The outcome is only uncertain for those who disbelieve.

im sorry but writing enemies to lovers on ao3 is so fucking funny. one of them will go a whole paragraph saying how much they hate, absolutely despise, have genuine burning contempt for the other and we’re all here knowing damn well that enemies to lovers tag is just sat there. like we already know what’s coming bro you’re just embarrassing yourself

I recently started working in hospitality, and I’ll tell you guys right now, the trope of “there was only one bed” is not as rare as you’d think in real life. A few times a week, at least, I have guys come in who are working together on projects in town or passing through who have to literally book the last room I have available for the night and lo and behold — there is only one bed, and guess what, they give each other a side-eyed look and begrudgingly take it. So write it up, it happens all the time!!!

no trope fucks me up more than when person A watches person B with softness and wonder, all while person B is unaware

I think what bothers me the most about a lot of the negative press surrounding Jupiter Ascending is that we’re basically busting on it for not being for boys.

Sure, the fiim has problems - I’m not denying that. But a lot of the story-based criticisms revolve around the notion that it does a poor job of articulating the standard Chosen Hero narrative, when the fact of the matter is that it’s not meant to be a Chosen Hero story. It’s meant to be a Secret Princess story - you know, the one where the heroine has a terrible life until a handsome knight (who’s totally scary at first, but kind and brave at heart) appears and tells her that this isn’t how it’s meant to be, that she’s actually the lost princess of some far-off land, and that he’s come to take her home.

And you know what the thing about the Secret Princess narrative is? It’s every bit the adolescent power fantasy that the Chosen Hero narrative is - it’s just one that’s historically been much more popular among girls than it is among boys. And I think that’s the crux of why it’s been so widely misidentified: hundred-million-dollar action blockbusters based on specifically girl-directed power fantasies do not happen. In fact, I’m having trouble thinking of any action film founded in the Secret Princess narrative before Jupiter Ascending came along, big-budget or otherwise.

A lot of the popular criticisms fall apart when you look at it through that lens. Jupiter “lacks agency” because she doesn’t fight? Of course she doesn’t fight. The Princess doesn’t get her hands dirty in battle if it can be avoided; that’s what her knight is for. She’s got bigger things to worry about: the fate of nations - or, in this case, of worlds - rests in her hands. And does Jupiter Jones acquit herself well in this arena? You’re darn right she does. The only way you can argue that she “lacks agency” is if you presume that the only decisions that count are those that are enacted by personally hitting somebody in the face. Which would be true, if this were a Chosen Hero story - but it isn’t.

Basically, at this point we’re not criticising the film for how it tells its story: we’re criticising it for the kind of story it’s telling. Certain types of stories are regarded as intrinsically unworthy of cinematic attention - and isn’t it funny how virtually all stories aimed at girls fall into that category? Certainly, Jupiter Ascending is by no means above reproach - but we can’t even talk about what it does right or wrong as a film, because we’re stuck on arguing about whether it has any right to exist as a film in the first place.

I’m also growing more and more convinced that the Chosen Hero narrative is virtually the same exact thing as the Secret Princess narrative. The differences have been disproportionately exaggerated and assigned to one gender or another, but really: “You’re a wizard, Harry.” = “You’re a Recurrence, Jupiter.” = “You’re the Avatar, Aang.” = “You’re the One, Neo.” = “You’re the Princess of Genovia, Mia Thermopolis.” = “You’re Lord Asriel’s daughter, Lyra.”

These all have WAYYYY more things fundamentally in common than they do in contrast. They all come from humble or unassuming roots. The main character’s secret identity is almost always revealed by a mentor character, even in JA—Kalique explains the Recurrence, not Caine, not the handsome knight! There is a new life with new responsibilities that must be learned and embraced. New enemies come out of the woodwork.

I do, though, see a difference in what the Chosen Hero gains upon learning his true identity as opposed to the Secret Princess. Boys gain powers while girls gain connections. You get one guess about which one is undervalued, but I think that’s the real difference between the two.

(I offer you this in order to mention some potential subversions: John Connor is actually a Secret Princess and Buffy Summers is a Chosen Hero. But really all of these belong in the exact same genre, because I think the differences are superficial and have way more to do with setting than with narrative structure.)

