#what’s that thing they say about looking at past events with a modern lens
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Not me angry at Alicent for focusing on the fact that Rhaenyra isn’t “innocent” anymore instead just being upset with her lying 🙄 The Seven forbid communicating with and supporting other women
#house of the dragon#game of thrones#idk what i expected from westerosi society#what’s that thing they say about looking at past events with a modern lens#’cause that’s me
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do you know any legit work (so not just tumblr marxists who know a little marx and very little ancient egypt) on ancient egypt and class consciousness? bc while thats _definitely_ a way to look at the past that forces modern concepts on ancient people, there must be someone who approached the matter less awkwardly than others. or is there?
Personally, I wouldn't let that sort of thinking anywhere near Ancient Egypt. It doesn't belong there. You cannot compare a non western ancient society to western political and economic theories that have no basis in the non western society and for things they couldn't even dream of happening. It's inherently flawed, but people will insist on doing it because of course they're modern and know better.
How the Egyptians thought of their society? That's...an extremely difficult thing to pin down. I had to try to do so, in part, for my own doctoral thesis, and it's kinda not possible to do for a lay audience due to the complex nature of needing to understand Ancient Egyptian culture and society as a whole before you even try to break it down into anything resembling 'class warfare'. Something I've been trying to tell people for days with regards to the Turin Strike Papyrus. People are only viewing it through a modern 'class struggle against capitalism' lens and they are failing to look at it within the context of Ancient Egyptian society and the events of the time. People always expect there to be 'just one book' that'll explain it all, and that is never the case in academia. As Egyptologists, or at least while I was at uni, we were actively told to refrain from using terms like 'elite' or 'high class/low class' when talking about people in Ancient Egypt. This was because the terms cannot and should not be applied to them, and thus we use things like 'they had a higher/lower status in society' which avoids definitively placing them in a strata.
Any information we have on how they viewed themselves is, of course, written by those who could read and write, who in turn tend to be those of a higher social status. Thus inherent bias in the data set. How that social status is defined is...well I think I've said this several times over the last week or so: a complicated relationship between how close you are to the gods and also whether you could read and write (see the King as Sun Priest text). Even that is 12 groups of people, divided into two and then further divided into six. You would struggle to pin the nature of society down more accurately than that, and that's from a text where it's largely religiously metaphorical. However, the text was written for the ruling people, and we don't have the thoughts of regular people written in texts. They couldn't read or write, so how they saw themselves within their society and what they imagined their place to be within it is simply inaccessible because it was never recorded.
You then have the problem of understanding wealth distribution in a non monetary economy. Is a baker higher in society than a farmer? How do we define this? We can't do it on monetary value since they don't have it. We can't do it on societal value, because how do you define that within a society that doesn't have many records of how they define it and the ones we do have are written for a specific audience thus heavily biased. We can't do it on pay because we don't have that information. You might say the farmer because traditionally farmers are considered, throughout history, as some of the poorer members of society. But cattle were expensive in Ancient Egypt with it 141 deben for a mature Ox and 20 deben for a young one. So a Herdsman could have accrued wealth that way; in which case where does a Herdsman sit on this social ladder? We can't tell, because while they may have had personal wealth, this doesn't necessarily translate to higher social standing.
There's a difference between the Ruling folk and the Common folk, obviously, but the line between them is extremely blurry and you do have to factor in education. A common man who could read would be valued more highly than a member of the nobility who couldn't. However, it still depends on the type of scribal job you did. We see this clearly in the Teaching of Khety (aka the Satire on the Trades), which does show some social stratification. The big 'however' here comes from the fact that the Teaching of Khety is very clearly a satire on how Scribes think they're better than everyone else due to the fact that they can read and write, thus rendering the thoughts on other trades rather mute because it's essentially a send up of snobbery within Egyptian society. The only thing you can really take from it is that clearly many scribes were snotty about their literacy.
Essentially, it is a top down system, but where you'd draw the lines as to definitively say 'this person belongs to this social class' is not something I think we'll ever be able to truly do.
Texts I've looked at with regards to this in the past:
Assmaan, J., 1970. Der König als Sonnenpriester: ein Kosmographischer Begleittext zur kultischen Sonnenhymnik in thebanischen Tempeln und Gräbern. Glückstadt: Augustin.
Eyre, C. J., 2004. How Relevant Was Personal Status to the Functioning of the Rural Economy in Pharaonic Egypt?. BIFAO, 140, 157-187.
Ezzamel, M., 2004. Work Organization in the Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt. Organization, 11, 497-537.
Grandet, P. 2013. The Ramesside State. In J. Moreno Garcia (Ed.), Ancient Egyptian Administration. Leiden: Brill, 831-900
Haring, B., 2010. Administration and Law: Pharaonic. In A. B. Lloyd (Ed.), Companion to Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 218-236
Lesko, B., 1994. Ranks, Roles, and Rights. In L. Lesko (Ed.), Pharaoh's Workers: The Villagers of Deir el Medina. Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press, 15-40
McDowell, A., 1990. Jurisdiction in the Workmen's Community of Deir el Medina. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.
McDowell, A., 1992. Agricultural Activity of the Workmen of Deir el Medina. JEA, 78, 195-206.
McDowell, A., 1999. Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry lists and Love Songs. Oxford: OUP.
Meskell, L., 1999. Archaeologies of a Social Life: Age, Sex, Class et cetera in Ancient Egypt. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Meskell, L., 2007. Archaeologies of Identity. In: T. Soll, ed. The Archaeology of Identities: A Reader. London: Routledge, 23-43.
Papazian, H., 2013. The Central Administration of the Resources in the Old Kingdom: Departments, Treasuries, Graneries, and Work Centers. In: C. Moreno Garcia, ed. Ancient Egyptian Administration. Leiden: Brill, 41-84.
Shaw, I., 2004. Identity and Occupation: How Did Individuals Define Themselves and Their Work in the Egyptian New Kingdom?. In: J. Bourriau & J. Phillips, eds. Invention and Innovation - The Social Context of Technological Change 2: Egypt, the Aegean and the Near East, 1650-1150 BC, Proceedings of a conference held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, 4-6 September 2002. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 12-24.
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also i think there's. hm. when people look at past media, sometimes there's a desire to. hm. cast extra aspersions on the writers back then that may not have existed at the time by solely reading their their writing through a modern lens & at the same time cast derision on the audience who consumed the media available to them & enjoyed it because it's not considered enjoyable by modern sensibilities.
when in reality, the writers of the time were just that--writers of the time. their opinions and ideas for stories and ideas they found intriguing to explore were shaped by their upbringing & the media they themselves grew up on along with the real-life events they were living through and the way they experienced the world. & the audience in turn had different sensibilities and feelings about what made media good or enjoyable or interesting because they were also audiences of the time--who then had their own specific set of lived experiences and media that shaped their preferences & beliefs. i do like to consider kesel and marz vs. johns and their divergent thoughts on cloning & what makes cloning interesting--kesel, born in 1959 & marz in 1965, would have grown up in the 60s and 70s with science fiction such as stak trek and the twilight zone exploring the ethical and religious concerns that were flying around about cloning, genetic modification, the ethics of IVF & the ethical debates about IVF & the idea of test tube babies being unnatural at the time. & they were clearly interested in exploring those kinds of themes that would have reflected the world as he learned it in his formative years. meanwhile johns, born in 1973 would have had a totally different culture shaping the world as he understood it--and his interests & ideas for kon explore that. he would have been only 5 when the first baby conceived by IVF was born--and his teens would have been marked less by a lot of the ethical concerns that are clear in kesel's and marz's writing--he would have been 15 when kids in the hall came out, a show for teens & young adults that notably at one point had a skit making fun of the perceived seriousness of being a test-tube baby because by then, it was far more normalized as an intervention for people & it wasn't as much of a big deal, and he would have been in his early 20s when dolly got cloned & experienced the furor of the techier parts of cloning technology coming to life & becoming interested in the questions that that asked. i'd say there's about a 10-15 year turnaround as far as. hm. you start to think of the ideas and media that came from that era right before you are "old, out of date, irrelevant" & you start to run counter to those who came before you due to that anount of time allowing for the world to fundamentally change from that which it had been & become a new world. & culture will then wire the new generation to see the world differently from their predecessors & changes what they find meaningful & interesting as culture changes. the world changes & people change with it. and this isn't a bad thing--but it does allow for friction. because everyone wants to cling to what they find meaningful & the older generation doesn't like being told that what they find meaningful is bad and wrong & the younger doesn't like being told that they're enjoying media wrong for having formed their own consciousness about what to enjoy.
anyways this is wordy but...idk. in 10-15 years the landscape will once again change. things that are popular will no longer be. new things will take their place. something something.
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A while ago @majestictortoise got an ask about c-drama recs for someone who has watched The Untamed, and opened the floor for more recommendations from other people.
I have a Part 1 here, but I ran out of time/space, and there were still a couple that I wanted to mention- specifically for someone who is looking for more danmei-inspired shows.
I have a watch list here that's filterable by genre, as well as some other things, but like my first list I wanted to pull out a couple that I think are good for people who are looking for something to watch after The Untamed that might not be the first shows you'll hear about here on Tumblr (so, no Word of Honor, Guardian or TGCF).
Since this is my list and I can do whatever I want, I have also included a movie and some donghua ^^
Want found family and food porn? A delightful cast of flawed people trying their best who grow and change throughout the show? Then check out...
THE SLUETH OF THE MING DYNASTY
48 episodes. Viki.
In 1478, three very different men- low-level magistrate and foodie Tang Fan, imperial guard Sui Zhuo, and palace eunuch and teenaged head of the Western Depot Wang Zhi- team up to solve mysteries and stop a major conspiracy
The found family in the show is one of my favorites in all of tv, and I love that it expands beyond the "two adults and a kid or two" setup you see a lot. Nearly all of the characters start off a strangers and the relationships that grow between them are just really well done. This show also touches on mental illness (Sui Zhuo has PTSD from his time in the military) and while it's through the lens of it being the 1470s, I just really like how it was handled in terms of how it impacts his relationships, but also how his relationships impact his mental health.
I highly recommend this show if you enjoy historical mysteries with some basis in reality (while the events of the show are very much fiction, the Emperor, Consort Wan and Wang Zhi were all real people).
This is inspired by the danmei webnovel of the same name by Meng Xishi. While there is the addition of a female love interest for Tang Fan (who imo is an interesting character in her own right), Tang Fan and Sui Zhou literally end up living with each other and basically adopt a child together - I think it's pretty clear what's going on between them aside from a platonic bromance.
You might recognize:
Tang Fan is voiced Su Shangqing, who overdubbed Meng Yao in The Untamed and Cao Weining in Word of Honor.
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Looking for a short show with a unique take on the mystery procedural and fantastic chemistry between the leads? Then...
UNDER THE SKIN
20 episodes. Viki.
Artist Shen Yi has a remarkable talent for constructing eerily accurate portraits using limited information about the subject. Seven years ago, that talent was used to murder a police officer investigating a human trafficking ring. Newly hired as a police sketch artist, Shen Yi clashes with the headstrong police captain Du Cheng who blames Shen Yi for his colleague’s death. As cases with connections to the trafficking ring begin to appear, can they put aside their differences and move on from the shadows of the past?
"Wait, hold up," you say. "This isn't a danmei adaptation." Technically you're correct but hear me out.
I tend to avoid modern mystery shows for personal reasons, but when this come out earlier this year I thought I'd give this a chance mostly for the language practice. I'm really glad I did, because a show I thought was going to be something I was just half-watching ended up grabbing me by the throat and not letting go.
This is a good show that's made exceptional by the acting of and chemistry between Shen Yi and Du Cheng. I actually stopped watching an episode to check if this is based on a danmei webnovel because the enemies-to .... bros was just so strong (it's completely original for the record). In fact, most of my faults with the show lie in the episodes where they don't interact as much.
I already thought Tan Jianci was a good actor going into this (he's a stand out in Winter Begonia and steals the show in Secret of the Three Kingdoms) but this is easily his best performance. He's fantastic as both the edge-lord Shen Yi of seven years ago, and the haunted, driven man he became. Jin Shijia is perfectly cast as the earnest, heart-on-his-sleeve Du Cheng, and is a wonderful foil to Shen Yi. Seriously, I could go on and on about the chemistry between the two of them.
The art aspect of this show is also really interesting! Unlike a lot of shows with a "gimmick" this show actually keeps up the art thread and uses it in new and interesting ways.
I will say that I think this show loses a little steam in the middle (though it regains it again); however the characters more than make up for any faults to be found in the plot. I also wanted to mention that I really liked that there were two young women in the show who weren't there to be love interests, who develop a caring friendship with the men. I found that really refreshing.
I just want to give a heads up that there are some cases involving sexual violence (all handled in a PG13 manner). Feel free to message me if you need more details. I also go into more details about the content in my entry for this show on my watchlist.
You might recognize:
Tan Jianci is playing Gu Yun in Winner is King
Two actors from Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty appear in this. Baby Zhang (Qing Ge in TSOMD) is a co-worker, and the Emperor shows up in one of the cases.
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Are you in the mood for a beautifully designed and evocative show about the importance of the arts in a time of rapid change?
WINTER BEGONIA
49 episodes. Viki.
As the threat of the 1937 Japanese invasion looms over Beijing, two very different men- Western-educated businessman Cheng Fengtai and eccentric and talented opera singer Shang Xirui bond over their shared love for Peking opera.
(Full disclosure I'm still watching this at a glacial pace - this is a show I have to savor rather than binge - however I still feel the need to recommend this show because it's just so good so far)
Going into this, I'd heard this got regulated to just a bromance (you know how it is), but upon watching this I just have to say I have never seen more soft looks and soft-focus camera lenses used in so many shots with two men gazing at each other. Seriously, get yourself somebody who looks at you like Cheng Fengtai looks at Shang Xirui.
I had sworn off Republic-era dramas because the costuming and prop design tends to be... not great and those are two of my special interests, but I am so glad I gave this show a chance because it's beautiful. They walk a good line of being decently period correct while still telling you a lot about a character at a glance, and the opera costumes are stunning. It also looks like they sourced a good number of actual vintage props as well. A lot of care and effort was clearly taken to recreate the world of 1930s Beijing (called Beiping during this period), and the show really immerses you in a world that's rapidly changing. I think they also do an excellent job of involving audiences in why opera- which has become an acquired taste for modern audiences - is something that is so important to these characters.
You might recognize:
Hei Zi (Gao Chong in Word of Honor) as Commander Cao
Tan Jianci (Secret of the Three Kingdoms, Under the Skin, Winner is King) as Chen Renxiang
A film and some donghua under the cut!
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Open to film or animation? Well, then that case...
THE YIN YANG MASTER: DREAM OF ETERNITY (film)
Netflix.
When a demonic serpent awakens, polar opposites Qingming and Boya must team up to stop a dark conspiracy that threatens their world.
