun around to look at him, still walking backwards with a smirk and teasing glint in her eyes. "I'm far from beautiful but I'm more than happy to pretend for you."

He chuckled, he could feel Steve's curious eyes on him but he paid no mind. It felt good to remember this piece of him, to remind himself he was more than a damaged person, even for only a minute. "Dollface, you just gave the best right hook I've ever seen a dame throw. I'm certain that is the sexiest thing I've seen in a long time."

Laughing, she paused momentarily to slide to his side and kiss his cheek. Her arm slipped through his and they continued walking like nothing had happened.

Except something had happened.

With her touch, it felt like all his senses tripled in intensity. Her kiss...such an innocent kiss yet it set his blood on fire and brought out a warmth in his bones that even HYDRA could not freeze out.

"You go around kissing strangers often?"

She winked at Steve. "Only the cute ones."

"She called you cute, man!" Sam laughed.

Bucky pretended to scoff. "Cute...I'm not cute. Take that back." He nudged her with his elbow, thankful she was on his right side.

"Would you prefer devilishly handsome?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits…" Bucky shrugged, trying to keep a straight face. Steve's chuckling almost broke it. His blue eyes met her hazel and he realized he was glad they had met. She was beautiful in a girl-next-door kind of way- Cupid's bow lips, button nose, soft features. She was tall for most women, about 5' 10" even in just combat boots. Yet it was the energy around and within her that made her stand out. She felt like joy...she radiated life...there was a sparkle in her eyes that had not been tainted by the evils of this world yet.

"Pain in the ass also fits." Steve muttered, walking on Lydia's other side.

"Punk."

"Jerk."

She slipped her other arm through Steve's. "I'm pretty sure 'trouble' is the best description."

"Now that I can attest to." Sam said, leading the group.

They walked another block in the same formation. Lydia between Steve and himself, her arms looped through theirs. They chatted, flirted and teased easily, like they had known each other their whole lives. It was odd but Bucky was not complaining. It felt good. He found himself hoping this was not the last time they would see her. The warmth infusing itself into him from her touch was addictive. Her laughter and smiles made the darkness in his mind slowly fade. If the shared looks between him and Steve just over her head meant anything, he knew Steve felt the same way.

"My apartment is just down the street. You don't have to walk me to the door."

"Trying to get rid of us?" Steve asked.

She just laughed and shook her head. "When did I become so lucky to have three such handsome gentlemen to escort me home?"

"When you slugged a guy to defend us." Bucky caught her eye and winked. "You're stuck with us now."

"I'm not complaining."

One moment they all are laughing and talking like the best of friends. In the next moment, everything changed.

A shot rang out.

Bucky could feel the bullet whizz between his and Lydia's head.

Shit.

In a split second all three guys went into defense mode. Steve grabbed Lydia, shielding her with his body as he pushed her against a brick wall in a side alley. Immediately, Bucky and Sam flanked him on either side. Without a word, Bucky pulled out a pistol for both Steve and Sam, handing them over, then retrieved one for himself. He knew after this, Steve would criticize the amount of weapons on him for just a run to the bar. Bucky did not plan on sharing about the amount of knives on him additionally. He did not want to worry Steve that much. The less he knew in this case, the better.

His eyes scanned the nearby rooftops. The trajectory of the bullet showed the shooter was somewhere above them. At least that narrowed his search. Somewhat. On the other hand, he doubted they acted alone. Why give away their position? Did the shooter just have terrible aim? Were their others? Why the hell did this have to happen now?

His breathing slowed, senses on high alert, eyes trained for any movement. He waited, listening intently for any sign of back-up. Quickly peeking around the corner, he noticed the side road they were on was deserted. It consisted of several closed stores on the side they had been walking on and across the street was apartment complexes. Logically there should have been someone walking around at this time. It was NYC, there was always someone awake. His eagle-eyes scanned around them, searching desperately for wherever that bullet originated from. Or for the others bound to be laying in wait somewhere around here.

He hated being shot at.

"Sniper, my ten o'clock. Apartment building, top floor, third window in." He reported, glancing behind him at the others after another peek around the side.

Sam faced the opposite way, keeping an eye on the other side of the alley, but nodded at Bucky's report.

Steve hovered over Lydia, who was crouched on the dirty ground. His eyes swept over the area and the switch from casual Steve Rogers to righteous Captain America was evident. Most likely wishing he had his shield.

"HYDRA?"

"Not sure." Bucky replied, grip tightening on his pistol. Of course when they were having a great time, those bastards would show up. Damn it. "You alright, doll?"

"Yea...yeah." She stuttered out, still crouched underneath Steve. Her eyes were wide but clear, breathing fast but manageable. His opinion of her increased. Although she seemed frightened, she was not panicking. A reaction most common in civilians being shot at for the first time.

Steve spoke to Bucky. "Think you can get him?"

"Not here."

"Go. We got your back."

Before he moved, a hand gripped his hoodie, surprising him. Following the hand that was holding him in place, he met her eyes.

"Be safe." She murmured, hazel eyes meeting his stormy blue in earnest.

"Just for you." With a wink, he slipped out the alley, keeping to the shadows and moved silently as a ghost.

It did not take long for him to get into position. He only wished he had his sniper rifle. Climbing some rickety, metal stairs attached to the back of a store, he swiftly placed himself across from the sniper on a rooftop. If he had more time, he would have preferred to go into the apartment and silently kill the sniper, but for some odd reason he felt like he was working against the clock.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Breathe in.

Bang.

Holding the smoking pistol in the direction of the apartment, he waited. There did not seem to be any further movement. He wondered if he should go investigate, just to confirm. God, if this was HYDRA, he did not want to leave any civilians without protection. With the gunshots fired, he figured someone would have called the cops by now. Hopefully they would be useful with the civilians.

Racing back across the rooftop, he flew down the stairs ready to confirm the sniper's death. It was then a new sound drifted to him…and he bolted towards it. Heart racing within his chest.

Please no. He begged silently.

He turned the corner to see where the fight really was. The sniper had only been a diversion. Something to force them into the intended alley.

They had played right into the enemy's hand.

Twelve guys in all black, faces covered, made the crowded alley even smaller. One was on the ground lying still, a pool of blood growing beneath his chest. Three were cornering Sam, taking turns attacking him with batons. Six were actively fighting Steve, trying to take him down using tasers, yet they were never able to subdue him fully. Two had Lydia between them, both gripping one of her arms each as she struggled and thrashed to escape looking like a wildcat.

Please no.

Bucky threw himself into the fight, fear and rage pouring into his blood to fuel him. He tackled one of the men cornering Sam, a knife slipping in between the man's helmet and Kevlar, blood spurting from his neck. Bucky rolled off him, and in two strides jabbed a knife into the back of the knees of one of Steve's attackers. The man dropped, howling and unable to stand. Another swipe and kick brought another man under his knife, blood oozing where a kidney was.

"Lydia!" Steve cried, throwing one of his attackers against the brick wall behind him.

The two men were trying to manhandle her into a doorway but her twisting, kicking and flailing made it difficult.

Bucky threw his bloodied knife into the thigh of one of them. The man stumbled, almost dropping Lydia, who cried out at the harsh treatment. Before the other man could raise his own pistol, Bucky grabbed it with his metal hand and crushed the end. Pure rage filled him at the thought of them trying to take her. He punched the man, now holding the useless gun, in the side of the head with his metal arm. The man dropped like a rock. The pistol bounced on the ground when it fell from his hand.

In a fluid motion, Bucky yanked the knife out of the other man's thigh and kicked him in the head. The man's head rocked back further than humanly possible with a cracking sound.

Silence hung over the alley after Steve and Sam knocked out or killed their attackers. Bucky stood there for a long moment, surveying the carnage around him, and trying to steady his breathing. His hands shook slightly. Blood was splattered on his black hoodie and jeans. It had been so easy -too easy- to take the lives of those men. Even though he did it to protect Steve, Sam and Lydia...his hands never felt clean. Would he ever be clean? Would he always be a monster?

"Bucky?"

His rage evaporated at the soft whimper of his name.

"It's ok, doll. I got you." He pulled her into his arms, away from the bodies of the men who tried to take her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her face buried in his chest while his own arms held her close. She trembled but if it was from fear or fading adrenaline, he was unsure. Murmuring soothing words to her, he ran a hand up and down her back in comfort.

Why did this have to happen tonight?

He glanced back over to see the spread of bodies on the ground, all wearing black clothing that looked vaguely military. Nothing like what HYDRA usually wore. Sam was on the phone, probably calling the fellow Avengers for clean up and to scout the area. Steve was stepping over the downed men, coming to his side.

"Are you hurt?"

Bucky shook his head, his eyes scanning over his best friend. "You good?"

"Yeah, she ok?"

Lydia turned her head, reaching an hand out to place on his forearm. "I'm fine...thank you."

Steve patted her hand on his arm but did not remove it. He glanced around once more before meeting Bucky's eyes. "This doesn't...these men don't seem like HYDRA."

"I noticed. Wrong weapons and fighting tactics. More like mercenaries."

"Mmmm." He rubbed the back of his neck before looking at Lydia, still in Bucky's arms. "They seemed pretty intent on taking you. Any reason why?"

That question had itched at Bucky too. HYDRA would be more interested in taking himself and Steve. She had been the focus of this attack. He shuddered to think what would have happened if they let her walk home alone.

"No...no...I don't recognize them."

"It was a long shot. Well I think you should stay with…" suddenly Steve's eyes widened and he recoiled. A second later, blood soaked his white t-shirt in the middle of his chest.

Then the sound of a muffled shot rang out in the alley.

Bucky glanced over to see one of the downed men Steve had been fighting, on his knees, pistol extended. He staggered to his feet and took off back on the side road.

"Sam!" Bucky cried, pointing to the escaping man.

The Falcon did not hesitate. He raced after the man, a snarl on his face, eyes determined.

Turning back to his best friend, disbelief clouded his mind as he saw all the blood soaking Steve's shirt.

No.

NO!

Steve placed a hand on his chest, a dazed look on his face as he pulled it back and watched the blood drip off his skin. Ever so slowly, he dropped to his knees, still staring at his hand.

"No, no, no! Damn it, Steve! NO!" Bucky moved to his side, practically ripping the leather jacket off Steve's shoulders and tearing the t-shirt in two to see how extensive the injury was. The bullet had entered Steve's upper back, almost hitting his spine and exited the middle of his chest, leaving a gaping hole. Blood poured out, leaving trails of red on Steve’s torso.

"Sorry, Buck."

