#then there should not be any unrecognizably human women in media

[francesderwent]

“The funny thing was, I still acknowledged the connection that Lockwood and I had made, the previous night, as we ran together side by side, and the rest of the world molded itself around us. It had been real, I didn’t doubt it. But what I did doubt was Lockwood’s ability to sustain that connection in any meaningful way.”

[niuniente]

Hello Niu! I have a question. On tumblr and AO3 I see a lot of girls (probably) writing yaoi/slash fiction and do similar art. Much less amount is devoted to heterosexual relationship and least of all - to lesbians and bi. I know it’s just from fandoms I’m in but it’s statistics. Moreover, the amount of OCs involved in creations is very rare. Why? We, as women demand for more female leads and characters but we ourselves fail to create ‘em and direct our attention in mlm relationships instead

I must say that I’m not VERY deep in fanfic scenes anymore. I haven’t actively read fanfics in a decade, and I picked up just last December and now there’s only 1 fic and 1 other author I follow. 

What I can think about for reasons why this is:

Glorification of gay stuff, mainly because media wont really giving as much backstory, characteristic, emphasis etc. to female characters as to male characters. Thus, it is easy to form gay ships, because you know the male characters better and are thus more emotionally invested with them. I just saw in Twitter a post stating that shonen manga is dedicated for men, but they usually fail to give any personality, backstory etc, for their female characters, which turns all shonen male relationships more or less homoerotic. We have lots of these unnoticed rules in life; like a mother is the one who looks after the kids while dad is - at best- just mom’s little helper. This makes fathers, who are dedicated to their children and family like they should be (after all, the child is also theirs), and single fathers almost holy. In reality, father is just the other parent and should not be dismissed not glorified as a parent.

Tumblr’s toxic mentality like bi-erasure and such spreading around, making young ones afraid to make mistakes and life the wrong way. I’m not unfortunately too deep into this either, but what I know, female bi-erasure seems to stem from “ALL MEN ARE BAD AND EVIL, YOU ARE EITHER ON OUR SIDE AS A LESBIAN OR YOU ARE AN ENEMY!!! YOU CAN’T LOVE MEN!!!”-toxic mentality.

WE HATE MEN, WE HATE HETERO!-mentality also causes so much horrible stuff like, I don’t get it??? What’s wrong with being hetero or bi? Absolutely nothing! There are horrible people and toxic masculinity is a thing, but for the love of God, there are wonderful men, too - and if you ask me, we need more positive masculine men representation in media. If we had more positive masculine men in media, maybe women felt more comfortable writing about hetero and be-stuff? Question mark there as I don’t know if that would be the case. Would I mind to see more positive masculine representations like Batman, Sláine and Ken Kitano? Men who respect women, life, protect weak and play with fair rules with everyone?  Men who use whatever they have for the benefit of others and the community? Men who are soft and gentle without those natural human traits dimming their manliness? Absolutely not!

I don’t know why lesbian fics aren’t the thing. Perhaps it is a) the lack of female character’s backstories etc. over male characters and b) lack of readers?? IDK really.

Mary Sues have been grimaced over as long as I have been in the different fandoms. Which is, frankly, absolutely ridiculous. When people are afraid to self-insert and create OCs, they bend their favorite characters into their own representation. That leads to absolutely unnecessary fandom wars and also OOC fics, where the character X is almost unrecognizable because it is just the authors OC/self representation in disguise. There have been many fics I have not been able to read because the character or characters were so much of author’s self-insert of themselves and I couldn’t connect with them. With OCs, it would have been a different story, literally and figuratively. (is that wrong to bend characters into self-insert? No. Can people write however they want? Yes. Can people “own” the characters as “This is like me so don’t disagree with what they do or be because then you are attacking me personally!”. No. Like, find representation, yes, but remember that character X is not you or yours. Only your OCs are yours and you have power to tell others what you want with them or not.)

Because OCs are very personal and readers have no emotional connection to them, many skip OC fics because of this. It’s a shame and doesn’t really encourage anyone to write, as writers need audience and feedback. OC fics can be as entertaining as canon fics. There’s still one Soul Calibur OC fic I read in 2003 and I still remember it with fondness because it was adorable. 

