#Women during WWII

[carolearlycooney]

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

Dear Fellow Reader, Welcome to March!  A month of madness? That seems to be what it is famous for but this year it has so much more – Spring Forward, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter – a whole cornucopia of spring!  Get out the patent leather shoes!  Meanwhile, I am sitting here warming my hands on a cup of tea!  It is sometimes hard to overcome the damp, cold here in the Midwest. I am happy to tell…

[sungwanns]

Obsessed with the fact that Spencer has the hand dexterity to knit this scarf, but can’t eat with chopsticks

[kkoraki]

We were elitist because students from aviation and pedagogical institutions and universities joined the army, and that is why the atmosphere in our detachments was intellectually high. We had serious discussions, we took a record player with us and listened to classical music, and then we swore not to be in love with anybody until the end of the war. We thought that our main task was to fight and not to have dates. In 1943 there was a kind of breakthrough in the war at Kursk. At last our people realized and could see the victory, and that's why we permitted ourselves to be loved! Our detachment often had the same airfield as the men. We had dates and were in love with the boys. But I want to tell you that I speak rather often before young people, and I tell them that only during the war did I feel an atmosphere of man's nobility, a readiness to help. After the war, I never felt that in men's attitudes toward myself or the ladies. […] After the war I was fed up with aviation, and I decided to choose the most humane profession - teaching. I graduated from a teachers' training institute and worked as a teacher for ten years in secondary schools. Then I defended my dissertation, took the doctor's degree, and finally moved up to the position of director of the Institute of Theory and History of Education. And really I am happy. It was a noble war for our people; it was a great patriotic, enthusiastic feeling for all young people. For example, my younger brother was seventeen years old, and he added one year to his age to be accepted into the army. He was only at the front one year when he was killed near Kiev. His friend wrote to me how he had been killed, and I went there because it was twenty kilometers from where our regiment was stationed. I rushed there and opened his grave, and with their help I put him into a coffin, and then we reburied him. I could never do that now, when I'm sixty-eight years old, but then I was so young and brave, and he was so young, eighteen years old, and he had never even kissed a girl. Eighteen, and he was a commander of some detachment. We lost so many, and the best people, the best men. Some specialists think that we spoiled our genetic fund because we lost the best. The first to fight and the first to be killed. The last of my war experience is that I have more than one hundred sisters. We regularly meet twice a year in front of the Bolshoi Theater on the second of May and the eighth of November. Outsiders look, and they can't understand old ladies that sing and make noise. Of course this war was a just war, and that is why we are proud of our participation.

Lieutenant Zoya Pozhidayeva, "A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II" by Anne Noggle

(Though she never mentions it in her interview, Lt. Pozhidayeva met her own husband during the war in a very funny episode - Captain Klavdiya Terekhova-Kasatkina's interview tells the story.)

[the-dalseum-duet]

satis writing an ACTUALLY CANON SCENE??

OH GOD!! what has gotten into her?? (hint: it starts with an “A” and ends with a “merican politics”)

anyway. i’ve wanted to write this scene for a while but finding the right words to do it is very difficult. it’s kind of awkward but. y’know what. it’s okay it gets the idea out there. it’s ok for art to be messy and not perfect. a byproduct of the lore overhaul, please enjoy a glimpse into Dalseum’s history and a tiny exploration into Noeul’s thought process (with even more in the tags bc I love talking abt him. fascinating fascinating man)

“THIS is your man?” tag @svwhssftr (directed at kai) (sorry to flashbang you w political commentary after talking abt sex for like a day straight)

In the blink of an eye, it all went dark. The flashing cameras, the smug glances sharper than knives the Council shot into the crowd, the glitter of the afternoon sun on The Palace’s floors— all of it. It was reduced to nothing but cold, damp darkness. 

The safety of the quiet was unnerving. Charlie’s mind clawed at the imaginary walls to escape into the dazzling ocean of the paparazzi, but her body remained idle. Her body instinctively leaned in closer to Noeul. 

