I believe your future is bright

any [insert __] is for the sender to fill in :)

1 ⧽. if you could sit down and finish any one of your wips without anything stopping you (time, tiredness, etc), which fic would you choose? tell us about it if you want!

2 ⧽. if you could sit down and finish any completely new fic without anything stopping you (time, tiredness, etc), what would you write? tell us about it if you want!

3 ⧽. what's something you like about your writing?

4 ⧽. is there an au or trope that you haven't written before, but would want to try?

5 ⧽. is there a certain kind of fic that feels the most satisfying to finish? any reason why?

6 ⧽. if you were to write a part two/sequel to a fic, what fic would you want to write it for?

7 ⧽. is there a fic you wish you received feedback on, but didn't get any/much? this ask game is asking someone else to then give feedback on said fic, pretty pretty please!!!

8 ⧽. what part of [insert fic] is your favorite?

9 ⧽. tell us about a wip/idea that you're excited about!

10 ⧽. what genre is generally the easiest or most enjoyable for you to write? which is the hardest?

11 ⧽. if you were to rewrite [insert fic] with [insert different character/ship] how do you think it might change?

12 ⧽. what's a song or two you associate with [insert fic]?

13 ⧽. do you have any writing projects/goals/plans you're working on/want to work on?

14 ⧽. is there anything outside of your normal content that you want to write?

15 ⧽. if you wrote a fic called [insert title] with [insert character/ship] what do you think it might be about?

16 ⧽. if you wrote a fic called [insert title] what character/ship would you want to write it for?

17 ⧽. are there any songs you want to write a songfic for?

18 ⧽. how do you want your writing to feel to your readers?

19 ⧽. give a hint/teaser about something you're writing without any context or explanation! tease us haha

20 ⧽. answer any one of the other questions that you want to!

NATALIERSO’S FOLLOWERS CELEBRATION 

NATALIERSO’S FOLLOWERS CELEBRATION 

What I see people talking about is the very obvious, no room for misinterpretation, no need to think for yourself, the lesson is spelled out in bold, simple lettering.

The Empire are *Nazis* - did you catch that? They said ~kinderblock~ which is a *German* word and they wear *Nazi* uniforms. They are the *bad guys*

Bix and Brasso are *undocumented farm workers* - did you catch that? They are the ~good guys~ being harmed by the obviously *evil* empire who are going around tormenting the local population and rounding up *illegals* by checking visas. They even try to *rape* Bix! They are BAD. Our characters are GOOD.

When the show does attempt nuance, I've mostly seen people dismiss it - like with the rebels Cassian runs into who are terrified, just escaped a massive attack (the guy's brother 'went back to check for survivors'), they're hungry, they're average people with no military training who are just trying to fight back against the Empire. They're not ~bad~ people, nor are they perfectly ~good~. They're nuanced.

They're trying to be good, but with the situation they're in, clashes of personalities and the expectation that since they're rebels, they have to be strong and hardened hyper-masculine heroes so the accusation that the guy hid while the attack took place leads to a wounded pride they aren't equipped to deal with in a healthy way, so it comes out as violence to 'regain honor'.

It's messy, it's complicated, it's nuanced, and I don't think the narrative is trying to make it clear-cut and 'obviously this is how you need to feel about this group' like they do with the Empire or Cassian and his friends. And people are missing it and just getting annoyed with the nuance. They want a clear cut - obviously bad guy and obviously good guy - and if they're good, they better be competent or else they aren't actually 'good', I guess.

People are so quick to praise Luthen as 'always justified' because he's on 'our side' even though he's an incredibly nuanced, self-important character whose actions definitely should be questioned. But people have decided he's one of the ~good guys~ so no nuance needed, if he made the decision, he must be right.

So what I'm saying, is I don't think Andor is teaching anyone anything new. It's just reaffirming what people already know and anything new isn't being clocked because people are too busy being proud that they see the parallels between the Empire and our current governments.

