#also i think most people were joking about them being queerbaited (i admit it is fun to play up spn drama. dramatically) but some im pretty

[frikijedai]

What did edd0chan do-

I'm just personally done with all the back-and-ford she keeps doing and her past few livestreams. But here's a summary as to why the Twitter fandom is in flames:

After asking for 30 subs ($150) in Twitch she revealed that Puppet is cisgender, despite admitting that she likes to leave Puppet's actual gender a mystery.

Most didn’t like that revelation, but there wasn't much to do since in their first apparition Puppet used she/her pronouns. Fans called Eddo out (some respectful, some rude) that she basically queerbaited (for things like the music video symbolism, having them in the boys cabin, and then the girls bathroom).

Eddo responded (in general, because of other issues that arose in that stream about her professionalism) that she needs to cause drama because that's how the entertainment industry works, which made people madder because that also applies as to why Fox and Meg were never confirmed siblings (there are various obvious clues that they are, but Eddo also had Meg crush on Fox on the Valentine's special which is just icky), and Bxb never becoming canon (plus Eddo's jokes of Bonnie being straight). During the live stream, she ended up using the word tr*nsexual.

The next day she said it was an honest mistake and that she genuinely didn't know the term was outdated. (I'm not a member of the trans community, so it's not up to me whether that apology is acceptable or not.) Eddo also takes back the Cis Puppet comment, saying that after talking with a friend in the LGBTQ+ community, she realized that PERHAPS Puppet is actually nonbinary and pansexual. She made the #fhslgbt so that fans can educate her (ig doing her own research was too much), and share their experiences.

Next livestream is completely different again. She says "these people are expecting me to write their stories" in reference to the people who shared their experiences. Says that it's her story and she gets to choose what to do, that if fans want to know if the show has representation they should watch the show and find out (which sounds baity again). She also went on a tangent that the people asking her for representation were crybabies and didn’t really represent the community. (Plus she liked a tweet saying that representation didn't matter, but deleted it a hours later when she got called out)

Which I think is stupid because Eddo was the one who made the hashtag so that people would do it. And that those people opened up because they wanted to help her understand the queer experience, not to make it about themselves just because.

Eddo also finally eliminated one of the candidates for the voice actors, who had a grooming history the fans had been trying to warn her about for days. She asked the fans to let her know about any candidates she should worry about. Which I just think should be her job and not the fandoms, considering what happened with the original cast. Also because Bon's new confirmed voice actor has liked racist (some about the new Little Mermaird) and queerphobic tweets.

Aaaand that's all i got. I'm not bothering to keep up anymore. At this point ig I'm a fhs fan but not an eddo one. I'm still excited about upcoming fan proyects like "Fnafhs the Movie" by Mr Donnie and "Freddy's Nightmares" (which is basically its own thing now) by ironic_actor. But I won't be following reboot updates closely anymore.

[jupitermelichios]

So you asked about Sterek and I’ve been thinking a lot about the ship lately because i’m 250k words into a sterek fic rn but I’m not primarily a sterek shipper, so I’ve done a lot of dissecting. (Feel free to ignore me if the question was rhetorical though!)

Sterek as a ship first appeared in season 1 largely, I think, because season 1 had a very small cast compared to later seasons. People loved Stiles (Scott is my baby boy and I love him, but he’s not the type of character fandom™ gravitates towards, he’s sweet and earnest and very morally upright, and the really big characters in western fandoms tend to be much more of the moraly-grey wisecracking cynical with a heart of gold variety, especially in the 90s and 00s, which is an archetype Stiles slots into perfectly). And because they loved him, they wanted someone to ship him with, and the options were limited. There was Scott (which required splitting up him and Allison, plus childhood besties to lovers has its fans but it’s never been the most widely popular trope in fandom), Peter (honestly, i have to admit my bias here, i love steter, because i’m a sucker for messy bitches being dramatic at one another, but understandably a lot of people didn’t like the age difference or the evilness. Plus season 1 Peter doesn’t have many opportunities to be fun, that comes later, so he wasn’t yet a fan favourite character the way he’d become in season 2 and 3). Then there's Jackson (there are people who ship them, and they have at least spoken in canon, but there’s very little in the show for shippers to get their teeth into with it), or Lydia (and as you noted, this one is a real slow burn of a ship, and in season 1 especially there’s 0 indications Lydia even knows Stiles exists, never mind thinks he’s cute. plus fandom was really going through a moment where het ships were sidelined hard, which counted against them). That leaves Derek kind of by default, but also Tyler Hoechlin is an extremely beautiful man, they have some good scenes together, Derek spends a weird amount of the season in Stiles’s bedroom… there’s not a lot, but there is stuff for fandom to squee over in season 1.

(Also while there was a tendency to age stiles up to 18 in fanfic, that was usually much more to do with him not being underage than to reduce the age difference. I definitely think there’s a generational difference in terms of how fans think about age-dfference in ships, and it’s a way less common squick for people my age and older than it seems to be for younger fans. Just one of those cultural shift things, i guess. But that meant that while a lot of people disliked the age difference between stiles and peter, because he’s old enough to be his dad, the 6 year age difference between stiles and derek just didn’t really register for most fans, and wouldn’t be seen as a problem if it did, the way it might if the show aired today.) 

So Sterek is the biggest slash ship kind of by default, but it’s in no way the overwhelming majority ship the way it would become later. The Sciles shippers were a close second back then.

The reason Sterek became the juggernaut it did is basically all season 2. Season 2 queerbaited in a way no show had done before, and honestly no show would do since apart from BBC Sherlock. There was never any chance Jeff would give us a queer MC, but there were a bunch of things that made people think he would - Stiles has so many jokes about or references to him maybe being bi, Stiles and Derek get a lot of scenes together including Stiles saving Derek’s life, Matt jokes about them being a cute couple, the show hosted a fanfic competition that allowed shippy entries (even if the winner ended up being a genfic), best ship polls being run by magazines and commercial websites were briefly a big thing around this time and the show-runners pushed hard for fans to vote sterek basically any time it was included in one, and there was the infamous boat incident (if you’re not aware, the show got Dylan OBrien and Tyler Hoechlin to film a short video encouraging fans to vote for the show in the teen choice awards which involved them cuddling in a decidedly romantic way on a boat. It was very weird and uncomfortable - they’re actors obviously, pretending to be romantic is like half their job, but they were basically playing rpf-fic versions of themselves rather than characters which is an insane thing to ask an actor to do - but it made a lot of fans think the show-runners were at least open to the idea of making Stiles and Derek canon).

This also lead to some very heated ship wars, because people genuinely thought there was a chance sterek might be canonised, and that the more support there was for it online, the more likely that was, and so non-sterek ships were seen as a threat to that. That made shipping non-sterek ships unfun for a lot of fans, especially fans of het ships involving stiles (this was before fandom as a whole realised hating female characters for being female was a bad look, so when malia came along she was absolutely reviled. I lost readers on a sterek fic because i tagged her a side character with 0 sexual or romantic intereactions with stiles, that’s how bad it was. people would literally refuse to read stuff in which she even appeared) and people felt like supporting sterek might actually make a difference in the world in terms of lgbt representation, which definitely helped its popularity.

By the time season 3 started airing, the ship had gained so much momentum that even though the characters have a lot fewer interactions in season 3, and barely interact from season 4 onwards, and Derek and Stiles both get other love interests (terrible and then good but kind of forgettable in Derek’s case with Jennifer and then Braeden, and absolutely stellar in the case of Stiles and Malia, my actually all time favourite teen wolf ship), there was more than enough fan-created content to keep feeding it, and so the ship didn’t whither the way a smaller ship might once the canon content dried up. Who needed canon when shipping it unlocked one of the biggest areas of the map on AO3?

Also I don’t want to make it sound like people only shipped it because there was no other options and Hoechlin is hot. There are legitimate reasons to like it as a ship, even if it’s not for everyone (but what ship is?). Derek needs someone who’ll treat him well while also not taking any of his bullshit, and that’s definitely something Stiles would provide. Stiles is, despite his complaining, very reliable, which is something Derek really hasn’t had in his life since the fire, and I think it’s something he’d really value. Although Derek tends to go to Scott for help, it’s much more often Stiles who actually provides it, and there’s definitely some trust there, which is a big deak for Derek. Derek’s healthiest romantic relationship by an insane margin is with Braeden, who helps him while also calling him a dumbass and he seems to not just need but enjoy that, he likes that she calls him out without being cruel, which again is definitely Stiles’s approach. Stiles is extremely kind, but he’s almost never nice. Plus I am not the first person to point out that there are some similarities in appearance between Stiles and Braeden, so if Derek’s into dudes it doesn’t feel like a stretch to say Stiles might be physically his type.

From Stiles’s perspective, Derek and Malia have a lot in common, and we know from that relationship that Stiles enjoys Malia’s bluntness, and he’s not off-put by trauma or emotional rawness, which are all things that are also true of Derek. Plus I always got the impression a lot of what Stiles enjoyed about Malia is that he can be dark with her in a way he couldn’t with most of their other friends (this is also why I’m pissed Stiles and Alison have almost no relationship in canon, Stiles needs Scott’s positivity and strong moral compass, but he also needs someone in his life he can joke about murder with, which he could have done with Alison if Jeff wasn’t a coward!). He seems to enjoy people being bitchy - he likes that in Lydia, and even if he hates Peter, he always gives the impression that he’s having fun hating him - which is Derek’s default interaction style in season 2 especially. Everyone Stiles is attracted to could be reasonably described as intense, which Derek also definitely is, especially in seasons 1-3. And, similarly to Stiles and Braeden, there’s a lot of hints that Stiles thinks Danny is attractive, and Danny and Derek both have a tall dark and handsome thing going on, so Derek being physically attractive to Stiles doesn’t feel out of line with canon.

They also seem to have some kind of prior connection that’s never discussed - Stiles recognises Derek instantly in the first episode, even though it’s been years and Derek’s changed a lot, and again when Derek gets de-aged, which a lot of people interpreted as Stiles having a long-standing crush on Derek that began when he was a kid. And despite their age difference, the show consistently treats them like peers in a way it mostly doesn’t with Stiles and Derek’s betas, and Derek doesn’t usually treat Stiles like a kid, which is interesting because he does with Scott. There is canonically an age difference there, but they don’t feel (at least to me) like there is because of the way they interact.

It’s definitely not for everyone (as evidenced by the fact that a significant portion of people who ship it write/hc/read versions of Stiles who are pretty radically ooc. I’m firmly ship and let ship, if it makes people happy more power to them, but it’s always confused me because the fanon version of stiles is, at least my mind, actually less compatible with Derek, because they tend to soften him a lot, and that lack of softness is exactly why I think they’d work together) but there is stuff in canon to get your teeth into as a shipper, even if the reason it’s the juggernaut it is today has more to do with the moment in time when it appeared and the ways Jeff Davis interacted with the fandom than the ship itself.

