jojoblessed365

Believer of love, fate, family and beyond...

[jojoblessed365]

Me when I'm thinking about Literati, head-canons and parallels

Credits @newyorkermag on Instagram.

[the-pineapple-talks]

Bridgerton be like:

Forced pregnancy? Cool!

Cheating with the sis? Cool!

Whatever Colin thought he was doing? Cool!

Emotional cheating with the cousin? Cool!

Single woman? IMPOSSIBLE

[jojoblessed365]

That's what i hated about Bridgerton s4- no offence to Benedict and Sophie, your love story was great, but I hated the subplot of punishing Eloise merely for the fact that Hyacinth wanted to become a child bride and Eloise stepped on that dream with real genuine concerns and she's forced to apologize thus minimizing her agency.

[wowsillies]

"You are trying to tell me that you understand. I can see it in your face, even when you say nothing. That we are the same now because we've both lost our husbands, but we are not the same." — Season 4, Episode 7

“You were barely even there after he died.” — “Season 2, Episode 3”

Do you think Violet thinks about this? Do you think Violet felt guilty seeing her daughter go at least you have children while knowing that at the worst of her own grief she could barely even get out of bed? Do you think Violet ever thinks back on her attitude towards Hyacinth as a baby and feels so sorry?

She had lost something horrible! She saw Edmund die! He died in her arms and she was pregnant! She really was doing her best! But it’s so interesting seeing Francesca’s perspective of that time (“John has left me with a gift like Father left Mother”) be so different from what Violet felt and how Anthony remembers it. We know he was taking care of the others as much as possible, but I don’t think it’d sunk in for me how much he protected them after Edmund’s death until this. It’s so interesting to see Anthony and his eldest child perspective contrasted with Francesca, who was second youngest before Hyacinth was born.

To Frannie, the baby would have been hope. For Violet, the pain was not soothed at all! Grief is different for everyone but I wonder if Violet stood in front of Edmund’s portrait that night and replayed “we are not the same” and Anthony’s words over and over again.

BONUS: Mother and daughter arriving to the same conclusion.

[jojoblessed365]

Reblogging tags and further expanding upon OP's post, I do think what is interesting is that John's death triggers the buried grief processes for the younger siblings- Francesca, Eloise, Gregory and Hyacinth- which plays a big part in the back half of the series.

For Francesca, it's a 1:1 in terms of losing a husband but differs in terms of an absence/presence of a child, which OP has explained beautifully.

For Eloise, it's revisiting her trauma of childbirth, especially when she's the one with Violet in the examination scene and there's an incredible juxtaposition with the auditory elements of both scenes and the agent of comfort.

For Gregory and Hyacinth, it's an active pursuit of grief because unlike Edmund, they both knew John personally and that kind of grief which is so adjacent to losing their father stirs up some trauma. We don't know Gregory's process personally just yet, but we see something with Hyacinth where she finally realizes that the marriage mart doesn't necessarily entail an HEA, that it's shouldn't be the end-all, be-all for women especially with the way Francesca becomes a shell of herself and has to start from the ground up.

This is a big difference from the older siblings where both Daphne and Colin had rose colored lenses of Violet and Edmund's love which had different consequences and unlearning of that perspective while Anthony and Benedict kind of shied away from it for the same reasons but used different mechanisms.

And this kind of becomes Violet's journey in the back half, especially for Eloise who is the next person to push back against marriage, because I do think she had a closer relationship with Edmund as she is constantly clashing with Violet which is very similar to Anthony clashing with Violet throughout s2. Violet has a lot of unlearning with the repercussions of how her grief has affected her children in different ways and that's something new that the show can tackle.

