#Like… not all close relationships HAVE to include sex or stereotypical romantic stuff.

[spiritshaydra]

Hot take, Megasound is an ace (possibly aroace) power couple situation and in this essay I will-

[littlerosetrove]

If. IF the show, for whatever reason, decides to stick with Eddie being (assumedly) straight, then boy will that be fuckin weird, disappointing and boring. And a disservice to Eddie considering how he’s been written thus far. 

If I may attempt to lay this out in the simplest terms. 

The entire time Eddie was married to Shannon he literally, metaphorically, and emotionally kept running away from her. As far as we can tell, not once did he ever truly allow himself to be vulnerable with her. Not in a way that matters for the health of a relationship/marriage. When Shannon tried to be vulnerable, Eddie shut that stuff down. 

Eddie was never vulnerable with Ana until literally when they broke up. He was never really invested in Ana or their relationship. His main investment was “get a new mother for Christopher.”

Same for Marisol, but somehow worse. He’s never been invested in their relationship nor Marisol as a person. He’s clearly been shown to be disinterested in her, actually. One way to avoid getting to know Marisol was using sex as both an avoidance technique (which he often did with Shannon), and using it as the only way for Eddie to accept any kind of closeness with Marisol. 

Hell we can even mention Kim. He’s not seeing her as her own person, but merely someone he can project his dead wife onto. 

When it comes to sex, frankly, Eddie does not seem to have a healthy relationship with it. Again, he’s predominately used sex as a combination of avoiding arguments, avoiding getting to know someone, and out of a sense of duty/obligation. The sense of duty plays into Eddie’s very heteronormative and frankly backwards/toxic stereotypes he has of what a male/female relationship in a marriage or otherwise should look like. ← This was inspired by both this fantastic 7x7 meta post by @sevensoulmates, and conversations I’ve had with @elvensorceress.  I genuinely question and wonder how often, if ever, Eddie had sex because he wanted to and not because he felt like he had to. I don’t think it means Eddie’s disliked every time he’s had sex, in part because let’s be real and keep in mind sex is biologically made/designed to feel good, but really. How often has he ever had sex because he actually wanted it? 

Important side note, I’ll always think that Eddie, out of the many reasons he needs to go back to therapy, is that he needs to learn healthy consent. He needs to know that if he doesn’t want sex he’s allowed to say no. He does not have to have sex because he’s a man, and “men should want and want to provide sex for their wife/girlfriend.” That it’s “a man’s duty to satisfy his wife/girlfriend.” 

Even with Shannon, Eddie’s relationships with women have been performative. He’s only been in and settled into relationships with women because it provides a comforting facade of “This Eddie guy here is a respectable man in a relationship with a woman and has a kid who he provides for, as he should.” ← Society, his family, his Latino catholic upbringing, and heteronormativity has taught Eddie this is what’s good and proper for him. That he should have and want to have a nuclear family (and that he must suppress what his heart really wants).

Three times (four if you include Kim) Eddie has consistently kept every woman he’s been romantically involved with at arms length. IF the show were to keep him straight, well they’ve been doing a shit job at making it look like Eddie even wants to be in a romantic relationship with a woman at all. To me Eddie very much comes across and reads as a repressed gay and demi man. 

Now if you have different views, perhaps you feel that I’m wrong in my interpretation and understanding of Eddie and Shannon’s relationship, or hell, maybe you think Eddie is bisexual, that’s fine. Neither of us are stupid for our thoughts and opinions on this fictional character. But please do not comment or reblog this with “well actually” or anything like that. I have my opinion in my corner over here, and you can have yours on your own, okay? Thank you.

[baddygab-bi]

My theory is that Eddie is going to be written as an ever straighter man in 7x05. Based on the leaks (however true they are), it seems like I’m going to be right, but I was thinking all of this before the leaks came out. I won’t say what they are, only the things I’ve been thinking for weeks or things that can be easily assumed based on writing and plot. (Also please don’t send me more spoilers, I want to have some surprise)

In s7 so far, Eddie has been seen as a guy who married a woman. I thought the line “you mean slept with,” was weirdly included to show that Eddie likes to sleep with women. Also he enjoys cars, martial arts, going to the bar, and basketball. Can queer men like these things? Of course, Tommy does, Buck does (mostly), but the point is that they’re seen as stereotypically straight-man stuff, which is why it’s more shocking that Tommy and Buck are queer. They’re giving Eddie more traits to make him ever more masculine. They mention his girlfriend a lot and show them standing pressed-up against each other.

We all know that Buck is going to come out to Eddie in his loft. I can 100% see them having Eddie being the very supportive straight best friend to Buck, because I think the show wants that dynamic of “queer man and best friend face no awkwardness, just support and love.” To show the audience that two men, even one who’s bi can still have a close best friendship with another man without it going romantic.

Oliver and Tim both said things along the lines of the crush not being on Eddie, no plans for buddie right now. Ryan said (around the time of shooting this episode) they’re going to be closer than ever, which I assumed weeks ago was that Eddie is going to call Buck brother in that loft scene. Closer than ever? They haven’t recently defined their relationship at all, so being referred to as brothers would definitely fit that mark. This also would create deniability for the writers not making buddie canon, because “they’re brothers.” Oliver also said “if one character realizing his bisexuality” and I know he was talking specifically about people’s reactions to Buck, but the singularity of it made me instantly think that he’s the only one exploring his sexuality this season.

Next, we know Eddie and Marisol have a sexy time moment in this next episode because the actress posted a picture. Easiest way for the audience to see Eddie as a straight man? Have sex with a woman. “But Buck had lots of sex with women and he’s bi!” True. But you have to think of it as a general audience, mainly straight, viewer. Woman = not gay. Especially with what (according to leaks) seems like the plot will be more about Eddie wanting sex than the other way around. We know he and Shannon had a good sex-life and that it’s implied that he and Ana hooked up at least once if not more. He’s no Buck 1.0, but when it comes to Eddie’s sex-life, the writers aren’t shying away from him being seen as a manly man.

In the promo we see him and Marisol at the restaurant and the one thing I noticed first was the fact that Edy’s shirt is low cut and her push-up bra is truly doing the most. Like half of her boobs are just totally out. Wardrobe dressed her to look all sexy (they very likely provided the bra too), to show that Eddie is a typical dude-bro with a hot female girlfriend. In an episode that Ryan mentioned included something about intimacy, and from what I know of the leaks, it’s really digging into the fact that men have sex with women and it’s all the show that Eddie is here for that.

If buddie ever goes canon, the earliest I can imagine things even starting on Eddie’s side would be season 8. I think Marisol is here to stay until further notice, which makes me sick, but I’m theorizing that the “looks at their relationship closer” thing will be him asking her to move in, because that’s the only thing it can be. From what we’ve seen and heard, their relationship is going good, and even though these writers have lost the plot (literally and metaphorically), because it’s been less than 5 months of dating and they’re still getting to know each other, they think that seems like the next step in their relationship. It once again will highlight the way they want Eddie to be seen as a macho guy. I know so many people are thinking that the writers are just putting Eddie through this relationship to show that he’s a repressed queer man, but i don’t agree. I mean, yeah he could been repressed, but I don’t think that’s why the writers are doing what they’re doing. I think we’re trying to find something that they’re not giving us, because what they’re giving us just feels so wrong with everything else we know about Eddie so far and where his story was leading to in s6.

Plot wise, buddie still made the most sense. Past tense. The end of season 6 really fucked with things to the point where had they gotten rid of both girlfriends, it would’ve been fine, but it still feels like Buck and Eddie are too separate right now for it to go romantic as it is right now. But as for partners, yeah, Buck and Eddie will always make the most sense for each other in theory. In practice though, the show does have to worry about ratings and hopefully the reactions to Buck show them that they don’t have to worry about it negatively affecting the show, but I just really don’t think that they’ll have Eddie be anything other than straight because they’ll lose fans that way. Granted it’s homophobic fans, and they’ll gain more queer fans, but when you think about the business side, the numbers would jump too much. I love how much we all love watching 911, but people watching through pirated links, illegal streaming sites, tumblr gifs, TikTok’s, and uploaded google files, while they are obvi massive fans, aren’t considered in the viewership counts. The show may gain a huge influx of viewers if Buddie happens, but the numbers they’re looking at aren’t tumblr users, they’re people watching on Hulu and live TV. Which tends to be people in older demographics, people they risk losing if they have the other “hot straight firefighter” “go gay.”

This isn’t to be negative. I love buddie. I love BuckTommy right now too. I’ll be so sad when Tommy leaves. I’m just trying to be realistic because I can see so many people getting their hopes up, and not just in a fun shipping way, but in a real way where they’re confident buddie is going to happen this season. I’m so scared for the show and everyone’s heartbreak when it doesn’t happen.

[starbylers]

I appreciate the fact they actually tried to make evidence-backed points but (this is so long omg sorry):

Byler only skyrocketed in popularity after s4 was released. Any claim that it becoming canon would be fan service is the real delusion. Fans love the ship because of how Mike and Will’s relationship was portrayed; the writing of the show came before the shipping. We didn't just look at two random characters and go hm imagine if they had great chemistry and a close bond and one of them was canonically in love, that was all the Duffers. We’re just picking up what they’re putting down.

Mike finding El pretty and kissing her - bisexual people exist, also wouldn’t him finding her equally as pretty with short hair just prove that he's not exclusively attracted to (stereotypical) femininity? Also, many gay people fully believe they are straight and date members of the opposite sex before figuring it out.

El calling out Mike's name in supernaturally dangerous situations just emphasises the fact their bond is rooted in trauma - she only relies on him when their lives are at stake, but when it comes to her emotional needs? She hides from him.

El knocked Max over because she made an incorrect assumption that Mike fancied Max, and then proceeded to literally run away and try to start a new life instead of just speaking to him. This is only the beginning of the unhealthy communication between them.

Mike attacking Hopper proves nothing except that he was extremely overwhelmed in that moment (and rightfully so, from his perspective El basically came back from the dead). This isn't romantic? It's a really sad scene, all of the guilt and trauma from El's 'death' that Mike has been holding in comes out here and he ends up crying while Hopper holds him saying 'you’re okay, you’re okay'.

Their 'ups and downs' include: arguing and breaking up 2 eps into the season after which Mike whines and complains about women instead of just communicating with El. And I don't want to hear that that was 'Hopper's fault' because 1) he was rightfully concerned about two 13 year olds spending all day every day doing nothing but making out, and 2) if Mike wanted to disobey Hopper, he could have. He could've just told El the truth about Hopper's threats and avoided all the drama, it really was not that serious. He ends up telling her at the sauna anyway, but El refuses to listen to him. Again, terrible communication.

Max did not induce a 'down', in their relationship, she simply told El that if Mike lies to her and doesn't explain himself, she should dump him. Like how is that bad advice? She tells her there's more to life than boys (extremely true and important, girls need girl friends), and they have so much fun together. El learns about being her own person with Max (something she canonically wasn't doing when dating Mike ('How do I know what I like?')). Their friendship is portrayed in a positive light in the show. The only contentious thing Max does is arguing with Mike about him being overcontrolling with El’s powers, but El ends up agreeing with Max.

Reconciliation = El kissing Mike while Mike keeps his eyes open and then El walks away without them discussing anything, and Mike looks extremely confused. 'He's 15' this is a TV show. All of their behaviours are meant to give you important insight into their dynamic and where the relationship is heading. And even if it was purely shock at El's words (I do think that was part of it), that doesn't equate to Mlvn endgame? Surely if Mike was truly so in love he would've been at least a little enthusiastic, even if he was surprised…?

Okay, the stuff about El's mental state at the beginning of s4 is all correct, but I'm sorry: 'she's so happy to see him that she lies just to be with him'. This is so awful??? Rinkomania was not the cute date they think it is. To love someone is to trust them to support you through hard times, and El doesn't do this.

