Latest Posts by gothphrodite - Page 13
when frederico fellini said “i dont like the idea of ‘understanding’ a film” and when he said “i don’t believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art” and he continued by saying “either a film has something to say to you or it hasn’t” and added “if you are moved by it you don’t need it exlpaind to you” and finished with “if not, no explanation can make you moved by it” and then closed it off entirely with a giant big black PERIODT
i wish i could go back to when i was a child and i would make magic potions, collect flowers and line them up in a little rows, and make fairy houses out of sticks and leaves in the garden. everything felt so real then
I used to tolerate people boosting/expressing people posting anti viewpoints, because if you’re not familiar with the discourse around all of this then their faux-wokeness and use of progressive-sounding buzzwords can be sort of deceptively persuasive (sort of similar to other reactionary communities like TERFs and ace exclusionists, and yes, it’s also the same reason why conservatives are so fond of calling people pedophiles in the same way that antis do!). I mean, hell, when I first came across anti discourse I made the mistake of taking their talking points in good faith and was fairly convinced myself.
But, honestly, in wake of this new, sickening situation with what’s been happening to that fish blog (of all places) and the numerous atrocities I’ve seen these demons pull off over the past few years I think it’s about time we starting being fucking explicit and warning people about this stuff before it goes any further. As silly as it is that we have to have this discussion in relation to fandom discourse of all things, the vile rhetoric that has become simply normalized in certain communities is leading to actual real people’s lives being at risk, and unlike the immature bastards perpetuating this nonsense I actually care about that.
Here’s a cheap rundown:
People who claim that “anti” means “anti-pedophile” or “anti-abuse” are lying, even if they’ve convinced themselves that it’s true. It’s similar to how TERFs claim to be anti-misogyny.
Folks who have reblogged anti talking points on the grounds of the above likely don’t realize the deeper context, but if they don’t want to get wrapped up in the bullshit they better pull themselves out of those communities quick.
Most of the ideas spread by the hardcore anti crowd have been coopted from SWERFs and Christian conservative environments, which is unsurprising given the amount of overlap with those communities (reactionaries flock together).
The handwringing over female fans enjoying M/M erotica, paired with poorly mistranslated Japanese buzzwords, is both cartoonish misogynist AND racist nonsense.
The idea that we can prevent real world harm by banning fiction that portrays similar harm is cartoonish authoritarian nonsense.
The idea that fanwork locked behind explicit adult content warnings and more specific triggering content warnings will warp the minds of impressionable readers and cause crimes that they commit to be the fault of the author is cartoonish reactionary nonsense.
The idea that fictional characters cannot be adapted away from their original portrayal without a transformative work “really” being about the original portrayal, despite both portrayals being equally made up, is cartoonishly ludicrous nonsense.
The idea that adults cannot interact with potentially dark topics in a safe fictional environment without being somehow “tainted” or wanting to then go and enact those ideas in real life is cartoonish conservative nonsense (see the video game panic of the 90s).
The idea that people cannot have the personal autonomy to know what kind of content they want to consume and must have been involuntarily brainwashed by society into reading “impure” works is cartoonish SWERF nonsense.
The anti “movement”, group, community, whatever you want to refer to it as, is literally nothing more than a jumbled hodgepodge of the above ideas bound together by immaturity, in-group/out-group dynamics and the thrill that unsavoury people find in having designated target to bully (there’s a reason why these folks get violent so fast, folks!). This isn’t even to touch on how their abuse is usually specifically weaponized against the neurodiverse, queer people, woman, and other marginalized groups.
Antis are not just people who don’t know any better (although they often are that), but they are actively dangerous, toxic individuals, and their community is a breeding ground for abuse tendencies. If fandom is to avoid withstanding much more of this sort of thing then we need to start actively calling out these behaviours when we see them before our communities become defined by this sort of reactionary hand-wringing in what is supposed to be this cultivated progressive and transgressive environment.
(n.b. if you are here to leave a snide comment beneath this because you’re a righteous anti who is against the “evil freaks” who are interested in dark fiction then you can do so and swiftly fuck off).
