You know the phrase “you couldnt torture that out of me?” That’s how I feel every time I see someone proudly mention they’re a US military veteran. Like, that’s embarrassing. That’s pathetic. You’re a proud murderer? You’re a proud imperialist? A proud racist? Proud for helping perpetuate violence, terror and genocide around the world? You can’t even say you deserve grace for being reformed or some shit cuz you aren’t embarrassed by it enough to not give that information away for free. You’re a loser.
I love fanfiction because sometimes The Character needs to be held gently and sometimes they need to be beaten to death with a club. and you 🫵 can make both of those happen. for free
letting myself have a fandom moment here, please forgive me. like. when I’m interested in a fictional relationship, I’m interested in the dynamic between them and interested in how a romantic aspect could change or REVEAL further aspects of their dynamic. the want for that relationship to be romantic comes from a place of engaging w the plot of the story and the personalities of the character. it has never come from a place of “I want these characters in a healthy monogamous relationship with one another where they get married and have kids together” like ur all out of ur mind for this
Having your interests mocked as a kid and general low self esteem will have you insulting the things you like even when they’re generally considered very good. Because you like it, and historically when you like something it’s stupid and not worth anyone’s time. So you will say nonsense like “I recommend this book/game/film, but it’s okay if you hate it, it sucks, I really enjoyed it but that’s because I’m an idiot” and you are recommending them the Citizen fucking Kane of that particular media type. And importantly: you need to stop doing this it is killing you
I love how “Sinners” didn’t villify the sinners in the movie. Sammie’s father told him that playing music for “drunkards and philanderers who abandon their family responbilities to sweat all over each other” was a sin. And he was right about the kind of people going to the juke joint: Delta Slim is an alcoholic, and Pearline a cheater. It would have been easy to villify them, but the movie tells us that despite their flaws, they are humans worthy of love, respect and freedom.
Delta Slim drinks because he’s traumatized by the horrors Black people of his time face. And he’s kind and compassionate, encouraging and reassuring Sammie, and sacrificing himself to save everyone else.
Pearline literally saved Sammie’s life and sacrificed herself to protect him, a boy she had only known for a day. It shows her kindness because she could have easily stayed back when Remmick tried to bite Sammy and not endangered her life more than necessary.
The movie shows us that preachers blindly condemning those sinners are wrong: Sammie is only alive because drunkards, philanderers and gangsters (Smoke) gave their lives to protect him. They are people, with flaws and qualities.
I love how nuanced the movie is: Sammie’s father is not wrong about the kind of people Sammie wants to associate with and their potential bad influence, but he’s wrong about them being evil and not deserving of respect.
