#and he describes the song as queer

[viir-tanadhal]

no no listen i see the vision

what were the other ones then

[azuremist]

*Listens to a Post-Traumatic Manifesto song* Omg this girl is literally me *listens to a Post-Traumatic Manifesto song* Omg this girl is literally me *listens to a Post-Traumatic Manifesto song* Omg this g

[evantuall]

quadeca fandom so gay i sometimes forget that ben himself is cishet

[batri-jopa]

LGBT w kulturze polskiej

Wały Jagiellońskie i "Tylko mi ciebie brak" z 1981 r.😉

[pikechris]

god I love how ed keeps subverting gender norms and expectations. he's literally named for his beard, he's the most feared pirate on the seven seas, the legends describe him as some sort of devil-like figure with glowing eyes and a head of smoke, all the portraits of him are these hypermasculine caricatures, so you'd expect him to be toxic macho man but NO. he's ed teach. he's queer. he ties his hair in a bun. he has a shiny dangly earring. he paints his nails pink. he loves soft fabrics. he drinks his tea with seven sugars. he wears pearly necklaces. he cries a lot. he paints the bride cake topper to look like him. he wears eye makeup. he's emo. he writes a sad breakup song. he actively dislikes being blackbeard and putting that mask on anymore. he's everything to me he's one of the best characters of all time

[nwarrior777]

making Hamlet fanart in 2024, slapping Juicy (main hero of Fat Ham, a modern play, Hamlet version, played by black fat queer person) on char design i saw in old b&w film while listening MCR playlist was an experience

highly recommend. also pls watch/read Fat Ham upd: image description added! (in alt text, but also under the cut)

(Image Description: List of sketches with 3 drawings. The textures used here are elegant looks-like photo silk (for clothes), soft shades and gradients. Shapes are sinking in each other depth. No color, black and white

It's fanart depicting Hamlet character being combination of different versions of him from different media: fat black queer masculine person being elegant, wearing mascara and lipstick (took from modern play Fat Ham) wearing vintage royal clothes (took from old classic film). The narrative of sketches also mixed of modern play (Fat Ham) and classic one

There are 3 sketches:

First one. It's the character described above (TC in text further) sitting in side view. His eyes is closed and face has melancholic emotion. TC is holding a scull. There is a simple-shaped silhouette of crown above his head. This image represent classic play melancholic vibes of character fused with modern play appearance

Second sketch. It's TC singing, while holding white pigeon in hands. It had previous classic-modern fusion vibes + a little vibe of disney princess song (because of bird and emotion expression similar to disney musicals). By left side of this sketch is stylized speech babble with music notes symbols and deformed text, visualization of singing. The text saying: "I want a perfect body", quoting singing of TC from modern play. By the right side of sketch there is arrow pointing at character with text "has most perfect body ever".

Sketch Three. It's dynamic sketch of TC in a duel (opponent is out of the frame), waving a thin sword (idk how it in eng, in my first it's шпага, a sword but specific type of it). From the chest of TC it's going steam, like character is heated mechanism pushed to limits. The face of TC is strong and determined, with mouth wide open trying to catch breath. Near this sketch is text: (text starts here) "He is fat and scant of breath" - original play quote. i know Fat Ham message. this one [the sketch with duel] here for slay jpeg reason (text ends here).

End of Image description)

[stormcloudrising]

Listened to the full lyrics of Long Face and I love them, and I have some random thoughts on the lyrics. Interesting meaning behind the words with the piano analogy.

The words are obviously meant to represent Lestat’s thoughts about Louis, and what I find interesting is that they see each other the same way. Makes me wonder who wrote the song. Did Lestat write it to put himself in Louis shoes in an attempt to understand him, or in response to the scene from Season 1 episode 2 after Louis kills the agent and they burn the body.

Louis sees their differences in terms of the world they live in and how others see them. Creole/French; Black man/white man; Queer/????? Etc. Lestat on the other hand sees their differences in more idolized romantic terms…basically how they see each other not how the world sees them.

Or was the song written as a duet with maybe Louis also writing Lestat a letter with the latter putting it to music. It’s a tin foil idea but the lyrics sound almost how Louis would describe the two of them…not the other way around.

If you asked Louis how he saw Lestat, he would say that he was filled with fire and energy. And it turns out that’s how Lestat sees Louis. Fire to his calmer self (LOL). But then again, you never see yourself the way others see you.

