dont trace reference images. dont even LOOK at reference images. in fact, don't ever look at anything that exists in the world, in person or in photos or in videos, even when you're not drawing, because you will still be able to use the memories of what something looks like as a reference when you're drawing it later. yes that includes yourself. destroy all the mirrors in your house. don't look down at your hands or feet. don't look. close your eyes. close them tight. forget everything. it's okay, embrace the darkness. just forget.
Thank you, Black people in fandom spaces. Thank you, Black creators and Black lurkers. Thank you Black artists, Black writers. Thank you, Black bloggers, Black influencers. Shoutout to those Black characters, both canon and original. Thank you, Black people, both queer and cishet.
Your perspectives matter. Your representation matters. You are not bothersome for demanding equal treatment in fandom. It is not your responsibility to make fandom more welcoming and inclusive to you. It is not your sole responsibility to create all of the Black-centered content. You are not "ruining" anyone's fun for demanding better for yourself, and anyone who says otherwise can go fuck themselves. Any fandom worth being a part of should have no room for racism in it.
Black people in fandom, you are wanted. You are needed. You are loved and appreciated. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
And since they don't get told it near enough, thank you, Black women especially!!!
You are not "ruining" anyone's fun for demanding better for yourself, and anyone who says otherwise can go fuck themselves. Any fandom worth being a part of should have no room for racism in it.
I have this theory that in Inception, Eames is very nearly on his way to being addicted to dreaming.
When we first see him in Mombasa, he's quite literally a loser - the first thing we see him doing is losing a dice roll. He's gambling in illegal gambling dens, using his forgery skills on petty crime (that stack of 100 Kenyan shilling tokens is maybe USD$30) and generally kind of a sleazy guy.
We see him in Yusuf's dream den, we're specifically shown Eames’ reaction. He's disgusted and I think scared too.
When we see him in Paris planning the dream heist, he's aloof, talking clinically about how to get the job done, and fidgety. The only signs of personality are when he's needling Arthur (because Arthur just brings that out in him), and some of it is entirely uncalled for (Arthur was genuinely impressed!).
When he's one level under, he's teasing Yusuf, downright flirting with Arthur, and talks Cobb down. When he's two levels under, he's seducing Robert, teasing Saito and having a great time. Three levels and he's basically James Bond, saving the day.
I wonder how much of his topside snippiness comes from withdrawal and wanting to get back into dreaming?
Since he's a supporting character, this arc is unfinished. In the Eames' own words:
Shame. I wanted to know what was gonna happen in there. I swear we had this.
Unfortunately I don't have anywhere near the life experience or knowledge to be able to be able to fully depict it with the sensitivity it deserves, so I'm just putting this idea out into the world to make it everyone else's problem.
“Shipping these two men takes away from their importance of platonic love!!” okay write about that platonic love then. or another example of platonic love in the media you’re watching. or watch a buddy cop movie. or a movie about a male friend group. or any movie from the 80s. or expand your options and enjoy a woman and man’s platonic love (a seemingly impossible idea for some people)
Nobody is forcing you to ship these characters, don’t try to force us not to ship them. Matter of fact, the vast majority of shippers also love hearing about the platonic love. If platonic love is that important, start actually talking about it more often and more generally (such as straight ships) instead of using it to purposefully bring down queer shippers and using“platonic love” as a guise.
(also the whole “friends to lovers” trope is chopped liver when it’s gay right. that’s a straight ship trope only apparently)
I love the way Arthur and Eames are shown here and we can immediately see what's going on in just in one shot. They're equal and opposite visually and thematically on a purely film school nerd analysis level, regardless of fandom goggles.
Honestly, seeing this interaction giffed on Tumblr and the way it established the characters and their relationship to each other in one second without sound was what made me jump into the whole fandom and Dream Husbands ship in the first place, because it shows just how much they belong together.
Their postures - Arthur still and formal, Eames slouching and constantly fidgeting. Their outfits - Arthur's coordinated gray suit and tie all done up nicely and Eames with his jacket hanging off the chair, obnoxious watch, and weird mustard colored short sleeved shirt. Arthur diligently taking notes while Eames distractedly plays with his totem, his notes sitting unopened on his knee. The way Eames spins his whole body to talk to harass Arthur while Arthur just turns his head maybe 45 degrees. Plus the actors themselves physically with coloring and build, and different accents. They're situated symmetrically on the screen (same distance from the edge of the screen), same height, same distance from the camera.
Their characters are there to be left brain (logic and order, "lacks imagination") and right brain (emotion and imagination, "not like you") for Cobb.[1][2] Their totems both being so similar (red cheating gambling tokens - but their methods controlling different aspects of the game) are a sign of their connection. In the first third of the film they're in conflict, but in order for Inception to succeed, left and right brain have to come together and work in sync. And so there's a whole-ass montage of them in the final third simultaneously laying explosives to get the kick going on level 2 and level 3, blindly trusting the other to do his job, so they can complete the heist successfully.
The fandom goggles do come in when they're both played by extremely attractive actors who interpreted the tension between the characters LIKE THAT, but I mean, come on. Darling. They're two characters who are each others' equals, opposites and rivals in every way; who have tension but begrudging respect and ultimately trust, work brilliantly alongside each other, and have some kind of unspecified history together. They're two halves of a whole as dictated by the narrative.
How are we not supposed to ship this?
I suppose you could make an argument for Id/Ego/Superego or Ethos/Pathos/Logos, the whole Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic. But the movie is about neurological pseudoscience so left/right brain works better imo. Esp given that they actually mention the imagination thing.
I saw a menswear blog post that pointed out that whatever Cobb's wearing always lies between what Arthur is wearing (dressed up) and Eames is wearing (dressed down). Except for the scene where he and Arthur are kidnappers.
tangentwithtanner
stormborns
