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lttleghost · 1 year

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The Thematic Relevance of Jesse Pinkman as an Egg 🏳️‍⚧️

(I wrote this analysis awhile back and wanted to make a fresh post to update it!)

While not intentional, there is a lot in Breaking Bad that supports reading Jesse as an egg. This reading of Jesse has a lot of thematic and narrative relevance and also doesn't create any conflicts with the canon material. Jesse being someone who hasn’t realized he’s not actually a man yet could quite literally be canon.

This analysis is heavily based around parallels between Jesse’s character development and what Breaking Bad thematically associates with gender. It’s also heavily interconnected with the show's overarching theme of change, and also, at least for our two main characters of Walt and Jesse, the revealing of true self. There’s plenty of evidence that each of them already had the traits we see them with at the end of Breaking Bad. Jesse being this very kind and compassionate young adult and Walt being this egotistical monster.

But I would consider Walt's self-deception to be more shallow than Jesse’s self deception. While Walt did end up in a lifestyle that was opposed to who he truly was, he consciously knew what he wanted to some extent, whereas Jesse fully convinced himself that he was a different person than the one he truly is because he never really got the chance to actually figure out much about himself.

There are a lot of examples of Jesse’s disconnected sense of self throughout the show, but the first one that comes to mind has to do with his superhero OCs-

EDIT: YO! if you find video essays more engaging than reading a bunch of text, this analysis now also comes in video form [link]

I think that Jane’s observation that all of them looked like Jesse was, in fact, correct. I wouldn’t consider him doing this as a conscious decision but I feel that he almost admits it. After initially denying that his OCs looked like him and after Jane affectionately teases him he ends up saying to her “like you never wanted a superpower.” And while you could interpret this as just a response to her teasing, I’m convinced that there’s an additional layer to it. Especially because when Jane leaves to check the door, there's a moment where Jesse looks at the sketchbook with his drawings and it seems like he’s considering something, and I’d bet you anything that what he’s thinking about is whether or not he had actually drawn himself and this is REALLY interesting since-

Jesse is a criminal right? And while superheroes themselves are technically criminals as well, as vigilante justice isn’t actually legal, they’re still typically known to be ‘crime fighters’, and Jesse describes his characters as being such. So with his OCs subconsciously being depictions of himself and them being superheroes (crime fighters) and his current life as a criminal, you get the image of someone who doesn’t know who he is or what he wants deep down.

There’s no way that Jesse’s current delinquent lifestyle was his truly… preferred path. It’s much more likely it was the only thing he thought he could do successfully. It’s evidently been the one thing he’s made a decent living off of. He has no support from his parents, and doesn’t seem like he has had it since he was a highschooler. Jesse is shown to have no support outside of the drug trade. Most of his personal skills and interests are artistic or honestly domestic in a world that assigns more value to academics and he’s a highschool graduate who doesn’t have any job experience.

I also believe Jesse is very aggressively ADHD coded, and the combination of having virtually no support, struggling with addiction, and having undiagnosed and improperly self medicated ADHD would make slogging through any “respectable” job that he has access to, or any job that his parents might encourage him to do, unbearable.

So the drug trade was his best bet, Jesse even views cooking meth as a form of art, something that he’s passionate about.

I can’t in good faith ignore that doing something that is... generally frowned upon, didn’t factor into what Jesse chose to do on some level, as society and the structures that it’s built on failed him and there’s an inherent sense of rebellion that often forms in a person when they’re failed like that. Granted, superheroes also tend to often contain some commentary on societies failings as well. Jesse just couldn’t actually be a real-life superhero. So with the few benefits it had in practice compared to any other job, Jesse played into the rest of the role of a criminal, and convinced himself that the aspects of it that conflicted with his personality... didn’t, probably without even noticing.

Even more to this disconnect; When Jane asks “and that’s a superpower?” in response to Jesse explaining Backwardo’s powers Jesse responds with “come on, I was a kid when I drew these, it was like four years ago.” And Jesse is 24 years old in that scene, meaning that he would’ve been 20 when he drew these characters, and when I first wrote this analysis I was wondering whether or not Jesse had gotten involved with the drug trade other than buying drugs by that time, but there wasn’t really anything I could confirm any theories with.

But now I've got the Better Call Saul episode “Waterworks” where Jesse has his second cameo, where he is in fact, 20, and in that cameo Jesse accompanying Emilio, a person we know is his partner in cooking meth, to Saul’s office makes me certain he’s in it by that point. And I just have to wonder if Jesse’s superheroes were almost a… subconscious vent, a manifestation of how being a criminal in the specific way Jesse is, is not what he wants. Something that suggests that Jesse’s actual identity and his current view of his identity don’t line up.

Another thing to point out about the cameo that could be seen as additional evidence of Jesse’s discomfort with being more than just a customer of the drug trade is that he was hanging out outside of Saul’s office, and until Kim gave him one he didn't have a cigarette, so he wasn’t out there to smoke. And while there could be other explanations to why he was outside on his own, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say, other than just his general skepticism of Saul, he was just not particularly jazzed to be where he was at that moment and not comfortable going inside.

So relating all of this to gender; that narrative of convincing yourself that you are the person that you’re supposed to be for your best chance of survival instead of being able to truly be yourself already works pretty strongly as an allegory for being trans. But to add onto that even more, thematically Breaking Bad associates “manhood” with the drug trade in one way or another, and paralleling how Jesse realizes he doesn’t fit into the drug trade like he thought he did with how he might not be a cis man like he thought he was makes for a really solid queer reading.

The whole show is pretty explicitly about toxic masculinity. Obviously in real life masculinity and manhood do not have to be toxic, and in Breaking Bad’s original intended story Jesse is a cis man who ends up not fitting into those toxic ideas of manhood.

Things that the rest of the male cast don’t blink at or at least have more mild reactions to, just tear Jesse apart. He’s also targeted at least a couple of times for having emotional vulnerability that is considered to be “not manly”. It’s much easier to point out the differences between him and the male cast than it is to point out similarities between them and this just gets more pronounced the longer the show goes on. He doesn’t really have any positive ties to being a man and I don’t think we can say we ever see Jesse actually reclaim his own sense of manhood. And I think that lack of reclamation gives even more legitimacy to the reading that, along with leaving the drug trade and all of its toxic masculinity bullshit behind, maybe Jesse just leaves behind being a man altogether, and maybe it was something that wasn’t really ever a true part of him, just like his life as a criminal.

Even at the start of the series Jesse’s attempts at hyper-masculinity come off as really goofy and performative. In episode one Krazy-8 mentions that Emilio thinks that Jesse might’ve ratted on him Jesse first has a much more genuine response of “that’s bullshit” which makes sense with his strong character trait of being loyal, but then he goes to say “I should kick his punk ass for even thinking that.” and it just sounds like fake bravado to me. There’s no way Jesse actually thinks he stands a chance against Emilio since Jesse has a body type that resembles a small bird and there's no way he has that little self awareness. He's just playing out a script that wasnt even well thought through, and while some of his other performances of masculinity don’t come across as that fake, there aren’t many that feel like they actually come from Jesse himself, they just feel like something that he just thinks he should do.

And while not every experience with men Jesse has is negative, there always seems to be some distance between him and the men he does have good relationships with. Jesse forms a parent-child type relationship with Mike that is healthier than any other he’s had up to that point other than probably his aunt, but there’s a part of Jesse that Mike never seems to fully get. When Jesse doesn’t want Lydia to be killed Mike says that 'this woman deserves to die as much as any man' and I think he misses that Jesse just still isn’t that keen on killing people even with everything he’s gotten involved with. Even if there are some acts of violence and even some people’s deaths he is fine with and thinks are justified, Jesse never fully adapts to “the job” the way Mike does, and Mike is just not quite able to understand that, or at least not why.

