hot take: and this time i really won’t elaborate, but—i want to see poseidon in colors other than blue in fics.
disclaimer: not that the blue isn’t lovely—before anyone gets up in arms. (this isn’t an attack, and i’m getting tired of people thinking it is.)
“then why aren’t you contributing, soul, if you’re so critical?”
catch me perpetually sighing in my corner—
1) my poseidon designs do not have blue in them (i do, in fact, practice what i preach, thanks) except for small details pulled from marine life like the blue ring octopus and jellyfish (and this is done when i want to make him seem more untouchable as these are creatures you do not want to touch). and my poseidon designs change with almost every work. i adjust his design to fit the narrative and the story i want to communicate into something i think fits and says more about his characterization in the fic than what i can include in the narrative, especially since i’m seldom writing in his perspective.
i do the exact same with his environment. as someone that learned to do dramaturgy, the environment, the clothes, and the colors all are important and tell a story that isn’t being told in the core of the narrative. they are the small details that make up the character that you cannot communicate easily in the bulk of the work because it’s not relevant for the plot—it’s relevant for the understanding of the character.
if i show you a character living in a loft with no decoration and a singular bed, a jacket or hoodie they wear religiously, and opting for a darker color palette (a la derek hale), you can deduce that the character is reclusive, prefers to fade into the background, and has an aura and mentality of impermanence that leeches into their interpersonal relationships and perspective on life without me needing to focus the narrative story on that.
(conversely, i can depict a character wearing a color that’s entirely at odds with their character which tells you, as the reader, that this character values personal expression highly or that their favorite colors are a greater comfort than, let’s say, blending into the background—depending on the narrative. if this dark, brooding character is always wearing that hoodie/jacket that’s a bright mustard yellow, that tells you that it’s important enough to transcend the boundaries of his aesthetic or that the color is a point of comfort to him. this can be later highlighted if he, let’s say, turns out to really like sunflowers or sunny days, or be a core part of a childhood/origin story—a clinging to a previously much brighter demeanor before events in his life took place.)
2) critique on popular trend does not mean the trend is bad. this isn’t even a full critique because i’m trying to not elaborate. in short: i just want to see more colors on him. and i need you all to stop acting like someone having an opinion that is at odds with yours is somehow a personal attack, especially if you happen to be taking part in the trend. i have never once said that it is bad or terrible or that people suck for enjoying it.
(i know we’re living in the era of anti-intellectualism, but i need you all to actually read and understand what people are saying instead of taking knee jerk offense and shutting down dialogues because you can’t deal with even the most paltry sorts of conflict.)
if i were to go a little further into it, this is a, “why is the door blue?” criticism. sure, the door might be blue because that’s just what the author chose, but, also, is there a deeper reason? that’s the question, and that’s what i want a deeper answer to than just, “well—the ocean.”
environment has meaning and weight in narrative, and the permeation of blue into every aspect of his character tells me absolutely nothing about him except that—the ocean is blue. (this is the same issue i have with antinous and red.)
i can have a critique on how people use the elements at their disposal. that does not mean i am hating on what exists or what people choose to do. it’s a commentary on the importance of intentionality in art, especially in transformative media when you are championing your own interpretation of an existing work. “it looks nice,” is a valid enough reason to do anything, but it is not a sin or a reproach on creators for me, as both a writer and consumer, to crave more than just that.
my two favorite poseidon designs use color perfectly, and one of them is blue!
one is using earthen and greener tones which highlights the constant evolving and shifting patterns of his behavior and narrative, also his deeply embedded roots in his personhood and personal interpretation—very much in line with earth and bottom sea floor life, especially since they use a little murkier palette. it symbolizes his capacity for change and evolution while also emphasizing his rigidity and sureness—the steadiness of his presence. it also implies a further depth and grit to his character than what we can see on the surface.
the other is using gorgeously beautiful light blues and pale tones, in line with the more romantic and warming portrayal they have of poseidon as a paternal and overall relaxed figure. it lends itself to him being a supportive god in these iterations and being a highlight and point of vision in the narrative rather than a conflict or obstacle. it elevates the tranquility of his person, which is otherwise dismissed in narratives commonly, and softens his edges into something more approachable and reasonable, especially when tied in with the smooth and silk of the curvature of his overall design in addition to the color choices.
the colors mean something.
‘just because,’ isn’t the answer here, and it’s okay to say that it shouldn’t be.
(it’s also equally okay for it to be, but it’s not what i’m personally looking for.)
