TV isn’t needed. Comic books aren’t needed. Oreo cookies aren’t needed. Domesticated animals aren’t needed. Specifically styled clothes aren’t needed. Cafe food and drink isn’t needed. Board games aren’t needed. Pizza isn’t needed. There are so many things in the world that aren’t needed.
But they exist anyway. They exist on their own purpose. And in return they make most of us happy. And because of that, they have the right to exist.
Just as much as you do. You may think you’re not needed. But that doesn’t matter. You don’t need to feel needed. You exist anyway and in return make many people in your life happy, whether you know it or not. So if you ever feel like no one would care because you think your purpose is less than others, remember the small things, the other things in life that have no real purpose but exist anyway. Think about how happy they make you. Think about how happy you make others.
Every writer on Tumblr: “I would combust out of love if someone ever drew fanart of my fic!!”
Me: “oh man I wanna draw this scene BUT THEY WOULD PROBABLY HATE IT AND HATE ME FOR THE NERVE”
Dear artists.
We, the writers, will accept any of your fan arts.
We don’t care if it looks like shit to you, or you think your art skills are not good enough.
We will love any fan art, because it’s the most beautiful way to say “I love what you write”.
Can we talk about how the Deadpool movie, which the media has largely referred to (in so many words) as a fuckboy’s wetdream, not only gives a female sex worker an empathetic role, but treats her and her work more respectfully than about 99% of so called feminist media?
.
At no point does the movie imply that Vanessa is tainted because she is a sex worker. At no point does the movie imply that Vanessa is unworthy of love because she is a sex worker.
At no point is Vanessa portrayed as “broken.”
At no point does the movie imply that being a sex worker makes Vanessa a bad girlfriend. At no point does Deadpool ask or expect Vanessa to sacrifice her job for their relationship.
At no point is Vanessa slut-shamed for her job, by either protagonists or villains.
Think about that.
Denigrating sex workers is so taboo within the Deadpool movieverse that even the villains won’t do it.
We know that Vanessa experienced sexual abuse, and that it’s shaped the person she’s become and influenced the choices she’s made. The movie clearly acknowledges that sexual abuse is real, and that it is damaging, and that people who experience sexual abuse struggle to lead “normal” lives and get “normal” jobs.
But the movie never hands sexual abusers the mic.
There is no sexual abuse porn in this movie. There are no voyeuristic rape flashbacks. There are no misogynist monologues. The audience learns about Vanessa’s abusive past from Vanessa, on Vanessa’s terms, through Vanessa’s own words.
This seems like the bare minimum of dignity any female character should be granted, yet so much media fails to meet this extremely low bar.
The movie makes it very clear that Vanessa has a life outside of sex work. She does not live on a stripper pole. Sex work is something Vanessa does. Sex work is not who Vanessa is. She has an apartment. She wears pajamas. What other fictional universe can say the same? I can think of one tv show, but that’s about it, and that show’s viewership is nothing compared to Deadpool’s.
Now on the one hand, I’m not necessarily happy that Vanessa’s character arc revolves almost entirely around her romantic relationship with the lead male protagonist. But on the other hand, I find it very refreshing to see a sex worker in the media whose character arc does not revolve entirely around the fact that she is a sex worker. Hate to say it, but for sex workers in the media, being relegated to the role of love interest is actually a step up.
Most feminist media would rather pretend sex workers don’t exist than write storylines of any kind for them.
This.
And the people who call Deadpool a fuckboy’s wet dream sure as heck didn’t watch the same movie I did.
The movie has:
A very funny moment in which the joke is on those who assume that sex workers have abusive pasts, not on the sex worker. (The comparing abuse thing gets ridiculous enough that they’re both clearly lying).
The male lead repeatedly posed in female come-on positions. This one is my favorite:
He’s even on a bearskin rug in front of a fire. The humor in this pose is “Haha, isn’t it silly to pose a character like that.” It’s designed explicitly to make people think about how commonly female characters are shown in these kinds of ridiculous poses. Going to tell me that’s not a feminist visual joke?
An under-age female character who is never sexualized. Yeah, this girl
Look at that. A practical costume, her breasts are minimized rather than emphasized. We only see Negasonic Teenage Warhead as badass, not “cute.” And she’s treated like a teenager, not a child or an adult.
Oh, and Deadpool doesn’t rescue Vanessa in the end. He throws her a weapon so she can rescue herself. Which she does, because she’s badass.
I’d actually call Deadpool a feminist movie, and an important one. Why?
Because they probably tricked an entire bunch of fuckboys into watching a feminist movie ;).
So, why was it so feminist?
Two words: Ryan and Reynolds.
Ryan Reynolds wanted to do this movie. He wanted to do this movie for years. Reynolds is basically a Deadpool cosplayer who managed to convince a movie studio to pay him a lot of money to be a Deadpool cosplayer.
Guess what Ryan Reynolds also is?
A feminist. He says he’s going to push for even more badass ladies in the sequel. (I think we’re going to see Vanessa with superpowers. They had her long enough to expose her to the agent, if not to activate it).
I’d love to see Vanessa with superpowers, and I enjoyed the hell out of Deadpool.
I forgot one, and an important one.
When we are shown the strip club Vanessa works at, it is not filmed the way movies always film strip clubs.
It’s filmed as if we were going to an office. It’s just “this is where Vanessa happens to work.” No low shot angles to show off women’s bodies, no soft porn music.
Just very…matter of fact.
Can we also bring up that Deadpool does NOT shame Negasonic’s name choice? It screams OC but he’s still supportive of it.
Of course he’s not gonna shame it, it’s the best fucking thing he’s ever heard in his life and he’s pissed at himself that he didn’t think of it first.
