#and when a character is presented as thin and beautiful and feminine with an apparently uncomplicated relationship to gender.

[grassbreads]

I've never been particularly interested in genderbends, despite how popular lesbian aus are for some of the m/m couples I'm a big fan of, but the other day I saw genderbend art that made a male character into a butch woman for possibly the first time, and something in my brain went "click"

[saintsenara]

your turtle romcom fic was amazing. do you have a fancast for them?

thank you so much, anon - i'm thrilled you enjoyed bookbinding, and i'm always delighted to welcome new members to turtle nation.

i'm never great at fan-casts largely because i can never remember people's names, but also because i often have incredibly specific ideas in my mind about how these characters look which i find very difficult to then actually explain. but still... let's get into it:

myrtle

one of my least favourite aspects of the writing of the harry potter series is the fact that characters we are supposed to find unsympathetic are always, always written as some combination of fat, ugly, unintelligent, and inarticulate.

i understand the watsonian explanation that harry-as-narrator is a teenager and teenagers are kind of dicks. i understand the doylist genre reasons for this - jkr is not the first children's author to make use of such tropes, and they are certainly used with a lighter touch in hp than in, for example, roald dahl - and i also understand the reasons specific to the series' central mystery, in which snape's ugliness [the marker of his apparent villainy] actually conceals the fact he is one of the narrative's heroes.

the reverse is, of course, used with tom himself - harry's trust in tom riddle's memory of framing hagrid in chamber of secrets is established right at the start of the scene by harry's comment that they both have jet-black hair; harry's profound empathy with riddle's past in the memory scenes shown in half-blood prince completely disappears when voldemort returns for his job interview and is "no longer handsome tom riddle".

all of which is to say, i do not vibe with the fact that myrtle is written in the text in a way which presents her appearance as a moral failing. this was the decision behind two key points made in bookbinding - that myrtle doesn't lose weight and it literally doesn't matter, and that beauty standards change and a young woman considered unattractive in the forties was not considered unattractive at other points in human history.

tom notes that she looks like a renaissance painting, specifically da vinci's lady with an ermine:

and as for current people, i think bella ramsey would work as casting for school-age myrtle - in particular because they are absolutely tiny and it is very important to me that tom is being constantly hen-pecked by someone who barely comes up to his shoulders.

tom

i find fan-casting tom extremely difficult, in particular because - and i accept this might be unpopular - i find that many of the preferred fan-casts and fan-art interpretations always look far too masculine. [this is particularly the case in tomarry, one of my favourite ships, in which harry "i have anger issues, am a jock, and aspire to be a cop" potter is far too often this tiny, feminine damsel-in-distress, and tom "i would love the chance to be a mammy's boy, spent my teenage years in the library, and create anagrams of my own name for fun" riddle is far too often a pile of twitching muscle intent on snapping him like a twig.]

the things we're told in canon about tom's appearance are that he has dark eyes and black hair and "finely-carved" features, looks a bit like harry, looks exactly like his dilf of a father, and is really hot. we are also told that both he and the later voldemort are very tall, extremely thin, softly spoken, and have a certain elegance of movement. all of which, to me, suggests that we are not dealing with the buff greek god of so many interpretations, but someone who is, in reality, slightly effete.

this fan art by @arcynist:

and this by @erichthaxa:

are 100% how i picture him. especially the being covered in blood part.

so, in terms of fan-casting, find your favourite slightly-androgynous-leaning male model i guess...

[defilerwyrm]

Mostly because I love watching you gush about this, partially because asking for a friend, when writing Essek either in RP or a fic or something, or reading what other people have written, what are your favourite characterisations/personality traits/habits/details/whatever? Or what do you really enjoy? What makes you feel like the writer understands and portrays the character well? I know it's a very subjective question but fuck it.

What a question! Let’s see what I can think of off the cuff.

1. Fussiness outside of The Zone. Essek is prim and modest most of the time. He doesn’t go in for crass humor and he doesn’t like getting messy—with exceptions to the latter. He’s not exactly prudish, but he prefers to present himself as very put-together and values his personal space highly. (Unlike many fic writers, apparently, I do not see these as “feminine” traits.)

2. Full sleeves-rolled-up mode in The Zone. When Essek’s mind is fully engaged in something he’s passionate about, his enthusiasm breaks through his icy façade and he goes all in on it. He becomes far more hands-on, even frenetic, and far more intense in these moments. He’ll get down on the ground, he’ll get messy, he’ll go full nerd mode, and it’s beautiful.

3. Aloof and intense by turns. His Shadowhand “mask” is imposing because it’s a careful construction of a thin veil of “don’t mind me” and polite little smiles over jagged ice and raw, if quiet, power. He’s meant to come across as someone who’s quietly pleasant until you cross him, at which point he will fuck your world inside-out. When he cares, he is a very intense person, prone to heavy (and measured) words and heavier eye contact.

4. Hidden anxiety. Eszak is Undercommon for “worry” and I think that neatly encapsulates his entire being. I do NOT favor the woobified “uwu smol anxious bean” Essek that’s proliferated since later in the campaign, but the fact is that he’s got a lot on his plate and all the shit he’s gotten himself tangled up in keep his nerves frayed—which lies beneath both his placid little smile and the “do not fuck with me” mien under that. There is something to be said for seeing him willing to open up to the Nein and let them see when he’s barely holding it together, because no one else gets that privilege, but I’ve found a depressing number of people forget just how tightly he keeps all that tamped down under most circumstances.

5. Secret fidgeting. I can’t count the number of times I’ve read Essek using his mantle and robes to hide the fact that he’s fidgeting and wringing his hands when he’s nervous but not in a safe place to show it, and as a chronic fidgeter, I dig it.

6. No toxic masculinity but not effeminate. GASP, IT’S POSSIBLE. Essek is completely unthreatened by Jester’s froufy creations (to wit, the pink lacy parasol and the garden gloves with little roses on them), but he is not your Scarlet O’Hara.

7. Calling Caleb by his full name. He doesn’t do it ALL the time, but when he does, there’s weight to it. I like to imagine that once he learns that Caleb is not the man’s original name but a chosen one, this carries the extra weight of affirming that identity.

8. Secret skin hunger. Oh gods, this is my catnip. Any character who purposefully avoids physical contact learning to accept it and then discovering they’ve been craving touch like mad? Put that in my FACE I WANT IT

9. Common as a second (or third, or fourth) language. There were a number of times that Matt played this up: Essek is conversationally fluent in Common, but not to the degree of a native speaker; there are some words and phrases he just doesn’t know. I like that because it shows that someone’s intelligence is not measured purely by how familiar they are with any given language—he’s a staggeringly brilliant man, and that’s not undermined by him coming across Common slang he doesn’t know. Obviously this is something that could be done very poorly, but thankfully I don’t think I’ve come across any examples.

10. Does not want pity or to have his sins sympathized away. Post-97, he’s sitting with his guilt, as he should. He doesn’t want to be told “It’s okay, you didn’t mean it” or “It’s not your fault, you were manipulated.” He legitimately was neutral evil. There’s no getting around that. It’s in the damn book. Post-reveal Essek fully acknowledges that he made active choices that were extraordinarily harmful and that he did so for purely selfish reasons. He shares this intensity with Caleb. Neither of them are Bucky Barnes. They were manipulated, yes, but that manipulation wouldn’t have worked without their cooperation—and they’re not willing to sweep that under the rug.

Bonus:

11. Top!Dom!Essek. Y’all are free to disagree and I will respect your right to be completely wrong. Short and skinny != bottom, come on. Embrace the goodness that is a tiny Dom. Let 👏Caleb 👏 get 👏 wrecked 👏 (It’s not that I specifically dislike bottom!Essek, as evidenced by my own writing—hell, I’ve got a whole damn story about him trying to get on Caleb’s dick—it’s just that I deeply dislike how most people write it, which is that they treat it as default and often wrap it up in heteronormative hyperfeminization. Y’all. Even if you like a femmier Essek, PLEASE take the advice of a real-life actual queer man who’s slept around a lot: you would be AMAZED by the number of tops I’ve known and had who are a lot more camp/femme than me. For queer men, masc vs femme is NOT a solid indicator of preferred sex role. My favorite fuckbuddy is a flaming queen and a strict top ffs. Come on.)

[otaku-mama73]

Scattered thoughts on Toumyu Tokyo Kokoro Oboe

This written mess isn’t intended to be a guide as others have so helpfully done, but instead a loose (and possibly misguided?) interpretation of certain scenes and themes that struck me while trying to make sense of Tokyo Kokoro Oboe. 

Much of my focus will be on THE GIRL, Ota Dokan and yamabuki. Toumyu’s been a feast of testosterone, and still will continue to be so, but to finally have a feminine presence not only appear, but make such a HUGE impression is just wonderful.

(Spoilers beyond this point!)

TOUMYU X NOH

This isn’t the first time Toumyu has framed their play in traditional Japanese theatre. SOGA was stylized as a neo-kabuki retelling. Tokyo Kokoro Oboe is essentially a Noh play, namely a “Mugen,” or phantasmal category of Noh plays. A quick wiki search describes it as such:

Mugen Noh (夢幻能, "supernatural Noh") involves supernatural worlds, featuring gods, spirits, ghosts, or phantasms in the shite role. Time is often depicted as passing in a non-linear fashion, and action may switch between two or more timeframes from moment to moment, including flashbacks.

That's basically TKO in a nutshell, right?

Within the first few minutes of the play and the girl’s appearance, we get a sense that something is off and we’re definitely in for a wild ride. We are faced with an otherworldly sight of this girl in a Noh mask walking toward a thin stream of sand silently falling into a pile from the dark moon-filled sky. One can tell that this girl is young, as she is dressed in a simple muted pink traditional kimono. She is wearing a non-menacing Noh mask consistent with that of a common young girl. There are numerous tales of young females in Noh plays and perhaps there might be a connection to one of these many stories. However, a consistent theme throughout these Noh plays is that the character in the Noh mask is a spirit trying to convey something to a traveler, or in this case, to Suishinshi.

I looked into the roles of females in Noh plays and found that women roles belong in a specific category of plays known as “kazura mono,” or (wig plays):

“The woman category is also known as kazura mono (wig noh). It is the central noh in the gohbandate and is usually about the ghost of a woman and the themes center around love and suffering. Often the ghost is condemned to wander the earth trapped somehow by the love that she feels.” 

(https://www.the-noh.com/en/world/forms.html)

Going by these descriptions, I can’t help but wonder if there are parallels between the Girl and Mikazuki now. Yes, she’s a feminine character, while Mika is obviously not, but it’s like the role she has may be similar to the role or whatever burden of love that Mikazuki has taken upon himself. Mikazuki has been meddling and trying to manipulate history by saving or affecting the lives of those significant to history or not. The idea of “history as a flowing river with streams running to the side” mentioned is really telling here. The Girl is like a guide also showing to us and to Suishinshi the lives and moments of those might be lesser known. Ota Dokan being one (which I’ll get to later). Not to mention perhaps trying to address the forgotten souls of the abandoned timeline.

I also can’t ignore that moment where the Girl suddenly appears in place of the projected image of Mikazuki for that brief moment after his confrontation with Suishinshi. There is a connection that Toumyu wants us to make. Just exactly what is completely up to interpretation.

THE GIRL and OTA DOKAN and YAMABUKI

The Girl only appears to interact with only Suishinshi and Ota Dokan in Myu8. Everyone else seems to be unaware of her presence when she appears. While she appears as an otherworldly spirit, she also plays an actual role in an incident that is documented in anecdotes in Dokan’s life. In the scene, the Girl is dancing in the background waving a branch of yamabuki flowers. At the end of the scene, she wordlessly offers that branch to Dokan, who takes it, looks at it questionably without acknowledging the GIRL, and walks away. The GIRL then looks at Suishinshi and skips away. 

In actual history, there is an account that follows: 

“Here is also very famous episode about Ota Dokan 太田道灌(1432-1486), popular general in the Muromachi Period.　

One day, he made a hunting trip and was caught in a sudden shower.

He rushed into a shabby dwelling and shouted to lend him a straw raincoat.