Jesse and his friends have a distance between them as well. Though they’re arguably not as entrenched in toxic masculinity as any of the other prominent men in the show are, and aren’t nearly as involved in the violence of dealing drugs despite being in the trade. Yet still Jesse’s interactions with them most of the time feel different and more withdrawn than their interactions with each other. Like Jesse really wants their presence and company and wants to fit in but there ends up being something that he can’t connect with alongside them, and this also gets more prominent as the show progresses. There’s parts where Jesse seems to be withholding how badly his “high rank” in the drug trade is affecting him when Pete and Badger seem to sort of idolize him for it and want in on it. I think Jesse sort of considers saying something to them about it, but he hesitates and doesn’t. He repeatedly doesn’t confide in them even though, while his friends do perform some facets of hyper-masculinity, they don’t really seem to target or reject vulnerability in the way most of the other men in Breaking Bad do. And Jesse’s distance from even the more harmless side of the male cast makes it feel like it’s not just the toxic masculinity that he’s disconnected from.

Jesse’s relationships with women even further separate him from the men of the show. His romantic relationships with Jane and Andrea read much more as relationships between equals, compared to Walt and Skyler or Hank and Marie. While Jesse does throw the “nice job wearing the pants in the family” insult at Walt in episode two of the first season, after Skyler almost caught him moving Emilio’s body, in Jesse’s own relationships he never actually tries to take control and doesn’t have any problem with Jane honestly being the person making more active choices for the both of them in their relationship, which Walt comments on by throwing that same “nice job wearing the pants” insult back at Jesse.

Another interesting thing found within Jesse’s relationship with Jane that ties them to specific gender roles happens after Jane doesn’t really introduce him to her father. Jesse asks about it and after a bit this Jane ends up saying “What am I supposed to say? Hey dad, meet the stoner guy who lives next door and by the way I’m sleeping with him?” and Jesse replies “Is that all you think you’re doing?”

It’s been pretty common for “the guy” to be considered as the one who sees a relationship as just being sex and “the girl” to see it as being romantic, and this is a very very dumb aspect of traditional western gender roles that this scene even has to subvert, but I think in the context of Breaking Bad’s dealings with gender roles the fact that Jesse is put in the role much more typically associated with women could be viewed as significant. And this significance can be extended to the show’s most prominent dynamic, dealing with the relationship between abusive men and women, Jesse is a victim. I’m not implying men can’t be victims of other men's abuse, but it does make Jesse easier to associate with women in the story, and while the narrative association comes from a negative place, the negativity is directed towards men. But the connection it forms between Jesse and women is a sense of camaraderie and even comfort, at least on Jesse’s side.

and with those connections with women I’d say the most accurate egg interpretation of Jesse is that she’s specifically transfeminine in some way.

I think in this analysis its important to specifically examine Jesse's journey with gender questioning as I think it follows the rest of the ups and downs in her learning more about herself in the resr of her character arc. My personal interpretation of Jesse is that she is a non medically transitioning nonbinary transfem person. The not medically transitioning bit is largely because I enjoy bringing attention to the existence of no-med no-op trans people and to push the point that not seeking medical transition doesnt make a person any less trans, though I do feel that since Jesse's relationship with gender is focused on the societal side of gender roles that don't really relate to physical form that it's a reasonable interpretation that she may not medically transition. I think she uses he/him and she/her pronouns, and is maybe a futch lesbian. I’m saying all of this because it'll be the lens through which I’ll be talking about Jesse’s journey with questioning his gender and how that progresses during the timeline of Breaking Bad. However I don’t claim this to be the only version of transfem Jesse that works with my analysis, or that it's necessarily better than any others that do work. I’ll also be mentioning concepts of “offscreen” additional scenes. That being said, if you’re someone who likes to stick 100% to the text given to us, the “offscreen” scenes aren’t exactly necessary for this interpretation to work as a part of the existing story as the general emotions behind them still stand.

I don’t picture Jesse as having any definable Gender (™) experiences when he was younger other than just a general sense of not belonging, though gender wouldn’t be the only thing playing into that. But as Jesse got older and struggled more, he started to purposefully play the part of what he saw as “a man” to survive in the only role that he thought he could. I see the thought “I wish I didn’t have to be a man” crossing his mind every so often though. I think he just deals with his place in the world for awhile, but after Walt enters the scene and Jesse experiences shit he really didn’t bargain for because of his old teacher, someone who is settling into a personification of toxic masculinity, Jesse’s frustration with being a man becomes more prominent and harder to ignore internally.

In my opinion Jane is the person that helped him start to solidify what exactly those thoughts were indicating. Her approach to relationships would be considered not traditionally cishet, and so is the way she presents herself in general, so I think Jane has some sort of knowledge about the complexities of gender, if she isn't actually queer herself in some way.

And she’s one of the only people we see Jesse truly, truly open up to and so I think at some point later in their relationship Jesse might actually say something about wishing she wasn’t a man around Jane, and I can see Jane saying that Jesse doesn't have to be a man if she doesn't want to be.

But then Jane dies, and I think as a result of that and the lesson Jesse learned from rehab “I’m the bad guy” he goes into just total repression mode. Embodying this new belief Jesse very much dips into the hyper-masculine behavior of the drug trade, he is much more concerned with money beyond paying bills and having nice things, and he plans to do the one thing in the entire show that makes me truly angry at him because of this whole thing, attempting to sell drugs to the rehab group. I don’t think he would’ve ever thought of doing something like that before. He’s trying very hard to be something that’s even further from his actual nature than we’ve seen up until this point.

Part of Jesse’s grief over losing Jane, a person who he confided in probably more than anyone else at that point, was to just completely close up, even to himself. Forget all of those parts of himself that resisted the rougher aspects of the drug trade he was getting dragged into and definitely forget about wondering if he really is a man or not.

At least until meeting Andrea and Brock, which snaps him out of that “I’m the bad guy” mindset, but by that time I think just, too much starts to happen for Jesse to have much time to question her gender. I wouldn’t consider her to be as actively repressing any sort of “I wish I wasn’t a man” thoughts but the amount of turmoil and danger that she’s in, just really really doesn’t lend itself to that sort of gender introspection as much.

I’ve got some additional thoughts on Jesse’s journey with gender that are more headcanons than actual analysis of the show so I didn’t include them in the text above. But I still really wanted to share because I like them and think that they really add to the analysis, so here they are;

I mentioned that I don’t think that Jesse had any particularly notable moments that might’ve suggested that she was trans when she was younger other than feeling out of place, but maybe he did have some interest in playing with “girls stuff” and her parents discouraged it because as we know they’re the shitty type of people who value their child being “normal” at the price of that child’s happiness, but I can also see her being one of those kids who just didn’t even grasp the differences between boys and girls stuff for a longer time than others, or I can even see Jesse’s last connection to the "male" side of gender being from when she was a little boy, before he was aware of the concept of what being a man was, and that it would be expected of her.

But later, in his adulthood, after the idea and pressures of "manhood" became very present in his life, one of the more certain instances of gender questioning I picture Jesse having is at some point while hanging out with Badger, Pete and Combo, Jesse screws around and puts on a dress. And he's like “haha I look like such a queer don’t I?” but is internally thinking something more along the lines of “ I will die before I tell anyone how this makes me feel” (that being that it makes him feel happy).