TEEN WOLF BRAINROT

so, i've been rewatching teen wolf bc apparently netflix hates us europeans and it will be removed on may 31st and here are a few of my opinions TM

scott is actually a very good main character. listen, i got into this fandom when i was older, so i probably don't understand why there is this trend of hating scott, but he's a valid MC! he shows an example of positive masculinity that is honestly so refreshing to see in modern media: he's kind, compassionate, always optimistic but not stupidly so, has an amazing relationship with his mum AND his friends, he's not afraid to show emotions and cry. honestly a very healthy, albeit traumatised, young man. yes, he did stupid stuff for the girl he liked, and yes he misjudged a few situations, but please, remind me, how old is he supposed to be? 16? 17? 18? yeah. i did worse things at his age.

scott and stiles come from working class families!!! they have money problems!! it's honestly so refreshing to see teenagers discuss money in a supernatural/fantasy tv show. it doesn't usually happens and I've found it refreshing because it's something that usually happen between irl teenagers.

i don't get sterek. really, really don't. maybe it's bc i've watched the show through a gen z lens (meaning the media and the culture (read: THE INTERNET) when i watched the show were influenced more by gen z than millennials' values) but i really don't get it. and the age difference makes me uncomfortable. (same thing with parrish and lydia, SHE'S A MINOR DUDE, there's a reason people don't like cops istg) SOMEONE EXPLAIN STEREK TO ME PLEASE

in fics stiles and scott's personalities are often swapped: stiles is the caring one, the pack mum, scott is the one with homicidal tendencies. like, my dudes, the fact that scott is a GOOD person through and through is the reason he's a true alpha. also the reason we, as viewers, like stiles is bc he's sarcastic and more morally ambiguous than scott (not really, but you get it, he cares more about himself and his immediate friends, the others can die, scott instead want to save everyone period), it's like taking away the thing that makes stiles stiles

malia and stiles were SO cute, i didn't expect to like them so much, but when they broke up my heart shattered

stydia is everything i want in a ship and i will not accept any criticism on it, it's literally one of the only straight ships i like. you have the slowburn, the malewife x girlboss trope, the he fell first but she fell harder, the mutual pining. it literally checks all of my boxes

isaac was such a cool character and he and scott had an amazing dynamic, like come on, they had something going on between them

kira is a badass. that's it, that's the comment. i like her so much

derek's development is one of the best. i couldn't stand him in season 1, but in s4 he became one of my favourite characters. but i think this has more to do with the fact that they aged him up? he was supposed to be in his early 20s in s1, but then they aged him up in s3? well, anyway, i liked how he literally wised up, stepping into the role of a teacher and guide instead of a leader, it suits him so much better (and i'm sure it's less stressful)

peter is such a charmingly evil bastard. i hate him, but i love him at the same time.

thiam is the best ship in the show, i don't care if it's canon. i've read airplanes, it's canon to me

we would've liked (simped for) s5 theo more if he had the same haircut he had in 6b. he was just stupidly hot.

allison and lydia should've kissed and so malia and kira. give me my wlw couples.

[fullmetal-angelgrace]

hwllo sorry i dont really follow spn but i do follow you so i get glimpse of it when you rb but I'm curious now after reading your rb with the list of things and i was wondering why the jenmish panel disappointed fans djfksks idk why but that got me interested

OH BOY. OK.

so basically GISH is a charity event that misha collins hosts, you pay to participate in, and then you do creative challenges given in prompt form (i.e. make the queen of england dance to dancing queen, make ur fave character with melted crayons, etc.)

for this online GISH there was a zoom event with guest speakers, and eventually a short half hour panel was with jensen and misha was announced where they would "reminisce & discuss beard grooming" and then the GISH twitter said it would be "reunion conversation" and to "ask your questions"

absolutely nowhere in any of the promotional media of it was supernatural mentioned, despite it being a reunion for the first time since spn ended

yet,

many, many supernatural fans assumed they would be talking about destiel, the confession, and/or the finale, i remember seeing several posts about people thinking they would talk about destiel and/or jensen's real feelings about the finale (that he didn't like it, despite him changing his mind and suddenly deciding that he liked the finale after he 'needed some convincing')

the actual panel was for some reason 3 hours earlier than planned during the opening ceremony with no explanation of why and there wasn't time for a Q&A, and then during the actual scheduled panel time, there was no heads up or anything, they said jensen had filming scheduling conflicts and couldn't show (even though in the opening ceremony he literally said he was going to spend the rest of the day in bed ftsgjs)

they didn't talk about supernatural, they just talked about quarantine life and what they had been up to for the last few months

i find it hilarious that so many people were angry they didn't talk about destiel or the finale, and thought they were queerbaited (i shit you not) or tricked into buying a $15 ticket for a panel that didn't talk about the thing they made themselves believe the panel was going to talk about (i guess some people could have been misinformed about it being an spn panel, but idk)

i will admit the whole timing thing was a mess, but i think it was a genuine mistake, this was an experimental GISH format that they had never done before so idk, shit happens

tldr: fans hyped their expectations up WAY too high and got upset when jenmish didn't talk about what they never said they were going to talk about

[rantingcrocodile]

I totally understand the connection between girls/women reading gay male fanfiction and then starting to think they must be gay men themselves but it's still so insane to me. I'm a straight woman that has been reading m/m fanfiction for years bc the fandoms I'm in mainly have popular gay ships, but the thought that this might make ME a gay man has never ever entered my brain. I like the fanfictions bc they are genuinely well-written (BY women FOR women), and I can admit that the sex scenes are hot because I'm attracted to men and there's two of them 💀 How exactly do those girls jump to thinking that means they're men, is it simply because they're young and impressionable and see trans stuff everywhere nowadays?

It's because of fandom culture on social media.

They argue over who is the best character and which is the best ship, but they believe that they're right and really hate anyone that disagrees with them. So how did they "prove" that their opinions and interpretations were right? They adopted social justice language.

I was speaking to someone about this recently, and I was reminded of seeing, unironically, someone argue that X character was the best because - and I wish I were joking - he was "female coded" and therefore if he wasn't your favourite, that made you a misogynist.

So when you mix that kind of deep obsession into a fandom with the must-outdo-everyone-else when it comes to pretending to care about social justice topics, then fandoms became hotbeds for "I'm a feminist!" etc. Writing fanfic porn was "empowering" and "queer culture." (Do you remember the anger about "queerbaiting" that didn't come from lesbians or gay men, but mostly straight girls and young women that demanded that showrunners make their most popular gay ships canon, or forever be called homophobes?)

At that point, they were very invested in their fandoms, and then also just as invested in "social justice" language. Trans issues came up. Opinions about fandom mattered more if the source of those opinions was "more oppressed" than others, and then suddenly a lot of the girls/young women in fandom spaces started calling themselves things like "demisexual" and "queer" and that they were "systems" and everyone was autistic to avoid criticism when they sent other people death threats over differing opinions over fandom. Then they were "non-binary."

It sounds bizarre because it was bizarre.

I was around on Tumblr then and saw it for myself, so I wish I could tell you that this is all theory about how it came about, but it really isn't. I saw it on Tumblr in real time and watched straight college-aged women become "demisexual biromantic aroace non-binary" women and in-fight over which characters were best and which ships were best and which fandoms were best depending on whether they talked about trans issues as "trans*" or simply "trans," because one day you had to use the * or you were being transphobic, and then the next, using the * was transphobic.

It was a very real social contagion that started thanks to stupid internet slapfights about mediocre shows and mediocre actors.

Again, I wish I was joking. This is genuinely the worst possible timeline to exist.

[aveline-amelia]

I am not a Johnlock shipper. I don't ship Johnlock. I don't even like John Watson. But to call it a uwu yaoi fetish ship (and BTW, yaoi is a Japanese term, with a problematic history, the word you are looking for is "gay" or "same-sex"). And honestly, every time I see it called "a gay ship" when simply "a ship", would suffice, my eyebrows get raised. It is very dismissive, patronizing language and I will not stand for it. I will not.

People aren't fetishists for wanting to see two men be in love. People aren't fetishists for wanting to see two men kiss. People aren't fetishists for wanting love and light and daring to hope the media will treat us better.

This is an old tired argument. "It's just straight girls fetishizing gay men!" It's mocking female interests and being a woman or LGBT yourself does not shield you from this the same way it would not shield me.

A bunch of people, a whole bunch who shipped Johnlock, were lesbians or nonbinary people. A bunch of them figured out themselves and their queer identities because of this show. Two people met up and got married because of Johnlock and TJLC. A large portion of them were young and naive and they were not yet burned by television's... everything, to paraphrase a certain video essayist.

No queerbaiting? Let's see.

"Sherlock's back and he's in love." marketing done by BBC.

An entire BBC Three account making Johnlock shipper comments.

"Look at us both."

"That's what I was suggesting."

All of the gay jokes.

Mark Gatiss, whom I actually like, admitted to playing with homoeroticism in the show. This isn't evil in itself, but what it is, is proof some subtext is there.

The promo image of a drunk John and Sherlock holding hands. All of the promo images, in fact! Most, at least.

Sherlock's tarmac speech which was clearly taking the piss of the fact people thought he was going to confess to John.

There was no queerbaiting on the show? Really? I do not condone people sending hate to Moffat or Gatiss or Amanda Abbington or anyone for that fact. I don't think any of them are homophobes for not making Johnlock happen.

And I know they have denied it vehemently but they also admitted to being liars. People weren't crazy or delusional for believing they might have been lying. I do not envy anyone here.

But the subtext is there. It's. There. People who don't even ship it have written research papers and essays on it. Johnlock is the poster child of queeebaiting.

It's not magically not there because you yourself or your friends do not see it.

I could not ship Johnlock less if I tried. Yet. I see it. I still don't particularly care about them kissing or whatever. it does nothing to me ship wise. But you know what? i would be happy for people if it did happen. (just don't kill Mycroft off and I'm a happy camper).

I would be happy for the good ones, the ones who cried about it, the ones hoping for this moment that will prove the thing they wished to be real, believed to be real, was real. That they were not idiots or delusional.

Having the rug pulled under them. Being told who they are doesn't matter. (I know that was not the intention there but that pushed people into a pit of despair). Who we are does matter.

Also healthy male friendships? John beating Sherlock up til he's spitting blood up on the floor? And also there is a bunch of male friendship in the media. Certainly more of that than LGBT representation!

Molly's act of violence and aggression should not be celebrated just because she is a woman.

Mary was terribly and inconsistently written and fridged just to support John's arc.

And just to be fair, I am writing this post moments after literally coming across a person I care about recalling being bullied and humiliated by Johnlockers about her childhood trauma. The Big Name Fans were toxic and patronizing and some of their behavior hurt people terribly, made them feel unwelcome and alienated and that is unacceptable.

For them, I understand celebrating Johnlock didn't happen. It's only natural after what they went through.

But it's not fair. The behavior of the bad apples does not discourage a queer reading, the subtext, or the queerbaiting accusations. Those are separate.

This is not meant as an attack. I am not inciting harassment. Because this is our first time interacting, I usually come off this strong. I am very passionate about most of the things I talk about and I am available for discussion.

Also, I am sorry if you do not wish to have this reblogged in a way like this. I am a tiny blog with less than 30 followers, the majority of which are not Johnlockers, but I will still regurgitate that I do not condone harassment or hate towards anyone.

This is completely unprovoked but I got pissed off while watching a show with a friend SO

Fuck toxic JohnLock shippers. 

Everyone talks about how so obviously in love Sherlock is with John. BITCH, WHERE?! Yeah, they have their moments. They care about each other. BUT THEY ARE NOT IN LOVE CANONICALLY IN THE SHOW!!! I watched the show with a ton of friends, both straight and LGBT+, and NONE OF US saw romantic chemistry between the two of them! Don’t get me wrong, you can ship what you want, but when you hate a character solely because she interferes with your uwu yaoi fetish ship (read: Molly and Mary) when she and the male counterpart actually have feelings for each other and legitimate chemistry, you can go fuck yourself! 

Molly and Mary are both super well-written characters, They don’t take shit from men (molly literally slaps Sherlock when he pisses her off), their screentime isn’t solely devoted to talking about the men in their life, and they are shown as strong, independent characters. 

Martin Freeman literally wanted to quit Sherlock because the fandom ruined it for him (Source)  How shitty do you have to be where you get an actor to the point that they no longer enjoy doing what they love? 