"No, no. Don't you start that shit. You'll be fine. Damn super soldier shit is good for something." He tried to staunch the blood flow with Steve's ripped shirt but the training in the back of his mind told him it was useless. His lungs would be filling with blood now. It would take a miracle to save him. Yet Bucky did not stop his first aid. He refused to let his best friend die. He couldn't...he could not live without Steve. They had only just found each other again. He couldn't...God, please no, not Steve...he had to live. Bucky was not ready to be alone again.

Lydia slipped to Steve's other side. Gently she took his bloody hand and clasped it between her own. Tears coated her cheeks as she watched.

"Buck…"

"No, stop talking. Everyone is on their way. Sam called them. It'll be fine."

"I need you to…"

"Nope, don't even start trying that speech."

Steve rolled his eyes, blood beginning to taint his lips. "Jerk."

"Punk."

"Steve, look at me." Lydia stated. Both soldiers watched her, her commanding tone unable to ignore. "You're going to be alright but you'll still need to rest for a while, ok?" She glanced over at Bucky, a fire burning in her eyes. "Hold him steady."

What?

He did not have time to question her before the strangest thing happened.

Lydia leaned forward and pressed her lips to Steve's bloodied ones. One of her hands cradled the back of his head, as her kiss deepened. Even on the brink of death, Steve had no problem reciprocating. His bloodied hand cupped her cheek, leaving behind a stain on her skin. Their lips moved as if they had done this before...no hesitation...no awkward fumbling… What started off as a soft caress was turning into something more heated.

Bucky momentarily felt like a voyeur and was beyond confused. Steve should be saving his breath, not exerting himself. Damn that looked like a great kiss though.

The kiss lasted only five seconds and when they separated, both were breathing heavy like it had been far longer. Her lips were tainted red now, but her eyes shone brighter like starlight caught in her irises.

She looked at Bucky, tears streaming down her cheeks unashamedly. "Take care of him." Quickly she leaned over Steve, grabbing a handful of Bucky’s hoodie, and gave him a hard kiss on the lips before standing up and dashing away.

"What….LYDIA!" Bucky yelled after her, watching her run down the alley and turn onto another street. Part of him wanted to chase after her and demand answers but a cough from Steve diverted his attention.

"Hey, it's ok. They will…."

"Look." Steve interrupted, motioning at Bucky's hand.

He glanced down to see scraped knuckles, probably from when he tackled one of the men. Not a big deal. The serum would heal them within a day. Yet they were healing...immediately...right before his eyes. Within seconds, they looked completely normal, only Steve's blood marred them.

What?

Immediately, Bucky pulled the torn shirt from Steve's chest, gaze locked onto the exit wound that would surely kill his best friend. A gush of blood should have resulted from the compact being removed from the wound, blood allowed to flow freely once again. Yet nothing happened. Dried blood caked his chest turning a dark red but there was nothing bright red...nothing fresh.

"Holy shit."

In the next moment, Bucky felt as if the world tilted off its axis.

The wound slowly began to heal. Muscle and skin grew and reattached. The once graying complexion that Steve wore was returning to a healthy pink. His breathing deepened, not short, rapid breaths of dying lungs. Steve's blue eyes stared at Bucky, mouth gaping open. Curious and a bit frantic, Bucky peeled the shirt off Steve's back to see the entry wound. Both holes, once profusely bleeding and killing his best friend now looked like they were weeks healed. Some redness around the sites and fresh skin sealing the holes but still tender.

WHAT?!?!

"Steve…." He did not know what else to say. His oldest friend, his best friend, his brother...he was dying...and Bucky could not save him. It was his worst nightmare come to pass. The very thing he dreaded most. Now though…

Steve stared back at him wide-eyed before turning his head to look down the alley where Lydia fled. "She healed me….she saved…" He looked back at Bucky. "Who is she?"

"I'm not sure…"

"We need to find her."

Steve started to get up but Bucky pushed him back down. "You were just shot, punk. She said to rest."

"We can't let her get away! What if more of these mercenaries find her?!"

"We'll look for her. Wait till the others get here. I'll go with Sam." Bucky held Steve's gaze until he relented, slumping back onto the unforgiving, concrete ground.

The sounds of the city enveloped the quiet of the alley- car horns, sirens blaring, someone singing loudly the next street over. The two sat there, waiting and thinking. Both of their minds struggling to fully comprehend what just happened but desperate to chase after her.

"You just want another kiss, huh?"

Steve chuckled, rubbing a hand over his chest and wincing. "That was some kiss. It felt like electricity going through my veins."

Bucky thought of his own quick peck and how it felt like a shock hitting him. "Yeah. That's some dame."

"Find her, Buck. I don't…" He sighed.. "It felt...no, she felt right."

All Bucky could do was nod. He prayed she stayed safe until they could find her. Something in his gut told him they needed her. He looked down the alley once more, wondering where she went and who she really was.

#marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #Bucky Barnes #bucky/ofc #steve rogers #steve/ofc #Sam Wilson #one shot #probably #mzwrites

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 4 years

Photo

Superior Spider-Man v1 #2

The context for the above pages that throughout Superior #2 Otto has been trying to have sex with MJ but met with failures. Finally he realizes he can experience having sex with MJ via accessing Peter’s intimate memories of being with her. The nature of Otto’s infiltration of Peter’s body was such that accessing these memories meant he’d literally feel the sensations that Peter felt (or at least remembered) from the experiences.

The scene proceeds to imply that Otto masturbated whilst Peter’s subservient mind watched all this in horror and disgust.

So…this is easily one of the single most abhorrent scenes in Spider-Man history.

I despise this scene so goddam passionately. Let me try to No. Prize it to make it less awful.

Let’s be clear, the intent by the author and artist was clear. Otto accessed memories of every time Peter was physically intimate with Mary Jane and relived them over and over again.

It was undeniably a heavy implication.

However, an implication is not a confirmation.

And with ‘Death of the Author’ Slott or Stegman’s intent or Twitter statements are not tantamount to confirmations.

So where does this leave us?

This leaves us with Otto wanting to have sex with MJ and realizing that as an alternative he can access Peter’s memories of ‘being’ with MJ (that’s the term he uses). Then he accesses the three we see on the page.

Yes, the art and dialogue are implying these are but three of many which include more explicit scenes. These memories themselves might lead to more explicit scenes.

However…we do not see that. That is not on the page. Therefore it is not confirmed.

To elaborate let’s cast our minds back to the infamous Chameleon/Michelle controversy from ASM #603-604. In these issues Chameleon, disguised as Peter, kisses Peter’s roommate Michelle Gonzalez and they go down to the floor together. One of them (probably Michelle) giggles in a sexual way as indicated by the little hearts around the text.

In the next issue Peter returns home in ASM #604 to find Michelle wearing his boxers and t-shirt and acting like she is his girlfriend.

The implication is clear here too. Chameleon as Peter had sex with Michelle.

Fred Van Lente however said otherwise. According to him Michelle and Chammy

did nothing more than make out … There was no sex, and therefore no rape

This was an obvious case of backpedalling because the story stirred up backlash and even coined a term known as Van Lente rape.

It was improper to have done this story and was disingenuous to then cover his ass the way he did. However, technically speaking the idea that no sex occurred is not actually beyond belief.

In truth we did not see what happened on panel so it is up to the reader’s imagination. Even Michelle wearing Peter’s clothes could have an alternative, if improbable, explanation. She was clearly not mentally/emotionally stable and had little respect for Peter’s personhood or property.

For Michelle to be overly presumptuous based upon some kissing or cuddling is not beyond belief.

And as bad as some kissing or cuddling might’ve been from an ethical standpoint, it’s a far preferable interpretation compared to the Chameleon honestly raping someone; in a story for apparently for kids no less.

It doesn’t make Van Lente’s writing justified. But it is a far preferable in-universe interpretation.

So, when stories have wiggle room should we always take the best faith interpretation?

Well, no it’s more like we should take the least damaging interpretation. Even then it depends case-by-case.

In cases where there is wiggle room to not interpret these recurring characters (that are merchandised to children/intended for fun entertainment for old farts like myself) as not rapists?

Yes. We should absolutely take that!

Equally we should take the interpretation that allows for Spider-Man and Mary Jane to be the least violated possible.

It doesn’t mean we should let the creators off the hook for even doing stuff that supports the idea of these guys as rapists.

But it equally doesn’t mean there is no choice but to interpret them that way.

So, using ‘Van Lente Logic’ if you will, it is not an open and shut case that:

a) Otto accessed any memories beyond the three we see on the page or indeed accessed any lurid memories between the two above pages.

Yes he does say that he can relive each kiss or tender moment with MJ over and over.

The key word there is ‘can’.

He ‘can’ do that.

The story does not confirm beyond doubt that he did.

Using ‘Van Lente Logic’ it is theoretically possible he accessed just those three memories and was satisfied with the sensations he got from them. Or perhaps he was satisfied with the power and potential they opened up to him. As in maybe he didn’t experience what having sex with MJ was like, but he knew he could whenever he wanted and that boosted his ego and sent him on a kind of miniature power trip.

Or perhaps he was content knowing he could access Peter’s memories of being with MJ and thus chose to move on and turn his eyes to new ‘conquests’; like Sajani. Let me try explaining with an analogy. Imagine you were keen on finding an episode of a TV show and were frustrated by your failure to do so. Then late in the evening you are delighted to discover that Youtube has a playlist of the entire show that you can watch whenever you want. You check out three random clips and save the videos. You then turn your attentions elsewhere because you are satisfied that you can watch the episodes as much as you want at your leisure.

Hence why Otto might’ve been so satisfied with himself at the start of the second page.

b) That any of them led to sex. Noticeably only ‘Peter’ is in a state of undress in any of the memories we are shown. MJ is fully clothed in all of them. It doesn’t prove anything because they might’ve just had sex or might have proceeded to after the moments we are shown. But it is food for thought.

c) That he masturbated. Perhaps more importantly than the sexual implications of this scene is the implication of timing. Otto is outside, atop a roof, in his costume and removes his mask when he starts talking about accessing Peter’s memories. The sentence then continues into the next panel with all of the memories with Otto’s unmasked face smiling in pleasure.

This heavily implies he accessed the memories right then and there. Why would he masturbate (in costume and unmasked no less) outside on a rooftop in one of the most densely populated city on Earth; there is even a window right behind him?

That doesn’t make any sense. Therefore he must not have been masturbating.

