my professor gave us the option to do an essay or a creative project for our final in my lit course, and of course i chose the creative option. my topic was depictions of mental health in Oathbringer utilizing my own personal connection with the book, quotes from disability studies theory, and quotes from the book itself. i chose dalinar, venli, kaladin, and shallan for my focuses, and i made a collage representing their struggles and challenges in finding community/reckoning with their mental illnesses. it is constructed from the prints of the art in the book, cardboard, translucent cellophane, 0.4 wire, lots of glue, reflective paper, and vinyl paper! it took around 10 hours to plan out and pick out all my quotes and then 6 more hours to actually craft it!
Top 5 favorite kpop MVs with queer vibes that aren't obviously queer (challenge mode: no repeated groups or artists)
i'm mostly talking about gender here and gender is a really difficult thing to talk about. i tried my best to put what i feel into words and i hope it turned out somewhat coherent. please just be nice
the order is probably based on how excited i was to talk about each MV
1. mamamoo+ - GGBB
so the whole concept of 'good girl/bad boy' is very familiar to everybody, it's something straight out of romcoms and jokes about relationships. it's also usually very straight and cis. but the way solar and moonbyul visually present this song gives it a twist. moonbyul isn't dressed in what would be considered strictly menswear but her clothes are still more masculine looking than solar's, same goes for their choreography moves, and the whole contrast is supported by the backup dancers. solar and moonbyul aren't really playing a girl and a boy but rather playing out the dynamic between the characters of 'the girl' and 'the boy'. which is a romantic and heavily gendered dynamic. they're performing femininity and masculinity both while still being clearly themselves and it's really pushing the idea of gender expression being a performance rather than something intrinsic to the person, something fixed and having only one meaning. they're just performing this traditionally very cishet thing in such a queer way and i love it so much
2. i-dle - TOMBOY
this one is kind if an opposite of GGBB. so there's this part in the song that goes 'it's neither man nor woman' and the choreography during this part is them flexing their arms. the lyrics and the choreography and honestly the rest of the song, too, combined create this caricature of gender non-conformity which weirdly still feels reaffirming. kinda like 'queencard' is a caricature of confidence which actually does boost your confidence. so this song feels like it's fucking with gender in a similar way to how GGBB does but instead of deconstructing familiar it constructs unfamiliar, if that makes sense. i personally get goosebumps every time this part comes up and i don't care how far-fetched this explanation might sound, it feels very real to me
3. irene & seulgi - monster
this one is pretty obvious. i don't think that 'it's a metaphor' argument is very convincing because if something queer is used as a metaphor it's still queer. it's a particularly bad problem with sapphic representation because people are so willing to reduce sapphic relationships to an accessory and a tool to get your point across instead of actually taking them seriously, but all kinds of queer representation do suffer from this. half of straight relationships in MVs are a metaphor for something but nobody assumes those characters are actually gay
4. bts - blood sweat & tears
i don't have anything specific to say about this one but the vibes are very queer in my opinion
5. dreamcatcher - bonvoyage
that one scene with siyeon and sua made me yearn for sapphic sci-fi so i think it does belong on this list :3
Will I stop? No! Do I overwhelm the market with silly head cannons and GAY BOIS? Uhhhh absolutely! Do I find pleasure in making those uncomfortable who might see it? Oooh yeah 😏
I have been receiving requests for any songs that inspired Replica, so here, have my personal playlist. Sorry it’s not Spotify/Soundcloud but they don’t have some of these songs available so uh… guess you’re stuck with YouTube vids. For fun I'll include my personal titles for them (which might give a few hints of what to expect in the future/end).
Replica Main Theme - “Die for You” by Grabbitz
Like Father Like Son Like Brother (Omega and Shelldon) - "As Above So Below" by Alistair Lindsay
Mikey's Theme / The 1st Vision - "Suzume no Tojimari" by Nanoka Hara
Military (Mad) Dogs / Central Park Colony - "Imperium" by Madeon
Shanghai - "Icarus" by Madeon
Boom Goes the Donnie-mite (Mikey/Donnie vs the Sweeper) - "The Red Zone" by Mitsuoto Suzuki
The Day the Sky Bled Red - "7 Seconds Till the End" by Nobuo Uematsu
Going Out Like a Boss (Raph and Leo) - "Agape" by Nicholas Britell
Remembering the Right Way (Mikey and Leo) - "The Souls of Many" - by Alistair Lindsay
Mystic Hands / The 2nd Vision - "Am I Dreaming" by Metro Boomin x A$AP
Book 2 Trailer - "Sea Dragon" by Covet
7 Years Later - "Iron" by Woodkid
Leo's Theme / Attack on the Labor Camp - "Ego Death" by Polyphia
Omega's Theme - "Touch" by Daft Punk
Flat Lines (Omega Alone) - "Die Toteninsel Emptiness" by 1000 Eyes
Spear - "Monsters" by Tommee Profitt
Final Protocol - "The Kraken" by Katie Dey
Rise / Epilogue - "Close in the Distance" by Masayoshi Soken & Tom Mills
I will admit, it's a little embarrassing since you can easily see the patterns of what I've been listening to for the past year or two. I swear I listen to more than just videogame OSTs, these songs just jive well with the story and I often find lyrics distracting when brainstorming scenes. Regardless, the music I listen to is such an important part of my creative process and some of these songs really defined the scenes I now have locked in my head. So I figured it was only fair to give them the credit they're due.
I will continue to add to this playlist, and will note in comic updates when one of these songs is applicable!