#sorry for hijacking your post op i just have so many thoughts and feelings about this

[sapphorror]

!! All true (Jon's alexithymia is so real to me), and I'm also compelled to add:

Jon and Martin's relationship is very heavily based in mutual trauma—like, I love their shameless S5 codependence and the 'where you go I go' thing is Tragic Romance™ as all hell, but the reason they're both borderline willing to trade the world for each other is because they've been each other's only constant throughout all the horrors of the show. And this is especially relevant on Jon's end because a) Martin is the only original archival assistant still alive and losing him at this point would basically seal Jon's complete and utter inability to protect the people he believes himself responsible for AND sever his last tie to his former humanity, and b) Martin is the one person who has, unerringly, come to Jon's defense and been on his side when everyone else he cares about resents and mistrusts him in some way. The fact that support was very abruptly taken away in S4 when Jon undoubtedly needed it the most only made Jon value it more because he now has a very clear picture of what life is like without it.

And is this healthy? Well, no, but one, that's not what I'm here for, and two, I think Jonathan Sims expressed the sentiment best here:

They are not a normal relationship formed under normal circumstances, and consequently really can't be fairly evaluated by normal standards. They have been through and continue to go through levels of trauma that are literally impossible to replicate in the real world. Just let them have this.

Also, yeah, it's worth noting that because of the way TMA is written, with the vast majority of non-plot relevant events happening off-screen only to be hinted at on the recordings, the two of them developing a friendship over the course of seasons two and three is absolutely in the text if you're paying any attention whatsoever. It's probably not a very CLOSE friendship, under the circumstances—that they don't actually know each other very well is something both Martin and Peter explicitly point out—but there was absolutely room for feelings to begin developing before getting rudely derailed by S4.

I've seen it said in places that Jon and Martin's relationship (specifically Jon realizing he has feelings for Martin) feels rushed and out of nowhere, and there's a perspective here that I want to share.

I think some people see them as explicitly a gay couple and expect them both to react a certain way to each other, but I have some thoughts as to why Jon is different and their relationship might not look like a traditional MLM story.

I feel that Jon's affections for Martin are absolutely there and growing over time, but with him being acespec, possibly autistic (the "I feel...sad" moment screams alexithymia to me. He doesn't fully understand his internal feelings until they're too big to ignore), and trying very hard to not get murdered for several seasons, I think it's perfectly reasonable his feelings for Martin would take time to develop.

We do see him softening to Martin over time. We see him thinking about Martin unprompted when he's alone. We see him going from "this man is going to ruin this delicate facade I've put up to seem professional, and I want him gone immediately." to "Oh, you're actually capable. So capable you might be trying to kill me." To "I don't want him to get involved or he might get hurt. I need to keep my distance so he's safe." To "I'm going to make myself tea out of nowhere because the guy who usually made it for me all the time isn't here and now it's part of my routine and I want to keep that part of him around while I'm hiding out for murder."

But once he identifies his own feelings, he overcorrects right into hopeless romantic. He's pining hard all S4, because he finally realized himself that he's in love and it's at the worst possible time. It is abrupt. Dude only just figured it out and he's throwing his whole ass into this.

I think even without the autistic headcanon, the acespec nature of how he views relationships and his whole "I feel...sad" moment indicates clearly that he was just oblivious to his own feelings for a very long time.

I know it feels sudden, but some of us are oblivious, okay? I was friends with a girl for 2 years before my brain flipped the switch and Jon's reaction felt so familiar, and I love it. I just hardly ever get to see "me" in media, and it's a bummer when people say it feels unrealistic. It's not, it's just not the norm.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Lost Tomb Lewks: Reboot Part 11

(LTL Masterpost) (All Canary Masterposts)(Part 10)

I’m making my post titles more specific because I’m loving the clothes in The Mystic Nine and in Ultimate Note, so I expect I’ll continue this series with other shows when I get to the end of Reboot Season 2. 

Look 56 is - surprise! - a cozy sweater. This one is a deep, huggable brown in a sort of waffle stitch (OP is not a knitter; knitters pls feel free to elaborate in comments). He wears this with loose blue jeans and...shoes. This show doesn’t feature his feet often enough for proper shoe commentary. 

This is a perfect look for pacing and talking, half to yourself and half to your buddy, as he gets absolutely, completely baked. 