Another "this technically isn't a danmei adaptation but there is no heterosexual explanation for what's going on"
This is one of my favorite movies! In particular, I'm really taken with the art direction, which is a blend of Japanese and Chinese influences. The costuming in this movie is drop-dead gorgeous.
If you like opposites-attract, and sorta-enemies to.... "bros", you'll love how Boya and Qingming go from literally spying on each other because they don't trust the other one, to the other being the one person they are willing to lay down their life for :')
There's also a side-romance that's checks off a lot of tropes for me that I can't get into with getting spoiler-y, but suffice it to say this movie gave me more feels than I expected from a New Years SFX extravaganza.
You might recognize
Deng Lun (Boya) from Ashes of Love
NOTE: This movie and Yin Yang Master (Shi Shen Ling) are not related! They're both on Netflix and about the same characters, but they're completely different takes, with different stories and tones. I also really like that movie too and recommend it (in particular Chen Kun is fantastic as a more openly chaotic Qingming), but there aren't any of the implied feelings between Boya and Qingming in that one, even though that Qingming exudes chaotic bisexual energy
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Do you like stories with a main character who is trying to remain true to his principles and survive in a corrupt environment, while their foil is very "I don't see why I can't be both the love interest and the antagonist?" Then check out:
THOUSAND AUTUMNS
16 episodes. WeTV.
Devout Daoist sect leader Shen Qiao believes in the fundamental goodness of humanity. Demonic sect leader Yan Wushi firmly believes that all humans are fundamentally evil. When an assassination attempt leaves a poisoned and blinded Shen Qiao in Yan Wushi's hands, will Yan Wushi be able to corrupt him? Or will their relationship change how they both see the world and their place in it?
Obviously I love this show (and the webnovel it's adapted from, also by Meng Xishi), given my username. Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao- and how they play off each other- are some of the most fascinating characters in fiction, in my opinion. In addition they cast one of my favorite voice actors as Yan Wushi, and somehow made it more explicitly gay than the novel at this point in the story- which never happens- so it's just fantastic all around, honestly.
There is an unofficial resub that I highly recommend checking out because the the official one leaves a lot to be desired and frankly doesn't do justice to the show by a long shot. Send me a message for a link!
You might recognize
Yan Wushi is voiced by Wu Lei (voice of Shen Qingqiu in Scum Villain)
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Want a modern fantasy with interesting world-building and a story that stretches back millennia? Do you like two main characters who are both kind of terrible people and are incredibly full of themselves, who are also just really fun to watch? Then....
DROWNING SORROWS IN RAGING FIRE
12 episodes. Funimation.
3,000 years ago, against seemingly insurmountable odds Sheng Lingyuan united humans against the monstrous yao threatening their survival, and won. But despite being heralded as savior in his youth, Sheng Lingyuan is remembered by history as an infamous emperor who committed many ruthless and cold-blooded atrocities before throwing himself into a lake of fire.
In the modern day, Xuan Ji- who works for an organization dealing with magical beings while being one himself- has a big mess on his hands because someone just raised a demon Sheng Lingyuan from the dead, and their reasons for doing so are probably bad news for everyone. And also Sheng Lingyuan is an emotionally manipulative asshole, honestly. But why do Sheng Lingyuan and Xuan Ji seem to have an inexplicable connection? And what's the truth behind Sheng Lingyuan's actions so long ago?
I feel like this sells itself - the main character is a cocky bisexual fire bird-man, and the love interest is a manipulative demon who blows up an elevator because he doesn't understand Arabic numerals, and they're both terrible people and it's fantastic. This is based on the webnovel of the same name by my favorite author, Priest, which I also highly recommend.
I watched this as it aired and I went from skepticism (don't care for the animation style or the character design, makes me think of Pokémon) to LOVE by the end of the first episode when the two main characters started interacting. And really, the interactions between the two leads is what really carries this show, but I also have a soft spot for Aloujin. My biggest compliant is I personally found some of the humor from the ensemble characters to be a swing-and-a-miss, and the show starts off a little funky, but my love for the main characters more than overpowers those elements.
You might recognize:
Sheng Lingyuan is voiced by Jiang Guangtao (Xie Lian in TGCF- he's the complete opposite in this and it's great)
Xuan Ji's sugar daddy Xiao Zheng is voiced by Guo Haoran (dubbing actor for Zhao Jing in Word of Honor)
So that's that for my recommendations for the moment! I've been thinking about doing one of these for webnovels (which I also have a list for) ...
#cdrama recs#slueth of the ming dynasty#tsomd#under the skin#猎罪图鉴#winter begonia#yin yang master dream of eternity#shjx#thousand autumns#drowning sorrows in raging fire#lhjc
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Thoughts on Yggdrasil as Animist Cosmology (A Youtube Video by Nordic Animism)
Deconstruction is an ongoing act within my practice. It's very typical of most Chaos witches/pagans/ducks. For me this includes the mindset instilled in most Americans by the Christian system. It's a fact that Christianity as a dominant religion within America heavily influences not only politics but also social norms. This of course means it bleeds and trickles down into other spiritual systems.
An example that is presented by Nordic Animism in their video is that in modern Norse and Asatru and other branches there is a very Christian frame work applied to this pagan religion. There are hard boundaries laid out when it comes to the cosmology of our world and the world of the divine. Deities are separate from humans. There's little to no cross over. We are here. They are there. (At least as I understand Nordic Animism).
Nordic Animism argues that Yggdrasil can be interpreted differently if placed under an animistic lens. For me this is an exciting concept! I have been working to shift out of this Christian frame work into something more loose, more interconnected to this plane of existence. When I started my journey from Christianity to Atheisms and then into my current pagan path, I found that honoring what was here and now mattered more to me than living to die well. I didn't realize at that time I would end up animistic in my world view. But here I am! haha
In their video they compare two images one after another. The first is an image crafted by scholars who were trying to to get into the heads of early humanity. (Image below) There's a distance created here by this image, someone looking in as if this was kind of snow globe to just turn and gaze at. 'Detached from the human sphere,' are Nordic Animism's exact words.
Nordic Animism moves then to compare the above image to that of a pre-Christian image of Yggdrasil. (Below) I do agree with Nordic Animism here. There's an immediate difference in how the art is portrayed. The tree is centered. It's surrounded and interacted with by animals and people. A there's an interconnectedness that's displayed. It connects with tree worship in this way.
To be in relation to rather than distinct from is a concept I am beginning to embody. Spontaneous dance as an offering to the Moon. Notating and watching for the shifts in the Moon throughout it's cycle. Having the smallest altar I've worked with in quite sometime. Building this webpage to explore the interconnectedness of my craft.
This all seems so obvious as I write it. I know that's I've read about these things before. I've listened as others spoke on the topic nodding along understanding but not at the same time.
I have a habit of intellectualizing and not practicing. And when I have practiced in the past, there's was a need for something to come of that practice. I pressured myself and therefore my practice to BE something more than what it was. In doing so this detached me from the experiences.
I wasn't in relation with my practice.
Removing this pressure has simplified much of what I do.
I will also say life forced me to into removing this pressure. If certain life events hadn't occurred, I might have continued on as I was.
And this not to say my past practice was wrong or bad in anyway. This current form just feels more organic.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
What are yours?
Video Reference
(11) Yggdrasil as Animist Cosmology - YouTube
#paganism#witchcraft#witches of tumblr#magick#witchy things#witchblr#pagan#chaos witch#chaos magick#animism#practicing animism#animist#animistic world view#discussion#deconstruction#christianity#Norse#Asatru
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@galadrieljones on Morphic Resonance - Part 2
Read part 1 HERE
I totally forgot to post this yesterday and posted some asks instead. 😄 Oops. Here’s part 2:
@galadrieljones:
This kind of thing is explored in lots of modern TV shows, like Twin Peaks, in which David Lynch basically attempts to trace the root of all evil to the detonation of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico, and how, ever since that first occurrence, which broke a seal of sorts, evil has cycled through mankind in increasingly devastating but sadly repeatable patterns all over the world these past 80 years.
Morphic resonance would hold, however, that the detonation of the bomb, and its introduction of some new evil into the world, is not itself spontaneous, but a product of a similar pattern of human behavior that pre-exists the bomb even further.
So, essentially, the cycle of evil is endemic in mankind, traced all the way back to the Bible. It will continue until, well, probably forever. Or until the cycle can be broken in some way, explained through the Christian lens by Christ’s return to judgment and Revelations.
Another big thing that came out of this for me was the thing I initially mentioned, and it’s related to something @twdmusicboxmystery talked about yesterday: the way we think about “codas,” ie: how the same patterns of events seem to be happening again and again and again in TWD, beginning with the pattern of events that first emerged in season 4.
Like, I think it’s very clear that’s what’s happening. What happens in season 4 is like the original emergence of the new pattern, the Big Bang, the original coda, and once it begins, everything seems to happen very quickly and all at once. I’m mainly talking about the events that begin with the Governor’s attack, then the cycle of 4.9-5.8. The Governor, himself is a good example of morphic resonance, as he can’t seem to break the pattern of behavior that leads him to the same exact conclusion time after time after time. He keeps failing, and his daughter keeps dying. The cycle only breaks for the Governor once he’s finally killed.
Anyway, the pattern that starts in season 4 and culminates with Beth’s death is repeated a myriad of times over the seasons, with various characters, who we usually refer to as proxies, and amid various arcs we refer to as templates. I don’t think I need to bring up any examples. We’re all pretty clear on these.
The morphic “field,” or population of people through which these patterns seem to resonate, is widespread across TWDU, but it mainly applies to characters in TWD, and even then, it often most obviously applies to Daryl (ie: his experiences with Denise and Leah, who are OBVIOUS Beth proxies). But even when it applies to other characters, like Michonne, it’s still a repetition of that same pattern, over and over again.
So morphic resonance holds that this “pattern,” which begins in 4.8, did not emerge from nothing. It was anything but random. Its causality may be hidden from us, needing to be investigated by looking backward at everything that happened before, every little root, nook, cranny, branch, leaf, and blossom that precipitated its eventually “ripening” or formation in season 4, ie: the things TD does basically every day. Because if we look back, we can see little echos of this pattern that go all the way back to the pilot.
I’d like to say that this works on two levels: the micro level, which is predicated on specific character choices that are made in seasons 1-3, and then the macro level, which focuses more on human tendency in general, greater battles between good and evil, survival and compassion, etc. Like the monomyth, or hero’s journey, human patterns of behavior that repeat over and over again as part of a shared memory or consciousness. In some ways, it’s a tale as old time. Man emerges into conflict, man loses something important, man struggles to get it back, man makes a mistake, and fails.
In Blair/Gina, however, we learn that these destructive patterns can be broken, and in the ensuing outcome, lives can be saved. The hero can win and reap their reward. This is huge!
The presentation is very obvious, using the Groundhog Day trope, which is in and of itself a product of a kind of resonance, as its roots go as far back as “A Christmas Carol,” and maybe even further, priming the audience to believe such a trope without question. The basic gist is that a hero is given one or more second chances to make a major change to their past choices, which in many ways saves their life, either spiritually or physically, and in some cases, the lives of others.
Now, onto how this could affect Daryl and Beth, and some speculation: I’ve thought a lot about this in the past. I’ve always wondered if perhaps TWD would do, with Daryl, a kind of “It’s a Wonderful Life” episode, or like the Smallville episode “Lexmas.” Probably Daryl would be unconscious, having a near-death experience, and in this would have a detailed hallucination or “dream” about what his life would be like if he had done something differently in his past and been able to save Beth’s life.
This something would be the key to breaking the cycle, like how Blair/Gina learn that they must work TOGETHER to make it to 5 o’clock. Through this hallucination, we���d see what really happened during “Coda,” plus the missing 17 days, and somewhere inside of that memory would be the thing Daryl did differently in order to save her. It’s possible even that the thing he has to change takes place BEFORE the “Coda,” like in “Alone,” for example. Maybe we don’t have those missing 17 days because the outcome is still…undecided!
In either case, the hallucination would then fast forward to the present tense, in which Beth is alive, and the two of them are together, probably married with kids, living the happy life he has always dreamed of. TWDU did this in “In Dreams” with Grace, so I don’t think it’s out of the question. They have also done alternate reality dreams before in TWD, like Rick’s “old man” dream, and Michonne’s drug-induced hallucinations in “What We Become.”
Seeing that shot of him and Judith lying unconscious in the trailer has increased my interest in this possibility, but of course, it’s really just headcanon or wishful thinking at this point, one possible choice tptb could make among zillions.
If something like this were to happen, then I feel it would motivate Daryl to try and implement the same change from his near-death experience in reality. Possibly, this change would result in his being able to save JUDITH, our final Beth proxy. We already know he bridal carries her while she’s unconscious, like he does with Beth in “Coda.”
In the end, I feel there would be some grand parallel back to Grady, which would teach us about the CRM’s involvement. Like perhaps he would hand Judith off to a doctor in a helicopter. I know that someone from our group has speculated this could happen before, I just can’t remember who. I think it was maybe Ann who also speculated that it could be BETH on that helicopter who takes her away. So the reward here is both cosmic, literal, and thematic. By finally fixing whatever he failed to do the first time around with Beth, and saving Judith’s life, he breaks the thematic cycle, ie: the causal structure that causes her to keep dying and dying again and again, and is then rewarded with the knowledge that Beth is actually alive, and this would, I expect, propel him in some way on his journey deeper toward the CRM.
This would be a dream come true, of course. Again, I reiterate, as you all well know, it’s just one way it could go, of zillions. BUT. Even if the details are wrong, it doesn’t feel out of the question, in terms of how Beth could conceivably return at this point. For example, maybe Beth isn’t on the helicopter, but after Daryl hands Judith off, or Judith is taken, etc., then he will, in some setting, somewhere quickly thereafter, discover evidence that Beth could still be alive. Like, maybe he goes back to Grady. Idk.
I mean, there was evidence that TWD filmed there recently. So in a kind of parallel story to Michonne’s, he then must go to find her, or at least pursue the lead that she could be alive more closely. If he brought anybody with him, it would be Carol. Maybe she initially is going to go, but then something happens, maybe with Ezekiel, and she can’t. This would be a recall to “Consumed” and then a replay of “Diverged.” Daryl would honestly probably then go alone, since most of the people who are left have somebody by now that they need to stay behind and take care of.
I also think that while they may not show us in TWD, he may end up on his trip with characters from World Beyond—ie: Hope and Leo Bennett, and maybe even T. Brooks Ellis, and members of the Primrose Team. Or maybe he’ll be straight up abducted by Jadis. I have no clue! Lol. OKAY. That's all! I'm so sorry for all the writing here lol. Clearly this episode is blowing our minds in many ways. I didn't expect Tales of the Walking Dead to be so fruitful but I’m really loving that it is!!!!
@wdway:
I won't lie and say that I can totally wrap my mind around this, but I get the gist of it. Thank you so much for your research and explaining it and my lack of being able to comprehend all of it has nothing to do with your ability to explain it. You did a great job. While I was reading, I started thinking about the episode Coda.
