#this became an essay but i truly think i cracked the case
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Honestly, I think I’ve discovered the actual reason Amber and Alfie don’t work in HOA like they work in the original HHA or DHA. And it’s not entirely due to the actual canon events that are written for this version of the pairing (the dating handbook, Amber’s “no” to Alfie’s attempt at breaking up, forcing Amber into the trial relationship in the first place, etc., etc.), though it certainly doesn’t help. It actually comes down to how their characters were adapted for the English version of the show, and how they are fundamentally different than the OGs.
I’ll start with Alfie first. Alfie in HOA is a goober. He’s doofy, well-meaning, and most importantly childlike. Not even just childish, but childlike. He’s boyish and bubbly, and he certainly makes some weird, sorta sexual comments (especially in S1), but on the whole he’s quite an innocent character. Essentially, he reads as very young. Which he is, especially at the start of the show where he’s probably supposed to be about 15/16, but could even be as young as 14.
Appie, on the other hand, is also a goober. But a different type. He’s honestly way more like Jeroen than Alfie is like Jerome, meaning he’s a something of a womanizer, a bit douchier, and on the whole reads a lot older than Alfie, which I’m almost certain is canonical across all characters (with HHA characters supposedly ending the show at the age of 19, with the timeline across the 4 seasons being only two years— three at most).
The few things character-wise both Appie and Alfie share intrinsically are that they’re besties with Jeroen/Jerome who doesn’t always treat him well, his love for a good practical joke, and (in earlier seasons) his pining for Amber. Of course, Appie also goes through phases of being a bit of a ladies man (see his random interest in Mara), but on the whole these things are constant. But already, the English version of the character is a lot more twinkly eyed and is like “Amber’s really pretty, I hope she notices me” as opposed to the Dutch “Damn she’s hot, lemme tap that”. It’s very subtle, because he’s obviously not a sleazy, bad guy, but it’s though being friend zoned by Amber (for the whole series) that Appie begins to loosen up and be less of a sleaze and more of the silly and whimsical guy we know him as; that’s because of Dutch Amber’s characterization.
I’ll come back to why all that matters, after I discuss the Ambers. (For the sake of keeping track, I’ll refer to them by their last names). Rosenbergh is a rich, pretty, ditzy party girl, but she’s incredibly perceptive. She sniffs out bullshit in an instant, especially with the Mick and Mara situation, but overall she has wicked foot-in-mouth syndrome and just sorta blurts out the first thing that pops into her head even if it’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever heart in your life. She’s extravagant, over-the-top, full of whimsy, and is downright silly. Rosenbergh is simultaneously a ditz and very smart. Simultaneously is the key word here.
Millington is not. She is a much more toned down version of her OG counterpart, and I think that is mostly due to the different actresses takes on the character. This isn’t to say, Millington isn’t any of the those of adjectives I used earlier, but the difference between the English and the Dutch versions of the character is that while Rosenbergh is both smart and ditzy, Millington is simply smart and plays at being ditzy. At least that’s how it reads, and how it reads is incredibly important in this case. Millington would never be caught dead in some of the situations Rosenbergh found herself in, because she’s a fundamentally more uptight version of the character.
So why does all this matter? Because the version of Alfie that we get from the very start is far more like Appie after a good hunk of his subtle character development— far more like Amber Rosenbergh. Amber Millington, on the other hand, is not the type of girl to ever mesh that well with a wild, goofy personality like Alfie’s. She’s just not. Alfie would work super well with Rosenbergh, however, because she’s this whimsical girl with a lot of heart. It’s why Appie works so well with her, too.
This isn’t a diss of HOA!Amber, by the way, because her English characterization is a masterful adaptation of the OG, but there’s a reason why even in S3 of HOA, at the supposed established point of Amfie’s relationship, they still feel so estranged from each other. At the end of the day, Millington has a different outlook on life and an entirely different mindset than Alfie. This isn’t to say they couldn’t work ever, but they’re just not the same pairing that Amber/Appie are.
It also didn’t help that Amfie had no best friends era. Like, sometimes I think we forget that Amber and Appie didn’t get together until the reunion movie. Like they weren’t a canon couple in the series. He liked her, but she didn’t like him back and they were besties. Their chemistry was chaotic and silly, and they had to grow into each other for them to work. Which is why they work. Amber and Alfie never did that, and part of me wonders if that wasn’t entirely because of the plot the English writers put down for them, but rather because the was Ana and Alex played the characters off each other just didn’t allow for it.
Which brings me to my last point: Willow. Arguably, Willow is more like HHA!Amber than HOA!Amber is, and that’s all because of the magic word I’ve been using this whole, poorly-written essay: whimsy. Willow is the glitterbomb to Alfie’s fuse. Their dynamic feels exactly the same as Appie and Amber because Willow is the writers’ second attempt at having Amber Rosenbergh in the picture, and that’s why Walfie works so much more naturally.
Anyway, this got long and I’m sure I missed stuff but yeah. TL;DR: Amfie was unable to replicate Ampie bc they’re just different
#this became an essay but i truly think i cracked the case#this also might be confusing so forgive me if it reads like I’m actively having a stroke while writing it#house of anubis#het huis anubis#amfie#ampie#amber millington#alfie lewis#amber rosenbergh#appie tayibi#all the Appie/Amber stuff also applies for Delia/Felix btw#walfie#willow jenks
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so two different people have asked me about #18. Favorite Beta troll? and it was already getting long, so. here we go 🎉
i won't sugarcoat my garbage opinions here: its eridan fuckin' ampora. welcome to my ted talk on why i love this terrible idiot.
so for context. i read homestuck when i was 14 and it like 6-12 months before my egg would crack. i was starting to be drawn toward male characters in a way i had never before. and my favorite types of characters were (still are?) under-discussed secondary characters with big "i can fix him" energy. so, naturally, eridan really caught my eye.
i liked the contrast between his tactical skill and his interpersonal ineptitude. b/t being kinda badass and being truly pathetic. b/t his attitude of supremacy and his endlessly deep self-loathing. and, yes, i definitely woobified him Big Time back then.
now coming back to the fandom like 13 years later, i see something more? those contrasts still draw me, but now i think about him in terms 1. what it means to be Villain in homestuck (both in his actions and his beliefs), and 2. erisolsprite
since this became an Essay, im putting the rest below the cut
tldr: examining eridan as a villain shows that some Really interesting choices were made in his creation and show how effectively he fills his narrative role. while erisolsprite forcibly hands someone else's perspective to an endlessly self-centered character.
with regards to villainy, in 2011 we had a totally different perspective on timelines and doom and free will and shit? looking back. and its so clear that eridan Had to be what he was, both narratively and meta-narratively?
what got me thinking about it was actually kanaya's sylladex releasing the matriorb? her fetch modus only releases objects when its The Right Time. and The Right Time was for eridan to fucking destroy it. and i realized that shit would've probably been pretty fucked if they got to the condesce with the matriob (something she wants Badly) and feferi (the heiress she was meant to kill).
narratively, eridan was predestined to destroy the matriob, and had he done anything differently, it would have doomed them. and i know this is the case for literally every decision, but idk something about that perspective hits different for eridan, who acts on his worst impulses and almost never has a positive impact on anything
like, goddamn, his classpect is prince of hope, and his planet is wrath and angels. people talk about whether or not he fulfilled his mythical arc or whatever? but it seems like LOWAA was meant to push him to that place of furious tension and volatile fear. it needed to happen and his planet made it so.
(plus i think there's some really interesting post-canon au stuff to explore with eridan learning to redefine prince of hope from "i destroy with my conviction" (meaning "i kill with magic/science") to "i destroy my conviction" (meaning "i deconstruct the things i once considered my core beliefs"))
and meta-narratively, eridan is Useful and also pretty interesting? imo there needed to be some representation of what the expected hemocaste beliefs of alternia were like. specifically someone representing the intersection of hyperviolence and bigotry that forms that backbone of their culture. eridan, as a war-tactic-obsessed seadweller, does a really good job of that.
but what twists him into something more is his role as an orphaner. in homestuck, eridan is the voice of his society's most violent and genocidal beliefs, and he is uniquely placed in a position to enact them. but he doesn't.
if eridan's bigotry is thought about as a narrative necessity for the arcs of other trolls (♋, ♉, ♐, etc.), it becomes more clear that some really clever choices were made to show a complex version of that (while still not overshadowing how Terrible he is). eridan is meta-narratively given infinite opportunities to do unspeakable violence that he Does Not Take. which serves to both undermine how dangerous he is, and to call into question the depth of those beliefs.
and with all that in mind: holy shit erisolsprite. eridan joined in mind and memory with sollux, a powerfully psionic goldblood who grew up in the shadow of helmsmanship. erisolsprite is so united in their self-loathing that they find unshakable common ground (as opposed to sprite-sploding like others do). its arguably The most stable relationship we see eridan have and the most stable sprite made of 2 trolls, and thats so wonderfully fucked up.
for eridan specifically, who is almost defined by being self-centered, he suddenly has the full memory of growing as sollux, who lived his life in the shadow of his own doom and was endlessly willing to sacrifice himself for others. eridan is literally is shoved into sollux's shoes and given memories of every previous step, all while sollux is still wearing those same shoes.
and while being erisolsprite definitely Sucks Ass, i can't stop thinking about how much that would affect eridan (Positively) if he ever got out of the sprite. tbh im also curious what sollux would walk away from erisolsprite with, but thats a post for a different time. i could go on, but it would probably just turn into a fanfic about it
ok my eridan rant is over. i hope this made sense. thank you for coming. here's a little bonus lowres eridan 💚
(also i havent played pesterquest yet so idk anything about that. ive been meaning to but its dubiously canon so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
#homestuck#eridan ampora#mspa#five writes#lmao this is almost 1k words#and tbh im just scratching the surface#theres SO MUCH to talk about
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Right in front of you
A Halstead!sister
Jay held a strong grip on your upper arm as he led you out to the school hall. "What the hell was that Y/N? Are you happy now? God.... I can't believe you cheated!" he sneered, "EYES UP HERE Y/N!! "
"I'm sorry" you sighed, locking eyes with Jay, silently praying that he would let this go. It was only one time anyway. It wasn't a big deal.
But he let out a hollow laugh, "Thirty percent, Y/N, THIRTY PERCENT. You're going to have to do better than a half-ass apology. What exactly are you sorry for? Huh? For cheating? Or being caught?"
Requested : Yes by @study-coffee-chicago : They found out she cheated on a test in high school...and Jay's the one who has to pick her up.
Warnings : angry!Jay (lots of it), alcohol, swearing, anxiety attacks
Note : I am so so so sorry this so longg 😭 I ended up so far away from the actual request kayela please don't block mee 😭 butt I've learned alot in writing abt active and passive voices and using more imagery Yayy!! I'm so glad that yall are ok with my grammar thank uu🥺
MASTERLIST HERE
The piles of homework and flashcards you needed to memorize had no end in sight, and now that Will was taking nightshifts along with his usual double shifts, and intelligence was tracking down an underground drug cartel, you spent most days alone, allowing your mind to engulf you.
Every time you sat down to study, you felt a striking pain in your chest. In mere seconds the air was sucked out of your lungs and you found yourself panting, desperate to get oxygen back into your body.
You would be surrounded by books and worksheets and you could swear the walls of your room were closing in towards you, trapping you in a sea of incomplete work.
You failed to follow the schedules and to do lists you had made for yourself. Staring at them, hoping the essays would write themselves.
All you needed, was a break. A moment to relax from anything and everything.
So when your best friend mentioned that her brother used to drink a little before he appeared for an exam, your mind was quick to catch on.
Last night you had borrowed a little bit of beer from Jay's stash of alcohol and took a few sips of it as you studied.
The more you drank, the less bitter it became. It was a weird, new sensation, but it worked nonetheless.
Except now, you were sitting in the girls bathroom at school, ramaging through your notes, trying to recollect what you had learned yesterday.
You saw what you had underlined and highlighted— names in pink and important dates in yellow—but your mind came up blank.
Flipping the pages you saw people in wigs, and castles burning to the ground —None of which you recognized.
A wave of anxiety rippled through you unable to comprehend your next thought —you were going to fail.
Your head was throbbing as you ran a hand down face, massaging your temples trying to calm yourself down.
You took out your water bottle that you had filled with beer and swallowed a few gulps, hoping that it would help you think straight.
You groaned, feeling the sting of alcohol at the back of your throat, popping some mints into your mouth, you ran towards the exam hall.
***
Your foot bounced on the polished wood floors as sweat pooled on your forehead.
You thought you were careful —only taking a peek from your friends answer sheet when Mrs.Ling's back was facing you.
Everything would have worked out if it wasn't for that kid sitting behind you. In a split second your teacher turned around, when he dropped his pen, to see you peering over your partner's desk.
Now you were sitting in the principles office praying that Jay wouldn't be the one picking you up.
You could already imagine his anger at you for pulling him away from his case, only to find you cheated.
Unfortunately luck was not on your side today.
You dare not look at Jay as he entered the office, letting out a huff as he sat down. You could feel the rage emitting him, tension filling the room, as he burned holes looking at you.
"I'll get straight to the point" Your principal started.
"Please" Jay growled, struggling to contain himself. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, when he got the call saying that you had cheated on your midterms.
You and Will were alike,at least he thought so, both good at science and math but weak at geography and history. Nonetheless you continued to secure good grades for the most part.
"Y/n here, was caught cheating from a classmates answer sheet. Our teacher caught her red handed. I truly did not expect this from you. These midterms cost thirty percent of your grade..... "
Pretty soon his voice was muffled like he was getting farther and farther away from you. His figure swayed in front of you as you squinted your eyes to keep him in the center of your vision.
" You are suspended, Mrs halstead"
Your eyes widened , your body choosing the perfect time to bring out what little beer you had taken when you heard those words, letting the alcohol mix with the adrenaline.
"WHAT??!! " Damn, alcohol really bought out your courage as Jay stared at you in shock at your audacity.
"Y/n, your lucky I'm letting you retake the exam. That's only because you've had a clean record so far. I strongly suggest you start preparing early Ms. halstead" your principal said in a firm but monotone voice that left you speechless.
Jay held a strong grip on your upper arm as he led you out to the school hall. "What the hell was that Y/N? Are you happy now? God.... I can't believe you cheated!" he sneered, "EYES UP HERE Y/N!! "
Oh god. Every now and then, the ground would sway beneath you, tiles shifting in your vision. But you counted your steps, carefully putting one foot in front of the other, not wanting Jay to find out what else you had done........ until now.
You tilted your head, only to be met with your brother's piercing stare but little did he know, now it made it infinitely harder to concentrate on your walking.
"I'm sorry" you sighed, locking eyes with Jay, silently praying that he would let this go. It was only one time anyway. It wasn't a big deal.
But he let out a hollow laugh, "Thirty percent, Y/N, THIRTY PERCENT. You're going to have to do better than a half-ass apology. What exactly are you sorry for? Huh? For cheating? *Or being caught?*"
***
You rested your head on the seat as Jay entered the truck, flinching, when he slammed the door shut. Your pounding headache was getting worse by the minute, as your ears started to ring.
You blinked a few times squinting to focus on the road ahead of you but the fast-moving cars and the loud horns made you feel like your head was going to explode.
"Y/n," he addressed you, much calmer now.
You forced yourself to turn to your brother, who wore a confused expression.
But the moment he saw your deshelfed hair and your cracked lips, a wave of worry crashed over him. What the hell?
The truck came to a stop at a red light and Jay immediately scanned you over "Y/n?" he grabbed your chin, his jaw dropping, as he came face to face with reality.
"Are you drunk!!?" he barked , steam basically pouring out of his ears.
But your pleading eyes and empty silence gave him the answer he needed. "Are you kidding me??" he snarled as he slammed the steering wheel.
Oh God no. A blinding pain ripped through your head when Jay's palms made contact with the hard plastic. You winched turning your head away from your furious brother, letting out a whimper.
Jay's eyes widened at the sound, his heart breaking, realizing the pain you were in.
If he was going to be mad at you or at least punish you, you needed to be sober.
He stepped on the pedal as the light turned green taking a few breaths, trying to calm himself down.
With the vice lords reclaiming their territory and selling uncut fentanyl, bodies were dropping all over the city most of them being kids.
Kids..... your age.
Every kid at the morgue, just reminded him of you. He saw parents sobbing, begging for their kids to come back but Jay new better. They were never going to come home. Ever.
So he made it a priority to catch these ruthless creatures. He made it a priority over his sleep, over nine hours shifts and unknown to him, over spending time with you.
"Hey , hey" he whispered, not wanting to hurt you again, "We'll talk about this later ok? for now...... just..... it's ok..... I've got you" here reached out his hand, the other still on the steering wheel, to slowly rub your back as you tried to breath through the pain.
" I got you"
***
Jay wrapped a hand around you allowing you to hold onto him for support.
Silently, he deposited you on the couch, laying you down. He knew that he wasn't in any state to talk to you. He needed to clear his mind from his racing thoughts and rueful images of dying teenagers.
His phone rang, indicating that the district was awaiting him. "Here" he reluctantly shook your shoulders "Y/n, I need to go ok? Will will be here soon"
***
Almost half an hour had passed and you were waiting for Will to get out of the shower. You'd heard Jay explain everything to him over the phone.
You thought about how disappointed he would be.
Will —being the nerd he was— always helped you with your projects and gave you pop quizzes during breakfast, before your exams. He taught you how to organize flashcards just like he did in med school.
Even through your blurry thoughts, the image of Will's betrayed face and embarrassed eyes, knowing you cheated, lingered on your mind.
Your body was all over the place. Tiny noises echoing through your ear. Your muscles simultaneously aching and loose.
You were shivering as you tried to curl up into a ball. Your body trying to hold what little heat it had within itself.
But nothing stopped your tears.
You felt water drops make their way down your cheeks forming small splotches of water on the cushion you laid your head on.
And you didn't bother to wipe them away.
Will more or less was in the same state you were in. There was a multi-vehicle accident on the highway and victims were piling in the ED. He was running from one treatment room to the other, waiting to get back home and crash.
Will walked over to you with a huge glass of water and an advil, gently nudging you to sit up.
Your head still pounded, your eyes zoning in and out of the figure in front of you "Y/n, here drink the whole glass and take this" Will soothed, placing the glass and the pill in your hand "I—I'm sorry" You whispered, distracting yourself from Will's eyes.
Will knew he should be angry. Just like Jay was but he couldn't bring himself to blaming you, not until he had the full story anyway.
You looked so petite on the enormous couch, your legs folded on top of each other, arms shaking as you drowned the glass of water along with the Advil.
Your red puffy eyes and tear strained cheeks,were a contrast from your usual self. or he thinks. He's been pretty busy lately, so he's not too sure. " We'll talk about it later. I'm not angry. I promise"
He assured and was about to head to bed himself when you grabbed his wrist.
If he wasn't angry at you then maybe— just maybe—he would help you.
"Stay" You pleaded , the word falling from your lips just as easily as it had, many, many times before.
And just like before, you were met with Will's soft brown eyes filled with sympathy, ready to help. Ready—to be by your side.
He's slowly nodded climbing onto the couch, next to you. He wrapped an arm around you and you nestled into him, laying your head on his chest.
You found some comfort as he embraced you, talking you under his arm and encompassing you in his warmth.
