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Pacha Is The Devil And I Adore Him
7 years ago
General
There is no gift more precious or rare in this world than true love. Treasure those who share it with you.
Good afternoon to you, lovely watchers. *ahem* Please allow me to expand on that titular thought....
SO, the other eve I was watching HULU with my husband, Ahriman. We amassed a selection of several movies, each picking a few of the half-dozen ranging in form/genre from "Dave Made A Maze" to "Redline". One of the many movies we watched was the Disney™ animated semi-classic "The Emperor's New Groove". Though the film is often forgotten by many, I've long considered it a fun movie with great pacing, relatable, enjoyable characters, good animation, stellar voice-casting/acting, a well-structured climax and messages I feel are both well-conveyed and perhaps more needed in the climate of today than ever. Also, it's one of the first movies in Disney's ™ catalogue I would want to share with my children... if I should ever have any.
There are many reasons for this but for today, I'd really like to focus on two. For those of you lovely watchers who have never seen the movie, I HIGHLY recommend it and also, "SPOILER WARNING".
The first- Cuzco's introduction. Cuzco is introduced as the main character of the movie and he IS A unrepentant DICK. He is absolutely self-centered, cruel, heartless and takes joy in being a jerk. He has been raised from birth to behave this way and we, the audience, get to see this. There are people in the world who were raised to feel it's normal to harm others, something they, specifically are entitled to take joy in, and I think it's a necessary, if unfortunate, lesson for a child to learn. I realize they could learn the same thing just by checking any comments on practically ANY Youtube video but I plan on keeping them off that until I've at least had enough time to explain to them what it means when a random stranger calls them a "cumdumpster faggot-butt" for no apparent reason.
The second- The character of Pacha. He is... well, let me relate it to a recent incident...
Recently I posted a comic pertaining to the notion of "Agender" persons and, more specifically, my own confusion over why some people seem so troubled by the notion of affording them courtesy. A link to that one- http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26960119/ In some exchanges I have had since then I've seen some very emotional reactions both positive and negative. I thank you, lovely watchers, for that input and feedback, by the way. *thumps her chest and throws up a sign*
From the more "negative" end of the reception received I noticed a recurring pattern of rationale which I'm going to try and boil down to these points- "Gender(or the concept of Agender) isn't a real thing and therefore I refuse to pander to them" and "Agender people tend to be hysterical, reactionary jerks and I refuse to treat such people with any modicum of respect".
I will not be dignifying the notion of "It's my right to do so, so I will" as that isn't a reason, that's the act itself.
Now, to bring this back to Pacha. In the movie, Cuzco plans to destroy Pacha's village, his entire village, all to clear out a site for his personal private swim-park summer-home(Cuzcotopia- no joke), a fact he tells Pacha about and even laughs in his face at Pacha's outrage. Cuzco sends him home with the unenviable task of telling his expectant wife and children that they'll soon be homeless because the emperor wants to build a damned pool. They meet again after Cuzco has been turned into a llama by a scheming advisor, a fate Pacha offers to help him remedy on the condition that Cuzco changes his mind. The llama-emperor refuses, wandering off into the jungle, despite Pacha's warnings of danger. Through their following interactions, Cuzco insults him, lies to him- multiple times, betrays him, leaves HIM to die, even. Pacha has every reason to despise Cuzco enough to kill him or leave him to the wilderness and get himself killed...
... and yet not only does he NOT do so, he actually offers to help him, to take him home to the palace where he will presumably return to human form. Despite all of Cuzco's horrible, selfish, spiteful behaviour, Pacha never gives up on his personal code of ethics- following him into dangerous jungles after some serious berating, building a fire and sheltering him from the rain and cold with his own hat and shawl, he even saves Cuzco's life several times, risking his own in the process.
Pacha has no reason to be kind to Cuzco. If he lets him die or offs the little selfish sod himself, his home, his entire village, would be saved, and yet he chooses to show kindness, compassion to a selfish brat who would see him homeless and suffering. He chooses the the only true form of 'goodness' that being kindness shown with no prospect of reward.
This is not to say that he is a doormat. Oh No. Even he has his limits, at one point after Cuzco's second betrayal and attempt at manslaughter is discovered Pacha has had enough and gives him a good sock in the mush which devolves into a bit of a slobber-knocker. Still, in the end, he never gives up on following what he knows to be the right thing to do.