Don’t even get me started on the shipping tags. You have to use anti-Johnlock in order to see the legitimate sherlock x molly ships because JohnLock fans use the tag to shit on the ship! People have been sent death threats, had their reputations destroyed and been accused of homophobia because they don’t ship two best friends in a show with a gay producer and don’t agree that there was queerbaiting in the show (There fucking WASN’T). 

And don’t get all up on my ass saying I am a homophobe. I’m bisexual and have dated women, I ship other popular gay ships that I do see the chemistry with, and I have always done my best to voice my support for the LGBT+ community. 

I am SORRY that some of us like seeing healthy make friendships instead of the usual lowkey abusive shit that the media usually portrays! Just because people don’t think they’re gay for each other does not mean they don’t want the characters in each others’ lives at all. 

Once again, this post is not about JohnLock fans that are respectful. I’m glad you guys have fun with the ship and it’s really cool to see the talent there is in the Sherlock fandom. However, the shitty fans have made it an intolerable place to be a fan. 

If you send me hates and death threats, you’re only proving my point. So fuck off. 

[swamplatibule]

starwritten society “season one” summary in bullet points

The Starwritten Society is a secret organization dedicated to rescuing children with paranormal abilities from those who would manipulate or weaponize those abilities. They also specialize in training those children to control their powers, if need be.

But forget about that let’s get to the cool stuff

fox exists

everyone is either kinda in love with him or fucking hates him

or both *coughwilsoncough*

also he’s a bastard

and he looks like pedro pascal but that’s whatever just focus

he gets back from a mission

and is immediately called into Iara’s office

they’re the head of the Society btw

he thinks he’s in trouble but NOPE

turns out he’s a mentor now! yayyy!

wait no he doesn’t want to be a mentor oops

especially not to this... sassy child

who by the way seems WAY too young to be an agent

and he knows that you need a recommendation from a higher ranking agent to be a mentor and so he asks who recommended him

turns out it was wilson

who’s the head of the high risk rescue division

and also the character that almost the entire made-up fandom ships with fox but they don’t expect it to actually happen because the amount of queerbaiting in tv is RIDICULOUS

but jokes on them everyone in this goddamn show is gay as fuck lol

anyway he confronts wilson bc he doesn’t want a trainee wtf dude

and wilson goes

”I thought having another life to worry about might make you a little less reckless.”

yeah they have a very passive-aggressive rivalry as of yet

and so fox is stuck with a trainee

her name is hollister btw, aidan hollister, she’s the paraself

anywho hollister n fox do NOT get along at first

fox makes it very clear that he doesn’t think hollister is cut out for this kinda shit

like even though she was able to hack into the society's security systems which is basically impossible

she doesn’t know how to hold a gun or fight a bitch

AND she’s like 14, most agents don’t start training until they’re like 17

so shes too young for this shit

and hollister is pissed because she earned her right to be here and this motherfucker is just fuckn UGH

also she has a hidden complex about not being good enough or “worthy” but shhhh that’s a secret

but they‘re stuck with each other though so

then we meet Kennedy, she runs the tech devision and was very impressed Hollister managed to hack the system (that she made! Kennedy made the system! She’s by far the most vital person in the Society and don’t you ever forget it)

Kennedy and Fox are also really good friends they’ve known each other since they were trainees

kennedy immediately takes a liking to hollister

she slowly grows on Fox too but he won’t show it

well he has to adopt train this kid so there’s like a solid three episodes that’s just them going missions and him teaching her how to do agenty stuff

then we meet The Bad Guy

Her name is Eleanor Sylvidas

which is the same name as the first bad guy Fox ever faced bc she‘s that lady’s daughter and has the same name

turns out her mom raised her to continue the family business

if you know what I mean

haha

anyway

so Eleanor is giving the Society a lot of shit to deal with

fox and hollister’s mission is to get any sort of information on her, try to find her location but DO NOT GET INTO A FIGHT WITH HER bc they won’t let hollister get into fights yet

anyway turns out eleanor is in the building at the same time as them

they get split up

hollister gets into a fight with her

of course

because shes Like That

hollister loses but fox saves her and they get the hell out of there

the bad news is that Eleanor is now targeting these two specifically

she recognized fox as the guy who got her mom arrested and since hollister’s his trainee she’s roped into the mess too

so a few episode pass that i haven’t fully daydreamed yet

just a few training things and dangerous shit and fox teaching Hollister how to steal a car

and we have a backstory episode duh

every good show has some backstory exposition

long story short fox‘s parents died in a murder-su•c•de and also his sister got kidnapped and he spent a year in foster care before running away and joining the circus and eventually the Society

hollister never met her parents and has spent her entire life in the foster care system

and tragic villain backstory! That’s the heroes don’t know!

Eleanor’s mom basically made her feel worthless or like she wouldn't be good for anything if she couldn’t carry on with the plan thing.

And she doesn’t actually want to be doing any of this! She just acts like she does and wears this sadistic twisted mask to hide any doubt

but enough sad shit get ready for...

the FANCY PARTY EPISODE

there’s one in each season, where the characters have to sneak into a very rich-people black-tie event

and also sneak in as many weapons as they can fit on their person

so they go to this party

and they split up in order to find eleanor

and fox SPECIFICALLY tells Hollister “if you see her don’t engage, just let me take care of it”

hollister sees Eleanor and tries to get Fox’s attention but eleanor is going somewhere and she doesn’t have time and-

so she just follows Eleanor without Fox’s help

and then they get into another fight

and it’s a pretty even fight bc hollister’s a quick learner and stuff

and so she’s gotten pretty good at fighting

but then fox finds them and hollister’s distracted and eleanor gets away

and so they’re back where they started

there‘s a long scene of him arguing with her because she put herself in danger and could‘ve gotten herself killed

and her arguing that she had it, she could’ve just ended the whole thing right there and they wouldn’t have to deal with this lady anymore

but NO because fox had to interrupt

it ends with hollister storming out of the room and Fox just sighing and leaning against the wall

and then realizing suddenly that

well shit

maybe he does care about this kid

thats not good

but of course he’s not gonna say it out loud bc he doesn‘t want to admit that attachment

in the end it’s after a long talk with Kennedy that he admits it

partially because she locks him in her office because she KNOWS something‘s wrong and she also knows that he’ll bottle it up land deal with it silently unless someone makes him talk about it

Kennedy is absolutely not gonna have that shit because that’s not ✨healthy✨

she’s a good friend like that and also just a badass in general

anyway so fox admits that mayyybe yeah he cares about the kid and possibly hypothetically sees her as a daughter and such

Kennedy seems satisfied so she tells him to go find Hollister

wherever she went

And it turns out!!!

she just straight up left the building and went for a walk to clear her head

which is dangerous, dumbass, what are you thinking someone’s trying to kill you

Hollister is a reflection of myself so it makes sense that she’s an idiot tbh

but anyway a few people who work for Eleanor attacked her and captured her and such

aaaaaaanyway

fox doesnt know that yet so he’s walking around looking for her

and after a while he starts getting worried

because where the hell is she? where the fuck is his kid dammit

and then

he gets a text

from hollister's phone

with a series of coordinates

and so being the impulsive dumbass he is he just goes to those coordinates as fast as he can without any sort of backup

and it turns out!

Eleanor was trying to get both of them in the same place, yknow

two birds with one stone n shit

hollister is still alive don’t worry!

she gets plot armor because I like her

so there’s a fight, there’s blood and grit and also there’s...

✨eleanor having a mental breakdown✨

and so she’s talking about how she HAS to do this and she’s losing her composed cool persona and just going wild

and fox tries to calm her down but it doesn’t work, she just wants to kill them both right now and she’s not gonna stop until either they’re dead or she is

and so they fight, although the main two don’t really have a choice in it

Kennedy shows up with backup bc shes a bad bitch like that

and eventually, after a long fight, Hollister and Fox take down Eleanor

They don’t kill her, obviously, but they are Getting This Bitch Therapy

I think she might be important later in like

season 4 or something

that’s the one I just started daydreaming

but forget about that there’s sappy stuff happening! :D

they’re both on the floor, hollister’s kinda hugging herself and she looks like she‘s about to cry

”I thought you didn’t want me around. I thought I wasn’t good enough.”

and then fox just hugs her

and now they’re both crying

and the viewers are crying

and the sky is also crying

because it’s raining when they get outside

and they’ve become this lil family duo

and BOOM there you go season one in bullet points

[princessconsuelapark]

Hi I know you ship the brothers but what do you think about the "canon" ship in Supernatural?

Hello:) Do you mean Destiel? I assume you mean Destiel. I don’t really have anything against it, I guess? It used to be my NOTP big time back in the day and have to admit I did get into some arguments with some very aggressively passionate Destiel folk circa 2012, but back then I was a very sassy teenager who wasn’t as compassionate and accepting as I am (or at least try to be) nowadays. I adore Cas and his relationship with both the boys and Jack. His connection to Dean, the way Dean makes him human? His love for him? SO beautiful. And so fucking tragic. Misha is a hell of an actor and I absolutely adore him - his S15 “death” scene fucked me up majorly. I find the sort of fourth wall breaking romantic implication jokes pretty entertaining too actually (”Cass, get out of my ass!” etc.) I also totally understand why people are upset and talk about queerbaiting when it comes to the show, and there are many very valid arguments out there about why some of what the writers did was not okay.

But, as for myself, I do not really see Cas and Dean’s relationship as romantic at all. To me, it’s always been about the brothers, so it never even really occurred to me? Obviously Jensen and Misha have amazing chemistry, on and off the screen, which I love. Both them and their characters are very precious to me.

I guess the most important thing to me is how much I believe in co-existing with other members of the fandom in the same space. I always try and make a point of being accepting of people who ship Destiel (or any other ship, really) as long as they are not actively hateful to anyone. (This actually also applies to Wincest shippers: I can’t stand it when people spend their time blogging about how much they hate something, I have unfollowed Wincest blogs before because of how anti-Destiel they were actually, like just stop being so angry, people, seriously.) As toxic as this fandom can be sometimes, I do see us as a big family, and I’ve had some very fab times here:) Sometimes I do get frustrated, of course, seeing certain posts that don’t sit right with me, or just have content pop up on my dash I’m not too keen on. But I either scroll past or unfollow. Anyone can enjoy this fandom in whatever way they want, this should be a safe and creative space for everyone.

So you know, if you enjoy shipping Destiel, I’m very glad for you, it’s just not really my thing, I guess. As long as we all - and let me borrow this fabulous cliché from Mr Harry Styles himself here - TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS, it should be all good:)

[thehollowprince]

1.Hey just want to let you know that I am the first anon who asked about Jensen Ackles and Tyler Posey - I don't know which teen wolf anon you assumed I was, but that was the first time I send you an ask. I am a TP fan and check your blog for TP stuff and was surprised to see you reblogging jokes about Ackles being homophobic - since I see him facing the same issues that Posey did - a toxic fandom that bullies actors just because they don't subscribe to wanting two hot white men to get together.

2. Same anon. I don't think we should be throwing around words like homophobia lightly or based on rumors about how Ackles made a showrunner change the character based on his preferences etc. Ackles maybe homophobic - we don't know for sure. All I know is that from my experience, the Destiel fandom is as toxic as the Sterek fandom. Sure, Ackles shares part of the blame as he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars off these fans at the various cons - ( contd. in part 3)

3. But that does not mean that actors or their family should be subject to cyber bullying and online hate or that the showrunners should pander to this toxic fanbase. Scott would have been and was sidelined to pander to and queerbait Sterek fans and he was called homophobic when he pointed out how nonsensical the ship was. Destiel is the same and I don't mind Ackles not giving two shits about acting out a badly written scene pushed in to appease a toxic fanbase. Just my two cents.

