Hi there!! Do u like tlou? Do u like wolves? Do u like weirdly phrased descriptions of landscapes? Do u perchance enjoy an unnecessary and confusing amount of metaphors?!!! Well boy I have the fic for you (it’s my fic) (it’s this one
It's pretty damn phenomenal watching as snow swept fields build into snow kissed hills, and then distant mountain ranges. To be fully truthful the image of Fir trees alone has Ellie all giddy. Every little detail of the state that unfolds in front of them has her one step closer to her ever growing dream.
She thinks about little Ellie, sitting in underfunded classrooms grasping at every piece of knowledge she could muster. Eating books for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
She learnt that she was never going to find love at home. And every friendship she forged died a fiery death, so it was easier to bury herself in school.
Every time her life was sent off kilter the one thing she could rely on was wolves. Now she gets to repay that debt.
Or; the rewilding wolves fic ft. Wildlife conservationist Ellie and Rancher Joel (also feral bonded cats do not separate ellie and joel but we ain’t talkin about that rn)
As a gen z, that works in customer service (hospitality), these are my thoughts on the gen z stare.
Is it possible, that maybe, JUST MAYBE, YOUNG PEOPLE ARE HUMAN BEINGS?!!
I understand the frustration that comes with a gap in social communication skills, but when I tell you some of the high schoolers I work with are the most attentive, caring, passionate and supportive people. I MEAN IT!!
While I’m not in high school I’m close in age to these people, and all I ever see from them is a desire to make genuine connections with customers, do a decent job, and sometimes just get through the day.
I think sometimes people forget how much being a teenager fucking sucks. these kids go from a full day of school with the pressure of grades, social life, social media, parents, and then they have to turn it all off to go to work, get paid less then co workers (that a lot of the time they work harder than) and interact with people, who most of the time don’t give a shit about them.
One of my co workers is your typical grunge vibe teen, chokers, black eyeliner ect. She’s not a social person, in-fact she will happily state she hates people and yet EVERYTIME a regular or even someone who is not a regular comes in she greets them with a smile, remembers their name, their order.
Another coworker of mine, who regularly works weekends on the floor serving customers, taking orders, has customers coming up to my manager, me or one of the other senior staff to say “that boy went above and beyond to ensure we had everything we needed.”
I and my young co-workers will go out of our way to learn simple signs to help Hard of hearing customers, who will walk an elderly customer out of the door, who will ensure your child gets a marshmallow with a smiley face on it, or get Dino stickers on their cup, who will work over time to ensure enough shifts get covered, train other junior workers despite not getting paid nearly enough to do so.
And on top of that everyday you get people who treat us like trash!! And I’m not over exaggerating, customers and colleagues will talk down to you, people who don’t even bother with a ‘how are you’ or even a ‘thank you’.
Young people care so much, and despite the many misconceptions we are in-fact human beings!!please forgive us once in a while for not reacting to your unkind tone with a grateful smile and a cheerful attitude, when you don’t care enough to see all the ways we pour ourselves into our jobs and our communities.
Just asking for a friend, right, what if say, someone where to have a fic, my friend in this instance. And my friend needed someone to beta read this fic, bc its been a while since they've written and they need some input, how would perchance, this friend of mine go about finding someone willing to do that... AGAIN IM ASK FOR A FRIEND IF I DIDNT MAKE THAT CLEAR...
is there certain etiquette my friend should know about or....
We all know NOBODIES name in the last of us means nothing. So here’s the explanations I can gather;
Ellie, Dina, Lev, Nora — are all linked back to meaning ‘light’ (Ellie is Joel’s light/arguably the fireflies light) (Dina is Ellie’slight) (Lev is Abby’s light) (and Nora is a doctor, so like the people’s light, also when Nora dies it signals a sort of brutal descent in Ellie’s character narrative therefore losing the light)
Joel’s name is (thought to be) a reference to Joel Coen (a famous director of true grit, no country for old men, and miller’s crossing (in which Tom is the name of one of the main characters muahhahaha))
Jesse is also the other Coen brothers middle name (because he’s supposed to act as a reflection of the miller brothers tough exterior, but loyal and passionate interior)
Abby means fathers blessing, which y’know… makes sense
Sarah’s name means princess
The name Tess linking back to Theresa means to harvest, which she does die during autumn, which is the harvest period??
