#the wise kids

[bengiyo]

If you had to pick one film that was your favorite from each unit of your Queer Cinema Syllabus, which ones would they be and why?

The Queer Cinema Syllabus grew out of a conversation that @shortpplfedup and I were having about what queer works I would show to a prospective BL fan, which eventually led to the creation of @the-conversation-pod. Captain Hands here has decided to run the gauntlet and has reached Unit 2.

Unit 1: Coming of Age Post-Moonlight

It's definitely Pariah (2011). This movie and Moonlight (2016) are having a complex conversation about Blackness and Queerness that feels so resonant to me. It's so rare that we see lesbians of any sort treated with this much complexity and sympathy in a contemporary setting. The complex web of lesbian interactions here isn't matched that often, and the only other movie that comes to mind it The Watermelon Woman (1996).

Unit 2: Race, Disability, and Class

Probably The Way He Looks (2014) because it's an easy layup to introduce folks to the genre. The intersection between Leo's blindness and his queerness gives the newer person multiple things to think about and forces them to consider how queer people are more than just their queerness. I also feel warmly about this film because it was a project we followed all the way from short film to movie, and I love that we were able to get the entire cast back.

Unit 3: Faith and Religion

You haven't gotten here, but this is where things start to get especially heavy. I think for this section I'm going with The Wise Kids (2011) because I really like the way Stephen Cone approaches the struggle with faith queer and non-queer people have in evangelical spaces. There's an honesty that I really admire. This is not an easy film, but it's lingered with me for over a decade.

Unit 4: Heartbreak Alley

This is the section of straight losses. I don't know that I ever want to watch it again, but I would probably select Bent (1997) as my favorite because the idea that we could still love even in the greatest of horrors spoke to me. I also think the performances in this adaptation are phenomenal.

Unit 5: Lesbians

I think we just passed Lesbian Visibility Day, so happy birthday, lesbians! This is actually a difficult selection because there are so many great films in this section. I think, today, I'm giving it to The Handmaiden (2016), but I almost chose Bound (1996).

Unit 6: Gems

I don't even need to look to know Big Eden (2000) is in this section. This section whips ass all around, but Big Eden is my favorite because there's just so much love all over this movie, and every new fact I learn about the BTS of it makes me love it more. Arye Gross and Eric Shweig did not have to go as hard as they did in this movie. The director left that choice to them a veteran actors and they did that 23 years ago. Nothing but admiration and respect. This is one of my most beloved films.

Unit 7: Asian Film Warm-up

This is a difficult selection because I think it depends on my mood, but for now, I'll go with The Stranger by the Shore (2020). This is a very Japanese take on second-chance romance. I like the way Japan approaches the quiet internalized homophobia that grips us. Some of the same things in Minato's Laundromat can be found here. It's also gorgeous and approaches sex in a frank way that I really loved.

Unit 8: Yaoi

Once again I don't even need to look to know that it's Yuri!!! On Ice (2016). This show is so goddamn gay. I know people feel like it was censored because of the kiss, but these two proposed to each other. It's what sports anime wishes it could be with the open queerness on display from so many characters. It's beautiful and so much fun.

Unit 9: Boys Love

I will not be selecting a favorite BL, but I will say that I really love The Boy Foretold by the Stars (2020) and it's a movie. I loved that we had a femme lead for once and that they explored what faith meant for femmes. It's a film that took the romantic lead's gay awakening very seriously and explored what being together might look like in a sequel called Love Beneath the Stars.

I'm looking forward to you completing the syllabus!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those who are not aware, I have decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s Queer Cinema Syllabus and have officially started Unit 3: Faith and Religion. The films in Unit 3 are: But I’m a Cheerleader (2000), Prayers for Bobby (2009), Latter Days (2003), Blackbird (2014), The Wise Kids (2011), Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015)

Today I will be writing about

The Wise Kids (2011) dir. Stephen Cone

[Run Time: 1:35, Available on: Amazon Prime, Lang: English] 

Summary: “A vivid, dynamic Southern coming-of-age drama, takes place in the transitional space between high school and college, when life seems to be all questions and no answers, and the future is scarily wide open. Set in and around a Charleston, SC Baptist church, weaving through this ensemble piece are three main characters - Brea, an introspective pastor's daughter experiencing debilitating doubt, the hyperactive Laura, Brea's best friend and a devout believer, and Tim, the open-hearted son of a single father, confronting his homosexuality for the first time. Tensions and buried feelings abound, as colleges are chosen and adults behave badly, as Brea, Laura and Tim attempt to hang onto what they have, all the while yearning to break free.” (from IMDB)