Wu Xie is doing his pacing while he gazes at an enormous pin board filled with pictures linked together with red string. The red string board is becoming one of my favorite CDrama tropes. I’ve seen it in Detective L, Mystic Nine, that new show with Wue Xie number 2 Psych Hunter, and probably a couple more shows. It’s a thing in older American detective dramas, too, but not in modern ones and not nearly as often. 

It does look cooler than a whiteboard with magnets, but it seems like a lot of work. For this pin board, Wu Xie Wang Meng had to cut a bunch of red string and print out a bazillion cell phone pictures, which someone managed to take during all of the running around & death defying action. All so Wu Xie could theorize that everything connects to...some random point in the middle of the board? I don’t know who these guys are in the middle picture, but I don’t think they’re responsible for all of the rocks in the other pictures. 

If you change your mind about a connection, and move a pin, do you have to re-loop all the string to keep everything taut? What if you need to move an end pin when you’ve already cut the string? Perhaps OP is overthinking this. 

This look is a comfortable one for lying on the couch when you’ve exhausted yourself with string management. 

(more behind the cut!)

I love the aesthetic of this apartment. It appears to be full of furniture taken from Wu Xie’s study in Wushanju, but because it isn’t mixed in with the fancy older antiques, the vibe is totally different. The furniture is midcentury modern, with a lot of warm tones and leather, which matches Wu Xie’s clothing choices. This quality of furniture subtly reminds us that these guys are antique dealers. Even when they’re down and out, they have discerning taste.

The textiles, cushions, the throw blanket on the table, are all colorful, tactile, and comfortable, matching Pangzi’s clothing and overall vibe. Overall the space is a nice mix of both of their looks, which is appropriate for an old married couple long-term roommates. 

He completes this outfit with a olive-green hooded jacket with lots of flaps and pockets. 

Side note: their buddy  Jin Wan Tang (on the left) might be officially gay? Unlike the blatant subtle queer coding that appears in a lot of CDramas, this character (and that one guy in the Rain Village section) seems flamboyant in a stereotypical “gay best friend” way. But I’ve only ever seen one acknowledged gay character in Chinese cinema--the very stereotypical tailor in Kung Fu Hustle--so I don’t know if the semiotics are the same as in western media. 

Anyway, I dig his mix of business suit and funky jewelry, and I share his appreciation of shirtless Xiao Ge (in Season 1, not today, sorry).

Look 57 is actually a rerun of Look 45, but it’s one of my favorites, featuring a beautiful soft suede jacket in a warm camel color. This time we get a much better look at the jacket, so I’m featuring it a second time. (Previously he wore this to hijack Li Jiale’s truck.) The jacket features detailed tailoring, with pleated pockets with flaps and buttons, and a nice strong collar and lapel that contrast with the softness of the material. 

Under this lovely jacket he wears a cream colored sweater, jeans that fit really well for a change, and work boots. 

This outfit is good for mournfully looking at a heap of smashed ceramics. 

It’s also good for struggling through a gas attack designed specifically to destroy your unhealthy lungs...

...and make you hork up blood, because it’s not a Zhu Yilong show if there’s no mouth blood, and it’s been at least a couple of episodes since we’ve had any. 

This look is perfect for going to visit your snippy ex-boyfriend while you’re unconscious, so he can bitchily save your life. 

“Hey, Canary,” you might have thought up above, “with all these above-the waist shots, how can you tell his jeans fit well?”

This. This is how. 

Oh and hey, we finally get a really good look at his shoes. His shoes, people. 

Look 58 belongs to bitchy doctor/chef Huo Daofu. 

He’s wearing a white double-breasted chef’s coat featuring contrasting piping and buttons. It is perfectly fitted, which will will learn is true of everything this man wears. 

Over the jacket he’s got an immaculate work apron, and under it he’s wearing a thin grey turtleneck sweater with ribbed collar and cuffs. He wears turtlenecks a lot. Whoever is giving him hickeys, it’s not Wu Xie any more because he hates Wu Xie. Hates him! 

Cue endless tender medical care and eventual deep abiding friendship. Also possibly shacking up, it’s hard to tell how many people really live in Wushanju at any given time. 

The first part of Look 59 is a deep olive-green long-sleeve tee shirt worn over a grey undershirt. 

It’s a shirt. It’s green. 

He looks really fucking good in it, okay? His arms are beautiful even when they’re covered up.  This shirt needs three gifs because...it just does.

Look 60 is Bai Haotian’s awesome green satin roller-disco jacket. 

