#i know that his audience was primarily young queers

[melonelle]

something that doesn't make sense to me about all the james somerton stuff is, like... of course you have to research to come upon his plagiarism, but something that really was plain to everyone to see was that the dude was a raging misogynist (not to say transphobic and acephobic as well) and people supported him anyway?

#i know that his audience was primarily young queers #but still #it leaves a bad taste in my mouth #i've been watching queer youtube over 3 years now and i never did come across his channel thank god #james somerton #melonelle mumbles

[borninwinter81]

Queer horror from my teens

I periodically wonder whether these books are still known and read by young goths and horror fans as they were all extremely important to me in my teenage years, so I thought I'd share them.

Though I'm cishet, during the mid 90s two of my favourite authors wrote primarily queer fiction: they were Anne Rice and another author from New Orleans who is now known as Billy Martin.

He came out as a trans man in 2011, however these books were published prior to that so unfortunately you have to search for them under his deadname. This is why I've used that name in the tags on this post. I don't believe the books were ever reprinted with his current name.

Though I loved Rice, I always felt a more immediate connection with Martin due to his vivid portrayal of subcultures like goth and punk, and how it felt to be a teenager who was part of them. I could see myself in many of his characters as I had the same interests, listened to the same music, and shared the same sense of social alienation. Remember in the 90s the Internet was still a reasonably new thing, and many of us didn't have a home Internet connection at all. There was certainly no social media, no YouTube, and no real way to meet and interact with like-minded teens unless you were lucky enough to have another "weird kid" at your school. If you were a weird kid, you likely had very few friends and were bullied.

That as much as anything else led me to seek solace in books written by an author who I felt understood me, and characters who became my friends.

Lost Souls is about vampires in a kind of Lost Boys/Near Dark way. Fans of the YouTuber OfHerbsAndAltars might be interested to know that this book is where the name of his channel comes from - it's a description of the taste of Chartreuse liqueur.

Drawing Blood is about ghosts, a "murder house", computer hacking, comic art and a very beautiful (if rather messed up) romance. This one is probably my favourite of the three.

Exquisite Corpse is about serial killers, set against the AIDS crisis of the 90s. If you like the Hannibal TV series you'll probably enjoy this one - imagine if Dennis Nilsen and Jeffrey Dahmer had somehow met.

Martin doesn't pull any punches when it comes to descriptions of blood and gore, violence, abusive parents or his portrayal of toxic romantic relationships (of which there are many in his books), but if you can deal with those things there is also a great deal of beauty, phenomenally good writing, and a somewhat unique perspective on the supernatural.

Maybe I'm biased, looking at these through the lens of my teenage self. Maybe they'd seem horribly dated to today's young audience. But I still wanted to make this post in case there's someone out there who will end up loving them as much as I did.

#queer horror #lgbt horror #90s goth #90s punk #90s alternative #goth #gothic #horror #vampire books #vampire fiction #haunted house #poppy z brite #billy martin #lost souls #drawing blood #exquisite corpse #of herbs and altars #90s #trans author #queer author #goth book #gothic horror #goth subculture #punk subculture #lgbt fiction #queer fiction #queer goth #Lgbt goth

[scribe-of-hael]

Overlord HCS list

Headcanons i have for OL but for my au and just in general 🤷‍♂️ this breaks Canon, much like OL breaks skulls.

Overlord loved fashion as much as he likes fighting

Yes he is not afraid to get down and dirty with the inner of his enemy but he takes good care of himself and his frame

He is conflicted on wanting to keep battle scars and also wanting a nice smooth finish

He is a theatrical bitch, a show man, everything he does he does as if he has an audience like he did in the pits , a cheering as your doom is sealed

He is Queer af, has no labels, has no preference besides ppl who are brave enough to even take him on

That being said he's is nothing if not a gentleman to lovers , he's a murderous killing machine not a low life monster

He can be as affectionate as he is violent, it is truly a night and day between his intimidating factor and being dotting the next

His love lanauge is gift giving and physical touch, though words of affirmation can be a substitution (he is so incredibly needy for attention)

He only ever ignore physical boundaries of people he doesn't like mostly strangers. He enjoys making people uncomfortable/squirm in his presence knowing there isn't much anyone can do to stop him. He will stare, grin, mock and even proposely be rude or bump into people. Are you going to fight a skyscraper of a bot? I wouldn't.

He can play a Cybertronian equivalent of an electric guitar (had one custom made for himself)

He can also Sing VERY VERY well (his Voice claim I have for him is Tim Curry and man has RANGE)

If Overlord says he doesn't feel like torturing some poor bot's sparks SOMTHING IS VERY WRONG (a depressed Overlord is not a good working one)

In my au he does have a kinda messed up past in a sense. You can kinda see why he is the way he is and why he joined the Decepticons. (Thanks senate)

However, he fully admits "yes I could have been a shiny goodie bot and be the better person.But - what's the fun in that?" He doesn't let his backstory define him. He chose this path and he dances on it with delight.

in his Humanformer , he does natural have grey in his hair and even grow facial hair. But somtimes he get self conscience about wanting to look young. So he simply dyes it out and shaves. He even throws pink and GLITTER into his hair because he likes it.

He alos likes pastels alot , because he is a barbie girl in a barbie world

Goes by primarily He/Him, but doesn't care what pronouns you use. You can get a look delight if you use she/her ~ its not often but she likes it.

See he knows he's pretty but he'd much rather hear OTHER ppl say it

#Overlord #idw overlord #Au overlord #Orrillian #humanformers #Humanformer Overlord #overlord transformers #Lore #My lore #headcanons #dont @ me #These are fun #transformers headcanons #maccadam #transformers

[strangertheory]

One reason that I hope that Mike is queer is that this revelation would be much more realistic to real-world emotions surrounding closeted lgbtqa people coming out to their loved ones.

Allow me to explain.

Nearly all stories in tv shows and movies these days announce to viewers what to expect, and allow audiences to know "yes, there is lgbtqa representation in this story!" and it's often a key part of the marketing. Yes, representation is wonderful. Yes, I do get a little excited when I know a story will feature something meaningful to the lgbtqa community. But step back for a moment and consider the way in which these stories are primarily for the queer community and allies. These stories aren't truly inspiring new insight and reflection or pushing non-allies and non-lgbtqa folk into challenging their current thoughts and ideas about queer people, in fact these stories that are advertised as featuring queer characters are effectively openly announcing "hey, if this isn't your thing and stories about queer characters make you uncomfortable, you can skip this!"

Now, some of you might say "but wait! What about Will!? Why are you making this post about Mike?"

Because Mike is the character that is arguably closeted and whose queerness still remains invisible to many audiences. He's the character who is probably lgbtqa but that audiences don't expect to be, because it hasn't been advertised, because he was in a dating relationship with a girl, because he "seems straight" (cue people making a list of stereotypes that people have decided apply to people and characters as if they can simply "know" if someone has feelings for someone of the same sex based on how they dress, what they do for hobbies, etc.)

And to me, there is a power and value in revealing to audiences that they should not assume a person's sexuality based on stereotypes, based on past relationships, etc. but instead allow them the space and safety to feel comfortable living their life openly as who they are and being honest about their feelings even as their understanding of themselves changes.

And if people can only accept someone's true self when that fits with their preconceived expectations of who they are and who they wanted them to be dating and who they believed them to be that was convenient and that fit with their assumptions: now that mirrors the true experience that people face and the challenge of coming out much more accurately.

Because we don't get marketing campaigns warning our friends and family that we're gay. Unlike many queer characters in tv shows, we don't get born into existence with a clear label that tells allies who we are and that tells homophobes that becoming close to us and caring about us will eventually end in a day that they feel "tricked" and "disappointed" that the person they cared about and could relate to ended up being something they didn't expect and didn't want.

