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all-de-fandoms · 3 months

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MEAN GIRLS MUSICAL MOVIE LESGOOO

I literally just found out about this today and- yeah yeah yeah I know the musical got a lot of hate but genuinely I adored it (and it was one of my go-tos whenever I got dragged to a scary horror movie!). So to find out that they're making a movie out of it..... I mean yes, I've got some mixed feelings, but mostly I'm excited!

I've listened to the movie album on Spotify already, and held it up against the original. I have lots of opinions.

Cast Performance

Erika Henningsen vs Angourie Rice as Cady Heron: I’m sorry Angourie I’m sure you’re great but Erika really put her soul into her Broadway performance. So much emotion, so much energy and personality in her voice. By comparison, Angourie mostly seems to be singing to sound good rather than to communicate parts of the story in the musical. (I will say however that she did do pretty good in her last song, “I See Stars”.)

Taylor Louderman vs Renee Rap as Regina George: Renee! She did actually play Regina on Broadway after Taylor Louderman. Truth be told, I love Taylor’s version (lol) the best but Renee’s is nothing to sneeze at either. 10/10, no notes.

Ashley Park vs Bebe Wood as Gretchen: Ashley Park did it better. Bebe’s songs are.. okay. But they did cut a lot of Gretchen’s lines in the MG 2024 Spotify album, so that does affect her rating.

Kate Rockwell vs Avantika as Karen: I can’t choose, they both did a good job with their roles. I feel like Kate’s Karen really echoed Amanda Seyfried’s Karen in the original movie, but from what I could tell in the Spotify album, Avantika’s spin on Karen sounds equally good. I do wish they’d given her more songs/lines!

Barrett Wilbert Weed vs Auliʻi Cravalho as Janis!! OH MY FUCKING GOD you guys. If Renee gets a 10/10 Auli gets an 11/10 from me. Auli'i definitely did her homework. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Grey Henson vs Jaquel Spivey as Damien: There's absolutely nothing wrong with Grey's version of Damien, it's a very good match for the movie one. But Jaquel’s Damien? He had such a beautiful voice, he really went above and beyond for Damien. My vote’s for Jaquel all the way.

The Songs

I won’t be listing them all because that would make this post much too long but here are my highlights:

They cut “It Roars” for “What Ifs” in the movie. Booo. “It Roars” told a good story, “What Ifs” is forgettable, in my opinion.

Auliʻi Cravalho’s version of “Revenge Party” is awesome. She absolutely killed it (/positive) and although I’m not one to usually approve lyric changes, I love the enhancement to Janis’ character by making the song more bloodthirsty.

Renee Rap nailed “Someone Gets Hurt” but I expected no less of course.

They changed some of the lyrics in some of the songs. Some of the lyric changes were just one line, or shifting around of roles ("Apex Predator").

“Meet the Plastics” got pared down in the movie album. Actually, a lot of songs got pared down for the movie album, or just moved altogether. I guess it was to adjust for time, and also to accommodate Angourie Rice’s vocal range. Aaron apparently has no singing roles at all.

"What's Wrong With Me" is another one that got pared down. The original song from the Broadway version tops this one, hands down. Had more plot and characterisation to it, this one was. Not it.

They cut Karen's funny lines in the beginning of the song "Sexy" which. Again, is such a shame. Avantika did amazing though.

They changed parts of "I See Stars", but I'm not mad at it tbh

Final Thoughts

I think my main gripe with the movie (from what I can tell based on the Spotify album) is that Angourie Rice is just not built for the powerful belting songs that Cady sings in the musical. That’s not bad, but I just. Surely they could have found another actress to play Cady? One who could actually perform in a musical? I’m a little tired of people being cast in a movie musical and still singing as if they’re trying to record an album. They’re two different things, people.

I guess they were trying to communicate Cady’s innocent and naïve personality in the original movie? but they cut out the rest of her personality in the new songs, making her just. So flat. This is particularly noticeable in the Broadway version of “Stupid With Love” vs the movie one. We were also robbed of Cady's growl in the line "watch me shake my mane" from "Apex Predator" (which is one of my favourite parts of the musical!) It’s tragic, is what it is. I don’t think this is necessarily all Angourie’s fault- mostly, this is poor writing and/or directing.

Similar gripe with Christopher Briney, Aaron’s actor in the movie. Apparently, he didn’t even want the role when he found out it would be a musical, so they cut out Aaron’s singing parts for him. Like?? Just? Hire someone else? It’s a musical, they ought to be committing to it.

Auliʻi has such a freakin beautiful voice, and as far as her singing performance goes she is the perfect casting for Broadway-Janis. Her performance is on parr with Barett’s in my opinion. She is the perfect example of someone who almost certainly did her homework: she understands the role, she puts in the attitude, the grunge, the “fuck you” attitude that made Barett’s version so damn good. I freakin love her.

Honestly from what I can tell I do love most of the people in this album (Jaquel Spivey!!) except for Cady and Aaron. Which is kind of a shame.

#Mean Girls the musical #Mean Girls #Mean Girls 2024 #musical theatre #Broadway #Auli'i Cravalho #Barett Wilbert Weed #long post

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sylvanas-girlkisser · 5 months

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As a follow up to last week's top/bottom post, i guess part of what kept me from identifying as butch for a long time, is that i am also both in my writing and as a person fascinated by feminity.

Like i know, to put it in the most fucking programmer terms ever, that butchness does not deeply equal masculinity, but I guess i was influenced a lot by how butchness in media/large fandoms as a spectrum ranging from "skinny cis girl in a leather jacket" to "trans masc uwu smol bean".

But also, wanting to get more femme so you can get more butch is kind of a weird gender which I guess goes back to the whole: complicated relationship to womanhood.

Tying it back to my whole "fascination with femininity" (which yes i know is a phrase the terfs are weird about but w/e): I find that high femme identity, or rather the heteronormative bastardization of it, tends to be portrayed as aspirational, rather than just that, an identity.

A phrase I have said A LOT when describing my gender is "I shouldn't have to wear dresses and 20 types of makeup to be recognized as a woman". And I think subconsciously that has also had a big influence on how women are portrayed in my writing.

Like, to compare and contrast: In the Burning Kingdoms (this series will not leave my brain), empowerment is very much correlated with beauty; Malini spends most of the first book imprisoned and in a drugged stupor. Unable to care for herself she stops bathing, her hair gets tangled, and she walks around in rags. The once she's freed, her first act is to get cleaned up and put on a fancy dress, which signals she's ready to take the fight to her brother.

And again, yeah that is just the kind of character Malini is right? Her power comes from being able to play whichever version of herself will garner the most sympathy - and there is no sympathetic version of an empress in a strictly patriarchal society that is not both regal looking and smoking hot.

By comparison, in my own writing, specifically "bury the antlers with the stag" Jaina is shown as the complete opposite. Her empowerment comes from being able to march into a room bags under her eyes, hair a mess, breath stinking of gas station coffee, and go "listen up idiots".

Like I don't think one approach is more "inherently feminist" than the other, its about the varied experiences of being a woman, and by extension the different ways empowerment of women and people with feminine adjacent gender experiences can be represented.

On another notes who wants to hear the incredibly complicated lore i came up with for my blood elf hunter?

#valk yelling at clouds #Wanna hear about my blorbo? PLEASESAYYESPLEASESAYYESPLEASESAYYES

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squadrah · 8 months

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Formaggio anon again. When you say Formaggio's arc was butchered by DP…I get what you mean, but respectfully, I disagree. I do know that the framing of that scene in the anime vs the manga does seem different. Manga Formaggio seems angry and justs wants to hurry up and get the information out of Narancia, while anime Formaggio starts going a bit "crazy" while talking to him, but they both say the same lines. In the past, I have seen someone make the claim that anime Formaggio comes off as someone who's only in it for the money, I just don't see it. Maybe this is just my personal preference, but I actually like it when Formaggio's a bit unhinged. This is Jojo after all, everyone is like that in one way or another. I also don't think he's always like that, he can absolutely be cold and professional when he needs to (after all, he's pretty two-faced). I just think him being unhinged when he's Really Fucking Pissed Off is interesting to me. But…perhaps it's not very accurate to his facial expressions in the manga, so that's why people are split on it. And I get that. I dunno, I just like all versions of him!!

Welcome back! I see where you are coming from, and I agree that all versions of Formaggio have something to offer, so the more we have of him, the better maybe?

But just to be safe, when I said that his anime character arc was butchered, I didn't just mean about his being characterized as more unhinged, which honestly seems fine if you have only watched the anime and have no reference to the manga, or the anime's choice of handling that part appeals to you more. I watched the anime first for all parts of JJBA so far (and have not read much of the manga beyond getting some way into Vento Aureo), so I would have accepted this at face value had I not been privy to a die-hard Formaggio fan lamenting all the changes that occurred. I did think at the time that his color palette was terrible in comparison to most of the characters, and when I saw how that bottle scene went originally, I felt a stronger dislike to how DP handled Formaggio.

However, what I really took issue with at the end was something that I actually made a passionate twitter thread about, which I will link here in case you want to read the whole. I will quote the part I'm referring to, the biggest issue I had with the anime adaptation:

i present to you: formaggio acknowleding narancia, and telling him he will tell his team how hard he fought when he finds them (and kills them). present in both translations, which means it definitely reflects the original's intent! and it's left completely out of the anime!

this is huge, for two reasons. one, formaggio comfortably expresses this respect. in the course of fighting, he and narancia had become equals. and formaggio also knows how important groups are. he takes pride in his own! so he knows they are important to narancia! (...) do you know who does this same thing? who stops mid-fight to openly acknowledge his opponent's skill and show respect, and who is allowed to have this moment in the anime? prosciutto. (...) and so it is a shame that the anime left out a moment that shows formaggio is capable of being just as genuine. he shows the same respect prosciutto does, and it is not even framed as an apology like prosciutto's acknowledgement is! it is a gesture offered freely!

THIS is my biggest beef with anime Formaggio - that he was denied this. I don't touch upon it in the thread I think, though I only skimmed it, but even Illuso is allowed a moment where he tells Abbacchio that he's got a good teammate in Giorno. Even Illuso can have a moment where we see that he can appreciate camaraderie and support when he sees it, and he is gracious enough to remark on it! Why DP denied Formaggio his gesture is therefore beyond me, and that is why I believe that for some reason the production team just didn't like him.

Anyway, I recommend the thread I linked because I really do go into more detail about everything and gush about Formaggio!

#formaggio #squadrah headcanons #squadrah original #remember when i was active on twitter? yeah #jumped ship when the muskrat grabbed the steering wheel #can't even remember how much more gold there might be buried on my account lmaooo #but i knew i just knew i ranted about this once #thank god i managed to find it!!!

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delusionaid · 4 months

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Headcanon: Kaeya edition - Hagen von Tronje

This meta is mostly based on the that one line in the lore trivia on Kaeya's page that I find interesting, referring to his last name "Alberich" and a possible source for it:

Although the connection to Hagen, as far as I found only functions within Richard Wagner's (;3) Ring des Nibelungen, in which Hagen is the name of King Alberich's son. I don't know if the character of Hagen has any relations to "Alberich" in other versions. (In the Nibelungenlied Hagen is a human, while Alberich is a mystical creature.)

I don't have any fully-developed opinions on the implications of that for Kaeya (yet?) but I wanted to collect and piece together a few things regardless before I forget about them :D

I find the note of Hagen interesting because as much as I like the cute and smiling Kaeya, I find his darker side incredibly intriguing and would love to see more of it. Hagen's character throughout the various versions of the Nibelungen is varying degrees of questionable. In the Nibelungenlied Siegfried, the main character, and the hero of the story is killed by Hagen, although arguably that blame can (also) be placed on Brünhild, who encourages him to commit the murder (iirc). Whatever the reason or whoever to consider "good" in this scenario, the way Hagen does it is certainly sneaky and cruel.. but also smart.

Personally I never found Siegfried to be a likeable character, which makes it equally difficult to consider Hagen automatically unlikeable in comparison. (Lbr, they all suck a little bit in that story.) He's of questionable moral alignment, I guess (?), and willing to do "bad" deeds with possibly good intentions (QUESTION MARK? His motivation is very loyalty-driven, in any case). I guess it comes down to how one views Siegfried (who has betrayed Brünhild twice, showing pretty shitty attitude :D).

With that in mind, let's look at some lines in Kaeya's bio:

He is a self-proclaimed "anti-hero with an attitude problem;" as long as everything ends the way he wants, Kaeya does not care about the methods used. Still, according to his informant Vile, he draws the line at working with those who threaten other people's families, believing they deserve to be "hunted down and destroyed."

Clearly the result doesn't justify all means, but it has a bit of a Bat/man vibe. Kaeya might draw the line at hurting innocent people, but what about hurting the not so innocent? Doing bad things to bad people is okay, because they're bad people?

What about hurting someone who hurt a loved one - particularly if said loved one asks him to do so? We do know he was (is?) conflicted about his loyalty to his father, who sent him to Mondstadt with a mission, and his loyalty to Crepus, who cared for him like a father. Hagen's loyalty is a main aspect of his character and Kaeya's loyalty is a main aspect of his struggle. In the same vein, "if Khaenri'ah and Mondstadt were at war" and he'd have to "support one side", it would be a question of point of view if standing against Mondstadt would make him evil or not. Even with the knowledge that he was friends with everyone in Mond - Hagen, too, was friends with Siegfried prior to killing him, and yet you could find arguments for how his murder was "justice". [This all entails one of my biggest questions about the whole bit about "what if Khaenri'ah and Mondstadt went to war" - WHY would they go to war? Over what? Even if Khaenri'ah was to be revived..]

