#than a weak wlw representation

[theladyofbloodshed]

Literally like y’all want to pair Emerie with a racist against her and her people?? 😭😭😭

Mor - one of the ruling family - declaring Windhaven should be burnt to the ground when goes there with Feyre 🙃 none of the females in the library are Illyrian 🙃

I think all of this comes from Emerie saying Mor is beautiful so that must mean she is queer (despite Nesta thinking about how beautiful gwyn is and Emerie also blushing around Rhys). But need to pair them all off together, right? Can’t have anybody not linked to the IC.

Mor hasn’t come out to her close family so will Emerie be kept a secret?

Is the bar that low? Doesn’t Emerie deserve better than that?

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

So with Clementine Book Two coming out in October, I decided to do another reread of Book One. Though, I'll be honest, the bigger reason for this reread was out of spite; I follow Tillie Walden on instagram, and while I don't go on there often, I usually check her page when I do so I can see any new artwork or Clementine updates. Her latest post is from one of her other graphic novels, and I guess I just... don't get it.

I don't understand why people are like this:

This is on a post that has nothing to do with the Clementine comics. As for ones that are about Clementine-

Those are just a handful from a few Clementine-related posts, but there's so much of this all over Tillie's posts and I don't understand.

What does this accomplish? Other than making you look like an asshole? Like... no one is impressed by this. No one is applauding you for repeatedly commenting "lol we didn't want a forced gay romance ew," which by the way? Repeating that in every single paragraph you comment? Tell me you're homophobic without saying you're homophobic, y'know?

There are legit criticisms to be had of Clementine Book One- The pacing is all over the place where it starts very slow and then goes into whiplash mode after Amos dies. Georgia as a villain is a weak point in the story. Clementine naming her leg after Kenny is a bit icky considering in canon, he physically and verbally abused a disabled person with a brace on his leg in S2. I don't think there was much thought behind that decision past "Hey, the fans like Kenny," and I think that's worth pointing out as "Hey... maybe don't?"

Some of the dialogue is a bit stilted, but some of it is actually pretty good. My personal favorite is when Clementine and Amos are fixing a roof-

Amos: Lord, this roof is... Clementine: ...fucked? Amos: SHH, don't say that! It's... troubled.

I'm sorry- that's funny! And it actually says a lot about who these characters are and the kind of friendship they have.

And yeah, Ricca is just okay. She's clearly the love interest, and I'm hoping we get more development of her character. And yes, the "baby" thing is still weird.

There's a lot about the art style that I'm not crazy about, specifically Clementine's face and expressions, and I hope to see an improvement in that for Book Two.

And then the obvious: Clementine leaving because she was unhappy and felt everyone thought she was a liability doesn't match up with the end of TFS.

I don't think it's mean to say that Tillie wasn't the best fit for this project, but that's on Skybound. They're the ones who reached out to her and hired her. I think Tillie's a great artist and her graphic novels have great queer, wlw representation in them. Just because she wasn't the perfect fit for Clementine that doesn't mean she's bad, it means that maybe she should've been considered for a different project.

And honestly...? Y'all, Book One isn't THAT bad. It's not great or anything, but the comics can't take the games away from you. If you want to say canon ends with the TFS, then that's where it ends. That's where it ends for me; these comics are more of a "what if" scenario than anything.

No one is forcing you to accept this as canon, and if you're so pathetically butt hurt over the existence of a comic that you feel like you have to go on Tillie's instagram, the artist who is only doing the job she's obligated to do, and comment shit like this on every. single. post-

Maybe, just maybe, you need to go outside. I'm serious.

This isn't the only comment about grooming on Tillie's posts, or that I've seen on reddit. Like... do you understand what grooming actually is and how serious it is? Or are you just using it as a buzzword that you know is bad and triggering as a means of insult and convincing others that she's bad, too?

Also, I don't think you really understand how creativity and writing work. Maybe it's just me, though I doubt it, but when I create characters or write already established characters in my fanfiction, they all have a piece of me that's apart of them. My life experiences and who I am as a person influences everything I write, and that bleeds into the characters, for better or worse.

What, you think Louis having a random pillow collecting problem was something I just pulled out of my ass? No, it's because I have a pillow collecting problem! Do you know why I've always had a such a hard time writing for Violet? It's because I see a lot of myself in her and that scares me and I'd rather just not unpack all of that, okay?

I mean, how many times on this hellsite have you come across someone saying, "lol my otp is just Person A is my type and Person B is the one I project onto" and it has thousands of notes because, on some level, we all get it.

Tillie has talked about Ricca before and like most creative people, she's drawn from her own life to create her characters. Ricca isn't some self-insert character just because they both wear glasses, I'm-

You are just being an asshole! I just- I'm getting pissed off because this shouldn't even be a thing. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? WHO HURT ALL OF YOU?

I love Clementine, too! She's important to me! I have replayed TWDG more times than I can count! I was pissed about the comics in the beginning! You can go back on my blog and I probably said stupid shit, too!

But Clementine isn't real. She's a fictional video game character. She isn't going to reward your bullying or white-knighting because she doesn't exist. You're not doing this because you're a "true fan" that loves Clementine. Honestly, if you were a true fan, you would know that if Clementine was real, she would find you and this behavior disgusting. Tillie Walden is a real person and I don't give a flying fuck if you hate her work. By all means, hate the comic! Criticize the comic and Skybound for continuing the series, but leave Tillie out of it.

And I think the part that sucks the most is it doesn't matter what I say, you can't rationalize with irrational people intent on being assholes so they're not going to stop.

I guess what I'm trying to show with all of this is when Book Two comes out, and y'all start reading it and making posts... please don't be these people.

Whatever you may feel about Clementine Book Two, try to remember that Tillie Walden is a real person and she's just doing the job that Skybound hired her for. Tillie's an artist just trying to live her life in Vermont with her wife and their cats, and she's gotta deal with all of these people harassing her posts. She can't even post something non-Clementine related without a bunch of #notmyclementine shit in the comments.

I don't even know what else to say... Uhm, I guess if anyone from those screenshots sees this, then... I don't feel that bad about calling you an asshole. We all learned in kindergarten to treat others the way we want to be treated, but maybe you were sick that day, I don't know. Go outside. Get your life together. We have a short time on this planet and maybe you should try to actually accomplish something while you're here. Eat a kitkat or something👍

[girl4music]

God I just want more strong female representation. Not necessarily WLW representation but just female in general. Women-led TV art/entertainment. Female empowerment. Female vulnerability and strength.

I want a representation of the human condition where females can have all their internal conflicts and conditions but not be punished for them. Or if they have to be punished in the narrative - fully explore as to why they do. What the necessity for it is. Whether it’s valid and justified. Whether it serves a purpose in the narrative for that female character. Does it help them grow and evolve into a better person? Does it help them combat their internal demons and heal their mind, body and soul? Or is it only there in the service of someone else’s story arc because they don’t matter as much as that other character does? I’ve always said that punishment for punishments sake is just stupid. It serves nothing. It helps nothing. It evolves nothing. And when it comes to female punishment in TV art/entertainment in particular, there is very rarely an exploration of the reasoning why they have to be. And that’s because of poor narrative writing choices more so than it is because of purposeful ignorance or spite.

Poor narrative writing choices because of the anxiety of providing sufficient representation and the anxiety of cancellation. Rushed written and produced content. Female representation in particular has had a real hammering. I mean you still are provided it but the problem is the lack of care and conscientiousness with it. Representing a female on-screen is different to representing a male on-screen. Not necessarily because there’s differences in the genders or sexes. I am the last person to care about gender stereotypes and the “correct” gender roles and bullshit like that. That’s not what I mean. No, it’s more so about trying to depict the subtle nuances of gender identity. Think of it like the treatment of ability VS disability. What’s required to treat that disabled individual person equally to the abled person will obviously be different things. So you’re more so pointing out the differences in how females VS males are treated on-screen than you are of how they’re represented. Females need to and should be treated differently to males and vice versa on-screen but it should never be in an unequal way the same way it should never be between an abled person and a disabled person. You shouldn’t have to point out the weaknesses or debilitations of one more than the other. You shouldn’t have to punish one more than the other. That’s what I’m trying to say about how female representation has had a real hammering taken to it recently in TV art/entertainment. Or at least since the likes of ‘Xena’, ‘Buffy’ and ‘Charmed’ were on air. All notoriously women-led shows. Two created by men at that.