Will Byers represents that all-too familiar story of the kid who got bullied for being different and for being seen as queer since he was young. If he is queer, he's not truly closeted because the world won't let him be.

Mike Wheeler represents a different queer experience that is also all-too familiar but often not represented in media in a way that genuinely brings audiences into being that character's friend or family member who assumed that they already knew whether or not he was gay or straight. Yet this mirrors what many of us experienced when we came out. People assume your sexuality, and then sometimes react badly when they feel "tricked." So yes, many of us are very emotionally invested in the way that Mike's story is being told because the indignance that we're witnessing within the fan community over his struggle to tell El that he loves her, the debate over whether Mike could be gay or not, and the way that audiences are perhaps too used to being coddled and very clearly warned by storytellers in advance that a character might be gay...

I've got a lot of feelings about all of this.

#byler

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

don't get me wrong, i enjoyed black sails, but i really don't understand why it's so revered as "peak queer cinema" when it wouldn't even show two men kissing. and yes, there were lesbians and wlw but is no one questioning why they were so willing to depict those sex scenes when the mlm stuff was mere implication? it doesn't even get the excuse of the time it was released, because spartacus came out in 2010 and depicted quite a few mlm and wlw sex scenes over the seasons.

Yeah. Like I'm not saying you have to hate black sails or whatever. But I watched the first episode and tbh as a gay man the scene between Max and Eleanor made me feel like the scene just was not for me. I know that sounds weird and self centered but what I mean by that is that there's scenes with two characters who love each other that, even if they appeal to people sexually attracted to the characters, also have enough emotional weight to make it so that it still appeals to people who are not. For example many of my lesbian mutuals went insane when Stede slammed Ed against the wall despite the fact that presumably they are attracted to neither of them. But the scene with Eleanor and Max was like way too sexually gratuitous in a way that I could feel appealed primarily to straight men way too fast for me to be like "oh good for them" because frankly as much as I liked Max, she was operating on the hooker advantage for me (also hooker), and with the amount of characterization they got and the amount of personality that scene had it felt very much like "look at the manic pixie dream girls kissing each other" and then i saw gifs of the black sails kisses with two men:

And it's like... Oh so you're appealing to a Certain Audience here. We're having young thin attractive women make out in the first episode but we won't even show you Flint kissing his man in proper lighting.

Like I have no animosity towards black sails fans but we have to acknowledge that this is prestige TV coming out during the game of thrones era which is trying to capture the Game of Thrones market. I've been critical of the fact that they depicted Max, a black queer sex worker, being sexually assaulted at the behest of Charles Vane but honestly I think that speaks mostly to the shows Black Sails was trying to capture the market of. They knew people liked that shit in game of thrones and they wanted that dragon money. They gave us some gay characters as well because the golden age of piracy was pretty gay and they wanted to give it some flavor, but not so gay that the missed out on that market. And I guess thats fine it seems to be how you're meant make a show in this day and age unfortunately. But I wouldn't say it's super groundbreaking.

Anyway I'm making this unrebloggable and not tagging it I learned my lesson from the last Black Sails vs OFMD poll

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

(1/2) I'm really curious about when Louis and his team figured out just how little interest there is in him as a fantasy boyfriend from his fans (and semi-correlated just how many fans are wlw). Was it the tour? Or had they figured it out before that with the walls promo? I imagine coming out of a boyband the dominant perspective from industry people is that fans do want the fantasy boyfriend angle. I'm also curious how correct my assumption is that at least 70% of his fans are queer women.

(2/2) It seems like his team is leaning more into recognizing fans as queer so I'm guessing I'm not that far off with my assumption. I'm curious if you have any thoughts about it all!

*******

So to me there are two fascinating questions - the first is how does Louis see his audience and the second is what is his audience.

I though the outrage in this part of tumblr when someone involved in booking Louis' tour said that he had lots of young fans - and people treated that as if it was obviously not true. But she has better access to numbers than we do - and the most important thing to understand is that our corner of tumblr is not representative of the wider fanbase.

So obviously a large part of Louis' fanbase is Larries (a lot of whom will be new and young and from other social media platforms with very different ideas and norms about Larry than exist here). But I'm not really sure how much - and I'm not sure what the others are like. What percentage think he's straight? What percentage does that not matter to?

There are certain things that I think are probably true - for example that Louis' audience identify with him as opposed to wanting validation from him. I do think the fantasy boyfriend audience is very, very small. But I might be wrong and there's large part of the fandom, particularly more casual fans who I have no idea of. I'm particularly interested in people who go to concerts, but don't spend long periods of time representing Louis to others.

*********

I would love to know what Louis' team thinks about his fans and how. I do think that in some ways their way of thinking is probably more mundane than I like to think. I've said before that I think that their teams care much more about what we do than what we think. I also think they care much more about age sex and location than whether we identify with Louis or seek validation from him.

But I think the dynamic with Perfect Now strongly suggests that Louis' previous label did think there was a fantasy boyfriend audience - and that Louis was pressured into including it for that reason. I think the team probably isn't primarily thinking about that now.

I would love to know what they are thinking. What do they know about fandom? What is important to them?

What made you think his team is leaning into recognising his fans are queer? I'm really interested in people's ideas about how we can access what his team thinks.

#One thing that I do find quite tedious #is the way that whenever his team tells us how they think #the only reaction is that they must be wrong and bad #rather than curiosity about their information #and what they might do with it

[sunkendiaries]

Blog Post #3

"Pressure”(Ezra Clayton Daniels) "The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World"(Nalo Hopkinson), Ouanga/Love Wanga (1936) Candyman (dir. Bernard Rose) Candyman (dir. Nia DaCosta)

I lived in Chicago from 2010 to 2022, during that time I received my undergraduate and began a true deep dive into horror. I had dabbled a little while as a teenager watching what I could find at the time on cable network television primarily Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Stephen King but not till college …studying photography…taking a Porn and Censorship course … did I watch French Extremist Horror for class and finally think I was brave enough to dig through my schools extensive DVD collection for all the horror I could find.

I found the original Candyman my Junior year, I was still living in the dorms then off State St in the center of the Loop in Chicago. I accidentally had a streak of watching films I didn’t know took place in Chi … I had watched The Relic and then Child’s Play (for the first as an adult) and was shocked to realize both films had been shot just only a few block away from where I was living at the time. That hardly compared to the genuine fear I had watching Candyman and seeing that the architecture of the dorms mimicked that of Cabrini Green and Helen’s Apartment complex - down to the restrooms and the mirrored cabinets that could easily allow access to neighboring dorm rooms.  CHILLS. I had learned a lot about Cabrini through the mandatory Chicago history reading pushed out to all freshmen but hadn’t heard about the movie. 

For me the first film from a white perspective gets the tone right … for the most part, a lot of my rich white and sheltered peers at school looked at Chicago as a predominantly black and brown city and stepped outside either in fear or sought to analyze Chicago as an anthropological research site. So though it may not have been purposeful Bernard Rose paints an experience I lived through like Bernadette working through financial and racist bias within academia while next to white peers who believe they are making groundbreaking work still seated within their white guilt, privilege, and bigotry. Candyman has always been about art, writing, and the historical discourse of redlining, gentrification, hate crimes, and the consumption of the black body and black trauma for white audiences. I once had a screening (24-hour Horror movie marathon) themed around The Lips, The Teeth, The Tip of the Tongue. Link It was split across three days Taste, Chew, Shallow - the last day Swallow I pair Candyman with Ganga and Hess and it opens up a dialogue connecting the two films around martyrdom, transformation, and the use of spiritual transcends.

