#like diana is literally a queer icon here

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Maybe I'm being cynical, but you're not gonna get a Spiderman 2 moment with that.

Most of the diehard monarchists in Britain do not give a shit about gay rights, at best. A lot of them actively oppose it. Plus we saw what happened to Meghan Markle; can you imagine if Harry wasn't just dating a person of colour, but a man of colour? The absolute best they'll get is a "if you don't like it, leave the monarchy" from that group. Realistically, Piers Morgan is gonna go on a tirade about how the royal family are being forced to "go woke", and Alex is going to bear the brunt of that backlash and be hounded every day online by the insane people who think Piers Morgan isn't just a sad, lonely bellend.

And most queer people in Britain don't like the monarchy because 1) queer people are more likely to have leftist politics and therefore oppose the monarchy considering the everything they've done that they're still actively benefiting from, and 2) queer folks in Britain won't ever forgive them for the way they treated Diana and the fact that they also probably had her killed.

Like Diana is a queer icon in Britain because during the AIDS crisis, she went and visited patients and held their hands, and was a respected public figure at the time. She established trusts and led fundraising campaigns both to help patients and for research. She used her platform and significance to help queer folks in the 1980s when Thatcher was in. And Diana was then wildly mistreated by the Royals in return. Even today, a lot of queer people - myself included - would never forgive the monarchy for that, even taking away every other awful thing they've done.

They're hardly going to go protest in the streets for a guy actively benefitting from an institution that he can leave at any point. It's not like he'll be out on the streets with no option if he leaves the monarchy. Just sell your exclusive story to whichever newspaper offers you the most. You'll get plenty. Like queer activists who organise marches and protests are not going to focus on Henry when trans British folks can seek refugee status in Aotearoa because of the dangers we face here.

And I'm not saying there isn't an overlap between the above groups because there is a definite overlap between the people who like and care about the monarchy and gays and/or allies of the gays, but it's a small overlap filled with people who have absolutely no idea how to organise a protest and often no desire to protest, as well as people who still consume anything Joanne Rowling puts out whilst whining about how all these trans people are so mean to them! Like these people will sell out their allyship or their fellow queers just so they can stan their favourite author of an enjoyable yet unoriginal fantasy series; they'll happily do the same so they can stan the fucking monarchy. You might get some grumbling about how this isn't right, but any actual protests would be small and ineffectual.

I can see someone painting that mural though. I don't think Casey McQuinn (is that their name?) did it purposefully because this is a tone deaf earnest book, but Han and Leia is such a good choice considering 1) it's an iconic heterosexual couple and b) characters from a tentpole IP owned by fucking Disney.

Like there's a big overlap between Disney Adults and gays/allies who would unironically say "yas queen" when referring to Queen Elizabeth Windsor/Queen Belizabeth Royal-Blue, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

one of my mutuals is apparently a rwrb fan because i just opened the app and my dash was just gifset from the movie after gifset from the movie after gifset from the movie.

and i find myself staring at each of them remembering your post about it earlier this year because wow it really doesnt explore either american or british politics nor the monarchy, huh?

like im staring at this henry bloke like oh you have a very high bar - probably like 22,000 feet high or so - to clear for me to not hate you in principle, let alone root for you.

it feels very tone deaf and i really dont understand how people are able to turn their brains off for it.

Kai I'm so glad I have the opportunity to ask you this because when I was reading the book I went "hmm, this seems pretty silly, but I'm too American to know for sure," so let me pose this question to you:

if it were revealed (by Evil American Politicians) that one of the lesser princes was a.) gay and b.) in a secret relationship with the US president's son and c.) his evil queen grandma (not That Queen, but she's written as a very obvious pastiche of That Queen) was pressuring him to stay closeted

what are the odds that the people of England would, hypothetically, take to the streets protesting for him to be allowed to be openly gay? and even more specifically, what are the odds that someone would paint an enormous mural of him and his American boyfriend as Han and Leia from Star Wars? like purely hypothetically

[twelvedaysinaugust]

I listened to the podcast today that was recommended by that one anon the other day! It changed my whole perspective, completely. After hearing all the shit that was said in this episode (and in the others, there are 3 or 4 with this girl) I have no hopes at all they will ever come out individually let alone together. At least not as long as they are working. The girl in the podcast did break down everything she has experienced as someone who is and was completely unknown while in a queer closeted relationship with a famous singer. Nobody knew about them and only one of these two were a celebrity and they still were forced apart, they were literally dragged into a break up. They broke up even tho they didn’t want to. Their team kept them apart on purpose so much that they even made sure to change their phone numbers so they couldn’t keep in touch with each other anymore after the break up.