On the other hand, Lestat is always questing for love and so on that level, the lyrics do makes sense. The song also matches up to his thoughts about Louis when he first sees him pull a knife on Paul. And while Lestat always wants to test the boundaries, he’s always been lonely, which definitely matches up to how he sees himself in the song. Louis fills the void in him.

The lyrics are all about two pianos creating a harmonious sound. Makes me wonder if that’s what he was practicing with his board and Siri. Was he writing the lyrics then. Lestat sees them as opposites who together create the perfect sound.

I’m piano (quiet)

And you’re forte (loud and strong)

You’re Allegro (lively)

I’m Andante (slow or moderate pace)

We’re Bolero (here he’s talking about Ravel’s Bolero, which is basically a repeated melody that builds and builds to include the entire orchestra. It was also originally published as a piano duet.

He’s also saying that his stage persona is not him. He’s an actor wearing makeup. Louis knows the real him but Louis keeps running and he’s calling him out on it. It also interesting that he says “I get fatter, when we breakup.” That suggests some type of spiraling on his part when he and Louis break up. He gets fatter on the blood. The Rock Documentary is for Louis.

I’m very interested to see where season three starts because the lyrics almost sound like they got back together and Louis did one of his bunker like in the books and just disappeared.

Of course, the song is likely just an encapsulation of their relationship as it will be covered going forward and not about any specific off screen event. If so, we’re in for a treat.

Season 3 can’t get here soon enough for me.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Marlene Dietrich (Shanghai Express, Witness for the Prosecution, Morocco)—Bisexual icon, super hot when dressed both masculine and feminine, lived up her life in the queer Berlin scene of the 1920s, central to the 'sewing circle' of the secret sapphic actresses of Old Hollywood, refused lucrative offers by the Nazis and helped Jews and others under persecution to escape Nazi Germany, the love of my life

Xia Meng, also known as Hsia Moog or Miranda Yang (Sunrise, Bride Hunter)—For those who are familiar with Hong Kong's early cinema, Xia Meng is THE leading woman of an era, the earliest "silver-screen goddess", "The Great Beauty" and "Audrey Hepburn of the East". Xia Meng starred in 38 films in her 17-year career, and famously had rarely any flops, from her first film at the age of 18 to her last at the age of 35. She was a rare all-round actress in Mandarin-language films, acting, singing, and dancing with an enchanting ease in films of diverse genres, from contemporary drama to period operas. She was regarded as the "crown princess" among the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall", the iconic leading stars of the Great Wall Movie Enterprises, which was Hong Kong's leading left-wing studio in the 1950s-60s. At the time, Hong Kong cinema had only just taken off, but Xia Meng's influence had already spread out to China, Singapore, etc. Overseas Chinese-language magazines and newspapers often featured her on their covers. The famous HK wuxia novelist Jin Yong had such a huge crush on her that he made up a whole fake identity as a nobody-screenwriter to join the Great Wall studio just so he can write scripts for her. He famously said, "No one has really seen how beautiful Xi Shi (one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China) is, I think she should be just like Xia Meng to live up to her name." In 1980, she returned to the HK film industry by forming the Bluebird Movie Enterprises. As a producer with a heart for the community, she wanted to make a film on the Vietnam War and the many Vietnam War refugees migrating to Hong Kong. She approached director Ann Hui and produced the debut film Boat People (1982), a globally successful movie and landmark feature for Hong Kong New Wave, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Award. Years later, Ann Hui looked back on her collaboration with Xia Meng, "I'm very grateful to her for allowing me to make what is probably the best film I've ever made in my life."

This is round 5 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Xia Meng:

Marlene Dietrich:

