Latest Posts by be-ready-for-random-shit - Page 6

YES! You can never, n e v e r, fully separate the art from the artist, because art ALWAYS reflects the author's worldview. An author always recreates the world the way they see it,even if it is a fantasy world. Tropes and stereotypes don't just come out of nowhere. I'm sure J. K. didn't INTENTIONALLY put in an antisemitic stereotype, and of course she didn't see it, but that just shows HOW SHE SEES THE WORLD. Those things usually sit in your subconscious, and that's how they come out. That's why they call it subtext, right? So yeah, you can't just pretend art is separate from the person who made it.

hey do you think you could expand a bit on separating the art from the artist? clearly you’ve done it with jk rowling but what are your thoughts on it as a general idea?

Okay, but you’re not going to like the answer.

Here’s the truth: you can’t separate the art from the artist. Not entirely. HP Lovecraft was an incredibly talented, but much more incredibly racist man. It would nice to say you don’t agree with his views but you can enjoy his works without that leaking in but.... well, I’m afraid that would be misunderstanding his books entirely.

Consider, for a second, that Lovecraft’s works were horror stories about extradimensional creatures having mutant children with humans; they were about invasions from distant aliens; they were about the purity of quaint, white, American towns being tainted. Now consider how this may have all been influenced by the fact that he just simply despised anybody who wasn’t white. Consider how his opinions on “mixing the races” might feed into this; consider why being unable to maintain the “purity” of white Americans was the scariest thing of all to him.

This extends to Rowling too.

I would love to say we can just acknowledge that she is an awful, racist, antisemitic, transphobic person and then say “but at least her books are good,” because, well, they are, aren’t they? I would say so, for sure. But to suggest that one can separate her from them is.... ridiculous, and it’s an insult to fans, can know and do better.

Consider why an antisemitic woman wrote about a species of goblins who live among us, but who for the most part keep to themselves and are maybe a little discriminated against on an individual level, but also hold all the cards, all the money, run the banks.

Consider why a racist woman would write about a species of slaves who loved being enslaved, who enjoyed working for no pay, and cleaning up after humans, with the only small caveat of that they didn’t want to be beaten. Imagine that only the most radical of their species wanted to be free, and he still spent the rest of his life working for no pay and helping out a little white boy and his friends wherever he could. Consider why the only person in the story who thought they should be free, that they should have rights, was treated as an overzealous joke, who was acting against the wishes of those slaves who really LOVE being enslaved. Consider that Rowling went on to say that she kind of considers that girl to be black, now.

Consider why JK Rowling, an open and proud transphobe, wrote Rita Skeeter as having a large square jaw, thick “manly” hands, and dressing incredibly gaudily with the most obvious fake nails and fake teeth and fake hair and fake everything. Consider why a woman who tweets about how trans women are “foxes pretending to be hens to get in the hen house” might write this Rita Skeeter character to then illegally transform her body in order to spy on children.

Harry Potter is full of Rowling’s bigotry, start to finish. Not even tangentially, like, “oh the goblins are bad, Rita Skeeter is bad, the house elves are bad, but most of it’s good!” because the deeper you dig and the longer you think the more you realise the entire story is based on her prejudices.

Harry Potter pretends to be an aracial story about found family, but if that were true, why are Harry’s distant ancestors important to who he is today even in the seventh book? Why does Harry have to live with his cousin and aunt and uncle? Because magic inherently prefers blood ties. Whilst Rowling was writing a story that seemed to say, “your heritage is not that important and doesn’t make you better than others” she was still writing a story about a boy who got all of his money through his bloodline, who was protected by living with his bloodline, no matter how evil, who was uniquely able to stop Voldemort because his bloodline passed down the invisibility cloak for generations and generations. Any step Harry takes he is compared to his perfect parents who were exactly like him — he looks just like his father, but he has his mother’s eyes, you know! — consider WHY a woman who is racist might’ve written a story like this. A story that on its surface, condemns a blood caste, but still in every step it takes, validates the idea that blood is thicker than water, and your geneological origin is what makes you special.

You can enjoy Harry Pottwr, of course you can. There are fantastic parts. I love a small group of teenagers deciding to become anarchist rebels and train to fight against fascism in secret. I love the murder mystery plots, I love how the series tells kids that it’s a good thing to be brave, and a good thing to fight injustice, and a good thing to challenge the government. But I cannot separate it from its author because it is such a product of its author. All of the structures of the world, the way things work in the universe, are drenched in Rowling’s beliefs, her bigotries. Of course they are: she made them.

Again. This doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy it. But I think we are past the day where we can pretend that disavowing a bigoted author is enough, and that that somehow separates the text from its bigotry. I think we are past the day where we can pretend that Harry Potter isn’t a deeply, inherently bigoted piece of media. Even the bits we love. I think we are beyond the day where we can truthfully pretend to separate it from her, because she is present through all of it. We MUST recognise its flaws. We MUST admit that she is in every part of it.

