#natalie x travis

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

IN DEFENSE OF TRAVIS MARTINEZ:

Because I’m sick and tired of seeing travis hate everywhere I go.

“Travis was sexist.”

Did he spout some sexist rhetoric in the beginning of the show? Sure. But it’s important to recognize that: A) he changed, and by season 2 he completely stopped, B) he was a teenage boy in the 1990s, and that kind of rhetoric was normal at the time, C) most of his sexist macho tough guy attitude was a complete act that he likely put on to compensate for his insecurity about his own masculinity, and internalized homophobia. (More on that later.)

(Also let’s be real, Travis is basically one of the girls anyway and I’m tired of pretending he’s not.)

2. “Travis didn’t care about Javi.”

Did we watch the same show??? Granted Travis may have had trouble expressing his feelings (also related to his insecurities about masculinity, likely learned from his father, as well as growing up in a patriarchal and homophobic society), but he cared deeply about Javi. In S1E4, Travis literally DUG UP HIS DAD’S GRAVE, through horror, tears, and vomit, in order to retrieve his ring to give to Javi. When Javi disappeared, Travis kept looking for him every day for months, and never gave up, even when logically it would have seemed impossible for him to still be alive. He comforted and reassured Javi when neither of them drew the card. He cradled Javi’s dead body and ate a bite of his raw heart (which was a metaphor for how much he loved him, and a parallel to Shauna eating Jackie’s raw ear.) Maybe Travis wasn’t always there for Javi in the way he needed, but he absolutely loved him, and it’s important to remember that Travis was also a traumatized, grieving, kid who just lost his dad.

3. “Travis slut-shamed Nat.”

As we are literally shown in the show, Travis was not trying to slut shame her, he asked how many times she had done it because he was embarrassed about the fact that he was a virgin, and worried that she would judge him, or that he wouldn’t measure up because he was more inexperienced than her. When she told him she hooked up with Bobby Farleigh, he did not get mad at her because she slept with another guy (he already knew about that, and was fine with it), he got mad because she hooked up with his bully, and then lied to him about it. I don’t blame Nat for this, she didn’t know about it at the time, and didn’t want him to get mad once she found out, but I also don’t blame Travis for being hurt and embarrassed and upset with her for lying about it.

4. “Travis was just kind of a dick.”

Sure, but so were all of them. He acted like kind of a jerk in the first season. So what? Shauna had an affair with her best friend’s boyfriend, lied to her about it for months, and refused to apologize. Misty tried to drug Coach Ben. Nat faked his brother’s death to him (yeah, she was trying to help him move on, but still not cool). All of them called him “Flex” (y’know, the nickname that was used to bully him for years). None of them are perfect or nice or likable all the time, and that’s ok; that’s the whole point. They’re realistic, complex, flawed, morally gray and sometimes unlikable people. They’ve all done bad things, but nothing Travis did is worse than what anyone else on that show has done. He was a traumatized teen whose dad literally just died. Also, me personally, if everyone around me was constantly calling me the mean nickname that was used to bully me since middle school, I would also probably act like a little bit of a dick.

5. “Travis is a straight man.”

Wrong. (Also not really a valid reason to hate someone… But most importantly, just wrong.)

Travis Martinez is clearly a bisexual.

So many of his issues: the insecurity, the bullying, the macho tough guy act, the whole weird complex about his masculinity, all of it stems (at least partly) from the fact that he’s bisexual and has internalized homophobia. The whole “Flex” thing is just thinly veiled homophobia. The main reason why he got bullied is because Bobby Farleigh spread a rumor about him getting back surgery to better suck his own dick. The unsaid implication there is that he’s a man who sucks dick, which is inherently queer, even if it is his own. If you look even slightly past the most surface level interpretation, it’s pretty obvious that Travis was bullied because of homophobia. His performance of stereotypical toxic masculinity was clearly over compensation for the fact that he doesn’t fit into the box of traditional straight masculinity, and was a reaction to the bullying from his peers, abuse from his dad, and internalized homophobia from growing up in a homophobic and patriarchal society. As the show progresses he starts to unlearn that toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia, and he allows himself to be more vulnerable, emotional, and feminine, and as a result, he becomes stronger, more confident, and more respectful of the people around him.

As for Travis being a man… Is he though???

In season 1, Travis is a man (narratively speaking); there is a clear distinction between Travis/Coach Ben and the girls. However, in season 2, we see a stark shift in how Travis is depicted. The separation between Travis and the girls pretty much ceases to exist. Narratively speaking, there is no distinction made between Travis and the other girls; they are one entity—one hive mind. Instead, the emphasis is now placed on the distinction between Coach Ben and the girls/Travis. When Coach Ben watches the Yellowjackets eat Jackie in horror and disbelief, Travis is right there with them, dressed in ancient greek robes along with the rest of them. In season 2, Coach Ben is the only real Man of the group (Travis has narratively become one of the girls, and Javi is just a boy, not a man) and he is shown staying separate from the rest of the group, and growing more and more uncomfortable with the cultish dynamics, while Travis, on the other hand, becomes more and more integrated with the group, as he falls deeper and deeper into cult beliefs, until he is a full-blown devout Lottie worshipper. Of the three males on the show, he is the only one who actually participates in cannibalism with the other Yellowjackets. Also he lost his virginity to a lesbian.

Whether or not you choose to believe that Travis is transfem (I do) you cannot deny that, at least narratively speaking, Travis is literally just a girl.

