Here's a bit more detail on the last two episodes from me if you fancy getting a bit angrier with me activistwitch.substack.com/p/who-needs-more-protection-than-cis TL;DR told ya...
On the more serious note of the topic toward the end of this video, thank you for covering this as well. As someone who grew up in the States, I remember having a bad taste in my mouth learning about the concept of "Manifest Destiny," which was placated by some more slightly self-aware teachers as a sin of the past. But here, now, Israel and Zionists take the same approach, equating the genocide of a brown people and the violent occupation of their land as a directive from their god, and using the world's guilt for the holocaust as a shield. There are Israelis speaking out against this, but they are being ignored or drowned out by biased media.
I think nothing showed more blatantly the divide between reality and how media repackages it to give us opinion rather than facts, than with the last year of live broadcast g3n0c1d3... The idea of this video truly came entwined with the issues with Zionism and they couldn't have been not mentioned.
Ysha, I'm only at the beginning of the video, ( I know it;s going to be great already), but the irony of the first commercial made me laugh so hard I had to share now before I forgot. It was one of the fundamentalist christian influences talking about the biblical cure for depression being having as many babies as possible
@@corriemcclain7960 I honestly wish it was the other way around: look for advice on having babies like a good Christian woman... Find the witches that tell you your value is so far beyond your breeding aspirations or abilities 😉
@@Omega-EPIf you suffer with a mental health condition, the likelihood of developing more health issues as a result of pregnancy is significantly heightned. Also, the more likely you’re kid is to develop mental health issues as a result not getting access to certain hormones.
@@Reed5016 Yeah, it's probably best to avoid having children if you're mentally ill. I don't take those people into account because they're so far and few in between. Most people who claim to have a mental illness these days do so seemingly out of a desire to be seen as different or "special", in a sense. Usually, if a person has a mental illness I doubt that would be their first thing to showcase to others, like some kind of blessing.
I haven't yet finished the video but I cannot describe how much the world of western witches have exploited my Romani culture so its so refreshing to find your content
I think I see what you mean because again, more than just pick and choosing, for most people, media might be the only encounter they have with romani people (much like Arab people like me) so the media has this great potential of teaching but really? Just used is as props for "the other" and made entire societies think of us as just that
How? Just how do you dive so deep and see things so clearly? This was so enlightening, I could never frame my thoughts, I rely on feelings and oftentimes they say something is very wrong, but i can't put my finger on it... Thank you for your work! I hope more people watch your analysis!
Honestly? I remember watching video essays years ago and wondering the same, I haven't been taught by educational institutions how to research and understand things. My first video essay was just me deep diving on the subject hoping I could read and learn enough about that (that was 3 years ago), but since that something that's happened is that, whether I'm actively researching or not, I take in information and ask questions, I go into deepd dives in Wikipedia just because and somehow doing this constantly clearly leaves behind an impression. I've learnt that, counter intuitive as it sounds, I don't learn about something just by researching that something and that the more I accidentally know about the world the easier it gets to draw connections when needed. It's a mind🦆 for my autistic brain to go at information with a "aim for the moon and you'll land amongst the stars" kind of attitude, but admittedly it how stuff get stuck in my head, much more than reading or researching purposefully. And also Raven knows everything. Really. Everything. Every time I ask them a question they know and they explain the world to me. That really is how.
@@activistwitch Your method clearly works! It's amazing how you draw connections and it's always good to have someone to discuss them with. I'm anticipating your next work you've mentioned (no pressure tho)!
We are not in the AFTER of the pandemic, sadly. People are still dying and becoming disabled. Many vulnerable people are still shielding, and those who are trying to go about thier lives in masks are discriminated against. We are in the middle of a huge wave, here in the UK.
Absolutely true. I keep getting mad at my GP and culture in general for pretending everything is fine. The hoops I had to jump through to get a COVID vaccine after catching COVID for the third time in July (and being leff.wotj long COVID again!) cannot be pverstayed
I understood now what you meant with this comment, because I talk about when we **were** in the pandemic. You're right it's not over and as someone who was left permanently disabled by COVID I wholeheartedly agree. I used the word pandemic, I should have talked about that time during the pandemic when there were lockdowns and those were what allowed us to shift our lifestyles. I wrongly used pandemic and lockdowns interchangeably and I shouldn't have because you're right, words matter. Thank you for making me realise this, I'll be more mindful in my content to come 🙏🏽
@@activistwitch Thank you for the replies. I'm new to your content and even though I liked it so far I struggled to continue watching after that part, because my brain refuses the take any activism seriously from people who don't take covid seriously, but now I can dive all in knowing that I'm listening to someone who's activism is not just performative. Imo covid denial is an instrument of fascism. I'm so sorry about your covid infections and long covid, I'm in the same boat, involuntary infected 3 times and suffering the consequences. I hope you will get better and the world will snap out if it, with enough pressure, that has been ramping up recently.