[anassemblageofpassions]

I think Glinda sensed fiyero’s waverings. Not his love for Elphaba, I don’t think she really suspected that. But she sensed his idealism, and she saw in him something similar to Elphaba. She knew he wanted to leave. But she couldn’t be alone again. He’s the only real friendship she’s had other than elphabas, the only person to give her the semblance of something real in a world where everyone simpers after her and spews lies. So I think that’s where the idea of springing the engagement on him came from. She didn’t want him to leave like Elphaba so she tried to lock him down in any way that she could. I don’t think her chasing his love was because she wanted something truly romantic with him. She just wanted something true. Because every relationship she has had that isn’t Elphaba is a lie. No one wants her for her except Elphaba. So she clings to what she and Fiyero had, and she clings harder when he becomes more like Elphaba, and she wants it both ways. She wants his status and his symbol and she wants his true love. But she cannot have both. And neither can he.

[jojoblessed365]

I agree with this take, and also with the fact that what makes Glinda and Fiyero different from say, Nessa and Boq is that Glinda actually does begin with courting Fiyero for his status but in the script, sees that Fiyero is kind to people (waiting for Nessa and Boq at the boats) which is something she has yet to learn herself until the Ozdust when she learns empathy and the pain of hurting an innocent person.

I think in WFG, Glinda feels it's a natural progression for her and Fiyero to get married for all the OP's reasons but also that she still is very blind to having her ambitions be fulfilled because of her warped perspective with her childhood dream of being magical and that being loved was the ultimate goal. I think it's ironic in the fact that Fiyero does everything that Glinda was more aligned to do and she has to face the regret that comes from not acting or letting go of what she thought she needed to do. It reminds me a little of the speech in Scent of a Woman, where a character who all the tools to make the right decision, doesn't and a younger person who doesn't, makes the right choice nevertheless.

[elphyero]

Love and being in love

I've been wanting to make a post about this for quite a while now, but we know how the holidays can be, but here we finally go.

What I absolutely love about Wicked it that it shows us different types of love. There's romantic love, platonic love, paternal love (Frex towards Nessa and even the Wizard with wanting to be a father), devotion, etc... you get the idea.

But what I absolutely love is that it also shows us the difference of loving someone vs. being in love with them.

I thought more about this when the creators talked about the deleted supposed to be very romantic kiss between Fiyero and Glinda. And while, yes, of course I'm glad it's not in the actual deleted scenes, I think it's an important example of loving someone, but not necessarily being in love with them.

Personally, I am convinced that Fiyero and Glinda love each other. And that love grows out of being there for each other once Elphaba left and their friendship group broke into pieces.

It's an easy relationship, they're all they have left, they lean onto each other, they're there for the other one. That's a form of love. You care about someone and that can grow into something very strong. Or it doesn't. But it doesn't lessen the fact that you love that person and that there is a very strong bond between you.

I think it did grow into something very strong for Glinda and Fiyero. That's also why Fiyero agreed to the wedding. Because he does love Glinda.

I have already made that post about Fiyero probably being absolutely confused about his feelings towards Elphaba, which you can find here, so I won't go too deep into that. But to make it short, he probably can't place the feelings he has towards Elphaba.

What he doesn't know (at this point) is that, while he loves Glinda, he is actually in love with Elphaba.

And the moment he realizes is when Elphaba is actually standing in front of him and he has to chose between Glinda and Elphaba.

Yes, he loves Glinda, because he cares about her and about her feelings. But he realizes that it doesn't run as deep as being in love with Elphaba. Because there is so much more that connects the two of them. It's a deeper form because of how they see the world, of how they have been seen about how they understand each other, about what they want, etc.

And honestly? Elphaba probably feels exactly the same. She loves Glinda, she even says so at the end of For Good. But she's in love with Fiyero.

It's not called ,,falling in love'' for nothing. And that's exactly what Elphaba and Fiyero do. They fall for each other. And the result of that is that they're in love with each other.

Fiyero even says so in As long as you're mine when he says ,,It's up that I fell''.

And Cynthia said ,,They fall for each other as persons''. (I cannot find the full quote, so correct me if she said it differently)

And that's what makes the Cornfield Scene even more tragic, when Glinda probably realizes exactly this. ,,He was never going to harm me'' because he wouldn't. He would never harm Glinda but he would die for Elphaba.

And I could keep writing about this and just go in circles, but I hope you get why I wouldn't mind the deleted scene (but as before, I'm still ok with them keeping it locked. Gives us the broomide instead please!)