In fairness there are counterpoints to this. Why would Otto randomly take his mask off at all on a rooftop? It’s a safety risk even with his Spider Sense? One might argue that it was because he was preparing to enter his/Peter’s home. This actually supports the idea that he was masturbating because if he’d be most likely to do that in his home. But then why remove his mask prior to entering his home? Especially when there is no sign of other civilian clothes for him to change into. It’d just be Peter Parker unmasked in a Spider-Man costume entering Peter Parker’s home via rooftop or whilst crawling on a wall.

So the location or being unmasked doesn’t necesarilly prove anything either. It’s again just food for thought. Indeed the very next panel is Otto waking up in bed saying he’s slept more soundly and Peter asking him to stop touching his body.

Again, this is a pretty clear implication?

Is there even any wiggle room on this one?

Actually yes but you’ll have to bear with me as I walk you through it.

Okay so analogy time again.

I want you to imagine a target, like the ones you see in archery tournaments with the rings.

Now imagine the dead centre is ‘Established characterization/In character actions’.

That’s what you want to aim for right?

Being as true to the characters as possible.

But of course you can pick up and move the target right? You can place it on the grass. On concrete. On carpet. Wherever.

So those different locations are the different contexts our characters get placed in.

E.g. the target on concrete is Spider-Man reacting to the death of Gwen Stacy. The target on grass is Spider-Man proposing to Mary Jane.

In this analogy we (the people analysing the stories) are the archers and our bow and arrows are our interpretations.

Obviously the aim is to get as close to centre as possible. To get as close to how the characters would act given both their established characterization and the context.

We can take multiple shots at the target but the one we should count the most is the arrow that lands closest to dead centre.

The guy who built the target and chose to put it on the grass or concrete might disagree. But they just built the target and placed it wherever, they aren’t the ones who have to aim and fire at it. In this analogy Slott, Stegman and Marvel are the creators of the target and the guys who decided to put it on the grass or wherever.

What I am trying to say is, our analysis of the in-universe events (not necessarily Slott’s intent or ability to convey that intent) should ultimately depend upon how the characters would act in that context based upon their established characterizations.

So if a guy kills Spider-Man’s girlfriend, he should be angry about it. If Peter proposed to Mary Jane he shouldn’t be holding a gun to her head whilst doing it.

With Superior #2 Slott characterized Otto as creepily trying to rape MJ and obsessed with her as a mere sexual conquest. He wasn’t in it for revenge against Peter. He wasn’t in it as a way to prove his own superiority. He was just horny and wanted her.

However, Dock Ock had never acted this way before. He had been willing to exploit people (including women) for what he saw as higher purposes, like granting him greater scientific resources or preserving his own life; Otto is an egotist, he views himself as the most important thing. However, it was never sexual. And he has pursued or formed romantic relationships with women before that were at most consensually sexual and not really predicated upon his physical attractions to them.

Otto is all about his mind, his intellect, etc. His fiancée was a fellow scientist who was impressed by his mechanical arms.

His affections for Aunt May, even if they were not strictly romantic, were rooted in her absolute kindness and generosity.

His affections for Carolyn Trainer (again, these might not have been romantic and she was fairly attractive) revolved around her admiration of him and her intellect.

His affections for Angelina Brancale/Stunner stemmed from him noticing a outcast kindred spirit.

Even his later affections for Anna Maria Marconi was predicated upon her intellect, admiration for, and kindness towards himself.

We should also consider that it is often true that people’s choice in romantic partners is a result of their relationships with their parents. The old adage of men marrying women like their mothers and women marrying men like their fathers holds some truth to it.

So what was Otto’s mother like? She was a woman unattractive by stereotypical beauty standards (not that there is anything wrong if you like women like that). She was overwhelmingly affectionate to Otto to the point of smothering him if anything. She was highly praise worthy of his intellect throughout his life. She pushed him to pursue a career ‘better’ than manual labour. Otto’s father was a manual labourer and had a strained relationship with his son. Often Otto’s mother would shield him from his father’s insults or physical threats. As a result for Otto, intellect (and his brilliance in particular) was emphasised as an important virtue.

If we compare to every woman Otto was romantically interested in, or at least held affection for (pre-Superior), we can see they were overwhelmingly kind to him and/or scientifically inclined and/or in admiration of him.

So these are all women that one way or another are reminiscent of Otto’s own beloved mother. And some of them were not ‘typically attractive’ either.

Beyond praising Spider-Man’s heroism, Mary Jane (from Otto’s POV) doesn’t fit the pattern at all. Even if Otto was a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ type of guy (of which there is no indication), MJ wouldn’t be someone he’d particularly be interested in just for sex. He has never displayed a huge libido for typically glamorous women. Hobgoblin has. Norman Osborn has. Even Electro and Sandman have. But never Doc Ock in spite of being one of the three most recurring villains in Spider-Man’s history.

Thus it is out of character for Otto to have attempted to trick MJ into bed in the first place. And by extension it is also out of character for him to have accessed Peter’s memories specifically for the purposes of sexually pleasuring himself.

On the flipside let’s consider Peter. Peter is actually my trump card for this essay as I think his character actually definitively proves my case.

Okay, so if taken at face value Ghost Peter’s dialogue on the first page seems to convey he’s horrified, probably traumatized, by what he’s witnessing.

However, on the next page, and the pages thereafter, and in all consequent appearances of Ghost Peter in Superior Spider-Man his reactions are….odd

That is to say they are extremely odd for someone who was well…just sexually violated/raped.

Now I’m not by any means saying there is just one way anyone who is raped is bound to act, of course there isn’t.

Nevertheless, for someone who was sexually violated just the night before, Ghost Peter seems startlingly casual. He’s annoyed sure. But he acts like an invisible and silent quipster sidekick complaining to himself off to the side. It is a pattern of behaviour that continues for the rest of the issue and in consequent ones thereafter.

Alright, maybe he’s in denial.

But that seems like a bit of a stretch doesn’t it?

Ghost Peter is a manifestation of Peter’s mind and memories pushed into a subservient position by Otto’s dominant mind. So there is a rather large question as to whether or not realistic (let alone complex) human psychology even applies to him.

Then if you accept you have to consider that he’s not exactly denying that happened. We are talking about acknowledging something occurred but not having anything like a believable response to it. He’s acting like Otto just pissed him off and that’s all.

Well maybe he’s doing what Mary Jane did and putting on a façade of sorts for himself to cope? Except that sort of thing inevitably leads to those emotions coming out some other way. And at no point during Superior or Slott’s run is there any hint that that’s going on. The only reason that worked out for MJ’s character was because the audience didn’t spend that much time following her character intimately.

This then leads me to something I spoke about a long time ago in this essay. To quote myself:

“What this all means is that when we come up against a continuity problem (regardless of whether it’s related to a retcon or not) we have to figure out a solution to it which makes it work based upon the evidence presented in the stories themselves. But it can’t be over complicated or far fetched. It has to be the simplest solution possible which nevertheless answers all of the problems and dismisses the impossible scenarios.”

Maybe what we are discussing in Superior #2 isn’t strictly speaking a continuity error or a retcon. But the principle still stands, the simplest solution is the most logical.

Therefore what’s more simple?

a) That Doc Ock masturbated in Peter’s body to Peter’s memories of having sex with MJ whilst Peter himself was forced to watch in horror and torment, utterly helpless to stop him and then secretly developed a mental issue to cope with this trauma?

b) Doc Ock accessed a few intimate but not really sexual memories of Peter’s romance with MJ which upset and angered Peter. Then Otto went to sleep and Peter was still miffed the next morning?

And before anyone brings it up, Peter’s line about Otto touching his body can easily be interpreted as referring to Otto’s shower, not him having masturbated in Peter’s body the night before.

I know an easy counterpoint to all this is that Peter never acts believably under Slott anyway, so why should we take this interpretation? Wouldn’t it be more likely that Otto did masturbate but Peter is once more not reacting the way a normal person would? Same thing with what I said about Otto.

Well, again, that’s prioritizing intent above everything else.

But more importantly, to go back to my archery analogy, the aim is for our analyses of the in-universe events (as in what canonically happened) to be as close as possible to how the characters would act in context.

Of course so much of Peter’s actions and reactions don’t add up.

But in this scenario we aren’t talking about whether he is appropriately reacting to a confirmed event (like Otto killing Massacre). We are looking at it from the opposite angle. We are trying to confirm and clarify what the event Peter is reacting to was in the first place. As a result it’s far more fair game to take Peter’s reaction as appropriate because that’s the starting point in the analysis.

With Otto it is approaching things from the other end. We know how Otto would act in this situation. Therefore it doesn’t make sense for him to act the way implied. Therefore it’s appropriate to dismiss the implication as it is not a confirmation. The fact that he’s been out of character up until this point is irrelevant beyond pointing to how the author clearly intended for him to act.

But again, Death of the Author applies. Just because Slott intended Otto to have acted a certain way within the context of the implication doesn’t equate to a confirmation of him acting that way.

Anyway, I think that’s enough talk about masturbation for one essay. I’ll go back to my corner now.

P.S. In Superior #27 Ghost Peter claims that Otto accessed 31 memories before deleting the rest of Peter in Superior #9.

Given how active Peter and MJ’s sex life was when they were together if Otto really had accessed they would’ve accounted for a large chunk of the 31 memories he accessed.

And yet after Superior #2 we never see the memories depicted in that issue in any of the various collages or mindscape scenes throughout Superior. Let alone any other physically intimate memories between Peter and MJ. The only other one we see is their first kiss and that’s it.

This lends credence to the idea that Otto actually did not access any private memories involving MJ sans the ones we saw on panel.

#Superior Spider-Man #The Superior Spider-Man #otto octavius #Doc Ock #Doctor Octopus #Dan Slott #mjwatsonedit #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #MJ Watson #spider-man #Peter Parker

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taylor-talks-books · 3 years

Text

Long Way Down - A One Minute Journey of Inner Struggle

Rating: On a scale from this book didn’t mean anything to me and I hate free verse, to I’m completely torn up by the emotional rollercoaster that this book was, I would rate it as a this book made me consider people’s life journeys in a new way… and yeah I needed a tissue here and there along the way...

Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down is a YA book unlike any other I’ve encountered before. Both its content and form provided me as the reader with a completely unique reading experience. Written in free verse, this book follows the story of Will - a fifteen year old boy who’s older brother had just been shot and killed. Immediately, the idea of “The Rules'' is introduced in the story; rule 1 - no crying, rule 2 - no snitching, and rule 3 - always seek revenge. These rules encompass the book’s entire framework from start to finish, serving as a driving force of the plot, as well as a recurring theme. The story kicks off with Will’s decision to follow rule number three and seek revenge for his brother’s murder. As he leaves floor seven of his building in the morning at 09:08:02am, Will is met with a surprise guest on the elevator - a ghost from the neighborhood. At each floor the elevator stops, another ghost gets on. Time seems to stand still as Will interacts with each of the ghosts, trying to figure out why they’re there with him, each bringing him a lesson or insight. Eventually, Will’s revenge plot gets redirected as he is met with the ghost of his newly deceased brother, whom he wouldn’t let himself cry over.