And then, as we enter into the timeline of the show itself; when Jane first tells Jesse that he doesn’t have to be a man if he doesn’t want to, I don’t actually think that Jesse would be receptive of it at first. I think it’s more likely that he’d decide he suddenly doesn’t want to have this discussion anymore and change the subject. Jesse would still have the misconception that you need to medically transition or at least be required to fit some sort of ‘criteria’ to be trans, instead of just identifying as a different gender than your assigned sex, and I think that would play some role in his not wanting to talk about possibly being trans. And even more because, while he could opt out of telling anyone that he’s trans, Jesse’s in a world in general that isn’t trans-friendly, but the drug trade he’s in specifically is very lgbtq-phobic. Jesse himself is definitely gonna have some internalized transphobia, we’ve seen his homophobia, and I definitely read that as a result of his environment rather than actual hatred considering at Jesse’s true core he’s a pretty caring person. But there are definitely people in the drug trade who would be violently homophobic and transphobic, and Jesse would know that, and would probably perceive even realizing that he is trans to be a threat to his safety. But, later on, further into her relationship with Jane I think she’d open up, even if only to Jane.

And that’s what I like to focus on the most with this analysis, all of the happiness and freedom and healing that Jesse gets to feel detaching himself from manhood, something that honestly contributed so much to every part of his suffering. And god does this girl deserve some happiness.

Then when for the most part too much is going on for Jesse to consider whether or not he’s trans, I still sometimes think of a situation where Jesse might’ve suggested? Her gender questioning to Mike, and while I don’t think Mike’s personal reaction would be technically negative, I think he’d tell Jesse to ‘please not share that with anyone else kid’. Which would be discouraging to Jesse, and she’d quickly backtrack, some because of the reaction on its own but also because he really already knows that it’d be stupid to say anything to anyone else, but it’s not until Jesse’s really free from the drug trade that she can finally crack that egg. I really like to think about the comfort and relief Jesse would get to feel no longer having to try and be a man, cause she finally realizes that she isn’t one.

#breaking bad #jesse pinkman #jesse breaking bad #trans jesse pinkman #queer analysis #breaking bad analysis #brba #jesse brba #this is my girlfriend don't touch him #meat.txt #this is a shortened and edited bit of my video essay script #i just like.... HAD to update my inital text analysis while im working on figuring out how to successfully record my video #cause the old one is so jumbled and stufff #or it feels jumbled to me now at least

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parasauro · 9 months

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AN ANGEL, A DEMON, AND A PLATE OF ROAST MEAT - QUEER INTIMACY IN GOOD OMENS’ “A COMPANION TO OWLS”

Spoilers for S2 EP 2 of Good Omens below the cut!

A “Companion to Owls”, the minisode pertaining to the second episode of the second season of Good Omens, brings us a significant reveal in that Crowley was the one to introduce Aziraphale to food. Deftly using the audience’s foreknowledge to bring illuminating tenderness to an otherwise simple scene, Aziraphale discovers the bliss of human food while hiding out an overhead storm. The scene plays out reminiscent of Hades and Persephone, a temptation and entrapment through food presented underground, or in this case a cellar. A more Christian-aligned interpretation of the scene lies in the particular observation that Crowley tempts Aziraphale into an innocuous bite that swiftly becomes an act of gluttony- a deadly sin not unlike the Garden. Just as humanity got quite a lot out of the whims of Crowley’s temptations, Aziraphale’s very first experience with food, which he comes to love deeply in arguable moderation, was an act of indulgence and gluttony. At a defining moment in his relationship with Heaven, his love for human food is not only contrary to the behavior of an angel, but sinful in itself.

Since the act of Aziraphale eating is doubly characterized as a deviant behavior, it bears credence to analyze how this scene fits into the broader themes inherent to Aziraphale and Crowley’s queerness. Throughout the first season, Good Omen’s themes of ostracization, divergence from expectation, rejection of the accepted, and a connection transcendent of standard human definition permeate the queer experience. Both Crowley and Aziraphale have been consistently coded alongside the queer expressions of the various eras they’ve lived through. In relation to each other, Crowley is arguably more experienced in the then-seedier parts of Soho and the elements of queer life that entailed. Aziraphale doesn’t lag far behind, but his experience lies solidly with a different crowd of queer folk. Contextualized within their continuing relationship to queerness, the scene in the cellar takes on an additional interpretation. In the simplest terms available that preserve the content of the scene: Crowley offers Aziraphale his meat, and Aziraphale gobbles it down.

Blunt, but accurate.

In a more nuanced discussion, queer intimacy on film has historically necessitated deep coding and subtextual theming to convey representation. While contemporary queer film has seen significant bounds in this regard, the long canon of coded queer intimacy has remained a staple of queer storytelling. Among the most commonly coded activities is eating, ostensibly a quotidian task with romantic and even sensual connotations depending on the people involved- thus the discussion of this scene. In the act of presenting Aziraphale with a plate of food, Crowley takes on an introductory and mentor-like role, stewarding Aziraphale into an experience familiar to himself but novel to his companion. Aziraphale reacts in a manner of initial repulsion at the temptation, to concession to his desire and curiosity, to performance of expected disgust, and finally to uninhibited indulgence. Beat-by-beat, this sequence in the cellar follows the rhythm of an experienced queer person guiding someone’s “first time”. Notably, this scene is intense and invokes a strange sense of voyeuristic discomfort, but remains a non-sexual display of intimacy, adhering to many fans’ (myself included) interpretation of Aziraphale and Crowley as asexual and exploring what non-sexual modes of intimacy look like. As Aziraphale eats, Crowley holds the plate and watches with a smug smile on his face– Aziraphale has accepted and is now joyously partaking in the nonconformist behavior he discovered long ago.

Even beyond this particular scene, the pairing’s frequent outings are frequently justified by a “temptation” to lunch, dinner, or a drink often initiated by Aziraphale (e.g. Aziraphale “tempting” Crowley to try oysters in Rome, and Aziraphale “tempting” Crowley to “a spot of lunch” after switching back corporations as the most explicit examples). As such, the act of eating remains an act of intimacy between the two, if nothing more than a pretense to spend more time in each other’s company while hiding their true sentiments from Above and Below.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #go s2 #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #s2ep2 #a companion to owls #neil gaiman #good omens spoilers #ineffable husbands #queer theory #queer analysis #film analysis

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figcookie01 · 7 months

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some queer and misc. analysis of trish una

im not sure if everyone saw my addition on this post here proposing the theory that bucciarati is a "parental" character in a non-traditional and queer sense, but i wanted to continue that discussion by talking about trish now.. since to me, she has what could be described as araki's first attempt at a true character arc for a female character, who simultaneously has elements that read like queer self-actualization that we watch unfold throughout the story.

for the purposes of this analysis, what is important to recognize about trish's introduction is how she is figuratively (team bucciaratis mission to protect her will get them closer to giorno/bucciaratis goals) and literally (his only known relative and identifiable factor at the start) linked to her father; she loses her mother (loving supportive family), is thrust into a horrifying world out to harm her for factors beyond her control, and is expected to blindly trust her father and by extension his men assigned to protect her. its no wonder she is so guarded, but my point here is how this establishes trish as starting off vulnerable and uncertain of the world she's inadvertently embroiled in beyond her safe upbringing with her mother.

nevertheless, trish is repeatedly described as having the willpower to figure these things out for her own sake, and a tenacity for these frightening events (la squadra's attacks) beyond that on the average person. both giorno and abbacchio mention it at different points (although abbacchios line is changed to narancias in the anime).

perhaps the most notable early example of her gumption is what she first says at the end of the grateful dead/beach boy fight. although bucciarati is not at liberty to answer her questions about both why she is being attacked, and also what the truth about these strange powers are.

however, id argue this is in line with what has been previously established for bucciarati's character to say; that it is up to trish herself to determine what these things mean, especially if they are related to her intrinsic identity.

this continues once they arrive in venice at the church, where we get to see trish's human vulnerability and fear. something i find particularly interesting is that, above all else, she is afraid of the uncertainty about what her father will be like and her personal fate.

this was one of the original things i wanted to talk about under a queer reading; for a queer person to come out to their family, there sometimes may be a concern about alienation of self. that is, coming out may, figuratively and literally, feel like you are revealing an entire side or life you live that they know nothing about. it may be about seeking approval from those who are, in many cases, a major part of life and your upbringing; she wants this week from hell to be over so she can return to some semblance of normalcy as herself, and her father is her only hope for this then.

