handflexxer

[A case study of film-making techniques]

Cliff-hangers have been a prominent plot device of all sorts story-telling medium since... well....since humans have been telling stories, Although the use of the term "cliff-hanger" has been attributed to late 19th century, the concept itself has always existed. If you have been paying attention to the how television is being produced in the last couple of decades, you will notice a rise in one particular type of cliff-hangers: the unconfirmed death. This is a subset of a larger group of cliff-hangers, that everyone likes to call - An Unanswered Question.

A popular example of this is Jon Snow's death in Game Thrones Season 5, finale. In recent years consistently this plot device been dangled in front of audiences in a way that provokes emotional investment in a particular character's (or even the actor's, which is a whole other discussion) fate rather than any investment in the entire narrative of the story.

Jon Snow's death was a hard cliff-hanger where an end of an episode or a season is always at an extreme climactic high, with a clear cut, specific question for the audiences to be emotionally invested in: Will Jon Snow live? This isn't a bad thing in and on itself, but it does get boring after a while. Alchemy of Souls, on the other hand ended its first Season on a soft cliff-hanger.

Allow me to explain.

The ending was high on emotions, actions and drastic change in character dynamics, everything you would expect from a season end cliff-hanger but if this show was directed like Game of Thrones, it would probably end on this scene:

With Jang Uk dead, Naksu/MuDeok on the run, Jin ChoYeon hunting her and all of Songrim grieving for Jang Uk's death. The showrunners would have left it at that and the major question for the audiences to ponder would have been: Will Jang Uk live? But the show decided to take a different, and in my opinion a cleverer, path. They let the narrative move beyond the absolute climactic high to a sort of an emotional plateau, from a point where it would have been a hard cliff-hanger to a soft cliff-hanger.

There is no more question of whether or not Jang Uk will live, because they already showed us that he survived. There is no question of whether Naksu will live or not because they showed us two weird women saving her from drowning as well. We know all the players in the game, we know where everyone is, emotionally and physically. We could also guess at almost everyone's motivations and goals at this point. The board is set, the story is in full motion. There are no more specific or narrow questions for the audiences to wonder about, only abstract ones, primary of which is: What happens now? Which, in case you hadn't noticed, is a much harder question to answer simply because of how broad its scope is, and therefore, also a very fun one.

A soft cliff-hanger allows the audiences to indulge in rich meta analysis and theories which are wide in variety. The anticipation is built not through shock but through indulging in genuine wonder and curiosity. A soft cliff-hanger also allows for the showrunners the opportunity to softly subvert audience expectations, again not through cheap plot twists but through intelligent and detailed plot progression.

[A case study of film-making techniques]

Cliff-hangers have been a prominent plot device of all sorts story-telling medium since... well....since humans have been telling stories, Although the use of the term "cliff-hanger" has been attributed to late 19th century, the concept itself has always existed. If you have been paying attention to the how television is being produced in the last couple of decades, you will notice a rise in one particular type of cliff-hangers: the unconfirmed death. This is a subset of a larger group of cliff-hangers, that everyone likes to call - An Unanswered Question.

A popular example of this is Jon Snow's death in Game Thrones Season 5, finale. In recent years consistently this plot device been dangled in front of audiences in a way that provokes emotional investment in a particular character's (or even the actor's, which is a whole other discussion) fate rather than any investment in the entire narrative of the story.

Jon Snow's death was a hard cliff-hanger where an end of an episode or a season is always at an extreme climactic high, with a clear cut, specific question for the audiences to be emotionally invested in: Will Jon Snow live? This isn't a bad thing in and on itself, but it does get boring after a while. Alchemy of Souls, on the other hand ended its first Season on a soft cliff-hanger.

Allow me to explain.

The ending was high on emotions, actions and drastic change in character dynamics, everything you would expect from a season end cliff-hanger but if this show was directed like Game of Thrones, it would probably end on this scene:

With Jang Uk dead, Naksu/MuDeok on the run, Jin ChoYeon hunting her and all of Songrim grieving for Jang Uk's death. The showrunners would have left it at that and the major question for the audiences to ponder would have been: Will Jang Uk live? But the show decided to take a different, and in my opinion a cleverer, path. They let the narrative move beyond the absolute climactic high to a sort of an emotional plateau, from a point where it would have been a hard cliff-hanger to a soft cliff-hanger.

There is no more question of whether or not Jang Uk will live, because they already showed us that he survived. There is no question of whether Naksu will live or not because they showed us two weird women saving her from drowning as well. We know all the players in the game, we know where everyone is, emotionally and physically. We could also guess at almost everyone's motivations and goals at this point. The board is set, the story is in full motion. There are no more specific or narrow questions for the audiences to wonder about, only abstract ones, primary of which is: What happens now? Which, in case you hadn't noticed, is a much harder question to answer simply because of how broad its scope is, and therefore, also a very fun one.

A soft cliff-hanger allows the audiences to indulge in rich meta analysis and theories which are wide in variety. The anticipation is built not through shock but through indulging in genuine wonder and curiosity. A soft cliff-hanger also allows for the showrunners the opportunity to softly subvert audience expectations, again not through cheap plot twists but through intelligent and detailed plot progression.

Let me clarify. I see a lot of girls having happy relationships with their sisters, cousins,best friends, roommates to the point where they’ve been living together for years and are comfortable with it. And becuase of that comfort with the girls they’re living with, a lot of women just end up wanting to live/stay with their roommates, best friends, sisters/cousins, etc., for the foreseeable future. 