The styling is straight out of 1979, which is long before she was born, making this a fun retro throwback. Or possibly she borrowed it from her grandma. The collar and cuffs have sporty black-and-white ribbing.

The jacket has nice contemporary details to give it a fresh look. These include suns, moons, and mountains (I think) running down the arms in a contrast stripe, and the words “magical altitudes” in embroidered sections on the back and chest. 

Wu Xie’s Look 59, Part 2 is also featured in these caps. He’s put a strangely short waisted grey jacket over his nice green shirt. Other than the short waist, it fits nicely. 

Those jeans, on the other hand. Wu Xie’s ass deserves better treatment than this. Paging Xiao Ge

Periodic reminder: Xiao Bai is absurdly, absurdly pretty. 

So is Wu Xie.

Bonus Look 1: Okay, Xue Wu is a bad bad man but damn, his clothes are always amazing. He favors emphatically Chinese looks, but always  with contemporary tailoring details, so he doesn’t look old fashioned. For his daughter’s wedding he’s wearing a deep blue suit with blue embroidery and this cool gold collar pin. 

Bonus Look 2 is Wu Xie in his favorite blue marl sweater. Or he has a few blue marl sweaters. Anyway, this time he’s lying down and resting his eyelashes while he wears it. 

[sunnywalnut]

Something to add to this, especially from a disabled writer's perspective:

-you can absolutely have arthritis at a young age(I'm 19 and yes. Rheumatoid arthritis exists. I am very close to having it myself. No it is not fun)

-you can have tremors! Tics, uncontrollable muscle spasms, nerve damage, etc etc

-you can need a cane/walker! Especially the ones with the lil tennis balls on the bottom. Go for it.

-you can absolutely have muscle/joint aches and yes it does get worse with the weather. Winter especially! My muscles in my back tighten VERY painfully when it is cold and I cannot help it no matter how many layers I wear!! And yes!! My knees can tell when it's about to rain!! I thought it was silly too!!

-taking random naps in the middle of the day, including recliner naps, can actually be really needed. Especially if you're very fatigued. Also recliner naps can really help if you have back issues/your knees feel "heavy". Speaking from experience.

-YOUR BODY CRACKS AT RANDOM!! I can't count how many times I've had to stretch out my arms/legs and have it all crack out and then just have to sit there and let it "settle" before jumping up and going on to do whatever I needed to do.

-Old Man Groans are a thing. Involuntary. Did not even realize it was a thing I was doing until it was pointed out to me. Even if you think you're not doing it, you are. You're an old man. Embrace it. Yes I am fine. Yes the noise comes with the package. Deal with it.

-sometimes you gotta just lay down when talking to your friends even if they're all sitting/standing. Laying on the floor should be allowed. Good friends will lay/sit with you.

-"resting your eyes" is also a thing. Sometimes you really don't realize you're sleepy until you've got your eyes closed and you're all comfy and suddenly you're just drifting off...

-not quite a disability thing but you know how grandmas tend to have hard candies/snacks on hand? Yeah. People who struggle with extremely high metabolism/energy dips/low blood sugar tend to carry snacks and a water bottle on hand. Especially if they know they have this problem. While the trope of everyone flocking to help their homie who fainted is sweet(and sometimes very needed), some people will have snacks to spare to others just in case. I myself carried a LOT of Tylenol, cough drops, mints, body mist, and snacks in my bag when I was in high school bc every time I was in drama, at least one person would complain of one thing or another and it was great to be able to share. If you want to use this trope, I recommend using it with a bit more nuance. Why did they leave their stuff at home? Did they just set it down? Did was their brain fog worse than normal and they forgot? Or you can use it as a discovery as to what the character is going through. I've seen a lot of diabetic characters "forget" their things without any sort of explaination and it's sort of brushed off for laughs (like in the older film "Mall Cop" from what I remember)

Like sorry for hijacking your post op but I got so excited being able to talk about something like this! Very rarely it gets brought up so I'm happy to be able to ramble^^

I love young cripples with stereotypically “old people” disorders! (Personally I have severe plantar fasciitis at 20)

You’re not “too young” to have this pain.

You don’t need to “wait until you’re older and then you’ll see”.

Your disability is a disability regardless of your age!!!!

