Meta Links 2014/08/28 - 2014/09/03
Notices
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
on the difference between kink shaming and calling out faily behavior: marina (DW) - "I felt like people were missing a crucial axis of analysis. It's become increasingly obvious to me that the idea of avoiding kink shaming, something that I greatly support and that fandom has worked hard to internalize, is being misinterpreted and misused when it comes to critiquing content. "
topic:fandom, topic:kink
New Rules of Fantasy #3: No Man is an Island: quinn (blog) - "The problem here is that using culture to start character creation requires having cultural hooks to begin with. There is a lot of setting detail that fantasy games have, but for the purposes of actually playing games, having to read all that material isn't going to work for most people. "You need to make a character, so go read these forty pages first" is not very appealing. How then, do we approach culture-first characters?"
topic:gaming, topic:culture, topic:worldbuilding
Do Mermaids Get Periods? or, Explaining The Menstrual Cycles of Various Mythological Creatures: Victoria McNally (blog) - "What bright-eyed dweeb doesn't enjoy the occasional explanation of how a dragon might be able to fly, or whether or not a cockatrice's body could support that weird chicken head it's got? (as long as we all know they're fictional, of course-looking at you, Discovery Channel). But what about reproduction-and, even more taboo for some reason, menstruation? The amount of erotic fiction written about vampires, elves, and mermaids could probably fill up every library in the world, but has anyone ever thought to offer one of these poor souls a tampon? Because I did. I did a lot."
topic:werewolves, topic:mermaids
Will Hollywood Follow GOG.com Into DRM-Free Movie Downloads?: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Things are changing, we don't want to pay for licenses to the things we buy, and soon we might not have to."
topic:drm
What the agonizing demise of 'True Blood' means for the future of TV: Dominick Mayer (blog) - "Raisler brings up an interesting question: what happens to a TV show in a time where sites like A.V. Club offer a wealth of television criticism, and where people who've never seen an episode of True Blood are still at least tangentially aware of how it's progressed and ended?"
topic:criticism, topic:television
What every conversation on women in gaming is really about: S.E. Smith (blog) - "Multiple scandals are brewing this month over women in video games, as Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn face horrific abuse from men who are opposed to their opinions and commentary on video games and game culture."
topic:misogyny, topic:videogames
Steampunk and the Heroine's Journey: Introduction: Mary Sheridan (blog) - "It is the visual images of Steampunk that first grab our attention, but the fantastical nature of its fiction invites us to step into the parlor for tea with the storytellers."
topic:femalecharacters, topic:herosjourney
Steampunk and the Heroine's Journey: Part One: Mary Sheridan (blog) - "Steampunk is an acknowledged subgenre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. All three members of this literary family exist to answer the same question: "What if?" Beyond this commonality, everyone appears to have their own scholarly or intuitive definition of Steampunk fiction, and as a result, discussion and controversy seem to grow along with the genre's popularity."
topic:femalecharacters, topic:herosjourney
It Can't Be For Nothing: Why Video Game Movies Fail, and How "The Last of Us" Can Succeed: Zomburai! (blog) - "See, various media engages us in different ways, and how we engage with games is very, very different from how we engage with other art forms."
topic:videogames, topic:movies
Do Raceless Characters Accomplish Anything?: Lady Saika (blog) - "Much like the heterosexist idea that everyone is straight until proven otherwise, when a character's race is not explicitly stated, the bulk of a fandom will fall back on the idea that white is the default, "normal" race and assign whiteness to the character or characters in question."
topic:race
Untitled:anotherfallenchild (tumblr) - "I personally really really love it when people try to argue with me about supposedly ‘reading too much into ______ in ______ film or TV show’ cause bRING IT THE FUCK ON "
topic:criticism
Why Women Watch More Gay Porn Than Ever Before: Kaite Welsh (Other) - "It's been quietly gaining popularity for some time. Now, there can be little doubt: the internet has turned women on to the joys of gay porn."
