#the interpretive dance sex scene was weird

[sic-vita]

the inheritance part 1

1/4

[autistichalsin]

People are so weird about Halsin!! Almost every companion hits on you at some point and some paths can feel far more forced than his? For instance, I personally didn't want to romance Gale or Wyll and they had their own romantic cutscenes (the weaving, dancing) granted you can opt out of it but it still made me uncomfy cause I didn't want to pursue them? Same with Lae'zel and coming on to you out of the blue.

I don't understand the thought process behind it (nor do I want to) other than people being hypocritical asf.

At the end of the day it is a game with sex scenes, nudity, and different romance options.

Yeah, my latest Kiaran playthrough was the first time I got Lae'zel's approval high enough for her to want anything to do with me and she doesn't even bother flirting (of course, bc Githyanki) she just goes right to "I want to taste your sweat" or whatever and like. JFC DOWN GIRL. And like Wyll, oh I love him but the thing where if you accept the dance, it is 100% of the time interpreted as romantic and then your only option to back out after that involves him being heartbroken? Both things Halsin gets hate for at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet they have!

I hate to say it because I know it makes people so defensive, but I really do think that for a lot of these folks, the polyamory is just a bigger hurdle than they want to admit. Few people want to admit that it's a problem with ethical nonmonogamy, because so many people in this fandom are queer and don't want to admit to being just as judgy as cishets are to LGBT folks, but it really does, in many cases, come down to that. In some other cases it's "I am not attracted to Halsin but am attracted to this character so it's okay when they do it but creepy when Halsin does it", but those ones are a LITTLE more likely to have the self-awareness to admit that's what the problem is.

[asherlockstudy]

I had some thoughts about the things you discussed in your amazing, as always, analysis of the first Wonderhole episode. Firstly about the interpretation of "We like closing one eye, because it immerses us in something that's not really happening". I think it refers to both of the things you've said, i.e., when we close one eye we see something different from when both eyes are open, and it might refer to the entirety of the episode, or even their whole intention with the Wonderhole series. So if you look at it with both eyes open and take it at face value, it's a creative surrealist comedy skit with clever, unexpected and often profound plot twists, but if you close one eye and immerse yourself to the experience, it's something else as well. And that something else I think it's your One Story hypothesis, their other life with each other that we don't really see, except in these moments.

A second thought was about the part of the video where they discovered the peanut butter, and they are dancing on beach, oblivious to the passing plane, and missing their chance of a rescue. This scene happens to the beat of "sharing peanut butter because we are peanut butter lovers", and at first it seems like the comical tragedy of two simpletons being so excited about a jar of peanut butter that they missed their ticket out of there. But then if you see it under the lens of the island segment being their post coming out lives, it could mean that once they discovered the peanut butter (as in, how to be intimate with each other), they are so happy that they don't really care about any chances of returning to their previous lives, or even being 'uncancelled' (if that's indeed what caused the isolation after the coming out). And if that was their intention with that scene, I think it was really cute and speaks volumes about their steadfast devotion to each other.

The final thought was about the sex bush. I think part of it was that they like playing with the audiences' expectations (or apprehensions, depending on the viewer) about their personal relationship. The lyric "lovers as in we are loving peanut butter, not that we are making love with one another" gave me a flashback to their song in the 'We spent a day in 1984' video that went "I won't tell you I love 'cause that might make it weird", because both lyrics have that disclaimer element, like an insurance policy or plausible deniability, so that if a viewer sees it one way, great, but if another viewer sees it a different way, great again, they are both right and valid. Schrodinger's gays :D Another part of it goes to some darker places. And fair warning that it might not be a pleasant read, so stop here, if you like.

It has to do with an inkling I have about them actually being still extremely repressed, and all this is just a way for them to express what they want from each other, without actually having to go all the way there (with all the problems that would follow as well about identity crisis, infidelity, home wrecking, public cancelling, and so on). They grew up repressed about sexuality and intimacy. There was a lot of shame and built up about it, as well as a ritualistic aspect (like their dorm schedule). The way they talk about sex to this day sounds sometimes juvenile, like how teenagers talk about it. I can easily imagine the concept of being gay, let alone gay sex, being difficult for them to come to grips with. And sometimes they give me the impression of people who come up with weird rituals around the thing they are tiptoeing, so that they can justify it to themselves. What if they haven't gone there, like we think, and they are making content that allows them to go there, like in a simulation. They can experiment before the real deal. Because a sex bush, like you said, is indeed like a circle jerk thing, which in turn, is a way of being intimate with someone without actually being intimate. It would be very much like them to try an find a loop-hole so that they could both have their cake and eat it, i.e. being faithful straight family men, but tasting the forbidden fruit, so to speak, as well. I said it was dark, and I wouldn't bet on this scenario if I had to guess what's really going on, but sometimes the things they say or do, make me think there might still be some disfunctional thinking about male physical intimacy.

Anyway, sorry about the massive ask, and if you made it to the end thanks again for your wonderful analysis! :)

First of all, thank you so much for your beautiful words! I am glad you enjoyed the first Wonderhole analysis :)))

RE: The eye immersion

There are truly so many different ways to interpret this comment but whichever is the case, the conclusion is the same: the perception of one image is different when you observe it with one versus both eyes open. I have to say, I found it very funny that in the end they gently imply they want to cut out our cataracts though (clear our blurred vision) XD

RE: The plane passing by

grfuehfiehargh I wanted to write this but I wrote so much I forgot about it! It's exactly that, at this point they are so invested to this new state of life with each other, they do not care to go back to their previous lives or back to "safety".

RE: Sex bush and the lyric

That's an interesting take, totally compatible with the One Story. The lyric is indeed a flashback to the 1984 video and instead of it being something we need to interpret in a certain way, maybe it is just a commentary on their insurance policy / plausible deniability, like you said and like it was the case with the 1984 video. I think this really works.

RE: The dark thought

I don't shy away from unpleasant thoughts and I agree a lot with your theory. They do still look and act repressed and in my opinion they still look like they are coming to terms with queer people, what it means to be gay, no matter how cool they act, how many queer employees they have and how many Pride t-shirts they sell. I consider this human, childhood and puberty teachings are the hardest to get rid of and you almost never get 100% rid of them. A tiny voice will always remain in the back of your mind. It's how the human brain works. It is evident in how much Rhett still tries to find answers in religion, it seems like he tries to find ways to reconcile his old beliefs with who he is, despite in the meantime professing himself as "definitely not a Christian". I dare say he spends too much time examining new, alternative doctrine interpetations compared to the average atheist / irreligious person. And I think this is totally okay by the way. He has every right to try to find the answers he seeks for. But like I said in the meantime they are not entirely mentally free. Look how much the concept of hell creeps in their conversations, even as a joke. There is a box inside their mind where they have squeezed all their guilt and the concern and the inhibitions and that box bursts from time to time, if not frequently. However, I don't think this means they haven't acted on anything yet because of these negative emotions. Both in the scripted content and in certain interactions it is evident that this is a point of state long gone. Whatever physical intimacy they were meant to reach, it has already happened. This somehow makes me the heretic of Rhinkdom but by using the same reasoning I used for example in the Wonderhole analysis to draw conclusions, I land on the same conclusion again and again. Whatever was to happen has happened long ago. This does not mean the repression and the fear cannot be explained - in fact this is how they are explained even better, because when things are done and cannot be undone, this is how they double down on the guilt and the fear of disastrous repercussions and the constant anxiety of "but what if we are wrong"?

Besides, it is also not realistic. We see parallels and metaphors for the first chaotic intercourse in the Puzzle, shot in mid to late 2015. And Rhett is the guy you can absolutely not rile up in 2014-2015 and expect that by 2024 he is still "examining" the idea and channeling it through his art, with the flag at hand for 10 years now. It's just not how the vast majority of men, heck, humans function, let alone Rhett who has established himself as a very sexual person and it is indeed the case. Like imagine all those deep, private conversations about their feelings and their repressed guilty desires that are apparently happening ever since they left the faith. Are we to believe that Rhett could have ever managed to make it through them unscathed? Even Link would not be able to do this!

