Linking through the multiverse
The other day I came across about a great post about Tiana from Disney's "Princess and the Frog. Among the newer Disney heroines (i.e. last decade or so), Tiana is still my favourite, and that article made me go and rent the dvd to rewatch her movie. Yes, still my favourite. And still so unusual in its genre, if you ask me. You've got herones wanting freedom (either for themselves or for their family/country), you've got heroines who want romance, but Tiana's ambition - to have her own restaurant - doesn't owe anything to either romance or fantasy. Ambition as a trait is so often treated with suspicion in YA fiction, unless it comes in a tomboyish form (i.e. heroine living in vaguely medieval, sexist fantasy world wants to live like a man) , and here it's treated as a sympathetic key motivation of the heroine. I'll always love that Tiana does get her restaurant, and that this is the happy ending of the movie, with the marriage to Naveen only a prelude coming before it. Also that the key character test for Naveen earlier, the point where he shows the audience that he has changed and loves Tiana, is for him to put her dream about a restaurant first, before his own wishes. Incidentally, for all that so much was made about Frozen putting a relationship between sisters in its centre, rewatching The Princess and the Frog reminded me that actually all of the most recent Disney heroines have meaningful relationships with other female characters in their narratives, and as opposed to Frozen, there are more than two important female character around in Tiana's case - her mother, her friend Charlotte and Mama Odie, all of whom are important to her and the story. (Post Princess and Frog, we got Tangled which had a dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship in its centre and Merida with a mother and daughter relationship in need of repair at its center, and the witch who is key to the transformation as a third important female character. Disney products have their problems, but all of the more recent ones are actually doing pretty well in including important relationships between women.)
Avengers and the actors who play them:
- a nice profile of Mark Ruffalo, talking about politics and acting
- RDJ tweeting a photo of the cast and Joss having lunch while shooting Avengers II
Post-Cap 2 fanfiction:
The Favored Sons of History (1570 words) by zeen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alexander Pierce & The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury & Alexander Pierce
Characters: Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury, James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: Abuse of Authority, Parallels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Seventies Robert Redford
Summary:
Alexander Pierce and his justifications.
I'd been hoping someone would tackle Pierce (and his relationship with Nick Fury), so was delighted to see this.
Problem Solving (4544 words) by persiflet
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Natasha Romanov
Characters: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill, James Rhodes, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Background Relationship, Neuroatypical Characters, Moral Dilemmas, Female Friendship, Panic Attacks
Summary:
SHIELD goes down. Pepper Potts deals with the aftermath.
By now there are a lot of "other Avengers and friends reacting to Cap 2 events" stories. This one puts Pepper Potts in the spot light, remembers her backstory with Natasha from Iron Man 2, doesn't forget Rhodey exists - something that used to happen a lot though less so after Iron Man 3; hopefully Sam Wilson won't suffer the same fate -, and assumes an established three way relationship between her, Tony and Bruce which is so my headcanon until we're explicitly told otherwise. It also falls under the rare category of story that doesn't assume everyone is best buddies post Avengers. I've seen a lot of people wondering why there is no Watsonian reason given for Steve and Natasha not contacting Tony during The Winter Soldier, which I didn't have a problem with. I mean, I like the stories written pre Cap 2 in which everyone became friends and moved into the tower as much as the next fan, but: what we actually know is that Tony kept contact with Bruce, not with any of the others, and that Steve kept contact (and work with) Natasha and Nick Fury, not any of the others. In The Winter Soldier, it's noticable that while Steve refers to Howard Stark as "Howard" in dialogue, Tony Stark still is "Stark" (in both a Steve-Fury and a Steve-Natasha conversation), so chances are that MCU Steve at this point still thinks of Tony as "my friend Howard's annoying son who turned out to be a good comrade in arms when we were busy saving earth but who otherwise gets on my nerves", not as a friend in his own right. Moreover, Nick Fury told him Tony helped SHIELD improve their helicarrrier tech - something the fanction linked addresses, btw - which in Cap 2's "trust no one" climate is probably paranoia inducing. As for Natasha, Natasha who was SHIELD's mole in Stark Industries during Iron Man 2 has better reason than anyone to be aware of the likelihood Stark Industries may still be infiltrated, which means a phonecall to Tony in the middle of the Cap 2 events would alert far more people than Tony. (In fact, given that Nick Fury in Cap 2 admits to having bugged Steve's apartment and has one of his agents posted next door, I'm 100% sure Natasha had a successor as a mole at Stark Industries.) In conclusion: not calling Tony Stark during Cap 2 made Watsonian sense to me. Doesn't mean he's going to be happy about it, which the story also deals with.
