The Moving Castle @sylvester-oak - Tumblr Blog

Hello and welcome to my cottagecore/literature/Ghibli blog with some random shitposts thrown in for good measure. I'm just a drop in the ocean that is fandom, still figuring out my aesthetic both in life and on tumblr.

Hope you enjoy!

sideblogs: @katsudon-and-skates @the-classics-club-anthology @wills-heart-eyes

~Sylvie

orbiten

Save Earth. Save Erid.

#project hail mary

kingedmundsroyalmurder

Blue Castle Book Club: Chapter 17

"She could be alone whenever she liked, go to bed when she liked, sneeze when she liked."

Valancy is collecting greatest happinesses! So far she has achieved Mrs. frederick's happiness of living a life of loving service and her own of sneezing whenever she likes. I'd say let's see if she can get them all, but I don't think even Valancy will discover necromantic powers so that she can bring back Georgiana's brother.

"In the long, wondrous, northern twilights, when Cissy was asleep and Roaring Abel away, she could sit for hours on the shaky back verandah steps, looking out over the barrens to the hills beyond, covered with their fine, purple bloom, listening to the friendly wind singing wild, sweet melodies in the little spruces, and drinking in the aroma of the sunned grasses, until darkness flowed over the landscape like a cool, welcome wave."

I've been very focused on visual descriptions, with my color tracking, but the thing that makes LMM so good at painting word pictures is that she engages all the senses beautifully. In this one sentence we have everything but taste, and it serves to fully bring us into Valancy's world.

In a previous read of this book I compared its structure to that of a fairy story where a mortal ventures into fairyland. I still think that's an apt comparison, and that makes Abel's house the halfway point between the two worlds. He has one foot in each realm: his home is located at the entrance to fairyland but his work keeps him tied to the mortal realm.

(Lucy Maud would have been *so good* at magic realism and grounded fantasy. I wish I was better at pastiching her so that I could try my hand at what it might have been.)

I do love Cissy and Valancy's friendship. Cissy is perhaps a touch too angelic, but I understand why. Earlier today I saw yet another contemporary criticism of Les Miserables floating around, where the writer listed off real convicts who had done good deeds and graciously allowed that perhaps LM may not be quite so fanciful as most believed. And LM is a book that spends *so much time* showing you how its two "sinners" (Jean Valjean and Fantine) came to find themselves in their situations. They are both of them very clearly victims of impossible situations. JVJ turns to theft in order to feed literal starving children (who do, in fact, die when he is imprisoned). Fantine is tossed aside by a richer, more powerful man she believed loved her and sacrifices absolutely everything she had to provide for the child he left her with. Victor Hugo spends so, *so* many words explaining them and humanizing them and encouraging us to sympathize with them and pity them, and still the reactions to his book are people going "okay, but he broke the law though."

LMM does not have half a million words to make us feel sympathy for Cissy Gay. She *has* to make Cissy as innocent as she possibly can for her audience to connect with her story. And we know from contemporary reactions that even that was not enough for many readers!

oatmealnebraska

Valancy is collecting greatest happinesses!

Spoilery OP tags behind the cut...

#blue castle book club #the blue castle

moonlightredfern

Some real shippy thoughts about chapter 18:

Valancy was acquainted with Barney by now—well acquainted, it seemed, though she had spoken to him only a few times. But then she had felt just as well acquainted with him the first time they had met. She had been in the garden at twilight, hunting for a few stalks of white narcissus for Cissy’s room when she heard that terrible old Grey Slosson coming down through the woods from Mistawis—one could hear it miles away. Valancy did not look up as it drew near, thumping over the rocks in that crazy lane. She had never looked up, though Barney had gone racketting past every evening since she had been at Roaring Abel’s.

So I missed the fact that this was their first meeting. This is the first reread I realized that.

Ok so before their first meeting Barney and Abel have been talking about Valancy extensively on their little bro fishing trips. Abel is absolutely telling Barney about the family coming by and Valancy standing her ground. You know he told him about the whistling undertaker story. And he’s also talking about how much good it’s done Cissy and how wonderful it is to have the house in order again.

Barney clearly admires her for all of this. He gets what she’s risking with her family and having been on the receiving end of Deerwood gossip he gets that she’s thrown her life away for this. He probably also gets that that’s worse for her than for him as a man in this toxic little town.

He starts to think about her a lot and he thinks about her day to day experience in Roaring Abel’s house vs how she grew up (which obviously he doesn’t fully Get but he at least knows she grew up all proper.)

He chastises Abel about cussing in front of her and Abel cheerily relays the whole “you must use the boot scraper whether you consign it to perdition or not” and the laughing fit they got into over “what use is a rage” “it’s such a damned relief!”