A young girl appeared and gave him a branch of yamabuki without saying anything.

Dokan got angry and returned home in the rain.

In that night, he told the story to his follower.

Then, he explained the story of the poetry of Prince Kaneakira and inferred that the girl compared poverty to the blossom of yamabuki and wanted to say

"I am so sorry, but I am poor and doesn't have any raincoat."

Dokan was shocked to hear that and ashamed lack of wit.

After that he started to learn waka poetry.”

(http://kikuko-nagoya.com/html/yamabuki.html)

The poetry of Prince Kanekira mentioned is also recited later by Dokan towards the end of the play during his last scene in a conversation with Buzen and Samidare where Suishinshi asks who and why Dokan built Edo Castle for:

“Nanae Yae Hana wa Sakedomo Yamabuki no Mi no (Mino) Hitotsu dani Naki zo Kanashiki”

Translated to:

“Yamabuki blooms with a wealth of petals; However yet in spite of this,

Sad to say, bears no fruits (straw raincoat)”

The source explains that this poem contains a double entendre:

“[Mi in "Mi no" means fruits] [no in "Mi no" is particle] [Mino means a straw raincoat]”

There is SO much to unpack here. Yamabuki, as a flower, is said to be fruitless. Yet it is also a flower mentioned in numerous instances of Japanese poetry to describe spring scenery and the concept of beauty found in imperfections. Is Dokan implying here that he built Edo castle as a homage to the common girl who presented him with that branch? For the common people? For the forgotten? We also learn that Kuwana took Murokumo’s idea and planted yamabuki in the abandoned world in another scene and wonders if the seeds will grow. Kumo initially wanted to abandon that idea, thinking that flowers aren’t very useful, but Kuwana, ever so in tune with the earth, apparently liked the idea of planting a so-called useless, fruitless flower in an abandoned world. We later see the Girl dancing in a field of yamabuki blooms to great effect, so I’d like to believe that Kuwana was successful in getting those seeds to grow.

Here, the idea that the importance of even the forgotten, minor characters, the “side streams” of life are just as significant, or beautiful, is highlighted. It’s related to the burden that Mikazuki is carrying, bringing to light or saving those that might seem less important or forgotten.

Also of note is Samidare’s scenes with Dokan, which is actually very deliberate and just delightful. Remember the origin story mentioned before about Dokan being caught in the RAIN (Amesan- ha, ha) and asking for a raincoat but being offered a yamabuki branch by a common girl? I’d love a full translation of their duet, but I have a feeling it’s just going to be poetry sung back and forth by these two bards. Samidare also was present when Buzen killed Dokan in order to preserve history. The GIRL returns to lay a yamabuki branch on Dokan’s body and Samidare recites a haiku from his favorite Matsuo Bashuo:

“Horo horo to Yamabuki chiru ka Taki no oto” Or “Quietly, quietly Yellow mountain roses (yamabuki) fall Sound of the rapids”

(https://basho-yamadera.com/en/yamadera/horohoro/)

The source explains that the haiku is a travel narrative written by Bashuo upon view of the Nishiko waterfall, seeing yellow petals scattered despite it being a calm, windless day. Perhaps Samidare thought to recite this haiku because he was struck by how sudden Dokan’s death was, both in the way Buzen slew him and also in true history where Dokan was falsely accused of disloyalty and assassinated. No matter the interpretation, the imagery of yamabuki and Dokan will forever be linked.

I’m still trying to parse out how all of this affects the Myu storyline as a whole, but this Toumyu, more than any other, was heavy with imagery and wanted to challenge viewers with making those connections. What’s really special is that every interpretation is valid and there is always something new to discover upon each rewatch. TKO truly focuses on little forgotten or unrealized details and literally makes them shine. 

If you made it to this point here, I’m really sorry! And also thanks for reading through! 

[lockefanfic]

Business Trip - Part 2

 “You’re wrong! Cloud clearly felt stronger feelings towards Tifa.”

 “No, you’re the one that’s wrong. Did you know Aerith was the default choice for the date scene? And what about the fact that Cloud and Aerith are in Final Fantasy Tactics and Kingdom Hearts together? If you still think Cloud belonged with Tifa, you’re crazy.”

 As if to emphasize her point, Minatozaki Sana makes a cute pouty gesture with her lower lip before downing the rest of her glass of beer. It was relatively noisy in the busy izakaya you were both having dinner in, but Sana’s voice still had no problems drowning out all the other voices around you; apparently, the love lives of fictional characters was a passionate subject for her.

 “Okay, okay, you win. I guess maybe Cloud was meant to be with Aerith.”

 “That’s right!” she says in her charming, mildly accented English, “I can be very aggressive.”

 “Aggressive? You mean, persuasive.”

 “Yes, that’s the word. Persuasive. But I’m also aggressive.”

 “Really?” you ask, allowing a little flirtatiousness to your tone.

 “Really,” she replies, a small smile forming on the corners of her lips, returning the flirtation with some of her own. She lets the word linger in the silence between you for a second, before her smile widens, the cuteness returns with a giggle, and she reaches for another chicken yakitori.

It’s been quite the busy afternoon, and Sana has proven quite the capable tour guide, taking you to all the major tourist destinations in town as well as a few lesser known ones. You quite enjoyed the hours you spent in Akihabara, watching as Sana hunted down an apparently elusive figurine of a Final Fantasy character and picked up copies of her favorite mangas from three different bookstores.

 The afternoon with her made it obvious that most of her charm came from the innocent naivete that pervaded every part of her personality. Her accented English perhaps played a large part in that charm, but there was no denying that she was also ridiculously beautiful, with large, expressive eyes and a round face with cute, small features. She had a fit body to match - not quite as fit as Momo’s, mind you, as Sana’s was more shapely and feminine; however, it was mostly her innocence and that cute, sweet face that attracted you to her.

 But she also had a playful, flirtatious side - an innocent “accidental” touch or graze here or there, a soft pat on on the forearm whenever you made a joke, her suggestive jokes whenever you encountered something lewd or sexual in your journies throughout Tokyo (the incidences of which were surprisingly common).

 It was refreshing, in a way, to spend time with a woman who was in many ways the exact opposite of Hirai Momo. Where Momo was upfront about her intentions and confident in her sexuality, Sana was shy and playful; she liked to flirt, apparently, although she did so in a less overtly obvious way than Momo did.

 “So where else did you want to go this week?” Sana says as she chews on her yakitori stick, “Perhaps we should go to Ginza or Roppongi with Momo? I know a few nice izakayas there.”

 “Sure, that’d be nice,” you reply, “I’m getting kind of tired, though. It’s been a long day. My feet are killing me!” You enjoyed every minute of Sana’s whirlwind tour of Tokyo, but all the walking, not to mention your activities with Momo that morning, had worn you out.

 Sana giggles, her giggle a musical sound amidst the loudness of the izakaya, before nodding in understanding. A waitress happens to be passing by, and she flags her down to request the bill. You reach for the bill when the waitress returns with it, but Sana snatches it away.

 “This is my treat! Now you’re debted to me,” she says with a smile that is mostly cuteness on the outside, and a hint of suggestiveness. You smile back, both at the suggestiveness of her comment and at the fact that she used the phrase “debted to me” instead of something more casual, like “you owe me.” Either way, you found it charming.

 You both gather your things (consisting mainly of Sana’s shopping bags filled with geeky sundries) and head to the door. Once Sana has paid and you are both outside, you pull out your phone to map your way back to the hotel, only to find that the battery has died.

 “Dammit, my phone’s dead,” you say dejectedly, “can you tell me which stations I need to get to to get back to the hotel?”

 “Oh, darn,” she says, and you find her use of the word darn intensely endearing, “well, I have a battery pack at my apartment and it’s only three stops from here, if you want to borrow it?”

 The idea of getting lost in a foreign city without a working phone to guide you back to your hotel is daunting, so you decide to take her up on her offer.

 “Sure,” you say, “lead the way!” Sana smiles brightly at your response before you head towards the nearest subway station side by side.

 ---

 Apparently, being an interpreter for a large international business paid well enough to afford a pretty swanky apartment in downtown Tokyo. Sana’s residence was small, as most apartments in Tokyo tended to be, but it was modern, well-designed, and filled with a ton of geeky anime and video game related collectibles.

 You had expected her to dart into her apartment to pick up the battery pack while you waited at the door, but she insisted that you check out the view from her window, which apparently was spectacular - and it really was. Looking out over the bustling Shinjuku district, Tokyo appeared as a dazzling array of moving and blinking lights, stretching out over what seemed to be an impossibly long distance. Nightfall had just begun to creep over the city, and the last vestiges of the daylight began to disappear into the distant horizon.

 “Pretty, yes?” Sana asks as she stands next to you.

 “Definitely,” you agree, although much of your attention was devoted to admiring Sana’s reflection in the window, “it’s gorgeous.”

 You notice Sana’s smile grow wider in the window reflection.

 “I have a question,” she asks, her tone shy and demure.

 “Yes?.”

 “You and HIrai-san… or, Momo. Are you... sleeping together?”

 The question catches you off guard, but you nonetheless respond with a smile.

 “Was it that obvious?”

 “No,” Sana says, “but girls have ways of knowing.”

 “Are you disappointed?” You wonder if perhaps your relationship with Momo, as purely platonic as it was, had ruined any shot you had with Sana. Even worse, you wonder if perhaps she thought less of you for sleeping with a woman you weren’t in any sort of romantic relationship with.

 “No, no,” she replied, waving her hand in front of her in that cute gesture Japanese girls do, “Not at all. Hirai-san is very beautiful. I can see how you can be attracted to her.” You notice that she has has reverted to calling Momo “Hirai-san” - perhaps it is instinctual.

 “We’re just friends,” you say, eager to set the record straight, “nothing more. We just get lonely on business trips, I guess,” you add, in a lame attempt to justify yourself - the second the words leave your mouth you wonder if perhaps you shouldn’t have said them.

 “No, I understand, you don’t have to explain,” says the young woman next to you, “it happens.”

 A moment of silence passes between you, both pairs of eyes searching the Tokyo skyline for something to say, hoping to find some new conversation starter amongst the flashing lights and tall buildings.

 “Even though you’re just friends, do you have feelings for Hirai-san?”

 “No,” you answer, surprising yourself with how quickly the words came, “not right now, anyway. We’re just friends, and that’s all.”

 Sana nods.

 “Did you like what you’ve seen of Tokyo?” she asks.

 “Definitely,” you answer, “it was amazing. I can’t wait to see more of it.”

 “I’ll show you whatever you want to see.”

 As Sana says those words she turns to you with a bright smile. You are struck in that moment by how beautiful she looks, the neon blues and greens of Tokyo’s evening lights playing on one side of her face whilst her apartment’s lights paint the other side of it in warm yellow. It is almost surreal; her face looks like it was drawn by a painter.

 What she does next surprises you - swiftly, gracefully, she moves so that she is between you and the window, her back against the glass, your view suddenly filled with her warm, beautiful face. Her proximity makes you fully aware of everything about her - her gorgeous face, the way her one-piece sweater dress hugs the soft, feminine curves of her body, the slight hint of perfume she is wearing. You harbor strong, perhaps undefined feelings for Momo, but the young woman standing in front of you presents such a strong contrast to her. Both are wonderful young women that any man would be pleased to have any sort of relationship with; but each are wonderful in their own, different way.

 It dawns on you that her inquiries about Momo earlier were just to ensure that she wasn’t getting in the way of anything; now that she was sure you were merely friends, she could make her move. It was a small gesture, but one that you respected.

 She stands still for a moment, allowing you a moment to adjust to her sudden closeness. Then she looks up at you with those eyes - those large, round, impossibly deep eyes - and after holding your gaze for a moment she raises her head so that your noses touch. She lingers there for a split second - although it seemed like forever - and then suddenly you are both kissing, your lips crashing together as the romantic and sexual tension that has been building up all afternoon between you is finally released.

 Her arms wrap themselves around your neck and yours wrap around her slim waist, your arms fully aware of the relative thinness of her grey sweater dress, happy to find that she is likely not wearing anything aside from her underwear beneath it. As your hands wander around her back her tongue enters your mouth in a move you weren’t quite ready for. You remember her statement from earlier about how she could be aggressive - she certainly was.

