hi it's a rant

Hello Dreamwidth! I almost typed "hello Tumblr!" because of how often I'm on that site these days as you can tell by my bustling activity here at this blog.

I was woken up by obnoxiously loud parents and their obnoxiously loud friend and I feel very thirsty. However I do not feel like making my presence to people outside my room so I can get a drink, due to not wanting to be social, so I am stuck in my room hoping my thirst can stand a few more hours until people leave. I had water six hours ago but alas it was only half-a-glass, the boiling water having run out. So I decided to stay up since I couldn't fall asleep reading Reddit for a bit and hope time flies by so I can eventually quench my thirst.

I came upon a thread that brought up an issue where I highly disagreed with the majority of comments. A while back, during my pony days I'd browse Reddit fairly frequently and never really found fault with the opinions of the people on the website (except perhaps the r/atheism subreddit). But having become far more active on Tumblr due to fandoms, there are certain opinions that have been swayed thanks to that site's posts. Now both sites do have their own complicated reputations, Tumblr being a place full of "sensitive teenage girls" who are all politically correct compared to the white male liberal college students on Reddit who enjoy their crude humour, image macros, and gaming. Now let me remind you all of my own environment and experiences. I browse both sites because I both enjoy games and fandom. Fandom is a prominently female hobby (but there are many men too) and gaming seems to be majority male, but there are still girls. My viewpoint is probably closer to that of a white liberal college male since some of my fondest childhood memories are playing video games with dudes (friends, kids in the neighbourhood, my cousin and my social circle atm is mostly guys, also I was heavily influenced by my only sibling, my older brother) and while a lot of my adolescence involved being around girls and fangirling with them, those memories aren't as many as the video gaming. Let's say I've had more negative interaction with other girls than guys, but that's a special case for me because obviously that doesn't mean girls are meaner and more horrible than men, just how I've experienced it all.

Now I still express a dislike of Tumblr more than Reddit in a way because Reddit is more about browsing the front-page and they tend to have an upvoting system that keeps junk (and unpopular opinions) away from the eyes., Tumblr can circulate things like Facebook I guess, though Facebook's sharing system is more primitive imo, that may not be true. At least with Reddit if some title sounds like bullshit or too-good-to-be-true, or maybe even true, the top-voted comment would usually be good insight as to whether or not the article or whatever the topic is about to be bullshit. Tumblr can circulate rumours and such pretty easily. On the other hand there are many faults of Reddit where the readerbase could jump the gun about an issue and completely fuck something up (the Boston bombings for instance) but they doesn't happen as often. But there are opinions on Tumblr I do actually agree with because otherwise I'd just block literally everything if I hated everything about the website. I do wish to keep my own blog to be free of social-justice issues because my main use of Tumblr is for fandom-related purposes, and I feel certain posts guilt-trip me into reblogging them, ie: stuff like "if you don't reblog this I judge you!!" and there are certain posts I feel do need to be reblogged like one post that demonstrated a method to contact the people in charge of Tumblr should a user threaten suicide, but otherwise I really hope not reblogging a post supporting gay rights makes me homophobic or something.

So I read a thread about the supposed "whitewashing" in media, and a lot of the posts supported the opposite view, that if the media in question had whitewashing, who cares? Their defense was basically if you make something you should be free to make it however you want and y'know, standalone that's a decent defense. If I was pressured to force something into my own work and do not enjoy doing so, it would not feel natural and perhaps the content would be hit quality-wise. But when you think about it in a less individual standpoint and more of a cultural-society kind of thing, if something is really big and influential to the public, 99% of everything being whitewashed isn't really that great, at all! For me, a large reason I enjoy certain media is character and I tend to either look up to said character or identify with them. If the media does not have this character, I tend to enjoy it far less. This is probably why I hate movies in general. I can't watch a majority of them. I used to have this thing called Movie of the Week with my friends and while I enjoyed the movies in a very superficial (hey the action was cool! or the comedy was amusing) way, I never really found the movies especially memorable. There were a select few with either crazy strong plots that break your heart that might have a lasting effect but ultimately I didn't really care about the movies enough to keep it going, since I was organizing it. So I stopped. The sole exception are cartoon movies. The character in question is a cartoon and not some white-actor, even if in the cartoon they are considered white and even if they have a very middle-class white lifestyle, because they are a cartoon their background doesn't seem important and all because cartoon movies tend to be fantasy so it's not even in a place that exists or what have you. It's just a wondrous adventure with some kids or some cartoon people doing cartoony stuff.

