#voice analysis
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Shibboleth
Conflicted Phonemes, 2012, Lawrence Abu Hamdan with graphic designer Janna Ullrich.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an independent investigator or Private Ear with a great interest in the political use of sound and linguistics.
Conflicted Phonemes is made of vinyl wall prints and takeaway printed A4 sheets on a shelf. The prints visualize the complex relation between a person’s place of birth and linguistic identity, whilst also examining how itinerant and precarious social conditions and cultural exchange result in a hybridization of accents, thus questioning the efficacy of forensic technologies and practices of “bordering” conducted by Dutch immigration authorities.
I wish I could experience this work and the follow-up, also from 2012, The Freedom of Speech focusing on the UK’s controversial use of voice analysis to determine the origins and authenticity of asylum seekers’ accents.
The Freedom of Speech is a mixed-media installation comprising a stereo audio documentary and an acoustic foam sculpture on the geopolitics of accents and listening practices that have led to shocking stories of wrongful deportations.
Judges 12:5-6 English Standard Version:
they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
There are lots of articles on Abu Hamdan’s work. Here just one written by Emily Apter : Shibboleth: Policing by Ear and Forensic Listening in Projects by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2016 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://doi.org/10.1162/OCTO_a_00253
Abstract: Drawing on the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a British-Lebanese artist and researcher currently based in Beirut, this essay examines the juridical and conceptual field of critical forensis which is situated at the juncture of security studies, art, and architecture. Abu Hamdan extends forensics to the area of “new audibilities,” with a focus on the politics of juridical hearing in situations of legal-identity profiling and voice authentication (the “shibboleth test”). Abu Hamdan's projects investigate how accent monitoring and audio surveillance, voice recognition, translation technologies, sovereign acts of listening, and court determinations of linguistic norms emerge as so many technical constraints on “freedom of speech,” itself a malleable term ascribed to discrepant claims and principles, yet taking on performative force in site-specific situations.
#Lawrence Abu Hamdan#new audibilities#Shibboleth#voice analysis#bordering#forensic technologies#art#policing#immigration
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*bracing myself on my knees and trying to breath, nursing a cramp*
I got here as fast as I can. I just wanted to point out that THIS…
Is one of the gayest fucking lines of television I’ve heard in my life.
Even if the presence of the song itself somehow wasn’t a flashing spotlight enough, the literal voice of God directly draws attention to it. Telling us that in universe, a nightingale really is in fact singing in Barkley square, and to know its music is sweet regardless of if we can hear it. Just like there are really in fact angels (one fallen but we’ll let it slide) dining at the ritz, and they’ve been falling in love regardless of if they’ve been allowed to openly pursue that feeling.
And hell, maybe it’s BECAUSE of the traffic that the nightingale finally sings. Perhaps it wasn’t ready until it was sure no one else could listen.
#couldn't get this across but God's tone of voice on but it was there... is SO telling#there's such a cheekiness to it#part of leaving the garden means leaving that surveillance#being able to make free choices and do so PRIVATELY#WITHOUT fear of consequence#something beautiful and rare is happening at that table#and it's now NONE of heaven or hell's damn business#good omens#ineffable husbands#Crowley#aziraphale#season 1#a nightingale sang in Barkley square#episode 6#1x06#biceratops#meta#analysis
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some facts about astarion that i find very cute/meaningful :)
i wanted to share this so more people can learn about him and appreciate who he is deep down, behind the mask he wears. before cazador turned him, he was just like any other person; he had hobbies, passions and emotions. those things are still there, but they’re just hidden amidst all the darkness. he was so young when he first turned that he barely had a chance to enjoy life or figure himself out. so many people miss out on the complexity of his character due to only focusing on his physical appearance or labelling him as a cruel villain, but in order to see that he’s so much more than that and he’s capable of growing as a person, all you need to do is show him a bit of love!
- he loves embroidery and poetry
- he approves when you pet the owlbear cub because most people view it as a monster (the same way people have always viewed him). it’s like he finds comfort in the fact that you can love and care for something that most people are afraid of, and it gives him hope that you may feel the same way about him too
- if you put a flower on his grave, he smiles and says "cute"
- he comes up to you in camp just to thank you and tell you how grateful he is that you allowed him to make his own decision (after you defend him and don't force him to drink the drow's blood) because he is so used to being told what to do and he was forced to use his body for so many years
- in that same scene, he will hold your hand whether you choose to stay in a romance with him or be friends instead, because he loves and appreciates you no matter what, and any sort of relationship with you is so important and meaningful to him
- if you try to romance karlach and astarion at the same time, he tells you to choose karlach over him, even if he loves you and it hurts him to do so, because he can see that karlach loves you too. he says that normally an arrangement would work for him, but after everything karlach has been through and how fragile her heart is already, he doesn’t want to get in the way or see her hurt
- if you try to romance halsin and astarion at the same time, he just wants you to do what makes you happy, even though you can tell it hurts him if you choose halsin. he’s also worried that you’re unhappy because he hasn’t slept with you (he should never have to worry about that ☹️), so he doesn’t want to stop you from enjoying yourself. in this situation and the one with karlach, you can see that there are moments where he puts others before himself and thinks about their feelings more than his own
- if you’re playing as the dark urge and you’re trying to resist it, he is so incredibly comforting and tries to give you strength and encouragement. one of my favourite astarion lines is this: “you’re not alone in this, none of us are.”
some more lines that i love:
“i don’t hate you. because this is not you. but whatever it is, you’ll get through it. and i’ll be here to make sure you do.”
