This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately, especially after the elections for mayors and city councilors that took place in my country, Brazil, in October of this year. Although we have a left-wing president, our senate and plenary are dominated by the right wing (often extreme) of the previous president. I went to vote with great discouragement, because I saw the cities of my country divided into two sides and because I saw a series of unprepared politicians who use faith for their own privilege and who consequently cause discord, hatred and fear among people who kill themselves for politicians who do not even care about the population after running for office. And so they benefit themselves, they want the people tied to fear and blinded by ignorance!
When will we have peace
The last time Trump won, I wanted to have my US friends to be able to move to Europe, but honestly, the politics here aren't much better either. The whole right wing ideology is growing bigger and bigger here too - the last elections had incredibly high votes for rightwing parties in austria (where I live) and also in Germany. Clearly I can't speak about the other countries, but Italy is having a fascism problem as well. Pretty sure it doesn't look much different in other countries. For many years, I believed we were growing more open minded, supportive of each other, successfully changing human rights for the better. But everything is running backwards. How much louder do we need to be? How much harder do we have to fight for the fucking right to exist? How can people believe they're in charge over other people's lives and decisions? What the fuck, humanity.
When I see people fighting with darklina shippers I wonder what they took from the Shadow and Bone trilogy. And I don't mean the basic things like "he's a bad person". I mean the fact the story is at it's core a story on how different people process the struggles of war, and the outcome of their actions while doing so.
I wonder if they understand malina is not the good, healthy ship, but rather the result of two very young orphans who lost everything and everyone else and bonded on an unhealthy level, to the point where Alina is willing to give up parts of herself to fit Mal's insecurities.
It's not meant to be cute and fluffy. It just is. And in that sense, I wonder if they actually look at the darkling as the full character that Leigh worked her butt off to portray, past the "ewwww, this man is problematic". Especially in times like right now, where genocide and "how far is too far when you are responding to aggression" are being openly discussed by everyone.
Sure, it's easy to reduce the darkling to this toxic abuser. It fits a box you can check and not think about it later, but I find that to be a disservice to Leigh. So many of you are old enough to think about what makes a character tick, and the context that the story is giving you, regardless if you find the characters' actions justifiable or not, and I see so little of that nowadays in every fandom. Where is y'all's media literacy? Comprehension skills? The ability to reflect on such a complex universe as is the grishaverse?
People are allowed to ship the two characters that are opposite sides of the same coin, and grieve over the boy the darkling was and the man he could have been, before the weight of war destroyed him.
Alina certainly did.
i really can’t stress enough how much i recommend regularly engaging with older art– movies, books, whatever. like, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” and all that, but also, there’s just something really fascinating and kind of beautiful about reading something written by someone who lived so long ago and really connecting with it, recognizing the humanity of people who once seemed like abstract concepts to you
I'M DEVASTATED!!!!!! SO ANGRY!!!!!!
no mourners no funerals my ass. i’m mourning and i’m funeraling
HERE WE GO, GIRLS! The feeling of déjà vu will be constant, but it will always feel like the first time. May it be a smooth journey for our good friend Jonathan Harker and may he be able to jot down as many recipes and interesting facts about his stay as possible to finally share with his beloved fiancée, Mina Murray.
We have been waiting for this moment for a long time and I am so excited!
#redracula #minaharker #jonathanharker #dracula #book
How can people making Dracula adaptations look at todays events and be like yeah let’s put a dracumina romance in this… it’s actually appalling.
🍃🍃🌈🍃🍃
HELP
Mina after reading Jonathan's journal:
Para se relacionar plenamente com outro, você precisa primeiro relacionar-se consigo mesmo. Se não conseguimos abraçar nossa própria solidão, simplesmente usaremos o outro como um escudo contra o isolamento. Somente quando consegue viver como a águia, sem absolutamente qualquer público, você consegue se voltar para outra pessoa com amor. Somente então é capaz de se preocupar com o engrandecimento do outro ser humano.
Nietzsche. (via refetuada)