Flowers mean nothing when the relationship is this bad. The only meaningful thing about them is the callback in the finale when El holds those same flowers, dying in her hand. Also, Mike dressed in El’s fav colours only shows Mike tries to change himself for El’s approval.

Why do they act like Mike went on this one-man crusade across the US to find El? All of them were super worried and desperate to find her, Mike did not do anything different. In fact, he’s more concerned about her dumping him than her safety (‘Mike, she’s gonna be okay’/‘I know she is…but what if, when all this is over, she doesn’t need me anymore?’).

I don't know how many times we have to reitarate this: Mike does not help her save Max. This is why I always say Mlvns literally just do not watch the show??? Mike's monologue indirectly led to Max's death (El didn’t get out fast enough), and then El used her memories of Max to revive her.

El switches hands all the time to use her powers, I've seen this take debunked on Twitter already. The hand Mike holds in the freezer, she uses it before this scene, at the helicopter explosion. And sometimes she uses two hands. This is not some 'special connection' thing, it's just a coincidence.

Their explanation of the Robin/Vickie parallel makes no sense. Robin was inbetween Vickie and her boyfriend and we know Vickie likes her back, hence why she's literally, visually, inbetween the couple. Following this logic, it makes sense Will is shown inbetween Mlvn because Mike likes him back. If it was just to show a person having a crush, Will and Robin could've had a solo shot staring longingly from a distance, but that's not what we get.

So in conclusion…everything they said either romanticised, downplayed or completely misunderstood Mike and El’s problems. Or they just speculated about what a character’s behaviours mean with nothing to back it up. Byler is endgame.

From a Mlvn’s perspective:

Here’s a person in Facebook, listing up points to why they think Mlvn is endgame. Thoughts about these?

[burning-thistles-bt]

i hope it’s alright to ask, but do the trans cats in BT have any method of “transitioning”? or do their clanmates simply refer to them with their new pronouns? im curious :0

only socially transitioning! unless there's a secret StarClan-given power out there to transition cats physically XD

the only exceptions are cats like Airleap, who were born intersex. he was born with outside female genitalia, BUT he actually has inner male genitalia as well- he is infertile on both spectrums because of this. because he was born with female genitalia, his clanmates assumed he was female, but once he started gaining tomscent and he said he was a tomkit, they more easily began using his he/him pronouns because, on first smell, he smells like a tom. in the clans, its a little harder for a non-obvious-intersex character to socially transition because cats are like "oh but you have XYZ, not ABC" but the clans are generally more accepting, to a degree. they're still some sexism, transphobia, homophobia, etc.

FireAlder and I actually thought about the different clan cultures and who accepts what most.

Twolegplace cats, e.i. BloodClan, are the most accepting cats (see: non-binary cats Brick, Gremlin, Bubbles, etc.), being a lot more open in their "we don't care abt ur gender..." though they are sexist/oppressive specifically towards cats who can have kits

RiverClan and WindClan are about equal for their acceptance. they're supportive and encouraging of same sex relationships (this actually makes Thistlestar feel out of place at times, bcus he suppressed his bisexuality, and embraced homophobia)

ShadowClan and ThunderClan are less excepting, but as the older cats age out, ShadowClan has become a touch more excepting while ThunderClan is currently the most homophobic clan thanks to Frostfur's mental health deterioration ruining her kits' and their friends' perspective of it

so yes it's simply they get referred to with their preferred pronouns and are seen by their chosen gender! :) no physical transition

undercut i'll include all current main LGBTQ+ characters for funsies

FireSand are both bisexual. They have had minor attraction to other cats both male and female.

Lightningfur is arospec asexual. she HATES HATES sexually stuff, yuck uck, and she mostly hates stereotypically aromantic stuff too- do NOT flirt with her! flirting with her is a no go! ...unless your someone she's already super close to and you do it slyly, like Silverstream (though Silver's was platonic/teasingly). her kind of "romantic" love is like ride or die, but literally. kill for her or she'll kill you. if you kill for her though she's head over heels *winkwink*

Copperleaf is demi-pan; he is attracted to everyone regardless of gender but he's only comfortable in a relationship/experiences deep attraction past "oh they're cute" with those he's close with. he experiences a deep attraction for Dawncloud but doesn't necessarily pursue her in a traditional romantic sense because he wants to respect her boundaries

Dawncloud is graysexual. she can experience sexual attraction, but not on a consistent basis. unfortunately this is partially because of trauma. she is experiencing romantic attraction for Copperleaf though :)

Airleap does not know his identity exactly. he is intersex, but he transitioned socially from female to male at a very young age (he/they pronouns, though he accepts they/them pronouns later), and he knows he has had crushes on girls (see: Silverstream), but he's not sure if he also likes toms romantically or not, so queer-questioning

Spottedleaf realized she was a lesbian and not attracted to toms when her kits were about 6-8, early apprentice age. she knew she was attracted to she-cats near the end of her relationship w/ BT Thistleclaw but still thought she loved Thistle that way. she suspected but repressed her attraction towards she-cats at an early apprentice age

Frostfur is omnisexual, meaning she experiences her attraction to toms differently than she-cats. she must be very close to a she-cat before experiencing attraction, meanwhile she falls (well, fell, until she met and committed to Lionheart, because, despite everything, Frost is not a cheater) in loves with every tom she sees. she never realized her actually attraction towards she-cats though

Redtail knew he was gay from a young age, was worried about it but received mostly support and was open about it, and Runningwind developed a crush on Redtail as a young apprentice but didn't realize he only liked toms until he was a warrior

Feathercloud also knew he only liked toms from a young age too, often falling for anyone who was even a little kind to him, Ravenwing thought he had crushes on she-cats but realized he didn't actually and only liked toms that he was close to because they were the only ones who gave him a super fluttery feeling (demi-gay), and Barley is gay too.

Darkstripe thought he only liked toms (he admired Tigerclaw way too much to see anyone else; and also maybe briefly had a crush on Runningwind) (he was very quiet/hidden/closeted about his gayness though, out of fear), but comes to realize he actually likes she-cats too

Cherryfur's attraction comes and goes. somedays she's attracted to toms, sometimes to she-cats, sometimes she doesn't like anyone, other days she falls heads over heels for anyone whose nice or hot. she's abrosexual, but keeps herself composed despite her confusion about it (she thinks something's wrong with her, but pretend to be okay and strong and have it all figured out; she would call herself a pansexual then omnisexual before settling on abro)

Bubbles uses any pronouns- she/he/they or otherwise- and any gendered titles, but has grown to hate female titles like queen or mother thanks to their treatment by others as "only being good for nursing kits." they were raised in the Twolegplace, in BloodClan, and knew their identity was very fluid from a young age. their siblings also had more fluid pronouns usage too, though they had set gender identities (Rocket is he/they tom, Opal was she/they she-cat, rip Opal)

Mistlekit/paw is lesbian and knows she is very firmly. Elderkit/paw is trans male to female (bcus i swear to gosh she was female but when i checked canon they were male and i was like "well do i have a solution") and were so from a young age. Elder's sibling Tulippaw is gay too, but does not know it yet/will repress it for awhile

Sootkit/fur is trans female to male, but, currently chap 110-20ish era, is in the untransitioned female era of his life, but will eventually come out. the same for Rowankit/claw, who is female to male, but currently she/her-ified.

Blossomtail and Badgerfang are gay and were dating as apprentices. both knew they loved each other early one (high school sweethearts essentially) but both questioned if they were attracted to she-cats; Badgerfang's answer was "no" while Blossomtail's was "maybe but i dont think so." Swampfur is bisexual, currently in a relationship with a tom but I won't say who >;3

aaaand that's all i can think of rn lol

[itoldsunset]

so i never posted this but a while ago i translated parts of this podcast episode (linking it here just so y’all know where it’s from, but there are no subs) where they’re talking about thai bl and the lgbtq community.

a lot of this is stuff we already talk about in the fandom but i wanted to share this since we consume a lot of thai content/bl here and i like hearing directly from lgbtq folks in thailand too:

there’s very little representation of various sexual orientations in thai bls, such as pansexuality and bisexuality.

most thai bl series are adapted from bl novels, which are essentially fantasies written so that people can access some happiness they don’t get in real life. because of the fantasy-like nature of these novels, it doesn’t always translate well to the screen, especially if the series producers didn’t make an effort to adapt the script. so that’s why sometimes the story is weird or the lines have a cartoonlike quality when they’re being delivered.

beauty privilege still plays a huge role in bl series. what we see happen is usually, the series can be whatever, but we hear “please support the actors, they’re good-looking,” whereas the content of the series often isn’t the thing that gets praised. and after the series ends, oftentimes the thing that remains is the image of the actors, not the series itself.

homophobia: “i’m not gay, i just like you”--it doesn’t make sense, being gay doesn’t mean you love every man in the world. they try to paint it in a romantic light in the sense of polyamory, like you only love this one person, but it ends up confusing people on what it means to be gay.

sexual harassment: not just in bl, but in all thai series and has been there for a while. like when one character puts their face up really close against another character who’s not into it, but the audience expects in their minds that they’re gonna end up together so some may allow it. and some also allow it because they’re attractive.

heteronormativity + gender roles, top/bottom dynamics: thai bls usually have the more feminine character be the one who is passively being pursued/hit on. part of this is because the writers are usually women and end up writing characters who are closest to them, as part of creating their fantasy. thai bls also replicate the gender binary in that there’s a tendency to have one person (the “top”) be the one to go out to work more, while the other one tends to do household chores, cook, etc. also, one of them mentioned having been approached by a woman who asked him who was the top/bottom in his relationship, and he said he felt like, “why is that question necessary? we’re the same gender, we’re both men.” he said we need to disconnect gender expression (femininity/masculinity) from sex positions (top/bottom), since one doesn’t necessarily reflect on the other.

also some comparison to yaoi (since that’s the origin) and they mentioned some research about how yaoi was born out of escapism from being part of an oppressed gender so that you could escape into a fantasy where you were as equal as possible in the fiction.

the term ‘y series’ (bl) is a way of avoiding saying gay or queer, reinforces the fantasy nature of the genre that it’s not about what it actually means for men who like men, and it tends not to explore their experiences beyond ‘i have a crush on you’--focuses on the gratification of shipping/imagination more than anything else.

do boys’ love dramas help the lgbtq community? thailand has so many bl series, so people might think thailand is accepting of lgbtq folks, but is that true?: “we can look at who makes up the majority of the fanbase, and we see that it’s mostly women. when the stories are about relationships between men, why are there fewer mlm fans than women?”

do bls hurt the lgbtq community?: in terms of reproducing stereotypes, like the way trans women are often depicted; also, the tendency of thai television (including bls) to devalue feminine men by using them as comic relief, so if you’re a man with a feminine gender expression, you have to be funny, you have to be obsessed with men, you have to entertain others, you have to exaggerate your femininity.

the treatment of women in thai bls: if they’re not just extras who are holding signs and screaming for the male leads, they’re the third person or the obstacle. even if they’re not doing anything wrong, they’re made into the person that the audience will hate. it’s as if there are no women allowed in bls because the presence of a woman will break the fantasy.

the bl industry is profiting off of a group of people who are still oppressed in society. as bl audiences, you can’t just consume bl for your own fantasies/personal satisfaction without thinking about what it means for the communities that are being impacted.

[vampish-glamour]

I never watched G*od Om*ns, so it was fandom again with the "they're gay"???

At least Star Trek did this right, you know, not lying to please someone. Spock and Kirk was never a thing and also was never meant to be a thing. But the creator himself said, if you wanna see them like that, it's fine. Do what you want. But in canon it's not that way.

But really, somehow fandom seems to make it easy for creators to just bait, but never commit and they're happy, wtf.

And IF they get actual lgbt rep, they're upset because it's not the character they WANTED to be lgbt....

Actually, the fandom is largely against them being gay because they claim it’s “nonbinary and asexual representation”.

Which bothers me just because they’re basically applauding homophobic tropes simply because they benefit from homophobic tropes.