ms dietrich....ms dietrich pls.....sit on my face

its marlene dietrich!!!! queer legend, easily the hottest person to ever wear a tuxedo, that hot hot voice, those glamorous glamorous movies…. most famously she starred in a string of movies directed by josef von sternberg throughout the 1930s, beginning with the blue angel which catapulted her to stardom in the role of the cabaret singer lola lola. known for his exquisite eye for lighting, texture, imagery, von sternberg devoted himself over the course of their collaborations to acquiring exceptional skill at photographing dietrich herself in particular, a worthy direction in which to expend effort im sure we can all agree. she collaborated with many other great directors of the era as well, including rouben mamoulian (song of songs), frank borzage (desire), ernst lubitsch (angel), fritz lang (rancho notorious), and billy wilder (witness for the prosecution). the encyclopedia britannica entry im looking at while compiling this propaganda describes her as having an “aura of sophistication and languid sexuality” which✔️💯. born marie magdalene dietrich, she combined her first and middle names to coin the moniker “marlene”. she was a trendsetter in her incorporation of trousers, suits, and menswear into her wardrobe and her androgynous allure was often remarked upon. critic kenneth tynan wrote, “She has sex, but no particular gender. She has the bearing of a man; the characters she plays love power and wear trousers. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men.” in the 1920s she enjoyed the vibrant queer nightlife of weimar berlin, visiting gay bars and drag balls, and in hollywood her love affairs with men and women were an open secret. she was an ardent opponent of nazi germany, refusing lucrative contacts offered her to make films there, raising money with billy wilder to help jews and dissidents escape, and undertaking extensive USO tours to entertain soldiers with an act that included her a playing musical saw and doing a mindreading routine she learned from orson welles. starting in the 50s and continuing into the mid-70s she worked largely as a cabaret artist touring the world to large audiences, employing burt bacharach as her musical arranger.

First of all, there are those publicity photos of her in a tux. Second of all, I have never been the same since knowing that she sent copies of those photos to her Berlin lovers signed "Daddy Marlene." Not only is she hot in all circumstances, but she can do everything from earthy to ice queen. Also, she kept getting sexy romantic lead parts in Hollywood after the age of 40, which would be rare even now. She hated Nazis, loved her friends, and had a sapphic social circle in Hollywood. She also had cheekbones that could cut glass and a voice that could melt you.

Her GENDER her looks her voice her everything

“In her films and record-breaking cabaret performances, Miss Dietrich artfully projected cool sophistication, self-mockery and infinite experience. Her sexuality was audacious, her wit was insolent and her manner was ageless. With a world-weary charm and a diaphanous gown showing off her celebrated legs, she was the quintessential cabaret entertainer of Weimar-era Germany.”

The bar scene in Morocco awoke something in me and ultimately changed my gender

"Her manner, the critic Kenneth Tynan wrote, was that of ‘a serpentine lasso whereby her voice casually winds itself around our most vulnerable fantasies.’ Her friend Maurice Chevalier said: ‘Dietrich is something that never existed before and may never exist again.’”

"Songstress, photographer, fashion icon, out bisexual phenom (notoriously stole Lupe Velez and Joan Crawford's men, and Errol Flynn's wife, had a torrid affair with Greta Garbo that ended in a 60-year feud, other notable conquests including Erich Maria Remarque -yes, the guy who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front- Douglas Fairbanks Junior, Claudette Colbert, Mercedes de Acosta, Edith Piaf), anti-Nazi activist. Marlene was a bitch - she had an open marriage for decades and one of her favorite things was making catty commentary about her current lover with her husband, and her relationship with her daughter was painful- but she was also immensely talented, a hard worker, an opponent of fascism and the hottest ice queen in Hollywood for a long time."

"She can sing! She can act! She told the Nazis to fuck off and became a US citizen out of spite! She worked with other German exiles to create a fund to help Jews and German dissidents escape (she donated an entire movie salary, about $450k, to the cause). She looks REALLY GOOD in a suit. If you're not convinced, please listen to her sing "Lili Marlene". Absolutely gorgeous woman with a gorgeous voice."

Gifset link

"Bisexual icon and Nazi-hater. Looks absolutely stunning in the suits she liked to wear. 'I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men'."

"would you not let her walk on you?"

[anniflamma]

have you read (or did you enjoy) madeline miller's song of achilles? your post about the shitty book made me think to ask, cause i've been wanting to get into retelling/modern writing, but don't know where to start lol

So I don’t think I’m the right person to ask whether you should read The Song of Achilles or not. XD

I have read the book… buuut… I kinda didn’t finish it. Thing is, the book is good, no, really! Even though I dropped it, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book per se, it’s just that I realized it wasn’t really written for me, and I lost interest in continuing.

There are a lot of good things in the book that I makes me genuinely recommend it. Miller has a fantastic way of describing emotions in a poetic, almost abstract manner. She paints scenes and moments beautifully, and I think that’s true the highlight of The Song of Achilles. So my verdict is you should give it a try! If not, then I'll could recommend you The Prince’s Psalm by Eric Shaw Quinn. Simply due to it's one of my favorites.