I want to say something

Harry Potter was my shelter. I used to read and re-read the series over and over again as a means to escape reality, to escape my thoughts. When I was about 12, I started having problems with my mental health. My anxiety, social anxiety in particular, was crippling. So I was reading Harry Potter on an endless loop, obsessing to the point where I couldn't let myself go to sleep without reading at least a page from whatever book I was re-reading at the moment (yeah, I know it's bad). So the series was my escape, and it will forever have a special place in my heart.

BUT

I'm grown up now, and J. K. Rowling spouting that shit causes so much pain. Seriously, can this woman own up to her shit and just... I don't know... Shut it? Like, permanently?

Also, the series is full of harmful things which are subtle enough you don't notice them as a kid and they settle down deep inside of you and influence your view of the world (a race BORN to be slaves, antisemitic stereotypes, lack of diversity, etc) and if anyone wants to trash-talk the books with me I'm always ready.

To conclude, fuck J. K.

Let's just collectively rewrite the series

Honestly it's so weird that starkid doesn't get more acknowledgement and appreciation for basically inventing Harry Potter. Like this Joanne lady just wrote some fanfiction about the very potter series and suddenly she gets all the credit.

If you're like me (a minor who has zero to no money and also doesn't live in America or Europe), you can help by watching this video (and other ones that weren't taken down) or educating yourself!

There is no excuse for racism. There is no excuse for police brutality. There is no excuse for the system to be so unfair.

Use your voice even if you don’t have a big following/audience, sign petitions, go protest, donate if you can, support black-owned business! Don’t be silent!!!

Can somebody ban J. K. Rowling from tweeting? It's pride month for Christ's sake, can she simply not?

On one hand, I haven't had an anxiety attack in a month and a half. On the other hand, I literally couldn't get out of bed for a whole week bc shit was too heavy.

is anybody else in that weird state where quarantine is a blessing for half of you and your mental state and the other half of you and your mental state is being completely obliterated and destroyed. bc same

Oh god, this really strikes a chord. I struggle a lot with my identity as a queer girl because I never feel "queer enough". I identify as bi, and I have since I was 13. However, my attraction to women differs greatly from  my attraction to men, and the attraction I feel towards women is more romantic than physical. And every time I am attracted to a man I start overthinking and my anxiety comes into play. I almost start shaming myself for liking men. This always makes me feel like I'm feigning my queerness and I don't deserve a place in queer spaces. The bisexual label puts some kind of pressure on me, and from time to time I don’t even want to identify as anything because I’m too confused.  I’m sorry, I can’t really help, but I felt like sharing because I found someone like me and it made me feel a little bit better. At the end of the day, I know that all my crushes on girls were genuine, and I remember how and what I felt. Keeping that in mind helps me feel more secure

sometimes i feel so pressured to be “queer enough”. i know it’s the internalized biphobia, but i just feel so guilty when i talk about my attraction to women and fem-aligned people. in my attempt to become ok with my attraction to men and my own identity as a man that i lost my ability to be ok with my attraction to women. especially because my attraction to women isn’t exactly the type that men are expected to feel. i don’t want to be the dominant one in the relationship, i relate to posts that are like “i want a strong sword wife” instead of the other way around. i want to say “i love women so much” and not worry about feeling like that makes my attraction to men any less queer.

i care a lot about my place in the LGBT+ community, and i know that my place as the B in the lgBt community relates to my attraction to the same and other genders so i know it’s ok to still have m/f attraction and still secure in my indentity, hell my identity is partially BUILT on that attraction, but i feel so uncomfortable about it.

if anyone who’s bisexual or pansexual or any other multi sexual identity has any advice on feeling more secure in your m/f attraction while still feeling “queer enough” i would love some advice

The Sims 2 Castaway stories is the best Sims game and I'm not taking any criticism

Somehow I completely understand this and relate to this so hard.

Gryffindor: I do not think therefore I do not am

I woke up to a bumblebee flying around in my room

I jumped right out of the bed and closed the door

My room belongs to the bumblebee from now on

I think I lost the ability to form full sentences during this quarantine

i hate having to like…………….. articulate my ideas

Huh, I don’t really think that JK intended to portray Hermione as a white savior, because every rational character in the book dismisses her or shuts her up NOT because she’s trying to speak for elves but just because she’s trying to speak about the problem that exists. And we’re supposed to sympathize with the characters that are annoyed with her. In fact, I have no fucking idea what Rowling was trying to say with this. On one hand, everybody totally makes fun of Hermione for her activism because almost everybody thinks that elves being slaves is okay, and Hermione is just delusional because “elves are a race of servants”, which is sick. On the other hand, Hermione does try and free the elves by force (like wtf?), which fits into the white savior trope, but people who call her out on that are the ones that tell her that elves being slaves is fine. Seriously I can’t fully understand what the fuck Rowling was trying to convey. If she wanted her readers to see Hermione as a “white savior”, why didn’t she give any agency to elves and made them a race that is happy to be slaves and even offended when somebody mentions their possible freedom? I’m sO CONFUSED 

Oh god did JK Rowling R E A L L Y create a fictional race of slaves that actually liked being slaves and - oh my- took it as a personal attack when you tried to tell them about the unfairness of the situation?

