Avatar

Sorry, got sucked into Beauty and the Beast and remembering why it's my favorite Disney movie:

A lot of people now probably think Belle's love of books and stuff is "not like other girls" garbage, but the thing is that there's important historical context there.

People back in the 18th century thought reading was BAD for women. They thought women weren't capable of high enough thought to process anything complex (hence why math was rarely taught to girls) and reading was seen as genuinely detrimental. Gaston's not just being a hilarious misogynist when he says women shouldn't be reading all the time because it'll give them ideas and make them think. THAT WAS LITERALLY THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF THE DAY. GASTON WAS THE NORM.

Belle's dad probably wasn't just thought of as a kook because of the inventions and stuff. Belle's dad saw value in his daughter and didn't consider her wanting to read and learn and explore to be odd at all. That was absolute barking madness back then.

Women were simultaneously seen as innocent, empty-headed children AND wild, emotional animals that needed to be tamed by their husbands. Women were expected to do two things: find a husband and have his kids. That's it. And if she didn't then she was radical social misfit. Hell, look up the concept of 'apeleaders'. Women who never married or bore children were told they were going to go straight to hell for specifically not doing those things.

Belle wasn't just oh weird quirky teehee no one gets her. Belle was genuinely, out of this world bizarre according to the norms of the 18th century. She had NO interest in Gaston, even though he was probably as close to a Darcy as that town had--desirable, handsome, breathing. The idea that she was just straight up not interested? Absolute madness. Insanity. Put her in the asylum.

(Also the movie clearly takes place over the course of at least several months as we see autumn and winter pass into probably early spring. Belle wasn't suffering Stocklholm Syndrome and I'll fucking fight anyone who says otherwise.)

Avatar

reading jane eyre reaffirmed my long-held beliefs that 1) the institution of marriage should be abolished 2) religion is a joke 3) teachers should get paid more 4) if a sexy man ever offers to set you up in a luxurious mediterranean villa filled with jewels and give you half his net worth, accept the offer 5) if a different sexy man ever offers to take you with him to india to be his servant while he brainwashes colonized peoples until you both die from impoverished conditions, do not accept the offer

Avatar
Avatar
saltwaffle

full offense but none of you would have ever survived fanfiction.net in 2009

Avatar
jetru

remember when writers had to be all like: “omg omg lemon starts HERE” y’all are lucky that ao3 has tags and filters you can set

Sometimes shit was marked “lemon” and it’d just be them making out, and sometimes they’d just start pissing on each other

No rules, no laws, you took your life into your hands opening fics

Avatar
frostyemma

A/N: this contains SLASH, that means TWO MEN, if that makes you uncomfy, DON’T READ!

A/N: please don’t sue me, o anime overlords, I’m not making any money off of this! I’m just a broke student! I don’t have any money!

A/N: I totally wrote this while high off 10 Red Bulls wheeeeeee!!!!!

A/N: COMMENT if you want me to continue the next chappy!!!

Avatar
raimagnolia

No, no, no

remember when there’d be interactions with the author and the characters?

InuYasha: I don’t get why I have to be here for this

A/N: Because it was in your contract!!1!1 *revs chainsaw*

Avatar
janekfan

god those were lawless times. 

Avatar
Avatar
heathyr

i saw a post on twitter by a european saying americans are fake for their random compliments to strangers and their general cheery demeanor and like no. no no no you don’t understand. if you get a random compliment from an american on the street about your outfit or whatever, that is 100% genuine. we mean it. we aren’t lying we are making a small but fleeting connection with you because our lives are shitty but the human condition is enduring. oh god i’m clutching my chest

Avatar
Avatar
remy

How is anyone supposed to be normal after that. G-d looked back at me for a minute

Avatar
angomay

[ID: Four images of the 2024 solar eclipse in different stages; the first three are partial while the fourth is in totality. End ID]

Avatar

I'm telling you rn, once I get back my ability to sleep, my libido, my appetite, my motivation & I stop neglecting every aspect of my life it's over for u bitches

Avatar

Hey you know what's super funny about the idea of "good bi rep"?

For a character to be canonically bi you have to make sure and establish that they're attracted to multiple genders. Not all mediums allow you to get inside every character's head or show what they're thinking. Flirting can be read ambiguously, and god forbid they flirt with a character who's not into them and be read as pushy or predatory. So it can be super handy to just mention an ex or two! But you better not mention too many exes because that would make them a slutty bisexual which is (checks notes) bad, and you definitely better be careful about making them poly, because that might make them, uh... greedy. Oh, and those exes? They better be perfectly amiable breakups with no conflict or drama, because it's bad to represent queer people in toxic or abusive relationships (especially queer women! very bad), and you definitely can't have them have lost a partner if the partner was queer because that's "bury your gays..." You should probably also eliminate all trauma from their backstory, just to be safe. You should probably also make sure they're not involved in crime, deception, or anything of the sort, because that would make them "deviant" and a stereotype.

But don't worry! Once you've carefully crafted your nice, monogamous, experienced-but-not-too-experienced Lawful Good bi character, you will be rewarded with your audience deeming them "boring" and quickly passing them over for other characters. :)

Avatar

fun story about what made me irrevocably attached to the Baldur's Gate series:

I played BG1 way back. Like back in the days when you got a new computer it came with half a dozen CDs that had games on them and this one came with BG1 (I think it came with the computer at least, I'm pretty sure).

This was also back in the day when games like BG1 came on six separate CDs that you had to switch in and out like you were operating an old fashioned switch board. It's funny to think that nowadays you could probably play the original Baldur's Gate on a toaster, whereas back then every time you were going to enter a new map you had to consider it very carefully because that might mean having to switch out the CD again and your PC fan was working harder than a teenage boy's deodorant

Anyway, I was like 11, I didn't know dick about DnD, I inadvertantly played as a Chaotic Evil psychopath (how was I supposed to know that stealing shit and murdering the guards who came for my ass was "immoral"?), and I only finished the game because cheat codes were the shit.

Anyway, I eventually learned that there was a sequel and I really, really, really, really wanted to play it. But never got to.

Cut to about 15 years later on my birthday and my brother hands me a thumb drive.

"What's this?"

"So, you know that game you really liked when you were a kid and you never got to play the sequel? The sequel was on sale for like five bucks on Steam."

I screamed. I cried. Not just because of the game but because my brother somehow remembered some incredibly obscure memory from the depths of our childhood and how no one else wanted to listen to me recount the plot to this stupid game, but he did.

And I've probably clocked like a few thousand hours of my life on this stupid game that I go back and replay religiously.

(what do you MEAN that a 20+ year hyperfixation on a game should've probably been my first clue that I had ADHD?)

Avatar
Avatar
monkeysky

Minotaur is not a species

The Minotaur was named that because he was the son of King Minos. Anyone with a bull head has to be named after their dad, like the Kyletaur or something.

Avatar
ladyofsnark

The word you're looking for is Therianthropic

(Don't let the furry association scare you, the word is at least a hundred years old and might have been used as early as the 16th century in criminal trials of suspected werewolves.)

Avatar

Fun fact: Columbus day was created in response to the racially motivated lynching of 11 Italian Americans

You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.