If you looking for something shorter, then Medusa by Jessie Burton.

Here’s the "nag section" (in case anyone’s curious why I dropped The Song of Achilles):

So the downside? The way Miller writes the queer relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is… very… very… heteronormative. It’s extremely clear that Patroclus is the "woman" and Achilles is the "man" in their dynamic. When they’re intimate, Achilles is the one doing and spurting, while Patroclus experiences "floral feelings" in his nether regions. The book isn’t explicit, but the text often accidentally describes them having straight sex. XD

There were so many moments while reading where I’d pause and think, "Oh, I can tell this is written by a straight woman who really likes the idea of a housewife." That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just the vibe I got. For comparison, when I read The Prince’s Psalm by Eric Shaw Quinn, I kept thinking, "This is written by a gay man who really loves tall, broad-shouldered, masculine men who make him feel small." It’s oddly similar to each other, Patroclus and David share the same character traits. Both are small insecure men, it’s just that the authors take different approaches to how they depict it.

The reason I dropped The Song of Achilles was that I just wasn’t interested in Patroclus being portrayed as this sweet, insecure, self-hating boy who sits in the tent all day and gets happy when Achilles comes back after a hard earnd work in the battlefield. I expected something more fluid in their dynamic. Don’t get me wrong, insecure protagonists are fine! For example, in The Prince’s Psalm, David is insecure too, but he also resents being seen as fragile by other men around him. The book explores that tension in David and Jonathan’s relationship. David kills Goliath not out of honor or duty, but because he wants to prove Jonathan wrong, even spite him, he did it out of anger. David is insecure, which also makes him envious. He gets angry easily but also quick to forgive. He is an romantic person, who loves the idea of Jonathan proposing to him and being swept up but he also wants to be seen as a "manly" man. He is faithful but when he have the conversation with Jonathan about their bounderies, they come to the conclution together who they can sleep with, no men and only women if you are married to them. David changes and the irony with it is that his change is also a cause why Jonathan died.

For Patroclus, I think he is very flat. He is incesure and he is a good boy. And sadly I really don't remember if there was anything else than that. Most of his reaction is based on Achilles actions. The reason why he is good with fighting is cuz gods are helping him. The reason why Achilles like Patroclus so much is... I don't know really, the text only describes how pretty Achilles is, it very superficial. Patroclus likes Achilles becasue Achilles isnt Patroclus.

Here’s the funny thing…

After all that, I still recommend The Song of Achilles! There's a reason why there are so many retelling books now. I genuinely believe The Prince's Psalm wouldn't have been published if The Song of Achilles hadn't existed. The book is a romanticization, and it was written around 2008 or so. That explains why Miller wrote them like that. I see the heteronormative dynamic between Achilles and Patroclus as simply a product of its time.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Watched the Swiftologist’s 1 hr long anti gaylor video and he described You Need to Calm Down as the only evidence we need that’s she’s straight because a queer person would not have written that song. Also he points out that she said she’s not several times. Good video

I mean yeah, the second biggest hole in the entire Gaylor theory is that Swift trying to stay in the closet while simultaneously spending YEARS concocting Riddler-esque puzzles to signal that she's queer to the loudest fandom on earth is that it's counterintuitive to the point of abject stupidity.

the first biggest hole is of course her numerous denials that she's queer.

[paperstorm]

Thank you for the tags @heartstringsduet and @annoyingcloudearthquake! This is from Somewhere in a Song, chapter posting tomorrow :)

“Can I ask you something?” Carlos begins cautiously.

“Sure.”

“Where do you keep going? Like when we all go out for lunch or whatever, and you say there’s something else you have to do. Do you just – not wanna hang out with us?”

“Meetings.”

Carlos tilts his head in confusion.

“Like … AA meetings,” TK clarifies, and Carlos’s face crumples immediately into a frown.

“Oh. Shit, I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me about that.”

“It’s okay. That’s where I was tonight, it’s not a secret, just …” TK shrugs. “I don’t wanna be a downer. Or have people look at me like …”

“Like what?”

“Like you are, right now. Like they feel sorry for me, and they don’t know what to say.” TK means nothing by it, he doesn’t fault Carlos for feeling those things, he would just rather avoid it.

