The Thing Is He Wouldn’t Even Be A Villain He Would Be Completely Justified. The Good Side Is Whatever

I hope I’m not just a url to you guys but also… a profile picture

hotd tells the story of an undying love between two women which consistently overcomes the violence of war, feudalism, and patriarchy. the affection between rhaenyra and alicent weaves through the narrative to tell us something larger about misogyny, gendered violence, etc., that is far more compelling than f&b's incessant and arguably banal “male primogeniture is bad,” thesis. rhaenyra and alicent are not “codependent,” and hotd’s writing (with regards to this relationship) is not “misogynistic;” this relationship is a representation of the power of love against seemingly insurmountable odds and the consequences of rejecting adherence to duty in an inherently corrupt sociopolitical system. rhaenyra and alicent’s dedication to one another sharply contrasts the brutality of the dance, compelling the audience to contemplate the futility of the conflict, the pervasive nature of misogyny, and, ultimately, the faculty of love as a means to combat suffering.

Do you ever eat popcorn out of the palm of your own hand with such ardent desperation that you feel like both a wild horse and the gentle schoolgirl feeding it treats to gain its affection 

And also the way Barbie and Ken are role playing heterosexuality without any inherent sexuality of their own, without any understanding of what it means, or even any genitals at all! Just pretty-girl + handsome-guy = obviously a couple. And the way it fucks them both up! Because they’re both stereotypes, neither of them is a specialist version, no brain surgery or pilots license or Nobel prize for either of them. They’re just assigned the roles of Every Man and Every Woman. And Ken ends up doing Way Too Much because he’s hanging his entire self-worth on being important to Barbie. And Barbie just isn’t interested in him, she was assigned a boyfriend she didn’t ask for and doesn’t want and doesn’t know what to do with, just because that’s what society expects of men and women, that they will necessarily couple up and fall in love because… that’s what they do. Regardless of any personal quality of either party.

It’s about heteronormativity and amatonormativity and the unrealistic expectations society sets boys and girls up for from infancy. Barbie and Ken are every pair of toddlers sharing a sandbox while the adults around them call them each other’s little “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” even though neither party understands or is capable of understanding the implied meaning of that. Or wants to.

It’s a literal funhouse mirror of that weird pressure put on kids to perform heterosexuality from an early age. It examines how that leaves us unprepared for the complicated reality of actual relationships even if it turns out that you are heterosexual and do want sex and romance. Boys and girls aren’t really allowed to be just kids on the same team, so they grow up into men and women who generally want very different things from each other and are trained to look for it in everybody because anybody is better than nobody, and try to force it to work.

Barbie and Ken letting each other go in the end was perfect. Barbie the Every Woman realizing that she doesn’t have to be special, she just has to be, and Ken the Every Man realizing he has to seek validation elsewhere and lean on his fellow Kens for emotional support, WHICH THEY GIVE.

Truly a movie of all time.

We joke about Mike’s monologue killing Max but it actually makes perfect sense to start with “forced conformity is killing the kids” then have a forced heterosexual love confession kill Max only for her to be saved by a completely unprompted expression of gay love from El

Whenever I see someone claim that Alicent has a crush on Criston, I lose twenty years off my lifespan

Guys I cracked the code. Mike Wheeler is demiromantic. He’s only ever had a crush on Will which is why it took him so long to figure out that he was in love with him, but he always knew that his relationship with Will was special.

Yes, yes this is me projecting onto Mike even more than I already was.

No because literally THIS. I’m Jewish and this is actually one of the most offensive things I’ve ever heard in my entire life 💀

If y’all are gonna take the time to complain about stranger things please take the time to also talk about the filming in a literal nazi prison camp that they are turning into an AirBNB I have not seen nearly enough conversation on it and that’s not great. They filmed in a nazi camp in Lithuania which is a country already known for erasing their history with the holocaust having turned nazi camps into things like fucking wedding venues in the past. If you want something to be upset about here’s something to really be upset about.

the irony of Mike and Will hiding in a closet together during the apocalypse is just too good the duffers have to use it please I would laugh so hard lmaooo

Lori Grimes Is Overhated And Deserves Better (Hear Me Out)

Okay. So. I'm rewatching The Walking Dead from S1. The last time I watched S1 was when it was airing and I was 9/10 (No, not appropriate but alas) and. I remember hating Lori. But I'm rewatching. And I'm on S3. And.