[jojoblessed365]

@elphyero this is exactly how I saw it too, and it also creates a difference between the love triangle of Boq, Nessa and Glinda (persona) where the concept of caring for someone clashes with the prospect of being obsessed with a person (in Nessa's case) and an idea (in Boq's case with Glinda).

I hate that no one has brought this up but what if Nessa didn't continue holding onto Boq when he finally admitted that he was in love with Glinda and wanted to disrupt her and Fiyero's wedding and actually let him go? What did he actually think was going to happen- that Glinda would throw away her wedding for him, and blissfully fall into his arms? I have a feeling that Glinda would direct him to someone else again, and he'd become as bitter as he was as the Tin Man in MOWTH albeit without the new body. IDK I would love to know what other people think.

If anything, WFG really highlights the irony of all the different characters, had they learn to let go, much like Elphaba did at the end (faking her death so that Oz could move on to a better place but her having to leave Oz), things would have truly turned around. Think about it:

Glinda, had she let go of her insecurities that she must be "loved" by all, she wouldn't have lost two of the people she truly loved- Elphaba (her best friend) and Fiyero, a man who might have made her happy romantically (as said by Grande in a couple of interviews about their relationship)

Nessa, had she let go of Boq and her insecurities of being compared to Elphaba, wouldn't have been left alone or dubbed as The Wicked Witch of the East

Boq, had he let go of Glinda (and yes, it doesn't mean that he stays with Nessa) could have found love with someone else who does appreciate him and makes him feel seen and worthy

Madame Morrible, had she let go of her ambition (and to some extent her superiority complex), could also be powerful in Oz and The Wizard, had he let go of his thirst for power and ego, could have actually fulfilled his real desire for fatherhood

The only two characters who are rewarded for letting go are Fiyero and Elphaba because they find something worth pursuing with each other- and yes, at the end, they just have each other and need to find a home outside Oz but now they don't have the insecurities of everyone else accepting their new selves because they have unequivocally accepted each other.

[lifeguide]

The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.

— Shirley MacLaine

[threephantomrey]

Fiyero didn’t seem to know him and Glinda were engaged until Madame Morrible and Glinda announced it in to everyone during “Thank Goodness” so did Glinda even get a ring at all?😭 also they seemed to have a pretty short engagement their wedding was happening literally the night after the day the “Thank Goodness” scene happened

[jojoblessed365]

I mean if you stop on a couple of shots when Glinda is getting ready for the wedding, she does have an engagement ring but it's very flashy which encapsulates her and Fiyero's relationship - flashy but no real depth. Or it's something that Glinda picked herself- excluding Fiyero in the process and that's even evident in the wedding cake which is completely pink.

Also I think there was a gap in between where Boq was notified of the new rule that Nessa put on Munchkinland and when Elphaba sees the Animals evacuating and then subsequently meeting Nessa because it makes sense that Boq would eventually corrode with resentment towards Nessa and that things were getting out of hand in Oz. About a month, I would say where Elphaba is really very disillusioned especially after thinking that Fiyero hates her like the rest of Oz.

[designerpotatosack]

Eloise Bridgerton is NOT a Pick Me. Never was and never will be. The very definition of Pick Me is a male-centered woman who puts down other women for male validation. When in all hell has Eloise ever sought male validation, or put women down for it?

What Eloise is is a young woman seeing everyone around her submitting to a patriarchal system, and she happens to associate everything she doesn't relate to or agree w or like with said system. Especially when said things are weaponised against women (like "purity" culture, marriage, child bearing, submissive nature, etc.). She's angry because from where she stands, the women around her are ignoring, and even enforcing, these things.

And no, Hyacinth didn't "clock" Eloise or "put her in her place." If anything, this is going to make Eloise realise that while women have different goals and dreams, the system is all the more evil for forcing a single way of living on everyone by rewarding specific behaviours and punishing others. And it'll only strengthen her stand against the system.

[jojoblessed365]

Say it louder that it hits the auditorium!!!!

