pop culture rants @tinypufferfish - Tumblr Blog

Soooo I know probably no one cares, but I was bored this afternoon and decided to make a list of historical period dramas following the history of the English monarchs

(Note: these are all DRAMAS. None of them are perfectly historically accurate, several of them are downright offensive. Also, several British monarchs are multiple depictions and some had none. I did my best, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. Do your own research on each of the films for any triggers or content warnings.)

i’m a sucker for a good character driven book. don’t get me wrong, a good plot doesn’t go unnoticed but unless i actually care about the characters, i’m never gonna love the book.

some things that make a good character driven book:

you know exactly what the characters main goal is. this goal might change over the course of the book but you always know what motivates them

you know what the character stands to lose if things go wrong. you know what the worst case scenario looks like for this character

several of the characters develop a bond to each other such that losing the others would be part of the worst case scenario

some examples of books that are character driven and have well developed complex characters:

six of crows by leigh bardugo

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir

the foxhole court by nora sakavic

the house on the cerulean sea by tj klune

under the whispering door by tj klune

song of achilles by madeline miller

carrie soto is back by taylor jenkins reid (received as an ARC)

the plot could be watching paint dry but as long as the characters and their relationships are well developed and complex, i’m interested

#character driven #six of crows #gideon the ninth #the foxhole court #house on the cerulean sea #under the whispering door #song of achilles #carrie soto is back

you’ve heard of childhood friends to lovers and you’ve heard of enemies to lovers. but have you heard of childhood enemies to reluctant partners to allies to one flesh, one end?

#gideon the 9th #harrow the ninth #locked tomb #tamsyn muir

i started reading Beartown and there are some ✨similarities✨ with All For The Game

david is the gruff coach with good intentions

kevin is the star player with too much pressure on his shoulders

an asshole teammate who aggressively protects kevin

asshole teammate also happens to be gay

fast paced game that often involves violent body checks against plexiglass walls

there’s a small, fast, underdog kid with a single mom

themes about how a competitive mentality and pinning too much on the outcome of games can have negative effects of players and surrounding people

obviously the plot of beartown diverges significantly from there but the similarities between the characterization and broader themes of both books spiked my interest

#aftg series #beartown #the foxhole court #all for the game #fredrik backman

my toxic trait is reading classics and myth retellings and being shocked when it has the same themes and plot as the original story

#camelot rising #once and future #these violent delights #song of achilles #lunar chronicles #spinning silver #uprooted #myth retelling #arthurian legend #romeo and juliet #greek mythology #acotar #fairy tale retelling

some thoughts on harrow the ninth with (minor) out of context spoilers:

i had and still have no fucking clue what happened in this book

i only understood maybe 15% of it

genuinely unhinged

what

the river?????

camilla hect has my heart

“hi, not-fucking-dead. i’m dad”. this line dealt physical damage

i wish we saw more of gideon

overall i give it a 10/10. no critiques

#harrow the ninth #spoilers #but out of context #what the fuck #unhinged #locked tomb

ok but that period drama moment when characters A and B are so clearly in love but engaged to other people for political or monetary reasons. and then character A’s fiancé is a little too rough or mean or something and character B begs character A not to marry them……………yeah

please drop recs

#downton abbey #reign

i’ve read an abundance of YA fantasy novels and have a lot of opinions. please come ask me your questions

bace-jeleren

SO I JUST FINISHED @xiranjayzhao 'S IRON WIDOW AND

#iron widow #xiran jay zhao #this is the only thing i can think about

some unsuspecting freshman: so Neil, what was the worst part of your freshman year?

Neil who spent the entirety of his freshman year fucking with the mafia, hiding from his serial killer dad, dealing with Andrew, literally has been tortured: idk classes were kinda tough I guess

#incorrect aftg #the foxhole court #all for the game #neil josten #aftg headcanon #andrew minyard

List of fictional curse words when the character just really wants to say fuck:

Stars

Rocks

Quiznak

Rats

Saints

Kriff

Dank farrik

Monkey feathers

Merlin’s beard

Buckets

Please feel free to add more

#swear words #atla #voltron #graceling #lunar chronicles #star wars #six of crows #harry potter

Some thoughts about race in A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik:

Obviously there are some hugely problematic and harmful things in this book. From being slightly tone-deaf, to largely offensive, people are mad and it’s understandable. Here’s where it gets me:

El’s racial identity of being an East Asian biracial girl raised by a white woman is never addressed.

I know that some people are upset over the fact that El seems pretty whitewashed. She demonstrates minimal knowledge of her Indian cultural heritage. However, seeing as she was raised by a white woman in Wales with no connection to her fathers family and culture, El’s lack of knowledge isn’t unreasonable. Except for the fact that none of this is ever addressed.

Being biracial can be a struggle to navigate. Like El, a child could be raised to know only half of their racial or ethnic identity. It’s hard to know where you fit in when you think and act like one demographic, but look like another. Or maybe, a child might not be “white enough” or “ethnic enough” to be able to fit into any part of their indentity. Often times, this leaves a kid feeling ostracized and confused and alone. But doesn’t that sound familiar? In this book, El is painted as a loner. She has been entirely socially ostracized for 3 years. Novik justifies this by essentially saying that El gives off bad vibes. I know this part of her character is technically relevant bc El is prophecized to be evil or whatever, but it just feels lazy to me. Novik had the perfect opportunity to address and represent the struggle that a lot of biracial kids go through but failed. Instead, she wrote a white character with a faux racial identity and called it diversity.

