Ludacris on the set of his "Get Back" music video (2004)
common misconception - no costuming or makeup was required for this video! instead, before they started filming, Ludacris would simply squeeze a can of spinach so hard that the lid flew off and the contents soared up into the air. then he would catch the spinach in his corn-cob pipe (not pictured), suck it through (like a straw) and swallow it
Anonymous asked:
Elizabeth Swan is a cisgender woman who was looking for any and every excuse to finally go feral at sea.
Her whole life was devoted to the moment she could finally fuck around and find out, and she -really- leapt at the opportunity of being kidnapped.
Also her gender presentation and clothing presence is "Whatever is the most strategically useful at the time", but overall she probably feels like a woman.
fake fan doesn't even know elizabeth lore
I’m all in favour of LGBT reimaginings of popular media, but with respect to some of the Labyrinth fan-castings I’ve seen floating around lately, there’s really no getting away from the fact that the Goblin King is a sexual predator.
Like, that’s the straight-up text of the film, and it’s not especially subtle about it.*
I’m not saying gay people can’t be villains, but the whole point of Jareth is that his attraction toward Sarah is sick, and her rejection of him represents a triumph of good over evil – it’s very much a film born of the Stranger Danger narrative that was all over popular media in the 1980s. I’m sure it’s possible to do a same-gender version of that without falling down the slippery slope of Unfortunate Implications, but it doesn’t feel like that concern is even on the radar in a lot of these proposals.
* Though the subtext isn’t slacking off, either. Remember the scene where Sarah first encounters Jareth, where he starts fondling a crystal ball, smirkingly invites her to play with it, then snarls and thrusts a snake in her face when she declines? That ain’t the reading-too-much-into-the-curtains kind of symbolism!
I feel like it’s more complicated than that, though? like… I feel like being a cis man there’s some nuance you’re missing?
CW: Long meta, rape mention, frank discussion of Problematic Teenage Fantasy Boyfriends
Labyrinth is pretty clearly a Symbolic Coming-Of-Age Story ™ about the Role Of Fantasy in the life of a Young Woman, right? it’s about how you need to have a healthy relationship with fantasy. you can’t let it push away the people you love, you can’t let it control you or blind you to what’s there. but it can help you make lasting friends, and when you need it most- for any reason at all- it’s there.
it’s pretty much text that everything in Labyrinth is part of Sarah’s imaginary world. Everything in the Labyrinth is either something she sought out and loves- her plushies and statuettes, her music boxes and books- or some part of herself, some want or fear or dream, given form.
And a lot of girls like Sarah- bookish, daydreamy, intellectually gifted but emotionally immature girls who’ve been steeped in a lot of crap about relationships from the world we live in - have a Fantasy Lover who looks and acts a lot like Jareth.
He’s Intense and kind of scary– because when you’re at that age, anything to do with romance or sex is intense and scary. He’s passionately, obsessively devoted to you, because it feels good to be needed and a teenager hasn’t got the life experience to realize that IRL that kind of obsessiveness is a red flag. He’s an older man- sometimes much older- so that he knows what he’s doing and can show you what to do, but he’s as pretty and graceful as an age-appropriate crush would be. He’s Flawed and Broody and a bad boy- but it’s blatantly obvious that he has good qualities; he will gladly make a fool of himself dancing just to make a baby smile.
And the Fantasy Lover is often… yes… kinda predatory. He’s a vampire, or a werewolf, or a Phantom, or a Goblin King. He comes onto you, not the other way around; he chases you, and you run for a while before falling into his arms and being Ravished. He leads when you dance; he tells you “do everything I say, and I will be your slave”.
But there’s a reason for this. in modern American society- and this was even more true back when Labyrinth was being filmed- women are not supposed to want sex. even having fantasies about having a passionate lover you sought out that you want can get a bit ~taboo~. and if you’re a teenager- especially if you’re a sheltered teenager with no female friends or family, no one to tell you that what you want is okay and normal- it can feel weird and bad and scary to fantasize about, well, initiating consensual sex. you don’t feel like you’re allowed to; Nice Girls don’t.
so oftentimes, the Fantasy Lover blurs into rape fantasy territory. he knows exactly what you want and he gives it to you, no matter how many times you say no. you deny yourself any agency within the context of your fantasy, but since it’s just a fantasy, you’re having your cake and eating it too– after all, you can stop whenever you like. you still get to be a Nice Girl, a Good Girl- you didn’t do anything wrong, even in your own head- but you get all the poorly-choreographed Imaginary Romance Bodice-Rippin’ you want.
normally, this is a pretty harmless coping mechanism. the thing is… “denying herself her own agency” is one of Sarah’s big flaws.