@Mireillka you're absolutely right, any activism that's ableist is not activism. I am very grateful for you making me notice my wrong wording. If you check out my videos from July especially I talk about how horrid it is we are just ignoring it and wait for it to cull en entire generation (us) because business landlords need their office rents paid! I am right there with you sibling, cause every reinfection compounds amd we should still be in emergency and lockdowns but the government decided we are expendable
@@activistwitch I'll definitely check the videos from July, and more. As i'm continuing with this video I enjoy your analysis and I'm learning a lot so I'm hungry for more!
This was so amazing on so many levels. Thank you for your labor. Thank you for the breakdowns of media literacy and how concepts get ingrained in us. It made me think about my love of science fiction and how those ideas often get caught up in hegemony of what the ruling class wants us to believe and how they accomplish their goals. I will be rewatching.
I'm so glad to hear it was useful. Your wright science fiction and in general fantasy genres can be someoto look at twice. Recently I acquired the horro tarot which is all in the style of horror b-movies and it was interesting to say theeast to recognise the latterowhere horror is bully upon our unconscious biases (and so can be veeeerery racist, misogynistic) because it has to leverage the fears for the unknown
“Se dici a qualcuno di non essere troppo politico, soprattutto una persona marginalizzata la cui vita e i problemi che deve affrontare per esistere sono decisi dalla politica, significa che puoi avere il privilegio di non interessartene. Aka sei un caxxo di privilegiato”. Sono alla prima mezz’ora e ho i B R I V I D I. Troppo brava sorella, sei una lama e la affondi meravigliosamente bene 💜💜💜
L'incazzo che ste frasi in bocca ai marginalizzati mi fa venire!! Certo! Fai dire "non politico" alla donna, fai dire "non essere offesa culturalmente" alla persona di colore, come se bastasse per legittimizzarle. E purtroppo lo fa perché non ci pensiamo, vediamo solo una donna, o una persona di colore, ripetere i criticismi che in realtà arrivano dai Cis white het privileged men!
This was a fantastic video! I won’t lie, I have enjoyed Agatha All Along so far (the gay person in me can’t bring myself to dislike anything with Patti LuPone in it lol) but you’ve definitely hit the nail on the head with Marvel and Disney and western entertainment media generally being a propaganda machine for neoliberal status quo, and by extension fascism.
i hope it delivers (at least by the end) that i'm not 💩 on anyone who enjoys Agatha, i just wish the subtext was clear to everyone so we can decide to enjoy the parts we like without being subconsciously brainwashed
i haven't seen that so I cannot speak on that but I encourage everyone to apply the propaganda model and see how it delivers on every piece of media out there, cause so far I found that even the most progressive pieces of media and representation at the end of the day, have core values that uphold the status quo at the end of the day, as if the pill is sweetened, but the 💩 sandwich remains
@@activistwitch absolutely, and Andor is not perfect at all, i am just still impressed at how much it does right and how insightful and radical it is allowed to be. the people who write and run that show has definitely been in the vicinity of some brick-throwing at some point i don't have high expectations of season two, now that it's more popular, but season 1 is definitely an achievement in radical storytelling imo. definitely worth a watch
I agree! It is my favorite hands down. Watching the evolution of what it takes for a character and a community to rise up and fight Empire was so inspiring.
Thank you so much for this video, the time and effort you've put into this is so greatly appreciated ❤️ Do you have any advice or recommendations for finding news outlets that might be less biased/more honest in nature please?
I know there's a platform that gathers news with details of the political leaning of the publishers but i can't remember it off the top of my head, i think @secondThought might have been sponsored by them at some point? the issue is the lack of independence since growing towards conglomerates. Manufacturing Consent goes a lot more in detail of how most news outlets write "news" based on press releases sent to them by few PR and News aggregators like Reuters, so the lack of different voices comes from that. Novara Media comes to mind as somewhat leftist but nothing really substitutes personal media literacy
I haven't seen the show (lost all interest in Marvel after Disney's acquisition of them)... The line about the "sigil" almost made me spit my hot chocolate!
@@1980rlquinn it's that they clearly went with the pick and choose attitude, trying to reap rewards and approval from the witchy community (theres an episode on tarot that witchtok is eating up) and then just make up stuff under the guise of entertainment. Again, just enough to hook us on possibly as consumers, but to then claim "oh but this is not for witches (as if they existed!) this is entertainment" 🤦🏽♀️
@@activistwitch Even not having seen the show nor being on Tiktok, I know exactly which episode you're talking about. r/tarot is going just as crazy about it, and they're already celebrating the release of a matching official Agatha tarot deck next year. :( Money, money, money....
@1980rlquinn it's not that I wish I was wrong when I say stuff that sounds like I'm predicting the future... But honestly the capitalist propaganda machine once at play it's so repetitive and predictable 🤦🏽♀️
Even though I haven't watched anything from Marvel in too many years to count, don't have disney plus/ haven't heard of this show, I knew I would learn so much from this video and oh wow was I right. I am amazed at how well you put words to things. I've know it was more than the white washing (and Romani erasing) and repetitive stories, but it was just an yikey feeling I got that I couldn't not explain. And now I have a place to start explaining to people why I don't like so many movies and shows
In all honesty as I was filming it I realised I know more about marvel than I ever realised and if so much of it got to me while not considering myself at all a marvel fan, it made it very obvious to see how it's been trying to 'educate' us for the last 16 years!
