Just To Make A Point

Just to make a point

It is very possible to like both Mandalorian and Andor by the way. I see a lot of people shitting on one to praise the other, they are both Star Wars but in different ways, and they're both great for it.

when shuri was crying That One Time and she said 'mommy' it fucking broke me btw. she may not be a child but she's still so YOUNG

louis is going down as one of the characters of all time btw. there's something about characters who are so deeply repressed in every facet of their lives continuously fighting for happiness, yet ultimately unable to achieve that happiness because they've denied themselves for so long that they no longer know what they actually want vs what they've convinced themselves to chase.

and it's fascinating, because that's so clear in the way that louis conceptualizes happiness by fighting for the things previously denied to him; the spectre of his perceived failures as a human haunt him and preclude the possibility at any new lease on happiness in the future. he wants to buy the fairplay because he links success with respect, and respect with fulfillment: the idea that as soon as his (white) peers are forced to admit he's a better businessman than them, he'll be happy. except he isn't happy, because there is no goal post at which point they'll accept he's smarter or more capable than them, and so instead he's forced back into a game that will never fulfill him, no matter how powerful or capable he becomes.

and then he tries to build a family, tries to surround himself with people who he can care for and who he can have a positive impact on, building connections for himself and bringing meaning to his life. which also doesn't work, because he's simultaneously haunting and haunted by his human family, and there's no way for him to reconcile what he's lost with what he's gained. he wants grace, and he could have grace, but he's spent his entire life knowing that every facet of himself is unacceptable to society, that he can't admit what he is without also being condemned for it. and it doesn't matter that grace isn't society, that grace would accept him - he is, to his own mind, an unacceptable thing. to admit what he is out loud could only lead to catastrophe, because to think anything less is dangerous to the very principles that allow him to exist.

and so instead of having grace in his life, he has claudia. and he can love claudia and he can adore claudia, but he can not find a connection to humanity in her, because she isn't and doesn't want to be human. he has, in his quest to find meaning and connection with humanity, surrounded himself with monsters.

and then he has lestat. lestat who, for all his grandiosity and hedonism and theatricality, is just as festering a pool of repression as louis is. he's a person who can be anyone, so long as anyone is someone who is seen and adored and wanted, because to be wanted is to be happy.

and so you have louis, a man who can't admit what he wants, because admittance is vulnerability, and vulnerability is death; and you have lestat, a man who needs to be wanted, because if you aren't wanted you're abandoned, and abandonment is a fate worse than death.

and then they both try to get happy.

I just want to thank wakanda forever for reigniting my violent hatred for the spanish empire.

and while we're on the subject of colonization: everyone's always talking about the british but let's not forget the spanish, french, portuguese, dutch, and belgians also fucked up multiple continents, wiped out multiple cultures and languages, and enslaved natives all over the world.

not one single member of the cast is beating the possessed allegations

yeah namor was hot BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TRIBUTE TO CHADWICK BOSEMAN?? the opening funeral scene? phenomenal. the ending scene with shuri remembering him? broke me. the sheer lack of any sound in the clips? goosebumps over the entirety of my body.