#also he's gay so is that even allowed in the uk?

[postsforposting]

at the altar

previously i had thought there were only two weddings: the van and the reactor. however. there are four weddings and a funeral. because finding true love is hard, and the support of "friends" is essential. the movie has four "successful" weddings, one aborted wedding, and one funeral. the "successful" weddings all end in divorce. the funeral is for the partner of a gay man, but as this is during 1990s UK, they were not allowed to legally marry. it is explicitly said that they were "as a married couple". this funeral depicts "true love", but it's not "lasting" due to death. the one lasting, successful couple explicitly refuse to get married, and they are the only ones who have a family in the end.

the idea is that a "real wedding" cannot stand in for or replace real love and commitment. every single "real" wedding failed. in a line: beating out death--life after death--gives you forever, and no wedding gives you true love. in two senses: weddings literally don't replace love, and the lack of a wedding is defined as true love.

in dpw, there is no real wedding.

there is one failed funeral, in the reactor when everyone thinks they're dead. being joined in death is the only way to find forever; being joined in life is the only way to find love. to love forever, you must stand under god as one, reach forever by pledging yourselves "to death", and rise again together.

in biblical numerology, four represents stability and "freshness", aka "getting fresh" with each other in the sense of both insults and sex. insults, after all, get personal. character assassination is just a little ribbing joke between friends in this franchise. that's why there's four, and why they trade off roles.

wedding one:

in the movie Four Weddings and Funeral, there are actually five weddings held. the one that isn't counted as a "finished" wedding is where doubts were expressed during the ceremony that the groom loves someone else, and the bride dumps the groom at the altar.

wade dumps wolvie on the floor at paradox's altar after walking down the aisle with him.

paradox refuses to accept wade's proposal.

unlike in FWF, wade dumping wolvie wasn't about rejection. it was giving him a choice about whether he wanted to go through with this--to say "i do". he gets up and follows wade to "hell" of his own volition. for better and worse, right? they're joining at a low point because if you can't take him at his worst, you don't deserve to be his "best friend". this goes for deadpool and "worst" wolvie equally.

the "funeral" in this scene is paradox refusing to halt the death of the universe, insisting that everyone is going die eventually and there's nothing to be done about it. being sent to hell is also a literal death sentence, because no one is supposed to come back: it's forever.

this is an "aborted" wedding and a symbolic death, no funeral. wade pledged first but logan came right after.

wedding two:

the van. they make it to the altar, veil of seatbelts and all, but get driven away. they were dying to get there, too. what a shame.

a bower is both a wedding arch and a shady place under the trees. that's why they stop in the forest. they lay together, but not as one before the altar--no handholding here. they also didn't even get to the removal of the veil.

wedding three:

jumping into the marvel sparkle circle under the eyes of cassandra.

......jumping a "bundle of sticks" to a golden ring in the eyes of god.

while alioth, personification of death, is just a tick too late. not even the threat of death kept them from the altar. they weren't standing as one, together, though, so it's not a proper wedding.

in this one, logan wins the race: he falls first, and harder.

wedding four:

the reactor. down on their knees standing together under god: that's going to church. logan is the bride whose veil gets blown off.

it was supposed to be a funeral. paradox even gave them a eulogy. death did happen, and they thought it would last forever this time. but then they started a new life together, as one: marriage. they even said, repeatedly, "it should be me"-->"i want to be there for you"-->"i do". it could be read as both of them objecting that "you deserve better" while replying "but you're the one i want".

wade got to the altar first. even though it took logan longer to get there, he went at it harder.

this is the only wedding they got the whole way through, with all the necessary bits, and the only funeral. but it also wasn't a real wedding and the funeral didn't stick: that's how you get real forever love with four weddings and a funeral.

[beelxebub]

i totally get why people make the captain a military man or ex-military in modern AUs because it makes sense but i personally believe he would simply be one of those middle aged autistic men whose special interest is wwii military vehicles

[smytherines]

I often wonder if I would feel differently about The Staircase Scene if I had seen SAF when it first came out in 2016. The first time I saw it was probably around October or November of 2023, and like... the context is different now.

Whatever we want to say about the personal story arcs of these characters (and I know I'm in a tiny minority because, for me, killing Owen does not constitute a satisfying close to Curt's arc, that's totally fine), there is the very real issue of the sociopolitical context that this scene takes place within- both in their time (1961) and in ours.

One very cool thing about SAF is that, in order to understand these characters better, a lot of younger queer folks end up learning about the Lavender Scare, about Executive Order 10450- which officially prohibited gay people from working for the US government- for the first time. That's an incredible, precious thing to me. Yay queer history! It's important!

The show itself never addresses the fact that both the US and UK governments had very public, very brutal campaigns equating homosexuality with communism with being a traitor to your country. But if you want to understand these characters, and especially write fanfiction, you're really incentivized to teach yourself some fundamentally important aspects of queer history.

In the 54 Below concert, before singing Not So Bad, Brian Rosenthal talks about how when they were developing the show they thought N@zis were more or less a thing of the past, that they're fully aware of how differently that song might be taken now after an escalation into a more open embrace of fascism in the US. And they're absolutely right about that.

But I think that's also perhaps an issue with the staircase scene, or at least it is for me. Obviously homophobia and transphobia were not "fixed" in 2016, they were still massive problems resulting in violence and discrimination and brutality. But institutionally, at least, you could look at the situation and point to some things that were gradually getting better.

In 2016 trans youth in my state were legally allowed to receive gender affirming care. In 2024, they are not. It's not that homophobia and transphobia went away and then came back, but there was a very real resurgence of the use of the media and of governmental power to inflict pain on queer & trans people and chase them out of public life- bathroom bans, gender affirming care bans, Don't Say Gay laws, trying to make drag illegal, equating queer and trans people with pedophilia. There has been a big cultural shift back towards the same kind of violent governmental moral panic that our beloved Curt & Owen would have lived under.

Whatever we want to say about these characters and this story (and there's tons of fascinating debate there), there is still the base of a gay man killing his ex-lover ostensibly to protect US foreign policy objectives. Killing the man he loves- or loved, at least- to protect the secret that he is gay. And that hits different for me now.

I watch that scene and it is heartbreaking on a personal level, but its also heartbreaking as a queer person who just wants to scream "your government will destroy you for being gay, you don't owe them shit!"

Owen tries to explain that the surveillance network is happening, that the future won't wait for Curt to catch up. Barb has been saying she's working on the same thing for the US government the entire show, but Curt just kept ignoring her. And I just want to say "Curt, honey, what do you think your government is going to do to you with that surveillance system? Do you think you're useful enough to keep around even though you have sex with men? Because I promise you they will not care."

It feels tragic to me because on some level it seems like Curt would actually be safer with another gay man having control of all the world's secrets than he will be if the government he has dedicated his life to gets their hands on that same technology.

And the thing is, having a tragic ending doesn't make the show bad. This show is great. This scene is spectacular. It makes you think, it makes you feel things, it does all the stuff that great art is supposed to do. Absolutely none of what I'm saying here is meant to denigrate the show as a musical or a story or even a queer story. I hope it doesn't come off as me saying "actually this show is bad," because I don't feel that way at all.

Clearly I live and breathe this show. That's why I spend all my time on here analyzing every scene, every frame, every facial expression. I love this show so much that I can't help but deconstruct it and look at all its component parts- including the sociopolitical context both now and in 1961. Because that context, despite never being explicitly mentioned, is important to our understanding of these characters.

I love these characters so much that it's actually pretty difficult for me to watch A2P7 anymore, because the staircase scene is so emotionally devastating to me that it's hard to try to swing back into that more comedic tone (even though Spy Dance is a certified bop).

I'm not even sure what my point is with all of this, other than to say that Spies Are Forever is a show that is great and fun and funny as written/performed, and becomes gradually more emotionally devastating when you rewatch it or when you understand the subtext of it. When you can engage with the themes of gender and sexuality, surveillance and technology, trauma and trust, and tease out even more satisfying theories around this show.

So yeah. It's a musical. It's about spies.

[box-of-chaooos]

*taps a mic* dragon hunters though am I right?