Another personal favorite that speaks to Kaeya's questionable sides:

Kaeya also enjoys putting people into high-stress situations and challenging their values, which he does to both his enemies and his allies alike. He takes pleasure in seeing the hesitation in his comrades' eyes at the moment just before they dive into battle with him, just as he takes pleasure in the look of fear in his enemies' eyes as they face off against him.

Not much else to say other than: A lovely man and captain :3

The fact that he enjoys seeing the fear in his enemies eyes speaks against Hagen't characterization in the Nibelungenlied, as he literally stabs Siegfried in the back (the only spot in which he can be injured) after sneakily acquiring that knowledge. However, iirc Hagen in some of the other interpretations is always a soldier or man of war, who would arguably enjoy seeing his enemies in fear.

Some other chunks I find very interesting when looking at Hagen and Kaeya are the version of Hagen in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen (the one in which Hagen is the son of King Alberich).

The first thing I find thrilling is what wiki states about Hagen:

[...]Hagen der Sohn von Alberich, nachdem es diesem trotz seines Liebesfluchs gelungen war, ein Kind zu zeugen. Der Fluch wirkt in Hagen jedoch weiter („frühalt, fahl und bleich, hass’ ich die Frohen, freue mich nie!“), dem so bei aller Düsternis der Charakterzeichnung ein tragischer Zug nicht abgesprochen werden kann. (Lazy translation: He is the son of Alberich, who managed to have a child despite being cursed [by swearing off love to gain the Rhinegold]. The curse, however, keeps affecting Hagen (this bit is a poem that more or less says: "aging early and pale, I hate all those who are joyful (and) don't feel joy myself"), which makes Hagen, as dark a characters as he is, also somewhat tragic.

No thoughts beyond there is a curse that was placed on the father that continues to live on in the son. Also the notion of "having been able to have a child despite a curse (of whatever nature)" and the fact that Kaeya's father referred to him as their last hope. Probably means nothing but it tickles my brain.

And finally, something Kaeya unrelated (somewhat) but related to Alberich, is the Rheingold, or Rhinegold. You might recognize this from Rhinedottir/Gold:

Beyond it being a treasure, a literal gold that Alberich turns into a ring (calm down, Sauron), I don't know more about it at present (too lazy to dig deeper rn). It gives him the power to enslave others (sometimes stated as "the entire world"), though, so it is a powerful item. Curious to see how much of that lore runs into Khaenri'ah, the art of Khemia and Gold.

Tl;dr Hoyo likes the Nibelungen and Kaeya is an anti-hero.

#( headcanon. )#( m: kaeya. )#( kaeya: headcanon. )

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nevis-the-skeleton · 1 year

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Predaking TPS (my AU) VS Predaking TFP (character analysis)

Today I wanted to make a comparison between the Predaking of Transformers Prime and the Predaking of my AU "The Polar Star". In fact, I realized that when you write a fanfiction, the character does not always have the personality of the "real" character.

Either because we artificially change his personality, making him nicer, meaner, more emotional, etc. Like I did with Optimus, Shockwave and Soundwave in my novel, to make them a little easier to write (especially Soundwave XD), but also to be more endearing and reader-friendly.

But, the character can also be different from his/her original version, because he/she experiences different things. Other events, other encounters, both negative and positive, like with Starscream who becomes more open and gradually ends up having a more happy life (although with some problems, let's not forget that Starscream is not not very lucky XD), or even Arcee who tries to stop the path of revenge.

Anyway, in my alternative, Predaking is different because he experiences different things from his original version, and I now want to analyze how these different events have affected his behavior and his way of thinking and seeing the world.

I will therefore make a comparison between Predaking TFP and Predaking TPS, and analyze the different events they have experienced.

TFP = Transformers Prime

TPS = Transformers Polar Star

1- Differences in value and worldview (superiority VS equality)

First, the two Predakings have a difference in the value and importance of each other's lives. Predaking TFP considers himself superior to others, and that others should respect him for that, because he is stronger. On the contrary, Predaking TPS believes that all life matters and that everyone is equal.

Mainly because of the examples and the people they had around them.

TFP :

Predaking TFP was thrown straight into a violent environment, where he quickly learned that the strongest were always right, primarily in the form of Megatron.

Also, it was Starscream who had to take care of him, but the two couldn't stand each other, and the fear that Starscream threw back on him didn't really help him, in addition to his aggressivity.

Implicitly, Starscream teach him that it was by force that we made others obey, because it was the only technique he used on Predaking (by electrocuting him), and let's not even talk about Megatron. Starscream imitated Megatron's way of doing things, and indirectly that influenced Predaking.

Everyone fundamentally disrespected Predaking, or feared him, and it was this fear that everyone radiated that made the Predacon think he was superior, because he wasn't afraid.

Plus, all the way through, he kept hearing how strong and awesome the Predacons were, and that they once ruled the planet of Cybertron. Predaking is young, so that inevitably influences his judgment. With this addition of legends about the Predacons, he could then conclude that his species was superior to other species.

Predaking TFP therefore developed a worldview that said only the strongest could win, and he pushed himself in that direction to become the strongest of them all, disrespecting everyone around him, as they were often "weaker".

TPS :

Predaking TPS was lucky to have Dreadwing as an instructor, and to have him respected by Megatron. He therefore did not witness scenes of disrespect and violence towards another person, which meant that although he was in a violent environment, he never suffered it (physically or visually) .

Also, the other most glaring difference is his meeting with the Vehicon Steve, with whom he will end up falling in love. Steve is smaller, more fragile, and weaker than him, yet the Vehicon still speaks to him as an equal.

Steve shows by his behavior that wit is greater than strength, and that discussion is better than violence. It thus shows that even the weakest count, and therefore implicitly that each life has its importance.

Predaking has of course used violence several times: To obey the wishes of Shockwave, whom he sees as his Creator, such as when he tries to kill Starscream for the scientist; to get revenge on Megatron when he discovers he was the one who destroyed his brothers; but more often it was to protect Steve.

He then used violence to help or satisfy others, but never to prove his superiority or for his own interests. The one time he used it for revenge, against Megatron, it backfired, and he then decided not to use his strength that way again.

He is aware of the fragility of others around him, but he saw in Starscream and Steve that physical strength was not always necessary. And he saw in Dreadwing that physical strength could be honorable. He then developed a philosophy of equality and respect for others.

We have his worldview in a conversation he has with Starscream, in Part 3 of my novel. The jet then fled from the Autobots, after accidentally injuring Skyfire, mistaking him for Megatron (PTSD you know).

The Seeker lived in the Caste System and was under the tyranny of Megatron, so inevitably, he has a very different view of equality and respect. But Predaking gently shows him that everyone deserves respect.

"I don't want to be a burden for you too... said Starscream sadly.

- You already want to help me with my energon problem, you're far from being a burden... answered Predaking. And then, even if you can't help with something, never consider yourself a burden... Because, it's not true. Each life balances this world, each life acts in its own way, each life counts, there is not one that is worth more than the other.

- ... You are wrong... Between a Sparkling and an old robot, the Sparkling has more value... Between an innocent and a criminal, the innocent has more value... Between a Forged and a Cold Construction, Forged has more value...

- ... I do not agree with you. For me, life is a balance, a balance that must not be changed. If some lives had more values, then the scales would never be balanced, and the world would be in chaos. You need old robots to have Sparklings. You need criminals to have innocents.

- ...

- And, Cold Construction is a robot, like Forged, it's just that you don't have the same Creator. Just because we don't come from the same place doesn't mean we're different. The difference in our bodies does not make us different on the inside. Deep down, we are all the same. We have Sparks, dreams, aspirations, and a future. It's not up to others to judge our value, because in any case, we are all worth the same."

[Part 3 of "The Polar Star"]

TFP VS TPS :

So we have two Predakings who already don't see the world and what's around them the same way, because or thanks of what they've been through or undergone, pushing them both to take different directions.

2 - Evolution of the character (violence VS pacifism)

With their different experiences, both has therefore evolved in a certain way.

TFP :

Predaking TFP continued in violence, because he saw that it worked. It was a fast and effective way, which allowed him to achieve his goals, while following his vision of the world. He had no reason to stop, because it always worked when he used it.

Predaking isn't a character who was much respected, mostly because he was only seen as an animal. He considers his strength to be his greatest asset, so it makes sense that he uses force, and therefore violence, to gain respect.

Violence is a way for him to earn respect, because we has never showed him another way.

TPS :

On the other hand, Predaking TPS found that for him violence was not effective, and that often it only brought him problems.

His violence caused some to fear him (which unlike his TFP counterpart he doesn't want), and it also led to Shockwave turning his back on him. It also caused him to hurt someone who didn't deserve it (Starscream in this case), because he let himself be blinded by his anger.

Additionally, Steve showed him that violence and unthinking anger can often lead to injustice, and that Predaking should never let that guide him.

That's why he ended up choosing a much more pacifist path, where violence is only used when a last resort, or to protect someone.

TFP VS TPS :

So our two Predakings haven't evolved in the same way either, we have one that uses excessive violence, often to gain respect, or in the face of disagreement. While the other prefers to go through the discussion before going directly to the conflict.

3 - Reason for transformation (hate VS love)

It may seem be a strange difference, but in fact I found that the two Predakings had not transformed for the same reason. Because, in fact, the question we can ask ourselves is : Why did they transform?

TFP :

The reason why Predaking TFP is transforming is a bit sad. In fact, he does it mainly to defend himself, to express his anger towards Starscream, because the latter keeps attacking him.

First sentence he says, after transforming: "Strike me again, and I will burry that rod in your Spark!" [Season 3 TFP]

He transforms to prove that he is not just an animal, and also perhaps in the hope that thus he will be treated better than before. Because, so far, no one has considered him a full-fledged being, just a monster. Both Autobots and Decepticons.

Predaking transforms to prove his identity, and to defend his honor and his person.

TPS :

Predaking TPS didn't suffer like Predaking TFP, the reason why he transforms is to declare his love to Steve. Of course, Steve already knew about Predaking's love, but he always rejected him.

When he couldn't transform into robot mode, the regret of not being able to speak was very present in Predaking. This prevented him from expressing the complex emotions that were inside him, as well as his feelings.

After Steve's rejection, Predaking believes this unrequited love is due to this lack of communication. He wants to prove that he's not just an animal, so that Steve is interested in him. He transforms to communicate with the one he loves.

First sentence he says, after transforming: "Steve, I love you, do you want to be my Sparkmate?" [Part 2 of "The Polar Star"]

Predaking transforms to be able to communicate, to be able to express his emotions towards the person he loves.

TFP VS TPS :

Predaking TFP and Predaking TPS therefore have a very divergent reason for transformation. One transforms to defend himself, while the other does so to express his emotions.

4 - Relationships with the Decepticons and Autobots (defiance VS trust)

Due to the different events of TPS compared to TFP, the two Predakings did not have the same encounters, or experienced them differently. Their philosophy, and the behaviors of others around them, led to different relationships and interactions.

Relation TFP

Predaking TFP has an adversarial relationship with most other Transformers, both Autobots and Decepticons.

Shockwave : Cordial

Predaking only seems to get along well with Shockwave, but that must play into the fact that it's his Constructor. Shockwave (who is supposed to be emotionless) is seen to have some affection for Predaking. He pets him and talks to him nicely when he sees him.

They don't really have any interaction when Predaking ends up transforming into a robot. And even if Shockwave likes him a little, that doesn't stop him from accepting the destruction of the other Predacons. Simply because the Decepticon scientist is a logic robot.

Their relationship is therefore cordial, and above all much healthier and more friendly than with all the other characters.

Starscream: Mutual Hate

Predaking hates Starscream, and it's mutual. The two can't stand each other, mainly because they got off to a really bad start. The first to initiate hostilities was Starscream, because unfortunately for Predaking the Seeker was afraid of him.

When Starscream is afraid he becomes more hostile and aggressive, in a defensive reflex. It's strike first before being struck. Starscream was forced to take care of Predaking, even if the jet made it clear to Megatron that he was afraid of the Predacon.

Both were technically victims of Megatron's sadism, sorry but he's still awfully sadistic with Starscream, and Predaking was the collateral damage in this whole story.

The problem is that Predaking is young, so he can't have the perspective to understand Starscream's feelings, and what's wrong with him. It doesn't excuse anything, but some hindsight would have allowed the Predacon not to hate Starscream as it does later.

Megatron: Enemy

Predaking doesn't think he's part of the Decepticons, so he doesn't consider himself under Megatron's orders. Predaking never really considered Megatron his Lord.

Then, Megatron became an enemy, when he gave the order to destroy Predaking's brothers, The Warchief then became the enemy that Predaking had to destroy in retaliation.

Decepticons: Indifference

Predaking TFP is indifferent to other Decepticons, he has absolutely no interaction with Soundwave or KnockOut, and doesn't really seem to see Vehicons as worthy robots.

He has no consideration for them, because in his eyes they are worthless. Just look at how he treated them when he was on his way to get revenge on Megatron. He killed countless of them because they stood in his way.

Autobots : Nuisance

For Predaking the Autobots are a nuisance, they were his enemies for a while, but after the war it's wasn't really the case anymore. But, he doesn't keep really cordial relations with them either, for him it's mostly robots that bother him.