He lit a match from inside his coat’s pocket—illuminating what may have been a teardrop on his cheek— and flicked it into some long and hollow metal contraption. It caught the insides and exploded into a river of crackling blue flames, revealing a mossy labyrinth of walls and chambers. It was all so empty, except for the smell of burning oil.

“There’s a lot of history in here,” Noeul whispered, removing his coat to crouch beside the aqueduct of stagnant oil. 

Charlie didn’t say a word. Her eyes were transfixed on the blurry mass of granite awaiting her. 

“We were Korean territory until the Silla dynasty. Most of the peninsula was unified under their rule, so Dalseum was naturally the next step. The warriors from the mainland tried to overtake us, but we slaughtered them. They underestimated us.”

“The hell does that have to do with this?” Charlie choked. 

“Dalseum was under the rule of its only empress in history. Her army commanded such respect that the Korean warriors fled after the first battle, and then Dalseum was forgotten to time. After the unification, they had more pressing issues than a small island with few resources.”

Charlie looked back at him, her infuriated eyes glinting in the firelight. 

“But the Dalseum government couldn’t have predicted their cowardice. They constructed a hideout underground in case of an emergency. The layout makes no sense because it’s meant to be a maze. If the officials themselves could barely figure it out, then their enemies had no chance.”

“But why are we here?” 

“You know how the Japanese imperialists occupied Korea during World War II?”

“Uh-huh.”

“A small Imperialist faction conquered Dalseum shortly before the war ended. Our bohemian government was unprepared for violent military conflict, so it crumbled. They turned our history into prison cells. The Japanese locked away everyone who dared to resist them—members of my own family, especially. These walls have seen torture you can’t even imagine.”

“You’re saying this is my prison now?”

“Welcome home, doll.” Noeul almost smiled. The fire, despite being feet away, burned Charlie’s face. 

“After the war ended, the Japanese soldiers returned home. They behaved like monsters, but they were humans with families and children. What was left of the original local government was in shambles, and my great-great-grandfather took advantage of the ruins. These halls haven’t been used as a prison ever since. We haven’t needed to use them.”

“I don’t understand, then. Why are you keeping me here?” 

“Because otherwise you’d be dead, Charlie.” Noeul shakily breathed. “If some force threatens Dalseum, it’s our right to kill it in the name of self-defense. My ancestors single-handedly poisoned dozens of the Japanese invaders. Dalseum wouldn’t exist without us. I have every right to exert my power on someone like you. I’m only showing you mercy because I love you.”

“But you love your tradition built upon oppression more.”

“Oppression?” Noeul laughed. “My family freed our people.”

“But they destroyed the old government— the one that persisted for centuries.”

“The values on which Dalseum was built were no longer effective. The feeble monarchy was nothing but show businesses, anyway. If we want to stay afloat, we can’t risk losing what we have to the uninformed decisions of an outsider. We nearly lost everything to a fascist regime— I can’t let history repeat itself.”

You’re no better than them if you imprison those who disagree with you, Charlie thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. The walls of firearms lining Noeul’s walls flashed in her head.

“Surely, you understand my reasoning.” Noeul brushed a stray curl out of her quivering eyes.

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t imprison me,” Charlie laughed. She had to laugh— she’d kill him if she didn’t. 

“If you loved me, then you wouldn’t have broken the one fucking law you had to follow.”

“I don’t love you,” Charlie said. “Not anymore, at least, but that should have no bearing on my freedom. On my existence.”

“I don’t care how you feel about me,” Noeul lied. “You sowed discourse in the Council—the one thing left of my father’s administration after he died— you deliberately cheated on me with another Council official, and you tried to start some petty little uprising once you started to face the consequences. You brought this all upon yourself.” 

“I didn’t try to start shit!” Charlie exclaimed, “I spoke out about Dalseum’s ridiculous policies and your treatment of me. You slept with the person who tried to assassinate me while we were still engaged, Noeul! I had no control over how people responded to the truth.”