We have come to realize that we're seeing Coda through Rick's perception. I'm thinking that all of TF in that hallway were affected by how Rick perceived the situation and them sharing the same perception which might not and probably was not true. Mainly that Beth was not shot dead but simply shot. To some degree we've always suspected that but with tptb introducing these concepts to us they're confirming to us that overall, we're understanding what it is that they're laying down story-wise, at least to a certain degree.
By the way I am the one that has a head cannon about Daryl handing Judith over in the helicopter and it being Beth.
@galadrieljones:
Thanks! I totally agree this is something to do with Coda. I am also interested in the Folie a Deux reference which refers to shared psychosis. I think it also might have something to do with Coda. I have notes on that too which are far less…. expansive. Lol. And I also agree it is no coincidence that tptb are most casually introducing these rather fringe topics.
@twdmusicboxmystery:
Loved all your thoughts! I echo @wdway in saying, thanks for researching and explaining this. It made sense to me. It’s definitely a very abstract concept, and the fact that it’s intangible always makes it difficult to wrap one’s brain around. But I have a background in particle physics, which can be equally brain-bending, and a lot of the concepts you lay out here are at least similar to particle physics concepts.
Another thought I had—and not necessarily related to TWD; or, what I mean is, I’m not saying this is exactly what the writers are going for; rather, just another way to explain some of what you said above—has to do with the concept of fate.
Concepts of fate and destiny have been around for a very long time. They were big in ancient Greece, and even long before. But most people also now know that we create our own realities and our own problems. So, if people kept ending up at the same crossroads, or the same bad things keep happening to them, they label them as destiny. But in the age of information, most people also recognize that it’s more that the person is doing it to themselves.
And often it’s not at all their fault. It’s done in ignorance, or they have some kind of trauma they haven’t dealt with and therefore can’t break out of.
Because I write fiction, and I do have some time travel fiction, I’ve been asked about my philosophy on time travel before. Like, do I think it’s possible to have people go back and change the past in order to alter the present, Back to the Future style, or not so much?
And my answer is always the same. I don’t have a problem with people changing the past. Time travel doesn’t negate free will, and you can write a story lacking free will if you want, but that’s a whole other ball game. If we’re still in a free will universe, then they kinda have to be able to change the past.
But I also don’t think it matters overly much. They might be able change single events, but they’ll still end up at the same crossroads if they haven’t truly learned the lesson.
So, my philosophy of time travel is that, sure, they can change things, but all roads lead to the same destination. UNTIL they learn and change themselves.
I was just thinking you could apply that to the circular arcs in TWD, as you explained so well above. They’ll keep reliving the circular arcs until they fix things. Until they hit the one that will help them survive long term. Until they realize neither Beth nor Rick truly died. Anyway, as I said, just my swirling thoughts after reading your above thoughts.
Finally, while reading what you said about Daryl and Grady and such, a new head canon formed, with him handing Judith off to a helicopter as it’s jumping off point. You know how when an ambulance picks someone up, especially in the movies, the people who don’t ride along tend to say, “what hospital are you taking them to?” I was thinking, what if someone takes Judith and when Daryl asks where they’re taking her, they tell him to a hospital in Atlanta. Maybe that’s why Daryl goes back to Grady: looking for Judith. Who knows what he’d find there, but maybe, much like Michonne on the boat with Rick’s stuff, Daryl finds some evidence there that Beth was alive and well at Grady long after TF left Atlanta.
Wouldn’t that just be crazy? And amazing? And heart wrenching? And all the things? Anyway. As I said. Just more head canons forming. Loved all your thoughts and research!
@wdway:
@twdmusicboxmystery, I enjoyed reading your thoughts above and love your Atlanta/Grady head canon. Guys, didn't Greg N. say a few years back that Grady blow up or burned down or something like that, was destroyed. I don't know that that was an official approved statement or if he was just winging it to move on to another question and the official status of Grady is still open ended.
A little side note about the time of Rick's interview when TF first arrived at AZ, the time of 3:37. That episode was s5e12 Remember. I was just thinking how much of a coincidence it was that that particular time is brought up in the Tales episode. Remember, was the same episode where the long discussion at Comic-Con was brought up about the armadillo that Daryl was cleaning on the porch. I wonder how many people went back to check it out because they remembered it as being a possum. In doing so watched scene with the time given of 3:37. I always enjoy these little coincidences. Just a thought.
@twdmusicboxmystery:
Yeah, good point about Remember. They do seem to be pointing back toward the reset after Beth a lot lately.
Yeah, Nicotero did say something like that. But it was also a “probably” statement. Someone asked what happened to the people left behind at Grady. And he said something like. “Oh, they’re probably gone. Yeah, I think they’re probably dead by now.” It always made me chuckle. Good job, Greg. Wait to be convincing. And I’m not even saying it’s not true. “By now” could mean Grady fell at some point before the present, and it doesn’t mean Beth isn’t alive. His reply just sounded somewhere between planned and flustered.
What do you think about our discussion Morphic Resonance? Any thoughts?
#beth greene#beth greene lives#beth is alive#beth is coming#td theory#td theories#team delusional#team defiance#beth is almost her#bethyl
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Rolling out back to the Past (Resubmission)
One of the biggest films of my childhood has to be 2007’s Transformers directed by Michael Bay. Transformers as a brand is something that I love and my introduction came from this movie. If one thing is to be said about this movie and all of the movies in the franchise, the CGI is incredible, and after rewatching it still holds up to this day and even looks better than some effects that are in more modern movies. When I was a kid my main attraction was the giant robots fighting each other, because of course it was.
This opinion seems unpopular, as a review from Roger Ebert comments how that was the least thrilling part of the movie, saying, “Just because CGI makes such endless sequences possible doesn't make them necessary.” It seemed like a similar sentiment shared by other reviewers, as one reviewer from Metacritic said, “The only thing that I didn't like was the action sequences, they lacked of detail and the whole thing was actually a big mess by the end.”
I then watched the film again and I honestly didn’t feel any of that. Maybe I was still watching it through the lens of my younger self and wearing nostalgia tinted glasses but it was still just as entertaining to me. I even appreciated it more and got more out of it, as I noticed more adult targeted jokes that completely went over my head as a kid. However, having a more mature and critical mind there are faults to the movie that I can definitely recognize. The way Michael Bay films and portrays women is definitely problematic, as well as some of the jokes that took me aback.
Looking at world events that happened in 2007, there weren’t really any I remembered or recognized, which is due to me being way too young to process anything happening in the world. However, watching Transformers again transported me right back to being a kid and everything I thought and felt when I first watched it I experienced again. I still find Optimus Prime just as inspiring, the score is ethereal, the effects are still some of Hollywood’s best, and the action scenes are loads of fun to watch. Despite what critics say, I can’t help but love it. I think subjective and objective views of history are both very important. Subjectively I adore this movie from my childhood and that won’t change, but objectively looking back I can definitely see its issues.
Works Cited
Ebert, Roger. “Transformers Movie Review & Film Summary (2007): Roger Ebert.” Transformers Movie Review & Film Summary (2007) | Roger Ebert, 5 July 2007, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/transformers-2007.
R, Mark. “Transformers.” Metacritic, 3 July 2007, www.metacritic.com/movie/transformers.
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Coming Attractions!
First Monday of the month, so here we go!
As per usual, this is also an Open Question Night--anything I've posted about here or on AO3 is fair game; my askbox is always open but tonight I'll be keeping an eye on it and responding. I do take prompts, but no guarantees on how quickly I fill them.
Not a whole lot to report this month--mostly because moving took up A Lot of time/energy/etc., so I didn't get as much writing done as I would have hoped, so just a quick blitz through:
OTP Meme fills--
I'm still super behind, haha. I caught up on June, but I need to do July, August, and September for all five ships this month, so that'll be fun.
PodTogether--
It got posted! It ended up being not quite all I'd hoped it would be (our plans were a lot more ambitious than our execution, haha), but the three bits that did get finished/posted I think turned out pretty well. I do enjoy doing this event a lot; next summer should be less busy for me, too, so hopefully it'll go a little smoother/I'll get a little closer to whatever my partner(s) and I end up planning (although I think I might take Leverage off my fandoms list next time; we'll see.)
Other SW--
No real updates here, other than we at SWBB got an ask about next year's event already (signups don't open til like December!!!), so I'm going to dig up what I started last year and hopefully actually finish it so I can participate. I've been involved with that event for so long that it felt weird to only do modding/betaing/podfic and not Write for it this time.
(Precipice!verse has the same update it has for the past several months. It will not die until I leave this fandom, but it hasn't been getting much/any active focus lately.)
BSG--
Signups are still open for GBB! We could use a few more artists and betas. Story detail submissions are coming in, and I'm excited for what I'm seeing.
I also want to get a little more into actively working on TOB over the next few weeks/by the end of the year. It's been floating around in the back of my head for so long and I thiiiiiink I've named all of the people and patched enough of the plotholes to get started...of course, now I need to figure out exactly when/where I need to start (especially since...you know, need to introduce a bunch of OCs plus explain why Baltar ends up in a different position...so yeah XD)
I do still have various crossover snippets that might get worked on (like the one I reblogged the other day; there's also the Zeb and Helo one that I thought turned out pretty well); plus The Blood of Angry Men which I do genuinely plan to write at some point, but structuring it is a complicated question XD (Zarek character study/backstory piece; mostly focused on everything that initially sent him to prison, told through the lens of him looking back on it as he faces down his execution in S4; some stuff about charisma and followers he's lost/led to their deaths; the balance between him believing in his rhetoric and wanting power/using that rhetoric to gain it...a lot of really interesting things to think about here, lol)
Les Mis--
P&J will update soon; I'm also working on Acheron which I'm super excited for. I've written snippets of dialogue for Provenance (companion to P&J) but that won't get posted until the main fic is complete (because it's probably more fun to watch Ari solve as much of the puzzle as is possible given modern-day available records/evidence before filling in some of the gaps with a somewhat more traditional-style fic, lol)
Castlevania--
Not really much to say here other than at some point I will pick up Incinctus; also when Nocturne starts airing I will probably be Very Tempted to do a more active/actual crossover with Vampire Chronicles (bookverse) because. Like. The Theatre is right there lol (I know the vampire rules are very different in the two canons; which is part of why Marius existing in Incinctus is only a quick Easter Egg cameo; also Alucard and Armand would hate each other so much lol and I love them both so I'm not...suuuuuper interested in writing about that XD) Anyway, we'll see how much Nocturne actually draws me in, but at the moment I'm looking forward to it.
...I think that about covers it! Moving is exhausting and expensive but while unpacking/setup is still going on we are Fully Moved at this point, so...yay! Hopefully next month will pick up some.
#coming attractions#miscellania#open question night#shadowsong writes star wars#shadowsong writes bsg#shadowsong writes other fandoms
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Unit 6: The Importance of History
“There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it.”
I don’t think the importance of learning from and understanding history can be overstated. Possibly because I find history genuinely interesting, possibly because I know the old cliche about those who fail to learn from it, I find that learning about history, either in broad strokes or in specifics, can be a very informative and enlightening, but also humbling experience. A knowledge of history can at once demonstrate humanity’s greatest triumphs as well as our darkest moments, and offers us important insight as we look to the future.
In this excerpt, Hyams raises an important point about the nature and purpose of the modern study of history - to reveal the truth of events as they happened, from a minimally biased perspective, with proper context for both the contributing factors and runoff effects, so that we can understand the story of history as completely as possible. This is the meaning I am taking from Hyams’ allusion to integrity. He ascribes merit not to individual objects - cups, bowls, bits of cloth, scraps of paper - but to the power they hold as pieces of the truth, pieces of that story. As referenced in the Beck text, and in similar fashion to a Starfleet officer, the first duty of any natural interpreter is to the truth. Maintaining the integrity of the true story of what happened, to the best of our abilities, is vital not only to educating ourselves on the past for its own sake, but also preparing ourselves for the present and the future.
Of course, the quote makes clear that just because something is old doesn’t necessarily make it valuable, but when seen through this lens, it very much does. The very fact that we are able to look at an artifact, be it 70 or 70 000 years old, represents innumerable coincidences, choices, and conscious efforts that resulted in the object, you, and the two of you coming together. When considering natural history specifically, the implications of that happenstance are increased exponentially, and the accuracy of Hyams’ sentiment is underscored. Our connection to history through the sharing of objects, stories, and experiences is an essential part of the human experience, and allows us perspectives which would otherwise be lost to us.
The second half of the quote helps to demonstrate a key point in what a lack of understanding of history. It also brings to mind imagery of a part of one of the darkest periods in human history, and one I have a connection to. As the Beck et al. text references, the efforts made to ensure the events of the Holocaust are never repeated and never forgotten. An entire branch of my father’s family was exterminated in concentration camps because they happened to be Jewish. Many like them were packed onto rail cars, as many as could possibly fit, and sent to their deaths. Never forget is what they’ve been saying ever since, but since the Shoah, there have been several genocides across the globe resulting in the deaths of millions more, and an even more recent rise in antisemitism. It is our duty as interpreters and as stewards of the planet in the coming years to be conscious of the past so as we attempt to navigate the future.
I’m choosing to close off with an excerpt from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. I first watched this video when I was probably 12 or 13, and it has informed much of my outlook ever since. I highly encourage you to give it a listen if you’re feeling particularly existential, and consider this dot, our home, the setting of every moment in our history.
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Dune, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Trash Fire
So, this blog has mostly been focused on writing, and that will probably continue, but there is a topic I want to address. We’re coming up on the release of the third live action adaptation of Dune. I’m writing this on September 10th, 2021, and Dune is scheduled to release on October 22nd, 2021. Now, I will tell you up front, I am ridiculously excited for this movie, because I have read Dune multiple times, and I honestly love the story.
The thing is, for a long time, I struggled with that. Not for the reason you might expect. A lot of people decry Dune as a Mighty Whitey/White Savior story which, if you’ve only watched the David Lynch version, is a valid criticism. The thing is, if you’ve read the books, you know that Dune is actually a deconstruction of those tropes, and an open criticism of the human tendency to fall in line behind charismatic leaders. What always bugged me about Dune, and indeed a lot of classic science fiction (I’m looking at you, Lensman), is the sexism and gender essentialism that are often baked into the setting.
For those of you who don’t know, at the center of Dune is the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and concept of the Kwisatz Haderach. In the Dune series, the Bene Gesserit is an organization of women who have had special education which allows them full control over their bodies and a number of special abilities. Two important abilities for the Bene Gesserit are the ability to see into ancestral memory, and the ability to see into the future. The thing is, the Bene Gesserit can’t see into male memories, and their ability to see the future is limited, so they have spent thousands of years on a breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, which is a man who can survive the process the Bene Gesserit undergo in order to gain these two abilities. A process which normally kills men. This is considered desirable because a male would be able to look at both the female and male pasts and see into the future with far greater ability than any female ever could.
