Random Pieces of Rainbow

Sigh.

I very nearly wasn’t going to post this, but this statement is just so…not right in so many ways that I don’t even…

First, you are implying that someone who stumbles in their faith somehow has committed a sin so huge that she deserves to lose everyone she loves in a single blow in the most horrific way possible. As if anyone deserves that.

Second, you apparently haven’t heard of an unreliable character. Jill, Polly and even Peter don’t walk in Susan’s shoes, they have no idea why she might act the way she does, especially when they talk about her in such condescending tones. People deal with grief in different ways. Maybe to Susan, it’s just better to think of it as a silly story rather than remember it as the best place you’ve ever lived in and then have to be shoved out of it so unceremoniously.

And good god, if anyone brings up the nylons and lipsticks I will scream. Susan is trying to live a life, which is, believe it or not, what they were supposed to be doing, not look back into the past waiting for Narnia to show again. I’m not saying the others don’t have a life, but there’s no indication  that Susan did anything more horrible than being a girl, young and having fun. 

The bottom line is we don’t know the whole story. And the truth is that Lewis had women issues and apparently chose to take it out on Susan. I’m not denying that he WROTE it and probably did intend it to be taken at face value, but that doesn’t mean that you should.

(Source: narniaconfessions)

seriouslybao:

Mingyu visits Rouxin, begging Rouxi, ‘I, today came here to beg you. Ruo Xi, my sister already died. I can no longer stand watching 10th prince live a life worse than death. Instead of letting the emperor humiliate us and torture us so, why not just finish it off?’ Rouxi realized that 10th Prince is 4th Prince next target. Mingyu continues to beg Rouxi to asks for 4th Prince’s mercy on 10th Prince, ‘If he’s being executed, I will follow him to be executed as well. But, to be brought back as captive and to be confined for life, this kind of suffering, do you think 10th will be able to stand it?’ & this is the moment when Rouxi will take a stand & end all the torment of her beloved childhood friends. 

In the room, 13th Prince speaks up for 10th Prince, asking for 4th Prince to lessen 10th Prince punishment. He reasons that 10th Prince has always follows 4th Prince’s orders & had never fought for the throne, why is 4th Prince punishing 10th Prince. He asks if 4th Prince just wants to destroy them for the hell of it (AMEN to you brotha), ‘Are you really being impartial, or are you just set on destroying him?’ 4th Prince yells back, ‘Enough! I’m punishing him because he deserves it! That bunch of people is scheming and pervasive. You’ve seen it for yourself. I cannot allow for a speck of compassion when dealing with them.’ 13th Prince replies, ‘No, Ruo Xi will not stand aside and do anything. She’s the ‘death-seeking 13th sister’. She will not do nothing. To protect those around her, she’s willing to even sacrifice herself. Do you also want to see Ruo Xi in such a desperate state before you stop?’ 4th Prince answers angrily, ‘They are the ones who refuse to stop!…It’s them. It’s all their fault.’ 

AMEN to 13th Prince’s words.

Yeah I have to say, in this situation, and later, with Yu Tan, 4th is not being very smart. I’m not sure whether that was Tong Hoa’s intention or not but he’s being rather obtuse here, or just blinded by anger.

When he hurts 8th, he doesn’t know exactly the nature of 8th’s and Ruo Xi’s relationship, so I’ll cut him some slack. But with 10th and Yu Tan, it’s just plain stupid.

I’m not going into whether 10th or (especially) Yu Tan deserve 4th’s wrath, but 4th’s reasoning is just faulty. He thinks that getting rid of them will mean that Ruo Xi won’t have to worry about her conflicting emotions between them and him anymore. Further more, just because HE THINKS they deserve punishment, he EXPECTS Ruo Xi to somehow just take it all in stride and understand. But he does this, without any warning or explanation to her. All the horrible news gets dumped on Ruo Xi in the most unceremonious ways and she has to hear from someone else that the man she loves has done all this to hurt her friends.

