okay i just had a bad epiphany but corporate interest’s influence on the internet is going to become so much stronger now that generations that are internet naturalized have grown up and starting working as “social media consultants”. advertising is going to become so much more subtle, manipulate your behavior to a greater extent, and completely pervade every aspect of our lives the more we rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to social validation. 

what im saying is its scary that corporate twitter accounts are getting good at twitter. to have the same avenue a human would to express themself. its like, an extreme anthromorphism of a brand, and that brand representing a corporate interest, and successfully passing itself off as a sentient entity on twitter, thats really weird to me.

like this is so fucked up. it doesnt immediately read as an advertisement, conceptually it executes the levels of irony and deconstruction that usually make for successful memes in this genre or whatever. its almost subverting itself, but ultimately it still succeeds as an advertisement. it makes me sick. for every misfire of corporations trying to relate (pepsi protest commercial), theres another company getting better at it

okay but like my thing about this is… who is actually eating at these places because shit like this? yeah it’s funny but i never go to wendy’s because a meme, if i go to wendy’s it’s because i want a gross burger and a frosty, same with taco bell and mcdonald’s and wherever the fuck.

i really think that you’re blowing this out of proportion and having very little faith in people’s ability to decide what they want for themselves. it’s just not that deep.

It’s not about the effectiveness of the ads in question, but their complete omnipresence in every aspect and moment of life, and how bizarre and sophisticated the mechanations of advertising have become. If people don’t call attention to these things, they become normal.

The effectiveness of marketing isnt one-to-one, like, “ad says burger is good, I think burger is good, I eat burger.” That was 50 years ago. Y'all, since then these multi-million dollar corporations have been hiring psychologists and sociologists and anthropologists to study how best to get under consumer skin and theyve figured out it’s not about making you WANT a burger,

It’s about creating a Brand Identity - an anthropomorphized personality that your brain fits into an established schema (system of thought) so it’s easier to just drop into the background of your everyday life. It’s not about making you want a burger, it’s about making it so, when you DO want a burger, the first place you think of is Wendy’s, because their ads have made you think about them five time already that day. And most importantly, it’s about making sure you dont realize how often they make you think about them, so you don’t resent how pervasive they’ve become. They do that by tricking your brain into thinking of them as just another human-like personality. Your Funny Meme Friend Wendy’s. Wine Aunt World Market. Woke Jock Nike. Even your Endearingly Unhip Uncle Geico.

(hey also if you want dozens of terrifying examples of what I mean, just type ‘brand identity schema’ into Google like I just did and take a gander at all those scholarly articles discussing how best to acquire consumers, like we’re a fucking commodity)

one time i said i didn’t like the wendys twitter and got called classist for hating retail employees 

this shit works. it makes people like Brands. gets under their skin and in to their minds. when i said i didnt like the wendys twitter i personally offended people that viewed wendys as a friend, that viewed the wendys social media manager as a friendly individual that they respected.

the wendys social media manager is not your friend. they don’t even really exist. there’s no one person that writes the tweets for wendys. there’s a team of 20 something year olds that casually observe the latest meme trends and crank out mspaint memes because they know they’ll get retweeted if the memes are relevant.

they trick you in to thinking that Wendys is a hip friendly young person, and they manipulate you in to thinking that disliking marketing is somehow a “problematic” “un-woke” thing to do. 

and it works. 

install ublock origin. on mobile, block every promoted tweet you see. don’t let them convince you that this shit is normal.

I just wanna say, not only was I extremely correct in my paranoid regarding these posts, but it’s actually gotten way fucking worse already

I’m just going to be blunt about it; America’s depression epidemic is a direct result of the all-encompassing alienation we experience under late stage capitalism, and now private interests are attempting to recuperate the general public’s feelings of hopelessness and despair into marketing material, the spectacle in effect recuperating our despair and making it appear that the powers that be are on our side. That we are being watched over by boardrooms with loving grace, despite the fact that they are part and parcel with the forces of economy that has driven so many people to not see any hope in their lives. By recuperating the public discourse about the root of endemic depression, the status quo is able to trivialize it and sterilize it before before safely incorporating it back into mainstream society. Not only are we unable to strike against our enemy, most of us can’t even see them for what they are, and the rest of us can’t even speak to the truth of what they are capable of.

Pay attention to little bizarre happenings like these, they betray the rest of the iceberg

Don’t just take it from me:

On Merrill's Rivalmance

I often hear people argue that rivalry is the sensible path to take with Merrill, that it’s irresponsible to blindly support her as she makes decisions she barely understands, that a Hawke who cares about Merrill would not stand idle and watch her bear the consequences she didn’t know were there.

But here’s the thing.

Pol didn’t die because of Merrill’s blood magic. Pol died because he was scared that Merrill carried the taint; a lie that was spread by keeper Marethari.

Keeper Marethari didn’t die because of Merrill’s blood magic. Keeper Marethari died because she refused to give Merrill a chance. A choice she alone made.

Merrill’s clan, if killed, didn’t die because of Merrill’s blood magic. They died because they refused to believe her, accused her for something Marethari alone did without informing anyone, and attacked her, forcing her to defend herself.

“Fear makes men more dangerous than magic ever could.” She said before the final battle, having experienced the truth of it firsthand.

Merrill’s blood magic never hurt nor threatened anyone, where prejudice killed an entire clan.

