Thinking of the library scene from the animated Beauty and the Beast.
He’s so freaking adorable and excited. He’s so excited to give this girl a gift and he really really hopes she likes it.
You just know that the “close your eyes - it’s a surprise” was completely spur-of-the-moment too, as he’s starting to open the door when he suddenly stops and goes “But first you have to close your eyes.” Like, he was about to open the door and lead her in, but then thought wait, but this would be so fun.
And she lets him lead her in… Not only does she do as he asks (and GOOOOD the way he waves a paw in front of her face to make sure she’s not peeking and then that SMILE…) but she allows him to take her hands, and she allows him to draw her into the room. She’s completely trusting of him, she’s not hesitant or resisting, she has no problem closing her eyes and allowing a monster to not only touch her, but to guide her steps without bringing her into possible danger. And she still doesn’t peek until he says so - she just eagerly asks if she can look now, but she listens when he says not yet.
And then just that eager, anxious smile he has during the entire rest of the scene, you know he’s so hopeful even before he asks “You like it?” and he’s so pleased with himself and god damn this movie makes me soft.
People think the moral of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is supposed to be something like “don’t judge people by appearances” but that’s really not it. That is a possible moral of some other versions of the story but the Disney version has a different lesson actually and it’s “people can change.” And I think this becomes obvious when we look at the Beast and Gaston as foils to each other. Because they both start out arrogant, selfish, and petty. Perhaps most importantly, at the outset neither of them really cares about Belle’s feelings. Gaston wants to marry her because she’s beautiful, and the Beast hopes she might break the spell, but neither is really considering her needs or desires at all, at the start. But the Beast changes. He tries to make Belle happy. He learns to put her first, to love her unselfishly, which culminates in him letting her go. Meanwhile Gaston responds to Belle’s rejection by plotting to coerce her into doing what he wants anyway. He never spares a thought for what she wants. He never changes.
But where it gets really interesting is when you compare their supporting characters. Because all Gaston has around him are sycophants who will tell him how wonderful he is. So he never sees any need to change. Whereas the Beast’s servants - even though they are his servants - don’t hesitate to tell him when he needs to clean up his act. They are constantly reminding him to mind his manners, control his temper, and consider things from Belle’s point of view.
So people can change - but they need help to do it.
i want to write an essay on this but i think a huge part of the Beasts change is that Belle, someone who loves to read and consider things from other peoples’ point of view, assesses very quickly that he’s all bark and no bite, stands up to him and treats him like a person even when he doesn’t feel like he is a real person anymore.
i know that at surface level seems like the “dont judge a book by its cover”, but i think its deeper than that? i dont think shes seeing “underneath” this exterior, i think she pieces together how this exterior put upon him has shaped him and the way he behaves. and then she challenges that.
she gives him the space to change, and challenges him to do so, without coddling him or softening it -the way the servants do. they tell him off gently, because they are, after all, servants to him. but belle see’s him as an *equal*, and yhats the pressure he needed to stop being stuck in playing this role he’s now fated to.
i have a LOT to say about the curse itself, how its intent was to punish, not to actually inspire change, and how he changes in spite of that, because he was shown kindness -which isnt always soft and fluffy.
im rambling a little while not even saying parts i think are most important, maybe i’ll make more coherent thoughts another time. overall :yes
I feel sort of insane at this point because the more I think about it, the more I look at miniscule moments, Abel’s story makes a ton more sense but explaining that to anybody sounds like I made it all up.
This show has little interactions where it makes sense but you have to think about it which is more than a little annoying.
Abel and his literally subtle as he is quiet character growth is fascinating to me though because it only makes sense why would the one who hates confrontation ever openly talk about himself learning to step up and do something.
The other thing I haven’t seen addressed at all is the parallel between the anti-pen and the carrot pen.
It’s that same moment as the pen teeters on the edge of a cliff and the decision whether or not to dive for it is made. In the case of the carrot pen, Nick and Judy both dive because they have the security and stability of the harnesses to keep them safe. But they lose grip on the pen and it symbolically shatters their relationship.