Carlos presses his lips together. He looks away and for a moment TK regrets his honesty. But then Carlos’s eyes meet his again and he says, “I don’t know if feeling sorry is exactly how I would describe it.”

“No?”

Shaking his head, Carlos says, “No, it’s … I can’t imagine how hard it is, what you’re doing. I’m not happy you’re going through something hard, obviously, but I think you’re … impressive.”

A response gets caught in TK’s throat for a moment, and his voice is raspy as he softly says, “Thanks.”

Carlos nods at him. Their eyes linger as a few more seconds tick slowly by. “I’m gay.”

TK’s ears hear the words, but it takes his muddled brain a lot longer than it should to catch up and understand what they mean. His eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. He can’t say he was expecting that, and at first he doesn’t know how to respond other than a slightly dumbfounded, “Oh.”

“Sorry, I – shit, I shouldn’t’ve just blurted that out.” Carlos huffs and rubs his hands over his face. When he folds them back in his lap, there is a distinctly anxious look on his face and TK doesn’t like that at all.

“It’s fine,” he assures. “Since we’re having gooey-feelings sharing-time, anyway.”

“Is that what we’re doing?”

“I mean, kinda, yeah,” TK chuckles.

Carlos looks at him and laughs too – in palpable relief – when he realizes TK is teasing. He shifts in his seat, and TK belatedly realizes it’s probably uncomfortable because it’s so small and dainty. The sofa looks as if it were designed for a petite, upper class woman to delicately perch on a hundred years ago, not for a tall, broad-shouldered man to lounge on in the modern day.

“Do you wanna …?” he asks pointing at the bed next to him. It feels even bigger than a king-sized mattress and he’s all the way to one side of it, leaving enough room for multiple other bodies.

Carlos’s eyes dart back and forth two or three times between TK’s face and the empty bed next to him, and then without words he stands and steps out of his slip-on sandals. TK doesn’t watch him so it isn’t awkward – or, isn’t more awkward – as Carlos mirrors him; propping pillows against the headboard and leaning back against it with his long legs stretched out.

He tips his head back and he’s quiet for a moment, before he tells the ceiling, “Nobody knows except Grace, not even Judd or Mateo. Not my parents, not … anybody.”

TK remembers how lonely that felt, and he didn’t live in that reality for anywhere near as long as Carlos probably has. “I guess it’s not that common, where you’re from.”

“Man, don’t do Texas like that. I’m from Austin, there’s a huge queer scene,” Carlos argues, but he’s teasing, too. “In country music … kind of a different story.”

“Right.”

“I actually remember really clearly back when your first album came out, because you used the word ‘he’ in three different songs.”

TK frowns and smiles at the same time. “That’s very specific.”

“Yeah, I specifically remember it because it blew me away,” Carlos says, that earnest glint back in his eyes that TK’s grown used to. He’d thought at first it was part of an act, of an aww shucks, ma’am character Carlos was playing, but he’s come to realize Carlos is just truly that sincere. “There’s hardly anybody openly queer in country music even now, but definitely not almost 10 years ago. I didn’t know that was something you could do, I didn’t know you could write a song about a boy and put it on an album and a label would let you release it into the world.”

“I had to fight for it,” TK tells him. “It’s not all that different in rock music, to be honest. I’d kind of forgotten about that, actually, but there was definitely pressure to change the pronouns in those songs.”

“But you didn’t.” Carlos smiles at him. “I remember listening to them in my bedroom, with my headphones, wondering if I could ever write something like that. And maybe … I don’t know. Maybe feeling a little bit less alone.”

Tagging @theghostofashton @reyesstrand @strandnreyes @eclectic-sassycoweyes @carlos-in-glasses

@bonheur-cafe @actual-sleeping-beauty @herefortarlos @heartstringsduet @alrightbuckaroo

@goodways @lightningboltreader @emsprovisions @freneticfloetry @liminalmemories21

@reasonandfaithinharmony @ladytessa74 @never-blooms @sanjuwrites @orchidscript

@lemonlyman-dotcom @jesuisici33 @kiwichaeng @honeybee-taskforce @hereghostslive

@just-inside-her @firstprince-history-huh @captain-gillian @tellmegoodbye @ironheartwriter

@butchreyes @anactualcaseofthetruth @ditheringmind @thisbuildinghasfeelings @whatsintheboxmh

