#*bisexual is the best “translation” i can make when you have a society that has 3 to 4 gender roles (depends on culture)

[yael-art-den]

The more I think about Hvass setting, the less interested I am in defining gender and sexuality with current terminology.

Is he bisexual*? Absolutely. Would he have the knowledge, self reflection and cultural background needed to self-label himself that? Absolutely fucking not

[beepboop358]

How I think the characters will react to Byler when it is officially officially confirmed in the show:

El: once El realizes she doesn't romantically love Mike, she will become an avid byler protector.

El is a badass independent woman with a pure heart of gold. She cares deeply for Mike because he was the first person to show her any sort of compassion, so she will want him to be happy, and after she grows closer to Will, she will want Will to be happy too. El won't understand the societal stigmas around Mike and Will liking each other, since she was raised in a lab away from society and then lived isolated in Hopper's cabin, she has no knowledge of what society deems right from wrong surrounding sexuality and love. She will think other people thinking Mike and Will's relationship is 'wrong' or 'unnatural' is utter bullshit and completely stupid, as she should!

Jonathan: he will be 100% supportive. He knows how Lonnie tormented Will and made homophobic remarks about Will being gay when he was younger. He has always encouraged Will to be himself and ignore what others say, especially what Lonnie says. Jonathan will also be a byler protector.

Jonathan knows Will isn't "normal", he even said Will was "good at hiding" in s1 which has several meanings, and he probably already knows Will likes Mike because of how he immediately turns to look at Will after Mike blurts out he loves El in s3 in Hopper's cabin.

s1 ep. 2: "He's trying to force you to like normal things, and you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed too."

s2 ep. 1: "No I'm serious. You're a freak. But what? Do you want to be normal? Do you wanna be just like everybody else? Being a freak is the best. I'm a freak. Who would you rather be friends with? Bowie or Kenny Rogers? Exactly. It's no contest. The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?"

------(Some subtle queer coding there with the Bowie reference; David Bowie was a bisexual musician, and he also sings the original version of the song "Heroes" that plays after Will's fake body is found in s1, and the lines that play while Mike cries and hugs his Mom are extremely queer coded: "And we kiss as though nothing could fall. And the shame.")

Nancy: It's implied Nancy and Mike are pretty close, and honestly I think she has always suspected that Mike has a little thing for Will. From the look on Nancy’s face when he blurts out he loves El, it kind of reads as like she doesn’t believe him, because she knows something.

s1 ep.7: "I knew you were acting weird, I just, I thought it was beause of Will"

Joyce: will be 100% supportive, and a protective mama bear of Will as always, but also for Mike. Joyce will join the club of avid byler protectors along with Jonathan and El.

Dustin: avid byler supporter. I think he's picked up on how much Mike cares for Will, how Will cares for Mike, and has probably suspected at least something this whole time. Dustin doesn't care about being considered cool he cares about doing what he likes and being true to himself, and that belief for sure translates into how he views his friends as well. He will absolutely support Mike and Will and treat them normally.

s3 ep.3: "Instead of dating somebody because you think it's gonna make you cooler, why not date somebody you actually enjoy being around?" s1 ep.6: "Sometimes your total obliviousness just blows my mind"

Max: She seems pretty perceptive, so she's probably picked up on Mike and Will's 'special dynamics' by now, and we know she's definitely sick of how Mike treated El. She will be supportive of Will and Mike, but mostly she will just be glad Mike isn't with El anymore LOL.

Lucas: I think he definitely notices Mike seems to reallllyyyy care for Will, and that Mike doesn't act the same about El, although he claims too. I think Lucas sees through Mike's bullshit. Look at his smirking face and crossed arms when Mike frantically asks where Will is in s2:

and how he reacts the same way to Mike blurting out he loves El and "can't lose her again" in s3:

Hopper: he will probably want to kill Mike again.

"wait what?! so.. let me get this straight...all that time you were making out with my daughter, you were just...pretending to love her? You lied to her the whole time you two 'dated' yeah? And now you're dating your best friend. Oh god wait, I watched you tell him that asking him to be your friend was the best thing you ever did that night in the shed... Oh you little asshole!"

I can't imagine Hopper being homophobic towards Will and Mike, but I don't see him jumping up and down for them either. He will mainly be upset that Mike dated El when he was actually in love with Will, and not care so much that Mike is in love with another boy, just another person. But once he processes that El is actually okay, he will be fine with it.

Lonnie: is the literal scum of the earth! Obviously Lonnie will hate that Will is gay and dating another man. He will probably make some comments about how he "always knew it" and call Will and Mike homophobic slurs, probably at Will's birthday.

s1 ep.1: "He used to say he was queer, called him a f*g"

Steve: "Oh you two little shits are dating now? But I thought he was into the psionic chick? No? Okay, alright cool. Uh hey have you guys met Robin yet? I think you would get along, you know what I'll introduce you." Steve was so accepting of Robin coming out to him, there's no way he won't have the same kind of reaction for Mike and Will.

Robin: once she gets to actually know them and spend time with them, she will adopt Mike and Will as her gay sons and inspire them to be themselves and help them out whenever they need it. She will also pick up on the fact that they like each other immediately. If we don't get this pairing in s4 because of location logistics, I really hope we get it in s5!!!

Erica: she won't be homophobic, but she just won't care too much.

Karen: will encourage Mike to follow his heart, and like whoever he likes, because a relationship needs real love to survive, and she knows all too well what it is like to be stuck in a relationship with no love, and she doesn't want that for her kids, she wants better for them. She wants Mike to be truly happy no matter what, and she doesn't want to see him repeat her mistakes. Karen will be very supportive of Mike, and probably defend him to Ted.

s1 ep.2: "All this that’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just…I want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. I’m here for you okay?”

Ted: he won't be as much of an asshole as Lonnie will be about it, but he will probably make some snarky comments.

s1 ep.7: “our son with a girl? *scoffing*”

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Light Novel Review — I'm in Love with the Villainess

A stunningly profound, entertaining, and queer title that eclipses other isekai and Yuri series

There are few titles the general public seems to be as excited about as Inori and Hanagata's I'm in Love with the Villainess, as it has been sitting at or near the top of Amazon's LGBT Manga list for months and Twitter is consistently abuzz with the latest news on this isekai Yuri series. I was somewhat more skeptical, as I have had relatively poor experiences with isekai and fantasy Yuri. Still, my excitement went through the room, and I eagerly boarded the "hype train" upon the cover reveal for the third volume. Yuri families, where two women raise children together, are one of my greatest desires and something I rarely see portrayed in the genre. However, I still had mostly low expectations for the series going into the first volume. I looked forward to some light meandering comedy and typical boring trope-filled isekai shenanigans. However, I'm in Love with the Villainess more than exceeded my expectations. No, even this statement is far too moderate to describe how utterly stunned and blown away I was by Inori's creation. I'm in Love with the Villainess is completely shattering and easily one of the greatest light novels I have ever read. Thus, I have no choice to award a perfect 10/10 score, my first ever for a light novel.

After waking up in the world of her favorite otome game, Revolution, protagonist Rae is ecstatic to be faced to face with Claire Francois, the game's villainous rival. However, Rae never played Revolution for the thrill of romancing any of the three attractive young princes. She was always in love with Claire. She attends the academy and studies magic in the fantasy world alongside Claire, the princes, and various other supporting characters. Using her skills from the modern world and her encyclopedic knowledge of Revolution, Rae manipulates the situation to be close to Claire, becoming her maid, and garnering status and money along the way. As an inevitable conflict looms closer, Rea begins to enact plans to protect herself and Claire, many of which are not fully understood or explained until the finale fantastically reveals the reasons for her actions. There is a natural and steady pace to the narrative that awards readers’  predictions and attention to detail.

I'm in Love with the Villainess has some excellent supporting characters, all of whom have unique personalities, histories, and abilities, some of which are revealed by Rae's exposition and others naturally throughout the novel. However, the stars of the show are the central couple, Rae and Claire. Claire is an elite aristocrat and extremely bratty. She often sneers at commoners and makes her disdain of Rae very clear from early on. On paper, she sounds like the perfect villain and someone all readers would despise. However, Rae's utter devotion and infatuation with Claire is so sincere that we cannot help but be pulled in and adore Claire and all her tantrums. Rae is a delight herself, continually flirting and poking fun at Claire, which gets her verbally berated, much to her masochistic pleasure. However, she is also exceptionally cunning and intelligent, and some of the light novel's greatest joys are listening to her analyze a situation or watching one of her plans fall into place.

“Ah, I’m… Well, it doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s irrelevant to cuteness—because, Miss Claire, you are cute.” “Huh?!” She pulled away. It was perfect—such a pure reaction. “Miss Claire, you hate me, right?” “Of course!” “That’s fine. Please keep teasing me. I love it.”

The beginning of the book does not immediately clue one into its brilliance. Sure, Claire and Rea get some great one-liners as they bully each other, and the scenarios are authentic and fun, but it is nothing shattering. I was feeling pretty relaxed and having a lot of fun with the characters, their relationship, and the various slice-of-life style scenarios they encountered until one section, I remember the exact page, 81, as it stopped me dead in my tracks. I was flabbergasted and briefly frozen before shooting up out of bed, shouting expletives as I ran to my office to immediately record what I had just experienced. It all begins with the line, "Hey, Rae. Are you what they call gay?" What followed was one of the most thoughtful, condensed, informative, and nuanced discussions of gay and queer identity (both terms used in this scene) I have ever seen in Yuri. Everything from representation in media, the perceptions of and prejudices against gay people, and the role gender plays in romance for bisexual and gay people are analyzed. Its commentary is succinct yet so respectful and forthright that it could have only come from genuine experience, thus selling the book and its characters so much more.

"Queer people were still overwhelmingly closeted in this world, which was rife with prejudice and nurtured little understanding. As I noted, the queer people depicted in the story were either the sex fiends Claire imagined or the free-loving sort Lene had in mind. Diversity and acceptance were a long way off.”

Thus, Inori's writing's beauty exposed itself, and the book opened itself up to a delightful cycle. The narrative masterfully integrates isekai slice-of-life hijinks, like running a cross-dressing café or battling a giant slime with nuanced and challenging moments that dissect complicated topics. The latter mainly consists of a growing rift between the aristocracy and common people, mirroring real-world wealth gap issues, but the novel also touch on matters such as unequal prison sentencing and segregation. Every scene helped further the complexity of the characters and their relationships or else built onto the world of Revolution. Speaking of which, I'm in Love with the Villainess has some of the best worldbuilding ever seen in a light novel.

Initially, brief exposition establishes much of the world, which is adequate if not exciting. I will mark up to a casualty of the light novel's serialized nature, as it must present readers its setting immediately. However, Inori does not stop here. Through the narrative, new elements are established, such as a magic system and the kingdom's politics. Rea notes and describes how the world, while clearly based on medieval Europe, has many modern Japanese attributes, as Japanese game developers created it. Her pointing out the intersection of the two is fascinating. Furthermore, A great deal of time is spent establishing characters and organizations all have their own wants, agendas, and methods, many of which are not even directly involved with the story. Instead, they act as a background and help further contextualize others. For example, the Church publicly appears to lean towards supporting the commoners in their efforts for equality but has its own agenda of superseding the nobility. While they play little role in Rea and Claire’s adventure, they are one of numerous factors contributing to the unrest of the lower class. All these additions are interesting, and it never feels like the story or characters suffer for their inclusion, quite the opposite.

“The Bauer Kingdom had started a step behind other countries when it came to magical research. They dominated the surrounding countries in military strength, and this had made them complacent, leading them to underestimate the value of new magic technology until the best researchers had all been enticed to other countries. Even after the king came up with his magic-focused meritocratic policy, Bauer lagged behind.”

I can only make complaints by scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Hanagata's beautiful art is too infrequent to add much to the light novel, and many scenes crying for illustrations are left to the readers' imagination. However, Inori so wonderful writes the story that one hardly cares and can easily picture every moment with delight. Besides, the manga adaption will nullify this issue. Where I cannot complain at all is the spectacular translation by Jenn Yamazaki and Nibedita Sen, one of Seven Seas best (which is high praise considering the competition). Sure, I was slightly disappointed at first to see the adaptation left off honorifics, but the more I thought about the setting, the more sense it made. I am sure people much smarter than I gave the issue much more consideration, and I am happy with their decisions.