Then, the exact same predicament with the anti-pen. And Pawbert says to Nick, “it’s not worth dying for.” Except “it,” is no longer a symbolic thing. “It” is Judy. And Judy is the ONLY thing worth dying for. The carrot pen is gone. He may not have been able to save their relationship, but he can at least save her. And Nick would take a bullet, a dart, or a fall off a cliff, he’d take his own life for Judy. So harnesses be damned, he’s not losing his grip one more time. One pen is making it back to Judy today, whatever it takes.
I am coping with the combo of new Hazbin episode stress + the wait for season 3 by rewatching the entirety of HB on a loop more often than even my hyperfixated ass can really justify (lol) and today I am thinking about Oops. As one does (constantly).
And most of the time I, like a normal person, am thinking about the Blitz + Fizz side of the episode… but today I find myself thinking about the Stolas + Ozzie side of things for a change. Because the thing is, I think it’s an incredibly revealing episode about Stolas’s character.
Stolas’s side of the episode starts out with Asmodeus rejecting Stolas’s request for a portal crystal for Blitz out of hand, for fairly cryptic reasons. (To be clear, it’s very appropriate that Ozzie keeps Fizz’s confidence about the history between Fizz and Blitz, because that’s not something you just blab about to any old person, of course.) But for Stolas, the stakes are so high— this isn’t a wooing gift, as Ozzie seems to assume, this is the only solution he’s managed to come up with that will allow him to disentangle Blitz’s livelihood from their sex life. He’s trying to give Blitz back the agency he feels he’s stolen from him, and Asmodeus turning him down almost flippantly (from Stolas’s perspective) is a serious setback.
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Stolas is visibly distressed by this impediment to his quest. It’s a serious blow, and as far as we know, he doesn’t have a backup plan.
@helluva-jester-nonconforming once again bestie I am NOT letting you leave this in the tags bc it’s really The Whole Point with Stolas. He doesn’t always stick the landing with how he executes on his moral code, because just like anyone he has his blind spots and his presuppositions, but he is fundamentally incapable of seeing something Wrong and not trying to do something to make it Right.
Yes, yes!
And I’d also add this element: moments before the whole contract reading thing, Ozzie absolutely lost his marbles after Crimson’s call.
Stolas, a victim of abuse and all too used to shouting and fury, was right there. Definitely not doing good, as in a split second we can see him hugging himself.
Stolas’ trauma trigger is shouting right near him (we see that in “Full Moon” too), and his first instinct is to hug himself and flee.
Considering he still stayed, despite that moment of emotional distress. He would’ve been justified if he went away on the account of Ozzie throwing him under the mud during that night, not giving him the crystal AND unintentionally causing him distress, he would’ve had justifiable reasons to do so.
But he didn’t. Because Stolas cares deeply for others, even to the detriment of himself.
‘foxes are solitary’ he says over and over, but one step into his house and his words get betrayed. he has a dining table with three chairs he secretly wants to fill. he has a partner he never invites over because he’s afraid he’ll realize what he already knows—that he won’t want her to leave. that he’s miserable in solitude. that he doesn’t just want to be part of a pack, he wants constant companionship, a love that he indulges in around the clock. home is where the heart is… but he left his heart with judy, so until she comes back to him he’ll never truly be home
I hate how the fandom boils Vaggi AND Lilith down to just an extension of their lovers, precisely because the show has made it a point to let you know otherwise. No, Vaggi’s “personality” isnt just The Girlfriend. And no, Lilith isn’t just The Bad Wife.
They were both “rebels” of their own right even before they met Lucifer and Charlie.
Lilith left Adam because he degraded her. She broke things off with a man she was “made for” because she knew she deserved better. Lucifer was amazed by her strength to gain independence as an angel who is constantly held down by Heaven’s rules and he fell in love with her for it.
Meanwhile, Vaggi isn’t only helping with the hotel because of Charlie. We know from her backstory that she has always felt that the Exterminations arent fair. She is shown to be the only one showing discomfort and giving comfort when a fellow Exorcist is mistreated, and is the only one who doesn’t kill Sinners with a sick smile on her face. Charlie was flustered over her because she gave Charlie a grateful smile for her kindness as opposed to the mockery Charlie regularly gets for being a soft-hearted demon. And, eventually, Charlie fell in love with her too.
