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magnificent-nerd · 3 years ago

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What’s his name, Marvel?

Image description: actor Haaz Sleiman, slated to appear in movie Eternals.

(NB: For the record, any of my criticism on this post is directed to Marvel Studios and Disney, not to the actor Haaz Sleiman (pictured above) nor Eternals co-star Brian Tyree Henry, whom I wish nothing but the best for.)

Now, I have some marketing moans about Eternals from Marvel studios.

It is August, 2021.

There's been a buzz about the MCU's "first openly gay character" recently (how dare y'all disrespect Gay Joe Russo like that), and that the character, Phastos (played by Brian Tyree Henry), will be shown in the movie to be married to another man (played by Haaz Sleiman).

The MCU's first gay couple, as Marvel studios themselves keep touting.

Anyway, I wondered to myself: what's the husband's name?

So I set to Google.

I Googled the cast list for Eternals, and this a screenshot from today of the lower end of the results:

Image description: Eternals cast list from Google, where actor Haaz Sleiman is listed as “Phastos’ husband”.

Ah, no name.

The text under the actor's name simply says "Phastos' husband".

Okay, so I went next to IMDB, to search the 'full cast and crew' section, of which there is only 19 listed as of today (and I'd expect that list to grow after the movie releases).

IMDB screenshot:

Image description: IMDB listing for Eternals, actor Haaz Sleiman has no character name listed.

These are the bottom four results on the IMDB listing, and Sleiman's "Husband" doesn't even have the word husband listed.

Below him is a named character, Karun, and two 'uncredited' characters such as 'Girl' and 'Passerby'.

Um... Right.

Now, I'm not trying to be difficult. I just want to know what this guy's name is. I also want to know: why isn't his name listed? Why isn't it easy to find?

I've browsed Google for articles on this nameless husband for the past half an hour, and the only sparse information I can find is seemingly one interview/quote that the actor (Haaz Sleiman) has given, stating that his character and Phastos share an onscreen kiss.

That's great, but what's his name?

I'm getting the impression that Husband (we'll have to just call him that for now) isn't going to have a prominent role in this movie, considering he's nameless and so far down on cast listings.

Just one up from 'uncredited', basically.

News outlets refer to his character as "Phastos' husband" only. Withholding a character's name makes no sense, unless that name/character themselves is a spoiler.

Yet... I'm not really getting that vibe from Husband, I'm getting more of a walk-on role vibe from him/this character. And if that's the case, his name won't be a spoiler, so why isn't is more widely available?

Leaving him nameless while also watching Disney/MCU pat themselves on the back for this gay rep onscreen feels disrespectful to his character.

Is he a well rounded character, or a nameless walk-on with one line?

All we know is from Sleiman's direct quote: "I'm his husband, I'm an architect, we have a child."

That's great, but did Disney give you a name?

Sigh.

I'm really trying to reserve my judgement until the movie is out (we may have to wait until 2022 if it gets delayed), and I'd love to be pleasantly surprised...

But then I remind myself this is DISNEY and Disney's track record with LGBT+ rep has often been hyped up only to fall flat and ring hollow when actually seen onscreen.

See the afore mentioned Gay Joe Russo in Avengers Endgame (2019), and LeFou's "exclusively gay moment" which was more like a vaguely gay nanosecond in Beauty and the Beast (2017). Hardly great rep.

And another barely there moment (two seconds, was it?) in Rise of Skywalker (2019) when two women share a kiss (Commander Larma D'Acy kisses her pilot wife Wrobie Tyce) in celebration at the end.

I rather fear we're going to get another two seconds, blink and you'll miss it, kiss between the two married men in Eternals.

Disney is putting so much emphasis on any visibly gay couple being MARRIED in order to kiss (while Hetero characters kiss and more without being married), attempting to package their gay characters as homely, 'respectable', and more palatable to a Het audience, but if one of these characters doesn't even have a name then how is it any better or more meaningful than the nanosecond that 2017's Beauty and the Beast served up?

How is a character going to matter when he doesn't even have a name? You're trying to tell me he'll be important to the story, to audiences? Doesn't seem like it from here.

Now, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised.

I'd love to see this character in Eternals get a name other than "Phastos' Husband" (I'll be keeping an eye on listings for a name, too.) I'd love to see him have lines, I'd love to see him onscreen generally.

I want to see him matter.

As always, Disney wants us to 'wait and see', a line they often feed us when it comes to MCU characters.

Disney knows queer fans are here, they prove that enough by leaning into queerbaiting with their marketing (Bucky Barnes, and more recently Loki have suffered from this) but Disney rarely delivers anything satisfactory.

Writer Russell T. Davies, of fan favorite show Torchwood, recently said that Disney's attempts to show Loki as bi were "a feeble gesture". (He's right and he should say it.)

I'm not exactly holding my breath with Disney here, but I'll wait until I see Phastos and Husband for myself before I decide if it's any good or not.

Or if this poor dude ever gets a name.

In the meantime, all I want to see is Disney treating this supposedly ground breaking new character with the same respect as the other cast: list his name.

List his name with the rest of the main cast.

It shouldn't be this difficult to find out a character's name in a major movie, and especially not if the studio is making a big deal about the character being there, giving themselves points for rep.

If that name is out there somewhere (I gave up looking, it shouldn't take longer than thirty minutes to locate a name for God's sake), then it needs to be made more prominent so fans can find it.

Google and IMDB would be ideal places to have the character name listed.

If IMDB can list 'Girl' and 'Passerby' onto the uncredited roles, then we should also have a simple NAME for this Husband so we can start using it.

What's his name, Marvel?

~*~

Do YOU know what Husband's name is? Tell me!

#PhastosHusband

Originally posted on my blog, magnificentlynerdy.blogspot.com

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captain-josslett · 2 years ago

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We Love You, But-

So, this is something a bit different today. I'm thinking of entering a LGBTQ+ competition and have written an entry. The only rules are the maximum word count is 1,000, which I did struggle with!

If you'd like to read please give me feedback, even it's a 'I liked it!'. Thank you 🥰

“We love you, but-”

When I heard those words, my world imploded.

I was born into a christian family. We went to church every Sunday and I absorbed all I was taught. I never questioned it and my faith was steadfast.

As a child I felt I was different but I didn’t know what it was. I would watch movies where the princess ‘lived happily ever after’ with her prince. I would play with my barbies and act out what I had been taught, especially by the church. You date your prince, get engaged, then marry and have babies.

But something didn’t feel right.

One day Ariel met Belle and I went through the usual motions. However, there was an unknown problem...

Enter my middle brother who immediately started laughing. Explaining that marriage is between a man and a woman.

I blink and look down at Ariel and Belle who were happily in love.

I asked why and my eldest brother explained.

“Being gay is an abomination, it’s disgusting and I hate anyone who is gay!”

With horror I realised I was gay and I choked down my tears. In my child-like mind I made a promise to god that I wouldn’t be a sinner and I buried my sexuality so deep that I made myself forget about it entirely.

I focused even more on being the best christian I could be and followed the commandments to the letter.

Then the pastor taught how we should follow the example of Paul, who states that it is best to remain single and while I watched those around me dating, marrying and having babies, I figured god destined me to be like Paul.

But because of this, I never experienced a crush, the excitement of a first date, the thrill of a first kiss and the joy of love.

Instead, I developed crippling depression.

This made me dive further into the church and I even attended bible college to be able to work in the church.

Then, 2020 hits.

When lockdown struck, my busy life halted. I no longer had to go to worship rehearsal, or life group, or women’s breakfast or turn up at 6am on a Sunday to help set up.

Instead, I could watch the service from the comfort of my bed, still in my pyjamas and I quite like this new setup.

But what I hadn’t realised was the tidal wave of indoctrination I had been fed, had now stopped. For the first time in my life I was able to think for myself and not be told what I should do or who I should be.

A few months later I got a notification on my phone that Mary Setrakian was doing vocal classes on Zoom.

I jumped on the opportunity to be taught by Mary, who had starred on Broadway and has taught the likes of Broadway star, Sierra Boggess.

I nervously entered the Zoom class and found Mary to be an amazing woman who embodies pure sunshine and love. She didn’t want anything in return, other than my full commitment to the process and to have fun.

The others in the group were some of the nicest people I had ever met. At the end of every session we’d give feedback and I would find myself openly weeping at their words of unconditional love. All they wanted was for me to let go and be me.

At first I didn’t understand what they meant. I am me… Let go of what?

I would think deeply on their words and felt something I had buried had finally cracked through the surface.

… I’m gay.

I remembered what I had done as a child and felt sick but a sense of relief when it finally clicked fully into place.

But it is now 2020! Things have changed! Right?…

“We love you, but-”

Those were the words my pastor of 10+ years said to me. He continued on that it was okay that I was gay, but I couldn’t practice it. If I did I would be removed from the worship and pastoral team and placed in a background role. That I can’t be seen on the platform in that kind of relationship.

At that moment, my world literally imploded.

When we parted ways I felt numb. The organisation that I had given my life to, that I loved with my whole being and sacrificed so much for… Decided that I couldn’t have one of the most fundamental things about being a human.

Love.

I then realised that their view of love was blinkered and narrow minded. Unlike my friends in the zoom class who accepted me without any rules of how I should live my life.

I immediately started distancing myself from the church and tried to find myself without the tight restraints that had me bound.

Because for all my life I had strived for people’s acceptance, approval and love. However, I was being suffocated by a toxic ‘love’ that was damaging my very core. Making me believe I was only worth something if I fitted into a ‘perfect’ mould.

But in fact, the acceptance, approval and love I really needed?

It was from me.

To know that I am enough and worthy of love.

When I realised this, it was like taking a breath of fresh, clean air.

I wish I could say it’s been smooth sailing, but it hasn’t. When I decided to come out and declare it to the world I mostly got positive feedback but I had a few comments made about how I was making the wrong choice… As if my sexuality was a choice.

I still struggle with moments of sinful guilt but I am finally free to be me.

And although I haven’t been asked on a date yet, I am now open to the idea and want to be loved.

And if no one does. I now know someone who will love me, no matter what.

Me.

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about-faces · 5 years ago

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The director Joel Schumacher has passed away, and everyone's reactions have boiled down to two topics: 1.) "He was the guy who made the bad Batman films," and 2.) "Hey, he did lots of great films besides the bad Batman films!"

Thing is... I get it. I remember being a teenage comic fan in the 90's. Not just any comics: especially Batman! But ESPECIALLY Bart especially Two-Face. I remember how "Joel Schumacher" was a name that could invoke white-hot rage in myself and everyone in the fandom. He was our modern equivalent of Dr. Fredrick Wertham, the boogyman who had (far as we were concerned) single-handedly destroyed the mainstream credibility of superheroes.

Look at that picture, and try to imagine that this was the face so loathed and mocked by Batman fanboys in the 90′s.

Never mind that Schumacher didn't WRITE the Batman films. The main credit for that goes to Akiva Goldsman, who has gone on to win an Oscar and continues to find A-list success despite ruining other geek properties like Jonah Hex and Dark Tower. Never mind that Schumacher was at the mercy of producers who wanted the movies to be nothing more than merchandise machines and toy commercials. No, Schumacher was the only name associated with the films, and he was cast at the villain.

The fact that he was openly gay played no small part in making him an easy target.

One year after the disastrous release of the infamous Batman & Robin, the beloved fan-favorite cartoon Batman: The Animated Series (then rebranded as The New Batman Adventures on the WB network) produced an episode that featured a pointed jab at Schumacher. The episode was titled "Legends of the Dark Knight," a reworking of a classic 70's Batman tale where a group of kids share their own ideas of what the mysterious Batman is really like.

Halfway through the episode, the kids are overheard by another kid, who shares his own ideas about Batman. The kid, whose name is Joel, has long dirty-blond hair, and works in front of a store which bear the sign "Shoemaker," despite clearly being a department store. He waxes dreamily about the reasons he loves Batman: "All those muscles, the tight rubber armor and that flashy car. I heard it can drive up walls!"

This last line--a reference to a silly bit in Batman Forever--he says as he flamboyantly tosses a pink fur stole around his neck. To drive home the joke, one of the kids dismisses, "Yeah, sure, Joel."

At the time, it seemed like a cathartic joke for us REAL Batman fans. Now, it's clearly just cheap and gross. Instead of any actual criticism about the films, Joel Schumacher was just seen--even if just subconsciously--as the fruit who ruined Batman.

Over time, the hatred for Schumacher lessened. Starting with Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man, on through to Batman Begins, Iron Man, and onward, superhero movies became huge mainstream successes, with greater fidelity to the source material than most adaptations we saw up to the time that Schumacher "killed" the superhero movie. There was no point in hating him anymore, if there ever was (again, Goldsman more deserves that ire, if you're gonna be angry about anyone. Why does he still get work?! WHY IS HE NOW WRITING FOR STAR TREK?!?!).

But even still, especially among Millennial and Gen-X fans, Schumacher is still--at best--considered a low point for fandom. Even though the same generations have come to appreciate and love some of his other films, such as The Lost Boys, Phone Booth, and the chillingly-prescient Falling Down, there's still this need for people to dismiss the Batman films as embarrassments that are best forgotten in favor of Schumacher's better films. And if they're to be remembered at all, it's to trash them all over again in a tone suggesting that the films are objectively, irredeemably bad.

Except they're not. Oh sure, if you go in looking for a grim and gritty capital-M "Mature" take on Batman, of course you'll hate them, just like you probably also hate the Adam West Batman show. Remember, that show also used to be hated by decades of Batman fans because of how it didn't take the comics seriously.

... except it did. The show was VERY faithful to the Batman comics of the 50's, which often out-weirded and out-sillied its TV counterpart. If anything, the show made some of those stories even more entertaining with camp value and jokes that added different levels of enjoyment to the adults watching. Comic fans resented how Batman became a pop culture joke, and increasingly fought against anything that was colorful and campy (which makes me wonder if this might also be related to latent homophobia). Whether or not they admitted/realized it, the Batman fans of the 70's and 80's carried a chip on their shoulder about a show that DARED to make Batman FUN.

And really... how is that any different than Schumacher's two films?

You don't have to agree, but I think Schumacher's films are fun. I think Batman Forever is highly entertaining, that Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey are bringing their hammy A-games as much respected actors like Burgess Meredith and Caesar Romero brought to their roles. Same goes for Arnold and especially Uma in Batman and Robin. They KNOW what movies they're in, and they're all having a blast.

(How many of us remember the exact line Eddie says at this moment? I bet you probably do too, which should tell you something about how memorable this movie is)

Now, BF and particularly B&A are by no means GOOD movies, but you can't tell me that you couldn't have a blast putting the latter on at a party and riffing it with friends. It's not a pretentious, ponderous, self-serious slog like, say, the shit Zack Snyder cranked out (apologies to the one or two cool Snyder fans here, I just find his films interminable). Even besides the many things I could say to defend Schumacher's Batman films (that's a whole other essay), you can't say they were boring. They were entertaining, even if on a level of making fun of the film, and that is NOT as easy as it looks.

Let me put it to you this way: Batman Forever has, objectively, one of the worst takes on Two-Face I've ever seen. He's one-note, he's kind of a rehash of Nicholson's Joker, he gets completely overshadowed by the Riddler, he gets killed by Batman in a way that completely betrays the whole “DON’T KILL HARVEY” arc with Robin, and worst of all, he CHEATS on the coin toss. That alone would be enough for me to condemn this depiction in any other Two-Face story.

And yet, even I--the most passionate, opinionated, and picky Two-Face fan you will EVER know--still have a soft spot for Tommy Lee Jones' take on ol' Harv. He’s just too fun, too flamboyant, too damn extra not to love. If only all bad takes on Two-Face could be this fun!

