#media audiences

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[whore-man]

if there was ever a tv adaptation of the magnus archives i think sasha should be played by the same person as notsasha the whole time.

there are perhaps a few polaroids shown briefly in the background with someone you don't recognize during s1, but they disappear in s2.

in the end, the viewer doesn't remember the 'real' sasha either, because she was never acting in the show. all you have is memories of notsasha.

the first time we actually see the actor in the pictures from s1 is in the flashbacks at the beginning of s5; sasha and tim talking, jon's birthday, sweet memories that just- don't seem quite right, even though you know this is the true version.

[yujateaandpi]

the devil works hard but the Mabel haters in my Instagram comments work harder

[nova-rpv]

a bunch of doodles to make up for my wips 👍

and dont forget your daily clicks!!

[jinnex]

stranger things filming started? won't believe until i see it

(mike s5 vision in honor of that)

[stil-lindigo]

a non-comprehensive guide to my favourite characters in claymore, the best manga you've never read (more under the cut)

don't know what I'm talking about? here's a crashcourse.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

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The perfect responses to people who insist creators "must" write all stories, even those aimed at adults, like a 1980s cartoon PSA and spoon-feed their audiences everything — or else they'll be accused of being "irresponsible" *eye roll* if they let their bad guys win a la Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971).

[kiwisandpearls]

I’m putting these words on a high shelf until you guys can actually start applying these words to actual situations where it would be important to apply them to and not fictional content

text behind read more

Text on box: the words “glorify, normalize, sexualize”

text pointing to kid: people who think the depiction of a certain dark topic without demonization equates to endorsement of that dark topic irl

[lululeighsworld]

it was literally their moment and they just let us watch

(if you need me i'll be marinating in this for the foreseeable future)

[queermikewheelertruther]

TIREDDDD of anti-bylers claiming that bylers dont know how to differentiate platonic friendships from romantic ones but that’s simply not true. like the reason byler has SO many more fans than say henclair, is because they have CANON romantic undertones in their moments together.

you dont see people making hour long analysis videos on madwheeler or hopclair because there is no evidence to go off of. especially after s4, it IS true that there is proof of byler and implied romance between them, especially because of how big the byler fandom got after 2022.

[whatohitsonfirewelp]

Guys can we please talk about how HUGE buck being bisexual is?

We have more people watching the show because a man was made bi and he hits NONE of the gay stereotypes.

People are doing it because this is so so so rare!!

People are doing it out of SPITE for the homophobic fans!!

People are watching the first season and are in SHOCK because oh?? There’s a lesbian black couple?? With a CHILD??? Oh there’s a gay 911 operator???

Guys it’s just

So many people are discovering this amazing beautiful show and the queer characters and now THEY get to see themselves as well!! THEY get to experience this joy with us!!

Because 911 is so much more than Evan Buckley. It’s so much more than Hen and Karen and Josh. It’s so much more because of them. It’s so much more because we have such a diverse and amazing cast. It’s so much more because they talk about topics of abuse, ptsd, family trauma (for SEVERAL characters), therapy for MEN, the grief of losing a partner or a parent or a child. It’s fully a found family show!!

And it’s so beautiful to see people hear about this show and watch it and feel seen. That Evan Buckley being bisexual opened a door for so many people that never knew it was ever there.

[sukibenders]

Me, whenever I see poc, especially dark-skinned, characters in fantasy and/or historical period dramas depicted with dignity and respect and just simply given opportunities to have happy storylines that aren't solely fueled by trauma on the aspects of their race: Someone cooked here.

[shit-talker]

I saw someone in a TikTok comment saying they didn't really think DBD was that great of Queer rep because none of the ships actually ended up together at the end of S1. But here's the thing, Queer rep isn't always about gay couples - it's about the characters, and yeah, the easiest way to show a Queer character is putting them in a queer relationship, but that's not what it's all about.

I found DBD particularly fascinating because the queerness of these characters wasn't the main focus - it's not a romance, it's a teen drama that mainly focuses on character development (as seen with Edwin coming yo terms with his sexuality, Crystal overcoming her experience with her abusive ex, Charles dealing with the trauma of having an abusive parent, and even Niko dealing with contacting her mother and dealing with her father's death) it's about the relationships, but not necessarily in a romantic manner.

Charles and Edwin's relationship is one of the main focuses on the show, and yeah, eventually, they'll end up together, but they first have to get over these obstacles in their own internal lives. Charles has to be able to regulate and deal with his own emotions instead of repressing them, hiding them with humour, and eventually lashing out, and Edwin has to be comfortable in himself before he can be comfortable in a relationship - and they would be true if they were a straight or a gay couple.

Queer representation doesn't need to be the main focus of everything - if this were a romance, then yeah, maybe, but it isn't. I don't think any of the relationships in the show would have changed if they weren't queer and that's what representation is about. It's about breaking down these barriers that separate a gay couple from a straight couple. It's about showing that love isn't defined by a gender or whatever.

And it needs to be realistic. For me, watching shows like Heartstopper (I haven't seen all of it, I read the webcomic like 3 years ago, tho) it felt very surface level because it was almost like every plot point revolved around the characters being queer, and while I love that and think it's great for a younger queer audience (like 13/14) I think shows should focus less on making gay characters and couple to please an audience, and focus more on creating in depth meaningful characters who just so happen to be gay.

Shows like Good Omens, I feel did a great job with dealing with a queer narrative. It's not technically about a queer relationship as the main focus, and yet the audience is still able to pick up on it and catagorise it as queer media.

Is Dead Boy Detectives perfect in this regard? Of course not, no piece of media is perfect, but I do like how they've dealt with it.

People need to realise that shows can have an underlying queer narrative without queerbaiting or specifically stating so. In DBD, characters never state their sexuality because it doesn't matter to the show - not to mention two of the main characters are from periods of time where labels weren't a huge thing, or even known about but we are still able to pick up these context clues that point towards a preference for them.

[orionsgirdle]

with a lot of this alicent hightower analysis something becomes very clear about how women are perceived in media. when she has a baby she gets the #MOTHER character tag and all other traits disappear. she must now exist solely for her children. all her motivations must be related to her children.

compare that to how viserys is treated by the fandom and the mainstream media. yes he is a father, but he's also a husband who loved his first wife (even though he killed her). he loved his brother. he loved his valyrian history, his little dragon figurines. people have no trouble understanding him as a full-fledged, flawed character with conflicting motivations.

alicent though? why is her sole focus not on making her son the king like in the book? how dare she have conflicting, contradictory desires outside of what her children want? it's like if a mother's reason for existing is not her children then what is the point of her being there?

[ozzieinspacetime]

Trevor Hills being Pathetic Blorbo #1 and your enjoyment of him being said Pathetic Blorbo #1 just adding on to the games pre-existing meta commentary is,, so good. They made him as miserable as possible and god it really worked.