#anyways im posting this and disabling my ask box for a while byeeee

[billy-crudup]

why do you want bradley to be with the guy who not only outed her but invited her girlfriend to cohost knowing damn well news were gonna break while they were on air?

ahhhhh, this is the ask i’ve been waiting for. buckle up, bc i have A LOT of thoughts, and there’s much to unpack here.

let me just begin with saying that i ship bradley and cory from season 1. since i haven’t trusted anyone in the show when i started watching, it happened gradually, and by the end i was fully shipping them. even then, i already saw a few people being negative about the ship on twitter, but i kinda just ignored it. it was mostly about how they shouldn’t be together since cory is bradley’s boss, and it’s an unhealthy dynamic, which goes against everything the show stands for. i completely disagree with the last bit here, since the show IS about complicated workplace dynamics and NAVIGATING them, healthy or not. despite that, i can’t really imagine them together while they both still work at UBA. so in order for that to work out, one or both should leave.

when it comes to the outing itself, let me note that i do not excuse or approve of cory’s decisions. it’s very important to keep in mind while reading my whole rant. i really hate what he did, i truly do, and i wish it didn’t happen. he literally took her own right to come out and it’s very upsetting. yet, the betrayal had to take place, in order for his character to develop and have a proper arc, but i wish it was something else. at this point, i just hope that cory owns up to what he did, and learns from it. and tells bradley about it, of course. he still has a long way to go before he can be with her anyways.

all the accusations of bradley/cory shippers ‘hurting the gay community’ are crazy to say the least. i do understand why some people hate the ship and can be triggered by what cory did, it makes a lot of sense. outing someone is a very harmful thing to do, and can literally fuck up their whole lives (but lets remember though, that this is a tv show we’re talking about, and a couple of fictional characters, not the lgbt community overall). it’s important to note that I’m am straight woman, who has plenty of lgbt friends and did a course of gender and sexuality studies in university, as it’s something that i find very interesting. speaking of lgbt people in my life who have watched the show, a few can’t forgive cory for what he did, and are against him being with bradley, but many of them still ship them. because of my sexuality, i don’t think it’s my place to tell whether bradley should forgive him or not. there are a lot of opinions out there, and i just think you can’t generalize by saying we as a whole are ‘hurting’ the gay community, since, there are lgbt people out there who ship cory/bradley too. what i’m saying is, if all lgbt people ik in my life/saw online would hate bradley/cory i would look at it very differently. but it’s just not the case here. just bc you wouldn’t be able to forgive cory, doesn’t mean that no queer person would. the story the writers tell us doesn’t have to fit any specific set of morals. and also people are literally saying, omg cory destroyed her life blah blah blah, but did he, really? i mean, of course, it is extremely traumatizing to be outed and it’s a very sensitive topic. it can turn people’s lives upside down. but tms didn’t really explore that. they didn’t show enough consequences for bradley. her brother already knew, and she doesn’t seem to care about her mom at all. bradley seemed so upset and embarrassed, i genuinely felt horrible watching those scenes in ep6 and just wanted to hug her. but later i asked myself, how would these scenes be any different if some other information about her private life would be leaked? just smth to think about. i wish the writers would have touched on the consequences of the outing more, but they didn’t - they didn’t explore how bradley got traumatized by this whole experience at all. and the outing itself wasn’t even mentioned in the last 4 eps (apart from cory trying to confess), it’s like everyone has forgot it even happened.... still shocked that alex never found out tbh. one of the most important things for me in people are their intentions. that’s how i judge them, both in fiction and irl. cory wanted to keep hannah’s name clean first and foremost, not to out bradley. it doesn’t make it okay or the right decision, but he was stuck. if cory didn’t keep his promise about hannah, bradley would probably never forgive him. but he also genuinely wanted to do right by hannah. cory felt a very strong responsibility for her without even knowing her, because her dad was not able to protect her. one of tms’ writers scott troy confirmed in a tweet that the hannah situation was personal for cory because his dad was never there for him too. cory did not wish to purposefully harm bradley. the decision he made didn’t come from a malicious place. he is neither abusive nor predatory. did he fuck up big time while having ‘good’ intentions? he sure did, and it’s clearly bothering him. but also he doesn’t expect anything from bradley, he doesn’t expect her to forgive him, or to return his feelings. he just wants to be there for her and cares about her deeply, despite what he did earlier.  here is where i’m pulling all my receipts, since a lot of people for some reason think cory outed bradley bc he’s jealous of laura and wants to destroy their relationship or whatever. here’s what billy crudup said in THR interviews: «But what [Cory] did guess was that the preservation of Hannah’s legacy, as far as he could tell, was most ensured by something salacious. And he didn’t suspect that there would be any lasting consequences for anybody who was involved in this salacious information, and so he made a guess.» this pretty much confirms that cory has 0 brain cells, it’s very unfortunate that he at the time did not understand how much it can hurt bradley. this clown literally had no idea what he was doing.... also there’s this bit in another newer THR article: «[Cory has] been a caretaker in a way. What he was really concerned about was the well-being of this precious person to him and being able to articulate that that was also him being in love with her, it would have been impossible until that moment. I don’t think that was the motivation for him trying to undermine her relationship with Laura.” i think billy said it all tbh. this confirms that he wants what’s best for bradley, despite what he did. sometimes we do terrible things to the people we love, and we later regret it. again, let me clarify, that i’m not defending what cory did, but merely explaining. i’ve seen so many people see cory in a completely different light, and if i saw him that way too, i would never ship him with bradley.

