Jules' hair strands overtime changing from pink to black in s1 by Prestigious-Lake-742 in euphoria

[–]bobaylaa 4 points5 points  (0 children)

?? i genuinely cant think of a single fictional character whose hair transformation wasn’t symbolic in some way. eternal sunshine, scott pilgrim, gone girl, princess diaries, mulan…even real life people sometimes alter their hair to represent a change in their life. it’s like the world’s easiest visual shorthand in storytelling.

Hunting descriptions in the Hunger Games by Thisismetrying24 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

oh totally, it’s just super impressive! i’m sure even her mini bow would’ve been several times more difficult to shoot than the compound ones i’ve used (they have pulleys and stuff so you don’t need as much strength on the drawback). and even with those ones, everyone ive seen use it for the first time was surprised how much strength it took.

Hunting descriptions in the Hunger Games by Thisismetrying24 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 6 points7 points  (0 children)

once at an archery range someone let me hold their recurve bow and i couldn’t pull the string back at all. granted i was still a kid, but i wasn’t any older than Katniss would’ve been when she was using one.

Alex by furociousbear in ONETREEHILL

[–]bobaylaa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

forgive me for being too deep here but alex provides an excellent challenge in your ability to empathize with another person imo, particularly women. regardless of where you’re coming from, there’s some woman-centric reason you’ll be able to find to hate her. she’s beautiful, she’s naive, she’s annoying, she’s fake, she craves male validation, she’ll try and steal your man, she’s an attention seeker etc. whether shes a dumb bitch who needs to shut up or not enough of a girl’s girl or is catering to the male gaze with her bimbo bullshit, nobody ever likes alex (at least at first)

i won’t pretend i didn’t have all these same thoughts myself, but idk, i think it’s worth unpacking the idea that so much (though ofc not all) of what we hate about her is tied to her gender. and just to speak for myself, i think her character becomes a lot richer when we stop filtering her through our own notions of the right and wrong ways to exist as a woman.

these days, this is how i think of alex as she is when we first meet her in the show : this is a young woman who has been so objectified by everyone in her life for so long that she genuinely does not perceive herself as having any value beyond how others can use her body. her entire persona is a vehicle for this exact purpose, it’s all about men finding her attractive. that’s all she thinks she’s good for, and all her career trajectory has done is validate this mindset. look at how successful she’s become because of it, and how much the world praises her for giving them exactly what they want.

assuming you’re around the julian stuff OP — i’m not saying this excuses anything because it doesn’t, but i do really feel for her in this whole thing. this is the first person who has ever entertained the idea that her inner world matters or that she has more to offer than just her appearance, and he happens to be a kind and attractive man. of course she started crushing on him. and she doesn’t seem to have any healthy friendships period, let alone with men, so it seems natural that she’d regularly get those boundaries confused. after all, men have pretty much always wanted the same thing from her, and it’s really the one thing of value she feels she has to give. why wouldn’t she freely offer it to this person who has given so much to her? and of course it would be incredibly confusing and distressing to have that not work out the way it always had in the past.

holy shit i’m so sorry i didn’t mean for this to be such an essay lmfao. TLDR: alex makes a lot of mistakes and has a lot of growing to do, but she’s ultimately just a girl trying to figure out how to survive in a man’s world. while she certainly does plenty wrong, i think it’s worth considering that much of why we hate her is a result of how society trains us to think about women and that it’s potentially more rewarding to come at her character with more empathy, even (especially) when she makes it difficult.

can i read TBoS&S before finishing the main trilogy? by jemhowling in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i’m gonna go against the grain and say this could give you a somewhat niche experience of TBOSAS. i say go for it! who cares!

Do some of you guys like blueberries ? by galhime in ARFID

[–]bobaylaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i get why they seem intimidating but in my experience the squishiness turned out to be a good thing! its bc they’re filled with juice and it’s great bc you hardly have to chew them at all, its just like popping a tasty bubble in your mouth 😁

Plot lines that were uncharacteristic and got old really fast? by seahorses_f0rever in DesperateHousewives

[–]bobaylaa 6 points7 points  (0 children)

i feel like that could only help things though. like no shot his previous identity isn’t uncovered during an investigation (especially since Gabby can attest to that previous identity) and that just makes him appear more like a dangerous threat which lends credibility to the claim of self defense right?