But that’s the thing: it’s not because the script was good. Oh god no. I've read the script, and if it were put on the page like a comic, I would have hated it just like any other bad Two-Face comic. I have to imagine that, as director, Joel Schumacher deserves the bulk of the credit for pushing the restrained and laconic Tommy Lee Jones into that oversized performance, and making it a delight to watch despite everything it does wrong.

I'm rare for my generation to have learned how to stop worrying and love Schumacher's Batman. But the younger generation, the up-and-coming Gen-Zs getting into Batman, don't share the same grudges we did. There's a genuine, shame-free enjoyment of those films among The Kids, many of whom are LGBTQA+, who love the jokes, the silliness, the camp, the Freeze puns, the swag of Uma Thurman, and the homoerotic subtext between Two-Face and the Riddler. Maybe it's just a reaction to so much GRIM, SERIOUS shit that DC and their fanboys are trying desperately to push even today.

But comics--especially Batman--have a long history of colorful, stupid, fun shit. Schumacher's films carried on in that tradition, and they should be appreciated on their own merits by those of us who aren't limited by narrow ideas of what Batman "should" be, and who still remember how to have fun.

Schumacher's Batman films should no longer be seen as embarrassments. They didn't ruin superheroes. They didn't ruin Batman. They didn't even ruin Two-Face. Nor should they be disregarded in favor of Falling Down, like losers in a respectability competition. They're fun. They're entertaining. And they didn't pretend to be anything else.

And if you still think they're bad... I mean, objectively, you're not wrong! But be mindful of the reasons WHY you think they're bad, because on another subjective level, you may not be right either. And it's certainly not worth holding a geek-grudge over after twenty-five years.

#batman forever #batman ampersand robin #long post #homophobia #slur

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uncurlinglikeflowers · 4 years ago

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Queer Trauma, Coming Out, & the Long Road to Self-Love and Healing

As I’ve reflected on my past, I’ve discovered that my adolescence may be one of, if not THE most traumatic time of my life thus far as a queer person. The last few months with my incredible therapist have made me realize that the years of anxiety, panic, fear, self-loathing, confusion, and depression have scarred me deeper than I had previously thought. She also made me realize that this is at least partially because I have never really talked about it openly and in depth in a healthy and productive way before, which is what inspired me to start this blog to share my experiences with others that are currently struggling with their identity, or to allow those that are also currently healing from the trauma of their previously closeted life feel a little more seen.

I knew from a VERY young age that I was different, but didn’t know how or what it meant. I was a lonely kid for a lot of my childhood without many friends. I didn’t want to play football with the boys during recess. I sought companionship at lunch with a table full of girls more often than not, which in itself also made me feel incredibly self conscious at the time as well.

I asked, (with incredible shame) for the “girl’s toy” from the backseat in the McDonald’s drive-thru because I loved to play with the mini-Barbies and craft entire storylines for them. They were easier to hide in my room than regular sized Barbies. I spent most summers off school alone playing video games and reading book and book after book. I didn’t really click with the boys down the street. I was obsessed with Britney Spears and the color purple. I was lonely without really knowing what it meant.

I feel as though that fear I felt in my childhood and adolescence held me back from SO much. Middle school in particular was absolute hell. I hated it. I always felt constantly insecure and uncomfortable. I had absolutely zero confidence or self love. I hated my body and how I looked.

While other kids experienced their first relationships and first feelings of romantic love, I was convinced that it was just not a possibility for me. On top of being deeply closeted, scared, confused, lonely, and in deep denial, girls didn’t go for me anyway. I was the awkward chunky guy struggling with his identity feeling like he had to make up for it by working extra hard to get perfect grades and give himself 100% to other people. I tried not to think about it too much, but hearing about relationships, seeing people kiss in the hallways between classes, and girls talking about what they liked in boys which was the complete opposite of me... it was hell.

To make my self consciousness worse, I felt supremely uncomfortable in gym class and the boys’ locker room in particular. I was ashamed of my body and also self conscious for wanting to look at the other boys; terrified that they would catch on and beat me senseless. Hearing them consistently call each other f*g in a very VERY negative context drove me deep into the closet as the identity I already felt shame for was directly correlated with being a ridiculed outcast, and something that was inherently, disgustingly wrong and unacceptable. The worst insult teenage boys could deliver to each other in the safety of an unchaperoned locker room in a hick town often not kind to queer people or those that were different. I SO desperately wanted to fit in with the other boys instead of being any version of who I actually was.

Part of that façade of blending in with my hetero peers involved having a girlfriend for two months in 8th grade. We didn’t even kiss, let alone approach any sexual situations. I’m sure she had her suspicions. I was utterly obsessed with the concept of blending in by having a girlfriend like the other boys and just having someone special in my life, even if we really didn’t even do any couple things.

Upon reflection, I don’t think the concept of ever being sexual with her ever crossed my mind in the slightest. Even the idea of kissing her scared the hell out of me, and not just from first kiss nerves. Deep down I knew it wasn’t right for me. Don’t EVER tell a kid they’re too young to know. Fast forward to modern times, my first kiss with a girl was with a close friend YEARS after I came out. Go figure.

The idea of caring about and loving myself was non-existent at that time. It’s a very VERY new and ongoing journey for me. I didn’t really care about myself at all. I hadn’t learned how to. Mom was in and out of cancer treatments, and would later pass during my senior year of college and kick off my coming out process, but that’s a whole other post for another day. Spending pretty much my entire childhood watching mom deal with being sick, I didn’t want to cause my family any more discomfort. I was full of self loathing, fear, and confusion, but it seemed irrelevant and unimportant because I didn’t want to be a hindrance.

Instead, I tried so desperately to be the perfect kid and son by befriending my teachers, being a model student, and joining band and a bunch of organizations to stay as busy as possible to stay distracted and impress everyone else.I didn’t love myself because I didn’t think I was allowed to or deserved to in my own head. While I did finally make more meaningful friends in high school, I continued to go through the motions to make my family proud to make up for the scared closeted kid who thought he had to make up for his queerness as though it were a shameful weakness, and it seemed to be the only thing that could possibly matter at the time.

Non-surprisingly, I never really knew any openly queer boys in grade school. It probably legitimately wasn’t all that safe to come out in that environment. I’ll never forget the two boys I saw holding hands in a Wal-Mart that absolutely shook up my entirely reality, because I had never seen romantic same-sex affection in person before.

There was a lesbian couple at my school, but people said awful, degrading things about them behind their backs constantly and acted like they were the biggest freaks. Another boy in my grade in high school hadn’t come out yet officially but was very flamboyant, and thus was treated just as awful as the lesbian couple, if not worse. Other kids just regularly said despicable things about him without even knowing him at all. I even heard parents make blatantly homophobic jokes about him.

His life had to have been hell, and as a fully out queer adult, I still regret not being able to stand up for him more. That definitely forced me deeper into the closet. He wasn’t even out but got talked about like he was some disgusting abomination. How could I ever assume that I could ever come out, let alone kiss, date, and love another boy? I HATED the idea of any attention being placed on me, so I just wanted to survive school at that point.

I had multiple people throughout high school ask me if I were gay just as though it were the most casual question rather than a triggering inquiry that sent me into a mental frenzy every damn time it was presented. Having one of the jock boys ask me such a deeply personal question in passing on the way to my seat in Algebra class was traumatizing. I of course always said no, as at the time I was still convinced it was a passing phase and that I couldn’t actually be gay.

At home, in the days of Myspace, I got anonymous messages telling me they were pretty sure I was gay. The anonymity was arguably worse in some ways.

At a young age, I became hyper aware of how I carried myself, talked, and acted. I loathed hearing my voice or seeing myself in pictures, for fear of sounding too feminine or standing or emoting too gay. I obsessed over the concept that boys and girls carried their books a certain way, or the boys would be labelled as queer. I was paranoid about where I shopped for clothes, the colors I wore, and the length and fit of my shorts.

In middle school, I got a lilac colored trapper keeper for school that I ultimately had my parents take back to the store for a different one because I felt so self conscious about it all day. At home I played with my little Barbies, but didn’t dare tell the kids at school for fear of rejection and isolation. Overall, I felt grossly incompetent, irrelevant, and unimportant in my own mind. Unworthy of love and of course, deeply ashamed for my attraction to the other boys.

I never had anyone whatsoever to help guide me through the coming out process, because I didn’t know a single queer person who could. I’ve now dedicated a good amount of my energy trying to be that person I desperately could have used then for anyone else that needs that role to be filled, and for someone to tell them that someone is incredibly proud of them. An obscene amount of queer people don’t ever hear “I’m so proud of you!” when they really need it the most.

I also didn’t have any good queer representation on TV or in movies, so I really did feel completely alone at times. Most queer characters in media existedly solely to be made fun of and mocked, ratcher than celebrated, properly represented, or God forbid, given a legitimate love story, and the public’s reaction was so frequently one of such repugnance and disapproval.

This was also probably about the time that a close family member told me that he had punched a gay guy for hitting on him when he was younger, a story he again felt the need to share with a now ex-boyfriend and I when we were dating, as though that’s not a horrifying thing for an already scared and closeted queer to hear from their own family.

I think during middle school in particular is when my anxiety and depression issues started, but I assumed either that I was being a baby and that my feelings were invalid, or that it was just teenage angst. The idea that boys and men should mask their emotions and feelings and feel shame rather than expressing them was, (and seemingly appears to continue to be) a very real thing in small towns and society in general.

It didn’t occur to me at the time that I was experiencing varying levels of almost daily trauma that would fuck me up well into adulthood. If you take anything at all from this post, let it be that the conversation around mental health, (and men in particular in this instance) NEEDS to change.

Another particularly noteworthy event in my queer adolescence was when two of my friends, (both girls, shocker) discovered gay porn on my computer. While they pestered me about if it were mine while they laughed, I of course lied. I felt a deep shame and utter humiliation. On reflection, fucking IMAGINE if they had been able to be gentle and understanding with me and told me they loved me and still would even if I were gay. From then on I was terrified that they would bring that day up to our other friends as a joke. Perhaps they did a time or two, I don’t recall. These same friends made jokes about the queer kid I mentioned earlier, and both parents of one of the girls regularly gossiped and made homophobic jokes about him when I was at their house

By the time school dances rolled around, I knew I would never be able to go with anyone but friends. Even if I weren’t still deeply closeted, I’m pretty sure my school still had pretty strict rules against bringing same-sex dates to Prom. While I definitely had fun with my friends at the dances we went to, I so desperately longed for a world where I could dance with a boy who loved me like everyone else was able to.

The loneliness and isolation I felt at the end of those nights could be unbearable because it didn’t seem possible for me, even as I looked into the future. I was fully convinced I would live a very lonely life without anyone to love me the way I craved. I didn’t belong in that world, and wouldn’t ever be set up for that kind of happiness, joy, and feeling of content. I would live for everyone else but myself because that’s just the way the world worked for us queers.

I wish I had had just one single person then who gave me full permission to be my authentic queer self on any level. Someone who could hug me and tell me life after high school and college could and would be vastly different. Someone to tell me I wasn’t an unlovable disgusting freak, but rather a kind-hearted boy who deserved a deep love someday because I was a valid and gentle soul who deserved the world. I certainly deserved more than the shame and pain that constantly haunted me.

Maybe then I wouldn’t have thought about death before 30 so much and obsessed over it well into my college career. I might have realized that I needed to learn to be gentle with myself and take care of and prioritize me and my own happiness. So many people let me down and convinced me that I was a filthy sinner and an over-emotional kid with invalid perspectives and feelings. As most of my closest friends, (that I cannot stress enough have been the ones to save my life and encourage the authenticity that I present so proudly today) came into my life after I had already come out fully, they weren’t around during those dark early struggles.

Sometimes as an adult I still wonder what it would have felt like and how profoundly different my life could be if someone had held me close and sincerely told me they’re proud of me for what I survived and overcame, and told me that they can’t wait to see my eyes light up with the love I’ve always dreamed of in a boy, and that I still continue to seek.

Young, baby gay Travis would be in absolute awe if he knew what life had in store for him back then. To see a future version of himself painting his nails, wearing whatever he wanted, dancing with strangers at pride festivals, having the time of his life at drag shows with his queer family and falling in love with boys? Proudly holding a boyfriend’s hand walking downtown in a busy city? Openly telling his dad about the cute boy he’s going on a date with? Going Facebook official with a boy? Being a super vocal advocate and inspiration and mentor to not only queer family, but to people he hardly talks to but manages to influence and inspire just by unashamedly being himself? Genuinely looking forward to kissing his new husband in front of family and friends on his wedding day, knowing it’ll be one of the happiest days of his entire life?

Holy. Actual. Fuck.

Travis of six or seven years ago wouldn’t have even dared to dream this big, let alone baby gay Travis. He probably would have been utterly mortified but SO comforted to see that future life when he didn’t believe it to be any level of possible.

I’m so fucking proud of myself for this journey, and no one will ever take that away from me or water down my trauma or the grueling work I’ve put in. Genuinely, this is the one thing in my life that makes me absolutely burst with pride.

I think I want to learn how to keep baby Travis in mind with this pride without having to revisit the trauma in the process. Look back at him with open arms, excited to see him learn and blossom into his actual self someday. Even if he could have desperately used someone like the me I am today, he survived then, and continues to persevere today.

He’s queer as fuck, and proud to shout it from the rooftops. He’s a voice and an advocate for the voiceless. A shining light and beacon of hope for those still navigating their terrifying escape from their closeted life. He’s going to meet a man someday and love him so deeply in the way baby Travis always dreamed of. Above all, he’s going to continue to make that little guy so incredibly proud because he knows now the importance of loving himself in the process.

I’m so proud of that scared little boy. I just wish he could have known then how proud he would make himself one day.

As you talk with the queer people in your life, please keep in mind that just about all of us have incredible trauma directly tied to our identities. Talk to them with love, compassion, and understanding. Tell them how proud of them you are for pursuing their own happiness in the face of oppression and rejection.

Demand better from elected officials. Advocate for us. Shut down homophobic ideals, even if you think it’ll make your family and friends uncomfortable to hear. Support queer content, artists and creators. Be a proud ally, but don’t ever allow yourself to take the spotlight away from actual queer people or our queer spaces. Mourn, love, and celebrate with us.

Understand why pride is SO fucking important to us, and why you never have to worry about needing your own pride events. Listen to us and love us for exactly who we are, and were always meant to be. Love is the most incredible, beautiful, and often rare human experience we’re able to experience during our short time on this planet, and it should always be celebrated.

Happy Pride!

#pride #gay #lgbt #journaling #love #queer #coming out #coming out stories #queer trauma #adolescent trauma #self love #healing #trauma

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honhonluigi · 4 years ago

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Hinanami is basically the bland, white-bread version of Naegiri... and so much worse. They really tried to do the whole "put the protagonist with the emotionless stoic girl" but did a terrible job

They didn’t even try to do that, though. The fans did. Chiaki and Hajime don’t have a single real conversation the entire game. He’s not her friend. He doesn’t care about her. Aside from trials and investigations, where they’re focused on solving a murder and they talk to everyone in equal measure, they never speak to each other. Nekomaru spends more time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Hinanami is not canon. Never once in the game is Chiaki implied to mean anything to Hajime at all. He never talks to her. They’re not even friends. It’s the fans who started shipping them and acting like they were best friends. Because Chiaki was a fan-favorite, and fan-favs always get shipped with protags (Ex: Rantaro and Shuichi, who haven’t had a single conversation). Chiaki was supposed to be a fan-fav. She was supposed to be Waifu-bait. But then the cash-grab shitty spinoff anime happened, and they saw how much the fans like Chiaki, so they shipped her with Hajime in the anime. But in the games? Hinanami isn’t even close to canon. Hajime spends more time with literally everyone else except maybe Peko and Hiyoko? He and Chiaki do not have a single authentic conversation.