“whatever it is that’s controlling you, we can fight it. i know that better than anyone.”
“this thing won’t have you. it won’t win.”
“easy now, darling. you’ve got this. and i’ve got you.”
- when you try to break up with him because you’re transforming into a mindflayer and you tell him you’re becoming something horrible, he gets so upset that you would even think that way and tells you that you’re wonderful and he doesn’t care about what you look like. then he says he would get more stares walking down a street than you to try and make you feel better
- if you love and care for him and remind him that there is still good out there, he genuinely wants to grow, be a better person and break the cycle of power and terror that started centuries ago
- he approves when you help people that are considered outcasts or "freaks" because he has felt that way too
- he risked his life and got punished for letting a man go instead of luring him back to cazador because it’s implied he cared about him in some way and he couldn't hurt him (not entirely sure about this one, this is just how i interpreted it based on his voice and mannerisms when he was talking about him)
- he approves when you give an orphaned child food (act 3)
- he becomes vulnerable, honest and more gentle with you once you start treating him like a person, because for the first time in his life, he actually feels safe with someone
- he's extremely insecure despite the mask he wears at the beginning of the game and he doesn't believe he is capable of being genuinely loved for who he is as a person. when you get close to him and tell him you care for him and give him a hug, he is taken aback at first, but then he believes you and hugs you back. also, when you're playing as the dark urge, you get this line: "you like him for more than his looks, but he will never believe that." this is proof that astarion is so used to being reduced to his physical appearance after what he was forced to do for so many years, and he thinks that's the only reason why people like him. he struggles with intimacy and forming strong emotional bonds, so that's why it makes your relationship with him even more meaningful when he realises that you truly do love him for who he is, not just for his looks and body
- when the drow you met at moonrise shows up in act 3 and tries to make you drink something, astarion tells you to say no, because the only thing she's offering is pain and he doesn't want to see you hurt
- if you romance him, stop him from doing the ritual and help him defeat cazador, he tells you that you are the only person he's ever truly cared for
- if you defeat cazador without him and tell him you just wanted to protect him, he gets upset at first because you left him behind without telling him and he wanted to take revenge himself, but then he becomes understanding and says “maybe this is what’s best? the kind of power that ritual offered could ruin a person. even me.” this shows how much he’s grown and matured as a person and he’s aware of the consequences of too much power. the scene also ends with him telling you that he’s grateful for something that you did to help him (again).
- he becomes more self-aware, straightforward and honest over time and he doesn’t pretend like he’s perfect. he tells you that you were by his side through all the bloodlust and pain and misery, despite all of his flaws and mistakes. you remained patient with him and trusted him even though it was an objectively stupid thing to do, but he is so grateful for it because you believed he could become a better person (and he did)
- this is sad but he remembers some of the names of the people he had to lure back to cazador and even the memories he shared with them. you can see this during the scene with sebastian, and it’s clear that he actually cared about him (not sure how many situations were like this, but there was definitely more than one)
- if you say “i’m sorry we couldn’t save the other vampire spawn”, he says:
“we could have tried. we could have given them the same chance i had. i was able to go out into the world and make better choices. to go against my nature and become more than a blood-sucking monster. maybe they would have done the same. or maybe not - but did we have the right to take that choice away from them?”
this scene shows how much astarion has grown and how compassionate and empathetic he can be towards others. he understood what it felt like to have his own freedom taken away while cazador made all his decisions for him, so he didn’t want to put the other vampire spawn through that too (especially because he still feels so guilty for luring them there in the first place)
- if you romance him and he stays as a vampire spawn and you choose to help him look for a cure so he can stand in the sun again, this is revealed during the epilogue scene:
“one night, he tells you that these last six months of happy memories are the counterweight to two hundred years of misery.”
he’s finally truly happy and free, and the short time he’s spent with you is already so incredibly powerful and important to him. being with you has positively impacted his life in such a massive way that it makes all those centuries of pain and misery feel so much smaller
- another sweet line from astarion during the epilogue scene after he tells you to go catch up with your other friends and see how they’re doing:
“i’ll be here when you’re ready. i’ll always be here, my love.”
THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH 😭🫶🏼 he’s become so kind, loving, respectful, genuine and sincere. i’m so proud of him 🥹
#astarion#baldur’s gate 3#bg3#absolutely nobody asked for this but i just thought it would be cute to share some positive stuff about him :’)#ALSO#shoutout to the wonderful neil newbon for bringing this character to life with his incredible voice acting#astarion wouldn’t be astarion without him :)#bg3 spoilers#character analysis#meta#kinda idk what to tag this as lol#my posts
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Everything we know about Project Apple (and, by extension, Anya's past) thus far
thought i'd compile all of that now while endo's on break Just In Case the next chapter happens to start anya's backstory (i don't Think it will but endo likes surprising us LSDFKLFS)
important disclaimer that project apple and the organization in charge of anya's experiments have not been confirmed to be related! there's evidence that they have things in common, in particular employees, but that's our only real connection between the two thus far. still! worth looking into
more under the cut!
so, starting very strongly with the very first mention of anything related to the project: anya's introduction in chapter 1
despite her being a main character, we know very little about her past at the moment, and this little blurb at the beginning makes up a very big portion of what we know.