[jojoblessed365]

Closing out Panem's Prequel series with a hypothetical 3rd Book

I'm on a SOTR re-read, and I came across that passage at the interviews, explaining the First Quarter Quell, which apparently introduced the aspects very commonly linked to or as part of Haymitch and Katniss's Games- "may the odds be ever in your favour", the first chariot ride through the Capitol in district-colored outfits, and then the official setup of the Cornucopia and probably the first ever purposeful and longest bloodbath (because it would include more provisions than the 10th Hunger Games than just a few weapons and proper parachutes than the drones).

But then, I remembered the "twist" of the First Quarter Quell- "On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it.” and also, there isn't a tape available of those Games, because the Victor is considered dead, but no one has factually corroborated that, as it is vaguely mentioned by Effie and Peeta. Katniss remarks that "It is worse [...] to be turned over by your own neighbors than have your name drawn from the reaping ball".

Does it remind anyone of a pivotal scene in Mockingjay?

Because it did for me- President Alma Coin putting forth a "symbolic" Hunger Games for a vote from the remaining Victors. And Katniss remarking, "Was it like this then? Seventy-five years or so ago? Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games? Was there dissent? Did someone make a case for mercy that was beaten down by the calls for the deaths of the districts’ children?"

Or the idea that Coin, and not Snow, is responsible for the Capital City Bombing, because it's a greater example of betrayal when attempting to consider who's responsible as both Coin and Snow were leaders of the respective sides of the rebellion, especially because, if Snow *was* responsible, the Capital turned against Snow thinking that he did and if there was tangible proof that Coin *was* responsible, the rebels would not throw support to her being the next president, and even so, rebels with Katniss's moral values, turned and would turn against those who embraced the form of violent rebellion encouraged by Coin in that moment- Gale (indirectly because he authorized the practical and intellectual use of that bomb) and even to some extent (even though Katniss hasn't processed it but we have clocked it as an audience), the rebels like Johanna Mason and Enobaria, clouded by vengenance.

So... Could we assume that maybe... The Victor of the 25th Hunger Games, was a Pre-Dark Days District 13 citizen of a diasporic background, displaced into another district (maybe a Careers district or a District that was closer to 13, like District) similar to that of the Covey, chosen by his district as retribution for District 13's abandonment, and would go on to be Alma Coin's father or someone close to her, having a perverted relationship like Gaul and a young Snow or even a toxic and darker parallel to Burdock and Katniss's relationship where you can argue that they are similar to some extent (Burdock being unable to forgive Haymitch after hurting Asterid and Katniss with Asterid after Burdock's death)? It has to be a male lead so as to close out this prequel series, all from a male perspective.

The timeline would match up- there's no information on the 25th Hunger Games Victor which is most described compared to other and Coin assumedly based on her age, was conceived and born around this time so obviously the person related to her would be someone who lived through the Dark Days; it was the blueprint for all the postmodern Hunger Games as mentioned above, it was Snow's prime as a Gamemaker showing his own trajectory from Student-Gamemaker-President; it follows through on the seeds of the questions related to District 13 being so slow to joining the rebellion, let alone its existence, and how in some ways, gained a darker school of thought that rebelled the Capitals' own prejudices against the districts through a character like Alma Coin (as seen through Katniss and Bogg's conversation in Mockingjay when they see the hovercraft hanger and a clue is dropped that some of these hovercrafts are produced by the Capitol which would explain why everyone assumed it was a Capital hovercraft that dropped the parachutes).

It also plays into the other side of propaganda- propaganda of silence/omission because District 13 is a warning to the other 12, when really, District 13 in fact, had all the power to start a nuclear war. It also expands upon the philosophical concept of "plausible deniability", which would transcend the Hobbesian worldview (young Snow), implicit submission (young Haymitch), and by focusing on plausible/non-epistemic deniability, it aligns with Coin's arc and motives in *Mockingjay*.