@irispurpurea @nisbanisba @corsage @chicgeekgirl89 @nancys-braids

@carlossreaders @denizoid @everlastingday

Want to be added or removed from the list? Lmk

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

Lit Hub: The Question of Homoeroticism in Whitman’s Poetry

Walt Whitman’s best poems demonstrate an almost unimaginable prescience; he and Dickinson, among 19th-century American poets, possess a nearly chilling self-consciousness, an acute self-analysis. Edward Carpenter, the British anarchist, writer, and champion of the Arts and Crafts movement whose life and romance were the model for E. M. Forster’s novel Maurice, wrote this elegant description of a visit with Whitman in 1877; the emphases are Carpenter’s own: “If I had thought before (and I do not know that I had) that Whitman was eccentric, unbalanced, violent, my first interview certainly produced quite a contrary effect. No one could be more considerate, I may almost say courteous; no one could have more simplicity of manner and freedom from egotistic wrigglings; and I never met any one who gave me more the impression of knowing what he was doing more than he did.” That there were words for homosexual behavior in Whitman’s day there can be no doubt. Social structures for enabling same-sex congress seem to have been a feature of life in the modern city at least since the later 18th century, when the “Molly houses” in London offered a zone of permission for transvestism. Herman Melville, in Redburn, carefully evokes the nattily dressed fellows who hang out in front of a downtown restaurant where opera singers perform; he means us to understand what these stylish outfits convey. Historian and theorist Luc Sante describes a 19th-century pamphlet that takes as its project the publication of the locations of various quite particular spots of diverse sexual practice in New York City—so that those informed of, say, the address of a bordello featuring willing boys can take special care to avoid this hazard. Trenchant evidence comes from Rufus Griswold’s review of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass: “We have found it impossible to convey any, even the most faint idea of style and contents, and of our disgust and detestation of them, without employing language that cannot be pleasing to ears polite; but it does seem that someone should, under circumstances like these, undertake a most disagreeable, yet stern duty. The records of crime show that many monsters have gone on in impunity, because the exposure of their vileness was attended with too great indelicacy. Peccatum illud horrible, inter Christianos non nominandum.” Which is all a way of saying that Whitman inscribes his sexuality on the frontier of modernity; he is writing into being—particularly in the “Calamus” poems of 1860, with their frank male-to-male loving, their assumption of equality on the part of the lovers—a new situation. He does not know how to proceed—he has no path —but he does it anyway. My guess is that he couldn’t have written “Calamus,” or the boldly homoerotic portions of the 1855 Leaves, even ten years later, as the advent of psychology increasingly led to a public perception of the normative, and imagery of the sacred family becomes the object of Victorian romance. As a category of identity—sodomite, invert, debauchee, pervert, Uranian—begins to emerge, so the poems with their claims of a loving, healthy, freely embraced same-sex desire become unwriteable, paradoxically, just as new language of homosexual identity begins to appear. Unwriteable, and, it would seem from Whitman’s later remarks, and some of his revisions, barely defensible. Carpenter and his readers were reaching for signposts of a gay identity when such a thing barely existed, but Whitman is ultimately a queer poet in the deepest sense of the word: he destabilizes, he unsettles, he removes the doors from their jambs. There is an uncanniness in “Song of Myself” and the other great poems of the 1850s that, for all his vaunted certainty, Whitman wishes to underscore. Again and again, he points us toward what, it seems, must��remain folded in the buds beneath speech, since it cannot be brought to the surface. (Full article)

[merrysithmas]

another thing that really interests me after hearing the demo verison of "Goodbye" (which was the song written by Paul and given to Mary Hopkin) are the songs written by Lennon/McCartney that they "gave away" for others to sing.

when listening to the Goodbye demo we hear for the first (and only?) time Paul singing yearningly to a enigmatic and mournful male lover who "calls him to his side" by the beat of a lonely drum, a call that Paul, touchingly, describes that he must answer with an emotionally stalwart devotion reminescent of two lovers separated by a war (or ... a world that will not let them publically love one another).

TO ME it's so obvious he "GAVE THIS SONG AWAY" only because he couldn't sing it with it's original intended pronouns or face homophobic backlash, and so gave it to a female singer (actually he specifically scouted and signed a female singer SO she could sing it...).