 Minutes pass as you explore each others’ mouths, relishing the newfound intimacy with another human being that Sana has initiated. You are content to stand there, making out with her against the glass of her apartment window, but clearly that is not all she has in mind. You feel her fingers working your belt, and within seconds she has your pants loosened.

 You suddenly realize what that means - what she has in mind for the evening. The girl didn’t waste any time. She breaks the kiss and looks you straight in the eye.

 “Keep admiring the view,” she says, a devilish look in those eyes that seconds before you had thought were so innocent.

 With that, Sana lowers herself to her knees, hooking her fingers into your pants and dragging them down with her. From this position on her knees, she was below the windowsill, and thus no one looking into her apartment could know she was there. Sana tugs your pants down your legs and you kick them free.

 Seconds later your boxers follow suit, and before you knew it your manhood has sprung free. Sana wastes no time in grasping your mostly hard shaft with her soft, delicate fingers, while her nose - her cute, button nose - brushes up against its base. Then her small tongue darts out quickly, placing small, wet licks up your shaft until she reaches your tip - and at this point, you are hard as a rock. Satisfied that you are fully erect, she pumps your shaft a few times with her soft hand, before pulling it down slightly and taking it into her warm mouth.

 No straight male in the world could have possibly kept their eyes off that sight, and so despite her insistence that you keep admiring Tokyo’s skyline, your find yourself looking down at the young Japanese girl kneeling in front of you with your shaft in her mouth. Sana giggles softly as she looks up and sees that you have failed in the task she has given you.

 “You’ve failed the mission,” she says with a giggle.

 “Oh no. Do I get punished?”

 “No punishment,” she says, eyes still locked with yours, her hand giving you two quick strokes that send shivers of pleasure up your spine, “only pleasure.”

 With that, she takes your cock back into her mouth and continues her blowjob. As she takes your shaft in and out of her small, warm, wet mouth, you force yourself to stare out the window, and even you can’t help but be hit by the ridiculous naughtiness of the situation - there you were, standing at an apartment window in downtown Tokyo, getting a blowjob from a beautiful young woman you had met the day before (and someone you technically worked with, at that) - and no one looking up at you from the street could have known.

 Added to this was the fact that just minutes before, you had Sana pegged as an innocent, naive young woman - and now she was on her knees in front of you, taking your length in and out of her mouth.

 Momo gave amazing head, but Sana was no slouch either, using her grip on your shaft and working her fingers in a corkscrew motion as she pumped them up and down along your length, her mouth focused on taking only your head and the first inch or two into her mouth at a time, her tongue playing circular patterns on the very tip.

 Your gaze returns to watch Sana’s head bobbing up and down your cock, and while you were never one to turn down a blowjob (particularly one in such erotic circumstances as this), you also knew that she deserved just as much pleasure as you did.

 “Stop, Sana,” you say, bringing your hands to her cheeks and slowly easing her off your cock. She lets the head pop out of her mouth, and the look of her large, round eyes looking up at you in surprise arouses you to no end.

 “It’s your turn to look out the window,” you say, and you pull her up by her shoulders until she is standing up again. Before she has time to say anything, you have switched positions so that she is now facing out the window - and you are down on your knees in front of her.

 You waste no time - why should you, when she certainly didn’t? You quickly bring both of your hands up and draw the hem of her tight, short sweater dress up until it is bunched around her hips, revealing the simple pink thong she is wearing beneath. There is a small, pink bow on the front of the garment’s waistline, which you find cute - but even more alluring is the significant damp spot between her slightly spread thighs. You bring both of your hands to her warm, full ass cheeks, taking a moment to admire their firmness, before hooking your fingers into the waistband of her thong and pulling them down.

 The second her underwear hits the floor your mouth moves forward, and your tongue darts out, giving her a long, deep lick, burying your nose and mouth as far between her thighs as it would go given her standing position. Your reward is a loud, startling gasp of pleasure that escapes Sana’s lips, and as she takes a moment to compose herself, you savor her sweet, slightly tangy taste on your tongue. You look up to watch her quivering face as she struggles with every ounce of self control to keep her gaze outside her window, her beautiful features wracked with pleasure. Anyone glancing up at her window from the street would probably only notice her silhouette, not realizing there was a man pleasuring her at that very moment with his tongue.

 Before going in for a second lick, you bring the middle finger of your right hand up and drag it up her slit before digging slightly between her lips, playing around her entrance, her abundant juices lubricating your digit easily. As your finger teases her entrance you return your mouth to her crotch, your tongue darting out, spending long seconds teasing her, playing with her warm, wet flesh, before you find what you are looking for - that warm, hard, small nub that is the centre of her pleasure.

 When you find it, you immediately penetrate her simultaneously with your middle finger - and the effect is immediate, to say the least, as Sana’s hips quiver sharply and a wordless gasp of pleasure escapes her lips. You are merciless, and this time you don’t give her time to recover as you continue, your tongue weaving random circular patterns around her clit whilst your finger pumps in and out of her drenched slit, curving slightly to scratch that rough, wavy patch at the front of her pussy.

 “Fuck!” Sana gasps, the English swear word being the first recognizable word that you can make out amidst a stream of syllables that might have been Japanese, “Fuck! It feels so good!”

 You take that to mean that you’re doing it right, and after a couple of minutes of steadily increasing pressure, you take a moment to introduce a second finger into her pussy as your index finger joins the one already inside her body. Almost immediately Sana’s pussy tightens around your questing fingers, and in a moment of pure pleasure, she cums.

 “Oh! Fuck!!”

 Her hands find your head, and her nails dig almost painfully into your skull as she finds release, her body shaking and quivering as the waves of pleasure finally break and overwhelm the young woman, her legs threatening to give out beneath her. Your tongue darts out and continues to give her clit soft, wide licks, flattening your tongue against the part of her pussy that is left exposed, savoring the increase of delicious juice flowing from her body.

 Eventually the aftershocks cease. You look up at Sana to find her her round, beautiful face flushed with pleasure, her once tidy and neat hair now sweaty and unkempt, strands of black and purple hair plastered against her cheeks. You try to remove your fingers from her body, but her tightness won’t let you.

 “Let me go,” you say with a smile, and Sana giggles at the ridiculousness of your demand. The smile is still on her lips as you are finally able to remove your fingers from her body, your fingers drenched in her slick juices. She lowers herself until you are both sitting on the floor, your back up against the wall as she sits in your lap. She dives in for a kiss that is full of desire and lust, evidently uncaring that her juices are still in your mouth.

 “I’ll do whatever you want,” she says, tearing her lips from yours for a second before kissing a path to your left ear, “You can do whatever you want to me. Just fuck me.”

 The aggressiveness of this girl continues to surprise you, and you take a moment to draw the moment out, teasing her with feigned indecisiveness as she plants soft kisses on your neck and ear. You savor the moment - here you were, sitting on the floor of an apartment in downtown Tokyo, with a gorgeous young woman in your lap that was willing to do whatever you wanted, her dripping pussy rubbing your hard shaft even as her juices stained your lips and fingers.

 The possibilities cycle in a split-second across your mind, although you realize that there was no need to do anything too crazy - it was best to start with the basics.

 “Take your clothes off,” you tell her.

 Sana’s response is to reach down and grasp the hem of her sweater before pulling up and over her head, tossing it aside. She was not as well endowed as Momo was, but her round breasts are well shaped and perfectly proportioned to her body, held in place and pushed up deliciously by a simple pink bra that happened to have a pink bow at the front that matched her thong.

 Patience, apparently, was not a word that was in Minatozaki Sana’s vocabulary, and almost as immediately as she as able she reaches behind her to undo her bra clasp, before pulling it forward and throwing it away. Her soft breasts sway slightly, newly freed from their lace prison, and Sana leans forward, allowing you access to her chest.

 Her breasts are on the smaller side but no less alluring, and as the warm flesh dangles deliciously in front of your face, you bring both hands up, cupping them both from the side and allowing your thumbs to reach up and play with her quickly hardening nipples. Sana lets a soft moan escape her lips, and at that sound you lean your head forward and take her left nipple in your mouth, your tongue happy to taste another part of this young woman’s flesh, swirling around the hardened tip in random patterns. The Japanese girl leans her head back and moans as you continue to suckle her breast, your other hand taking her right nipple between a thumb and index finger and teasing it similarly. A deep, wordless growl of pleasure torn from Sana’s throat is your reward, and you are acutely aware of the wetness between her thighs pressing against your crotch, as she rubs and grinds herself onto your erect cock.

 Seconds, minutes, maybe hours pass while you play with Sana’s chest - you cared little for how much time passes while you enjoy a young woman’s body. But eventually you tear yourself away from her chest and look straight into her eyes.

 “Ride my dick,” you say, and Sana returns your statement with a look that is full of lust. Gone is the innocent; naive girl you thought she was - now there was only lust, and passion, and desire written all over her face and body.

 Reaching between your bodies - which are at this point hot and covered with a film of sweat - she takes your cock with gentle fingers and aims it for her entrance, still drenched with her sweet juices. She allows the head to penetrate her, rotating her hips whilst it is just inside her lips - the teasing is wonderful and sends soft pleasure radiating from your body, but as you have realized, when it came to sex, Minatozaki Sana had little patience when it came to sexual matters.

 All at once, she thrusts her hips down, taking you into her body. Both of you gasp loudly, and you find yourself realizing again that no possible other sensation on earth could possibly equal the pleasure of first penetration. Every woman you have ever entered has felt different, and Sana is no exception - she was ridiculously tight, the outer muscles of her pussy squeezing every inch of your cock deliciously as you enter her.

 Sana takes a brief moment with you fully impaled inside her, perhaps allowing herself to become accustomed to your size. Before long, she is raising her hips, drawing your cock out of her body, and as soon as only the head remains inside, she is sliding down your shaft again.

 Her pussy feels amazing around your cock, and while Momo’s was soft and wet, she was not nearly as tight as Sana, whose insides constantly felt like a hot vice of moist silk pressing against every bit of your shaft as it entered and exited her body. She was probably the tightest you had ever had.

 “Fuck!” Sana exclaims as she continues to bounce up and down, grinding herself against your crotch, “It feels so good… fuck… you’re so big! Ahhh!”

 You take a moment to savor the sight and feel of her body bouncing up and down on your lap, her soft breasts bouncing freely, her thin arms bracing her weight against your chest and shoulders. Momo’s body was in amazing shape, more like a supermodel or an athlete - Sana was no slouch and was also fit, but she was slightly softer, with more feminine curves and more meat on her bones in general. You found yourself admiring her round, full thighs and the way they slammed against yours as they flex up and down with effort, raising and lowering her body in an attempt to drive you as deep as she could inside her.

 Her long, graceful neck is extended as she throws her head back and allows a long moan to escape her lips, followed by a mixture of Japanese and English syllables as she continues to impale herself again and again on your shaft, every muscle in her body working towards the pursuit of pleasure. There was something intensely intoxicating about watching a young girl who was so demure, so feminine in public, become such a fiercely passionate woman in the throes of lust. She was not slutty, nor was she overly fierce or aggressive - she was merely a young woman who knew what she wanted with sex, and she wasted no time in getting it.

 “Fuck! Your cock… feels so good inside me. You like… you like my pussy?”

 “Fuck yes,” you answer, your brain barely able to form the words amidst all the pleasure. The way her accent tinges the words ‘fuck’ and ‘pussy’ makes them infinitely sexier.

 Her tightness is almost overwhelming, her pussy’s grip around your cock intoxicating. You want her to ride you until you cum, want to pull her hips down into yours and drive yourself as deep into her body as you can before you spill into her...but you also have another idea in mind - revenge.

 “Stop, Sana,” and again Sana’s flushed, pleasure wracked face is surprised at your command. You hesitantly, slowly push her off until your cock pops out of her grasping pussy with a pop that is accompanied with a sigh of dismay from the young woman. You take a moment while she is sitting on the floor to quickly pull your sweater up and over your head, so you are both finally fully naked.

