disney concept art: the most beautiful dynamic original thing i have ever seen

disney finished project: rubber same face minimalism regurgitated plots 

concept art:

final version:

What makes me so mad is that snow queen is such a lovely tale and there was an evil mirror that shattered and froze the queen’s heart. So the first thing the newly evil queen does is PLUNGE THE KINGDOM INTO ETERNAL WINTER.

And the kid Anna is based off of is actually this sweet peasant girl who is rescuing her best friend whom everyone else thought drowned and whom no one cared for because mirror shards got in his eyes and he only saw beauty in snowflakes while everything else was just disgustingly foul to him. Except he didn’t drown because he was whisked away by the snow queen.

Like this girl gives her shoes to the river to find out he didn’t drown. Her hair ribbons to the birds to find out who took him. Works her hands raw to get to him and has to suffer a mental breakdown because she got SO FUCKING CLOSE to saving him and he won’t even look at her because he wants to solve this puzzle the snow queen gave him.

And then her sobbing wakes him up and he cries and washes the shards from his eyes and the fact that she saved him is enough to melt the snow queens heart and she brings spring back to the kingdom.

Wow Frozen really is some weak shit

Let’s not forget Gerda’s journey takes her along a long road that includes meetings with multiple women, many of them old, most of whom are not evil witches but wise women who aid her in her quest. She’s also at one point held captive by a bandit princess who swaps clothes with her and insists on sleeping in the same bed and routinely threatens her with a knife, but she eventually lets Gerda go with a magic talking reindeer she was also holding captive. The bandit princess cries because goddamn Gerda you’re so NICE and PRETTY and BRAVE and you clearly care about this stupid guy I GUESS and I can’t bear it just GO ok just GO and also you better fucking take care of her reindeer or I will CUT YOU.

The story is full of interesting complex women of many ages and magical talking animals and it’s a real shame we didn’t get an adaptation closer to the original ‘cause it’s really cool. 

hey good news about the adaption:

There was a Soviet animated movie from 1957, that doesn’t brush over any of the things you just listed.

You get Gerda on her journey, meeting all of those people that both hinder her quest and help her, with older women from different regions of northern europe, as well as several princesses who aid her

also the art style and animation is absolutely gorgeous and I always feel like it’s a shame that older Soviet animation is barely recognized around the world 

you can see the entire thing with english subtitles here

There is probably ONE thing Soviet Russia did right and ARGUABLY BETTER than anyone else in the entire world in the past 100 years of human history: ANIMATION.

And this is something that unfortunately is literally a case of “dumping the baby with water”. The art, the vision, the designs, the storytelling and the approach to olden tales, fairytale, folk tales, children’s books and poems etc, is beyond FAR BEYOND than you may imagine.

Some notable moments of Soviet Russian Animation include (not in any particular order but my own brains spitting images):

The Hedgehof In The Fog (1975)

Which is considered revolutionary and is still a staple of Russian speaking cultures and is regarded as an important piece of Animation in freaking Japan (aka the nation of Animation). If you want to deep dive into the unique stop motion art and the importance of this piece, Google away.

Another animation I love is “Fedora’s Grief” (1974).

A short animation about how objects left unattended and uncared for will not serve you, the human. It’s such an essential part of the Soviet Experience of the common person, which is hard to describe to people who were born to abundance.

I would also love to cite The Cat Leopold (1975-1987), which, for me, forever describes the naiveté of the simple, common soviet person, as we today love citing, “People Are Not Their Governments”.

This one is the antithesis to Tom & Jerry, for all it’s worth: there are tow mice forever taunting the cat, and in each episode the cat asks them, “let’s live in friendship”.

YouTube had a whole archive of the old Soviet animations. If you are looking for beauty and design, and art - these were all state sponsored, and thus - had funds for their visions. No, not all of soviet animation and film was any kind of USSR propoganda (looking at you, US cinema, 30s Batman in black and white), and to some very confusing extent, you see many animations honoring source material or being innovative in their own right, regardless of authority.

Some beautiful animations I would love people to know about:

This series, named “Kitten Named Gav” (1976-1982)

“Gav” is literally “how” as in barking sound. So it’s about a Kitten named “bark” and his little cat adventures with his friend, a puppy.