Nia DaCosta’s spiritual sequel is hands down one of my favorite films. Prior to/during filming I was working at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, had curator friends who lived in the Marina Towers, and had become friends/acquaintances with featured artists in the film. It was so eerie to see my world once again reflected at but now with more knowledge about myself and the world. It was and still is dizzying and nauseating to watch I have rarly experience watching cinema. While also being so powerful narratively, metaphysical, and thematically. Not to mention it boosting the careers of real-life young black artists and cementing their work within the history of Black art and Cinema.

The mirroring structure, the callbacks, the new black perspective on Cabrini, The black female lead, the equality and diversity of the cast (specifically having queer actors play queer roles), the READING of the art world, and the pigeon-holding of black creatives - all brilliant, considered, and still truly terrifying. 

Lastly linking the two films to Pressure also opens up a lot of the same points and I kind of imagine that within his pressured familial environment may reflect some of the same insecurities and concerns Anthony may have that lead to a different type of internal dismantling and enviable combustion. 

[barbiegirldream]

When people are making fun of dream or his community, or are spreading hate and vitriol, they think they are punching up. As in, they're going after something or someone that is so monstrously big and large and unfathomable that there is no way they could be causing any harm. What's one drop of poison to an entire ocean? What a kitchen knife to a giant?

But it's not a monolith, or a company, or a corporation. These are all very real people who have very real feelings. The community of antis I think has fully outgrown the community of fans, or at least there's enough people apathetic or anti leaning to make it seem like such. And they can see they don't have anything to work with, so they'll take whatever scraps they can scrounge and make it a mess. They'll insist on this static image of dream and his community, one that is negative and half made up and use that as an excuse to pick on people's identities because they have nothing else

Because it's a joke that's been made before. It's easy and it's a cheap laugh to be homophobic, or ableist, or whatever. Or they'll be one thing in order to "defend" against another as if hate speech of one type can cancel out another type. Or worse, that theres some types of hate that are more okay than others

And they think of themselves as some type of David figure going up against Goliath. We know this, because anytime anyone of them gets called out for their shit they act like they weren't participating in a mob. As if all the people they're going after aren't also people. Somehow, their feelings are more valid than dreams, or his fans, and if they ever start anything, it's justified

they see twitter as Dream's whole massive empire of fans. Even if you take his main twitter which we know isn't all stans but say it was that is 17.2% of Dream's audience. There is no world in which we group of young queer nd poc nd primarily women are in anyway up to the job of taking on every white dudebro on twitter on behalf of Dream nor do we want to. We want to be left alone and have Dream be left alone

We want Dream's sexuality to not be the punchline. We want women to stop being the punchline. We want poc to stop being the pawns used by antis in these 'ohhh but Dream used to be soo evil' games.

I just I can imagine that some people are leaving this is so much. But I'm not ever going anywhere queer activism is one thing I do actively irl. and people are going to try and boil this down to not being that big a deal just some twitter drama. but it is a massive homophobic hate campaign against a definitionally queer man (not in the label sense but in the queer community we always will protect and support our unlabeled and amibgous and questioning people no matter what)

it's very sad to know where some of the CCs are falling in their perceived goliath vs David battle but Dream isn't fighting a battle. He's just some guy who I believe genuinely loves every single person even though it would be so much easier to become hateful and bitter. We're going to get through this and we love Dream and he loves us and that's all that matters in the end

#long post #discourse

[kcrabb88]

Queer Movies/Books/TV Shows for Pride Month!

Happy Pride everyone!! For your viewing/reading pleasure I have made a (non-exhaustive) list of queer media that I have enjoyed! 

Movies/Documentaries

Pride (2014): An old tried and true favorite, which meets at the intersection of queer and workers’ rights. A group of queer activists support the 1985 miners’ strike in Wales (complete with a sing-through of Bread and Roses + Power in a Union)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman (or, two young lesbians fall in love by the sea, and you cry)

God’s Own Country: Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path (Seriously this movie is GREAT and doesn’t get enough love, watch it! It’s rough but ends happily)

The Half of It:  When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for a jock, she doesn't expect to become his friend - or fall for his crush (as in she falls for his crush who is another girl. This movie was so good, and really friendship focused!) 

Saving Face:  A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations (this is an oldie and a goodie, with a happy ending!)

Moonlight:  A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood (featuring gay men of color!)

Carol:  An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York (everyone’s seen this I think, but I couldn’t not have it here)

Milk: The story of Harvey Milk and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official (the speech at the end of this made me cry. Warning, of course, for death, if you don’t know about Harvey Milk)

Pride (Hulu Documentary):  A six-part documentary series chronicling the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America (they go by decade from the 50s-2000s, and there is a lot of great trans inclusion in this)

Paris is Burning (Documentary): A 1990s documentary about the African American and Latinx ballroom scene. Available on Youtube!

A New York Christmas Wedding:  As her Christmas Eve wedding draws near, Jennifer is visited by an angel and shown what could have been if she hadn't denied her true feelings for her childhood best friend (this movie is SO CUTE. It’s really only nominally a Christmas movie and easily watched anytime. Features an interracial sapphic couple!) 

TV Shows 

Love, Victor: Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation (this is a spin-off of Love, Simon, and it’s very sweet and well done! Featuring a young gay man of color)

Sex Education:  A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school (this has multiple queer characters, including a featured young Black gay man and also in season 2 there is a side ace character!) 

Black Sails: I mean, do I even need to put a summary here? If you follow me you know that Black Sails is full of queer pirates, just queers everywhere.

Gentleman Jack:  A dramatization of the life of LGBTQ+ trailblazer, voracious learner and cryptic diarist Anne Lister, who returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall (Period drama lesbians!!! A title sequence  that will make you gay just by watching!) 

Tales of the City (2019):  A middle-aged Mary Ann returns to San Francisco and reunites with the eccentric friends she left behind. "Tales of the City" focuses primarily on the people who live in a boardinghouse turned apartment complex owned by Anna Madrigal at 28 Barbary Lane, all of whom quickly become part of what Maupin coined a "logical family". It's no longer a secret that Mrs. Madrigal is transgender. Instead, she is haunted by something from her past that has long been too painful to share (this is based on a book series and it’s got lots of great inter-generational queer relationships!) 

The Haunting of Bly Manor:  After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (sweet, tender, wonderful lesbians. A bittersweet ending but this show is so so wonderful)

Sense8: A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order (queers just EVERYWHERE in this show, of all kinds)

Books

Loveless by Alice Oseman:  Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day. This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance (don’t be turned off by this title, it’s tongue-in-cheek. This is a book about an aroace college girl discovering herself and centers the importance and power of platonic relationships! I have it on my TBR and have heard great things)

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters: Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel (again, don’t be thrown off by the title, it too, is tongue-in-cheek. This book was GREAT, and written by a trans women with a queer-and especially trans--audience in mind)

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein: A gay Christopher Marlowe, at Cambridge and trying to become England’s best new playwright, finds himself wrapped up in royal espionage schemes while also falling in love (this book is by a Twitter friend of mine, and it is a wonderful historical thriller with a gay man at the center).

Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer: a very very queer remix of The Picture of Dorian Gray (which was already quite queer), featuring amazing female characters, a gay Basil, and a much happier ending than the original. 

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: The gay prince of England and the bisexual, biracial first son of the president fall in love (think an AU of 2016 where a woman becomes president). Featuring a fantastic discovery of bisexuality, ruminations on grief, and just a truly astonishing book. One of my favorites!