Pls I’m drabbling into another lost media foreign show (least it’s foreign In the uk) with no fandom to be found anymore! 2004?! I wasn’t even born than. I knew the movie existed I watched it as a kid after my dad bought it home from cex one day in the kids section. Found it again recently and have discovered there’s a show! Needless to say my hyperfixation returned full swing and I’m going coocoo in the head.

Lian-chu and gwizdo are so gay for eachother but have NO idea? “Why haven’t I ever been in love?!” Because, gwizdo, you aren’t in love with ladies you don’t even know yourself that you’re gay. You think that ‘fraternal love’ for Lian-chu is simply that and of friendship but nu uh you love him. Same goes for Lian-chu. Such a shame that if they where ever to figure it out they’d be shunned due to the timeline. Oh well they’re rebells! Also trans gwizdo? Gimme.

You’re gonna look at that squeaky voices man with a tiny stature lil waist n round face and tell me “no you can’t headcannon that” oh yes I can and I intend too. Upon close detail he seems to have rounded hips tank you and I shall do as I please with that info!

Also they’re both autistic fuck you. Gwizdo probably has undiagnosed adhd too but we don’t talk about thaaat. Anyways I’m so mentally ill about them, they are so mentally ill. I love them sm I am gwizdo he is me and I’m gonna fixate till I drop.

But that’s just my two cents on the show n such.

Edit and a reminder in case this has upset anyone, these are MY headcannons you don’t have to agree with them. They are not real they aren’t show accurate but it’s my personal headcannon and opinion you don’t have to agree with me you are allowed to think of them as you please! :]

[livvy-fallen]

Do I have a right to talk about the American election as a english person? No. But at this point all we are doing is watching it burn and burn and the fire extinguishers are somewhere but here.

How the hell do people let a CONVICTED FELON become president. He wants to fuck his daughter and a felon?

I swear Hitler is blushing and giggling at watching this. I'm talking history for school no expert because yknow, school history but everyone in my class can see the early signs of a dictator in Trump. And pointed out by a few upperclassmen, similar signs Hitler had, then people ignored.

He actively wants to kick out immigrants. Now you may be thinking;"but he wants illegal immigrants ou-" *loud incorrect buzzer* he said 25 million (I believe could be wrong) there are not that many illegal immigrants there. If I'm right there's currently 13.3 mill in the USA. So where is the 11.7 million coming from? Unless he was was padding up the numbers witch, I guess we all do at times, exaggerate

Similar to a certain dictator im learning about both are against the gays. Well if project 2025 is anything to go about. Talking about that.

They want to control what is being taught in schools. "Woke" this would ,I imagine also include anything against their party. Because wanting to be on the not wanting controlling women's bodies, inforcing Christan nationalism and wanting a future Left if considered woke. Sounds familiar? Treachery Act of 1934. Witch allowed them to punish people who spoke out about the German Reich (Nazi).

The election voting was also very.... Strange, several voting ballots were destroyed, misplaced or out right bribed. Now if this happened in 2020? The Trump voters would be SCREAMING. Begging for a recount until everything is fine. But he won so why care about democracy? Even if he wasn't a horrible excuse or cum and an egg, it would still be right to redo the voting.

I have friends in America who could VERY well be in DANGER because of this. It's not just about my friends but everyone who this effects

But hey, I'm just a teenager in the UK who is an outsider, I'm not from you're country. My facts could be wrong. I'm not saying everything here is the Goispal and is true. Because I'm still a teen I don't understand most laws in the us. I could of got my figures wrong. But even if the rules were made with the purest PUREST intentions, so was article 48 in the Weimar constitution. Meant to led a damaged country during times of crisis so the president didn't have to wait for laws to be passed., then used by Hitler to get what he wants. I'm just saying.

[missholloween]

29 and 34 from the headcanon ask game for owen pretty please?

29. Quirks and personal habits

One of my favorite Owen-isms from the show is how he plays with his hair <3 The little comb he has in the reveal scene, how he takes off his hair from his face when Spies are forever (song) finishes... I like to think Owen prefers how he looks with longer hair even if it often gets in his way and ends up being annoying most of the time. Still, cutting it isn't an option, so it would lead to a slightly tedious and longer than he wishes hair routine. Curt often mocks him for it even though his would be longer and more tedious, but when they're short of time he'd lend Owen a hand with it.

As a whole though, I see Owen as someone with very strong routines and ways of doing things, and he wouldn't like changes to said routines. This applies to spying, with specific way of debriefing or a concrete order for his mission rundowns, but it would also apply to his day to day life. Curt and him would clash in their first meetings for this, as Curt would see his habits as annoying obsessions rather than something that keeps Owen anchored and help him clear his mind.

34. Feelings about themself

I don't think Owen thought much of who he was before meeting Curt. As someone whose childhood/adolescence was world war ii, who probably lost his family on said war if he had any link to them and then started working for the United Kingdom's secret service, I don't think Owen had a really strong identity.

I think he would start working for the UK's goverment really young, probably a teen spy during wwii or during its immediate aftermatch. This would provoke spying to be one of his core traits, but also an easy way to define himself. Owen would enjoy being a spy: as he said in the reveal, he has a spot on aim and an interest in foreing politics. But by being a spy, he could forget who he is suppose to be to become whoever is needed on a mission, be the hero the world needs. By being a spy he wouldn't have to care about how he's feeling or his interest in men, as those feelings could be burried by whichever identity he had to take that week.

All of that is, of course, until he meets Curt. Quoting Hadestown, when Owen fell, he fell in spite of himself in love with Curt. I think Owen would've had a couple flings now and again by the time he meets Curt, some on missions, others in a certain kind of bars, but he never would've felt something so intense, so... Sincere. During their relationship, Owen would notice that Curt is not only interested in the physical parts of intimacy, but also on the emotional side. Curt would try to see who's Owen beneath his different masks, and to Owen surprise, he would not know it.

Their relationship thus would allow Owen to not only discover who Owen Carvour is as a partner, but also who Owen Carvour is, not as a weapon for his country or an experienced actor, but as a person. I think this would scare him at first, reason why he would have avoided looking inwards at all. However, as their relationship grows stronger and he gets used to this "being a person" thing, Owen would like it. I don't see neither Curt or Owen as being the most romantic people ever, but they would do their best two gay spies in the 50s could do. After a while, Owen would get use to knowing what his feelings are or what he wants, being able to picture himself as something other than a spy. They would be mostly daydreams, thinking of retiring with Curt and both of them having a calm and quiet life. Curt would make sure of reminding him how impossible those dreams are, as he wouldn't be quite fond of the idea of stop being a spy. But Owen would take care of them... Until the fall, that is.

One of the (many) reasons I think Owen's motivations work so well is because when he falls, he loses absolutely everything. Yes, he loses Curt, probably the only thing he trully cared about, but he also loses spying, his profession, what he does. Curt betrays Owen by not going back and leaving him to die at the bottom of the staircase, but so does the MI6 by not rescuing him. Owen has nothing to cling back to after surviving, as everything he clinged to had abandoned him. The Deadliest Man Alive is the easiest way out: with Chimera he has a purpose, he can get his revenge against the system and the person that betrayed him, but he also can wear a mask to do his job.

The DMA mask is so interesting, as Owen literally becomes someone else, he gets a way to escape the hatred and anger he feels not only towards Curt or spying, but also towards himself. For opening up, for trusting someone as careless as Curt to take care of himself. I think after the fall Owen would like to be as far away from who he is as possible. The Owen we see in the reveal is someone very different of the person we see in a1p1 because of the fall, of course, but there's also a clear lack of sincerety on the way he acts during his monologue: it is theatric, it is dramatic, but it is also artificial. Owen probably hadn't shown his real face to anyone for months, maybe years, and he has forgotten how to play himself. Because he thinks that Owen Carvour really died at the bottom of those stairs all those years ago, and that whatever he is, the broken remains, the hatred, the anger, is something else.

However, in the last moments of his life, Owen discovers that his heart, as breaten and hurt as it was, had continued beating despite of himself. When Owen dies, he dies as the fool who still loved Curt Mega.