Pretty much the first time Roaring Abel mentions Valancy Barney’s curiosity has him driving by the house that night to catch a glimpse of her. It starts to be A Thing he does every night. He knows the car is loud af. Why won’t she ever look up?

Finally after about a week of this he realizes he’s being ridiculous and goes to talk to her.

Barney’s such a loner and he’s so good at wilderness (even in the Yukon). You can’t tell me he actually needs to drive to the grocery store or whatever every night.

Prior to the start of the book Valancy had only seen him like twice. Our guy does not get out much. He’s absolutely doing that high school thing of driving by the cute girl’s house over and over. He’s such a mess and I love him for it.

batrachised

I LOVE the little subtle details that imply Barney's interest in Valancy, even if it's not overt (and even if he doesn't seem to be aware of it himself). He's protective of Valancy, to the point that he dashes off in the middle of the night with no gas. Like you said, he brings her groceries far more often than you think he'd need to. He tells Valancy not talk to him unless there's something worthwhile to say, so firm in this mindset that he even agrees with what he calls piffle from John Foster, and then after a few minutes of silence HE starts to talk to HER.

#blue castle book club #yesss this #barney is just as obsessed with her as she is with him but he is completely oblivious about all of it #the blue castle

limeekak

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise

dragon-in-a-fez

the thing about being "good with kids" is all it takes is literally just not trying to control and mould them with every interaction. it's just being a normal person and engaging with them through normal interactions like having conversations and playing games. it's just being genuine and friendly and not perceiving them as lumps of wet clay you are there to shape. "oh you're so good with kids" thanks it's because I think they are people

#my friends were amazed that i could hold conversation with a 10 year old like #obviously?? did you not have interests and thoughts when you were 10??

gaynaegis

Its MY turn with the rockitz/swap au!!!

#LOVE me some species swap #project hail mary

trippedintoa-volcano

Imagine that everywhere in the mechanical engineering world suddenly got infatuated with lasers.

Lasers have a lot of uses! Measuring things, heating things, cutting things, entertaining cats, particle physics. Lasers are pretty cool. Very versatile, very useful, potential to be very powerful.

Someone shows up one day and says "I have developed a never before seen technology! I call it a Death Star."

And it's a 3.4mW laser. Well no, we haven't seen this exact size of laser much since that's not really standard, but that's a bit of a misnomer, and I wouldn't call it new -

"HOLY SHIT GUYS! This Death Star is so entertaining! My cat loves it and it has such a nice color!" The Death Star becomes a viral novelty, and is mildly entertaining, as laser pointers often are.

Somehow, seemingly overnight, this leads to mania. "Lets stick lasers in EVERYTHING! The public loves them!"

More companies make 3.4mW lasers to jump on the bandwagon. Everyone that makes anything vaguely mechanical starts sticking lasers into their designs.

Everyone is calling them Death Stars. Any time there is a "Death Star innovation", it is just that they made a bigger laser.

Ford's next truck comes out and it has "Death Star integrated headlights", where they have just stuck giant lasers in place of their previously functional headlights.

An electric toothbrush is now "Powered by Death Stars" and shoots a laser at the tooth its cleaning. You think that maybe this could have actual applications as a sanitizing device if you're being generous, but when you actually look at the product, its laser has no purpose but to point at the tooth and drain the battery.

Mechanical products across the board get noticeably worse as everyone starts stuffing lasers in places where lasers have no right to be.

The lamp business gets in on it. "Here's a Death Star powered lamp!" These guys haven't even tried to stick a laser in their damn lamps. They've just started calling their light bulbs Death Stars and hoped you bought it before you could tell the difference. You at least appreciate that they haven't ruined their lamp about it.

Death Stars are lauded as the solution to all the world's problems. If it's not working, you should stick a laser in it! That'll fix it, everyone says. Once in a blue moon, it's even true! Weather prediction is really good now. But most things are garbage. Like "Death Star powered washing machines". What the fuck does that even mean?

Meanwhile, since all functioning mechanisms are being replaced with lasers, problems start showing up. All mirrors now cost $1000+ dollars, because the whole supply is being used up to make more lasers. The earth heats up, because everyone's blasting lasers at everything. People keep going blind, on account of all the lasers.

You, in fact, study optical mechanics. You know what a laser is, and how it works, and that it was invented many years before any of this nonsense actually started. People keep asking you about Death Stars, since surely you must know so much about them.

You explain that this is not really what lasers are for, except you have to call them Death Stars now, and that they're causing a lot of harm, so you don't like them much.

"Oh, but they're still such new tech!" they reply. "They'll figure out how to make Death Stars that don't burn your eyes out soon, and then it won't be an issue anymore!"