 You bring yourself to your knees, then to your feet, and taking her hands, you pull her up as well so that she is standing - but then you turn her around, and push slightly on her back so that she is leaning her hands against the windowsill and bent over, her round ass in the air - then, wasting as little time as possible, you grasp your slick, wet cock with one hand and penetrate her from behind.

 “Fuck!” Sana says, the word almost a shout, as you begin to fuck her against the window, obvious for anyone to see were they to peer into the window of her apartment - not that either of you gave a damn about that aside from that fact that it added another layer of raunchiness to your fucking.

 “Tokyo… is… gorgeous,” you say between thrusts into her pussy, driving home the naughtiness of the situation and getting a little revenge for her earlier teasing.

 A stream of passionate, lustful sounds erupts from the young woman’s throat. Some of it sounded vaguely Japanese.

 “Shut up and fuck me,” she says - there was no misunderstanding that.

 She felt even tighter in this position, as if such a thing were possible. You watch as each thrust into her round ass rocks her body, sending a shock through her full thighs and through her slim, graceful back and her thin arms. She had a little more meat on her lower body than Momo did and you appreciated the sight of every thrust jiggling the soft flesh of her thighs and ass.

 “Fuck! Fuck me! Just like that… You’re so deep!”

 Sana throws her head back, sending strands of black and purple hair flying. You grip her waist tightly, pulling her back towards you as you thrust forward, in an attempt to somehow get deeper into her tight, willing, wet body, making every effort to fuck her even a fraction of an inch deeper than you already were, that delicious friction between your bodies overwhelming every part of your brain.

 The thrill of it all - the fact that you had each gone down on each other while facing the window, the fact that you were now straight up fucking this girl for anyone looking up at the window to see - it was starting to drive you towards that point of no return. The thrill, the audacity of the action is one thing, but there was no denying that Sana’s tight, grasping pussy was the main driving force towards your impending orgasm.

 Before it came, though, you had to make sure she was safe.

 “Fuck, I’m gonna cum, Sana. Where.. Can I...”

 “I’m… I’m gonna cum too,” she says, the words barely discernable amidst the stream of moans and soft noises of pleasure that are escaping her mouth, “I’m… I’m cumming!”

 Sana writhes suddenly in a way that she hasn’t before as the pleasure suddenly erupts in an orgasm that she would later tell you took her completely by surprise, her pussy contracting and releasing in pulses around your still thrusting shaft. It is almost unbearable, and whereas before you were merely close to orgasm, the feel of her pussy now meant you were mere moments away.

 “Sana… I’m so close. Where…”

 “Inside! I want it inside!” she says, her answer almost a shout, “Cum with me. Please! Cum inside me!”

 That was all you needed to know, and you willingly threw yourself into the pursuit of orgasm as you thrust deeper and deeper into Sana’s pussy, driving her quivering body forward against the window. Her hands search for something, anything to grasp, both of your bodies orgasming at near the same time, both of you reaching that wonderful plateau together.

 In a split second it hits you all at once - the fact that you were fucking her in front of an open window, the soft, wetness of her body, the moans of desire that spill unbidden from the young woman’s lips as you drive in and out of her wonderfully tight pussy as she is locked in the throes of orgasm - and you join her as you cum as well.

 You grip her hips tightly as with one last stroke you drive yourself as deep as you can go inside Minatozaki Sana’s body. Warm, hot semen erupts from your cock and into the welcoming depths of her pussy, and with each spurt you give short, quick thrusts to elongate and multiply the pleasure that flows outward from your crotch like a tidal wave.

 Time loses all meaning - you would have stayed there for a year if you could have, buried deep inside her body, but eventually your strength and hers gives out, and you both fall to your knees on the floor. Through some miracle (perhaps it is the tightness of her pussy not wanting to let you go), you maintain your connection, and as you both hit the floor you remain deep inside her.

 There are no words spoken, and every effort is given to heavy breathing and recovery from the intense session. You admire the sight of Sana bent over, one hand still gripping the edge of the windowsill above her head as though she were afraid to let go of it. The rest of her is slumped and bent over in front of you, her black and purple hair hiding her face. The most alluring sight of all is her back and full, round ass, between which your cock was still impaling her pussy, her lips tight around your softening shaft as though unwilling and unable to let it go.

 “Let me go,” you say finally between heavy breaths, and Sana giggles in response despite her fatigue. Eventually your cock softens enough that you are able to withdraw it, and seconds after you remove it you are delighted to see a thin stream of thick white liquid appear and begin to flow down her full, flushed thighs.

 “That was… that was…” Sana begins, and you could see that she is searching for the right English words in her head, “fucking amazing.”

 It’s your turn to let out a small laugh. Sana finally falls onto her side on the floor, and you join her, propping yourself up on your left arm so you are facing her, your right hand palming and massaging her butt. You brush her hair away from her sweaty brow to reveal the same cute, lovely face of the afternoon’s tour guide, but flushed and painted with the afterglow of sex.

 You lean down for a kiss that is less passionate, and more emotional. When you break your kiss you notice the soft smile on Sana’s lips.

 “I can’t believe we did that,” Sana says, “anyone could have seen you fucking me.”

 “I guess so,” you say with a shrug.

 “Whatever,” Sana says, “it was fucking hot.”

 You both share a smile.

 “Sana… this was… just sex, right?”

 “Of course,” she answers quickly, “it was just sex. Fucking amazing sex.”

 You are thankful that she sees it the same way - for a moment you are afraid that perhaps she had thought differently. She was a wonderful, gorgeous girl inside and out, but the fact of the matter was you had little to tie you together except for a single afternoon in a foreign land - and the fact that you technically worked for the same company.

 You cursed the fact that you lived on opposite sides of the planet, and wonder what would have happened had you met her on the sidewalk back home.

 But nonetheless you are happy your paths have crossed, if even for a day - and she did promise to see more of you in the five days you had left before you went back home. And at the very least, you had a new friend in Tokyo whenever your business trips led you there.

 “I should clean up,” Sana says, interrupting your reverie, “you were like a fire hydrant.”

 You laugh as Sana finally gets up on shaky legs, and admire her small, thin form as she gets up and walks towards the bathroom. When Momo did the same after your sessions in the morning you found your eyes glued to her ass - strangely, your eyes are only watching the back of her head as Sana walks away, cursing the fact that such a wonderful young woman lived so far away from you.

 ---

 “I guess this is what you came for,” Sana says as she presses the small battery pack into your hand. You smile as you plug your phone into it and slip both items into your jacket. You are at her apartment door, and about to head out back to the hotel.

 You had both spent a few minutes recovering, sitting on her kitchen table and sharing a random assortment of Japanese snacks she had lying around, even making a game of it where she would place a random snack in your mouth and you had to guess what the ingredients were. It was made even more difficult by the fact that Sana was wearing what was probably the most distracting t-shirt in the world, a pale blue, thin cotton shirt with a frog on it that was low-cut enough to reveal some delicious cleavage and barely, just barely covered her nether regions. If she were to lift her arms, it would raise the shirt and expose herself - she clearly knew what she was doing when she chose that shirt to put on.

 Alluring t-shirts aside, it was getting late, and as much as you would have gladly spent the night there, you knew it would probably be best if you headed back to the hotel.

 Sana is watching as you slip your shoes back on. You turn to her once you are ready to go.

 “So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

 “Yes!” Sana says, her face bright with enthusiasm, “we can go see that giant Gundam. And we can go to Tokyo Skytree! The view from the top is amazing.”

 “I don’t think it would be as good as it is here,” you say suggestively.

 “Maybe we can make it better,” Sana retorts, a naughty, teasing look in her eyes. How was it possible for a girl to look so innocent and so racy at the same time?

 “Good night, Minatozaki Sana,” you say finally.

 “Oyasumi,” she answers, her voice soft and barely above a whisper.

 As she gives you a short bow, she lifts her head and looks straight into your eyes, and for the second time you find yourself cursing the fact that she lived thousands of miles away. You wonder what might have been had she, or you, simply been born in the same city.

 These thoughts give you a sort of sudden sadness, and you turn to make your way back to the hotel. As you step out the door, you feel her catch your upper arm with her hand. Before you can turn fully, she reaches up and plants a kiss on your cheek, before giving you a smile, her cheeks flushed red with emotion. You smile back at her sweet, lovely face, before you finally step out her door and take the first steps to the nearest subway station.

 Ten minutes later, you are sitting in the subway when your phone vibrates. Pulling it out of your jacket (along with Sana’s battery pack), you read the text you have received.

 MinatozakiSana says: Do you know what the Japanese phrase "3P" means?

 You take a moment to ponder the term, but it doesn’t ring any bells. You reply to Sana’s text and tell her that you are unfamiliar with it.

 MinatozakiSana says: Hehehe. ^^ Good night. <3

 You are puzzled by what it could possibly mean, and so you turn to your good friend Google for the answers. Your Google-fu is strong, and within minutes you know what 3P means - it is right there in front of you in black and white, on the screen of your phone:

 “3P is a popular Japanese term for a threesome.”

 You smile to yourself as you get off the subway and head towards your hotel. You hoped Momo were still awake, as you had much to discuss.

[sareesonscreen]

S1 E4: Saucy Deep Dives: Third Person SIngular Number

After spending the last two months watching and examining Bollywood hits, it’s been very exciting for us to introduce our audience to hits from all across South Asia. In this episode, we are thrilled to be watching a Bangladeshi favorite made by one of the most famous contemporary directors there.

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki came into the scene in the early 2000s, at a time when mainstream television and cinema largely existed either in the form of family entertainment or copy-pasted “hero’s journey” scripts made for quick consumption. 

This is where Farooki came in with his more casual and approachable filmmaking. His stories revolved around the relatable everyday struggles of ordinary people. This also meant utilizing colloquial language in his cinema (which was rare, given that the media at the time would only depict formal Bangla or a standard dialectical Bangla [for rural stories]). 

Third Person Singular Number (2009) was Farooki’s third movie, which solidified his position as one of the most notable contemporary directors in Bangladesh.

Third Person Singular Number is conceptualized as a fairytale-like story of Ruba (played brilliantly by Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Farooki’s partner, and long-time muse), who is confronted by the challenges of being a single woman in South Asia, after her partner (note, not husband lol) is sent to jail. Ruba struggles with constant harassment as she attempts to find housing and employment. The Prince Charming character of this movie comes to us in the form of Ruba’s childhood friend - Topu (a successful musician in Bangladesh, both in the movie and IRL), whose support helps in making Ruba feel safe. Her feelings for Topu force Ruba to engage with her conflicted relationship with her mother (who left her father for her lover) as well as her fidelity to her jailed partner.

One of the most remarkable things about the film is its deliberate focus on Ruba and how it centers her perspective - this is extremely apparent in the cinematography and Farooki being able to employ the feminine gaze aptly. The first half of the movie depicts at length the various ways in which women become victims of sexual assault - be it at home, in public, or in professional spaces.

There's this one scene in particular, where Ruba becomes hesitant to go to the police station as she recalls a news story from a couple of weeks ago where a woman was r*ped at one. A male gaze retelling of this would tell the audience through action - a flashback where the woman is facing violence, or perhaps when Ruba was reading the paper, or conversing about it with someone. But in this story, Farooki chose to make this woman materialize in front of Ruba and tell the story herself. Not only giving voice to an unnamed woman who had met a horrible fate, but also creating a moment of emotional connection between the two women. It humanized what is often just reduced to news headlines, statistics, or water filter conversations. There are hints throughout that she is an unreliable narrator. Resulting in the (spoiler alert!) the fairytale-esque second half of the movie. Fairytales, historical romances, and fan-fictions often serve as great mediums for social commentary, particularly on the dynamics of power (esp. geared towards women). The fact that the only escape available to Ruba from her bleak reality is an absurd Prince Charming figure speaks heavily to the harsh reality of the real Rubas of the world. For them, her ending would not be a possibility.

