nolan's the odyssey has such a fundamentally culturally christian understanding of religion and divinity that it is genuinely jarring to see characters in a supposedly ancient greek historical context describe divinity and its expression in those terms. characters wonder aloud why gods hide themselves (they didn't), question the existence of what nolan interprets the supernatural to be (they wouldn't) and talk of zeus's law (not real, and still somehow bastardized) in the same way we would talk about the ten commandments. it's so out of place. and it taps into that "defy the gods" thing.
like. we can defy the christian god, in a way, because we can choose to not do what he says we ought to. sure. but we cannot defy greek gods in the same way, because the god is not just an entity that commands you but the very thing you are doing. apollo does not just send plagues, he is plague. you know apollo is real because there is plague. plague is not apollo acting in the world, it is an instance of apollo, in the same way that insight is athena, love is aphrodite, harvest is demeter, storms are zeus. gods are not commanding nature and sending signs and acting upon the world, because signs and nature and human nature are themselves the gods. the gods cannot be absent, because we still get ideas, and harvest, and go to war, and feel desire, and hunt. the gods cannot be defied because you cannot defy "getting ideas" or "harvesting" or "having sex" or "dying." to attempt to is entirely futile. like you cannot defy poseidon because you cannot defy the sea. you cannot defy aphrodite because you cannot defy love and reproduction. nature and human nature are unbeatable, and so the gods are unbeatable, because they are nature and human nature.
and it's such a beautiful way of looking at the world, and he just doesn't get that.
Pentheus, the King of Thebes, was torn apart limb-from-limb (sparagmos) by his own mother, Agave, and her sisters in a Dionysian frenzy for defying the god Dionysus.
ļ¼I want to portray the terrifying side of Dionysus!)
*through gritted teeth* the world is GOOD. people are kind. Humans are NOT inherently selfish. you will make it through this year. recovery is possible. people you don't know yet will love you. You are going to do things you can't even imagine right now. You are going to read a rlly good book. You are going to eat some rlly good food. You are going to experience joy again. Things can get better. Situations can change. You can choose to be kinder. The world can change for the better.
being anti ai is making me feel like in going insane. "you asked for thoughts about your characters backstory and i put it into chat gpt for ideas". studies have proven its making people dumber. "i asked ai to generate this meal plan". its causing water shortages where its data centers are built. "ill generate some pictures for the dnd campaign". its spreading misinformation. "meta, generate an image of this guy doing something stupid". its trained off stolen images, writing, video, audio. "i was talking with my snapchat ai-" theres no way to verify what its doing with the information it collects. "youtube is impletmenting ai based age verification". my work has an entire graphics media department and has still put ai generated motivational posters up everywhere. ai playlists. ai facial verification. google ai microsoft ai meta ai snapchat ai. everyone treats it as a novelty. every treats it as a mandatory part of life. am i the only one who sees it? am i paranoid? am i going insane? jesus fucking christ. if i have to hear one more "well at least-" "but it does-" "but you can-" im about to lose it. i shouldnt have to jump through hoops to avoid the evil machine. have you no principles? no goddamn spine? am i the weird one here?
You want to know why Inigo Montoya remains such an iconic and beloved character even 35 years after the Princess Bride came out?
Itās because heās one of the few characters in fiction who has a story where he has dedicated his life to revenge, his whole motivation is about getting revengeā¦.and he gets it! and then he isnāt empty or despairing! he doesnāt regret it! heās totally satisfied!
because so many stories about revenge or rage are about characters āseeing the futility of their actionsā or learning ātheir desire for revenge has only made them the monsters they hatedā FUCK THAT.
Inigo Montoya kills the man who kills his father, is allowed to live in the narrative after and be happy about it and it is so satisfying. itās fantastic. itās iconic.
let more characters rage against the world, bring it down with bloodied hands, and let them be FUCKING RIGHT about it. Let them celebrate their success with sharp grins, and let them live happy, full lives where they always remain proud/fulfilled for what theyāve done
Another thing that set Inigo Montoya apart from other characters with vengeance arcs is that Inigoās vengeance drove him but it didnāt consume him. He was wronged and wanted - needed that injustice to be corrected - but his vengeance was focused. Rather than taking his pain out on the whole world, Inigo was a charming, pleasant, good-humored person that treated everyone respectfully, even folks he was fighting. He even asks politely to people he meets about any extra digits they may have.
