I’m so disappointed in the Hamilton fandom. Everyone keeps saying Alex would wear heelys when CLEARLY the one obsessed w/ heelys would be Thomas Jefferson, I mean. The man invented the swivel chair. Alexander Hamilton on the other hand is more of a Light Up Sketchers kind of guy
I’m reading Don Quixote for my world literature class and apparently when it was first published in 1605 it was world-changingly popular, one of the first “popular novels” as we know it today, and there were all sorts of people who were writing and publishing their own unofficial fan-sequels to Don Quixote which was basically the first fan-fiction, and then in 1615 the original author wrote an official sequel in which Don Quixote reads a piece of fanfic about him and sets out on a quest to beat up the author who mischaracterized him
This is all true. What happened more specifically is that one fan fiction got really really popular and since people weren’t all that familiar with how novels worked (because there weren’t really any other novels in Europe yet), a lot of people just took this as a valid sequel. Cervantes (the original author) had pretty much stopped working on any kind of sequel to the original at point, but he got really pissed that people were reading this fan fic and assuming it was as legit as his canon. So he got off his butt and wrote this sequel, which academics call big words like “meta-textual” when really it was Cervantes trying to make sure people understood his canon correctly and didn’t get carried away with their silly fan theories based on this one fic writer’s interpretation.
Now-a-days, the “true sequel” is normally just lumped in and stuck onto the end as a “part II,” in case you are wondering why you’ve never heard of a Don Quixote the Sequel. By all accounts, the fan fic was pretty bad, which makes it’s a perfect beginning to the grand tradition of fanfiction.
Calling this the first instance of fanfiction, though, comes from the fact that this was the first time, as far as we know, that the author of the original stepped in to officially denounce fan work as not canon. For most of history (at least western history) there wasn’t really an idea that stories had ownership. Most famous greek plays and poems are based on other works. Virgil’s Aeneid can easily be called Homer fan fiction (we have no real way of knowing how much of the story existed in folk tradition and how much he made up). Most of the versions of greek myths you know come from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which is largely his short fics about other myths. Moving out of the classical world, bible fic constitutes a lot of what literature is for a while. Dante’s Inferno, specifically, (which is, lets be clear, a self insert fic where the author meets his fave author - so it’s also RPF - and they take a tour through a crossover fic between the Bible, historical fic, and greek myth) was so popular that it’s kind of crossed over into fanon (quick - biblically how many cicles does Hell have? Answer: none, they all come from Dante and in turn Virgil, and eventually Homer…) On the run up to Don Quixote, we have Shakespeare, who adapted most of his plays directly from other works by other people, from which he asked no permission (nor was he expected to.)
The real move that makes this false sequel the first official fan fiction is that the author of the canon material asserted his ownership of the intellectual property that was the characters and the story. Not in the legal sense - there was nothing illegal about this sequel - but in the sense that you could call this sequel “unauthorized.” It’s the beginning of thinking of characters and stories as belonging to a specific person, rather than simply being created by said person.
Ugh god I just need to talk about how important Finn Dameron shut up is right now, okay?
He starts out a young black man with his entire humanity denied to the point where he doesn’t even get a name, okay, he’s literally nameless, faceless canon fodder, one of thousands. And he’s assumed to be violent, it’s assumed that he will get bloody on command, that he’s obedient and savage at the same time.
And instead he’s soft. Not weak, but kind. Not cowardly – he’s not afraid of the violence. He refuses violence. He sees innocents hurt, he sees his friends fall, and then he rejects literally years of training and brainwashing. His mind and soul are both powerful things, forces for the light side, immutably so.
He rebels successfully - cleverly, with a plan that’s simple but effective. He doesn’t just go AWOL, he rescues someone in the process. He is a moral compass from the start, pointing us towards true good. He is the worlds worst liar, dear god, and when he claims to be part of the rebellion it’s not just because it’ll get him to where he needs, to be, but because he desperately wants to be seen as a good person. No – he wants to be a good person. No wait – he is a good person, and now he has the opportunity to show it.
And they try to kill him for it. Over and over and over.
He will engage in violence, sure. but when he does it’s in defense of his life and his friends and his new family. When he’s on the run, beyond hungry and thirsty and should be hiding, he creates a stir and tries to rescue a girl when everyone else was ignoring the attacks.
More than anyone else in this movie, Finn’s instincts are to do the right thing, every time. He is shown as so inherently good it’s indisputable. He is the purest of the heroes.