“You knew exactly what you were doing. Our relationship issues should have no bearing on Dalseum’s politics.”

“It impacts all of Dalseum’s politics! We could have done so much—“

“There was never a ‘we.’ Sara put these delusions of grandeur in your head, and you believed her. I never once implied that you would have any power on the Council.”

“I was supposed to marry you,” Charlie started, her vocal cords tightening as she held back tears. “We were supposed to be equals. I left my whole family because I loved you. You were a good person, Noel. Why the hell do you refuse to change your ways?”

“Because ‘my ways’ have saved lives for generations.”

“But you know that everything you’re doing is wrong. You knew that sleeping with Sonnet was wrong, you knew that leaving your responsibilities to Sara and Gale was wrong, and you knew that doing this to me was wrong. Why the hell do you keep doing this? You’re not Noel anymore—you’re some heartless idiot who only cares about what some filthy rich people think about you.”

“I keep doing this because the safety of a nation and the tradition of my family is more important than my love life. That’s common fucking sense.” 

“This is so much more than your love life,” Charlie snapped. “I wanted to help you. I would have been a good empress. I shared my ideas with the Council— the Council loved me, Noel. Why can I not fit into your traditions?”

“Because you’re everything they stand against! You’re everything my family fought to destroy!”

“What? What do they stand against? Helping the people in the Wasteland? Loosening the borders for people who are trapped here?”

“It was never about any of that. Charlie, you know that.” 

“No, I don’t!” Charlie cried. “I don’t understand why fleeing a country that no longer values me is treasonous! I don’t want to spend my entire life down here, Noel, you know that! It’ll kill me.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before trying to undo the progress of my country. You have no fucking stake in this, Blaire. Dalseum is my responsibility, and I’ll be damned before I let some inbred whore think she knows better than me.” 

Charlie inhaled. “Then let me go.”

“What?”

“If I’m nothing more than some Dixie dumbass to you, let me go home. I’m only wasting your resources down here.” 

“Because you agreed to this. You have to face the consequences of your actions. What did I tell you before you stepped foot here? No one comes in—“

“No one gets out,” they said in unison, Charlie’s tense shoulders dropping. 

“Someday, I’ll let you go— but you’re a danger to Dalseum, the Council, and yourself.” Noeul turned to the exit, the clicking of his pristine heels echoing in the endless nothingness. 

“So are you,” Charlie replied. “The only difference between us is your family name. It’s a real shame— it should have been ours.” 

Noeul didn’t respond. He hung his head for a minute and fumbled with a key attached to a chain in his pocket. 

“Is it true?” he whispered. “What you said during the trial?”

“No,” Charlie admitted. “I made it up as a last-ditch effort. Thank God, I’m not. I couldn’t carry a Sang in good conscience.” 

“You’ve proven my point,” Noeul said, almost grinning. “I can’t have a liar on the Council. I can’t trust a word you say, Blaire.” 

“That damn Council is built on lies, and you know that.” 

“It sure as hell isn’t built on women like you.” Noeul rammed the key into its slot and pried the stone wall open. “I always knew you’d amount to nothing more than your body. You almost had me fooled, but I’m glad I chose Chea over you—carrying on my bloodline would have been all you were good for.”

“Good luck getting Chea to do that for you.”

“I don’t need luck. I have someone with half a brain to replace you.” 

Charlie couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Like I said, good luck with them.” 

“You’ve always been a bitch.” Noeul wedged his foot through the hidden door and disappeared into the bright, blinding Palace halls she once called home.

But not before she managed to scream, “Watch for the hemlock! You’re all next!”

[brehaaorgana]

I just met an older black woman named cookie who told me she was traveling (which she "never does!") from (or after?) the family matriarch's funeral and before I could even finish my condolences she lit up and said "she lived to be 104!" And I was like "WOW she really lived life. Good for her!" Also like wow, imagine what she saw.

Cookie was so proud of family matriarch. Me too, honestly. (Another table opened up for her and her husband so they moved one over.)

