#muse: nellis

[nelliesnellie]

How have I seen zero posts about Hilda functionally being described as canonically queer in season 3 of the Netflix show??? A spoilery rant from a transfeminine adult with big feelings about a kids show lol.

When Hilda and Johanna meet the freaky lake monster, Hilda asks what the creature what he is. He responds:

I'm from a time when creatures didn't have to be so clearly one thing or another. I have no word for what I am. I just am.

Anyone who is/has friends who are queer are probably already picking up what I'm putting down. This is such a familiar philosophy to so many of us—the idea that we just ARE, without needing handy little labels to identify ourselves if we don't want to.

AND THEN he follows his statement up with the line,

But I guess you, too, understand what that's like.

Like, HELLO??? This creature (non)defines himself in literally the queerest way I can imagine, and then fucking Uno reverses it onto Hilda??? PLUS the subtitles read, "you two" rather than "you, too." Which doesn't feel correct to me but it so, he's applying this to Johanna as well.

To be fair, the show is, in the text, referring explicitly to species taxonomy. What is this creature? Are the girls fairies or what? etc. BUT THENN when Johanna tries to come up with her own term for the monster, Hilda cuts her off, saying,

Mum, he prefers not to be labelled.

Which invokes the terminology of labels, the exact word that is used when having these conversations about gender and sexuality. I could be wrong, nothing's for certain. But it sure fucking sounds like the writers are trying to indicate something here.

Which I LOVE because there's so much queerness in this show, between the lines. And NONE of it is explicitly about gender or sexuality. Which is awesome in a kids show. Like. It's such a great example of "show, not tell" age appropriate teaching about some of this stuff. Even if there could be more explicit stuff going on. Trans a character. Give Kaisa a girlfriend. Let Hilda's dad and the bell guy hold hands. But even in 2024 we have to use coded language so things can be approved for release, much of the time.

Anyway, just an excerpt from my inner rantings about Hilda and queerness and generally lefty ideals.

[trainerethan]

My pokemon fixation is the first hyperfixation I've had in awhile where I didn't also do yumeshipping. I love Yume/self ship but inserting myself into reguri isn't appealing right now. Even if we'd make a beautiful autistic nb lesbian polycule. I do have a pokemon self insert who I draw art of and some pokemon ocs but none of them have anything to do with Kanto/reguri. Hmmmmm

[malusrecord]

Cottontail Chaos Blouse

@beyondbinaries @constellationcrowned

[debbiechanclub]

I need you all to know that I don't intentionally keep writing fics that take place on/around Nellie's birthday, it literally just works out that way

[chaoswithinthemind]

So I did a thing.TM

So I know a LOT of songs - my taste in music is very vast. And despite the fact I haven't played BG3 and have only heard spoilers, and also I didn't like every other one, I decided to make an Astarion Playlist!!!

It's mostly rock music,,,

I'll probably be adding and removing things as I go. Feel free to suggest songs! I probably won't be adding Astarion x Tav songs because it's a playlist mostly centered around his backstory and personality.

I'll put in the tags every singer/band in the playlist!

(It's nearly 3hrs jfc help)

[damsul]

HI ANGELS!!! soz for disappearing kinda BUT i am making my small comeback on an nell crain blog <3 please don't be shy and gimme a follow i miss writing!!!! @onacheek

[alexandriteobscuraarchive]

Childhood Homes (And Why We Hate Them)

[malusrecord]

@beyondbinaries @fandalias

new notepad concept,,,, been a couple yrs since ive released one!~

[nelliesnellie]

Having COVID, I woke up this morning thinking I'd dreamed that there was significant photographic evidence of Miki Berenyi of Lush fame playing on a Game Boy.

Turns out this is not some kind of weird fever dream induced by a virus and hours of Tetris and early 90s dreampop/shoegaze. She posted that photo herself on Twitter. Here's another one of her in '92 backstage at Lollapalooza:

Also I swear to god if I catch any of you unnecessarily sexualizing her I promise you will get debilitating nightmares. I feel like I shouldn't have to say that but I've seen the way y'all talk about this woman even when she's not lounging in fishnets.

idk if this is like common lore that I'm only just stumbling on but I think its delightful. I found some other photos too but they seemed like they were all promotional whereas these seem to be at least marginally journalistic.

Anyway! As a girl who likes classic video games and classic shoegaze I am just friggen pleased as punch. What a vibe. Truly a queen.

[alexandriteobscuraarchive]

@guardianofyesod

[nelliesnellie]

Eowyn and the Transgender Imagination: An Infodump by a Trans Folklorist

I recently watched the video essay "The Queer History of The Lord of the Rings" by verilybitchie on YouTube. Much of this video was spent discussing the character Eowyn, who presents as a man in order to go to war. This is discussed along with the fairy tales of gender transformation that were plausibly influential to Tolkien when writing Eowyn's story.

And HELLO this is my wheelhouse. I'm a trans folklorist who is naturally quite interested in queerness in folk narratives. AHHH!!!

Anyway, its a very cool video that I'm linking at the bottom, but there's a lot more that can be said on the topic of Eowyn and gender-scrambly folk narratives and its filling my brain like rapidly expanding foam insulation so I'm gonna dump my thoughts out here until my brain shuts off.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Eowyn's gender transgression makes her an example of what folklorist Pauline Greenhill calls the "transgender imagination."

