shoutout to the plus size girls who don’t have flat tummies

candiikismet:

🙌🏾 THANK YOU

Le Masque: Why Count Olaf Isn’t What You Think He Is

whoreablejewess:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

Firstly, let me say that I understand why a lot of people are reading Count Olaf as a Jewish-coded villain—I really do. It makes sense that a greedy bad guy with a prominent, pointy noise is going to raise some red flags in our community, and in any other instance, I would probably agree with the accusation. However, A Series of Unfortunate Events is a special case, in that it’s drawing on a very specific, yet slightly more obscure, trope with which most people aren’t likely to be intimately familiar. I only picked up on it myself because I took four intensive semesters of both the History of Theatre and Theatrical Text and Theory in college from a pair of professors who happened to also be the Head of Dramaturgy and the Theatre Literary Director of the American Repertory Theatre, and they drilled these concepts into my teenage brain at the exact time that I discovered the works of Lemony Snicket. 

Okay, so let’s start out by stating the obvious: 

A Series of Unfortunate Events is absolutely packed with literary and cultural references. Nearly everything in the series is an homage or allusion to something else, whether it’s a snake named after Virginia Woolf or the true crime saga of Claus and Sunny Von Bülow (Inverse has a pretty solid list of all the references from the first four books, if you’re interested). 

Of course, the Baudelaire children get their surname from French poet Charles Baudelaire, whereas Count Olaf gets his name from a character in a story by Baudelaire’s contemporary, Théophile Gautier. 

Now, it’s important to note that Baudelaire and Gautier also wrote criticism in addition to penning their own works. Beyond poetry, Baudelaire was a renowned art critic, and Gautier wrote both artistic and theatrical criticism. So it should come as no surprise that both authors were also massive fanboys of other artists, most importantly, a guy called Antoine Watteau, who was an early-18th Century French painter. Watteau was famous for his paintings of stock characters from Commedia dell’arte (a 16th Century form of theatre from Italy characterized by masked types, some of which, like the harlequin, still hold meaning today):

It’s possible you have seen these images before; or perhaps not, but regardless, Baudelaire and Gautier could not get enough of this stuff. As noted in the Antoine Watteau: Perspectives on the Artist and the Culture of His Time by Mary D. Sheriff:

A group of romantic writers including Arsene Houssaye, Théophile Gautier, Gerard de Nerval, and Théodore de Banville used Watteau and other rococo artists’ paintings as the source of inspiration for poems and prose created only for their beauty. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Edmond and Jules de Goncourt continued this tradition of art for art’s sake through the 1860s. Within this tradition Watteau occupied a cultlike status, and a whole iconography grew around the artist’s life, the subjects he painted, and the lost world of aristocratic refinement his works evoked. Watteau was not only revived, but also mythologized as a melancholy genius. 

In other words, Baudelaire and Gautier were dropping Watteau and Commedia dell’arte references all over the place as an homage to fucking aesthetic. In Baudelaire’s poem Les Phares, Watteau gets the following nod:

Watteau, carnival where the loves of many famous hearts
Flutter capriciously like butterflies with gaudy wings;
Cool, airy settings where the candelabras’ light
Touches with madness the couples whirling in the dance

His piece A Heroic Death is a subversion of the stock fool character in Commedia dell’arte. As Ainslie Armstrong McLees writes in Baudelaire’s Argot Plastique: Poetic Caricature and Modernism: 

Baudelaire, embracing a popular art form—caricature—as a model for poetry, drew upon the traditions from which it arose, modifying them and molding them for his use. 

Meanwhile, you have Gautier decrying the lack of respect for Commedia dell’arte in his theatrical criticism. To quote Helen Elizabeth Patch’s book The Dramatic Criticism of Théophile Gautier:

When thoroughly disgusted by the plays offered in the literary theaters of Paris, Gautier turns his backupon them and seeks refuge in the scorned pantomimes. Because of its illusion, pantomime is in Gautier’s eyes a serious art-form, too much neglected by his serious and prosaic contemporaries. He has already recognized as art the Italian comedy-masks as they appeared in the Commedia dell'arte….The old mask-characters, says Gautier, form just the medium necessary to pass from reality to the realm of illusion. They lend the perspective essential to the portrayal of serious themes without the evocation of daily problems and cares.

