As an OG tumblr girlie I tag everything. So for anyone looking for anything in specific above is my blog tag page with all listed tags. Anything not on there is under their common series/fandom name and under character specific names.
as someone who is lowkey obsessed with how the odyssey is structured i find this diagram by james redfield very satisfying:
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“[A pattern] based on strict alternation. Odysseus faces two kinds of dangers; he may be killed before he gets home, or he may be induced to stop on the way. He faces violence and temptation.” (from Redfield’s ‘The Economic Man’)
Social murder is a term coined by Friedrich Engels in 1845 in one of his seminal works, The Conditions of the Working Class in England. Engels was Karl Marx’s close friend and collaborator, co-authoring some of the most influential works that stimulated worker revolutions across the world. Engels writes:
“When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.”
Can we find a sun god or diety from every timezone and make a map of them all?
We probably can, but the question is should we?
How else will ship captains know who to pray to when they circumnavigate the globe?
…Give me until the end of the weekend.
I actually had some unexpected free time today so I was able to create this a lot faster than I expected.
It isn’t perfect, but following the initial post I assigned each timezone one sun deity, so travelers know who they might pray to while exploring the world.
This was a lot of fun to create and to research mythologies from across the world, and I think I learned a couple of things doing so!
Well, there you have it folks. Safe travels.
No disrespect to the sun gods, but the wind gods might want a word.
Given how much of this post is about travel and circumnavigating the globe, I think the sea gods would have several words to say here.
Can we get an app?
Type in your lat and long, get a list of which gods to supplicate and with what offerings?
Okay, but I actually adore the romantic arc in KPop Demon Hunters. There’s so little time to tell this story and to focus on all its nuances, but the way the movie gets us there is absolutely amazing and doesn’t feel cheap at all. And I think part of the reason why is the fact that Rumi and Jinu never really develop past what technically counts as just a crush.
It doesn’t try to convince us that what they shared was something unbeliavably deep or like some kind of soulmate bond. It doesn’t act like they were perfect for each other and how their love could make it through everything. It works precisely because it shows the tragedy of how little time they had together and how they never got to explore that on their own terms.
And we can all relate to that feeling of loss of something that could have been more. All of the elements of a great romance are technically there but all these other outside elements are working against them and all we get to see at the end of the day is the unexplored potential.
Rumi and Jinu connected on a very human level, that’s true, but the tragedy of their relationship is that it couldn’t really become more and what we end up mourning is the potential they had, the fact that they could have been so much more if given a chance.
So often stories try to convince us of these stronger-than-anything romantic arcs, but since a lot of the time romance is the B-plot at best and there’s no time to develop it properly, we end up with the characters basically skipping all the stages from attraction and straight to pure and unadulterated love.
KPop Demon Hunters doesn’t do that.
Instead, it focuses on the connection that was broken too fast and that’s precisely why it resonates with us. It doesn’t try to pretend that their romance is something that it isn’t and that fact, more than anything else, makes it feel authentic.
I feel like a different ending would have cheapened the story somehow. We got a happy ending, yes, but it doesn’t make it all good. It doesn’t erase all the pain that we had to go through to get there.
And at the end of the day, it’s not some grand love story.
No.
Instead, it’s two broken people who connect, who feel attraction and who never get to explore what it means. The romance itself isn’t some kind of be-all and end-all kind of thing.
It still matters, though.
Why? Well… because they still got to meet each other. They still got to heal, in their own ways. And that matters, too. Even if it wasn’t meant to be the way we wish it was. Sometimes, that’s just how it is.
I might get stabbed for it here, but I would like to add my two cents for this amazing analysis here that I totally agree with.
In terms of storytelling and symbolism, Jinu dying was the deepest choice, from a relationship and a character point of view.
Allow me to elaborate.
Yes, he was a compelling character and would be super interesting to see more of him (and more of this world’s lore overall, I have so many questions) and yes Rujinu moments were endearing and got me involved during the whole movie, curious to see where their actions would lead (And their banter was sooo fun)
BUT, his sacrifice points to three main points:
Rumi was right: their connection has been real, and Jinu has gone through change, even if in a inconveniently unlinear way;
Jinu sacrificed himself not to save “his girl” or whatever: but because he “loved” and admired her as the light that finally hit his broken pieces; she was the unfathomable realization [for him] that someone broken and “soiled” by demon patterns could still fight for the better instead of engulfing in the shadows. After all, she was human, and he’d been once too;
And last and most emblematic, when Rumi claims among tears she wanted to free him, he says “and you did. You gave me my soul back. And now, I give it back to you.”
GUYS. Jinu, the one who sold his soul to get what he wanted. Jinu, the one who paid the price of abandoning his own mother and sister to the worst of lucks without a second thought. Jinu, the man who only did things for his own benefit, even in his demonic afterlife.
He could’ve had what he wanted.
If he remained by Gwi Ma side, if he just stepped out of the situation, closed his eyes to the evil he was enabling and focused on his reward, he would have made it. Just like last time.
But this Jinu had 400 years to regret his deal, to remember his sister’s face, grasping for him desperately, the disbelief on his mother’s face burned forever into his memories. And for the first time in four centuries he found someone who believed he could be more than his past choices, more than a selfish demon — That change was a possibility.
Choice was a possibility.
Looking away was a choice, protecting Rumi was a choice. And when he chose the latter, he chose selflessness. He chose his humanity!
[For me] THAT was the moment his soul was free, because he willingly let go of his selfish part that kept him connected to Gwi Ma.
And the first thing he did after? Lend it to Rumi.
Doing that, he materialized the hope to end the demon reign, to end the misery, the voices that dragged everyone there down to the point of almost giving up to the demon claims – and what a sharp (and cool!) hope.
His millenary spite against Gwi Ma was transmuted into this pure and strong purpose that supported the hunters — the protectors of humanity — into breaking the world free from the demon’s influence.
Jinu was finally free, on the right side of the Honmoon and together they defeated the king of demons, just like Rumi promised.
So yes, I liked that in terms of romance they were just a crush, but in terms of everything else their connection created space for resolutions deeper and beyond a true love’s kiss for both characters.
(Anyway I just love when media depict profound relationships without metering it by physical intimacy and romance check lists!!!)
tfw “popular” fanon becomes so embedded in a fandom & discussions within fandom spaces that people just start treating it as the default and all interactions with others are coloured by this interpretation. have you considered that I actually don’t subscribe to this take, which is nowhere in the source material? wait nvm, clearly not.
I’m never muting this post I love learning about fandom beef I’d never ever considered before
32. USA. She/Hers/Her. Nerd. Geek. Has a general tendency to love on everything and anything. Often a bit ridiculous, I love food, fans, discussion and meta. A child at heart, you will mostly see One Piece, anime, books, recs and pretty photosets
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