I'm in Love with the Villainess left me reeling with how pleasurable and powerful it was. The story and characters are such a joy, and I cannot wait to see Rea and Claire bully each other again in the next volume. Astounding worldbuilding and powerful, thought-provoking politics surround their antics and the high stakes plot. Every moment of their journey will enthrall readers as they squeal with glee at its hilarious set pieces or are shocked by its commentary of society's most significant challenges. Inori has created one of the most delightful, heartfelt, complex, profound, and genuinely queer light novel series ever. If you only read one thing I recommend this year, let it be I'm in Love with the Villainess.

Ratings: Story — 9 Characters — 10 Art — 5 LGBTQ — 10 Sexual Content — 2 Final — 10

Review copy provided by Seven Seas Entertainment

Purchase I’m in Love with the Villainess in digitally (9/23) and in print (11/10) today: https://amzn.to/32NEyG1

Supports creators by purchasing official releases.

[firefeufuego]

For the ask meme: 1, 2, 7 and 13

Thank you anon!!

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Hmmm, my comfort zone is definitely a hint of Lungs/Dance of the Druids-esque stylised paganism meets Dead Poets Society/Oxbridge realness, power play in sex that’s in service of equality, and as many references to Greek mythology as I can shove into a fic. My characters are always slightly kinder to each other and better at communication than is necessarily realistic, but it’s what I like to write and I find it a useful personal growth and reflection exercise as well—what could I say or do for the people I love in hard moments, etc.

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

An actual slow burn? But I probably don’t have the patience for it. I suppose this kind of repressed emotional affair that I’m writing in ‘if it’s a crime’ is something I’ve wanted to write forever. That kind of external conflict for a relationship is something I find so compelling, and I always watch those sorts of stories with a vain hope that the crazy kids involved will sort it out. As Sally Bowles says, maybe this time…

7. Share a snippet from one of your favourite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Slumped in the passenger seat, looking sad and sodden and still so lovely, she said, ‘I should have called a cab.’

He scoffed. ‘You should absolutely not have called a cab, Lily. You know I’ll always come.’

She shook her head violently and seemed to immediately regret it, looking out the window to ward off the nausea. ‘You shouldn’t have to. I mean, God, James. Don’t you ever get sick of taking care of me? Isn’t it tiring?’

He was brought straight back to the tiny tutorial room at Balliol where he’d studied Classics with the boy with the best jawline at Oxford. Their tutor had had them recite the Oresteia, and James had been half terrified, half thrilled that he’d know—that he could sense the way James’ heart had beaten faster in his chest as he’d looked between dark blue eyes and the slightly crooked mouth he’d kissed against the wall of the boathouse the week before. Even then in that car, the exquisite ache of his lips and tongue and breath forming the words ‘ἀλλὰ κηδεύσω σ᾽ ἐγώ’ and ‘οὐκ ἔμοιγε σοῦ’ sat heavy and glorious in his chest. Especially then, when the devotion he felt was not a giddy simulacrum of late adolescence but ocean-deep and life-long.

‘Not to me, if it’s you,’ he said, a confession of love as stark and sincere as he’d ever given.

Lily’s face was still turned away, but he could see the edge of her frown. ‘I should be a better friend.’

Not sure if this is a favourite just because it’s the most recent but I do love it, it hits a Lot of my comfort zone boxes as you see. I’m almost glad that I couldn’t just use the Anne Carson translation (because this fic is set before it was written), because there’s something so special about reciting lovely words in another language, you’re so much more aware of the physicality of it (hence the lips and tongue and breath—that rule of three with the double ‘and’ is absoLUTEly my comfort zone, I use it every second sentence).

I also love writing these moments of misunderstanding where it’s really clear what both sides mean and why they’re not understanding each other in that moment. Finally, the exploration of James’ bisexuality and the feeling of saying scripted words to someone you have a crush on and the words meaning so much more is ripped straight from my little life and so I am Fond.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Probably the best someone has told me is to read and keep reading, but that’s pretty obvious so I’ll go with something I’ve kind of found on my own. I really strive for a sense of poetry in my prose, and the way I try to make sure it’s there and it’s working is by reading my writing aloud. You get a sense of what assonance and consonance works and what the rhythm should be and where there should be a full stop. Also, I often find that if you’re writing sentence by sentence like I do sometimes, each sentence might work individually, but you’ve repeated the same structure too many times. All those kinds of things get highlighted really clearly when you’re reading aloud. Do I just like the sound of my own voice? Maybe so, maybe so. Hmmmm, podfic for ‘he’s too far away’ when?

[emblemxeno]

Interesting to see some semblance of Soleil discourse again. I hated her when i played fates, and was genuinly surprised that people really loved her. Do you think a lot of her shittier aspects were from Fates' shoddy translation, or was she always sort of bad?

Sorry for this taking so long! I figured I might as well make this a sort of definitive post about Soleil since I talk about her a lot, so I put some more research and effort into it than I initially planned.

Soleil’s writing does have a lot of differences between the Japanese version and localization, but I have many, many issues with both.

Japanese Soleil

Soleil in the Japanese version of Fates is, to put it simply, a train wreck. As we know, her defining trait is her love of girls. However, with Soleil it goes past attraction and flirting into outright predatory behavior. 

In many of her Japanese supports, Soleil creeps around girls, be it generic girls off-screen, or her female support partners. She hits on her mother in their support, she plans to sneak behind girls and embrace them out of nowhere in her support with Ignatius, and she harasses Ophelia and planned to get a better look at the latter’s figure in the tents when they switched bodies.

But the absolute worst was her Japanese support with Forrest. 

Basically, she’s chasing Forrest around because she’s convinced he’s a girl, despite him telling her over and over that he isn’t. Soleil is extra creepy in this one, saying things like “I can’t hold myself back anymore” and “I won’t do anything bad, so just give in.” Forrest goes so far as to even compare her to a wild animal stalking its prey.

Forrest then tells Soleil once again that he’s a boy, and what does she do? She asks him to prove it by getting naked and bathing with her. Forrest, of course, refuses again. Soleil then finds out from others around camp that Forrest was telling the truth; but she still can’t keep her urges down and keeps making unwanted advances and touches towards him.

That entire support is extreme sexual harassment. It is one of the worst supports I have ever read, especially since it’s played for laughs and it can later advance into an actual relationship between them. Treehouse did realize how bad this support was, and changed it from the ground up into something completely different, which is one of the very few things I will thank them for.

Now, localized Soleil is another beast entirely. Before going into my issues with her localized version, I’ll explain the context behind her trope.

A History Lesson

Soleil’s character at its core is based on the Class S trope. Class S is a Japanese term describing romantic friendships between girls. It’s origin and popularity is owed to things like western women’s literature (such as Little Women) being translated for Japanese audiences back in the early 20th century and the all-women Takarazuka Revue theater being established; these helped cultivate feelings of sisterhood and a sense of romance for young female audiences, especially since most schools at the time in Japane kept boys and girls separate. While there was a decline in the Class S genre after Japanese schools became more co-ed, it has made a resurgence in popularity ever since the late 90′s with light novels like Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Class S had a rather big impact on Japanese society, where it was actually expected to happen and treated as something wonderful for these kinds of close friendships to develop between young girls.

However. These aren’t treated as real romantic relationships. They’re seen as nothing more than a phase. After adolescence, girls are expected to ‘mature’ or ‘graduate’ in a sense, into a real relationship with a man. To still have Class S relationships with other girls when you’re supposed to be in a “real” relationship is seen as a sign of immaturity.

Soleil Herself

So what does this mean with Soleil? Lots of her supports in Japanese have other characters being bewildered or even annoyed by her continued love for girls, because “she’s technically an adult now, shouldn’t she have grown out of that phase?” 

Shigure gets surprised that she’s trying to learn how to sing to impress girls. F!Corrin wonders why she won’t give up her mindset already. Soleil gets jealous of Asugi’s popularity with girls and childishly tries to imitate him. Sophie says she doesn’t have time for Soleil’s antics because the former is trying to be a mature, devoted knight. Ophelia is frustrated that they can’t be “normal” friends instead of Soleil chasing her around and proclaiming her love.

They treat her obsession/love for girls as something childish for an adult woman like her to still have, much like Japanese society does. Soleil is Class S.

Soleil does actually get a chance to technically grow out of this phase, much like adult women are expected to. She ‘graduates’ into adulthood once she becomes romantically involved with her male romance options in the Japanese version; a “real” relationship.

As a gay man, you can probably guess how I feel about this trope. While it has had impact on helping Japan ease up on its more conservative beliefs and lots of Class S media has been created by actual queer women (like Nobuko Yoshiya), it’s still not a great feeling when same sex relationships are basically treated as not real or just a phase in someone’s life. It sucks, especially when I think the Japanese Rhajat/F!Corrin support is one of best in Fates. But enough about me, what does this have to do with localized Soleil?

Where The Localization Fumbled

Since she was already getting her fair share of controversy thanks to the many incorrect reports of conversion therapy during her support with M!Corrin, Treehouse decided to go the whole mile and rewrite some aspects of her character. This included removing the Class S aspect of her, and adding in a line from Laslow (as well as her roster description) that basically confirms she’s bisexual.

Except... they messed it up. They made her apparently bisexual, but they removed the romantic aspect of almost all of her S supports, all of which are dudes. Instead, most of her S supports result in promises of friendship or partnership of some kind. The only romantic S supports she has in the localization are with M!Corrin because Avatar privilege, and Forrest, which can still kind of be taken as platonic.

This doesn’t make sense. Why go out of your way to make Soleil bisexual, but remove her romantic supports with dudes? Her wlw side isn’t suddenly erased if she were to marry a dude, what’s the deal here? Did two different people have a hand in this and just didn’t communicate? Did one intend to make her a lesbian and the other wanted her to be bi? 

This is a huge inconsistency and fumble on Treehouse’s part, one of their biggest. Hell, besides that, they didn’t even remove all of her creepy aspects either; she still creeps on girls in her Ignatius support (she now plans to pinch them instead of embrace them from behind), and while her support with Ophelia was toned down, it still isn’t great. Why go so halfway on this, especially since she’s the most controversial character in the game?

Conclusion & Overview

So yeah, those are my thoughts about Soleil. Her Japanese characterization is a predatory mess and based on a trope which I am not fond of whatsoever, while her localized characterization is only somewhat better as a person and is plagued by a whole slew of new writing problems because her bisexuality just wasn’t done correctly by Treehouse.

Which honestly? It makes me kind of sad. Soleil has a lot of good things about her. I like her shamelessness, her confidence. Her shyness is basically an inverse of Olivia’s, where the latter is shy all the time except when dancing whereas Soleil is only shy and insecure when dancing; it’s a neat full circle for the entire family line. She has a couple of great supports too, like with Laslow and Kiragi. Her design is adorable, she’s a good unit, female mercenaries are always a plus, and her new voice actress in Heroes is one of my favorites. 

It’s just everything else is... bleh. 

I don’t dislike her as much as I did a few months ago, because looking over her supports again endeared her to me a little, but unfortunately she still has too many things about her that I hate for me to say anything better than that.