Then he goes off and writes a novel called Captain Fracasse about a destitute Baron who joins a travelling Commedia theatre troupe, because hey, why not. 

Okay, so now that we have established the connection between Baudelaire, Gautier, and Commmedia dell’arte, lets examine a little bit more about the latter.

As mentioned, it’s a form of theatre based on stock characters and recognizable tropes—something which is actually really prevalent in A Series of Unfortunate Events. In Kendra Magnusson’s article Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: Daniel Handler and Marketing the Author, it’s noted that 

As one adult/scholar argued [about A Series of Unfortunate Events], even “the critical reader is hardly able to distinguish one book from another.” Reviewing the promotional material and the books themselves, Bruce Butt deduces that the series “veers precariously close to the exploitation of a young reader’s willingness to hear the same gag again and again (and again).” Further, he “doubt[s] that this is a device that we should applaud,” as it is “an easy way to satisfy undemanding readers”. This characterization of young readers as unchallenging, exploitable consumers probably overestimates their vulnerability, while underestimating SoUE’s cross-over appeal. Countless readers, young and old, experience pleasure in the repetition of a familiar gag, and have done so for centuries. For example, the narrative conventions of commedia dell’arte—a theatrical genre dating back to sixteenth-century Italy—build entirely upon the repetition of familiar gags by the same stock characters. Not only did the genre sustain its popularity for centuries, but it is also now generally considered a high art form. Potentially tedious repetition, even when directed at a young audience, can also serve important narrativistic functions.

Basically, A Series of Unfortunate Events knowingly (and often mockingly) employs the the Commedia dell’arte model as a narrative. 

Now, when it comes to characters in Commedia dell’arte, there are three main branches: The Iinnamorati (lovers), the Zanni (clowns/servants), and the Vecchi (the villains). The primary Vecchi are Pantalone (a powerful and wealthy man who is also incredibly greedy), Il Dottore (a pompous windbag who thinks he’s more intelligent than he is and is jealous of Pantalone), and Il Capitano (a bombastic braggert who intimidates everyone and wears overly elaborate clothes). 

If you take the greed, the pompousness, the jealousy, the bragging, and the elaborate costuming and roll them into one, you essentially get Count Olaf, and this translates into his looks as well as his characterization.  

This is what Pantalone looks looks like: 

It seems very evident to me that Count Olaf is actually fashioned to look like Pantalone and not a Jewish stereotype. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Well, if Pantalone is a miserly character with a hooked nose, who’s to say he’s not an antisemitic caricature himself?” 

Good question! Well, we know Pantalone isn’t meant to be a Jew because in Commedia dell’arte, it’s not the Italians, but the Levantini who are the Jewish caricatures (can also sometimes be Arabs or Armenians). The Levantini are always foreign outsiders, whereas Pantalone is an old money Venetian. Also, if you read Robert Melzi’s work, you’ll find that Jews are very clearly labelled (and oft mocked) in Italian dramas of the period, and that their Jewishness or foreignness is always a point to be mentioned, meaning that subtle coding wasn’t needed or used at the time. In other words, it’s basically the “I can’t have committed the crime because I was out committing another crime” defense. 

So, there we have it. My argument for why Count Olaf is does not have anything to do with Jewishness apart from the fact that he was created by a Jewish author. Instead, he’s a reference to Baudelair and Gautier’s references to Watteau’s references to Commedia dell’arte. A reference to a reference to a reference to a reference. Because that’s Lemony Snicket for you.