[lurkingshan]

Wedding Plan and the Evolution of MAME

I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with MAME, one of the most notorious writers in the bl genre. Her shows have traditionally been a mixed bag of incredible chemistry, high heat, dubious consent, and pushy semes transgressing every boundary laid out for them, all of it built atop a foundation of heteronormativity and homophobic tropes. In the early years of bl, her shows were one of the only places you could go to see mature depictions of intimacy in relationships, but they also necessitated dodging through a landmine of problematic content. So my long standing policy has been to never watch her shows live and instead binge them when they’re done so that I can go in with some idea of what to expect. As someone who liked Love By Chance and TharnType for what they did well despite their problematic aspects, and actually kinda loved Love in the Air, I figured I would watch Wedding Plan at some point, but it wasn’t that high on my priority list. 

So imagine my surprise when people I trusted started telling me: hey wait, this is actually really good? Like, not good for MAME, but genuinely, legitimately a quality show. @bengiyo wrote a great post on the queer read of the story that was very intriguing indeed. @ginnymoonbeam wrote about seeing an authentic representation of her own experiences in the show. When I asked for others to weigh in, @negrowhat, @slayerkitty, @thegalwhorants, @nieves-de-sugui, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, and @magpie24601 all said they were enjoying it to various degrees and that it felt different from MAME’s previous works. So this weekend, I sat down to watch it, and as soon as I finished, I pinged @waitmyturtles, who had previously said she did not intend to watch any additional MAME shows, to tell her she had to add it to her project tracking the evolution of Thai bl. 

Because y’all, this show! This show is stunning, in more ways than one. The people and settings are gorgeous (shoutout to that McDonald’s money), the characters are compelling and sympathetic even when they behave in frustrating ways, the romance is properly swoony, the friendships are deep and touching, the family relationships are complex, and the ending is triumphant. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was taken aback by how genuinely rooted in queer experience and celebratory of queer love it felt. It was kind of a revelation, and I felt compelled to get down some thoughts about it. I’m going to break this down by narrative themes and characters so that I can dig into some of the tropes at play and what makes their deployment feel different here than it has in MAME’s previous shows.

The Core Premise

When I say this story feels authentically queer, this premise is the foundation of that. A lavender marriage is something that can only occur between queer characters. Right away, we are kicking MAME’s typical use of heteronormative tropes right out the door, because Lom already has a wife. Yiwa is his stand-in for the female partner his parents and society expect him to have, so Nuea cannot and will not fulfill that role. Instead, Lom’s pursuit of Nuea is explicitly about his desire to break away from those constraints and pursue the authentic queer life he has never been allowed to live, even if he has to do it undercover of this facade. Lom is gay, and he is pursuing a relationship with a gay man, and there is no coding here to make a heterosexual audience feel like what he wants with Nuea is the same as what he’d have with a woman. The difference, and the way one fulfills Lom while the other doesn’t, is the point.

Nuea

At first glance, our POV character, Nuea, feels like a stock MAME uke character. He is cute, he is a romantic, he is emotionally reactive, and he has a massive crush on Lom pretty much from jump. But pretty quickly, we start to notice some important differences between Nuea and those who came before him, starting with his competence and confidence. Nuea is the ace at his company and excellent at his work, and he’s financially comfortable. He is an out and confident gay man with a strong community of coworkers, friends, and family who will support him through anything and close ranks to protect him when needed. He does not share the standard characteristic of typical MAME ukes: uncertainty about who he is and/or low self-esteem. There’s simply not a whiff of that anywhere on Nuea. He knows who he is, and he knows what he wants. And as the story unfolds and Nuea gets deeper entangled with Lom, we recognize another crucial aspect of him: he is experienced, both emotionally and sexually. Nuea has been in relationships before, he knows how to say no, he knows how to draw a boundary, and he knows when he is deciding to cross one. In short, Nuea has something crucial that a lot of MAME ukes are lacking: power and agency. 

We see this throughout his relationship with Lom, as Nuea begins their flirtation eyes wide open about his own feelings and the fire he’s playing with, and alternately pulls back and pushes forward as his conscience wars with his desires. Nuea wants Lom. Their attraction is extremely mutual. No one is wearing anyone down or inspiring a sexuality crisis in this dynamic. Instead, Nuea’s struggle is rooted in his own morality and desire to be a good person, because he thinks Lom is taken, and he wants him anyway. Which is why we see him waffling so much and sending Lom all kinds of mixed signals, pushing him away with one hand while grabbing him back with the other, drawing boundaries only to step right back over them at the next opportunity. And when he finally crosses a boundary that he can’t rationalize (sex with Lom), he retreats back home to try to get his head together. It’s not an accident that despite Lom being in the active pursuer role, we see Nuea make a conscious decision to move forward and even be the one to initiate a relationship progression at several crucial points in the story. Nuea is making his own decisions here, and he has his own power over Lom that he exercises consistently. He’s warring with himself, not with Lom.

Lom

Lom is also, on the surface, a fairly standard MAME seme character. He wants Nuea, and he’s comfortable being pushy about it. He pursues Nuea fairly relentlessly, showing up in front of him even when he’s told not to, and leverages his role as Nuea’s client to see him as often as possible. He obsessively pines for Nuea in a way that also feels familiar. But for me, there is something that makes Lom stand out and feel markedly different from his predecessors in his romantic pursuit: sincerity and frank honesty. 

From the start, Lom is genuine in his interest in Nuea and sincere about how much he likes and admires him. He tells him in a very straightforward manner that he likes him and wants to spend time with him. He tells him he knows he doesn’t have the right, but he wants to kiss him and be near him anyway. He tells him exactly what he intends to do to stay close to him, and then he does it. He tells him honestly that he loves Yiwa, but not in the way Nuea thinks, and that he is not marrying her because he’s being forced. “But Shan,” I hear you yelling, “he did not tell him the most important truth!” And you’re right, he didn’t, at least not until he was forced to do so. Which brings me to the other thing that makes Lom so compelling: the constraints of the closet and his loyalty to Yiwa. 

Lom, unlike Nuea, does not have a supportive family or the freedom to live as an out gay man. What he does have is a best friend whom he loves deeply and completely, to the extent that he would sacrifice his own life and chance at happiness to protect hers. He has no choice but to hold some things back, because to lay it all bare would expose not only him, but her. The decision to tell a boy he likes the truth about the nature of their relationship is not just about him; anyone knowing is also a risk to Yiwa and the life she is building with Marine. And he takes his duty to protect that very seriously. On top of that, Lom has been in the closet since he was a teenager. We know that Lom and Yiwa connected over their queerness and their mothers’ bigotry when they were only 15 and 13, respectively. They grew up Knowing. That self-protective mindset is not something you can easily shake off, and not something you risk for any given person you develop a crush on. He is trying to walk a line in his pursuit of Nuea to snatch whatever happiness he can without blowing up his entire life. 

And to Lom’s credit, the moment he realizes how serious he is about Nuea, he goes after him (with Yiwa and Marine’s support), dutifully pays his penance and earns the respect of Nuea’s family, and finally unburdens himself, looking at Nuea with complete and total honesty and saying to him “This is who I am, this is my situation, can you deal with it? Do you still want me?” And by the way he sobs when Nuea says “YES” and asks to be part of his arrangement with Yiwa and Marine, he never expected for someone like Nuea to accept him and all the complications of his life. He was absolutely overcome by gratitude and relief, and you could see the burdens he’s been living under start to lighten. 

Yiwa and Marine

I don’t have anyone to compare Yiwa and Marine to, because to my recollection, they are the first significant female characters in any MAME story. And significant is an understatement. Yiwa is the engine that drives this entire story. The lavender marriage is her idea, because it’s the only way she can think to give herself the freedom to be with Marine under her mother’s watchful eye. She is the one who goes to her best friend and begs him to do this for her, because she trusts him absolutely and the devotion between them is complete enough that she knows he will sacrifice in such a monumental way for her. She is the one who encourages Lom to pursue his own happiness with Nuea within the constraints of their arrangement, hoping that he will find his own Marine that can hang in for this half life they’ve constructed to meet the tenets of filial piety. She is the one who ultimately decides to come clean when she sees how the lie is hurting Nuea. And she is the one who makes the final decision to prioritize her love over her obligations to her parents, and in doing so frees them all. 

