c o s m i c @icicle-frost - Tumblr Blog

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

gal-lexicon

I just watched Avatar for the first time all the way through, and yeah, it’s great, but the one thing that surprised me was how different Katara was compared to the fandom interpretation I’d seen and internalized before watching.

Like, before you watch Avatar, you’ve seen all these memes about Katara and her mom, and based on those memes, you assume it’s one of those lines you have to get used to hearing at least once every episode. But then you watch the show and realize that she only talks about her mom maybe five or six times per season and you also realize she only brings her up when she’s trying to comfort someone or empathize with them because that’s how she processes her grief and that’s one way she connects with people.

Or you hear the infamous line, “then you didn’t love [our mother] the way I did” and you prepare yourself for one of the worst character assassinations ever only to see the scene after nearly three seasons worth of context and realize she was kinda right. She’s been the mother, the nurturer, the comforter. She’s been patient, gentle, and accommodating where everyone else has gotten to be insensible and reckless and childish, and the one moment where she allows herself to feel her grief, suddenly she’s this evil bitch and not, y’know, a 14 year old girl whose been thrusted into adulthood in a way no other character has. A 14 year old girl who should be allowed immaturity and raw emotion and anger instead of the patience and grace she’s been forced to extend to every character without even the smallest amount of gratitude or even consideration in return.

Or you see all of the clips where Katara puts Aang in the “friendzone” and you expect to have this wishy washy back and forth where Aang is putting his feelings out there only to have Katara neither commit nor express any clear reciprocation or rejection. Then you watch and realize that, as cute as the ship is initially, that there’s never a point where Aang returns any comfort or grace to Katara despite her always doing this for him to the point of coddling. That for as much as Aang says he loves her, he never seems to outgrow his perception of her so he can recognize her as someone who feels grief, anger, and pain as much as she expresses love, kindness, and maturity. And instead of having moments where he learns to see her beyond her strength or compassion, you’re instead given moments where Aang forces his feelings onto her, both romantic and non-romantic, and Katara is expected to just…shoulder those feelings the way she shoulders everyone else’s.

Katara is the most misunderstood character in the show. As much as people recognize the complexities of Zuko, Sokka, and Azula, they struggle to do the same for Katara because they see her struggles as somehow lesser, and therefore, less deserving of sympathy. They can handle her so long as she’s being endlessly patient and loving and kind, but the moment her endless love, patience, and kindness runs out, she’s suddenly this annoying bitch who can’t shut up about her mother or reciprocate Aang’s feelings. But Katara’s trauma does matter as much as anyone else’s. No, she wasn’t banished from her kingdom. No, she didn’t lose her entire community, and no, she isn’t the only one who lost her mother. But the difference between her and everyone else whose experienced loss because of the Fire Nation is that she’s never given time to process her trauma. Aang gets to lean on Katara constantly. Toph gets to express her feelings to Katara, and yeah, Sokka also lost their mother, but unlike Katara, he isn’t put in the position of being a substitute for everyone’s parent. He even admits that he sees his sister as a mother. The only characters who ever comfort Katara or allow her to vent is Zuko and her father and that’s, like, three scenes in a show where the other characters are consistently given opportunities to seek out Katara for unconditional support.

The fandom interpretation of Katara has been so bastardized that even those who haven’t watched the show know her for this fanon version and not for who she is. She’s such an interesting character beyond her fandom limitations, though. She’s brave, hot-headed, and hopeful as well as gentle and caring. She wishes to learn waterbending, not only because she wants to fight in the war, but because she wants to continue her culture’s practices because, and people often forget this, she also lost an entire subculture within her already fractured tribe. And she wants to defeat the Fire Nation both because of her deep love and empathy for other people, but also because she wants to avenge her mother. But because some of the fans have reduced Katara to a bitch who constantly whines about her mother and friendzones Aang, you wouldn’t know any of this, and it sucks because she’s the only character whose been dumbed down to such an extent.

nias-keca

wow dreams do come true.. QwQ

notsomeloncholy

When she asks if you want to go home but home’s right here

lesly-oh

That’s all she wanted

chronically-ironic

I rewatched soul eater and im right

drowsystar

ABJJCGJSSNKGCKSNK MY GOD

azroazizah

accurate

aamitmorthos

I mean, I knew I wasn’t the only one who started new horizons like this…

sokkable

sokka: wHeRe ArE tHe MeN wHo CaPtUrEd Us???????

kyoshi warriors: um we were the ones who captured you

sokka:

sokkable

for anyone wondering, yes there are two different ways to read this meme

vixieblues-deactivated20210125

Redrew an old catradora drawing from a while ago

benevolentgentleman

luckthebard

It’s a minor thing to be irritated about, but one of the things that annoys me most about the anti-CR D&D crowd on twitter is the hard line they always draw between “veteran players” and “Critical Role fans.”

They all carry this assumption that the “old-school, true” D&D fandom is separate from these annoying new so-called players who really just like podcasts.

And I’m sitting here, someone over 30, who’s played D&D since High School and used to lie about playing it both because it was “uncool” and because the Satanic Panic was still kind of lingering, happily enjoying Critical Role because it’s good and it’s part of what got a ton of new people into the hobby, and thinking about how I now have two different groups to play with as an adult and there’s not nearly as much stigma as there used to be and I just…

You do you, old-school D&D fans who resent new players and don’t like CR (whatever, not everyone has to!) but don’t project your bitterness onto me and the rest of the veteran players who enjoy all this new content.