Sleeping Beauty (and 7 princes) (1951)

The Frog Queen (1954)

The Cat, That Wanders By Itself (1964)

[Yes, cats feature often, and in positive context]

“The Flower with Seven Colours” (1948)

Ugly Duckling (1956)

And you know what, this one, is just. It’s about a polar bear cub, ok? Looking for his polar bear mother.

Umka (1969)

This Wikipedia Article openjng paragraph kind of encapsulates the bleak acknowledgment of the art, stating:

All in all. Yes, the Soviet Animation, in context of today, is the baby thrown out of the window of history with the muddy water, and I, for one, will not stand for it.

I wish more people knew about those beautiful artworks.

I wish people knew that techniques that were tried out and pioneered in those animations way back in the 40s inspired Walt Disney works. I wish people made more art and less war.

*sobs*

This. :/

i kind of wish the anti voting people wouldn’t dance around the idea of what happens after the election. Like okay, the democrats lose, you taught them a lesson (and fwiw, I do think its a legitimate message to send- the people are not happy with the actions and status quo of the DNC). Now What. Trump, the multiply indicted crime president who incited a violent mob upon the capitol, is now President. He has all the qualities you hate about Biden, AND more, except he and his administration have even less reason to be sensitive to the wishes of their democratic constituents. He is a puppet for the far right and white supremacists and christian nationalists. I really shouldn’t even have to go over this- we LIVED it already. Genuinely asking, is this what you want? Because frankly I do not think 4 more years of Trump is worth it over Biden. Your hands are not clean, this is the future you want to choose. I just don’t understand why.

"The revolution" is not an acceptable answer.

"the revolution" will outright kill people, the very ones doomers and accelerationists claim to be most concerned about. I shouldn't even have to qualify statements with "I don't like Biden". It isn't about liking it not liking him. It's about the fucking nightmare things will become under Trump. It's about surviving and working relentlessly and thanklessly for incremental change until larger change can be made, and a great many people invested in doing that work will either not survive or will be too burdened scrabbling to that they become unable to do that work. People need to fix their shit about this. In four years the fucking shitstain could be DEAD. Let's buy ourselves those four years for Christ's sake.

if Dumbledore was 15-17 at the time of HP you all would have LOVED him

You are not allowed to leave these in the tags

when she dies, you will follow her. this was never going to end well: you know this already.

*me, literally sick with want* whatever

parisian metro in the 17th century

I am Lady Darlene Sweetteaton of Sloggers. Hmph. Sounds like I'm from hog sloppin' country.

i think it's actually going to drive me crazy how I've never heard this quote from les mis before and how much it's taken over my mind of late

sin is like gravity!!!

just

VICTOR

it's just like have you ever read a series of words that simultaneously end your life and then restart it again but with a whole new meaning

SIN IS LIKE GRAVITY

Found a 1967 anti-masturbation eugenics book at the thrift store today:

Jo Jo the Dog-Faced Boy. -No medical or surgical remedy for this.

chewbacca??

This book is from 1895, not 1967. Free edition here. Although why you'd want to read this is a mystery I don't want the answer to.

This specific copy is a reprint from 1967. The text itself is from 1895.

#'why youd want to read this is a mystery i dont want the answer to'#reading from sources like this can show you what sorts of arguments and 'logic' to watch out for even in modern times#if you pay attention and study it in the right way you can use what you learn for good#'forbidden texts' soundin ass jesus (from @/kitteneyejo)

I just went through it and it actually does have a good amount of advice that is simply listing out how to be a decent person. It advises against corporal punishment for children, recommends women get married in their twenties (as opposed to younger--it specifically advises against marrying too young) and doesn't shame them for remaining unmarried, criticises men and women alike who toy with other people's emotions, and has a poignant section on loving your wife:

It also emphasises that there is no physical test for virginity, and that a penetrative partner when handling an inexperienced receptive partner has to make sure they're ready and aroused:

That being said, a good chunk of it is outdated pseudoscience, racist descriptions of non-US/European cultures, and anti-masturbatory purity culture prolife screeds. But as prev tags say, it's important to read about these older attitudes so that we can see the origins of bad opinions that continue to this day:

Like this sounds like something you'd read on a prolifer's twitter! But it was written in 1895!