[scabopolis]

fic recs: l/v fic fest, "I love a man in uniform"

In anticipation of the upcoming 2023 Logan x Veronica "New Year, New Fic" fest, I bring you a small selection of fics inspired by the site of Logan in uniform. Again, the kind of uniform is up to you. The sky is the actual limit.

Day 1 of the challenge is February 1, 2023 so be sure to check out the #2023 LV New Year here on tumblr or the AO3 collection for more fic and art.

As a reminder, there are so many fics that fill these tropes. These are just a smattering, so make sure to make note of the ones you love the most and next week, when the challenge starts, maybe go drop those you love a kudos, a comment, or both to share the joy.

To begin, let's start with the inspiration fic for the prompt and then we'll add a few more.

These are mostly all Logan in a Navy uniform, so I'll be excited to see if there are ways we can open that definition up in the next week!

Fic: Metal Under Tension by @machawicket (AO3 account required to read) Rating: T and/or M depending on your POV Tropes and Themes: Reunited after 180-days, Veronica climbing Logan like a tree, these two are OBSESSED with each other Read if: You want to be transported back in time almost 9-years to that post-movie time when macha kept us all very well fed with fic inspired by the movie and what came after. This fic is romantic, and funny, and touching, and man. WHAT A TIME!

Fic: The Long Way Home by @absolutelyiris Rating: E because of those two-weeks of bliss iykwim Tropes and Themes: Idk, man, this fic is perfect to me - (but also it's a movie compliant fic, with chapters 1 and 2 showing snippets throughout the film, and chapter 3 post-Logan's deployment) Read if: This fic messes me up in the best way and somehow I'd FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT which is why these kinds of challenges are the best. The part of the chapter when they're back together but he's about to leave for 6-months. AGGGH! I can still feel it in my gut.

Fic: Every Belt That Hit Someone (is Still Made to Hold Something Up) by @igrockspock Rating: E for sex and for some violence and some swears Tropes and Themes: This fic is perfect (I've said that twice now and idc), snapshots of Logan's life pre-movie, some of the most developed Logan/Carrie dynamic, THE BOOK SCENE Read if: You've somehow managed to never read this before and you're curious what all those weird fragments I just mentioned even mean.

Fic: The Crowd by @ghostcat3000 Rating: M for "genteel smut" as GC calls it Tropes and Themes: Another reunited after 180 days fic (I CAN'T HELP MYSELF I LOVE THEM ALL), they don't have sex in public but it's a close thing, appropriate (as in inappropriate) jokes about the uniform Read if: Look, this fic makes me happy. Do you want to be happy? Then read it.

Fic: Waste of Breath by @bryrosea Rating: M Tropes and Themes: It's called growth!, starts one year post-s3 through Logan returning from deployment, every single moment makes me want to set myself on fire and then read it again to experience it all over (too much?) Read if: You want to feel like you're inside Logan's heart and head.

Fic: Blackbird by AliLamba Rating: T Tropes and Themes: AU where Logan and Veronica are at ballet academy, battle couple but in the art of dance, found family and friends as family Read if: Okay, technically Logan wears ballet costumes not uniforms, but again, I hope this goes to show how open to interpretation these tropes are. Also, if you're looking for a completely alternative world fic, then this one is top notch. Romantic and clever and takes me right back to being teenager and loving Center Stage.

[etherealwanderings]

Sex isn't dirty and it has nothing to do with "rushing things to feed a fantasy." How don't you see that you're sounding indistinguishable from ron desantis and televangelists?

Homophobic GA members think all of Byler is creepy just because it's gay. I promise you that keeping it "pure" is not gonna make them be okay with Byler. You can keep dancing around the truth, but it doesn't change the truth: you think sex, and gay sex in particular, is creepy.

This is puritan behavior.

You post stuff like "I'm gonna protect these 2 cuties from the creeps of the fandom" without any hint of irony. That is purity culture. It's the same mindset of those who try to shield their daughters from their own sexuality or who try to tell people that the only acceptable way of having sex is in a heterosexual marriage, as if sex is something that corrodes and erases innocence. Do you hear what you're saying?

Never mind that there's an obvious thematic significance to a Byler sex scene given the 80s context, as well as emotional significance (since most of sex is psychological, and it's about exploring these character dynamics. It has nothing to do with being "creepy" or "forcing fantasies" on people TF.

The show itself has already shown Byler be sexually attracted to each other, are you denying this? Have you seen hosegate? Have you watched the show?

Another example of a show that handles queer teen sexuality perfectly is the new Chucky show. After showing them fall in love in Seasons 1 and 2, Season 3 has shown their two queer teen main characters ready to take things to the next level. And they openly communicate with each other and talk about safety/consent.

No one's saying that a byler sex scene would be some weird horny thing. It would be a display of love between two characters who have grown up together and would fit within the show's main anti-conformity character arcs and themes. It would be wholesome and tastefully done. Most Bylers would want it to be implied anyway.

It's not like Stranger Things is gonna suddenly become Euphoria or Sex Education or Riverdale.

Didn't you listen to all the minors of the Tag who are feeling uncomfortable thinking about that things? Don't u care about them ? Why do u call them puritans? Also no offense but hosegate is an interpretation lol. If you watch the show without analysing it like crazy,you wouldn't even interpret that scene that way. When I first saw that scene I saw a Will being sad and breathing loudly while looking at Mike because he is nervous. He would love to run to Mike and tell him that it's his painting and his feelings but he cannot and the fact that now he thinks that Byler has 0 chance of happening. It is giving him anxiety. Noah made the same look during the rain fight and generally starts breathing loudly when Will is nervous. If you don't look at the hose and think about a banana , hosegate becomes bs. It's not even a Byler evidence. My problem isn't about Byler sex scenes in general cause if Byler was like over 20 I wouldn't say anything, it's the fact that you are burning to get that scene. You want it so bad that it becomes creepy and when a minor feels uncomfortable because of what u are saying, you call them a puritan.It is basically child manipulation! Not everyone is ready to understand anatomy ! Not everyone likes to see 2 people having intimate moments! Not everyone agrees with minors having s.x! And it's fucking valid !

[vidavalor]

I disagree that that's why he's censoring it but all interpretations are valid, of course. If we were all the same, it'd all be pretty boring.

I see the scene a little differently. "Seamstress" is 19th century code for "sex worker." People who did that work in that era would put on government forms that they were a "seamstress" to evade questions by the authorities. Aziraphale is throwing a ball that he wants to be romantic and sexy and so he's going with what he knows he and Crowley think are those things and Aziraphale, well... he's got a thing for double-speak. He's actually not totally censoring Mrs. Sandwich so much as he's just made it so that everyone speaks the way that people did in the 19th century and that's why she can't say what it is that she does more explicitly. Aziraphale just really loves innuendo. He and Crowley have a whole coded language they speak to one another so Aziraphale's idea of creating a romantic moment involves that. Aziraphale: "Look, Crowley, a whole crowd of humans dancing and speaking with hidden meanings! Things we like! Dance with me!" Crowley: "Uh alright so we all might die, otherwise, I'd really be into this, angel..."

The thing about the "seamstress" scene for me is that it's like a little wink to the audience. We all have figured out through the context of the show what Mrs. Sandwich does for a living even if no one directly names it but, through the parameters of the scene she's in, she can't say it directly, even though she really would very much like to. Which is the writers throwing in some meta that's like... welcome to S2, in which Crowley & Aziraphale are trying to figure out the extents to which they should shed the little code they speak in, to varying degrees of success-- mostly early on-- and then sheer, unmitigated disaster in the "no nightingales" scene. But as she describes what she and her girls do in increasing detail-- Mrs. Sandwich really out here listing the whole damn menu lol-- the scene gets progressively both hotter and funnier at the same time. Mrs. Cheng's pupils dilate. She starts jerking off her fan. Finally, she opens it up and fans herself because it's getting hot in here as she's decoding what these fictional people she doesn't know are getting up to behind closed doors based on what Mrs. Sandwich is telling her-- through words that are, on the surface, completely unrelated to sex-- are options. The writers are making light fun of the Crowley/Aziraphale audience in an affectionate way and calling us as horny as Mrs. Cheng while also saying "you ain't wrong, there's a code" at the same time. The whole scene exists for the purpose of winking at the fact that there's a whole second layer of conversation happening in Crowley & Aziraphale's scenes and if you can crack their code, you can speak it, too.