Merrill endured a lifetime of blame and hatred. Even the visions of her dead friends taunted and blamed her. Where she had hoped to make new friends, people called her a foolish child and repeatedly tried to dissuade her from her path that she had been forced to walk alone, a choice she made so as to never bring harm to anyone.

Her eagerness to act, the sacrifices she took for the mirror, her alacrity to do anything that was needed to fix the eluvian, was often mistaken for ignorance. For foolishness. People often told her she did not know what she was getting into, which was why she acted with no reservation. Except…

“If things go wrong, if (the demon) possesses me, I need you to strike me down.” She said, fully aware of the risk.

Merrill had always known the cost of the the burden she chose to carry for the sake of her people, who had done nothing but make her feel unloved.

Her eagerness to do the things she did, so selflessly like it was nothing, was not because she was ignorant to the consequences. It was because even if there was the slightest chance, she had to take it, for the people she valued above herself, even if it meant them hating her, even if it meant everyone she cared about renouncing her, because her eyes were fixed on something she believed was bigger than herself.

Merrill, after having lived an entire life with no human experience, was made to live among them, and they made no effort to accommodate her.

Merrill was called a monster and an idiot.

Merrill, who used to wander forests; trees and flowers of all kinds growing as far as her eyes could see, for her to enjoy as she pleased, was thrust into a world were gardens were a luxury restricted to the privileged, and they laughed at her naivety as they explained to her that she was not allowed to pick flowers in people’s private gardens.

Merrill, who lived an outcast among her people and an apostate among humans, was never made to feel at home.

What Merrill lived through, what she had been told, how she had been made to feel, was enough to make anyone lose heart, to doubt themselves and wonder if they were truly a monster who needed to be stopped, to be laden with enough regret to weigh them down and drag them to the bottom and into a dark place, but does she succumb to it? When the whole world blamed her, did she take it?

Let’s compare Merrill’s words after A New Path, presumably after her clan had been killed, in both the friendship and rivalry versions.

“Why didn’t any of them listen to me? All this time, I thought… I could help them. Save them. But they chose to destroy themselves in order to escape my help.”

The sight of her dead clan, along with whom she had once considered a mother figure, would be enough to bring down anyone, no matter how strong. Yet she stood by her cause, supported by Hawke who had been there with her through every step of this difficult path.

“There was nothing you could’ve done.”

“No, I know that. Maybe it’s time I stopped living for them.”

What I also love is that there is the dialogue option for Hawke to tell her “Fear did more damage to your clan than blood magic ever could.” and I like to think that when Merrill echoed those words before the final battle, she thought of Hawke as she tried to make people see who the true villain was, just as Hawke did to her at her most vulnerable moments.

Now let’s take a look at the rivalry version.

“Willfull, stubborn idiot. All of this is my fault. I’ve… I’ve done everything wrong.”

She takes the blame for a crime she didn’t commit. She hates herself for things that she isn’t. She punishes herself for only doing good. All the words, all the insults, that she once rightfully dismissed, are now sinking in deep.

They were right all along and she was oh, so very wrong, she now believes. She thinks she is a monster, an idiot.

This is abuse. I have no other word to describe what the rivalry path does to Merrill, romance or not.

To rivalmance Merrill is to overlook everything about her character, everything that makes her so wonderful.

Because Merrill, who never preyed on anyone’s emotions while they were hurting, as they always liked to do to her, is not immature.

Merrill, the only one who argued to spare Anders because she was willing to see reason where others could only listen to their rage, is not a child.

Merrill, who told a romanced Isabela she wasn’t surprised anyone would love her, where others said that sleeping with her was only ‘expected’, is not blind or ignorant.

Merrill is a strong, beautiful, and brave character, who deserves the world, but gets so little of it.

And romancing her on a friendship path is not unrealistic, complacent, or irreponsible. Hawke is not her parent. They are not there to scold her and decide what they think is right for her, not having lived her life or known what she had gone through and her reasons to do what she does.

But Hawke can be a hand that holds hers and a place to call home. They can be what reminds them that there is still good experiences in the world for her to be had, that there is love to be felt, that she did not have to give up all joy in favour of finishing her task, that she can have both, that she is worthy of being loved, and respected enough to be given the right to make her own decisions, where she had lived a life of others insisting they knew what was best for her.

And she deserves that much.

Hawke, of all people, would know what it feels like to be blamed for things that were out of their hands. They would know what it meant to carry regrets instilled in them by people whom they called family, but could never understand them.

Hawke and Merrill could heal together. They could recover and learn to be kinder to themselves.

Or they could carry their shame and their guilt and live a life of trying to make amends.

That anyone could prefer the latter is beyond me.

fantastic fucking post op

Sorry, I didn’t mean to stalk your tags but I’m always curious as to how people tag my posts and

“#merrill was abused by Marethari and rivalry contributes to that abuse”

Thank you!!

Marethari constantly putting Merrill down is always brushed off as her being a concerned mother figure, where it is OBVIOUS, from the very first quest where Merrill asks Hawke to be there with her when she speaks to Marethari, how much of a negative impact it has on Merrill and the way she thinks she deserves punishment.

There’s the fact that Merrill always says she “can’t face her” and begs Hawke to come with her when she speaks to Maretheri, for no reason than she’s terrified of her. Merrill usually has no trouble speaking her mind to figures of authority. Anyone who brings her along on quests knows. There’s more to it than that. The game very clearly draws attention to how Merrill glances at Hawke nervously and they have to reassure her by saying “Go on, I’m with you.” Doesn’t seem like Maretheri is a good mother figure, does it?