Okay, first off, I want to say the only anon I've ever gotten that used Tyler Posey and "double-standards" in the same sentence has been the Asshole Anon I tagged. And given the fact that this anon was in my inbox within an hour of posting that ask, it stands to reason that my paranoia is well founded. This would not be the first time they've tried to trick anyone into a "Gotcha!" moment, and I was the next on the rotation of people they harass.

That being said and out of the way, let's get into this.

Starting off, you're right. Claims of homophobia shouldn't be a joke. Homophobia is a very real thing that affects many people around the world. And given the shipping fandoms that habe arisen in the past decade, along with thr use of social media by celebrities, it allows these fans to harass and belittle them from the comfort of their homes, no matter where said celebrity is. I would never make jokes regarding how fans treat the loved ones of their favorite celebrities, because I find it abhorrent. We saw something similar to his happen with the Star Wars fandom, particularly the R*ylos, when they doxxed and harassed Adam Driver's wife in the hopes that he and Daisy Ridley would get together, thus fulfilling the fantasy they have about their ship.

I don't keep up with the actors of Supernatural because I don't watch it anymore, but I imagine that's the case with Jensen's wife. Fans harassing her because she married him and they've based their entire personality and fandom experience around a ship between two fictional characters and the actor's personal life interferes with that fantasy. The fans that are harassing Jensen and his family aren't doing it out of any sense of morality in their efforts to fight homophobia, but because they want to see Dean and Cas together, and can't (or won't) accept that they're fictional characters played by two actors that have their own private lives.

Something similar happened with the Sherlock fandom, when they decided to cancel Martin Freeman and his wife because they asked fans to stop sending them NSFW fanart or J*hnl*ck, especially when they were with their children. I'll admit I'm a little fuzzy on that one, because I've never watched BBC Sherlock, but I did follow a few blogs that did so I remember the discourse. This all just feeds into the idea that shipping fandoms "own" the actors that play their favorite characters and has made for quite a toxic environment on most social media.

If the D*stiel fandom is anything like the St*r*k fandom or the J*hnl*ck fandom , than I applaud Jensen for standing his ground in the face of what I'm sure is countless inappropriate fics and art that are constantly thrown at him.

Now, there are a few differences between how Jensen is being accused of being homophobic and how Tyler was accused of being homophobic. The first major difference is something you said in this ask. They're jokes. Keeping in mind that, yes, I did say we shouldn't joke about homophobia, all the "discourse" around D*stiel has been jokes due to a variety of reasons. From how uncomfortable Jensen looked in that scene (leading some to think they were filmed separately and not told how the other was reacting) to the fact that it was happening during election week before the election was called. The fact that the rumors that Putin was stepping down came out at the same time and the whole situation took on this hysterical, otherworldly quality, like this was a collective fever dream we couldn't wake up from. The jokes came about, breaking the tension that had consumed Tumblr and uniting a large number of people in the absurdity of everything.

There's also the fact that the jokes about Jensen being homophobic were just that - jokes! I'll admit that I haven't gone looking, but I haven't seen anyone calling for Jensen to be cancelled or for his career to be derailed or his life to be ruined because of that scene. No, I've seen countless jokes about how Dean looked constipated or memes of random images found on people's phones used to "recreate" that scene. The fact that Jensen apparently wrote into his contract that his character in The Boys wasn't to have a gay sex scene just added to the satirical nature of everything.

Now let's compare that to Tyler Posey. When asked about a crack ship (that had nothing to do with his character) for the umpteenth time, he said that, if that's what fans were watching for, they're probably watching for the wrong reasons. It never condemned the ship or mocked its fans, he simply said that they were watching for the wrong reasons. And given how this interview took place after filming was done for that season, that could be interpreted as him saving people from wasting their time on something that wasn't going to happen. Personally, I just think he was fed up and frustrated about being asked about a crack ship that had nothing to do with him.

And for that one simple sentence, he was (and still is) deluged with hate. He received death threats and threats against his mother while she was battling cancer, all because he said something that wasn't a glowing appraisal of a ship that the fandom made up. To this day, there are people hell bent on proving how Scott was the true villain of the Teen Wolf series, and how Tyler Posey is just an awful human being.

Did any of those things happen to Jensen? No.

Would those things have probably happened to Jared if he'd said something negative about D*stiel? Probably.

Would the Teen Wolf fandom have acted the way it did if it had been Hoechlin or O'Brien who shot down St*r*k? Definitely not. We know that because they both did say something against St*r*k and the fandom at large likes to pretend that it never happened.

So, as we can see, there is a very clear difference between how Jensen was treated and how Tyler was treated. Could racism play a part in that treatment? Most likely, though, many would never admit to that. But, at the end of the day, its important to look at the differences between these two actors and how they were treated by their respective fandoms for what they said in regards to ships that fans have based their entire fandom experience around.

[impatient14]

Not to be “annoying on main” but like most things here in the year 2020, a lot of the nuance and reason surrounding the fandom’s fight over Dean’s queerness is lost to the wily temptress that is extremity, and I want to throw some stuff out there in case anyone is thinking the same things and just needs to hear that someone else is too.

To my followers and anyone who dares look through my blog (honestly don’t recommend it), it’s obvious I’m someone who enjoys the Dean/Cas pairing. And when I say enjoy, I mean I absolutely get feral about a wide range of topics that involve their relationship, depiction, and reception. I’ve always kept my opinions within the confines of my blog, though, and I’ve never--not once in the decade of my life on Tumblr--gone into inboxes to send hate or even indirect someone with hate or drama on my blog. That shit just ain’t kosher.

That being said, some of the anti-destiel arguments out there have merit.

Like, for example, Destiel shippers not liking the show. Personally, I did like Supernatural originally, but I also recently recommended new watchers who came for Destiel to just watch certain episodes. I’ve stopped watching Supernatural several times throughout my Supernatural journey (which started in real time with season one), because the writing can be down right awful. There were lots of great examples of writing too, but it wasn’t consistent enough for me to keep watching in real time. So I'd watch a season behind on Netflix. At some point, things got bad enough (the bro-dependence, recycled or unimaginative plotlines, the terrible treatment and fridging of female characters) that I did keep coming back for Dean and Cas only (and honestly, it was sometimes only Castiel). 

Another worthy anti-destiel point for consideration is the fact that other than destiel shippers, a lot of people who watch Supernatural don’t care about Castiel. This seems to be correct. I’d wager to say that the vast majority of Supernatural watchers did not invest even a portion of time, energy, or emotions in Castiel that we did. That’s cool. I’ve been a casual viewer of a show and been blindsided by things that their fanon saw coming a mile away. Everyone has different perspectives, and the idea that Castiel isn’t integral to the plot when you remove the possibility of Destiel is absolutely correct.

However.

Why did they keep bringing him back? It’s true that he could easily be written out when his relationship with Dean is bro-ified, but his deaths never took until the end (and even then it didn’t). Sure, it could be “pandering,” but if only 1% of the Supernatural fandom ships destiel (as stated in one argument), it seems like a strange choice monetarily. Misha, as a series regular, wasn’t exactly giving out his services for free (eyyoo), so producers and the network wouldn’t give a second thought to the vitroil and threats creators and actors would get if Misha were written off. (Side note: I categorically *hate* the social media accessibility that lets people directly interact so negatively with creators to the point of dangerous conditions. It’s the most ugly and embarrassing side of fandom.)

It could be argued they kept bringing him back because they knew hellers and Cas lovers would continue to buy his Merch and what not, but I can’t imagine the small percentage of viewers who are invested enough in Castiel to buy his Merch would compensate for Misha’s annual salary. (But honestly, numbers aren’t my thing so *shrug*) But it could also be argued that the perceived destiel headache for creators, plus the retention of Misha’s salary, would be enough to get rid of him if not for a crucial role he plays in the show. Creators have repeatedly said that Cas’ whole character revolves around his relationship with Dean, so that means the writers felt that the Cas/Dean relationship was important to the fabric of the show--in whatever way you’d like to see it. Does that mean viewers have to see it that way? Definitely not. But that’s not the story the writers are telling you they’re writing--

Oh, that sounds familiar!

All the textual gay jokes, narrative devices, and creator interactions (not just Misha, but writers, producers, and other actors too) created the metaphorical pink elephant, not the shippers themselves. And to be told otherwise is some gaslighting bullshit. I agree some fans take it too far and freak out at the mere mention of a non-destiel reading, but the foundation for a destiel reading is based in text, not just in the shippers heads. The relationship between the Supernatural creators, actors, and fandom is undoubtedly toxic, which is why I think it makes it easier for them to deny various romantic interpretations of Dean and Castiel's relationship, but (and i hate to do it) in their defense, they definitely wrote enough into the text to justifiably claim Dean's a nohomodudebro. However, they've also written enough into the text to legitimately doubt (not definitively deny) his heterosexuality.

IMO (for the maybe two people wondering) Dean became bisexually coded in a very complicated conglomeration of a homophobic “its funny to be gay” kind of way, the chemistry between Jensen and Misha, countless production decisions, and Castiel’s growing and canonical love for Dean---which all makes the matter impossible to ignore. On more than one occasion the writers made choices that welcomed a destiel reading--not confirmed--but welcomed (which is, wait for it, queerbaiting!). I’d be shocked if no one read Dean as being queer coded and secretly in love with Castiel, who btw, is absolutely 100% romantically in love with Dean Winchester. The writers kept making decisions that fed hellers so well because Castiel is in love with Dean. It’s not just Misha who has confirmed it btw, but the writers themselves. You’re allowed to read it differently, just like destiel shippers read Dean differently than the writers have claimed, but you don’t get to tell other people they’re wrong--just like destiel shipping should never have gotten to the point were anyone who didn’t see destiel was reading the show wrong. However, the difference between saying Cas’ love is platonic and saying Dean’s love is queer is the difference between having zero textual evidence for a platonic reading of Cas’ love, and having lots of textual evidence for Dean’s heterosexuality. (Personally? My headcannon for Dean fluctuates between “so closeted he doesn’t even know he’s actually bisexual” and “very much aware he’s also into dudes but is pushing it down because : Winchester ™.” However, I’m more than happy to admit that my headcannon can’t be reasonably confirmed as fact. It can, however and like most headcannons within the destiel fandom, be comprehensively and intelligently argued to the point of exhaustion.)

The only reason to deny that 1.) it’s reasonable to read Dean as being queer-coded, not canonically bisexual, but queer-coded via textual and production decisions, and 2.) Castiel is romantically in love with Dean-- is if you’re someone who can’t give credit to the opposition just because they’re the opposition. Just because I hate Trump and think he’s the spawn of Putin’s asshole doesn’t mean I can’t admit he did *some* good work for criminal justice reform. The credibility of your argument goes to crap when you can’t admit when someone else has a good point- even if you don’t agree with their overarching theory or idea.

Obviously, the state of the Supernatural fandom is pretty much what it will be forever. Getting thousands of people to admit that its normal to find evidence to support an argument you don’t agree with (something philosophers do all the time because there is no such thing as truth and the world isn’t black and white and its shades of grey that make the rainbow bright and on and on and on), is definitely not in the cards for us. But, this is just me, throwing my altogether unnecessary opinion out there. 

(If you’re one of those people that like to troll people just for having an opinion and expressing it respectfully, please consider not doing that. I am but a baby in a trench coat.)

[adrunkgiraffe]

I have been through this journey before, so I get to be actually frustrated about it.

IUnder a read more because im not subjecting y’all to this. Also: I should caveat I haven’t watched the episode cause I’m waiting till its on Netflix but I have watched way too many other episodes of Supernatural so I have a right to say these things. 

TL;DR: I mean you all knew Cas’ confession was fucking bullshit and that SPN is...hm. But I’d like to actually express my genuine frustration, for a moment? I’m going to say things you already know, but I have too much knowledge of this show and too much stupid meta in my brain about a series I haven’t genuinely enjoyed for at least 5 years which makes this not just blandly bad but disgustingly insulting to me not even as a gay just as like. A writer?

