#Representaion

[a-little-revolution]

Representation matters because visual media is the fastest way to influence public thought, propaganda is effective, and fear tactics work to impact political movements and civil rights ✌️

[lawbreaker13]

I may be ten years late to this take but Schmidt is sincerely the best Jewish representation anywhere in the media

[hilacopter]

hey remember that time social justice activists boycotted a film company into erasing jewish representation from their movie

[librariansrose]

I think it’s fine to have headcanons for your favorite ships but if the dev themselves made a statement about their own characters sexuality/orientation then you shouldn’t make jokes about disrespecting that canon.

As someone who is an Unlabeled person, I’m really grateful that Teruko Tawaki is also unlabeled and sports that flag. It’s representation that I’m grateful for because unlabeled characters aren’t very well known in media at all.

My point is. Please don’t bash canon representation because you don’t agree with it. They aren’t your characters.

It’s fine to have your own headcanons, takes, what have you but at the end of the day. Canon is canon.

I get annoyed too when people conveniently erase the fact that David is Bi but not open with his feelings about that fact. That is incredible representation because growing up it is how I felt about my relationship with labels since I didn’t understand my feelings.

DRDT is aimed at an older crowd that’s on the cusp of when LGBTQIA+ wasn’t widely accepted or even legal like it is now.

So representations like Nico being closet NB, David being a repressed and conflicted bisexual man as well as Teruko choosing to be explicitly unlabeled is incredibly important representation that shouldn’t be ignored or overwritten just because you don’t agree with the creators narrative.

My point isn’t to pick a fight with anyone, mind you. I am genuinely just asking you to consider why Dev has written their characters in the way that they have and that it should be respected.

[sophsun1]

"The fate of Moya's true Pilot was sealed at that moment. So you see, Aeryn - it wasn't really you who caused her death. It was - me. If I hadn't agreed to come, Velorek may never have found a replacement Pilot."

FARSCAPE

2.05 The Way We Weren't

[readingforaneternity]

One of my favorite complaints that *those* white readers, movie, and tv watchers have is that there is too much represnetation in media now. That they don’t see themselves in media anymore, and therefore cannot relate.

(Which is such a load bc white ppl have literally created a system where it’s just them, them, them. You can find a full white casted movie, tv show, and book much easier than you can with marginalized group rep. At least rep that is truthful to our lives and not romanticized and dramatized to spare white feelings.)

And this complaint is so funny to me as if I, a black girl in america, didn’t grow up watching and reading white stories over and over again. Stories I didn’t relate to or see myself in.

Now that’s not to say there wasn’t any representation. Of course there were the token poc characters that got three lines if they were lucky. And those token poc characters were written only to help the main white characters realize that the world isn’t as it seems. And “yes Jennifer, my skin color does in fact affect the way people perceive and treat me. Even you!”

The point isn’t about relatability. It is about the lesson. That’s what stories are. But with actually casting, hiring writers, directors, and producers who are from marginalized groups the lessons become life and it makes it real.

[daisytarget]

This is a lookbook / illustrated guide to @42donotpanic's amazing fic titled "Not Just a Mask" in which Clint and Bucky, two disabled queer men, meet during / following the pandemic through online dating and explore themes of intimacy, vulnerability, and accommodation as they grow closer.

The fic was created as part of the 2024 @winterhawkbigbang as was this lookbook. I had so much fun working with Panic and my fellow artists, whose works are linked on the ao3 page for the fic (AND ARE INCREDIBLE OH MY GODDD)! This lookbook was created using Canva and uses image descriptions. The playlist mentioned on slide #13 can be found on Spotify below!

[whispersofmoon]

ROMANTIC LOVE.

A STRANGE THING, TO ME. THOUGH IT CAN BE.

A

USEFUL

TOOL.

[sadistic-softie]

I have a lot of fun making themed playlists that I slowly add to over time. I Have this little set of playlists that are all instrumental pieces under the concept/hypothetical theme of "What if I was a datable character in a dating sim game?" and I kind of think it would be cool if I found other people with a playlist or a few themed like that. I like diving into peoples minds musically.

