"ohh what if my kid starts identifying as a CAT because of the trans agenda we have to prote—" well they've always done that. do you remember the psychological effects of h2o on young girls. of warrior cats on autistic children. i believed i was a demigod because of percy jackson. twilight came out and kids were telling their friends they were secretly vampires. this is just a thing kids do. worry less

people on this website be like “it’s actually school’s fault that i don’t know how to read because i wanted to write my essay on the divergent trilogy and that BITCH mrs. clarkson made us study 1984 instead. anyway here’s a 10 tweet thread of easily disproven misinformation about a 3 year old news story and btw, who is toni morrison?”

i KNOW most of y’all are lying about being in the gifted program as children because none of you could pass the basic reading comprehension assessment they give third graders today

this post is mean and I never read divergent or whatever the fuck but 1984 sucks and is rape apologism so if somebody wanted to write about divergent or whatever good for them

this reply is like literally exactly what op is talking about lol. like firstly ops point isn’t “1984 is good”, ops point is that analysing complex stories teaches you how to form opinions and think for yourself. and like secondly in 1984 you’re supposed to think damn it’s fucked up that he’s thinking that way about her, i wonder if this ties in with the central theme of “a society like this will fuck you in the head”? (this is the thinking for yourself part). like do you think orwell just put that in for fun? do you think that just because winston is the protagonist you’re supposed to agree with everything he does?

You know I feel like this post just gave me an epiphany for what is wrong with how Tumblr Fandom/Internet Fandom responds to media-or not *wrong* but makes it very hard to respond to anything but a morally correct, and heroic protagonist. 

When an English teacher, or reader, taught or picked up 1984, it wasn’t with the intention they were going to love the protagonist. They picked it up with the intention of reading a whole story and trying to grasp the theme or catharsis from the story. If the protagonist was a *shitty* person it played into the the themes or the story, because it wasn’t about morally judging the book or *liking* or feeling attachment to the protagonist. Sometimes and often times, books were just about gaining another perspective. 

No one read Lolita expecting to endear, or like, or be inspired by Humbert. You are supposed to be upset by his behavior, you don’t read Lolita with the intention of being inspired. You read it to learn more about what the fuck is going on inside someone’s head when they behave like that. How children get sucked into abusive situations. Or read “The Great Gatsby” not because they want to fall in love with Gatsby or Nick, but to better understand and analyze the experience of the 1920s or destitution of the American Dream. 

A lot of internet and fandom culture has changed that though. When we say something like “I love the Great Gatsby” it comes with the idea or association that means you must *love* or relate to one of the characters. And maybe you do, but the first assumption is not longer about the quality of the work or themes, or cathartic impact-it’s about character admiration. And with that character admiration, in tumblr stan culture, or kin culture, or exalting characters with fanart/romance/so on you don’t just ‘admire’ or find that character ‘compelling’ it now translates to ‘you LOVE that character’ or you ‘DIRECTLY relate to that character.’ 

You can’t say “I love how Humbert is written, it’s so fascinating and dark”, without it directly translating you somehow relate to a child abuser or condone his actions. Taking in media has become an act of worship and connection. We no longer watch meant to just see the story as a whole, we watch expecting to connect to a character and if we offer them our “worship” as it’s become, as opposed to just attention or interest study as it traditionally was, it means we are condoning the character or saying we directly empathize with all their actions. 

I think that’s why there is often now so much fuss over *toxic* characters or not. Or whether that classical novel is showing good or bad things anymore. We’re treating the characters as people we should love or want to draw or write about. Sometimes a story is just about getting the the theme or catharsis or learning another perspective. We don’t NEED to like the character. Or we don’t HAVE to like a character to be impressed by how they’re written or intrigued by their behavior. 

I think if internet culture could learn to view stories as small insights into other lives or single takes of one perspective instead of purposeful moral inspirations we’d be a lot less worried about how toxic or not toxic they are. 

this post was written in 2021 and has never been more relevant

SUPERNATURAL | 1.11

Shoutout to all readers who want their books to look read. Shoutout to people who enjoy the clean freshness of a new book, but have no problem with the book looking progressively worse as you read it. You take it with you in your shitty bag, you accumulate creases and small imperfection, yet nothing of it's content is lost. As the ideas enter your mind, the book will bear the mark of its owner and I think that's beautiful

it's always so fascinating and heartbreaking when a character in a story is simultaneously idolized and abused. a chosen prophet destined for martyrdom. a child prodigy forced to grow up too fast. a powerful warrior raised as nothing but a weapon. there's just something so uniquely messed up about singing someone's praises whilst destroying them.

Not me sobbing at 3 AM thinking about how Castiel never once gave up on or abandoned Sam the whole time they knew each other and vice versa. They loved and accepted each other unconditionally always 😭😭😭😭😍😍😍😍😍

every day the writers and actors strikes continue i think about what narrative choice accidentally influenced by the strikes will shift pop culture after it in the way that Castiel's introduction and character was influenced by the 2007 writers strike. what will be the Castiel of the 2023 dual WGA/SGA strike. what will be the destiel.

"this work is problematic because of how it handles [subject]": reasonable premise for media criticism

"this work is problematic because it depicts [subject]": do not pass go do not collect $200 this is, as a general rule, a functionally reactionary and conservative argument

I think even more importantly:

"this work is problematic and you should be critical of the viewpoints it presents while engaging with it": reasonable premise for media criticism

"this work is problematic therefore everyone who engages with it is evil": do not pass go do not collect $200 this is, as a general rule, a functionally reactionary and conservative argument

supernatural is like if instead of a trail of breadcrumbs there were just entire loaves of bread dotting the trail and when you followed them you come to a clearing and robert singer is sitting there going what the hell are you doing here. and you say. oh the bread loaves? i was following them? and he goes. youre crazy. thats not bread you're holding specks of dirt. and you go. no im like pretty sure this is a loaf of edible bread that was lying on the ground in a pattern that lead me here. and he goes. no its not. you're reading into things. you thought you were seeing bread crumbs but you mistook dirt specks for bread crumbs you crazy lgbt pervert. and i am still. holding a loaf of bread in my hands

Sorry for not being over this its just im holding a loaf of bread that was handed to me by supernatural the show on november 5th 2020 and i am watching in confusion as i am told that they never made bread and they delete the video where misha collins says oh yeah the bread we made on supernatural and the word bread is banned at conventions and i am still holding it in my hands btw

found family and some of the allegory in NIMONA (2023)

i hate it when im living vicariously through a fictional character and they fuck up their life. like bitch get it together this was the one good thing i had going for me

Isn’t this like half of my fics tho

when will my beloved(ao3) return from the war (website maintenance)