6. Travis is a victim.

I don’t know why nobody in this fandom seems to acknowledge this, but Travis is a sexual assault victim and I’m tired of people constantly overlooking and ignoring that fact. In Doomcoming, the girls (excluding Jackie, Nat, Tai, and Van) chased him down, sexually assaulted him, and then tried to kill him. That’s not something that’s up for debate or denial, that is literally canon. Stop pretending it didn’t happen. Stop pretending it wasn’t assault. Stop shaming him and making fun of him for struggling with sex, or not always being able to get it up. That’s a normal trauma response after being assaulted/raped. You guys are literally proving the point. This kind of treatment from society towards masculinity and male victims is just playing into the patriarchy and toxic masculinity, and is exactly what made him act the way he did in season 1 in the first place!

[mantiswitch]

on the topic of yellowjackets i hate how romanticised lottie is in the fandom istg all i see is hot edits of her and only discussing her in the context of the ships they ship AND IT PISSES ME OFF BECAUSE SHES A WONDERFUL CHARACTER AND THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO HER THAN HER NON EXISTENT ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND BEING HOT!!!!

oh and speaking of ships: lottienat doesn’t make any sense unless maybe sorta in the adult timeline but it makes even less sense in the teen timeline which is where i see people editing it most for some reason?? there is zero romantic tension between them in the teen timeline and lowkey just feels like yall are shipping random ships just because you don’t like travnat (which i do fear is the better ship in this situation)

[warningsine]

[leitnerpiper420]

im just saying nat and travis and lottie are very I'm Your Man by Mitski coded

[juniperhillpatient]

taissa & shauna as adults - “she has to learn to handle her own shit.” “who does nat have - other than travis, & we both know that was a fucking train wreck - she has no one, & now she has less.” “we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

nat & travis as scared teenagers - “I know I’m being a selfish asshole but I don’t want you to go.” “yeah. okay. [I’ll stay.]”

natalie & travis were fucking heroes. they hunted & scavenged in the freezing cold when no one else would or could. they relied only on each other & then were judged for being “a trainwreck” as if they could be anything else after what they went through - what they were PUT through. javi was murdered after travis & natalie spent months searching for him & cared for him as you would expect for a child & natalie was given ultimately no choice - be viciously slaughtered or let javi die. travis was given a similar choice - starve & die in the cold while we eat your brother or embrace his sacrifice.

natalie & travis spent their adult lives being ostracized & treated horribly because of their mental illness & trauma & addictions as if they could have done any better - as if people like shauna & taissa & van were ACTUALLY doing better & not just living behind a false veneer. then they were killed & their deaths were lied about - a spit in the face of their memories.

the public will always believe travis killed himself even though he fought so hard to survive. natalie’s death being labeled an overdose is such a slap in the face to her corpse after she fought to get clean.

I’m just soooo. ooh. I have normal feelings about travis martinez & natalie scatorccio.

[mikasaerens]

Yellowjackets fandom hating Nat x Travis is my villain origin story

[allthegothihopgirls]

going to georgia is the nattravis song ever

[mxlti-fand0m-imaginess]

🪷 - fav/least fav ship: give me a fandom and i’ll tell you my favorite and least favorite ship!

Hi ! May I ask for ahs and Yellowjackets ?

american horror story:

fav ship: jpm and the countess

they might not be the healthiest relationship, but i’m obsessed with how they act around each other. just how smitten james is and how the countess is just like forcing him away. i don’t know i just love them together. and before he died they had just the best relationship dynamic. i love these two together so fucking much.

least fav ship: kyle and zoe

so i know a lot of people will probably disagree with this. and i will say that before he died, i do think they could’ve been really cute together. but then zoe brought him back and basically treated him like a pet. he barely even knew her and then all of a sudden it’s like she’s forcing him to be with her, and he can’t even say no because of all the damage done to his brain. i just don’t really like the dynamic they have.

yellowjackets:

fav ship: jackie and shauna

i don’t care what anyone thinks, they were in love. just the was shauna looks at jackie, how they acted around each other, how close they were. i know for a fact shauna has feelings for jackie, and i think jackie feels the same but denies them and is only with jeff cause of comphet. but they would be the cutest together, and all the ship edits are only making my obsession with them worse.

least fav ship: nat and travis

maybe if they got together under different circumstances they could’ve been great together. but they were both traumatized and it kinda feels like they just clung to each other as a way of ignoring all their pain. it just doesn’t seem healthy. i would love them together if they got together before the plane crash, but it seems like they’re just using each other to forget, and not really being together because they want to.

[inhalingmagic]

[leitnerpiper420]

i am once again begging for travnatlottie to be a polycule. lottie is a lesbian but she was totally his qpp and i will stand by that

You’re telling me they look at each other like this and aren’t in love?

[lacyscabinet]

I need to get my roots done so this is what I offer to you guys today, tomorrow? Who knows...

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

travis martinez is such a fucking loser 💕

pookie really pulled the baddest bitch in the forest with nothing but close-up magic and a dream. the true definition of autistic rizz

[sunny-rants]

Natalie is rarely, if ever, needlessly cruel, but if you look at all of her relationships (Travis, Kevyn, the other Yellowjackets) she gets most verbally aggressive and mean when she starts to really care about them. she does this with Misty too, but Misty is the only one relentless enough to not be driven away by this defence mechanism. yeah Mistynat is dysfunctional, but I don’t interpret it as unrequited, (not that there’s anything wrong with canonically one sided ships) it’s dysfunctional from both sides. they’re janky ass puzzle pieces that fit together, two sides of the same fucked up coin, the immovable object (Nat’s repression) colliding with the unstoppable force (Misty’s desire to be needed).

[warningsine]

[leitnerpiper420]

still waiting for someone to say nat, lottie and travis could have been a throuple if the 2nd half of s2 didnt choose to rip my heart out instead. if only they all got therapy

[juniperhillpatient]