"*Oh*," Mrs. Cheng says, repping us in the scene. "A *seamstress*."

Through what Mrs. Sandwich has managed to get out in coded language, Mrs. Cheng has been able to *translate* what she's saying and now, they're speaking the same language. They get each other's meaning, speak their own weird, little language and they find that hot. The writers are meta-ing again being all 'as go Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Sandwich in this little scene, so too do Crowley and Aziraphale in the entire series'.

Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Sandwich have an entire conversation that the audience reads as about sex because it is but neither of them utter *a single word* related to sex during any of it. It sounds, on the surface, like it's about laundry lol. Between the context clues-- Mrs. Cheng apparently finding laundry very erotic, clues about what Mrs. Sandwich's job actually is, knowing there's a spell that Aziraphale set that's preventing us from hearing the real words they're trying to say, the audience sees the double layer of meaning. Add in that if you know the origins of "seamstress" in connection to sex work, it has another layer of humor. It's using two supporting characters to tell you that Crowley & Aziraphale scenes work like this, too.

A word might have more than one meaning or a word might mask another, truer word. A lot of the sexiness and a lot of the romance and a metric fuckton of the humor in Good Omens comes from whether or not everyone in the scene gets the hidden joke or not-- which is to say, whether or not they speak the same coded language. If that same scene was shown to us without Aziraphale's spell in place, it would have been Mrs. Cheng asks Mrs. Sandwich what she does and Mrs. Sandwich tells her she runs a brothel and Mrs. Cheng says "oh, interesting" and end scene. It would be needless. It would be pointless, in terms of the overall plot and meaning of the story. It is, technically, still pointless to the plot the way it is-- in terms of if you cut it, it wouldn't impact any story-- but it is *absolutely not* pointless in terms of meaning, which is why it's not only in the show but a surprisingly important scene in S2 in terms of meaning.

It also has another layer of meaning atop winking at the code existing. It helps us decode Crowley & Aziraphale a little bit with some further winking from the writers, in that by having Mrs. Sandwich going on about what her and her girls do, she's describing sex acts coded as seamstress-related activity. She says things like "darn his socks", "mend his shirts", something about a jacket. It's a callback to the paintball scene. Here's Crowley quite literally mending Aziraphale's jacket-- an act that's now coded as symbolic of sex in the series. Crowley mends Aziraphale's jacket and it tells us that Crowley, at other times, mends Aziraphale's jacket, winkwinkwink...

Like Crowley didn't already look wildly horny in the paintball scene and then clean that coat in the most homoerotic way possible, the writers are out here in S2 with Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Sandwich to call back to it and point out how much funnier and sexier and romantic everything is when what's being done and said doesn't only has the surface layer of meaning but multiple meanings. They're all hey, remember that stupidly sexy scene about Aziraphale's coat that had you all being 'oh God, they fuck, don't they?' Yeah. They fuck. And also Aziraphale enjoys a genuinely clean, demonic-miracled coat in tip-top condition. These things can both be true lol.

something about aziraphale censoring the 'seamstress' is so funny to me. I know it's supposed to just be a one off innuendo but aziraphale must have consciously or unconsciously had the same embarrassment when it comes to sex that society in general does, hence the censoring, and I'm curios if it's just because of how much time he spends with humans or maybe its the fact he's had those thoughts about a certain someone

Then again I'm a firm believer in the aroace ineffable husbands thing, this just makes me curious

[destruction-death]

⚠️Please read this if you care about Seiichiro Nagata💙

I have a bit of an issue with some people within the Seiichiro Nagata fan community. We all know about Dramatical Murder, right? The 18+ BL game? Great, moving on.

Yes, Seii plays Aoba in the stage play version, who is the protagonist and token bottom in DMMD. I have seen the show, and I loved it and totally recommend it if you are a DMMD fan. As for the people who have seen the show, we all know that there are quote unquote "sex scenes" which are basically interpretive dancing with some sexual hints thrown in there. But that's about it when it comes to the BL included in the stage play.

🤠HOWEVER🤠

Some people that I have met or come into contact with sexualize the HELL out of Seiichiro. There have been posts made about his body sexualizing him, especially his ass. I don't know how else to put this, but y'all are gross and need to chill out. I was part of a server that had a whole sticker of Seiichiro's ass, and I thought that was really weird, so I left the server.

I know that Dramatical Murder has sex in it. I know as well as everyone else in this God forsaken Fandom. And I also know that Seiichiro is an attractive man. But sexualizing a real person outside from his work is inappropriate. Seii has openly talked about how interviews talking about DMMD made him feel, since they asked him so many questions about the "sex scenes". He would not appreciate this, so stop doing it if you care about him. There is a difference between oogling sexually at something fake and oogling at something real. He's a real person, not a fictional character in a sex game.

Leave him alone.

[kazz-brekker]

wait tell me more of your thoughts on interview with the vampire (1994), i'm intrigued

Okay SO, me and my friends watched the Interview with the Vampire TV show (I persuaded them by being like "I hear it is extremely good and also gay and also vampires and also dramatic unhinged gothic romance" and so dragged them on a journey that involved a lot more fake blood and levitating sex than we originally thought it would) and to cope with the stress of final exams we then later watched the 1994 movie. I think it was definitely an … interesting experience to have watched the show first and then the movie rather than the other way around.

So, thoughts on the movie. The movie is incredibly not heterosexual and yet still, somehow, not gay enough. Louis and Lestat are basically a married couple raising a daughter but the movie can't quite seem to commit to making them canonically a couple even though there are, like, scenes of Lestat lying on top of Louis whispering to him about how great it is to be turned into a vampire. There is a scene where Louis and Armand have an entire conversation with their faces approximately half an inch away from each other, there is basically no other way to interpret their relationship than gay, and yet they DON'T KISS. It's absolutely maddening.

Another weird thing is how … compressed the movie feels? I'm pretty sure I would think this even if I hadn't seen the TV show first, it's just really hard to fit 100+ years of plot into a 2 hour movie. Louis is turned into a vampire so quickly in the movie that I have absolutely no sense of why on earth Lestat is so obsessed with this guy that he HAS to turn him into a vampire and live with him for eternity. The whole Louis-Lestat-Claudia household drama also unfolds wildly fast (there's like, one scene with Lestat and Claudia having drama and then she kills him). The vampire theater in Paris is pretty fun (all vampires are secretly theater kids, this is a simple fact of the world) but it only gets introduced in the second half of the movie. It felt like there was so much to fit in the story that things didn't have time to breathe.

Every single act of this movie ends with arson, which is kind of iconic and I do have to support that.

Louis owns slaves in the movie. This is extremely bad and awful. It is never remotely portrayed to be as evil as it is and the whole thing is basically forgotten as soon as he and Lestat leave the plantation. I support the slaves for burning down his house. Yvette should have gotten to stake him and set him on fire.

Louis in this movie is just … sad and kind of whiny and drinks blood from rats. He almost feels like a Nick Carroway sort of character where he is a very boring guy narrating a story full of people much more interesting than him, except those interesting people (Lestat, Claudia, and Armand) are all totally obsessed with him. One of my friends said that Louis is the most boring character in the movie but everyone acts like he is the most interesting, which is 100% correct. Brad Pitt you are nothing compared to Jacob Anderson.

Lestat is fun though! Not as good as Sam Reid (who could be!) but he is at least entertaining to watch. At one point he dances with a corpse.

There are fun 18th and 19th century outfits. The coats and dresses in this movie are pretty cool and according to one of my friends at least somewhat historically accurate.

Claudia's actress was very good! Apparently Kirsten Dunst was only 10 when she filmed this movie which is nuts, she honestly acted circles around everyone else and did a great job pretending to be an adult stick in a child's body.

The interviewer in this movie is basically a non-entity and I had sort of forgotten he existed until he came back at the end. No interrogation of the narrative going on here!

The ending of the movie is quite obviously a sequel hook for a movie of The Vampire Lestat that never got made but is still kind of fun.