something of particular note that bucciarati responds with is the probability that she will be given an entire new identity and forced to uproot even further, separated in even her most fundamental identity from the life she once led for the sake of her fathers comfort. even before the horrific reception her father gives her, trishs chances of being accepted as she is and loved are poor, a matter that might be incredibly common for people who try to express who they really are to unwelcoming families.

in trishs case, diavolo has literally never met her at all in any capacity, nor was he present in her upbringing; there is an extra factor of blind faith she must put into him. but he is the only biological "family" shes got; we will talk about nontraditional families and team bucciarati in a moment.

for this reason, bucciarati assures her (whether it is of his own doomed naivety or something else entirely) that a family will love you no matter what, because thats what they do. its a value that, up until that next moment, was something he himself had complete faith in.

as the rest of this arc shows though, that wasnt the case for trish, and never would be.

the events at san giorgio are the turning point for the entirety of vento aureo, with trish at the center of it all. and while this analysis is focused on trish, i wanted to include how it is also an earth-shattering moment for bucciarati, now faced with the culminating reality that the boss never gave a shit about family in the first place, and was only after his selfish desire to be unknowable. his attempted murder of his innocent civilian daughter invokes, to me, the needless cruelty some unaccepting families may have towards their children upon coming out or other realization that their child is both related to them, but not in a way they deem acceptable.

while it is laid out rather straightforwardly, this needless cruelty from biological family is relatable enough to change narancias mind and follow bucciarati after he betrays the gang; cementing once more that the only bonds of trust these characters have are with one another, since not even their biological families will care for them, let alone society.

at the restaurant in venice, narancia is still fearful about how trish will receive this absolute rejection, but her reception is surprisingly determined.

in the past, ive seen this scene used as the real point where trish as a female character finally comes into her own as a person, but as we previously established, she really had it in her all along, and it was only put to the test then (more on her innate courage in a moment).

trish, like the rest of team bucciarati, has no choice but to persist as she is, to exist as her own person even if all the odds are against her. not only this, but she tentatively decides to join in bucciaratis cause, a move that she explains as just to find her own origins or die trying. at this point, her motive might be concerned only with herself, but throughout the notorious BIG fight, that matter changes.

aboard the plane to sardinia, trish grapples with the willingness of team bucciarati to pursue diavolo, even after they no longer are required to protect her. i would say this is when she begins to feel comradery with the team and their cause to exist boldly in the face of someone all-powerful (diavolo) who wishes they were dead, rather than just being someone or something reduced to a secondary role (although how shes treated after this fight is another story...)

the moment trish realizes that she alone can save giorno (and therefore, the entirety of the team), she is struck with the final dilemma of whether or not she wants to get involved with all of these things on the front lines. she decides she does, without being fully conscious of it, because of the courage now awakened and manifested in-full as her stand, spice girl.

spice girl is unique as a stand for being one of the few that seems to have her own consciousness, although it really is a part of trishs consciousness that was always a part of her, now fully realized in literal, physical form.

the courage required for her stand to now fully manifest was in her all along, and under a queer lens this could be likened to a person now being able to live authentically as they are, the incongruity mostly solved now that she has grown as a person and has a (support) group/system of those who have had similar experiences.

notorious BIG concludes with trish delivering her own beatdown and saving all of the team, seeming to fully cement her as a force to be reckoned with within the jojo universe and her nuanced personhood that had been building this entire time.

all this in mind, this isnt to say that trish's character doesnt feel stunted by araki after this point, for no other reason than misogyny. her destruction rank-A level stand and fighting prowess is forgotten after they arrive in sardinia, and during the green day/oasis fight she is conveniently relegated to the caretaker position for narancia, even if giorno is the "healer" and her own stand stronger than his in combat. i would argue the biggest injustice towards trish as a fully fledged character was the enforcement of these stereotypically feminine roles on a character who, as weve just discussed, has learned to be confident, courageous, and unapologetically herself throughout the entirety of vento aureo.

when i first set out to write this post, i was concerned with talking about trish from an almost entirely queer angle. it evolved, then, into something much more full-bodied, with that being simply one lens you can apply to her character arc.

id love to discuss these things (and the stuff in my bucciarati analysis) at greater lengths, and also want to say that despite writing this over a period of time, i may have messed up my wording or made points that seem like reaches... none of this is meant to speak for the experiences of any real person, and are rather generalizations. i hope that regardless of these things, more people can see vento aureo for the narrative value i really think it has, especially to the queer fanbase who, including myself, may relate heavily to the subtextual experiences depicted.

special thanks to @fur-bee for going through this with me and giving me key insights and for my other friends to proofread and such :D

#trish una #vento aureo #jjba #writing #queer analysis #idk what to tag as... hmm lots of thoughts here #also sorry some panels have a black line at the top? my screenshot program does that sometimes

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soft-tender-emotional-music · 5 months

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okay say queerbaiting or milkvan endgame all you want but i have yet to see any plausible heterosexual explanation for the following

- the airport hug

he was happy to hug will in season 3 and happy to hug lucas in season 4. when the entirety of the show has made it clear that mike and will share the more profound bond (destiel iykyk) out of the party it makes no sense for him to not want to hug him- unless it’s because of his queer realisations atm

- ‘we’re friends, WE’RE FRIENDS’

um it is simply not plausible that mike clocked wills feelings enough to say this yet didn’t pick up what he was putting down in the van speech. bffr mike was absolutely on the defensive here, mans was trying to convince himself

- mike looking at eddie

you’re telling me you watched the scene in episode one where eddie has his ‘if you’re inTo baNd’ speech and still think mike isn’t a homo? he has a lil fanboy crush on eddie and none shall convince me otherwise

- mikes reaction to el kissing him and i love you too

there is no heterosexual reason for him to look so taken aback and distressed after her kiss and her saying she loves him too. the music and els face all suggest a beautiful moment of love but mikes face looks shocked completely contrasting this. esp contrasted against his face at ‘what if you wanna join another party’ and considering his face when he hugs karen at the end of s3. up till then he had made no effort to try and rekindle their relationship but still wanted to see her and talk to her while she was away. ur gonna look at me and ur gonna tell me that i’m wrong

- ‘i care for you so much’

yes i understand that some people have trouble saying i love you- as we see with nancy and steve. bUt the way this is framed in this scene makes it feel queer. he is deflecting he says he cares for her but can’t say he loves her. this is why i’m a gay mike truther this feels like he’s trying so hard to be someone he’s not but he’s reached his limit. he can’t truly say he loves her until under so much duress and pressure. even when he first said ily in season 3 was just a slip up and significance was only given to the words through everyone else’s reactions, not mikes own reaction.

- ‘mrs byers has this new job, mikes always complaining about it’

im sure i butchered this quote but we KNOW him and el only talked on walkies because she couldn’t talk on the phone for dead of the government figuring out she was alive. this line proves mike called plenty and he can only have been calling to talk to will. while yes it is feasible that he was calling as friends, why wouldn’t he say something? leaving this revelation until the last season makes it significant, and therefore makes it romantic and queer.

- shared looks

do i even need to explain. their looks are just fucking gay. especially that one in season 3 where wills like he’s here and mike just keeps staring at him for a good while

- the emphasis on lucas and mikes friendship

they make clear in season 1 that lucas is mikes best friend by mikes convo with dustin. and in season three their status as best friends is made clear because they relate and complain to each other all the time. then WHY throughout the WHOLE show is mike and wills bond given the most focus??? season 1 will is mikes motivation, season 2 he is his priority, season 3 they have an important arc and season 4 they have ups and downs but ultimately their relationship is regarded as most important- they are the only two from the original party who have consistently been paired together. dustin and lucas were both in the hawkins crew but were always in separate groups. there is no heterosexual reason to make clear who mikes best friend js then spend 4 seasons focused on his relationship with will.