I haven’t really seen anything last or stand the test of time since. I mean I’ve found ‘Wynonna Earp’ but I don’t know if it’s significant enough in female representation to have longevity well after it finished with it being produced by a small network then and an even smaller one for when it comes back next year with a 90 minute scripted special titled ‘Wynonna Earp: Vengeance’. It’s certainly something but it’s not enough. We need more female representation and specifically female empowerment representation because what we’ve got at the moment is pathetic.

[popculturefein]

Ranking Skam remakes based off of ✨issues✨ I had with them part 2.

Lmao like everyone hated when I did this like 2 years ago so here’s the updated version.

Ps. This is in no way shape or form meant to offend anyone or anything because at the end of the day it's just my opinion and it really isn’t that relevant. So if you think I have no idea what I’m talking abt, it is what it is.

I was going to finish this like 4 months ago, but I completely forgot it existed and I’m terribly lazy. Anyways…I love italia. Sorry.

7. Skam France 🇫🇷

Um where do I start? I feel like personally the show fell off around the 5th season and has just been unsuccessfully trying to regain that ✨je ne sais quoi✨that it used to have.

The character writing was also extremely inconsistent and I’ve never shyed away from calling out the writing for drastically changing characters to fit the current storyline.

Imane’s character was extremely underdeveloped in my opinion and her season felt more of an obligation than it did a desired project. There are so many sides to being Muslim in France nowadays and they opted out on giving a quite generic view on that.

All in all this show still feels very forced. The new generation especially. They’ve darkened the show a lot which I’m not opposed to, but they don’t always execute it very well.

6. Austin 🇺🇸

The amount of hate I got the first time around for criticizing the show…eek.

The show in my opinion, maybe it was just me but it felt awkward. And not in a cute charming way like the OG, but in a it felt weird to watch way. Maybe it’s cuz I’m used to typical American shows and this one was an American show trying a European narrative but still making it American. I don’t know.

The chemistry was atrocious. I’m really sorry. But Grace and Daniel were cute but their chemistry was kind of weak. Not to mention the girl squad? They sometimes hardly felt like “best friends” at all, but I wanna give props to Jo for being the glue of the group.

Zoya was boring. There was no depth to her character. I won’t blame the acting because I feel like the actress did what she was told to do. Her character just felt out of place. She came off colder than Sana and we never got a chance to see her grow all that much.

I really didn’t like Kacey. I know that’s the point, but the other Vilde remakes were all bearable, some of them are even my favourite characters but Kacey?? Gosh no.

Last point but how dare they cancel it before Shay’s season? She would’ve been the first wlw main representation but that fell through and instead we got Cris from Espana (no tea no shade, I would’ve just liked seeing a fellow gay black woman become a main)

5. Wtfock 🇧🇪

Now let me tell you something, it hurts putting Wtfock here but I have to. She’s my favourite remake but she’s also very iffy.

Kato. I won’t even elaborate because you ALL already know.

The little racist comments in the show that would go unpunished or not talked about unless Yasmina stood up for pocs??

Zoë as much as I loved her, was really annoying towards the end. She was constantly contradicting her earlier unchanging morals. The writers made her somewhat unlikeable tbh.

JANA???? Where did she go?? Why was she replaced by a literal racist??

The whole “Blonde Ambition” name sounds like something my black ass would steer clear of and yet people couldn’t fathom how Yasmina was very uncomfortable around them??

Yasmina’s entire season irritated me because instead of focusing on the actual Islamophobia present they decided Yasmina’s the one being sensitive and she has to forgive her very ignorant white friends.

Moyo went from being the most disliked character, to a somewhat decent guy and then to the victim of a toxic toxic relationship, to an idiot, and then back to one of the most disliked characters simply because the writers f*cked up really bad.

And I’ll die on the hill that if anything season 4 should’ve been about Noor.

Fuck Britt. Like truly. How is she the antagonist in three separate seasons and people still wanted to be her friend?? En tout cas c’est pas mon problème 🙄

4. Skam NL 🇳🇱

Ok hear me out, this remake was crazy unique and super aesthetically pleasing but take away all the jazz and it’s quite plain.

There are major plot holes that to this day I can’t wrap my head around. Like where did Jaden come from? No one explained what happened to Imaan? Though I love her, why add Ezra? It felt very weird to replace her like that.

Kes man you’re gorgeous but you’re an absolute fucking idiot. Isa deserved better from the get go.

Noah is such a random character, like I get it, but I don’t. He’s dreamy and artsy and witty but what else??? He was so bland it made him and Liv’s relationship fall short for me personally.

I don’t know, at the end of the day, this remake is like that super cute girl that’s always really social over text but when you first start talking in person she’s really really dry and it just kills the mood for you.

3. España 🇪🇸

Personally, it’s not my favourite but I can’t say it wasn’t one of the better executed remakes.

I don’t necessarily have anything bad to say except for maybe the dragging out of the Nora and Alejandro storyline. I completely understand why they changed Nora’s season but most skam fans love the second season because it highlights their relationship but instead we got breadcrumbs and then bam they were together and then they weren’t? I do like the change but I still feel like because of how long it took, it wasn’t as impactful. But again, Nora’s season was baller.

2. Druck 🇩🇪

The fandom is a very interesting place. Very “we want pocs, we want lgbtq+ rep” which I love but guys, don’t hate on a character cuz they’re straight and white. Like I get Mailin is annoying like 90% of the time but she’s a very realistic character and changing her to be perfect wouldnt make any sense.

Constantin?? He’s like the toxic make equivalent to Britt and no, I don’t want to hear any Constantin apologists cuz he’s honestly so rude and condescending and just an all around mean person and I can’t fathom why people constantly forgive him? Like I understand people go through stuff, but he’s just rude to almost everyone and says such stupid stuff.

Though I love Sascha, Isi was a horrible friend to him and they should’ve had to deal with those consequences longer because they put Sascha through a lot and he deserves better. Also, the season was super rushed and so we never really got to see the depths of their relationships.

Mia and Alex had amazing chemistry but gosh those kisses were hard to watch. They had zero chemistry when it came to romantic scenes but they were amazing to watch when they were just being themselves, talking and bantering.

The music is over the top. Like why is there Doja Cat in almost every episode and what happened to the songs that correlated to the plot?? I get the whole staying current thing but pls whyyyyy?

[tired-fandom-ndn]

a lot of people ship it purely because, in their mind, to NOT ship it is "erasing precious wlw rep in media" so they'll staunchly refuse to acknowledge the ship's flaws and very weak story and go so far as to attack people who do acknowledge those things

[in regards to lu.mity]

This is a good point though, yeah. I see it a lot in other fandoms with canon queer relationships too, people seeing NOT shipping that relationship or shipping the characters with someone else as a personal attack on representation. It's exhausting, to be frank, and honestly offensive to be told that I'm homophobic because I prefer thinking about a character kissing someone other than their canon love interest.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

They should have show Val being attracted to men. She is bisexual not a lesbian. They did this on purpose because "ew how can a strong woman like those gross men". Looking how they portrayed Loki, a queer man, as weak clown shows that marvel consiser only wlw as "worthy representation".

It would have been better if they had done nothing at all, if this is the kind of "representation" we're going to get then I'd rather get none, all characters are straight from now on, I can live with that.

They deleted a scene where she was with a woman in Ragnarok, now in L&T after queerbaiting the fuck out of the movie we get absolutely nothing except Korg saying she used to have a girlfriend who of course is dead and we get nothing about her: not a flashback, not a name, nada.

Val is bisexual, that much we know, but if they don't show it on screen how are the casual viewers going to know? They hear girlfriend so she's a lesbian because fuck bi people apparently, as if we didn't have enough bi erasure as it is.

I'm not sure they should have shown her being attracted to men, they should have just let her express herself, she could be a bi woman with preference for other women or asexual or not interested in romantic love anymore, hell she could have decided she doesn't want to touch another person ever again, that's cool! She's still bi!

But it doesn't take a scientist to realize that if you say girlfriend people are going to assume she's a lesbian, that's why anyone who is interested in queer rep has to do their homework and think twice before acting. But this is Disney, they don't want rep, they want woke points, they did the same with America in MoM (pins are rep these days, folks!).

I do agree with you that bisexual women are portrayed poorly in these movies but I get the feeling they hate bi men even more than us.

[herewegobacktomoon]

I have some opinions on this whole Jack thing as a donor and I just wanted to put them out there before I get too upset.

