I'm a EngPort Hetalia fan that simply lives to help take over the worl—I mean take over this account ;3 I write fics mostly, poetry especially and cinematically influenced.
Hello, a friend has revived me from the dark caverns of university. I am alive :) Have some headcannons.
Hws Portugal is amazing at special effects and uses face filters but cannot text normally or use a computer in the most common sense way.
On online meetings, he uses greenscreen to play Shrek in the background. Or something England enjoys watching like Doctor who ect.
One day as a bonding session, Germany set up a task for everyone to work together in groups to make a short film.
This either goes really surprisingly well or not at all. It depends on the group. But whoever gets France, good luck. Not to be mean to frog bby but he claims he's the origin story of film. Just take that scene of them arguing about films in Paint it white and also during that one episode and make it even more chaotic.
My question would America go more Hollywood style or Independent style?
Sealand tries to Cameo in every short film.
Also would they go all out with the topics or would they do something cute. Like Japan filming a little artistic 3d model animation about some little story he likes. Or will like Spain be experimental.
What sort of tone and language they would use. Would Australia do underwater shots for the entire short film and talk about how misjudged the underwater dangerous creatures are. But make it educational.
Would Turkey and Greece fight over who gets to make cat videos?
Jump cut lessons brought to you by India. (Not gonna lie but I learnt a lot about jump cutting and unique cinematic language with watching films from South Asian films this semester at university)
Sweden, Prussia and Japan (Ik odd group but hear me out) making an emotionally powerful short expressionist film about feelings ect but with the soundtrack to caramelldansen and cats. Lots of cats.
Russia making creepy but oddly charming films about random topics that have 0 sense to anyone. But of course technically amazing.
England. A wild card. Will it be a comedy? Will it include a live action fight scene with someone? Who knows.
Canadian films are like a ferrero rocher to me as a film student. And Matthew (Canada) is the same. No. Canada isn't edible. I think— but seriously, Mary Pickford. Anyway, I'm not elaborating on the Ferrero Rocher metaphor.
Anyway, nice being alive. Give me more ideas. Also I want to say hi to my PortEng cult if you're still alive.
Since the new canon season had the industrial revolution as a recurring theme, do you have any headcanons for that era?
Gosh anon, you had me thinking in all kinda ways. I do have headcanons for this era (too many) so I’m gonna break it down a little.
Of course, if I am to talk about the industrial revolution, I must start off with the goblin man that is England. The industrial revolution started with him, after all, and this is a fact that England is very, very proud of. For a hot minute, Great Britain was the workshop of the world and utterly dominated everything, not only in physical items that were outputted, but also by international perception and industrial change. I could go into the historical implications of this and how it affected real people (a fuck tonne man, a fuck tonne), but for England himself this time is one that he looks back on with a sort of pompous pride.
He was known. His products were sought after, his productions were the quickest and the smoothest, and his people were making great strides across all industries and changing them according to a new, British standard. For a nation, a creature that exists to represent a collective group of people and fades when the memory of them is forgotten, this is probably a pinnacle of achievement.
It is one thing to conquer and influence lands by force and might, armies and guns and swords that push their way in and change an existing power dynamic by force. It is quite another to win it smoothly, a silky slipping into a different way of things and a sly, cunning domination of the markets. Britain was everywhere and these products were wanted everywhere.
It is so hard for me to describe how impactful the industrial revolution was using just a grumpy anime man- this event was quite literally earth shatteringly cataclysmic in how peoples’ lives changed as well as how fast this change was. It happened so quickly that even people of the time recognised and lamented the losses the progress would bring (William Blank, a famous English poet, being a notable example).
Our modern understanding of ‘work life’, capitalism, social structure, fashion, food, everything was touched by the invention of mass-produced machines and this… this also makes England conflicted.
He is conflicted because suddenly the world has changed and it has done so, in a large part, because of him. And he is happy about this, he is, but things are always lost when others are gained and the industrialisation of his lands brings with it a loss of a more traditional way of life.
I like to see nations as nostalgic things. If we take away the immortal aspect, the fact that these are creatures that push to keep their people heard and relevant and make sure that they do not disappear into time, they are also beings that silently stay and watch. They see the changing tides of time wash away the past and they alone remain to remember it.