[saveahorserideaneddie]

OP i completely agree but I am gonna hijack your post for a minute to add in my two cents:

what if it’s the diazes asking christopher this question and christopher goes “well, he’s like my dad but he’s not… dad’s my dad… so buck is my buck.”

and the diaz parents are just like “wtf” and they ask what he means by buck is like his dad, and chris starts telling them about everything buck’s done for him and eddie over the years and he ends his explanation by mentioning the will and they’re both like “the WHAT?”

and that’s what sparks the will conversation and we get ramon and helena both ebing confused about it, helena on the defensive as always and ramon actually trying to hear eddie out

especially if this is after a conversation w pepa or abuela about how eddie was always such a ‘sensitive little boy ™️’ but that his parents had changed him by expecting him to grow up too quickly which sparks a conversation about eddie having a queer uncle who always doted on him (eddie not remembering him) and how eddie always reminded abuela or pepa of him before he passed away and ramon/helena tried to erase his existence from their kids’ lives

we then get eddie questioning why he was so similar to his uncle, PLUS eddie starting to question why he wants buck to be chris’s guardian, and he talks to frank about it and frank goes “i know what you are 👁️👄👁️” and BAM we get feelings realization

then after he spirals for an episode, coming to terms with his feelings for buck as well as the idea of figuring out his sexuality in his 30s, he has a heart to heart with ramon that kind of finishes resolving their reconciliation arc, meanwhile helena is still helena-ing™️ over everything and it results on her saying something akin to “dragging christopher down” and chris OVERHEARS and gets angry and that is the catalyst for him returning to LA- still upset with eddie, their own tension not yet resolved, but they finally started down that road, and it sets up a whole arc for eddie accepting that buck is what completes his family, whether he has him romantically or not, and that helps heal the rift with chris…

but then we get buck having his own simultaneous arc of wondering about his place in their lives when someone points it out- he starts to recontextualize his entire relationship with eddie under the lens of his recently discovered bisexuality and has his own “oh shit” moment that sparks some more drama w buck having to navigate this realization while still thinking eddie is straight and realizing the risks that these feelings had on his relationship with eddie and we possibly get a mini-divorce era (no longer than like 2, maybe 3 episodes, nothing too drastic and crazy) where buck only spends time with christopher and eddie thinks that buck somehow found out about his feelings for him and blames himself for the awkwardness, while buck thinks the same thing (although slightly different circumstances) and it’s not until they’re working a bad fire and eddie slips up and says something along the lines of “you better come back to me” and then later on after shift, they’re in eddie’s kitchen and buck asks what eddie meant by what he said, and eddie is all like “what hahaha i didn’t say anything who said anything?” and buck is like “when you said it, i registered it as you telling me to come back to you and christopher, but you said come back to me, so what did you mean” and cue soft quiet love confession scene in eddie’s kicthen and eddie is crying and apologizing for making things awkward and then we see buck be the one to take the step (having worked through his apprehension to taking the risk) and kisses eddie super softly and the episode ends with them looking at each other for a moment before smiling.

anyway, sorry again op for hijacking your post but you gave me so many thoughts that i had to write down omg

I need an episode where someone asks why Chris calls Buck “his Buck” and not “Uncle Buck” or plain old “Buck.” And I want to see Eddie grasping at straws trying to find a platonic answer for it.

[tea-with--honey]

Hey OP, sorry to hijack your post and if anything I say here ends up harming the arguments you made in your post then please feel free to DM me so I can take this down. I just really needed to rant and ramble.

Here Lies Love is absolutely NOT a musical to support on Broadway, even if the show was majorly reworked and became undeniably anti-Marcos AND historically accurate. Even if everybody who walked out of the theatre walked out knowing without a shadow of a doubt that Imelda Marcos was a Bad Person it still wouldn't be enough.

A lot of my points here take direct inspiration from this comment on reddit which is definitely much more eloquent than the rant I'm about to embark in. It also includes how Filipinos have been and are being affected by the Marcos family. Please read it.

There is so so so much misinformation in the Philippines and something like Here Lies Love would be soooo easy to frame as something supporting Imelda Marcos. I mean it's a big Broadway show with all the glitz and glamour in New York, with music by David Bryne and Fatboy Slim, with an all-Filipino cast AND Lea Salonga. And who is its Protagonist? Imelda Marcos. It would be so easy to make a post highlighting all of those things but ignoring its apparently 'Anti-Marcos' message. Headlines are probably the thing that spreads the fastest on social media like facebook where many Filipinos get their news. With this kind of show, a headline like "Broadway Musical about Imelda Marcos featuring an All-Filipino Cast Finds Success Among Audiences" is inevitable.