things to note here:
as an experiment, her name was "Test Subject 007". important to note that the notation differs between her and bond: she was Test Subject 007, bond was Subject 8, no zeroes in there;
she had been made thus by accident, the phrasing itself implying quite heavily that she was just a normal child before said accident (but this is the translation! i don't know japanese so i can't cross-reference with the raws to clarify if the phrasing changes anything, but the fanbook uses the word "gained" to describe her powers too);
because her mind-reading is an unintended consequence, that means the scientists were presumably not, at least initially, trying to achieve cognitive enhancements in humans, and were instead trying to achieve something else, whatever that might've been;
she escaped from the facility and then moved from institution to institution, looking for a family.
so, crucially, through this little introduction we learn that there is an organization, government-funded or otherwise, that is or was conducting human experiments for unknown purposes. we also learn that whatever family anya had prior to being involved in the experiments is more than likely unreachable, at least as far as she knows, and so she has settled for finding a new family to take care of her instead.
in terms of the facility itself, here we see they clearly drilled it into her that she can't ever reveal her secret (and the darn plush is there too -- in the anime it's even more emphasized, as you can see in the gif i made)
through her reminiscing though, we get our very first look at the scientists that were in charge of her! they're in the gif above but here they are in the manga too. it's so interesting that the anime actually shows their eyes behind the glasses though, fascinating choice.
the insistence on world peace is important, as it explains her own personal obsession with it and shows that it's not just because of twilight's own focus on preserving the peace. i also don't think twilight ever really talks about "world peace," only about "preserving the current peace between westalis and ostania" -- anya seems to be the only one talking about WORLD peace (even in the very first scene where either of them mention it in proximity to each other in ch 1, loid says "understanding the other party is the first step towards peace" and anya's interpretation is "understanding me makes world peace?") but take this with a grain of salt because i might be wrong! going through every single mention of peace in the story just to fact check this one little trivia fact is a bit much i think so i'm not doing it JSDFKLSD
but yes
remember mr hair strand and baldy, we'll see them again. not her though, ig she wasn't in charge of bond
now, fast-forwarding to chapter 19, we finally get a name and a premise for the experiments:
"but oana," you might say, "this is talking about animals only! how do we know it's the same project as anya's, which involved human experimentation?"
i don't think it is, is the thing! i think it's related to the experiments anya was a part of, which is evidenced by the same scientists being featured in project apple too, but there's more going on that we don't know about. there wouldn't be such adamancy on keeping the two separate in every official mention of them if they were just the same thing, imo!
back to the evidence, we learn that the project, conducted and funded by the previous ostanian regime (meaning donovan's related to it one way or another, since he was prime minister), was marked by franticness and desperation -- a prime place for accidents like anya's telepathy and bond's future vision.
we also learn that the project was sacked by the new administration and that the former test subjects ended up on the black market.
(this makes it very important, imo, to learn when anya escaped the facility vs. when the project was sacked. it's clearly no longer in function, but while we've heard nothing from them thus far, i'm willing to bet the shady dealings around the desmond group are NOT related to the war, as W.I.S.E. has been led to believe, but rather to reignite project apple. that is speculation however so i'm going to refrain from theorising much on why the desmond group is focused on acquiring pharmaceutical companies!!)
ok speculation tangent over, back on track
so, that's already a decent amount of info! but moving to chapter 22, when bond is finally home, and we finally see some familiar faces
behold! baldy and mr hair strand!
and 2 other guys we don't know but will see again in another bond flashback!
that's 2 out of the 3 scientists we've seen thus far from anya's own time as subject 007, confirming that there IS a connection between anya and bond's experiments, regardless of whatever the project anya was a part of might've been named.
this is also the chapter in which we learn that bond himself was subject 8 (or, if we take it from the fanbook, subject #8. still, diff notation from anya!)
in chapter 31, we learn an interesting tiny piece of trivia. we don't get any further info on it, but it IS mentioned as something that is known by W.I.S.E.:
ostania is rumoured to have done human experimentation! and W.I.S.E., and by extension loid, are aware of that.
do i know how them knowing may be important later? not really!
the next droplet of info we get is in chapter 40. we see that project apple had collaborators that are still functioning unhindered.
of course, born industries is only rumoured to have been involved with project apple, but regardless of whether or not they actually were, the rumour itself implies that the project likely pulled scientists from various other companies' R&D departments.
(this makes the desmond group's acquisition of glooman pharmaceuticals shadier, but anyway)
as a side note, twilight is emoting so much at just his wrong assumption that bond is seeking revenge against the scientists. imagine how he's going to react when he finds out about anya JKSDFKLFSD
and now aaaaall the way in chapter 58, we see the bald guy who anya also knows, the two scientists from bond's previous flashback, and one whole new guy!
and thus ends our current knowledge of it all!
the only other thing worth discussing is anya's knowledge of classical language
but plenty people have already discussed these scenes, especially recently, so here are some links: 1 | 2 | 3
the only thing i can add is that i'm fairly certain that classical language is a lot more likely to be latin than old english, because it's a very common language to learn in school (in europe at least, and ostania is based on east germany so it makes sense to me. i learned mandatory latin in school for a few good years too, even if i wasn't that good at it lol) and because one of the most common modern usages of latin are in medicine and science, it would make sense that she'd be better at it due to exposure.
a possibility is also that the scientists would think in latin to conceal their thoughts from her, and that's how she ended up learning so much. she's not fluent in latin, she's just well acquainted and that cicumstance would explain the how.
