#i can't sleep so im talkative

[seriousbrat]

it’s so interesting to see how the interpretation of teen (boy) behavior in books has changed since they were written. it’s mostly for the better, but i think it does cause some people to refuse to engage in good faith with the source material, or on its own terms. i’ve loved hp since i was a kid, but i had never interacted at all with the fan side of things until maybe a year ago, and it was very odd (on the whole — which is why i’ve mostly just stuck to a handful of blogs with great fics and meta, like yours) to see how a lot of the text is taken now, compared to how my friends and i understood it at the time. i think its totally fair — and good, on a cultural level — to point out that the boy who pulls your pigtails isn’t being cute, and your male friend being in love with you doesn’t mean you owe him anything. but it’s also like … kind of intentionally closing the eyes to how these parts of the story are meant to come across? and i am not coming in here as some kind of “boys will be boys” person, but teenagers are messy in their relationships and their friendships, and more relevantly, it’s very clear what types of dynamics are being presented by the text. and it can be fun to pick apart what kinds of narratives are meant to be taken as romantic in different stories written in different times/places and why, but to look at the story on a story level you’ve got to also work with what it gives you.

Yes I think you make a very good point! I agree and personally I think both Snape and James would be written slightly differently if they were written today. Also, imo there's an element of wishful thinking coupled with naivety (and this has always existed tbf) when people who haven't ever been cis teenage boys try to write cis teenage boys haha. Like the 'closing of eyes' isn't always intentional. I know I keep going on about the Inbetweeners but I literally think watching that as a teen myself gave me an insight that I can never take back about what teenage boys are like haha.

Like this isn't to say that teenage boys are all exactly alike, or that there's some inherent, natural difference between boys and girls in terms of mentality or personality, but there is a social difference, generally speaking, a constructed one that happens because boys and girls are raised and socialised in a patriarchy. It's obviously not universal at all, and that's not even accounting for trans kids and the complexities they face, because even among cis boys and girls or men and women there's endless variety, and gender absolutely does not determine personality, interests, etc. Unfortunately it does influence them, though, that's our reality.

In terms of fiction, especially fanfic, obv one is free to do as they please. But there is such a thing as narrative voice, which can be an important thing to consider. Again when it comes to fanfiction it Does Not Matter that much, it's for fun, but in published fiction (or if you care about quality ig) it just is something you should consider. This is where the 'Men Writing Women' thing comes in, where you read something so obviously written by a man who doesn't understand how women (generally) think or speak or act at all. And in our patriarchal society such usually ends up being offensive and has often been overlooked and accepted when it shouldn't be. I don't think it's helpful to pretend men can't write women either, since plenty of male authors write female characters beautifully and the rest shouldn't be let off the hook. If you can't write women, skill issue and you shouldn't be published.

Anyway it's vastly more forgivable and understandable, and it pains me to say it but I think you can sometimes tell when it's a woman writing a man or a boy too. I will say on the whole I think women are better at writing men than the reverse haha, probably because we've been socialised to empathise with men whereas boys are not taught (by society) to empathise with women. Maybe women even empathise a little too much tbh. Maybe that's the problem, like we subconsciously over-project our ideals onto male characters, making them too nice, too woke, too cuddly, too sweet, because that's what we want to see, and leaving out the nastier elements that are so common. Again, that's not necessarily a problem!! Only if you're trying to create a realistic, effective portrayal of a certain (average) type of teenage boy-- which you don't have to do. I'd raise my eyebrows at an unrealistic portrayal much more in published fiction than fanfiction personally.

And ofc you can always choose to write a character who diverges from the accepted norm, but to do so effectively has to be a deliberate choice and done thoughtfully. For a boy like James, who is very average, the norm, he's decent enough but no Woke Feminist King haha. He's not meant to be.

Anyway, I think that's why the Marauders et al (including Death Eaters lol) are nowadays often portrayed like sweet little babies who all cuddle and take care of each other and respect women LOL. Like whatever, it's escapism haha, it's understandable. But sometimes I do think a lot of these people have never really interacted with many gay men or know what their culture is like. lmao. straight men maybe, but in a limited way. if you've ever had the misfortune to be with a group of cishet men who are talking freely with each other you'll know what I mean. again this is GENERAL. and socially constructed, not inherent. but very common nevertheless.