There’s the fact that Marethari spread false rumours about Merrill while she was away, demonising her and alienating her from her own people, making sure nobody would dare speak to her. I’d also like to point out how Merrill’s thoughts immediately jumped to Marethari when she wondered why Pol would be so afraid of her, which gives me the impression that such behaviour isn’t unusual from her. We know Merrill’s been lonely and isolated from her clan long before the Eluvian incident.

There’s the fact that she strikes a deal with her, to send her on a dangerous mission that has caused the death of several of the clan, in exchange for the arulin'holm and after Merrill is finished, Marethari does not honour her end of the bargain.

There’s the fact that Merrill had chosen exile and taken drastic measures to ensure nobody else would get hurt, and Marethari disregarded all that by letting the demon possess her. (and while Anders calls it a noble sacrifice, let’s not forget how this could lead to the entire clan getting killed.)

There’s this exchange. “I don’t think beating yourself up over what happened would bring Marethari back.” “No. But she’d want me to kick myself a few times, at least.”

And the worst of all, Marethari isn’t even honest in her abuse. She never gives Merrill the chance to hate her. She covers it up in “I want you to be safe"s and “I care about you"s while she drives the clan to hate her behind her back.

“You don’t have to live alone.” She tells her, as if she isn’t the one who made sure nobody would want to live with her.

Marethari is a terrible, abusive person.

And I hope people realise how much difficult it is for someone to be able to recognise that they are being abused, not ‘loved’, and to be able to shut down all attempts to make it look like they actually care for you, to be able to realise the manipulation and to not let it get to you.

When we first meet Merrill, it looks like she’s made it to this stage, and is steadily recovering to a good state of mental health. Marethari’s pleas don’t move her and she defends herself with certainty.

Despite having lived her entire life being made to believe her abusers are doing what’s best for her and being made to doubt herself.

“She loved you, Merrill. She wanted to protect you.” A rival Hawke tells her.

“That was the noblest thing I’ve seen anyone do.” Anders attests, if present. “The world is poorer for having you instead of her.”

And with those words, her doubts are confirmed. With those words, what must have been years of trying to get into a healthy mental state come undone, and she relapses into self hating.

Killing Merrill is almost kinder than rivalmancing her.

(tl;dr: if you rivalmanced Merrill block me right now)

All of this bless you OP.

Also, Marethari’s “sacrifice” was dumb as hell. She never explains how she came to know that Audacity would use the eluvian to get into the world. While it’s possible she found out from the demon itself, since she says this after taking it into her body… But yet again, some strange logic: She stops Merrill from freeing the demon… by freeing the demon herself? Which means if she did find out about Audacity’s plan from Audacity, it was only after she freed the demon. Meaning she freed Audacity without any sort of reasoning known to us. The whole thing could have been avoided. And the way she speaks to Merrill in this scene, saying she has “chosen to pay the price of Merrill’s blood magic for her,” honestly it feels more like the intent was to hurt Merrill by hurting herself.

Marethari is the type of abuser who hurts and then claims it’s for your own good. The last thing Merrill needs is Hawke playing that role, too.

I am the greatest earthbender in the world! And don’t you dunderheads ever forget it!

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2005 - 2008)

im very grateful for the lessons in photography i was taught in stop motion class because just now they made it possible to photograph the stars with my phone in spite of the camera usually not detecting the light of stars because theyre so dim,,,, enjoy these shiny motherfuckers

ok so if everythings normal, your phone camera should have a manual mode (sometimes called pro mode). in it, change the settings of the shutter lag to 20 seconds, then put the phone down on some stable, plane surface and press the photo button (usually when using your camera, the volume buttons can be used as photo button) and let the phone still for the whole 20 seconds. 

(basically the problem with most cameras is that they dont have a very good light sensitivity in the dark, however that doesnt mean they cant detect it at all. the longer the shutter is open, the more light your camera takes in and the more burnt/light your pic will be, so in (literally) dark situations, make the shutter lag longer to get all that light you need! also i said 20 seconds but really you can make it shorter or longer depending on what kinda stuff you want for your stars)

Yes this!

Additionally, adjust your ISO to the highest number (mimics the film used for very low light and low speed images)

And set your shutter speed to the longest time possible (on my phone it’s 10 seconds).

Leave your focus settings on Auto, and if your phone camera has a timer option, turn that on (five seconds is generally enough).

Plan your shot first, then find a place to set your phone down so you can get the image you want. The less light pollution, the better; you’ll pick up FAR more stars in your picture.

Once you know what you want to shoot, tap your screen to “focus” it, then hit the button to take the picture, set your phone down, and back away from the “tripod”. Don’t touch your phone for a good 15 seconds, just to be sure.

You will not be disappointed in the results, let me assure you.

Not even a little bit.

@tamberland

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I’VE EVER LEARNED

Works best in an area with low light pollution (city lights) of course !

With what happened in the episode 3x09, I saw a real hatred toward Eleanor Guthrie rise everywhere. “Bitch,” “Kill her,” “I hate her” all the time. This is an understandable reaction. But personally, I do not hate Eleanor Guthrie. And yet I LOVED Charles Vane. Over all. Here’s a little personal analysis on Eleanor Guthrie, on Vane also a little, and her relationship with him and Richard Guthrie. This is only an analysis and a personal opinion that I want to share to see if I find people who will agree with me that maybe this point of view it please someone. You are perfectly right not to agree with me, that’s only a personal opinion :) I apologize in advance for my bad English, I recall that I am French but I hope it’s still understanding.