topic:slash, topic:sexuality
Gender, Family, Nookie: The Speculative Frontier: Hello, Ladies (DW) - "Someone once asked me why "alpha males" were so popular in so much romantic speculative fiction, and I hesitated to answer it."
topic:feminism, topic:writing, topic:romance
Specific Fandom
Adventure Time
Is Bubbline Really Canon if it's Not in the Show?: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "After hearing this statement I, along with many other fans, rejoiced that Bubbline was now canon, but I was also feeling disappointed."
fandom:adventuretime, topic:queerbaiting
Animorphs
Don't Bring a Dracon Beam to a Morphing Fight: The Inevitability of Yeerk Defeat: johndocscorner (blog) - "The Yeerks were always going to lose the war. "
fandom:animorphs
Untitled: what if you got pregnant while a cat or some shit and made a litter and then turned back into a human would you have like 8 human babies wtf vermouth this is fucking with me (tumblr) - "what if you got pregnant while a cat or some shit and made a litter and then turned back into a human would you have like 8 human babies wtf vermouth this is fucking with me"
fandom:animorphs
Borderlands
Magical Mondays: Sirens and Pandora: Tsunderin (blog) - "But, thinking about it a little more closely, how similar are the sirens in the Borderlands universe to the songstresses from ye olde legends and myths?"
fandom:gaming
DC Cinematic Universe
Why so serious? Warner Bros. may have a 'no jokes' policy for superhero movies: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "According to a report from Hitfix, DC/Warner Bros. may have introduced an official "no jokes" policy for its Justice League franchise."
fandom:dccu
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Ridley Scott explains why the cast of 'Exodus' is so white: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "Ridley Scott has finally responded to the backlash against his new movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, but his explanation is unlikely to stem the tide of criticism."
fandom:exodus
Harry Potter
Meta: Hansel & Gretel (Fairy Tale) & Harry Potter: The story of "Hansel and Gretel" really resonated with me as a child: luvtheheaven (AO3) - "...and it's every abused kid's fantasy to be rescued in the way that Harry was in the first book. To be able to live full time in an abuse-free place, even when your abusive parents (or guardians) are doing everything in their power to prevent you from escaping, to have someone like Hagrid show up and save you. "
fandom:harrypotter, topic:fairytales, warning:abuse
An Endangered Species - Exploring the Wizarding World: wellingtongoose (tumblr) - "An essay series exploring the wider wizarding world and all the aspects that we never get to directly see in the books. "
fandom:harrypotter
Harry Potter and the Reichenbach Fall: drinkingcocoa(AO3) - "What happens when we analyze the characters and narrative arcs of BBC Sherlock through a Potterverse interpretive lens? Does it shed light on the Sherlock-Moriarty dynamic to read the rooftop showdown as a version of the Final Battle between Harry and Voldemort? If we read Mary Morstan as a version of Snape, can it help us make sense of her motivations and predict where her story is going?"
fandom:harrypotter, fandom:bbcsherlock
Heroes
Sylar is Totally Ambidextrious: tersyne (tumblr) - "And I am Going to Prove It via Excessive Screencals"
fandom:heroes
Homestuck
420 Homestuck (Guest Episode): Slash Report (podcast) - "We're not sure what the whole deal is with Homestuck, but that's what these four are going to try and explain to everyone. "
fandom:homestuck
In the Flesh
'In the Flesh' fans are swarming to save the BBC's zombie show: Michelle Jaworski (blog) - "Yawn. Another show about zombies. Yet fans are pulling out all the stops to try to save In the Flesh. What exactly makes it worth fighting for?"
fandom:intheflesh
Sexualized Saturdays: Kieren Walker - Unlabeled But Extraordinary: cloudnoodle (blog) - "The way Kieren's sexuality is portrayed on the show and talked about by the creators isn't perfect, but it is also extraordinarily positive in quite a few ways."
