December 2011
86 posts
shiparker:
Ok, then. I guess the beauty of art is all the different POVs and interpretations. You choose to be more literal while the fandom didn’t (Even if we can argue that the porposal was a more literal form of rescue… Ugh… I just hate to say this like it’s a black/white thing. This is not how I view characters/situations). It doesn’t mean our view is wrong....
shiparker:
There is something called metaphor and it doesn’t necessarily need to be the perfect description of a situation (It needs to be something we can relate/draw parallels). I don’t think people in the fandom ignore the fact Mary can stand up for herself. In fact, it’s one of the reasons we love her. But Richard as the Sea Monster with Matthew as Perseus is a concept that...
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Oh. I should add that I actually think that was deliberate. I think Julian Fellowes understood that if Matthew proposed to Mary before she broke it off with Richard — as a way of “rescuing” her from having to marry him to avoid scandal — that would have undermined the fortitude of Mary breaking it off with Richard for herself. She had to damn herself with no hope of...
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I love it when people make posts about how Matthew took the part of Perseus to Richard’s “sea monster” per Mary’s telling of Andromeda and Perseus from 1.02.
Because that’s actually not what happened at all. The show pulled this amazing sleight-of-hand by having Matthew get into a fight with Richard to make it look like he was doing something effectual, to make it...
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24th June 2010
[09:15] Mary: I watched Lennon Naked
[09:17] Mary: the actor they got for Paul McCartney was literally the worst actor and the worst cast actor of all time
[09:17] Mary: I think they were going for “let’s make Paul McCartney out to be as stupid as a brick”
8th August 2010
[16:33] Mary: apparently there is no such thing as too facile and obvious with respect...
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“No man is in any real physical danger on the internet— or even in real life —...”
– Hugo Schwyzer, on the use of the term “male bashing” (via komboloi)
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“Eight percent of college men have either attempted or successfully raped. Thirty...”
– Margo Maine, Ph.D. (Body Wars)
There was a time that, as a person of the male persuasion, seeing this quote made me really mad. It made me mad that women would assume that I was a rapist; it made me mad that rape was becoming ‘my problem’; it made me mad because, frankly, I didn’t think it was...
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latxcvi asked: Re: @hismajestythebitch That's how much he cares about feminist issues - when people point out to him the ways in which he himself is being anti-feminist, he not only won't acknowledge that he fucked up and indicate a willingness to do better next time, he *deletes the evidence of it*. Because hey, if no one can see it, then it didn't happen. I wish I could say it was...
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Wait, hang on.
Did @hismajestythebitch really delete that post about Rihanna from his tumblr as if he’d never said it without any acknowledgement of the fact that what he said was extremely fucked-up or apology to the people he hurt?
I just want to be sure that that’s what he did.
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latxcvi asked: Is he serious? Did he actually pull the "the lurkers support me in e-mail" card? LOL, no. Also? It doesn't matter if there are women out there who agree with him because it's still *deeply problematic and gross* for anyone to try to police/shame how another person responds to and processes her *personal experience* with domestic abuse. It doesn't magically become *not...
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boudiceaborn-deactivated2012011 asked: What is it that makes you think women aren't capable of being misogynistic? In my opinion, that's one element of what makes patriarchy so damaging, that it turns women on each other and encourages them to hate each other in similar ways (and sometimes even more intensely) that misogynistic men do. There's no sex/gender monopoly on hated and sexism.
List of people who don't get to tell women about...
Men.
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springtimeofhisvoodoo asked: I said anti-feminists, not misogynists. You are fucking ignorant.
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springtimeofhisvoodoo asked: Oh, and I guess, by your "logic," all the women who agree with me about Rihanna glorifying domestic abuse and presenting women in a degrading manner are anti-feminists.
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springtimeofhisvoodoo asked: Rihanna continually debases women in her music by showing them as weak/idiotic fools who are overpowered by men, and have no means of getting out of a codependent abusive relationship merely because it is "thrilling" to them in some way. Don't you dare fucking call me misogynistic. I am a gay man, but I care MUCH more about how our society still has pockets of rape culture in which...
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“Oh, Patrick Robertson.”
– Crystal on Robert Pattinson
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I fucking hate Rihanna.
hismajestythebitch:
Not only does she not contribute to any of her own songs, which basically makes her a producers’ tool.
She also continually glorifies domestic abuse.
She sends out a horrible message that domestic abuse is this poignant/poetic thing.
No, bitch.
You don’t get to define how people should react to or express their reactions to their own abuse so fuck you.
Oh, and...
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cyrillah asked: Why do you hate Bates so much? I agree that he is rather redundant and boring and takes up far too much screen time, but wouldn't have wanted to kill him off. I am curious about why you want that.
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All I want for the Downton Abbey Christmas...
Charades
I have to admit that my desire for Crawley family charades was at most nascent — I knew I wanted something but I was not quite sure what — when the stills were released. And then I knew! I knew: charades were all I wanted, all I ever wanted from this show. I can only hope the episode does the charades subplot justice; I fear that it will be left underdeveloped in favour of...
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This is a Simon Amstell overidentification life.
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My feelings about Hector Madden (as a person and a character) aside — Dominic West’s performance in The Hour has not been award-worthy. I know that it is for some reason considered unacceptable to critique a person’s acting (unless that critique is directed at a few acceptable targets) but his performance carried no real nuance or emotional depth and, worst of all given that...
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Hilary Banks appreciation life.