also can i just say that i don’t hate laura (bc some twitter stans are convinced that cory/bradley shippers hate her???). i actually think she’s pretty cool and is good for bradley at the given moment. bradley needed her in order to develop as a character, and i’m happy laura could provide that for her. i don’t really see them ending up together for many reasons. i just think that laura needs someone as emotionally mature as her, and not as chaotic as bradley. and that she can offer so much to bradley and guide her, but bradley can’t give much back in return. and also bc laura wants bradley to be a certain way (confirmed by reese in an interview), as opposed to cory, who accepts her and loves her (unconditionally) the way she is. again, this is just my opinion. and also tms is about morally gray characters, and i find it hilarious every time i see someone call laura ‘perfect’ or ‘the best character on tv right now’. none of them are perfect guys, they all have flaws, and thats the whole point.

i’m going to end this rant of mine by saying how disappointed i am by this fandom overall. tms is by far the most toxic fandom i’ve ever been in. and here, i’m mostly talking about twitter people. tumblr is a safe space for me, i have a lot of friends and mutuals here who support me, and we developed our own community. i sometimes go on reddit to read all the discussions too, people are also keeping it respectful there. but hell is empty, and all the demons are on twitter!  i really don’t get how can someone possibly attack and cancel another person online bc of a ship/smth fictional??? and without knowing anything about them? like some random people said that i ‘excuse’ cory or whatever bc i stan billy crudup fghdjksfg like IM NOT MAKING THIS UP…… or that i am disgusting, homophobic, hurting the gay community, hate women, should be in jail etc etc…… people who know me, who truly know me, are certain that i am none of those things, and so am i. since i try to treat everyone with kindness and compassion, this is smth that i truly can’t wrap my head around. i’ve been minding my own business and trying to have a good time, making gifs and videos, but i still get plenty of hate bc of a ship. A SHIP!!! AND the fact that the writers and the smm had to deal with all the bullying and death threats is insane, i feel so incredibly sorry for them. like their smm hasn’t posted anything about cory in over a month bc of this. look, there are plenty of fictional characters i can’t stand too, but you don’t see me tweeting about it, or making posts, or commenting about it under someone else’s work. if you’re that obsessed with a fictional character/ship that you resort to harassing people online, including the writers, then you need to get a life and go to therapy. i acknowledge that what cory did is highly problematic bc of what he did, BUT THIS IS FICTION. and just like real people, fictional characters fuck up, and it doesn’t make them unforgivable or unlovable. you can disagree and disapprove of stuff a character has done, and still find them compelling. and i should be able to enjoy fiction without being told that i’m an awful human being because of who i like and what i ship. and this whole purity culture is very messed up, so many people don’t understand that a lot of things are not as black and white as they seem. especially in tms, where there is so much moral ambiguity. at the end, i really think that it doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not, or what you think about the ship. what important is understanding why certain people think the way you do, and simply respecting them. if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. it’s not too much to ask.