When she got up, she said to me she's off to the wild unknown (traveling! A thing she doesn't much do!) and to wish her luck so I did.

Idk whose grandma and grandpa I just met but I love them. if you happen to have a grandma cookie please let her know she is a delight.

[lilhawkeye3]

A Crash Course to Kendrick's Super Bowl Performance, from a Black Woman

Note: this does NOT go in depth into all of the song's lyrics. I don't have time to recount two decades of his discography. This is just a summary of the performance itself.

Let's start with the first visual we get:

UNCLE SAM - most notably recognized from WWII American wartime propaganda, Uncle Sam is the personification of American patriotism and freedom. The term "uncle" is also evocative of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom's Cabin, an abolitionist book that aided in inciting the Civil War. Uncle is also a very common term (both endearment and derogatory) towards Black men (eg. "unc"). Samuel L Jackson was fantastic.

Uncle Sam also resembles a circus ringleader, notable for my next point:

THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME - no, not Super Bowl. The GAG is us the people being pitted against each other: through late-stage capitalism, through the culture war, through class warfare, through being built of the backs of slaves. We are all players in the GAG because none of us on this site were the oligarchs seated at the inauguration.

This is also seen as Kendrick's stage was a Play Station controller. Not only did it remind of circus rings visually, but it was a game battle stage. The Great American Game is a battle royale of the commoners for the amusement of the rich whites.

Remember the foods / Them color was tin and brown / But now they 100 and blue - For this I'll just say, look what the last election said about lowering the price of eggs... and look at the prices now.

The revolution about to be televised / You picked the right time / But the wrong guy - Election 2024 once more. *Edit to add, the first part of this lyric is in reference to the Black Liberation Song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. Thanks to everyone who mentioned that.

THE FLAG DANCERS - yes, the dancers formed the US flag... off of the backs of Black people. Not a single white person in sight, and that's true of the cotton pickers in the fields. Plantations are part of how the US came to economic prominence after being a "backwater" colony. Remember tobacco? Cotton? Our bloodlines do. *Edit to add: they also all piled out of a clown car. The US flag in a clown car? Brilliant.

The red and blue dancers are also notable for representing the Crips and Bloods, two infamous street gangs. The dance in Not Like Us is the Crip Walk. I recommend researching more on your own time about them, but just know they are a large part of the stereotype of Black people being "ghetto."

TOO LOUD, TOO RECKLESS, TOO GHETTO. Do you really know how to play the game? - This is exactly what Black people, especially Black men, get told all the time. It's why we change our names on resumes if they sound "too Black." It's why we codeswitch in non-Black company. This is especially rich considering how non-Black people love our culture and love to make money off of us, as the latter part of the quote points to. And it's even more profound during the Super Bowl-- the NFL is majority Black players.

STREET LIGHT A CAPELLA -- "thug" stereotype dancers to counteract the a capella connotations, with Uncle Sam then saying that Kendrick figured out "bringing other street guys around being a culture cheat code." Yes, this is a direct hit at Drake (listen to "Not Like Us") but also politically. Look up "model minority". Notably I would point to Candace Owens, or the Miami Venezuelan political group that's been in the news recently, especially as this directly led to Kendrick being surrounded by...

DANCERS IN WHITE -- it's white America. That's... that's the allegory.

NOT LIKE US TEASER -- Kendrick says "Not Like Us" is "their favorite song." -> he means white people specifically here. It comes after he's surrounded by all white dancers, the women around him who are his call and response are also in white (my opinion, they represent the industry). He's saying "Not Like Us" is the favorite of yts because it is about BLACK MEN FIGHTING. This again is reflected in the video game stage and ringleader Uncle Sam.

SZA -- instead of giving what they want, we see SZA. She's one of Drake's exes and Kendrick has always supported her.

ALL THE STARS -- This was in the first Black Panther movie, which I recommend you watch. Rest in Power Chadwick. Notably, this movie was incredibly mainstream as a major Marvel movie, and then we have Uncle Sam say...