There’s definitely a lot crossover. I talk a bit about the characteristic features of the Secret Princess narrative in this post here:

http://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/111330584497/with-respect-to-my-earlier-post-on-jupiter

As I note there, one of the conspicuous quirks of the this division is that, while there is a corresponding Secret Prince narrative for boys, knight-protector and fancy clothes and all, it almost always takes a thematic turn and transforms into a more conventional Chosen Hero narrative in the second act. You very rarely see a boy who starts out as a Secret Prince and says that way to the end.

(There’s probably a whole constellation of reasons for this, but most of them boil down to “because sexism”. The virtues that characterise the Secret Princess are, of course, virtues that are traditionally regarded as feminine; while a male character is permitted to display feminine virtues, on no account can he be allowed to triumph through the exercise of those virtues - so every Secret Prince narrative gets a bit of Chosen Hero clumsily stapled onto it in order to affirm the protagonist’s masculinity.)

jsyk interracial couples don’t mean shit if they’re drenched in racist tropes. a brown man is jealous and overprotective of his dainty white girlfriend? racist! an asian woman is narrow minded until a white man chooses her to be his girlfriend and liberates her from her outdated cultural beliefs? racist! a black man constantly “dominates” his white boyfriend? racist! this treatment isn’t exclusive to interracial relationships that involve a white person, but it’s much more common with them and it’s complete bullshit 

cliché but classic trope: when the person who almost died wakes up in a hospital bed, looks around and sees the object of their affection sleeping uncomfortably in the chair next to them because they haven’t moved in days.

Hrrrrnnggh Lupita I’m trying to sneak around but I’m dummy thicc and the clap from my ass cheeks keeps alerting our evil clones

But on the real though, his character was pathetic as shit. I’m mad about it!!

I’m not. Jordan did this on purpose. Women are always the dumb ones who are useless in horror movies. Jordan flipped the script and made Lupita, A BLACK DARK SKIN WOMAN, the lead, the strongest, the smartest and the hero. I love Winston but This role switch was fucking brilliant and necessary.

Also winston talked in an interview how they had to make him the complete opposite of M’baku because no one would believe any one would be able to take on m’baku so they basically made Winston to be Jordan Peele.

Also he killed his clone and the other one and distracted the white guys’ clone to get them away from his kids. He was very brave to me.

“team of people and there’s one girl” is literally the worst trope and I’m Tired of it

“team of people and there’s one girl and when there’s another girl the first girl hates her for no reason” is the second-worst trope and I’m Tired of it

One of the MANY things I find really cool about black sails season 2 (seriously, I think its absolutely the best season of any TV show ever) is they way they use Ned Lowe and peter Ashe as sort of bookend villains.

The season starts with this guy who looks and acts like he got lost on his way to the game of thrones set. They make it seem like he’s going to be the big bad of the season, he’s the epitome of cartoonish villainy. He’s got an evil scar, he gets a creepy villain monologue, he makes gross rapey threats, he carve a dudes head off in broad daylight, he is 100% aware of his own villain status… then his over the top psychotic antics get him killed three episodes in (in any other show he’d inexplicably last 5 seasons just to manufacture cheap tension and drama and it would be boring as hell)

Then there’s peter Ashe, the only other true (living at least) antagonist of the season, and he only shows up (in present time) for the last three episodes. If Lowe seems like a typical TV villain, Ashe is exactly what real world “villains” are. He doesn’t get a villain monologue, he doesn’t ACTIVELY do much of anything, and that’s kind of the point. Its terrifyingly easy for someone to be a peter Ashe. He’s a passive, lawful good citizen. He’ll act helpful when it doesn’t cost him anything, but the moment things get rough, he’ll throw his friends under the bus and say he had no choice. He may not be actively homophobic like Alfred Hamilton, but he’s also to weak to stand up to him, and for that the show treats him as just as much of a villain. He’s the ultimate bystander, horrible things happen because he steps back and lets them, not because he actively causes them, and I fucking LOVE that this show makes it very clear that that is just as bad.

Lowe was a red herring; the real villain of the season was just a dude who repeatedly allowed injustice happen because it was easy. THAT’S how you do an amazing and unsettlingly real villain, you don’t need cardboard cutout psychopaths.

