the glue sets beneath my heals

unlike other cinderella adaptations, the ugly stepsister doesn't simply reward cinderella with marriage for being beautiful. instead, it depicts marriage as a social tradeoff. cinderella is pragmatic and cunning, and she has more experience with men than elvira does due to her position and appearance. she has more confidence and decorum than elvira, but she is also never given a reason to doubt herself. she doesn't marry out of love but as a means of escaping her situation. meanwhile elvira doesn't actually need to be married. but after such intensely targeted indoctrination, scrutiny, and bullying from her mother and teachers, this is the only future she can imagine. and ultimately this makes her shallow and cruel, to both cinderella and herself.

this is a truly fascinating and deeply sympathetic take. a lot of people compare the ugly stepsister disfavorably to the substance as body mod horror. however, the ugly stepsister is in an entirely different ballpark with its characterization

TV Guy with abandonment issues and themes of having to move on right before my finals and having to leave my university? More likely than I thought.

Seriously, seeing Tenna broken is sad, but I hope he felt loved when he was repaired.

If you ever need to feel better, just watch Mr. Rogers.

Stranger