They experienced everything that we always assume about h and L situation and about closeting in general, it’s all real and it happens the way we think. Queer celebrities can’t come out in Hollywood and if so only under certain conditions set up by their team. That’s what happens to Harry. He can be out but only in a very vague undefined way. Queer artists can’t be specific about their sexuality, lyrics get changed by their team, they have to use gender neutral pronouns and only can change them on stage bc on stage they are more free, it’s harder to “confirm” or proof anything so that’s the place where they can express themselves more the way they want to even tho their team wont be happy about it, but they can get away with that.

They talked about Taylor and Diana and Kaylor for the most part, I’m not into these ships. But she confirmed that management teams make sure that they are not even in the same country officially when there’s rumors or suspicious fans, at least for like 6 months or more. She confirmed that queer artists do a lot of queer coding and signalling to let their fans know and they hope that fans will notice and talk about it, they want to be seen. If it happens regularly it’s not a coincidence, that’s what she said and repeated a few times. And it’s telling if stars have a large queer fanbase bc queer people kinda find and see each other. She told about her meeting with a very famous actress in her 60s who already has had their hight of their carrier, a literal icon that apparently is in a very obvious glass closet today but even she in her situation isn’t able to come out and probably never will. This woman was in closeted relationships herself and it didn’t work out bc of the circumstances.

There was so much more they talked about and I’m just so done. I know nothing of this is news to any of us but it was terrifying for me as someone who is queer to get this confirmed by someone from the other side who has experienced it all. She said it’s not so much about the people themselves, it’s about the industry and the environment they are in.

After listening to all that I just think it’s not surprising at all we haven’t seen Louis and Harry together for 7 years. Actually, that makes it even more real to me tbh. If it’s already so fucked up when there’s only one celebrity involved in a queer relationship, I don’t wanna imagine how it’s like for two super famous and popular stars to be with each other. Especially when there’s millions of fans who try everything to find out about them and keep track of every step they do. Honestly, I don’t know how they would make it work.

Typing all of this in was probably a bit unnecessary but maybe it’s helps to navigate the current situation without all these negative feelings towards Louis. I don’t know what life is like for neither him nor Harry but if they are queer and together it’s probably just as hard for them as for this girl in the Podcast. 🙁

Thanks for sharing, nonnie. Lots of interesting thoughts here.

In reference to this.

[snarktheater]

Comic Book review — Wonder Woman Rebirth

Happy Wonder Woman Day! I wish I could be talking about the new Wonder Woman movie, but since I'm not getting it in theaters for a couple more weeks, I have to resort to a back-up solution.

Luckily, I mentioned at the end of last year that I'd been reading a lot of comics, especially Wonder Woman comics. And with the completion of the fourth story arc in the Wonder Woman run since the DC Rebirth started, I feel like it's a pretty good time to look back at what the comic has been about, what it's done, and why I love it so much.

First of all: I'm still far from a massive comic book aficionado. I know about comics because I basically live on the Internet (and also, let's face it, because of Linkara), but I'm not really following either the evolution of the DC Universe or the Marvel comic universe. So I'm always happier to catch a series as it starts, especially if it starts anew.

The Wonder Woman Rebirth fits that bill. Part of the DC Rebirth initiative that started a year ago, which didn't fully reboot the universe but did force a clean slate (and some retcons) on most of the properties, it's a series that clearly has roots somewhere, but is written to be accessible to new readers. Like me. Well, kind of. I did read part of the Gaile Simone run before this one, but there's been a universe reboot between the two, so I think it doesn't count anyway.

Another thing: I said it's the fourth story arc, but the comic was actually published with two parallel story arcs at once until now, and all four have built up towards a single storyline.