This distrust with most of the characters was also created by this lack of respect, since everyone treated him like an animal. He then considered that he had no reason to be friendly with those who had respected him so little.

Relation TPS

Predaking TPS managed to create healthier relationships with the other characters.

Shockwave : Familial

Predaking sees Shockwave as his Creator (the equivalent of parents). Shockwave doesn't consider himself one, but that doesn't stop the Predacon from calling him "Creator Shockwave" as a mark of affection.

The scientist still appreciates Predaking. When he was in beast mode Shockwave taught him things you wouldn't normally teach to an animal, and always spoke kindly to him.

Shockwave even felt remorse, after shooting his Creation to protect Megatron. He even later forbade Skylynx and Darksteel to call him "Creator" because it reminded him too much of Predaking.

Even after Shockwave's betrayal, Predaking still sees him as his Creator. But he knows it's not a reciprocal family relationship, and that Shockwave isn't ready to take on the role.

Starscream: True Friendship

Starscream was the one who revealed to Predaking that it was Megatron who destroyed his brothers, while the Predacon was sure it was the Seeker. It was upon realizing his mistake, and apologizing to Starscream after hurting him, that he bonded with him.

Their relationship was initially based on hatred of Predaking and fear of Starscream. But, when they got to really know each other, they ended up getting along better and better, until developing a sincere friendship.

Of course, this would surely not have been possible if Predaking TPS had the same vision of the world as Predaking TFP. Starscream TPS certainly wouldn't have liked it if it had, because it would have reminded him of Megatron. Starscream would certainly have throwed him off.

But Predaking TPS is mature and calm, and especially the complete opposite of Megatron. He does not hit to be listened to, and does not abuse his phenomenal strength, even if he could.

They both met in a different way than in TFP, and in other circumstances. Again it was a difficult start, mainly because they weren't even on the same side anymore.

Predaking is again too young to understand Starscream's issues, but since the Predacon is more open to discussion, it's possible for him to eventually figure it out.

Starscream needs trusted people around him, and Predaking is definitely one of them. It was through this trust that their friendship developed.

Steve: Love

Predaking and Steve didn't start well either. Predaking had no regard for Vehicons before, and therefore Steve was no exception.

He ended up taking an interest in Steve when the latter stood up to him, whereas until now everyone was afraid of Predaking.

This is how the Predacon (still in beast mode at this time) began to have a growing interest in Steve, which gradually turned into love.

The Vehicon was initially uninterested, firstly because he thought Predaking was just an animal, but also because Steve was in love with Starscream at the time (he was devastated when he learned of the existence of Skyfire, because it was an unbeatable rival).

They initially developed a sincere friendship, until Predaking turned into a robot. The Predacon then asked Steve if he could seduce him, to make him forget this robot that didn't share the love of Steve.

Steve accepted much to Predaking's delight, and it was during their multiple dates that the Vehicon ended up falling in love with Predaking.

Megatron: Enemy

The only thing that doesn't change is Predaking's hatred of Megatron. But there, he sees him as an enemy for several reasons. There's obviously the fact that Megatron destroyed his brothers, because it's just awful, really… But also because Megatron has often attacked Steve.

He's not especially mad because of what Megatron did to Starscream, because he never really witnessed Megatron's violence towards the Seeker. But with Steve yes, very often. The Vehicon was often threatened with death by the leader of the Decepticons, because he was different from other drones. Steve was different, and therefore in Megatron's eyes flawed.

Predaking is in love with Steve, so inevitably he can hardly appreciate the person who tries to hurt him.

Dreadwing : Cordial

Knowing Dreadwing was beneficial for Predaking, mainly because the big Seeker is a perfect example of what a strong but fair robot can be. It shows that the strength doesn't have to mean being a brute, and that it can be put to good use.

Predaking quickly liked Dreadwing, because the latter was nice to him, and he never used violence to make himself listened to. He is demanding with Predaking, but as a trainer can be with his student.

Predaking doesn't hate being trained or learned (Predaking TFP surely doesn't hate too), but the difference is that Dreadwing wasn't forced to take care of Predaking, unlike Predaking TFP with Starscream. Dreadwing does not see Predaking as a punishment, but as a duty.

Megatron asks Dreadwing to take care of him, because Shockwave was really busy, and the big Seeker is in a better option to teach combat and obedience to the Predacon. Whereas in TFP, Megatron's excuse was just a pretext for Starscream not to object.

The two Predaking necessarily develop a different vision of the professor. For Predaking TFP it is very negative, so he prefers to learn alone. While for Predaking TPS it is beneficial, all thanks to Dreadwing, who was an excellent instructor.

Decepticons : Cordial

Predaking was initially indifferent to other Decepticons, but with Steve he learned to care about other people, other than Shockwave or Steve.

He learned to know KnockOut and Breakdown who were friends with the Vehicon, he didn't have much interaction with Soundwave, but he did have a few. But above all, he learned to know the Vehicons better, and to consider them as people in their own right.

Autobots : Cordial

The Autobots were enemies at first, as Predaking was with the Decepticons (although in fact he was just following Shockwave, he's too young to really understand the concept of war or a cause).

After the war, the Autobots knew how to be friendly with him, mainly thanks to the Vehicons, who already knew him. Which caused Predaking to be friendly with them. He ends up living with the Autobots, along with Darksteel and Skylynx, as he sees no reason to move away from the Autobots, as they accept the Predacons.

Predaking TPS has more relationships and encounters, but above all more positive encounters. The environment around him has been hostile at times, but not as much as Predaking TFP (which I think never really felt welcome).

5 - Relationships with Darksteel and Skylynx (King VS Brother)

Darksteel and Skylynx are different too, because they've been through different things, but mostly because Predaking TFP and Predaking TPS don't behave the same way with them.

TFP :

Predaking TFP wants to command them, he has a wish to rule his kind, not as a guide, but as a king.

Skylynx: Who said you were the boss?!

Predaking: I'm not your Boss! I am your King!

*Intensive Predacons Fight*

[TFP movie]

Predaking imposes himself on Skylynx and Darksteel, bypassing the discussion. The two youngest Predacons do not want to serve anyone. They do not consider themselves Decepticons, and do not wish to obey anyone.

So, inevitably, when they see another Predacon, who imposes himself as their leader, they don't like it. If Predaking has them on his side afterwards, it's because he managed to defeat them and subdue them, by force.

But, it's not a stable or long-lasting relationship, there chances that at the slightest sign of weakness from Predaking, the two will turn against him.

TPS :

In TPS it's different, Predaking doesn't think for a second of having them as subjects, he sees them as his little brothers, he sees them as a family.

The big robot wanted to meet these other Predacons! He wanted to get to know them! Potentially make them members of his family... Predaking was aware that this was a bit too optimistic... not to say unrealistic... But, deep in his Spark, he wanted to believe it! He wanted to believe in this possibility!

[Part 3 of "The Polar Star"]

Predaking never present himself as a king when he comes face to face with Darksteel and Skylynx, he presents himself as a member of a family that the three of them are supposed to consist of, with Shockwave as the Creator:

“I am Predaking." The fire Predacon introduced himself to the two Predacons.

The two beasts looked at each other for a moment, and Skylynx growled:

"Sir Shockwave told us you were an enemy!

- Yeah! If you are against him, then you are against us!! added Darksteel.

- I'm not against Creator Shockwave! retorted Predaking.

- 'Creator'...?"

The brothers looked at each other for a moment, before the taller of the two growled:

"Why do you call him 'Creator'! It's for the family!

- Because that's what we are! A family! Predaking exclaimed.

- Bullscrap!!"

The two Predacons transformed into their beast modes, and rocketed towards their elder! The latter pushed Steve, so that he was not caught in the fight, then transformed in turn! Ready to fight!

[Part 3 of "The Polar Star"]

As in the original version, the two youngest Predacons started the hostilities, but not for the same reason. If in TFP it's because they don't want to submit to Predaking, here they do it because they think Predaking is a threat to them and Shockwave.

But finally, they'll accept this family, because deep down, it's something they've always wanted.

Darksteel said shyly:

"If the proposal to start a family still holds, I'm in... It would be pretty cool to have a big brother..."

The tall robot smiled at that, and moved closer to his brothers, before putting his hands on their shoulders.

"I'd be glad." smiled Predaking.

The two Predacons joined him in his smile.

[Part 3 of "The Polar Star"]

And Predaking always used the talk to get them to come to him, helping them get away from Shockwave, who didn't have as much interest in them as he had in Predaking. Allowing them to have a real family.

The Autobots drew their weapons, ready to stop Megatron, when Shockwave interfered with the other two Predacons! The scientist aimed his cannon at the others, while Skylynx and Darksteel transformed into their beast modes!

Predaking came closer, and said:

"Skylynx, Darksteel, I thought you wanted us to be a family..."

The dark blue Predacon transformed back into bipedal mode, and replied:

“Well, yeah... But, join us in that case... You're the one who said that Shockwave was your Creator, right? Come, so our family will be complete.

- ... For the moment Shockwave is not ready to be a Creator... the fire Predacon sighed sadly. I promise to treat you like my brothers. Don't stay with someone who only treats you as subjects of experiments..."

The light blue Predacon in turn go back to bipedal mode, and the two brothers exchanged a look, before nodding in agreement. The pair advanced towards the large robot, under the shocked gaze of the cybertronian tank.

[Part 3 of "The Polar Star"]

TFP VS TPS :

The worldview of the two Predakings has also impacted the relationships they end up having with those of the same species. One poses as a king, as he considers himself the strongest of them all, and proves himself done by battling against Darksteel and Skylynx. The other, on the contrary, does not wish to fight those he considers his brothers, he prefers to have a family rather than being the king of anyone.

We can easily conclude that Predaking TFP and Predaking TPS would surely not get along at all. They would even hate each other without a doubt. Their differences of opinion and treatment of others around them is far too different for them to agree. The only common point they would have would be that they hate Megatron, but that's all ^^; …

As I've often said, Predaking is young, very young, technically still a child. He doesn't have the same distance from the world than an adult, and each event that happens to him is a hundred times more impactful than for an adult robot. His large size does not detract from his youth.

Children very often make shortcuts, to understand in the most simplified way possible the events they have in front of them. And the unfortunate events that happened to Predaking TFP made him take the wrong shortcuts.

Predaking TPS was much luckier than Predaking TFP, he was better surrounded and supported, and did not suffer the rejection and violence that Predaking TFP had.

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martianbugsbunny · 1 year

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Why I Think Rumplestiltskin Would Work Paired With Another Villain

I spent way too much time on this. Like, an hour too much time. But it was also fun, so I guess it was worth it. Also, it ends kind of abruptly, because I ran out of thoughts and couldn’t come up with a lil bow to slap on at the end, so I’m sorry bout that. It’s all under the cut, let me know what you think.

Okay so obviously with Rumbelle, he makes the choice to become a good person because he is always held up to the standard of goodness that Belle creates. (Which is, in itself, a bit weird, considering she was capable of falling in love with the Dark One? In the beginning she only said she wanted to see the beast behind the man, not that she wanted to change him entirely, so her later insistence that he’s too dark for her is a little bit s u s.)

It’s an interesting relationship trope for sure. The person who’s full of light helps the dark and angry one to see what they’ve become by comparison, and then inspires them to be better. And I think Belle kinda works for it because she doesn't try to make Rumple into the better person she wants him to be; she makes him do it on his own. It’s when it’s ‘to be worthy of her love’ that is inconsistent in-universe.

But I also think villain/villain would work for Rumple. And yes, this was spawned entirely from my ruminations on CaptainCroc.

Consider you this: maybe he meets Hook before he becomes the Dark One, maybe he doesn’t. That part doesn’t matter so much. But the first years of their love story would be ‘back in the day’, when they’re both very much villains. One is a man who steals and loots from regular people (although there does seem to be a *loose* code between pirates, so long as neither of them has a clear advantage); the other is a man who preys on the desperate. Neither of them does the right thing, and neither of them really cares. They would feed into each other’s darker tendencies, maybe even enjoy hearing stories of each other’s evil exploits.

In that case, when it’s the modern day, there’s some interesting stuff that can happen.

Scenario One: They reunite and that ignites the spark of wickedness in both of them, and they return to their old pattern of feeding each other’s darkness. They probably both have to be killed by the heroes in order to stop them. Rumple would be killed first, because he’s the bigger threat, and Hook would have to be killed when he goes on a vengeful rampage. If, and only if, he’s incredibly lucky, he isn’t killed, and after many years is able to be rehabilitated and live an ordinary, if remorseful, life. But they would take delight in watching each other do terrible things, and they would have a really twisted, dark version of romance that would be equal parts horrifying and entrancing to watch.

Scenario Two: They help each other become better. Sub-Scenario One is that Hook realizes what their darkness cost them: several hundred years apart, as well as Rumple’s son, and he decides that in order for them to ever be happy they have to reform. It’s similar to the villain/hero thing, in that Rumple only chooses to do better for the sake of his loved one, except if Rumple or Hook ever falters in their goodness, the other understands, because I fully believe that both of them would have a relapse at one point or another. Eventually they would balance out and become not paragons of virtue, but decent people--probably not going with the heroes to save the world, but also not actively trying to destroy it. Sub-Scenario Two is that Rumple realizes what his love for power cost him: his son (this would happen before Bae’s death, rather than after). He figures that his family will never be able to heal and reunite if he doesn’t change, and I like the new dimension this gives it. Instead of changing for a romantic love, he changes for the love of family, which is both one of the strongest canon points of his character and also one of the biggest missed potentials. He refrains from doing evil things, but he doesn’t ask Hook to do the same. He doesn’t care if Hook is morally dubious, because Hook’s pirating wasn’t what separated their family. Eventually, Hook starts to feel strange about his husband being a better man than he is, because Rumple was always worse. He’s angry for a while, because he thinks Rumple has abandoned his real self, but he comes to realize that Bae is happier, Rumple is happier, and people hate them less, so he also puts in effort to change. Again, they probably have relapses, Rumple after Bae’s death for sure, but because neither of them has the moral high ground, there’s no demeaning or tension or anger about it; maybe a little bit of disappointment, but nothing on the level of Belle’s anger because she sees herself as better than she is and better than Rumple.