BUT THAT'S SPECULATIONNN
also i don't think "ANIA" is an acronym, nor do i think anya's been misspelling her own name out of lack of knowledge. "ania" is a polish diminutive of anna and an alternate transcription of Аня, so i think it's far more likely that anya isn't ostanian or westalian than it is that her name comes from an acronym.
now,
TL;DR!
what we know about project apple (and the "mysterious organization"):
project apple was funded and conducted by what appears to have been donovan's regime and, from what W.I.S.E. knows, aimed to create highly intelligent animals for military purposes;
W.I.S.E. is aware that ostania is at the very least rumoured to have dabbled in human experimentation;
the project is presumably no longer on-going, though it is likely there are efforts behind the scenes to revive it;
it is rumoured but not confirmed that project apple had collaborating companies that are still functioning perfectly fine;
the same scientists who were in charge of bond were also in charge of anya, signalling that there is a very significant connection between project apple and the "mysterious organization;"
based on what they were telling anya, they were/are very focused on "world peace";
their experimentation methods include but likely aren't limited to electrocution.
and what we (vaguely) know about anya that relates to this:
she is at the youngest, 4 years old, and at the oldest, 5 nearing 6. we don't know her real age, all we know is she definitely lied about being 6;
she is very fixated on specifically world peace while twilight is focused on peace between ostania and westalis. the scientists are the very first we see talking about this, so it's likely their fault;
she is unreasonably well acquainted with classical language;
she has escaped the facility at LEAST 1 year ago;
and, one tidbit from the fanbook (page 29): "Anya has been reading minds for as long as she can remember," implying that her memory of a life before the lab is muddy at best and absent at worst.
that's all we know that i know of!!
if you got this far, thank you for reading :D hope any of this was interesting or sparked any theories >:] have a good day!
#sxf#spy x family#manga spoilers#project apple#anya forger#bond forger#sxf manga#spy x family manga#sxf manga spoilers#spy x family manga spoilers#analysis#meta#I DIDN'T OWN THE FANBOOK WHEN I FIRST MADE THE DRAFT FOR THIS BUT THEN I BOUGHT IT well my brother bought it for me#bless his heart#AND SO I WANTED TO READ THE ENTIRE THING BEFORE CONTINUING ON!!! didn't find much out in relation to this post specifically but#there's quite a lot to infer on how anya's powers work#and there's a distinction between what she reads (internal voices vs mind reading which would be digging into someone's subconscious)#so that would be super interesting to talk about but uh not in this post KLSDFJSDKL since it has little bearing on the project itself
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To me, the Voice of the Cold doesn’t strike me as “emotionless and completely logical all of the time,” because a lot of his advice that he gives the Player is GENUINELY illogical or just plain bad decision making: Cold often pushes the Player to make decisions based on impulsive judgements and snap decision-making. The other Voices all call Opportunist flaky and mock how he plays both sides, but Cold often does the same thing, except, instead of trying to appeal to the strongest person in the room to gather any power like Opportunist, Cold is motivated solely by what he thinks would be the most entertaining option, regardless of whether you live, die or suffer. Opportunist tries to at least appear to be a team player, while Cold doesn’t even bother.
In the Spectre Route, Cold’s first suggestions are VERY antagonistic, like trying to kill her a second time, or even just breaking her bones to see if she’ll disappear. But when the Spectre brings up the idea of possessing you, he’s IMMEDIATELY on board just because he wants to see the Narrator and the Spectre interact.
To me, Cold doesn’t feel like logic. He feels like a representation of impulsive thoughts, how he sort of just gives into whatever idea he becomes enamored by from a detached viewpoint of mild curiosity. Whenever he makes a suggestion, it’s interesting to the Player but ultimately detrimental to the Long Quiet’s wellbeing. Listening to Cold gets you more interesting results in the Routes, but also leads you into situations like the Greys, the Wraith, and the Spectre, which are all Routes that inevitably put the Long Quiet into distressing situations.
I feel like if he had his own body he’d be a very detached, disinterested person who only shows interest when something fascinates him, at which point he will ruthlessly try it out even if the consequences are negative for himself or others.
Did I mention he’s one of my favorites? I just love his character lol
#voice of the cold#slay the princess game#slay the princess#slay the princess voices#stp princess#stp voices#stp voice of the cold#analysis#stp analysis
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the lords in black are so interesting to me because. they’re so us. we’re watching the citizens of hatchetfield suffer for our own entertainment just as much as they are. we’re their accomplices in all of it
pokotho made hatchetfield into a musical because musicals are entertaining. and we ate that shit up! it’s soooo fun watching a little man scramble as the world around him bursts into song. the musical genre is satirized because pokey knows how the genre conventions work just as well as we do. we like watching musicals so much that black friday and npmd are musicals, too, even though they don’t revolve around pokotho’s plans as much as tgwdlm. we want them to sing. pokotho does too.
bliklotep is the audience and the audience is bliklotep. trail to oregon calls the audience “the watcher with one thousand eyes” and that’s not all, in watcher world blinky seems to be able to see through the eyes of anyone and everyone who loves spectacle. he wants to see the characters go through angst because WE love angst. it’s fun to watch alice and bill express their buried frustrations. blinky wants it to end in bloodshed because he loves tragedy, and let’s face it, so do we. it’s like that one post about how hamlet is aware of the audience and is angry that we don’t do anything to intervene because we want to see how it plays out. personally, I think blinky could have stopped the woodwards if he really wanted (he’s an elder god, after all) but alice shooting him shifted the narrative so that the emotional payoff would be more fulfilling if they escaped. and blinky loves a good story.