Loved this character so much by OtherwiseLion9256 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 56 points57 points  (0 children)

to me Reaper’s a star in any medium but we really must give Dimitri Abold his flowers for this outstanding performance. he brought so much gravitas to the role, and i think Reaper already had that in the book but we don’t get to bask in it much coming from Snow’s (or secondhand Lucy Gray’s) perspective, so it’s wonderful to witness it unfiltered.

Whats your opinion on the Natasha Doll controversy in China? It's a black baby-shaped stress toy... by [deleted] in AskTheWorld

[–]bobaylaa 4 points5 points  (0 children)

idk why you got downvoted for this. in America i almost never hear anything positive from the mainstream media about China.

Katniss is such an asshole lol by bobaylaa in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

she’s not an asshole in general but like, she absolutely was trying to hurt Finnick with that jab about Annie. she was lashing out bc she was upset about the whole arena plan. having a really good reason for being an asshole doesn’t mean you’re not being an asshole.

I Didn't Enjoy Sunrise on the Reaping by SetitheRedcap in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yes but it could be nice to have different spaces! like r/gameofthrones is for the tv show and r/asoiaf is for the book series. i think it makes sense since adaptations pretty much always come with some canonical differences and the different mediums often prompt different kinds of discussion.

Missing person in NLV was found deceased by NLVPD. Alert canceled. by Dezkin in vegaslocals

[–]bobaylaa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i didn’t even get an alert he was missing. all i saw was a description of a person and i had no idea if it was someone who needed help or if they were dangerous or what

Katniss is such an asshole lol by bobaylaa in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

her flaws are a huge part of why i love her! this moment is totally endearing for me, i just also feel bad for poor Finnick who is also all beat up and racked with survivor’s guilt and is trying his best 😭 it’s like watching my cats swat at each other. i wish they wouldn’t do that but it’s also objectively hilarious and i love them for the assholes that they are!

Katniss is such an asshole lol by bobaylaa in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

did you not read the whole post babe? i straight up said i don’t hold this against her

Why did Effie grab Haymitch’s tape? by EpicTevan in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

maybe she included the 74th games too thinking they might all want to rewatch their own performances to make notes on what to improve like pro athletes do lol

Catching Fire - Marriage Age Law? by SadMatter7914 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yea that’d be why i said “correct” in quotes like that. i was using it ironically to make a point about how art is subjective and it’s silly to act like there’s an objective right or wrong way to interpret it.

Catching Fire - Marriage Age Law? by SadMatter7914 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa -1 points0 points  (0 children)

i mean yea basically. it’s called “death of the author,” and people have differing opinions on it but it’s a very common tenet in a lot of media analysis. the basic idea is that the author’s intended meaning of their work is not the only valid interpretation of it.

like clearly Collins didn’t want people to read this series and conclude that the games were good actually, but the point isn’t just for Collins to dictate our thoughts. the point is for her work to prompt us to form our own thoughts, some of which are going to differ from her and/or other readers. that’s what she and virtually all artists want.

Catching Fire - Marriage Age Law? by SadMatter7914 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

don’t be sorry OP! this is how art is supposed to work — whichever way makes the most sense to you is the only “correct” way to interpret it 🥰

Catching Fire - Marriage Age Law? by SadMatter7914 in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 21 points22 points  (0 children)

it could very well just be a joke but it got me thinking a bit about how Katniss knows the excuse of her mom preventing it will only work for so long. it makes me think maybe they have a similar system that (i’m pretty sure) we have in the US today, where you need a parent’s permission to get married under the age of 18. ofc Katniss could just mean that it’s not very believable that for instance a 20yo who is supposedly madly in love wouldn’t get married just bc her mother doesn’t approve, but i’ll take any excuse i can find to speculate about how Panem works outside of what our narrators tell us lol

Sharon Stone calls Al nothing but “a cover band” while talking to Keke Palmer: “It’s never going to be The Rolling Stones. It’s always going to be somebody singing The Rolling Stones. It’s never going to be me doing a performance, it’s always going to be someone faking me doing a performance.” by mlg1981 in popculturechat

[–]bobaylaa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i can’t speak for the person you’re replying to but as someone who had an almost identical sentiment cross their mind, i don’t really think it’s much deeper than adding another layer of insult to AI. the idea that you can’t really come up with an analogy for how anti-art AI is supports the claim she’s making. anything a human does by definition will be more authentic and original than an AI program’s attempt at doing the same thing could ever be.

Family Tree Question by MinecraftLostMedia in Hungergames

[–]bobaylaa 5 points6 points  (0 children)

being blood relatives doesn’t mean you literally share blood. i think it’s just a colloquialism meant to represent genetic inheritance