This process is smooth, usually; this process is lonely but natural and slow. Life didn’t really change much from century to century- fashions changed and food evolved, as did the language and the law, etc. But, overall, it didn’t. The life of the everyday man and woman mainly remained unchanged for centuries, generation to generation and decade to decade seeing very little change in the day to day working of things. The industrial revolution though utterly blew up every aspect of human life. If previously change was a slow erosion and evolution, the industrial revolution was a mega flood, ripping apart the earth underneath and receding to reveal a whole different landscape underneath.
Again, I’m not going to go into historical detail too much about how many things were affected but it was many. For nations, then, this would have been an utterly baffling and potentially even slightly horrifying experience, but maybe only something they clocked onto years into it.
England himself wouldn’t have noticed for a while. He would have been riding too much on his high, revelling in his position at the top with his pride pushed higher than it had ever been. But then, eventually, he would have twigged.
Does no one dance that dance, anymore? Does no one sing that old song? That story he loved to hear from the travelling minstrels, when was the last time he’d heard it spoken? Or even seen one of those men about? What was that myth from the town down the road, really does no one know? Is there no one left to remember with him?
This realisation would have been hard to contend with and would have been, and still is, something that he struggles with. The industrial revolution was good after all, and it was something he was and still is so damn proud of that it’s hard for him to accept that he regrets it, even a tiny bit. Especially after his boasting and crowing, especially after strutting about parading his achievements and showing off his fancy new wares and processes. England couldn’t admit, even to himself, for a long time, that maybe, actually, he didn’t quite like it.
He liked what it brought, he liked how it made him feel and he liked that he was, indisputably, at the top of his game and a trendsetter in every sense. But as soon as he first felt that flicker of loss it never quite went away and he could never again feel the full and shiny affects of the first few years. Instead, the feeling of loss grew and pulsed with the passing of each generation as more and more of his old way of life slipped away, leaving him truly an island amongst a sea of the new and the strange.
Other nations feel similarly, but without the smug superiority that came from being the instigator of this madness. The new inventions helped their people and boosted their economies too, so even if they weren’t the inventor of them, and even if England did have a stupidly large monopoly on the industries he’d created out of thin air, they understood intrinsically that this revolution of change was one for the better.
But, like England, they saw and felt the rumbles of change wiping away an old, reliable existence. Unlike England, they weren’t clouded with pride and a superiority complex about the whole thing. They could see the impact this would have early on and they had more time to make peace with it.
A few sources, if anyone is interested in learning more historically accurate information:
Global Transformations of the Industrial Revolution
Cultural & Societal Changes of the Second Industrial Revolution
This is such a fantastic breakdown also I love the nostalgia idea. Sincere apologies for the long response.
I read a little segment that kind of expressed this nostalgia from ironically a book by H. V Norton (In Search of England) and he states in his introduction that nostalgia about old villages in England: "We may not revive the English village of the old days, with its industry and its arts. The wireless, the newspaper, the railway and the motor-car have broken down that perhaps wider world of intellectual solitude in which the rustic evolved his shrewd wisdom, saw fairies in the mushroom rings, and composed those songs which he now affects to have forgotten. Those days are gone. The village is now part of the country: it now realises how small the world really is!"
I find that is probably the thing that really connects the personifications generally as you mentioned with a longing for the past (perhaps even a stretch what the audience that watches hetalia, historical films, read old novels ect want to go back to this certainly romatised past).
Certainly with the Industrial revolution it's been subjected to a romatised charge towards the modern day and clearly we can evaluate and condemn the issues that have come with it. And as stated the other nations would feel and see.
I do think regardless of his pride, Arthur (England) for how long he's been alive for would be far more reflective sooner than given credit of this in comparison to the general people of said nation who don't really have as much time to see that. That "conflicted" segment is an example that is certainly something that all the personifications will experience for different reasons. The fears of disappearing because you've been forgotten about, seeing something they personally disagree with happen that they have no control over, should they listen to themselves their bosses or their people?? and much more. Living from a range of 4000 to 100+ years with only those alike to them to understand them I don't think they're limited to the same feelings as the people who they represent and eventually growing tired of fitting a certain way. (Also my reasoning why they act like kindergarten children during meetings is that conflict of self identity, thought and expression. So it's just easier to mess around together because only with each other they probably feel the least alone.) There's such a darker undertone to someone like Arthur (England) being able to being able to sincerely feel prideful and that hold superiority in comparison to the leaders and people who made the decisions in the first place. I think the way it's presented the personifications are followers not leading.