The fact that a character like Yiwa exists in the bl genre at all, let alone in a MAME show, is mind-blowing to me. A female character with this much depth and narrative importance, who is not just here to play a cheerleader to men but instead to be a fully realized character with her own narrative? A female character who matters? In my Thai bl?? 

And Marine gets to matter, too. Marine, whose experience of coming into this relationship and accepting the limitations of the life Yiwa can offer her is treated with the utmost seriousness. Marine, who we see in joy and in struggle, who is kind and compassionate with Lom, who offers solace and guidance to Nuea, and who ultimately crumbles under the weight of Yiwa’s mother’s cruelty and reaches her breaking point. As minor as her role is, she feels like a real person, not a generic side character. The relationship between her and Yiwa is developed enough to make us feel invested in their happiness, to understand the choices they make, and to ultimately feel joy at them breaking free and living a more authentic life, even if it comes at the expense of Yiwa’s family bonds.

The Ending

Which brings me to the way this show ended its story, and how glorious it was. Yiwa and Marine run away to live on their own, freeing Lom from their agreement in the process. Yiwa takes full blame for the broken engagement, a parting gift to Lom that saves face for his parents and gives him cover to publicly dodge any further expectations for marriage to a woman. Lom’s mother, who is just as bigoted but not quite as stubborn and short-sighted as Yiwa’s mother, understands exactly what has happened, and reaches out to her son to assure him that she will no longer try to force the issue, and to ask him plainly not to run away from his family like Yiwa did. It’s not the support and love of Nuea’s family, but a kind of resigned acceptance that she offers. She knows who Nuea is to her son and she knows if she tries to intervene any further she will lose him for good. It was reminiscent for me of the dynamics between Shiro and his parents in Kinou nani tabeta—it still hurts, but it's a detente everyone can live with.

And Lom and Nuea? Have the freedom to love each other more openly. To flirt in a restaurant and hold hands in public. To live together and call themselves partners to the people who matter. We end on a message from Nuea about the beauty and joy of queer love, the simple nature of two people deciding to marry regardless of their gender, and a promise that someday soon he and Lom will be the ones to make that commitment. Just, perfection, and an earned resolution so rooted in a genuine queer experience. It’s not something I could have imagined seeing in a Thai bl even a few short years ago, and I am stunned that MAME is the one who delivered it. Her storytelling is clearly evolving with the culture around her, and I will be going into her future works with an open mind.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

June 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I really adore the family/household dynamics in this show. All the relationships between siblings are so well executed. All the tension and sub text and covert glances in the first “modeling” sequence was so good. I really want to watch the BL within this BL. Bruce is THE BEST. Jeng shutting down everyone with a cool few words is genius (especially given the curt sharp flat way he speaks Thai). Why does nobody have parasols or sun hats or sunshades or sunglasses or anything? I’m actually not mad about seeing an attempted reunion with the ex, bc we are getting to see both that (and how) they once were good together, and also the cracks that drove them apart (and will not allow them to ultimately be together a 2nd time around). I do feel sorry for Jeng, he moved too slowly and lost the 1st round. The captions were not good in the trunk seen, but trust me it was totally hilarious. 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 10 - I finally figured out why I am so tense around this show. In openly taking to task and challenging the soulmates trope, this narrative is telling viewers not to trust it’s core trope - which means we cannot trust the main couple to end happily, nor can we trust those characters who believe most strongly in fated mates (Pat & Mai). This means I, personally, not only can’t rely on an HEA but (as someone who also does not believe in soulmates) I am not entirely sure I even WANT an HEA. This has NEVER happened to me before. It makes me uncomfortable because that’s a core part of my identify with these shows. I mean, good job La Pluie, but also.... huh. Back to this ep: Uh oh. The crush is obvious and the soulmate knows what’s up now. The sex scene twist was v interesting, v gay, and v unusual in a BL. Unfortunately it’s still a BL so the faen fatal just HAD to appear. Will there ever be one out of Thailand where this trope doesn’t show up? Next week is the tried & true uke damsels off into the woods alone. Sigh. 

Our Skyy 2 (Bad Buddy & 1k*) eps 12-16fin - Jimmy, baby, why so hot in an engineering smock? Please have mercy. Aw, Marc is back in yet ANOTHER BL. Definitely the current record holder for most BLs at any one time. (His filming schedule must’ve been insane at the beginning of this year!) PatPran are still great, and their eps this had me hooting with laughter (startling the cat). I forgot how much I enjoyed this show and cast. (Ohm looks great with longer hair, but also he’s lost a lot of weight. I hope he’s OK.) OhmNanon give pitch perfect LTR energy. Throwing EarthMix into the, erm, mix is fun if awkward. NO SINGING. 2 damsels in the forest! Also PatPran = geniuses at mock fighting. So much flirting. It was all quite adorbs. But me-thinks Chief & Tian have been eating moonlight chicken. Full review below. 

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 3 of 10? - was enjoying it up until the last bit, why so digusted by smooches? Bad GMMTV no green tea for you. Trash watch here! Rollercoaster about to go DOWWNNNN. 

Luminous Solution (Sat Gaga) ep 3 of 6 - I still only like the high school characters + Dome (WHY so gorgeous?). Is he a magical spirit too? Also, the subs were well off kilter. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 10 fin - God they’re so cute. This show used the manga as a storyboard, so I knew the “crisis of faith over possibility of loss” would happen. Still in live action this felt tonally off. While understandable given Yutaka’s character, and ultimately particularly important for the dad and a relationship with the family, I don’t know we needed it in this BL. The book does have a better ending second scene, but it wouldn’t be possible to do it on screen easily. Ultimately, this show had a simple, touching, quiet end to it. That’s very like the show as a whole. I did love it - it’s been top of my list all along. Full review after the special airs. 

Love Tractor (Korea Weds iQIYI) eps 1-2 of 8 - I LOVE IT SO MUCH. IT IS EVERYTHING. SHUT UP I AM FERRIL FOR THE BEAUTIFUL CITY BOY AND THE YOUNG FARMER. Come on. Korea. SRS? Plus some language play? I just go die now. 

Star Struck (Korea iQIYI & Gaga) ep 7-8 fin - Man this was a difficult show for me. I know we’re supposed to identify with HanJoon but I really felt for YooJae. I’ve been in his position more often than I care to count, and it’s terrible to lose a friend because they caught feelings and you did not. It’s an awful thing to hold a friendship hostage on condition of a romantic relationship. Especially if the other person is not sexually interested in you! All that said, the boyfriend ep was okay. Not sure I believed in this relationship, but it was cute enough. The final ep was (how do I put this?) a loser. We spent a lot of time with terrible home lives and then a semi happy for now final scene? Whatever. Full review below. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 6 of 12 - somehow I keep missing this one, I’ll catch it next week. 

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 9 of 12 - I think the Taiwanese boss is my favorite character. Japan rarely (if ever ) trots out the faen fatal trope. I mean I named it with a Thai word for a reason, it’s not from origin yaoi at all. Yet still there she is. Sigh. This show. 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 1 of 6 - RL Studio (Stupid Boys Stupid Love) bringing us yet another high school set VBL. It’s actually not bad. I see a lot of common faces whom I’ve enjoyed in past VBLs. 

It’s Airing But ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly in English and set in LA so I’m not bothering but the first one did drop.

Ever After (Pinoy ????) - I got nothing. 

Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan Sun ????) 10 eps - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I? (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?*)

Boys Love Omegaverse (Japan ????) - honestly tho? Who tf cares? You’ll still tell me if you find it, because inquiring minds... Irony of this airing at the same time as Takumi-kun. Full circle much, Japan? 

Tin Tem Jai Special (Thai ????) - honestly I checked Gaga & iQiyi in my territory (craptastic hotel) and neither had it listed so I quickly gave up. I mean OF COURSE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE Lee Long Shi in a bathtub, who wouldn’t? But... 

