She-Ra PoP Vs Arcane S2

She-Ra PoP vs Arcane S2

Physically disabled character considered inferior by his society, abandoned instead of being helped

Technological genius who benefits from having a partner

Uses technology to improve his health and quality of life

Becomes fundamentally altered by a force outside his control (with Christian and cult references)

And now here's where She-Ra and Arcane's messages diverge: Hordak is consistently supported and loved by his partner throughout his journey. She doesn't let up when he tries to hide his pain from her.

She does NOT tell him that he is wrong to try to "fix" himself and actively helps him do so. She recognizes the validity of how he choses to deal with his condition, which was caused by genetic "imperfections" during the cloning process. But she impresses upon him that he does not deserve the physical pain or mental torment of being a "failure".

Her message was that his imperfections do not limit him or define him. They are a part of life, part of the world, and a part of him, and he is not a failure for having them.

Meanwhile in Arcane, Jayce criticizes Viktor for "wanting to cure what he thought were weaknesses" and specifically mentions his leg and disease. The two things that brought him chronic pain, progressively deteriorating quality of life, and one would ultimately kill him. Also, Viktor never actually expressed that he was ashamed of them. We as the audience are left to assume that's how he feels, because why wouldn't he? What else would a disabled person feel? Not that he is perfectly aware that Piltover's oppression and exploitation of his people likely directly contributed to both those issues. Not that he values himself for his intellect and contributions to Hextech even though society constantly prioritized Jayce. Nope, obviously he feels so bad about it that he tries to turn all of humanity into robots. On top of that, Christian Linke has explicitly said the Hexcore corrupted him and Sky was a manifestation of it manipulating him. So even if he did feel that way before, he's still not at fault for what's been going on.

And I think a key part of this is the mindset of the team who created this show. Was this simply a poorly executed but positive sentiment, or a symptom of ableist bias from a team of 3 able-bodied people? We can harp on Jayce all we want, but ultimately someone designed him this way, and THIS is what I take issue with. Christian also says in the art book explicitly that Viktor fixing his leg and spine make him lose part of his humanity. If this is the logic behind Jayce's monologue, it is NOT positivity. It is a direct shaming of a disabled person's right to choose how they take care of themselves, said by a character who has already violated Viktor's autonomy and wishes, written by a team that equates self-improvement with inferior humanity.

Amanda Overton has repeatedly mentioned she was inspired by She-Ra, which is pretty obvious here. Unfortunately, this isn't the unequivocally positive message she thinks it is, and she missed all the nuance of Entrapta and Hordak's conversations about it. A huge component of why it works in She-Ra is because Entrapta's wisdom comes from her understanding of her own "failures" and "imperfections" due to her autism, and Hordak reciprocates support throughout the show. One of the key members of her development team is an autistic person who provided a realistic view of what an autistic person can be like.

This is two people who understand each other's pain uplifting each other, NOT Entrapta being Hordak's miraculous savior at the 11th hour. Having Jayce need a leg brace for like 5 minutes does not give him ability to understand Viktor's lifelong struggles that were also killing him.

For future seasons, I hope they bring on staff who actually have any idea what they are fucking talking about.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU WEIRD ASS MOTHER FUCKERS????

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tsuyushuu

7 years ago

How different languages work in Yuri!!! On Ice

Other than being endearingly heartwarming and setting my OTP feels ablaze, one of the best parts about this scene (as another post points out) is that Victor has no idea what Yuri said.

There’s confusion among fandom regarding whether or not Victor knows Japanese and what his primary communication language is. So on Twitter this morning I shot off a few tweets about how languages are handled in YoI and I’m coming here to explain myself more fully.

Since episode 2, I’ve been completely in love with the voice direction given to Suwabe-san that helps demonstrate Victor’s foreign-ness via auditory cues. Of course, it’s not going to be readily apparent to non-Japanese speakers, but it definitely stands out to the native speaking audience.

Basically, whenever Victor is “speaking Japanese,” his speech is foreigner-accented. His pronunciation is off in places and the rhythm isn’t that of a native or solidly fluent japanese speaker. The sentences are a bit less complex as well. My favorite example of this is from episode 3, when he was in full gaijin mode lol.

Anyway, when Victor is speaking a language that he’s fluent in (likely English with Yuri Katsuki or Russian with Yuri Plisetsky), Suwabe-san drops the “foreigner-accent” and delivers the lines fluidly.

The best example of the “language switch”, perhaps, is in episode 4 when Yuri calls Coach Celestino. Celestino also has a foreigner-accent when speaking to Yuri at first, but then when Victor gets on the phone Celestino’s accent drops and he too speaks fluidly.

So, an Italian-American and a Russian speaking to each other…? English is 99.9% likely to be their common language.