t’noy karaxis has blorbos. we joke about it, but that’s really what it is, isn’t it? he’s the fan who watches the movie again and again and again and again to see his favorite character’s dramatic death scene. he’s the guy who writes and reads angst fics by the hundreds because he likes to see his faves cry. he’s the hatchetfield enjoyer who’s on the edge of their seat waiting to see how ted kicks the bucket this time. the bastard’s box is pretty much just an ao3 account filled with whump and hurt no comfort. he’s sadistic AND he genuinely adores ted, because we fans are often cruelest to the characters we love the most. he puts ted through character growth— the realization that his life went the way it did because of his own mistakes, his inability to be vulnerable with jenny before it was too late— and he does that by writing a 56-chapter angst fic that’s still updating to this day
nibblenephim is the fan who voraciously devours every scrap of content that a creator produces and demands more, more, more. let’s face it, the fandom will never let starkid rest until we see this story through to its end. and then someone will demand a sequel series. nibbly is hungry because we will never stop yearning for more stories. he’s simple because that desire itself is simple— as humans, we need creativity like we need air to breathe. nibbly wants more because we want more. and we will never be satiated.
wiggog y’rath is the ruler and the king because he’s the self-inserting writer. I think jon matteson plays paul *and* wiggly for a reason— wiggly is the only lord in black to be played by the same actor in every single show, and that actor also plays the protagonist of tgwdlm. wiggly wants to be the protagonist. he tries to force himself into the human world of hatchetfield because he wants to participate, dammit! he wants to be the bestest ruler that the earth has ever seen! everyone has to love him because he’s going to be their bestest fwiend! when he appears in human form he’s gonna be the prom king! he’s the ebony dark’ness dementia raven way of the hatchetfield multiverse. he wants every human character to bend to his whims and to love him and to put him at the tippy-top of planet earth because he’s the writer and the writer’s main character, you fuckheads, and he can make whatever story he wants, whether the other characters like it or not! if you’ve ever written a self-insert story? congratulations! you’ve been wiggog y’rath.
and the funny thing? I don’t think the lords know that they, too, are as fictional as anyone else in hatchetfield. maybe blinky knows— he sees through the audience’s eyes, after all— but I don’t think the others do. if they did, maybe they’d be a little less tyrannical. a little bit nicer.
but then the starkid writers wouldn’t have much of a story to tell, would they?
#the lords in black#starkid#hatchetfield#hatchetverse#npmd#join me in the metafiction analysis hole.#the real villains of hatchetfield are the starkid writers themselves and those of us who want to see the shows!#the only reason the lords in black fuck up the world is because WE want to see that story!!!!!#note: the ‘you fuckheads’ bit was meant to be in wiggly’s voice/pov. I do not think the good people of starkid fandom are fuckheads.
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This is so fucking funny there are so many things about this oh my god
#wilson Yelling at house while also getting him a glass of water to drink#him raising his voice just to be annoying when house gets close#the annoyed rambling the whole time#The fact that he#for no reason AT ALL! Took a handful of spoons and violently threw them in the sink#just to make noise to annoy house even more#the diss at the end#and the very real analysis a min later not pictured#’YOURE BETTER OFF WITH WATER 😐😐😐’#the fucking spoons bro he’s so fucking funny#house#house md#hilson#james wilson
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you know, with hindsight now what it is I really do think a more literal reading of c!techno's chat would have helped his characterization a Lot
and mind you, this was originally intended to be the case, and very well may have been intended all along even if it wasn't usually emphasized within the lore
youtube
and don't get me wrong, I Get why it fell out of favor within the fandom. it coincides with a Very storied ableist trope that demonizes DID and disorders adjacent to it, and Can be spoken about in a way that is essentially indistinguishable from it depending on the word choice.
but the thing is ! not only does it not Have to be an allegory for DID, I straight up don't think it is At All.
because we Know what it's an allegory for. It's His Chat. there's technoblade playing the game, and there's the thousands of people watching with expectations and wants that he's compelled to meet (or, at the very least, pacify through Entertainment).
and this makes much Much more sense when conceived of as Supernatural. be that spirits, gods, demons, or anything that could fill that role. separate entities that, for whatever reason, only techno can sense the presence of and be affected by.
and of course, to an extent this is true for all creators. everyone had an audience that they were meant to entertain and the choices they made were influenced by that fact.
but technoblade came in with a Very distinct set of expectations that heavily impacted the choices he was Expected to make and the kinds of stories that he could tell. he was more or less a living legend in real life just as much as he was in roleplay, and these things were inherently connected.
and it's like !
when c!technoblade says he was peer pressured into killing tubbo at the red festival he Is technically talking about what happened within the roleplay. schlatt was demanding it from him, there's a sort of pressure there. but schlatt was also the dictator they were set to kill, and techno has never had any trouble fighting people he considered a dictator before, and certainly not Schlatt of all people.
but he WAS being peer pressured By His Audience. by thousands of people, most of which were demanding blood Because It Was The Expectation, because it'd be Fun.
out of universe technoblade made the decision he thought would be the most Entertaining, and he was right! consistently he made choices that would let him do the most bombastic Spectacles possible. And It's Great. he's Excellent at pulling dramatics and making a compelling scene that give other people room to work off of. in that sense I'd consider techno an Excellent actor, and I have to imagine that he was fun to work with.
the problem is when you then have to justify it from an in character perspective, grounded in those mushy things like Feelings with characters that can be traumatized and sustain lasting damage, Especially Without acknowledging the out of character incentive.
mind you, it's not Impossible to Create a backstory that could justify it. why a character as consistently powerful and feared as technoblade would feel pressured to kill an ally by someone he not only Can kill but Wanted To Kill. why a character as seemingly secure and in control as technoblade would lash out the way that he does to perceived betrayal, and yet consistently puts no weight onto having killed and permanently scarred an ally that trusted him.