First of all, simply the idea of him possibly becoming the donor is awful: don't get me wrong, I like Jack and his evolution throughout the last two seasons, BUT it's immensely disrespectful, both to the characters and to the representation they're claiming to be providing.

It's harmful to Maya and Carina because, even though Carina has gotten past it by now, Jack will always be the person Maya cheated on her with, and making him the donor will be a slap to her feelings and her persona.

But above all, it's disrespectful to all the queer couples out there, wlw or non-binary folks, who decide to start a family but don't have sp3rm at their disposal without looking for a donor. When people make this decision, it's true that it can be tricky, hard, that there can be different approaches or different procedures that one partner prefers while the other has some concerns, but what it's always true is that IT'S NOT ABOUT THE DONOR. The donor is not a "third parent", he shouldn't be part of the child's life (unless it's a particular or personal choice, however it's not the norm) nor have so much "power" on the decision-making process. It's about the couple and their future baby. It ends there.

With this being said, here's my opinion about last night episode:

In my opinion, Jack won't be the donor: yeah, Carina looks at him while talking with Maya but she looks at him while saying that also knowing the donor could have some issues. So Carina has made that clear, she doesn't think it's a good idea: she likes Jack and all, but I think it's just the writers messing around with the characters and with us (which I find a little disappointing and disrespectful but it's a drama show, so we got to bear with it).

Maya's position in all this is way more controversial than it seems (and it's not her fault!!). Maya wants to have some control over the situation, which totally makes sense, but how is she going to overcome her doubts and fear about the baby not being "hers" too if the donor is someone she knows and that will have a relationship with the child? I know it sounds weird but I think it's pretty counterproductive, cause in the long run it will only increase her self doubt.

This is just a doubt of mine, I'm not too sure about it and probably it's just a coincidence but I also think everything is pretty strategical. Let me explain: we are in 5×12, the last two episodes have been a little weak in the writing (about Marina) and if I'm not mistaken, 5×13 will be written by Leah Gonzalez, who is the same writer who created those magnificent scenes in 5×7. I probably think (but mostly hope) that they've "mishandled" all this baby talk in the last episodes to give her the chance to develop it better and in a realistic way, not caring too much about what happened in 5×10, 5×11 and 5×12, but using these episodes just to keep it going. Also, I think it was strategical on the Grey's front: kaimelia is being appreciated a lot, but Marina baby talk is undoubtedly creating more suspense. So, what I think (which is quite stupid cause queer representation is never enough, so we won't complain if we get two couples at the time) is that the Marina attention in 5×12 has decreased to allow more focus on Kai and Amelia scenes (which were amazing by the way). I know, it sounds stupid cause I'll love to watch both of these couples being happy and making big steps in their relationship, but it's also too much of a coincidence to me.

So yeah, this is mainly what I think and mostly what I hope will happen. I wish with all my being that they won't ruin one of the best fictional couples out there just to give Jack a storyline. All we have to do is wait and see. Fingers crossed.

[louise-echoes]

Why you shouldn't ship Sea Fairy with Men

This is a rewrite of my old post called "Why FireSea and FireMoon are problematic", admittedly very sloppily written and involving a lot of emotional biases (In fact, this is the same post, just, edited). I'm instead choosing to remake this into an informative post on why you shouldn't pair Sea Fairy with male cookies. In order to explain why though, I'm gonna have to tackle the most commonly used arguments, because in all brutal honesty they're very repetitive and they're very weak and bad. a. "She's in love with the moon, not Moonlight." *Sigh* Straight off the bat- this is plain wrong. It's been shown time and time again that "The Moon" in context of Sea Fairy refers to Moonlight- Whether in-game(Ovenbreak Relationships), in bonus content(CookieWars' ending cutscene), external media (The music video, merchandise), or social media (teasing posts), The Moon always refers to Moonlight from the lens of Sea Fairy. That is without taking into consideration the evidence that Moonlight and The Moon are interchangeably the same (See: Wizard Cookie calling both of them mistress, Moonlight being referred to as the moon in her costumes). So, no, you cannot deny their connection. It's a much better look for you to acknowledge their relationship and be on your merry way than it is to fight on the losing hill that is denying this. There is evidence on both ends of the characters. b. "How is she gay?" Sea Fairy's central writing point is her love for another woman, how it empowers her and helps her overcome the curse that keeps her from living her life. I have yet to write a full analysis of this couple and why it means so much, but you need to realize that it's not just a "hinted crush" - It's an actual relationship between two women with weight, depth, and a lot of importance to it. No one is obligated to ship SeaMoon, only acknowledge and respect it- However, as it stands, most people who argue on the validity of Sea Fairy's lesbianism always seem to veer into slander territory and highkey lesbophobia (I'm looking at you, Tiggyloo). c. "Has DevSis ever said Sea Fairy is gay? No." This is why it's called coding, you can't reasonably expect the company that doesn't confirm anything to pay basic respect to one of its most queerbaited ships. SeaMoon is downplayed by DevSisters and the fandom alike, which is why Sea Fairy fans (most of whom are sapphics and lesbians) are outspoken about this character's sexuality. You should at least keep in mind the importance of this character to an underrepresented side of the fandom, steer away from provoking them rather than try force the ideal that they're wrong... because they really aren't. For the record, because I know I technically haven't really answered the question: Sea Fairy is a character who's central writing point is her love for another women, with no positive relationship with men except for one (who wants nothing to do with her for the record, SeaFire doesn't float either). There is little room to interpret that as anything else, and if you want to argue otherwise... Well, sorry to pull the carpet from under you, but if this doesn't hold weight then neither does anything else. d. "You don't have to follow canon" No, you don't, but it's not about following canon. It's about having the basic decency not to undermine something that's important to people. e. "It doesn't hurt anyone" Actually, you'd be surprised how undermining an important WLW relationship can push people away and feel a group unwelcome. This fandom is oversaturated with MLM and you generally won't find people who argue on literally any character headcanon you can come up. Just about every character (minus a few) can be headcanon as bi, or pan, or poly, or anything really, and it'd be valid. But approaching the one character with the most Lesbian coding and insisting on making her something else entirely (when there's a plethora of other characters to do that with) is not fair. It is not biphobic to insist that Sea Fairy is a lesbian, you do not have to erase someone else's representation to get your

own. ...Come to think of it, it's kind of odd how Bisexuality is only ever brought up when an excuse is need to pair her with men, it's almost as if people forget Bisexuality also involves loving women? Of course, at the end of the day, I cannot stop people from doing what they want, and that's not my goal in the slightest either. However I hope this offers more insight into why most Sea Fairy fans dislike seeing her shipped with men, and I implore those who read this entire post to understand that all you have to do is keep your distance. You do not have to engage, you shouldn't try to disprove it- It's how this issue gets brought up time and time again, just be respectful and things will be fine.

[phoenixdnasty]

The Problem with Season Five

this is already going to have a lot of you in the replies yelling at me. obviously, massive SPOILERS for s5 of she ra and the princesses of power if you haven't already seen it.

okay, so She Ra is definitely a kids' show, but it has a lot of themes aimed towards an older audience: abuse, war, found family, destiny and knowing who you are. I loved She Ra because it made me feel empowered, made me feel seen. after this last season, however, I don't feel the same. I will, however, talk about what it did well.

What She-Ra s5 did RIGHT

I very much enjoyed seeing the character development for most characters come to the forefront here. For example, SW returned to her original motivations. When she lived in Mystacor with the other sorcerers, her thirst for power was borne of a desire to fight the Horde. When she was rejected, then she chose to do what she did. We see a return to that in s5, where she takes a stand against Prime by enlisting Castaspella to stop her if she tries to take any power for herself. She ends up just wanting to help, to do what she can, which was excellent. Glimmer, Bow and a bunch of other characters are given some love here as well. I especially enjoyed seeing Bow and Mermista take on leadership positions in the absence of Adora; it was an excellent look into another facet of their personalities.

Character interactions in non-serious moments were, for the most part, good. Swift Wind and Scorpia being bros was not something I knew I needed but something I want more of. Netossa basically being Batman and knowing the weaknesses of everyone around her was great and an iconic scene. Bow thinking Catra was super adorable was also an excellent moment in the season and I could watch 9 more seasons worth of that. Something that surprised me was Entrapta's "not good with people"-ness being talked about and addressed by the other characters and explained by her; I wasn't sure if that was ever gonna be talked about in the show.

Side note: thank you Crew-Ra for giving Scorpia her own musical number, it was great.