Personally, I understand completely and totally Eleanor. Yet God knows I loved Charles … I loved her beyond the possible. Worse than that, I loved to madness - and I still love - the Vane / Eleanor couple. In addition to seeing my favorite character, a character that has helped me tremendously emotionally for a long time, I also saw a couple that I revere end abruptly. It is a double agony. Yet even as I came out broken that famous episode 9, at no time ANY TIME, I have thought ‘I hate Eleanor. “. Not one second. Just because I end this Assembly beautifully written … and finally, a logical, or even expected, to Charles Vane’s relationship and Eleanor Guthrie. And also because I find it too easy to put everything on the back of Eleanor. In Black Sails, nobody is a saint. Already, I wish to emphasized that NO ONE has killed Charles Vane. He could survive. But he refused to survive. He CHOSE to die. Billy could have saved him, but Charles would not. Why ? Is it only because he knew that thus, the revolt really begin? Yes in the party, but I do not think that’s the only reason. Since the beginning of season 3, I saw a … Charles Vane lost. I saw that he was suffering, he did not know which road to follow. At no time I have seen have these little smiles players he had early in the season where 1 2, I saw happy not seen at any moment. I saw him lost a little more with each episode. I think in the end … it was definitely more to live. All he liked to where almost taken away from him. He in turn his back on his adopted father, Teach, because life wanted that Teach for Charles did not suit him and even if Charles does not seem to regret his choice, we clearly saw that it weighed on him and that he once again someone he loved. Jack. Anne and also a little, but especially Jack. His best friend, his brother. He saved the life to him and he knows that Jack is now smart enough to continue without him, especially Anne. I think it’s somewhat soothed knowing that he is safe. Eleanor. She, more than any other. Whenever we saw in Charles Vane happy in the show was when she was with him in a way where another. Off after the events of the end of season 2, his betrayal was a terrible blow to him and the murder of Richard Guthrie, he knew there would be no future possibility between them. And even if somewhere he wanted, he does that it makes him suffer. And their stage in the cell of the fort confirmed to him that. They were too strong love to finish on too much hatred. He lost to Eleanor, he lost to Teach, and Jack would not have been enough to make him happy. I think all these things, in addition to the knowledge that his death would help Flint, Jack and the others to win this battle, led him to choose death. It is not Eleanor who killed him. If he had wanted, he could have come off, as it did in Charles Town, and blend into the crowd to get the piercing of a sword. It has always been a struggle between them, a struggle where love and hatred are mixed so incredible. He could win this war between the two. But he refused to. Strangely, one could almost say he left her win. Eleanor … I honestly do not think we realize how much she suffers. She always had a mask, it is obliged to have this mask, Black Sails in the universe, seem weak, dying and she knows it better than anyone. But be aware to look behind that mask. Eleanor lost to his mother, who died when she was a child in a violent attack in Spain that looks to have genuinely traumatized Eleanor. At the same time, so she had more need than ever of his father, the latter brutally rejected and abandoned. It to the have a very lonely childhood, totally private parental love. And the consequences of a lack of love of parents for children are always terrible and have consequences that persist into adulthood. For Eleanor, it’s his fear to love to be where love, his inability to trust and its violent determination to prove to her father that she was worthy to be his daughter, worthy of being loved him. There is a saying that every girl looking her father in the man with whom she shares her life. Do I believe in this saying? Not entirely, but I still think there is truth in it, in many cases, and this is particularly the case for Eleanor. I look again and again and again the series right now, and I feel like I understand things every revisionnage. There I clearly feel they have even underestimated the brands Richard Guthrie left on Eleanor. Such deep marks that I clearly felt, lately, in fact Eleanor projects a little of his father in all the men she has known. Whether with Flint, Hornigold, Charles Scott when his dear father, she always adopt the same behavior: a violent rejection of authority, and especially an absolute revolt against the fact that we can consider it as a child incapable to make choices by itself. She can not stand the idea that we can to dictate his life, it shows on several occasions, including during a scene with Mr. Scott in Season 1 when she almost shouts "The decision does not belong to you! It’s not you, where my father where to Hornigold, where Charles Vane to choose for me! I take only my decisions. ” Charles in particular understood this as saying that “I believe in you enough to these fathers who dictate your behavior.” This is the case, but this reflex with each man in front of her and one might think that this is just a huge female pride and an iron will to impose itself as a power in women this world ruled by men, but it also adopts another disturbing behavior vis-à-vis all his men, it’s almost if to urge that all his men to be proud of her that impressed by it. Clearly, when one of these men is a little impressed because it in fact, even if it is a man she hates Hornigold as we see very clearly that this is what she seeks, both we left alone but that one is impressed by it. Whether we are proud of them. It shows with Mr Scott when he welcomed the end of season 1, it shows with Hornigold when it also welcomes the end of season 1, this is clearly a sense in which it needs. A feeling that she never had from his father. She wanted her father to recognize worthy of his daughter and heiress, that he deems as a potential ally in their family business and not like a little girl cumbersome, it has persisted in to adulthood. She wanted the pride of his father, that he looks and he tells him that he is proud of it, we feel it in each of their scenes that, but he had never done before season 2. This is what every child search, after all. Acceptance of its parent that it is adult and pride. Eleanor suffers from this lack. She suffered terribly, it’s a vacuum in it, such a void she tries, without even realizing it, fill it with any substitute and therefore she put all men over where less in the same position. Finally, the end of season 2, Richard Guthrie finally made him this gift with his long speech leaves Eleanor totally silent upheaval. He gave her what she always expected and very clearly, I can not even imagine the good it’s to make it, as she believed in it, as it