Lilith and Vaggi aren’t who they are because of the Morningstars who love them. Their respective Morningstars fell for them because of who they are!
the thing that’s so interesting about nick is that he’s actually a very fearful mammal. he’s scared of heights, afraid of falling down deep depths, and easily squeamish, whenever met with something unfamiliar or icky to him. but his fear of losing judy, in whatever way shape or form, takes precedence. being afraid of falling becomes being afraid judy will fall, so he jumps with her. afraid of drowning down an interminable distance of water results in him ignoring his need for air—all in the name of saving her. everything about him flips when it comes to her, actually. half the city’s been destroyed? the chief is about to chew him out? couldn’t care less. it’s funny, even. but a toy carrot pen recorder shatters and he looks like he’s been shot, so utterly and deeply terrified to have upset her, so freaked and petrified at the notion that he could lose her, when she’s not even his to lose. people attack him with insults, jeers, derision. not a peep from him. doesn’t care for an apology. but he wants her sorries. he wants to know that he affects her, that how he feels matters to her. because maybe… just maybe, if he tugged at her sleeve long enough, he could be more truthful about his honesty. he could elaborate on the nature of his love for her. he could give her a recurring live performance of his feelings rather than encapsulating it all in an oft-overplayed recording, that she will no doubt whip out at any given opportunity: a push, shove, and nudge for how he used to tease her. only problem is, his joke was funny because she’s never been a dumb bunny, whereas her joke about him will be hilarious because he loves her more than she’ll ever know.
I love how in both of these, they’re asking the same thing, Hell is closer to Charlie, Heaven is closer to Abel, and in Season 2 the realms are significantly closer in height, indicating they’re closer to peace and equality, but in the pilot, Hell is significantly lower and the two realms aren’t that far apart, indicating possible war.
I HATE I HAVEN’T SEEN ANYONE ELSE MAKE THIS CONNECTION😔
For the past WEEK, I’ve been looking all over TADC Theory tumblr, and I can’t believe no one has said anything about this, and it’s made me (jokingly) sad. Because for me, it confirms a lot about our different sides of the same coin duo, Jax and Ragatha.
LOVE LOVE LOVE what you have here, just wanna add a few things.
The scene with them in the hallway starts off in a mostly yellow and red part of the circus. This is where Jax displays the most amount of power (which is what red is associated with), and where everything goes as planned (yellow is the color of Jax’s eyes and mouth).
Then, as Ragatha tries to fight back, the room has some blue accents.
Notably some green appears when Ragatha sees the gun. Green is the color of life, and is blue and yellow mixed together. We’ll come back to that.
Anyways, Jax lets Ragatha try and shoot him at first, because he isn’t scared of a lil blue. And yet the red in the room is slowly being covered by it.
Then she goes into the hallway to hide. She moves through there naturally, if a little scared. Jax drops in the middle of it all with the intent to hurt her.
Yet, even as she was cowering on the floor, she doesn’t give in. She confronts.
I know you’re trying to make Pomni like you, and It Won’t Work (?).
We know she’s telling the truth, since we see all the colors behind her. Jax is initially caught off guard by this outburst, enough to make his mask fall off momentarily, which is why we see all the colors behind him.
Once she’s said her piece though, the mask is back on, which is why theres only two colors behind him when shes in the shot. He thinks shes stalling, and won’t think deeply abt the words she said bc he has the upper hand. He won’t let the blue mix with his yellow, no matter how close it gets, because he still has red.
Anyways, when he shoots her, he has an detatched, bored look on his face, but doesn’t dare cross the threshold between them with anything other than a gun. But this fear makes no sense.
She’s covered with yellow both in the background and with yellow lighting (which makes her dress look purple), so surely she can’t harm him, right?
But then, it happens. She fights back in self defense, wITH THE BULLET HE WAS INTENDING TO KILL HER WITH, and it works.
Quick question, have you noticed how her button eye remains blue no matter how purple her dress becomes in the yellow light?
This is a good way to show that no matter how much yellow Jax tries to pour into her blue, no matter how much he messes with her, Ragatha is still blue the moment he stops.
Can Jax say the same?
Because the moment she has the upper hand, the moment she’s pouring blue in his yellow, it immediately turns green. In this instance, Ragatha not only took one of his lives, she also broke the gun.
Throughout all this talk of red, I never brought up how Ragatha’s hair is red too. This is because she has a power of her own, something that isn’t diluted with white or blue like Jax’s.