Or, even shorter: Cas’ confession is just a Charlie Bradbury Speedrun 

So. As some of you may know if, for some reason, you followed me back in 2013 (and till...okay fine 2015), I used to be, uh. Really into SPN. Really, I was into Destiel. Like, as in, I slogged through seasons 1-3 to get to Cas and am also really vulnerable to the Sunk Cost Fallacy and projecting onto characters. (I was in 8th grade in 2013, okay? Get off my back)

Also, because I monopolised use of the TV, I kind of...also got my parents into it? In a “this is silly but fun” kind of way.

Over time, critiques of the show from viewers, learning what queerbaiting is at all, fatigue with how long it was going, and also fatigue from how characters I enjoyed, like Rufus, or Crowley, or Ellen, or Jo, or Kevin, or Charlie, or Cas a few times, kept getting killed off. As time went on, it didn’t escape my notice that, aside from Cas, all of these characters fit one or more of the following criteria:

They were a woman

They were a person of color

Were Queer or Queer-coded in some way (listen Crowley was bad rep but at least Mark Sheppard actually kissed a man on screen)

I also just...generally got tired of the way the show treats women and sidelines people of color. 

The final straw really came with Charlie’s death. It got us all excited, because she hadn’t been back in a bit! And it was interesting to see how reuniting with her dark side from Oz had changed her! (yeah remember the fucking Wizard of Oz storyline? The writers sure don’t!) And maybe she’d get developed! Because at this point, Charlie and the fairly good writing of her character was a major upside for the series! Charlie was cool, fun, gay, and morally complex in a way...none of the female characters had been before her, in large part because by definition, her relationship with the boys would always be platonic.

And then. Offscreen. She is violently murdered. For no damn good reason. Like, literally, her being brought back in this episode after fucking off to europe after having returned from fucking off to Oz seems to have filled two purposes in total. 

The codex is solved (but Sam doesn’t know till next episode)

Charlie is dead, which means Dean can be angry, specifically at Sam, and kill more people because he’s the big bad this season. 

That’s it. Two things. Twooooo whole reasons to do this episode. Whoopee. 

But you didn’t come here for this, you came here for me to rip this reveal to shreds. Don’t worry, I’ll get there. What I want in your minds is that Supernatural already had a really good anddynamic queer character. And then they killed her off to make Dean angry. No, it doesn’t matter that they brought her back in season 13 or whatever. They made that decision. 

After the rage this incited, I started realizing general flaws in the writing (I had probably already noticed them but now I was angry enough to complain.) Every conflict is born of Sam and Dean not communicating/taking on burdens and Dean being angry at Cas for reasons that ranged from good to ridiculous, but in a way that always went way too fucking long, (which...yes, does make the “you do it for love” gifs fucking hilarious). It didn’t help that seasons 11 and 12 were next, which meant Demon Dean and GOD’S FUCKING SISTER, plus the decision to resurrect Mary, which, while I do like her later scenes, as a season 12 finale it...well I’ll be honest it kinda sucked. It undercut the majority of the Winchester’s’ arcs and their slow and painful journey out of their father’s toxic vengeance quest and knowing Mary as a person when it’s too late to know her was one of the last semi-compelling grounders of the narrative. 

By this point it was a hate-watch for my parents and I.

So then, I’m at college, and I’m not watching anymore cause I don’t have the motivation or access to Hulu to continue, and SPN is bad. I watch the Scooby Doo crossover when it comes out and my friend and I make fun of it, and we also continue making jokes about Dean and Cas and queerbaiting because we’re queer, but I don’t keep up. My Dad does though, so when I return, I watch some with the fam and lads. It’s even more tiring without context. 

So flash forward to Quarantine, my sister, the only one with taste, has left, and we have run out of netflix to watch. So we return to the well, and seasons 13-14 are. I’m gonna say it. Bad. Really fucking bad. The cycle of bad communication continues, season 14 has like seven antagonists and the way it’s structured makes it so I literally cannot remember the timeline of a season I watched 3 months ago. Oh also, they have a queer coded cannibal snake monster for...well I guess Jack’s snake bud was cool but like. Huh wow it’s almost like these writers don’t handle queers well. 

Our one saving grace is Cas, but he’s barely in any episodes, though I did note that his deal with the empty, being happy completely for one moment killing him, that struck me as “this has potential and I know they’re gonna half-ass it somehow.” Also Jack and Mary, but then oh...plot….The most compelling it gets is literally the finale.

But then, 3 days later, the first half of season 15 comes out on Netflix and it’s...actually kind of acceptable. The new character they give Jack’s actor is fun to watch him play until they make him evil. Exploring just how toxic Chuck can be gave the series direction again. The alternate future was genuinely scarring, and Eileen’s return was genuinely moving. Most of all, though, Cas got the opportunity to tell Dean no, that Dean was being unfair to him, had always been unfair to him, and he was sick of it. I had no illusions, I knew Destiel was never gonna happen, and Cas was gonna die, but giving him that bit of agency, letting Cas grow and be self-sufficient, and be angry with Dean not for existential reasons but interpersonal ones, was such a good sign for me, and Dean grew too! Dean fucking apologized for being horrible and Jensen Ackles had a...yknow what, ill give it to him, he had a good acting moment. 

But the thing. About. The “I love you.” 

Let’s take it in parts.

What was good: I’m gonna admit it, lads, “Wanting what I can’t have” - AS A LINE - is good, and, structurally, there is something to the Empty Deal that could have been an interesting aspect of Cas’ arc when it comes to self actualization and being on even footing with Dean. The problem is, this is Supernatural, and that arc only comes up when I bring it up because character study, even in bad media, is fun for me. 

What was bad:

I mean. Like. All of it? All of it. 

Okay. Fine. I’ll be specific. 

Cas dies immediately when - possibly because- he is revealed as having feelings for Dean. They kill him as they queer him, that’s a Bury Your Gays Speedrun right there.

Like the least they could have done is have him mention it to someone in another scene or something to establish some romantic feelings on the part of canon a full episode beforehand. That would have been the literal bare minimum. 

When Cas starts praising Dean, for some reason both the writing and Misha’s acting take a bit of a downswing (from...where it already was). Cas, whose most powerful moment this season was acknowledging that Dean’s anger at him is cruel and unfair, flatly praises him for doing everything out of love and it reads with a misunderstanding of both Dean as a character and Cas’ understanding of Dean. Dean is angry! VERY ANGRY! And it’s a problem he needs to work on and rarely does. 

Talking out of my ass, a better speech would have been about how Dean is angry because of his love for Sam, family, and the people around him, how, for better or for worse, he can’t help but be angry on behalf of others, and that his journey of moving that tendency towards the better is what made Cas care so much. Guys this alteration to the metaphor took 2 minutes to write tops I am an Art History student and these are TV WRITERS WITH YEARS OF EXPERIENCE CAN YOU TELL THEYRE NOT TRYING YET? 

A better speech would, of course, have come out of a better series. My point: this part was half-assed. Poorly written. Wow it’s almost like the series is also poorly written. 

 Also, Misha is the better actor of the three(***OF THE THREE), but his choices in that scene are jarringly out of character which. Makes the bad writing worse. It doesn’t help that they cut to the same fucking shot of Dean 3 times. The chemistry in that scene makes it feel so fucking hackneyed. Because it is. 

This combines lead me to the point: (wait there was a point to this?)

As someone who does not have the luxury of watching this capsized ship fall into boiling seas from a distance, it is less insulting to me that they did this so last minute and then sent Cas to the Void than it is how they did it. They had ingredients for something that could have been compelling enough to me as a former fan of the show to think that they had put effort into it, that they had decided months, perhaps even years ago to do this, and had crafted a storyline around it. That this was an intentional decision they cared about. It wasn’t. It was barely even pandering, because it’s almost insultingly blatant. 

SPN kinda proved to me that it didn’t care about queers when Charlie was killed off. It proved it to me again when Cas, not only died in confessing his love for Dean but did it in the weakest result of what could have been a surprisingly strong story.

[teamironmanforever]

I went to see the movie and honestly? I hated it. (Buckle up bc this is gonna be like a 10 part ask) First: Tony my sweet baby you didn’t deserve that. Honestly I loved that he finally got to marry Pepper and had Morgan, but the ending just made that meaningless to me. Morgan and Pepper while they had some really cute moments, didn’t serve much purpose to the plot at all other than make Tony’s death sadder. AKA they used his family as a way to manipulate the audience, which is not cool. 1/?

I loved Morgan and I love Pepper, but they could have removed them from the film and it wouldn’t have made much difference other than Tony making that choice faster. It was a cheap way to make us even sadder that he died and I hated it. If a character serves no other purpose than that then you’re doing something wrong. Also, as I understand it, in the comics he wore the gauntlet and didn’t die, so WTF?? Also that moment when he finally snaps at Steve for CACW was ultimately disappointing No one took his pain seriously and was disregarded as him being half dead, starved and delusional. AND Steve didn’t even apologise for his fuck up. They just wanted to get the fans that are mad at CACW and AOU mollified without actually having anyone acknowledge what happened. Gross. And the fact that Tony had to be the bigger man?? I love that my son is healing but it still isn’t right. (I could go on for hours about this, so let’s move on for now) Second: Thor. I’ll admit I didn’t really feel anything for his character until Ragnarok, when I officially adopted him and Loki (who they did so dirty in IW, but let’s not touch that right now). They erased all his character development and made him the butt of fat jokes and did not acknowledge the fact that he was probably dealing with severe depression and PTSD. But hey he got fat so let’s laugh at him! Ugh, it was painful to see what they did to him Also I just can’t get around my head that he wouldn’t be out there helping his people, and instead stayed eating junk food and beer for years (and would most likely have gained weight because he didn’t have to be as physically active as before). Thor at his very core isn’t that, he would have kept going for what was left of Asgard, he would have lead his people instead of leaving them to their devices. And the end?? He wouldn’t have left New Asgard to go traveling through space with the Guardians, that made 0 sense and I stand by this point, HE WOULDN’T HAVE LEFT THE ASGARDIANS, not even leaving Valkyrie in charge, he just wouldn’t have. That whole thing was stupid and probably a way to set up a new Thor movie and I’m not buying it. Also the fact that Steve could lift Mjolnir and that meant he had Thor’s powers?? That’s not how it works?? It is stated in Ragnarok that the Hammer was just a way for Thor to channel his powers, not that the hammer gave him powers, just no. Also him getting Mjolnir back was completely unnecessary and just proves even more how they didn’t care for Thor’s development in previous movies. Bruce: He felt off the entire movie, gave me the creeps. Clint: They made him a racist serial killer vigilante and then they just never mentioned it again?? Was that necessary?? If I didn’t like him before now I like him even less. Nat: I felt her characterisation was good this movie. Then they ruined it by using her as a catalyst for man pain. I don’t like her but she deserved better than that. Nebula: I actually liked her this movie, nothing bad to say here (or if there’s anything I haven’t realised it yet) Steve: I’ll admit I’ve hated him ever since AoU and even more after CACW, I can’t stand him, the salty fics where he get owned are my favourites and I haven’t been able to read any fics where he gets anything remotely like happy ending in years, I shy away from every movie that he has been in, I spent all the movie rolling my eyes whenever he spoke (except for the “I know I know” part because that was hilarious. But even so I don’t agree with what they did to his character in the movie. I hate but I still know what his values are, and Steve wouldn’t have done that, ever. He basically erased all of Peggy’s family from existence, putting himself above others, when the very core of his character is that he doesn’t do that! For me it was just bad and lazy writing. Also the fact that he spoke like 7 words to Bucky in the whole movie was just ??? This isn’t Steve Rogers, I don’t know who this is but it’s not him. Besides that a big thing in his character arcs is him adapting to the XXI century and stating that he isn’t the man he was before he went into the ice!! Erased his character development completely (there are several posts expanding on why the end they gave him is bullshit, there are more reasons than the ones I pointed out) Scott: He was alright. Then every other character that appeared was just there for the fanservice and it showed. Peter was there to make Tony’s death sadder, T’Challa and Shuri and Okoye and all the Wakandans were there because they had to have them there for the final battle, they could have exchanged them for other characters and it wouldn’t have changed a single fucking thing. Same with all the women that appeared in the final battle only, they were there because they couldn’t not have them there, and the scene with all of them was cool but in hindsight it didn’t serve much purpose and was a lazy way to try to make us forget that they’ve never given a single fuck about MCU women. But hey! We had the Wakandans and a scene with all the MCU ladies together!! We can’t possibly be racist or sexist right? It was hollow and it falls apart if you start to think about it even a little. Also the whole time travel rules they explained in such a convoluted way?? And then they didn’t even follow their own time travel rules??? That was just lazy writing to get the characters to fuck with the timeline as much as they wanted without having to worry about any ripple effects through the timeline continuity. Terrible And LGBT+ rep was badly executed and very disappointing. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, but at least all of those things make it a terrible movie for me. They did all the characters so dirty. (I’ll never forgive them for this, specially for what they did to Tony)

WELL THAT WAS DEFINITELY A LONG ASK but I am so glad you got that out of your chest my dude!!!!! 

