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My parents got me, among a couple of other things, the new expansion for my favourite board game (Aeon's End) and the entire (!) "Skywalker Saga" set of SW movies, since I'd asked for a couple DVDs from either the OT or the PT (I've never owned all the PT and my OT DVDs are very old and scratched). I meant to use those to start getting good-quality copies piecemeal, but ... <3

(Feels a little weird to own TROS, ngl, but I'm fond of the other 8/9 despite gripes about certain particulars, so I'm still really happy and grateful about it. STAR WAAAARS)

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In response to this, tree said:

and once they start genuinely communicating instead of just inferring, they each contribute to the other’s understanding and GROW. it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection; it’s about two people allowing each other to influence and be influenced and becoming better people through that influence. people who make each other better are the best people!

I replied:

Yes! That’s why the post-engagement scenes are so important IMO; while there are some things they don’t say, by and large it’s a time when they start taking their little steps past just assuming they know what the other thinks or feels (I think Darcy gets there earlier, but that’s pretty unsurprising), talking openly with each other and giving us a sense of what they’ll be like as a married couple.

And it’s perhaps significant that the incident that sparks their most dramatic changes is the first proposal/letter—in which, however badly they behave, they just straight-out cut past the bullshit and talk about what they really think and what they really understand of what’s happened around them. It’s then that they’re able to really influence each other for the better, and the novel repeatedly holds out the possibility of continued influence on each other.

And yeah, “it’s not about reaching a fixed point of perfection” is a good way of putting it and one that a lot of critics miss.

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I was tagged by elperian in the fic writer bingo!



BINGO BINGO BINGO I am utterly predictable

For anyone who wants to do it, the blank form is under the cut:

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An anon said:

Whenever I read Austen's novels I'm always struck by just how important good sense is. All the romance is founded on it, there can be no respect or love without it. I suspect this is also why some people think Elizabeth is only interested in Pemberley? Taking the sensible/practical theme to extremes.

I replied:

It’s possible! IMO, though, those readings largely reduce Pemberley to income and ignore the aesthetic, personal, and social dimensions it represents, which inclines me to take a less charitable view tbh. I think many of those readings are reflecting a lack of understanding of Pemberley’s function in the text and disregard for Austen’s careful development of Elizabeth’s feelings in favour of an ~edgy reading, rather than interest in sense thematically.

That said, I agree that good sense is very highly valued throughout Austen’s work, esp by her leading characters. I think it’s fair to ask … what does respect or love mean without good sense? What value is there in it? Can you consider it as existing in any meaningful way? Lacking sense or indulgently diminishing it is not the worst thing a person can be/do, certainly, but it’s one that Austen has little patience for, I think (her readers are often more sympathetic to those lacking sense than she is herself).

And there was a lot of contemporary debate about what “good sense” really means and how it operates that I think we see in Austen—it has a lot of shades of meaning that apply at different times, or sometimes (arguably) all at once.

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An anon said:

Maybe it’s just overthinking but I keep going back to that moment when Eowyn says “do you not know?” and Faramir answers “two reasons…” etc. I feel like Faramir’s answer exhibits his keen powers of judgment but that furthermore their conversation confirms Eowyn’s own strength and presence as an individual who is NOT completely transparent, even to Faramir.

Because on the one hand he can succinctly summarize Eowyn’s emotional dilemma, BUT he also says: I’m not sure which of the two reasons is actually keeping you here. And I like to think it’s rare that Faramir is presented with a psychological mystery in another person that he cannot confidently get to the bottom of, so it feels significant that his knowing co-exists with a non-knowing when it comes to Eowyn in particular.

I replied:

Oh, interesting! Yeah, I think that’s a fair observation. I don’t think it’s because she’s part-Númenórean or anything like that; it’s just, as you say, the strength of her mind and her inclination up to that moment.