I've heard it said that 'Integrity' is "doing the right thing, even if no one is looking". I humbly call bullshit upon that. 'Integrity' is "Doing the right thing, even if it COSTS you".
Pacha stares a losing bet right in the face and chooses to follow what he knows to be the right thing to do, not in the hopes that it will change Cuzco's mind but because it's HIS integrity, HIS character at stake in the situation. It doesn't matter that Cuzco is a selfish, devious, arrogant, mean-spirited little rat-bastard, Pacha ISN'T. No matter the cost to himself or others, he knows it's not right to let the doofus idiot croak and he shows him every courtesy and respect he would to a close friend.
This is getting a bit long in the telling, lovely watchers and I should probably take even a brief nap before work so I'll have to leave out a few bigger points and wrap it up for now with this-
Do I believe in the concept of someone being "Agender" or "Non-binary" or what-have-you? Lovely watchers, I humbly submit to you all- it doesn't fucking matter if I do or not. What matters is my own integrity, my own courtesy to others and my own willingness to either be a jerk or not. Maybe the person in question is "just going through a phase". Maybe they snap at me for accidentally mis-gendering them. Maybe it is my right to be a jerk to them if I choose to, by gum! Maybe all these are true.
That's how we define being a good person, lovely watcher.
You DON'T have to be good to others. You simply choose to be. Or not.
It's your life, lovely watchers. It's your story to write and your legacy for the world to read. You decide what character you play. Make sure you choose your role and regrets carefully. And for those of you already leaving a snarky comment about how you'd choose to be Cuzco *smiles* One World for us all, one world and one love, even for you.
SO, the other eve I was watching HULU with my husband, Ahriman. We amassed a selection of several movies, each picking a few of the half-dozen ranging in form/genre from "Dave Made A Maze" to "Redline". One of the many movies we watched was the Disney™ animated semi-classic "The Emperor's New Groove". Though the film is often forgotten by many, I've long considered it a fun movie with great pacing, relatable, enjoyable characters, good animation, stellar voice-casting/acting, a well-structured climax and messages I feel are both well-conveyed and perhaps more needed in the climate of today than ever. Also, it's one of the first movies in Disney's ™ catalogue I would want to share with my children... if I should ever have any.
There are many reasons for this but for today, I'd really like to focus on two. For those of you lovely watchers who have never seen the movie, I HIGHLY recommend it and also, "SPOILER WARNING".
The first- Cuzco's introduction. Cuzco is introduced as the main character of the movie and he IS A unrepentant DICK. He is absolutely self-centered, cruel, heartless and takes joy in being a jerk. He has been raised from birth to behave this way and we, the audience, get to see this. There are people in the world who were raised to feel it's normal to harm others, something they, specifically are entitled to take joy in, and I think it's a necessary, if unfortunate, lesson for a child to learn. I realize they could learn the same thing just by checking any comments on practically ANY Youtube video but I plan on keeping them off that until I've at least had enough time to explain to them what it means when a random stranger calls them a "cumdumpster faggot-butt" for no apparent reason.
The second- The character of Pacha. He is... well, let me relate it to a recent incident...
Recently I posted a comic pertaining to the notion of "Agender" persons and, more specifically, my own confusion over why some people seem so troubled by the notion of affording them courtesy. A link to that one- http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26960119/ In some exchanges I have had since then I've seen some very emotional reactions both positive and negative. I thank you, lovely watchers, for that input and feedback, by the way. *thumps her chest and throws up a sign*
From the more "negative" end of the reception received I noticed a recurring pattern of rationale which I'm going to try and boil down to these points- "Gender(or the concept of Agender) isn't a real thing and therefore I refuse to pander to them" and "Agender people tend to be hysterical, reactionary jerks and I refuse to treat such people with any modicum of respect".
I will not be dignifying the notion of "It's my right to do so, so I will" as that isn't a reason, that's the act itself.