I don’t agree with everything you’ve said, I’ll start there. 

I am a BIG natasha fan so this movie really really did great work with her and while her death hurt me, it is the ONE death I can see myself coming to terms with because if she had to go? That was the way to do it. That’s the Nat I know and love; she chose how she went out and she chose to do it for everyone. She has always been a character craving redemption for her past, and an escape - she wanted a new chance. And while she did not get a happy ending she did good in the world. She atoned and she found as much peace as was permitted in her story. Also let’s not forget she was the one LEADING the avengers when Steve fucked off for 5 yrs because reasons. 

I also don’t think the women in the film were there for fanservice. It IS important to see these badass women fighting, because that’s how it starts. That’s how we get representation. They all had a purpose and a role; they all have a story to tell. As for Pepper she exists completely outside of Tony. Yes it hurts us more because now he doesn’t have his family - but Pepper has been such an integral part of the Iron Man narrative, not as a plot device but rather as her own woman with her own thoughts and goals - that her being in endgame made perfect sense. She and Tony have the single strongest and likely most healthy relationship in the shitshow that is the MCU - there is a level of love and devotion there not seen anywhere else. 

Yes Bruce was definitely off - they tried to dumb him down to show just how utterly necessary Tony was in saving their asses, which I can appreciate, but it still felt very very off. The whole jockey thing didn’t work for me. 

And yup 100% what they did with Thor hurt me deep inside my soul. Like… it was just not right man. 

Also yes the LGBT+ rep promised sucked ass like WOW queerbaiting 101 my dudes!! Are we really back to that!?!?!?!?

As for the rest of things - like I said I don’t agree on everything but it would take me too long to write that all out so I will say this: I REALLY hope you feel better because trust me I am on the same boat of feeling bitter and sad and just unable to see the things that were good in the movie. So yeah I hope getting it out of your chest helped :) 

[azeher]

On Queerbaiting, Bad Voltron Bad, and Adashi

I finally found the time and patience to bring you this post. Take it however you want. Unfollow me, love me, fall in love with Ryan Renolds... Just take your pick.

The only disclaimer I’ll make is that the Voltron crew and the marketing team of DreamWorks are very capable of queerbaiting. I’ve accused them of doing exactly that before, but I was just getting ahead of myself. I just don’t think they’re queerbaiting us after all, not on purpose (the voltron crew at least. The marketing team can go eat a spoiled banana). But at the end this is like the Schrödinger’s Cat, we won’t know until we get to see the very last episode of the final season. I mean, korrasami was queerbait until the very last seconds before the credits rolled.

BUT, the crew has made quite the mistakes along the years, and I’m gonna make a list of them:

1- Opening their mouths. Just really, they should have stayed quiet, taken the initial praising and shown gratitude and that’s it. The very first and biggest mistake they made was thinking it was a good idea to talk about the show to the fandom. Not only they never knew how to handle it, sometimes they forced themselves to lie. By creating such an narrow relationship with the fandom they allowed them to ask them for things they wanted into the show. They allowed them to ask them questions they didn’t know how to answer and sometimes they had to be purposely misleading to avoid spoilers.

2- Believing their own misleading answers. And this is how I know they’re not queerbaiting on purpose. Because they tend to get passionate when promoting the show, they’ve said things in ways that could be misinterpreted by the audience. They think they’re saying something harmless, that the small difference between what they say would happen and what actually happens will translate well, but it’s never the case.

3- Not trying to know their fandom. This isn’t entirely their fault. It’s obvious the fandom they got wasn’t the fandom they were supposed to get. I.e., the fandom should be made up of grown ups that loved the 80s Voltron and came back out of nostalgia, and of little kids looking for cool space battles, and of teens that like action and humor mixed together. Because that was their target audience. Rather they got a fandom pertaining to an entirely different genre. They got people who don’t really care for the plot (don’t even try to argue with this. The hundreds of posts I’ve seen the last three years claiming smt along the lines of “Voltron would have to pay me to watch the show for the plot” prove me right) because it bores them, and are only focused on the one thing the show openly isn’t about: Romance.

4- The writing. Legend of Korra didn’t have perfect writing. Voltron doesn’t either. This studio puts all of its effort and talent out there, you can tell, but they still have a long way to go. Still, what they do is not bad, despite what spiteful people want to make others believe. This studio has some of the most beautiful animation out there and their strengths rely on art, humor, fight sequences, music and very dramatic scenes. Those are the five things they’ve mastered. But their writing and character focus are lacking. This is not something they can’t fix. Instead of trying to drag them down and boycott these amazing and talented artists and writers who are also human beings, we could give them the support they need to improve and keep delivering stories and characters we can fall in love with. I mean, we fell in love with these characters even when the writing wasn’t perfect. This season, whether some of you want to admit it or not, had the best writing they’ve offered so far but to dissect this statement would mean making yet another long post and just no.

5- The characters’ arcs. We’ve already established they don’t know how to write characters or romance. They’re good with other sorts of relationships but romance is the thing they’re worst at. And they also suck at being constant with characters’ arcs. The biggest proof? I didn’t know the fucking protagonist of Voltron was indeed Keith until like season 4, and I only found out cuz I watched some episodes of 80’s Voltron around that time and was struck with the realization. It was impossible to tell because so far all the focus of the story had gone back and forth between Shiro and Pidge. Then Keith and eventually Allura got their own arcs. So, how about Pidge makes that math cuz it doesn’t add up? How was acceptable for them to be unclear about who the central figure in the show was? Keith was introduced as the fourth character. And they even formatted the first half of the first episode so it looked like Lance was the protagonist. The second half they were already giving up on him and turning him into a joke and Shiro finally emerged as the central figure.

6- Romance. So they completely suck at romance and they made a good decision about leaving it out. But did they really? Cuz the show says yes, but the crew’s comments and awkward writing say otherwise. And this is what takes us to the next and saddest mistake:

7- ADASHI. I know you all read this far only to get to this point. I’m gonna include Ezor and Zethrid here as well because they’re also consequence from the previous point. Shiro is an amazing character and him being gay IS indeed a big triumph. We will forever know such a great and important Asian character is canonly gay. But the writers made all the rookie mistakes they could make surrounding his sexuality, AND Ezor and Zethrid’s relationship. Don’t get me wrong, I for once don’t mind these lesbians being on the dark side because they were still pretty badass and cool even though they were villains, but they took their ambiguous villainess too far, which wouldn’t have been a bad thing wasn’t it because they were the only lesbian couple in the show. So rookie mistake number one: Picking the wrong characters to be your representation when you’re gonna be so limited with representation. They also killed them off, which, well, they kinda deserved, but again, they were the ONLY lesbian couple, so how about give them the chance to redeem themselves (and your own writers)?

They introduced Adam and established he and Shiro simply didn’t work together but then killed off Adam without allowing us to get to know him, and without allowing him and Shiro to get some kinda closure. But the crew, again, didn’t know how to handle the way to go about hyping the show, and were yet again misleading by letting us believe we’d spend some time with Adam. They genuinely thought there was nothing wrong with killing him because he was no longer part of Shiro’s life and because war’s like that. So rookie mistake number two: Not being honest about the fate of one of the two confirmed queer characters in the show. When you have so few queer characters, and you really think you had to kill one of them, don’t treat it like a spoiler, BE honest, so the public knows what to expect. Soften the blow. Maybe they could have said he wouldn’t be in the show too long, and we would have made our guesses. Rookie mistake number three: Pick him as one of the casualties. I understand the intention of this was to make Shiro lose someone because of the war, but did it really need to happen? Did Shiro really need to lose someone? I’m sure no big plot point in the story would have changed if Adam had lived. Rookie mistake number four: Kill him before we got to know him and before he talked to Shiro again. If the purpose of his death was to impact Shiro or us, it would have had a much bigger effect if they had had time to interact again.

Now, could Voltron as a whole fix all of these mistakes? Yes. Yes they could. For starters, they should start talking with the truth. That would actually help to heal the fandom a lot. At this point, being quiet won’t serve of any purpose. Now it’s their real time to talk, but honestly.

Second, it all depends on how they wrap season eight. If they’re really planning on making a healthy queer relationship canon and explicit, that could be their salvation. They’d have to do it right, and it is possible, but fairly hard, especially with romance not being their strength.

Third. Adashi. Yes. Again Adashi. Remember when I said I had complicated feelings about what they did to it? Well, aside from what I already said, there’s this extra bit. And it is that they truly could have had a good reason to kill off Adam. I know that it makes you angry, but this is a possibility. Maybe the point is to let Shiro move on, find love again. He’s healthy now, not fearing about dying anytime soon and he’s matured. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes. And there are not reasons to believe Adam won’t be featured in another future flashback that could deliver that sense of closure we and Shiro need. So, in short, the reason I’m not as angry as I should be, is because this can still be addressed in the show.

It’s easy to be pessimistic and not to trust the ending. For all we know, eighth season might be just 13 episodes of quiznak writing and the mice founding their own theme park, but until the box gets opened we won’t know if the cat is dead.

[immaculate-benediction-batch]

Why You Should Be Aware of Queerbaiting Tactics

“Queerbaiting” is the practice of some television shows and movies to attract queer fans by hinting at potential queer relationships or actually promising them (but not delivering). There is some debate even amongst fans about whether queerbaiting is actually a thing. Outside of fandom, many believe queer fans are reading too much into on-screen interactions.

However, writers, producers, and executives nowadays do recognize the existence of a queer fan base, and they want to appeal to that demographic, because it’s large enough to make a real difference to their viewership numbers. Some movies and shows do include queer relationships or queer characters, but even if they do, they might not give those characters or relationship arcs the screen time they deserve. Not to mention that many studios and networks don’t want to include queer characters to start with. Therefore, the film and television world has concocted a “cunning plan” to attract queer viewers: subtext, subtext, and more subtext.

Angie Harmon from Rizzoli & Isles has admitted that they insert tension and lingering touches specifically to appeal to the lesbian demographic. “Sometimes we’ll do a take for that demo,” Harmon says to TV Guide. “I’ll brush by [Maura’s] blouse or maybe linger for a moment.”

So the fans aren’t making it up, queer subtext in film and television is very deliberate—and also very common.