Cast: *Molly Kunz as Brea *Eric Hulsebos as Ryan *Tyler Ross as Tim

__

Cast: *Molly Kunz as Brea *Eric Hulsebos as Ryan *Tyler Ross as Tim

This film does feel very Southern, from the outfits, to the South Carolina state flag sticker on the back of the car, to the way everybody interacts with each other. And that was nice, because it felt familiar. I did not grow up religious, but I did grow up culturally Southern and spent a large portion of my life in small towns in the South. Which means, going in to this film, I understood not fundamentally and completely, but to some extent the pressures that come from being raised in a small Southern town when you don't fit the mold. I remember talking with family about that, about the way they felt they had to believe in Jesus or say they did and act in certain ways in order to survive their towns. 

So I sympathize with Brea’s struggle to come to terms with her own relationship to God. That it gets harder and harder for her to hide her own doubt, and that she is the one person who really remains consistent, non-judgemental friends with Tim, and seems to be the first person that he went to when he realized he might be gay. And I loved all the subtle acting choices that the kids did to show who had knowledge about other characters and who didn’t. 

I think Laura needs a therapist and is concerningly obsessed with God, but I did really love and find it interesting how worried she was that anyone would think she was stupid. And I thought that was intriguing in juxtaposition to the pastor’s wife who Brea talks to about doubt, and who ultimately tells Brea not to think too hard about faith. I don’t think we get any explicit commentary from Laura about it, but I think she is toeing the same line Brea did. Laura sees the Bible as fact, and panics when people start to question those facts, Brea started to question and it lead her away from God. I think Laura is scared of where she’d land if she started questioning the foundation upon which her entire life has been built. 

And Tim is really interesting to me because I never really see him struggle with faith. Which is a fascinating choice for a film that covers some intersections of queerness and religion. At the end of the day, it is Laura who struggles the most out of all characters with Tim’s queerness. It is Laura that has a hard time reconciling what the Bible says with how comfortable Tim is both thinking he is gay, and remaining a Christian. I loved that Tim’s dad seemed to know for at least some time that Tim was queer, and while awkward is generally accepting. I guess I was surprised at how little film really seemed to go in to Tim’s own thoughts and feelings around rejection by friends and family. And that it is the adult gay man that really seems to be struggling more with reconciling his own faith and current life with the queerness he is not really able to hide. 

I think The Wise Kids did a really great job at showing a so many different types of people and their beliefs. I thought it was very realistic and relevant that Tim and Brea, the gay boy and the doubter, end up going to college in New York and getting out of the small town, super religious, Southern community structure that I think would eat them alive overtime if they stayed. 

And I did really love the last shot of the film being a recreation of the manger scene as the kids put on the Nativity play, where Laura is Mary is Tim is an angel. I see as a very strong and intentional metaphor around Laura continuing to uphold the traditional views of religion and God. But that Tim, though he is queer, will still be permitted in to heaven, as he sits above the manger. 

For/By/About 

This feels like a by and about film. I don’t know that they really center queerness in this story to the degree that I would consider it for queer people.

Favorite Moment 

Tim’s dad asking him if he had met any boys in New York. I love how awkward the whole conversation is and how Tim’s dad does appear to be in a bit over his head and slightly uncomfortable with asking. Like, he can’t really even say boys or boyfriend or anything, but he loves his kids (“I have my kids” is another one of my favorite lines in the film) and he’s being as supportive as he can be. I can imagine what Tim’s life will be like in a few years, if he gets a boyfriend and brings him home to meet the family, and I see things maybe being awkward at first, but ending with warmth and that Southern hospitality. 

Favorite Quote 

Is actually not a quote at all, it is the deafening silence of Brea in response to Austin’s wife saying that God is bigger than her questions. That silence spoke volumes to Brea’s reaction to essentially being told that the solution to her crisis of faith was to stop thinking about it. 

Score

8/10

I don’t know exactly why, but this film really struggled to hold my attention. I think part of it is because it was focused on three separate kids, they ended up doing a little bit of everything rather than a lotta bit of one thing, and I have a tendency to prefer stories that are able to dig a little deeper.