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Brian Cox: making physics sexy with his sexy face.
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lady-oracle:
Really? I thought the show had let this go…the advent of WWI that pushed this issue into the background. I imagine Mary, Edith, etc soon realised they had more pressing issues to deal with than what perhaps seemed quite trivial in the face of real death and destruction, possibly why this particular aspect of the Pamuk scandal has never been brought up in Season 2.
How has...
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lady-oracle:
I agree with the idea of letting this issue go…there’s an implication in one of the Season 2 deleted scenes that Mary forgives Edith. When Lavinia says something about Carlisle’s money ‘not washing him clean’, she backtracks and tells Mary to ‘forget I said that’. Mary replies, whilst sharing a long look with Edith, “We never shall, of...
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sarah-obrien:
I think the big issue I have with the whole situation is that they were both at fault for various things. Yes, Edith acted wrongly in sending the letter and no she never apologised but I think some people, like me, contextualise it both ways. In a society where getting married is of the optimum importance Mary scuppered what has thus far been Edith’s only chance because she could....
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Anonymous asked: Most of your Downton Abbey posts seem very negative. If you dislike it so much, why do you watch it?
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All I want for Christmas is for Bates to hang.
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Okay, stop.
aeraspais | malinche:
But why aren’t people allowed to defend him? Just because your opinion is just that: An opinion.
I am not saying people cannot have their opinions. I am not saying people are not allowed to defend him. I am saying you are not allowed to frame me as the wronged party when I have not said or done anything offensive. All I said as I didn’t like Bon Iver and joked around....
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“I’m okay with orcas. I’m not okay with walruses.”
– Crystal
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There is nothing to like about Bon Iver.
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Also.
This is a David Rossi hatred life.
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I just love Prentiss and Reid so much you guys.
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Anonymous asked: What do you think of Sheila Jeffreys?
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Anonymous asked: I think you are a bit to dismissive of historical context. The reality is, if characters didn't show signs of sexism, racism, etc. in a show like this it would seem incredibly historically inaccurate. Especially for their stations in life. It doesn't justify those views or those behaviors but completely ignoring the time frame is when people bring it up is rather odd to me. Especially...
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calikalie asked: You really do get the best anons, I have to say.
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Anonymous asked: 'Abusive' is a tad dramatic for what I was going for...I have continually said that what Edith did was an overreaction and too much, but being constantly put down does make people snap. Difference is that Mary could rise above it because she had charisma and beauty, which Edith didn't have. But, its been a pleasure sparring with you. All the best and goodnight.
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I like how you can’t even state that attempting to destroy someone’s life and using slut-shaming as a defence for doing that is indefensible without getting drawn into an extended conversation about whether it is, in fact, secretly defensible.
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quartertonebloom asked: I'm really disturbed that this anon is trivializing abuse by continuously characterizing the relationship between Mary and Edith as abusive towards Edith. It wasn't abusive, full stop. No amount of snide remarks between sisters (which was something they both engaged in and there's no way of knowing who "started" it [but lol let's be real, it was probably Edith]) could...
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Anonymous asked: If Branson's Nationalist tendencies kept him awake at him there is no way on earth he would have accepted a job as a hired chauffeur for an English landlord. For many of his contemporaries back in Ireland, he would have been the ultimate turn coat and lickspittle. Though it's interesting that you're so keen to embrace historical context when it suits you.
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Anonymous asked: Why on earth has Branson reason to lash out? I guess we shall have to agree to disagree over the rest of it, though if you kick a dog enough, it will bite back eventually.
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Anonymous asked: You responded in the tags rather than in the post. Edith's action was too much and she should not have done as she did. But I think the motivation for it does create an element of grey and an element of - dare I say it - sympathy for Edith. The sympathy appears because her situation and her life thus far has moulded her into such an unhappy person that she feels driven to act. It is...
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Anonymous asked: Your response was amusingly at odds with your tags...? I'm not painting Edith as a defenceless victim - I wanted to point out that the whole situation is a lot more grey than you seem to believe.
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Anonymous asked: To call it 'spite' trivialises the emotion - it was more complicated than that. Mary consistently belittles Edith (or did in Season 1 anyway). To say that Edith merely did it because Mary 'insulted her hat and dress' again trivialises the situation - it was a culmination of a lifetimes worth of petty digs, simmering tension and jealously. Why Edith's reaction was so much...
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Anonymous asked: Well, there's cold anger and hot anger, is there not? Hot anger is spur of the moment and cold anger is something that simmers until you snap. Whilst it was an overreaction, it seems quite plausible that Edith felt 'driven' to do it over a period of time. And when the scope of your life is very small (as, let's be honest it would have been to closeted upper class girls) things...
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Anonymous asked: I think Edith was completely wrong to call Mary a slut for having sex, but I don't think you're being entirely fair when you accuse Edith of slut-shaming Mary for being raped. Nobody but Mary knows she was raped. Even Mary doesn't know she was raped. When Edith overhears Mary and Cora talking about Pamuk, Mary calls him "my lover, Kemal", like she's accusing Cora of...
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Anonymous asked: Regarding Edith calling Mary a slut - people do things out of anger and bitterness, which is where Edith writing to the Turkish Embassy stemmed from. All I'm suggesting is that is the throes of anguish/anger/jealousy people do desperate and unpleasant things. Whilst it is unfair and horrible, I do think lashing out is quite a human thing to do. To dismiss historical context is wrong -...