fandom:intheflesh
Marvel Comics
America's True Colors: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "We don't know yet how Marvel will approach the issue of a Black man as an icon of Americanness. But we do know how they addressed it once before, in the 2003 mini-series Truth: Red, White, and Black - a mini-series written by the late Robert Morales and drawn by Kyle Baker. Morales and Baker have very specific, very complicated thoughts on what it means for a black man to be America - and most of those thoughts are really, really depressing."
fandom:marvelcomics, topic:race
Marvel’s EIC Apologizes For Any “Mixed Messaging” That Spider-Woman Butt Cover Might Have Caused: The Mary Sue (blog) - "It’s sort of an awkward balance Alonso is striking, here; on the one hand, he’s apologizing for the “mixed messaging” of the cover, wants everyone to feel included, and respects our concerns. But not enough to, you know, actuallydo anything about it."
fandom:marvelcomics, topic:femalecharacter
The Meteor Man
Meteor Man: Will There Ever Be Another Black Superhero?: Inda Lauryn (blog) - "At 14, though it had not occurred to me that black superheroes were largely absent from the screen, Robert Townsend sought to fill this void in his own way. He created his own hero with a plausible back story and his own ideas of how to use his powers."
fandom:themeteorman, topic:race
Outlander
Outlander: “The Way Out”: Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya (blog) - "Claire is the hero, after all"
fandom:outlander, topic:hero, topic:gender
Phantom of the Opera
Theatre Thursdays: A Character Study of Christine Daae: Flyero3305 (blog) - "She's often thought of as flat, boring, and a character whose plot is in service of others'. Is there any truth to these claims? If so, is it possible to still consider Christine a worthwhile character from a feminist standpoint?"
fandom:phantomoftheopera, topic:femalecharacters
Sherlock
'Sherlock' writers foreshadow an even darker season 4: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "According to Sherlock writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the show's fourth season will be even "darker" and more "devastating" than before."
fandom:bbcsherlock
Supernatural
Supernatural meta: MajorEnglishEsquire(AO3) - "cleaned-up meta posts from my fandom blog on Tumblr."
fandom:supernatural
A Song of Ice and Fire
Muses of Ice and Fire: msunyata (blog) - "But, still, ASOIAF fandom has been around for so long, and it continues to expand at such an exponential rate, it's more than worth examining just where the authors of all these nearly inexhaustible treatises on George R.R. Martin's labyrinthine mythology get their particular perspectives or indelible insights from."
fandom:asoiaf
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: ACOK, Arya IV: Race For The Iron Throne (blog) - ”Synopsis: Arya and the Night’s Watch arrive at the holdfast by the Gods Eye. A patrol of reavers under the command of Ser Amory Lorch besiege the holdfast, and Arya barely manages to escape, but not before she makes the choice to save the life of Jaqen H’ghar.”
fandom:asoiaf
Elves and Children-Looking into the Children of the Forest in the Context of Fairy Tradition: whereoldgodsrule (tumblr) - "One area of A Song of Ice and Fire’s world building that remains deeply mysterious is the Children of the Forest. "
fandom:ASOIAF
"Why do you hate Rheagar? don't you think Lyanna went with him willingly?": madaboutasoiaf (tumblr) - "I subscribe to the theory that he thought he needed a third child, Elia could not bear a third child so he looked to Lyanna. "
fandom:ASOIAF
The Sopranos
The Internet killed Tony Soprano: Chris Osterndorf (blog) - "Among the profound questions of the early 21st century, perhaps none have been bigger than: "What happened at the end of The Sopranos?""
fandom:thesopranos
Stop looking for answers: 'The Sopranos' left us in limbo: Miles Klee (blog) - "Well before his publicist stated his words had been "misconstrued" in a Vox feature, and even before another journalist flipped out over a jokey Twitter account ruining the "experience" of reading the pertinent quote for themselves, we knew that David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, was messing with us."