I actually heard the movie described as a “Fan Movie in the best possible way” because the people making it clearly cared about the material. Rather than a “Wet Dream” of any kind.
On the “equality/women are people too” front I liked how she defended her autonomy when someone did try to slut-shame her. A huge guy slaps her ass, and when he’s grabbed by Wade, instead of Wade punching him for slapping Vanessa, she grabs him by the balls and threatens him herself. He goes to defend her, which is good, and then she defends herself, which absolutely makes the scene perfect.
“Gonna apologize Fat Gandalf?”
No means no, whether said by a prostitute or nun.
I love Deadpool even more now
all these wonderful reasons why this is one of my favorite movies
Is really a shitty concept. You’re too old for everything. Cartoons, sleepovers, candy, etc. Basically, you’re too old for fun. You shouldn’t be too old for fun ever in your life. If you want to watch cartoons, do it! If you want to have sleepovers, do it!
CS Lewis famously said that the intrusive desire to appear grown up all costs was in of itself a childish trait that secure adults should’ve grown out of it.
He worded it that “When I was young I hid my love of fairy tails for fear of ridicule, now that I’m 50 I read them openly”
Honestly, this is something I always try to remember. You should never be “too old” to do something that makes you happy. Watch cartoons, collect stuffed animals, get out your colouring books – life’s too short. Spend it doing the things that you love.
The cry of millions of lovers of the screen, of music and of the arts shouted countless times at the sky this past year.
We’ve lost a lot of celebrity this year, and many other global citizens who put in a lot of hard work to help others. It may have something to do with the majority of deaths (on average) happening to most people over the age of 50, and we’re all growing older, even those we idolise.
There have been countless people saying rather negative comments to mourners, though, like “every one dies” or “you never met them” or “hundreds of people are dying everyday and that doesn’t make the news”.
Well I have something to say to those Negative Nelsons and Nancys.
When someone dies, we tend to mourn the memory of the person, the life that had potential, the moments that were missed, or even our own mortality. In the case of celebrity deaths, fans and followers of the stars will be mourning the memories that may never be and also, we mourn the part of our lives that was influenced by said celebrity.
David Bowie, Prince and George Michael were trailblazers when it came to owning your sexuality, masculinity and creating music that made millions of people smile. They proved that there is no one way to live as a man nor as a musician, nor is there one way to make music. There is no normal. For the LGBTQI+ community, these were the idols who helped pave the way for acceptance and equality.
Muhammed Ali was The Greatest, a spokesperson for Parkinson’s disease and an icon for the black community around the world. There are many athletes, members of the black community and just your average joes who list him as an inspiration and a motivator.
There were parental figures that we looked up to, such as Doris Roberts (Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond), Florence Henderson (Carol from The Brady Bunch), Alan Rickman (too many roles to mention) and, of course, Gene Wilder (most notably Willy Wonka). Those comforting smiles were bliss for those that had hard lives growing up and allowed escapism. There are several generations that were affected by each of these long term actors’ careers, many that pursued a life of acting due to them or others that wanted to be like the characters they played.
We lost Nobel Prize Winners Leonard Cohen (poet and songwriter) and Elie Wiesel, who was a Holocaust survivor and won the Nobel Peace Prize. We lost founding members of bands, Glenn Frey (The Eagles), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), Maurice White (Earth Wind and Fire) and Malik Taylor. We lost masters of the pen Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird), Richard Adams (Watership Down) and Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?).
We lost the people we grew up with, from the franchises that raised us and that we were excited for when it came to reboots, prequels and sequels. The premature accidental death of Anton Yelchin (Star Trek), Kenny Baker (R2-D2 in Star Wars) and Carrie Fisher (most notably, Princess Leia in Star Wars).
Fisher was also a masterful writer and screenwriter, an unapologetic speaker and campaigner for mental health awareness. By normalising bi-polar disorder, which she lived with, Fisher may have saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives and could be the reason others sought help or reached out to friends and family.
Celebrity is not just about having your name in lights or people who recognise you everywhere you go. You can have a profound affect on people you’ve never met. You can inspire by being yourself and doing what you do best.
There is no death that is sadder than another. There is no life that is less important than another. There is no right or wrong way to mourn for someone that you’ve known all your life or that you’ve never met.
If someone has inspired you to be the person you’ve become, if someone has influenced the way you live your life or treat others – let them know.
Life is too short to only let people hear negatives.
real life hack for autistic peeps who have trouble with eye contact. if you stare at someones nose they literally cant tell the difference. i had an employer tell me that they could tell i was confident because i made such strong eye contact and i probably looked at their actual eyes twice the whole time. allistics are wild.
Also, if there is a woman wearing eye makeup you can look at her makeup. When I explain my problems with eye contact to female friends I often get “But you look at my eyes all the time!”
No
You have fallen for my trick
I was looking at your eyeliner/eyeshadow/false eyelashes this whole time
reblog to save lives
i was in sales and have trouble with eye contact and i can verify that both of these work
Her name is Theresa Kachindamoto, and she is a senior chief – political leader of a region with a population of about 900,000 people.
She didn’t run for election; she was appointed, without her knowledge, while she was living and working in a completely different part of the country. She just received a call one day telling her to come back to her childhood home, because she was in charge now.
So she did; and when she arrived, she discovered widespread sexual abuse of children. She browbeat 50 uncooperative local leaders into accepting her decision to annul all the marriages. She then fired four of them when they continued to allow children to be married off in their areas. She still faces widespread opposition from parents who consider it their right to sexually abuse their daughters if they want to; but Kachindamoto very evidently does not give a fuck, and is continuing to use political and legal means to protect children in the region.
She’s not just an anonymous do-gooder; she’s an effective political leader despite incredibly difficult circumstances. Theresa Kachindamoto.
Initiative Archival Network 