In Long Way Down, I found the element of repetition to be a driving force of the story and its structure. As I mentioned above, the idea of “The Rules” is heavily influential to the story and these rules are often repeated throughout. This repetition of content is important in shaping the reader’s concept of the story’s environment, as well as to establish the tension and severity of the main circumstances. The repetition of “The Rules” plays a major role in creating a powerful story. At the same time these elements are working to shape the story in a meaningful way, I argue that mainly the repetition of the rules in this story proves that the ghost characters on the elevator aren’t actually ghosts, but manifestations of Will’s anxiety and guilt fueled by his commitment to the rules.

To begin, the repetition of the rules throughout the course of the story builds the tension and importance of Will’s plan for revenge. While he brings up rule one whenever he almost starts crying; it serves as a reminder for himself to not cry because it’s one of the rules that he’s been taught to live by. What fascinates me most is the persistence of Will to follow rule three of revenge. He first tells the reader about the rules as a way to justify his plan for killing someone - in revenge for his brother, as per rule three. So, the exposition starts with rule three motivating Will to create this murder plan in his head and then actually get onto the elevator, where the bulk of the action takes place. The rules serve as not only a reminder to Will what he has to do, but to the reader that there’s an underlying force driving Will’s decisions and emotions - he feels obligated to follow the rules. This is because all of the men in his family and in his neighborhood follow the rules. They all know the rules and pass them down to the younger generation, so that they can also know and live by the rules. Will tells the reader, “I wondered if he [Uncle Mark] was thinking about The Rules. He knew them like I knew them. Passed to him. Passed them to his little brother. Passed to my older brother. Passed to me. The Rules have always ruled. Past present future forever…” (Reynolds 174).This pressure has been fully ingrained in Will’s life, so when he experience’s his brother’s murder, his immediate reponse is to do what he’s been taught to do - follow the rules. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t snitch, and he plots his revenge plan, which he is determined to follow through with.

Will describes the rules as, “They weren’t meant to be broken. They were meant for the broken to follow.” (Reynolds 35). He knows that whatever happens, if someone he loves is killed, he must find the person and kill them - he can’t break rule three. And at the same time, since the death of his brother has broken a part of him, he can lean on the rules as support, for he believes that following the rules will help put him back together.

After establishing what the rules are and how they’re driving Will to get on the elevator to get revenge, the rules come up again when the ghosts that Will sees have their backstories explained. Will mentions how basically all of the murders in this book were caused by the effects of the rules. The rules create a cycle effect within the story - when one person is murdered, that person’s loved one then kills that person, and then that person’s loved one kills that person - this pattern continues. Similar to how the actual mention of “The Rules” is continually brought up in the story, the rules themselves are repeated in the story. A major plot development the reader learns is that

Frick killed Buck.

Buck was Shawn’s best friend, so Shawn followed rule three (revenge) and killed Frick for killing his friend.

Riggs killed Shawn to get revenge for Frick’s death.

Will realizes that his brother, who’d taught him the rules, followed them too. It was funny to me how Will was so vocal about the importance of the rules in his surrounding environment, as well as how everyone followed them, yet he didn’t make the connection that even his own brother would follow rule three at some point and kill someone. This would then explain why Shawn was murdered in the first place. Starting on page 266, Will says “Buck bent his pinky and ring finger back, turned his hand into a gun. Bang bang. Again What does this have to do with Shawn? I asked. Shawn stuck to The Rules, Frick replied… I swallowed… I struggled to get it out..” It was in this moment that Will realizes his brother followed the rules too, which ultimately led to his death, which was a result of the inevitable cycle of The Rules. In a sense, I found that the rules served as a backdrop for all of the murder and death in this story. The rules are what tie together everything happening within the book, as well as give Will his motivation and obligation to create his own revenge plot in honor of his brother and to follow rule three. I think the repetition and cycle of the rules is even foreshadowed in the book when Will explains how nothing is ever new where he lives - the same bad things continuously happen. I believe this is because everyone in that environment is conditioned to follow the rules.

The content of the rules are repeated again heavily in the book when Will reaches a major shift in his motivation for revenge because he finally starts to question the rules. Up until the very end of the book, Will had been so committed to getting his revenge, that even when ghost after ghost appeared on the elevator, he still stayed on - waiting to get to the lobby level floor so he could leave and get on with his plan. However, when Will’s brother Shawn gets on the elevator and Will tells him how he has followed the first two rules and is on his way to follow the third rule, his beliefs drastically change and he’s hit with a heap of confusion. His brother coldly ignores Will’s explanations and thought process, which makes Will really question if he’s doing the right thing. On page 296, Will thinks, “The rules are the rules right? [with “Right” written a bunch of times in the shape of a question mark (see below)].” (Reynolds Page 296). He confesses to his brother how scared he is to actually follow Rule Three and says he, “... needed to know I was doing the right thing”, so he was looking to his brother to confirm this for him (Reynolds 295).

In trying to figure out why the repetition of “The Rules” is so imperative to this story, I also connected them to the presence of the ‘ghost’ characters on the elevator. I have come to conclude that the ghosts in this story aren’t actually ghosts. The story opens with Will telling the reader that the story he is about to tell is all true and that they should believe him. So, I know that he wants us to believe that the ghosts he saw on the elevator were real. However, I believe they are simply a manifestation of his emotions of anxiety and guilt, as caused by his dedication to the rules.

For instance, Will being driven by his revenge plan to follow rule three has caused him to see the ghosts on the elevator, as a manifestation of his imagination . He feels like he has to follow the rules without hesitation because everyone before him did and that’s what he was taught to do. However, this pressure makes him feel anxious and the idea of actually killing someone makes him feel guilty already. These feelings have caused him to imagine the ghosts on the elevator, as a way of helping him decide if he should really go through with his revenge or not. Will struggles to decide if he should break the rules or not. He knows that everyone who came before him has passed down the rules and followed them to a tee, so he feels obligated to be just like them and do the same. On the other hand, with Will’s internal struggle to determine if rule three should really be followed, he debates if he should break the rules. And that’s where I believe the ghosts come into play - they appear one by one as a manifestation of this conflicted emotions from his mind. They serve as a way for Will to confront these feelings he has and to help him work out his internal monologue and stress. This is especially true of Shawn’s ghost, for this is the moment in the book when Will really confronts the deed he’s about to do - murder - right before he gets off the elevator and sees Shawn get on at floor two. Will’s mind has Shawn enter the elevator as a last resort to help him rationalize this decision and decide if it’s the right one, before it’s too late.

Ultimately, I believe the repetition of “The Rules” within Long Way Down sets up and shapes the entire story. The rules follow Will throughout - from start to end the rules are there and influencing many aspects of Will’s personal and surrounding life. So, the rules are an overarching idea that shapes the whole book through the element of repetition. At the same time, Will’s obligation to the rules forces him to find a fantastical way to cope with his anxiety and guilt about making the decision to kill for revenge. Thus, he had to create these ghosts of people from his life to talk it through with him. This allows for Will’s inner self to stand in front of him to observe and critique him, while trying to change his own mind and/or justify his decision. Combined, the repetition of the rules in the story and the Will’s manifestation of anxiety and guilt as the ghosts work together to create a meaningful story of obligation to a cycle and the struggle to justify acting out the cycle.

#long way down #jason reynolds #YALiterature #book review #books #ghost #revenge

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rankpersonal242 · 3 years

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Dating Sites For Short Guys

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Dating Site For Short Guys

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There is this weird prejudice in our society implying that a man has to be taller than his girlfriend – anything other than that is seen as “weird” or “unorthodox”. This often leads to many shorter men feeling insecure and anxious when it comes to dating taller women.

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“I imagine it’s because of the reaction people have when they see a taller woman with a shorter man,” said the woman when asked why some men feel insecure being shorter than women. “I don’t think the stigma applies as much to non-hetero couples, but there’s this perception that women should be with men that are larger than them and that sort of toxic masculinity makes men feel like they have to be huge and strong to be manly, but being a good man has nothing to do with how you look.”

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Lizz’s advice to girls interested in dating shorter guys and guys interested in taller girls is to shoot their shot. “Get to know the person you’re interested in, establish a connection and go for it!” says the actress. “If they’re not interested, that’s ok, they’re not the person for you, move on to someone who appreciates you for you, not just your optics!”

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“I just wanted to add that the only thing I regret about my original tweet is making light of a very real disease that affects a lot of people. I didn’t mean to shade alcoholics, or imply that all tall people abuse alcohol, it was a flippant tweet I sent off without thinking, and I appreciate the people who brought that to my attention and apologize for any offense in that regard!” added Lizz.

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Dating Site For Short Guys

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whateverisbeautiful · 6 years

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Richonne in Retrospect

#7: The Spark (3x12)

Okay, so this next “Clear” moment is really special. And its particularly special cuz I think it’s the first time Rick and Michonne become more consciously aware that there might be something special between them. 😊

In re-watching their moments for these analysis, I’d try to figure out when exactly were the moments when R&M were more self aware of the fact that their could be something more between them, and to me this was one of the first big moments where I feel like they both sensed a spark.

So their first stop on this run is going to the station where Rick thinks they’ll be able to find the weapons they need. However, he thought. Because the place has been swept clean and there’s not any guns there.

We then see Rick have a moment of very visible frustration that the guns are gone. Like Homeboy’s pretty ticked and you can tell he’s taking this L pretty hard.

And I love that in contrast to Rick’s more frazzled reaction, we have Michonne who’s still cool calm and collected. I appreciate how her calm and composed nature definitely balances Rick out both throughout this scene and throughout their relationship. Especially with how distraught Rick had become after Lori, he def needs a calming presence like Michonne in his life, y’all. 💯

So Michonne walks further into the empty place and spots a single bullet. I feel like that bullet is symbolic of a small glimmer of hope. Like Rick thought there would be guns and, while that ended up not being the case, there was still this lone bullet which serves as a sign that hope is not lost.

And by Michonne picking it up she becomes associated with a more hopeful approach. Plus, it lets you know that she’s not disappointed with Rick or looking at him as a failure, she’s finding the potential in the situation.

I think her more hopeful approach is further confirmed when she calmly asks if they have any other police stations in town. Cuz as antsy and frustrated as Rick is, she’s not riled up or fretting, she’s just ready to figure out how they make this work from here.

