The Scenes Of Luke Training Percy Were So Expertly Written. He Wasn’t Just Training Percy, He Was Actively

what are your thoughts on people saying that 2521 is problematic for portraying a relationship that began when heedo was a minor & yijin, an adult?

people should practice thinking sometimes. it helps a lot

i will try to be systematic here, so i'll present some points in list form. i've already addressed people's general idiocy in this post, so i'll try to keep things short because i don't want to waste energy fighting every person with a different opinion from mine.

a relationship is "problematic" as in "harmful" when there is lack of consent, or when the relationship is toxic for at least one party. hee do and yi jin did not participate in any sexual activity when she was 18 and he was 22, and they have never been toxic towards each other.

the show's entire focus is on how two people with a four-year age difference who meet at 18 and 22 can have a healthy romantic relationship eventually. the writing constantly brings the characters' differences and similarities into focus, both in terms of their age difference and in terms of their personalities. we see them develop their relationship through countless hours of talking, hanging out, providing each other emotional support, developing feelings. it takes eight entire episodes for one of the characters to really examine any sexual attraction they feel, and this character is the younger woman, who is also the person who takes every step towards crossing physical boundaries with the other. at no point is she taken advantage of for her lack of experience, her naivete, or her willingness to start a romantic relationship when she's 19. yi jin could have easily turned her head back then, but that's neither the person he is, nor the value he places in their relationship. the show emphasized emotional connection long before it even introduced physical attraction, and it's quite impressive to me that people still decided to feel bothered.

relationships with an age gap happen all the time in real life, and the role of art is to dramatize and discuss real life for its audience. the aim of this show is partly to demonstrate how such a relationship can occur in a healthy and natural manner, in which both parties are pursuing the well-being of the other. in this way, the show proves that a relationship with an age gap is not inherently exploitative, but can be anything both parties create with the way they treat each other.

the show has been vocal about the difficulty of defining such a relationship, and the characters have taken very careful steps to give names or actions to their feelings as they grow. in no instance has any romantic development been rushed or handled poorly. by the time the younger woman initiates a kiss, the age difference has become as irrelevant as it is between people in their twenties. if a first-year university student was dating a fourth-year student she's been close friends with for two years, would anyone find it "problematic"?

it's almost impossible to change someone's opinion if they're not willing to accept that they could be wrong. it makes me sad that such an incredibly-written show is still unable to inspire critical thought in some segments of its audience, because the majority of my points have been so clearly demonstrated in scenes that they must be visible from space. nevertheless, i'm persisting.

fuck this handmaids tale country.

Listen, let’s make a pact. Right now. No matter what happens. We meet back here next year. All of us. Right here. Deal?

TLOU spoilers:

Do you know what really made me cry?

It wasn’t the screaming, even though those sounds made me clutch my wrists so tight, I’m going to bruise tomorrow. It wasn’t the blood, or the wounds.

It was the little head raise Joel did when Ellie screamed at him to get up. And as hurt as he was, standing at death’s door, with so much blood loss and so much brutality inflicted on his body, Joel tried to push himself up. Because Ellie, his daughter in everything but blood, was begging him to do so.

I don’t think I’ll ever be alright again.

can we talk about walker’s ability to act with his eyes…they’re so expressive in every scene and perfectly capture the anger, fear, and despair percy feels throughout tlt, but most importantly they exude love and longing in a way that’s practically tangible when looking at sally, grover, and especially annabeth in some of the finale scenes…rent was DUE

Were others as uncomfortable as me when Yijin in ep12 said, 'It doesn't matter that she (heed) doesn't know what she's doing; I know.' Maybe it's a mistranslation, but in the present version, it came across as paternalistic and very odd.

*sigh*

listen, i get you. it’s very easy to misinterpret or misunderstand this line, and i don’t think there’s anything wrong with your reaction. the way we react to text within or without context comes down to our interpretation, and sometimes our instinctive reading does not take into account the larger picture shown in the entire text.

i can’t speak in terms of translation, but i’m going to tag the lovely @consigliere-vincenzo in case they have any remarks about the translation of this scene as a whole (please feel no obligation to engage with this unless you want to!)

what i can offer my take on is the meaning of the line as i hear it and understand it within context, because context is where the majority of meaning is formed.

firstly, i hear two implied endings to this line:

1. she doesn't have to know what she's doing, because i know what she’s doing towards me.

