#Platonic relationships in media

[mattdevil]

This for Jayvik because a lot of people love to say "but ace and aro people still can have sex and be in a romantic relationship" as an excuse to make two characters do those things as if aspec people are only acceptable as long as they still participate in sex or romance to some extent.

What about us ace and aro people who don't want either of those things?

[recent-rose]

hey i dont go here but jayce's speech about viktor in s2e9 isn't him saying 'u should never have tried to heal yourself, you were perfect the way u were x3' it was him saying that viktor's physical health never made him any less beautiful, never made him any less important, never made him any LESS, period. he wasn't saying viktor didn't need to pursue a cure for his ills like come on his motivation to invent hextech was to help people. to cure disease. viktor's first and foremost among them.

he said what he said because it was the thing viktor craved to hear most in his life, and that is why those were the words that punched through his defences even as the machine herald: jayce loved him wholly and unconditionally, healthy or ill, good or bad, human or inhuman. he would always be loved just the same.

[nat-20s]

It's a little embarrassing but the ending of the giggle GENUINELY changed my brain. I saw the main character get a happy ending by getting to live with their best friend forever and I genuinely haven't felt any pressure to date or be in a romantic relationship since

[notcryingtoday]

I'm actually really angry at people saying that Kitty being into girls is unecessary because we kinda all agree that Minho will be the endgame and like... No it's not? Kitty is a great bi rep in my opinion. She had important romances with both a girl and a (two kinda) boys.

People say she was shown as "boys crazy" and first of all, no she wasn't? She really loves romance, as we see it in All the Boys I've Loved Before but that's all and she only had one boyfriend, the guy from season 1 (Dae I think but I'm not sure). And you can be bi and have a preference, that doesn't make you less bi. You can be bi without having ever date, or having only date one gender.

It's her sexuality, part of her identity. Even if it wasn't a whole storyline, it wouldn't be unecessary, but there it's like, a huge part of the series. Her feelings for Yuri are important. Her ending up with Minho will never change the fact that she's bi and it's cool to have this kinda rep. She can be in a "straight" relationship while being bi.

We know the huge biphobia bi girls dating men face, even within the community. People either say they're straight and faking it for attention, or that they're lesbians and in denial. Both is harmful. Straight boys sometimes date bi girls while having prejudices (like fetishizing them) and some lesbians refuse to date them because they "will obviously choose a boy over them". Bi people in general are also often seen as huge cheaters.

Bi rep is great and important. Especially bi girls rep and for teenagers. XO Kitty did a great job at making the relationship with Yuri really as great as with other characters, I didn't feel like it was thrown in to "bait" people: they have chemistry, screentime, a great storyline, development and super cute scenes.

(However, I think there is cheating involved in season 2 which suck but I haven't watch it yet so... Anyway not my point and as long as Kitty isn't the one who cheated we're out of bi stereotypes)

( Also, more personally, as a mixed and bi person, I do like seeing a mixed character who happend to be bi. Stuck in the "not quite this, not quite that" who's even more strong when you're white-passing/in a straight relationship. It's not because I grew up away from my mother's country that I'm less mixed, it's not because I'm dating someone from the opposite gender that I'm less bi. No one gets to tell me about stuff I happen to be born like and that are parts of my identity. It shaped me into who I am today for many different reasons.)

[lesbianscxlly]

as much as i love msr their best-friendship in season 1-3 is my favorite part of the show ever

[one-blaze-of--glory]

the struggle when you want to go "finally! a story that focuses on friendship over romance!" but then you start shipping them. I'm sorry aro nation (I'm aro) i do like the idea of stories focused on friendship but sometimes the chemistry is just stronger than intended

[joyfulhottubfuntik]

I love it so much when gf fanworks focus on Stan and Ford's codependency after the end of the show. I feel it just makes so much sense for them, both with how Ford had this "i only need one person in my life" mentality for a large portion of his life, him having almost lost his brother and the two just not having all that much time to spend together due to them being, well, old. Ford would latch onto Stan hard and Stan would just be happy to have him back and not really complain about it.

But, unlike back when they were kids, they can deal with it in a healthy way cause they now have other family and friends

[srslylini]

My best friend alerted me with like the best sentence in context to any queer relationship but this is more taking Caitvi into focus:

The way people talk about queer media is sometimes such a good litmus test for their views on gender

a power dynamic in a hetero relationship is just as bad as one in a queer relationship. Sentences that are weird and downright abusive in hetero relationship are exactly that in queer relationships as well. Character A not apologizing to Character B for something absolutely disgustingly bad is just as bad if they were queer.

Just because we are starving for representation doesn't mean we have to eat rotten food and enjoy it.

[sapphic-bf]

i rly wish i gave a fuck abt timebomb in S2 but i just don’t. that ship is so boring and uninteresting to me, and ep. 7 literally did absolutely nothing for me.

the entire time, i was just like “… so when is ekko going to go back to the main universe so we can actually continue the story instead of wasting it on this filler that doesn’t matter?” lmao. 😭

[sugarcubetikki]

If you didn’t know, Christian Linke recently said that they weren’t intending to make Jayce and Viktor romantic but just to show a really close relationship between men which they believe is underrepresented in media.

