ohmyitspeterpan:
“I’ll teach you to ride the wind’s back. And away we go.”
Steven and Max. We rode bikes and then ran around in the field down the street.
How true this is. I love watching this.
(via thatchicklou)
fuckyeahpotions-master:
acciobenedictcumberbatch:
lupinatic:
here-is-the-place:
When people say these books are children’s books, as if to demean them, I balk. These books dealt with themes that adults do not fully understand or wish to. It dealt with racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, prejudice, and general ignorance. These books taught us that it doesn’t matter how you were raised, but that you get to choose to be kind, loyal, brave, and true. They taught us to be strong under the pressures of this world and to hold fast to what we know to be right. These books taught me so much, they changed me as a person. So just because they’re set against a fantastical backdrop with young protagonists does not mean that their value is any less real.
This.
First book: Starts with the double murder of a pair of twenty-one year olds who were much missed and leaving their baby son a war orphan. A child growing up in abusive conditions that would give Cinderella the horrors. Dealing with peers and teachers who are bullies. The fickleness of fame (from the darling of Gryffindor to the outcast.) The idea that there are things worth fighting and dying for, spoken by the child protagonist. Three children promptly acting on that willingness to sacrifice their lives, and two of them getting injured doing so.
Second book: The equivalent of racism with the pro-pureblood attitude. Plot driven by an eleven year old girl being groomed and then used by a charming, handsome older male. The imbalance of power and resultant abuse inherent in slavery. Fraud perpetuated by stealing something very intimate.
Third book: The equivalent of ableism with a decent, kind and competant adult being considered less than human because he has an illness that adversely affects his behaviour at certain times. A justice system that is the opposite of just. Promises of removing an abused child from the abusive environment can’t always be kept. The innocent suffer while the guilty thrive.
Fouth book: More fickleness of fame. The privileged mistreating and undermining the underprivileged because they can. A master punishing a slave for his own misjudgment, and the slave blaming herself. A sports tournament which involves mortal risk being cheered by spectators. A wonderful young man being murdered simply because he was in the way. A young boy being tortured, humilated and nearly murdered.
Fifth book: PTSD in the teenage protagonist. Severe depression in the protagonist’s godfather, triggered by inherited mental health issues and being forced to stay in a house where abuse occured. A bigoted tyrant who lives to crush everyone under her heel, torturing a teenager for telling the truth in the name of the government (and trying to suck his soul out too). The discovery that your idols can have feet of clay after all. An effort to save the life of someone dear and precious actually costing that very same life. The loss of a father-figure and the resultant guilt.
Sixth book: The idea that a soul can be broken beyond repair. Drugs with the potential for date rape are shown as having achieved exactly that in at least one case, resulting in a pregnancy. Well-meaning chauvinism trying to control the love life of a young woman. Internalised prejuidce resulting in refusing the one you love, not out of lack of love but out of fear of tainting them. The mortality of those that seem powerful and larger than life.
Seventh book: Bad situations can get worse, to the point where even the privileged end up suffering and afraid. More internalised prejudice and fear hysterical terror of tainting those you love. Self-sacrifice and the loss of loved ones, EVERYWHERE. Those who are bitter are often so with a reason. The necessity of defeating your inner demons, even though it’s never as cool as it sounds. Don’t underestimate those that are enslaved. Other people’s culture isn’t always like your own. Things often come full circle (war ending with the death of a dearly-loved pair of new parents and their orphaned baby son living with his dead mother’s blood relative instead of his young godfather). Even if ‘all is well’ the world is still imperfect, because it’s full of us brilliant imperfect humans.
So… still think that Harry Potter is a kid’s series with no depth?
(Source: fhloston-paradise, via storieswelove)
(via lovepurplebubbles)
alwaysfollowtheowls:
From the July 15th Harrisburg Patriot News.
(via storieswelove)
(Source: itisalifestyle, via vickywdwcp)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Hanging Tree - The Hunger Games
(fan arrangment by adrisaurus)
(cover art by ~La-Chapeliere-Folle)
(Source: iwillalwaysbeastarshipranger, via eloiseiselegant)
My film class has been really interesting. Some of the movies I have really loved, some I’m surprised anyone ever wanted to see. Lately we’ve been watching “New Queer Cinema”. The term “New Queer Cinema” does not necessarily mean gay/lesbian films. The term “queer” here also doesn’t refer to specific gay/lesbian/bi sexuality but rather sexuality that is outside of the “norm”. Outside of the norm of the majority. For example, child sexuality, glbt sexuality in a heterosexual society, sadism as sexuality, etc. “New Queer Cinema” involves characters who are involved in or defined by queer sexuality. Rather than stereotypical roles in mainstream roles such as “the gay best friend” “feminine gay man partnered with a masculine gay man” “punishing lgbt, etc. for being how they are…which is wrong,” “New Queer Cinema” casts those defined by queer sexuality as a focus, or other non-stereotypical roles.
I really enjoy the idea of breaking out of these stereotypes, and showing that people of all walks of life are just as important as those considered in the majority or “normal.” I’m glad that a genre such as this even exists. However, some of the movies we’ve watched lately with this label have consisted heavily of rape. Not 45 second rape scenes that make you a little uncomfortable and then fade away. Like 6 minute scenes focused on how miserable everyone in the scene is, or having other characters around being completely apathetic. Things that make my stomach churn. I just can’t handle most of what we’ve been watching. Especially when it involves children, or the fact that everything started when they were children. I feel so much for the characters and I want to help, but it is all just cinema. It’s not even real. But it is so horrific to watch, I sometimes forget that.
Soon we’re going to be going to the Seattle Film Festival and hopefully watching more uplifting or just thought provoking movies. I always thought I leaned towards dark films. I love Donnie Darko, Girl, Interrupted, etc. Movies, and books actually, where people are screwed up. But I can’t watch people that are this screwed up. I need a little less trauma. But I have no regrets. I have been learning a lot.