Of course gay subtext is far from novel. It has always been around. Often it was inserted by queer content creators, trying to get as much past the censors or the network as they could get away with. Not even a decade ago, fans were largely content with gay subtext in the media since they didn’t expect queer relationships to be portrayed in most movies or shows they watched. The subtext made them feel like the creators would have loved to portray the characters as queer—if not for the evil studio and movie execs. Writers and producers would therefore be lauded for secretly inserting queer characters into canon. Livejournal was full of discussions and debates on why a certain pairing was actually canon, based on the subtext.

But times have changed. Now there are a number of successful shows and movies with openly queer characters—but not nearly enough to balance the books and in many television and movie franchises, queer relationships are still treated as absolutely taboo. However, the increasing number of on-screen queer romances sends the clear message that we can and should expect more.

Sub-text is no longer enough for today’s queer community—how can it be, when we could be enjoying the real deal instead? And because some shows have given us queer romances, subtext is also viewed in a new light: it’s viewed as a promise.

In the BBC’s Sherlock series, it’s a recurring joke that everyone mistakes John for Sherlock’s boyfriend. Without additional subtext and context, it looks like the very idea of these two men being in a relationship is being treated as a joke—but there is context of course. Mark Gatiss, one of the co-producers of the show, is openly gay and in 2012 he had this to say to the Gay Times on the subject of introducing a gay couple in a television show:

“One of my favorite stories is [the episode] ‘Gridlock’: there’s an elderly couple of ladies who are together, and it just sort of passes by, and that’s the way–softly, softly. That’s how the revolution happens, as it were: you just become aware that people are incidentally gay. I think when the day comes that you have a big detective show where the first half hour was this man at work, and he’s a maverick, and all the usual things… and then we went home and his boyfriend says, ‘Are you alright?’, [and] it was just a thing… then something would have genuinely changed.”

The sheer amount of gay subtext inSherlock can in no way be an accident and is almost certainly due to Mark Gatiss (his co-producer, Steven Moffat, routinely responds with bafflement when confronted with the John/Sherlock ship).

Before BBC shows like Torchwood (a sci-fi show with a pansexual main character) or In the Flesh (a zombie show with a bisexual main character), I believe queer fans might have been more than happy to declare John/Sherlock actually canon. Now our expectations are higher. By not following through on all the hints and build-up to John/Sherlock, the show has managed to alienate and lose a large portion of their queer fan base, because these fans truly believed their favored pairing would become canon.

Queer fans have also started to abandon Teen Wolf for similar reasons: subtext between two main characters was inserted into the show, but there was no follow-through.

Fandom is currently at a crossroads on how to react to queer subtext. On the one hand, all these lingering touches and heartfelt lines are turned into gifs and form the basis of tens of thousands of fanfics—we all prove that queerbaiting works. On the other hand, fandom has started to become vocal about its dislike for such tactics, because it feels like a slap in the face to purposefully raise hopes only to dash them later down the line when it’s revealed that we’ll get to see yet more heterosexual romances on screen instead.

Giving up hope is leading an increasing number of fans back into the mid noughties mindset of “I don’t expect it to be canon—I’m not delusional!“, while others continue to trust creators to make good on their “promises.” But both play directly into the hands of queerbaiters.

By being aware that the subtext is intentional and that the aim is to lure us in without giving us back anything concrete, I believe fandom can react more constructively. We can be more wary of queerbaiting and discuss it openly in fandom without descending into arguments about whether it is intentional or not (because it almost always is). It is perfectly possible for creators to claim that they believe the relationship between two characters to be strictly “friendly,” while also purposefully shooting scenes to lure in queer viewers. We should be critical of the tactics used and confront showrunners on their use of subtext to gain our viewership. After all, we have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to gain by expecting and demanding more representation.

😲THIS SHIT IS REAL AND I WILL NOT HAVE HETERO PEOPLE TELL ME FUCKING OTHERWISE!😲

I'M HET BTW..PRETTY MUCH.😐

Article found here:

fanslashfic.com/2016/04/08/why-you-should-be-aware-of-queerbaiting-tactics/

[thesffcorner]

The Gentleman

The Gentleman is directed by Guy Richie, and follows a star-studded cast of characters. We start with Frazer (Hugh Grant), a private eye, who is blackmailing Ray (Charlie Hunnam) and his boss for 2 million pounds. Ray’s boss Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) is the undisputed lord of weed, having a business worth 400 million pounds, which he is trying to sell to American ‘businessman’ Matthew (Jeremy Strong) and retire. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances involving a farm robbery, a brush with the Chinese mafia, the unfortunate death of a Russian oligarch’s son and a newspaper mogul’s personal vendetta, the deal seems to be in danger of falling through, and Frazer is there to capitalize on it.

This movie is wildly entertaining, though nothing original. If you’ve seen one Guy Richie film, you’ve seen them all; the specifics are different obviously, but this is still another gangster action-comedy with a men with heavy accents, coming up with the most creative ways of using the word cunt in every sentence and a plot so convoluted, you need to be taking notes.

It’s a good film, is what I’m trying to say; as good as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, but definitely on par with RocknRolla or the Man from U.N.C.L.E. I have a lot of thoughts, as I always do with Richie’s films, so if you are curious to know more, and don’t mind some mild spoilers, join me after the cut.

The framing device of this film reminded me a lot of the Cloud Atlas story about the Russian gangster, turned author who threw a critic off of a roof, because it’s all told in flashback, with Frazer explaining everything that happened to Ray, as if he’s writing a Hollywood screenplay. He has in fact written said screenplay, and there are even some funny scenes where he has Ray help him act it out.

I’m not really sure how I feel about the framing device; it was at once annoying to have over half of the film told to us, because I kept thinking we were still setting up the characters when we are over half of the film in. However, there is a point to this, in that Frazer is an unreliable narrator, and he fabricates portions of the story and even invents entire scenes. However, you really do need to enjoy Hugh Grant’s voice if you are going to watch this because he has a LOT of narration. He isn’t an active player in most of the film, and yet he’s the POV character; everything we know about Mickey, Dry Eyes and Matthew we learn from him; the only character who isn’t entirely informed by him is Ray.

Grant is an entertaining narrator; he has a rather colorful vocabulary, which makes even the most basic descriptions of the characters hilarious or if nothing else shocking. He seems to speak exclusively in sexual innuendos, and every sentence is him hitting on Ray or a metaphor for sex. A lot of the blocking in the scenes, and even entire jokes are at the expense of men trying to outwit and outplay each-other in the most homoerotic of ways, but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be laughing at the absurdity of the situation or at the implication that Grant is gay and is failing to hit on Ray. None of characters are queer, and yet the film has no problem with queercoding the two more effeminate characters in the film, and having them be the main villains, which was… a choice. In Richie’s defense, everyone is a horrible person in this film, but there is a rather clear distinction between the way say, Mickey is presented and Frazer.

Even Ray, who is his own POV character, spends a lot of the film running around London at Mickey’s bidding. He and Mickey are glued to the hip; Mickey has a wife that he clearly loves and is devoted to, and yet if he and Ray aren’t sharing a scene they are on the phone with each other. I can’t tell what the film is trying to say with that, other than that Ray is completely devoted to Mickey, and if there is some bigger metaphor there, I missed it.

The action was surprisingly mild and played mostly for comedic effect. There were a few brutal scenes, like someone getting run over by a train, or a truly, TRULY unnecessary rape attempt of the ONLY female character in the film. But for the most part, the action is played for laughs: there is a hilarious chase scene throughout London that had me in stitches, and then an even funnier music/combat video of a robbery.

But let’s be real; you are here for the dialogue and the characters. Side note, I don’t know who was translating this film in Macedonian, but they were having a field day with the subtitles: I had no idea there even existed that many ways to say the word cock in Macedonian.

As any Richie film, the characters are absurdly crass and verbose; every line is a euphemism for sex, and the characters are constantly casually racist or misogynist. They are meant to be like that; they are gangsters, drug dealers and killers after all, but even the characters we are meant to sympathize with, like Ray display some weirdly vicious hatred of women and especially drug addicts. Rich coming from someone who smokes weed. It’s explained away that he is just a germaphobe, and he considers addicts filthy, but that isn’t exactly painting him in a better light. Ray as a whole was a character of contradictions. He is very judgmental and snobby, but he also hates rich people. He is presented to be out of touch, but also clever. His relationship with Colin Farrel’s coach character was pretty funny (and the most explicitly queerbaiting), but I do have to admit that his attempts to come off as threatening to the Couch were more hilarious than genuine.

The character I liked the most and who had the least amount of dialogue was weirdly enough, Matthew McConaughey’s Mickey. He was perfect for the part; he just exudes power, and a thinly veiled aggression that could explode at any moment. I absolutely bought him as a ruthless and intelligent businessman, and every scene he was in I was engaged. I also just have a weakness for characters who are indisputably powerful and yet they love their partner, in this case his wife Ros.

I wish Ros was in the film more; she’s entertaining, she has some funny lines. I think Richie might have a thing for women and cars, because this is the second character who works as a mechanic; in this case she makes extravagant sports cars for the rich wives and mistresses of gangsters. I also liked how she supported Mickey’s desire to retire, while not actually being the one who makes him do it.

However, she was the only female character in the film, and there is the aforementioned completely unnecessary rape attempt. I actually hated this part, because there is nothing funny or entertaining about sexual violence, especially not in a film where there are no other women. There only other female ‘character’ is Laura, who has 2 lines and gets unceremoniously killed off.

The scene where she dies is supposed to be a dramatic climax of the film; it’s the scene where we acknowledge for a moment how truly dangerous heroin is and how the people who make and deal heroin are actively ruining lives. But to have that verdict come from a white man, a white AMERICAN man who has made a fortune off of selling weed to rich kids and aristocrats was infuriating. Don’t try to have some kind of moral high ground when your lead character is proof of men who exploit the unjust legal system and get away with crimes that people of color could never.

There were many scenes that were ‘comically racist’; the standout is the Coach arguing with his black student that the phrase ‘black cunt’ isn’t racist because he is black and a cunt. I’m not going to debate you on whether that’s racist or not; I’m not black.

However, the entirety of Henry Golding’s character? That was racist.

I don’t blame him for taking the role; he gets to be an unhinged gangster holding his own against Matthew McConaughey. He gets to piss on a corpse. But he also plays the Oriental vicious and violent opponent, to the calm, collected and suave white man; he attempts to rape someone, kills his own boss in blind ambition and double crosses his partner, while relying heavily on stereotypes, which were not fun to watch.

Then we have Matthew who is Jewsh, which is very strongly hammered into us by the film. He is effeminate, duplicitous, greedy and physically weak; and then he gets to be the main villain and mastermind behind everything. Jeremy Strong is great in the part as always, but he’s still playing a rather overt and dangerous stereotype. Let’s not even talk about Frazer or the amount of fat jokes made at Eddie Marsan’s expense.

Overall, I liked this film. I enjoyed it, I laughed, I was appropriately shocked. But I just couldn’t shake some of the more problematic aspects of the story, and I don’t even think they were intentional. But I think those things still should be pointed out and discussed because I know Richie can do better, and relying on outdated and lazy stereotypes in 2020 is just a bit weak.

letterboxd

[leftovercakecrumbs]

Klance and Queerbaiting

This is something that’s been on my mind for a while. Note: this isn’t anti-klance and a lot of the sentiments in this could apply to many other ships too. Also...spoilers for S3.

Lately many people are complaining about the fact that Klance is “queerbaiting” and I feel like these days people have forgotten what that entails anymore.

Queerbaiting is when two same-sex/gender characters act like they’re in a romantic relationship. They’re constantly with each other, consistently have moments where they show what appears to be blatant romantic attraction to one another. Despite these intimate interactions however, it never leads up to anything or the idea of them getting together is consistently shut down in some way or another. It’s a fanservice trope that basically baits the viewer into intentionally misinterpreting the relationship of two characters (see: De/stiel from Supernatural, and shows like Free!).