Scenario Three: One of them gets better and the other one gets worse. I don’t think either of them would kill the other (although if one did, I actually think it would be Hook) but their relationship would fall apart. Sub-Scenario One: This also ends with both of them dying; one of them is killed by the heroes for being evil, and the other becomes evil again after that and is also killed by the heroes. Sub-Scenario Two: they both die; the good one trying to protect/save the evil one, who is killed anyway because he can’t reconcile with the people who killed his husband. Sub-Scenario Three: the good one dies trying to protect/save the evil one, who backs down from the brink when he realizes that his clinging to the darkness is the reason his husband died. He then reforms and becomes a better person, but he’s always kind of bitter and never helps the heroes in even a small way.

See, there’s really only one way villain/hero can go down. The villain either has to point-blank reform, no room for grey morality, or the person they love will leave them. And while it can be a beautiful depiction of how love is a struggle, but ultimately worth it, it can also seem disgustingly tense and one-sided. (Somehow, I think Rumbelle comes off one-sided for both of them? It feels one-sided for Belle because Rumple doesn’t give up his power for her. It feels one-sided for Rumple because he would love her no matter what else was going on in their lives, no matter who she became.) That aside, it’s spectacular and epic when it’s done well, but even well-done it can slip into the realm of implausibility.

(I’m not even going to suggest the hero also becoming evil, because I can’t think of a single instance of that happening, even though it would be an interesting psychological commentary.)

Villain/villain, on the other hand, has so many branching points. The villains have to have a very specific and believable motivation for becoming better people, because just loving a person who’s good isn’t their motivation; or at least, it’s not the motivation of the first one to turn. It has to be painstaking. You have to consider all these different scenarios and sub-scenarios and which one fits the villains best. And regardless of which one you pick, you know you’re getting a couple who will forgive each other and love each other, maybe even bordering on enabling, even when they falter. And that, I think, is what appeals to me most about the concept (CaptainCroc aside). They may both start out as villains, but wherever they end up in life, they understand each other. And even if that understanding can lead to enabling, it can also be a source of support because the small failures aren’t blown way out of proportion, which yields less bitterness and anger in general, which will lead the villain to commit less big mistakes.

#once upon a time #ouat #rumplestiltskin #Captain Hook #captaincroc #captain crocodile #goldenhook #villain/villain #rumbelle #villain/hero #martianbugsbunny opines

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cassarilladraws · 2 years

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Since we're talking about Miraculous S5. Here's some thoughts/concerns. There's a setup for amazing personal growth for Marinette and for some major challenges for Adrien as the secrets are likely going to be revealed about his father, his family, and himself. I'm not going to dive too deep into it right now but how the show handles things could be absolutely amazing or seriously disappointing. What I would want is for both Marinette and Adrien to shine, for this season to show that their differences are strengths etc. It has all of the ingredients for an epic conclusion to this arc with the duo being able to equally have amazing moments and growth. We may finally get a reveal too! I just want to see this duo seriously kick butt and get amazing moments. I want S5 to be EPIC! One thing about this show is that it's been stretched out over a long time. Which means that, if you enjoy fanworks like me, we've read incredible conclusions of how they defeat Gabriel. We've read thousands of amazing reveal fics and comics. This has been going on for more than 6 YEARS now. Now with all of those reveals and possible conclusions there’s bound to be a fan version we each will like more than whatever canon gives us anyway, but still. How is the show going to actually handle things? It could be amazing & satisfying or one big Reflekdoll episode. (Sorry if you like that episode-- I like that it gave us Mister Bug and Ladynoire -- but hear me out.) By that I mean all of the ingredients were there for an awesome story where both main characters shine, but for some reason that episode portrayed Adrien as dispensable and Marinette as degrading to her partner. Some shows have an issue of using a character as a comparison character of sorts to make another character look more powerful or just better in general and Reflekdoll definitely did that. That said, as a whole, I feel like Miraculous’ message is about balance. About how people have different strengths. If the show leans into that, which they have talked about since the very beginning, all these concerns and thoughts are probably irrelevant and both Marinette and Adrien will get those epic moments to shine in that I’m craving. Basically, S5 has all the ingredients for something amazing. I want to just be super excited for it and I am mostly excited! But when episodes like Reflekdoll exist I can't help but want to keep my expectations in check. Let both of them shine, I'm begging. 🙏 Also, can Ladynoire and Mister Bug get another chance? I really want to see them again, there's so much potential that they wasted the first time around.

#Miraculous #Ladybug #Chat Noir #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug

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dancefloor · 2 years

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Oh yeah i see what you mean! Tbh it was clear to me a few years ago (when i read THT) that Gilead is uuuh not that impossible to create exactly in this current situation and politicsl climate; my first thought yesterday when I found out about roe vs wade being overturned was "so the US is getting even closer to being Gilead". And yeah, the tv adaptation getting so popular was not a good thing in handsight, imo, not to mention how they completely misunderstood and butchered the main idea and message of the book at some point, so i stopped watching the tv show ... smh there's more seasons coming out when they literally covered the book in s1? It's weird bc Atwood is, as far as i know, still advising on the show. I'm curious to know what you mean by Atwood's feminism in relation to her age and Elizabeth Moss' hypocrisy as I don't keep tabs on either of them lol. And side note: when you get back to reading and find the strength for a chunky 600-page read, The Blind Assassin will amaze you ❤️

yep!!! im someone whos only seen the show (so far, but i do plan on reading the book) and a part of me appreciates the access the show provides to the story, as the books are just something a lot of people aren’t interested in; a part of me appreciates the fact that it allows a story that, at its core, is a feminist one, to creep into the mainstream; a part of me appreciates handmaids-themed protest creeping into the real world; another part of me hates how the show and its hollywoodized version of the story waters it down to something so easily digestible, cliffhanger-filled and money-driven. on one hand it’s a step forward, on the other hand it’s a step back for feminism.

re: atwood’s age, i mostly meant that there tends to be a large difference in how younger generations view feminism vs how older generations view feminism. ask an average gen z-er what they think the word means and they’ll probably be quick to touch on intersectionality, diversity, and pronouns; ask an average baby boomer what they think the word means and they’ll likely mention the right to vote, or further “basic” points of second-wave feminism (the right to work, the right to bodily autonomy etc). both interpretations are important and vital to the movement, but both interpretations are very different yet somehow manage to shape feminism as a movement in equally impactful ways.

that’s why i find atwood’s feminism very fascinating because, while it stems from a decades-old interpretation of what feminism means, it’s still relevant (and i’d argue her literary contributions are vital) to the movement as we know it now. on the other hand, tht fails in its explicit inclusion of minorities i.e. trans men, poor women, women of colour — which would likely not be the case if tht were written today. tht is a product of its time but it’s extremely progressive for its time but it still holds up but it could also be argued that it’s a little outdated. so there’s a lot going on there and i don’t have any conclusions about any of it, i just think about it lol.

re: elizabeth moss’ hypocrisy, all i meant w that is that she portrays the main character in an inherently feminist story… while being in an (among other oppressive labels) sexist cult, and denying any comparisons between gilead’s sexism and scientology’s sexism. she’s definitely making some choices. lmao

#that was long LOL #ithinkheknowss #ask #this is me talking*

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gonkwrites · 3 months

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Elite the Spanish Netflix show is a true tragedy

If you were around during 2018 and early 2020 on YouTube, you have seen the edits and potentially had been equally obsessed as I was with the Spanish Netflix show Elite. Which centres around Spain’s most wealthy high schoolers who experience murder as 3 scholarship students enter their school Las Encinas. A lot of the character arcs and plots directly mirror Shakespeare. While I’m unsure whether or not this is intentional I wanted to point out some solid comparisons between the show and Shakespeare’s body of work. Additionally, I’m vaguely aware of the ideology that almost all modern literature and media throughout the ages follow classics like Shakespeare because we as humans can’t help but draw inspiration from everything and anything we see, read and listen to. However, I find it interesting that each season (the later ones not as much) follows a similar structure and loosely follows a Shakespearean tragic storyline. I would also like to point out that I will only be covering seasons 1-3 because after that the show essentially recycles the same storylines. Therefore I will only be covering the original characters’ story arcs throughout those seasons, characters like Patrick, Ari, Mencía and more will not be covered.

The iconic structure of Elite

The structure of Elite follows a similar one to that of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. While being a tenuous connection, both flash between the present and the past through the perspective of the central characters. That comparison has no relevance except for pointing out the show structure which I’m aware isn’t unique just to Elite and Death of a Salesman. The season starts with, of course, a crime needing solving. In season one it was Marina’s murder, then in the second Samuel’s fake abduction and finally in the third Polo’s death. As I stated before, each episode delves into the outlooks of different characters, the first ever episode being from the standpoint of the new scholarship students- Samuel, Nadia and Christian. Each is interviewed by ‘Inspectora’ or the inspector in the present and flashing back to the leading up events. What makes this structure so intriguing is the fact that the different perspectives make the entire suspect list unreliable narrators as they all have different versions of their own stories. While the facts are laid out, a lot of the information is withheld from the viewer. Again, I’m aware this is a common trait for all murder mysteries but it’s the combination of tragic features and murder mystery features that is interesting to me. My favourite season, the third, makes a direct reference to this by naming each episode with the character that it is in the perspective of. Allowing every character to become the protagonist of their story, even if they are the killer like Polo. This is because Polo wasn’t the villain, he was just unlucky enough to be another wealthy and entitled Las Encinas student who was never questioned by the adults around him for his violent or malevolent behaviour and lashed out towards Marina. Like how Guzman almost killed the scholarship student who gave Marina HIV. Polo became a victim of his environment and that led to his tragic fall. The point I’m trying to make is that through the structure, each character can play out their Shakespearean tragedies. Some even recreate multiple.

Tragedy and Elite

The most tragic part of Elite is watching the protagonist Samuel Garcia, a naive, loyal and noble character turn into the person he most resents. Marina’s killer. Samuel the show's tragic hero, becomes corrupt with power. As he falls deeper and deeper into high society Spain he takes on Polo’s role as Carla’s boyfriend. In that way, Samuel becomes Macbeth and therefore Marina’s killer. Carla is both a tragic victim and a villain in the same way Polo is a villain. She committed the crime and is therefore a villain yet she still appears as a victim. Though Polo appears to be Macbeth and Carla Lady Macbeth at the surface level, the show structure allows viewers to humanise them in a way that we wouldn’t usually. We’ve grown such a close relationship with everyone that it is hard to see one character as evil and the other as good. This is because we’ve seen every character’s point of humanity and point of inhumanity. Marina is through and through a tragic victim, she is an admirable woman and character, uncorrupt even though she is surrounded by power and she is resilient despite all her misfortunes. Despite all this, she dies from it. Dying from the competitive circumstances wealthy parents put their children in. Regardless, she was two-timing and drove a wedge between two brothers. Now I’m not saying she deserved to die, but in tragedy typically the tragic victim is an entirely innocent woman or character who is collateral damage of the hero’s tragic fall. The fact that Marina is presented as separated from that corrupted part of society she’s so closely connected with but still is in some ways equally evil makes it in my opinion even more tragic. However, perhaps Marina is the modern-day tragic victim who is the manic pixie dream girl. We get to know these characters so intimately that knowing the factual events right at the end makes us question our morals. Learning Marina dies halfway through season 1 begs the question of whether her death makes her past actions excusable. Does that make it right that Samuel later dates Carla? Does that make her a tragic hero if she is flawed? Having every character be flawed takes away from Elite’s classical and traditional aspects of tragedy but in that way creates a modern and personal tragedy that the public can relate to. Arthur Miller wrote on the topic of tragedy in his essay called ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’, “That the tragic mode is archaic, fit only for the very highly placed, kings or the kingly… I believe that the common man is apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were”. So to combine that idea with the supposed elites of Spain, humanising them further contributes to this idea. Making tragedy relatable, is the modern version of Shakespearean and Greek tragedy. Additionally, the protagonist of the tragedy Samuel, is a common man who is noble but corrupted by power leading to his tragic demise later on in the series when he dies. Just like Macbeth. However, Polo is the one who follows Macbeth’s arc scripturally and mentally.

Elite and Romeo and Juliet

It is given that multiple characters in a show about the working class meeting the disgustingly rich in their cushy private school will follow the Romeo and Juliet tale. The ones that come to mind first are Samuel and Marina, Guzman acting as Marina’s overbearing bitter father- Capulet. The two struggle through forbidden love, Marina a child of wealthy and influential parents and Samuel a poor scholarship student. Their love is similarly kept secret like Romeo and Juliet when they get married in secret and their love causes their tragic demise. Marina dies in part because of their love- or more her love for his brother as she steals Carla’s father’s watch to run away with Nano. When Marina dies, a part of Samuel dies. That part of him that is oblivious to the black hole that is wealth and the consequences that come from it and being surrounded by it. By season two, Samuel is a far more angry and vengeful person, rid of the passive and kind person he once was. Evident in his later relationship with Carla. You could also argue that Nano is Marina’s Romeo too in a similar way to Samuel but represents a darker and more complicated love that further escalates Samuel’s transformation. He loses not only a part of himself but also a section of his support system- his brother Nano.

