- This topic has 25,813 replies, 124 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Look! a pretty thing!
Awww, I love the pretty!! Thanks for posting that one. I’ve worked about 18 hours of retail insanity during this Thanksgiving weekend and I really needed to see that pretty tonight! To say that I am exhausted right now is a massive understatement. I don’t get paid enough for these sore feet and legs. đ
Something you guys mentioned about Hook being a bully (which I totally agree with BTW and I’m not a fan of that either, As someone who took her share of snarky comments growing up because of being overweight, it bothers me when people aren’t held accountable for making others feel like garbage) made me think about that Jennifer Morrison interview that came out earlier this week. She talked in it about being bullied growing up because she was a bookworm and part of the theatre program and that she had a hard time finding her own self in the midst of being made fun of all the time. I find myself wondering how she’s reacted to those bullying actions they’ve wrote for Hook last season (a lot of them happened in scenes she wasn’t in aside from the stuff in FT land or after Cora and Hook came to Storybrooke so I honestly don’t know if she even knows about the other ones) and if that has affected how she plays Emma. We haven’t heard many of the details yet but we know that Emma went through a lot of crap growing up and she was probably bullied by some of the people in her life (foster families, at school for being an orphan, during her life on the streets, etc) and it just seems to me that if she knew how badly Hook had treated people in the past, she would have serious reservations about having any sort of relationship with him. It honestly bothers the crap out of me that they haven’t come back to the stuff he’s done because any human being with a heart (which we know Emma has) would react badly to being with someone who treated people so inhumanely and makes no apologies for it. He can apologize all he wants for it now but his actions don’t always reflect that he has a lot of remorse about any of it. The writing of that part of this story has been bothering me for a while and I really hope they fix this soon. It makes me so sad to see people go so crazy for this guy after the pain that he’s caused so many people and to demonize Neal for a decision that has obviously affected him for a long time and that broke his heart because he knew that he hurt the one person who ever truly loved him for him. How can people not see or care about how much pain Nealfire has had to endure for most of his life?!
I need to sleep. I’m too exhausted to think about this too much because it’s just going to make me cry. đ
[adrotate group="5"]
#MoreBOOMLessGloomVery good post Heather!
Happy ONCE day everyone!
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Tumblr post that I just fell in love with…
Uniquely Suited – Like a Swan to a Fire
Neal Darling Cassidy and Emma Swan. The most unique and realistic pairing on Once Upon a Time.
Donât be stupid, some say. Swanfire? Doused. Over, boring. Statutory, a cowardâs choice. A threat to our heroine and her own awesomeness.
No. Because more than any other two people on the series, Emma and Neal are ideally suited to one another.
Neal and Emma are the only love relationship (that weâve been shown) that has happened since the Curse was cast. Everyone elseâs relationship statuses have remained the same for the last 28 years (that weâve been shown: Granny is still widowed, Snowing going strong, Jefferson unattached (at least in this Realm). It doesnât seem that the Curse allowed new relationships to happen. (Though I would totally be open to a storyline in which two people got thrown together as married by the Curse and when it was broken maybe decided theyâd actually like to have it that way.)
But Neal and Emma happened, making them the only romance among displaced Enchanted Foresters in 28 years. I donât say âhook-upâ, because clearly what they had and have is more than that. Unique.
Other than a Tumblr gif set showing the similarities between their story and that of Tangled (which I have not heard the show creators confirm), they have no fairytale counterparts. The only two main characters on the show who can say that. They are each purely the creatorsâ invention.
And the obstacles in their relationship, the things keeping them apart, are very much of this world. Without regard to the inciting factor, Neal abandoned Emma. And Emma canât forgive him.
No magical potions are at work, no evil queens scheming to subvert their being together. No one turns into a werewolf once a month and eats the other. The problems they face in their relationship are our world problems (all due respect to any Enchanted Foresters reading this, itâs just faster to say âourâ world rather than âthe world without Magicâ.) Their core challenge doesnât arise from Magic, nor can it be fixed by Magic.
