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cuddlytogas · 2 months

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So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :(#I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

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elloras · 7 months

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#ted lasso #tedlassoedit #jamie tartt #roy kent #roy x jamie #(just barely lol but they're both there looking very pretty in very atmospheric lighting and that's all it takes for me lmao)#(also roy called him jamie which is incredible considering he calls him tartt other times when they're a lot closer)#royjamie #afc richmond #dani rojas #*#also considered capitalizing the j in rojas because jamie's still being a dick about foreign names lmao

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thenotoriousscuttlecliff · 3 months

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When they come to do a live action reboot of Wonder Woman they need to remember that Diana has two mothers.

#wonder woman #philippus #hippolyta #diana of themyscira #dc comics #the dceu did philippus dirty #transferring her role as general #mentor to diana #and confident of hippolyta all to antiope #and reducing her to amazon no. 2 #on the plus side it did prevent her from being stupidly killed off #but it still isn't great that this woc who has been a major presence in diana's life for decades #was pushed to the side lines in favour of a white character who barely even features in the comics #hopefully since they're starting with a prequel show that means the amazons of the dcu will be more than just a bunch of glorified extras

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viperwhispered · 22 days

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Too Much

So this would be the little thing I teased earlier that had the working title of "Jamil's oh shit moment". Whoever the anon was who was curious to see this come to fruition, well, here it is. Hope y'all enjoy this little trip inside Jamil's head.

It all started with an off-hand comment from Kalim.

Well, truth be told, it started well before that.

For a while now, Jamil had found himself strangely fretful whenever you were around.

It was not the sort of irritation he felt with Kalim’s constantly chafing presence, nor the constant worries of what trouble Kalim might find himself in next. Not really like the frustration he got from suffering with Floyd and Ace’s antics during basketball practice. It wasn't even just another of the usual pins and needles of all the small things of his everyday life that kept on needling on his patience.

No, if anything, you were quite…inoffensive.

But he couldn’t help being on edge, on alert even more than usual.

So much so that the other day, when you turned up in Scarabia and your voice suddenly rang clear in the lounge, Jamil nearly spilled the tea he was just pouring into Kalim’s cup.

Or when you’d joined him and Kalim for lunch in the cafeteria, Jamil could feel his shoulders inching up to his ears with the tension that crept into his body. Even holding his utensils and bringing his food to his mouth somehow felt awkward and clumsy.

Most bothersome indeed.

Besides, he already had enough on his plate without you adding to it all, threatening to tear down the precarious control he barely maintained over his life.

And yesterday, you had come to talk with him after the basketball game, saying such things about his performance on court that his cheeks still threatened to redden just remembering it.

You really were just too much.

And the way you had looked at him, like-

“Jamil! What are you thinking about?”

Kalim’s voice startled Jamil out of his thoughts.

“Nothing.”

What was he thinking about? Why were you on his mind like this?

Jamil’s hands kept working, chopping the vegetables with practiced ease. Yet his mind was barely in what he was doing, busy with trying to tease open the budding thought.

…No.

No.

No way.

Surely he was not that stupid. After all, there was no way-

“Oh, you just seemed so happy, but guess it was nothing then,” Kalim said brightly.

The rest of Kalim's words faded out of Jamil's ears.

The steady rhythm of the knife turned more erratic and forceful, sure to leave deep marks on the cutting board. The urge to pull his hood tighter over his face was almost irresistible, Jamil’s hand slightly twitching even as he forced himself to continue with his task as if nothing had happened.

Why had he been thinking about you? About the way you smiled at him the other day?

Shit.

ETA: there's now a part 2! I originally had more written for this but ngl this seemed like the perfect point to cut it. But who knows, maybe there'll be a part 2 at some point. They played this song in my dance class and it got me thinking of that moment when Jamil realizes just how down bad he is for you. How screwed he is when it comes to you. Jamil certainly wouldn’t be as all in as the narrator in the song is (at least with his NRC circumstances), but the lyrics still sure worked as inspiration. Tagging @colliope @crystallizsch @diodellet @jamilsimpno69 @jamilvapologist @twstgo If you'd like to be tagged for future works, let me know!

#twisted wonderland #jamil viper #twisted wonderland x reader #jamil viper x reader #ner writes #can't believe I still had some writing brain left for today #considering I spent most of the day thinking of a job application #(after staying up late for a concert last night)#also poor kalim usually just ends up barely more than set dressing in my fics since they're so jamil-focused 😔

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sharkgirldick · 1 year

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I really wish people would draw more trans women with no curves. I don't have curves, and even art that's supposed to be more inclusive to transfem bodies gives their characters curves.