[hinamie]

I'll give them shelter like you've done for me

[zenless-zone-archive]

Sticker Set 2: Zenless Zone Zero Ridu Stroll (part two, final)

[mantits24-07-24]

I mean let me ask the audience

[lackadaisycal-art]

as you wish

[ningadudexx]

the brotherhood….. more like the BOTHERhood………sigh…… i miss you azure….

[reshinless]

May I request headcanons for ZZZ Billy, Wise, and Lycaon reacting to his shy gn s/o asking to kiss his cheek please?

──── if the sky was pink and white..

𝜗𝜚 synopsis. and what if i kissed your cheek? what then?

𝜗𝜚 pairings. billy, wise, & lycaon x gn!reader, implied relationship

𝜗𝜚 director's notice. hi nonnie!! and of course. happy reading! follow & rb for more! ( ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ )

i. ꒰ wise ꒱ ‧₊˚

definitely stunned

he knows you both are in a relationship and stuff but if he'll be honest.. he has never kissed any person, let alone on the cheek!

now he was receiving one from someone as nice and sweet as you are.

oh and the sweet little smile on your face.. weren't you just the cutest?!

"are you sure? don't feel like you have to force yourself sweetheart" /ᐠ - ˕ -マ "mhm, i mean it. so would you let me?" ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )

gladly lets you

is so happy about it, like a puppy about to get its treat

and after he does and definitely gives it right back, cupping your cheek while he does.

ii. ꒰ lycaon ꒱ ‧₊˚

same reaction but quickly composes himself

you were asking with a sweet little smile on your face. gosh could you get any more attractive?

he knows how shy you were, and now you're asking to kiss him?

before you kiss him though he will do a bit of face care before you do. he won't tell you though!

okay now when you do kiss him his fur is so soft.

"can i... kiss you on the cheek?" ( 〃．．) "of course, dear. only if you'd like. oh but do give me a few minutes to prepare." (੭ˊᵕˋ)੭

but if you know lycaon well, a kiss or two isn't enough for him.

he'll obviously stop if you want to, but if you do like it..

it's as if he chases you honestly, so breathless after but so in love with the thought that you asked if he was okay with you kissing him <3

iii. ꒰ billy ꒱ ‧₊˚

ohohohoh!??!

okay he won't tease you so much.. but he will comment on how cute you are for asking such.

"babe! you don't have to ask to have a taste of this!" ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝ "i meant on your cheek but okay." ໒꒰ྀི⸝⸝- -⸝⸝꒱ྀི১

he's so honestly happy you asked, even when you know he won't feel it.

he definitely wishes he did.

so when you do he's always over the moon, always falls in love a little more.

and he's so big on physical touch, even when he can't feel it, he knows that you meant it. even the little kiss you gave him just now.

no matter how quick of a peck it was, a kiss from you, a hug from you, your touch in general has him swoon.

pls love him forever ty >_<

[mysticmonkiebusiness]

Happy 5th Anniversary!

[appo777yon]

new update

[flambo19]

💤 Eepy Game Doodles 💤

[lezzzstargirl]

Bangboo on the Road: Event Wallpapers

[salmonlyster]

someone make up a good ship name for these two while i go crazy

[zenzonezero]

wallpapers from "a sandwich scented dream"

hoyolab | google drive

[zenless-zone-archive]

White day & Valentines day ♡

[tottentz]

SOMEONE TO YOU ── zenless zone zero, sfw ౨ৎ⠀⠀or little things you do that make them fall in love again ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ gender neutral reader⠀/⠀ft. billy kid, nicole, anby, wise, belle, von lycaon, zhu yuan. ♡ˎˊ˗

— VON LYCAON ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you fix his clothes. it's nothing, really, you say, adjusting a crooked collar or smoothing a wrinkle. but to lycaon, who wrenches your hips flush to his own when you attempt to break away, it's as if you're unlocking a secret part of his world. the slight, almost imperceptible smile that graces his lips speaks volumes, and if you notice the wagging of his tail or his ears twiching, you never bring it up, instead, you giggle and remind him to be careful—lycaon knows it's not just about the clothes, as he yearns for an affinity but is terrified of the eternal menaces that endanger you and himself alike, but for now, lycaon can get used to the way you treat him as though he is the center of your universe simpers when he deliberately separates from your embrace by prying away and halting the intimate dance formerly initiated. 