The repair to their relationship will take the same work and risk that viewersâ relationships require. Just as the character of Emma began the show as an avatar for an uninitiated audience, so Neal and Emma have to confront and work-through the same shortcomings and evils that the audience must in their romantic lives with partners. Their life is messy, they have a complicated and hurtful past (individually and jointly). They have a child without any longer having a romantic or sexual component to their relationship, and they will have to work at figuring that out. (How very many of us can relate to that? Either as such parents or as such children?)
And yet they are ideally suited to one-another. Emma was raised in our world, and Neal (we presume) spent the better part of a lifetime hereâor at least long enough to go well-beyond merely understanding the culture and languageâheâs fully assimilated. He knows how to operate a dishwasher. He can pump (or better yet, siphon) his own gas. He knows the systems in this world well enough to swindle and outwit them. He and Emma can share conversations about music, technology, even history.
But always with the added bonus that Neal occupies the rarefied position of being a sort of third (or fourth) â culture kid. He bridges several worlds and cultures (ours, Enchanted Forest of long ago, NeverLand). All these places he can understand and operate in. All these places that Emma is presently having to deal with in her life. Neal can move in and out and through them, and assist her in doing the same.
But can Neal help her navigate the chasm that has opened up in their relationship between the âI love youâs and the âI want to be with youâs?
I donât know, thatâs why I tune in each Sunday night.
Neal and Emma are unique, and realistic. Theyâre the pairing to watch, the actual story being written on Once Upon a Time. The only non-mash up/re-interpretation. The sole spot of entirely new content.
In this world, this âreal lifeâ we live, in our romantic relationships we cannot truly promise with any certainty that we can âalways find [our love]â, but we can promise to âalways fight for [our love]â.
Really, thatâs as good as any âfor better or for worseâ vow Iâve yet to hear. Itâs hard work, to be sure, but a person actually can do it.
And thatâs a happy ending.
Heather: very nice post, indeed. But I don’t think they would address because it seems they would just be thrown into new problem to face and they won’t have time to talk again.
Phee: Awesome share, and I agree with a lot of what was said.
I was on tumbler and someone mentioned the costumes of Bae to Neal and how they reflect his characterization. Which lead me to thinking what type of person would Neal be if he stayed in the Enchanted Forest. I think he would be anti type hero that would never reveal he was the son of the dark one. He will be immortal because Rumple would ensure it and he will still more than likely meet rebel Princess Emma through thief of course. It made me think that both would probably be individuals running from their past. And of course Henry will still be born, because I am firm believer he is meant to be no matter what the circumstances are.
"I will be kind but I will speak my mind."
Heather, hope you get some good rest and feel refreshed!
I agree with what you’re talking about, but I think as Emma never saw those things play out, then J.Mo cannot really bring it in to how she plays Emma. She doesn’t want to judge Emma’s actions, and so even if there are things from an audience perspective she might think, she isn’t going to say much about it, especially when she wants to promote the show.  Emma can only react to what she sees and she is not such close friends with Rumple, Belle or Archie herself that she would hear their impressions or that it might change her impression of him if they did. Neal’s thoughts might influence her but it depends whether she believes him or thinks he is just being petty and jealous in how he tells the story.  So I could see Neal not bringing any of it up because water under the bridge now.
âIf I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?â -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
And of course Henry will still be born, because I am firm believer he is meant to be no matter what the circumstances are.
Absolutely agree with this. It’s something KFC has said a few times but Henry is like the sun around which the rest of the character revolve. Henry was always meant to be. And I think no matter what world, Emma and Nealfire would have found each other.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I also just found this on Tumblr about Nealfire. *note, edited for language*
Iâll admit this is something Iâve been wanting to write for a while but have been hesitant to becauseâŚwell, to be perfectly honest it opens some personal wounds for myself. If you are going to disagree with me on my points I am all for that. I just ask that you do it in a respectful manner. This is a bit of a trigger subject for me but I thought it needed to be said, if for no other reason than it can give massive insight into Nealfire and his mindset. Also, I like to think of myself as a survivor (most of the time).
