#elision

Gwendoline is such a lovely and gracious actress in interviews.

Emma still looks like she wants to get it over with after the divider was removed/they were pushed closer together for this interview*. I do like that her fave new character is Agnes 👹👹👹👹👹

*ETA: My bad, I made an error. Nothing was removed, some ass just thought it would be cute to stick them together like that.

Her hand 💀

If anyone is still interested in additional perspectives on the Grimdark vs Hopepunk Debates, I came across a thoughtful and generously sourced essay on Pillowfort about "Dogmatic Positivity and the Terrible Neutrality of Hope." The essayist is not down on hope in general, but is skeptical of whether writing hopeful stories constitutes productive action for the real world, and is extremely skeptical of hope framed as a virtue or moral obligation, and explains why. The essay also brings up, with sources, the complaints about hopepunk being an over-broad label and the parallel "Good wins" push from conservative Christian writers.

(By the way, I can't be the only person in this conversation who remembers the Sad Puppies, can I? But I don't really want to talk about them so I'm not contributing much on that point. IIRC they were on the "genre fiction is too depressing" train, though.)

I especially appreciate the essay for helping me re-find this comic, which has long rested fondly in my memory as a metaphor for why sad or grim stories can resonate and bring comfort. (The comic itself I would consider a hopeful piece of storytelling with a happy ending!)

And here's another essay on Pillowfort about "Cozy" fiction and suspension of disbelief that I again think is balanced, generous, and thoughtful. It makes sense of some of the ideas I myself have wrestled (or play-tussled) with as I consider my tastes and my artistic goals in hurt/comfort and escapist pieces. Like the Tumblr post I just reblogged, it brings up suspension of disbelief (here, "elision") as a significant - and highly personal - factor in how readers take in a story. Some readers are able to suspend belief on certain points, but not on others. "Coziness" depends on eliding certain difficulties, and which stories will be successfully "cozy" for a given reader depends on if they can go along with the elision.

My contribution here is: I think every genre, not just the cozy ones, elides certain difficulties. A lot of grimdark fantasy elides the realities of violence and trauma! Horror fiction will sometimes violate our baseline expectations of biology or psychology ("I would simply not walk into the obviously haunted house")! Violent first person shooter games make healing and acquiring new ammo unrealistically easy! Action heroes get over their dead wives and girlfriends way too quickly!

Twice the dreams, but half the love

Bonus, the underpainting beneath the cut bc I think it looks cool:

“This is Agent Izuku Midoriya”, Izuku says. “Agent Midoriya”, All For One’s voice grates something deep in Izuku as he speaks, “Not going to see me in person?” “I’m not cleared to do that” “What a pity”, the man replies. “Why did you want to speak to me?” “I keep tabs on you Agent”, the man says, “You’ve made life a lot harder for my colleagues overseas”