— ANBY ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you watch movies with her. anby just adores those quiet evenings when you and she are nestled together, lost in the glow of a flickering screen. it doesn't matter if you understand the movie, or if it is not your favorite genre, she thrives on the way your eyes light up in the dark, a mirror to her own fascination, and in the same way, you always listen to everything she has to say about the film. anby does not know how to physically express her emotions, but she makes it up by pressing your head to her and feel what you often feel with you: safe, soothed — at home. the effect she has on you, it makes you think that maybe everything will be alright. and if you fall asleep, she smooth her palms up and down your sides. she's soothing you, even like this. does she even realize it, you wonder, is it just second nature for her? you don't need an answer right now.

— BILLY KID ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you praise him. he swears his abdomen houses clutters of butterflies who dance to the tempo of his non-existent palpitating heart, and his cranium is a ground of play for rampant imagery whenever he hears your voice. he revels in the way you celebrate his victories, no matter how small, and how you tease him with an affectionate grin after every misstep. your belief in him, wrapped in your energetic spirit, lights up his world with a spark that fuels his every move. and there's also you. his person. and he loves, and loves, and loves so endlessly you'd think he would give you the world and everything in the sky, if he could. and if he feels too embarrassed, he would gasp as if stumbling upon treasure before he clumsily grips at your shoulders with a child's enthusiasm. billy is sure to divulge his honest opinion. you, to him, were his one in a million.

— NICOLE ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you hold her. she will never admit it, but nicole finds a serene joy in the gentle, reassuring touch of your hands. it could be any part of her body, from the way you keep your hands warm for nicole when it's cold outside and come up behind her and rubs them up and down her arms. she can do it herself, obviously, but you don't stop, whether it's a supportive grip during a comission or a delicate caress in passing, you know it brings a soothing sense of closeness that she treasures. in private, however, she's so ironically fragile. you could hold her in the palm of your hand, present his broken pieces to the world and they'd still choose to be fooled. the leader of the odd-job agency the cunnin hares will never admit the times she falls asleep like that, cradled against you, soft in your arms.your touch is like a quiet promise that reassures her and makes her heart flutter with contentment, 

— WISE ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you lull him to sleep. when insomnia weaves its restless threads around him, it's your voice that becomes his sanctuary. you don't care if you have to be up at 4am. if you stir awake at an odd hour and finds him still up and restless, you'll always be wrapping around him before he can get a word out,a and it doesn't matter if he is working on the computer or watching the tv, you'll drag him back to bed so you'll press him snug to your warm chest as you hum in that soft, gravely tune that always helps him fall asleep. and in the morning, he is grateful to be woken up by you snoring next to him, and wise breaks into a smile at the sight, eyes baring crow's feet as his fingers rouse through your knotted locks, thumb prodding into your temple and stroking soothing lengths into the dimpled flesh. your presence becomes his most cherished remedy.

— BELLE ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you play fighting games with her. she always wins, anyway, but you know the way belle’s eyes sparkle with a fierce joy when you join her in the world of fighting games is worth the try. if only you knew she consistently were to be reduced to putty in your hands, an object to be used for your disposal, belle would allow such. to remain within contact for a second more, she’d do whatever it took. desire which set her heart aflame affirmed her certainty when deciding his aim for the future. she would remain by your side, sure to treasure everlasting memories crafted within your presence. she still hands out pieces of herself like there's enough to go around (there isn't). and when she lose( on purpose ), she since convinced herself that she has already won. content with the belief he had already acquired millions with you.

— ZHU YUAN ꩜.ᐟ ˗ˏˋwho loves when you buy flowers for her. zhu yuan's heart flutters with a delicate joy whenever you present her with flowers, their vibrant colors a testament to your affection. she once mentioned how much she likes keeping fresh flowers, but since she is busy she would not have time to take care of them; and now the house never seems to run out of them, the vases always full with fresh sugar water and kept - you tend them for her. blemishes blind to her eye, she discerned only visage of an appeal, your charm far too bewitching to discourage her nursing of attraction towards you. she adores not just the flowers themselves, but the care you take in nurturing them, reflecting the same tenderness you offer her. regardless of how you had been perceived by peers or what grade you had been given, the way she viewed you was like no other.

. ࣪✦ ៸៸ tottentz ▐ © 2024 ､ ? 𓄹 ܵ ۪