Just because I didn’t watch the special doesn’t mean I can’t gank Lee Long Shi wearing nothing but soap bubbles for you. 

I’m not a monster. 

Ended This Week 

Our Skyy 2 final 4 eps thoughts: This was an interesting combination, and don’t get me wrong I very much enjoyed it, but it felt like the story was carried by PatPran’s characters while the setting and narrative followed an ATOTS arc - ultimately disjointed. OhmNanon are so bold and vibrant they’re too stark a tonal contrast to EarthMix’s more refined and elegant approach, so for me the screen presences and the style of story clashed. It was like a bouquet made up of tulips & roses: they are both flowers and they’re both pretty, but I feel like they actually belong in different vases. Still, enjoyable. And I got a crying kiss. Always makes me happy. Definitely the best of this bunch, and probably the best Our Skyy (and I genuinely loved both the NLMG historical installment and SOTUS.) 8/10 

Star Struck. A friends to lovers story that felt more friends to tolerant yet disinterested partner. It was more about challenges with parents and class strife. I would’ve been disappointed if the show hadn’t come out of nowhere so I had no expectations. But as KBLs go, don’t bother. 6/10 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:

6/15 Tokyo in April AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Gaga) 8 eps - Based on a yaoi, this is a reunion romance that takes place in an office. Japan does Our Dating Sim? Yes please.

Still Coming - June 2023

6/22 About Us but Not About Us (Pinoy movie from 2022 on Prime) - A professor grieving the loss of his partner meets an ambitious literature student.

6/24 Why You (Khmer BL ????) - Billed as a horror romance, not sure if this is a movie or a series where it will air... nothing except that it exists.

6/24 Tie The Knot AKA Under the Same Sky (Pinoy movie on Prime) Trailer - I guess Prime is coming for our Pinoy BL? From OXIN Films (Rainbow Prince), announced for 2022 based on a true story, Briggs's family runs a bridal business but he has never had a chance to fall in love until he meets Shao, a groom to be.

6/25 Dinosaur Love (Thai iQIYI) Trailer 5 eps - from Ultimate Troop about a uni student, Rak, whose partner cheats on him with Rak's best friend. This gives bad boy hazer Dino an opportunity to hit on Rak at last. From The Yearbook people so I will not watch this as it airs. After Remember Me? Never again with them.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Bruce is so damn fantastic in this show.

Consent comes in all different forms. (both Step by Step) 

Fight fight fight!

Sex sex sex blow job! (both La Pluie) 

Smartest boy in the show. 

Not enough InkPa... never enough. Never never never! 

Love the suit.

All from the Our Skyy 2 BB + ATOTS cross over. 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? IVE’s I Am

[blubushie]

i've seen some blogs i follow say that misandry isn't real and men aren't opressed for being men and honestly the former doesn't sit right with me. misandry is not systemic like misogyny but your answers about your experiences prove that it does indeed happen in queer spaces. masculine queer men have to prove that they aren't a threat by making themselves a walking gay caricature.

Hell men aren't just oppressed in female-dominant "cultures" (like queer spaces) but they're also oppressed by patriarchy and, in some ways, legally. They're just not oppressed in the same way women are.

Men are considered inherently stronger/better, which means women can't compete with us, which means any time a man is a victim of a woman it's automatically his fault for ALLOWING himself to be. How are you, a man, gonna let a woman hit you? (It's because even if you defend yourself, and you make the call the police, YOU'LL be arrested as the aggressor. It's your word against hers, and in domestic violence they will always favour hers.)

We are simultaneously shit on for defending ourselves, because how dare a man ever put his hands on a woman even in self defence, but at the same time if we DON'T do that, it's our fault for being abused because we didn't "resist" our abuser. This is the male version of being asked about what you were wearing when you were victimised. The only way men are ALLOWED to be recognised as victims is if you're a child and your abuser is an adult man. If it's an adult woman? Hell, kid, you're lucky.

A lot of people think men can't be raped—either because we "always want sex", or because we're expected to physically resist our rapist and win. Contrast this to women, who are told to piss themselves or scream, or just take it because maybe if you do your rapist won't kill you. (If you ask me a firearm makes a helluva equaliser, but that's a conversation for another day.) Legislation even reflects this—in the UK, for example, according to UK law, it isn't possible for a women to rape a man unless she penetrates him with an object. A woman violently raping a man, even a child, by restraining him or otherwise and forcing him into penetrating her, is merely considered sexual assault and carries a much lighter sentence than rape.

And that really sucks for someone like me, who was raped by two women while I was drunk. Who didn't even realise I was raped until a mate explained it to me, because it's normalised that women can have sex with a drunk man and that's not considered rape—not even if he blacks out and asks them to stop when he wakes up, and they keep going while he blacks out again. Like what happened to me. An even bigger kicker—a man is always considered responsible in sex. So if a drunk man and a drunk woman both agree to sex while both are intoxicated, legally HE is raping HER despite both being unable to actually consent.

This in addition to men being expected to be sole providers for a home by society—look at the current rise of women looking for a sugar daddy or red-flagging a man because he only has one car instead of two, or of men never being favoured in family court even when the mother is unable to care for the children or is abusive, or how women will weaponise visitation against fathers for spite because they know the court will side with her regardless of how good of a father he is, or the lack of men's shelters, or how DV shelters won't take women with minor children who are boys older than 12 so a woman has to either go back to her abuser with her children or leave her sons behind alone with an abusive father, of people laughing at the male loneliness epidemic and treating it like a good thing/deserved reckoning instead of recognising it as a warning sign for a flood of lost teens and young men drifting down the Andrew Tate or rapist incel misogyny pipeline, of people laughing at men's mental health month posts and outright encouraging men to commit suicide under them while men already statistically commit suicide at a higher rate than women...

Men are oppressed in some ways, I'd argue some of those ways are systemic, but no one talks or cares about it. There was a feminism wave in the 90s of "patriarchy harms everyone", which is true, but now we're on a different wave of "men are biologically evil", which is absolutely batshit fucking insane and helps no one. Bioessentialism helps no one. (Plus it's transphobic and intersexist.)

Anyway I'm gonna go back to working on my ute now.

[franciskirkland-deleted]

Rating Hetalia Ships - Alfred F. Jones Edition 🇺🇸🦅🗽

just my thoughts on popular america pairings!

RusAme - 10/10 perfection. the classic america ship to me. no real notes or critique. love it healthy or toxic. love when ivan is possessive and obsessed with al. love when they're fluffy. love when they're mutually kicking the shit out of each other. they're bitter exes. they're best mates. they're rivals. they're married til death do they part amen

(RusAme vs AmeRus (i.e. who's taking it in the butt) is so heavily debated and like. i would say i don't have a dog in this fight, i can respect both sides of the coin but i do prefer a very masculine, dominant characterization of ivan, sorry just being real. alfred is more of a bottom to me. except with france. himbo service top superman.)

USFr - another 10/10, tied with RusAme for my fave except the two ships could not be more different. holding myself back from rambling because y'all know i could go on about them for hours. cougar fran. milf-hunter alfred. mommy and her big strong babyboy husband. dumb blonde power couple. they're so pretty and shiny together and so sweet. need i say more??

(next one is controversial and often considered incestuous. my official stance on this is that i have mixed feelings. i understand why some people dislike it + can empathize. in canon they clearly have a familial relationship. but we're allowed to diverge from canon. i'm also not gonna lie and pretend i don't enjoy the ship in AUs where they're not related)

USUK - ehhhh. 2 or soft 3/10 i really do not like bottom england. BUT (haha butt) if anyone can top him it might be alfred (on occasion). they probably switch but to me arthur could never be 'the wife', to use a heteronormative term. they're homosexual your honor.

UKUS - ohhhh yeah baby. 9/10 when done well. don't get me started. the daddy issues. the banter. the sub/dom aspect. the domestic fluffy bits. the big gay. two differing brands of masculinity. i just love both of these characters so the potential is unlimited. they're so malleable and fun to write. OH and i love UK/Nyo!US <333

Ameripan - solid 8/10. humanverse only. nationverse relations are very complicated to say the least and i'd rather not touch on that. anyway. human AU ameripan is cute as fuck. i can see them working great either platonically or romantically. they bring out the best in each other. alfred helps kiku lighten up and have fun, kiku helps alfred get his shit together. they're a very 'opposites attract' kind of couple. (is it crazy that i want to see kiku take alfred to pound town. am i alone in that.)