I haven't watched the show yet. It came on right after I went on my break from Disney+. After watching your videos and seeing the clips I am not sure the end of the road will be her becoming a mother. As a writer myself, I could totally see that as a possible ending though. Because so much character centered writing will revolve around a wound that usually has to do with a parent/child relationship. But lately I have found that Disney is trying to break that mould. I used to be able to guess exactly what was going to happen in shows, but with Disney, they have been surprising me a bit lately. However, that's Disney. Not Marvel. Marvel is often just pure fluff, cliche, and devoid of much substance other than the moral messages and entertainment. A few of the Marvel made for TV side branches can have a bit more substance though. When they are not to close to the movie storyline. Not always, but sometimes. If they are trying, my best guess is that at the end of the road she will find herself. Maybe even by some weird twist the child she finds is herself. Maybe the whole journey is learning to reparent herself and do that shadow work. I guess we shall see. I don't necessarily agree with all of your interpretation in this video essay but I really appreciate the food for thought. It's good to think about these things this deeply now and then and not just blindly be entertained without thought. As far as the movie The Craft though, I never really liked that movie. I had been a Witch for about 10 years when that movie came out. And although I did watch it because movies about witches were so scarce, and I did appreciate a few authentic nods to Wicca in there, I didn't think it was very good. First, it was a horror movie. So we couldn't just have a movie about witches, not unless it was a horror. Then the childish slumber party games they were playing. It was so condescending. I was a witch at that age. My practice was so completely deep and thoughtful and had nothing to do with changing my hair or getting revenge on someone or making someone levitate. That was so far from my experience, I just couldn't relate. Plus they were monotheists worshipping a male god. That wasn't right. And it wasn't any god I had heard of back then. And there had to be bad witches and good witches. Not just witches. Plus the one outspoken female character, not only was relegated to the "bad witch" category. But in the end she was literally in a straight jacket. So that movie didn't speak to my witch side. Maybe my wannabe cool bad girl side lol. But even still as a witch, I would never go down that path. The first movie that really made me feel represented was Practical Magic. It didn't totally represent me, and there were a few issues. But at least I could identify with most of it and none of it made me feel like I wanted to reject it. Plus the movie is also about women and women's power and love from many angles. The love of sisters, romantic love, love that turns to obsession. The power of a broken heart and the power of a healed heart. There was so much to chew on in the movie other than "they are witches".
On matters of research and authenticity at least the craft did research, the fact that they had a witch write the incantations show definitely more than "a sigil is a redaction spell" 🤦🏽♀️ If be veeeereery surprised of marvel did an Agatha which is just personal development as you say "parent herself" because indeed, looking at the pattern of punishment of previous women in the MCU and even just in the 7 episode of Agatha out now (I really don't recommend disney+ as this video might have suggested, so well done on that!) the pattern fits. Whether she finds her son or she sacrificed herself for Teen (suffering like a woman is supposed to according to patriarchy) I'd like to be wrong though I worry I might not
@@activistwitch there have been a few women centered Marvel TV shows that I appreciated lately. I think the TV universe is different than the movie universe in the complexity it allows for. Ms Marvel and She Hulk come to mind. I suppose you may argue that they are not mothers so they don't fit your narrative of "have babies, go crazy". But they don't have to become mothers to serve a purpose in their shows. I really like Captain Marvel too. But she is more or less distant and absent a lot of the time only to show up and do her thing to save the day. I suspect that is because as a character she is overpowered and if she was always around there would be no story. I think they explain it by some feelings of maternal guilt for letting her god daughter down. So maybe she is the antithesis of your theory. She doesn't have a bio kid but she has a kid in the emotional sense and she "stays away so she won't go crazy" maybe lol. I always hate it when the superheros stay away from the regular people. I like to see normal messy average seeming people, but with some superpower.
Personally (just starting video) but i find it extremely useful, important, to differentiate between witch (the human sorcerer, the pagan endonym) & witch (the wholly fictional genre of monster which -while not exclusive to christianity; cf lamiae, tlahuelpuchi- was emblematized during the early modern witch-panics) I find it helpful to separate them because none of the people who were accused of witchcraft in the EMP were witches, let alone witches in the supernatural sense. The conflation is bad, i think, not least because it dishonors and offends the memory of those murderd by the witch panics; but also because it encourages the individualism & exceptionalism of capitalism. After all the witch-as-monster is a fiercely individual, anti-social, anti-communal being That witch's prey is marginalized people, seldom attacking those holding institutional power. The witch-as-monster has a lot more in common with a billionaire, with a venture capitalist, with an army recruiter; than with anyone in resistance to the kyriarchons. Thus it is good to separate these two beings; one real, human; the other fantastical & monstrous. It makes like ... actually harder to be pandered to. "Witch aesthetic" stuff becomes not an identity when paired to the monster. Like I might dig werewolves or mummies or the minotaur but they are not something i am nor something that becomes of me so tightly. It is worth remembering with regard to the stuff like Sigil or other jargon nonsense that Marvel has already been developing a jargon for stories & context their secondary universes.
