Just Learned That Magnolias Are So Old That They’re Pollinated By Beetles Because They Existed Before

gay announcement: just randomly had the thought of “wait a minute, I’ve never seen a female sumo wrestler before, is that a thing?” out of the blue and so naturally I did a quick Google search and uh. uhm.

that is all thank you for your time

Artistic Movements in Arcane: Art Nouveau

This is part two of a series of analysis’s of the influence of real life art movements in arcane (part one). The last analysis focused on Art Deco, which is pretty much Piltover™ (but don’t worry, there’s more). Now, let’s take a dip down to Zaun, with:

ART NOUVEAU A misconception to clear up: this is not Art Deco. Yes, it is also called Art (insert French), but it is something completely different. Capishe? Art Nouveau came about in the 1890s/1900s era. The movement is about flowy lines, intricate detail, the female form, heavy inspiration from nature and biology, and odd curves. It was popular among the growing middle class and a fascination with the beautiful bits of sciences. There are a few similarities between the two, but a lot of differences. The fluid, asymmetrical curves of Art Nouveau, and Zaun, contrast the sharp decadence of Piltover’s Art Deco. Though it is not quite as visually obvious as the grunge/punk aspect of Zaun, once you see it, it will be everywhere. And while we see some of the core themes of Art Deco ingrained into the character of Piltover, the presence of Art Nouveau is just inside of Zaun in so much of its spirit.

Arcane Art Nouveau

versus IRL Art Nouveau.

Firstly, let’s address Zaun’s use of Art Nouveau throughout its environment. You’ll see lots of curves and twists going on, intricate ironwork, and glasswork. And of course, the big mural of the lady that Vi jumps by. Zaun is partially underground and its main industry is mining. They are literally called “fissure folk”. Obviously, they would have plenty of the raw materials lying and metalworking skill around for Art Nouveau. The background artists knew what they were doing. Not only were they thinking about what would be available in Zaun, but also about the skill and artistic appreciation the Zaunites have. It is so easy to think of Piltover as refined and cultured, while dismissing Zaun as a dump, which is something do in real life with rich people culture versus poor people culture, but by using a style that is very detail oriented, it gives more attention to Zaun’s age and culture.

But why Art Nouveau specifically? Why not some other detailed art movement? Simple: the core values of the movement. Art Nouveau is all about nature. Those hallmark curves are inspired by the way vines and insect wings grow. It may be puzzling, as Zaun doesn’t seem to have a lot of greenery, but that’s what makes it even more valuable.

In this shot of the fancy chembaron boardroom, you’ll see a lot of plants. Aside from being pretty, plants are kind of a status symbol. They take resources like good soil, air, sunlight, and water, which Zaun doesn’t have much of. Plants are life, and life is something Zaun craves.

This is Ekko’s Firelight tree. When he found it, he knew there was hope for Zaun to become a better place, to be revitalised. Trees clean the air and give life. Again, we see how Zaun craves life.

Jinx’s bug bombs feel especially more ironic considering how Art Nouveau is all about life, and these bombs are all about death.

Even without constant access to nature, people are imitating life through the inanimate materials they have. Zaun is crafty, innovative, and hungry for just a chance to breathe easy and drink clean water.

Speaking of Jinx, another focus of Art Nouveau is the feminine figure.

And wouldn’t you know it, the main characters are two sisters from Zaun?

In fact, I would argue that Jinx is the most Art Nouveau character. Though she dresses in a grunge/punk style, it’s really more about the aura she exudes. She is someone who has had all the people she loves die around her or leave her. Her machines bring death, sometimes good, sometimes bad. She, more than anything, desparately needs life and nature. Her movements have a certain lithe flow to them, and her hair… well, the animators sure had fun with that. Jinx is the face of Zaun, wild, unpredictable, tragic, and craving for life.

While there is so much more I could say about Art Nouveau in Arcane, this is about all I’ve got right now. More art analyses are on their way.

Not every story is about seeing yourself in it. Sometimes it’s about learning to see other people too.

I feel weird about Arcane S2 because ….. It'd be rad if Arcane was super leftist or w/e, but I never expected it to be. And I was happy with that! I always expected Arcane to continue having its “X-men level” of political takes— “both sides are at fault and we need to come together and have compassion." I don't need a leftist moral political justification to enjoy a fun fantasy story.

But season 2 really did surprise me? by swerving off and being like “actually the political oppression storyline Does Not Matter, never mattered, and won’t even get a resolution— not even a conservative or centrist resolution?” XD

They don't even resolve the political storyline with the classic X-men “both sides are suffering, why cant we get along" type of ending; instead they just abandon it completely. By the last four episodes the show is all about fighting random Evil Outsiders and Magic Robots from the League of Legends Cinematic Universe to advertise upcoming League skins and spin-offs, while the plot about the warring political factions gets completely dropped without any resolution beyond Vague Implications.

I guess my take is that, unlike a lot of people, I was never expecting Arcane to be any more politically radical than an x-men movie— and I still enjoyed it a lot!

But I was expecting it to care about the storyline it had set up? And I was genuinely surprised by how little it did.

In hindsight it now feels odd how much time they spent emphasizing the characters experiencing police brutality and political divides and riots and violence at border crossings and class disparity and being crippled by pollution, because now we know none of this was ever going anywhere? XD

My surprise was not that all that politically loaded imagery was building up to a centrist message about how there are good people on both sides and we need to reach across the aisle. Because that’s always how I thought it would end, and that’s Fine for a fun fantasy show? But I was surprised to realize that none of the imagery was ever intended to be building up to anything, not even a general centrist message about reaching across the aisle. It was using political imagery in a hollow way, without intent, for Shock Value, for the Aesthetic.

the actual story is just a generic comic book fight between humans who want people to live vs robots who want to kill everything; everything else is just there to dress that up.

rereading GtN is so funny. harrow goes missing and gideon flies into full panic mode, spends her whole morning desperately searching, says "ugh I give up, she can just die", eats lunch and then immediately recommits to searching again, dissociates out of stress when she learns Harrow's blood is everywhere, breaks her vow of silence to try and get help for Harrow, nearly breaks her wrists trying to open the door in panic, sprints her way down to Harrow, finds that she's okay and is immediately like

haha. as if i even cared. whatever

i met one of my aunt's archaeologist friends/colleagues earlier today & he was telling me about legends that not too far from here there's the ghosts of a roman legion that people see walking up the cliff towards the edge of the sea and then off the edge of the cliff and onwards, because the coastline has receded so much since roman times that the 'land' they're used to walking on goes on far past the point it falls into the sea today. and like. OUGH. I don't even strictly believe in that type of ghost but I'm Obsessed with this image of them still interacting with landscape that has crumbled into the sea & completely disappeared over the thousands of years since they were alive. ghost landscapes Real

hey guys I'm going to leave my fawn response traumatized female character with you for a bit I sure hope when I get back she hasn't been girlbossified and otherwise mischaracterized to fulfill your own catharsis and ideas on how a victim should act and feel

renly is so funny hes the closest thing in this series to a normal modern human man dropped into medieval fantasy europe so obviously he had to die. poor renly you deserve to live in a world with podcasts and grindr :'( hope you get reincarnated in new jersey