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victimsofyaoipoll · 7 months

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Finals

Propaganda Under Cut

Sakura Haruno

Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.

My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in

What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime

#poll #finals #sakura haruno #naruto #misa amane #misa misa #death note

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chirpsythismorning · 2 years

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My hottest take of all time is that Mike is (was) the main character of Stranger Things.

Now, do I think he still is? No. Not really.

TBH I would argue that ALL the OG's are main characters in their own way at this point, with them all getting somewhat similar amounts of screen-time across the board by s4.

But if we're talking about the first two seasons, Finn was indeed credited before both Millie and Noah. The only actors that were credited before him were Winona and David (respectfully).

Just rewatching s1-2, you can see very clearly that Mike is being framed as the main character, with his perspective being favored in big group sequences, with us following him places that we don't really follow others, and for longer periods of time.

What I find interesting, is that even though Noah revealed recently that the Duffer's have been slowly building up/hinting at Will's feelings for Mike since the beginning, it's Mike whose perspective we were usually seeing in all those moments.

In s1, we see Mike looking for Will, with Noah only having like a handful of scenes that entire season. We also get more of a focus on Mike's reactions in comparison to the other party members.

In s2, we see Mike making every effort to support Will all season. It's Mike whose reaching out to Will constantly, calling to see why he's not at school, going by his house, sleeping over for days and staying by his bedside at Hawkins lab. Although Will arguably plays a bigger role in the upside down aspect of the show this season, a large portion of Mike and Will moments focused on Mike's feelings for Will being shared through Mike's POV, and not so much the other way around.

It isn't until s3 that Millie starts being credited before Finn (and respectfully so, as she was arguably bringing in more hype in terms of fandom excitement back in those days, so I do get it). And so we're arguably going from Mike centric (s1), to Will centric (s2), to El centric (s3).

As a result, we also started seeing less of Mike's POV. Though, to be fair there are 10+ new characters joining every season, so EVERYONE is getting less screen-time, every season.

But isn't it so convenient, that when we start getting less insight into Mike's POV, he starts acting strange...? And we don't really get outright answers as to why? Answers that we would probably have if we had Mike's POV as much as we used to?

S3 is when we started getting Will's POV more when it came to him and Mike's relationship. Their dynamic sort of flips between s1-2 vs. s3-4.

Not to say we never get Mike's POV anymore, but when we do, it's hard to discern and so most people overlook it completely on the rare occasion that it does pop up.

Anyways, this whole concept reminded me of the main character shots we got at the end of s4.

These were shots that had multiple characters in the frame, but with only (1) person specifically at the forefront...

YALL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS???

Arguably, these three main characters storyline's are tied together in a substantial way, and how it all plays out could have been foreshadowed, by the very order and even blocking of these shots.

Think about it.!?!.

Mike was arguably the main character of s1, which means getting his POV at the forefront again would be going back to the shows roots.

Will is arguably the main character of s2, and so blending Mike's arc (ending with Mike hugging Hopper hmmmmmm... Mike accepting his sexuality??) with Will's unreliable narrator arc being resolved (ending with Will and Mike side by side hmmmmmmm... Will getting the boy??), and this combined with Will's connection to the upside down, blending perfectly with his wonder twin, El's storyline (El walking passed Mike and Will.... El dumping his ass again??), with her now at the forefront as the main character, arguably just like in s3, except now she has full autonomy for the first time in the show, she knows her worth, she's accepted herself. And this all coming to a head with those three and everyone in the shows arcs being resolved by the end??

BITCH???

#stranger things #stranger things 5 #stranger things meta #stranger things theory #byler #st5 headcanon #i think i cracked it yall #those shots make perfect sense now #and everything they've said about s5 makes sense #about going back to s1 roots #aka getting Mike's pov so that the audience realizes they actually love him after learning what he's been feeling/thinking #about will playing a major role #aka finding out the truth about Wills connection to the upside down and him getting the boy #and them telling us little to nothing about el's future tells everything #aka the biggest plot twist of all #el's independence arc #is being saved for last #and it's all going to be epic #i don't even think the ga realizes that they want this #they're not going to know until they're watching it for themselves #but basically everything unraveling this way is more true to the show than any other alternative #it perfectly circles back to the beginning and everything will just fall into place...

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makethosenarratorsfight · 10 months

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UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE D

Narrator of Tell Tale Heart propaganda:

The OG, the meme, he has it all

He is so so so sure that he is not insane because of his high intelligence and planning skills, also his increased sense of hearing is DEFINITELY NOT because he’s insane but because he can just hear well :) yeah he can hear the old man’s heartbeat after he’s dead, what about it? also he is under the impression that killing the old man is justified because he has a weird eye

Marvin propaganda:

this bitch is crazy you can't trust a thing she says!!!! but um seriously he is neurotic and while recounting his childhood everything is wack and doesn't make sense and ummm. Idk the man lies he withholds information (such as names of main characters he deems unworthy or important details) he makes he presents his fantasies like actual canon events (how marvin eats his breakfast, rape of ms goldberg) he tries to convince himself and therefore us that he's straight ummm he's just a little freak and an attention whore and a liar and a fugly slut and i love him. Heart

#the tell tale heart #tell tale heart #edgar allan poe #marvin #falsettos #in trousers #unreliable narrator battle #unreliable narrators #polls #side d

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scarlethood · 5 months

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it is so incredibly funny when writers try to retroactively make young jason a "bad kid" cause theyre worse than the og jim 'ill have him break the arms of ped*philes and then everyone will hate him' starlin and he just ends up as a Goob level unreliable narrator

jason's narration: i was a horrid person always lashing out in anger

the page: a friend tries to touch a cut on jasons cheek and he brushes her off telling her not to worry then she thanks him for beating up/driving off the people trying to hurt her

jason's narration: ive always been a selfish asshole criminal in the making

the page: jason swaped out live ammo for blanks so kids wouldnt get hurt, tries to own up to take the punishment, patches up the friend who took it instead and tells him off, the friend then reminds jason hes the only person who looked out for him and he was paying back that kindness

you're making him look like this!

