Another Doodle Dump!

quick mermay drawing before the month ends!

some would say the priest being the sole survivor of the shipwreck is an act of god but maybe its others who have taken a liking in him

Many transformative works fandoms start with the assumption that they are part of an aggrieved minority that's the target of unjust persecution, given:

- homophobia at large in the wider world (many polls indicate that fandom has a larger-than-average percentage of queer people);

- misogyny at large in the wider world (most polls over the years indicate that fandom is majority female);

- regressive conservatism across the board regarding (but not limited to) media content.

And in the wider world: yes, transformative works fans are a minority, and often each individual has trauma, baggage, &/or a history of being marginalized and oppressed, if not outright harmed, in "real world" spaces.

However, within the communities of fanspace, I have rarely seen any subsect of fandom acknowledge that it is the dominant force within that fanspace in a responsible way beyond the occasional fundraiser (that benefits third party charities and not marginalized individuals within the fandom) or campaigns to get continuations of their preferred media or for their ships to get canonized (which is, ultimately, self-serving).

Instead, we get:

- defensive posturing every time even the mildest thoughtful critique of their favorite ships/characters/fandoms enters their awareness;

- widespread harassment campaigns framed as "victims" just "fighting back" against "oppression" (when the "oppressors" have fewer numbers, smaller reach/social capital/etc within that space);

- a very Americanized blend of "staunch individualism" (where one's own actions should be judged on their own and not as part of a wider pattern across fandom(s)) and "White Girlboss Choice Feminism" (where "if a (white) woman chooses to do something, it is inherently progressive for her to do it, without regard for her positionally or impact within an intersectional framework").

And so on.

What would "responsible ways" of acknowledging one's power within fanspace look like, you may ask?

- donating directly to and signal boosting mutual aid links, especially for fans of marginalized identities;

- taking hard public stances against bigotry of ALL kinds within the ranks of your fellow fans, by sharing information about bad actors, deplatforming and disengaging with bad actors even if they make fanwork you enjoy, and protecting/standing up for targets of harassment outside your fandom coterie(s);

- openness to thoughtful critique of your circle within fanspace (rather than being defensive and assuming victimhood by default) and sharing same, encouraging both yourself and others to learn and improve;

- actively taking steps to read/share/create fanwork (which includes meta, media analysis, etc) that embraces/uplifts a diversity of perspectives beyond your own.

If we can't be responsible with our social power *within the spaces where we do hold that power,* we're no better than those regressive white nerdbros complaining about "woke invasions" of "our spaces" - when the reality is, nerds won the culture war and have way more social capital than some John Hughes-style archetypes of the Bullied Nerd.

We can be better than them. Our fanspaces can be better than that. Let's work together to make that happen.

when people on twitter or tiktok say "yeah tumblr is bad, its always been bad and gross and problematic" do they know its always been completely self-curated too or are we gonna leave that part out

IV…four…which sounds like death in Japanese…

死の世界…world of death… “afterlife”

🥀

Talk no Jutsu should’ve affected Naruto as well—each encounter with an antagonist should have forced Naruto to alter his conception of what becoming hokage will mean in terms of the problems he will be working to solve, continuously building on a growing conflict between Naruto’s desire to be adored by the village and serve as its leader and his growing understanding of the many ways it has hurt the people he encounters. Naruto’s empathy should’ve been a starting point to these questions and conflicts rather than their supposed solution. His alliance with Kurama should have required him to actually accept his own anger rather than suppress it, since consciously accepting that anger and working with it rather than pushing it to the depths of his unconscious mind (as symbolized by the cage that Kurama was kept in) would parallel his ability to work with Kurama rather than constantly fighting to hold him back.

In the final fight, these conflicts should’ve reached a final resolution. Naruto’s relationship with Sasuke, which has always pushed him to grow and improve, has repeatedly led him into conflict with the village’s rules, and is what he swore to restore before becoming hokage, should’ve led him to reject his dream of becoming hokage altogether and with it the system it represents, instead seeking to change the shinobi world into something not built on violence and exploitation with Sasuke’s help. Sasuke’s ideas about needing to change the shinobi world and his steadfast dedication to achieving it should have complemented Naruto’s lack of a solid ideology and tendency to be swayed by praise and propaganda, while Naruto’s emphasis on friendship and human connection should have taught Sasuke that it’s okay to care for himself and to accept love and friendship, and that revolutions can’t be achieved alone.

Instead of this, however, Kishimoto sacrifices the intregrity of both Naruto and Sasuke’s storylines and the narrative as a whole in favor of cheap wish fulfillment by painting Naruto as the flawless savior who does not need to change, self-reflect, or sacrifice anything, while Sasuke bears the burden of being evil and wrong and having to change almost everything about himself and simply submit to the village and system that caused him so much suffering.

I just wanted to draw the girls from ikuhara anime

dead man walking

I'm no longer fit to hold you

Visual development by Eyvind Earle for Sleeping Beauty (1959).