I made a whole thesis about this. I wrote a whole god damn paper about how Hinanami isn’t canon. It’s somewhere on this blog if you dig. It’s NOT canon. People only assume that it’s canon because of the anime, which came after the games. And if you think the anime is canon? Well, I’ve got a surprise for you. The anime completely goes against the game canon of everything to do with Despair’s founding, the Kamukura Project, and Junko/Mukuro in general. The anime says Chiaki was a real student at Hope’s Peak, but the game? In the game, both Chiaki and Alter Ego say straight up that she never existed outside the Neo World Program. She wasn’t a real person. The anime isn’t canon. The anime was nothing but fan-service. A cash grab. Completely and utter shit. Would you say the How To Train Your Dragon TV show is more canon than the movies? Fuck no! Same with the anime. The games are canon, not the anime. If Hinanami happened in the animes, it doesn’t fucking matter, because Chiaki didn’t even actually exist in the games.

Point is, people only assume Hinanami is canon because of the anime. But in the game, there’s nothing to imply that they’re a couple, or even friends. Let’s take a look at DR couples, shall we? There’s three types of DR relationships. We’ll take a brief look into each.

1. Chapter One Love Interest (AKA: The Red Herring)

You’re probably familiar with this one. It’s the ‘tutorial girl’. You meet them first. They become the protag’s best friend. The MC trusts them. They show the MC around, they get introduced to everyone together, and basically you spend the whole prologue and Chapter 1 getting close to them. You’re supposed to think ‘Oh, they’ll escape with the MC and be their love interest in the end’ even though it’s totally predictable that they end up dying. They end up dying in the first trial because they betrayed the MC by getting involved with a, unsuccessful murder somehow. This was Sayaka and Kaede. (I already went over on this blog why Kaede was a red herring, not a protag. She was only ‘protag’ to avoid people predicting that she would die in chapter 1 like all the other ch 1 friends.) Sayaka is friends with Makoto but ends up trying to kill Leon and getting murdered. Kaede is friends with Shuichi but ends up being executed for trying to kill Rantaro.

What about Chiaki? Does she fit any of that? Fucking no she doesn’t. After her introduction, Hajime ignores her for all of Chapter 1. And ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, etc etc... But anyway. She’s not his best friend in Ch 1. They don’t talk. She doesn’t get involved in an unsuccessful murder in Ch 1. Who’s Hajime’s friend then? Who shows him around? Who does he trust who ends up betraying him by getting involved in unsuccessful murder during the first trial? Oh yeah-- Nagito. He would’ve died if it wasn’t for his luck saving him. He was supposed to die in his murder, or be executed. But his luck got in the way. Nagito was the chapter 1 love interest. He literally follows the same exact beats as Kaede and Sayaka. But uhhh...Sayaka and Kaede are totally valid love interests, but Nagito isn’t! Why? (Hint: It’s because he’s gay and has a mental illness.)

2. Plot Twist Love Interest (AKA: The Shady One)

This love interest comes on after the Red Herring love interest dies in chapter 1. This love interest starts off as being someone that you don’t trust, who avoids you, who acts super shady and suspicious the whole time. They hide things, act cryptic in trials, and know way more than they let on. They act rude sometimes, but also nice and helpful sometimes, to the protag so that MC has no idea how this person feels about them. The MC is curious, but also wary of them. This person ends up disappearing towards the end of the game so that MC doesn’t have access to them anymore. We lose the option for their free-time events at some point. This person disappears because they’re hell-bent on figuring out the mystery behind the killing game. They end up getting involved in some kind of plot to reveal the truth/mastermind/traitor and then it fails, resulting in their death or the death of someone else. This person gets falsely accused of being the mastermind by the rest of the cast. This describes, to a tee, Kyoko. People acknowledge Kyoko as Makoto’s love interest (because she’s a girl!). But this describes Kokichi too. The role that Kokichi and Kyoko play is the exact same in the story. Now, I don’t think that Shuichi was at all in love with Kokichi, but I think Kokichi had a crush on him. (This is why I make a case that Byakuya shouldn’t be in the ‘unholy trinity’. Kyoko should. Byakuya hits none of the plot requirements for that. He’s just a dick. Also, by all rights, Shuichi’s second love interest probably should’ve been Maki. She was shady enough, and he actually had a chance to like her. But fuck that. They did NOT go that route. Abusive comphet KaiMaki all the way, right?)

Anyway, let’s look at Chiaki for this one, shall we? Suspicious? Well, I knew from Ch 1 investigation that she was the traitor, but no one else did. No one in the cast suspects her of a thing the entire time. They’re completely flabbergasted when she hints that she’s the traitor. They all think she’s perfect. No one ever suspects her of a thing. She doesn’t disappear mysteriously. We don’t lose access to her free-time events. She doesn’t look into the mysteries behind the killing game (because she already knew them). She may help in trials, but she’s not cryptic or mysterious about it. She acts super mega ultra fucking rude the MC, but he doesn’t care, and he’s never torn up in puzzlement over “how she really feels about him” the way that Makoto and Shuichi get frustrated with Kyoko and Kokichi. She doesn’t hatch any plot to try and expose the truth. She does everything she can to cover up the truth until Nagito forces it. Which brings me to my next point. Who does this actually describe? Oh-- Wait! It’s Nagito again!! He follows, line for line, the exact same plot that Kyoko does, and so does Kokichi. So...Why is Kyoko the only one who gets to be a love interest instead of a villain? (Hint: Because Nagito and Kokichi are gay and you could argue that both have mental illnesses.)

The only part of this that Chiaki actually fits is the “knows more than everyone else”. But she doesn’t actually. She doesn’t figure it out because she’s smart, like the other three characters. She knows already because she’s the traitor. She knows more in the way that Sakura, Tsumugi, and Mukuro “knew more”. They were given that information. They are not love interests. And yeah, Chiaki uh...’gets involved’ in a scheme to find out the truth. But not of her own plotting or fruition. It’s Nagito’s plan, and she gets involved because he planned it. In the same way that Makoto ended up taking the fall for Kyoko’s botched first attempt at revealing the truth, too. Makoto, Chiaki, and Kaito took the fall for those plans. They weren’t the cause of them. Makoto only didn’t die because his luck (+ Alter Ego) saved him, just like Nagito’s saved him in ch1.

3. Side-Character Relationships

This is the last and third type of DR relationship. The love between side characters, like Taka & Mondo, Tenko towards Himiko, K1-B0 & Miu, Sakura & Aoi, Kaito & Maki. Honestly, you can’t even compare Hinanami to this logic, because Hajime is an MC. But let’s be generous and do it anyway.

These couples are always super obvious. Since you can’t see them through the eyes of the MC all the time, they’re even more obvious than MC ships. Side-characters in love spend tons of time together outside of trials and investigations. They’re with each other in their free time. They talk about each other all the time. They’re always together. They talk openly about their ‘friendship’ and how much they mean to each other. We get cutscenes showing the love between the two. Even in KaiMaki, which I hate, all of this is present.

What about Chiaki? Nah. She never talks about Hajime, and Hajime never talks about her. He never even thinks about her at all. He never seeks her out. They never ever have a single conversation in their free time. Unless you, the player, chose to do her free time events, they never talk outside of trials. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t spend any of their free time together. They don’t talk about how much they’re friends or lovers. They’re never together. They only get 2 cutscenes when they’re alone together: one of which is investigating Nagito’s room and revealing a major hint that Chiaki is a robot; the second of which is after she dies, wrapping up the plot that she is, in fact, a robot. These cutscenes don’t serve to show how much they care about each other. These cutscenes aren’t about Hajime at all. He might as well not even be there. It’s not like they have meaningful conversations. It’s just about finishing off Chiaki’s boring story, because it’s required. Compare: Taka & Mondo, whose cutscene is them fucking in the sauna. K1-B0 and Miu, whose cutscene is them fucking in Miu’s lab. Hina and Sakura, whose cutscene is Sakura telling Hina that she loves her. Kaito and Maki, whose cutscenes are them hugging and spending time together bonding over mutual interests. Chiaki’s seem pretty fucking stale compared to those, right? Yeah, because her only cutscenes are about bare-bones investigation and trial shit. Lots of people get investigation cutscenes. Doesn’t make them love interests. Chiaki and Hajime never spend free time together. They never seek each other out, have real conversations, or bond over mutual interests. They only talk during trials and investigations. Let me say this again, because I cannot emphasize it enough: HAJIME DOES NOT EVEN EVER THINK ABOUT HER.

4. Elements of Any and All DR Relationships

Now, there are elements of relationships that all DR ships have, regardless of if they involve the MC or not. The two characters spend free time together, outside of investigations and trials. The two characters have plot-related interactions outside of trials and investigations. (This is especially true in cases with the MC. Think how many plot-related scenes we got with Kaede + Shuichi, Sayaka + Makoto, Kyoko + Makoto that happened outside of trials and investigations?) These two characters have at least one heartfelt cutscene alone together. Like I mentioned above, they talk all the time. They think about each other. They talk about each other. Someone always makes a joke about the MC being in love with them.

Like I already pointed out, Chiaki has none of this. She and Hajime spend exactly 0 free-time together, unless the player forces it to happen themselves. They don’t talk. They don’t have plot-related cutscenes, discussions, storylines, etc outside of trials/investigations. They never speak to each other outside of trials/investigations. They don’t spend time together. They don’t have plots involving each other. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t talk to each other. They don’t even think about each other. And absolutely no one in the cast makes a joke about Hajime and Chiaki getting together. Fun fact: Kazuichi makes more moves toward/thinks more about getting with Chiaki in one scene than Hajime does in the entire game. Another Fun Fact: Nekomaru spends more one-on-one time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Where’s my die-hard fans insisting that Nekomaru x Hajime is indisputably canon?

Who has all of the above criteria? Mikan. Mikan does. She’s infinitely more of a love-interest to Hajime than Chiaki.

Now I’m gonna go over some popular arguments I see for why Chiaki is a love interest, and I’m gonna destroy them.

“She’s The Helper Character.” That character doesn’t exist. That’s a fucking lie. Literally everyone talks in trials. Everyone helps in trials. Everyone helps in investigations. There is no singular ‘helper’ character. There’s no assistant. There’s no side-kick. Kaito helps Shuichi in trials. Maki does too. Are they his love interests? Byakuya helps in trials. He’s not Makoto’s love interest. Nagito helps in trials and people are pretty fucking insistent that he’s not Hajime’s love interest. Everyone helps in trials. In a trial/investigation, the MC has to talk to literally everyone. They have no choice. The fact that Hajime talks to Chiaki in an investigation, or listens to her in a trial, is not evidence of him favoring her. Chiaki talking so much in trials and investigations is supposed to be dropping hints at her being the traitor. Not her being a “helper” to Hajime.

“What About The Swimsuit Scene?” “Hajime was totally drooling over Chiaki in that scene!” Yeah, he was. Because he’s a teenage boy and she was wearing a super slutty bikini. Literally everyone, boy and girl, in that scene looked at Chiaki and went “Jeez Chiaki...That’s a...bold swimsuit.” She wore a skimpy swimsuit and Hajime thought it was hot. So did Kazuichi. Kazuichi drooled over her WAY more than Hajime. Is Kazuichi automatically Chiaki’s love interest? Hajime also drooled over Peko when she walked in. Because he’s a teenage boy, and there’s hot girls in skimpy bathing suits. Also, Hajime talks nonstop through the entire fucking game about how hot and beautiful and amazing Sonia is. And he never once even has a thought about Chiaki. But uh...Nah, Sonia’s not his love interest. It’s totally Chiaki, right?

“The ‘I’m Taking My Top Off’ Comment.” Yeah, Chiaki said that to Hajime. And Hajime freaked the fuck out. He didn’t want it to happen. He was like “WAIT WHAT!?” He wasn’t “oh fuck yeah, let me see those gamer titties!” Maybe Chiaki was flirting with him, but Hajime definitely didn’t flirt back. At the very least, it shows that he wasn’t expecting it, because he never thinks of her that way. Hajime didn’t respond to that line at all. Also, the only reason Chiaki even said that in the first place is because she was made to be fap-material for Otaku Gamer Bros. So of course they’re going to make her talk about her boobs, give her a slutty swimsuit, and make her boobs three sizes bigger when she wears it. (It’s true! I checked! Also, does this mean that Chiaki is a closet sex freak? Yikes...Well, it’s more interesting than everything else she’s got going on.) Point being, when she brought it up (and she was joking, for a reminder. She wasn’t serious.), Hajime didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Junko blackmails them about ‘The Girl You Love’.” Yeah, okay, I’ve never actually seen people make this argument. And I better never fucking see that. Because it’s so god damn obvious, and stupid. Junko’s lines are basically “you need to hurry up and make a decision, because the bodies of the girl you love and the boy you hate are in the real world wasting away.” She is talking to everyone, but specifically, she’d just been goading Fuyuhiko on about Peko. This line. Is clearly. About Peko. It’s about Peko. It’s not fucking about Chiaki. And I better never see anyone claim this. Why not? Why can’t it be about Chiaki? SHE’S NOT FUCKING REAL!!! She doesn’t have a body! She’s not wasting away! She has no body outside the Neo World Program! This line literally cannot be about her. Even if you go by the anime and say she did exist, she’s still fucking dead, and still doesn’t have a body to waste away in the first place. Chiaki and Alter Ego BOTH say that she doesn’t exist outside the Neo World Program!!!

“Then Why Did She Appear to Hajime in the Last Trial?” Because of plot convenience. That’s all. See, we’re not supposed to know she’s an AI. (Even though it’s incredibly obvious). When she is executed, we’re not supposed to know that she’s an AI programmed by the Future Foundation. We’re supposed to be like “Why did she do that? Why did she say all those weird things? Why was she the traitor?” We’re supposed to have all these unanswered questions. (I mean, I already knew all of that from ch 1, but the game clearly tries to keep you from suspecting Chiaki at all.) So, if she’s dead and executed, how can we finish her story? How are we going to get a chance to wrap up all those unanswered questions? She appears to Hajime and tells him. She reveals it all to him, answers all the viewer’s questions, and finishes her story. That’s it. She appears to him out of convenience to finishing her own plot. Why him? Why him specifically? Is it because they’re in love? Nah bitch, it’s because he’s the main character and the only way the audience could see their questions answered at all is if she appeared to him. She also appeared to Sonia, as Sonia specifically states. Is Sonia her canonical, definite, not-possibly-arguable love interest? No. Sonia’s love interest is Gundham. If seeing Chiaki had something to do with love, then why did she see her too?

“But Her Free Time Events End With Them In Love.” Yeah, so does everyone else’s. Nagito’s, Akane’s, Kazuichi’s, Mikan’s...Sayaka’s, Toko’s, Kyoko’s...Kokichi’s, Kaito’s...Everyone’s free time events end with them falling in love with the MC. That’s the point of FTEs. That’s the reason why no actual ships are explicitly canon in any DR games. Because they want the player to have the chance to get close to, and pursue a relationship with, whatever characters they choose. That can’t work if that character is dating someone. So they make all FTEs end in love confessions, and they let no ships become canon. You can choose literally any character, go through their free time events, and have them fall in love with you. It’s for the player. It’s not canon. And sure, those FTEs might not specifically end in an outright love confession (like Nagito’s does), but it’s pretty fucking obvious in every single one that you win them over and fall in love. Why do you think you get their underwear? Even Toko, canonically smitten with Byakuya, goes “I’m already in love with master, but...” Sideways glance, smile, “You can think of me if you want...” It exists for the player, and can be done with ANY character. It doesn’t speak to any special privilege for Chiaki.