Found a 1967 anti-masturbation eugenics book at the thrift store today:

Jo Jo the Dog-Faced Boy. -No medical or surgical remedy for this.

I found a copy of this on Project Gutenberg which says it was first published in 1894. A good portion of the beginning is all about etiquette and advice for personal appearance but overall it reads like some Victorian guy's love-advice blog.

AITA for writing an expose about a political candidate in an upcoming election?

I (16F) am a member of a minority group that has faced centuries of systemic oppression in our society because I come from an outside group that historically persecuted said society in the 1500s-1600s. Up until the 1950s, our group weren't even considered full members of society; after 1951, they could only join society provided they agree with the doctrine governing the rest of the society and follow its lifestyle, which has numerous restrictive, outdated rules like women being required to wear their hair up at all times and giving your first kiss to your future spouse. If you don't assimilate, you are ostracised and discriminated against.

This year, there's an election happening to replace a former Prime Minister and there are four candidates. One of the candidates is a straight up murderous, lying megalomaniac who was exposed back in the 1980s to be the leader of a terrorist hate group bent on persecuting people like me. Another candidate is slightly less extreme than that but is a hard-line supporter of the current, very corrupt government and has pretty much based his entire platform on law and order and increasing funding for police to clean up the streets, etc. Another candidate is much more moderate, but she believes that all people like me should assimilate into the society and will only support those of us who have assimilated. And the fourth candidate claims to support my minority group, and has championed further integration and cultural exchange with the outside group. A pretty upstanding bloke, as one of my friends would put it.

I recently found out, however, that this fourth candidate was not what he seemed. In fact, when he was younger, he was actually a member of that terrorist group run by the first candidate. His entire family, save for a disgraced cousin and his disowned brother, hates people like me; his mother thought nothing of calling me slurs when I interned for his campaign this summer. Most concerningly, that connection to the terrorist group has some additional factors that make it impossible for him to fully sever ties with the leader, and could in fact give the leader means of compromising him if he should become the Minister, which I think is an issue of national security.

Other people working on this campaign have told me that I shouldn't inform the general public about this candidate's past, because he wants to move on from his mistakes. But I kept feeling like the public had a right to know, because it's just completely disingenuous for this candidate to hide his background in order to court the vote of people he used to persecute in order to gain power. So I wrote an expose about him, and I posted it at my school, and now it's getting into the press outside of school. Several of my friends have argued with me about it, and I think I ruined the relationship between two of my friends because of it. But I still feel like I was justified in informing people about this potential conflict of interest/national security concern.

For more context, please see AO3!

The thing that gets me about people complaining about "vote-shaming" and about needing to be convinced to vote, both in general and specifically for Biden, is that so many of those people are committed to not accepting arguments in favor. You can point out Biden and his administration passing more LGBTQ protections, or the Inflation Reduction Act, or numerous other actions, and it's never enough - nothing outweighs the negatives, in their minds.

And then when you point out the consequences and results of *not* voting for Democrats and Biden, it's also not enough and you're now shaming or pressuring people and not presenting a positive argument. It's so convenient.

The reason republicans keep winning elections is cuz the right doesn't need to be convinced to vote like this

The amount of single issue republican voters is bonkers. Abortion alone. Republicans didn't vote for candidates expecting them to wave their own and make abortion illegal on day one. They turned out and voted for forty years to get conservative judges appointed to overturn Roe and it fucking worked.

Meanwhile you try to explain to leftists that Biden can't just wave his pen and do everything and they get pissed and say he hasn't done enough and ignore all the good he's done and then they threaten to stay home

jesus fucking christ

[First Image ID: A screenshot with a water filter over it of someone else's text post. The text post reads "I keep seeing this around, especially now around Yom HaShoah, and it's starting to piss me off, "Never again means never again for anyone." NO THE FUCK IT DOES NOT." /.End ID]

[Second Image ID: A screenshot of someone's reply made in the tags. It reads "There's actually a whole (academic) article about this. How in Israel the phrase is generally understood to mean 'never again the victims' whereas in diaspora it's understood to mean 'never again for anyone' and how the phrase was PROBABLY coined by anarchist communists who specifically meant like 'dismantle the systems (like nationalism) that led to this in the first place'. IDK if this person is Israeli but it's usually Israelis you see responding like this and it's because they straight up have no idea the rest of the world doesn't see it like that. Combined w the at this point pretty infamous disdain for Holocaust victims and survivors for being 'weak'. It doesn't mean 'in your honour we will never let this happen again to anyone else' it literally means we will never again be like YOU who failed to protect yourself. Edit ppl sharing these tags feel free to do so without attribution. I'm not really keen to engage with teh people who will be angry abotu this. /.End ID]

@jewishvitya if you do not want to get involved feel free to ignore this @ but I wanted to confirm with you that this is an interpretation held by Israelis. Personally I've only heard "never again" as a blanket statement for "never again letting genocide happen to anyone."