Prime was also a fascinating enemy. He's this sort of religious figure, this world destroyer who's been around for seemingly centuries, maybe much longer. He's cold, calm and calculated. I've seen it pointed out that he's everything Hordak is not. He's manipulative, knows body language and facial expressions, and has a perfect grasp on how to get exactly what we wants. My favorite aspect of this season was the hive mind control. This was a very interesting plotline to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed HiveMind!Catra as well as Wrong Hordak. I loved the idea of pitting allies against each other and the angst and emotional weight that carried.

Going to use that point to segue into one of this season's strengths: Netossa and Spinnerella. Wow! We get a chance to see what a healthy queer/wlw relationship looks like, and two background characters get major upgrades in relevance. Two diversity points for one being a big girl and for the couple being interracial (in our world anyway), but diversity is the norm is SPOP and we might have to stan forever. It was extremely heartwarming and resulted in one of my favorite scenes to ever show up in animated media (one which I'll be stealing to add to my vows if I ever get married):

It was beautiful and I will absolutely never shut up about it.

There were some beautiful moments this season!! Absolutely gorgeous. A highlight for me cinematically was episode 5, which will probably bother some people when I say what I will below. I will be honest, the new transformation sequence and the scene of Adora holding Catra as She-Ra was powerful and had my heart pounding with excitement. It was awesome.

On the other hand...

What She-Ra s5 did WRONG

I'm going to break my issues with the final season down one by one, starting with the narrative of abuse.

From the very beginning, abuse is the most prevalent theme in the show. Prime (HP) abuses Hordak, Hordak abuses SW, SW abuses both Adora and Catra, and Catra abuses Adora. I liked the Crew-Ra tackling this issue. Abused people abuse people, right?

Why was everyone redeemed in s5? (Well, except for Prime, he was blasted away by She-Ra.) Hordak was given a blank slate to start over, even though he was the reason Etheria was war torn for at least a few decades; SW was given a hero's sacrifice, where at the end of her life she finally decides to do some good; and Catra is immediately forgiven for doing one good thing and all trust in placed in her simultaneously.

Hordak and H. Prime as abusers are pretty cut and dry; at no point are they ever remorseful for their actions, except for Hordak in the case of being abusive to Entrapta. SW is much more of an interesting character to analyze, because her motivations are geared directly towards herself. This seems to change in the final season, when she returns to her original motivations from back when she was in Mystacor. Defending her home. In her pursuit of the power needed to defend Etheria from the Horde, she fell into darkness. She began to abuse Adora and Catra.

One could argue that the hero's sacrifice she was given for redemption was unneeded. SW was an individual addicted to power. She was manipulative, using fake affection as a means to control. She didn't deserve a redemption. The only evidence we have of this supposed change of heart is a line to Castaspella: "...and stop me if I try to take the power for myself." Okay... so, SW, um... what changed your mind? Was it Micah? Because at no point has he forgiven you. In fact, there should've been much more hostility between the two of you (which is a point I'll address in a moment). In all honesty, the relationship between SW and Micah reminds me of what should've happened between Catra and Glimmer, or Catra and Scorpia.

And Catra... My problem with her story is that she was kinda just... forgiven? instantly. no repercussions, no long talks about feelings, no... consequences. Catra got the girl and that was it. A small list of things she did over 4 seasons, in no certain order:

Scratched what was implied were scarring marks down Adora's back

Was the cause of Angella's "death" #angelladeservedbetter

Kidnapped both Glimmer and Bow

Opened a world-ending portal all to ensure Adora failed

Also pushed Adora into what looked like an abyss

Verbally abused Scorpia into leaving

Wanted to pit Corrupted!She-Ra against her friends (dehumanization)

Got Entrapta sent to Beast Island, a deadly place no one ever returns from

And this is just the stuff off the top of my head. We all knew Catra was going to get a redemption, but this one was completely undeserved. She apologized to Adora and Entrapta. Two very short apologies for what canonly was at minimum, months of abuse, manipulation, intent to kill (which is literally mentioned by Adora) and general disregard for anyone or anything but revenge for something that didn't even deserve it. The entire cast should've been outraged. Glimmer in particular had a very big reason not to ever forgive Catra ("I'm not losing another parent!"), but it was all glossed over.

The biggest issue with season 5 was the abuse plotline completely dropped. You can't spend 4 seasons explaining how the cycle of abuse affects you and everyone around you... and shelve it. And we know the reason why it was shelved.

Let me first preface this with the fact that I am super happy we got representation. As a queer nblw who grew up feeling alone, it's so good to see things changing in media. An onscreen wlw kiss on a kids' show is groundbreaking and I'm very happy that She-Ra broke this barrier.

But all representation is not good representation. Catra and Adora is not a good representation of a healthy relationship.

Catra is shown throughout the series to be very unstable. This is even prevalent in season 5, when Adora "chooses SW" over Catra, she runs away. This breaks Adora's heart. The last thing that Catra needs is a relationship when she hasn't even confronted the issues that she has. There's no healing done in season 5, no therapy as the fandom loved to meme about, no long talks about forgiveness and the hurt caused. There's no callback to any of the pain and anguish that Catra put Adora through. Catra may love Adora, but if there is no healing done for the both of them, their relationship will fail. They will fall into the same cycle again. Adora will do something Catra doesn't like, Catra will do what she's done for all of the show, and it will repeat until something breaks.

I'm going to talk about the implications of the ending we have now, and feel free to argue with me.

She-Ra is a kids' show. Abuse is one of the main themes. Catra is shown to be an abuser. Here's what we are teaching younger audiences:

a. if you love someone enough, maybe they'll change

b. everyone deserves a second chance

c. your abuser will change as long as you're loyal and never stop trying to love them

d. things someone does to hurt you mean nothing in the wake of forgiveness

e. if someone who hurt you changes suddenly and wants to be back in your life, you should let them back in

Character interactions for the things that mattered (plot threads from previous seasons, general personality clashes, etc) were absent this season, in the moments where they mattered the most. (The best three in my opinion were Scorpia and Perfuma, the BFS inviting Catra in, and Mermista and Entrapta.) Glimmer and Adora should've had their time to talk. Scorpia should've gotten to say her piece to Catra. SW and Micah should've interacted more. Micah and Glimmer should've gotten more than an introduction!

I'm not going to get into how the entire final season was wrapped around making Catra and Adora get together (a fundamental writing no-no; it never ends up working), or how it was bad writing. I just want everyone to think critically for one moment. There are so many other glaring issues in what was, overall, a stellar show. If there was another season, or some mini episodes where the characters talk out their problems and past transgressions against each other, then I could excuse She-Ra. But I doubt we're going to get any of that. So I won't.

[i-am-extremely-mad]

It shocks me over and over again when I come across blogs that extremely aggressively, absolutely HATE LOK, Korra, korrasami and practically every character and aspect of the show. I have to share this horror with others because these are just a small part of the awful views from that blog (supposedly feminist and lesbian), interestingly, attitudes about LOK and korrasami were mostly positive or at least neutral in 2014-2015, and then abruptly changed sometime in the middle of last year which coincides with LOK finally being on Netflix, I will probably respond to if I am in the mood for a toxic discussion...

Anonymous asked:

“I think it's a bit hypocritical that you hate Korra's personality and not Zuko's.Zuko is arrogant asshole bitch and you like him. I never see you criticizing him like you do with Korra”

“Zuko is an arrogant asshole bitch, but he’s not annoying. Korra is an arrogant asshole bitch and is very annoying. Hope this helps!”

#asks#anti lok#going to absolutely BLOW YOUR MIND to find out that the quality of the media itself determines how much I like a character#as well as the quality of the characters development#also this isn't math there is no transitive property for liking characters#some hit and some don't#get over it#Anonymous

Anonymous asked:

“As soon as I heard “I’m the Avatar; you’ve gotta deal with it!” I knew I would fucking hate that show. I naturally hate people who are like that. If Bryke was still smart they would have thought to make Korra’s personality more like water similar to Aang with air, not “haha fuck you, I’m avatar haha!”

“LOL YEP like 3 seconds into the show you hear that, and understand EXACTLY what the rest of LOK is going to be like. Not only is a jarring contrast to Aang and every other Avatar we’ve seen, it directly contradicts everything we know about the Avatar cycle from ATLA. All the other Avatars have to be TOLD that they are the Avatar, and have to work hard to master their non-native elements. Korra just naturally being able to bend 3 elements when she’s like 5 tells you everything you need to know about how the creators of LOK went about making their show: worldbuilding and logic don’t matter, it’s all about flashy visuals and one-time gags.”