The use of space in the visuals of the film was also noteworthy, with Ruba being shown to feel trapped or caged in the company of predatory men (even including her own partner, whom she feels stifled by later in the film). This is often done through the use of close and medium shots, along with physical obstructions in the shot. Meanwhile, her relationship with Topu is shown to be much more affectionate and easy-going; this is depicted with a wide shot of the beautiful kashbons of Bashundhara. Not only was this technique used to remark on the state of Ruba’s mind (which is rare given that male directors rarely highlight women’s perspectives), it also commentated on the wider issue of South Asian women and how they are often made to feel small and struggle to find space (be it physically or metaphorically).

This beautiful work with space is further used to remark on the silence of the other women in the film (notably, Ruba’s cousin, friend, and mother). Unlike Ruba, the only woman with a voice (and the narrator, of course), these women are often seen in the confines of layered cage-like homes (with distinct obstructions like columns, furniture, etc. present in every layer). These characters, like their real-life counterparts, often exist in the crevices of their own homes and are stifled by the domineering presence of the patriarchal structures and insecurities around them.

The two noteworthy women characters (aside from Ruba) are her cousin and her mother. Both of whom we know very little about. However, in their fleeting moments on the screen, some of them make attempts to defy patriarchal structures around them in small but significant ways – Ruba’s mother by being courageous enough to follow her heart and leave a marriage and her cousin by helping Ruba despite her mother-in-law’s objections.

Another interesting thing is that despite Topu being Prince Charming, his character was given depth by not making him entirely selfless and sacrificial. Topu’s expectations were conveyed to the audience in a subtle but effective manner, using scenes like his outrage in the forest after Ruba backs out of having sex with him (though sex was never mentioned, only alluded to), as well as the ever-awkward buying condoms at a chemist shop (an entirely silent and secretive transaction, btw).

Ruba’s character in the film is shown to be determined, independent and tenacious even while she struggles with the oppressive realities of being a woman under patriarchy. One of the focal points of the movie is her strained relationship with her mother (who passes away, leaving no possibility of redemption or reconciliation ). The film uses an interesting technique of showing Ruba’s internal demons manifesting as younger versions of herself, hypothesized to be metaphors for her id (6-year-old Ruba), ego (present Ruba), and superego (13-year-old Ruba) as she battles over her feelings for Topu and consequently her feelings of resentment for her mother. Though her relationship with her mother is significant to Ruba’s evolution as a character, very little is shown of her mother and her motivations. Despite trying to give Ruba some semblance of closure with her mother at the end, the film falls short in creating multiple well-written women to enhance the story and the emotional connection to the characters.

We’ve also had the pleasure of having Raidah of Raidahcal on this episode. She does wonderful work addressing contemporary feminist issues in Dhaka, Bangladesh. While we all had different takes on the movie, it was wonderful to have Raidah’s unique insights and perspectives. Be sure to check her out. We’ve also had the pleasure of collaborating with her on her podcast Raidahcal in an episode exploring feminist economics – we would love for you to check it out as well!

She also asked us a question that made us pause a bit: Why are men given passes for not portraying women's realities accurately just because they are creating sophisticated art?

And this made us realize that there is a very thin line between centering a woman's perspective in a film, versus presenting an intrusively voyeuristic gaze to watch her struggle. Ultimately if the author of the art is not able to distinguish the two for everyone watching the movie, is all that nuance pointless? This ambiguity within the film became more clear to us as we left our own echo chambers and were faced with a wonderfully challenging guest and the realization that the film is sometimes as good as the viewer wants it to be.

Even on our Sauce Meter, this film fared better than some of our previous takes. Here’s a breakdown of our scores.

1. Is there at least one character who adds a nuanced representation of a diverse South Asian identity, without stereotyping and tokenization?  

Ruba, the protagonist of the film is a complex, well-rounded character and a woman – the film also uses an unfamiliar perspective by centering the story around the experiences of a woman vs a man (which is considered the default) – but she is one of the few non-male characters that get significant screen time, so not full points.

0.5

2. Are the primary characters (especially women and marginalized characters) portrayed with agency, individuality, and motivation?

Despite Ruba being limited by the sexist nature of the social structures around her – notably her struggle to find housing and employment as a single woman, she is shown to have agency and individual motivation – she is also shown to want autonomy and finds ways to assert herself despite inhibiting circumstances.

0.75

3. Are women and marginalized characters shown to be cognizant of their identities and how they exist within the social context?

Taking half a point off because there are limited representations of women and other marginalized characters, but the glimpses we get into other women apart from Ruba all seem to be painfully aware of how their choices and abilities are limited by oppressive patriarchal structures. Notably, her cousin despite having limited control over her life and household still tries to help Ruba, and Ruba herself has several moments where she points to the tribulations of being a woman in society.

0.5

4. Do the women and marginalized characters have meaningful relationships with each other?

While the women’s relationships with each other are not given a lot of screen time, they remain focal plot points. In particular, Ruba’s relationship with her mother is instrumental in the evolution of Ruba’s character and arguably even her liberation, however, the movie does not do these relationships complete justice and dedicates very little time to other women or marginalized characters in the movie.

0.25

5. Does it challenge any flawed notions upheld by capitalism, patriarchy, and the caste system?

The movie successfully subverts stereotypical representations of women and even defies traditional ideas of marriage and power dynamics between men and women and for that, it gets a full point!

1

TOTAL SCORE ON THE SAUCE METER: 3/5

What did you think of our rating of Third Person Singular Number? Did we reach too hard? Let us know!

- Usha and Rekha

Listen Now

[lo-lynx]

A brief defence of Selyse Baratheon (kinda)

CW: sexism

Spoiler warning: All A Song of Ice and Fire books

Now, I’m the first one to admit that Selyse Baratheon née Florent is an extremely unpleasant, filled with racism and internalised misogyny (see for instance Jon XI in ADWD… or any ADWD chapter she’s in… or any chapter she’s in generally). But nevertheless, I want to offer a brief defence of her, mostly because I’m tired of seeing her joked about in particular ways (both in story and in the fandom), specifically regarding her looks. This essay will most likely be shorter and have slightly less depth than my usual work, but I just wanted to get my thoughts about this out there.

When we’re first presented to Selyse in the prologue of A Clash with Kings she’s described thusly:

Lady Selyse was as tall as her husband, thin of body and thin of face, with prominent ears, a sharp nose, and the faintest hint of a mustache on her upper lip. She plucked it daily and cursed it regularly, yet it never failed to return. Her eyes were pale, her mouth stern, her voice a whip.

So, the reader immediately gets a description of her that’s not exactly flattering. In Storm of Swords we get a similar description from Davos’ fifth chapter:

Queen Selyse, a pinched thin hard woman with large ears and a hairy upper lip.

By A Dance with Dragons this has evolved to rumours of her having “a great dark beard” according Val (in Jon XI). Jon assures her that it’s only a mustache, but later Val counters:

You lied about the beard. That one has more hair on her chin than I have between my legs.

So, it seems pretty established that most characters think Selyse is ugly and notice this mustache of hers. In the Clash prologue that I started quoting, we also get one of the many mentions of how bad Stannis’ and Selyse’s marriage is:

Stannis had always been uncomfortable around women, even his own wife. When he had gone to King's Landing to sit on Robert's council, he had left Selyse on Dragonstone with their daughter. His letters had been few, his visits fewer; he did his duty in the marriage bed once or twice a year, but took no joy in it, and the sons he had once hoped for had never come.

So, Selyse’s marriage isn’t great, and she hasn’t been able to give her husband the sons he had wished for. Later, in Tyrion III, Littlefinger talks of Stannis’ and Selyse’s marriage like this:

Lord Stannis has spent most of his marriage apart from his wife. Not that I fault him, I'd do the same were I married to Lady Selyse.

So, further confirmation of the unhappy marriage, and further insulting of Selyse (probably of her looks, though it’s not made entirely clear). Then in ASOS Davos IV:

The throne is mine, as Robert's heir. That is law. After me, it must pass to my daughter, unless Selyse should finally give me a son.

My point with all of these quotes is basically to prove two things:

1)    Selyse is continually described as ugly, with prominent ears and a mustache.

2)    It’s continually pointed out how she hasn’t been able to give Stannis the sons he wants (one could of course argue that this is hardly just her fault…)

This, I argue, essentially makes her a failure as a woman in Westeros (and to a certain degree in our world).

As I’ve written on numerous occasions before, the gender norms of Westeros are very restrictive, and those who break them are generally punished. Based on how much different characters comment on Selyse’s, and other character’s, looks, beauty ideals seem to be part of those gender norms. We can see that Selyse’s body, particularly her ears and mustache, makes her ugly in many people’s eyes. Her body and looks doesn’t confirm to the norm, even less so the ideal. Researcher Denise Malmberg describes how the normative body in contemporary Western society is defined what it is not, for instance too fat, too tall, too short etc. I’m pretty sure we could add hairy and having prominent ears to the list of things an attractive body should not have. As Malmberg points out, women who are not seen as attractive, who aren’t sexualised, is in some ways seen as less of a woman. They’re not womanly, not feminine, not a proper lady. I also find it interesting that Selyse’s mustache in particular is pointed out so often. To me, it immediately brings associations of so called “bearded ladies” who often figured in the “freak-shows” of the 19th century and have remained in the public imagination ever since. As for instance researcher Clare Sears have pointed out, such shows often included people who in some ways broke gendered (and racialised) norms of embodiment, and in that way policed the borders of gender norms (2008). By showing for instance bearded ladies as “freaks” it became apparent to the public that having such a body was unacceptable. I’m not saying that GRRM purposely drew on such history when describing Selyse’s mustache, but I think the description of her looks have a similar effect; that is to show what is unnormal.

 When it comes having children, loads of feminists and feminist researcher have written about motherhood’s significance for womanhood, for instance this is something Denise Malmberg mentions as well. Malmberg writes that a “normal” woman is expected to become a mother, and a woman who doesn’t have children is therefore exempt from true womanhood (this is also something I explore in this essay about disability and gender in ASOIAF). Authors such as Jack/Judith Halberstam, Sara Ahmed, Anna Siverskog etc. have all also written about how having children are expected by the heterosexual life script that we’re all expected to follow (2005, 5; 2006, 85; 2016, 14). I did a quick search for scientific articles about childfree women and got an overwhelming amount of results, and to write a complete overview of the topic would take ages. But, for instance, a 2011 article about childfree women in Australia found that childless women were seen as “unnatural” and unwomanly” (Rich, Taket, Graham, Shelley 2011). So, I think that we can conclude, that in general in society, women are expected to have kids. To not have kids is unnatural and unwomanly. The fact then, that Selyse is seen as not capable of giving Stannis a son, contributes to her being a bit of a “failed” woman in the eyes of Westeros.

So, in conclusion, the way Selyse is described in story makes it clear that she fails to live up to the norms and ideals of womanhood. For that I feel sorry for her. That’s it, that’s the defence. As I pointed out in the beginning of this essay, that doesn’t make her less of a horrible person with her racism against Free Folk, and internalised misogyny. That part of her personality should be critiqued, and harshly so. However, her looks are not part of that. It should be possible to criticise her without making fun of her mustache or ears. Such jokes only contribute to already existing sexist views of how people of different genders should act and look.

 References

Ahmed, Sara. 2006. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Duke University Press: Durham

Halberstam, Judith. 2005. In a Queer Time and Place. New York: New York University Press.

Malmberg, Denise. 2012. “’To Be Cocky Is to Challenge the Norms’: The Impact of Bodynormativity on Bodily and Sexual Attraction in Relation to Being a Cripple.” lambda Nordica, 17:1-2, 194-216.

Martin, George RR. 2011. A Clash of Kings. Harper Voyager: London.

Martin, George RR. 2011. A Storm of Swords. Harper Voyager: London.

Martin, George RR. 2012. A Dance with Dragons. Harper Voyager: London.

Rich, Stephanie., Taket, Anne., Graham, Melissa. & Julia Shelley. 2011. “‘Unnatural’, ‘Unwomanly’, ‘Uncreditable’ and ‘Undervalued’: The Significance of Being a Childless Woman in Australian Society”. Gend. Issues, (2011)28:226–247.

Sears, Clare. 2008. “Electric Brilliancy: Cross-Dressing Law and Freak Show Displays in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco”, WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 36: 3-4, 170-187.

Siverskog, Anna. 2016. Queera livslopp. Att leva och åldras som lhbtq-person I en heteronormativ värld. Linköping: Linköpings universitet.