Henry and sam (a looser reference which is not stated or confirmed, just a theory) Could be a reference to the song by Colter Wall, called Henry and sam.
Anna (Ellie’s mother) can be linked back to Saint Anne of the Bible, who was the virgin Mary’s mother. Which is meant to be a reflection I guess, that Anna like Saint Anne gave birth to the saving grace of humanity.
Benjamin, in Hebrew means ‘son of the right hand’ which would make sense, since Maria and Tommy are among the leaders of Jackson in some interpretations of the the Torah it means ‘son of days’ which refers to Benjamin in the Torah (son of Jacob) and his fathers age when he was born (being that his father was much older.) which while Tommy isn’t THAT old, he is on the older side when they have little benji, so that could be apart if the reasoning.
I’m so sure there are others but these were the ones I could reasonably link.
Today is winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, or as seen in @barlowstreet’s this is me trying (at least I’m trying) half way dark! (linked below)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/55975855
“It’s the longest night of the year,” she says as the sun rises.
“Oh, you hadn’t mentioned.”
“That means,” she says, ignoring the teasing, “That we’re halfway through the dark.”
She keeps going. Winter fights and she fights back with bloody teeth and broken nails until she claws her way through it.
The first day she steps outside and it’s warm, it surprises her so much she can’t move.
She won.
Ellie lifts her face to the sun and lets it wash over her.
Winter will come again, and she has a feeling it’ll continue to be hard for her. But she won and she knows she can keep winning.
“Fuck you,” she says, very quietly, and goes back inside to take her jacket off. She’ll need something lighter for this weather.
I’m sure the experience of seasonal depression is quite a relatable one, one i too am well acquainted with. Reading this part of the fic settled something in me in the lead up to this winter season. Especially as it would be the first living in an entirely new place.
So, today I got to celebrate the fact that I’m still here, I’m still getting through and soon enough winter will give way to spring.
My incredible friend who came to visit me this week collected so lovely foliage for my solstice tree,
My incredible mother helped me to dehydrate some lemons to make a garland.
We went to my towns lantern festival.
& my pup even had a lovely time in the winter sun!
So here is my reminder this solstice, whether you’re half way through the light or the dark, you can and, you will make it through. You’ve made it through each and every time before, and you make it through each and every time in the future.
Happy half-way dark & happy solstice! <3
(& go read this is me trying (at least I’m trying) by Barlowgirl plsplspls)
but fr though a lot of people think that Joel, or at least the Joel in the game that they know and love would NEVER go to therapy.
But there’s already a pre-existing distinction in that statement — Joel FROM THE GAME.
Pedro Pascal’s Joel, and Troy Baker’s Joel, are two wildly different takes on the same character, even if it manifests in little ways.
From Episode 1 of season 1 the distinction is clear. While both are portrayals of very devoted dads, There’s much more of an emotional side that is evident in Pedro’s.
(And given that the therapy scene was originally in season 1’s script I think that’s always been Pedro’s take on the character.)
The orange Juice, accepting Sarah’s present, his reassurances to Sarah are all much more emotionally invested than Troy Bakers Joel was. (I recommend watching the opening scene of the game to get a feel for the distinction yourself)
But there’s one thing that remains stagnant which is the violence. Joel is a violent man in the name of protecting the people he loves. When you watch back the Silver lake interrogation scene, there’s another distinction made in the actions of the Joel’s. While they are equally Cold and calculated in their acts of violence, Pedro’s Joel has his mind set on Ellie, he doesn’t waste time, even as he deals out torture, Troy’s Joel takes a little more pleasure in torturing the men he’s interrogating.
While they both portray a violent man, violence is akin to a language, the way that it’s carried out says something. Pedro’s Joel doles out violence in this tunnel vision way, as a means to an end. Troy’s Joel uses violence as a means of dominance and destruction.
It doesn’t make either interpretation wrong, that’s just what adaptation is about.
So how does this relate to therapy?