#jason todd #stop saying he was a bad kid he just flat out wasnt #batman meta #bat meta #thoughts on rye

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hamartia-grander · 10 months

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Tired of ppl erasing Leon's flaws. Anyway, resident evil 4 remake analysis:

The funny thing with the remake is, they didn't actually write out Leon's misogyny from the og; they simply recontextualised it. He no longer says "following a lady's lead just isn't my style", but he DOES say "maybe you aren't heartless after all" to a woman who's saved his life and the life of Ashley countless of times. Hell, Ada is the reason Leon lives past Mendéz, she's the reason he finds Ashley again, she's the reason he is able to find anything in that place, and he still has the audacity to act like she doesn't care, or worse, that she's completely heartless, just because he got his wittol feewings huwt.

Leon's so selfishly caught up in making it entirely personal, even when she established that it wasn't, that he's letting his butthurt feelings literally warp his perception of her into something monstrous. He is quite literally the "one woman wronged me in the slightest way so I will distrust and despise her forever but actually it was just my entitled ass demanding more than she ever consented to give" kind of incel. All she did was kiss him in re2r, she NEVER said it meant anything, or that - fucking hell - she'd be committing to him in any way. I mean the very fact that she should have shot him to get the sample but didn't should be the biggest proof, to the audience and to Leon, that she truly cares and just didn't want him to get caught up in her work, which she actively recognises is not morally sound work.

Also, Leon never once stopped to care about or consider her own turmoil about it?? Every time they talked it was about his feelings and his sense of betrayal and "or are you just using me again", it was never about her. She cares more about him than he cares about her and it breaks my heart. He only cares about himself in this situation, he only cares about how Ada's actions affected him through his own lens, he only cares about his own hurt and doesn't stop for a second to consider hers. He doesn't see Ada as her own person, he sees her for what she could do for, or to, him. He sees her as a projection of who he wanted her to be, not as a person. And that's misogyny at its core.

And as for the fans ignoring every wrong thing Leon has ever done, and instead hating Ada for doing nothing wrong, that too is misogyny :)

Edit to add: it's most clear in how Leon treats Krauser in the exact opposite way. Despite Krauser being a power hungry maniac who killed Luis in front of Leon, Leon still appeals to Krauser's honour, he still tries to put himself in Krauser's shoes and says he "understands" the pain and betrayal Krauser must have felt. And these are all normal, natural reactions to seeing someone you used to respect and admire fall short. But the point is, he reacts this way with Krauser because he saw Krauser as a human being capable of good, whereas he only saw Ada as a projection of who he wanted her to be, and when she wasn't actually like that, he hated her for it.

Capcom's misogyny infects everything they make, and while they genuinely tried making Leon no longer misogynistic, this kinda thing still slipped through because Capcom only sees Ada as a romantic extension of Leon.

Edit again: Another thing is that just because you might think something is in character for Leon/makes sense for him to feel/act a certain way, that doesn't inherently mean he's right to. Like, Leon's an unreliable narrator a LOT of the time - anyone who has survivor's guilt like he does is gonna be. Just because you think it "makes sense" or you understand why he'd be upset, doesn't mean he's in the right to treat Ada the way he did. Leon was also understandably upset with Krauser and his actions, even saying Krauser "won't get away with this", and yet he still approaches Krauser with respect, and tries to empathise with Krauser's experiences. I just need people to understand that this double standard from Leon is obvious and misogynistic, that's all.

#leon kennedy #Ada Wong #resident evil #resident evil 4 remake #resident evil 4 #re4 #re4 remake #leon s kennedy #re4r #resident evil analysis #re4 analysis #this is an Ada Wong defence account #leon stans there's no hope for you is there

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amaryllisblackthorn · 5 months

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spoilers for the percy jackson and the olympians series, the heroes of olympus series, and the demigod diaries (i think)

there's no way Luke was written to have been actually attracted to Annabeth in the og PJatO series, no matter what subsequent books have said since. This is a case where I invoke Death of the Author and rationalize those later instances as Percy and Annabeth being unreliable narrators on the matter, regardless of Rick's actual intent. because it's just not there in the og series. especially when TLO emphasizes that they're family to each other.

Annabeth and Luke both come from a background of not having a stable frame of reference for familial love, so I can see both of them come to misidentify their feelings towards each other as romantic despite the feelings never actually being romantic in nature -- which is canonically the case for Annabeth.

post-Titan's Curse, from Luke's POV, Annabeth is the only one visibly/vocally ... who still cares about him? hasn't given up on him? like. WE know the complexity of Thalia's feelings re: Luke, and also Thalia was no where remotely in the wrong. but to Luke, Thalia basically cut ties with him.

and like, that's a lot, for him. for lack of better words. it's no secret how important Thalia's been to Luke, how hard he's clung to her and like.... i'm not eloquent enough to properly express it but like. he's clung so hard to not exactly a memory but something rooted/stuck in the past and the Thalia in the present destroys that and now he's left with nothing regarding that (which is his own fault! but he cant see that)

but Annabeth's still there. Annabeth, who he's had ~5 years to bond with after Thalia's 'death'. Annabeth, who's /always/ been there.

i think that if Luke had in fact come to potentially misidentify the nature of their feelings as romantic, it would have been post-Titan's Curse, pre-BotL. but they were never ACTUALLY romantic feelings.

which brings us to his final moments in TLO, where he infamously asks Annabeth if she loved him.