And just to clarify, there’s no continuity error regarding language in the scenes from episode 2 when Victor goes to Minako-sensei and the Nishigoris to get more information about Yuri. He has no foreigner accent in these scenes as well, so he’s speaking in a language he’s fluent in. But we know now that Yuko-chan speaks English fluently and it’s likely that Minako-sensei does too since she had an international ballet career.

tl;dr version

When Victor speaks Japanese he sounds like a foreigner and native/fluent Japanese speakers will pick up on that change.

Victor and Yuri are communicating with each other in English. (Smooth, complex conversation with no accenting.)

Victor maybe has rudimentary Japanese skills, but not enough for him to understand or participate in complex discussions. (Example: ep 4, when he has to ask Yuri what everyone is talking about.)

Every person Victor has had an in-depth conversation with so far has good English skills.

And an injection from reality– most high level international athletes use English as a commonality language anyway.

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tsuyushuu

4 months ago

mwah

The Rebellion and Infighting

I have so much to scream about in this first set of three episodes, but the one I want to yell about the most is the theme of destructive infighting that grinds everything to a halt.

It was a more background theme last season, because Cassian was still making his way toward Rebellion. But this time it came out front and center in all four storylines.

In the wedding on Chandrila, everyone was at odds with each other. Nobody could agree on what to do or how to support each other (or who should be supporting who). They sniped and sneered and took passive-aggressive swipes at each other, both personal and Rebellion-related. The one that most desperately broke my heart was Mon's conversation with Leida, where she tried to offer her a way out ("what I wish my mother had said.") And Leida slaps the offer away like a toddler slapping away a spoonful of peas, continuing the mini-theme of mothers and daughters not understanding each other.

On Mina Rau, they did a little better, but not much. What seemed like a lovely little agricultural community fell apart for the Ferrix contingent because someone who seemed to be an ally turned on them to save himself. Plus Beela's mom didn't approve of Wilmon ("a toolie") and fueled Beela and Wilmon's little Romeo and Juliet storyline and making him late for getting the hell out of there.

And of course, there was the Empire, coming around and exercising control over where they went and if they were allowed to be here. The wording in this segment was just *chef's kiss* so specific. They worried about visas and getting caught without them. The Imperial called them "illegal" and "undocumented," a speech that could just as easily be heard from the United States White House today. And then heavily implying (in a nauseating scene that just built and built and built) that Bix could save herself by trading her body. (Buy your right to exist by being useful to the overlords.) And then when she refused, made it clear he was going to take it anyway.

It was most obvious in Cassian getting held up in the jungle by the rebel group, who were so busy squabbling with each other and shooting anything that moved that they didn't even notice a) Cassian manipulating them and b) the giant monsters that leapt out and ate them. Blunt? Oh yes. Obvious? Yepper. Meaningless? Not in the least.

Interestingly, the one storyline that took this theme of infighting and flipped it around to show what it means to work together was Dedra's. Not the Ghorman part of it, although that was riveting. (And the tourist film that Krennic showed was hysterically funny in its WTFery.). But shockingly, it's the dinner with Syril's toxic mom, with Dedra watching Eedy gleefully tear her son down. Then when Syril has to leave the room, Dedra wastes no time in laying down the law that unless Eedy falls the fuck in line, Syril will no longer be part of his mother's life. I hated everyone in that scene as a person, but I admit I cheered.

To return to Cassian's storyline, the reveal at the end of the second episode that it was all taking place on Yavin made me hoot and holler and laugh like a loon. But it also points to something this set of episodes has been laying out in giant flashing neon letters.

The Rebellion is a baby. It's a mess. It's a bunch of people all more concerned with fighting amongst themselves about who's more right and morally pure then actually doing anything real against the Empire. Even Cassian's theft of the TIE fighter was a total mess. He got bad intel and bad training and mostly did a hilaribad job of flying that thing.

But one day, the Rebellion is going to destroy the Death Star. And they're going to do it from this rainy, smelly, monster-filled jungle where a bunch of idiots played Rock Paper Scissors to figure out who got to be the boss. That is going to be the scene of the Rebellion's big triumph.

If they can get their fucking act together.

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tsuyushuu

1 year ago

Neil Gaiman: Crowley sits alone in the dark listening to Pale Blue Eyes by the Velvet Underground Me: ok, so, within the context of the story, that means

(1/7)

i love this metaphor and it's been driving me nuts

Help a Family in Need

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✅ Vetted by Association: @bilal-salah0

Donate & share: Donation Link

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Donate to Help Mohamad reunite his family and clear his debt, organized by Adam Bin Ali

I am reaching out on behalf of my dear friend, Mohamad S., who is faci… Adam Bin Ali needs your support for Help Mohamad reunite his family

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