And just a couple more things I have to say on this topic:

Hajime didn’t like her. Hajime doesn’t fucking like Chiaki. I’m not gonna say that he hates her, but he definitely doesn’t like her. Whenever he has to talk to her, he’s always thinking about how weird she is, how childish she’s being, and how rude she is for talking over him/falling asleep when he talks. He doesn’t enjoy talking to her. I did Chiaki’s first two FTES, and Hajime hated every god damn second of them. He thinks she’s rude, boring, weird, and childish. He thinks about that stuff any time he’s forced to talk to her. When he finds her diary, he goes “God, this is awful, it’s like a five-year-old wrote it.” Why would you think that he likes her??? (You know who Hajime really fucking despises? Gundham. God, talk to Gundham and read Hajime’s thoughts. He’s fucking brutal. This guy has a huge beef...)

So Who’s Hajime’s Actual Love Interest?

Everybody!!! This is actually a theory I cooked up. I think each MC gets a ch 1 love interest (Sayaka, Nagito, Kaede), and then a second plot-twist love interest, but it happens in different ways each time. Kyoko and Makoto get together all nice and neat. Shuichi has a second love-interest who likes him, but Shuichi absolutely does not like him back. Hajime’s second love interest? Everyone. Hajime has this kind of curse where the second someone captures his interest/gets interested in him, they die. I noticed in the game that they’d push characters on Hajime hardcore, and then kill them the next chapter. Now, this happens in every game. But in Hajime’s case, they weren’t just pushed on him as characters. They all flirted with him. One of the reasons why I think almost everyone in the class had a crush on Hajime. First, it’s Nagito, and Impostor confides in Hajime and Teruteru flirt with him too. Then, they either get killed or get taken away (and chained up for three days without food, water, or bathroom access). Next, Mahiru starts flirting with Hajime by bossing him around and always seeking him out. I don’t think Hajime liked her back, but she liked him. And then she dies. After that, Mikan flirts with Hajime, spends time with him, gets cutscenes cuddling with him, hits on him, and other people even make jokes about them fucking. Then she dies. Hajime becomes closer friends with Ibuki, then she dies. Hajime starts to get close to Nagito again. Then he goes crazy and dies. Hajime showed a ton of interest in Sonia, but then she goes for Gundham. Hajime gets close to Kazuichi, but then he goes for Sonia. Hajime is cursed. I think everyone in the game got an inkling of being Hajime’s love-interest before they died/got taken away. With the exceptions of Peko, Hiyoko, Gundham, Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Nekomaru. I think they give Hajime a person who he likes/likes him, and then immediately take them away before any relationship can be formed.

Now, I guess this is the time where you could make a case that Chiaki fits. “Well, he gets close to her, and then he loses her!” But actually, that kind of doesn’t fit. He gets close to her only after she’s already dead. And he’s only ‘close to her’ for one conversation, after she’s already dead. He doesn’t get to spend any quality time with her before she dies. Even if you wanted to make that claim, it still wouldn’t make Chiaki any more of a love interest than Mahiru or Teruteru or Impostor. She wouldn’t be the one-and-only, indisputable, only option for Hajime. Based on evidence in the game, I don’t think Hajime actually had a crush on Teruteru, Impostor, or Mahiru. I think they liked him, but I don’t think he ever would’ve liked them back. And that’s the only way I can see Chiaki being even a little bit his love interest. In this world, where pretty much everyone gets to be his love-interest at some point. In a world where she crushes on him but he doesn’t like her back. Because he doesn’t. That’s obvious in his thoughts and actions. (He reacts worse to Peko and Fuyuhiko’s execution than he does to Chiaki’s, btw.)

But I really don’t think she’s his love interest. She’s definitely not “the” love interest. She’s not the only one. She’s not the “canon” one. She’s not his canon love interest at all. That’s not at all what the evidence in the game points to.

If my crackpot theory isn’t true, then I’d say Hajime’s love interests are Nagito and/or Mikan. Maybe Sonia. They’re the ones that he actually spends time with, and have all of the criteria that are set by literally every other DR couple. He has none of that with Chiaki. Honestly, I think Nagito is the more prominent love interest. I think Mikan and Sonia definitely had their spots too, but Nagito fills the role of both first and second love-interest. He hits literally every single beat of Kaede and Sayaka, but also of Kyoko. Whether or not Hajime loved him by the end is debatable. Sometimes I doubt it. But he loved him at first, and Nagito loved Hajime the whole time. And Hajime was destroyed after Nagito’s death. But even though Nagito hits every single point of being a love interest compared to Sayaka, Kaede, and Kyoko...He’s still not allowed to be a valid love interest for Hajime. If you think Komahina is canon, then you’re just “biased”. You’re just looking “through your shipping goggles.” Even though Nagito’s story is literally both kinds of love interest mixed together. Nah, nah, nah. Who cares about evidence? Clearly I’m just biased. Clearly I’m just “using shipping goggles” to see what I want to see. Because... *looks at smudged writing on hand* Hinanami, the ship with no evidence at all, it definitely 100% canon and Komahina, the ship with all the evidence you could ask for, could never be canon at all. I’m just stupid. Right? Right. And why? Because Nagito is a gay guy with a mental illness!!!!!

I despise KaiMaki, but I still acknowledge that it’s at least partially canon because it was in the game. But I don’t acknowledged Hinanami, because it was never canon. It was never even hinted at. Nobody better come onto my blog arguing that Hinanami is canon in the fucking slightest. I can’t deal with that bullshit. It’s not canon. This is my second essay on the subject. (I wrote a huge essay listing all the reasons they weren’t canon, and yet I was still able to find MORE evidence against them for this one? Wow, that’s a lot of proof that they aren’t indisputably canon.) I’m fine if you want to ship them. You can be like “they had a lot of potential for a relationship!” You can be like “I think Chiaki had a crush on him!” or “I think Hajime would’ve liked her!” That’s fine. You can do that all you want. Like any other DR ship. But don’t go around being like “NO, it’s DEFINITELY canon!!! No other ship is canon because Hinanami is canon and it’s completely indisputable! You’re wrong and stupid!!” It’s not canon. No DR ship is canon. You can ship them but please, do it like any other DR ship. Ship them because you saw potential, but don’t cram it down everyone’s throat as ‘must be canon’.

Hinanami is the only ship that does that. It’s the only ship that is insisted to be 100% canon with no disputing evidence whatsoever. People dispute Kaede and Shuichi. People dispute Kaito and Maki. People dispute Kyoko and Makoto all the fucking time. Every other ship is flexible, except that one. “Hinanami is the only canon ship and no other ship is valid or matters, you can’t ship Hajime with anyone else, all the other ships pale in comparison because Hinanami is so canon, and you’re just a biased delusional idiot if you ever dare to imply otherwise!!!” Stop it. It’s not canon. I should be able to make a valid case for another ship without being immediately shot down because of Hinanami. No other DR ship does that. Quit. I hate seeing everyone insisting that it’s canon. Acting like it’s just “common sense” that it’s canon. It’s not. There’s no fucking evidence for it AT ALL. But it makes me feel like a crazy person whenever I see people insisting that, as if I’m the only one who missed the scene where they fucked without protection or something. If everyone is allowed to dispute literally every other ship, then it should be the same for Hinanami. The “canon” ship with absolutely -67% evidence towards it.

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kc-meets-dc · 5 years ago

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Okay, folks, you all knew this was coming...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

SO GOOD!!! OH, MY GOD!!! THAT WAS SO GOOD!!!

*deep breath* Okay. Now that that’s out of my system, time for the usual recap. Also, since this post is extremely long, you may skip down to the very bottom to find a tl;dr version of my predictions for season four based on what we saw here.

These last three episodes were AMAZING!!! And boy did they keep me on my toes! Even though it wasn’t the first of the three, I’d like to start this recap with episode 25, aka Goddammit, Will You Stop Horsing Around, Grandon, And Finally Freaking Confirm Or Deny Whether Or Not My Son Is Dead?????

I’ll admit I have lost a little (A veeeeeery little) amount of hope that Wally’s still alive somewhere. Thank God for that ending, though! There is still hope. But also, did anyone else pick up on the serious gay vibe Zatanna was giving off in the last two episodes? I know a lot of people are going to say her “Artemis, you know I love you” line was out of friendship. But, then again, this is Tumblr. When it comes to people being in lesbians with each other, we all kinda hope for the best here. And I have spent many an hour, a day, a week, a month, 525,600 minutes (You get the point) of my life analyzing whether or not people have romantic intentions or attractions in TV shows and movies. And, folks, I can say without a doubt that that “I love you” really meant “I love you.” And combine that with the fact that Artemis seems to finally have closure over Wally...

I think Snaibsel has a real shot at becoming canon next season. It’s either that or Zatanna is really Rocket’s significant other who we still know NOTHING about. Seriously, why is that? Why can’t we get a serious confirm or deny out of Grandon about even something this small? I highly doubt answering the question of whether or not Rocket is married to a woman would really “spoil” anything. In fact, it would probably get MORE people to watch the show because of the representation. So, yeah. We may be able to add two, possibly three depending on how Artemis feels, people to the LGBT characters list in Young Justice. On another note, I like to think that Will has also finally moved on. While he may not be in love with Artemis (Thank God!!!), I believe that him blowing out the candle in that final scene means that he has finally moved on from Cheshire, given that the first candle going out seemed to symbolize Artemis moving on from Wally, and now Will will finally start looking for someone else.

Then there’s episode 24, which all I can say about is TAKE THAT, GRANNY, YOU OLD BAG!!! Oh, and the same goes to Lex Luthor in episode 26, btw. Also, yeah, I guarantee you that Bart and Ed are a couple. Int he X-Pit, Ed’s first instinct wasn’t to save Jaime who was clearly suffering the most. It was to save Bart! Add that to the animation sequence that I can only assume was supposed to be a cheek kiss that was edited out because the crew severely underestimated Tumblr’s ability to see and analyze everything that ever happens in a show even when it happens at superspeed and thought they wouldn’t need to waste extra animation money on adding it in *inhales after such a long spiel* plus the fact that he was so concerned over Bart’s safety in Elder Wisdom, and you’ve got yourselves one can of 100% certified canon Goldpulse (Or Zetaflash or Bartuardo. Seriously, when are we all going to agree on one single ship name for those two? Which should definitely be #goldpulse, btw).

Also, go Vic for finally accepting who he is! He even went back to school and befriended Cisco, who I guarantee we’ll be seeing next season as Vibe! Honestly, my only real complaint about that episode is that the rest of The Outsiders didn’t get too much screentime in that or any of the other episodes released today besides Cyborg and Beast Boy. Same goes to Batman Inc, which I’m hoping we’ll be seeing more of next season. i.e. the totally mishandled and underused Cass Cain, Stephanie Brown, Cissie King-Jones, and, for the second season in a row, (Goddammit, Grandon!) Tim Drake.

Actually, I’m kinda betting that the so-called “core group of characters” that next season is supposed to be centered around will actually consist of the ORIGINAL Young Justice characters from the comics. Namely, Superboy, Impulse (I know he’s named Kid Flash now, but you get it), Tim Drake’s Robin, Wonder Girl, and maaaaaaaaybe Arrowette. Still not really sure if she’ll be featured more, or if they’ll switch her out for Spoiler to add some relationship drama to Cassie and Tim who I guess are still a couple??? But yeah, I think that might be the direction the next season is going.

Finally, that brings us to episode 26, and I have four words for you that perfectly describe my feelings about it: LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!! Legion of Superheroes was one of my absolute favorite shows growing up, so I am SO HYPED that they’re doing them next season! My guess is that the story will be that The Outsiders were the precursors to the 31st century’s Legion of Superheroes. i.e. a public team of meta teens who fight for good and people like them. I wonder which Legion characters they’ll include. Most likely it’ll be Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad for sure, but then they’ll probably also throw in Cosmic Boy and maybe a few others. I need to do some digging on which Legionnaires were most important in the comics. Plus, with the Legion here now, we’ll probably also get Supergirl since she plays a big role in their story, and she could also play a big role in The Light’s plans to serve as another, better Superman copy that they can use to destroy The Team, The Outsiders, and the League.

Then you’ve got Fred Bugg openly revealing who he is to his classmates, which is AMAZING! And we’ve finally gotten a good twist on the Judas Contract storyline! Assuming she isn’t dead by the time it happens, I really hope we’ll be able to see more of Terra acting as a hero in season four! And I’m really excited to see what Brion will be like as a villain!

Which finally brings us to predictions. What will happen next in Young Justice? My guess is that the next season will be focused on the Legion of Superheroes coming to present day to fulfill a mission similar to Bart’s original mission in season two, but on a much larger scale. I’m guessing that they’re trying to prevent Vandal Savage, The Light, and/or Darkseid from taking over the galaxy in a way that could potentially alter time to change the future the Legion knows and comes from.

Secondly, I’m guessing that the next time jump will not be nearly as long as I originally anticipated. Actually, I’m guessing that there will be NO TIME JUMP AT ALL. Since the season didn’t end on the 4th of July or New Year’s, my guess is that the writers are throwing out the original formula for how they structure each season, meaning there’s a good chance this coming season will pick up right where season three left off.

Also most likely coming next season, we’ll have the Jason Todd storyline to deal with, we’ll have Artemis trying to discover new love (Possibly with Zatanna, or the other most likely option would be Icicle Jr since the two of them were actually married in the comics), and with the addition of characters from the 31st century to the series, we just might be seeing the Reverse Flash and Inertia, which could introduce us to the concept of the Speed Force, which will in turn finally lead to bringing Wally back from the dead. However, if Wally isn’t brought back by the end of next season, there’s pretty much a 100% chance we’ll never be getting him back at all.

So, to sum up my thoughts and theories: new characters we should be seeing next season include the Legion of Superheroes, Supergirl, and Reverse Flash, the season’s main focused characters will most likely be the original Young Justice team from the comics, and if we don’t get Wally back next season we won’t get him back at all. That’s all for now, folks. As always, stay whelmed, feel the aster, and have a very crash rest of your day!

#young justice #yjspoilers

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jgroffdaily · 5 years ago

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Jonathan Groff is not, he says, “a serial killer sort of person”, which will probably come as a relief to the millions of adoring families who know him best in wholesome animated form, as the voice of mountain-dwelling ice harvester Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen.

What drew the 34-year-old actor – nominated for a Tony for his Broadway performance as Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening and his scene-stealing turn as King George III in Hamilton – to the dark, murder-heavy Netflix drama Mindhunter was, he says, precisely what a radical departure it was from his previous roles.

His FBI profiler Holden Ford is, as he puts it: “This corn-fed, all-American, earnest Midwestern guy, having an existential crisis, finding meaning and purpose while talking to incarcerated sociopathic murderers.” Groff tells me all this, it should be noted, with an enormous grin. Apparently, the only major note that David Fincher, Mindhunter’s director, ever has for his leading man is to stop smiling so much. “[Fincher] would be like, ‘We’re rolling, and, Jonathan, stop smiling. And you’re still smiling, you’re still smiling, and… action.’”

Television, of course, hardly needs another FBI drama, but what elevates Mindhunter above the procedural is not only Fincher’s precision direction, but also the tension inherent in Ford’s mission. Set in the late Seventies and based on the career of real-life FBI profiler and “serial killer whisperer” John Douglas, “Holden is pushing for understanding and curiosity, rather than simply dismissing these killers as crazy,” says Groff. Using the emerging social sciences of criminology and psychology, he hopes to gain some understanding of what motivates these apparent monsters.

The first series saw Ford interviewing notorious murderers Richard Speck, Ed Kemper and Jerry Brudos; season two, which begins this week, will delve into the Atlanta Child Murders (in which an estimated 28 children were killed between 1979 and 1981), and see the protagonist land an interview with “the rock star of the serial killer world”, Charles Manson.

There is also the added layer of Ford’s personal development; over the first season, he grew from a buttoned-up boy scout (literally drinking milk from the bottle in an early episode) into a skilful manipulator of his subjects; some critics have gone further and accused him of sociopathy.