Ragatha doesn’t realize this, but Jax does. And it terrifies him.
This is why he’s so frantic to kill her, despite his original weapon, his original reason for going after her, being gone. He had to end things, otherwise she’d continue, and he would become more real, more full of life.
So he does.
But it was too late. You can’t separate green paint back into yellow and blue. She landed a blow that couldn’t be taken back. A whole magazine couldn’t erase that. Winning the game couldn’t fix that.
He sure does try though, making a display of power in front of Pomni, showing he’s not scared. But despite his red, most of the colors behind him are green.
Ragatha left such a big impact that, though Pomni did not see the yellow and blue mix, she felt that something was off.
My favorite part of the finale is Alastor finally getting mad at Vox for constantly non-consensually touching people
because WHY is this so accurate for some creepy old preacher man to put his hands on everyone’s shoulders why is that actually a thing
You go, Alastor. Tell that cult leader to keep his damn HANDS to HIMSELF
For anyone saying that Alastor is a hypocrite bc he does that himself: yes, Alastor can absolutely be hypocritical but not in this instance
Because the point here is not that Vox touches people like that, it’s that he consistently crosses boundaries without even registering that the boundary is there because he is focused on no one but himself.
If he had cared at all, he would have noticed Al’s radio screeches when he touches Al. If he had cared at all, he would have thought twice about touching Charlie
Alastor on the other hand, is incredibly aware of every boundary he is crossing as he does it. And he always does it purposefully. It is intended to make the other person uncomfortable and possibly to manipulate them. Unlike Vox, who does this with Alastor, Velvette, Val, Charlie, Angel, etc – Alastor is only seen crossing boundaries via touch a few times: when trying to manipulate Charlie, and when condescending to Husk
With Charlie it is very clearly manipulation. He is using the same actions Vox used to try and befriend him, so both unsettle Charlie and appear friendly while doing so. (Shadow Weaver and Catra from She-Ra are a fantastic example of similarly used touch as manipulation, with Catra later turning it around on Entrapta like how Alastor turns it on Charlie)
With Husk he is turning Rosie’s actions towards him on a soul in his possession, probably as an act of control. It’s very interesting to me how much Alastor reflects and mimics other people’s actions
we don’t credit rebecca sugar enough for making the episode with the first gay wedding in a kids show extremely plot relevant so it could not be skipped or cut.
I’ve seen a decent amount of discussion on the scene in Beach Episode where Zooble and Gangle have a conversation in Caine’s office, especially on Jax’s reaction to said conversation. The most common reading among the TADC subreddits that I saw was that Jax, triggered by Zooble and Gangle reaffirming how much they mean to each other, started remembering something about his relationship with Ribbit and began to hyperventilate.
I have a bit of a different theory on Jax’s reaction, however. Here’s the transcript of the conversation for reference:
Gangle: A-Are… Are we still gonna be friends when we’re… out there?
Zooble: Why wouldn’t we be?
Gangle: It’s just… gonna be strange. I’ve only known you like this. Will it be the same when it’s… real?
Zooble: It always was real. Everything we felt. Everything we’ve done. Everything we are. It’ll never leave us. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Gangle: (laughs and sniffles) Thank you… for always being there when I needed. (laughs tearfully as Jax pants softly.)
I personally don’t believe Jax’s reaction is mainly because their conversation is bringing up thoughts of Ribbit, I think he’s actually reacting to what Zooble is saying: the possibility that everything they felt, done, and are was real.
Jax’s coping mechanism depends on three assumptions: that the Circus isn’t real, that the others aren’t fully people, and that his actions therefore have no lasting moral weight. Zooble’s words directly challenge all three at once. This is why I think he responded so viscerally to this conversation. Their conversation threatens the one belief that allows him to function in the Circus: that nothing here truly matters. If Jax actually considers this possibility, that everything they experienced was real, then so was the harm he caused. He has been mistreating real people that were trapped in this situation with him for years. All of the cruelty and abuse that he inflicted on others as a “joke” would be recontextualized in his mind.
Accepting Zooble’s perspective would mean accepting that the people he’s treated as playthings were real people all along, and that’s something Jax just isn’t prepared to face yet.
Reblogging again with tags a follower added because they are correct. No you are not insane for reading that deeply into the overall reaction to SU and im glad you said it.
