I'm not saying the author's perspective must be treated as paramount in media criticism, but sometimes the most reasonable analysis of a text on its face genuinely is "the author is universalising an experience which they possibly do not realise is not in fact universal".

Sometimes the answer to "why is everyone in this media So Fucking Weird in a way that doesn't seem to be connected to any of the work's broader themes and is never textually interrogated in any meaningful way?" is because the author genuinely thinks that's how people operate.

alright im done put me in the heart locket

functionally suicidal character saying “I would die for you” to their significant other and its like. I get the sentiment, honey, but if a hot dog vendor told me he’d sell hot dogs for me, I wouldn’t feel very moved now would I

HEARTBREAKING: friends who i should be going to the movies and playing dnd and watching anime and cosplaying and going to the mall and having sleepovers and exploring the woods with live one hundred trillion miles away

ma'am, I'm going to place you on a brief hold while I look for a reaction image

When the post goes triple platinum in the mutual circle and you have to scroll past the same thing seven times in a row

honestly sometimes there's no better feeling than rereading a fic you've written and coming out of it going, "yeah that actually this DOES slap. exactly what i wanted to read. fucking nailed it."

when a mutual reblogs something ive already liked i unlike it and then like it again. its my way of kissing them on the forehead

identifying a maladaptive coping mechanism is so bitter sweet like that’s great now i know what i need to stop doing. but that’s literally my something

one must imagine the tumblr mutual happy