#asks#anti lok#DISGOSTING#'meh meh if korra was a MAN you wouldn't call her arrogant' I absolutely would#korra being a dickhead is not okay just because she's a woman#Anonymous

Anonymous asked:

“Korrasami is shit,a joke, boring af, they don't have romantic chemistry, asami acts like a big sister towards korra. there I said it for you.”

“OOP! Well, I certainly didn’t say it!”

#asks#anti lok#but ur right#ACTUALLY I disagree on one point#asami doesn't act like a sister to korra#they act like work colleagues that only ever hang out during their lunch break#they act like very distant cousins that only talk on facebook#they act like people that share mutual friends but don't know each other that well#okay I'll stop#Anonymous

“Korra: 1/10, I will see myself out the door to be CANCELLED! Not only was her character very unlikeable, but the way fandom reared up to defend this (quite frankly) terrible character under the guise of “wokeness” when it is clear that the creators sprinkled in just enough ~representation~ to get brownie points without actually saying anything meaningful is just EMBARRASSING. Korra defenders are being manipulated by those cishet white men they hate so much, and they do it gladly. Anyway, I find Korra boring, disrespectful, and underdeveloped.”

#asks#ask game#character ask game#anti lok#SORRY YALL LOK'S CHARACTERS ARE BAD#also korra gives off 'mean feminine lesbian who calls gnc women slurs' vibes#korra and asami would bully me and then call me a homophobe#and kuvira gives off such heterosexuelle vibes I simply CANNOT with her#thetpot

“IT’S SO VILE! Korra is barely even an active character in her own show! She’s just a vessel that gets beaten and broken over and over again. She doesn’t actually get to LEARN from any mistakes that she makes, she’s just forced to recover from these external traumas that have literally nothing to do with her.

Ugh, tbh I feel NOTHING for korrasami. Korra and Asami don’t speak about anything except Mako for most of the show, and only really start actually TALKING to each other in the last half of season 4. None of Korra’s friends really spend that much time together throughout the runtime of the show tbh.

But yeah, it’s frustrating that people tout LOK as this amazing show staring a queer WOC, but the people making the show HATED Korra and HATED developing her in a meaningful way.”

Anonymous asked:    

“Korra was like Zuko at the beginning of the show, now she in season 4 is like Aang. Bryke gave kuvira a redemption bc team avatar was missing a Zuko. now she is the new zuko and not Korra.”

Sorry, my brain short circuited. You think Korra???? Is like Aang???? That might be the most offensive thing I have ever received in this askbox.

#asks#anti lok#KORRA IS LIKE AANG#IN WHAT UNIVERSE#HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BOY LIKE THIS#I WON'T STAND FOR IT#Anonymous

“also lock me in lesbian prison but korrasami is WEAK! they didn’t have a single conversation that wasn’t about mako for 3.5 seasons!!! they had zero moments together to indicate that asami would be the only person that korra would write to!!! yall tricked me, I thought I was getting some gay shit.

#anti lok#I SAID WHAT I SAID#korra had more chemistry in her one scene with opal than she ever did with asami”

Anonymous asked:

What do you think of korrasami?

no thank u, I don’t feel like being called a homophobe by a bunch of straight women today.

#asks#anti lok#a hornet's nest I will not be swinging at on this Monday lmao#I hate everything in lok you do the math#I'm sure I've talked about my issues with korrasami on my blog SOMEWHERE#have fun!#Anonymous

Not me seeing posts giving LOK and Korrasami credit for queerness in animation when Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and She-Ra were doing it unapologetically, openly, right from the very beginning....

#anti lok#TESTING MY GODDAMN PATIENCE#if korrasami was individually influential for you as a queer woman that's FINE#but do NOT give this insane credit to the cishet writing team of LOK!!!#not when these other shows were made by ACTUAL QUEER WOMEN#DISGOSTING

Anonymous asked:

if ur looking for an actual well-written canon wlw pairing in the atla verse, there’s rangshi. fc yee works so hard to fix all of bryke’s garbage, bless his soul. i have no hope for anything avatar studios related, but if fc yee is in the writer’s room, then there may be a very marginal chance that the stuff coming out is at least somewhat worthy of being associated with atla. the worldbuilding that he’s done in rise of kyoshi is insane.

I have heard good things about the Kyoshi novels! Unfortunately, LOK is the drop of shit that has poisoned the entire water supply. All ATLA-related works are going to have to be LOK compliant now, which is so deeply restrictive and contradictory to what I liked about ATLA in the first place. I feel like pre-canon stuff is safer (and again, heard AMAZING things about what FC Yee has done with a pre-ATLA world), but I guess I’m too cynical to get really invested in any more ATLA stuff anymore.

#asks#atla#anti lok#put Nat in charge of Avatar Studios and THEN we'll talk#finally get the thotty aang and amazing worldbuilding THAT WE DESERVE#Anonymous

I know, this was awful to see...

[eileen-crys]

A trope I honestly don’t like that seems prevalent over the last decade is corrupt / evil unlikeable cop or authority figure being revealed to be gay in an attempt to make them sympathetic, but then do nothing else and still have them be corrupt / evil unlikeable. Sons of Anarchy did it, Good Girls did it, I thought Arcane was going to do it but luckily they seemed to have learned from the past a bit, but have you heard about this? Like the only lesbians I ever saw on TV as a kid were these, and I felt like I (also a lesbian, just in case it wasn’t obvious) should be offended, but didn’t know precisely by what. Wanting better representation maybe?

Hi anon! Sorry for taking so long to reply!

I must admit I haven't seen the other series you mentioned, but I'm very pleased with Arcane. Like VERY pleased. Tho I'm not sure if you're talking more about Caitlyn or Marcus, because Marcus is the corrupted cop and Cait is the queer one so I'll just give u my opinion on both 😅

Potential spoilers for Arcane under the cut!

I'm really pleased with Caitlyn's character and the little arc she had in this first season of Arcane and as you said I think the producers have learnt from past representation of queer characters in medias. Like, her and Vi's sexualities are sure part of their characters but they're treated -I think- very delicately. It's not "hey look they're gay so you have to like them!!!" or constantly thrown at our face that they're wlw as if that's their only dimension. They're both written very well, even if less explicitly than, for example, Mel and Jayce. But also, Mel and Jayce's relationship had to be fast, "loud" and present for their characters' arc, while Cait and Vi will sure need more time to figure out what to do with each other, so it makes sense.

I think they can be a good representation, absolutely! And I hope they'll make a step further in the future, still with this great writing. If you want more lesbians from Riot Games I suggest you Leona and Diana's story, they had recently been made canon by the writers! 😊 While I'm quite sure you already know the new She-Ra Netflix series, I love that as well!

As for Marcus, the corrupted cop, I'm actually glad they didn't try to redeem him by making him a father. At first I was like "oh no now they're using his daughter to make me feel sorry for him" but no, sure Silco threatened him with his greatest weakness and Marcus seemed to be a good father, but he's still a corrupted piece of shit and him having a child is not a reason/excuse to save his morality. 😬 But yeah I also see that making him gay instead and "using" his sexuality to make him likeable to part of the audience, just for him to still be a piece of shit, would've been another negative representation of lgbt people which we don't really need. Nor us in the community nor the non-lgbt audience who would've seen it as superfluous or straight up negative.

I have rambled a lot but I hope it was a good (?) reply 👀 I really wish to have more good representation in the future, I think we're in the good path lately and some products have satisfied me that way. I'm glad Riot has been able to show us some gays in their show, given how much china is keeping its eyes on them 😬👀 I'm really curious about Cait and Vi's future, and if riot will make a bold move and make them canon-ish or just leave things subtle as they're now...

[williamaltman]

Luke/Alex Rant

Negativity Alert.

So, ugh, the whole Luke/Alex being exes thing actually brings me so much pain, and it’s like no one understands me :(

I’m actually gonna start with the part that’s gonna make people hate me, which is probably not the best idea when looking for sympathy/empathy/understanding, but oh well, it just makes the most sense to me to write it like that... Thanks for those who bear with me.

First of all... It’s not really canon. I mean, maybe it could be. Maybe they could make it in s2. But I’m tired of people saying it’s straight up confirmed, putting it on wikis and everything. Owen and Charlie were just chatting, joking around and having fun with the fans on live, they weren’t being completely serious.