“I never saw Holden as a sociopathic character, but he definitely wants to win,” says Groff. I agree about the sociopathy but, I suggest, Holden is perhaps guilty of wielding empathy as a weapon. “Yeah, I love that – weaponising empathy!” Groff cries, excitedly. “That might be the title of my autobiography.”

It’s early on a Friday morning in Los Angeles and, in spite of the unusually anti-social call time, Groff, boyishly handsome and sipping on a Diet Coke, is infectiously bouncy and Tiggerish. During the filming of Mindhunter, he has, he tells me, been listening to the audiobook of Fosse, Sam Wasson’s bestselling biography of the legendary Broadway choreographer and film director, on which the current show Fosse/Verdon was initially based. After finishing the book, he went back and watched all of Fosse’s films.

“He does such a good job of capturing that drug of being on stage, and the sadness that you get when you come off stage,” he says. “The huge rush of performing and the let-down afterwards. I get both happy and depressed about it. I don’t want to love it this much, but then I do, but I want also to have perspective.” He waves his hands in the air as if to bat away his only apparent torture: loving this job, which he is incredibly good at, a little too much.

Groff grew up in Pennsylvania, in a conservative, Methodist family, but his parents encouraged his theatrical ambitions, driving him several hours each way to audition for musicals in New York City. He won a place in a touring performance of The Sound of Music and deferred his spot at Carnegie Mellon University. At 20, he was cast in Spring Awakening, earning his first Tony nomination at 21, in 2007.

Television roles followed in Glee, The Normal Heart and Looking, the critically acclaimed but short-lived HBO drama about the lives of gay men in San Francisco. His parents, he tells me, “didn’t watch that one”.

Openly gay himself, in Mindhunter Groff is playing straight, in a role that features a solid amount of sex scenes as well as psychosexual content. Ryan Murphy, his former showrunner at Glee, and the creator of Pose and The People vs OJ Simpson, was so moved to see this, Groff tells me, that he rang to congratulate him.

“He got really emotional about it, partly, I think, because when he first met me [Groff made a pilot with him during Spring Awakening, which was never picked up] I was still in the closet. Then I came out, owned my identity and, thankfully, still get to play all different kinds of parts. Ryan said: ‘I know that it was something you were scared about, but you worked through your fear, and now here you are, getting to do this amazing show, and not being defined by your sexual orientation.’”

Did he really worry that if he came out he’d never be given a “straight” role again? “Totally,” Groff cries, slapping his thighs. “No agents or producers had ever said: ‘Don’t come out of the closet, it will ruin your career,’ but it was an unspoken thing. And there were no out gay movie stars as examples. But then I fell in love, at 23. And I thought, ‘OK, if I come out, and I only do off-Broadway plays for the rest of my life, I am totally happy with that – that’s what I moved to New York for. So maybe I won’t be a romantic lead in a movie – who cares? I would rather be doing cool stuff with people who don’t give a f--- than pretend to be someone I am not.’”

Happily, that couldn’t be further from the case. While filming the second season of Mindhunter in Pittsburgh, he’s been simultaneously reprising his role as Kristoff for Frozen 2, due out in November. “It was the dream,” he beams. “To be able to sit with Charles Manson, and then drive to New York to pretend to be in a blizzard, singing a Disney song.”

But, in truth, he’s never really stopped being Kristoff. “I make Voice Memos for kids,” he reveals. “I sing for them and do the reindeer voice, which they get really excited about. I do a lot of King George Voice Memos too, actually.”

He was in Hamilton for only two months, in the spring of 2015, but made enough of an impact with his campy, knowing performance, to earn another Tony nomination.

“It was like being in the eye of the storm,” he says of his spell in the Broadway phenomenon. “I listened to the Bill Gates Desert Island Discs the other day; he has My Shot from Hamilton as his final song. And I thought, ‘Oh my god, that’s right, I met Bill Gates – he came to the show.’ You really can’t take it in, in the moment, but looking back, I’m like, ‘Wow, I really met Beyoncé?’”

Given his experience in voicing Frozen, one might assume Groff would be a dab hand at recording audiobooks. Not so, he says. When he was asked to record the audio for John Douglas’s latest non-fiction book (his 13th), The Killer Across the Table, “it was SO hard,” he says. “So much harder than I thought it was going to be. I never made it through one page without f------ up.” It did mean, however, that he finally got to meet the legendary FBI agent in person. “We’d emailed before, but getting to meet him was a great moment. He loves the show, and even talks about it in the book that I recorded.”

This second series is launching at a moment of renewed obsession with Manson, thanks to the 50th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate, and the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I wonder out loud whether the period that Mindhunter explores, when serial killers began to be studied seriously, was also the moment that they also began to be glamorised in popular culture.

“Yes, David and the writers try to address that question. You have Holden, who is a sycophant and obsessed with Manson, and you have the Bill Tench character [Ford’s FBI colleague, played by Holt McCallany], who is like: ‘Dude, these people are disgusting and deplorable.’

“David is uninterested in creating conversation in which any one person is right and any one person is wrong,” says Groff. “He likes to hold a bunch of different perspectives at the same time. That’s what makes it worth working on, that’s what makes it worth watching.”

Mindhunter, series one  and two, are available  on Netflix

#jonathan groff #interview #press #!

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pleasecallmeeds · 5 years ago

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I love watching the Golden Globes but

goddamn there is absolutely NO reason why there shouldn’t have been more female nominees this year. Greta Gerwig created the masterpiece that is Little Women. Awkwafina might have won Best Actress for The Farewell which is a total win but the female director (Lulu Wang) didn’t get a nomination either. Yes, a lot of iconic directors made iconic movies this year, but I’ll tell you what, I’ve never seen so many MEN in the nominees for best picture in my life. All of the little clips from each nominee are ALL MEN. I swear to god the only women I saw were ScarJo in Marriage Story and Laura Dern from Marriage Story. Once Upon a Time had Margot Robbie for Sharon Tate but she wasn’t even in the movie THAT much? Women made killer movies this year that showed the good, bad, and the ugly of both men AND women. Booksmart was probably my favorite movie of the year because the protagonists were feminist women, one was openly gay and that wasn’t her only characteristic, so many stereotypes were broken, it had wonderful male AND female characters and arcs, and it was directed by Olivia Wilde! The only award Booksmart was nominated for was Beanie Feldstein for Best Actress and it deserved so much more praise. Greta Gerwig made the movie Little Women, which is such a feminist movie because it shows the infamous side of female protagonists that detests the expectation of marriage but also has one of the most openly feminist actors Emma Watson playing a woman who is feminist who chooses to be a wife and chooses to be a homemaker and a mother while still yearning for the more fancy things in life. Like her character says to the carefree Jo, “Just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.” THAT movie didn’t get nominated for anything except score and the beautiful performance by Saoirse Ronan. HOW??

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a big rant, but here I go I guess—2019, while it’s been one of the most incredible years for film, with movies like Jojo Rabbit that show the undeniable truth about the lies and propaganda and brainwashing that took place in Nazi youth and how it’s reappearing in our society today, The Lighthouse, which is visually breathtaking, chilling, and performed wonderfully by its two leads, Rocketman, showing the incredible story of one of the most amazing icons of music Elton John, and the funny, amazing new take on the Whodunnit mystery, Knives Out, whose main lead is a Latina woman who is the daughter of immigrants and steals the show and our hearts, we still can’t overlook some of the real tragedies of our films this year. I’ve watched some of the best movies of my life this year, some who have been unquestionably diverse and accepting and that have BROKEN boundaries, but I’ve also seen movies that have made me lose some hope.

I think the real tragedy is that we have expected too much from the people in the companies who produce the biggest movies that are pumped into our commercials and the only movies that are shown in our mainstream theaters and the ones that are advertised the most—the ones who say that we’ll get more representation and then are dwindled down to background characters with little to no importance or don’t even have names! I was betrayed by big movie production companies this year. I was promised “representation” by The Russo Brothers on Avengers Endgame and I got a scene with one of the brothers playing a man who had lost his male partner in the snap and trying to recover. This man doesn’t have a name, he is just referred to as “the grieving gay man.” He appears for one scene and that’s it—that’s our “representation.” I was promised “representation” in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and received a brief kiss between two members of the Resistance who I could only recognize one of and I don’t believe the other really had a name. It was in the background, between two people who were not important characters even though two of the main characters in the trilogy had chemistry, backing by both the actors and the community, and most of their scenes together, but was straight washed by the directors because Disney wouldn’t allow it. Poe and Finn were given female romantic interests, Poe is openly unenthused about holding Finn’s hand for a scene, and Poe even asks to kiss his love interest who he obviously has had a history with.

I understand that even the slightest bit of representation is great in huge blockbusters like these, but maybe this is just me but I don’t understand how movies like Avengers Endgame and Star Wars—with massive fan bases and dedicated fans, can just sideline diversity in favor of more money? Like people are going to watch the last Star Wars no matter what! And I don’t give a shit how much backlash you get from some of those crazy Star Wars fans—they can suck it up and stop being homophobic. Besides, I’m tired of having to explain to my family that just because we get a little representation that means I can’t expect more. I don’t feel represented when major companies can’t even bother to make one of the main characters anything other than cis or straight.

They can’t even handle having an Asian woman being in a main role—God, don’t even get me started on what they did to Kelly Marie Tran—she did not deserve the treatment she got and having it called “technical difficulties” in the new Star Wars, we all know they were just trying to please the hateful terrible fans that ruin the Star Wars magic for me sometimes.

Having representation is not doing just the “bare minimum.” Having representation is creating CHARACTERS with names and stories and importance to show that these people are just as important as everyone else and that they CAN be the leads and not just BACKGROUND characters. That there are GAYS in Star Wars and there are GAY SUPERHEROS. Having representation is NOT a scene that you can cut out to make more money from homophobic countries! People are LGBTQ+ and they go to watch movies and find themselves in characters and being apart of that community and seeing gay characters shoved to the side to try to get the “representation” in while also not risking losing any money is just heartbreaking.

Stop doing the bare minimum in 2020. Go big or go home. We need to show ALL people in our movies, because there are more than just white straight men in the world. I’m begging for more women—women of color, trans women, women of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities—ALL WOMEN. I’m begging for more LGBTQ+ characters. I’m begging for non-binary characters and they/them pronouns because THOSE PEOPLE EXIST and I don’t see it on the big screen ever. I want to see people around me and in this community being able to see themselves in film because it is one of the most important art mediums out there. Stop putting us to the side and start putting us front and center!

Ok I’m going to sleep now.

#madison’s super long rant #im sorry i just was really mad about the golden globes #greta gerwig deserves to be nomiated for every category #also shes dating noah baumbach?? what a power couple.#finn and poe deserved more.#more diversity in movies!!#no more bare minimum.#women deserve recognition for the incredible movies they made

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migleefulmoments · 5 years ago

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Changing the subject, who is really McLeigh? I saw some posts with her but I wasn't on fandom when she was active. Is she an actress? Did she make a movie?

Michelle Leigh. She is a nurse who has a strong background in community theatre. She wrote and produced a movie called More Than Only which was a very thinly veiled Klaine fanfiction. She bowed out of the fandom-at least out of her active role- as she was drumming up financing for the movie right as Glee was ending. Abby slide into her role as Tumblr tinhat leader. Michelle loved to write long-winded posts about the Darren and Chris and weave in all sorts of nonsense about automatic nervous system reactions during Klaine scenes and conspiracy-theory based comparisons of the two. She wrote this answer where she blatantly steals Klaine’s backstory as Chris and Darren’s.

Anonymous asked:

can you explain crisscolfer to me? i'm new to the fandom

mleigh69 answered:

Once upon a time

There was a little boy named Darren Everett Criss - SanFrancisco born and mostly raised (few years in Hawaii)

And

There was a little boy named Christopher Paul Colfer (Raised in Clovis California).

Both boys LOVED theatre and acting and singing

Both boys raised in completely different environments of acceptance

Darren in an open loving atmosphere - no judgments

Chris bullied and mistreated by kids and teachers alike

Both boys chose different paths at 18

Darren went to college at University of Michigan (he will tell anyone this who will sit with him for 5 seconds and ask)

approx 3 years later (as they are not the same age - Darren was born in 1987/Chris in 1990)

Chris was slated to begin college - but got an audition for a new pilot - he not only was cast in the show - a role was written FOR HIM

Darren consequently auditioned for that same pilot - but it was not the right time or role - so Darren completed his senior year of school in Michigan

Chris found himself on the Juggernaut that would become a worldwide phenomenon

Darren would graduate and return to California with freinds from Michigan to began the pursuit of the dream - small roles here and there - even a regular role - singing in restaurants. Darren is one heck of a musician- he plays at least 7 instruments - the only one he was trained on (starting at 5years old) was the violin - the remainder he is self taught.

Chris found much success with his character Kurt - reaching out to populations of kids that have needed and wanted such a character for a very long time

with the success of season one - and season two locked in - it was time to expand Kurts story (back then the writing was decent and Kurt got the attention that he deserved)

it was time for a romantic connection

Darren Criss was chosen to play “Blaine” who would start as the openly gay teen mentor for Kurt - then they would evolve into the love of one anothers life

It was a sweet story for the ages - AND SO VERY NEEDED ON PRIME TIME - to show this loving gay couple

The thing is - NO ONE expected what was to occur on the first day (October 4, 2010) that Darren E. Criss & Christopher P. Coler were to meet.

They discovered that fate will not be thwarted when two people are destined to be together

Regardless of their upbringing, moving, dreams, motives and intentions

there was a connection that was undeniable

Their story has been far from perfect - mostly due to outside forces that they could not control or harness

but they have proven how very strong, committed and in love they are over and over and over again

This is CrissColfer

More than Only is a story about two gay men and the love they found in one another. She got the rights to Teenage Dream from Katy Perry and yes this is a scene from the movie.

Anonymous asked:

If this is based off Crisscolfer, why did you use white actors? Whitewashing isn't fun for anyone ://

1. NO

when the story occurred to me it had NOTHING to do with either Chris or Darren

HOWEVER, if I ever write their story - and thank you for the idea I just might (but right now I am writing two other screenplays - yes both are LGBT - no they are not both about two men)

I assure you the Crisscolfer story would bust open this entire charade they were forced to live for the past six years - it would be fun casting “Melinda” don’t you think?! (oh god and casting shurphy or Pricky) how in the hell would I even write the description of these characters for a post?!

2. I used the best two actors who came to my open audition call

3. White washing?

first - you clearly have NO idea about the actors, their nationalities or origins - so ignoring that comment now as it is born out of ignorance - but again - their ethnicity had NOTHING to do with casting choices

4. When I placed the casting call - I stated “ANY ETHNICITY”

In fact - here is the ACTUAL audition notice

Hi! I'm new to your movie and things, but it seems cute! I'm curious how much is inspired by crisscolfer? Thanks for yor time

Chris and Darren inspired as much as getting me interested in LGBT rights

Darren said “you fall in love with a person not a gender” (which is on my page) which changed my entire perspective on so many things

The story itself - was NEVER about either one of them - in any way

the use of Teenage dream was not something planned - it just happened when I was writing a medical scene and one character was asked “are you having pain” and the other replied “my heart stops when you look at me” - thus teenage dream was now in the movie - but each step it took to become a through line seemed natural and evolved into the three times it is used or mentioned.

The entire story was NOT planned - it really just happened scene by scene as I was writing - the progression always seemed like the next best step until it resolved itself

I have written Crisscolfer fanfiction - this could have easily fallen into that - but that isn’t where my drive to write the story was - this wasn’t about them

I had something to say about a subject matter that was personal and very real to many I knew - and Crisscolfer was NOT the way to say it

First line of the movie “My father only wanted two things; straight A’s and a straight son”

Final line of the movie: “My father only wanted two things - he could have had so much more”

Justin’s journey is going from being limited to the only things his father expects of him to realizing how much more he can be when not held down.