Even if the musical was reworked to have a more obvious 'look at all the bad stuff the Marcoses have done' approach, its main selling points do not include that at all!!! Not to over generalize, but the average Filipino would not have the time to look up the plot and the message of this show, to listen to its soundtrack and to hear what it says. The actual people who are most affected by the Marcoses and need to hear the anti-Marcos sentiment the most, will probably never even have the chance to ever see the show and be affected by its message! They'd most likely just see a post about 'The cool Broadway musical about Imelda Marcos' and assume it's something painting Imelda in a positive light. (Hell, I'm actually a musical theatre fan and for the longest time I thought Eva Peron was a GOOD PERSON because I vaguely knew about Evita and knew it was a big Broadway show with Patti Lupone so the main character *must* be a good person.)

I'm just repeating points from OP here but we REALLY do not need anything that could paint the Marcos family in a positive light. Especially now when we literally have a Marcos as president and Imelda Marcos is still very much alive and kicking. Not when millions of Filipinos are misinformed and continue to support the Marcos regime, not knowing that they are contributing to the suffering they and their fellow Filipinos are facing. None of these people actively want to make their lives worse!! Its misinformation that tricks these people into believing that they should sympathize with and support the Marcos family. Because of the media, many of my educated, intelligent, compassionate and even progressive family members and friends genuinely believe they improved the lives of the Filipinos.

I wanted to support this show and it's cast so much but I just cant. Nothing against the actual cast here but the fact that a musical like this could become mainstream is not going to the help Filipino citizens who actually have to deal with the Marcoses.

edit: not saying that all filipinos who support marcos are entirely victims of being misinformed because a lot of these filipinos are in the position to do their own research and make better decisions but when misinformation is everywhere and algorithms like the ones on FB tend to give you content from the same biased sources it makes it more difficult to tell what the truth is. And again having a musical from a Western perspective (a perspective that should theoretically be a bit more detached from the cycle of misinformation and can see the facts) show sympathy for Imelda is not the best look.

don't support here lies love the musical as it comes to bway

my post on here lies love is getting rounds and while i still stand by everything i said on that post, my grievances with the musical has Grown in the last couple of weeks of me researching about it. granted, i still need to do more— i want to do an essay on it in the future because i would hate for it to run on broadway for long, but because that takes time, i thought, at least, i would need to make a post detailing what i find wrong about this musical. even if it's not the most comprehensive, i want more people to be informed about it as soon as possible.

so, have this. ramblings at 5am. i'll try my best to gather sources, but information i have regarding the marcoses comes from a lot of non-digital resources like classes, museums, and physical books. in this case, i recommend the following resources to learn more about who the marcos family is and what they did:

"the kingmaker" by lauren greenfield. native filipinos can watch this free on youtube, but if you aren't from the ph i recommend using a vpn to access it or find a pirated version somewhere else

online martial law museum

if you can buy it, "some are smarter than others" by ricardo manapat, a book detailing marcos' crony capitalism and all his faults

i'd also like to preface: i am not a saint. i am not a historian nor the smartest person who can detail everything marcos did when he was born. i'm trying to do my best with what i know, and i am down to learn more if others want to chime in.

lastly, here's a fresher on the names of people involved, because it can be confusing:

ferdinand marcos — i will try my best calling him ferdinand but most people, including myself, often call him just "marcos" despite the fact that they technically all are marcoses. he was the president from 1965-1986

imelda marcos — i will refer to her as imelda. wife to ferdinand and contributed a lot to his reign of terror. she is still alive today.

bong bong marcos — son of ferdinand and imelda. his name is often shorted to bbm, which i will use. he is currently the present of the philippines

ninoy aquino — marcos' main rival who he indirectly murdered. not a perfect guy tho, just the lesser evil. i will just call him ninoy

now, onto the real deal:

thesis statement, so this can be easy to follow: despite the intentions of the musical being anti-marcos, much of how it is written and presented will inevitably become propaganda to brighten the image of the marcoses. by putting imelda in the forefront, making her entire character do what she does supposedly out of love, audiences will come out of the theatre sympathizing with her and her family. not only is this politically dangerous, but it is incredibly insensitive to native filipinos who have not only gone through the struggle of martial law, but also is suffering through bbm's presidency today.