[liminaldreamscape]

Night of October 10, 2022

The dream takes place in several different locations with several different people engaging in several different plots. You'd be forgiven for thinking they were separate dreams, but they're not. I know, inherently, that these were all the same dream. The dream simply cut from scene to scene seemingly without transition or explanation.

Scene 1

I was indoors, inside a building with a large section of the floor open to the outside world where a window would be. I was on a ride of some kind, possibly a rollercoaster, with my brother and several other people. We were all engaged in conversation about something important, something we had to do. All I remember is that it had to do with witchcraft.

Looking outside, it was nighttime, as the sky was dark. The dark silhouettes of thin tree branches greeted me, their leaves having fallen off. The most notable part of the landscape, however, was the impossibly large moon. It took up almost the entirety of the view and loomed so large that it felt like you could touch it. I asked my brother if that was his doing and he insisted it was not. Instead, he insinuated that it was I who had done that, though I couldn't recall a memory of it.

Scene 2

Austin and I were walking the streets of downtown at night. Neon lights of storefronts and businesses surrounded us. People walked to and fro. There was a light rain that made the ground glisten in its wake.

When I say walking, that's a bit deceptive. We were walking, but we were also simultaneously crawling. & it was on the sidewalk, but it was also simultaneously on an inclined ledge. Both details were true at once. For simplicity's sake, I'll refer to what we did as walking.

Austin and I walked downtown and we seemed to be retracing our steps. It was apparent to both of us that as we walked, we were travelling back in time. We were on a mission to change something about the present, to make someone fall in love with me. I think it was a man, but I'm not sure of that. We didn't do anything the whole time; we just walked and walked and walked.

Eventually, something was threatening to sweep us away, and in the crawling version, we found ourselves holding onto the edge for dear life. Austin and I agreed that we should turn back lest we change anything we didn't want to. I was disappointed because we hadn't accomplished our mission, but it was the wise thing to do. So, we did.

As we turned back, the image I remember is that it was daytime, a soft sunlight in the atmosphere. I remember a crosswalk, the kind with the several white lines painted on the road, guiding your way. I remember a woman with long, blonde hair walking towards me, but away from me, in a different direction. I wanted to follow her. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her and I wanted so badly to follow her, but I knew I couldn't. I knew I had to stay with Austin, so I let her walk away.

Scene 3

The perspective changes here. Everything is still from a first person point of view, but it's also from an aerial point of view. There's also a HUD now, as if I was in a video game. I was looking at a map of the area, talking to a feminine voice about where to go and what to do next, as there was a mystery that we had to solve. I suggested I go to one location and the voice replied that I could do that later. Instead, she suggested that I go to my parents' graves instead. There was an air of finality about it, like if I didn't take this chance now, I may never get it again. So, I listened.

This scene was strange in that I was me, but also not me. I was a person, but also a character being controlled. It was an out of body experience, except I was still tethered to the body and could control what I was doing in it.

I started making my way to the graveyard, walking past an environment of grass and trees. It felt like walking through a beautiful university campus.

Scene 4

In the last and final scene, I entered a chapel with someone. Although, the chapel looked more like a small conference presentation room. There were chairs arranged on one side, an aisle on the other, and up at the front was a single podium.

There were people seated in the chairs and a person standing at the podium, all waiting. When we arrived, everyone smiled and welcomed us, as if they had been expecting us. I sat down in the aisle, close to the front of the room. Someone went up to the front — the person I was with or one of the strangers waiting, I'm not sure —, as they were about to be married. The person at the front — I hesitate in calling them a religious title of some kind because I don't think that's quite accurate — asked who would present this soon-to-be-wed to their spouse. An elderly white woman volunteered and stood up at the front with them. The person in charge instructed her that she is to make a convincing case for why this person should be married today.

The whole time, I just sat in the aisle, on the ground, looking up at the scene. I watched with amusement as events unfolded, but offered no participation of my own.

& then I woke up.

[oncethrown]

2x15 Reaction: Hope and Boobs

This Episode Was Amazing 

(except for one consistent problem) 

And I’m So Excited 

(but seriously you fuckers need to commit to fixing this one thing)

This was the best episode of the entire show so far, and is a clear indication that everything is going up from here. With the exception of the Jace/Valentine exchange, and the couple seconds of Isabelle giving orders, every scene in this episode was about characters talking to each other, and deepening relationships while still advancing plots multi-episode plots which didn’t take over the character stuff. It makes the show feel more anchored and real, like you can finally really sink your teeth into it.

I wrote a big long ask reply yesterday about how I’m optimistic about the new characters, because it signals that the writers are working toward a perfect ensemble mix, and I feel like this episode completely bears that hypothesis out. This was the first true ensemble episode the show has managed, that worked in the majority of the characters, involved all of them in an A, B, or C plot and didn’t short shrift anyone. Everyone got something real to work with and had an important conversation with a key person that both did something with their storyline, and highlighted something about their relationship with the other person. That. Is. Amazing.

And everything built on what came before. This show is still totally within a reasonable time frame to be finding it’s feet and maturing, and this episode was absolutely that point where the path becomes gravel on it’s way to being paved and solid.

This episode also had a feeling like the production team, writers, actors and directors have finally gelled. It’s a massive stylistic improvement over even the last episode.

But Seriously, Write More Women that Don’t Make Me Hate You

However… Shadowhunter’s treatment of women is still pissing me off, (though I have super high hopes for Aline and Izzy after this episode).

The Bleeder Den basically being a sex club full of women in lingerie was lazy and cliche as hell. Simon’s entire storyline revolving around a fridged blond, was also lazy and cliche as hell.

Clary’s inability to go a full scene without crying about a boy makes me want to slap her, and then slap everyone who wrote that scene. I’m really truly sick of all this bullshit. I understand that the writers are constrained by the books, which are popular directly because of all that bullshit, and that their hands are, to an extent, tied and I believe that they are working on it, and that’s why I’m still excited to watch every week.

Clary-wise, I will begrudgingly accept that they need to do some book bullshit first. Because they are racing through the book plot at a break neck pace, and I am willing to believe that at some point, someone will want the lead of their show to be something other than a skinny red-headed version of the average american 13 year old’s diary (back in the 90’s before teenage girls were encouraged to do or be anything other than basically vending machines that money (and possibly sex) would come out of if you put enough boy bands into them first). But right now? It’s not promising, and Clary-the-theoretical-lead being such a dumpster fire makes it that much more enraging when they through in a collage of pointless boobs.

I understand that this isn’t a completely black and white issue, cause the male characters are occasionally pretty shirtless, but there is a difference between girls coming in to audition for “Boobs in Club One, Two and Three” and “Featured Boobs In Club” and that fact that they find some very thin reasons to get Alberto and Matt out of shirts.

Boobs vs. Pecs

1. The Panning Shot

This is really the main thing. The camera consistently runs over Izzy’s body like it’s initiating awkward foreplay with her. It does the same thing to Boobs 1, 2, and 3. The camera presents shirtless men, it caresses semi-naked women. It makes me nauseous and the directors who do it should all be hit with a fish, left gaping at the absurdity of being hit with a fish, and then be hit with a much larger fish.

2. Alberto, Matt, and Harry are prominently featured in the social media featuring working out and fight training .When they are shirtless, there is an element of congratulations in the way they are framed. This awesome dude worked so fucking hard and look at the artisan abs they have cultivated in our boutique gym.  “Boobs In Club” are a standing expectation that these girls fulfill, and Kat and Emeraude’s workouts are not marketed in the same way.

3. Harry’s only extended shirtless scene wasn’t sexualized. Alec doesn’t walk into that scene dumbfounded at the sight of him, and Magnus is doing tai-chi magic. It’s almost filmed aesthetically. Beautiful Magnus, in Magnus’s beautiful loft, doing beautiful magic with our new beautiful budget that we want to make a point of. Also, there’s an element of showing off with Harry in this scene not related to his body alone- Harry’s a dancer, the quality of movement he brings to Magnus is amazing, and they are showcasing that talent, not just his bulldozing shoulders.

3. Alec is (with one exception) Incidentally Shirtless. Alec takes off his shirt to access his parabatai rune in over half of the instances he’s shirtless. He’s shirtless for plot, and they don’t do any aching panning shots of him. Also, whenever he and Magnus touch each other, they are showing as little skin as humanely possible. Their first kiss? They are both in full suits. The date? Jackets. That face grabbing kiss? Sweaters. At this rate Alec might be allowed to touch Magnus’s butt while they are both in parka’s sometime in season four. Look at the difference between Izzy crawling into bed with Meliorn in heels and lingerie, and Alec waking up in Magnus’s silk sheets. It’s a very different scene.

The one time the camera is trying not to beat off to Alec is when he’s working out shirtless and Magnus comes in to give him a file, and that pan is very clearly from Magnus’s perspective (while he’s dressed like a Victorian trying to ward off the devil) and it’s a very quick pan.

We are shown Matt, Alberto and Harry semi-clothed, we are sold Kat, Emmeraude, and Random Boobs semi-naked.

4. And then there’s Dom.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that they film Dom like a sirloin steak in an ad for a restaurant that does not sell sirloin steak.

The camera pans over Dom and makes him flirt with it in a scene where Clary is left speechless at the sight of him. It makes it very clear that he is naked while he is boobs adjacent, and then leaves him naked talking to a dissaproving Alec. While he’s imprisoned, his shirt hangs off of him like maybe, just maybe, he might have boobs.

And his body is also strung semi-naked on chains and made a site of violence and penetration.

This is a problem because Jace is the most feminized male character.

I can hear your thoughts. You are thinking “Magnus wears makeup” “Alec is an awkward virgin” “Simon is sweet and nerdy”

Sorry. Everything about Magnus comes back to his power. Circle members in his club? He evicts them with arrogance and magic. Evil Shadowhunter Villainess tries to derune his friend? Defeats her with shiny new law-powers. Drug Dealer in his bar? Gets him the fuck out with a smirk and a couple pointed remarks. And he is fucking ripped, and his magic is a very physical power. Masc as fuck kiddos.

Everything Alec does comes down to paternalistic protection and inherent leader-ness. He has to take care of Jace, he has to take care of the girl Jace likes, he has to save the Institute from the Inquisitor’s racism, he creates a downworld council full of grown ass men way more politically experience than he is and holds his own. They repeat at least once an episode that he’s a natural leader. It shouldn’t, but that codes masculine too.

Simon is always the sweet nerd— but he’d been on screen for less than a minute before he was a sweet nerd with killer abs. He’s had more sex than anyone on the show. He’s in a band. He’s the only one with a car. His father figure/mentor is the manliest man on the show. He pretends to be a serial killer and get shot 10 times. A lot of bullshit manliness boxes get checked by Simon Lewis.

Jace’s storylines revolve around the go-tos of lazy female writing— abuse and romance. He also uses sex (or the promise of sex) to get things (to be fair, mostly in the books) and even though Magnus has 17,000 exes and Simon pulls it’s only when Jace gets promiscuous that the storyline judges him a little. Other men have sex because they want to, Jace has sex because he has daddy issues.  Yet another bullshit feminine trope for the one guy the camera tries to hump.

Back To Women: This Time with Optimism

Interestingly, while Clary is at her most insufferable, Izzy and Aline rise.

Aline comes across as very mature, and I love all the little last lingering shots they give her, of her knowing that she is being misled in some way. Also, everyone is thrilled to see her, and the writer’s stroke in as quickly as possible that she is a woman with real connections to the main characters. She and Real Sebastian clearly had a very strong relationship. She knows him, she can tell he’s different, and apparently they were close enough for him to be trusted with her secret about her sexuality. She and Izzy get a totally unnecessary scene together, that just demonstrates that they like and respect each other, and are most likely long distance friends. That is the fucking best.