As Emperor, of course he doesn’t have to justify himself to anyone, but here, he is claiming that he’s doing this for Ruo Xi’s sake, but then goes on quietly heaping horrible ends on the people she holds most dear without the decency to tell her himself and explain to her the reasoning behind it. And then he expects her to be grateful for his efforts in protecting her and doesn’t understand why, again especially with the case of Yu Tan, she gets angry with him.

On Yu Tan, personally I think as Emperor, if Yu Tan wasn’t connected to Ruo Xi in anyway, with the crimes she’d committed in those days, that manner of death is justified (or at least cannot be said that it’s too harsh because relatively, in those days, punishments are just that harsh). But because Yu Tan is connected to Ruo Xi, for 4th to do that and then just expects Ruo Xi to be ok with it, is just insensitive and stupid.

(Source: dearestbao)

The “seven swords” plot of the VDT resembles the horcruxes way too much for me to ever take it seriously. Not to mention it doesn’t even make sense and contradicts the entire premise of PC. Why would Telmarine lords have Narnian swords left over from the Golden Age? They did just spend 1300 years trying to wipe out the Narnians. Why would Edmund and Lucy not know anything about the freaking swords considering they were, you know, KING AND QUEEN OF THE GOLDEN AGE?

juniper-thelostgirl:

THANK YOU. Seriously, you are the first person I’ve seen on Tumblr who I actually agree with where this movie is concerned. This was one of the scenes that annoyed me the most, though there were many others. I mean, there were a couple moments that I really liked, but overall, I just like to pretend the movie doesn’t exist. It’s less annoying that way.

I get a kick out of listening to this podcast episode where a bunch of fanfic writers analyse the movie. Yeah, this is basically my entire opinion of the movie. It’s scary how I don’t disagree with a single thing.

(Source: ruanchunxian, via )

Me rambling about the Goldwater scene and how Edmund experiences backward character “development”.

memento-morrie: ^ THIS. ALL OF IT. Quite aside from the horrible writing of this scene (‘This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about.’ or anything that comes out of Caspian’s mouth or (worst of all) ‘I’m tired of playing second fiddle!’* or Skandar’s awkward and frankly bad acting,** this scene easily represents the worst characterization of the 3 films. Edmund’s character is completely and utterly destroyed and to make things worse there is never a proper reconciliation. This scene in the book is entirely about Caspian being an idiot and needing to be put in his place by an older, wiser, and more mature king. (Who, by the way, does have more power than him, being a king of old and brother of the High King. Another thing about this film that annoys me is that Caspian introduces Edmund as ‘High King of Narnia’ but Edmund IS NOT treated as such. If the filmmakers wanted to do that they should have been consistent with it. However, considering how Caspian treated the Peter, the actual High King, in movie!PC, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.) Edmund has to do this TWICE in VDT because later on Caspian is ready to swan off to see the end of the word and leave his crew (and his crush) behind without a second thought. He gets so out of hand that freaking ASLAN has to show up and tell him he’s being in idiot. Edmund is the main only character in VDT who doesn’t go through a temptation/redemption scenario, due to the fact that he’s already done so in LWW. Obviously Eustace, Caspian, and even Lucy (perfect little Lucy who actually isn’t so perfect) do things wrong, but Edmund doesn’t fall because he already has. He knows what to stay away from and what not to do. However, we get reminders of Edmund’s treachery twice in VDT. Once on Dragon Island, when Edmund and Eustace talk after Eustace is undragoned (‘…but I was a traitor.’) and also on Ramandu’s Island when we see the Stone Knife and are reminded just how and when and why Aslan died. Edmund’s role in VDT is that of the encourager, the practical thinker, (see Deathwater, when he figures out what the water does first, and also Ramandu’s Island, when he, unlike everyone else, in not ready to go along with R. D. just because she’s pretty.***) and the voice of reason. He’s been through intense character development already, so he can sit back for a bit and let everyone else learn a few lessons. Whereas in movie!VDT, Edmund becomes a self-centered brat. The main 3 things he wants are: 1) to be more important than Caspian/Peter, 2) to be rich, and 3) to be king. Does this sound a bit familiar? Oh, right. Of course. Because those are the EXACT 3 things he wants in LWW. That is not character development. That is character regression. It makes NO sense whatsoever for him to fall back into these temptations because he no doubt strived his entire life to get as far away from them as possible. Edmund is the kind of person who, when finding out that Aslan died for him, would have dedicated his entire life to worth such a sacrifice. (I 100% believe that Edmund did find out BTW. Either Lucy or Peter told him or he figured out for himself, but he knew.) He would NEVER fall into that sort of thinking again because he knows it’s dangerous and he knows it’s not worth it. …so um…yeah…that turned into a bit of an essay. This isn’t even everything I could say about this topic either. (Don’t even get me started on Edmund in Dark Island. And the wave at the World’s End? Ugh. Kill me.) *Seriously? I’m tired of playing second fiddle? That’s the best you could come up with? **I’m willing to give Skandar the benefit of the doubt due to the horrid material he was given this time around, but I honestly don’t think his acting was anything like as good as it could have been. ***Edmund is not supposed to be taken in by her as he is in the movie. He’s supposed to think she’s a Witch. Her apparent possession of the Stone Knife doesn’t help her case.

