#harry branding

[ckerouac]

So, I really love the selection of Tim Walz for VP and it’s taken me a moment to articulate why. I mean, obviously, Dem bonafides, he’s sharp, he’s funny, etc etc. But everyone in the Veepstakes fits that bill, Harris was spoiled for good choices.

But Walz offers something that the other men in contention don’t that I think will be incredibly useful in combating Trumpism.

He offers an example and an off ramp to the section of men who felt like they were Republicans by default, and so support Trump by default. There are a lot of Trump voters who are full on obsessive, but that’s not who we’re talking to. We’re talking to folks who grew up in Republican areas, or felt their hobbies didn’t line up with who a Democrat was, or didn’t feel represented by their image of a Democrat. You want to see it so you can be it, you know? Which is why Harris is so inspirational to a lot of segments of folks, but Walz is too.

He served in the military. He went to a state college. He’s your favorite teacher from your public high school. He’s your football coach who actually cared if you were passing your math class. He’s the guy you looked up to at school when your family sucked but this guy cared, and he helped you get out and make something of yourself.

He’s the neighbor who helps you jump your car. He’s your uncle who takes you hunting. He’s your Dad who loves teasing you at the Stare Fair. He’s you when he makes a mistake like his DUI and takes responsibility for it, and when he has the chance makes sure other can come back from similar mistakes. He’s you when you and your wife want so badly to be parents and IVF gives you the family you wanted. He’s you when he says ‘it had to be me’ and used his standing and power to protect vulnerable kids sponsoring the GSA at his school.

He gives the real life example to these men that they can be that football, fishing, hunting family man who wants to provide for his family, be that powerful, respected member of the community and use that power to feed kids in school. That it’s normal to enthusiastically work for a boss like Harris. That yeah those other guys are fucking weirdos, and you’re not a weirdo, are you?

That there’s a place in the Democratic Party for them. That they don’t have to default to being fucking weird.

I hope those guys see this example of masculinity and go… yeah, that’s me. That’s who I’m gonna be.

[machinerot]

[nelsaqift]

[bumblingbabooshka]

Voyager should have done a whole episode that was just a series of horror vignettes of the entire crew in increasingly malicious/difficult/terrifying situations that start off seeming like normal Voyager antics (Every main character gets their turn to 'star' in one scenario somehow tailored to them sans Harry who's conspicuously absent and the Doctor) and end with like, Janeway once again heroically sacrificing herself for the crew after finally figuring out what's wrong only for the episode to end exactly how it began. Only the first scenario plays out until the very end, every subsequent scenario ends faster and more brutally than the last and as the episode progresses we see the crew retaining scars or pains from previous deaths we witnessed though to them these wounds are mysterious or they give a narratively coherent reason for having them. Though there are some clues as to what's happening this largely remains unexplained and unresolved until the NEXT episode which is 'The Killing Game'. Everyone would have loved this! They would have cheered and clapped!

[nenan]

Londyn Harris-Elzein for Pieces Of Porcelain

[iamnmbr3]

what if Harry and Draco's owls liked each other and had babies. Than Harry and Draco would have to interact because of their pets.

is the implication here that hedwig lays eggs and they hatch and just by their markings harry's like 'oh the father is definitely draco's owl!' ?

[nymdraws]

more stupid posting.

[koriofox]

[pisscreant]

I'm so glad that my fav story has such good 'wasian raised in racist environment' angst it's so specifically relateable to me. it's a common experience but a bit hard to find in media

Kim my dear friend, my enemy, my idiot elder brother... the white men that you'd die for would feed your bones to their dogs if they decided it was "necessary"......

[valeriearmani1]

bartylus would tattoo each others names, rosekiller would brand them

[lifeimitatespr]

Harris Reed wearing Harris Reed

[thatsrightice]

On the mission, Bucky Egan added to his luster. From his seat on the right of the pilot, he noticed that the top turret operator behind him was in trouble. Seeing that the gunner's oxygen hose was dangling, Egan left his own supply and went back to help. Both men collapsed and Egan dropped, tearing his shirt. Somehow they survived and that night Bucky regaled us with his account of how he almost "became a meatball" and "lost his shirt, his Sunday best."

— an excerpt from Harry Crosby’s memoir, A Wing and a Prayer

[yearinlou]

Larry Stylinson + The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot by Brand New

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Triumph TR7, 1975. The car that “won”  the BLMC internal competition to become their mass-market sports car for the 1970s. The designed was by Harris Mann with styling that “hinted” at a mid-engine layout though it was a conventional front-engine, rear drive sports coupe. The car was launched in the US in January 1975, with its UK home market debut in May 1976. The UK launch was delayed at least twice because of high demand for the vehicle in North America. Despite strong sales production ended in 1981 as part of British Leyland's rationalisation plan.

Fun fact: Earlier this year Kevin Morby released a new album that included a track called Triumph in which he sings about driving a Triumph TR7

[smolestboop]

settling down for the night

[indiaalphawhiskey]

I wish Harry's management would lean more into the quirky angel-wings-wearing, 1D-shirt-selfie-taking, tipsily-men-cuddling side of Harry instead of the model-type-kissing version of whatever Harry Styles™ is supposed to be.

I’ve been thinking really hard about how to answer this thoughtfully and fairly, because I wholeheartedly agree with you. Stunts are useless to me, completely ineffective (even, clearly, to the GP) and diminish everything worth knowing about Harry.

What’s interesting though, is that in my deep frustration and disappointment about yet another unnecessary stunt, I bought My Body by EmRata on audiobook (I���m halfway through). And in the book, she says something really poignant:

“I wasn’t just famous; I was famously sexy.”

That quote has been haunting me all day because it explains Harry’s PR image so well. That one additional word is the key to understanding the ceaseless stunting circus HSHQ keeps putting us through.

See, Harry is a multitude of different, interesting, enigmatic, visionary things to us, his fans and even to the casual observer. But none of those things - not his talent, or his music, or his kindness - is what actually made him famous, or what set him apart from the 1D boys from the beginning. What made him famous, what made him different, what made him wanted, was his sex appeal - his brand and commodification as a sex symbol - which has been cultivated since he was sixteen (gross, I know. Very aware.)

And we can sit here and argue until we’re blue in the face about whether that’s something he does or doesn’t want, whether was pure marketing or something unique to him, or even how many other, more impressive, better, beautiful attributes he has and has developed since, that can and should be capitalized on.

But none of that is actually the point. The point is that this was always what his selling point was in the wider (albeit shallower) ocean that is entertainment. It’s his brand, like it or not, the way it was Marilyn Monroe’s brand, the way it’s EmRata’s brand, and you don’t keep the status of sex symbol by dating under-the-radar, interesting, talented people. You keep it by feeding it constantly, by reminding everyone of it whether they (or you) respond well or not, by remaining controversial and being linked to equally controversial PR personas. (E.g. Tom and Zendaya are cute as fuck and totally respectable. Their relationship is hardly ever in the headlines for more than 24 hrs, though, and neither are branded as a sex symbol per se.)

I’m not saying any of it is right, and a certainly don’t like it and very much wish it would stop. But sometimes, we have to look outward, and understand that things don’t live and die by the hand of fandom, as much as we wish they would; things don’t even live and die by the hand of good press.

I’m not saying don’t be frustrated or mad; I’m not saying accept it or don’t wish it would change. I’ve just found that finding a way to sit with it and understand that we (fandom) are not the audience and praise and respect aren’t necessarily the objective helps me gauge where my red lines are and what my sanity and longevity as a fan are really up against, especially when highlighting everything I don’t like seems like such a personal attack.