#prison cw

[jackalsraised]

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master (2012)

[oldmanffucker]

[blackcur-rants]

Okay, so we all know Charles Dickens was a huge Shakespeare fan and a theatre guy in general. Like, he did so many theatrical productions alongside Wilkie Collins and loved himself some dramatic readings of his own prose.

What I’m saying is that I kind of feel that “A Tale of Two Cities” lifts quite a lot from Shakespeare. For example, in both ATOTC and “Romeo and Juliet”, we have a story about two factions (the two countries of England and France in Dickens’ novel and the two noble houses of Montague and Capulet in Shakespeare’s play) who have been at each other’s throats for so long they don’t even quite remember why they’re at each other’s throats in the first place and what happens when two members of these respective factions (Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay in “A Tale of Two Cities” and Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet in “Romeo and Juliet”) meet and become close to each other. And of course, both stories end with a desperate person sacrificing themselves for the one that they love with said sacrifice being less a noble and definitive ending to the story and more an act of desperation in the face of impending death (Carton takes Darnay’s place on the guillotine in a desperate attempt to buy Darnay, Lucie, and their daughter time to escape back to London while Juliet commits suicide in what is very likely a desperate attempt to escape from what she still sees as her impending arranged marriage to Count Paris). There’s also a strong parallel between the main character trio in “A Tale of Two Cities” and the main character trio in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, I.E…

•Both Viola and Charles Darnay are sweet, sensitive young nobles who find themselves living in a new land and assume new names in order to avoid suspicion and end up in a relationship they didn’t expect with the second character of the main trio.

•Both Olivia and Lucie Manette are smart, pious young women living in mourning for a dead or at least severely traumatised loved one and end up falling in love with the disguised protagonist while fending off the attentions of an annoying suitor (Malvolio for Olivia and Stryver for Lucie).

•Orsino and Sydney Carton are both the depressed young men uncertain of their purpose in life who become acquainted with Viola/Darnay while also being in love with Olivia/Lucie.

Where am I going with all this, by the way? Well basically, I’m kind of suggesting that there being queer subtext between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay might actually have been intentional on Dickens’ part. However, because queerness was so verboten and punishable by prison or death in the 1850s, Dickens had to cloak all of this in ambiguity and subtext, using these allusions to classic Shakespeare plays as a way of coding/broadcasting his true intent to the audience who would know what he was doing.

@cynicalclassicist @eleftherian @secretmellowblog @dachi-chan25 @uncleasriel

[selfshippingquotes]

F/O: I'm going to let S/I fix this, because if I try to fix this, I'm going to jail.

[dailydccomics]

💚 Titans #30

[blockgamepirate]

I wanna point out that when I criticise c!Awesamdude, none of it is because I think he's some kind of cartoonish bad guy. He used to be one of my favourite characters! I know he's a complex person who cares about people and wants to be helpful, and even if he was part of the Badlands (who were a little bit cartoon villainish with their whole taking over 99% of the server plan) he was the most sympathetic and morally upstanding of them.

But that's the thing, even people who are seemingly good and kind can do evil things, when they internalise harmful concepts.

Sam is like the perfect example of that. He has internalised that "bad people must be punished" that "dangerous people must be kept locked up" that "the prison must be kept secure no matter what the cost" that "the authority of the prison warden must be respected".

The most charitable interpretation is that he has become a tool of institutional abuse. And he knows it but he excuses it because it's supposedly all for the sake of keeping the server safe. And for punishing the bad guy, Dream. And increasingly it seems to be about punishing Dream.

Perhaps because he feels guilt for being the person who almost helped Dream do this to others, particularly Tommy, who Sam happens to like.

Which, for the record, he SHOULD feel guilty about. People get on Techno's case for teaming up with Dream to fight a common enemy, but Sam was actively trying to help give Dream more power over the server, giving Dream the power to lock up anyone who resisted him. And Sam seemed willing to justify that because he liked the money and he enjoyed the challenge as an engineer. (Note that Sam was NOT poor either, he was one of the richest people on the server. It's not like he did it because he was desperate for money. And even of he was, get a less evil job ffs.)

(Also I believe he did also consider the potential power this would give the Badlands, let's be real. He absolutely has ambitions of his own. Maybe the thought even occurred to him that the prison could eventually be fully controlled by the Badlands. He just didn't foresee the Badlands kinda falling into shambles due to internal conflicts caused by the Egg.)

I think he HAS to believe that the prison is important and necessary because otherwise he would have to admit that he was so close to being complicit in Dream's plan to take full control over the server and to lock up any dissenters. And he has to believe that Dream deserves the abuse because otherwise he would have to admit that he was the one who agreed to make the prison that way. In fact he needs to believe that Dream deserves even worse than what he planned to do to others because that will make the original plans seem more reasonable in comparison. And because he needs to justify letting Quackity torture Dream.