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston:  For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train (This is Casey McQuiston’s brand new novel featuring time-travel, queer women, and I absolutely cannot WAIT to read it)

The Heiress by Molly Greely: Set in the Pride and Prejudice universe, this takes on Anne de Bourg (Lady Catherine’s daughter), and makes her queer! 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters:  Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins (Sarah Waters is the queen of historical lesbians. All of her books are good, and they’re all gay! The Paying Guests is another great one)

(On a side note re: queer books, there are MANY, these are just ones I’ve read more recently. Also there are a lot of indie/self-published writers doing great work writing queer books, so definitely support your local indie authors!) 

#I am inevitably forgetting things!!! #These are just ones that came to mind #Long post #Pride

[zachandalextime]

Review: Young Royals S1

*** Some Spoilers ***

With just six episodes, this recent Netflix entry is possibly the most purified injection of “young gay love” crack into the veins I have ever seen. Simon and Wille aren’t just some side ship, they are *the show*. There’s virtually no filler to cut it with; the side stories are fascinating too, but exist to revolve in supportive orbit around the central infatuation between the lovestruck prince and his lower-class beau. 

Contrast this to, oh I don’t know, the appalling queer-baiting called Zalex (that 13rw decided to splash around in, under the shadow of more ambitious plots, and then cancel, and now they live in my head rent-free), it was refreshing to see an unapologetic queer-centric plot. There’s a certain satisfaction in recognizing that YR appropriates a classic hetero trope that’s old as time (wealthy privileged but lonely prince falls for poor commoner girl), and somehow manages to refresh it anew. 

Yes yes, one’s jaded skeptical side wants to tut-tut the romance with thoughts like “you two are too young to sacrifice for love, or be so certain of your feelings.” And then somehow, witnessing the combination of acting and cinematography in the love scenes between Simon and Wille handily melted me into a fawning starry-eyed puddle, exclaiming out loud, “but they are sooooooo freaking cute together!!”

Simon, the embodiment of the plucky underdog, is adorable in virtually everything he is and does. He’s the aspiration in all of us to have a better life, find happiness, work hard, put our difficult past behind us, beat the odds, and love without regrets. “Defiant Simon” is someone you can’t help but cheer for. We suffer with him in each injustice he experiences, from the small social slights to the larger betrayals. Yet throughout it all he’s also the confident initiator, never deterred in his attraction or courtship by the fact that the object of his affection is a prince. Did I mention he’s trilingual(+) in Spanish, Swedish, and some English?

And yes, much like Zalex, one of the things I adore about Simon x Wilhelm is that they are an interracial ship. This helps enhance the dynamics and issues of the plot, but more than that: <3 <3 representation <3 <3 :)

The acting is really good, and the casting was really good. (The supporting cast is roughly what I’d imagine an aristocratic, patriarchal, slightly inbred, private school population to be). The set and the shooting locations are good enough. 

Beyond the romance at the core of the show, it simultaneously layers and tackles some interesting and important themes. Young Royals is especially adept in its commentary on income and class inequality (e.g. Simon/Wille; Felice/Sara), but it also raises some ideas of race (Felice, Simon), body image (Felice; August), meritocracy vs. plutocracy (August; Wille), carrying the family tradition (Felice, August, Wille), and addiction/drug abuse (Simon’s dad, August)

Love/hate award: August is a nicely nuanced, three-dimensional villain antagonist to Simon, and frenemy to Wille. His mercurial motivations are constantly disguised which help keep the viewer guessing at his next move, making it hard for viewers to pinpoint a fixed attitude toward him.

Unsung hero award: Ayub. Based on his casting, it might initially seem like he’s intended as comic relief, but as one of Simon’s two BFF’s, he’s remarkably wise, perceptive, supportive and usually has the right take. 

Watching in original Swedish with subtitles, or dubbed over in English/native language: I tried both and I personally liked Swedish with subtitles. The dub voiceover acting is a little bit hammy and doesn’t fully capture the original actors’ skill level. 

Stumbles: The show deserves some props for portraying mental health issues, especially those of Simon’s sister Sara, but the writing and portrayal of a the mental health issues are not terribly well represented. She has (I think) an assortment of issues that include ADHD and autism spectrum, but it’s primarily the latter that is manifested, and not very consistently. There are also some times when I wish that Simon and Wille could have a shared interest or experience beyond “we’re both cute and go to school together and it’s us against the world.” I guess that’s what S2 (fingers crossed there is one) will be for? 

Verdict: With so much packed into just 6 episodes, it’s a must-watch. The show modernizes a well-worn tale for a queer audience, against an intriguing setting, and the cast makes the most of it. 

#young royals #Simon Eriksson #Prince Wilhelm #wilmon #Zalex #13rw #thirteen reasons why #netflix

[brotheralyosha]

As a queer trans girl growing up in rural New Hampshire, I was marked out as a faggot early on. My friends mocked and bullied me relentlessly for my high voice, my readily evident mental illness, and that intangible quality of “gayness” kids seem to know instinctively how to sniff out and brutalize. I was forever trying to manufacture intimacy within my small, cruel circle of young men, initiating heartfelt conversations during sleepovers, desperate to bond, to have my hand held, to rest my head on someone’s shoulder. The Lord of the Rings gave me a world where that kind of love between men was not just permissible, but precious.

The Lord of the Rings gets a hard rap for its nearly womanless cast of characters. It’s criticism well-deserved, with just three women—Éowyn (Miranda Otto), Arwen (Liv Tyler), and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett)—boasting more than a few minutes of screentime apiece across all three films, but it’s not a particularly insightful stopping point for discussing the films’ representations of men. Tolkien largely excluded women from his stories—I don’t think there’s a single one in The Hobbit—but he had genuine insight into not just the male society he belonged to, but its differing permutations passed down out of classical and Anglo-Saxon legend and historical record.

The men in Lord of the Rings are—in some ways—recognizable to modern American audiences. They hold courage on the battlefield in high esteem, leave housework and child-rearing largely to women, and control laws, armies, and wealth throughout most of Middle Earth. In other ways, though, they are a world apart. They grieve without pretense, express love and fealty to each other in romantic terms, and think deeply on the beauty and terror of the world around them. They are, in fundamental ways, connected to each other.

In Pippin’s vow of fealty to Boromir’s bereaved father Lord Denethor (John Noble), King Theoden’s humiliated grief over the death of his son during his own bewitched enfeeblement, and Denethor’s younger son Faramir’s (David Wenham) fatalistic desire to prove himself to his father we see clearly the interconnection of masculine emotion and affairs of state on a continental scale. At every level, from the comic relief of Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli’s (John Rhys-Davies) competitive friendship to the tragic wreckage of Lord Denethor’s relationships with his sons, Jackson’s films depend on the bonds between men.

Far from focusing on relentless action in the absence of feminine drives and stories, Jackson lingers on an older idea of homosociality, which is to say a society in which men bond and interact primarily with other men. Their relationships are rich and varied, complicated by class (Sam is Frodo’s gardener and refers to him exclusively as “Mr. Frodo.”), culture (Gimli, a dwarf, and Legolas, an elf, initially despise one another), and family ties (Denethor’s favoritism for his eldest son, Boromir, over his youngest, Faramir). In the world of the films, how the characters feel toward one another is as or even more important than whether or not they can swing a sword or wield magical power.

. . . .

Jackson’s trilogy may not delve particularly deep into male psychology, but it depicts a world in which art about men is vibrant and bursting with emotion, not sterilized and grim. It gives us a chance to see openness between men, to experience the love they share. For genre art it represents a way of storytelling more fulfilling and involved than winks and quips and derring-do. For fans of fantasy and action, it’s a chance to see friendship and love in a new light. For a lonely little boy, it was a lifeline.