Once upon a Time:
Once in Purpose: bugging your friends about stories they need to write so pays off, she says smugly. This one deals with, to put it as unspoilery as possible, Rumplestilskin's mental situation at a certain point in s3.
Harry Potter
The Journey of a Thousand Miles (7069 words) by igrockspock
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luna Lovegood, Xenophilius Lovegood, Severus Snape
Summary:
After the end of the war, Luna makes two surprising discoveries: her father attempted to give Harry to Lord Voldemort, and Severus Snape is alive.
This is both a beautiful Luna character exploration and a story featuring a surviving Snape which manages to avoid the most popular clichés, i.e. pairing him up with one of his former students and/or ignore he really is a pain to live with.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/982376.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Avengers and the actors who play them:
- a nice profile of Mark Ruffalo, talking about politics and acting
- RDJ tweeting a photo of the cast and Joss having lunch while shooting Avengers II
Post-Cap 2 fanfiction:
The Favored Sons of History (1570 words) by zeen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alexander Pierce & The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury & Alexander Pierce
Characters: Alexander Pierce, Nick Fury, James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: Abuse of Authority, Parallels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Seventies Robert Redford
Summary:
Alexander Pierce and his justifications.
I'd been hoping someone would tackle Pierce (and his relationship with Nick Fury), so was delighted to see this.
Problem Solving (4544 words) by persiflet
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Natasha Romanov
Characters: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill, James Rhodes, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Background Relationship, Neuroatypical Characters, Moral Dilemmas, Female Friendship, Panic Attacks
Summary:
SHIELD goes down. Pepper Potts deals with the aftermath.
By now there are a lot of "other Avengers and friends reacting to Cap 2 events" stories. This one puts Pepper Potts in the spot light, remembers her backstory with Natasha from Iron Man 2, doesn't forget Rhodey exists - something that used to happen a lot though less so after Iron Man 3; hopefully Sam Wilson won't suffer the same fate -, and assumes an established three way relationship between her, Tony and Bruce which is so my headcanon until we're explicitly told otherwise. It also falls under the rare category of story that doesn't assume everyone is best buddies post Avengers. I've seen a lot of people wondering why there is no Watsonian reason given for Steve and Natasha not contacting Tony during The Winter Soldier, which I didn't have a problem with. I mean, I like the stories written pre Cap 2 in which everyone became friends and moved into the tower as much as the next fan, but: what we actually know is that Tony kept contact with Bruce, not with any of the others, and that Steve kept contact (and work with) Natasha and Nick Fury, not any of the others. In The Winter Soldier, it's noticable that while Steve refers to Howard Stark as "Howard" in dialogue, Tony Stark still is "Stark" (in both a Steve-Fury and a Steve-Natasha conversation), so chances are that MCU Steve at this point still thinks of Tony as "my friend Howard's annoying son who turned out to be a good comrade in arms when we were busy saving earth but who otherwise gets on my nerves", not as a friend in his own right. Moreover, Nick Fury told him Tony helped SHIELD improve their helicarrrier tech - something the fanction linked addresses, btw - which in Cap 2's "trust no one" climate is probably paranoia inducing. As for Natasha, Natasha who was SHIELD's mole in Stark Industries during Iron Man 2 has better reason than anyone to be aware of the likelihood Stark Industries may still be infiltrated, which means a phonecall to Tony in the middle of the Cap 2 events would alert far more people than Tony. (In fact, given that Nick Fury in Cap 2 admits to having bugged Steve's apartment and has one of his agents posted next door, I'm 100% sure Natasha had a successor as a mole at Stark Industries.) In conclusion: not calling Tony Stark during Cap 2 made Watsonian sense to me. Doesn't mean he's going to be happy about it, which the story also deals with.
Once upon a Time:
Once in Purpose: bugging your friends about stories they need to write so pays off, she says smugly. This one deals with, to put it as unspoilery as possible, Rumplestilskin's mental situation at a certain point in s3.
Harry Potter
The Journey of a Thousand Miles (7069 words) by igrockspock
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luna Lovegood, Xenophilius Lovegood, Severus Snape
Summary:
After the end of the war, Luna makes two surprising discoveries: her father attempted to give Harry to Lord Voldemort, and Severus Snape is alive.
This is both a beautiful Luna character exploration and a story featuring a surviving Snape which manages to avoid the most popular clichés, i.e. pairing him up with one of his former students and/or ignore he really is a pain to live with.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/982376.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.