Now, to bring this back to Pacha. In the movie, Cuzco plans to destroy Pacha's village, his entire village, all to clear out a site for his personal private swim-park summer-home(Cuzcotopia- no joke), a fact he tells Pacha about and even laughs in his face at Pacha's outrage. Cuzco sends him home with the unenviable task of telling his expectant wife and children that they'll soon be homeless because the emperor wants to build a damned pool. They meet again after Cuzco has been turned into a llama by a scheming advisor, a fate Pacha offers to help him remedy on the condition that Cuzco changes his mind. The llama-emperor refuses, wandering off into the jungle, despite Pacha's warnings of danger. Through their following interactions, Cuzco insults him, lies to him- multiple times, betrays him, leaves HIM to die, even. Pacha has every reason to despise Cuzco enough to kill him or leave him to the wilderness and get himself killed...
... and yet not only does he NOT do so, he actually offers to help him, to take him home to the palace where he will presumably return to human form. Despite all of Cuzco's horrible, selfish, spiteful behaviour, Pacha never gives up on his personal code of ethics- following him into dangerous jungles after some serious berating, building a fire and sheltering him from the rain and cold with his own hat and shawl, he even saves Cuzco's life several times, risking his own in the process.
Pacha has no reason to be kind to Cuzco. If he lets him die or offs the little selfish sod himself, his home, his entire village, would be saved, and yet he chooses to show kindness, compassion to a selfish brat who would see him homeless and suffering. He chooses the the only true form of 'goodness' that being kindness shown with no prospect of reward.
This is not to say that he is a doormat. Oh No. Even he has his limits, at one point after Cuzco's second betrayal and attempt at manslaughter is discovered Pacha has had enough and gives him a good sock in the mush which devolves into a bit of a slobber-knocker. Still, in the end, he never gives up on following what he knows to be the right thing to do.
I've heard it said that 'Integrity' is "doing the right thing, even if no one is looking". I humbly call bullshit upon that. 'Integrity' is "Doing the right thing, even if it COSTS you".
Pacha stares a losing bet right in the face and chooses to follow what he knows to be the right thing to do, not in the hopes that it will change Cuzco's mind but because it's HIS integrity, HIS character at stake in the situation. It doesn't matter that Cuzco is a selfish, devious, arrogant, mean-spirited little rat-bastard, Pacha ISN'T. No matter the cost to himself or others, he knows it's not right to let the doofus idiot croak and he shows him every courtesy and respect he would to a close friend.
This is getting a bit long in the telling, lovely watchers and I should probably take even a brief nap before work so I'll have to leave out a few bigger points and wrap it up for now with this-
Do I believe in the concept of someone being "Agender" or "Non-binary" or what-have-you? Lovely watchers, I humbly submit to you all- it doesn't fucking matter if I do or not. What matters is my own integrity, my own courtesy to others and my own willingness to either be a jerk or not. Maybe the person in question is "just going through a phase". Maybe they snap at me for accidentally mis-gendering them. Maybe it is my right to be a jerk to them if I choose to, by gum! Maybe all these are true.
That's how we define being a good person, lovely watcher.
You DON'T have to be good to others. You simply choose to be. Or not.
It's your life, lovely watchers. It's your story to write and your legacy for the world to read. You decide what character you play. Make sure you choose your role and regrets carefully. And for those of you already leaving a snarky comment about how you'd choose to be Cuzco *smiles* One World for us all, one world and one love, even for you.
As to your message about integrity, I think I can relate to that. You know, I got called in for a little meeting with my managers when I was working at Winn Dixie. This was shortly after the switch to the meat department. It was myself and one of the guys that they hired after me. They had several issues they wanted to explain to us, one of them was the fact that Lunchables were being found in the meat coolers, stashed and stuffed away, hidden half eaten. They asked if either of us knew anything about it, and whether or not we would do something like this. Now. I had walked into the seafood cooler once before, and seen a box of Ritz crackers, just sitting on an old display case being stored in there. I thought it was weird, but not much else about it at the time. Then they bring me in and question me about it. ME. The guy who used to be a shopping cart fetcher, the guy that ran into misplaced highly personal and sensitive things such as purses, wallets, phones, ALL the damn time for YEARS. And not a one did I take or abuse the belongings of a customer who left anything behind. I told them I had more integrity for not just the company and customers, but for myself to do such a ridiculous thing as break open an unsold product and take from it. Especially not at Lunchables. Those things are overpriced and give you just enough food to want more and piss you off. Regardless I pointed out that fact, and that was the last of that discussion. Perhaps integrity was the wrong word for my particular situation. But I still feel you on the simple concept of "don't be a dick."