^^Yeah, all of that too. (emphasis mine)

I was disappointed in both Skandar and Georgie’s acting in VDT movie (Georgie less so) because somehow, they both seem really stiff. It wasn’t, you know, the worst acting I’ve ever seen, but considering how good they both were in PC and LWW, I just had really high expectations and they weren’t lived up to. I got the feeling that the actors were as annoyed at their characterisations as I was.

But while I’m only mildly annoyed with some aspects of Lucy’s journey in VDT (I think they pushed her insecurities too far), I can’t even deal with Edmund. I wanted to die in the theatre at how they butchered his character.

I didn’t like stupid!Peter in PC, either, but I understand it. He had been High King and of course it’s disorientating to be thrown back into England. But Edmund! After having established Edmund in PC, I don’t know WHY we must go through this emo stage in VDT. (Also, this might be because of too much fanfic, but I always thought that Edmund would be, like Lucy, have a lot more implicit trust in Aslan’s decisions more than Peter or Susan.)

Also the whole idea of “I want a kingdom of my own” (*headdesk*) is so profoundly and idiotically ungrateful to Aslan, which is something I don’t think Edmund would ever be. I mean, what happened to Once a king, always a king? What did he think he was king of then, a papier-mache kingdom?

Don’t even talk to me about “Edmund and Lucy, High King and Queen of Narnia.” Thank god I heard that first in a trailer, if I heard that first in the theatre I would probably have screamed.

(via mementomorrie84)

narniaconfessions:

I don’t think Edmund betrayed his family, he is guilty of being naive. Lucy and Edmund both had food and drink with strangers both of which didn’t feed them with good intentions. The only difference is Tumnus changed his mind. If I was ten and the white witch threatened me, I think I would have told her everything too. Being scared isn’t a sin.

As a fanfic writer I’m very fond of so aptly put it:

“Really, Harold, you were only a child.”

“Age is no defence here.”

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I blame Aslan more than you for putting you into that situation in the first instance – he hauls you here in the middle of the winter from wherever and the first thing that happens is you fall in with the Witch. That’s terrible planning on his part and worse judgment.”

“You will take my part and scold Aslan?” Harold sounded both amused and appalled.

“For you, yes!” It all made so much more sense. Harold made so much more sense. He had once even explained how he could admire her and the Crows despite their poor shared manners. He didn’t overlook the flaws, but he knew that even things that were very flawed could be very good too.

If she tried to put it into words, she would get it wrong, but Morgan knew she had to try. “Harold, I’m not going to walk away because of what you did as a child.”

“Morgan, I appreciate your words, but do not overlook it, either. I…”

“Oh shut up, would you?” she snapped. “Whatever you think, what I see is how you’ll even try to help someone like Seth who doesn’t deserve a moment of your mercy because you think everyone should have the same opportunity you did. It shows greatness, Harold, it really does. Greater than magnificent or valiant, or gentle, and don’t argue with me about it, because it is.”