Norton gives this last segment I would like to share that I think is a good summary: "That village, so often near a Roman road, is sometimes clearly a Saxon hamlet with its great house, its church, and its cottages. There is no question of its death: it is, in fact, a lesson of survival and a streak of ancient wisdom warns us that it is our duty to keep an eye on the old thatch because we may have to go back there someday, if not for the sake of our bodies, perhaps for the sake of our souls, ".
Also if the others do well at taking notes during meetings they get those stamps and if they have been on good behaviour they get to pick which stamp 😂
I had another thought pfft sorry for the late rant. Can I make this happy post sad? Sure.
The nations we see during the meeting haven't actually experienced this positive system for behaviour probably because they haven't had a chance to be a "normal child" of their time with the responsibility they have as personifications. They were made to understand early on that they're different from humans. Even if they had certain "ancients" as parental figures it wasn't the normal way of growing up over 50 or 100s of years. The meetings are a way they can be free to be childish and understood by others like them and Germany probably picked that up being young amongst them (depending on your theory 😉). Meetings probably free them from the bosses, the horrors and reality of a confusing world where they experienced the best and the worst of us. Suddenly, this space has become their's to fight, discuss, laugh, be silly and childish in. They generally quite down when someone responsible shouts but then it gets chaotic again. Like a classroom but they're learning about how each other are doing currently at their job. But getting that sticker or stamp, laughing about the fun of it. Spain chugging down Olive oil, America beating climate change with a giant robot in episode 1 or a punch thrown around by France and England. That's all relief, thank goodness we can be silly after all the darkness and a human childhood that were denied because they had to learn to understand who they were first.
thank you for the tag @forestial @winxclubfairy @the-cosmic-gentle-giant @rattaemin @yashashveeroy @christyyyyyyyyastrologynerd and anyone i missed out im sorry 💕💕
one word : ambitious
i was going to say dreamy but im pretty ambitious about my dreams so
tagging @dilfchaser69999 @pradajaehyun @ladyrue @martianmoon @rain-on-sunshine @jojoangelley and anybody who wants to join :)
I'm going to attempt to do this??? I'm so bad at Tumblr people I'm still learning lmaoooo😭😭😭 (Thank you @koolkat9 for tagging me in things you're definitely hardworking, I'd also say approachable, sweet, awesome ect 😌)
I just find it strangely endearing how the fandom took a show made up of 5 minute eps that are mostly just satire and light hearted (Save for some angst) and took that and expanded on it so it became huge. Thousands of fics and art works depicting the other side of things, the not so funny. The deep and thoughtful. The heartbreak and loss and pain but also the love and laughter and celebrations. So many different character interpretations. So much thought into what it would be like to be a nation, thinking deeply about historical events and actual trauma and how nations come to be and how complex their own selves and relationships are and where the line is between friend and ally or enemy and opponent in war and having to be forced to fight someone you called a friend even just a week ago, seeing human life just fly past, so fleeting and scarce, trying hard to understand what it is to be human but never truly knowing because you're scared to get too close and attached because they die and you learnt your lesson the first time you tried and it hurt. We took this silly, satire show and we put so much thought into it and made it deeper than it needed to be and poured our hearts and souls into making these characters feel real. We write and draw about what we think it was like for them to actually feel pain, feel loss during times of war and such and deal with love and acceptance but heartbreak and trauma too and- Ugh I love this fandom.
This????? I'm first going to apologise for the length of my response but I'm very interested about what you wrote. (Haha Ted Talk??? Nah just my long thoughts lmao) I've been personally fortunate to have the most wholesome experiences and exciting conversations with other people who enjoy hetalia and I share these thoughts fully.
However, the point I would love to share is about the audience reception theory by Stuart Hall (If you are aware of this sorryyy but I also would like to share with some of my active followers here about this) which pretty much explains the fandom (as an audience). It is the audience that gives media text meaning. As much as Hima as a creator provides the source of media, it depends on how actively we engage and respond to it. And many of your points such as: "we put so much thought into it" is a way a audience responds.