If we made a 'monster' of witches at all, maybe that is an issue itself? The fact that the producers of shows and films on witches do dip and look for us witches people to then extrapolate characteristics to use as they like is the reason why I'm not sure the split is worth having. Is marvel wanted to create something of its own where sigils then can be whatever they want, they wouldn't have gone through an episode like the seventh with the Tarot. Jac herself said she doesn't like research but the research che gave her writers was based on watching witchy content (much like us real witches, not monster, do here) so thats why, interesting as your points are, I am not inclined to concede to the wotch as monster at all, becaisr its existence was there to demons people still, and of they are as you say written as monsters preying on marginalised people with more in common with billionaires than anything else, maybe kts worth wondering why the system made such a monster with the same name of the real thing which actually ironically are marginalised people. Words indeed matter and it's not by chance. I am glad to see that even mythologically we are getting to review and reconsider the witch as monster (so much reclaiming I have seen on reinterpretation and new considerations of characters like Circle or Medusa. So I'm not sure the split serves anyone but the system, which will conflate the two when needed to persecute real people anyway.
@activistwitch so on the witch as monster thing: first: i would not be surprised if we were talking past each other saying the same thing. We are talking about words and meanings using those very same tools we are critiquing, and i am very much a H1 Mars Aries. To call me hardheaded is being kind. So to be clear: everything here isnt meant as a prescriptive or absolute thing. It is merely a thing i have come to find useful. After all categories and distinctions are tools, not Truth. Same goes for words: we call Circe a witch but pharmakis can just as well be read as sorceress, pharmacist, apothecary, druggist, or alchemist. It isnt to say that the choice of the word Witch is wrong, just that it is a choice & we should be aware that we are making it. Because this uncritical muddling has had bad effects; like the reimagining of a completely unfounded conspiracy theory as being actually based on some real thing (thus justifying it to a degree and erasing the fact that it was a backslide on the medieval church's policy of "witches aren't really *witches*"), or just the whole Burning Times narrative. Or more seriously, a flattening of the spiritual/religious/magical practices of many groups (see the use of the imagery of voudoun or other african diaspora religions to signify Witch in modern media). Ideally when we spoke about the people murdered by mobs or by the state, or the practitioners of folk medicine & holders of religious/magical knowings, or the supernatural perils that were used to explain misfortune or to teach about social coexistence, we would have easy distinctions. But we dont really; and we make do with the language we got. & like there is use in some muddling of the boundaries, but we ought be conscientious about it. Because cards on the table, keeping the different categories in mind doesnt do that much to better the world, all it does help in noticing. Like, I wholeheartedly get where you're coming from; i personally didnt make or even perceive the distinction until relatively recently. I only came to it by having it forcefully pointed out by people who did not share my very anglo-usaish influenced perspective, but who showed me charity enough to see what i meant & what they heard were fundamentally different things. So it isnt a judgement, just a tool i have found so useful it backfit a lot of stuff for me. Like understanding why ppl can get uncomfortable if one calls Befana a witch.
Compelling, but how could we deny him the chance to do the most hyper camp send off of Al Pacino's turn as Satan in The Devil's Advocate that has ever been and will ever be, in this essay- I have lurked so much incredible content here and this is my opening statement. Incredible. Thank you so much for just, being you, and having your message out here!
Oh snap. I leaved a response here after the finale but it got auto moderated. Feel free to delete this comment if you find and approve the other one. Thank you for such a wonderful essay.
Oh!! You know what? that means UA-cam got rid of it immediately due to language. Don't worry, never used any bad words but I used terms like the opposite of alive quite a few times. Mixed with a conversation about motherhood, babies, etc. Not exactly unrelated: sometimes you can't fully spell now the name of one of the most popular videogame franchises of the last 15 years. It's "AC". Sometimes it gets filtered sometimes it doesn't. My guess is that some kind of AI decides whether to allow certain comments or not due to context of other other words. Like not alive and mother. It's such a shame. It was a long comment about the finale and how you were right: she's now a powerless motherly figure to Billy and so she has been kind of redeemed. Sigh. Blessings. Hope you had a great day in this special date on a new moon.. From one autistic to another. ❤
![The End [S2 EP11]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gWcZrmVThY4/mqdefault.jpg)
Here's a bit more detail on the last two episodes from me if you fancy getting a bit angrier with me activistwitch.substack.com/p/who-needs-more-protection-than-cis
TL;DR told ya...
On the more serious note of the topic toward the end of this video, thank you for covering this as well. As someone who grew up in the States, I remember having a bad taste in my mouth learning about the concept of "Manifest Destiny," which was placated by some more slightly self-aware teachers as a sin of the past. But here, now, Israel and Zionists take the same approach, equating the genocide of a brown people and the violent occupation of their land as a directive from their god, and using the world's guilt for the holocaust as a shield. There are Israelis speaking out against this, but they are being ignored or drowned out by biased media.
I think nothing showed more blatantly the divide between reality and how media repackages it to give us opinion rather than facts, than with the last year of live broadcast g3n0c1d3... The idea of this video truly came entwined with the issues with Zionism and they couldn't have been not mentioned.