Maybe I'll get lucky, I'm still early into my transition, so I might get curves. But, that doesn't stop me from feeling left out of just about every piece of trans art intended to appear more like me and those like me.

#text post #small breasts barely bigger than when they were budding. wide shoulders. some stubble. no curves.#i know people are dysphoric about these traits #but they're still part of me even if it's only while things change.#just because I'm changing and working towards change doesn't mean I'm incomplete now.

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cerealbishh · 1 month

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"The world's lucky to have you."

#ffvii remake #ffvii rebirth #ffvii rebirth spoilers #zack fair #aerith gainsborough #zack x aerith #zerith #biggs #wedge #briana white #caleb pierce #ff7redit #ffviiedit #zackfairedit #aerithgainsboroughedit #zerithedit #just wanted to make a gifset with zerith talking to/motivating avalanche members they barely know #i know aerith hardly has any scenes with wedge but still...#also their speech read as sort of similar to me? idk #there's at least one more gifset of them talking to biggs and wedge that i wanna make #just genuinely good people trying to do their best to help #i know biggs was the only one to say that quote but i feel like wedge might've thought something along those lines #look i'm a multi-shipper but i just think that personally this is zack and aerith's best match?#they're alike in so many ways but they bring out different sides of each other and i just think that that's beautiful #aerti is the second best aerith ship to me #but like... CLOSE second #what can i say? zerith gives me rapunzel and eugene vibes a little!#it's the rotating camera in both scenes for me too #pardon me i can't color correct these scenes for shit...

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chleb-uwu · 1 month

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Resistance hero and his trophy immortal husband,

but I just call this AU 'Ouch, The Immortality Problem'

#sonic the hedgehog #sonadow #shadow the hedgehog #sonic x shadow #shadonic #Tails and Amy are there and they are TIRED #givin' the fighting to save the world constantly more serious vibes n aging them a bunch cuz yea #but it's still silly cuz i suck at angst even tho i make myself sad when thinking abt Shadow's immortality #Sonic got his first gray quill at 29 the intense life caught up with him #they're around 35 on these pics #Shadow went thru some changes n aging but it stops completely around 35 too and he's annoyed that Sonic is still taller #even tho there's barely any difference lmao

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thelilylav · 1 month

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We only see each other at funerals

(On Jason, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, and their parallels/connections)

The Titan's Curse (Rick Riordan), @/anxiousmaya_, Right Now (Gracie Abrams), The Battle of the Labyrinth (Rick Riordan), Joan of Arc (Mary Gordon), The Lost Hero (Rick Riordan), Episodes Toward and Elegy for Halley's Comet (Lindsey Drager), Jason Grace (Riordan Wiki), The Gods Show Up (Michael Kinnucan), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), What the Living Do (Marie Howe), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), Planet of Love (Richard Siken), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), Tangerine (Nolune), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), I Bet On Losing Dogs (Mitski), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/abhorarchive (Twitter), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), Seventeen (MARINA), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/rollercoasterwords, The Tyrant's Tomb (Rick Riordan), @/the-overanalyst, Where Things Come Back (John Corey Whaley), Grit (Silas Denver Martin), Softcore (The Neighbourhood), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Frost (Mitski), @/moonbends, I'm Your Man (Mitski), Sun Bleached Flies (Ethel Cain), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Three (Sleeping At Last), My Art

#nono you don't understand it's about the siblings #it's about how thalia lost jason once only to get him back and lose him again #it's how jason and bianca both walked into their deaths with their eyes wide open #it's about zeus trying to kill nico and bianca and him doing nothing to stop jason from dying #it's about thalia being in the hunters and nico hating her but he knows how to grieve with that kind of loss #so he'll help her. for jason. for bianca. because no one deserves to mourn a sibling alone #like these four barely interact but they're soooo connected i could go on forever #i'm so sad thalia and nico never actually got a scene together after the burning maze #and ALSO #it's about the fact that reyna is one of the most (if not the most) important people left in their lives #LIKE #do you think thalia found out how close nico and reyna were and started watching her more closely #because every person the two of them have shared has ended up six feet under #so reyna gets annoyed with how protective thalia is but she doesn't stop her bc part of her can tell thalia needs it #and nico constantly checks to make sure reyna's life force is still strong #bc he never wants to be caught off guard by a death again #ok im done now i promise #the trials of apollo #trials of apollo #nico di angelo #reyna ramirez arellano #reyna avila ramirez arellano #web weaving #fanart #my art tag #thalia grace #jason grace #percy jackson #percy jackson fanart #bianca di angelo