I was not a big fan of Izzy’s yin fen plot line, but I really appreciate how they are using it moving forward. She’s there to vouch for Evil Sebastian, she’s been matured in a way that makes her fit into the ensemble of Alec and Jace a little easier and now every time she’s put in charge of something, like training Max or leading the mission to transport Valentine, it reinforces that she is smart and competent and deserves it. Especially because her confidence in her abilities is solidifying. She went from “I’m not sure I can teach my little brother shadowhunting” to “Hell yes I will transport our biggest villain to our biggest prison, and I will do a great job and I will look amazing”

Clary didn’t suck in this episode. They gave her character a goal, and Kat gave a much better performance. Also… it was acknowledged that her story wasn’t the most important thing going on, and so it wasn’t given undue time, freeing up everyone else to have interesting plots and creating a nicer balance. Another sign of a solid ensemble being set up.

(But Also where the fuck are Maia and Maryse?)

Live Reactions:

Oh god. They are really going to do this intro every time.

Oh hey! An ENTIRE FUCKING ROOM FULL OF HYPERSEXUALIZED WOMEN EXCHANGING SEX FOR DRUGS. FUCK YOU FOR THIS SHADOWHUNTERS!

That was a weird blink and you miss it sort of scene. But kudos to Will. It takes a great actor to make meaning in a short scene with no dialogue.

Bed head Alec is cute.

Listen to Izzy! Don’t pursue this plot! Go find Maia!

Izzy is back! Authority! Smarts! Let me love her, don’t fuck up/kill/disappear all your women Shadowhunters, goddamnit!

I want to like this scene between Clary and Simon. The direction is great, the lighting is great. Alberto’s choice to go quiet angry is bringing a maturity to this exchange that I didn’t expect… but I’m not invested in this at all and it just makes it aggravatingly over dramatic for a boring 6 episode episode to finally end when we always knew it was coming.

That was a gorgeous exterior shot. Unfortunately, it was by itself much more interesting than the previous scene.

This dialogue is agonizing. It sounds like CC actually wrote it and Dom and Alan are struggling to act it because it’s just so bad.

See, this Simon Luke scene is perfect. This is the kind of scene that would have been amazing between Clary and Luke, especially after Jocelyn was killed, if Kat was capable of creating believable character relationships.

This Izzy Alec scene is the kind of character scene that has been missing all season, and putting this back to back with the Luke/Simon stuff is make the whole show feel more anchored and mature.

Mentor adult Luke is a fantastic direction for this character, and I super wish we had seen this earlier.

This scene of Izzy giving orders is perfect for two reasons: 1. Leader Izzy is so important on a show full of nameless boobs (fuck you shadowhunters) and 2. We are finally getting an episode that is not drowning in plot, and they were able to push the big plot-y thing forward with a quick flash while finally highlighting character driven scenes. This is  a big deal, this has been Shadowhunter’s other defining flaw all season.

Super manipulative Sebastian is great. I feel bad for real Sebastian, because you know he must have felt like garbage giving everything up to fake Sebastian, even Aline’s big secret in a world where Alec Lightwood is the only openly gay member of their entire species.

Yes! Run real sebastian! Run!

So much Alley sex in this show.

Oh shit.

Making Luke a cop was a fucking genius move on the writer’s behalf. Absolutely fucking brilliant.

Alberto is really good in this scene.

Oh… I just realized he was turning himself in. Of course he didn’t have to stay in that car. Oh, Simon.

Oh good. Boob time.  The screen is dark, but these are all straight shadowhunters. Worth noting. This is such fucking bullshit. There were other ways to do this. Also, fuck you shadowhunters. Hire one fucking director who isn’t a filthy pervert.

(I kind of feel like an unfair equivalence might be being made between kink and murder-y deviancy... but that is so far out of my lane I’m not going to explore it)

Ughhh. At least when Quinn says “some sluts might die” Simon is like “No, we fridged a real person for my character development! She had a name, and was the source of my man pain for a full 5 minutes!”

For all the bullshit that is part of this plot, Simon’s plot during this episode is a super good example of a character entering into this world and not knowing the rules, and then having a whole story about learning to adapt. It’s the story Clary would have, if the writers would 1. Give her a goal 2. Let her actions have consequences.

The acting in this Alec/ Magnus scene is fabulous, the dialogue is fine, the lighting and directing are noticeably fantastic. And it’s fit into the overall narrative really well.

Oh! Oh Shit! Izzy and Aline just passed the Bechdel test! It’s a fucking miracle.

This glamour is not going to work, and it’s going to be so good when Ollie gets back on this. Also, Luke and Raphael working together is great, and yet another example of why this is the best episode. I said that I was getting excited about the way that this show was starting to create a real ensemble, and they are finally doing it well! Yay! Excited!

Clary isn’t the worst in the B plot. AND! They gave her a goal for this episode, (achieve Simon’s forgiveness) and Kat is actually pulling it off. I’m not rolling my eyes every time she speaks. I dig it. Keep doing it.

Well. This camera work doesn’t bode well. Slow motion villains are never a good sign.

Duncan is bad shit. Calling it now.

I’m a genius.

Oooohhhhhhhhh. Yes. This exactly what I wanted. Sebastian has to replace Valentine, Valentine is such a weak villain.

Well. I was not expecting that demon face thing.

[leiflikesdisney-blog]

Transgendered Villains Response

A response to Amanda Putnam’s “Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films,” put under the cut for length. Because while taking notes on the article, I realized I had a lot more that I wanted to say in response to this article, so why not get a post out of it?

So, I’ll be honest, when I saw this article title on the syllabus, I immediately felt my anxiety rise. The first thing that stood out to me is the use of the word “transgendered.” I’ll grant that this piece was written years ago (2013), but that is not the proper word. It’s simply transgender, for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, transgender is already an adjective, so it does not need the -ed at the end. The only time you have an -ed is when you are converting a pre-existing noun or verb to an adjective (ex. fatigued, disgusted, right-handed).  Secondly, you do not use “transgendered” in the same way that you don’t use “gayed.” I am a transgender guy, not a transgendered guy. I am a gay man, not a gayed man. The only time I have heard “transgendered” is by cisgender people, and often in a negative context. It is most often used in a negative context, because, if you’ve ever talked to a trans person and actually listened to them, you would know it isn’t transgendered. But, I was very closeted in 2013, so I don’t know what language was used at the time, I just felt it would be nice to have a short response to the use of this word, in preparation for class.  The Huffington Post also wrote a very nice article over this issue here.

Also, while we’re on the use of vocabulary, Putnam discusses the assigning of “transgendered attributes” and “gender-bending” traits. This can get to be a mouthful sometimes, and I feel like cisgender, heterosexual academics who try to discuss these issues tend to get ahead of themselves and fail to actually research how the LGBT community has personally discussed these issues. The LGBT community has already coined a term for this. It is most commonly referred to as “queer coding,” though those that don’t desire using the slur queer prefer “LGBT coding” or “gay coding.” The Daily Dot describes queer coding as “the use of stereotypically negative queer traits to demonize characters.” You can read their article about Disney’s attitude towards queer coded characters here. Or, if you’re really tired of reading, here’s a nice video on queer coding. Also, TVTropes has a fairly comprehensive list of queer coded characters here. Though, I am disappointed that this list leaves off Sideshow Bob, Cecil, and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, but they aren’t Disney, so I’ll digress from that...

Anyway, the importance of terms like “queer/LGBT coding” is because, otherwise, you end up with the phrase “transgendered villains,” which is problematic, to say the least. You cannot describe a cisgender character as “transgendered” when what you really mean is that they are coded as queer. It is grossly inappropriate to call a character “transgendered,” when, for as far as the audience knows, the character is cisgender. Also, many personality traits or mannerisms associated with being gay and being trans have overlap, which is why umbrella terms like queer/lgbt coding are necessary. It’s difficult to have a character be gay coded without also being trans coded, and vice versa. Also, this is just me being nit-picky, but Putnam’s definition of being transgender is way too wordy. Being transgender just means you don’t identify with the gender you were assigned at birth. (Transsexual is outdated and commonly used in a negative connotation, used transgender instead. I know cis people will swear up and down on their grave that using transsexual is more correct, but here is an actual trans person telling you that no, it isn’t. Please use transgender instead.)

So, now that the vocab lesson is done, let’s get on to the real meat of the article.

I wholeheartedly agree with Putnam. Disney has firmly planted its roots in the demonization of queer people through their villains’ appearances, actions, and mannerisms. Scar has always stood out to me, through his perfectly messy mane, his dark, drooping eyelids that mimic Disney’s typically feminine seductive style of eyelids, and his campiness that is especially evident in this scene and this scene. Also notably, many queer coded antagonists (typically gay men) are well-educated academics that look down on those of lower intelligence, which is...90% of Scar’s personality, and it’s especially high lighted in scenes with the hyenas, especially when you compare his deep, almost theatrical English accent to Shenzi and Anzai’s urban accents, which are commonly associated with a lack of education.

Also, this queer coding plays into our discussion from earlier this semester about why people are drawn to queer coded characters. As a child struggling with gender identity, seeing characters that broke Disney’s strict gender roles was a breath of fresh air, even if they were villains. In fact, I didn’t even make the connection until recently that queer coding was specifically the reason I tended to identify more with villains than heroes. For some reason, feminine men with tendencies associated with homosexuality, along with campy personalities spoke to my young closeted gay self.

As Disney’s movies have shown, actual scenes that can be read as homosexual are played for laughs. The first that comes to mind is, following their fight with the villagers, when Lumiere kisses Cogsworth, which results in a disgusted face from Cogsworth as he smacks Lumiere away, and it is played off as laughs. Because, remember kids! The only time guys show affection to other boys is at moments of hysteria when they aren’t thinking clearly! Riiight...Also notably in Beauty and the Beast is the hyper-masculine villain Gaston, which would be a nice subversion of the effeminate male villain stereotype...if it weren’t for Lefou. Now, don’t get me wrong! I absolutely adore Lefou! He’s a great comic relief, and a foil for Gaston. In fact, it’s his relationship with Gaston that raises questions. 

Lefou is the very dimwitted comrade of Gaston’s who spends a majority of his dialogue being touchy-feely towards Gaston and flooding him with compliments. He spends as much time swooning over Gaston as the blonde village girls do. For whatever reason, Gaston decides to spend every waking moment with Lefou, rather than with the women, as one would expect him to.

The dialogue between the two, combined with the fact that Lefou is constantly with Gaston, and the physical contact between the two feels like Disney’s odd, caricatured version of a gay relationship. For some reason, whenever character’s sidekicks are animals, it’s harder to read their relationship as romantic.

Finally, Jafar is the most obviously queer coded man of the bunch, with his feminine-attire, including his eyeshadow and eyeliner–attributes that Disney would never dare give to a good heterosexual man. In fact, the only time we see a man wearing feminine attire in Disney films, they are a villain, or, even more commonly, it’s played off for laughs.

Because it’s funny when a guy wears a dress, right? It’s funny to show other characters stare in confusion and/or disgust, right? It’s definitely not harmful to show young trans girls that their identity is a joke, right? Uh, sorry guys, media affects people, particularly media consumed by young children. Disney’s portrayal of gender and gender expression causes children to consume and partake in transphobic/transmisogynistic ideas. The overdone gag of “man dons a dress for a cheap joke” is, simply that, overdone and inherently transmisogynistic. 

Also, regarding the part of the essay about Drizella and Anastasia, I completely agree. Normally, Drizella and Anastasia’s features wouldn’t stand out, but they are regularly laughed at for their masculine ugliness. Also apparently Disney associates beauty with being essentially featureless, because I find the stepsisters’ designs infinitely more interesting and compelling than Cinderella’s doe eyes and button nose. But hey, that’s just me.

Either way, Disney has a strong rooted history in queer coding villains, leading to homophobic and transphobic portrayals and jokes. Even in modern films, it is easy to see Disney give preferential treatment to the hyper-masculinized men over the effeminate men, and the hyper-feminine women to the masculine women. 

In Frozen, Hans is thin, well-dressed, and well-mannered...up until the part where he tries to kill two women. Meanwhile, Kristoff, the good guy, has a more masculine build, climbs mountains, and he has significantly shorter and paler eyelashes than Hans, as well as a more masculine face shape.

In Tangled, Rapunzel has golden blonde hair, a tiny button nose, and is effortlessly youthful and beautiful. In stark contrast, Mother Gothel, the villain, has a square, masculine face and a strong nose, and she has to manipulate and use Rapunzel in order to achieve her youth and beauty.

