Being A Lesbian Is So Dumb. This Girl Once Sent Me A Photo Of A Rat She Found In A Dumpster And I Imagined

I think the way the camera treats Caitlyn in the first act of season 2 is really interesting. It cuts off her eyes at some very key moments.

The eyes are how we connect with someone. Cutting them off cuts off the ability to sympathize with them. And depending on how the mouth is shot it can make the character seem more base or animalistic in a given moment. I think the show did this quite a bit with Silco in season 1, and they do it with Caitlyn in season 2.

The first one is from s2e1 when Caitlyn says about Jinx, "I want to rip that laugh from her throat forever.

Up until this point the viewer has been quite embedded in Caitlyn's POV when she's on-screen. The musical segment was showing her perspective. We witness her fantasy of being able to take down Jinx. The show is making sure that we understand where she's at mentally.

But here, the first time she's expressing violent thoughts, we're decidedly not in her POV. Her eyes are cut off, we don't get that connection with her. But what we do get is Jayce's reaction. And he's concerned. It's the first kind of "uh oh" moment, where you get a sinking feeling about where Caitlyn's headed.

2. After the memorial attack, she calls the attackers "animals" and we get this uncomfortably close shot of her teeth.

She's calling others animals, but she's the one who's shown snarling in this animalistic way. Again, her eyes are cut off, cutting off that avenue for sympathy when she says this, cutting the viewer off from her perspective, distancing her. Instead our attention is directed at this ugly, unsettling expression of hers. The camera is presenting her as something to be worried about rather than someone to feel sympathy for.

3. After interrogating Heenot, when she's gearing up to go after Jinx, and Vi is about to ask to talk to her.

Throughout the preceding scene, we were getting a lot of shots of Vi reacting to Caitlyn's behaviour, with a quite open expression, and a lot of shots of Caitlyn looking hardened and aloof. And then we come to this shot, and though Caitlyn is centre-frame, it's still Vi's POV. We see how Vi is feeling and reacting to things, but Caitlyn's eyes are again cut out of frame. She's distanced from the viewer, just like Vi is feeling distanced from her. Vi's position in the frame communicates how she's feeling, like she's being edged out of Caitlyn's life by Cait's singular focus on revenge.

And just like with that first shot with Jayce, by focusing on the reacting character, the camera is showing the viewer how they should be reacting to Caitlyn too: unsettled, disturbed, alienated.

4. When Cait and Vi are fighting, and Vi grabs Cait's arm, before she jabs Vi with the butt of her gun.

It's a reaction shot, Vi just grabbed her arm and told her she's acting like Jinx, this cut should be showing us how Caitlyn feels about that. But we don't see the reaction in her eyes, we just see her mouth.

In this case, I think it's not just about presenting Caitlyn in a way where she's cut off from the viewer. Because it is a reaction shot, I think this communicates that Caitlyn also feels cut off from herself in a way, cut off from the sympathy she had for others that was such a part of her character in season 1.

And then it's interesting to compare all this to when Vi and Caitlyn cross paths again, and Vi calls Caitlyn "cupcake." And we get this shot:

We get the closeup on her eyes. Whereas before, the audience was repeatedly cut off from having that connection with her, now it's like, boom, big connection. And just as before, I think the shot is not just about the audience being able to connect with her, but Caitlyn being able to connect with herself. That despite everything, she's still the same woman who fell in love with Vi, that part of her is still there. She's been on this whole awful journey, and she's done awful things, and allowed awful things to be done in her name, but she's still the same person, and she can't pretend anymore that it's all fine. She sees clearly again.

One thing I've always enjoyed about Vergil is that the games make you like him and root for him as a character... but not because he's right. It's not because he's noble. It's not even because he's traumatized. It's because he's Dante's brother.

Vergil is kind of terrible. He's done a lot of terrible things. The game doesn't even try to dispute that. You are not supposed to see Vergil as a heroic figure. Yet we still root for him because Dante, our PoV character, roots for him. Dante loves his brother. He wants his brother to succeed. We see how Vergil's absence crushes Dante. He never truly gets over it.

To Dante, Vergil is the person you love even though sometimes you just can't stand them, and maybe despite the fact that they've hurt you, because they're so important to you that you can't imagine life without them. He is the person you watch destroy themselves over and over, knowing there's nothing you can do to stop it, and you feel a piece of yourself break every single time the cycle repeats. Even if we, as players, may not see that or feel that for Vergil (at least, not right away), it's clear that Dante does.

And I can't emphasize enough how relatable and human that experience is. I think we've all been there in one way or another with someone in our lives. If we haven't, then I'm sure we've all watched a friend or family member go through that with someone they've loved.

He really doesn't need to be anything grander than that. He's not secretly right or noble. In fact, he's dead wrong about a lot. Yet we're still on Vergil's side because when he overcomes, when he finds his peace, when he becomes the person Dante hoped he could be, then Dante finds peace as well.

And we all want a world where the people we love can find their peace, and we can find our peace with them.

100 Small Acts of Love by The New York Times

"Thoughts on women?" Yeah pretty much constantly

I find myself thinking "god, I need a cigarette" way too often for someone who doesn't actually smoke. but what can I say. I've been needing a cigarette

my glasses are always dirty but it's fine. i've seen enough.

i miss my girlfriend

sometimes i forget about the fact that the internet really is the internet when a foot of yours is always close to getting roasted for something that can be so foolish, it reminds me of this meme.

just because i said “i wear prescription glasses like harry potter’s,” doesn’t mean i am transphobic, i support transphobia, i support the author, or i like the series at all. I’M JUST SAYING THAT I HAVE CIRCLE SPECTACLES LOL let’s put our thinking caps on now, shall we?

by the way, here’s a blog directory that updates quite often if you need resources for education (i’ll continue being on the lookout for more in case the links get taken down!) and a spreadsheet of medium since there’s not much representation out there for us to enjoy. keep yourself safe out there, here’s a guide on how to spot anti-trans resources as well.

i love you!

Tina: But I also know that there's a lot about me that I just haven't really figured out yet. And it feels wrong to- to then, um, sign you up and rope you in with all of it without really figuring it out myself first and, and, and laying it out on the table. But I don't want you to think that I don't like you! Like I- I wanna keep going on dates with you, you know? Again and again.

Bagi: That’s okay Tina. That’s completely okay. I get it. I don't know much about myself too.

Tina: But I'm just scared because I- I just feel like… I know and I know we're all still figuring each other out but it's not an excuse and I just feel like if I were to ask, you know, a big question and all. I feel like I would want to… have it all out on the table, you know? Um.

Bagi: That’s okay. I can understand you- I mean I was just taking you on a date.

Tina: Oh.

Bagi: That’s okay. You don't have to think-

Tina: Oh.

Bagi: -anything big for now. Like if you're not ready I'm here we can keep going on dates together and do some stuff together. Maybe dinners and laundry.

Tina: That would be good and I'd love to hear you talk about, um, murders! Murders and stuff. And, and, and, and I’d like to, I don’t know, I could come over and you could talk about murders and stuff more often. And if you're ever unsure about anything I can help you, you know? I can at least listen. Cause your mind space it was-

Bagi: Tina, I can always wait for you to figure your things out. I'm here I'm not going anywhere.

Tina: (Sigh of relief) Okay yeah. (Softly) I like you so much and I think you're really cool and really smart. I love so much about you. So much. There's honestly, uh, there's nothing I don't like about you, you know?

I hope the author of love bullet knows I adore the series so much that I ordered a copy of the book in Japanese even though I dont know the language very well and nearly cried when I got an extra postcard of the characters