has even hooked because even if Charles loved her beyond the imaginable, he certainly would not ever fill that void father she had in her. Only Richard Guthrie could do and he finally did. I think after that Eleanor clearly felt more at peace, it shows the way, certainly everything was far from settled between Richard and her and it will remain poor as shit forever, but he had to fill a vacuum tortured for nearly 24 years. Ca to the be a godsend for her. Charles withdrew the gift to him, unfortunately, even though it was right in the physical act itself beyond the emotional.I think of the change Eleanor is due to this, too. Is that it seems very much more receptive blow to male authority, notably where Rogers simply English. Richard Guthrie punched the hole he had dug in it, the hole grew to rebel against all men that revolved around her, who refused this authority and which made her an important ally for hackers . But once filled this void, that of being much easier for her to accept the authority of Woodes Rogers and English, much simpler because it does not feel as much as before the need to fight for it, though old habits die hard, and we see it out the feisty Eleanor of his youth. Besides Rogers in the English own profile right on him and his father. Somewhere, Eleanor is perhaps really party girls looking a little their father in their companion. I always thought that was why she had this attraction to Flint, because he had this good English and erect something that was reassuring, no less. And I think this is true given the Eleanor shocked when she learns that Flint killed Mr Gates does not expect this from Flint. And the shock was born a small period of lucidity about it all: that the upright image she had of Flint, like that of his father, broke, I think that the clearly frightened and unprepared, which led him instinctively to approach Charles because with this vis-à-vis breaking Flint, Eleanor to understand subconsciously that what she wanted, what she wanted n ’ was not what she needed to move forward. And men like Charles are not necessarily more dangerous just because they hide their less violence. In this short period, I really think it is. This English image, that image of her father she is looking around and it comes to projecting even on those who do not, this is bad for her, destructive but no one makes no account, I think she does not even realize that’s what it seeks. What she needed was a man like Charles Vane, and the bottom of herself as she knows it, just … all from a complex and a childhood trauma. And this stuff does not go away easily, if ever. And the moment of clarity to it had in mid season 2 is closed again when Richard told him she expected those words have always heard it in the mouth of other men but not that of her father which she aspired, in the background, to be worthy of his legacy. She knew she had lost Charles in season 2. And we could see that this choice of it to make her suffer. I remember perfectly that scene where she looks at the fort, looking lost, before snuggling against his father, certainly crying saw the movement of his shoulders. She lost to Charles, but she is comforted in this father she thought she had finally found and earn respect. Charles to betray surely the most difficult she had to do, when it speaks seen in Flint just after, when it speaks of “The things I have destroyed to reach this moment and everything … Anything That strood in ict way. And for All That effort for All That sacrifice … ”. A friend made me realize everything a con trick on Eleanor with a sentence every beast. I am the first to say that Charles Eleanor loved but somehow I had never seen it that way. He just said “his father killed by the man she loved.” Said like that, it takes a different extent I think because so far, I said that I had underestimated me the love that Eleanor had for his father, and I am totally focused me on it to explain his actions and his way of being in season 3, but maybe that’s just half the problem, actually. Maybe this virulent hatred towards it to Charles comes not so much the fact that he killed his father in … but either to HIM who killed his father. The only man she loved. If it was Hornigold where an unknown who killed Richard Guthrie, would she have been such hatred? Such anger? Such determination? Strangely, I do not think. The fact that this is the only man she loved, she still loved him when to turn away saw the condition of his betrayal was diving - serious depression she made on site in his office sitting to fix the floor, completely cut off the air in the world - that that this is the same man she loved that killed his father … to all this love she had for Charles, this love already so skilfully battle related to turned to pure hate hard suddenly. Because clearly, I have never seen Eleanor also in love with Charles that at the end of season 2, after he killed Ned Low, risking his life to protect her. She had given him his confidence completely, to the point of turning against Flint for him. Besides, if it had not been Flint nor Abigail Ashe, is more than certain that at this moment in history, they would have stayed together. But his domestic problems, her love for her father but also his belief that the choice of Charles was too dangerous to Nassau for her, drove him to betray him but this betrayal ripped her heart and it definitely does not that she no longer loved him saw his despair when the survival of facing Charles Flint and depression. Then see the first man she loved killed the second man she loved most … knowing the extreme side of the relationship and feelings of Charles and Eleanor, it’s more logical that this has turned to icy hatred. It became cold and totally for England from the next episode, I realize that. From that moment, she has lost this ability to have this player and provocative. She lost to sincerely I think his ability to love this day because in his mind, the two men she loved died the same day, and one of them had become something to be done. She left overwhelmed by a cold anger. I only share an idea that is now fully acquired me. Hate so cold Eleanor descended directly from a love too strong for someone committed to the only act to never do it against, killing the other man she loved more than anything, the same syndrome all she had, strangely. Throughout season 3, at no time I have seen have this provocative, playful and arrogant she had in the first two seasons, I first thought it was prudent to face English … but actually, no. It’s just that she is no longer able. She totally lost it to seeing the body of his father and knowing that this is Charles Vane which to do that. That explains a lot, I think. Too violent hatred that came out of too violent love. She lost in the image she had of Charles in the last moment, an image that was brighter than ever, because certainly recognize that the man she loved was the murderer of his father was too painful for her. Insupportable. Charles Vane make a stupid thing to shoot