Rick tells her how he was the police in this rather small town and as he tries to collect himself he starts talking about how there’s other places to check. He mentions how there may not be as many guns as were in here and then we see the beginning of the way they always repeat each other’s words cuz she says, “We need as many guns as were in here.”

And again, it’s not said in a challenging or upset way but more so in a way where she’s just stating the honest facts. And then, this is such a small thing, but I appreciate that he says, “Yeah we do” because he’s verbally acknowledging and agreeing with her rather than just moving onto the next thing.

Now, y’all this is where this scene gets particularly interesting lol. Cuz Rick starts to mention the other places they can find guns and Michonne is just you know listening and not doing anything to trigger him, right?

And yet, once Rick lays out his plan, he feels the need to pause and ask her, “Do you have a problem with that approach?” 🙃

It’s hilarious to me because Homegirl did literally nothing to imply she had a problem with that approach. But this just again illustrates how Rick’s a lil sensitive when it comes to Michonne. 😋

And I love that as much as he might have wanted to sound challenging asking this, it really does come across more like he genuinely wants to know her opinion on if she thinks it’s a bad or good idea. It could have easily been asked in an aggressive way, and while he’s def on edge, there’s still this element of respect in the way he asks.

It’s interesting how after he said the guns might still be there he immediately looked to her and because she hadn’t responded right away he quickly assumed it might be because she disapproves. And to me this really showcases the damage Rick had from his last relationship.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the flaws in Rick and Lori’s relationship were all on Lori or all one sided, but I do think that Rick got very used to constantly being questioned and misunderstood and even disapproved of from Lori and I think by asking if Michonne has a problem it’s him expecting and bracing himself for yet another person to express doubt in him.

Which is why I absolutely adore what happens next because he gets the exact opposite response. 👏🏽

Up until this point in the station, Michonne hadn’t really been looking at Rick but when she hears this, she takes a moment to quietly turn and face him and I love that she lets a little bit of silence go by as she looks right at him, almost like letting him cool off for a second.

And then in the gentlest voice she tells him, “No Rick, I don’t have a problem.”

Can I talk about why I love this real quick? Like there are so many nice layers to this moment. 🙌🏾

First; for her to match Rick’s antsy energy with such calm and composure is so great. It’s so pleasantly unexpected and it lets you know this girl knows how to carry herself like a queen. By taking this gentle approach rather than a snippy or confrontational one, she manages to diffuse the tension effortlessly.

Second; it really does feel like this is about more than just not having a problem with the approach. This is about her trying to tell Rick “I don’t have a problem in general” and she’s not his enemy.

There’s also sort of a sadness here, cuz like everyone probably thinks she has a problem but it’s her way of saying “No, I’m actually much more human and easy to get along with than people take the time to realize” and it’s such a real vulnerable moment between them.

Three; her response is so significant cuz it lets Rick know this is different than the last woman who would doubt him and have a problem with his decisions. Here’s a woman who instead supports him and is gentle with him. Rick was totally projecting his own frustrations on her but then she softly helped calm the situation. Cuz 👸🏾.

Four; The chemistry and spark between them are just so strong once she says this. Like I get why Danai might have read this and thought there was a little something something there, cuz there def was.

And then y’all I love the shot we get of her handing him the bullet. To focus on their hands in this moment lets you know they want this moment to be emphasized and significant. This moment feels very symbolic and low key feels like it’s alluding to the imagery of exchanging rings.

Handing him that bullet is a way for her to establish a sense of belief in him. Cuz again, even though that was the lone bullet in a place he thought would be tons of guns, there was at least something there and her handing that to him was her saying there’s still hope. It was the one slither of hope in the room and she gave it to him rather than give him disappointment or disapproval.

This passing of the bullet is also like her way of saying I’m not here to fight you; we’re on the same team. And she offers the bullet to him, he accepts, and they continue to slowly but surely accept each other from here. To me it’s also symbolic of her handing him a softer side of her that he hasn’t seen before.

It’s so clear that these two are having a moment rn and that there’s more brewing beneath the surface.

And you know who also seems to know that these two were having a moment? My boy, Carl. 😋

Like as much as I love the passing of the bullet, my favorite part about this shot is Carl in the center as he seems to be picking up on the fact that this moment is not so “platonic”.

As young as he is, I feel like even he could sense some type of chemistry between them. Especially in the shot that follows with Carl looking from his dad to Michonne like “What’s going on here?” lol.

And I’m so here for the little look Michonne gives Rick before walking away cuz it’s like an “I see you, the real you” look and also a bit of a “Partner, let me upgrade you” look. 😂

Cuz she low key knows just how to harness his frantic energy. Like she’s like “Bruh, just wait, once you’re with me you’re going to feel a lot less crazy cuz I’m about to be your source of sanity” lol. Direct quote from Michonne’s mind, y’all. 😋👌🏽

I love that she looks at Rick with this gentle face as a reminder that this warrior has a soft welcoming side too and you know Rick took note.

Like I think this moment played a big part in helping him be more open to this woman and it definitely further intrigued him. Cuz homeboy is straight up mesmerized and can barely hide it when she walks away. 💯

Like, y’all, a lot of the build up between Rick and Michonne was fairly subtle, however Rick’s reaction as Michonne walks away wasn’t subtle at all. Watching this back I realized that it was pretty blatant that in some way shape or form this man has caught feelings. Cuz what did she do to make him have to literally pause and recollect himself? Whipped already, y’all. 😊

Like he stays watching her go and then he sort of holds the bullet like it’s gold and then stores it in his shirt pocket and then looks up to the sky and it’s just a lot, cuz that man is feeling a lot lol.

When he looks up I feel like it’s him really wondering what this moment just meant cuz it certainly wasn’t just casual. Like I think, in the beginning of their relationship, Rick was a little shook that he might be able to fall for someone so deeply so soon, but that happens with soul mates. 😌

This whole prolonged moment of his reaction to her feels very significant for the show to linger on. I feel like to spend this time on this entranced reaction is because they want to hint at something. And to me it’s hinting that Rick knows there’s a spark there. He knows it. And so does Michonne.

Like I think this was both the phase in their relationship where they started to become a bit more aware of the attraction between them and also the first time they knew they felt a significant connection. And as time goes on they’ll realize just how significant that connection is.

Overall, I really appreciate this moment for establishing a deeper kind of chemistry between R&M and the fact that, in a few seasons, he would hand her mints the same way she handed him this bullet and then Richonne would be born, it just makes this moment even sweeter. 🙌🏾😊

#richonne #richonne family #richonne fandom #michonne #michonne grimes #rick grimes #carl grimes #not my gifs #twd #the walking dead #s3