On a more personal level, El was so close to being representative of me. As a biracial South East Asian woman raised in a predominantly white town, El’s character was the closest thing to representing my racial identity as I have ever found. But instead of making me feel seen, Novik only succeeded in making me and my experiences feel invisible and invalid and I am infuriated.

#a deadly education #the scholomance #naomi novik #rant post #racial politics #biracial #galadriel #racial identity #representation

tinypufferfish

So is it just general knowledge that Naomi Novik is a founder of AO3?? If yes, why did no one tell me sooner?

tinypufferfish

#naomi novik #uprooted #spinning silver #archive of our own #what the hell

So is it just general knowledge that Naomi Novik is a founder of AO3?? If yes, why did no one tell me sooner?

#naomi novik #uprooted #spinning silver #fanfic #fanfiction #archive of our own #ao3 stuff

Legend of Korra rant: war crimes edition

In honor of my last post about the LoK krew and war crimes, here’s a short list of war crimes committed by the “good guys”. I’m only using the guidelines established under the Geneva Convention and I probably missed a few so feel free to add any other war crimes lmao

Misusing a flag of truce - in Book 4, president Raiko surrenders Republic City to Kuvira. Korra goes against this surrender to kidnap Baatar Jr.. However, there is a possible loop hole. The terms of this surrender hadn’t yet been discussed so the surrender might not have been recognized. Still, the terms were not discussed bc Baatar Jr. was taken.

Taking of hostages - in the same situation as above, the Krew kidnaps Baatar Jr. and holds him hostage to try to convince him to stop Kuvira/use as leverage against Kuvira.

Using child soldiers - this one feels pretty obvious. Tenzin’s kids and other kids like Kai and Opal in the air bender legion are child soldiers used in a militant fashion. I should clarify that the kids in AtLA aren’t child soldiers bc they aren’t affiliated with a military organization. The air bender kids are essentially part of the Air Nomad equivalent of a military

Inhumaine imprisonment - the whole Red Lotus team was in inhumaine prison conditions for 13 years. All of them were put into solitary confinement where they suffered extreme isolation and potentially hazardous environments (intense cold, intense heat, complete darkness, etc.)

Destruction of religious/cultural places of heritage - in Book 2, Korra’s dad leads an armed force into the spiritual forest in the North Pole and destroyed the forest

Widespread longterm and severe damage - bruh this is literally everywhere. I feel like the most notable examples are during Harmonic Convergence when the spirit vines took over Republic City or after the battle with Kuvira when there was a literal spirit portal in the middle of the city. Countless homes and infrastructure was most likely destroyed and will presumably be rebuilt using tax dollars

#legend of korra #legend of korra rant #war crimes #lok #atla #avatar korra

the gaang: how far will we go to avenge our losses? can murder ever truly be justified? do the ends justify the means when there are lives on the line? is it possible--or ethical--to remain pacifist in times of war? what is the moral price of violence?

the LoK krew: Today I Think I Will Commit War Crimes For Fun :)

#legend of korra #avatar the last airbender #lok #atla #the gaang #morals and ethics #avatar korra #avatar aang #war crimes

Legend of korra rant: mental health edition

I’m officially almost finished watching Book 4 so here’s a rant about how LoK treats mental illnesses (spoiler: it’s not good). Obviously a lot of this season shows Korra as she’s recovering from her trauma with Zaheer. This is a super important narrative to show and normalize but,,,,,,,,, like always there are some very problematic messages being sent. TW: this mentions about abuse and assault

PTSD/depression/other mental illnesses as a choice. This is referred to a few times while Korra is talking to Toph and to Zaheer. Both of them mention how Korra is “choosing” to not recover or somehow imply that she could get better if she REALLY tried. While there there can be an element of fear of recovery, it needs to be acknowledged that these illnesses are 100% real and not just “in your head”.

Getting closure with your abuser/attacker. In a lot of cases, closure can help lead to your recovery. Cases having to abuse or assault aren’t necessarily one of them. In this storyline, Korra decided that she needed to face Zaheer in order to recover. Stop promoting this idea. This could lead victims of abuse/assault to end up in very dangerous situations or cause more trauma. In some cases, this could work. But there are other ways to find closure without confronting a potentially dangerous person

The idea that people won’t see you as a functioning member of society until you’re healed. This is another reoccurring theme throughout this book. While Korra is recovering, people start treating her as if she’s fragile and breakable. They stop inviting her to important meetings, and don’t let her help when she’s needed. While these actions might be well-intended, it creates a stigma around people who struggle with their mental health. It sends the message that these people are no longer helpful to society

If you’re going to include a storyline about mental health, don’t subscribe to the negative stereotypes. Like I’ve said before, the audience is a bunch of kids who will internalize the messages in this show. The creators of this show should have been much more careful with the messages and implications of this show

#legend of korra #atla #mental health #tw abuse #tw assualt #legend of korra rant #mental health edition #season 4 #avatar korra

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

pop culture rants