i really could write an essay on how shit is that we’ve completely abandoned the monster-of-the-week episode format even when rebooting shows that relied on it to replace them with grimdark edgy plotlines where nothing feels good or accomplished at the end of the day
I have ALWAYS said to people that the reasons shows like Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, and Grimm have deteriorated into being completely awful is because they adopted plots, because the monster of the week gives us new and interesting content to think about every week and it isn’t always one note. All these shows’ first seasons used to have such a good amalgamation of different creatures, different tones, and different perspectives and insights into the characters’ lives and pasts. And it still carried a basic plot, but it was loose enough to ignore for most of the episodes but important enough for us to stay hooked on it and anticipate the resolution. I rewatch like, the first 3 seasons of these shows like they’re visual popcorn. The SECOND that Supernatural got a real plot that took up most of the storytelling for the season I lost interest because the plot became the ONLY tone that we get. We got less and less of the fun and interesting creatures and stories and more of the singular “Oh which bad mythical person is going to cause havoc THIS season?!” Like shows need to be okay with telling one single coherent story that HAS A PLANNED ENDING instead of jumping off a cliff with a hang glider dependent on viewership that will keep going even until all the screws are rusted and the top is littered with holes and won’t stop until they inevitably hit the ground. Stories need to be more like flights taking us and the characters from one destination to another.
That’s why I fell out of love with the X Files?!? And Xena?
I learned in a Latin Studies class (with a chill white dude professor) that when the Europeans first saw Aztec cities they were stunned by the grid. The Aztecs had city planning and that there was no rational lay out to European cities at the time. No organization.
When the Spanish first arrived in Tenochtitlan (now downtown mexico city) they thought they were dreaming. They had arrived from incredibly unsanitary medieval Europe to a city five times the size of that century’s london with a working sewage system, artificial “floating gardens” (chinampas), a grid system, and aqueducts providing fresh water. Which wasn’t even for drinking! Water from the aqueducts was used for washing and bathing- they preferred using nearby mountain springs for drinking. Hygiene was a huge part if their culture, most people bathed twice a day while the king bathed at least four times a day.
Located on an island in the middle of a lake, they used advanced causeways to allow access to the mainland that could be cut off to let canoes through or to defend the city. The Spanish saw their buildings and towers and thought they were rising out of the water. The city was one of the most advanced societies at the time.
Anyone who thinks that Native Americans were the savages instead of the filthy, disease ridden colonizers who appeared on their land is a damn fool.
just a note, we don’t think of old european cities as ruins, because those civilizations continued and kept building over the old–there are no abandoned ruins for us to visit & photograph. when we picture those old cities, we have only mental images drawn from our own assumptions & prejudices–images that tend to glorify ‘civilized’ europe.
since victors write history, our image of native american cities was created by colonizers motivated to uphold the ‘native savage’ myth. when we think of these civilizations now, we think of ‘uncivilized’ (rough, broken, abandoned) ruins, because that’s what remains. ruins are the only thing left. because of the destruction wrought by western invaders, these civilizations never had a chance to continue building. they were destroyed, and all we have left is an unimaginative shadow of their former glory.
went to peru and visited some of their museums and learned inca history that american schools don’t teach you. basically you know why they were beaten out by the spanish invaders? because incas were mostly scientists and not warriors. they had advanced medicine, farming and science technology. THATS what they were good at - tech - not building weapons to most efficiently kill people. the spanish were good at that. so they won. basically the real savages and thugs won and murdered a bunch of scientists, and their technology and advancements are lost forever. it took into the 20th century for colonizer technology to advance in the field of medicine and agriculture to the level of the incas. colonizers literally set human knowledge back like 500 years.
It’s crazy to me that, literally everyone in the world was doing just fine until Europeans showed up flipped the script
i mean all of this yes but if you are nonnative please make sure you are not internalizing this idea that somehow our cultures are more “worthy” of preservation or w/e bc we were “advanced” by european standards
let’s please bust the myth that western europe was somehow this bastion of technology and knowledge (bc it is absolutely untrue) WITHOUT devaluing indigenous cultures that didn’t create long-standing monuments or what have you