It's probably why most of the media I enjoy is either Anime or cartoons. It's easier to identify/care about an anime for example, especially if one is very Japanese because Japanese culture is closer to my home life than standard western-culture, but a mix helps because of where I do live, being in the western world. I suppose that's part of the reason RWBY is a big thing for me, it's created in the US but the characters are all cartoony in a fantasy setting. "Weiss" is not pronounced the German way because the creators have stated that there is no Germany in their land of Vytal. So even though logically what with Weiss meaning the word "white" and Weiss being a very pale-as-fuck character, she should be a Caucasian, it doesn't even matter because she's so cartoony. I've enjoyed some very realistic asian depictions of Weiss and other characters whose name doesn't directly translate to "white" (Weiss is very rarely not portrayed white) could be made many other races should people so desire. Yang is sometimes portrayed fairly tanned, even though she doesn't look all that Chinese despite her name. So instead of concepts like "nakama" or "honour" or sacrifice in the name of conformity that some Japanese shows seem to be in-love with (or rampant fanservice directed at otaku), we get concepts like individuality and finding your place in life and shit in RWBY. A show about badass action girls that won't harp on the girl marrying in the future to function in society that certain Japanese media might entail. (That is the one thing about Wolf Children I dislike! ...it's still my favourite movie of all time.)

Of course that cartoon effect doesn't work on everyone. A large reason Frozen had a lot of criticism on my dashboard was because of the lack of racial diversity in the movie. But you can make the argument that it is based off of the Snow Queen, a Danish fairy-tale...so it probably wouldn't make sense to include non-Scandinavian people, but after seeing the movie and experiencing many opinions of it, the movie didn't really resemble the fairy-tale much at all, so including more diverse characters wouldn't really have affected the movie negatively. Even though the setting was heavily influenced by Norway, when the movie was advertised there it was simply portrayed as a generic kids movie as opposed to some sort of movie that really embraced the country's history or culture or anything of the sort. (granted the ads in the US were all about Olaf so we'd have a "that was been than expected" reaction, but advertisement in France for example had really beautiful posters of ice mountains with Elsa staring at it and her hands raised or something, so for Norway to go with the "this is a kids movie!!" route when it supposedly takes place there is probably telling. Norwegians didn't find it particularly Norwegian. There is also a (I believe? correct me if I'm wrong) native race on Norway portrayed by the character of Kristoff but because his manner of dress was only inspired by the people's outfits and not actually accurate, it doesn't seem like those people found him a character to identify with either. If you think about it, aside from names the movie could take place in any cold environment and still work, so including a minority who also live in cold regions believe it or not would be probably make a lasting impression to children, seeing as it's a kids movie, who aren't white and can identify with more characters. When I think about this movie beyond a few songs and its twist at the end, I can't honestly see that much to it. I think if I had never seen this movie I'd have been okay; the only thing that'd be a shame is that I wouldn't know of some of the musical productions which in my opinion were awesome, but the plot/characters weren't anything to shout about. (They won best animated picture but apparently the judges didn't even watch every single nomination?? Like four or five abstained because "kids movies are too childish!" "I only saw Frozen" and some of those that did vote were like "I didn't watch all of them but Frozen was pretty good!" I think they need people actually interested in animation to vote for this things, geez. There was a Studio Ghibli movie involved and some French animation movie, both Ghibli and french animations are pretty damn high-quality too, so to not even watch those or assume all cartoon movies are for kids is really lacking in professionalism)

...so where  was I? Oh yes. I do watch dramas and sitcoms. But they aren't memorable. In fact recently I went to watch a new episode of Law and Order, got through the cold opening and opening, and then asked myself... "why the fuck am I watching this!?" there isn't really a character I really like at all. The cold open was nothing different from several other plots already done by the fifteen(!?) season show. So instead I watched all available twenty-one episodes of Kill La Kill because Gurren Lagann was awesome. 

In hindsight, going from a show educating people about rape in society to a show with rape jokes was probably not the most sensitive of ideas, but after watching like two-hundred episodes of a drama that was depressing to watching a brand new, TTGL-inspired action show with an optimistic outlook was extremely refreshing. Yeah L&O has strong female characters but after fifteen seasons of horrifying and traumatizing plots, the lead character is pretty broken and messed up and broody and just...really dramatic? For some reason they keep attempting a romance plot with her which doesn't make sense because they also want to make her suffer and shit for the sake of drama, so the potential significant other isn't even around anyway, so giving her an interest who might help her through her experiences seems utterly pointless, especially after fifteen seasons of pretty much no love interests until the most recent season and having a male partner who has his own family to deal with. Despite all the fangirling of that "couple" they had a brother and sister relationship canonwise anyway. 

Meanwhile you have Mako Mankanshoku. SUDDENLY EVERYTHING IS HAPPY AND RAINBOWS!

Still I don't actually have a favourite character in Kill La Kill, but through twenty-one episodes already like the cast immensely. Gurren Lagann was the same, enjoyed their characters immensely as well. I actually do have a favourite character in TTGL I really like, so Kill La Kill is still not quite as good, especially with its weird message about embracing who you are when you're constantly forced to wear skimpy clothing and literally all men in the world are perverts. (oh Anime...) Oh well, there is no perfect show. Even RWBY suffers from animation issues and weird pacing so. In fact, let me describe to you what it's like to DO like a character a lot but the show is actually not good at all and the genre not meant for you whatsoever, but you identify/idolize a character so much you still keep reading/watching in hopes that they will cover said character in a chapter or something or maybe reveal their backstory like they so implied/promised, but never do and it's shit.