End verdict: not a horribly, irredeemably bad movie, I had a somewhat entertaining time watching it and I don't regret doing so, but the TV show really is light-years away from it. I am now EXTREMELY hyped to see Louis and Claudia go to Paris in season 2.

[kogatism]

The way they portray the sex scenes in the Dmmd stage play is fucking HILARIOUS to me. Like yeah I know they're not just gonna fuck on stage so they kinda had to figure something else out but like.... somehow it's just far more gay to have this weird interpretive dance than if they really just fracked each other right then and there. Every time I watch it I just burst out laughing I genuinely can't help it-

[greetingsfromgalaxyunique]

romy and michele's high school reunion

Okay, I just have to get this out there. I just watched Romy and Michele's high school reunion and I don't know if this was already a thing back then, but by god Romy and Michele should be gay for each other. They've lived together for ten years, their beds are next to each other and they do everything together. I get that they are supposed to be straight and BFF's but let's be honest. It would've been so much better if they ended up together at the end.

Like after they made up and pegged those mean girls to the ground, they could've danced together and then realized that they love dancing together (I mean they already danced together with Sandy which was so weird, was it supposed to be an interpretive dance?) and then also that maybe Romy could've said something like 'maybe I wouldn't be so disgusted by sex with a woman if it was you.' and then Michele would've been all smiley like usual and went 'okay!' and then they just left together.

Especially in the end scene where they are behind the counter of their own shop and Romy went 'You know what Michele, I think you are, like, the funnest person I know.' and that could've been like the confession to Michele and then they actually started dating....

Just FYI tonight was the first time I've seen it and I don't know anybody that has seen this movie (or I've at least not known that they watched this movie) and I don't know how people generally interpret this movie and the relationship between these girls.

(Also loved the Lisa character, good for her that she went her own way and supported Romy and Michele when Christie tried to give a comeback. I screamed 'YES GO GIRL!'. Love people finally standing up for themselves.)

[saintapoptosis]

Dark Entries: A Goth Music Overview

The tags on that aux cord post are really grinding my gears on this Monday evening so I’m making it my responsibility to educate people on this site as to what goth music actually is. I know this is going to get on some people’s nerves and generate some discourse because the “what is goth?” debate never seems to end, but at the end of the day I’m just some stranger on the internet who’s not even old enough to be in most goth clubs in my country. This is just my interpretation and explanation of it all for the curious. 

The long and short of it is that goth is a music based subculture. there’s no requirement to being goth other than listening to the music- which seems to be what’s confusing a surprisingly high people on this site. i’m not going to judge you for calling mother mother or my chemical romance goth up until this point. the subculture is largely underground and obscure by nature. Popular legend has it that the goth scene was born in 1979 when British rock band Bauhaus released the nine-minute long single Bela Lugosi’s Dead, but if you ask me that oversimplifies how it all started and isn’t even their best classic goth song. Goth is better understood as a progression from the punk explosion of the late 70s to what came after: the aptly named post-punk genre and beyond. Goth wasn’t the only genre that came from post-punk- new wave, shoegaze, and most alternative rock as we know it did too! Post-punk (British post-punk specifically) was and continues to be a lot of things compared to punk: noisier, faster, slower, stripped-down, more “intellectual”, weirder, and more emotional than early punk rock (the early British goth scene was also heavily linked to one particular club in London called the Batcave which just makes sense). Bands like Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, the Cure and the Sisters of Mercy also brought a dark, gloomy feel to the experimental do-it-yourself attitude of post-punk and are widely considered to be the founding gothic rock bands. Groups like Xmal Deutschland, Clan of Xymox, Sex Gang Children, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, and Pink Turns Blue are also hugely important to understanding the sound of the early scene (as well as the look) but didn’t achieve the same mainstream success.

But to make matters more complicated, there’s more than one goth “genre” because none of this is simple and no one agrees on this stuff in the scene. The usual laundry list of “goth��� genres is as follows: gothic/goth rock, post-punk (widely contested ), darkwave, ethereal wave, deathrock, coldwave, and sometimes industrial. Angela Benedict explains it well in this video. Deathrock in particular is interesting because it was basically the “American version” of goth music and subculture for a long time and is widely called “too punk for goth and too goth for punk”. Darkwave and industrial are products of the scene getting its start in the early 80s when synthesizers became commercially available. Whether or not industrial in particular counts as “goth” or not is one of the quickest ways to start a fight among goths and also because nobody seems to be able to agree on what’s “real” industrial music. Metal isn’t widely considered to be goth music proper but I have yet to meet a goth who doesn’t like at least a little bit of metal. Historically that crossover didn’t really happen until metal started getting more creative as well (after all, the 80s were the golden age of fratty hair metal and toxic masculinity and neither of those things mesh well with goth style and sensibilities). 

Now that I’m done rambling about the early history of the goth scene, here’s some short answers to the inevitable goth faqs:

Isn’t goth also about aesthetic and fashion?

Yes, but they can’t be fully separated from the music and community. The music generally inspires the fashion and we really like copying the outfits, hair, and makeup of musicians. Goths don’t own in dressing in all black and there’s plenty of goths out there who don’t “dress like it” (including myself and MANY goth and post-punk musicians).

Are you all satanists/pagans/witches? Are you all kinky?

More often than the average person but it’s more a consequence of being in a counterculture community than anything else. Goth and alternative women aren’t your fetish or your future “big titty goth gf”. We just like a certain style of music and just happen to dress weirdly sometimes.

Why don’t more people know that goth is about music?

Goth music generally doesn’t sell well because so much of it is too abrasive or weird and most artists are pretty far underground. Goth musicians also had a habit of denying involvement with “the goth scene” early on and goths, punks, metalheads, and emos are generally lumped together in mainstream media. Gothic fashion is much easier to rip off and sell than the subculture itself is. You (and more likely than not) your parents have probably heard and enjoyed semi-“goth” music before if you like Depeche Mode or The Cure.

How do I get into the goth subculture? 

Listen to the music. Spotify’s Dark and Gothic playlist is surprisingly good and I’m partial to this massive Spotify user-created playlist of old and new bands and this mix on Youtube with lesser-known bangers. Goth music varies widely but a fuckton of it is made to be danced to because we hang out in clubs a lot of the time. The map below isn’t quite accurate but may be able to help you find your local community be it a club or a nonprofit organization! It’s fine to be confused and it’s perfectly alright to ease into it slowly without worrying about how to dress. 

Where’s Your Goth At? A Worldwide Map of Goth Clubs and Events

Why do you guys like vampires so much?

They represent the pain and suffering of the human experience in a way that humans don’t plus Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire came out in the 80s and Bauhaus and David Bowie were in a movie about vampires. They also just straight up look cool.

More resources:

Before Bauhaus: How Goth Became Goth - a history of the dark music that paved the way for the scene. this channel has a couple more goth history videos.

Poseurs, Elitists, and Goth - a good explanation for why listening to goth music matters as well as why being a hardass about listening to the “right” goth music sucks. also very entertaining and made by @cadaverkelly who’s posted a TON of goth music on this site and has an entire channel dedicated to the subculture. 

The Music of the Goth Subculture: Postmodernism and Aesthetics - an academic paper for nerds like me to parse through that has a ton of context and analysis on the goth movement and its origins.

[coeurdastronaute]

Nerd 15

Previously on Nerd

It hadn’t been a particularly good sleep. Lexa felt like she woke up every hour or so, each time checking to make sure the softly snoring girl beside her was still there, still asleep. Despite her own tossing and turning, Clarke didn’t seem to move much, just curled up tightly into herself, against Lexa’s side. Lexa kind of liked the feeling of the other body in her bed. She kind of liked that she was the person Clarke wanted. 

Sometime after the tenth to twelfth time she woke up, Lexa realized the sun was up, and she couldn’t fight with her body waking any longer. Clarke didn’t move, and the night weighed on her girlfriend. 

With a certain effort, Lexa decided to extract herself from the bed, even though Clarke didn’t seem to notice. It actually appeared as if Clarke was a very sound sleeper, as Lexa moved around the room and bumped the edge of her elbow on her desk and hissed at the contact. But as she stood still, she realized Clarke didn’t budge a bit. 

