#short meta

[lumiose-ribbon]

I'm personally not a MasaKudoshipper but it's so interesting to me from a gameplay perspective. The Psychic Type was overpowered pre-Gen 2 and Will has the Type advantage over his fellow Elite Four members. But the Dark Type is the only Type that is immune to Psychic, which means only Karen can handle him.

[originaljediinjeans]

"The Voyage Home (1986) is just a cheesy movie about Saving the Whales™" Yes but have you considered:

When Khan sets of the Genesis device at the end of Wrath of Khan, he's quoting Moby Dick, specifically Captain Ahab's lines as he is throwing his harpoon at the titular whale just before he dies and his ship goes down: "...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." Khan is Ahab and Kirk is his white whale. So The Voyage Home being about saving whales from ruthless hunters really turns that on its face. Kirk's mission in The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home (I call it 'the Spock trilogy') is to save life and to save what he loves, he is the nemesis and foil to Khan, Khan kills the whale (metaphorical) but Kirk saves it (literal)

Re: my earlier post about Kirk losing David: Kirk loses the son he barely knew in The Search for Spock but may have wanted a relationship with going forward. David Marcus was a scientist. In The Voyage Home he befriends another young scientist, Dr. Gillian Taylor. Gillian goes back to the 23rd century with Kirk without a second thought, implying she didn't have many friends or family of her own to leave behind. Gillian says goodbye to Kirk at the end with the mutual hope they will meet again. The film doesn't develop this angle very much but I want to think that Gillian becomes kind of a daughter figure to Kirk. Or it's the other way around and she adopts him as her wayward dad/weird uncle. They never see each other again in canon but it's kind of implied that they want a relationship going forward. Gillian is his second chance with David and welp there go my feelings

The next time Kirk sees Gillian he is taking her aboard the Enterprise and they are having a three-course Italian dinner with the officers bc everyone will want to catch up but most importantly because he owes her

[readingreddingread]

I tried to do a detached movie!Eowyn meta just touching on my caretaking experience a lil bit to explain how helpless that feels but failed because it got too intertwined with my [redacted] [redacted] feelings. It's one the better things I've ever written, but it's just too personal to post on fandom PvP kill zone site I think.

So I'm just going to say care taking a loved one in decline is experience of helplessness and despair like nothing else especially when the world itself appears to be getting burnt down around you but at least I didn't have a politically powerful person creeping on me and sending out my other loved ones out to get killed. Anyway those sort of feelings of helplessness make you want to do something that feels effective and riding to war against the thing burning the world down feels so much more effective than running away with the non-combatants to die last while your only remaining family goes off to die first. Put it this way; the Rohirrim are a people of heroic deed tales and hail the glorious dead of battle. After all she had experienced so far why run from battle to die hiding experiencing fear and helplessness again when she could go down fighting instead. The urge to give the effort to write anything at all about the trauma familial caretaking can affect decision making comes from something horrid I read yeaaars ago that insisted Eowyn was being a brat, behaving like a spoiled child going into battle instead of doing the duty her king and uncle commanded of her and should never ever be treated like a hero. Also that she didn't deserve to be rewarded with Faramir as a husband. Pretty sure ever wrote that thing or anybody who agreed with it would look at what I've written and give some "cool motive, still murder" type response. I. DO. NOT. CARE. I'm all about the motive here folks, motive is the enrichment in my enclosure. The motive btw if you weren't paying attention is she's traumatized BEFORE the Black Breath gets her.

[leportraitducadavre]

I commented this on another person's post and realized, not before someone pointed it out, it wasn't the place to do so; however, I've decided since I can't seem to finish the long posts I'm currently (still) working on, I could transform this addition into a post of its own, so here:

These panels right here showcase the brilliance in Kishimoto's writing through Naruto's statement (characterization-wise) and the overall structure in which it's sustained.

Sasuke, and every Uchiha before him, has always been seen as a tool. The most obvious way to pinpoint this is how the most relevant thing people highlight of each clan member is their Sharingan (or lack of it, as those who don't possess it, are seen as "lesser members" of the clan also) and how it’s treated throughout the manga; how the very possession of such element negates every sort of oppression or discrimination (they can’t be discriminated if they’re reverberated and feared, the politics constructed around their doujutsu are specifically designed to exploit and contain such power, as those in power are doing it for the and "their" greater good). But such conduct it’s also shown through how the people perceived as good that move around Sasuke interacts with him:

Naruto doesn’t want to kill Sasuke, because he wants the “help” that he provides, or is about to provide, to be rewarded. He wants Sasuke to acknowledge him.