Would a bitter, angry, vengeance-consumed man swear on the life of his father and help a guy he was planning to duel, then give him time to catch his breath? Would he hand his sword over to his future opponent to lovingly show off his late-fatherās skill as a swordmaker?
āYou seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.ā
I think part of what makes Inigo so iconic and beloved is because while vengeance was his story, it wasnāt who he was, so when he achieved his vengeance it was less an emptiness and more of a satisfaction, a story completed, a wrong made right, and a man suddenly baffled at the possibilities before him, not sure what his next story would be.
Alright now here is gonna be my long post about Maomao and Jinshi and stuff. It's mostly just a massive longwinded ramble about what I love about them when compared to each other and how the story goes. I'll let you know when a part of it is getting to spoilers from the Light Novel and stuff
K hi there so:
MAOMAO.
The legend herself who does not want to be legendary but is anyway.
My first prefix of this: I love her so much because quite frankly, she is me. Emotionally repressed with incredible smarts and memory that only apply to things of direct interest without considerable effort otherwise. The biggest thing however that should be understood, she lies to herself about everything. She knows what would be troubling and avoids it if she can help it, but in her case this is a necessary survival mechanism.
We know where she grew up, treated and taught of the upper and lower classes and sexim of the society she lived, people and their services given prices and values in the eyes of those above them. She views every single interaction of her life in this transactional mindset that's further established by the brothel she grew up at, and puts herself as low as she possibly can at any time without bringing herself to danger as much as possible. She cannot clearly express her emotions, which frankly I know he's a great guy, but Luomen has some blame for that with his attempt to teach her not to speak out on guesswork and assumptions. As such she only has two modes of doing things, 100% or 0% (Or at least as close to 0 as she can manage). Clearly of course evident in her adoration of medicine and inability to control her bouts of manic excitement. This note however brings me into the other blorbo:
JINSHI
The prince imperial brother who so desperately wishes he could throw it all away.
Apothecary Diaries does a fantastic job of speaking on class inequality and leadership. Jinshi was told and taught and shown In his life that he is above everyone by those around him. Blessed with perfect looks by the heavens themselves because why wouldn't he be right? However Jinshi is not stupid. He grows up and learns many of the exact same survival and coping strategies that Maomao uses despite being complete opposites in societal class. He cannot express his desires true because his words carry so much weight. And yet the whole country would look to him as a divine being above them so he must fulfill that role as best he can. 0% or 100% in his due diligence, but different from Maomao, he does this to try and earn true respect, find his place. People all over swoon for him on his looks alone and he knows that. He sees right through their shallowness, he's not stupid. He uses it to his advantage. But at his core he cares so so much more about the people he's supposed to be above than someone in his power should, he works himself to the bone with all of his tools when he sets his mind to something when a large number of the other higher people in the show always hand off tasks to other people who excel at them more. And he does this too, it's what he was taught, but what he wants more is his own identity, his own path to work on and feel proud.
Anyways character screaming aside, let's get to the two of them across the story and how feral they make me.
Of course the beginning is what you'd expect, he finds someone whom is seemingly unfazed by all of his gifts and tactics that cause everyone to swoon and fall in line. Naturally it must go further, the teasing, the badgering, the growing curiosity. For the first time in his life, there is someone in his orbit whom has no desire to be involved with him for power or looks or anything. So he tests the grounds and learns more about her and he realizes something. Maomao is someone who steadfastly has found where she wants to be. The world is rarely so simple as that but someone just like him, who will give everything they have at what they do, and has found their calling in it. He learns about how she operates, her past, her family, and his intrigue and curiosity grow into more vibrant feelings, which ultimately causes him pain. He doesn't want to be above her. He doesn't want to hold the whole world on his shoulders. He will do what he must because he cares so much for people as a whole, but ultimately he's been carrying it so long that he wants to throw everything away. Becoming Jinshi in the rear palace, despite being another task set before him, was a huge escape for him, and now he, through learning and seeing in truth the perspective of Maomao, realizes the world is so much more than his beautiful box he's been stuffed into. But of course he knows that's selfish, he can't make her carry his burdens with him, he doesn't want her to suffer like he has. So no matter how selfish he wishes, how he wished he could pluck her up like a flower to take home, to care for and nourish forever, keep close, suffocatingly close, he ultimately knows that if he does he'll end up strangling her to death in the box with him. He's seen it in the rear palace, the strife and struggle and conflict of that life, he couldn't bear it, it wouldn't be worth the short term joy of having her as painful as it is for him.