Lexa scrolled through her phone as she tugged on some fresh clothes, checking over her shoulder quickly to make sure Clarke wasn’t peaking for some weird reason. She didn’t want Clarke to know how curious she was about the party before she arrived, but a part of her was incredibly interested in what might have panned out. 

Like a thief, Lexa tugged on socks and buttoned her pants as she danced through the door in her attempt to remain as quiet as humanly possible. It took her a minute to close to door, watching it slowly inch toward the clasp, and finally it clicked nearly silent. She pushed her hair out of her face and slid into the bathroom, shoving a toothbrush into her mouth as she leaned against the counter and scrolled through the feed of Bellamy Blake’s infamous party. 

As she scrubbed she watched the night happen in glimpses. She watched her girlfriend taking shots. She watched her girlfriend in that bikini. She watched her girlfriend look like she was desperately chasing an escape and numbness and it made Lexa mad for her. Lexa spit and rinsed and brushed and decided it was a good idea to scroll through Bellamy’s posts and she couldn’t understand how Clarke could like such different people. Bellamy Blake held week long parties and won state championships and got scouted. Lexa made movies and played board games and couldn’t figure out how to take a bra off. 

With a final rinse she called her sister, hoping the time difference would mean she was awake, but as she bounded down the steps, she was met with a voicemail and furrowed. She needed research and information. Anya knew about all of this. 

“You’re up early for someone having a sleepover with their girlfriend,” her mother greeted her as she looked up from the newspaper spread out across the kitchen island. Her father looked up over the edge of the sports section before looking back down. 

“I told you we didn’t have to worry,” he muttered, flapping the paper out. Lexa rolled her eyes and took a seat. 

“It wasn’t a sleepover.” 

“Your girlfriend spent the night in your bed. I’d call it a sleepover, and I’d say we’re pretty cold parents for allowing it.” 

“I appreciate it, but nothing was going to happen.” 

“Good, because we discussed how alcohol can alter perception and consent--”

“Yes, yes,” Lexa sighed and reached for an apple as her father droned on yet again, hoping to avoid another sex talk. “I know, Dad.” 

They all remained in a respective silence while working past the moment. It was weird, to want to talk to someone, let alone to have anything to talk about, but Lexa felt this need to figure something out, though she wasn’t sure what it would be. She wished her sister had just picked up the phone. 

“So is Clarke…”

“Still asleep.” 

“Did you have fun at the party?” 

“I wasn’t there long,” Lexa shrugged. “I was at Luna’s working on our submission until late. Gus was there, so I knew people.”

She didn’t mention Michelle from math and her bikini. That felt inappropriate. 

“How’s Clarke doing?” her mother pressed, sipping from her coffee again, warily watching her daughter. 

“She’s… I don’t know. Sad. Mad. Stuck. Overwhelmed.” 

“It was nice that you went to get her. I appreciate you telling us what’s going on instead of trying to sneak around. Anya did that. I can’t tell you how many times I had to pretend not to notice boys sneaking around the yard.” 

“Really?” 

“We trust you both,” her father explained. “We just appreciate you doing making us have to stretch it so far.” 

“And we like Clarke, so we’re happy to help.” 

“I don’t really know what else to do, you know?” she muttered, wiping her mouth and leaning against the counter, her knee coming up on the stool. “I think I’d be a little upset too if I were in her shoes, so I would want to probably do a bunch of stuff, but also I don’t want her to be upset.” 

Lexa’s father looked at her and then to his wife. She cocked her head and gave him a look, to which he returned a shrug and ushered her to do something. They were stuck as well because no parenting book prepared them for teenagers. And Anya was very different. 

“You can’t do anything,” he finally offered. 

“Tim!” his wife warned. 

“It’s true. You can’t make this better. It’s between Clarke and her mother and her father. But you can be there for her, and try to encourage her to be healthy about grief and pain. You have some experience, I’d say.” 

Lexa looked back at him and clenched her lips, worrying the bottom one as she mulled over his words. 

“And as much as we love what you want to do and be for Clarke, please don’t forget who you are in all of this. You have needs nad you have goals. Someone else’s wellness is not entirely on your shoulders.” 

“I know.” 

“But just be around. That’s all anyone can do. Be of service to others.” 

“Your father’s right though,” her mother continued. “You can’t fix it, just be there. It’s a boring answer.” 

“If Dad were dying would you have an affair?” 

“Jesus, Lexa.” 

“What?” 

“I’d haunt you,” Tim decided before turning back to his paper. “I’d haunt you really hard.”

“I’m done with both of you today,” she decided, tossing her part of the paper in his lap as she walked through the living room. “It’s not even eight and I’m retreating to my office. I hope you’re both proud.” 

The pair shared a smile and shrugged as she disappeared down the hall. 

“You know, just because we gave you one sleepover, I hope you don’t get too comfortable asking. This was an emergency. It’s always okay in an emergency, and you know the difference.” 

“Yeah, I know.”

“I have golf in a bit, but this afternoon we could do some driving practice if you wanted?” 

“Sounds good,” Lexa smiled. 

For no reason at all, except maybe utter relief that she didn’t have to deal with the same problems Clarke did, she hugged her dad’s neck lazily over the back of the couch before making her way back upstairs. 

XXXXXXXXXX

The vague memories of the night lingered like the stale taste of terrible vodka and beer, and Clarke smacked her lips, hoping to find any kind of liquid to get rid of the dry mouth. But her eyes felt heavy and glued shut, and her stomach felt like it was currently on the spin cycle, so moving wasn’t entirely feasible. 

It had been dumb. It’d been stupid, even. Possibly as far as moronic, to go to Bellamy’s party, but it was the best alternative and boy did it feel nice to escape. Even the current state she found herself in was a welcomed punishment from feeling fine and being unable to exist in the world. Her current physical ailments felt like finally, the universe was manifesting itself, and she could fix the swirling stomach and cottonmouth. She could fix the spinning and soreness and bruises from God-knew what happened last night. 

There wasn’t much else to be done, she suspected. Fix this moment, this hour, this day, and hope to survive to another one. It all had to end at some point. 

Clarke finally managed to open her eyes, a feat she was certain no other human could have accomplished. She looked around Lexa’s room and gratefully accepted the water bottle and aspirin waiting beside the bed. 

It took until halfway chugged, that she realized she was empty and the room was quiet. So she took a breath and held her stomach, certain she could hold it down. Carefully, she dressed, stealing Lexa’s old track sweats and an older soccer shirt, before making her way down the hall in search of something to fill her stomach. 

“Someone else’s wellness is not entirely on your shoulders.” 

“I know.” 

Clarke paused at the top of the stairs when she heard the family talking. It felt like it was about her. She knew it had to be. It made her want to vomit. 

“But just be around. That’s all anyone can do. Be of service to others.” 

“Your father’s right though. You can’t fix it, just be there. It’s a boring answer.” 

It was hard to be the subject of needing things. Clarke wasn’t someone who needed anyone. She wasn’t someone who wanted or needed to depend on anyone, and yet there was a girl, a girl who was too afraid to make a move, who imagined the world in terms of movie scenes and interpreted her own existence in the great world as a cosmic joke, always waiting for the punchline-- and this girl wanted to fix things. 

“If Dad were dying would you have an affair?” 

“Jesus, Lexa.” 

“What?” 

It hadn’t been a joke, but it made Clarke smile. No one expected that Lexa was serious, and she wanted to know the answer. There was shuffling and moving, and Clarke crept her way back to Lexa’s room. 

She felt even dumber than she thought possible for going to see Bellamy. She wouldn’t do it again. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t. The words echoed in her head. She meant it, she was certain. She wouldn’t. 

“You’re awake,” Lexa grinned as she quietly closed the door behind her only to find her girlfriend sitting in her bed. 

“I’m never drinking again.” 

“Mhm, we’ll see.” 

“Don’t be mean to me, I’m sick.” 

“You’re hungover.” 

“You don’t know what it feels like, do you?” Clarke accused, accepting the orange and another bottle of water that was handed to her as her girlfriend joined her in bed. 

“Don’t see much appeal.”