fandom:thesopranos
Tolkien
Failing Tolkien: The Fall of High Fantasy: nathaniel givens(blog) - "The temptation to short-change the world-building and to only build what you need is overwhelming for authors who are not generally flush with cash and are often working on deadlines. "
fandom:jrrtolkien
Star Trek
How Does Your Favorite Star Trek Series Fare on the Bechdel Test?: Jarrah Hodge (blog) - "The future society portrayed in Star Trek was supposed to show greater equality for women (as well as people of color, although it seriously overlooked LGBT characters). But inequality behind the scenes, as well as trying to market a show based on conventional wisdom about what modern audiences want (more catsuits, maybe?), created tensions with that egalitarian vision."
fandom:startrek, topic:bechdeltest
Tales of Symphonia
Colette and Evaluating White Mages in Tales of Symphonia: Tsunderin (blog) - "Instead, my first true foray into the JRPG scene, and probably the RPG scene as a whole, was Tales of Symphonia."
fandom:gaming
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf Thoughts And Theories - Post A Promise To The Dead:xproskeith (tumblr) - It’s the penultimate episode and a lot is going on, but there’s just a few major points I really need to hit on."
fandom:teenwolf
Thor
Oh, My Pop Culture Pantheon: Differences between Marvel's Thor and Norse Mythology: MadameAce (blog) - "It was then that I realized that my original assumption-that I could learn about Norse mythology through Marvel's Thor-was not the best assumption to make."
fandom:marvelcomics, fandom:mcu, fandom:norsemyths
A Family of Codependent Illness: Odin, Thor, and Loki:thief--of--hearts (tumblr) - "In one of my asks, I indicated that the relationship between Thor and Loki is highly codependent in nature. Though this has been discussed at length by many bloggers, I’m going to flesh-out my own thoughts in this post. "
fandom:mcu
X-Files
The Unavoidable Badness of Season 9: X-Files, "4-D": PlaidAdder (AO3) - "But at any rate, Doggett & Reyes, as a partnership, cannot even come CLOSE to competing with Mulder & Scully."
fandom:thex-files
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
on the difference between kink shaming and calling out faily behavior: marina (DW) - "I felt like people were missing a crucial axis of analysis. It's become increasingly obvious to me that the idea of avoiding kink shaming, something that I greatly support and that fandom has worked hard to internalize, is being misinterpreted and misused when it comes to critiquing content. "
topic:fandom, topic:kink
New Rules of Fantasy #3: No Man is an Island: quinn (blog) - "The problem here is that using culture to start character creation requires having cultural hooks to begin with. There is a lot of setting detail that fantasy games have, but for the purposes of actually playing games, having to read all that material isn't going to work for most people. "You need to make a character, so go read these forty pages first" is not very appealing. How then, do we approach culture-first characters?"
topic:gaming, topic:culture, topic:worldbuilding
Do Mermaids Get Periods? or, Explaining The Menstrual Cycles of Various Mythological Creatures: Victoria McNally (blog) - "What bright-eyed dweeb doesn't enjoy the occasional explanation of how a dragon might be able to fly, or whether or not a cockatrice's body could support that weird chicken head it's got? (as long as we all know they're fictional, of course-looking at you, Discovery Channel). But what about reproduction-and, even more taboo for some reason, menstruation? The amount of erotic fiction written about vampires, elves, and mermaids could probably fill up every library in the world, but has anyone ever thought to offer one of these poor souls a tampon? Because I did. I did a lot."
topic:werewolves, topic:mermaids
Will Hollywood Follow GOG.com Into DRM-Free Movie Downloads?: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Things are changing, we don't want to pay for licenses to the things we buy, and soon we might not have to."
topic:drm
What the agonizing demise of 'True Blood' means for the future of TV: Dominick Mayer (blog) - "Raisler brings up an interesting question: what happens to a TV show in a time where sites like A.V. Club offer a wealth of television criticism, and where people who've never seen an episode of True Blood are still at least tangentially aware of how it's progressed and ended?"