Prumerica - platonically 10/10. maybe fwb, but in my opinion they're too similar to work out long term romantically. 6/10. like, the idea is cute, i don't dislike it, but nah. plot twist they're both fran's service top puppy boy guard dog cringefail loser gamer BFs. that could work.

AmeChu - hmm. 4/10. not a lot of strong feelings either way. very much an older/younger ship. i can't imagine yao would have the patience to deal with alfred for very long, plus the age gap is a bit much. i like age gaps but yao is so ancient. i can see al having a crush on him tho. again not a fave but certainly not bad.

Romerica - with nyo!america yes! 8/10. but alfred and lovi i can't really see together bc of their personalities (lovino's temper. he's like arthur but worse) sexy in theory but disastrous in practice. 3/10.

AmeCan - to me they're brothers 99% of the time and i'm not a fan of overt/sibling incest. i'm not gonna hate on it, i just can't really objectively rate something that doesn't have romantic potential. even if they're not biologically related they're platonic to me. 0 ??/10.

AmeLiet - ?? no hate i just don't really know why this is a ship. like i know they interact in the later seasons but i don't get it?? umm 2/10. it would be interesting to see him have a threeway with lietpol.

GerAme - no opinion. not here to hate i just don't see it whatsoever.

did i forget anything?

[docholligay]

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

THIS IS ALL SPOILERY AND ALL OF IT IS JUST GUSHING AND RAMBLING AND VIBES. NO ACTUAL REVIEW WE DIE LIKE MEN.

I love this book. We all know I love this book. I have read this book at least a dozen time sand we all know I'm going to read it again. I'm never sure whether I like this or Tipping the Velvet more, but I think as a piece of literature, this is the better book. (But Tipping the Velvet is the one I often recommend to people. Sarah Waters can be hard for some people to hang with and Tipping is her fluffiest.)

Kay Langrish, what a fucking piece of work this bitch is. She's so pathetic, and I do sort of resent her for it, but also I love her. I want to beat the shit out of her. She's Poor Little Rich Butch who literally shuts herself the fuck away and gazes out the window all day. She's one of those people for whom the war was the best thing that ever happened to her, and people like this do exist! Some people are great in a crisis, and some people are ONLY good in a crisis. Is it about her being butch and that being easier in wartime? Sure, but Mickey has it even worse and seems to manage being a member of society. (Mickey is the best person in this novel and perhaps of all time. I love her so much, she takes it all in so much stride in her shitty little houseboat, and then she offers it to Kay. Mickey will be played by Lena Oxton in the blorbo adpatation in my head and Kay will be played by Haruka Tenoh) I think Kay is just a fucking rich loser, and I love that for her.

Viv! What a moron. My wife read this book and her takeaway was the the book was about "Gay losers and a token sad straight woman" and she is not wrong. I love how much Viv hates her life in the present day and how pathetic she feels it all is, but she can't get away from it, because! Yes!! I always privately hope that the book will be different this time and there's an afterword where Viv goes and finds Kay and they get together, because I think Viv could be perfectly happy being Kay's wife and being doted on. She wants that! And Reggie will never ever give it to her (blah blah not being into women whatever it's my fantasy afterword and I can do what I want with it)

Speaking of morons let's talk about Helen. I hate Helen and I LOVE her storyline. I love her absolute dedication to ruining her own life. I'm not saying she has to love Kay, I would love to be doted on by Kay but it's not for everyone, and I'm not entirely convinced they didn't get together for any reason other than Helen felt grateful to her. BUT, what about with Julia? What about her insane reactions, the way she barely allows Julia to have friends, the way every time they go a party Helen acts like everyone is trying to fuck Julia? She basically manifests an affair into happening by her constant assumption that it is. IF Julia is sleeping around, of course that's her bad behavior, but let's not pretend like Helen's ridiculous suspicion and quarreling over nothing, her low-key resentment of Julia's success, isn't doing anything.

And Duncan, man, talk about your easily led, whatever's happening is what may as well happen, type. His thing with the junk that he considers 'antique' is so sad. He lives in a little boy's room and is kept like a little boy as a sexual pet and it would be disturbing if it wasn't so much just what Duncan had decided was the logical next step just like killing himself along with Alec. He was happier in fucking prison, it almost seems because there at least everything was just...decided for him.

I wonder if Waters isn't making a commentary about the idea that London and the UK more broadly was "never better than in the Blitz" and all that Blitz spirit stuff which i confess I can be real prone to as well, but I don't live there and am allowed to engage in a bit of romance over a situation that in no way involves me. Is Waters saying, "If we think that we, as a country, city, community, were never better than when we were actively being firebombed, it might just be that we have decided that, and have decided not to make ourselves better than that moment. Anytime, we could decide to be a better London & UK, but we aren't doing that. We're staring at the rubble and wishing we were there." I don't know! I have literally never thought this before it just came to me while writing this, it might be bullshit.

Basically the summary of this novel could be "Four people ruin their own lives because they aren't sure they deserve anything better" and I wouldn't argue with that. I love this book so fucking much.

[beardedmrbean]

In her garden in northern Athens, four-year-old Niovi plays make-believe, selling cakes from her imaginary shop.

For her two mums, Christina Leimoni and Victoria Kalfaki, their dream may soon become real, as Greece stands on the brink of legalising same-sex marriage.

Parliament will vote on the bill, introduced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Thursday. Facing dissent from members of his own centre-right party, he will need to rely on support from the left-wing opposition to get it through.

Christina and Victoria will be there inside the chamber, willing it to pass. Two years ago, they returned to Greece from the UK, where they had moved for work - and to live their relationship freely.

They married in the UK and Niovi was born there. If the law passes, they plan to have their marriage recognised under Greek law.

'I have no say'

After Niovi's birth in London, they tried to register her at the Greek embassy, but were rebuffed. "The commentary was, 'You should have thought before having her'," Christina recalls.

"It was awful, I cried in the car for 45 minutes, I couldn't stop - it still brings bad memories," Victoria says, welling up with tears. "It's like being rejected by your country."

Without legal recognition for their marriage in Greece, only Victoria, who gave birth to Niovi, is accepted as her mother, even though the egg was from Christina.

At school, she has no say over decisions and when Niovi has been admitted to hospital, Christina has been barred from entering her room.

"My biggest fear is that if anything really bad happens to Victoria and she dies, our child instantly goes to social services, who then see if any of Victoria's relatives want to adopt her," she says.

"If they don't, she goes into an institution. I have no say. So the child wouldn't just lose one mother, she'd lose both of us."

Opposition by the Church

Fifteen of the European Union's 27 members have already legalised same-sex marriage. It is permitted in 35 countries worldwide.

Greece has lagged behind European neighbours largely because of opposition from its powerful church. If the law passes this week, it would become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country, and the first in Europe's southeast, to have marriage equality.

Same-sex couples would also be legally allowed to adopt children but not to have a baby through a surrogate - a recourse that is only legal here for heterosexual couples who have a medical need for assisted reproduction.

"Greece geographically is in the southeast, but culturally and politically it belongs to the West," says Alex Patelis, the prime minister's chief economic advisor and a member of the committee that drafted the marriage bill.

Mr Mitsotakis, recently storming to re-election, faces a weak opposition that has left him the space to tread onto their political turf without jeopardising his own position.

Mr Patelis says the bill is a cornerstone of the prime minister's beliefs: "It's often thought that human rights and equality are the purview of the parties of the left. This is coming from a centre-right party - and it's important to recognise that equality under law and individual rights are also the ideology of the right."

But Greek society is split. A recent poll for Proto Thema newspaper found 55% in favour of same-sex marriage and an even slimmer majority backing adoption.

Up to 50 of Mr Mitsotakis's 158 MPs are expected either to vote against the bill or to be conveniently absent from the chamber, meaning they can duck the vote.

