#because in this household we stan close platonic work buddy relationships

[mediapuppy]

Ayyyy guess who’s not dead! I know it’s been quite a bit since I’ve touched this blog and I’m so sorry for that, especially since I just kind of disappeared without a word.  Thank you so much to everyone for all the asks and messages, it means so much to me that people still check in and appreciate the silly, awful little things I’ve written!!  Along with that, even more than a year later I still get kudos and comment notifications almost every day without fail on my silly fics.  What’re ya’ll still doing reading those?! To everyone asking: yes I’m all good, I’m just a big tired college student who just today has knocked out editing on a five page paper and did eight pages of another, and that’s on top of masters apps and regular reading and everything else.  The semester’s rounding out and once it’s done I’m really hoping to release some more silly little writings!!!  I had one big unfinished project left for THSC that was half-written and just as awful as everything else I’ve given this long-dead fanbase, but I’ve also really gotten into another obscure tiny fanbase that I’m dying to write some content for (bonus points if you can guess what it is.  Hint: it features my favorite tropes as the two main characters, an emotionally-stunted and eager to please office worker who’s more golden retriever than man and his also emotionally constipated, coffee-addicted, kick-ass gal of a co-leader.  Expect work of them soon, if you can guess who they are I might take a request for them for the first fic) Basically just thank you so much everyone for the continued support on my work.  The fact I still get kudos and comments on them even a year later just blows my mind, because those things were labors of love to myself and I never ever expected anybody to like them even half as much as they do.  I hope everyone’s having an awesome end to the weekend and staying safe!!!

[lonestarbabe]

I wanted to get this out and I wasn’t sure where else to do it. But I always see people getting really upset about the original 9-1-1 not making Buddie romantically canon. And while I do like that idea, their chemistry works, etc. I also love their friendship. It’s healthy. It looks the way a friendship between two men should look. I saw men because of toxic masculinity that we don’t stan in this household. It makes me sad that every time two male characters become close people automatically (1)

(2) assume that they’ve got to be romantically involved. Why can’t guys just be friends? You know? At the end of the day I’m going to love their storylines no matter what happens. I just think it’s kind of unfair to call it queerbaiting as well. They were never marketed as a gay couple? I apologize that this was lengthy and probably stupid haha

Don’t worry; it’s not stupid at all that you’ve said this. I appreciate your candor! I disagree on some points, but that’s just a matter of my own perspective on the situation.

I do think that showing healthy male relationships are important because I think they can often be portrayed in ways that align with toxic masculinity like you said. Men should be able to touch, talk, and look at each other with affection while still being platonic. The issue with a lot of healthy male relationships is that they are frequently used to queerbait (look at Supernatural or Sherlock, two big offenders) when the creators have no intention of making those characters gay but still install romantic undertones into the story and even hints at gay culture. That’s when I have an issue.

So, at this point, I do think it’s fair if people feel upset about Buddie not being canon (or the idea that they will never be canon) because I don’t think it’s unfair to call it queerbaiting. I’m not saying that all the affection things they do are queerbaiting, but there have been moments for me where the bating is so blatant. The show makes it clear that they are aware people want Buddie and then throws some lines in or other moments to appeal to that, which is queerbaiting if they have no intention of giving Buddie a romantic relationship. It doesn’t make the show evil or awful or unwatchable. It’s just something that does bother me a bit because they do have moments when I think “if these were two straight people, these things would indicate a romantic relationship.” We cannot yet say if the show is queerbaiting, but if it has no plans on making Buddie a couple, they need to stop because to me, queerbaiting is harmful.

It’s harmful because LGBT couple often don’t have the luxury of slow-burn. There’s kind of an urgency to get them together, and I think this is in part because LGBT people don’t want to have to endure multiple seasons of sexual tension and getting their hopes up only to be queerbaited. It’s unfair to use romantic tropes and then never address any romantic elements (so what I mean here is that maybe there’s feelings but not mutual feelings, or there’s feelings and it doesn’t work out. I don’t necessarily need for them to be together to say it’s not queerbaiting, but I need some sense of an LGBT identity int here somewhere). LGBT fans want real representation, so slow burn stories can be dangerous for viewers who are desperately looking for just a bit of representation. So while platonic male love is wonderful, I think the show has backed itself into a corner because it’s too late to take away the gay suggestions they’ve implanted in viewers’ heads. 

Whatever happens with Buddie, it’s not going to ruin the show for me because there is so much great representation and characters and storylines, so while I might not like how they handle the Buddie element, I’m still into 911 and ready to see all the amazing things they do going forward.

I’m not sure if this made sense, but those are just the kind of thoughts I have on the matter.