Annabeth starts to say 'There was a time I thought --', then looks at Percy, then tells Luke, that although he was like a brother to her, she never loved him [like that]. and Luke nods.

Annabeth is able to compare her feelings for Percy -- their feelings for each other -- to the feelings she's had for Luke and is able to realize that they were different, and that they had been different all along.

and, if continuing the proposed/potential 'Luke came to misidentify the nature of his feelings' reading, Luke nodding is him realizing the same thing. that the feelings Percy&Annabeth have for each other is and always has been different than the feelings Luke&Annabeth have had for each other.

it's important to stress that, re: this interpretation/reading, Luke never had actual romantic feelings towards Annabeth && he was never actually attracted to her!!! is it still problematic? sure but like. of course their relationship is problematic, specifically regarding Luke's treatment towards her throughout the og series, the power dynamic, etc. but i stand by him not having actual romantic feelings towards her in the og series, regardless of subsequent books.

#Luke Castellan #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #pjato #Ab Analyzes #heroes of olympus spoilers #hoo spoilers #the last olympian #annabeth chase #;in which i attempt to approach a controversial topic in the fandom

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aotopmha · 8 days

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I continue my journey of watching a playthrough of FF7.

Currently at the end of disc 2.

I did not expect Cloud to have the depth he ends up having at all.

And the core of it all to be a desire for validation.

I'm super fascinated by the idea of him just actually being a Sephiroth clone all the way through instead of just emulating Zack and being an unreliable narrator because of various elements (memory, strength of will etc).

What if he really did just have memories of that child Cloud and was a completely blank slate otherwise?

It's something super fascinating to think about to me.

Even if he was just an "empty clone", wouldn't his grief for Aerith still matter? Wouldn't his journey with everyone still matter?

Out of all things I've seen said about FF7, I could not agree less with it being called shallow narratively.

Cloud's an amazing character by himself.

But Tifa surprised me, too.

Disc 1 already impressed me with Barret, Aerith and Tifa having their own character struggles that avoid stereotyping when many stories in 2024 still can't do that.

Yes, Aerith dies, but she matters all the way through the story, down to Holy.

But I really like how Tifa ends up owning up to her insecurity and uncertainty, just like Cloud ends up finding himself again.

The reason why Tifa didn't properly connect with Cloud when they were younger was because she was dealing with her own trauma, her own struggles and on that specific day, she lost her mom.

Proper communication could not happen because both parties were limited by their own personal perspectives and experiences.

I love the detail that Cloud acknowledges his selfishness in wanting Tifa to notice him. In the end she is not obligated whatsoever to notice, to validate him.

But because he was a child, he did not consider her perspective at all.

And she did not tell him the truth because she was trying to protect him.

When in truth direct communication is what saves them both in the Lifestream.

I think her arc still ends up being fairly relationship-centric, but it is the good kind of relationship-centric where she can also be her own person.

Sephiroth continues to be super effective as an horror story villain. He successfully basically destroys Cloud's mind by framing events in a particular way and using the circumstances as they are, gets him to give him the Black Materia.

Also, the snowboarding is not out of place and "right after" Aerith dies, you learn about Gast and Ifalna and spend some time at the village before you go do it/you are let through to the mountain.

Out of all things, this leg of the story just made me want the OG FF7 be properly remastered and retranslated instead of the mess we have right now on PC. Something more similar to the pixel remasters for 1-6.

It has a very particular atmosphere to it, which the remake doesn't really aim to replicate, choosing to do its own thing.

(Which I actually really appreciate, but I absolutely hope they'll retouch the OG game at some point.)

Tl;dr is I really like this story. It's really really good.

Curious to see the finale.

#Final Fantasy 7 #Final Fantasy VII #FF7 #FFVII #Final Fantasy #FF

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xxjustshakeitupxx · 2 months

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I cannot express how excited I am to watch my boyfriend play Rebirth. We just started last night and I'm already having to hold myself back from reacting lmao

Example -

Boyfriend: *Playing as Zack and has no knowledge of OG FF7 or FF7 in general* What the fuck is happening? Why am I playing as rocker man? I want the characters I actually know.

Me: Zack's cool leave him alone

B: Ugggh

B: *Fighting as Zack reluctantly*

Me: *Trying to get him to like Zack* Look at this dude just swinging the Buster Sword around with one hand lol

B: He's trying to be like Cloud and I don't like it

Me: *Trying not to make a face* Leave him alone 😆 ... 👀💦

Nibelheim

B: *Sees Cloud squatting in the truck and laughs* This dude is NOT squatting lol who does that?

Me: He's just a lively kid 😆

B: I like older Cloud better, this kid's a nerd lol

Me: He's happy!

Tifa and Aerith in Kalm

Tifa: This is gonna sound crazy but... As far as I know, Cloud wasn't in Nibelheim 5 years ago.

B: Wait, what???