What did she actually do fucking wrong? She's fine. She literally hasn't done anything to deserve the amount of hate she gets. In fact, she went through so much and died so soon. In S3 she mentions how she knows she's a shit wife and not a good mother. But. I don't see why. At the end of S2 Rick and Carl love her. But at the start of S3 they just randomly hate her? What happened in those nine months between the seasons because it's never explained? I get if things were tense because she was pregnant and they were on the run, but Rick wanted her to keep the baby? How is that her fault? It just feels out of nowhere. I legit don't even think she did anything wrong.

People are mainly always like 'She almost got an abortion :(' Bro it's literally the fucking apocalypse. One) She did it with pills she didn't even know would work. Two) She didn't even go through with it. Three) God, if I was her, I would've. That would've been the only option I would've considered.

There are no safe places, they're barely keeping Carl alive, Sophia is missing (Aka, not exactly a kid friendly world), there is no more modern medicine and she could die from complications and/or childbirth (Which she did) leaving her son to grieve his mother this time just as he did with Rick before they knew he wasn't dead. And what sort of world is this for a baby? She said it herself, it would grow up fighting from day one. If it cried, it could attract a horde and get everyone killed, etc. What if Lori is malnourished and can't feed it? They can't just find formula. It, at this stage with them only knowing of their own group, may never have an education, or friends, etc. It would just survive. What life is that? (We know better now, but the group didn't know if that could ever happen at the time. They had no context to believe otherwise).

I cannot fathom people thinking that was a bad choice on her part. And she didn't even do it, instead she died giving birth to that kid. She gave her life because she wanted her child to have a chance at one instead. And people hate her.

The only other thing I can think of is the Shane stuff. But she thought Rick was dead and was grieving everything. Not just her husband and the father of her child, but her own parents (Which she mentioned), and literally the entire world. God forbid she's getting dicked down to deal with it??? Having an ounce of something good amongst all her grieving?? Needing something, anything to cling onto? And the minute she realises Rick is alive, she stops her and Shane's 'thing' immediately. And Shane literally sexually assaults her! And people hate her but like him? Are you fucking kidding me? And she never told Rick! She still tried to be civil with Shane, because he was Rick's best friend! And Carl loved him! She kept it a secret and was civil with him, even though she was understandably scared of him and uncomfortable around him, for them. So that they wouldn't lose Shane. She remained civil with a man that sexually assaulted her for the sake of her family's happiness over her own, and even her own safety. She only warned Rick she didn't like Shane when he started seeming like he was a threat to Rick and her kids. That's it. All of it was for them.

Then people say that she seemed upset at Shane's death. Personally I like to think she was upset at the fact that Carl was the one that had to shoot him. Because she seemed shocked but it wasn't until that line where Rick admits Carl shot him that she actually seems upset. And that she was still processing the 'we're all infected thing'. And maybe even guilt thinking it was her fault that her husband had to kill his best friend, and her son had to shoot him too when he turned. Her baby was forced to kill someone when he's, what, 10? Which is what she was trying desperately to avoid?

Which brings us back to the 'not child friendly world' thing. She's now realising that if she dies, her and the baby become walkers. Or if the baby dies, it could rip her open after turning. And with Carl she had to have a C section. That might be the case this time again. And with no modern medicine, and the farm also now gone, how does she know she won't die after it's born and turn, immediately attacking the newborn and anyone around her? Or the baby is stillborn and she has to watch it turn after just giving birth to it? Essentially, the whole pregnancy is even more dangerous now. And maybe it will be born. Maybe they'll both be fine. But how long until it might have to kill someone like Carl had to? A child having to have something that heavy on their shoulders?

All that. All the things she dealt with and people blame her for all of it.

It just. It reeks of misogyny. I'm so sorry for hating her when I was 10 and didn't know any better. She deserved so much better. If she'd gotten more time, she could've been great. I think she was anyway. She defended Rick all the time, looked after Carl, was there for Carol and Sophia, etc. And people shit on her so much. She was fine. Just wasted potential.

The dramatic car crash over a single walker scene was ridiculous and kinda funny to be honest but I blame the writers more than the character. I don't even know why that was necessary. Like why did they even write it. They were really tryna make her seem useless.

Basically, Sarah Wayne Callies (Who plays Lori) was absolutely right. Lori woulda been great if she was written by a woman.

Lori Grimes, I'm sorry, you deserved fucking better.