Then there’s the whole fandom police movement, which is just one way to control (young) women. Show your middle finger and ass for them and write whatever you want! 

My few cents here. 

My best advice is; make the content YOU want to see.  You never know if it encourages others to do the same.

[fishfishigotmywish]

Since 2019 is quickly turning into a dumpster fire, here’s a directionless rant I found in my hw from 2017:

It’s not that we’re depressed. That’s the first mistake people make. Sure, being incredibly sad or alone or empty is a factor, but it’s not why. At least it is for me.

It’s because we have no control. Not over clothes or friends, or even their lives. We do it because we crave control. Over something, anything. We’re desperate to find something to ground us.

Society has put us into neat little boxes all in a row. Jocks: who must be meathead assholes. Nerds: who must be friendless and unattractive. Popular girls: who must be total bitches. And heaven forbid if someone toes the line and tries to branch outside their box. This isn’t some malicious plot to oppress the American teen. It’s something so much worse than that.

These labels have been spoon-fed to us our whole lives until we cannot expect any different. Until loving ourselves becomes “brave” instead of just human. Magazines disfigure and contort women into unrecognizable statues and call it natural beauty, when there’s nothing natural about photoshop. But women, we don’t see it. We just see a deadline. I must be this weight by this age or I’ll never be considered beautiful. I must have a certain boob size or body type or I’ll die alone. And the worst part is, most of the time we can’t hear how stupid it all sounds. Basing opinions of ourselves off of what a two demensuonal glossy magazine says is the shallowest thing I’ve ever heard.

And the pressure we feel to have a boyfriend/husband/fuck boy - it’s suffocating. That fact that I’m single or in a relationship shouldn’t dictate my happiness. I’m sick and tired of seeing others and myself try so hard to cram ourselves into the size zero silhouette society has formed for us that we lose something that made us unique and special. All for the sake of wanting to belong.

We begin to hate the things about ourselves that make us different. A mole we once thought was beautiful becomes ugly. A cute set of dimples we once thought were endearing becomes childish. Why do we start to hate these things? Because someone created what “beauty” was and it didn’t look like you. News flash - everyone is different. Letting someone tell you that you’re ugly is like letting them tell you that your favorite movie or book is stupid. It’s just their opinion and you’d be quick to defend your choice of media - so why does that all go away when we’re called stupid, fat, or ugly. WHY DO WE CARE?

Belonging. We all want to belong - we want it so badly we alter our bodies to achieve it. We follow every fad like it’s a decree from God. We starve ourselves, abuse ourselves emontionalky and physically, we hate ourselves just to feel like we belong. But what is belonging really? Do we really belong when we become someone else? Why should we let one person’s opinion dictate who we are? Because it’s different and being different is wrong. Having an opinion is wrong. Showing emotion is wrong. Being confident is wrong. Then what the hell is right?

It’s not because we depressed. It’s because we’re all repressed from having any sense of control, of belonging, of anything.

You wanna know the worst part? Nobody notices. Nobody notices that everyone around them is drowning because it’s happening to them too. Even the most popular girl in school is petrified of standing out too much. Even someone surrounded by friends can feel alone. Nobody cares because they’re afraid of the truth. They’re afraid of the fact that everyone is slowly getting filed into those neat little boxes all in a row. And if they do notice? They’ll be horrified for a time, but slowly it’ll fade from their minds to be replaced by diets, work outs, and the latest fashion trends. It’s what this generation has been bred to do - only noticed the differences, never the similarities.

Never see that we both have brown eyes - only that she’s skinny and I’m not.

Who defined skinny? Why is it that being a size 6 in jeans makes me feel fat? Why is it that humans tear each other down when we’re the only other beings on this whole beautiful planet that can truly understand? Why are words so powerful?

Ugly. Fat. Stupid. They’re just words. They have no true definition - only what someone makes them to be. But these words care silent killers. These words have been hammered into our brains as horrible terms we must never be definite as since infancy. And soon we accept them as who we are once the terrible moniker befalls us. Why do we do this? Nobody gains anything. Not the person who said them. Not the person who accepted them. Why do we tear each other down for things that are out of our control? Why do we judge and condemn so quickly? When did this become an acceptable thing to do?