Hall also suggested in the theory that there are three main responses from an audience: Preferred reading, Negotiated reading and Oppositional reading. Preferred reading is when an audience responds to something the way the creator wants them to (aka the way Hima wants), Negotiated is when the audience responds accepting and rejecting certain elements (aka how we mix canon and non canon subject material and also how you explained going deeper outside the satire of Hetalia) and Opposition is when the audience understands the preferred reading but choses to oppose it (aka basically the people who reject Hetalia for what it is or doesn't follow anything Hima intended) . Through my experience, which always suprised me and probably the main reason why I stayed so long in the fandom is that the fandom generally appears to follow a negotiated reading of hetalia with natural oppositional reading. And you gave examples such as: "We write and draw what we think it is like" and how we "expanded on it". For example, if you notice the generalising of the toxic parts of the fandom follow the oppositional reading but these people can also be positive in the fandom regardless when creating content. The general audience takes this peice of media by looking at what we've been given in curiosity not just simply to conform to all of Hima's ideas nor just rejecting everything Hima produces. Overall, the success of Hetalia and the parts you love are because as an audience we're open to negotiation. And those that seem to make poor appearance of the hetalia fandom either are very stuck in following to Hima's content (preferred) and responds with inflexibility.
We have to understand that especially in certain parts of Hetalia canon led to contraversy especially in the past . How many problems cropped up by those fans because they see it as a must to be canon or the flaws hetalia does have without flexibility? Likewise, hetalia haters who oppose the whole show based on personal social beliefs sees hetalia through an unintended meaning and rejects it because of that oppositional reading they ignore the qualities hetalia does have as well. Or perhaps some of the other intentions Hima had.
Although, I mentioned there can be positive ways fandoms have an audience that respond through a oppositional reading. It is when the individuals who create their own meaning (ignoring Hima completely) we get creators who take these characters (or make ocs) to their own interests of hetalia. This especially is what brings pairings (the old ship wars too XD) into the topic which make up a slice of the fandom.
So in summary the blended mix of oppositional with a audience that follows a negotiated reading is going to produce exactly what you love about it and what you wish wasn't a part of it. Of course, it's all a theory but tbh isn't that adaptability and flexibility what kept Hetalia alive especially when it was seen as "inactive" for some time. So of course this same fandom will explore it's content like this. May I humour you with a erm... Popular quote? As long as there are people to repair the ship, it can be used forever. (😌 Thanks France)
Also if the others do well at taking notes during meetings they get those stamps and if they have been on good behaviour they get to pick which stamp 😂
No context someone draw hws England in a top hat and skirt please. Thanks.
[context: I just watched a little film where during a charity event famous entertainment figures participating in amateur sports and then this happens]
Watching as one travels through the eyes of something alike to a phantom, the young old man would enjoy the visual spectacle of 'phantom rides'. This one, at 6 minutes long, took him on a journey through a city centre he knew so well. From natural movement to mechanical motion, the tram or train perspective were a marvel to behold. From before looking as if a passenger through the carriage window long before the emergance of what he would know of as cinema.
His eyes feast upon a feeling unlike none other, for simply he is not like the young people that watch along with him. These popular shows were first express by a rather enthusiastic American alike to his nature, older yet looking so young. Bright minds linked and travelling shots of mountains, along rivers and even in hot air balloons. However, what had caught attention for him to watch a tram travelling through Nottingham in 1902 was a warm feeling. Seeing the joy of people waving their hats, walking about only their daily life before being forgotten by the next moment and seeing young children race past the Tram. This was simply a capture of what it meant to him to be at home. His role, his purpose always baffled him for he neither made decision nor completely followed the herd. Speculation, he interacts with others alike to him are not as simple as cut and paste good or bad relationships. For most forget he is people not that his people are him. He is a single person in a crowd, not one person the same. The only difference is he remembers all of History, he walks in the present with others alike tired not always knowing what to believe and into the future how long he may last in dread and peace to disappear. Perhaps watching the simple movements of people remarks his dearest dreams to not feel lonely in a feild of the golden dreams of other people alike to him. And he isn't because he knows that he is his people but he is also himself. And a single person in the eye of the stars and the moon that judge our actions every moment is simply a projection of an experience. He is much simply an experience as he held dear to watching people wonder a busy street.
—Extract [Records of the young old man: Tram Rides through Nottingham—Signed A.K]
Historical information:
The film mentioned is Tram Rides through Nottingham (1902) by Mitchell and Kenyon. The surprising long film (running six minutes long) was shot from the driver's platform of a tram on a single journey through the city centre.
What's mentioned is the concept of Phantom rides which ironically or not if you're not a hetalian is first coined by America is 1897 (where's the idea of his ghost fears lmao jkjk) made in 1897 The Haverstraw Tunnel. It was caught on quickly as it captured many impossible point of view shots. Cameramen would literally strap themselves and their cameras to the buffer of a train or tram. (someone draw this and I will applaud you).