Gretchen Felker-Martin, “I Would Have Followed You: Masculine Love and Devotion in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings”

#this essay single-handedly convinced me to watch the entire extended edition for the first time #lord of the rings #tolkien #gretchen felker-martin #cw homophobic slur #cw f slur

[olderthannetfic]

Hi! I'm really impressed by how calmly you've been replying to asks about upsetting topics. Mind if I share a different pov? It's cool if you want to be done with the subject, but if it's okay, here it is: even though it's true that people already know csa is bad, there might be some rationalizations or confusion about where to draw some lines, and abusers can use stories that push those lines to groom children. However, what we need to do about it is not count on our ability to eliminate every one of those stories and any other pedo propaganda, but instead make sure everyone knows where to draw the lines and that those rationalizations are bs, so they can see that it's pedo propaganda and not be fooled. I know people won't agree on all the lines regarding exact ages and age differences that are acceptable, but there are other things that slip through the cracks, like pretending the age of consent is only relevant to some sex acts and not others (incorrect in most countries, and even then it's just a different age of consent for different acts, there are no sex acts that have no age of consent), or that if it's non-sexual it can somehow exist as an acceptable romantic relationship (incorrect, that's not a relationship). And having that information is useful both in cases of for real pedo propaganda and in cases of darkfic that was written to be creepy and wrong on purpose but the reader might not recognize that.

--

This comes up a lot. Really, really a lot. And the arguments are extremely repetitive, as are the asks going "You haven't thought about this, have you?" that I see waiting for me in my inbox, yet again. When I'm ready to tap out (or just get busy with RL) I usually just stop answering asks for a while.

Here's the thing: a lot of people look at this only in terms of potential victims and an audience that doesn't understand what it's being exposed to. I agree that it's important to protect people.

However, these kinds of conversations always erase another, much larger group: people who are making or consuming dark art because it is meaningful or hot or fun for them. To me, it comes down to that infamous 1995 Time Magazine cover:

From a boingboing writeup:

"In 1995 Time magazine published a cover story about online pornography that gave grandstanding politicians an excuse to try to censor the Internet. The politicians would have succeeded, if it weren't for the efforts of civil libertarians, especially Mike Godwin, who was staff counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation at the time."

I was 14 when this fight as going on. It sounds like a long time ago, but people who built AO3 were mostly teens or college students or young professionals, and we remember this fight vividly.

I was already in fandom, reading some racy Mulder/Scully porn, and elsewhere on the internet reading snuff erotica and other things far worse than most fanfic.

(And yes, I do go hunting on AO3 when people tell me they've seen something nasty in the woodshed. There's some pretty out there stuff if you search really hard, but it still almost never reaches the heights of anything I read on Usenet as a teen. AO3 is really tame as porn goes.)

When I was a teenager forming my understanding of art and ethics and this bullshit scaremongering happened, the US had a conversation. The topic was this:

--

Is it worth sacrificing adults' entire lives and spaces in the service of protecting children?

--

On the conservative douchebag side, we had the argument that children might be there because it's a general space.

On the winning side--the winning side so far because this fight is never over--was the idea that it is not reasonable to expect public spaces to conform to what's appropriate for the kindergarten classroom. Children are not the default, and they do not set the tone for spaces that are not specifically for them.

So these were my formative teen years: do we get an internet where we can be adults? Normal adults who are allowed to have fantasies or discuss our queer sexuality or breast cancer or whatthefuckever! Or is the internet a gated playground with foam over all the play structures because we are obligated to think of the children at every moment of every day?

I agree with you that some actual abusers use arguments of the type you describe and that it's important for our youth to understand what those arguments look like.

I have yet to see even a single AO3 fic I thought was actually espousing any such thing, let alone a significant number. This simply isn't an accurate representation of most of the fic that these endless fandom wanks are about.

AO3 does allow you to make an account if you're 13 and up, but it was built by a bunch of adults for other adults. It's very writer-oriented. Its mission is saving art. That's not a space that can or should be primarily concerned with the subset of readers who can't contextualize what they're looking at.

The way to help those readers might be by people who want a clean archive making one or by making an AO3 collection of vetted stories. Much more likely, the only thing that will help them is fighting purity culture and getting some real and useful sex ed into their country's educational system.

--

You've made some very good points, anon, but they're not very relevant points to the fandom debates about AO3.

[itsclydebitches]

TBH I think the whole "You didn't have an issue with this in 'insert x show here' but you have an issue with it in RWBY? What are you, sexist?" thing can easily be defused with a simple, "How did RWBY present this plot-point compared to the show I like?"

Sure, technically Cinder Fall and Darth Maul are the 'same' character, but how are the two presented in their respective shows? Cinder eats up screentime and none of it goes anywhere and gets frustrating. Maul is a relatively minor villain that had one season's worth of attention in CW and then was the villain of a few episodes throughout Rebels before getting killed off.

The only reason someone would be confused as to why people like Maul but hate Cinder is if they just read the two's respective wiki pages.

Really the whole "Your issues with RWBY are just subconscious misogyny" is just some people wanting to slap labels onto others so they can feel validated on not agreeing with their opinions.

Generally speaking, I'm wary of any take that boils down to a single sentence, "You're just [insert accusation here]." Not because such accusations are always 100% without merit—with a canon dealing with as many sensitive subjects as RWBY, combined with a fandom as large and diverse as it has become, you're bound to come across some people whose "criticism" stems primarily from bigotry—but because such dismissive summaries never tackle the problem a fan has pointed out. If one fan goes, "Ruby's plan was foolish because [reasons]" and the response to that is "You just can't handle a woman leader," then that response has failed to disprove the argument presented. The thing about "criticism" based in bigotry is that there isn't actually a sound argument attached because, you know, the only "argument" here is "I don't like people who aren't me getting screen time." So you can spot that really easily. The person who is actually misogynistic is going to be spouting a lot of rants about how awful things are... but very little evidence as to why it's awful, leaving only the fact that our characters are women as the (stupid) answer.

And yes, there is something to be said for whether, culturally, we're harder on women characters than we are men. Are we subconsciously more critical of what women do in media simply because we have such high expectations for that representation and, conversely, have become so used to such a variety of rep for men—including endlessly subpar/outright bad stories—that we're more inclined to shrug those mistakes off? That's absolutely worth discussing, yet at the same time, acknowledging that doesn't mean those criticisms no longer exist. That's where I've been with the Blake/Yang writing for a while now. I think fans are right to point out that we may be holding them to a higher standard than we demand of straight couples, but that doesn't mean the criticisms other fans have of how the ship has been written so far are without merit. Those writing mistakes still exist even if we do agree that they would have been overlooked in a straight couple—the point is they shouldn't exist in either. Both are still bad writing, no matter whether we're more receptive to one over the other. Basically, you can be critical of a queer ship without being homophobic. Indeed, in an age where we're getting more queer rep than ever before, it's usually the queer fans who are the most critical. Because we're the ones emotionally invested in it. The true homophobes of the fandom either dropped RWBY when the coding picked up, or spend their time ranting senselessly about how the ship is horrible simply because it exists, not because of how it's been depicted. Same for these supposed misogynists. As a woman, I want to see Ruby and the others written as complex human beings, which includes having them face up to the mistakes they've made. The frustration doesn't stem from me hating women protagonists, but rather the fact that they're written with so little depth lately and continually fall prey to frustrating writing decisions.