Me: *Fighting a look*

B: No, this can't be a case of an unreliable narrator, he wouldn't have said anything in front of Tifa if he was lying. Right??

Me: I'm not saying anything, play the game haha

B: *After Tifa goes back to bed upset after the confrontation* I mean a scar doesn't mean anything, that's not proof.

Me: Yes it is?? It's in the same spot??

B: No that just means she got hurt, maybe it IS an unreliable narrator where they're both lying or something else is happening.

Me: Like what?

B: Like everything was orchestrated by Shinra or something.

Me: Like a Truman Show kinda thing?

B: Yeah

Me: Lmao sure

#i'm so fucking excited #lmao #I'm sad he doesnt like Zack tho 😭#he was very hurt when Tifa said maybe she shouldnt have been happy to see Cloud again #same #ff7 rebirth #ffvii rebirth #ffvii rebirth spoilers #ff7 rebirth spoilers #zack fair #cloud strife #tifa lockhart

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basedkikuenjoyer · 5 months

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Backup Drummer

Right off the bat, we follow up a note from last time. Kuma's upping the ante on being an unreliable narrator. Now we're doing it a second time. A nested flashback. Fun! I love this, same with the idea it's a pointless exercise. Tragic though it may be, the idea these letters never find Bonney is such a great narrative nugget. Type of thing where...well, I was gonna say you see a flash of static that was there intentionally to cover a key detail but we did that one didn't we?

Seeing this flashback start to fray and break down is interesting. We keep seeing it and now I definitely think we'll have shenanigans upon our return. That's not the only bit of narrative peculiarity though. There's another beat that caught my eye even more:

We've done the "static" effect. Covering up a detail with sound effect Kanji. This one feels more like...listening to the radio at the edge of the station's rage. When it starts to intermingle with another station on the same frequency. This is such a weird little blip. "A smart hawk hides its claws" is a great idiom for all this then we shift to a brief moment with Stussy going oddly philosophical. She went too quiet during the time between the cutaway and this flashback, don't forget her. If there's another "Rashomon" break from the main story she might be a good one. Especially with this weird little adjacent element of a potential relative for Kalifa. It is odd how we get Lucci, Kaku, and a replacement girl. Not to mention the three brothers. Sabo was in Vivi's story, Luffy Bonney's, and the OG Stussy has already been around Marco so Ace fitting in isn't that much of a stretch. Still think Rashomon & Riddles is one of my better ones.

Don't forget she gets tied up in the Tamataebako thread too. Bonney is sorta inherently tied up with Urashima Taro by default with that power while we're at it. Likewise with Vegapunk, but that'll be a little secret for later. Which means now we have to get to Bonney's grand escape. That was our deal. Bonney's really horning in as someone who can fill this open role we've identified. What does our story have to say here?

Distortion. Who does "becoming Nika" remind you of? Club, white hair, doggy form, tboy swag...it smacks of Yamato's Oden fixation. Credit where credit's due, I can argue Kiku threads the needle of these Egghead characters, but Bonney's a good mix of Carrot/Kiku/Yamato as well. Still, this plus the narration feel a certain way to me. Like they're really, really reasserting Bonney as a rival. Her own captain. Someone who could have taken Luffy's place if he wasn't here. Fair is fair, our main narrator being unreliable has happened too. With the redacted announcement of the Luffy v Kaido battle. But this makes me wonder how much we'll even focus on Bonney if this flashback continues. Remember she's the third Supernova this arc set up to end her saga.

We'll get to Luffy & Kuma tomorrow, but I have a last thought on Bonney. With all the Thriller Bark elements floating around, did she lose her crew to the buzzsaw of the New World? As in, end up like Moria? Interesting parallel on the table at least. I always thought Yamato was intriguing from the vantage point of like, being perfect if Luffy did blunder into the New World too early and meet the same fate. Yams is a great person to bail you out and start a new crew. Not like anyone wanted that outcome but you can't forget Moria's shadow hanging around. Potentially even literally given the Blackbeard ship could be stolen.

#one piece #chapter 1101 #post-wano musings #jewelry heckin bonney

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meerawrites · 11 months

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The Lovers you take are dangerous...

Working title: liaisons x vampires.

Genre: gothic historical horror but make it rococo and a send up of capitalism and corruption and what the og novella was regarding the Ancién Regime in its day.

POV: third person (unreliable) narrator(s), epistolary, and flashback.

Summary: Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) meets Anne Rice, everyone’s bi and varying degrees of unreliable. A send up of capitalism, absolute power, patriarchy, abuse & more.

Pitch: Les Liaisons dangereuses (English: Dangerous connections or dangerous liaisons) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos x IWTV 1976 x TVL by Anne Rice.

Playlist.

Excerpt: It was a bright sunny day that day in the summer. All the days thus far had been, despite the engulfing darkness of the night and the ocean fog rolling over the brightly colored houses. At least the hustle and bustle of the city kept the dark at bay and paid a fraction of her rent. Isabella could always anticipate the rent, or when a caller wanted her, or even when her editor wanted a piece. She didn’t foresee the vampires.

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this-acuteneurosis · 1 year

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im going to be really, really curious what you do with force sensitivity, like og trilogy there were like 5 force sensitives throughout the whole movie, and Yoda strongest Jedi in centuries last of them teaching powerhouse Skywalker lineage on a very tight time frame of im going to die soon can only teach so much is very different beast then there are many thousands of trained force sensitives running around with accumulated knowledge and wide variety of power. Leia perspective will be FUN.