Thank you, he really didn’t feel Jewish to me but I couldn’t really place why but the trope felt familiar

meloetta:

meloetta:

meloetta:

*post hits 1k notes* nice

*post hits 10k notes* oh no

nice

oh no

ariaste:

why-animals-do-the-thing:

vampireapologist:

One of my favorite thing I’ve learned about animals studies is that you should avoid using colorful leg bands when you’re banding birds because you can accidentally completely skew the data because female birds prefer males with colorful bands

Apparently if you put a red band on a male red wing blackbird his harem size can double

So like you can completely frick up the natural reproduction of a group of birds by giving a guy a bracelet so stylish that females CANNOT resist him

This is probably one of my favorite science anecdotes! This is why it’s so important to get outside the human umvelt and consider everything from the perspective of the animals you’re working with..,

TBH if my choices were a naked guy or a nearly identical naked guy with a rad bracelet, I’d pick the bracelet guy too.

mandopony:

usurperking-zant:

I think the worst thing that fandom culture and the increasing acknowledgement of fandom culture from creators has wrought is this

incredible amount of entitlement that people in said fandoms get like

just because creators know something is a thing in a fandom doesn’t mean they have to do it or else they hate their fans. It’s a consistent thing I’m seeing more and more in fandoms and it’s getting worse. Like all the steven universe garbage that’s happened over that show’s run and now overwatch like

people are wishing other people dead because a robot ninja and an angel woman are dating. and there are people who are legit horrified at the sheer concept of characters being straight and I’m just sat here wondering how they can possibly tolerate real life.

the fact that people get so entrenched in what they perceive as author approval when their ships and headcanons aren’t immediately shut down, despite said author interacting with the fanbase, that their mental health deteriorates when something contradictory is even hinted at is just sickening like

I just went on twitter and saw people legitimately wanting to kill a man on the overwatch team because of gency and like

its. not. yours.

you do not own overwatch. you do not own steven universe. you do not own anything you’re fandoming so hard over. rebecca sugar could tomorrow have pearl confess her love to renaldo and the overwatch team could make torbjornXpharah and both of them would be canon because it’s THEIR CREATION AND THEY DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS.

THEY get to decide what to do with it. Not you. It is NOT YOURS.

I absolutely think fandom/tumblr culture has led to more death threats and harassment than any other thing on the internet and I think if creators want to avoid it, the best way is to just stop acknowledging the fandoms. Because they’ll twist whatever they can get their filthy hands on so they can shit on other people and never feel remorse or grow as people because they’re doing it to be “progressive”

This. I’d also add that there’s a lot of “consumer entitlement” going on right now. Just because you bought a game, or a book, or a Blu-ray, or an album, doesn’t mean the creator of the content now OWES you. We’re happy for the support so we can continue creating art – but it will still be OUR art, and we’ll make it how we feel it should made.

haemon:

me: *literally says anything*

therapist: can you…. give me an example?

me, someone who has memory problems:

turnon:

we need a nintendogs app i am sick of living like this

fullyarticulatedgoldskeleton:

chavisory:

queenshulamit:

ozymandias271:

reading a paper on quality of life among 45-to-70-year-olds with Down syndrome:

“Individuals expressed a desire to be allowed to go to bed when they wanted to.”

:(

Imagine.

I lived in a room and board that failed the burrito test. (”If you’re not allowed to get up in the middle of the night to microwave a burrito, you live in an institution.”) No one stopped me from going to bed, but they did tell me I had to have my lights out by 10, and that I had to be out of the house by 10 the next morning. When I complained to my outpatient program that I needed more help than I was getting, they threatened me with board and care, where my cell phone would be taken away and I would lose contact with the outside world. My case manager sounded so damn smug, like he had caught me out, when he said, “if you’re really as helpless as you say, then you need to be in a board and care.” Like my only options were struggling to do things I couldn’t do, or surrendering my life to an institution.

When I tried to talk about these things with other people, they always rationalized it away. (I told my dad once that my caseworker was reading my e-mails as I wrote them, demonstrating extreme disrespect for my privacy, and he said, “Well, she’s probably making sure you don’t use the internet to goof off.” I was 22 years old.)

 People tend to mock the idea that telling an adult when to go to bed, when to eat, etc., is a human rights violation, even though they would find it outrageous and absurd if anyone came into their lives to do the same thing to them.