I want to make it clear that my problem isn’t “why aren’t you making the characters canonically gay?!!?!!? This is homophobic!!!11!1!1”. I’m fine with the relationship remaining a close friendship canonically. And canonically speaking, I think I might prefer that tbh.

My problem is with how the original homophobia in the book sort of goes ignored, and how the writer teases and hints and in this case I would actually say baits… and then receives praise from the fandom for doing what everyone else does when it comes to gay pairings.

Basic overview of the situation from my POV:

Book establishes a character as a gay stereotype

Immediately goes “but he isn’t gay because angels are sexless unless they make an effort” (IMO the sexless thing could’ve been established in many other ways. Did it really have to be done in a “don’t worry he’s not gay” way?)

Book proceeds to make the gay stereotype thing a running joke, with the character being called various homophobic slurs (but see, it’s funny because it’s misplaced homophobia. He doesn’t actually deserve the homophobia he experiences like an actual gay person would /s)

Show comes out, includes romantic music, lots of subtext, and the writer confirming that it’s a “love story”, as well as the actors confirming they acted “in love”. Except… it’s done vaguely enough that anyone can come away with their own interpretation. Which is nothing new. There’s literally nothing revolutionary about leaving a same sex relationship “up for interpretation”.

All the “representation” actually comes from what the writer says on Twitter. He goes on about how they’re sexless and therefore cannot possibly be gay but are also inherently “queer”… but doesn’t actually add this into canon. So casual viewers are not experiencing any sort of “representation”.

IMO this is a homophobic media trope. Give two men or two women scenes that would be explicitly romantic if it were a man and a woman, tease the audience with “maybeee~”, but still make sure that ultimately, homophobes won’t be offended and can come away from the material thinking “what good friends!”. Say “it’s up for interpretation”, which is something I hardly see with M/F pairings. Especially with the virtue signalling on social media.

Keep in mind, something isn’t “representation” if everyone comes away with different ideas of what was represented. If one person can think “they’re gay and married” and another can think “they’re aspec and in a QPR”, that’s not representation. Representation only happens when something is undeniable. For example, a character who is undeniably bisexual because they are shown to be interested in both men and women (biphobic pannies coming to their own conclusions don’t count here lol, since bi = pan and pan = bi, so even if they claim the character is pansexual, they’re still getting the same outcome)

Now here’s where my issue comes in.

Instead of calling this out, the fandom runs with it and benefits from it. A vague relationship on screen allows them to claim representation for themselves, usually for made up labels like aspec, SAM type asexuality, queerplatonic, etc.

They praise the writer for being “inclusive”, and for “representing” them… when really this “inclusivity” is a result of homophobic tropes, and there’s actually no representation at all. Keep in mind, all the clues for what could be going on come from social media. A casual viewer is either going to see two gay men, or two good friends. They have no way of knowing about the woke “queer” bullshit unless they’re heavily involved in fandom.

The writer has a habit of teasing things and being intentionally misleading. Here’s an example

Not telling what’s going to happen and not giving spoilers, is very different from intentionally baiting. “Wait and see” sounds like a “yes”… because it would be incredibly shitty to lead people on when the answer is a solid “no”.

However, considering he’s only half of the writers, and establishing a relationship other than what he and the other writer discussed would be disrespectful… the answer is very likely “no”.

So just say “no”. It’s okay to say “no, they’re not getting together”. But he knows that people are more likely to watch if they’re waiting for the two to get together the whole time…so he has to keep it vague and mysterious and he has to keep baiting.

Of course the answer could very well be “yes” and that’s what he’s hinting at. But I highly doubt it, mostly because of the “only one author around” issue. So until I’m proven wrong, I will maintain that this is him being intentionally misleading, as he admitted to.

So that’s where I have the issue—I wouldn’t have an issue if he just straight up said “no, they’re not going to hook up, they’re good friends”. What is an issue, is perpetuating classic homophobic media tropes, of giving just enough but not too much…and then saying “it’s up for interpretation”. Which roughly translates to “here’s some crumbs for the gays”. What’s especially an issue, is then disguising this under woke kweer language and lapping up all the praise you can get for being such an “Ally” to “queers”.

And of course, I have an issue with how the fandom receives this. Because instead of calling the bullshit out for what it is, they actually call gay people talking about homophobia “aphobic discourse”, and say things like “gay men have enough representation!!”, and try to argue that actually, the homophobic trope of vague same sex relationships that are left up to interpretation, is actually super inclusive and amazing and progressive because it represents asexuals, aromantics, nonbinary people, queerplatonic relationships, etc.

Or they put down gay people for wanting more explicit representation, because “uhh… some people are aro!!! Some people are ace!!”. Despite missing that non romantic or non sexual relationships between men can be found in pretty much every single piece of media ever, and is 100% socially acceptable. Explicit gay relationships however, are still looked down upon.

And then they act like the religious homophobes, by taking “explicit gay representation” to mean “explicit hardcore sex scene”. Like I’ve seen nobody demand a sex scene when they’re talking about gay representation in G O. I’m certainly not. Yet the kweers always manage to interpret gay people wanting proper representation as “you want sex!!! You want porn!!!”. To me, it really seems no different from religious homophobes seeing an advertisement with two men and immediately talking about how it promotes “deviant gay sex”.

What worries me is that these types of fandoms—who applaud creators for giving gay people crumbs—set a precedent for other creators. They make it known that gay representation actually isn’t needed for media to be praised. They give creators a safe way to get out of representing gay couples—while keeping both the queers and homophobes happy at the same time. Now they can hop on social media and say “no, they’re not gay, but it’s up for interpretation!” And the queers will think this is top tier representation, and praise the creators for it.

As always, this turned into a long spiel lmao. But that’s an explanation of my thoughts and why I’m frustrated. Again—I’m not mad that a romantic relationship isn’t canon. That in itself isn’t homophobic. But the way that the writer and fandom are handling it, is.

I’m not familiar with Star Trek (I do want to watch it, mostly to understand the Star Trek vs Star Wars stuff lmao.), but it sounds like that’s a good way to handle it. If you don’t want to make a relationship canon—that’s fine. But be honest about it, don’t drag fans along with teasing and baiting.

[dfsgasad]

Voltron Fic Recs

(From what I had on my chrome bookmarks)

First of all, most of this is pretty long and not all is complete, and I think all of them are mainly Lance centric. Also, I'm going to put both the summary (and probably some tags, but always check for triggers, squicks and stuff), and something about why I like the fic, my stuff might have spoilers, be warned.

(Once I'm on a computer, I'll add a cut here, in the meantime, sorry for the incredibly long post)

Just a Little Death, by phoenixyfriend

200k, Rated M, allurance and klance (kind of) , Incubus Lance, no smut. (Complete)

AKA: The Incubus AU Where There Isn't Actually Any Smut

In which Lance is half incubus, hiding it, and possibly spending most of his time low-key panicking that someone's going to find out.

At least Hunk is a good bro that's helping him keep his secret.

I should probably start with this one, because if I think about Voltron, this has to be the one I remember the most. Honestly, I really love this one. It follows canon pretty closely at first, with the main difference being that Lance needs blood to survive and then it just turns into a modern fantasy work with magic and deals with the fae in space. Also, there's no actual smut nor romantic relationships, and it deals with a lot of sensitive subjects really well (like the sexualization that Lance has always faced as an incubus, and how the whole supernatural element brings a bunch of new stereotypes and misconceptions, which I think it's great and well explored)

The main warning I'd give is both the fact that it deals with a lot of sexual stuff and that it has no smut whatsoever, so, Lance has sex with a lot of people, including a pretty regular arrangement with both Allura and Keith, but none of this is explicit. I really loved it, but a friend of mine was really frustrated, so you decide.

Familiar by achievingelysium

100k, Rated T, gen, Altean Lance (Complete)

The only one who remembers the fall of Altea, Lance struggles to find a place in a band of misfits he will never fully trust. Secrets aren't the only thing on the rise; on the other side of the battlefield is Zarkon, someone Lance once saw as a brother and now his greatest enemy. But Voltron has always protected the universe, and the Blue Paladin won't stop now.

I remember a moment when you couldn't open ao3 or tumblr without finding an Altean!Lance au. This one has Lance as the original Blue Paladin and how he learns to trust himself and other people again after Zarkon's betrayal, I think it's really great, and while the second part of the series is abandoned with 6 chapters, the first one, that goes through the first season, is complete.

The sunflower you lost by peachii

50k, Rated T, Klance, Lancelot, Matt/Shiro, Altean Lance, angst (incomplete, last updated december 2017)

There was a short pause, and then he took a step closer, cupping Lance’s cheek with his hand in a soft embrace. “Tell me…Is there anything you would not do for your father? For your people?”

Lance swallowed, lost in those bisque orbs. “…Of course not. I am loyal to my blood.”

In which Lance is the original blue paladin, but only remembers in a sunflower field in his dreams.

This one also deals with Lance as the original blue paladin, but unlike Familiar, Lance doesn't really remember much of his life before (until he does). It starts after season 2 (so Shiro is still missing), and it deals with Lance coming to terms with an entire new life, Lotor in general, a lot of self esteem issues, and his crush on Keith (some of those more successfully than others). It has a lot of flashbacks, I personally like how they are written and they add a lot to the story because it merges what Lance is living now and what he lived before, but I know that they're not everyone's cup of tea.

As I put it, there's both Keith/Lance and Lotor/Lance explored in this fic, so if you don't like love triangles this is not the fic for you. (Also, you already read the 'orbs' as a reference for eyes in the summary, so be mindful of that...)

You're not falling - You're just flying down (Till air will leave your lungs then you hit the ground) by Maegalkarven

70k, Rated T, Klance, Matt/Shiro/Allura, mutual pining (Complete)

In which Lance sees strange dreams about people and places he has never seen, Shiro is missing and travelling through universes isn't as enjoyable as sci fi made it look.

Something alike to reincarnation AU where Lance was an altean prince once and now past tentatively reminds him of itself.

So... I'm seeing a pattern here... as you can imagine, this is yet another Lance was the old blue paladin fic, because I'm easily entertained.

This one has a lot more pining and a lot more Klance, also, Lance has a lot of self esteem issues, because I love to see him suffer.

Boom Crash the Sound of My Ship by maychorian

40k, Rated G, Shiro&Lance, whump, sickfic, PTSD (Complete)

After a Galra attack splits Voltron, the blue lion is damaged and falls toward the jungle planet below. Shiro follows, and now he and Lance are stranded in hostile territory, fighting to survive. Lance is injured, Shiro is having flashbacks, and help is far away. And the Galra just...keep coming.

This one, is just beautiful. It's part of a series (the first 8 works are complete, the ninth hasn't been updated since 2018) and it just focuses on the team becoming a family, it has a lot of angst and a lot of hurt/comfort, I cried with this one (tbh I cry really easily, but still). It deals with a lot of the trauma that this kids go through, and has a lot of bonding, this one is mainly Lance and Shiro, but the others have their moments to shine in the rest of the series, and I am weak for good platonic relationships.

This was taking too long, because I wanted to read the fics (or part of them to remember, at least) to give an opinion, and they're all very long fics (I didn't want to rec a 3k abandoned fix from 2016), so I'm going to cut it here. Also I know that three of these have kind of the same idea, because just like the rest of us, Altean Lance was my weakness (or just BAMF Lance in any way), so sorry for the lack of variety, I'll probably do another part later when I read some more, maybe I'll even read some shorter fics, because this ones are all really long...

[skamamoroma]

I have to admit I am a little disappointed with a few things this season at this point and it’s such a damn shame. Not everyone will agree with me and that’s no problem but these are my thoughts ☺️

They had me in the palm of their hand at the beginning and for quite a few of the early episodes. It was stellar, moving, intriguing, creatively structured and I was so interested to see Arthur navigate the d/Deaf community and his hearing loss. All of it was so engaging and made so much sense. I learned so much!