It would also be nice to incorporate themes that could be expanded upon by the presence of a cross-district romance or allyship in the Games, similar to elements like the Newcomers strategy being eliminated from audiovisual memory of the 50th Hunger Games, or the separation among districts being enforced by the Capital through physical boundaries like the fence or very often allowing the depiction of allyship in the Games like the Careers or even with Haymitch and Maysilee, Katniss and Peeta in the first Games. Subsequently, this cross-district romance is juxtaposed with Katniss and Peeta who have a "cross-class" romance, but it also something along the lines of Snow and Lucy Gray's relationship with reversed positions where the victor becomes as twisted as Snow and his lover (who could be a District 12 citizen or someone related to the Covey) is either someone who escapes or dies, but that is up to Suzanne Collins.

It mirrors the original trilogy to an extent-

Katniss's experience of the Capitol at the height of the Hunger Games in the first book of the OG --- Snow's experience of the Capitol at the raw early years of the Hunger Games

The Quarter Quell kickstarting the bigger Second War which included "breaking an arena" and forming multiple-district allyship --- The Quarter Quell sowing the seeds of The Second War which also included "breaking an arena" by Haymitch

Katniss in District 13 for 2/3rds of the book before engaging in a "76th Hunger Games" and then eventually returning to District 12 --- the 3rd book mirroring it, first with whatever district the displaced protagonist is in, followed by the Games, ending with the protagonist potentially finding and permanently returning to District 13 because it's where he belongs, much like Katniss saying, "no matter what, [District 12] is our home."

What do you guys think?

[tvxcue]

finally actually watching s4 instead of just looking at clips and wow eloise spending the whole masquerade ball just charming women, to the extent that one of the few moments she was left alone was so that the women could go get her something to drink...............all while dressed as joan of arc. just gay as hell.

[jojoblessed365]

Reblogging for the tags regarding Violet and Eloise in s4.

[tvxcue]

i actually think that there's smth really interesting in peneloise versus their moms. bc i do think in many ways penelope's home life is just. worse. and her mother really truly doesn't understand her and doesn't care to understand her, portia doesn't really see penelope as a person, she's a daughter and she has to do what portia says bc portia is just trying to secure her daughters' futures and also the power she has over them is the only power portia has in her life and they need to listen to her for all their sakes'. like penelope doesn't even really think portia loves her for most of her life bc half the time portia ignores her and the other half she only sees penelope to call attention to how penelope is falling short of what portia wants/expects. so yeah penelope is lonely and neglected and having a really bad time in her family.

and i think that kind of clouds pen's ability to see how eloise also struggles within her family and with violet in particular. violet so clearly loves her children and she loves eloise and she does want the best for her. it's just that violet has a specific idea of what "the best" is and it's not what eloise wants for herself and violet thinks eloise just needs to be convinced that it is the best. and for all that eloise complains and rails against what is expected of her and she doesn't actually want to change, she also doesn't want to actually disappoint her mother. she doesn't want to conform but she doesn't want to be relegated to the sidelines and ostracized and she wants to be accepted, she just wants to be accepted as she is. and i think penelope looks at eloise's loving family and her ability to complain and demand and resist her mother and still be loved and thinks abt how lucky she is. bc penelope could never do that. violet would not have forced eloise to debut a year early. violet doesn't tell eloise where she's allowed to sit in a room, she doesn't make fun of her for reading, she doesn't force eloise to wear colors she hates. but eloise still isn't fully taken seriously. violet still doesn't fully see her. she tries but she struggles bc she runs up against her own beliefs abt what a woman in her society is supposed to be and what happiness looks like in her mind and she just can't see past those things to understand all of who eloise is.

[jojoblessed365]

Adding some more points....

I also feel that Violet (and maybe sometimes by extension, the Bridgertons) makes Eloise feel that she's too much as seen with how Violet doubles down on finding Eloise a match in 4x01, while Portia makes Pen feel that she's not, or underestimates her especially seen in the 3x02 confrontation.

That's why I hope that Violet learns to listen to Eloise and realize that there's a strength in wanting to find yourself and love finds you.

I have to admit I wasn't Violet's biggest fan in s4 with the way she treated Eloise and Benedict before 4x07.

[spaceorphan18]

So. Thinking about Season 5.

