Oskar is winging it

Oskar 26; he/him and they/them Icon made with Mouse Maker on Picrew by @S_Matsutake on Twitter. This blog is a mess out of things I like and that intrest me mainly The Umbrella Academy, Insects, LGBT topics, Bees, The Magnus Archives and ADHD. Sometimes I write too; I'm Bees_forever on ao3

[oskarwing]

Here is your card for Bad Things Happen Bingo. Happy writing!

[loveridden1999]

top 3 hobbies for young adults:

1. borrowing misery from future

2. carrying grief of the past

3. agonizing over the present

[local-lesbian-tree-demon]

they should invent a body that feels normal to be inside of

[anyataylorjoys]

The Watermelon Woman (1996) dir. Cheryl Dunye

[seeveekat]

Hey this movie is really important in queer history! It was the first feature length film directed by a black lesbian! You can watch it here for free!

I really recommend you do because while it is a rom-com (and a drama), it also looks at how the stories of black queers are over looked in history.

[b0nkcreat]

i'm your only friend (realizes that's statistically unlikely) i'm not your only friend (considers my positive qualities) but i'm a little glowing friend (suddenly gets cold feet) but really i'm not actually your friend (remembers to be confident in relationships) but i am

[booksbhenchod]

The rise of generous, noble heroes trying to do the best they can in mainstream media and I'm so here for it

[moefulunc]

why is literally no one talking about these parallels I’m gonna be sick oh my god

[archipithecus]

softshell and hardshell books

paperback and hardcover turtles

[i-am-a-fish]

don't be mean to yourself that's you

[i-am-a-fish]

you live there

[klamv-art]

Fitz with his ma, I love them so much 😭😭

[ifelloffthebed]

fixed it

[volukyrja]

Young Baelor and Maekar <3

[aerionsfanart]

09_40am

[thelaughingtree]

The Flea Bottom flashback matters because AKOTSK is not a show simply about the Targaryens. It's instead about the interrelations between those who have (the nobility, particularly the Targaryens) and those who have not (the smallfolk). Perhaps this is best encapsulated by how the novellas are colloquially known as Dunk (smallfolk) & Egg (targaryen), and not simply Blood & Fire: sidestories. It's about both of these elements, it always has been about both of these elements, their complex push-and-pull, and how this shapes Dunk and Egg as characters. To call this a Targaryen tragedy without sufficient importance being placed on Dunk's position as the sole perspective character as a Flea Bottom native is a dismal reading; why both with Dunk's PoV if that's even the case?

So: Dunk matters. And thus, so does Flea Bottom, the place he's from. And the Flea Bottom flashback does not only give us essential insight into Dunk's core motivations and foundational memories, the harrowing experiences that shaped him into the character he is, but its position smack bang in the middle of the fight asks us to compare Dunk's back alley brawls to the Trial of the Seven. It posits that these things are of equal narrative importance, that a squabble over a small handful of silver stags is as worthy as a battle on horseback against princes and kingsguard, that the vindictive ex-gold cloak who threatened Rafe is not that different to a Targaryen Prince, and that Rafe's life is equal to Baelor's, and in the wake of the death of both, Dunk is forced out of the comfort of following someone he truly cares for - be it makeshift Flea Bottom fraught found family or a Prince of the Blood - but instead has to make his own way as a hedge knight, and move on his own initiative. In doing so, rather than submitting to the questionable morality of people he cares for - we watch Rafe rob out of desperation having internalised a 'dog eat dog' mentality, we witness Baelor sigh and wring his hands and say 'the septons tell us we must love our brothers' in the same episode we discover Egg has been sexually abused - Dunk has to stand on his own two feet and as a result makes far better, more moral decisions (taking in Egg when he appears to have nothing, saving Tanselle despite risking the wrath of a prince of the blood).

I could go on and list what the flashback contains, how contributes to themes around absent motherhood, faith and divinity, the true nature of knighthood - not just as a tool for patriarchal feudal violence, but 'in the name of the mother', specifically, as a vow that is valued - as well as the threat of sexual violence ('stop raping ser', Dunk says, in episode 1) & how sexual violence touches so many people in Dunk's purview (Rafe, Tanselle, Egg), I could go on about Rafe's character being surprisingly rich and alive for all her five minutes of screentime, I could talk about Blackfyre Rebellions being compared to Flea Bottom murders and how they're fuelled by petty, self-interested vengeance all the same, but I want to note that how this flashback ends - with Ser Arlan telling Dunk to 'get up', is not only a great emotional beat but also a reminder that Dunk has to stand on his own. He's no one's man. He's a Hedge Knight. Which is, coincidentally, the title of the novella (The Hedge Knight) this season is based upon.

[aropride]

some birds are very intuitively named. looked up a sparrow going chipchipchip in my yard, it was a chipping sparrow. saw a black bird with red wings, it was a red winged blackbird. gray bird that sounds like a cat? gray catbird. the first time i saw a house finch it was perched on a windowsill. However, some birds are the red-bellied woodpecker

[someofusarequeer]

I gotta google something real quick

[someofusarequeer]

who named this bird

[abbiistabbii]

The Germans really cooked making "Hobbyless behaviour" an insult. It is both devastating, applicable to a wide range of people and behaviours, and doesn't resort to swearing.

Man ranting on the internet about the Superbowl halftime show or complaining that something is "woke"? Hobbyless Behaviour. Girls mocking another girl for not looking right? Hobbyless Behaviour. Mindless vandalism? Hobbyless Behaviour.

It is more powerful than "get a life" or the English "You're Sad" because it gets to the central point of the matter, and that is wonderful. Danke, Deutsch.

[rabid-transcendentalist]