#Papergirls

[macgyver-morris]

PAPER GIRLS (2022-) | 1.07 Some Kind of Burping Trash Hole What do you think I look like down there? I mean, am I just bones?

#paper girls #papergirls #death tw #tw death #kj brandman #mac coyle #kj x mac #kajemac #tvarchive #dailytvfilmgifs #mac can deal with the worms but draws the line at a dress #i love this scene more than anything fr #*mythings

[thetidemice]

when you come back i'll still be here

i'm back on my kajemac/csh bullshit for 5 seconds to post this ^_^ commission me here

words from twin fantasy (those boys) by car seat headrest!

#paper girls #paper girls on prime #commissions open #pg #pg fanart #paper girls fanart #my art #kajemac #paper girls mac #paper girls kj #papergirls #kj brandman #karina brandman #mackenzie coyle #mac coyle #mac x kj #kj x mac #car seat headrest #twin fantasy #csh

[therealrainbowmadness]

The downfall of media representation: a look at the massive cancelation tide of queer-woman-led shows of 2022

A little more than a year ago, I published a piece on what I called “the queer renaissance” where I reminisced on Lexa’s legacy (The 100) and showed optimism on the representation scenario given the variety of shows airing or to be aired with queer woman among their characters, and the grand amount of WLW couples in committed relationships that had on-screen marriages between 2020 and 2021. But even then, when things were still looking up representation-wise, I pointed that a cloud of worry was coming due to the end of many beloved shows that featured queer characters. There, I mentioned Black Lightning (Grace and Thunder), The Bold Type (Kat and Adena), Supergirl (Alex and Kelly), Brooklyn99 (Rosa), Atypical (Casey and Izzie), Genera+ion (Riley and Greta), Dickinson (Emily and Sue), Motherland Fort Salem (Raelle and Scylla) and Killing Eve (Eve and Villanelle). Little did I know that my optimism was foolish and that the worry brought by the end of the above-mentioned shows would only grow stronger after a very disturbing 2022.

The first cancelation tide came in April. When rumors started regarding the selling of The CW, queer fans immediately started worrying for their beloved shows, specifically for DC Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. Turns out they had a reason to worry because even before the network was sold by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to Nextstar, The CW axed a long list of names from their portfolio. The shock was evident since The CW traditionally renewed their shows and allowed departing series to have a final “goodbye” season, as they did with Supergirl. But what called everyone’s attention was the fact that Legends of Tomorrow last-airing season (the seventh of their run) had done great regarding to critics and ratings. It also had more views than shows that would get renewed, like Riverdale. Media outlets later revealed that the apparent cause for cancelation was that the uncertain future of the network at that point led Warner Bros. to not want to commit to another long-term lease on the sound stages in Vancouver. The fact that they also did not renew their deal with Netflix for distributing content largely affected their revenues as well. Not to say that any of these issues did not play major parts on the future of our beloved shows, the fact remains that series that were in similar conditions, that is, also shot in Vancouver, also distributed by Netflix, and with similar or lower ratings and approval from critics, were renewed. In contrast, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman were not. The difference between then and the ones that got renewed: both were led by woman who loved other woman. And one of then was led by a black woman.

           It was not easy moving on from such losses and being left without a proper ending to beloved characters and couples. But the cancelation wave did not slow down. Gentleman Jack was canceled in July by HBO. Despite BBC’s desire to move forward with the show, they still needed HBO as a co-producer and global distributor. It was hypothesized that the gap between the first and second seasons, caused by the pandemic, led to lower ratings and, thus, cancelation. But the untold reality was that HBO somewhat sabotaged the show by changing its time slot to air in the US and not pushing as much publicity for season 2. This kind of approach reminded me of the way Nickelodeon treated The Legend of Korra, constantly changing its time slot and ultimately moving it to streaming for the fourth and final season. Korra was a pioneer in queer representation for animated series.