Another example is Ander and Omar who share more of a similar conflicting worlds to Romeo and Juliet. Omar’s religious parents cannot accept his sexuality and Ander’s father cannot accept that through his love for Omar, he mustered up the courage to tell him he doesn’t like tennis and additionally does not fit the hyper-masculine jock perspective that his father has of him. What’s interesting about their relationship is that Ander isn’t from a wealthy family like the other Las Encinas kids- his mother is just the principal. That being said he is certainly meant to be wealthier than the scholarship kids however this makes it so that the conflict within Omar and Ander’s relationship is not about wider social status disparities but because of conflicting families. Mirroring Romeo and Juliet’s tragic circumstances. Through Omar’s parents, a more nuanced and complex version of Romeo and Juliet is explored through homosexuality and what that factor means to people like sportsmen and the elite.

Being Omar’s sister, Nadia shares an equal problem with him. Except Nadia and Guzman are truly two conflicting families and two conflicting worlds. They are emblematic of the Romeo and Juliet story in Elite. Guzman is immediately not accepted by Nadia’s father as a white and entitled man and Nadia is immediately not accepted by Guzman’s world as she is forced to conform to it to be with him as a Muslim woman. Though the show rather ignorantly presents her transformation of losing her faith as being rather liberating I see it more as her being sucked into the vacuum of wealth just like Samuel. Losing the true, good and noble aspects of themselves. In letting go of her religion, she lets go of herself and her identity and morphs into the one expected of Guzman’s white and cutthroat world. Guzman however does not die metaphorically or literally at the hands of their love, perhaps he loses a part of himself through his sister's death. The only thing their love does for him is humble him, and make him more of a likeable and grounded person. Possibly in this way, the arrogant and entitled element of him dies for his benefit.

Elite and Othello

The writers of 'Elite' exhibit a disturbing and almost perverse obsession with threesomes and throuples as a continuous plot point. It is unsurprising, then, that the homoerotic trio of Othello is mirrored in multiple characters. That trio is Desdemona, Othello and Iago. The most obvious being Carla, Polo and Christian. Polo early on in season 1 takes on the role of Iago, controlling and almost obsessing over this pornographic image of the fair lady being dominated by the rougher and more oppressed male ‘soldier’. Though Polo and Carla start as the initial relationship, Carla and Christian form a far more emotional and true relationship within their trio. Whereas Polo seems more sexually obsessed with the two, in a similarly confused homosocial way Iago had towards Othello and an equal obsession with the Madonna being adulterated into the whore like Desdemona. Both Christian and Carla are brought to their tragic falls by Polo’s corruption, Carla being made accomplice albeit by her own choice and Christian again losing that same part Samuel lost when he joined Las Encinas. Additionally falling further by trying to speak up and gain his lost self back but is hospitalised by Carla’s father and bribed into silence by offering to pay for his surgery in Switzerland. Further succumbing to the power of wealth which he can no longer escape. Additionally both of them through their tragic blindness fall because of Polo’s corruption just as Othello and Desdemona fall because of Iago’s Machiavellianism.

To take Iago out of the equation, the Garcia brothers and Marina share a similar story to Cassio, Desdemona and Othello. Marina and Samuel act as Othello and Desdemona, both infatuated with each other or rather the stereotype they represent. Samuel represents the opposite of Elite society Marina is trying to escape and Marina represents the world Samuel is trying to enter and be accepted by. Therefore their relationship shares the same superficiality as Desdemona and Othello’s relationship as Othello values Desdemona as a prize of being a desirable and pure white woman and she values Othello as a masculine and dominating black general. This equal fetishisation is reflected in Marina and Samuel. Nano comes in as Cassio almost, another working-class man infatuated by Marina’s wild spirit and wealth just as Cassio is another nobleman mesmerised by Desdemona’s beauty and purity. However, he differs from Cassio’s character as he genuinely did have an affair with the other guy’s woman. Either way, they all cause each other's tragic demise: Marina’s death, Samuel’s metamorphosis and Nano’s banishment (being accused of killing Marina and then fleeing the country).

Lu takes control of her ‘play’ in a similar way to Iago. Manipulating Guzman into trying to seduce Nadia and take her virginity- she does this out of pure jealousy and maliciousness just like Iago. What’s more, as I stated before Iago has a perverse obsession with the virtuous woman becoming ‘tainted’ and Lu finding intrigue in the Muslim woman going against her faith and acting out of pure lust echoes this. Perhaps she even shares the same homoerotic obsession with Iago. She therefore exploits those around her to try and cause Nadia’s demise, in this way Nadia is Othello and Guzman Desdemona. She is an outsider because of her race and religion and Lu’s obsession with that fact is reminiscent of Iago’s fixation with Othello’s race. She also discards her Muslim values to fit in with the predominantly white environment of Las Encinas. Just as Othello denounces his Ottoman heritage and religion and takes on the image of a model Christian man.

Elite and Macbeth

Perhaps the writers were aiming for more of a Bonnie and Clyde feel for Polo and Carla but what I see more is Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This parallel is drawn because Polo kills Marina, and Carla helps cover it up for him before she is consumed by guilt and edges towards letting herself become an accessory to murder and telling the police the truth. When Christian’s pre- Las Encinas self is consumed by the corruption of the wealthy he is similar to Banquo’s ghost haunting the school hallways and Carla and Polo. As they watch him become a shell of the enthusiastic and lively person he once was. This is the main drive for Carla to want to confess, she wants to be free of her guilt towards Christian. Not because she killed him directly but because they formed such a personal relationship within their three-man couple she feels a responsibility for Christian’s corruption of becoming an accessory to their crime. This feeling is solidified further when Carla’s father hospitalises and bribes Christian and directly hobbles him both mentally and physically permanently. The guilt Polo feels towards Marina is also a similar personal responsibility to Duncan and Macbeth as Marina is his best friend's sister. Therefore Polo is Macbeth, Carla Lady Macbeth and Marina Duncan.

A less obvious version of this tragedy would be Samuel and Carla as I said before when stepping into Carla’s bed he steps into Polo’s role of Macbeth. I think this idea is confirmed in season 3 when Polo dies, and in that way, Polo sort of becomes Duncan for Samuel in a more tenuous and complicated way. Samuel takes his kingly position as the sexual partner of the wealthy and beautiful Marquise. While Lu is Polo’s killer I think Samuel is the one who truly finishes off Polo as he leads the plot to collectively cover up his murder. Therefore not allowing him justice because of Polo’s past crimes and taking his girlfriend he kills Polo and steals his throne. Additionally, Marina is presented as Banquo in Samuel and Carla’s relationship as her ghost haunts him, especially at the beginning of his pursuit of Carla. Though initially he intended to find justice for her he ended up being just as bad as the rest of them. He initially is consumed by guilt with his infatuation for Carla but kind of has an opposite transformation to Macbeth because he changes from being extremely weak-minded to being very strong-willed. His transgression is him having the confidence and power of a wealthy man while still being working-class. That being said Carla and Samuel are my favourite relationships in the show because of how complex yet passionate their relationship truly is.

#essay #essay writing #elite #elite cast #shakespeare #othello #romeo and juliet #macbeth #william shakespeare #english literature #tragedy #critical essay

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ficretus · 3 months

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Observing Cinder's backstory as Cinderella story

Cinder's backstory is probably one of the clearest Cinderella references of her story. I this post I wanted to dissect it for all the Cinderella references I could find and try to find the point of story's subversion. I will mostly focus on Perrault and especially Grimm version of the story for parallels.

BEGINNING OF ABUSE:

First interesting subversion is changing Cinderella's background before her father remarried. In both versions it is either directly stated or heavily implied Cinderella's father was very affluent man. Grimm version outright calls him rich man. While I do believe Cinderella's father is represented in Cinder's backstory, he is not her biological parent. Instead, they decided to make Cinder an orphan. So that's already one big subversion. Cinderella went from relatively carefree life of luxury to being reduced to servant after her father remarried while Cinder just continued her life at the bottom, going from being abused in orphanage to being abused by her adoptive family.

Next subversion ties back to the first one, and that is removal of Cinderella's mother from Cinder's story. And unlike Cinderella's father, which I feel has an equivalent, this character is completely omitted. Cinderella's mother has relatively limited characterization, after all, it's a character that dies in first two sentences. However, she is described as almost saint like figure, being loving mother to Cinderella and instilling good values in her. This is seemingly minor change that adds a lot later on. Cinderella had positive role model that unconditionally loved her which also plays major role in Grimm version, while Cinder was just continuously abused with no saving grace.

GLASS UNICORN:

Looking at Cinder's stepfamily and their relationship, it becomes quite clear primary influence for this portion of story was Grimm version of Cinderella. Treatment of Cinderella by her stepfamily differs between the versions, with Perrault version being significantly milder. Don't get me wrong, it's still abusive, but it doesn't get to the level of Grimm version or Cinder's backstory.

For example, trope that emerged from Perrault version is Cinderella having one more sympathetic stepsister as opposed to both being equally abusive like in Grimm version. In Perrault version she is of course forced to do chores for her stepsisters and they verbally abuse her, but on top of that in Grimm version they actively sabotage her so she has to do even more chores.

Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again

This matches what we see in the show with stepsisters dirtying the floor on purpose to get Cinder in trouble with Madame.

"Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!"

This matches the brief bit of Cinder trying to taste strawberry cake and her stepsister stopping her.

Cinder's outfit in her backstory is another thing that matches the Grimm version. In Perrault version her outfit is not described besides being unsightly and coarse. In Grimm version it's described as:

They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes.

While Cinder is not wearing wooden shoes, color scheme and design do match gray smock Cinderella is described to wear.

Comparison between Cinder's outfit and common work smock.

Additionally, interesting change between Cinderella story and Cinder's backstory is lack of reasonable motive behind her stepfamily's abuse. Don't get me wrong, Cinderella's stepfamily weren't nice, but their motives were reasonable for family of that era. Stepmother viewed Cinderella as a competition to her daughters who couldn't compare to her beauty and manners. There is also financial motivation. Having a daughter meant needing to pay a dowry when she got married, being able to pay bigger dowry meant better marriage prospect. By removing Cinderella, Stepmother ensured money that would have been reserved for her dowry would be split between dowries of her daughters, ensuring them better marriage. Very unscrupulous behavior, but ultimately for betterment of her daughters.

Meanwhile, you have Madame, who abuses Cinder beyond any reasonable measure. Of course there is some logic behind it, she basically bought a slave so she doesn't have to employ workers for her hotel (do we ever see any staff in Glass Unicorn?). If it stopped at that, it would have been unscrupulous but logical behavior if you are cheap hotel owner. However, her treatment of Cinder is almost comically evil. She put shock collar on child that at most was 10 at the time and made her repeat mantra to instill worthlessness. This is borderline psychopathic behavior. Unlike Cinderella to her stepsisters, Cinder is not competition to her stepfamily in any way nor does she want to assert herself. This is abuse for the sake of abuse and stepsisters' involvement in it makes them almost irredeemably evil.

RHODES:

I've seen Rhodes read as both Prince and Fairy Godmother in various analyses. I partially disagree with Fairy Godmother one and completely with Prince one, which I will tackle first. And no, I am not even gonna go for easy option of "middle aged man being Prince to girl that is 10-15 years old is fucking creepy" because I don't think Prince has to be romantically involved with Cinderella.

First of all, what was Cinderella's goal? Common misconception is that Cinderella's motivation is Prince, which is completely wrong. She just wanted to go to ball and by sheer coincidence she met Prince there.

"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.

This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"

"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.

Cinder states her goal to Rhodes, she wants to become Huntress because she perceives that to be the most free one can be. So Cinder wants to be free. Since Cinder's goal of becoming a Huntress never gets achieved it means she metaphorically never went to the ball. Since she never went to the ball, she never met Prince, therefore Rhodes is not Prince. Role of a Prince is completely absent in Cinder's backstory and seems to be filled by characters like Jaune and Ruby later on.

Ok, but since lot of aspects of Cinderella story were subverted, maybe this is one of them. Let's look at it from another angle: Prince saves Cinderella. Once again, this doesn't work with Rhodes. He had plans for Cinder, but his way of freeing her was basically "train and you'll be able to free yourself". If Rhodes was Prince, he would have attempted to save her directly in some way.

Only other Prince like thing I can see with Rhodes is the fact he met Cinder after midnight in their final encounter. This is parallel to Prince seeing Cinderella in her usual outfit after midnight and not recognizing her. Rhodes symbolically doesn't recognize Cinder. But I don't think that's quite it, and midnight angle also works with different roles.

_____________________________________________________________

Now onto Fairy Godmother. Rhodes actually fits the role of Fairy Godmother quite well, albeit very shitty Fairy Godmother. I'd say to fill this role, person has to assist Cinderella in reaching her wish, which he does fit. He gave Cinder his sword and trained her to become a Huntress. Midnight encounter in this case is Fairy Godmother's magic running out and snapping back Cinderella to reality. Rhodes appearing after she killed her stepfamily kills any hope Cinder had. This is good and all, but there is a better role for Rhodes to fill.