I had this nagging thought for ages that Season 5 would go to Franchaela, and I'm glad I was right. I'm actually happy that it's Francesca and Michaela. Because their story has been focused on so much, not only during Season 4, but the set up for it in Season 3 took up a lot of screen time. I couldn't help but wonder what Francesca could possibly be doing -- other than endlessly mourning (which I wouldn't want to see, tbh) -- during an Eloise Season 5.

Also, if I'm be honest, I think there are a couple of outside factors that pushed Francesca forward. For one -- I'm pretty sure the showrunner, Jess, has been desperate to tell Francesca's story for a while now. I think that's why Benedict got a queer story line in Season 3. And why Francesca has been front an center since she took over.

She really wants to talk about the lesbians.

And, I mean, more power to the lesbians, really. It's good that we have a f/f love story featured in a show like this. Because queer media, especially f/f queer media, is often only focused on when it's about being queer media. It's not usually mainstreamed focused on like this. And I think this has the possibility to be a fantastic story. Francesca and Michaela have been wonderful characters thus far.

(I just wish, selfishly, that Jess would take as much care with all the rest of the characters, too. I feel like she has focused on her favorites at the expense of everyone else, and it's been disappointing for someone who enjoys other characters more, even if I enjoy Francesca -- and Michaela so far.)

I also think it's a bit strategic. There's been a lot of controversy about the gender swap, and I'm curious to see how the general audience handles it. I think making it Season 5 gives the show a grace season to bounce back with season 6 if there's a bigger backlash than already is. If the show is going to get renewed for Season 7 and 8, my guess will be from Season 6 numbers. I guess we'll see how the GA, and Netflix, is feeling after.

Meanwhile, I actually think there is way more for Eloise to do with a season for set up. Look, it was frustrating watching Eloise do absolutely nothing for an entire season, and I really worried that not focusing on her season might make it worse for her. But after some thought, there's some potential to really do her set up story some service. They can give Marina's death some space. They can have her writing to Phillip during the whole season. And... they can get her married at the end of the season, and her marriage of convenance turning into love might be the focus of Season 6 -- which has been hinted at already by those in charge.

So, I'm looking forward to both of these seasons in a way that I just wasn't for Season 4.

What about the Polin? Well. Hmmm. I had hopes going into Season 4. I don't really have those already. I don't think Pen or Colin will feature much during Season 5. There was potential to give them more to do in Season 4 and they pointedly chose not to. I don't see much more happening for them in Season 5 -- especially when it's been two seasons now, and Colin has never directly spoken to Francesca.

Unfortunately, I think it's Benedict who will end up supporting Francesca due to his own queerness. And, I mean, at this point, Colin barely had much to do in his own story, as sad as I am to say it, I feel like the ship has sailed in me hoping for him to ever have more to do in the show.

I have no idea what they're going to do with the Whistledown plot -- especially with the two year time jump -- and I get annoyed thinking about it, so I'm going to attempt not thinking about it. I'm slightly surprised that Pen didn't have more to do in Season 4, either, so I don't think this plot point is going to have any kind of satisfactory development, nor do I feel like the show knows what to do with Pen any more than they do with Colin. So, I'll take my thirty seconds of screen time and make my peace with it.

(I do have a mild theory that Eloise might be LW -- which could lead for conflict between Eloise and Pen -- but, man, that would be hard for me to reconcile that plot point.)

Meanwhile, I do think there will be more (possible) Polin time for Eloise's season. I do think Penelope will be involved. I swear to god, though, if they let Colin have one thing, please, god, please let him have his line during the brothers' + Phillip scene. And if not, we can all riot together.

(I also hope there will be set up for Hyacinth and Gregory's seasons. Just - guys, I know I've been redundant saying it - but those books are so unhinged that I really want them to be made. Because there's a possibility that the show can just go off the rails crazy -- and I mean, that's what happens with tv shows anyway in their later seasons??)

Also - I have to wonder if there will be a season where the Queen dies. We're getting close. Hmmm.