"THAT'S WHAT AMERICA WANTS: NICE AND CALM. DON'T MESS THIS UP" -- translation: Marvel (the industry, America, etc.) wanted a safe, semi-pop song because white American likes safe pop songs, not Kendrick's usual heavy rap style about his life as a Black man! Don't mess up what you've got going mainstream for having this "Black rap feud" with Drake, who is an R&B model minority to white people because he's safe.

So what does Kendrick say?

IT'S A CULTURAL DIVIDE / IMMA GET IT ON THE FLOOR -- He was warned not to be political or apologetically Black for this Super Bowl performance, but he is using this big stage opportunity to speak out.

40 ACRES AND A MULE / THIS IS BIGGER THAN THE MUSIC -- 40 acres and a mule are what the freed slaves were promised. Instead, this land went to white sharecroppers. Research Jim Crow laws.

THEY TRIED TO RIG THE GAME / BUT YOU CAN'T FAKE INFLUENCE -- rig the election, rig the industry like with model minority Drake, rig the Great American Game with culture war to distract from active class warfare.

NOT LIKE US -- the only thing I'll mention because it made me holler is Serena Williams crip walking on Drake's metaphorical grave. She's another one of his exes.

TURN THE TV OFF -- exactly like he said! The TV is a distraction, the Super Bowl is a distraction, the mainstream news is often a distraction. Turn it off and get with your people!

GAME OVER — could not see this on my stream but at the end of the performance, the lights in the stadium spelled this out. The world is watching, America…

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar is a visionary and thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[pynkhues]

I happily accept your kiss on the mouth, though I feel like I don't deserve it, I got that info here (I've read about that particular fashion before -- I remember that woman also cut their hair short like victims of the guillotine! -- but I didn't make the connection, which is such a brilliant allusion). :)

https://x.com/slaystat/status/1817462732074926264

(x)

You absolutely do for bringing it to my attention, anon, haha, so thank you again! It's a really interesting look at that particular chapter of history. I'm always so fascinated to hear in general about how politics and society informs trends, and there's so much to mine when it comes to immortal characters in a show like this. Just!! Yes! Very Good Food!

[thefabelmans2022]

i think there should be more movies about living through the great depression i think they would be really interesting and resonant.

[truthdarespinbottles]

Nothing like reading a full novel in a day and crying your eyes out throughout the entire second half of it

[polish-art-tournament]

sculptures* round 1 poll 1

*and installations and some other stuff i didn't know where to put

Smok Wawelski (The Wawel Dragon) by Bolesław Chromy, 1969:

propaganda: This is a famous and beloved statue outside of Wawel Castle (pronounced Vavel) in Kraków. The story of Smok Wawelski goes that he'd been eating all the animals (and people?) in Kraków so the king ordered his sons to kill him, but obviously the dragon is very dangerous. The princes tricked him by filling animals with tar and leaving them out. He ate them and when he tried to breathe fire, his insides burned up. There is a second version that says a cobbler tricked him into eating a tar-filled sheep and the tar made him so thirsty he drank the Wisła (the Vistula, the river that runs through Kraków) until he burst.

Fun fact, those are not extra arms but rather extra heads. Also, you can text the dragon to ask him to breathe fire, and then he does. He gets thousands of texts a day.

about the artist: When I was a kid, I was sure this statue was the actual Smok Wawelski that had somehow carbonized over a thousand years, but alas no, a guy made it in 1969 out of bronze. Bronisław Chromy was an artist, a professor, and Dragon Mother. He passed away in 2017.

Pomnik Syreny (Monument of the Warsaw Mermaid) by Ludwika Nitschowa, 1939:

propaganda: The Warsaw Mermaid is the symbol of Warsaw, and her image is all over the city in various forms. She's a warrior and is depicted with a sword and shield. She lives in the Wisła River (the Vistula), which runs thru Warsaw. There are different variants of her legend, but they all have something to do with her involvement in the foundation of Warsaw and her eternal role in protecting the city.