A letter by the Church of Greece opposing the move was read out in morning mass across the country earlier this month, condemning what it said would "promote the abolition of fatherhood and motherhood… and put the sexual choices of homosexual adults above the interests of future children".

One of the most outspoken prelates has been Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus. At the city's Agii Anargiri Church, we watch as he leads a packed service, with worshippers in their Sunday best kissing icons and bowing heads.

He recently warned that he would block MPs who back the bill from his church, adding it would be preferable if they had not been born.

And, he said, he would refuse to baptise children of same-sex couples "to help them understand that what their guardians are doing is a sin."

Outside parliament on Syntagma Square, opponents gather to protest against the bill, beneath banners reading "No children for perverts" and chanting "Take your hands off our kids".

A video shows images including religious icons and, oddly, Bill Gates. Conspiracy theories about a new global order being imposed on Greece have blended with pious Greeks who believe their traditions are being destroyed.

"The Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman - and anything else is a big sin," says Rallou Perperidou.

"Like Sodom and Gomorrah, God destroyed people practising homosexuality. God will forgive them if they accept what they do is wrong and denounce it."

Kyriaki Chantzara, 38, is at the protest with her sister, who is expecting her tenth child.

"Homosexual people cannot give the right example for children because we think the existence of a female and male example is crucial to them. It is a human right for every child to have a father and a mother," she says.

Back in northern Athens, four-year-old Niovi is practising her English with nursery rhymes. Her mums help as she reads "Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock…"

As time ticks towards the parliamentary vote, the women say their excitement is building. "I'm amazingly happy about it," says Christina.

"It's the start of accepting diversity in general as a country and accepting that all people have equal rights. And for us it will mean reality, because I am Niovi's mother, and this should be supported by the law. The legislation will bring truth to the reality."

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

originally posted by the artist, the wonderful @lickboo and it is so beautiful and heart wrenching 🥹 ...made my heart ache.

It made me want to write down my thoughts about Harry, My Policeman and Harry&Louis.

Because watching this created trailer felt similar to how my heart aches whenever i watch old footage of them being reminded how they have to 'keep it down'. Obviously the theme of the film has an even heavier tone, with homosexuality being illegal and all the violence looming for men loving men, but it is my conviction that it's not a coincidence that Harry's (and Louis') life together and the novel's and then the subsequent film's plot overlap so heavily.

And let us not forget that when Harry tweeted "We don't need no piece of paper from the city hall." on September 28th, 2013 - a date on which they definitely did something huge with each other, something-akin-to-getting-engaged-or-married-, same sex marriage was still not even legal in the UK. More than 60 years after the period in which My Policeman takes place.

So let's not pretend that the history we are looking at was ever moving fast and that the struggle of being a member of the lgbtqai+ community only touched them lightly. It touched them heavily and it still does.

Harry chose and wanted his first ever lead debut to be THIS film.

He asked to be in it in early 2020. He only signed on to Don't Worry, Darling in September of the same year.

The director Michael Grandage said, quote: “The person who arrived was incredibly informed: he'd not just read the novel, at least once, he'd read the screenplay many times. I was sitting opposite somebody who was making a case for why they wanted to play Tom Burgess." and also "[...] the script had been distributed within his agency, and they knew what he was looking for in material. So they read this script and thought, This is actually the kind of thing he’s looking for."

(source)

(source)

I could spend hours marinating in these thoughts and they'd make my heart ache for every single minute.

Harry asked his first leading role to be in a film that is about two men who cross each other's paths and instantly feel drawn to each other; a film about two men falling for each other hard and in an environment where they're not allowed to publicly show their love, forced to hide and with seemingly no way out. (pun fully intended) A film that has the one guy constantly in a relationship with a woman he's not in love with, using her as a beard for his safety and feeling bad about it. A film that encapsulates so many emotions tied to having to hide your true heart away to keep each other safe. And the ending... oh my god, the ending.. I still can't write about it without tears filling my eyes, it's so hard-hitting. Honestly, Harry describes it best:

"Styles described his latest film as “devastating.”

“Ultimately to me, the whole story is about wasted time,” he said. “I think wasted time is the most devastating thing, because it’s the only thing we can’t control. It’s the one thing we can’t have back.”"

(source)

And I want to add, when in the same article it states he said: “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it … [director Michael Grandage] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”, he not just states that that were the director's thoughts and vision first and foremost (which he seems to agree with, though), but the main point is:

Harry has been viewed/portrayed through a hyper-sexualized, heteronormative lens since he was 16 years old. Gay sex in media is often heavily fetishized (an in-depth discussion around this is more than my spoon supply can provide today) and more importantly: gay love is almost always heavily sexualized, thus heavily fetishized; removing the three things that Harry highlighted as being very important for the film:

Gay love and gay sex are tender and loving and sensitive.

And it needs to be shown. Wanting to empathise on those things never meant that it's not okay to just want to watch "two guys going at it" (can imagine Harry and Louis enjoy that, too). It's just that the representation is still very imbalanced and Harry and the director recognize that.

To return to the main point that keeps me up at night: Harry wanted and chose to do a movie with this plot for several reasons that, in my opinion, go beyond representation (that is incredibly vital) and to be seen by the world as a gay man (that he is).

And to quote Louis: "That's incredible, Harry."

I think Harry read the novel/screenplay and found himself and Louis in it.

And I think that was a huge reason why he wanted to do this film as his first lead acting role.

[denimbex1986]

'Ever since his breakout role in lockdown TV smash Normal People, Paul Mescal, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2020, has proved himself to be an alluring presence, capable of enormous empathy and range, be it on stage or screen.

In Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers, a haunting adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, Mescal vividly portrays Harry, neighbour to Andrew Scott’s Adam. The two men live in the same east London tower block and meet one evening when Harry drunkenly turns up at the door of Adam’s apartment, where he is rebuffed. Eventually, the two men begin a relationship, as Adam, a lonely screenwriter, revisits his suburban childhood home where he somehow meets his mother and father (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), who died in a car crash when he was nearly 12.

All Of Us Strangers — which Searchlight Pictures opened in the US in December and the UK in late January following its premiere at Telluride — was a no-brainer for Mescal, offering him the opportunity to work with Andrews Haigh and Scott — “it would be difficult for a film with those two people at the centre of it to go wrong” — as well as the chance to play someone “a little bit more forward than other characters I’ve played”.

Mescal opted to have Harry, whose family have effectively disowned him for being gay, come from Leeds. “There’s something interesting about him escaping some place like Leeds and coming to London, hoping for a more expansive life, and having a smaller one when he gets there,” explains Mescal. “I can relate to that feeling of leaving a place, hoping for something because it’s been dictated to you that life happens in the big city. But if your family doesn’t accept you, doesn’t give [you love], you’re fucked before you begin. So, I was working back from that. A lot of acting should feel intuitive.”

By the time the film ends, a major revelation — spoiler alert — recalibrates our view of Harry. When Mescal first read the script, he was floored by what is revealed. “Then it made total sense, because it’s not about what’s real, what’s not. It’s about what do we feel?” As such, Mescal plays Harry as a real person rather than, say, a ghost. “Because he’s also unaware of what’s going on. For all intents and purposes, he is as real as Adam is. That would have been one of the only things that would have made me not want to be involved — if there was a prerequisite to do ‘spooky acting’.”

As Adam’s memories and reveries coalesce with his reality, he reconnects with his dead parents, which allows him to open up and find connection and romance with the mysterious Harry. “We knew each other a little bit. Grew to know each other quite well during the filming, and have been getting closer and closer and closer,” says Mescal of Scott. “What he does in this film is an absolute joke in terms of the standard of performance and how lightly he wears it.”

Connective tissue

On screen, the two Ireland-born actors have what critics and casting directors like to call ‘chemistry’, in much the same way Mescal and Edgar-Jones had ‘chemistry’ in Normal People, even if he bristles at the term. “It’s not a word that actors [use],” Mescal insists. “But you must endeavour a little bit to try and fall in love, in whatever that capacity is. And Andrew is a very easy person to fall in love with. He’s kind, generous, talented. We shot the film at the perfect junction in our friendship where there was a lot we didn’t know about each other, but there was mutual admiration and respect. And a similar sense of humour.”

