Liv Life Sweet

Olivia, 21,she/her. This is a collection of whatever random and nerdy things I feel I need to share with the world.

[livlifesweet]

www.rbnjb.com?a=78268240

glasses anniversary, only this day!

[disneydailly]

[marrymejasonsegel]

I wrote a college paper once about gender dynamics in Disney films, and part dealt with the emphasis of androgyny in this film. Mulan is an outsider and unsure of her position of the world when she is adhering to both a total feminine role (the matchmaking scene) and a total masculine role (disguised as a male soldier) and it’s only when she’s able to embrace both sides that she is able to fully showcase her abilities and ultimately save the day. 

The entire climax, from climbing the poles using sashes, counting on Shan Yu’s complete dismissal of women to get the Emperor to safety, to this scene where she literally uses a symbol of womanhood (within the movie at least) to disarm the villain of his symbol of masculinity and beat him at his own game, shows Mulan relying on the aspects of her femininity that she has grown up adhering to and adapting the tactical knowledge and fighting skills that she learned disguised as a male soldier to those aspects. The result is a unique and innovative view of the world and her course of action that leads her to save the day when the male soldiers failed and the women wouldn’t even have been allowed to try. 

[ingu]

This commentary is so curious to me because it’s such an excellent example of white/western cultural bias in portrayals of other cultures. Because fans by themselves are a gender neutral object in Ancient China, especially the large type that Mulan uses in this particular scene is actually masculine if you must code it historically, and in Chinese hands would be used as a tool to support her masculinity and not the other way around. These paper fans are used in general by (male) scholars and artists who decorate its surface with art and calligraphy. It is a symbol of (masculine) intellectual power and the intellectual elite. And if you look to Asian martial arts films, they are a common and almost exclusive weapon of men.

Yet the movie takes this deeply cultural object and either willingly or ignorantly makes it an object of womanhood or femininity. To the extent of my knowledge, this is mostly reflective of western social history. And draws from the coquettish ways Georgian? Ladies would use the fan to signal their romantic interest and all the history and influence around it. The equivalent object for the Chinese lady would in fact be the handkerchief, or a hairstick if you want something pointy.

And it’s all the more curious because at the end of the day it’s a western depiction of a foreign story made for western consumption. It is not a story made by and for Chinese little girls, but to empower and inspire those in the West. Which provides the context for the above (excellent) analysis. It does not need to fully take Chinese history into context because it was never made for us, despite being explicitly about us.

[petr1kov]

You know, one thing i like about Mulan is how Yao, Ling and Chien Po don’t really seem to care about the fact that Mulan is a girl.

I mean, when they find out, they are visibly perplexed

But even so, they rush and try to help her when she’s about to get killed

After this, they all seem quite depressed about having to leave her behind (and when Shang ignores her)

And when she shows up and takes action, they gladly follow her lead

And they even rock some crossdressing, like she did

(btw they just missed a great opportunity to make Shang crossdress here, shame on you movie)

Honestly, i just think this needs more appreciation. Because to them, Mulan didn’t have to prove herself again, just because she is a girl. She already earned their friendship and respect when she was ‘Ping’, and that was enough.

[hallwinter]

why have we stopped wearing cloaks and capes. this is ridiculous. the human race is a failure

[pizzaswag]

panic at the disco isn’t a phase you never grow out of listening to them you might drift from them for a bit but you’ll always come back it’s like the fucking mafia

[bruce-wqyne]

The Incredibles 2 can just be 2 hours of the Parr family chasing their flaming-laser-shooting-shape-shifting-lighting-conjuring baby around the house trying to change his diaper and I still would still pay to see it 15 times

[inner]

[galina]

The V&A café is the best museum café ever

[acknowledgetheabsurd]

A journalist who rereads his published article and does not ask whether he was right or wrong, who experiences no pangs of doubt or scruples, and who on some nights does not despair of being equal to the absurd but necessary work that he does week in and week out–in short, a journalist who does not judge himself daily–is not worthy of his profession and bears the heaviest of responsibilities in his own eyes and in the eyes of his country.

Albert Camus, Camus at Combat (October 31, 1944)

[thedrawingduke]

🌿A warm up (procrastination?) sketch of Anne Shirley from Netflix’s Anne with an E series! 🌿

I absolutely ADORED Anne With An E  and I think I’ll perish without a second season!! I know there’s a lot of hate for the show…but honestly, I like the changes and they did a good job exploring some forgotten themes/historical nuance while still staying true to the spirit of the characters. Also, far more productive, sympathetic, and helpful portrayal of anxiety, depression, PTSD, death, friendship, and suicide than that…other show…*cough* 13 Rea-*cough*…I DIGRESS.

I’ve always been a big Anne fan (fanne?) so I’m delighted to have more Anne media to consume >:} (Also, my phone keeps autocorrecting “Gilbert” to “Giblet” so that’s his new name now

@ thedrawingduke on twitter + instagram + tumblr + facebook + Patreon + Ko-fi

[visitheworld]

Through the keyhole, Whitby / England (by alastair graham).  

[wahgifs]

It doesn’t matter what the other girls think, Ruby, it matters what you think.

[anahin]

[silvertons]

You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I’d scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever.

[buttermybooks]

books+pizza+friends

[garbage-dono]

do you ever just start mentally plotting out a story and you suddenly come up with that one scene or that one line and you just think

yes

this will be the scene that makes everyone cry

[cav-core]

I want a sitcom which is just every single Shakespeare character as college students in a dorm building. 

[kakumei-no-tomoshibi]