There are several statues of Syrenka around Warsaw, but the one I picked was created by Ludwika Nitschowa in 1936. It is made of gunmetal, and it stands on the bank of the Wisła. The model for this statue was a Polish poetess named Krystyna Krahelska. Krahelska joined the Home Army during WWII and participated in the Warsaw Uprising. She was shot and killed while rescuing a wounded colleague. I think it's really special the way the myth of Syrenka played out like this -- she really did protect the city, like in the legend. Incidentally, this statue was one of the few pieces of art in Warsaw not destroyed by the war.

tldr: badass warrior mermaid, made by a badass woman, modeled on a badass woman. women!

about the artist: Ludwika Nitschowa is the creator several famous statues in Poland, including of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Copernicus, and several of Fryderyk Chopin.

both statues were submitted by @slaviclore 🐉🧜‍♀️

[horse-girl-anthy]

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Gender in Context

beneath the cut, I discuss the RGU's portrayal of gender in the context of 1990s Japan.

in Ikuhara's interview with Mari Kotani, he stated that in traditional Japanese society, "prince" meant "patriarch." the same is true in Western societies--there was a time when a prince would be an heir to a royal line. by 1997, this meaning had died out of large parts of the world. even the association between princes and traditional masculinity was fading. Saionji, the weakest, most pathetic man in the show, is a parody of historical Japanese masculinity, with his kendo and his blatantly regressive beliefs about women.

in RGU, prince may still mean patriarch, but in a far more subtle fashion. Ikuhara and Kotani discussed the changing expectations for men in the latter half of the 20th century--it became gauche to fight over a woman with one's brawn, so instead, power struggles were played out in the arena of looks and sex appeal. one can see this reflected in the character Akio, whose power as a prince arises from his ability to turn "easy sensual pleasure based on dependency" "into a selling point with which to control people."

Akio has his moments of showboating masculinity, but when preying on Utena, he operates by making himself seem non-threatening and soft.

not only that, but he purports to want to allow students to express their individuality and thus approves of Utena's masculine form of dress. this is a front--by the end of the show, he's telling Utena that girls shouldn't wield swords. thus, through Akio's character, the show argues that traditionalist patriarchy in Japan isn't gone, but instead has only been papered over with false progressivism.

with all that said, there seems to be more to the character. he's taken the family name of his fiance, Kanae, and whatever material power he has in the school is dependent upon her family. in Japanese society, this is considered a humiliating position to be in, something that only a shameless man would do. the show never gives the audience any insight into how Akio feels about this--is he unbothered entirely, or are his actions against the Ohtori family an expression of his repressed anger? does he harm the children under his care to compensate for his humiliation?

this aspect of Akio's character may seem irrelevant in light of the larger, immaterial social forces at work in the show. however, I would argue that it was included for a reason. Akio, despite his status as ultimate patriarch of Ohtori, is in fact a highly emasculated character, to the point where lead writer Enokido even said that he is driven by an infantile mother complex.

to explain why Akio was portrayed this way, we have to discuss Japanese history. the nation suffered a major defeat in WWII and was forced to accept whatever terms the United States laid out for it. for an examination of how the Japanese have never truly processed those events and have plunged into modernity with reckless abandon, I recommend Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent. to sum it up briefly, in a very short period, the nation regained its economic footing, and by the 1980s had the largest gross national product in the world. this economic boom may have allowed Japan to maintain a sense of sovereignty, dignity, and power, but it was inherently fragile.

the infamous "bubble economy" lasted from 1986 to 1991. during this time, anything seemed possible; financial struggles appeared to be a thing of the past, and capitalist excess reached new heights. the ghosts of this period can be felt across Japanese media; for instance, think of the final shot of Grave of the Fireflies (1998), where the two dead children look down on Kobe, glowing an eerie green to imply its impermanence. the abandoned theme park from Spirited Away (2001) is explicitly referred to as a leftover from the previous century, when many attractions were built and then tossed aside in a few short years.