Remarkably, the pair had no rehearsal time together. Did they know instantly that their onscreen relationship was working? “Yeah, it felt fizzy when we were acting,” says Mescal. “Especially with that first scene at the door — it’s so well-written. You feel like you’re dancing through the scene, you can go in loads of different ways, and if I went one way, Andrew would go another. If that’s what chemistry is, I was aware it was happening.”

While All Of Us Strangers was nominated for six Baftas, including outstanding British film and supporting actor and actress for Mescal and Foy, Scott was, surprisingly, overlooked by the leading actor jury. “It’s the stuff of dreams to make a film that is independent, and for an organisation to recognise the film and your performance, Claire’s performance and Andrew Haigh,” begins Mescal, choosing his words carefully. “[But] I’m perplexed and confused. How can an institution recognise all those things and neglect that? It doesn’t make sense.

“This is not a criticism of anybody else’s performance in that category. It’s not even a criticism of Bafta. I think a mistake happened.”

In the aftermath of Normal People, while Edgar-Jones largely pursued opportunities in the US, Mescal stayed mostly in the UK doing smaller films, among them Aftersun (for which he was nominated for best leading actor by both Bafta and Oscar) and theatre (winning an Olivier Award for A Streetcar Named Desire). He says he was offered several big movies but, as both actor and viewer, is drawn to indie films.

One massive movie that did take Mescal’s fancy, however, was Gladiator 2, Ridley Scott’s upcoming sequel to his Oscar-winning epic, which Mescal recently wrapped following a strike-imposed hiatus. “You would struggle to find a single actor on the planet who would say no to Ridley Scott and Gladiator, because Gladiator was an amazing character study.

“I loved every second working with him,” he continues. “I loved having to adjust the way I’ve worked, particularly in the last couple of years, to work with somebody who’s the master of what he does. You don’t have to imagine anything. He gives you scale, he gives you extras, he gives you horses.

“Having said that,” adds Mescal, “I’m looking forward to doing something that will probably be predominantly single camera, a $7m-$8m film in the next couple of weeks.”

That film is Living director Oliver Hermanus’s The History Of Sound with Josh O’Connor, which has been in the works since 2020, and Mescal has already started shooting Richard Linklater’s musical Merrily We Roll Along, which, similar to the director’s Boyhood, is a years-of-filming odyssey. He also has Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, in which he plays William Shakespeare, booked for later in the year.

While the likes of Hermanus’s film “will always feel like home”, Mescal notes regarding his Scott epic: “I felt an immense relief that the job still felt like the job, doing something like Gladiator, as it did on Aftersun, as it did on All Of Us Strangers. That was the big thing I didn’t know going into it — whether it would still feel the same.” Fortunately for Mescal — and for the breadth of roles the experience potentially opens up — it did.'

[alarrytale]

He has a Section 28 tattoo//

No queer person in the UK would dream of commemorating that evil law with a tattoo of a plain 28. If they do refer to it, it's a 28 which is crossed out.

Since I believe Louis is gay, the 28 stands for his Doncaster Rovers number.

https://www.tumblr.com/larentyouglad2/747673846189064192/do-you-think-louis-28-tattoo-is-a-reference-to?source=share

No other Larries think his 28 tattoo is for Section 28. I'm a queer Brit and we would never ever get that number tattooed on us or name a fun clothing line after it to somehow make a reference Section 28. You're not British so maybe you don't know the full horror of that legislation. Louis isn't stupid. He has the tattoo for his football number with Donny Rovers.

Hi, anon! (yes, pretty sure you're the same anon...)

No, i was lucky enough to be born on the other side of the north sea the year it was introduced. Here is what section 28 entailed;

"Local authority shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" (source)

Why does it bother you so much that i have a different opinion than you? I also consulted with my tumblr bff (who's a brit) and she agreed with me that Louis would. So does plenty of others, just look it up.

I think it's more than plausible, likely even, that a harshly, unwillingly, closeted man has a tattoo to represent that he isn't allowed to promote homosexuality. His contracts prohibits him from doing exactly that. He's got a fake kid to hide his homosexuality. He's also got a triangle tattoo which is a consentration camp badge given to homosexuals in WWII. That's even grimmer than a section 28 tattoo so... But maybe you don't know the full horror of what happened there?

Everything Louis does means something and if he says it doesn’t, or he does a "it's just a boat" and dismissing it and playing it down we know he's lying. I don't believe he'd get his football shirt number tattooed on his ring finger or name his queer, androgynous fashion company after his football shirt number. Also why would his football number be 28? Just a random number he tattoos on himself and names his fashion company after?

Also why is he always showing his fingers and attracting attention on his 28 tattoo when he's got to deny larry or stunt? It's as if he's telling us he isn't allowed to promote homosexuality... Even if he didn’t get the tattoo for Section 28, he knows that a lot of people think that he did, so this is significant.

It's totally fine if you don’t agree with me. But don’t pretend like this isn't a plausible theory, and i personally believe this over 28 being his football shirt number. I know some people think the 28 is for "To infinity" where the 8 is the infinity sign. I'd believe that over the football shirt number story too.

[joeyclaire]

bandersnatch rewatch

taking place in 1984 uk could be an allusion to the book 1984, which is about government surveillance and has themes of rape, encountering one’s deepest fear, and thought crimes, and also takes place in the uk

the 1980s setting also implies negative cultural attitudes around homosexuality

stefan likely takes clomipramine, an ocd medication that used to come in orange and red capsules, but when i looked up side effects i couldn’t find anything that matched

camera angles in early scenes suggest stefan has already thought about killing his father pre canon (especially the way he eyes the ashtray, which he always uses to kill peter and the player doesn’t prompt him to use it)

what is the significance of the bandersnatch book originally belonging to stefan’s mother? perhaps it’s just to hint as early as possible towards her being dead, especially since she apparently never read it

i wonder if the glyph graffiti is there to imply others have had similar experiences or just to foreshadow? the davies case appears to be popular considering even thakur knows his story and a documentary and true crime book were made about it

colin condemns pre-rolled for having strychnine and then. takes lsd? which also sometimes has strychnine? dunno the significance of that but it’s definitely intentional

the colin games being named after metalhead and nosedive don’t appear to be alluding to the episodes for any particular reason other than being easter eggs, but black mirror does easter eggs relating to other episodes just for the sake of it a lot

this has been said but the first ending really is the closest to a happy ending. stefan is very young and brand new to game development and bandersnatch is his very first game; he would have had the opportunity to learn and grow from his failure if he was willing to take the bad review on the chin but since that ending is so unsatisfying the story refuses to allow that

the doors of perception, which thakur references and misattributes to timothy leary, is an autobiographical account of a drug trip and the insights experienced during the trip, foreshadowing the later lsd scene

timothy leary was a psychologist and author who advocated for psychedelics, more lsd scene foreshadowing

i’m defrostin mince :-)

“i think dad thought it was sissy” more gay coding

the rare stefan pov shots are often very shaky

looked up the other true crime books by the lives of jerome f davies, all appear to be made up

stefan’s house is shaped like the glyph

making plans for nigel is so on the nose

picking between the compulsions is why i’m so confident the player is a manifestation of his ocd

pax on the lsd is interesting, no idea what it’s meant to mean though?

colin has a poster for philip k dick’s ubik, a book with themes of cooperate espionage

if you have stefan jump a bus with A NEW CLEAN START drives past

peter appears to have a degree for neuropsychology? but i can’t read the second degree at all

parallels between stefan and his father/davies and his wife

not much to say on program and control route other than it seems to have the most foreshadowing out of all the endings

sex is almost always inherently violent on black mirror, which is why it makes sense that when haynes flirtatiously suggests they add “a little more action,” stefan attacks her (also cause he’s gay)

after chopping up the body stefan doesn’t leave it in his house forever, he hides it in a bag in the nearby woods, also stefan was arrested at 21 meaning two years after the events of the episode

the credits rolling in the pearl ending seems to imply it is the “true” ending (or most true)