Why do I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle?

[hopeshauntedmyghosts]

I loved Devilman Crybaby because nothing was the way I expected

I’m not sorry for my obsession with Devilman Crybaby lately.

I tried to write down my thoughts about why I liked it so much :) Just to get it out of my head since it’s so hard to describe in person, and also since I’m reblogging so many cute and silly things that I thought I’d try to put a little more depth into it. Maybe people will agree, maybe not, maybe some others have said similar things already; but I want to express this with my own words. Naturally, spoilers for the entirety of the series. Also I guess people that really, really hate Ryokira should not read (I want to say I stayed neutral and treated it as a matter of fact, but I don’t want to ruin anyone’s day if they think I failed at doing so). Also also, I haven’t seen/read any other adaption of the Devilman franchise except for one OVA.

 Before I continue I want to say that I think there’s a massive difference in how you experience the story whether you watch for the first or any other time – yeah obviously, since it’s full of plottwists so that’s a given, but I think that these are special in Devilman Crybaby, since they don’t only create tension, but instead change the series entirely. So, to get everyone on the same term, I will first re-tell the story the way I now experience it after having watched it for god knows how many times already - namely, from Ryo/Satan’s point of view:

 Satan plans to destroy God and humanity so that his kind, the demons, can finally live there in peace. He’s reborn as Ryo, gets to know Akira, and falls in love. Years later, when he’s got the authorities to make a difference in society (a famous scientist that people trust and is broadcasted regularly), so he knows his plan could finally succeed, that’s when and why he tricks Akira into becoming a demon – so he’ll live with him, both as demons, in the demon-only world he wants to create. So Akira becomes this half-demon, however, stays loyal to his human side; wants to protect mankind, loves his families and Miki, wants to unite the other half-demons etc. So Ryo (unaware) tries to separate him from the humans by taking things away from him step by step – first his biological parents, then his caretakers, then everyone’s trust (by revealing his identity on TV), and finally Miki; just so that Akira loses his ties to the human side and has no choice but to embrace his demon one. Of course Akira doesn’t accept this, and even then, Satan refuses to fight him, to hurt him; but in the heat of the battle, out of both self-defense and some kind of blood lust, he kills Akira – not realizing it at first, that’s when he confesses his love, and only then realizes he killed the only person he ever loved, that ever loved (cared about) him, and now has to live with that fact for eternity, and his regret is the message he and the viewer learned.

 What fascinates me about this story, and you can already guess by the way I wrote it (making Ryo/Satan the subject): All this time throughout this series, you think you’re watching Akira’s story, about how he became this antihero and has to fight injustice done to him by someone he trusted. But the entire time, it’s Ryo’s story instead, about how his love turned into hatred and made him lose everything in the end. He has this goal, to destroy humanity, set long before the series begins, and his motivation, to turn Akira into a demon, is what gets the plot running. Everything that happens to Akira in the meantime (losing everyone he cares about) doesn’t actually matter for the story. Plot, yeah, of course; otherwise the series would be two episodes long and not have the same psychological/emotional effect. But that’s not the story; that’s not how it started, and that’s not how it ends. And this is completely unrecognizable from watching the series for the first time.

Same for the relationship of Akira and Ryo; you get that Ryo is the antagonist from the very beginning (trying to shoot innocent people, lying to Akira about his intentions at the Sabbath party), so what is his goal behind trying to get close to the protagonist? Even someone like me, who likes a lot of gay* romance in media, totally thought he was using him for something. Trying to make Akira trust only him; obviously to have the naïve boy become his marionette and help him achieve his goal, right? That’s how stories in this heteronormative world of ours work, right?? Nah dude, not here: it’s simply because he wants just that, out of actual romantic feelings. His tender physical intimacy with Akira, or his helping/protecting him whilst fighting demons, is no cunning strategy, but -in those moments at least- as genuine, innocent and loving as it looks. It’s the same: you get tricked into believing it’s Akira’s story about being used by Ryo (for the plot), when instead it’s Ryo’s story about his romantic obsession with Akira – the motivation behind all events, unspoken until the last episode.