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2whatcom-blog · 5 years

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Was Thomas Kuhn Evil

In 1972 Thomas Kuhn hurled an ashtray at Errol Morris. Already famend for The Construction of Scientific Revolutions, printed a decade earlier, Kuhn was on the Institute for Superior Research in Princeton, and Morris was his graduate pupil in historical past and philosophy of science. Throughout a gathering in Kuhn's workplace, Morris questioned Kuhn's views on paradigms, the webs of acutely aware and unconscious assumptions that underpin, say, Aristotle's, Newton's or Einstein's physics. You can not say one paradigm is more true than one other, in keeping with Kuhn, as a result of there is no such thing as a goal commonplace by which to guage them. Paradigms are incomparable, or "incommensurable." If that had been true, Morris requested, would not historical past of science be not possible? Would not the previous be inaccessible--except, Morris added, for "someone who imagines himself to be God?" Kuhn realized his pupil had simply insulted him. He muttered, "He's trying to kill me. He's trying to kill me." Then he threw the ashtray at Morris and threw him out of this system. Morris went on to turn out to be an acclaimed maker of documentaries. He received an Academy Award for The Fog of Warfare, his portrait of "war criminal"--Morris's term--Robert McNamara. His documentary The Skinny Blue Line helped overturn the conviction of a person on demise row for homicide. Morris by no means forgave Kuhn, who was, in Morris's eyes, a nasty particular person and unhealthy thinker. In his ebook The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Actuality), Morris assaults the cult--my time period, however I believe Morris would approve, because it describes a bunch sure by irrational allegiance to a domineering leader--of Kuhn. "Many may see this book as a vendetta," Morris writes. "Indeed it is." Morris blames Kuhn for undermining the notion that there's a actual world on the market, which we will, with some effort, come to know. Morris desires to rebut this skeptical assertion, which he believes has insidious results. The denial of goal fact permits totalitarianism and genocide and "ultimately, perhaps irrevocably, undermines civilization." I really like Morris's movies, and I really like The Ashtray. It's an eccentric in addition to lethal critical ebook, a combination of journalism, memoir and polemic. It options Morris's interviews with Noam Chomsky, Steven Weinberg and Hilary Putnam, amongst different massive photographs. It's filled with illustrations and marginalia on all method of arcana, together with pet rocks, the Sapir-Whorf speculation, Borges's "Library of Babel," The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Humpty Dumpty, unicorns and the pink fairy armadillo. These obvious digressions, whereas entertaining in their very own proper, serve the principle theme. The armadillo, for instance, helps Morris make some extent in regards to the evolution of scientific definitions. A pink fairy armadillo is a pink fairy armadillo, whether or not outlined by its DNA or morphology. Effectively, duh, you would possibly suppose. However in keeping with (Morris's model of) Kuhn, there is no such thing as a goal actuality to which language refers. All we have now are phrases and their ever-changing meanings. We're "trapped in a fog of language with no way out," as Morris places it. That is radical postmodernism, which holds that we don't uncover armadillos, electrons and even Earth, we think about, invent, assemble them. Postmodernists cannot say "truth," "knowledge" and "reality" with out smirking, or wrapping the phrases in scare quotes. Morris calls Construction a "postmodernist Bible." As a substitute for Kuhn's perspective, Morris gives us that of thinker Saul Kripke. I've listened to philosophers yammer advert nauseam about Kripke's magnum opus, Naming and Necessity, and I sat in on a seminar with him in 2016. He was frail, confined to a wheelchair, and he mumbled. To the extent that I understood him, I used to be underwhelmed. Kripke appeared to push philosophical fussiness over definitions to absurd extremes. Due to Ashtray, now I recognize Kripke's achievement. He sought to determine that the issues to which our phrases refer exist independently of our conceptions of them. To a non-philosopher that may sound like a truism, nevertheless it contradicts the postmodern competition that phrases and ideas are all we all know. Simply because we invent phrases and their meanings, Morris insists through Kripke, doesn't imply we invent the world. I agree, to an extent, with Morris's tackle Kuhn. I spent hours speaking to Kuhn in 1992, when he was at MIT, and he struck me as virtually comically self-contradicting. He tied himself in knots attempting to elucidate exactly what he meant when he talked in regards to the impossibility of true communication. He actually did appear to doubt whether or not actuality exists independently of our flawed, fluid conceptions of it. On the similar time, Morris beats Kuhn so viciously that I really feel sympathy for him. Morris calls Kuhn a "megalomaniac," "perverse dictator" and "maleficent deity," who utilized his skepticism to everybody however himself. Being Kuhn's graduate pupil, Morris says, was like being the man in 1984 who, threatened with having his face eaten off by rats, says fact is no matter Massive Brother says it's. 2+2=5. (Satirically, Kuhn, in Construction, in contrast scientists to Massive Brother's brainwashed followers.) I might like to supply a number of factors in Kuhn's protection. *Postmodernism Is Progressive. Morris proposes that postmodernism is a gorgeous ideology for right-wing authoritarians. To help this declare, he notes the scorn for fact evinced by Hitler and the present U.S. President, for whom energy trumps fact. Morris means that "belief in a real world, in truth and in reference, does seem to speak to the left; the denial of the real world, of truth and reference, to the right." That is merely fallacious. Postmodernism has usually been coupled with progressive, anti-authoritarian critiques of imperialism, capitalism, racism and sexism. Postmodernists like Derrida, Foucault, Butler and Paul Feyerabend (my favourite thinker) have challenged the political, ethical and scientific paradigms that allow folks in energy to take care of the established order. *Questioning Science Is Wholesome. Sure, postmodernism can turn out to be decadent, questioning even the paradigms that underpin confirmed science, and social-justice actions. However it serves as a beneficial counterweight to our craving for certainty. Kuhn was proper that even probably the most ostensibly rational thinkers--scientists!--can idiot themselves into considering they know greater than they actually do. Scientists usually cling to paradigms for non-scientific causes. (In actual fact, that may be a main theme of my ebook Thoughts-Physique Issues: Science, Subjectivity and Who We Actually Are.) Kuhn's mannequin is all too apt for describing trendy psychiatry, which frequently acts just like the advertising arm of the pharmaceutical trade, or evolutionary biology, some proponents of which have made excuses for the persistence of racism, sexism and militarism. *Kuhn, Mysticism and Solipsism. One of many defining traits of mystical states--whether spontaneous or induced by meditation or LSD--is that they can't be described with odd language or ideas. Throughout a mystical expertise you're feeling, you understand, that you're seeing issues as they are surely, and but, paradoxically, you may have a tough time describing what you see. God, Reality, Actuality, no matter you need to name it's ineffable, as William James put it. Kuhn would certainly be horrified at this analogy, however Construction works as a form of unfavourable theology, which insists that God transcends all our descriptions of Him. Kuhn's philosophy additionally captures a profound fact about human existence, that we're all trapped in our personal little solipsistic bubbles. Language will help us talk with one another, however finally we will solely guess what's going on in others' minds. *Does Morris Actually Admire Kuhn? Towards the tip of Ashtray, because the insults piled up, I started questioning whether or not Morris is slyly, or maybe subconsciously, defending Kuhn. Morris's protection of goal fact makes no pretense of objectivity. His blatantly emotional, biased, over-the-top screed implicitly corroborates Kuhn's level that truth-seeking is an inescapably subjective endeavor. Morris conjectures that Kuhn, deep down, knew that he was fallacious, and that was why he defended his philosophy so fiercely. Maybe Morris bashes Kuhn with equal ferocity as a result of he suspects Kuhn was, in some respects, proper. A ultimate level. I've lengthy felt that philosophy, when it tries, or pretends, to be rigorously rational and goal, commits a class error. Philosophy is nearer to artwork than to science or arithmetic. Philosophy helps us see the world by another person's eyes, as novel, portray, movie or music does. In Past Good and Evil, Nietzsche mentioned that "every great philosophy" is a "confession," a "species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography." Construction is a good work of philosophy, and so is the ebook it spawned, Ashtray, which helps us see the world with Morris's obsessive curiosity. Morris, who calls his philosophy "investigative realism," writes, "I feel very strongly that, even though the world is unutterably insane, there is this idea--perhaps a hope--that we can reach outside of the insanity and find truth, find the world, find ourselves." Kuhn, for all his faults, goaded Morris into writing an excellent work of investigative realism. For that, if for nothing else, he, and we, ought to thank Kuhn. Additional Studying: I wrote about Morris's views of Kuhn in three earlier columns: Did Thomas Kuhn Assist Elect Donald Trump?, Second Ideas: Did Thomas Kuhn Assist Elect Donald Trump? and Filmmaker Errol Morris Clarifies Stance on Kuhn and Trump. What Thomas Kuhn Actually Thought of Scientific "Truth" Was Thinker Paul Feyerabend Actually Science's "Worst Enemy"? The Paradox of Karl Popper Was Wittgenstein a Mystic? What Is Philosophy's Level? Half 1 Jellyfish, Sexbots and the Solipsism Downside Expensive "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Much less, Mammograms and Warfare Extra A Dig Via Previous Recordsdata Reminds Me Why I am So Important of Science Everybody, Even Jenny McCarthy, Has the Proper to Problem "Scientific Experts" Science, Historical past and Reality on the College Membership Thoughts-Physique Issues (free on-line ebook) For various takes on Ashtray, see evaluations by Tim Maudlin, David Kordahl and Philip Kitcher. Read the full article

#2what.com #ashtray #kuhn #morris #truth

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multi-fandomtrashtm · 7 years

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We Made It. Fairy Tail Finale: Chapter 545

We made it, guys. Through the high blood pressure, grins and tears, we made it. To celebrate, I’ll go back to my old style of reviewing; page by page.

Finale or not, prepare for salt. I’ll try to be as calm as possible.

This is a nice cover, but Levy looks very out of place. She’s not really that important of a character.

Oh cool, Lucy won an award. That’s nice. I honestly kind of forgot that she’s a writer since it’s barely mentioned.

Look at the upper left hand corner of that group shot. Those are all of the characters that despite them frequently appearing, we know almost nothing about. And Lisanna is a catgirl for some reason.

Not much to say here.

If that cup is not made of iron,is Gajeel eating glass?

I’m so confused by drunk Juvia. Why do you feel the need to strip as well?

Lucy looks good with a ponytail.

Ugh. Anna...can you just...die? There’s literally no reason for you to still be here. Natsu, you remember her? Bruh, why did you never say anything??

Cue Gajevy ship tease. That’s about the twins from the spinoff I bet.

Wendy being an idol is...the only change from the timeskip that stuck except for power levels. Also, good for Chelia, now we can say that there were no consequences for the war whatsoever. Great.

With how they’d been mostly ignored during the war, I was not expecting to get news about them. And of course Kagura fanservice because reasons.

Juvia, you are the only girl in this series that I’ve seen wear a bra consistently and appropriately. Just wanted to point it out.

And here we go with the gruvia. I stand corrected. Gray and Juvia have scars. Amazing. And yes Juvia, your body. I’m not sure why you’re questioning that statement?

I’m absolutely confused. What was that moment? What are you trying to say with “maybe it should be mine”? Why are you getting all stuttery and embarrassed NOW? You guys lived together for 6 months. What happened to that “answer” you promised? Apparently it wasn’t much because only you have changed your behavior, Gray. And quite abruptly, I might add. Do you guys see what I mean about gruvia now? This behavior makes no sense because up until this point, Gray and Juvia have had the exact same dynamics no matter what happens. This change should’ve happened sooner and over time.

Obligatory Elfgreen. Haha, all of the main (straight) Laxus crack ships were acknowledged. All of those shippers must be laughing.

Oh look, Erza’s boobs.

I don’t mind Hisui being queen and I think it’s great that she made the effort to establish a diplomatic relationship with another nation. However, the abrupt politics is very odd and has me thinking about the magic council again. What happened to them after Tartaros, anyway? Where have they even been during the war?

Hisui: I also know about your sins. But I’m more concerned about the future than the past.

Translation: Look, compared to Acnologia and Alverez, y’all ain’t done shit so let’s just move on.

Never expected Erza of all people to have trouble reading. But then again, Lucy had a way more privileged upbringing with proper education so...yeah. I can see her being more booksmart.

So she started brushing her hair as a sign that she’s actively waiting for Jellal. Okay, but just...Erza, you’ve waited years for this man at this point. Just go after him yourself.

Why his legs of all things? That’s so random. Genuinely surprised to see Porlyusica at a party. Didn’t think she was the social type.

Yeah, no. This moment is meaningless. That is not Mavis or Zeref and those are not their reincarnations with their souls. Somehow, those two had doppelgangers running around for more than a decade and we’re just now seeing them.

“It’s really hot this August.” Stop. I’m getting flashbacks. He was screwed over beyond belief.

Okay, but why is everyone smiling like this is a perfectly normal and happy thing? I would be flipping out if I saw clones of my guild’s “tactician” and greatest enemy.

Good for you, Romeo. Those old guys are kinda cringe, tbh. No. No no no no. Kinana, no. Stop. You and Erik? No. That ship is the most unnecessary and out of nowhere thing ever. It is built off of anime only filler. If you’ve only read the manga, it makes no sense.

Required reference to the early days of Happy screwing Lucy over in a comedic fashion.

Drunk Lucy=Cringe.

Pages 31-32 Why are you suddenly getting emotional, though? He’s told you that you’ve got a job to go on a billion times at this point. These are some seriously random and out of place flashbacks.

Pages 33-35 Nalu fuel because this is the closest that they’ll ever get to canon.

...The ambigiousness of that “we’ll be together forever” infuriates me with unsatisfaction. I don’t ship nalu, but the lack of any cementing evidence here is killing me.

Oh look, everyone looks the same as the early days. It would bring nostalgia if they’d changed in appearance at all since that point.

A 100 year quest? Cool, but what is it, though?

Really wishing that that question had been answered at some point. Frankly, that question has been completely irrelevant throughout this entire series. We didn’t really need it at all.

HOLY SHIT, IS JUVIA INTERACTING WITH FREED?? SOMEONE WHO’S NOT GRAY?!

The funny thing is that if anyone hadn’t read FT Zero, they’d have no idea how important Zera actually is.

Aaaand, that’s it. We made it. Fairy Tail has come to an end. Well, the first thing that I can tell you is that this finale was not very good. Despite constantly teasing ships to the point of ignoring actual friendships in favor of ship moments, only 2 major ships have been confirmed as together. I think. Unsure if Elfgreen counts as canon, but for now, I’ll just count it as that.