I've always noticed so many Beatles songs avoid the use of pronouns in love songs or use amorphous language such as the abstract "Girl" sung about in the song that shares the name. This to me speaks very clearly to a few things - one: marketing savvy, two: queer writers, three: their cultural awareness of needing to hide their feelings or WANTING to hide them for their own safety and privacy. but alongside that can come a lot of inner pain, as most queer people know, even if it is a choice for safety and/or peace of mind's sake.

being the most famous men in the world - it was clearly a combination of all those things.

so ANYWAY, after discovering this demo a while ago and also John's demo for "Bad to Me" I've gotten really interested in which songs the two "GAVE AWAY" aka perhaps didn't want to change or felt was too much of a dead giveaway regarding their emotional origins so they handed them off.

Here's a list I found in case anyone else wants to look into it too for crumbs!

[The one I cut off in the first pic was "I Am The Greatest" the song John gave to Ringo]

[elis-corner]

gerard way transed my gender

this is essentially just one big ramble about how music as a whole shapes how i experience myself and the world (but with a focus on mcr and gerard)

Addressing the "title", I guess he simultaneously did, and did not, and did the opposite of such. I was well aware of my gender identity before I became an MCR fan (in fact, I discovered them because of hearing "Mama" in the background of trans TikToks), but I've found that, despite this, their music shapes how I view my identity.

Music holds something extremely unique; it has the power to convey things auditorily, through sounds, through volume, through pitch, through tone. They can be things you simply can't put into words that become something you feel on such a deep level and connect with so strongly.

Music has better helped me understand my gender by giving me another sense to describe it with. While I love and relate to MCR as a whole, there are certain sounds, certain songs, that describe my identity in a way that no words or writing could ever explain. They paint a beautiful picture that nothing else could.

When I hear music, I feel things within myself. I see art and colours and shapes in my mind. There is something so intrinsically human about music. I don't study music theory, or label what genres I like, because I feel like music can't be broken down and categorised, and that so directly translates to the wild mess that is gender. You can't use something tangible to describe something that is not, but two things that you have no way to explain? Those can correlate and explain each other so beautifully.

There's also something about the way that musicians manage to capture something visual with their music. I think a lot of people would understand when I say that Danger Days sounds like pop art, that Hesitant Alien sounds like chromatic aberration, that The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars takes me back to an era in which I wasn't even close to existing, that songs off The Normal Album like "2econd 2ight 2eer" sound like spirographs and kaleidoscopes, that "Joyriding" sounds exactly how the numbness of my depressive episodes feel.

Music is essentially a xenogender to me, but with something auditory that my brain then turns into something visual.

As I'm writing this, I'm realising this sounds like I have synaesthesia, but I'm not diagnosed so I can't really speak on that. I'm not diagnosed with anything, actually. Maybe I should be. Who knows. My psychologist kinda sucks. Anyway.

So obviously, there's the music itself. But there's also the people behind it.

There's something that so indescribably describes my experience of gender through aesthetics and presentation. There is something I can connect with on such a deep level when I see Will Wood, Bowie, members of MCR or Queen. In layman's terms it's gender envy, but if you ponder on it, it's something so much deeper. What makes me look at an ensemble, a colour scheme, a single accessory, or even a person, that makes me feel like I'm looking into myself and seeing who I want to be?

And then, there's how their ability to express themselves impacts your understanding of yourself. Here's where the focus on Gerard starts.

I'm simply queer, but to explain myself better I say I'm nonbinary and transmasc. Note how I don't align with binary gender, in a world that mandates it. I was very feminine when I was younger, and when I accepted that I was trans I was so desperate to feel more masculine that I denied everything feminine about myself. Now, I'm kind of just letting myself exist. And it all started with Gerard.

Picture this. It's 2023, and over the past year you've been getting into a band. You've enjoyed the music, but never really ventured into the fandom or learning more about the people behind the music. When you do, you not only discover that the band you thought was broken up is not only back together, but that they performed in your city just a few months before. So, you look up photos and videos of the concert.

That band is My Chemical Romance, and at that concert their frontman was in a skirt and heels. This intrigues you, so you look into the band more.

The Secretary. Cheerard. Party Poison. Hell, even Catgirl Gerard.

That was me, what feels like insanely long ago. I fell in love with the band fully, not just for their music and their messaging, but for the people---the members and the fans. I stumbled upon a group of people rejecting society and being themselves. And I learnt that, fuck presentation, I'm still me.