Then I went onto a ramble about the reasoning behind the existence of Personifications. My personal favourite idea is that they are an experience not a representative, because of their free will nature they are captured as much as people with like a 'camera' (metaphorically) following them through time. That their experience is a looking glass into millions of shards of human experience: the good, the bad and the ugly. (Haha sorry reference) In this personal interpretation which holds my interests of hetalia separate from the Canon is simply the social history that is lacking in the actual show though at the same time is hinted at. If persay, I treat Arthur (hws England) as a guidence for the experience of people we would be looking at not just a clean cut basis of ideologies but human life expressed by a title and a human image. I suppose that's my ideas especially across with personifications of nature being an experience of the human imagination. Naturally, if you were to truly capture personifications of nature you would have plants or trees looking as themselves but with experiences of all living beings of their type.
That made no sense sorry. But eh, I'm obsessed with early film so :)
January 14th 1896, a young old man watched as waves of a rough sea crashing and pulling around. His widened green eyes captured in pure fascination and imagination. His youthful face held awe at these waves in a delightful glow and fascination. Though not the only spark of ideas for his eyes saw movement of people walking across streets or maybe parades. Perhaps children playing on lawns or young ladies riding their bikes to and from. He would admit that he applauded most for the picturesque view of sea waves.
"There's something so beautiful and sad and happy about watching sea waves like this. There's a changing but changeless quality, a slightly mesmerising quality but also, something you can't fake. There's a truth of a place where we can make our own choices yet be guided by these waves. There is something about the movement of water that is absolute. It's always shown at the same speed, so you can tell its not an illusion. I'm used to illusions and magic tricks, this is not one. This is absolutely real," he could only remark. His eyes were flared with passionate colourful imagination and fondness as he sees among an audience the spectacular sea splash with scenic sensations. This young old man watched the sea waves away from the sea upon a screen with many people.
Given 125 years later he would still watch those crescent waves fold over and appriciate a world captured for the beauty of the eye to love so dearly.
- Extract [Records of the young old man: 14th January 1896, film mentioned Rough Sea shot in 1895 by Birt Acres and camera built by R. W. Paul—Signed A.K]
Historical reference:
The Rough Sea was shot in 1895 and intended for exhibition in a peephole kinetoscope. Birt Acres, shot the film with a camera as explained in the extract. It was show cased as the first public screening of a film in Britain just a month after the Lumiere brothers in Paris. Although the film was very simple it became one of the most popular and widely screened of early British film. I thought Arthur would have very much have seen and ultimately adored watching it as I have studying Film.
Can someone just throw me out of the hetalia fandom please. A decade is long enough for me. Also I'm a disappointment to the universe so bonus points. Thanks.
I had a dream, it was a mistake I swear but you know I might finally have my second most favourite ship
Oml hi erm a little rant here since I saw this, mcnuggets yes this film means so much to me. Since I couldn't go to Pride in my local area cause you know restrictions are still a thing, my dad set me up a "Pride movie event" where he got me lots of snacks, put flags up everywhere in the living room and watched films with me including this one. It was extra special because I study film and I have to say technically this film is as excellent as well as being meaningful to me. It has a very story driven cinematography which makes it an accessible film to watch you'd be suprised. That's important because my mum had been struggling to support me and the LGBTQ+ community (she's trying but it's very difficult for her to change her mindset, it's not easy to talk with her sometimes) but she found herself watching the film easily without her usual problematic mindset saying awful things she doesn't understand (I have to explain why it's not right and then hence shouting match) because she could understand the message through film language. It always made me think how film could have been used in a way to access education further than what it does. Bonus points Dad is Welsh wooo ❤️🏴
Me: look at this old plot full of lore ideas and it's really interesting if I put effort into this fanfiction because it'll bring something interesting forward.
Also me: OOOOHHHHH A NEW DRAMATIC PLOT I WANNA WRITE WITH THAT ONE. NEW CONCEPTS AND IT'S SOMETHING I MIGHT ENJOY MORE.
My smart mind: Do what you find hard about the plot you already have, get over that challenge and it'll be as enjoyable as this new idea.
Also my free mind: Do what you enjoy and go do whatever 😎 The new one is now your interest you'll invest.
On 16 June 1373, the Treaty of Alliance was signed at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, between King Edward III of England and King Fernando and Queen Leonor of Portugal, sealing a ‘perpetual’ alliance of peace and friendship between the two countries.
They promised: ''From henceforth there shall be between us true, faithful, constant and perpetual peace and friendship, union and alliance’ (Article 1, Treaty of Alliance, 1373).