~Harold and Morgan: Not a Romance by rthstewart: A romantic comedy of tree pollen, snark, biology and high finance featuring the Just King and an Evil Banker.

**Harold is Edmund. If you want to know why Edmund is nicknamed Harold, well, you will have to read rthstewart’s genius fanfics.

allskiesblue:

Another example of technically accurate bad writing.

Did Bella root around in the bin to discover what each of these flyers were? Was she up to her arms in banana peels and snotty tissues? Think about what value this adds to the text: why on Earth does the reader need to know what flyers are handed out around the end of the year at a school? Shouldn’t your reader already be contextually aware of this information as they have been to school?

“There was a heap of brightly coloured flyers around the trashcan.”

I will always say it: Complex writing proves you can write. Simple writing proves you can think.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. How does Bella know what all the fliers were about? I doubt she even cares. More importantly, if Bella doesn’t care, why should the reader?

This is what you do to pad word count for Nanowrimo. I’ve done this for Nano, fully aware that it was just padding that no one cares about and should be removed in that magical phase of the writing process known as “editing”. A concept that is clearly foreign to Meyer.

On a nitpicky side: Why would one buy “graduation gowns” WITHOUT the hats and tassels? Who actually sells the tassels disembodied from the hats? You would think the set go together and elaboration was not necessary. Also, “reminders to buy…announcements”?? Am I misreading that section or something?

(Source: reasoningwithvampires)

“ghastly people who ruin each others’ lives.”

Maybe that’s the whole point, you idiot? You’re not supposed to think Heathcliff and Cathy are the most beautiful, sparkliest love evah?!

I’m sad that Eddikins admires Elizabeth and Darcy, actually. Through this passage, Meyer is trying to beat it into our heads that Eddie and Isabummer are just as good as Elizabeth and Darcy, and it makes me want to throw the entire hard-back sigh-a at her.

The thing that grates my cheese the most is that Meyer not only constantly misinterprets works of classic literature, she also looks down on them. There was an interview where she basically say that Edward/Bella is TEH GREATEST LOVE STORY EVAH TOLD because they would die for each other (like dear R&J) whereas others, like Anne Shirley and Gilbert, or Elizabeth and Darcy, while they’re ok, are obviously not worth as much because they were friends before they were lovers or that they would move on if their love died.

As if that was a crime.

Of course, she didn’t say it in so many words, but the implication was clearly there and the entire answer reeked of arrogance.

(Source: reasoningwithvampires)

This scene on the Goldwater Island in the VDT movie really annoys me and I dislike it deeply. Observe the conversation in the book:

“The King who owned this island,” said Caspian slowly, and his face flushed as he spoke, “would soon be the richest of all the Kings of the world. I claim this land for ever as a Narnian possession. It shall be called Goldwater Island. And I bind all of you to secrecy. No one must know of this. Not even Drinian - on pain of death, do you hear?”

“Who are you talking to?” said Edmund. “I’m no subject of yours. If anything it’s the other way round. I am one of the four ancient sovereigns of Narnia and you are under allegiance to the High King my brother.”

“So it has come to that, King Edmund, has it?” said Caspian, laying his hand on his sword-hilt.

“Oh, stop it, both of you,” said Lucy. “That’s the worst of doing anything with boys. You’re all such swaggering, bullying idiots - oooh! -“

To me, this is more than just a stupid argument between Caspian and Edmund, but actually is Edmund putting Caspian in his place. Caspian has only been king for a short time and hasn’t had to face much in the way of temptation, of course falls prey to the water that turn things to gold. But Edmund knows better; he had faced temptation and paid the price for it, and he had been king for far longer. He knows Caspian is being stupid and is reminding who Edmund really is.

The way they made it out in the movie turns Edmund into such a brat who apparently hasn’t learnt his lesson at all. Actually, I dislike most of Edmund’s characterisation in the VDT movie, as it seems like it was backward character development. After awsome!Edmund in PC who is even more mature than Peter and perfectly fine with putting Caspian on the throne, I wonder why he’s throwing a hissy fit now because he “wants a kingdom of his own”.