And then yeah, you take all those feelings, frustrations, expectations, and ask yourself, "Have I seen other shows that manage this better?" Considering that RWBY is a heavily anime-inspired show where all the characters are based off of known fairy tales and figures... the answer is usually a resounding, "Yes." As you say, I keep coming across accusations along the lines of, "People were fine with [insert choice here] when [other show] did it," as if that's some sort of "Gotcha!" moment proving a fan was bigoted all along, when in fact the answer is right there: Yes, we were okay with it then because that show did it better. That show had the setup, development, internal consistency, and follow through that RWBY failed to produce, which is precisely what we were criticizing in the first place.

What I also think is worth emphasizing here is how many problems RWBY has developed over the last couple of years (combining with the problems it had at the start). Because, frankly, audiences are more forgiving of certain pitfalls when the rest of the show is succeeding. I think giving a Star Wars example exemplifies that rather well. No one is going to claim that Star Wars is without its problems (omg does it have problems lol), but there's enough good there in most individual stories to (usually) keep the fans engaged. That doesn't mean that they're not going to point out those criticisms when given the chance, just that disappointment isn't the primary feeling we come away with. Obviously in a franchise this size there are always exceptions (like the latest trilogy...), but for most it's a matter my recent response to The Bad Batch, "I have one major criticism surrounding a character's arc and its impact on the rest of the cast, and we definitely need to unpack the whitewashing... but on the whole yes, it was a very enjoyable, well written show that I would recommend to others." However, for many fans now, we can't say the same of RWBY. Yang getting KO'ed by Neo in a single hit leads into only Blake reacting to her "death" which reminds viewers of the lack of sisterly development between Yang and Ruby which segues into a subpar fight which messes with Cinder's already messy characterization which leads to Ruby randomly not using her silver eye to save herself which leaves Jaune to mercy kill Penny who already died once which gives Winter the powers when she could have just gotten it from the start which results in a favorite character dying after his badly written downfall and all of it ends with Jaune following our four woman team onto the magical island... and that's just two episodes. The mistakes snowball. RWBY's writing is broken in numerous ways and that's what fans keep pointing to. Any one of these examples isn't an unforgivable sin on its own, but the combination of all of them, continuously, representing years worth of ongoing issues results in that primary feeling of, "That was disappointing."

Looking at some of the more recent posts around here, fans aren't upset that Ruby is no longer interested in weaponry because that character trait is Oh So Important and its lack ruins the whole show, they're upset because Ruby, across the series, lacks character, so the removal of one trait is more of a problem than it would be in a better written character. What are her motivations? Why doesn't she seek answers to these important questions? Why is her special ability so inconsistent? Where's her development recently? What makes Ruby Ruby outside of wielding a scythe and wanting to help everyone, a very generic character trait for a young, innocent protagonist? We used to be able to say that part of her character was that obsession and we used to hope that this would lead to more interesting developments: Will Ruby fix/update their weapons? Is her scythe dependency the reason why others need to point out how her semblance can develop? What happens if she is weaponless? Surely that will lead to more than just a headbutt... but now we've lost hope that this trait will go anywhere, considering it has all but disappeared. Complaints like these are short-hand criticism for "Ruby's character as a whole needs an overhaul," which in turn is a larger criticism of the entire cast's iffy characterization (Who is Oscar outside Ozpin? Why was Weiss' arc with her father turned into a joke and concluded without her? etc.) and that investment speaks to wanting her to be better. We want Ruby to be a better character than she currently is, like all those other shows we've seen where the women shine. Reducing that to misogyny isn't just inaccurate, but the exact opposite of what most fans are going for in their criticisms.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas

[ectonurites]

I think the whole ’tim is the relatable robin’ thing is a flawed idea because yeah he was made to be relatable to the audience who were reading batman comics at the time. but as a woman of colour he is like the farthest from relatable to me...Im always seeing white men as heroes in the media and never people like myself. the narrative of ‘anyone can do good’ doesn’t come across well through Tim because of his identity whereas characters like miles morales embody it much better. you know what I mean

Yeah no I totally get you!

Its extremely true what you said, like when I or others talk about him being created to be ‘relatable’ it still really was only for a specific demographic. I primarily bring up the ‘relatable robin’ idea when people ask about why he was able to become so popular despite being a bit more mundane compared to previous Robins/other characters (especially at his start) because like, in the 90’s when he was first getting super prominent he was definitely designed to target a young white male audience and be relatable for them, because that was what DC’s primary reader base they marketed to at the time was.

I also absolutely agree he’s not really the ideal posterchild for ‘anyone can do good/be a hero’ the way he was initially intended/marketed to be, because again… he’s only really that for such a specific demographic that’s already super catered to in superhero comics. ‘young cis white guy’ is the pretty much the least innovative path to go down when creating a character, and him now being queer is only a super recent development that was obviously not part of him at time of creation.

I think part of why I am drawn to Tim as much as I am is because I love the element to his story of ‘he got himself into all of this of his own free will/sense of duty rather than being pushed into it by tragedy like those around him, but that decision has had nasty consequences he needs to deal with and led to tragedy’ like especially in juxtaposition with the rest of the Batfam who came into everything with these severe losses and traumas, it’s just a neat contrast. But I think that if I was trying to get introduced to him/enjoy him as a character just thinking about it from a ‘he represents how anyone can be a hero/do good!’ point of view i doubt i’d like him nearly as much.

Other characters (I don’t know too much about Miles just bc I don’t really read Marvel stuff but just from like watching Into the Spider Verse I absolutely agree he’s a great example) can definitely embody that idea in a very compelling way, but with Tim I also don’t think it works as like… his selling point or anything.

#i hope this makes sense sjsjsj

[incarnateirony]

Pre-Rewatch Notes

So since I’m going to be doing a mix of in-timeline and full retrospective text value of the canon, one of the things I’d like to actually get out of the way is the Key Concepts of the eras, most explicitly Kripke and Dabb as the start and end.

The Key concepts are the single most important framework in media studies. They have evolved as a means of understanding a text by using a critical framework, rather than just making unconnected and meaningless observations. Throughout the course, you will need to refer to the Key Concepts and use the terms you learn when analysing media texts. One way to remember the Key Concepts is to use the mnemonic "RAILING". Representations, Audiences, Institutions, (Media) Language, Ideology, Narrative, Genre.

(also sometimes called MIGRAIN if using Media Language to clarify rather than spoken language)

With this as my note in front of the cut, I’m going to drop the rest behind one while I try to sort out the RAILING of the show before I even try to start establishing long term collective rewatch arguments on the canon. I do also invite some discussion on these, as in, if you feel my markers are off, or if I’m missing anything that I could probably negotiate the text.

Pulling, for my sanity, from here [x]

SO FIRST TO DEFINE:

Media Language This is how media producers communicate their ideas to the audience. Below are some examples to think about when considering media language:

Images used

Words used

Use of colour

Signs and signifiers

Connotative meaning

Use of sound

Iconography

Camera angles and picture composition

Institutions The companies who produce the media. Fox, Disney, CNN, the BBC, Warner Brothers etc will have a set of Institutional Values; beliefs on aspects of life e.g. their political stance or moral beliefs etc. Also, whether they have to make large profits for a board of directors. These institutional values will guide what their media products include. You should consider who made a particular media product and what impact this has on that product.

Genre The style of the media form.

A film could be Horror or Action.

A book could be Fantasy or Thriller.

A computer game could be RPG or Sports Simulation.

A website could be News or Social Networking.

Representation How media producers show a thing, person or group of people.

May be positive or negative.

Why have they chosen to show them in this way?

Think about the 5 w’s: who, what, where, when and why?

Audience

The people who buy and consume media.

Who are they?

What do they want from the media product?

How does the media product fulfill these wants?

Use theories such as Uses and Gratification theory.

Ideology Ties in with Institution.

What values and beliefs underpin the product?

