#analysis stuff

because you can like a character as a character and not like them as a person!!!!

people need to understand that considering a character AS A CHARACTER is in terms of how they work AS A FEATURE OF THE STORY. How you consider the way they fill their role, how they contribute to the story, how their personality is portrayed ON THE WRITER'S PART, BECAUSE THEY ARE CHARACTERS CREATED TO PLAY A ROLE IN A STORY

AS A PERSON means how you perceive them in the context of their actual actions, personality traits and behaviours. It's, y'know, how you perceive them as if they WERE "actual people". like are they a good guy or a bad guy? that's as a person, that's personality, that's ON THE CHARACTER'S PART, BECAUSE THEY ARE FICTIONAL CONSTRUCTS MEANT TO REPRESENT AN ACTUAL PERSON

so like. i think diavolo is a good character. He's very interesting to watch on screen, he has motivations you can make sense of (and if diavolo wasn't there then i wouldn't get doppio and i would be very sad) and I like him for the role he plays in the story. I ALSO HATE HIM AS A PERSON. Because he's a coward and a little bitch and the absolute CLOWNIEST OF CLOWNS. He's obviously not a good guy. he's a piece of shit. but he's a good character. he does his job in the story.

Doppio is a fantastic character and together with Diavolo I think they're one of the best-written examples of a DID/OSDD system I have ever seen in media despite being extremely fantasticalised. Like this poor bitch doesn't have a fucking clue what's going on and he's genuinely a silly and ineffectual kind of guy, it's not an act at all, he's genuinely just like that. While I won't say he's a good or bad person, I'll say that I do like him as a person and like him even more as a character. And also the cinematography in the Part 5 anime when it comes to Doppio and Diavolo is insanely good -- that part where Diavolo switches in and kills the fortune teller, and his spooky ass theme starts playing? And Doppio switches back in, completely oblivious and acting soft and innocent while the fucked up evil music continues to play???? FUCK YES

DIO is especially compelling and even though i think he's also a clown I think he's a very good character and is written so well (at least in parts 1 and 3 he confuses me in 6 a little but i think that's moreso on me). he's goofy and overdramatic as fuck but it works very well for his character

Kira I think is honestly one of the best written of JoJo antagonists because he's really fucked up and murderous and immoral but he has such a clear motivation that really does connect with a lot of his actions. I don't like him but he's written well and the way he acts with Shinobu especially adds a layer of complexity to his character. He's fascinating

Taylor chose to explain two tracks from Midnights

Track 3 Anti-Hero and Track 1 Lavender Haze (31/13)

In the IG reels explaining those tracks

She said “Behind the song” along with the MMWM tiktok caption for Anti-Hero

But for Lavender Haze she just copied the caption from her MMwM tiktok.

In both videos she’s wearing outfits she’s worn in other videos.

Anti-Hero she’s wearing the outfit she wore when she announced the back cover clock design. In the video it was set up like it was her team showing her the clock design for the first time. Like really behind the scenes.

Lavender Haze she’s wearing the same skirt she wore for the Labyrinth (track 10) MMWM tiktok announcement. She’s coiffed and prepped for that video. Noticed this with the help of a great ask. And it sent me on a bit of a mini thought trail. There may be a connection to the story of the Minotaur and Theseus. As of right now I t feels like she is every character in that story: the king, the beast, the architect and Theseus. But i am gonna wait and see.

The two videos are set up so differently and I think it’s an interesting juxtaposition.

Lavender Haze video she’s sitting up close. Her hair is put together. There is no ambiant background noise. The sound quality is good. Her hands are controlled. To me it looks like she’s reading the urban dictionary definition which is why she’s looking off camera lol. She looks that way twice during the video and pauses both times beforehand. The other time was in describing her “relationship for 6 years.” Anyway, In comparing the phrase Lavender Haze to her life she describes external forces that she chooses to ignore to protect the real stuff.

Anti-Hero video she’s sitting back. She’s calls it one of her favorite songs she’s ever written. She’s in a room with background noise. She’s fidgeting with her fingers. Her hair is wavy her makeup is post-filming. She says the song is about her insecurities and her internal battles caused by the unmanageable size of her life. Where she struggles with the idea of not feeling like a person. Vulnerability. And she’s wearing that outfit. And she says she likes the song because it’s honest. She says this while she’s in an honest setting. She ends the Anti-Hero video by saying, “it’s all those aspects of the things we dislike and like about ourselves that we have to come to terms with if we are going to be this person.”

My take away:

Idk. I feel like when you compare her own insecurities caused by the size of her life vs talking about how she and her partner ignore external tabloids and rumors are so different in such a tied together way. Lavender Haze implies that you need to ignore the outside world in order to protect this all encompassing love. It puts the threat to love outside of the parties within the relationship. But the lavender haze doesn’t last forever. Eventually the haze rescinds and you’re left with who you forgot you were while you were in that cloud. I guess it begs the question are you keeping people out or locking yourself in? The difference is which side the lock is on. Anti-Hero on the other hand Taylor acknowledges the outside world’s ability to take away her personhood because of who she is but puts the pressure back on herself to find and accept herself as a person as is rather than dodging the world. I keep hearing “you can run but only so far.” (ttds).

The left side of the clock face is the right side of Taylor’s face

From 6 to 12 midnight 🕛

Just thinking about this line from the Midnights foreward:

“For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching - hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve…we’ll meet ourselves.”

This made me think of Cinderella of course.

When the clock struck 12 midnight Cinderella turned back into who she really was. All the magic that changed her outward appearance to get her into the ball and before the prince disappeared and she was left with who she was without it.

What I think it means

Cinderella ran to avoid being seen in her true form but Taylor is saying she is choosing to wander out close to midnight so that you can see who she is underneath it all when the clock strikes 12. She’s daring you to watch her change. To realign with her true self.

Overall I like the connection regardless of the intentionality.

This! Is the kind of question Ozai wants you to ask, because it pre-supposes one style to be better, which further implies "if I can kick your ass in a fight, I'm better". Which fits very well with the general Might-Makes-Right attitude of Sozin and his successors.

By raw strength, I'd rank them Azula-Ozai-Iroh-Zuko.

Azula on top because it's really only a matter of time until she overtakes her daddy dearest, given how incredible she is at fourteen.

Iroh below Ozai, because if Iroh knew for a fact he could overpower his baby bro in an Agni Kai then it becomes inexcusable for him to have left Ozai on the throne were he could abuse his children and the world with equal impunity. To fit my mental rendering of an Iroh who actually does care about his nephew and about ending the war, he has to be reasonably sure that Ozai could kick his ass in the kind of quick, raw power fight that an Agni Kai favors.

But what we see in the show is that Zuko and Iroh are extremely adaptable. They regularly incorporate other bending techniques into their own style, and even invent moves. So on a flexibility/adaptibility scale, I'd rank them Zuko-Iroh-Azula-Ozai.

Ozai had raw power, but he doesn't do anything special with it that I can remember.

Iroh eventually came up with his lightning redirection technique somewhere in his years, but Zuko wins here by being sixteen and already incorporating moves from other bending styles seemingly on the fly. The boy is a natural technique-sponge.

Azula, once she learns that perfection can actually cripple flexibility, would probably climb this ranking quite quickly as well.