[rest of the post under the cut]

despite what a lot of criticisms claim, the intentions of the musical is not to be pro-marcos. this is stated in their instagram post:

david bryne also stated these in an article from the guardian:

"The mindset of the Marcos regime and the mindset of disco music to me doesn’t seem all that distant. The hedonistic, escapist feeling of losing yourself and being transported to another world, like you feel on the dance floor and like you feel in a dance club, that’s a means to divorce yourself from the rest of the world, just as Imelda did.

When you’re dancing, you’re in this psychological and sonic bubble, in the same way that powerful people create a bubble around themselves. So I wanted to give an audience a taste of that feeling.

In the first half, when the play is dealing with her childhood, her upbringing and her meeting with Ferdinand Marcos, it’s meant to get the audience to empathise with her and understand what’s driving her and then they’ll understand how that manifests later on."

so, it seems promising: an anti-marcos musical that will make audiences dislike empathizing with her. initially, i really liked the concept of audiences being lost with the music similar to how the marcoses were able to play a lot of their supporters.

but, and a big but, 1.) there's a lot to pick apart from these statements, and 2.) i fucking despise how they presented imelda in the musical.

let's discuss the first point: the instagram post details that the intent of the musical is to dispel disinformation created about the marcoses. first thing's first, if this truly was a musical that aims to educate, then broadway is probably the worst way to do it. while the west and native filipinos could share the award of most misinformed about the marcoses, native filipinos are the ones most affected by it. we just suffered a terrible election last year with constant speculation and reports of vote buying. i've heard accounts from people from the province that bbm would send representatives to bribe those in poverty to ensure a vote. we are suffering in the worst education crisis, with the most corrupt politicians you can think of.

so, if this musical aims to educate, the fact that you can only access it by viewing it live on broadway is incredibly... backwards. how are you opting to dispel information when those most affected can't even access it?

what's worse is the statement that says that modern history of the philippines cannot be told without the usa. it is such a patronizing, surface-level statement that gets my blood boiling. it is true that our histories and present-day contexts are intertwined, especially since the filipino diaspora in the usa is incredibly huge, but that's because this is all a product of american colonization + imperialism. stating like the philippines owes the usa to retell our native stories mirrors much of the savior complex-esque sentiments the usa had when they colonized us.

now, onto bryne's statement. the main problem i have with it is him insinuating that imelda is a victim of circumstance. he wants us the audience "empathize" with her and understand her downfall. this is common rhetoric uninformed people, even filipinos, used to excuse imelda's contributions. that she was supposedly "poor", that marcos put her through hell. but genuinely, and i cannot emphasize this enough, imelda was an absolute ass on her own accord.

no, she did not grow up poor. her wikipedia even states that she grew up in a wealthy family, born into the romualdez political dynasty. my history professor even claimed that she attempted bribing the mayor when she lost one of her beauty pageants. despite the repetitive "i'm doing this for love!" bullshit the musical regurgitates, imelda did not even marry marcos out of love. in ricardo manapat's book, he details how marcos attempted to swoon imelda by showing her his vault of money (of course, possibly stolen). she was enraptured by marcos the moment she saw his WEALTH.

i want to emphasize: imelda is not fucking stupid. much of what marcos did to the philippines was thanks to her. i would recommend watching the kingmaker documentary for all the details, but just know she is still alive and incredibly wealthy. she is well-known for her absolute gaudiness and all of that comes from her money-centric mindset. she does not give a shit about love.

here's some accounts by ricardo manapat from his book. on imelda falling in love with marcos (btw, she had a fiance at the time and didn't tell him she was marrying marcos until said fiance found out on the damn newspaper):

imelda being aware of the wealth she accumulates in politics:

on this note, i'd love to discuss how historically inaccurate the musical is. i'd like to preface that i've only listened to the only available version of the musical which is the 2013 version on spotify. this could have changed, but either way, the general tone of the narrative already reads to me as extremely incorrect, anyway. i'd also love to detail every discrepancy of each song, but again, i'll save that for a future essay.

in general, the musical's plotline follows imelda, a "humble and poor" girl from leyte who grows up and marries ferdinand. she repeatedly expresses she's doing this all out of love. thus, the musical insinuates that imelda is merely a victim of circumstance, and that she didn't become evil on her own accord. and yet, from what i've presented so far, she was very much aware! she was not passive. you have to understand, SHE was the reason both men and women had equal opportunities to become corrupt in our government.

what marcos did was also imelda's fault. the genocide and displacement of indigenous people, the mass torture and murder of journalists and politicians, the stealing of companies and mass wealth, the mass delivery of non-native animals to the philippines. she condoned all that. yes, marcos cheated on her, but she also used that as a means to manipulate him into doing whatever she wanted. they are both horrible people.

