There's This Weird Tendency Among Fandom Types Where They'll Take A Character, And Insist That They Are

male gaze is not 'when person look sexy' or 'when misogynist make film'

death of the author is not 'miku wrote this'

I don't think you have to read either essay to grasp the basic concepts

death of the author means that once a work is complete, what the author believes it to mean is irrelevant to critical analysis of what's in the text. it means when analysing the meaning of a text you prioritise reader interpretation above author intention, and that an interpretation can hold valid meaning even if it's utterly unintentional on the part of the person who created the thing. it doesn't mean 'i can ignore that the person who made this is a bigot' - it may in fact often mean 'this piece of art holds a lot of bigoted meanings that the author probably wasn't intentionally trying to convey but did anyway, and it's worth addressing that on its own terms regardless of whether the author recognises it's there.' it's important to understand because most artists are not consciously and vocally aware of all the possible meanings of their art, and because art is communal and interpretive. and because what somebody thinks they mean, what you think somebody means, and what a text is saying to you are three entirely different things and it's important to be able to tell the difference.

male gaze is a cinematographic theory on how films construct subjectivity (ie who you identify with and who you look at). it argues that film language assumes that the watcher is a (cis straight white hegemonically normative) man, and treats men as relatable subjects and women as unknowable objects - men as people with interior lives and women as things to be looked at or interacted with but not related to. this includes sexual objectification and voyeurism, but it doesn't mean 'finding a lady sexy' or 'looking with a sexual lens', it means the ways in which visual languages strip women of interiority and encourage us to understand only men as relatable people. it's important to understand this because not all related gaze theories are sexual in nature and if you can't get a grip on male gaze beyond 'sexual imagery', you're really going to struggle with concepts of white or abled or cis subjectivities.

so the megalodon is most definitely extinct? how do scientists know?

well, the thing about large predators is that they leave an impact on an ecosystem big enough that you can tell they’re there, even if you never observe one directly. in this case, we know they’re definitely extinct because of the behavior of whales! whales used to max out at about 50 ft long and were fast and agile, entirely because of predation by megalodon!

but about 2 million years ago, our whales began to rapidly increase in size until we ended up with real monsters like the blue whale. this pretty directly lines up with the extinction of megalodon, and the removal of the pressure they were putting on large whale populations.

basically, large whales can get away with being gigantic, slow tanks in the oceans today because there simply isn’t a predator big enough to take them on anymore. if megalodon still existed, we would be seeing its impact on whale populations! whales would be smaller, and a hell of a lot more skittish than they are.

everything in a given ecosystem is connected, and you can often get important information about the unknown parts by observing the behavior of other parts of the ecosystem.

what was i made for?

“ophelia” by john everett millais but it’s barbie and for the sake of this concept let’s pretend that there is in fact water in barbieland

Let’s make a giant F in the chat for those who don’t have polls yet.

If the last digit of the votes is 1, 2, 3 or 4, vote for the first. If it’s 5, vote for the second, if it’s 6, 7, or 8, vote for the third. If it’s 9, the fourth, and if it’s 0, the last. Please reblog to make the biggest F possible 🤗

hi, I have an odd question. Is it normal to be 16 yet still really want a plushie? I love Bluey, and the episode "Cricket" means a lot to me, since I'm in a tough spot in my life right now, it's actually my favorite episode. Ever since I watched that episode, Rusty is my favorite character and I'd really like a plushie of him. However, I can't get one because my parents don't approve of it. (the only way I can get one is thru Amazon, and I need their permission if I want to order something online.)

I wasn't gonna answer any asks right now, but this one is easy!

Yes it's normal and okay to be 16 and want a plushie!

I'm 40 and I sleep with a plushie, plus I collect them!

And that's not all of them!

I'm sorry you can't get one yet...but I hope you can soon!

“May you have a life of safety and peace”, said the witch, cursing the bloodthirsty warrior.

You do not have the right to touch someone's disability aid without asking, whether that aid be a wheelchair or an AAC device.

"It's just a tablet, though." No, it is not. It is my voice. Touching or moving my device without my permission is like touching my mouth without permission, it's weird, gross, invasive, and rude. Stop.

Pushing someone's wheelchair without permission is like picking them up and moving them out of the way eithout permission, its weird, invasive, gross, and weird. Stop.

When i start getting tempted to make posts about fandom and shipping discourse it’s probably time to log of, make some tea and read an actual book with paper pages and all :)