(Sorry the playlists are short. I promise they usually grow with time...)

If someone sees this and is somehow inspired to make their own I would love to see it listen to it.

[brieflyinfatuated]

Nice to see some poly relationship rep in Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. wholesome. (also what a great name for a show! They really excelled here today)

[mormonbooks]

Ariana: The Making of a Queen

The first book in the Ariana Trilogy by Rachel Ann Nunes

Mormon Representation Level - 2.7 Stars

Summary - This is the story of a young woman named Ariana (Ari) who lives in Paris in the 1990s. At the start of the story, she has lost her brother, been pushed away from her parents, and fallen in with a party crowd. She gets married and has a child, but her marriage is full of ups and downs, and eventually ends after a tragedy. Then, she meets the LDS missionaries, learns about families being sealed, and starts to find new purpose in life - her faith holds her up as she makes friends, gets a degree, and works to reconcile old wounds. She also discovers new love, and hopes for an Eternal family one day.

Spoilers under the cut

1. Well written - 3 stars The prose and dialog feel like they would fit a more old fashioned story. It wasn't until I finished the first chapter and saw a mention of a TV that I realized it was in the 1990s, not the 1890s. Eventually I got used to it, but it never really felt as modern as it was supposed to be.

I'm not normally one to get hung up on plot pacing and structure, but it was all over the place in this book. I felt like Ari's life moved far too quickly from one moment to the next, and like I never really got to know any of the characters. What we do see of them is pretty flat. When we do see a character arc, they're all pretty much the same (sinner -> member of the church)

2. Fun level - 3 stars I enjoyed parts of it. I will admit that I was touched/felt the spirit at moments in the story and I was fully invested during some of the turmoil that characters went through. If you want to read a kinda cheesy story about a girl joining the church, discovering the power of forgiveness, and turning her life around, I wouldn't turn you away from this book.

3. Complex faith - 1.5 stars It's DEFINITELY a propaganda book. You can tell the author was trying to include lots of trials and doubts and questions, but they all show up in the same way they would in a conference talk. They get resolved quickly and rather miraculously, through sharing the gospel and turning to God. It doesn't make space for nuance, or living in doubt, or choosing a different path. The narrative is definitely saying "join the church and be faithful and your life will always be better."

The most poignant moments are when Ariana works to forgive people who have deeply hurt her. I will say the "spiritual" highlight of this novel is it's focus on the power of the atonement to forgive yourself and people who you thought you'd never forgive. It doesn't say you have to let people back into your life (Ari goes to see her ex in prison to tell him that she forgave him and tell him about the church, but doesn't really stay in touch with him after that or anything) but it emphasizes the power and healing that forgiveness can bring people on all sides. Even this feels a little over simplified, but you can tell the author is trying to show the complexity of it.

4. Homophobia scale - 2.5 Stars It never mentions queer people at all, but the amatonormativity is real. Basically every single character gets straight married eventually. Hard to headcanon anyone as queer.

5. Mormon weird - 3.5 stars It was very much realistic fiction throughout, and although a lot of the religious stuff could reasonably be swapped to other Christian faiths, there was some stuff that was uniquely Mormon. It was fun for me to read about missionaries, and callings, and giving talks in church, and the Book of Mormon, and a ton of other stuff that is just normal life for Mormons that I never see in fiction.

The most unique moment occurred at the end of the book, when Ari and her new husband are sitting in the Celestial room, and they look over and see Antoine and Nette (who are both dead) sitting in the room with them. People in the LDS church talk about seeing dead loved ones/ancestors in the temple often, but it's definitely not something I've ever read in a novel before.

6. Diversity of characters - 3.5 Stars They live in France, and I do not so idk if that will affect my judgement. There are a lot of blonde characters. I think that Monique might not be white, given the description of her and her child's hair? But I don't know. As mentioned before, no queer people either. However, the main character is a woman and most of the characters who help her, support her, and drive the plot forward, are also women.