Holding on to him, you hoped that he would take your pain away, just like he did when you were little.
***
Will woke up to an uncomfortable feeling of something —or someone— tugging at his shirt.
He slowly opened his eyes allowing them to adjust to the light as he felt another a tug at his side. He looked over to you, but your eyes were shut, brimming with tears, your arm laid across his chest.
You were holding on to Will , using him as a lifeline, grounding you from the pain.
You felt a hand squeezing your own, stopping you from gripping the fabric "Y/n?" You opened your eyes to look up at will who had tears of his own, staring at the state you were in "it's okay, I'm here, I'm right here"
He encircles you, tighter than before, whispering soothing assurances into your hair.
***
With Will's help, the pain slowly subsides, allowing you access to your thoughts again.
You step out of the shower, into the living room and your eyes widen seeing Jay and Will sitting at the kitchen counter.
You didn't even hear Jay come in, but right now taking in his hardened glare, you didn't dare ask.
You knew what was coming and you didn't fight. You couldn't.
"So apparently we're cheating on our midterms now, huh?" Jay's calm voice made shivers run down your spine, starting to take rapid breaths.
"And apparently, someone thinks it's ok to steal alcohol from my stash" He gritted, never breaking I contact with you. "Do you think that's how the world works Y/n? DO YOU? BECAUSE LAST TIME I CHECKED YOU'RE STILL A FUCKING TEENAGER!!" He spat, his thoughts fuming towards your trembling body.
It was every dieing body flashing before his eyes, as the past months' agony slipped off his tongue.
"Jay" Will's voice was stern, giving a knowing look towards his younger brother and didn't bother to give Jay time to argue with him.
"Y/n, we need to know what's going on"
"With school, with tests with....... everything" he stated giving you a solemn look meaning every word he said, promising himself that he would do whatever it takes to figure out what had been going on.
You sucked in a breath weighing all your options. You didn't want them to think that you needed a babysitter or that you couldn't take care of yourself.
You knew that they had their own problems to worry about but you couldn't take it anymore.
You hated it.
The feeling of your lungs collapsing, struggling to find air for your body, your stress skyrocketing anytime you sat down to study, never getting any thing done.
All day long you would constantly tell yourself to do your work. Every spare second is spent in making a list of things you want to do but when it was time to actually do those things, your mind wandered and emptied.
You took another deep breath, looking up from your feet, your eyes meeting your brothers.
You spilled the past months events from how alone you were all the time and not being able to concentrate to how you ended up drunk at school and cheating on your midterms.
Tears rolled down your cheeks as you your hands trembled. You stood crying in the middle of the room until you felt a pair of arms around you.
Will placed his hand at the nape of your neck as he stroked your back with the other "Breathe Y/n, just Breathe" He slowly pulled away leading you to the couch.
God, how he wished he could turn back time. Then he'd been more vigilant to notice the changes that had come over you.
You felt the couch dip on both sides but you intently studied your fingers, fumbling with the hem of your shirt and wiped the tears off your face. They were mad. No, they were furious. You knew it.
But for some reason, they weren't showing it. Maybe they were waiting-
"We're not mad"
You without your head around to look at Jay, furrowing your eyebrows in disbelief. Jay? Not mad? HA.
"but I am disappointed though, but that's only because you didn't tell us......
but stealing alcohol was bad too" he added, earning him a glare from Will.
"Y/n, what Jay means is— we could've helped with school . Homework . Tests . Anything, you name it. We will help" he assured, "But how do we know you need help, if you don't tell us?"
You sighed, taking in the weird turn of events that had happened before you. You had wasted all this time, trying to figure out all your problems out, when the answer was right in front of you.
A mountain of guilt now sat on Jay's shoulders, weighing down on him, pushing him deeper into a wormhole of 'if's'.
Maybe if he'd just been a little more careful, this wouldn't have happened.
Maybe if he'd stop and listen to you once in a while, this wouldn't have happened.
While trying to save kids out on the street, he forgot to care for the kid at home. You were his sister, and yet, here you are in front of him, barely keeping yourself together.
But that would change. Right here. *Right now.*
"Y/n," Jay started "If you would have told us how alone and stressed you were feeling.....I would've taken some time off... Maybe we'd watch a movie or something. All you had to do was ask...... And we'll get you the help you need, y/n. You good with that?" he questioned, his anger and frustration dissipating.
You saw your brother, the workaholic detective, wanting to put his job aside, for you .
You were more important to him, than his job—You realized.
" Yea... Yeah, I am"
Will stood up and got another advil with another glass of water. "and maybe you wouldn't end up drunk and cheating on your test" he smirked, crouching in front of you.
"God, I didn't think it would hurt this bad. I am never drinking again!" you smiled , as you drowned the pill.
"See now that's what I like to hear!!" Jay exclaimed, wrapping his arms around you, squeezing you into his chest. You squirmed, trying to get out of his grip, laughing, when you were joined by Will.
You know what? Maybe, things are going to be okay? Ya know?
__________________________
Read more of my fics here!!
Tagging : @girlandthemoon @herecomesthewriterwitch @megaliciab @meyocoko @alkadri-layal
#jay halstead#will halstead#chicago pd#chicago med#jay halstead x sister!reader#halstead sister#halstead sister imagine#jay halstead one shot#will halstead oneshot#halstead brothers
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Reaction to The Devil Judge (spoilers for ep. 9 & 10)
It’s been a while since i’ve last been on tumblr, but i got invested in this drama every week & the fandom’s analyses to not talk about it sometime!
(Last time i was hooked, it was with Beyond Evil and i watched it by the time the finale already aired so i didn’t suffer from the weekly wait!)
So here i am, this is mainly self-indulgent with essay-long interpretations of some scenes in a totally random order, but i’d love to interact with whoever reads this if they want to react!
I’m sorry for the potential awkward phrasings, english is not my first language!
- The recap was nicely done and tied everything together, it made me realize so many things happened since the beginning! The repetition didn’t make me skip it, the narration was dynamic & fun.
- The ‘power display’ & threat Yohan showed to Soohyun (by lashing out at Juk Chang and strangling him, as proxy for Soohyun, in front of her while staring at her) were something …! She answered in the same fashion, passing by him saying she will ‘arrest Juk Chang’. I wonder how their next encounters will unfold.
- Many people already pointed this out, but Soohyun’s decision to leave Elijah, a minor, alone in her car (with its doors open, daring to tell her to stay there when she has no other choice anyway) + stop the gang alone and unannounced off duty was irresponsible. Anyways, i wonder if she will interact again with Elijah because they were adorable, i would miss it!
- The conversation between Soohyun & Gaon at his apartment (ep. 10) was interesting on both parts:
It sounded casual, but Soohyun wanted to see where he stood in the Kang family and make sure he wasn’t in Yohan’s plans (i hope she didn’t seriously mean the ‘weird’ comment about Elijah, it’d be sad since Elijah enjoyed her company!).
Gaon was anxious professor Min told her about their last conversation (i think she’ll talk to him in the next eps). He also indirectly defended the Kangs by associating himself with them (« I’m pretty sure i’m just as weird ») and voiced his concern about Yohan, speaking more to himself than following the conversation at hand.
When Soohyun changed the subject with the ‘i’m jealous’ bit, maybe it was to brighten the mood with a light-hearted comment, hoping Gaon would follow. And by the look of her pause right after, it seemed she was also expecting GO’s ‘positive’ reaction to her jealousy, giving in to the kind of teasing/flirt they have in their friendship. But deep down, it was also to voice her true unease about Gaon’s involvement with Yohan she had since the beginning and ep. 8.
It’s obvious to us she meant she was jealous of Yohan. And GO could’ve understood it this way too, since she confessed to him multiple times and her feelings must be known to him (i think he takes it as a ‘joke’ given how many times she confessed and each time when he was crying, so maybe he thought, very reasonably, it was to cheer him up? I also guess he’s too absorbed by his current worries about the Kangs and her potential suspicion, to notice her attempts).
But instead of that, he’s not in the same line of thoughts at all and picks up on the « rich », musing on what makes one’s existence rich, thinking Soohyun was envying Yohan’s position and life and proving her he’s indeed in a whole different world, empathizing with Yohan.
She then looked like her face fell, until her eyes lit up again when he was about to admit she was precious to him along with his family.
By the way, this scene picks up right where we were left off in ep. 8, when Gaon tends to his plants:
« - Are you back for good?
- Not really. They need some looking after.
- You should come back, not drop by. This is where you live.
- Someone there needs some taking care of too.
- Take care of your own self, please.
- What about me? I’m living a shamelessly comfortable life. Soohyun.
- Yes?
- What are you thinking about?
- Nothing. By the way, Gaon … » (i wonder what she was going to say!)
Lost in thoughts, Gaon’s mixed emotions when he said Yohan was not rich (« he’s not rich. If you get to know him, Kang Yohan is really poor. ») were very well depicted by Jinyoung’s acting: the soft voice and the ghost of a smile that convey understanding and endearment, leaning on his counter in a relaxed stance, but also at the same time the stare lost in the space, maybe to all the memories tied to the Kangs and Yohan, and the tension in his left lip corner by the end of his sentence which betray his sadness and empathy with Yohan’s life. After this, when he became aware of Soohyun’s gaze, it’s like his bubble popped. He looked surprised with his eyes widening, and was fidgeting a little, then changed the subject to himself.
And « I have you, Soohyun » sounded truly grateful but also sad and conflicted, GO lets his worries show when she’s gone, maybe wondering if they would be bound to be against each other one day as he continues to side with Yohan, menacing to jeopardize their friendship to the point of no return. In these kinds of stories you expect these kinds of twists, but i grew fond of the cast send help
- I loved how Yohan’s confession to GO about his brother was filmed: the camera faced head-on his pain, slipping unbeknownst to him through the façade he always showed to protect himself. But this time, despite his (late) attempts to dismiss these feelings both for him and Gaon to regain composure (the hand gestures to hide his tears, pretending to be tough with the « there’s no such things as innocent people », drinking away his sorrow with a bitter laugh that rings hollow), all this façade fades out in front of Gaon literally by being blurred out in the shot, as if he clearly sees his pain through (his silhouette appearing clear-cut between Yohan’s gestures). I know it’s a pretty classic shot but it fit well with this scene. He clenches his jaw in the next shot, moved by Yohan opening up.
- The dinner scene was really moving …! Especially when you put the colder tones the kitchen had when we first saw Yohan have dinner by himself next to this scene, full of light in contrast! I wonder when the OST playing will be released, it was so beautiful and reminded me of My Mister’s OST (especially Rainbow!). I look forward to the lyrics, because most of the time the OST gives more layers & depth to the story and the characters! (please don’t let it be about Yohan’s budding feeling of a true ‘home’ ;;) I didn’t realize it upon my first watch, but Gaon really took the cutlery hostage, it cracked me up!
- The parallels in this show will be the end of me: Yohan went from the « i’m so sick of this place » (ep. 5) to asking K to drive him « home » with a delighted smile.
- I liked the parallel of Yohan’s reaction to GO/Sun-Ah sitting in his office chair, impeding on his space (he reminds SA to stay out of it, the first time politely, the second time almost grimacing, his jaw clenched: « Just because you’re the head of the OSC doesn’t mean you can barge in like this (…) So please stop barging in like this. », while he says nothing to GO)
- At the beginning of ep. 10, we have Yohan saying he doesn’t like « hanging out with people » & by the end of it, Soohyun saying « My childhood’s best friend is hanging out with a rich guy ».
- These two episodes gave more insight and nuance into Sun-Ah’s character, which was very nice ; and also Cha Kyung-Hee’s comeback (and her last confrontation with Sun-Ah!!!!)
- The people following Juk Chang also targeted sexual minorities according to the subs i had, i wonder if it will be addressed again sometime in the drama.
- I loved Elijah’s « hacking » technique scene, i felt proud too! I always look forward to her scenes (and Kkomi’s too haha)! And her reaching out Gaon’s shoulder for the first time ;;
- The ‘humans lose their minds when they think they’ve lost what they have’ ……… repeated twice by YH ………… It will hit hard and all those lines will come right back at us viewers, but i’m not prepared haha! And also for the ‘if you want revenge, don’t hesitate’, i hope it doesn’t foreshadow a future revenge Gaon will execute without hesitation aaaaaa
Also, what lawyer Ko said about himself in ep. 8 may apply to Yohan’s case by the end, will he atone for what he did someday? (« I’m no longer a lawyer. I’m just a criminal. When all this comes to an end, I’ll pay for what i did. »)
- I really loved Yohan’s efforts to take into consideration both Elijah’s (he refrained himself from acting rashly like the last time she went out and listened to her) and Gaon’s feelings (stopping him from endangering himself recklessly, not forcing him onto the revenge path lest he’d regret it afterwards, and helping him to face the truth rationally).
- « She’s hungry for affection. No matter how much you hate the world and the people in it, you can never live alone. You always need someone to rely on. As long as you’re a human being. » Many people commented on it, Gaon must speak from his own experience and empathizes with both Elijah and Yohan’s situation. These two episodes showed how Gaon cares for the Kangs more openly, and i live for it!
- Give me that domestic scene where Gaon plays cards with YH, the nanny and Elijah! And also more K and lawyer Ko scenes!
- Jinjoo’s and Gaon’s intervention in the trial were gold! And Satie’s Gnossiennes rearrangement playing in the background during Juk Chang’s speech, it’s the cherry on the cake haha
- By the way, there was also an arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no. 2 during the first charity event Yohan went with Jinjoo in the earlier episodes, it was also beautiful!
- GO’s Awkward Smile. I have no words, it is now forever imprinted on my mind.
Have a nice week and take care!
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How would describe shameless to someone who never heard of it? How would you describe the specific characters?
I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve these super fun asks, but thank you so much! :D It’s funny that you sent this because I did actually describe the show to someone not too long ago, and I didn’t like how I did it in hindsight. I felt like I didn’t do it enough justice. So, I get a second chance to try again!
“How would you describe Shameless to someone who never heard of it?”
Shameless is a show about how life doesn’t always go our way, we don’t always do the right thing, and we’re all imperfect beings—but we still deserve a chance regardless. The Gallaghers begin the series nearly at rock bottom, doing anything they have to for their literal survival, but also to keep their family together. Sometimes that means supporting each other when they’re in a difficult spot, banding together to help their neglectful father even though he doesn’t deserve it, or even committing petty crimes to sustain their meager way of life. As they get older and have more agency in and control over their lives, the nature of their problems shifts, and they learn from their own mistakes rather than reacting to their parents’. The same trends unfold for the people and families in their orbit, showing that various trials and tribulations can impact anyone of any social standing. Not everyone gets a happy ending; not everyone gets what they want. However, they grow and learn how to manage both the hand that they’ve been dealt as well as the bed they’ve made for themselves. That, after all, is life.
Shameless is a “dramedy” where the comedy elements utilize primarily satire, which sets it apart from the popularity of slapstick and dry comedies over the last decade. By nature, the show therefore addresses difficult, uncomfortable, and controversial topics in manners and utilizing methods that are designed to make us laugh at the absurdity while forcing us to think about these topics in ways that we may have avoided otherwise. This format has been established since the pilot episode and certainly is not to everyone’s taste. I wouldn’t recommend this show to anyone who prefers that such issues be addressed with a deeper analysis on the part of the characters rather than the audience, which is the general tendency in drama pieces rather than shows of this genre.
“How would you describe the specific characters?”
For this, I’ll focus on the main Gallagher family, Kev, V, and Mickey, as they’ve been the constant presences on the show since the start. I’ll also keep it relatively short since I could write essays on each one, and that would bore anyone who hasn’t heard of Shameless (and 95% of those who have) to tears.
1. Frank Gallagher is the stereotypical “deadbeat” who plays the system for every penny so that he doesn’t have to work, choosing to fund his addictions rather than support his family. He will go to any lengths if it means preserving this lifestyle—mild, absurd, and even heinous. He functions as something of an anti-hero, being more a threat to the family’s stability in early seasons than a boon and gradually sinking into obscurity because of his children’s growing indifference as he burns one bridge after another with them. Frank prides himself on espousing only the values that will get him what he wants in a given circumstance. In specific instances, that has meant showing a measure of love and affection for his children that evidence has proven exists deep, deep below the surface. In others, he’s a wild card. Frank’s various fatal flaws have included arrogance, addiction, selfishness, and an avoidance of any and all responsibility.
2. Fiona Gallagher is the eldest and began the series as the rock of the family because, to put it simply, she was the only person able to do it. She selflessly cared for her younger siblings so that they wouldn’t be scattered into foster homes or adoption thanks to her parents’ neglect, even to the point where she gave up portions of her life and blurred the lines between her roles as sister versus caregiver, which became a sticking point in later seasons when her siblings didn’t need or want a mother-figure anymore. While Fiona was initially very responsible with regards to raising her siblings, she therefore sacrificed a lot of opportunities that were important for her development as a young adult and exhibited an immaturity typical of people her age that impacted other arenas of her life, especially relationships. As her role as caregiver dwindled, that immaturity and the norms prevalent in her environment became more pronounced with her newfound freedom, and she struggled greatly in the face of what she viewed as making up for lost time. Fiona’s various fatal flaws have included ambition, a “martyr complex,” and viewing her family as an impediment to her ambitions later in life instead of a support system.
3. Lip Gallagher is the oldest son. He began the series with a hefty chip on his shoulder. Intelligent, quick-witted, and calculating, Lip was constantly referred to as a sort of diamond in the rough and clearly came to believe it. This led to a very fascinating dynamic within the family and his other interpersonal relationships as his love for and desire to protect his family was balanced by a sense that his way was the best way—the only way, really. A combination of poor choices and unfortunate circumstances beyond his control resulted in a very real “fall from grace,” by South Side standards, and Lip has worked hard to claw his way back from where he was in the middle of the series. Where Fiona spiraled further as she withdrew from her family, Lip leaned on them and others in his support system—and it saved him. Lip’s various fatal flaws have included arrogance, contempt for power structures in which he is not at the top, and trying to solve other people’s problems at the expense of dealing with his own.
4. Ian Gallagher is the middle child and something of an outlier in his own right where his family is concerned. He began the series seeming to have his shit together: he balanced school, ROTC, and work, excelling in all three at just fifteen years old. He was plagued by his status in the family at times, not old enough to have more control over his situation while not young enough to shrug off a lot of it on Fiona and Lip, and wanted something for himself more than anything. It’s that combination that put him in an extremely vulnerable position, because while he was the picture of responsibility and didn’t orchestrate as many scams as his siblings (though he was involved in plenty—he is South Side and a Gallagher, after all), it gave him—and his family—the false impression that he was more mature and in control than he was. Multiple older men preyed on him because of that, and in his thirst to find something that was solely his and someone he could care for outside his household, he viewed them as relationships rather than abuse. Like Lip, Ian truly hit rock bottom in a different manner, although the causes of his descent were more heavily skewed beyond his control. In true Ian form, however, he remains driven to find the straight and narrow—and stick to it as much as he can. Ian’s various fatal flaws have included ambition, a “hero complex,” compartmentalizing to the point of narrowmindedness or naïveté, and ignoring his own needs in pursuit of fulfilling others’.