Somewhere, deep and buried, you remember lasers being used in particle accelerators, or in telescopes, or in laser cutters, or funny cat videos. They are, in fact, still interesting. Still cool.

But by this point they have replaced roads with "Death Star Powered Pathways", which are just laser pointers propped up on tooth picks pointing vaguely through the forests.

And you think you are going mad.

And they are still just FUCKING LASERS.

This post is about AI.

#anti ai

sungodjasmine

you have the sun, I have the moon

#gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous #lotr

gossamer-green

i think rocky holds a special appreciation for the insult "eat shit" because it's considered vulgar in both english and eridian

#project hail mary

violet-hady

Honestly, I love the little earth beanbag Grace has. Not only is it absolutely hilarious to Grace, tell the dictator of the world that the little beanbag she’s holding is lava, but also:

She’s the dictator of the world, who can do whatever she wants. The world is in her hands. The beanbag, that looks like the earth, is in her hand.

And then later, when Grace is on the Hail Mary, Stratt sent the beanbag up with him. Sure, part of it was probably because it’d be comforting for him, but it’s also because the fate of the world is in his hands now.

#and then him giving the beanbag to rocky was foreshadowing for him #giving up his final chance for a life on earth #i don't care that the symbolism is on the nose it still damn good #project hail mary

a-deed-without-a-name

Ryland Grace and the narrative he occupies are fascinating to me, particularly the roles that anger and fear play for both.

This has probably been done better by other people, but I wanted to get my thoughts down.

We know Grace was incredibly angry as a younger man. Vindictively, savagely, self-destructively furious. He torpedoed his career, torched every bridge he had, and salted the earth behind him - all in defense of a theory that the viewer is unequivocally told is wrong. Astrophage has water in it; in the book, it's made clear that Eridians do, too, and that's interesting. That that rage is never vindicated.

That's not how things usually work - the abrasive young wunderkind might be completely out of line, but he's right! But PHM firmly lets that particular narrative pitfall wither on the vine, along with quite a few others.

When the film starts, Grace has spent years if not excising, then taming that anger. He is gentle, vulnerable, funny. He dresses in soft and eccentric clothing, he works with children, they love him. When Stratt brings out his thesis, he's visibly embarrassed. He is not that person anymore. He doesn't want to be.

(Relatedly, that's why I think that when he tried to literally nope out of Stratt's room of experts when asked to explain Astrophage breeding to them, it wasn't stage fright or intimidation. He was afraid of it happening again.)

Most interestingly is that when you see this in countless other stories, a man who's lost his anger and/or who is no longer working in his chosen field is a tragic, pitiable figure. He's a has-been, he's broken. Washed up. Missing something vital. But Grace isn't presented that way at all.

It is a good thing that he's not angry anymore. (The closest we get is him throwing a little tantrum in the lab after finding water in Astrophage - old wounds resurfacing, a glimpse of who he used to be, and something that's played for cringing laughs.) It's a good thing he's not that person who can't stop and think or take criticism or input or play well with others anymore, because if he were - he wouldn't have survived. Earth and Erid wouldn't have survived!

Even when it would be understandable for him to be angry, he's quickly soothed by Rocky and the pressing necessity of the situation. It's not a useful emotion for the mission or for Grace. It's made so clear that not only is this a net good, but he ends the film as a teacher again, a "lesser" job that he sees as vitally important and personally fulfilling. There was never anything wrong with him or anything missing.

Which brings me to the fear.

I feel like fear is presented as a fairly neutral emotion in the film, especially because Grace's cowardice comes through much more strongly than in the book. His initial refusal to sacrifice himself for Earth doesn't make him a villain. It's understandable, and there is no satisfaction in his being run down, tied up, knocked out, and loaded onto the Hail Mary.

If he'd made it, or if Stratt had listened to his "no," it wouldn't have made him evil...but it would have been the wrong decision for Grace personally. I don't think he could have lived with it. He would have wondered, as people died the world over, how many fewer of them there would have been if he'd gone when he were asked.

In the moment, the fear overwhelmed his ability for foresight and reasoning. Kind of like the anger did when he was younger, at the UNESCO science conference he dug his grave at.

But Grace is a man who knows how to change, how to work on himself, and how to adapt. So when he's presented with the exact same choice near the end of the story, but without anyone to force him this time, he chooses differently. He goes back for Rocky and Erid, because even though he's still afraid to die, he loves him enough to face death down voluntarily to save lives. And that brings his character arc to an immensely satisfying final resting place.

PHM is a story about a man embracing things beyond anger and fear and being a hero for it. You do not have to be angry, it's okay if you're afraid, it's okay if you're wrong. The love is enough, and you won't make it without other people.

I think that's pretty neat for a lot of reasons.

#well said!#project hail mary