The transgender imagination is itself an example of the potentially yielding nature of interpretations, which might further assist in extending the understandings of personhood, community, and indeed humanity for transgender and non-transgender folks alike. (Greenhill 2014. "“If I Was a Woman As I Am a Man”: The Transgender Imagination in Newfoundland Ballads.")

Pauline Greenhill is one of my fave scholars. She is one of the main folklorists to write about queerness in fairy tales, and one of very few scholars to publish about queerness in folk ballads.

Lets look at those historic anglophone folk ballads for a moment. There are a number of songs about bold young women, much like Eowyn. These often involve the heroine disguising herself as a man in order to fill a gendered role, such as a sailor, highwayman, or soldier.

These ballads typically include a lot more gender play than included in Tolkien's warrior woman. The song "Female Drummer" (Roud 226), for instance, can easily be read as an overtly trans narrative. The protagonist has no desire to return to presenting as a woman, and is joyful in gender transgression. They are only discovered when a girl falls in love with them, discovers their identity, and outs them to their commanding officer. In "The Female Cabin Boy" (Roud 239), a girl presents as a boy to work on a ship. Both the captain and his wife are attracted to her, and she becomes pregnant with the captains child. This implies homosexuality, bisexuality, and transness. The Eowyn narrative does not get as deep in the gender play, but its relation to these narratives do put it in this context of gender exploration.

One thing that is consistent in nearly every story of female-to-male gender presentation across ballads and fairy tales is a return to femininity at the end. Eowyn certainly fits this mold as well. The difference is in the motivation and circumstances behind this. In balladry, as seen in the examples above, the protagonist is often outed. In other examples, the protagonist reveals herself once she has successfully gained some sort of "win" over men (e.g. Roud 2173, Roud 7). In certain fairy tales, a reverse transformation takes place, where the protagonist undergoes a feminizing transformation at the end of the story (for more see "Queering Gender: Transformations in "Peg Bearskin," "La Poiluse," and Related Tales").

Eowyn, on the other hand, is not outed, transformed, or empowered over the patriarchy. Sure - in revealing herself she claims her own destiny, and does what no man can by slaying the Witch King of Angmar. She then returns to society as a woman once more, no longer in defiance of the patriarchy. Which like if that's what she wants, go for it. And she marries Faramir, who imo is fucking awesome, and not "an off-brand version of Aragorn" as verilybitchie put it. But ultimately her story is a lot less transgressive and gender exploration-ey as the ballads and fairy tales she relates to.

Ultimately we see, as verilybitchie indicates in their video essay, that Tolkien's straightforward old Catholic Englishman attitude does not match the potential queerness of the material he engages with. It's like Eowyn wants to be more queer, but is held back by the perspectives of the author.

Because these narratives are inherently challenging to gender and sexuality. By trespassing gender territory, new ground is reached, and Pandora's Gender Box is opened. As Diane Dugaw puts it in Warrior Women and Popular Balladry 1650-1850, the "Female Warrior is inherently contradictory to social construction of gender at the time they were popular," and "is a polyvalent heroine who has it both ways - "female and "male.""

You may notice Dugaw specifies "at the time they were popular." This because she is discussing this topic from a historical perspective. See, deviance of identity is understood differently depending on the social context. Both Dugaw and Greenhill have published really interesting stuff in this regard.

How does this apply to Lord of the Rings and Eowyn's story? Is the relevant cultural context that of the Rohirrim? Tolkien's personal beliefs? The cultural setting in which the book was written? The current day? The material, scattered across history, that inspired LotR? Probably any of the above, depending on what you're going for. As verilybitchie points out, the change in perspectives over time explains the changes in how Eowyn is presented in the books vs the movies.

BUT NELLIE. DO YOU THINK THAT EOWYN IS TRANSGENDER??? You might be screaming at the screen. I dunno. Probably not. But maybe? I could debate that question, but honestly, does it matter?

Ultimately, what's compelling about this question, is the question itself. The open door to the fact that, well, maybe not, but hey possibly there's some flavor of transness involved. This notion, this raised possibility, is the "transgender imagination" concept I brought up at the beginning of this wee essay. Eowyn does not need to be one thing or another. By inspiring the transgender imagination, she challenges expectations and opens doors across the spectrum. This is part of why characters like her are so delightful, ya know?

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

There is so much more that can be said about this but I am fucking TIRED because I needed a rest day and instead got hyperfixated on this all day haha weeee. So I'm gonna stop myself here even though I'd love to get more into the fairy tale side of things and dig more into the actual LotR stuff.

Ultimately I really liked verilybitchie's video essay and recommend it. Just got like, some more context here weeeee. Gonna link that video essay now. Okiday. If you're here, thanks for reading my ramble!

[nelliedecker]

[malusrecord]

@constellationcrowned

[alexandriteobscuraarchive]

@guardianofyesod

[malusrecord]

@magioffire

via

[nelliesnellie]

Me: i wonder what folk magic is historically like in my area I’m gonna read this book

Book: piss in a bottle

Me: i, uh - what?

Book: piss in a glass bottle and boil it on the stove