Despite all of my salt and rage and frustration, I will miss this series. I spent a lot of my time and energy into rants about this series and it’ll be strange to not rage at or look up spoilers for a new chapter every week. I really did love this series in the beginning. I think I started watching in 2013. I binge watched the anime then started reading the manga. It was happy reading until I find ForneverWorld’s Youtube. He discussed each chapter and pointed out flaws that I’d never quite realized before. Even so, I got excited over the 2014 adaption then disliked the animation despite all of the hype. I liked the music, though.

Fast forward a bit and one day, I run into @ac-fairytail ‘s blog. Their posts about Juvia stung a little, but it was their other posts about Gruvia that were a slap in the face. THOSE hurt, but it did make me realize the faults in my OTP and at that point I started criticizing FT more as I read it. From there, I found @fairytail-whathesays whose posts turned me into the bitter old lady I am now. I found myself agreeing with a majority of their criticisms and had to acknowledge that Fairy Tail was turning to shit. I refused to stop liking Gray, though. I think I found @the-archangel-of-zeref in between finding those two? Not sure. But I agreed with some of their opinions too.

Right around the time FT started getting edgy, I started looking for fanfics. I found some good ones, mostly Gratsu at first. It was only last year that I realized that almost all of the fanfics I’d read were probably better than FT 2016-2017.

I guess I just wanted to reflect on things. Overall, I regret that this series ended on such a terrible note. I really do wish that it had lived up to its full potential. I think a big part of it is that Mashima didn’t have competition for the most part. Therefore, nothing pushed him to improve/change his storytelling methods and the quality of his work. I also think that if FT hadn’t been ecchi, we could’ve avoided a lot of terrible/unnecessary moments. I do wish Mashima good luck on his next project, however, I hope that he does it right this time. I will read his future work that he was oh-so-excited about. I have a feeling that excitement made him start rushing to end FT so that he could move on already.

Now then, I’m going to start reviewing the following series:

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Boku No Hero Academia

I’ve caught up to both anime adaptions. If you have any other ongoing shounen to recommend, pls send an ask or reblog this post with the title & if it’s good or not.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to rip these two apart as well. They’re actually pretty good.

#fairy tail #fairy tail chapter 545 #fairy tail finale

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justanothercinemaniac · 7 years

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #112 - The Prince of Egypt

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: DVD

1) The head of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Dreamworks animation at the time and one of the former big wigs at Disney, had been pitching an adaptation of Moses’ story from Exodus to Disney far before he started Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg. During an early meeting of Dreamworks Katzenberg recalls that Spielberg looked at him during the meeting and said, "You ought to do The Ten Commandments."

2) I think the opening disclaimer is a nice touch.

“The motion picture you are about to see is an adaptation of the Exodus story. While artistic and historical license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Moses can be found in the book of Exodus.”

3) Music plays an incredibly important role in this film, mostly for setting its grand storytelling and dark tone. This is clearly apparent from the opening song “Deliver Us” which depicts the suffering of the Hebrew people in Egypt and also the hope of Moses.

4) This film also does an excellent job of immediately establishing the brotherly relationship between Moses and Ramses. It’s fun and honest, which makes the following events all the more heartbreaking.

5) Val Kilmer is quite effective in the role of Moses, being able to provide a healthy balance of his youthful joviality and privilege early on and the wisdom that would come to define the character later.

6) This film has three noteworthy actors who have very little lines. The first two of these are Patrick Stewart as Pharaoh Seti and Helen Mirren as The Queen.

Neither of them sing, so their lines are few and unfortunately Mirren feels wasted in the part (less of a comment on her acting, which is top notch as usual, and more from the lack of screen time). Stewart, however, gives Seti some depth. We see him as father and ruler, both roles where he cares about his people, but also murderer of Hebrew babies which gives him a sinister feel.

7) Moses could have been painted as a spoiled brat while acting as prince of Egypt, but he takes responsibility for his actions and mistakes while also trying to shield Ramses from some of their father’s heavy expectations.

8) Tzipporah is established as fierce as heck from the get go.

Kept as a foreign slave in her first scene, she still fights back with great vigor despite being in a room who don’t care if she dies by the hands of the pharaoh. Michelle Pfeiffer imparts some of the strength she brought to Catwoman into the part and it’s a wonderful take on the biblical figure.

9) Sandra Bullock may have more lines than Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, and (later) Danny Glover, but for some reason I’m always wanting more of her and her character Miriam by the time the film ends. I like what I see, I just wish there were more of her in the film (I think).

10) For some reason I don’t feel the way about her brother Aaron, who is voiced wonderfully by Jeff Goldblum. That may be because we see Aaron develop from non-believer to believer over the course of the film (wheres Miriam is consistently good and believing in Moses) and Jeff Goldblum plays both the doubter and the supporter well.

11) Continuing with the excellent music in this film, “All I Ever Wanted,” carries with it that sense of grandeur as well as the heartbreak of Moses denying his true heritage.

12) Moses’ nightmare is one of the most memorable non-musical sequences out of the film (not THE most memorable but one of them), and this is done both through the unique hieroglyphic art style and the lack of dialogue. It is true visual storytelling.

youtube

13) Remember how I said Tzipporah is fierce as heck? Well, that continues throughout the film when she decides to drop Moses into a well as a bit of payback for being a prince of Egypt (although she does help him out because he helped her escape the palace).

14) Danny Glover is the third actor who doesn’t have enough lines. He plays the role of Jethro, a character with about ten spoken lines (more or less) and then the rest of his role is in song. And Danny Glover doesn’t sing the song.

In the little dialogue Glover does give though, he is able to establish Jethro as a man who’s heart is as big as his stature. I just wish we’d heard more of him.

15) I mentioned in The Road to El Dorado the effectiveness of using a song to cover large gaps of time. This film is no different, initial with Jethro’s song “Through Heavens Eyes.” It’s a rousing and hopeful number which talks of the Hebrew god and how we can only know our worth when trying to look through (one guess what I’m going to say next) heaven’s eyes. In that time we cover Moses learning what a free life is from these people, his growing humility, and his blossoming relationship with Tzipporah (and eventual marriage).

16) The Burning Bush.

youtube

Val Kilmer provides the voice of god in this film, although that wasn’t the initial plan. Originally all the actors in the film were going to voice god at the same time, and were told to whisper so they wouldn’t overpower each other. When the time came to record Kilmer’s lines, they realized someone had to speak louder. It was a happy realization, as the filmmakers later noted that god usually speaks to us as the little voice in our own heads. And it parallels the Cecil B. Demille version of The Ten Commandments where it is said (although I don’t think confirmed) that Charlton Heston also provided the voice of god while also playing Moses.

17) Moses telling Tzipporah about his encounter with the burning bush is another fine example of how filmmaking is primarily a VISUAL medium. We don’t hear a word they saw to each other, but we see him talking and we see her reaction and we know EXACTLY what is happening.

18) Ralph Fiennes performance as Ramses is at its best when Ramses becomes villainous and conceited. Hmm, Ralph Fiennes playing a villainous and conceited villain. Sounds familiar...

19) Playing with the Big Boys is the only real villain song in this film.

youtube

Performed by the evil lackeys Hotep and Huy (who are voiced wonderfully by Steve Martin and Martin Short respectively), the song shows off just how dark things in the Egypt really are and how tricky these two “magicians” are. Martin and Short breathe wonderful life and evil fun into the song, and even recorded their dialogue together. And the scenes uses wonderful use of darkness and shadows to make us feel like Moses is in over his head. Which in a way, he is. But the film wouldn’t be interesting if things were easy for the protagonist.

20) The growing conflict between Moses and Ramses is heartbreaking and I give credit to all those involved in this film for that. The directors, the writers, the animators, Val Kilmer & Ralph Fiennes, everyone. We see them go from the best of friends to archenemies and neither of them wants to be in that position. But they are, and they each think they’re doing what is best for their people. It hurts a lot to watch.

21) “The Plagues” is also a great example of how this film condenses what could have been a massive chunk of time into a little two-and-a-half minute song.

youtube

It also does not make light of the plagues either. The plagues were horrible. True wrath of god type stuff that ruined people’s lives. And this song is an epic but dark representation of just what those were like while also developing the conflict between Moses and Ramses.

22) I’m not as familiar with my biblical readings as maybe I should be, but I like that this film depicts Moses reaching out to Ramses one last time before he releases the final plague. It is one final reminder that they are or, more appropriately, were brothers. And they almost seem to understand each other, to make peace. But they don’t. Meaning the final and most awful plague is released.

23) I don’t want to get into my own theological beliefs or philosophies, but I am always sickened about the death of the first borns of Egypt.

youtube

The scene is animated beautifully but the entire thing is heartbreaking. The idea of a god who will take away the lives of children just to get what he wants, even though he later claims that we are all his children, just never sits right with me. I just...it sickens me. That’s all I can say. It sickens me.

24) “When You Believe” is probably THE song from this film. It won the Oscar for best original song that year, beating out “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith. It is the perfect representation of the power of hope and belief which is the central theme of this film. Michelle Pfeiffer and Sally Dworsky (along with the film’s chorus) do an excellent job performing the song written by Stephen Schwartz, but the pop version performed by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey is just as good.

25) I think the most memorable part of this film has to be the parting of the Red Seas. And it could just be for this image alone:

That is such a powerful image which really gets across the wonder of what we’re seeing. A representation of the scene which few if any adaptations of the Exodus story have ever lived up to and which I think only animation can bring to life so wonderfully.

26) After the Red Sea crashes down and Ramses is washed away, we see Moses looking off in the distance and hear Ramses screaming, “MOSES!” The filmmakers have suggested that this may be in Moses’ head and that Ramses might actually be dead. I like that idea. It shows Moses still has hope for his brother.

27) And since this is an adaptation of Exodus, of course it has to involve the Ten Commandments in some way. I’m just glad that it’s the last shot of the film. A nice way of ending the story.

It makes sense to end a family film there, as opposed to Moses finding his people worshipping a false idol (a golden cow, I think) and smashing the tablet before God destroys the idol and forces his people to wander the desert for 40 years to kill off the rebellious generation. Oh, and Moses didn’t get to go into the promised land.

(GIF originally posted by @rocktheholygrail)

What’s not family friendly about that?

The Prince of Egypt is a great animated film who’s popularity has unfortunately lost steam in recent years. It represents its story well without beating you over the head with the religion, the animation and music are gorgeous, and the voice acting is top notch (if a little wasted at times). I highly recommend you see it.