speaking of, marcos' song in the musical was also really bad. he could be written as lying for all we know, but his "fear" of japanese soldiers invading the philippines is also up for debate. there is speculation of the marcoses collaborating with japanese troops, which also led to the murder of marcos' father's political rival.

and while i don't know if there's actual dialogue outside of the songs, i don't think this musical actually informs us much of the marcos' faults. the songs, which will be the most accessible thing to native filipinos, express nothing but generic descriptions of what characters feel about certain situations. it's hard to understand or know what these people are actually doing because it's just so vague and ambiguous. how are you supposed to inform when none of the music details, well, anything? the information given is so minimal that i pray, at least, the musical would have more explicit scenes about marcos' atrocities.

and that's my main problem with the musical. with how much they spend sympathizing with imelda in the first act, i don't think everything the marcoses have done can be encapsulated in the second. of course, i'm not asking to give me a detailed rundown of everything they did, but let's be honest, this musical was never about dispelling disinformation. if it was, then they wouldn't spend an entire act and a half sucking imelda's dick. it's not about educating audiences about martial law. it's about humanizing imelda, with martial law and the marcoses' atrocities as a second priority. it makes me sick to my stomach seeing how pure imelda is presented when travelling to meet other world leaders, or how she's seen as the person who insisted that ninoy move away from the philippines.

it was never about education or re-information. in the end, these were such pretentious and performative statements to defend a historically inaccurate musical.

and tbh, that's just the tip of the iceberg of why i hate this musical. another thing is that, holy shit is it obvious that it's written by two white people. they mispronounce "tacloban" (should be tacLOban not tacloBAN). these characters are also just... not distinctly filipino? they're so white in mannerisms. i need more insulting humor, more grit. in fairness, the richer you are in the philippines the more connected you are to western culture, but i would have loved to see that disaparity more in the songwriting. they really peaked (/s) when they wrote these lyrics:

this is... awful, in a cringey what the hell manner. i hope they changed it for the bway production, because this was blatant evidence that the songwriters barely took the time to understand our culture before writing.

if you don't understand what it says, "titi mo" (the correct spelling is tite but i digress) means "your dick". i think imelda is trying to call marcos a dick, but they literally translated dick in tagalog. but tite isn't an insult, it literally refers to a penis. "mo" is the equivalent of "your" which also makes ZERO sense. the lyric literally goes "how can a your penis run the country?", like WHAT.

so you know, maybe there's a reason why many filipinos fucking despise this show on twitter. we are insulted for good reason. they are sensationalizing and glamorizing our suffering for their own gain. we native filipinos and other filipino diaspora who can't access the show have nothing to gain. here lies love is profiting from our struggles that we are still recovering from and experiencing today. imagine if you made a musical about hitler explaining he is a victim of circumstance to disco music. insensitive, isn't it? i'd love to ask the cast of here lies love if they'd ever show the musical to living survivors and families of victims of martial law.

and what's worse, because of course it gets worse, misinformation like this is what boosts the reputation of corrupt politicians in the first place. manapat quotes what leonard saffir wrote about how marcos built his reputation in new york via a biography filled with disinformation. the excerpt is too long but it's quoted from this article by the new york times. and now we are living in an era of another musical based on imelda being shown in new york — time is a flat fucking circle.

what sickens me is that this musical is possibly a lot of americans' first exposure to the marcoses, and what will they think? imelda is just a poor girl, imelda is just a victim, imelda is blah blah blah. that will be stamped in their head. even if some filipinos have come out of this musical dreadful that they sympathized with imelda, not everyone is gonna have the same experience.

^ this an excerpt from one of theatermania's articles. dictators have feelings too, i guess!

objectively, there is nuance when it comes to anyone. but the problem is, we cannot afford to consider nuance in politics. we cannot sympathize with imelda right now when people are dying of poverty under the marcoses' hand. the marcoses are very much alive, very much in power, and very much willing to lend their offspring to other positions of power. they turned the entirety of ilocos into a bunch of marcos dicksuckers, and i'm afraid that this musical can make a ton of their audiences be oblivious to the true extents of the marcos' atrocities. i'm already seeing people on tiktok say that there's nothing wrong about this musical, or that this can exist when miss saigon and evita exist (which in on itself are problematic beliefs, because they are glamorizing other country's sufferings too).