They clearly like to support fan theories, headcanons, ships. Yet on actual serious interviews they have never mentioned that. They have even talked about how Flynn/Reggie was supposed to be a thing, but not that. Not once did it come up when talking about LGBT representation on the show either(why would they not say Luke isn’t straight?).

I understand having a headcanon and feeling validated when the actors support it but it seems like most people legit can’t tell the difference between that and actual officially canon things? It seems like people either think this is actually written in the show(which we don’t have any evidence of) or that the actors have the authority to decide what’s canon just like the writers/showrunners/directors, which... It’s just not true?

Now, why it actually upsets me.

Well, just for starters... IT’S SO SAD??? I really don’t get what joy people get into characters being broken up??? And I mean, the fact that they stayed friends and are still fine with each other is nice I guess, and I see why that could be appreciated... But at the same time the one thing that made people get this idea was when they held hands in episode 2 when they got scared... With the idea being that Luke instinctively went to Alex to cope, and then Alex said “Let’s not” as in “Let’s not make it weird, we’re not together anymore”.

Which is so freaking sad??? The idea that they used to be each other’s emotional support and now even though they’re friends they can never really be that close anymore? Which, means that things are NOT just completely fine like ~UwU happy exes~??? Same for the also popular "evidence" that Luke supposedly looked sad when he realized Alex liked Willie.

And so, we go to the fact that... They’re clearly not happening “again". Willex and Juke/Palina are the ships. I see most people who are into this saying they’re into the current ships anyway and want for them to thrive and for Luke/Alex to stay only in the past. Which, I mean... I KINDA get, liking ships in the past but wanting them to move on. But that makes more sense to me when it’s something that it’s actually in the thing, not something that’s not shown and you’re pushing to happen only to add heartbreak that didn’t need to be there.

EVEN THEN, pushing that aside and understanding liking this idea of them in the past... Why need for that to be canon then??? If it’s all about the fanfics and fanarts and aesthetics and somewhat suggestive moments to relate to that but nothing actually substantial on the show... Then why push for more than that and open the door for people to get invested and want for them to get back together, when for you nothing’s gonna change either way? It’s so counter-productive.

And if you actually want for them to get back together... Well the idea that the creators of a show targeted at teenage girls would take away the main het ship for a gay one even though there’s already a canon gay ship that doesn’t interfere with anything is ridiculous. So again, keeping it as a headcanon and maybe reading fics where they get a happy ending instead of pushing it as canon it’s the best idea possible too.

Ok, I didn’t mean for this post to be so argumentative and combatitive. I meant for it to be more about my feelings really. But now that I feel like I’ve actually brought good arguments to my stance, there’s that feeling that actually exposing my real emotional reason to think like that is gonna “ruin it” and just invalidate everything... But well, I guess that’s too bad, and if anyone’s taking this seriously at all, which most likely isn’t the case, I again ask you to cut me some slack and not just think everything I said is dumb as hell because of what comes later? Like let’s be real here, we’re all coming from some kind of emotional place here, right? Even getting so attached to fictional characters at all.

So, the thing is, I WOULD LOVE LUKEALEX SO MUCH. The possible dynamic and/or tropes/archetypes that they could have would be literally my weakness. It’s already my weakness. In fact what I might consider my very first serious ship already has it. And god, did I suffer for that, and in the end I don’t even know if the results were worthy and if I’m even sure of what they were. 

And that ship was actually a wlw one. A mlm one(I’m a gay guy) makes it 10x worse(the fact that Luke is like totally the kind of character I’m attracted to and Charlie is also like, perfect, doesn’t help either). It would make me invested in a way that would probably already be too much if they were together, but them being exes just absoutely DESTROYS ME. Like on a visceral level.

And the fact that the idea is most of the time that Luke was the one who was there for Alex when he came out. And that maybe Luke was his first love. And now that's gone. It absolutely kills me. It’s so so so tragic.

Like, I actually read a fic like this. Before this whole thing became so popular and Owen/Charlie said anything about it. And it destroyed me. I bawled my eyes out for like an hour. As well-written and touching as it was, it wasn’t worthy, it was definetely not worth suffering so much like a month after reading it.

So it’s just so painful that for most people this is just a cute little thing that doesn’t affect them at all while it truly hurts me so much :/

So yeah, this is my rant. It should probably have been two separate posts, one talking about how I don’t think it’s really canon and one why i don’t want to... Cause as I said, I feel like no one is gonna take me seriously while if I ended it on the arguing part it would lend more credence to it. And I do think people desparately need to take a step back in regards to how they’re considering this 100% confirmed canon(or even anything besides a little teasing).

But I had to vent I guess. Please be kind enough not to come here fight me. Edit: I didn’t mention this at first cause it’s kind of not the main reason and not relevant to LukeAlex specifically, but: I value canon MLM ships A LOT, and watching the show I loved Willex so much and saw nothing between Luke and Alex, so I do 100% want to focus on the canon ship instead of going down this route of hyping up a crackship(that wouldn’t be a crackship if the exes thing was made canon, and might not even classify a crackship even now, but still). I’m not trying to make a point about how people who ship LukeAlex are evil (because, in a way, I do too!), and I definetly don’t want to throw the racism card, but yeah. Just a little extra point to make.

[the-everqueen]

why i disliked “the traitor baru cormorant”

so...recently i read Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant. i bought it thinking, Cool, an insightful fantasy series for me to get into while i wait to hear whether i passed my qualifying exams! i have some time before the semester starts! 

and then i absolutely hated it and spent every minute cataloguing what i thought Dickinson got wrong.

...uh, if you want to get the tl;dr of the liveblog i gave the gf, here’s the top three reasons i disliked this book:

1) not a fan of the “strong female character” trope

yes, Baru doesn’t sling around a sword or shoot arrows better than Anyone In The Whole World. but Dickinson IMMEDIATELY tells us (not shows, tells) that she’s good at math, she’s clever at picking apart strategic scenarios, she’s a savant. (tbh, i don’t love how he shows this, either, with the standard child-prodigy-who-catches-the-attention-of-a-powerful-adult trope.) in Dickinson’s crafted world, her math skills aren’t entirely unusual: women (for...some reason?) are stereotyped as being good at calculations, despite also being aligned with hysteria and too many emotions. this bothers me more than it’s probably supposed to, because the sexism in this novel doesn’t really seem to follow an internal logic. i guess it’s so we can have a woman as the protagonist? also...hoo boy...her “savant” characterization bothers me because...she’s heavily coded as South East Asian (...maaaybe Philippines or Native Hawaii, but as i’ll get to later, Dickinson doesn’t make a huge distinction). uh...model minority stereotypes anyone? yes, within the text, plenty of people associated with the Empire comment that it’s impressive someone of her background got into a position of power so young. at the same time, i’m sure that sounds familiar to so many Asian-identified people! the constant tightrope of being expected to perform to a certain (white, Western) standard while also being Othered. mostly this bothers me because Baru is also characterized as...a sellout for the Empire. sure, her stated goal is to undo the Empire from within, but [MAJOR SPOILERS] in the end it appears that her actual goal was to attain enough power that the Empire would let her be a benevolent dictator over her home island? and it’s only after a major PERSONAL betrayal that she revises this plan? [END SPOILERS] Baru also assimilates without much pain or sacrifice. she hardly ever thinks about her parents or her childhood home. she willingly strips herself of cultural signifiers and adapts to Empire norms (apart from being a closeted lesbian, which...yeah, i’ll get to that, too). and it’s not that Dickinson doesn’t TRY to make her a nuanced character, but...to me, it feels so painfully obvious that this is not his experience. it feels almost...voyeuristic. 

...much like his descriptions of wlw desire!

2) we get it, you read Foucault

the categories of sexual deviance are based entirely on a Western Victorian-era medical discourse around non-heterosexual forms of desire, but Dickinson ignores the network of sociocultural, religious, and historical contexts that contributed to that specific kind of discourse. he uses the terms “tribadism” and “sodomy” but those ideas CANNOT EXIST outside a Euro-American Christian context. yes, a huge part of the 19th century involved the pathologization of sexual and romantic desire (or lack thereof). but that in turn goes back to a history of medicine that relied on the “scientific method” as a means of studying and dissecting the human body--and that method in itself is a product of Enlightenment thinking. Theorist Sylvia Wynter (whomst everyone should read, imho) discusses how the Enlightenment attempted to make the Human (represented by a cisgender, heteronormative, white man) an agent of the State economy. every categorization of so-called deviance goes back to white supremacist attempts to define themselves as ‘human’ against a nonwhite, non-Christian Other. and IN TURN that was ultimately founded on anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racism. at this point it’s a meme in academic circles to mention Foucault, because so many scholars don’t go any further in engaging with his ideas or acknowledge their limits. but SERIOUSLY. Dickinson crafts the Masquerade as this psuedo-scientific empire that’s furthering erasure of native cultures, but...where did these ideas come from? who created them? what was the justification that gave them power? [MINOR SPOILER] blaming the Empire’s ideology on a handful of people behind the Mask who crafted this entire system makes me...uncomfortable, to say the least. part of what gives imperialism its power is that a lot of ordinary people buy in to its ideas, because it aligns with dominant belief systems or gives them some sense of advantage. 

also speaking of cultural erasure...