This sort of problem runs deep and i see it fucking everywhere.
everyone did this with avatar aang the same day that finale came out. old heads remember
Sometimes I still see people being like “Steven shouldn’t have forgiven the diamonds” and I’m like did we watch the same show?? He didn’t forgive them???
There was a whole thing in the Steven Univers: Future season where he possessed White and impulsively tried to kill her????? Because he hates what she did and he was under extreme stress?????? Who’s saying he forgives them? He doesn’t even all the way forgive his mom!
Exactly! The major theme of the series is “sometimes things are broken, sometimes you can’t heal everything, and that’s okay; we continue regardless.” They light on this again and again. Sometimes the physical and the emotional damage in SU can be fixed, often it can’t, and people have to figure out a way to move on regardless. It happens again and again, it’ like, the main point. The fact that the diamonds don’t get redeemed or cleansed via punishment or death and simply have to do the work of undoing as much of their damage as they can is a major point. The fact that Steven has to be civil to these people who hurt so many, has to learn to work with them without the catharsis of vengeance or seeing them stripped of their power or anything because a) he’s not strong enough to do that and b) it would solve nothing, what matters now is healing as much damage as possible and the diamonds can better help with that where they are, is the point. The fact that Steven’s wounds are raw and his resentment is completely justified and unable to be satisfied,and his impulsive high-stress momentary lapse into seeking revenge was a bad thing and a flaw on his part and he knows and recognises this immediately is the point.
Sometimes the part of the earth used to birth alien soldiers will never ever recover, and we push on. Sometimes your mother who committed suicide isn’t coming back and you’ll never get to know her, and we push on. sometimes your friend who works at the chip shop is always going to be the most annoying guy on the planet, sometimes your other firend who suffered abuse and torture and long-term imprisonment at the hands of your other friends is always going to be traumatised and have depression, sometimes you’ll never forgive your father for the shitty way you were raised and your bones will forever bear the scars of their hundreds of breaks and your mind will bear the selfsame scars from having to be the pillar of your family and bear the responsibility of everyone’s happiness from young childhood. Sometimes the genocidal warmongers who you faced down in order to save the universe from their rampage will still be happy and comfortable and in charge of the empire once the mission has changed to repairing the damage, and you have to keep on working with them and be a civil as you can, for the benefit of your planet and the universe. Sometimes things are broken and they won’t heal, and you’ve just got to push on.
one thing i love about OTGW is that despite being a story about The Unknown and all the terrible dangers that lurk in it, the story’s main message is “things are rarely as scary as they seem.” the Woodsman scared the boys repeatedly, but he was really a good man trying to help them and in fact saved their lives multiple times. the inhabitants of Pottsville seemed ominous and ill-intentioned, but stopping to speak to them showed that they were benign folks who just came off a little creepy. the “fearsome gorilla” was just a man in a suit and the “ghost” was just an unexpected roommate. even Auntie Whispers, a terrifying witch-woman who seemed to be abusing her ward, turned out to love Lorna and was only trying to protect her from evil forces—and it was Wirt facing the evil spirit head on that finally exorcised it for good.
even the main characters’ arcs reflect this: Wirt is scared of rejection and humiliation from Sara and Jason Funderberker, but after returning to the real world, Sara is more than receptive toward him and Jason Funderberker isn’t even an issue. Beatrice is too ashamed to face her family after turning them all into bluebirds, but at the end of the story it’s such a non-issue for them that they only use the incident to affectionately tease her and everybody is perfectly happy.
and it all cumulates in the final episode when Wirt and Greg finally face the Beast. for the entire series the Beast has been a looming figure of evil, something dark and strange and unimaginably powerful that you never, ever want to meet. but when Wirt actually dares to face the monster head on, not running or hiding or falling for its tricks, he destroys the Beast in less than a minute! the monster that’s been terrorizing the woods for who knows how long, preying on fearful travelers and eating the souls of its victims, is extinguished by simply blowing out a lantern.
OTGW hammers it home that as much as it scares you, you have to face the Unknown in order to move forward. maybe its scary. maybe it will suck. but when you do confront your problems directly, it’s almost as never as bad as it seems.
she/her, adult (child of the 80s, if you must know) This is a multifandom blog, so don't be surprised to see a pretty random selection of things both old and new.
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