college professor: ba ba ba bo bo go… be bo be ba bo… bebo? bogos binted? ba be bo ba…
me: (sitting in complete furious silence arms crossed and frankly about ready to heap my fucking lid)
hi folks. this post always seemed familiar to me for some reason, even when i saw it the first time. i only just figured out why, it uses a message i sent to my brother two years ago
Frankenstein’s Monster literally got the exact opposite of what I like to call “The Fandom treatment.” Instead of having a horrifying and/or not-normally attractive and inhuman creature being turned into a beautiful and/or sexy human by fans, a considerably attractive and goth prince who was pretty much MADE of human has been turned into a slobbering, grotesque, and ugly monster by the media
to give you visual aid to what i mean, here is what he is usually depicted as by the media:
and this is what he is actually meant to look like as described in the book:
“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” (5.2)
Frankenstein’s Monster literally got the exact opposite of what I like to call “The Fandom treatment.” Instead of having a horrifying and/or not-normally attractive and inhuman creature being turned into a beautiful and/or sexy human by fans, a considerably attractive and goth prince who was pretty much MADE of human has been turned into a slobbering, grotesque, and ugly monster by the media
to give you visual aid to what i mean, here is what he is usually depicted as by the media:
and this is what he is actually meant to look like as described in the book:
“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” (5.2)
customer opens the box, frowns, and sticks her finger in the pizza: i didn’t order pepperoni
me, with a voice devoid of any emotion: ……. sue?
customer: oh! no i’m (name)!
the actual sue, materializing at my elbow: is that a pizza for sue?
me: would you like some free breadsticks to eat while we remake you pizza? another customer touched it
‘another customer’ sheepishly mumbles sorry
sue, who has clearly worked with the public: you take as long as you need to, honey
my new favourite character archetype of the 2010s is “character is raised by an abusive motherly figure with a spider theme whose constant pressures and neglect leads the character to constantly feel they need to prove themselves and in doing so always ends up causing so many more problems which end up destroying everything and they are rivals with their childhood friend whom they hurt and the childhood friend desperately wants the character to realize that she doesnt need to be a better person but there gets a point where it looks like character is beyond hope so rival begrudgingly tries to kill her even though they really dont want to”
imo the biggest difference between vriska’s and catra’s characterization is that vriska clings to the role of hero while catra clings to the role of villain. but what they share is that they both come from a desperate desire to show the people they care about that they are Good Enough
vriska is certainly concerned with being Relevant, but she still wants the people she loves to love her. but instead of knowing how to like, actually be honest and vulnerable w her friends, she concerns herself w becoming the hero by whatever means possible. because who doesn’t like the hero?
but with catra, “good enough” doesn’t necessarily mean “good enough to be the hero,” but rather “good enough to be the villain.” in catra’s mind, she’s already made the mistake of being honest and vulnerable, and the people that she cares about won’t ever care about her enough not to hurt her. so instead, she’ll come out as the big bad guy on top, and she’ll hurt the ones she loves, like they hurt her, because who doesn’t recognize the strength of the villain?
it can be neatly surmised as catra wanting to be on top so that she can say “see? I don’t need you” and vriska wanting to be on top so that she can say “see? you need me”
in both cases their real happiness comes from recognizing their need and desire to be Cared For, and recognizing that that care does not come from the roles they cling to but rather from working to repair the relationships with the people they love & who love them
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