Ysha, I'm only at the beginning of the video, ( I know it;s going to be great already), but the irony of the first commercial made me laugh so hard I had to share now before I forgot. It was one of the fundamentalist christian influences talking about the biblical cure for depression being having as many babies as possible
@@corriemcclain7960 I honestly wish it was the other way around: look for advice on having babies like a good Christian woman... Find the witches that tell you your value is so far beyond your breeding aspirations or abilities 😉
Well, they’re not completely wrong, seeing as children is the joy of life.
@@Omega-EPIf you suffer with a mental health condition, the likelihood of developing more health issues as a result of pregnancy is significantly heightned. Also, the more likely you’re kid is to develop mental health issues as a result not getting access to certain hormones.
Mmmm no Omega-EP. Agree to disagree
@@Reed5016 Yeah, it's probably best to avoid having children if you're mentally ill. I don't take those people into account because they're so far and few in between.
Most people who claim to have a mental illness these days do so seemingly out of a desire to be seen as different or "special", in a sense.
Usually, if a person has a mental illness I doubt that would be their first thing to showcase to others, like some kind of blessing.
Oh you absolutely smashed this! A whole feature length essay (about the length of a Disney film no less) of my shouting at the screen "Yes Ysha!!!"
Shoot I did t realise but you're right!!! It's a Disney film at about 80 minutes or so!!! Your support truly means the world to me Immi 🫂❤️
THANK-YOU for another well-crafted video, greatly appreciated!
Thank you for watching! I know this one is a behemoth!
@@activistwitch lol, I looooove a video that's long or short, especially with great content from you Ysha
I haven't yet finished the video but I cannot describe how much the world of western witches have exploited my Romani culture so its so refreshing to find your content
I think I see what you mean because again, more than just pick and choosing, for most people, media might be the only encounter they have with romani people (much like Arab people like me) so the media has this great potential of teaching but really? Just used is as props for "the other" and made entire societies think of us as just that
How? Just how do you dive so deep and see things so clearly? This was so enlightening, I could never frame my thoughts, I rely on feelings and oftentimes they say something is very wrong, but i can't put my finger on it... Thank you for your work! I hope more people watch your analysis!
Honestly? I remember watching video essays years ago and wondering the same, I haven't been taught by educational institutions how to research and understand things. My first video essay was just me deep diving on the subject hoping I could read and learn enough about that (that was 3 years ago), but since that something that's happened is that, whether I'm actively researching or not, I take in information and ask questions, I go into deepd dives in Wikipedia just because and somehow doing this constantly clearly leaves behind an impression. I've learnt that, counter intuitive as it sounds, I don't learn about something just by researching that something and that the more I accidentally know about the world the easier it gets to draw connections when needed. It's a mind🦆 for my autistic brain to go at information with a "aim for the moon and you'll land amongst the stars" kind of attitude, but admittedly it how stuff get stuck in my head, much more than reading or researching purposefully.
And also Raven knows everything.
Really. Everything. Every time I ask them a question they know and they explain the world to me. That really is how.
@@activistwitch Your method clearly works! It's amazing how you draw connections and it's always good to have someone to discuss them with. I'm anticipating your next work you've mentioned (no pressure tho)!
I so so appreciate you taking the time to make this video. May it go viral and be put in front of the eyes that need it ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much, I'm so glad you appreciated it so 🙏🏽
We are not in the AFTER of the pandemic, sadly. People are still dying and becoming disabled. Many vulnerable people are still shielding, and those who are trying to go about thier lives in masks are discriminated against. We are in the middle of a huge wave, here in the UK.
Absolutely true. I keep getting mad at my GP and culture in general for pretending everything is fine. The hoops I had to jump through to get a COVID vaccine after catching COVID for the third time in July (and being leff.wotj long COVID again!) cannot be pverstayed
I understood now what you meant with this comment, because I talk about when we **were** in the pandemic. You're right it's not over and as someone who was left permanently disabled by COVID I wholeheartedly agree. I used the word pandemic, I should have talked about that time during the pandemic when there were lockdowns and those were what allowed us to shift our lifestyles. I wrongly used pandemic and lockdowns interchangeably and I shouldn't have because you're right, words matter. Thank you for making me realise this, I'll be more mindful in my content to come 🙏🏽
@@activistwitch Thank you for the replies. I'm new to your content and even though I liked it so far I struggled to continue watching after that part, because my brain refuses the take any activism seriously from people who don't take covid seriously, but now I can dive all in knowing that I'm listening to someone who's activism is not just performative. Imo covid denial is an instrument of fascism. I'm so sorry about your covid infections and long covid, I'm in the same boat, involuntary infected 3 times and suffering the consequences. I hope you will get better and the world will snap out if it, with enough pressure, that has been ramping up recently.
@Mireillka you're absolutely right, any activism that's ableist is not activism. I am very grateful for you making me notice my wrong wording. If you check out my videos from July especially I talk about how horrid it is we are just ignoring it and wait for it to cull en entire generation (us) because business landlords need their office rents paid! I am right there with you sibling, cause every reinfection compounds amd we should still be in emergency and lockdowns but the government decided we are expendable
@@activistwitch I'll definitely check the videos from July, and more. As i'm continuing with this video I enjoy your analysis and I'm learning a lot so I'm hungry for more!