Not gonna lie, I have a very strong head canon for how the Force works, and, uh, it maybe crossed canon at specific points, but if it's recognizable that's mostly an accident. And while the head canon is strong and defines pretty much every fic I write in the GFFA, I don't really write about it outright unless speaking about it in plain terms is necessary for the story (see: no explanation in For Want of a Skywalker).

For DLB, at a meta level, if people are interested, I hope my audience understands that all of my narrators are unreliable and imperfect. Leia's understanding of the Force comes a teeny, tiny bit from a couple of things her parents said about Jedi, mostly from Luke and his personal experience with it, and currently a bit more from her own experience and conversations with Jedi in the Order. She doesn't know how it works, and hasn't really had to talk about it in an academic or mechanical way very often.

In contrast, the Order has a lot of history, academic study, belief, and organization behind their perception of the Force. For this fic, I'm really leaning into ignorance and bias being the key between the Order's understanding of the Force and Leia's. To some extent, both of them are wrong about how the Force works. Not maliciously, they just don't know. And what they do "know" is personal and limited. So Leia and the Order will make assertions, based on experience and data, and might come close to "the truth" without hitting right on it.

All this to say, Leia is about to have some conversations with the Jedi Order about the Force, and actually...they aren't necessarily accurate to how things "are." Just to what both sides have experienced.

So if characters say something, and then later in the fic stuff happens and it doesn't fit with what's been asserted about the Force, that's not a mistake or an accident. I'm very purposefully having both Leia and the Order learn, by trial and error, what they don't know about the Force.

#Don't Look Back #Leia Skywalker #Jedi Order #the Force #canon what canon

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bread-by-drone · 6 months

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the rigged reapings theory

a mini-essay

now while i do really love the “randomness” of the games, there has been a theory going around that the reapings might be rigged by the capitol.

i’m not talking about the “chosen one” theory bc katniss is not a chosen one

i am talking about how the capitol controls everything and one of snow’s fundamental characteristics is his need for control and yet all the reapings are left up to chance?

like believe what you want (personally i still like the random reapings) but it is interesting to note that the hunger games are an entertainment device as well as a means of holding onto political power and control and, like in irl reality tv, the storylines and casting choices are ALWAYS manipulated to pull in a larger audience.

in TBOSBAS lucy gray is explicitly mentioned to be reaped as a result of petty, teenage relationships. if it was happening, even on a small scale, back in the 10th hunger games and snow knows this because lucy gray told him, even if she was somehow wrong or exaggerating, this might’ve given snow the idea to use rigging in the future in order to control the games’ narratives every year.

someone that obsessed with power and control and order would want to manipulate the hunger games to fit whatever would keep the capitol watching and keep the districts obedient and/or fearful.

the OG trilogy also explicitly tells us the fact that victors children are coincidentally more likely to be reaped. katniss being the unreliable, limited narrator she is even makes it a point to comment on it herself.

this theory is not so much trying to make katniss a chosen one but more reaffirms the capitol and snows need for control. it reiterates the point that everybody is in the games all of the time and katniss volunteering was unexpected and not in any way a “chosen one” kind of moment

side note: if they did want to punish either katniss or gale they could’ve just killed them or their family or repaired the fences or made them Avoxes… so on and so forth. reaping prim was probably just the result of some game maker, likely under snow’s influence, trying to find a kid that fit an archetype that capitol officials wanted to have in the games that year.

#the hunger games #thg #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #katniss everdeen #thg katniss #primrose everdeen #thg prim #the hunger games peeta #peeta mellark #katniss and prim

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makethosenarratorsfight · 11 months

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UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE D

Narrator of Tell Tale Heart propaganda:

The OG, the meme, he has it all

Scout Propaganda:

because shes like 6 she constantly misinterpret things within the narrative. also that boo radley thing

#the tell-tale heart #the tell tale heart #tell tale heart #edgar allan poe #scout #to kill a mockingbird #how to kill a mockingbird #unreliable narrator battle #unreliable narrators #polls #side d

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dumbasswhatever · 8 months

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Responding to your unrecomendation, mine would be scum villain self saving system. It's a Chinese bl novel. It's about a reader, Shen Yuan, who got isekaid into the novel he hate-read, as the villainious teacher, Shen Qingqiu, that abuses the protagonist. Ofc he strives to do the opposite within the limits of ooc. So why it would be my unrecomendation is three point:

1. Resolving the protagonist dilemma.

So the protagonist, Luo Binghe, in the og novel is a tyrant with 300+ wives so he's kinda fucked bc of his childhood trauma. He's a paranoid, power hungry and lust hungry. So ofc Shen Qingqiu tried to treat him better in this one. Except that the author doesn't extend more than that. This kid has no friends other than his childhood bestie. Where's his other friends? Classmates? Bonding between children that can help foster good emotional connection and be a normal teenager? ZERO. Author wrote him to only rely on Shen Qingqiu emotionally and never addressing his previous trauma under the og villain. It's still there!! And it effects the whole novel!!! He's emotionally unstable.

Luo Binghe was so obsessed with him he literally kept Shen Qingqius corpse in his bedroom for five fuckin years, while SQQ junior tried to get him back for a proper burial. When he did find SQQ, Luo Binghe feed him a parasite that can track him anywhere. WTF.

2. The harem.

In og novel, all women are his wives. So what happened to them in this one? Well. They do get mentioned. But barely. One was an airhead but she got more sensible and thats it. Thats all??? I know bl has issues with how they treat their female casts but damn author you could've made them lesbians at the least.