the bubble popped in 1992, leaving an entire generation feeling cheated. the bright futures they'd been promised, which had actually materialized for their parents and older siblings, had been lost to them overnight. economic crises are often accompanied by gender panics. to quote from Masculinities in Japan, "The recession brought with itself worsening employment conditions, undermining the system of lifelong employment and men’s status of breadwinners in general. The unemployment rate was rising, and although it never reached crisis levels, men could no longer feel safe in their salaryman status. Their situation was further complicated by the rising number of (married) women entering the workforce."

with this in mind, Akio's character can be taken as a representation of masculinity in crisis in 90s Japan. he's forced to rely on women for his position in life and has failed to save his only relative, Anthy. he tries to escape his misery through hedonism, perhaps an allegorical representation of how men tried to maintain their old standard of living after the economic bubble burst.

but of course, Akio is not the main character of RGU--the story is about girls. mangaka Yamada Reiji discussed the series in the context of the 90s, stating the following:

while I opened this essay by discussing the prince, the same points could be made about the princess. despite the increasing irrelevance of royalty, princess is still an important concept. how does it relate to the socioeconomic landscape of the 90s?

in Yamada's view, RGU is full of relics of the 80s; for instance, the figure of the ojou-sama, an entitled young woman who never lifts a finger for herself. during the economic bubble, it was increasingly common for women to be entirely taken care of by the men in their lives. Yamada names Nanami as a clear ojou-sama type character: she weaponizes her femininity, demanding to be rescued, doted on, and served.

however, by 1997, the ojou-sama could no longer expect to get what she wanted. from the 80s to the 90s, the percentage of women in the workforce increased around 15%; it was no longer viable for most women to be "kept" by their families. as the men experienced the humiliation of not being able to provide for their wives and children, women were undergoing a disillusionment of their own.

Yamada blames Disney for creating the ideological structure which led women astray. obviously, the company is known for its films about princes rescuing princesses. in Yamada's recounting, during the 80s, the company was infiltrating Japan through its theme parks as well; across the country, Disneylands were opening up, and people were buying into the escapism the corporation offered. Japan, as America, became a country of eternal children. its people were waiting for a prince to appear and save them.

but fairy tales can't stave off reality forever. Yamada claims that RGU embodies the rage of young women who woke up one day and realized that they had been raised on a lie. this anger pervades the work from beginning to end.

though RGU was created in a particular social context, its lessons can be extrapolated to any time and place. as the first ending tells us:

I hope this essay helped provide more context for the series. thanks for reading!

[pixelplayground]

Harbour House, Home of the Potomac Maritime Society

Commissioned in 1892 by James Wellington Thorndike, a prominent shipping merchant who made his fortune establishing trade routes between Baltimore and Asia. Having immigrated from Bristol, England in his youth, Thorndike sought to create a sanctuary that merged American innovation with European maritime tradition.

The original structure was designed by renowned architect Stanford White, who drew inspiration from both Newport's Gilded Age mansions and traditional English maritime clubs. The distinctive three-story building, with its commanding views of the Chesapeake, featured a signature octagonal watchtower that still serves as a landmark for vessels today.

During the Prohibition era (1920-1933), Harbour House gained notoriety as a gathering place for Washington's elite, who would arrive by boat for "afternoon tea" - though rumors persisted about hidden wine cellars and secret passages used for rum-running. The club's guest books from this period, still preserved in the library, bear signatures of several senators and at least two Supreme Court justices.

The property survived a devastating fire in 1943, which destroyed the east wing but spared the historic main hall with its hand-carved mahogany bar and original brass telescopes. The reconstruction effort, led by Thorndike's grandson William, added the now-famous verandas and modernized the facilities while maintaining the building's historic character. In 1962, Harbour House made history by becoming one of the first yacht clubs in the region to admit women as full members. This progressive decision was influenced by Katherine "Kay" Thorndike, William's daughter, who had become an accomplished sailor in her own right.

Notable moments in Harbour House's history include:

Hosting several planning meetings for the D-Day invasion during WWII, when the club served as an unofficial gathering point for Allied naval officers.