Seeing MCR as Killjoys, seeing Gerard during the reunion tour... it all had such an impact on me. I can wear skirts and makeup and things that make me feel feminine---the antithesis of what I am in so many ways---and still feel like I'm being true to myself. Music is what unlocked those doors for me.

When I heard Hesitant Alien for the first time, I saw myself in it in a way I hadn't seen myself in music since I discovered Bowie. There was something so dreamy, so hallucinogenic, so out of this world, that described me so perfectly. That I could hear the music, see the visuals, look inside myself, and go, "yeah, that's me".

MCR has helped me embrace more than just femininity, though. I hated having curly hair, but Ray showed me I could love it. I was raised to be against unnatural altering of one's appearance, but Frank's piercings and tattoos showed me what an art form it can be. The "gender" of clothing was so tied to my ability to see myself as masculine, until Gerard showed me I could just be myself and have fun with my appearance, and that I didn't need labels or to restrict myself. I felt like femininity and masculinity could never coexist, until I saw Mikey rocking a balance of the two.

Music is so intrinsically human, describing us in ways that words never could. And I think that's beautiful.

[just-barely-a-somebody]

Well deekideke’s fanfic script has given,,, so much. As a recap of what I personally got from it (A very devildice focused perspective):

King Dice drinks

This isn’t the first time Devil had Stickler walk Dice home

Based on the way Devil says it, he’s probably tucked Dice into bed, cradled his head, and told Dice he’s his #1 until Dice fell asleep before (please I need a short fluff fic of this immediately)

King Dice had to wear a flower gown

There’s a joke that he should be called Queen Dice

His gown is ripped into a fucking bikini and then he just “decides to own it and strikes a pose.”

Devil loves the chaos and was probably about to confess feelings before being interrupted

oh yeah devil is also in a wedding gown

they genuinely just flirt with each other

THEN they both sing “Endless Love” WHILE BEING DESCRIBED AS “It’s a romantic dance sequence for the length of the entire song”

AND THEN they almost kiss before… eugh Stickler.

but uh yeah that was a lot /pos

I’m almost 100% certain that Deekideke had/has ideas for other eps that would develop their relationship a bit more and come before this ep

either way, they’re gay+queer as hell <3

[wiyu989]

The Queer Subtext of the CATFA Bar Scene

(Long post, alt text included)

While there are countless examples of evidence to support the idea that Steve & Bucky had romantic tension, none stick out to me quite like the bar scene in catfa

In this post, I will go over the reasons this scene is so important to their relationship

First of all, let’s talk about the heartfelt conversation the two were having prior to Peggy’s arrival. Bucky expressing his admiration for Steve’s bravery, before and after the serum, as he specifies:

This scene displays Bucky’s admiration for Steve, no matter what he looks like. One of my favorite lines.

Not to mention this totally not-subtle remark…

Now let’s talk about the painfully obvious jealousy Bucky showed while Steve and Peggy were flirting. He even started passive-aggressively “flirting” with Peggy while she and Steve were eye-fcking.

Through heteronormative eyes, this may look like Bucky’s jealous of Steve’s new status as “ladies-man”. But if you truly know their characters, you know that’s not true.

As if his jealousy wasn’t already evident enough, look at the death-stare he gives Peggy as she walks away. He is FURIOUS 😭

A new bout of evidence for the queer subtext of this scene was conjured by episode 1 of what if..? when marvel was desperately trying to force feed us steggy, they accidentally confirmed a stucky theory.

In what if, there’s a romantic scene with Steve and Peggy at a bar, and they were interrupted by bucky just before they were going to kiss… sound familiar?

Marvel has been aggressively trying to get us invested in steggy post-endgame, and has done so by attempting to erase Steve and Bucky’s relationship entirely. This is even more evident in the Disneyland adaptation of “Rogers: the musical” adapted from the Hawkeye series.

Now the last topic is, in my opinion, the most evident of Steve and buckys romantic subtext. That is, of course, the song choice of the bar scene.

Throughout the scene, the howling commandos and others can be heard singing “there is a tavern in the town”. How exactly does this confirm stucky? Well let’s look at the lyrics…

Come ON these lyrics perfectly describe buckys POV during this scene. This song choice was no accident in this essay I will 😤

There’s actually a YouTube video that points this “coincidence” out! I recommend you watch so you can see what I mean:

In conclusion? Bucky was undoubtedly in love with Steve and this scene is a certified stevebucky classic

thanks for reading <3