- framing

there is no heterosexual reason to frame him in a closet at the milkvan season 3 kiss. there is no heterosexual reason to put a one way sign pointing to his closet. there is no heterosexual reason to pair him and will in the closing shot alongside two other endgame couples. need i say more.

- blue and yellow

obviously this colour symbolism is undeniable at this point. whether or not ppl believe it symbolises their relationship or just their characters, it’s clear that will is yellow and mike is blue. there’s a reason we barely see green clothing or lighting. there’s a reason mikes bouquet to el had purple (her colour) but too much yellow (will). there’s a reason their flannels always have hints of the other persons colour.

- will as mikes priority

instead of coming crawling back to el for forgiveness in s3 he goes to will. he says his life started when he found el (a lie like the rest of that speech) yet when will went missing he only cared about him. all of season 2 showed that he loves will so much he wouldn’t leave his side ever.

i have many other opinions about why milkvan endgame would completely undermine so many messages of the show but yeah i’ll stop for now

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #mike wheeler i know what you are #st analysis #stranger things 4 #stranger things 3 #stranger things 2 #byler analysis #st symbolism #queer analysis #that boy is gay and i really believe that

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catwouthats · 6 months

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“Why are you getting more and more confident about lokius??”

I was an ineffable bureaucracy shipper before it was canon.

I said “Hey look at the possible meaning behind Gabriel trying to smash a fly with the “commit adultery” Bible” and was fucking right

I am also a byler truther. (There is so much for this I’m not even gonna start)

I took a film class(es) and learned about cinematography, mise em scene, symbols and motifs!!

I used what I learned from film class (and from gender race and film class) to discover the key differences in queer coding and queer baiting. (Usually queer baiting involves more so how it is advertised and joked about. Queerness is not taken seriously and it is teased in queerbait.)

I am unofficially studying queer film rep from a sociological lens as society/viewers have changed (or is it economical since it has to do with money, supply and demand… but it also has to do with the viewers and believes?… what social science am I using-)!!

While it is definitely not 100% possible for lokius to be canon, it gets more and more possible with each episode in my eyes.

With all the symbols, parallel, cinematography, music choices, etc that go in to lokius… well it makes it harder and harder for them to deflect these meanings onto something else. (An example is how in Sherlock BBC they deflect a lot of the meanings in to “they are just partners in crime and that is ONLY reflecting that” and “it was just a joke”)

Not only that, as time goes on, less and less cinematography etc. is needed in order for a queer couple to become canon (or at least that kinda was true…). They don’t need as much build up because it is getting (or was getting) more and more accepted. More normalized, even if people didn’t “accept” it. Media does not have to code it/build up to it as much anymore. (This however is not as true for trans rep. Also, as more anti lgbt laws get/have gotten passed, we will start to see a sort of recession in lgbt rep, specifically trans rep. Very unfortunate imo, as a queer nonbinary individual.)

Considering Loki season 2 was made in 2021 (if I am correct), and written before hand, it probably will have some queerness somewhere as it was probably before many of the anti-lgbt laws.

In the least, I am confident lokius will be queer coded or “left up for interpretation” as there still is a s3 that will be coming way later. (It would suck if they pulled that though, yet it would not be super surprising.)

#loki #lokius #lokius analysis #queer analysis #film analysis #Disney #marvel #loki marvel #queer rep in media #queer media

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the-bar-sinister · 24 days

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I've spent a lot of time thinking about the text of the Ace Attorney games and how they present (and largely don't present) queer issues and drawing conclusions about the society from that. This has impacted my writing of In Justice We Trust and how queer issues are presented in it.

A few people picked up on Miles and Phoenix keeping their relationship secret, and wondered why-- and this is the reason. It's not considered "professional" to be in a gay relationship. The California of Phoenix Wright isn't exactly homophobic-- but it's not progressive either, at least in my interpretation.

My biggest factors in reaching the judgement that being queer or gay isn't something talked about in Phoenix's LA are:

-- The discussion of Aura and Metis' relationship at the trial. How it's obvious to everyone what's going on, but they're embarrassed to explain it to the judge.

-- The presentation of queer stereotypes such as Florent L'belle and Jean Armstrong, and how no one ever calls them out as queer, and no one outright treats them poorly for it, but they are shamed and made fun of for the stereotypes that they embody.

-- The idea of a same sex relationship as a possibility is never even referenced in the game. The closest we get to our characters speaking of the existence of queer characters is Aura and Metis.

So yes, unfortunately I very much take away an impression of a very closeted society-- which is a narrative theme in my fic writing.

#ace attorney #ace attorney meta #media analysis #queer reading #queer analysis #fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #japanifornia #aura blackquill #metis cykes #florent l'belle #narumitsu #if you think you saw this posted before you are correct

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justgivemeabookplease · 3 months

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Shrek 2, while a cinematic masterpiece, is also an interesting look at queerness and comp het.

Fiona is married so it's time to reunite with her parents. But instead of marrying a prince, she's married to an ogre. Not just that, but she's also an ogre. (Yes everyone knew she would sometimes be an ogre but that was when she was a child, she didn't know she would be an ogre for the rest of her life, and besides once she met the right prince she would stop being an ogre. She was supposed to stop being an ogre.)

But okay they're both ogres. We can still ask about when they'll have children because even if they're ogres they can still have kids, right? That's what married princes and princesses do so naturally that's what everyone does. Even if ogres might not be great parents (I've heard that ogres eat their young, is that something you people do?) it's still something that should be discussed.

And okay you can stay in Fiona's childhood bedroom filled with all the reminders that hey, everyone thought she was just a princess and princesses marry princes. Her toys left out from the last time she played with them. The prince slays the ogre. The princess offers a token of gratitude for slaying the ogre. Fiona wrote Mrs. Fiona Charming a million times in her diary because what else was she supposed to grow up to be?

And Harold you have to fix this, your country can't be ruled by ogres. You were unfit to rule when you were a frog but I changed you, I made you better, I made you a prince. You know how this works. Think of your daughter's safety.

Shrek goes to the Fairy Godmother and oh honey, ogres don't live happily ever after. It's just not done. It hasn't happened in all of fairy tale history. You have to change the both of you to be happy. You have to present as a prince and a princess. It will be better. You'll fit in better that way. You'll be accepted that way.

#shrek 2 #shrek #shrek franchise #fiona #princess fiona #prince charming #fairy godmother #queerness #queer community #lgbtqia+ community #queer analysis #comp het #compulsory heterosexuality #queer metaphors

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fatiguedcorvid · 9 months

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the Zoldycks are patriarchy

A lot of ink has been spilled about how queer-coded Killua is, but an aspect of his arc I haven't seen mentioned is that the Zoldycks are an intergenerational project. Implying that as the heir, he’s expected to eventually marry a woman and create baby assassins of his own. The Zoldycks aren’t just an abusive family. They're the cis hetero patriarchy.

They’re a literal patriarchy, with the ageing patriarch and the rising patriarch, Zeno and Silva, the grandfather and father who lead the family. Kikyo is relegated to 2nd in command, relishing in bossing around Kalluto and Gotoh, but not daring to step on Silva's toes. But on top of that they represent the social pressure by society to conform to a hetero amorous normative lifestyle, in line with tradition. Silva’s words about how Killua will return to the family because that’s his nature echo a lot of homophobic rhetoric about how young queer/questioning people are just ‘experimenting’ and they’ll eventually realise they were just confused and enter a hetero relationship.

On top of that, the literal brainwashing by Illumi’s needles are the source of his anxiety and insecurity in his relationship with Gon. In this analogy the needle is the internalised homophobia, literally implanted in his brain by his family. It prevents him from truly embracing his queerness. At one point, when captured by Nobunaga it almost makes him suicidally sacrifice his own life. The way he manages to overcome it eventually is through his love and care for Gon.