topic:criticism, topic:television
What every conversation on women in gaming is really about: S.E. Smith (blog) - "Multiple scandals are brewing this month over women in video games, as Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn face horrific abuse from men who are opposed to their opinions and commentary on video games and game culture."
topic:misogyny, topic:videogames
Steampunk and the Heroine's Journey: Introduction: Mary Sheridan (blog) - "It is the visual images of Steampunk that first grab our attention, but the fantastical nature of its fiction invites us to step into the parlor for tea with the storytellers."
topic:femalecharacters, topic:herosjourney
Steampunk and the Heroine's Journey: Part One: Mary Sheridan (blog) - "Steampunk is an acknowledged subgenre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. All three members of this literary family exist to answer the same question: "What if?" Beyond this commonality, everyone appears to have their own scholarly or intuitive definition of Steampunk fiction, and as a result, discussion and controversy seem to grow along with the genre's popularity."
topic:femalecharacters, topic:herosjourney
It Can't Be For Nothing: Why Video Game Movies Fail, and How "The Last of Us" Can Succeed: Zomburai! (blog) - "See, various media engages us in different ways, and how we engage with games is very, very different from how we engage with other art forms."
topic:videogames, topic:movies
Do Raceless Characters Accomplish Anything?: Lady Saika (blog) - "Much like the heterosexist idea that everyone is straight until proven otherwise, when a character's race is not explicitly stated, the bulk of a fandom will fall back on the idea that white is the default, "normal" race and assign whiteness to the character or characters in question."
topic:race
Untitled:anotherfallenchild (tumblr) - "I personally really really love it when people try to argue with me about supposedly ‘reading too much into ______ in ______ film or TV show’ cause bRING IT THE FUCK ON "
topic:criticism
Why Women Watch More Gay Porn Than Ever Before: Kaite Welsh (Other) - "It's been quietly gaining popularity for some time. Now, there can be little doubt: the internet has turned women on to the joys of gay porn."
topic:slash, topic:sexuality
Gender, Family, Nookie: The Speculative Frontier: Hello, Ladies (DW) - "Someone once asked me why "alpha males" were so popular in so much romantic speculative fiction, and I hesitated to answer it."
topic:feminism, topic:writing, topic:romance
Specific Fandom
Adventure Time
Is Bubbline Really Canon if it's Not in the Show?: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "After hearing this statement I, along with many other fans, rejoiced that Bubbline was now canon, but I was also feeling disappointed."
fandom:adventuretime, topic:queerbaiting
Animorphs
Don't Bring a Dracon Beam to a Morphing Fight: The Inevitability of Yeerk Defeat: johndocscorner (blog) - "The Yeerks were always going to lose the war. "
fandom:animorphs
Untitled: what if you got pregnant while a cat or some shit and made a litter and then turned back into a human would you have like 8 human babies wtf vermouth this is fucking with me (tumblr) - "what if you got pregnant while a cat or some shit and made a litter and then turned back into a human would you have like 8 human babies wtf vermouth this is fucking with me"
fandom:animorphs
Borderlands
Magical Mondays: Sirens and Pandora: Tsunderin (blog) - "But, thinking about it a little more closely, how similar are the sirens in the Borderlands universe to the songstresses from ye olde legends and myths?"
fandom:gaming
DC Cinematic Universe
Why so serious? Warner Bros. may have a 'no jokes' policy for superhero movies: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "According to a report from Hitfix, DC/Warner Bros. may have introduced an official "no jokes" policy for its Justice League franchise."
fandom:dccu
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Ridley Scott explains why the cast of 'Exodus' is so white: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "Ridley Scott has finally responded to the backlash against his new movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, but his explanation is unlikely to stem the tide of criticism."