Which is why they didn't understand the Acolyte. The Acolyte wasn't interested in making the ~good guys~ and the ~bad guys~ super clear to the viewer. They expected the viewer to use their brains and figure out which ACTIONS were good/bad not based on one side using *GERMAAANNNN* words or wearing *Nazi* uniforms or raping people.

It wanted you to recognize seemingly on-the-line actions (breaking into a group's home, interrupting their religious ceremony, insisting they take the children to test them, questioning the children without a guardian present, becoming violent when it looks like they won't get their way)

and the other group's response to on-the-line actions (children having to be raised in isolation due to oppression, children going through a ritual that marks them, a mind-trick done to scare someone who broke into their house, using magic someone isn't familiar with, holding weapons at the ready when their home is invaded, a child trying to keep her sister from leaving her forever)

And have to actually think about the morality of the entire situation.

Andor is a mirror that reflects our world in a crystal clear, morally obvious way AFTER the fascism has taken root. The Acolyte urged us to recognize the first steps of fascism before it's wearing Nazi uniforms.

The Empire IS the Republic. There was NO 'growing' period after the Republic fell and before the Empire rose. THAT was one of the lessons of the prequels. THAT was the lesson of the Acolyte.

I'm not saying Andor is bad or that type of storytelling shouldn't be done. We NEED to document what is happening - but it's a shame people are claiming Andor is the height of nuanced 'real' storytelling and praising it so highly when The Acolyte is right there with just as much nuance and 'real' storytelling, but those watching need the good guys and bad guys to be wearing labels or else they can't understand a story.

There is something so telling to me about how Gilroy has mentioned the movie Conspiracy as apparently his main touch point for the Wannsee Conference when asked about inspo for the Ghorman arc (1). He references the actual history, but just has to bring up the glossy hollywood movie about it first thing (that movie did get a lot of it right, so some very salient details like the fact that the genocide meeting comes with catering were ported over). Also the way Ghorman was extremely French Resistance coded visually and linguistically - but not because Gilroy actually went deep into that topic or explored it as a narrative shorthand or allegory, but because he saw a show about that that he liked, and imitated the aesthetic of it (2).

there is so much lazy coding in this season where it's like "look! World War! Nazis! War crimes! Buzzwords! ...depth?" that's really just retreading oversimplified Hollywood takes on that history (that are often well researched, but by necessity streamlined for entertainment purposes). And it's unnerving how many people will point to that and tell you how great of a representation of Fascism it is. Almost like they don't recognise it unless it kind of reminds them of Kenneth Brannagh in a grey uniform.

je vais laisser la communauté parler:

See, part of the conceit of the PotC trilogy is that all myths are true. Nearly every supernatural element in the franchise has a root in some real world mythology or pirate lore, although some of them are mashed together.

Another thing is that they take place at the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, and the more the map gets filled in, and the more the Royal Navy takes power, there less room there is for the mystical and supernatural in the world. This is explicitly called out in At World's End with the death of the kraken:

Barbossa: The world used to be a bigger place. Jack: The world's still the same. There's just... less in it.

The only way to access the world of the supernatural is through the supernatural itself. You can only get to the Isla de Muerta with Jack's compass that points to whatever you desire, or if you already know where its is. You need Tia Dalma's map to find the edge of the world. To access the supernatural, you need to already be immersed in it.

Powered by belief and diminished by science is a great way to put it, because there's a case to be made that the overall thesis statement of the last movie (of the trilogy, and the franchise as far as I'm concerned) is that increasingly, their ability to see from the right angle isn't cutting it anymore because there is less and less to see. It really *is* a Lord-of-the-Rings-esque lament for the magic leaving the world. It's the reversal of the "you better start believing in stories, you're in one" - except for this bizarre gaggle of remaining pirates, people no longer believe the stories, so very soon, nobody will be able to be in them anymore.