was probably the only way it felt to not go crazy. mad grief, hatred and anger but mostly pain. She was already haunted all season 3. Haunted by conflicting feelings, used to love Charles as evidenced by his haggard and lost when Rogers told him that Charles Vane will never return to Nassau, and torn by this icy hatred who invaded kill the animal to murder his father, a pet she can not associate with the man she loved. When Charles speaks to him in the cell, when she finds herself face to face, she tries to see the animal that she has created but there is also the flash, human traits to it once loved. Only Charles condemns himself without express by saying that his father was a shit, because it adds a layer on that which is unbearable to recognize for Eleanor. That is why it so crazy to look half before hitting him, this rage that rises upwards that grows to almost strangle well and screaming lungs full, it is this unbearable pain that it felt, not only of the death of Richard Guthrie, but the fact that this is the man she loved and in which she placed her trust in who killed him. It comes back to the fact I find that Richard Guthrie and Charles Vane are the two men she loved most in. And it explains better if it is determined. That explains the haggard look lost and I perceived it at the hanging, look both tough and determined, determined to kill the animal she saw in him, but with that vague impression of not not knowing what she did because it all leads to a lie it creates is not to sink into madness. Madness and rage that was expressed time that scream, but she managed to control a time and she sank back into his lie to protect themselves, and she whispers his words against him, his words that compared to just a beast. She talks about the image it to him now. In this story, it certainly forgotten in all that Charles once did for her. But compared to the pain she feels, I think that for him it does not weight. And to combat this pain, the only way to find it is to get the image of him and cut of any emotion, except this wave of doubt echo of his inner madness, who invaded in the hanging and that to me says this look haggard she had to for a long time, that look at it continued to have once he was dead and she has observed. In truth, it is a struggle inside her. Memories of the past who want to resurface at any price, make him feel this pain and this wall it is put inside of herself. As long as she stays on this lie, it can keep moving, to keep a cool head and clear mind because it protects the lie of his inner feelings. Sometimes, this wall, this lie will crack and pain bursts seen and bewilderment in it, as I saw the death of Charles, and the largest crack comes from its howling face Charles. It can hardly lie in front of him at a time she could never have. But it has hardened (besides the producers specified that the death of Richard Guthrie killed Charles had hardened, but I had not really understood what that meant until now). Just one day the wall is broken and that’s the end of it. Not only this pain she pushed to invade will suddenly break and because it will realize in the end that she lost any. Not just where his father Charles. Just everything. This is not one where the other is a huge and everything she protects this huge while sticking this animal picture on Charles to succeed in combat, otherwise what she did succeed not. That explains the sudden reversal of his emotions in Season 2. Episode 7, she is feverish, desperate for betraying Charles. Episode 8, it is in total depression, silent, low, single cloistered in his office with barely the strength to talk to others. And in the evening when she discovers the body of his father, the pain we see in it, we see that something break in his eyes, and we see this huge shell it is necessary to protect her -even will immediately put in place. The next day, facing Max, it is marble. Icy. Indifferent to everything that happens around her, except his new determination to stop hackers and establish a legal trade in Nassau and as she said, to be at war against Charles Vane. That day, Eleanor has lost its ability to feel true positive emotions. She has in fact lost its innocence, oddly. Since they are only chimeras. She clings to the idea of redemption without really can get involved if it can not really feel anything. I think somewhere in her consciousness of this loss of feeling inside and it scared him, too. That would explain a little better his approach facing Rogers. She wanted to, I think, to find this capacity she had loved and that is what she tries with Rogers. To regain a sense lost but I see force, trying again and again, without really succeeding. I now think that Rogers is more to her. He represents his last chance to regain lost that feeling, that feeling without which it must feel very empty inside. It is a desperate fight with Rogers. Especially that in the hand of a layer that face Charles not to sink. She at times flashes of his brutal feelings she had before. With Max, for example, with whom she had a strong relationship with. It’s still not enough, not at all, and I doubt that this is enough to wake up one day completely. She begins to slowly see Max as a real ally when she arrived in the idea that this would be a potential enemy for it and I think it’s quite nice for her to see that she can see a friend in her, a friend who knows her well. But for now, it has been totally inadequate for this wall Eleanor continues. Can cure it? I do not know. I doubt she has the time, anyway. My conclusion ? Eleanor is a character who suffers internally, and fights as it can to survive. Eleanor with immense strength in it and why it is used. Specifically, given the evolution of the relationship of Charles and Eleanor, it was expected that in the end, one is trying to kill each other and will succeed in half … and I do not think Charles would ever be able to kill Eleanor. Otherwise, he would have done that night, instead of killing Richard Guthrie. Eleanor is a complex character that Flint where John sentimentally, as fascinating as they. She just developed differently. It’s a strong woman in the end, a woman who refuses to be submitted in a world dominated by men who struggle as she can. This is a woman who has always fascinated me personally. This is a woman I understand. I expect a lot of season 4 for it, I expect to see his mental evolution, see if my theories are good, and just continue to see this great female character. There is a HUGE risk that it ends up dying by Teach where Jack … where else it will bury them all, who knows. What the show has taught me is that it is better to never underestimate Eleanor Guthrie. Of all the enemies that Flint and the others have to face, she is by far the most dangerous. All this, I recall, is only an analysis and personal opinion :) In my eyes, either in where pirates in English, Eleanor Guthrie will forever be the one and only Queen of Nassau. And the female character most amazing and fascinating of the series.