Well in Tlou 2 Joel knows there’s a wedge between him and Ellie, whether he consciously know the lie is the cause is yet to be determined, but with this relationship being pivotal to his life, the reason he crossed the country, became a father again, he wants to know how to fix it. And in the same way that his mind goes into tunnel vision mode when he’s using violence to fix things, his mind goes into a sort of tunnel vision of attempting to fix himself to get Ellie back.
Pedro’s Joel has always been an emotional person, whether he’s good at regulating them is another thing. But he’s aware enough of his emotions to tell Ellie about his suicide attempt, and to minutely connect that experience to what Ellie was experiencing. He was aware enough of his emotions to connect the feeling of needing to protect his pseudo daughter when he was hurt, or when he found her hurt.
While he’s not the most emotionally intelligent guy, he also killed a hospital full of people at a chance of saving Ellie’s life. I don’t think it’s so absurd that he’d set aside his pride just a little but in order to save the remnants of his relationship with her too.
Adaptation isn’t just copy pasting from one medium to another. Sometimes it requires the reimagining of characteristics that you loved in the original, and transforming them.
Comparing the two Joel’s and saying “not my Joel” is a great way of rejecting nuance. They’ve always been different Joel’s, it doesn’t make either less than or more than.
Apples and oranges, guys, apples and oranges.
Anyway stop coming after my man, he’s trying (and failing) but he’s trying dammit!!!
When adapting media it’s important to recognise what it means it switch from one medium to another. As a lit student I’m most familiar with this in the context of book to movie, but the same principles apply.
The conventions that make up the medium of game differ greatly from those that make up film/tv.
And in this instance i point this out because it changed the actors approach to the character significantly.
In the game, the idle time you have, and engagement time you have with the characters is much much longer, you spend hours with these characters, you ARE the characters. You die against the monsters their fighting with them, you face the factions they meet along the way with them.
You are an integral part of the narrative, because you literally are the characters. The emotional connection you find with them isn’t built off understanding why they do the things they do it’s built because you do the things they do. You are literally forced into their shoes and therefore actively into practicing empathy.
In the medium of TV they’ve much less time or means to allow the connection to be built, so instead what do they use? Emotions! They portray the very real very physical nature of the human condition through the characters emotions. Every shot of an actors face, every line they deliver is given with the intention of portraying all the intricacies of the human brain.
I think of it like this; in theatre because you are on the stage and there’s such a physical distance between you and the audience you have to over act, bigger movements, exaggerated words.
Whereas in film, there’s more subtle ways of conveying a characters innermost thoughts that are dialled back because we almost zoom in on the actors.
Both of the actors are portraying a character, both are trying to convey a story. Some people would prefer watching that play out on stage, some on the big screen, and some with a controller in their hand.
It doesn’t make any particular actor or director wrong in the choices they make when adapting from one medium to another it makes it different. And literary or analytically that’s the most interesting part.
Why did they make that change? How does it change the story? What does it do for this character? What does it do for the narratives values?
Media is about the messy stuff, the things we don’t understand but really desperately want to. Nuance and looking at a piece of media through multiple lenses is totally not a bad thing!!
And if you really fucking hate it even then after you’ve looked through every single lens, no worries! The original piece is still there for you, better yet fan fiction is widely available!! Make you own canon if you wanna, make your own lenses!!
(and be nice to those who look at it through a different one! We’re all human sometimes I can like something and you can not, doesn’t make the other person bad!!)
(Unless you refuse to like it because of an actors looks) (you might need to get over that babes)
I love talking about media adaptation and it’s merits so please if you have thoughts add them!!
In all honesty I’ve been really struggling to write in the past few months. I have so many ideas and every time I try get started on one it fizzles out. so if anyone has any tips of what the fuck to do with that… it would be much appreciated
Regardless i do have a wip, and in the same wolf related vain as messy’s. It’s about rewilding wolves into Yellowstone/Grand Teton, inspired by the incredible book ‘Once there were wolves’ by Charlotte McConaghy
Anywho! Here it is
No pressure tags (apologies if you’ve already been tagged): @midnight-society-tlou @stumbling-away @marceltheshellwithflipflopson @renegadeknight and anyone who would like to share <3 :)
#1 nap enthusiast @onthewallwiththis - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