To me, Rhodes best fills the role of Cinderella's father, especially Grimm version. First of all, while not literally her father, Rhodes is the only father figure Cinder had throughout her story. His gestures towards her like head pats do seem to lean in that direction. Cinderella's father is someone who is aware of abuse Cinderella is enduring yet doesn't seem to care enough to stop it.

The poor girl bore it all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have scolded her

This does match Rhodes, who notices Cinder getting abused several times yet does nothing about it. Just like Rhodes, Father is also relatively absent character in the story.

In Grimm version of the story, there is no Fairy Godmother, instead there is a magic hazel tree planted on the grave of Cinderella's mother. Cinderella planted the tree herself after she asked her father to give her hazel branch. Cinderella cultivated that tree for unspecified amount of time (according to quick google search, hazel grows 40-60cm each year which would imply it took years for it to grow into something that can be considered a tree), watering it every day.

"And you, Cinderella," he said, "what do you want?"

"Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home."

(...)

Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree.

Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for.

This to me is parallel to Cinder's training with Rhodes and her being given his sword. Unlike Fairy Godmother who works miracles instantly, magic hazel tree was a reward for years of Cinderella's hard work. And since this is the magical element that replaces Fairy Godmother, it should serve the same purpose. Hazel tree gives Cinderella tools she needs to get to the ball just like Cinder's hard work gave her tools she needed to become a Huntress.

____________________________________________________________

What about Cinder and Rhodes' midnight encounter, how does this fit Father's role? Cinderella running away from the ball at midnight sequence plays differently in Grimm version, hell, concept of her running away at midnight is not present at all. Cinderella simply decided to leave the ball at some point during the evening and go home. Every time she did so, Prince attempted to follow her all the way to her home, forcing her to hide first in pigeon coop, then on the peach tree. Each time she hid, Prince made commotion which made Cinderella's father come out.

However, she eluded him and jumped into the pigeon coop. The prince waited until her father came, and then he told him that the unknown girl had jumped into the pigeon coop.

The old man thought, "Could it be Cinderella?"

He had them bring him an ax and a pick so that he could break the pigeon coop apart, but no one was inside.

So this is the parallel to Rhodes' midnight encounter with Cinder. Father arms himself and attempts to capture a woman that hid in his yard. Both times Cinderella evaded him and slipped back inside. This is just like Rhodes unsuccessfull attempt to capture Cinder.

Story essentially skipped the ball sequence since Cinder never gets to her ball. Instead story goes from Cinderella's stepfamily forbidding her to go to the ball to her father attempting to catch her when she hides in the yard.

WHY?

Interesting thing with Cinder's Cinderella story is that all good aspects (loving mother, ball sequence) got taken out in favor of making her life even more miserable. I have a speculation on why she never got a ball sequence in her backstory. Unlike Cinderella, Cinder is never truly loved by anyone in her backstory (whatever Rhodes felt for her clearly wasn't enough for him to go against the system). While never explicitly stated, it is implied that wish granting hazel tree in Grimm Cinderella is influenced by Cinderella's mother. Not only is the tree planted on her grave, there is also this quote at the beginning of the story:

"Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you."

Since nobody ever loved Cinder, her "hazel tree" is complete dud incapable of granting wishes, therefore she was unable to go to the ball. If someone like Rhodes truly loved her, he would have found a way to help her beyond "nah it will be fine". It is tragedy born out of lovelessness.

____________________________________________________________

So what now? How does her backstory influence her actions going forward. I believe they might redeem Cinder by the end of the story. Not saying it because "she had big sad, therefore not bad". Way her backstory is presented makes everyone around her almost completely unlikable. Between her stepfamily that has no redeeming features and has hobby of torturing children to Rhodes who seems fine with child slavery but draws a line at murder. Redeeming Cinder serves to highlight that both Huntsman and Kingdom system fucked up. Keeping Cinder as a villain without giving her any chance to redeem herself simply restores status quo (just clean up fuck ups of the system every so often and it works just fine). Of course I am not saying good guys should be forced to redeem her. Adam is an example of villain with tragic backstory that refuses to stand down. However I would at least like to see some character make an attempt to extend a hand towards her.

Counter argument I can see being thrown is that she is based on Cinderella, therefore her backstory had to be abusive no matter what. I disagree with that sentiment. It's not that hard to write Cinderella story and make it so Cinderella is not purely just a victim in it. They could have for example given Cinder Prince like figure that tried to save her, but she squandered it all by tunneling on getting revenge on her stepfamily. Or make her ambitious character that clashes with her stepfamily. Or make it complete subversion of Cinderella story where Cinderella is abusing goodwill of her stepfamily for her sinister goals (Dio Brando from Jojo's comes to mind as almost inverted Cinderella). My point is that her backstory could have easily been framed to make it clear Cinder was in the wrong.

____________________________________________________________

What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment if I missed anything or you have your own interpretations.

#rwby cinder fall #cinder fall #rwby volume 8 #rwby rhodes

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isolatedbubble · 3 years

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Romance in MXTX, Priest, and SHL

MXTX: Flower, Wine and Dreamworld

The romance in MXTX's works is like flower that grows in ice and snow; colorful, bright and hopelessly romantic, blossoms in misery and hardships.

It features a distinct "us against the world" mindset, depicting love as the only constant in the world. It's an eternal "dreamworld" detached from worldly matters, the perfect escapism as well as a source of strengths in the face of cruel reality.

Both MDZS and TGCF are a critique of mob mentality.

The contrast between CQL and MDZS is very interesting. While the former ends with LWJ taking charge, and therefore changing the world for the better, the novel ends with wangxian isolating themselves from grand politics and focusing more on helping individuals as recluse. It has an essentially pessimistic attitude towards the morality & intelligence of the collective.

TGCF takes a slightly more optimistic approach, featuring the crowd being courageous under the right circumstances. However, both works share a similar undertone: putting one’s absolute faith in the collective is dangerous, whereas unconditional trust and devotion can be only found in one-to-one connection

MXTX herself compares MDZS and TGCF to 花间一壶酒 (A cup of wine among flowers), MDZS being the wine and TGCF being flower. She also compares MDZS to 风雪夜归人, the person returning home from snow and wind, and TGCF to 红泥小火炉, a small red furnace.

Priest: Breezing Wind and Burning Iron

The romance in priest's works is more complicated. It's the most gentle in its normal state, when it is rational and collected, in which case it's like the breezing wind, soothing, sweet and light-hearted. It gives the individuals more incentive to achieve their individual and/or societal vision, as well as more reason to value their own lives & well-being.

In Faraway Wanderers, the most distinct feature of WenZhou relationship is how in naturally sync they are, and how comfortable & smooth their dynamic is. They both have past burden, but it doesn’t matter, because they bring simple joy, understanding and happiness in each other’s lives.

In Sha Po Lang and The Guardian, the ML’s lingering love for the MC motivates them to become better version of themselves, to care about others, and to form a holistic vision about bettering society.

In The Defective, Lin Jingheng(MC) explicitly said that Lu Bixing(ML) is the only meaning in his life. He had little incentive to care about his own life after his revenge plan fell apart. LBX helped him reconnect with his inner idealism, and gave him a reason value his life.

When the passion and fiery energy manifests itself, however, the romance is like burning iron, blood and fire. It isn’t actually toxic or unhealthy, but it's not pure and innocent either; in this case, it strives for something deeper and more intense, never content with the past or the present. The sheer intensity of relationship is like a double-edged sword, walking the fine line between unconditional devotion and dangerous obsession.

SHL: Spring Water and Healing Open Wounds

The romance in SHL is like "spring water"; it's warm, gentle, nurturing. It breaks through the boundary between individuals to bring the couple closer to each other, taking them back to a utopia of their childhood dream, away from social pressure and responsibility. The theme central to their relationship is “salvation”: how love is able to bring people back to integrity.

Both drama wkx and drama zzs have lots of regret about their past sins and wrongdoings. Four Seasons Manor is essentially a metaphor for purity, acceptance and the safety of childhood home. How to make drama wkx open up and accept this safe harbor as his home is one of the most significant plot-lines of the show.

SHL couple is way more emotionally vulnerable and expressive. A significant part of SHL arc is healing the wounds in an open and honest way. They cuddle and confide in each other way more often, talk about their shameful past and even cry about their regrets in front of one another, which is very rare among MXTX/Priest works.

The heat of the relationship sometimes gets too hot and even burns; in other words, there are constant miscommunications, conflicts and misunderstandings in the relationship. However, they can never let each other go, because it's the only source of warmth left for them in their hopeless lives filled with regrets and guilt.

Similarities and Differences

*Note that this is not a SHL/TYK comparison. TYK is kind of an “unorthodox” priest novel; you will know what I mean if you have read 3+ of her works.

Relationship Dynamic & Narrative:

In MXTX’s works, the concept of “romance” itself is divined; and the characters are illustration of the ideal of “undying love”. People are made for one another, to complete one another. Her works use colorful symbolism (silver butterflies, the emperor’s smile, the 3 thousand lanterns, etc.) to depict this romanticized ideal of love.

For MXTX, the romanticization of “destined love” is one of the most recurring themes of her novels. Therefore, the readers look at their relationship through rose-color glasses. Obsession is usually framed in a jolly & romantic light, and doesn’t feature much tension or stress, and has less negative or unhealthy undertone.

In most of priest’s works and SHL, soulmates are not born but made, so they have to figure out how their relationship works step by step. Therefore the narrative is less of a “rosy picture”.

Priest has a habit of using derogatory terms to describe relationships that are mostly healthy, but somewhat “bloody” and edgy, full of excessive passion and obsession. The most common phrase is “爱生忧怖”, a Buddhist term meaning “love results in worry and fear”.

SHL obviously has to be more subtle in expressing love. That said, drama WenZhou are way more emotionally vulnerable and expressive than their novel counterparts, as well as most Priest & MXTX characters. They have a dramatic falling out once in a while, even towards the end. They barely fit the Chinese definition of Zhiji (to know me/to understand one another), but are “lovers” who are buried deep in their passion instead.

Past, Future and Evolvement:

In SHL, characters are encouraged to treasure past impressions that are thrown in figurative “wrappings”, whose luster is derived from age-old experiences (Psychological Types, Carl Jung). In other words, they are encouraged to root their love in a shared past, a Utopia of innocence.

The contrast between The Defective and Word of Honor is very interesting to observe. Both involve long separation, and the suffering and personality changes hat comes from it. SHL narrative frames their innocent childhood as something to cling to and return to. Drama WKX is encouraged to accept his identity as Four Seasons Manor disciple because it was part of his childhood past. This is a significant part of drama WenZhou relationship.

In The Defective, the narrative doesn't encourage the couple to dwell on the past that much. On the contrary, the all-knowing AI explicitly discouraged the MC from “comparing past to present”. They are advised to accept changes, however painful it might be, and build a better, more equal dynamic out of it, evolving from one-sided pandering to fighting side-by-side.

In Priest’s novels, the characters rarely return to something in the past, but look into the future. Change is usually framed as inherently beneficial, albeit usually painful and rocky, the implication being that you need to constantly strive for something better.

Sha Po Lang is a good example of this, with Gu Yun’s changing attitude towards Chang Geng after he as he matures, gradually showing his intelligence in politics. CG starts referring to GY as Zixi instead of YiFu is also a sign of this change---to see him as equal rather than a parental figure & protector.

The Defective is even more obvious in this regard, with both parties uncomfortable with the change initially, but gradually adjusting to the changes during their 16-year separation. The ML also stops calling MC by his surname “Lin”, as a sign of viewing him as equal.

In MXTX’s works, change in personality or relationship dynamic is neither framed as painful or good. It just happens. It’s a natural flow that take place when it does. Their relationships are rarely challenged by change. They are objectively at a better place compared to their past, but it’s merely the result of a series of events rather than a deliberate choice or struggle.

WangXian’s relationship naturally changes over time after WWX’s rebirth, but neither of them really struggles with the change.

Xie Lian doesn’t even recognize Hua Cheng as the someone from his past, so they start out as friends getting to know each other.

Salvation and Changing one another:

Priest herself stated in an interview that she doesn’t believe in the concept of salvation, since people have the inner capacity to be their own savior. Therefore, priest characters usually don’t actively try to change their partner’s morals or personality. Some might be willingly influenced by their partner, but there’s rarely an element of moral condemnation. Even when there is a conflict between different values, the options are 1) to reconcile them by choosing the middle ground 2) to maintain their independence and tackle it with nuance 3) to break up.

On surface level, Mo Du/Silent Reading is about Luo Wenzhou being Fei Du’s salvation. However, as LWZ pointed out himself, Fei Du would’ve been a good person at heart with or without his influence.

In The Defective, when Lu Bixing mistakenly thought Lin Jingheng stayed in the Eighth Galaxy against his own wishes because of their relationship, and that their priorities are irreconcilable, he even thought about breaking up. Of course he was not serious about it, but this showcased that he would never try to change LJH’s convictions.

In SHL, however, the concept of salvation is central to the theme. Some find it strange that SHL make drama zzs the more “moral” one of the two, despite his action being more objectively questionable. In fact, the only reason he get framed as more “moral” is that he admitted his fault sooner, and therefore could guide drama wkx’s path back to salvation: to recognize the goodness in people, make peace with external world, to clear his name in Jianghu, and to follow due process with his revenge plan to avoid collateral damages.

“I tried to change you, but you end up changing me”, said drama ZZS. This relationship dynamic is never present in any of priest’s works I’ve read. Priest characters don’t *try* to change one another.