“It always seems like a good idea at the time…” 

Lexa just shrugged and crossed her legs. She ran her thumb along the faded script on the side of Clarke’s knee. 

“I should head home,” she decided softly. “Sleep this off and such.” 

“You could sleep here. I’m just going to work on the car a bit. Maybe go for a run. I have homework to finish.” 

“I have to go home at some point.”

“Maybe.” 

“It was very sweet of you to come get me.” 

“I’m just glad you texted.” 

“I’m not going to be like this, you know?” 

“You can be however you want.” 

It was a sweet sentiment that Clarke didn’t have the mental capacity to sit with, she decided, because she wasn’t ready to decide to be anything. But tomorrow, maybe, she’d think about it. She knew what she didn’t want to be, and that seemed like something, at least. 

“I texted Raven to come get me.”

“If you’re sure.” 

“I needed last night to cleanse myself, I think. I need today to regroup.” 

“You have a very weird process,” Lexa decided. 

Clarke just chuckled and leaned forward, burying her face in Lexa’s thigh and sighing. 

XXXXXXXXXX

For the moment, the very tiny, very quick moment, everything felt like it was caught up, and Lexa allowed herself a few moments of quiet in the garage, because come hell or high water, she was going to finish the car by the last day of school. SATs were done, finally, and something that didn’t need to be explicitly worried about until scores were released in a few weeks. Her prom outfit was already purchased and prepared. Homework and studying were done. Sports were over for the season and conditioning wasn’t set to start for another two months, though she’d start her own soon enough. Her girlfriend was at work and then going off to a cheer competition for the weekend. Luna was putting the finishing touches on their film school application project. And anyone else that might ask Lexa to do anything was promptly ignored.

Two weeks before spring break, and Lexa was feeling high on her on efficiency.  

All in all, Lexa decided that she had at least three days to power through as much as she could with her dad in a final push before sending it off to the paint appointment. 

She hadn’t counted on her sister though, and as her phone blared, interrupting the music playing over the speakers, she smacked her head on the body of the car and slid herself from under it, grumbling the entire time. 

“Don’t you have fancy plans. It’s a Friday night,” she chided the eldest. 

“I’m getting ready, I was just thinking about you.” 

“Gross.”

“Because I ran into a girl that asked about you and I had no idea you had a friend at CMU, let alone a drop dead gorgeous film student.” 

Lexa furrowed and twirled her wrench around before trying to dive back in under the seat and finish installing the seatbelts in the back. It dawned on her then and she snorted. 

“That’s just Costia.” 

“Ohhh, just Costia-- who the fuck is Costia?” 

“I met her when I came to visit last fall remember? You were the one telling me to make a move but I was very drunk, something you did to me as well?” 

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” 

“At the party. I posted a picture…” she grunted and twisted. “She found me on Instagram. We talk about movies and I’ve shown her some of my stuff and junk.”

“Interesting.” 

“Why?” 

“Just not many freshman looking to hang out with high school juniors.” 

“I’m clearly advanced.” 

“Clearly,” Anya rolled her eyes over the phone. 

“I’ve been talking to her about film programs and applying--”

“Here? You’re thinking about coming here?” 

“Fuck!” she hissed and sat up, doing her best to suck on the cut that came to her thumb from her maneuvering. “I don’t know.” 

It wasn’t a serious inquiry, Lexa thought to herself. She was set. She had a plan with Luna. They’d had it since they were ten, and there was really on reason to deviate from it. But then a stranger liked her stuff, and this stranger made stuff Lexa liked. And the stranger became a friend who gave her some screenwriting tips and pushed her to get better at it. And the stranger told her the east coast was just as important to film. 

But it didn’t matter. 

There was a plan. 

“You should seriously consider it. It’s a great program I hear. Come out for spring break!” 

“I should stay here.” 

“And do what? Work on that car? Dad already told me he’s sending it out for interior and paint. You’re pretty much done anyway.” 

“Mom and Dad have conferences that week. I was going to watch movies all week with Clarke.”

“Bring her too. Sounds like she needs an escape.” Anya was getting excited, and Lexa was tugged along for the ride. “You can crash in my dorm. Even just for a few days, not the whole week.”

“Mom won’t like me missing so much time to study.” 

“Call it a college visit for a potential school.”

“Luna will lose her mind,” Lexa shook her head and pinched her thumb to try to stop it without a bandaid. 

“Fuck Luna. I’m going to ask Mom if she’d rather you were here, supervised by me, or home alone for a whole week.” 

From the change in volume, Lexa knew she was texting immediately. She sighed. It would be fun to see the school as a potential option. It might even be nice to catch up with Costia. It would even be better to see her sister, who just at the moment, she realized she’d missed since her last visit. 

“Should I ask Clarke if she wants to go?” Lexa finally ventured, returning to her work. 

“Definitely.” 

“Should I really consider your school as an option?” 

“You should.”

She had a plan, Lexa remembered, and there was no point deviating, but she did want to see her sister.

“If they say it’s okay.”

NEXT

[jingerhead]

You ready for this, my meme peep??? Go:

20. "When was the last time you smiled?" - as a sad Andrew snippet.

25. "This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?" - but as a remix of Andrew's iconic "doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you" scene, interpret that as you will.

😘🧡

YOU WANT MORE SAD???? Y'all why do you want more sad. I will make it no don't you dare take that prompt away from me I WILL MAKE IT -

So yeah, I hope you like these tiny drabbles. Warnings for prompt 25 'cause it's that scene so I mention sex :)

20 - When was the last time you smiled?

Andrew had been sitting on the desk in the dorm room, smoking out the window in the middle of the night, when Robin had asked it.

"When was the last time you smiled?" she said in a small voice, like she was afraid to know the answer.

Andrew glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. She'd been unable to sleep, her anxiety keeping her awake, and had followed him out here so as to not be alone. Andrew often smoked in the early hours of the morning, always waking up Neil and telling him to go back to sleep. Robin rarely made small talk, so there had to be a reason to her question.

"Why?" he mumbled around the cigarette.

"I've never seen you smile," she said, lifting her legs so that she could hug them to her chest. "I just wanted to know."

Andrew looked away from her face and decided to humor her. He thought back to when the Foxes played the Ravens his second year and all the months before that with a manic grin on his face. He thought about the smirk he gave Tilda before he jerked the wheel, about the fake smiles he gave to other boys in juvie.

He thought about the smiles he'd given Cass. He thought about the smiles he made when he was just a few years old, hoping that this time he'd get to stay in a house and go to school instead of having to move again.

He figured there must've been a point in his life that he'd genuinely done so. If he tried he could remember every time in his life he'd ever done so, every reason why he'd made his lips turn upwards and show off his teeth. But he was sure he'd never genuinely smiled around Neil, either.

It felt tempting to try it. To take the cigarette from between his lips and try to move his muscles in a way he hadn't in so long. Would they be able to do it? Would it hurt? Would it only bring him back to a time he couldn't stop himself from grinning all the time?

"I don't remember," Andrew went with. He blew smoke out the window and glanced at Robin once more, but she didn't ask anymore questions.

25 - This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?

"Why does Roland think you're tying me down?"

Andrew paused with his mouth open, his drink nearly to his mouth. Neil slowly sat down in an open seat and did his best to ignore Kevin, who was clutching a bottle of Vodka like it was his lifeline, in favor of waiting for Andrew's answer. It took him a few seconds to finally get one as Andrew lowered his glass to the table, fingertips dancing on the rim of the cup.

"Presumably he thinks you're as bad as following instructions as he is," Andrew finally said.

He seemed to leave it there. Neil didn't know how to ask what he was thinking. "What instructions do you give him?"

"Roland knows I don't like to be touched."

Neil frowned. "But he does it, anyway?"

"He needs more management," Andrew reiterated.

"So you tie him down." This whole conversation was weird. "You tie people down?"

Andrew snapped his fingers. "Listen when people are talking to you, Neil."

They were quiet for a moment. Andrew started lifting his glass again. "Do you use rope?" Neil blurted.

The glass was lowered back to the table with a loud clink.

"Forget it," Neil decided, turning in his seat so he wouldn't have to look at Andrew.