And then on top of all that, he’s the one who gets hurt. He’s not an unstoppable warrior, he’s just human, well practiced but fallible, who falls and is the one who has to be rescued. And he gets rescued, by the people he showed his heart to, by the ones who are there for him as much as he was there for them. He doesn’t fall by the wayside – he survives, and his new family is there to hold his hand while he sleeps. He is loved. He is lovable. In every sense of the word – he is inherently worthy.
Hey, Tumblr, that ship you’re so angry about and point to as a sign of what happens when immature and vulnerable teenaged girls romanticize violence in males and mistake abuse for romance? Yeah, that one. May I point out that this ship is also a fairy tale. It’s called “Beauty and the Beast,” and it’s the story of how a courageous young woman transforms a horrible monster into a handsome prince – not by embracing or excusing his violence and cruelty, but by steadfastly remaining true to her own kind and caring nature and showing him a better way. And by the time her duty to her loved ones calls her away from his side, he has grown to value her so much that he’s prepared not only to let her go, but even to lay down his own life rather than keep her against her will.
I don’t actually ship Reylo, for the record (Rey/Finn all the way for me); but I don’t think it’s the sign of the shipping apocalypse, or a dire commentary on how susceptible young women are to false and potentially self-destructive ideas of romance. It’s just another variation of a tale as old as time, and there are a million different ways to approach it. Relax. Breathe. Think happy thoughts. And don’t assume you know other people’s motives or what’s going on in their heads (or lives, for that matter) for liking a different ship than you do.
Such a smart post by my friend R.J. Anderson, noted smartie. I do not personally think Rey and Kylo Ren should be together, because I watched Star Wars for John Boyega and I LOVE FINN and Rey is a smart girl, why would she go for anyone but FINN? She never seemed into anyone but Finn. In conclusion, FINN!
However, I was saddened to see people saying how concerned they were by girls’ reactions (wanting these two to be together), how it reminded them of girls liking this stuff in YA media (you know, the media seen as too female-focused). It makes me uncomfortable how much more people scrutinise girls’ reactions to media, starting from back when it was thought ladies should not read novels because it would overexcite them. I don’t see as many people going ‘Boys are going to all drive their cars way too fast because of the Fast and the Furious movies!’
Lots of relationships in media are fraught, between flawed and often highly dramatic people, in highly dramatic situations. And it’s natural and awesome to discuss those relationships and how they might play out (Jane Eyre, Rochester is gonna sell the kids to pirates!). I like generally when people end up being made happier and healthier by their relationships. But no fictional relationship is going to get the Healthy Award Now You Get To Happen In the Text And Also Be Regarded as the Best Relationship By All prize: there is no such prize. And I’ve loved many such relationships. I love Beauty and the Beast. I trust ladies. I trust them to enjoy flawed, highly dramatic media, to wish for any flawed, highly dramatic fictional-character relationship that strikes their fancy, to have their feelings, and to–in the main–drive their feelings cars safe.
SRB is also always so smart and thoughtful.
(I, on another hand, am not.) But if I have anything useful to quickly add, and I don’t know if it is, the idea of redemption or merely change, itself, is not new for Star Wars antagonists. I don’t ship Reylo, but probably inherent in that would have to be those themes. Luke, in the end, refused to fight his father, almost dying (and by extension, forfeiting the wellbeing of the galaxy) just because he believed he saw more in Darth Vader than was apparent. So we should be kind to fans for engaging with stories, for all the reasons above.
Tiny arms, big feet, round ears, long tail, feisty yet sweet. This perfect combination gives us Sydney the bettong ♡
January 14, 2016
Each character rhymes differently. The way that they are rapping contributes to their story. George Washington raps in a very on-beat, metronomic way because he is focused and driven and always moving forward. Lafayette has this great arc where he starts out rhyming words that don’t really rhyme and he can’t really figure it out. As he becomes comfortable — and a general — he can do this really complicated, technical, fast stuff. It’s like him mastering this language. Jefferson’s raps are so bouncy and all over the place, and part of it’s because I’m playing him — but Lin was writing with this interesting kind of West Coast feel:
[Raps from “Washington on Your Side.”] “If Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents, this is the difference: This kid is out.”
It’s very bouncy, not necessarily story-focused. Jefferson doesn’t really have to worry about that because he’s an aristocrat, and he can do whatever he wants. He gets to play a little more. To pack all of that into this story, it’s like, oh man, of course it took you six years to write it. There’s very careful, methodical work going on here.
Hi, I’m trying to meet women but it’s not going so great. I’m kind of on the rebound since my lady tragically died giving birth to twins who are now trying to vanquish me.
Also, my voice is a little off-putting to some. Any advice for how I can meet a girl?
If I just stare at this gifset long enough, maybe the secrets of the universe will unlock themselves. But if they don’t, then maybe I’ll still have gotten as close to such a thing as possible.
