I’ve been thinking a bit about Emma’s emotional state for the start of the next season. I’ve decided she’s in a “Sarah Conner” from Terminator headspace. The scene of Emma doing pushups in the preview is very Sarah Conner in Terminator 2. It’s an iconic movie moment.
Emma put up those walls and went right back to business, which is similar to what Sarah does, turning herself into a very tough person with a goal to protect her son and wreck stuff to prevent the robotic doom ahead. She doesn’t mourn or flirt, just gets stuff done. Like Sarah does eventually, Emma is going to see the humanity in those who were previously her enemy, but I don’t think that has to be romantic. Sarah’s bond with the T-800 certainly wasn’t! Yet it IS a bond.
That’s an excellent way to describe her current mindset! Emma is SO Sarah Connor!
I know Emma is going to get closer to ALL the villains through this adventure. Part of that is going to involve actors getting in each other’s personal space and locking eyes. Screwball Ninja has another awesome essay where she talks about how OUAT confuses her, as to who is supposed to be attracted to each other. She uses Ruby/Red’s reactions to various characters as an example.
I think it is going to be tough for Swanfire fans as things unfold. Most of it won’t be because of what’s actually happening plot-wise, but how it gets interpreted and played up in media and fan reactions when taken out of context of everything we know about the characters and their motivations. Context is usually complicated, and when people simplify, a lot gets lost.
Agreed with all of that. Generally, patience ain’t my thing, but in the case of SwanFire, I know I’m gonna have to have me some serious patience, because it won’t be happening immediately, in fact quite the opposite will likely be happening in the immediate future.
Saw ScrewballNinja’s latest post last night. It’s so true that so much is subjective interpretation. If I watch a scene with shipper goggles on, then naturally I’m gonna interpret things differently. All through my recent re-watch of both seasons, I never saw anything between Regina and Emma that I could interpret as eye sex, but other people see it all the time. Same goes for CS, too. Some people interpret how they look at each other in a romantic way. I personally don’t see it, but I can see that they have a connection, so if they do decide to make it romantic, it won’t be completely out of the blue and out of character IMO. For other people, they don’t even see that much of a connection between them yet, so it would be completely out of the blue.
On the flipside, some people don’t see anything remotely romantically emotional in the way Neal and Emma have looked at each other. Others see it all the time. The little glances and subtle reactions. Schmacky did a great post on tumblr not that long ago, about the scene with Tamara on the beach: http://schmacky.tumblr.com/post/57640257075/maybe-i-have-shipper-goggles-on-maybe-im-looking
I look at that reasoning, look at the gifs, and to me it seems completely undeniable that there’s romantic emotion between Emma and Neal. Others no doubt think that the breakdown of that scene is reading too much into it and makes no sense.
It all comes back to personal perspective and what you wanna see in a scene. I fully expect to enjoy Emma’s scenes with Hook in S3, but I’ll enjoy them from a whole different point of view to what a CS shipper will.
All the same, I can’t see Emma thinking of her Happy Ending as adventuring and exploring or living in a castle. I think she wants a house on a beach, parking spot for her yellow bug, and her family, parents and Henry, and the man she loves and has her back, nearby, in SB. I think that’s going to be Neal right now. And the idea of the two of them creating a home for kids like them, lost and abandoned, that’s so beautiful.
My thinking with them ending up back in FTL is that while neither Neal or Emma are particularly enthused by living there, and love their real world conveniences, at the end of the day, I don’t really see the rest of their family, or any of the SBers, being able to integrate into our world properly. They all fit better back in FTL. And really, neither Neal or Emma appear to have any personal connections to the real world that would influence them to stay there, especially if their family wants to leave.
Whatever kind of building they end up living in, it absolutely must be near a beach, because…
Emma: Is it near a beach?
Neal: Yeah, it’s Florida. Everything’s near a beach.
This is why I want them to build their home across the water from Snow and Charming’s castle, because there’s a little beach there, and Emma can still live near her parents. (I may or may not have thought about this a bit too much. :-P)