7. Other problematic stuff - 2 Stars It really feels to me like the author doesn't know anything about drugs, or what people who do drugs are like. Everything before Ari joins the church feels like a cardboard caricature of a stereotype (I put this redundancy on purpose). That being said, I also don't know that much about drugs, so I can't properly judge, but it all just feels really hollow.

It also feels like the author doesn't understand the reasons why people might have issues with the church, or the reality that not everyone you recommend to the missionaries will join. There are just far too many coincidences for me. Far too many people who listen to one heartfelt speech from Ari and willingly accept the Book of Mormon, and 2 pages later they're getting baptized. That's not what happens, and I don't think it's what should happen.

Conclusion: It's not a BAD book. But I wouldn't really call it a good book either. If you're looking for a comfy churchy book that will make you feel good about being a member, this is for you. If you want a book that feels relevant and real, or a book that non-members could read to get a good idea of who we are -- that's not this book.

[strawberri-syrup]

thinking about baron from the baronies again

[twentiethbeef]

I'm the model in this photo! I was wearing was wearing the Nozomi sweater that recently came out in it.

Brought the huge ace flag out over the weekend.

[classicsandfantasy]

Something I loved about Skeleton Crew was the casual representaion. You have a black proganist who has a widower dad, the disabled daughter of two lesbians (who are Asian), the child of a single girlboss mother, and Neel. Who has the only 'normal' family dynamic in the group, and happens to be a blue elephant child who also eats through his fingers. And they all just, exist. Together. With no issue. I love it.

[readingforaneternity]

So I’ve just finished this Netflix series called One Day. I saw one tiktok about it and filed it away in the old noggin to watch later. Mainly bc the FMC was a WOC and all WOC deserve to be the main characters in a love story.

I will say, I am absolutely shattered. Actually sick right now. I won’t say what happens, or if it’s good or bad (bc I can be shattered in a good way). I will say you should watch it.

Each episode takes place on the same day which is July 15 starting in 1988 and ending in 2007. It’s 14 episodes long (one of the reasons why I ended up watching it bc everything is 7 episodes long now😒).

Anyway, I could say a lot, but I’ll leave it to you. I highly recommend.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I'm having a lot of thoughts and feelings about Eddie and clothing and being in the closet.

Because Eddie being shirtless is a thing - a thing that happens when he's in a spiral - and its always been a thing - right from his introduction. (and it kind of ties in with the black singlet - emotional vulnerability thing he has going on too)

Eddies introduction - him putting on a shirt - going from shirtless - to clothed - Eddie has upped his and CHristophers whole life an dmoved them to LA - he's been questioning if hes done the right thing - the shirt being put on - covering him up - is showing that it is the right thing - that the uniform is a safe space for him.

Then we have the Shannon of it all - they fall back into bed - and shirtless Eddie is spiralling out - not wanting to actually have the conversation about what they are doing (Shannon has to come to the firehouse to get that conversation to happen) he puts a tee back on so he can step back into dad mode.

Eddies fight club era - is a massive and obvious spiral that he is in - dealing with the death of Shannon and all his feelings around the fact she'd asked for a divorce, plus the fact that he could've lost his son in the tsunami, but Buck saved him and Eddie has complicated feelings developing there that he's not in a position to either recognise or deal with. We never see him put a shirt on here - just a zip front hoodie - that he doesn't zip up - symbolic of not actually dealing with anything - just sort of hiding it.

We also have a flashback scene in Eddie begins where he is shirtless in the militrary hospital - once more it is Eddie vulnerable and exposed and dealing with a traumatic event.

Then we have Eddie after leaving the 118 to work at dispatch - we see him start shirtless - essentially when he's at his most vulnerable and then as he finds a way to build up some new walls for himself we see the black singlet appear and then we move on to various tee his spiral happen - we never see him put a shirt on here - he does get into uniform, but its always cut to rather than watching him actually get dressed. He hasn't dealt with his issues at this point and the implication is the walls he's built up - that are letting him pretend to be fine are flimsy - then a bit later we get his breakdown

We get no shirtless Eddie in season 6 - its a season about him dealing with and healing from a large portion of his trauma.