Sexism. Gender Essentialism. Right there, wrapped up in one of the central premises of the story. There’s something similar in the Lensman stories, where women just don’t have the killer instinct necessary to become Lensman, although eventually there are female Lensmen, this is framed as the end result of a long breeding program necessary to create those traits in a woman, and the women who can wield the Lens are depicted as more evolved than regular women. For the record, I also love Lensman and I had the same struggle to come to terms with it that I did with Dune.
But how is it that I can sit here and love stories where some the central premises of the story run counter to my lived experience as a trans woman? That’s a good question, without an easy answer. The short version is, “Not uncritically.” The long version is, well, long.
Something that a lot of people don’t understand is that when you engage with any piece of media, you’re not engaging with that piece of media in a vacuum. Media exists in context, and in a very real way, media exists as part of a dialog. People will write stories, and other people will write stories in response. Events happen in the real world, and people will write stories in response. People will bring their own culture, their own societal preconceptions, and their own personal beliefs into their writing.
This is a lesson I learned largely by looking at the way my writing changed as I progressed long my journey toward coming out and going through transition. As I went through that process, my view of the world changed, and the things that went into my writing, the things I wanted to put into my writing, changed with it. That realization and understanding allowed me to go back and look at works like Dune, Lensman, Star Wars, Star Trek, and a whole host of other things, and see them not just as a product of their times, but as a product of the people who created them, and all of the things those creators brought to the table.
To be clear, I’m not saying that when something was created should insulate it from criticism. Far from it. What I am saying is that media isn’t some timeless thing that can be judged against absolute standards of right and wrong that exist outside of the context of the society in which it was created and the society in which it was later consumed. We have to view media in the context of when it was created, while critiquing what it says in the context of the society in which it is consumed. We have to look at works like Dune and ask, ‘What was the author trying to say in the language and context of 1965 when the work was created’, and then ask, ‘How does what the author was saying apply to us, now in 2021?’. Are the things the author/creator said valid? Are they worth applying to the modern world?
But more importantly, what I’m saying is that in order for any art to have lasting value, that it must be okay to find joy and value in things that are imperfect by today’s standards, because I promise you the things we create today and the art we leave behind us, will be found similarly wanting by tomorrow’s standards. All we can do is try to create with compassion, understanding, and acceptance, and hope that history judges us on the good we tried to do, rather than by failings we don’t have the language, mindset or understanding to avoid.
So, with that in mind, come October 22nd, I will sit in front of my laptop, with a huge bowl of microwave popcorn, and I will watch as an amazing cast and an incredible director give new life to a story that I have loved for decades. I’ll roll my eyes at the sexism and gender essentialism baked into the story and the setting, while I watch to see if this version has captured the warnings that Frank Herbert wove into the original story. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I suspect I’ll love pretty much every minute of it, even if it’s still a Trash Fire.
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Lengthy analysis of Holes, as promised!. This will include spoilers, which will be marked. Just gonna go through the book and the philosophy/themes/connections I caught onto this time around. Stuff discussed, in order: connections to Camus, on the question of children’s books, systems, cycles, and why Stanley is gay and jewish 😏
Camus:
The first and perhaps most obvious set of texts/theories it makes sense to put Holes in conversation with is the works of Albert Camus. Holes starts out with a description of the sun and the heat, which readers of the Stranger will remember are major themes there. The heat continues to be a prominent part of the story, though thematically, it functions very differently in the two books. In The Stranger it primarily represents the indifference of the universe (or at least so claim a ton of sources and I’m inclined to agree) and the lack of control we exert over our own lives while in Holes it’s basically the opposite of that. The heat and drought is implied to be a semi-divine punishment for a past injustice and, moreover, the elite adults of the camp have air conditioning and access to shade: the sun does not affect everyone equally in Holes as it does in The Stranger (though even that is debatable: I don’t think this was Camus’s intent, but it’s notable that it’s only the white englishman who’s driven to murder by the sun. This could certainly be read as critique of colonizers who cannot/refuse to coexist with the land and environment and how the indigenous population always suffers for it, but I digress). The other Camusian parallel one is immediately inclined to draw is that, of course, of Sysiphus: there’s the repetitive and seemingly meaningless act of digging holes not to mention that carrying stuff up a mountain is both thematically and plot-wise a very important part of Holes. But, once again, it is eventually revealed that both acts do carry an inherent meaning. Holes does not present the image of an uncaring universe: on the contrary, destiny and semi-divine influence plays a major role. The story may start out with a series of seemingly random and inherently meaningless events, but as the story progresses, people, actions, items, and events become increasingly imbued with meaning. In the Holes universe, one must imagine Sisyphus redeemed, not through the act of rolling the stone but by rebelling against it. I have difficulty imagining that Sachar was not thinking of Camus while writing Holes, or, at the very least, that if he encountered Camus afterwards, he must have been struck by the similarities. I don’t know if there was a specific intent in creating a story so embroiled in Camusian absurdism, especially since the target readership is (allegedly) children who almost certainly are not recognizing specific allusions to Camus, so perhaps the similarities are purely aesthetic — after all, everything that is nominally similar does play quite different thematic roles. However, I would never pass up the opportunity to talk about the myth of sisyphus and I think placing Holes in dialogue with Camus can raise some interesting questions about the nature of meaning.
Is Holes a children’s book?
Speaking, though, of the target audience, the audience for this book is in fact children. What about it makes it a children’s book makes it difficult to say: the protagonists are children (and, I would argue, it is not a coming of age story, despite the claims of one piece of lit crit about Holes in which i disagreed with almost every claim made, but i digress once more) and the writing style is fairly simple: you can read it with a second-grader’s vocabulary. Also, of course, being a children’s book doesn’t (and crucially shouldn’t!) mean that it’s lacking in depth and complexity. However, I think most thematically rich children’s books tend to be quite allegorical. The Little Prince is a good example. Holes is just way too specific for its sole market to be children. It’s either intended to be read by multiple generations at once or for child readers to return to it as an adult. It addresses themes of racism (and not just generic racism, anti-black racism in the reconstruction south), homelessness, intergenerational trauma. and the modern carceral system. These are social critiques that will probably go over most kids’ heads (certainly over mine). However, the themes of the text are not inaccessible for children. You don’t have to understand the particular history of the US criminal justice system or even that Sachar is making a comparison to anything specific to get that the system that he’s portraying is unjust. Knowing the real-world context just adds another layer to the text. Holes also has one of the hallmarks of children’s books that I really like, which is a particular type of absurdism that the child characters come up against. This always rang true to me as a kid and well into my teens, when you start understanding that your life is controlled by some set of systems, but you haven’t quite gotten what those systems are or why and how they came about. Like nowadays, I can say “we did this in elementary school because of a state law, that because of a federal law, that because of the history of puritanism, and this because we got a grant for it”, but as a kid nobody tells you these things or really even cares to explain why the rules are as they are, and the systems that govern your world, often with no small degree of violence and almost always with an inherent disregard for your agency, are ineffable and slippery, and good children’s books capture this really well (Series of Unfortunate Events is probably my favorite example of this, where a secret organization that everything is implicated in and more more tragicomic details about it get revealed until the Baudelaire children find themselves to some degree members with mixed feelings is honestly an excellent coming-of-age allegory. oh, not to mention the constant conflict with bureacracy. god that series is so good, everyone read it). Back to Holes, Sachar weaves the more fantastical ineffable elements in with real-world issues so neatly. Stanley’s family is allegedly cursed, which is why Stanley keeps having bad luck, but he also lives in systemic poverty, which is also why he keeps having bad luck. Sachar eschews neither the allegorical elements common in children’s literature nor the more direct systemic critiques more often found in YA and adult lit, and it creates a really unique vibe. I think the story really benefited from having a children’s author, and I would love to see more authors in both children’s and adult lit do this!
Systems
Speaking of the systems, this book is surprisingly radical. Like it’s full-on an abolitionist text. The law is pretty much only ever presented as adversarial, both in the story of Stanley’s present time, and in Kate and Sam’s story. It’s implied if not stated repeatedly that Stanley and the other boys are pretty much victims of circumstance and have been imprisoned pretty much for the crime of being poor. The hole-digging is shown to be cruel and bad for the boys. It’s noted that in digging the holes Stanley’s heart hardened along with his muscles. This is of course very evocative of the system of retributive justice we have in America. Additionally, Camp Greenlake’s existence can ultimately be traced back to an act of racist violence, also in close parallel with our prison system. Hole’s stance on justice is very restorative. Punishments are never shown to work: only through righting the wrongs can true justice be achieved. Moreover, Holes even gives the opportunity for redemption to a minor antagonist when [minor spoiler] Derrick Dunne, the kid who was bullying Stanley in the beginning ultimately plays a small role in helping Stanley regain his freedom [spoiler over].
Cycles
Cycles are a major theme in holes, and Sachar creates a unique temporality to support this theme. There are 3 interwoven stories: that of Stanley’s in the present date, that of Stanley’s ancestors, and that of the land that Stanley is on (though, as I will delve into later, it’s at least a little implied that Stanley is descended from the characters in that story also). The stories from the past reach in and touch the present. You can’t untangle the past from the future. Looking at this again through a social justice lens, it could be seen as fairly progressive commentary on what to do with regards to America’s past wrongs. The past cannot and will not be left in the past: it must be dealt with on an ongoing basis. Even the warden, the greatest villain of Stanley’s story has a sympathetic moment at the end where it’s revealed that she, too, is stuck in a cycle of intergenerational trauma she can’t break free from.
Stanley is gay and jewish
Ok, I will now talk about how Stanley is a queer Jew, but this entire section will be riddled with spoilers, so read the book first and then come back!
A queer Jew?? i hear you ask. You’re just projecting. Yes, 100%. However, I think that interpreting Stanley as both these things adds to the thematic richness of the text. Let’s start with the Jewish bit: it’s not explicitly stated that Stanley is Jewish, but his great-great grandfather is a nerd-boy Latvian immigrant with the last name Yelnats, and his great-grandfather was a stockbrocker, so, like, ya know. Louis Sachar is also himself Jewish, as was the director of the movie, who cast Jews in the roles of Stanley and his family (dyk Shia LaBeouf is Jewish?? i did not), so I know I’m not the only one interpreting it this way. And honestly, does it not resemble the book of exodus quite a bit? They escape what is pretty much a form of slavery and wander in the desert. Sploosh resembles the well of Miriam, and then they ascend up a mountain to the “thumb of god”, perhaps in a parallel to Moses receiving the commandments. Is this a useful way to look at the text? Who knows. But what I think we do get from reading Stanley as Jewish is a more nuanced discussion of privilege and solidarity. If Stanley and his ancestors are Jewish (or at least Jew-ish), then what placed the curse upon his family (and, we see, Madame Zeroni’s family isn’t doing so great either) is the breaking of solidarity between oppressed people. But also, the fact that you are also marginalized does not wash you of the responsibility to other marginalized groups. I don’t think Sachar intended it this way, because I think he probably would have talked about it more if he had, but I would say this book can be read as a call to the American Jewish community to take an active role in forging solidarity with other marginalized groups and actively righting the wrong you, your ancestors, and your community wrought upon them.
Now, why do I think Stanley and Zero are gay? Before I go into how it augments the text thematically, I bring to your attention this passage.
Two nights later, Stanley lay awake staring up at the star-filled sky. He was too happy to fall asleep.
He knew he had no reason to be happy. He had heard or read somewhere that right before a person freezes to death, he suddenly feels nice and warm. He wondered if perhaps he was experiencing something like that.
It occurred to him that he couldn't remember the last time he felt happiness. It wasn't just being sent to Camp Green Lake that had made his life miserable. Before that he'd been unhappy at school, where he had no friends, and bullies like Derrick Dunne picked on him. No one liked him, and the truth was, he didn't especially like himself.
He liked himself now.
He wondered if he was delirious. He looked over at Zero sleeping near him. Zero's face was lit in the starlight, and there was a flower petal in front of his nose that moved back and forth as he breathed. It reminded Stanley of something out of a cartoon. Zero breathed in, and the petal was drawn up, almost touching his nose. Zero breathed out, and the petal moved toward his chin. It stayed on Zero's face for an amazingly long time before fluttering off to the side.
Stanley considered placing it back in front of Zero's nose, but it wouldn't be the same.
Girl, I’m sorry, that’s gay as shit! It’s such tremendous tenderness, not to mention the traditionally romantic imagery of moonlight and the flower petal. There’s also the non-romantic aspects. Stanley’s inexplicable happiness and suddenly liking himself evokes, for me, at least, the experience of coming out to yourself, of realizing who you are. Later in this chapter, Stanley contemplates running away with Zero despite the fact that it would make them lifelong outlaws. This book, remember, was written in 1998, and homosexuality was decriminalized in 2003, and the book takes place in Texas. It would have been, if anything, even more evocative of gayness when it was published. Now as to how this increases the thematic richness of the text: obviously, in carrying Hector up to the thumb, giving him water, and singing the lullaby, he redeems the wrong done by his ancestor, after which his family’s luck immediately changed. However, after Hector and Zero return to camp Greenlake, rain falls there for the first time. What was redeemed here? Remember that earlier on we learn that what caused the drought was the fact that Sam the onion man (who was black) was murdered for kissing Kate Barlow (who was white) — so what would a [post-factum wronging of that right look like? Zero, as we remember, is black while Stanley is white, so them being in a romantic relationship would be a successful interracial relationship to redeem the one Kate and Sam weren’t able to have. It’s also, as I said earlier, implied that Stanley is descended from Kate Barlow on his mother’s side: Stanley remembers seeing the other half of the lipstick tube with her initials on it in his mother’s bedroom. I’d also argue that Sam the Onion Man is implied to be descended from Madame Zeroni (chronology-wise, I think he’d be her grandson). First of all, there’s no follow-up with Madame Zeroni’s son who moved to America, and pretty much all other plot threads are followed up with in Holes. Secondly, Sam mentions water running uphill, just like Madame Zeroni does. Even without these speculations being true, Stanley and Hector being gay would redeem the land they’re on, but If they are, the parallel with the other ancestral redemption arc becomes to much to imagine it was unintentional.
So anyway, those are my thoughts on Holes, now everyone go read it!
#was trying to express my dad that shia labeouf is jewish but couldn't remember how to pronounce his name#so i was like. dyk sheeya labeeoof is jewish? indiana jone's son. shaya labyof. Pap. Indiana Jone's son. you know who he is. Pap come on#when he figured out who he was he asked if harrison ford was also jewish#as a joke#and turns out he fucking is! his maternal grandparents are jews from minsk!#quoth my father: 'they're everywhere. nothing is sacred'#lololol#anyway this fucking booooook you guys
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Hey Kip, whatcha think happened to all the equipment from the other Links by BOTW time? I want to Long Shot my way through the divine beasts and use the Lens of Truth to see through the dark ruins.