While you’re undoubtedly watching from Akira’s point of view, him being the typical shounen/seinen protagonist, silly but sincere, eating meat like a beast, fucking/wanting all these women (relatable/idealistic character for these viewer groups), contrast-character Ryo has this omnipresence over the series, since he’s all that: the one that starts the story, the one that ends it, the one whose character development leads the way. But by watching for the first time, you don’t know that he does ANY of that, and that’s how they use Akira’s POV as an insanely clever method of tricking you into believing the story is going an entirely different path, which leads to the big shocker at the end, and an entirely different atmosphere when watching for the second or third time.

 So…?

I know Crybaby put more focus on Ryo than many (or all?) of the other Devilman adaptions including the original manga, but this is still technically the original story. From. The. 70s!!! Never in my life have I seen such a complex way of storytelling from that many years ago, and with gay romance** no less – in Japan, in the 70’s, from a male author; practically a death wish!

Now notice how I’ve said “with” gay romance instead of “about” – since Crybaby is a story about said romance, as I’ve explained, while other adaptions probably aren’t; I know in some Ryo doesn’t even exist, so I’m aware Crybaby is an entirely different take on this story from the 70’s, for some maybe a whole different story altogether. But I personally still see it as the idea being there in the original manga (where Satan admits to loving Akira as well), and Crybaby decided to focus on it in an original way, and that’s what makes it different and unique. Akira and Ryo’s relationship alone has a start, middle, climax, and ending; it’s bittersweet yet haunting. If the idea of all this was incredible for the 70s, Crybaby still managed to make it incredible even for 2018.

*Keep in mind that here I’m talking about the first time watching, when you can’t know about Satan yet and Ryo is very clearly presented as male. I’m aware about the problem with Satan’s gender, being a hermaphrodite and all, and I have an opinion it, but it’s not what I mean here.

**Satan is a hermaphrodite, “he” does not have a gender, doesn’t need one, obviously doesn’t care. But Ryo is clearly presented as male, in any adaption he’s in and including Crybaby, where he canonically falls in love with Akira as Ryo, in his human form. It’s gay in my book, and I doubt the story, being from that time at that place, would have risked showing a *potential* gay love if that wasn’t even intended in the first place.

  Please do keep in mind this is simply my opinion tho, :) I’m sorry if I offended anyone with anything I said. I’m not saying that nothing else in Crybaby besides Akira’s and Ryo’s relationship was good. This is simply where I see the story at. I bawled my eyes out at Miki² or the rapper boys, but as much as I love them too, I interpret them as (great!) plot-elements that help develop the bigger picture of the story – making Akira distrust Ryo as backfire to the plan the latter had laid out for them.

 Finally, and unrelated, but isn’t it amazing how in Devilman no Uta, which is the opening on a kids-targeted take on the franchise in which Ryo doesn’t exist (?), there exists the line

The man awoken by the kindness of the first human love he knew

Which is 100% Ryo’s story in Crybaby?? Makes this shit even more haunting than it was before. I fucking love this show.

[inlinenewsstory]

https://ift.tt/2rz7AGp post was originally published on this site

Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; Getty Images; ABC

Writers who worked on the original Roseanne series say they’re struggling to reconcile the brash and bold character they spent years writing for with the new conservative, Trump-loving iteration.

“A lot of people involved in the show were surprised when she turned right-wing and supported Trump because that was just not the person or her character that we had known,” said TV writer Stan Zimmerman, who worked on Roseanne for two seasons.

Across nine seasons between 1988 and 1997, these writers worked to put words in the mouth of actor Roseanne Barr, supplying her with both zingers and warmth through their deep understanding of the titular character.

But four writers who spoke to BuzzFeed News said the 2018 version of the character Roseanne Conner — an avowed Trump supporter who fought with her pussyhat–wearing sister and is prejudiced against her Muslim neighbors — is unrecognizable to them.

“I don’t recognize that character,” said one writer, who asked to remain anonymous because they still work in the industry and feared professional repercussions. “I believe the original character would’ve said, ‘Who cares [about having Muslim neighbors]?’ And now she’s saying she does care.”

“I don’t think that Roseanne Conner would’ve voted for Donald Trump,” said Miriam Trogdon, who worked on the show for two seasons. “I don’t think that she would’ve, but apparently she did.”