Sakura can’t kill Sasuke, because she wants her love to be reciprocated, she wants him to care for her, and to be prioritized.

Kakashi is incapable, but is willing, to kill Sasuke; because his existence is a testament to his failure as a teacher.

They have different methods to demand it: Naruto uses violence to impose his worldview. Sakura begs and Kakashi emotionally manipulates (or attempts to), but they all want Sasuke to live by them and their rules, their worldview.

Sasuke returned after Naruto won yet Sakura still pursued him romantically because the only one that managed to obtain his goal was Naruto (and Kakashi, who restores his honor), as he ended up “saving Sasuke”, therefore, was acknowledged by his rival; however, Sakura’s goal wasn’t “saving Sasuke from darkness” (as she very gladly tried to leave Konoha alongside him, yet he refused), she wanted his romantical reciprocation, which is what he had to give in order for her to finally return to the village and leave him to travel alone as he wanted.

And why do I say Naruto’s speech it’s brilliant, character-wise? Because by acknowledging their true motifs and their overall characterization we can achieve a very plausible conclusion: All of them, but specifically Sakura and Naruto, are incredibly simplistic. No, really. They aren’t anywhere near smart enough to comprehend Sasuke’s turmoil and the complexity behind it, so they oversimplify it to levels they can comprehend.

Both Naruto and Sakura feel lonely without Sasuke, and because that’s their primary pain throughout the manga, Sasuke being lonely must be equally painful for him as it is for them. The world around them is incredibly complex and it is embedded in convoluted political issues that entail immense exploratory work to dismantle. The only way someone can be “happy” inside such a system is by reducing everything to its most basic structures: Black/white, good/bad, happy/sad, and light/darkness. Naruto simplifying Sasuke’s core to “being lonely” is very in character for him, as that’s not only Naruto’s own core (which he uses to project onto others) but also is the only way he can explain to others and himself why Sasuke needs “his help”. 

Kishimoto’s tool to dispute Naruto’s perspective and actions inside the narrative is presenting counterarguments through the antagonists of the show; which is why there’s a dichotomy between Sasuke and Naruto’s characterizations. 

The characters and their speeches/actions are the author’s way to either validate or invalidate, argue in favor or dispute both the narrative's and the protagonist’s stances on the issues he faces (as we can’t really separate the author’s intentions from the whole world he creates); this is not to say that Kishimoto’s writing is without flaws, as he does allow the narrative to swallow the antagonists’ ideals by destroying the characteristics that he gave them.

Kishimoto’s writing fails at the end of each arc, as he realizes that he’s written himself into a corner. Naruto is a Shönen that, as a specific type of manga, follows simple rules: the “good guy” should always win, however, Kishimoto allowed that “goodness” of the main character to be questioned by those that stood up against him, but he did end up gifting Naruto a win without allowing him any introspection, as he never truly gave Naruto enough depth to perform it. 

[fannish-karmiya]

I've often noticed people in the MDZS fandom imply that the narrative essentially punishes all of the antagonists for their crimes and that, by extension, anyone who survives the end of the novel is thus not that bad, or at least redeemable. Personally, I find this a very flawed idea. MDZS is not a novel where justice prevails; it's a novel where those in power act with impunity and never face justice for it.

In fact, I think the only times anyone faces justice is when their victims happened to also be upper class.

No one in cultivation society cares that Jin Guangyao mass murdered prostitutes (twice). They don't even care that much about the smaller, less important sects who were massacred by Lanling Jin. They definitely don't care about the Wens. No, they care that he killed Nie Mingjue. They care that he married his sister, killed his father, and killed his son. Nie Huaisang only acted against Jin Guangyao because he wanted revenge for the death of his brother.

No one cares that Jiang Cheng led the siege and helped massacre 50 innocent people who were non-combatants (none of the Wen remnants had swords). No one cares that he spent 13 years hunting down people he suspects of practising guidao and torturing and killing them, regardless of whether they truly did or not, or whether they were using guidao to harm others or not. They also don't care that he sometimes killed people simply for having the name Wen and being unlucky enough to cross him.

That is why he survives to the end of the novel. Not because his crimes weren't horrific, not because he's been deemed redeemable or 'not that bad' by the narrative. But because his victims were people their society doesn't care about.

