this fanfic shit is easy

I BEG YOUR PARDON??? i must've missed the part at the end of the movie where pete, ray and stebs get lost in the woods and resort to cannibalism

I loveee finding out random things from and about the past like little facts and stuff.

This one I found on Pinterest (but originally from Wikipedia). I guess I’ll use this now to mess with people.

- 𝐷. 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑧

"I CANT HANDLE THIS" *handles this*

"I CANT TAKE ANOTHER DAY" *takes another day*

Please, call me Frankenstein. Frankenstein was my father, but stealing his name and overriding his presence in the dominant cultural consciousness has been really, really satisfying

when I was like 14 I used to reblog these posts on here that were like "YOUR 20S ARE NOT AN IMAGINARY RACE YOURE DOING JUST FINE!!" just to be positive towards my older mutuals even though i didn't really get what they were abour and I'd be in the tags like "#so true!! #everyone does things at their own pace!!" and now im 24 I'm thinking back to it and it's like Oh of course the imaginary race. Which I'm losing

(guy who heard that she needs to romanticize her life but got it confused with eroticize): migraine light sensitivity is just another type of sensation play when you think about it

I think it would be fun to go full out with “1001 Arabian Nights” orientalized fictional New York setting. It’s somehow always the 20s, and 80s and also contemporary. There’s depression era gangsters and Wall Street finance bros. Spider-man or the Teen Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles might show up. The Mayor is never named but is a constantly felt presence. Sometimes the World Trade Centres are there, sometimes they’re not.

I really want to talk about the propaganda posters they released for The Long Walk. Because I think they go a long way to supporting the themes of the movie, and to highlighting the changes in focus they made to the themes of the book when adapting it.

First of all, before I get bogged down in literary analysis, I want to point out that they emulated the fuck out of propaganda art. The coloring they chose was spot on. Not just choosing orange/white/black (although that was a popular color combo, it wasn't the only one) but the color blocking and composition is striking. Posters like these needed to be eye catching but cheap to print in large quantities (hence the low amount of colors). They needed to convey simple and clear messages that elicited emotional reactions at a single glance. And high contrast art with a large focal point did this. (Often very masculine and phallic in nature lol)

I think that leaning into military propaganda for the marketing (which is not a focus of the book or the movie) is so smart. Especially when you consider how they changed the focus of the story when adapting it.

The book, in true Stephen King fashion, chooses to focus on the emotional and mental toll the Walk takes on the boys rather than get bogged down in world building. The anti-fascism sentiment is still there, but it's background dressing to his real focus: anti-militarism. SK spends most of the book focusing on all the ways the boys try to keep themselves sane, all the focuses young men have to try and keep hold of their humanity. And how all of them fail. Even if you win the walk (make it home) you still are irrevocably broken.

Nothing can save you. Not religion, or sex, or friendship, or clinging to racist/homophobic/patriarchal rehtoric, or living up to your father's expectations, or belief that the world is inherently beautiful can save you from the dehumanization inflicted upon the young men being forced to push themselves to the edge of sanity for their country. Forced to kill or die for a morally corrupt ideal.

For a book written in the middle of the Vietnam War, and released in its wake, this makes perfect sense.

The movie shifts the focus, understandably imo, to be more about the system that puts people in the position of having to join the military rather than the mental tole. (Before you get too up in arms, yes both of these sentiments are present in both the movie and the book, I'm merely choosing to highlight what appears to be the main thematic focus and the ultimate moral of the individual versions of this story)

Ray's dad is not killed in the book (though it's implied he may die while in the Squads) and he is certainly not personally squaded by the Major. Ray still has resentment for the Major as a figurehead and plans in wishing for a gun to kill him, but it's important that he doesn't do it. He can't. His mind is broken and he has assimilated into the system, so not only does he keep walking, he RUNS.

While in the movie Mcvries wins and does carry out the killing of the Major (which is NOT a character failing imo, but that's a way too long post for another day), because the system is the ultimate evil here, not the mental toll. Does that make sense?

In a book you have so much more time to spend inside a character's point of view and more time to let secondary characters voice their philosophies about life. So making the thematic climax of the book about the sole winner still breaking and running away is thematically satisfying, if depressing.

If that happened to Pete it would have landed flat, imo. The movie was far more interested in political philosophy than mental breakdowns. Pete HAD to kill The Major, in a literary sense, he had to take down the head of the snake. Even if it was pointless, even if it did break him, or get him killed, because that sacrifice was worth it for love.

In 2025 we know the toll military service has on veterans. We know the cost of life. We know and see more than we ever have, so showing us the toll and making that the ultimate moral and thematic point (ending on Ray running) is not as powerful to us. You know what is? Standing up to fascism and then continuing to walk, even if it's broken you.