5. Debbie Gallagher is similar to Lip in that she has always been clever, cunning, and driven to get what she wants. Debbie began the series in a difficult position, going to school and contributing to the household while ultimately not in control of anything that was going on. From the start, all she wanted was a functional family, and it colored her behavior throughout the first six seasons of the show. In many cases, that meant doing whatever she could to hold everyone together: investigating Fiona’s lying boyfriend, running a daycare so that Fiona could work all night and still find time to sleep, prompting Fiona to more actively worry when Ian ran away and helping Lip locate him, and caring for Liam a lot of the time while he was a baby. Over the years, as the dysfunctions racked up, she sought an escape through boyfriends and a baby of her own. The means by which she attempted and ultimately failed to achieve these goals were at times reprehensible and spurred on by both her immature ignorance and the culture in which she was raised. Debbie’s various fatal flaws have included self-centeredness, envy, manipulative tendencies, and not thinking or caring about the implications and consequences of her actions for herself or the people involved.
6. Carl Gallagher began the series as a real mess. The word “sociopath” comes to mind. He was the stereotypical “wild child” whose behavior embodied the dysfunctional nature of the family and their environment. He destroyed toys for fun, tortured animals, physically bullied children at school, and was held back multiple times for poor academic performance. Carl was never as academically bright as the other Gallagher siblings, but his street smarts were nigh unparalleled and, like Lip, he could probably survive anywhere. Over time, Carl underwent a remarkable transformation: embracing the negative stereotypes of his environment, he dove towards rock bottom with gusto only to realize that the thug life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Once again, he paralleled Lip and Ian’s trajectory in leaning on his family when it became too much, and he’s turned his entire life in the opposite direction to pursue a path that he hopes will lead to helping people rather than hurting them for his own gain or reputation. Carl’s various fatal flaws have included lack of foresight, a penchant for violence, and ignorance.
7. Liam Gallagher is still very young and therefore tougher to fully characterize as his development isn’t as extensive. Right now, he’s the same age Debbie was when the show began, and we’ve seen just how far she’s come. So, for the time being, Liam is extremely bright and has grown up with a great deal more privilege than his siblings. He doesn’t remember saving for the squirrel fund with fears of not being able to eat all winter in mind. He doesn’t remember what it’s like to worry about Frank or Monica’s actions having an enormous and lasting impact on them. He doesn’t remember Lip dropping out of school and moving out of the house, Monica’s actions at Thanksgiving, Fiona crying over crumpled bills from working at the sport bar, Ian going missing for four months and coming home a different person, or Debbie lying about Patrick just so they could keep a roof over their heads. Liam didn’t grow up with those things, and so he has the luxury of being a kid a bit more of the time. However, because his parents aren’t around and Fiona left the house a long time ago despite being his guardian, he has matured quickly in lieu of any real supervision.
8. Kevin Ball and Veronica Fisher have been the Gallaghers’ closest allies in the neighborhood all this time. Kevin isn’t the brightest academically or in terms of common sense, but he has a good heart and makes the best decisions when he uses it. He has been through a lot, between foster care as a kid, a crazy ex-wife, trying to keep the Alibi afloat, and raising twin daughters that they definitely didn’t have the means for when they discovered that they were expecting two kids. And Veronica… Well, she’s quite literally his other half. She’s savvy and smart, intelligent and assertive—they complete each other. They began the series as an established couple experiencing some growing pains, especially when Veronica was giving the Gallaghers everything from use of their shower to their toaster while Kevin insisted that they needed to focus on themselves before they could help Frank’s kids. (He talked a good game, but when the chips are down, Kevin has always been there for them too.) They’re good people who’ve been given a few bad shakes and taken a few wrong turns, but their love for each other, their kids, and the Gallaghers has made them a surprisingly strong heart of the show. Kevin’s various fatal flaws have included lack of foresight, ignorance, and not standing up for himself. Veronica’s various fatal flaws have included avoiding communication about her feelings and indecisiveness.
9. Mickey Milkovich is the stereotypical personification of their environment. He began the series as a poor thug—and a dirty one, at that—who exuded such a presence in the neighborhood that he instilled fear at a mere glance. His family functioned as a foil to the Gallaghers, perhaps what they would have been if Frank had been a different person or they’d fallen even further. Mickey didn’t benefit from an emotionally supportive family that banded together to provide for more than merely monetary concerns, not to mention that his father was openly and violently homophobic, so it took a great deal of time and overcoming numerous internal and external hardships for him to come to terms with who he is on many levels. Over the years, Mickey was self-employed or acted with his family as a drug dealer, a pimp, and a prison hitman; worked for a drug cartel; and has engaged in any number of other scams and illegal activities in order to make ends meet—and he has been quite happy to keep doing so as it plays to his strengths. Mickey is remarkable, however, because he has always been a multifaceted character whose problematic decisions, abrasive mannerisms, and questionable lifestyle didn’t and don’t negate that he cares very deeply and will do literally anything for the few people he allows to get close to him, specifically Ian. Mickey’s various fatal flaws have included lack of foresight, avoiding communication about his feelings, and not reaching out for help when he needs it.
~*~
That was quite a bit longer than I initially intended, but I had a great time putting this together. Thank you again for the ask!
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What’s up, I’m still thinking about Batgirl 2009 because that Scarecrow scene in Issue 3 is so ineptly handled that I’m almost offended on Stephanie Brown’s behalf. So I need to do a full essay.
Because it’s not as if Bryan Q. Miller didn’t know Steph’s history. I mean, it kind of maybe is, because he also cracks a joke that she needs to “sign up for a sewing class” after a literal decade of making and maintaining her own costumes by hand, but that’s a completely other rant.
No, it’s actually worse than that, because Miller actually brings her history up. Twice. Once, when Barbara is yelling at her in Issue 2:
And then, literally pages before Steph jumps in to get her face-full of fear gas, she mentions Black Mask.
That. That should be set-up for something.
But nooooooooo.
Just for the sake of comparison: almost 20 years earlier there was a very similiar sequence as part of a Detective Comics storyline called “Identity Crisis” (no, not that one). It’s the storyline where Tim earns his wings, he’s literally given his Robin costume at the very end, leading into Robin Vol. 1.
In it, he is constantly haunted by the specter of his father’s coma and his mother’s very recent death, as well as the question of whether or not he’s worthy to take up the mantle of Robin. And when he gets doused with fear gas, you know what he sees?
And you know what pulls him out of it?
Of course, the biggest differences between the two scenes is that a) Tim isn’t remotely responsible for his mother’s death (and him training to be Robin might’ve actually saved his father, since it inspired Batman to prioritize their case) and b) Tim isn’t fighting to Prove Himself. Just the opposite. He thinks that being here is going to cost him Robin. That’s what his hallucination of Dick means in the lower-right corner: he’s a hero not because of the mask, but because of how he acts, and by acting, he can stand up and save Batman.
That’s what earns him the right to be Robin. He was willing to sacrifice the thing he’d worked for, the duty he believed he had to fulfill, if it meant saving someone else’s life. And that finally impresses Bruce.
So, to recap: Tim goes in thinking that he’s sacrificing his personal goal to save Batman’s life, and overcomes his very recent trauma (his mother isn’t even cold in the ground they buried her the day before!!!) to save another’s life. That’s what makes him a hero.
Back to Steph.
Now you would think that if, as a lot of people have tried to sell me, Batgirl is Steph’s story of “overcoming her past” and “trying to make up for her mistakes” this would be the moment to do it. They’ve set it up, and that’s the narrative purpose of fear gas, to lay the psyche bare and force the characters (usually the victim) to face what they’re trying to keep hidden.
If you wanted to sell Steph’s motivation as one of overcoming trauma, this is the moment to pull out Black Mask. The man who tortured her almost to death. Or her father, who was undeniably abusive to both her and her mother.
Or if she’s truly racked with guilt over her past mistakes, this is the moment to show the people she’s hurt. The innocents who died in War Games because of her. Leslie Tompkins, shot through the back because of her actions in Africa. Or hell, Tim Drake, maimed and bloody and blown up and bitter in part because of her actions, the people she hired to attack him, or even just a paltry “because she won’t be there to help him anymore.”
“You did this to me. To us. To Gotham. Look at all this destruction. This is all your fault, Stephanie...”
“No, no I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
^ THAT is trying to make up for past mistakes.
But WHAT does she see instead?
“Boo hoo, my ex doesn’t think I’m a good enough superhero. He’s so mean, just like OG Batgirl. Why isn’t anyone nice to me? I only want to help, supposedly!”
(Side note - Miller also implies that the only reason Babs pushes back so hard against Steph as Batgirl is because “she’s jealous” and frankly fuck that. Have all the middle fingers in the world.)
Oh, and then she follows this up with a vision of herself as Spoiler ragging on her for her mistakes....because they’ve led her to almost getting killed, again, not, y’know, because she’s hurt people. There’s not even a passing thought for how it’ll hurt her mom for her to turn up dead (again) after she promised to be normal, which is the closest thing to an internal conflict she’d deigned to show so far.
And what pulls her out of it? What INSPIRES her to stand back up and keep fighting? What is her reason for being Batgirl?
She just wants to. It’s what she chose.
That’s it.
And then Babs calls her Batgirl for the first time (because she was so wrong to doubt her!!), and Steph is just, totally over the fear gas and ““capable of facing her ““worst”””” self because she’s just that inherently awesome.
No growth. No concern for others. No big mistakes to grapple with. No desire for redemption or reconciliation. Not even a desire to make her friend Cassandra proud. No. She’s Batgirl, and willing to fight through the pain of being Batgirl, because she wants to be. Because it’s super important to her self-esteem that she be allowed a third fourth second chance to play hero.
Now, personally, I think this would be a weak motivation even if Steph didn’t have a bunch of negative baggage hanging over her. I get that other people will disagree, and that’s fine. But I also hope that, even if this was your first-ever comic and you knew nothing about the extended Bat-fam history before this, you can understand why this series infuriates me so much. Especially since it became the fandom standard for how this character is treated, and how other characters -- like Babs, Cassandra and Tim -- are treated by her fans.
All of her mistakes get brushed away, mentioned in passing but never engaged with more than a shrug, and it’s always somebody else’s fault for not seeing how inherently great she is for trying so hard.
Bleh.
#stephanie brown#tim drake#batgirl#detective comics#robin#dc#long post#sorry#look the curse of being a lit critic is that sometimes you overthink these things#and you just need to get it off of your chest#negative#this is the last one of these I swear#ranting#it's my blog and i'll rant if I want to
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Kuvira: balance & motivations
... and the future of a Destruct sequel for those that are interested
remember when years ago i wrote a small essay on kuvira’s motivations?? i should’ve published it before the comics came out -_-
Kuvira was raised in a self-sufficient utopia and wished to extend the security she felt there to other places. Her fatal flaw was that she did not actually feel secure and was not dealing with the trauma she’d experienced as a child when she was cast aside by her parents. She was so wrapped up in obtaining loyalty and power to satisfy what she’d needed as a child that she perverted her goals of preventing the nation as a whole being treated the way she had been. This was because she was never going to be satisfied as long as she didn’t address the real motivation behind her actions, and she became so consumed by her need for power that she was willing to destroy everything and everyone in her path.
The best way we can see this is by holding Suyin as a character foil to her. Most characters in this show can be held as a sort of foil to each other, and they sometimes even talk about it openly as a way to empathize with each other based on similarities. Kuvira and Suyin both sought to create societies they thought would benefit them and their citizens, but Suyin is a wiser and more balanced person. Suyin’s goal was to create a society independent of monarchy where primarily metalbenders, but also people in general, could nourish their gifts. Suyin, unlike Kuvira, did not wish to extend her power passed her own life and those who chose to live with her and actively chose to take part in her society without coercion or threat.
Kuvira viewed Suyin’s abstinence in refusing to become what was basically a new Earth Queen as cowardice. In reality, it was partly Suyin wanting to conserve her way of life (a ‘me-and-mine’ attitude which Kuvira shares) but largely her wisdom in knowing where the road would end if she chose that path. If Suyin was the type of person who would have tried to take control of the conflict and enforce her ideals on an entire nation she would’ve ended up just like Kuvira had. Kuvira began her journey with as good intentions as Suyin, but her intentions converted to excuses with her first taste of the power/support she’d needed as a child.
Kuvira, like all the other villains in TLOK, serves as an example that even pure/harmless ideals can be corrupted under imbalance (in Kuvira’s case: fascism, and fanaticism and hypocrisy in other cases). A metalbending city under a balanced individual turns into a nation where all but metalbenders are used as slave labour, where dissenters are not banished if they threaten security but rather imprisoned (re-education, work camps), where security turns from protecting a way of life from a tyrant (the Earth Queen) to building walls and mobilizing an entire country to protect another one.
When Korra stops Kuvira, she demonstrates to Kuvira that the world is in good hands and that’s a reason why Kuvira surrenders. But Kuvira starts slipping before that when she tries to stop her spirit weapon’s power, to control it, and finds herself unable to. In that moment, she realizes how truly out of control and out of balance she is, as well as possibly why she’d felt the need to exert that power over others, why she was willing to torture and murder others over loyalty. It’s suggested that she thinks about her motivations in the moments afterwards because that’s when she yells at Korra about her family. But I think something’s important about this, and her apology to Suyin later. Something that people in a society who are groomed to romanticize and empathize with oppressive figures might miss.
It doesn’t actually matter. Trauma is valid, but weaponizing trauma is not, and that’s what Kuvira does. She uses her pain as her excuse for her actions, to tell herself that she’s committing atrocities in order to build a strong nation that would never feel the way she’d felt, when in actuality she was only building a strong nation in order to protect herself, inflicting the exact same pain and worse on the citizen’s she’d dehumanized. And at the end of Book 4, despite her surrender, Kuvira is not suddenly in balance or capable of a redemption arc. In fact, there’s no evidence she’s even interested in redemption the way a person who’s committed war crimes should want redemption.
Coming back to Suyin, how does Kuvira apologize the one time she apologizes? She doesn’t apologize for the people she’s killed, the people she’s forced to work as slaves, the people she’s threatened and tortured. The only family among the hundreds that she’s torn apart that she deigns to apologize to is Suyin’s. Kuvira is still not balanced, at the end of the day she is still limited to herself and the people she deems relevant to her - the Beifongs who took her in (whether you interpret that as adoption or just letting her into Zaofu). Suyin on the other hand, while not a perfect person has lived a long life and is someone much more balanced and at peace with herself, does not accept Kuvira’s feelings. Rather, she grounds Kuvira to the larger apology Kuvira has to make, to all the people Kuvira’s wronged, that Kuvira will pay for all she’s done including crimes Kuvira shows no evidence she’s interested in atoning for. Suyin sees the bigger picture, but Kuvira is still limited by herself and by her experiences and her ideals (as were the other villains).
I find it very easy to rationalize character motivations because it’s one way I cope with atrocities and irrationalities, I attempt to understand why a human would make a choice and I choose not to. But the key is, as it will always be, choice. We can always choose. So I find it difficult to ‘choose’ to expend energy on writing on understanding a fascist beyond my need to understand fascists as a mechanism of my predicting their behaviour and humanizing them so that they are not a supernatural monster lurking in the shadows my bed but something that can bleed like me. The point is, at the end of Book 4, Kuvira is still a mass murderer. If Korra wasn’t strong enough to stop her, Kuvira literally would have kept going enslaving and murdering people seeking more and more power until she killed herself (literally. Korra saving Kuvira from herself was Kuvira’s turning point). And Kuvira’s still a fascist.
Kuvira is a fascist despite our interest or investment in her character. Most importantly, she’s demonstrated no interest in changing her views, or any remorse for the harm she’s inflicted on anyone not directly related to her. We can’t give a redemption arch to someone who doesn’t want one and keep their characterization intact. We cannot ‘save’ fascists, and I think entertaining thoughts of redemption for fascists in this current world we live in, and fuck it ALL worlds that have ever been or will be, is dangerous. Humanizing an unrepentant fascist and attempting to ‘bring her back to the light’ is something I view as an inherently abusive and futile exercise. So I find it difficult that I will be able to write Kuvira/Opal fic until either Kuvira has undergone cannon growth or until fascism has been eradicated. whichever comes first. At any rate I hope whoever reads this essay will consider reading Kuvira a little more in depth, whether or not they like her character.
Edit: my views have changed somewhat w.r.t. someday writing a Destruct sequel, because prior to the comics I felt like people were too willing to forgive Kuvira. Little did I know that the person most willing to forgive her and swipe her crimes under the rug was one of the several LOK writers (the only way I can justify what happened is by reminding myself that DiMartino only wrote 3 of the Book 4 episodes, only one of which really had anything to do with Kuvira). As such, I feel more comfortable cracking my knuckles and writing her ‘redemption arc’ the right way - aka holding her accountable. And Opal is honestly the best character to do this.
Anyway :) I feel pretty invigorated about someday writing a Destruct sequel, because for awhile there I was really not into it because of the above reasons. Ironically, it’s the state of the comics that pushed me there. Probably what I’ll do is retcon the last chapter/epilogue of Destruct, change some of Kuvira’s background (aka probably not go with my headcanon but also not make Kuvira a literal adoptive sibling to her future fiance (or Opal lmao)), and continue onwards with the plot itself (though I’m still not going to reinstate the monarchy @ michael dante dimartino what were you thinking man??????? Oh NOW we’re going to be realistic about political upheaval?? in the world with brainwashing tinfoil hats?? just say you’re voting Biden and go).
#kuvira#suyin beifong#anyway.. if bryke say in cannon that kuvira is willing to put in the work to make up for her crimes than I'll be okay#but I can't find it in myself to make the first steps for her#clarification: i believe all people can change and all people are capable of atonement (though I don't believe atonement = forgiveness nor#do I believe forgiveness should be the motivation behind atonement) but however me writing a redemption arch for Kuvira is not atonement#me humanizing someone who's a cannon fascist and doing the work for them is not real redemption. do you see what I mean?#written#meta#uhhh this devolves into a rant abt the rote comics at the end pls dont mind me#tl;dr kuvira needs therapy and if/when i rewrite a destruct sequel its going to essentially be a michael dimartino callout post#rote spoilers
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For Ectober 2018, Day 13: Help (AO3 | FFnet)
When a ghost attacks while Star’s stuck in detention with Fenton, she’s sure they need help—but he’s not acting like the scared loser she’s used to.
Star didn’t deserve the detention she’d gotten. She wasn’t the one who’d planted the whoopee cushion on Lancer’s chair. She didn’t even know who’d done it. She’d just been the one unfortunate enough to still be snickering when Lancer stood up again to survey the class.
Protests about her innocence had fallen on deaf ears, and no one—not even Paulina—had backed her up.
Which is how she’d wound up in detention with Fenton, who’d dashed into class halfway through Lancer’s lecture on respect.
They were supposed to be writing an essay on the subject—something Lancer said he’d use for extra credit, which Fenton needed more than she did—except she was too angry and embarrassed to think straight, and Fenton was beginning to nod off. She’d been staring at a blank page for at least ten minutes, her pen shaking in her too-tight grip as she tried to figure out who had set her up to take this fall—and if she’d even been the intended target of Lancer’s wrath.
Fenton’s sharp gasp came about the same time as the crash down the hall. Lancer sighed and got to his feet. “I’ll look into it,” he said. “You two stay here.”
Even from across the room, Star could see Fenton’s wide eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mr. Lancer.”