However with Klance, I have seen none of this.

Right from the get go, Lance shows disdain towards Keith, even bringing up the fact that Keith was a dropout to bring him down. Lance had consistently shown unwarranted animosity towards Keith under the idea that Keith was somewhat aware of their (one-sided) rivalry. Keith isn’t free from this behavior either. When Lance was stranded after being tricked by Nima, Keith basically mocks Lance for his mistakes and later on Keith blatantly ignores Lance when he (Lance), tells him not to go after Shiro. Aside from a few moments of respite (bonding moment, Keith helping an injured Lance, the pool incident, etc.), the two were always at each others’ throats in some way.

Season 3 has bettered their dynamic with them showing a lot more light-hearted moments and Lance becoming more mature (though the two do still argue), but once again, nothing about that I see fits the bill for them being considered a form of queer baiting. Their “flirty” banter could easily be seen as two friends just joking around (or at times, can be flat out mean but is interpreted as ‘cute’), they’re not really shown to be two people who are devoted to each other or constantly talk about how important they mean to each other. Hell, a pairing like Shiro and Keith fit the queerbaiting tropes moreso than Keith and Lance (but we’re not opening that can of worms).

If anything it’s the fandom that’s misinterpreting this vitrolic dynamic as being romantic. It’s no surprise since a lot of romances in media like to equate constant bickering and arguing as romantic as long as there’s a few moments where they’re shown to actually care for one another. The “Awww look they really do care about each other” and “red oni, blue oni” trope is so prevalent, that it’s practically hard wired into our minds so it’s no surprise that many think that Klance will be canon. Along with that, with a show so big on platonic relationships, we somewhat hope that there’s going to be some kind of romance, and a romance that’ll appeal to the most vocal fans in the fandom.

This isn’t entirely the fandom’s fault. Part of the blame does go to the showrunners for being aware that Klance is a popular ship, admitting that there would be some form of LGBT rep, and being vague about it. People end up filling the blanks with their own accusations and it ends up feeling like an empty promise and would inevitably lead to some kind of backlash. The fact that the crew has to stay rather quiet about ships and whatnot doesn’t help the situation either, but when people will always be against you no matter what you say, what else can you do? You can’t appease everyone. But this doesn’t give people the right to harass the crew. They are people too, and they’re doing their best.

With all of this it does show how fandoms are misinterpreting queerbaiting, which is still a very real problem in the media. We’re so used to being baited that we’ve become accustomed to calling everything bait. We’re also accustomed to seeing that two men being together should automatically be interpreted as romantic because of this idea that platonic bonds are somehow less important than romantic ones. That romantic relationships hold more emotional weight than close friendships ever will, hence why two characters MUST be in a romantic relationship to really show that they love and care for one another. Voltron thus far has been a very platonic in terms of character interactions. No one has shown to be openly attracted to anyone (aside from Lance flirting with a bunch of alien ladies, and Haggar/Zarkon), and some bonds between characters are shown to be closer than others, while others are still developing.

Now despite all of this, this isn’t to say that Klance has no chance at being canon or that it’s ‘bad’ and ‘problematic’. BUT, there has to be some form of acknowledgement that the behavior shown between the two is not inherently ‘cute.’ Blatant distaste for another person shouldn’t be treated as automatically romantic/sexual or as queerbating and should be seen as 1.) something that isn’t positive, and characters with this type of behavior should be held accountable for their rudeness or cruelty and 2.) a starting point for positive development towards a healthy dynamic (whether that be romantic or platonic), kinda like a good slow burn fic.

And even if you ship something, there doesn’t have to be a need canon to prove anything. The whole point of shipping is to just take two characters and put them in a relationship, whether it makes sense or not, and that’s the beauty of fanon. You can ignore canon,and pick and choose what appeals to you and your ship. It shouldn’t be a battle of “my ship is most likely to be canon so it’s the best.” That was never the point of shipping to begin with. And if a ship that you hope will become canon does not become canon, it shouldn’t ruin your enjoyment of the ship or the show/movie/game whatever it came from. You don’t need validation from canon to have fun in a fandom.

TLDR; There’s been a lot of misinterpretation when it comes to the term “queerbaiting.” Yes it’s a problem in our media. No, it is unlikely at the moment that Klance is queerbaiting. Their animosity towards each other (especially early on) should not be treated ‘cute’ or inherently romantic. VLD itself is big on platonic bonding and that shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. Even if your ship doesn’t become canon, it shouldn’t take away your enjoyment from a ship or the show you are watching. Also, don’t harass showrunners for any reason. Just...don’t.

[mittensmorgul]

i love your s12 spn meta post, i love how you've analysed things and looked through different angles, but i have to admit. sometimes i feel that us fans of the show think more complexly about the characters and scenes than the writers themselves. they've shown continuity errors and character development mistakes time and time again, and the queerbaiting is frustrating as fuck. it doesn't make sense to me that these people are the same ones orchestrating such fantastic plotlines.

(i ran out of space for that previous ask) but again, i sincerely mean no disrespect to you or to the creators of the show. it was just my two cents. i'm sorry if you find it offensive in any way, i definitely did not mean for it to come off as rude! :(

Hi... I didn’t take it as rude, so you’re fine. :P

(I probably wouldn’t have posted it on anon, though, just because I don’t see the show as being fully of continuity errors and character development mistakes, and “queerbaiting” is in the eye of the beholder and seems a harsh statement to level against a writing staff that is comprised of several LGBT writers. Especially when they have been addressing queer characters and issues in serious ways, and absolutely not making them the punchline of a joke or dismissing them. It’s a word I would not throw around so casually.)

***On second thought, after typing ALL of this out, I feel like having spent the whole morning on it, it should be on my blog... I hope that’s okay.

Half the point of my rewatch (which, oops, I’m behind on because TNT showed a ten episode marathon the morning after a new episode aired, and the new episode had to take priority over the old) is to point out how consistent ALL of these things are.

There’s a post I like very much that I just saw again yesterday:

People should probably learn the difference between “plot holes” and “things I didn’t like” or “things the franchise plans to explain in the future” or “things film makers didn’t think they needed to explicitly explain because they thought you had critical thinking skills”

I didn’t reblog it because it’s already somewhere on my blog from ages ago, but especially relevant to s12, because of the way they’re telling the story.

99% of the time what looks on the surface like a “plot hole” is actually an expansion of canon, and yelling PLOT HOLE! or RETCON! just because something seems different means there’s a reason for the difference now.

Like the fact we’ve seen several shapshifters who don’t shed their skin like puddles of goo and can just *poof* into a new form. We’ve had shifters like this since s6 when we learned about the alphas. Truly powerful shifters don’t need to shed to change form.

(on a practical level, it makes the prop department’s job easier because they don’t have to create goo puddles, but also they’re able to use a shifter’s ability to change instantly as a plot point, and have done so several times very effectively. Like in 12.20 when Ketch was torturing “Mary” and punched her, so the shifter took on HIS form. They couldn’t have done that if they hadn’t introduced this more powerful strain of shifter before.)

Technically, everything that’s happened since 4.01 would fit the strictest definition of plot hole, because it had already been established that angels did not exist. And yet... here were angels.

Cas said in the past that angels were now walking the earth for the first time in two thousand years, so the fact he’d been down here in a vessel in 1901 must be a plot hole too... unless you assume that Cas’s previous statement was both specific and hyperbolic (which really isn’t a stretch, angels have always avoided certain truths in order to manipulate us). Angels as a whole hadn’t embarked on a unified mission to earth in the last 2000 years, but we know that Lily’s first encounter with Ishim in 1901 was because SHE SUMMONED HIM. She performed a magical spell that BROUGHT AN ANGEL TO EARTH. And the events of their relationship unfolded to the point she felt compelled to summon yet another angel (Akobel) to protect her from Ishim. Well, suddenly there’s a whole flight of angels coming to kill her, you know? It’s not the sort of story that any of the angels involved would be cheerfully chirping on about.

Point being, if Lily Sunder was capable of summoning an angel, there’s probably been OTHER people over the course of human history who’d tried it too. All of heaven may not have descended like they did in s4, but here and there, angels very well may have been watching over us.

It’s not a plot hole, it’s an expansion of canon. It refines our understanding and reminds us that we don’t know everything about the entire history of that universe.

I think there’s two kinds of people: Those who see something they think is a “mistake” in canon and scream PLOT HOLE! and get upset about it and think the writers are idiots, and then there are those who see that same thing and wonder how does that fit with the information I already have and then try to understand.

Sometimes a plot hole is just a plot hole (like the time travel nonsense in 12.13 that turns into a strange loop of infinitely decreasing returns), but most of the time it’s really really not.

As for characterization “errors”, most of the time they are incredibly purposeful. Like the whole scene at the beginning of 12.15. People are STILL shouting, “Out of character! Dean hates germs! He would NEVER do that!” and therefore MISSED THE ENTIRE POINT OF THAT SCENE.

Which was SAM standing there staring at Dean THINKING THE EXACT SAME THING.

Dean was putting on the performance FOR SAM. He KNEW Sam was lying to him about where the cases were coming from, and Dean’s not a moron. They visit the MoL, and suddenly a few days later Sam’s got a “magic phone app” that finds cases for him? Yeah, Dean wasn’t about to let Sam keep lying to him, and yet Sam was STILL lying to him even after two weeks of hunting, so he kept upping the Disgusting Quota trying to get Sam to break and confess. Because if he just comes out and asks Sam directly, he continues to lie and give him weak excuses. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the basics right there...

The one characterization thing that actually bugs me was the scene in 9.04 where Sam and Dean are watching Game of Thrones with Charlie, and Jensen and Jared DECIDED TO SWAP LINES because they felt that Sam was the one who would read the books, and not Dean... (Robbie Thompson, who wrote the scene, is still grumpy about it, too). Because DEAN DOES READ. And in this scene HE was the one who was supposed to be mirrored to Charlie through their mutual love of this particular brand of nerdery. It sort of wrecks the entire characterization of the episode, in which Dean’s usual “performing Dean” persona was SUPPOSED to fall down in Charlie’s company, and he would casually and comfortably admit he enjoyed reading the epic fantasy series (which, really, we know Dean reads fantasy novels... he’s a huge effing nerd).

Why do you think in 11.04 (also by Robbie Thompson) he wrote the line about Dean knowing that the phrase “god helps those who helps themselves” was from Aesop and not the bible? Because Jensen COULDN’T JUST HAND THAT LINE TO JARED. He HAD to admit he read. Because Performing Dean is one thing, but when he’s not trying to project that facade, he’s brilliant.

So yeah, 99% of it is 100% intentional. It’s our job as viewers to think about why. You can absolutely watch the show as a passive casual viewer (and the most casual viewer wouldn’t even NOTICE the things that get called plot holes or characterization mistakes), or you can see those things that seem not to make sense on the surface and look for the reason they struck you as being slightly wrong. Because if you dig just a little bit deeper, it opens up an entire new level of understanding about the show.

The writing is NEVER going to hand you all of that deeper characterization on a plate. That would make for TERRIBLE writing. All they want is for the characters and the plots to stick with us, so that we DO turn these issues over in our heads, so we DO think critically about them, and hopefully come to some compelling and fascinating conclusions. Or at the very least we’re eager to tune in again the following week to see if our suspicions are confirmed.

This is a hook that writers have been using since writing was a thing. This is how stories are told. Not just in the words, but in the negative spaces. We’re not just supposed to consume stories, but in the very best way, the best stories also consume US. They make us into an active participant in the narrative, and force us to consider the world and characters on our screens as real people.

That’s how all of this works.