"This is a once in a lifetime thing and you want me to blow it off?"

"Making fun of me isn't a once in a lifetime thing for you," Neil said, lifting a fist to his mouth and digging his teeth into his knuckles. "You do it every day."

"Neil."

Neil looked back after a second, doing his best to glare at Andrew as menacingly as possible. It didn't seem to have any affect. "What."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "I'm offering you sex."

"Huh?"

All Neil got back was an intense look from Andrew. It gave him shivers, so he tried his best to think. He'd just been offered...well, sex, and he didn't know what to think. Which was strange, because any other time Neil had been offered sex in his life, he'd turned away without hesitation. But now that he thought more about it...

"You like me," Neil concluded.

"I hate you," Andrew said back immediately.

[autisticandroids]

hi i'm trying to keep up on spn fandom drama without actually watching the 6 seasons I don't care enough to watch so could you tell me what on earth "why lamp" means? tysm

ok so this is a long one. 

so the way i see it there are three major pieces of evidence, in the last two seasons, that dean is going to reciprocate. 

i’m not talking about like, evidence that i would use as a textual analyst if the author was dead: if i use everything that looks to ME like dean being queer then i would have mountains. i’m talking three pieces of evidence which i am absolutely convinced were intentional on the part of the people who write the show, meaning that they suggest deancas might actually go canon officially. 

that’s also why i’m only counting the last two seasons; cas made his deal with the empty in early season fourteen and it was definitely intended to come off as romantic. why do i know this? because it has the same goddamn terms and even wording as angel’s curse from buffy: angel experiences “one moment of true happiness” and he loses his soul, cas experiences “one moment where he is truly happy” and he dies. on buffy, angel’s true happiness is..... well.......... sex with buffy. so when i heard the deal i was like hm. at the time i thought they were just fanservice/easter egging me, but now i know better: they intended that. so i think mr. dabb has been planning deancas endgame since at least them lol. i’m pretty sure they knew the show was ending at that point so they could do it.

anyway the first piece of evidence is dean’s michael fantasy in 14x10. this is imo the second strongest. in it, he’s a bartender, accompanied only by a woman he can never sleep with because she has a boyfriend. they flirt endlessly, and she comments “how come you only want what you can’t have” which is a mirror for what cas says in his confession: “the one thing i want, it’s something i know i can’t have.” she also later comments “besides, you don’t want me, you just like to flirt. i’m psychic, i know.” suggesting that dean is faking his interest in her, which could be normal but reads to me as intentionally suggestive that he’s either uninterested in women or simply hung up on someone else. like “dean pretends to be interested in women to show off his flirting game and flex his dudeness muscles” is a subtext that’s present in a huge amount of the show; like, there are a few female love interests he has chemistry with, but mostly his sexcapades read like i-need-to-prove-i’m-manly bedframe notching or showing off for his buddies. this is even explicit-ish a couple of times, like i said in this post here. but they’ve never explicitly pointed it out in words i don’t think. and like. “pretending heterosexuality” is pretty queer lmao (even if dean is bi he’s still faking ultrastraightness to prove he’s manly/straight). 

also, it’s weird as hell that they picked pamela barnes for that scene. she never had a particularly close connection with the boys or anything, why not someone else? but she’s 1) psychic, so she can say that line about dean not wanting her, and 2) much more importantly, she’s intimately associated with cas. like, she first appears in lazarus rising, and she’s the one who gets her eyes burned out looking at cas’ true face. like that’s her biggest deal: Woman Who Got Her Eyes Burned Out To Show How Dangerous Cas Is. and then she died off pretty quickly because she was a woman on spn s4.

also, in the scene, she wears an angel wing necklace and a shirt that says “to hell and back” (pointed out to me in the same post). plus the guy who wrote the episode also wrote lily sunder has some regrets which i hope we can all agree is an ICONIC destiel episode.

the second piece of evidence is the purgatory confession in 15x09. this is the strongest evidence. i don’t really have much to say about it because it’s so blatant? like, when i first saw it, i was literally like “this is intentional deancas fanservice jesus christ.” like i lean towards generally interpreting deancas stuff as an accident on the part of straight writers and the purgatory thing did not feel accidental to me. and then cas cuts dean off at the end of the confession, before dean can say some final thing, and dean looks devastated, and then we never find out what the final thing was. like, it’s pretty blatant.

the third piece of evidence is the lamp dance. this is the weakest of the three. basically, dean has a dream sequence in 15x10 where he dances romantically with a lamp. given that one of the things that’s going on in 15x10 is that dean is realizing that he could be allowed to have domestic bliss, the apple pie life, and still be a hunter. the dance with the lamp does kind of come off like it’s implying that there is a partner shaped hole in his life. he has no female love interest in s15 and he hasn’t for years. here is a really cool, if way too smart for spn, piece of meta about it, and here’s another which is less cool but acknowledges that spn is dumb and doesn’t think that hard and is therefore imo more correct. also, andrew dabb himself wrote the lamp dance episode, which makes it stronger evidence than it would be otherwise imo.

anyway when i was Feeling the Madness on saturday, i decided to make this joke post based on the format of that one alvin and the chipmunks meme, you know, “if women are oppressed then why ___” (i would not suggest looking at it on my actual blog because tragically that breaks the format, open it in dash). i was basically using the lamp dance as slightly-ridiculous synecdoche for all three of these pieces of evidence because it’s the weakest.

then later that day, because i treat my blog as a deeply self-referential internal monologue, i made this post documenting the madness i was experiencing, and i ended it with “then WHY LAMP” as a reference to my earlier post. that one got popular, and now “why lamp” is a common way to refer to the lamp dance meta.

[moribundanchor]

The Pelle/Dani Receipts: Post One, Introduction

Hello and welcome to Rimanez and AnonLady present: Midsommar: The Pelle/Dani Receipts. 

Are you sitting comfortably? Got your tea with special properties, rune-stitched white linen solstice clothing, and flower crown? Then let’s begin. Skål!

We are going to step you through the film more-or-less chronologically, detailing evidence supporting the Pelle/Dani ship in dialogue and behavior, cinematography, costuming, set design, and artwork featured throughout the film. This will include not just the signs that Pelle loves Dani--compelling, but low-hanging fruit when discussing this ship--but that Dani has feelings for Pelle, that their onscreen intimacy indicates a friendship, at least, that is independent of their individual relationships to Christian, and that Dani and Pelle are destined for each other. We should note that Ari Aster is meticulous, so meticulous, and it’s possible there are still things we have missed and perhaps some of our interpretations you may disagree with. That’s fine! We’ve got a lot to work with here. Additionally, while we will touch on elements relating to Dani’s destiny as May Queen, we will concentrate on those elements that pertain to her destiny with Pelle specifically.

There will be 12 individual posts, which Rimanez and I will be posting over the course of the next week or so as we get them ready, two at a time, with each post hyperlinked to the succeeding post, and then at the end, we’ll have a convenient table of hyperlinks.

All gifs and high quality images have been wrangled by @amy-amell. Rune expertise will be provided by @daydreamers.

Before we get into specific evidence, a brief word about general motifs to be aware of in Midsommar. These are not things that directly speak to the Pelle/Dani romance, but will feature in scenes we discuss and contribute to their meaning. These include:

The color yellow. Yellow generally relates to Dani’s journey, her yellow brick road. For example: the prevalence of the color in the Ardor house, particularly in pictures of Dani and the flower arrangement over the bedside picture of her; the hose that Terri uses to pipe the gas fumes into the upstairs is yellow; the path through the woods to Hårga features a thickening carpet of yellow flowers; the yonic sun gate to Hårga is yellow; Dani’s flower crown during the competition is mainly yellow; the Fire Temple, of course, is bright yellow.

The sun. While they’re not sun worshipers, per se, the sun is the ultimate symbol of Hårgan belief in the Great Cycle. It also effectively doubles as a symbol for Dani’s destiny to join the family at the end, folding in the significance of the color yellow. Also note that in Old Norse myth, the sun is female and the moon is male, as opposed to Western traditions, which makes sense since, while it’s not explicitly stated, Hårga seems to be a matriarchy, with Siv as head honcho and the May Queen ultimately given the power of life and death in the Fire Temple ceremony.

