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whynotbtru · 9 days

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Maybe the lack of HL interaction is /the/ fan service. It's akin to watching a movie where you're sure the two lead actors love each other but they just wouldn't touch, or kiss, or admit their feelings, and you're hooked watching the movie until they do so. That may be how some fans interpret the whole "H & L hate each other" drama. And management must have somehow figured out they can convert the fans' clamor into profit or attention at least, because as your anon pointed out, Larries abound.

In spring 2012 I watched an interview in which the boys were asked who was single, and Harry didn’t raise his hand—at which point the other boys freaked (look at Zayn in particular), and then after answering a couple of questions Louis ended the interview by moving people along. This was also the start of Harry desexualizing questions about girls, surprising the interviewer by answering the question ‘how are the American women’ with ‘they are very polite’. At the same time Harry and Louis were acting very sexual on stage, but for the most part subtle, in the back, hard to notice if you don’t have a camera to produce footage for you to analyze. It was showing up all over youtube in fan-shot videos, but was always censored out of official dvds, and absolute, thunderous silence from the press. With the exception of this, leading to this public statement by Harry.

But what fans were seeing on stage was enough to get them worked up to a screaming fit that they were about to come out—and that was the week we entered our current world of closeting. Suddenly, the boys went on Much Music and did a non-denial denial of their relationship, Eleanor was brought out and fans saw them peck in public, to Harry’s visible discomfort, the boys did interviews in all possible combinations except H&L—and there was a sudden change in stage behavior. Suddenly Louis was stationed away from Harry, with a couch or other boys in between—although Harry and Louis generally interacted anyway—and the other boys suddenly started acting intimate together, and acting incredibly stiff and awkward about it. When Zayn or Niall tried to act that way with Louis, he glared at them or pushed them away. But everybody remembered the H&L interactions on stage and were very much looking forward to seeing them again when they went on tour a second time for TMH. What actually happened was that there were a few small interactions, especially Louis giving Harry loving looks from afar, but these eventually went away. And the interactions became less and less until we got to the point of zero. I could tell ahead of time that the motivation was to give fans no ‘larry moments’ at all, because that entire fall we witnessed them trying to shut it down, and that’s exactly what did happen. The strategies they used in the last month of UAN—separation of Harry and Louis, gay baiting from the other boys—was now instigated from the very beginning of the TMH tour, and more effectively.

The effect of all this on the fans was to frighten them into passivity, self-censorship, and great aggression against other fans to force censorship on them too. Fans became frightened to say what they really thought, for fear that the boys would hate them—print quotes from Louis said that he found larry fans ’fucking annoyance’ and they were ruining his life and relationships—other fans would hate them and they would become the target of a mass bullying campaign, and they would be personally responsible for 1D breaking up as a band. Fans were afraid that if they acknowledged what they were seeing, or if they acted happy about what they were seeing, then they would be responsible for the boys being punished and for the fans being punished. I had a very odd moment last year when an anon told me that they had grown up under a dictatorship in South America and the atmosphere of fear and passivity in the 1D fandom reminded them of that. And another person started screaming at that person that they were being disrespectful to those who grew up under a dictatorship. There was a major disconnection there. It was very odd.

This year I’m grateful that we are getting closet-weakening stuff through official channels that had to have institutional blessing—I most certainly would not want to go back to 2013 conditions just to prove to you a point.

Is it really, really that hard to believe that the band’s management wanted them to be closeted but the boys themselves did not want to be closeted? That different people can have different interests and agendas?

#closeting

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whynotbtru · 18 days

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I feel like her when I’m in fandom spaces. Every little thing gets thrust under the microscope and becomes discourse. Everyone is seeing things in strict black and white with little room for nuance. We just rehash the same discourse over and over and all it does is reinforce the echo chamber that we’re already in; it’s not productive at all and makes people choose sides. I don’t want to choose a side I want to exist in the in between where nuance exists.

#testify

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whynotbtru · 2 years

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#larries

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whynotbtru · 2 years

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a few reminders because i’m tired and angry

fandom is a hobby, not a form of activism

adult women aren’t inherently creepy for being in fandom and having hobbies apart from raising babies and doing taxes

the vast majority of people pushing back against the worrying trend of instigating harassment over fictional characters and relationships aren’t incest supporters or pedophiles, actually

liking a m/f ship doesn’t make someone a dirty heterosexual invading your space

preferring gay ships doesn’t make you ‘’woke’’ and good

no one owes you a disclaimer that they are a good person who recognizes that their favorite fictional villain’s actions are evil and that they don’t condone those actions irl

liking a fictional villain is in no way comparable to advocating abuse/murder/genocide/etc and you’re a fucking idiot if you believe that

just because a woman is attracted to a fictional villain doesn’t mean she’s promoting toxic relationships or going to end up in a toxic relationship. assuming women can’t tell fiction and reality apart stinks of internalized misogyny

some rando’s a/b/o fanfics have none of the level of influence that popular tv shows and movies spreading propaganda have

no one owes you a detailed description of their traumas and mental health problems

abusive relationships are not the same as enemies to lovers ships

y’all need to chill the fuck out over people, relationships, actions and events that don’t actually exist and learn how to enjoy and discuss them like normal people

fandom is a hobby, not a form of activism

feel free to add more

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whynotbtru · 2 years

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whats your all time favourite larry moment? or multiple if you cant narrow it down :) looks/mirrorings/hushed words?

anon thank you so much for this, you sent me on a journey through my tags and my cheeks are actually hurting from smiling <3

this is in no particular order ok (bacause I can't pick just one moment nor even rank them) but here it is:

I'm starting with this kind of dumb moment. this VIOS interview is just awful and awkward but this part right here always gets me!!!!!! the interviewer asks what makes they want to go to a talent show and louis being his incredible self whispers jokingly "the VIOS" and both harry and louis burst out laughing, it's so adorableeeee, I even looked for the video and exact minute so you can watch for yourself, and also have this gif:

there's also this small moment that I simply adore because it just screams intimacy - harry goes to grab the phone case in between louis' legs and louis doesn't even flinch!!!!!! seriously!!!!

this moment!!!!!! they! were! falling! in! love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *screams*

can't believe they were mortal enemies here, imagine being forced to laugh with your enemy because of a inside joke you both have (that you were also forced to create):

look the FOND!!!!! (and the nose scrunch) on harry's face listening to louis talk about how they met:

BOTH TIMES HARRY SANG STILL THE ONE!!!!!! the first time he sang it holds a special place in my heart because the boy was fonding hard!!!! and louis was obviously there BUT he sang this fucking sappy song only four months ago!!!! in the year of 2022 harry was out there singing about the one and people think they ever broke up like... tumblr won't let me upload more than one video per post but here, watch this:

this embarassing moment. louis was having water fights with liam every show but when he was supposed to throw water at harry this is what he did instead. EMBARASSING:

this actually needs its own post but I have to mention it, of course:

this interview where louis said he finally had a good night of sleep and coincidentally, coincidentally!!! harry had returned to london the day before. louis looked so well rested and the fond (and something more) was, yes, you guessed, showing:

I'm gonna give a shout out to these moments because it's too much to ignore it:

and I'm going to finish with this one because what were the odds of zane lowe mentioning people that've broken their bones during tour when louis just happened to have broken his own elbow!!!!! harry's reaction is priceless. I'll forever be in debt with zane lowe for giving us this moment:

so yeah, there you have it anon. I could go on and on but I think this is a good summary.

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