If we go back to Faramir’s interchanges with Gollum (this is related, I promise!), one of the most interesting moments comes when he says that he can’t see a lot of what’s going on with him because his mind is closed and dark, but he’s getting “murder” and “deceit” vibes. And while Éowyn is (of course!!!!) a very different person than Gollum, I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar is happening at a sort of mechanical level. Her mind isn’t dark in the same sense, but it is closed off to an extent. Even though Faramir has the insight to see some of what’s hidden, it’s only some.

We might even see a similar level of uncertainty in Gandalf’s otherwise confident and spot-on take on her, too; “you might have heard even such things [from her]” or “who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone?” Éowyn is understood in these cases, but at the same time, has the will to keep her mind essentially her own.

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In response to this, beatrice_otter said:

all of those sound really really amazing

I replied:

Oh, thank you very much! I hope they’re enjoyable enough, anyway :)

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An anon asked:

Which movie adaptation of P&P do you like the best?

I replied:

Probably the 2005, for all its questionable choices as an adaptation. The 1940 is a procession of wtf (a charming one, but still) and Bride and Prejudice is cute but has a terrible Darcy. The LDS P&P is fine for what it is but meh. I never watched P&P&Z and have no regrets about that choice, lol. I’m trying to think of others … nothing really comes to mind.

(If you mean cinematic adaptations generally and not just movies as such, my answer would change to the 1980 P&P mini-series.)

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One of the things I really enjoy about P&P is how much it emphasizes the difficulty of really understanding other people, and how inadequate our schemas for doing so can be. This is true of lots of literature, of course, but I feel it the most with P&P.

There are a lot of ‘consistent inconsistencies’ in the novel. For instance, at Netherfield it’s asserted that Elizabeth dislikes Darcy too much to care about his opinion of her, but in Elizabeth’s outburst after accepting the truth of the letter, she realizes that she was offended by Darcy’s “neglect” of her the whole time. If you accept the outburst as accurate, it’s going to profoundly shape your view of Elizabeth’s full emotional response to Darcy through the first half of the novel (and sometimes even beyond). If you think she’s exaggerating out of shame and embarrassment, that leads to very different conclusions.

People throw each around as conclusive discussion-enders, but it’s often more the case that a single data point ends all discussion for that person, but the text actually offers many overlapping but not perfectly congruent data points for interpretation. You, as a reader, have to decide the extent to which you accept them and how you’re going to weigh them.

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I reblogged a meme saying that "your stripper name is Sexy + the last thing you googled," and added:

#sexy dystopia #sounds good tbh

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I just sent off multiple messages I’ve been stressed about/putting off. I have another major one left, but at least I’ve got those off my chest.

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I get that short story writers can use advice too, but it seems like just about every time I run over potentially useful advice, it’s like, “but this only applies to short stories.”

>_<

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Apparently, I’ve been plagiarized, so I looked at my AO3 (sorted by kudos) to see if it was at least from my top five fics, since people don’t always realize how much they’re picking up and re-using.

No, it was not! But in fairness, I’m pretty ????? about what logic governs which ends up at the top. It’s currently:

1. Season of Courtship—Darcy/Elizabeth engagement fic I wrote at 19 (though I revised it later). It hadn’t been in my #1 slot for a really long time, but got a bunch of kudos over the last few months for some reason.
2. per ardua ad astra—Rogue One AU where Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi escape Scarif only to get sucked into the Death Star. So close to being resolved, and yet, not. Def my most popular for a long while, but I posted most of it in the RO fandom heyday.
3. But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell—ROTJ AU where Anakin/Vader seriously considers Luke’s offer to leave with him. It is 841 words and I desperately wish I had it in me to write more.
4. we get dark, only to shine—my longest fic ever at 168k; an AU for The Borgias that tries to bring in history and stay essentially true to the show’s dynamics. Another one that had its time as my #1 fic (despite being a problematic checklist, including incest).
5. tolerably well acquainted—canon-compliant fic expanding on Elizabeth’s time at Pemberley and afterwards. It’s actually something I’m invested in right now, so it’s been nice to see it climbing past most of my old fics.

Anyway. That happened!

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