She tends to immediately deny that she made bad decisions, to act like bad things just happen to her because It’s Not Fair, to balk when there’s a problem she can’t immediately solve. heck, selling Toby to the Goblin King in the first place is sort of a backhanded denial-of-agency – she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Toby even though she resents his existence, oh no no no, it was the Goblin King that stole the baby.
And Sarah’s never in any real danger from Jareth. the snake scared her, but it didn’t bite; the poisoned peach would have made her lose her memory and stay in her fantasy world forever, which is something that Sarah knows is bad, but still kinda wants on some level. at their final confrontation, he doesn’t try to kill her, doesn’t try to fight her– because he can’t.
Jareth is Sarah’s Fantasy Lover. He can’t do anything that Sarah doesn’t want him to. he’s predatory because Sarah wants him to be, because then she doesn’t have to accept that she wants sex and romance; she can pretend it’s just another thing that happens to her. the reason Jareth is so out of control in the text is that Sarah has given away all control.
the final confrontation in Labyrinth, isn’t Good Versus Evil in the sense that you mean; it isn’t Sarah destroying Jareth forever, or kicking him out of the land. Hell, he shows up at the end in barn owl form, while all the muppets are having a dance party in Sarah’s bedroom– he’s a part of her inner, fantastic world, and has just as much right to be there as Ludo or Hoggle or the little dudes with the ostrich hats. but he’s only a part of that world, and he’s not the part that matters most, or the part that has say.
their final confrontation is Sarah accepting, and taking responsibility for, her inner life. she is the one in charge of her destiny; she wants what she wants, she needs what she needs, and she will take responsibility for both. she doesn’t need Jareth to do things “to” her so she can pretend she doesn’t want them to happen. her will is as strong as Jareth’s, and her kingdom as great. he has no power over her.
so like…I get where you’re coming from with recognizing the Unfortunate Implications and all. “Gay people are sexual predators” is still A Thing, and in the real world, yeah, Jareth would be a creepy pedo stalker. assuming our civilization survives and all, I hope that someday people look at Labyrinth the way we look at Baby, It’s Cold Outside and completely miss the point. :V
…but c’mon. a kid who grows up being told that they don’t really want the things they want– and if they do want those things, they’re Literally Satan– is gonna have so very much more trouble accepting their own sexuality as they get older.
you can’t tell me that there aren’t plenty of queer teenagers out there who have the same problem denying their own agency, magnified and exacerbated by the fact that they’re queer. or that plenty of us didn’t want the goblin king to come take us away, and didn’t really understand why until much, much later.
There’s another element I might like to add to the archetype of the Fantasy Lover, based on my own experience and observation:
When the Fantasy Lover is not human – vampire, werewolf, or Goblin King – then it comes with the understanding that the way he behaves is simply in his nature. There’s no need to fuss over wondering why he became this way (or whether he might become worse in the future) or whether you have an obligation to try to Fix Him with your love, or whether there was something you said or did to make him this way. He simply is.
(I mean, I Can Fix Him With My Love is also a fantasy, but a different one. Sort of how like “I overcome the oppression” and “I don’t have to face the oppression in the first place” are both important fantasies for many minority groups, I Can Fix Him and I Don’t Have To Fix Him are both important fantasies for young girls.)
For young girls who have grown up with a *lot* of messaging that the good behavior of boys around them is in some way their responsibility and the bad behavior is somehow their fault, this is a *very* freeing narrative.
This.
A LOT of stories would be terrible in the real world (not just romantic ones). But they aren’t in the real world! And this one especially is about the teenage protagonist discovering her own power through the stories she imagines for herself. Of course it would be creepy if the Goblin King was her real-life teacher or older neighbour or whatever. But he’s not! He exists only for her, and has only the power she gives him. And it’s fine if she wants him a bit predatory - she’s allowed to explore any kind of fantasy she wants, she’s allowed to discover what she likes to think about, she’s allowed to grow up.
Legolas
I found this really cool post about the highest-rated book by a local author in every country, and can I just say.
I love how this is foreshadowing that a day will come where Bungou Stray Dogs and Mo Dao Zu Shi will be the acclaimed literature everyone is forced to read in highschool.
feeling insane abt the fact that the reason why wei wuxians seemingly flimsy lie surrounding the core transfer is never questioned or doubted by jiang cheng is because he trusts wei wuxian so implicitly and truly believes that he's capable of almost anything. of course wei wuxians lie never falls apart because why would wei wuxian do that? why would wei wuxian trick him? of course he's telling the truth, of course this is real. of course wei wuxian found a way to get jiang chengs core back because wei wuxian can do anything
JC asked!