Ooookay time to turn on voice to text—I apologize for my regular followers who don’t know about my Botw hyperfixation but unfortunately impulse essays are a habit. Anyhow this isn’t edited cause I’m lazy so don’t kill me
OK so long story short I think that any remnants of cast incarnations of long since gone or dead. This is because the timeline that separates breath of the wild from the rest of the Zelda timeline in my opinion spans at least thousands and thousands and thousands if not millions—actually yeah, probably millions of years. First of all if you look at the timeline more than 10,000 years would be something like 100,000. You’ve had to have hundreds of years for civilization to be established and grow into the kingdom, Plus maybe a couple more hundred to have certain tribes grow to create modern technology like the Ancient Sheikah tribe. And then you have 10,000 views between first instance of Calamity Ganon, and then another 10,000 years for the next one,  and then the next one, and then the next one, until it’s become such a pattern that it can be prophesied and predicted and passed down through legend. That then leads to the era which is the rebirth of the calamity 10,100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild. This is the one with the Sheikah Technology (which again, who’s to say that that was the very first time if they ever use that technology, who knows if Ganon immediately came up with a plan to corrupt it right away after 10,000 years. What if it took him multiple cycles to come up with that plan?) and then 10,000 years after that depicted calamity, then you have the one from 100 years ago where Ganon does corrupt the Sheikah technology and uses it to kill everyone blah blah blah we all know the story.
So that’s a lot lot lot lot lot lot of time that’s honestly longer than the history of…well, history. That’s longer than recorded history. And that’s definitely longer than any period of Medieval civilization on earth. What branch of the timeline does Breath of the Wild fall into? WHO CARES? It exists in a time where any of the events from any of the branches could have happened in their own unique way over thousands and thousands of years. This timeline is so old, who’s to say it didn’t have its own Wind Waker event or Minish cap. (That’s my explanation as to why the game makes references to games in completely different timelines) 10k years alone is more than enough time for entire species to rise and fall out of existence, and you bet your ass that the cycle of destruction would make it impossible for records, artifacts, and just general knowledge to not make its way to future generations. Hell, Hyrule itself is a walking nightmare for anything trying to evolve, whether technology wise or biologically for species. The only way that anything could be known by future generations is through oral Legends (of Zelda)
So where is all this fabled equipment of heroes and of past incarnations? Probably dust fourty feet down within the earth’s crust. Eventually, they’ll probably get one. Hyrule will probably re-invent a hook shot down the line and call it new and revolutionary, not knowing that millennia before their ancestors said the very same thing. And then in a hundred years they’ll all die and be forgotten and it’s back to square one. Time’s whack.
#why did civilization not advance during the 10k time gap decpicted in the tapestry#probably because everyone got Merced by some other evil force#or maybe the king at that time just reaaaaallly didn’t like millennials and their phones#oh wait....*stares at Sheikah massacre*#botw#breath of the Wild#legend of Zelda botw#loz botw#Botw theory#long post
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Love dies in the city; or the romanticism v. modernism conflict on folklore
In my humble opinion, Taylor Swift’s 2020 album folklore is about the conflict between romanticism and modernism. It sets up the natural as a place of freedom and unrestrained love, contrasting this with the city (presumably New York) as a place of hiding and secrecy that ultimately dooms the integral relationship. In the end, Swift expresses her deepest desires to return to the natural world, to restart the timeline that began with her move to New York, something I will elaborate on when discussing “hoax” and “the lakes.” This storyline is the crux of the album, and the motif I’ve used to classify its songs into six distinct sections, which follow a vague plot that is not represented in the track list order.
the natural (seven, invisible string, betty)
I would argue that “seven” represents the heart of folklore, containing what seems to be the album’s mission statement (“passed down like folk songs / our love lasts so long”) and describing the earliest point in Swift’s timeline. This song is the one most directly linked to nature, describing a childhood friendship that takes place in the woods. One lyric, “before I learned civility / I used to scream ferociously / any time I wanted,” implies that Swift found freedom in nature, when her secrets were mere promises to friends instead of the pain she had since hinged her life on. In addition, this song is pure romanticism. The interest in childhood is implied, we can reasonably assume both main characters to be seven years old. To support this, the song states “although I can’t recall your face, I still got love for you,” implying that much time has passed since the events. There is awe of nature (the “beautiful things” are the creek and the trees), emphasis on the importance of imagination (your dad is mad because the house is haunted), and a celebration of the individual (“just like a folk song, our love will be passed on,” where the love is the individual she speaks of). This is the dream that Swift wants to return to, and yet her characters already face conflict (the keeping of secrets, hiding in the closet, an angry father). She romanticizes her past into something she can escape into, creating a sort of mythos around an upset childhood.
Our next nature-intensive song is “invisible string.” She again makes a callback to childhood, citing a park where she used to read in Nashville. It would not be incorrect to categorize this as a love song, perhaps the most lighthearted one on the album. Swift emphasizes time and fate, both recurring themes in her discography. Like “seven,” “invisible string” draws attention to nature as a freeing and healing space, which sets the stage for her romance. Lines such as “gold were the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park” draw attention to the ‘invisible’ connection the song depicts. In the bridge, she notes that there was “a string that pulled me / out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar,” implying a protection from the dangers of interpersonal conflict. Throughout the verses, mentions of any city stay tangential (“your first trip to LA… an American singer”) while the focus lies on her freedom. It is a dreamlike song, which implies that the city can be glimpsed but not detrimental, and showcases an utter belief in things working out.
It is, then, rather ironic that the final song with unique ties to the environment highlights an unanswered apology after the foundations of romance have been shocked. “betty” is ostensibly narrated by a teenager, James, who plans to make up for her mistake in a garden. This perspective ties into the album’s greater focus on time, in this instance equating innocence (“I don’t know anything”) with a natural setting (the garden, which is explicitly removed from society). At first, James wonders if Betty will allow an apology, but wants it to happen without anyone watching (“if I showed up at your party… would you lead me to the garden”). She then casts this hope aside, dreaming about being able to broadcast her love to the world without fear of judgement (“will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends”). It is also, then, relevant that the relationship is ruined when scrutinized (“rumours from Inez”). When considering how themes of secrecy and hiding come into the picture once the narrative travels to the city, it is interesting to look at how the hope of an public relationship prevails here. But in the end, James still dreams of going back to any relationship with Betty, no matter how private (“kissing in my car again”). Of course, Taylor Swift herself is James, and James is Swift, so we know that the secrecy dooms the relationship in the end.
the romance (august, illicit affairs)
“august” describes a doomed relationship, perhaps meant to be the affair James has that prompts her apology to Betty. However, the story of a love that was never built to last has been referenced multiple times in Swift’s discography (“Wildest Dreams” and “Getaway Car”) and even expressly linked to summer on 2019’s “Cruel Summer.” These songs show distinct lyrical similarities to “august.” Hence, I feel comfortable describing this song in the context of those, rather than within the storyline of Swift’s fictitious love triangle. (Which is flimsy as it stands, but that’s for another analysis.) While there is no set location, this song describes one kind of coming-of-age (“whispers of are you sure”) and delves into the hope associated with a short-lived romance. Here, there is no secrecy to speak of, but a fear of what will come when a return to society comes (“will you call when you’re back at school”). My contrast for this song is saying it is “Cruel Summer” without the ‘happy’ ending. There is a privacy here (“meet me behind the mall”) but it is the instability of the romance that dooms it (“you weren’t mine to lose”). “august” is a time capsule, a reflection on the love that always would’ve ended regardless of the locale.
The next song, “illicit affairs,” is another one that ‘visits’ the city (for lack of a better term) but places the primary conflict in a largely undetermined setting. In fact, there seems to be a rejection of the urban (“take the road less traveled by”). In the sorting of tracks as they relate to different sub-themes, “illicit affairs” is the first song that says, without preamble, that secrecy is the death of love. While the word ‘illicit’ simply means forbidden, the verses describe sneaking around in a way that has been attributed to cheating since album release. There is virtually no acknowledgement of another character outside of the two lovers, save for the ‘him’ referenced in the perfume line. But it is not this person that the narrator seeks to hide from, it seems to be almost everyone. It could be construed as a song about adultery, but taken in the context of the rest of the album it reads as a lament for having to hide a relationship (most likely a romantic one between two women, but this is extrapolation).
the city (the last great american dynasty, mirrorball, mad woman)
Now we approach the slew of songs that deal with the actual location of the city. The first song is “the last great american dynasty,” which seems the most removed from Taylor’s viewpoint and yet involves her directly (“and then it was bought by me”). We get an actual move to the ‘city’ (“Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train”) which is reminiscent of Swift’s own move to New York in 2014. Rebekah is immediately disliked by the people around her, blamed for her husband’s death to the extent where she flies in “bitch pack friends.” (1) Keeping with the theme of folklore’s similarity to a time capsule, one could see this song as Swift retelling her own purchase of Holiday House (and by extension much of the events from 2014/2015) through the lens of someone else’s life. Indeed, part of this theory is directly corroborated by the song through the lines “then it was bought by me” and “I had a marvellous time ruining everything.” In relation to the conflict between secrecy and survival of love, “the last great american dynasty” does not offer much insight. However, it effectively sets the scene for songs to come.
(1): I don’t know anything about Rebekah Harkness’ life, this is just how I interpreted the song.
After the initial move, “mirrorball” establishes the new dynamic between the lovers. In turn, it introduces the performative nature of romance in the city (which is referred to and combatted with the line “all these people think love’s for show / but I would die for you in secret” from “peace”). Swift expresses interest in a lover who is “not like the regulars,” who wants more than to watch her turmoil. Still, this song finds her drawn into the nature of performing, consistently showcasing her tragedy to let others see themselves to the extent where she cannot even let her guard down when “no one is around.” Even after the circus has been called off, she seems to have entirely integrated with the role of the mirrorball. This provides some introspection on her viewpoint: digging into insecurities under the viewpoint of desperately trying to save a sinking ship. Almost as a counterpart to “seven,” the lyrics to “mirrorball” show some characteristics of modernism. Individualism is represented through the focus on the person who is the mirrorball, while unrelated characters do not warrant much elaboration. In terms of formalism and experimentation, the format and structure of the song deviate from Swift’s usual manner. The concept of a person being a mirrorball (shown in the music video as a disco ball) is both a symbol and verges into the absurd. All the imagery in this track is based in large crowds; featuring a disco, a circus, and masquerade revelers. It both establishes the setting where love dies and assures that the relationship will end (“the end is near”).
“mad woman” is the final song which establishes setting more than storyline. It proves the city as a angry and dangerous place, one that is not sympathetic to “people like” Swift. We find her contemplating revenge on someone who has done her a great wrong, which is less attached to the general storyline but serves to depict the setting as actively hostile and worthy of contempt. When compared with other tracks, certain lyrics imply that the narrator is hell-bent on getting the last word (“they say move on but you know I won’t” / “you know I left a part of me back in New York”). There isn’t much else notable about this song in terms of what we are talking about, but it does frame several absurdist tendencies in the context of a destructive setting.
the death (cardigan, exile, my tears ricochet, epiphany)
In “cardigan,” Swift reminisces on a long-past relationship, which has been interpreted to be James and Betty’s teenage melodrama. This is the first of many breakup songs, which idolize what has passed and mourn the loss. We observe many signs of the city (“chasing shadows in the grocery line”) and individualism (“I knew everything when I was young”). As referenced in “betty,” the cardigan becomes a symbol for the relationship at large. Moreso, the idea that the relationship was cursed to end as it begun is elaborated on here (“I knew you tried to change the ending”) even if it is not ascribed to secrecy yet. In reflecting on Swift’s past work, we see many signs of her being accustomed to this thought (“I can see the end as it begins” from Wildest Dreams and “I knew (...) we were cursed” from Getaway Car), but “cardigan” comes across with deeper pain regarding the whole affair. In tying different lyrics together (“back when I was living for the hope of it all” from “august” and “I hope I never lose you” from Cornelia Street), we begin to paint a picture of the true narrative behind the love triangle. Swift knew her greatest love would end—desperately hoped it wouldn’t, prayed they could ‘get away with it’—and finally channels her anger and sorrow into this retrospective. She almost accepts it: love dies in the city.
Another reflection on a past relationship is folklore’s only duet; “exile.” This song discusses an inability to communicate, the concept of determined endings (“I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending”), and plenty of ‘hiding in the city’ imagery. This sees one narrator (Swift) faking a relationship (“just your understudy”) to hide her true lover (in this context, Iver). Both agree on various facets that caused fallout (“didn't even hear me out... never learned to read your mind… couldn’t turn things around”) until the final disagreement (“you never gave a warning sign / I gave so many signs”). So while the song is fundamentally about a miscommunication, it is evident that much of the misunderstanding comes from ways of signalling the secret relationship. Presence of the city is acknowledged through lyrics such as “I’m leaving out the side door,” “out here in the hall,” implying that the narrators share an apartment. Nature also gets a brief mention here (“breaking branches”), but this usage explains that the freedom of the narrators is fading, just like their connection to the natural.
Most do not connect “my tears ricochet” to romantic fallout, but there is no denying that the song hinges around prominent death metaphors. Many metaphors used imply that the narrator has broken up with their lover, but still haunts the hope of what could’ve been. In the line “we gather stones, some to throw, some to make a diamond ring,” a connection to marriage is implied, divorcing the meaning from the loss of Swift’s masters. A crowd of people is repeatedly referenced (the ones in a sunlit room, for instance) and the lover must “save face” in front of them. This external pressure contributes to the greater theme of death of love in the city, which Swift equates to her own death. She describes herself as a recalcitrant ghost (“you know I didn’t want to have to haunt you”) but one her lover must have around (“when you can’t sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullabies”). This song is another one that recognizes Taylor Swift the writer within the lyrics; within this interpretation the “stolen lullabies” are the songs that the ex-lover inspired, work she can no longer look proudly on. While no explicit connections to the city are formed, it is obvious that some external pressure resulted in a damning betrayal, which was painful enough to describe as death.
The final song in this death theme is “epiphany,” which does not discuss the romantic timeline at all. Instead, “epiphany” is the culmination of two sub-motifs on folklore: water and war. In nature, water gains a passing mention in “seven,” but does not truly become relevant in this organization until “the last great american dynasty.” In “epiphany,” the water reference is “crawling up the beaches now,” which serves to distance it from the overall storyline. The song also deals with the war motif (evident in most of the songs, but “ease your rifle” is very literal) and contrasts soldiers at war to doctors during the pandemic. All of this builds on this section’s burgeoning theme of death. It fits in with the album theme, but does not display obvious modernist or romanticist hallmarks.
the chance (the 1, this is me trying, peace)
Opening the album is “the 1,” a frequently disliked song but a very telling one. It is similar to “cardigan” in that it reminisces on a past relationship, but the narrator feigns contentment with her current situation. If all of folklore can be considered a time capsule, “the 1” perhaps describes the headspace of the narrator before they begin reminiscing: convinced they are alright, but not holding up very well. This song involves much city imagery (“I hit the Sunday matinee,” “I thought I saw you at the bus stop”) and deals with the aftermath of many events in the album. It is interesting that this song was one of the last written, as one can imagine the narrator went directly from “it would’ve been fun” to “don’t want no other shade of blue but you” (as described in hoax). The love has died here; but there’s a desperate hope to return (“if one thing had been different, would everything be different”).