[sixofreaders]

yuu and shinoa friendship headcanons

this is set in an alternate universe where the war is over, humans and vampires have established their respective territories, and everyone is slowly rebuilding society. also everyone has a phone and social media exists. ferid is dead.

their apartments are right next to each other

their excuse is because they share the same braincell and people who share the same braincell should live near each other, so they can translate each other’s stupidity to the rest of the world

but really they just don’t want to be apart for long

they barge into each other’s rooms at the most ungodly hours, but always make sure to scream ‘IS ANYONE NAKED’ before entering

this is because one time shinoa walked in and mika was on top of yuu

and one time yuu walked in while shinoa was straddling mitsuba

their snapchat and instagram stories are just full of them trying to embarrass each other

shinoa, recording mikayuu holding hands: ‘oh my god, these bitches gay. good for them! good for them.’

a picture of yuu in his car, ‘i was driving shinoa to mitsuba’s place and she was cutting her nails the whole time i literally hate her’

a picture of a backpack, ‘yuu asked me to help him pack for a sleepover at mika’s and i saw this whore sneak in a bottle of lube’

but there’s also tons of pictures of them together

there’s a video of them trying to climb over their school walls

the next slide is a blurry picture of an adult man chasing after them with the words ‘YUU AND I GOT CAUGHT SKIPPING SCHOOL IM HDSKDFSDKH’

every day there’s a new selfie of them

selfies of them drinking milkshakes

selfies of them stuffing themselves with cheeseburgers

selfies of them visiting caffes and street vendors

selfies of them throwing fries into each other’s mouths

when the first zoo was built after the apocalypse, yuu and shinoa went there with their friends and decided to document the whole thing

shinoa, points to a giraffe, ‘that’s kimizuki-san’

points to a koala, ‘that’s yoichi-san’

points to a white leopard, ‘that’s mika’

points to a peacock, ‘that’s my beautiful girlfriend mii-chan’

points to a monkey, ‘and that’s yuu-san’

they organised the first post-apocalyptic pride event

yuu noticed a lot of people were having a hard time adjusting to a life without war, his friends included, so he decided a day where everyone could let loose and love whoever they want to love would be a good idea

shinoa agreed, and the two of them wanted to surprise their friends

they gave mitsuba a heart-shaped lesbian flag pin

they gave yoichi a t-shirt with the pansexual flag

they gave kimizuki a rainbow cap, since he doesn’t really label himself but he knows he likes guys

for mika, it was kind of hard since he’s never been interested in anyone besides yuu, so even he doesn’t know which way he swings

shinoa’s solution? a banner of an extremely terrible drawing of yuu’s face with rainbows and hearts scattered around

‘this is my masterpiece’

‘you butchered my fucking face that’s what you did’

‘THIS IS MY MASTERPIECE’

and as for yuunoa, they wore matching bisexual flags

they had a lot of fun there, took tons of pictures, kissed their respective s/o’s

maybe happiness is a gift they can get used to enjoying

shinoa has a tiktok and she actually likes doing the dances, she thinks they’re a fun and easy distraction from work

unfortunately yuu is almost always hijacking in the background

either he’s making weird faces or doing his own weird parody of the dance (that consists of an excessive amount of twerking and one middle finger)

yuu: ‘if you wanna see some real ass baby here’s your chance 🤪’

shinoa: ‘i literally hate you so much’

sayuri signs all of the teenagers up for veteran’s therapy

it was hard in the beginning, they have a lot of issues that they never sat down to talk about due to the looming threat of war

but now that the war is over, they actually have to confront all of their repressed trauma

‘hey have you ever thought that maybe the reason we never care about what we want is because we never had an adult figure that genuinely cared about us instead of just wanting to use us for their own personal agenda?’

‘oh definitely. wanna hit the gym and punch our feelings out?’

‘yeah let’s go’

they’re really trying to resolve their own issues and get better, but they still find the idea of opening up and not having their vulnerability used against them is an impossible thing

one day the two of them finally decided to have a long overdue talk about their feelings

they talk about the war, about the people they’ve lost, about the nightmares they still get in the middle of the night

they talk about how shinoa still dreams of crowley pinning her down and suffocating her, how yuu still dreams of dark wings piercing through his back, how shinoa can still see herself on the other end of a raised blade, how yuu can still feel horns sprouting on his head and the insatiable bloodlust that rises within him whenever that happens

they’re crying by the end of it

but they hug each other

and they sit on the balcony

looking at the city that’s slowly rebuilding

looking at the world they helped save

and they realize for the first time in their life, everything is truly, genuinely going to be okay

and if it isn’t, then they’ll always have their best friend here to support them

but no matter what happens, they finally have a chance to build a life together with the people they want

right here, right now,

after the war.

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 17: 2x26 Assignment: Earth

Finally finished up S2 of TOS yesterday. That was... a rough episode tbh. I’m just gonna say it: back door pilots are bad! They’re bad. If I wanted to watch that other show, I’d watch it.

Wow, they’re just really jumping right in, huh? “Here we are, on a routine mission into the past, using a time travel method that we invented nbd.”

Investigating desperate problems in the year 2020...2016.... no wait 1968.

Ooh, Spock in the transport room today. Does he have a whole extra random station there? That’s so weird; I’ve never seen that before. It’s like hidden in the corner.

Cat!! Cat!!

What a good actor. I’m still bitter that wikipedia has a whole section about the casting for “Isis the cat” that talks entirely about the human who played Isis for 2 minutes and nothing about the talented feline actor. Where did they find her? How did they teach her to act?

She has a lot of thoughts about Kirk.

I wrote down “Scully, you’ve got to see this” in my notes and I’ve already forgotten what it refers to lol. Some moment that I thought would fit well with my favorite x-files meme.

Change history, you say? Spock is intrigued. ...Admittedly, Spock is often intrigued.

“What if it turns out you’re an invading alien from the future?” Honestly...let him invade. You’re not supposed to be here anyway.

I’m pretty insulted by this. The aliens went through all this trouble to help in 1968...where are our alien helpers NOW?

The cat straight up attacked his face.

Kirk is so fond of Spock being fond of the cat.

“It’s a lovely animal. I feel myself strangely drawn to it.”

Kirk is way too confused by Seven--an allegedly human person with super-human abilities that he says come from aliens--and yet, he’s met Charlie X so??? Is this not the same?

Kirk’s got the whole crew checking in on zoom.

(I actually do like this sequence of him getting video calls from different parts of the ship.)

“Weren’t orbiting H-bombs a huge problem in 1968?” Looks at the camera like he’s on The Office. Not the subtlest bit of writing in the “social commentary” genre. I do say this with love, though. I always enjoy when they comment on contemporary problems.

“He has a totally perfect body.” Lol don’t distract these two bisexuals.

[soft meowing]

“The prisoner has escaped.” The way this is shot, it looks like he’s talking about the cat.

Hmm, I do love the decor. Very 60s. This honestly immediately feels like a different show, and a much more dated show; even when the Enterprise time travels, it tends not to time travel to... office space.

Love the little sounds the computer makes.

So is Isis supposed to be one of the fancy aliens? It’s never explained but one must assume she is.

Aw, he’s petting her paw.

So I assumed the cats sounds are real, but just dubbed. They’re not lol. Which I guess isn’t surprising: this cat makes a lot of noises! They were provided by a human voice actress.

Damn.... I want a secret bookshelf that turns around to reveal a super computer with a big screen. “Computer... play Netflix.”

That’s what Seven does in his spare time.

The computer is an AI. “Beta 5 snobbery” lol.

Where are OUR alien overlords to stop US from destroying ourselves before WE can mature into a peaceful society?

This is really masterful exposition lol. Not forced or awkward at all.

ST sure does love the snooty female computer trope.

“Get us the proper costumes.” Yes, get Spock his Requisite Hat.

Omicron IV....that’s one of the names they use in Futurama lol. Such nerds.

Another excellent Spock Hat.

I love Seven’s various IDs. Great style. I wish my driver’s license looked like those.

“Who do you think you are?” He hasn’t decided yet. That’s why he was shifting through his IDs.

Seven is not smart lol. Like, he should have figured out way faster that this lady isn’t one of the Alien Overlords. He asks her the code question, she doesn’t understand it, and he... assumes she’s just really in character? Dude, that’s what the code questions are for!!! To help you identify people! Otherwise you could just straight up ask: are you an alien?

Instead he’s like “oh, you silly alien, you’re playing with me,” and then is forced to trap her, reveal his whole mission, and ultimately ensnare her in his plan.

I want that typewriter. Voice recognition typewriter.

"My incompetence has made you aware of very secret devices." Well at least he knows.

Trained cat!

The alien overlords were killed in a random car accident. That’s ironic.

Oh look, a real rocket!

Brown pants + short sleeved shirt + tie is such a Classic 60s look.

This security guard doesn’t think it’s weird that this random dude has a cat with him? Is this part of Isis’s alien power?

Except for the part where it’s a weapon, it’s pretty cool to see all this build up to, like... launching stuff into space. Exciting.

Isis likes to be on shoulders. Just like Little Guy.

New hat for Spock. His outer wear hat, and now his fancy hat. There is something to be said for this ep, and that is Kirk and Spock in suits.

Amazing how they literally launched rockets with computers that old. Like seeing the big bank of primitive computers is totally wild. We put people on the moon that way! Amazing.

“Meow.” Lol, Isis is stressed so she’s speaking like a cat. That’s a pretty funny joke actually.

Seven is so incompetent. If he’d just let the Enterprise help, Scotty could have fixed that rocket issue in like 3 seconds.

Lol everyone’s just pulling Gary through space. Now on the Enterprise. Now in the office.

Why does this computer have a hug black screen if it only displays images on the small white circle?

"Spock and  I in custody. Main characters, doing nothing, knowing nothing, totally useless and irrelevant. I have never felt more helpless." Literally what is even the point of them today? Does Spock even have lines outside of “I like the cat”?

Isis is jealous of Roberta. Is she.. in a relationship with Seven lol?

Uhura is listening to everyone in the world. She probably has a universal translator on, but I do feel like this scene implies she just...understands all the languages.

So now the warhead is armed and heading to somewhere vague... in other words, everyone has collectively made the situation worse.

....Or this was Seven’s plan all along? To scare people into ceasing to be so careful with nuclear weaponry? As someone who knows humans better than this guy, I think this is a dumbass plan.

“That’s why so many people in my generation are kind of crazy and rebels.” Same, sweetheart.

Really this is just a story about bad communication. If Seven had told Kirk his plan upfront, Kirk would have helped him. And if Kirk weren’t so insistent on involving himself in something just because he happens to be somewhere he probably shouldn’t be, we wouldn’t have this issue either. The hubris of everyone.

Overall, just a really forced narrative imo.

Or that’s how it was supposed to be lol. The Irony of time travel. By it’s nature, everything has already worked out.

Kirk and Spock are like “You’re welcome. Peace out.”

Honestly... Isis was the only good part. Such a talented cat actor!! Or trio of cat actors, I guess. Had to do all those stunts and stuff.. .amazing. I also liked the concept of Isis. How she turned into a human later just to troll Roberta. How she’s never really explained--one must assume, an alien? Plus I pretty much never get tired of human + animal teams where the animal makes animal noises and the human just understands and answers in English.

As a stand alone sci fi concept...it was okay. Kinda dated by now. The alien tech was nifty and Roberta could have grown on me. Maybe even Seven, though he left a lot to be desire. That said, the narrative relied a lot on people getting in each other’s way for no reason, which I find very frustrating.

But as a Star Trek episode....no. The main characters were just nuisances on the side lines!! I’m not even sure what Kirk’s mission here was--to try to figure out what Seven was doing? And stop him if necessary? But he never really decided if it was or not, until the point where not trusting him would basically cause a nuclear war? I don’t know, I found it all very frustrating. The melding of the original show and the spinoff was not smooth.

If I were watching this in 1968, I’d feel very cheated. THIS was the season finale? That’s it? I don’t even get a real Star Trek episode and now I have to wait months for anything new?

And what I get after all that waiting is Spock’s Brain?? I’d be tempted to quit. If I had a tumblr in 1969 I’d be writing multi-paragraph rants about how the best show on television has completely nose-dived lol.

But then there’s The Enterprise Incident, which is one of the best episodes... I don’t know, man. It’s a conundrum. I’ve only seen maybe half of season 3 but from what I remember it’s very uneven: some of the best eps (The Enterprise Incident, For the World Is Hollow, Day of the Dove) mixed in with some of the worst (Spock’s Brain, The Paradise Syndrome), plus some that are good concepts but shoddily executed (The Way to Eden). So we’ll see what I think about it when I see it all in one piece, in air date order.

[every-kirishima-eijirou]

The Beauty of Red Riot’s Origin Story: Episode 72 Analysis (LONG POST AHEAD)

Well, here we are! I’ve been waiting ages to watch this episode, and now, it’s finally done, and I am more than happy with how it turned out. I’ve seen it in both Japanese and English, back to back, and both Toshiki Masuda and Justin Cook knocked their performances out of the park, and the emotion conveyed in their voices only made our boy’s origin story that much more emotional. But WHY is it so emotional? What makes such a seemingly ordinary backstory have such an impact on a viewer? (Especially viewers like, you know, US). Well, this is the purpose of this lil analysis here, so let us explore how Kirishima’s backstory contributes so nicely to his character. (Disclaimer: Manga screencaps are not my translation).

Let’s start from the beginning:

This panel shows us what we already knew to begin with: Our boy Kirishima is good-natured, stands up for others, and has strong, manly convictions. Nothing special, really, and the revelation that he was like this long before he entered UA is a great foundation for his character. In that regard, he has a similar foundation to Deku, but what differs is their struggles. Now, we know Deku grew up without a quirk in a society where quirks have been thoroughly normalized, but what does Kirishima struggle with, if anything? Is that even possible, what with him being so outgoing and boisterous?