The Wilds was canceled after a second season mostly focused on new male characters instead of the group of girls that led the first season, including the couple Shelby and Tony. Some shows had briefer runs, like Prime Video’s Paper Girls and Netflix’s First Kill. So short indeed that it makes me believe that genre TV for sapphics is the ultimate streaming queerbaiting. It is worth mentioning that many people, including LGBTQIAP+, stated that these shows were better off being canceled since they were poorly scripted and had terrible CGI. Addressing these issues, I have to say that poor visual effects never stopped series from getting renewed (just see Supernatural) and shows with really horrible scripts are constantly made and renewed by streaming platforms (Netflix’s Elite is a perfect example). However, I do not agree that they are badly scripted at all. Despite heavy criticism, First Kill had an expressive number of views and ranked well in Netflix’s Top 10 in many countries, also showing great numbers on socials which were at least comparable to Heartstopper (already renewed by Netflix).

But it was not enough for Netflix to cancel First Kill, and the news about the cancelation of Warrior Nun hit colder than ice. Warrior Nun was already a beloved show that grew its audience during the pandemic. Although some had reservations for the first season because of a possible queerbaiting, this possibility was erased by season 2 and the beautiful slow-burn romance between Ava and Beatrice. The momentum the show gained by the launch of its second season was impressive and it was impossible to go through the Twitter timeline without seeing some post or photo related to the show or Avatrice. The impact was so big that made people go back and watch the first season as well. Rotten Tomatos season 2 critic ratings were 100% and audience score was 99% with 7925 reviews. In fact, season 2 had the highest Netflix audience rating ever. The audience, already aware of Netflix MO, grew the engagement of the series on social media, despite Netflix showing zero effort for advertising the new season whatsoever. And again, despite the great ratings, views and engagement, the show got axed without much explanation, leaving a passionate audience with multiple unsolved cliffhangers.

Netflix, having one of the largest portfolios among networks and streaming platforms, is naturally the home of many shows with LGBTQIA+ characters. It does not feel like a coincidence that these shows, especially the ones featuring lesbian and bisexual woman, are the main targets for cancelation. The cycle continues: platforms pick up shows with a queer character for producing to fill the diversity box; they offer little to no support for the people involved on the actual making of the show, offering lower budgets compared to other equivalent series; besides the low production value, they also put little effort on advertising these series, making very hard for the show to do well outside the queer bubble; still, some audience, specially queer woman, sign to that platform to watch the series, grow attached to the characters, ship the couples, engage on social media, and do what they can for it to get to as many people as possible, since the network or streaming is doing virtually nothing in this regard; ultimately, the show either performs poorly as far as visualizations, mostly due to the sabotage of their own producing platform that offered a low production and advertising value, or performs well, but never well enough to them. In the latter case, it feels like woman-led shows are always held to a much higher standard than the male-led ones, having to do so much better to get same recognition. Misogyny and lesbophobia are the two words that come to mind describing this heartbreaking cycle.

At the end of the day, what we are left with? Series that give terrible endings to their sapphic characters, like Killing Eve. Series that are giving us kind of a bad type of representation, like The L Word Gen. Q season 3 (destroying character evolution and pushing outdated plots). Series with great representation which we are so afraid to get attached to just so we’d be disappointed again (like A League of Their Own and Sex Live of College Girls). And series that we will never even know the ending (choose any of the above-mentioned series). It is worth pointing out that all the fandoms are fiercely fighting for their shows to get pick up by other platforms and find new homes, as they should. A great example that the fight is worth fighting is Wynonna Earp. The show was canceled after its third season, leaving the audience with many cliffhangers. The fans fought hard and SyFy pick up the series for two more seasons. Ultimately, season 5 never happened, and its only owned to the creator Emily Andras, who did not want to make the same mistakes as season 3 and leave multiple loose ends, that we got a satisfying beautiful ending at season 4. But even with only one extra season, it was so worth it. And one final season could be all we needed to feel a sense of closure for all these falling series.