I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!! I LOVE REY!!!!!!!
Quick reminder that Luke had about five minutes of training with a lightsaber and NONE of it included actually fighting against an other opponent. Remember Ben sparring with Luke? Nope. It was just him playing around with a robot that tased him
Do you remember Yoda sparring with Luke? Nope. He was teaching him about the Force but we never saw him ONCE teaching him how to actually fight with a lightsaber. Luke had precisely ZERO experience when it came to fighting with a lightsaber. And yet none of you said anything when Luke actually kept up with Vader and later on actually defeated Vader
Rey on the other hand spend her ENTIRE LIFE defending herself with her staff. She is very well versed in fighting with a melee weapon. But when she fought against a HEAVILY INJURED Kylo Ren you immediately cry Mary Sue and unrealistic.
Think about that. Think about what this attitude says about you.
Also an important thing about fight choreography:
A great deal of thought was put into that scene, particularly Rey’s fighting style. She may seem pretty well adapted to lightsaber combat, but in reality she struggles a lot during the fight.
This is a character who has trained exclusively - as far as we know - with a quarterstaff, which is completely different from fighting with a two-handed weapon. Form, stance, strategy - you name it. And this is actually quite apparent in Rey’s choreography for the first half of the scene.
She starts attacking Kylo Ren with these jabs that would probably crack his ribs if she were wielding her quarterstaff. But since she has a brand new weapon in her hands, the strikes are completely ineffective.
But that’s what’s so amazing about this scene. Rey _adapts. S_he’s analyzing Kylo Ren’s form the entire time and she’s learning how to apply it to her own fighting. When she uses the Force to help her focus, she overcomes the translation between one style of weapon to another and secures her victory.
Rey is the first character we’ve actually seen learning how to use a lightsaber against another opponent. And we see it happening in the middle of a fight.
I really enjoyed this scene because I knew they’d spent all this time building up how smart and quick and adaptable Rey is as a character, and we get to see her really shine when she’s pushed into a corner and has to think on her toes.
Remember how she lost that second Tai Fighter when they lost their guns? How she remembered that giant ship she’d been excavating for years and used it to her advantage and knew how to position the gun to get Finn a shot?
Or how she used the doors on that freighter to cut off the (Whatever’s) tentacles when it had ahold of Finn, because she couldn’t run to keep up with it?
There were so many instances of great improvisation for Rey, but I don’t think a lot of people who watched the movie really caught on that she was very quick thinking or smart because the other characters didn’t spend a ton of time congratulating her or patting her on the back for being smart, and these are traits that are often only given to male characters, so people are confused as to why she’s so successful and simply think it’s poor writing, when the reality is that she’s just as smart/quick as Han was in the original Trilogy.
January 10, 2016
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January 10, 2016
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January 10, 2016
Me: So what do you want to be for Halloween? Little Girl: I think I should be Thor. Her Mother: You know Thor's a boy right? Little Girl: Yeah and I'm a girl and I want to be Thor. Her Mother: Don't you want to be something pretty? Little Girl: Thor is pretty.
So obviously Captain Phasma knows Finn’s serial number, but according to the Visual Guide, she makes sure to memorize the serial numbers of ALL the stormtroopers under her command. Every other imperial soldier/officer just seems to say “you there” or barely acknowledge their presence, but here’s their BOSS referring to them by the closest thing they’ve got to a name. She GIVES them an identity, and refers to them as an individual.
Also, apparently the reason she doesn’t hang out in the control room with Hux and Ren is because she voluntarily takes patrols of the base. She doesn’t think she’s above normal duties - she feels what her men do is important and helps out, too.
And think back to when Solo and Finn have her captured. She shows utmost faith in her men - those same stormtroopers everybody laughs about how useless they are - she BELIEVES in them. “You can’t possibly be so stupid as to think this will be easy. My troops will storm this block and kill you all.” She’s pissed. But she has such faith in her men that she TURNS OFF the shield JUST so they’ll know where to come. She doesn’t hesitate! She KNOWS they can do this!
Listen I’m not saying she’s the kind of boss that has memorized every trooper’s birthday, but MAYBE cupcakes just MYSTERIOUSLY SHOW UP in the break room on those days.
I like what these thoughts add to the discourse of Captain Phasma.
January 9, 2016
*places the void closer* *writes something on it* “What if Kylo Ren’s name is Benedict Chewbacca Organa”
what i think is really incredible is that Rey doesn’t speak for the first five minutes of screen time she has, but we still understand exactly what kind of person Rey is, and what she’s going through, and how she feels. We already like her, and sympathize with her, and she hasn’t even said anything yet