Much like “betty,” “this is me trying” is another last-ditch attempt to save a failed relationship. Both songs find Swift in a doorway, ready to apologize, but “this is me trying” bears the weight of experience and less expectation that they will have a second chance. The increased maturity finds acknowledgement of faults without excuse (“my words shoot to kill when I’m mad / I have a lot of regrets about that”) and an attempt to come to terms with the death of the relationship despite pain. This, of course, breaks apart in the bridge (“all I want is you”) but, as Swift consoles herself, at least she’s trying. Setting-wise, this seems to be in a smaller locale (“the one screen in my town”) which calls to mind the “the only thing we share is this small town” from “Death By A Thousand Cuts.” There is also what appears to be a bar (“pouring my heart out to a stranger / but I didn’t pour the whiskey”) and an influx of people (“it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound”). It is not necessarily the city, but rather a recovery period that does not go well.
If the painful instruction of “illicit affairs” acts as a foil to 2014’s “How You Get The Girl,” then the anxiety of “peace” complements 2017’s “Delicate.” While “Delicate” expresses the sufferance of an early, undefined relationship (“is it cool that I said all that”), “peace” begs the lover to reconsider the end one last time. As “hoax” makes undoubtedly clear, it wasn’t enough. We see the dangers of outside influence (“I’d sit with you in the trenches”) and the strength of the romance (“the silence that only comes when two people understand each other”). It is a final plea for someone to stay, a list of the success and a fatal acknowledgement of the worst. There is a declaration that sums up much of the album: “all these people think love’s for show / but I would die for you in secret.” As we’ve seen from other songs, it is the secrecy and the hiding that has doomed them. Swift sees this, she briefly suggests a return to the free and safe woods (“give you my wild”) but is ultimately stuck on the question of peace, which she wishes she could give her partner.
the return (hoax, the lakes)
The original album closer, “hoax,” finds Swift leaving a part of herself in the destructive city that has become home. She makes an attempt to return to her home, only to find that it is not the way she’s left it (“my barren land”). With her lover, she has gone through a journey that changed her too much to return to innocence (“I can go anywhere I want, just not home” from “my tears ricochet” contrasted with “you’re not my homeland anymore” from “exile,” where the lover becomes the homeland). She turns to a bleak setting, using sparse lyricism and simple constructs to describe her pain and betrayal. While Lover highlights themes of likening one’s love to a religion, the Swift we see on “hoax” has given up on any sort of healing coming from her romance. All she acknowledges is that the circumstances of her love have “broken her down” and “frozen the ground” (from which she hopes a “red rose” will emerge in “the lakes”).
In “the lakes,” Swift tries to move forward but still sets her sights on the natural world, citing a deep desire to escape the scrutiny that destroyed her romance completely. This is a call to action for her former lover, a final request for shared freedom that reminds the listener of the lyric “would you run away with me?” from 2017’s “Call It What You Want.” Swift continues to call on aspects of romanticism she’s referenced on reputation and Lover to make her point. It then tracks that she has been inspired by this muse all along, and is finally asking for a return; both to the early romanticism her albums are built on and to her lover’s “homeland.” Her desire for a new home is evident, her conviction that her former lover should join her too great to be overcome.
The response of the muse to this, of course, is unclear.
#arden speaks#my analysis#taylor swift analysis#this is more than three thousand words#arden's essays
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❝ WE ARE ALL WEARING MASKS. THAT IS WHAT MAKES US INTERESTING ❞
huh, who’s LUKE MITCHELL? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually JIMBO “WICK” BLISHWICK VI. he is a 35 year old PUREBLOOD wizard who is CEO OF A WIXEN TECH & MEDIA COMPANY. he is known for being CALCULATING, FRAUDULENT, HEDONISTIC, CONCEITED, and AMORAL but also CHARISMATIC, AMBITIOUS, INNOVATIVE, METICULOUS, and PERSONABLE, so that must be why he always reminds me of the song IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP BY BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY and STYLISHLY RIPPED JEANS AND SUEDE SHOES, PURELY AESTHETIC AND MISLEADING SOCIAL MEDIA FEED, NEATLY TRIMMED BEARD AND SANDALWOOD MUSK, HORN RIMMED GLASSES WITH SMUDGES ON THE LENS, MOLESKIN FULL OF ENDLESS CODE AND FUTURE TECH INNOVATIONS, EXTRAVAGANT PENTHOUSE OVERLOOKING THE CITY, WHISKEY STONES AND EMPTY DECANTERS, and CHARMING PERSONABLE SMILES WITH MALICIOUS INTENT HIDDEN UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE. i hear he is aligned with THE DEATH EATERS, so be sure to keep an eye on him.
GENERAL
FULL NAME: Jimbo Dashiel Bartholomew Blishwick VI
NICKNAME(S): Wick, Jim, Dash, Bart (yes he legit will go by any of these)
AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 35, 02/16/1994
OCCUPATION: Tech & Media Mogul
GENDER: Cis Man
PRONOUNS: He/Him/His
HOMETOWN: Dallas, Texas
CURRENT RESIDENCE: London, I guess
ALMA MATTER: Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent
BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood
BIOGRAPHY
MEET JIMBO BLISHWICK: THE YOUNG AMERICAN CHANGING THE WIZARDING WORLD ONE STATUS UPDATE AT A TIME.
I’m not sure exactly what to expect when the invitation comes in. It seems archaic to be communicating over owl. There was even a part of me that thought I should revert to the “email” form which my subject is so fond of. What if the wixen tech mogul’s fondness for typing meant he had poor penmanship? To my delight not only was Mr. Blishwick’s handwriting clear as day, but it came with a gleeful acceptance to be interviewed. So it was on that high note that I made my way to Blishwix HQ in London to meet with the illustrious CEO. What I had expected was some pristine corporate office with dark leather and wood accents, sterile and admittedly cold and disconnected from the world. What I was met with was surprising. Blishwix is anything but old school in its style. Much like the young hip branding that accompanies its many products and services, the corporate HQ of Blishwix is sleek, modern and very accessible. It’s a open space of mostly glass walls, the bull pen dotted with standing desks and stability balls replacing wheeling chairs. Towards the entrance to the main floor there is a food bar, one which changes weekly I’m told. This week it’s a cereal bar, last week it was a sushi bar, the next week it’s expected to be a pho bar. Employees are scattered around it with tablets and laptops, giddily conversing around mouthfuls of rainbow marshmallows and corn flakes. There’s also several corners tucked away with velvet cushions where some team members curl up with headphones and e-readers or handheld video game consoles. Designated comfort zones, the tour guide describes them as. It’s the Blishwix goal to make sure the employees are all comfortable, so whenever they get stressed out or overwhelmed, there’s always a little place they can escape to in order to calm their nerves. In truth, Blishwix looks less like a company and more like an urban hang out for pretty hipsters in crop tops and flannels. Surely the big man on top would have a more professional set up, right?
Even the display in the bull pen did not prepare me for Jimbo Blishwick’s personal office. It’s one of a few closed off areas to the side of the floor, wide with tall glass walls over looking the bull pen, and predominately empty save for another bean sack, a slim desktop atop a standing desk, and a row of bookcases displaying dozens upon dozens of novels, all of which I can’t place and among the only print media to be found anywhere in Blishwix. “They’re muggle books,” says a voice from behind. When I turn and get a first glance at the figure leaning casually against the glass door to the office, my gut instinct is that this is just another one of those twenty something year olds squeezing stress balls on the work floor. He’s tall, wearing a handmade beanie in a burnt orange color -- One that is, frankly, not a good pair with his golden hair. His neatly trimmed beard and horned rimmed glasses speak of an elegance that doesn’t exactly match the acid wash tattered jeans or the faded t shirt worn under an oversized cream cardigan. The shirt is colorful and bears a phrase that doesn’t come easy to me. Woodstock. Perhaps this is another “muggle thing”. It isn’t until he draws close enough that I recognize the bare footed man. It’s Jimbo Blishwick himself. “Call me Wick,” he easily responds to my surprised expression, knowing full well he wasn’t what I expected. Instead of holding out a hand in a formal handshake and then pulling up a chair for the interview, he engulfs me in a hug and ushers me into the love sack. It’s awkward at first, but eventually I melt into it. It’s just as comfortable as it looks, and their use in the designated comfort zones make more sense to me now. Wick opts to sit crosslegged on the floor, a large coffee in one hand and a bowl of granola balanced on his thighs. He sips the coffee as my eyes wander the space, finding small and interesting little things to ask him about.
The first thing that draws my attention is a set of crystals sitting on the top of his desk, and when I ask he lets out a howling laugh that echos throughout the office, surely drawing the attention of his hard playing -- and hardly working -- employees beyond the glass walls. “Oh, I had a bit of a headache,” he says with a somewhat amused grin. “My wife said they might help.” The wife in question isn’t some darling stay at home mom you might expect. In Wick’s own words: She’s the reason the “Boss Girl” phrase was invented. Selene Blishwick is as shrewd a business person as her husband is, and perhaps a bit more progressive. As I attempt to shift a bit in the cushion, Wick relays some confidential information about some of their upcoming branding collaborations. Each is more unconventional than the last, and they all have one vital thing in common: Selene Blishwick is the one that found them. I’d go into detail, but Wick swears it would become a marital problem if I spill the big secrets before they’re due to come out. Instead he offers a sly grin and taps a single finger to his lips. “Our little secret, then you can be the cool hip one among your friends who knew all about it before it came out.” An exciting proposition, though I realize that I do need something I can share with the public from this visit, and as Wick’s bowl of dry granola gets emptier I fear I’m running out of time. So I set out to do what I’d planned: a profile on the CEO of Wizarding London’s premiere tech company.
When I ask Wick what was the event that kickstarted his long journey to bringing the wixen world into the 21st Century, he answers in one simple phrase: “A pen pal program.” I was surprised to say the least, but it all became more transparent as I urged him to elaborate. What ensues is a story about the overweight son of a MACUSA politician who was teased and bullied all his life and struggled to maintain platonic connections. “I had no friends,” he says, a sad truth but it comes out with a light and airy laugh. “But I didn’t make it quite easy for people to be my friend.” Despite his laid back and easy going charm, Wick reveals a disabling shyness and insecurity that kept him from engaging with the world. The only one privy to his thoughts and personality was the journal he carried with him wherever he went. “I always thought I sounded better on print than in person. I could be whoever I wanted to be on paper -- Handsome, smart, clever and fun. I just could never bring that outwards, you know?” I think we can all sympathize with the young Blishwick’s plight. It didn’t help that he had quite the shoes to fill. Sixth in his line, the Jimbos that came before the media mogul were all tied to American politics. They’re all charming and ambitious men, but Wick says he just didn’t have it in him to be a lawmaker. “Big Daddy” -- yes, that’s the moniker his father, Jimbo the fifth, goes by -- “He’s just built to be a Senator, I’m just the apple that fell a little too far from that tree.” Secluded and distant, educators began to worry that Wick’s development would be halted by the lack of socialization between him and his peers. So one Ilvermorny professor had suggested Wick be one of a handful of students elected to partake in a cross continental penpal program. “Fabricating friendship,” he called it. What they didn’t know is that the program would lead to a lot more. When I ask him who his first penpal is, if it’s someone he still has direct contact with, he lets another one of those amusing grins slip. “Oh yeah, very much so. I’m actually married to her.”
A fifth year at Ilvermorny, Wick was matched with a Hogwarts student a handful of years younger than him by the name of Selene Rowle. According to Wick, their correspondence lasted throughout both of their schooling and beyond, until he had taken a chunk out of his trust fund in order to travel to the United Kingdom to meet in person. He says that’s the only time he used his family’s money to get where he is now -- literally using it to transport across the Atlantic. Leaving behind his family’s estate in Texas and the promising job at MACUSA his father had acquired for him, Wick came to London in order to meet his long distance friend for the first time. The only person “who really knew what he was about” he says. I ask if it was for romantic reasons. He thinks about it while he sips his drink. “I guess in hindsight it does seem a little romantic.” Whatever his reasons, Wick came and he never turned back. He said that one of the first times they interacted in person, he and his future bride had lamented on their past communication and the long waits between letters. “We felt like we’d left things off on cliff hangers so often, and you’d have to wait forever just to get some kind of answer to those burning questions the last letter gave you. It was one of the most frustrating things.” The pair wondered what it would have been like if there had been a more instantaneous way to talk with wizards across the globe. After all, Wick had concluded, the muggles did it just fine. During his teen years, the Texan said he had grown very interested in what nonmagical civilization was like. A “No-Maj Studies Class”, as they call the Muggle Studies program in the states, had a unit on the technological advances of the nonmagical community during much of the modern era. The professors tried to teach the students that this was all building towards a very dangerous threat to the magical community: exposure and the fast spreading of information over the internet. Wick saw something different. “As I thought about how I wished I had a better gateway to my penpal during my teen years, I just kept thinking about how muggles had that already figured out. They could instantly send letters to anyone anywhere in the world. No long wait times for traveling owls or anything like that. It was instantaneous.... And why shouldn’t we be like that?”
It was this very thought that birthed the company the Blishwicks lead now.
So how do you bring the magical world safely into the 21st Century as dictated by the nonmagical? That was no easy feat. For his part, Wick said he had to learn all about something that didn’t exist in their world, something that didn’t interact well with magic. And how do you study muggle tech without magic interfering? Simple: You “become a muggle”. That’s when I realized there was a book I recognized on his eclectic shelf of reading material. Daisy Hookum’s best seller My Life as a Muggle. It’s the first book on the shelf, in the most pristine condition. A first edition, and it’s even signed by the author herself, though Wick doesn’t remember the meeting. It has a simple message in it: I hope you enjoy the time you spend in the nonmagical world and make memories as fond as my own. “Oh yeah,” he laughs, “I did tell her I was also voluntarily giving up magic in order to help kickstart my company.” He says it with an air of unfamiliarity, like he only vaguely remembers the moment. Still, he presses on with the story. A controversial choice for the son of a self proclaimed “conservative-traditional” pureblood senator, Wick was shortly disowned by the American Blishwicks for his choice to give up his magic for two and a half years to live among the muggles. But it had purpose. “I may have lied my way into an internship with a tech company in Edingbrugh. I was trying to learn as much as I could about this muggle innovation. If I wanted to create something similar for our community, I needed to master their version.” He says it took more than the two years he gave himself to live among them, and he’s still studying it to this day, but after that amount of time he had the ground work he needed to then create his tech and media empire. The biggest obstacle wasn’t even in creating the highly secret magically encrypted network which allows smart phones to be used in the wizarding world. No, for Wick the biggest hurdle to pass over was the longstanding traditional values the community had. “I think there’s an innate fear in not just advancing the community, but in mirroring any sort of progress than the muggles have done. There’s nothing wrong with it, I mean we have adapted enough of their inventions into our own world already so why not take it a step further?” He refers to radio and electric hook ups that appeared in a lot of wixen homes in the past century.