In season 7 we've had him shirtless several times already. Firstly in the locker room - Eddie is shirtless whilst talking about first dates but then we get Eddie putting on his shirt - its denim - much more robust than anything we've seen him put on in this way before as soon as Buck reveals he's single.

Then when Marisol was moving in - not going to go into the parallels with Shannon here - and Eddie starts to spiral. We've already had the closet conversation by this point, so the fact that we have him shirtless essentially in the aftermath of that conversation is an interesting choice, we also don't see him putting on a shirt here! instead we are left with a visual representaion of a part of Eddie he had tried to keep locked up newly exposed.

And now we have this bachelor party - where it seems to be that Eddie is losing his shirt bit by bit (cannot wait to get the context for this!)and ending up in just the collar.

He wakes up in the bathtub in just the collar before he puts the suit jacket back on, in much the same way as he put the hoodie on back in season 3. Its an indicator that while he's covering things up, he isn't actually hiding them - that they are still visible for people to see if they go looking. And while I'm on that subject - the fact the collar is the thing he's left wearing - literally playing into the religious theming of Eddies vulnerability because it is screaming dog collar!

The show making such a clear visual indicator that connects to the last time we saw Eddie shirtless is very telling - its indicating to those looking, that Eddie might've asked Marisol not to move in and taken a step towards dealing with his catholic guilt, but the reality is that he hasn't dealt with it at all and that it is still very much a part of his story - his arc.

THere seems to be something in the soft underbelly of who Eddie Diaz is, that reveals its self for these brief moments, only to be covered up and hidden once more - with varying degrees of sucess. This season its especially loud and telling.

If we look at this season more closely - all of them are interesting moments, and all of them are connected to closets or defacto closets. The locker room - Eddie's locker is open while he is shirtless - he stands in front of it - a locker is a form of closet - its for storing his clothing etc while he's at work - a place where he stores is civvies - his real self. He only moves away from the locker and puts a shirt on, when the conversation moves from him onto to Buck - Bucks vulnerability is not Eddies and so he doesn't need to be shirtless - in fact he needs to not be - to shield himself from Bucks vulnerability.

Then we have the bedroom - which while not technically a closet, is Eddies safe space - a place where he can be his full self (in theory) and shirtless Eddie has one of his biggest vulnerabilities revealed in that scene - its so big that he cannot cover it up and hide it - his catholic guilt. This is the first time we're seeing Eddie's room since Buck was in there at the end of season 5 helping patch the holes in the walls. It makes sense that Eddie having a moment where his catholic guilt is revealed becasue even if it isn't directly a closet it - indirectly because he was going to start putting things in his closet - was going to let Marisol into his closet.

The implications of him not being able to let Marisol into his closet are pretty telling in my opinion. Even the fact that she was coming with her own armoire is in and of itself speaks volumes

And now we have bachelor party Eddie - kicking in metaphorical closet doors (whilst kicking in actual closed doors) and falling asleep in bath tubs whilst wearing pink!

The pink in combination with this idea that Eddie is vulnerable and heading towards dealing with his catholic guilt in the same way that he was heading towards dealing with his other trauma before. Pink - as I've talked about in the season 7 costume meta's is the colour of naivety or innocence. yes there is the idea that Eddie (and probably by extension, Buck) will be innocent in whatever ends up happening with Chimney.

But there is also the idea that this innocence and naivety plays into the fact we're seeing a lot of Eddie shirtless and the play into his vulnerability as well as Eddies catholic guilt and all the closet references. This idea that Eddies naively trying to ignore his catholic guilt, ignore his vulnerablity as well as the fact that his catholic guilt stems back to his childhood - when he was effectively an innocent.

yeah I have a lot of thoughts on all of it