2. she doesn't have to know what she's doing, because i know what i’m doing towards her.

i believe that both of these endings exist at the same time; they are equally implied within the first part of the line, and are equally important for the negotiation of meaning behind it.

what comes across to me in both of these versions is a statement of trust and a vow of reliability.

in the first instance, i hear the meaning of even if hee do doesn’t understand the full meaning of her actions, i trust her to do things the right way. even if she doesn’t realize what her actions towards me imply, i see her feelings and accept them. even if it takes her a long time to translate her feelings and actions into words, i know her well enough to understand her without her needing to explain herself. i know what she’s doing about our relationship and i’m going to stay by her side until she sees it through. i know her well enough to see her heart.

in the second instance, what comes to focus is the difference between yi jin and the “cutie pie character” (never letting him outlive this) in the way they approach a potential romantic relationship with hee do. while the “cutie pie character” doesn’t know what he’s doing, as he’s just as likely to be serious about his relationship with hee do as he is to get tired of her after abusing her feelings, yi jin knows what he’s doing. while the ex-boyfriend is careless about how he treats hee do, yi jin is careful to never hurt her feelings, to never overstep or take advantage of her. while the ex-boyfriend doesn’t know hee do well enough to harbor any real feelings towards her as a person and not just a pretty face or a successful fencer, yi jin knows every facet of her personality and knows that there is real feeling behind his actions towards her, and her actions towards him. while the “cutie pie character” will approach the relationship without responsibility towards hee do’s needs and feelings and prioritize his own, yi jin naturally puts hee do’s needs first and doesn’t even dare to cross the line between friendship-coded behavior and romance-coded behavior, because he values her emotional well-being more than his own. so hee do doesn’t have to know what she’s doing in terms of their relationship, or whether she’s doing things the right way, because she can count on yi jin to know what he’s doing. she can make mistakes for both of them, because he is careful not to make any.

with yi jin, hee do can be vulnerable enough to do things by instinct instead of by logic, by feeling instead of by thought, because yi jin trusts her instincts and feelings, and because yi jin is committed to always putting her first.

as this line is the culmination of yi jin’s speech, all of these meanings are encoded in the statements he makes before this one and supported by his previous behavior and words towards hee do. if yi jin’s reaction towards the ex-boyfriend seems out of proportion to the conversation, that’s because yi jin’s feelings are much bigger than the ex-boyfriend’s. it’s because he cares intensely while the ex-boyfriend is willing to toy with him and hee do that yi jin gets really angry, because who is this person to question their intentions towards each other when his own do not come from a place of genuine love? who is this person to accuse yi jin or hee do of not knowing what they’re doing, when he clearly doesn’t know the consequences of his own actions?

if anyone is being “paternalistic” in this situation, it’s the ex-boyfriend, who keeps infantilizing hee do by calling her by a pet name, and tries to verbally “win” the right to date her, as if the matter should be solved between him and yi jin, without taking hee do’s opinion as a factor at all. yi jin is clearly uncomfortable with this conversation from the start, and systematically counters the ex’s usage of the pet name by placing emphasis on hee do’s name in his sentences (it’s not always translated but listen and you’ll hear it), thus continuously asserting her autonomy as a person and not the idea of a girlfriend. when the ex questions hee do’s judgement, yi jin implies that even if hee do is unable to put a name to her actions and feelings, he trusts her to know what she’s doing, and she can rely on him to know what he's doing.

interpretations are subjective, and your feelings are valid -- but i hope my analysis helps you understand the line in the way that i do.

not twitter users ready to come back to tumblr after elon musk bought twitter. tumblr has been healing ever since yall left, it has been calm and we can talk as much shit as we want without anyone crying about it. stay on twitter, i beg.

You'll see this in a textbook one day.

(Source: AP Photo / Pamela Smith)

"if you're going to write dark fiction you should explicitly state that it's not okay to do in real life so that a child doesn't see it and think it's okay"

actually i don't cater my art to children, my art is not intended for children, and it's not my responsibility to parent them. hope this helps