walk through the walls

I'm feelin some feelin's about Gault -- the nightmare who so wanted to be a dream, who tried to save a little boy by giving him the best dreams she possibly could, where his mother was there and he was a hero -- choosing that Jed's hero identity should be The Sandman. She crafted a world where Jed was a hero in his dreams, and the person she based his powers and identity on was Dream. Her creator. Even despite the fact that he made her as a nightmare, a creature designed to inspire fear, and even though he then "abandoned" her and the rest of the Dreaming... and even still, he was the most heroic person she could think of. Being a superhero was a dream come true for Jed and the best superhero she could think of was, in spite of everything, The Sandman. I'm going to cry.

my kitty cat was wandering around going ‘mrrph?” so i was like “in here!” he goes “mrrph!” shoves open my bedroom door with his big round head and FLOPS on me. as in hard enough that he made a little “oof” noise when he did it. followed by a category five purring event. there’s good in this world mr frodo etc

i want to add to this brilliant post that another great thing about her episode was that after decades of abuse and her agency taken from her, dream didn’t continue the abuse. it was all about what calliope wanted to do. ’let me help you’ a plea, not a demand. so many stories would of had him barrelling in knowing what’s best and doing it anyway, not this one. he asks her permission at every step, something that neither of her captors would have done. it’s all about what she wants to do from the moment he arrives, dream would have probably walked away if she’d changed her mind about wanting his help, not happily mind you, it’s clear he cares deeply for calliope and it would have broken his heart to do so but he respects her as well. it brings to mind for me about consent, about how a yes isn’t blanket permission for everything and it can be revoked at any time. dream could have taken calliopes call for help as blanket permission to come in and punish the bad guy and save the day, except he doesn’t, he asks her to let him help instead of taking her call for him as a right to do what he wants. i just love that. i love the complete difference between madocs interactions with calliope where he talks at her and dreams interactions where he talks with her. it’s just another subtle thing that really adds to the story.

I feel like neil gaiman’s regular presence on this hellsite is like… an unintentional secret that we all have. I never question it, and yet it’s just like… on your right you will see the queer podcast fandom. on the left you will see author of coraline and good omens and the sandman. yeah he’s here. yeah sometimes he’ll appear in your notes or respond to a shitpost when you least expect it. it’s fine.

Even though Calliope’s story was written in the 90s, man does it hold up for the current day, frighteningly so, post #MeToo where people are seemingly more willing to examine the canon “great [male] writers” and interrogate the ways they used, abused, and took advantage of the women in their lives. The way Ric Madoc doesn’t really think he’s done anything wrong because his abuse of Calliope has resulted in his best work yet. The way he uses progressive politics to further his image, (the name dropping during the interview, using the diversity of the staff for his movie as a marketing gimmick.) The way he calls himself a feminist, (and probably genuinely believes in it to,) and yet is wholly unable to examine the harm he has caused. Because you can care about and believe in pushing against harmful systems but still perpetuate them to reap the benefits they give you. The way the story decimates the lone genius archetype with one foul swoop, showing how it’s a poisonous ideal passed down through generations of men who care more of the quality of their art than that of their character. How the story itself is called “Calliope,” and continuously centers her pain, her humanity, refusing to give the spotlight to the wet napkin of a man who technically functions as the story’s protagonist. I could go on!!!