3. Shen Qingqiu himself.

Personally I see him as someone who views the protagonist as a son/student so when people said "oh the characters said that SQQ is mourning for Binghe like a widow mourning for his husband >><<" i get pissed cause father mourns too!!! Teachers mourns as well!! Does platonic relationship means nothing?? Also even if Shen Qingqiu is an unreliable narrator, I can still read that how he views Luo Binghe. Definitely not romantic. Also the fact that he was forced to became Binghe's stay at home wife when he's literally THE Head of Scholarly Peak?? Who loves to explore and record weird plants and animals? Sir. What's the damn difference than a normal het novel then?? Other than no baby and pregnancy. What's the damn difference than the og protagonist having 300+ wives who were shut in his palace than this Binghe with a man who became a shut in? HEAD IN HANDS

I have so many grievance with this book cause it could've been better. Not even counting the teacher-student relationship and many other red flags that are flying actively in this book. I am tortured with visions. Everyday im gripping the sink, saying "It could've been better. But it DIDN'T."

Definitely do not recommend 0/10 dont do this don't read this book. Its better to read other things like a textbook maybe. Sorry if this is long i can only hope that you're entertained. Best regard.

i am very entertained holy hell thank you for the essay. also this book is O_O huh. the basic concept (like making a story/character happier out of spite) sounds like it could be a very fun read but then every single other detail you listed is like hoooooooly shit. this guy's got 300 wives and doesn't have a single relationship with any of them

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catty-words · 2 years

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now that i’ve spent a year with it and any given song off the album can still replenish my joie de vivre at the drop of a beat,

a non-exhaustive list of things i love about ever after (2011):

- themes!!! and! motifs!!! and how it’s about yearning for a simpler time all while knowing that you can never truly return and how the more often you try to go back to that simple time, it corrupts a little bit about what was good in the first place but also about how letting go of the innocence and hope you feel the pull toward would be just as unpalatable.

- vitally important to my listening experience is how these themes and motifs are grounded in music that captures an essence of the popular music scene from my high school years i’m not musically knowledgeable enough to describe in any concrete terms but absolutely, absolutely pings nostalgic to my ear without really having to try

- how josh ramsay et. al. were absolutely, honest-to-god trying

+ disclaimer before we really dive in: i know there’s an official story for this universe, an established canon, but i long ago decided that i get a rich enough story simply listening to the music. so though my interpretation may be wildly inaccurate, no it isn’t. :*

“ever after”:

- one of the joie de vivre restorers, the og, my everything

- how about the way my being in love with the intro ah-ah-ahh-ing from day one unlocked my appreciation for porcelain the character? no more than two days ago, i realized the ahhs were her leitmotif and had to sit with the implications of how that ties the whole album together, how it makes porcelain’s sweetness accessible to us in a way it never was to me when i only had the unreliable narration’s take on her, when i didn’t realize she had a voice of her own in the piece

- directly related, how i’m finding new stuff to lose my complete and utter shit about over a listen-heavy year later

- the way the opening lyrics successfully and instantly sweep me off my feet (and how captivating prologues are a hallmark of the band’s work, both in the writing and the performances)

- i mean, once upon a time / i used to romanticize / used to be somebody, nevermind / i don’t miss it that much now. i get chills every single goddamn time.

- the way our main character, the jaded mr. used to romanticize, is in conversation with a younger and idealistic version of himself in a way that makes me feel like porcelain is the younger version of carolina. the music ebbs and flows from the idealistic strings to the jaded, gritty guitar as the narrator once again gets pulled into his own yearning for the ever after he can never completely capture or hold onto.

- the way the second verse

functions as a call to action. sonically, too, i am rising to my feet, bloodied and ready to fight again. we are going back into the fantastical world of ever after, it was only a matter of time.

- don’t you move / can’t you stay where you are, just for now functioning as the tagline for the narrator’s self-destructive urge to cling to the simplicity of the past to the detriment of his present while also going so fucking hard should be illegal

- WHEN THE TOY SOLDIERS HIT (nobody told ya this was gonna fold ya!!!!)

- to have and hold ya, oversold ya being the first critical lyric in the case i’m building that the toy soldiers are the embodiment of our narrator’s aforementioned tendency toward self-destruction and self-loathing

- just. the build of the whole song. it’s gorgeous and it slaps, what more is there to say?

- the outro/transition into “haven’t had enough” can get it

“haven’t had enough”:

- the 8-bit sound of it and how the music somehow extremely effectively evokes playing an arcade game

- the criminally catchy hook and how this is another song that makes me at least thirty percent brighter no matter what emotional state i’m in when it starts playing. BOP O’CLOCK.

- the full circle of the song (testing, testing, i’m just suggesting / you and i might not be the best thing to testing, testing i’m just suggesting / you and i might just be the best thing) lending itself to the song’s place in the broader narrative. they’ve done this before, the narrator and ever after. in fact, they’ve been stuck now, so long / just got the start wrong. and it’s the hope that maybe things will work out this time that keeps mr. used to romanticize reliving his time in ever after over and over again (one more, last try / imma get the ending right). the arcade game is eating you alive but you’re actually pretty okay with the brightness consuming you. are you not?

- (i would inject this song directly in my veins, so yeah. you’ve got me, mr. romanticize, go on and insist / that [i] haven’t had enough.)