It is worth highlighting that LGBTQIAP+ representation is so important for so many people to recognize themselves in the characters and feeling less alone in this world, for helping people accept themselves, come out to their families, and just to normalize in general the existence of LGBTQIAP+ people in all sorts of environments and genres. We are currently seeing undoubtedly a major regression on how media approaches representation in general. We started back then being either sexualized or straight up killed, evolved into great characters with diverse well-thought-out plots, only to now have our shows canceled. And, although we are all exhausted, we cannot go down without a fight. A unified fight with all fandoms from canceled shows. As we did in 2016 after Lexa’s death, we need to make our points to major media outlets, go after the sponsors of the platforms, make a fuss in social media, look for alternatives. I still hope that, together, we have the power to make a difference if not for the series that were already canceled, to at least avoid that the shows that are still running or just starting to have a similar fate.

#lgbt #lgbt community #queer #representation #lexa #clexa #avatrice #warriornun #firstkill #calliete #gentlemenjack #batwoman #legends of tommorow #papergirls #wynonna earp #sex lives of college girls #a league of their own #the l world generation q #killing eve

[luthor-s]

KJ & Mac + Touch

BONUS:

#kajemacedit #papergirlsedit #kajemac #kj brandman #mac coyle #papergirls #I hope this is actually showing up in the tags now

[ilvermourn]

interview with the vampire, first kill, papergirls and the bastard son are my favourite new shows this year. oh how 11 year old closeted me would probably collapse from excitement that my favourite supernaturals (vampires and witches) are GAY.

altho i am sad that first kill was cancelled bc of netflix's lesbophobia but ig i can look forward to my other gays being adventurous and supernatural

#lestat #calliette #papergirls #nabrielise #nabriel #iwtv #interview with the vampire #the bastard son & the devil himself #first kill

[creature-phases]

The true worst change in the adaptation is that KJ doesn’t have her stupid jacket. Give her her dumb 80s jacket Amazon

#paper girls #papergirls #kj brandman

[fourpapergirls]

prime video is killing it

i haven’t posted on tumblr in literal years but decided to come back to scream about two new shows on Prime Video: Paper Girls and A League of Their Own. i will try to keep it short because i could literally talk about both of these shows forever, but guys PLEASE WATCH THESE SHOWS ASAP. 

Paper Girls is about 4 girls that accidentally get stuck time traveling and they’re trying to make their way back to their original timeline, while time traveling they come across their future selfs (one who is played by ALI WONG) and... dinosaurs? Yeah this show has a little bit of everything. Paper Girls consists of one season that’s 8 episodes and the runtime for the season isn’t more than about 5 hours cause the episodes are short so it’s an extremely easy binge watch especially after watching the first episode, you’ll be hooked right away. 

Now that I have the plot down LET’S TALK ABOUT THE DIVERSITY IN THIS SHOW BECAUSE BOY DOES IT MAKE ME HAPPY!!! Paper Girls has a Black main character, Chinese main character, a Jewish character who’s a LESBIAN!! and ANOTHER lesbian main character. The writers do a great job at making it known that these characters don’t exist JUST for diversity points, each 4 characters are extremely fleshed out and the character development for each one of them is just so good. 

Paper Girls will have you laughing, smiling, crying and surprisingly enough it will have you asking yourself many tough questions. It may seem like a show for kids, but I promise you it’s so much more than that. 

Now as for A League of Their Own, I’ve never watched the movie with Tom Hanks but this series was also amazing. It’s about a group of women that decide to join a baseball team while other men and women are fighting a war. This cast is amazing and all did a great job at portraying their characters, probably one of my favorite ensemble casts this year. 

A League of Their Own is very very very gay. Multiple members of the LGBT+ community were greatly represented in a way that shows how it used to be back in the day, but not making it hard to watch, yeah it got tough at times since the show takes place during a time where being gay was still a crime, but it wasn’t too heavy for viewers in my opinion. The show also highlights how it was for Black women and Black people during a time where they were legally allowed to be in spaces with white people, but just because it was legal it didn’t mean that white people wanted them there.