DKJVKADCJSNLX thank you so much for this post!!!! XD <3 I’ll get straight in!

Such a great point about Charles not being happy. I’ve only watched S3 once so far so this is just from what I remember but I think Charles realises that his way of life, of violence, piracy, of literally fighting every day to stay free, is becoming obsolete and everyone else is moving on. At the beginning of S3 he is part of Team Protect Nassau with Flint, Jack et al but when Teach comes back he realises he’s bored, he doesn’t fit in. But when Flint then comes and asks him who he is, he knows he’s outgrown who he was with Teach, and he sacrifices himself for the cause, for his friends, because he sees his place is not in the world any longer, it’s for those who can find a place in it like his brother and sister Jack and Anne. He does it for them. He hates Eleanor and all she stands for in that moment, but actually he’s finally sacrificing himself for what she fought for: peace and equality for everyone. He could not live in this world but he died for it.

I didn’t know/remember Eleanor’s mother died in the Spanish attack omg, this makes her protection of the fort so that can never happen again all the more moving.

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Love what you said about Eleanor’s rejection of male authority figures because she’s had to look after herself when her father left.

I think she saw Flint as someone more civilised too, someone she could relate to in wanting to help the people of Nassau stop being the “animals” they are forced to be.

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Because she felt this connection with Flint it shocked her when he killed Gates as you said, and it is easier for her to go against him and all pirates now because she can put him in the monster/animal group that she put Vane in by 3x9.

Her feelings for her father translated into her feelings towards all men. Firstly hatred: resentment for being abandoned, having to fend for herself, disempowered, and secondly longing: for approval, validation that yes, she has done all this alone, she is their equal. Now that her father is dead these two states have separated into how she feels about brutal pirates vs civilised English.

I think Charles did understand Eleanor a lot better than most people, and believe they had real feelings for each other, being very similar in their aggressive need to show that no-one owns them, but he didn’t understand her love for Nassau and acted very entitled towards her a lot of the time so I think the relationship wouldn’t have worked out. He had too much Teach in him. However YES I really like this:

I think she liked that Charles was straightforward, there were no games - until he killed her father to spite her, which was “cowardly”, not his style at all. What he said to her in 2x6 is “all bullshit.”

I think in that moment he must realise that his way of life, piracy, isn’t legitimate. He’s betrayed himself as much as her when he killed her father. But he knows Flint’s vision, he knows there is a future, he just knows it isn’t England’s, and Eleanor is too blinded - and forced into working with England -  to see. (Side note, I hope Eleanor sees that England and Woodes aren’t what she needs, so her and Max can manipulate from inside the system!)

I think you’re right that Charles being the one to kill her father hurt most because she felt he understood her a little, understood her relationship with her father. So it is easier then for her to see him, Hornigold (who sold her out) and all pirates, as animals, the enemy, with no empathy or humanity. Because they are uncivilised and her father was civilised, so she is with England. She needs to find order in this chaos.

Yess I love this. I hadn’t thought of her seeing her as a rival before but that’s a good point. Hardening herself has taken its toll and she reaches out for her old friend, even if she may also be her rival. I love the parallels between Eleanor and Max vs Flint and Silver. I think/hope that both will follow the same way, in that Max will take over from Eleanor, just as Silver will take over from Flint. But both willingly, knowing they’re not alone and have people taking care of things if they step down, and even if they didn’t complete all they set out to do, they are *allowed* to find peace and love themselves (and their partners), finally be content. Both Flint and Eleanor hate who they’ve had to become, the sacrifices they’ve made (as you said) in their quest to make Nassau better.

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Also, Max and Silver are better leaders than Eleanor and Flint. Eleanor started out with power, money, a business; Flint had power physically, mentally and skills from his training. In their respective roles they were able to rule through fear, threat, aggression etc. which, as I was saying before re Teach and Vane, are tactics from the simpler, ‘old’ ways of doing things. Max and Silver are both lower class, in the beginning out for themselves by necessity, having to learn fast the ways of the world through hard work and subtlety, having to read people and be liked in order to get by as they don’t have brute strength or power on their side. People trust and like them because they’ve both at one time been in the positions of those they’re commanding, so there’s an understanding, and they can manipulate without people even realising they’ve done anything. They are “both feared and liked” as Silver said. A hard-won respect through years of not having much and working up through the ranks as it were.

I know Eleanor and Flint have both had a lot against them (of course!) and are less privileged than say Woodes Rogers, but compared to Max and Silver they’ve had a lot on their side re more traditional power dynamics. And it helps (ruling-wise) that Max and Silver started out just surviving, not aspiring towards any sort of power, whereas Eleanor and Flint had help with surviving (from father/father figure - however much of an asshole each turned out to be), so focussed on helping others, which means a LOT of responsibility and the weight of the world on their shoulders. That gets really tough, so I’m excited for them both to get love and support from Max and Silver as they take over the reigns. (Get it? Reins to reign? Puns :’))

I don’t really know how to finish this now lol but great post! So many points I hadn’t thought about so thank you, thank you! <3

Cultures are NOT Costumes

This is a transcript of this video

(This video is fully closed captioned!)