“I don’t think that Roseanne Conner would’ve voted for Donald Trump.”

Having worked on the original series and become attuned to characters like Dan (John Goodman), Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), Darlene (Sara Gilbert), Becky (Alicia Goranson), D.J. (Michael Fishman), and, of course, Roseanne, the writers said some details in the Roseanne revival don’t make a lot of sense to them.

“The pilot was overtly political and the old show was not that way,” said Trogdon, who worked on the show for two seasons.

Trogdon said the main character’s justification for voting for Trump because he “talked about jobs” did seem like something Conner might have been drawn to. “But the original Roseanne, I think, would have been more upset at his attitude toward women and his misogyny,” Trogdon said. “I think that the original Roseanne would’ve questioned how a super-rich guy like this would have any sense of what a lower-middle-class family like the Conners were going through. She would at least question it, but they don’t dwell on that. They picked an aspect of what Trump was saying that would fit into the original Roseanne character.”

“I think that the original Roseanne would’ve questioned how a super-rich guy like this would have any sense of what a lower-middle-class family like the Conners were going through.”

Zimmerman, too, said he believed the character’s new politics have been brushed over.

“I read an article in the New York Times talking to Roseanne,” said Zimmerman, “and when they brought up, ‘Oh, but Roseanne Conner would be so union and Trump is very non-union,’ she was like, ‘I don’t wanna talk about it.’ So things like that are worrisome because I want her character to stand up for the underdog, but for some reason she has bought into this Trumpian way of looking at things.”

A spokesperson for ABC, which airs the show, declined to comment for this story, but noted some original writers now work on the revival. Representatives for Barr did not respond to requests for comment.

Roseanne Barr and John Goodman in 1989.

Lynn Goldsmith / Getty Images

Zimmerman specifically pointed to two plot points in the original series that he said showed the character’s softer, liberal leanings: In “The Driver’s Seat” (Season 6, Episode 11), the show addressed how Roseanne was abused by her father growing up and she felt guilty about spanking D.J. because she wanted the break the cycle of abuse. But in the revival, Roseanne condones spanking as a form of punishment.

Additionally, in “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (Season 6, Episode 18) Roseanne visits a gay bar and is kissed by another woman, a rarity for 1990s network TV. “Roseanne was supposedly so liberal, socially anyway. And this really challenged her thoughts,” said Zimmerman.

A lot has changed about Barr since her show first aired. Most notably, the star has taken a sharp turn to the right. Not only has she been unapologetically outspoken about her support for President Trump and his policies, she has also been known to tweet radical conspiracy theories that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is a reptile and criminal, or that Hillary Clinton and other Democrat officials secretly operated a worldwide sex-trafficking and pedophilia ring. As recently as March 27, the same day the Roseanne revival premiered, Barr accused Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg of performing a Nazi salute in a since-deleted tweet.

Lois Bromfield, who worked on the show for four seasons, told BuzzFeed News she thought it was a hoax when she first heard about Barr’s recent politics. “It bothers me. There are times when I go, ‘What the fuck?’”

“I don’t know her that way. I know her as a really open, liberal person,” said Bromfield. “I don’t know what the deal is with [her current politics]. I don’t quite get it. I guess something changed in her life or maybe I just didn’t know her that well.”

“Roseanne is a really big supporter of women and human rights and animal rights,” Bromfield said. “Roseanne is not a bigot, she’s not a backward person at all, so her liking Trump is just so odd. It comes out of left field.”

The anonymous writer said Barr was “allowed to like Trump” but described her as “a conspiracy theorist in the Alex Jones tradition.”

The writer blasted ABC for giving the controversial Barr a show but refusing to air an episode of Black-ish that explored the topic of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.

“That was too political for them and then they’ve got Roseanne spewing her love of Donald Trump on the show, and the real Roseanne spewing conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and Pizzagate,” the writer said. “I don’t know why they’re giving this woman a platform.”

Roseanne Barr hugs her co-star Sara Gilbert during the 1997 series finale.

Chris Pizzello / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The former Roseanne writers said they worry Barr’s personal politics have now overshadowed those of her character’s, particularly as she became famous for playing a character named and modeled after her.