This is getting a little too long so let me wrap this up by saying to please tune in for both Paper Girls and A League of Their Own on Prime Video, these shows were extremely needed and the people that have watched it so far have had nothing but positive things to say about both of them. Don’t forget to also talk about these shows after watching so that more and more people get to talking about it. I know we’re still hurt by multiple recent cancellations, but let’s not lose these two very important shows too. 

#a league of their own #a league of our own #aleagueoftheirown #league of their own #papergirls #paper girls #ali wong #timetravel #time travel #primevideo #prime video #amazon #comicbook #comic books #a03 #adina porter #lgbtq #lgbt #lesbian #queer fiction #queer #travelling #reading #ocs #science #ace attorney #the magnus archives #monster high #better call saul #maxchapman

[meliora777]

#paper girls #Papergirls #Comics #Comic Art #Brian K. Vaughan #Cliff Chiang #Matt wilson #Pastel #Art #Digital art #Aesthetic #Comic books #80s #Sf #science fiction #pastel art

[who-talks-like-that]

Please can someone tell me how we can help Paper Girls get picked up by another platform?

That show is one of the most important female representations of this generation and also has amazing reviews and plot. If it weren't for Amazon's shitty marketing and people comparing it to Stranger Things despite the novels having premiered way before this show would have done so much better.

#PaperGirls #paper girls #SavePaperGirls

[scredgirl]

I finished Paper Girls last week and I already miss it 😔🤟 Adina Porter was fantastic as Prioress

#prioress #paper girls #papergirls #adina porter

[amairtzzz]

these kickass girls are finally on prime !!

I enjoyed the show so much and I hope season two will be filmed soon ! <3

Follow me on Twitter where I’m more active !

@/amairtz

#paper girls comic #fanart #brian k vaughan #cliff chiang #image comics #kaje #kajemac #comics #mackenzie coyle #papergirls #papergirls fanart #erin tieng #tiffany quilkin #paper girls #small artist #kj brandman

[macgyver-morris]

PAPER GIRLS (2022-) | 1.06 Matinee Fuckin' KJ. She's just lucky I held back. I would have mopped the floor with her ass.

BONUS:

#paper girls #papergirls #papergirlsedit #mac coyle #erin tieng #kj brandman #kajemac #tvarchive #dailytvwomen #tvedit #erin really said i know what you are with her whole chest #love that for her #*mythings

[kabbiewrites]

sapphics, and sapphic content fans alike, i call you to watch the sex lives of college girls. a show where one of the main characters is a closeted lesbian, if we cant save any other shows, we can at least try and bring *positive* attention to this one.

#sclog #the sex lives of college girls #teenage bounty hunters #everything sucks #leighton murray #the wilds #papergirls #batwoman #first kill #legacies #gentleman jack #dickinson apple tv #i am not okay with this #ianowt #one day at a time #odaat #supergirl

[toastedstencils]

we’re not just papergirls, we’re friends

#papergirls #image comics #paper girls fanart #fanart #erin tieng #kj brandman #mac coyle #tiffany quilkin #myart

[haiuso9789]

I became very obsessed with The Paper Girls. Sometimes you think they are your ideas when you ship two characters a lot (especially if they are not the protagonists) but as soon as I ran to read the comic with the same name of #BrianKVaughan I realized that we were all on the same channel. I really and eagerly await a second season.

KJ Brandman and Mackenzie Coyle are canon in the #thepapergirls comic, I repeat, they A-R-E C-A-N-O-N

#kj brandman #paper girls #mackenzie coyle #original comic #papergirls #papergirlsedit #mac coyle #erin tieng #kajemac #kjmac

[jaegasms]

WLW when corporations say 'they love the gays'

#papergirls #paper girls amazon #wlw #queer representation #i'm not okay with this #first kill #netflix #a league of their own #rant