That said, after a while I felt a little disillusioned because of repetition. One thing, for me, that was stellar about the original is how succinct and expositionless the show was. It was so real and I LOVED when they even missed stuff out for us to work out and weren’t wholly full circle because it felt like real life but the seasons still made total sense and we still felt the character arc.

The repetition is fine, it wasn’t my favourite way for the show to get the point across that Arthur was struggling to find his place and struggling to live life as he always had done... and struggling to navigate stuff with the boys and Alexia. But it served its purpose I guess.

I absolutely understand the themes of “between two worlds” and isolation and the navigation of a young person and disability. There’s so much to learn there and I don’t for a second dispute that the show did research because my goodness - they did. Those clips have been, for me, the best of the season. There has clearly been so much overwhelming effort and that’s wonderful and I have seen so many folks who understand Arthur’s journey feeling so happy and represented which is... well that’s special.

But then the show kind of lost it a little for me with the relationship stuff. To be honest, for me as a person, I don’t put much stock in sex or intimate scenes but I do put a lot of stock in relationships between people whether they’re friendships or romantic love.

I was really happy that we were seemingly getting an established relationship for the first time with Skam outside of Eva/Jonas because we’d seen these two characters and knew and loved them! I wasn’t necessarily big on Arthur and Alexia as early on they felt shoehorned together for the sake of it but the show did a lovely job of showing them together, explaining why they were together and really establishing Alexia as this source of warmth for Arthur.

It’s not that I’m sold on them as a couple so much that I’d be devestated if they broke up. That would have been fine with me. I expected drama but it would have been so refreshing if that came from within their relationship. But the show, for me, dropped the ball with the romance and god is it a shame.

It’s obvious people will compare here with Lucas/Eliott. Cheating is an element of that season. It always has been in every version. Is it right? Absolutely not. But it has its purpose as we’ve seen time and time again and it’s tied to the themes of the season. We watch from Lucas’ perspective and so obviously are supporting and understanding him. So we have no emotional attachment or understanding of Lucille except for through Eliott and we understand immediately that they aren’t ok, that Eliott wants to end things and we see their relationship in glimpses and it isn’t good. We don’t have investment there and we also understand why Lucas is doing what he’s doing with Chloe because we’re seeing his mind being twisted. None of it is ok but the relationships that fall apart are both toxic or built on lies or unhealthy or close to over and we have a love story play out where both participants receive their source of understanding and warmth and comfort and understanding from each other. It’s messy but it makes sense despite that. But the fundamental is that the love story can be enjoyed and watched as a positive thing despite the mess. All of that stuff was tied to the issue of sexuality as Lucas felt confused and the issue of mental illness as Eliott felt controlled... here, it is added as an aside and the link is Noèe is Arthur’s gateway to this beautiful new community... but romance here is not necessary. It was chosen and it could have worked perfectly but I’m kinda sad they did it in this way.

Here, I’m so disappointed they have effectively presented Noèe similar to the way they presented Eliott (like an Even). She’s bold and beautiful and feisty and creative. She is a gateway to this new world and is kind and gentle and supportive. She had all of these sweeping beautiful moments and their chemistry was wonderful... but I couldn’t enjoy those moments because we have Alexia waiting in the sidelines.

It’s not the same. Alexis is a character who is loved. She is a character we know and have invested in and who has, traditionally, been sidelined in most remakes as the comedy female and often sadly focused on because of weight and actively dismissed because of it... and so we have emotions for her. We see her support and try with Arthur, offer him advice and love. We see how she doesn’t maybe get it perfect but goodness she tries to hard.

And we watch her for weeks be cheated on and lied to. It’s just so disappointing to me and doesn’t narratively make sense to me. It overshadows and taints the stuff with Noèe and rubbishes Alexia as a character... and for what purpose? The between two worlds idea was stark enough without romance included. It makes both romances, to me, seem unhealthy. Perhaps that’s the intention? If so, fine! If Arthur ends up alone knowing he has to navigate this himself then I’d understand him being flawed and struggling and making mistakes with both girls but I don’t think that’s what will happen.

I’m struggling to see the value of the way it has been done, sadly. I love messy flawed characters but stuff has to narratively make sense and all of the emotional stuff is there... I understand WHY Arthur would like Noèe, I understand their relationship, I understand Alexia and I could understand Arthur being torn but to do it this way not only makes us feel disappointed in Arthur, it presents Alexia as the scorned woman and reinforces all those stereotypes her character was sadly built on (aka that she will be second best or overlooked) and it taints Arthur and Noèe’s relationship from the outset. What a shame. Skam France seems to have a habit or doing this - they did it with s4. They push stuff so far that they end up achieving something that is so damaged or broken that by the end people find it difficult to be on board.

I’ve said it so many times but had it just been about Noèe then I’d have been 100% on board because she’s a dream!

And now to place a kiss directly after Arthur explaining how he has been physically (and no doubt) emotionally abused by his father felt crass! I get that it was an emotional moment but that’s a reveal we’ve been waiting for and a sickening one. That cut scene made me feel sick.

I’m curious as to how they will develop things. Obviously there’s a lot happening but I just feel disappointed that so many of the moments this season where we are supposed to feel something have either been repetitive, overshadowed by negativity or have been placed there for dramatic purposes rather than genuine movement in the plot. So so so much good has been done and I am so thrilled for the young Deaf community in France that they have so much of this season which had been meticulously researched and supported by those who know what it is to be deaf/hoh. That can only be a positive thing but I do feel like this season has lost its way, for me, and I’m struggling to engage in the way I normally would because of stuff I really don’t want to be focusing on... there are bigger more important things to focus on and it is all being drowned out with pointless and illogical relationship drama that truly isn’t needed. Anyway - let me know your thoughts! It’s perfectly ok not to agree with mine ❤️

[profanetools]

there are two key things about the dwemer, in how i headcanon them, to keep in mind:

- historically they have been defined and divided by clans, and still have close ties to them, although the era of warring city-states and civil war is largely behind them by the 1st era.

- as a group as a whole, they put a massive value on education. the dwemer historically rejected caste and birthright as part of their "origin story"; you are made, not born, to be great. As a result access to quality education remains a fundamental facet of their culture, it's a core belief and practice. Educating others is one of the most important ad valuable vocations an individual could pursue.

This leads to a couple of things. Firstly, property is largely clan-owned and communal, and thus there isn't the same pressure to secure and accumulate financial wealth and social status through marriage. In fact, marriage is just not really practiced at all. Relationships have relatively little political importance and there is a lot of freedom in how one wants to conduct one's affairs.

At the same time, raising a kid (note: not producing a kid) is considered of vital importance and anyone involved with this process is given a lot of respect, prominence, and status.

As a result, there's a big disconnect between sex/relationships and child-rearing. There's a lot of people who still fall in love, have long-term monogamous relationships, have kids because they love each other etc. in a way that is 'traditional' to us as a viewers, but equally, there are a lot family structures and arrangements that are very 'unconventional' in our eyes.

All of this has several effects including:

- having kids is a Big Deal and tends to be done pretty late in life, at least not until one is established and has sufficient knowledge and experience to pass on to a kid.

- raising kids is a communal affair. the whole extended family gets involved - in fact, it is traditionally considered pretty shameful on part of the grandparents if they aren't involved in raising their grandkids, and there's an expectation that every kid will have a pair of parents and two pairs of extended family members (sometimes aunts/uncles, older cousins, friends of family, etc. step in). of course it depends on the exact family arrangement - other people can of course step in, the important thing is that a kid is provided for.

- typically the clan will get involved and a kid may have a community tutor until they begin to go to formal schooling, a bit like a family doctor except for education. often this person will invite the family to gatherings and get togethers with kids of the same age. there's a lot of emphasis on bringing the kid into the community and a push against atomised, isolated parenting. There is definitely a belief that if someone has to raise a child by themselves their family & wider community have both failed.

- it is pretty common to really want a relationship but not want kids, or really want kids and not want a relationship. those two desires are seen as very separate. A common arrangement, if two individuals want kids & their external family is willing, is that two friends will hook up purely just to get produce and raise a kid without any relationship between them. they might already have a romantic relationship with someone else, who may or may not be involved in the kid's life, or may later date who they wish. It's as separate as they want it to be.

- similarly fostering/adoption is really common, and historically was a method of how clans would increase trust and build relations with each other, especially amongst well established families. you can't have kids? no problem, your clan, or a clan that is friendly to your own, will offer someone who can give you children. surrogacy was historically pretty common (& also ppl who did it were very well respected and rewarded for it).

- advances in technology has increased people's options. name something and the dwemer can honestly do it. freezing eggs, sperm, or embryos? artificial insemination? creating eggs/sperm from other tissue? artificial wombs that spare people the health risks of pregnancy? all options. all commonly pursued.

- while rare, occasionally kids of other races will be dropped outside a steonghold and the dwemer will just raise them to be one of their own, no ifs no buts. whether someone is considered a dwemer is all to do with an upbringing in their view: it's not natural as much as it is cultural.

- it goes without saying but the dwemer largely dont care about gender, they dont gender children until/unless they express an interest in it, people are gay and/or trans and that is completely normal and accepted and they will get adequate healthcare and support.

- similarly, in relationships people pretty much do what they want. monogamous or polyamorous. casual or serious. short or long term. whatever. it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't destroy your life or interfere with your duties to the clan and your research.

- outside of strongholds, outsiders either believe dwemer to be either entirely sexless celibate beings, or people who are secretly into a lot of freaky taboo stuff. i think a lot of people find the fact that they dont get married and pursue a lot of alternative family and childcare arrangements threatening and tend to project this negative stereotype out of fear and insecurity.

- i've mentioned this before but dwemer don't really believe in permanence in relationships. The only things that are permanent are birth and death. hence the lack of marriage. however long term relationships may give gifts to symbolise the fact that they are entwined in each others lives and will probably always be, for as long as they can be.

- forbidden romance existed in historic dwemer culture in the way of interclan relationships. historically these can be tricky as one does not accept a new clan membership simply through dating someone else. if clans are in tense negotiations or even war, a relationship could definitely enter forvidden territory. nowadays, however, the nordic conquests led to a lot of old clan rivalries being tossed aside and almost anything goes.

thats all i can think of for now

[ettawritesnstudies]

How I develop characters!

Requested by popular demand after I posted about how I outline - this is a process that goes hand in hand with the brain dumping/mapping part of the outlining because what’s a story without its characters? DISCLAIMER: This is just my process, I’m not claiming it’s the best or that everyone should do this or that it works for every project. So yeah! Without further ado.. How to Develop Characters:

Step 1: Brain Dumping

I call this guide “developing” characters as opposed to “creating” characters because I assume you’re starting with *some* idea of who these people are and what role they play in the story. Maybe you don’t, that’s ok too, but I’d suggest going back to the outline and figuring out how the story is going to work if the characters aren’t the ones driving it. During this stage, you’re going to be brainstorming and collecting your ideas into a word document, phone notes, voice memos, or back-of-hand-scribbles. At this point, daydreaming/making playlists/moodboards is all part of the development process. you get a pass

Step 2: Listing!

I’m a fan of outlines if you haven’t noticed, so I start filling out character questionnaires. But I found that a lot of ones online either go into *way too much extraneous detail* for what you need right now. You can figure out what their favorite color and flower are later on when you’re making up answers on the spot for STS, but for now, you need the important stuff. So I made my own list. and ironically enough, I’m putting it online: This is my breakdown. Then repeat this for every main character and an abridged version for any important side characters. I’ve got 7. This INCLUDES villains - they’re important too.

Character Name: (nicknames/epithets, if any, and how they got said nickname/epithet)

Category #1: Basics

Age:

Sex/Gender:

Race/Ethnicity/culture: if you’ve got fantasy races, go over to your worldbuilding document and figure that out first, if you’re writing something set irl, you’re going to want to do some research. Here you’re figuring out HOW this affects your character's mindset, not just filling in a label.

Appearance/physical details

Height

hair/eye color, general details

other important details like scars, birthmarks, disabilities, ect.