I never expected the film to get picked up - I never expected it to be made - I was excited that I wrote it - that readings were done - that the readings went as well as they did and it was well received.

the website has tons of info: WWW.MORETHANONLY.COM

thanks for the ask

Anonymous asked:

I've heard that the "you fall in love with the person" quote was actually from a fanfic and not from D himself :( though when I started tumblr it seemed common knowledge that he said it so I've been confused for ages.

Everything that I was able to find about the quote certainly seems to indicate that Darren himself said it

I found arguments about it- and I don’t know why anyone would argue if it was a fanfiction statement

If anyone knows - feel free to jump in with info.

MLeigh69- she stopped actively blogging March 2015ish.

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twoofcups · 6 years ago

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my full endgame thoughts

what i liked, what i didn’t like, in no particular order.

[MAJOR spoilers ahead just FYI]

WHAT I LIKED

the final battle scene was so cool! seeing everyone together like that was wild. watching carol RIP the fuck through that ship was incredible.

carol’s short hair. ughghghgughghghg i just about passed out she’s so beautiful. i also loved that they let her be quippy and sassy like god intended, because i was worried that they’d water her down but they didn’t, which was good.

scott reuniting with cassie made me fucking cry like HELLO????? i could’ve watched a whole movie just about that.

the team setups were really good. i liked that rocket and thor stuck together, and that rocket helped him when he was getting into his head too much.

i LOVED the scene with frigga so much. thor needed that. WE needed that. i’m interested to see what he does next.

the one scene where all the ladies protected peter and then wrecked thanos’ shit..i mean wow...the power of women

the opening with clint’s family god dusted was really well-shot

loki fucking grabbing the tesseract and then bouncing STAYS one of the funniest parts of the movie

peter seeing gamora again and saying “i thought i lost you” and then stumbling towards her to touch her face made me ugly cry in the theater. so did rocket jumping on top of groot.

the whole scene with thor and bruce, when bruce is touching his shoulder and telling thor how GOOD he is...that sent me. thorbruce CONFIRMED we STAY winning.

speaking of which professor hulk is the sexiest fucking thing i’ve ever seen. he’s big and thick and shredded but also dresses like a sexy professor and has humor and confidence. not only is is AMAZING to see bruce finally being confident in himself, but it’s also INCREDIBLY sexy. i keep saying the word sexy but like literally it was i’m Gonna fuck him. the blue t shirt and the cardigan SENT ME.

say what you want, but lebowski thor was also incredibly sexy. he was BIG he was CHONKY and he had long hair and was wearing a drug rug. a4 thor was columbia flashback foggy nelson and that was hot. the beard looked a little fake though dkfjhdjk it looked like cotton candy.

i liked that thor made brunnhilde the new leader of new asgard, and i was surprisingly pleased about him needing to go with the guardians. i think he really did need some time away from new asgard because he was really depressed there, and i think he needs a change of scenery in order to heal without having to worry about the fear of losing his people (again). he’ll come back.

i liked how there was like a golden halo and then t’challa, shuri, and okoye walked out. however, what confused me was that sam was the one who reached out to steve, and he wasn’t the first one out? it would’ve made more sense.

the ENTIRE nebula arc was so fucking good and i’m so glad she played a big role. i was incredibly pleased with that and i thought she was very well written. and i love that she swayed gamora to the good side by telling her that they would be friends/sisters in the future.

scott was a gift the entire time

STEVE WITH MJOLNIR !!!

controversial of me but i liked steve’s ending. i get why people don’t like it and that’s okay, but i think he deserved to be rewarded for everything he did. seeing him old and happy filled my heart with joy because he DESERVES that he DESERVED that life. and he’d done all that he could in the present and could finally retire. the whole “moving on” arc was tossed out, yes, but it was tossed out with the snap. the snap destroyed that part of steve and do you guys genuinely think he’d EVER want to fight again after that????? honestly. and i get that like, you guys think he was sitting idly by while hydra infiltrated shield but 1) we don’t know that. we literally have no clue what he did or did not do there, so we shouldn’t make assumptions. 2) how much could he have really changed without fucking up the time-space continuum??? there were two steves in the 1950s--one with peggy and one on ice. future steve probably couldn’t fuck with too much because it would impact what his past self would accomplish. all the things that happened in the timeline had to happen in order to lead to the conclusion that thanos would ultimately lose. so if he changed even one thing, it could’ve resulted in thanos winning. i also don’t think he abandoned bucky, because bucky knew. he said “i’m gonna miss you”, which seemed strange because he was only supposed to be gone for five seconds. he knew that steve was gonna stay, and he was smiling and nodding to sam, so clearly he didn’t feel abandoned. he just wanted steve to be happy because steve is his best friend and they love each other. also sambucky is about to get some RIGHTS !!! steve was happy and deserved happiness after all the work he did like he was fucking EXHAUSTED. i think y’all forgot that it had been 5 years so naturally he was going to fall off the original course of character development because he was traumatized. he DESERVED to be with peggy and to be happy, and to rest easy knowing that everything would work itself out.

and furthermore i don’t give a fuck about stucky like who fucking cares??? like lmao the time has come and gone this is sambucky’s house now and we’re HAVING FUN!!! “the movie sucked because steve and bucky’s friendship is over” oh boo fucking hoo they probably still visit him at the retirement home and stay friends. and furthermore, part of being with someone “’till the end of the line” is letting them do what’s best for them and putting their happiness first. bucky isn’t selfish. steve isn’t selfish. they both had to do what was best for them, and letting your friends be at their happiest is sometimes more important than keeping them close. like believe it or not part of loving your friends is not treating them like a possession and actually letting them go if they need to. steve was still in love with the past and he knew that bucky had a future in the present. they both had to do what was best for them and it’s OKAY.

samcap made me cry the hardest out of the whole movie. i only cried three times but the Second steve unveiled the shield i started fucking sobbing because i wanted it for sam so badly. i wanted steve to have a happy ending but i also wanted falconcap more than i wanted anything else. sam was ALWAYS meant to be the next cap, gays we WON!!! and bucky just...standing there and smiling because he’s in love with sam and really proud of him i...it was a LOT. i can’t afford disney+ so somebody better let me leech off of them so i can watch their show lrkdjlkfjg

overall i had fun and i was entertained but that being said

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

i didn’t like that there was no intermission because i thought there would be and i had to pee for like 2 and a half hours. i knew tony was going to die after doing the snap so i watched thanos dissolve and got up to piss while he was dying because i don’t give a shit gfdjklkjd i’m glad he’s gone and that we don’t have to deal with him anymore though

i get why natasha chose to be the one to die (clint had a family and i get that) but watching her get fridged still sucked because for a good chunk of the movie afterward there were like No Women. but the scene itself/the acting was good. i also hate that tony gets this big fuckin funeral with a wreath on the water and natasha got a bunch of men arguing because they no longer had a woman to keep them in line. she was the one who kept shield together after the snap. she was the one who sacrificed herself for the soul stone so that they could win. what she did was just as important and she deserved a heroes sendoff.

i didn’t like how a lot of the other characters treated thor. there were too many jokes during scenes where he was trying to be serious. like when he was BEGGING to put on the gauntlet so he could do something Good, that was not a time for jokes. but still, they made a joke about his weight and i was like uh cool i’m gonna KILL YOU. like thor arguably went through the most because he experienced 3 genocides (losing asgard, thanos attacking the ship, and the snap) and felt directly responsible for ALL of them. and nobody was taking care of him. though i do like that it showed a lot of his vulnerability because we’ve never seen him hit rock bottom. it’s just that some of the other characters treated him like shit while he was going through something. they should’ve shown his trauma/panic attack as seriously as they showed tony’s but everyone is too far up tony’s asshole to give a shit about other characters’ trauma being treated with care. but tony is dead now clink clink bitch!

clint going crazy going stupid and choosing to target the yakuza instead of white criminals in his own country was :/ i didn’t like that. but also i get it because scarlett probably asked to film a scene in her home country uwu we stan an asian american queen ldksjglkdfjlgkfdlkj 🤧

i hated how there was that starmora reunion and then she just like??? kicks him??? twice??? just like thor, peter’s trauma is played for laughs like shut the fuck UP!!

lol so every single one of peter’s friends got snapped, huh??? i feel like that’s bad writing but they all needed to be the same age in far from home so like I GUESS.

not enough carol :(

i would’ve liked to see okoye on the time travel team but i also get that the world is falling apart and that she and m’baku needed to protect wakanda.

i hated the fact that the mcu’s “first openly gay character” was just joe fucking russo with a dead husband. bitch i’m gonna kill you.

like obviously it wasn’t a perfect movie, but the perfect movie doesn’t exist. i just took it at face value and had fun. it accomplished its goal of entertaining me. i had a good time and i’ll probably see it like...One more time to see what i missed. but overall i liked it because rocket was in it and he is a funny raccoon :o)

#endgame spoilers

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thefoxesboxes · 7 years ago

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A Gathering of Guys

Time to get back into the saddle on these reviews! This one has been a long time coming, something I honestly meant to review many months ago. But, between teaching English and travelling around the world, this writing fox has had a significant decrease in available brainpower. Did watching this movie for a second time help? Will it have passed the vulpine standards check? Look under the cut to find out as we discuss the “First R-Rated CGI Cartoon”, Sausage Party.

To begin, I will preface two things. First, I love animation. The creativity and freedom that can be made from almost any kind of animated movie has always been an easy way to make me happy. Look at movies like Zootopia, Spirited Away, and even Aladdin. These movies are each dramatically different in tone, style, and overall thematics. But they’re all some of my favorite movies. Even if I think CGI is overdone in the modern animation market, it still doesn’t detract from my love of watching something creative and fresh.

I also don’t mind movies that are using raunchy or vulgar humor. A movie like Deadpool can make me laugh pretty hard at the stupid jokes and over the top violence that it employs. A movie like this should use the language and themes to push the style of the movie. Is it a violent story with a murderous mercenary hell bent on revenge? Yeah, dark and violent, but add in the fun. These things can break up the movie into a more manageable tone than most people would like. Look at the difference in things like DC and Marvel, or new Ghostbusters and old Ghostbusters. That’s a coming review, by the way.

So the big point is that this movie is awful. It’s a raunchy and joke filled movie, but it’s never creative. It’s like someone took the movie FoodFight and pushed up the production quality and age rating. The movie is graphic, violent, and full of warnings for mature content and imagery. The whole movie tries very, very hard to make sure you know that this is mature and grown up.

Maturity, in this sense, means something that says the word ‘fuck’ approximately 1.85 times a minute, often in heavy bursts. Maturity is something that makes incredibly sophomoric and heavy handed assertions about the nature of religion and real life interactions between thousand year old cultures. Mature is when you have the movies plotline come to a screeching halt to constantly point out how edgy you are over and over again. Mature, in this sense, is being a 15 year old on Reddit screaming about how you took the red pill and don’t believe in things like religion, man.

There is nothing really mature here. At all.

“Just the tips” What the fuck is a tip? Your finger? Why does a hotdog have a glove but the lady doesn’t? Save it. It’ll keep.

But let’s talk detail. First, the movie has a song. It’s not a bad song, at least for how it’s written and sung. It’s really mostly just kind of tuneless and shifts a lot into ways that obviously want to invoke religious worship songs, but doesn’t do that very well. The song does a great job of setting the tone of this movie, which is “Religious people are dumb, ya here?”. It’s not really something I want to get into, but it slides nicely into the hotdog bun of hatred I have for this movie.

The writing.

As mentioned, the writing is self-congratulatory about the idea of being R-rated when it doesn’t know what that should mean. It decided to go out of its way to be a cartoon about hotdogs and sex before seemingly having any direction, as the world itself and characters are all over the place. Do they make any particular point using food that couldn’t be done with a different material? Nope. Do they make timely or classical references throughout the movie? Well, Meatloaf plays a singing Meatloaf. They make a “To Sir with Love” reference, which intrudes on one of my absolutely favorite films ever. Saving Private Ryan? Not exactly timeless.

But the writing reflects worst on characters and dialogue. While the voice acting is, mostly, fine it’s really just the characters are a bunch of assholes. Remember that scene in Star Wars where Han Solo doesn’t believe in the Force and Luke lectures him despite having learned about it that afternoon? That happens about atheism. Our beef tube hero who’s name I really don’t care to remember (it’s Frank) learns that the Gods are evil people who eat them! Oh no! So he immediately starts bashing everyone for believing in the Gods that he believed in until literally an hour ago. He makes no good points, he seems ridiculously hypocritical, and he’s just kind of a douche.

A running theme in this movie, the main villain is a literal douche. A douche who gets a tear and loses his douchey fluids, so he needs to replenish them to restore his superpowers. This begins with him forcefully and graphically violating a damaged juice container in a way obviously reminiscent of forceful oral sex. This scene was the first one that was simply disgusting, including him commenting that he’s “Juicin’ up” to reference steroids. A rape scene, classy as hell. This only continues as this literal douche walks about to murder the main heroes will constantly repeating the same joke over and over again. His plans involved him being able to teleport, his reason for revenge was almost understandable, but being a rapist murderer really made me not care about this villain.

Also. This joke. Five fucking times.

Other than the Frankfurter Hero and Douchey Villain, we have side characters. Jewish Bagel, Mexican Lesbian Taco, overly voluptuous hotdog bun, Muslim/Middle Eastern lavash, gay Twinkee, black grits, and Firewater. These stereotypes are the closest thing to characters that exist in this film and they mostly exist pretty much solely within those roles. They exist to either be stereotypes, be annoying, or try to poke mature points at the concept of geographically interconnected regions and classically dependent cultures having feuds with each other. But let’s talk about that in terms of the world.

These foods exist for, what, a week? They exist in the same aisles, for the same goals, and often have to interact with each other for their entire existence. Their existences, mind you, which are created for explicit purpose. Why do they have different viewpoints of the Gods, to the point where it is this disseminated? Is it to make a point about the rapid distribution of altering ideals among short lived humanity? I don’t know, it just seems to be extremely crass ways to point out that these things exist and are stupid. Again a running theme.

The last major theme I want to mention is consistency. A world needs to be made in a way that follows an internal logic. Yes, magic should be explained, a world should be detailed, and even comedy should follow some form and function. If there is no law dictated within the world, then there’s no reason for me to really pay attention to what you’re doing. It’s all just whitenoise for the pretense of having jokes.

This movie fails worldbuilding with a capital F and a giant minus. The food is alive, so are douches and some other inanimate objects! But things like shoes and ladles are not, why? Why isn’t the knife alive? When we open up a thing of off brand Mentos, each of those little mints is alive. Is this things ass full of living organisms that will proceed to exist in total isolation until released? If I make a sandwich, is it a composite of painfully attached different creatures to each other? They did show that composite foods exist as a single entity, so does that mean that pushing cheese and wheat germ together creates a new living entity? The entire idea doesn’t make sense when you show that some things would require the painful things to exist. Pizza, sandwiches, all of it. How does it work? The movie doesn’t tell you.

This line here indicates that the peanut butter, married to jelly, is only alive as it is the container. But why isn’t the bag the hotdogs were in alive, or the box? There’s no sense to be had in this madness. Just extremely dry hotdogs.

Not that the external world is any better. Remember in Toy Story where the toys could move and had to very specifically hide that fact? Yeah, this movie says fuck it. Some of the foods move and we see people view it as a hot dog rolling around. But then the hot dog gets up, dodges, ducks, dips, dives, and dodges. They even stab a hot dog standing up in the middle of the air, or they can run across the street. Do people see them or not? It’s pointed out that they need to be literally high on bath salts to see the food moving, but then can the food interact with the world when not on bath salts? How come the food never moves and people don’t notice it? Why do I even watch anything attached to Seth Rogan? Why did you ruin my night, Seth?