“It is sometimes hard to divorce Roseanne Barr from Roseanne Conner,” Zimmerman said.

Trogdon said she believes audiences should never be privy to an actor’s personal politics. “A character should be who the character is and not who the actor is in real life,” she said.

She said Barr is responsible for the politicization of her character.

“Who she is as a human being, I don’t think it should become an issue, but [Barr] makes it an issue by tweeting and standing out like that. That’s a choice on her part.”

“I would have difficulty if I were on the show,” Trogdon said. “I would wish that she wouldn’t tweet so that didn’t become something that was played into the show.”

In the lead-up to the revival’s premiere, the show’s marketing was Trump-heavy as media stories and reviews zeroed in on the “ambivalent Trump-era politics.”

This made the former Roseanne writers nervous about what had become of their beloved characters.

“I came in holding my breath thinking, What am I in store for?” Zimmerman said. “I was pleasantly surprised watching. The first episodes were so smart and witty.”

Trogdon also praised the new writers for capturing the tone and humor of the old seasons, but added she believes the show was better once it got politics “out of the way.”

“It reminds me of when you first get on Facebook and you think, I wonder whatever happened to so and so, and you look ’em up and find out they had two kids.”

“It reminds me of when you first get on Facebook and you think, I wonder whatever happened to so and so, and you look ’em up and find out they had two kids,” she said. “It’s like catching up with people you were really good friends with at one time, and that’s how this sort of feels to me.”

Bromfield said she, too, was hesitant to watch the revival because of Barr’s politics, but she also ended up enjoying the first few episodes of the sitcom.

“I really didn’t want to love it. I wanted to be pissed off because I know she supports Trump,” Bromfield said. “But I have to tell you, I just got suckered right in. It’s really good.”

But, Bromfield added, “I’m just watching it from an artistic point of view, and when something comes up on the show that’s really volatile and turns me off, then I guess I’ll get turned off.”

Roseanne meets her Muslim neighbors.

Adam Rose / ABC

The series has also been a huge hit with viewers, achieving monster ratings. Its March 27 premiere drew an astonishing 18.2 million viewers and the following episode, which aired consecutively, grew to 18.6 million. These were the highest ratings for any comedy on any network since September 2014. Only three days after Season 10 premiered, ABC renewed Roseanne for an 11th season.

“Look at her ratings! Look at her ratings!” President Trump told a rally in Ohio two days later. “They were unbelievable. Over 18 million people — and it was about us.”

Trump, who is known to obsess over ratings, personally called Barr to congratulate her. “It was about the most exciting thing ever, and it was just very sweet of him to congratulate us,” Barr told Good Morning America.

“I think in probably every household in America, this is probably what’s going on.”

Bromfield said the changing Conner family is perhaps simply reflective of a changing country, which is what might explain the show being such a hit.

“I think in probably every household in America, this is probably what’s going on,” Bromfield said of the political tensions in the Conner family. “There’s such conflict between Trump supporters and people who are not supporting him. I think it fits beautifully into the show.”

Zimmerman credited the show with having a “knack of touching a nerve with America.”

“There’s raw honesty in those characters and families and how they fight,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you knew they still loved each other.”

LINK: Here’s What Makes The “Roseanne” Reboot Work

LINK: The “Roseanne” Revival’s Shockingly High Ratings

[tragicbooks]

Not everything is terrible: 7 great things that happened this week.

<br>

It's been 21 days.

Twenty. One. Days.

And it would take another 21 days to recap everything horrific, unacceptable, and plainly un-American that has happened since Inauguration Day.

So, instead, consider this a safe space. Give yourself permission to take a break from being angry, and check out these seven pretty awesome news stories you might have missed this week.

I'm betting you could use 'em.

1. "Hidden Figures" became the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film of the year.

The cast of "Hidden Figures." Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

If you thought only chiseled white guys could be Hollywood moneymakers, think again.

"Hidden Figures," the incredible true story of three black women who made landmark contributions to NASA in the 1960s, was released in mid-December. So far, it's grossed over $119 million at the box office, edging out its fellow Best Picture nominees, including "La La Land."

Money talks in Hollywood, and the more proof we get that diversity in film is both the right thing to do and can be good business, the better.