So, i was planning on doing this video a lot later on in the month, but I realized that a lot of people are probably planning their Halloween costumes right now and I just wanted to stop you now before you made a fool out of yourself. So, every year around this time we always seem to have a rash of people who want to feel a little ethnic for the evening and think Halloween is the perfect time for that. You can be a Spicy Senorita

A China Man

An Indian Princess

Or a brave African Warrior!

Or… you could not be an insensitive jerk and recognize that cultures are NOT costumes Look, I get the point of Halloween is to dress up as something you’re not and role play all night. I get it, I do. but when your costume is parodying or poking fun at a culture that is not your own, I’m sorry but you’re kind of a jerk and you’re certainly not invited to my Halloween party. Now, I’m the sort of person that likes to assume the best of people, I don’t want to assume that people who wear these costumes are racists. I’d like to just assume that you don’t know any better so let me go down a list of problematic costumes and tell you why they are:

While dressing as a sensitive geisha for the night, might be fun for you,

Asian women have to live with the geisha stereotype that says that they are quiet, submissive and subservient.

While wearing an Indian headdress may make your Native American themed costume more extravagant,

you’re ignoring the fact that the Native American Headdress  is a sign of achievement that is cherished in many native communities. Wearing it as a joke or as part of a costume is hella disrespectful.

Dressing up as an “Arabian” Terrorist may be a hit with all of your racist friends,

but people of middle eastern descent have to live with people assuming that they’re terrorists because of their race and how they may choose to practice their religions One of the main reasons I’m making this video is because of the response to my black face video. A lot of people were asking me if it was ok for them to darken their skin when playing a black character, or a character with darker complexion. Now, first and foremost I wanted to say this: I have no idea WHY when you look at a black character the biggest thing you take away is their skin color. I’m sorry, but if you can’t convincingly dress like a black character without darkening your skin tone, your costume is really bad and you should probably just not do it all together.

To be completely honest, I feel like there are some people that are just dying to paint their skin black and act like a black stereotype. I always hear this argument about how darkening their skin somehow makes their portrayal more accurate and I think that’s a massive excuse.

Black face has a long history of pain and hurt behind it, as do these other stereotypes we’ve discussed here.

I was Velma last year for Halloween. Everyone knew who I was. No one  was confused because my look and my outfit were on point. So NO you shouldn’t be darkening your skin tone to play a character that’s black. Lightening my skin never once came to my mind, even though the character is white. Because Velma is so much more than a nerdy white girl. When the biggest thing you take away from a character is their race, that’s probably a costume you should veer away from. You wear the COSTUME, not the race. Look at these great cosplayers. You know exactly who they are even though they aren’t the original race of the character.

  These costumes are amazing and clearly tell you who they’re supposed to be.

Look at problematic as hell, Miley Cyrus doing it right with her lil kim Haloween costume. When Miley Cyrus is being less racist than you then it’s time to look at your life and look at your decisions. Look at Ellen who FLAWLESSLY dressed as Nicki Minaj one year.

Look at this adorable Tiana Frog Princess cosplay

One of my favorite Marvel Characters is Storm and this girl did a bang on job You know who these characters are and you don’t need black face to communicate that. A lot of Halloween costumes are manifestations of harmful racial stereotypes. Stereotypes that I’m sure lack a lot of context at this point in society, but are still just as offensive to the people of color who have to deal with these stereotypes in their day to day lives. If your costume says “tribe” or “ethnic” or “traditional” or “authentic” on it, then the chances are you’re grabbing a problematic costume. And again if you wear it, you’re not invited to my party. If you’d be embarrassed to be seen by a person of the race that you’re parodying then that’s a costume you probably shouldn’t wear. At the end of the day, Halloween is supposed to be about FUN. There are so many costumes that you can wear that aren’t racist that do not require you to try on the culture of another person’s culture for an evening. If you’re having fun at someone’s expense, then you’re sort of a jerk and you should examine why you feel entitled to wear a costume that you know is offensive to people of the race you’re parodying. Like I said, I prefer to air on the side of people just not knowing better. So I hope this video stopped you from buying that racist Halloween costume. And on that note PLEASE share this video to all of your problematic friends. I really don’t want to see a slew of articles and posts about NEW racist costumes. It’s 2014 and we should really be over this by now. So ghouls and girls, be sure to have fun this Halloween and always remember and never forget that you are beautiful and you are loved… bye!! <3 Resources:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/10/in_the_immortal_words_of.html http://thestripesblog.com/2014/02/12/the-misrepresented-and-hypersexualized-latina/ http://apihtawikosisan.com/hall-of-shame/an-open-letter-to-non-natives-in-headdresses/ http://cosplayingwhileblack.tumblr.com

afroblossom

Halloween is coming up guys. Time to find a costume that doesn’t make you look like a racist prick.

To add on:

For Motor City Comic Con last year, I went as Snow White. Can I tell you how many precious little angel faces came up to me asking their parents and me if they could get a picture with me!?!?! 3-6 year olds!

THEY DIDN’T SEE RACE! THEY SAW A COSTUME! AND THE COSTUME IS ALL THAT MATTERED TO THEM!

All they saw was Snow White. Can we not teach these young impressionable minds that they have to change how they look to fit a costume, or that it’s cool to do so, or even teaching them that they have to be a certain race/size to be a particular character? It’s not!