Does MXTX believe in salvation? Hard to tell. One could argue that Hua Cheng would have be way more amoral and even immoral if it hadn’t been for XL. This is complicated and is a topic for another time.

However, it is certain that MXTX MCs don’t condemn each other morally. “The orthodox one defending their unorthodox partner in front of the world” is a common wuxia trope, but the way MXTX novels approach it is very different from SHL.

HuaLian never had a serious falling out about being on different sides. Even when they disagree, they respect each other and love each other exactly the way they are. Hua Cheng didn’t approve of Xie Lian saving Mu Qing, but he didn’t interfere with Xie Lian’s decision. Xie Lian feels responsible for helping Shi Qingxuan in Blackwater arc, but he is perfectly fine with HC helping He Xuan keep secrets. In several cases where they have different values, they are able to make it work with ease.

LWJ never *morally* condemned WWX for his action, and never once objected to WWX practicing demonic cultivation after his rebirth. In fact, LWJ never objected to WWX’s morals; in their previous life he was worried about his safety, and struggled with what to do about certain situations due to his family background, but difference in morality is not an issue for them.

The “righteous” one does not feel the need to guide their unorthodox partner or to be their salvation with regards to integrity.

*The similarity & differences part is a bit messy and some points are not fleshed-out. Sorry about that.

**I don’t claim to have the right interpretation. The lens by which we see different styles of romance is ultimately subjective.

#mdzs #tgcf #mxtx #tian ya ke #mdzs meta #word of honor #shl #sha po lang #mo du #can ci pin

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izzythehutt · 2 years

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I do feel like the writers care more about Robbys character then they do about Miguel’s tho

Do you? That's interesting. I have more often heard the opposite argument being made. I think the characters have equal significance to the overall story, though the writing priorities for them are very different. It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Johnny is the main character of the show (sorry, I love Daniel, but this ain't his story.) So, I view every character through that lens.

In this universe Johnny Lawrence is the sun and everyone revolves around him—which means there's an assumption the audience will be invested in Robby just by virtue of him being Johnny's son. With Miguel, we're seeing their entire relationship journey, so there's a heavier lift required to make the audience love that character, particularly in relation to Johnny.

So with Miguel you needed a lot more development up-front, whereas with Robby you play the long, series-wide game.

Miguel and Johnny meeting, Johnny rescuing him from bullies and then agreeing to teach him karate is the inciting incident of the show (Johnny getting arrested for doing the same exact thing that Miyagi did in KK is a hilarious reframe.) They are the "Bad Santa" surprising reboot of Miyagi and Daniel. So much of the premise of Cobra Kai and Johnny's identity as a teacher, which the show presents as his true talent and vocation in life, hinge on that relationship being compelling, genuine, touching and heartfelt. Which is why so much time in S1 and 2 in particular were spent developing it.

Robby, by contrast, is Johnny's biological son, entered the action of the story and all the other characters' lives because of that blood relationship (he started working for Daniel to provoke Johnny and he would have never met any of the characters if not for that connection.) So there's a lower burden placed on getting one "invested" in this relationship. If you care about Johnny—and if you're watching this show, you have to—then you want him to reconcile with his son.

We have comparatively few scenes between them, however. That's because their relationship has 16 years of history that happened before the events of the narrative, and the audience is expected to infer a lot about it, based on what we know about Johnny as a person and how Robby turned out/the obvious characteristics they share. You can get away with making Robby a juvenile delinquent who steals computers, rips people off, dabbles in drugs and skips school for the same reason you can make Johnny an alcoholic burn-out loser—the son takes after the father, and these "versions" of them are their worst selves they both desperately want to change. There's far less set-up required because a father and son relationship comes with a set of expectations and assumptions the writers are relying on the audience making and caring about.

(One of my biggest criticisms of the show is that they've made the degree to which Johnny has been involved in Robby's life way too vague, to the point where I see people argue that the hug in 4x10 is the first time they've ever embraced in their lives. I would have liked more of Shannon and Johnny's relationship history spelled out overtly —were they ever "together" in Robby's childhood, eg.?—because so much fandom discourse seems to derive from wildly different assumptions about this dynamic and how Robby's relationship with his parents and their relationship with each other has affected him.)

Robby's story is working as a parallel to his father, and there are constant, subtle and overt connections made between them, even though they have spent most of the first four seasons on "opposite sides" of the conflict from one another. I don't need a huge amount of interaction between them to know Johnny cares—the fact that he's got exactly two photographs in his apartment, one of his dead mother and his son's second grade soccer photo on his fridge, says it all.

TL;DR: Miguel is connected to Johnny's teaching, which is his redemption, whereas Robby is the symbol of his biggest failure in life. The Miguel dynamic is where a lot of the comedy of the show has landed, and Robby has largely been the heaviest drama. I see going forward a merging of these two storylines and a reversal of the dynamic (more Robby/Johnny comedy and more Johnny/Miggy drama!!)

#cobra kai #cobra kai meta #robby keene #miguel diaz #this turned into a treatise on how television writing works #johnny lawrence

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lucemferto · 3 years

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Hey girl, don’t mind me, I just quickly went and rewrote Dream SMP Season 2.

I’m focusing on the big plot stuff from Season 2, which makes it really easy for me to make it good, because I don’t have to contend with all the hard parts like dialogue and scene pacing and stuff. As an additional challenge to myself, I try to change as little as possible. If I don’t mention stuff (like the Egg-Arc) then that means I’m fine with them the way they are.

I wrote this in an hour, so don't expect it to be good, pls.

Whether you agree or think this is trash, I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts!

ACT I

Fundy’s early arc with Ghostbur, Eret and Phil is great and should stay the way it is. It sets up the character relationships and potential for conflict that we can explore in the future.

Similarly, I wouldn’t change too much about the conflict during Exile with one exception: Both Tommy and Quackity don’t want to include Technoblade. Instead, they believe that they can take one Dream by themselves – this is important for Techno’s, Tommy’s and Quackity’s personal journey later on. In this rewrite, Quackity also didn’t found El Rapids, but instead recruited George & Sapnap to L’Manburg – because his stated goal is to make L’Manburg the strongest nation on the server, so why would he make a rival nation with a plotline that goes nowhere?

What’s also important is that it’s revealed that Dream has a spy in L’Manburg around here. Maybe Tommy confessed his burning of George’s house during a cabinet meeting and word still got out to Dream. Who knows, but it’s important for later.

Something big that I would change about this Act I is that I would give Techno an actual B-plot. As it stands, Techno’s early plotline was just “Grrr, I’m angry that Tommy would use me like that! Someone killed my cows and robbed me! L’Manburg will know my wrath”

3 weeks later

“Nevermind, I’m a pacifist now and live in the arctic”

Instead, we pick up where S1 left off. Techno is intent on destroying L’Manburg and instituting anarchy. During that time, he comes into conflict with Quackity’s henchmen (Fundy, George, Sapnap, etc.) to establish that L’Manburg could be an actual threat to him.

We also have some conflict with Phil. They’re old war buddies, but Phil’s son built L’Manburg and Phil himself is unofficially Tubbo’s advisor. I think them reconstituting their friendship will take up this early part until Tommy’s exile – it makes for a nice foil to Tommy’s and Tubbo’s friendship falling apart.

Technoblade also tries to recruit people like HBomb and Niki to his cause, but they’re hesitant, because, you know, he sent Withers to destroy their home. Not the best first impression. Techno is hurt, but convinced it’s because of L’Manburg propaganda and they don’t want to work with him, because they don’t see him as useful.

ACT II Part 1

Exile-Arc basically stays exactly the same – with one notable difference. When Technoblade comes to visit Tommy it’s not to mock him – it’s as a final attempt to convince Tommy to join him. It’s a first culmination of Techno’s character journey so far: His previous interactions with the citizenry of L’Manburg has left him shaken, but not shaken enough.

Tommy truly does need “The Blade” right now and he has no reason to further believe L’Manburg’s propaganda. So, by Technoblade’s inner logic, Tommy should accept.

But he doesn’t. Tommy viciously rips into Technoblade and gets very personal (he’s in a bad space, understandably) – Techno can play it off nonchalantly, but either the cinematography or some later moment shows us that he was hurt by this.

Nevertheless, he gives Tommy a compass that points to his HQ, showing us that he cares about Tommy, like he did during their early days in Pogtopia.

This is where we implement some big changes. The story of Technoblade and the Butcher Army becomes the A-plot, while the Exile becomes the B-plot.

It makes perfect sense. The Exile-Arc is a very inward-focused, almost a character study of Tommy and Dream. It doesn’t have a lot of big narrative movement – so the perfect time to execute on that narrative movement in the storyline that has a lot of moving pieces.

So, after Tommy chewed him out, Techno is hurt and meets with Philza. Techno then explains that for him anarchy always was the natural order of things – to fight for a world where only the strongest survive – but pursuing anarchy like that has left him empty. Philza then explains that anarchy should be more about helping people and building an equal community.

We’re all but stating a major thematic conflict of this storyline: Fighting those who wronged you vs. Helping those in need. All this while also exploring the philosophy of anarchy with Techno and Philza serving as symbolic stand-ins for some different thoughts on the matter.

So, while Tommy’s Exile is going on, Techno refines his approach. This goes hand in hand with Quackity using his henchman to turn L’Manburg into a totalitarian police state in order to root out Dream’s traitor (told you it would become important later).

This will be the main conflict here in the first half of Act 2. Quackity and Philza will play shoulder-devil and shoulder-angel respectively for Tubbo and Fundy, pulling them in different directions. Ghostbur also hangs around L’Manburg – a constant reminder for Tubbo of the most sanitized version of President Wilbur and the lofty ideas he stood for.

This is another big thematic conflict for this storyline – externalized in part through Ghostbur’s presence: When do the ends no longer justify the means? It also feeds into the motif of Tubbo and Tommy becoming like Schlatt and Wilbur respectively (even if that’s still mostly superficial).

During this political turmoil, Niki is getting into Quackity’s crosshairs. She opposes his policing and brutal methods. So Quackity really focuses in on her and she has to live with constant surveillance, searches, etc. Niki tries to talk to Tubbo about this, but he says it’s necessary to keep L’Manburg safe. Slowly, Niki grows disillusioned with L’Manburg.

It is during this time that Niki gets into contact with Techno and the two start to form a bond and helping the citizenry hold out hope during this time (I don’t know who would be the citizenry, probably people that don’t have their own storyline going on such as HBomb, Vikkstar, Lazarbeam, etc.)

And we can have a few lorestreams like that, where the conceit is that Techno’s sneaking into L’Manburg to help people and there’s actual tension.

All this culminates in Hog Hunt. Fundy sees Phil, Niki and Techno team-up. He confronts them after Techno left and Phil begs Fundy to not out them – but their divide has grown too deep (and we’ve actually shown that during Fundy’s streams this time).

Quackity has Phil and Niki incarcerated (L’Manburg has a prison now, it’s not as good as Pandora’s Vualt). Tubbo is deeply disturbed that Philza and Niki would betray him by working with the man that took one of his canon lives and finally gives the Butcher Army his presidential approval. Quackity was already prepared and the events of Hog Hunt play out as we know them.

ACT II Part 2

Again, plays out relatively similarly, except for one major difference: Tommy comes to Techno with the explicit purpose of asking for his help. Exile has left him really hardened, probably more so than we have currently.

This would a.) make Tommy a bit more proactive in his partnership with Techno and b.) actually gives some weight to Techno’s later beef with Tommy, because now it’s based on more than just some flimsy phrasing during S1.

Otherwise, this plays out relatively similarly – Techno and Tommy maybe share a few more character moments, just to drive home that Techno cares about Tommy. Also, none of that dumb keeping it a secret whether or not we destroy L’Manburg – that’s some contrived nonsense and I hate it.

Tommy knows that Techno wants to destroy L’Manburg and while he’s conflicted, he ultimately goes along with. Once he gets his discs back, everything will be over after all. The destruction of L’Manburg will have been worth it.

Part of the rising action will be breaking Phil and Niki out of prison instead of the petty bullshit about Techno’s items that he doesn’t need. This is where we have the initial confrontation between Tommy and Tubbo (and Techno doesn’t ruin the moment by being his worst self).

Other plot points include: Techno receives the Wither Skulls over the course of him and Tommy working together by some mysterious benefactor. This is after he and Tommy confronted Dream. He doesn’t tell Tommy who the benefactor is, even though he knows (spoilers: it’s Dream).

Meanwhile, Tommy, Techno, Niki and Phil are secretly rigging New L’Manburg with TNT a la Wilbur, just to really drive that comparison home. Niki is getting really angry; she has suffered enough and she’s really gonna get revenge.

One of her big moments of terrorism before the Green Festival is burning down the L’Mantree (maybe we can include some character conflict Fundy, so we have these two people who were once really close friends now so warped and torn apart by these two sides at war).

Meanwhile, Quackity has figured out that Ranboo was the traitor and is pushing for Tubbo to execute Ranboo for the greater good of L’Manburg. Tubbo is hesitant, but as there’s no moderate voice in the cabinet anymore, he concedes to the idea.

Finally, the Green Festival is here. This part is really … tough to rewrite, because you have to accommodate so many different character arcs, but I’ll try my best.

In a move not unlike during the Red Festival, Ranboo is revealed as the traitor and put in the execution cage (because those parallels). Tubbo feels really bad about it.

This is when Tommy and Techno start their assault and unleash the whithers. L’Manburg is under attack and we have the big fight between Tubbo and Tommy. We get the big shout-out “The discs were worth more than you ever were” and the ensuing epiphany on Tommy part.