what that'd need is tragedy. a storied history of being hurt and having to survive. building up To an untouchable god from a much much more vulnerable position. Long Lasting trauma that's lead to this deep insecurity and paranoia. and that's Possible and that's Compelling.
but it's just not in the text.
not only did we never learn basically Anything that c!technoblade was up to pre-series, we actually know Less by the end than when we started because of the sbi retconning.
it's a Theoretically Possible interpretation that's technically never Contradicted by canon, but would have to be created by scratch. it's a compelling idea for a fan fic (and one I'd like to read) and it's compelling for a theoretical recontextualization of the character, but it's just not In The Text.
meanwhile, we have the video above.
we have the Objective Fact that technoblade's decision making was often subject to the rule of cool (very Very effectively) to entertain his audience.
and most compellingly, these concepts Don't Need To Be Separate. in fact, in my opinion they're Stronger when you put them together.
because the thing is. it's Difficult to imagine techno as ever being in a vulnerable position. he is just Objectively more powerful than everyone else on the server, both in real life And within the lore. How could he have ever been afraid when he was stronger than anyone and everyone combined? when we saw with our own eyes that techno could face nearly the whole server at once and win.
but he Is a tragic character, at least he's meant to be. and that tragedy makes much Much more sense as something Inward.
technoblade as a character who Needs connection, who Needs stability, who Needs security, who Needs friendship and community and Love. but Lashes Out, Obliterates to the core of the earth, because of something that's not only out of his control but that other people Cannot Understand.
how do you explain to a child that you killed their best friend because a chorus of the undead called for his blood and you (in all the glory that he'd idolized) were unable to do anything but comply? how do you explain to that child that you beat him senseless in a pit as the restless dead jeered and laughed?
That's interesting. That's Compelling.
technoblade is idolized like a god, feared like a force of nature, and in an instant cut himself off from nearly everyone who'd considered him an ally. and that seems to be a pattern, over and over and over again. he's left isolated, and in return he faces retaliation, and in return he's always Waiting for retaliation.
and what do you say to someone who wants to kill you for being a monster? that it's Fine Actually because you only did what you did because you have a curse that compels you to? that the supernatural guided you to destroy their homes and kill their people? (rip jack manifold you will be missed)?
That Doesn't Quite Help Your Case.
technoblade as someone who is beholden to this literal cycle of violence and Loses those things that could ground him, community, stability, People, as a result. who Tries to overcome this very fact (to become a better person, in his own words as per the clip above), but is pulled back into it as a consequence of his own actions.
that's a tragedy !! that Makes Sense. that allows him to be Both this force of nature that other characters have to survive And A Person Who Is Hurt By The Same Conflict.
"I'm a person!"
that fear of dehumanization makes So So Much More Sense when you see technoblade as someone who Already fears himself. who fears being a monster, who fears losing control, who has faced isolation again and again and again.
and, importantly, it doesn't have to be anyone else's Fault.
by making the source both Internal and Completely External (something that none of the other characters have any awareness or control over), you can Have techno as a tragic character without demonizing anyone else Or erasing the impact that c!techno had on them.
and in that sense, it Can be an allegory for mental illness, but not in that direct "oooooh how scary he hears voices" kind of way that people fear it looks. but in that sometimes people Will do things that can hurt others while not feeling in control. anger and mania and paranoia, things that you can't always Control and yet that impact that you have on other people still Matters.
and the answer to that is, often, vulnerability and accountability.
I think a lot about technoblade isolating himself so near entirely from the rest of the server, and slowly gathering a support system Back by the end. and I Really Do think that framing of it through this lens is a Very impactful way of breaking it down.
tubbo, tommy, wilbur, ranboo, niki, I think they'd All understand not feeling in control. lashing out, maybe even feeling justified in the moment, but hurting people they care about and furthering their own isolation.
There's Something There, and it's already In The Text. it just needs to be expanded on.
and why not do that ourselves now?
#dream smp#dsmp#technoblade#tommyinnit#tubbo#meta#long post#back on my bullshit#I really do think that his character is just outright Stronger under this framing#and I genuinely think everything post doomsday would've been stronger if he'd leaned into this#that said this is probably messier than some of my other techno analysis#because I've been chewing on it for a few days rather than my usual of rehashing the same idea for two years in a row#but I'm rusty so give me a break#also derivakat voices is a straight up banger and you can all pry it from my cold dead hands
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A Message from Sleep Token ☼ The Heavy Music Awards 2021
— the message | background footage | font | sleep token logo | all messages
#stm_edits#spllwys all tag#sleep token#flashing gifs#yeah why not make an obnoxiously long edit of incomprehensible automated voice stuff from 2021#using sleep token's own weird stock footage content (cheers to fields of elation)#do i not have a single better thing to do#i feel like i can't survive the wait until november so i'm replicating the experience of hearing this opening in person lmao#also. taking analysis suggesions on this because ngl vessel i love you but sometimes i don't really get you#posting this now is such a bad idea but if i don't i'll just keep editing until i can't look at it#spllwys edits
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I just want to remind everyone that Wallace is canonically the worse one to sleep in the same bed with.
Scott can be a bad roommate in every other aspect but GUYS Wallace is the one that canonically snores and kicks in his sleep.
Scott sleeps like a princess with his back against the sheet lying perfectly straight (and also taking all the covers) and Wallace sleeps semi-on-his-side and apparently just fucking punting Scott in the leg every so often (not to mention he talked in his sleep too) and I don’t know why this is important to me but it is.