Also, let's be real, it's hard to give up power once you have it.

And this is why you should never trust someone just because they're nice. Especially not authority figures. Get some actual proof that they'll stand up for you when you truly need it don't just assume that the niceness has no limits. Just because they give you pumpkin pie doesn't mean they won't punish you or sell you out to the system if you step out of line. Or abandon you if you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Look at what happened to Ponk, executed and mutilated for Sam's own carelessness. Look at what happened to Tommy, deemed less important than the security of the prison. Look at what happened to Techno, just for guilt by association. (Athough of course Sam and Techno were never particularly friendly so it's a less relevant example.)

It doesn't matter if he's a nice guy at heart, or if he's stressed and conflicted, these are his actions. And he needs to take responsibility for his actions.

I care deeply about this because people like c!Sam do so much harm in the real world and get away with it because they're serving the system and because they're nice and friendly and have families and pets. Cops, teachers, doctors, actual prison guards, politicians, bureaucrats, judges...

I mean the true problem IS ultimately the system, of course, not the individual people. Even Sam relies on the complicity of the server as a whole to keep doing what he's doing. But it's worth keeping in mind that even if these people seem friendly, you need to be aware and protect yourself, as well as you can. ESPECIALLY around people who work in law enforcement.

[snarp]

The other day Dad gave someone a ride home from jail.* He paid them $60 to get vaccinated, and told them he'd give them another $60 if they came to the office with a vaccination card to prove they'd done it.**

me: "dad have you been using this maneuver a lot"

Dad: "i don't know....... people need to be vaccinated if they're going to be going to jail a lot"***

* (Not a client; they just saw him and thought he'd probably give them a ride; this is normal. I was in the car at the time.)

** (They haven't shown up yet.)

*** (They'd been in and out several times, and the jail is overcrowded and making no effort to quarantine, treat, or release its many, many COVID victims. They are doing swab testing, of course; I imagine that it functions as a form of punishment.)****

**** (We have discussed this, and neither Dad nor anyone closely associated with him can personally sue them, as this would inevitably result in retaliation against their clients who are in there.)*****

***** (Currently seeking a lawyer who 1) has no clients in jail or prison anywhere in Kentucky and 2) is willing to work pro bono on behalf of the health and safety of people who - as a natural result of the abysmal state of medical care and science education in rural Appalachia - often do not even believe in the existence of microscopic particles, much less the specific particles that comprise COVID.)

[whumpinparis]

Wrongfully Arrested BTHB

Rynn | Tate

Content: Prison Setting, Cursing, Crude Humour, Murder. Rynn is referred to as a kid but is twenty-two. 350 Words.

My OCs || BTHB Masterlist || @badthingshappenbingo

Rynn clutched his pillow and spare jumpsuit tight to his chest as he walked. His knuckles paled as he took shaky steps, ignoring the occasional glare thrown in his direction. Mostly, though, he was ignored.

Other inmates had much more essential business to attend to.

He gritted his teeth as he crossed the threshold to ‘home’. More or less home, anyway.

A seven by five cubicle, containing only a bunk bed and desk littered with someone else’s belongings.

“You looking to get stabbed?” Tate spoke casually, chewing a piece of gum and awarding his full attention to that.

Rynn shook his head and took a step backwards over the threshold again.

“So you’re a coward, got it.”

Rynn was stunned into another silence.

“Not a coward — just — maybe I’m in the wrong place.”

“You’re not. You’re the kid from death row,” Tate stated it as if it were common knowledge. “Rynn Harris.”

He blew a bubble with the gum and popped it before sitting up and looking directly at Rynn for the first time.

“Rumours true?”

“I — uh — I guess it depends on what you heard,” Rynn spoke softly and checked the number outside the cubicle. Eighteen. He was in the right place.

“Suppose that’s true,” Tate looked Rynn up and down carelessly. “You gonna tell me something worth my time? How’d you end up here?”

“Won my appeal. That’s all,” Rynn responded, forcing himself to enter the cubicle with more confidence this time, before dumping his possessions on the top bunk.

“Winning an appeal is hard work, especially for a guy on death row. Who’d you fuck to get a favour like that?”

“Nobody,” Rynn bit out. “I won because I didn’t do it.”

“It?”

“Kill my girlfriend and our kid. Want more of an explanation? I have time.”

“That’s plenty, Fiver, thanks. Sore spot, huh?”

“Fiver? I — like I said, I’m innocent.”

“Yeah, and so am I,” Tate scoffed, ignoring Rynn’s question. “Just don’t get in my way and we’ll get along like a house on fire.”