Blishwix started out small, creating and selling smart phones and desktops primarily with the idea in mind to change the way we communicate. Email was one of those first muggle digital contraptions that made its way into the wixen mainstream and has stayed, but within a short decade the company’s offerings expanded to mirror exactly what the digital world of the muggles looks like now. It’s becoming more and more rare to see wixen without a Loquix* in hand, or a Blishwix desktop at home. The Wixpix social media app, in which users post photos taken from the cameras on their cellular devices and add witty captions which can then be “liked” or “commented” on by users across the globe, continues to grow in popularity. And now the media and tech giant is rolling out a “streaming platform” -- a sort of home theater in the form of an app that catalogues film and television programs created by wixen for wixen. There’s Accio, an application that allows you to ask random questions and receive an answer instantly; Portky** which allows users to request forms of transportation when they desperately need it, including ministry-approved portkeys (or so it claims, we haven’t used it yet here at the Prophet). There’s even applications for those lonely wixen looking to find a love connection. Erised is one such app where user profiles are made with a handful of photos, a small ‘about me’ section, and a few small details that can be provided to prospective dates in order to help connect those with similar interests and hobbies. The married Wick does not have an Erised profile, but his assistant allows me to scroll through her’s and even swipe a few times on other profiles. I accidentally match her to someone she admits she can’t see herself interested in, but we all have a good laugh about it. These are only a few of many “experiences”, as Wick refers to them, offered by the company in order to branch the magical people from across the globe. “What is more beautiful than seeing people from different cultural backgrounds and walks of life coming together and sharing ideas and thoughts so quickly?” I realize as I’m sitting there in that bean cushion, scrolling through a prototype of the next Blishwix tablet that I know so little about the world beyond my little corner of it. I suddenly understand Wick’s enthusiasm about expanded communication.
It’s all pretty exciting to see coming together, it’s almost impossible to understand what more could be done by Blishwix. So when I ask him what’s next, Wick gets a very eager look in his eyes. “There’s a lot of places we still don’t have our tech in that I think would be all the better for it,” he solemnly reveals, and I’m shocked to hear it. Since visiting Blishwix, I have seen their product seemingly in every corner of Wizarding London I explore daily. Who isn’t using connected to their expansive network at this point? “I would love to do a partnership with the Ministry. As the governing body, I feel like we can offer them so much that could continue to further develop the community and continue progressing us into the future. If we could get our desktops in every Ministry Department, we can further the sort of work that keeps our world moving. Just imagine how we could expand Law Enforcement, Education or Wellfare departments if we can make all the relevant information they need all the more accessible to their employees? Think about how much easier it would be for them to process information on our fast and reliable network.”
On the topic of Education, Wick reveals his ambitions don’t stop with the Ministry. “I would love to see Blishwix in schools like Hogwarts,” he says, revealing what may be the biggest bombshell yet. “This whole dream started because of a chubby boy who had no friends in school and wanted a faster way to communicate with the one he made far away. I think a lot about that and how my life would have been different had I had this kind of technology available to me. If there are lonely kids like me who could have that, or even kids who are just struggling to get the information they need to be successful in school, and I could give them what they need to advance in life? Then I could say I’ve done what I initially set out to do. Until that day, I would say that Blishwix hasn’t been a success yet. Even teachers could benefit from the use of the internet and all the resources we have out there which we now have access to.” I begin to wonder if the technological genius is actually more of a philanthropist. “I don’t know, you tell me,” he quips when I muse out loud. Our interview comes to a halt by this point, and I’m left with so many more questions. What is Blishwix cooking up for the wizarding world next? What kind of innovations will define the company’s next decade? These, and so many more, questions are left unanswered as I walk out of Blishwix HQ, a takeaway bowl of fruity cereal in one hand and my previous generation Loquix in the other (scrolling through shopping apps in order to find that “love sack” I spent much of the afternoon lounging in).
The same day I begin writing this piece out, Blishwix has announced the Loquix VI, their most advance smartphone yet. They livestream details of their upgraded OS and hardware reveal on the company’s social media, an event I watch while typing this article up on my worn out typewriter. Halfway through and I’m out of ribbon, and I silently curse myself as I order a new set online. All the while the Blishbook Pro is being revealed on the stream, its sleek wireless keyboard and slim expandable monitor shimmering under the stage lights. I join in with the loud gasps from the shareholders crowding the conference room where the event is being held. The irony of this isn’t lost on me, and as I sit here writing out these last few paragraphs with a quill in my cramped hand I begin to realize exactly why I admire Jimbo Blishwick and his forward thinking. At least he’s not sitting here with ink blotches in obscene places, running to his editor’s office just barely before deadline with a mess of typed and handwritten article. I remember in that moment, drenched in the rain while rushing through the offices of the Prophet, the first line in his owl response to my inquiry for the interview:
You should have just emailed.
Touché, Blishwick, touché.
*Portky app idea comes courtesy of Kim ( @strvngemagics )
**Loquix phone name comes courtesy of Vic ( @cfdiggorys / @moodyparis / @aarlingtons )
Both gave permission to use / mention these galaxy brained concepts in the intro and credit for their conception goes to them. Thank you guys so much!!
TL;DR: Wick is full of shit. What can I say? Here’s the ‘Murrican lad who claims to be some hip and cool CEO of a wizarding tech and media company. Okay he’s I guess apple meets zuckerberg. Idk I’m not galaxy brained enough for this afheiahfpea hence the very oddly written bio. Wick’s a pureblood from america who supposedly forsake his family’s purist ways and then decided to create a company modeled after muggle tech in order to “bring the wizarding world into the modern era”. In actuality? He’s a fucking bigot who created a network that he could use to spy on people who may be enemies of the cause. At least that’s how it’s being factored into the DEs. His theme song is “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell bc he’s always watching you. Gives off this very laid back and down to earth and charming persona just so he can gain your trust and meanwhile he’s leaking your information to the DE and helping them further their agenda. Some extra tidbits not seen above:
He’s got some daddy issues which are leaking into his parenting. Aka he is not exactly excited to be a father but you wouldn’t know that from his Wixpix feed which feature so many “cute” dad photos with his baby boy. In order for him to become his best self, his dad had to make his life a living hell and he believes that’s how he’s gonna have to handle Zephyr as well.
He is smart, yes, but he’s not some brilliant innovator like the world thinks he is. His empire is built on stolen material which he simply “adapted” to the magical world. He’s not original, but he is clever.
He’s not a fighter, clumsy with a wand, had a severe stutter as a kid which made it very hard for him to cast spells etc, so he avoids battle often and instead offers up his company more for espionage for the DEs. He’s better suited to behind the scenes mayhem, and that’s kind of the way he likes it.
He’s a coward. He’s hiding behind computer screens and tbh if things get really sticky he’s likely to try and sell out the DE in order to save his skin. Has an escape plan to the states if things get really sticky but the likelihood of him succeeding are slim to none.
He acts very charitable and humble and kind but he’s conceited as hell and he’s a real shady bitch sometimes. Talks shit on everyone behind their backs
He’s had a few affairs here and there despite being married. Even with that, he is in love with his wife and feels a sort of fealty towards her. She’s a very important part to the company, she’s pretty much the brand of it and so he relies on her a lot to help manufacture their image even just as individuals to help the rouse.
BODY IMAGE TW/EATING DISORDER TW. Wick has some body image issues due to his past tbh. He got bullied a lot as a kid for being overweight and quiet, his solace was in food and he was a binge eater. As he got a bit older, he made some desperate choices in order to lose weight to gain a slimmer figure. It wasn’t healthy, it landed him in hospital a few times, and eventually he had to meet with nutrition specialists and therapists in order to work out a more healthy mindset on food. He’s still harbors body imagine issues, but he’s learned to be better about it. Still, he maintains a very strict diet and work out regime because he feels his image is one of the most important things about him. He did meet Selene when he was slim and athletic and therefore thinks it’s best he maintain the figure even just out of fear she wouldn’t find him attractive otherwise.
is any of the stuff he said in this interview true? Idk, idk
Idk, I hate this man and this bio afheuiahfpea I’ll end up rewriting it eventually.
MISC
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual
ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic
LANGUAGES: English
FAMILY: Jimbo Dashiel Bartholomew Blishwick V (but they call him “Big Daddy”; father), Cricket Blishwick née Berkeley (mother), Beaufort Harland Blishwick (younger brother), Cora-Lou Blishwick (younger sister), Selene Blishwick née Rowle (wife), Zephyr Blishwick (infant son), and by extension all the fucking Rowles I guess
PETS: TBD
FACE CLAIM: Luke Mitchell
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius
MBTI: hm
PINTEREST: (coming soon)
WANTED CONNECTIONS
interns - a couple new grunts at the blishwix HQ. they can be any affiliation, but if they are DE affiliated then they’ll know a little bit more about what is going on behind closed doors at the company. could be fun for future plotting purposes.
co conspirators - other DEs who similarly to wick lead a double life in the public eye. philanthropists, media stars, all sorts of “do gooders” who are banning together in order to break “harmful stigmas and stereotypes and join the wixen community globally”. blishwix mission statement aims to create a platform for wixen of all types across the world to interact free of prejudice and judgement and to bring the magical community into a modern era free of harmful ideologies. of course that’s a fucking lie, so if you play a baddy bad who’s pretending to be goody good then this could be a fun collaboration.
partnerships - alternatively, let’s see some honest to good people and groups get schemed by these fuckers. this would involve some potential screwing over but no worries, at the end of the day blishwix will tank and then your character can get their sweet revenge on this man and his corrupt business.
idk hmu with ideas.
#potterintro#sorry fam no fun doodle this time#bad men don't deserve it#ahfieafea i'm sorry this is kinda lame but i wanted to get something out there to help with plotting
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Fall 2020 Anime Season:
Golden Kamuy Season 3 is, so far, just as good as the first two seasons. For anyone unfamiliar with the show, it follows a former soldier called “Immortal Sugimoto” (nicknamed so for his tendency to survive a lot of shit that would kill most people) and a young Ainu (the Japanese equivalent of Native Americans) girl as they search Northern Japan (and even parts of Russia) for hidden Ainu gold. The story is pretty wild, with threats coming from the wildlife and the harsh, snowy conditions as often as from mercenaries, assassins, and various other human dangers. The cast has expanded enough that we have several separate groups of cool, well-written characters roaming about (and they’ve shuffled a bit from season two, making their interactions very interesting). Sugimoto remains one of my favorite anime protagonists. He’s one of the more brutal, violent main characters I’ve seen, but, strangely, also one of the nicest. He’s kind to innocents (both people and animals) but will slaughter his enemies without hesitation. He’s also pretty funny. Then again, almost every character is subject to the show’s weird but endearing humor. It’s very hard to dislike any character, even the ones who are quite cruel. The show is also notable for having a lot of homoerotic subtext. The beefy, handsome men sure do love taking their clothes off and wrestling. Like, taking it ALL off. Multiple times per season. Yeah. Watch this show, everybody.
Ikebukuro West Gate Park is a new show this season that I was initially interested in because it reminded me of Durarara!! in that it’s set in Ikebukuro and features color gangs. That’s where the similarities end, however. Whereas Durarara!! had tons of supernatural elements and just plain craziness, IWGP is more realistic by comparison. The show follows Makoto, a seemingly normal guy who seems to function in a sort of “odd jobs” type of role for a color gang called the G Boys. While they’re a gang, they don’t seem like criminals or thugs, or even delinquents. They really feel more like a club, held together by their respect for the leader referred to as King. So far the series seems to be episodic in nature, with most stand-alone episodes focusing on some sort of social issue, from drug addiction to immigration. It’s interesting to see these issues presented in such a sympathetic light, viewed through the lens of Tokyo’s youth. The art is nice, with varied character designs and animation that’s just good enough that you don’t notice the problems very often. The music is a highlight, with my favorite opening theme of the season and one of the better ending themes.
Magatsu Wahrheit is a show I was very iffy on at first. It has a lot of things working against it. It’s based on a video game I’ve never heard of, the opening theme is one of the cheapest, most unimpressive things I’ve ever seen (note: it does improve a few episodes in!), and the series overall has a low budget feel (though nowhere near as bad as Gibiate from last season). But the story is actually very interesting and very well written. The basic premise is that Young Man A (I’m not remembering these weird names, sorry) works as a delivery truck driver in your usual “modern fantasy” setting (kingdoms and monsters and other medieval fantasy trappings alongside trucks and cars and advanced science laboratories). When he’s loading up his deliveries, Young Man B, a fresh recruit in the kingdom’s military and general goody-two-shoes, randomly offers to help Young Man A load his truck. Young Man B spots some boxes off to the side and, assuming they were part of the load, puts them into the truck while Young Man A is talking to his boss. These boxes turn out to be illegal weapons being smuggled by a group of... freedom fighters? I guess? This, in turn, drags Young Man A into a shit storm of trouble when the illegal weapons are discovered in his truck. It also leads directly to tragedy for Young Man B as well, setting them both on wildly different but similarly dangerous paths. The whole idea that a simple act of kindness for a stranger sets off such a terrible series of events is pretty engaging. As it stands in the show right now, Young Man A is the more compelling character. He’s just a truck driver. He’s a coward who runs from danger and wants no part of any of this. But at the same time, he can be surprisingly brave at times (usually when a child is in danger). In a twist on the usual trope, these spurts of bravery are rarely rewarded. At least twice, his decision to act has led to heartbreaking tragedy. So far Young Man B is your typical “idealistic youth realizing the military isn’t comprised entirely of nice people” type of character. As such, he’s just not as interesting. He hasn’t had as much screen time though, so hopefully he’ll grow as a character. I guess it says a lot that I’ve written so much about the show, and almost all of it is about the plot. But the plot is really the only remarkable thing about it. In this case, that’s enough.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is, well, a bit of a trainwreck. And I’m not necessarily talking about the quality of the show. Let me explain: The show was marketed as a remake of the 2006 anime, which was one of my all-time favorite series. I was pretty excited about it. Lots of new fans who had never watched the original started this one. The first episode was okay. I wasn’t crazy about how shiny everything looked (I realize the original’s visuals are a bit dated now but at least they were unique, this new one looks like pretty much every harem anime from the past five years) but the story seemed to be doing good and I looooooved the use of the original opening theme song as the closer. Then episode two dropped, and the fandom basically exploded. The first few minutes of episode two reveal that this is not a remake, but a sequel! Shock! At first, I was impressed by this little bit of manipulation. It felt exciting to realize the truth. But then it dawned on me (and the rest of the fandom) that new viewers who came to watch this were screwed over. Those first few minutes of episode two spoil some very important things from the original series (we’re talking major spoilers here), and it’s going to ruin a lot of plot points for those who never watched the original and now want to go back and watch it first. So here’s a PSA: If you’re new to Higurashi and want to try this new series, DON’T unless you’re okay with watching a sequel that spoils the original.