3) culture is more than set dressing

again, to reiterate: Baru does NOT think back to her childhood home for longer than a couple passing sentences at various points in the narrative. but even though the early chapters literally take place on her home island, i don’t get a sense of...lived experience. this is true of ALL of the fantasy analogues Dickinson has created in his Empire. i felt uncomfortably aware of the real world counterparts that Dickinson was drawing inspiration from. at the same time...there are basically no details to really breathe life into these various fantasy cultures. i HATE the trope of “fantasy Asia” or “fantasy Africa” or “fantasy Middle East” that’s rampant among white male sff writers. Dickinson does not get points from me for basically just expanding that to “fantasy South East Asia,” “fantasy Mongolia,” “fantasy South America,” and... “fantasy Africa,” plus some European cultures crammed in there. he’s VERY OBVIOUSLY drawing on those languages for names, but otherwise there’s no real sense of their religious practices, the nuances of their cultures, the differences between those cultures (besides physiological, which...oh god). part of that is probably supposed to be justified by “well, the Empire just erased it!!!” but that’s not an excuse imho. 

also...in making the Empire the ultimate signifier of the evils of imperialism...Dickinson kind of leans into the “noble savage” stereotype. Baru’s home island is portrayed as this idyllic environment where no one is shamed for who they love and gender doesn’t determine destiny and there are no major conflicts. (there is a minor nod to some infighting, but this is mostly a “weakness” that the Masquerade uses as an excuse to obliterate a whole tribe.) Dickinson justifies young Baru’s immediate assimilation as her attempt to figure out the Masquerade’s power from within, but given that the Masquerade presumably killed one of her dads and her mom maybe advocates a guerilla resistance...it’s weird that Baru basically abandons her family without a second thought. yeah, i get that she’s a kid when the Masquerade takes over the island, but...that’s still a hugely traumatic experience! the layers of trauma and conditioning and violence that go into this level of colonization are almost entirely externalized. 

(later it’s implied that Baru might qualify as a psychopath, and tbh that feels like an excuse for why we haven’t gotten any sense of her inner world, not to mention kind of offensive.) 

this isn’t exhaustive but...

it’s not that i don’t think white people shouldn’t ever address POC experiences in their books. just...if your entire trilogy is going to revolve around IMPERIALISM IS BAD, ACTUALLY, maybe you should contribute to the discourse that Black, Brown, and Indigenous authors have already done. reading this book made me so, so angry. i did not feel represented! i felt like i was being talked down to, both on a critical theory level AND on a craft level. there are SO MANY books by actual BIPOC and minority authors that have done this better. N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy and her current Cities series. Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti trilogy. Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House remains one of the more powerful novels i’ve read on how The System Is Out To Destroy You, That Is The Point. (Bardugo is non-practicing Spanish and Moroccan Jewish on one side of her family, and her character Alex is mixed and comes from a Jewish background!) 

...

there’s not really a point to this. i get a lot of people have raved about this book. good for them. if that’s you, no judgment. i’m not trying to argue IF YOU LIKED THIS YOU ARE PROBLEMATIC. i’m just kind of enraged that a white dude wrote about a Brown lesbian under a colonial empire and that THIS Brown lesbian under a colonial empire couldn’t even get behind the representation. also kind of annoyed that it’s the Empire of Masks and Dickinson either hasn’t read Fanon or didn’t see fit to slip in a Fanon reference, which like. missed opportunity. 

[brittie-frog]

I watched the Prom yesterday, watched the musical today and are now reqatching to compare and here are my thoughts:

- Oh we love the heteronormativity of straights only and having to wear suits for guys and dresses for girls

- Off the get go I hate James Corden playing a stereotypical gay guy. You found two actually gay actors for Sheldon and Trent but not a third??

- I do appreciate the bi flag behind the Eleanor on the outside of the theater

- I will forever see Kevin as Bertram

- I love long running gags and the Julliard one is hilarious

- Angie be walking like Saru with the swaying hands behind her back

- I do miss the line about the electoral college and Barry being pained by "Trump"

- the changing off lyrics to be more PC is obvious now and do prefer the musical for being allowed to say more shit

- also appreaticate casting two pretty queer leads especially Ariana Debose cause I remember rewatching Hamilton just to keep an eye on her as the Bullet

- I do love Emma's obnoxious clothing in the movie with no one style choice and the rainbow bag strap

- why did they add in the extra scenes for the stars instead of, you know, the main teens of the story??

- I would hate to be Emma having to sit on the stage while my right to go to prom gets debated and my girlfriend sits in the front row, the child of the lead homophobe

- Also Indiana is a part of America and have to listen to their laws and values have they taken a history or geography class??

- it's a prom with two homosexuals out of how many going?? like imagine if my hs friendship group of 10 queers were at a school like this then I'd understand cause majority were homophobes in my town

- also it IS a student matter cause its their celebration so they choose whether they go to the 'gay' prom or not. Why do PTA's exist?? So glad we don't have them in England

- I do love the music and lyrics

- Tom Hawkins being too weak to stand up to singing Dee Dee

- I do hate them for cutting down the best/the most ridiculous (acceptance song) songs to add that entire plot line with Barry

- Dee Dee's wish is a fucking mood

- I dont like that in the movie Tom tells Dee Dee Emma got kicked out without her there and really without the need to cause no one mentioned her parents. It just seems weird he's telling someone else's story basically unprompted

- I dont mind that they shortened You Happened but its that they shortened the gays bit but kept the straights over the top prom-posals complete

- again with the added scenes but glad it resulted in seeing Emma in that hideous number

- why get that many limos is a waste of money just carpool with your friendship group

- doing the two proms is so fucked up and then at the conference saying its because she would have been in danger from homophobes as if she wasn't the one to set it all up I dont give a fuck I hate Mrs. Greene

- I miss the cat onsie but also the panic and wonder as a middle aged woman dances is an accurate wlw experience. Honestly if Nicole Kidman came to my house, ate ice cream with me and did Zazz in front of me I'd do whatever she asked

- Ahh the scenes! I can watch without knowing the backstory of Dee Dee's divorce and I can't sit through emotional scenes of Corden playing a gay cause (I know its acting and anyone can play anyone) but knowing that the real life fear and those thoughts of not being accepted arent reflected in the actor just feels really... wrong

- love they kept in the urinal cake research

- "your father might come back" is an insane amount of pressure took put on your 'impressionable' child like seriously it's a miracle Alyssa turned out the way she did

- I keep getting Kaylee and Shelby mixed up in my head cause I now see Shelby as blonde haired cause of the Wilds

- we do love Shelby for having that quick of a change of heart

- but that fact that me (who is joked to be the unemotional one, very rarely crying and never at the same scene twice) gets teary eyed every time I listen to Unruly Heart shows that representation matters

- Alyssa rewatching the video over and over again, missing her ex is a fucking mood

- "the world's changed, sure it's not great" is so accurate and I love it

- I do prefer the idea that Greene just storms in alone rather than with the entire PTA as if all the parents can just drop what their doing to go be homophobic

- they are obviously allowed to swear more in the musical so I miss all the random 'fucks' in the middle of sentences but mostly Emma's 'Holy Shit' when Alyssa tells her she loves her

- the "you're going to lose your daughter" from Barry when Greene went to argue no longer there because he's made up with his mum just kinda changes the scene and the emotions

- because of that change Alyssa's reaction is different with her just crying on Emma's shoulder but I would have preferred the "i think I just came out in front of my mom" no matter what to change the tone back to a comedy

- I love that its a bunch of queers including trios then the four straights at the back like no one else at the school had a change of heart

- I love the look Alyssa gives to Dee after seeing her mum like "do I have to??" Getting a look of support then saying okay and walking over

- the fact that everyone is stood in a circle around them like this is the event they came to see like 'will the homophobic mum be accepting or not??'

