Me when I was 10: “man I hate Valerie, idk how she can be so mean to danny :/”
Me now: Valerie is one of the most complex character I have ever seen, she is smart, strong, and cares about people. It is understandable that she would hate Danny because (even by accident) he did destroy her life.
the scene in men in black where will smith’s character thoroughly explained why he shot little suzie, a cardboard cut out of a small child holding advanced physics textbooks instead of the scary aliens all around her is an excellent allegory to racism. will smith’s character, a black man, has no doubt had to deal with various authority figures assuming he is the threat when context clues could easily explain away his behavior and with that backstory in mind, it is easy to see why his character identified with aliens simply existing in the world and explained away the supposed cause for concern by using the context clues provided. on the other end of the spectrum, the white characters who all elected to shoot the aliens on sight did so for no other reason then ‘they look like a threat’, ignoring the fact that a 7 year old child out in the middle of the street alone with advanced physics textbooks should raise more eyebrows than a tentacled creature with allergies. in this essay i will
museum curator, watching steve waltz into the smithsonian, the memory of having the stolen cap america authentic howling commando era uniform returned dirty and ridden with bullet holes still fresh in their mind: hide the VALUABLES
steve, reaching over the rope to poke at something on display: it’s my goddamn stuff???
I’M SAYIN’, every single level of management at the Smithsonian must have had an extensively well-documented migraine after dealing with the colossal shitshow raised by such thrilling items as “sock (woolen)” pulled from the pack of one “Rogers, Steve G., 1918 – 1945 lol whoops he’s back″
like i said in my initial reblog… all the people building stories out of this make me laugh with delight, but smithsonian & dc museum people adding their tags give me LIFE
… also steven grant rogers would be KIND and COURTEOUS to the front-line museum staff and not ask them stupid questions and you will pry that headcanon from my cold dead hands thankyouverymuch
oh steven grant rogers is KIND and POLITE and CONSIDERATE to front-line museum staff, he will politely move himself to the side so he doesn’t cause traffic issues if he gets recognized and a couple kids want pictures, he apologizes to security for causing a scene (he didn’t mean to! he thought his baseball cap disguise would work, bless him). he returns his maps (sweet and so unnecessary but then one of the volunteers can take a map captain america used and will probably sign for them back to their grandkids so that’s nice). the docents LOVE him; he’s both a Nice Young Man and also from Back in Their Day.
the collections and conservation staff however have sworn a blood oath of pure vengeance against him and nothing he ever does will change their minds. the textile conservator (we’ll call her lorraine) who had to restore the old captain america suit spent THREE YEARS OF HER LIFE on that stupid thing and it’s still too unstable to ever exhibit again. lorraine went through FIVE INTERNS, two of whom CRIED ON HER. she had to spend a fourth year making a replica because everyone was writing their representatives that the captain america suit wasn’t on display and they MADE HER DO IT.
like if steve thought any debrief in wwii he ever had sucked lol try lorraine, who has given up trying to catalogue what the fuck happened to that piece of shit suit and finally tracked down his cell phone number after six months of this hell project out of sheer bloody mindness and desperation and tricks him into her office through a series of absolute goddamn lies about idk public programming or some shit that steve might actually care about and then corners him and makes him give her a play by play of what, exactly, the fuck he did to that suit.
cuz, okay, listen. blah blah save the world blah blah, but steven grant rogers* stole a priceless museum artifact, bled on it, set it on fire, dropped it into the potomac, dragged it (WHILE WET) through river mud and god knows how many plants and bugs and microbes, got melting plastic and metal and shrapnel and other people’s body juices and skin and hair embedded in it–the only reason he lives is because he can give the full and accurate account of what the fuck he did to it and answer questions of how the fuck it can be slightly, slightly unfucked. not saved! not made to look like it was! certainly not able to be put on a mannequin and exhibited again! but like she can get some more of the mud and that chunk of charred plastic out maybe. otherwise, lorraine would have murdered that dumb bitch in a fit of justifiable rage, and no amount of charming “sorry ma’am”s would fucking save him.
In terms of character development, plot, political commentary, and costumery, Star Trek: TNG is almost certainly inferior to both DS9 or Voyager. And yet… and yet. You really have to appreciate how often the characters decide that dressing up as detectives and LARPing on the Holodeck is the best way to solve their problems.
There is literally No Reason why Holodeck characters should be programmed to notice when users are wearing Starfleet uniforms. Aliens and androids use the holodeck and it’s fine, the computer accounts for that and it’s rarely even remarked upon, but god forbid anyone neglect to cosplay. The holodeck will call you out and every character will mock you mercilessly for your dumb clothes.
DarkestElemental616 