This isn’t even getting into the ending. The movie ended two separate times at the end, once when the orgy of murder happened, and once when the orgy that murdered the movie happened. There’s a full orgy, it takes actually 5 minutes to get through. Does it add to the plot? Nope. Does it push anything? Nah, it’s also the scaled down version from the honestly horrifying original script Seth Rogan spent years drafting up. Fuck him so much.

There’s also a murder orgy where the food kills everyone. Apparently we can’t beat hotdogs. Who knew? A guy gets turned into a testicle puppet by the douche, carries a giant revolver that apparently has 8 bullets in it. They make Terminator and Wizard of Oz references. A merry time was had by apparently a lot of people that aren’t me.

Also, the food smoke weed that is… Apparently not alive? Why is the marijuana not alive? Fuck it. Probably some stupid point.

The main point is this. The movie contains many flaws and

Fuck this movie. Fuck you Seth Rogan for your grinning assholery. Fuck the critics who think this movie is an insightful and raunchy godsend so they can openly enjoy cartoons. Fuck the idea that this movie grossed tons of money and will probably get some kinda sequel or spinoff. Fuck the media that believes that maturity is the juvenile banter of an idiot who cannot stop dragging his political diatribes into a different subject. And fuck this movie for killing any chance Kubo and the Two Strings had of being a financial success.

Summary? This movie is crass, brash, vulgar and tasteless. It’s also somehow not brave enough to say anything that has any real merit or in a way that’s unique. It’s a movie obsessed with its own egotistical idea of being the ‘first’ but has no idea of how to make that something worth seeing. This movie is just a waste of time. It’s a mix of immature and well past it’s expiration date.

#sausage party #movie review #review #bottom of the barrel #angry #animated #fox box season 3 #I will be here

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acsversace-news · 6 years ago

Link

Finn Wittrock received his second Emmy nomination this year for playing Jeff Trail, victim of serial killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” Wittrock was previously nominated in this same category of Best Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor category for his twisted role as Dandy in “American Horror Story: Freak Show” in 2015.

Wittrock recently spoke with Gold Derby contributing writer Charles Brightabout playing Jeff and all of his “contradictions,” what it’s like to work with Ryan Murphy and the funny way he learned about his Emmy nomination. Watch the exclusive web chat above and read the complete interview transcript below.

Gold Derby: Finn Wittrock, you just received an Emmy nomination for your work in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” What was your reaction to that when you read the episode script that you submitted, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”? What was your reaction to that?

Finn Wittrock: I continued to be surprised by the writing of that show. Really though, Tom Rob Smith, who wrote all of the episodes, continued to surprise me in the direction that it went. I knew a little bit about where they were gonna go with it but I didn’t quite expect the entire episode would follow Jeff’s own little arc, sort of mini arc. I really admired the way that he crafted these episodes in terms of having the basic through line of Cunanan and [Gianni] Versace and these offshoots based on sometimes the victims, at the end you follow the father figure, so each character gets their own self-contained episode and then that works its way back into the thing. I was very impressed by that. I was very surprised and happy how much time they took addressing Jeff’s own coming to terms with his identity and his sexuality and how complicated and contradictory it was for him to come out as a gay man and come out against a policy, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” which he disagreed with, but he was a fundamentally very patriotic, very loving of the military kind of upright, responsible young man. All those contradictions. I think often I’m looking for how many contradictions can we fit into one person. That just excites me and so, all those elements were there.

GD: I like that you mentioned how it was structured, because we first saw your character in the previous episode but we only saw you for like two minutes and then you’re bludgeoned to death.

FW: Yeah, my friends called me and they were like, “Man, you were filming that for so many months. That’s it? Just for those two scenes and then you were dead? What were you doing all that time?” I’m like, “Guys, it works backwards. Figure it out.”

GD: What was also brilliant about that was in watching the next episode, the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” episode, it just made everything in that episode all the more tragic, ‘cause in a way, Cunanan was this life preserver for Jeff but it was also his undoing, unfortunately. It just encapsulated the tragedy of it so much.

FW: Yeah, that is what tragedy is, knowing that the ending is gonna be terrible and yet being along for the ride and still hoping illogically that things will turn out differently. You can watch “Romeo and Juliet” as much as you want and if it’s well done… I mean they tell you at the very beginning, “Star-crossed lovers who die at the end.” The prologue says that, and still, if it’s well done production, you’re watching on pins and needles, like hopefully this time they’ll wake up and find each other. So I think that playing with that element of knowing what the end is, knowing it’s gonna end in tragedy, it does something specific to us as an audience, I think. It kind of engages us, hopefully, in a different kind of way.

GD: So in the lead-up to shooting your scenes for this series, did you speak with anyone who had lived through “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in the military?

FW: I talked to some people who had been in the Navy at that time. We had a really good Navy advisor. It’s a sensitive subject. People don’t open up that easily. But the fodder that I really got was there’s that interview in the episode, my face is in shadow and then talking about the policy. That’s a very, very accurate reenactment of a real interview that I got to see that I had on-hand on my phone all the time to reference continuously throughout the shoot, which is really him trying to be anonymous, having this very, very honest, in-depth conversation with this reporter for the show “48 Hours,” I believe. So that was my biggest go-to in terms of character reference research.

GD: What was also really magnificent about it was the dynamic between you and Darren Criss as Cunanan, especially when it all just comes to a head, I don’t know if it’s the final scene but right towards the end with you just accosting him in your apartment. What was it like to film that? What was that dynamic like between you two?

FW: That was a long day. After that day was done it was like, “Clocked.” I feel like we put in a good day’s work. We played with it a lot. We did a lot of different variations in terms of how heightened and how confrontational it was versus some versions being more wanting to avoid it, wanting to be a little more self-torture, and ultimately the thing that was working was restraining, restraining, restraining and then finding a moment to just explode and go at each other. Yeah, no holds barred, take off the boxing gloves. Like all of working with Darren and Daniel Minahan, who directed the episode, it was a lot of great experimentation. A lot of finding as we went. There wasn’t really a pre-planned way that they wanted it to go. We were exploring new territory, really, finding it.

GD: Did it ever get you that when you realize you’re acting in something, showing how shitty things were for gay people, that was only 20 years ago? Is that a very startling thing to realize?

FW: Yeah, definitely it is, and how recent it was and yet how alien it seems to my own way I live my life. I have so many openly gay friends, but I also know lots of older gay people who really responded to that, people who lived through that period and maybe now are out but at the time weren’t. That really affected people. I had real heart to hearts with some people who saw that later and were like, “That was my life.” But yeah, it is crazy. It’s crazy how far we’ve come and how not far also.

GD: One of the other things that I thought was so interesting about this is that for a lot of the Cunanan story, there’s just a lot of stuff that we just don’t know for sure. A lot of stuff, even in the Maureen Orth book that the series is based on, some of it is kind of just filling in blanks and I was wondering, was that weird to try to portray something of which there’s a lot we don’t know about?

FW: We know where things ended and we know whether things began but a lot of the stuff behind closed doors, no one knows what really happened, ‘cause most of the people who were there are dead now. I think like anything, it’s historical fiction. These events really happened but we have to use artistic liberty to fill in all the blanks and that’s really where the emotional arc comes through. History has given us the exoskeleton, and so it’s your job as an actor and the writer and the creative team to fill in the blanks to bring that to life. It’s like that old saying about never let truth get in the way of a good story.

GD: It’s very true. So this is actually the third time that you’ve worked on a Ryan Murphy project. You were of course on “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” Season 4. Actually, I think it’s the fourth time you’ve worked with Murphy.

FW: Technically it’s the fifth ‘cause I did his movie “The Normal Heart” before that on HBO.

GD: I was counting that. I have “Freak Show,” “Hotel,” “Normal Heart” because oh god, I’ll never forget watching your scene with my roommate. We were a wreck at the end of that. And this one. What was the other one?

FW: Oh, well it’s almost unfair to say ‘cause I’m unrecognizable in my one episode of “Roanoke,” “American Horror Story.” Jether was my name. I died pretty quickly but I was one of the inbred hillbilly monsters and it’s all shot in grainy, like it’s shot on cellphone, so even if you could see my face, you probably couldn’t tell ‘cause I also had this crazy prosthetic stuff. But yeah, technically I was in “Roanoke.”

GD: You’ve worked on so many projects that have been associated with Ryan Murphy. What does he bring to a project that makes him so desirable to work with?

FW: A lot of things. The first thing is you know that you’re gonna work with great people, on-camera, off-camera. He has such an amazing repertory of actors that you’re gonna get to do some really juicy stuff with. That’s already fulfilling. Also, he’s gonna challenge you. You know he’s gonna challenge you in a way that is specific to you. He knows what you’ve done before and he’s gonna find something that sort of goes in the polar opposite direction of that, to stretch your actor muscles. And also there’s the fact that I feel like whatever he does generally is talking about in some way some kind of zeitgeist, some kind of cultural conversation that we’re having. Even “Freak Show” is really about, the freaks are any ostracized group of people. Be that for race or sexual orientation or what have you. Even the stuff that seems totally off the wall and bonkers, somehow there’s always some element of something that you find very current and alive and on the pulse of right now. It just always seems to affect people. That’s why these shows are so freakin’ popular (laughs).

GD: You brought up all these amazing people through the Ryan Murphy projects that you’ve gotten to work with. Is there any one person that you were most excited or most intimated to do scenes with?

FW: I’ve gotten pretty lucky. I had a lot of fun stuff to do with Sarah Paulsonthat first year, both of her heads. And it was like, I really like Bette but Dot was such a bitch (laughs). Oh god, not Dot again! No, she was really astounding in that. I obviously had fun working with Lady Gaga. That was sort of a pinch me, is this real life situation. She was really just such a brave, impressive force and it’s been cool to get into her sphere a little bit. I only had one scene with Jessica Lange but I want more. That was fun. Kathy Bateshas been an amazing person to work with and is also an incredible philanthropist in her own life. I’ve just been lucky.

GD: It’s one of those things where you look back and you’re like, “Wow, I’ve been a part of all of this.”

FW: “This really happened? Is this real life?”

GD: As I said before, you got nominated for your second Emmy this year, this one for “Crime Story.” You were nominated for “Freak Show” four years ago, I believe. What was nomination morning like for you, finding out that you had gotten nominated again?

FW: This was disbelief. Sarah, my wife, read me the list and I was like, “You must be looking at the cast list.” And she’s like, “No, this is the list!” It was truly an out of the blue, random Wednesday morning, like, “Oh, my life has changed now than it was five seconds ago.”

GD: So it wasn’t your agent or anyone calling you? It was your wife who was looking at the nominations and she said, “Hey look at this”?

FW: Yeah. I was making coffee, it was kind of early. It’s 8 a.m. and that happens, it was like, “What are you talking about?” Then suddenly yeah, my phone starts to vibrate for the rest of the day. It’s funny the way they do it, ‘cause they announce some of them live but then they put the rest up online. Television Academy, I love you, obviously, but the website could use a little guiding help. You have to click to a whole lot of things to find out what the nominees are. It really takes a second. They don’t make it easy for you.

GD: This year was weird because usually right after the nominations come out, you can go and find the link of the PDF of the whole 7,000 pages of all the different categories that they have, but this year it took a while. For some reason there was something going on.

FW: (knocks on computer) “Give me my trophy!”

GD: I almost threw a computer out a window but then I remembered that I was at a place of work and then I was like, “Yeah, that’s probably not good.”

FW: You need some young, tech-savvy people to come in.

GD: One other question. What else do you have coming up down the road? We were talking before we started this about some of your theater work. Do you have any theater work that’s coming up on the horizon?

FW: No plays on the new horizon. Last year I spent about seven months in New York. I did two plays back to back. I did “Othello” with Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo, which was amazing, and then I did “The Glass Menagerie” on Broadway with Sally Field. I really got the theater bug well exercised, if that makes sense. No plays that I know of, although I’m always hungry to do a play. There’s a movie called “Judy” which will be out next year, about Judy Garland that I’m in. Renée Zellweger’s playing her and I think it’s gonna be really cool.

GD: Oh, I know a lot of people are gonna be waiting for that one.

FW: I know. For better or for worse, right?

GD: Exactly.

FW: There’s a movie coming out soon called “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which is Barry Jenkins’ next film, which I have a part in, which is beautiful. That’s gonna be really cool. There’s also this movie called “Semper Fi,” this military film that I did. I think that’ll come out sometime soon. So a lot of things in the pipeline. There’s a couple smaller movies, some interesting Indies that I did that are making the festival circuit right now, too. We’ll see if they come to a theater near you, or a screen near you.

GD: We’re definitely hoping. Finn, I can’t thank you enough for this. We wish you all the best on Emmy night. Thanks so much for joining us.

FW: Thank you so much.

#acs versace #finn wittrock #gold derby #interview #article #september 2018

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kirikinni · 8 years ago

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Hi, cant seem to find the rules from phone so sorry if this goes against any rules in anyway&it's fine if u dont take my request 😜 Could u plz do Namseok (bts94line) since I cant find anything! Fluff/angst/smut/anything! I'm bad at solid prompts but itd be super cute for Namjoon to be crushing on Hobi&being like really shy around him (since I think 2 many joon fics hav him as confident, collected - &the endless daddy kinks pfft😣 - itd be a nice change haha) Thank u in advance 😊

Love Me?

“Joon-ah throw me the towel please.” Hoseok said to hispurple haired best friend who was currently seated on the floor of the dancestudio with his back against the wall.

Namjoon had come to pick Hoseok up from dance practice buthe arrived way too early. He had made himself comfortable and got himself lostin a book. Namjoon looked up from his book and almost choked on his own spit.Hoseok was gleaming with sweat and his biceps were on full perfect view. He wasdressed in a very loose tank top and shorts that were too short for Namjoon tobe able to breath.

“Joon, Namjoon. Kim Namjoon.” Hoseok repeated trying to gethis attention. Namjoon snapped his eyes up from Hoseok’s body up to his eyes, ablush creeping up his neck.

“Ya? Sorry I was thinking..” Namjoon said and looked down athis book for an excuse, “um David and Celia. Did you know they’re best friendsbut the other one is crushing on…” Namjoon trailed off realizing that he wasrambling, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay nerd, pass me the towel and you can tell me aboutthe book when we’re leaving.” Hoseok replied, smiling widely. Though he wassweaty and panting his smile seemed to light up the room far better than anylight bulb.

Namjoon threw him the towel and laughed, he got off theground and closed his book with one finger inside it. He switched on his phoneand opened his chat with Seokjin while Hoseok was talking to hisinstructor.

“Hyung, I’m so whipped.”

Seokjin texted back merely seconds later,

“I know you loser,everyone knows except for him. You gotta tell him, you guys would be so cutetogether.”

“No fucking way, I’m not gonna lose my best friend over acrush.”

“He likes you tooidiot, just tell him. It’ll be fine I swear.”

“No hyung, we’re just friends. Fuck he’s coming okay bye.

Namjoon switched off his phone as Hoseok approached him andsmiled at the boy he’s been crushing on for the past two years. Hoseok smiledback and threw his hand over Namjoon’s shoulder.

“You’re shorter than me, get off.” Namjoon said laughing.

“By like two centimeters shut up.” Hoseok said, tighteninghis hand around Namjoon’s shoulder just to inconvenience him.

“Four centimeters actually, agh you’re gonna choke me andthen you’ll have no friends.” Namjoon said ducking under his arm and gettingout of the grip.

“Excuse you but I have a lot of other friends, here comesone.” Hoseok said motioning to a pink haired short boy who was running towardsthem.

“Hyung you forgot your jacket.” The boy said out of breathand handed Hoseok his jacket.