#yaaaaa go awwwffffff #5e #critical role

sawasawako-archived

i think it’s such a cool idea to make camp half-blood a summer camp. usually the magical world is situated in an academy or some other formal institution that’s separate from the real world but in PJO it’s a summer camp, and it symbolises both a break from real life but also somehow co-existence with it.

also another interesting thing is how there’s no separation between the mythical and mortal worlds. like, they straight up just drive through the states on quests and visit monuments and landmarks where there are mortals walking around at any given moment. the battle of manhattan happens on the very streets of manhattan, and percy is just namedropping streets and avenues and landmarks every few pages and you really get the sense that it’s all concrete and real like it might actually be happening. imagine being a new yorker and reading PJO and getting the distinct feeling like it could all be real... how cool is that

sawasawako-archived

seriously tho i think this is what distinguishes the series from its counterparts in the same genre. usually with fantasy & dystopia, authors make it a point to establish that division between the ordinary, “mundane” world and the extraordinary magical one. see harry potter, lotr, narnia, every fantasy story ever. sometimes it’s a physical boundary, other times it’s a metaphysical one, but there’s always a boundary line. it gives fantasy novels that aura of mystique and... well, fantasy, but it can also be alienating bc of that constant knowledge that this is a world separate from your own, one you cannot touch by default. it’s escapist in nature.

but PJO is like, the exact opposite. it’s an incredibly persuasive and compelling story despite the fact that it’s literally about mythological beings because the mythology is enmeshed with the real world, and that makes it inherently more believable. it literally changes the way you see the geographical and topographical landscape. now the empire state building isn’t just the empire state building, it’s the gateway to mount olympus. the bermuda triangle is no longer an elusive mystery, it’s synonymous with the sea of monsters and we all read about what happened there. heck, we even know the approximate location of where camp half-blood is irl. somewhere across the country these demigods are fighting a monster. percy jackson lives down the goddamn street. it’s like if you don’t go out and see it for yourself it could very well be real for all you know.

the books go out of their way to demonstrate how mythology and human civilisation are intertwined, and CHB is kind of this liminal space where kids who belong in both worlds get to find and make a home. like. hello??

sexycraisinthanos

Knives Out ending with a bunch of entitled, rich white people, (literally) looking up to a poor latina woman, whom they all claimed to care about until it was revealed that she was getting everything they felt they were entitled to and then immediately turned on her, even threatening her family, now realizing that everything they depended on is now in her control and in every aspect, she owns them and she knows what they’re like and decides whether or not they see a single dime and you can tell by the look in her eyes that she will not give them anything and no amount of begging and pleading from them will make her change her mind

thebootydiaries

me: *opens fanfic*

fanfic: *has no spaces between paragraphs*

me: *closes fanfic*

three--rings

There’s always a lingering question that I ask myself, which is why do I, a cis bisexual woman, enjoy romance between two men so much?

There are easy answers, like that it’s just fetishizing. And like, I find men attractive, yes. But I also find women attractive. I don’t have a problem with enjoying het romance, assuming I can find good ones. I enjoy stories with female characters I can relate to.

But there’s something much deeper at play, IMO. A friend of mine who is a gender studies professor was the first person to point this out to me, but a lot of women enjoy m/m romance and gay porn because of the lack of women. It removes a source of pressure and sexism. Without any women present, you don’t have to constantly evaluate the sexism of their portrayal, or be reminded of negative experiences in your own life. It allows women to experience romance and especially sexuality without all the baggage that comes with it in our patriarchal society.

This was recently illustrated to me rather dramatically. I read a recommendation for a het romance. And it sounded cute, and came highly recommended. The tropes at play were fun. Until I read a snippet and realized this was a romance between a woman and her boss. I had a visceral negative reaction.

Instantly I’m thinking of sexual harassment stories I’ve read and heard from other women. I’m thinking of how uncomfortable it would be to have your boss develop feelings for you. How icky the power dynamics would be, etc.

And then I realized…this wouldn’t bother me if it were two men. Now, there’s no logical reason for that. Sexual harassment is just as wrong when its object is a man. But I know I’ve read fics with a similar premise and never thought about it. Because when it’s two men I can accept this is just a light romance, a fantasy, meant to be fun and sexy and not to represent the real world.

But I can’t when it’s a het relationship. There’s too much baggage there. Too much societal history of abuse. I can’t relax enough with the premise to enjoy that story.

Now some people can. And that’s fine. And some people are never going to be okay with power imbalances like that regardless of gender. That’s also fine. I don’t think having either reaction makes one morally superior. It’s okay to just enjoy light entertainment for what it is without going into deep analysis.

But it’s much more difficult for me, and I think for many women, to relax and enjoy romantic and sexual stories when they involve female characters. We’ve been burned too many times by shitty depictions, by shallow role models, by abuse portrayed as romantic. We have developed a stress response, a trauma response to heterosexual romance. We are hyper-reactive to a wide variety of triggers in regards to it. But removing women from the equation makes stories safer for us. And maybe it shouldn’t? In an ideal world? But for many of us, that’s the truth.