Clothing - this says a lot about the character, and doing some research/worldbuilding on fashion can help round out the realism of the story

Voice and mannerisms:

favorite sayings/catchphrases

slang?

Other general stuff can go here: a FANTASTIC character study for voice is the Prydain Chronicles. Eilonwy uses a ton of similies, Gurgi speaks exclusively in couplet rhymes, Fflewder is optimistic and Doli is pessimistic and they both have hilarious catchphrases. 10/10 recommend checking it out.

 Backstory (go wild, just ask yourself “does it make sense with the plot and worldbuilding?”) If the characters are siblings or close friends they might have similar backstories, but make notes of how the characters still differ in how they view what went down.

 Category #2: Relationships

Family: Discuss their personality (if they don’t have their own outline) and relationship to the MC. I know orphan/loner characters are popular and I love them as much as the next person but also please reconsider if it’s actually plot-relevant and sensible or if you’re being lazy because you don’t want to develop this section.

Dad

Mum

Siblings

extended family members if applicable

Friends:

Friend Name

Personality if they don’t have their own outline

How their friendship developed

Significance and relationship with MC

Repeat as needed

How the MC is generally perceived by his/her acquaintances

How the MC is generally perceived by strangers

Category #3: Romance

IF RELEVANT: Any past experience? Sexual Orientation? Do they want a relationship? Do they flirt? full disclaimer here, I’ve never actually done this so I’m probably not the best person to ask about this, but I’ve heard it’s imporant?? idk. you do you.

Category #4: Skills

General Skills: if they know art, fighting, other languages, ect, anything goes here. explain WHY they know that.

Smarts: either street smarts or capability to learn

Schooling: how much formal education have they actually had. Smart characters can flunk out of school and not stereotypically “smart” characters can do very well in school by pure stubbornness alone.

Occupation

Hobbies

Category #5: Personality - the fun stuff, this is where you start drawing connections to the plot. At each major decision, come back to this section and ask yourself “what would they decide based on the following? Why?”

Introvert or Extravert:

MBTI type

Hogwarts House:

Alignment like in DnD: (these first 4 things help me get a better idea of how they act on a day to day basis)

Strengths: there should be 3 of these at least. Here’s an excellent blog article on types of strengths. Your villains should have these too

Weaknesses: 3 here too. A combination of strengths and weaknesses helps make characters well rounded.

Goals/Dreams/Aspirations:

Beliefs/Affiliations:

Fears:

Insecurities:

Mental illness:

After the Story:

Role in the Story:

Motivation:

Memories:

What they would die for:

Song/Quote you associate with them

Step 3: Repeat for each character and Connect the Dots

At this point, your characters might have changed a lot (or a little) from your original concept. Now you’ve got to figure out how they change in the story. Where do they have room to grow? What lesson do they need to learn? What lie do they currently believe? The Overall Arc Goes Here, and you need to tie the main turning points in the plot to the main turning points in the character. Go back to the whiteboard and start connecting stuff. Connect stuff within the list. Their backstory should inform their personality. Their personality should inform their friendships and romantic lives. People are complicated and messy. The more red lines you can draw, the better.

Now go forth! Create! have fun! Thank you for reading :)

[bi-dazai]

Seeing soukoku interacting sexually/romantically isn't a reach and it feels like a natural extension of their canon relationship. There's already plenty of sexual tension between them (see: their entire reunion scene), all you have to do is shift your perception away from the heteronormative and it's blatantly clear. That's why I love the pairing so much - it feels less like a fan ship and more like fans expanding on canon. It's markedly different from the way I read shin soukoku, which have a more budding close friendship dynamic rather than soukoku, for which much of the tension between them is fueled by dazai's need to keep chuuya's attention on himself. Fifteen makes it pretty clear that Dazai is a selfish person, and his actions towards chuuya, much like all other actions, can very easily be interpreted as his selfish pettiness being fuelled by a crush on chuuya and possessiveness acting out. This is especially clear in the arcade scene. Not only does dazai finally have a friend his age, he gets pissy specifically when yuan clings to chuuya's arm as if she's his girlfriend.

This is what I mean when soukoku are clearly coded to be interpreted at some level as having a sexual/romantic undertone to their relationship, especially in terms of dazai's attraction to chuuya.

Dazai, furthermore, has also been coded to bring attention to his interactions with the same sex as well as his gender expression. His use of 私, the more gender neutral pronoun, over 僕 or 俺, the more masculine pronouns used by the other male characters, is a reference to his irl counterparts work. However in the series itself it works as a more gender neutral expression of dazai. Dazai isn't meant to be seen specifically as a masculine or even male character. This then calls to the first episode, in which he expresses that he isn't attracted to men. This calls attention to his interactions with men, and can ease more conservative viewers into a less straight version of dazai. There's a history of bisexual androgynous characters in anime. Also none of the other characters romantic/sexual desires have been elaborated upon or pointed out as blatantly as dazai has in the first episode. It calls into contrast with the way he later interacts with chuuya and odasaku. Odasaku especially carries a one-sided crush undertone on dazai's end. Ive seen and analysed plots similar to dazai and oda's, but none have carried the homosensuality of bsd's. Therefore it definitely seems to be that asagiri has called attention to dazai's tendencies in order to specifically dispute dazai's claim of not being attracted to men . It can also work, of course, as collateral against any homophobic pressures - asagiri can gaycode (more specifically bisexual-code) dazai as far as he likes, and can refer back to the "I have no such attractions" line as a defence. As an author myself, I can say that gaycoding is a viable way to get representation in when it seems impossible. Considering asagiri is writing for a seinen series, it very well may be the case.

Dazai embodies a very androgynous role. He's playful and sly, but childish, especially when he was younger. His character is central to seeing the underlying homoerotic subtext in the soukoku relationship

It can also be argued that much of the promotional material has also been homoerotic - I can picture at least two promotional posters wherein dazai and chuuya were depicted alone together in a Christmas setting. In case you didn't know, Christmas is considered a romantic holiday in Japan and is known for couples going on lots of cute dates surrounded by pine trees and snow and lights. Dazai and Chuuya being depicted alone together near a Christmas tree is about as explicit as you can get without outright declaring that they're together romantically.

Furthermore, there's the fact that having gay-coded relationships sells in Japan these days. Japanese fandom loves pairings, including same-sex ones. Japanese anime and manga producers are not shy of using homoeroticism to sell their content. The west is shy of this - it's remarkably still homophobic and ignorant of gay people, and gay representation is often just some fanservice wlw couple that does nothing but placate the male fetishistic viewers. Japan is slightly better than this (not saying it's good, but better than the west), often leaning into fan interpretations in merchandising and content. Think kirishima and bakugou from bnha, one of the most blatantly gay-coded shounen relationships of the decade. Kirishima and bakugou have both been gay-coded (most markedly Kiri, who is a walking Japanese gay stereotype at times, but Mineta's comments about bakugou during his fight with uraraka are also pretty pointed), and their interactions in canon as well as merchandising and promotional material (the summer festival jacket bit comes to mind, wherein it was implied so explicitly that bakugou gave Kirishima his jacket in a romantic gesture it was two steps away from declaring bakugou having a raging gay crush on Kirishima as canon. Also there's a lot of winter time and Christmas stuff with Kirishima and bakugou as well!) are often used as fanservice to give shipper fans more content. It undeniably points out that the creators of the series have realised the homoerotic subtext, incidental or not, and are willing to engage with it further. That, to put it simply, is a very very good point towards canon-ness.

Anyway this was ten times longer than I thought it would be, but soukoku is canon king and Dazai is head-over-heels in love with chuuya canonically.

[guardeddreamweaver]

My muse in a relationship 

taken from here xxx

Repost, because fuck...doing this as an ask meme, where not everything is said...kind of makes her sound like a psychopath depending on what you ask.  O_o

Under the cut!

🤗 Are they physically affectionate?   Under some circumstances.  She enjoys physical touch, but only on her own terms.  And often times, even if she wishes for affection, she denies herself, because often she feels that her wishes are unimportant to what is necessary.  But when she does allow it, she's very sensual and intuitive. 🎶 Do they have a type? She has preferences, but not types really.  A lot of power is required to balance her--but the form it takes is often very unpredictable, both to me and to her. 😡 What are their deal breakers? People who try to change her.  Dishonesty with needlessly cruel intent (she fully understands dishonesty to save face or prevent conflict...and a host of other reasons, some that are actually arbitrarily just as malicious XD).  A lack of self control...but under a microscope, her real problem is more with people who have an inability to separate public self from private self, rather than actually lacking self control.   ↕️Are they sub, dom or switch? Dominant...but in some very close relationships, she will switch, on certain things...maybe anything; I've never had her open in a relationship to the point where I can find out just how open to surrender she actually is.  I've have/had ships where I've hypothesized that complete openness would be possible, but honestly her emotional connections in relationships tend to unfold slowly no matter how comfortable she is with someone, even when things are "going well".  But really, it's more accurate to ask whether she is dom/sub/switch or nothing.  Since in every sense, she has a domineering personality...which doesn't necessarily dictate a kink or a dynamic, though situations often follow a script because people don't tend to go against her, or even realize that they can.  If you enjoy playing with those kinds of roles, she'll do it and happily...but she's just as likely to leave anything even remotely related to this at the door, given that her power personally, mentally, emotionally, spiritually is that immense...and it sometimes forces people into roles that they don't actually fit. ⏰ How long do their relationships tend to last? They are either very fleeting or for life.  Shutara is of the mind that some things are only beautiful and meaningful because they are brief or doomed/ill-fated.  Other times she will not even consider something unless she can see it lasting for eternity.  She's very black and white that way, among other things that she's similarly severe and blunt about approaching.  There is no middle ground to her for this topic.