- that guitar (?) lick that comes in halfway through the chorus to revitalize it?? has me so completely by the throat i am a sleeper agent and that lick is my fucking trigger i am not responsible for what i do when it sets me off

- the don’t you need it?s and don’t you want it?s feeling like as much of a question for himself as for ever after/carolina/porcelain. is the cycle worth it? should we really be putting ourselves through this one more time?

- you know the moment in the chorus following the bridge, where it’s like one more, last try / imma get the ending - / YOUUUUUU? yeah, i like that a normal amount.

“by now”:

- i tend to think of this song as the official start to the story we’re meant to retread and retread and retread forever and ever amen. in order to get the ending right, we’ve gotta take a look at where everything went wrong. i feel vindicated in this read by the acoustic guitar. the jadedness stripped down

- it's time that i come clean, but / but for now can we just both pretend to sleep? building on the narrator’s defining flaw as his fear of change and how he tricks himself into believing that not moving in any particular direction means he gets to avoid the change entirely.

- how cheeky the line our talk is small, i'm seven inches tall reads to me because it captures a very real emotion about being formal with someone you know intimately, intimately but also because ever after is a fantastical toy land - let the album art influence your listening experience - and thus invites a more literal interpretation

- the menace of the drums in the outro; toy soldier motif anyone?

“truth or dare”

- you know, i didn’t love this one at first, nor “toy soldiers”, but now i’m deep in it for the villain songs

- nobody will know how you come and you go for it aka the toy soldiers being like “you’re so gagged for ever after, like, it’s kind of embarrassing for you”. wig fully snatched, i absolutely am horny for this album.

- just. the whole of verse two

and how it’s the seductiveness of the narrator’s worst impulses. give into this place, give into the comfort of it. it’s safe, we promise.

- the way the outro feels like clouds parting to the streaming sun, mr. heartthrob arriving on the scene with a near angelic leitmotif to stand up for himself against his own shit

“desperate measures”:

- and like, what i mean by that is, the whole song is about the narrator recognizing his shortcomings as a romantic hero, but pushing for action anyway. this song is the anti-stay where you are, just for now

- when the “desperate measures” guitar hits 👌

- the scathing humor infusing the lyrics gonna make a heartthrob out of me / just a bit of minor surgery / these desperate times call for desperate measures drives me fully insane. girlies when it’s gonna take minor surgery to make a heartthrob outta them but desperate times call for desperate measures

- hearing have a piece of american dream / open up and swallow, on your knees / and say, “thank you, i’d like some desperate measures, please” for the first time was just like, are we allowed to do this are we allowed to just record stuff like that and casually slide it in front of my ears my impressionable mind may experience lust 🥵

- fellas, is it personal growth to acknowledge you’ll never get over the pull of ever after? fellas, is it problematic to hinge your ability to get the ending right on a kiss for luck from your beloved when they’re already falling out of love with you?

asking for a friend.

“porcelain”:

- the vital, vital importance to the album’s fairytale aesthetics that the sweeping ballad is the exploration of the narrator’s best and worst quality: the depth of his love for porcelain, for their ever after life together. as his beacon of hope, it’s where he draws inspiration for moments of great heroism. but he also lets it run so deep that it overshadows his own personhood. and i love the way the music speaks to this dynamic with a pervasive and ominous and tense whooshing noise underlying the simple, beautiful melody.

- you can’t erase the way it pulls when seasons change because, like, yeah! time marching ever onward does pull at you, i feel this line in my bones. but also the way the line reflects back on the narrator’s relationship with living in the past vs. being in the present… woof

- the instrumental break slaps, it’s the best part of the song let’s be real. and the fact that the ahh-ah-ahhhhing returns! the narrator just told porcelain she has the space to tell him what she needs whenever she’s ready for that, and then the song itself gives her the break in which she can use her voice. fuckin masterful!!

“fallout”:

- SONG OF ALL TIME when the intro hits i lose all semblance of composure it makes me need to punch windows!!! i am gargling the glass!!! i am launching myself into the stratosphere and i’ll never feel the pull of gravity again!!!! FUCK

- okay but. the way this song is the narrator at his worst, his most cloying, his most pitiful. it is THE pathetic meow, meow anthem and the fact that it goes as fucking hard as it does... i cannot articulate the implications without wanting to pull out my hair but. it’s alluring!! being your worst self has a great pull on you! there’s a certain kind of dark triumph to it! WHERE’S THAT BROKEN GLASS

- the way the ‘boom-boom-tcha’ of the beat starts to speed up so there are no rests as we approach the chorus. we’re losing control: of ourselves of the narrative of the song itself!! take me away, ian casselman.

- the way you’re sleeping like a babe beside him makes me think of ‘babes in toyland’ every time i hear it. i’ve never actually seen the movie, i don’t know if it’s thematically resonant, but kind of like the seven inches tall lyric from “by now”, it simply tickles my brain that the words can evoke the universe we’re in with only sparse accompanying visuals

- how the performance of i know you’re fine but what if i / fallout crescendos. filed under: lyrics to belt along with in your car with all the windows down

- mm, shoutout to live at the rave milwaukee (2022) for giving me undying appreciation of the backing fallouts. can these boys harmonize or what?