fandom:exodus
Harry Potter
Meta: Hansel & Gretel (Fairy Tale) & Harry Potter: The story of "Hansel and Gretel" really resonated with me as a child: luvtheheaven (AO3) - "...and it's every abused kid's fantasy to be rescued in the way that Harry was in the first book. To be able to live full time in an abuse-free place, even when your abusive parents (or guardians) are doing everything in their power to prevent you from escaping, to have someone like Hagrid show up and save you. "
fandom:harrypotter, topic:fairytales, warning:abuse
An Endangered Species - Exploring the Wizarding World: wellingtongoose (tumblr) - "An essay series exploring the wider wizarding world and all the aspects that we never get to directly see in the books. "
fandom:harrypotter
Harry Potter and the Reichenbach Fall: drinkingcocoa(AO3) - "What happens when we analyze the characters and narrative arcs of BBC Sherlock through a Potterverse interpretive lens? Does it shed light on the Sherlock-Moriarty dynamic to read the rooftop showdown as a version of the Final Battle between Harry and Voldemort? If we read Mary Morstan as a version of Snape, can it help us make sense of her motivations and predict where her story is going?"
fandom:harrypotter, fandom:bbcsherlock
Heroes
Sylar is Totally Ambidextrious: tersyne (tumblr) - "And I am Going to Prove It via Excessive Screencals"
fandom:heroes
Homestuck
420 Homestuck (Guest Episode): Slash Report (podcast) - "We're not sure what the whole deal is with Homestuck, but that's what these four are going to try and explain to everyone. "
fandom:homestuck
In the Flesh
'In the Flesh' fans are swarming to save the BBC's zombie show: Michelle Jaworski (blog) - "Yawn. Another show about zombies. Yet fans are pulling out all the stops to try to save In the Flesh. What exactly makes it worth fighting for?"
fandom:intheflesh
Sexualized Saturdays: Kieren Walker - Unlabeled But Extraordinary: cloudnoodle (blog) - "The way Kieren's sexuality is portrayed on the show and talked about by the creators isn't perfect, but it is also extraordinarily positive in quite a few ways."
fandom:intheflesh
Marvel Comics
America's True Colors: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "We don't know yet how Marvel will approach the issue of a Black man as an icon of Americanness. But we do know how they addressed it once before, in the 2003 mini-series Truth: Red, White, and Black - a mini-series written by the late Robert Morales and drawn by Kyle Baker. Morales and Baker have very specific, very complicated thoughts on what it means for a black man to be America - and most of those thoughts are really, really depressing."
fandom:marvelcomics, topic:race
Marvel’s EIC Apologizes For Any “Mixed Messaging” That Spider-Woman Butt Cover Might Have Caused: The Mary Sue (blog) - "It’s sort of an awkward balance Alonso is striking, here; on the one hand, he’s apologizing for the “mixed messaging” of the cover, wants everyone to feel included, and respects our concerns. But not enough to, you know, actuallydo anything about it."
fandom:marvelcomics, topic:femalecharacter
The Meteor Man
Meteor Man: Will There Ever Be Another Black Superhero?: Inda Lauryn (blog) - "At 14, though it had not occurred to me that black superheroes were largely absent from the screen, Robert Townsend sought to fill this void in his own way. He created his own hero with a plausible back story and his own ideas of how to use his powers."
fandom:themeteorman, topic:race
Outlander
Outlander: “The Way Out”: Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya (blog) - "Claire is the hero, after all"
fandom:outlander, topic:hero, topic:gender
Phantom of the Opera
Theatre Thursdays: A Character Study of Christine Daae: Flyero3305 (blog) - "She's often thought of as flat, boring, and a character whose plot is in service of others'. Is there any truth to these claims? If so, is it possible to still consider Christine a worthwhile character from a feminist standpoint?"
fandom:phantomoftheopera, topic:femalecharacters
Sherlock
'Sherlock' writers foreshadow an even darker season 4: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "According to Sherlock writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the show's fourth season will be even "darker" and more "devastating" than before."
fandom:bbcsherlock
Supernatural
Supernatural meta: MajorEnglishEsquire(AO3) - "cleaned-up meta posts from my fandom blog on Tumblr."