“Mr. Fenton, I do appreciate your concern, but—”
“Can I at least go to the bathroom first?”
“No, Mr. Fenton, you may not. I’ll be back in a few minutes, and then you can go.”
“I don’t know if I can hold it.”
“And I don’t believe you wouldn’t have said something five minutes ago if that were truly the case. You may go when I come back,” Lancer repeated, cutting off Fenton’s protests.
The classroom door closed behind him. Star expected Fenton to slump in his seat, but instead he sprang to his feet and walked to the windows. He obviously didn’t find whatever he was looking for, because he spun on his heels and dashed to the door.
He seemed surprised when it didn’t open.
“What, you think Lancer trusts you after how many times you’ve cut class on the excuse that you had to go to the bathroom?” Star muttered under her breath.
Fenton heard her. “He wouldn’t have locked it,” he countered. “It’d be a safety hazard. And he’s never locked me in before.”
She was bored, which was the only reason she was having this conversation with him. “So? Things change.”
Fenton was shaking his head. “This is a ghost.”
A ghost. Of course. Maybe he was his parents’ son after all. “Just because this is Amity Park, doesn’t mean every inconvenience is ghost-related.”
“I wish,” mumbled Fenton. Then, louder, “I never heard the lock turn. Did you?”
Star rolled her eyes and got to her feet. “Then it’s stuck and you’re just too weak to open it.” Sure enough, the handle turned under her grip. She pulled, already turning to look back at Fenton and berate him for being such a weakling, but the door didn’t move. She frowned and pulled harder.
Nothing.
“What kind of ghost locks you in?” She couldn’t quite keep the panic out of her voice now. It was stupid. Being caught in a ghost attack wasn’t new. She was used to that. But she wasn’t usually locked in.
“Someone new.”
The grimness in Fenton’s voice caught her off guard, but Star latched onto it. “You have some of your parents’ weapons, then?”
Fenton shook his head. “Everything I have is in my locker.”
“That’s not going to do us any good!”
“Don’t panic yet. We’re on the ground floor. See if the windows open.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Listen.”
Listen? What the heck was that supposed to mean? But arguing wouldn’t get them anywhere, and checking the windows wasn’t a completely stupid idea even if she had a feeling it was futile. If a ghost could lock a door on them, it could lock a window, too.
When Star reached the windows, however, she didn’t even need to try them to know they wouldn’t open. Even as she got closer to them, she could feel the cold. “They’re frosted over, Fenton,” she said. Ice grew on them even as she watched, thickening to the point that the intricate frost patterns became completely obscured. “The door’s probably frozen shut, too.”
“Good.”
“Good? How is that good?”
Fenton shot her an apologetic smile. “It means whoever it is probably isn’t after Lancer.”
“Wait—”
“Hide. It’ll want me, not you.”
“Where the heck am I supposed to hide? Under my desk? It’ll see me.”
“You might be small enough to squeeze into one of the cupboards in the back. Just move the books.”
She stared at him.
He didn’t seem to realize how ridiculous he sounded.
“Why would the ghost want you? Aren’t you the one who normally runs and hides whenever there’s a ghost attack?”
Fenton scowled. “I don’t always…. Look. You guys trusted me before, right? When Youngblood and Ember brainwashed all the adults? I helped you then and I can help you now. I can do this.”
She frowned. “How do you remember their names?”
“That’s what you’re—?” He broke off, and she blinked. Had she just seen his breath? Sure, it was getting colder in here by the minute, but it wasn’t that cold, not yet. “Hide,” he hissed.
Normally, she’d love to hide, but normally, there was someone other than Danny Fenton who could help her get out of a situation like this. “I don’t—”
With a crack, ice crystals burst from the ceiling, jutting down towards them like razor-sharp stalactites. Star screamed and dove under the nearest desk, not remotely convinced that would help. When she looked back, Danny was in a crouch, still in the open, head swivelling as if he fully expected he’d be able to see a ghost that could make itself invisible.
He’d already said he didn’t have any of his parents’ tech with him, so why play at being the hero now?
“You’re crazy,” Star hissed. “Just call your parents for help.”
“I don’t know if this is someone they can handle,” he said quietly. His matter-of-fact tone unnerved her. Why did he make it sound like he could take more than they could? They were professionals. He was…. He was Dash’s loser punching bag, and she could count the number of times she’d seen him fight ghosts on one hand.
Before she could figure out how to respond, the temperature in the room plummeted and she heard a deep voice say, “You’re weak when you wear that skin, halfa.”
She huddled, trying to make herself smaller and not breathe too loudly. The shadows in the top corner of the room by the door coalesced into a bluish white monster of fur and ice. There was no mistaking its fangs and claws, and ghost or not, Star was suddenly, horribly convinced that it could kill her in an instant if it wanted to.
Fenton’s eyes widened. His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
“You do not deserve the title my brother gave you,” the ghost continued.
Star officially had no idea what was going on. Fenton swallowed, but his eyes narrowed and he stood up straight. As if he could face down a ghost!
“You’re Frostbite’s brother,” he said slowly. It wasn’t a question. “So he got to be the leader of the Far Frozen and you got to skulk in the frozen wastelands until you found a portal? Sounds about right. Even Klemper wouldn’t waste his time befriending you.”
Star couldn’t remember who Klemper was, either, though the name sounded familiar. She wondered wildly why Fenton was on a first name basis with so many ghosts, even considering who his parents were; it wasn’t like ghosts would befriend the son of ghost hunters, right?
The snow ghost snarled. It raised a hand—paw?—and ice shot towards Fenton. He dodged with a grace he never showed in gym class, rolling out of the way and springing back to his feet. “You got brain freeze or something? You’re a little slow.”
Stop taunting it! You’re just going to make this worse! But she didn’t dare say anything now. If Fenton was somehow managing to hold his own, she couldn’t be the one to distract him. Not now. They just had to hold on until Phantom showed up. Or the Red Huntress. Or the Fentons, assuming Mr. Lancer was able to get off a call to them.
“You’re an abomination.” The ghost’s feet hit the floor, and ice shot out. Star shivered and tried to keep her teeth from chattering. Fenton didn’t seem nearly as affected by the cold, probably because he kept moving, but the ice had to make it more difficult to keep his footing. “You don’t deserve to know the secrets of our people.”
Fenton pulled a face. “Okay, I don’t like that nickname any better than the one Frostbite gave me, but you? I’m pretty sure you have no say in who learns what. Frostbite agreed to teach me. To help me. As payment for what I did and as a gesture of friendship. So even if he’s the reason you’re acting like Frosty the Snow Monster, I’m kinda more inclined to side with him on this.”
“My name is Icebreaker!”
“Funny, you didn’t really start this conversation with a good one.”
Icebreaker roared. Ice formed at his summons, sharpened spear points of shards, and he flew at Fenton in a rage.
Star flinched.
Fenton held his ground until the last second before diving sideways. He hit a patch of ice and skidded into a desk. She shrieked in spite of herself, and Icebreaker turned his gaze to her.
Fear clawed at her insides, gripping so tightly she couldn’t find her breath.
“Foolish little human,” Icebreaker jeered, “caught up in a world you’re never meant to understand. You’ll have to die for that, just like the halfa.”
There was that name again. He meant Fenton, but what—?
“No!” Fenton shouted, and he was in between them so fast it looked like he’d flown. “If you’re mad at me, don’t involve her!”
Icebreaker bared his teeth, and Star felt the ice forming around her. She scrambled out of her hiding spot, clutching the desks to keep her footing. Fenton—Danny—couldn’t protect her. Not when he didn’t have any weapons. Why wasn’t Phantom here yet? He was never this late.
Danny’s fists were clenched. “Leave her alone,” he growled.
Icebreaker just laughed and flew over his head. Star backed up, bumping into Danny. “We’re going to die,” she whispered. Even in Amity Park, even when it got bad, there had always been someone to protect them. The Fentons had their Fenton Ghost Shield, the Red Huntress could definitely hold her own in a fight, and Phantom…. Phantom stopped every ghost that dared to cross him.
But now none of them were here, and she couldn’t do anything.
“No, you won’t,” Danny murmured. “Just trust me.”
She looked at him. His eyes burned bright blue with a fierceness she didn’t associate with him. The tips of his hair were turning white with frost, and he was cold—colder than she was. Determination alone wouldn’t let him last much longer, even though she couldn’t see him shaking with the cold like she was. Whatever adrenaline rush he was on wouldn’t last forever, and with this cold, he’d crash sooner rather than later. “We need help,” she repeated.
He shoved her to the floor in answer as more ice shot where they’d been standing. “Trust me,” he repeated as he got off of her. “I can help.” He put his hand on her back and pushed her again.
Instead of being held against the ice, she fell through the floor and landed on a stack of empty boxes (possibly stashed there by the Box Ghost). She was too shocked to be in pain. Her heart beat a wild tattoo in her chest as she gulped in warm air. “What…what just happened?”
This time, she didn’t get an answer.
Continued for Day 15: Explain
(see more fics)
#danny phantom#ectober2018#ectober 2018#danny fenton#fanfiction#phanfiction#dp fanfiction#my writing#ladylynse#snippets#dp snippet
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Some things I’ve received during my hiatus, and that it’s related to some worrying patterns I’ve seen recently on tumblr, have made me want to clarify a point. I’ve debated whether to put some of it behind a cut, since +1000 is on the longish-side, but fuck it. I think it’s important --or at least, important that you know this about me--, it makes me angry, and you’ll just have to scroll past it. And it’s a topic I’ll probably talk more about in the future, since it genuinely concerns me, even if not specifically in the same way or focusing on the same things I do here, so you might wanna be mindful of that *shrugs*.
I do not give a single fuck about whether B*llarke is “problematic”, or toxic, or abusive, or “immoral to ship” in any way. And the same can be said about literally every pairing. And if you ever try to harass anyone with those arguments (or any other, but I hope that goes without saying) --including shippers of my NOTPs--, I guarantee you, you won’t have me on your side.
Sure, I don’t like seeing it (and plenty of other ships) on my dash; that’s what filters are for. There are ships whose existence I prefer to ignore in its entirety, and I plan on forgetting them for the rest of my life.
In BC’s case, in particular, I –obviously, if you’ve read this blog– don’t want it to become canon. The way I see it, it’s a crack-ship (and not a very interesting one, AFAIC) between a character I like and a character I dislike, that’s entirely based on misrepresenting canon. Why would I care? But IMO the writers dislike the ship itself, so why would I worry either?
On top of that, I’m rooting for Bellamy’s narrative to be the dominant narrative (not as much for Bellamy himself –thought that’s a nice bonus–, but because it inevitably benefits my favourite characters: Raven, Murphy, Emori, Echo and Octavia), and the show has proven that’s antithetical to Clarke’s narrative prevailing (there’s a reason why every single season has put them at odds, in ways that effectively risk each other’s happiness, health and life). Historically speaking, things don’t end well for male leads that are put in romantic situations with women they haven’t chosen and put moves on by their own accord, and there’s plenty of evidence in canon that Bellamy doesn’t see Clarke in a romantic light –and it’s telling that, in fact, the writers CHOSE to cut out the one moment that could’ve hinted at it, back in season one.
Lastly, as I said, I think the writers themselves dislike the ship; not just aren’t interest in writing it, but actively dislike it. The first piece of evidence (if you plan on ignoring everything they’ve said about it, which already backs this opinion) is, frankly, that it hasn’t happened. Ships well-liked by the writers and supported by the narrative happen fast; lightning-fast in some cases. They likely don’t stay together, because narratives tend to follow a path of separation before the last-minute endgame (which might not happen; endgames aren’t a guarantee, even if there clearly are ships with better odds than others; BC, IMO, is the LEAST likely endgame possible out of all of them), but you better bet that dude is making his interest known ASAP.
Of course, writers in all of history of TV have written ships that they disliked, or at least ships that they only saw as filler and not “endgame material” (though I’m struggling with remembering another one that has the writers feeling so apathetic tbh). So yeah, there’s a very, very small chance of it happening, sure.
But have you ever tried to write a romance for a ship you hate? You probably haven’t, because the very idea it’s ridiculous. But imagine if you had. You would have hated every minute, I bet. And I don’t think any fans of that ship would find your story even remotely satisfying. Professional writers are exactly the same.
Even if the writers felt so worn down that they decided to go for your ship (which, IMO, would be a giant warning sign on itself; it’d be a mere symptom of their disinterest on their own story, and the show would be on its lasts breaths), what makes you think it’d make for a good story? They would half-ass it at best (and probably use it to troll you, out of spite), it would never get the genuine ~feeling that their preferred ships enjoy because, well. They don’t want it. They don’t believe in it. You can’t write with passion about something you don’t believe in, and passionless writing sucks literally every damn time.
And even all that? All that play-by-play essay I just gave you about why I don’t like the idea of canon BC? That still isn’t enough to make me hate on the ship. This can be said about plenty of ships across shows, books, etc., and I don’t talk about any of them because I don’t even remember them after I’ve moved on to the next thing.
But you know what I hate about BC? ITS FUCKING FANDOM.
They’ve proven to be one of the most dishonest ship-doms I’ve ever encountered, and probably one of the most numerous at that, which obviously only makes them worse (one day I’m going to talk about how these type of ships seem to attract assholes that know they can get away with shit due to the numbers and the attitude of those fanbases, but that’s another story).
Their numbers allow them to control the narrative within the fandom (and since canon doesn’t support them, they’ll outright lie about it), to the point were dissenting voices are ignored, disbelieved, and actively ridiculed and silenced, even when we’re pointing out actual scenes that support OUR reading and contradict THEIRS. They routinely act like characters like Echo or Raven don’t matter, while in fact feeling threatened by their relationship with Bellamy, and go into their tags full of condescending concern-trolling or outright hate. They harass other fans that dare to disagree with them, and they harass the actors and the creators of the show on a semi-regular basis.
A.K.A., they’re hurting real, living human beings.
There are hundreds of “toxic” ship out there (and am I the only one who, thanks to fandom, feel like many of these words have completely lost meaning? I truly hope that I am) that I never think or talk about, even if *I* personally didn’t care for or disliked them. By virtue of their small numbers (since a lot of those ships tend to be fringe interests in the already fringe medium that is fandom), most of the shippers usually mind their own business and simply go on with their lives, which I find to be the right attitude. Shipping (and character/show-stanning) isn’t activism, it’s born out of the fucking opposite impulses, IMO. Fiction is a place to explore anything and everything we wouldn’t even imagine doing in real life; there’s a reason why horror is such a popular genre, ffs. (and that’s mainstream, which means it has a bigger outreach and potential real life consequences (even if they don’t happen the way people think they do; fiction mostly reflects and maybe reinforces reality; it can’t create anything out of thin air). I cannot stress how few people read fanworks and how little they impact the real world).
If anything, those shippers have all my sympathy, because 9 times out of 10, THEY are the ones getting the brunt of the harassment. Like, I don’t give a single fuck about Reylo in one way or the other, to name one example (I’ve only watched TFA, which means I’ve missed the ~meaty part of their relationship, for one; but even if I remedied that, I thought both characters were deeply uninteresting, and I find KR painfully unattractive inside and out, so it’s likely I still wouldn’t ship it); but I’ve seen how its shippers got sent anti-Semitic slurs and gore pictures and were compared to school-shooters, and how its antis have effectively shielded a confessed rapist in their midst (and all that without getting into the general pattern of harassment/violent threats/suicide baiting that plagues the purity culture movement in this site; I can send you sources, if you don’t believe me), so those antis can go fuck themselves, tbh.
THAT shit is what I take issue with: hurting actual people. That’s ALWAYS going to matter more than the feelings of some fucking fictional construct, and I can’t believe that somehow became a controversial opinion. Bellamy or Rey or whom-the-fuck-ever doesn’t exist, they can’t get hurt, and the idea of their “feelings” taking precedence over the well-being or real people is fucking insulting.
(btw, don’t bother with any “but what about THIS gross ship/type of ships? you support THAT too?“ I’m not going to answer that and make myself a target for that bullshit, and I think this post proves this situation goes a little beyond something as clear-cut as “support” or “condemn” --among other issues, who am I to “aproove” or not any ship wtf--, but if you mean “are you against people who like it being attacked because their interests in fiction somehow prove they have ~nasty morals?”, then the answer is a resounding “yes”. What the fuck do you know about their life anyway)
#fandom policing#purity culture#anti culture#fandom#shipping#my thoughts#talking to the void#t100 thoughts#the 100#long post for ts#antibellarke for ts#(... whenever I write a long post i become Very Aware of my attention & processing issues but like. how do you write otherwise lol)#bitter lau tag#fandom vs. activism
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Thought I was joking about that essay in my last post, didn’t ya?
Well guess again.
So if you know me, you know that my absolute favorite comic book storyline, NAY, fictional storyline of all time is the incredible, incomparable, indomitable, Dark Phoenix Saga...
I love this story to death! It’s such a great tale of love, loss, pain, action, and space genocide! It’s the story that cemented Chris Claremont as the definitive X-Men writer AND catapulted Wolverine into the ensemble darkhorse we know now! What’s not to love?
But everytime DPS gets adapted, it falls flat with an unimaginable thud. There are many reasons for this, and in this tangent I will be listing the reasons why I, in all my teenage wisdom, think adapting the Dark Phoenix Saga will be a thankless, thankless result for everyone of its fans:
1–The Changes:
This is the reason I hear of the most whenever a DPS adaptation is criticized. You know the drill; they changed it, now it sucks yadda yadda I’m gonna complain to the internet about it! (Hello irony, it’s been a while...)
But in all seriousness, this complaint is a mixed bag of sorts; any adaptation has to have changes not only to be unique and original to fans new and old, but also to fit the new medium it’s being adapted into. This is true for many Marvel films; Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse may be adapted from the Spider-Verse event comic, yes, but it’s change of the method of transportation from The Great Web of Life and Destiny to a particle collider as well as its focus on just six Spider-People instead of thousands makes the story more clear and concise but still adhering to the roots of the comics, and while Days of Future Past’s switching up of the characters involved and plot points is annoying to some, it did so in a way that made sense and kept true to the plot of the original.
But for some odd reason, any changes made to the Dark Phoenix Saga ends in tragedy (which is hilarious to me considering how the storyline ends). The Last Stand (which I am only acknowledging as existing for the purposes of this essay, and everything besides Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, and that one scene with the family in the car on the Golden Gate Bridge can go die in a dumpster fire..) changed the Phoenix from an intergalactic force to a psychopathic split personality in Jean that Professor X suppressed for years, which, to be frank, I could forgive since the 2000s X-Movies were set up to be more realistic than the comics. What I can’t forgive is the addition of characters like Magneto to a story that they weren’t even a cameo in, the numerous plot holes, the atrocious Phoenix costume, and fusing DPS with The Cure storyline for some god forsaken reason...
And while Dark Phoenix 2019 seems to at least try and be more faithful to the original story (with a Mastermind analogue, aliens, and keeping the Phoenix Force an actual intergalactic force of power), only time will tell whether or not it is as such...
2–The Characters:
In any story, the characters are one of the most important aspects. They move the plot, twist the narrative, make funny quips, etc...And for the Dark Phoenix Saga, the most important character is Jean Grey herself.