- the way and nevertheless / it’s never you let tastes

- one of the very first things that captivated me about this song, and indeed the whole album, was the delivery of don’t tell me to fight / to fight for you / after this long, i shouldn’t have to. the pain of it?? the kinda understated wail? i turn this part all the way up in my headphones and ache ache ache

- god, just. i’m back to how pitiful it is to ask the person who’s broken up with you to be with someone else to take care of you because you don’t know how to get over this on your own. why do i love this song? why do i need to be screaming along to this song at all times?? i actually hate the narrator here, but god does the music move me in a way that kindles empathy

- porcelain’s leitmotif coming in to like, soothe us through the end of the song. the way that’s her doing what our narrator’s asked??? girl, couldn’t be me

“stutter”:

- i’d gone through a bit of a cool phase with this song, a period of ‘mm, this is cringe, actually’ but i’m just coming out the other end to be in love again. too fun for it’s own good.

- in terms of the narrative of the album (and this is the one thing i do know about the canon story), this is the narrator meeting a new character, one who has let themselves be consumed by ever after (i won’t ever be anywhere but here), now forever stuck in the cycle. it’s bright and fun - like the arcade game consuming you - but there is a brokenness to it, too. it’s too late to go / already taken me forever just to try…

- the backing ooh nah nahs tbh (thank you, matt webb)

- like, try not to bop along, i dare you

“toy soldiers”:

- now that our narrator’s been galvanized to want to move on, to leave ever after behind, we gotta get the villain in here to remind us you can’t actually escape.

- the lyrics who’ll be my montague now / to this broken capulet / how, how, how if not for you and the way the how-how evokes the word ‘house’ before moving on to the rest of the line.

- the refrain of don’t you want love? shining a light on the narrator’s insecurity that he’ll never have something as special and formative as his relationship with porcelain and how the toy soldiers are exploiting that to convince him to stay in ever after. you need to get this back, you can’t just walk away. don’t you think i [ever after/the narrator himself] deserve better after all that we’ve been through?

- and then of course the threat of i’ll follow you like toy soldiers, a reminder that ever after is with you whether you choose it or not.

- fuck man, the second verse

is fucking lit, the inherent threat. *touches a hot stove* the poetry of it.

- this song is one of those that never caught my attention when i was first falling in love with the album, but now i can’t believe there was ever a time i was kinda indifferent to it. it makes me feel like the embodiment of this emoji 😈, an emotion i apparently quite like to feel

“b team”:

- the way the intro of this one feels like a distorted version of “desperate measures”. the toy soldiers have baited the narrator into bitterness, and perhaps this is the part of the story where mr. used to romanticize is born, the seeds of him planted

- the way the second verse

illustrates the particular shape of said bitterness, and how it’s directed at porcelain for breaking the illusion of ever after again and again. the way this is clearly the least gracious read of their relationship - we see the narrator’s hand in the destruction even if he can’t - and really drives home the way mr. used to romanticize getting seduced again and again by the toy soldiers makes them the voice of his self-destruction

- the way porcelain’s out here like, “boy, i would pay you to stop.”

(this bridge bops, though, make no mistake)

- the way the ominous church music outro manages to communicate that there’s about to be a mother-effing reckoning

“so soon”:

- and in that reckoning, finally, the narrator lets go: of his bitterness, of porcelain, of ever after. it’s an achingly sad and slow affair, but there’s heart-wrenching beauty in the journey, as well

- the way the narrator’s love for porcelain shines brightest right here, in these quiet and unassuming verses

- the way the outro is, like, porcelain and our narrator being released to float peacefully away from us as the ominous organ takes over and - call me crazy - but it feels like the organ is ever after becoming more than just a presence in the narrative but a voice, as well. (i know rosh ramsay et. al. did the transition music at the very last second, so it’s honestly incredible how cohesive and Correct it all manages to be, happy to be out here stanning legends)

“no place like home”:

- GOD but the hundred-voices-as-one production of the opening lines and how it’s every version of our narrator who climbed into the hole of ever after one last time speaking at once

- the way that lends so much weight to familiar sins come crashing in / and sever forever and after / my old friend, it’s time i leave you here / for once, for all in frozen alabaster, his goodbye to ever after and to porcelain. maybe he really means it this time.

- (okay, but ever after, porcelain being home, though 😭😭)

- the lyrics my old friend, it’s time to say goodbye again / no need to tell me where you’ve been, i feel it for reasons only @nottheleastbrave knows and needs to know

- when our gritty guitar comes back now, it’s full of triumph, and we revisit some of the album’s key lyrics and this is it!! the narrator is taking what he needs from ever after to weave something new!! he’s breaking out but not leaving it behind!!

- WHEN THE TOY SOLDIERS HIT reprise

- the way the toy soldier chant builds to i face the music when it’s dire, finally a statement of responsibility and selfhood, a long way away from the i never face the music when it’s dire and the command of face the music when it’s dire in “ever after”. and in direct response to the toy soldier’s onslaught! i say that’s my baby and i’m proud!!

- and so does porcelain herself!! her gorgeous leitmotif coming in once more to bear witness to and approve of our narrator’s moment of self-actualization

- once upon a time / this place was beautiful and mine / but now it’s just a bottom line and he’s officially let go, freeing himself from the cycle

- and in closing off his path back into ever after, he’s finally worthy of the love he’d mythologized to the point of destruction ([there’s no] yellow bricks and happily - / ever after we lived / the end)

- the music box tinkle of an ending inviting you to start over from the beginning, find comfort in the fairy tale all over again. do you dare complete the circle one more time?

in summation: it’s a silly lil pop album, it’s high arté, everyone could get something worthwhile out of listening to it, no one will understand this album like i understand this album. thank you for reading.

#a manifesto no one asked for #got a lot out of writing it though #and it's going to make me putting this album on when i commute to work tomorrow most gratifying #marianas trench #ever after (2011)

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