So we have four story arcs. On the present-day side of things, we have the aptly-named "The Lies" and "The Truth". And in the past, we have "Year One" and "Godwatch". The present-day storylines are more intricately tied together, while the past storyline are independent from each other and mostly connect to the concurrently-running story…to an extent.

The Lies and The Truth are, as the naming scheme implies, two facets of the same story. Diana realizes that something's wrong as her past and memories become confused as a result of the DC Rebirth events, and her investigation leads her to uncover…well, a lie. A pretty big one. Then comes The Truth, where she tries to uncover…well, what the truth really is. Wow, am I being vague with this recap. But really, there's little way of explaining it beyond that.

Year One, meanwhile, follows Diana's first year as Wonder Woman, complete with Steve Trevor crashing on Themyscira and Diana leaving to the "world of men" with him, knowing that she can never return. Of course she does this with a reason: signs have appeared that Ares, the god of war, had escaped from his prison, and Diana must stop him.

Godwatch, finally, follows the backstory of, well, Godwatch, an antagonistic organization that appears near the end of The Lies and is our primary villain throughout The Truth. The comics still feature Diana, of course, but she's not aware of who's pulling the strings of the fights she's involved in. This may make this story arc seem trivial, but it it not.

Why do I love this four-part, twenty-four issues story? Well, on the surface, it's just really well-crafted. The plots intertwine, setups are made that pay off long afterwards and feel natural and no element feels out of place in hindsight. The world surrounding the Amazons is built with precision and with a fresh take that divorces them from Greek culture specifically and gives them a more universal edge. The main characters are fleshed-out and well-rounded, featuring Diana and Steve, naturally, but also Etta Candy, reimagined from Steve's assistant with an unrequited crush to his superior officer (on top of being a black woman, which I understand is the case since the New 52 reboot), Barbara Ann Minerva, the villainous "Cheetah" being now a scientist with a fascination for the myth of the Amazons and a feminist streak…

…and Veronica Cale, the head of Godwatch, who has a troubled past of her own and is really just trying her best. Plus, a few more characters to round out the cast (and of course, a bunch of Amazons in the early issues who stay very relevant afterwards, in spite of everything).

But it's not just that it's a well-crafted story. This run has themes, and they're good, and I want to talk about them. And I'll split it in two broad categories for the sake of structure

Queer and feminist themes

I'll start with this one because…well, it's more incidental. Although it's really important too, don't get me wrong. But it's more…there, rather than something the story is trying to make a point about.

And really, it's long overdue. Diana comes from a society of only women. She's the most famous superheroine in existence. If anyone's story should primarily focus on women (and it does, if you look at my list of protagonists) and feature some pretty major queer women, it's this one.

And this series delivers on that front, too. Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons calls her general Philippus "my love", Etta Candy and Barbara Ann "Cheetah" Minerva are implied to be a couple when the latter isn't busy being a monstrous demigod, villain Veronica Cale and her associate Adrianna are definitely intimate and Veronica's daughter Isadore "has no father"…it's all there. And of course, there is Diana herself:

Diana of Themyscira is canon bi in this series. And I do mean bi, since she also has a thing with Steve Trevor and apparently a romantic past with Superman, although that one I think is due to earlier comics that we get the sense the writers here would have happily done away with.

And the greatest thing (especially considering the writer is male) is that all this representation of queer women is done without a single objectifying scene of any of these women. The one more thing I could ask for at this point are trans Amazons, really. But still, that's some giant steps forward.

It's not just queer representation. The story, as I mentioned, is focused primarily on women. Diana's gang includes herself, Steve, Etta and Barbara Ann, and the latter is the first she can even talk to outside of Themyscira, while Etta is definitely her closest friend. The first antagonist of The Lies is Urzkartaga, the god who cursed Barbara Ann to be Cheetah, and he's a literal misogynistic god with a cult of literal misogynists. So that's one obvious message there.

Also—and I'd be remiss to mention it—that head of that cult, Cadulo, gives us my favorite Steve Trevor moment.

So, you know, no big deal. Let's just have every single protagonist in the series denounce aspects of the patriarchy and fight literal misogynists.

The bigger antagonist of the entire story arc, Veronica Cale, is on the opposite end, in that she's humanized thanks to the Godwatch prequel stories and given motive for standing against Wonder Woman (spoiler: she's more or less coerced). Bonus point since, when the coercion is lifted, she immediately stands down instead of going on being evil for no reason, which I almost expected to happen but never did.