The visit of Sir Thomas Lipton in 1925 during his America's Cup campaign.

Serving as the emergency coordination center during the historic Chesapeake flooding of 1933.

The establishment of one of the first youth sailing programs in the region in 1958.

Today, Harbour House stands as a testament to the region's maritime heritage, with many original elements preserved, including:

The original lighthouse-inspired watchtower.

The Thorndike family's private collection of maritime maps and navigational instruments.

The "Captain's Room" with its 19th-century ship models and original furnishings.

[theglitterdome]

Betty White was a 20 year-old budding model and actress whose career was just taking off when she put it all on hold to join the American Women's Voluntary Services as a truck driver, where she transported supplies to various Army barracks across California. Often working 16 hour days, she drove trucks for the duration of the war before resuming her acting career. "It's the least I could do to support those precious boys overseas" she said of her time as an Army truck driver during WWII.

[grison-in-space]

On American soldiers serving during WWII:

“Sensitive” men often found one another while working on the extraordinarily popular “soldier shows” for which the USO provided the know-how and the materials. These shows were written, directed, and performed by men in the armed forces. Since there were no women in outlying camps, enlisted men would perform female roles in drag. Performances ranged from comic portrayals of burly men in dresses to realistic female impersonation. For actors and audiences, these performances were a needed relief from the stress of war. For men who identified as homosexual, these shows were a place where they could, in coded terms, express their sexual desires, be visible, and build a community. These lyrics for a “female” trio in a soldier show demonstrate how homosexual enlistees introduced their own humor into skits: Here you see three lovely "girls" With their plastic shapes and curls. Isn't it campy? Isn't it campy? We've got glamor and that's no lie; Can't you tell when we swish by? Isn't it campy? Isn't it campy?16 Later in the war, when WACs were available to perform with men, their involvement was limited; usually they worked backstage to help the men be made up as women. An indication of the popularity of female impersonation in soldier shows is evident in Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army. Written for an all-soldier cast, it premiered on Broadway in 1942 and a year later became a hit Hollywood film with Ronald Reagan. Both the Broadway and film versions featured soldiers dressed as women.

--A Queer History of the United States (2011), Michael Bronski; Chapter Eight: Sex in the Trenches

Fascists rely on a sanitized homogenized understanding of a hazily golden national history to hawk their wares to their recruits and dehumanize their enemies. Moral panics, too, rely on inaccurate popular understandings of history to promote attacks on their victims. Like every other human endeavor, these things spread themselves through stories.

WWII looms large in the American memory; we remember it as the last "innocent" conflict on our world stage, inaccurate as that is. (There is no such thing as an innocent player in a world war.) The military preoccupation with fascism and gender looms large, and WWII offers that for far-right ideologues searching for conformity, too: the masculinity of combat, the catharsis of the foxhole, the rigid conformity of the decades that follow. In the memory of such stand-up paragons of masculinity, the fascists will bellow, how can you permit the degenerate decadence of the modern drag queen, the obscenity of a trans woman being so much as permitted to exist? Surely the rejection of that masculinity would have disgusted and upset these fine soldiers, and how could you insult such icons?

But it isn't true. Drag, genderbending, and queerness were entertainments our grandfathers and great-grandfathers sought out, participated in, and shared with one another. Some of the queer ones fucked about it, and so did some of the straight ones, but not everyone. Some of the soldiers were playing, and some weren't. Either way, "female impersonation" was a staple of entertainment, both in the form of soldier-entertainers and for audiences back home. It continues to be a form of popular mainstream entertainment today, of course: only consider Mrs Doubtfire and Monty Python and RuPaul's Drag Race and Blackadder and MASH and Tyler Perry's Madea and Hairspray, to name only a few of many.

There's more than one way to knock down an image and an idol cherished by bigots, my friends. Don't forget that the stories the lazy fascists tell about how it was long ago and far away aren't the only stories left to tell. It turns out that the past wasn't any less full of degenerates and queers than the present is--or than the future will be.