This was so amazing on so many levels. Thank you for your labor. Thank you for the breakdowns of media literacy and how concepts get ingrained in us. It made me think about my love of science fiction and how those ideas often get caught up in hegemony of what the ruling class wants us to believe and how they accomplish their goals. I will be rewatching.
I'm so glad to hear it was useful. Your wright science fiction and in general fantasy genres can be someoto look at twice. Recently I acquired the horro tarot which is all in the style of horror b-movies and it was interesting to say theeast to recognise the latterowhere horror is bully upon our unconscious biases (and so can be veeeerery racist, misogynistic) because it has to leverage the fears for the unknown
“Se dici a qualcuno di non essere troppo politico, soprattutto una persona marginalizzata la cui vita e i problemi che deve affrontare per esistere sono decisi dalla politica, significa che puoi avere il privilegio di non interessartene. Aka sei un caxxo di privilegiato”. Sono alla prima mezz’ora e ho i B R I V I D I. Troppo brava sorella, sei una lama e la affondi meravigliosamente bene 💜💜💜
L'incazzo che ste frasi in bocca ai marginalizzati mi fa venire!! Certo! Fai dire "non politico" alla donna, fai dire "non essere offesa culturalmente" alla persona di colore, come se bastasse per legittimizzarle. E purtroppo lo fa perché non ci pensiamo, vediamo solo una donna, o una persona di colore, ripetere i criticismi che in realtà arrivano dai Cis white het privileged men!
This was a fantastic video! I won’t lie, I have enjoyed Agatha All Along so far (the gay person in me can’t bring myself to dislike anything with Patti LuPone in it lol) but you’ve definitely hit the nail on the head with Marvel and Disney and western entertainment media generally being a propaganda machine for neoliberal status quo, and by extension fascism.
i hope it delivers (at least by the end) that i'm not 💩 on anyone who enjoys Agatha, i just wish the subtext was clear to everyone so we can decide to enjoy the parts we like without being subconsciously brainwashed
i was genuinely shocked when i watched Andor. it's an anti-fascist and anarchist wet dream
i haven't seen that so I cannot speak on that but I encourage everyone to apply the propaganda model and see how it delivers on every piece of media out there, cause so far I found that even the most progressive pieces of media and representation at the end of the day, have core values that uphold the status quo at the end of the day, as if the pill is sweetened, but the 💩 sandwich remains
@@activistwitch absolutely, and Andor is not perfect at all, i am just still impressed at how much it does right and how insightful and radical it is allowed to be. the people who write and run that show has definitely been in the vicinity of some brick-throwing at some point
i don't have high expectations of season two, now that it's more popular, but season 1 is definitely an achievement in radical storytelling imo. definitely worth a watch
Yes. Thats how the leftist Star Wars is.
I agree! It is my favorite hands down. Watching the evolution of what it takes for a character and a community to rise up and fight Empire was so inspiring.
@@IwonaKlich it definitely has the potential
Thank you so much for this video, the time and effort you've put into this is so greatly appreciated ❤️
Do you have any advice or recommendations for finding news outlets that might be less biased/more honest in nature please?
I know there's a platform that gathers news with details of the political leaning of the publishers but i can't remember it off the top of my head, i think @secondThought might have been sponsored by them at some point? the issue is the lack of independence since growing towards conglomerates. Manufacturing Consent goes a lot more in detail of how most news outlets write "news" based on press releases sent to them by few PR and News aggregators like Reuters, so the lack of different voices comes from that. Novara Media comes to mind as somewhat leftist but nothing really substitutes personal media literacy
This was so good Ysha 👏 ❤❤
Thank you so much Emily! So glad you liked it!
I haven't seen the show (lost all interest in Marvel after Disney's acquisition of them)... The line about the "sigil" almost made me spit my hot chocolate!
@@1980rlquinn it's that they clearly went with the pick and choose attitude, trying to reap rewards and approval from the witchy community (theres an episode on tarot that witchtok is eating up) and then just make up stuff under the guise of entertainment. Again, just enough to hook us on possibly as consumers, but to then claim "oh but this is not for witches (as if they existed!) this is entertainment" 🤦🏽♀️
@@activistwitch Even not having seen the show nor being on Tiktok, I know exactly which episode you're talking about. r/tarot is going just as crazy about it, and they're already celebrating the release of a matching official Agatha tarot deck next year. :( Money, money, money....
@1980rlquinn it's not that I wish I was wrong when I say stuff that sounds like I'm predicting the future... But honestly the capitalist propaganda machine once at play it's so repetitive and predictable 🤦🏽♀️
wow what a great video!!!
So glad you appreciated it!
I’m in awe of this. I feel like someone just gave me a wake up injection. Thanks.
Yes! That was the ambition! I'm really glad yo hear it worked!!!
@@activistwitch Yo, dawg. Whacha talkin' bout?