So, yeah, that's where I'm at with it. I'm looking forward to these love stories in a way I just kinda wasn't with Season 4. (It also helps that for both seasons, we don't have to spend a lot of time setting things up. One of the pitfalls of Season 4, imo, was that we spent too much time with characters they needed to set up for the plot -- and that's a lot of what made it drag for me.)

And I'm mildly optimistic that -- while I'll mis that I don't see my favorites that much again (though, more children, right? there's gotta be more children), at least there's the possibility of a couple of good love stories. Right?

[wildspringday]

[threephantomrey]

trying to decide which Wicked characters (that aren’t Glinda or Elphaba) fates are the worst/the most terrifying is so hard cause Fiyero and Boq are both permanently turned into unrecognizable versions of themselves, with Boq being turned into a being made of tin who had his heart shrunk and is now blinded by rage and it’s so easy for Fiyero to break/fall apart because he’s now made of straw and they are immortal so they outlive everyone they know and can’t do anything about it (although Fiyero’s is more positive since he gets to run away with Elphaba and be with her for her whole life), Nessa gets crushed by a house flying through a storm that Madame Morrible created so she could use her as a way to capture Elphaba and she doesn’t even come back as anything she’s gone forever, and there was no way to stop that house or make it land somewhere else.

[jojoblessed365]

Unpopular opinion but I think the most terrible is The Wizard's because he has to spend what's left of his life in a world where he was insignificant but now also live with the fact that he caused his own daughter's death by his own order. And that the last words he heard from her was that her heart's desire was to fight him till the day she dies.

A close second is Glinda, who has to now live in a world without her best friend who is framed as her public nemesis and the truth of what really happened and her complicity will never see the light of day.

Then I would think Boq, especially if he's still the man we saw in March of The Witch Hunters- bitter, resentful, fueled by attention of a hateful kind. We know from the Wizard of Oz canon that Dorothy's friendship changes him and he becomes less heartless but now he has to live alone and work out who he is from the ground up and without a scapegoat (no pun intended Dr Dillamond) to funnel his hatred into (Elphaba) nor someone who the rest of Oz wouldn't possible hate them (Glinda).

[dragonsandrinks]

Unpopular opinion incoming…. READING NON-FICTION DOES NOT MAKE YOU MORE INTELLECTUAL THAN SOMEONE WHO READS FICTION.

Reading actively does.

Even if you are reading three biographies a month and closing each one without a single new question, without sitting with a theme, feeling something shift or thinking about your own life differently then you have not really been reading, you have just been consuming content.

There IS a difference.

A person who reads a fiction books and lies awake afterwards thinking about power and sacrifice and what they would have possibly done in that situation has done much more intellectual work than someone who has finished a whole shelf of ‘serious’ literature and retained nothing but the feeling of superiority of having done so.

The point has never really been what genre you read but rather what lessons or questions you take back.

[melis-ash]

#same energy

or a sister who likes balls and gentelmen and a sister who is tired of behaving appropriately

[jojoblessed365]

Adding some of OP's tags for this reblog.

There's an irony in the fact that Rosamund is humbled upon losing an engagement but Posy secures a match, just as Eloise learns to be a little less negative of the idea of marriage for other women without losing her values and identity (she still believes in women's rights and the idea of doing more) while Hyacinth has to recalibrate everything she believes of the marriage mart because of John's death. Florence Hunt has even said so-

"[John's death] hits her so deeply because she thinks that once you’ve found marriage and a partner, once you’re comfortable in that, you’re set for life. But when her brother-in-law dies, and she sees her sister mourn over this love that has just disappeared — the physical connection of love, that is — she’s really brought to her senses."

I do hope if Eloise is s5, both Violet and Hyacinth open their eyes to the fact that Eloise finds her match without having to give up her rebellious spark, which is what Violet muses that she misses that part of her younger self. If there's one thing I hated about this season, it's that Violet and Hyacinth pushing Eloise into a corner and making her feel that she's selfish or her being married is a big priority. It's part of the reason why I didn't mind Benedict yelling at Violet about her and Marcus in 4x05 because it was not just that but Violet pushing Eloise to talk to suitors in a situation that feels akin to sexual harassment.