As it turns out: yes. It’s VERY possible. This is where we see that our Red Riot is not as infallible as we may have thought. Yes, Deku had a hard time growing up without a quirk, and while Kirishima was born with a quirk just like most others, he grew up being ashamed of it, which if you think about it is a lot worse in some ways. Quirks are hereditary, and for many people, including Kirishima, quirks are also an important part of one’s own identity. This can inspire feelings of depression and even envy towards people with “better” quirks, like Mina. In contrast with Kirishima’s more traditional view of heroism and chivalry, Mina has a flashy quirk and bubbly personality, which is really effective for diffusing the situation with the bullies. This is where Kirishima’s manliness fails him, and no, not because he got shown up by a girl (thank GOD for that). It’s because heroism in the “modern” age favors heroes who can provide entertainment. Someone who’d be right at home in, say, the idol industry (like Mina). According to his friends, Kirishima’s hardening quirk, which he sees as boring, would not fly in today’s society. Now, Kirishima doesn’t care so much about what his peers think of him, but he’s still ashamed of his quirk, so he trains to harden his body and spirit, both literally and figuratively: 

Also much like Deku, Kirishima has his own hero he looks up to: Crimson Riot. He serves as Kirishima’s main source of inspiration. It’s where he gets his hardline traditionalism from, and also how he copes with having a quirk he sees as “boring”. Again, this is where he and Deku differ. Deku looks up to All Might in a fanboyish sort of way, which inspired him to strive to be a hero as well. Kirishima, on the other hand, not only sees Crimson Riot as an inspiration to be heroic, but also because they have similar quirks. It’s only natural for a child who’s been conditioned be ashamed of something they can’t help. It’s something I can personally relate to as someone who struggled a lot with sexuality as a teenager, and something many others can surely relate to as well. This makes our boy an effective source of inspiration as well. 

However, no matter how hard he trains, both physically and mentally, Kirishima still can’t train himself to not feel fear. It’s only natural for ordinary people to feel fear. After all, fear was what kept humans alive back when they were just starting out. Still, this goes against all of Kirishima’s ideals of what being a hero means. Sure, he has no problem standing up to some regular school bullies, but unlike him, Mina didn’t hesitate to act when her friends were cornered by a 30-foot tall villain in the street. She’s a prime candidate for UA, so what chance does he have of getting in if he can’t stand up to a literal supervillain?

So, he gives up on his dreams of getting into UA. He didn’t act when it mattered. That was it for him. Even worse, the incident where Deku saved Bakugou from the slime monster made headlines. It was good that Horikoshi showed how this affected Kirishima, who was totally uninvolved, because it makes you think of what exactly that implies. After that incident, Deku was miraculously given a powerful quirk by All Might. Maybe if Kirishima were the protagonist, he would have been so lucky, but that’s not the case (more on this later). Despite this, Crimson Riot blesses Kirishima in a more indirect sense:

In his frustration, Kirishima throws a book against the wall, and coincidentally, this hologram-looking thing of Crimson Riot starts playing, and it’s exactly what he needs to hear. As he listens, Kirishima realizes that not even Crimson Riot is immune to fear, but he copes with it by telling himself that failing to save someone because you didn’t do anything is far worse than charging in and giving it your best shot. That way, he can live his life without regret, which is, from then on, what Kirishima strives to do. 

Finally, with a fresh motivation to get into his dream school, our boy pulls through (and gets 2nd place in the entrance exams!). To commemorate this, Kirishima dyes his hair and vows to leave his past behind him, and Red Riot as we know him today was born. 

This should surprise absolutely nobody, but Kirishima’s is my favorite backstory in the whole series, and to conclude this lil essay, I’m going to explain why. As I said before, his backstory is something a lot of people can resonate with. Feeling shame and self-doubt is something many people go through, and it’s prevalent with people who have conditioned themselves to feel ashamed of something beyond their control. Coming to terms with my bisexuality was a struggle for me, so I can definitely relate indirectly. 

This ties into the SYMpathy vs EMpathy argument. A lot of backstories in My Hero Academia, or even media in general, are tragic in a way that not everyone can relate to (not criticism, just observation). Let’s take Todoroki, for example: he was essentially quirk-bred by his father and was abused by him, being trained to the point of overexertion. On top of that, his mother gave him the scar over his left eye, and he has carried that trauma with him his whole life. Not everyone had such a toxic upbringing, but Todoroki sure did, and many people feel sorry for him. In other words, they sympathize. Kirishima, to contrast, had a much healthier upbringing, but has a lot of internalized self-esteem issues that everyone can relate to (or empathize with). While sympathy is the capacity to feel sorry for someone, empathy is the capacity to UNDERSTAND someone. Don’t get me wrong, tragedy is often a crucial element to a story’s narrative (if it’s done well), but it’s sometimes more cathartic for the viewer to see a character overcome more everyday struggles, especially if they can understand them on a fundamental level.

The last argument I will make goes back to what I was saying about Kirishima not being the protagonist, and I think if he WERE, his origin story would not be nearly as impactful. One might say that Kirishima embodies the more stereotypical “hot-blooded” shonen protagonist than Deku does, and I agree to some extent. However, it works better for him to be a supporting character. In most shonens (like Naruto), the protagonist’s backstory is established right away, and as such, the viewer always sees their character in the context of what they were like in the past (we get it STOP SHOWING US THE FUCKING SWING--) In Kirishima’s case, his backstory comes into play much later, and by that point, we are already so familiar with his Red Riot persona that the revelation that he wasn’t always so eager and optimistic hits that much harder, and seeing how it contrasts with Kirishima as we know him in the present feels more rewarding. Yes, we get to see bits and pieces of it early on, like when he feels inadequate after meeting Tetsutetsu and seeing that their quirks are nearly identical, but seeing those feelings fully presented in his backstory only serves to drive that home. In short, we see, at a glance, how far he’s come since then, instead of being forced to watch the whole process from start to finish, and it works really well. 

Another common trend among shonen protagonists, as I said before, is their tendency to be blessed with miraculous new abilities to make them special (and that includes Deku). Obviously, that didn’t happen with Kirishima. He had no pro-hero mentor to guide him, nor an all-powerful booster quirk to bolster his hardening abilities. He got to where he did through sheer perseverance and hard work, with only his idol’s words to keep pushing him forward. While Deku also had to work hard to get to where he is, fortune was on his side, and the fact that Kirishima pulled himself up by his bootstraps (so to speak) is, to me, a lot more admirable. 

And THAT, my friends, is the core of why Kirishima means so much to me as a character, and even if he doesn’t become the #1 hero in the story, he’s my personal #1 hero. So, on that note, thank you for all your support, and as always...Stay sturdy!

tl;dr I FUCKING LOVE KIRI SO MUCH YOU GUYS

[alanaisalive]

There was a Buzzfeed article based on a Reddit thread about "Why you left the church," and I wish I had a neat and tidy story of a single event that left me feeling like, "That's it, I'm done." For me it was death by a thousand cuts.

I was raised in a Baptist church in Minnesota. I went to church like 3 times a week and joined the Christian campus organizations in college. Nearly all my friends were also evangelical Christians. I was all in on the whole church thing.

I stopped regularly going to church when I lived in Seattle after college. The church I went to was initially good and I had what I thought were friends, but as time went by, I felt less and less like anyone wanted me there. I noticed that my "friends" spent a lot of time talking shit about whoever wasn't there at the time, and I just couldn't let go of "what are they saying about me when I'm not here?"

In 2001 I had a "probably benign" ovarian tumor and I was unemployed. I needed $600 for back payments on my COBRA coverage. The church humiliated and interrogated me before they would part with any cash to help. That's around the time I stopped going. I went back once, after a few months away. They invited me to a group thing that night and gave me the address. The address didn't exist. I walked around in the rain for an hour in a strange neighborhood in the dark. I don't know if the fake address was on purpose, but I never went back after that.

After I left I started making connections with more people at work and around my neighborhood. People who weren't indoctrinated by the church. I learned that they weren't what the church told me. They weren't evil. They were just people trying to live their best lives with honesty and kindness most of the time.

If I'm honest with myself, I always had a few problems with some of what the church taught. They taught me that "The Bible is the unerring Word of God," and every word of it is "God-breathed." But it was compiled and edited by people. Men, specifically. They sat down in essentially a church committee and decided which stories should stay and which ones had to go. This happened over and over, which is why Catholics and Protestants have different Bibles. So which one is the real Word of God? How do we know? Where did God ever say that the Bible is the Word of God? I mean, the Bible itself never has God calling down from a cloud telling people to worship this book. He never told anyone which version, which edition or which translation was the important and literally true one. I have had a problem with this at least since I was a teenager, and have never gotten a satisfying answer that wasn't based on circular logic. I generally just shrugged and said, "Okay, whatever."

I shrugged and accepted it because I believed that the church was helping people. Our church was full of addicts and alcoholics who credited God and the church with helping them. I had a good and comfortable life and was always told that that's because of "God's blessings." So if there are a few logic holes, I was willing to ignore them because the church was helping people.

But then it wasn't. I started to see all the ways that the church was hurting people on a personal level and on a societal level. The church refuses to pay taxes, even though the Bible says that they should. If they cared about what Jesus taught, they should voluntarily give up their tax-free status. Any church could do it. None of them do. Money is more important than what Jesus taught.

They hurt me. They made me hide my bisexuality for decades because I knew I would never be accepted. They treated me like shit when I needed help because that $600 I needed for surgery was worth more to them than I was.

I saw more holes in the teachings. I was taught that a society without God can't function and that it would be pure anarchy. But that's provably untrue. Japan has one of the smallest proportions of Christians of any country in the world, and they're fine. Most of the country has no declared religion, and they have a far more orderly and less violent society than any so-called Christian country. The same is true of a lot of countries. A higher percentage of people who profess to being Christian has zero correlation with overall prosperity, safety or happiness of a country.

I didn't completely stop identifying as a Christian until Trump. If they can support that man, there is nothing of Christ in them. They are just morally and factually wrong in every way, and 80% of evangelicals voted for him. I challenged my Christian friends back in the US to spend a year focusing their Bible studies on just the teachings of Jesus, and there was a deathly silence. None of them wanted to even look at what Jesus actually taught. They know. They just don't care.

Where am I now, belief-wise? I find myself agreeing with Jewish teachings and attitudes toward the Old Testament more than Christian ones. I believe Jesus was a teacher worth listening to. Was he the Son of God? Don't know. I won't rule it out, but I won't swear to it either. I just don't know.

For me, agnosticism is more intellectually honest. I don't know. I wasn't there and everyone who has told the story has an agenda. So I will do my best to honor the teachings of Jesus and my own conscience and try to be a decent person. If God has a problem with any of it, I'm willing to debate it with Him when the time comes.

[yearswaited]

WHY YOU SHOULD ALL READ AND STAN PRIEST, A GUIDE

alexa ,   shut   up ,   you   love   priest ,   you   want   her   to   teach   you   anatomy   (   because   she ’ s   a   stem   major   who   graduated   from   the   cn   version   of   an   ivy   league   okay  )    we   get   it   SHUT   UP .   but  anyway   you   should   read   &   stan   priest . 

who   is   priest ?

priest   is   an   amazing   author   of   danmei   &   het   novels   as   well   as   a   bunch    of   short   stories   &   essays ---   there ’ s   a   great   carrd   about  her   HERE .  i ’ m    mostly   going   to   talk   about   her   danmei   novels   because   they   are   probably   one   of   the   best   sources   of   representation   i   have   seen   over    a   widespread   amount   of   genres .

why   her   novels ?

i ’ m   going   to   break   this   apart   into   a   few   different   sections ,   but   before   i   do ,   here ’ s   a   general   why :

her   novels   are . . .   amazing .   the   way   she   utilises   characterisation   &   setting   is   mindblowing ,   &   not   to   get   too   humanities   major   here ,   but   the   amount   of   research   she   does   for   each   novel   is   hefty .   &   so   far   with   guardian   &   sha   po   lang   she ’ s   getting   the   worse   end   of   the   stick   because   censorship   rips   apart   her   work   &   while   its   understandable   due   to   the   laws   it   is   all   the   more   encouragement   to   read   the   original .