But now let's talk Maomao on this. She sees herself as incapable of feeling love, of being anything other than selfish. Everything a transaction, every relationship for a price. Even her friend in the rear palace, she convinces herself that she's nice to her for information, to get knowledge when she needs and nothing more. So when of course she is dragged into situation after situation by her so called superior with nothing to show for it, she's frustrated and annoyed. But she can't refuse, she knows, it's the way that's been drilled into her since birth, classes and structures. Yet still when she has to get it done, she goes 100% on the task. It's survival, despite her never wanting to stand out, she has to do her best to avoid punishment. However the nature of it changes, Jinshi will tease her and play around, so she responds in kind. A transaction of sorts. It becomes familiar to her. The dragging into tasks changes into rewards, into favors, into genuine help she wants to do for others, but she will never admit it. She's just repaying her debts and doing what she's told in accordance to her own value from her perspective. Nevertheless however she convinces and lowers herself otherwise, she learned from her sisters a great deal about pride. She has so much pride built into herself that sometimes it overflows into the negative. When she cares, she cares so so much and won't stop until she's satisfied. Internally however, this backfires on her and she never realizes it. Maomao is also not an idiot, she sees Jinshis feelings and developing attachment to her. However, she cannot escape her transactional mindset, and she instantly without any thought determines "I cannot pay him back for that, I cannot give him what he wants, I need to find something else instead so I don't hurt him or myself" and continues to ignore every sign, every clue, every thing that would drag her deeper and deeper into it. This also backfires on her, to Jinshi it's like he's been starving his whole life, and she's the only food he can see, but she keeps stepping away every time he tries to get within reach. It's survival for her though, she doesn't want to be devoured, and thats exactly what she assumes is going to happen because she's seen it all before in her environment growing up. Love and hate destroying people.
This next bit is gonna have some Spoilers for the Light novels and stuff. So yall anime and manga only folks can finish reading here if you want, thanks for stopping by!
But anyways, this whole culmination explodes on its head with all the events with LN5 and LN6. The party that is politically charged with an intent to get Jinshi involved with other nobles to find him a bride. Maomao wants it to go through because she sees her self as the worst option for him, she wants someone who can give him everything. She wants him to get what he wants and needs and be happy because she cares about him albeit she won't admit it to him, they've known each other a good while at this point in the story. But of course her continuous attempt to remove herself from the path only makes him try harder, he has to go 100% when he wants something after all, and leads of course to the scene afterwards. The turning point for both of them, where he tries with everything he can and is eruption of emotion to show her that he's serious, that he will not back down no matter what. She complains continuously in her head about it too, about why does her want her? How she is convinced she cannot repay his feelings. But she responds in kind as best she can, it's a transaction, and she had learned what to do from her sisters, albeit as a sort of fallback safety mechanism in her head to avoid being vulnerable in the moment. But after that is becomes increasingly harder for her to justify to herself about how she feels towards him, and the same likewise is it hard for him to express to her in ways that she expresses to him. All in all, it's a mess that develops and buds throughout the rest of the series.
It just makes me insane, even the characters in the story know and see, if Jinshi wants her so badly (and he does), he has all of the power to just take her. Even Maomao herself expresses how it would be so much easier for him to just take her as a concubine and not have to worry any more about how she felt about it. But Jinshi won't do that, he knows how torturous that would be to Maomaos spirit and pride. So instead he will work and work himself to near death to create a situation where they can both finally be happy, which sort of unexpectedly helps Maomao sort her own feelings to, because she cannot hide how much she cares for him in making sure he rests and doesn't overwork. She convinces herself otherwise near constantly of course. But yeah, it's an incredible slow burn because the characters both try to protect the other from harm, in their own ways at least, and in doing so they protect the other from being with them because they understand they'll cause each other pain if they do it before everything is right, both internally with their own thoughts and emotions, and externally with their world and the society they live in, and it makes me so insane.
Anyway yeah, I love these dorks who love each other so much that they try to not love how they do because love is pain and they cannot bear to hurt the other on purpose like that.
i hate when you google a word and some fucking company comes up instead. Do you think you are more important than the english dictionary you piece of shit corporation
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