#and it was awkward watching it with her lol

[chocolatepot]

(This has been in my drafts for over a month [<- written in the summer of 2022 lol], let's just finish chewing this thing ...)

Part of the reason I'm obsessed with Our Flag Means Death is the magic of hyperfixation, but there's also something about it that just ... certain scenes, certain gifs, I see them and I absolutely melt. And I'm no stranger to romantic media, especially historical romance, so I had to ask myself why this, so much?

And I think the thing that really gets me about the romance in OFMD is that it's so entirely different from mainstream het romance (and again, especially historical romance) and that mainstream het romance is so often lazily written.

How often do you go to read/watch something where the protagonist and love interest immediately have a positive rapport, understand each other, smile at each other, admire each other, have fun together? And in contrast, how often is the love interest marked out by having immediate hostility with the protagonist, sniping, irrational disagreement, disapproval?

I watch Sanditon and Bridgerton mainly just to be aware of what's going on in them, because like it or not I'm kind of a Regency historian of sorts, but I can't really stand them. In the first season of Sanditon, the heroine, Charlotte was presented with two potential love interests, Sidney Parker and James Stringer. The former was the classic "we act like we hate each other because of our sexual tension," the latter was really adorable and full of smiles and care for each other. And ... Charlotte barely seemed to realize that Stringer was a real possibility, all narrative heft was given to her plotline with Sidney and of course they turned out to be in love. Then the second season rolled this back and brought in two new love interests, again with one having a positive relationship with her and the other constantly arguing and criticizing; the apparently positive one turns out to be a creepy Wickham while the one she initially dislikes turns out to be a good Darcy with manpain to deal with. (Same thing with her sister's love triangle.)

And there are loads of other examples where a potential love interest who is immediately pleasant turns out to be deceptive/meh while a potential love interest who spurs fights is endgame. Basically, this is because you need some kind of obstacle to stop the characters from getting together immediately. In historical romance written in the present day, social class and money aren't acceptable obstacles unless there's a pressing need for them written in (hence the prevalence of "father gambled away our fortune and you must marry well, my dear, to save us from the poorhouse" plots), and "we met in an awkward way and will not get over it" works, narratively, as an obstacle.

In contrast, what goes on in OFMD s1 is so much more complex - the characters liking each other but having internal reasons not to recognize their feelings or act on them gives more room for showing why they actually are good together.

[buffysummers]

Getting your friend to watch one of your favorite shows and having her be disgusted with your ship is such an awkward position to be in 😭😭😭

[sysig]

Family ♥ (Patreon)

[midnightclover]

puts bocchi under ur pillow

What's that I see?

My, my. How did such a cute little thing get in here?

[pinkcatmaid]

Welcome (back) Akutan Sakuna !!! 🫶🏻

[demidevildonnie]

let's all love lain

[pollen]

letting myself unmask has been so nice at times because i'm seeing my boyfriend express joy much more readily too. who knew me being expressive and all that would do so much good!!!

[kalloway]

goin back to 2018/19 because I want to rewrite/finish my own fic, smh

it's been kinda nice rewatching the videos I used to, tho... kinda comfy feeling, despite what the games are all about hahaha

[dont-open-dead-inside-25]

Ok. I've decided. After my birthday party I'm going to ask her out and say the word date

[quasieli]

[ID copied from alt text: A digital half body drawing of Lucero (he/they) and Nerisya (she/they), a NPC and PC from my D&D campaign, set against a white background. Lucero, on the left, is a young, buff, dark orange Aasimar/Elf with wavy yellow hair pulled up in a ponytail. He is wearing a light blue shirt and dark blue pants. Nerisya, on the right, is a young, slim, pale complexion Half Elf with long, wavy sky blue hair. She is wearing a pink top and dark red pants. The pair are holding one another, posed as if slow dancing, with Nerisya peacefully resting her head on Lucero's chest. Both of them have serene smiles on their faces. End description.]

I've been in migraine city for a few days now but I have a new obsession and it's Them

[moonsidesong]

im not like, an "ii critical" or whatever you wanna call it, mostly i just watch new episodes when they come out and feel pretty lukewarm about them, but gotta say its almost comical to me that the newest episode is like "ummmm balloon you should SHOW not TELL..." and then immediately proceeds to explicitly spell out his problems to him verbally. like. alright man sure

[drakey-wakey]

been working with my darling Baby Kitty trying to get her trained to go for walks in her bag and she figured it out so quick ;w; she went from crawling into the bag on the ground to jumping into it while it's on my back in like 15 minutes of working with her

[sudokuplayer]

i'm so angry and heartbroken and i think this is all i will ever be

[yuigadokson]

Thinking out loud but i feel the many online friends that i got to hang out online watching stuff with were truly good at inviting ;_; and i am so bad/embarrassed about it like i will be hahaha heee do you wanna watch a movie together teehee haha no force (throws up)

[sammyjusticewarrior]

Some of the decisions made in TDP are nuts like yes it’s a kids’ show but there are moments that feel like they’re thrown in just to make and sell shitty new plush toys

[ectoplasmer]

actually no I think it’d be really funny if my hs s/i and my ygo s/i switched places