The election arc represents the importance of queer solidarity between different identities within the community. Killua’s managed to escape the grasp of his family and carve out a life for himself on the outside, but his trans sister, Alluka, hasn't. He can’t save Gon without her/Nanika’s help, and she can’t escape and build a life outside without his help. The only way they can truly liberate themselves is by working together. When Killua tells Nanika to hide away and never show itself again it shows how the dynamics of queerphobia and heteronormativity can recreate themselves within queer spaces. How respectability politics and trying to sweep the less socially acceptable parts of the community under the rug doesn’t work. Even though Killua tried to protect Alluka by telling Nanika to go into hiding, he still ended up recreating the abusive family dynamic on a new scale. The right thing to do is accept Alluka and Nanika the way they are.

In the end, even though he and Gon parted ways he didn’t come crawling back to the Zoldycks because his journey was about more than just an infatuation with one boy. It was about self-discovery and a fight for liberation.

#hunter x hunter #hxh #killua zoldyck #silva zoldyck #alluka zoldyck #zoldyck family #queer analysis #queer theory #media analysis #gay #lgbt #lgbt media

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moophinz · 8 months

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I’ve made a post on this already, but after acquiring heaps and reams of knowledge, I’ve decided to go at it again.

(From Mine’s TV Tropes page.)

I cannot stop anyone from wanting to view Mine as bi, and my intentions don’t lie there. But instead, I wanted to bring up that it hardly seems like the intentions of the devs and especially Yokoyama. Mine is a pretty big deal in being a heavily implied gay character regardless of having been a villain, partly due to how he’s just as masculine as his peers and his love for another man is a core part of his characterization where sympathy comes into play. On top of that, they do not shy away from heavy handed hints in his total lack of interest in women romantically and sexually.

Yokoyama is not only a non stranger to commentary on how much he loves Mine, but he’s also made remarks that imply he finds it funny that women are attracted to him though they can’t have him.

RGGO is particularly revealing about this thanks to how much room it gives to focus on character elements they couldn’t do in the actual games.

—A beach event in Okinawa has Kanda wanting to throw a party and see who between them can invite the most women. Mine is less than uninterested, but still winds up getting a few women interested in him. He can’t seem to outright reject them, but gives them very bland answers.

—This is a big trend in other Mine centric stories. Upon being asked by a woman if he’s by himself, he gives a slightly roundabout answer instead of outright saying anything more direct. He agrees to do something with her despite his ongoing lack of enthusiasm.

—As told, he’s gone on dates with women thanks to being unable to turn them down (he’s interestingly kind enough to women even though there’s some popular jokes about him being a misogynistic gay man). But if he sees a woman once, doesn’t really see them again. All in all, this is incredibly different from many other yakuza men who adore women as they slot into the three important status symbols: power, money, and women. All things that Mine brings up at the end of 3 as stuff that wasn’t really giving him any meaning or purpose in life. His line about having any woman he could want goes largely misunderstood. Especially after he ends that line with saying living life that way was a lie.

Comparing an outright love confession to Mine being thankful to have had Katase around feels almost laughable. On one hand, I’m at least glad the person who wrote this acknowledges the romantic feelings with Daigo, but on the other hand… “heavily implied?” With Katase? No… Not every meaningful statement or even so much as breathing the same air as one another between a man and woman is grounds for love.

Genuinely, it feels like they’ve done nearly everything but outright use any direct wording for his sexuality. He’s the only character they’ve gone this far with. Others get more vagueness or subtlety.

(From Majima’s)

(From Zhao’s)

I’ve talked to @04tenno quite a bit about this. And as usual, they’re the reason I know quite a bit, too.

Majima’s section is bizarre to me for immediately throwing out there that he’s a huge ladies’ man. (This was listed elsewhere in his section). Which is just… hilarious. Sure, plenty of irl female fans adore him, but in universe, he’s nothing of the sort and often interacts with women by using a more friendly tone of voice (probably to seem less intimidating) along with other behavioral changes. I also take up issue regarding the way the person who wrote this seems to completely downplay Majima and Kiryu’s relationship to the first game. But that’s a whole other conversation…

Zhao’s section feels incredibly different compared to the other two due to how the person writing it seems to completely lean into the potential signifiers and stereotypes surrounding him and includes other instances beyond that. There’s nothing about him being in a hostess club automatically meaning he’s attracted to women. As such, even a lot of dudebros seem to openly view Zhao as not being bisexual, but instead, straight up gay. This seems to be due to the fact that Zhao is never shown playing into the typical mainstream macho type stuff as opposed to Mine.

I didn’t take a screenshot, but Daigo even gets the assumed-to-be-into-women-because-he-was-next-to-one-treatment. While he went to hostess clubs, he looks so extremely despondent and out of the moment when we see him there. I can’t find it in me to assume he’s attracted to women just because he went to those types of clubs. His sexuality is totally up for debate as several others are as well. And we can all see him however we want. But, overall, immediately assuming things for such and such reasons starts to feel a little off to me. All in all, Mine gets this treatment the worse thanks to his sexuality actually being a big factor in his character.

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon #yoshitaka mine #queer characters #gay character #queer analysis #sort of in a way maybe possibly #Mine Yoshitaka my favorite Daigo kisser #majima goro #zhao tianyou #I sure hope this makes sense and reads well because I always get uncertain of myself with these things but anyway #who’s going to take it upon themselves to add an entire Ho yay section #anybody? …anybody? no…?#but like I said you can see things how you want of course #it’s just kind of funny to me that some have picked up on Zhao not being excited to be in a hostess club but some others #immediately assume Daigo was overjoyed to be at them himself…apparently #maybe he’d be happy in some other instance but from what we were shown buddy boy is dead inside #also Project X that crossover game was crazy for having Majima talk to women the way that it did like bro that’s how he talks to men #women get the nice customer service voice with a side of playfulness

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gaylor-gremlin · 3 months

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hi i’m gremlin. i’m bi. pronouns are she/they.

i’m not a girl (in my 30s) not yet a woman (younger than taylor swift).

i haven’t been active on tumblr since i was a teenager.

i’ve been a taylor fan since debut and a gaylor since rep.

i’m active on gaylor twitter and needed a place to dump my theories when i don’t feel like overloading twitter with essays on queer interpretations of taylor swift’s art.

follow me if any of that sounds neat?

#gaylor #friends of dorothea #lgbetty #taylor swift #queer theory #queer analysis

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symmetrysys · 9 months

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anarcha feminism was formulated by weaving together feminism with anarchist principles. queer anarchism was an expansion of, and further development on, anarcha feminism that integrated queer theory.

we want to do something similar with neurodivergency and plurality, ie weaving together neurodivergency and anarchist principles to create a neurodivergent centric anarchism and then further developing on it with plural positivity and a synthesis with queer anarchism to reach an ultimate goal of plural anarchism

however we have no idea of where to begin. is there even a base layer of positive, radical neurodivergent theory to spring off of? -Evi

#plurality #anarchism #anarchist #pluralgang #plural positivity #feminism #anarcha feminism #queer #queer anarchism #queer analysis

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ghoulish-art-tendencies · 20 days

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Opinions about the movie it: Specifically, about Richie and Eddie and their whole deal. and How they defeat Pennywise the first time.

Also have you read the book?

SPOILERS AHEAD, in can you could not have guessed.

Okay so IT. IT is one of my top 3 movies of all time (if not all time) in which I watched it about 5 times in a week when I first got into it. (I also have not read the book yet but I have been planning on it for a while, just need to get my hands on it.) I really enjoyed it personally, and I don't think it is that scary anymore, but I was originally scared shitless the first time I tried to watch it years ago when I was not into horror yet. Even though it was made in 2017, it still has that 80s horror feel to it that I love, and I love the dynamic between the group of 7 in the first movie.