Even though I haven't watched anything from Marvel in too many years to count, don't have disney plus/ haven't heard of this show, I knew I would learn so much from this video and oh wow was I right. I am amazed at how well you put words to things. I've know it was more than the white washing (and Romani erasing) and repetitive stories, but it was just an yikey feeling I got that I couldn't not explain. And now I have a place to start explaining to people why I don't like so many movies and shows
In all honesty as I was filming it I realised I know more about marvel than I ever realised and if so much of it got to me while not considering myself at all a marvel fan, it made it very obvious to see how it's been trying to 'educate' us for the last 16 years!
I haven't watched the show yet. It came on right after I went on my break from Disney+. After watching your videos and seeing the clips I am not sure the end of the road will be her becoming a mother. As a writer myself, I could totally see that as a possible ending though. Because so much character centered writing will revolve around a wound that usually has to do with a parent/child relationship. But lately I have found that Disney is trying to break that mould. I used to be able to guess exactly what was going to happen in shows, but with Disney, they have been surprising me a bit lately. However, that's Disney. Not Marvel. Marvel is often just pure fluff, cliche, and devoid of much substance other than the moral messages and entertainment. A few of the Marvel made for TV side branches can have a bit more substance though. When they are not to close to the movie storyline. Not always, but sometimes. If they are trying, my best guess is that at the end of the road she will find herself. Maybe even by some weird twist the child she finds is herself. Maybe the whole journey is learning to reparent herself and do that shadow work. I guess we shall see.
I don't necessarily agree with all of your interpretation in this video essay but I really appreciate the food for thought. It's good to think about these things this deeply now and then and not just blindly be entertained without thought.
As far as the movie The Craft though, I never really liked that movie. I had been a Witch for about 10 years when that movie came out. And although I did watch it because movies about witches were so scarce, and I did appreciate a few authentic nods to Wicca in there, I didn't think it was very good. First, it was a horror movie. So we couldn't just have a movie about witches, not unless it was a horror. Then the childish slumber party games they were playing. It was so condescending. I was a witch at that age. My practice was so completely deep and thoughtful and had nothing to do with changing my hair or getting revenge on someone or making someone levitate. That was so far from my experience, I just couldn't relate. Plus they were monotheists worshipping a male god. That wasn't right. And it wasn't any god I had heard of back then. And there had to be bad witches and good witches. Not just witches. Plus the one outspoken female character, not only was relegated to the "bad witch" category. But in the end she was literally in a straight jacket. So that movie didn't speak to my witch side. Maybe my wannabe cool bad girl side lol. But even still as a witch, I would never go down that path.
The first movie that really made me feel represented was Practical Magic. It didn't totally represent me, and there were a few issues. But at least I could identify with most of it and none of it made me feel like I wanted to reject it. Plus the movie is also about women and women's power and love from many angles. The love of sisters, romantic love, love that turns to obsession. The power of a broken heart and the power of a healed heart. There was so much to chew on in the movie other than "they are witches".
On matters of research and authenticity at least the craft did research, the fact that they had a witch write the incantations show definitely more than "a sigil is a redaction spell" 🤦🏽♀️
If be veeeereery surprised of marvel did an Agatha which is just personal development as you say "parent herself" because indeed, looking at the pattern of punishment of previous women in the MCU and even just in the 7 episode of Agatha out now (I really don't recommend disney+ as this video might have suggested, so well done on that!) the pattern fits. Whether she finds her son or she sacrificed herself for Teen (suffering like a woman is supposed to according to patriarchy) I'd like to be wrong though I worry I might not
@@activistwitch there have been a few women centered Marvel TV shows that I appreciated lately. I think the TV universe is different than the movie universe in the complexity it allows for. Ms Marvel and She Hulk come to mind. I suppose you may argue that they are not mothers so they don't fit your narrative of "have babies, go crazy". But they don't have to become mothers to serve a purpose in their shows. I really like Captain Marvel too. But she is more or less distant and absent a lot of the time only to show up and do her thing to save the day. I suspect that is because as a character she is overpowered and if she was always around there would be no story. I think they explain it by some feelings of maternal guilt for letting her god daughter down. So maybe she is the antithesis of your theory. She doesn't have a bio kid but she has a kid in the emotional sense and she "stays away so she won't go crazy" maybe lol. I always hate it when the superheros stay away from the regular people. I like to see normal messy average seeming people, but with some superpower.
how did you know about my crush on Spike?? lol
I am sooo looking forward to what she'll do for a video called "Romancing the Shadow" 🖤🌹
Haven't we all been there? It's a pipeline really 😅
Personally (just starting video) but i find it extremely useful, important, to differentiate between witch (the human sorcerer, the pagan endonym) & witch (the wholly fictional genre of monster which -while not exclusive to christianity; cf lamiae, tlahuelpuchi- was emblematized during the early modern witch-panics)
I find it helpful to separate them because none of the people who were accused of witchcraft in the EMP were witches, let alone witches in the supernatural sense.
The conflation is bad, i think, not least because it dishonors and offends the memory of those murderd by the witch panics; but also because it encourages the individualism & exceptionalism of capitalism. After all the witch-as-monster is a fiercely individual, anti-social, anti-communal being
That witch's prey is marginalized people, seldom attacking those holding institutional power. The witch-as-monster has a lot more in common with a billionaire, with a venture capitalist, with an army recruiter; than with anyone in resistance to the kyriarchons.
