Cruel choices #137: you must consume one – and only one – of the following pieces of media.
1.Sailor Moon retold in the style of a 19th Century Russian philosophical novel.
2.The Brothers Karamazov retold in the style of a magical girl anime.
“Our very existence proves there is a peak,” Mars spat, the wind-swept snow no deterrent to her clad in naught but the Sailor uniform as she was. “Man need not concern itself with matters of godhood. We are gods given flesh.”
“It is precisely because of what we are that they cannot rest.” Mercury replied. “One cannot and must not embrace egoism. If we fall, who then will they turn to? Who then will care for what mankind has wrought? Only mankind itself.”
Then from two alleys over there came not so much a cry but a sound, a resolute plea to the skies above not for help, but for guarantee of vengeance. The earnest note struck chords within Mars and Mercury, as if it had been an answer to both of their sides; and yet, it was distinctly not.
“Corrupting the minds of the people with false nationalism where there should be nothing but love of all man, exemplifying godhood as nothing more than superiority to others instead of preaching it as empathy and spilling my borscht… For that, I cannot forgive you! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!”
“Scandal in Staraya: Dmitri’s Secret Plan! Grushenka is an Evil Temptress!?“ Next week: Karamazov no Kyodai: Demons, Season 1 Episode 6! Otanoshimini!
wtf is going on with the Les Mis fandom this week? between Gblags coming back to troll us all, BBC done with filming, Raymond and Samuel slowly becoming the new Christian Edwards and Michael Colbourne, and Fra and Killian AT PRIDE TODAY i think we have all gone insane
“The basic plot, which cannot be ignored even in the films, is that Harry, Hermione and Ron give up everything for their political struggle. They drop out of high school, they go illegal, defy the government, belong to an underground organization [The Order of the Phoenix], operate out of safe houses and forests and even raid offices of the government and banking offices. This is all done in principled opposition to the Dark Wizard Voldemort and a corrupt bureaucratized government that has been heavily infiltrated with his evil minions. This is revolutionary activity. But the movie version does not present it as such or emphasize these radical aspects of the plot, thereby entirely missing the dramatic sweep and action present in the first half of the last novel. The novels recognize the importance of alternative media for political struggle. The mainstream press [The Daily Prophet] is shown as unreliable and unprincipled, eventually deteriorating into a fear-mongering propaganda machine for the Voldemort-controlled bureaucracy. For a while the alternative but above ground media [The Quibbler] publishes the real news, but it ceases to print after the daughter of the publisher is kidnapped. In the book, friends of Harry [Lee Jordan, with Fred and George Weasley as frequent guests] start broadcasting the real news from an underground radio station, encrypted with a password. This radio station becomes a critical link for the resistance, which is scattered and weak. Although we are treated to some radio broadcast updates in the movie, they are delivered by a disembodied and professional sounding voice, not our friends the Weasleys. This undermines the important message – a guiding principle behind the media coop – that in a serious situation it becomes necessary to produce your own media and not to rely on ‘professionals’. The novel makes it clear that in this phase of the struggle the characters romantic lives take a backseat to their political activity, as Harry breaks up with the love of his life [Ginny Weasley] so as to avoid making her a target for Voldemort’s forces, who are known to use torture and kidnapping as tactics. The ‘love triangle’ that becomes the focus of the movie isn’t even really present in the books. In the books, the relationship between Harry and Hermione is totally platonic – Ron is shown as jealous, but the feeling is entirely without foundation. In the book Harry says to Ron: “I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that. I thought you knew” (pg 378, DH US Hardback). This conveys that men and women can be close comrades and friends without being involved romantically. But in the film, Harry and Hermione are shown dancing romantically, and Harry’s line to Ron about his brotherly feeling towards Hermione does not even make it into the film. This completely undermines the important message that jealousy is counter-productive and has toxic effects, which is an important feminist message for young people.”
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