3) “why does it have to mean something? let people have fun.”
i never said that they couldn’t.
if that is your motivation to create, then i implore you to grasp it tight with both hands and do it. creation is supposed to be fun.
however, the birth of this critique is rooted in the simple fact that, as a writer, especially nowadays as we’re watching, in real time, the death of media literacy, i get saddened seeing interpretations and choices lacking depth and intention. i think that the greatest creative choices are happy accidents that you then lean into and breed them with purpose into something wonderfully deep and cerebral—so much depth can come from just doing things for the whimsy of it and having fun! that’s okay!
maybe you did choose the door to be blue for fun—maybe you just like it. but, look! now you can expand on that! now, you can make every time that they enter that room a moment of intention, a non-narrative signal of rising depression or calmness, every exit a shedding of it. you can have them repaint the door later after they undergo a character transformation or have the paint chip, symbolizing metamorphosis. (also a la derek hale and the hale house door and his painting over it but not sanding it—symbolizing a desire to move on but an inability to escape the past haunting him. and all without the viewer needing to be told.)
i have a lot of things come from happy accidents, a lot of things i discover about the narrative as i’m writing it. there are a lot of elements and design choices i include in my writing that no one will ever pick up on. but there’s intention in every word. there is context in the unsaid, in the subtext, in the world i have painstakingly crafted, especially as an author who hates world-building.
every part of the environment and character descriptions that i give in my writing has a meaning and a purpose—nothing is without intention (except for the typos—i’m just blind). and it’s okay if others don’t write like that. i’m not saying you have to.
all i’m saying is that i would love to see more of it, especially in a world where we’re seeing the ability to recognize these subtextual narrative tools disappearing as people require being spoon-fed information more and more.
and if i have to see the blue everywhere, i want to see why it’s important to the character.
4) “why is the door blue?”
because the sky is endless and so are the possibilities in the narrative.
and it’s not an attack on you for me to say that i want to see more of that.
thanks for coming to my ted talk.
(soul said there would be no elaboration.
….as always, soul is a fucking liar. there was elaboration.
in my defense, i talked about this in a server the other day, and people got defensive and missed the point of the critique because they felt i was coming for their favorite artists, and it’s been on my mind ever since. my critique is based on writing because that’s what i do, but it also applies to art, so—i guess, valid take? except not really. y’all missed the point entirely and misconstrued everything i said.
do what makes you happy, y’all—i’m not say you can’t or that you shouldn’t. i’m not even saying it’s bad. i’m just talking about what i would like to see more of.
and, yes, i do put my money where my mouth is. thank you. every fic and pathetic attempt at drawing that i make is an attempt to contribute to fandom the precise change i want to see. i’m not just talking to talk.
there is a crisis of the death of creativity and intentionality happening in art right now, and the era is ripe for an artistic renaissance, in every sense of the word, and i want people to recognize it and seize that chance.
this was something that i used to not understand when i took literature classes. i was of the masses that firmly believed that the door being blue was just for fun and that it was fine that it was for fun—and i still think it’s fine if that’s the case, too—but i’m getting closer and closer to nearly two decades of writing, and i see now the importance and value of creating with intention, of using the environment and the colors to tell a story without having to say it plainly. as someone who thrives in analysis, even if the door is blue for fun, i am going to see it as more than that, so there is certifiable value in intention in art and in not dismissing the background from being storytellers in their own right.
it’s not just an outfit or a chair or a color.
we are living in a world of regurgitated takes and derivative media—and that is very much present in fandom in spades. if you are taking offense to this, you are missing the point, and i cannot help you.
nowhere have i said it’s bad to do things for the whimsy of it, and nowhere have i said that any particular creator is wrong for doing things that way. if this is making you feel defensive and uncomfortable, then that’s good. analyze that. look into yourself and ask yourself why this humble take of mine makes your hackles raise. read it again and pick it apart, pick yourself apart, understand where you stand as a creator and what you want to do with your work.
the only piece of advice i can really give anyone, as the silly soul who said they wouldn’t elaborate and yet has done precisely that is:
break the box. open the blue door. see the world as more than what you’re fed constantly. you are all capable of coming up with something that is unique and intentional, even if it isn’t “marketable” or “mainstream”. art, any medium of art, is expression and communication, and being critical of trends and popular narrative is what keeps the boundaries of creativity being pushed, and you should all learn be okay with that—because that’s what art is supposed to do.
that’s all that i can say to you.)