And when a lot of girls bring this up, they’re met with “well one of you is gonna get married” or “no boy friend in the picture” or “well you can’t stay together forever/you can’t plan your lives around each other” or “what about if one of you gets a husband”

and like–seriously, just stop. when girls mention wanting to spend their lives with their boyfriends and shit, people don’t give them this much flack. girls are expected to pack up their lives to move with their boy friends/husbands.

but god forbid, two girls are just happy with each other, are in a place of comfort with the other that they wanna live together and spend their lives together (either romantic, familial or platonic), then people start to criticize them. So my point is, girls if you’re living with another girl and have been for years and you two are comfortable staying with each other and have basically spoken about just wanting to stay with each other, then do that. if this person makes you comfortable, makes you feel safe and happy, and supports you (whether romantic or not!) then do not let people ruin that bond or shame you for not getting married or being with a man or anything like that. like if you  have something good going, then keep the good going.

Can we just talk about how “Goth Anime Legs Uncle” IS A FAMOUS ARTIST AND AUTHOR, BUT HIS NIECE OR NEPHEW NEVER THOUGHT TO BRING THAT UP?! No no no, you have a famous artist/author for an uncle, but screw that, here’s his goth phase.

Think about it: This guy is known on Tumblr for his goth phase, but not his actual freaking work, even though we’re all familiar with his work!

please try this on for size:

(I used to read a blogger who insisted that “All right, I’ll go to Hell,” from Huckleberry Finn is the most pure and perfect prayer in the canon of American literature.  Meaning, as I understand it, that the decision to do the right thing in the face of eternal damnation is the most holy decision one can make, and if God Himself is not proud of the poor mixed-up kid, then God Himself is not worth much more than a “Get thee behind me,” and the rest of us should be lining up to go to Hell too.  Worth noting that this person identified as an evangelical Christian, not because he was in line with what current American evangelicals believe, but because “they can change their name, I’m not changing mine.”  Interesting guy.  Sorry for the long parenthetical.)

Anyway, the point of Huck Finn, as far as I can tell, is that you can still choose to do good in utter darkness, with no guidance and no help and none of the right words.

This right here.

If “you should be willing to sacrifice everything, including your soul, to protect your friends when everyone around wants your help hurting them” stops becoming a moral lesson because someone says the n-word, I think people are… a little TOO impressed with the power of hate speech.

Hate speech is a terrible thing, but it’s not witchcraft. It has the power we grant to it.

✨Her✨

+Bonus:

+Bonus: Kinn sharing a cigarette with Porsche

+Bonus: Kinn sharing a cigarette with Porsche

In the world of organized crime four things play a role in creating a leader

Nepotism

Popularity

Capability

Self confidence

One could argue that Kinn has the first three things working in his favour. He is the favoured son of the Patriarch ala Nepotism. We consistently see his underlings defending him and showing genuine protectiveness over him, popularity (Pete, Ken, Big go out of their way to uphold his honour).

And I know we been shitting on him since ep 9 but most of time he shows quick-thinking, level headedness, smart strategy, he always shows up for the family; there's your capability. He's not perfect and does lose control sometimes (when Porsche or Vegas are involved) but in general he is very thoughtful in his approach to every situation. I also like how he is never unnecessarily unkind to anyone who works for him or other people who don't (eg, Yok, Jom, the bread lady, etc.) . He is consistently polite to people and it's both a deliberate choice of his to be so and his natural personality.

The only chink in his armour is his own self confidence. Throughout the season so far the person who is the most critical of his abilities is himself. Sure his father advises and corrects him but thats just the natural correction and learning that everyone goes through in their lives - it doesn't mean he is not doing a good job (his father is also a little bit at fault here ngl but that's another story entirely). And sure the minor family constantly use underhanded and snipe remarks to undermine his position but again, that's just how the mafia world works.

So really the only one who is standing in the way of him being a confident and secure leader and also somehow have a fulfilling personal life is Kinn himself. Because of whatever happened with his first boyfriend he constantly feels guilty/insecure and thinks of his own soft heart as a weakness. He views his own sentimentality and attachment to his loved ones as a weakness (again his dad doesn't help as well). He hasn't reached that level of confidence and maturity where he realises that softness doesn't equal weakness.

To offset his soft image he uses outward cruelty and strict discipline - his mafia™ persona. Even his choices of clothes reflect this. It's not entirely his fault, the mob that answers to him also expects their leader to show some teeth but Kinn seems to lose himself in overplaying the Boss Man. This is the most evident in episode 1:

The fact of the matter is loyalty through fear can only go so deep. Loyalty through love and respect is how these organisations work and Kinn already has that! He doesn't realise it but he has it! He just needs to find a balance between being kind and being strict when he has to be - those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can actually see him growing in real-time. A key moment would be when he gave his gun to Porsche in ep 7. He listened to Papa Korn but also listened to his heart. He is already learning how to balance his life.

He still has a long way to go but even right now I think he is the best choice of all the brothers /cousins for this position.

Fighting Dirty Smart

Tattoos

Fighting while handcuffed with their boyfriends

Biker chicks

For the Graces prefer those who are wearing flowers // Sappho

Put your hands on my waist

do it softly // Lana Del Rey

I felt my life with both my hands

To see if it was there – // Emily Dickinson

But we were dancing

Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied // Taylor Swift

Your hand in my hand

So still and discreet // Hozier

What did my fingers do before they held him?

What did my heart do, with its love? // Sylvia Plath

This is the press of a bashful hand, this the float and odor of hair,

This the touch of my lips to yours, this the murmur of yearning // Walt Whitman

Love me with thine hand stretched out

Freely—open-minded // Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Whose hand, whose essence, what divinity

Makes this alarum in the elements // John Keats