- but I do like that that plot line of is Alyssa accepted is resolved in the movie

Do I prefer the musical to the movie?? Most definitely. With all that said will I be rewatching the film?? Absolutely.

[alma-berry]

1) I think it's really dangerous to suggest that a non-straight character being popular is tied to their 'pornographic value' and blatant proof of mass fetishisation bc it achieves the exact opposite of normalising lgbt ships (it pushes them to the margins/silences discussions centred on them) and it creates a damaging narrative of lgbt characters being nothing but their sexuality and having no hope of ever being recognised as more than their sexuality/romantic inclination.

(I’m gonna answer each part of this ask individually cuz this is long and I have a lot to say)

2) I rarely see these kind of discussions aimed at straight ships. I've never seen someone imply that Julian is a fan favourite because he's with Emma and had sex with her. The mixed reactions Jace and Clary got, and are still getting, have little to do with their sexual orientation. Most people I've talked to are side-eyeing the J/C/M triangle bc a lot of us are over love triangles, not because Cordelia is getting in the way of J/M.

I couldn’t agree more. Our need of queer characters is not in order to create our own little bubble. We need queer narratives to be normalised, such as queer identities. Normal not in a form of “same as” but in a form of “just as valid as”. That why you’re so right, and we need to be very careful in the way we phrase ourselves and our demand for more queer representation. This world consists of so many kinds of people, and each and every one of them should be appreciated on its own, by its own right and its own story, and not just as a title or a box that should be checked.

3) As far as wlw ships are concerned, the silence around them is in part the result of Cassie's own treatment of her (sparse, so so rare) wlw characters. There's very few of them and the ones we do have, Cassie's own investment in them is lacklustre. They are sidelined, barely mentioned, rarely involved in the main plot. Exiled, chained to a sickbed, they don't get to shine as protagonists braving their own adventure.

Leaving Anna aside (who so far is a remarkable character), I agree with you completely. Intentionally or not, this is the case. The wlw representations in TSC is weak, inconsistent (I spoke before of how Helen is a completely different character in RSOM than she was in Tales and TID) and lacking of authenticity. The story of how Haline met in RSOM fell so flat to me, almost as a gag. They have some beautiful moments in TID which I truly love, but as a whole I’m disappointed of how they’re portrayed. But, we can ask what the reason for it might be. Is it because CC has something against wlw ships? I don’t think so. I think the problem is planted in that they interest her less than other ships. Or, we might say, ships with men. I’m NOT saying this is a woman-hating thing, not at all. But I have a lot of criticism towards the way she writes female characters, and I think this specific lack of authenticity in her wlw ships is originated there.

4) Cassie could have made Cordelia a lesbian of colour. She could have matched her with Lucie instead. She could have made Kit, the lost Herondale, a girl instead. Could have written Ty as an autistic, gay girl. Heck, she could have made Julian a girl! She had plenty of mains to choose from as potential wlw rep and she didn't. She either made them straight or mlm and it was her decision. If there's a bias in the fandom, it certainly echoes the one in her books.

Now, this I don’t agree with. There’s a story, and the story has to make sense. Making some characters female or wlw just for the sake of it is not something I think she should do. Also, she doesn’t owe us more representation, she’s doing quite a lot in that department. We can criticise the quality of it, but calling her out for not doing more, or more in the way we want her too, is not fair. I understand completely that we have our own needs of female wlw characters, I truly do (The only characters I can meekly identify with is Helen, which sucks for reasons I already explained), but we can’t pretend we’re owed that by every single author on earth, let alone an author who already is quite a pioneer in that department.

5) So what I'm saying: while she has good rep in her books, her main characters are still overwhelmingly straight and if they are not straight, they are more often than not mlm. And while I'm grateful for the world she has created and every single one of her lgbt characters, I don't think it's warranted to act as if her books treat male and female characters equally, as if there's a perfect balance between m/f, m/m and f/f ships, and insult her fans for working with what she gave them.

No, her male and female characters are not balanced. Not in so many ways… the more problematic thing to me is from a feminist point of view and not from a queer point of view, honestly. But this is not the subject at hand - so no, we can’t say theres a balance, but must we? The world is more straight than queer, that’s a fact. Not that I would’ve minded a completely queer cast of characters (it would be a dream come true) but why be angry about that? Yes, she writes far more mlm than wlw couples, that’s true. Obviously she likes (and frankly, succeeds) writing them more than the others. But should we be spiteful because of that?

Her comment on that post is insulting by all means, I said it loud and clear. Not sure if its relevant to how were “working with it” though.

[welcometocaritas]

Elise + Eryka [The Tunnel] // Whenever You're Ready 

my twitters: bonnielextra, tocaritas

my instas: bonnielextra, yumagnas.home

So I made this for Round 2 of the #WLWContest hosted by the amazing Sil. The theme was taking a canon ship that wasn't endgame and changing their ending so that they did end up together. I actually had a lot of manips already ready for this ship (because I've been planning to do a video that gives them a happy ending for quite some time) but I wasn't 100% certain how much we were allowed to use from other shows, so I ended up only using two or three scenes Mostly, I just took clips from the actual show and changed the context of them or used photoshop to edit the text, email and letter so that they showed the poem from Pablo Neruda.

In the show, Eryka disappears after saving Elise's life and we never hear from her again. But in this, I've had Eryka start contacting Elise by sending her poems by Pablo Neruda (which fit because the last books Eryka gives to Elise are poetry books by Pablo Neruda, and the voiceover of her reading the poem is from their final scene together on the show). It takes time but when Elise is ready to let Eryka back into her life, she sends her a letter with the final  verse of the poem "I want to do to you what spring does to cherry trees", to let her know that she's ready. They meet up, have a talk about things, including Eryka's betrayal, and Elise lets her know that she wants them to be family (which is something that neither of them have anymore). It ends with them at the beach, happy together.  If I was writing the fanfic, it would be a lot more complicated than this, as there's clearly a lot the two need to workout and discuss, and a lot that stands in the way of them getting back together, but for the purposes of a video I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

I actually really, really hate this edit. I realized once I'd done the style that I hated the style - it looked too clumsy and weird - but by then it was too late to change anything.  To be honest, I had a hard time finishing this edit. My heart wasn't in it. I've been having a really rough time physically and mentally and then Naya died and then it was the anniversary of my dog's death, so editing for a ship that I wasn't passionate about at the present time was just making me feel worse. And then windows updated my computer and, like always, has caused so many problems so a lot of my programs aren't working properly (like sony vegas) and it's been so stressful. But because I'd started it beforehand and spent a lot of time on it, I didn't want to abandon it or not get it done in time for the contest because then it would have felt like a waste. But I'm honestly so relieved it's over with right now, even if I do hate the final product, because I just want to move on and edit something that will make me happy.

Eryka and Elise are one of my all time favorite canon wlw ships. Their relationship is just so beautifully written and I love each character so much.  They're fully developed characters in their own right, and extremely interesting. Eryka and Elise are the definition of two people who are perfect for each other, but whose lives aren't compatible. If they met in another universe, or if their circumstances were different,  I could see them being very happy together. I think if soulmates exist, these two are it.  They just didn't meet at the right time, and their opposing views and moralities (not to mention lifestyles) create an uncrossable divide between them.  Still I love them so much, I'm also a sucker for accents so Clemence and Laura had me so weak lol.   As someone who loved the original series, The Bridge, I also really loved The Tunnel (particularity s2) and I thought like it managed to become its own show, away from the source material.  (we're just gonna ignore what happened in s3, where they basically ruined Elise's life and emotional well-being and then killed her off. I don't accept that, nope. Especially since it happened after a change in writers. You could really see the change in the show)

Being autistic, I also related a lot to Elise’s character, same with Saga in The Bridge (though the two characters are quite different). I've read articles from people on the show that say she's autistic and then others saying she isn't. I'm going with the fact that she is. Because she has so many of the behaviors and thought patterns and honest to god we need more representation out there for women on the spectrum, and seeing one on tv who is also queer that I could relate to made me feel really happy. The fact of the matter is that she's written in a way that's heavily autistic coded, so stepping away and denying that doesn't really seem fair when there's so little representation out there.

Characters: Elise Wassermann + Eryka Klein Show: The Tunnel (French/English version of The Bridge) Actors: Clémence Poésy, Laura de Boer Coloring: shining dust