Strength and Shield

Sara| 30| she/her| English grad student with a coffee addiction

[min-us]

the artists that draw our favorite characters laughing together in kitchens are the pillars of the world, carrying its weight from collapse.

[allshadesblue]

sometimes you just gotta put on rainbow connection and remember it's gonna be alright

[cherryysocks]

can't stop thinking about this movie tbh..

[taiturner]

But I know that's not true. That's just fantasy. Kid's stuff.

I SAW THE TV GLOW (2024) dir. Jane Schoenbrun

[novelconcepts]

I Saw the TV Glow is such a uniquely, devastatingly queer story. Two queer kids trapped in suburbia. Both of them sensing something isn’t quite right with their lives. Both of them knowing that wrongness could kill them. One of them getting out, trying on new names, new places, new ways of being. Trying to claw her way to fully understanding herself, trying to grasp the true reality of her existence. Succeeding. Going back to help the other, to try so desperately to rescue an old friend, to show the path forward. Being called crazy. Because, to someone who hasn’t gotten out, even trying seems crazy. Feels crazy. Looks, on the surface, like dying.

And to have that other queer kid be so terrified of the internal revolution that is accepting himself that he inadvertently stays buried. Stays in a situation that will suffocate him. Choke the life out of him. Choke the joy out of him. Have him so terrified of possibly being crazy that he, instead, lives with a repression so extreme, it quite literally is killing him. And still, still, he apologizes for it. Apologizes over and over and over, to people who don’t see him. Who never have. Who never will. Because it’s better than being crazy. Because it’s safer than digging his way out. Killing the image everyone sees to rise again as something free and true and authentic. My god. My god, this movie. It shattered me.

[karmelarts]

so much of the horror genre is informed by the metaphor of queer/transness as monstrousness. especially emphasizing the amount of horror that depends on the audience's repulsion at seeing a human body changing into a new, other body. I Saw the TV Glow is about the horror of NOT transitioning. the horror of static. the horror of looking into yourself and being terrified of what you see. the horror of seeing who you are and choosing to do nothing about it. the horror of looking away. and by god is it terrifying.

[strengthandshield]

30, flirty, and thriving (except I’m 30, incredibly single, and very tired)✨

[strengthandshield]

At the beginning of this year, I was lucky enough to get the chance to visit Japan with one of my best friends. And it just dawned on me that I never shared any of the pics from that trip. So for the last day of 2024, please enjoy a small photo dump from my Japan trip that started the year.

[nobodysflower]

here is your gentle reminder that there are dandelions growing through cracks in the sidewalk. there is a fence lizard on the porch who is growing a new tail. there are trees growing through an abandoned house, branches tearing through the ceiling, ferns carpeting the floor. there is life pushing forward, pushing through. 

[strengthandshield]

There are a lot of days where you will fail. There are a lot of days when things won't go your way. There are a lot of days when you won't be enough. But not today. - Dungeons and Daddies, S.2 Ep.53

[totally-not-nessie]

I love you cheesy mystery shows I love you fun murder movies

[rockpaperimpala]

With The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki really said: I accept that my legacy is out of my control, that my children may not be my successors, that this tremendous monument I've built with a lifetime of toil, this fiery blessing that simply fell out of the sky, may not continue without me, In fact, it may crumble to dust, I accept it because my children and their children are alive and well, in this imperfect world, and thats enough. Yes, I accept that this is the end, but God damn, I'll go out with a bang.

[cemetryangel-deactivated2026022]

why did so many people not like lisa swallows she’s just a gothy girl who kills abusers and sexual assaulters and gives her bf at home bottom surgery she’s perfect

[strengthandshield]

Fellow academics, Shakespeare nerds, book lovers, and just anyone who is good at finding stuff, I need your help.

There’s an old Tumblr post (I feel like I remember seeing it somewhere around 2013-2106) that I’d like to include or at least cite in my dissertation, but I can’t seem to find it to save my life. My dissertation centers around engagement with Shakespeare in online spaces of fandom, and I’d like to use this post to demonstrate how some of the ideas I’m discussing have been a point of interest for fans for years across various sites.

The specific post was a set of photos of different stage directions from Romeo and Juliet, showing all of the times that Benvolio and Mercutio enter/leave together and it ended with Benvolio’s final entrance alone. There may have been some text accompanying the photos, but the photos are what I remember the most. If you know the post I’m talking about, I would greatly appreciate your help in tracking it down!

[box-of-rainbow]

found a screenshot of it pinterest unfortunately without credit but it may aid in finding the original post??

[strengthandshield]

Ah, thank you so much! This is definitely super helpful and hopefully gets me one step closer to finding the original. You’re amazing!

[strengthandshield]

Fellow academics, Shakespeare nerds, book lovers, and just anyone who is good at finding stuff, I need your help.

There’s an old Tumblr post (I feel like I remember seeing it somewhere around 2013-2106) that I’d like to include or at least cite in my dissertation, but I can’t seem to find it to save my life. My dissertation centers around engagement with Shakespeare in online spaces of fandom, and I’d like to use this post to demonstrate how some of the ideas I’m discussing have been a point of interest for fans for years across various sites.

The specific post was a set of photos of different stage directions from Romeo and Juliet, showing all of the times that Benvolio and Mercutio enter/leave together and it ended with Benvolio’s final entrance alone. There may have been some text accompanying the photos, but the photos are what I remember the most. If you know the post I’m talking about, I would greatly appreciate your help in tracking it down!

[kuutamosonaatti]

Throne of Blood (1957) | dir. Akira Kurosawa

[alicentpark]

PORCO ROSSO dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 1992