i am privileged enough to be educated about marcos, and while there is much to be done in terms of disability and lgbtqia+ rights, i am lucky to be less impacted by the marcoses compared to other people. but there are hundreds of thousands of filipinos severely affected by marcos. what's worse, is that there are plenty extremely uneducated that they are unaware that marcos is directly contributing to their suffering. my history professor told us that other countries are using the philippines as their model for successful disinformation campaigns. in this era of disinformation, we cannot afford to disinform even more. as sad as it is, the usa has a lot of power and control over the philippines (and the world, tbh), so one wrong step into the wrong direction and we're fucked. this musical fails the message it attempts to preach and i cannot imagine how much more people are going to spread misinformation about the philippines like they did during the 2022 elections.

to end off, i'd like to mention to everyone that imelda marcos has actually listened to the musical. in this new york times article, she says, "i'm flattered, i can't believe it!". i don't know what to tell you— if imelda herself says she likes the musical you claim to be anti-marcos, then what does that say about the musical?

i guess i'll end with, i am willing to change opinions once i see how the musical is being executed. if they emphasize the atrocities done by marcos and give proper information about the timeline of events, then i can be more lenient. but if i still see any attempts woobifying imelda, then i stand by what i say. this musical is insensitive, disrespectful, and just fucking hurtful.

[waking-dreams-of-harmony]

So, please forgive me for the lengthy addition that’s coming OP, it’s just your words really hit me hard and made me think of this article I had read on a show called The Musketeers, one that I admittedly haven’t watched but that was on my list to possibly explore, mostly because of Santiago Cabrera but that’s a whole other thing we don’t need to get into--anyway! Because I no longer trust show writers after being gutted one too many times, I decided to check out the ending, and came upon an interview that Digital Spy did with finale’s writer, Simon Allen; here’s the article with the interview, though after the link I’ve included some bits that made me so fucking mad we didn’t have him writing for GoT instead

It's a happy ending for The Musketeers - the heroes are rewarded and the villains are punished. But did you ever consider killing off one of the four boys?

"It was never the intention to kill them. We thought about this long and hard and we thought, [if the audience is still there at the end of this, what do we want them to take from those closing moments?]

"...What we were trying to say to the audience was, 'If you take anything away from this at all, try and carry the values and virtues of these four guys with you in your life. Try and face down whatever comes at you the way they would."

THIS is what I wanted from our finale; Dany was a symbol of hope, of surmounting incredible obstacles and hardships to finally reach your goal, never giving up and doing the right thing as best you can even when the odds are against you, championing the voices of the oppressed and freeing them from those that would trample them into the ground for wealth, their pockets lined with blood and tears; it’s making the world better than those before them had left it, and considering all the shit we’re going through right now because of previous generations that chose, and continue to choose, greed over human rights and the health of our planet, to have the series close out with hope is exactly what we needed. Hope that we can change things for the better.

Do you have a final message for the loyal fans who've stuck with the show for all three series?

"We just want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts, because they've kept the show alive. 

What I would say to the fans is those last closing seconds of episode 10 are for you - and they are drawn from my experiences of engaging with you guys online, hearing what you say about the show and how you feel about the show.

"Those last two minutes are very much a thank you to the audience that stuck with the show all this time. They've actually influenced the way the show is made... and I can't really give them higher praise than that."

I legit nearly cried reading this; they thanked the fans for sticking with the show. They thanked  the fans from the bottom of their fucking heart and gifted their loyalty in following them all the way to the end with a finale that gave them what they deserved, what their characters deserved, and followed the themes they had set up in the show all the way to the end. THIS is how you write a love letter to the fans. We stuck with GoT for nearly TEN YEARS. TEN LONG YEARS, and that burning trashpile is what we were given as a parting gift. 

This interview really highlighted how some writers truly understand their characters and truly grasp how to pen a satisfying and appropriate ending that fits the arcs and themes they’ve been building upon since the beginning. But of course, as we all know, according to the numbnuts that ran this show into the ground, “themes are for eighth grade book reports" apparently.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your post OP. I probably made a mess of what I was trying to say, please forgive me for the explosion of words. 🙏

You know how some shows end the series with basically a love letter to the fans? I feel like GOT ended with whatever the opposite of that would be.

They were like “ It’s just a show and we have no obligation to give you anything we have previously told you we would give” or “we see all the time and love and energy you have put into this show and its characters, and we just want to say you’re foolish and weird for doing that and you should feel bad about that.”