2. People tried to body shame Lady Gaga after her Super Bowl performance, but even more people shut them down.

While Lady Gaga was busy wowing millions of people with her high-wire act, powerhouse vocals, and precision dance moves, a few surly folks were a little overly concerned with how her bare midriff looked.

Obnoxious comments on social media were easy to find. But Gaga fans, and most good humans in general, weren't having it.

Fit women are "too fit" Lady Gaga isn't "fit enough" Girls who don't work out "should work out" How about we just stop body shaming women?😡

— Chelsea Rose (@Chelsea__Rose) February 9, 2017

Gaga herself, of course, took the high road.

I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I'm proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do. I could give you a million reasons why you don't need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you. That's the stuff of champions. thank you so much everyone for supporting me. I love you guys. Xoxo, gaga

A photo posted by xoxo, Joanne (@ladygaga) on Feb 7, 2017 at 8:38pm PST

PSA: We can drown out the hate if we all speak up for what's right together.

3. "The Magic School Bus" is coming back.

Admit it, you always wished you could be in Ms. Frizzle's class as they shrunk down to explore the inner workings of the human body or blasted off on a deep space adventure.

Well, you still can't. But soon you can enjoy all new episodes of everyone's favorite after-school show!

And the absolute best part: The brilliant Kate McKinnon, of "Saturday Night Live" fame, will voice Ms. Frizzle in a Netflix reboot set to debut later this year.

Kate McKinnon. Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for AT&T.

This is my kind of good news.

4. Facebook just announced big changes to its family leave policy.

Do you live to work, or do you work to live? If you're like most people, there is at least one thing more important than the ol' 9 to 5: family.

So kudos to the people at Facebook who just announced some great, progressive changes to their leave policies. According to COO Sheryl Sandberg, the new policy will give employees dedicated and paid time off for grieving and caring for sick family members on top of the company's already pretty good parental leave.

There have been many times when I've been grateful to work at companies that supported families. When my son was born...

Posted by Sheryl Sandberg on Tuesday, February 7, 2017

It's great to see forward-thinking, people-first policies coming from some of our country's most influential companies.

5. A guy created an Amazon Dash button so he could easily donate $5 to the ACLU every time Donald Trump made him mad.

Hey, you know Dash buttons, right? They're the supposed shopping device of the future, making getting laundry detergent delivered to your home as easy as hitting a button above the washing machine. Or you could put a button in the mug cabinet that orders coffee the instant you run out.

Image by Alexander Klink/Wikimedia Commons.

Well, designer and programmer Nathan Pryor decided to take this concept to the next level and create a button he could smash every time he read a baffling tweet from President Donald Trump. Each time, it would donate $5 to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Unfortunately, this isn't an "official" thing, so not everyone can get one, but it is a great reminder to try to channel your frustration into something productive.

You can donate to the ACLU online right here, in fact.

6. Oh! And speaking of Trump, even Kanye West is turning on him now.

Kanye West and Donald Trump, former pals. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

There are few things as disgusting as entertainment industry schmoozing that won't quit, and Trump has certainly rubbed elbows with a lot of famous people. Many of his old golf buddies and party pals still refuse to denounce him. (Looking at you, Tom Brady.)

But we can finally scratch Kanye West off that list.

Yep, even Yeezy has had enough of Trump's shit. According to TMZ, Kanye has deleted every mention of Trump from his Twitter timeline and no longer supports the current president.

I know, I know. It's Kanye and who cares, right? But while watching the country slowly become unrecognizable largely in part because none of Trump's friends and allies will stand up to him, it's hard not to be excited about any sign of pushback.

7. A review board told Comcast to stop saying it has the fastest internet: a big win for objective facts.

How is Verizon winning a case against Comcast good news? I'll tell you.

Comcast has been claiming for a while to have the fastest internet in America. Verizon had data that suggested that simply wasn't true. So the National Advertising Review Board ruled Comcast had to stop making the false claim.

Someone lied, and there were actually consequences! In 2017, how is this not good news?

Take that, "alternative facts."

Now, if only the media would start covering terror attacks.

There's bound to be great news next week, too. You just have to look a little harder for it these days. But I promise you, it's worth it!

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