1.  genres

priest   writes   in   a   shitload   of   genres .   &   i   mean   a   shitload .   her   most   popular   are   urban   fantasy  ( guardian ) ,  crime  ( mo   du )   &   steampunk / historical  ( sha po lang ) .   however   she   has   also   written  a   lot   of   historical ,   xianxia   &   sci - fi   novels .   each   of   those   genres   is   immersive   &   has   had   tons   of   research   poured   into   world - building .   none   of   her   novels   read   repetitively   &   when   you   have   over  25  ( i   counted )  that ’ s   p   sick .

2.  representation

not   me   writing   an   essay   on   guardian   analysed  through   queer   theory   in   my   finals   but ,   really .   priest   poses   great   representation   in   her   danmei   novels .   openly   bisexual   characters ,   trans   characters   ( with  realistically   &   respectfully   portrayed   dysphoria )  ,   gay   characters ,  etc .   her   most   notable   coming   out - scene   that   she   wrote   is   realistic   &   relatable   &   captures   the   issues   that   lgbt   people   face   in   non - western   societies  .   

priest   also   doesn ’ t   write   nsfw   smut ,   nor   does   she   really   feel   the   need   to .   though   smut   doesn ’ t   automatically   equal   fetishization   i   think   it ’ s   still   something   to   note   as   not   all   people   feel   comfortable   consuming   such   content   &   the   lack   of   it   avoids   a   focus   on   nsfw   &   rather   on   the   natural   progression   of   the   relationships   she   writes .     she   got   called   out   for   never   writing   smut   &   basically   shot   back   at   the   interviewer   that   it   was   unnecessary   &   if   she   had   wanted   to   write   it ,   she   would . 

unbury   your   gays .   literally .   SPOILERS :   the   guardian   drama   adaptation   rewrote   p   much   the   entirety   of   priest ’ s   works   &   killed   off   the   main    relationship .   priest   clapped   back   by   writing   an   entire   extra   chapter   calling   the   drama   garbage   &   providing   an  alternate   ending   that   makes   sense   where   the   characters   are   alive . 

3.  women 

while   i   can ’ t   say   that   there   is   a  large   amount   of   female  presence   is   priest ’ s   danmei   novels   it   is   significantly   there .   women   drive   important   plot   points   &   aren ’ t   there   just   as   filler   or   to   act   as   a   wedge   between   the   main   couples .   iconic   ladies   include   zhu   hong  ( snake   lady .    goes   down   to   hell   to   kick   ass ; guardian )   &  lang  qiao  (  exhausted .   please   give   her   a   holiday ;  mo  du  )  .   &   then   women   definitely   take   a   central  role   in   her   het   novels . 

4.  extra 

i  had   nowhere   else   to   shove   this   in   but   her   novels   are   setting - centric .   spl   &   mo   du   notably   focus   on   plot ,   but   if   you   want   something   more   relationship - based   then   guardian   is   your   cup   of   tea .   regardless ,   through   her   plot   priest   displays   a   lot   of   anti - colonialist ,   anti - capitalist   sentiment ,   &   weaving   through   the   politics   &   criticism   is   incredibly   eye - opening  &   interesting .

5 .   shen   wei   sexy 

please   read   guardian   shen   wei   so   sexy 

support   priest

you   can  support   priest   by   buying   her   novels   on   jjwxc   alongside   reading   the   translations .   each   novel   only   costs   from   0.3   to   5   USD .   HERE   is   a   conversion   chart   &   HERE   is   a   guide   on   how   to   pay .

read

novelupdates

guardian  carrd ,   sha   po   lang   carrd ,   mo   du   carrd ,   tian   ya   ke

[elyreywrites]

do you know who you are?

a fic written for Pride Month 2020!! (yes, i know pride month is over, but i posted this on AO3 on June 30th so.) this is a projection fic. it’s not an exact projection of my experience, nor is it meant to be a generalized representation. this isn’t everyone’s experience.

warnings: slight mention of Jack and Janet Drake potentially being homophobic, and discussion of compulsory heterosexuality

thank you to my betas in the Capes & Coffee Discord - Bumpkin, ZulieTheProgrammer, and Oceans!!

title is from Moana’s “I am Moana”!

please REBLOG - DO NOT REPOST

AO3 Link

Teen 1,678 words Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent slight one-sided Tim Drake/Jason Todd - as in, tiny-Tim has a crush on Robin-Jason

Summary:

He’s twelve and watching Robin fight. He’s seventeen and staring up at the ceiling. He’s nineteen and text-spamming his best friends.

Tim’s growing up and finding himself, and he would really appreciate if the Realizations didn’t happen when he’s trying to sleep. Kon and Bart would probably appreciate that as well.

- - - - -

It starts as he’s watching the second Robin knock out some muggers. It’s not the first time Tim has seen Jason’s Robin take down a group of criminals, but it’s the first time that he nearly gives himself away as he squeaks.

 Jason’s so strong, and cool, and pretty, and – oh. Ah. Okay.

He calls it a night at that, bright red from the questions that are swimming around in his head. He spends most of the trip home lost in thought. When he’s sitting on his bed, one of his best pictures of Jason’s Robin sitting in front of him, he gives them a voice. Talking usually helps him get his thoughts in order. “Okay,” he whispers, “do I like boys?” He doesn’t dislike them – not at all. But does he like them? Maybe, but… how is he supposed to know? “Is that too big of a topic?” he wonders aloud to the picture. “Let’s start with this: Do I like Robin? Jason-Robin.”

That doesn’t turn his brain into a jumbled mess like the previous question did. Of course he likes Jason-Robin. He’s absolutely amazing, protecting people and checking on the working girls and kicking criminal ass! He’s only a couple years older than Tim is, but he does so much more! And he’s real in a way Dick isn’t.

Jason’s just a kid like Tim, though they have such different backgrounds. Dick was a trained acrobat, with skills Tim never really believed he could learn. Jason seemed closer. He was still more amazing than Tim could ever hope to be, but it wasn’t an entirely impossible stretch like it was with Dick.

“And he’s so passionate, especially when it’s a kid that’s in danger. And every time he smiles, it just makes me so happy that I kind of want to giggle and—” Tim stops babbling. He doesn’t need to anymore, after basically answering his own question. Yes, he does like Jason Todd, the current Robin. As in, he has a crush on him. Tim falls back on his bed to stare up at the ceiling.

“Well,” he says, “that explains the weird, squirmy feeling I get in my stomach every time I imagine talking to him.” That feeling is always accompanied by a fierce blush and Tim hiding his face for a good two minutes. He thinks he probably should have caught on sooner. Deciding that was enough Realizing Things for the night, Tim quickly locks the picture of Robin up with the rest and collapses on his bed to sleep.

The next day – a Saturday, which is Mrs. Mac’s day off – Tim hops on the computer and starts researching. He has a crush on one boy, but Tim still thinks girls can be cool. Batgirl is pretty awesome, after all! After a few hours and a lot of new information, he settles back on his bed again. He’s bisexual, and sexuality can apparently be really fluid. In all honesty, it didn’t take him hours to find the term, he just fell into a rabbit hole of researching sexual orientation and gender identities. Tim’s fairly secure in his gender, but he’s glad to have learned. It’s something to keep in mind about other people – to not assume anything based on appearances.

He’s bisexual, with a crush on a boy, and his parents will still expect him to only date girls. At least the boy was Robin and completely unattainable.

- - -

Years later, Tim is laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling once again. It’s a different bed by now, in his own apartment at seventeen. The thing is, he’s pretty sure he has no interest in romance. And now his brain was mixing everything up in a tangle of thoughts and feelings again.

“Holding hands is nice,” he admits. “I like cuddling. That was fine.” He hasn’t gone further than making out with anyone, so that’s about the limit of his physical experience. It’s the implication of emotions that makes him want to skitter away. Specifically, emotions of the romantic variety. Now Tim’s reassessing every romantic relationship he’s had, though he’s only ever dated women.

At the time, he had thought he was happy while in each relationship, but… it’s becoming much more likely that it’s because he was previously starved for affection. He suddenly got that affection while dating someone. That thought makes him want to hide from everyone he’s ever dated. Stephanie is the only one he really still has to see, and that has him burrowing under his blankets.

It sounds awful, honestly. Like he was using the relationship to get the affection he so desperately wanted. Logically, he might be overthinking this. He just wishes his dumb brain would tell that to his anxiety and the ingrained societal expectations. “I didn’t mean to,” he mumbled into the blankets.

Romance, dating, being happy in a relationship? He has no other experiences to reference! He didn’t know that something wasn’t right.

Hell, he’s only having this Realization because a woman was flirting with him at a gala and asked if he would like to get dinner together sometime. A romantic dinner date with a woman he wasn’t close to. The entire scenario would be romance with no physical affection, and that didn’t sound pleasant in the slightest. It did, however, make him realize that he might need to think things through again.

So, here he is. Thinking things through. No romance – if he’s remembering his research correctly, the term is ‘aromantic’, similar to ‘asexual’. Asexuality was something he’d heard more about over the years, but he rarely heard of aromanticism. It had just stuck out because while the terms were similar, their meanings were pretty different.

Now he’s glad it stuck in his mind. It gives him less reason to panic about being confused. So, he was bisexual and aromantic. That’s fine! He’s a vigilante, romantic relationships would be difficult anyway.

- - -

A year and a half later, Tim’s fingers fly across the screen of his phone, sending text after text without waiting for a response. Either his friends would wake up or they wouldn’t. Hopefully they would.

Tim: Oh my god. Guys, wake up, I’m an idiot. Bart, Kon, please. I’m so dumb. How the hell am I this oblivious? I’m not bi-aro at all. I’m just fucking gay. It’s 5 am and I can’t sleep, and I just want a boyfriend. I want to do couple things, like cuddle up while watching movies.

Clone Trooper: dude, it’s the middle of the night. why do you do this to us?

Tim feels no sympathy for his friends – he’s been running on less than six hours of sleep for years. Sometimes less than four hours. High school and vigilantism don’t mix well. Anyway, they can deal with waking up to deal with his Realization.

Sonic: bro we cuddle up when we watch movies are we not good enough for you anymore

Tim: Yeah, but that’s platonic, Bart. And yes, I’m aware of the time. I’d like to be asleep too, but I’m lonely and sad and having Realizations! Suffer with me.

Clone Trooper: … suffer how? are you expecting us to have an existential crisis too, or is this just suffering by being awake?

Tim: Being awake. It’s not an existential crisis, it’s just a Realization.

Sonic: its the middle of the night i think it can be deemed an existential crisis

Tim: But seriously, someone please tell me how I jumped passed the logical conclusion I should have come to of “I’m just not attracted to women” and directly to “I have no interest in romance at all”? How did that make sense to me?

Sonic: society conditioned u to like women

Tim blinks at his screen. Bart isn’t wrong, but Tim has absolutely no idea where he’s going with that. He already had the Realization about societal conditioning, thanks.

Tim: Okay? I’m aware, but I’m not sure how that translates to how I didn’t think of the logical conclusion.

Sonic: dude. for years it was a fact – since you were a kid u were so conditioned that u should like women it was just a fact

Clone Trooper: think of it like this, tim: as far as you knew, you liked women. later, you figured out you like guys, but you still think you like women too.

Tim: We’ve established, yeah.

Clone Trooper: so, suddenly something is weird. the only really new thing is that there is romance involved. so that’s clearly gotta be the issue.

Oh. He stares so long the screen goes dark. He drops his phone on the bed and stares up at the ceiling, turning that over in his head. So. He jumped to not wanting romance because it was so deeply ingrained that he was supposed to like women? His exhausted brain seems to accept this explanation enough to calm the edge of self-recriminations.

Tim: That. Makes sense, I guess. But still, it really seems like I should’ve realized a while ago. Also, I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t teasing me for being oblivious.

Sonic: oh thats coming but teasing is saved for when u arent having a crisis

Clone Trooper: later, we’ll absolutely laugh about that jump in logic. but right now it’s too early and you’re already having A Time.

He’s not sure if he has wonderful friends or terrible friends. Tim suspects that he’s still going to hear about this in a few years. It’s the kind of thing they won’t let die for a while.

Tim: Fair enough.

Clone Trooper: great, glad we got that cleared up! now tim...

Tim: What?

Clone Trooper: please. GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP.

Snickering, Tim plugs his phone in and smothers his face in the pillow. He’s still lonely and he still wants to analyze every missed evidence over the years, but he’s also exhausted. The chat with his friends did get his brain to shut up enough that he might actually be able to sleep. He can rethink his entire life again after he wakes up.