And WWX told him (like a liar) in no uncertain terms "of course this peak is where Baoshan Sanren lives, Jiang Cheng! Why would I lie to you? So you'd feel even worse about it when you realize it wasn't true?"
and then gave JC his name to tell Baoshan Sanren,
and then blindfolded JC after telling him not to risk taking it off,
and then sent JC walking like something out of a fairytale, a miracle, JC's brave, genius shixiong who promised him they'd be together and who does five impossible things before breakfast--
if there's one person in the cultivation world who'll believe anything WWX tells him, it's JC.
somewhere in time
They’re putting the stickers
It’s not the traditional format but I still feel like there’s a children’s hospital joke to be made somewhere here
Circle of protection against capitalism
10/10 addition
Anonymous asked:
Elizabeth loved being a woman, i think people forget she liked pretty dresses and dolling herself up. She hated corsets but still enjoyed dressing to the nines.
anon I feel like you're like three seasons behind on gender lore bc literally what does liking to dress up have to do with being a woman
maybe elizabeth is just a dude with rlly good sense of style like maybe she's just a guy who looks banging in a dress
anon they're tearing your ass to shred at shipwreck cove
Before I get into what just happened to me, can I just say how insane it is that even in 2023 there are vending machines that just drop a bottle of soda 5 feet onto the floor before you can drink it? A ludicrous design flaw
No you may not
Meiji period fashion was some of the best in the world, speaking purely from an aesthetic standpoint you can really see the collision of European and Japanese standards of beauty and how their broad agreement even in particulars (the similarity between Japanese and Gibson girl bouffants, the obi vs the corset, the obi knot vs the bustle, the mutual covetousness for exotic textiles, the feverish swapping of both art styles and subjects) combined and produced some of the most interesting cultural exchange we have this level of documentation for. Europeans were wearing kimono or adapting them into tea gowns, japanese were pairing lacy Edwardian blouses with skirt hakama and little button up boots. haori jackets with bowler hats and European style lapels. if steampunk was any good as an aesthetic it would steal wholesale from the copious records we have in both graphic arts and photography of how people were dressing in this milieu.
«The botany professor,» from Kkokei Shimbun, October 20, 1908. she's wearing a kimono blouse or haori, edwardian skirt or hakama, gibson girl bouffant, a lacy high-collar blouse with cravat and brooch, and a pocket watch with chain
1910-1930 (Taishō era, right after Meiji, which I should have included in my OP) men's haori with western lapels
I have a love for both kimonos and bustle dresses, so I love seeing how the two fashions influenced each other over this period. And thanks to Pinterest, I have pictures!
Victorian tea gown that clearly started as a kimono. It still has the long furisode sleeves, but now they’re gathered at the shoulder and turned around so that the long open side is facing the front instead of the back. Similarly the back is taken in with curved seams to fit the torso and pleated below that for the skirt.
Woodblock of a woman in a a bustle dress made with colorful patterned fabrics and examples of how a woman could style her hair with it.
More prints to showcase hairstyles, two women wearing western wear and two women wearing kimonos.
This next one’s modern, but it involves hoopskirts so I’ll add it in because it makes me so happy. There’s been different styles of wedding fashion that take kimonos and give them a more modern look. Often this involves taking a kimono and then cutting and resewing it into a new dress. Very pretty, but it can’t ever be worn like a traditional kimono again. But now there’s another trend where the bride wears a hoopskirt with a white skirt, then you take the kimono and drape it on. The back of the kimono covers the front of the dress, the long sleeves fall across the sides or the back, and you still wear an obi with it. The result is pretty and the kimono itself doesn’t have to be altered at all.
And because you mentioned steampunk, I have to add in these two:
Personally I’m a big fan of Taisho Meisen kimono, which are what happen when the Japanese textile industry abruptly gets access to aniline dyes, new spinning and weaving technology, and the concept of Art Deco:
Everybody’s favorite war criminals
seeing people argue on twitter that we should not be nice to strangers and that strangers do not owe you respect or kindness and that if anyone asks you to be nicer ever they are entitled and a horrible person and being nice to people you don’t know is unpaid emotional labour and if you ask anyone to do it ever you are an abusive person. ha. hahahahahahahahahahaha
individualism is a disease.
genuinely the way capitalism has completely destroyed everyone’s view of community and comradeship is insane. we are all so isolated from our fellow humans beings. i hate this. get me out of here. hahahaha please get me out of here.