The color blue. Blue generally relates to the Hårgans. You will notice it in their special solstice clothes’ embroidery, but also in sneakier places, like the lit trees behind Christian as he approaches Dani’s apartment to, sigh, sorta hold her in the beginning.

Flowers and plants. Flowers, plants everywhere. Not just real ones, but design elements, too, everywhere from Dani’s parents’ room to Hårga. Flowers, of course, have their own subtle language -- brilliantly and comprehensively explored in this post -- not unlike the Hårgans, but you will notice their presence waxes as Dani comes home to Hårga. In addition to the individual meanings of certain plants and flowers, note their generic connotations of sex, nature, growth, and balance. As Pelle muses in the meadow, “Nature just knows instinctually how to stay in harmony.” And that’s the essence of Dani’s journey: finding the harmony and balance she lacks.

Mirrors. Mirrors indicate something going on beneath the surface. We first see Dani’s parents, apparently sleeping, reflected in their bedroom mirror as Dani’s call goes to voicemail, only to learn they were actually dead. Christian’s lies to Dani, his friends, and himself are reflected in mirrors at Dani’s apartment and his own. Dani has her terrifying glimpse of Terri in the bathroom mirror. We first meet Maja primping in a mirror, and we soon learn she’s not just primping but primping for a plot. And most importantly for this piece, we see Pelle reflected in a mirror while sketching the newly-crowned May Queen, but of course, even in that idyllic moment, he is still plotting to get Christian out of the way. Mirrors = look again.

OK, with those principal motifs set to one side, let’s look at general underlying evidence of Pelle and Dani destiny, shall we?

Names. Dani Ardor. Ardor means love or passion and it comes from the Latin word ardere: to burn. Her first name, like sister Terri’s, is a male-sounding female name, a time-honored convention for Final Girls in horror movies. It also recalls Danny from The Shining (1980), a film that is referenced visually in the soaring overhead shots of the journey to Hårga, but also in the design of Dani’s bedsheet in the Hårgan Youth House.  

It’s also worth noting that Dani is a common short form of Danielle, which literally means “God is my judge.” Taken alongside Dani’s ultimate judging of Christian, that’s...pretty suggestive. (Big thanks to @henrys-side-blog​ for pointing this out!)

Pelle is a name on its own and a pet form of Per, both Swedish forms of Peter, from the Greek petros, stone or rock, i.e. the foundation. It brings to mind the Ättestupa, the ultimate symbol of Hårgan unity, and the way that Pelle offers himself as a support for Dani, too. There’s also the association with Peter, the disciple who denied Christ. I mean...his romantic rival’s name is Christian, although Ari Aster says there are lots of ways to read Christian’s naming...which he won’t tell us. “He is thrown to the lions, so to speak.”

Lastly, this may just be a coincidence, but Dani has unique pronunciations of both Pelle and Christian that differ from the way the rest of the cast pronounces their names. (OK, I think Mark says Pell-ay once.) This is in spite of Florence Pugh’s flawless American accent, and it’s not replicated with any characters that aren’t Dani’s love interests. It’s just weird.

Dani and Pelle’s Costuming. After arriving, Pelle initially only dons a Hårgan shirt while retaining the rest of his outsider clothing. Dani dons a Hårgan apron initially before changing into full Hårgan costume for the maypole dance. Their costuming throughout the movie, as with many of their movements and behaviors, show a continuous synchrony that also charts Dani’s assimilation into the family. It’s worth noting that Pelle doesn’t kiss her until they are both in full Hårgan dress.

Runes are another big underlying source of meaning, but frankly, they are so complex and multivalent, including elements that we only really discovered while working on this post, they are going to get their own section at the end, where all of our contextual evidence will help guide interpretation.

OK, let’s crack the film open and find us a love story.

The Pelle/Dani Receipts Masterpost

[lassieposting]

I mean to me Surrogate Dad/Daughter and Valdug just seem like equally bad takes. They’re both just interpreting their relationship differently, so it just seems a little odd to hold up one as so much better than the other. Like, it’s a fandom so of course everyone is entitled to their headcanons or fanfictions, but I just find it kinda strange to act like one interpretation is any better than another.

Putting this under a tag bc disk horse is boring and this got long

Okay so, things that are totally healthy and normal to do in a father/daughter relationship, then:

Vehemently deny that your surrogate dad is any kind of father figure to you

Vehemently deny that your surrogate daughter is any kind of child figure to you

Constantly remind your surrogate dad that you don't see him as an authority figure

Boss your surrogate dad, whom you see as a Familial Authority Figure even though you don't see him as an authority figure at all, around like he's Mr Fetch-It

Outright tell your boyfriend you prefer hanging out with your surrogate dad, on whom you definitely don't have a teenage crush, so it's weird you'd even make that comparison because the two relationships are nothing alike

Openly announce to your surrogate dad that you've had sex

Always pick romantic song choices to sing to your surrogate daughter

Ogle your surrogate dad putting his shirt on

Buy your surrogate daughter a slinky requiem ball dress

Say things like "I have that effect" when your surrogate daughter announces she's all tingly, or "Can't argue with you there" when she tells you that if a boy dances with her in this dress he'll fall in love with her, or "I can walk from them" when she tells you that you can't run from your feelings for her

Treat your surrogate daughter's boyfriend like he's competition for her attention

Get into testosterone-fuelled pissing matches with your surrogate daughter's kinda-flirty other mentor

Do...whatever the fuck was going on in that SPX scene with all the "You still won't come back to me" and "You're my exception, you always were" and "You should've seen her, she sparked, she was magnificent" and all that because none of that had even a remotely parental vibe like i havent even touched that book since it came out and i still remember that line because jesus christ skug

Constantly put your surrogate daughter, whom you see as your child, a little dependent you must protect, in life-threatening danger

Finish your conversation with your surrogate daughter before pointing out her ass-nekkid reflection

Take your surrogate daughter to a party as your date, and ask her permission to dance with someone else

Kiss your surrogate dad's disembodied head on the mouth

Treat other teenagers vaguely age-appropriately and just admit that you always treated your surrogate daughter, whom you see as your child, like an adult because you always saw her as your equal

Blatantly eye up your surrogate dad's evil alter ego as your evil alter ego

Like...I don't really care if people don't like valdug, that's their right, but there's a solid foundation for it. Lardo has admitted to shipteasing with them, some of their dialogue was written to be flirty. There are a lot of things they say to each other that can be read as perfectly normal friendly or flirty banter, but would be super weird things to say to a surrogate parent or child. Like, I am a bunch of daddy issues in a trenchcoat, I latch on to surrogate fathers like some people collect funko pops, but the thought of saying some of the shit to any of them that val says to skug makes me cringe. And that is why I dislike this interpretation so much. It's taking something the characters have said doesn't fit them, and trying to cram them into it anyway, and then trying to force their weird little view on everyone else too - whenever someone makes a father/daughter dynamic post, it always comes with a snippy little comment about shippers like "omg you can't ship them that's disgusting he's like her dad!!!!!" when...a) just because you see it that way doesn't mean anyone else has to and b) shipping them has a far stronger foundation than their "I know they said they're not surrogate family but I say they are, so there" shit.

I'm not saying anyone has to ship valdug. I don't care what you do or don't ship, as long as you're not flinging disgusting irl accusations at shippers for liking a ship you don't. And I'm not saying nobody can see them as surrogate family, like...if that's your jam and you're okay with all the bits that are weird and inappropriate in that dynamic then...good for you, wring all the serotonin you can from it, just don't try to headcanon swap with me about it. But I do think it's an interpretation that doesn't actually work with how they treat/behave around each other, and I do think it's stupid for that reason, and I do get pissed at the holier-than-thou people who make snotty little passive-aggressive comments about shippers for not subscribing to the family view.

So. Yeah. I don't know how much sense this actually makes because I kind of lost track of this post at some point, but the reason I see one interpretation as "better" (which is not the word I would use, I don't think. I see it as more believable/less nonsensical) is because there's a solid foundation for it to evolve from their friendship, whereas the family thing is actively denied by the characters involved.