This is just my piece on it but I'm glad that other events really got both Violet and Hyacinth to snap out of it.

[thecostofliving]

(This is about the show not the book) Eloise’s whole thing since season one when she has a conversation with Benedict about him being a man and having all the opportunities and ability to choose in the world is that she wants women to have choices and be able to choose for themselves how to live their lives. people saying the writing for Eloise’s character was horrible this season: the whole thesis of this season (that has even been touched on in other seasons, especially noticeable with Daphne and Penelope and Cressida to a certain extent) for Eloise’s character arc is for her to recognize that believing women should be allowed to choose what they want means that women who don’t want or value the same things she does are still valid in their wants and entitled to their agency and deserving of choice. And also women choosing to get married and wanting to fall and love and have families isn’t inherently anti feminist. Eloise rejects the sexism of society and the performance of stereotypical femininity that balls entail but when her and Hyacinth fight over it and over the course of the season as she sees how happy the lessons make her sister and how excited she is to join society Eloise realizes she has to let her sister come to her own understanding of society. her sister is allowed to want to be part of society, and even if Eloise doesn’t want that for herself she can support Hyacinth in wanting it. Hyacinth is entitled to choose to be part of society just as much as Eloise is entitled to reject it. Being a feminist isn’t about hating men and not wanting to wear pretty dresses and makeup.

Also, women? We? Are ? Allowed? To? Change? Our? Minds? Eloise Bridgerton is not a one dimensional caricature. Women can hold multiple conflicting beliefs, women can have feelings that change over time, or suddenly! women don’t just have to be one singular thing/think one singular way/feel one singular emotion. Complexity is understanding that women (in real life and in fiction) can be feminists that oppose patriarchy and reject everything that marriage stands for, and still want to fall in love and desire to be with the person they love, women can be against the ideological positioning and gender conformity of nuclear families and still want to have children. Everyone saying it’ll go against Eloise’s entire character for her to suddenly want kids and a family is implying that her whole character is that she’s a feminist and it’s not feminist to choose to have a family. There is more to her character than just being a feminist. Also you can be a feminist and still choose to have a family! Feminism is meant to give people choices to determine for themselves who they want to be when they want to be it, not force them into one static way of being for their whole lives. Acknowledging women characters agency and consciousness of the decision making process is what makes something feminism.

the season isn’t even out (or even announced) yet, people preemptively complaining about the character being destroyed and the writing being bad over the idea of Eloise ending up happily married can y’all chill for a sec and see how she ends up married (how the show portrays her agency and conscious decision making and the nuances of her wanting to get married) rather than just immediately writing off marriage entirely ?

[jojoblessed365]

I agree with all these points and I would like to add a couple:

First, Violet is left on an interesting level by the end of s4 which would factor into Eloise's love story should she be s5- she began part 2 with pushing Eloise back on the marriage mart which pissed me off cause Violet, bless her at times, doesn't take the effort to understand Eloise and her fears- it feels that she thinks Eloise is acting out and is more high maintenance compared to Daphne and Francesca.

But then, when she has her engagement with Marcus, and then how she plays a part in Benophie's story, and then unlocks how she is reminded of her younger self who she misses because that girl went away when she married Edmund. Doesn't it not feel a bit familiar to Eloise's primary fear of losing herself should she choose the wrong person?

With Hyacinth, she learns something from Eloise in turn - she realizes the need to find herself before she invests in love which is quite a development for someone who was so adamant on debuting early, taking her finishing lessons, thinking Eloise is selfish for expressing a real frustration (I'm on Eloise's side in that moment- I kept asking Hyacinth what do you want outside of marriage), to experiencing a harsh reality of love and now coming around that love is complex, and very often one must find out who you are before you forge a partnership/relationship.

And this is why Eloise's love story is important for both these women - I do believe that Eloise finds a love with Phillip where she doesn't need to relinquish her rebellious side and she found a match suited for her on her own time and as someone who exercised her full agency.

So yeah- I think Eloise finding love doesn't make her less of a feminist, especially if she finds and chooses someone who doesn't objectify or minimize her.