Dare I say it, it's the same with the Lans. Lan Xichen isn't being 'spared' by the narrative because he's just a hapless victim; his survival has nothing to do with whether he's a good person or not. In fact, he survived in the end because, to paraphrase MXTX: even scum has someone they care about. Gusu Lan's failings go unaddressed because their victims were people they could get away with hurting. Who will judge them as unrighteous for taking part in the siege, when all the other sects did, too? Who will judge them for how they imprisoned Lan-furen for life, when her fate was kept a secret and she had no powerful family to speak for her? Who will judge them for whipping Lan Wangji 33 times, when that, too, was kept a secret, and he was being punished for protecting Wei Wuxian, who the cultivation world only viewed as a dog to be put down? Who will judge them for not wanting to give shelter to Wen Yuan, an innocent child, when their whole world wanted to kill said innocent child?

Jiang Cheng is not left alive at the end because his crimes weren't 'that bad'. Lan Xichen isn't still alive because he's actually a good person (I'm sorry, when does he ever do anything actively good in the novel? he's very neutral). Lan Qiren isn't still alive and a respected elder of the Lan sect because he's a good person with no blood on his hands. All of the other sect leaders and cultivators who took part in the siege aren't alive because they were less culpable.

They're alive because their victims were people society doesn't care about, and still does not care about. That's it. That's the only reason.

[exam-ao3]

yes death note is a power fantasy

not in the end for Light Yagami who never becomes a god, but for the detectives who are making gross violations of norms that would normally get a person shunned (or sued or jailed) but still being accepted and revered and given power, wealth, and status AU where Light inherits L's name through all his wheedling manipulation but also all the man's legal problems because it's too big of a problem to say the real L has died

[07043012]

This art is important to me on many levels. Because unlike the confrontation we casually protraying them, they're standing back-to back, eyes on eachother, holding guns in their hands and rising it up like they are guarding their territory. That sum up their complex relationship pretty well. I want to quote John Lewis Gaddis' works every time I see this art...

The mutual respect, the unavoidable allies, the obsession, the paranoia, the toxicated power, the hegemonic....the everything!

[sleepynegress]

Shuri Meta: A Dark Prince and his Kidnapped Bride...

Once upon a time... There were (and still are... see: Red Riding Hood for free on youtube rn, which also uses some of this construct), girls who embodied a kind of beauty and innocence, with a suggested hint of darkness and the beginnings of exploring desire, being seduced by a dark figure.

These constructs were (and still are) popular... Pretty girl, embodying beauty, and purity (but with an obvious dark streak, that comes from grief, neglect, and so many other possible places) and a dark prince who is struck by that. He gives her gifts...but he also takes. A baby brother, killing a unicorn in order to drape the entire world in permenant darkness. Hell, even the gown is a common trope...(within WAKANDA FOREVER they name some of these in Riri's lines noting it and still....*woosh!*) Ultimately, the goal is for her to be his bride, to dwell in the dark with him. To mutually destroy and then rule over it together.

This was and still is a basic archeotypical space girls play in, either as a way to explore burgeoning desire in womahood in a fictional imaginative space or to tread a well-worn road, they enjoy. ...And I mean ANCIENT. These stories been around since BC and AD in most cultures all over the world. But in Hollywood... That particular space was almost exclusively *white* And envisioning an Afro- and/or Metzo/Indig-fantasy construct?????? *PSSSHHHH* To even begin to bring up that was possible, would likely get a WTF look and then, laughter and tears. And this is despite the fact that these constructs are at their oldest in these cultural spaces.

And yet, here we are... In a film, that bravely and fully jumps into the grief pool...and still has laughter, character development, and an arc, that includes the beauty being seduced by the dark prince trope.

And this time....She's *not* snow white skin.

She's deep brown skin. She's not long dark wavy hair... She's short carefully beautifully constructed coils... She's not embellished with sparkly blush and pink gloss... Her brown skin is dotted with white mourning ritual paint. She's not *even* biracially acceptable, with beige skin and long curly hair...& not even as a dark-skinned young woman, has she been "softened" in a way that comfortably signals "we still added these things that subliminally signals feminine/desirablity markers for you to help soften the fact that she's dark", i.e. long micro-braids, false eyelashes, et al ...and yet, here she is, with a story-arc, that heavily samples this construct and even some black women & girls are startled by it.