Of course, as expected, antis have taken this as a way to shut down gay interpretations and bring up how “romanticising a relationship that is meant to be brotherly demeans it”. It is definitely important to have relationships that depict multiple forms of love and yes at its core we can all agree that Jayce and Viktor are two men who love each other.

I believe that despite what Christian Linke says, the way one chooses to interpret that love ultimately falls on the viewer, as their relationship/love can resonate with people in many different ways.

I personally view Jayvik to be partners, friends and lovers because it resonates with me as a queer fan. I personally see a lot of queercoding in the way they were written and that makes it hard for me to perceive them as not having a romantic love.

For example:

Viktor being shown to take Mel’s place in many scenes like Jayce hallucinating him with after Mel and he’s wearing her black eyeshadow.

Mel x Jayce sex scene overlaps with the scene of Viktor becoming entwined with the Hexcore in a way that it makes it difficult for you to even focus on Mel and Jayce.

Amanda mentioning that Viktor was projecting his relationship with Jayce onto Sky this season - the whole science-y bond.

Viktor making the “this is not the bedroom” joke when Mel catches him and Jayce trying to sneak into the lab.

This all resonates with me as queer comphet and their love for each other being superior to that of their romantic interests also feels very queer for me.

And I have the right to interpret them in that way. I respect the way Christian Link interprets them and has shown to depict them but I personally do not see their relationship in the same way and I believe characters are just as much as the audience’s as they are the creators so my interpretation is also valid.

(Also, creators genuinely don’t always agree with each other and they differ in opinions when it comes to interpretations of characters/relations whilst Christian Linke may not see their love as romantic. I believe there might be other creators who do which could explain some of the ambiguity in their scenes).

Also, to the antis, queer love is also a valid form of love, it can exist with/without physical intimacy and still be queer.

Perceiving Jayvik as queer does not demean their love for each other at all. Perceiving them as having a platonic or brotherly bond isn’t wrong either. All forms of love are pure. Queer or not. Jayce and Viktor’s love for each other is pure and can be seen no matter how you interpret it.

The beauty of a story or a piece of art is enabling the perceived to interpret it in a way it resonates with them and it may not be what the creator intended and it may not be what resonates with you but it is still a valid interpretation.

That is to say I also respect platonic readings of their relationship despite not personally seeing it because you have the right to interpret them in the way you want to. And I am asking you to do the same for me and give me the right to interpret them in the way I want to.

[pianokantzart]

I’ve heard some Mario Movie criticizers call Mario and Luigi’s brotherly chemistry “forced” and “unrealistic,” usually when comparing it to the 1993 movie. Thoughts?

I don't see it. Mario and Luigi's relationship on screen looked to me like just a slightly more affectionate version of me and my sisters' relationship. Didn't feel forced at all.

It's especially weird to compare it to the 1993 movie. That Mario and Luigi might have been technically brothers, but the dynamic was more father-son in nature. It's comparing apples and oranges.

[stinky-bus]

I always find it so interesting how those people on reddit and other places will go after queer ships being like “why cant people have same sex best friends anymore? Why do you guys make everything gay?” which has the potential to be a valid point about the instances where people actually do this, but they are almost always complaining about it under discussions of the ships with the most queer coding or the ones that often heavily border the line between platonic and romantic affection.

Like yes, i totally agree we need more rep of close and intimate platonic relationships (especially those between men, where they are able to be emotionally vulnerable and connected with eachother and it just being that, a meaningful friendship) but the examples you are using ARE the gay ones.

[hephanna]

can't believe i'm still seeing anti-Charles/Edwin arguments in the form of "but there isn't enough representations of male friendship in media not everything has to be romantic (i.e., gay)." in what universe is there suddenly an influx of mainstream gay romances? Fanfic & Ao3 is not, in fact, a good indication of what is actually mainstream - fanfic specifically fills in the GAP left behind in mainstream - there is a reason a lot of popular ships are just, in fact, canonically male best friends (or female best friends).

it's fine not to be keen on Charles/Edwin but honestly I thought the whole "we need more male x male besties :(( otherwise we're gonna have a surplus of gay romances" was considered outdated last decade.

[anonymous-ace72]

Casual reminder that Reyna’s one of my favorite characters.

[randomtheidiot]

Every time an allo person suggests a QPR as a “romance in everything but the name” alternative to outright romantic shipping with an aromantic character, a puppy dies.

[sirlancenotalot]

the fact that people still use the "no one would talk to a friend that way" "no one would grieve for someone like that if it was just platonic" etc arguments to prove a ship is canon is so annoying to me. yes i get it, we got queerbaited hard but where does it say that romance has to be higher than a friendship or no one said friends couldn't also be lovers or vice versa....? i normally say "popular media tropes that usually are for romance" when i talk about fiction but pulling a blanket statement like "NO ONE talks to a friend that way" is so invalidating to so much of our queer experiences. the beauty of queer friendship literally lies in the emotional fulfilment we get from our friends in a way that i don't normally see in cishet friendships for whatever reasons. so idk it's just been bothering me to see these kinds of posts every now and then. "you wouldn't do [x] for your friends" i would actually. i would sell my soul for them. i would kill for them and kill myself for them. i would do anything for my friends that i would do for a partner. the "proof" for a ship doesn't have to be by invalidating their friendship. also like aren't most of the ships so powerful when they're also each other's closest friends? do y'all not think of your partners as your best friends?