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mastersoftheair · 1 month

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on the point of including black people in the show (or any period show), a lot of the outrage can sometimes come across as performative to me. it's one thing to feel upset about how little screentime black characters get compared to white characters (a valid criticism, believe me, I Know! give me an hour and i could talk your ear off about how this constantly annoys me as a black person who's damned to enjoy period pieces), but it's another to Only get upset while not actually creating content for said black characters, Especially when fandom (not just hbo war, but in general) is famous for taking Extremely minor characters and creating entire worlds with them, to the point where you wouldn't know they're minor characters at all until you check out the source yourself. richard macon, alexander jefferson, and robert daniels each have only 20 or less posts about them (at the time of publishing this post). in my own fandom experience (within fandoms both big and small and old and new, whatever), i've seen more content (posts, art pieces, analyses, fics, etc) made for minor white characters in less than a mere week's time (it's not a competiton lol i'm just giving a perspective here). so idk. obviously, there's nothing anyone here can do about a show that's already been filmed and released. we got what we got. thas it. at least in the great wide world of fandom, you can actually do something about it, turning the big into small. there's precedent for that. otherwise it just feels like complaining for the sake of complaining

#alexander jefferson only Just reached 20 posts according to tumblr's tagged search. macon's at 17. daniels is at 9 #i'm jaded in a way bc when you're black you learn to expect this when it comes to black characters. like as a rule.#but it's for that reason that a lot of these complaints feel kinda sorta performative #at the end of the day it's a show largely about white guys created largely by white guys #if you want to see blacker shows and movies- many Do exist. hbo war isnt the end all/be all of ww2 media #six triple eight will be coming soon. there's the 90s tuskegee airmen movie. watch overlord if you want a fun (and very fictional) time #and there's dee rees' own 'mudbound'. these aren't 'hbo war' but they're worth watching #i actually feel it's more worth being upset about the lack of representation of nonblack people of color during ww2 #i still want a show about the 442nd! i'd like to see more about native american soldiers!#we just barely saw some sikhs in this episode. they're often sprinkled into the background but they ought to be front and center too #and with that!!! i'm going to bed gnight #masters of the air #hbo war #alexander jefferson #robert daniels #richard macon

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strayingsocks · 8 months

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highschool au fem skk doodle!!

fem soukoku has been on my mind ... they're just so cute and fluffy ghrhrgr!!!!

under the cut are headcanons/backstory ?? i didn't mean to write this much but i got carried away </3

i see dazai as someone with shit posture because they're insecure about how lanky they look compared to the other people in class, even if she still teases chuuya for being short. she also wears opaque black stockings to hide her legs, and keeps her skirt long. she doesn't like how her hair is, but only chops it all off when she leaves for college. she's Very unpopular, but she doesn't really care. she prefers it that way, though she could do without the gossiping.

chuuya's a jock . she started growing her hair out at the start of highschool, and is the best student in sports in her class. she hates wearing her blazer, finding it restricting, even in winter. she tries to sneakily make her skirt shorter because she thinks it looks cooler, but she doesn't like that it limits how much she can do exercise wise (she likes running around and moving a lot). she's popular with her class, more so with the guys, both for her appearance and skills and for being kind to everyone despite her short temper.

dazai and chuuya are an unlikely duo- no one really gets why they hang out with one another so often. even though it seems like they hated each other at first, they're pretty much attached to the hip, and are very protective over one another. they walk home together, and dazai sleeps over at chuuya's whenever she can.

chuuya found dazai weird and rude at first, but now she's more fond of them, she would never admit that, though. she's the reason why dazai's hair hasn't devolved into a birds nest.

dazai found chuuya annoying and naive at first. ... she still finds her annoying. in an affectionate way. she likes to tease her to hear her roll her eyes, and seeing her face scrunch up.

there's more but i don't want to write too much ... and i haven't developed them completely yet JSHDB these are just doodles i did at college

THANK U FOR READING :3 don't mind typos i don't feel like reading it over SJHBDAJ

#my art #bungou stray dogs #bsd chuuya #bsd dazai #soukoku #fem dazai #fem chuuya #genderbend #doodle #rkgk #THEY'RE JUST SILLY #chuuya was definitely way more scruffy and dirty as a kid #she still picks up bugs with her bare hands to the horror of dazai #girls being girls

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