Consider:
Victorian England: 1837-1901
American Old West: 1803-1912
Meiji Restoration: 1868-1912
French privateering in the Gulf of Mexico: ended circa 1830
Conclusion: an adventuring party consisting of a Victorian gentleman thief, an Old West gunslinger, a disgraced former samurai, and an elderly French pirate is actually 100% historically plausible.
Why does the third of the three brothers, who shares his food with the old woman in the wood, go on to become king of the country? Why does James Bond manage to disarm the nuclear bomb a few seconds before it goes off rather than, as it were, a few seconds afterwards? Because a universe where that did not happen would be a dark and hostile place. Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain.
Terry Pratchett, “Let There Be Dragons” (A Slip of the Keyboard)
“When you start to know someone, all their physical characteristics start to disappear. You begin to dwell in their energy, recognize the scent of their skin. You see only the essence of the person, not the shell. That’s why you can’t fall in love with beauty. You can lust after it, be infatuated by it, want to own it. You can love it with your eyes and your body but not your heart. And that’s why, when you really connect with a person’s inner self, any physical imperfections disappear, become irrelevant.”
— Lisa Unger (via quotemadness)
The number of messages I’ve failed to answer across all my devices and media platforms will be weighed against my soul on judgment day, and I will be cast into hell
history is fucked up and it sucks because all the people in it who had great viable werewolf names weren’t werewolves. like what the shit. if you knew nothing about history or literature i guess or whatever you’d see names like “virginia woolf” and “oscar wilde” and be like. ah yes. these are definitely some prime secret werewolf poorly masquerading as human intellectual situations? but neither of those people were real live werewolves, factually speaking? they did not take advantage of that opportunity. and i think we are all worse off for it actually
This is so cool- who wants to take tea at Beatrix Potter’s house? Just follow the Peter Rabbit sign.
Isn’t this beautiful? It remains pretty much unchanged.
The current gardeners follow the vegetable gardens described in her books.
Here’s the dollhouse described in her 1904 book, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, in which some cute vermin bust into a doll house and smash every ceramic plate and pastry to bits.
Potter was simply enchanted by the idea of creating whimsy on a smaller scale. In one corner of the house you’ll spot a collection of thimble-sized pots.
A few original pages from her books are on display.
Plus, her writing desk.
Cozy fireplace.
Dining area- notice the little stuffed characters from her books, around.
Lovely table for tea. Could you imagine?
And, her luxurious bedroom. Gorgeous place.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/visit-beatrix-potters-house
Honestly, the reason monsterfucker discourse is useless is that nobody can agree upon a working definition of “monster”. It could mean anything from “attracted to dudes with pointy teeth” to “wants to somehow get railed by the concept of universal entropy”. All labeling someone a monsterfucker really tells us is that they’re probably a bottom.
I became very inspired by photographs of real-life witches in the 1960s, such as Anton LaVey and Alex and Maxine Sanders. I also tried to find films about witches from that time, but they were nearly all exploitation and didn’t really interest me. Bell, Book and Candle was the closest to the feeling I wanted, but it was too modernist. I honestly never found any movies to draw from that were close to what I wanted, so I created a color palette from Tarot cards, and I made and commissioned the original paintings that appear in the film to look like what I thought a witch would paint.
The costume ideas came from her personality, the way I envisioned her as someone with intense princess fantasies who would embody her fantasies in her dress. I found some vintage Gunne Sax dresses and made a few more really romantic long dresses with a Renaissance or Victorian flair that also seemed witchy to me. A lot of choices were made symbolically or to reinforce character and theme. The décor was the same—it came from Tarot cards and from the desire to combine Victorian and hippie elements together, to go with her personality.
Anna Biller’s Pleasure Principles
Remembering vampires and demons aren't real or available romantic options
when u goth but u also down w computers like
anyway here’s my gay vampire movie. a 17th century vampire living in a lighthouse for years falls in love with a 90s surfer. plot isn’t important what’s important is the vampire thinking ‘dude’ and ‘radical’ are terms of endearment so it’s like *vampire voice* my dude …… how do i preheat the oven
The terrible tomes of H. P. Lovecraft, as designed for “The Doom that Came to Atlantic City” by Lee Moyer.