And you might be saying: “But Jellyfish, isn’t that kind of obvious?” Well, in any other case, you might be right. But for some weird reason, Jean is never defined enough as a character for us to care.
In The Last Stand, Jean is basically an afterthought while the audience is subjected to “The Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine Show”; she’s just there to act as a macguffin for the characters to fight over who occasionally has a line or two with a hint of character depth. It’s insulting how I know more about Movie!Nightcrawler (who we got to know over the course of a single movie) than I do about Movie!Jean (who we had THREE movies to get to know). Dark Phoenix 2019 does carry the positive of putting Jean in the role of main character, but we still know nothing about her because the writing in X-Men Apocalypse for Jean is very, very lacking...
In the original Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey was simultaneously hero, victim, and villain. She was a heroic figure who tragically fell from grace, ultimately sacrificing herself to save the entire universe. She was a selfish, cruel, and wicked monster who cared only for her own passions and desires, with no regard for the hundreds of thousands of lives she destroyed in the wake of her malevolent acts. She was caring, kind, fiery, fierce, terrifying, vain, passionate, etc...In every aspect of her—from Jean Grey to Marvel Girl to Phoenix to the Black Queen to Dark Phoenix—you could see shades of all of these traits and emotions in her. Phoenix and Dark Phoenix weren’t two separate entities, and neither were Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force itself. Two sides of the same coin. Yin and Yang. Mortal and Goddess. Maiden and Monster.
In the end, however all these problems with defining Jean Grey’s character are symptomatic of a much larger issue that these movies continuously fail to acknowledge. That reason being:
3–Buildup:
This reason may be, in my opinion, the one that ultimately causes the failure when it comes to adapting DPS.
The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the most impactful and powerful stories ever written, and the reason behind that distinction is, in my opinion, because of the amount of buildup it had; this storyline wasn’t done in just a few months, it had taken place over 41 issues, which is five years in real life time. There was time spent with the X-Men and building up the Shi’ar Empire and Princess Lilandra as allies and friends to them. We were intrigued by the mystery of Jason Wyngarde and his intentions towards Jean, all while the sinister Hellfire Club lurked in the shadows. We saw the gradual change in Jean Grey as she became more powerful, as she seemingly relived the life of her ancestors all while growing more unsure of her identity with each timeslip. As Jean lost control of her reality and sense of self, the audience was right there with her, trying to make sense of the world we had come to love and enjoy.
And even before all of this—before the Dark Phoenix Saga and the Phoenix Saga—from the very first issue of Uncanny X-Men, we’ve been with Jean Grey. From being the newest student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to awakening her telepathic powers for the very first time to piloting a space shuttle in the middle of the worst solar storm in history, we’ve been with her every step of the way. And with that history, seeing that fiery redhead fight a herald of Galactus to a standstill, save the universe from destruction! It was so triumphant, so full of awe!!
And...it only served to make things even more tragic with the coming of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Seeing this girl, this heroic girl, as she was twisted and controlled and tamed and broken. As her struggles mounted, with each manipulation and lie, every use of her awesome power growing more tempting and seductive, Jean began to crack—piece by piece—until eventually she just...snapped.
To see her consume that inhabited Star like she was simply drinking a bottle of water, fighting her friends with no remorse, her kind face twisting into a monstrous mockery of a smile...It was terrifying. The buildup gave this story depth, impact, emotion! You could feel every punch, every blast of energy, every scream, every cry, every word echoing in your head and in your heart. And seeing her sacrifice—it was truly uncanny. Begging Cyclops, the man she loved with all her heart, to kill her before she transformed into a nightmare goddess of death was heartbreaking, but his refusal to do so led to her doing the unthinkable; from the moment they were abducted by the Shi’ar to face trial, she knew what she had to do. To destroy any chance of the Dark Phoenix rising ever again, she had to destroy it...and herself as well. So, to save the galaxy, Jean Grey killed herself. In the words of Uatu the Watcher:
“Jean Grey could have lived to become a god. But it was more important to her that she die...a human.”
This storyline was filled with blood, sweat, and tears. It’s a reading experience like no other. A love letter to every X-Men fan, past, present, and future. It astounded me when I first read it 5 years ago, and it still astounds me when I read it now...
And that’s why I think we might never get a great adaptation of the Dark Phoenix Saga; to build up a story like this is a undertaking. It wouldn’t be like the buildup to Infinity War, because that was done so that every character in the movie would be well-defined and known to the audience so that they would care what happened to them. If you wanted to make the Dark Phoenix Saga into a movie, you would have to build up Jean Grey throughout each and every movie before that while simultaneously building up the other X-Men too. It would require more than 5 movies to do this; introducing Jean Grey, having her in the X-Men as Marvel Girl for a 2 movies, doing the Phoenix Saga with the M’kraan crystal and the Shi’ar, another movie where she grows in power and develops, and finally the actual Dark Phoenix Saga.
This storyline is incredibly close to my heart for many reasons, not the least of which being that it was the comic book that officially got me into comic books for real. I want to see it done right so badly!!
It’s a tale of tragedy and terror. A symphony of love and loss. A story of absolute power corrupting absolutely, and the unbeatable spirit of humanity that triumphs forevermore...
#the dark phoenix saga#my magnum opus#dear lordy this took way longer than i expected#i’d like to thank chris claremont#and john byrne#and stan lee may he forever rest in peace#x-men#marvel#jean grey
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All the books I read in Korea, ‘Vita Nuova’ and ‘On Love.’ IDK why I became such a miniaturist later as well as pornographer. I literally realized today people love pornography, love isn’t too weak a word. It’s dear to them. It really warms some people’s hearts. I remember reading in a magazine from NY I don’t look at anymore how old men love it so much.
Sexual frankness was en vogue for a long time when I was a kid in the Bill Clinton era and everyone found it funny till they realized Clinton, Epstein, Dershowitz and pedophilia isn’t really funny. Later K-wave put a different spin on it since it’s so raw as if to say ‘I’m above this all and can say anything’ but it’s still violent and it trample’s people’s valid dignities and decorum.
I literally spent so long hung up on Houellebecq and regressed; ‘Elementary Particles’ is visionary if flawed but some part of me decided it was too sweeping so I concentrated on ‘Whatever / Extension of the Struggle’ and the figure of the lonely stranger girl in the nightclub, exemplar of a ‘sacrificed generation.’ I wrote so much impertinent fiction fascinated with these sacrificed girls without ever grasping that they have better options than to become object-lessons in the callousness of society. Timothy Keller’s ‘The Meaning of Marriage’ is revelatory as it reminds, the nightclub sexual liberation culture can be escaped not through Romantic individualism or self-esteem / -regard but remembering husband and wife are one flesh - it’s secure, invulnerable. I always thought about running away.
My family are mad at me and my dad still appears to want to know something about my inner life which I’m afraid is a lingering ghost or recapitulation of the now-decades-old Boomer-v-Millennial college culture thing where all these dads were like ‘drmdrmdrm free oral sex on campus?! - I hate my son let’s execute him and steal his co-ed friends.’ Chad Kultgen stuff but even more psychopathic, homicidal-suicidal. I didn’t even do that; I just heard about it in the magazine from NY I don’t read anymore because its whole message was, ‘I’m going to go on observing myself abusing myself and consuming myself and analyzing my consumption of experience forever as if nothing will ever change.’ People who never did the math on the pandemic and ‘water.’
I truly feel as if right now Saint Augustine of Hippo is watching over the whole world which, John Piper reminds us, was ‘cursed in hope.’ What is at the bottom of the pandemic, the sudden questioning of freedom, the openness to communism and totalitarianism, the ambivalence regarding all private life and private ownership and proprietary supply-chains and chains-of-care (such as ‘my child you leave him or her alone’ it does not take a village), if not the rediscovery of Original Sin, the tragic cursedness of sexuality or ‘woundedness’ of sexuality, that it was supposed to be great but it led to all this dejection and grief and actual permanent loss.
I remember many pieces of piano-music which I hoped to learn but in a way the most personal piece to me is Beethoven’s opus 109 / Sonata 31 final movement, ‘Gesangvoll mitt Innigster Empfindung.’ To me this is the ultimate statement on a couple’s tearing each other apart and ending where they began with the same beautiful yet vain regret. How many times do you have to punctuate the same sentiment? Just walk away; toward the new day.
‘After that I moved out of there.’ I really did give up on the details of man-woman love-relationships after 2011; I decided I would get a wife-in-a-box or just be single forever. There was a Korean girl I liked in 2010 who made me change my mind about Shanghai-Beijing-and/or-Harbin v. Seoul and I was friends with her friend too but said something really terrible that in retrospect prefigured my teaching-career’s failure as well. ‘She is a complicated woman 23.5 years of history.’ ‘I can simplify her.’
I was like some communist social engineer. I really flattened out my own character into an .XLS of sorts and believed I could do the same for others. Years later I regarded how Lee Sooman had studied robotics in America, became hung up on more non-religious non-Christian ‘special electric sauce’ books like Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Love of the Last Tycoon.’
I feel as if all of this is in some distant way, ‘mental North Koreanness.’ ‘Love is broken, people are fools, Dad hit Mom, Dad is a man-child, cannot face himself, doesn’t know his own intentions or motives, obsessed with being understood sans understanding, Mom was bricked in the head, the priest molested my sister, Ki Hyungdo, I will eliminate freedom with a colossal everlasting permeating Monolithic Ideology and give everyone precisely what is right for them.’
IDK whether I ought to say this but ‘Last Tycoon’ crystallizes and incipits(?) at Palm Springs International Airport which is a place where something happened to me. But North Koreanness appears almost totally Faustian, samurai-like in the worst sense.
IDK if I should say but someone I respect and admire and esteem immensely is the CEO of NKNews who supports food-sanctions (that at other times I think is a form of US state terrorism as well as diametrically anti-biblical) and I could almost understand in one way why America would choose to feed Soviets in the past but starve North Koreans b/c something truly went horribly wrong. During my last (intellectually) intimate love-relationship we touched on the Pyongyang Revival & why did all of that get blown away? It’s truly a testament to the power of Satan and the fragility of human purity and innocence.
There’s a novel someone else I really love was translating for free about ‘pleasure squads’ and these women being daughters of someone and I took this scholar to task for his ‘Japaneseness,’ his oneiricity, his vagueness, begging the question when he could actually answer with guns blazing. I get mad at Hwang Sokyong and want BR Myers to stomp Bruce Cumings for being a hippie as well as for constantly trying to correct American East Asia Studies when soon enough Western EAS won’t really matter because Asians are no longer yoked to traditional blinkered methods of scholarship or historiography. Like just give up, Asians are figuring themselves out and Western EAS is also highly mercenary and in many cases naively enamored of Confucianism, Maoism, platonistic messianic communism. Every scholar’s convinced he knows ‘the one thing other Westerners don’t know about China’ but a lot of it again comes down - I realize - to the same quality which makes me a mental North Korean; namely men being hung up on the little points that made them money, special, competitively edged.
Maybe it’s neither here or there. I’m time-traveling. The best book I saw recently before my life fell apart was ‘I Am Kim Jieun’ whose specificity astonished me. It was a mystic experience to look at, searing, black and white; I felt something similar when translating Ku Sang. I realize however that this ‘absolute specificity’ itself became an idol, to me - heart-idol, soul-idol - that exacerbated my intellectual belligerence and rendered me even more severely mentally North Korean than ever before. ‘David Johnston Global Offensive.’
Everyone I care about in any case seems to be dreaming of Saint Augustine of Hippo, this man who wanted his little wife, his happy students, caring Mom, silly but avoided Dad, son Adeodatus (’God-given’), but ended up rebelling against liberal education and realizing that infants are evil and depraved in many ways. Christianity today hesitating between a new engagement, a farewell to ‘cultural Christianity’ and ‘Christian nationalism,’ the question of freedom of religion or, as John MacArthur points out, acknowledging that religion and freedom are incompatible in the in the American secular understanding of the word ‘freedom.’ Freedom to die, freedom of death, perhaps a hundred million or more abortions. But was St. Augustine a quietist who turned his back on the world? Did he say go home? He was advising the Roman general Beliarius and provided an immortal pastoral reflection on traumatic sociohistorical upheaval in ‘City of God.’
I still feel wrapped up and flattened out. Today I remembered ‘The Teacher of Creative Writing’ which was my too-late apology to a former student for whom I wrote a good-but-not-great essay-letter and game good but not the best advice. I wanted to tell her Cambridge UK has fewer anti-Korean rapists than Harvard but I wish that I had simply talked about God. She turned up on FB a while back doing all these ‘luminous ampoule face-gel’ bed-pictures which Russian men commenting and stuff(?!). ‘Tis part of why I turned my back on institutional Christianity - to my very abiding regret - and started thinking in ‘Baudelarian’ terms again with songs like f(x)’s ‘Butterfly.’ ‘I want to get inside your twisted logic / white-faced mysterious you.’
I sigh. Thank God today kids maybe can get the specific wisdom they need from devices or something instead of wanting to believe in someone like me who as more of a image of a leader-teacher-priest than the real thing. I really am in more trouble than these kids who simply allowed themselves to be vulnerable, I feel. No less had I been more pertinacious and decisive and staid I might have had that room full of books in Itaewon with the spiral staircase instead of being so far away in a place where no one’s really interested or apt. Another matter of which I have been tragically slow to take cognizance is the inferiority of creativity and conceptualization to redemption and Resurrection. Today I guess AI can create almost anything but I keep trying to crack ‘Hope in Times of Fear’ and truly hold fast to the knowledge that I can weather what’s coming and give up whatever I will need to give up if I remember that I don’t have to keep inventing and scheming and imagining and surprising everyone. I keep hearing the word ‘Sadducee’ in my head. The methods of Christianity are available to all and everyone is talking about Thomas Jefferson doing vaccine-experiments and a guy whose slave’s name was ‘Onesimus’ though the NPR reporter didn’t know about St Paul and his spiritual family; but the lynchpin of Christianity is still the Resurrection and Yeonmi Park may have a point about America becoming mentally North Korean if the methods of Christianity are catholically and rigorously implemented without conviction in the mystery and miracle of Christ’s being ‘first born of the dead.’
I’m 100% certain at this point there are people who want to murder me but Yeonmi Park has a very big point to make and I’m concerned for her as well as her way of conveying the message. So many people think she’s a huge harlot and Kim Jong Il is a sympathetic anti-hero; they hate her for having a few million dollars. My dad’s furious at John MacArthur for having a net-worth of like 15 million dollars and a nice watch; Bill Gates still has like 70 billion or something and is bragging about saving lives while 100 million kids are backsliding into poverty, starvation, possible trafficking due to I used to be this way as well, always having good ideas then worsening them deliberately. I remember reading on Wikipedia how love-shyness destroys careers; of all the things to be ashamed of, true love, holy love, an augury of Eternity and immortality, recognition of the Imago Dei (Image of God) in the other. ‘Why hold your beloved friends and family fast when you can talk about spaceships to Venus?’
Covid and the people on the street 100% love Bill Gates. Everyone’s afraid of Christianity; they’re love-shy; they’ll always take the second-best thing..
The world is really mentally ill and I wish I were living on an airplane writing speeches for JD Vance 20hrs a day but JD Vance is a brand too dueling people about Tucker Carlson and I can’t message him on Twitter (’100 million kids? - that’s something but first establish yourself and pay your dues in the profession by writing a 1,000 page dissertation about Tucker Carlson’). I’m about 1.5 years too old to join the SJ (Society of Jesus / Jesuits) by my last investigation. I just wish I had given my best over the last year and a half instead of ‘tracking’ matters for so long and gathering so much evidence without replying or responding.
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Green Vine of Fate, chapter 4 Snippet
Warning: this will probably make you screech very loudly and, quite possibly, scare a cat from the pitch. You have been warned
@deadcatwithaflamethrower, @punsbulletsandpointythings, @markwatnae, @kyberpunk, @maawi, @sanerontheinside, @eclipsemidnight, @meabhair, @lilyrose225writes, @stonefreeak
The time it took for Obi-Wan to calm his racing heart left him, for a long moment, contemplating the merits of trying to apparate within school grounds—if only to test the theory that if he succeeded, he’d be wiped out of existence as his molecules were unable to escape the magical field surrounding the school preventing ingress or egress by apparition. Unfortunately, he doubted he’d manage to get that far and would more probably end up needing some sort of replacement limb for a severe case of splinching.
As much as he really wanted to flee Jinn’s quarters and obliviate himself, he wasn’t that suicidal so, with a reluctant sigh, Obi-Wan moved back away from Jinn’s bed and prepared to watch the other professor until he woke up.
In the meantime, however, he’d go over everything he knew of soulmarks and the frankly limited amount of information that he had on them; and he’d spent years studying the damned magical phenomena — Merlin only knew what most wizards thought of the damned things.
Obi-Wan sighed. He knew what most wizards thought about soulmarks. They were signs that you had met your equal, your match, your other-half; he’d heard it all. The truth of them, however, was a considerably less fanciful. Soulmarks symbolised two individuals with complementary magical signatures and similar experiences who, upon acceptance of the connection, would develop an empathic connection depending on their magical strength. The empathic connection enabled strongly connected couples to maintain stability no matter the situation or injury they may receive, and also made it significantly easier to perform magic they had previously struggled with.
It sounded brilliant on paper, such a connection with another being—and they didn’t have to be human either. There had been a delightful couple he’d met in China who’d had a lovely baby girl; her mother was a descendent of Chang’e, the woman who had become the moon in Chinese mythology. Obi-Wan had never pried into her family history but had suspected there was more to her maternal line than a muggle mythology. He’d wanted to though. Still, manners maketh.
The armchair he'd dropped down into was soft and well-worn, a subtle Warming Charm working away to keep it comfortable. A nifty trick that Obi-Wan was going to gladly copy the moment he returned to his own rooms in the castle. Considering it, Obi-Wan contemplated whether to call for Deesey again, wondering if she'd be able to obtain several of his research papers for him to scour through while waiting for Jinn to wake. The protective enchantments on his luggage—especially the chest where he kept most of his work—were extensive and, to date, Obi-Wan hadn’t come across a single magical being that was able to circumvent them.
“Deesey.” Perhaps it was time to check them again.
A quiet crack, more subdued than what Obi-Wan typically associated with House Elves, echoed in the sleeping chambers. Deesey peered up at Obi-Wan from where she stood in front of him, hands clasped together, ears raised with expectation. “What is the master Professor wanting from Deesey, sir?”
Obi-Wan’s lips quirked slightly at the way Deesey spoke, it was a singularly unique characteristic of House Elves that Obi-Wan had never truly been able to determine the cause of. The best his research managed to determine was that it was an age-old habit inherent in Elves due to their magical origins. As far as Obi-Wan was aware, the House Elves in the United Kingdom all hailed from the Fae of Ireland; some sort of derivative species that had managed to survive within the mortal realm rather than being forced to resort to living in a separate realm of magical space. Their form of communication and the way in which they spoke the English language seemed to have its roots in the difficulty of adapting to a reduced alphabet and differing grammar rules. It hardly mattered to Obi-Wan in truth, it was merely something he found interesting.
“I have some research papers I wish to look over while I wait for Professor Jinn to waken,” Obi-Wan explained quietly, glancing at the professor in question, noting the man was still slumbering. “If it is possible for you to access my research chest, it would be greatly appreciated if you could retrieve them for me, however—” he raised his hand, halting Deesey mid-nod “—I am uncertain whether you will be able to get past the protective spells on the chest. If you can’t, Deesey, I do not want you harming yourself in an endeavour to do so.”