[hms-chill]

RWRB Study Guide: Chapter 7

Hi y’all! I’m going through Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue and defining/explaining references! Feel free to follow along, or block the tag #rwrbStudyGuide if you’re not interested!

Crêpe-eating tourists (157): Crepes are a thin, flat pancake traditionally filled with sugar, but commonly filled with other toppings. They are an iconic French dish and are popular with tourists both for this reason and because they are typically inexpensive.

Place du Tertre (157): A square in Paris, it is in the Montmarte district, which is known for its art history.

Crusty baguettes (157): Baguettes are a French bread that is meant to be crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.

Le Monde (158): The most popular French newspaper.

Fromagerie Nicole Barthélémy (158): A famously wonderful cheese shop in Paris.

Parisian cheese shop (158): French cheese are known for being fancy and especially good.

Pisces (159): A zodiac sign known for being compassionate, artistic, and intuitive. (more)

NYU (159): New York University.

The Met (159): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a famous art museum in New York.

Joanne (160): JK Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books, and has been pretty consistently homophobic and transphobic on twitter. 

Freddie Mercury (161): Lead singer of the band Queen, Mercury never officially came out, but he had long-term relationships with both men and women and was known for his camp performances, and there are claims that he was “openly gay”. His flamboyance and camp performances, as well as his relationship with partner Jim Hutton, essentially demanded that people simply take him as he was. He died of complications from AIDS in 1991, one day after admitting openly that he had been diagnosed four years earlier. (More)

For context within the book, he wrote “Don’t Stop Me Now”

Elton John (161): A famous British musician. He came out as bisexual in 1976, then as gay in 1992. He and his husband, David Furnish, became civil partners in 2005, the day they became legal in the UK. They were officially married on the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership, the year that gay marriage was legalized within the UK. (More)

Bowie (161): David Bowie, who was a bi British musician and actor who, in 1976, described his bisexuality as “the best thing that ever happened to me”. His wife (who was also bi, and with whom he often shared partners) claimed that he had a relationship with Mick Jagger, though his bisexuality has been consistently erased, both during his life and since his death. (More)

Again for book context, Henry’s dog is named for David Bowie

Jagger (161): Mick Jagger, an English singer/songwriter and member of the Rolling Stones, known for his promiscuity. As mentioned above, he and Bowie pretty clearly had a relationship, though his Wikipedia makes no mention of queerness. (More)

Oakley Street (161): A street that runs through an affluent borough of London.

Stonewall (161): The Stonewall Inn in New York City is a gay bar. The riots against police brutality there in July of 1969 are heralded as the beginning of the gay rights movement.

SCOTUS decision in 2015 (161): The Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage across the US.

Walt Whitman (161): An American poet who wanted to become The American Poet and saw himself as the quintessential American. His poetry often deals with his queerness, and he absolutely slept with Oscar Wilde in the late 1800s. 

Fun fact; he is celebrated in the movie The Dead Poets Society, which is incredibly popular with Sad Gay English Majors and which Henry would definitely have seen.

Laws of Illinois 1961 (161): In 1961, Illinois became the first state in the US to repeal its sodomy laws.

White Night Riot (161): A series of riots in San Francisco protesting the lenient sentencing of the man who killed Harvey Milk, the first openly queer politician. The riots were the most violent queer uprising since the events at the Stonewall.

Paris is Burning (161): A 1990s movie celebrating drag ball culture in New York. It celebrates in particular queer communities of color in the late 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic was at its peak.

“If I die of AIDS...” (161): This is a real photo; you can find it here. The man’s jacket could refer to a form of protest called “die-ins”, where people with AIDS would go to a homophobic politician’s office or another public place where they were refused treatment and simply not leave until after they died. (see it here)

Chop my own tit off (162): Fun mythology fact; the Amazons (warrior women from Greek mythology) actually did this to make themselves better archers.

H fucking W (162): George HW Bush, a former US president.

George (163): George Villers was the boyfriend of King James the I/VI, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, was rumored to be in a polyamorous relationship in the 1920s. 

Edward (162): Edward II was a famously gay king. He was may have been "wedded brothers" with Piers Gaveston and may have also had a relationship with Hugh le Despenser the younger following Gaveston's death. (More)

James (162): The British king known for translating the Bible and being just... indescribably gay and very deeply horny. He promoted his boyfriend, George Villers, to the highest non-royal position in the UK within a few years of starting to date him. James’s friends actively tried to set him up with hot guys for their own political gain.

Alexander (163): Alexander Hamilton was an incredibly bi founding father. He’s remembered for founding our current national banking system, having the first ever American sex scandal, and for literally never shutting up or knowing how to stop being A Lot All The Time. 

Catalina (164): Catalina is an island near Los Angeles. On a more meta level, St. Catalina was a respected writer.

June (164): June Carter Cash was an American singer/songwriter/director/comedian.

Tricky Dick (164): Richard Nixon, a president remembered for wiretapping his opponent.

Taft (165): 27th president of the United States.

Eisenhower (165): 34th president of the US.

Baby (166): this is what Henry’s mom calls him; I wrote a thing about it here.

Daily Mail (166): A trashy British tabloid.

Lollapalooza (167): A music festival in Chicago known for setting fashion trends and having lots of drugs.

Joni Mitchell (167): A singer/songwriter known for her innovative use of the guitar, including unique tunings, chords, and a unique fingerpicking/strumming style. (Listen here)

Cocaine (168): A highly addictive drug. It is snorted, smoked, or injected, and while it makes people feel more confident or forget their problems, the highs from it last only up to about 30 minutes, which often drives people to take it more frequently. Side effects (aside from addiction) include a loss of appetite, irritability, and increased mental health issues. 

Spitfire (168): Someone with a quick temper or willingness to fight.

High as a kite (169): Someone who’s “high as a kite” is on a lot of drugs and is still enjoying the high.

Clean (169): Drug/alcohol free.

Stiff upper lip (170): Ability to seem determined or hold it together in the face of hard times.

A levels (170): A UK test taken for admittance to college, similar to the ACT/SAT in the US

Henry V at RSC (171): Henry V is a Shakespearean history play about the life of Henry V, especially focused on the events of the Hundred Years’ War. RSC, or the Royal Shakespeare Company, is a Shakespeare theater company in London.

Travis County (171): The Texan county where Austin is located.

Surfside (171): A beach in Texas.

Adderall (172): A prescription drug taken for ADHD but commonly abused by students to help them stay awake for all-nighters or focused for unhealthily long study sessions. However, given McQuinston’s claim that Alex has undiagnosed ADHD, it likely helped him to be able to focus and helped his brain work the way it was expected to.

Almond milk (vs. dairy) (173): Texas has a huge dairy industry, and almond milk is not great for the environment.

The Gun File (173): American gun law is so deeply broken.

WASPy Hunter’s Harvard pencil cup (175): Harvard is a prestigious college in Boston; it has a reputation for being mostly rich white folks.

Iron curtains of gerrymandering (175): Gerrymandering is a form of drawing lines for voting districts to disenfranchise marginalized voters. It is a form of skewing elections to keep power in the hands of the powerful that divides marginalized votes, making people of color or poor folks the minority in their districts, therefore erasing their votes on a broader scale.

Vision-boarding his funeral (175): a vision board is typically made to inspire someone to pursue a goal.

Parks & Recreation (175): A popular American sit-com focused on the parks and recreation department in a small town in Indiana. 

Leslie Knope (176): a Parks & Rec character. One of her defining traits is an aggressive, overwhelming love for the people in her life.

Mid-century rug (177): Mid-century furniture and style is characterized by lots of color and playful patterns (following the more reserved WWII period in the 1940s); it is rising in popularity again as a classy yet fashionable look.

J14 (178): A teen fashion/celebrity magazine.

Sacramento Bee (178): The largest newspaper in Sacramento, CA.

Southerness (180): In positive lights, the American South is known for its genuine, warm, unselfish hospitality.

Jane Austen my life (180): Jane Austen is a British author whose novels star lower/middle class women who fall in love with rich men. They typically try to avoid these men for large portions of the book, or at least have rather negative feelings about them due to a misunderstanding or other failure to communicate.

LSAT (181): the test taken for admittance to law school.

Carmarthenshire (183): A largely agricultural county in South Wales. As a tourist destination, it is known for its wide range of outdoor activities.

Llwynywermod (184): A royal estate in Carmarthenshire, the biggest building of which is a renovated three-bedroom farmhouse. It is surrounded by the rolling green hills common to south Wales.

Finals (in the US) (185): At US colleges, a semester’s final tests (typically worth up to 30-40% of a final grade) take place the week after classes end.

Stamp on his forehead at The Tombs (185): Tombs is a bar near Georgetown. According to reviews, and “Tombs Night” parties, where students celebrate their 21st birthday and get their foreheads stamped at the end of the night, are a Georgetown tradition.

Jumped in Dalhgren Fountain (185): Dalhgren Fountain is in the center of Georgetown’s campus. Swimming in it is a Georgetown tradition.

Summa cum laude (186): “with greatest honor”.

Ceviche (186): A seafood dish native to Peru that spread to Mexico, where it contains lime, avocado, chili peppers, onions, and cilantro.

Palm Room (187): The gateway to the West Wing, the area of the White House where most politics happen.

Hoe Dameron (190): A reference to Star Wars character Poe Dameron, a rebel pilot and the first Latino main character in the series.

Prince Buttercup (190): Princess Buttercup is the heroine/love interest in The Princess Bride, 

West Hollywood (190): One of the most prominent gay neighborhoods in the US.

“Call Me” (191): The most popular song of 1980; it was originally written for the film American Gigolo and inspired by the film’s opening sequence of a character driving along the coast of California. (Listen here)

“So Emotional” (191): An absolute bop about enjoying being in love. (Listen here)

“Don’t Stop Me Now” (193): A Queen song where Mercury sings to both a man and a woman; it’s a huge bop. (Listen here)

In-N-Out (194): A fast food restaurant/burger chain native to California and unavailable in other states.

Animal style (195): Animal style burgers are an In-N-Out staple; it includes the typical burger toppings, along with mustard fried into the patty, pickles, onions, and extra spread.

French-fries-dipped-in-milkshake (195): a truly god-tier American dessert tradition.

“O captain, my captain” (196): A reference both to the idea of a lacrosse team captain and to Whitman’s poem, “O Captain, My Captain” (as mentioned above, Whitman was a deeply gay American poet).

Burberry (200): A posh British brand of clothing known for its classy, traditional pieces.

Cats that caught the canaries (200): A cat that caught a canary is a person who looks smug or satisfied.

Mother hen (201): A “mom friend” or someone who will do everything they can to look out for people they care about, sometimes to the point of it being annoying.

—-

If there’s anything I missed or that you’d like more on, please let me know! And if you’d like to/are able, please consider buying me a ko-fi? I know not everyone can, and that’s fine, but these things take a lot of time/work and I’d really appreciate it!

—–

Chapter 1 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 8 

[bookbellandcandle]

On the difficulties of adapting lesbian novels

There’s been a sudden, although long overdue, surge in films by and about lesbians. They’ve hit the mainstream so hard in the last few years that even my late-fifties, Sunday Times-reading mum saw The Favourite (2018) in the cinema, of her own accord. (She didn’t really like it.)

Many of these films have been adapted from novels, often from the backlist of women more famous for other works. These adaptations have the benefit of bringing these novels to a wider audience and bringing much-needed income to the author. However, they also bring up the thorny issue of how to best translate queer women’s words into a visual medium like film in a way that does them justice.

To illustrate this problem, I’m going to talk about two films: the almost universally lauded Carol (2015) and the well-received Disobedience (2017).

In both of these stories, two women enter a relationship that goes against the homophobic norms of their society and must make a choice between conformity and choosing to live authentically.

In both film adaptations, significant changes are made to the source material, both novels written by women. One detail that caught my attention in the way both novels were adapted was that in both, the protagonist’s profession is changed. Originally, The Price of Salt’s Therese is an aspiring theatrical set designer, and Disobedience’s Ronit is a high-flying financial analyst. In the film adaptations, they have the same job: photographer.

In both films, this change signals a refocusing on the visual as a source of meaning. In The Price of Salt, seeing and being seen are inherently linked to power and control. When Therese first sees Carol, “their eyes met at the same instant…her eyes were grey, colourless, yet dominant as light or fire, and, caught by them, Therese could not look away.” Highsmith is acutely aware of the power that can be exerted by vision and recognition. In the case of queer women being seen and recognised by the heterosexual world, it is an oppressive force. Yet between Therese and Carol, it is the tender sense of recognition and familiarity when she meets the woman she will love.