And this is what people seem to think when they tell disabled activists we’re just not disabled enough to understand that some people really do need to be locked up and deprived of all autonomy.

fullyarticulatedgoldskeleton:

chavisory:

queenshulamit:

ozymandias271:

reading a paper on quality of life among 45-to-70-year-olds with Down syndrome:

“Individuals expressed a desire to be allowed to go to bed when they wanted to.”

:(

Imagine.

I lived in a room and board that failed the burrito test. (”If you’re not allowed to get up in the middle of the night to microwave a burrito, you live in an institution.”) No one stopped me from going to bed, but they did tell me I had to have my lights out by 10, and that I had to be out of the house by 10 the next morning. When I complained to my outpatient program that I needed more help than I was getting, they threatened me with board and care, where my cell phone would be taken away and I would lose contact with the outside world. My case manager sounded so damn smug, like he had caught me out, when he said, “if you’re really as helpless as you say, then you need to be in a board and care.” Like my only options were struggling to do things I couldn’t do, or surrendering my life to an institution.

When I tried to talk about these things with other people, they always rationalized it away. (I told my dad once that my caseworker was reading my e-mails as I wrote them, demonstrating extreme disrespect for my privacy, and he said, “Well, she’s probably making sure you don’t use the internet to goof off.” I was 22 years old.)

 People tend to mock the idea that telling an adult when to go to bed, when to eat, etc., is a human rights violation, even though they would find it outrageous and absurd if anyone came into their lives to do the same thing to them.

And this is what people seem to think when they tell disabled activists we’re just not disabled enough to understand that some people really do need to be locked up and deprived of all autonomy.

kc749:

yaminoendo:

zock:

smallswingshoes:

robotbisexual:

istudyhumanhope:

istudyhumanhope:

Could y’all stop with this whole just shower thoughts? They posted islamophobic bullshit. I don’t want to see this blog on my dash at anytime. FFS.

Here are just a few examples of their bigotry, they shit on everything including Islam, nonbinary genders, trans identity and  Folks sooo. (I mean, they take their shit from reddit so what you expect?) If you still decide to reblog shit from this blog you are an asshole.

If I’m not mistaken they’ve had other transmisogynist posts and a few ableist ones as well, but I don’t have sources and could be confusing them.

They’ve also been antisemitic. Not surprised this has turned into Bigot Bingo with them.

lets not forget this bullshit, either:

[screenshot of the just-shower-thoughts blog. the post reads “Someone should start a “Black Wives Matter” movement to get black guys to stay with their families“ ]

please blacklist this blog. theyre really gross, and haven’t addressed anything they’ve said once.

Okay, blocking and blacklisting Shower Thoughts.

Wow. Didn’t know that.

officialoperaghost:

listen i got a rabbit when i was the ripe age of eight years old. originally named him button bc that was my old rabbits name and i was convinced if i just gave him that name the spirit of button would live on in him (rip in peace tiny friend) but after a while he chewed threw the fuckin lawn mower wire so my eight year old self called that sucker chompy. now i dont kno if you kno but rabbits are supposed to live like six to eight years as a pet, and before that button had kicked the proverbial fuckin bucket after a few months so we weren’t expecting the situation we’re currently in. chompy, as it turns out, gives absolutely 0 fucks what any rabbit website says. i am nearly twenty years old and this little dude just wont quit. you bet ur bottom dollar i go out every single mornin rain or shine to let his sorry ass out of the hutch so he can eat the grass, chase the birds and make my mum gnash her teeth and cry bc we cant plant shit bc he’ll straight up just devour any plant he finds. eleven years. this fucker is eleven years old. im pretty sure he’s just running on straight up spite at this point bc everyone i speak to in my family is like ‘is that rabbit still going?????’ you better FUCKIN believe that rabbit is tearin shit up in my back garden to this day. but now im in this situation where i tell ppl i have a rabbit and theyre like ‘ooo whats his name??’ and i, a nineteen year old, have to look them dead in the eye and say chompy. the ridiculous fuckin name i gave him eleven years ago. what a world