Deesey’s ears drooped as she nodded solemnly. “Yes sir, Master Professor, sir.” She paused, tilting her head to the side. “If Deesey is not able to retrieve Master Professor’s research, what is sir wanting Deesey to do instead?”
Obi-Wan smiled. “If you could collect the essays I still have left to mark, my marking quill and ink, then that would be more than enough Deesey,” he said warmly, smile widening when Deesey nodded enthusiastically, her ears flopping with the motion.
“Yes, sir! Deesey will do as Master Professor asks! Deesey will be doing it now!”
The second crack of apparition was as quiet as the first and Obi-Wan wondered briefly if House Elves could control the volume of their apparition; it stood to reason, one of the tales Obi-Wan had come across in a quiet part of Ireland populated almost entirely by magical beings suggested that a House Elf had taught a mortal wizard how to apparate. Of course, that tale conflicted with older stories of the first recorded wizard apparating inside the Library of Alexandria but even the magical world had multiple stories on the origins of magic and magical abilities; they differed little to Muggles in this respect.
He was idly considering writing a paper on the similarities between Muggle and Wizarding historical sources, myths and legends, before movement from Jinn’s bed had him snapping to attention. Shifting forward in the armchair, Obi-Wan eyed Jinn warily, the urge to scratch his wrist adding to his wariness. Eventually Jinn’s movements became more erratic and the older professor was at risk of dislodging himself from the bed.
Obi-Wan was up and across the room in a moment, carefully moving to perch lightly on the edge of the bed. “Jinn.” He reached out and gently grasped a weakly flailing wrist, slowing its movements. “Qui-Gon,” he said softly.
Jinn let out a quiet gasp that was more like a groan of pain than anything else, opening his eyes sluggishly. “Wha…” he slurred weakly, blinking slowly up at Obi-Wan who carefully leaned into the other man’s field of vision.
“It’s alright, Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan said, voice still soft and calm. “You’re in your rooms at Hogwarts.”
Jinn blinked again, eyes sparking with increasing alertness as his mind kicked into gear. The pulse in the wrist Obi-Wan held jumped suddenly. Obi-Wan frowned. “Qui-Gon?”
Jinn’s gaze had zeroed in on his wrist and Obi-Wan swallowed. He knew what had caught Jinn’s attention.
“You’re—” Jinn began, his gaze jumping to Obi-Wan’s face. Obi-Wan cut him off.
“You were bitten by a snake in your class, as far as I’m aware, I don’t think it was deliberate.” Obi-Wan pointedly avoided Jinn’s gaze, gently releasing Jinn’s hand and letting it drop down onto the sheets. “Since snakes were added to the list of pets, I am aware they’ve become somewhat of a fad. Minerva is investigating the matter and I daresay she’ll find out who the animal belongs to by morning.”
“Obi-Wan.” Jinn’s voice was quiet, weak, but there was an intensity to it that lent it strength.
Obi-Wan stubbornly tried to ignore it. “I have Deesey returning with essays for myself to mark overnight, you require someone to keep an eye on your condition,” he said with a false cheer, shifting back away from Jinn. “She also left some tea for when you woke, I believe it’s under a Heating Charm so it should still be quite alright.”
“Obi-Wan.” Jinn said again, voicer stronger now.
“I’ll get you a cup, shall I?” Obi-Wan asked rhetorically, already beginning to stand even as he spoke. He let out a surprised sound when Jinn lurched forward, a hand wrapping around Obi-Wan’s wrist with surprising strength. “Qui-Gon!”
“You’re ignoring it.” Jinn observed, looking up at Obi-Wan half-sprawled across himself on the bed. The arm that Jinn hadn’t trapped in his own embrace was planted near Jinn’s head, supporting part of Obi-Wan’s weight as his face was perilously close to Jinn’s own. “Why?”
Obi-Wan blinked. “Ignoring what?” He tried, smiling innocently. Jinn didn’t even blink. “I—”
A loud crack interrupted whatever Obi-Wan had been about to say and with a sudden burst of energy, Obi-Wan slipped his wrist out of Jinn’s hand, swiftly moving to stand beside the bed before Deesey even opened her mouth.
“Deesey couldn’t open Master Professor’s chest like sir said!” Deesey exclaimed, ignorant of the tension between the two wizards. “So Deesey got what sir said to get instead!” She held out the items Obi-Wan had requested, smiling brightly up at him.
Obi-Wan nodded, giving her a somewhat forced smile. “Thank you Deesey,” he said politely, putting distance between himself and Jinn by collecting the essays and such from Deesey. “Professor Jinn is awake right now and I imagine he may be somewhat thirsty. Would you kindly prepare him a cup of tea, please?”
Deesey beamed, nodding her head and making her ears flap. “Yes, Master Professor sir! Deesey will be doing that right away!”
The House Elf scurried across the room, bare feet making no sound on the stone floor nor the rug. Obi-Wan glanced back at the bed where Jinn was staring at him before he looked down at the essays he held. He’d managed to mark most of the essays he’d received from his classes in the past week, but there were still six left to grade.
Obi-Wan silently thanked the gods for Deesey’s timing and the fact he had taken the Dreamless Sleep potion he’d brewed himself last night instead of giving in to nightmares and not sleeping all night. If he hadn’t done that then he’d have nothing to occupy his time for the rest of the night.
At least this way he had a legitimate reason to spend most of his time occupied and not engaging Jinn in conversation.
#Green Vine of Fate#Star Wars#HP#Obi-Wan Kenobi#Qui-Gon Jinn#Deesey is my favourite character ever okay#I love her
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I rotated and adjusted the lighting on that quote from the bottom left, to find what article it was referring to, since it’s the cover page of a newspaper section.
It reads:
Ta-Nehisi Coates: “It was as if I’d spent all my years jiggling the key in the wrong lock.”
The editor who put that quote on the cover page seems to have misquoted the article though, because the actual quote from the article is, “It was as if I had spent my years jiggling a key into the wrong lock.”
Married with a young child, he possessed intellectual curiosity and the gift of a wordsmith. He produced an essay about Bill Cosby that caught attention and led to a relationship with the Atlantic magazine, where he is now a national correspondent. His ascent coincided with Obama’s and a new world of possibilities. “It was as if I had spent my years jiggling a key into the wrong lock. The lock was changed. The doors swung open, and we did not know how to act.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/08/ta-nehisi-coates-our-story-is-a-tragedy-but-doesnt-depress-me-we-were-eight-years-in-power-interview
Below is a cut and paste of the article in case you can’t access that link.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Observer
Ta-Nehisi Coates: the laureate of black lives
Coates’s eloquent polemics on the black experience in America brought him fame and the admiration of Barack Obama. Here he talks about the rise of white supremacy – and why Trump was a logical conclusion
Ta-Nehisi Coates is short on sleep. He did five interviews yesterday to promote his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. Today there was another at 7am, then surgery “to get a little thing removed” from his neck. As his tall frame appears in the doorway of an office at his New York publisher, a bandage is visible above the collar of his blue suit jacket.
Coates is friendly but fatigued and yawns several times during the course of our conversation. Some questions animate him and he digs deep with evident passion; others elicit a brief “I don’t know”. The interview doesn’t always flow. But even on an off-day, Coates, 42, is more compelling than almost any other public voice about the state we’re in. The New York Times described him as “the pre-eminent black public intellectual of his generation”. The novelist Toni Morrison compared him to James Baldwin. He emerged as the equivalent of poet laureate during Barack Obama’s presidency, chronicling the spirit of the age. If anything, the advent of Trump has pushed his stock higher. Coates admits it is “tremendously irritating” to be in constant demand by the media, as if he is sole spokesman for African American affairs.
But he does have much to say about Trump and the divided states of America. His book is a collection of eight essays he published during Obama’s eight years in office plus new material, including an epilogue entitled “The First White President”, in which he contends that Trump’s ability to tap the ancient well of racism was not incidental but fundamental to his election win. Many people have called Trump a racist or white supremacist, but Coates has the rare ability to express it in clear prose that combines historical scholarship with personal experience of being black in today’s America.
Halifu Osumare, director of African American and African Studies at the University of California, says: “Ta-Nehisi Coates has done his homework, including much self-reflection. He clearly knows his literary forerunners – [Richard] Wright, Baldwin and Morrison, yet he speaks as a 21st-century writer. He eloquently conflates the personal, political and the existential, while telling it like it is.”
Certainly, in contrast with other commentators, Coates has no qualms about stating that the White House is occupied by a white supremacist (a term he does not apply to other Republicans, such as George HW Bush or George W Bush). He lays out evidence that Trump, despite his upbringing in liberal New York, has a long history of racial discrimination. There was the 1973 federal lawsuit against him and his father for alleged bias against black people seeking to rent at Trump housing developments in New York. Trump took out ads in four daily newspapers calling for the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1989 after five African American and Latino teenagers were accused of assaulting and raping a white woman in Central Park. Even after the five were cleared by DNA evidence, he continued to insist: “They admitted they were guilty.”
He was once quoted as saying: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” More recently, Trump was a leading proponent of the “birther” movement, pushing the conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the US and therefore an illegitimate president. While running for president, he said that a judge of Mexican heritage would be unfair to him in a court case because he was a “hater” and a “Mexican”. In one interview, Trump refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan (he subsequently blamed a faulty earpiece).
In his epilogue, Coates writes: “To Trump, whiteness is neither notional nor symbolic, but the very core of his power. In this, Trump is not singular. But whereas his forebears carried whiteness like an ancestral talisman, Trump cracked the glowing amulet open, releasing its eldritch energies.”
Since then, there has been a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a civil rights protester was killed, prompting Trump’s comment that there were “very fine people on both sides”. Today, Coates adds the president’s visit to hurricane-hit Puerto Rico to Trump’s charge sheet: “Just yesterday, he goes to a part of the United States that’s been devastated by a natural disaster and throws toilet paper out to the crowd like they’re peasants or something. There are people in this country who will not be happy until Donald Trump is literally executing a lynching before they’ll use that term [white supremacist]. I’m not going to play around; let’s call things what they are.”
Last month Trump was at it again, condemning American football players who “take the knee” during the national anthem to make a statement against racial injustice. Throwing red meat to his base at a rally in Alabama, he called on team owners to fire them and to say: “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.” The protest was started last year by Colin Kaepernick of San Francisco 49ers. Coates reflects: “Kaepernick’s protest has been very successful. I really appreciate the fact that he’s been giving away money to organisations; he pledged to give away a million dollars and he’s been doing it.”
But Trump used his familiar tactics to divert and distract, kicking up bitter divisions around the anthem, the military, how much sportsmen earn, the meaning of patriotism and, of course, himself. Amid the media storm, it was easy to forget what the original protest was about. “The police brutality element has been lost, but I think that is a danger that all protests face,” Coates says. “At some point, you’re always co-opted, successful protests especially. It happened in the civil rights movement. People forget that the 1963 march [on Washington] was for jobs: that somehow got lost, and it became this warm, fuzzy thing [now best known for Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech].”
The notion that all these issues would be resolved by Obama was always fanciful. Even so, Coates was swept up in the euphoria with millions of others in 2008 when the US elected its first black president. Had the nation – whose founding fathers were slave owners, and where today African Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of whites – truly changed? Coates admits he took his eye off the ball. The racial backlash was coming.
“The symbolic power of Barack Obama’s presidency – that whiteness was no longer strong enough to prevent peons taking up residence in the castle – assaulted the most deeply rooted notions of white supremacy and instilled fear in its adherents and beneficiaries,” he writes. “And it was that fear that gave the symbols Donald Trump deployed – the symbols of racism – enough potency to make him president, and thus put him in position to injure the world.”
Trump did not come out of nowhere; he was the logical conclusion of years of racial dog whistles from the Republican party, which has sought to suppress the black vote through spurious claims of cracking down on fraud. Coates recounts: “Throughout his eight years in office, Barack Obama endured a campaign of illegitimacy waged either by pluralities or majorities of the Republican party. Donald Trump rooted his candidacy in that campaign. It’s fairly obvious.
“His first real foray out again as a political candidate was into birthism [Trump began questioning Obama’s birthplace in TV interviews in 2011], and a lot of people dismissed birthism as just something cranks do and we don’t have to deal with. That was a huge mistake: it underrated the long tradition of denying black people their citizenship and basic rights. That was what this was piggybacking off of, so it’s not a mistake that he started there and then became president at all.”
Coates does not make the claim that all 63 million people who voted for Trump are white supremacists; but they were, he points out, willing to hand the government over to one. It was an astonishingly reckless act. Coates’s book is a wake-up call to white America, a holding to account. “So this question, is everyone who voted for Trump a racist? This misses the point. Did everyone in Nazi Germany believe all the stereotypes about Jews? Of course not. It’s beside the point.
“When France deported its Jews, did everyone in France believe all this stuff? No, but that’s beside the point. Looking the other way has consequences and you might not be a racist or a white supremacist or a bigot, but if you voted for Trump, you looked the other way, you said it’s fine to have that in the White House, and a substantial number of Americans felt that way. That’s a statement.”
Coates also takes issue with the media’s obsession with the white working class as a bloc that turned its back on Democrats and defected to Trump. His book challenges politicians and journalists who make earnest defences of Trump-voting communities as “good people” not motivated by bigotry. Countless articles and books such as Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, a memoir about growing up in the white underclass, have been studied as key to understanding the despair of small towns left behind by globalisation. Are they missing the point? Is class secondary to race?
“It’s not like most working-class people voted for Donald Trump; they did not,” Coates says. “Most white working-class people voted for Donald Trump and the through line that you find is whiteness, not class and not gender. It’s not like he only got men; he got a majority of white women too. So if you look at categories of white people you find Trump being dominant among them, in part because of the appeal he made, but also in part because the Republican party has effectively become in this country the party of white people.
“What’s happening is the white working class is being used as a kind of signpost tool… There is some effort not just to absolve white working people, but to absolve whiteness because here’s the deal: ‘Oh, it’s fine that white working-class people and white poor people voted for Donald Trump because over the past 30 years they’ve had unmet expectations. And it’s also fine that rich white people voted for Donald Trump because of tax cuts.’ Come on: everybody gets off the hook.”
And yet many senators, including Bernie Sanders, whom Coates supported in the Democratic primary, Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren have argued that a generation of economic stagnation is real, fuelling anger that led some voters to throw a grenade at the Washington establishment. Middle- and working-class parents are frustrated that their children will not have the same opportunities they did. Trump’s defeated opponent Hillary Clinton writes in her new memoir: “After studying the French Revolution, De Tocqueville wrote that revolts tend to start not in places where conditions are worst, but in places where expectations are most unmet.”
To that, Coates responds: “Those expectations are built on being white. People say that as though it’s indivisible from the idea of race. You want to talk about unmet expectations? Black folks have been dealing with that since we got here, so the notion that, ‘My child isn’t going to have it as good as me, so that therefore gives me the right to vote for someone who conducts diplomacy with a rogue nuclear state via Twitter’ – that don’t work. Bottom line is, a significant number of people in this country have tolerance for bigotry. No one, I don’t think, can act like they didn’t know. You know I think [Trump’s racist] comments were well reported and America just decided it was OK.”
When white voters make bad decisions, Coates argues, excuses are made; when black voters do it, they get the blame. Coates recalls how the election of Marion Barry as mayor of the District of Columbia [later to be caught on camera smoking crack cocaine] prompted articles suggesting people in the district should lose the right to vote. “So there’s all this kind of rope that’s given, all these excuses allowed when you’re white in this country. But if black people acted that civically irresponsibly, that rope would not be awarded.
“Like you take the opioid crisis and all of the compassion that’s doled out in the rhetoric? Where was that during the crack epidemic in the 1980s? I remember it well. I was in a city where that was going on. Where was all that compassion? Black people aren’t worthy of that. That’s a story that can be created for white people because they’re white, but we don’t get that sort of compassion.”
Democrats are said to be torn between an emphasis on economic justice that aims to win back Trump voters and an emphasis on racial justice that will energise its liberal base. Asked about the future direction of the party, Coates is hesitant: “I don’t know. I shouldn’t answer that.” But after a pause, he weighs in: “Here’s one thing. I don’t think they can get away from talking about race because of the way things are aligned. You’ve got to get to a state like South Carolina or Georgia: these states have large numbers of black and brown voters.”
Coates grew up in Baltimore, where Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner and the first residential racial segregation law in any US city was enacted. More recently, it was famous for David Simon’s crime drama The Wire. “I had very little interaction with white people as a kid,” Coates recalls. “I think about what my world looked like as a child, a place that felt fearful, violent, then I’d put on the TV and I’d see that that was not the country at least as it advertised itself. That struck me and I always wanted to know why, what was the difference, why was my house not like Family Ties? That motivated a great deal of my work from the time I was young.”
His father, Paul Coates, was a Vietnam war veteran, Black Panther and voracious collector of books about the history of black struggle. Paul Coates had seven children by four women and was an intellectually inspiring father who also administered beatings. Coates has described him with affection as “a practising fascist, mandating books and banning religion”. The religion ban worked – Coates is an atheist – and so did the books, eventually. In February 2007, Coates, then 31, had just lost his third job in seven years and was trying to stay off welfare. He writes: “I’d felt like a failure all my life – stumbling out of middle school, kicked out of high school, dropping out of college... ‘College dropout’ means something different when you’re black. College is often thought of as the line between the power to secure yourself and your family, and the power of someone else securing you in a prison or grave.”
Married with a young child, he possessed intellectual curiosity and the gift of a wordsmith. He produced an essay about Bill Cosby that caught attention and led to a relationship with the Atlantic magazine, where he is now a national correspondent. His ascent coincided with Obama’s and a new world of possibilities. “It was as if I had spent my years jiggling a key into the wrong lock. The lock was changed. The doors swung open, and we did not know how to act.”
Coates made a splash with a 2014 article for the Atlantic arguing that the US should pay African Americans reparations for slavery. Then, a year later, came Between the World and Me, a rumination on black life and white supremacy, addressed to his teenage son in a letter form that evoked Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. It argued that the “destruction of black bodies” is not simply a recurring theme of American history but its central premise. It won the National Book Award in nonfiction, sold 1.5m copies around the world and has been translated into 19 languages.
As his star rose, Coates was invited to the White House. He got to spend time with Obama, whose fundamental optimism in America had convinced him that Trump could not win. He says: “He was tremendously intelligent, one of the smartest people I’d ever talked to, and he was smart in many ways. I met him a few times: one was with a bunch of journalists and he had the ability to address each journalist in their specific area in a very learned way. I thought he was brilliant.”
He reckons “in the main” Obama lived up to the impossibly high expectations of his presidency. “He had an incredible tightrope to walk and it’s difficult, man. You’re the first black president and you’ve got to represent a community, then speak to a larger country at the same time. If he was more radical he wouldn’t have been president. That’s what I’ve come around to: who he was was what the country wanted at that time. He can’t be me; not that he should want to be. But it’s a very different calling.”