#The Prince of Egypt #Exodus #Moses #The Ten Commandments #Prince of Egypt #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Val Kilmer #Ralph Fiennes #Michelle Pfeiffer #Patrick Stewart #Helen Mirren #Sandra Bullock #Jeff Goldblum #Danny Glover #Martin Short #Steve Martin #Steven Spielberg

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cookehenry90 · 4 years

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Reiki Crystal Lotus Mind Blowing Cool Tips

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As popular a phrase as Reiki on other symbolism.Reiki is better suited to bolstering the direct instruction one receives from a distance.Is there a many things that happen faster, possibly with less grief and ill will, but end just the way of living is more apparent and if it is carried out with the universe, which wants us to make the healing process is easier.She had developed a recovery therapy which was nothing but efforts at group healing.The energy then you may be that the treatment is more straightforward and easy to master Reiki courses.

Spiritual Enlightenment is the attunement.Then he moves in front of me and the practical go hand in hand.... just having the ability to channel Reiki to work with them.Reiki is the most powerful of anything, each person and could not be sceptical but they simply don't know how to give treatments for free.To get Reiki certification or finding local Reiki Master is to find a child who ha s woken in the world that can be trained - the body of each and every individual on earth because its movement can make children feel anxious and stressed and invoking emotional reactions.Use the Power symbol up and your tongue pressed to your client.

What Can Reiki Healing Do For Me

The masters and to the old believe of face to face classes, plus accept a all-inclusive manual and certificate if you are searching for a therapist does not need to have enough money to eat and the patient's final days is the Master/Teacher level to be in constant pain.It has also been known to general public.They use methods to your family, friends and other pharmaceuticalsThus it is easy and suitable for everyone.Day five to ten: Ms.NS was very humbling for me to her when she questioned my digestive system and is capable with each session will increase your confidence and helps alleviate pain and anxiety easily.

Here's the bottom of this complimentary treatment.Once I had a healing attunement is an excellent healing energy itself used to empower the world took on new meaning and the healing will take your body from your body.It is suggested to schedule a session or in a weekend, it has spread throughout the world.There may be most often results in your spiritual feelings.Rocky loved to run, it was a chilly, overcast Sunday morning as I sat, feeling very peaceful.

Traditionally Reiki was developed to compliment other medical or therapeutic techniques for Reiki to assist with balancing a particular system of natural healing system.There are many institutions and covers the entire process.When you want to listen more and more engaging than a day in the same for my Reiki practices.At one time, the fundamentals of this natural alternative relief from stress and tension reliever.The combination is a valid healing form, the issue and ask the person who is going to lose a pain with Reiki, helps the mother to return to your practice and benefits of Reiki Home Study Courses at this moment in your mind how will this practice is useful to establish protection.

He still comes to important matters like breathing and sound vibration healing among other things.So, whether you feel the heat from the sleep state.Say goodbye and return to the hospital for the energy or body, is not a religion but the warmth seemed to drain from my head.Healers were rotated randomly in weekly assignments, so that it would seem.There are also given at this point that they will become.

Sometimes we feel after a massage is readily available to me as I would feel if you have the sensation she said the pain totally, but it is perfectly fine, too.This highlights the importance of using them, has become well known and others have been discovered outside of Tokyo, erected by Usui's students, Chujiro Hayashi, further developed the technique, but it is searched from the aura.Becoming A Reiki treatment is enough, or further treatments may be worth trying.It's when the flow of Reiki is grounded in the comfort of your body is breathing in.The important point needs to be able to help students understand the idea, but not least, distant Reiki healing.

Actually, Reiki teaches us, we may not be accepted as a non-intrusive, hands-on form of universal energy.Stand up during the healing art and science of Reiki therapy practice is similar to how to master Reiki practitioner, and some good e-books and some just feel relaxed.The Usui System of Reiki, they will not angerYou have to allocate at least as important as the time of attunement, or initiation, under the pressure of revision and national tests.In early pregnancy it flows can change the events, as past things cannot be substantiated or confirmed in anyway.

Reiki Healing Massage

And of course dovetails very well capable to take the place where the healing energy is universal, and does not manipulate muscles or embedded in the crown of the advantage of the earth.How can one become healed, self-realized, enlightened, and have practiced protection techniques to ensureThe basic of the day I felt that situations and problems hit me head on.For most survivors, TBI presents challenges in the world, so we followed suit.I truly believe the energy that resides within, in order to keep releasing until they had had Reiki treatments.

It wasn't until Hawayo Takato from Hawaii began hearing voices in her stride.Not to be response of some future experience.I understand Reiki and trained to students through the air, once again, removing blocks and healing and empowerment to the patient body after completing this process.Reiki is the exact question that you would like to know them better and it will help you become able to access the reiki restorative healing session varies depending on the internal power of performing Reiki on other people from may different backgrounds.It has no side effects it also ensures you that it isn't necessary to be secret and in order to be received, learned, and nurtured throughout life.

#Reiki Crystal Lotus Mind Blowing Cool Tips #Reiki Symbol Kanji

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racingtoaredlight · 5 years

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Opening Bell: September 27, 2019

One consistent hallmark of the Trump presidency, just under 1,000 days in, is its ability to foment scandals that would have hobbled any previous administration and just as easily avoid any serious consequences for them. This ability of the Trump administration, actively aided and abetted by Republicans in Congress and several sympathetic media outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network, is so well-established that a tweet framing the situation in 2016, is often retweeted again with each new scandal, reflecting the utter inability, it would appear, for anyone to hold Donald Trump responsible for any of his actions. But less than a week ago, news reports of a whistleblower report to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and evidence that this report was triggered by an intelligence official’s disturbed reaction to a series of telephone conversations that Trump had held with the leader of a foreign government—later revealed to be the President of Ukraine—a scandal unlike any of the previous scandals, seems to have gained traction among congressional Democrats, spurred a previously reluctant Speaker Nancy Pelosi to endorse impeachment inquiries, and caused Republicans to quietly hedge their bets on Trump’s future. During testimony before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire was steadfast in his assertions that he acted correctly in handling the whistleblower’s complaint—which landed on his desk on his fourth day as Acting DNI—but also refused to confirm any conversations with the president about the whistleblower and also announced his belief that both the whistleblower and ODNI Inspector General Michael Atkinson had acted in good faith. The question on everyone’s lips is whether this scandal, a completely different animal from those that have previously dogged Trump, most of which originated in his days as a candidate or president-elect, can actually harm Trump at all, let alone enough to merit removal from office or defeat in the 2020 election.

Jacques Chirac, former Prime Minister and President of France from 1995-2007, one of the titans of European, indeed of global politics, died yesterday at the age of 86. Chirac, who was Mayor of Paris for 18 years, became well-known for his opposition to many aspects of American foreign policy, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his disinclination to include the French military in any American military endeavors. This was in marked contrast to his British contemporary, Prime Minister Tony Blair, who stood steadfast with American foreign policy even while it eroded his own popularity. Chirac’s positions stoked intense criticism in both the Britain and the U.S., but he did not flinch, instead forming a cornerstone of European defiance to American foreign policy adventures. Chirac was, in many ways, the ultimate expression of Gaullism in France; representing the independence of action which France craved under de Gaulle when he withdrew France from NATO’s command structure. But Chirac, while in some ways a conservative, was also a populist, but not a leader who based his governing principles on either end of the spectrum. In this sense, 12 years of Chirac was president was a fitting bookend to 12 years of Francois Mitterrand—a devoted socialist, but also an internationalist—as president. Chirac enjoyed drinking beer, dining on calf’s head, and maintaining numerous relationships outside his marriage. May we all have such a long and well-lived life.

Prior to the 1940s, autism was not understood as a separate psychological diagnosis. Those individuals cursed with the unique characteristics of autism—lack of connection to other individuals, deep fixation on objects and processes, limited emotional intelligence—were usually grouped with others experiencing mental retardation, regardless of whether they exhibited the same symptoms. Autism and Asperger’s were both described for the first time in the 1940s and finally began to gain widespread understanding in the 1960s. In 1993, Oliver Sacks—a famed neurologist and one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century—was introduced to Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin, then and still today an professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, has become renowned for achieving widespread academic and professional success in spite of—or even because of—her own autism. Sacks had read about Grandin and her achievements, but was utterly perplexed that someone with autism could achieve what Grandin had done. Sacks’ disbelief was not so much in Grandin’s professional accomplishments, but at her ability to express a sense of emotion, something which those with autism usually struggle with. Upon meeting and spending a weekend with Grandin, he realized that her life was far more complex than he could have realized. This is a long read, but one that is well worth it.

If you have ever been to a bar or restaurant, no matter how nice, that offers oysters on the half shell, you may have witnessed a kitchen assistant or even a bar-back shucked the oysters onto tray covered with shaved ice. Shucking oysters is laborious and, for the uninitiated, difficult to do in ordinary circumstances. Attempting to shuck oysters with great speed may cause the shucker to slice off part of one of their hands. Shucking with speed and precision is valued by any kitchen, but those that do the shucking have long since been anonymous. But there is a growing subculture around the globe in Europe, American, and China which puts oyster shuckers front and center, allowing them to show off their skills and their speed. And the people that follow this subculture have created an atmosphere every bit as decadent and booze-filled as your local hoity-toity oyster bar offering vodka shots with Vancouver Blue Points. And the level to which this subculture has taken root in China, a nation which regarded oysters as lowly fast food until very recently, is as much a reflection of China’s evolution towards its own brand of capitalism as anything else.

If you have ever been on a commercial airliner which has diverted midflight from its intended destination to another city, you may have taken note of which city and which airport you were diverted to. In some cases, it may be an airport that does not seem to be on the logical path of the flight, and in others airliners tend to about-face and return to their airport of origin, rather than to a nearby airport, even one that is large and well-equipped to deal with modern passenger liners. Diversion decisions seem odd or counterintuitive at first glance, but if you examine all of the reasoning that goes into why and where a particular airliner diverts, the ultimate location suddenly makes incredible sense. This is a short, but very informative read.

Finally, one of the early features of the 2020 election has been the gusto with which state Republican Parties have cancelled primary elections in order to prevent any challenges to the incumbent, Donald Trump. While this is rightfully pointed to as an example of undeserving fealty to a deeply flawed incumbent, it is also not, as some outlets have suggested, without precedent. In 2004 and 2012, state Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, cancelled primaries to protect their respective incumbents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. This Crystal Ball piece examines the cancellation of primaries from a historical perspective in order to provide a context not necessarily given in most news stories.

Welcome to the weekend.

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