Heck, in Wreck-It Ralph, the main protagonist is King Candy who speaks with the stereotypically homosexual lisp, lives in a pink castle, and bounces around everywhere in a pixie-esque manner.

So, yeah...Disney has no problems using gender roles and proper gender presentation in their characters as a means to show good vs. evil. Disney’s regular queer coding is what makes me cringe when people bring up the possibility of a gay, bi, or trans princess. Disney regularly makes LGBT people out to be villains, and I don’t trust them to portray an LGBT character correctly or in a positive light. So, as much as I would love to have an animated film feature a strong LGBT character, especially from a company as big as Disney, I don’t know if I trust any animation companies to produce that film yet...Although, I have heard that Warner Brothers’ new Lego Batman movie features a relationship between the Joker and Batman that is heavily coded to be romantic in nature, and that the portray it rather adorably. I personally haven’t seen it yet, but I look forward to that.

P.S. Yes, I know Paranorman has a gay character. He’s wonderful, and I love him.

[srhblog-blog1]

Present A Detailed Critical Analysis of a Cultural Text

Sophie Hodges

The cultural text that I have chosen to explore and analyse is the large, scale painting by Jenny Saville, entitled “Plan”. The painting itself depicts a curvaceous woman standing central to the canvas with the viewers sitting at a lower perspective. Looking up at her body makes it appear vast giving the character a rather dominating feel. She wears no clothing but covers her breasts with one arm, caressing her body, seemingly to offer herself some sense of security and perhaps dignity. However, she offers no modesty for her pubic area, making it a prominent focal point for the image. The woman displays a poignant expression of what seems to be misery, looking directly into the eye of the viewer perhaps in desperation for acceptance. Her body is marked out or “mapped,” with pale impressions of lines which highlight her thigh and stomach area.

 Through this cultural text I intend to explore the relationship between modern society and the body, considering how much impact social media has on body ideals. Many times, I have been labelled “skinny” and to many people this may seem to be a compliment. But why does society glamorise the slim? I will explore these ideas through considering theorists such as John Berger and Michael Foucault.

 The positioning of the women is central and the vast scale of the article makes the woman seem large and very much the focus. When we look at European oil paintings from the 16th Century it becomes very apparent that women quite often were the main subject, especially within collections such as “Susanna and the Elders.” The women depicted in these paintings, however, all seem to be quite naturally, curvaceous and not perhaps what would be considered idealistic or desirable through a modern eye. The angle of Saville’s piece emphasizes the woman’s pubic area reinforcing the idea of her femininity but also that she is very much natural like women seen in16th century works. John Berger talks about women being a vision; a sight “men act, women appear”, his misogynistic statement suggesting that women are an object to be viewed or admired. In “Susanna and the Elders”, Susanna, is seen with the two elders lusting after her beauty and her body.

 The woman’s expression and posture gives off a sense of vulnerability. Her very naked appearance supporting this idea, especially for someone who may not be happy with the way they appear. Laura Mulvey talks about the intersectional self and how “Women connote to be look-at-ness.’ Due to the way, we perceive a beautiful, or normalised figure women, who do not fit these invisible guidelines, may often feel ashamed and embarrassed. This perhaps making them feel vulnerable and susceptible to judgment and critique from others, making them feel that they need to hide or protect themselves, almost like the character in Saville’s painting.  We would consider the women, in the painting to be “naked” however, Berger, questions this notion. “Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display.” I feel the woman is “nude”, her posture and facial expression does not convey a woman of confidence but someone who is there, waiting to be judged. However, in contradiction to this I feel that the size of the painting and viewpoint makes the woman appear powerful and strong. Perhaps Saville is suggesting the confidence of the character and how she is not afraid to be judged because she doesn’t quite fit to the constraints that media provides.

 The lines, which mark the woman’s body present target like shapes indicating areas which, perhaps, she wants altered. During the 90’s, Liposuction became excessively popular, suggesting that these are areas the character wants removed or adjusted. The media today presents beauty ideals as a “form of propaganda” and due to our participatory culture, whether it be through the magazines, celebrity reality or the internet these imposter images of beauty can be accessed anywhere around the world. In some countries, these often leaving an impacting impression. This point is strengthened by “A Chinese Beauty Story.” The Asian women, interviewed in this journal, believed that beauty meant “tall and slim, big eyes, fair skin and a watermelon shaped face” all of which are very Westernised characteristics of an ideal body. Body image issues seem to be of global relevance and are abundant worldwide with “Chinese adolescents showing higher levels of body dissatisfaction than American counterparts.” (Jung. Et. Al, 2009) The exposure of Westernised beauty ideals, in Asia, has led to it adopting a more open mind about beautification with South Korea becoming the place for cosmetic surgery. Saville’s character, is too, conforming to these false, un- obtainable ideas, seen through the media, and tracing out the areas of her body, which don’t fit Western beauty standards.

 Another key point to pick up on, is the sad, desperate look upon the woman’s face. To me it almost seems as though she is looking for approval. Body shape and size seems to be treated as an indicator of moral strength, power and self-will. Today, a way to demonstrate and exercise this idea is for women to excessively diet and join groups such as “Weight Watchers”. There seems to be this misconstrued idea that we are all just a little bit too fat, brought on by the influences of modern media and advertising; slim equals healthy. Cultural capitals and binaries mean that society automatically marks those who are overweight and labels them as unhealthy. This false identity that media produces creates misconceptions for ignorant women and young girls who then strive to obtain unachievable bodies. In “Foucault Goes to Weight Watchers” many women admit they are “embarrassed by the desire to lose weight”, it seems that they feel humiliated to admit that their bodies aren’t like those seen in the pages of the latest fashion magazine. “Subjectification, creating a docile body” (Foucault 1982) makes women have a preconceived idea that they will be healthier and perhaps “an object of vision” after all Solovay in 2000 stated, “Being slimmer works to one’s advantage in the employment and dating market.” I feel that the woman in Saville’s painting is conveying an embarrassed, ashamed expression, it’s as though she feels disappointed in herself because she doesn’t conform to beauty guidelines which society provides.

All forms of media, whether it be television, social media apps or magazines, are very important in informing us on how we view our ourselves and others. Vast media coverage which boasts stick thin models, successful dieting stories and even targets the younger generations creates this participatory culture where people seem to believe that slim equals good. In many instances the habits exercised, by those who desire to look like the model on the cover of Vogue, replicate those which a bulimic or anorexic individual might exhibit. Surely this is not healthy? However, with the rise of reality stars such as the Kardashian’s it seems that woman are becoming more and more accepting of curves and larger assets. Many women agreeing that body diversity should be celebrated, “The Dove Real Beauty Pledge.” But although this is a step away from idealised beauty standards it seems that woman, especially younger girls, still seem to idolise and aspire to be slim.

[asemgirlpower]

Elle Woods: Inspiring Feminist or Demeaning Stereotype?

“All people see when they look at me is blonde hair and big boobs.” In the movie Legally Blonde, Elle Woods is very aware of how a woman’s physical appearance dominates society’s perceptions. At the outset, we see how Elle exudes several traits associated with the “blonde bimbo”: her obsession with the color pink, the way she is controlled by her emotions, and how her supposed lack of intelligence is made worse for by her idealization of physical appearance. When her boyfriend, Warner, breaks up with her because he will be attending Harvard and “needs someone serious,” Elle decides to take matters into her own hands. She focuses her time and energy on getting into Harvard and winning Warner back by proving to him that despite her material girl persona, she is a smart and capable individual.

This, essentially, is one of the main messages of the film: physical appearance does not determine one’s self worth. By the end of the movie, Elle becomes a competent lawyer who doesn’t need a man to justify her strengths. On the surface, it seems that Legally Blonde perfectly challenges the concept of femininity by continuously disproving stereotypes associated with gender roles. However, upon taking a closer look into specific details of the movie, central notions of sexism become more and more apparent.

The very plot of the film exhibits patriarchal undertones that demean women to unintelligent beings who depend heavily on men. The idea of a blonde sorority girl getting into Harvard is supposed to be a joke in itself. When Warner learns that Elle got into Harvard, he’s practically left speechless. Though he doesn’t actually say it, you get the idea that he is thinking, “How the hell did that happen?” As an audience, this notion as funny, “dumb blondes” don’t go to Harvard. On top of this, Elle’s central motivation to go to law school is to win Warner back. Although Elle ends up being successful as a lawyer, she (arguably) only got to that point because of Warner’s patriarchal desires. This idea that Elle needs a man in order to succeed connects back to the sexist belief that women depend on men to be complete.

The most prominent examples of sexism in Legally Blonde are evident in the characters’ adherence to gender roles. As I touched on above, we are introduced to Elle as a very ‘idealized’ feminine character: thin, ‘blonde’, emotional, and dependent. While Elle’s progression as a woman challenges several of these characteristics and their associations, she often perpetuates the feminine image. Although she proves to be an excellent lawyer by winning the case she is assigned to, she ultimately gets the suspect to admit guilt solely based on her knowledge of haircare. While I do think it’s cool that Elle proves her ability to succeed in a male-dominated field, to me this scene reinforces the stereotype that a central facet of being a woman is understanding how beauty products work.

Despite Elle’s obviously feminine portrayal, she is probably the one character throughout the whole movie that adheres to gender stereotypes the least. The rest of the female characters are strictly categorized into two very specific female identities. Elle’s sorority sisters incorporate the same extremely feminine image that she does. They’re all depicted as superficial, spoiled, and dumb. On the other hand, the women that attend Harvard are perceived as bitchy. Vivian, who is introduced as Warner’s fiancé and Elle’s rival, immediately comes off as the opposite of Elle: cold, unfriendly, and lacking fashion sense. Where Elle uses her sensuality to get into Harvard, Vivian and other female Harvard students often appear dressed in very conservative outfits. Their dress indicates that they are more serious about their studies than on men, which differs from Elle drastically. 

As the only openly defined feminist in the movie, Enid exhibits the stereotypical feminist personality. Before I jump into what exactly this means, I think it’s important to consider the context in which this movie was made. Legally Blonde was released in 2001, at a time when post-feminist convictions were still strong. Under these beliefs, the idea of being a feminist was not very popular. One could either be feminine, or one could be a feminist. At the time, these two concepts were mutually exclusive. As such, ‘true feminists’ were portrayed as “butch” lesbians with masculine features and bitchy attitudes. This is apparent in Enid’s character. Her physical appearance is much more masculine than the other female characters, and she is unfriendly to Elle, despite the fact that the two don’t seem to have any type of relationship otherwise. Though Enid’s role is not central to the rest of the movie, the depiction of her character is evidently influenced by post-feminist notions.

On the other side of things, the male characters in Legally Blonde further embody the theme of sexism that dominates the cast. Warner invokes several characteristics that once again point to adherence of gender roles. It is clear when Warner breaks up with Elle that he was drawn to her sexuality more than anything else. He says, “Elle, if I’m going to be a politician, I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn,” using the name Jackie in reference to Jackie Kennedy, and Marilyn in reference to Marilyn Monroe, with whom John F. Kennedy had an affair. Warner clearly doesn’t want anything serious with Elle and sees her merely as a sex object. Additionally, he comes off as a guy that easily attracts women with his expensive suits and the fact that he already has a new girlfriend when Elle arrives at Harvard.

Professor Callahan, who ends up being the main antagonist of the film, is the other prominent male character (aside from Warner) that directly exhibits a sexist attitude towards Elle. Callahan picks Elle as one of a select number of students to defend his client in a murder case. We find out later that he only did so because he found Elle attractive. Although he ultimately pays for this when he loses his spot on the case and is replaced by Elle, his prioritization of Elle’s sexuality over her intellectual capabilities speaks to the objectification of women that is common in the post-feminist realm.

As someone who found Legally Blonde to be a truly inspiring and empowering movie as a young girl, it’s a bit difficult for me to come to terms with the now-apparent sexism that is present in this film. While I do feel that the overarching message is empowering to girls, I think it is truly important to recognize (especially in film) the details that reinforce the sexist attitudes that feminism has been trying to reverse.