Indeed, Coates sees himself as a writer – including of a comic-book series starring superhero the Black Panther – rather than an activist or potential politician. “That’s what I’m supposed to be doing because it’s what calls to me and it’s what I’m good at, what I excel at. I don’t really excel at this other stuff. I’m not a person who’s going to say whatever I have to say to get a coalition together, which is what you have to do in politics. I’m a writer.”
Towards the end of the interview, the questions become longer and Coates’s answers become shorter. He is probably relieved when it’s over, though he is too polite to say so.
Later he is busy tweeting links to articles about gun violence, nuclear war and earthquakes, jokingly chiding their authors for offering no hope. It is a charge with which he is all too familiar. “Our story is a tragedy,” he writes in We Were Eight Years in Power. “I know it sounds odd, but that belief does not depress me. It focuses me. After all, I am an atheist and thus do not believe anything, even a strongly held belief, is destiny... The worst really is possible. My aim is never to be caught, as the rappers say, acting like it can’t happen. And my ambition is to write both in defiance of tragedy and in blindness of its possibility, to keep screaming into the waves – just as my ancestors did.”
• We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates is published by Hamish Hamilton (£16.99). To order a copy for £14.44 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
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Let's Talk About Orihime
This is a bit long, so I’m putting it under a cut:
But first, because this requires some setup, let's talk about Mace Windu. Now, someone a lot more famous than me has already had this discussion, if a bit crudely:
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So, in short, Jackson was cast not because he was good for the part, but because his name would bring in extra dollars and an audience that might not have come otherwise.
Anyway, keep in mind the quoted section.
Now let’s talk about Bella Swan. This is by no means the most exhaustive breakdown of her character, but it will suffice.
Throughout the series, Bella is only defined by her relationship with Edward. That is what sets her apart from the other characters. She has no special traits or defining hobbies or characteristics. She could just as easily be replaced with a secondary character and the only difference would be the name.
[...]
This is a product of the bad writing evident throughout the series. Meyer never shows, she just tells. She tells the reader Bella is smart, though, over the series, a veritable mountain of evidence stacks up against this fact.
[...]
Bella's main problem, however, is not her lack of depth, Twilight is a poorly written romance novel after all, you cannot expect too much, the main problem is Bella's essentially anti-feminist characterisation.
Keep this in mind too.
Last, but not least, let’s talk about healers in JRPGs, specifically, Final Fantasy. Now, when people think of White Mages, they think of something like this. And of course this image of healers as chaste, pure, pretty maidens is quite the trope, and begat its own offspring.
This became so rote that eons (almost 20 years) ago, PSM had an article on trying to change up the tropes in JRPGs to keep them fresh. I can’t find the article, but here was their concept art. (The female lead was a black mage, not a healer, and the healer was actually pretty into violence.)
The pinnacle of this trend was, of course, Aeris:
Now, everybody thinks of Aeris as a pure princess because of FFVII: Advent Children, and the associated following Kirk Drift. But Aeris was street-smart and loved to crack innuendo, so this is largely a mass-misremembering of her actual personality in FFVII. (The definitive screenshot LP of FFVII makes the case for this handily.)
Still, you get the idea: healers are pure, pretty princesses.
Speaking of pure, pretty princesses:
(Gee, you wonder if that color-scheme is a coincidence?)
So here’s the thing: Orihime is bait. She didn’t start off that way, but that’s what she became very quickly, certainly by the end of the SS arc.
She is a very shoujo character in a shounen. Who do you suppose that she is designed to attract? The answer, of course, is women, specifically teenage girls who can identify with her. (This is analogous to Mace Windu being introduced to expand market capture.) She serves an auxiliary role through her design, as IH has lately seen fit to constantly crow about: her huge chest also makes her fan service for male readers. (This is like Mace Windu being the “only” Jedi who can balance between light side and dark side and the only one with a purple lightsaber.)
Not only is she perfectly designed to appeal to a non-traditional demographic in addition to shoring up a traditional one, she’s designed to do so through insidious means. Put simply, much like Bella Swan, she was largely designed to be, or became, a tabula rasa. She is a blank slate. What few personality quirks she had to begin with were eliminated to focus her existence entirely upon pursuing Ichigo. We’re told that she’s smart, just like Bella, we’re told that she has an interesting interiority, we’re told this, we’re told that... All of that is systematically eliminated for the sake of her pursuit of Ichigo. She exists for no other purpose. She is the girl seeking to get the guy.
And much like Bella Swan, she is successful in that appeal, because by being so thoroughly bland, and sympathetic in a rudimentary way (that is to say, relatable, because she is aimed at an age-group when people are figuring out how to pursue relationships), she is the perfect template onto which to project one’s desires. She exists for the reader to use as a self-insert.
Unlike Bella Swan, she does have one special trait: she’s the healer. Orihime is practically an archetypal example of the pure maiden/princess archetype of a healer. And of course, her powers are routinely hyped up as something truly astonishing (the, to paraphrase, “transgressing into God’s domain” quote that gets bandied about) even as they are simultaneously dismissed. (Hachi doesn’t regard her powers as special, Kisuke considers her powers dispensable, Aizen ultimately had no use for her except bait, etc.)
Orihime isn’t powerful. For all of her vaunted ability to reject events, she is neutralized by differentials in reiatsu, just like Soi Fon is by Aizen. Against a more powerful opponent, she’s ineffective. Further, she lacks a killer instinct, and was only able to muster it once. (This being in the defense of Tatsuki; some will argue she was ready to hurt Moe if he had been the one to injure Uryuu, but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and global thermonuclear war.)
What she is, is fast. Soul Society’s healers are able to reproduce her results or better with time, but she can do the same very quickly. This makes her convenient, particularly to the plot. She is an expedient deus ex machina for enabling our heroes to do what they do, and this gives her an air of necessity to their adventure. She seems very important as a result! But we must remember that this is a story with an author, not a record of events, and that stories can be incredibly contrived.
Hanatarou couldn’t fix the degree of injuries she could, or fix them as quickly, but he could largely fulfill the same role—and in fact did during the Soul Society arc. She could be swapped out for another healer, like Unohana, and very little would change except the necessary pacing of events. She exists to speed up the plot.
In other words, Orihime is the perfect synthesis of the three examples I lead off this essay with: she is a cynical readership-expanding token character, she is rather featureless and designed to facilitate audience self-insertion, and she is a Mary Sue with an overstated importance to the plot that conceals her weaknesses. (With the last point: I don’t refer to Aeris in actuality, but more the idea of her that was built up by the extended universe ex post facto.)
She basically became a plot and marketing device.
And the hilarious thing is, she worked perfectly. Her popularity poll numbers were acceptable enough, but it’s the zealotry and rancor of her supposed fans that really tells the tale:
There is the continued focus on her physical form, particularly her breasts; this reduction of her to her character design is a gleeful admission that such was her function in appealing to men.
There is the lack of concern toward her ending showing the final destruction of her early dreams and personality: this reduction of her to her relationship with Ichigo is a gleeful admission that such was her function in appealing to women.
There is the constant defense that she “deserved” Ichigo’s affection because her chaste love was so pure and selfless: this is a gleeful admission that she achieved her objective of standing in for the speaker’s own estimate of their self-worth and value.
Orihime is ultimately utilized as a surrogate for happiness by those who identified with her. She “won,” therefore they “won.” She “deserves” Ichigo, just like they “deserve” their own figurative Ichigo (that is to say, “love”). They extol her “importance” because it means they are “important.”
Not everyone who likes Orihime identified with her to this extent, of course. But I think it’s rather obvious that the diehard core of IH—that is to say, the faction that is presently occupied with making fools of themselves in the ask boxes of IRs—did.
And this is, of course, exactly why this faction of IH is so aggrieved. Orihime does not really exist as a character to them (just as Ichigo doesn’t; but Ichigo at least has a character), she exists only within the matrix of IH, because that is her purpose. When IR, or the fandom in general, rejects IH, they view it as a rejection of themselves. It’s a repudiation of the commitment they made, and of their core being, and thus they lash out. When they demand recognition for their ship, what they are really demanding is recognition of themselves. They are trying to compel respect and love.
The tragedy and irony of this is of course self-evident, but nonetheless noteworthy, for they are in effect being told the one thing they cannot actually cope with:
Santen Kesshun: I Reject!
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Too Close for Comfort: “The Luminous Dead”
[This post brought to you with major spoilers for Caitlin Starling’s 2019 novel “The Luminous Dead,” which was also featured in “The Yarn” on April 9. This post includes discussion of body horror; reader discretion is advised.]
Claustrophobia holds a special place in my sweet little horror-loving heart. The discombobulating Navidson house’s “Five and a Half Minute Hallway” in Mark Z. Danielewski’s novel “House of Leaves,” the spiraling staircase in Jeff Vandermeer’s “Annihilation,” childhood trips to local caverns where tour guides would plunge visitors into darkness for no more than 30 agonizing seconds as they educated on the space’s historic discovery -- they all stick in my memory as moments that straddle the line between nerve-wracking and exhilarating, the kind of thing to make the imagination run wild.
It perhaps should have been no surprise then that I loved Caitlin Starling’s debut sci-fi horror novel “The Luminous Dead,” which was released on April 2. Strong, curious daredevil main character? Check. Super advanced science fiction technology? Check. Mysterious deaths retroactively investigated? Check. Eccentric, rich, genius expedition funder who doesn’t know when to quit? Check.
Terror coming from outside AND within? Check and check.
“The Luminous Dead” traces the journey of Gyre Price, a young caver who falsifies her employment records to sign on for a high-paying solo expedition through a private tunnel system on the planet Cassandra-V. What she assumes is a reconnoissance mission for a mining interest turns out to be a personal project for her handler and employer Em, whose parents went missing in the cave years before. With Em as her only help, companionship and connection to the outside world, Gyre soon comes to realize that there are dangerous forces acting on and through the caverns she’s exploring, as well as just how far Em will go to see the mission through to completion.
A cave system, parts of it unexplored, provides some ideal foundational building blocks for a horror story on its own. An unexplored cave is likely to be dark in a way that almost any above-ground setting (other than space!) would be stretching to manage. An unstable cave might have segments that are cramped or blocked; the risk of a collapse could destroy the entrance and/or exit and trap a character forever. As Dr. Susan Harlan notes in her Lit Hub essay “How to Read Caves,” “Caverns need to be discovered, or at least rediscovered. They are lost things, things hidden in the earth that may or may not be there.” Like an unexplored ocean, a cave’s depth may reveal as of yet undiscovered and dangerous flora and fauna (or some hybrid of both [or duplicates of everyone you’ve ever known]) that a character must contend with. And this is to say nothing of any sort of symbolic affiliation of cavernous descent -- whether that’s a deeper investigation into the self, or a descent to (and, in the best cases, return from) the underworld. The fact that the cave is littered with the bodies of previous explorers is just icing on the proverbial terror cake.
Environment alone in “The Luminous Dead” would provide plenty of fuel for claustrophobic atmospheric tension. But to limit discussion to subterranean setting would be to discredit the science fiction aspects that only serve to heighten the novel’s horror, which Starling runs with from page one.
“The Luminous Dead” is delightfully thorough in its discussion of the tech that makes these expeditions possible and how it has evolved in the book’s recent history. The suit that Gyre sports into the cavern is not just an exoskeleton - shielding her from trauma during impacts, filtering out toxins from the cave air, etc. - but is also surgically integrated to essentially be an extension of her body. Her digestive system is tubed into the suit. She avoids dehydration through the suit’s recycling of her own waste water and, throughout the book, drinks primarily as an act of comfort rather than one of necessity. Her unaided vision - nearly useless in the dark cave - is enhanced with overlays by the mask that she is warned not to take off. Against Gyre’s wishes, Em frequently injects drugs through the suit that begins and ends sleep cycles.
“The suit was her new skin, filled with sensors and support functions, dampening her heat and strengthening her already powerful muscles with an articulated exoskeleton designed to keep climbing as natural as possible. She wouldn’t even remove her helmet to eat or sleep. Her large intestine had been rerouted to collect waste for easy removal and a feeding tube had been implanted through her abdominal wall ten days ago. A port on the outside of her suit would connect to nutrition canisters. All liquid waste would be recycled by the suit. All solid waste would be compacted and cooled to ambient temperature, then either carried with her or stored in caches to be retrieved on her trip out. Everything was painstakingly, extensively designed to protect her from... elements in the cave.”
The suit, essentially, is her lifeline, her means of managing needs safely and efficiently while she’s in the cave. However, where in many narratives involving a hostile or mysterious environment, the protection offered by an exosuit is a comforting fallback for the character (see: any time in a film someone tells a new team member that a crack in their helmet would cause them to be sucked into the vacuum of space), Gyre’s suit is a double-edged blade, a micro-parallel of the horror of her environment, especially toward the end of the book.
Like the cave itself, the suit carries with it a level of physical risk. If the battery dies, the suit locks and becomes non-functional, turning from shield to coffin in just a few minutes. (This happens once, toward the end of the book.) Without proper nutrition resources, the suit may continue, but Gyre may die inside it. Malfunctions with the sensors or disjointing from Gyre’s body, such as the digestive tubing dislodging after a fall, easily become painful distractions. While it’s suggested that this suit is the top of the line - the latest iteration after dozens of attempts by Em to get a caver to the distant site of her father’s disappearance - there’s still plenty of problems that could arise with the hardware.
Going hand-in-hand with the physical risk, the psychological affects of the suit come to affect Gyre as well. First, Em has the ability to completely control the suit from her remote panel, and she regularly takes advantage of this power. She injects Gyre with drugs against her explicit wishes. She changes visual readouts to keep the true history of the mission from Gyre, and the resulting paranoia only contributes to the overwhelming fear that she seems to experience through the latter half of the book, the inability to trust that which was meant to keep her safe. While it takes care of her needs, it also alienates her from her body; she is unable to sense changes to the environment because of her carbon polymer shield, she is unable to eat in any natural manner or even to feel her own skin.
“In a great rush, she became aware of how dry her mouth was and how her skin prickled inside of her suit, covered in a thin layer of old swear and dead skin beneath the layer of feedback film that clung to her and allowed her suit to respond to and assist in her climbing. The suit ‘cleansed’ internally every twelve hours or so, using body-temperature water recycled from her urine and introduced through her nutrient canisters, but it was a whisper of a sensation in the film, easily forgotten.”
While the cave setting would be enough to inspire feelings of claustrophobia in both character and reader, it is only magnified by the close microcosm of Gyre’s growing discomfort in her suit. The cave may be close, but the suit is always closer, tied into Gyre, simultaneously preserving and her. It is her tie to Em, whom she both hates and relies on, distrusts and wants to connect more deeply with; without the suit, she is truly alone. It is a secondary level of environmental threat, a relationship maintained by paradox.
By the end of the novel, driven to the brink by pain, isolation and paranoia, she begins to tear the suit off and to embrace what she believes to be her doom, guided by the ghosts of the others who had died (assumedly) in the cave before her.
“They’d be together in the blackness. She wanted that. She wanted that more than she’d ever wanted anything, except maybe to feel her skin again, to see her body. She looked down at herself. Her helmet sat beside her, the lamp still on, illuminating the segmented plate of her suit. It wasn’t her. None of it was her... One shin was covered in warped diseased flesh, the blister that had been there now infected, the skin swollen and hot against the cool air. It went numb once it was exposed and the chill seeped in.”
Perhaps this, in itself, is an act of reclamation. Gyre, giving into one terror, still wants to go out on her own terms and does so by shedding the confines of the other, an act of rebellion against the situation that has been leveraged against her at every turn. In turn, Gyre’s release becomes that of the reader; we experience the rush of cavernous air alongside her, aware that we too have been denied the sensory details that might have accompanied a narrative otherwise, though our relief is paired with the shock of what the suit has done to Gyre’s body. We mimic and we empathize, in the same moment that the things we suspected about the cave may actually be true.
There are plenty of things to be scared of in “The Luminous Dead.” Ghosts and bodies, hungry creatures, toxic flora. There are rogue tides and flooded sumps and long drops. There are phantom noises and, sometimes worse, non-phantom noises. There’s the cave itself. But if Caitlin Starling’s debut novel proves one thing, it’s that sometimes the scariest things are closer than you might think.
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Muhammad Ali | Michael J. Fox | Pope Saint John Paul II | Maurice White | Charles Schultz
Muhammad Ali (January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016)
“Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
When we think of boxing we only think of one name - that man is Muhammad Ali. Quite simply, the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T). Though he was before my time (even the heyday of 90′s boxing was before my time - sorry to make you feel old), his name persisted in the history books and Guinness World Records and became something of a legendary figure much like how Bruce Lee was (see Bruce Lee post) It was until I decided to watch some old youtube clips with some friends did I realise how incredible this man was. I’m writing this after witnessing Roger Federer’s truly amazing resurgence as an 35 year old elder statesman in tennis and cementing his position as the G.O.A.T in his sport. His boxing wins in his twilight years - brashly and sensationally named Rumble in the Jungle (1974) and Thriller in Manilla (1975) were just that.
Muhammad Ali became equally famous for popularising the trash talk - hilarious and brutal at the same time. Something we hear from Premier League football managers and cocky rappers endlessly. His death in 2016 crowned off what became the obituary year - it is unlikely we’ll ever see a force like him again.
Rumble in the Jungle (1974)
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For more of Muhammad Ali’s amazing collection of quotes and trash talking see here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2016/06/03/muhammad-ali-best-quotes-boxing/85370850/
Michael J Fox
Back to the Future (1985)
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Think of the 80′s and you’ll think of Spielberg, Cold War and Back to the Future and Michael J Fox. Is there a better icon for the teenager everybody wanted to be than Marty McFly? The confident kid that made us fellow short kids proud, there was always that crack in the voice in times of standing up to Biff and that wide eyed bewilderment to Doc Brown’s crazy antics that made him feel even more relatable. Although Back to the Future is the movie he’ll always be remembered for - and quite rightly, it’s a classic. Teen Wolf holds a special place in my heart. Also check out his episode on Curb Your Enthusiasm which became one of my favourites on the whole show. Here’s an additional video of Marty McFly’s Chuck Berry tribute: RIP
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Pope Saint John Paul II (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005)
If there’s one Pope that people will remember in the modern age, it’s Pope John Paul II. The first Polish pope whose youthfulness reignited a call towards faith and virtues to your fellow man. He became the second most travelled Pope in history following Pope Pius IX and warmed relations between peoples of the world during some patchy moments in history. No matter what your religious affiliation, we still all aspire for the same virtues and betterment of our fellow man and woman. Something that Pope John Paul II represented with his whole self.
Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016)
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Some call Earth, Wind & Fire cheesy, I call them inspiring (I mean just look at those dance moves!). Their lead singer, Maurice White died during the obituary year of 2016 and left behind a catalogue of funky soulful gold, just as pop music is turning its fickle head in that direction again. I’ll leave ‘September’ here, their finest hit, complete joyful nostalgia composed in one song with the continual sixth chords as its pulsing beat. Genius.