Tbh this show never resorts to the lazy villain tropes that the majority of TV shows use, but season 2 does such an amazing job of teasing that cliche and then completely turning it on its head.

there’s a difference between the ‘enemies-to-lovers’ trope and shipping someone with their abuser

DO NOT KISS A GIRL  WHEN SHES MAD i am so tired of media portraying this as a good way to end an argument okie when ur partner is mad and yelling at u do not just kiss them to shut them up and make up okie how about u just fucking listen to your partner when theyre trying to tell u somethign

beauty and the beast | Caitlyn S.

Gomez gives out better relationship advice than like 90% of dudes.

Gomez Addams is a suave motherfucker who loves his wife more than his own life.

Everyone should want a Gomez. He’s p cool.

Gomez and Morticia Addams actually have a very loving and extremely healthy relationship, both in the old TV show and in the more recent movies. They were also one of the first television couples to be shown to have an active (albeit offscreen) sex life. Their frank attitude towards sexuality was shocking in its’ time, but their relationship and their family dynamic is actually more functional and more…dare I say it…sane than most families portrayed on TV.

The comedy in the show came from the family’s “odd” lifestyle, rather than from infighting and petty bickering, or worse, as was common on other shows of the time, thinly veiled references to spousal abuse. They didn’t make fun of each other or act like their children were creatures from another world. Were they strange and outside of social norms? Yes. Were they united in creating a loving home and being good, supportive parents? Absolutely.

These two support and adore their children, care for an aging mother and an estranged brother, put family before everything, and they love each other, wholly, fiercely, without reserve. They are every bit as much in love after at least a decade of marriage as they were the day they met.

Relationship goals. LIFE goals.

Just remembered in the second movie when their third child became “normal” for a period and although they were shocked and didn’t know how to handle it, they didn’t mistreat the child or love it any less. They accepted the difference, even though it was hard for them. 

Reblogged for truth.

Posts about Gomez and Morticia Addams are almost always uplifting and I’m happy to have them on my dash, but I think my favorite bit about this conversation is what Gomez is actually saying to Fester.

It’s nobody’s surprise that many of the aesthetic and thematic elements of The Addams Family in its various incarnations are influenced by Gothic tradition (not goth, that mostly came later. And not Goth, that was much much much too early), and I think Gomez’s words are a dead bullseye in terms of Gothic mentality.

The sublime is a recurring theme throughout Gothic literature. Although the word (like “awesome”) has lost a lot of it’s original luster over the intervening decades, sublime doesn’t really mean elevated and lofty (or even heavenly) as it’s often used today, but rather something possessing the power and grandeur to induce awe and veneration in the mind of the beholder. Although less than divine, something sublime possessed a wildness and power that transcended human ability to control…or even to comprehend.

Sublime is standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon leaning as far as you dare over the railing and still not being able to see the canyon floor below. Sublime is warrior-queen Galadriel being tempted by the One Ring. Sublime is waking up in the middle of the night in the heart of a wild thunderstorm.

Gomez isn’t advising Fester to treat a woman he fancies like a princess, or even elevate her to pedestal of angelic nature (who’s idea was it to equate femininity with purity anyway? What a laughable and historically damaging idea. Shame on whatever dead (probably) white dudes promoted that!)

Gomez is advising Fester that if he truly loves a woman he must do everything he can to remind her of how she’s an untameable force of nature who’s grandeur brings him to his knees in awe and terror. Just like Morticia, for Gomez.

I’ll sign off with one of my most favorite quotes of all time, because it feels suddenly very relevant:

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“I have three older brothers.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Wilson played first table on the chess team, Chester used to start crying every time he heard a sad song, Dan can really rock a cocktail dress and six-inch heels, and I wasn’t going to let anyone give them any shit for any of that.  So I had to learn to beat up people bigger than me pretty early on.”

#tag yourself

because i’m petty and bitter enough to fix that racist post

okay but real talk did anyone else think that flint’s lil lone walk toward the river to look across it at silver was reminiscent of like basically any film where a man trope-ily walks out of battle, bleeding and dirty, but he walks out nonetheless to where the air is clearing from the smoke or fire where his lover stands, despondent at the thought of the man’s death, but then suddenly triumphant because he survived