For queer women in 1950s America, to be seen and identified is to become the subject of homophobic discourse. Perhaps more than in any other period of American history, the 1950s were marked by intense public homophobia, linked to the ‘lavender scare’ which took place as a result of Cold War political paranoia. Being seen was dangerous, a danger echoed in the anxiety felt by Disobedience’s Esti and Ronit about being visibly queer in their Orthodox Jewish community.

The way these films, and the inevitable tie-in reissue of the novels, are marketed is also significant. Film tie-ins seem to love intense close-ups for their jackets. As one friend commented at my book club when we discussed Disobedience,“it’s all face”.

Does focusing so heavily on the movie-star good looks of the actors detract from the original meaning? More importantly, when will we see a major lesbian film that’s not about beautiful people falling in love?

Another significant change is that both adaptations added explicit sex scenes that were only implied in the source material.

While these are both valid artistic choices by the filmmakers — which in the case of Carol simply fills in an aspect of the story that would have been difficult to get past censors when the source novel The Price of Salt was published in 1952 — they also represent a refocusing of the narrative. While The Price of Salt was always a romance, albeit one with a more noirish edge than the softer film adaptation, the novel Disobedience is about nostalgia, community and faith. The romance between Esti and Ronit has long passed, leaving a tale far more interesting and nuanced than a classic “forbidden love” narrative. This feels lessened in the film, possibly to its detriment.

It’s also surely problematic that the big closing speech of the novel, given by Esti who breaks the convention against women speaking in the synagogue, is in the film given to her husband Dovid. The power of words and their importance in the Jewish faith is a central theme in Disobedience, so this feels like a betrayal of the novel’s intentions.

What’s at stake here is the question of whether queer women are merely seen and not heard, or whether they can have a real voice in mainstream film. An obvious solution is to hire more lesbian and bisexual women to direct for these projects. Yet that seems like too reductive a solution, especially when the brilliant and sensitive adaptation Carol was directed by a gay man, Todd Haynes.

Now that there’s space for these films to exist in the mainstream, it would be wonderful to see more high-profile films about queer women that aren’t love stories. A great example of this would be 2018′s Can You Ever Forgive Me? in which Melissa McCarthy plays author and literary forger Lee Israel, whose queerness is important to the film but not its central theme.

While Carol soars, I would consider Disobedience to be a decent film but a poor adaptation. But perhaps that’s okay. Until quite recently, lesbian and queer-centric films haven’t had room to fail without it being seen to reflect poorly on all such films. Now that there’s more space to breathe, we can only hope that lesbian films will be judged on their own artistic merits and not on how well they succeed in representing the community. There’s a wealth of source material out there just waiting for a great film adaptation. Let’s hope that the next lesbian blockbuster (could you imagine saying that even five years ago?) will be treated with sensitivity, and take bigger risks than ever before.

[itsodilou]

Here’s a translation of Maxence and Axel’s last radio interview by Fréquence ESJ at the 2019 Paris Pride on june 29 (you can find the interview easily on YouTube by typing “fréquence esj axel auriant”, I also left a comment there with the translation) 

I : Hello, we are receiving Axel Auriant.

A : Hello, I’m sorry, I lost Maxence in the crowd. I think he’s gonna get here soon…

I : So Maxence is coming. We should say, for the people who are listening to us, Axel Auriant, you are an actor in the famous TV show SKAM, in which you have the role of…

A : Lucas.

I : Lucas, that’s it.

(the guy that is behind the computer says that his name is Lucas too, and Axel and the interviewer joke about it)

I : So Axel, it’s true that you are in a duo in Skam with Maxence, who…

A : Yeah, I feel guilty doing this interview without him, but he doesn’t text me back…

I : Oh okay, so you lost him in the crowd ?

A : Yeah, he asked me to get him something to drink and they didn’t let me…. I am telling you guys my whole life… They didn’t let me get out with this drink, so I drank this thing, which wasn’t alcohol. (they laugh) And I lost Maxence.

I : I mean, there’s a lot of people here today. The gay pride, there was tons of people. On the stage, there’s all of the artists that we previously mentioned and there’s even more people. By the way, Axel, have you ever been to pride before ?

A : Yeah, several times actually, with friends, it’s a good occasion to get together, to dance, to be together….

I :  And had you ever done a pride that was like this ? With so many people.

A : Honestly, I don’t realize. But it’s always, in terms of emotions I mean, it’s always a great moment to share, where we’re together and that’s what I love, when I come here (to pride), we dance, we laugh and we celebrate love.

I : And you even lost your partner, by the way.

A : I lost my partner, who found love elsewhere, apparently.

I : Yeah, because you are in the TV show Skam with Maxence…

A : Wait, Maxence texted me. Should we play some music while we wait for him ?

I : Sure, if you want. We can also chat or we can put music while waiting for him, if he’s getting there in a few minutes…

A : He’s gonna be here in 3 minutes.

(they announce the music that they’re gonna be playing and there’s a cut ; now Maxence is here)

I : Our guests are finally here. Before, we had the poor Axel, who had lost his other half…

M : I was dancing to Léonie (one of the artists that was here I guess)…

A : I told you !

M : … I  was in a trance, you guys, her music is so beautiful.

I : We’re our guests today also because this year, you are parrains (godfathers) of the pride march.

A : Yeah, exactly.

Other radio guy : We should introduce them.

I : Yeah right, I am forgetting the most important things. We have Axel Auriant, who we already heard, and Maxence Dunet-Fauvel.

M : Danet-Fauvel.

(the interviewer apologizes for his mistake and they all joke about it)

I : So, Axel and Maxence, you are godfathers of this 2019 pride march. How do you get selected to be godfathers ? How did you react when you found out ?

A : (Axel makes a dumb joke about e-mails). The PR person at Skam was contacted and she sent us an email. The exact same day we replied.

I : You accepted right away.

A : Obviously.

M : It’s an incredible gift. We don’t exactly know how we were selected. We were in a TV show called Skam, for those who don’t know, it’s a tv show for teens. Each season deals with a different topic, and the season where we have the main roles with Axel deals with discovering that you’re gay when you’re in high school.

I: It was season 3, right ?

M: Yes, it was season 3. And we were… Actually, no, we received the Out d’Or afterwards. I think that we were selected because we made things change this year, especially among teens, and I think that it’s extremely important. We saw hundreds of them today. We’re really moved to be able to carry this voice and this message.

I: During the pride march, when you were walking or right now, here at Place de la République, do people recognize you ? Do they come up to you ?

A: Yes, a lot. But they’re always nice and that’s what really moves me. When you shoot a tv show, you don’t realize the impact that it can have on people’s lives. And if it could at least open minds and have the expected effect, and that really moves us, especially on a day like today. So yes, we have been recognized a lot, even if I don’t like this word. A lot of people came to talk to us, dance with us…

M: It was really really cool.

I: Is there young people who tell you that they’re gay and that seeing you on screen, even if it’s fictional, gave them the courage to come out ?

M: Yes.

A: Everyday. Everyday we get messages. When we started shooting, we had a drink…

M: Five (he means five drinks).

A: Maybe even six.

M: Or eight.

(they remind everyone to drink responsibly)

A: And we told each other, if we could help one teen to embrace who they are at this point in their life, we would have reached our goal. And receiving so many messages, it feels like the best reward, it’s so beautiful and that’s why we were a part of this story and now the adventure continues.

I: Sadly this year, there has been an increase of homophobic acts. Did you also get homophobic messages or threats ?

M: Of course.

A: Yes, but those threats make up only 10% of the messages we get. It’s a minority. It’s people who are behind a screen, and it’s so much easier to send: “f*ggot, I’m gonna fuck you up” when you’re behind a screen with a PSG (Parisian football club) logo as your profile picture. (it makes all of them laugh and Maxence says he needs to gag him for saying that). No, but it’s true, we get those messages. And it’s important to say that yes, we get them, but we also receive so much love.

M: We get so much more love than hate, and we see it even today. It really moves me, I loved being a part of this march. I did it with everyone, I was in the crowd, but with my role in mind.

I: You’re carrying a voice, sort of.

M : Yes, and that’s what crazy with this amazing job that we do. When we work on a role, we’re at home, we’re even really scared and to see that we managed to create those characters that people relate to and that help people, it’s a beautiful victory for us.

I: When you got cast for Skam and got the script, what did you find interesting about your characters? Axel, you play Lucas and Maxence, you play Eliott in the show. When you got these roles, what attracted you to those characters ?

A: Personally, what I really liked about Lucas was that he had a sort of shell in the first two seasons, and then you discover more about him and about what he’s going through. He’s like a lot of young people, in front of his friends he cracks jokes, he acts as if he was okay but you realize that it’s a mask, that the reality is completely different, that he wears a mask to protect himself. I found this character really interesting, he’s lost and he wants to love but it’s hard for him, at least in the first two seasons he’s questioning a lot and he has to face society, his friends, all of the prejudices that we can have when we’re lost and everything that we were told as children. I really loved this character, and I still do.

I: Axel, your character was here since the beginning whereas Eliott was introduced in season 3.

M: Yeah, he appears in season 3 and he is new in the school. Personally, what I loved in Eliott, it’s that he’s the most multicolored character that could have been written for me. He’s a wonderful human, with so many hues…. It gives me shivers to talk about it. They wrote me the perfect character as he is so complex and full of color, he’s really sensitive, very touching. He’s an artist, he is a lover, his whole life revolves around love, he doesn’t ask questions, he just goes for it and obviously he makes mistakes because he’s a human being but that’s also what I love about him. He is a lover, and me too, so I could really relate to him. (then they talk about the noise as they’re right next to the stage and Axel mentions that they’re gonna go on stage later).

I: So what happens next ? You’re gonna go on stage right ?

M: Today, yeah, we’re gonna go on stage and say a few words. I really don’t want to make a long speech because I haven’t prepared anything (Axel laughs).

A: This morning we looked at each other and we were like: What do we say ?

M: Personally I just want to thank everyone. Today we saw stunning people, I kept saying “everyone is beautiful, everyone is beautiful”. It’s amazing, it should be like this every day, the streets should be full of color all the time, not just for the LGBT community but for everyone. The streets should be more colorful, and I say that but I’m always wearing black… The streets should be more joyful and it should look more like this amazing day.

A: And the reality of life, that is to say there’s love everywhere and you just need to search for it. What Maxence said is so beautiful, Maxence for president !

I: Axel and Maxence, you play a couple in Skam, a couple of young homosexuals. Is it true that…? (Maxence interrupts him)

M: Wait, I’m just gonna correct you or I’m gonna get wrecked, my character is pansexual. Axel’s character is gay, mine is pansexual. Last time, I didn’t correct a journalist and I got a lot of backlash on Twitter, so…

I: You’re absolutely right to remind us. Last question before you go on stage, is it important today to show more gay couples or pansexual couples etc. ?

A: It’s important to show life. We should stop saying “more gays, more like this or like that”. The reality is that today, homosexuality, like every sexuality, are in the world, they’re here. And we’re here to put stories to life, and to put to life what some people live. And we should show as much as we can, we should show as many footballers, intersex people, pansexual people, bisexual people as we can, because that’s what people live.

I: Yeah in the show you see sex scenes, kisses…

A: Definitely. And it’s important to say that we should show those things, show what those people really live, without being scared of censorship or bad reactions because we do this job to live and to put these characters to life. (to Maxence) maybe you want to add something ?

M: I just wanted to add something, I completely agree with Axel and I think we should show more LGBT people on TV because we’re in 2019, but we are so behind on this topic that we need to show it to people, shove it in their faces. Today people should go outside, get naked, do whatever they want

A: Okay let’s go (he starts removing his shirt)

M: Yeah, do it! It needs to be shown, those people need to be bothered, those people who still live in the stone age, we need to show them that that’s what it is to live on this earth and to be human, it’s to be free to do what we want, fuck! We fought for years to be free, for years ! We’re almost succeeding, but we’re still struggling on certain topics, it’s unbelievable.

I: You’re full of emotions, Maxence. There’s a lot of emotion in your eyes.

M: Yeah, it really gets me going, it’s like racism, there’s things that I don’t understand. This hatred of difference, this hatred of others but fuck ! You’re all so beautiful ! Fuck, guys stop it ! Love each other for fuck’s sake!