Oh Negima. Why.

I won't harp on it too much as this entire blog is probably 50% complaining about Negima. I'm not much for shounens, in particular those really long shounen anime/mangas like Naruto or Bleach. It's probably because it is a SHOUNEN and thus aimed at boys and dudes. Half the reason I loved Beyblade was for the characters and not the spinning tops, the other reason was shipping those characters. (The good old days!) I read Naruto for a bit but lost interest because holy crap was that dull. I'm halfway through One Piece and it's genuinely the best shounen I've read so far, but again lack a favourite character that would probably cause me to finish the manga by now if I did have one. Now Negima began as a harem romantic comedy, and I don't give a crap for that genre either. But there were thirty females in many many different roles (as opposed to like, the token female character in most shounens) and not all of them, believe or not ,were in the harem. Those were my favourites. My favourite arc in Negima was when they were transitioning a genre change, so it was like half romantic comedy and half shounen. It was a unique mix that was different from anything else I read. There was also a canon yuri couple but I didn't give a crap about them either because it was the whole "servant/princess" sort of ship which is by far my least favourite type of ship. Regardless the fact that one existed meant that hey, other ships that aren't heterosexual could work too! And I really look up this character and really sympathize with this other one! You combine that with the (bad) first Anime's episode nineteen which was all sorts of feels and suddenly I am invested in something not targeted to me.

Utlimately I read every chapter as it came out and watched every possible adaptation of Negima because I wanted more Kazumi and Sayo. My motivation for reading the manga was that Sayo was stuck with a mystery. How did she die? Episode 19 of the first anime began that thirst and considering the mangaka would give every character at least a few chapters to the limelight, plus his teasing of Sayo potentially being a pactio partner (which usually lead to some backstory) meant that my thirst would perhaps be quenched. (Good lord I am still thirsty) so throughout five years and 150 chapters I've waited for the manga to answer this. But then it ended in quite possibly the worst fashion possible (rushed and jumpcutted and timeskipped when clearly the story was not nearly over yet) due to the mangaka protesting a new law in Japan that banned either lolicon or something to do with free speech I don't even remember. This is enduring through Negi becoming a strong shounen lead with cool magic powers that I do not care about (and 8000 girls having a crush on him) and rampant fanservice! For fuck's sake!

So, my emphasis on character is so great I will watch crap so long as that character has potential for more backstory/story/development. Unless the story/plot is SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION levels of quality I usually will not find the show or book or movie very memorable. Or it's made by the creator of TTGL because fast-paced action with bitersweet plot. (BITTERSWEET IS MY FAVOURITE ENDING TO EVERYTHING) KLK isn't even bittersweet enough, so it will probably not rank a 10 like TTGL did. (I don't really like the whole ALIEN CLOTHES twist they had, that + the design of the antagonist reminds me strongly of the shitty plots in Totally Spies. The fashion villain even looks like Satsuki's mom!) 

While on the subject of flaws in things I really like, my favourite character in TTGL was indeed Nia but my least favourite episode by far is the beach one. (yes, even episode 4 is better) They kind of used some sort of terrible trope making Nia perfect at stuff and Yoko shit in comparison and yes the episode was meant to smooth out their tension from earlier (Yoko was very distrusting of Nia and still in shock about Kamina's death) but the manner in which they did so was sort of...demeaning? Yoko was only jealous because Nia was getting all the male-attention and then she further demonstrated this by beating Yoko at every competition. But why the fuck would Yoko care?!?! And why would sheltered princess be super good at beach volleyball among other things!? It was just a fanservice episode with an excuse to smooth out their relationship. And no, making Nia hilariously horrible at cooking (meaning she'd be a bad housewife! OH NO WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE WORSE!?!) does not fix things. Though I did like how Simon liked her cooking meaning of course they are perfect for one another. (They are perfect couple. I don't even need to ship! Canon did its job perfectly.)

Before I end all of this, the one lingering thought in my mind is that....political correctness always came off as a very snobby and holier-than-thou to me. Not that doing so is wrong or correct or what have you, but I always enjoyed the lax attitude of letting bygones be bygones. However, being a chill laidback person to every issue sort of assumes the world is a better place than it is. And while I may not be the most vocal or greatest or strongest of advocates to certain issues, these type of people are necessary to improve society as a whole. It's sort of the opposite to apathy, which assumes every issue is so terrible it isn't worth caring about so we shouldn't care and instead ignore bad things to make the world seem like a...better place than it is. Nevermind then.

Welp, I could've ranted about how HORRIBLE hockey has been which I must go watch now, but I've vented it through my friends. You have been spared from angry ranting. Until next time, this has been Spotto!