Yeah, that's true, in Israel "never again" means we'll never allow ourselves to be victims again. That's how I understood it for us growing up.

We're aware of the different interpretation worldwide. But we don't trust other nations to protect us from another genocide, so I saw it more as an expression of guilt than a promise I can rely on. There's a level of... scoffing at this other interpretation and seeing it as a bastardized version of the promise we made to ourselves. "You don't mean it, you don't actually care, you just want to feel better about yourselves."

And this might be something to keep in mind. We don't trust gentiles. So any demand from Israel to stop oppressing Palestinians is taken as... you felt bad for us as long as we were victims, you like us when you can tell romanticized holocaust stories about how all we did was be murdered, but once we can protect ourselves, you hate us again. "They're so antisemitic they can't stand seeing a Jew being strong, they want us to roll over and be murdered." So many Israelis aren't even trying for... good PR. Because they believe that the only way to look good to a world that hates us is to die.

When other countries stand against Israel, the response is that we always knew we were alone and universally hated. So that's another reason to be patriotic and defend the existence of this country. Because no one else will protect us. That's why you see Israelis doubling down rather than seeing how wrong we are.

The disdain towards holocaust victims doesn't show anymore when we talk about this, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's part of the history of the meaning. Holocaust victims were seen as weak in early Zionism. To the point that survivors were mistreated.

If you see grains of truth in any of this, it's because these attitudes make use of very real antisemitism to lead us to these conclusions. Other countries are not doing enough to protect Jews and combat antisemitism. So it's easy to look at that and say "see? We can never trust them."

(Disclaimer in case this reaches someone who doesn't know me. I'm anti-Zionist, I'm explaining a mentality I don't agree with. I'm not making these arguments as if they're correct, I'm laying them out to show them.)

Yeah, while not Israeli, I was very much raised in a zionist mindset, which heavily involved the idea that someday we would NEED to run to Israel. And I was pretty heavily raised with all of these ideas, with a complete fear and suspicion to any gentiles to the point where I knew I wasn't supposed to trust a single gentile opinion on anything Jewish, because they were obviously just using it to control us into assimilation, or drive us out, survival optional.

I only recognized how dangerous that was from other Jews, and even then only because I was constantly uncomfortable with listening to the concept of a "self hating Jew" as the only explanation for why they disagree with Zionism. I need a reason, even when my entire being disagrees with someone, I need to understand why.

Without that mentality, the real oppression in the background of zionist thinking, makes it so easy to just spiral out into monstrosity. People really do hate us, and really do condemn legitimate self defense. So if there isn't the self awareness that fascism isn't a unique ideology of "bad people", that anyone can be prone to being swayed by fascist thinking even if they've been victims of it, the legitimate terror and still-present discrimination makes a fantastic barrier to lock yourself in an echo chamber where you dismiss those who say you're hurting them as not one of you, and thus lying.

This last paragraph is great, thank you for that.

Umbridge: I am a fully qualified Ministry official, Malfoy, do you really think I cannot manage two wandless teenagers alone?

Draco: ....

Draco: lol good luck.

Pansy: Do you think she'll be alright?

Draco: That's Harry Potter and Hermione Granger she left with. Of course she won't be alright.

As for Feyd - the only option that I definitely like is that he participates in Paul's Jihad and subsequently becomes Paul's Fedaykin. This seems natural from the point of view of Feyd's character (especially if we take into account Villeneuve's Dune) - he is able to understand that Paul is above him in the food chain, and the conquest of numerous planets would allow him to strengthen his position and increase his wealth. And the time... Well, the time will erase the boundaries between former friends and enemies.

The eyes of eeeee bad!

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Gurney Halleck find themselves unlikely allies