How does this fit with the values of society?

Narrative How is the text structured?

Use Todorov’s Theory of Narrative Structure.

Use Propp’s Character Theory.

Use Strauss’ Theory of Binary Opposition

I’m going to use VERY shorthand notes on these moving forward.

So here’s what I see off the cuff:

KRIPKE ERA

Media Language Faded film stock to denote horror; darkness; emphasis on SFX like footsteps. Grim cinematic. Eventual christian imagery overlapping urban myth icons. Faded color palettes. Fairly classic color use (pink or white for femininity or purity, etc). Nostalgic classic rock/music. Nostalgia, general. Muscle cars. "Classic american masculinity." Hopelessness seeking hope.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009. Kripke, Singer. Manners. McGee. Sgriccia.

Genre Horror, survival, drama

Representation Americana, working class america, "american masculinity", fraternity; Sam and Dean vs the world with occasional help from other friends or family in the life. Metanarrative hostility to issues like queerness reflective of both time and institution at the time.

Audience Originally targeted at young/teen men (to “not be like other girl shows on the network”), became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Fraternal bonds. Arguably, family. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Rule of Cool; Christendom; Man vs Divine

GAMBLE

Media Language Film stock, brightness, saturation at fairly standard media level -- sometimes unstable. Standard cinematics. Residual christian imagery overlapping lovecraft. Decline in classic music from Kripke. Unclear or unreliable interpersonal messaging. Arguably southern gothic. Hopelessness.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2010-2011. Gamble, Singer. McGee. Sgriccia. Norman Bee. Edlund.

Genre Teen Drama, Adventure

Representation Established characters Sam and Dean. Fraternity. Sam and Dean vs the world.

Audience Originally targeted at young women, became split demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Brothers quarreling; fight monsters; I don't know. Did she know? "Everything is tragic but have some dick jokes"

Narrative Lovecraft. Does anyone know. "I need to make more episodes"

CARVER

Media Language Brightened film stock with increased saturation establishes fantasy setting. Smash cut interruptions to former grim cinematics offset more hopeful visuals. Fairly media standard lighting and color use in related fantasy cinema. Found family. Hope against hopeless odds.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2012-2014 (arguably 2015). Carver, Singer. Glass. Sgriccia.

Genre Fantasy, Adventure, drama

Representation Widened character base. Widened hero's journey arcs (castiel). Masculinity messaging of the past has not vanished, but has dampened and become less hostile to the LGBTQ and woman audience. Regular Cast widened (Crowley, Castiel)

Audience Split gender demographic. Split conservative and liberal demographic. Split age demographic from targeting vs duration. Increasingly digital demographic and marketing; begins increasing queer, poc and other audience. International boom (Netflix deal, digital 2012+). Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found Family, Hope against odds. Free Will highlighted.  Destructive or harmful relationships. Humanity. The human journey.

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, residual christianized mythos or christendom. Castiel acquires first proper hero’s journey personal arc/lens. Multiple relationships vs world, man vs world

DABB

Media Language Carries from carver; largely identical but more close-up shots and interaction shots for drama focus. Internal color pallate unique to its own while still interacting with Carver standard media pallate.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2015-2020. Dabb, Singer. Sgriccia. Buckner, Leming. S15: Berens. CW has begun rebranding into a “queer friendly” platform with unreliable results.

Genre High-fantasy, drama, arguably soap.

Representation Carries heavily from Carver, plus. Expansion of queer creatives adds queer voice to the text. Queer text manifests over time into show's canon text. Lack of metanarrative hostility has become space for queer text. Attempted routine inclusion of women, queer characters. While not a queer piece, establishes queer narrative with roots as far back as Kripke. While still maintaining strong leads, Regular Cast and other leading cast has expanded (Crowley, Castiel, Jack, other major recognizeable faces: Rowena, Wayward). It flirts with ensemble presentation without ever landing on it wholly.

Audience Split gender demographic skewing towards women. Split conservative and liberal demographic skewing towards liberal. Multiple generations of demographic from longevity. Primarily digital demographic and marketing (top 99.9% digital but a bottom live ratings performer on live TV outside of the CW); primarily queer, poc and other audience. International boom. Discussion on how these are handled will come up over the study.

Ideology Found family. hope against odds/defining the odds. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families. (finale not withstanding)

Narrative Self-established TV episodical, largely internal lore, subverting christendom and authority with alchemy or gnosticism. Optimism vs Nihilism. Contrasting ending (see: Nihilism) Campbell. Other characters, like Jack, begin claiming narrative presence like Carver era Castiel, whereas Castiel maintains or expands on his. Man vs Divine vs Man IS Divine

These will be used to address the text during the large scale rewatch.

Each era has its own parameters to best address its showrunners’ visions in. Each era will receive snapshots unto itself, or snapshots also only in regards to how it adapts to the previous text. On the other hand, as half the goal is also a full retrospective to address the complete body of the text since the show stands as a complete body of word and I shouldn’t change my tools over and over again throughout for the complete-text study the same way I will by showrunner era.

I’m going to make a PITCH on the most likely way to give this a strong reading through to prepare what targets to keep an eye on as they evolve. This may change along the way if at any point I realize the first-glance overview was wrong, but

OVERVIEW MIGRAIN

Media Language The growth from hopeless dark into vivid potential; the lost heroes still oblivious to the world, their vision distant and dark to begin. Contrast faded dark to vivid and bright as much over timeline as Carver did between shots. Consider addressing the increased interpersonal camera work that blooms in later seasons for commentary in regards to the increased interpersonal complexity and growth of the cast.

Institutions WB, CW, and the timeline of 2005-2009 as the holdover of some audience being maintained with inevitable pressures from the outside world of 2020 forcing change.

Genre Survival, drama, fantasy

Representation Americana, fraternity, family; Split Hero's Journey Narratives. Late-end queer story affirmation demands a look at the body of the text for its queer journey throughout, though the work itself should not be expected to perform as an LGBT genre work but rather a Survival-Drama-Fantasy work with queer characters. Loved ones versus external forces.

Audience Too shifting to consider in the target read anymore.

Ideology Expanding knowledge. Growing expansion of the world first to find, then surpass and subvert God--or at least their intention. The growth out of expectations of work or behavior into passions and dreams. Finding and pursuing hope. Fraternal bonds. Family, Found Family. Queerness. Hero's sacrifice for the greater good, but to find and define what that greater good is, one must know the self through the family. Free Will vs authoritative power. Psychological rebuilding*. The family journey. The family unit. Non-nuclear families.

Narrative Campbell, Hero's Journey; Occasional intertext (On the Road, Vonnegut, Lovecraft). Varied mythos, best collected and then addressed and subverted through gnostic thoughtform per the ending.

Comments, critiques, criticisms, ideas to add, things I may be missing? 

#polol #the great rewatch project #RAILING #MIGRAIN #meta

[isaacthedruid]

Steven Universe’s Representation and Music: an informal essay

As the first animated Cartoon Network show created entirely by a woman, Steven Universe’s run lasted for five seasons, a movie and a sequel-epilogue series. The show was far from perfect and its fandom wasn’t the best either but there is something so special about a show that followed lesbian space rocks and a young boy saving the world.

More specifically Steven Universe is about a young boy named Steven, who is half-Gem, half-human who protects the town of Beach City from evil. Gems are a kind of alien who take on the form of pastel-coloured women, to better assimilate with the rest of the world.

Rebecca Sugar, the creator, explains her colourful characters in a behind-the-scenes promo:

“I always dreamed of making a show that would have this mix of fantasy and reality. So, I wanted to make these fantasy characters that enjoy being with Steven as much, if not more than they enjoy being fantasy characters. The characters aren’t perfect and that’s what makes them so great.”