Let me make this clear-under no circumstances do I condone everything Neal has done, especially in regards to Emma. Heâs made a lot of bad choices. I just want to try to give insight into why he might have done the things he has done.
Baelfire, in my opinion, was emotionally/psychologically abused for a good chunk of his childhood. His mother ran off, his father chose power and magic over him, his âstep-fatherâ turned him over to the lost boys as soon as Baelfire rejected him (and what kid wouldnât?), he sacrificed himself so the family he had dreamed of could stay together.
On top of that, before he was stranded in the first of an unknown land, he had to live with seeing his father turn a guy into a snail and crushing him with his boot, just because he had bumped into Bae on the road. His papa had taken thatâs manâs life and all because of him. At least, thatâs what I think would have been weighing on Baeâs mind. Not to mention all the kids who didnât even want to be in the same area as him, for fear of what his papa might do. This adds up to some hefty emotional/psychological abuse.
The thing with emotional/psychological abuse (and I can speak from experience) is there are no visible scars. You donât say much because youâre afraid of retribution, people take it as shyness. You donât let yourself get close to someone because it has been drilled into your head that youâre just not good enough, so you just let people believe the worst because thatâs what you think of yourself. Abuse victims donât think they donât deserve anything good because that is what has been drilled into their heads countless of times, intentionally or unintentionally.
Maybe part of the reason Neal was so quick to agree to Augustâs plan of leaving Emma (he did not know about the jail part until afterwards), was because he was still recovering from the abuse and truly thought her parents could do way better by her than he could. Is that logical? Probably not. But I beg you to find an abuse victim who acts logically and completely devoid from the past.
Yes, there is a lot missing in the August/Neal conversation but I think if we take this into account, itâll at least sate the curious/doubtful until they explain more of what happened.
All Iâm saying is try seeing what happened to him from a kidâs perspective and it being really hard to shake those demons off, no matter how wonderful a person youâve found. Then maybe some things will make more sense.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I agree with that RG– I feel like before on this thread we have drawn parallels between Henry’s situation and Neal’s as abused kids, but it is a good point that Neal may have doubted himself the same way Rumple does too, that anyone could really love him. That he and Emma bonded was very important to both of them.
Also, Phee, that was a nice post too, and echoes things we’ve said also about how Neal has a very unique set of experiences in the real world and fairy tale land that allow him to really understand who Emma is as a person. He’s been left, betrayed and had to give someone up. He knows what it is like to have a parent addicted to magic (which is more about Henry) but it relates to Emma needing to deal with Regina as co-parent. He’s had foster families. He’s been tossed into worlds with no preparation and entirely different cultures and rules and had to pick it up as he went (like Emma when she landed in NL and EF).
In terms of being able to support each other, and get the other’s back, while it doesn’t have to be romantic, I think why not? Romance is part of life, and much as I do not want it to be the focus and the “solution” to Emma’s or Neal’s problems (as in some stories, marry the prince and tah dah, happy ending), I do want it to be part of the story. I was hoping the writers would take a long time to build up the path of how they regain each other’s trust, because what that tumblr post brought out is the trust really does need to go both ways. They both have suffered a lot, but I feel Emma brings out strength and purpose in Neal, and I think he does the same for her.
They both seem to me to inspire the other despite the angst and pain that came out of the curious circumstances and timing of their paths crossing. That is what I would like to see the writers develop, how they evolve as people who can bridge the kinds of misunderstandings that, though exaggerated by magic and such, would break others apart.âIf I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?â -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
They both seem to me to inspire the other despite the angst and pain that came out of the curious circumstances and timing of their paths crossing. That is what I would like to see the writers develop, how they evolve as people who can bridge the kinds of misunderstandings that, though exaggerated by magic and such, would break others apart.
Like how once Neal was back in her life, Emma was totally focused on Henry and finding/making plans.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
The topic ‘Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire’ is closed to new replies.