[mamawasatesttube]

experiencing the horrors . save me lil guy from comic book. lil guy from comic book PLEASE

[spookythesillyfella]

sorry to vent art guys . i promise that next time ill bottle up my emotions and keep them to myself like a good little boy

[tinyfantasminha]

👍

[rayllumoon]

sorry, i'm currently so obsessed with rayllum on the star spire -

"one more?" 🥺

"one more what?"🤭

"you know~" 😏

"i know." 😌

🤧...😠

"aw, don't be mad at sneezles. there'll be more kisses later." 😉

like oh my gosh i can't get over this scene - i'm so happy they're back 🥹 everyone who worked on this scene outdid themselves 10000000/10 thank you for this scene! 😭thank you for feeding me 🥹💖 i'm gonna be thinking about this scene and so many other s6 rayllum scenes for the rest of my life

[gxlden-angels]

I don't know if it's the religious trauma or the dead mom trauma but the conservative christian insistence on not teaching children about their bodies in school and insistence that this knowledge should be private in all circumstances with no exceptions should be seen as suspicious at best and criminally malicious at worst

[the-acid-pear]

God can you imagine how hard it'd be for new phoneheads to adapt to their dimensions. Like it already hurts all over and now you gotta accommodate to this new head trying not to bump it against anything and trying not to get the cord tangled on shit... I know my ass could not make it.

[cryptid--bunny]

Pony Park Boys; Friendship is Bullshit

sorry for posting so much in the past hour. I'm lonely </3

[iwakuraz]

sometimes there will be a fictional character whose experiences and emotions match your own perfectly and then people will just expect you to be normal about that

[linabirb]

one of the things that annoys me about my nerve pain so much is that i am just. very bored. i literally can't do anything that requires me to move which means i can't even draw or play games and even typing this is a bit hard for me. i also can't watch or listen to anything that has certain sounds that can make my body go tense again and by that i mean if i hear a sound that is just slightly louder than the rest of the video/song/etc my chest will HURT. A LOT. like what do i even do. do i just stare at the ceiling or what

[freetoppings]

The game Façade but it's mike and jay in the vcr repair shop

[astraystayyh]

not to be too sappy but i just want to thank you guys again for being the absolute sweetest angels to me :( i can't tell u the amount of times i teared up at msgs/comments u guys sent me like u genuinely make my heart so so so warm and fuzzy and full and content and i wish i had better adjectives to describe it but this has been the best experience to me and i love u guys so much. i hope u are all always happy and healthy and thank u for reading my writings and bringing them to life i still can't believe it

[koka-mi]

I wish my sister would stop making fun of my music taste :[

"your music taste is so basic"

"this song sucks/this is boring"

"ofc you would like this song"(/neg)

"why do you like *genre/general songs* they're not even good"

"hmm I think this is one of *music artist*'s more weaker songs"

"turn this trash off oh my god I'm tired of it"

GIRL. just let me listen to songs I like in peace. I don't talk about your music taste!! I never judge you for what you listen to and I never tell you your music taste is bad. So why do you keep treating my music taste as inferior??

It's just.frustrating. It's gotten to the point where I don't wanna listen to songs I like near her anymore. Anytime I hear her coming upstairs or I feel like she's going to come in the room, I immediately stop the music I'm listening to because I know once she hears it she'll start saying a buncha negative stuff about it. LIKE BESTIE. IT'S NOT THAT DEEP IT'S A THREE MINUTE SOUNDWAVE. JUST LET ME ENJOY IT :(

[daveslutstaine]

Anyone else feel like there is something deeply and horribly wrong with them?

[iwakuraz]

really need to sleep but. I just feel too happy :'3

[elisedonut]

Stacy's brother Au

but it's just a crack au where Ginny "loses" like 4 bfs in a row to her brothers just to realize she doesn't even like boys