Okay, so now let’s talk about this new series/sequel. First, the good points: The ending theme is GORGEOUS. Just... go watch it. Soak it up. The opening isn’t bad but I can’t help comparing it to the far superior original opening. Aside from the overly shiny and generic character designs, the rest of the visuals are pretty great. The scenery in particular is very nice. In terms of story, I like the idea of beginning each new “arc” by staying close to the original story, then throwing in some pretty wild deviations that make them end in completely different ways because a character that lived through the original is trying to make subtle changes (that so far have ended up turning out very badly). When it comes to the bad points, one in particular sticks out: It’s not scary! The original had some truly unsettling moments, and so far this one hasn’t even been creepy. It’s had some moments that obviously tried to be scary but have failed miserably. For example, the early scenes with Rena in the original were actually terrifying. But I felt none of the intensity or creepiness in this sequel. Still, it’s nice to see these characters again and to see how this story deviates as someone tries desperately to change the outcomes.
Haikyuu!! has another new season and... I don’t really know what to say about it. I’ve talked about this show several times now. Looks like this season is going to focus primarily on one long match, a concept I’m not crazy about. They also made the baffling decision to cut in with a full episode about a rival team’s match right in the middle of showing the match with the main team. I mean I love seeing more of the rival teams but it felt disjointed to do it this way. Still yet, it’s a fun and energetic show full of great characters and easily understood volley ball matches.
Jujutsu Kaisen is probably the most hyped up new show this season, and I would say it definitely deserves that hype. It’s a pretty familiar shounen fighting anime setup: A teenage boy acquires special powers and joins a school to train so that he can use those powers for good. However, following that formula does little to negate just how fun and well-done this series is. A lot of people have compared it to Naruto (the protagonist is a vessel for a powerful entity, he joins a trio of characters with a more serious and moody black-haired boy and a chick, and they have a badass teacher with silver hair who keeps his face partially covered). So sure, it’s like Naruto... except it’s much better than Naruto in every conceivable way. The animation and fight choreography are consistently fantastic. The main character is not the least bit annoying. The only chick in the group (there are more cool ladies in the story, just not in this group!) is a badass in her own right and her story and motivations have absolutely nothing to do with romantic interest in any of the guys. Even the teacher character is incredibly fun. The music is great, with my favorite ending theme of the season. You know it’s an excellent ending theme when people start making different versions of it using characters from other shows. It’s so, well, fun. A word I keep using here, because that’s the first word that comes to mind when I’m watching this series.
Talentless Nana is one of those shows that’s going to be difficult for me to talk about without spoiling a very cool surprise. This surprise comes at the end of episode one (basically, the show makes you think it’s about something, but turns out it’s about something completely different). So if you want to really enjoy that surprise, stop reading this and go watch episode one before coming back. If you’ve already watched it or don’t mind having the surprise spoiled, here we go: The first episode sets up the series to be a cheap Boku no Hero Academia knock-off. We have a school of “talented” (super powered) kids training to use their powers to save humanity from (so far) unseen monsters referred to as “the enemies of humanity”. We are told one boy has no “talent” or special power and he’s ridiculed for this. There’s a new transfer student named Nana, a super sweet and cheerful girl with pink hair who has the ability to read minds. There’s also another transfer student, a sullen and quiet boy named Kyouya who hasn’t disclosed what his “talent” is. With that setup, I think a lot of people were ready to dismiss it as “BNHA, but not as good”. But then, a few minutes before the first episode ends, we’re hit with the twist that reveals what this show is really about: Nana is the one with no “talent”. She lied about being able to read minds (the boy we thought had no talent did actually have one). She’s a totally normal human being, and she has been sent to infiltrate the school and kill off the students, the true “enemies of humanity” (called so because their powers make them incredibly dangerous). Thus, the show is about a normal human girl using only her wits and skill in manipulation to kill off super-powered individuals. Watching her work is an absolute delight. She is ruthless and incredibly intelligent, but she does have one major problem: the other transfer student Kyouya, who is at least as smart as she is and is suspicious of her right off the bat. But since he’s not sure she’s up to no good, he can’t really act on his suspicions. Nana in turn knows he suspects her, so she has to be careful around him. As a result, the two become “friends”, constantly watching and outmaneuvering each other. In this way, the series reminds me of the early, best parts of Death Note, with the mental sparring between Light and L. But the most fun you’ll have with this show is watching Nana come up with ways to deal with each new “talent” she comes across, from the ability to time travel to necromancy, all while having no special power of her own. The art is nice, a bit generic, nothing too fancy. The music is great, with one of the better opening themes this season.
Moriarty the Patriot focuses on the classic Sherlock antagonist Professor Moriarty. Let me get this out of the way first: I know next to nothing about Sherlock. I haven’t even watched any of the various tv shows about him. What I know of the character basically comes from mentions of him in Detective Conan. So I’m coming into this series with no preconceived notions about these characters and no other versions to compare them to. Anyway, Moriarty as a series is about class warfare. Moriarty as a character pretty much embodies the phrase “eat the rich”. If you’re familiar with the phrase and understand its meaning, you’ll probably like this show. Moriarty works as a professor, but his side job is as a “Crime Consultant”. He helps the poor lower classes get revenge on the cruel nobles and elites who have wronged them. This revenge most often involves murder. There’s something refreshing about how unapologetic it is. In most anime, the hero tries to find other ways to punish evil than by actually killing them, or there’s some lesson involved about how revenge isn’t the answer or how killing someone who wronged you makes you as bad as them. In this series, there’s absolutely none of that. People get their revenge and, so far as I’ve watched, seem to be living much happier lives afterwards. In this way the show totally avoids being preachy. The art is gorgeous, with classy character designs and lovely backgrounds. There’s a certain lushness to it. The music is very nice as well (particularly that poppy ending theme). The only downside is that this has probably ruined me for watching other versions of these characters now. I mean, once you see them as sexy anime pretty boys, it’s hard to see them as anything else.
Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons:
Black Clover
Best of Season:
Best New Show: Jujutsu Kaisen
Best Opening Theme: Ikebukuro West Gate Park
Best Ending Theme: Jujutsu Kaisen
Best New Male Character: Moriarty (Moriarty the Patriot)
Best New Female Character: Nana (Talentless Nana)
#anime reviews#seasonal anime#fall 2020 anime#anime recommendations#text#jujutsu kaisen#moriarty the patriot#munou na nana#ikebukuro west gate park
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Prelude: The Face of the Fallen Church: Inquisition_start.
OST
Vatican City.
If one could ever think of a Magic Side equivalent to Academy City, one would think of the Vatican City State as an example of such.
Located within a walled enclave in the city of Rome, Italy, it is the central base of the Roman Catholic Church, the administration of which is also referred to as the Vatican.
And at its centre stood St. Peter's Basilica --- the worlds largest cathedral and the greatest Roman Catholic stronghold.
In mid-october of the previous year, it was utterly left in ruins thanks to a confrontation between one Fiamma of the Right and one of the former popes, Matthai Reese, which resulted in the defensive magical array for the city of the Vatican being severely weakened.
But that all seemed like a distant memory.
Vatican soldiers patrolled the city streets and the Basilica grounds, all of whom were magicians with formidable spells underneath their belts. They gave off an intimidating aura that made those in their presence want to turn away, lest they be threatened by them.
The damage caused by the confrontation last October had all been repaired, and its magical defense systems were up and running, almost as if the destruction had never occured.
It was all thanks to the efforts of the current Pope, Biscas T. Benedict. {1}
After the events with GREMLIN, Biscas had utilized the connections he had with the leader of a certain secret society and had manipulated events to have the second former Pope, Pietro Yogdis assassinated in his sleep. The second Pope's death was a surprise to everyone in Rome and around the world, and for a time, it worsened the divisions that were currently happening in the Church at the time.
However, Biscas had been chosen to become the Pope in the days to follow since there was not enough time for an election, along with the aid of those within the church that were loyal to him. And ever since becoming the Pope, Biscas would dedicate his effors to strengthening the Church, and making it stronger than when it had been in the hands of God's Right Seat.
the Grand Grimoire written by John Dee, the Frozen Sapphire of Arendelle, the Shard of Anubis, all of 30 Tyrian shekels, the Bell of Awakening and so on were among the many spiritual items and magical artifacts used to empower the Roman Catholic Church anew, giving it a new life that it had never been seen up until this point.
But with that new life, came a new darkness, something that was far ore insidious than anyone on the outside could imagine.
And that was that the Christian God had been substituted by an entity far outside of this realm known as The Fallen.
The Fallen was a being known as Gaelion, who was a demonic cosmic force that enslaved worlds with his own power, and influence. It was something that when looked in the lens of Christianity, was truly the embodiment of the Devil himself.
Yet members within the Roman Catholic Church were already worshiping such a being.
When they referred to God, it was this monster that they were referring to, to carry out horrific acts in the name of Gaelion, even though this entity probably would not care, or even know of their actions.
Hence, the church in secret, has been renamed as the Fallen Church of Rome.
The Fallen Church could be considered as a modern day incarnation of the Church from the dark ages as in the few months of their inception, they have committed several atrocities throughout the world. Magic Cabals from religions they deemed heretical were attacked, people deemed as enemies of the church were killed, tortured, or sacrificed in gruesome acts of worship, and the Church in general had been more militant than ever.
This showed in how they refused to acknowledge the Magic Association as a legitimate organization and has ignored them at large.
And it was all thanks to one man, and his connections.
But even so, one group of Magicians he formed a pact with, had also taken on the role of God's Right Seat. It was similar, yet entirely different when looked at closely.
God's One Throne.
"Ah, I take it you have news for me."
The Pope said as he addressed the one who entered the papal throne room. Such was usually occupied by cardinals and advisers, however it was empty, only containing the Pope himself and the person who entered.
Yodion the Armoured.
A young man with neck length light purple hair, golden eyes, and clean white robes, Yodion the Armoured was a special type of Magician who was a member of God's One Throne.
As previously mentioned, God's One Throne was similar to God's Right Seat in that it was a political organization deeply active within the Roman Church, even run everything within it. They often advise the Pope on matters of the church and is more powerful than the actual clergy in general.
They were comprised of not four magicians, but 10, all of them aligned with angels in accordance with the Sephirot.
And the angel Yodion was aligned with was Chamuel.
"Yes. The assassination attempt on the traitor known as Agnese Sanctis has failed. The forces sent to deal with such has been defeated all by the hands of the God Hunter and..."
Yodion's face seemed to contort slightly in a look of displeasure, as if what he wanted to say truly disgusted him to his core.
"And?"
"...Imagine Breaker. The one known as Kamijou Touma."
Biscas sat in silence for a bit as he mulled over the information. He was familiar with the term Imagine Breaker, the name of its owner too.
This was the same boy that Former Pope Matthai Reese had deemed an enemy of God, and had sent out members of God's Right Seat to deal with him. Needless to say the attempts on the boy's life failed as both Vento of the Front and Aqua of the Rear suffered humiliating defeats at the time.
"I see. According to the information we have on record, Imagine Breaker is a reference point of the world, which means symbolically, it is our greatest obstacle. Perhaps more so than the God Hunter."
Given the plans that the Biscas and God's One Throne was working towards, the Imagine Breaker represented something that was to foil their goals of changing the world. If he so willed it, the owner of Imagine Breaker could undo everything that they would have worked to gain. But there was something else that couldn't be ignored.
And that was the boy himself.
Biscas had read the reports about how Kamijou had gotten involved in many Magic Side incidents, how he opposed the Church in the past and his involvement in the chaos surrounding Othinus. And then there was his reported involvement in the Holy Grail War in the East.
And in all of those incidents he had gathered many people around him, within the Magic Side, as well as the Science Side, although to what extent remained unknown to him. This gathering of forces from both sides proved to be an unstable element that could potentially throw the two sides into chaos, perhaps even more so than the God Hunter by herself.
The Kamijou Faction.
That was the name, given to a group without form consisting of all those who joined that boy and his right hand. Having various elements from his home turf on the science side, the magic side and other influential persons like the Royal Family and the President of the United States, as well as the God Hunter herself, the Kamijou Faction, if it ever took form, would be a formidable force, the likes of which has never been seen.
And that would ultimately bear its fangs toward the Fallen Church.
It seemed Yodion realized the clear threat that Kamijou Touma posed, and seemed more dangerous than Violent Violet, the Precure and other unbalanced elements could ever be on their own.
"I agree wholeheartedly your holiness. All of this time, we have been focusing on pointless things as potential threats when the true danger to our ideal has been in plain sight this entire time."
Yodion remarked, staring back at Pope Biscas with a determined look.
"Your holiness, allow me, Yodion the Armoured to lead an assault on Academy City. I swear to you that I will bring you the head of the beast known as Kamijou Touma. As someone who wants to see this world destroyed... with our utopia to rise from its ashes, I will not accept no for an answer. The holder of Imagine Breaker must be destroyed."
Biscas couldn't help but smile somewhat. In a way, the man reminded him of himself when he was young. Filled with determination and a drive to see the current world destroyed, and in its place a utopia where everyone can truly smile.
Perhaps this is why the relationship between Biscas and the members of God's One Throne were better than what previous Popes had with God's Right Seat. Unlike them, they all shared a singular goal, which is why Biscas had chosen to form a pact with them when they were introduced to him.
A simple traitor was of little concern.
The God Hunter was something to worry about, but not so much as the Kamijou Faction.
Formless or not, it had to be destroyed.
And what better way to destroy an organization, then executing its leader?
And so, the Pope gave his order.
"Very well. I hereby approve of the operation to attack Academy City. You will be leading the special division of the Ministry of Holy Affairs, the AX to engage and execute the one known as Kamijou Touma. Anyone who assists him will be considered part of the Kamijou Faction and an enemy of God as well. They are to be dealt with as you see fit."
"As you wish. I will carry out my orders faithfully and strongly. I shall show him, Academy City, and the Magic Association that they are to fear the blade of the Fallen Church and Yodion the Armoured."
Yodion the Armoured smiled maliciously as he gave a respectful bow before exiting the papal throne room to make the necessary arrangements to undertake such an operation.
He knew that this move would not only make him a clear enemy of Academy City, but also the Magic Association which was also jointly working with Academy City.
But even so, it was irrelevant. Both of those institutions would be deemed irrelevant in his eyes.
And so, the Pope could only give a twisted smile himself as he sat in the throne room.
"Now then Aleister Crowley, Zelreich Kishur Von Schwarz. How will you react to my challenge? Sooner or later, your ambitions will be utterly crushed as I will lead this world to its salvation."
#Toaru Majutsu no Index: Rebirth Testament (Main Verse)#False Prophet of Salvation // Biscas T. Benedict#Strength of the Throne // Yodion The Armored
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