Now buckle up, because I am about to go full on special interest on this ask and yap about its inherent queerness and how it affects the story line and how it could've been used more.

Richie, Eddie, and the inherent queerness between the two. It was very clear that Richie, if not Eddie as well, were very much implied to be interested in each other.

But more specifically Richie. I honestly wish they did more with them, but it was very clear that they were a duo; a pair within the original group of 4. Putting it out now: I have not actually seen IT Chapter 2 all the way through as I kept crying over Stanley's death, and I honestly was extremely disappointed in how they handled the film as a whole, and the decline in quality. So, my information may not be entirely correct, but in the end of IT chapter 2, we see a clip of Richie carving he and Eddie's initials into the bridge. As well as I believe when Eddie dies later in the film, Richie tries to go back to get his body/doesn't want to leave him behind. Richie was obviously head over heels for him from the start to finish, and you could tell. From the constant bickering; teasing; borderline obsession that he had for Eddie. In the book, I believe Richie would also call Eddie "Eddie Spaghetti" multiple times, don't quote me though. All of this to say, Richie loved Eddie. A LOT. To the point that in the second movie Richie was out as gay but STILL hadn't found a lover, whilst we see both Stanley, Bill, and Eddie married, as well with Beverly with a boyfriend (in the beginning of the film, at least). I am not saying that some of these relationships are healthy by any means (especially Eddie's which I will explain soon), but it goes to show that many of the people from the core 7 found relationships, and yet Richie did not.

Now Eddie is slightly more complicated, as all throughout IT we see the toxic relationship between his mother, and how she gaslit him into believing he was sick all the time. This would then later end up with him marrying someone else very similar to his mother who treated him very much the same. Then, at the end where he ends up dying, it ends very tragically where his whole life he had to live with people being very controlling over him and him never getting to experience that freedom he deserved. I bring this up because in IT, we see near the end where Eddie is told that his medication are placebos, and he tells his mother he's tired of her trying to keep him away from his friends. He realised there that he was happier and more free when he was with his friends, and (though not said) specifically Richie as well in my opinion. Richie was unabashedly himself, and wasn't afraid to be weird with his friends. I know it is strongly theorised that Richie is ADHD as well, which could also play a part. All the while both Stan and Bill are more reserved in my opinion, both as Bill was self-conscious because of his stutter, and Stanley being bullied for being jewish (both of which we see happen in the beginning of IT). Eddie felt more comfortable around his friends, and specifically Richie because he truly did not care enough about acting weird. Though I believe it is never actually shown that Eddie had a romantic interest in Richie, I strongly believe it could've been something if the writers allowed it.

Now, Eddie and Richie's interactions with each other (in the first movie, because as I have said I have not seen enough of the second movie to speak on it much). Many times, we see specifically Richie and Eddie interacting. To be honest, they are probably the 2 people we see interacting the most throughout the entire movie. One scene I want to bring up specifically, which took me multiple watches to catch, is that at I believe the Derry festival, Richie comes back with 2 ice cream cones, and gives one to Eddie. Now, whether Eddie had directly asked him to get him a cone, or Richie just buying it for him, I think it shows just how much Richie did care about him. I think it shows a little bit of how they interact with each other when we don't see them (on camera). And sure, you can buy ice cream for your friends, but would you not also either ask if anyone else wanted one? You could make the argument that he couldn't carry it but it doesn't disprove the fact Richie specifically bought ice cream for Eddie, which shows how he cared for him.

Richie and Eddie are also constantly bickering back and forth. From when Eddie is trying to help Ben after getting stabbed and him telling Richie to shut up with the silly voices, or in the sewer scene where Richie constantly bickers to Eddie about him being afraid to enter. You can obviously see Richie being the comedic relief, but always more-so to Eddie. To me, I interpret this as him seeing that Eddie is almost always on edge, and trying to distract him to make sure he's happier. And while we do see Eddie get annoyed at Richie, I don't think we ever truly saw him get angry at him or be upset, other than slightly annoyed or exasperated.

I know l am yapping, but to answer your next question about how they defeated pennywise the first time, I think Richie and Eddie's relationship still play a fairly large role. They learn that in order to defeat Pennywise, they have to stop being afraid. We see Richie constantly worry about Eddie when in the house, and basically stuck to his side. In the scene where they are in Bill's garage and watching the projector, when Pennywise shows up on it, we see in the background Richie grabbing onto Eddie, and Eddie grabbing onto him. In a moment of fear, they automatically reached towards each other. This to me they they feel most safe when they are together/close. This makes me think that Richie was really the one that helped Eddie be brave enough to face Pennywise and defeat him. While I think Richie was able to be brave enough to defeat Pennywise because he not only cares about the group but also wanted to keep Eddie safe.

All of this to say; Richie and Eddie were very much implied to be queer (in the movies); even more-so when Richie was confirmed to be gay in the second movie. I really wish that we got to see Richie and Eddie get together to not only have that queer representation, but because I honestly think it would have been a healthy relationship, like it was in the beginning. Richie constantly distracting and teasing Eddie; then comforting each other in times of fear; doing little things for the other. They both cared about each other a lot and I am truly disappointed on the fact we never got to see a happy ending for Eddie, where after years of being in an abusive relationship where Eddie is made to be dependent on the people that are supposed to be your most trusted, he just, dies. We never get to see him get out of those relationships and find someone better (AKA Richie). I truly think the story of Richie and Eddie after IT Chapter 2 could have been its own movie or mini series/book (even though it wouldn't have been). To see Richie be in contact with Eddie again and maybe help him realise he's in an abusive relationship and help him get out of it. At that point it doesn't when have to be romantic but just a deep and intense love for wanting the other to be happy. It would have made a great ending of 2 characters finally finding happiness in each other again after years of struggling.

So there. You asked about my opinion of IT and here it is. This took me like an hour as I immediately started writing after getting this ask, but I enjoyed it. It's nice to finally put my thoughts on this movie into a (hopefully) coherent analysis. Even if like 1 person reads this lol I am happy I got the opportunity to yap about my all time favourite movie. :D Thanks for the ask, and again, sorry about the excessive yapping.

#IT #it chapter one #it the movie #it movie #it chapter 2 #it chapter two #reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #analysis #long reads #long post #yapping #queer analysis #queer #movie analysis #asks #answered asks #yapyapyap

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brybryby · 11 months

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I completely agree that Miles Upshore is queer, and Waylon is on the spectrum as well! If you have your friends analysis still plzzzzz link! I crave the content!!!

HI HI THANK YOU FOR THE ASK! 💜

I wish I had his analysis still!!! aarrrrgh it's been so long ;-; But I can try to relay some of the points he made (and add some of my own)!

This gets pretty lengthy so be prepared :')

I also added external links but they’re only there if you want to read more about the point I’m making! Feel free to skip them!

also // TW for mentions of SA

Miles

Story-wise, my friend found it interesting that Miles was the perfect host for the Walrider. Wernicke and Alan Turing were friends/lovers who worked on the technology that culminated into Project Walrider, so there's already a sense that the Walrider was founded on Wernicke and Turing's love for each other.

So, before I move on, I'll talk a bit about Alan Turing. In college, I had professors praise him for being the “Founder of Modern Computing”, cracking Nazi code, and also for being an advocate for gay rights.

More details here:

Out of every prominent scientist during the Cold War Era, Alan Turing was selected to play a role in Outlast's stories. And he didn't just happen to be openly gay—JT Petty purposefully made this significant to Wernicke's character. Not to mention, Wernicke made allusions to Frankenstein, allowing us to inspect the parallels between Wernicke & the Walrider with Frankenstein & Frankenstein's monster. When it comes to gothic & queer literature, Frankenstein is on the forefront of it, and I'm confident that JT Petty would be familiar with that (since he's a writer who's well-versed in horror/gothic art).