Because when people draw them cuddling in their sleep it’s always Wallace being normal and Scott turning and snoring and shit but you’re missing out on sleepy-cuddly Wallace turning and snoring on Scott. Let that cringe-fail 25 year old be annoying. Istg.
I’m talking to the Mobillace people too btw. Not that I’ve seen anyone draw them cuddling in bed (which is a CRIME btw. Draw that. For me.) but like imagine how funny it would be: Mobile stays the night for the first time and the hot-weirdo is a bed-menace, snoring and kicking and tossing and turning and suction cupping for warmth and Mobile is like “I want him to be my boyfriend” THATS FUNNY! LIKE-
#scott pilgrim#scott pilgrim vs the world#scollace#scott x wallace#scott pilgrim takes off#wallace wells#mobillace#mobile x wallace#mobile scott pilgrim#I’m sick of the cringe-fail erasure of Wallace#he might be more mature than Scott but that fucker ain’t mature#(however yes generally he is the voice of reason for Scott but anyone can be a voice of reason to Scott. Scott has no internal reasoning /h#I made an analysis post at one point about how I believe the primary reason Wallace manages to do half the shit he does#is because it’s easier to get the motivation to do them if he’s telling off Scott for not doing them#we know DAMN WELL that he is scared of their landlord#considering he got plastered the night before they had to go#(he seems to drink when he’s anxious)#and because of how uncharacteristically timid he was in his office#(and can I mention he said the line ‘it’s not our fault we can’t afford rent’ and like. I don’t know it feels important to point out lol)#but he tells Scott that they *have* to go and there landlord is all bark and no bite#despite being visibly nervous around him#so. the reason he dragged Scott to see him with him is because it would make him feel less nervous to see their landlord#if he focused on dragging Scott to see him instead of his own worries#but I never posted that analysis lol#but all this to say#um#i don’t know#but I’m saying something for sure!
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i think the reason that a lot of people don’t recognize how fucked up sokka is is due to the fact that sokka himself refuses to acknowledge it. he is extremely repressed and operating on so many layers of cognitive dissonance that he doesn’t even realize that he is not in fact “normal” or “mentally stable” or “healthy.” part of sokka being extremely fucked up is also refusing to acknowledge or confront that he is remotely fucked up. so he generally presents like a well-functioning person who, despite being incredibly cerebral, doesn’t have a particularly rich inner life. but that’s only because he’s walled off every single aspect of his existence that causes him (real) pain or sadness or grief, put it in a vault and then buried it. and confronting any of it, even a little bit (like admitting that he felt abandoned by his father leaving, or that he misses his mother, or any other normal expression of pain that katara has no problem communicating) would mean confronting all the harmful logic he has internalized regarding his identity and denial of his own inherent humanity. so even though he seems like he has no filter and loves to complain, he is actually performing pretty much constantly. for the sake of those to whom he feels obligated, but mostly for himself.
#he and nanami kiryuu need to unionize#and then withhold their labor (their job of course being. getting hit over the head with god’s mallet)#sokka#analysis#anyway i felt like expanding on this point per my last post#and also due to a discussion i had the other day#with someone who claimed i was ‘unfairly implying that sokka is mentally ill’ 😭😭😭#i do think understanding this though is the key between sokka enthusiasts (‘hehe funny little guy’) and Sokka Scholars(TM)#‘why do u care so much about this guy he is the comic relief’#because if i don’t. who will!!!!!!!!!!!#no but because he is genuinely fucking INTERESTING okay#he is a COMPELLING character who is FUN to ANALYZE#[mai voice] you cannot fathom the depths of SOKKA.
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I find it so SO interesting that as soon as Kazui's breaking their marriage vows and revealing his true feelings (literally tearing apart the dove), the wife is already falling off the balcony
Her hair is fluttering in the wind. The apple fucking splatters on the ground this whole sequence is so visceral I'm spinning it around in my mind. Kazui views his truth telling as a violent act, the killing blow.
#milgram#capri talks#kazui mukuhara#Cat#I made a gif for this are you happy (I love this part way too much I would've made it anyway)#I have... thoughts about this which Scare me but. For now... I am going to assume in good faith that this must be taken figuratively and#symbolically because that's the most obvious interpretation right. right guys??? *one fear*#*looks at the voice drama which starts with how he's never gone up against a woman as strong as him until kotoko*#*looks at the line 'it’s generally the heavier person who ends up winning.'*#*looks at that one frame in Cat at 2:33 where he's holding her back*#DONT MIND ME IM JUST DELIBERATING I want him to be innocent I want things to be simple but I'm so worried of being hoodwinked--#--when the guy literally emphasises sleight of hand tricks and magicians and disappearing acts in his MV :'D#when he literally has a 'son of man' painting reference (man w/apple in front of face)#I am going to stop talking or else I shall combust into a million pieces#analysis#described
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Was watching parts 5 and 6 again for book 7 and god, I just can’t get over the fact that it’s taking Malleus to rebel and almost die once again to get the love and attention he wants and needs.
Lilia figured out that Malleus was lonely and wanted love when he was still a egg. He promised to give him just that, but he also told egglleus that he needs to tell Lilia his feelings so he can understand him.
And do you know the scene that came to my mind??
He said it didn’t he?? He spoke his true feelings so you can understand!!
And this time once again, it is at the cost of his life. His gradual death.
[Why are you two like this?!? No scratch that why are you three like this?!? Sebek, please never change.]