And you also have some racial inclusiveness. On top of Etta, as I mentioned, the Amazons are moved out of Greece and are now multicultural, and a few prominent figures (like Philippus, whom I already mentioned, and a woman who appears to be the Amazons' chief scientist). I'm not going to say it's the most balanced ratio I've seen (because…it's not), but considering how many "iconic" characters we're dealing with here, I think the books are faring remarkably.

Truth and compassion

Linkara defines Wonder Woman as the "spirit of Truth", and I think that's the best way to describe her. I realize that sounds like a meaningless, pompous title, but it actually captures what she's about fairly well.

Outside of the obvious (her lasso makes people tell the truth), the idea of Wonder Woman as the spirit of truth is also well explained in her post-Crisis on Infinite Earth backstory (which is also shown in that video I just linked), where one of the powers she received is to "open men's hearts". Which, no, isn't about romance—I think.

It's truth, but it's also all that derives from it. Above all, something I think is best explained in the recent annual issue of this very series:

Understanding. And with it, empathy and compassion. Which defines Wonder Woman's heroism. To me, the Big Three of DC's universe, at their best-written, convey very identifiable and humanist messages (in the classic sense of the word, not in the "shouldn't feminism be called humanism if it's about equality?" nonsense).

Batman is the heroism humanity can achieve (and note that I'm not talking about edgelord Batman here like in Batman v Superman, I'm talking about the guy who adopts a whole gaggle of children because he can't see anyone else grow up alone like he did), through wits and resourcefulness (and, admittedly, money). Superman is the value of humanity; what makes a god-like being like him heroic is that he is human and understands humans (again, not something we see in the Snyderverse much), and cares about them. And Wonder Woman is the in-between, the demigod (not necessarily in-universe) who embodies the best values of what humanity can be.

There's obviously some intersection, and probably also better ways to phrase it (let's be real, there's probably an essay's worth of discussion in what I just said in a paragraph), but that's the gist of it.

A few very popular frames from Wonder Woman are the one that shows Batman could never identify a weakness for her, and another where she says she doesn't have a rogue's gallery like Batman and Superman because "when I deal with them, I deal with them". Both of these are cool and badass, but they omit the reason why both of these things are true (in theory if not always in execution, because, again, inconsistent writers): her primary weapon is compassion and understanding. At her best, she solves the problem that drove her villains to villainy in the first place (which is exactly what she does in this series with Barbara Ann as Cheetah), and only resorts to force as the final resort, like with Urzkartaga. And that brings us to the resolution of this story.

Minor spoilers in the next few paragraphs.

It turns out that the big villain behind everything Diana had faced throughout this story wasn't Ares as she thought—he never even left his prison on Themyscira. Instead, it's his sons, Deimos and Phobos (terror and panic), who want to usurp Ares as the god of war. See, when Ares was bound to his prison, he was allowed to see the madness that war brings, so he doesn't really want to be released.

So Diana has to stop Phobos and Deimos, literal gods, from killing their dads. How does she do that?

Yup.

End of the spoilers.

It's the same thing with Veronica Cale, though I won't go into details over why. Diana deals with her enemies by understanding them. Even Urzkartaga is defeated through Diana's empathy, not for him, but for his victims.

On a greater level, the final battle of the story sends a powerful message: that truth, understanding and compassion are greater than fear, anger and violence. They are far more powerful tools to solve a problem. And that's a pretty powerful message to send, especially in a superhero comic.

And that's what Wonder Woman being the spirit of Truth means to me, why I love this comic series, and incidentally, why she's my favorite superhero across the board. Oh, yeah, did I mention that she's my favorite superhero? I might have wanted to start with that.

Happy Wonder Woman day, everyone. And now I'll go back to anxiously waiting until I can see the movie, while hoping very, very hard that I won't be disappointed by it. But if I am, I'll know I can go back to these comics to find the heroine I love.

Also, if you're interested in checking these out for yourselves (and you absolutely should), Comixology is currently having a Wonder Woman Day sale until June 5, which includes the first seven issues of this series, so go take advantage of that!