Techno’s calling for him to explode the TNT, but he doesn’t do it.

Quackity is calling for Tubbo to execute Ranboo, but Tubbo has an epiphany himself and refuses. Both their personal conflicts are resolved here. Also, we have some nice parallelism between Quackity and Techno as Tubbo’s and Tommy’s respective bad influences.

Techno – understandably this time – feels betrayed and hurt. He and Tommy have their shouting match. Quackity tries to attack Techno, but during their match they accidentally trigger the TNT. Quackity’s hunger for power has created the grave of his ambitions.

(Niki is also pissed at Tommy and Fundy is fully distraught, because L’Manburg was everything he had left from Wilbur).

Dream steps out of the shadows and reveals that he was Techno’s mysterious benefactor. He gets his hands on the second disc and gloats to Tommy. The scene from Doomsday plays out only that Techno shows some stings of remorse for helping Dream accomplish what he wanted. (Quackity flees the ensuing chaos).

Dream tries to goad Tommy with the discs, but Tommy doesn’t bite, because he has resolved his Want vs. Need now. Dream is frustrated, but retreats for now.

ACT III

In the aftermath of ACT II, I think it’s very important to hammer home that this wasn’t a win for Techno, Niki or Phil. For that to work I think it’s important to make clear that Tommy’s and Techno’s bond was genuine and that they really cared for each other during the Bedrock Bros thing. Neither of them is happy for how this turned.

Niki is plagued by nightmares and sleeps in a prison cell like in the current canon. She stands in symbolic for the emptiness that vengeance brings. Phil is shaken from his talk to Ghostbur and he’s the one who brings up that maybe what they did wasn’t for the best.

Then Techno and Phil have a discussion about the nature of anarchy again, calling back to that earlier conversation at the beginning of Act 2. Techno also feels empty – his vengeance and the destruction he wrought left him no happier.

Meanwhile, Punz and Tommy are actually spending some quality bonding time. Thanks to the medium, they could simulate that pretty well. Punz actually gets attached and when Dream mentions his coup-de-grâce, the cinematography shows that Punz isn’t too happy about it.

Tommy and Tubbo prepare to fight Dream on their own terms. They know, they have to stop him lest he hurts the people they care about (this makes both of them a bit more proactive in the finale). Punz (as per Dream’s orders) tells Tommy where Dream is hiding. Tommy thanks him, oblivious that Punz is a traitor, but Punz feels bad. He has grown attached to Tommy.

During the Final Disc War we actually get two perspectives: One is Tommy’s and Tubbo’s as we know it (only without the constant “Your discs or Tubbo”-stuff) and the other is Punz’s. He has decided to help Tommy even though there’s nothing monetarily in it for him.

First, he goes to Quackity, but Quackity says that Tommy has betrayed him and L’Manburg and that he gets what’s coming to him.

In a last-ditch effort, he goes to Techno. Here’s where we resolve that thematic conflict (Vengeance vs. Charity) for the Techno-Butcher Army storyline: Quackity has chosen to perpetuate the cycle of vengeance (because he will be the villain in S3), but we want some nice character development for Techno.

Niki is against it and stays put, but Techno and Philza ultimately decide to go with Punz and the others to help Tommy.

Finale plays out the same. Stuff’s still awkward between Techno and Tommy/Tubbo; they haven’t resolved all their problems, but it’s a first step. Some good set-up for S3.

And that’s my basic rewrite. It’s long and probably not the best.

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colourful-void · 3 years

Text

Supporting Satoshi - an examination and comparison of JN36 and XY121

Part One: Snowballs do not cure depression but it was worth a shot

You know that episode of Pokemon where a gym leader beats Satoshi in a battle so hard that one of his pokemon gets mildly hurt (though there's no long term effects) and because of it he becomes depressed, closing himself off from his friends before someone comes along to pull him out of that mental state, and also severe weather phenomena is involved and a reflection of a persons mental state? Or rather, the two episodes?

So when I was watching Journeys, I noticed an episode that had a similar-- but distinctly different-- plot to an xy episode I had seen before. And what was particularly interesting was that while I couldn't stand the xy episode, the journeys episode was one of my favourites. I won't drag this out for you guys, I love the journeys episode and re watch it a LOT and the xy episode sort of just leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. and don't go claiming its solely ship bias, because i saw the xy episode first and disliked it then.

This will analyze both of these episodes, comparing them against each other. Specifically within the context of how Goh and Serena both help Satoshi through a similar situation There will be some discussion of AmourShipping and Satogou in this analysis. I'm going to be a bit negative regarding Serena's actions and the potential "romantic" weight of them here, but I want to be clear that I Do Not dislike Serena as a character. Personally, I wish the writers had given her more room to grow outside of her romantic interests, but I do not hate Serena as a character. I do, however, disagree with her actions in this episode. Please don't take this out of context and dont be ship fighting in the comments, it's boring. This is a comparison of These Two Episodes, not of Goh and Serena and their respective ships as a whole.

This part mainly focuses on the xy episode and the second will focus mainly on the journeys. It's only divided into parts because of the tumblr post limit.

(If you like the xy episode or hate the journeys episode, awesome! having your own opinions is great. these are mine though, so i hope you'll listen to them)

With that out of the way, let's start. And I'm going to use mostly japanese names here because I'm taking screencaps from the subbed japanese copies.

The set up for each of these episodes is eerily similar as pointed out in the gag at the start.

Xy has a bit more set up before the episode in question though, with the initial loss and retreat into the forest by Satoshi taking place the episode before. The episode opens up proper with Satoshi taking time to breathe to himself, alone in the forest.

Emphasis is placed on him taking a deep breath, aided by the visuals showing them (thanks cold air) and the silence of the rest of the soundscape, with the only other sounds being the wind and some bird pokemon, plus some falling snow.

Journeys Satoshi starts off in a better mental state than Xy, with the episode starting off with him jogging along with his pokemon.

However, we can still see that he's been affected by the last battle he lost, against Saitou, as he's putting a lot of effort into training and doing better.

Which, doesn't go well for him, as he loses his next two battles as well, and drops in the World Championship ranking as a result

And he's pretty upset about it too. Same thing as over in xy. In both cases, a respective friend/love interest notes that Satoshi is upset and expresses concern.

He's got support from his friends in both situations! But that support comes across in very different ways.

But, to understand how that support manages to affect Satoshi, we need to understand the problem at play.

Now, I wanna make something clear here. Satoshi's problem is not that he is a sore loser. I'm not arguing that's not a contributing factor, or that he's not upset about the loss (particularly in the world championships), He's still bitter about the lost part, but the root of the problem is not losing, he's been shown to be fine with losing (if not a bit more motivated to win now) in prior episodes.

Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt, because they're losing battles. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are losing battles because he's not training them well enough. And to clarify, that's not my viewpoint, it's his. Satoshi's problem is that he's not good enough for himself, and he feels that that's something he has to fix on his own.

So how do we help him?

Our weather event in question is introduced in separate points in the episodes, but I'll cover them both now.

In xy, it's this snowstorm, which conveniently becomes a problem directly after Serena returns to the Pokemon Centre.

In journeys, it's a sandstorm! That's in near direct contrast to a snowstorm! Incredible.

Heading back to xy Satoshi, things aren't going great in the forest. Luckily, Serena's run off to find him.

I think it's of note here that Serena runs off with the best intentions, she wants to help Satoshi, plain and simple. It just sort of goes wrong along the way.

It's worth noting that Xy Satoshi tries to bring himself out of being sad by the tried and true method of "stop being sad"

Despite telling himself this, he doesn't get anywhere. Which makes sense, because it's not getting the the root of the problem. It's not even addressing it at all. He's just trying to 'be better', which isn't even a battle strategy. However, it is something I can see him saying, so this isn't a critique of Satoshi's thought process, but me pointing out that this isn't really effective. Which is supported by the narrative, because again, he doesn't get anywhere, he doesn't even move.

I can't show it in screencaps but the lights in Satoshi's eyes are shaking here, something that they consistently do throughout the series when he's feeling a particularly strong emotion. Keep that in mind. It couples well with another trait of his, and that's his hat!

And by that I mean how he hides his eyes with the brim of it when upset, something he does exactly as Serena shows up and calls out to him. Now, he's not upset that Serena is here. He's upset about the pokemon stuff still. He's trying to hide the fact that he's upset from Serena.

Serena starts off with her speech well, trying to appeal to Satoshi to let her in and talk things out. And maybe it's because he wasn't ready for it yet, or because of the way she phrases it (a lot of 'i' and 'me' language which can be helpful but can also come across as though she's making it about her. not her intent i don't think, but a possible interpretation.), it's not her fault for how Satoshi reacts regardless.

But how Satoshi reacts is not good.

Now it's really interesting to note that before this, Serena was standing while Satoshi was sitting, putting her above him in terms of active power, when it comes to how the shot is presented, but when Satoshi stands up, the camera tilts with the movement so that they're on equal level. Neat!

And Serena yells in return, scolding Satoshi for not talking about it. Not the best move, since pushing someone to talk about something that's upsetting them isn't really productive, but she's trying here and she's frustrated.

Satoshi continues to withdraw and self isolate, claiming it is his problem and that he wants to be left be. Now, this is the mindset of a clearly upset person and isolation may not be the best option, but he did make the explicit request to be left alone here.

He's clearly upset as he turns away from Serena's eye and slumps over a little.

And then Serena throws a snowball at him.

Angry as he is, you can see Satoshi's expression change when he sees Serena's reaction.

Serena tells Satoshi that she's not like the Satoshi she knows, who is always full of energy and positive and a leader, and a bunch of other positive traits. The problem here, is that Serena's looking at an idealized version of Satoshi. And while the intent here was probably meant to be something more like "you have so many wonderful traits about you I know you can do this", coupled with the snowballs and the phrasing, it seems as though Serena is scolding Satoshi for being sad.

Or rather, being angry with him for not living up to her idealized version of him, and not wanting him to express any negitave emotions.

Which is sort of a really bad mindset.

The snowballs continue, never once does Satoshi fight back. In fact, he stops arguing entirely after the first one. Serena knocks him off his feet and tells him he's not being himself, before running off. (In the english dub, Serena claims that Satoshi isn't being "the real satoshi" and then demands that the real Satoshi be "given back", so it could be worse)

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up. Something like this just isn't like him. He's just gotta stop being sad!

Now personally, I really disagree with the idea that "being upset" isn't "like a person". That's because based off of my own experiences, I know it can be really damaging to hold the mindset that any negative emotions you feel aren't a part of you and that you shouldn't be upset because you're usually a positive and happy person. Not the case with every person, but I personally really have a problem with shows telling children that they just shouldn't be upset instead of processing their emotions in a meaningful way. (The journeys episode doesn't do an outstanding job of it either, but this is a bit of a tangent anyway. A show that does do this right is "OK KO! Let's be Heroes" which actually deals with this problem in greater depth and does a fantastic job of it.)

But the snowball scene ends here. Now I'll get back to Journeys in a moment, but since Serena has finished her part of the comparison for the most part, I'm going to summarize a bit more of the xy episode.

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up.

The snowstorm kicks in, Serena get back annoyed, then similarly groans and yells, and the whole xy gang + pokemon go running off in search of Satoshi. Pikachu appears the most concerned.

Now Serena tells the others she lost her cool and said something horrible to Satoshi, but explains its because Satoshi is someone she admires. Cool motive, I get it, still kinda bad.

and in the end, it's not Serena's words that get he message across to Satoshi. The solution to this problem was Satoshi finding a way to reaffirm his abilities and instinct.

In the xy episode, he helps some pokemon out of the tree, and when his very cool frog friend shows up, they're able to work together with their bond to save this one from falling off a cliff.

Here's the point. Satoshi learns by doing, by actions. He needs to see first hand that there are ways of getting past his problems, and that it's worth having the courage to keep going. The lesson is about valuing pokemon as equals and partners, and specifically that trying to be better as the trainer alone isn't going to help.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am and I'm not sleeping until this is finished so we gotta keep things moving.

This was no doubt Serena's intent to get a similar point, but she goes about it the wrong way. She tries to convey this with words, as conversation and motivational words have helped her in the past (Elle's words of praise stick with her, Satoshi's words from when they were kids, etc). It's a good idea, but their different ways of learning and growing from a similar situation are incompatible, and that's why things don't work out in Serena's favour. There's also still the problem of "pulling yourself together" not being helpful in this case.

There's also a very similar line in this scene to the one at the end of the journeys episode, as Satoshi says to his frog that they should start over from scratch. It's essentially the same phrase with different wording. It's great. The Storm ends as he realizes this as well! Wonderful in terms of pathetic fallacy.

The gang all reunites, its nice. Satoshi thanks Serena for what she said after apologizing to everyone, which contradicts what he said earlier but I've already established that I dislike this message here so I won't go over it too much. I guess he's right in a literal sense in that in response to her words he went and ran until he tripped off a cliff but the emotional growth here was because of his own actions (and the frogs), not Serena's. Sorry Serena, you'll get em next time.

So. What about Goh?

Well...

(Part Two here on account of image limit!!)

#pokemon #anipoke #pokeani #pokemon analysis #pokemon xy #pokemon xyz #trainer ash #trainer serena #trainer goh #i dont wanna use the amourshipping tag to put negtivity in it that seems mean #analysis #this was written in the 2-3am area but the next part was written 12 hours later so thats a neat fact #long post

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