With Frankenstein, there's this idea to create life without heterosexual means (under the impression of cis-heteronormativity). Frankenstein's monster was also a sexualized creature—supposedly a representation of the “ideal man”—described as “beautiful”. Additionally, the novel was a critique of patriarchal norms through elements of sexualities. These aren't too different from Wernicke & the Walrider. The Walrider is arguably created through homosexual means in its abstract (Wernicke & Turing). This particular version of the Walrider that possesses Billy & Miles is stated to be the “masterpiece” by Simon Peacock—its appearance is also fairly sexual. And similarly, Outlast critiques patriarchal norms through its grotesque visuals of “masculinity”.

Frankenstein queer analysis:

Frankenstein sexual suppression analysis:

With all these story elements, there's certainly a queerness about the Walrider AND Outlast, which the devs openly embrace.

There's also many parallels between Frankenstein's monster and Miles. In the United States (and westernized countries in general), there are societal standards that function around cis-heteronormativity. Think of the traditional American nuclear family: A husband/father who's the breadwinner and patriarch, a loving wife/mother who cooks and stays at home to take care of the kids—they're mostly white, Christian, and American citizens. [WARNING: TRIALS SPOILERS AHEAD] The ideal American man is further illustrated in Officer Coyle's dialogue: “If only they were upstanding citizens like myself. Pay your taxes, do your job, fuck your wife, put a little something in the plate at service. America don't ask much.” Miles is arguably the antithesis of this, which is likely the reason he doesn't have any close friends/family—he was likely rejected by society. Frankenstein's monster follows a similar arc: he is also rejected by society and seeks refuge in seclusion. (The concept of “rejection by society” is inherent in queerness.)

With these parallels, it makes sense for Miles to be the ideal host for the Walrider. Additionally, Miles embodies queerness that isn't strictly homosexual—I mean his whole background/lifestyle is already, by definition, “queer”—but questions regarding his sexuality arise when inspecting other details of his character.

My friend pointed out the whole “Manhandler Hairspray for the Active Man” detail in Miles' apartment. There are a lot of homosexual undertones in the label, and it's hard not to think otherwise. “Manhandler” and “Active” are terms which indicate the “top” role in gay culture. I mean, it's possible that Miles is just embodying the “metrosexual” identity (basically straight men who embody characteristics associated with homosexuality) but metrosexuality is rooted in consumerism, which doesn't exactly align with Miles' character since he is openly critical of capitalism. I think the hairspray hints at queerness (or at least gender non-conformity).

Article on “metrosexuality”:

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/style/metrosexuals-come-out.html

The most revolutionary detail that my friend pointed out was the fact that Miles went out of his way to roast the ever-living shit out of everyone he came across at Mount Massive, begging the question: why is he so fixated on the appearances of other men? This could stem from his own insecurities of being rejected by society or insecurities of his own vanity (considering the hairspray he uses and the fact that he goes jogging…and if he's just trying to be healthy through exercise then he needs to explain his self-destructive alcoholism…idk…jogging for mental health? It’s open to interpretation…WAIT I mean he could just be keep up his physical fitness also with all the investigating he has to do anyways fjshshkdhd). It was just interesting that Miles was so fixated on physical appearances that it makes me wonder if he'd make similar comments about women—I don't believe he would and I'll explain below.

I know that we need to take Red Barrels' tweets with a grain of salt—they're known for deleting tweets that detail misinformation about the protagonists—but I find this tweet particularly interesting. I may be looking too much into it, especially since it's just a tweet and not presented in the games/comics, but it certainly is reflective of Red Barrels' values of respecting women and not viewing women as sexual objects, along with the notion of dismantling cis-heteropatriarchy/chivalry. It certainly doesn't mean he's not straight, but he doesn't particularly view women as sexual objects either (and I know that straight men are capable of not viewing women as sexual objects). Food for thought.

Some extra stuff:

Anti-conservatism and punk ideology (which Miles explicitly embodies) are pillars of queer culture in the political sphere.

The Germanic folklore, which the Walrider is based off of, exhibits notions of sexuality (though, probably not in the best light).

[TRIALS SPOILER] Wernicke’s dream therapy is associated with Dr. Easterman’s queerness—Easterman would be distracted by Wernicke’s handsomeness (and they both explicitly critique heterosexual relationships). Again, this supports the Walrider’s themes of sexuality.

Waylon

As for WAYLON, even though there isn't concrete evidence in the games to intentionally indicate queerness, that isn't to say he is entirely heterosexual (because assuming he's heterosexual is yet another product of the “ideal American man” image in a cis-heteronormative society, and Outlast's narratives are about dismantling this notion). In fact, now that you bring it up, I agree that Waylon can be considered on the queer spectrum/under the queer umbrella.

Regarding the “dismantling the ideal American man in a cis-heteronormative society” concept…the devs, artists, writer(s), actors, and contributors to the games' development are not only open/accepting of things outside of society's norms/expectations, but many are social activists. Chimwemwe Miller (VA for Chris Walker) is outspoken about being Black, Black history, and racism—he also narrated an audiobook which discussed racism, colonialism, & imperialism. Erika Rosenbaum (VA for Lynn Langermann) organized provisions for refugees and is active in environmental causes and feminism—she also spoke out during the #MeToo movement. Shawn Baichoo (VA for Miles, Waylon, & Blake) is also vocal about feminism/racism and was a huge advocate for his character Wrench's bisexuality from Watch Dogs 2, which became confirmed in a later installment of the Watch Dogs franchise.

I bring this up because Red Barrels actually entertains the idea of Waylon x Eddie (in the hypothetical that Eddie wasn't an antagonist like he was in the game…so like, erasing his problematic features baha…this deserves an analysis of its own) without mentioning sexuality or anything like that. Obviously, this can be seen as a way to entertain the fanbase, but I think it's worth mentioning that Waylon isn't opposed to homosexuality. After all, Waylon never makes homophobic remarks in his notes nor comments on male sexuality—he's just fearful of being assaulted (as anyone would be, regardless of gender/sexuality). He would, in fact, engage in a homosexual relationship according to this hypothetical.

(Note: the term “insane” is a harmful descriptor in this context, which is why I wrote “wasn’t an antagonist like he was in the game”)

So yea! I definitely think there's queerness with Waylon's character. And I don't exactly mean this to be “representation” because there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that, but ultimately I think it adds to what the franchise and the devs are trying to do—normalize queerness and dismantle the notion of the “ideal American man in a cis-heteronormative society” (and if you've studied socioeconomics/social theory, you know that this notion is a product of capitalism, which is another important theme in the franchise).

Here are some resources about the intersectionalities of cis-heteropatriarchy, capitalism, & queerness if you'd like to read more about it :)

(this one below is quite lengthy, but goes VERY DEEP)

All in all, my interpretation is that the franchise operates on the idea that “queerness” is normal or innate, but social structures are what label it otherwise. I've seen a lot of discussion surrounding Outlast characters' queerness, and it's interesting to me that the antagonists' sexualities get more attention amongst casual players than the protagonists' sexualities (and I think I can understand why, it's just a lot to unpack).

Just as many of the antagonists can be read as queer, the protagonists should arguably be read through the same lens. I truly do think Miles and Waylon (and even Lynn and Blake!) deserve to be inspected under queer lens. Doing so aligns with the franchise's philosophy/narratives. Also the idea of “queer characters taking down capitalism” is super empowering (and actually very identifiable hehe).

(Sorry, I think I projected a lot of my own personal values and biases into this post LOL hhhjdsfh feel free to critique anything I've written!)

This is my first time inspecting Waylon through a queer lens, so thank you for the ask!! I had a lot of fun writing this up :D

#miles upshur #waylon park #outlast #outlast analysis #queer analysis #brybryby #brybryby text

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