fandom:supernatural
A Song of Ice and Fire
Muses of Ice and Fire: msunyata (blog) - "But, still, ASOIAF fandom has been around for so long, and it continues to expand at such an exponential rate, it's more than worth examining just where the authors of all these nearly inexhaustible treatises on George R.R. Martin's labyrinthine mythology get their particular perspectives or indelible insights from."
fandom:asoiaf
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: ACOK, Arya IV: Race For The Iron Throne (blog) - ”Synopsis: Arya and the Night’s Watch arrive at the holdfast by the Gods Eye. A patrol of reavers under the command of Ser Amory Lorch besiege the holdfast, and Arya barely manages to escape, but not before she makes the choice to save the life of Jaqen H’ghar.”
fandom:asoiaf
Elves and Children-Looking into the Children of the Forest in the Context of Fairy Tradition: whereoldgodsrule (tumblr) - "One area of A Song of Ice and Fire’s world building that remains deeply mysterious is the Children of the Forest. "
fandom:ASOIAF
"Why do you hate Rheagar? don't you think Lyanna went with him willingly?": madaboutasoiaf (tumblr) - "I subscribe to the theory that he thought he needed a third child, Elia could not bear a third child so he looked to Lyanna. "
fandom:ASOIAF
The Sopranos
The Internet killed Tony Soprano: Chris Osterndorf (blog) - "Among the profound questions of the early 21st century, perhaps none have been bigger than: "What happened at the end of The Sopranos?""
fandom:thesopranos
Stop looking for answers: 'The Sopranos' left us in limbo: Miles Klee (blog) - "Well before his publicist stated his words had been "misconstrued" in a Vox feature, and even before another journalist flipped out over a jokey Twitter account ruining the "experience" of reading the pertinent quote for themselves, we knew that David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, was messing with us."
fandom:thesopranos
Tolkien
Failing Tolkien: The Fall of High Fantasy: nathaniel givens(blog) - "The temptation to short-change the world-building and to only build what you need is overwhelming for authors who are not generally flush with cash and are often working on deadlines. "
fandom:jrrtolkien
Star Trek
How Does Your Favorite Star Trek Series Fare on the Bechdel Test?: Jarrah Hodge (blog) - "The future society portrayed in Star Trek was supposed to show greater equality for women (as well as people of color, although it seriously overlooked LGBT characters). But inequality behind the scenes, as well as trying to market a show based on conventional wisdom about what modern audiences want (more catsuits, maybe?), created tensions with that egalitarian vision."
fandom:startrek, topic:bechdeltest
Tales of Symphonia
Colette and Evaluating White Mages in Tales of Symphonia: Tsunderin (blog) - "Instead, my first true foray into the JRPG scene, and probably the RPG scene as a whole, was Tales of Symphonia."
fandom:gaming
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf Thoughts And Theories - Post A Promise To The Dead:xproskeith (tumblr) - It’s the penultimate episode and a lot is going on, but there’s just a few major points I really need to hit on."
fandom:teenwolf
Thor
Oh, My Pop Culture Pantheon: Differences between Marvel's Thor and Norse Mythology: MadameAce (blog) - "It was then that I realized that my original assumption-that I could learn about Norse mythology through Marvel's Thor-was not the best assumption to make."
fandom:marvelcomics, fandom:mcu, fandom:norsemyths
A Family of Codependent Illness: Odin, Thor, and Loki:thief--of--hearts (tumblr) - "In one of my asks, I indicated that the relationship between Thor and Loki is highly codependent in nature. Though this has been discussed at length by many bloggers, I’m going to flesh-out my own thoughts in this post. "
fandom:mcu
X-Files
The Unavoidable Badness of Season 9: X-Files, "4-D": PlaidAdder (AO3) - "But at any rate, Doggett & Reyes, as a partnership, cannot even come CLOSE to competing with Mulder & Scully."
fandom:thex-files