A: Love each other.

I: We’re gonna stop here because you have to go apparently.

M: Yeah we need to go.  

(then they make weird noises and act like goofs, they say thank you and Axel kisses the microphone)

[kirascolumn]

5: Duty to Beauty or a Razor?

The most iconic uni brow: Frida Kahlo!

A modern counterpart: Sophia Hadjipanteli.

G’day, you snazzy reader! (It’s always nice to feel welcome.) So, there’s been a slight change of plans in regard to the topic of this blog post today. There’s no need to hold onto your bosom in panic—there will still be a discussion post about pregnancy and childbirth. That’s definitely still happening. However, it might be fun to do some brain poking and talk a little bit more about women’s beauty standards which was illustrated in the hairy maiden picture from the last blog. 

The easiest thing to do when we see something different from what we know is to immediately reject it—our minds and hearts don’t want to take the effort or might not be brave enough to know how to translate this new idea. Take Sophia Hadjipanteli’s eyebrows for example. They’re a little more than bold—they’re bushy, not plucked and are two continents that have joined together to become a brazen icon of hairy divinity: the uni brow. For a lot of people seeing a woman with a uni brow is a visceral moment, one where they might think, “Eww! She should pluck it! She looks like a man!” or “She’d be so much prettier without so much hair!” And it’s not like Sophia doesn’t know this. Her Instagram is flooded with hate comments from online trolls about her different appearance and yet she still doesn’t pluck when doing so would help put her on a pedestal of perfection within society’s standards. She’s very pretty and a model, so it would make sense for her to want the public to adore her because beauty sells. We all look up to beautiful people because we all secretly live vicariously through their met galas, chiseled cheekbones, voluptuous lashes, and flat stomachs. There’s nothing wrong with thinking that certain women who fit the ideal standard of beauty are beautiful because they are. If anything, it can seem like perhaps we as a people need to better work to reprogram ourselves to be more open to the idea of the “other.” 

Feminine beauty is such a wonderful thing because it shouldn’t be restricted to one notion. Anne of Green Gables was red-headed, freckled and more stick than little lady yet the people of Avonlea came to adore her. Heck, Gilbert Blythe, the most dashing lad in school, actually fell in love with her. Anne and Sophia Hadjipanteli have something in common: their beauty was unique and therefore their differences made people retrain themselves on what beauty could be. There’s so much pressure on women to be everything all at once—smart, stunning, witty, charming, sexy and successful—which we’re all led to believe is tied into the way our breasts hang, how pleasant our faces look and how pretty and smooth our skin appears. That’s exhausting. Reading all of that is enough for anyone to want to take a Xanax or to find a good cave and seclude themselves into sanity again. 

Being confronted by something so in your face as Sophia’s uni brow can be unsettling for a lot of women since it can feel wrong to see a lot of hair on a woman. Men can feel the same and can make it more of a test of sexuality—more hair on a woman equals her being less attractive. (Of course queer and bisexual women can think this, too.) The notion that a few extra hairs or a whole kahuna of hair on a woman’s face could make us feel uncomfortable seems silly. It’s outdated and ridiculous but it’s that instinct of repulsion that most women still have to fight against because society has told us that our body hair is something to be ashamed of. Well, Sophia chooses to fight back against this stigma because she sees her beauty as her choice—her appearance is another extension of her expressing her authenticity as a person and she has control over that. “I choose to wear my eyebrows this way for the same reasons I styled myself in school—because the only preference that matters is my own.” In the end what matters is that she has grown to love a part of herself that makes her happy. She doesn’t grow out her eyebrows to please anyone but herself which leads to the most important journey every person is on which is self-love. It’s less about the physicality of hair but what significance we perceive to exist behind the hair. Shame, laziness, pride or self-expression. Hair is hair at the end of the day but our positive or negative reactions to people paint how we think their hair best represents them. 

Lastly, let’s discuss the hypocrisy of body hair that exists within masculinity because it’s very similar to the pressure women feel. Some men like to shave their bodies; they just feel more confident or comfortable that way but instead they can be subject to ridicule for it since it can be perceived to make them look less masculine. And then there are some men who give Sasquatch a run for his money yet women dislike their hairiness since a buff shaved chest just seems more attractive to them. Men’s body dysphoria isn’t as talked about as women’s but it’s just as present. It’s something that’s definitely easy to overlook and forget but again, this blog is to help stimulate your mind and to consider all points of view.  At the end of the day we should all reexamine why we feel the way we do about someone who chooses to love themselves in a different body language than ours. 

Anyway, stay tuned for a discussion about pregnancy and more womanly perceptions! Stay cool, sodapops! 

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/sophia-hadjipanteli-unibrow-model-changing-beauty-conversation

https://www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com/blogs/the-only-place-in-the-world-where-women-covet-unibrows.htm

https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/59j3bd/this-models-unibrow-divided-the-internet

[salavante]

that character ask thing, how about August en Zaied?? :3c

That funky, hunky elf. 

Full Name: August en Zaied

Gender and Sexuality: Male and mostly Heterosexual. I think there is the off-chance fellow that might pique his interest, but not at a frequency that I think he would self-describe himself as bisexual.

Pronouns: he/him

Ethnicity/Species: Umbran Elf. I talked about this a little bit in Ganzrig’s thing, but most people on Ismes have a different race back in their heritage at some point, and individuals will look a little more or less human depending on how many actual humans are back in their ancestry. August is on the more human-y side of the spectrum. 

Birthplace and Birthdate: I don’t tend to give birthdates to characters who do not use the same calendar systems as us. Maybe he was born in winter, ironically. August’s family formerly lived in one of the Umbran Empire’s capitol cities, and he was probably born on the family estate.

Guilty Pleasures: Not a ton. August is a very serious, dignified person and doesn’t put himself at risk of looking silly very often. He’ll smoke tobacco on occasion and likes his wine and port. He also knows how to play the accordion but just barely…which, really means that he doesn’t know how to play it at all, HAH. August also has a fondness for roses, as his mother had a garden on their old estate that she was very proud of. One thing he is guilty about is that after being exposed to and promptly rejecting most new technology…he really does prefer using an electric razor to a straight razor and no one can ever know. I think that’s his one true guilty pleasure. If someone caught him using it he’d be absolutely mortified.

Phobias: Oh wow I can actually fill this one out as god and OP intended, because August is a shipwreck survivor and now has a phobia of drowning and deep water, which is a shame because he’s a sailor by trade and formerly really loved the ocean. I do think it’s something he can work through if he tries, though.

What They Would Be Famous For: As far as August is concerned, he would prefer to not be famous for anything, ever, and that everyone would just leave him to his own business. Unfortunately, he has a moderate cult following on The Hunt for having a unique powerset and being kind of a dreamboat.  

What They Would Get Arrested For: August is fairly lawful and coolant headed, so, not a ton, but if he were doing something to ensure the safety and wellness of his family, he’d go to some pretty far lengths. There’s a perfectly serviceable AU out there where August is a mercenary, pirate or assassin.

OC You Ship Them With: August was never actually envisioned as being a ladies man, but it’s just what happened along the way. All of the ladies he has slept with in-game have been older than him, so I guess he likes mature women, HAH. I enjoy the chemistry between August and Jake’s character Elias, who is a silver tongued cannibal and a privateer, go figure. It’s kind of a classic chemistry, sailor-hero type and pirate. Many moons ago, when August was first conceived and was still a female character, his love interest was a half-orc bard named Benji, but he’s since been written out of August’s original story and has been replaced byyy….Iona Howell, August’s canon love interest. The ferocious, emotionally unstable illuminator/wizard who is trying her best to get her shit together, and August’s on and off again girlfriend.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Pre-defection Iona was probably capable of killing August in a manic/jealous rage, though I think at the end of the day August is more powerful than her and would probably have killed her first as long as she didn’t get the drop on him. Ganzrig also threatened to slaughter and dismember him, but that’s just what Orcs do, I don’t know if she would have actually killed him.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: August is from an early/mid 1800’s level society and so movies really overstimulate to the point that he generally avoids them. He resists most new technology at first blush and is very, very stubborn, though there are a few benefits that he cannot deny. He’s not really much of a reader either, his education stopped when he was somewhere between the ages of 12-14 so he reads kind of slow and his own handwriting isn’t very good, but that still puts him at an advantage among other sailors. He probably likes poetry because a) the ladies like to be read poetry and b) it’s something that could be easily translated into song or read aloud, which is his preferred method of receiving media. Epic poems, sea shanties, etc. August would go to a play before he would go to a movie, and would be perfectly entertained by being read aloud to.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: August used to be an atheist before his world’s god, Al Fortuna, decided that he was their new favorite person. Now he just thinks Gods are assholes and generally does not like any media that presents gods as anything other than fickle and more trouble than they’re worth. And he absolutely, tremendously hates the idea of things being ordained by “fate”.

Talents and/or Powers: A couple fun ones! August is ambidextrous and can wield a pistol and sabre at the same time, and is in generally very nimble. But the most notable thing about him is that August possesses a passive ability called the Miasma of Misfortune, which is tied to Ganzrig’s Fortune’s Favor. While bad luck does not fall on August’s own head, he exudes an aura of bad luck to people in his vicinity, which gets worse the longer that he is exposed to them without reprieve. August has learned to manipulate the Miasma to a degree, and can either reel it in or dump all of its focus on a single target, usually ending with some foolish prick stabbing himself on ‘accident’. Celair has also been teaching him some cantrips. He is from a low-magic setting, so he is not very magically potent.

Why Someone Might Love Them: August is easy to become infatuated with, but not easy to be in a relationship with, and there is a string of broken hearted maidens behind him. He is dashing and courageous, with an intriguingly intense personality, and is confident, but not in a way that dips into vanity. He’s also very earnest, a reliable, straightforward man that keeps his head on straight and seldom shows his temper (though when he does, watch the fuck out). Though not an intellectual, August is very cunning, and has a dry sense of humor that some appreciate. He’s also quite chivalrous, and I think there is a very classical, romantic element to him.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: When I say that August is not easy to be in a relationship with, it’s because he’s a vault and values his privacy to a fault. He seldom wears his heart on his sleeve, and prefers to keep his stronger emotions to himself, for better or worse, and has trouble expressing his feelings even when it’d be in his interest to. He’s the most stubborn man alive, and would sooner double down on something than let someone he doesn’t like be right, making him just a little spiteful. August is resistant to too much external change, especially with technology. He’s also quite dreadfully serious and finds people who are too goofy kind of offputting (ex: he tolerates Wybjorn, but probably wouldn’t have anything to do with him if they did not have friends in common). Someone may also find his priorities shrewd at first glance - his number one concern is providing for his family, and so he is easily motivated by money. Because he is very private, he is not likely to divulge information on his personal life, leading his motivations often obscured and at times misinterpreted. He does not care very much about what other people think, and so seldom clarifies. 

How They Change: August changes a bit over the course of Godslaughter, but not very much, as he has mostly existed in an NPC capacity. The thing he will have to learn is to be emotionally candid with his family when he returns home, because they are going to have a lot of questions and he’s not going to want to answer any of them, but he HAS to. And things aren’t going to be the way he left them. Most of August’s challenges in this department are on the horizon.

Why You Love Them: August has a somewhat colorful meta history. He is my oldest character that I still use regularly (at over 5 years old) besides Calvin, and he was conceived at not a very good point in my life. I had been quietly struggling with my gender identity for many years, and had found myself pushing against my constraints in fiction, but by the time I got to the original August, I was exhausted and beaten down. The first pass at August was a very sad, somber character that was a lady crossdressing to work as a sailor. I’d hit on something important, but wasn’t really ready to open myself up to what it might mean, which, aside from being conceived during the worst year of my life, lead to Kismet collecting dust. Fastforward to 2018 when I was looking for Gods for Godslaughter, and remembered that I had always liked Al Fatima and Al Fortuna, and took another look at August by association. By now I was out as transmasc and decided it’d be a good step for myself to retool August into a character that I could be proud of - a confident, earnest person who wanted nothing more than to be the captain of his own fate and to protect and provide for the people he loves. I don’t really like talking publicly about my trans-ness, I (like August) have come to the conclusion it’s not really anyone’s business but mine, but my journey is inseparable from him. And that’s ok. August is my tiny hope that someday I can get a genre fiction story to a publisher that’s about a trans person, but is not about his transition or his coming out.