“Thank you Jiminie, I can’t believe myself.” Hoseok saidlaughing.

“I can.” Namjoon muttered softly.

“At least I don’t go around breaking everything I touch.”Hoseok retaliated.

“Hey that was one time,let it go.”

“Ya one hundred times.”Hoseok said smiling at Namjoon who was getting red.

“You guys are so cute oh gosh.” Jimin squealed, “Are you twodating?”

“Yup, we’ve been dating for three years now.” Hoseok saidand took Namjoon’s hand in his own making Namjoon flush an even darker shade ofred. “Well we need to go now, I’ll see you next week Jimin bye.” Hoseok saidand walked off, Namjoon’s hand still in his own.

Namjoon could only stare at the interlocked hands, unable tofocus on anything other than the warmth coming from Hoseok’s hand, he hadimagined what it would be like to feel this same warmth everyday, every timethey went out. The warmth coming from his hands when they interlocked fingers,the warmth coming from his lips when their lips finally met. Namjoon hadimagined it all for so long and having Hoseok hold his hand now and callNamjoon his boyfriend, even as a joke put Namjoon on such a high.

Every time Hoseok joked around about them practically beingboyfriends. Every time Namjoon had to pretend to be his boyfriend so somecreepy guy or some clingy girl would leave Hoseok alone. Every single time,Namjoon felt his heart clench and such sharp pain.

Hoseok turned his head to look at Namjoon wondering why hewas being so quite and noticed him staring at their interlocked hands, “Ahsorry Joonie, I forgot. Feels like it’s meant to be there you know.” Hoseoksaid laughing and removing his hand from Namjoon’s. Namjoon almost whined atthe loss of Hoseok’s hand and cried at what he said. Namjoon just wanted totake Hoseok’s hand back in his own and tell him that they did belong togetherbut he could not. He would never risk their friendship.

“You were talking about your book.” Hoseok reminded Namjoon.

“Oh ya so basically Celia is totally whipped for David butshe doesn’t want to tell him because she doesn’t want to lose him, they’re bestfriends right and it’s so sad because she’s constantly in pain because shewants to be his but he doesn’t even know and he’s always teasing her andplaying around with her.”

“Oh so like us?” Hoseok asked, interrupting.

“Sorry what?” Namjoon asked, choking on his spit for thesecond time today.

“Always teasing and playing around, like us.” Hoseok said,confusion plastered on his face.

“Oh that, um ya. Like us basically so anyway she just wantshim to see her as something else but he only sees her as his best friend andit’s really depressing so far because the writer just makes you feel Celia’spain. Like we’ve all had that one unrequited crush right and it’s like you’rere living the pain you felt then through her.”

“Damn Joon why are you reading this it’s so sad.” Hoseokasked, before getting two into the passenger seat of Namjoon’s car.

“I don’t know I like the book. I hope it get’s better forCelia.” Namjoon said sighing, relating way too much to the girl in the book.

“You know what I think, I think Celia should tell Dale, ifhe’s really her best friend then he won’t leave her or get awkward over aconfession and if he does leave then he’s just not worth her.” Hoseok said ashe fiddled with the radio, there was an interview on with South Korea’s onlyopenly gay and famous couple. “Oh my god, I love these two. They’re adorabletogether.”

“So Taehyung, you guys have told us so much about you butthe one thing everyone wants to know is who confessed first?” the interviewerasked.

Laughter from both Taehyung and Jungkook could be heard onthe radio before Jungkook answered, “We were actually really good friends, Ihad a supporting role in one of the movie’s hyung was leading in and we justclicked I guess. We got really close after that and I formed a major crush onhim but I didn’t tell him because I thought no way would Kim Taehyung, leadingactor and ladies man ever be gay and even if he was there would be no way hewould be into me so I kept it inside.”

“He was wrong by the way,” Taehyung interrupted laughing, “Iliked Jungkookie from the day one of the staff at our shooting accidentlypushed him into a lake and instead of getting mad at the staff he just askedfor a little help cleaning up but I didn’t say anything because I was convincedthat the shining star of the K-pop industry and celebrity crush of practicallyevery girl and boy would never be into me. Boy was I wrong, he was so whipped.”

All three voices on the radio laughed and Hoseok laughedalong with them while Namjoon listened in pain, he knew what that felt like.Namjoon was reminded every day how different he and Hoseok were. Namjoon wasthe bookworm nerd who liked quiet places and Hoseok liked dancing, exercise andparties. Namjoon had no idea why they were friends but they were and Namjoonwould never give Hoseok up.

“..ya so we were together one night at my apartment,watching movies, eating greasy food. You know, the usual when Kookie told me hewas gay, out of nowhere. He just threw the it out and I almost choked.”

“He did actually, he choked on popcorn and I got so scared,I was apologizing and trying to save him and when we finally got the popcornout he just sat on the floor quietly so I got embarrassed and nervous. I got mystuff and was about to leave but hyung came and hugged me from behind and toldme that it’s okay and that he was too. I don’t remember how I felt or anythingmuch but I know I turned around and kissed him after he said that. Now that Ithink about it that was such a risk.” Jungkook said laughing hard.

“and I am so happy you took that risk.” Taehyung replied,there was awing heard from the radio and Hoseok screamed in adoration for thecouple.

“You see, Celia should just tell Dale. You never know whatmight happen…” Hoseok went on about chances and risks while Namjoon gripped thesteering wheel tighter. All he could imagine was kissing Hoseok, holding hishand, playing with hair while they had in house dates. He wanted to watch andcheer on his performances as his official boyfriend, he wanted to kiss Hoseokwhen people hit on him, he wanted to spoil Hoseok with gifts and love. Hewanted to be the one Hoseok gave his heart to and Hoseok had no idea.

Namjoon pulled into the café parking lot just as Hoseok wasfinishing his speech, “now if you had a crush on me, you should honestly justgrab me and kiss me right now because I would kiss you back.”

Namjoon turned to look at Hoseok, sure he had just heardHoseok wrong. There was no way he would say that but there he was staring atNamjoon with nothing but pure love in his eyes and the softest smile on hislips. Namjoon couldn’t help it anymore; he grabbed the back of Hoseok’s neckand pulled him in. Namjoon met him halfway and their lips finally met.

The butterflies in Namjoon’s stomach exploded and his heartfelt like the rooftop that exploded with fireworks at the end of Mulan. Hoseokkissed him back and put his hand on Namjoon’s waist. Everyone but Namjoon knewjust how long Hoseok had been waiting to feel Namjoon’s lips and tasteNamjoon’s lips and to own Namjoon’s lips. Namjoon pulled back, the biggestbrightest shyest smile known to man plastered on his face, he was unable to sayanything, only smile.

“See Celia should just tell Dale, he must have been waitingto kiss her for so long.”

I don’t do smut for any ships other than taekook, yoonmin and namjin sorry. This is my first time ever writing namseok and they have such a precious dynamic I hope this satisfies and does justice to the ship.

#namseok #namseok fluff #namjoon x hoseok fluff #namjoon x hoseok fanfic #namseok fanfic #taekook fluff #side taekook #kim namjoon #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim seokjin #jeon jungkook #kim taehyung #bts fanfic #bts fluff

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demitgibbs · 6 years ago

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Anna Kendrick Talks Fluid Sexuality, Kissing Blake Lively

The pitch is perfectly crazy in Anna Kendrick’s walk on the dark side of filmmaker Paul Feig’s warped sense of humor, A Simple Favor. It’s martini-sipper mom versus martini-swigger mom. Target mom versus Met Gala mom. Aspirational versus extra.

It’s regular mom-meets-mom business, a modern mom-com – until Emily (Blake Lively) goes missing. Emily’s sudden disappearance prompts Stephanie (Kendrick) to mount an investigation by employing her keen Nancy Drew smarts and posting distressed clips of herself on her dorky craft vlog. (Friendship-bracelet tutorials are just gonna to have wait.)

A bit camp? Yep. A bit queer? Obviously. And naturally so, as Kendrick’s 15-year career is steeped in queerness: at age 17, she cut her acting teeth on Camp, the 2003 teen musical-comedy directed by out filmmaker Todd Graff; as Beca, she brought covert aca-gayness to the three-part Pitch Perfect franchise; and in 2014, the 33-year-old Oscar-nominated actress slipped into Cinderella’s glass slippers for Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. And her long, impulsive kiss – “just another Tuesday,” Emily notes – with Lively in A Simple Favor, well, it’s not exactly straight, she says.

Here, the longtime ally talks about attempting to allow the lesbian love to bloom between queer-coded Pitch Perfect leads Beca and Chloe (Brittany Snow), what irks her about self-congratulatory reactions to celebs coming out and, when it comes to her own sexuality, being open like Emily.

A car sing-along, a little camp, some martinis and a mom makeout sesh: Anna, you sure know what the gay community wants at this point in your career, don’t you?

(Laughs) Oh my gosh! I wasn’t thinking of it in that way, but yeah, it is kind of camp. It takes itself a little seriously, but we’re always winking or having fun. It’s bright and colorful, and there’s an unabashed campiness to it – even though the stakes are very real in places.

You didn’t recognize a queer sensibility going in?

To be honest, when I was going in, there was just so much to play with. I remember having one of those conversations with Blake where we both felt like, “Are we high right now? Are we having a stoner conversation?” Because we were talking about how in a traditional comedy there’s a slider that you’re on from how subtle to how broad, and with this it felt like you weren’t just on this linear slider – you were in three dimensions, and you could go to all these places.

It was so much fun as actors to have that, and I know that sounds really stoner-y and existential and dumb. But the world Paul created had so much possibility, and so I wasn’t really thinking about one group. I was barely getting my brain around what the movie was in the first place! But I think Stephanie is very much an underdog and she’s finding her place in the world. I feel like that’s something that queer people can relate to at one point in their lives or another.

WATCH:

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What was it like coming to set for the first time and seeing the giant painting of Blake-as-Emily’s vagina front and center in Emily’s front room?

OK, this is actually really interesting: So that painting – fun fact – was never once on set. That is all post effects. Sometimes it was green screen, and sometimes it was this other painting that was very nice but very Tumblr art. It was actually Blake’s idea to have it be a little bit more, um, obscene. Certainly it’s art, but a little more shocking for Stephanie to see. Not so polished, not so pretty, not so coy. I thought that was really brilliant.

Regarding Pitch Perfect: Are we ever gonna get the Beca and Chloe love story that they so deserve?

I know. I definitely wanted to have an ending that was a Bechloe ending, and we did shoot one version where Brittany and I tricked everybody into just shooting one that was just the two of us getting together. We knew it was a long shot. It meant so much to us that there was this following around their latent relationship and, yeah, I thought it would’ve been really cool if it would have ended up coming to fruition in the end. If we ever do a four, I will fight tooth and nail for it, but I’m not sure it’s gonna happen.

Because the studio doesn’t want to go there with their sexuality?

It wasn’t like Universal was like, “There can be no lesbians in Pitch Perfect!” Because obviously Cynthia Rose is an openly gay character. But I think they were just confused by it because they weren’t listening to all the online chatter about it, whereas I see it every day, and I’m like, “Are you kidding? This is what they want!”

Best lesbian Bechloe fanfiction you’ve read?

OK, I’ve actually only tried to ever read one. It was so sweet and puppy-lovey that I was like, “Aww, I wanted to read some sauciness!” I thought I was gonna get scandalized! Instead, I was like, “Aww! This is, like, so sweet! This reminds me of The Baby-Sitters Club books.” But I haven’t actually followed up on it.

You once met a guy at a Gelson’s market who told you he does your Camp character, Fritzi, in drag. First of all, how often do you run into drag queens at grocery stores who tell you that you’re their inspiration?

(Laughs) Not often enough! That was one of my favorite moments of being recognized, ever. And I’m sorry, what’s the second part of your question? I got too excited.

Which other characters of yours might make good drag material?

Stephanie has a real Sandy-in-Grease vibe, where she doesn’t become the bad girl, exactly, but she loosens up and shakes it off a little bit. But I do always still like Rizzo in Grease, who is more fun than Sandy, so I’m not sure that Stephanie is necessarily the one. She’d have to really just be letting her hair down.

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You’ve said you downplayed Fritzi’s sexuality when you filmed Camp.

The thing that made me uncomfortable about Fritzi was I was 16, but it wasn’t so much that she was gay – it was that unrequited gay love situation. I think if she’d been crushing it and getting girls, I would’ve been like, “Awesome, awesome, awesome!” It was just, at 16 you don’t want to be playing the girl that nobody likes, which I totally recognize as I get older is such a silly insecurity issue. But at the time I was definitely like, “Can’t somebody just have a crush on me in a movie – god!”

Would you have approached Fritzi differently in retrospect?

The truth is, I think I would have just enjoyed myself. Todd Graff is amazing, and I’m so lucky to have had him as my first film director. And he really got me to do everything that I think that I would’ve done as a more experienced actor, regardless, but I guess I regret that I didn’t enjoy myself more.

You recently won the Choice Twit award at this year’s Teen Choice Awards, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was your crowning tweet: “Lot of people seem really proud of themselves for announcing they ‘already knew’ Barry Manilow was gay. Yeah……ur the true heroes today guys.”

When a public figure comes out, taking the attitude of like, “Duh, we knew,” is the weirdest thing to me. Even when celebrities announce that they’re pregnant, people aren’t like, “Duh, we could tell three months ago.” They’re like, “Aww, she’s finally ready to talk about the fact that she’s pregnant! That’s amazing!”

And you would think that your sexuality would just be really supported (because) they feel comfortable talking about it now. It’s a really weird topic to feel a sense of superiority that you figured it out first.

So much of what you do is just a bit gay. Was that the case for your role as Santa Claus’s daughter in the forthcoming Noelle?

Again, I would say Noelle has a touch of camp, so hopefully that will be enjoyable. It’s been so long and I haven’t even seen a cut of it, so I’m like, “What did we make?” Oh, but they did make a point to have same-sex couples wherever we went, whether we were at the North Pole or outside the North Pole.

Getting back to A Simple Favor: Where do you think Stephanie and Emily fall on the Kinsey Scale?

That’s a good question. I think Emily is a surprise for Stephanie, and she is completely in love with her in a way that she can’t totally understand. I do think that Stephanie probably would define herself as straight, except that there is this woman and she really is kind of in love with her and there is a part of her that is attracted to her.

That scene: I remember Blake and I both feeling like neither of us wanted to be the aggressor in the scene. Blake was worried that she would come off as taking advantage of me in that scene because I’m in a very vulnerable place, and I was worried that I would come off like I wanted so much more, and that Blake is just kind of playing and Emily is very comfortable with the fluid aspects of her sexuality, whereas Stephanie has more of an emotional component to it. So, I was worried it would be, like, really sad. We definitely struggled to find that perfect balance of, there’s just this moment and they both get caught up in it and it’s a little uncomfortable. Yeah, it was a fun day.

You’ve been open about your girl crushes over the years. Have you ever had a girl crush that was or could have been romantic?

Let me think about that. I definitely – there’s somebody I’m still friends with, and when we met we kissed. This was after high school, and it was the first time I had kissed a girl where it wasn’t just like, we’re at a party and boys are watching! That horrible performance silliness. But I think I haven’t had that emotional love for a lady, which isn’t saying it could never happen to me, but I think I’m more of an Emily than a Stephanie.

And your lip-lock with your longtime girl crush Blake Lively in this movie – thoughts?

(Laughs) I mean, all I’m ever thinking about in (kissing) scenes is, who has gum? Who has a mint? And I think Blake is probably the same because I’ve never experienced a guy, like, searching for a mint and searching for gum. So, we were the mintiest, freshest two people to have ever kissed in the history of America.

Congratulations!

Thank you. Call Guinness.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/09/06/anna-kendrick-talks-fluid-sexuality-kissing-blake-lively/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/177802820955

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