Charles Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000)
If there’s someone who understood kids so well - their innocence, their humour, their cruelty and their genius, it was Charles Schultz - a man who was essentially a child at heart. There’s this biting wit in Peanuts which I grew up reading in the comics section of the newspapers that I’ve only grown to appreciate with an element of world-weariness. The themes can be depressing, but always with an uplifting message. We can all learn from Charlie Brown, the heart and soul of Peanuts - a lovable loser who no matter how many times he’s failed, keeps getting up and trying again.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) was first christened shaking palsy or paralysis agitans by Dr James Parkinson in 1817 in his ‘An Essay on the Shaking Palsy’ which came from his observations walking down a London street which was a regular habit of his – something that Charles Dickens would do some forty years later. The sheer opportunism and raw curiosity of James Parkinson to approach and follow up on the six cases mentioned in the essay is quite something. In doing so he managed to make a medical breakthrough by diagnosing a new condition. Parkinson’s contribution to this condition was made permanent being renamed in his honour by the revered neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot.
Nowadays Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is something that is ubiquitous in medicine affecting 4-20 per 100,000 each year in the UK, being twice as common in men with the mean age of diagnosis of 65 years. Yet our understanding of the disease is something we have known in the past few decades. First, PD constitutes one disease of the spectrum of Parkinsonian disorders (Parkinsonism) – which are neurodegenerative, movement disorders. Parkinsonism consists of a cardinal triad:
• Tremor – worse at rest/ stressed or tired. Pill rolling in nature between thumb and forefinger (see link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-t4RTQ0EsM
• Rigidity/ Hypertonia – clasp knife/ cogwheel rigidity during rapid pronation/supination. (see linkbelow)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xxe2WWWoYI
• Bradykinesia/ Hypokinesia – slowness in initiating movement and repetitive actions – slow blink rate, slow arm swing, shuffling gait etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j86omOwx0Hk
Figure 1: Parkinsonian syndrome subdivisions
We will discuss the most common cause of Parkinsonism – Parkinson’s Disease
What is Parkinson’s Disease?
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurogenerative condition caused by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The cause of PD is unknown but certain genetic mutations in the PINK1, PARKIN or alpha synuclein genes have been attributed. In rare cases PD can be caused by MPTP, a prodrug of the neurotoxin MPP+ a drug which can be found in drugs such as desmethylprodine and recreational drugs.
PD has historically been considered a motor disease linked to degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. However, because of new research that this theory isn’t so clear cut - now we know that are numerous symptoms which affect multiple, non-dopaminergic neuronal cells which we will not mention here.
Dopaminergic neurons
The loss of dopaminergic neurons in PD is selective in the midbrain where it particularly affects the substantia nigra pars compacta (80-90%), ventral tegmental area (40%). This loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta is the reason for deficiency in the striatum (made up of two brain regions: the caudate and putamen.
Figure 2: Neuroanatomy of the striatum
https://beyondthedish.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/basal-ganglia.jpg
Figure 3: Neuroanatomy of the Ventral-Tegmental area
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_03/d_03_cr/d_03_cr_que/d_03_cr_que_1a.jpg
Therefore, the pathway most affected is the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway which leads to the disruption of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. This in turn leads to the disruption of the control of motor functions with the classic PD motor triad of: rest tremor/ bradykinesia (or akinesia) and rigidity. The reasoning for this is dopamine is necessary for stimulating the cortex and initiating movement, with low dopamine levels – there is low movement. As a rule of thumb, over 50% of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia pars compacta need to degenerate before symptoms appear – this is an oversimplication of course, specific areas are affected and the striatal dopamine levels need to be considered as well.
Figure 4: Nigrostriatal pathway
https://journeywithparkinsons.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/nigrostriatal-pathway.jpg
In death of dopaminergic cells, Lewy bodies which are eosinophilic cells comprised of alpha synuclein protein replace them. Another disease characterised by Lewy bodies such as Lewy body dementia (which the late Robin Williams had).
Figure 5: Lewy bodies
There are other dopaminergic systems affected ranging from the CNS to the gut which can lead to other symptoms such as anosmia (loss of smell)
Figure 6: Pigmented substantia nigra
Basal ganglia motor circuit model
The basal ganglia is a collection of part of the brain: made up of the striatum (caudate and putamen), globus pallidus, ventral pallidum, substantia nigra and subthalamic nucleus. that controls movement and connects to the motor cortex. It is this circuit that the pathology of PD derives from.
Figure 7: Basal ganglia motor circuit
http://physiologyonline.physiology.org/content/nips/17/2/51/F2.large.jpg?width=800&height=600&carousel=1
This model proposes the striatum, the major input region of the basal ganglia is connected to the major output region: the globus pallidus (internal part) and the substantia nigra* (pars reticulata) by a direct pathway – considered to be D1 receptor dependent; and by an indirect pathway – considered to be D2 receptor dependent that has synaptic connections with the globus pallidus (external part) and the subthalamic nucleus.
* The substantia nigra is divided into two regions: pars reticulata – receives signals from the striatum and relays messages to the thalamus via GABA. Pars compacta – relays messages to the striatum via dopamine
In normal subjects, dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra act to excite inhibitory neurons in the direct pathway and inhibit the excitatory influence of the indirect pathway.
In PD dopamine depletion leads to overactivity in the globus pallidus (internal part) and substantia nigra (pars reticulata) with excess inhibition of the thalamus and reduced activation of cortical motor regions which translate into the development of parkinsonian features.
HOWEVER this model has many errors, while the hypoactivity of the direct pathway has been confirmed by research , the hyperactivity of the indirect pathway remains a subject of debate.
Given recent research reporting larger amounts of collateralisation between both pathways in primates than that reported for rodent basal ganglia, the clear distinction between the two pathways is called into scrutiny. Also, recent studies show motor, associative and limbic territories within the basal ganglia territories are separated by functional areas and not physical sharp boundaries.
The difficulty of PD is that there isn’t a blanket one size fits all way approach since there are different subgroups and different aetiologies. So far there are 3 different clinical categories to classify PD patients: those responding well to levodopa ~15%, those who do not ~15%, and those whose initial good response diminishes with time ~70%. Future research is needed in this area.
Clinical features
The diagnosis of PD relies heavily on clinical examination with TWO different situations needing to be distinguished whether the examination is early in progression or later. The clinical examination and history cannot diagnose PD with 100% certainty – it is said in theory the only way to confirm a diagnosis of PD is by autopsy (which of course is a little too late). However, the prediction of the pathological findings with high certainty. PD is usually asymmetrical, characterised by the presence of akinesia and rigidity, often associated with rest tremor and is responsive to dopaminergic treatment.
Motor symptoms
The cardinal feature of PD is akinesia – difficulty in initiating a movement which can be measured by increased reaction time. Bradykinesia or hypokinesia is less specific than akinesia. Akinesia is also influenced by decreased motivation and mood and is thus a complex symptom whose origin is not strictly sensorimotor but also psychological. In clinical practice, these symptoms are revealed by reduced arm swing when walking, micrographia, difficult execution of fine movements e.g. fishing a coin out of pocket) The patient’s face is unexpressive, walking is slow and the feet are not raised sufficiently.
Rigidity – detectable in distal joints e.g. wrist. Cogwheel rigidity – parkinsonian rigidity is plastic giving way in a series of small jerks. This rigidity can be increased following the Froment manoeuvre – active mobilisation of the contralateral limb. Lead pipe rigidity must be distinguished from pyramidal (clasp knife) rigidity and oppositional rigidity (gegenhalten) the latter being provoked or increased by movements and owing to diffuse cerebral lesions.
Rest tremor – usually first symptom noticed by patient. Regular (4-6Hz frequency) and increases with emotional and mental stress (e.g. counting backwards) and when patient is walking.
Postural instability – is non-specific, absent early in disease particularly in younger patients. Often the consequence of non-dopaminergic brain lesions as seen in patients with Parkinson plus syndromes.
Motor symptoms in advanced PD patients can also result from non-dopaminergic lesions called axial symptoms because they evolve around the body’s central axis. Nine typical axial symptoms can be distinguished: memory impairment (subcorticofrontal syndrome), abnormal ocular movements, nuchal rigidity, dysarthria, swallowing difficulties, posture abnormalities, sphincter problems, postural instability, and abnormal gait.
In addition, autonomic symptoms – sexual dysfunction, constipation, orthostatic hypotension, seborrhoea (overactive sebaceous glands) and sleep disturbances may be present.
Tests for diagnosing PD
• Sequential movements (for instance drinking which associates grasping a glass followed by flexion of the elbow) or concomitant movements (executing two movements at the same time in different limbs) are altered.
• The Wisconsin Card Sorting test is used to assess executive function which is heavily affected in PD where the patient is told to match cards of different patterns and form a sense of order without being told the pattern.
• Hypometria or incomplete movement is revealed by alternate movements of the extremities.
• Response to levodopa since motor symptoms result from the degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway.
• Four further tests may contribute to the diagnosis: neuropsychological examination, ocular movement recording, cystamanometry, brain MRI.
Non-motor symptoms
• Depression – most common psychiatric symptom of PD
• Apathy – decreased motivation
• Cognitive impairment – 40% of all PD patients develop dementia, a rate ~6x higher than in healthy individual matched for age. Subcortical type of cognitive impairment characterised by a dysexecutive syndrome including attention deficits, cognitive slowing and decreased concentration abilities. Moderate memory impairment can be observed defined by a retrieval deficit rather than an impairment in information storage.
• Most if not all patients suffer from insomnia. Causes are multifactorial. Nocturnal akinesia often associated with painful dystonia (usually during bouts of severe anxiety) is a major contributive factor.
• REM sleep behaviour disorder is a pathological sleep structure (parasomnia) characterised by the loss of REM sleep muscle atonia allowing patients to physically act out their dreams which are often violent. Vocalisations (talking, shouting, threats) and abnormal movements (waving arms or legs about, falling out of bed, violent outbursts are present. Excessive daytime sleepiness affects up to 50% of PD patients – likely to be a combination of the disease process and antiparkinsonian drugs. Diagnosis of sleep disorders may be achieved by polysomnography to quantify the length of insomnia periods, to evaluate potential dangers derived from daytime sleepiness and sudden onset sleep and the confirm the existence and the semiology of REM sleep behaviour disorder.
• Autonomic dysfunction results mainly from reduced sympathetic noradrenergic innervation of the heart and baroreflex failure (nucleus vagus lesions). Symptoms only tend to become severe in late disease stages. Treatment with dopaminergic agents – which induce peripheral vasodilation may exacerbate orthostatic dysfunction but is rarely the main contributor. GI dysfunction manifests as impaired swallowing, impaired gastric motility and constipation. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the mesenteric plexus causing colonic sympathetic denervation is one of the underlying mechanisms for constipation. Constipation does not respond well to dopaminergic treatment suggesting non-dopaminergic mechanisms are also implicated.
• Urogenital symptoms include impaired bladder function leading to urinary emergencies and incontinence. Patients suffer either from hypoactive bladder or hyperactive bladder most commonly. Hypoactive bladder is correlated with nigrostriatal denervation since physiological basal ganglia output has an overall inhibitory effect on the micturition reflex is decreased in PD.
• Sexual dysfunction affects up to two thirds of PD patients. Erectile dysfunction may occur. Libido can be reduced but can be enhanced by antiparkinsonian dopaminergic medications dopamine agonists which can result in hypersexuality which is part of the dopaminergic dysregulation syndrome.
• Sensory symptoms – can be distinguished into painful cramps related to ‘off’ period dystonia and diffuse painful sensations also usually associated with off periods. The cerebral structures involved in altered pain processing are poorly characterised but may comprise mesencephalic dopaminergic projections to the caudal thalamus.
• Other symptoms include: mask like facies, flexed posture, micrographia, drooling of saliva
Treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Figure 8: Decision pathway for drug treatment
Figure 9: Combination treatment
Antiparkinsonian agents
Dopaminergic agents are the drugs that are most effective in improving the motor deficits of PD and include levodopa, dopamine agonists and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) inhibitors.
There are a cocktail of drugs available that are the source of a lot of confusion – we will go through each class in turn.
Currently the management of PD consists of delaying treatment until the onset of disabling symptoms then to introduce a dopamine receptor agonist. If the patient is elderly, then levodopa is sometimes used as an initial treatment. The rationale for this was because treatments available were considered symptomatic only and incapable in modifying the course of the disease. However more recent research has shown that there are novel approaches in the management of PD with treatments initiated available upon diagnosis.
Dopamine receptor agonists
• Bromocriptine
• Ropinirole
• Cabergoline
• Apomorphone
Two groups: ergot (fungal) and non-ergot
Ergot derived dopamine receptor agonists (bromocriptine, cabergoline) have been associated with pulmonary, retroperitoneal and pericardial fibrosis.
Non-ergot agonists (apomorphine, ropinirole)
Similar side effect profile of levodopa due to dopaminergic related symptoms: nausea, vomiting, postural hypotension but with a higher rate of peripheral oedema, somnolence and hallucinations especially in the elderly
An echocardiogram, ESR, creatinine and CXR should be obtained prior to treatment with close monitoring.
Side effects: Dopamine receptor agonists have the potential to cause impulse control disorders and behavioural abnormalities such as obsessive traits and hypersexuality (more dopamine to seek out more risky behaviour) and excessive daytime somnolence. Nasal congestion and postural hypotension are also seen in some patients.
There is a significantly reduced risk for the motor complications in comparison to levodopa.
Antioxidant activity because of their hydroxylated benzyl ring structure
Levodopa
Levodopa was the first treatment developed for PD and is considered the gold-standard of treatment where the efficacy of all other drugs are measured against. Dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier but the precursor levodopa can where it is converted to dopamine in the brain by dopa decarboxylase.
It is usually combined with a decarboxylase inhibitor e.g. carbidopa, benserazide to prevent PERIPHERAL metabolism of levodopa to dopamine. This in turn increases absorption up to 10% and decreases side effects such as dyskinesia (involuntary writhing movements) and palpitations (peripheral metabolism of dopamine into adrenaline or noradrenaline
Side effects of levodopa include on-off effect: on periods complicated by dyskinesias (side effect of levodopa) and off periods (side effect of PD) dry mouth, anorexia, palpitations, postural hypotension, psychosis, drowsiness
There is reduced effectiveness with time ~2 years. 70% of patients develop motor complications within 6 years of initiation of the drug and wearing off there is the re-emergence of dopamine related symptoms which requires careful monitoring of the dosage and frequency. Because of this limited effective period, the other drugs in the inventory for PD treatment often work by delaying the need for levodopa.
In neuroleptic (antipsychotic drugs) induced parkinsonism there is no use of levodopa
MAO-B (Monoamine Oxidase-B) inhibitors
• Selegiline
• Rasagiline
Two compounds of the porpargylamine group: selegiline and rasagiline are both irreversible MAO-B inhibitors. They work by the breaking down of dopamine secreted by the dopaminergic neurons.
Selegiline patients with levodopa vs levodopa patients with placebo were found to have a significantly slower decline, less wearing off, on off and freezing but more dyskinesias.
Rasagiline – is a relatively selective irreversible MAO-B inhibitor, it is ~10-15 times more potent than selegiline.
COMT (Catechol-O-Methyl Transferase) inhibitors
• Entacapone
• Tolcapone
COMT: enzyme involved in breakdown of dopamine therefore may be used as an adjunct to levodopa therapy especially in patients with established PD. This is because most levodopa is still metabolised in the gut by COMT which produces 3-O-methyldopa. Therefore, COMT inhibition increases levodopa absorption and improves the drug kinetics by increasing its bioavailability and elimination half life. This allows more stable levodopa plasma levels to be obtained via the oral route and hence more sustained brain dopaminergic stimulation to be attained.
Entacapone is a selective, reversible COMT inhibitor, it does not cross the blood brain barrier and acts primarily in the gut. Why entacopone is so effective is because it increases both the peripheral and the central availability of levodopa. It is particularly effective in patients with wearing off type motor fluctuations and produces an increase in the on time and decrease in the off time. However, the most troubling side effect is dyskinesia which reflects central dopaminergic activity.
Stavelo ® combination of levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone in one tablet.
Antimuscarinics
• Procyclidine
• Benzotropine
• Trihexyphenidyl (benzhexol)
Before levodopa was discovered to treat PD, antimuscarinic drugs were used to treat the symptoms of PD. Antimuscarinics work by blocking cholinergic receptors. Normally dopamine levels and acetylcholine levels are in equilibrium in the body but because of decreased dopamine levels in PD, acetylcholine levels increase. Nowadays they are used to treat drug induced parkinsonism rather than idiopathic PD, help tremor and rigidity.
Studies have shown that there are improvements in bradykinesia and rigidity though at the expense of impaired cognitive function.
In drug-induced parkinsonism, motor symptoms are generally rapid onset and bilateral with rigidity and rest tremor being uncommon
Amantadine
Antiviral drug, mechanism is not fully understood, most likely increases dopamine release and inhibits its uptake at dopaminergic synapses
Side effects – ataxia, slurred speech, confusion, dizziness, livedo reticularis
Figure 10: Diagram showing the mechanism of action of Parkinson's drugs
Motor complications
Dyskinesias are typically choreiform – occasionally dystonic involuntary movements induced predominantly by exposure to levodopa or other short acting dopaminergic drugs. Monitoring of the dru
Management of non-motor complications
Depression and to some extent apathy/ anhedonia may respond to tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Pramipexole may be useful as an antidepressant separate from its action to improve the motor features of PD. Additional anxiolytics may be required for patients with anxiety and panic attacks.
Hallucinations if due to drugs usually respond to a reduction in dose. In some patients, this is difficult due to the re-emergence of motor features. Alternatively hallucinations may respond to clozapine or quetiapine. Hallucinations are an important symptom of diffuse Lewy body disease and its emergence early in the course of PD is a risk factor for dementia.
In terms of improving nighttime sleep and daytime alterness in PD, improving sleep hygiene, treating nocturnal motor problems, better management of nocturia, modifying medication, and the use of modafinil in patients with refractory daytime drowsiness.
Viagra or apomorphine can manage the sexual dysfunction associated with PD. Bladder problems may be treated with oxybutynin, tolterodine or amitriptyline in patients with concomitant depression. Siolorrhea and drooling is often the result of reduced frequency of swallowing and may be helped simply by chewing gum or sucking sweets. Anticholinergics may be used but with consideration of side effects. Botulinum toxin can be used for refractory cases.
Constipation and orthostatic hypotension are less common and are seen more often in the elderly population. Constipation usually responds to standard treatments including increased fluid, bowel training timing of evacuation to the patient being on and increased fibre intake. Symptomatic orthostatic hypotension may respond to simple advice regarding postural change, maintain hydration, the use of pressure stockings, antidiuretic hormone, midodrine or fludrocortisone.
Non medical management
Surgery
Since the discovery of dopamine depletion and the subsequent introduction of oral levodopa and deep brain stimulation, surgery such as thalamotomy posteroventral pallidotomy,
subthalamotomy have become a less attractive option.
have been reported following this procedure however.
DBS – Benabid first proposed this technique as a treatment based on high frequency stimulation as means of confirming the target site for an ablative lesion.
Other/future treatment options
As seen there is currently no cure for PD, only management for symptoms however novel techniques being researched into a more complete treatment of PD include:
Cell therapy – fetal nigral transplantation
Growth factors – Glial derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has attracted interested given its capacity to protect or rescue dopaminergic neurons in tissue culture and in MPTP treated monkeys.
Coenzyme Q10
Creatine
Antiapoptotic drugs
References
Schapira A, Hartmann A & Agid Yves. Parkinsonian Disorders in Clinical Practice. Wiley Blackwell. 2009.
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