Good god.

And did she really portray Hermione as a "pesky sjw" for trying to fight this system? GOOD GOD

Oh god did JK Rowling R E A L L Y create a fictional race of slaves that actually liked being slaves and - oh my- took it as a personal attack when you tried to tell them about the unfairness of the situation?

Good god.

Oh god did JK Rowling R E A L L Y create a fictional race of slaves that actually liked being slaves and - oh my- took it as a personal attack when you tried to tell them about the unfairness of the situation?

Good god.

Don't mind me, I'm just going to blithely watch Parks and Rec to avoid the blatant lack of functionality in parts of real life

Parks and rec intro gives off The Sims build mode vibe am I right?

Thank you for tagging me, @galaxynerd1 and @darkileah! I finally scraped myself off the floor to write this post

So here goes

Gender - female

Sexuality - bi/queer (I have an identity crisis every two weeks so)

Height - 160cm or 5'3

Hogwarts House - Ravenclaw

Favorite animal - cats

Average hours of sleep - 5-7 h

Dogs or cats - I'm a cat person to the bone

Number of blankets you sleep with - I have one thick blanket for all seasons. And 4 billion cushions and pillows

Dream job - I really don't know either a filmmaker or a psychologist (but I'm qualified for neither of these jobs)

When I created my blog - like 2 years ago

Followers count - 190

How I came up with my URL - I cannot maintain any aesthetic for longer than a month and I become obsessed with a lot of things so people who follow me should know that I post whatever I'm interested in at the moment

I cannot come up with 10 people to tag( So I'll tag a few: @whatsmidoingawake, @darc-academiia, @oscar-do-be-wildin, @starry-skiesabove

Those were the original questions, here are mine:

Fictional world you like to escape to: Harry Potter

Guilty pleasure movie/book: To all the boys I've loved before. God I love a good romcom

The last song that made you cry: Sports by Beach Bunny. I don't know but when I'm sad her songs make me cry and feel nostalgic over shit

I just played a song I listened to when I was in France this September and straight up cried

Music really does take you places huh

Current mood: watching Starkid musicals over and over again till I start breaking into a song in the middle of the street

Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away fifteen paperback classics featuring Richard Adams, Edgar Allan Poe, Simone de Beauvoir, J.R.R. Tolkien, Richard Wright, Harper Lee, and others! Won’t this collection look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will choose a random winner on April 25, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!

Here’s a playlist of my favorite Russian music for y’all who want to get a taste of another culture and try something new and beautiful

I wish my life were a quick and aesthetically pleasing montage to a cool soundtrack

Like I want to live in a feel-good Hollywood movie not a fucking indie

Quarantine is:

Dressing up like it's your birthday to go to the supermarket

Ruining your skin because you only eat toast and candy

Fucking up your sleep schedule bc nothing matters

Reading four books at the same time

Yearning for an adventure

Oh, noooo

I made a "Which Nancy Drew Culprit are you?" Quiz as a way of procrastinating, enjoy !

I can't believe that I only just found out that Mad World and Everybody Wants To Rule The World were created by the same band

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and think to yourself: Jk Rowling really fucked up in the fourth book with the whole S. P. E. W. thing didn't she?

Like what did she even mean? It seams that all the characters in the book find Hermione's activism annoying and unnecessary,and we're never given another take on it, so we're supposed to think that it is in fact "sjw bullshit" and something to laugh at. And the argument all those characters use against what she stands for is that elves are supposed to be slaves and that they are actually happy to serve wizards, which sounds soooo sick, and nobody actually gives an argument against that?

And I know this part of the book can be served as a satire of the society's attitude towards activism but what it turns out to be in the end is mockery of said activism. The way the author decided to portray it is soo shallow and mean, like when Hermione "forced" elves to be free and made this fuss about her SPEW club...

Like hey JK, wtf did you want to say exactly??

What if we unexpectedly kissed on the stage while performing King Lear before I confessed to the crime you'd committed and went to jail comparing our story to Romeo and Juliette?... Jk.. Unless?..

Exactly my thoughts like 2 hours ago

all i want to do is embroider and listen to audiobooks, but NO i must do calculus

Me every Tuesday

hahahahahahaha I am having an identity crisis! who am I??? Do I like art?? Am I a writer??? Shall I learn a new language??? Dye my hair blue? Or pink? Or brown??? I don’t know because I hate everything and have no creative inspiration ARGHHHHHH

Oliver, the dysfunctional bisexual