Steven’s family are known as the Crystal Gems, a group of rebels who fought against their government thousands of years ago and now live on earth. Steven’s mom, Rose Quartz was at the forefront of the fight, she did extremely terrible things and when she gave up her gem—-so Steven could be born—-she was left unable to form a body ever again. Steven, with only his dad and three alien women, must attempt to fix her messes and deal with the repercussions of his mother’s actions.

One of the main mechanics within the series is known as fusion, in which two or more Gems become a single being who is stronger and more powerful. The fused form takes on the physical, mental and emotional aspects of those who are part of the bond. As mentioned and discussed many times within this blog, fusions are a physical embodiment of different kinds of relationships. And for a show starring a primarily female cast, they do not shy away from using this mechanic to tell queer stories.

So explicitly that in 2018, the show had the first-ever lesbian wedding in a cartoon. Of course, representation wasn’t always as accepted in Steven Universe. Just two years before the big wedding, higher-ups at Cartoon Network told Rebecca Sugar, they not happy with the multiple queer relationships, so much so that they were ready to threaten cancellation.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she expressed:

“If this is going to cost me my show that’s fine because this is a huge injustice and I need to be able to represent myself and my team through this show and anything less would be unfair to my audience.”

Being LGBT herself, identifying as bisexual and non-binary, representation is important to her. For many queer people, especially grown-ups, they hope to see themselves represented in kids’ media today as they never had growing up. They want nothing more for children’s shows to say that being “different” or not fitting in with our heteronormative society is actually normal.

Within Steven Universe, you can find woman-loving-woman relationships, non-binary and intersex characters, woman-loving-non-binary relationships, asexual coded characters and basically every other letter in the acronym.

Rebecca Sugar even acted as the exciting force for LGBT inclusion within Adventure Time, originally working as a writer and storyboard artist before leaving to create her own show. She pushed for making the ex-romantic queer couple to be canonically part of the story and for it to not just coded into the dialogue.

A few years later, she returned to the show, multiple times, to compose over 20 songs that would air over the series 10-year-long run such as, “I’m Just Your Problem” which had lesbian subtext that would be confirmed later.

Some other iconic songs including “Fry Song“, “Remember You“, “Good Little Girl“, “Everything Stays” and even the finale song, “Time Adventure“.

Much like the show as a whole, there is something so special about the music she writes. In total, there were over 160 songs written for the franchise, some being short little tunes, no longer than a minute while others were full-blown musical numbers. No matter, all of them have their place within the show. Often when the character can’t express lines through speech, music is utilized to provide a more raw and poignant portrayal of their emotions.

Why Steven Universe is so widely loved is due to the music, as the overall story is not even close to perfect. Yet, everyone can agree on one thing, the music is unbelievably good. What is interesting is the different styles of melodies and backtracking used in the various songs, even more impressive is that every character has their own instrumental motif.

Steven’s motif is the ukelele as he is often seen playing the instrument himself, performing short little melodies and even writing the in-show version of the theme song. Additionally, Steven’s music uses a large amount of Chiptune synth, electronic music which is created using a programmable sound generator. Both instruments have a very childlike feeling to them, Chiptune especially as it is normally used in video game music like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, one of the main musical inspirations for the show. As Steven is the lead, most of the music has Chiptune somewhere in the score and fun fact, the first song in the show, sung by Steven, “Cookie Cat” was actually written on an old Gameboy.

Amethyst is very loud and fun, her motif is electric drums which is extremely reflective of her character. As she can be angry from convincing herself that she is not good enough to happy and giggling from pranking Steven, her instrument can be used in so many ways as she is not a simple character. No matter what, for the few songs Amethyst has on her own (or in the score), her drums provide such an interesting emotional response to the situation.

Garnet is a fusion, so her motif is actually the combination of two instruments. Ruby is a drumbeat as she is a fiery and loud character, she is chaotic while Sapphire is her opposite. Sapphire is calm and collected, she has ice-related powers and is represented by Synth music. The characters together have a perfect unity, expressed by Garnet’s synth bass sounds, she is the equilibrium of two very contrasting characters. The music associated with Garnet, uses primarily the synth bass but Ruby and Sapphire’s individual instruments can be heard throughout her music. All three instruments are also heavily representative as Garnet’s main dancing style is Hip Hop which clashing with others’ softer dancing styles.

Despite, not being alive during the show, Rose Quartz still has her own musical motif as she plays a large part in Steven’s growth throughout the series. As well as being in many flashbacks, she is represented with strings, more specifically, the violin. Rose’s story is rather sad which quite is visible within her associated music, yet, she was also an extremely powerful character as she led the fight against the Homeworld government. Her strength can be heard with strong uplifts and swells in the music. She is never seen playing an instrument unlike the rest of the main characters but one person who plays hers is Pearl, a character Rose was possibly in love with.

For the complex and beautiful character, Pearl, her motif is classical and swing piano. She is visually represented as a ballerina for a large majority of the series, dressed in a leotard, a small skirt and ballet shoes. Apart from Garnet, she is one of the calmest characters in the show. She is a perfectionist and is knowledgeable on many topics. She has a dark past and her fair share of trauma, all of this is wrapped up in her music. From her traumatic past with Rose Quartz, the violin had been heard throughout her music, yet, when she finally dealt with everything, the violin was lost. Swapped out for a new instrument, a bass guitar which she learned how to play at the end of the series. Pearl is a character who has been through a lot and her music reflects it. As she grew, her music changed with her, becoming her own instead of something built off of Rose’s.

My personal favourite song is “It’s Over Isn’t It?” which is this heartwrenching and emotionally painful ballad sung by a broken woman. Pearl was in love with Steven’s mom. Yet, the feelings were not mutual or at least ended being reciprocated as Rose left her for Greg, Steven’s dad. It hurts because Rose didn’t just leave her, Rose Quartz also passed away. As the song goes:

That they didn’t really matter until you I was fine when you came And we fought like it was all some silly game Over her, who she’d choose After all those years, I never thought I’d lose … You won and she chose you and she loved you and she’s gone It’s over, isn’t it? Why can’t I move on? … Who am I now in this world without her? Petty and dull with the nerve to doubt her What does it matter? It’s already done Now I’ve got to be there for her son

Without Rose, Pearl has lost her place in the world as all she ever knew was her. Yet, now she is left to help raise a half-human baby and go on with her life. It makes it more difficult as this baby is the product of Rose and the man that she left Pearl for.

Pearl doesn’t want to hate Greg, she is angry at him but she doesn’t have hatred towards him. They may not be the best of pals at the start of the series but in the song called “Both of You“ has Steven, finally, begging for Greg and Pearl to just talk to each other.

Why don’t you talk to each other? Why don’t you talk to each other? Just give it a try Why don’t you talk about what happened? … You might not believe it but you got a lot in common, you really do You both love me and I love both of you … I know you both need it Someone who knows what you’re going through

An interesting thing about this song is that Steven is this to them, the person with Rose’s gem is singing to the two people who fought over Rose. It makes me wonder if this could be Rose speaking through Steven to her two loved ones. Whether it is or not, doesn’t really matter to the overall story but it is a fun idea to look at.

Overall, these songs are a literal representation of dealing with ones’ emotions in a healthy way, something that Steven Universe actively tries to teach their younger viewers about.

To say Steven Universe is a good show only for its music would be a false statement, it’s one of the strongest aspects but without the story or the characters, the music would fall flat and not have any of its passion.

#isaac rambles #steven universe #lgbt #steven universe music #cartoons #cartoon network #rebecca sugar #cartoon review