#the reason why I was watching those parts will be known soon because I was listening to Lilia’s voice and…yeah you’ll see#I got emotional again while watching these parts and writing that post you’ll see in a few hours#lilia vanrouge#malleus draconia#twst book 7#diasomnia#twst character analysis#twst analysis#twst lilia vanrouge#twst malleus draconia#disney twisted wonderland
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i think one of the most interesting ways to look at the differences between the series and the movie, is that the first is mostly from utena's and/or akio's perspective, while the latter is mostly from anthy's. and i like how this explains the drastic change in akio's character between the two. in the show he is more charismatic, more powerful, has a larger role in the story, because this is how he presents himself both to us as the audience and to utena. but anthy knows him and how pathetic he really is, and so when we see him in her narrative instead of his own, it becomes incredibly obvious. he can't drive his car, he doesn't have any real control over all the things he pretends to, he panics and kills himself the moment there's even the threat of consequences for what he does. it works doubly well if you read the movie as a sequel, because that's when anthy has truly lost all faith in him and the idea of the prince. he's dead the entire time because he's dead to her.
#with this perspective there's also a lot to be said about the ways other characters like touga and shiori are different in the movie#what does it mean for how anthy percieves them? although with touga there's also a lot of utena's memories of him in play.#i think akio is the most obvious change though. everybody gets new designs and backstories but akio gets a whole new voice actor too#revolutionary girl utena#adolescence of utena#analysis#anthy#akio#m#akio and anthy#the narrative
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An interesting thing; despite the Narrator saying that the Princess will lie and cheat, she literally rarely does unless we perceive her as a liar and a cheater. Every version of the Princess is as honest and candid as she can possibly be with what little info each version has. And the Princess actually SUCKS at lying.
Damsel tells us what we want to hear, but she’s literally just saying things that we tell her to say, and it’s pretty obvious she’s unreliable. The only genuinely dishonest version of the Princess is the Razor, and, noticeably, she’s really bad at lying. The Long Quiet and every Voice can tell she’s bullshitting you, and the Narrator only doesn’t believe you because he is preprogrammed to be as rigid as possible to the routine. And we only wind up on this route because WE must assume she has more up her sleeve. Even the Witch, whose a bit sneaky, never tries to act like our ally or trick us beyond hiding her arm behind her back to make us think she was chained up (which is less of a lie and more of using our assumptions against us).
That being said, ironically, the Narrator lies ALL the time, and cheats aplenty as well with Deus Ex Machina (locking you in the basement, teleporting the Pristine Blade, and overriding your free will). The Tower can be resisted if you try hard enough, but no matter what, you can’t fight the Narrator’s control (you either kill the Princess or she kills you).
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I think something i don't often see in discussions about Futa's character is how, if you really take a second, he's kind of a people pleaser
He isn't so in a way like what Mikoto got going on, he does want to be around people of the same interests as him, and you wouldn't think he'd care about anything but authenticity if you stayed with the way he behaves on milgram. It is only when you think about him -in- those social circles he manages to get into that you can see him tweaking lol
I think the closest to see this that we have in milgram itself is that one interaction with Kotoko in which she attempts to debate how prisons respect human rights. Any other time he expressed his opinion/stance on things he was aggressive and maybe condescending to the rest because they disagreed with him, but the second someone agreed? Whole demeanor changed. Suddenly he didn't have much to say anymore and he just parroted Kotoko's words back at her. Why. If he has such a strong personality and mindset, why was someone validating his point enough to shut down his otherwise very firm attitude?
Futa doesn't go as far as to manufacture his every word for it to cause a positive reaction on others from the get go, but he does seek validation all the same. He braces himself for rejection by being loud and obnoxious and harsh until he sees a positive reaction and then is when he does a complete 180 to keep the other person in that place of validation. He is simultaneously completely bad at it though, but I never said he was good at people pleasing. Which connects back to what i've said before about his inability to fit in. Even when he thinks he's doing it right and he sees himself getting validation by people he cares about (in the case of his crime, by mimicking his friendgroup's method of "bringing justice" by calling out someone online, that same friendgroup following along and reinforcing the idea that he was doing it right), he ultimately fails anyway and loses it all over again.
In the end, he's just extremely socially awkward and anxious. It isn't in his nature to reach anyone else's expectations even if he genuinely wants to, so he'll either do what he can within his parameters (mold himself for his friendgroup of people he deems similar to him) or he'll avoid trying altogether because he knows he'll fail (what we see in milgram!)
It also shows how his yearn for a support system (t2 qna + mu's birthday timeline convo) isn't particularly new from his current circumstances, or why the only person he could think of when asked who he would want to see right now was his mom (who left so long ago he barely remembers her). He has just never truly had people that genuinely cared for him no matter what he tried to do to make himself likeable.
#and having this in mind i think i understand why he seems to be “giving in” to amane's beliefs#it isnt solely because of his current vulnerability#it isnt even just to find solace in religion#it is because amane offered him help. in a way shes validating him#and if believing in bullshit like salvation and god will make at least the elementary schooler talk to him sometimes#against being left alone with his thoughts and the voices in the walls#with the track record he has of slightly molding himself and mimicking others#yeahh#and honestly that only means itll backfire even worse! on Him!#in his own words#it is what it isSorry#but no yeah hes fucked. i dont think his religious arc is gonna make shit complicated for anyone else but him#but itll be AWFUL on him#milgram#fuuta kajiyama#fuuta milgram#character analysis#sorta kinda#as always
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