💍 Would they ever get married? Perhaps.  It really depends on what the marriage would give her or her partner.  On her own, Shutara does not view marriage as a romantic engagement.  It is a business and cultural alliance.  In love, most times she'd rather not burden a partner with the paperwork and seriousness of what marrying a woman like her actually means.  She is the last of her line, so she does not wish to lose her name, status, and other cultural ties...especially because there really aren't many people who can offer her a standing higher than her own, whether from the perspective of birth or her status as a guardsman.  The only reason why she would ever consider a marriage is to leave a legacy.  And there are only certain kinds of people she would consider worthy of that amount of work, or that she knows would even appreciate it.  Shutara in general is not interested in having children, but to her in some cases, it makes sense.  Thus in those rare cases, as she would never have a child with someone she was not married to (because of the legal entanglements her offspring would have in being a successor to her, as she is not male...not because she finds it morally objectionable), it would be necessary merely because of bureaucracy.  And it would be a very special type of marriage...technically a combination adoption-marriage into HER family, so her partner would be taking her surname (the Japanese practice of becoming a yo-shi), allowing her to allocate her family properties and possessions to a joint family of her choosing.   But like actually thinking about how marriage means things that are different to different people...I honestly don't know what she'd do if she entangled herself with a person who equated marriage with something emotional.  Like I think of my other muse, Szayel who would just be like...paperwork?  Wtf.  Just give me a ring and make me a promise and nobody even has to know or see it!!!  Haha.  I am sure there would be a period of her being like....uh, I can do that but...is this actually marriage?  And then she'd be spending time trying to figure out what it actually means to her..in the meantime being bamboozled by the concept of what to her is likely "Schrodinger's marriage"....since if a paper isn't signed but vows are made, is it "real" because you believe it's real or "not real" because you made the concept yourself?  Oh goodness.  Like for real, she's incredibly progressive in many senses...but in some stuff, her traditional backbone and internal biases fuck with her mind. ️ 🏷️ Do they give their partners cute nicknames? Not really.  She's more formally romantic.  You're more likely to get things like "my love" or "my dear" than anything cute or otherwise an actual nickname. 💋 Are they more sensual or sexual? Ummm...with her they are one in the same.  She doesn't very easily separate the sensual from the sexual, and whether she realizes it or not, the fact that she tends to keep a lot of space around her at all time is rather self-protective, otherwise she'd probably find most casual touch situations to be rather violating.  But barring somebody who's related to her, people who are okay to touch are generally okay to sleep with, and usually this is instinct based for her...instantaneous, without thought, formed in sizing up first impressions, the way someone moves, the way they smell, the general vibe they give.  She tends to listen more to the lizard brain than the rational brain in physical comfort--its honest to gods physical chemistry driven and impossible for her to fake. 📖 What is their favorite outside of the bedroom activity to do with their partner? It really depends.  But like one of her favorite things is just to be in the same room together.  They don't have to be doing anything with each other, just sharing space.  Like her partner reading a book while she weaves at her loom.  She enjoys intimacy, especially the kind where there is no obligation of expectation where you /must/ be doing something with or for someone in order to prove that you care about them. 🛏 What is their favorite bedroom activity to do with their partner? If you've ever wanted to play with a shibari master...Shutara is your girl, for obvious reasons. 💚 Are they prone to jealousy? Shutara would rather cut her ties with you than feel jealous.  Emotions like that are time wasters and she doesn't see a need for them.  It's easier to feel nothing at all than subject yourself willingly to pain, in her mind.  (She doesn't always understand that a lot of people can't really flip emotions on and off like a switch.  Defense mechanism for sure...healthy or unhealthy?  You decide.) 😘 Does their demeanor change when in a relationship?   Not publicly.  In private, she's much warmer, sometimes incredibly so.  She tends to keep personal business out of the public sphere when it's something that means a lot to her, as essentially, she'd rather not draw the evil eye to her or her lover.   👫 Do they display affection in public? What about in private? Not really, unless you count subtle things...but her subtlety when you look for it actually tends to convey things that she feels very strongly about, people included.  Some touch is okay if the situation is appropriate (ie dance, sharing something, holding a hand...or 8), but mostly the change that you'll see is in her proximity to someone.  In private, depending on the wishes of partners/friends, she can be very affectionate.  It's actually quite sweet, as for all her grace, she's rather clumsy with initiating affection of her own accord. 💕 Are they open to threesomes or a polyamorous relationship? Polyamory has an appeal to her in theory, given that she's in the guard, and she knows that unless she chooses to be in a relationship with someone else who is similarly in the guard...there's likely going to be long stretches of time separate.  She doesn't really like her actual life-mates to feel pain because of some idea of one true soulmates or whatever.  She's far too practical for that, and she's ancient...so while deep down she's actually incredibly romantic, it's not at all in a stereotypical way.  And often her views are not happy ones anyway...nor does she really value her own happiness.  In practice I have no idea how she'd do with actual polyamory.  Lol...write with me and figure it out.   Threesome wise, with the right people, I know she'd be okay with FFF and MMF.  She has MFF hangups in stuff that she hasn't really wanted/needed to examine and work through...mostly dealing in how she tends focus her own attentions/abilities on people and what it's like to have different levels of attraction to different genders, especially if she's in a relationship with one of them.  She's rather afraid of ignoring someone she shouldn't...and she also doesn't know how to feel if she feels that the other woman there is more "attractive"...since she views herself as incredibly attractive, but moreso with clothing on.  

TL;DR Shu is really weird about some stuff and refuses to unpack anything that may help her...unless a muse that she's close to walks her through it.  This is true about anything...sex, love, her history, her likes/dislikes, you name it...sometimes I have to thread it with a muse she's more comfortable with (even just in theory since she will tell things to people she doesn't know well), and its just the approach...like threading with a male muse vs a female one, a fellow guardsman vs someone below her in stature, someone young vs someone old, a shinigami vs a different race, etc.  She has weird tastes and weird rules about who she shares what stuff with that I constantly have to work around to get what I want.  Often when I'm asked about her my answer is "oh I don't know....but I know exactly how to find out" which with her is half the battle.

💔 Do they have a certain type of person they will not enter into a relationship with? Publicly?  Haha lots of people.  Privately...not really.  Shutara is okay with even some rather shocking kinds of people when her interests are kept on the downlow.  I mean as far as she's concerned, who she shares herself with isn't anybody's business...so her private life does have the possibility of being a complete shitshow.  It's grand. 💝 How long until they feel secure and comfortable in a relationship? Shutara is very slow to trust.  But that said, she doesn't tend to enter a relationship unless she is convinced that it will work out and be beneficial.  She kind of makes a decision to be comfortable, if that makes any sense.  It may take her a while to get to that...or she may decide that you are worthy very quickly.  When she does make that decision though, she is incredibly solid and settled. 🤐 Would they ever confess their feelings first? Yes, she's not shy that way.  And she'd rather not let something that is meaningful get away from her. ❌Would they ever cheat on their partner? No.  Hooray, an uncomplicated answer! ‍‍‍ 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Do they want children? Shutara is quite tokophobic given her past with some things she's witnessed as a child, particularly with her mother who struggled a lot with miscarriage for reasons that medically would have been not understood at the time she was growing up (we have rhoGAM today, they did not).  And she views herself as a destroyer rather than as a life-giver, so the idea of having children, especially if she is the one to carry them is incredibly anxiety inducing and rather fucks with her idea of self.  I know that if she had children, she would be an incredible mother.  If she had a female partner who ended up bearing children, or she ended up choosing a partner of either sex who already had children when they met (like on indie, she's had dalliances with a Ryuuken), she tends not to have an existential crisis, though it takes time for her to process the idea of being a parental figure.  But like...it takes some serious working through roadblocks in order to have children with her in a more traditional sense. 🐶 Are they a cuddler? When she gives in, she loves to cuddle.  And she's kind of split down the middle about it.  Because she'd prefer to be the demonstrative one in a private situation ike that...she's basically the tiniest big spoon you will ever meet.  But she also very much craves being held...as she has a lot of responsibilities and almost always takes the lead.  Don't question her or bring up her inconsistencies...just let her seek out intimacy because she deserves it. 🔮 Do they believe in soul mates? Yes, very much so.  But, not necessarily just in the romantic sense.  She believes that soul mates can take any form, even that of a fated enemy.  Also, given her personal powers, I've always hc'd that as a weaver, she's intertwined both with the ideas of spinning fate ala the Moirae/Fates and the Japanese concept of the red strings of fate that bind you to your soulmates.  She can tell who she is tied to and who she is not.  She can also alter these bonds for herself and other people, though it can come at a great cost.   ⚔️ Are they protective of their partner? Yes, very much so.  Even if they don't necessarily recognize something as a protective behavior.  And Shutara is very strong in general.  It is natural for her to lend her power to a partner and keep them safe. 🚀 How far are they willing to go for the person they love? However far as they are willing to go for her. ️❤️ Do they fall in love easily? When she gives herself permission, yes.  It's just...that's the rare part. 📺 Do they share information about their relationships freely with friends and family? Not really.  Shutara tends to keep her personal business private.  She'll listen to any gossip that /you/ want to tell her though, lol. ♦️Are they concerned with the social status of their partner? Well like I've said before, with things like marriage, yes.  But not in who she loves.  So it depends on what you're talking about. 💭 Do they tend to sleep better when in bed with their partner?   She likes to sleep in bed with a partner, that's for sure.  But Shutara is kind of a pain to sleep with.  She's restless and a wild sleeper.  Even though she's tiny, she'll still starfish you to the corner of the mattress.  She punches and kicks in her sleep.  She will push you off the edge of the bed, and not wake up.  She'll steal your pillows, hog the blankets, and even sometimes sleepwalks.  Lol...when Shu sleeps, she's an asshole, unless she's so tired that she literally cannot move.

[hornyliverpudlianputz]

Ok so this is not a fandom I post about a lot but when I do I put it here so please bear with me. Skip if you want, of course. What I want to talk about is queer rep in Teen Wolf, the show, because I think it did a lot of good things in a lot of subtle ways. Spoilers to follow.

I want to start off with a few caveats: while I am a fan of this show, it ended several years ago and I have only seen most episodes once. So my recollection of it may be foggy in places. I would also like to point out that while the show does a lot of things “right” as I see it it is by no means perfect. I will get into that later on. Also I will be talking about show canon; I am well aware there are many, many fan theories about the queerness of certain characters in this show. This post is not about them. Anyways, into the breach.

The first thing that I give them credit for is including queer characters at all, which is a depressingly low bar but hear me out. With fantasy shows like this what you most often see is queer coding, not queer content. Comparisons are drawn between supernatural beings and the queer community, but there are no queer characters present. Or if there are, they are one-off appearances. True Blood, Being Human (US), the X-Men series, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which gets something of a pass because of Willow later on) all do this. Even the original 80s movie this show is based on does this in a very direct comparison that adds insult to injury by using the 3 letter f-word. My point is: this show has queer characters, it has them right from the get-go, it has them consistently throughout the run, and it has them in relative abundance. Which is, sad to say, rare.

While the show does have queer characters, it falls short in that none of them are main (with the notable technical exception of one which I will get to later.) That being said, the queer characters that are present are significant to the plot, and a lot of them are reoccurring main. They are also, like I mentioned, there from the beginning and are not written out. We meet Danny in the pilot episode, and he stays for 3 seasons. Ethan comes in for season 3 and has a role in season 6 as well. We meet Mason in season 4 and he stays until the end, and his boyfriend (Corey) who we meet in season 5 also stays for the finale. 

There is an unfortunate lack of wlw characters; all of the ones I just named are gay men. However, the show does not lack for racial diversity among its gay characters; Danny is Native Hawaiian and Mason is Black. And there are a few minor characters that help add diversity to the lineup, in season 3 one half of a lesbian couple is victim to the initial trio of murders and her girlfriend is revealed to be bi later in the season. (So far as I’m aware, the bi girl survives the show.) Lydia’s grandmother was also mentioned to have had a female romantic partner (I’m pretty sure), and a minor male character in season 4 is bi.

But what very much impresses me about the queer characters on this show is how normalized they are. In the background of a party in season 2 we see two girls dancing with each other and two boys kissing as the camera pans around. These characters are not regulars, or minor reoccurring. They don’t have any lines. They’re not even named. They’re just background filler for a party scene. You don’t usually see that unless the setting is an explicitly queer one, but Teen Wolf needed a scene with raging teenage hormones and threw some queer couples in there because why not. 

The queer characters are also treated with complete respect to the point that the in-universe Beacon Hills is a little unrealistic. (Then again, it is in Southern California so.) There is never any angst related to a character’s sexuality; homophobic bullying is not even alluded to. None of the queer characters have a coming out arc either (with one exception, I am coming to that), they are all introduced or accepted as already out. None of the main characters ever have an issue with a queer character and there are multiple examples of close friendships between two boys where one is straight and one is gay. Liam and Mason are closer than two peas in a pod and Liam acts as Mason’s “flight attendant” (wingman, it makes sense in context) on at least one occasion. Jackson and Danny are also shown to be close, although this is revealed to not be a gay/straight friendship later on (Getting to it, I promise.)

The relationships and lives of the queer characters are all shown to be normal; no excessive partying, no “vices”, and no orgies. They go to clubs, parties, and raves but so do the straight characters. They have varied interests and are not stereotyped. (Danny is a confident jock who is also into tech stuff while Mason is a little nerdy and awkward.) The show also doesn’t fall into the “either or” categories with sex. The queer characters are shown to have sex lives, but it is not the only part of their relationship that is examined. When twins Ethan and Aiden infiltrate the Beacon High supernatural circle to get information, it is the gay brother, Ethan, who ends up falling for his mark (Danny). Corey and Mason’s relationship undergoes several adjustments as Corey is initially an enemy to the main group. And, importantly, the queer physical displays of affection are not fetishized. The queer couples get an equivalent amount of on-screen loving to the straight couples which, as it’s on MTV, is a little racy but not pushing into softcore porn.  