Both endings are still incredibly bleak and metaphorical. But they have very different focuses. Inner turmoil and assimilation vs outer resistance and perseverance.

OK SO. What does that have to do with choosing military propaganda posters for the marketing??

I'm so glad you asked, person who has read this far.

All three posters are recruitment posters. They are not about selling war bonds, or what women could be doing on the home front, or keeping a stiff upper lip. They are about joining The Long Walk and what that means to the people of this version of a fascist dystopian America.

Imo the posters represent three very relevant desires for disenfranchised people. Power (the "Join" tank), Fame ("You Could be the Next Winner") and Purpose (the I Want You style "the Road Awaits You") and those desires are often preyed upon by far right governments in order to get people to fall in line and just accept what's happening. Sound familiar? The boys all bought into that propaganda. Yes, even Ray. Because he believes that by playing within the system he can get the power he seeks. And his moral/thematic victory is in giving that power up.

And listen, I know the marketing team probably made this decision on their own, marketing is art too, but I truly think they went above and beyond to honor the themes of the movie in their art.

I think all three of these posters can be read as in universe posters for the next year's Walk, but I want to specifically highlight this one with Pete, Stebbins, and Ray. The composition of it is absolutely fascinating, and I'm dying to know who designed it because it's so fucking smart.

It's so interesting that it features the top three walkers. Obviously in our world, that's because they're three of the top billed actors in the movie lol, but walk with me here. (Ha!)

Third place is faded out, but still centered...possibly because he was the majors son? (Who knows how much of that they censored) But certainly because he's meant to be the masculine ideal.

Second place is not faded out, but Ray is turned so we only see his profile.

Pete, as the previous year's winner has his face turned so he's looking out into the distance, we can see his face; he looks calm and accepting.

An entire Long Walk's worth of screaming crying and throwing up from these three men and they chose the most calm and serene shots of them.

Because of course they would choose that. They want people to voluntarily sign up for this, they want to display it as this beautiful sacrifice you can make for your country.

"Remember the Major's son and how he chose to stop walking with his head held high?" "Remember when that young man stopped walking to allow his friend to live?" "Remember how they both tried to nobly sacrifice themselves for each other?"

Just *muah* chef's kiss to the marketing team.

Tldr; art is political and I fucking love it.

movie ray: holy shit. holy fucking shit. this is so fucked its all so fucked

book ray: holy shit. holy fucking shit. this is so fucked its all so fucked. anyway, i feel a boner coming on

they're saying he died for somebody's sins

:(

GEORGE: [ABRUPTLY, AFTER SILENCE] “I mean, I feel like I understand trans people.”

[JERRY STARES AT GEORGE FROM ACROSS THE TABLE IN CONFUSION AND DISBELIEF FOR SEVERAL SECONDS]

JERRY: “You understand trans people?”

GEORGE: “Is that so hard to believe?”

JERRY: “I find it hard to believe you understand yourself.”

GEORGE: “But that’s kind of my point, see. When one life isn’t working out, you can just try to find one that does. You’re doing your best as Danny, things aren’t going great… [GEORGE CLAPS HIS HANDS FOR EMPHASIS]… give it a second go as a Deborah.”

JERRY: “Like a do-over.”

GEORGE: “A do-over.”

JERRY: [PICKS UP COFFEE CUP] “I don’t think that’s what’s going on.” [DRINKS COFFEE]

GEORGE: [COMPLETELY IGNORING THIS] “And I get that. I really do. Because things have never worked out for George. George has never been able to stick the landing. But Georgina? [HE CHUCKLES CONFIDENTLY] Georgina’s going places.”

JERRY: “Georgina.”

GEORGE: “It’s a work in progress.”

JERRY: “Ya know, I think that the trans community is facing enough challenges without you being in the mix.”

GEORGE: “What, are you implying they’re too good for me?”

JERRY: “Not implying, no.”

actual penetrative sex is always inferior to anything that's just variations on rubbing on stuff. rubbing on stuff is what real sex is

I had a dream that people started using the 🪷 emoji as a reaction and it was universally understood to mean “kill [] and you will be reincarnated as a lotus blossom.” Like someone would talk about going to the White House and people would spam 🪷🪷🪷 in the replies, and everyone just knew without having to be told that that meant “hey you should assassinate the president.”

It's funny that they still have the 'no smoking allowed' lights and warnings on every plane you fly on, as if there's a single flight you CAN smoke on any human has been on since the turn of the millenium at latest.

the funniest part is that they're lights, and the other lights turn off and on depending on circumstances, leading to the strange implication that there's some hypithy situation where the pilot is supposed to go "eh, why not?"

turning off the no smoking lights as soon as it becomes clear we're not avoiding that mountain