Thus it is good to separate these two beings; one real, human; the other fantastical & monstrous. It makes like ... actually harder to be pandered to. "Witch aesthetic" stuff becomes not an identity when paired to the monster. Like I might dig werewolves or mummies or the minotaur but they are not something i am nor something that becomes of me so tightly.
It is worth remembering with regard to the stuff like Sigil or other jargon nonsense that Marvel has already been developing a jargon for stories & context their secondary universes.
If we made a 'monster' of witches at all, maybe that is an issue itself? The fact that the producers of shows and films on witches do dip and look for us witches people to then extrapolate characteristics to use as they like is the reason why I'm not sure the split is worth having. Is marvel wanted to create something of its own where sigils then can be whatever they want, they wouldn't have gone through an episode like the seventh with the Tarot. Jac herself said she doesn't like research but the research che gave her writers was based on watching witchy content (much like us real witches, not monster, do here) so thats why, interesting as your points are, I am not inclined to concede to the wotch as monster at all, becaisr its existence was there to demons people still, and of they are as you say written as monsters preying on marginalised people with more in common with billionaires than anything else, maybe kts worth wondering why the system made such a monster with the same name of the real thing which actually ironically are marginalised people. Words indeed matter and it's not by chance. I am glad to see that even mythologically we are getting to review and reconsider the witch as monster (so much reclaiming I have seen on reinterpretation and new considerations of characters like Circle or Medusa. So I'm not sure the split serves anyone but the system, which will conflate the two when needed to persecute real people anyway.
@activistwitch so on the witch as monster thing:
first: i would not be surprised if we were talking past each other saying the same thing. We are talking about words and meanings using those very same tools we are critiquing, and i am very much a H1 Mars Aries. To call me hardheaded is being kind.
So to be clear: everything here isnt meant as a prescriptive or absolute thing. It is merely a thing i have come to find useful. After all categories and distinctions are tools, not Truth.
Same goes for words: we call Circe a witch but pharmakis can just as well be read as sorceress, pharmacist, apothecary, druggist, or alchemist.
It isnt to say that the choice of the word Witch is wrong, just that it is a choice & we should be aware that we are making it.
Because this uncritical muddling has had bad effects; like the reimagining of a completely unfounded conspiracy theory as being actually based on some real thing (thus justifying it to a degree and erasing the fact that it was a backslide on the medieval church's policy of "witches aren't really *witches*"), or just the whole Burning Times narrative. Or more seriously, a flattening of the spiritual/religious/magical practices of many groups (see the use of the imagery of voudoun or other african diaspora religions to signify Witch in modern media).
Ideally when we spoke about the people murdered by mobs or by the state, or the practitioners of folk medicine & holders of religious/magical knowings, or the supernatural perils that were used to explain misfortune or to teach about social coexistence, we would have easy distinctions. But we dont really; and we make do with the language we got. & like there is use in some muddling of the boundaries, but we ought be conscientious about it. Because cards on the table, keeping the different categories in mind doesnt do that much to better the world, all it does help in noticing.
Like, I wholeheartedly get where you're coming from; i personally didnt make or even perceive the distinction until relatively recently. I only came to it by having it forcefully pointed out by people who did not share my very anglo-usaish influenced perspective, but who showed me charity enough to see what i meant & what they heard were fundamentally different things.
So it isnt a judgement, just a tool i have found so useful it backfit a lot of stuff for me.
Like understanding why ppl can get uncomfortable if one calls Befana a witch.
NOT RAPHAEL HELP
am i the only one dreaming of what Astarion could have really been if voiced by Andrew Wincott? no? just me?
Compelling, but how could we deny him the chance to do the most hyper camp send off of Al Pacino's turn as Satan in The Devil's Advocate that has ever been and will ever be, in this essay-
I have lurked so much incredible content here and this is my opening statement. Incredible. Thank you so much for just, being you, and having your message out here!
I will take the compliment and run with it from someone who appreciates my latest addiction too 🙏🏽❤️
Oh snap. I leaved a response here after the finale but it got auto moderated.
Feel free to delete this comment if you find and approve the other one.
Thank you for such a wonderful essay.
Ah sorry I can't see the other comment even in held?
Oh!!
You know what? that means UA-cam got rid of it immediately due to language. Don't worry, never used any bad words but I used terms like the opposite of alive quite a few times. Mixed with a conversation about motherhood, babies, etc.
Not exactly unrelated: sometimes you can't fully spell now the name of one of the most popular videogame franchises of the last 15 years. It's "AC".
Sometimes it gets filtered sometimes it doesn't. My guess is that some kind of AI decides whether to allow certain comments or not due to context of other other words. Like not alive and mother.
It's such a shame. It was a long comment about the finale and how you were right: she's now a powerless motherly figure to Billy and so she has been kind of redeemed.
Sigh.
Blessings.
Hope you had a great day in this special date on a new moon.. From one autistic to another. ❤