But this is the most important part for me, and it’s the technicality I’ve alluded to several times. Colton Haynes, who some of you may know from Arrow, played Jackson who was a main character in seasons 1 and 2 that returned as reoccurring in the final season. In the interim absence he came out as gay in real life. Now. Jackson was introduced as straight; he was romantically involved with Lydia off and on throughout the first 2 seasons. But when they brought his character back for season 6, it was revealed that he was in a relationship with Ethan, the gay twin from season 3. Basically, they wanted to bring the character back for the ending and made him queer because the actor had come out publicly since he had last been in the show. It should also be noted that the twins who play Ethan and Aiden, who are gay and straight respectively, also match their character’s sexualities. Charlie Carver (Ethan) is gay while Max Carver (Aiden) is straight.

One final, and also important, point I want to make is that for a show that deals a lot with violence and major character death/injury there are very few queer casualties. When one of the twins dies for dramatic effect it is the straight one, not the gay one. Danny is written out of the show after season 3 but because he graduated, not because he died. There are 2 exceptions I can think of; the aforementioned girlfriend of a minor female character who is killed in season 3 and a boy Mason shows interest in (but turns out to be one of the bad guys) also dies in season 5. However, all the reoccurring main queer characters make it out of the show alive, which is more than can be said for a lot of other content.

So while Teen Wolf has its failings, I think that as a whole it represents some very good queer rep in its normalization and treatment of queer characters throughout its run.

[afootnotetoallthisnoise-blog]

on ‘lady bird’, ‘love, simon’, and teenagers’ relationships on film

(Plug: this new YouTuber is way better at analysing film/TV than I am.)

I just watched Lady Bird and Love, Simon on a flight to New York, and since both films are deeply preoccupied with teenagers’ platonic, romantic, and familial relationships, I wanted to look at what I thought was original and fresh about these films’ perspectives – and what was more derivative and inauthentic.

i. parent-child relationships: attention and complexity

Lady Bird is centred around the titular girl and her developing identity, relationships and aspirations through her final year of high school. Easily the deepest and most emotionally arresting aspect of Lady Bird is Christine’s, or ‘Lady Bird’s’, relationships with her family, particularly her mother, Marion. This film works hard to expand a turbulent mother-daughter relationship past the simple archetypes of ‘moody teenage daughter’ and ‘unreasonable bitch mother’, into a more complex, three-dimensional whole which incorporates both the faults and the humanity that both characters have. Not only are both characters viewed singly as well as in relation to each other – LB is not solely ‘Marion’s daughter’, Marion does not solely exist as ‘LB’s mother’ – the film moves past a simply summed-up conflict into a more complicated picture, where both LB and Marion are driven by desires, fears and anxieties they can’t completely articulate to themselves, but which drive conflict both through difference in perspective and through inability to communicate.

There are painful, powerful, intense moments in Lady Bird where LB and Marion are struggling to communicate, to reconcile their differing views and convey themselves properly. LB’s confused but intense desire to go to New York, a place where she believes she will experience things which constitute ‘life’, exists alongside Marion’s grief at LB’s ostensible rejection of the life she has worked to give her, and neither are made out to be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. They love each other deeply, but they can’t articulate the fears, anxieties, and stubborn desires which complicate their relationship, so their silent moments of shared, intense emotion – like the audiobook at the beginning of the film – are coupled with frustrated moments of crosstalk, mutual misunderstanding, hurt, affront, and anger. LB, as a self-centred, self-discovering adolescent, often fails to think about how her actions and speech are affecting her family, whilst Marion’s worry and care about LB manifest in being overly critical – she seems completely incapable of speaking positively to LB, including a deeply painful moment where she refuses to compliment LB’s prom dress.

They both reminded me of real people I know, real pangs of discomfort I’ve felt hearing a family friend speak slightly disparagingly about her daughter’s university chances, or an old acquaintance roll his eyes at his parents’ careful efforts to help him. It felt so refreshing seeing that complexity get handled on film – often parents are just supplementary figureheads in their child’s story (or vice versa), and if the film is interested in the parent-child relationship, it rarely gets its teeth into the sheer nastiness which can come out in certain parent-child relationships. There are, of course, teenager-centric films which get into complex parent-child dynamics – the differing burdens of childhood illness on parents and children, like in The Fault in Our Stars; parents’ work intersecting with children’s feelings of neglect, like in Coraline; radical inability to communicate or understand, e.g. The Virgin Suicides – but that richness of both love and frustration on both sides is a rare thing to see.

Love, Simon isn’t aiming to be as deep on this matter as Lady Bird, but it still has its own insights. Mostly Simon’s family is pretty happy and saccharine, but when Simon comes out, I think Simon’s father’s reaction – garbling a joke, panicking, leaving, shutting down – showed excellent acting and direction: it did what most good acting does, which is to break down a dichotomy of response (here, between the coming-out reactions of ‘I love you and everything’s fine’ and ‘BEGONE FROM THE PREMISES, DEMON GAY’). That confused, choked response conveyed the rush of forces acting on Simon’s father: desire to defuse the tension, desire to support, desire to downplay the situation, confusion, shock, grief at the reality of change, grief at the loss of a presumed similarity, grief that he hadn’t realised sooner. I’m sure more realistic reactions like that have happened in films before, but I haven’t personally seen any, and I found it refreshing: it broke down the scripted feel of both overly saccharine and uniformly harsh reactions, both of which close the door to further growth and development in the parents’ reaction to their child’s queerness.

ii. romantic relationships: centrality, development

In Love, Simon, there are tropes present, but I liked how it approached some aspects of teenagers’ romantic relationships. The ambiguity about Blue’s identity meant that we got a different model for how relationships can develop, pertinent in an age where dating is conceptualised as mainly visual (think the structure of apps like Tinder) and connection is determined through in-person interaction, but where, conversely, deep, lasting relationships have developed without that visual focus since the advent of the internet (through MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, for instance). The bit at the end was cheesy, but that’s what they were going for, and it was so sweet to watch.

Most of the other romantic stuff was pretty run-of-the-mill – the couple who like each other but things keep getting in the way; the unrequited crush; etc – but there’s one other aspect I’d like to mention, which is how Simon’s falling-out with his friends is handled about 2/3 of the way through the film. A less nuanced film would just have Abby, Leah, and Nick getting pissed that Simon meddled in Abby and Nick’s relationship, without them understanding about Simon’s bind due to Martin’s blackmail. But what I liked was that both Abby and Leah acknowledge the pressure that the blackmail put on Simon, but they make clear that it doesn’t excuse his disrespect for both Abby (by treating her like a ‘piece of meat’ to be given to Martin in exchange for his own safety) and Leah (by sending her on a date with a man he thought she loved, knowing that he wasn’t interested in her). It’s not the tired ‘it’s all a misunderstanding, guys’ conflict: they understand what happened, but they still argue that Simon’s disrespect for their own romantic lives and autonomy wasn’t okay.

While Love, Simon is dually focused on Simon’s coming out and his budding relationship – though the two threads aren’t separate – LB’s relationships in Lady Bird are significant but aren’t the central focus of the movie, which I liked; while it makes sense for a romantic relationship to be central to Love, Simon, since it’s a sensible mode within which to discover something like queerness (which is intrinsically tied up with your relationships to other people), Lady Bird’s focus on self-discovery works better with the romantic relationships not being central, otherwise it would perpetuate the tired stereotype that a woman’s ‘coming of age’ has to be pretty-much-entirely experienced through falling in love with a man. (It being central is fine, but I don’t like the implications that somehow, teenage girls cannot Mature into Full Human Beings unless a dude and his dick shows up.) LB’s two relationships are with the too-perfect-guy and the douchebag-who-doesn’t-give-a-shit, neither of which provide really new perspectives on teenagers’ romantic relationships – neither character has much depth in the film, either – but I thought the sex scene and its aftermath was very well done: LB’s recognition that the performative significance she’d given her first sexual experience was different from the reality, and her recognition that the guy she’d slept with wasn’t worth the language she’d inherited for it, rang very true. (Also, the situation bore out some excellent humour. ‘I was on top! Who the hell is on top for their first time?!’)

iii. friendships: the status problem

I think Lady Bird is a great film, but the part I found the least inspiring was LB’s friendship arc. I’m pretty sick of this formula: protagonist is best friends with good, loyal, but low-status friend/s -> protagonist manages to get in with the popular kids and abandons their low-status friend/s -> protagonist realises popular kids are shallow assholes and they’ve made a horrible mistake -> protagonist apologetically returns to low status friend/s, there is a bit of anger and conflict, but eventually they all make nice. I’m sick of it because I feel like it doesn’t ring true.

Now, I have been through secondary school, recently though not overly so (I graduated from sixth form in 2015). I know that status is a thing in secondary school and that it exerts an influence. But I dislike this ubiquitous storyline which implies that a) every school conforms to a rigid hierarchy of popularity and that b) literally everyone gives a shit about improving their status. I found Love, Simon’s group of four much more authentic in this regard: ultimately, Simon’s group of four just enjoy each other’s company, rather than being rigidly grouped based on status or fitting a recognised ‘type’. Depicting popularity as being present but not all-encompassing seems to resonate more with how my school worked, where there were recognisable groups but a lot of boundary-blurring, and where different subcultures could - usually - peacefully coexist alongside each other.

Because it adheres closely to the student-social-climber model, the astounding depth of familial relationships and notable depth of romantic relationships in Lady Bird isn’t replicated in LB’s friendships. Not every character needs to be an incredibly complex seventeen-year-old (I’m fine with Kyle just being a bit of a bored poser), but I feel like the film either tried and failed to give Jenna depth or just agreed she wouldn’t have any, and I feel like it would have really served the story for LB to realise that the girl at the top of the totem pole actually had problems and internal conflict, despite her status and wealth. As it is, she just stays ‘bored rich chick’ from beginning to end. Julie isn’t given as much depth as she could be either – all her appearances just seem to reinforce ‘sweet nerd archetype’, and no attention is given to her own brief romantic relationship and romantic turmoil - though I don’t begrudge them the prom scene (it was very sweet).

Overall, I didn’t realise just how refreshing it would feel to see a group of friends who experience growth, development and conflict, but who also just really like getting iced coffee together! And the fact that it did highlights a problem with friendship stereotypes in high school movies.

[mermaidsirennikita]

July 2018 Book Roundup

This was a bit of a slump month for me in terms of reading.  But wait!  I read so many books!  Yeah, but I savored very few of them.  Some were mediocre, and several were bad.  Very bad.  Standouts included Riley Sager’s “spooky summer camp reinvented” thriller The Last Time I Lied and the very satisfying conclusion to Kiersten White’s super underrated Conqueror’s Saga, Bright We Burn.  You win some months and lose some months--I hope the next one is better.

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton.  2/5.  A retelling of Jane Eyre, My Plain Jane sees Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre as friends at Lowood together, with Jane able to see ghosts and Charlotte desperate to get to the bottom of her secrets.  As Jane takes a job at Thornfield Hall, she is pursued by Charlotte and intrepid paranormal investigator Alexander, in a tale full of ghosts, secret wives, and romance.  I... really don’t want to say I hate this because it had its funny, cute moments that remind me of My Lady Jane, but... I kind of hated it?  It’s partially my own fault, really, because the book was exactly what it described itself to be.  But what worked when twisting history--My Lady Jane focused on Jane Grey--just doesn’t work when retelling a popular book.  Charlotte was quirky girl’d to the point of being twee; she also seemed into Jane Austen, which bugged me because she wasn’t.  And much of Jane’s side of things seemed like condescending fix it fic, in a way.  Don’t you know that Jane only falls for Rochester because she’s a romantic young woman with no life experience (and an obsessed with Mr. Darcy because I guess)????  Maybe I just like the real Jane Eyre too much.  Either way, I’m still going to read the next Jane book, but cannot recommend this one.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager.  5/5.  Fifteen years ago, Emma Davis was the last person to see Vivian, Allison, and Natalie before they disappeared from Camp Nightingale--and the world--forever.  She accused a boy she liked of doing something terrible; and she vanished into obscurity, reinventing herself as an up and coming artist.  But she can’t seem to stop painting the girls, even as she covered them up afterwards.  Upon the prompting of the camp’s owner--and dogged by guilt--Emma returns to teach at the reopened Camp Nightingale, given three new girls to mentor.  Yet she still can’t seem to stop seeing the girls--especially the entrancing, manipulative Vivian.  Riley Sager does something with his books that make me really happy: he keeps on taking a classic teen slasher trope and making a whole book about it.  I loved the sexy-teens-in-a-cabin angle of Final Girls--and this book takes on the whole creepy camp thing, complete with a spooky lake and campfire legends.  He also throws in--for good measure--toxic, intoxicating girl relationships!  Because yes, Emma had a crush on a boy, but her world was really dominated by Vivian.  At one point, I thought that this book would be a 4 out of 5 because as much as I love the tone and atmosphere and the overall story, I wasn’t a big fan of how Emma’s hallucinations worked and the ending seemed rather predictable.  But that wasn’t the REAL ending.  And the real ending?  Just... yes.  The present storyline in this book is good, but the past--mostly Vivian, let’s be real, that’s a girl after my own heart--is fantastic.  

Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris.  1/5.  While stopped at a gas station with her boyfriend FInn, Layla goes missing. Twelve years later--after enduring a period as the prime suspect in Layla’s murder, despite the fact that her body was never found--Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister Ellen.  Out of nowhere, little signs begin appearing that lead Finn to wonder... could Layla still be out there?  WHAT A DUMB BOOK.  I didn’t realize that I’d read one of Paris’s books, the super underwhelming The Breakdown.  If I had, I wouldn’t have tried it.  God, this was fucking stupid.  Literally every twist you would think of, every basic “surprise” is here.  And then one that is so--but the real issue is Finn.  I don’t take issue with flawed protagonists, but Finn was more than flawed.  He was creepy (fine in certain cases) and stupid (never fine).  And for that matter, everyone else was so one-dimensional that it was impossible to sweep aside his shortcomings.  I skimmed this after a point, and I’m glad I didn’t waste any more time on it.

The List by Joanna Bolouri.  1/5.  IT GOT WORSE!!!  I won’t bother with a summary, because this is actually pretty fucking simple: a year (!!!!) after her ex cheated on her, thirty-year-old Phoebe still isn’t over it.  In an effort to revitalize her sex life, she makes a list of sexual experiences she hasn’t tried and wants to, and sets off to check them off with her best guy friend, Oliver.  Okay, admittedly, I should have known that this would be a diary book, which is a style I usually don’t like (with some notable exceptions).  Phoebe has the most annoying voice I have ever read.  It’s as if the author wants to mimic Bridget Jones, but doesn’t understand why people like Bridget and why she came off more as hapless but amusing, instead of just... a moron.  Phoebe is a FUCKING MORON.  She hates her job, she uses cutesy slang words (like, my least favorite cutesy slang words from the U.K.) and describes sex acts in the least appealing way possible.  But it’s not as if the author wants the sex to feel real, because aside from a few mishaps, Phoebe overall has great sexual experiences, even when you imagine that if this is the first time she’s doing them, it’d probably be more awkward.  Like... we’re supposed to buy that Phoebe LOOOOOVES anal after the first time she’s tried it, but she describes it as feeling like “she’s going to the bathroom, but good” basically.  HOT STUFF.  And she’s just a dipshit in general.  She and all of her friends are.  I knew this was definitely going to be 1/5 after Oliver made a joke about stereotypical “Native American” names (a joke that is somehow worse knowing that an author from the U.K. wrote it) but even before then, Phoebe is talking about her lack of sexual satisfaction with her friends all of whom are in their thirties and one of them... is like... humping a couch?  I don’t know why authors who write “sexual” books think that this is normal behavior.  I am in my 20s; I’ve been in weird situations; I know a lot of weird people.  Never has some dry-humped a couch in front of me... as a joke.... or in general.  Wow.  Stupid.

Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz.  3/5.  Dana Schwartz’s memoir--detailing her struggles with eating disorders, mental illness in general, romantic travails, and finding herself as a millennial--is laid out in the style of a choose your own adventure novel.  While it’s certainly well-written and takes advantage of its gimmick, I can’t say this was as enjoyable as My Lady’s Choosing.  Obviously, they’re totally different genres, but...  I don’t know.  This wasn’t a fun read to me, even though I think it was important.  Some parts hit too close to home, which isn’t Schwartz’s fault, while other parts seemed overwritten, which is.  A mixed bag.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell.  4/5.  Shortly after marrying the wealthy and handsome Rupert, Elsie finds herself widowed and pregnant, sent away to the Bainbridge family’s country estate to wait for her baby to be born.  She’s met with eerie villagers and angry servants, as well as Rupert’s awkward cousin, Sarah.  All of that, however, she could deal with--what’s more unsettling are the violent events that begin occurring in the house, and strange painted “silent companions” that seem to pop up everywhere, their eyes appearing to follow Elsie around.  Perhaps most disturbing of all is the diary Sarah finds, detailing the story of Rupert’s ancestress, Anne Bainbridge--and her mute daughter Hetta...  This kicked off with a slow start; I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get through it.  But about 50 pages in, things PICK UP.  Especially when we get into Anne’s diary, which is where some of the really creepy stuff takes place.  It’s a spooky, unsettling story that feels like it’s of another time.  If you’re a fan of “The Others”--which I am--I’d highly recommend the novel.  

Bright We Burn by Kiersten White.  4/5.  The final book in The Conqueror’s Saga sees Radu finally forced to make a choice for his future, as Lada’s conflict with him and Mehmed--and all of her enemies, really--finally comes to a head.  I can’t say much more than that, because... final book in the series, and all.  I really can’t recommend this trilogy enough.  Yes, a gender-flipped Vlad the Impaler story sounds weird.  But Lada is a great character you so rarely see in YA--a truly horrible female lead.  She’s awful.  Not a monster, but not really redeemable either, especially after this installment.  And I wouldn’t even say that Lada is the most complex character in the series--that goes to Radu, her brother who is a) gay b) a Muslim convert and c) in love with Mehmed, their childhood friend who is in love with Lada, who kind of loves Mehmed but kind of hates him because he’s about as horrible a she is.  I loved this poisonous triangle of scheming and bad people--Radu is significantly less horrible than Lada and Mehmed, but has his moments--and the world and the supporting characters, and the only reason this book didn’t a full 5/5 is because I think there needed to be more.  The conflict of the trio really petered out a bit for me, and it came down to Lada and Radu.  And I love Lada and Radu, but Mehmed was the kind of antagonist that got their asses in gear, and the book needed that extra kick.  Overall, however, this was a great conclusion--super satisfying, and quite bloody.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.  4/5.  Celestial and Roy are upwardly mobile Atlanta residents--she a rising artist, he a young executive--and just over  a year into their marriage when Roy is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.  Sentenced to twelve years in prison, Roy writes to Celestial as their marriage gradually disintegrates.  When he’s exonerated and freed five years into his sentence, he returns to her.  But Celestial has built up a relationship with Andre, her childhood friend and the best man at her and Roy’s wedding.  The question isn’t just one of who Celestial belongs with--and whether she belongs with anyone--but of whether or not she and Roy ever would have worked out in the first place?  This is a DEEP literary book, y’all.  Not light reading.  And I can’t say it was super enjoyable?  I mean, this is one of those harshly realistic, love isn’t enough tearjerkers.  But it was very well-written, and it examined themes and questions that I don’t think you’d necessarily expect from such a relatively simple premise.  Of course, much of the novel does revolve around being a black man (or woman) in 21st century America--so I can’t critique that aspect.  The only thing I really can say as a criticism is that the older characters in the novel--Celestial and Roy’s parents, primarily--do essentially repeat themselves a good bit.  And again, I can’t say that I like everything every character did or said--but every action came from a very real place.  It’s a harsh one.

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott.  3/5.  Kit is an ambitious scientist, hoping to gain a spot on a PMDD-related study led by her idol.  She’s the only woman in the running, and considered a shoo-in the the “woman spot”--until Diane shows up.  Diane and Kit knew each other when they were younger; and Diane told Kit a secret that derailed both of their lives.  With the weight of Diane’s secret on her mind, Kit begins to slowly unravel, questioning how she should handle a secret that has gone from being another person’s problem, to hers as well.  I’m not one of those people scared off by Abbott’s squicky, literary style of telling domestic thriller stories.  I’m used to her obsession with the female body and feminine mysteries in general.  I’m not sure why this one didn’t click with me.  The writing was still there, and on paper the story is something I should have liked--so I’m saying it’s me, not her.  It may be that the books of Abbott’s I’ve really liked have dealt more with the truly domestic sphere or something more mundane and universal than scientific studies?  I just wasn’t attached to this story or the characters.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware.  3/5.  Down on her luck tarot card reader Hal is shocked when she receives word that she is the possible recipient of an inheritance.  Her grandmother has died, and Hal is summoned to her home to hear the will being read.  The only issue is that to Hal’s knowledge, her grandmother was already dead--and with her mother gone, she has no way of knowing who this woman is.  Desperate for money, she goes to the Westaway estate, only to find that the inheritance may not be worth the risk.  This is a very standard mystery/thriller.  Kind of predictable.  I really don’t have much to say about it.  The book wasn’t bad but it didn’t thrill me, so it might be another me/my slump thing.

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren.  4/5.  Macy hasn’t seen her childhood friend and first love Elliot for eleven years.  When they run into each other in a coffee shop, he’s an aspiring novelist and she’s a resident on the brink of marriage.  As the novel traces the story of Elliot and Macy’s past--and what he did to make her cut off contact with him the same night he confessed his love--Macy is confronted with a decision about her future, and owning up to who she is in the present.  A slump-breaker!  This is a really good romance, y’all.  Elliot and Macy’s chemistry is palpable.  You spend the whole novel worrying less about what drove them apart, and more about when they’re going to get together.  That being said, the best part of the book was definitely the past.  Their friendship felt genuine, which made the sexual tension buildup even better (speaking of: this is one of the few contemporary romances with legitimately good sex scenes).  The stakes aren’t quite as high in the present--it seems painstakingly obvious from the beginning that Macy can fix her issues in a pretty simple way.  And if she didn’t know that, I’d be a bit less annoyed, but she does.  Not much happens in the present, really--that’s just the payoff for what started in the past.  Still, this is a very sweet, sexy, and kind of heartwarming book that I would recommend to anyone who needs something that’s light without being TOO light.

Roomies by Christina Lauren.  3/5.  Holland is obsessed with a guitarist on the subway, and has been for about six months.  By a twist of fate, they finally meet, and through her connections she is able to get him a job opportunity.  The only problem is that Calvin--an Irish immigrant who’s overstayed his student visa--is in the States illegally.  So, out of the goodness of her heart and not at all because she wants to jump his bones, Holland offers to marry him so that he can get his green card.  What could go wrong?  Christina Lauren is, again, great at building up the sexual tension between her characters, and can actually write good sex scenes.  This is a sweet, fluffy, silly book.  I’d recommend it to romance fans.  It’s just not as substantial as Love and Other Words and the plot could have been stronger; I basically skimmed over that stuff because it didn’t really grab me, and focused more on the romantic bits between Holland Calvin.  A quick, nice read, but I’ve read better romance novels.

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent.  2/5.  Andrew and Lydia, a wealthy couple who’ve fallen on hard time, have buried the body of a young woman in their back yard. Though Lydia desperately tries to keep the secret from their son, Laurence, he discovers the truth before long.  Meanwhile, their victim’s sister investigates Annie’s disappearance, struggling for answers.  Ugh, this hasn’t been a great month for me + thrillers.  This one sucked.  In theory, there were good ideas, and moments of good voice, but the overall execution was very poor.  The characters came off as caricatures, one of the worst things you can do in a thriller imo.  And ooooh, there was so much emphasis on Laurence’s obesity, Annie’s lack of education--it seemed lurid and borderline exploitative at times.  Hard pass.